Tonight, while performing the arduous task of pulling a document out of the printer, I strained what I imagine to be my glute muscle. I guess that's a more polite way of saying I broke my ass. Not only is it embarrassing and painful, but I have to miss again the intramural soccer game I've been invited to for the past two weeks. I haven't even met the guy managing the team yet. He's going to think I'm the biggest flake on earth after this.
The document I was pulling out of the machine was some notes from my English history class, which has so far been really disappointing. Any professor that takes attendance instantly causes me to resent the class. I'm an adult. If I don't want to come to class, that's my decision. I'll face the consequences - but those consequences should be not performing as well on the test and/or essays as I've missed important information. If you need to trick people into coming to class by assigning ticky-tack work due every few days, or by docking points for not being in attendance, perhaps you need to think about how effective your lectures are. I don't think students should be rewarded just for showing up in class, even if they don't know the material, and I don't think students should be punished simply because they didn't HAVE to go to class to understand the material. Effort shouldn't be rewarded without results. Anyway, this instructor is all about ticky-tack assignments and almost worse, discussions. I don't give money to the university to learn about history via a fellow undergrad. So, I haven't been to class a whole lot due to plain ol' disgust, but I probably have missed a lot of information. Let's hope the test tomorrow goes alright (I have done a shit ton of reading).
Gad, my ass hurts.
PS, Firefox thinks 'gad' is a word. Interesting.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
The Pogues Recap
Last night's show is something that I'll look back on for a very long time, possibly always, with fondness. Seeing The Pogues was second on my list Things To Do In Life, right under catching a reunion of The Clash, which even prior to Joe Strummer's death was an unlikely possibility. Now I can look at a poster of "THE POGUES! LIVE! NEW YEAR'S EVE!!" without jealousy and a sigh of resignation. Man, all these great bands were just before my time... And now whenever I'm sitting in a bar, or playing the ipod on random and on come The Pogues, I can smile and think back to that one time that I actually got to see them in real life.
It was nice to just see Shane MacGowan in the flesh, doing what he does: mumbling, smiling, singing. I stood on my tiptoes for the better part of the first few songs, hardly believing that it was really them. OB, one of the four other friends that drove up with us, commented afterwards that the first quarter of the set was worrying, and that he thought Shane sounded bad, like he wasn't going to last the night. But something clicked right around "A Pair of Brown Eyes", which coincidentally, was the one song OB had most wanted to hear. The next song was my pick, "Boys from the County Hell." Something did happen though around this point, whether or not things were off in the beginning. The crowd got rowdier, Shane started smiling more, and everything became smooth and relaxed. Shortly after that was another song I really hoped to hear (honestly, though, what didn't I want to hear?), "Bottle of Smoke" and I finally went bouncing into the pit.
Funnily enough, I recognized at least half the crowd as being from Portland. A large contingent of the Timbers Army was there, scarves and all, as well as members of a band I'd recently seen, and friends of friends, and people that I just recognized as familiar faces. There was lots of, "Oh! Hey! How's it going?" while running around the pit.
Shane mumbled something nearly incomprehensible between songs at one point (ok, at every point), and mentioned the word "Seattle" to which some people cheered. A kid next to me quietly said, "Yeah, better than Portland," directing his comment towards the scarf-waving group, safely out of earshot from him. I rolled my eyes at him and said something equally inventive, like, "ah, fuck Seattle!" He just looked as his shoes. Man, Seattlites are lame. Can't even banter decently. Between the encores we started some slightly modified Timbers chants (well, the one that mentioned the Timbers wasn't so modified, but at that point the band was back on stage).
I managed to make it all the way to the first encore before being punched in the mouth, but man did it hurt this time! I think my teeth actually moved a little bit and the inside of my lip is still torn up as I type this. For the most part though, the pit was very friendly (the whole fist to the mouth thing was an accident) and everyone was just damn excited to be seeing The Pogues, and because there were so many familiar faces, it almost made it seem like our own private show with friends.
Afterwards, soaked in sweat, a wee bit drunk, and nearly entirely out of money, the five of us crammed into a cab and then into a hotel room, watched Conan O'Brien and chatted about the show. I was the first one up this morning, so I sneaked downstairs to get some alone time, drink some coffee and read a bit. The rest of the day was spent driving around Seattle - driving being about the only thing one does in that area - stopping at a vegan cafe and one of their friend's houses. We made it down to the waterfront in the afternoon, right in the middle of some weird windstorm, and had a little time to walk through Pike Place. Kat wanted to take me to a bookstore called The Left Bank, and while we were there OB talked to one of the guys from The Pogues! I heard a British accent coming from downstairs, but I figured he owned the place or something. OB was quite pleased with himself, as you can imagine.
Tim got us all the way back to Portland without causing any death, destruction or speeding tickets. The boys had been teasing me all day saying I looked depressed and asking me every five minutes, "Are you OK???" just to bother me, and honestly, I was a little cranky for a bit. But by the end of the trip, I was in Zen mode and Ob was the anxious one. "Ya know how on transatlantic flights sometimes people get these blood clots and die? Yeah, I wish that would happen to me right now." It was a great mid-week weekend, but we're all glad to be home.
It was nice to just see Shane MacGowan in the flesh, doing what he does: mumbling, smiling, singing. I stood on my tiptoes for the better part of the first few songs, hardly believing that it was really them. OB, one of the four other friends that drove up with us, commented afterwards that the first quarter of the set was worrying, and that he thought Shane sounded bad, like he wasn't going to last the night. But something clicked right around "A Pair of Brown Eyes", which coincidentally, was the one song OB had most wanted to hear. The next song was my pick, "Boys from the County Hell." Something did happen though around this point, whether or not things were off in the beginning. The crowd got rowdier, Shane started smiling more, and everything became smooth and relaxed. Shortly after that was another song I really hoped to hear (honestly, though, what didn't I want to hear?), "Bottle of Smoke" and I finally went bouncing into the pit.
Funnily enough, I recognized at least half the crowd as being from Portland. A large contingent of the Timbers Army was there, scarves and all, as well as members of a band I'd recently seen, and friends of friends, and people that I just recognized as familiar faces. There was lots of, "Oh! Hey! How's it going?" while running around the pit.
Shane mumbled something nearly incomprehensible between songs at one point (ok, at every point), and mentioned the word "Seattle" to which some people cheered. A kid next to me quietly said, "Yeah, better than Portland," directing his comment towards the scarf-waving group, safely out of earshot from him. I rolled my eyes at him and said something equally inventive, like, "ah, fuck Seattle!" He just looked as his shoes. Man, Seattlites are lame. Can't even banter decently. Between the encores we started some slightly modified Timbers chants (well, the one that mentioned the Timbers wasn't so modified, but at that point the band was back on stage).
I managed to make it all the way to the first encore before being punched in the mouth, but man did it hurt this time! I think my teeth actually moved a little bit and the inside of my lip is still torn up as I type this. For the most part though, the pit was very friendly (the whole fist to the mouth thing was an accident) and everyone was just damn excited to be seeing The Pogues, and because there were so many familiar faces, it almost made it seem like our own private show with friends.
Afterwards, soaked in sweat, a wee bit drunk, and nearly entirely out of money, the five of us crammed into a cab and then into a hotel room, watched Conan O'Brien and chatted about the show. I was the first one up this morning, so I sneaked downstairs to get some alone time, drink some coffee and read a bit. The rest of the day was spent driving around Seattle - driving being about the only thing one does in that area - stopping at a vegan cafe and one of their friend's houses. We made it down to the waterfront in the afternoon, right in the middle of some weird windstorm, and had a little time to walk through Pike Place. Kat wanted to take me to a bookstore called The Left Bank, and while we were there OB talked to one of the guys from The Pogues! I heard a British accent coming from downstairs, but I figured he owned the place or something. OB was quite pleased with himself, as you can imagine.
Tim got us all the way back to Portland without causing any death, destruction or speeding tickets. The boys had been teasing me all day saying I looked depressed and asking me every five minutes, "Are you OK???" just to bother me, and honestly, I was a little cranky for a bit. But by the end of the trip, I was in Zen mode and Ob was the anxious one. "Ya know how on transatlantic flights sometimes people get these blood clots and die? Yeah, I wish that would happen to me right now." It was a great mid-week weekend, but we're all glad to be home.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Tomorrow! The Pogues!
I can hardly believe it, really. Stuff to do beforehand, which should keep me busy until it's finally time to drive up to Seattle, like going to class (there's a boy there that actually talks to me), getting a haircut (it's gotten kind of ridiculous), going to the gym (I'm sick of getting beaten in the second half because I'm too fatigued to move quickly), and mail some bills (my housemate's outta town, which is great because I can be grumpy and asocial in peace, but sucky because I have to pay the water bill and stuff and don't get reimbursed until December or something).
My lazy ass finally got around to posting some pictures and new posts on my travel blog, so take a look if you're bored. Note though that I don't really expect anyone to read all that gibberish; I'll admit that blog is mostly a selfish endeavor.
My lazy ass finally got around to posting some pictures and new posts on my travel blog, so take a look if you're bored. Note though that I don't really expect anyone to read all that gibberish; I'll admit that blog is mostly a selfish endeavor.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Still here
[Listening to: unholy amounts of Billy Bragg
Reading: lots. specifically, Hawaiian Fisherman, andThe Unnatural History of the Sea, plus various textbooks/papers/blah]
I have this class at 7:45 in the morning. This means that I'm always tired. Combined with the declining amounts of daylight and the occasional oddly scheduled soccer game - midnight-15!? I'm awake until four am after that! - and it's a struggle to get basic tasks accomplished. So that's my excuse for the lack of blogging. I need another vacation.
Reading: lots. specifically, Hawaiian Fisherman, andThe Unnatural History of the Sea, plus various textbooks/papers/blah]
I have this class at 7:45 in the morning. This means that I'm always tired. Combined with the declining amounts of daylight and the occasional oddly scheduled soccer game - midnight-15!? I'm awake until four am after that! - and it's a struggle to get basic tasks accomplished. So that's my excuse for the lack of blogging. I need another vacation.
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