I -- uh-ahh, I -- ah-I-I --

Sat, 26 May 2007 06:27:10 GMT

with the weather turning pleasant and parties abounding around campus, i've recently learned that i can make myself a gin and tonic and carry it with me while riding my bike. a solo cup fits perfectly – secure but not too tight – into the water bottle cage on my bike. there is a bit of spillage; ideally, i'd design some sort of lid. but the whole endeavor is surprisingly effective.

it just seems kind of sad that i'm graduating in two days, because i'll probably never be in another situation where it's socially acceptable to ride my bike around with a plastic cup of liquor.

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:37:29 GMT

I am fascinated by the way that evangelicals talk about the rapture, and not in the amused, condescending way that secular liberals usually might find this "fascinating." I've been cruising some apocalyptic Christian websites as a study break while I'm writing my thesis. Some of them are as crazy, and as smug and self-assured about their dogma, as you might think. But I have to respect the way that others argue their case.

One of these is at http://www.raptureready.com. The FAQs there are really interesting. They answer questions like "Will the Antichrist come out of the European Union?" based on Biblical readings. Their answer is that the Bible says that the Antichrist will come as the leader of a "revived Roman Empire," that the EU represents this revived Roman Empire, that this will happen under the rule of "ten kings." They predict that the EU will eventually find its representational system too cumbersome and delegate ten people to run the union.

Of course, I don't believe this stuff, but I have to respect the way they argue it. Drawing on textual support, extrapolating from presumably safe assumptions. I don't see how any English major couldn't respect it. In a way, all these guys are doing is the same thing we do: taking for granted that a book stands alone, its internal logic impervious to outside criticism, and then making arguments based on that internal structure.

I guess the point is that if I believe this thesis I'm writing has any integrity, I also have to believe that what these evangelical guys has some integrity. And at the end, though I don't buy it, I have to say they do a good job explaining why others might, at least.

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 23:10:22 GMT

I've been real angsty lately, and listening to Mark Kozelek and Red House Painters nonstop, and all signs point to a bloom of something repressed at age 16. It's kind of odd, but let's not underestimate how enjoyable it can be to feel self-righteous.

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 05:54:15 GMT

Upon looking at that second pic of Ann Coulter in my earlier post, I must admit one thing.

Considering her skin hangs off her ligaments, Ms. Coulter is rather stacked.

I'm just saying.

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 22:33:33 GMT

Ann Coulter is an abomination. She spews violent, ignorant, ugly, substanceless vitriol and still tries to claim the moral high ground as an arbiter of truth in our politically-correct society. She makes millions of dollars selling this stuff. Putting aside her occasional claims that it's all intentionally over the top, infotainment at its worst, it's still inexcusable even to pretend to condone 'opinions' like "we should kill all liberals."

But that's not what I hate most about her.

What I hate about Ann Coulter is that she is the "sexy" face of political commentary.

Ann Coulter is not an attractive woman.

She has an Adam's apple.

She has the bony death-bringing hands of a witch. I really think she would have been one of the first to be burned in Salem. She would probably condone the extermination of witches though. We'd be trying to build a fence around.. wherever it is witches come from. She'd be lobbying for a ten-billion dollar fence along the U.S.-Hell border.

Ann Coulter saddens me because she represents the confluence of two disappointing trends in America: political idiocy and a taste for 80 pound blonde women with male secondary sex characteristics. I know it's passe to hate on her but we can really do better. As a nation, we must demand attractive women to stand in as token celebrity mouthpieces for our moronic right-wing extremist political perspectives.

[Prom date from hell]

Wed, 17 May 2006 16:45:30 GMT

So many people were born right around my birthday. I think five or six of my fairly close friends have birthdays this week. For the last couple of years so many people have been dying around my birthday, too. My grandma died the day before my birthday freshman year. My aunt is dying of cancer this year. My next door neighbor growing up just died in a car accident. And Yamin's funeral is on my birthday. I'll probably still be out to lunch with my parents. I'm not complaining. How can you?

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 06:34:17 GMT

...that there are people "over there."

This certainly reminded me.

Hello, livejournal.

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 18:03:59 GMT

Yes, I haven't updated this in about four months.

Yes, a lot has happened and there are many things I could talk about.

But all I really want to say right now
is
what is the world coming to

when George W. Bushcan talk about Iraq and I AGREE WITH WHAT HE'S SAYING? And I RESPECT HIS VIEWPOINT?

Things truly have changed since I last set foot in the USofA, my friends.

I'm still in Ireland though, so, that's my excuse for not talking about it. Peace.

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 20:09:43 GMT

i'm leaving for ireland in...

5 days.

and i'm getting my preparations done very slowly.

i'll keep those of you who care on here up to date.

i bought a fotki account because i'm a marty poser and also i like the site.

http://dixiecupdrinking.fotki.com

there isn't much there now but if all goes as i hope i'll be uploading when i can from public labs.

there is always a good chance that this won't happen very regularly, however, but we'll just have to see.

anyway, i'll be getting a mailing address next week and probably a mobile phone for the period i'm there too, since i won't have any other phone access in my housing.

this shit's getting exciting.

also, i'll be at vassar probably wednesday, definitely thursday, until friday. so stock up on the JD and prepare to give me farewell hugs, kisses, and other love.

Tue, 09 Aug 2005 18:30:34 GMT

so i'm pretty sure i'm going bald, for real. i have always had a high hairline... but i buzzed my head again and it looks to me like it's receded at the sides even since the last time i cut it.

boo. time to get on propecia? i think it's possible to look okay and be bald, but to do that you have to be in perfect shape. so forget that!

oh well, tally it one in the "lifetime bachelorhood" category.

Mon, 08 Aug 2005 02:13:27 GMT

i remember one conan o'brian where the band played a zeppelin song while he segued from the monologue to his desk. i think it was "immigrant song." and conan afterwards starting making fun of something about it.. how they had the sax come in where the vocals would have started and how lame it sounded, maybe. but then he gave what was perhaps the most entirely accurate assessment of led zeppelin ever: "the lyrics are so stupid anyway. all those zeppelin songs start out sounding so badass but then he starts singing and it suddenly turns into a game of dungeons and dragons or something. 'we come from the land of the ice and snow and then gandolf struck the hobbit gremlin men and they danced in the forest.' it's so stupid. so i just try to ignore the words."

i'm paraphrasing, but i found that refreshing because the kids i've known who are into led zeppelin would kill me for ever saying that even though i've thought it many times.

Thu, 04 Aug 2005 04:27:47 GMT

this is maybe the most convoluted offer i have ever seen.

"it's that easy!"

what a deal.

there's more to say but there's been a bit of congestion between my brain and my mouth lately. or fingers, as it were.

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 03:54:43 GMT

i'm just gonna riff here for a while.

things i don't understand
a list for monday night.
featuring a little bit of formatting!

why my computer is really slow right now.
perhaps a lackluster start to a list, but a highly relevant topical one. really, why?! could it be due for some spyware removal? a little time off in the bahamas? a good defragmenting? a good spanking?

spelling.
really, i am a pretty good speller, but it takes a lot of effort on my part. i know i make it look easy but trust me, that is only the result of hours of hard work and endless seconds of repetition: "i before e except after.. or.. before.. ah, fuck." like, "removal?" (i typed it in the above entry.) maybe it's just because of my state of mind, but "removal" makes no sense to me whatsoever. why do you drop the "e" on "remove?" is that NECESSARY? "removal" without the "e" somehow looks dramatically truncated, like it lost a limb in vietnam and now won't shut the hell up about it to anyone who looks to be under the age of 45.

the stigma against drinking alone.
(...since i already brought up my state of mind.) come on, does it really make me a pathetic, antisocial person to have a couple (big) glasses of $7-a-gallon wine while i watch the daily show? i don't think that half of the best art in this world would exist if not for men (okay, probably women, too) drinking copious amounts of alcohol by themselves. for example, this livejournal entry!!

the hair on my arms.
it's thick and, dare i say it, luscious, up to my elbows, and then, poof! it's gone. nothing. smooth as the day i was born. how does this work? and where did the genes come from that made me so goddamn hairy?

the clitoris.
i mean.
come on.
what the fuck.
shit should come with a handbook.
not that it matters to me at the moment.

what makes you inexplicably look forward to seeing certain people a lot.
you coast along just barely making contact with hundreds of people and then suddenly there's one person who's pretty and a little tan but otherwise pretty normal but for some god-forsaken reason there's a hole in your day when she doesn't come to work and smirk at you.

what compels me to nearly end this entry with a vague, somewhat-dramatic item.
a desire to sound mysterious and deep, which is laughably counterproductive to posting in a FUCKING LIVEJOURNAL.

the stigma against livejournal.
welcome to the 21st century, people. if you're keeping a journal that other people can't read, you're just wasting everyone's time. especially mine.

there's a lot more that i don't understand. don't get me wrong. for example, why people like the yankees, why john stewart got a new set, why i can't manage to do my laundry until i'm out of socks. why the world is fucked up, why people can't get along. but that's all for now.

Sun, 10 Jul 2005 03:08:38 GMT

you know,

once upon a time,

i remember someone telling me how they resented a "therapist"

because she told them to notice when they went around all day
with their shoulders hunched.

but i think that's good advice from anyone.

i've gotta learn more about this lamontagne dude. i like his style!

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 04:40:10 GMT

re: canada's legalization of gay marriage...

"(This) is effectively exposing people of faith to persecution and prosecution ... I want to make it very clear today that this is the beginning of the formal fight against the definition of marriage," said Charles McVety, president of the Canada Family Action Coalition.

i am so supremely alienated by so many political "leaders" in this world.

if someone can even explain to me what that quote above MEANS i'll reconsider my decision to vote against every republican i can for the foreseeable future.

how.
on.
earth.
is.
granting.
rights.
to.
minorities.
exposing.
the.
majority.
to.
persecution.
?!?!?!?!?!

unless you consider, you know, eliminating state support of right-wing bigotry a form of persecution.

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 04:21:01 GMT

yeah, what he said.

just since i was on the topic earlier.

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 16:34:13 GMT

i just finished kavalier and clay.

anyone who knows me knows that i'm not the type to gush about these hot authors and books. it seems that the more i've heard about a book the harder i judge it, and for every one that i enjoy a lot (middlesex, a heartbreaking work...), there's one that really fails to win me over (extremely loud and incredibly close, for one).

but kavalier and clay leaves me speechless and, more tellingly, longing for more. that feeling of loss that accompanies getting to the last, half-empty page of a really good book, the sense that no matter how much more you know about its characters you're going to miss them -- this book triggered that sensation more strongly than any i've read lately. i suppose that after a 630 page novel, you're either going to be really sick of the people in it or really, really attached to them.

so i'm a chabon convert now, and i'm trying to decide what to tackle next: his wonder boys, or the more "constructive" stuff i have lined up: a couple histories of twentieth-century ireland, particularly northern ireland and the IRA, some faulkner, and the rest of a tale of two cities. i also have the kundera that shruti gave me for my birthday, a recommendation for trinity by "some jewish author" courtesy of michelle, and my own vow to read ulysses before going to UCD in the fall to contend with.

given the choice between social contact and books this summer... it seems pretty clear what's winning out.

Wed, 01 Jun 2005 00:51:15 GMT

i own a banjo as of about a week ago and i just bought some fingerpicks for it today.

the banjo is AWESOME. i've been playing it for the last two hours, and now can consistently play a couple of different rolls (very slowly) and even a couple of simple songs that have like three chords in them.

i love this shit. i really need to move out to a farm somewhere and till the fields during the day and then play the banjo on the porch all night. really, i'm not even kidding. that would be the best summer EVER.

Tue, 31 May 2005 22:09:09 GMT

it looks like i'll probably be working in a snack shack at nantasket beach for the summer. i haven't asked what they pay yet and kind of expect it to be terrible, but i'll probably work there anyway, because 1) they seem desperate for help right now and so it's easy, 2) i get to work at the beach even though it's basically indoors, and 3) it's the job that will make my dream of living an episode of "dawson's creek" the most plausible.

other than that, i finished "extremely loud and incredibly close" today, my first exposure to the infamous mr. jonathon safran foer, and a book that i have extremely mixed feelings about, which i'll probably muse over later.

also i think i'm done with the "birthday" cd i made for ms. maxwell from ga, nearly two months after her birthday. hi, em. i wonder how your life is. i don't know how i'm the same person i was back when our lives actually intersected with more than occasional frequency, but lo and behold, i have the same name and the same eyes and i remember things that couldn't have happened to anyone else.

i'm getting out of the hibernation phase of summer and into the part where i realize my need to affirm my own aliveness, so i'm going to start doing things to that end. eating, reading, drinking coffee, looking at shit on the internet, playing 15 games of ps2 football in a week, and watching conan and the daily show seem to have made precious little progress in clarifying my identity, and i'm beginning to panic a little bit in recognizing that my existence makes any difference to very few people at the moment.

france votes no on the EU constitution; student saves money

Tue, 31 May 2005 03:47:55 GMT

i don't really know what to make of the french no vote on the constitution, except of course that it's another example of that defiant french attitude that makes everyone either love them or hate them. but this little tidbit jumped out at me in the ny times article on it:

"The euro fell sharply on Monday as traders in the United States sold the currency a day after the French vote, slipping to a seven-month low of about $1.25 in late afternoon trading."

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

go netherlands! vote no! go britain! vote no! make the euro crash hard and stay low until september! so i can drink beer in ireland really cheap!

maybe i should change some money now.

Mon, 30 May 2005 05:09:26 GMT

i just woke my cat up by looking at him.

i don't have a CLUE how that works.

Sun, 29 May 2005 02:22:25 GMT

oh yeah, i forgot to do this. crocophant can now die satisfied.

Total volume of music files on my computer:
22.18 GB / 5124 songs, plus a few stragglers that aren't on iTunes at the moment.

The last CD I bought was:
jeez. wow. um. the drumline soundtrack in london, in january, i believe. i'm going to buy the new sufjan soon.

Song playing right now:
pixies - gigantic

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me: [i'm taking this to mean, lately.]
1. the arcade fire - rebellion (lies)
2. sufjan - everything, but particularly.. well, all of illinois. okay, if i have to pick, i'll say "jacksonville"
3. beulah - landslide baby
4. stevie ray vaughan - superstition
5. my morning jacket - steam engine

Five people to whom I'm passing the baton:
1. fakeplasticpeas
2. il_sussurro
3. measuredincm
4. sayitaintso12
5. ah_fuck_it

Sat, 28 May 2005 15:42:45 GMT

i was wrong, too; it's not even a game against the orioles. it's the angels. (the los angeles angels of anaheim, for those keeping track... wtf is the deal with that, anyway? wasn't this the same city that insisted on calling its hockey team the mighty ducks of anaheim or something, instead of just putting the city name first, like everyone else? that's disney for you, always just rocking the boat.. although i've heard that the city of anaheim is pretty pissed that its baseball team is now a "los angeles" team.)

who the hell cares about the ANGELS?

red sox nation is pulling a coup on my wallet

Sat, 28 May 2005 15:40:27 GMT

one huge negative about being in a true baseball town with a true (read: old) baseball park is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get decent tickets for decent games at a decent price. i was just thinking of things to do when carly comes to town next week and remembered talking about how she likes going to the giants games and stuff, so i thought, hey, what better way to visit boston than go to a game at fenway? so i checked and, of course, all the games next week are sold out through the legitimate vendors. the best option through ticketsplus.com looks like it would be $50 per ticket for standing room only.

g'damn.

granted, it is a sunday afternoon game against the first-place orioles. but i don't think it even matters much.

as much as i resented the atlanta braves for their fair-weather fans, it was nice to be able to walk up to the gate 10 minutes before first pitch and get a ticket for under $20. and i don't even want to think about what kind of seats $50 would get you a week in advance at turner field... probably lower-deck along the first base line or something, or outfield seats 20 rows back. certainly not standing room only, which probably has totally obstructed views behind a freaking support column or something.

oh! maybe the paw sox are in town.

Tue, 24 May 2005 18:29:15 GMT

my body hates me so much, and i don't blame it. i think i've been fighting off an illness for the last couple of weeks in the knowledge that when i got home i would have time to sleep and rest. of course, the sleeping five hours a night and the drinking that became a daily routine since i finished my work couldn't have helped.

so i feel pretty shitty, but i don't feel too bad about feeling shitty, all considered.

it was actually nicer here in march than it is right now. high of 49 today, rainy, windy, and cloudy. it won't get into the 60s until friday, and it's going to rain eight out of the next ten days.

WHERE IS MY SUMMER?!?!?!?@?!#$!

but it's okay, because today i am sleeping and watching bottle rocket.