It's a new dawn, it's a new day

And more importantly, it's a new year. 2010. The start of a new decade, the end of the old. 2009 is behind, 2010 ahead.

It's going to be a good year. Oh yes. That's my resolution: Make 2010 a good year. That's the extent of it. How about you?

Exam Fun

Learning about photosynthesis for probably the fourth time in as many years. It's still not too much fun. Also enzyme kinetics, which are even less fun. Oh, and there's an exam in nine hours. So that's fun...

Thank G-d for Thanksgiving. This year, I'm thankful for a vacation. Taking four or five days to hide in a warm bed with history books and American Gods. That's basically going to be my Thanksgiving break. And there is nothing wrong with that.

The hiatus temporarily ends

And I post again. A few updates on life in general:

1.) I am done with extracurriculars for the semester. BMR performed; Macbeth was staged; Chorale sang. I am now free of obligations most evenings. Which is glorious.

2.) This appears to be the semester when things start to go right. Knock on wood...but I have A's in every class at the moment. Which is also glorious.

3.) Having free time, I have begun reading for pleasure again. Right now I'm making my way through "Citizens of London" and "The Magicians." I read Michael Chabon's new book, "Manhood for Amateurs" at work over the past two weeks, and I've started Terry Pratchett's new book, "Unseen Academicals." How that man can pump out a quality book every year and a half or so is beyond me.

4.) Life, in short, is pretty good right now. Chronic frustrations occasionally crop up, but over all things are good. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, and shortly after that, break.

5.) Speaking of break, it's close to winter-like here. We had our first snowfall last week - two inches that stayed for about a day and a half before melting. Now we're being tortured with a few days of 60 degree weather, before we inevitably plunge into single digits.

6.) But I'll be nice and warm this winter, since I'll be spending January in a microbiology research lab. Happiness is two kinds of agar.

7.) I think that's about it. More as I remember it.

So sue me

New Avett Brothers album came out the other day; I think it's great. Other reviews are good as well.

It's nice to see them get some mainstream recognition, even as I resort to being an indie snob (I liked them BEFORE they were big).

In other news...I was reelected to the student government association, this time as dorm president of West Quad. It was a close race. I auditioned for and got a smallish role (Ross) in Macbeth, which will be performed the fourth weekend of October (the 23 and 24). BMR is chugging along as always; Chorale features a new director and an interesting new direction.

That's about it.

Oh, and I cut my hair. And when I say this, I mean REALLY cut it. Like this:


So yeah. Anyway, just getting that picture up took 20 minutes. Stupid old camera and stupid lack of drivers. Good thing I keep a backup Yahoo account around for spammers.

School is Fun Now

All through high school, classes were something I usually regarded with apathy. I was going to learn regardless, but I wasn't necessarily going to enjoy it. Now, though, I look forward to my classes. Not only am I going to learn something, but I'm going to enjoy learning it. Take physics. In high school, physics sucked. I'm not naming any specific reasons, but take my word for it. In college, physics is pretty awesome. The professor is enthusiastic, and the class pays attention. No card games are involved.

After a few days of classes, I'm enjoying being back on campus. It's odd that a good chunk of my friends have graduated, but I'm dealing. I've taken a part in a week-long production of Grease, as Sonny (beg pardon if you don't know who that is; I didn't either, having never seen the play or the movie). Suffice to say that I'm not John Travolta (or Olivia Newton-John).

A friend is directing a production of Macbeth this fall that I may try out for as well. As always, I will be doing BMR; I will be running for dorm president next week. I'm working for the bookstore and for the school radio station this year, as music director for blues, country, gospel and soul. I now receive CDs from less well known artists with personal notes enclosed.

On to some less related issues...

iTunes has introduced "Genius Mixes," which as far as I can tell is an attempt to order shuffle by genre. Which is unfortunate, since iTunes assigns genres fairly inaccurately.

Enough for now. I'm happy enough listening to the Beatles sing "Sie Liebt Dich."

Summer winds down

Finished working today. This marks the first summer I have not worked two jobs. It also marks the first summer I wasn't making minimum wage. I'm moving up in the world!

I now have until September 3rd before I head back to Maine; classes start September 9th. Plans are not concrete, but do include a trip to Chicago for the last four days of August. Go Megabus!

The usual bitching about my fantasy squad: hitting is on fire; my pitching staff is having a meltdown. Which is frustrating, considering the quality of the pitchers I have. So it should turn around...hopefully. I'm not excited about a third-place finish.

For the next week, before heading to Chi-town, I am planning on doing a lot of reading, and a lot of sleeping. Also some general hanging out, and definitely hitting Jungle Jim's before leaving. Once I get inside, I can still forget that the outside is horribly like a strip mall.

I have far too many books to read. I finished "Fool," the latest from Christopher Moore. If you haven't read it, and enjoy King Lear, read it. If not, pick up "The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal." It's hilarious. Next on the agenda is "Shadow and Light," a noir mystery set in Weimar Berlin. One of the characters is Fritz Lang. Need I say more?

I'm also perpetuating my love of war histories with "The Day of Battle," the second of Rick Atkinson's fantastic trilogy about the North African/European theater of World War II. This one's about the battles for Sicily and Italy, and is a fascinating read. To me, at least.

I also plan on rereading Italo Calvino's "If on a winter's night a traveler," because it's a great read. Just sayin'.

Anyway, that's it from me. Enjoy some music, on me.

Happiness Measured Through...Bloggers?

It's true. A new metric has been developed that analyzes blogs (as well as song lyrics and speeches, such as presidential State of the Union addresses) to determine the average mood of the nation. Read about it here.

Interesting things to take away:

Teenagers are the most unhappy bloggers, according to the study, using negative words like "mad" and "fat."

Michael Jackson has positive lyrics.

Notable days of depression include the fifth anniversary of 9/11 and June 25, or the day MJ died. Days of higher than average happiness include Christmas and Valentine's Day (although both have negative words associated with them).

It's interesting, at least.

Wait a minute

It's August? I don't remember approving that. There are now three weeks of work left, and a month between now and my flight back to Maine.

In other, tangential news, my fantasy baseball team is struggling to overcome third place malaise. I have no points from either saves or stolen bases, and I'm not likely to get any. My hitters lead the league in RBI, runs and homeruns, which is a constant surprise to me (second in batting average). My pitching staff, normally solid each year, leads in wins but has of late taken hits to ERA and WHIP. I've got a nifty 73 points usually, but the teams ahead of me keep flirting with 80 points. I was in first back in June for a bit, but it didn't last. Trying to trade outfielders (I'm overstocked) for starting pitching with low ERA and WHIP, but I don't know if that'll work. Anyway...

Got a shortwave radio for my birthday. It's pretty awesome (see the picture above). So far I've picked up broadcasts from Cuba, Venezuela, China, Taiwan, and Romania, to name a few. Most have English broadcasts, so I'm not left guessing. Apparently the BBC doesn't broadcast to North America via shortwave anymore. I'm disappointed.

That's about it for now. I'm still hoping that the government can turn out decent healthcare reform, but pessimism is slowly creeping up on that hope. More later.

It's My Birthday

On this day, I transcend being a teenager and enter my third decade of life. Odd how I don't feel any more mature.

Incidentally, on the 20th, when the rest of the world (or the US, at least) was celebrating the anniversary of the moon landing, I was commemorating my Bar Mitzvah, seven years ago. Good times.

Enjoy some music.

And the winner is...

I have found my replacement for Seeqpod. It won't serve the searching function, but it will give me a chance to hear all sorts of new music. And I can download that music. So I'll stop pining for Seeqpod (momentarily), and give this a try. And possibly create some of my own mixes.

I swear I'm alive

I kind of forgot about this for, what, two or three months? Oops. Well, a quick mid-summer update.

Working for CDC/NIOSH down on Columbia Parkway. Fun, interesting, and a desk job. Getting used to sitting still for long periods of time. And not having kittens around. Also enjoying not working two jobs for the first time ever.

Halfway done with college. Not thinking about it. Not thinking about it. Moving on...

Attempts to avoid boredom this summer are uniformly unsuccessful. Actually find myself missing school, which is a phenomenon I am thoroughly uncomfortable with.

Read "Nation," my first new Terry Pratchett read in quite a while. It was good. I also finished it in an afternoon. Oops. "Tomato Rhapsody," by Adam Schell, is entertainingly Shakespearean, and a good read in general.

Saw "Up," thought it was great, although sad at parts. Trying to watch through Firefly by the end of the summer, while also not finishing the series in two days. About halfway through now.

And that's about it. Family goes on vacation without me in two weeks, which is fine by me.

More when events merit (read: when back at school).

In which I pass judgement

Saw Star Trek last night. Loved it. Sat there for the majority of the film with a goofy grin on my face, just enjoying the movie. Unbelievable. All the inside jokes were there, and even the Vulcan nerve pinch makes an appearance. Fan-freaking-tastic.

Seeing a AA baseball game tonight in Portland. Had my last classes this morning. Writing one last paper due at four pm tomorrow, then three finals. Then DONE. For now, working at the bookstore. Soon, though, I will be free. Free!

It's that time again

Yes, it's time now for another long (maybe) stream of consciousness from me to you, written in the early morning. I'd like to blame being up on something other than sheer stupidity, but I can't. Not even this Pomegranate Blue juice. Which is ridiculously good. I cringed a bit at the price (over 2 bucks for a 17 oz bottle), but once in a while I could treat myself to this. But anyway.

Right now I'm writing out index cards for a presentation on rheumatoid arthritis in Immunology tomorrow. I get to talk in front of a (semi-)attentive audience? Sounds good to me. Toyed with the idea of dressing up, but a) it's a group thing, and I don't want to do that to them, and b) saw too many thesis presentations this past week to actually want to dress up for a presentation of my own. So yeah. Time is limited, unfortunately, so my tangents will be too. Debate talents, don't fail me now!

And moving on...I've been fanatically checking my fantasy baseball team. With good results. I'm first in the league, with a damned good pitching staff and a batting lineup that is improving after a pretty cold start. I'm lacking in saves and stolen bases, but I'm in fourth or better in everything else. Traded Yovani Gallardo for Kerry Wood, but no regrets: I just picked up Phil Hughes and Carlos Zambrano, sacrificing Manny Corpas and Jayson Werth. I realized a short time ago that three of my hitters were Phillies, which I became uncomfortable with. So that's going well. It's early yet, but there are good signs.

Chorale concerts this weekend wiped me out. My voice has been absolutely shot every morning for the past few days, which worries me a bit for presenting tomorrow at nine. Ah well. Five minutes of talking shouldn't be too bad. I'll try not to growl too much.

Just noticed that there's a quote on the inside of the label of the juice bottle: "Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them," from Eeyore. The bottle goes on: "from Winnie the Pooh." As opposed to Eeyore from...I don't know...Mars? Huh. Not sure if it's an equalizer to compete with Snapple's facts. Which, incidentally, fuck with your head. Excuse the language. But they do.

The Ben Folds concert? Awesome. So worth it. Various other words of praise for Ben Folds. I've had Annie Waits stuck in my head ever since.

Organic chemistry exam last Friday was interesting. Getting it back in about six hours, I suppose, since the professor is scarily fast at grading them. I was the first one done, in about a half hour, which earned me some glares from the rest of the class. Seemed pretty simple, since it was basic synthesis of carbon compounds...but of course nothing in o-chem is actually simple. No multiple choice, which made me very glad, since I regularly lose a letter grade on the first page of the exam due to multiple choice. So yeah.

Last week of classes starts in under six hours. I can't freaking believe it. I'm going to be a junior in four months. THAT SCARES ME. I like being in college. I enjoy being able to do just about anything I want to, short of illegality (and sometimes beyond). Oops, said too much. I like being on first name basis with professors, and having the opportunity to work in lab. I'm going to share a room for the first time in my life next year, and I'm going to love it. I can be up at odd hours of the night, blogging because that's what I do when I'm up at those hours, and no one will come bang on my door to tell me to go to bed. Hell, I can (and do) cut my own hair in the bathroom mirror. And that's not going to last forever. It's half over. But there's a positive side to this reminder: it's time to work harder, enjoy it more. Live college life to the fullest (with the caveat of avoiding the vomiting in bathrooms aspect).

So there's that as well. It is now 2:40 in the morning. Hm. Little Mermaid Broadway music just came on on iTunes. Got Lion King on there too...all the other Broadway music is sequestered on Media Player. Mostly the iTunes is Beatles, Wilco, and a lot of other pretentious indie music. I've had my window open since the weather got warm, and I was considering blasting music out it the other day, but decided against it due to my lack of popular music. Although I did end up blasting Battle Without Honor or Humanity. Just for kicks.

Going to Portland Friday to see the Seadogs play...I feel like I've mentioned this already, but whatever. And of course Star Trek on Thursday. If I remember correctly, it's a seven pm showing, so there'll be no midnight shenanigans this time. Like Watchmen, when we drove over an hour through rural Maine in a snowstorm to get to and from a theater showing the damn thing. Star Trek will be either a good movie, or a bad movie with a satisfyingly large amount of special effects. Either way. Gotta be better than the damn Wolverine movie, right?

EDIT: It is now 4. Got distracted. Realized I need sleep, even if it is only a catnap. Will publish this, finish index cards. Sleep. Class. Brand New Day.

I did promise (Sort of)

Going to see Ben Folds at U Maine Orono tomorrow. Should be a good show. Basically, I can't wait to hear songs from his latest album live. Next week I may be going to see The Thermals in Portland, but I'm not sure yet. Definitely going to see a SeaDogs game (AA baseball FTW) next Friday. School is almost over, which is freaking me out. In between now and next Friday, which is the last day of classes, I have an O-chem exam, a Roman History paper, an Immunology presentation, an O-chem lab report and a Roman Myth and Legends test. Not to mention two Chorale concerts, a student government double meeting (both at the same time!), and various other little things to be taken care of (for instance, packing all my crap up and schlepping it to Portland).

On the bright side, the summer is looking pretty solid. I have a job all lined up (assuming I ever hear from HR in Atlanta), my evenings and weekends will finally be free of worry, and most importantly I won't be working for WalMart this summer. I have a great room with a great roommate to look forward to next year, and assuming I get the classes I want (two of them are overbooked!), a pretty good schedule. Not only that, but I can (have to, actually, because of school work-study rules) cut down on my hours at the campus bookstore, since I got hired as a music director at the radio station. Now I get paid to listen to country and folk music and write blurbs for it!

Listening to Ben Folds to get in the mood for the concert, and wondering what he'll do about "You Don't Know Me," since Regina Spektor is such a big part of the song. Hm...anyway, bed for now. More later.

Much, much later...

Spring break was marvelous, and I'm going to use recovering from it as an excuse for not blogging for about a month. Honestly, though, my routine has been thrown off lately. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I've started using Google Chrome interchangeably with Firefox. I haven't personalized Chrome to the extent that I have Firefox - it has none of my RSS feeds, bookmarks, etc...which means that I've fallen out of the habits that Firefox kept me in line with...checking RSS feeds chief among those habits. That may say something to the non-necessary nature of these habits, but I honestly do feel a little guilty when I realize that I haven't checked my RSS feeds...I'm sure that using Chrome constantly would free me of a lot of my webcomics, but because I still rely on Firefox for much of my browsing, I still check them fairly often. Other habits, however, such as blogging, have suffered more.

Nevertheless, it is late in the night, and I am caffeinated and writing a paper for Immunology, so I return to this key habit. Updates, both big and small: there is an alarmingly short time between now and the end of school. Classes are done May 8th; between now and then I have exams, presentations and performances, but before you and I know it I'll be back in Cincinnati. I've obtained a summer job which promises to not only be interesting and engaging, but also will pay well...and given my history with jobs and salaries, I'm quite happy about it. I got a raise at the campus bookstore as well this year, and will get another one in the fall, which enables me to do things like buy a new baseball glove. I splurged a little bit, but it was worth it; I now have a brand new Rawlings glove that will probably be my glove until I hand it off to a child, possibly my own. Not that I have any real plans for that, it's just an expression of how I think that this is probably the last baseball glove I will buy myself. It's also the first, but that doesn't matter as much.

I saw Vampire Weekend in concert over the past weekend, and it was a free outdoor concert. It was wonderful. I am looking forward to four things musical this summer: an Avett Brothers concert and new CD, and a Wilco concert and new CD. Exciting times.

The stream of consciousness will continue (in this post) after I finish graphing some ELISA results. Be back soon.

Okay, I lied. Sorry, but I checked my main RSS feeds (if you're interested, they're IDTMI and You Heard me!), and from there I followed links to the dictionary.com daily crossword puzzle. It uses the same engine as the LA Times online crossword puzzle, which I do daily. I might add this to my daily routine of crosswords: NYT and LAT, and occasionally the Globe. In the past year and a half or so I've progressed from a sad fellow who could barely handle a Monday puzzle to become a person who can often manage the Thursday puzzle, and every so often a Friday puzzle too. Saturday and Sunday are mysteries to me, since I can't get free copies of the Times then, but I do fairly well on the LAT puzzles on the weekend. Just another part of my day: wake up, go to class, get paper and do puzzle. Sometimes (Tuesdays and Thursdays) it's wake up, get paper, go to work, go to class, do puzzle. Not during the actual class, of course, just before and after.

And now I really will do some work. If I'm still awake when I'm done, I'll return. This is a habit that I've missed: late night stream of consciousness logorrhea.

Well, I'm done with the Immunology, at least. It's going to be a rough week, what with BMR being in hell week (performances this Thursday, Friday and Saturday) and an organic chemistry lab report to write up still...along with various other things.

Course selection for the fall opens up later this morning, and I'm basically clear on what I'll be taking: Advanced Immunology, Physics, Plant Physiology and Greek History. For the first time in a year I'll have afternoons free, even if it comes at the expense of starting at 9:30 in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays (Greek History) rather than at 11 (Advanced Immuno). It should be a fun semester. And now I'm going to bed, I swear. Alarm goes off in five and a half hours. Hooray for sleep deprivation...after all, it is college. This is the kind of thing that causes me to wonder why a t-test is showing my results as non-significant even when they clearly are, only to realize a half hour later that the t-test is showing a significant difference, and that I'm just ignoring a zero in the decimal. That kind of fun stuff. Which is why I'll be carefully reading over my paper before lunch tomorrow, just to make sure that none of it slipped through and made it into the paper.

BED! I swear. No more music, no more ranting, no more Facebook. Just me and my pillow, and the possibility of switching on the lamp and reading until I pass out. And maybe I'll post again before a month passes.

Time is marching on

The most alarming thing about the beginning of the week is not only that it's the beginning of a new week of class and lab and work, but that it's already the beginning of a new week. What happened to last week? We're already almost a month into the spring semester, and in a little over three weeks I'll be in Argentina. After which I'll wonder how a week in Argentina passed so quickly. At least during the weekend I'm expecting to feel cheated of time by Sunday evening. But on a Monday? I dread the drag of a full week. And yet somehow at the end of the long haul it feels somehow shorter. And once two weeks have gone by, that first week seems practically nonexistent. At this rate I'll be home before I know it. And then I'll be halfway through college. Now there's a scary thought. I'm going to stop typing now and go enjoy the time I have left. There's about two feet of snow on the ground, so my enjoyment is going to be limited to winter activities. Snowshoeing this weekend for sure.

And time is still marching on.

Student Film

Spent a Saturday doing this. Hooray student film projects! Enjoy...


Encounters from Powder and Wig on Vimeo.

January continues

Went skiing for the first time ever today. Had worked out in the gym with a friend on Thursday, and my shoulders were (and are) killing me. Now my left knee is sore too. Those issues aside, however, skiing was amazing. It was a gorgeous day, and after a few runs on the bunny hill I was able to ski pretty decently (in my opinion) without too many falls. I did attempt the biggest hill on the mountain, which in retrospect was a mistake, because I couldn't slow myself down effectively and so went down a fairly steep slope going extremely fast. Suffice it to say, that fall hurt a little. Still, by the end of the day I was skiing without falling and I will go again. The mountain where we went, Titcomb (heh heh heh) only charges $18 for a day pass and $18 more for equipment rental, so to go once every month or so isn't extremely prohibitive. It was also not especially crowded. A good day, and a skill acquired. Hoorah!

Winter Fun

With a full foot of snow on the ground (it just tonight became perfect packing snow, too), the radiator in my room quit. No heat all weekend, but luckily the physical plant sent a guy over when I called, and now my room is a comfortable 80 degrees. There's no balance here.

Went snowshoeing on Sunday, and will be going again next Sunday. It's a great way to take advantage of the snow, and a lot of fun to boot. On Sunday the temp was below ten; it's warmed up since then (actually, it's above freezing as I type this), but the cold should set in by Thursday or Friday. At least I've got a working radiator now.

In other news related to me, the department production of Much Ado About Nothing is progressing nicely; I have the role of Don Pedro, played by Denzel Washington in the Kenneth Branagh version of the play. The Branagh version, incidentally, is fantastic, and deserves a viewing.

Jim Rice is in the Hall of Fame; this almost makes up for the Giants' loss in the playoffs, but it was tough to see another team go down in the second round of playoffs. Hopefully the Red Sox will have a good season; the lineup and pitching rotation should combine to produce lots of wins. Hopefully.

Anyway, just a quick update. More when I'm bored at 2 AM again.