I went downtown this afternoon and applied for the library job. Talking to the receptionist there in human resources, I have a feeling that lots of people applied for the job. I also have the feeling that that's going to be the case with any job I apply for. This part of life sucks. I just want a job given to me, damnit.

So much has taken place already today, and it's barely early afternoon. After returning home from bowling last night at Mady's with Molly and Jonathan (where I bowled absolutely horribly), I fell asleep with the tv on, but left it set on ESPN2 so I'd be ready for this morning's kick-off to the World Cup. I woke up at 6 this morning and watched the France-Senegal game. Although I hadn't predicted a Senegal win, I had been telling Kyle for weeks that I thought they were better than most people give them credit for, and even with a loss they might move on to the second round. Then again, I should have expected the French to come out and play as snobbishly as they did. They deserved to lose. After that I got dressed and drove to the film society office to pick up the Anti-Christ. I snapped some photos of Anna for the last time before driving her to the Newgate Education Center, where I donated her. I signed her over, got the plates off her, and then Molly picked me up and drove me back to the office. The Anti-Christ is no more. I stopped into the office, talked with Kyle and Adam, and left behind my parking permit. I guess that's that as far as my employment goes there. I'm still working for them - at least for a few weeks - as a box office manager, but my work there as an office assistant is done. Al laid me off via the phone Wednesday afternoon. So that's my day so far. This afternoon I have to go and apply for that library job I didn't take care of yesterday. I hope they let me apply in person, because that online thing just didn't work. I knew I was going to have to go on a job hunt soon, but this is sooner than I had expected. On one more final note, I should like to wish Matt and Carrie Niesen a Happy 4th Wedding Anniversary. The big day was actually yesterday, but I forgot to mention it until today. I hope they enjoy their trip to Chicago and congratulations. That's all for now folks.

The cable guy just left - I have cable! I'm set for the World Cup! Bring on the games....

I'm planning on going downtown this afternoon to see if I can apply for that library job in person since I seem to be having trouble doing it online. I hope that works better, because I could use the job.

I think I might be nearing the point where I'm going to have to spend the money to upgrade to Blogger Pro. There are just too many server problems lately with regular Blogger, and so I'm hoping that maybe if I throw Evan a few bucks I can get off this current shit server that keeps having errors.

Let's see... so Monday night I ended up watching Josie and the Pussycats and Dazed and Confused. Josie... was actually quite entertaining, even despite having Rachel Leigh Cooke playing the role of Josie. I had also completely forgotten that Parker Posey was in the film. If Miss Posey is in a film, it can't be all bad, right? Anyway, it was quite late by the time both movies ended, and even though I wasn't tired, I sort of forced myself to sleep.

I did absolutely nothing at work on Tuesday. I tried, but there was just nothing to do. I most definitely need to find a new job, but what? I came home and watched Take Care of My Cat. I was a bit disappointed. It wasn't bad, it was just... I don't know. After that I actually was feeling tired, so I rolled over and fell asleep listening to Dark Star talk about horse racing.

I guess this morning I should work on homework. I need to get the final draft of my senior paper done and I need to get the next assignment in the Bergman class written and mailed out before I slip too much into summer mode and have no interest in doing any of this. I also need to get my apartment cleaned up, as the cable guy should be here tomorrow morning to hook up my cable. Cable is super expensive, so I'm only getting it for the World Cup, and then I'm dumping it again.

I didn't get as much done as I would have liked to today. I did more work on this website until early in the afternoon. After that I made and ate lunch and read a little more of Vanity Fair. Then I finally did some homework by watching Winter Light. Geez, that wasn't depressing or anything! Then I drove out to Roseville and visited Molly at work. She sold me some dvds with her discount. She closed up at 6, we drove to her place so she could change, and then we picked up Eleonore and drove to the Highland Theater in St. Paul to see About a Boy. I really liked the movie (and the Badly Drawn Boy soundtrack wasn't bad either!). I'm not sure what it is - Hugh Grant and Richard Gere play some similar characters (both have even co-starred with that dumb bitch Julia), yet I hate Gere and like Grant - go figure. Anyway, so I drove both of them home before driving home myself. I'm listening to the end of the Twins-Rangers game right now, after which I'll probably watch a movie or something.

Not having an antenna, I can't really watch tv on my new tv. Evenso, I've so far found that a good thing. It forces me to do other things such as - gasp - read. Right now I can only watch movies on the tv, but I'm planning on getting cable so I can watch the World Cup. After that, it's back to no cable again. At that point I might consider buying an antenna for the tv, but for now I think I'll go with nothing. What am I actually missing on tv anyway? It's summer - everything is reruns.

Okay, so game is over and Twins won again. 5-2. Eddie got another save, keeping him tied for the AL lead. ChiSox lost also, so the Twins move back into sole possession of first. Not bad. My point is that I think it's time to go.

Another big update today. To begin with, sites such as The Collective and Too Much Trivia in the Pants will remain as-is, but the parent page BlueFlower.org will go offline later today and be relaunched on Saturday, June 1, 2002. I'm taking the page offline to ease the transition to my new layout, even though I know some of you have already seen it. In cooperation with this, I am also announcing that BlueFlower.org will continue on for two more years. We celebrate our official 2 year birthday on June 8th, but have now renewed the domain until 2004. The final update is that I blew most of the graduation money my parents gave me yesterday. I went out and bought a new tv and dvd player. The tv seems really out of place in my apartment after having that little tv/vcr combo for the last 4 years. Okay, that's all the updating for today. Back to homework.

Okay, so here's the big update. Friday morning I went and picked up my car to test drive it all day. They had done some quick repairs on the steering when we discovered a small problem test driving it on Wednesday. I drove it around, bought some books at Barnes & Noble, and met my dad at the credit union at 1 to sign the loan papers. From there I went home and Mom and I ate lunch and went shopping at Target. Then we went to the insurance people to sign away on that. I had to have an HIV test done to get life insurance. Oh boy, hope I pass! I dropped Mom back at home and then went back to the dealer to sign away on the paperwork for the car and pay for it. After an hour of going over and signing paperwork, I drove out of the lot in my new wheels: a bronze 2000 Plymouth Neon LX. A/C, cruise, power everything, CD player... quite a step up from the Anti-Christ. I went home, where we ate dinner, and the relatives come over as expected. They left about 8, and I went over to Matt and Carrie's about 9. We played Scrabble and shot the shit for a while. With my cold setting in even stronger, I was feeling woozy and worn out, so I left there about 1 I believe, came home, and went to bed.

Mom got me about 8 Saturday morning, we packed up everything, and she, Dad, and I headed off for Minneapolis. Dad drove the van while Mom rode with me in the car. We stopped twice to meet-up along the way: once in Bonduel and once in Chippewa Falls. After arriving in Minneapolis, we hauled everything up to my apartment and went for dinner to Applebee's. I had to explain to my parents that we mostly only have chains here, as Twin Citizens are new-money folk who only eat at national chains. With my cold having me all congested, I couldn't even taste my food. We stopped at Baker's Square and bought a pie to consume later, but we never ended up touching it, so now I have a whole pie in my fridge. When we returned to my apartment, my parents installed my air conditioner in the window. I helped a little, but was just too damn tired. After finishing that, we all sat down to watch Unbreakable, but I fell asleep before the opening credits were done. I woke up briefly when that ended and my parents decided to watch Bringing Up Baby, but soon dozed off again.

I woke up about 3:30 this morning - long before my parents would get up. I first just layed in bed for a while, but soon became too bored with that. Then I decided I wanted a Sunday paper for the ads, so I got dressed and went down to the SA. When I came back, I sat in my car for a few minutes listening to The Root of All Evil, but then decided to go back to my parents, lest my parents wake up and worry about where I am. I sat in the bathroom and read some of Vanity Fair (which I picked up at Barnes & Noble Friday along with Conversations with Wilder), but quickly realized that was uncomfortable. I flopped back down on my bed and layer there with the paper and book until my parents both woke up about 6:30. The got dressed up, packed up their bags, and left for my aunt and uncle's in Upper Michigan about 7:45 this morning. Now it's just me, back in apartment, with too much to do. In addition to unpacking everything brought back up here with me, I also have to get straight to work on homework. I have 2 days until I have to return to work, so I have 2 days to get as much homework done as possible. So the marathon begins....

Spending too much time around sick people, so now I'm getting sick. Just have a runny/stuffed-up nose, but we all know what sort of a harbinger that can be. Yarrgh!

Thursday was much less than productive, but still not a bad day. Got up about 9, but was in no rush to get anything done (although I should have been). I got a phone call from the loan guy at the credit union. He said my loan application had been approved, and he wanted to know when Dad and I could come in and sign the papers. We're meeting with him Friday afternoon. Dad had talked to the insurance people and they gave him a quote, but then he sent me down there to actually talk with them. As I spent most of the day downloading music and watching tv, it was 3:30 by the time I went there. The girl there tried to explain to me why insurance costs so much for a single, non-parent, under-25 male. Sucks ass as far as I'm concerned. I'm not out boozing it up and causing accidents, so why should I be screwed over with mega-premiums. Anyway, since I needed to pick up Mom from work, I had to leave without signing the insurance papers. I have to go back and do that Friday also. I was 20 minutes late to pick up Mom, but she was still there. We went to George Webb for dinner. Then we went home and I watched more tv. My parents now have digital cable, so there's shitloads on. I was watching Johnny Stecchino (hilarious 1991 Roberto Benigni comedy) on IFC. Thank goodness for IFC. I went over to Matt and Carrie's, where we spent most of the night debating what we should do, but we never really did anything. I left there about midnight. I hadn't seen Trixie yet since I'd come home, so I circled past the Residence and found her seated at the computer about to email me. We kicked it there for awhile watching tv with Matt. Then Trixie and I went over to George Webb to hang out for old time's sake. Gosh - nobody hangs out there anymore! What the hell?! Anyway, after doing the crossword and word search and telling stories about the last few months, we headed back to her place about 3:30, where we said our good-bye's and I drove home. Oreo, as expected, was waiting at the door for me. So that was my Thursday.

Today (Friday) I have to sign the papers for both my loan and insurance. Hopefully my car will be done so I can take delivery of that as well. I would like to watch and write the assignment for Winter Light, but we'll see if that actually happens. I think some relatives are coming over again Friday night, but unlike Tuesday night, I'll only stick around shortly and then go out if they do come over. Last night in town - must take advantage.

So Wednesday came and went. After signing off yesterday morning, I rewatched part of and wrote the assignment on Through a Glass Darkly for my Bergman class. I watched some tv, but got bored, so I got dressed and decided to go look at more cars. I first circled past some independent dealer who specializes in VW's and Audi's, but he had nothing. Take a drive through the used car lot at Dodge Country, but still nothing. Then I went back to the first lot Dad and I visited Tuesday to test drive the Neon they had there. Nice car. Very nice. In fact, so nice that I'm about 95% sure I'm getting it. Paperwork is filled out and loan is applied for - that's how sure I am. I'll tell you more about it should I get the car definitely. Anyway, so after a day spent mostly dealing with the car and car-related issues, Mom made fried bread for dinner, so I ate before going over to Matt and Carrie's. Let's see... we watched some tv and some other shit and played DDR before I came home. I also took delivery of the air conditioner I'm buying off them. They got central air installed, so they're selling me their window unit. It's only a year old and in nice shape. I was going to watch Winter Light tonight, but now I think I'll hold off until after I get up in the morning, as I'm starting to feel a little sleepy. I suppose it's only natural that I should feel so at 2 in the morning.

Another couple of days have passed. Not really that much has happened. Monday night I went to open mic night at the Cold Shot with Matt and Carrie. Then we went back to their place and played some video game. Matt gave me a ride home about 2:30. Tuesday was Mom and Dad's 25th wedding anniversary. We went for lunch at Culver's and went grocery shopping. We also stopped at Simple Simon's for the cakes. Marion was still working there and recognized me. She gave me a bag with a couple cookies in it. Man, Marion is the best. Mom stayed home to prepare for the relatives coming over while Dad and I went around looking at cars. Only sort of drove past some places with some real crappy white trash cars. Went to another place, looked around and talked to a salesman, but didn't even test drive anything. Went to the VW dealership, but their Jettas were all way overpriced and the salesman was really pushy about trying to get me to buy a new Hyundai instead. Then we went to the Saturn dealership and I test-drove two different used Saturns. I didn't care much for the first one, but the second one was nice. Today I want to look at some other things also, but at this point I'm really leaning toward one of those Saturns. Anyway... by the time we finished there it was 5:15 and time to head home. Grandma, aunt, uncle, and the cousins were all there already. We ate dinner, took pictures outside, and watched tv. Rioting good time. I was dozing off while watching tv after everyone had left, so I went to bed. Now I'm up this morning.

Oh, boy... it's been over 24 hours, so there's lots to throw at you. Okay, so my parents finally arrived at noon yesterday. We hauled all of their things up to my apartment and then we went to Market for lunch. We went back home and attempted to watched the US-Holland game, but the reception was so bad that we couldn't see anything. Didn't really matter, as from what we could see, the game was terrible anyway. My parents had brought some movies along, so we ended up watching The Replacements. By the time that got over, it was time to get ready and go to campus. We parked at the office and unloaded everything from the Anti-Christ under the watchful eyes of Daily morons taking a smoke break. We then walked down toward Nothrop. We time to kill, so the fam went to get in line to get in, while I waited at the Bell talking to Kyle. I met Annemarie at 6 behind Tate and we went over to meet up with everyone else on the mall. I really don't remember much from the commencement ceremony. I kind of spaced out during the speakers and walking across the stage was sort of a blur. After it was over, I wandered around the plaza with my parents seeking out anyone I may know, but to no avail. We finally gave up and walked back down to the van. I ditched my cap and gown in the van and we went to Bakers Square for dinner. There was a bit of a wait as the place was full, but eventually we got to sit down and eat. Then we drove home and went to bed.

We got up this morning, packed up, and hit the road back to Appleton. We stopped at the Denny's in Hudson for breakfast. I think we got back here about 2:30. I spent most of the afternoon watching tv. I got a haircut at 5:15. It's hacked. Now my brother and parents are at some awards thing at the high school and I'm home alone without a vehicle. I don't know what I'll be doing now.

There are two strange opposing thoughts and feelings running through my mind after last night. The first is that I can't believe I graduated. I'm done. All done. What's next? I don't know... I really don't know. The other side is that I know I still have those 5 assignments to mail in and the final draft of my senior paper to turn in, so I'm not actually done. That sense of finality is really there just yet. Hmmm... none of it has sunk in just yet. It's just really weird.

Got dressed, washed the dishes, and watched "The McLaughlin Group," but still no parents. I'll bet they stopped to eat. Damn it, I'm hungry... I want to eat too!

Okay okay, Sunday morning and my parents could be here any time. I have most everything done except washing the dishes. I finished putting everything away, packed for the week, and showered this morning, so I'm mostly ready for them to arrive. Having woken up before 6, I'm still pretty tired. Man-oh-man.

I'm nearing completion of cleaning. I still have to put a few small things away. I also still have to do dishes and pack for the week. I might do that stuff late tonight while listening to the radio. I at least got all the noisy stuff done like vacuuming and taking out all the trash and recyclables. I even cleaned out my fridge and cabinets this time.

Saturday morning and I feel like shit. Sounds pretty normal. Chilling to Belle and Sebastian. Observing the mess I have to clean today. Yawning....

Shortly after the last entry yesterday I got dressed, grabbed my papers, and hopped on the bus. I strapped on headphones and cranked up GVSB to keep myself awake. Ran into Kyle on the bus downtown. He was already liquored up and on his way to see Kate's band play. I got off on campus and hurried over to Folwell. I was a little concerned when I saw how dark the building was, and then the first set of doors I tried were locked. Shit. I then went down to the ground level door that has stairs down to Nolte Garage, and luckily both that door and the basement door to Folwell were open, so I ran the papers up and tossed them on the pile. I think I get the title for last paper turned in. Nichole's was on top when I got there, but I beat her. Yeehaw!

I went down and met Molly outside. Having not slept in forever and a day, I was a little drained. We went back to my place and ordered pizza from Leaning Tower. Man, that was good. We talked for a while, but I started getting so tired that I was seeing double. It was closing in on trivia levels of sleepiness. After Molly left, I pretty much rolled over and fell directly asleep.

So now it's my day to clean. Mom and Dad will be within 24 hours. I have to clean this place up and do my laundry in that time. I only have enough quarters for 2 loads each in the washer and dryer. The rest'll have to wait. I really should wear my Speedos to graduation tomorrow. Oh yeah, before I forget:

Happy Birthday Matt!!!

UPDATE #4

I'm done. All done. I had absolutely nothing to write about that fucking film for German credit, so while the other paper is 6 pages longer than it needed to be, this one is over a page short. It was just a stupid little musical screwball comedy. The Krauts made lots of them. There was nothing special about this one. Blah. I'm leaving soon to drop off the papers. Whew.

UPDATE #3

I finished the final paper at 5:15. It's printing right now. At a full 16 pages, it's actually longer than my senior paper. Still have to write the little 3-pager for German credit, but that shouldn't take too long. Almost there....

UPDATE #2:

Now it's almost 2 pm. Obviously didn't achieve my goal. Doesn't help any that I've spent half the day in the bathroom. Just can't imagine if my diet from the last few days would have anything to do with that.... Anyway, the paper needs to be 10 pages minimum. I am half-way down page 9 and still have 6 of my 12 outline points left, including perhaps the three most important to the paper as a whole. Doesn't look like the 10 pages will be a problem... it's now definitely the clock I'm in a duel with. Think if I take the batteries out of my clock it'll stop time? Maybe I should try.

UPDATE:

Here it is almost 5 am and I haven't even started my paper yet. Okay, that's not entirely true. I've re-read the articles on the films, highlighted quotes, taken notes, and created a 3-page outline. I also made muffins, played guitar, listened to Al Malmberg, and cleaned up the mess I made when an egg exploded on me while attempting to make the muffins. The only thing left to do is actually type up the paper. It being 5, if I don't decide to take short nap, my goal now is to have the paper done by about noon or 1-ish. I'll certainly give it the ol' slacker try.

I think I'm making som progress. I watched Die Austernprinzessin last night and read the Sabine Hake articles on both films. I have to leave in just over an hour to take the Tolstoy final, but when I return it's time to really get down to business on the paper. Rick's official deadline for the paper is actually rather arbitrary. He said that we can slip the paper(s) under his door as long as Folwell is still open on Friday. That usually depends upon the particular master of custodial arts engaged in the task of cleaning that evening. I think I'm safe if I get it in by 9, but obviously I hope to have it done long before then. I also have to write the additional paper for German credit. I watched that film about 2 weeks ago, but I never sat down to actually write the paper. At least I have deadlines to watch.

I wanted to eat now, but I have no food. None. Well, that's sort of a lie... I have some food, I just refuse to eat it. Like I have a fried chicken tv dinner, but I'm sort of scared to touch it, as the last one I ate, one of the pieces of chicken contained the spine. Eww! I was so grossed out by it that I went vegetarian for a few days. I got over it as far as meat is concerned generally, but I'm still a little hesitant to touch another of those dinners. I mean, when you eat a big ol' greasy hamburger, it's not so difficult, because the meat is processed that it's not even recognizable as being animal. On the other hand, that piece of chicken spine just hit too close to home as a reminder that that thing was once alive. Sheesh.

My hair is an absolute mess this morning. Sticking out in every direction possible. Normally this doesn't bother me, but with the current length and cut of my hair, it looks... well... funny. My hair finally is reaching the length where I could tuck it out the way if I had to, in which case I wouldn't even worry about getting a haircut. Then I was out yesterday, and even in only mid-70 degree heat it felt so hot. I'm a real wuss about warm weather - I need short hair to keep me cool. 4 days now until my haircut.

Let's see what else... Twins won last night and White Sox lost - back to 1.5 games ahead. While we won the game, we lost Mientkiewicz. The Twins line-up in May is looking like a typical Red Sox line-up in August and September - everybody's injured. The fact that the Twins are holding first place, despite now being without their starting first, second, and third basemen (Mientkiewicz, Rivas, and Koskie), in addition to 2 starting pitchers (Mays and Radtke) and 1 more starting pitcher pitching despite a sore elbow (Reed), is just amazing. I think there are a couple of reasons for this. The most obvious thing that everybody has noticed is the improvement of the bullpen. Amazingly, this is the same bullpen we had last year that just completely sucked. I don't know if these guys worked that hard in the off season or what they did, but wow.... Couple that Jacque Jones' lead-off hitting, the inclusion of Kielty and LeCroy, and Torii Hunter being... well... Torii Hunter, and they're still doing pretty well. Imagine now if we had everyone healthy! Although he certainly doesn't have Koskie's bat, I have to admit that I was quite impressed with Jeff Blake's glove and throwing arm in replacement of Koskie at third. In last Friday's game at the Dome against the Yankees, Blake had some pretty wicked tosses across the field to first... wow. Okay, enough Twins.

My parents are arriving here early Sunday morning, so I have to clean this place on Saturday. I guess they're spending the night with my aunt and uncle, and then getting up early Sunday to drive here. My aunt and uncle, on the other hand, are driving down to Appleton for my cousin's confirmation. I also have another cousin graduating this weekend down in Madison. It's a busy weekend for the Koeller family. I guess we have to head back then Monday morning. My brother has some awards dinner to go to, while I have my apointment for my haircut. I feel as though I should try seeking out someone here to cut my hair. Thing is, with the exception of the one time I let that idiot barber cut my hair, my cousin is the only one who has cut my hair since I was 12. That's 10 long years people! I guess you just get comfortable with regularity.

Final Exams: One Down, One to Go

Took my final for the Contemporary Hollywood Genres course today. 52 multiple-choice questions. Took about 15 minutes. My final final exam is tomorrow afternoon in the Tolstoy course. I know the material, and I don't need the class to graduate, but I'm still a little nervous about that one.

Talked to the prof about my senior paper yesterday. Most of his criticism of the paper was exactly as I should have expected: needs a better defined thesis in the introduction, fix awkwardly worded sentences, and add a bibliography and filmography. I told him I'd get him the final draft after I return from Appleton. I also talked to him about my paper that's due on Friday and he gave me a few ideas. I think I now have a pretty clear idea of what I'm going to concentrate on. I'm writing about Lubitsch's Madame Du Barry and Die Austernprinzessin. Should be interesting.

Two more days to go for finals week and four more days until graduation. It's passing by so quickly! Thinking back on it, I've just pulled out my journal and I'm reading through what I did finals week of my senior year of high school. That was pretty good. Warning! Warning! Personal reminiscing and sentimental, tacky crap to follow! You have been warned! On that Monday (June 1, 1998) I had to turn in an English paper, for lunch Tony and I watched Dave and Corey shoot off bottle rockets at Plamann Park, I had my calculus final, and that night I had a soccer game that we lost about 9-0. Tuesday was the best day of that week. I had finals in psych and physics. For lunch, Tony, Zak, and I bought chocolate pudding, little chocolate donuts, a pie, sodas, and a Weekly World News and then joined up with Dave and Corey at Dave's house. We ate, drank vodka and Cokes, and shot off bottle rockets at the neighbor's dog. German was my last final. I went to the Exclusive Company after school, and the Smashing Pumpkins' Adore had come out that day, so I bought that. I had soccer practice, after which I drove up to Concert Cafe for the Suicide Machines show. Everybody was there, including Matt and Carrie (fresh off their honeymoon), Harvey, Adam, Brent, Troy, and the Captain. I ate at George Webb before going home. Wednesday was a free day, so I wasted away the whole morning before going over to Tony's in the afternoon. Ahh... memories, right? It was so much easier back then.

Gosh, how'd it ever get to be so late? Sheesh, it seems like I just got home a little bit ago. I read a few articles online, and next thing I know it's 2:15 in the morning. Another wasted night getting no homework done. This is really not the start I need to my finals week. Hopefully tomorrow will be more constructive.

Oh, forgot to mention that my mom told me on the phone last night that my grandma is getting rid of her 8mm camera, projector, and screen. She asked me if I'd be interested in it. Would I?! Oh man! As if I don't have enough things here in my apartment already. Oh well, I can always make room for more.

Yow! There's still no joy like opening a brand new record. I came home tonight to find a thin brown package leaning against my door. I rushed into my apartment, slit the packing tape and plastic wrap open with a scissors, and pulled out the record sleeve. I gently slid the clear orange vinyl out, held it between my fingers, and smelled that glorious new-record scent. Lifting the top off my turntable, I set the new Girls Against Boys album down side A up and flicked the trigger into play mode. Setting the needle down on the spinning disk, the music began to speak to me. These guys just kick too much ass! Man, I wish they'd return to our neck of the woods. Listen to that bass! That guitar and drums! Yow-ow!

Yesterday was less than exciting, what with working and all. I watched Minoes twice, but that was worthwhile. After returning home, I called my mom to wish her a happy Mother's Day. Then I rather promptly fell asleep. This morning I finally finished reading The Death of Ivan Illych. Now I need to do some research into the films from Rick's class this semester so I can make up my mind about an exact topic. Should probably decide soon since the paper is due on Friday.

Hmm... let's see here... Molly got here about 7:30. Since we couldn't grill in the rain, we ate dinner at Arby's. Then we went to her place and watched Novocaine. Not too bad, but a little too strange at times. Laura Dern was awkwardly dislikable. Helena Bonham Carter definitely wasn't.

Molly gave me a ride back home (as I am currently without wheels), and I've been online and listening to KFAI ever since. Ah, nothing beats a Sunday morning accompanied by The Root of All Evil. I've also been doing more work on the new design and layout, but I think it's almost time to stop for the night, as I actually do need to get up and get to work in the morning. Damn early shows.

This blasted rain! Molly and I were going to grill out tonight over at her place, but the weather seems to have dampened those plans. Rarr.

In other news, Tony tells me his mom is getting a Mini Cooper! She beat me to it! His mom always wants the coolest cars.

I feel rather guilty for the way I so carelessly wasted away the day today. I spent all afternoon camped out in front of the tv watching the movies on free-tv. At noon was Bio-Dome, 2 was Crocodile Dundee II, and 4 was Quiz Show. What a waste when I have so many more important things I should have been doing. I mean, if I was at least watching movies worth wasting a day watching, then....

Well, we went to the Twins-Yankees game tonight. It never appeared that it was going to be a high-scoring game, but the Yankees put together just enough runs in the 5th to win it. Some would blame Milton for having an off-night tonight on the mound, but I think more blame should be put on Gardenhire for not taking Milton out earlier. Although the rest of the line-up was doing nothing against him, Soriano, Jeter, and Williams were hitting everything Milton gave them tonight. In fact, between the three of them, they accounted for all 5 Yankee runs and 7 of their 10 hits. After Jeter's homerun tied the game, Milton should have come out right there, but instead Gardy decided to leave him out longer, which really put the team in the hole. The Yanks scored 4 runs in the inning to take a 5-3 lead, and that's how the game ended. The Twins got most of their 10 hits with 2 outs in the inning, which explains why they stranded so many.

The real highlight of the game for us was probably the guys sitting behind us. Call them the anti-fratboy fratboy types. I'm talking about your typical Abercrombie-wearing, large amounts of alcohol-imbibing, Dave Matthews and Doors-listening rich boys. The type that we would all confuse for being fratboys if they weren't sitting behind you talking about how much they dislike fratboys. Of course, that was the least of their conversation. They actually spent most of the time discussing smoking weed, stumbling home drunk from houseparties, spring break in Mexico, their girlfriends' breasts, the breasts of girls with whom they attended high school, and the breasts of teenage girls sitting near us in Upper GA. At one point an extremely intoxicated friend of theirs stumbled up from his seat down in Lower GA, kicked over some guy's beverage, and plopped down in a random seat to tell them about how drunk he was. Fun fun. Hey, I've been surrounded by worse at the Dome.

"[W]e continue to see thousands of women hosting Tupperware parties, as well as sexy-lingerie-and-sex-toy parties. For all I know, some enterprising salesgal has combined those latter two by now."

That quote, taken from Richard Roeper's column back on May 1, just brings back too many memories of my infamous high school sex-and-Tupperware parties.

I went out for a walk today - a long and pointless walk. Okay, not that long. Basically I walked down Hennepin to Uptown. It was pointless nonetheless. Once I got there, I didn't know what to do, so I just hopped a bus and came home. Then I discovered that a bird had pooped on my pants, even though I don't know how or when it happened.

Ahhh... no more undergrad classes... ever! After Nichole gave me a ride home from class last night (as I was not all that trustful of my car's braking power), I plopped down in front of the tv with a beer. The intent was to drink many beers, but I was so tired that I fell asleep without finishing beer #1. Just plain pathetic.

Although I have much I should accomplish this weekend (including especially figuring out what the hell I'm going to write my paper for Rick's class on), I think this morning I need to go for a walk. The problem? It's freakin' cold outside for mid-May. I woke up this morning to find the outside temp to be 37. In May. That's just wrong. Although the thermometer in my apartment claims it to be 71 in here, I'm pretty sure it's closer to 55. Pisses me off. Grrr.... At least the Dome will be better climate controlled for the game tonight.

You know, as exciting as the possibility of being a pirate captain sounds, I should think I'd rather be a captain of industry. They're the one's who really get all the booty. Arrrgh!

File this one under things I never knew:

Campbell Scott is a Lawrence grad. He's also the son of George C. Scott. How could this have slipped through the cracks of my knowledge? Hmmm... as you see if you read the linked article, I only found out this information because of the article mentioning him being in Appleton as newly-appointed member of Lawrence's board of trustees. Interesting... for me anyway.

I almost forgot perhaps the best news of all - on the way to Discount Video, what should I see a billboard for along Hennepin but Mini, makers of my beloved Cooper!!!! They're selling Mini Coopers right here in Minneapolis!!! According to Mini's website, there's a dealership down at Southdale. It appears that Mini has decided to re-release the Cooper here in the States in the spirit of Volkswagen's new Beetle. Playing around with the customizations features here on the website, it looks like the car has gotten an update along the same lines as the Beetle as well. Man, these cars are so sweet!!!

Hmmm... looks like Evan is trying to bully us into subscribing to Blogger Pro. While I do partially feel guilty about using Blogger for so long for free, it's not like I can exactly afford yet another monthly expense.

The Drama that Is My Life, Day 8,061

Ah, the fun never ends around here. Let me recount for you the day that has been so far. I woke up a little before my alarm went off at 9 this morning, did the normal routine, and showed up at work at 10:15. What did I discover as I was driving to work? The brakeline in my car had finally rusted out and given way, meaning that I am down to only 2 brakes on my car. Now I guess I basically can only drive my car in emergency situations am going to have to start riding the bus again all the time otherwise. Fuck. Even better than my discovery on the way to work was my discovery after first walking in the office: Kyle had used his new razor, but after shaving had left himself with a handlebar-mustache. When I first saw it, I stopped dead in my tracks and had to hold myself back from laughing. Kyle said, "What?", to which I replied, "Oh man...." Adam yelled in from the other room, "Doesn't he look gayer than ever?" The handlebars with the blue turtleneck sweater were just too much. Wow. Anyway, I had to leave right away to meet with my CLA advisor at 10:30. I got everything ironed out, and she basically told me I have until the middle of June to get her the last of my paperwork, including a grade for my IDL class and the confirmation of the completion of my senior project signed by the elusive Rob Silberman. I walked back to work, and everything seemed to be going smoothly so far other than the brake problem.

We were printing out labels for postcards at work, but ran out of the labels, so Kyle sent me over to Office Max. Walking out the building and turning the corner down University, I see this mini-SUV (like a RAV4 or some other similar piece of shit) nail a kid on a bike. The kid on the bike first sort of flew up on the hood and then as the vehicle stopped, the kid flew back the other direction out into the road. I wasn't watching the lights to see who was really at fault, but I'm willing to bet it was the jackass in the SUV who had no intention of slowing down before turning right. The kid came down on his side, but since he wasn't moving, I ran back inside the office and called 911. The operator told me someone else had already called it in. Hmmm... cell phones actually do have one use. Walking back outside to head to Office Max, I see the kid is now sitting up, and who does it turn out to be but former Whole volunteer Will. Damn. Right about that same time the first responders from the fire department showed up. I bought my labels from Office Max, and by the time I got back to the scene of the accident, the fire department was leaving, Will was sitting on the curb sort of dazed, and the cop was talking to the driver of the vehicle.

Kyle inserted the new labels into the printer and attempted to print them out, but then they got jammed; the labels were peeling off the paper and sticking to the inside of the printer, making the printer grunt, grind, and growl. Great, the printer appeared to be fucked up. Luckily Adam came back later, and after an hour he got the printer cleaned up and working again. Somebody tried sending over a fax, but we had no fax paper, so off Kyle and I went back to Office Max for fax paper. We stopped at Quizno's on the way back.

After eating came my quasi-productive period at work, where I made up the box office report for Tuvalu, called Anne about the sponsorship checks, talked to Dinkytown News about picking up the money from pre-fest pass sales, and booked the Bell for the Film Society for the summer. Whew. Nearly out of stuff to do, Kyle sent me up to the hardware store to get a new allen wrench for the Bell (which we use to unlock the front doors). Up at the hardware store, the guy working there and I couldn't find the allen wrenches. He asked someone else, and it turned out they had them hidden away in some random drawer. So, I bought those, took them back to the office, and with no other real work for me to do, I decided to head home.

I had mentioned my Winter Light plight to Kyle when I first came in, and he suggested in try Discount Video on Hennepin and 27th. As I left work, it was just beginning to rain and I headed off to Discount. Walking in and looking around, I noticed the films had the same basic dichotomous layout by genre as every other video store, but I also noticed that they lacked any sort of order once in those categories. The guy at the desk told me 5 people working 8 hours a day would not be able to keep them alphabetical, so he doesn't even try. That's bullshit, and I should know having worked in a video store before, but anyway.... At least they also had a listing of all of their videos in a book, with listings by title, director, and country of origin. I quickly found that they did indeed have Winter Light. The guy then tells me that to register for a new account I need a credit card. Since I don't carry my one-and-only credit card with me, I had to go home in the rain and get it. So, I hurried home, picked up my credit card, and hurried back to the store. He signed me up for my account and checked out the video to me. $3 for a 1 day rental. On a 40-year-old foreign film. Holy shit, he must be fucking rolling in the dough with rental rates like that! Without much choice, I paid and left. Stopping at SA to pick up dinner, I finally came home to stay. It's about time. So tonight I have to make my dub of Winter Light so I can get it back on time tomorrow.

It was only 5 days ago that I was commenting on walking out of Super Valu with Kowalski's bags, well the latest news taken from this week's Skyway News is that Kowalski's is closing the Super Valu when the lease runs out at the end of May! Motherfuckers! Sure it's a shitty little grocery store, but it's the only thing even remotely close to downtown. Now the next closest grocery stores will be the Rainbow all the down in Uptown or the Super Valu in St. Anthony. What a fucking pain in the ass. God, I hate it when rich cocksuckers move into a neighborhood and fucking ruin it. They don't live anywhere near here, so they have no idea how much it will complicate the lives of thousands of people in the neighborhood who will now have to commute that much farther for groceries. No common sense - none.

Fuckin' fuck. The next film I need to watch for the Bergman course is Winter Light. You can't fucking find it anywhere! Intercontinental is the only place around where I could find a copy, and their copy was rented out. I thought then that I'd just buy a copy and have it rush delivered. Not a chance. Everybody wants $25-30 for a copy and an arm and a leg for shipping in about 9-10 years. Goddamnit. I'm just going to have to bite the bullet on this one and watch it in the LRC I guess. This sucks ass.

On a better note, I got my All Girl Summer Fun Band cd in the mail today from K Records. Woohoo!

I should start out tonight by thanking everyone for the offers to lend me a vcr during my current crisis. The matter has already been taken care of though, as I went to Best Buy tonight and bought a new vcr. It didn't cost me a fortune, and it's not a bad little model either. So, as long as the tv doesn't die also, it seems crisis has been averted for now.

Oh shit - it seems my vcr is going to shit. This is an even bigger problem, as I have a tv/vcr combo. The vcr will only play in fast speed. That's fine for all of my videos recorded in fast speed, but I don't know what to do with all of my videos that aren't. Wait! I have an idea! I'll borrow a vcr from work! But will it work? I hope so, or I'm screwed....

Woohoo! Only 8 more days to wait for the new Girls Against Boys album!!! I am sooo stoked.

Speaking of GVSB, I was wearing one of their shirts today when some guy came in to work and asked if I'd let him in for free if he named for me his 3 fav GVSB songs. Hey, I'm diggin' the boys, but nobody gets in for free (unless I know ya'!). Damn straight.

Wow - Molly has just brought it to my attention that this summer's movies-and-music-in-the-park program at Loring Park features the films of Billy Wilder! According to City Pages, the schedule is:

• Double Indemnity (July 8)
• One Two Three (July 15)
• Kiss Me, Stupid (July 22)
• Sabrina (July 29)
• Some Like It Hot (August 5)
• The Apartment (August 12)

No word yet on musical guests performing before the films, but with a film line-up such as that, I wouldn't give a fuck if the opening acts were Boogie Wonderland and G.B. Leighton.

Pfft - I'm pretty tired right now. Having [hopefully] finished my senior paper, I now have to turn my attention toward other assignments. I have 5 more assignments due in my Bergman class and I can only turn in up to 3 per week. That means I have to do 2-3 this week and the rest next week. That class doesn't technically end until June 15, but I'd rather have it done now. The final paper for my German class and the extra paper for German credit are both due May 17, while the final in the Tolstoy class is May 16. Those are my deadlines. I have a meeting with the CLA advisor on Wednesday to make sure everything is straight and ready to go. Last thing I need is a bit of confusion keeping me from graduation.

I have major senioritis. Much worse than anything I ever had in high school. The problem is, unlike high school, I can't just float through to the end. You know what I was doing the last two weeks of high school? We drank during our noon hours, we skipped class, and we most definitely did not do any homework or give a damn about finals. Yeah, that was easy. That's how it should be again now.

I think I just finished my senior paper. I think I did. I have to say that because the possibility exists that I hand the damn thing in to Rick on Monday, he takes one look at it and throws it back in my face with a bit of laughter over my patheticness. I hope though that he just looks at it, says it's good enough, and that's that. I'm a bit too tired to attempt any sort of celebration.

Shit - I'm stuck. I'm just barely onto page 13 (and I need at least 15 pages) and I have run out of things to say. I can't think of anything else to say that I wanted to say. I mean, I could go dig up some quotes to waste space, but they'd all be from one book, so that seems like it'd be pretty lame. I don't know what else to do! Maybe I need to elaborate further on my scene comparison or something. I haven't written the conclusion yet either, but I just don't think I could write a conclusion at this point that is a page and a half long. Grrr... need to figure something out. Maybe if I channel the power of The Root of all Evil....

So after an email and a couple of suspicious phone calls, I finally got the magic number I needed to sign up for the Swedish course in fall. I jumped through all the hoops, and they finally let me in. Since I was already at the U's site, I looked at the list of graduation speakers and found out that the speaker for my commencement ceremony is the director of AmeriCorps. Whoopdie-fucking-doo. Is that part of the reason why the German list serve has sent about a dozen AmeriCorps-related emails in the last two weeks? Also since I was already at the U's website, I got inquisitive and checked my APAS report. Good thing I did, as it lists my current German course as a no-credit duplicate - the fuck it is! I have an appointment with my CLA advisor on Wednesday, so I'll make sure that's all straightened out by then. Fuckin' a'.

Oh boy was yesterday ever a long and eventful day. So, I got up in the morning, dragged my ass around for a while, and then finally decided to leave for work about 11. When I got out to my car, I found a ticket under the wiper - 75 fucking dollars! It's because I hadn't put the new registration stickers on my car yet. I've had them since Tuesday, but I figured that I didn't need to worry about them until I was going to actually operate the vehicle. Well that was a big $75 mistake on my part! I drove to work pissed off about the ticket, but when I got to work I had to do a new member mailing, so I got right down to it. Of course, I didn't finish before I had to leave for class, so I took it all with me to class and sat in the corner finishing the mailing. Feeling very guilty about it, I jetted out of class right away. I had attempted to register for the Swedish class Wednesday night, but the system said I needed a magic number, so I stopped by the GSD office to get one. The secretary sent me to talk to a TA who wasn't in his office, so she then gave me his email addresses and phone number. I emailed him this morning. My next task was to watch Bomben auf Monte Carlo so I can get German credit for Rick's class. I mailed the new member letters and went up to the Learning Resources Center in Walter. Looks a little overrated and they're still using old equipment. Turned out the film wasn't there anyway, so I decided to check the Language Center in 51 Folwell, but I stopped on the way to set up an appointment to see my advisor. Just want to confirm one more time that she has everything she needs. Back at 51 Folwell, they check the shelves and check the computer. Computer says the film has been missing since June 2000. Hmmm... I'll bet Rick would like to know that. I went up to see him, and it just happened to be his office hours, so he was in. I inquired about the film, he looked at the pile of films sitting next to him, and then he pulled it out and handed it to me. The film hasn't been missing for two years - Rick had it the entire time. I also talked to him quickly about the pesky senior paper that I've been sitting on for a year and have hardly touched. He said if I got it in to him next week, he'd probably have time to look at it before he gets the papers for the current class turned in to him. I'm locking myself away this weekend to finish the paper if it kills me. Okay, so I sat down and watched the film. After I finished, I ate dinner, deposited my latest pay check, and went to class. We discussed last week's film and watched this week's film. Afterward I was going to borrow a tape from Rick, but he didn't have it with him, so he's going to get it to me some other time. I walked down to my car, drove home, and for the third time in a week fell asleep with the tv, lights, and my clothes all on.

I went grocery shopping this morning for some foods high in sugar and calories. Well, that wasn't my intent, but it's what I came home with. I had no food in my apartment, and I needed something if I was going to lock myself away all weekend. I felt all fancy-pants richy-bitch walking out of that shithole Super-Valu with Kowalski's bags (since Kowalski's owns the place now). Oh yeah.

I found out finally why I keep getting Entertainment Weekly - they automatically charged my credit card without telling me. Although I do actually enjoy reading it (it's great bathroom material), I'm kind of pissed about the secrecy of the whole thing. When the girl at Media Play had me fill out the card for the 8 free issues, I asked her if it was one of those deals where I have to call them before the end of the free subscription to cancel, and she told me no, they just send the free ones and that's it. Since she told me that and not the magazine, I can't really blame the magazine for that. On the other hand, I am a little upset with the magazine for not sending a card or anything telling me that the free subscription is coming to an end and that they were going to start charging me. I'm not sure how many more issues I got charged for, but my bank statement says it cost $26. I would guess 6 months, but I don't know.

In other news, I finally did my dishes last night. I came home from class and spent several hours making my way through all of those dishes, many of which had been sitting there since about late-March, early-April. I took an unusually long amount of time to clean them as they pretty much all had to soak in hot, soapy water for a while first. Afterward I dirtied more by making grilled cheese.

First I went through the hub-bub of getting the hold taken off my record, and now I have to go back to the GSD office to get permission to take the damn Swedish course. I went back again last night to attempt to register, and seeing that all 5 seats were still open in the 4001 night course, I tried to sign myself up, but was denied. Apparently anyone signing up for those slots has to have departmental permission. So, today I'll be back there begging for permission. The hoops I have to jump through to take a language I'll probably never use....

I didn't stick around until the end of class last night, so I don't know what's going on next week. I showed up, watched Memento, turned in my paper, and sat through the first part of lecture. When Tom sent us on a second break before getting into a lecture on film noir, I got bored and decided to go home. He doesn't have a film on the syllabus for the last week of class, and last semester when he did that, he just cancelled class because he said he had nothing to lecture on either. Maybe I'll call Chris and get the 411.

Man, I'm tired. I woke up before 6:30 this morning after having once again fallen asleep last night about 1 with the tv, lights, and all my clothes still on. At least this time I had gone so far as to remove my shoes. If I'm tired now, I know it's going to be a long day.

You want to know why I really hate Alex Ferguson? Well, even if you didn't want to know, I'm going to tell you anyway - it's because he's a smug, egotistical bastard who won't give anyone any credit but his own players. Bayer Leverkusen knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League fairly and rightly, but instead of Ferguson humbly admitting that Bayer were the better team over the two legs of the semifinals, Ferguson has to jump in with the same old shit about how "[United] deserved to win today" and that they only lost due to "bad luck." It just gets sickening after a while that the man can never admit that his team loses because the other team is better. I just hate poor losers like that. I'm not an Arsenal fan, but I can guarantee you that when Arsenal wins the Premiership this year, Ferguson will go on and on for months about how Manchester United deserved to win the title again and that Arsenal were just lucky. What a fucking dick.