[	Current Mood	|	amused	]
[	Current Music	|	Neil Halstead - "Two Stones in My Pocket"	]

Politically, M is about as liberal as me--more so in some areas, less in others, but it works out to be about even.  That doesn't stop him from teasing me.  This morning I was looking for one of my bras and asked him if he'd seen it.  "No," he replied, then added helpfully, "You probably burned it."

[	Current Mood	|	exhausted	]
[	Current Music	|	Rhett Miller - "Our Love"	]

If their online accounts are any indication, all my little croutons out there in the world currently have much more excitement in their lives than I do.  For example, Gina is designing her own action figure, Liz is circulating nude photos of herself, and Jenn is punching men in bars.  I, meanwhile, am reading stuff.  That's pretty much my life right now.  And staring at computer screens for so long that I think my eyeballs are going to fall out, which would be really gross.  Did I ever tell you about the nightmare I had years ago that one of my eyeballs actually did fall out during class, and I was all freaked out and trying to figure out how to put it back in, and for some reason I was finding it awfully hard to convince anyone that we should probably call a doctor?  I wonder what Freud would have said about that one.  Probably something to do with sex.

This is how my train of thought is operating today.  I'm not sure I've been successful in putting together coherent sentences.  Let's just say it was a late night with the schoolwork.

Yesterday I was walking to class and saw someone's thong underwear on the ground next to a bench in the courtyard.  Creative writing contest: how'd the undies get there?  Sex-on-the-bench stories don't count, because, I mean, how obvious is that?

Finally, Liz has issued a challenge that I can't pass up.  Don't make fun of me, but...( Read more... )

[	Current Mood	|	irritated	]
[	Current Music	|	The Postal Service	]

I've been watching The Daily Show for a long time, and Jon Stewart for even longer, and I don't think I've ever felt my sense of humor fail me before.  I tend to view the media and politics as one large joke anyway.  But on Monday night's episode (which I just caught in a reairing last night), the opening segment devoted entirely to making fun of "The Gates" made my Inner Art Geek a little grouchy.  I was mostly able to see the humor, particularly when Stephen Colbert, art critic extraordinaire, started explaining the symbolism of the project and stroking his facial hair.  But I started grumbling when they showed a clip of Christo speaking and then made fun of him (dude! don't be mean to Christo!), and got really grouchy during Colbert's snide remarks about other ways 21 million dollars could be used.  I had two major problems with that.

First of all, it's money that was raised, as they always raise money, "with the sale of studies, preparatory drawings and collages, scale models, earlier works of the fifties and sixties, and original lithographs on other subjects" (as their website puts it).  So it's 21 million dollars that couldn't be used for anything else, because it doesn't exist (at least in a collective form) independently of this artwork.

Second, how much does a World Series MVP cost these days?  Per season?

They went to the trouble of giving you something pretty, and you didn't have to pay for it.  Quit bitching.

[	Current Mood	|	cynical	]
[	Current Music	|	Moby - "Beautiful"	]

I stumbled across this link on Yahoo to an AP article: "Inventor Kurzweil Aiming to Live Forever."

Two comments:

1. No matter how respected this guy's work has been in general, on this particular topic, he sounds like he's come completely unhinged.


2. Who are these people who actually think immortality sounds like a pleasant thing?  Have they not read Tuck Everlasting?
   

[	Current Mood	|	mellow	]
[	Current Music	|	Johnathan Rice - "So Sweet"	]

I was always good at having crushes on people.  Much better than I probably am at actually being "with" them, because yes, croutons, I'm aware that it's not always easy to live with me.  The nice thing is that even when you're technically "with" someone, you can still have crushes--the innocent kind, where you walk away at the end of the class or the conversation and immediately turn your thoughts to something else.  The kind you don't have the urge to do anything about.  First of all because you can't, but also because you wouldn't anyway, because being "with" that person would be a lot less fun than having a crush on them, because you wouldn't really want to put up with all their shit anymore than they'd want to put up with yours.

My crushes are increasingly cerebral.  I hardly notice the prettier boys in class anymore, unless they say something insightful.  I like to look at someone imperfect and wonder what he's thinking, rather than stare at someone perfect and feel sure that whatever he's thinking is probably not very interesting.

The other nice thing about these crushes is that they're not detail-specific.  I can see someone halfway across campus and feel a tiny flutter because I think his jacket is that color, or something close to it, and he bows his head that way when he walks.  A crush like that can survive long after the acquaintance does.  If the memory survives, I can see someone in a crowd fifteen years from now and wonder if it's him, because it doesn't matter, because it doesn't matter now if it's really him.  I can still wonder what he's thinking, and the answer will be the same as it is now, something in my own mind.

[	Current Mood	|	tired	]
[	Current Music	|	Rachael Yamagata - "Happenstance"	]

My hair is so tangled at the moment that I'm nervous about the prospect of attempting to pull a hairbrush through it eventually.  I didn't expect to have to take the bus today, because M had a dentist's appointment in the morning and drove me into campus afterward, and the boys were supposed to pick me up after my meeting (children's book research group, nothing terribly exciting) in the afternoon.  But something came up and I had to take the bus home, which meant a twenty minute wait for my transfer downtown, plus ten minutes because the bus was late.  So the freezing cold wind is blowing at this insane speed, forcing those of us waiting to clutch at a metal fence and turn our backs to avoid being hit in the face with debris.  And, because I hadn't expected to be standing outside for any length of time, I only had my coat and gloves for protection.  No hat or hood or even a hair tie of any sort, which meant that my hair was flying in every direction and I ate a little more of it than I'd generally like.  I'd generally like to not eat any of it, actually, but the universe evidently has other plans for me.  I'm beginning to resign myself to that fact.

This week seemed incredibly hectic even though I had two classes cancelled--film yesterday and 20th century this morning.  Between keeping up with my assloads of reading, digging through the research for my honors project (I'm discovering that I have a knack for choosing whatever research techniques turn out to be "the hard way" in any given situation), coding children's books, and going to a couple of meetings, I've been a zombie by approximately 9:00 every night.  I think things will be easier next week, since I'm starting to feel a little more focused about the honors thing, I don't have any overwhelming reading assignments looming at the moment, film class is cancelled again next Thursday, and the children's book thing is winding down a little.  Still, the idea of sleep sounds very appealing right now.  If I didn't know M was bringing me home sushi for dinner in a little while, I'd probably crash right now.  And it's not even 8:00.  Dear lord.  When did I turn 80?

Incidentally, I think Jack & Bobby should win about fifteen Emmys just for one scene in this week's episode.  It involved Bradley Cooper, who's been guest starring as Tom the Hot Grad Student (who's having an affair with Christine Lahti, his thesis advisor, and is therefore probably not going to be a permanent addition to the cast) disrobing down to his undies.  Hint to the producers: there may be a way to improve your ratings.  Meanwhile, The O.C. this week featured the Highly Anticipated "Don't Miss the Last Five Minutes!" GirlKiss that everyone's been talking about for months because no one even bothered trying to keep it a secret.  I actually think Mischa Barton is way less annoying than usual in this particular storyline, and I'm all for making this a permanent lifestyle choice.  Like that's going to happen on network TV.  A supporting character maybe, but not the Cosmo Girl.  Still, if they don't wimp out entirely, it'll be interesting to see how they play the people-finding-out episode(s).  It's not something you see a lot with teenage characters on TV, especially the Teen Princess types, so even the GirlKiss was fairly ballsy.  In a manner of speaking.

[	Current Mood	|	exhausted	]
[	Current Music	|	Rilo Kiley - "More Adventurous" (I want to be Jenny when I grow up)	]

Reason #436 that Art History is Cool:
It's very unlikely that in any other subject, you're going to hear one of your classmates politely ask the professor, "Can you show us the vagina again?"

And now, on a totally different note--like, a really, completely, totally different note: ( a bit of randomness swiped from Liz's blog )

[	Current Mood	|	awake	]
[	Current Music	|	Patty Griffin - "Kite Song"	]

This weekend I started reading a fairly recent kids book called Chasing Vermeer, which I had to check out from the library because it's gotten a ton of comparisons to From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and that is one of the coolest books ever.  (These two kids run away to live in an art museum.  An art museum!  And it's a classic, so if you haven't read it, I'm ashamed of you.)  I haven't had a chance to really get into it yet, but so far we've got the Art Institute, pentominos, and Charles Fort, of all things, so I'm intrigued.  Plus, it's one of those childrens books where the author writes as though she assumes that her audience is every bit as intelligent as she is, which always earns points with me.

I didn't watch the Superbowl last night because that was pretty much the only chance I had all weekend to really get some schoolwork done.  I did watch the part where they interviewed Tom Brady at the end (Liz, did you know he's from San Mateo?), because he's one of the prettiest men in the world.  Also, I came across this Reuters photo where it totally looks like he's going to start making out with Donovan McNabb, and since football is such a blatantly homoerotic activity in the first place, that made me giggle.  So, happy Monday morning.

[	Current Mood	|	busy	]
[	Current Music	|	Dead Milkmen - "Punk Rock Girl" (I'm kind of on an 80s college rock kick)	]

I love the 20th century.  I had kind of forgotten about that.  I mean, I wanted to take this art history class, even though I don't technically need it for my minor because I've already taken three other 300-level classes, because I was sort of vaguely remembering that I was kind of fond of the 20th century, and I liked the professor last time I took one of her classes.  But dude, I love the 20th century.  I love all varieties of Expressionism and I love Picasso and even Matisse is finally starting to grow on me, and there's lots of fun yet to come.  Yay 20th century.  Yay art history.  Yay for at least one class that has non-overwhelming reading assignments.

Yes, I got all damn 85 pages of reading done for my civil rights class today, even though we didn't even really get through all the stuff that was assigned for Monday, and I knew that was going to happen, because this professor is famous for falling behind the reading schedule.  But hey, that just means I'll get to take a break at some point when he has to adjust the schedule.  At any rate, I think I was a fairly intelligent participant in class today.  And we had nothing new to read for film class, so no worries there.  And yes, okay, I am admittedly so completely unprepared for my meeting about my honors project tomorrow, but we're focusing on the good things here, people. Meanwhile, I've got some work ahead of me. So it goes. (Just call that a Kurt Vonnegut moment.)