This is the ultimate post because of it’s high level of randomness. First, let’s start with music. Howie Day’s latest is solid, I need more Jimmy Eat World, and I should get a hold of the Lord of the Rings soundtrack. Dashboard’s newest is growing on me. I still declare that Dido’s “White Flag” is an excellent song. I like some parts of the lyrics and other parts I don’t like. Either way, the tune is excellent. The song I am getting to here is by Evanescence. You may know them because they got big’ly huge with their song from the Spiderman soundtrack. Regardless, their latest is much more mellow - and it doesn’t have that huge shot of ultra low bass that “Bring Me to Life” has at the beginning. I’ll be right back, I have to go find the lyrics. Found them. Interesting - good thing Amy has such a recognizable voice or my search for this song might have been a lot longer. I will only give you an excerpt - if you are that curious why I like the song then go buy it - yes that’s the new tough love motto here at tumbledry.
These wounds won’t seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There’s just too much that time cannot erase
I’m reading the Silmarillion - a great gift from Nils. What a fantastic book. The ironic thing is, when I started my Theology class, the bible (Genesis) reads just like parts of the Simarillion; so I need to adjust to what is part of the class and what is part of that book. After all, I can’t afford to get God mixed up with one of the Noldor, the Valar, etc. Nevertheless, I bet I will end up answering a question on one of the quizzes with “Fingon King of the Calaquendi, son of Fingolfin, who was killed in the 5th great battle for the Silmarils: Nirnaeth Arnoediad.” That would be embarrassing.
The side of my water reads as follows: “wake up. take shower. get dressed. eat cereal. brush teeth. kiss dog. pet wife. wait - stop. reverse that. o.k., continue. read paper. drive to work. sit in traffic. sit in meetings. kiss butt. eat lunch. sit in more meetings. kiss more butt. drive home. sit in traffic. kiss wife. pet dog. watch favorite reality TV show. sleep. what does this all mean, you ask? well, if this sounds like your day the last thing you need is the same old water. so, enjoy, o.k.?” This is tangerine-pineapple-guava flavor. Smells very good, tastes very little. Then again, if the flavor was more intense it’d be Gatorade - so I am not complaining. It’s called smartwater. Try it, and visit their website.
Why did Britney Spears get married to a childhood friend and this annul the wedding hours later? Well, a common viewpoint would be she simply is an irresponsible celebrity. I disagree and put this action on the same plane as her “let’s kiss Madonna” stunt. Publicity. Free publicity. Lot’s of free publicity. These execs at Jive aren’t stupid - they understand that a large part of their wealth lies in the staying power of their stars and starlets in the eyes of the public. Ridiculous. I realized it’s not really her music I like - it’s the unbelievable skill with which the stuff is produced and engineered by the people behind the scenes. In the end, it doesn’t really matter who is singing flimsy lyrics about teen love - it’s the catchy, skillful, and engaging methods and style with which the music is assembled that gives the music it’s power to hook a person in the first 30 seconds and keep them there for the next 2 minutes 30 seconds. I would love to see these awesome people work with real artists - and they do - it’s just hard to follow them because albums aren’t usually advertised as “Produced by” or “Engineered by.” There’s lurking talent in the music industry - it’s just our job to find it.
Back to the Silmarillion. Quote time! “and I would take what joy is here left, untroubled by memory. And maybe there is woe enough yet to come, though still hope may seem bright.” page 127, Second Edition. “And however that might be, Idril loved Maeglin not at all; and knowing his thought of her she loved him the less.” page 138, Second Edition. Second one is taken out of context. I should watch out for more quotes - the writing style is historical, epic, and poetic.
I was sitting (actually, driving) in the car listening to music and started thinking (as that is my usual activity). As I frequently have mentioned here, I like all kinds of music. Some music is more fatiguing for me than other types (I can listen to solo piano longer than Metallica), but I still like them both and respect them for the level of musicality which they both display. I realized I don’t mind country sometimes. It is fatiguing in a different way than Metallica (in one I just want the distortion to clear sometimes and in the other I just want the slide guitar to take a break sometimes) but I still enjoy some songs a lot. Obviously, I am making stereotypical generalizations, but like I said - I still like some songs from these genres a lot - but making overarching conclusions dictates that I make some generalized statements. But anyway, I really didn’t understand and it struck me as odd as I, for the first time in a while, flipped on K102 and listened to a song. I sat there and wondered, “Why am I enjoying this,” and then decided “I better write about this.” And so, here we are. If I enjoyed it, why question the reasons? “Ours is not to wonder why, ours is just to do or die.”
In Theology, (my 2 credit J-Term class of Fun) we have assigned readings. Whilst intellectually buried in the midst of one of these, I started thinking. Let’s assume God created the Earth. Fine. What was around before God then? Nothing? Isn’t nothing outside of the universe? But doesn’t nothing come from nothing? Regardless of that problem, let’s go to present day and get inside the universe and start traveling in a direction, will we come to an edge where past that is the outside/nothing? It would seem that we wouldn’t come to an edge, which perhaps indicates the universe is circular - so - like the Earth - we begin driving at one point and as long as we keep driving straight sooner or later (in the case of the universe much, much, much later) we will end up where we started. But still, we would be left with the sphere of the universe - what would be outside of this? Oh, and time. Does that loop too? Does any of this matter? Yes, I believe it does. Why? Because of this: if there is no God and hence no spiritual world, we are forced into some conclusions, namely free will becomes hard to argue for. What if we don’t have free will, stemming from a spirit (as only free will can - because our minds have been found to be a large series of chemical reactions governed by the same rules of any other chemical reaction), and our bodies (more importantly minds) are directed by the rules of science (like everything else that we have studied up until now). Religion makes provisions to avoid this problem and gives us “answers” to very frightening questions. Without religion the materialistic philosophy (which I don’t believe in, but I have been outlining above) triumphs and our lives become chemical reactions governed and pre-determined just as the laws of physics govern and pre-determine the way in which a dropped object falls. Nobody wants to be the bullet from a gun, shot out with it’s plan laid out for it. Lift your left index finger. Did you? Did you not? What if, regardless of if you thought you had a choice, that everything in the universe has led up to this instant and that you never had a choice and whatever you just did had already been decided? What if free will is an illusion?
This is why my homework can take some time.
To shift gears to a much simpler observation, I have noticed that the ClearType feature on WindowsXP (mentioned here previously in equally glowing terms) is a Microsoft feature that is a.) Not annoying, b.) Stable, and c.) Never gives me the blue screen of death. I have found that, when writing papers, it does actually reduce the strain on my eyes by smoothing out the edges of characters. Features like this are what we need. We need bigger displays with higher resolutions and more lifelike color - not another GUI with bells and whistles in the icons and sounds.
My mind was wandering in Theology. Here would be a good way to ask someone out: ensure that you and person of Interest attend the same party. Write message on bottom of shoes. Make sure person of Interest is sitting opposite you. Place feet strategically on table surface. Await response. I can assure you, I won’t be trying this. But if I do convince some poor bloke to give it a try, I will share the results (I promise to change names for privacy).
I just earned 9 out of 10 on Josh’s quiz. On a tangential but unrelated note, I am happy because I am currently quoted in three (3) profiles at once. I’d reveal what I said in these profiles, but that is unnecessary disclosure of private conversations, not something that I condone. Ladies and gentleman, it has been fun, and as they say, “Lord willing n’ if the creek don’t rise” I will see you next time.
You are tense right now. Feel how your shoulders are scrounged up around your neck? How your fingers are curled up with tension? Let your body droop into the chair and onto the desk. Bad ergonomics? Probably. Good relaxation? Definitely.
Now where did that piece of advice come from?
Hmm, I suppose I could re-live the past couple of days. We built the sub - it is huge and it shakes the entire house. By “shakes the entire house” I mean we haven’t even gotten the courage to turn it up past half way because the ceiling starts rattling so bad. Fun times. Katy hates the TV in the basement, so we’ll move it back here pretty soon for her. Thank you to Steve for helping me move the TV downstairs in the first place. Christmas was excellent. It’s the greatest experienece to eat Christmas dinner and then be able to take a couple mile walk with your 78 year old grandpa - I think it’s great he is full of “vim, vigor, and pep.” Last night it was Matt, John, Nils, Matthew, Tommy, Nick, Steve for the first Matrix movie. As Nils would say “Alex, I need more bass.” I’m sorry Nils, we’ll try for more later.
Thank you, dear reader, for enduring tumbledry’s holiday sabbatical.
Perhaps I will borrow a digital camera to take some pictures of the sub, speakers, etc. Or perhaps I won’t. I’m happy with my grades this past term - you’ll never guess what they are. Then again, I don’t want you to. I’ve learned my stuff and I am happy. J-Term is going to be a nice change of pace - bummin’ with some Cretin folks will be great. As Sagert would say: “video games + policy violations = J-Term.”
The first day of winter was a couple of days ago - maybe we should all go skiing. Or snowboarding. Steve goes snowboarding. He got a new guitar. Matt is going on a cruise to Mexico. Shayla is in Texas. John [as Dan would say] smoked a curb with his car. Justin has a metal DDR pad [how have you been doing anyways, Justin?]. Und so weiter.
Matthew why on Earth didn’t you tell me you had Yalda’s number sooner because then things would have been a lot easier. (Oh, and if you are even trying to guess what I am talking about, stop because you’re wrong.) Bargh, man.
I think I will go write some more music, shower, get ready for tonight, and continue working for my client. Summer job suggestions are welcome. Have a bodacious New Year everyone.
Steve did point out “Isn’t it ironic.” And I said “Yeah. You know, it’s like rain … on your wedding day. Or more like a free ride, except that you’ve already paid. Even better - it’s the good advice, that you just didn’t take. Well, who would’ve thought, it figures.”
10.) Hey! There’s a gift!
9.) Well, well, well …
8.) Boy, if I had not recently shot up 4 sizes that would’ve fit.
7.) This is perfect for wearing around the basement.
6.) Gosh. I hope this never catches fire! It is fire season though. There are lots of unexplained fires.
5.) If the dog buries it, I’ll be furious!
4.) I love it — but I fear the jealousy it will inspire.
3.) Sadly, tomorrow I enter the Witness Protection Program.
2.) To think — I got this the year I vowed to give all my gifts to charity.
And the number one thing to say about a Christmas gift you don’t like:
1.) “I really don’t deserve this.”
These hands have many duties
Words flow from them into visibility
Calluses protect them from iron
Carefully, they focus cameras
In musical moments, they connect piano to mind
These hands have seen much and will see much more
But sometimes
Sometimes
They long only to hold another hand safe and warm.
I just don’t know anymore. Honestly guys, I just don’t know. What’s it all about? What’s the secret?
I don’t know.
Sometimes I’m happy, and other times lonely. I wasn’t going to admit it before, but lately I have been lonely. I was going to write this on an away message for AIM, but who wants to share one’s inner thoughts with all the people on a buddy list? Besides, I wouldn’t want people to take it the wrong way and feel pity for me. I don’t need pity. And I don’t need everyone to know this stuff.
It’s true; few people are discrete. Few people respect the sanctity of your inner feelings. I don’t feel safe telling my current group of peers (at college - you Woodbury folks are a much better story) my inner feelings. It does, however, make me glad that the people around me at school feel safe telling me. I do everything in my power to respect their privacy. Many people tell me many things; and I like listening. I like being able to be there and to try to help.
All I can do is hold the knowledge somewhere in my heart that being the person I am looking for is all I need to do. We treat others how we wish to be treated. There is no rushing a good thing.
Let us say you have this cottage. And you have spent a significant amount of time building it. You visit occasionally to add things, but for the most part you aren’t there to see who comes and goes. Won’t you want to know? Sometimes I do, so I visit my stats pages and see who has been coming and going at tumbledry. It certainly has been getting busier lately.
In fact, we’re averaging 30 hits per day and are on track to have our biggest month yet. I also thought it might be interesting to note that the Open Directory Project has listed tumbledry under it’s former alias, “Alex’s Website.” If you go to this link, you’ll find tumbledry listed under “Alex’s Website” with the description “Includes inspirations, photos, quotes and links.” Good to know that’s where some of the traffic is coming from. Another intersting note; people searching for the lyrics to the new Five for Fighting Song “100 Years” have made up 23% of the search strings who have brought people here. See, people really do like that song! Unfortunately, people don’t stay long when they visit: 76.3% of you only stay 0-30 seconds and only 5% stay 5-15 minutes; I guess the site needs more content. To conclude, I would like to thank my logged visitors from the US Military, New Zeland (my favorite place on Earth), Singapore, South Africa, Belgium, France, The Czech Republic, Denmark, and Seychelles. (Note to self: determine where on earth Seychelles is.)
The most interesting category is the top visitors. St. Thomas is up there, River Falls is up there, Brigham Young too (thanks, Nick!), and for some reason University of Nebraska at Lincoln is way up there (I have no idea who told Richard about the site). Somebody running Comcast/AT&T has also contributed a significant number of hits; I am guessing that was Justin.
Well, that was an intersting jounrney into the ‘guestbook’ of the website. Now, onto finals information! I will be studying this weekend, preparing part of an English paper, preparing a Philosophy extra credit, and whipping up on 8.5 by 11 page of final essay goodness. Philosophy could come together in one huge firework of goodness. Or, it could fizzle out like a wet fuse. Time will tell. I love this finals studying thing; there is a definite goal in sight and the end is close. It couldn’t be easier. You have all the motivation in the world, and time to dive all-out into the books.
In other notes, Home Valu screwed me over. They waited one week to say that their Lacewood/Polished/Grade 10 Formica laminate was out of stock. But not to fear, the internet is here! I called around to places for about an hour and located the lovely Bloomington Linoleum. Instead of two weeks, they can get my laminate for me in 48 hours. They are closed weekends, so I will give ya’ll a heads-up on this later in the week. On top of that, you can track my package. Yes, in the exciting world of the internet, anything is possible.
This is great. I love the way he sings the bass guitar.
At this festive time of year, we all need something with which to add some Christmas cheer to our desktop. Celebrate the holidays on your computer in style with this ‘exclusive’ (i.e. tube from PSP8) desktop background. Simply right click, set it as your desktop, and chose the “Tile” option for your desktop image. A little present from tumbledry to you.
I didn’t have one class today. I got to English, and we filled out a course evaluation and another evaluation. Then we left. I didn’t even make it to German because I was told by two people from the class that it was canceled. Ok, well that would make it a study day. So, you ask, why am I not studying right now? Well, because I am in break mode. It was helpful to go talk to Laumakis about Philosophy, though. I’ll be in there more before the semester is over, his office hours are quite helpful. As Max would say, one math test left to dominate, and then the final. Things are winding down and gearing up at the same time.
J-Term is 3 credits. Spring semester is … 18 credits? Hmm, that’s not right - oh yes, I will be dropping my Phil 214 so I have the normal 16 credit load. Thus, J-Term is 2 Credit Theology Christian and the Theological Tradition Part I (half the class this J-Term, half of it next) and then Intro to Engineering Design. The latter is done in 4 days. Yes, 14 weeks of class compressed into 4 consecutive days. Alright! Then Spring is Math 200 Multi-Var Calc, English 351 Shakespeare, QMCS (with T/Tr lab), and Classical Physics (class and lab combined). It’s a kick-butt schedule. I couldn’t have asked for better (well, actually I could have, but this is good enough). In a flurry of emails I was able to get into the Intro class even after being waitlisted, and I had to pull some strings to get into the already-full Shakespeare class. However, the good thing about this schedule is it leaves time on T/Tr afternoons for the Dental Internship program through the U. That’s going to be cool; 3-4 hours per week in a dental office. I look forward to it! Of course, we don’t know for sure some details, but I hope to get in this year already. The limiting factor is my lack of seniority. I will cross my fingers on this one.
But enough about me, let’s talk about snow! Yes, we got some great grrreat snow. And I fell down. It was funny, I passed this group of people, slipped once, walked carefully, slipped again. It was like the kind of slipping that occurs on your back foot, where you feel as if you are going to flip backwards. And then I slip again, not recovering, and slamming into the ground face first. No, I’m kidding, I fell on my butt. It was a pretty sweet slide, though. If there were judges, I am confident I would have earned at least a 9 out of 10 possible style points. Oh, and I was running down the stairs to dinner (I love dinner, well food actually, food rocks) and on one of the turns my ankle just collapsed and I heard this huge pop and I said “owww.” However, no permanent damage was incurred. But good lord it was a loud crack. It sounded like this: “crraaaaack.” You should have been there!
Justin will come sometime here with the camera. Then come pictures of my roomage! I am quite excited to capture some collegiate moments digitally. Then again, that’s what I do whenever I update, but I mean digital images. Never mind.
The amp came the amp came! The amp I am referring to is the plate amp. We’re now waiting on the driver and the other amp. I saw somebody at the weight room who looked really familiar. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Strange.
I have some advice for you. “Hey Mr. Grumpy Gills. What do you do when life gets you down? Just keep on swimming, swimming, swimming … “
A couple of people I know are definite drunken dialers. Sometimes its funny, sometimes its weird, but it’s definitely never annoying or dull. Sometimes I wake up to the most hiliarious voice mails. Matthew happened to be the dialer last night, but I honestly couldn’t hear him with all the people in the room. Regardless, it was easy to tell he was not particularly sober. Matthew, I tried to convince you to call back and leave a message, but the phone just ended up getting passed around. I hope there wasn’t anything too urgent.
I really lost track of the number of people up in the room last night. 10? 15? Cretin 2 and 3 supplied the men and Grace and Augsburg supplied the women. We did all learn that strip Uno really doesn’t work very well, at least the way we were playing. Maybe after another 6 hours we might have had our socks off. That’s probably for the better. Now, don’t take this the wrong way, but women keep telling me my bed is uncomfortable. Last night was no exception. I am frusterated with St. Thomas, I mean housing here is anything but cheap, and they give you this mattress from the underworld. I half expect it to start sending razor-sharp possessed springs through my back at night. It is the pinnacle, the epitome, the definition of uncomfortable.
We ordered the Formica for the sub. I was going to go with the black stone pattern, but I realized that this thing is about the size of a piece of furniture, and having a large piece of stone out in plain view tends to darken the room. Besides, this Formica color will play better with most decors. Final specs are then: 20 by 20 by 20 box made out of 3/4” MDF, 3.5” legs out of solid 2 by’s, 17” pipe 4” in diameter which tunes the box to 22.2 Hz, 250W plate amp w/high level inputs, 12” Adire Audio Shiva Driver, special ordered (free!) Adire Audio Logo, and Lacewood laminate. Pictures when it is done!
I wrote an English paper about Othello. I would like to think it went pretty well, but I really don’t know right now. I wish we could drop out worst paper like we can our worst test and worst quiz in math. Ho hum. Each day I find myself able to concentrate better and better; that is, when the music is not playing. Right now, it is blissfully silent and I am basking in the quiet melody of solo piano music with no explosions from the constant movies next door or thumping bass from the rap downstairs. Thank you God for small blessings.
Cal, thank you for not jumping out the window last night.
Well while lifting today I finally did it - I knew it was coming - yes I broke my leg during a lift. No, just kidding.
It is snowing outside this evening; very peaceful. I didn’t even realize it until I looked out my window for Minneapolis only to find a construction-paper black sky and the sound of little ice crystals blowing onto the steep roof. I did get the excellent chance to step out into the snow and take a little walk - yes I forgot my planner in Philosophy and only found that out earlier today. I now have a piece of paper labeled “Temp Planner™” which I am using until I reclaim my planner. As for the walk, I can think much more clearly now - I think I will try another one of those walks sometime.
I’m a’goin’ to the Christmas concert tomorrow evening. I am really looking forward to that - it should be very excellent. I look forward to the bell choir (if they are again there this year) and upon Ert’s recomendation, Riu Riu Chiu. That reminds me, I recently captured that song off of record (33 1/3 RPM for those who must know) for our Christmas collection. The album is called “Renaissance Christmas” and it really rocks. I used to despise it, but now I love it. Rather like my relationship with asparagus, actually. But woody asparagus, count me out.
I find this to be a rather amusing idea for a book.
Second floor tomorrow night is going to be cray-zee.
