Oh, what a weekend: drinking on a Thursday, Tucker Max, Jeff Tweedy, some comedy, and so forth.

So, one fine Thursday afternoon, Damian comes over so I can make program for him that will play online poker, thus saving one the grunt work of playing a conservative yet profitable semi-system. Goals established, Damian says to me “Are you doing anything? ...want to have a party?” Keep in mind it is 3 PM on a Thursday at this point. And we almost did, too, but we ran into some people on the way back from the liquor store… and wound up watching a movie on a makeshift projector screen at their apartment. It worked quite well once we put sheets over all the windows (college student do not have curtains). Coconut rum was enjoyed by all, as was I-Spy, which while an incredibly dumb movie, still bounced Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy doing their respective things fairly amusingly. And in the end, I got a free meal on account of Damian randomly sort of knowing somebody else on the way back. Situations like this are why I refer to Damian as a “force of nature.” Crazy things happen around him.

And after that, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were dead. And still are, for all I know. It was a great production, although I’m the sort of person who can’t witness an extended meditation on mortality without getting at least a little depressed, funny though it was.

And then on Friday, the Shady Dealer achieved the greatest publicity coup in our history, by bringing New York Times Best-Selling author Tucker Max for a book signing. The event went well, as did the protest we held before it. Yes, we protested out own event. “More like Tucker MIN!” and “Douches are people too!” were some of our better protest signs. Nevertheless, a good portion of the crowd seemed to think that “Tucker Max is unpleasant toward those he disagrees with!” and “We respectfully object to Tucker Max’s lifestyle, although he is free to lead his life as he sees fit!” were chanted in earnest... I weep for America’s youth, I really do. Anyway, Tucker did some Q&A:
DUDE: “You’re my hero!”
TUCKER: “Dude, you’re fucked”
And other such gems. He was really quite entertaining. And then there was the book signing, which included signing all of our protest signs, and at least one breast (which was unaffiliated with the Dealer). Sadly, the after-party was at a respectable establishment, so we could not attend, but there was a staff dinner and further fun that evening. Also, the dealer has been linked on his site, and our web traffic has, to put it mildly, skyrocketed.

And then there was Saturday, which was also awesome, because Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco fame) did a show on campus. It was awesome: long show, good mix of material, and fantastic sound quality. Also, his opening act was a crazy guy with about 50 distortion pedals and tape loops. While not exactly catchy, Nils [last name forgotten] overcame his extreme prog-rock-ness and did what he set out to do, which amounted to making a soundtrack for a bizarre and creepy future with a lot of aliens and robots. Fun stuff, kinda. But mainly Jeff Tweedy was incredible, and a pretty entertaining stage presence to boot (“I can’t actually see you guys, I just hear your voices coming out of this balck abyss… not that you’re, you know, abysmal or anything”). And we tried very hard, and somewhat successfully, to play hipster bingo, despite forgetting the sheets. People wear a lot of plaid these days, I’ve noticed…

Anyway, I need to go eat hardtack, because there is an Oregon Trail-themed study break about to happen. Oh, college…