two.points.collapsing

what a good weekend this is turning out to be. i mean, as we speak, my socks are being washed by some sophisticated modern machinery, and soon they’ll be all fresh and clean! that’s terrific.

no, but i really have had a great time since so far. met up with jen plus three yesterday afternoon (the plus three were really three of her friends, in this case) and had a smashing time. i picked up a cave in cd at amoeba for only five bucks, which was a great find i thought. afterward we got some tasty chinese food, then had some drinks while making fun of the olympics opening ceremony and how it would suck to live in any other country — outstanding. later we went to a cool little bar in hollywood for a few more. i had a fantastic time. jen & friends are good people. great even.

most importantly, i didn’t over-do it, because i’ve got a prevalentines party to put on here tonight, and i can’t be feeling bad going into that. no sir. this will be a night to match the last one, only with less olympics and more women, i’d like to think.

that’s right, look out — i’m on the prowl. who needs a valentine?

thank christ it’s friday. usually i don’t spend my whole week thinking “if i can just get through til the weekend…” because that’s not really my style. but this week wasn’t too great with our grand defeat, and this weekend should be pretty worthwhile, so i’m feeling good now that it’s time to get it going.

this is quite an interjection, but in my anthropology discussion we watched a video about mating from PBS, and our professor was in it for a little bit about halfway through. i don’t know if i’ve ever had that weird feeling of “hey, i hear that person talk in person all the time, and now she’s talking at me from a television.” it was weird because she sounded exactly the same. i don’t know why that made it weird though. what am i talking about here?

anyway, that’s all over now. it’s friday and time to go on an adventure. who wants to go for a fun friday afternoon los angeles extravaganza? hitting up amoeba for sure, grabbing a bite to eat, who knows what else. but does the fact that it’s with someone i’m only aware of at all because of this weblog make the whole thing nerdy and weird somehow? i don’t know; i’ll let you know.

but i don’t think so. (don’t worry, jen).

dammit.

dammit dammit dammit.

we didn’t win.

we gave a great presentation. in fact, we gave what we all agreed was probably the best presentation we’ve given in college so far. we spoke well, we had good ideas, we did a good job. afterward one of the andersen guys told us we did a great job. we felt great about it.

then we went to the reception downtown in a nice restaurant. free appetizers (very tasty) and drinks (my first social cocktail in a business suit — i felt so grown-up). they announced second place… not us. we thought we had it. they announced first place. also not us. dammit dammit dammit.

here’s the worst/best part though: right after they finished with the “you all did a good job, we saw a lot of excellent presentations today…” speech, one of the judges came over to us specifically to tell us we did a good job. there were three or four teams (out of 12) that they really had to split hairs over to pick a winner, and we were right in there. as a matter of fact, he thought our plan was the best. it’s just that we forgot to go into how our plan would affect the employees, and one of the guys was really looking for us to discuss that more. we had decided while we were putting it together not to stress that point because we thought it was such a simple plan that talking about that wouldn’t really add much to the presentation. dammit. then, of course, we talked to another guy later that said, yeah, you guys had highest scores across the board except for not mentioning how it would affect the people…dammit.

so is it better to know you at least almost won 1000 dollars and a free trip to illinois, or worse because you knew how close you were if only you had added that one extra point in your speech? i don’t know, i’m pretty frustrated and annoyed right now. i mean, the winners got their picture taken with one of those huge novelty cardboard checks. how many times in my life will i be that close to winning a big novelty check? probably very few, and we blew it by such a small detail.

dammit dammit dammit.

so…much…consulting…

but it’ll be worth it when we win tonight. or at least get a free dinner at a classy restaurant after the whole ordeal (with free drinks).

so in case i don’t get much of a chance to write anything until late tonight (post-victory-celebration), i thought i’d at least get on early and pop in a new song of the week. this one’s by cave in. my friend spencer, who usually keeps me well-informed as to good hardcore bands, told me to listen to these guys a while ago when he discovered their album jupiter. i listened to it and it was different and cool — and really good.

then the radio station picked up their new 2-song ep, which i played and also thought was great, so now i can’t stop listening to this song lift off. listening to it, i can’t really place it with any other specific genre of music i enjoy; it’s really just very well-played, well-arranged rock. and it gets me screaming. so there it is for you to enjoy too.

now i should prepare to act professional. this takes some doing, so i will see you tomorrow.

boy, missed another day there. i’m usually not this busy, is all, but this project is taking more time and energy than i thought, plus having to do some classwork for a change this week, and hopefully you can forgive my absence.

of course, i can’t write too much right now, because i have to go to KSCR in less than half an hour, and i haven’t gathered any cds yet. then immediately after it’s off for more consulting meetings. we are going to rock this competition.

i still want to touch on something else though. i’m getting very frustrated this week with the utter lack of certain physical attentions, however slight, and it’s steadily making me more and more restless. i’m assuming it’s in part because valentine’s day is looming ever nearer, as the last time i kissed a girl looms ever farther in the past, and general hopelessness in the dating department becomes more and more oppressive. it’s just not doing wonders for my mood this week. i really want this run of loneliness to end. and soon. perhaps the pre-valentines party we’re having this weekend (yes, you’re all invited) will help. i’m pretty bent on having some sort of valentine, even if it’s just the smallest gesture. but get my hopes up too much and next week will just be worse, so we better tread carefully here.

ah well, maybe it’s better that i’m so busy this week. less time to sit here and sigh wistfully while i listen to love songs.

off to radioland!

usually i’m good about not slacking off just because it’s the weekend. nothing against workday bloggers, i’m just not in that category normally. this time around i’ve just been busy i guess. i still managed to have a relaxed and pleasant weekend though. so you’re not left wondering…

friday night we watched godfather part II. not the first time i’ve seen it (second, third maybe?), but not a movie you can watch often, clocking in at 3 hours and 20 minutes. however, it is by far (i think) the best movie of inordinate length and an excellent thing to own on dvd. jesus that movie is amazing. sure, it felt like we were watching it for an entire day, but i didn’t mind. i would have sat there all day and watched it. afterward i couldn’t really do anything else even though it was only 10:30 or so, so we just sat around and played rock music loudly. good night.

saturday afternoon some associates and i worked on our presentation for the big consulting challenge we’re doing on wednesday. we get to pretend we’re management consultants and present a proposal. it’s actually pretty fulfilling because i’m working with a group of guys i really like and respect, we work well together, and oh yeah, we get to split 1000 dollars if we win, plus get a free trip to st. charles, illinois to compete nationally. so the stakes are high and we’re going to kick ass. i’ll let you know how it goes.

that night my roommates and i went over to a friend of ours’ who invited us to have dinner with her and some other girls, and we did, and it was delicious. then we played a crazy board game called cranium which is like the bastard son of every other party game ever invented all at the same time (pictionary, charades, name that tune, trivial pursuit, etc). we all had a really good time. it’s such a pleasure to hang out with fresh faces sometimes, and those girls are the tops. a night to remember and hopefully repeat in the near future.

today, well, homework and working on the consulting project more. and watching some super bowl, naturally, even though i don’t even like football. actually, i was assigned to watch the commercials for advertising class, so i was leaving the room during the football parts until i just gave in and sat down on the couch and hit the cheese ball and crackers…yum. i started watching when the score was rams 3, patriots 0, and since the other guys in the room were cheering for the rams (and i know nothing about football), i started cheering for “the blue team”, as i called them then and all through the game. then i gloated loudly that my team won despite the fact that i didn’t care at all. i have to say though that i thought early on in the game (while they were still losing) and still think that the patriots won because they’re called the patriots, and that the CIA rigged the game somehow. damn the man.

final note: britney spears is pretty attractive, but that 90 second pepsi commercial was the worst-sounding musical montage i’ve ever heard. luckily i wasn’t really listening.

oh my, i almost forgot to share my thursday afternoon adventures with you.

to begin; we saw the new todd solondz (welcome to the dollhouse) movie, storytelling, which although quite messed up as was expected, was still very very well done and thought-provoking. i enjoyed it thoroughly and would say if you like slightly disturbing/depressing films then check it out for sure. super cool.

to continue; after the movie we went to the virgin megastore on sunset (same complex as the most excellent laemmle theatre which is my preffered indie theatre in LA), and as we were leaving, we walked right past shannon doherty. damn, living in a city with movie and tv stars is weird. we walked past her as she was being helped by some clerk in the dvd secion, and i said, “hey was that shannon doherty?” to my friends. one of them went around the long way then looped back to get a subtle second look and confirmed. the voice was also very distinguishable. so it was really her. and you know? she’s really short. i don’t think she would have come up to my shoulder, and i’m only of average height myself. also: famous people don’t seem nearly as hot when you see them in normal-mode, i’ve noticed. it makes you feel a little better that you won’t ever get to sleep with them, doesn’t it?

and to conclude; i’m still thinking about that girl from advertising class. *coughpatheticcough*.

(see post from last night which was really only a few hours ago because this is thursday night not friday morning. gotcha.)

i think i have a thing for cute girls with cute hats.

at my (*ahem*, our) birthday party last weekend, i was talking to this one really cute girl with a hat for a large portion of the night, and the hat was a big part of why she seemed so cute. but for some reason she didn’t bite. and she left while i was, uh, cleaning out my insides. so that came to nothing but she was still very cute.

now, there’s a girl in my thursday night advertising class that i’ve got it for pretty badly. i think she’s so perfect looking to my tastes. she’s really cute, but really…well, sort of dark, i guess. not like dark-skinned; dark like…troubled. (sigh). and she happens to always wear a knitted stocking cap to class that sure doesn’t make her any less cute. i keep imagining this conversation happening after class as a means to begin some sort of speaking relationship:

boy: hey, what’s your name?

girl: [tells me her name in a tone that says “who are you and why are you asking?”]

boy: oh, hi [girl’s name]. (pause for effect). i like your hat.

girl: (nervous but slightly flattered and interested) umm, thanks…

boy: (walks alongside her for a second silently, then) well, see you next week [girl’s name again].

girl: (puzzled, charmed, smiling) okay, bye…

boy:(skates away on skateboard)

for some reason i feel like that would be all it took to get things going. but, of course, i’m too shy to even do that, and will continue meekly trying to catch her eye during class.

god i’m terrible at this stuff. perhaps i should build a robot girlfriend instead — it may be easier.

uncontested quote of the day (or night, really):

i’m in the kitchen getting some popcorn, two of my roommates are in front of me doing their crazy engineer’s math, and the fourth roommate, from the depths of his room, yells/whines with anger and frustration:

“god, this homework is so easy! . . .(pause) . . . CHALLENGE ME!”

it was the pleading part at the end that made me crack up enough to have it bear recording. poor intelligent dustin, having nowhere to turn.

i feel like my musical attention span isn’t lasting a whole week anymore, because the song of the week is becoming the song of three or four days and i’m picking a new song of the week right after i put up a new one. for example, i’ve had standing on the edge of summer by thursday in my head since sometime last week but to be fair i had to wait until today to share it. and i already have next week picked because, well, i’m an addict.

(sidenote: hey look, thursday’s website is fullcollapse.com. how about that.)

anyway, this song has me by the throat, if only because of the last 50 seconds. that’s some good rocking right there. one of those songs that made me wish i was on a stage with a guitar just so i could fling myself recklessly about while i slammed down the chords to show everyone how it made me feel to hear this music. sitting here in my desk chair playing air guitar or pounding my fists on the desk is great and all, but maybe not quite the same. anyway, there it is slapped up at your left ’til next wednesday. enjoy your day.