Category: Uncategorized

after today’s class, during which the second batch of groups presented their case competition recommendations, we had to take the last five minutes to vote for which group we thought should go on to compete for our class against the other classes. and although part of me says, “who really wants to go on to have to present again in some sort of competition against other senior classes?” of course there is another part of me and all of my groupmates that says “we want to be the best.” that’s only natural.

and we were the best, i’d say. we were really entertaining, much more so than any other group, several times over. maybe some of our jokes were bordering on offensive, but we are adults, and it wasn’t by any means raunchy or immature. everyone liked ours the best, and everyone laughed. and our ideas were solid as well, the professor admitted that to us later.

of course, not before he took a second before the voting to basically say, “i know that group was the best but don’t vote for them,” because one of our 20 slides had a joke on it that said, “if you bleach your hair, everyone will like you.” we saw it, as did our audience, as a jab at greek life on campus and general southern california valley-girl fashion sense. it was well-received by the class as sarcastic humor. however the professor was apparently not pleased at all by this particular joke, and thought it could be easily construed as racist — given the presentation was on how to get more college students to shop at the local “ethnic” grocery store to increase its revenue — by suggesting that everyone just wants to be white.

now apart from being shocked that someone would get that idea from us, and sure, a tiny bit embarrassed that i hadn’t really thought of it that way even in a precautionary sense (which i think is because i’m far more prejudiced against bleached-blond airheads than i am racist in any way), i was mostly disappointed that something like that would make him decide we were not to be considered when picking the best group in class. and we asked around. everyone was going to vote for us.

i’m not sure if the lesson is to be more politically correct and/or don’t ever take risks, but i’m a little disheartened, i have to say. but then again, he did admit openly that we were going to win if he didn’t intervene, and he had to admit that beneath our cynicism we had a really strong presentation and good business recommendations, so it’s nothing to be entirely unhappy about.

but it’s just so in line with everything i already feel about my curriculum, and its tendency to strangle any life out of us and make us all strive to be average, that i have to hold onto some bitterness anyway if only because it’s so perfectly validating.

i have to call my mom now because i told her i would two days ago and i didn’t.

[now hearing this: cursive – domestica. i’m telling you, last night’s amoeba trip was one of the best i’ve ever made. plus a free poster for their one-year anniversary in hollywood! they’re so good, i just love that place.]

alright. so i meant to, i really meant to write yesterday. i had company though, so i couldn’t. good company though, so i didn’t. mind, that is.

an eventful week since i posted last. i found out last thursday that my group (my friend jen and i — a dynamic duo of marketing, if you will, of which of course i called dibs on being batman) had the pleasure of presenting our final project the first day. that being only four days from then on tuesday. which was on top of my other presentation we already had on tuesday. so i worked all weekend basically. end of boring schoolwork whining.

good things are happening though. i had a date on friday night and it was lovely. i smiled a lot and that’s in the face of having seen the new harry potter movie. my review is about the same as the first one — not bad for a kids’ movie. if i had kids and they watched that movie a lot, i’d get less sick of it less quickly than if they watched something much worse than that. kenneth branaugh was pretty hilariously over the top and i enjoyed that quite a bit.

oh, and sunday i just happened to see, well, you know, mr. show, janeane garafalo, triumph and kids in the hall LIVE all part of one fantastic show. it was so worth the money (which went to charity, even). any of them alone might not have been that impressive, and surprisingly i laughed the hardest and most often at triumph out of the four, but the fact that all four of them were on the same bill made it so fucking cool…so cool i bought hip concert-tour style poster which is weird they made since there was only one show and which has all their names on it and looks really pretty badass hanging in my room. sometimes living in los angeles is not a tragedy after all.

so monday i kept working but tuesday it was all done and now i’m flying free and feelin’ fine. so fine i went to amoeba and bought myself three new cds because i deserve them. so i will have thoughts on the new mountain goats cd, the new debut full-length from minus the bear (which i’m listening to right now, which seems like it’s pretty damn fantastic), and the not-as-new-but-still-exciting cursive cd. mmm, rock music.

oh, and the reason i deserved three new cds was that our presentations both went swimmingly. we were the only group that managed to have any fun with a business school case competition and deliver an entertaining 12 minutes of recommendations. one of our powerpoint slides was titled, “low overhead: the best kind of ‘head,” for example. we’re so rebellious, but everyone loved us and was probably jealous because they wish they had the guts to actually make theirs fun. we rule. and we hate our class, so really it’s a recipe for shenanigans.

umm, last up before you hate me for my longwinded post. the song of the week is a mountain goats song you can get from their website or mine, for now, called no children, which i must have listened to at least ten times the first day i downloaded it and a few per day since then. i bought the cd now and have to judge it as a whole, but this track is outstanding i tell you. brilliant. listen up and listen often. so bitter and charming.

oh and by the way if you missed the victoria’s secret fashion show on tv tonight and you’re a guy then i’m sorry but you failed to see the most exciting hour of television you will ever see. holy christ in a g-string, that was fun to watch.

[now hearing this: minus the bear – highly refined pirates. you should have guessed by now i dig this band. but you should also look up their new cd and check out the track titles. they’re all pretty hilarious. “booyah achieved”? pure gold!]

sorry for the downtime. this weekend has been the busiest of the semester. i spent from 4-11pm on saturday working on a school project. yeah, it was that bad. be back on later, maybe tomorrow with more (e.g. the clash of the titans…).

today i saw a car with a pennsylvania license plate, and along the bottom it had their web address, www.state.pa.us. my question is this: why the hell would the state of pennsylvania feel the need to drive traffic to their website? especially in their own state, where most of those plates should theoretically be seen?

stupid pennsylvania.

as an addendum: it’s also funny how just when things look bright there always turns up a shard of glass sticking through your lighthearted day, and usually one you’re helpless to remove. but it’s funny in that way you hate and you only laugh so you don’t have to really think about it.

[now hearing this: engine down, who did a fine job opening for the d-plan last week. bravo gentlemen. i like their website too, very artsy.]

alright, it’s obvious to me that i’ve arrived at a point in the life of this webpage where it’s not getting the attention it used to. no, i’m not quitting and/or asking for sappy farewells. i like this and i don’t want to stop.

i do realize though what the issue is. there’s a pretty close correlation between happy/busy periods and blog neglect. when i’ve got lots to do, i don’t make time to write. and when i’m having a great day or feeling fine, i don’t feel the need to write. maybe this is all well and good and i should be glad for those times and enjoy them for what they are, and then return on those days of defeat to dump my sourness or loneliness or idle musings on this thing.

that doesn’t seem fair though. people read this and don’t get the complete picture of a person they might want. my mom even reads this sometimes; maybe she suspects i’m this world-weary eccentric who bounces between complaining about not having a girl and talking about books and video games (i’m not mom–there’s a whole WORLD of things you don’t know about…heh heh).

and as far as personal reasons for writing this, sure half of it is getting things off my chest. i could never keep a personal private journal because it seems pointless to me if no one ever gets to see it — i wouldn’t find it worthwhile. i do recognize the value in writing out your thoughts though to help you understand and cope with things better, and having it semi-public gives that extra little motivation to be articulate and entertaining at the same time that makes it more fun than a little notebook with hearts drawn on the front with a ballpoint.

the other half though should ideally be to have a sort of record of myself to reflect on, right? i could look back to the week of a big upset and reflect on how things have gone since then. but it’s going to be a poor timeline if it’s only a spiked record of days where i felt alone, finished a concert/movie/game/book, noticed something funny while walking driving or taking public transportation, or had to rant one more time about not liking my classes. that’s a pretty weakly developed character, and i’d prefer to think i’m a multidimensional guy. that’s why i can’t let myself neglect this just because this week i’m feeling tip top.

of course now i’ve gone on long enough to call it a day. but don’t worry about me: i’m feeling tip top.

[now hearing this: the20goto10 – demo from their (his?) website, because i happen to be loving all things post-impossibles so far. (can’t wait for slow reader at chain reaction next month — they’re opening for piebald! what a great idea.]

i get so excited by art that i really enjoy and connect with. there are so many people in the world that consider themselves artists or painters or poets, and out of the hundreds of thousands of those, how many of them have any similar slant on the world as i do? what are the odds that how they see and then turn around and present things will really say a single thing that means anything to me? i feel those odds are small. so when i see something with a style and a story and a sentiment that reaches me, i get really excited. and tonight i went to see the senior art show for three guys here at my school, one of whom i knew already, and i really felt inspired. the pieces were skillful and right in line with my tastes, and it gave me one of those thank heaven for artists moments.

too bad there’s no money in it, huh.

oh, that’s just a bit of business student sarcasm there, don’t worry.

[now hearing this: my morning jacket – at dawn]

big weekend. so much has gone on since i was last in class, it seems. like school is such a slight flicker in my big shiny life these days. it’s so much better that way too.

so i have to say, i really love when old friends visit from across the country. because when one person comes all that way, all the people who like her in the near vicinity gather together to cram as much fun as they can into her stay, and everyone benefits. so i spent a lot of time smiling this weekend, directly and indirectly because my dear friend emily came from illinois. also because of a free rx bandits show, a trip to roscoe’s chicken and waffles (drooling…), and so much more. oh, it was good. are you ever walking down the street with a small group of friends, just four bodies in the evening walking and talking, and then catch yourself thinking that yes, these people make your life better? yes, moments like these are the little instants of happiness you measure the rest against? it’s a great time to be in, and i was so pleased to be in it.

and that’s not all. i was up until 6am saturday night. i wasn’t alone. and i’m excited about that. good, good weekend.

too bad i had to semi-spoil a day off work by not making it to the airport on time to drop off my friend. it cut our amoeba trip short and made for a very stressful battle against los angeles traffic. she was uncertain that the airline was obligated to get you on another flight if you missed your original one, and thought she’d have to buy another ticket. she almost had me second-guessing myself in saying they put you on the next available plane, but luckily i was right, i didn’t have to cover any charges due to my irresponsibility, and she got on the next plane okay (i think…i guess i’ll hear from her later).

oh and i decided i do like my morning jacket after all, so i got their cd at amoeba since they didn’t have the cursive cd i wanted. an absolutely acceptable substitution. so hopefully is the song of the week, and i’m gonna make me a sammich.

happy hootin’ and hollerin’ veterens’ day. thank you veterans, for killing in the name of our country and/or giving away your life to the government’s greater scheme.

i’ve been so busy doing nothing it seemed like a shame to interrupt that to go ahead and read or write any blogs. i had a good thing going.

alright that’s not it. i actually did have some work to do this week for once. being a marketing major it was foreign and somewhat frightening, but i got through it. then it rained. it actually rained! it’s still raining right now. in southern california, there is water falling from the sky. it’s fantastic.

last night when it began, i knew i absolutely must go for a walk with a girl in the rain. there was no choice. you don’t get a chance to do that every day here. not even every month. and i hadn’t felt a rain drop in so long, it was a need, not just a whim. so i went ahead and did that and it was pretty damn satisfying. then i had hot cocoa too. splendid.

i’m going to wrap this up because i feel like writing well doesn’t seem to be happening right now. just thought i’d check in though. i’m going to spend the rainy night indoors, hopefully avoiding the college social scene again this weekend. it’s usually best that way.

i did put up a wish list though for anyone getting ready to do some early holiday shopping. i promise if you get me something i’ll get you something back.

[now hearing this: centaur – “wait for the sun” from in streams. it’s nice, and makes a good rain cd.]

i just slept in until 1:23pm on a sunday afternoon. i was in complete disbelief when i woke up and looked at my bedside clock — it had to be an 11 and i just wasn’t seeing straight. but oh no, all the other clocks agreed. i had slept well past the a.m. and into the midday. i’m reconciling that though with having had a great and somewhat exhausting weekend.

see, thursday we had a spectacular halloween party. and we know how to have a halloween party. try taking black plastic tarp and covering the walls and ceiling, then using blacklight paint to draw skulls and bats and other halloweenery over all the walls, and that’s what we’re talking about. none of that pumpkin decals on windows crap. (if you’d like to see the photos, click on the robot house button on the right and go to ‘robotic imagery’ — yes, we refer to our place as robot house). and lots of people came in really great costumes (also viewable in the photos is the costume winner, our roommate dustin). amazing how almost 200 dollars of beverage can be disposed of in a manner of about four hours, but i guess having over a hundred people come through makes it pretty feasible. i had a great time even though my costume — shirt and tie with fake-skin and fake-blood construced bullet hole in the temple, that being “an economist” — didn’t seem to impress or get a laugh out of more than 25 percent of the guests. they just don’t get my dark humor. no one understands me.

friday night i just hung out with some friends, went to dinner, then sat around here with them until about 3:30am when they decided they were too tired to go home and we ended up all crashing here in my room. four people in a full size bed, now that’s a good night. no, i did not sleep next to a guy. two of the four did make pancakes in the morning though so that was a nice bonus.

and last night, oh, sweet dismemberment plan. los angeles crowds are notoriously immovable at shows, so the level of ‘getting down’ in the crowd was not what it might have been, but i didn’t let that stop me; i had a blast. fantastic show. a couple of the new songs they played sounded pretty interesting too, so i’m looking forward to getting them recorded and cleaner sounding so i can make more sense of them.

notice that aside from our own party which was really great and full of friends and fun, i didn’t even need to go out this weekend to have a good time, and how much better that works out in the end. i mean, it was so good i had to sleep until the early afternoon to recuperate, so i’d call it a success. now i get to look forward to laundry and homework, but these are little necessities that aren’t worth moaning about. onward, ho.

[now hearing this: creepy ice-cream-truck looping ‘pop goes the weasel’. this guy comes to our street every freaking day and parks somewhere on the block for about 20 minutes, just waiting and playing that terrible, grating music…oh god why won’t it stop!]

i was reading some news articles today and of course i clicked on the one about how vice city has people all riled up about violence in video games, because i am a nerd. it’s always the same old stuff though, and not really a compelling argument. i got a nice laugh at the article’s closing though, from a guy from the national institute on media and the family named david walsh:

Walsh said he is concerned about how the game will affect kids’ perception of what’s normal in real life.

“It’s not so much the copy cat factor … but kids and teens are in the process of shaping their norms,” Walsh said. “When you kill a prostitute after having sex with her — that’s not something we want boys doing.”

and i agree. it’s just not fair to the prostitutes to be doing that sort of thing.

[now hearing this: an inner ticking that awaits the magical time of friday at 5pm]