Job applications. Take. A. Long. Time. To Fill Out.

But it gets better. And faster. And now, after doing it for several hours, I have this unusual craving to play piano. The only good one on campus stays locked up in the Assembly building all the time. I like music because it's a completely different part of the brain than all this writing. It's creative recharge.

In other news, I really like Ecclesiastes 9. It's about life, and death, and it has wisdom, sarcasm, poetry, proverbs. There's even a story in there.

goodnight

On Friday, the Visual Literacy class went out for its much-heralded field trip to Austin. We saw the Ransom Center Galleries and a forum about the impact of the Watergate scandal, both on the University of Texas campus.

We left campus at 5 A.M. (bleh) and got to UT about 10 A.M. The Ransom Center had an exhibit focusing on all sorts of artifacts from American pop culture in the 1920s. Silent movies, Art Deco, bohemians and babbits, flappers, Ogden Nash, F. Scott Fitzgerald, flowery bathing suits, dozens of political parties, balloons, the first airmail letter, and muckrakers. Good stuff. It was like an art museum tailored to the inner history major.

The highlights of the galleries were the first photograph (yes, THE first one) and an original Gutenberg volume of the Bible from the 1400s.

The first photograph was taken in 1824, a simple countryside view out the French inventor's window. It has mostly faded by now, though if you hold your head at just the right angle, you can make out the edges of the fences lining the road.

The Gutenberg Bible was probably my favorite thing in the gallery. It was just a gorgeous work of art. Dr. Watson and I had a good time just huddled over the Latin for several minutes, trying to make it out. We had both decided the open pages were somewhere around Genesis 25 or 26, only to learn later that the open pages were of Exodus.

It was interesting to note that the vellum of the 600-year old Bible had held up far, far better through time than the yellowed, flaking pages of a 1920's paperback. Soooo cool.

And then, we ate lunch and then got in line for a forum about Watergate, attended by none other than Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. I had seen both of these guys on the covers of their books and on the national news, so it was really cool hearing them in person.

They are amazingly knowledgeable about American government and the presidents, and not simply the Watergate scandal that made them famous.

Woodward is obviously a personal acquaintance of the past several presidents, and has interviewed President Bush a few times for his books on the Bush administration. Bernstein was a good deal more forward with his criticisms of Bush, and was warmly applauded by the audience for those comments.

The talk itself was fascinating, and I took a couple of bad notes, but it was about the impact of Watergate on the powers of the president and how Congress and subsequent presidents reacted. Two other panelists were historians at UT and also had some interesting points to make.

And then, the field trip came to an end; more fun ensued. Sydney and I took her car downtown and saw the Capitol building, which was neato to see again. We didn't take any pictures, and the traffic was crazy, and we got lost several times that day, but it was great fun.

We ate at Spaghetti Factory, and walked up and down 6th street, just watching some of the live bands. We happened upon a sweet NIN listening party at one venue. There wasn't as much good live music as I had hoped, since last week was South by Southwest, but it was still sweet just to be there.

Then we crashed at my aunt and uncle's place (thanks y'all!). And then we slept really late and came back to Longview the next day. woooooooooo



Five weeks until graduation. Iiiiiit's straight-jacket time!

I've never heard of this group before, called Naturally 7. However, they are amazingly talented.

This YouTube clip shows them busting out a song acapella in the Paris Metro. That's about the toughest crowd in the world but they actually got some people jamming with them. I just thought this was so cool.

peace

Well I don't know where the last week went but I suppose that means mission accomplished.

See y'all in Texas

After a few days of riotous revelries on 41 (Guild Wars + pizza + caffeine = stereotypical male college student heaven), I made it safely to Indiana.

I intended to take pictures, which is another way of saying that I didn't. I thought it would be cool to take pictures of the state border signs as I passed them since the states themselves are nothing much to behold, at least along the interstates.

I couldn't sleep the night before and was tired all along the drive, but never dangerously sleepy. I deal with tiredness pretty well, except that it usually makes everything seem worse than it actually is. The low point was about southern Illinois, where I stopped for a chicken sandwich at McDonald's.

The lady behind the counter asked me if I wanted my chicken grilled or crispy. I was not prepared for the sudden import of this query.

Had I not simply asked for a sandwich? Could she understand that I just wanted to eat anything and not discourse at length the subtleties of my culinary poultry? In all honesty, I nearly broke down and cried.

But, after that, I turned up the music and rolled down the window. The weather was good for the entire trip (minus the nasty rain between Alto and Carthage.)

Indiana warmed up nicely just as I arrived. It's about 60 degrees for most of the day, though rain is coming tomorrow.

Common Grounds Flickr-age! Many thanks to Fargo.

Last night I went bowling with the cool kids from the Sycamore RP church. It was an off night for me, but on the upside, Jacob Fisher taught me to dance-walk backwards like Michael Jackson. Don't you love it when people mix ridiculous metaphors... I had an off night, as opposed to an on one, but on the upside of what coin does one learn to dance like Michael Jackson? More mysteries of the universe...

So life is currently a wonderful mix of bran muffins, light breezes, conversations with long-time Handong friends (word, Jakhongir!) and smooth, black coffee from Mom's new french press.

Candace and Ben and I also started watching Elizabethtown last night, which is a pleasant surprise of a movie. We finish it tonight...

So tonight Trizzle gave me a new network card and Fjord gave me a new keyboard. World, I present to thee Lud-Puter 2.0!



Alright, so she's not much to look at, but she's got it where it counts. I am tinkering fairly constantly with the insides. The sides are gone, so the interior power cables hang out like a mess.

This is like the Millennium Falcon of computers: dependable, but not something you want to be caught with around Mos Eisley's spaceport.



My new keyboard is black, instead of white. THIS IS SIGNIFICANT. IT'S LIKE A STEALTH BOMBER KEYBOARD.

So, what of PEEPS? Preposterous.

Refined sugar or marigold marshmallows or... the worst possible food? Yellow, bunny-shaped confections of questionable substance!



Our plan of action? Into the microwave! Of course.



Devilishly grinning Grey, and poor, bloated bunny...



OMINOUS




This entirely verb-free post brought to you by... Insomnia(tm)! Because it's better for the kiddos than Red Bull.

I have always wondered about the media's strange fascination with the ridiculous Hollywood party girls/actresses (mostly Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton.)

They simply don't do anything newsworthy.

Do we really care that Lindsay is drinking again? Big deal. Britney shaved her head? That's just life-changing. Paris was caught driving with a suspended license? Scandalous.

Paris Hilton is one of the easiest to pick on. She is insanely rich, has probably not worked an honest day in her life, and literally bounces around southern California going to party after party.

And yet, she and Britney are some of the most popular searches on Yahoo!. Every single week, there is a headlining story on my CNN RSS feed about one of these people. They should stop reporting on them entirely because it is irrelevant dribble.

Imagine my joy when I found this...

For an entire week, the Associated Press told their people not to cover any stories about Paris Hilton.

People do not, in fact, miss news about these people, these so-called "celebutantes." These girls are famous for fame's sake. They are very good at getting publicity without any justifiable reason.

People were mostly shocked that AP would issue an internal memo banning Paris coverage for one week, rather than being shocked that they didn't have their weekly fix of celebrity gossip.

This is something I'd wondered about for a long time, and that article interested to me to no end, because an AP editor turned around to look at the reporting of his own organization and found that, really, it was all rather frivolous and unfounded.

Bravissimo! Give us something relevant and enlightened to read.

Sometimes I check my post box or hit Send & Receive on my e-mail over and over when I am bored. When I don't get anything, I cry out, "Nobody loves me!" My roommates then give me a hard time about it. There is an established order to these things.

Once, on just such an occasion, Coda ran back into his room and sent me this. It's good to be loved.

Dearest Ludwhig,

I love you; therefore, I am showing it by sending you this e-mail instead of oppressing you by walking across the hall and interrupting the valuable things I know you are always doing. I know how much you hate hitting the send/receive button to no avail - but not this time - I hope you realize how special you are now.

Love,
Coda

If you know Coda, then you can detect the sinister undercurrent to that e-mail. It's there... seething... waiting to strike...

Kinda like Frisbee and the noodle...

What follows is my transcription of a Spanish song entitled Me Cuesta Tanto Olvidarte, for my Spanish class.

Entre el cielo y el suelo hay algo
con tendencia a quedarse calvo
de tanto recordar
Y ese algo que soy yo mismo
es un cuadro de bifrontismo que
solo da una faz

la cara vista es un anuncio de signal
la cada oculta es la resulta de mi idea genial
de echarte
me cuesta tanto olvidarte

me cuesta tanto olvidarte
me cuesta tanto olvidar quince mil encantos
es muchas ensensatez

y no se si sere sensato
lo que se es que mi cuesta un rato hacer
cosas sin querer

y aunque fui yo quien decidió
que ya no mas
y no me canse de jurarte
que no habra segunda parte
me cuesta tanto olvidarte

And now, my AWESOME translation. Frisbee (my Chilean Jedi Master) and I died laughing at this...

Between the sky and the ground there is something
with a tendency to stay bald
So much to record
And this is something that I am the same
It's a square of bifrontismo (multi-facets?) that
only gives a face

the seen face is an announcement of signal
the hidden face is the result of my great idea
to throw you out
It costs me to forget you

It costs me to forget you
It costs me to forget fifteen thousand delights
It's very insensitive

And I do not know if I will be sensible
What I know is that it costs me a little while to do things without wanting to

Even though it was me who decided
that no more
and I don't get tired of cursing (swearing?) you
that there will be a second part
It costs me to forget you

And now for something completely different...

I studied for a test in Management this morning while listening to the Sons of Korah.

College is so in-your-face and self-driven and go-go-go that I was blown away by this delightful little acoustic retelling of Psalm 131. Here's the lyrics (which, like all their songs, is straight from the Bible.)

My heart is not proud, Lord
My eyes not haughty
I do not concern myself

With things too great
Or wonderful
For me

But I have stilled, Lord
I've stilled my soul
Like a child weaned in its mother's arms

So I am still, so still
In my soul
In me

Oh, Israel!
Hope in the Lord
Hope in the Lord

Two posts in one day! I am bored and in a writing mood. You're here, so you must want to read it! Brilliant.

I took this picture for Visual Literacy.



We were to create our own still life using multiple objects and then critique it like art. Now, I'll be the first to say this is kind of retarded; I actually related this picture to cross-cultural values. I'll... just let you guess how.

I took Andrew and Fjord on a date to Outback Steakhouse on Valentine's day, but there was a two-hour line, so we went to Bodacious instead. It was pretty much the best date ever?

We discussed the light-up organs on deep sea squids and how the internet works. Fjord even drew a diagram on a napkin. I'm sure we discussed other less nerdy things but those are the two that I remember.

What is up with late night headaches? I'll see you folks tomorrow