Friday, April 29, 2005

I rear-ended a bus on my bike
hee hee
posted by meg @ 10:01 PM

James "Flaming Eagle" Mooney


My only contribution as a newly-minted grad is a story about an American Indian shaman (OK, so he's only one quarter Seminole) who is suing the state of Utah to force them to return 18,000 buttons of peyote they took from him in an unsuccessful effort to prosecute him.
posted by celestial @ 2:18 PM

Thursday, April 28, 2005

First final today. Pretty sure I went over the word limit, which I forgot about until after I'd turned the exam in. Oh well. I don't think that I went too far over, at least.

Tomorrow is the corporations final, so I'll be staying in and studying for that tonight. In fact, I'll probably be staying in all weekend trying to get a paper done. At least the review session for Admin today was really helpful. Only half the class was there. Who are these people who don't go to review sessions? What are they doing with their lives? Hopefully bringing down the curve for me.

All of you, promise me you will never go to law school. I don't usually regret it, but you are all much cooler than I am and would hate it.

Also I've been getting a lot of letters from all of those judges I sent applications to. Most of them say that they have no availability right now. The Honorable Shelvin Louise Marie Hall was very nice and said that I was quite well qualified. That was nice, but I still wish someone would hire me. Some judges from Washington have written back saying that they don't review applications until later this year or even early 2006. Hopefully I am well qualified in their eyes, too. Basically I'm hoping that the judges who are not writing back are failing to do so because they're holding the application and are going to make a decision shortly. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
posted by weiss @ 3:43 PM

Hey Derek,
I'm still here, just been really busy. TVOntario just went through
another wave of budget cuts ~ man, I don't know how PBS is doing down in
the states, but Public Broadcasting up north is in need of some serious
love! The show I work for got seriously downsized...but all is still well.

I'm still moving on with the "Todays Special" / "TVO Retro" revival
project. Hopefully when you get back from London there will be more to
talk about......and London!!! ~ that sounds awesome. Are you spending
time with family there? I love that city, it actually feels like home.

Anyways have an awesome trip and enjoy the "bangers and mash"!!!

xxxxxx
posted by D-Bo @ 1:20 PM

Man oh man... I miss the Goshen College art department

Hi,

A Reminder:

If you have yet to pay your $10 for Painting medium raw materials - please do so immediately.

AND

Please return all borrowed items (easels, boards, etc.) to the department this week!

Thanks
John

John Blosser
Professor of art
Art Department Chair
Goshen College
Goshen, Indiana
574 535 XXXX

---

ALSO:

New! (for the President's Council fans!)
posted by meg @ 8:21 PM

Don't worry, Landon!
Don't worry, Landon, I was still able to express myself at commencement with my very own purple hair.

In the words of Skip Barnett, I was very alma-matric.

Well, in a couple of days I will be off for London for my kick-ass May term class. It's expensive as all hell (especially considering I pay an extra $600 for living off campus), but it will be a lot of fun to see theater, go to music concerts and museums.

And, just in case anyone's curious, within a month of returning from London, I will be moving in with Phoebe Brubaker on 8th Street, so feel free to come visit me in my new apartment!
posted by D-Bo @ 9:05 PM

congrats new gc alumni
Welcome to the gc afterlife. I expect photos to be posted and links to whatever Elkhart Truth article is written on the event. (My apologies that you couldn't express yourself during commencement and for my responsibility in the matter).
posted by Landon @ 6:35 PM

Zac, I'm Schocked!
Haven't you ever heard of the rockin website where our fans worship us? It's true! Years ago, someone started a fan site (and an office, apparently) that is devoted to me and kate. They keep it surprisingly well updated and they offer a free membership. You should totally join.

oops! I almost forgot, here's the link: http://schrocktwins.blogspot.com/. I have it bookmarked.
posted by meg @ 2:52 PM

For Mike on his birthday:

• A Love Supreme!
  
• Schnittke is Everywhere!
  
• I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground!
  
• His Holiness Pope "Personality of the Week" Benedict XVI!
  

Respect, and congratulations.
posted by sasha @ 12:27 AM

Dude, mike, happy birthday... We (The APT 11, DC folks) were totally trying to call you last night. But I had a little too much vodka and I ended up calling Mike from the Cave and your parents... oops. heh heh
posted by meg @ 6:42 PM

incase anyone wanted to know how my day went:
2 tylanol
union station: closed
Department of Interior: peanut-butter on cheese crackers
dupont: pb&j sandwich
dupont: mango - lime sorbet
2 free candy bars
4 free candy bars
georgetown: coconut almond chip
georgetown: denied
georgetown: triple carmel
georgetown: chocolate
adams morgan: berry berry sorbet
adams morgan: falafel
adams morgan: shiner bock
posted by kate @ 11:21 PM

happy birthday mike!

posted by Sara @ 1:18 PM

well i went to bed early last night
i probably didn't ride more than 30 miles yesterday. after my first drop at the japanese embassy i noticed my rear tire was mostly flat, this is something i'd been expecting because my tire was shot. it wasn't all the way flat, so i pumped it up and rode it up to the Brazilian and italian embassies, after doing my business there i put in a new tube and set off for georgetown to buy a new tire, i asked the guy if he had anything on sale and he came back with a tire for $10, score, so i rode over to rosslyn and back and threw on the tire around washington circle. i didn't make more than 3 blocks when the whole thing exploded. so i had to walk back to the circle find my discarded tire, and put my last tube in, i don't know why i had two with me, but thank goodness. at this point i was pretty late for my next drop at unique botique. i was carrying a bag with some dresses in it in one hand and flying down L street, at 21 st i took off both my hands, as i was approaching where my mom worked a truck swung open his door, i reached down to grab my bars to try and swerve but ended up slamming into his door with my arm which sent me somersaulting off my bike. i stood up and tried to act fine, some witnesses helped me gather my belongings, including my belt which broke, and i set off to drop the dresses around the corner. afterwards i was like, boy i'd like to see my mom right now, and there she was, coming down out of her office for something to eat. i told her what happened so she gave me lunch. the truck was still there so we got all the information off of it, after a while we decided to get a police report. while waiting for the cop, the guys came back to the truck and i talked to them and got there insurance info. shortly there after the cop showed up and he was a big poop-butt so i told him i didn't want a police report after all and thanks for stopping by. my arm really hurt though so i found a restaurant and asked them for a bag of ice which i electrical tapped to my forearm. it was so hot yesterday the ice had completely melted in well under an hour. anyway. we watched hotel rwanda last night... that's a rough movie.
posted by kate @ 6:21 AM

dam green desperately seeking summer housemates
who: two or possibly three people (if you want to split the downstairs big bedroom)
what: live with us (sara wakefield and philip kendall) please
where: dam green house, "a quality place to live"
when: june through august, although overlap into may and sept can be accomodated
why: phil and i don't want to split the $680 rent, we love you, and you've been on our cool list since 2002
how: contact me or someone else at saragw(at)goshen(dot)edu
posted by Sara @ 9:21 PM

Open Pope Season
Since it's open Pope season--i'm guessing the 72-year-old Nigerian dude will get it, though deep down I'm pulling for my housemate Brian who is Catholic and way cool.
posted by Landon @ 8:49 PM

ahem
dear kate and julia,

these are the reasons why you should stay at Dam Green:

1. we have a futon and two couches! all yours!
2. we never lock our door!
3. pigeon!
4. wireless!
5. phil singing in the shower!
6. i'll read you stories!
7. and buy you icy pops!
8. and you can hang out with me while everyone else is busy graduating!
9. yay!

whoa, nine whole reasons for you to stay with me! how can you resist?
posted by Sara @ 3:20 PM

Well, someone has issues.
posted by meg @ 3:03 PM

While I certainly support trying to hit all of them, the Ben and Jerry's at the Old Post Office is often underattended. Consequently, Harvard House has a tradition of showing up there for free cone day and eating our hearts out. I'll be there at 6:30pm. It gets kind of competitive as to how many you can eat. I think I tied Jeff for eight last year. So anyway, I'd love to see you for an ice cream dinner!
posted by weiss @ 12:39 PM

While I certainly support trying to hit all of them, the Ben and Jerry's at the Old Post Office is often underattended. Consequently, Harvard House has a tradition of showing up there for free cone day and eating our hearts out. I'll be there at 6:30pm. It gets kind of competitive as to how many you can eat. I think I tied Jeff for eight last year. So anyway, I'd love to see you for an ice cream dinner!
posted by weiss @ 12:39 PM

what's better than a high of 82° tomorrow?
a high (no, that's wednesday) of 82° and free ice cream all day long!!!!
i'm gonna hit them all tomorrow, except for the chevy chase one, adams morgan will most likely have to wait till after work.
speaking of which:
julia and i are rolling my dad's street-legal riding lawmower up to goshen late this friday, so if any of y'all have a place for us to crash, that would be fantastic!
posted by kate @ 6:40 AM

Its been a while
Katie I love the photos in your portfolio! Especially the one of the girl with the guitar and the boy with the shovel.

In other news, I'm in Goshen for a few weeks, so if anyone's interested in hanging out, just let me know.
posted by Unknown @ 11:04 PM

Jesse B. Miller: Still our personal Jesus
Happy belated birthday, Jesse B. Miller!
2005
2004
2003

Also: What we were up to this time last year


posted by sasha @ 12:27 PM

so much fun, i'm blogging about it
by all means, fill out your taxes before the due day, but if you live in DC, i say, wait till the night of april 15 to mail them. ride your bike down to 10 mass ave ne, where they put the fun in refund (punny). union station transforms into a giant usps bloc party! happy reflective vest wearing postal workers line the unit block of north cap. holding those plastic mail things and tons of cars drive by, and lotsa people walk by, envelopes in hand, and i bike by, and in 4-6 weeks (i don't really know how long) i'll be getting $22 back from dc! party!
sadly i missed the first day of the dc film fest having so much fun, but if "5x2" is any good, maybe i'll catch it sunday. sweet.

oh, and katieco, as always, wonderful original stuff! yer book kicks-asses. so does your site. try ctrl-clicking on the last frame of your flash stuff and inserting a stop-action (smiley face) heh heh (again, smiley face)
posted by kate @ 8:48 PM

For those of us who don't have a 9-5...

It can be quite galling when the suited skipper wishes us a happy weekend. SOME OF US WORK ON WEEKENDS, damn it, and I don't care how "happy you are that it's friday." because frankly, I couldn't give a fuck. My week isn't over. So go take your kids fishing or whatever the hell you do on a saturdays. I'll be working for $8/hr at whichever establishment you choose to discard your hard earned cash.

Thank goodness it's fuck-if-I-care.
posted by meg @ 8:41 PM

SASHA!`
We had a house conference tonight and we all think that YOU SHOULD DO IT!!!
posted by meg @ 5:46 PM

Live in DC for the summer!
Hey! An undisclosed ultra cool person needs a roommate here in our nations capital from mid-june to late august. You get to live in the awesome chinatown-ish neighborhood and you can have my job at the docks! because I'll be filming during that time. Email asap if you're interested. meg[dot]schrock[at]gmail[etc...].
-meg
posted by meg @ 9:54 PM

I found a nice Catholic guy!
Look out for mack daddy Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, y'all. Homeboy is "an amiable and approachable" dawg, just the way we like our archbishops here, and looks hot in lace. Can you say "possible motherfucking compromise choice for Pope"? And in case the papacy thing doesn't work out, at least he's got this sweet honey waiting for him back in the sacristy:



Find out on April 18, boyees! (Or just watch Mel Gibson's new pope movie.)
posted by sasha @ 1:27 PM

Woot! I added to the wikibook on Bambara a few weeks ago... y'all should check it out now, y'here. I did about 80% of the vocab and phrases but little else. I think someone should pay me to make a textbook for Bamanakan... did you know that originally it had a script other than the roman alphabet? way cool. It was something arabic-ish. Also, if you're super-procrastinating, check out the wikitravel phrase book for bambara. it's way funny. My favorite translation it has posted is:

Eng: Do you accept British pounds? 
Bam: Do you accept British pounds?

Gee, that's helpful... there is a whole page full of useful translations like this...

I should definitely go to bed
posted by meg @ 11:35 PM

In case you didn't know
Pearl Diver won Best Feature at the East Lansing Film Competition. You can watch Pearl Diver and Lonesome Jim at the Indianapolis International Film Festival later this month April 21-24. I might be heading out there...
posted by meg @ 2:19 PM

Workplace Triumphs and Tragedies
Landon, that is an excellent story.

The other day my coworker and I were playfully teasing, OK, making fun of, another coworker, an intern, (I'm a fellow at Jubilee USA Network, so I'm finally a rank above the interns, score!) for her loud, long phone conversations with her boyfriend while she's supposed to be working. One clocked in at about half an hour. Though she was standing in the hallway, it was 100% audible, so the entire office got to hear:

"Sven, I can't believe you just said that!"
"No, if you loved me you wouldn't say that!"
"Sven, shut up!"
"No, shut up ..."

Ah, George Washington undergrads. You continue to impress me with your social graces.



In my other work, Religion News Service, I thought I'd share a few hits for where my articles have been published.

North Carolina reads about Oscar Romero

Utah reads about Romero

About World Vision (Landon, Look!)
posted by celestial @ 6:11 PM

New Yorkers are SO immature
So after living in New York for seven months, one becomes accustomed to the unusual. Today was the weirdest experience I've ever had while grocery shopping. Like normal, I went to the Associated Supermarket on 23rd St at 2nd Avenue, a mere four blocks from my home. Everything went smoothly and I go to an open checkout lane (actually it had been closed but the clerk opened it for me when she saw that I was waiting). She scans through all my items and I hand her a hundred to pay for the groceries, which were about $60.

Suddenly, she starts to scream angrily for the bagger. Not an annoyed, "Hurry up," more an "I fucking hate you, come bag the goddam groceries." So some guy shows up shortly and starts apologizing immediately and the situation becomes clear momentarily, as she screams, "I didn't waste two and a half years for you to cheat on me!"
"Not in front of the customers," he retorts, "You always do this." I'm a bit stunned at this point, because this is the sort of thing I had feared I would run into in New York, but figured I had encountered most of the weird things that happened in the Big Apple by now. But no...

Next, she turns to me, "Would you please tell this jerk that I'm not talking to him!"
"I'm not getting involved in your argument. Could I please have my change," I reply, while holding my hands up defensively. They continue to argue and she makes reference to her friend who is a slut, how she caught them making out behind the refrigerators, and implies that he is impotent, by kindly refering to his penis as "softy". I'm not sure what expression I was wearing at this point, but we're approaching the five-minute mark of this argument. I'm still owed $40. He, for the most part, is just taking it, but does manage to respond in-kind, as most 13-year-olds would (though both of these people were probably in their late 20s), claiming that his affair was merely a back rub. I really don't want to hear any more of this and am looking at the two people in line behind me for some indication that this is really happening. They seem annoyed, but much less so than myself. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the cashier just up and leaves at this point.

Now the bagger decides that I'll probably be more interested in hearing about his version, which of course, I'm not. Also, he doesn't even bother to start bagging my groceries. So, he talks about their relationship for a bit and does try to console me a bit by saying, in reference to the cashier leaving, "She'll calm down. She always comes back. Maybe it'd be better if you came back later, when she's calm...like tomorrow." I basically ignored that last part, becaused I'd already written him off as dumber than a box of rocks. I'm fairly uncomfortable at this point and have considered the possibility of being the good guy and actually listening to him, but the arguments been so immature that I couldn't convince myself that anything I would have said would have made a lick of difference. So I ask him and the cashier nearby if they could please give me my change. They say that only the crazy woman [my wording] was allowed to use her register. Great.

Another minute or so passes and she does decide to return. There's another brief fight and the bagger leaves, angrily. She then proceeds to stand there and sulk, not looking at me, not getting my change, just sulking motionless. WTF? I muster a few un-as-of-yet-frazzled nerves and ask, "Could I please have my change?"
She retorts, "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something!" Really, WTF? At this point, I loose track of what else I said. I didn't, however, raise my voice beyond a stern tone, though it was damn stern at least a couple of times.

She then takes a phone call from her mother and decides to start talking about her relationship for a minute. As that finishes I ask for my change again, and we're at least near the ten-minute mark, she reitterates that she's in the middle of something and adds, "Don't you know what common courtesy is?" Clearly, it is in dispute. I know I said at least that common courtesy was not involving other people in your personal problems or taking phone calls while on the job. To which she replies, "I don't get what the problem is?" At that point, I decide I'm going to have to get the manager if there's any hope of getting my $40 in change. So I ask the lady behind me in line where the manager's office is and she indicates where it is. I head that way and the cashier decides this is probably not good for her and starts yelling, "sir, sir, wait, come back, I'll get you your money." I told her to go ahead and get it ready and I would be back shortly. She follows after me and says, "sir, wait, you're on MTV's Boiling Point."

Yep. I did a brief post-hoax interview and signed a release form for them to air it, if my clip makes their cut. Alison, their manager will give me a call if it airs, which would likely be at the end of April. I will keep you posted. I hope my suffering might bring you joy.
posted by Landon @ 1:27 PM

The shrapnel from my broken heart pierced my spleen as the beautiful image I had of the infamous karate teacher shattered.

The long 16 hours of shooting three scenes with Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid) made it apparent that all the bit-roles this guy has done in his life have turned him into a pot-smoking wino who drops his pants at whim.

Literally.

I saw Mr. Miyagi's colorful underoos several times yesterday while shooting in the dormitories of American University. Yes, there were small children present. And yes, he is a very short man.

Good bye empyrean sage.
posted by meg @ 10:26 AM

yep, it's official
i've decided that deep down people appreciate almost getting hit by messengers. it adds excitement to their otherwise incredibly mundane lives. i know that while pedestrians are muttering their curses as my tire misses their polished shoes, there is gratitude beneath it all. when they return to the office with their legal seafood and sizzex, they have a story to tell the receptionist and an excuse to take a crappy taffy from the dish. frickin look before you run lady, i'm not trying to hit you. tee hee, i'm sorry
posted by kate @ 5:40 PM

Housemates went to Trader Joe's dumpsters with Tasara last night, coming home with some on the safe side of the edible line muffins and fruit. And buffalo cheese. I ate some. It was good, but it creeped me out thinking about how it came from a buffalo. Buffalo. Buffalo Cheese. It just seemed so unnatural. But I ate it anyway because it was very good.

Then later I realized that I had been confused. It was of course buffalo cheese as the label said, but in my head I had been thinking of bison. Bison are those huge hairy animals that roam the Great Plains. Sometimes people raise them for meat, but milking them seems extremely weird (and dangerous). Buffalo, on the other hand, are much more domestic, almost a kind of cow. Therefore eating their cheese is something I can manage without difficulty.

Yesterday I bought the new Decemberists CD. I'm still evaluating whether overall it's as good as their two earlier offerings. At least Track 7, 16 Military Wives, definitely is. You should watch the movie for it.

Also, you should grab a copy of the Washington Post today so you can get the insert for Filmfest DC. I want to see 5x2 and Manual for Love Stories, but if you are interested in something else you might be able to talk me into that as well.
posted by weiss @ 1:52 PM

a word from kate
thank god it's pop-ice season again!
posted by kate @ 8:19 PM

wowsa, the last record, for a bit...
so i'm blogging from the hub. we were done with the record by 2:30 this evening. not bad. i'm finishing up a project for duane before i head out to my tent by the dam pond. later this morning i have to wake up and get drums and sticks to the broken shield by 7:45 am for the ecopax drum circle. my tent doesn't have an alarm clock so here's hoping for an internal wake up call.

yup, this is my last edit of the paper for the semester. anna will be stepping in for the final paper as i will be traveling to the dr to report on a international student conference hosted by the movimiento sin aulas group next week. at the beginning of the semester i decided i wanted to take a trip somewhere and report from an international setting for the record. dr is what transpired. in addition to reporting on the conference and the work of this group, we hope to build connections and organize an exchange where members of the msa will travel to the u.s. next fall and tour in indiana talking about their work at campuses who open their doors to them.

i'm falling asleep typing but the cd is still burning. er. maybe i'll go have another cup of dark liquid.

tentative plans are being made for a little graduation party for histand and myself on the night of april 23. more information to come soon. out.
posted by joel @ 2:53 AM

Mali, WTF
My favorite ice cream place in Bamako and also the capital's largest bakery, Patisserie Almandine, was apparently looted by rioters after Mali lost to Togo several days ago in a soccer game.

There goes my #2 reason to return to Mali.
posted by meg @ 5:23 PM

Congrats, Jules! I hope this means that we'll get to see you sometimes over the next year. Or you know, you could just live in DC and commute by the MARC train.

On the way home from an MRI and NIMH ($150 baby!) there was a woman loading things into the back of a black Ford Explorer in the middle of the bike lane on Adams-Mill Road. As I usually do in situations like this, I hollered "bike lane!" as I passed. She startled, jumped, and banged her head against roof of the SUV. I almost felt guilty.

Also coming up is the filmfest dc. It starts on the 13th and runs for the following two weeks. Tickets are uniformly $9. I won't be able to make a whole bunch of the films, but I'll be ashamed of myself if I don't make at least one or two. While I need to prepare for finals, I don't have any particular plans for those two weekends (except maybe Zap Mama at the 9:30 on Saturday, April 16). I particularly want to catch 5x2 on Friday, April 15. Pick up a copy of the current City Paper and turn right to the center for the full listings.
posted by weiss @ 5:34 PM

Congratulations

Julia Hershberger has been accepted into The Peabody Institute flute studio as a masters candidate!!



And...
Guess who finally got a job as a dock hand at the gangplank marina? Ohh, it's me baby.
posted by meg @ 5:20 PM

dc, here i come
hey everybody,
i'm coming to dc/va for a whole week starting this monday the 4th!! yay!! the best times for hanging out with me are before thursday and after friday. on thursday and friday i will be hanging out with tyler and my new newphew. my parents have moved somewhere else in SW, i'm not sure where, somewhere not close to the marina/waterfront stop. meg, i will call you when i get in. celeste, i will give you your xmas present. kate, you should not be busy so we can make another zine.
see you soon!
love,
sara
posted by Sara @ 8:17 PM

April fools news stories
Snopes.com has a great summary of todays fake news stories.

Highlights include:

Apollo Bacteria Spur Lunar Erosion

Disney's Casino Adventure

Bush Twins to Join Air Force Tech Unit in Iraq

First Confirmed Picture of a Planet Beyond the Solar System

Smurfs Furious Over Vail Conference Center

And finally, last but not least:

BBC to Remake Star Trek
posted by Unknown @ 6:02 PM

friday pontificatin'
yo dawg, you should serialize the PC book here, achewood-style, for those of us living out of the bubble. In related news, Juice: put your paper online somewhere so we can all enjoy it. What's it about, anyway?

Also: "Stasi Files Implicate KGB in Pope Shooting." Man, That dude has had a hell of a life. I almost forgot about the assassination attempts.
posted by sasha @ 5:27 PM

So the big news for today is that Lollapalooza is happening. It's only one weekend, July 23-24 at Chicago's Grant Park. I'll be in Pittsburgh, which is only seven hours drive from Chicago so I'm definitely aiming to go.

But just to throw a wrench in the works, next week only there's a $35 two-day pass special. Should I forge ahead and seize it, or wait until the lineup and my late-summer schedule is more established? Oh the choices that confront our daily lives. What do the rest of you think?

And what about those of you living in Chicago? Can we stay with you? Also, is it a cool place to live? I think I might want to move there.
posted by weiss @ 10:52 AM