I know the full moon is still two days off, but I swear they let the lunatics out tonight. While I came across several tonight, one in particular really stands out. This lady dressed in all green and wearing winter boots, rather plain-looking, and sporting long, dark brown hair showed up for the 5:15 show of A Summer in La Goulette. Finding out it was also playing at 7:15, she called up someone to inform them of that on the pay phone in the lobby. She then went in and watched the film. She hung around between the films, and then wanted to watched the 7:15 show, so I let her in for free. After that show, she hung around for a bit and asked me several questions. She asked me about the LGBT festival, what LGBT is, and if the LGBT films are more risqué than the Erotic Tales. She then went downstairs to use the bathroom, and was the only person in the building other than the projectionist and I. While down there, she started singing very loudly - making up the words as she went along - about the University, being in a science museum, and her period (among other things). Eventually she came up and went outside. When it got to be 9:15 and noone had shown up for the late film, Bob (the projectionist) and I locked up the building and turned off most of the lights. Since it took me longer to finish up my box office work than it took Bob to finish up in booth, he left, and I was alone in the building. About 9:25, the woman came back and tried to get in the front doors, but they were locked. She then went around to the back doors, but they were locked as well. She then kept repeatedly pressing the button for the automatic/handicapped doors, which would open the inner doors, but not the outer, since they were locked. She was pounding on the doors and pressing her face up to them. I then turned off every light except the light in booth upstairs, and I finished my work up there. When I came back down to retrieve my bag and cd-player from the lobby, she had her face pressed up to the front doors again and was trying to get in. I grabbed my things, and snuck toward the stairs, hoping she wouldn't be able to see me. As I reached the stairs, I turned and noticed her backing away from the doors. Not sure of what she'd try next, I hurried down the stairs and into the garage to get into my car. I got out of the garage, up the ramp, and away from the area as quickly as poosible, as her eccentricities had very quickly gone from amusing to frightening. Sheesh.

Yeah, so that was just tonight. I can go back and tell you about Friday and Saturday now I guess. I met Jonathan on Friday night at 6, and we walked to the Polish Palace, arriving there a little after 6:30. It was already sort of packed, which we assumed to be a cross between a happy hour crowd and a going-out-of-business crowd. In the next two hours, we downed 5-6 beers (really don't know), and then decided to go. Before we left, Jonathan managed to hurt himself (as he is prone to do), by somehow pinching his index finger between the door and the doorjam in the bathroom. Walking down the sidewalk, we made it as far as the park between the Polish Palace and Gabby's before Jonathan flopped over on the grass and was writhing in pain over his finger. I went and laid down in the grass as well and was rolling back-and-forth laughing both about how he had managed to hurt himself again and how stupidly blotto we were. He kept rolling down the slight incline to the sidewalk and hitting his hand, after which he would get up, climb up to the top of the incline, and roll down again. Eventually we moved on, and made it as far as the tracks that cross Marshall a few blocks down. We then walked out on the train bridge over the Mississippi, and sat down observing both the skyline and the river passing below. After a while, we got up and moved on again. Jonathan started skipping down the sidewalk, so I skipped as well to catch up with him. Jonathan observed a few people down the sidewalk and commented that we might have to rumble, but when we got closer, it turned out that they were cops. We observed maybe 10 cops going into Elsie's in no apparent rush. Continuing along, we heard commotion as we approached Nicollet Island, and then saw a bonfire outside De La Salle High School. Curious and still drunk, we wandered over, and it turned out to be a high school dance, complete with fire, karaoke, chaperones, and a bunch of high school kids. Nobody seemed to notice us just wandering in, so we stood by the fire for a while, checked out a group of girls singing "Waterfalls" at the karaoke set-up, and went back by the fire. It all ended at 10, so we joined the mass of students heading toward the exit, and continued on our way. A horse-drawn carriage passed us on our way across the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, but slowed down as we encountered an old ex-hippy, and we three re-passed the carriage. The ex-hippy first began talking about how only the good die young, but he must have touched himself too many times, because he's growing old and hasn't died yet. Coming to the first intersection across the bridge, I was almost hit by the horse-and-carriage, so then the man told us a story about almost colliding on his bike with a lady in a car years ago in St. Paul. He also told us he was coming from an art exhibition, where he had a piece on display. We ditched him at 4th when he had to wait at the bus stop. We stopped at Pizza Lucé, but when we saw that slices were $3, we decided to go home and order a pizza. We stopped one more time on the way home - to swing on tire swings along the Loring Greenway. Returning home, Jonathan treated his finger, and then we ordered a pizza. Shortly after finishing eating, he went back to his apartment, and I went to bed. Okay, I'll continue the story in the other post....

I woke up about 7:30 Saturday morning, but as is my style, I was very slow in moving. I watched a few hours of Saturday morning cartoons, and took a shower. As I threw my bath towel over the shower curtain rack, the rack broke and fell. Finding a way to balance the rack back on the wall, I called the maintenance guy, but as of this time, he is still yet to get back to me. I then drove to Rainbow to buy a can of food for the food drive at the show, and used one of the self-service check-outs for the first time. Having completed my purchase, I drove to the SPSC for the show, finally arriving about 10:45. Admittedly, I did almost no work, and spent most of the time sitting around telling stories like grandpa whittling away in his rocking chair. I left at 2:30 to go to my soccer game. I was surprisingly energetic for a) not having played in months, and b) having woken up at 7:30am. I played the whole first half, both as a sweeper and a striker. I assisted on our first goal by taking a ball I won in defense, sprinting down the field past their rather slow defenders, and sending a pass through the legs of the last defender to my wide-open teammate, who coolly placed the ball beyond the reach of the keeper and into the goal. I also got two shots myself, sending the first into the nearside netting, and the second I struck to the far post, only to have the 'keeper parry it away. We were tied 1-1 at the half. The second half, we came out even stronger, and went on to win 5-2. I walked back to the SPSC, and arrived just in time for pizza and the "meeting." It wasn't really much of a meeting, since Lindsey was gone, Peter was wherever, and Megan was just trying to quickly explain to everyone what was involved with their job duties. About 6:15, Jonathan and I left, and I dropped him at home, before heading to Bryant-Lake Bowl for the 7:00 Sound Unseen film What About Me?: The Rise of the Nihilist Spasm Band. Just like the band it documented (although with a few faults), the film was awesome. It got over about 8:30, so I went home, dropped off my soccer gear, checked my email, and went back to the show. It quickly occured to me that I had no interest in being at the show, so I got Peter to let me into the SUPA office, where I called Annemarie on Whole phone. I then left to pick her up, but first I gave Rebecca a ride to her bike on the West Bank. Annemarie and I tried going to the Polish Palace (it being the last night and all), but it was all locked up. They were apparently having some sort of private party inside. A little disappointed, we then went to Nye's and hung out in the Polka Room. It was crowded, so we had to wait a while to even get barstool seats at the bar. We only had a beer each, and then decided to go get food. We went to Denny's, where I ate a full meal, but she just had pie. The food didn't wake me up as I had hoped, so when we left, I just gave Annemarie a ride home, and then I went home myself and went to bed.

I woke up at 10:30 this morning, so I watched "The McLaughlin Group," and I don't know what John was thinking, but he had Pat Robertson on as a panelist. Pat kept going back to illegal immigrants as the source of every problem in America. After that, I watched the Fox pre-game show. Feeling too lazy and broke to get off my ass and go to Big Ten for the Packer game, I sat around watching the Vikings-Bucs game, which was just as lame and boring as I had predicted. Lucky for the Vikings, they won, because if they had lost to a team as shitty as Tampa Bay, I think they could have just written off their entire season right there. Rather than having to put up with the moronic chumps that Fox29 has do their post-game show, I turned off the tv and put on Cosmic Slop. Still unable to use my shower, I washed up a little in the sink and went to work. You already know the story from there.

Well, I'm off to bed soon. I have to get up early tomorrow to go to a stupid meeting to re-register the Film Society Student Board as student group. You see, the jackasses in the Campus Involvement Center never bothered to tell me when we re-registered the group in July or August that we were doing it all only for a few months, and that we'd have to redo it again in fall. Had I known that, we would have just waited until now to do it the first time. Bastards. Anyway, so I have to be at a meeting at 10 tomorrow morning, and yes, that's early for me. Nighty night.

I wasted away the rest of yesterday afternoon doing nothing, and then I went to work. After work, Jonathan, Annemarie, and I went bowling at Mady's. We had to wait forever and a day for a lane, but we eventually got one, and got to bowl two games. I bowled a 119 and a 164. Blech. Came home and went to bed.

This morning I wrote my essay, then I ate lunch and went to class. The test took me all of 10 minutes. I made the mistake of stopping into the office, and they ended up keeping me there for 2 hours and making me schlep and take posters to the Superblock. Then I finally got to come home. I'm leaving shortly now to meet Jonathan at Kramarczuk's, and we'll then go from there over to the Polish Palace. Later.

Arrrrrrrrrgh!!! I was trying to tape today's re-run of "Matlock," but was thwarted by the FBI. Fox went to a special report and I missed out on a large chunk of the show. Hopefully I can get it tomorrow, or I'm going to be really pissed off.

Well, since I'm here, I might as well talk at ya'. I may not have won Scrabble last night, but I was rather impressed with my own play. I did take second, as the team of Jonathan and Morgan beat me by 53 points, but I don't consider that the whole story. By allowing a British spelling (saviour as opposed to savior), they were able to play a seven-letter, 96-point word. I still insist that it shouldn't have been acceptable, but I guess Molly and Arthur were willing to set a dangerous precedent. Since it was early in the game, it's hard to say exactly how the outcome would have been, but with the 50-point bonus and seven letters across a triple word score, that's atleast a 53 point difference in score - enough to make me the winner. Admittedly, I was the one who gave them the opportunity to play the word on a triple word score, so I also sealed my own fate in any case. Anyway, like I said, I'm actually proud of my play for once.

I think I pissed off a telemarketer today, but I was proud of that as well. She went on with her whole spiel about how I qualified for a credit card and she just wanted to confirm my information. Instead of replying as she wanted, I asked her if she liked hot dogs. She said no, so I asked her if she was a vegetarian, and she replied yes. I then mentioned that she must be healthy, so she groaned and asked if I wanted the credit card. I told her that I wasting her time, just as she was wasting mine, and she came back with some witty reply about how I wouldn't be wasting my time if I wanted a great credit line (or something like that). I just told her that I wasn't interested, and she told me to have a good day and let me go. Isn't it nice when they let you go after you tell them you're not interested? Stupid telemarketers. And don't give me this shit about how they're just trying to earn a living either. There are other jobs out there. Solicited telemarketing calls = good. Unsolicited telemarketing calls = fuck off. Of course, I never solicit them, so as far as I'm concerned, all telemarketers can fuck off. Now, one's that want to survey me... I like them. Call me with your surveys people. I know you use random number generators, but if you can help it, get a hold of me, because I love answering questions - especially if you're going to send me something for taking your survey.

Now I have this afternoon to work on the essay question for my journalism test tomorrow, because I have to work at 6, and then it's bowling night at Mady's. Yeah.

I left class at the break at 7:45 last night. I drove home and dropped off the pass for Kyle. Then I sat around watching the Packer game. A little before 9 I left for the Entry, and I arrived there about 9:15. I sat around by myself for over a half hour, but then Kate showed up, so I hung out with her. The first act, an Irishman named Leslie Rich, came on about 10 and played until 10:30. He was followed by Divorcee, who played from 11 until 11:50, and they were awesome. The Push Kings didn't finally come on until atleast 12:15, but they ended up playing until 1:30, and they were quite a good time. It was 2 by the time I finally got home. I had recorded the rest of the Packer game, so I sat down and watched that. 37-0 - how 'bout them apples Minnesotans? Hell yes. I eventually got to bed sometime after 4. I woke up this morning sometime between 9:30 and 10, but it was after 11 before I finally climbed out of bed. I was listening to music, I read yesterday's Daily, and I made and lunch. My kitchen set that I bought last week from HSN came today, so I opened the box and looked that stuff over. In a little while it will be time to prepare for another day of work. Then it's off to the Dinytowner for the Undercinema movies. I'll miss the VD movies because of work, but I'll be there in time for the drug films. Gotta go.

Friday involved the Whole meeting, class, work, a trip to Walgreens, a picnic at Taco Bell, and making signs at Molly's. Saturday involved the Twins game, getting soaked in the rain, L.A. Story, UHF,Mallrats, A Night at the Opera, Clue at midnight at the Uptown, and A Day at the Races. Sunday was the Vikings game on tv and the Twins game on the radio, Cosmic Slop (sans Chuck), work, and tv. This morning I'm doing my laundry and I tried to win tickets for the Push Kings tonight, but I was caller 1,3,4,5, and 6, but not 7. Damn that caller 7! I created you, and I shall crush you! We'll both be at the show, so I'll find you there! I guess in the mean time I have to go back to doing my laundry, and then I have class, work, and more class. Oh, and if whoever it was who called me this morning and I hung up without answering is reading this, I'm sorry, but it's your fault that you called when I'm about to try to win concert tickets. That is all.

Bowling for burgers: Yes, Annemarie and I went bowling for burgers last night. Well, not literally, but we did go to Mady's for buck bowling. Bowling, beer, and a burgers for a buck each - how could you even consider passing that up? Well, we obviously couldn't. Even though I was laid back, I once again bowled better the more liquored up I got. It could have just been the experience as well. My first few games were in the 109-120's range, while the last two were a 164 and a 140-something. I came home and put on the radio, but must have dozed off listening to Al, because next thing I knew it was 5am. I slept until about 9:45, and then I flipped on Lindsey (uhh... I mean, the radio, and she was dj-ing... oops). I then called Molly, and we were on the phone for a good hour. Now my lunch is done, so it's time to eat before I have to get moving for the day. Later alligator.

I can't believe I just did this, but I just made my first ever purchase from Home Shopping Network. I couldn't help it! For $15.85, I got the Bacon Wave, 2 Perfect Omelets, an egg poucher, a chopper, a Micro Broiler, and a four-piece knife set. That shit's tight! Now I'm not only going to have all the honeys, but I'll be able to make 'em breakfast in the morning.

I really want to complain about something, but I'm falling short. I should go grocery shopping. I should buy my books. I should drop the pass off for Kyle. I should work on my IDL class. I should work on my senior paper. I was going to go to the Twins game, but was too lazy to get up and get to a game by myself. Annemarie and I are going to the game on Saturday. I hear it's now the Fox Saturday Game of the Week (what, no Cubs-Cards game this weekend?!), so watch for us. If we're ambitious enough, we might make some stupid sign to take with us in the futile hope of being pictured on national tv. I know, we're both attention whores, deal with it. Well, I've wasted the last 2 hours online, and really have nothing else to do right now. I did see the sad news that because of the events of last Tuesday, the Upplandsfestival at the American Swedish Institute has been postponed until spring of 2003. 2003! Jesus, I probably won't even live here anymore by then. Damn.

Wednesday night. I'm home instead of playing Scrabble because we didn't want to pay a cover for some crappy band tonight at the Dinkytowner. After sitting through my stupid science fiction lecture (and he even ran over tonight!), I was in no mood to head over to Molly's. I have to stuff to do, but I don't want to do it. I'm making supper. I'm hungry. Leave me alone.

I'm back again, and I hope I don't sound too insensitive with this entry, but it's not well thought out and mostly a collection of what's running through my head at the moment. To begin with, I just want people to move on. There's no denying that the events of Tuesday are very tragic, but those of us who are still living need to keep on with our lives. This needs to be applied to several parts of our lives. Maybe I'm just a more entertainment-minded person, but sporting events, television shows, movie releases, etc. need to continue. If we cancel our whole way of living, isn't that like telling the perpetrators that they were successful and they should do the same again if they want to get to us? I, for one, won't be any more worried about air travel than I was before. Sure, I've had fear of flying in terms of aircraft failure and crash, but hijackers will do what they're going to do, so fearing air travel isn't really solving anything. If hijackers want to take a plane, they'll find a way, just like how criminals will get access to guns if they really want guns. That brings me to an interesting point as well. Now that we are riding out the after effects, many people are trying to use Tuesdays events to further their causes. Pro-gun nuts all think that we need to make guns more available so that people can defend themselves. Oh, were you going to shoot down a 767 with your conceiled weapon? The same can be said of the people who say this is evidence that we need a missile defense system. So, missiles intended to shoot down nuclear weapons could have been fired at airplanes which we didn't know would be used as weapons against us? And then there are the prayer-in-school people. Yes, you're definitely correct - forcing every kid into Christian prayer is going to solve the world's problems and keep anti-Christian extremists from attacking us. Good call.

Watching "The McLachlan Group" this morning brought up some interesting points as well. If these attacks do trigger one thing, it should be more funds given to scientists and other researchers to conduct research into alternative energy resources and better energy conservation. For these extremists, killing them isn't going to solve anything, and killing more innocent civilians won't either. For them, dying for their cause is a good thing. The only way to stop them is to dry-up their resources. One important thing that they require is money, so if we keep them from getting money, they can't bankroll their plans. If we continue to require the use of oil and other resources from countries which aid and/or harbor these extremists, then we are really just giving money to potential terrorists to continue planning and carrying out attacks. Yes, we do determine our own destiny. It's also interesting to see other countries actually showing interest in supporting us, when GWB has been telling the rest of the world to fuck off ever since he was inaugurated (missile defense, Kyoto, etc.). We haven't exactly been doing anything for the rest of the world, so why they'd want to do anything for us is a little hard for me to understand. Okay, that's enough for now.

The cosmos have aligned, and now they're telling me that I'm feeling strangely fine. It's just another Friday morning here in Minneapolis and there aren't really all that many new developments in my life. Life for me has been completely uneffected by the events of Tuesday. In a way I feel bad only because while everyone else is scared/worried/revengeful/saddened/etc., I am at the moment completely indifferent. It's not that I'm completely insensitive, but rather that it hasn't impacted my life at all (or atleast not yet). Maybe reality just hasn't sunk in quite yet. Either way, I wish the local network affiliates would go back to normal programming, and only break into programming when there are major developments. We all know everything that has taken place so far, so we don't need to hear it again. Do they want me to become desensitized to horrific mass destruction?

Okay, completely new topic: bowling. Last night, Molly, Jonathan, and I went to Mady's for their Thursday night deal. You really can't pass-up buck bowling, beer, and burgers. I was slightly disappointed in that there were no buck babes, but I made it through the night. I completely sucked the first two games - rolling games of 123 and 101 - but those were both before I really had much for liquor flowing through the system. Once I finally got some burgers in my belly (because Jonathan mistakenly ate my first one) and Bud Light in my veins, the games opened up a little. Although Jonathan and Molly had won the first two games respectively, they weren't necessarily impressive wins. It was when Jonathan knocked down a rum-and-Coke-fueled 210 in the third game and I closed a 153 game with a tenth frame turkey that we knew we were loose. By the fourth game, I was actually a little disappointed with my 171, but it won me a game on the night, so I'll take it. I believe it's been decided that if we do ever actually get to one of the Friday night money bowling events at Falcon Bowl, Jonathan and I need to get liquored-up so we're good and loose. Oh, and Jonathan has to bang and bowling ball into his knee and almost fall into speakers lining the wall.

It's been forever and a day since the last time I updated, and I feel that I am under no obligation to update. It's not like anyone is forcing me to but myself. What I did want to enter though is my horoscope. I know I'm a little late on this, but I'm just finally reading the August 29 edition of The Onion and I found my horoscope to actually be fitting, so here goes:

You have never been successful at the game of love, but at least you've finally figured out that the rules are similar to those of Scrabble.

Okay, that is all. See you all tonight at Funk at the Fred.