Trolls, fairies, and other mystical creatures

We live in a really old dorm here at school that once was a monastery. Supposedly a monk hung himself in one of the rooms, but rumors are for suckers and fans of the E! channel. Anyways, the heater in our room is old and has been making some strange noises since the winter began. They're inconsistent bangings and clankings that sound like a fairy is in the wall with a pick ax hitting a metal plate - over and over. As it gets colder, the noises get louder, to the point where it sounds like someone is playing a trick on us. They can come at 3 in the afternoon or 2:30 in the morning. We have no control; our room controls us. I sit here during the day and I feel like I'm in an insane asylum, or that some higher power is sitting there hitting a switch, and playing with my emotions. It's not fun, but other than that our room is perfect, and home.

Radio was fun today. We debated who the biggest band in the world, currently today, would be. I said Coldplay, Nickleback somehow got a vote, along with Metallica. U2 was the eventual winner. Bono is everywhere.

I told Justin I would find a picture for him. Here you go friend. I miss jobless days in California.

Every park bench screams your name

Get in the car and throw away your map.
Find a friend who will make you laugh
and who will be at your side during any situation.
You will then know what life is,
and that the ones closest to you
are the ones who make you want to live.
No direction is needed when every street has a story.
Don't be afraid when you think twice
for this is just your mind withering on its apprehension towards living.
You will be complete soon
if you get in that car
and don't stop.


Currently listening to "I Still Remember" by Bloc Party

Roger Federer is pretty good

Had a good weekend with the roommate. We live together, laugh together, cry together, but we don't always get to hangout very often. Fortunately, this weekend allowed us to go to the comedian, see Babel, and spend some quality time at Barnes and Noble. We talked about girls and boys, people who swear in public, and how much you would get for going to a sperm bank (him not me). It was a grand time. Tonight he's in the Mr. NCC pageant and everyone should go see the show, and more importantly, Alex do his thing.

Kelley Knapp and I went job-searching yesterday. After 30 minutes we applied at 0 stores. She was going to apply at Moshi Moshi, but we were afraid they would be scared of a tall white girl so we decided against it. I was 2 feet away from going into Einstein and applying, but the place opens up at 5 during the week and I don't want to feel like a zombie for the rest of the school year. I'm waiting on Jimmy John's to call, but that is like waiting for a unicorn to appear over the horizon.

Every now and then (more then than now) I get the urge to create and do something significant. I can never put a finger on what exactly I want to do, but I have this urge deep down inside to be something and to do something that I can be proud of. I was thinking earlier that going abroad is an amazing feat that not many people get the chance to take part in, but even that doesn’t fill this void. What I’m talking about is something bigger. Something substantial. I'm still searching, but this energy is fun to play around with.

I miss this kid from time to time. We talk about books, road trips, and epic thrift store runs.

If you want to be understood, listen.

Tonight Alex, Nick, and I went to see Babel and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a lengthy movie, but we all agreed that story keeps you in your seat wanting more of the action to unfold. Nick did his best raccoon impressing by digging through the garbage can for old popcorn and drinks (we paid 9.50 for a movie, his actions were justified). It was very comical to say the least.

After watching the movie I really wanted to do two things. 1) go here. 2) I really wanted to shoot a gun. No, I don't want to pop anyone or cap any asses, but I think it would be an empowering experience to simply shoot any type of gun.

Go listen to Lovestoned by justin timberlake.

Snowballing

Week 4 means paper overload and the thought of midterms in your head. Either way, I'm doing my best to do the work early, staying away from the 4:30am nights in the computer lab. Those always make for good stories, but in reality they are as fun as genocide. Some friends of Parker's from Japan are coming here this weekend and I may go downtown with them on Saturday. They are actually Hiro's friends, but they are staying with Parker for a night or two and doing the Chicago bit. I am disappointed in the Psychology Department at NCC, anyone agree or am I flying solo on this one? I'm off to create some magic.

14 days until new york
48 days until of montreal
54 days until brand new

Random picture of the day:

The day the Taliban visited Naperville

Without camera phones, how would we catch a moment like this? Introducing: Ryan Hansen.

I have a camera, I should use it

I'm contemplating starting a photoblog because I need to put my camera to use and take more pictures. I was just playing around with putting pictures on here so this is the only picture I have. Enjoy our room and Alex's leg.

You're finally golden boy

Do yourself a favor and go to www.myspace.com/ofmontreal and watch of montreal's new video for their single, Heimsdalgate Like A Promethean Curse. Try not to laugh, or at least smile.

jesus christ, that's a pretty face

I am one of those people who needs things to look forward to. Call it a fear or call it a trait, but that's how I do things. I have some plans for the upcoming year that hopefully will pan out and I'll write more as things become official, but they are exciting to say the least.

Next month (Feb. 9th-12th) I'm heading to New York City with my mom to see my cousin dance. She's an apprentice for the New York City Ballet, which for you sports fans, is like being a rookie for the Yankees. She's the big deal on the Morgan side of the family so my mom found some cheap tickets and we're going to see her dance and do the New York thing over a long weekend. It'll be my first time to the big city and it's exciting because for as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to see NY. I'm not even that excited about the ballet portion of the trip, but I'll deal with it and pretend I'm interested. Either way, I'm looking forward to a fantastic little trip and a nice break from winter term.

I lost my job here at school so yesterday I went into Jimmy John's to ask about an ad in our school newspaper saying they were looking for workers. I walked in at 11:30 on Friday and there were 7 people with JJ hats. Four were just hanging out and 3 were actually working. I asked the guy at the counter about the ad and he directed me towards the manager who was sitting in a booth with a friend. I walked up to him and the first thing he says is: "So you want a job? You can have a job in 2 weeks." After getting the confusion out of my head, I asked if he needed anything signed, and he goes: "Oh yeah, that would probably be a good idea." So he handed me an application. When I was filling it out, the girl he was with said that he wasn't going to be there in 2 weeks, and he told her to shut up. I just laughed and figured my chance of getting called was about 1 in 100. They seemed like nice guys, so we'll see how that works out.

Daniel Tosh came to our school last night. Please youtube/google/yahoo him. You will laugh and never stop. The crowd was split, but our section never stopped laughing. Our conservative, private college probably didn't appreciate the abortion, special olympics, punching your wife jokes, but you can only take things so seriously.

Sometimes you need to look around and tell yourself, things are pretty good. I am lucky enough to have had some great opportunities in my life thus far. I am grateful, I thank those who have allowed me to receive these, and I try my best to make the most of them. While in France I saw too many people complain about not liking the trip and wanting to go home. This blew my mind and I knew from that moment on I would never turn into one of them. Go live life and enjoy yourself.

What is this? Snow in January?

I picked up Camus' The Stranger last week from Barnes and Noble (thanks to Steve Loredo for his employee discount; this is not an advertisement for Steve). Anyways, it was a short book, only about 120 pages, and I came across one of the most powerful quotes I have ever read in a novel:

"At one time or another all normal people have wished their loved ones were dead."

You know a book is good when you actually say out loud, "wow" after reading a passage and this is exactly what I did here. I've been thinking about the quote a lot today and it seems a lot worse if you don't read the book because it deals a lot with the idea of the absurd. Basically, we are all going to die, so we shouldn't worry about the minuscule details that go on from day to day. Yeah, this opens up a whole new discussion and will hold a lot of different opinions, but it was really interesting to see how this book presented it. I'd definitely check it out because you only need a couple of hours to read the entire novel.

I've been losing a lot of things lately. Alex and I misplaced our 2nd disc of Reno911! season 2. The odd thing is, we weren't even on the 2nd disc yet. I misplaced my ID today (eventually found it), left my hat and gloves at the field house (journeyed back in the snow to get them), and it took us 2 days to find Parker's keys. Either Seybert is being taken over by zombies who enjoy stealing or we are all in the early stages of Alzheimer's.

The term is going really well thus far and I don't see it really changing anytime soon. Only down part is my job was phased out because the college hired an independent firm to raise money for the new fine arts center, which means no more phone-a-thon. It was lame of the college in that they didn't let us know until the 2nd week of the term so about 10-15 kids are out of a job for at least this term. Oh well, they can always run the street corners.

We got the new Shins' album at the station today. I never like a cd the first time I listen, but this has the potential of being a solid album. This band should blow up based on the face time they are getting all over the media. I'm sure Zach Braff didn't hurt either.

Homework and a shower call. Not at the same time though.

Initiation

One of my goals for this term/year has been to write more for myself and keep a running journal going for as long as I can. With that, I decided to join the masses and start this. I'll try my best to keep it updated with random writings, pictures, stories, etc. Enjoy my life and take it how you want.