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the last post Thursday January 30

after thinking about it some more, i realized an error in posting my last segment. i post what happens in my life as it happens to me, and there's certain things that are worth noting to an exclusive group of people. for example, since the last post is about learning japanese, it may be amusing to only myself, and possibly charlotte, stephanie, michael, cara, asako, and yoko (and any other japanese-understanding readers i have that i am not aware of). however, that's not everyone, and for me to post such content provides me with a small internal conflict: should you censor yourself because people won't get it?

i think the solution lies in categories, an option in moveable type that allows filtering.

the language barrier

occasionally, speaking incorrectly in a foreign language might just be to your benefit. this morning i told cara online that i was going to take a shower:

mark: jaa, shawaa wo abi ni ikou yo
cara: what you just told me was : "let's go take a shower"
cara: as in together

jaa kondo ne...

update Tuesday January 28

so i haven't posted since the weekend, but the siu photo album is up. take a look, although i can't promise that all of the pictures will make sense.

i ended up dropping that class, so now i have fifteen hours. however, as i found out yet again at the planet last night, there's a lot of work to be done this semester. i know that theoretically i should be focusing on school, and i am, but i'd rather hold 15 hours with good grades and two jobs than hold 18 and do poor work.

my real first day Thursday January 23

on wednesday, i had all five of my classes. i might revise that statement later, it may say "all four" of my classes. i've always been taking random engineering classes; classes that require enough consistent concentration that i only feel comfortable taking four. for some reason, my mind juggles four workloads very well, and it starts to have a little difficulty at five. i feel like i'm always forgetting about whichever class i went to first out of the lot.

theoretically, though, i should be able to do this now. i am in some classes that i should be able to go to lecture for a month and not do anything other than absorb for 50 minutes three times a week, and then right before the test, put in serious study time.

i cannot neglect considering two part-time jobs as a load, though, and if my modern japanese religion class doesn't get cool fast, i'm going to be forced to drop it.

more first-day shenanigans Tuesday January 21

reva's take on her rhet 144 professor:
Reeves526: my first impression of him was "wow, he's attractive" then he started talking

the first morning of semester

listening to: ultimate fakebook - this will be laughing week
reading: woman: an intimate geography (regan suggested it, but it's a slow read that i will pick up and put down throughout the semester)
feeling: rawk

i went to wimpe this morning to take advantage of my tuesday-thursday no-class-until-noon freetime. i intended on running, but all the treadmills were occupied. i neglected to remember that today is the first day back from break, and all of the souls who had spent an entire month gaining pounds eating mom's cooking had already signed up for the machines before me.

this isn't to say my mom, or any particular mom, is a pound-inducing cook, it's just that as a mother she wants to take care of her children -- and she makes tasty food. now that we're college students, though, we eat more of mom's food because we know we won't get anything decent for at least another three months afterward.

and then we go back to school to run it all off. we're such fickle beings. i'm off to grab a cup of coffee from todd, then out to lunch with stephanie.

playboy Sunday January 19

somehow all of the men's names got on the same mailing list. and somehow, it loses a bit of the personal touch with the names when you look at it like that.

my week in review Friday January 17

after three days of this, i needed to get out of town (and a haircut)

i spent all of last weekend and early week at wpgu pulling new cat-5 cable through the ceilings. it's not a job that requires a lot of skill, but it most certainly requires a bit of physical effort and a chunk of time. i had both, but after laying just short of 2000 feet of blue cable, i don't feel like dealing with it anymore. that's unfortunate, given that i only have two cables (out of 20) left to install.

sarah.nerd > mark.nerd

i went to visit sarah at illinois wesleyan, and i am both proud of and disgusted at her for this. i thought i was the worst person about fridge poetry, as indicated by my november poetry rants. after she got ready to go to work, i left for illinois state to see delynn, my roommate katy's sister.

thanks for the advice, delynn.

this is the parking garage that delynn told me to park in. she knew that i would get a ticket, but apparently isu doesn't really crack down on non-students who get tickets. she didn't know, however, that they just tow everyone without at permit at 4am. i woke up at six to move it and found it had been moved for me.

the deathtrap where katy thought i wasn't.

this is watterson, the dorm that delynn lives in. i slept on her air mattress, which since she travels every summer, is rather hardcore. however, katy didn't realize that i was going to be sleeping at her sister's place, she just thought i was visiting. apparently, there's a huge difference, so katy called delynn at 4am (after she and i had been long asleep) and made sure i was behaving myself. i'm affronted by the suggestion, but i'll let it be. delynn yelled at her enough for waking us up.

delynn and i had gone out to dinner, then she did homework while i studied (what else?) japanese. however, the rest of our evening was occupied by strong bad's email, and if you haven't heard of it yet, you need to go see this one and this one.

so that's my bloomington trip. we spent all thursday day getting my car back, which included a ride with the coolest bloomington cabbie behind todd's christmas cabbie experience. this guy, his name is tim, used to be a "pest control specialist", and he worked in the business for 20 years. then he got edged out, and he was telling us all about it. then, he told us about how he was going to get those bastards back and start up his own pest control business and steal their accounts from them. then, he told us about his two dead ex-wives, the first of which died because she ate poison mushrooms. he didn't say what the second died of, and i don't want to know. she was a terrible cook, though, and he made it sound like he killed her.

we got to the towing place, and there's this HUGE sign saying that they only take cash. the phone book had said credit cards and checks accepted. i mentioned that to the man who was barely audible behind the plexiglass window counter. apparently they've had problems with angry towees? maybe just precautions, i thought. and then i found out what makes some people so angry:

he said that the credit is only for non-impounded vehicles, and then goes back to his monitor. i told him about the phone book, and he asked me if i had "seen the asterisk saying otherwise". those dirty asterisk-using sons-of-bitches. they KNOW you don't see it. they're just playing with you for kicks. i told delynn and the cabbie that we were going to have to go to busey bank, and from there i'd get the $50 to pay to get my car back. tim, without even listening to me, pulls out a wad of cash and slaps down $50. "you can write me a check," he said.

how cool was that? i tipped him $10. good luck tim, i hope you end up starting your own pest control business, and i hope you manage to edge out the company that edged you out. but do me a favor. don't get married.

after getting my car back, i drove delynn to class, took sarah to the airport so she could go visit her man at duke, and then drove back home. the day was not going so well, but then it improved sharply when i did the following things:

• ate at hot wok with ashley and nathan


• went to murphy's with cara


• watched lock, stock, and two smoking barrels. that movie is great, and i've only seen it three times. i want a copy. no, i want a british accent.

hah Thursday January 16

take the what animal best portrays your sexual appetite? quiz

bloomington Wednesday January 15

todd canceled on me, you can read about that on his site; i, however, will still be trekking up to bloomington, illinois in about three hours to visit some folk.

i just visited new york city, and i know i am truly american when i contrast the two vacations. it always feels good to get out of town, but there's something strangely gratifying about when you drive your own car (or, at least legally speaking, your mom's car) somewhere you want to go. in a plane, it's clear you're going from one airport to another, and the time is set; you most certainly can't stop for lunch on the way there. i suppose it is the total control and freedom that the former gives that makes it so appealing.

cars (and motorcycles, todd) allow the traveller to sample the surroundings along the way. the example that i think of, and i'm sure you can develop your own if you agree with me, is the road trip to atlanta last september. had we flown to atlanta, the experience would have been entirely different, and i am pleased that we elected to drive eleven hours each way.

but it is not just limited to cars. this summer, when i took my bicycle trip, i had the same feeling; it was just downscaled to match the range of a bicycle. ground transportation in general (specifically those that one can control the direction and speed of) satifies wanderlust. i guess that's what i'm trying to say. so i need to go to bloomington, because new york city didn't do it for me in that respect (but i did get a new coat).

a flashback moment Monday January 13

last night drew, eric, todd and i played video games and talked. we laughed aloud watching the "apache chief" episode of harvey birdman. i visited eric at rentertainment and discussed foreign films to rent. et cetera. it was a good night, i had no pressing engagements, and i just had a great time with my roommates.

i wouldn't have thought to bring it up here, either, but i looked over at todd's clock, and it said 11:03am; i am forever linking 1103 south busey as the best summer i've had to date, and even though it was cold, last night emulated that summer very well. one of the last things i said to drew, eric, and todd before i went to bed was, "if you guys are all going to be around this summer, we've got some good times ahead."

and i believe that.

theatrefest Sunday January 12

monika talks to the niles north director, and the sound guy (who looks 11) looks on

niles north high school, which is apparently near skokie, will live forever in my mind as one of the worst high school theatre programs to ever be involved in. i am not saying that there are not talented kids there, and i am not doubting the amazing support they get from their parent group. i am saying that they were some of the snottiest, most demanding kids i've ever seen. and let's not ignore the four gestapo directors.

they asked for so many things, so many of which they didn't need, and the directors wanted so much control over their production that they were freaking out that they had to make this production work in a different space.

let's not ignore the parent working in the costume rooms. she obviously was a soccer mom times ten, and all she wanted to do was bash the group that came into the space before them. that group was naperville north, and they were surprisingly fun to work with.

as i'm walking through the hallway in the costume area:

me: (trying to use words like "we" to establish camraderie, and just being polite) "hey, the consensus is that the show is ending at 10pm, so i just wanted to ensure that we have everything covered down here so we can have a quick load out -- i bet the cast wants to get back to the hotel to celebrate."

annoying soccer mom: "oh, you know we have everything covered. no, we're not going to be like that last group, we heard about the mess they left this place in. no, at niles north, our kids are not like that at all."

her mindless dribble continues for about five minutes. for the record, the last group left the place spotless...most of her sentences begin with, "at niles north, of course our kids always...." and end with some action that the actors from any school never do, and the techs always do. but i must give them props: they were a quick load out. that's mostly because of the gestapo set director, who told me rudely he didn't want my mix CD playing even at a soft volume. jerk. you have no taste in music.

i don't even want to continue to tell you about all the little things all day that were done to aggrevate me. so i'll just end the niles north segment with something scary:

she was so similar to liz newman in character, figure, and style that i was thoroughly creeped out. even the stupid things she was saying about strike reminded me of one of liz's holier-than-thou spouts from high school.

i had to spend a significant amount of time for all three schools on the fly rail, moving legs, fixtures, and bars in and out. my hands are tired from all the ladder and rope.

i realize this is not flattering. after working 34.5 hours in 3 days, my body and mind were fatigued. i slept 13 hours straight last night, and here's what i looked like when i woke up.

it's official, i'm broke Friday January 10

not only am i broke because i bought a couple of my books for next semester, but i am now also officially broke because i can't go back to engineering.

new york pictures Thursday January 9

the photo album is complete. i set out to take 255 pictures, and i actually took over 325, so i guess that means i win. however, since i delete the bad ones on the fly, i only came out with about 200, plus some movies.

• the album
• the movie that might make this picture make more sense

it's a thousand miles to chicago... Wednesday January 8

listening to: they might be giants - put your hand inside the puppet head
reading: the sunday new york times
feeling: like i've reached a milestone

today is my last day in new york city until at least spring break, maybe longer. i wanted to link up with jon for that, but our breaks are holy misaligned. i like working for my brother, and moreover, the tips i make pay for the plane ticket out here. however, again, much in the way i felt when i was in roscoe, i am ready to return to champaign to get some real work done.

however, when i get back, it is the weekend, and i have to work all day thursday, friday, and saturday at foellinger because of theatrefest 2003. personally, because it's all natsukashii (nostalgic but not quite) for me, i'm excited.

let's hope my flight home is as smooth as the one on the way out, and hopefully i'll run into i-shan at the airport. i leave at six for chicago, she leaves at five-thirty for indianapolis.

sweet, just in time. ashley, lyrics are for you:

all the people are so happy now, their heads are caving in, i'm glad they are a snowman with protective rubber skin, but every little thing's a domino that falls on different dots, and crashes into everything that tries to make it stop

and nothing's smelling like a rose, but I don't care if no one's coming up for air, i know nothing's gonna change my clothes ever anymore

yeah, you nerds out there know where i'm coming from when i say that.

my new (york) coat Tuesday January 7

for the record, the look is called blue steel.

yeah, i blew all my tip money yesterday at century 21 and took advantage of their winter clearance sale. you see, i can't walk through life with brown shoes, a brown hat, a brown belt, and a black coat. well, i suppose i can. but how am i supposed to get dates?

marriage as a sacrifice Sunday January 5

tonight, we celebrated michael's 30th birthday. it was december 30th, so we're talking the golden birthday here, but all of that is crap i've personally never believed in. it is possible that i am bitter solely because my eighth birthday was not that cool, but i think that is highly unlikely. regardless of mike marinelli not getting me a present, we did have a scavenger hunt; i still feel a little guilty that i got one of the items [a flower] out of my neighbor's garden. i'm sorry, mrs. filakowski. i should have asked.

walter and rita are michael's only friends in new york. michael doesn't make that many friends; he is not an amazingly sociable person, and he knows it. he may read this tomorrow and agree wholeheartedly, but i do not wish to paint the picture that he is unlikeable; he merely doesn't put himself out there for everyone like i do. michael likes walter because walter is smart, very smart, and has an amazingly astute and italian outlook on life.

born in italy to a swiss-german father and italian mother, walter came to the united states with nothing but a ph.d in mathematics; he spoke no english. however, his style, and this is a style that you cannot understand until you meet him, is one that would let him succeed no matter what.

this isn't some sappy capitalist immigrant-comes-to-america story. this is a guy who is smart, and got rewarded for it. that's the story. forget the whole land-of-opportunity garbage that comes to mind when i talk about him coming here speaking no english.

anyway, the man is now retired and a millionaire, and he just so happens to like going to modus vivendi. and that's how he met michael. and it went from there. so walter and i are seated next to each other at the dinner table of 12, and since he's in his sixties, he obviously has many more years to tell stories than i do.

sure, i've got a lot of good stories, i think; i could talk about my mysteriously disappearing wallet, bicycling across japan alone, making out with the same girl in the same weekend as todd by accident, or whatever. but the man is sixty-something and has travelled the world. you can't tell him your stories and expect him to have not heard it before from someone else on some airplane or in some store or whatever. i mean, he's been to japan a couple of times, and i already think his stories there outnumber mine.

rita is his wife. and like any old married couple, they argue about stupid things because they're old and they know it, and they need to keep some spark in their already-set-in-stone life, marriage, and relationship. i love listening to them argue about who-never-asks-who-who-wants-to-go-where-when-we-eat-out, why-can't-you-ever-wear-something-nicer-when-we-go-out, and Who Was Actually Right About That Thing The Other Day.

tonight, walter was communicating with the people across the large, round, twelve-person table by speaking loudly and gesticulating. naturally, he was misunderstood, because he was speaking english with a modest italian accent at chinese who speak little more than "yes", "no", and "one beef brocolli to go? that all? phone numbah? ok, that take 30 minute about." but walter is a man who wants to communicate with everyone without speaking there language; after walking the earth so long, he's actually gotten good at it.

the point he was making tonight was about how women are the boss. rita told him to stop telling me the story about working for ernesto gallo because i couldn't eat if i was listening. that's backwards logic; i was eating fine listening to him, but that's not the point. the point is that rita saying this made walter forget about gallo wines for five minutes and crack jokes about rita being his "boss".

this is when he began pointing at the chinese guy's wife, saying, "you, she, she's your boss, right?" then he pointed to the other woman, who does speak english, then to aya, then to his own wife, all the way repeating his dogma. obviously, soon enough, everyone (even the "sweet-and-saua-to-go" guy) knew he was trying to say: in the end, women run us men.

don't fret, the point is coming.

the din settled, and then i turned to ashley and nathan and said: "if getting old and married means i have to crack jokes with my other old and married friends about being whipped to shreds by my wife, then i don't know if i want to get married. i'd like to think i can find someone who won't be that when she grows up."

sarcastically, this is when i say that all women turn into their mothers, and so it is only a natural progression for them. it's like stretch marks; try having kids without 'em. marriage without the wife becoming the mother is, well, yeah. they go hand in hand.

oh, sure, you can get away with the no-kids thing for awhile, but even if you avoid that avenue of doom completely, you'll end up adopting sixty dogs, ninety cats, or just hearing about why you should have had kids for the rest of your life. okay, now i'm done with the sarcastic cracks.

does it really have to be this way? michael is whipped by his wife. she calls him stupid all the time (and it's all in japanese; before i knew they were arguing, but i didn't know he was losing so badly), tells him he's wrong, tells him all the things he should have done better with his life, and then asks for money. walter wants to travel the world, but his wife wants to stay home. his wife tells him to be quiet.

michael loves to learn, he loves it more than anything else. his wife loves to make money. guess what michael is doing now. guess what michael isn't doing now. chances are, you're right.

walter is a retired millionaire who loves to travel. his wife doesn't want to go anywhere except italy, maybe western europe. guess where walter travels. chances are, you're right.

i want to see the world; learn as much as i can. when this gusto runs out, only then will i feel complete enough to be able to commit myself to someone indefinitely. or, i could just find someone to do that with.

i'll choose the latter.

new york city (again)

i'm really stupid, i neglected to bring my digital camera card reader, so i can't detail the pictures i'd like to talk about. i've worked twice over this vacation already, and i work again on tuesday. i know it sounds ridiculous to suggest that this really is a vacation if i am working, but hey, it's new york (if you didn't say that in a brooklyn accent, you're not getting it).

nathan and ashley will be leaving tomorrow, i leave on wednesday. from there, i'll go back to champaign and we'll do the whole picture and real post thing.

off to nyc Thursday January 2

well, this is the second half of winter break now, and miloney and i are leaving this morning to go up to chicago. she'll drop me off at o'hare, i'll fly to new york city, and michael, nathan, and i will bring the house down as usual. i hope i have time to post from out there, if not, i hope this chinsy post will stand for a week.

happy new year Wednesday January 1

music for the first morning of 2003:

ben folds five - fired
cornershop - brimful of asha [norman cook remix]
aimee mann - wise up

i've got some pictures from last night, i'll edit more of them after i go back to bed. it's only 7:45am, but the squirrels were going at it again and woke me up. waking up alone at 7:45am. never a good way to start the new year, but i guess that means it'll be a productive one. maybe an effective one too?

what's up?

todd and regan didn't make it out to mike o'leary's place