Hmm. Haven't posted in a while. Week-in-review tomorrow or so.

But on the subject of countdowns:

twenty, twenty, twenty-two hours to go-o-o
I wanna be sedated.

But I do, in fact, have something to do and somewhere to go. I'm off to the Napes B-day party in a moment.

A week from this Friday,
On April 2, 2004
Java Jive:
Swing
8:30-9:30 Free lesson
9:30-12:30am Dancing
@
(University of Chicago)
Ida Noyes Hall
Third Floor Theatre

The ONLY place to be Friday Night.


No excuse not to be there, if you don't know they'll teach you.


Anyone who wants to meet up for this oh so joyous occaision: email, AIM, or phone me.

Cause I'm goin

On a similiar note: a rant by Kate

Dennis Kucinich will destroy us all.

From the birth place of avant garde, I'm very tired over here of hearing about Dennis Kucinich is so wonderful, and how he should be president

A summary of my thoughts on the matter:
1.Dennis Kucinich is an idiot.
Electing Dennis Kunich would destroy the U.S. economy, followed closely by the world economy. Apoclapse
2.All people who protest against free trade and NAFTA are idiots.

Boy, days like today make me so glad to be out of highschool.
It would have killed me to sit there and watch that performance today.
I would have been willing to pay money to be the one who answers the questions though.

Student: Why does God make gay people?
Kate: Why not? Gay men who actually come out of the closet are a joy to the world. So neat, so tidy, so well coiffed; they make the world a better place in so many different ways.

Second of all, it's just a thing, a simple matter of preference. I'm Buddhist, Betty is Jewish. Susy likes women, Carrie likes men, and Miranda likes everybody and squrrils. That's the way the cookie crumbles and that's why we have PETA.

Ah, Catholicism, you would think that with all their past huge messups they would work on taking the beam out of their own eye before going after anybody else but no. For all the hats, jewelry and tassels- that never occurs to anyone.

Soooo....according to the little talk today at school, being gay is a disease. Actually here's how the conversation went:

Student: Why does God make gay people?
Speaker: That's a difficult question. Why does God give people leukemia? Of course, I'm not saying being gay is a disease. But why does God make serial killers?

There you have it. If being gay isn't a disease, then it's akin to being a serial killer. What an enlightening presentation. I'm so glad Finkwick wasted my time. Sheesh.

In other news, Pat has a magical watch that's counting down to the say when Blake can be president. He also confessed that his relationship with Kate lost him Jimmy Hendrix. And I quote: "Well, the flaming guitar sex was good, but the relationship didn't really have any substance." Hmmmm.....

I'm convinced that Jon Stewart listen to The Albatross Hour and steals material from us. But I can't complain because of all the jokes we've stolen from him over the years.

Bunbury

Be sure to tune into the radio show tommorow; we plan to make insulting comments towards Texas' capital punishment system. If you missed last week's show, it has just been archived...so hit the link for some good times.
I also encourage everyone to click on the Albatross Shop link and check out Pat's rockin' T-Shirt designs. Now you to can own your very own Dr. Funk designed Albatross Hour apparell.

I'm watching Jesus Christ Superstar right now and I am convinced that it is the Best. Rock Opera. Ever. I don't feel bad that it was the basis for almost all my knowledge of the life of Jesus. What better way to tell the story of our Lord and Savior than through song and excessive electric guitars? Instead of going to see the Passion of the Christ, I think everyone should just rent Jesus Christ Superstar. I guarantee you'll have more fun.

Pat had a very interesting experience before first period today. It involved Brian Mitchell, Trish Tardella, and lots of sticky, red juice. I'll let him give you the details.

Buddha finds you sexy.

I amHastur! The Unspeakable One is the master of those who seek to unveil the mysteries of death. It is through meditation upon the Yellow Sign that the devotee of Hastur seeks transcendence to the city-realm of dim Carcosa. Through a complex series of visualizations that expand the aspirants void-consciousness, the final age will arise. Ruled by the ominous King in Yellow, a new stage of reality will come to fruition. Of the Olde Ones, Hastur is considered to be one of the most difficult to work with, his teachings being reserved exclusively for the Cthonian Adepts and Lords.

Which Great Old One are you?

Ha! I'm such a cool ancient!

So, besides being Shub-Niggurath...

We won sectionals! W00T! Scholastic Bowl sectional champions an what not! It was close, but we pulled out of a three-way tie with a 34-point lead. And it was good.

I am Shub-Niggurath! Shub-Niggurath is often called the "Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young", and is the force of creation, life, evolution/mutation. She represent the force of the one universal constant (ie change) on the biological. She is often envisioned as a dark, low lying cloud, with goat's hooves with numerous tenticals writhing from within. Her rites are best performed during a New Moon, or on Mid-Summer's Eve.

Which Great Old One are you?

In the spirit of jokes about European nationalities:

How can you tell a gregarious Finn?
He looks at YOUR shoes when he's talking.

How long have I had that joke lying around? Well, there's really no way of knowing. Apparently, the Finns are shy. I would be too, if I had fins. I assume they have fins. No? Drat. But I'll bet none of you realized that the Scandinavians had their own sets of ethnic jokes.

Yes, let's see. Yesterday was the day of the packing peanut. Remember, corn starch is edible, Styrofoam is not. After you've had a few, the corn starch actually kind of tastes good, although perhaps "taste" is too strong a word. They're like Cheetos without the cheese, only more bland. I only ate 5. I mean, that's not completely weird is it? I only did it to convince other people they were safe to eat. In case they ever need to survive a famine and have only packing supplies, they'll know to eat the packing peanuts first, and not, say, the cardboard boxes or the bubble wrap. I am all about helping people survive the coming apocalypse. Speaking of the Apocalypse, I hear it's coming in 2012, around Christmas. The ancient Mayan calendar apparently only goes up to there. Cubs fans, get ready. 2012 is your year. I, for one, anticipate the Cubs-Red Sox subway series eagerly. Armageddon less eagerly, but there's a downside to everything.

Although, if I'm am wrong about 2012, my next guess is that the Apocalypse is what Sweeney is counting down to over on Toner. Of course, his countdown seems fairly enthusiastic, what with the tildebangs. And it's coming rather quickly, by the looks of it. Still, the man has some nice comments on the Passion. Now, to shift away from secondhand blog-reporting before I become insufferable rather than just incoherent...

Now today, today was the day of the "thousand party" in 5th-year Math. We got to page 1000. It was a magical moment, really it was. There were doughnuts, and cookies, and vector fields. Also, we continue to fuel the simmering feud between math and physics. Hopefully it doesn't spread, or we may be on the verge of civil war. Everyone will have to choose sides. Brother will turn against brother (I'm thinking of the Kinnares here, although Rog doesn't seem to like either of them).

"Who did the homework? Who did the homework? Nah, I'm just kidding; I didn't do it" -PK, last semester.

Also, Kevin Altier can name three hundred Pokemon. This is... Fascinating. I'm trying to leverage it into another masculinity gain.

Can't think of anything else to ramble about today.
Motto for the week: "Doing better than biology."

From the back of a T-shirt last night in Aikido; lots of good reading actually off T-shirts in Aikido last night:

In heaven the police are British,
the mechanics are German,
the cooks are French,
the lovers are Italian
and the Swiss organize the place.

In hell the police are German,
the mechanics are French,
the cooks are British,
the lovers are Swiss
and the Italians organize the place.


I must be a pseudo-German Swiss person, not being mechanically inclined at all. And if anyone is offended, just remember that my entire family is at least a card carrying member of at least one if not several of these groups.

And I found out that Don is in Cleveland Swing because he was wearing a t-shirt from one of they're exchanges, so after Aikido was over I asked him about and he ended up showing me the "arm breaker" aerial dip for jitterbug. The really nice thing about the whole situation is that Don and his wife are trying to get back into the swing dancing scene and have a car, and are willing to drive with college students. Hopefully I'll be getting to Cincy Swing exchange the weekend of April 1; I'll just have to go beg Tom for a ride or Kate to go home that weekend.

Bokken practice (Aikido swords) tonight and lots of Bio reading mit Deutschstunde Haüsaufgaben. This is my super insane weekend.

Does anybody know with ticketscalping, whether they prosecute the scalper or scalpee, or both? Branden (friend from RA experience, swing dancing/Taylor, and Aikido from who's Connecticut (or as I say Connect-I-cut)) was showing me the "bing bing" for lindy hop while we were waiting in decafe for smoothies after Aikido and we got in a discussion about which one it was. Some how that degenerated into a discussion about industrial size packages of gummibears and reselling them for a profit- so speculating on gummibears. All of a sudden I really want to play Monopoly.

Tschüss, für jetzt

Kate

At the moment:

Lola Stars and Striped- the Stills (the Still's website allows you to play the entire cd) check it out
Mermaid Ave. - Billy Bragg and Wilco (courtesy of my sister and brother in-law)- Walt Whitman's niece, Bed of California Stars
Chutes too Narrow- The Shins
Dandy Warhols Rule Okay?
13 Tales from Urban Bohemia- Dandy Warhols
Nico-my own mix


I need to figure out how to put up a calendar of shows etc. because there are so many while I'm back on spring break-

My latest realizations:

March 26, 2004
The Vic
the Vines & Jet (I'm going more for the Vines, but everybody's got their thing)
$20

April 23, 2004
The Ravonettes
the Aragon
(I'm still trying to finagle my way to this one)

Dear John letter to my Bio major,

I can't hate myself enough to be with you anymore, it's just not working out. I go to lab and count out hundreds of beads for hours for genetics experiments for you. I spend all my waking hours reading you, noting you, studying you and to what end. What more do you want from me? You ask too much of me. I have given you the best years of my life. I'm leaving you.

And yes there is someone else, Politics. He doesn't make me spend ever waking hour with him. He's so much fun. He's just soo hot. I push on him and he pushes back; all you do is push and all I do is get pushed into walls. I can't say no anymore to him. I want him. I hope that someday you will understand.

Sincerely,

Kate

Hey !!!!
Really good concert coming up - while I'm on break no less-

At Schubas
$10 April 1, 2004
The Decembrists

That the rate things are going, this is going to be the spring break of concert hopping and swing dancing- I might head out early during the last weekend of break to go to the D.C. exchange, if Taylor can take the car with her. Fingers crossed. Zurück aus Deutsche.

Tschüss

Radio show today! We finally got a slot in the afternoon.....so now I predict we'll start showing up to do the show. Anyway, we have tons of triumphant return madness to share with our listeners, so I encourage you all to check us out.

I must also say how much I disagree with posting long sets of lyrics on the blog.....songlists are acceptable, that way we can go out and listen to the music ourselves, but I don't want to sit here and read music...that's not what it's for. Unless, of course, there is one really powerful line of lyrics that you would like to use as a quote to make you seem profound.

I also must express my deep sadness at the demise of LarsenBlog. Why, Larsen? Why?

Some guy from the Sierra Club called me last night and told me why I should vote for Barack Obama. I told him I already planned to....I think that made his night.

Raplh Nader is secretly a Republican who is trying to get George W. elected for a second time. Therefore I have a message for him:
You already ruined one election you ego-maniac, don't do it again!
Sadly, I doubt Ralph Nader reads this blog and, therefore, I don't think he'll get my message. Seriously, I can't believe he's running...it fills me with so much rage.

If you would like to hear anymore of my musings on politics and life in general, I encourage you to tune into the radio show.

Verliebt, verlobt, verheiratet 'n Kind gekriegt, geschieden, raus.

Time is a bothersome entity. Also, the blog-block is still very annoying.

Yep. So I’ve been doing stuff. Most importantly I did stuff on Saturday, so I’m going to talk about Friday first. I saw Return of the King again, and it was better this time. Take that, Larsen (even though the demise of the Larsen blog fills me with a deep, ineffable sadness or moderate disappointment). Before that, it was watch the girls thrash Jacobs 77-26. That was excellent. Now on to Saturday:

Got up early and mooched a ride down to Normal with K-to-the-Ohout, at what some might call an impressive speed. Then I watched the Friars lose a close one to New Trier, which reminds me, I still want to know what a Trevian is, but I don’t care enough to look it up. Anyway, unfortunate loss, but the cheering section was pretty powerful. I can’t say I contributed much, not being a great cheering type, but I tried.

Then we were off on a whirlwind tour of Normal, finding out that Main street just up and becomes a one-way street for the heck of it. Eventually we found the theatre playing Starsky & Hutch, which had it moments, but wasn’t particularly good. Thence we proceeded to the park and played football. The Ducks/Christ-Punchers/Christ-Punching Ducks put up a valiant effort, and were down by only seven points when we broke and ran for the swings. It was brilliant. Then there was some Lava Monster-ing. Sweeney and I, we’re good at that game, because we realize the better part of valor is raw, shameless cowardice. That’s right, we sat on the highest available point and were invulnerable. We rock.

Also, before I forget, My lifelong goal was fulfilled during lunch at Steak and Shake (Woo! Go Rog!). Anyway, Kevin made the mistake of giving Maciej the “dude man” speech, so, yes, I am now more macho than Kevin Altier. He may have gained some ground by being quarterback for the Christ-Punchers, so it’s kind of up in the air at the moment. On the other hand, Captain Napes picked me first.

Then the girls got to end their season with a win, and gave a pretty convincing beatdown to Marian, 69-50, although there was a scary spot in the first quarter when they were down by about 8. More cheering, in a slightly less densely-packed formation.

Then everybody else went home, sadly, so no wild partying for me. Naperville Central won the championship, and Kohout got some pictures of the award ceremony. I ate dinner with the Kohouts, and Nick and I schooled the population of a sportsbar & grill by means of an electronic trivia game.

And speaking of trivia, go Scho-Bizzle. Regionals tomorrow. We shall crush our enemies, see them driven before us, and hear the lamentations of their women. Or something less barbarian, if we must.

And as long as we’re talking music, my selection of albums for the ride down and back to Normal:

Captain Beyond-Captain Beyond
Revolver- the Beatles
Weezer-Weezer
Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan

How about those gay people. Anyway, now that Alex and I have been outed as straights, we're going to go out and watch sports events while cheering and hooting in a manly fashion. Actually, I'm probably goin' to get down to the girl's basketball this weekend, but I don't know about the hooting.

In a highly controversial match (read: blatantly biased) match, Varsity Scho-Bizzle lost to the teachers by 2 points, although 15 points were judged to be awarded in a manner not in agreement with standard practice. But Kohout beat Fr. Lapata to "transubstantiation," and that was a truly beautiful moment.

And tomorrow, two things linked only by being abbreviations, JETS and OC.

In the tradition of blogs mentioning music, I present your semi-random 10-minute songlist of today:
Beatles, "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey"
Captain Beyond, "Dancing Madly Backwards"
Bob Dylan, "Changin'"

So how 'bout those Oscars. It was a clean sweep for LotR--11/11. I guess the acadamy felt bad for not giving the first two movies lots of awards, so they just dumped everything on the third one. I guess it deserved it, but I did feel bad that other things got shut out because of it. Speaking of being shut out, I feel bad for Bill Murray. I know Sean Penn was brilliant and all, but I also know that he'll go on to make a bunch of other really powerful movies. However, I feel that this was Bill's last chance at Oscar glory and it would be an excellent cap to a long illustrious career.

I'm writing this in the library and I'm watching Padre Winky try in vain to fix a computer. It doesn't look like too serious a problem, but he's having loads of trouble. I guess that says something about our technology department and PC's in general.

Kate thinks Pat and I have a faux friendship just because we don't have gushy spill-all talk sessions. I think she needs to realize that guys don't feel all that comfortable with a deep talking bond. I think she's confusing us with a gay couple.

Napalm Strikes,
Alex