Letters to the Editor @ The Beta Bar

Who: Look Mexico, Sourgreen, My Anomaly, & Letters to the Editor.
Where: The Beta Bar
When: Monday, March 14th, 2005.
Admission: 21+ is $5, under 21 is $6
Showtime: 9 p.m.

I've seen Look Mexico before at the Club Down Under. They are entertaining and worth seeing. I've also heard about this band, Letters to the Editor, that is opening for them Monday, March 14th at The Beta Bar. They have an uplifting sound that picks you up, drops you, and kicks you when you're down, just to pick you up and throw you in the air and then miss you on the way down, so you fall on the ground. Hard. It's hard to describe- you just have to be there. I know I will. Seriously, folks.

Deep-Ocean Dive.

I wanna devour your personality
And hope to make it a part of me.
I'll be swimming in your idealogies
When your mentality allows it to be
For me.

But, for now,
I'm drowning in your shallow comments,
Wading in the vast blue sea that is
Your dark mystery. I'm saying
"Hold your breath as we dive
Under the surface of our lives."

We search for hidden treasure,
We search for hidden treasure,
We search for hidden treasure,
On our introspective deep-ocean dive.

I summon Poseidon's trident
To launch a three-pronged attack
To get these fears off your back.
I'm tempted to
Bring this concept of fire
To all of mankind
Just to see your smile
Light up your face.

But, for now,
I'm drowning in your shallow comments,
Waiting in the vast blue sea that is
Your hypocrisy. I'm saying
"Hold your breath as we dive
Under the surface of our lives."

We search for hidden meanings,
We search for hidden meanings,
We search for hidden meanings,
On our introspective deep-ocean dive.

Tank's running out, air's running low.
I cannot shout, though you're floating
Away from me.
Stupidly, I nearly drown,
When I scream 'til I'm
Blue in the face, I say

"For what it is worth, I would balance the earth
Upon my back to see you through
All of this mess and I'd think it'd be best
For you to relax and immerse yourself on our
Introspective deep-ocean dive."

***

I'm still allowed to write teenage drama into my songs for another three months; then I won't be a teenager anymore.

Music.

I know, I know. I got most of these sites from other people. But, nevertheless, I feel compelled to make a list, and since I thought of this while I was visiting all these music sites, here. we. go!

Popmatters: even more than just music! Good for reviews on lots of subjects.
Better Propaganda: Used to be good for downloading lots of MP3s... now, not so much. (Don't know what happened.)
Pitchfork Media: Lots of reviews (not all of them are pretentiously snobby...), lots of good updates on what's going on.
Epitonic: Music, music, music.
Insound: More music.
All Music Guide: Comprehensive. Good for finding quotes to put in FSView articles.
Purevolume: DIY, DIY. Check out that band, Letters to the Editor. A lot of bands have a slew of songs here (Less Than Jake, Pedro the Lion, etc.).

And, the obligatory weezer sites:

Weezer World: Some coolguy teenager's list of tons of Weezer songs (most unreleased, but also some B-sides). Even songs from Rivers' previous (metal) band, Avant Garde. Ch-ch-ch-eck it out. I would recommend "I just threw out the love of my dreams," "Blast Off!," "Hey Domingo," "Saturday Night," "Sugar Booger," "Teenage Victory Song," and "Thief, you've taken all that was me" for starters. Of course there's no reason you shouldn't listen to all of them...
Weezer Nation: Enourmously large media section. This, is, just, awesome.

And there you go. That should comprise an entire weekend's worth of musical entertainment. Easily.

Any more good music sites (not really interested in p2p now) out there? Lemme know.

Books. Books.

I wake up to go to my one, boring, Friday class and I get repaid by getting rained on. And it wasn't even one of those substantial, soak-you-to-the-bone rains. I could have gone for one of those (despite the newly hashed hole in my left shoe). No, it was one of those wimpy drizzles that got me wet and upset.

I am (actively) reading three books: Catch As Catch Can (thanks, Tina!), a wondiferous collection of short stories and writings by Joseph Heller (I just reread Catch-22, a masterpiece, and am using this collection as a bridge to the sequel, Closing Time [thanks, Brandon! - I stole it from you], because it contains one or two stories left out of Catch-22, and one or two stories that are chapters from Closing Time).

The other book, A Plague Upon Humanity (thanks, Strozier!) is a book I found in the library last year on the Japanese germ warfare and experimentation techniques used during World War II. I never got to finish it, but instead of rereading all the stuff that I read and probably forgot, I'm just gonna start up on the last couple of chapters. It was really gruesome reading, as I recall, and now it's getting up to the part where none of the head researchers were punished, and where America knew about it and made a deal with them.

The third book, Fight Club (thanks, Matt!), I started last night. Very terse, choppy style- don't know if I like it yet (only read a dozen pages or so).

Oh, yeah. I am also reading The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction (thanks, Jessica!). It has short stories I read back in the day in AP Hammond, and some things I really wanted to read over the years ("Heart of Darkness"). I am not (obviously) reading through the whole thing, but am picking the things that sound cool enough.

And, when I checked out that one book, I picked up another one about Cognitive Psychology. I also have a shelf full of books here and several shelves of books at home that I haven't read yet. I also have lists of books recommended to me by people I hold in high esteem (Hammond, and this graduate student Mark I work with) that I really need to start reading. I also have my own list of books that I'd like to get and read. Then, there are always the classics I haven't read. I'd also like to read the New York Times (or Google News, or Fark) a lot more than I do already. A lot more.

I should quit school so I can read full-time.

What's up, post-doc?

This is the day in the life of a geezer.

I don't have the bank to roll a spring break trip, so I'm gonna head home and hit up my parents for gas money. Recooperation sounds good, too. Sleep at least 8 hours a night, avoid mental strain, read, probably compose too (I work best there, for some reason). I'll take a break from the internet too- see how it was to live in the '80s for a week.

I'm glad my newest article assignment doesn't involve Big Daddy's. It's not that Mr. Daddy wasn't very helpful in every way possible. I just like the CDU much more.

I'm going to see an oscar-winning director (Johnny Demme) in ... 40 minutes.

I talked to this funny Finnish woman in the lab today, who works with us in a "post-doc," meaning, from what I gather, that she's gotten her doctorate and doesn't want to go out and work on her own yet. I asked her what she was going to work at, and she said "reseach, begging for grants". Sounds like fun. Turns out it's her birthday today. She kept saying "going out with the girls tonight" and I kept laughing. Happy 30th Birthday, Johanna.

I'm enjoying my Directed Individual Study in the Zwaan lab- I get to talk with people who are a lot more helpful than those peeps down at the career center. A LOT.

This line's good:
Only got coinage to show.

But this one's better:
What the shrapnel in my back pocket could afford.

Nearly lost it.

Went over random assignment in Research Methods class today. For the third time. You don't even have to explain anything about it- the beauty of it is it's simplicity (dude)- "random assignment". Ask anyone who speaks English what "random assignment" is and they'll tell you: "Isn't it, uhh, where you, ... randomly assign people to stuff?". YES! IT IS!

But somehow our instructor finds a way of talking about it for 8 minutes, and having a huge slide with all these words that everyone frantically, and without thought, copies from her powerpoint presentation, when all it boils down to is "random assignment" (third time she's taken 8 minutes to explain this concept this semester).

I found a way to avoid screaming while calmly walking out of class (wouldn't that be weird if someone did that- just all out screaming, walking casually out of class?): I started pretending my right hand was broken and had to write my "notes" with my left hand. After a while, it wasn't looking half bad- almost comparable to the tired/frustrated scrawls I normally scratch out in there. Then I started conjugating Latin verbs. I only got through present and imperfect (active and passive) indicative forms before class was over (I was still writing with my left hand).

Then, I wrote the worst headline ever last night about 2 a.m. (I realize "then" doesn't work as a transition there, but I really wanted to use it)-- Tomorrow, It Dies Today. I hope someone changes it so all the people I don't know who don't read my articles anyway don't see that headline and don't not think I'm a corny idiot.

Serenity now, serenity now.

So

I went walking down to the FSView HQ because I didn't want to drive during the hectic school hours, and it turns out there's a nice little bad part of town back there. I was walking up around Dewey and Brevard streets, on one side of the street due to lack of sidewalk, and this SUV rolls up to me and slows down:

"Hey dog, you wanna buy some weed?" Said the middle-aged white male with a goatee.
"...No."
"No?"

/drives off.

I was pretty stunned. Then I thought, maybe it was because I was wearing my RX Bandits tee shirt.

Wow, then I got promotional CDs at the office that I don't even have to write anything about! Centromatic Love you just the same and Baptist Generals No Silver / No Gold. Then I got The Peels EP that I get to write a review for. Man, gotta love decent free stuff!

SNMNMNM's music melts your mind, not your ears

Bring The Noise

SNMNMNM’s music melts your mind, not your ears

NC based indie band to rock Big Daddy’s as best as it can

Justin de la Cruz
Contributing Writer

Who: SNMNMNM
Who else: Max Fischer Project, Amber Pacific, and A Small Impact
Where: Big Daddy’s
When: Monday, Feb. 21
Admission: $6 for 21 and older, $7 for under 21 (includes admission to ’80s night that immediately follows)
Doors open: 9 p.m.
Showtime: 9 p.m.

Tuba. Accordion. Rock and roll. These words may conjure up competing images in the minds of readers, but for the members of SNMNMNM (a name pronounced simply by saying each individual letter in rapid succession), they represent effective outlets for their musical expression. Though the group’s instrumentation may deviate from the normal setup of an indie rock band, the elements contributed by the tuba, accordion, trombone, trumpet, guitars, and drums blend into an uplifting sound that drives the catchy pop songs of As Best As We Can, SNMNMNM’s recent full-length release on Unschooled Records.
“As Best As We Can has more press than we’ve ever had before,” drummer Matt Vooris said. “People are picking it apart without seeing our live show. So they’re like ‘Tuba? Is that a gimmick?’ But the thing I like about it, being the drummer, and having a tuba player … you get different nuances. Someone playing a bass is going to make the notes flow different than the tuba would.”
Mark Daumen’s tuba playing for SNMNMNM is very versatile, adapting to the different musical styles presented by the group. He uses a light tone for lilting sections in songs like “Disco Barry!” while providing a deeper sound for the more rock-oriented sections on the new album.
“I think Mark is helping to redefine the concept of tuba,” Vooris said. “I hate it now, when you hear a soundtrack for a movie, and the tuba comes in when something stupid’s happening.”
As Best As We Can, the group’s second full-length release, includes material from their independently released 2002 EP Asbestos Weekend. The similarity between the titles of these two releases (that is revealed when one pronounces each title slowly) provides an example of the sort of clever writing that extends into SNMNMNM’s songs.
“Asbestos Weekend, the original EP, didn’t get any press, radio, or media coverage,” Vooris said. “So we’re really looking forward to this tour. This is the first time in the band’s history where we’ve had the CD come out, toured immediately as it came out, had full publicity, promotion, press, everything supporting the CD and the tour. So I’m really excited about getting out on the road.”
As with the release of any new music, As Best As We Can faces comparisons to other groups and the necessity of fitting into a genre. In this case, SNMNMNM is described by many as being a contributing band to the geek rock style that was established, for the most part, by bands like They Might Be Giants and Weezer.
“That’s something we haven’t been able to get away from,” Vooris said. “It’s obvious, when we first started, we actually called ourselves ‘geek rock’, and then when we moved to L.A., we tried to shed the word ‘geek’ as far as sound and image goes.”
SNMNMNM has its roots in Rochester, New York, where three of its four members attended the Eastman School of Music. After a stint in L.A., the band toured and finally settled in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where all members of the band now reside in the same house.
“We’re all like brothers,” Vooris said. “If something happens, if someone gets mad, it all comes out in the wash the next day. This is the first band I’ve ever been in where everyone just really got along. People say, when we tell them we’ve been together seven years, ‘What? That’s unheard of.’”
For more information on their tour, album, or favorite video games, visit SNMNMNM’s Web site: www.snmnmnm.com

Coffee and articles.

Also, you did a really excellent job with your first
article. Lynn told me there was almost no formatting
stuff that had to be corrected, and I thought the
actual content was great.

keep up the good work!

-- matt

Who... little ol' me? Shucks...

I would keep up the good work, however, this band doesn't want to answer my questions and my deadline's tomorrow. Oh well, I'll probably get an extension and write some hogwash about them when they finally respond (I've managed to write half the article without the answers to my questions, and with very little biographical information).

***

On an unrelated note (I think), I've taken up drinking coffee. I don't believe that I feel the effects of it, but I think it's cool. I started with a pretty innocuous white chocolate mocha from starbucks, and then I bought a cafe latte mix at publix (which, surprisingly, I think is better than the cafe latte I got yesterday at starbucks). Then I got this idea to write a short story about this guy who sits, blowing on coffee, but not drinking it. Then he goes on about the social implications about "getting a cup of coffee" and such.

***

I Heart Huckabees is this week, and I'm not afraid to say that the committee picked Sideways, Meet the Fockers, Finding Neverland, The Motorcycle Diaries, The Return, Kinsey, The Life Aquatic, Ocean's Twelve, and The Incredibles (I'm pretty sure, but not certain about those last three) to show later this spring semester. Wow.
(Edit: Also showing Clueless, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and some other movie as midnight movies.)

Oh yeah, and midnight movie Clue was awesome, as expected. "I will expose myself!" "Please, there are ladies present!"

The 101ers

Okay, so I lied. Sue me. ... Actually, don't.

I have a good reason for updating though- publicity for a band (I guess that's my... "job" now, huh?).

Asobi Seksu.

Frikkin' yeah, man.

These guys just went up on stage and OWNED. They had this thing where they flipped on a strobe light, and everyone went crazy except for the girl lead singer, who stood there pressing down her distorted chord and looking like some sort of monument... of rock.

They were just awesome. At the end of the last song, the bass player loosened up his bottom two strings and just started banging them around. Most of the lyrics were in Japanese! The drummer was a monster! Seriously, Asobi Seksu win the award.

And then, I wanted to complain a little about my state of being. I have to pen this article on this group of metal hardcore bands (none of whom like to respond to emails) that are playing Big Daddy's March 1st. I realized I would not love everything I wrote about, but come on... Just to let you know, here's the list of band names: It Dies Today, If Hope Dies, Twelve Tribes, Anterrabae, and Winter Solstice. Come on... If I had a hardcore band, it'll be called The Shredders (or The Gainesvillains), or, simply "I'll Rip Your Face Off".

=W=

I can literally think of no better topic for my 100th Post.

Weezer.

Weezer's self-titled debut is about the most impressive thing I can think of right now. What is really cool is, having listened to the demos of when the songs were made, 2-3 years before the album came out, I've noticed that they were all set. Not much was changed. All the lyrics were retained, word for word, the arrangements are nearly exact (breakdown in Surf Wax America is excitingly different on the demo, the bluesy minor third of Undone wasn't present then, and the solos were wilder, but)... so cool. And then the band members counted up the number of people they thought would buy Blue, and they came up with like 100. Ha! Check out the media section.

Then, I really started appreciating Pinkerton in the past couple of years, after partially dismissing it as being inferior to Blue. Now I know they are equal.

I dunno, the coolest thing is that the band releases so much material for the fans, doesn't take any interview seriously, and isn't scared to venture into new territory. Alright, well this post isn't turning into the great thing I thought it would, so ... I guess I'll take a sabbatical. I probably won't update for a while... unless something really interesting comes up. Not that it takes much effort or energy to post, but 100 is a nice, round number, so

=w=hatever.

Observations.

I thought of this last night:

The Greek parthenon's columns are slightly bent inward so our two eyes perceive them to be straight and beautiful.

The notes of the Western scale of music are slightly out of tune with each other so our ears perceive them to be beautiful when played harmonically.

I wrote this two nights ago (it all came out at once, so I think I'll work on it some more [in regards to order and meaning]):

We used to compete head to head,
We used to race neck in neck,
Until I fell head over heals
And met with you face to face
To tell you that we should go hand in hand.
You thought I was speaking tongue in cheek
When I said I loved you head to toe,
And with a grin from ear to ear
I told you that we should see eye to eye
About the night we danced cheek to cheek,
After walking around town shoulder to shoulder,
Taking our steps heel to toe.

When you nearly drowned,
I gave you mouth to mouth
Several times, back to back
And when you came to,
You needed a good heart to heart.
But at that time I couldn't stomach
A meeting of the minds,
So I just put my foot in my mouth
And let the relationship get swallowed up.

***

You get the idea. Sounds kind of gimmicky, but I think I can make it work. Not sure whether I wanted to extend the pattern of the first set of lines throughout the whole thing...

Another movie post.

Top awesome things about Shaun of the Dead:

1) The entire movie.
2) The video game Ed and Shaun are playing is TIMESPLITTERS 2, quite possibly the best console first person shooter ever created. (The game does not have the voiceover that the movie presented ["player 2 has now entered the game"], but I found its addition as being useful.)
3) Shaun sees a clip of the Smiths performing 'Panic' on TV: Panic on the streets of London/ Panic on the streets of Birmingham... so fitting.
4) The three or four times the word "exacerbate" comes up in the dialogue.
5) The clip on TV at the end with Coldplay.
6) The entire movie.

This movie did a wonderful rip of Dawn of the Dead (I've only seen the remake, but nonetheless...).

BAADASSSSS!

I go to see a movie at the SLB, and I get a history lesson. Awesome!

So, this movie, BAADASSSSS! (originally titled How to Get the Man's Foot Outta Your Ass), was released in 2003 and it's a movie about Melvin Van Peebles in 1971, who was trying to make his second film. This movie is a half-documentary with a clever device that takes the actors playing the characters in the movie and has them answer interview-type questions about what was happening (like in This is Spinal Tap, but these were real events). So, for example, David Alan Grier played the producer of the movie Melvin was making in 1971 (titled Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song), and David Alan Grier would also talk about the events sitting down with a black backdrop, like he was doing an interview. Very cool.

Apparently Melvin did this independent film about a black hero that was partially financially supported by Bill Cosby (who appears and comments during the credits) because no one would invest in it. Also, he jump-started Earth, Wind, and Fire's career by having them do the soundtrack for his movie. AND, some guy who was in the original movie commented that Melvin's 1971 movie was so big that movie-makers changed the lead character of Shaft (who was originally a white guy) to a black character!

I'd recommend this movie; it's very absorbing- you can easily get wrapped up in the characters and story. Even though you can tell where the movie deviates from reality for dramatic effect, it is still a very good flick. Funny!

Morrissey.

I've had the following song stuck in my head for the past two days. And I haven't even listened to it in weeks (I was listening to his latest album, I guess something must have reminded me of it...)

THE LAST OF THE FAMOUS INTERNATIONAL PLAYBOYS

Dear hero imprisoned
with all the new crimes that you are perfecting

[especially this upcoming part has been playing over and over in my head]

oh I can't help quoting you
because everything that you said rings true
and now in my cell
(well, I followed you)
and here's a list of who I slew
Reggie Kray - do you know my name?
don't say you don't
please say you do, I am:
the last of the famous
international playboys
the last of the famous
international playboys
and now in my cell
(well, I loved you)
every man with a job to do
Ronnie Kray - do you know my face?
don't say you don't
please say you do, I am:
the last of the famous
international playboys
the last of the famous
international playboys
In our lifetime those who kill
the newsworld hands them stardom
and these are the ways
on which I was raised
but I never wanted to kill
I AM NOT NATURALLY EVIL
such things I do
just to make myself more attractive to you
HAVE I FAILED?

***

So good. And I never even considered this one to be one of his catchier ones. But I guess it has to be, since I can't stop hearing it. And I'm sure all of one of you out there in the reading audience has heard it, but I'd recommend it to everyone, for every occasion. I guess you can do that download thing, or whatever it is you kids do nowadays (off the album Bona Drag).

Ugh.

I just saw a guy hit a parked car, and then take off. I was walking out of my psych. class, and I saw him backing up on one of those small streets, trying to turn around. I saw him get dangerously close to the car that was parked in the street, but I didn't yell anything at him. When he crunched into the side of the car, I stood in amazement. Then I checked out his license plate, and kept walking. He kept driving, stopped at the stop sign for like 2 minutes, evidently wondering what to do next, then turned onto Ivy Way and took off. I was still walking up the street, and saw him turn onto another street, and then stood there on the corner, knowing I had to go back, but not wanting to. I was really hungry. So many people were around, too. Driving, and walking, and it seemed no one else paid it any attention.

I trudged back, looked at the damage, noticed the car had a handicapped sticker and was parked in a handicapped spot, sighed, and entered the psych. building. I went into my academic advisor's office for advice. She called the FSU police and I described everything, gave license plate numbers, and waited around for the cop, filled out a report, and left. While I was waiting for the cop, as sometimes happens with me, I had a dread that the officer would think that I was responsible and that he would be analyzing my behavior to see if I were lying. Nope. Guy was cool. And funny to boot.

Pop Matters.

Dang, Pop Matters, why are you so good?

Sincerity Fixation

"In other words, it takes effort to remove his music from its marketing context and hear what it really sounds like."

"That is, we consume in order to be noticed consuming by others at least as much as we consume for our own sake and our sense of ourselves is bound up in what we consume and what others think of it. In this regard, pop music is crucial; it maps out subcultural boundaries more efficiently than virtually any other commodity."

Etymology.

I could very well spend days researching the origins of words:

Histrionic: from histrio, histrionis- actor.
Gestate: from gero, gerere, gessi, gestum- to bear.
Ambulance: from ambulo- to walk (because if you need one, it means you can't walk).

And several other filthy ones that Ms. Jury relayed to us to help us memorize the forms:

Erection, resurrection are derived from surgo, surgere, surrexi, surrectum- to rise, get up.
Testis from the same word in Latin, which meant witness. Because witnesses had to be male to testify.
Vagina, meaning a sheath, or a scabbard.

If I've learned anything, it's that words that passed from Latin into French before coming into English get all messed up (suite is derived from sequor- to follow??) in spelling, pronunciation and sometimes even meaning.

I could make a career out of this... I'm sure of it.

This post reminds me of that episode of Full House where Stephanie entered the spelling bee, and her father helped her with mnemonic devices like "double the c, double the s, and you have success". But then when she got into the competition, she got David BYRNED when she actually got the word mnemonic, and she left off the "m" because she didn't know it derived from the Greek. And then that walking dictionary kid whooped her.

SNMNMNM

I conducted my first phone interview with a band today. I got all really excited afterwards- it went rather smoothly. I talked to this guy, Matt Vooris, who plays drums for this indie band, SNMNMNM. They all live in a house together in Chapel Hill, NC. At the end, he admitted that this had been his first interview, and he had been looking forward to my call. Then I said this was my first interview too, and I wished them good luck on their tour. Then there was an awkward silence, where it seemed like he wanted to keep talking... so I just yelled out "Alright, man! Talk to you later!" And he said something very similar, and I hit the "end" button, laughing. I'm not going to talk to him later. Actually, maybe I will, because I think I'll go to their show (Feb. 21 @ Big Daddy's).

Mostly Done.

Misconceptions

You came to me half-aware,
Showed me that you still cared about me.
The things I did and what I said,
You can't keep my out of your head.

Now that you know who I am,
Would you join me for one more spin
Around the countryside of Rome?
Think we have time to visit the pope
In his vatican?

You play the tune, I'll sing the song
About the moon or Zeus as a swan.
You'll draw the conclusions of matrimony:
"I don't wanna settle down,
Just want to be free
Of the consistency of married life.
Do you really want to wake up
To a wife?"

"Haven't we been through this before?
I knew you were just looking to score
Through my weakness."

And I know who you are
And you left me with one more scar
And I'm on the search again
Tell me- where should I begin?
Now that you're gone and

No one can save me from this indecision
Though everyone knows my condition.
Don't let them change my position, baby,
Save me from this uncertainty.
Save me from myself tonight and set me free.

***

And we're done. 3 song mixed demo. I guess we'll start burning and handing them out now. It's kind of relieving to have it done, but I guess now we have to push forward and whatnot- this is just the start. Gotta keep working. Lemme know if you want any live music at any birthday parties or bah mitzvahs. I'll hook you up.

...

(additional website)

State of the Union.

???

"The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else. That is one of the main differences between us and our enemies. They seek to impose and expand an empire of oppression, in which a tiny group of brutal, self-appointed rulers control every aspect of every life. Our aim is to build and preserve a community of free and independent nations, with governments that answer to their citizens, and reflect their own cultures. And because democracies respect their own people and their neighbors, the advance of freedom will lead to peace."

-George Bush, Feb. 2, 2005.

???

I'm not really openly political. I really don't understand this part. Is he saying we have no intention of imposing our form of government on others, but we are because democracy is more effective? Or he is saying that it's not our form of government because we have a democratic republic and that's not the same as the democracy they're using in Iraq?

(http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/02/sotu.transcript/)

Diligentia.

I wonder about things like if I had more resources, would I do grand things? If I had my own personal studio with any instrument I can imagine (and I can imagine some pretty funky ones, mind you) would I work away in it diligently? As cheesy as it sounds, I partially buy into that mindset that I have everything I need and that wanting something is most of the fun, and once you have it (unless you try hard), you take it for granted and want more.

That "diligently" up there reminded me of my session working the psychology lab today. They had me writing filler sentences (material that sounds like the experimental sentences they use, put in the study as a control) about people seeing and doing things. I wrote sentences like "Working with great care, the old man diligently dusted the [teapot] that was on the shelf" and "After loading the children into the wagon, there was little room left for their toys". It becomes quite difficult after a couple hours, thinking of fresh ways of writing sentences. It sucked the life out of me.

I shouldn'tave bought my Theories of Personality textbook; the prof. had a target copy pack that was just a huge outline of the book, and I didn't get that because I already had the book and I could write an outline just like that. Turns out (from the looks of my first test in there today) that I should have bought the $15 target pack instead of the $90 textbook. $90 - $15 = How many CDs from Vinyl Fever?

Too many.

Too many.

(Funny how I started this post with a comment about already having everything I need, and ended it with a comment about not having CDs that I could have...)