Ah, Another Christmas

The more they occur, the less exciting they seem.
Another holiday is over. We are in Columbus, Ohio and getting ready to return to Cambridge. It has been fun but I am ready to leave the land of the endless malls.
Happy holidays all around. Lets all start planning New Years!

Time Waster/Text Analyzer

So I came across this site thanks to this blog. What is does is use the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator and lets you find out your blog's type.
My results are not too surprising:

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

Goodbye B-Side Lounge

So last night was it for the B-Side Lounge. It is all over. Doors are locked and we no longer have a place to hang out and bitch and moan and commiserate. It was really sad. We found out via text on Friday night and proceeded to spend a few hours on Saturday and Sunday hanging with the old crowd and remembering the good times. I am actually getting a little choked up just writing these words.
It is amazing that we all found our own little bit of Heaven in Ward 4. The B was where we all became friends. It is where we took family members to either show off or frighten off! It was a place where you could walk in and not have to deal with attitude from the bartenders. The music was cool and they often played stuff we wanted to hear. It was the site of our Sunday night funniest home video ritual. No more will we sit around laughing at fat people falling down (As Dave often refered to the show). Or the night that they would put the Simpson's on just so we'd stay a little bit longer. Then there was the night we made the mistake of staying too late on a Saturday and the crown was so deep and crazy that they let us out through the kitchen. Then there was the night that Clinton hung out with Ben Afleck and Jennifer Lopez.
There are so many people that we have become friends with over the years of hanging out there. Last night most of them showed and we all tried to think of a place that we could turn to. And none of us could. The B-Side is irreplacable.
I'll be posting some photos from last night later. Good times indeed.

Palate Cleanser

I feel like I have to put some things up here that will distract from my horror story detailed below. So I'm going to put up some pics. We traveled a bit this past summer and fall and I took quite a few pics so I think I'll bring there over here and show them to you all.

Providence, October 4th.
I spent a Saturday down in Providence to check out the new wing of the RISD museum.
I took some pics. Here ya go.


This is a new condo tower being put up on the riverfront thingy in downtown. This used to be a giant wasteland. I believe this is where they held the first X games way back in the early nineties. They built a ton of skate ramps here.


This is the new RISD wing on North Main Street. Kinda bleh. It looks like a cheaper version of the New Museum in NYC. which is pictured below.

Sorry it is kinda dark. It was nighttime don't ya know.





These are photos of some of Dale Chihuly's glass pieces. There was a little show of his work up in the new galleries at RISD.

Ugh

This week has been brutal. The GREs sucked ass. The test itself wasn't that hard. I breezed through the Math cause I just didn't care. The writing went well. I think I did an okay job there. And well, I could have done better on the verbal. I was very disappointed with my score. Granted I got 80th percentile which I guess is pretty good. I just would have like to have done better. It's annoying. Especially when one of the grad programs actually makes a point of saying that they'd like at least a 700on the verbal section. I did not make that. What was even more aggravating is that I was getting really obsure terms. So naturally I thought I was doing pretty well.
Anyway...whatever. I contemplated another go at them but decided it would be a waste of my time and energy with no guarantee that I'd even get a better score. My energy needs to go towards the applications and screw them and their damn test.
Speaking of tests, that testing center is a freakin racket! The amount of money they must make just by setting up some ghetto ass computers running testing software that hasn't been rewritten since DOS is astounding. They jokers are making a mint with very little effort.

Otherwise I guess things are going well. Class is cruising along. Work is boring and dull as usual. It is Halloween and we are locking ourselves in for the evening. C is a bit paranoid as we were broken into last year on this evening.
I'm trying to decide what to cook for dinner.
hmmmmm food.

Family Tales.

I'm going to avoid lamenting on the whys and wherefores of not consistently blogging. It seems that every time I return to this blog it is simply to spend time apologising for not writing and then never write again. Wait...I'm doing that right now. D'oh!

Anyway, I am here to regale you all with a tale about a recent family visit that should serve as a warning to all those inclined to invite family members to stay with them.
Last week C's (significantly) older brother and his new wife came to Boston. They stayed in a hotel for three days and then moved in with us. This is the couple whose wedding we attended last fall in Sonoma which is where they live. The first few days were fine. We lost a Sunday as they immediately called us and wanted to hang out. We spent the day giving them a tour of MIT and Harvard. A tour that they seemed awfully disinterested in. I don't think I have ever seen someone who visits a place and then doesn't really care to see anything. C's brother had the nerve to call MIT "the Stanford of the east coast." Seriously? Are you kidding me?
Anyway, we proceeded to spend the day bar hopping as the only thing they did seem interested in was drinking tequila. Ended up at the B-Side where our tab was a startling $150. They paid for it which was nice cause I certainly didn't drink my share of that in beer. I would have been comatose!
Monday, Tuesday and Wed were fairly uneventful. Both C and I worked so we didn't have much interaction. Sis-in-law made enchilladas on Tuesday that were pretty jammin despite being made from overly processed ingredients. I think my stomach is still digesting most of them. It has been many, many years since Rice-A-Roni passed through my lips or touched one of my pans. Sure, maybe it is the San Francisco treat, but I'm not sure it was a treat to consume.
So Thursday comes along and we all meet at the B-Side after I finish class.
Tequila gets consumed. Lots of it. Although not as much as Sunday as the bill was only $105 this time. Which I paid. There is some tiff between the brother and the wife apparently due to his smoking. She has a bit of a hissy because he smells like cigarettes.
We get back to our apartment and order pizza. They proceed to go into the library where they are sleeping and begin yelling and screaming at each other. Loudly. Very, very loudly...to the point where C has to barge in and pull them apart. He throws his brother out of the house and the wife goes tearing off after him. She comes back a few minutes later and is on the phone with the airline trying to change her flight. All the while throwing her crap into her bag. I roll my eyes after offering up some token sympathy then go back to watching TV.
Then the brother returns and they begin fighting again. This time louder and apparently physically. C has to barge in again and pull them apart. She is screaming and crying. At this point I head to the bedroom with my book and leave poor C to mediate. I have no idea what time he gets to bed. I crash as I have to work in the AM. C is fortunate to have taken the day off. Although by this point he'd rather be at work than spend time with his crazy brother and the wife.

Friday comes along. C feigns a migraine, hands the crazies a map and sends them out into the city. We all meet up that evening for dinner at Legal Sea Foods in Kendall.
Over the course of dinner I start to notice some unusual behaviour from the in-laws. I realise as the appetisers arrive that they are playing a bit of pocket pool with each other. They have cleverly disguised their doings with napkins. I try to look away and pretend that I have no idea what is going on. I look above their heads and out the window. I strain to make sense of the reflected images of the televisions. Anything to take my mind off of the shenanigans taking place on the other side of the table. Now bear in mind these people are almost fifty years of age. And this is their behaviour in a restaurant. Granted, Legal's is not the Four Seasons but surely some decorum is in order? C is oblivious. Which is probably for the best. Who wants to see their siblings acting this way! Honestly, I don't want to see anyone acting like this! Unfortunately, I can no longer say this.

I kept my mouth shut about this. They got in a cab on Saturday morning. I went to the gym for a couple of hours and C proceeded to play Batman Lego. A friend of ours came over that night for drinks and I spilled the beans. C was horrified and has banned them from ever visiting us again.

There is a lesson here. My family never visits. They might voice some desire to but they never do. I can count on one hand the number of visits I have had. And two of those involved an academic graduation.

oy!

OMG. Back at work. totally sucks. It took me most of the morning to get through the emails I had waiting. Lame-ness abounds.
I'm struggling to keep my head up here. I forgot to change my alarm clock back to the appropriate time and so woke up with very little time to make it to work.
So annoying. Thankfully the morning meeting was taking place today so most people didn't even notice that I was a little late.
So tired and sleepy here.

Ahhhh vacation.

I have been on a mini-vacation for the past few days. Six glorious days away from the office. Wonderful. I went to my parent's house in Newport for a couple of days. Forgot my camera alas. It was nice. I went to the beach for a little while. Thankfully the towny beach wasn't crowded at all. Did some grilling and watched a whole lot of Olympics. I introduced my mother to the pleasures of Project Runway. Good times.
Came back and celebrated a friends birthday on Saturday. Movie and dinner which was a drunken good time. The movie, "Bottle Shock," was just okay. Nothing spectacular. There were actual moments that were sweet and then moments that were painful. The script was particularly awful and trite. But Alan Rickman is always a joy to watch. He just wasn't in the film enough to bring it to a decent level. But dinner and a whole lot of drinks at the B-Side was a perfect way to push the movie out of my mind.
Sunday I went for a walk around town with W & J. We did the loop through the North End and over to the ICA. I hadn't seen the completed Kennedy Greenway. It was pretty cool. People were actually using it too!


Yesterday I cleaned out the storage room. Blech. Dirty and hot and annoying but now it is done. I am lugging it all to Goodwill today.
Might do a walkthrough of the Harvard Museums this afternoon.
We'll see what happens. Maybe some grilling tonight if the weather holds.

The Police

We are off to see the Police this evening. Very exciting!
Except thunderstorms are moving in and we are seeing them at Great Woods (I refuse to call it the Comcast Center - I hate that fucking company!!). I understand that Sting no longer looks like he does in the above picture but I would rather think of him this way.

Jeez, three months

Wow, I can't believe so much time has gone by.
Damn. Well, I guess I'll post something. Today I reached the point where I could no longer read news sites. I just so got frustrated and annoyed with the way our government is turning. Congress went ahead and passed the revised FISA compromise giving major companies immunity and expanding the government's ability to spy without a warrant. The Supreme Court went ahead and cut Exxon's penalty significantly to the detriment of the communities who's livelihood's were destroyed and the also threw out the ban on handguns. While I am a fan and true believer in a hands-off methodology of government I am astounded at the argument that in this day and age people need to have and use handguns. Gay people can't get married (except for two states) but we are certainly free to purchase a gun for whatever purpose we chose. It is distressing and disheartening. I am especially disappointed in Obama and his repeated stances both on the Supreme Court's ruling on the death penalty for child rapists and his refusal to take a stand on gay marriage. What does it say when you are all for execution as a punishment and fail to stand up for people to have the right to marry? I don't believe in execution. It isn't a deterrent. The United States is one of the few countries in the world that still executes. It puts us in the astounding company of China, Myanmar and Russia. Which of course, given the state of the union (in terms of liberties and such) we are in fitting company.
It truly makes me sad for all of us. I'm tired of being upset at the way our country treats people inside and out. I think it is time to move to another country.

Goin back to Cali

So I have arrived in SF. It has been one long ass day. Up at 6, work at 7-ish, class at 12:30, home at 3 and airport at 4 only to discover that my flight was delayed an hour and a half. I spent 3 and a half hours at Logan. And I must say that Terminal C is a bit ghetto. They trick you by making the main lobby area nice then after you go through security you discover that there ain't shit in the frigging place. They put all the restaurants and stores before security. What is that about? Didn't land until 11:30 SF time which is 2:30 Boston. I am exhausted and yet not tired. I don't know what it is but I feel that it is much easier to fly to Europe than California. I don't understand why...it just is. I think I am going to try and sleep now. I'm somewhat annoyed because I don't like any of the books I brought with me. I'm going to have to look for something else to read while I am here.
Oh and I should probably finish that paper I am presenting on Saturday. That would be a good thing.

Speed Racer

There are two new trailers for the Wachowski Brothers next film Speed Racer out.
This film looks like total eye candy. And it is starring a notable piece of eye candy, Matthew Fox! Sa-weet!



I have annoyingly fallen one episode behind in LOST. I have to quickly catch up before Thursday! Help me iTUnes! You're my only hope!

Blah, blah, blah

So I am trying to keep up to date on this thing but it is kinda hard when nothing really happens in my life. Had a nice weekend. Friday night was hectic and drunk-filled. I got my first Newbury St Salon haircut. I'm not sure how I like it. It looked very different when I left the salon. My hair was gelled to extreme and shaped into some pompadore thing. I felt very fetching and architectural. I have yet to be able to reproduce this. For me it just flops down. Whatever, I paid $40 for an $85 dollar cut. It looks much better then when I go to Supercuts.
I am struggling with the writing again. I just can't wrap my brain around my paper topic. I only have a week and a half left before I present it. I need to get my shit together. I'm not too worried about the paper sucking since I am presenting it at 8 AM on a Saturday morning. Don't think I'll be overwhelmed by the crowd. I'm more worried about getting my ass up in time!
Oh, the one sheeter for the new Indiana Jones film has been released. People are going gaga over it. I'm not so impressed. Trailer is pretty fun though.

Watchman

The official Watchman site has posted pics of the characters in action from the upcoming film. You got Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach (creepy looking out of costume - seems appropriate), Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian (meh - just okay looking), Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl (hot! too bad he is mostly covered up. Maybe there is a scene with him in Mormon undergarments? It would spare me from having to watch Angels in America again), Matthew Goode as Ozymandias (sometimes cute and sometimes he looks like a smelly hipster), and Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre (who kinda looks like an anime character). This looks to be quite good. They have just finished principle shooting and now begin a year of post. It is premiering on March 6th 2009.

Yet another one.

Okay, okay, okay. I promise to do better with this whole blogging thing. I have been a bit distracted. Semester is in full swing. How do I know this since I am no longer a student? Well, let me tell you folks. I have begun my second semester as a teaching instructor and as I sit here typing this up I am consiously ignoring a stack of papers that are in dire need of grading. You know, at the end of last semester and my marathon evenings of grading I promised myself that I would not let this happen! I would do better and be more conscientious! That is out the window. At least for this week.
I am doing better in watching the films beforehand. That's good, right?
I also have a paper looming over me. I am presenting a paper at a conference in SF in March. I am really only re-writing a paper from a previous one but still. I need to jump on that shit.

Anyway. I am outa hea. Leaving the office and heading out into the cold.
I am way over this whole winter thing.

names...

Is this what I signed up for?

Once again time has gotten away from me and a month (or more) has passed since my last post. I am buying my new laptop this weekend so perhaps I'll take on the blogging again. Not much has really happened since December. I have settled into my work. I had a month off from teaching which unfortunately ends next week. I'm not sure how I feel about. The professor I am working with this spring is awfully disorganised. He is very nice and very smart of course but he hadn't even nailed down the syllibi when we had lunch two weeks ago! I think he is going to stress me out. Tough part is that I am now accustomed to making the extra $650 a month so I am loath to give it up. And to a certain extent it can be fun. I had a bunch of duds last semester. Only two out of 23 students actively spoke up in class. It is kind of frustrating when it is supposed to be a recitation/conversational hour not another lecture.
I am really feeling like I need a vacation. Shitty part is that my bonus wasn't nearly enough to buy my computer and take C and myself someplace fun. I'm just getting sick of Boston and all of the people who occupy it. I don't mind the people I work with and the people I hang out with but it is the in between spaces that bother me. I don't actually mind most of the people at the gym. With the exception being the petite, blonde, "muffy" office women who have to do the eliptical side by side and chat away. There are a couple of men who do this too which I find confounding. My friend CA goes to my gym and the conversation we engage in is "see you at the bar tonight?" as we each remove one headphone. This is followed by a grunt and we move on.
I really got nothing to say here. I am going to lay my head down on my desk now and take a nap...