sxoidmal’s blog

In preparation for our One Dollar Sale, I'm plowing through the last stack of my CDs. I have two cases of music from the early '90s to present to sell, hope people show up interested in getting some tunage.

Bella's been especially sweet all week. When I pet her as she walks around, she wraps her long tail around my wrist. When I pick her up, she nuzzles her shoulders, neck, and jaw against the side of my head. Why's she being such a sweetheart suddenly? She's usually so reserved.

I've been talking things over with my academic adviser and it really looks like I'm down to the last few classes in school. I need eleven upper-level credits, and my remaining classes should provide twelve. Thing is, those core classes aren't available every semester, so it's up to me to snag them each part of the year. I could wrap this up in two semesters or it could take me another full year. Depends on whether I can beg my way into Advanced Creative Writing, it seems. I wasn't paying attention to registration this time around and the class filled up outside of my awareness.

Anyway. The weather's improving. I went to see my doctor about my skin condition. He said it's either eczema or psoriasis, so he wrote a prescription for me and suggested I cut dairy out of my diet.

DAIRY. All those exotic cheeses I wanted to sample, all my old favorites... gone, gone, gone. Wasted, empty years of dicking around and missing out on cheese. I am filled with regret.

I really missed out on the Smiths.  I listen to their first couple of albums and wish to high and holy gods that I'd been living in their area at that time.  I wish I'd seen some local band poster and thought I'd go out and check out this new Smiths band and have a couple pints.  And then have my socks blown off to the moon.

All the pictures I've seen of them and their fans in that era tell me that I really missed out on something grand.  I think I was just thoughtful enough and just socially retarded enough to have mixed well in that scene.  As it is, I'm isolated by geography and chronology from what could have been my birds of a feather.

I also wish I could've seen Kommunity FK play for their first sets, before the dawn of death rock, before goth was a dark glimmer in anyone's eye, in Los Angeles.  But I wish that for a different reason and I don't kid myself that I would have fit in that scene at all.  I don't stomp around like a badass, no one would ever mistake me for a badass.  I could've shown up for that set and easily lost my wallet and boots by the end of the night.

Oh my gods, I got the coolest laptop. I custom-built one at CyberPower (no, I'd never heard of it either but I researched them and they seemed very reputable), a strong machine for gaming as well as all my word processing needs. I really did need a wi-fi capable notebook for classes, and now I don't have to wait my turn at the library and can write out my notes on the fly... and play World of Warcraft at the drop of a hat.

Yesterday was the day of downloads, all the Windows updates (I love that I was able to specify Windows XP and not have to get stuck with Vista) and security updates. I installed PC Tools security programs but am having trouble with McAfee. Right now I'm installing WoW, actually, though it ran very well from my external HD. I'm not going to junk up my machine with all the programs I've ever been curious about, though. I downloaded Ubuntu and will use that and Google Documents when I need Office-based tools.

I can only say I'm just thrilled with this machine. It freakin' rocks. Minneapolis has one more very happy camper.

I thought I was doing a better job with the other blogs, and maybe I was at first, but now it's a little overwhelming.  That's ridiculous, since it's only been a month since I started this project.  But I guess I can't have expected it to go very smoothly, right off the bat.

For one thing: Iceland.  I was gone for a week with extremely limited online access.  We had to find a cafe or a magical spot in our hotel room to gain wi-fi access, and even then there was little downtime for me to update at all.  Mostly I kept a written travelogue, and actually this was a thrill for me.  I got to use a nice Moleskine book to record my thoughts, and nothing made me feel as mature or wordly as pulling out this nice, plain black book and scrawling in pen while having an espresso macchiato at Cafe Paris or wherever.  It was really nice!  I'm led to understand this was how these little books were used originally so I was pleased as Punch to get to observe this tradition in the finest sense.

But now I have 17 pages of notes from my week overseas, and I'm really struggling to update my blog with it.  I know very few people will read it, and fewer still with offer any commentary on my writing.  When I left the country I had all sorts of advice for people about to travel--as well as things I need to do if I ever go again--but now I have some advice for people who have had friends go off and travel.

Someone else's voyage needn't be the death of communication, but people treat it that way, just as they alienate someone who's entered a new romantic relationship (yet tell themselves they are the victim who's lost a friend).  Having gotten the short end of that latter stick, wondering where the hell my friends went and why I never hear from anyone, I find myself looking at an old situation from another perspective.  I wondered where my friends went when they started dating someone else, and actually I assumed--like most people do--that they're off doing relationship things and have no time for me.

Similarly, when I got back from vacation I didn't expect anyone to ask me about it, because who the hell knows anything about Iceland?  Either they assume it's not very different from Minnesota (which it isn't) or it's too alien a concept to begin to guess what to inquire after.  But the thing is, a person could go back to the basics and ask "what did you eat," "where did you sleep," and "what were the people like" and receive some very surprising and interesting answers.  There's really a lot to talk about, it's a tragedy to assume that their experience is just too far removed for you to appreciate.

Unless it happens that you really just hate listening to people talk about anything besides you.  In which case... whatever.  Go away.  No one needs you.

Ran down to the Mill City Farmer's Market today. Overcast and drizzling didn't stop anybody. I found a cute dress for my niece, it's made out of a former sack of sugar. It's freakin' adorable, but that's my opinion and my opinion's questionable. Also bought four bison burgers and a pound and a half of ground yak meat. Anxious to try that: sampled saltfish and puffin when I was in Iceland. I'm always interested in trying more and more animals, though I never could bring myself to crack open that can of chrysalis in ginger.

Then drove out to River of Goods, which is apparently enjoying a 40% sale, which made all those handmade exotic goods look especially attractive. I found the god of all secretary desks, drooled over it for a while, but there's no way I could justify its purchase even if I had the money. Something like that is a permanent fixture, you don't haul it around with you wherever you go. There's a Yiddish saying about possession obsession: "Too big to take with you, too precious to leave behind." I don't want to own anything like that yet.

Finally, went downtown and had a good lunch at Greek Grill: tilapia and basmati rice. In the Skyway we were accosted by anime-geek teens in 'V For Vendetta' masks who were protesting the fact that the Church of Scientology (which has claimed to not be a religion) is tax-exempt like a religion. And then we went to Target to shop for furniture, but more to get furniture ideas. We know what we want to get rid of among our possessions and we have an idea of how we want to decorate. We'll figure it out.

On the topic of Web surfing, and the strange things one finds... well, this isn't very strange, I just got there by an unexpected route.

I was shopping for more of my favorite brand of shirt, Van Heusen, and not doing a very good job of it--could only seem to find wrinkled used shirts from underprivileged people who didn't want them anymore and were marketing them on Craigslist-like services--when I stumbled upon a cut of shirt that they called the "captain's shirt."

Immediately I thought of nautical themes but they meant pilots.  I found that out by a related link that took me to pilotshop.com.  Bored, I spent a few minutes poking around all the clothes and accoutrement a pilot might want.

Curious still, I searched for related websites and found mypilotstore.com and pilotshangout.com.  An entire market that had slipped beneath my radar.  Totally makes sense that they'd exist, of course, but I never ever would have found these on my own.  Directly, anyway.  As it happened I found them while shopping online for dress shirts.

There are many intelligent, educated people in the world of fashion, but by and large it is the sport for anti-intelligence. I can't see the point in a short-lived, completely impractical artistic display that wastes resources and drives women to eating disorders. All it does is encourage capitalism and materialism. It lures money out of unintelligent people and causes the most pointless conflict between people. I honestly believe fashion trends are as detrimental to a person as a diet of McDonald's. The fashion industry offers nothing noble or nourishing to the individual, the community, or the nation. It only cultivates shallowness and loss of identity.

It's depressing, seriously depressing to see how many people buy into this bullshit as though trend after trend actually mattered in any substantial value. There are so many greater problems in the world but people will throw ungodly amounts of money to fashion. More than that, they will attack each other to steal each other's fashionable goods, ripping the clothes off their bodies or robbing them of their money. Or, worse, selling drugs to raise the money to get all the fashionable goods. All that work to achieve nothing useful, all that hatred and violence to look like an idiot.

Short list of what I've been picking up at the library lately.  I've been getting into graphic novels and found their "adult" section (doesn't mean nudity, just means kids wouldn't be interested in it).

Exit Wounds, Rutu Modan: Very simplistic artistic style but effectively captures the action and expression of the characters.  Story takes place in Israel shortly after some Palestinian suicide bomb attacks, as an ex-soldier confronts a young man with proof that his father may have been killed, and together they uncover a lot of unpleasant information.  Excellent story.

The Push Man and Other Stories, Yoshihiro Tatsu: This guy was cranking out human interest stories in manga way before anyone in the States was aware of the genre.  His drawings are deceptively simple, as he manages in a few lines to capture the subtlety of expression and replicate sophisticated cinematographic effects.  The stories are only eight pages long each, so he blows through each tale rapidly, exposing all the flaws and merits of the characters in their dismal little worlds.  Really hard-edged storytelling that candidly explores working class life.

Colere Noire, Phillippe Marcele: Whoever designed the cover of this book apparently felt no desire to read the book, nor to ask anyone what it was about.
"It's a story about two women, and they-"
"Are they blonde or brunette?"
"Uh, one of each.  Anyway, they are implic-"
"Bup-bup-bup.  I got all I need, thanks,  have it for you in a week."
  Aside from that, the story is very good.  Very nice detective story with false leads and some good twists, and the artwork is absolutely superior.  It's very pleasant to read about stories in other countries, for me, too.

I keep forgetting that the point of getting this VOX account was to blog to it through Facebook. Like I need more blogs into which I woni't write. Though I guess it's fine if I just access it the wrong way.

Beautiful weather lately. Not so lovely getting rained on last night, walking to the bar, but it was for a good cause: hanging out with classmates. It was a good night of socialization with no adverse adventures.

Tonight I'm going to see an interactive lecture of "game theory" in economics. It actually sounds like a lot of fun, despite what one must think, hearing that combination of words.

I've had so many overdue books lately. Time's moving very swiftly for me so I have no concept of how long I've been holding onto a book, that's the problem. I could've sworn I just picked up 'The Power of Babel' but it was due a few days ago. Jeez.

Today's just going to be slow, however. I'm just going to do Steps, have a little meeting with a coworker, and write some journal entries. Class is over but I want to continue writing essays and memoirs. Guess that's where the blogs come in.

I went out with friends after class, again, last night.  I like it because it's so novel on every level.  I never did this anywhere else: at ARCC I ate lunch alone and went straight home; at SCSU my friends were dictated more by the dorms than the classroom, and by my hangouts more than either.  Therefore it's completely new to me to get along with classmates so well that we want to hang out more.

I've tried in the past, there have been classmates who so impressed me that I endeavored to stay in touch.  There was a woman in Information Systems who blew me out of the water.  We had a brief e-mail exchange that somehow petered out.  I was disappointed in that, since our conversations in person had been so stimulating.  I wrote about my Graphic Novels class in LiveJournal and a classmate found me, agreeing with many of the opinions I posited, but our exchange was pretty limited there too and ended when I deleted my account.

When I was a junior in high school, we hosted a German exchange student.  Upon graduation I vacationed in Germany for three weeks and got to experience one of his classes.  Everyone was very friendly and civilized in the classroom, and afterward everyone moved en masse to the local Italian ice shop and hung out in the plaza.  It was truly impressive!  And no one's parents freaked out about their kids being out: everyone behaved maturely and went home when they were done and got on with their lives.  The experience was so unalike anything I'd seen in America that I would hardly have believed it if anyone tried to describe it to me.

So that's why it's so unique for me to trot down to a bar with a couple classmates.  And right now I'm experiencing a twinge of "don't over-analyze this" but that's who I am.  I overthink these things, I dwell on them, and sometimes I blow them apart due to my own spazzery.  But right now I'm just taking it in, enjoying the time going out.  My wife was at home, cleaning, and she felt some resentment that I was out drinking with friends while she was vacuuming and organizing, but she realized the thing that I was reluctant to point out to her: she could do the same thing.  There are chores that need to be done, yes, but you can choose to do them or you can choose to go out and see a friend while your mate is out seeing friends.  Don't begrudge someone else if they don't make the same choice you do (unless this is an ugly and frustrating trend.  That's different).  She knows that if she went out for a night, all the dishes would be done, the plants watered, the cats fed and the catbox emptied, at least.  I try to keep it equitable, I don't want to be burdened by guilt or resentment.