RaggedyAndroid

I’ve only been playing the damn game since the beta (three years), and my primary goal was to get a mechanical chicken (and make a wardrobe of goggles). Done!

I started writing this entry in the Atlanta airport, but was called to board, so I am continuing at home.

Friday morning we had our final exam. The medieval prose went well, as well as the sight-reading, but I still have trouble with the poetry. The sentence structure is not as intuitive. But it’s done. Now I have just have to keep on it.

After the exam, we met at the building where three of our classmates lived near campus for a cook-out. It was a really nice get-together, but it was weird trying to say “bye” to people you were only knew for this 10-weeks but saw every day for many hours but might never see again. People just kinda floated out. I took the opportunity to leave when several people were heading out, jokingly making the suggestion that we could keep in touch by forming a guild (which was funny to about 2-3 people).

Friday evening, we went to the Golden Gate Bridge (see photos). We concluded with a lovely Japanese-French fusion restaurant. I didn’t start packing until about 11pm, and my shuttle picked me up for the airport at 4:30am. Surprisingly, my flights went very smoothly. I was on the ground in Milwaukee by 6pm. Chris picked me up and we went out for yummy Greek. After dinner, I was pretty much too sleepy to be useful.

Sunday, we went to see Stardust, which was great. We went out to dinner with Mom, Bill & Steph. Today I did lunch with Jess. It’s been nice catching up and getting back into the swing of things. Tomorrow I have a lunch date with one of my profs and I start TA orientation on Wed.

Back to the grad school grindstone.

Ok, I admit. I’ve been a little lax on my homework this week. Ovid is still a drag, but we’ve been doing the martyrdom of Thomas Becket in my prose class, and that’s been easy-peasy. Makes me feel like I’ve learned something.

Last night, we hit Haight Street and Chinatown again, and tonight we plan to hit Japantown once more. There’s only so much I can get into the last week, particularly with homework and the final looming.

A few new pics…

I had dinner with Chris’s aunt Ann this evening. She sends her best to all.

I’ve been thinking about photographs lately since I’ve been taking so many. I’ve been noticing that I look terribly goofy in the photos, but then, so do most everyone else. I think that maybe people with inner beauty are not the most photogenic because you can’t capture certain aspects of them.

Saturday, I took the bus->subway->train to meet two friends from Emerson, Anne & Beth, for the weekend. We visited Hakone Gardens, wandered around the quaint downtown of Saratoga and had dinner. Afterward, we did a wee bit of shopping until we decided that we *needed* to see Transformers.

We went to a theater that we had seen while driving, but we didn’t want to wait 2.5 hours for it. So we asked until we found a showing in 30 minutes. We got directions from the manager at the other theatre and took off. The directions took us into the middle of nowhere. After missing what would have been the commercials, trailers and credits of the movie, we decided to forgo that theatre. Beth pointed out that the manager had probably sent us to be chopped up by a psycho and that it was good that we couldn’t find the street.

It then became a race to find Transformers. Beth sat in the backseat on the phone calling around while Anne drove us towards to hotel where we had internet access. Nothing fruitful came from the phone inquiries, and looking online Anne found the movie at a drive-in. We were thrilled. We drove around trying to find an open convenience store to get junk food, and eventually made it to the drive-in. Trying to get in was obnoxious, but once in, it was fun.

Sunday, we took our time getting up and ready (well, we woke up at 9am) and had brunch. Then we toured the Winchester House. It’s cool and weird. I took *so* many pictures, some of which I posted. I took lots of pictures of detailed architecture and decor, so if you happen to be interested in vintage home detailing, I can more pictures of molding, wallpaper, etc.

Now, I have tons of homework. I wish I could just spend every evening this week doing stuff in SF, but I have to work :/

Context: While playing a game with friends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer came up in a few contexts. At one point, Angel was mentioned, and people were a little groany about him. I said that I never really liked Angel and someone asked, “So you prefer her with Spike?” My reply was, “Actually, I like Riley,” to which the response was an aghast “who are you?”  I feel compelled to expound on this matter. Who I am is someone who feels the world needs more heroes.

We seem to regard the dark and brooding as sexy and mysterious.  It has become an archetype to which many of our generation aspire.  But I suspect that, in the majority of cases, this is artifice.  Is this unfair of me to say?  Whether I am wrong or not, what purpose does an internalized negative attitude serve? Surely I make allowances for people who truly are troubled, but this nevertheless is a increasingly common façade through which feelings characteristic of the whole of humankind are filtered.

What occurs when such discontent finds a different outlet, when the negative attitude turns from internal to external?  This aggressive sort is alluring by the appearance of strength and promise of danger.  But what is so wrong with good intentions?  What is so wrong with a positive attitude?  I have  felt the anger and the pain, just like everyone else, and I tried internalizing and externalizing it. It got me nothing but some ugly evidence and 5+ years behind in my life. I don’t want brooding and I don’t want anger.  They are no longer compelling.

So in this time and place when/where this submersion in negativity is self-absorbed—wallowing in the same pain as everyone else—we need more people who are willing to think of others.  We need those looking out for others in need.  We need people to demonstrate that positivity is not intrinsically antiquated.  We need people with manners and courtesy.  We need people who are willing to sacrifice, even just a little. We need heroes.

TGIF

It was a rough week, but I’m still here. The lecture this afternoon was rather dull and long, and at the convivium, people didn’t stick around very long. So Katie, Lauren and I picked up Lauren’s boyfriend Jeff and went for some tasty bbq (and grits and cornbread).  We then hooked up with Chris and went to a bar called Albatross. We need a place like this in Milwaukee. It’s 21+ only, and there’s no smoking (because it’s CA). They don’t serve food, but you can carry it in. And it is entirely stocked with board games that you check out. So we played Taboo for 2+ hours. I was voted most amazing answer of the night.  –Anyone who’s spent enough time with me (and paid attention) has witnessed something like this at one time or another.– So the timer had mere seconds left, and Lauren said “this is a noise-making device” and I answered “clarinet.” And I was right.

Katie took pictures.

This weekend I will be visiting with friends from Emerson.

Nothing to say. Just working.

“…the morphology has gone badly wrong here…”

Chris sent me this, and you all should see it! Very funny.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2aj1j_a-gentlemens-duel_shortfilms

Update:

This video seems to have disappeared from all over the internet. The closest thing is a trailer from the creators:

http://www.blur.com/gentlemans_duel.html#