New Music

This is a video from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, my favorite new album of 2009 so far. Not my favorite song on the album, but still good. Hope you like.

Snow Day and Found Time

Around 11:00 a.m. yesterday we were hit with a major ice storm. It started on the sidewalks, people sliding and skating and slipping and falling to the ground. Then the roads followed and soon cars were sliding and slipping. The University, in their infinite wisdom, decided to close at 2:00 p.m., which was the right decision, but it sent everyone onto the roads at the same time. Not so wise.

Of course the ice kept falling all day and night and then a little snow got in on the action. So the University, in their infinite wisdom, closed for the day.

Snow day, bitches!

After waking at 7:00 a.m. this morning and checking the website (since posting that the school would be closed last night would have been just too convenient) I got to go back to bed and sleep in. Then I got up, walked the dog (who loves the snow and ice, let me tell you), drank a cup of tea and ate a few clementines. Marvelous. I love snow days.

But here's my dilemma: When I lived in Charlotte, my roommate, Robert, had this theory, a philosophy of life really, that he called "found time." In essence, found time occurs whenever you have some obligation scheduled that is then, unexpectedly, canceled. (e.g., snow days.) Robert's philosophy, in its infinite wisdom, held that one should never do work or anything else productive with found time. You wouldn't have had that time to do work in the first place since you would have been in class or at work or wherever. Instead, found time should be put to more enjoyable uses since you won't lose any time for work. Instead, you've gained time for play.

Great philosophy, right? Good way to live one's life. But here's my dilemma: I love found time. It doesn't happen as often as it once did, and so when it does occur, I feel I should take full advantage of it. But I have this First Year Exam coming up in 2.5 weeks, so I should use this found time to prepare for that. However, that violates the very principle of found time. What to do?

Mix 2008

Since Frances and Stephanie both posted the tracklists for their 2008 Mixes, I thought I would do the same.

1. Portishead - Silence
2. The Dodos - Red and Purple
3. Sun Kil Moon - Unlit Hallway
4. The Hold Steady - Slapped Actress
5. MGMT - Kids
6. Kanye West - Love Lockdown
7. Frightened Rabbit - Good Arms vs. Bad Arms
8. The Mountain Goats - Sax Rohmer #1
9. The Walkmen - Four Provinces
10. Fleet Foxes - Your Protector
11. Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook
12. Deerhoof - The Tears and Music of Love
13. Bon Iver - Skinny Love
14. Tilly & the Wall - Blood Flower
15. My Morning Jacket - Touch Me I'm Going to Scream, pt. 2

A lot of it is heavily percussive and driving, so it's not exactly a chill by the fire type of CD, but then again, 2008 wasn't exactly a chill by the fire type of year for me. Lots of syncopation. Lots of hand claps. Lots of acoustic guitars. Overall, I think it's a good mix. I would be happy to make you a copy if you want one; just let me know your address.

Inveigled

School starts tomorrow, and I don't feel ready. We had half a week of training and orientation, but it's not the same as going to classes. Things I worry about:

I have my first-year exam on February 14. (Because that's how I want to spend my least favorite holiday: taking a five-hour exam.) Basically, I have to write three essays in five hours, and though I have the list of thirty possible questions (out of which I'll have six to choose from to write my three essays) and should be able to prepare for it, I just can't seem to make myself do the work. It's hanging over me, some great trepidation, but I haven't felt the urgency to do anything about it. So right now, it's just a stressor.

Couple that with the Intro to Graduate Studies course I have to take this semester, and it's going to be hell. The amount of work that will go into this class is mind-numbing, and I'll be lucky to make a B in it.

The bright spot for my course load is my fiction workshop with Jon Billman, which I'm sure will be a great experience. But I'm even stressed about that because I seem to be at a point in which I cannot write. I sit down to do it, and I have great ideas, but the words just don't come. I'll write a paragraph or two, hate it, and get stuck. Then I'll delete what I just wrote and stare at the screen some more. I don't believe in writer's block, but I sure feel blocked up.

Then I'm teaching a class that I've never taught before using books I've never used before. I'm not looking forward to reading twenty twelve-page research papers at the end of the semester.

And then I've started my new job as the Assistant Director of the Writing Center. Jeni, the other A.D., and I worked out the tutors' schedules yesterday afternoon, which wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. But we emailed the tentative schedule to the tutors, of course several of them had problems with when we'd scheduled them, even though we worked from the schedules they created which told us when they would be available. Overall, I think this new job will be a great experience, and I'm looking forward to it, but I've realized just how much work it is going to be.

So, yeah, I'm a bit stressed. A bit freaked out. Not ready for it to start up again.

But on the bright side. There may be new developments, but they haven't developed. I'll keep you posted when there's something to post.

For auld lang syne, my jo, / For auld lang syne

Last night I went to Oklahoma City with Brad and Amanda to ring in the New Year in Bricktown, an old warehouse district that has been converted into a neighborhood of bars, restaurants, and shops. We walked around for a little while before settling in Tapwerks Ale House, a pub with hundreds of beer choices. When we first walked in, after paying the $10 cover (very cheap compared to what most other bars were charging), we tried to find a table, but there was nothing open on the first or second floors. Luckily, we stood around for a few moments and then a booth opened. We had several good beers and good conversation for a couple hours, just the three of us in a six-person booth.

Then a guy, ironically named Billy, came up to us and explained that his wife was pregnant and they couldn't find anywhere to sit, and he asked if they and another married couple could join us. We obliged. The two couples were a lot of fun, and Billy bought us a few rounds of shots. Between the shots and the several 7-9% beers I drank, I was feeling pretty good by the time we had the champagne toast at midnight. There was just one problem: I was the only single guy in a group of three couples, which is how my life seems to be going the past few months. Everyone decided that at midnight I should have someone to kiss, but as my luck would have it, there was no random stranger available.

Shortly after midnight, Brad and I decided to go upstairs to look around and have a cigarette -- the first floor was completely non-smoking, but the upstairs, which was full of pool tables and dart boards, allowed it. As we left the table, Amanda told Brad, "make sure Josh finds someone to make out with."

I've never been one to make out with random drunk girls in bars, but last night I was willing to give it a try. We walked up to the second floor and stood near the stairs watching people come up and down. After a few minutes, a line of girls came by us to go downstairs. One of them, toward the end of the line, made eye contact with me and smiled. She was ridiculously cute and just my type: thin, shoulder-length straight brown hair, freckles, beautiful eyes behind eurotrash glasses.

When she approached me, I leaned in and said, "Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year," she said.

"Are you having a good time?"

"I'm having an amazing time."

"I'm having an amazing time too."

She smiled again. I reached my hand out and said, "I'm Joshua."

She shook my hand. "Ashley." Then she got the attention of the girl in front of her. When her friend turned around, Ashley gestured toward me and asked her friend, "Well?"

Her friend looked at me, shook her head, and said, "I don't think so."

And without a word, Ashley, the beautiful random stranger, walked down the stairs. Brad looked at me and asked, "What happened? I thought that was a sure thing." I told him what her friend said, and he laughed and told me I'd just been cock-blocked. I've never been cock-blocked by a girl before. But I've also never tried to make out with random strangers on New Year's Eve in a bar in Oklahoma City. I guess there really is a first time for everything.