I'm at work now, the University Press building way down at the end of the Midway, which is about a 20-minute walk from campus. Outside the window it's snowing on the train tracks, and I'm thinking about how I have to return the videos (Mulholland Drive and SNL: Best of Dana Carvey) up on 53rd on the way home. I'd like to call home or call Kristen on the way back, but it'll probably be too cold to talk and my hat will likely cover my ears anyway. But I've got my fully charged iPod with me (which may be moot in 18 months, according to some people with dead iPod batteries), and I've had a hankering for some "Brick" lately. Ben Folds, he's the only one who can keep me warm.
This job is pretty much the sum of everything I was going to blog about. I'm working 16 hours a week, which breaks down to 4 hours Mon-Wed. and Friday afternoon from 1-5. It's a blessing and it's an obstacle. On the one hand I'm enjoying the large blocks of dronish tasks (copying, matting, lifting, taping, computing, and today, reorganizing the book jacket filing cabinet), but on the other hand, I'm missing the large blocks of time I had to do my homework. Tonight when I get home, I know I have to complete my chem lab, my chem pre-lab, my bio paper, and a complex Nietzsche reading; plus I'd like to have time to call my parents and Kristen, write some long over-due emails, make a card for my new baby cousin (Sophie Michelle Dir!), and catch a screening of Talk to Her. But I'm predicting that Pedro and personal correspondence will have to yield to work. I think I'm just going through a period of reorganizing my time management, but currently it feels like my view of the sun is being eclipsed by work-- I mean, am I supposed to be worried about whether or not I'll have time for my next meal?
All that aside, I do like losing myself in work. Work that I'm getting paid for, that is; I'm not too thrilled about this second quarter of chemistry. Neither do I have any kind of stimulation for my Hum class. Our discussions are very painful; I don't have anything against our professor, but he has a way of coming off as somewhat pretentious or condescending because he has a pseudo-British accent; or at least that's how the rest of my class feels. So there's this odd antagonism that's directed at our professor during discussion even though he's somewhat oblivious to it. And then there are all kinds of invisible alliances and enemies among us the students that people tend to just not talk. It's not a very friendly classroom when everyone hates everyone else.
So I thought I had a good time Saturday night, but then I read Daniel's blog and got sad. But actually, it was the most fun I've ever had staying on campus. After and hour of dancing to Julia's Eurotrash music, Cara and I discovered that both of us are lip-sync veterans and former champions, although I tend to think that our "Stayin' Alive" would've beaten her "Proud Mary." We ended up at a frat party (my first) which was in a house that I had previously mistaken for a delapidated textile mill. It turned out to be about as fun as being in a delapidated textile mill, too, without, you know, the fun of playing with sharp abandoned machinery. So the fun kinda died there, and maybe if I had been drinking it wouldn't have mattered, but then I wouldn't have had the chance to remember the sight of really gross people from my Hum class in compromising sexual positions. In retrospect, I wish we would've stopped by the University Theatre party: apparently it was broken up by the cops around 1:30 because the cast of Wintertime stripped to their skivvies.
Monday night at Rilo Kiley was very very excellent. Becky and I awarded merit badges to each other for having the gall to leave campus on a Monday night. After an hour and a half of train/bus-riding, we found the Abbey Pub in a nice little neighborhood that reminded me of suburbia, which is always an uncomfortably relieving sensation. The second opening bands looked like an emo Brady Brunch, and played about as well as you might expect: BLEEPIN' AWESOME! They played a cover of Outkast's "Hey Ya," with the gay guitarist yelling, "We're gonna break it down!!" in his most effeminite effort. Rilo Kiley, which were represented only by Blake and Jenny because it was an acoustic show, were great even though they played too many new songs and they kept having technical difficulties. For those of you unfamiliar, Rilo Kiley played that song that Jason put in at the beginning of "Something More," that movie where I fell off a bench and Laura was weird. Let's not kid ourselves, Laura. Anyhow, we got to talk to the girl who Becky had scoped out as the hottest lesbian at the concert just because she happened to mistake me for some bum who hadn't shown up for his first day of work that day; so I felt useful.
By the way, I'm applying for a job as a campus tour guide, I can't remember if I wrote this. Well I had two short interviews already, and they went really well. And apparently it's a paying job, which I didn't even know when I first put in my application. So I'll hear in February, and I think it would be a fun thing to do on the side, and that's all I've got to say about that.
Capsule recap: Golden Globes? They're a joke anyway, but Bill Murray made the awesomest speech of the night("Too often we forget our brothers on the other side of the aisle - the dramatic actors"). Oscar noms: could've used some more American Splendor. And honestly, I'm not too upset that Cold Mountain got shafted. I really liked it, but in retrospect, I don't like how it relied so heavily on its casting. And I don't want to hear any bad-mouthing ROTK-- it really has it over everything else this year, I'm not just saying that because of my minor Tolkien-obsession. Besides, they sat very politely through last year when Chicago kept winning. Democratic Primary: Yeah Kerry! Actually, I just like the fact that he was the underdog. I don't think that's a great foundation for making informed civic decisions, but then, what is?
OK, I have to end here. Hopefully I'll have time for more blogging this week, so keep checking back.
"And sometimes when you're on, you're really fuckin' on." -Rilo Kiley
This job is pretty much the sum of everything I was going to blog about. I'm working 16 hours a week, which breaks down to 4 hours Mon-Wed. and Friday afternoon from 1-5. It's a blessing and it's an obstacle. On the one hand I'm enjoying the large blocks of dronish tasks (copying, matting, lifting, taping, computing, and today, reorganizing the book jacket filing cabinet), but on the other hand, I'm missing the large blocks of time I had to do my homework. Tonight when I get home, I know I have to complete my chem lab, my chem pre-lab, my bio paper, and a complex Nietzsche reading; plus I'd like to have time to call my parents and Kristen, write some long over-due emails, make a card for my new baby cousin (Sophie Michelle Dir!), and catch a screening of Talk to Her. But I'm predicting that Pedro and personal correspondence will have to yield to work. I think I'm just going through a period of reorganizing my time management, but currently it feels like my view of the sun is being eclipsed by work-- I mean, am I supposed to be worried about whether or not I'll have time for my next meal?
All that aside, I do like losing myself in work. Work that I'm getting paid for, that is; I'm not too thrilled about this second quarter of chemistry. Neither do I have any kind of stimulation for my Hum class. Our discussions are very painful; I don't have anything against our professor, but he has a way of coming off as somewhat pretentious or condescending because he has a pseudo-British accent; or at least that's how the rest of my class feels. So there's this odd antagonism that's directed at our professor during discussion even though he's somewhat oblivious to it. And then there are all kinds of invisible alliances and enemies among us the students that people tend to just not talk. It's not a very friendly classroom when everyone hates everyone else.
So I thought I had a good time Saturday night, but then I read Daniel's blog and got sad. But actually, it was the most fun I've ever had staying on campus. After and hour of dancing to Julia's Eurotrash music, Cara and I discovered that both of us are lip-sync veterans and former champions, although I tend to think that our "Stayin' Alive" would've beaten her "Proud Mary." We ended up at a frat party (my first) which was in a house that I had previously mistaken for a delapidated textile mill. It turned out to be about as fun as being in a delapidated textile mill, too, without, you know, the fun of playing with sharp abandoned machinery. So the fun kinda died there, and maybe if I had been drinking it wouldn't have mattered, but then I wouldn't have had the chance to remember the sight of really gross people from my Hum class in compromising sexual positions. In retrospect, I wish we would've stopped by the University Theatre party: apparently it was broken up by the cops around 1:30 because the cast of Wintertime stripped to their skivvies.
Monday night at Rilo Kiley was very very excellent. Becky and I awarded merit badges to each other for having the gall to leave campus on a Monday night. After an hour and a half of train/bus-riding, we found the Abbey Pub in a nice little neighborhood that reminded me of suburbia, which is always an uncomfortably relieving sensation. The second opening bands looked like an emo Brady Brunch, and played about as well as you might expect: BLEEPIN' AWESOME! They played a cover of Outkast's "Hey Ya," with the gay guitarist yelling, "We're gonna break it down!!" in his most effeminite effort. Rilo Kiley, which were represented only by Blake and Jenny because it was an acoustic show, were great even though they played too many new songs and they kept having technical difficulties. For those of you unfamiliar, Rilo Kiley played that song that Jason put in at the beginning of "Something More," that movie where I fell off a bench and Laura was weird. Let's not kid ourselves, Laura. Anyhow, we got to talk to the girl who Becky had scoped out as the hottest lesbian at the concert just because she happened to mistake me for some bum who hadn't shown up for his first day of work that day; so I felt useful.
By the way, I'm applying for a job as a campus tour guide, I can't remember if I wrote this. Well I had two short interviews already, and they went really well. And apparently it's a paying job, which I didn't even know when I first put in my application. So I'll hear in February, and I think it would be a fun thing to do on the side, and that's all I've got to say about that.
Capsule recap: Golden Globes? They're a joke anyway, but Bill Murray made the awesomest speech of the night("Too often we forget our brothers on the other side of the aisle - the dramatic actors"). Oscar noms: could've used some more American Splendor. And honestly, I'm not too upset that Cold Mountain got shafted. I really liked it, but in retrospect, I don't like how it relied so heavily on its casting. And I don't want to hear any bad-mouthing ROTK-- it really has it over everything else this year, I'm not just saying that because of my minor Tolkien-obsession. Besides, they sat very politely through last year when Chicago kept winning. Democratic Primary: Yeah Kerry! Actually, I just like the fact that he was the underdog. I don't think that's a great foundation for making informed civic decisions, but then, what is?
OK, I have to end here. Hopefully I'll have time for more blogging this week, so keep checking back.
"And sometimes when you're on, you're really fuckin' on." -Rilo Kiley
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