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...

And just how did I get here?

So today I had one of those days where I question what I am doing. This was prompted by my saying (quite loudly, I might add) to a co-worker that whatever happens at work doesn't matter cause it's not like it is my "real" job. Completely forgetting that, yeah, it kinda is! They pay me, a lot of money, and while I was intent on dissing my self in a "self-deprecating" kinda way, she took it the wrong way.
Understandable!
But it lead me to a larger examination of just what I am doing. What am I doing? Am I killing time until I go back to school? Am I killing time until I can make art because C is going to be making all the money and I can be the "artist" partner? What exactly is going on? I want to know. I want to know just what the fuck my own brain is thinking. What got me here? Do I really want to go back to school, get my phd, write and teach? Nothing this semester put me on the track to want to teach. Perhaps it was my own inexperience? I have taught film/video production, sound, editing but teaching an actual class that consists merely of lecture and with no technological component? Hard. H.A.R.D. Hard as a muther fucker. I remember when I taught the pre-college program. I felt like every day I was winging that shit. was I? Did they learn anything? The problem is that those students had to make a video. These kids don't. They have to write a paper and that is what I critique. Hard. H.A.R.D.
But do I want to sit at my desk and run reports for some annoying ass clowns? I like a lot of the people I deal with. But then again there are some people that I want to beat down into the ground!
Ah. I don't know what I am babbling about. I am up late, tired and dealing with a cranky C. I need to get my ass to bed.

names

Ugh! Winter.

So it appears that winter is finally here. I look out the window of the office next to mine and watch the snow pass by vertically. Should be a nice ride home. The ride in this morning was as annoying as it always is when the weather sucks. Lots of people decide not to drive. They pile their overweight bodies into the MBTA train and subject us daily commuters to their cluelesness. These are the people who have no idea that there is a small degree (very small - cause this is Boston) of etiquette involved in taking the subway. They pile in invariably weighed down with a large backpack that increases the amount of square footage that they occupy by at least threefold. They enter the train and pause, spinning in place, trying vainly to decide which direction to go in. Thereby holding up the entire loading process by blocking said entrance. The crowd begins to gather behind them growing increasingly agitated as they too would like to enter the train and stand in such a manner. It is about this time that I am prompted to change my music from something soothing and calming to a genre decidedly more aggressive. It does not improve my attitude towards the masses. I hate them so much.
On an up note this weekend went very well. I purchased the new Futurama film on DVD this weekend. They are releasing a series of films that at some point in the future will be divided up and screened as new seasons. It was extremely funny. More so than the Simpson's movie of the past summer. It is clear which show has the better writers.
We also watched Delicatessen. I had seen it before but C had not. Some of my students are presenting on the film this coming Thursday. It really is one of my favourites. C prefers Amelie but this one is much darker in tone - which is my preference. Jeunet really is a wonderful director.
I have to watch Fellini's 8 1/2 this week as well. Probably will do that one tonight. I haven't seen it in over a decade. Looking forward to it.

Well, well, well

It appears that I can post from work. I have tried and tried and for some reason when I go to compose from Gmail I get blocked. Well,I have discovered a way in. That is excellent. I shall begin complaining about my life and everything in it anew!
Lets start with today shall we?
Here is this mornings course of events:
Today was take the kitten in to be spayed day. C booked the zipcar so we could do this. However, he booked it for 8PM not 8AM. I arrive at the parking lot to find no car. Call up zipcar ready to begin screaming at someone only to have my customer service rep deride me for my own (or rather C's) stupidity. I had to walk about a mile and a half away to Kendall Square to pick up the "new" reserved car. Get in car head back to pick them up.
Turns out the vet was throwing up copiously and had cancelled our appointment.
I then leave for work and green line is moving behind schedule. I sit at Lechmere for 15 minutes in the cold.
Get to work at 9:25, compile a report fast and furiously for a 10 o'clock meeting. The meeting is subsequently cancelled at 9:55 just as I finished photocopying and collating.
Check my bank account and it turns out that the bank had autocharged C's student loan payment from my account because the original account (our joint account) had been closed by us last month. The bank decided to take it out of my account without my approval so I was overdrawn by $400. with an additional $60 overdraft fee. I had to storm down to the bank only to have them tell me that they couldn't do anything because I opened my account at the Dartmouth St. branch and I had to deal with them! I wrote my office number down and told "Victor" that he should resolve this and when he did to give me a call, then I stormed out.
And all of that took place before 11 AM.
I really needed a cocktail! Liquid lunch anyone?
Dare I go to the gym today? Who the hell knows what can go wrong next! I am being very good with my gym attendance. I have been four days a week for the past month. My Express button down shirts no longer have uncomfortable stretching points in the middle regions of my torso.
On a happier note we gave our students an extra week to write their final papers. Which means no grading this weekend!!!Huzzah!
I am exhausted from the pace of this semester. I have been shuttling back and forth from downtown to campus twice a week and I am seriously ready to be done with it! Of course now that one of my former professors knows that I am interested in doing the instructor side gig he has recruited me for the spring. The added appeal being that I will be at Harvard and hopefully not have to deal with poor writing skills. MIT students are smart but writing skills? Not so much. I have had students who have never written a paper...NEVER! I'm sure they can work the fuck out of a problem set but analyse a film? Clearly not.
I guess that is enough for now. Back to websurfing, I mean work...

Half Naked Mormons mmmmmmm....oh wait. That is so wrong!

I have given up writing about Paris. Not my fault really. Our apartment was broken into and well, I no longer have a laptop nor photos loaded onto said machine to make my story that much more interesting and visually engaging. I am up late tonight with a bout of insomnia and came across this story from the Sydney Morning Herald. I wish I had something better to give you on my return to blogging but hey...half naked Mormon missionaries is all I got.
Sure, they went a little over board on the body grease but I think a half naked Mormon is better than one in a tie banging on my door. oh wait. Perhaps this is a continuation of that fantasy I had...

Almost done with Paris

I am almost finished writing about the Paris trip. Then I can return to complaining about my life and the travails therein.
Monday morning I once again work up and worked on papers. I critiqued and began emailing students while sitting at a cafe enjoying wonderfully strong cup of coffee.
Monday was to be shopping day. It was rainy and gloomy, perfect for window and interior varieties. We set out from the hotel and headed up the Rue de Bac. Our first stop was Sonia Rykiel Homme. She doesn't sell her men's line in the US so we had to make a stop. I wasn't a big fan of her clothes (big, wide horizontal lines on everything - seriously?). C found a jacket that he quite liked. It was kinda rain-coaty and kinda not. It was 500 Euros. And it would have to be tailored. He decided to think about it. We walked about the heart of St. Germain de Pres, all the little fancy shops. Quite a few of them are in Boston now so it didn't make sense to buy anything but it was fun. We ended up heading to the Pantheon as I had nixed it on the last trip.



Foucault's Pendulum - interesting but was a little underwhelming. It was very small. There were signs not to take photos but lots of people were so I said fuck it and took a couple. Didn't really come out. We went down into the catacombs and checked shit out. I had to leave after a little while, there was an odd smell down there, like old people and dirty feet. blech! And it really creeped me out.
We touched base with Bev, our new friend from Saturday, and made plans to meet for drinks at Harry's. The weather cleared up and we headed down from the Pantheon and had lunch at McDonald's!! Yay! I was very happy to have a simple hamburger and fries. I was so freaking sick of French food at this point. We started back towards St Germain and the other side of the river.

Stopped at Notre Dame so C could replace his lost photos from last year. Crossed the bridge over to Ilse St. Louis and up towards the Bastille. Checked out a few galleries on St. Louis. I took a photo of a cute dog sitting outside a shop waiting for his owner.



We ended up doing a large loop from the Bastille over to Les Halles and the Opera.
Checked out a courtyard off of the Place de Vosges which was pretty cool. We stopped at Agnes B Homme to check out their clothes. She only has three shops in the US that sell her men's line: NYC, LA and SF. C convinced me to buy a jacket. I have since fallen in love with it but it did cost a small fortune. It stressed me out.

Next stop was the Opera district. We were running late for our drink with Bev. We made a quick stop at Hugo Boss. C asked to try on a jacket that was in the window. They had two left. He fell in love with it. He bought it. It is admittedly a fabulous jacket that they are not selling in the US. We both really needed a drink now. Off to Harry's!
The night began with a bang. We each had three Manhattans as only Harry's bar can make them - extremely drinkable!

Sunday Cont.

I am sitting in a hotel in Santa Rosa, CA on yet another wedding jaunt. My body tells me it is almost noon while the clock says 9. I am wide awake and have been for about an hour. I decided to tackle the rest of the Paris trip.
I need to get this down before I start forgetting it. Plus I need to start complaining about things that are happening right now! I can't do that until I finish my Paris story.
We left Cafe Americain and headed back to the hotel. We were due to meet W & J for dinner. We swung by the Jau de Paume so that C could buy his Pierre & Gilles print that he had obsessed about over lunch. We stopped by l"Orangerie to check out the Monets. This is a museum that has been in the process of being refurbished for about five years. It finally opened last summer. It is a museum that was designed exclusively for Monet's Waterlillie paintings that he donated to the French government early in the 20th century shortly after he finished painting. I had seen a couple of them at the MFA a few years ago. They let them tour while the museum was being built. They are quite stunning to see all together.

There is another gallery built underneath the Monet rooms housing the private collection of a French couple who were dealers for Picasso, Gauguin, Pissaro and others. It was okay. A lot of things by people who made some pretty famous works but these were clearly the things that didn't sell. Mediocre paintings from great painters.
We hung out at the hotel for a while. The guys came over and we had drinks then heading out. The place we had wanted to go for dinner was closed on Sundays so we let them pick the place. It was a nice little bistro and we got to sit out on the street. J was not too pleased at this as you tend to get harrassed by street venders when you do this. Some guy walked up and down playing an accordian - we gave him a Euro - then a couple people selling roses came by, saw the four of us men sitting there and didn't even bother coming over. Slightly offended. Food was great of course, J and I shared a beef carpacio which I had never had. Tasty. Couple bottles of wine as well.


We walked around for a bit looking for a place to have a cocktail, window shopping. The St Germain neighborhood is perfect for this. It is full of fancy shops full of gorgeous things.
We ended up having drinks and this "trendy" art themed bar.


Another couple bottles of wine and then we all stumbled back to our respective hotels. W & J were leaving Monday for the States. Tearful good byes and promises to visit Paris together again. (Not True - but sounds nice eh?) We ended the evening with W showing us his favourite courtyard in Paris. It was a tiny, simple, little park with four chestnut trees surrounding a lamp. Perfect. And, of course, it was surrounded by fancy shops selling gorgeous things!

Saturday night and Sunday

The night continued. We found a bar that would let us have one drink, or rather one bottle actually. There was a group of people behind us who were also celebrating a birthday. We decided to call it a night when K accidentally spilled a glass of red wine on John's lap. We managed to hail a cab in short order this time and headed back to our hotels.
Sunday morning/Noon was rough. I crawled out of bed around 11:30 or so. While C pulled himself together I headed to the cafe across the street to finish grading papers. I was in dire need of bad greasy food i.e. McDonald's. The only one I could remember seeing was across the river right by the Louvre. We headed out. We got there around 2 and the line was out the door and down the street. So we nixed that. I remembered that there was another one on the Champs Elysee. We moved on.


One the way there we passed the Jau De Palme museum. They were having a Pierre Y Gilles show and Sunday was the last day. So we walked through. Great show. Pierre and Gilles are a gay couple who do portraits. They take the photograph, paint it then photograph it again and print it. The have done some amazing work. And some mediocre work as well. The problem with a retrospective show is that you get a bit of both.
From here we moved on in search of food. Wandered into the Opera neighborhood. We end up eating at an American themed restaurant. I had a burger and C had a club sandwich. It was very odd, they were playing US college football on the TVs. Luckily they were also playing the Australia vs. Fiji rugby match. C had never actually seen rugby in action. He was suitably horrified.

More from Saturday night's party