Hi

Everything is pretty good right now.

And a 78 year old grandmother just walked into the school library.

Back to School to prove to mom

Yes, spring term has begun and we are off to a 78 degree bang. It's interesting how much higher spirits are when people can shed their 10 pounds of winter clothing.

News so far includes my roommate, Alex Mersman, moving out to become an RA in patterson. It was sad to see him go and see our 1 2/3 year relationship end, but it is good for monetary reasons. The room is a little empty, but I will manage. I wish him the best of luck and I'm sure he will be an outstanding RA because he's a great guy.

18th century literature, contemporary literature (holocaust), and intro to world religions are on my plate this term. I also have a pre-study abroad class for the last 5 weeks of the term, along with random orientations for china/japan. Phone-a-thon is peaking its dirty little head for about 3 weeks this term, and the dunkin' donuts thing will keep me busy on some weekends, while providing some much needed income. Looking forward to a great term.

Off to class, and then watching my Joy Division dvd. Bye guys.

spring break means going to your little cousin's fun fair?

It is spring break and I am writing from the comfort of my home in crystal lake. I finished up finals on wednesday. I had a 25 minute adolescent psychology final and then our style final. Our style professor told us last week that if we reached a certain criteria level on our big end of the year creative nonfiction paper, we wouldn't have to take the final. The catch was, we weren't going to know until we went to the final. I talked myself into not studying and showed up to the final wednesday morning. Fortunately, I was exempt but there were 3 or 4 kids who had to stay and take the final, while the rest of the class gleefully skipped out to spring break. Quite a bummer for those kids who had to stay and take a grammar final, nonetheless.

Yesterday - the first day of break - was the of montreal concert. I drove to corinne's because we had plans to go downtown early and thrift, but when I arrived at her house and the temperature read 29 in chicago, we decided to postpone the thrifting. We hung out at her house, listened to music, and looked at this picture of her childhood:



Yes, that is a raccoon. Appartently, they partially domesticated it by feeding it all the time and stuff like that happened. All I can think about when I see that picture is rabies. We took a later train downtown and met parker and ryan at the metro for what turned out to be a great concert experience.

The first band was a rap duo, The Grand Buffet. It was a skinny white guy with read hair who did most of the lyrics and then his sidekick, a larger white guy, who probably did the beats. They made everyone laugh as they hopped around stage singing songs about treehouses and talking about how cool-whip paid them to tape the show. A perfect opening act for a 6:30 show.

Second up was the band Walter Meego from Chicago. 3 keyboards, 2 guitars, a computer, and 3 guys with some catchy, dance songs got the crowd going. I listened to some of their myspace stuff and it wasn't as good as the show. They had some great breakdowns, and it was great to see 3 nerdy looking dudes creating some addicting music.

Last was the band we've been waiting for since last year, Of Montreal. Chicago loves these guys (and 1 girl) and they deserved every bit of the applause they received. They played a solid set consisting of songs from every one of their albums. They also had three screens set up on stage. 2 were playing random colors, shapes and slides. And by random I mean random. Slides of a 1980s women's cross country meet, the SEGA symbol, and my favorite, a guy in a shirt that reads: BOOGIE UNTIL YOU PUKE. Three costume changes by the singer along with a sound guy in a darth vader costume made for a great time. This show will hopefully become an annual event for all of us. These pictures are a little dark, but I think they'll get the idea across.







We got on the EL back to Union Station and I had Ryan read the part from Slaughterhouse Five where Vonnegut talks about calling his old girlfriends after his wife goes to sleep. It was a great ryan hansen day.

Today I went to my little cousin's fun fair in arlington heights. Why? Good question. Two funny events came from this experience. I found this poster on the wall in the cafeteria.



The other funny run-in came when I entered into the cafeteria of hundreds of screaming elementary kids. I was still in a good mood at this time - void of headache - and I was sitting down at a table taking in the scene. I see a kid sticking to himself, and out of nowhere comes this kid who is a foot taller. The tall kid sneaks up from behind and goes AHH!!! in the quiet kids face. The quiet kid yelps like a little girl, and then kicks the tall guy in the shin - with force. I laughed for 5 minutes. Other than that, it was 3 hours of screaming hell, and me running a plinko game that didn't even work correctly.

I've been in a great mood the past week, and I see it sticking around for awhile.

are you the destroyer?

(the surrealists were just) nihilists with good imaginations

i am satisfied hiding in our friends apartment
only leaving once a day to buy some groceries
daylight i'm so absent minded nighttime meeting new anxieties
so am i erasing myself? hope i'm not erasing myself

guess it would be nice to give my heart to a god but which one which one do i choose?
all the churches fill with losers psycho or confused
i just want to hold the divine in mine and forget all of the beauty's wasted

let's fall back to earth and do something pleasant
we fell back to earth like gravity's bitches
physics makes us all it's bitches

guess it would be nice to help in your escape from patterns your parent's designed
all the party people dancing for the indie star but he's the worst faker by far
but in the set i forget all of the beauty's wasted

guess it could be nice show me that things can be nice
you've got my back in the city you've got my back cause i don't want to panic

-of montreal

I saw your dressed all in white

Everyone has finals this week, so I'm not going to bore you with my situation.

I finished Chuck Klosterman's "Killing Yourself to Live" today and the jury is out, but it may have reached top 10 status. I never went two pages without laughing, and it's not even that the story is that good, it's just his incessant details. I just went to grab it and write out a passage, but I lent it to someone so that will have to come another day. If you like music and laughing (which should be anyone that may actually read this) I suggest you check this book out.

I started training today for DDVSC (dunkin' doughnuts van sampling crew) and it looks like it should be interesting. A random guy joined us (dave something) and he was about 45. He wore sweatpants and a shirt that on the back read: COURAGE, and below it was some shitty quote. Above this was a picture of a tiger. He's one of those characters that as soon as he walked into the room I could feel his energy and sense that this guy was going to be interesting. He didn't cease to amaze with stories about working as the captain morgan's guy and wearing a beer-cam hat in which you can see "all the stupid stuff you did the next day". According to the other guys we work with, Dave has told them he was in a movie with david schwimmer from friends, and was also an extra in boogie nights. I learned all of this in just 1 hour.

This gave me the idea to write a book about the different characters I've met in my life. It wouldn't be about just any boring person. It would have to be that specific person you meet, which in the first 10 minutes of meeting them, it clicks that they just have it. I think everyone knows of people like this, and I think a book with chapters divided by specific people would be fascinating. One chapter each person would require only the best stories to be told, and would delete any fluff from the book. Off the top of my head I have Ryan Hansen, Greg Agnes, Dave, and Brian Butts. If I wasn't lazy, I'd think of more, but I think 4 is pretty good.

I've been laughing a lot, as of late. It feels good. I think I could get used to it.

a weekend in the city

The weekend before finals have always been the best weekends the past year and a half at ncc. This year was no exception. Friday was Hiro and Yasu's suprise going away party. It was sad to see them go, but it was awesome to see so many people coming together to say goodbye to two really cool guys. Parker, Arsen, and some other folks did a dance that was memorable and full of skirts. S!J and I also karaoked to Grease, which was rather difficult with a large amount of mic exchanges and a lack of voice for either of us. We had to leave a little early to head to Parker's, but we will see Hiro and Yasu again this fall in kyoto. Have a good trip back home guys, it was fun seeing you guys around campus and hanging out.




































Parker, Nick, Corinne, and I left for Parker's house late Friday night. We hung out with some of his friends, drank some gold, and wore hats.











We woke up Saturday to the smell of omlettes and orange juice, thanks to Parker. We watched comcast after breakfast including old nsync, britney, and christina music videos. A favorite was a segment with 50 cent talking about him getting shot 9 times. He wore a Walt Frazier jersey. That doesn't have any significance. Maybe the martyr thing?

Parker's friends left and we left to see 300. Well, Nick had a fantasy baseball draft to nerd to, so he stayed back and missed out. It was one of my top 5 movie experiences of all-time. The movie was at 3:10 (should have been 3:00) and it was 2 hours (should have been 3:00 hours) of intensity and killing. I don't want to ruin it for anyone so just go see it. However, it was the first time I high-fived someone after a movie due to sheer dominance of the movie.

We then went to the infamous Nona's for pizza the size of my chest. If you're ever in the tinley park area, there probably is no better deal for 3.50. You could feed a family of 4 for a week with the size of 1 piece. Rumor has it there is a nona's challenge where if you eat 2 slices in 30 minutes you get a free nona's t-shirt and a free triple bypass.

We went back to Parker's and hung out some more. Games were created and records were played. It was a fun time.



We woke up this morning to Circle of Life blasting through the speakers and we all stumbled out of bed and drove back to naperville. Finals are this week (1 tuesday, 2 wednesday) so i should probably get my act together and study a bit. A good weekend with good people.

i'm sorry i'm leaving

James and the Giant Peach is on right now. I forgot how cool that movie was. For a couple hours I will probably only picture giant peaches rolling down streets.

Today was the first day of spring and it was stellar. 57 degree days make everyone so much happier. I had lunch with Luke and Steve today and we caught up and reminisced about geiger 3. I walked to the library with parker and it was so nice to just be out and not have a coat on.

I'm off to hiro and yasu's suprise going away party. It should be sad, but I'll see hiro in japan and hopefully yasu will show up somewhere as well. Then we're going to parker's for the night for some pre-finals fun. love and peace.

i miss you

I love you English language, but I'm tired of stories that were written 500 years ago.

The sunshine feels nice when your feet hit the sidewalk.

i like your hair much better that way

I'm paying my deposit for China/Japan today which guarantees my spot on the trip. If you go to that website you can see my friend Erik on the right and my friend Sara!Jane on the left. She's riding a camel I believe, which is sweet and you know it.

Some friends and I watch Dateline's: To Catch a Predator on Tuesday's. They set up potential pedophiles and then the star of the show, Chris Hansen, confronts them with witty banter about them wanting to have sex with 13 year olds. It's hilarious/terrifying/insightful all at the same time.

It's Justin "I wish I knew his middle name" Brown's birthday today. He is 20 years old and i think he got a jay novacheck jersey for his birthday. Have a good day bud.

Three posts in 1 day, but this one's worthy

This is John Madormo. He is the general manager of WONC and our Buddha, Jesus, Allah, Chuck Norris, etc. Every single person at the station would walk in front of a train for this man. Sometimes you meet people who you know you won't forget until the day you die, he is one of them. When I saw this in the school newspaper I was by myself in my room and I laughed for 5 straight minutes.

everything is cooler in japan

I was in Hiro's room on saturday night looking at this Japanese fashion magazine. It was all men's fashion and it was photographers stopping random people on the streets and taking pictures of their various styles. They had fashions mostly from Japan but also Paris, London, NY, and LA. It was really interesting to look at and it made me wonder why we don't have something like that here in the states. Interesting..

this is me smiling

Writing a 1660 paper on a King who becomes a werewolf. I think I am sometimes. I enjoy night, prefer alone time, and enjoy digging up people from graves.

2 papers and 3 finals and I am off to spring break.

I start training for the dunkin' doughnuts van sampling crew next week (will now be referred to as DDVSC). No, we are not handing out doughnuts; i've answered this question too many times already. It still sounds better than Dunkin' Not Doughnuts but only drinks van sampling crew. I'll be working for Justin Stec (one of my favorite ncc people) and corinne has an interview tomorrow. Kelley Knapp might join as well which would make it a supergroup, similar to the monstars.

I'm sniffling a lot and want to buy a nicer digital camera, and possibly pro-tools, but we'll see how the funds work out.

New Arcade Fire, This is me Smiling, and Anberlin awaits me.

fight the power

Do you ever have those dreams where you are being chased by a monster and you're trying to run away but you just can't run fast enough? That's my current situation with my cold. I am me, the monster is the cold, and I can't run fast enough.

My friends and I try to take over the world on Friday nights, what do you do?

Her head in my hands and smiling

It's 9th week so sorry for the lack of updates. Greg and Justin came up from isu on saturday and i showed them the life of an ncc student. we had a fun night with japanese drinking games, wii playing, and danger (for those of you who weren't there, ignore that last part).

Parker wore his armor to english today. He was wearing tights and it was odd, but everyone got a good laugh out of it. And then Erik accidentally broke his ax and all the smiles turned to frowns.

I just called and got my 2nd job for this summer. I will be working with the Dunkin' Doughnuts Van Sampling Crew. It's run by an ad company based out of Lisle who sends out a team of college kids to different events across the chicago land area over the spring and summer. We will be giving out free Dunkin ' samples at events ranging from Great America to White Sox games to concerts at the Tweeter Center. The pay is really good - 10/hr - so I had to do it. This means I will more than likely be going to Crystal Lake M-Th and working with NISRA (special education camps) and then staying in Naperville F-Su with random people. I'll probably just bring a sleeping bag and play homeless for 3 days a week. Events are really early in the mornings so driving from crystal lake is out of the question, but hopefully it will be a good mixture of people and places this summer. I'll be busy, but with China/Japan I need the money.

We went to the thrift store this weekend and I bought 2 suit vests, a suit jacket, and justin a psuedo-stoner sweatshirt for a grand total of $1.87. It was my personal best for thrift store finds.

I need to write papers and do homework so farewell to all. This should make you laugh.