Thursday, September 29, 2005

More on popping collars
Here's a link from DCist, courtesy of VroomVroom, mentioning Saint Ex's request to turn down collars. There's a picture, which is great.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005


Butterstick indeed. (via Washington Post) Posted by Picasa
Baby Panda
Apparently "Butterstick" is still in the running, a "rogue sixth choice" according to the Washington Post. I would die of happiness if that won.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Awww, I like this.
Up and Running
Ahh, it's that time during the quarter when it's meetings, meetings, meetings. My clients don't start till next week, but in the meantime there are lots of (evening) meetings and three hour diagnostics to watch along with classes, so...fun! In all actuality, it's not that bad, and I'm in the midst of just giving myself over to it. I forgot what it was like to deal with four and five hour breaks in the middle of the day while on campus, but hopefully I can use that time to actually get stuff done. Also, in view of how bad things can get, my complaints about having to actually do school work and be present on campus are pretty low on the totem pole of Bad.

Thursday is my first official Quiz/Test of the quarter. It's my first one in a long time as well since we didn't really have them in my laidback summer quarter.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Rain, Rain, Rainy
It's kind of dismal outside. A good day to stay in and try to get some studying done. I've been holed up in my room for most of the day working away like a good little worker ant. There's a neuroanatomy quiz this week and I'm intent on getting ahead so I don't have to freak out when we get our clinic assignments tomorrow.

How did this weekend go so quick? Friday was good: it was spent in Evanston, first at a department gathering at an art gallery that our clinic supervisor owns. Tres swank. Then we headed over to an Oktoberfest party at Laura and Megan's gorgeous and enormo place.

Saturday, after sleeping a good ten hours, Todd and I lunched at the fancy Golden Nugget restaurant on Western Ave. I'd never been there before but he had spoken of its greatness, and it lived up to its stories. Afterward we went to Wicker Park where there was an craft fair kinda thing for artists. It was crawling with hipsters and boasted lots of neat, overpriced stuff. The highlight of the visit was the Bird Machine stall. The Bird Machine is this super awesome poster company in Chicago. I love, love, love their stuff, particularly the work by one guy, Jay Ryan (who apparently is also in the band Dianogah, which explains the large collection of Dianogah stuff on the site). The Bird Machine mostly does concert posters, it seems, and they're screen printed and I seriously cannot talk enough about how cool they are.

Cool enough that I purchased one. It was $20, but it was worth it, and I can't wait to get it framed (I was going to link to it, but was too lazy to wade through all of the posters). Suffice it to say that I love it so much that I keep on unscrolling it to get another gander at it. It's art, I tell you!

After that we decided to spend our late rainy Saturday afternoon going to see "The Aristocrats." Heard of this movie? It's a documentary in which comics expand on the filthiest joke in the world, one that's told by comics to comics. It was cool to see the comic culture where such a joke and its telling is revered and celebrated, but the joke itself is grody, dude. Plus, you hear it in all of its putrid variations about fifty times. I needed a shower after going to see it. So, theater worthy? Maybe not. Netflix worthy? Perhaps.

Saturday night we spent inside cooking a big old steak dinner that was pretty awesome.

And somehow all of that spit me out to where I am right now, at my desk in my room with my books opened in front of me. They're waiting for me so I can go and do my study questions.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

A Not To Do List
It's like it's straight from my heart.

(via tmn)
First day of class and visitors
Des and Bryan are in town! They arrived last night, we feasted dinner at Las Mananitas and then we all hit the hay in preparation for today. They are currently enjoying the U2 concert right now and have been hanging out at the United Center all day, lying in wait. I admire their moxie. I checked in with them today twice and they were in good spirits. At least they had gorgeous weather since it was sunny, blue skied and 81 today. A gorgeous September day. I think when they return they will be some exhausted kids.

My first day of class went pretty well with two of my three classes back to back. The bear of the quarter is going to be Functional Neuroanatomy. Yes, I know that you're jealous. The pro is that it's interesting material and that it will be very good to know. The con is that it's going to be a bear. I didn't feel very heartened with this when our professor mentioned about thirty times that it was going to be "difficult," "hard," "a challenge," and "a lot of work." Yay! When I shared with people who had taken it last year they figured that he was trying to harden us so people wouldn't be gobsmacked and also trying to head off the complaints that he received last quarter. He also talked for a good five minutes about how he wouldn't "have any sympathy" for people who try to argue their grades up from Bs to As, since a B is still good and it doesn't matter in the long run. I agree with this, but it cracks me up to think about how many people must have gone to his office hours last year sniffing for As. The Type A student (no pun intended).

Consider me Scared Straight, though. I came home and reviewed my notes for a good two hours. Night One of Mission Stay On Top of Things: A Success.

I'm pleasantly wiped out, though. I managed to drag my sorry ass to the gym after weeks away.

Monday, September 19, 2005

On the precipice
Classes begin tomorrow! I spent my morning preparing binders and printing out study guides, etc. I feel so productive. It was an excellent laid back weekend. Highlights included going to see Kevin perform at the Tangerine Family Circus. MAJOR thanks to KB for contributing comp tickets. Kevin was awesome in the circus: his performance included climbing up a rope upside down and jump roping while balancing on a giant rubber ball. Before dinner I convinced Todd that we should try to dine at Holy Frijoles, this much ballyhooed Mexican place nestled in the far suburbs (but relatively close to Evanston). I had gone there months ago for an early lunch with Lauren and Hillary and it was awesome. We got there right when it opened, and got a table, but there was a line out the door by the time we left. I thought that we would have a good chance of getting seated since we were showing up at this place before 6pm for dinner. Not to be. There were loads of people hanging around outside by the time we pulled up and when we asked about the wait, we wouldn't get seated till 8:10pm. Again, this was at 5:50 at night. Damn! It's worth it, though. Now I know that we need to call ahead because if I remember correctly, that shite is worth it! It's definitely not the ambience, since the place sits within a strip mall next to a Dunkin Donuts and a takeout Chinese place.

We also went to see Mono, Bellini, and the Headlights play at Subterranean. Charles suggested seeing Mono since they are a lot like Explosions in the Sky, and I liked them very much. Plus, they were Japanese so that added to their coolness levels. I didn't have my earplugs with me for the show, though, which I regretted since Bellini was way loud, yo. Fun show, though.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

The Bus
I walked the two miles to Trader Joe's today and then decided to take the bus back since I had heavy packages. After waiting at the stop for a good ten minutes I was about to throw in the towel when the Addison bus came crawling up. I made my way back through the condensed front to an empty three seat by the back door. And then the odor hit me. Distinct and acidic. I did a quicktake and saw the few people sitting in the back holding their shirts over their general nose areas. And then I looked down at the floor to see a puddle of fresh vomit slowly oozing its way up front.
Daily Quandary
So I called to make an appointment with my favorite hair dude, Eli, today and found out that he's on vacation till the end of the month. Gah! As usual, I wait to call until the situation is nearing dire circumstances (overgrown and sad) and two weeks is a tall order. The question is, should I wait till Eli comes back or should I go to someone else in the meantime? I'm all gunshy now since I got the Worst Haircut in the History of Time when I (foolishly) decided to walk into a Hair Cuttery in my neighborhood. I'm guessing that I'm going to wait because I'm lazy. I may cave though.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

What I want for Christmas
They're selling "The Complete New Yorker": 8 DVDs. 4,109 issues. $100.

Dizzamn!
Grizzly/Grisly
I went and caught "Grizzly Man" tonight. It was a pretty powerful film and very haunting and well done. I didn't know anything about Timothy Treadwell before this, and after watching the movie (shots of him on all of his own footage) you can't come away without thinking that this was one deeply messed up man. Insane. He caught gorgeous scenes and his commitment to the grizzlies was admirable, but there's also plenty of footage of him allowing the bears to approach him and he would teasingly tap them on the snout, while cooing about how much he loves them and thanks them for being his friends. These are enormous, enormous grizzlies. Treadwell had some sort of savior complex, calling himself the "kind warrior" for the bears in front of his cameras. He seemed to have good intentions, but then you would also have footage of him losing his shit while he was railing against the national park officials on camera, naming names (which the movie blocked out) and telling them to fuck themselves somewhere in the area of 1,079 times. Again, insane. Good movie, though: definitely worth Netflixing.
Baaack
It's been good and relaxing to be back in town. It's even better today because the weather has officially turned from hot and humid to cool (mid-90s to 70s). My apartment is approximately 213 times more pleasant because of this. Thank God.

Classes start next week, and I've been occupying myself with trying to get stuff that needs to get done accomplished and also relaxing like a mofo. This means lots of daytime tv and long lazy jogs by the lake. I've also managed to catch up with some of my school compatriots and Pam so I haven't completely hermetically sealed myself off.

Two things:

1. I have grandiose plans about what a good student I am going to be this coming quarter. I'm going to have rock star study habits, kids. This means going over my notes every night and staying on top of everything. You know it.

2. I've been watching Season 3 of "Oz" on dvd. I watch this show since I support it because it comes from the creators of "Homicide," despite the fact that it scares the living jeebus out of me. Objectively, I'm continually shocked by the fact that it aired for five or six seasons when its levels of violence are mindblowing. For instance, the credits end with someone being electrocuted. But, I still like the show even if it's uncomfortable to watch, and I appreciate the characters and admire the acting. And I love BD Wong and think he makes the most adorable Catholic priest ever.

Anyway, many of the characters are scary as hell, but the hands down most frightening is the role of Adebisi with his tiny hat and his striped stockings and his clazy eyes. I remember reading once an article about the guy who played Jame Gumb in "Silence of the Lambs" and how it was almost a curse because everyone associated him with that role. I fear that the same thing will happen to the dude who plays Adebisi. He's awesome, but he'll always be associated with clazy malevolence.

Monday, September 12, 2005


Afghan Feast! Posted by Picasa

Totally my favorite picture in the day of patriotism.  Posted by Picasa

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial Posted by Picasa

At the WWII Memorial Posted by Picasa

More saluting of the Monument. Glorious indeed. Posted by Picasa

Sightseeing in DC. On the mall.  Posted by Picasa