Steve and them went to the Twins game to witness our victory! Go Twins! Matthew sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” using his best operatic abilities. From what I hear, it was a riot. Lots of wave action as well.
But I wasn’t even there, why am I talking about it?
Tonight we visited Target and Borders and Caribou and had a most rousing time. I returned my graduation gift for a gift-card (side note; why don’t we get cash anymore?) and confirmed my suspicions that the new eastmountainsouth cd is actually magnificent. My list of CD’s to buy/get now is four cd’s long gasp
1.) eastmountainsouth, self titled debut
2.) About a Boy Soundtrack by Badly Drawn Boy
3.) Chocolat Soundtrack by Rachel Portman
4.) Cider House Rules Soundtrack by Rachel Portman
But the amazingness didn’t stop with the CD browsing. We picked up Nils and then romped about some more. McDonalds still sells 39 cent cones on Sundays, and wow we maximized on that. Visited some houses after that; theater people, etc.
Then the opera began.
That’s right, 45 minutes straight of improvised opera. It began with Nils and Matthew singing about vibrato, and progressed to us following Steve home and singing him a good night, and reached it’s peak when we discovered some random person had a lit Christmas tree and candles in their windows. So, we sang “Oh Holy Night.” I’ll miss these times.
Concluded with some meaningful conversations both with Nils and Matthew. I even checked in with Justin. Ooh Holy Niight, the Stars are brightly SHINing … la la la la la laaaaah…….
I’m sick and tired of these inane and meaningless conversations that I’ve had with people. No, a specific conversation does not come to mind. But sometimes you begin this chat with an acquaintance and discover it is absolutely pointless and you are talking about nothing. You are just blithely exchanging clever turns of phrase that mean nothing but roll off the young adult tongue with a certain panache only the immature can muster. What’s the point in having a conversation like that? To show off one’s knowledge of the current vernacular? Well, it may be to get to know that person better and then proceed to conversations on a more meaningful level; but I am a believer in talking about something the two of you feel something about. That’s where gossip can come in; as an avenue to common ground. But I don’t mean gossip; I just value having that superficial conversations about something, anything but not nothing, good God not nothing.
Glad I got that out.
We partied all day/night today. It was laying outside, playing tennis with the re-strung/re-gripped racket [i lost and won; like life], it was dining with family, it was dining/partying at the clinic party, it was bummin’ around at Nils’, it was Woodbury Days with an interesting balloon story, it was eating at Applebee’s, it was the movie at Steve’s. It was great.
As for the balloons, we made Simon the beacon by tying three helium balloons into a mega balloon chain traveling straight up above him. We could see him straight across everything; 100’s of yards away. Wow! What a great idea for the State Fair. Think I’ll try it if I go to the Great Minnesota Fattening.
This guy was interviewed on NPR about his book. Sounds pretty general? Let me fill you in. Lance Morrow wrote a book with an intriguing concept entitled Evil: An Investigation. This book outlines the huge topic of evil and its history.
You ask, why? Understanding evil let’s us understand a basic flaw within all humans. It was intriguing to listen to Mr. Morrow as he discussed the dream/sci-fi potential of the human genome project to isolate the genes for anger, for hate, and for the genes that take action and cause “evil.” It made me think, what would this world be like if none of us got mad, got vindictive, or got even? In some ways it would be tremendously better. In others, couldn’t one person slightly evil person gain control over another because of the latter’s inability to become angry and act on this? Would we have a world of devils and saints? Perhaps anger and its stronger cousin evil are part of the human condition for a reason. It is easy to look at the situation and say “this wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for evil”; but what would replace that situation if there was no evil?
The entire concept of evil is, of course, nebulous and debatable. Thus, it is difficult to wax philosophical over terms not yet defined. I won’t attempt that here. However, Mr. Morrow also mentioned a certain “hope” which caught my attention. He outlined the idea that hope is much more dynamic, more responsive, and more time-oriented than, say, “good.” “Good” will always be “good” but “hope” changes definition. Hope can be blind, noble, hopeless, and misguided. Hope can be intense, dull, uncertain, and myopic. Hope depends on the time, the place, the situation, and the circumstances to become what it is. I’m not clear how the discussion shifted from “evil” to “hope” and the static “good,” but an occasional delve into philosophy definitely brings up good questions:
When is it ok to hope? Is evil necessary for life as we know it? Where would we be without evil? Do we exist because of some basic evil? Is evil inherent only in beings with conscious; meaning, does one cause the other? Why can hope be destructive? How does the individual, the singular being, fit into this large web of evil?
I’d like to think there’s a way out of the web. We may be tangled, but time is a powerful anecdote to everything. “This too shall pass.”
As fray would say; “hope is the thing with feathers.”
Everybody at Peter’s was unbelievably mellow last night. We have been this way lately because we are all looking at this big looming “college” and wondering what’s going to happen. We were so ready to end high school and true, that feels like it was a long time ago now. But, we are all looking at one another and asking “are we ready for this?” We get a different answer from one another each time. Slowly but surely, we see our friends leave and go off to what amounts to a new life. It’s definitely a strange time in our lives; like everybody is leaving this land to start a new life. Everything feels bigger and more important than ever before. We are losing so much and gaining so much. The best and the worst has come out in everybody. Friendships are being broken, cemented, and formed much to quickly for anybody to keep track of. So, it’s the stress of all of these changes that makes us so mellow. I think we’re all going to make it.
Male to male adaptors for serial cables can be very useful for docking a Palm to a laptop. Write that down, all you going to college with Palms and laptops.
Today was interesting. We got a buncha miscellaneous errands done, recieved a book list (man, those Calc books are expensive), and I bought an article of clothing at the Gap for 97 cents. Believe it! This evening: wow. Panera with Steve and Nils was awesome. We had some great conversations, I’ll remember that sunset when I’m pounding away on some math assignment in a couple of months. We then picked up Matthew the Singer and sped to Middleton for swings and conversations. Oh, and we rendered White Christmas beautifully acapella in the 90+ degree evening air. That was great. Later still was a group walk in the dark around a lake. I just might write more on that later; you could say there’s a lot to tell. Perhaps I’ll tell the full story when it is concluded, which will be soon. I guess I can say: I should be over this stuff, shouldn’t I?
There were these beached whales, and people were helping to save them. The problem is, the whales get upset (you would too if you were beached) and they’re stomachs get upset. The fix for these upset stomachs is really cool.
The rehabilitation process was not only trying for the volunteers, but also for the whales. “When the whales are under this kind of stress, it upsets their digestive system and their stomachs produce excess acid,” Lingenfelser noted. “Our veterinarians identified these massive tummy aches early on and recommended a simple solution - TUMS ® a pure, natural source of calcium.”
In order to help restore the whale’s health and relieve their upset stomachs, each whale required four TUMS three times per day. While TUMS is a very inexpensive source of calcium, the non-profit, all volunteer Marine Mammal Conservancy found it difficult to afford all the medicines, equipment and supplies that were needed to care for the large number of animals that had been stranded.
“When we heard about the need, we were happy to help,” Wardle said. “They told us the whales were especially fond of the naturally flavored, Ultra Peppermint TUMS, so we immediately sent the 10 cases the MMC anticipated it would need until the whales were ready for release.”
The only question that comes to mind in reaction to this wonderful story of humans helping animals would be: how on earth do they know the peppermint flavored Tums are favored by the whales? They must really understand whale body language or something.
And now for something completely different.
I was at church today and I was pondering what I heard. I was thinking about how we are encouraged to “spread the good word” and talk about our religion to other people. I have a friend who is atheist. This has never bothered me. It still doesn’t bother me. However, I am told, basically, that I should be actively promoting my religion to someone like this. Isn’t such a divine ideal of spreading “the good news” inevitably tainted in my hands due to my inperfections as a human? Simply put, don’t I soil the purity of that goal? The answer is, invariably, yes! However, the church would have me believe that this is just an excuse to not spread news. I sincerely believe, however, that I would make this person uncomfortable, I would be a threatening individual, and that everyone around would be made nervous by a confrontation of religion. So, I choose to not say anything to this person. It’s amazing that you can feel guilty and justified at the same time; it won’t be the first time or the last time.
I read an old something today, and I was struck by a passage about death and loss:
Not her death in particular but losing someone you love. I hate that feeling. You think you know that person, that you’ve done all you can to show them you care, and then just like that, they’re gone.
You know, it’s true. I lost my grandma when I was young and I agree - I didn’t get to show her how much I loved her and how much I cared. Makes you hope that person looks down still from wherever they are now and sees our love and still feels that warmth.
Whenever I do something, I keep in mind [this may strike you as odd] that someday all the people I know will know about it when they die. For example, if I spill some cereal on the floor, I don’t brush it under the fridge because I can see my mother when she’s gone looking back on that incident and being disappointed at me making more work for her. It’s rather hard concept to describe. I guess i’m a believer in people becoming omniscient about their loved ones when they die. Interesting thought, isn’t it, that they will see all of your hidden moments, actions, and thoughts? Which is the reason I have trouble lying; people will find out someday. And guess what, they might already know.
Drive in last night! American Wedding was only partially viewed by me, so I’m not really prepared or willing to pass judgment on the quality of that movie. The franchise is a basic format, as is the gross-out comedy they utilize. The actors, however, carry it all off quite well. Bad Boys II - now that had some gratuitous violence packaged in the “buddy-cop” format. Once again, it was pulled off well and the mammoth budget on which the movie was produced helped the special effects a lot. In the days of moves like The Matrix, it takes a lot to impress people with effects. I left before the third movie started and people helped me get out of the place - man it’s hard at night to navigate out. But I did discover that you can leave your radio tuned to the station and pick up the movie dialog for about 2 miles out of the Drive-In. It sure is a strange feeling to only hear and not see; I suppose it’s like being on the phone. Anyways, I think an excellent idea would be broadcasting movies on XM Radio. Or, if that idea didn’t fly, movie soundtracks. Like the music from Cider House Rules by Rachel Portman. I highly recommend that soundtrack - I need to buy it here.
Today was crazy with busy activities and flying from here to there, calling people, and getting these computers to work. I love computers and working with them and in them, but sometimes I get tired of them and just want these machines to do what I want and follow my preferences and do it right the first time. We’ll probably be wishing that forever as software continues to make hardware obsolete. I do know for certain, setting up this new computer has been really exciting but I will be glad when the last preference is set and the last file has been moved and I can just sit down and listen to some music while checking my email for a nice leisurely 15 minutes instead of having 40 windows open working on 20 different applications. This music will be great to have at college for paper-writing and relaxation. Which brings me to the lyrics.
is there something we can do, this afternoon
is there nothing left to say
hold your love, cautions you
you are something new
afternoon
Funny thing is, just as I pasted those lyrics in, Howie Day was singing them. They’re from the song “Disco” off of his album Australia. Very ephereal and atmospheric song; which is not true of the entire album. That really makes this song shine and it ends the album very well. Lately, I’ve been soaking in as much music as possible, letting all these genres and artists course through my veins as I look for that defining riff, that amazing voice, that perfect chord change, and the most descriptive and fitting lyrics.
Suppose I said
I am on my best behavior
And there are times
I lose my worried mind
Would you want me when I’m not myself?
Wait it out while I am someone else?
Once again, John Mayer delivers a catchy melody that is well produced with meaningful lyrics to match. I always tend to quote him in these posts - he really is “all about” the young man looking back on the young boy. There is a time and a place for reminiscing and summer is it.
Matthew is baking cookies at Steve’s tonight. Cookies and DDR go well together. It’s a date! ;)
Definitely accomplisehed some goals today; reading Invisible Man went quite well. As an added bonus, I got 4+ hours of sun while reading - isn’t summer life wonderful? I must admit, though, I got all dressed up this evening and had nowhere to go for sometime. I had stuff planned, but things tend to get started later in the evening. Eventually, though, all the lines got worked out and we all ended up at Steve’s watching Star Wars (the very first movie, which is excellent) and drinking lemonade. Oh, and those Cinamon Toast Crunch things - WOW. You just can’t beat sugary breakfast cereal. I also would like to point out that reading a book by any lake is very relaxing. The sunset was beautiful.
Tomorrow is a busy day so I guess I should rest for it - that would be good advice to all of us going back to school - get plenty of sleep each night; things are so much easier to deal with when you are fully rested. Eat oatmeal, too; plenty of oatmeal.
So far on this computer we’ve these installed: AIM, AT&T, CDEx, all files moved, Winamp, and DeadAim. Also, removed from useless crap from the computer to free up some space. Left to install are Paint Shop Pro 8, Animation Shop 3, Winamp Plugin(s), new Winamp Skins, Alex’s TreeMapper (written by Justin)and Textpad. Thankfully, it’s going pretty well.
“Audioslave - Gasoline” is playing right now. For you people to buy: Maroon 5 is the band, “Songs about Jane” is the album, and track 4 “She Will Be Loved” is the song. Huge thanks to Whitten for everything - I owe him something. That reminds me, I’ve got paintball Sunday night! That’s why I didn’t know if I could make it to Katherine’s. Good lord, I’ll have to clear that up.
I’m really looking forward to my sis’ coming home. We have planned a dinner and an airport welcome - I just have to get to Lifetime early enough. That shouldn’t be a problem. Scheduling around working out has never really been a problem because it so much. I just hope the weird sunburn from reading outside in funny positions doesn’t peel off too much skin during working out.
ANYwho, everything’s looking up here. College is going to be very cool - I want that shirt that John Belushi had on that said “College” - I thought that was funny. Maybe I’ll buy the poster. Whatever, Alex. Oh, and one of those folding circular chairs - those are coool and comfy. Need to buy one of those.
I’ll say something meaningful tomorrow - I promise.
Well, last night we celebrated Ryan’s birthday (I think I mentioned that) but before-hand I hung out with Mr. MW - we had an awesome time at archery; I never knew he was into that sort of activity. Unfortunately, I missed the target completely once and nearly lost the arrow. We were searching for some time until I learned something … see, I brought out the arrow into the field and saying, half jokingly, “see these things attract one another” but it’s true - it really works! So, I guess that’s a pretty useless piece of trivia.
But anyways, MW was kind enough to loan me some music out of his incredibly good but eclectic collection. I look forward to experiencing all of this music in the near future - you will definitely hear about it from me. I hear Maroon 5 is especially good. So, we were off to uptown with the group and we hung out at Pandora’s something - some coffee shop. They were the most condescending group of people with nose rings I have ever met. I must admit, we don’t make fun of them for wearing rings - I don’t know why they insisted on giving us crap for being “average white people.” Anyways, Ryan smoked his birthday cigar, we hung out, and it was back to Tommy’s house for the cake from Cafe Latte. We had a great conversation in Peter’s car about Jamaica and volunteering with Danielle. And then it was off to bed.
But that wasn’t it! The computer came today and I have spent the past who-knows-how-many hours hosting people over to see it (Matt, John, Marty) and getting it to work. The sneaker-net file transfer is left … after that it’s register Office XP Student, register Norton, connect to the internet, get WSFTP, get Winamp, get Paint Shop Pro 8, get Textpad, and I think there’s more but who knows. Off to move files and DDR at Mr. Matt’s. (He and Shayla have hott computers :)
This is the history of my package(s) moving around the country. They’ll be here mega soon; thankfully because I’ve told everyone an their sister’s brother that this thing is coming today.