Work and play

I spent most of the afternoon today trying to get as much homework done as I could. It felt really good to keep busy and see my list of things to do start to shrink. I'm hoping to be able to take a day off this weekend. I won't do a single bit of studying. I'll spend the entire day doing whatever I feel like doing - listening to music, watching a movie, and maybe even blogging!

Last night it occurred to me that I could look for Whose Line Is It Anyway clips on Youtube. There are quite a few to be found! Even stuff I've never seen. The result - I stayed up probably an hour later than I wanted to.

I'll see about putting up another prompt post, either tonight or tomorrow. I really don't have too many links to share lately, so that will have to do for now.

Not much going on really. Next week is my last week of my summer class, and there is a lot of work to be done in that last week. But it shall all be over soon. The thing that really sucks is that after the class is over, my bus pass privileges with my student ID end. Ahhhh well. The good thing is that on the last day of class, after it's all over, I am buying myself a new CD!!!

Speaking of buying things, I had some time before the bus came to take me back home today so I went to the campus record store to browse around. And I found it!!! I found the DVD of Wayne's World, and on sale at that!! I have been looking for Wayne's World on DVD for quite a while now (well, a few months anyway lol) and haven't found it at all in any stores. And now I have and that makes me happy. I've always loved Wayne's World. I grew up quoting that movie with my friends, and even today I notice little things from that movie being used in everyday popular speech. I've tried to think about why Wayne's World is so popular, why its influence still lingers, and why it succeeded where other SNL-based movies failed. I think it's because the movie is so honest and doesn't seem forced. The characters are in their own world, one that the movie viewer slowly gets drawn into. I mean, who wouldn't want to go hang with Wayne and Garth on a Saturday night? We all know that group of friends with their own vocabulary and rituals. We've all sung to songs while driving in cars. Also, from watching it again tonight, I can see that Mike Meyers and Dana Carvey definitely had an on-screen dynamic. Some things seem to be totally improvised, and that's honest and that's why we like Wayne's World. In my opinion, of course.

Here's your weekly This or That!!

1. Strawberries or blueberries? Strawberries!!
2. "Legally Blonde 2" or "Terminator 3"? Terminator 3!! Or, even better, Matrix Reloaded again.
3. Hamburgers or hot dogs? Hard choice, but I love the tube steaks!!
4. Boating or hiking? Boating.
5. Suntan lotion or sunblock? What's the difference?
6. "Big Brother" or "The Amazing Race"? The Amazing Race.
7. Beach Boys or Jimmy Buffett? Oooooh hard choice. Beach boys, I guess.
8. Grow your own produce or buy from supermarket/greengrocer/farm stand? I'd buy.
9. Drive with car windows/top down, or with air-conditioning on? Windows down!! Much more fun.
10. Go away for vacation, or stay at home? Go away. Home gets boring sometimes.

Why hasn't Duck posted anything lately??

Sorry folks, guess I just haven't had much to blog about lately. The only real news with me lately is that I'm one week into my summer school class. It's called Communication Democracy, and it's sort of interesting so far. Sometimes it gets a bit complicated, but oh well. Other news...hmmm...well I miss my friend Jessica, and I bought some DVD's last night - Young Frankenstein, 8 Mile and Rumble in the Bronx. I wonder why the stores just HAVE to sell 8 Mile for $20, even the "discount" stores. Ahh well.

And now, rather late, a This or That:

1. Surf sites at random, or have a set list of regular reads? Sometimes I'll just look at regular sites, other times I'll surf around a bit.
2. Do you visit mostly blogs, or news or other sites? I visit all kinds of sites.
3. Do you go online every day, or just a couple of days a week? Every day!
4. Do you allow comments on your blog, or not? Yes, in fact I encourage comments to be made.
5. Do you shop online at all, or at regular stores? If I get anything online, I gotta have my mom pay for it. She's got the credit card.
6. Have you ever done online bill-paying/banking, or not? Nope.
7. Which news site do you prefer... MSNBC.com or CNN.com? Or do you prefer some other one? I prefer newspapers, and if I read any online stuff, it's usually whatever's on Yahoo! news.
8. Live chat rooms, or message boards? Both are good.
9. Instant messaging or e-mail? Instant messaging for sure!! So much easier.
10. Yes or no: have you ever met, or at least talked on the phone with, another blogger? If not, would you want to? Why or why not? Yeah, I've talked briefly on the phone to one person.

Well I'm back, I think. I'm moved back home for a while. It feels good to be back, that's for sure.

Yesterday was graduation day!!! It rocked!! The ceremony for my major was at 10 AM-11:30 AM. It felt great to be there among my fellow journalism students. It really felt like being part of a family. I have to admit it was very weird going up on that stage to get my diploma cover and graduate. It's like you walk off the stage a new person. Now, I don't officially graduate until I complete one last course for a couple needed credits. But I'm symbolically a Bachelor of Arts, so that's awesome. I attended the main graduation ceremony too, in the basketball arena. I was one of only EIGHT people from my department to attend that. It was a lot more formal than the department graduation, but it felt very important. It's like you're being inducted into a select society - that of the college graduate. I'm distinctive now. I can put a "B.A. Univ. of Oregon" after my name. It's awesome being a college grad - but now the hard part: joining the Real World!!

It's near the end of the term. My last full term at the University. So, I decided I need a treat!! Off to the CD shops I went, and after MUCH deliberation (I'm worse than a five year old when it comes to deciding which CD's to buy) I came back with two purchases. The first is Neil Finn, "Try Whistling This" for just $9.99. Neil is a GREAT artist!! Kind of like Elvis Costello with a better voice. He writes awesome lyrics and his album is all over the place stylistically. Some songs are more hard-rocking, others are acoustic and softer. Thanks BL for recommending this wonderful musician to me!!!

The second purchase I made was Wolfstone "Pick of the Litter" for regular price. Wolfstone is a Scottish rock band with some folk influences. Or a Scottish folk band with rock influences. Either way, they rock, and Pick of the Litter is their "best of" CD for the first five years of their career. Great rockin' tunes and near-indecipherable Scottish lyrics.

I was also considering purchasing Aerosmith's "Oh Yeah!" greatest hits. Who wants to bet I'll be buying THAT too by the end of the summer??

This was an odd weekend. The weather was sometimes sunny, sometimes rainy, but mostly it was COLD! Cold enough I had to wear my sweatshirt in my room, and I hate that. The good part about this weekend was that the Willamette Valley Folk Festival was held, as usual, right behind our building. So I went out to watch some of the acts, and I was very pleased with what I heard. On Friday, I first caught a band called "Orange" with a guy on bass, a guy on guitar, and another guy on keyboards. Slower, ballad-style songs as far as I can recall. The second act I saw on Friday was called "Taarka." They are from Portland and they feature a gal on violin, a guy on mandolin/guitar and a guy on djembe and other hand percussion. They were REALLY good and had some faster paced songs mixed with some slower, jazzier sounds. I really enjoyed them, they were pretty funky.

On Saturday I ventured out in the afternoon and first caught the tail end of a set by a YOUNG bluesman from Eugene named David Jacobs-Strain. He was very good, playing guitar and adding a slide to it sometimes. He has a very deep, loud bluesy voice and got the crowd pretty worked up. I can still remember the chorus to one of his songs, one he played with a guy on mandolin and another on, yes, djembe. The djembe the guy played was actually made from a fallen tree on the University campus, very interesting. The second act I caught was "Strung Out," a bluegrass outfit from Santa Cruz, Ca. of all places. Mandolin, guitar (and a very GOOD guitar player playing it!), upright bass and banjo. They REALLY got us worked up, as any good bluegrass band should. All the hippies had a blast dancing to those American mountain sounds.

The third act I saw that day was an Irish/Celtic group called "Toad in the Hole." They were quite amazing!! They featured a guy on Bodhran (Irish goatskin drum), a guy playing a weird looking bass, a gal on tin whistle, a really . . . IRISH looking singer wearing a very turn of the century-looking workers' hat (I don't know what else to call it!), a gal on violin, and a guy on guitar. The guitar was quite a good touch, and the singing really made the experience over the top. Most of the songs they did had to do with drinking, no surprise there. They even brought out a chick on Highland pipes a few times!! Always a treat to hear the pipes. To show you how IRISH these people were, they were selling shot glasses with their logo on it over by the stage. These guys got the crowd very worked up and happy, and we DEMANDED to hear one more song after their set was nearing a close. We got our extra song, by God!! After that, I went to dinner a very happy music lover. It was so good to hear and SEE these great acts. They are regular people just like me, they don't earn a whole lot of money playing the music, if any. They just love to perform, and that's what music is all about. You don't have to pay hundreds of dollars to see good music, not when you can go to free or cheap festivals like the Willamette Valley festival, and see good music performed by good people.

School is coming to a close. The weeks are passing by and finals are getting closer and closer. And I'm not nearly as nervous or sad as I thought I'd be. Somehow I don't think it's hit me that I'm not coming back here in fall. When I say goodbye to the dorms, it's gonna be forever. It's been fun, that's for sure, and I'm gonna try to squeeze as much fun out of this as I still can.

Welcome to the Jungle

Wednesday morning generally sucked. We had a fire alarm at 1 AM (I was not asleep then) and ANOTHER at 7 AM, when I WAS asleep!! Very annoying, and I sure hope no one pulled both alarms!! It's always a pain in the tush to have to go outside and wait for who knows how long while they find out what's up. In addition to all that, our wing mysteriously has a LOT of......something...soaking the carpet in the hallway. And there's an odd odor in the hall now. Strange times indeed, and I'm going to LOVE moving back home!!

And now for your reading pleasure: a This or That!!

1. Packrat or minimalist? Oh I'm a packrat for sure!!
2. Computer: desktop or laptop? I use a desktop.
3. Seashore or mountains? Ummm...seashore.
4. Carpeting or bare floors? Both have their downsides. I guess bare floors, less upkeep.
5. Drinking water: bottled or tap? I drink filtered tapwater.
6. Shopping websites: eBay or Amazon? Amazon.
7. Cute little kitties or big scary tigers? Cute little kitties, of course!!
8. Front door or back door? Front doors are more inviting. It's weird though, we've always entered my grandparents' houses through their backdoors. Except my grandparents NEW house!!
9. Lots of jewelry, or little/none? I'm not much for the blingin' myself, but on other people it's good. But not TOO much!
10. Thought-provoking question of the week: At the last minute, you obtain tickets to an event you're dying to attend. However, you have to work that day! Do you ask the boss for the time off, or just call in sick? If you've got sick days left, just call in sick. Otherwise, beg the boss lol.

Damn, I love Spring!!

The past two days have brought us wonderful sunny weather here in the Willamette Valley, and I've been taking advantage!! It's so great to have weather like this after the long winters. Anyway, Monday evening I went out for a long walk after dinner. I took my CD player and a couple Afro Celts CD's with me, and had a great, peaceful time. I've learned that being out in nature, or just outside, is the perfect context for listening to the Afro Celts. I started out around campus, but quickly decided to loop around toward the river, and that's exactly what I did. I spent a lot of time on the footbridge over the river, just looking at the water and whatnot. Then I went for a little stroll in the park across the river from campus, and that was nice. Then I went back to the bridge, got barked at by a hippie's dog, and watched some fool riding a board attatched to a log or rock or something in the water. He fell off a couple times, and got back up on it, and then decided to come back in. Then I headed back to my room, and that was my walk.

Today, Tuesday, it was nice again!! So, right after class, I decided the homework could wait and I headed outside again, this time with ALL my CD's. I spent a good hour or so on the lawn by the student union, sitting in the shade of a tree and listening to lots of music. Afro Celts, BeauSoleil, Dixie Chicks. It was VERY peaceful and relaxing. Then I went around to some other places on campus and sat and listened to the tunes. After nearly two hours total of being out in the sun, I headed back inside. I loved it!! I really should have done this more in my years here. Well, anyway, I've been really enjoying this nice weather, and I hope it keeps up. Listening to good music in the fresh air is definitely a good thing to do, very healthy for the soul. I need to do this more often, for sure.

Yesterday was interesting. I went to a city Police Commission meeting for my reporting class. Sat, took notes, wrote an article last night for it. Next is a trip to a court trial/proceeding. That should be interesting but also a pain in the tooshie. I cannot imagine these things are easy at all to cover, so we'll see how I do.

What I am sick and tired of: popups that INSTALL things on your computer!!! The main culprits so far are weathercast, and clocksync. WHY must we have these deceptive programs? I hope these guys get sued and shut down. Plus it's damn annoying to have stuff on your system that you do not want on there.

I hope you all have a great weekend, I know I sure will. Maybe I'll even write that album review I've been promising for the last WEEK!!

Well I'm now at home on Spring Break. Winter term was harder than hard, so I'm glad to finally get a break from school. I plan to spend it reading back issues of Sports Illustrated, playing with my cats, and picking up new music. Which reminds me . . .

Countdown to new Afro Celts CD: 3 days!!!

I met my 2 year old nephew today. His name is Zach and he's a cutie!! He's got a lot of energy, and a lot of questions, he loves to ride on his bike and harass my cats! lol. He sort of looks like my brother, we'll see how much as he grows up.

In other news, the U of O basketball team lost by two points to Utah in the first round of the NCAA tournament!!! Oh well, at least they made it there, and they won the Pac-10 tournament. No one can take that away from them!! Well, that's all I can think to write for now. So everyone have a nice weekend and I'll try to post soon again!!

But there's nothing so lonesome, so dull or so drear, than to stand in the bar of a pub with no beer

Well it's Finals week again here at the University. All my reports are done, I've got one final done, and two more to go. Things are looking very good!! And then we get Spring Break, which will be a welcome time off. I'll spend a lot of it reading, and probably watching movies too.....

.....and listening to the new Afro Celts CD!! Which comes out in exactly 8 days!! Yay, I can't wait for it.

And a very Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!!! *Raises glass of water to all the Irish peeps reading this* This is the day for me to listen to alllllll my Celtic music!! *Pinches all those who are sans-green today*

Ok last night was just plain WEIRD. The fire alarm goes off around 11, out of the ordinary cause we usually have ONE drill per term, and not at the end. So we all get outside, and well I think there was a small fire somewhere in the kitchen, cause a fire truck came!! Only stayed like five minutes, then we all filed back inside. Well, not FIVE minutes had passed when the alarm went off AGAIN!! Again, we go out there, and stay out for a LONG while, maybe 15-20 minutes it seemed. LOL people were out there with their laptops and cell phones. Some were in their shower gear still, sucks to be them. We had no idea why that alarm went off. So we get back inside. And not too much later, the alarm goes off a THIRD time!!! We only stayed out a couple minutes on that one, and that was the last alarm of the night. That was SO annoying!! But at least it wasn't cold out, I didn't even NEED my coat!!

Two papers down, one to go!!!! Yay!!! But then, I've got to study for finals..boooo!! I sure hope next term will be easier than this one. Wow, it's gonna be my last one. All the classes I could take, I can't take after this. There will be no next term. That's pretty scary. While we're on the school theme: Professors who use humor and funny personal anecdotes while lecturing are very cool professors!! That sure makes class more interesting.

Countdown to new Afro Celts CD: 13 days. I can't wait!!! And I cheated and listened to a few samples of the tracks. Bad duck!! Bad!!! But I've forgotten them now so all is good. It sounds like it's gonna be another great album. This group, as my friend Lady Salana would say, rocks my socks!!!

SWM, 22, looking for LTR with website similar to the Topics Blog. Enjoys long walks on the beach, and getting ideas for topics to write about in his blog. Submissions accepted in the "comments" of this post, or via email.

Well I have purchased yet another CD - the Dixie Chicks "Home." This is an AMAZING CD by a wonderful group of women who can sing and play sooooo well. It's definitely a bluegrass album, and that's awesome.

Speaking of music, Norah Jones should NOT have won that many Grammys. She is good, but I still don't think she deserves album of the year or the songwriting award. Both awards, in my opinion, should have gone to Bruce Springsteen. Especially the songwriting award, cause he wrote his own songs!! And I think the new artist award should have gone to Avril Lavigne. Well anyway that's my two cents.

School is getting tougher. I've got lots of papers to write and lots of chapters to read. But I'm sure I'll do fine. Well, until next time, have a good week!!

Sitting here listening to Nickel Creek and thinking about my life. This is my LAST year of college. We are in week six, which means my school year is HALF over. After this term and next one, there is no more school. I won't be in classes anymore. I won't be in the dorms anymore. I won't wake up to a nice green college campus anymore. I won't be passing the religious freaks and people handing out flyers anymore. I won't be walking down 13th Ave. anymore on my way to and from class. This is all kind of scary. Well maybe not scary, but definitely shocking. To think that this will all END this year. I'll be moving to a new stage in my life, just like I did four years ago. Wow! I admit college isn't the same thrill it used to be, but I sure will miss it at this time next year. I know I'll miss this dorm room, my own little home-away-from-home. But ah! Maybe soon I'll have the ultimate dorm room - my own apartment! How cool will THAT be??

Valentine's Day approaches. Being the nice young romantic guy I am, I don't hate it. And plus, even if you DON'T have a date or a girlfriend or a boyfriend, you DO have friends and you DO have a mom. Love doesn't have to be a relationship. I definitely believe in love. I gotta have it. I need it. I crave it. So Valentine's Day is really cool for me. And by the way I do indeed have a Valentine or two this year ;) so I'm all set. Poems will be written, good times will be had by all. Well anyway, have a good week everyone!! If you don't have a Valentine, at least buy some candy for YOURSELF!!

Wow, what an amazing day. Lots of homework, but also some good times. I've been wanting some electronica music lately, so I've been listening to an awesome techno channel on live365.com. In case you don't know about live365.com, it's a web radio site with probably THOUSANDS of stations in every genre you can think of. So yeah, I've been tripping on the techno while watching visualizations on winamp. Fun stuff!!!

Speaking of music, I highly recommend "Konstantine" and "Punk Rock Princess" by the group Something Corporate. These songs were recommended to me by a very good friend. Konstantine is just beautiful, a long nine-minute epic of a song with emotional lyrics and great piano. Punk Rock Princess is just freakin' catchy!!! So go check that out, and thank me later.

Hmmmm I think I might write some more later, probably try to get some Topics Blog questions answered. So look for that!!

First a "this or that", and then I'll fill you in on my life.
---------
1. "Time" or "Newsweek"? Time. Always been a Time fan
2. "Wall Street Journal" or "National Enquirer"? Wall Street Journal. I've read it before, and it's really not as bad as you'd think.
3. "Sports Illustrated" or "Cook's Illustrated"? Sports Illustrated!
4. "Martha Stewart Living" or "MAD Magazine"? MAD. I used to read that as a kid. Now I realize I was too young to get most of the humor.
5. "Cosmopolitan" or "Maxim"? Ummm since I'm a guy - Maxim.
6. "People" or "Entertainment Weekly"? Entertainment Weekly. I read that online, interesting stuff.
7. "National Geographic" or "Readers Digest"? Reader's Digest.
8. "Good Housekeeping" or "Popular Mechanics"? How about neither? Umm I'd rather read Tolkien.
9. "PC World" or "MacWorld"? PC World. I'm a PC user.
10. "Southern Living" or "Yankee" (magazine about New England living)? *said in Bill the Butcher voice* Yankee!! Ya gotta have a lawt of SAND to read Southern Living.
-----------
Ok that was fun.

Now! I have not been coming on here because I've been working HARD on a LOT of course reading!! I'm taking a literature course, where we do 100-200 pages a WEEK. And two history courses. Normally professors assign reading for the first day, which of course you don't know about beforehand so you are already behind! Well these assignments were into the hundreds of pages. Although I did get off a little easy because the bookstore still does not have one of my books stocked!! Grrr.

This term will be very tough, but not quite as tough because I have some.....interesting....professors. One of them has what I can only assume is a Scottish accent, although not a heavy one. But the inflection sure ain't American. The other professors are interesting characters too. So that makes the classes go by a little easier.

Well that's my information for tonight. I hope to post again soon. Maybe even get to those album reviews I promised. See you all later! :)

A few days ago (Thursday) I saw Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. It was a good movie!! A lot of it was almost like I imagined. However, I was not happy with some of the things they changed from the book. Or, rather, things they added that were NOT in the book. But of course that does not deter from my overall enjoyment of the movie! The big battle scene at Helm's Deep is as good as promised!! Oh and I have to mention the favorite part of my friend Lady Salana: Aragorn's eyes!!

Today I go back to the dorm. Yay!! I had a nice break, and I think I'm ready to face the new term head on.

Quick update: I got my hair cut today (yay! It was getting very long), I'm listening to Hevia, the bagpiping phenom, and I got a A in biology, an A- in Economics, and a B+ in history. Go me!!!!

Well I am now back home for Christmas break!! I love breaks, and they love me. I am SO glad to be done with that term of classes. Two more to go!

Ok now I think I will answer some topic blog questions!!

List five famous people (living or no longer living) who could each have a weblog, and provide the 'proposed' names for them.

Winona Ryder - "Stolen Thoughts"

Ozzy Osbourne - "&*^% this %^#$'ing blog!"

Michael Jordan - "Flying High"

Tony Soprano - "Making you a blog you can't refuse" (well ok he's fictional, but who cares?)

Charles Dickens - "It was the best of blogs, it was the worst of blogs" (Wow! Wouldn't you like to read HIS blog?)

-------
What do you want for Christmas (or other gift-giving occassion that you celebrate)?

This year I want some CD's. 3 are celtic and one is bluegrass. Other than that I want money. And of course world peace and happiness would be great. And if this were something I could get as a gift - I'd also ask for a girlfriend!
------
What is your favorite musical and why? Or if you don't like musicals, why do you dislike them?

In stage, I'd say Crazy for You which was inspired by Gershwin and his music. In movies, I've always enjoyed "Moulin Rogue." It's just so much fun and a great story too.
-------
What do you buy the person who has everything? Discuss.
Well in that case I'd say personalization is a good thing. Engraving, etc. Or you could just ask them what they want, and then get them something from that list. However, my favorite thing to do is to make them something. Make it personal. That way there is only ONE of that thing, just for them, and of course they don't have that yet. Poems are very good in this regard. I love writing poems for people. Oh, and NO ONE has too many hugs, so you can give them lots of hugs for Christmas too!