Saturday, April 30, 2005

Bored, I emulate Luke Rosa.

Searching Google for "Jef is"

-Jef is a political movement, but not a party
-Jef is its youth movement
-Jef is an Uncle
-Jef is engaged in an "epic confrontation" with the zethi fleet
-Jef is also a songwriter
-Jef is a P2P application designed by the authors, based on the Project
JXTA P2P
-Jef is all about and why it's good
-Jef is already connected to the serial port 1
-Jef is being sought all over
-Jef is aware that parts of the Constitution remain vague and
contradictory
-Jef is a more generic version of the Filewatcher Framework
-Jef is Babelfish, by the way. By my count, he is roughly 25% of the
troll here.
-Jef is State Certified in General Counseling, Marriage/Family, and
Chemical Dependency
-Jef is probably out of his element here
-Jef is a multitalented person who is most capable
-Jef is a well-known local actor and mime
-Jef is a musician, he builds model planes, loves archery,
ping pong, and racing cars. He's a mathematician, and an
interface designer with a mission
-Jef is also accepting monetary donations to assist financially
-Jef is behind Stig Eklund
-Jef is a gentleman seaking a Russian bride
-Jef is based at the Belgian underground storage laboratory at Mol
-Jef is out standing in his magnetic field
-Jef is on the right with radio
-Jef is like, "No, really..."
-Jef is nabbed by the police
-Jef is in school becoming a certified gunsmith right now!
-Jef is forced to rely on his own instincts to survive
-Jef is the curator of a large collection of Peter Pan memorabilia
-Jef is insane and is the ruler of his own fantasy kingdom
-Jef is the greatest and he is unlike anyone else
-Jef is the ultimate portrait of cool

"I can’t seem to breath..."

...with a rusted metal heart
I can’t seem to see through solid marble eyes"

Okay, so this is what happened. I sent my parents my address to mail me the plane tickets for a flight in six, count 'em six days. I left off the town name, but the postal code made that okay.

As near as I can tell, my parents took the address I sent them, which would work, to some UPS store or something and read them the address. UPS cats, as is their wont, wrote it down wrong.

So now instead of my ticket coming to Brno, it's going to "Vinarska," a town which does not exist. The 5 which goes with Vinarska (sans diacritical marks to ease American minds), the street I live on (Vinarska 5) has moved down with postal code to now make it one digit too long for functionality.

So hopefully my frantic e-mail to UPS will do it's job when they realize they are delivering to a nonexistant address. Really, really hopefully.

MUSIC: modest mouse: trailer trash

Friday, April 29, 2005

I am trying...

I am trying very hard...
not to be angry...
not to be jubilant...
at least I'm in control enough, now, and able
to see to it
that I am not hungry.

MUSIC: yeah yeah yeahs: bang

Thursday, April 28, 2005

last transaction

4/5/2005
ATM Cash Withdrawal
L340 TIME 03:28 PM DATE 04-05
CESKA 12 BRNO CZ

So it's still me being broke and Jesse had a little wine, which was too much. Good times.

edit: I forgot... 8 days...

MUSIC: badly drawn boy: this song

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

The day is mine!

I got money! Woo Hoo!
...
...
...
Oh... Wait... that's just an interest payment of 3 cents. Back of the net.

41 cents now... why, that's nearly 10 crowns. If I could get it, I could own a beer. Jedno pivo. Needless to say, many more than jedno would be required at this point.

9 days.

MUSIC: modest mouse: dog paddle

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

"How will we know...

...if we talk as we dream if we don't sleep together?"

Looks like I'll be home for dinner on May 6th, people. that is less than two weeks.

MUSIC: sebadoh: oh fire (in my head)

Monday, April 25, 2005

Do you ever hear it?

When all your conscious mind is eaten up by that song that won't leave your brain... Behind it, in the subconscious, is the nebulous miasma of thoughts that are always present, the worries and wants and crushes and plans and the future, but right up in front, all you get is, "sister I need wine for coloring my skin..."

Such was the story last night as I struggled vainly to capture sleep and make it do my bidding. Wandering thoughts about the summer and the Oak Ridge folks I half-know or know not at all and the necessity for remedying the situation were suddenly superceded by "if you want to buy me flowers, just go ahead now..." And, struggling valiently against the two princes I pushed past the spin doctors and tried to decide whether a fifth of Jack would be cheaper in North Carolina or Tennessee and "And if you'd like to talk for hours, just go ahead now!" Such is my delimma.

In other news, no plane ticket as yet. And no ability to finance my frugal lifestyle as yet. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

MUSIC: the tragically hip: are we family

Saturday, April 23, 2005

"nevermind the world...

...when you think it's right in front of you
i know they think i'm crazy and believe i need a girl"

Ah, the fire theft. It's arena rock with Jeremy Enigk and it is grand. (Resisting urge for obvious pun) Check it out.

I've been sitting here staring at the blank page and being distracted for some time now, so I'll leave it alone.

Word for the day is family.

MUSIC: pavement: texas never whispers

Friday, April 22, 2005

three, count 'em...

...three updates today, and I've barely said a word. READ THIS.

and have a nice day.

MUSIC: elliott smith: clementine

PS. don't let me forget how much I love Will Oldham (especially Palace Music Lost Blues and other songs)or Beulah.

international small arms traffic blues

My love is like a powder keg
My love is like a powder keg in the corner of an empty warehouse
Somewhere just outside of town
About to burn down

My love is like a Cuban plane
My love is like a Cuban plane flying from Havana
Up the Florida coast to the 'Glades
Soviet made

Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Trucks loaded down with weapons
Crossing over every night
Moon yellow and bright
There is a shortage in the blood supply
But there is no shortage of blood
The way I feel about you baby can't explain it
You got the best of my love

-the mountain goats

quizzes




You're The Grapes of Wrath!

by John Steinbeck

You're mired in a deep depression that encompasses you and everyone
you know. You're trying to get out of the depression, but your idea of help is, in
itself, pretty sad. While some are convinced that this all has a deeper meaning, you're
really just dull and tedious. And utterly obsessed with dust. You really need to focus
on something other than dust. Your best moments center around turtles.



Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.



You are Today Billy! You are a sexually frustrated
dreamer who wishes to get away from the
mundanity of your life. You are adventurous and
fun-loving, you are always ready to pack up and
go. Even though you have friends, you always
seem to find yourself alone romantically, but
you make the best of it.


What music video Billy Corgan are you?!
brought to you by Quizilla

I had to get rid of the image because it was screwing stuff up. You can see it here.

MUSIC: architecture in helsinki: scissors paper rock

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

I am...

...not photogenic. Thanks Carla.

MUSIC: guided by voices: they're not witches (Cara's fault by way of my own)

Sunday, April 17, 2005

"everybody's gotta hold on hope...

...it's the last thing that's holding me"

I don't mind mind redundancy.

MUSIC: the owls: air

Saturday, April 16, 2005

holy smokes...

...I'm a senior. sorta. 88 hours or so under my belt... which may explain why this fall I'm taking:

Biology in 21st Century
Intro to Speech Communication
Intro Microeconomic-Social Issues
Intermediate Photography (thank god)
and
maybe
Films that matter

I need a job and a car and crate of vodka and millions of dollars to make it next fall... Well, that's exaggeration, but the classes, clearly won't be keeping me on my toes, generally.

EDIT: I finished writing my album this week. Give me a four track and a steady hand to strum and I can move the world.

MUSIC: burning airlines: wheaton calling

business casual

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions and leave the answers as comments on my blog.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

1. Are you drinking two percent milk?

What, at the moment? No. I generally do, though I prefer skim. I am in a milk-free state at the moment, however, and can honestly say I've had no milk since January.

2. Do you think it will be possible to move about in Cullowhee after so much life having passed between last May and this August?

It has to be. There's more life in me now than before, and so Cullowhee will be forced to accomodate it. Rooming with Shleeve and hopefully working in the lab and doing all the things I've been doing and more. 4 track and screaming in the quietest room I can find at the oddest hours and Kung-fu tuesdays and music and actually being social and god-forbid getting a girl and the easiest classes fathomable. And I may even have a car to accomodate escape if cullowhee threatens to crush my soul. And I'm supposed to just answer, but will you be there, or is Chapel Hill happening?

3. If you were held at gun point by a megalomanical literary guild and forced to declare a favorite book or perish, what would you choose?

Whether to name the book or perish? or do you mean which book? Hmm... I'd go with Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I could carry that book about with me and read it cover to cover, starting over as soon as I finished, as Pete used to do with the Hitchhiker's guide.

4. What's the deal with corn nuts?

I know! Is it corn or is it a nut?!? What's the deal?!

5. What are the top three moments you recall from your year in the Czech Republic?

Top three memory-wise, or top three top-wise? I mean, am I being asked to name the three moments I will remember the best at this point, or the three top moments? I suppose it's at my discretion, yeah? So, in no particular order... (1) Running across the street at Hlavni Nadrazi, passport stowed in my pocket, jumping the rail and dashing up the stairs, seeing Glen and Brett still there. Their train hadn't arrived, we were going to Vienna. Oh, the elation. (2) the inexplicable joy of being informed that we could not, in fact have any more champagne because we had consumed all the champagne on the premises. The glorious drunk and the snapping pictures and some good, infections Carla laughter and that fleeting feeling that everything was all right. (3) It was after six a.m. but only barely, and the first tram of the day would be there in a moment. The icy walk down had wakened us though we'd not slept and I explained that the Czech Republic was the PDA capital of the world. People were constantly making out, and I needed revenge. Holding and a clumsy kiss. That was a moment.

MUSIC: oingo boingo: flesh n' blood (live)

Friday, April 15, 2005

Mouthful of gyro...

...I told Andrew that the movie kicked my ass all over the theater, and it was true.

This is two times in six months that Jesse and I have seen the last film in an International Film Festival in Europe, and both times it's been an English language film. I guess we're lame.

I am registered for the lamest classes ever. more on that later.

MUSIC: grandaddy: he's simple, he's dumb, he's the pilot

Thursday, April 14, 2005

"Banned from the end of the world

I've no millenial fear,
the future is here, it comes every year.
(If you want me there, I'll play forever dear
Open up the box a new life rushes out
Nasty little bug, much work to be done
Eat all the numbers up, we're 00 gone!)

Hot hot, go back these eyes are shut!

If you want it, I'll come right over,
then throw me out when the party's over.

Banned from the end of your world
We can bottle time and sell it back
It's a nostalgic crime!
(If you want me there, we'll party without fear
A new world rushes on and we'll just play
along
A night of revelry, spend it here with me
For so many dreams cannot be contained)

Banned from the end of the world
The future is here, look in the mirror
(We're the band from the end of the world.)"

-Sleater-Kinney

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

The Vinarška ABC's

A is for Abigail - terribly sweet
B is for Booze which is oft what we eat
C is for Carla who visited once
and D is for Drama because there's too much
E is for Eldon, I think you know why
F is for Andrew because Fuck that guy
G is Gambrinus, a beer that's all right
H is for Heikki, thank god he took flight
I am the writer, I caught you a bass
J is for Jesse who frankly kicks ass
K is for Kino, the movies we see
L is for this wee girl named Lizzie
M is Malcovsky, say that three times fast
and N will be Martin, though he should have come last
O is for Olga gone back to Ukraine
and P is for Piia who is not a dane
Q is the Michaels, though I can't say why
and R is for Richard, most British of guys
S is for Shellie whose hair is quite long
and T is for Tim whose hair is dark and gone
U is for Utrecht and Achnes (sp?) as well
and V is for Fran - doesn't work all that well
W is walking after the buses we missed
X is too hard, pretend it doesn't exist
Y is for... Yeshiva... the jewish schools
and Z is...
I wrote this?
I am such a tool.

Wow... that was painful. Sorry about that.

By the way, Film and Musical Festival in town RIGHT NOW! Check it out, especially if you're in town. We should totally see something.

MUSIC: lifeguards: no chain breaking

Monday, April 11, 2005

to get back into the swing of things

let me do another of my trademark needless and brief posts. I just want to say that it's hilarious that MSN thinks that this is worthy of being a news story put before the world.

yessir. that's news. and the link that led me there said, as if this were noteworthy somehow, "Jessica Alba keeps clothes on."

Is Jessica Alba generally in a state of undress? Is her wearing garments so rare as to consititute news? I am under the impression that, so far as most of the world is concerned, Jessica Alba is generally seen in a state of dressedness. Her remaining in said state, however, is apparently news.

Oy.

MUSIC: hum: green to me

"everybody's gotta hold on hope...

...it's the last thing that's holdin' me."

So I spent the night sitting in a lounge up in the brains of Vinarska singing to myself, and I can't believe that no one noticed. I finished the Time Traveler's Wife and it was too much. Audrey Niffenegger can line up behind Ricky Gervais for that fight I'm supposed to be having if my mood doesn't shift enough for me to embrace the lyrical beauty contained both in the Office and Niffenegger's book.

I've been a horrible blogger lately so let me try and summarize the week. Carla left on Monday, and I posted a bit about that, yeah? So tuesday was spent... um... hell, it's a blur. Wednesday night, however, was the plastic people of the universe. There are not words to describe this experience. They performed their passion play for the third and possibly last time ever. It was positively grand. Everyone is required to hit up either myself or Jesse to hear the recording when we return stateside. You will be blown away and then we will tell you how the recording pales before the experience. Eat your heart out.

Thursday I crippled myself and friday I was crippled. Saturday I drank champagne, watched legally blonde, I'm embarassed to say, and I must admit it is far down on the list of destructive things I did to myself or had done to me. Oy.

Last night I came in at least bordering 4 am and took a shower. I was inexpressibly cheered when I saw that the boxers I'd chosen in the dark were my Christmas eve gift from this past year, though I still wanted to punch the mirror and did not.

No worries, ladies and gents, I'm stronger stuff. Traci and Shellie, who may never read this and whose name I may have misspelled, you've both been angels. I hope it's not too off-putting.

"blankness and darkness like underneath a leaf has settled on me here..."

MUSIC: guided by voices: hold on hope

Sunday, April 10, 2005

ouch.

i don't want to talk about it.

or if I do, not here.

MUSIC: aimee mann: that's just what you are

PS. Kasia posted in english!

Monday, April 04, 2005

I don't know what it says

about me, but I really like the yeah, yeah, yeahs. Between them and Sleater Kinney I suppose I must be a lesbian women's studies major, right?

Anyway, the weekend went on for miles and every minute of it was life and a lot of it was quite good. Carla from Vermont by way of London was about and I'm impressed. Lefties unite and a running-gag high and we drank a bar out of champagne.

This is an adventure.

MUSIC: pernice brothers: the weakest shade of blue

Saturday, April 02, 2005

In pin-striped finery

I walk the streets of Brno, heavy of heart and light of wallet. A check cleared my account today for 25 and some odd dollars, and I haven't written a check since possibly a year ago.

I watched 21 Grams again today. I saw Finding Neverland in a regal old cinema-house (pun regrettably intended) on a huge screen and I sighed and sniffled and allowed myself to be manipulated. I'm waiting in the lab for Bratislava to reach Brno on the bottoms of the shoes of friends and my inability to determine whether this is a great post or a terrible one encourages me stop.

I want this song to never end, but it pulls out parts of my hearts by the note.

MUSIC: archers of loaf: chumming the oceans (live)