christmas

#1 merry christmas

#2 For some great reason I love terrible mainstream hip-hop like Bubba Sparxxx and T-Pain. It's just so catchy and fun to dance to. As much as I love Justice I just can't compare it to "The Way I Are." I went and saw Juno. It was poignant and very funny and very well acted and very well shot. I have no complaints and will certainly buy it when it comes out on DVD. An Indie classic. I'm not pretentious enough about film to be able to do this one justice but I liked it a lot.

#3 In one trailer I heard both Regina Spektor and Justice. In the same session I heard Feist. The movie had two Belle and Sebastian songs. The world is quickly spiraling into an independent music abyss. I bet that in the next ten years or so what is considered "mainstream" will be an inch deep and a mile wide. The internet has been the best thing for musicians and the worst thing for record companies. Yeah, musicians can't make a billion dollars as easily, but they can make a thousand or ten thousand fans a lot faster. I would never have heard Regina without the internet, nor Justice, nor any of a hundred bands that I love. This week my iTunes library surpassed twenty gigabytes. That would be unfathomable 10 years ago. 3800 songs, maybe 300 albums, just thinking how much space that would take is mind bending.

#4 I wish people knew how to drive better.

Music is the new food.

finals week is library week
People are leaving town for good, the people I started college with are all finishing college (the girls at least). I have never been happier to get an A- in a class than I was to get one in Political Science 200. I whooped aloud, and that was fine. Even though I was in the library. Also lunch with Hawkins is always great. And my car broke. And I fixed it. And blogging.

it is true what you said

that i live like a hermit in my own head

I was looking through my music to try to figure out what i wanted to listen to, and I realized that just like comfort food, grilled cheese, mashed potatoes, chicken noodle soup, green bean casserole, there is comfort music. It's not too healthy, but it makes you feel better about life. Makes you feel warm inside and at home.

I walked down the stairs and saw two people sleeping against the wall, one's body mirroring the other. I don't think that they even knew one another, their common bond was that of the tired student. My comfort music is death cab for cutie for some reason.

statistics

"Then make sure to calculate the two tailed sigma value to evaluate statistical significance."

I think that I find out the most interesting words in the world when I am studying at college. Two-tailed. Statistical Significance. What alliteration. For all the talk of professional language and straightforward technical writing, we still sneak some alliteration in there. Don't use jargon, but then again, don't be boring either. Write professional prose.

I'm ditching work to review statistics. Now I have to go back to work, even though I don't have anything to do until I get another set of videos to watch. So I will sit, and talk, and surf. I've become a stickler for correct writing. Poor comma usage and misplaced or dangling modifiers pop out of the page to annoy me, especially in writing that purports to be professional.

I sold my contract. Harold is letting me live rent-free at the condo. It is snowing in the mountains. I'm going skiing on monday, tuesday, and wednesday. I am going to have a job doing something great.

song lyrics can't describe my feelings right now

oh, and here i was feeling bad when all along you were just doing the same thing.
in my hood all we hear is woop woop grandmaz it's time to run

i'm thankful for

cookies,
family
family friends
wireless internet
keeping in contact over long distances
nice jeans
old jeans
new shoes
comfy old shoes
new socks
sweaters
hope
dreams
blankets
laughter
beliefs
religions
the english language
good grammar
old cars
drag races
cross country journeys
a quiet yet clean house.

there's more, too

i haven't blogged in a while. what a silly word.
music is my sister, music is my great granddaughter.
music is my beach house
music is my hometown
music's where i meet my friends

in park city today, i read thoreau, and thought "water really is the only drink for a wise man"

i wish that we could talk about it, but dear, that's the problem

we all sat silently around the table in the cafeteria. decorated in a rustic, mountain theme, it seemed like there should have been so much snow outside. at least enough to ski on. there wasn't. we were all organizing our thoughts, having been put on the spot to teach some skill or little trick. the neuroscience major volunteered first. i was second oldest, there was just one retired guy in his sixties there, vying for a free season pass. the rest were straight out of high school with the exception of a girl who had just graduated from UCSB. after the neuroscience major, the kid from arizona went. he taught how to do a push up, which seemed silly. nevertheless we dropped and each did one. i volunteered next. i remembered all the little tips and tricks from speech class. use an attention getter. ask questions. don't start with "um." don't say "um." speak slowly. watch for signs of interest and understanding.

"who here knows how to make a really rad paper airplane?"

nobody did. now they all do.

mine still flew the furthest.

and so it starts, you switch the engine on.