tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53049502011-04-21T18:33:35.220-04:00The Patient EtherizedQ: Et tu, Jonathan?
A: Read. Read some more. Buy Red Bull.Jonnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2801100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1153874429437824272006-07-25T20:38:00.000-04:002006-07-25T20:40:29.446-04:00With a worldwide disaster looming just a few years ahead, it is a time of unrestrained corporate greed, false religiosity, moronic fecklessness, and evil intent in high places. No reference to the present day is intended or should be inferred.-- Thomas PynchonThis description is from Pynchon's summary of his new novel, though there is some controversy over whether or not he actually wrote it for Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1153684591936699992006-07-23T15:41:00.000-04:002006-07-23T15:56:31.980-04:00Sweaty and ThoughtfulJust came back from my first run in a long time. I ran down to the India Point area, which goes along the river which divides Fox Point from East Providence. For the first part of the run I went through a big construction site where they're relocating I-195 in Big Dig fashion (meaning they're building a tunnel). Behind this huge mess -- girders, concrete cisterns, and Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1153328233749521212006-07-19T12:47:00.000-04:002006-07-19T12:57:13.790-04:00So in the last few months I've done a fair bit, all of which is of course too long to go into detail here, but I think I should take out the ol' blogging hammer again and get to doing some work, mainly because I haven't been very productive (in terms of reading consistently without getting tired) for the past few days (though I have been cooking more, which leads me to believe that there is an Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1141573790601807842006-03-05T10:44:00.000-05:002006-03-05T10:49:50.610-05:00Boo!Off to Paris and Chamonix in a few weeks. I have a new idea for updating my blog, though my general laziness/busy-ness this semester seems to be conspiring against me writing entries.Rather than writing about words I've read or things I've done (both fine activities), maybe I'll think about how a good novel would begin. What would be a contemporary novel beginning that is both new and in Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1138048950814686432006-01-23T15:41:00.000-05:002006-01-23T15:42:30.826-05:00"I could not accept the academic idea that the purpose of music was communication, because I noticed that when I conscientiously wrote something sad, people and critics were often apt to laugh. I determined to give up composition unless I could find a better reason for doing it than communication. I found this answer from Gira Sarabhai, an Indian singer and tabla player: The purpose of music is Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1137998987136075712006-01-23T01:23:00.000-05:002006-01-23T01:49:47.146-05:00Efficiency RatingIf my paper were a third down conversion rate, and I were an NFL team, I'd definitely be ranked dead last in efficiency for this damn Jane Austen/Walter Scott paper. Granted, I have 9 pages done (err...roughly done), but I haven't even finished a section well.I've done a good job staying calm, though I think my method of staying calm is to just do things I enjoy. Hence I've Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1137692181227387672006-01-19T10:58:00.000-05:002006-01-19T12:36:21.276-05:00Goals,without urgency, sometimes don't happen, especially when it involves me waking up at 8:15am. I was trying to get a headstart on my paper on the role of landscape in Northanger Abbey and Waverley, which I want to finish in a couple of days (let's just say that doesn't look like it's happening right now since I only have two pages out of twenty). The basic problem is trying to talk about how Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1136796709223840052006-01-09T01:41:00.000-05:002006-01-09T03:51:49.266-05:00L'AvventuraI just finished watching L'Avventura and have to say that Monica Vitti is ridiculously hot. Yup, that was my first reaction. The movie was a good movie -- and I'm not being redundant here, I think, for it seemed to be about the way a person can become diminished in a replaceable society and in a landscape full of permanence being eroded by impermanence."Tell me you love me." "I love Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1136580846988811242006-01-06T15:23:00.000-05:002006-01-06T15:54:07.000-05:00Cabin FeverI feel restless and annoyed all the time and I'm not sure why. Maybe it has something to do with this general malaise of a cold hanging over me. All I know is that I'm perpetually dissatisfied without feeling depressed. And though I'm not depressed I feel scared about the future for the first time perhaps ever -- the few times I've felt depressed in the past I didn't think at all aboutJonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1136489710421464492006-01-05T14:02:00.000-05:002006-01-05T14:35:10.433-05:00To Think is To ActWhile thinking about changing the purpose of this blog, I came across this motto, which was the header for Emerson's journals. I had just finished a collection of letters between F.O. Matthiessen and his partner, Russell Cheney, and one of the things that editor mentioned in the introduction was how the letters helped Matthiessen develop a writing style that would later be seen Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1135034120921115882005-12-19T18:05:00.000-05:002005-12-19T18:15:20.933-05:00Library FatigueI've been spending 10-12 hours a day in the library and the Hay rare books library for the past two weeks. That and a combination of lack of nourishment are slowly draining my stamina to the point where I'll be very happy for a break.I did sleep a lot last night though -- from 12-9 -- which made up for the two hours I got on Saturday (when I hadn't yet received an extension on my Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1134713963940563972005-12-16T00:53:00.000-05:002005-12-16T01:19:23.956-05:00Art-Singing and Heart-Singing in Edgar A. Poe's Broadway JournalThe title seems vaguely familiar, even if you've never read it before. It only contained a glint of interest today while I was browsing through the Broadway Journal from 1845 in the Hay Library with the purpose of looking at Edgar Allen Poe's criticism and more obscure tales. So it was surprising when I then read a style that Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1134553905009737672005-12-14T01:41:00.000-05:002005-12-14T04:51:45.080-05:00High water risin', the shacks are slidin' downFolks lose their possessions - folks are leaving townBertha Mason shook it - broke itThen she hung it on a wallSays, "You're dancin' with whom they tell you toOr you don't dance at all."It's tough out thereHigh water everywhere-- Bob Dylan, "High Water (For Charley Patton)"Granted, these lyrics would have been more appropriate right after Katrina, butJonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1134404568148389442005-12-12T10:40:00.000-05:002005-12-12T11:22:48.160-05:00Like the Phoenix......this blog needs to rise from the ashes of Arizona -- a little Seinfeld for you there.But seriously, this blog needs to be resuscitated, especially as a way of updating about my perceptions of the first semester of grad school.I've been spending far too much time in the library (essentially for the past five weeks, but mainly the past five days) working on what amounts to a Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1125309290813691342005-08-29T05:33:00.000-04:002005-08-29T05:54:50.873-04:00Let's see -- there are only a few days until I start school so I should start facing the inevitable dreary administrative tasks I have to do when I get there on the 1st. I've had an entire summer of deferring thinking about school so I don't have to worry about classes; now, however, is the time I have to gear myself up for hard and patient work (or, failing that, making myself do things in an Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1125123298655915602005-08-27T02:14:00.000-04:002005-08-27T02:14:58.660-04:00I want to start a company and call it "J'ai Cru."Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1124775877930185582005-08-23T01:44:00.000-04:002005-08-23T01:44:37.940-04:00Glacier National ParkAnd so I have returned from the second road trip, which was unfortunately cut four days short when I got huge blisters (subsequently infected) on both my heels, not to mention an incredibly painful hematoma under my right big toenail. Glacier is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to (pictures forthcoming, of course, since I'm the laziest uploader of photos on Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1123172840558764782005-08-04T11:51:00.000-04:002005-08-04T12:27:20.566-04:00I really...should give a recap of my trip, but right now I'm focusing on my toe, which I think is broken. I tripped while trying to get down the Mt. Osceola Trail yesterday before the sun set, and now the top of the joint of my big left toe is swollen and red. So I guess an x-ray is in store for my plans today.I really hope this will not make me unable to go hiking in Montana and Wyoming, which Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1121095237061711972005-07-11T11:15:00.000-04:002005-07-11T11:20:37.066-04:00Trippity Trip Trip TripI'm in Hobbs, New Mexico right now staying at Milan's place. This trip is definitely a quick hits way to see landmarks and other famous places in America. So far we've stopped in Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, Oxford, MS, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, and now smalltown New Mexico where people work in the oil fields and have a very very large Walmart.Next stop is Las Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1119969019546282802005-06-28T10:23:00.000-04:002005-06-28T10:30:19.553-04:00FranticallyGoing about my daily errands before the trip. I've got to look for apartments today, though I think I may just email people from Craig's List to set up viewings for tomorrow.I had to get my air conditioning fixed on my car yesterday, which was pretty annoying considering I have no idea why it stopped working properly. Plus AC units cost approximately the per capita income of most Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1119855474201714342005-06-27T02:45:00.000-04:002005-06-27T02:57:54.206-04:00I returnhaving listened to too many people and been made to feel stupid 100 times more. I suppose this is a fine thing to spend one's life doing, and I definitely had periods of fun. Professors, as expected, think they're the shit when they actually are just...professors.I'm pretty exhausted after all the listening, heat, drinking, and sitting at Murphy's (I'd think we went there more this past Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1119283596305622212005-06-20T11:49:00.000-04:002005-06-20T12:06:36.310-04:0013,255 words later...I'm officially done with my paper. Unfortunately I only got 4 and a half hours of sleep or so, but I feel much more tired than that.I need to procure some ham sammiches. If I were God, I could make my own damn sammich.Now I will commence to make lewd jokes with Rob involving the word Shinnecock.Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1119182162709344762005-06-19T07:54:00.000-04:002005-06-19T08:20:26.856-04:00Papier Mâchè: A Massage from the Swedish Prime MinisterI'm paranoid about my paper so I've created five different versions of it, which will soon fill up my Gmail account. Funny how I thought I only had 500 words left and some editing and I've written about 2000 tonight. Funny how I drove off at 5:15am this morning wearing an old tshirt (actually just a dirty one), my beard plus five days Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1119148276256012872005-06-18T22:31:00.000-04:002005-06-18T22:31:16.260-04:00I'm a cyclical butterfly.Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1119007708818651122005-06-17T07:28:00.000-04:002005-06-17T07:28:28.823-04:00Listening to: Spoon, The Two Sides of Monsieur ValentineI've started listening to all this new alternative and rock music lately and it's given me faith that people still have musical talent. I thought mainstream rock had died in the late 90s with the emergence of crappy bands like Creed and the dross of bad grunge bands. But now it seems the New Wave music of the late 70s and early 80s is being Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1118911412822042532005-06-16T04:42:00.000-04:002005-06-16T04:43:32.830-04:00Curious ThingsI have two Curious George stickers on my laptop, to the right of the touchpad and under where my palm usually rests when I type. I received them as presents senior year in college and they've been on the computer since then. Curious George, in each of his copies, is holding a big heart and his head is peeking out from one side.About a month ago I added two hearts from Threadless.comJonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1118809709318564842005-06-15T00:18:00.000-04:002005-06-15T00:28:29.323-04:00I'm sitting in the kitchen, with my back riveted against the wrought iron curves of the chair. I can smell the stink from my armpits rise and feel the dull pain coming from my back, despite the thin cushion of my fleece jacket. I've got a book in front of me and this is what it says:"What has happened, however, time and time again, is that the fantasy structure the writer builds in order to Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1118707091773743082005-06-13T19:52:00.000-04:002005-06-13T19:58:11.780-04:00I'm back from New York, and suddenly summer's in full-force, humidity and all. I sweated my way through Central Park playing catch with Chris and through the 60-or-so blocks of walking (mainly moving around small, large, and extra-large Puerto Ricans, as yesterday was the Puerto Rican Day Parade).The drive back wasn't as nearly bad as going there, and I only hit one spell of traffic around Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1118391539960043812005-06-10T04:16:00.000-04:002005-06-10T04:18:59.966-04:00"Perhaps everybody has a garden of Eden, I don't know; but they have scarcely seen their garden before they see the flaming sword. Then, perhaps, life only offers the choice of remembering the garden or forgetting it. Either, or: it takes strength to remember, it takes another kind of strength to forget, it takes a hero to do both. People who remember court madness through pain, the pain of the Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1118370141054930862005-06-09T22:16:00.000-04:002005-06-09T22:22:21.060-04:00For some reason I'm getting a ringing sensation in my left ear. It feels kind of blocked and all I have to fiddle around is some medical instrument that's a poor substitute for an ear picker. On a sidenote, someone actually bought me some ear pickers when I was in Singapore because I was so curious about them. Seems like old aunties and people in Chinatown are the most likely customers from what Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1118257767140271172005-06-08T15:08:00.000-04:002005-06-08T15:09:27.146-04:00"The capuchin is a New World monkey, brown and cute, the size of a scrawny year-old human baby plus a long tail. ''The capuchin has a small brain, and it's pretty much focused on food and sex,'' says Keith Chen, a Yale economist who, along with Laurie Santos, a psychologist, is exploiting these natural desires -- well, the desire for food at least -- to teach the capuchins to buy grapes, apples Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1118055772161551882005-06-06T07:02:00.000-04:002005-06-06T07:02:52.166-04:00Pros of working in the kitchen: --I am near the refrigerator--I get more work done because I'm sitting upright.--Hammy's around (though now my mom took her upstairs because she was worried that the summer heat was going to kill her since Hammy's hair is so long now).Cons of working in the kitchen:--The chair! It really brings new meaning to the phrase "pain in my ass." It also gives me back pain Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1118049386542980812005-06-06T05:13:00.000-04:002005-06-06T05:16:26.546-04:00Snap, Crackle, PopWhy do certain drinks need to be carbonated? You'd think that when sodas were carbonated at first it provided a sense of novelty to have very carbonated drinks that bubbled over when they were opened, but why are drinks like (ahem) Red Bull carbonated. Red Bull is a bit strange too becaues it's barely carbonated -- it hardly fizzes at all. I wonder if there's some logical Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1117961680073112812005-06-05T04:48:00.000-04:002005-06-05T04:54:41.006-04:00I've started writing!Yay now maybe I'll actually finish this paper before it's due. I've found that my bullshitting capabilities are now off the charts...in a far left, post-Marxist-liberal sort of way of course :-)I'm at that stage of night though where my writing becomes harder and harder to get coherent thoughts churned out. I'm sticking to my bread and butter topics though -- the imaginary Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1117952271501975482005-06-05T02:12:00.000-04:002005-06-05T02:17:51.506-04:00When Animals InvadeWhile I was sweating in the kitchen today I felt something crawl over my foot...only to discover that a giant winged ant (a carpenter ant, as I later found out) thought I was a good place to climb up. It turns out that I would end up killing several hundred half-inch winged ants with a 1994 copy of British Home & Gardens (which is still on the radiator behind me in preparation Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1117896086835049962005-06-04T10:40:00.000-04:002005-06-04T10:41:26.840-04:00Ok I have T-minus 16 days now. I have to start writing today. No more procrastinating. No more Halo 2!Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1117722061066980132005-06-02T10:13:00.000-04:002005-06-02T10:21:01.070-04:00"For example, I hesitate between staying home and working or going out to a nightclub: these are not two separable 'objects,' but two orientations, each of which carries a sum of possible or even hallucinatory perceptions (not only of drinking, but the noise and smoke of the bar; not only of working, but the hum of the word processor and the surrounding silence...). And if we return to motives inJonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1117647571538103902005-06-01T13:39:00.000-04:002005-06-01T13:39:31.543-04:00Procrastination will begin in earnest today:The plan is to buy Xbox, Halo 2, and the XBox live hookup. So God help me. I'm already addicted to the game like no other and I'm determined to become really good at it, even if becoming "good" at the game means I'll be taunting small boys who haven't cracked puberty yet and have screen names like SirsNutsalot and ChoadFuzz69.I'm planning the schedule Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1117216073116880162005-05-27T13:47:00.000-04:002005-05-27T13:47:53.120-04:00I try to talk myself out of caring twenty times a day, and I construct elaborate arguments about why I shouldn't like someone, but I always conclude the same way: despite all that, it was still worth it.Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1117173653007650582005-05-27T01:40:00.000-04:002005-05-27T02:00:53.013-04:00::cheerful beat:: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/blondie/xoffender.html">I think all the time how I'm going to perpetrate love with youAnd when I get out, there's no doubt I'll be sex offensive to youBlondie, "X Offender"I'm starting to get the jitters I often get before committing myself to writing something serious. It's the kind of nerves that prilosec can cure, though I don't have any of thatJonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1117084711582300532005-05-26T01:15:00.000-04:002005-05-26T01:18:59.600-04:00From Ripples/LeavesThe Lotus Speaks:I seem to feel fishes kissing all over my body,Then flowing away in small detailed patterns,Amid these movements, I want to hold on — yet cannotGrab any stable centre I can use for a pause,I cannot but let go of the safety of the soil,turn over the silt sediments inside of me, and feel the wavesbrought by the light breeze-- Leung Ping-KwanJonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1117058985497288162005-05-25T18:04:00.000-04:002005-05-25T18:10:37.093-04:00I didn't lose myself in the crowdDuring one of my earlier incoherent rambles, I said something about how I have to sort out the past to understand how I want to behave in the future. I think that effort might be valuable, but I don't think it will change how I will behave in the future. I've realized the it's the knowingness that causes the pain, the generally unshakable belief that something youJonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1117027055787336172005-05-25T09:03:00.000-04:002005-05-25T09:17:35.793-04:00A Windy Night"[L]ove is of such a nature that it changes man into the things he loves."-- Martin Heidegger (citing Meister Eckhart), "The Thing"It's been raining and cold like it always is at the end of May in Boston. I kind of like the huge gusts of wind blowing through the trees at night while I read. Not sure why -- it makes me think of how nice it is to be in bed or inside during miserable Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116900309380301272005-05-23T22:10:00.000-04:002005-05-23T22:05:52.360-04:00Bleh I don't feel like doing anything.I need to hole up in a ball for a few more weeks because socializing certainly isn't my thing these days. At least if I'm in a ball I might be able to read, and maybe even hop around like Sonic the Hedgehog....traumatic kernel that I am, I am the Real......i'm having second thoughts about graduate school (wait, second? maybe these are the sixth-six thousandthJonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116609717883394682005-05-20T13:20:00.000-04:002005-05-20T13:21:57.886-04:00Good RiddanceI'm eternally glad that Reggie Miller is finished. I hate when media members write glowing stories about dirty, worthless, annoying, whining basketball players. I'll concede that he could shoot the three very well, but he was never a great player.Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116547863966906432005-05-19T20:10:00.000-04:002005-05-19T20:11:03.973-04:00Back...home after running errands at Dartmouth for two days. I slept an ungodly number of hours each night and feel better rested, though I didn't get much reading done. I did, however, photocopy a lot the last two days and probably have enough critical material for writing (just have to cross fingers and hope I get accepted, etc. etc., though I suppose I'd write the bloody thing anyway if I Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116331421828929502005-05-17T08:02:00.000-04:002005-05-17T08:03:41.836-04:00ForgottenYou can't hug a memory, and I can't keep hanging on that way any more. Yet it's funny how people move on, each at their own pace, sometimes because they're afraid of connecting, sometimes because the incredible ties, which last longer than the boundaries of a relationship, have finally started to dissolve.What kind of metaphor can there be -- "ties" doesn't work -- for the imbalance in Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116325839301243722005-05-17T06:28:00.000-04:002005-05-17T06:35:56.566-04:00Finished!As much as I like The Library of America series for providing compact, comprehensive works of single authors, it also takes a tremendous effort to finish a single volume, which is usually about 900 pages. It's also pretty hard to read essay after essay for 842 pages -- definitely not the same as reading You Can't Go Home Again, or any Wolfe or Henry Miller for that matter.Now I have to Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116275210227370992005-05-16T16:25:00.000-04:002005-05-16T16:26:50.226-04:00Too close to homePretend, for example, that you were born in Chicago and have never had the remotest desire to visit Hong Kong, which is only a name on a map for you; pretend that some convlusion, sometimes called accident, throws you into connection with a man or a woman who lives in Hong Kong; and that you fall in love. Hong Kong will immediately cease to be a name and become the center of yourJonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116274987820561702005-05-16T16:16:00.000-04:002005-05-16T16:23:07.826-04:00Baldwin on why not to go into therapy:To my black and toughened, Puritan conscience, it seems an absolute scandal; and, again, this peculiar self-indulgence certainly has a dreadful effect on their children, whom they are quite unable to raise. And they cannot raise them because they have opted for the one commodity which is absolutely beyond human reach: satiety.Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116270861990522352005-05-16T15:14:00.000-04:002005-05-16T15:14:21.996-04:00On James Baldwin and Ralph EllisonI've now read about 1500 pages of both these writers' essays, and I'd say I'm getting a sense of their characters. Though I don't think they would agree on many issues, they share one pivotal feature in common, which is that they attempt to show how the African-American is part of the entire American culture, rather than simply a "problem" or a ghettoized Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116264235872392862005-05-16T13:22:00.000-04:002005-05-16T13:23:55.876-04:00"If this country does not find a way to use that energy [educating children], it will be destroyed by that energy. [nuclear weapons, ignorance]" -- James Baldwin, during the Cuban Missile Crisis.Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116193207936444992005-05-15T17:37:00.000-04:002005-05-15T17:40:07.940-04:00How I feel sometimes:"[N]o one wants to wishes to remember it: the really agonizing privacy of the very young. They are only beginning to realize that they are, themselves, tormentingly complex and that the years that stretch before them promise to be more dangerous than the years that are behind."(James Baldwin, "They Can't Turn Back")I'm a little bit past this point, which is really how you Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116189992200129292005-05-15T16:46:00.000-04:002005-05-15T16:46:32.206-04:00If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Aleksandr Borodin.Son of a 19th Century Russian prince and a...non-royal...mother, I went to medical school and became a biochemist. Most people, however, (and probably my twenty cats as well) agree that they'd trade all of my scientific discoveries for another set of "Polovetsian Dances."Who would you be? Dead Russian Composer Personality TestJonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116161741696116752005-05-15T08:25:00.000-04:002005-05-15T08:55:41.703-04:00ScaryI had a flashback just now to when I was a kid and would wiggle a loose tooth in my mouth. I remember one time I lost a baby tooth and then I hid it (from the tooth fairy of course) until I was about to lose another tooth. This time, however, I just reached into my mouth and nearly ripped the tooth out of my mouth (I remember dimly some blood, but I could be wrong). I thought for some reasonJonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116126469286019432005-05-14T23:06:00.000-04:002005-05-14T23:07:49.290-04:00From "Runagate Runagate"Hoot-owl calling in the ghosted air,five times calling to the hants in the air.Shadow of a face in the scary leaves,shadow of a voice in the talking leaves: Come ride-a my train Oh that train, ghost-story train through swamp and savanna movering movering, over trestles of dew, through caves of the wish, Midnight Special on a sabre track Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1116061208080619222005-05-14T05:00:00.000-04:002005-05-14T05:00:08.086-04:00BirdsIt always surprises me how early birds start chirping for the new day. It's not at first light but much earlier (this morning they started chirping at around 4:10am) that they begin.I'm awake because I slept early last night until about 9am, but then still felt exhausted from residual sleep deprivation I guess, and then fell asleep again from 2:30-7. I feel great and am making my way throughJonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1115894050209474022005-05-12T06:36:00.000-04:002005-05-12T06:37:35.160-04:00We are criminals that n e v e r broke no l a wsI am about to enter my own world for the next month, not totally voluntarily either. I just want to be left alone by certain people for a while, while at the same time other people I know are leaving Boston, thus cutting off what limited social life I had in the past two months. I've also switched to a nighttime working schedule and have been Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1115669996106263992005-05-09T16:21:00.000-04:002005-05-09T16:19:56.166-04:00Ironies of the Left and Right: There is No Independent ActionThis is my observation from the Garfinkel: that it's interesting that the left takes a stance on individual rights in the face of institutions (think unions), while the right tends to support institutional rights. At the same time, the right tends to support individualistic explanations of events and denies the effects of social forces Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1115628249708014222005-05-09T04:36:00.000-04:002005-05-09T04:44:09.783-04:00"Anyone who has played Monopoly knows that as the game advances, it becomes more and more tempting to the players to form coalitions, in which A and B pool their resources to wipe out C and share the spoils. This is another important factor reducing the number of competitors and producing a concentration of holdings. (The rules of Monopoly prohibit such coalitions, but no serious player feels Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1115577856012290552005-05-08T14:42:00.000-04:002005-05-08T14:47:26.103-04:00Four Quartets, Quartet No. 2: East Coker And what there is to conquerBy strength and submission, has already been discoveredOnce or twice, or several times, by men whom one cannot hopeTo emulate - but there is no competition -There is only the fight to recover what has been lostAnd found and lost again and again: and now, under conditionsThat seem unpropitious. But Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1115168818381768032005-05-07T14:10:00.000-04:002005-05-07T14:17:14.030-04:00The life...has been sucked out of me reading Henry James' The Art of the Novel. Sometimes when you read your mind sticks to the words and the pacing pushes you forward, almost of its own volition. James' remembrances of the origins of his fiction push my mind away to Snood and porn and assorted other distractions, all of which I should delete but won't (though Snood is getting less entertaining..Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1115233674113072832005-05-04T15:05:00.000-04:002005-05-04T15:07:54.120-04:00How to drink whiskeyThere was always a bottle present, so that it would seem to him that those fine fierce instants of heart and brain and courage and wiliness and speed were concentrated and distilled into that brown liquor which not women, not boys and children, but only hunters drank, drinking not of the blood they spilled but some condensation of the wild immortal spirit, drinking it Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1115183175111447792005-05-04T01:04:00.000-04:002005-05-04T01:06:15.163-04:00Oh my god, the new Gorillaz album is unbelievably good. Fantastically good -- every song, start to finish. Ok, fine, it won't be released until the end of the month, but I downloaded an advance copy because I'm cool like that, down like that.UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...that's pure musical pleasure right there.Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1115182155199113812005-05-04T00:49:00.000-04:002005-05-04T00:49:15.216-04:00Your Inner Gangsta by crash_and_burnWhat is yo name?Yo gangsta name beCold CappaYou ride around in aHuffy Sun Catcher (Ride that bicycle, fool)Yo gangThe Adjective NounersYo shoes beMade outta trash bagsYo dubs be dis big, fool751How much money you got?$1.90750626993675e+26How gangsta are you, bitch?: 99%Quiz created with MemeGen!Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1115022423167526972005-05-02T04:18:00.000-04:002005-05-02T04:27:03.170-04:00Returning to the work of a lonely reader...Blood in the streets of the town of New Haven...Blood on the rise is following meThought I'd write here since I don't have much desire to read right now.After spending Wednesday night through Sunday morning in New York I've decided that it's interesting to have what amounts to a mobile profession. Upheaval and movement may make it more difficult to read Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1114532448133293322005-04-26T12:06:00.000-04:002005-04-26T12:20:48.136-04:00Ah, fickleness!The older I get the more it seems that I fight to maintain a steady opinion of what's happening in my life and what my past is about. When I was being mopey a while ago I had longings for the past that have all but disappeared now that I'm content with my single life and momentary flirtations. I don't think this current state of things means that I was any less right than I was Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1114436161771486692005-04-25T09:16:00.000-04:002005-04-25T09:36:01.773-04:00Providence. Another College Upon a Hill, and NotesWent to Providence yesterday to look at more properties. College Hill is almost sickeningly pretty, in a much more manicured way than Dartmouth -- the campus itself has a lot of neatly mulched areas with rhododendrons and azaleas in bloom. The colonial era houses of course add to this feel. The house we're looking at is right off Benefit St. and Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1114024679433863202005-04-20T15:19:00.000-04:002005-04-20T15:20:17.053-04:00Rough Review of Ellison and MenandI've spent the last twelve days reading non-fiction (The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison and then The Metaphysical Club, by Louis Menand). Ellison's essays are a mixed batch, and a lot of them emphasize the same points and the same incidents in his life. I won't fault him for using personal narratives to make a point, but I might fault the editor for including Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1112975596379725542005-04-08T11:53:00.000-04:002005-04-08T11:53:16.380-04:00Calming DownThe tapeworm of anxiety has gone back into dormancy in my stomach after reading pretty constantly for the past week. I've been productive and I've extracted a bunch of good things out of this distress (which took, all told, about a month to deal with). To wit: I've started running and getting into shape, I've been reading a lot (I now can appreciate Faulkner, particularly the stories Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1112745256054517132005-04-05T19:25:00.000-04:002005-04-05T19:54:16.056-04:00Gao Xingjian, "Le témoignage de la littérature""The writer would do best to return to the position of being observer, to look with dispassionate eyes upon various facets of human life. If he is able in the same way to soberly reflect on his self, he will gain a degree of freedom, find interest in this observation and reflection, and will not foolishly think of recreating the world. In any case, Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1112727315887670272005-04-05T17:38:00.000-04:002005-04-05T17:34:49.346-04:00MotivationRecently I've started to compose blog entries in my head, even though I hadn't been writing anything for four months. So I decided that it would make sense to put down some of my thoughts about relationships and academics for my own personal record (the purpose of many a blog to begin with). I also think it might be a good idea to start writing again since I need to convert some of my Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1111623640357789092005-03-23T19:20:00.000-05:002005-03-23T19:20:40.363-05:00 Bourbon Congratulations! You're 125 proof, with specific scores in beer (60) , wine (116), and liquor (86). Screw all that namby-pamby chick stuff, you're going straight for thebottle and a shot glass! It'll take more than a few shots of WildTurkey or 99 Bananas before you start seeing pink elephants. You knowhow to handle your alcohol, and yourself at parties. My test tracked 4Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1105052574358638532005-01-06T17:56:00.000-05:002005-01-06T18:02:54.360-05:00Well, Wade Boggs was evidently more of an asshole than we all thought:
Boggs reacted with a black-slapping hug of Hardin, then kisses for his wife and family, waiting in the back of state District Judge Scott Brister's court.
And next time, on When Typos Go Wrong, we'll deal with misplaced modifiers and niggardly controversies.
Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1101940461509448592004-12-01T17:37:00.000-05:002004-12-01T17:38:02.593-05:00The Infinite Patheticness of IM Being
Robert M Schmidt (4:33:18 PM): yeah, farts are like dreams, in that they're intense when you experience them but you remember them poorly
Robert M Schmidt (4:33:37 PM): that would be a good yearbook quote
JSchroed03 (4:34:26 PM): You are a moron
Most days, whether I'm doing work or not, I talk on IM with Rob, who manages to waste an astounding time at his Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1101477459731215712004-11-26T08:57:00.000-05:002004-11-26T08:57:39.733-05:00Alexander
Before I get all up in reviewing this movie's grill, I thought I'd post a quick random thought:
Philotas (pronounced in the movie much more like Fell-ow-tayz) was a hilarious character. He also prompted me to think about the possibilities of Alexander the Porn movie. Ah Fellatees, how I have missed thee.
I was a bit upset they glossed over the battle in India against Porus on the Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1101422030581314452004-11-25T17:25:00.000-05:002004-11-25T17:33:50.583-05:00Happy Thanksgiving
And on this day, let us pray for the plentiful food that has made our country so fat. Thank you, McDonalds, thank you, Wendy's, and no thanks to you, Jared Fogle and Subway!
Really, I mean there is a problem if people start to spend money to lose weight. I think on this Thanksgiving we should decide to go back to hunting and gathering. Screw this late capitalist bullcrap. I Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1101197596933420372004-11-23T03:16:00.000-05:002004-11-23T03:15:50.723-05:00Random Thoughts
Of all the drinks in the world you could steal from Asia and make millions off of, how did Dietrich Mateschitz decide that Red Bull would be a success? Granted, it does taste like ass/Robitussin, but for some reason I also drink it obsessively, particularly during late night writing sessions. I often wonder if the Bangladeshi clerk wonders what's wrong with me when I drive over Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1100944501048468052004-11-20T04:52:00.000-05:002004-11-20T04:55:01.046-05:00The Doldrums (good thing we have motors in this day and age)
That's what this blog is in, as the sailor that is Jonathan Schroeder has killed the albatross and made his blog intensely, hideously boring. I was just reading through old entries and they are infinitely more interesting than these recent ones about T.O., B.O., and my boredom (Bo being the only interesting thing in my life now :-). I Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1100934524918616612004-11-20T01:40:00.000-05:002004-11-20T02:08:44.916-05:00Set Sail For Singapore
"If you don't release your movie at roughly the same time all over the world, the video of your movie will be sold on the streets of Singapore within days of its first release," Jacobson explained.
Quotes like this offend me, even more than the Tom Waits song, "Singapore," which, it may be argued, is set in colonial times and isn't even set in Singapore. Somewhere along Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1100829648831063882004-11-18T20:51:00.000-05:002004-11-18T21:00:48.830-05:00Monday Night Media-ocrity
What they should have said, though, was something like this ...
"We have heard from conservative America whose shallow take on our country lends more importance to lost family values and media images rather than the real issues of the world. We realize how the bare back of an attractive woman might upset them. But we don't apologize; we aren't sorry and no matter what Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1100727775063127192004-11-17T16:40:00.000-05:002004-11-17T16:42:55.063-05:00What the world needs...
PEDRO Salsa!
Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1100686974216786722004-11-17T05:20:00.000-05:002004-11-17T05:22:54.216-05:00Jokes that may only interest me
You so Baroque you can't even get in to the Romantic recital.
P.S. I have $18.58 in my ATM account right now.
Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1100638765555568242004-11-16T15:56:00.000-05:002004-11-16T15:59:25.560-05:00JSchroed03 (3:52:09 PM): so you hurt your chances before you have even tried
Robert M Schmidt (3:52:19 PM): that's right, just like Roy Hobbs
JSchroed03 (3:52:44 PM): how's the book?
Robert M Schmidt (3:52:53 PM): who missed 15 years of his baseball career after being shot in his stomach, which symbolizes his greed
Robert M Schmidt (3:53:00 PM): it's very good
Robert M Schmidt (3:53:03 PM): I'm Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1100587662540820422004-11-16T01:23:00.000-05:002004-11-16T01:47:42.540-05:00I pulled into Nazareth...
I have returned from the Land of Nod, New York, having gone to one too many birthdays in the past few weeks. This Friday, we went to twoof Bo's friends birthdays, uniting the different schools in one stuffy, crowded Gaelic bar called Sin Sin. Much drunkenness ensued. Weekend three in a row in New York was actually more fun than the previous weekend, and I pillaged Bo's Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1100223434477825352004-11-11T20:04:00.000-05:002004-11-11T20:37:14.476-05:00Are journalists failing the Ar-test?
I'm surprised that no one has made the connection -- correct me if someone has -- between Ron Artest and Ricky Williams. Ricky's bouts of depression are well-documented, but maybe we can add Artest to the prozac-popping population. From seeing that damn interview about ten times today, I think that Artest has some problems that he's dealing with and he's Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1100108214535824042004-11-10T11:48:00.000-05:002004-11-10T12:36:54.536-05:00When is a fight a good thing and when does it hurt more than it helps? And when did my posts start sounding like they came straight out of Sex and the City?
In connected news, I need to start doing some reading to get my brain moving a little faster. I promised myself I'd read 100 books this year and I've been stuck in the 70s for a while now. The book I've wanted to read for a while, Parables Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1099650183700592312004-11-05T04:45:00.000-05:002004-11-05T05:23:03.700-05:00Mr. Carter, I presume
Listening to: Don't Let Me Die (Jay-Z and R. Kelly), Unfinished Business
Jay-Z is a weird guy. He seems to have a thing for olde English. Jay-Z, you say? The rapper/music mogal/rumored new president of Island who bangs Beyonce and occupies the East coast equivalent of Dr. Dre's power? Yes, him.
Him:
(what do you think Don King, Chris Rock and Jay-Z did after this Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1099558790764913862004-11-04T03:35:00.000-05:002004-11-04T03:59:50.766-05:00Tomorrow ... and the melodramatic title stolen from a Nina Gordon song from the early '90s
For some reason, that song (and the one hit by Sophie B. Hawkins -- As I Lay Me Down) always reminds me of the color blue. That link to Sophie B. Hawkins is really funny by the way, as she seems to enjoy lying around naked in the wilderness.
FEELING: Heartburn
I think I'm getting good at this Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1099482097939446282004-11-03T06:38:00.000-05:002004-11-03T06:41:37.940-05:00F O R Y O U
Suppose, then, it were possible, not only to swear love ''forever,'' but actually to follow through on it - to live a long, full and authentic life based on such a vow, to put one's alloted stake of precious time where one's heart is?
I know that I need to figure out what to do about this situation with you. When I started to think about it, my mind flashed to a time when I Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1099433524589336042004-11-02T17:11:00.000-05:002004-11-02T17:14:01.246-05:00Bellwether Precincts, as of 2pm:
Not too bad (Kerry comes first)
Florida: 52-48
Ohio: 52-48
Wisconsin: 53-47
Michigan: 51-48
New Hampshire: 53-47
Pennsylvania: So good that there may be a mistake
Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1099424595725302772004-11-02T14:30:00.000-05:002004-11-02T14:43:15.726-05:00Cartoon in the Projects? It's been done, and I don't mean the PJ's.
I'm talking about
Badman is Robbin, a rap song by UK rap act Hijack from the 80s. Think of the possibilities for a pimp wandering around in animated form! Think of them.
Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1099421517189190972004-11-02T13:48:00.000-05:002004-11-02T13:51:57.190-05:00Demarcus Faggins -- Pro football player of the week.
Robert M Schmidt (1:47:45 PM): He'd better be good if he's going to get by with a name like that.
Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1099297383219374732004-11-01T01:11:00.000-05:002004-11-01T03:23:03.220-05:00New York, New York (cubed)
I just got back from an extended journey up to Dartmouth (Thursday and Friday) for Christina's birthday and then down I-91 to New York (to visit Bo and have fun). In the getting shitfaced category, this weekend was a success. In the waking up before noon and getting out of the apartment category, definitely a giant failure. Ahem, cough, now whose fault might that be?
Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1098993641703269592004-10-28T15:50:00.000-04:002004-10-28T16:00:41.706-04:00Every day I call up my parents and yell at them for not conceiving me early enough to enjoy The Gong Show.
My girlfriend/phone sex operator is so sweet. She gives me discounts on all my calls.
I'm going to make a suppository of these lines. They'll soften up the shit of any hardened comedy veteran.
Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1098911860933941122004-10-27T17:17:00.000-04:002004-10-27T17:17:40.933-04:00Robert M Schmidt (5:15:53 PM): the other day when I bought those british stocks we had to pay a stamp tax of 0.5%
JSchroed03 (5:16:04 PM): did you think about overthrowing the king?
Robert M Schmidt (5:16:12 PM): didn't we get rid of the stamp tax 250 years ago?Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1098747905671247522004-10-25T18:53:00.000-04:002004-10-25T19:45:05.670-04:00Weekend Update
So now that Jimmy Fallon has left Saturday Night Live Weekend Update has reverted to being terrible. Amy Poehler is the new co-anchor which creates a weird dynamic since she and Tina Fey are the same height and have exactly the same haircuts. Ah for the days of a drunken Norm McDonald.
I found this information out right after Game 1 on Saturday night when Milan was trying to findJonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1098710472216518232004-10-25T09:20:00.000-04:002004-10-25T09:21:12.216-04:00Q: What do you call 25 men watching the World Series?
A: The Yankees.
Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1098478898093799782004-10-22T16:34:00.000-04:002004-10-22T17:01:38.093-04:00A Horse! A Horse!
My kingdom for a healthy Curt Schilling. It's great that the Red Sox have played the best teams of the decade each time they've made the World Series: the '46 and '67 Cardinals were both incredible teams, as was the Big Red Machine and the '86 pre-cocaine (or the effects thereof) Mets of Gooden and Strawberry. I would feel much more confident if I even knew what was going on Jonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5304950.post-1098414965465656162004-10-21T23:08:00.000-04:002004-10-21T23:16:05.466-04:00One of the 7 Great Mysteries
Why is it that it's easier to get into a relationship when you meet someone and don't even realize you're talking to someone of the opposite sex or that you might even like that person? And why do I always meet girls in the fall when I'm in this mood? Is this Seasonal Ass Disorder?
Jonnoreply@blogger.com