Pizza for Dinner
Friday, October 31, 2003
 
Best. Story. Ever.
What could be better than a mob of Catholic school girls and a flasher? And on Halloween too. Check this out, I won't ruin it with any more comment.
|
Thursday, October 30, 2003
 
Lobster for Dinner!
I love lobster, I haven't had it in a long time but for some reason I thought about it tonight. Whenever I think about lobster I remember a specific incident in Provincetown, MA. First, some background for the uninitiated. Provincetown is at the tip of Cape Cod and is notorious for its GLBT community. My parents honeymooned there and took my brother and me there on vacation a number of times during my childhood. I enjoyed the trips quite a bit and having grown up going to the Cape I was not bothered by the openness many people/stores have about their sexuality. (I wandered into the wrong side of a store once ... interesting toys there. Actually, I don't think I was supposed to be in the store at all. Whoops.) However, since my parents apparently thought we could pluck knowledge out of their heads into our own, I never had the details of the gay community explained to me. This is only an issue when you see a transvestite dating a woman at a young age. My naivety could not compute. At any rate, the town has progressed far from the times when the Pilgrims landed there before moving to Plymouth rock and settling.
So, I'm about 11, maybe 12 and it's our last night of vacation. [We usually went on Columbus Day weekend and spent 3 or 4 days there. My parents' anniversary was in the middle of October so it was fitting. I feel an October wedding is indicative of the poor decisions that led to their divorce (It's not a guarantee, but really, why October? I guess the foliage makes for good pics.)] We're eating in a fairly upscale restaurant, although not so much that I'm dressed up a lot. Andy and I order lobster and sit across from our parents. The first crack I take is at the claw, of course. A juicy bit of lobster fat spurts onto the carpet a few feet away. I'm embarassed and laughing as I clean it up as discretely as I can manage. We get back to eating. I take another crack at the claw. Apparently, this time the lobster fat went over my shoulder, I didn't really see it. My parents, sitting across from me, had a great view. A view of lobster fat flying into the hair of the woman behind me. They start laughing and eventually tell us why. They don't tell her anything, neither does her companion sitting across from her. By the time I realize what's going on I'm laughing too hard to say anything. I feel horrible now, but it was hilarious at the time. I can't believe the staff didn't pick up on anything or that she didn't notice for an entire meal.
This story has gotten me an offer (only) of a lobster dinner in the hopes I would repeat my actions. I don't think I will, although these types of accidents have usually happened to me more often while eating out than eating in. Regardless, it might be a while before I have a chance to, I don't even want to think about what a lobster would cost out here in the off season.
|
Monday, October 27, 2003
 
Adult Swim
I have a free Brak t-shirt! Go adult swim halloween night at Leopold's.
|
 
Argh!
So this week is shaping up poorly. Pat's gone, I have a presentation this afternoon and a midterm tomorrow morning. Plus I have to write that abstract for the conference. This in itself isn't so much of a problem but I have to repeat a few experiments to verify the results. Zheng is also going to repeat one of my experiments from the beginning, although she spent a lot of time telling me (not our advisor) that she might not have time to finish it by the time Evan wants our abstracts. She also suggested I just give her the RNA I collected from my experiments and that she'll do the PCR with that. She's done this with other RNA, my doing the PCR is not a problem. I'm not sure why she spent so much time telling me she won't have time except to pass the buck, which is one of her favorite activities. Maybe she doesn't want me to publish results that conflict with her in vivo findings and is trying to stop me from doing an abstract.
Anyway, so I'm repeating one of my experiments already and I need to wait on cells to repeat another and I've got cells ready to repeat a third. The problem is that the one experiment I'm already repeating has been my project for a year. I was told not to serum starve my cells by Zheng (this could have been a miscommunication due to language problems and her not completely listening to me) and have reported that every time they ask me what exactly I did since then. She also told me that the media we were using which is suspected of having androgens in it does not and therefore won't interfere with our androgen treatment. I confirmed that some groups do not serum starve and some do not specify the dye-free media and so figured I was ok. Plus our control shows nice DHT dependence so the theory that the normal serum is carrying over its effect on the cells and that when we treat with DHT there is no effect because the cells still think they're in the media with serum isn't so likely. Despite that I did serum starve my cells this last time I treated them, just to see, and also because a reviewer would want us to do that, probably. I don't have all the data on that yet so I don't know if it makes a difference. But she's made this big to do about why I should have serum starved them. I understand the theory behind it but she told me a year ago it wouldn't make a difference in this case. Plus she and Evan have apparently not listened completely when I told them exactly what I did everytime I get results showing no variation. I have been repeating this for a year because they insist that the androgen could have an effect on our gene's production and that she saw one in the mice.
This pretty much encompasses my problems in the lab. Evan is really busy and not very familiar with what everyone is doing on a day to day basis. Zheng doesn't listen and doesn't answer my questions in full. Then when problems arise it's always someone else's fault. I'm new to this, if you tell me to do something I'm going to do it that way. If the literature doesn't completely negate what I'm told, I'm going to assume you know something I don't. Yeah, I've stopped listening to her a long time ago.
This must sound like I'm really stressed out but I'm ok, it's just really frustrating and not what I need when working on a deadline. Evan knows Zheng and I have problems working together and I hope that since no one in the lab likes her he realizes this isn't all my fault. He seems to be pleased with my effort and such, at least. I just hope that after all this time spent struggling and troubleshooting things will go smoother from now on. I've at least got somewhat of a basis of experience and another resource in the lab (new guy!) to turn to when I have problems. Ack, only two hours until class, got to go check on the lightcycler.
|
 
I have a gnome
He's more of an underpants gnome than a garden gnome, although thankfully he has not taken any of my underpants. I haven't actually seen him, so I'm reluctant to name him, but I'm thinking Chauncey, it sounds like a gnome name. Anyway, so my gnome has turned down the volume on my alarm clock so I never hear it and turned on the timer on my coffee maker when it's not set up to make coffee, so it just gets really hot. He also comes into the lab and steals our fine tip sharpies. I'm pretty sure he's also tickled me but that's not much of an accomplishment. This morning I thought he struck again because I woke up relatively well rested with sunlight in my room. Well, as much sunlight as Ann Arbor gets this time of year. However, my power had flickered around 7:15 am and I miraculously woke up at ten to 8 of my own free will. It has reminded me that I need to get a 9V battery for my alarm so this doesn't happen again. Unless Chauncey disconnects the battery.
|
Saturday, October 25, 2003
 
W00T!
My research has been going much smoother lately, with the standard hang ups I expected and not the ones I've had the past 10 months to a year. I'm not sure why things were so hard before, I'm guessing Zheng's influence and the fact that most of this was new to me. Anyway, so I was happy because it looks like I'll get a paper out of this in the not too distant future. But I'm also going to submit an abstract to the American Association for Cancer Research, which means I could go to Hawaii in January. Although I'll probably just go to Orlando in March. Either way I get to go to a conference, so I'm happy.

My advisor was also a little pissed when he found out Zheng was basically doing my thesis project, and not even doing it the way he wanted. There's a lot of work to be done on our protein but now he has to find a way to split it up while making sure I have enough for a thesis. I just realized earlier this week that she was doing a whole lot of work on this stuff. He was like, you must have been pissed, huh? A little, I figured he'd work things out. I'm a little sad though because Pat is leaving the lab. And three more people are leaving at the semester break or shortly after. At least there'll be a couple good people left for me to talk to.

Ok, time to do stuff.
|
Friday, October 24, 2003
 
Seriously, America
Are you trying to be bad parents? This week I heard of the parents of two boys who played GTA III, grabbed some shot guns, jumped in the car and went out shooting people who are suing the makers of the game for $300 million. THREE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS. Because their kids killed a bunch of people. Here's an idea, when your child is old enough to get his license yet has no problem killing people, why don't you apologize to the victims' families and take the blame for raising a murderer. Playing a GAME isn't going to turn a good little boy into a maniac.
This is good too, a girl in Sterling Heights gave a 14 yr old classmate a bj in science class. They were suspended. (First of all, only suspended? How about therapy or sex ed). His parents are suing because their son was a victim of harassment and had no legal right to stop the girl. Oh. My. God. Why don't you seriously punish your kid for getting a hummer IN CLASS at age 14.
Now, I like GTA and oral sex (I actually read the second article in Playboy), but neither are appropriate for children. Especially children whose parents apparently never cared enough about them to instill some values or morals. No, the parents will say they're good people who tried their hardest but for whatever reasons they weren't able to find the time/money to be there for their kids. Or they were but everyone else failed. It's the school's job to teach your kid, it's your job to raise them. Boo hoo, you both had to work so little Johnny sat in front of the TV most of his life. So do most parents, but I didn't turn out crazy because mine enforced 'rules' and 'punishments.' If these cases aren't laughed out of court I'm going to have serious doubts about the future of our country. My children, at least, will not be violent sluts, because I wouldn't have kids if I didn't want to raise healthy, productive people.
Rant over.
|
Thursday, October 23, 2003
 
Dream a Little Dream
So, I was falling asleep in class this morning and somehow got to wondering how blind people dream. I mean, if you're born blind you've never seen anything, so would there be a visual component to your dream? Do blind people have an altered visual component based on touch sensation?

I'm not sure what makes me think of random things like that. It goes back to my 100 Things, I sometimes think a few steps ahead of other people but they're not necessarily connections most people would make. By that I mean my thought process may be a little different, if I meant better I'd say it. (If my statements aren't dripping in sarcasm or obvious hyperbole (metric fuckton!) you can pretty much take them at face value.) This also means I sometimes combine words while writing if the last few letters of one word are the same as the first few of the next. I suppose this could be translated to my affinity for efficiency.

Oh, one month until my birthday! Well, a little less actually. I was born just before 6am, most babies are born in the am, so I guess I'm a month minus 7 hours from my birthday. I'm not sure how long my mom was in labor but she wasn't a big fan of her doctor at the time. He said it was too early for labor and she must have gas or something. Ha. My dad also insists the baby determines when it is born and I did all this to them on purpose, which actually isn't the case. My argument that I have taken a year of anatomy and physiology and specifically touched upon this topic was not enough to dissuade him. He's a big girl that way. The handy part of my birth was that my mom got out of Thanksgiving with the in-laws. It was also fairly amusing in that I was born not only before my mom's baby shower but also before she finished the la maze class. (There's a great photo of me next to a baby from a couple in the class, she was born late so there was about 2 months difference in our age despite approximately the same conception time. We're the same size but I'm more responsive and have some motor control while she's basically an adorable lump.) When my brother was impending her friends thought they'd be smart and move the shower up even earlier. Trick's on them, he was born 3 weeks early and she missed it again. Anyway, these stories are probably way more amusing to me so I'll stop now. It's better to hear them when you can see how adorable I was. (Disclaimer: My webpage is old and won't be updated as I think Yahoo now charges for that. When I get the initiative I'll set up a UofM page with more photos.)
|
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
 
Porn through the Generations
So, I get my dental work done at the dental school. This part has nothing to do with the subject line, don't worry. It's cheap but it takes 3 hours for a cleaning or filling or what have you. My wisdom teeth removal was actually the quickest procedure I've had there. Well, two weeks ago I had a cleaning, they found a cavity. Actually it wasn't a cavity but it would be if they let it go and it's really small, yada yada yada. I'm insulted, I haven't had cavities on my adult teeth until moving here. They're on the tooth and the neighboring tooth where my orthodontist tried sizing the back anchoring brackets and forced ones too small and too large into my mouth. I'm wondering if Dr. Satan inadvertently weakened areas of my tooth. It's convenient to blame him. Anyway, so last week my student accidentally took out one of the fillings from last year and had to redo it. But when I bit down part of it came out. They deemed it ok for me to wait until my next cleaning. Hah. I flossed it out Monday night. I get to go to the dentist again next Wednesday morning for a filling. They have to use this rubber dam thing to keep saliva out of the area. It's basically a metal ring around my teeth that expands up into a rubber cone that's held into place by metal supports periolously close to my eye. It is in fact the worst thing ever. Plus I apparently have weird nerves so to numb the bottom left of my jaw it takes 3 shots in each of 3 locations. At least last time it wore off quickly, last year I was numb for like 6 hours. Sorta made eating dinner difficult.

Anyway, so back to porn. I caught part of Tough Crowd after The Daily Show last night. There's an article in New York magazine about whether porn is hurting relationships in America. They all seemed to think it did, which I found a little surprising. I think people like Colin Quinn, Rich Vos and Greg Proops are familiar with porn and like it, and indeed they do, but they also see it as a detriment to a romantic relationship. The people on the street segment had the same tone and was well edited. The twentysomething guy saying he watches porn because his lady would never do any of those things (I don't know what porn he watches cause mine doesn't seem that unreasonable) was followed by a thirtysomething woman saying her man better get his fantasies out on porn because she's not doing any of that stuff. Follow up with a bunch of young guys saying porn is great but the gf doesn't like it and end with a twentysomething chick saying she can't lie and likes porn, laughing way too much. The laughing made me wonder whether she really liked porn or was just fooling around. Maybe she was just ashamed of admitting it.

I think porn is great, but I wouldn't have that discussion with my Granpa, so I can see why she might be embarrassed, should the wrong people watch the show. Of course my Granpa wouldn't be watching Colin Quinn's show. Most people I know have admitted to watching and liking porn, although I suspect the ladies that say they like it do so less than the men. With a few exceptions. I mean, you say you watch porn but don't like thongs or fancy underwear, I don't think you've explored your sexuality fully. Not that watching porn means you're comfortable with your self sexually or anything, but for women it might. I just found it odd that the generation before mine still sees porn as a vice. The women don't like porn and the men are ashamed of it in public because it means something different to their generation. I (and hopefully the rest of my generation) see it as fun and a potential creative bonding experience with a significant other. Or just a good laugh. I could be way off base but the people that comment on this site are essentially the exceptions mentioned above. Plus dudes, they always like porn.
|
Sunday, October 19, 2003
 
Goodnite Gracie's
I had an excellent time there. The drinks were extremely good and the band, the Terraplanes, was excellent. It's not so easy to have a conversation once the music starts, so I wouldn't recommend it as a first date location unless you get there before the band. Luckily I was with friends so there weren't any awkward moments. There also wasn't a whole lot of dancing space but some people made room. And we made number cards to rate them. The lady in the red sweater vest totally earned that 3.
Pancheros was a good after bar spot too. Even though I wasn't hungry. I have to be starving to finish one of their burritos, which are excellent, by the way. Oh, and to my future business partners I think we could totally make a metric ton of money on that product. We'll let you all in on the idea after the patent. :-)
|
 
Public Service Announcement
If you're going to wear a thong with side ties, I highly recommend double knotting. Especially with a skirt.
|
Friday, October 17, 2003
 
Yay! Yay! Boo.
So, my teams won our IM soccer finals tonight which means I now have two champion t-shirts! Except that I have three because there were extras and I wanted another. Other people did it too, after I set the trend. :-) I'm very happy about that though, I thought we played well tonight. It was a really good workout having two games back to back. There was some problem with the game before our second final though, one team didn't like the refing so they stuck around and argued for 15 minutes while we were trying to get our game started. It really got ridiculous quickly. Please, if you're going to argue with the ref take it off the field so I can play my game. IM soccer was a really good experience though, I think I'll play next season too.

The Red Sox did not have as good a night, however. I'm disappointed because they came very close to winning. I caught the end of the game while waiting for pizza and wings, it must have been really fun to watch live. I can't really get into baseball on TV but live it's a different story. I guess that means Yankees and Marlins in the World Series. I don't think I'll be paying close attention to that. If it were BoSox and Cubs, definitely (who wouldn't, really). If even one of those teams made it I would probably pay close attention to the games. Oh well, I'm sure the Yankees will win anyway. Monopolizing bastards.

Yeah, I should get to sleep now. I'm still high off the games but I need to be up early. Go Cattle!
|
Thursday, October 16, 2003
 
A Tribute
So my last entry was very Sanjay-esque, except that I had comments available. Seriously, put comments on your blog. I'll do it for you if you give me your password.

My soccer teams are doing well, we have back to back finals tonight. I'm excited, I really want those t-shirts. We should be able to get them since we have an awesome player and a handful of really good players. I, however, am happy if I get the ball away from someone or make a good pass to a teammate. My problem is that I'm not fast so I can't get the time to make my feet do all the cuts and feints they were taught. I also can rarely beat someone to the ball, at least a good someone. Irregardless, I'm going to do my best tonight. Cattle will kick some ass.

Things are also going rather well, comparatively, in lab. I'm getting results, although I'm not sure what they will tell us until I finish the whole set. And the new guy rocks, he's going to be helpful and stuff. Plus we're losing the lab tech that won't order anything so I can hopefully get stuff I need in a timely manner. Plus that centrifuge that's been broken for a year can get fixed. I guess I'm the only one that sees bits of the rotor coming off during a spin as a problem. My PI probably does too but he doesn't have time/effort to deal with that stuff on an individual basis. Which is probably why he just up and fired her, or whatever. Pat is getting really stressed out by Zheng though, she can't speak without being negative and it's really a problem for him since he's got a lot on his plate and is doing his best. I hope she finds a job soon but she's bringing in money and prestige so my PI probably won't ditch her. Except I'm fairly sure she's had a direct hand in steepening our learning curve and thus preventing me and Pat from bringing money in ourselves, so a net loss for the lab really. I've ignored her for a while now and that's been working so I'm going to stick with that.

I'm disappointed that the Cubs lost, but it's not that guy's fault. How many people would think about whether a ball is in play or not instead of how to get it before the dude sitting next to you. Anyway, it has saved us from the apocalypse so I suppose that's a good thing. I'm worried though, because I want the Red Sox to win Game 7 and the World Series. My granpa's a big fan though and I'm pretty sure that Boston winning the series would kill him. Actually the pennant might be enough. He's 87, I don't know baseball history well but I don't remember Boston ever getting to the World Series in my lifetime so I'm pretty sure he's just been holding on for this.

Yeah, so that's the update for now. Maybe I'll have more to say after I read the New York Times, they have good stories most days.
|
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
 
City Wok
I love Mongolian Barbecue!
|
Monday, October 13, 2003
 
Ed Dague
So, I was reading tequila mockingbird just now and I had to comment on it. First of all, I totally relate to the ring story. I think every lady has thought about the perfect ring for her (the girls in the lab and I even designed our own on a webpage this summer) and I plan on buying it for myself if no one else does. Simply because I want it. Along with the $15000 diamond necklace. What can I say, when it comes to jewelry I'm totally a girl.
But this entry is not about pretty jewelry. The comments about local news stations were totally hiliarious. Even the Detroit stations are crappy like that. Every night something is sensationalized beyond good taste and I'm sure journalistic responsibility. And we're all supposed to jump up and clap for channel 7 because they told some old lady's neighbor to take his dog in at night or make it stop barking. Go Devin Scillion, working for the people.
My favorite anchorman though is Ed Dague. Ed worked out of Albany and was an RPI grad. I love him. The Albany stations are even worse than the Detroit ones but this didn't seem to bother him too much. At least not more than Lydia Kulbida. Ed detested Lydia, his co-anchor. He had such contempt for her, it was great. Ed never bothered to keep up appearances or try to make the network look good. I was told, but unfortunately did not see, that around the Fourth of July someone messed up and went short on their segment. They told Ed to banter to make up some time. He tried talking with Lydia about the Revolutionary War, since Saratoga was a short drive away. Since neither of them knew much, he said "The next 40 seconds of silence has been brought to you by my ignorance." And just sat there. Beautiful. Unfortunately, Ed retired a few weeks back. I hope he shows up at alumni functions. There's nothing quite like a complete lack of pride in your work.
|
Saturday, October 11, 2003
 
Kill Bill
Kill Bill rocks. I mean it actually rocks, the soundtrack is fantastic. The fight scenes are great too. I totally want a samurai sword now. I'm not a big Uma Thurman fan but she was great in this movie, she was bad ass while being able to show weakness. She wasn't your typical female bad ass character, she was better developed. Lucy Liu was also fantastic. We all agreed she has many features that allow her to pull off the totally fucking crazy thing beautifully. So I still need to see a few other movies but I'm quite pleased that I got to see this, twice. And I have a Halloween costume idea, so I'll be all set for partying that night.

So I'm watching Dragnet right now. I really enjoyed that show last season but it changed its night and time so this is the first I've seen this season. Also Ethan Embry is no longer on the cast! I'm so disappointed, but the new guy is ok so far. He's a bit stiff but I'm sure that's supposed to be his character. I wonder if they explained the partner change or if they're just pretending it's still the same character.

Anyway, I've got some music to listen to and books to read.
|
Thursday, October 09, 2003
 
Chewbacca Defense
Today's entry on my previously mentioned calendar:

O.J. Simpson tells reporters, "For years I've been pretty sure I did not murder my wife. But if Johnnie's not 100% sure, maybe I better take another look at this." (2002)

Actually this reference to the juice and the one on the 26th are actually about O.J. Simspon.
|
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
 
Kathie Lee Gifford
From my Wil Wheaton dot Net t-shirt: "T-shirt made in a sweatshop-free environment in Los Angeles, CA."
|
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
 
Ripped from the Headlines
Does NBC actually think this works for people? Law and Order is one of the most popular shows on TV and often has a plot reminiscent of national stories. It's pretty easy to tell that if you've had any contact with the outside world. Also, if you're watching shows for pleasure, do you really want to be reminded that it's real? These commercials are a pleasure though compared to those for ER. I don't know what happened to that show, I don't even want to watch to find out.

Anyway, it was brought to my attention that I had compared Wil Wheaton to Dustin Diamond. I apologize for this, I did not mean to equate them. Clearly they both played geeks on TV and are geeks in real life but there are glaring differences. If Wil read that please accept my deepest apologies. And if Dustin Diamond reads this and is offended, well too bad. I enjoyed your show but I paid $10 for a photo of myself with you using my own camera so we're even.

So the 6 for $6 from Liberty Street video is almost wrapped up. Igby Goes Down and Secretary are great films. I highly recommend them. Glengarry Glen Ross is an interesting movie, I'm not exactly sure what to think of it. It's a small cast with some huge names---Pacino, Baldwin, Lemmon, Spacey. I love hanging out with friends where everyone laughs at someone's reference three words in because we all know it. This also comes in handy when watching movies about matricide and sadism and masochsim (red circle!).

Oh, Sanjay, we miss you. Put comments on your blog so I can harass you publically. I especially love today's entry.

I also watched an episode of Joe Schmo tonight. Quite the dichotomy from the movies. This show is great, if that dude makes the bug-eyed face any more often his face will freeze that way. I think he could be in on the joke and know it's fake though, things work out really well a lot of times. It could also just be really well rehearsed and planned.

Oh, the co-rec team is continuing in the soccer playoffs! We just squeaked by with some penalty kicks in OT due to some weird rules that bumped up the other team's score earlier in the game. I'm going to sue UofM about the dumb rules about girl involvement and in 3 years they'll send out a mass e-mail about the Supreme Court's decision in their favor after they rule against the 2-points for a girl goal/girls have to touch a throw-in/etc stuff. It was a good game though and I was energized for the rest of the night. We're going all the way, baby!
|
Monday, October 06, 2003
 
I Bent My Wookie
From my Despair calendar for this week:

Sunday---(2001) Albuquerque police reinforce occupational stereotypes by using an official police helicopter to make a late-night Krispy Kreme doughnut run.

Monday---(1962) Solomon Linda, the Zulu author of the song "Mbube," dies penniless. "The Tokens" will go on to collect millions in royalties for their use of his melody.

Tuesday---(1929) Respected economist Irving Fisher, believing America had entered a period of limitless prosperity, declares, "Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."

Saturday---(2002) A PETA activist and a man in a cow uniform protest about the hazards of milk at a grammar school. They are then surrounded by 100 kids who drench them in the hazaradous drink.
|
Sunday, October 05, 2003
 
John "Thunder" Cleese
The Good
Roger Dodger---An excellent film that I did not hear enough about before/while it was released. It's definitely not a big budget film but it does confirm my theory that the worst movies are advertised the most. A bit of an inverse relationship going on there. That and I could live in a black hole because for all I know mainstream media lauded this film after it was released and critics and indie types gave it a thumbs up.

Cherry Pie---I was talking about the food but the porn is pretty good too. The sounds quality is poor though.

Free Time---Well, buh. This gives me time to do stuff like play Grand Theft Auto, read, and bake.

Josh's party---I'm looking forward to Halloween. :-)

Jack Black---He made SNL good again. Maybe not Belushi/Akroyd good but better than the steaming pile it tends to be.


The Bad
Celebrity---Highly unsatisfying. At least Woody Allen got someone who looks less like an ant to play his character. I think it also sucked away a couple years of my life.

Whiskey shot---Seriously the worst tasting thing I've ever put in my mouth. By a long shot. I was drunk and that didn't even help enough.

John Fucking Navarre---He might not be the only weak link in Michigan football but as the QB he's not helping. If they keep losing away games they should have won I'm going to get upset. Let's not talk about 5 blocked punts in 3 weeks, shall we?

The Ugly
The fight between my neighbors. If I could hear them better I'd put up transcripts for you all. Actually file this under Way Too Funny.

|
Thursday, October 02, 2003
 
Collect them All!
I was telling my mom about the e-mail from Wil Wheaton and she said wow, first Screech then Wil, how many geeks are you going to get? So I jokingly said I'm going to start a geek collection. This might actually be fun. I have Dustin and Wil so far, and you could say I have Terry Pratchett too since I got his newest book signed by him last night. He's almost a geek-once-removed though. He's definitely geeky, you can tell by the way he speaks casually that he's the man that writes his books, but he's not a visual example of geek like Screech and Wesley.
Speaking of the Pratchett signing, I had never been to one of these before so I thought it would be just a line formed to get the book signed, whatever. He spoke for an hour. He took questions at the end but it was mostly anecdotes even though the Borders staff referred to it as a "reading." He didn't read from Monstrous Regiment but he did give something away. Nothing big though.
Anyway, the signing was a lot of fun both because of Pratchett who not only has a great sense of humor but also writes and thinks like I do. By this I mean there are many tangents and sidenotes. I'm sorta a multitasking conversationalist. Hmm, I said there were two things, yeah, so the other fun part was watching the people around me. It's been over a year since I spent much time at RPI and I almost forgot what it's like to be in a room full of complete geeks. Some people were fairly normal, geeky types but there was also the geek that non geeks think of when they hear the word geek. The person who hasn't showered recently, dudes with long hair chicks with short. The OD green purse with a peace sign sloppily duct taped on it. The inability to judge personal space, even in a crowd. And the laugh. You know the geek laugh. That choked off, loud sound that a handful of people in a crowded room will make when no one else is really laughing. It was great, it was like visiting a grandparent after being away for a long time and thinking, right, that's how this place smells. I make fun of these geeks but they're a bit of a homecoming for me. Although an hour of someone brushing my ass, elbowing me and breathing down my neck is a little much. Please, people, keep your kids under control. The first like 20 minutes I was in line was dominated by another pushy adolescent girl. Her mother begged her to shut up for five minutes so the other people in line wouldn't beat them up in the street afterward. She seriously wouldn't stop talking and babbling on and on. Topics include speculating that Pratchett was left handed (like her, someone apparently built this trait up in her mind as something to be proud of) because he was creative, spelling discworld, editing her inscription to be written by Pratchett, and telling her mother not to be silly people won't beat them up on the street. I'm pretty sure someone would have if there were anyone in line that could be described as "the physical type." But I did meet two ladies in line who were pretty cool. Tessa was getting the book signed as a surprise for her boyfriend who is attending college in Maryland. Pratchett got distracted and wrote "To (Name) " and forgot to sign it. It was pretty funny. It's almost a better story than getting the signature. Anyway, it was a good time and I'm looking forward to reading the book. My stack of books is getting pretty high though, especially with Dancing Barefoot on its way. I can't really complain about that though.
|
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
 
Hot Pants
Many thanks to Sanjay for getting me the discount from the B-vac (Bitchouac?) for my Diesel jeans. I got the once-over today from a non-icky guy walking down the hall (with another girl even). It made my day, especially since he was not only non-icky but under age 45 (by a lot).
|

Powered by Blogger