Jamie: haha you know how tom and jim have insane amounts of wool/
me: yes
Jamie: one time they found a stray cat
Jamie: and brought it home because it was miserable
Jamie: and it just sat and stared at the wool shelves
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
I scream, you scream
Theorizing about whether or not the ice cream truck in my neighborhood sells drugs and if so how and what kind has recently become kind of a significant preoccupation with me lately. [Edit 6/14: This is like the worst sentence I've written in awhile. I was going to edit it but decided to leave it because it's almost humorous in its badness.] For those of you who've never seen this thing, this is less idle a speculation than it would be with most ice cream trucks. For one thing, this thing is *ancient.* I think significant portions of it are actually made of wood, it's so jury-rigged and generally all-around ghetto. In other words, it doesn't so much look like this:
As like this:
Now imagine that baby but a model about 20 years older, painted a sickly light blue/grey with some kind of paint that's demonstrably not intended for automobiles, with "ice cream" hastily stenciled on both sides and the roof. That's more or less what we're talking about here. But I haven't come to the best part, the clincher that makes theorizing about its potential secondary wares so inescapable: roughly 3/5 of the time, it's playing Christmas carols.
The weirdness that brings is upped even further by the fact that I first heard it come around this year in like, late February or early March - some time in there when it was clearly and fully still winter. But also clearly and fully not Christmas either. Let me tell you, when you're 3/4 through a Wisconsin winter and nearly insane for some sign of spring's approach, there is nothing more surreal than seeing that symbol of golden summer afternoons, an ice cream truck, amble past while loudly playing "O Come All Ye Faithful." Now that it's the ice cream truck's natural season, it's been coming around more frequently - but still playing carols at least half the time, if not slightly more. I'm also not sure I've ever seen anyone buy from it (though I'm sure they must).
All of which adds up to it being impossible not to imagine this baby peddling drugs. And like, more than just a little pot - it's so bedraggled and worn-looking, so kind of half-assing its efforts to appeal to children (presumably, were it a legit ice cream sales venue, its target audience), so bereft of the lazy yet heartwarming colorful sloppiness of a stonermobile, that it's got to be something darker - more along the lines of meth. (Though admittedly that might be the 25-odd episodes of Breaking Bad I've watched in the past 5 days.)
My current operating theory is that it plays Christmas music to signal that it's open for non-ice cream related business. Because honestly - why else would you play Christmas music from your ice cream truck in May when you could be playing "Camptown Races" or "Farmer in the Dell" or any number of other chimey staccato renditions of classic non-seasonally themed favorites? Shit's got to be some kind of code.
In other news, prelims reading begins full-time in 6 days. God save me. Maybe I should look into buying some of that ice cream meth.
As like this:
The weirdness that brings is upped even further by the fact that I first heard it come around this year in like, late February or early March - some time in there when it was clearly and fully still winter. But also clearly and fully not Christmas either. Let me tell you, when you're 3/4 through a Wisconsin winter and nearly insane for some sign of spring's approach, there is nothing more surreal than seeing that symbol of golden summer afternoons, an ice cream truck, amble past while loudly playing "O Come All Ye Faithful." Now that it's the ice cream truck's natural season, it's been coming around more frequently - but still playing carols at least half the time, if not slightly more. I'm also not sure I've ever seen anyone buy from it (though I'm sure they must).
All of which adds up to it being impossible not to imagine this baby peddling drugs. And like, more than just a little pot - it's so bedraggled and worn-looking, so kind of half-assing its efforts to appeal to children (presumably, were it a legit ice cream sales venue, its target audience), so bereft of the lazy yet heartwarming colorful sloppiness of a stonermobile, that it's got to be something darker - more along the lines of meth. (Though admittedly that might be the 25-odd episodes of Breaking Bad I've watched in the past 5 days.)
My current operating theory is that it plays Christmas music to signal that it's open for non-ice cream related business. Because honestly - why else would you play Christmas music from your ice cream truck in May when you could be playing "Camptown Races" or "Farmer in the Dell" or any number of other chimey staccato renditions of classic non-seasonally themed favorites? Shit's got to be some kind of code.
In other news, prelims reading begins full-time in 6 days. God save me. Maybe I should look into buying some of that ice cream meth.
Note to Self: Do it Right the First Time
So when I got my new computer I was (understandably, I think) too eager to start poking around on it and experiencing its amazing new speed and clarity and much louder speakers and such to transfer my files properly; rather than use Migration Manager or whatever the hell it's called, I simply used a portable drive to ferry over my music, photos and documents wholesale. This worked fine in the short term, but cut out all the associated information with my photos and music - playlists, play counts, events, etc. And as I am a huge packrat when it comes to personal records of all kinds, this has been annoying me. I've actually managed to put off plugging my iPod into the new machine so as not to lose the old playlists and settings. And for some reason, I decided that this afternoon was a good time to import all those settings and such.
It's a huge pain. Half the time the directions from Apple are ambiguous about whether a particular transfer technique will preserve the info I want (play count is a particular bitch in that regard), and the other half my old computer just isn't up for the task. Below, a selection of my thoughts on the process:
- How cute and somewhat twee that Apple has updated the Energy Saver light bulb icon to be a compact fluorescent.
- This is so easy. Well, not for what I want to do now - but it would have been if I'd just looked up how to do it in the first place. Goddamnit.
- Wait, is this going to make duplicates of all the files I already imported? All 67 gigs of them? Shit. [rushes off to move iPhoto and iTunes libraries to alternate locations]
- ...4 and a half hours?? Fuck that noise. I'll run it while I'm at Benoit's thing tonight.
It's a huge pain. Half the time the directions from Apple are ambiguous about whether a particular transfer technique will preserve the info I want (play count is a particular bitch in that regard), and the other half my old computer just isn't up for the task. Below, a selection of my thoughts on the process:
- How cute and somewhat twee that Apple has updated the Energy Saver light bulb icon to be a compact fluorescent.
- This is so easy. Well, not for what I want to do now - but it would have been if I'd just looked up how to do it in the first place. Goddamnit.
- Wait, is this going to make duplicates of all the files I already imported? All 67 gigs of them? Shit. [rushes off to move iPhoto and iTunes libraries to alternate locations]
- ...4 and a half hours?? Fuck that noise. I'll run it while I'm at Benoit's thing tonight.
****
Friday, May 6, 2011
Things I Learned This Winter (a selection)
- I am a compositionist first and a rhetorician second.
- A truly awesome pair of shoes can make you feel better about everything in your wardrobe and are 100% worth investing in.
- "Oh well, it probably won't make much difference anyhow" is NEVER the right attitude to take on insulating your apartment.
- It's also a bad position to adopt towards paying parking tickets on time, letting your registration expire, and eating Valentine's Nerds and Hot Pockets 2 meals a day for three weeks.
- My instincts are usually right when it comes to ebay auctions, when I don't need another drink, and men. Just, you know...fucking learn to listen to them.
- Polo will always knock his water over. It doesn't matter where I put it.
- Renee + me + Plan B = never a bad idea. Except when I'm not listening to that second instinct above.
- I kind of really do have a boner for digital writing. I'm where I belong.
- Many of my academic insecurities could be lessened if I would just make more time for reading in my field. (Cue prelims!)
- I'm happier when I pay my bills on time.
- I enjoy myself some genre fiction from time to time, but round about the 10th book in a row it stops being a refreshing change and starts being a rut.
- Don't put 3/4 of your winter clothes away after the second 60+ degree day in April. This is a huge mistake and will result in your wearing the same 4 outfits for the next three to five weeks. (I cannot stress this one enough. I've been all "damn...I have *no* clothes" for weeks now, and tonight when I went to finish the job I was like, "oh...that's why.")
- No matter what their official titles may imply, my professors are not really all that interested in giving me personally tailored advice or mentoring outside the obligatory.
- Getting some time in outside is incredibly good for my mental health, even if it's very very very cold out and hard to make myself do it.
- My writing is good. But it could definitely be better, and for that to happen I'm going to have to work at it.
- It's always a good idea to brave an epic blizzard for a Snoop Dogg show.
- Remember how you used to listen to music all the time - walking, on the bus, working, writing, walking? Do that again.
- It's hard to un-care for someone once you open that door.
- People exist who think you are genuinely good at your job.
- You may be considerably above average at winter driving, but you're decidedly mediocre at knowing what to do once actually stuck in a snowbank of some kind.
- Relatedly - I have some pretty sweet neighbors scattered through the nearby blocks - friends and semi-strangers alike.
- Wisconsin winters are incredibly hard on me. I know blaming Mother Nature is the world's biggest cop-out and I'm not saying I couldn't do more to mitigate their effects. But looking back on the past 12 months the correlation between the quality of my mental state and general lifestyle and the season is too strong to deny - winter Fucks. Me. Up.
And so I'm that much happier it's spring. It's waking me up, and I'm excited to start a new phase, where what I'm learning is less about enforced work and disappointment and cold and more about passion for my field and possibility and Ralph Lauren photo shoot-esque outings on Mendota.
Life's not so bad. I need to be more positive. There's a lot on the horizon worth being happy about.
- A truly awesome pair of shoes can make you feel better about everything in your wardrobe and are 100% worth investing in.
- "Oh well, it probably won't make much difference anyhow" is NEVER the right attitude to take on insulating your apartment.
- It's also a bad position to adopt towards paying parking tickets on time, letting your registration expire, and eating Valentine's Nerds and Hot Pockets 2 meals a day for three weeks.
- My instincts are usually right when it comes to ebay auctions, when I don't need another drink, and men. Just, you know...fucking learn to listen to them.
- Polo will always knock his water over. It doesn't matter where I put it.
- Renee + me + Plan B = never a bad idea. Except when I'm not listening to that second instinct above.
- I kind of really do have a boner for digital writing. I'm where I belong.
- Many of my academic insecurities could be lessened if I would just make more time for reading in my field. (Cue prelims!)
- I'm happier when I pay my bills on time.
- I enjoy myself some genre fiction from time to time, but round about the 10th book in a row it stops being a refreshing change and starts being a rut.
- Don't put 3/4 of your winter clothes away after the second 60+ degree day in April. This is a huge mistake and will result in your wearing the same 4 outfits for the next three to five weeks. (I cannot stress this one enough. I've been all "damn...I have *no* clothes" for weeks now, and tonight when I went to finish the job I was like, "oh...that's why.")
- No matter what their official titles may imply, my professors are not really all that interested in giving me personally tailored advice or mentoring outside the obligatory.
- Getting some time in outside is incredibly good for my mental health, even if it's very very very cold out and hard to make myself do it.
- My writing is good. But it could definitely be better, and for that to happen I'm going to have to work at it.
- It's always a good idea to brave an epic blizzard for a Snoop Dogg show.
- Remember how you used to listen to music all the time - walking, on the bus, working, writing, walking? Do that again.
- It's hard to un-care for someone once you open that door.
- People exist who think you are genuinely good at your job.
- You may be considerably above average at winter driving, but you're decidedly mediocre at knowing what to do once actually stuck in a snowbank of some kind.
- Relatedly - I have some pretty sweet neighbors scattered through the nearby blocks - friends and semi-strangers alike.
- Wisconsin winters are incredibly hard on me. I know blaming Mother Nature is the world's biggest cop-out and I'm not saying I couldn't do more to mitigate their effects. But looking back on the past 12 months the correlation between the quality of my mental state and general lifestyle and the season is too strong to deny - winter Fucks. Me. Up.
And so I'm that much happier it's spring. It's waking me up, and I'm excited to start a new phase, where what I'm learning is less about enforced work and disappointment and cold and more about passion for my field and possibility and Ralph Lauren photo shoot-esque outings on Mendota.
Life's not so bad. I need to be more positive. There's a lot on the horizon worth being happy about.
Monday, May 2, 2011
I've got 99 work-related tasks but finishing my prelims list ain't one
Because that shit is D-U-N done. Just gotta meet with Christa to get the official okay on sending it out to be approved at the meeting this Friday. Feels good. Now I just have to track everything on it down - which, counted individually, would probably put my task count actually at or over 99. But such an itemization would still not include any bitches, so I feel the allusion stands.
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