Incite Full

I’m just testing a new facebook app out, hopefully this will show up

The beginning line to this is “It’s been a long time…,” and while it really hasn’t been a long time, there is a lot that’s been going on, some more interesting than others. Pearl Jam’s “Alive” just came on my ipod, and that’s a perfect song for me right now.

Big news, I am going to Europe. Steph is really the one behind this, and i’m very thankful that she’s pushing me to go. I didn’t really need a push, just an excuse. And now i’ve got one- cheap tickets! We’ll be hitting up Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands in a clockwise trip of awesomeness, discovery, and culture. I’m very excited for this, minus one thing: THE GAME! While the Ohio State Buckeyes are battling the Trojans of Southern California, I will probably be on a train heading for Luxembourg where the word football means something completely and horrifically different. I just hope to God almighty that they have a USA today or an American newspaper- does the WSJ have a sports Section?

I guess I can miss one of the biggest games of the regular season for this… but I am not going to pretend to be happy about it, no not at all.

I went out Friday night, expecting to go bowling. Even had my shoes in hand. Then I didn’t get to go. I was sad, but ended up playing some pool and hanging out at Starbucks until way to late. Every time a large faceless corporation treats me well, it makes me want their product. And I know this product is an Americano. Interestingly enough, when I asked the girl I was with if she had ever had one- she asked if I was being sexual or not. Normally I am, but not this time. It’s just delicious (all .4 oz i’ve had of one).

My writing class is interesting- I learned two techniques the other day called bricolage and Galumphing. Both are useful at times, I suppose, but I didn’t find them to difficult or useful at present. I guess the creative part of writing is not the difficulty for me- it’s the actual act of writing it all out. It takes a lot of energy and concentration and that’s been hard to come by lately. I’m not sleeping very well or often, but that’s more a choice from lifestyle than a complaint.

Lastly, I suppose, I hung out with Kev and some of his friends at the Cubs-Dodger game yesterday. It was the all you can eat pavilion, and Lets jsut say we got our money’s worth. I don’t think people understand that we see his as a challenge. Free Dodgerdogs? I’ll have 5. Nachos too, please. It’s just how we operate as filthy Americans. And by Filthy, yes, I mean fat. The Cubs ended up winning, which made Kevin happy and I was ok with it, although the Cubs losing would be better for the Brewers. Speaking of, I want a brewers hat. If anyone loves me enough to get me one, that’d be great.

There is much more to say, but i’m going to end it here. my 15 minute break is up… And that’s just silly.

“You can look a hurricane right in the eye”

Steph said it best: The way we felt about high schoolers in college is the way we feel about college kids now.

It is a simple thought, and one I never realized until last night. Some friends and I went out to Westwood for a friend’s friend’s birthday. I don’t really know the guy, and I’m pretty Ok with that, but I also don’t think I’ll hangout with him much or ever again. He and his posse weren’t really my style, I’d say.

Anyways, we went to O’Hara’s, a bar, and got in relatively painlessly. Walking around, I got a distinct, awkward feeling. Guys in T-shirts and baseball caps were yelling to take shots, girls all looked the same, regardless of what they looked like, and the bar featured 4$ liter’s of miller lite. Oh yes, this was a college bar. Thinking about it this morning, it even smelled like a college bar. It’s hard to explain, and I don’t have the energy to try right now, so I’ll leave it at that.

Now, I want to make a difference between being a college kid and acting like a college kid. Drinking games, bars, even baseball caps are fine. I have no issues with this, it’s the mindset and mentality that I get tripped up on. Again, it’s hard to explain, but it’s this group mentality, partnered with cliquey and stepfordian culture that just gets under my skin. Collegians are great, individually. And maybe in the bookstore in small numbers, but not out on the town.

That’s where I draw the line.

“No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded.“

“Eish: so i went to bed thinking about who i would poop on last night”

These are the things I am greeted with in the morning. To be fair, I should explain how this all came about. Yesterday at lunch I asked my friends, “If you were a bird, who would you poop on- name anyone alive or dead.” No one really had an answer, but I made some of them promise to tell me when they figure it out. Eish still hasn’t, and this was her “Good Morning” to me.

I mentioned yesterday that I’m reading Atlas Shrugged. I should clarify when I say “read.” To me, I can’t just read and be done with it- it’s not a string of words, obviously, we all imagine the scene, the characters, and the rest of it. But I really pull apart the writing. Why is she using full names? What does that say about the character. What does it mean when she says “She had never heard the symphony before, but she knew it was one of his” (or something to that affect). I guess what I’m saying is that i look for meaning in everything, and it’s hard work.

It’s one of the reason’s Heart of Darkness is a favorite of mine, 80 pages of dense, intentional writing- each line a multitude of meanings, like an everlasting Gobstopper we could pull that apart and find meaning over and over. How insulting that my English professor was worried if the book was “racist” or not. There was so much more to it than that.

I digress, Ayn Rand will be the death of me. 1000+ pages of heart of darkness(que?) writing, and it’s that tiny print, the kind on the bottom of an infomercial. I must say I’m enjoying it so far, even though I don’t know shit about it yet (who is John Galt?). Now if I could just kick my roommate out long enough to actually read a bit of it in peace

“Don’t be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value.“

I just finished Snuff, and was half disappointed in the book. I could have said half inspired, or half happy, half anything- but when i go into a palahniuk novel, i just assume i’m going to be amazed or in love with this prose and plot.

Sometimes, I feel, I am a child, and these authors are holding my hand leading me through wordy streets and chaotic prose. At some point, however, i grow up. And that author can no longer lead, i grow more confident and want to go my own way, and only when i find a new book or style or thought (maybe a new tier) will i once again have a more directed or purposeful romp.

The next two books on my list are classic: The Road and Atlas Shrugged. I’ll probably read Atlas first because it’s one i’ve wanted to read for god knows how long, and from what i gather- I agree with a lot of the thoughts put forth by Rand. The Road, however, probably maps to how i feel most of the time. I’m well aware that I live in an unforgiving world (frustratingly created without my input) and just have to deal. I want to feel what Jack wrote, his autobiography of the Beat generation.

After that, i picked up “The Raw Shark Texts” as the premise intrigued me, and reading the first few pages I was convinced that I wrote this book and traveled back in time to release it- the voice is uncannily like mine. Then it’s on to something else- either Dubliners or Ulysses by James Joyce. I’ve been really into these epic  stories lately, and really want to find out what great writing is like.

“The opera was lovely, I shall set it to music”

bonus: “of all the noises, music is perhaps the least disagreeable”