-Insert Clever Title-

I exploit you, still you love me...

2009-09-04T15:28:00.003-05:00

So today I had finished up Latin 1 and begun my precious (this-semester-only) planning block when the French teacher came in to ask a question. I assumed it would be technology-related, but instead it was this: "What are your feelings on guaranteeing the president a captive audience?"

On Tuesday, President Obama will address the nation, specifically schoolchildren, in the early afternoon (1:00 EST). We've been asked to turn our TVs on so the students can listen to a speech by the president directly to them, essentially telling them to work hard and stay in school. I was struck immediately by the implicit hostility in my colleague's question and tone. I said that for me it didn't much matter, because I would have my planning block at that time, but that I would be watching to see what he said. The French teacher (a registered NRA member and a teacher who refuses to join the National Educators Association because they are "too liberal") is clearly nettled by being forced to allow the students the chance to listen to a president. He said to me, "It has the air of... well, can you say Hitler jugend?"

Yes, I can. But I think there is a big difference between stoking up young white men to feel that they are the superior race and talking to all children nationwide about the importance of education. When it comes down to it, my colleague is not entirely wrong - Obama definitely has a personality-cult vibe; he is a talented public speaker and there are, I'm sure, many people across the USA who can't help but attack anyone who criticizes him. But surely President Bush had the same kind of devoted supporter (if not the speaking ease), just on a different side of the ideological fence.

I hate party politics. If this were President Bush, I would still listen to hear what any president would say to the youth of America. My colleague would probably be talking up what a positive opportunity this is for kids to learn about politics and the importance of a good education. But it's Obama, so he's up in arms; and because I am teaching in a county that eats, drinks, breathes and bleeds Republican, his view is not uncommon. There are reports of students whose parents are going to keep them home from school that day.

Some negative reactions I can understand, but some leave me not knowing what to say. I sat openmouthed and struggling to find a response that would both convey that I don't share his degree of aversion to any particular party and also not open myself up to another earful of criticism. You can't change a mind so intentionally shut and deadbolted. I for one am looking forward to hearing this address. To refuse to send a son or daughter to school for an entire day JUST to avoid hearing words from a politician's mouth? Inexplicable. Especially when those words are guaranteed to be innocuous (he won't exactly be saying "vote for health care reform"). But the fact of the matter is that I am teaching in an area where this kind of overreaction is applauded by many. It scares me.

NPR tells me that the same thing is going on around the country... but should I really find that reassuring?

The best part of a bad economy

2009-07-04T11:01:00.002-05:00

...is the sales. I'm sorry that S&K is going under, but that didn't stop me from taking advantage of their going-out-of-business sale to add a new suit, a bunch of shirts, a couple of ties, and a leather jacket (which I never really thought about before, but was a steal and feels and looks really good) to my wardrobe. Almost can't wait for fall now!

Also, I'm hoping Sarah Palin's resignation means that someone had something horrendous over her to force her to get out of politics for good, but I can't help being afraid that she may be still hoping for the presidency, as her faithful assure us.

Ignorance is bliss and a low grade

2009-03-09T18:05:00.003-05:00

15 Latin 3 tests.

Answers to the derivative question "Who was the English potentate during the American Revolution?":

King George: 3
King Henry: 1
The King of England: 2

That's fine, at least they knew it was a king. Here's where it gets distressing:

The President: 2
Colonists: 1
England: 1 (England was the English potentate? Seriously?)
"The North": 1 (Revolutionary War, Civil War, who really knows the difference?)
Powerful: 1
and my favorite, George Washington: 3

I tell myself that surely the "George Washington" responders just didn't read the question well enough, and do, in fact, know that he was on our side... but there are nagging doubts. What do they learn in history? I knew who King George was in elementary school (hell, he was even in Gumby cartoons).

Also had a 2.5-hour faculty meeting this morning in which we "brainstormed" ideas on how we need to "adjust" our academics, etc., to the "current, changing economy" (i.e., f*ck you unless you teach agriculture, shop, or business). Sometimes I feel like I need to get a job at a private school, or at least a less rural school. Someone actually suggested turning the library into a vocational research area because it "isn't very effective". Sigh.

Benefits of Public School Teaching

2009-02-02T23:59:00.002-05:00

After working on various school-related things until about 9 tonight, I found out that tomorrow's school day has been canceled due to snow, my third snow day as a full-time teacher. It is a just and glorious world at times.

What do they teach you at that school?

2008-12-16T18:30:00.003-05:00

Nine out of eighteen HS Latin I students even attempted their homework last night, after yet another red-letter performance on the easiest quiz I could possibly have given them yesterday. Of those nine, four got full credit for doing a decent job.

I hate this class.

The sheer stupidity of the majority of them is astounding. For example, Kenny comes in to make up a test today, which he missed last week. He shows up and says, "Mr. Carruth... what chapter is it on?" I don't know which is more disconcerting: that he isn't even pretending he looked at the study guide I handed out, or that he can't simply take the chapter we're on now and subtract one.

Example number 2: Lucas spectacularly failed a quiz last week. I offered to let him retake it if he came to go over his quiz and talk with me about the concept (which he obviously didn't get) one-on-one. We agree for him to come at 7:45 Monday. He showed up at 8, at which time I need to get set for Latin II. I tell him we don't have time now, and suggest that he come back today at 7:45. I was very emphatic on this point. He came in at 8 again. As he looked at me expectantly, as though I would just give him an A for showing up, I noticed he didn't have anything with him; no pencil, no paper, no failed quiz... not a thing. I asked him where his paper was and he looked at me blankly. I said we couldn't go over his quiz if he didn't bring it. He left the room to look for it, and came back assuring me it was at home. I suggested he come back tomorrow at 7:45 with his paper. We'll see, but I won't be holding my breath.

This same child also missed the test last week. On the study guide, it clearly states that the students need to know a handful of Latin inscription abbreviations for the test. Lucas missed one of the days on which we worked on these, which was the day we pulled it all together and made a master list. He had enough material to figure it out, but I thought I would be nice and give him a condensed list when he got back. He took it, used it for the activity we were doing at the moment, and promptly left it on the floor of the classroom. I have no doubt he will leave the inscription section of the test blank, or make up fake words.

Most of the class, in fact, left that section blank. And this is what brings me, finally, to the point of this post, and the logic behind the title. I hand out a study guide every chapter at least two days before the test. On this study guide is a handy list of everything the students need to know for the test. There's that word again: know. Most of my HS Latin I students seem to think that when I say they need to know this, they should glance at it once or twice, vaguely remember having seen these terms and ideas before, and that means they're ready for the test.

Despite the fact that they have now taken eight of my tests, which all follow the same format, they seem to think that they will not have to actually recall facts. I do really wonder if this is because they have grown so used to all multiple-choice, all the time. We had the same problem today on a tense quiz; we spent yesterday practicing, and I told them the exact format of the quiz, yet today half of them or more acted as if they had never seen this kind of exercise before, much less been shown how to do it and practiced. The notion of knowing something - being able to manipulate data and express ideas in a free-form setting - is a joke in this class. Half of them are in eleventh or twelfth grade. They are driving cars. It is truly a frightening proposition that a group of people so resistant to learning of any kind are operating such complex machines.

In the end, it all reminds me of an all-too-true statement I heard on the show Weeds which reflected what I fear has become reality in public education. A child named Shane Botwin had no idea what his mother was referencing when she referred to an event from US history. His uncle asked him, "What do they teach you at that school?"

Answer: "How to pass the standardized test."

A new direction?

2008-11-17T19:06:00.003-05:00

I'm toying with the idea of reviving this journal as a means of commenting on the joys of the public education system, relating funny (read: depressing) stories about my students, etc. Don't know if I have the motivation or not, but we'll see.

Six out of my eighteen Latin I students did their homework over the weekend. I'm not sure if I'm more disappointed that they didn't even try it, or that they didn't even make up fake excuses. The unapologetic laziness of 90% of my students is a constant dead weight dragging down my optimism about my job. Most days I find myself hoping fervently that my high school students are NOT indicative of their generation as a whole.

Studying has become passe, an outmoded fad, yet another casualty of cable TV and the internet. My students know who knocked up whom on what trashy TV show, which celebrity is dating which, and how many touchdowns has scored this season, but cannot be bothered to memorize four new items (seriously, four - not even concepts, just verb forms) over 3 days. Two students (again, out of eighteen) memorized all four.

What frightens me most is that I have the "smart kids."

Van F-ing Halen!

2007-08-25T09:13:00.000-05:00

And I have Van Halen tickets.

YES!!!!

To pacify Ryan...

2007-08-25T08:33:00.001-05:00

I have grievances with Microsoft too. Top of my list at the moment is why on earth they decided to make Office 2007 filetypes incompatible with older versions. Why, Microsoft? Why save as .docx when you can opt to save as .doc anyway? I can only imagine it's an attempt to make people upgrade to 2007 just to avoid the hassle/annoyance of choosing "Save As Type" and picking .doc extension and/or getting a translator program. Sigh.

iHate

2007-08-24T16:55:00.000-05:00

iBook
iPod
iPhone
iLife
iWork

If iSee one more iProduct iWill probably explode.

iHate your stupid name system, Apple.

Howl

2007-05-09T23:07:00.000-05:00

HOLY MOLY IT'S A REMAKE OF THE LON CHANEY, JR., WOLFMAN!!!!!

This was my favorite movie in the world as a tiny little kid, I think I probably watched it so many times our VHS tape wore out. Oh and I have it on DVD now. This could be a travesty or it could be so very, very awesome. Only time will tell...

Why mega-gamers suck

2007-05-09T19:55:00.000-05:00

I was just on Amazon.com (the world's best store) and I happened to notice Halo 3 listed. It's not even out yet and it has a four-star rating. I hate anyone who rates a product that has yet to be released, so that's not why hardcore gamers suck. This is: what really gets under my skin is the firestorm that shows up if someone leaves a comment saying they don't like the game.

"OMG noob ur such a noob halo liek teh best gam ever lol!!11"

Half of it's that kind of keyboard vomit, the other half is people on their preachy high horse talking about how Halo is the best game series ever, revolutionary, will bring death and destruction on Sony's games, blah blah blah.

Revolutionary?

I played Halo when it first came out, and it was far from revolutionary. The storyline's a mix of Doom and the X-Files, and while it may be a great console shooter, graphically and control-wise it's inferior to PC games years older than it. It plays like Quake 2 did. I don't hold these things against the game, just the idiots who spew out the bullshit accolades.

So sorry boys and girls, I don't think Halo 3 will be bringing the pixelated nirvana you're so convinced it will.

In other news, I can't wait to see Spider-Man 3 but I'm too swamped in final projects to take a break. Hopefully it'll have a real long theater run and I can see it on the big screen after I'm done with school.

Song of the night is "It Doesn't Matter" by Alison Krauss and Union Station. Beautiful.

Heaven and Hell

2007-05-05T13:56:00.000-05:00

It's official: Thursday, May 17th, I'm going to see Black Sabbath and Megadeth in concert.

Sabbath is fronted by Ronnie James Dio, not Ozzy, of course, and while I wish I were seeing them with Ozzy I'll take what I can get. Plus it's only 50 dollars! Megadeth will be the real draw here for me. Dave Mustaine can be whiny sometimes but his awesome, metal god status is unquestionable. Cue excitement!

This is the second awesome metal concert my friend Matt, whom I met in Italy, has gotten tickets for and let me in on. He's the man.

But now I must get back to schoolwork, it isn't over yet.

Song of the day is Megadeth's "A Tout le Monde".

If it's in a book, it must be true

2007-05-01T22:01:00.000-05:00

I'm stealing this link, probably even before Ryan posts it (if he intends to do so). (click the actual page numbers to view the pages)

That's right, my favorite construction is the winner. Awwwwwwwwww yeah.

Song of the night is "Broken" by Pantera. Tom Morello and his band Audioslave ripped off this one's main riff big time with their song "Cochise". So if you haven't heard "Broken", it's like "Cochise". Only a lot better in every conceivable way. \m/

The Golden Compass

2007-04-29T23:04:00.000-05:00

...the movie's coming.

Comment on my daemon or find your own (mouse over image and click the button). You could morph mine into some other critter if you disagree with my answers, apparently. Link totally and unapologetically ninja'd from Kelly.

Birthday was fun, I got Greek and Roman coins (holy moly!). Shame I don't have a camera, I'd put a picture of 'em up on here. Kevin wants to torch my GPA apparently, because he sent me a PS2 disc with over 30 Sega Genesis classics on it. The Sega Genesis is and has always been my favorite system. So now I have piles of work on one hand, and Sonic, Flicky, Kid Chameleon, et al., on the other. Uh oh.

PS - if you haven't read the His Dark Materials books yet, WTF are you still doing here? Go read them, noob!

Song of the night is the eerie "Hutterite Mile" by 16 Horsepower. I MUST get this on CD.

Small favors

2007-04-23T19:28:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling miserable and it's only Monday. But the early morning meeting tomorrow has been canceled, and just now I found out that so has prose composition. Meaning I'll have only an hour and a half of school tomorrow. Meaning I can put off Vergil tonight and do more tomorrow. Sometimes life has some good surprises.

Song of the night is Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek". Very mellow, kind of sad. Interesting use of vocoder or something similar.

I feel so normal

2007-04-18T19:43:00.000-05:00

I wonder about myself sometimes, as I'm sure most normal people do. Am I doing the right thing with my life? Is this really going to make me happy in the long run? More specifically I have two major subject-related concerns. Some days I feel like I'm actually not very good at Latin and I wonder if I'll expose myself for a hack one of these days, and sometimes I wonder if I'm actually doing my job (teaching my little Latinists) well. These can be disconcerting thoughts.

Some days I look at a few of my peers and realize I'm just fine.

Some of my fellow grad students just don't do the work. I don't mean they skip something now and then, I mean they never complete the readings. Some make Latin 101-level mistakes that they'd call out their own students for. And then there's one poor guy who just has no self-confidence. I'm talking absolute zero. It makes me feel fortunate that I am not so full of self-doubt.

I hate to say it because it sounds so mean, but sometimes comparing myself to a select few of my colleagues (most are both skilled and hard-working, even if they'd tell you otherwise) makes me feel so much better about myself.

Song of the night is Buckcherry's "Next to You". The more I listen to them the more I find out they're a great carefree rock band that's just a lot of fun.

2007-04-16T20:00:00.000-05:00

Daniel's ok, so are Kelly's brother Jimmy and my high school friend Matt. Doesn't make the situation at Tech any less terrible, but I can't deny I'm relieved.

A funny thing happened on the way to the classroom

2007-04-15T16:46:00.000-05:00

Something cool and fun happened in my Latin class on Friday. One of my students said she went out for dinner the previous night and almost ordered a Caesar salad (pronounced 'ky-sar,' not 'see-zer').

Yay Latin!

Song of the day is Rob Thomas's lovely piano/voice piece "Now Comes the Night". See an incomplete but excellent performance here. It's beautiful.

Musical thoughts

2007-03-31T22:19:00.001-05:00

I've always liked Nickelback, ever since I first heard "How You Remind Me" on the radio. I still do, even though it's becoming increasingly cool to hate them. But I never liked them quite as much as when I saw this:

I knew they were Pantera fans, but as you may know Metallica has a firm grip on my heart when it comes to music. This is such a good cover, I honestly can't believe how well they pull it off. Rock on, guys. They catch a lot of flak, but even if they do follow a bit of a formula at times - who doesn't? If you want to talk about several of a band's songs sounding similar, let's talk AC/DC, undisputed rock gods. I won't justify further, I don't need to, but I will finish with them by asking this question: how many other groups do you hear on the radio who a) put Dimebag Darrell licks on one of their songs and b) cover Metallica live?

In depressing music news, I got all excited for nothing. That's right, Van Halen tour 2007 will not be happening. Eddie is in rehab and things are on indefinite hiatus. It's rough being a Van Halen fan, man. And to add to the VH doldrums is the debacle that was their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What should have been awesome for both fans and the band was pretty underwhelming. Eddie and Alex, the actual Van Halens, did not attend. Eddie's excuse was rehab; Alex probably just wasn't going to show up without his brother. David Lee Roth also did not attend. I respect his decision, though; those in charge of the event refused to let him perform. I can't blame him for not going. It's like your family having a birthday party for you, but not allowing you to blow out the candles. So Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, neither of whom is still a member of the band, were the only people from any lineup to show up. Sigh. So instead of seeing Van Halen rock our faces off for a few minutes and celebrate their entrance to the R&R Hall of Fame, we got to see Velvet fucking Revolver cover a couple of songs. I'll close this with David Lee Roth's comments, which pretty much echo how I think most fans feel about it:

"It's just not an option for me to go and watch some other band — who are only performing because they have some new record coming out — do our music. I have nothing against Velvet Revolver — I'm not familiar with their music — but that was my 3 minutes and 22 seconds up there."

It hasn't been a good month for Van Halen. Song of the night is their classic "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love". Keep your fingers crossed that post-rehab, Eddie, David and Alex will be hitting the road for real.

There but for the grace of education...

2007-03-06T00:37:00.000-05:00

Well I've just had my first experience grading papers in bulk, and it wasn't pretty. Never in my life (well, not since 6th grade at least) have I so appreciated my English teachers (especially Mrs. Sublette, who taught me how to turn my jumbles of words into persuasive papers). Some of my favorite highlights or lowlights, depending on how you look at them (completely unedited):

"...and [Romulus] granted the women certain rights that their husbands held, such as citizenship and bearing children." And women say men don't know the pain of labor.

"Although many people believe the empire grew overnight..." Hmm, methinks someone misheard the phrase 'Rome wasn't built in a day.'

"Romulus performs the rights of Hercules..." That'd be the right to kick ass.

"The Plebs decided to succeed..." That's the spirit, Plebs! (For my non-classical friends, the Plebs actually decided to secede.)

"All the men became untied..." Pull yourselves together, men! (I know, this one's an easy typo, but it just sounded so funny)

The best quote selection ever: "They got into an argument that led to 'bloodshed' (Livy p. 10)"

From the Mad-Libs version of Roman history (insert adjective here!):
"Brutus then vows to overturn Luscious Tarquinius Superbus..." Tarquin's delicious.
"Spurious Lucretius her father arrived..." What a phony that Lucretius is.

Current events made an unexpected appearance: "It is believed that the ancient holes and depressions on the Palestine hill are the foundations from Romulus' hut."

...as did pop culture: "[The story of Romulus] reminds me of the movie Scarface..."

In the gratuitous quotation marks category: "Rome couldn't 'handle' the violence..."

And finally, probably my personal favorite: "However, their pleas fell onto death ears." Too good to be true!

Oh, and one more, this time from the "There are just so many things wrong with this sentence" category (grammarians, look away!): "Rhea was a priestess and priestess' were exceptional woman born of a noble family and have a vow of virginity and chastity."

Eat your heart out, Richard Lederer.

Also for a chuckle, check out this website which someone actually cited for this paper. Nowhere else have I seen a Geocities-worthy layout, a Jimi Hendrix quote, and an offer to purchase an "Impeach Bush" t-shirt on a single page. As if Wikipedia weren't bad enough! Fortunately for everyone involved, this wasn't a research paper, they just had to use the assigned reading.

While I'm posting links, two more: First,the best headline that I can remember seeing in a good long while. Second, well, this. An apocalypse is coming to cleanse the world of our species, I just know it.

Song of the night is Stevie Ray Vaughan's version of "Superstition" (although the Stevie Wonder original is pretty killer too!). See them rock it together here, which is pretty cool.

Bulls(hit) on Parade

2007-03-03T19:39:00.000-05:00

I love a good Rage Against the Machine groove as much as the next guy, but it unnerves me how many people seem to think their lyrics are really meaningful. No they aren't, they're like "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me." DEEP!

Anyway that was just a random thought. In other news, I took the MTEL Latin subject test today, and at the risk of setting myself up for a fall, I think I gave it a good smackdown. We'll see if I have to eat my words in a month or so.

Song of the day is "Bulls on Parade", because it doesn't have to be meaningful to rock. \m/

Best KO ever

2007-02-27T22:57:00.001-05:00

Kostya Tszyu, the Thunder from Down Under, shows how it's done in the best knockout ever:

FYI for those unfamiliar with boxing: if you get up and fall back down, fight's over.

The sound of Charlottesville

2007-02-24T16:56:00.000-05:00

I just got my copy of the new Nashville mix of "A Far Cry From Freedom" by the Sons of Bill. This is probably Charlottesville's biggest local band at the moment, fronted by my high school friend James Wilson, with his brothers Abe and Sam (all three sons of Bill Wilson, hence the name) on piano/organ/banjo and guitar, respectively. I took the few guitar lessons I ever went to from Sam, he's a very talented guitarist. It's rounded out by my high school classmate Seth Green on bass and Todd Wellons on the drums.

This is really great southern rock. I know I don't have more than a few readers, so I'm not really promoting these guys, but I really can't say enough good things about them. The songwriting is superb; there aren't just one or two good songs, they're all good - musically and lyrically. I won't lie, part of me is envious that they've been able to do so successfully what I've only been able to daydream of; I wish I had half James's songwriting talent, Sam's guitar ability, or any of the brothers' vocal talents. They're really that good, as much so live as in the studio.

If you want to listen, ask me or check out the clips at sonsofbill.com. If you like it, you can support a really good group of guys by buying the album at CDBaby.

Song of the day is a toss-up between "Back to the Time", "Too Far Gone" or "Makin' it Through the Night"... the more upbeat rockers may be the crowd favorites, but the more subdued and lonely ones are right up there with me.

Step 1: Shut the hell up

2007-02-19T22:31:00.000-05:00

This (not) just in: "Dick in a Box" has been played out. I thought it was funny when it first aired (which is worth mentioning, considering SNL is usually about as funny as hearing you have polio - it doesn't make you laugh so much as incredulously say "Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?"). I'm not a Justin Timberlake fan, but I'm glad he doesn't mind a good joke. But as in so many situations, America latched on and now the proverbial dead horse has been beaten so much it's pretty unrecognizable. I can no longer laugh at this, just as I can no longer laugh at Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which seems to be the world's most over- (and often mis-) quoted film. Like many a Family Guy joke, it's been re-hashed for me so many times, through so many media, by so many people both known and unknown, that it has lost all humor for me.

Which ties into my Educational Psychology professor playing clips of Arrested Development. Leave it alone, Scott; don't kill something great for me. See Ryan's post for more on this stupid class, including a link to its totally hip and cool Myspace page!!!1!11 lol

Another thing that bothers me at the moment: the song "Lips of an Angel" by the band Hinder. I don't mind the song, it's catchy enough for me. I mind the lyrics. You have to whisper so your girlfriend won't hear you telling your ex how you wish you were still with her? Oh gee, you poor tortured soul. I hope your girlfriend leaves you on the street where you can beg for coins when your fifteen minutes of fame are over. Yet as evidenced by the comments on the YouTube videos, there are a lot of girls (and guys) out there who think this is actually a romantic song. The ironic thing is that because it's got such a ballad feel to it, this will no doubt be flooding dance floors. Sigh. It's the same problem I had with that annoying Rihanna song that was all over the radio a while back, about how hard it was for her to cheat on her boyfriend. Yeah, I have tons of pity for you, you jerks.

Oh yeah, and in typical pop-airwave fashion, Hinder actually sucks (warning: your ears may hate you if you click this link, and your eyes may hate you if you read some of the "oh this song is so deep, it, like, totally speaks to me on so many levels" comments). Oh for the days when you had to have talent to cut an album with a major label.

Song of the night is the Gin Blossoms' pop-rock gem "Found Out About You". I love this one. Songs about lost love are great. Usually they're the best ones. Songs about cheating on your partner are not.

WC out.

Scott the bagger

2007-02-18T21:11:00.000-05:00

I went grocery shopping today and thought about Scott the bagger. I never found out his last name, but for several years he bagged my groceries at Kroger. Scott was one of those reassuring constants that I so often take for granted. He had a severe stutter and I got the feeling he'd been dealt a tough hand by life, but he was always cheerful and fun to talk to if you were patient enough. I think he bothered some of the cashiers, the typical "I don't give a damn, just get out of my line" type. Some of the customers probably felt the same way. But Scott brightened my day every single time I went into Kroger. I never would go to any line but his. This was a guy who, I'm sure, had a hard time in life, especially in relations with other people - it's a cruel world - but he put all his effort into a job most people take because they can't get another. He put similar things together and made sure nothing was crushed or bruised. He put heavy things in two bags so the bottom wouldn't drop out. He took pride in doing the best job that could be done. And he talked to me. Over the course of those years I found out we share a liking of the Peanuts comic strip. When I left he would always wish me a nice day in a genuinely happy voice. One week he wasn't there, and I haven't seen him since. I hope his hours changed and just no longer overlapped with my weekly grocery day and time, or that he got a better job where more people will appreciate him and what he does. But I miss him. It was a small thing, a few minutes out of each week, but it's funny how the smallest things can make the biggest difference sometimes.

Song of the night is "Waiting for the Light to Change" by Tonic. That's just what I'm doing.

Spit in the rain

2007-02-15T22:03:00.000-05:00

Truer words were never spoken, little buddy.

Song of the night is Del Amitri's "Spit in the Rain".

Comedy!

2007-02-01T00:31:00.000-05:00

Well I didn't get anything done besides what I absolutely had to get done tonight, but on the bright side I discovered the following websites:

Overheard in New York
Overheard at the Beach
Overheard in the Office

Hooray for new comical quotes sites! A nice classically-themed one for the evening, which, as my brother so rightly said, puts in mind the image of Calvin for some reason.

In that vein, I decided to add some of my favorite links over on the right side there. If you want some good comedy, click them. Bash.org is the best quote page on the net - funnier for the technophile, but I think anyone can appreciate it. Be sure to view the top 100 for some of the best! Superdickery will have the comic book fans laughing for days; it's a collection of (usually old) covers or out-of-context panels that are hilarious to the modern reader, started to back the statement: "Superman is a dick." Worth1000 is a site for photoshop contests, some of the work on there is pretty incredible, and always funny. I'll share some of the favorites that got me hooked, from a contest to combine famous artwork with an ad:

Song of... later that night, I guess... is Alabama 3's "Woke Up This Morning", aka the theme to The Sopranos. It's so good, I can't see the HBO logo without expecting to hear it, even when I know I'm watching something else.

Woke up this mornin', got yourself a gun...

It's easier to run

2007-01-31T20:10:00.000-05:00

Well it's only day 3 of a new semester and I'm already fighting the urge to despair.

For starters, Educational Psychology is looking like it will turn out just as I thought it would - a class where I learn absolutely nothing but am forced to memorize a bunch of jargon to mask the fact that I'm not really saying anything (toss around enough theory names and I guess people will think you're smart).

Then there are my classes that have actual value. Prose comp is being taught by big K, whom I alternate between quite liking and quite disliking. It's a very odd mix of feelings. Hopefully it will be good, I'm holding judgement for now (although after I write this I need to write my Latin "diary" entry for the day... sigh). Medieval Latin is ALSO being taught by him, so this should play out interestingly. Meets tomorrow for the first time. Tonight we had our first meeting of Virgil. I've learned that even though I had a semester-long class on the Eclogues, I don't remember a single thing about them. Oops. I have never before had a class where the norm is 350 to 400 lines per week, and I am honestly pretty scared. That's of course in addition to Medieval. At least Roman Civ (which I'm TAing) shouldn't be much work, just read the materials and grade tests/papers. Oh, and I have to get my pre-practicum writeups finished and take the Latin MTEL and pray I don't fail.

I would really like to go home.

There are positives, though; over half of my students this semester are ones I had last semester. I love them. I got to read my feedback from last semester and some of them were so sweet it made me feel all good about myself. Overall they came out pretty well, which I hope means I'm doing something right. I'm pretty sure the teaching will be the best part again this semester, which gives me hope. Ryan's loaned me Prison Break season 1; it's superb and if I ever get time I'll finish it. And last but not least, I've gone out with some of my friends here more already, and it's good to not feel so isolated. So I'll remind myself that I haven't been beaten by school yet and keep my head up. Bring it on, grad school.

Songs of the night are "Easier to Run" by Linkin Park and "Nomah's Land" by Métisse. The second would be on the soundtrack to my movie.

I miss Jason Newsted

2007-01-26T18:01:00.000-05:00

I want Jason Newsted back.

Jason was a killer backup vocalist ("Creeping Death" live... just doesn't have the power without him), a great bass player with a unique style (heavy pick action), and a good composer (take a listen to "My Friend of Misery"). I love the rest of the band, but he was the most energetic (soloing on stage while the rest took a breather every single show). He was always the most available to fans. And probably best of all, in interviews he seems so much more intelligent than the stereotypical rocker and he's got a good sense of humor.

And the band fucked it up. They treated him badly for fifteen years and he finally decided not to take it anymore.

Jason, I understand why you left the band and I think you made the right move (not to mention that the album without you was pretty terrible), but I do wish you would come back. I miss you.

Song of the day is Metallica's "Creeping Death", the live version from Cunning Stunts.

Corporate dickery

2007-01-16T18:16:00.000-05:00

I bought seasons 2-5 of The Sopranos from bestbuy.com over break and apparently managed to send them to the wrong address (Massachusetts, not Virginia). Sigh. Well damn. DVDs will be sitting outside my apartment for a long time just begging to be stolen. But wait! Ryan says he'll pick them up for me! Having friends rules!

But wait (again). UPS won't just leave the fucking package (sorry for the tone, UPS... I know you were just looking out for me and trying to prevent said theft, but I am in a rage), they keep putting up those failure to deliver notices. OK, no big deal, they've done that before, it just means a trip to Springfield (blah, but worth it for organized crime) to pick it up where it's being held at the UPS center.

OH WAIT. "Fuck you," said UPS. "Me?" I said incredulously. "Yes, you," they replied. This in the form of an email from Best Buy saying my product return had been successfully received.

WHAT?!?! No no no no no no no! Surely Best Buy will allow me to reverse this tragic mistake! Surely they won't deprive me of the best organized crime television there is! Call customer support, listen to groovy music. Groovy and repetitive music. OK now mostly repetitive. Yay, a person! Dear person, please say I can reverse this. Oh, I can re-buy the items at full price, even though they were on sale when I originally bought them and they were returned as a mistake? Thanks, kind representative, I never would have thought to USE THE WEBSITE TO PLACE MY ORDER A SECOND TIME if that were what I wanted to do. But, having been on the receiving end of many an angry caller during my days at ITC, I thanked her and kept my tone pleasant.

No Sopranos for me. Goodbye wonderful savings. Goodbye wonderful television show.

But on the bright side, I was jonesing for some Phil Collins last night and I didn't own any, so I bought some and it rules. Phil, what a marvelous crafter of songs you are. Plus I got a postcard from Leighton in Ireland (come back Leighton, I miss you and I won't be in Virginia much longer)! So take that Best Buy, my day carries on unruined.

Song of the day is "Can't Stop Loving You" by Phil Collins. Awwww.

Fun with observations, or how the pre-practicum sucked away my winter break

2007-01-14T18:12:00.000-05:00

Well it's been a good few weeks since I posted my Amp of Glory. I've been playing a lot, picking up new riffs and fine-tuning my sound, etc. In the off-time I've picked up a Boss Metal Zone pedal in pristine condition at less than half price (yay ebay) and the difference is stunning. As I told my brother, it can sound like Satan himself is riffing when you turn up the crunch on that thing.

Other than that, I'm sorry to say the fun has gone down due to schoolish obligations (hence the title). We have to spend SEVENTY FIVE HOURS observing middle and high school classes over winter break. Come on now. That's overkill. We can call 20 of that out of our last semester's observations, which I'm doing whether or not I actually spent 20 hours in schools. The bright side of that is that I got to spend a good chunk of time with Mr. Mann (high school Latin teacher) and will be spending a day with Mrs. Webb (6th grade English... she rocks!).

But all has not been lost. I've been using the out-of-school time to catch up on 24 (aka the best show ever). I'd seen seasons 1 and 2, we have DVDs up through season 5. I'm now caught up and can't wait for the new one (starts tonight, but I can't watch it)! Jack Bauer is my hero. If you haven't seen it, watch it. No show in history is as addictive. I get almost no sleep when it's 24 watching time.

And now here I sit putting all my CDs on my computer (I had only done select tracks for most because of lower hard drive space back when I first went off to college, time to rectify that).

I think I'm the only person on earth (or at least in the USA) who owns either a) all five Spin Doctors albums (remember "Two Princes"? Yeeeeeeeah!) or b) more than five Blue Oyster Cult albums (I own eight... ten if you count the 2 hits CDs).

Song of the night is "Bad Horsie" by Steve Vai. Oh that guitar. It's heavy heaven.

40 watts of all-tube Christmas joy

2006-12-27T02:53:00.000-05:00

A late Merry Christmas to anyone who reads this. My big (=only) present from my parents was a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, aka 40 watts of pure, unadulterated, rich vaccuum tube goodness. It's one of the cheapest reliable-brand options for anyone wanting to make the jump to a tube amp without selling vital organs on the black market (I was previously using a solid-state Marshall MG80, which was a great starter amp, but there's just no comparing solid-state sound and tube sound).

I'd played through this model (briefly) before; Mike Tosto ("Mike T., the Ladies' Choice"), a former Master Kong bandmate, plays through this and kindly let me try it a few times. The cleans are absolutely gorgeous. Some complain about the drive channel; my philosophy on this is that you can always add a distortion pedal to power up your drive channel, but no effect in the world is going to compensate for poor base clean tone. My guitar sounds so good through this thing. I've only gotten to play around with the settings a little bit, but straight out of the box it's got beautiful tone, and I've been able to get some good bluesy sounds out of the drive channel and even crunch it up to quasi Enter Sandman level. I'll be tweaking and exploring a lot more in the coming weeks. As for power, well, all I have to say is that I had my family surprised at my volume when I was set on volume level 3 of 12 (sorry, Nigel Tufnel, my amp goes PAST 11!). \m/

Other than that, Christmas was pretty calm. Kevin was out here all day and we played some board games, some poker, had lots of good food, did plenty of relaxing, etc. He gave me a GB of RAM and a fantastic sound card, both of which I've now installed in my (newer) computer. I went to his house for the night and we stayed up watching several episodes of the HBO series Rome, which is fantastic (probably more on that later). Speaking of HBO, thank you Best Buy for having a 50%-off sale on all HBO box sets on Christmas Eve; I decided to save a lot by spending a lot, so on their way to me are The Sopranos seasons 2-5, Rome season 1, and the Band of Brothers miniseries. I'm going to have a lot of things to entertain me before too long.

I'll stop there for now, because that's my Christmas in a nutshell and that was the point of this post. Merry Christmas (late) to all, I hope you had as good a day as I did. More than anything I'm just glad to be back in Virginia with my favorite people in the world.

Song of the night is Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters", the song I play almost every time I pick up a guitar and my new amp's inaugural piece.

The worst movie

2006-12-17T01:24:00.000-05:00

Ever since I saw S.O.S: Summer of Sam (thanks for the initials, film execs, that makes the title so much catchiera and hip), "A Spike Lee Joint" (because saying 'film' or 'production' is so pedestrian), it has held the coveted title of Worst Movie I Have Ever Seen.

I feel like the talent in it (Adrien Brody and Mira Sorvino, and John Leguizamo, if you call him talent... I haven't seen anything like it from him) signed up because it's Spike Lee, assuming it would be good or at least have that 'artistic' quality to it that gets the critics drooling when Joe Moviegoer wonders why he wasted his 8 bucks.

It lives up to neither. I'm pretty sure the critics didn't like it, and I sure hated it. I gave it a chance; I watched all 142 minutes of it, thinking there must be some shred of goodness coming to lift it from the yawning abyss of its own unpleasantness. 142 minutes I will never, ever get back. The only good thing about this movie is that Mira Sorvino is an incredibly beautiful woman (WHY, Mira??? Why would you waste yourself in THIS?!). Everything else is a bad mixture of cliches.

All that is leading up to the party I attended last night. In lieu of reading in preparation for my Cicero final (pfft, who needs to be prepared for final exams) I went out with Ryan, Dustin and several other Classics students and we ended up at the party of Andrew, another classics grad. This was the weirdest party I've ever been to. A real contender for that WMIHES title, threatening to dethrone Summer of Sam, is apparently known as Shaolin Soccer. It was playing with the sound off, which didn't matter because it's subtitled in English. As far as I can tell, the plot revolves around soccer players with magical, Matrix/video game-style powers, a bread-baking woman who is sad because her shoes are broken and cries about it (her tears then fall into the dough, ruining the bread, apparently, which starts the vicious crying cycle over again...), and the final showdown vs (I'm not making this up) Team Evil. As you may have guessed, what keeps SOS firmly seated on its throne is that Shaolin Soccer, like so many before it, has that odd "this is so bad it's funny" quality to redeem it.

This movie we watched when we were not outside watching people basically twirling fiery batons of different lengths ranging up to bo staff proportions. Or watching the reactions of people drinking the homemade mystery beer, whose ingredients I was never actually given an actual list of. Or watching Mr. Blond Dreadlocks, higher than Bob Marley on a trip to Amsterdam, drop lit cigarettes on the floor. Or listening to the girl tell Ryan that he should get high by dropping acid, instead of with Robitussin because it's BETTER FOR YOUR HEALTH. Also, if I heard her correctly, she got high on Robitussin as a kid and at some point got a tattoo while under the influence without realizing what she was doing.

So basically last night took all the things that were at the top of my list of Weird Stuff I Never Expected to Happen in Grad School (or Anywhere Else, Really) and smashed it together into one huge ball of oddity. I guess that's what happens when you throw together the vastly disparate groups of Classicists, bus drivers, and (apparently) fire jugglers.

And to think I almost stayed in the library reading about Cicero.

Song of the night is Seal's "Love's Divine". I only know two songs by Seal, but they've convinced me I need to buy some CDs and get some more. He's got a great voice and some great songwriting talent.

That's good comedy

2006-12-10T22:40:00.001-05:00

Thanks a bunch to Kelly for the link ("Business Time" by Flight of the Concords). I am going to have to check out as much as I can find by these guys, they rock! See also "Jenny" by the same group:

Song of the night is, shockingly, now either "Business Time" or "Jenny", I can't decide!

Just a quick question

2006-12-10T15:36:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd take a second out of my day to ask: what's with Paris Hilton's popularity? She's hideous. She looks like her face got smacked full-on with a big pan when she was young and never quite popped back into shape. I can only assume her popularity is due to her complete lack of shame. It makes me cringe that people actually find her attractive. *shudder*

That's all, I'm just confused. A banner ad brought this to mind.

Song of the day is "Crossfire" by the incomparable Stevie Ray Vaughan.

So close

2006-12-07T22:22:00.000-05:00

Today was the last day of Cicero! Now all that remains is tons of reading and the exam...

Unfortunately yesterday was NOT the last day of Education 524, aka the class that makes me want to throw myself through the 3rd story window because the shards of glass and broken bones would probably be less painful than having to sit through 2.5 hours of patronizing, condescending, touchy-feely bullshit.

Usually it's just mind-numbing to the point of agony. But last night was a kicker. Irv Seidman, an Oprah/Dr. Phil wannabe who couldn't hack it as a teacher and didn't have a degree anyone cared about, switched into the education department, which fully deserves the bad name it has at schools everywhere. But that's not the point. The point is he is usually so afraid of mildly putting anyone out that nothing is wrong... everything is good.

Except my presentation, apparently.

My partner and I (it's a "team teaching" project) had 14 minutes to do a topic of our choice. He's history, I'm classics. We picked Romans and Christianity. Despite my loathing for the class, I think the material deserves proper treatment so I actually did try to make it worthwhile. We did not rehearse together, and my partner clearly was more willing to extemporize than I was, but hey, some people are good at that. No worries.

We do our presentation. Partner makes a goofy joke during his part, I didn't think it was particularly funny but hey, who am I to judge. Some kids chuckled. He made this joke during an example of martyrdom where a girl's forced into the arena with big hungry cats who proceed to rip her apart. Maybe not the best time for a joke, but I can't control it and I certainly don't think it was a big problem.

Irv comes up to us after our 14 minutes are up and gives us a 5 minute lecture (quietly, while the other students are just chatting among themselves) on how we were extremely disrespectful to Christians. "You don't know who could be sitting in the back of your classroom," he said. Then he said it again. Then he said it again. This is how Irv operates... listening makes you want to kill yourself just to stop it. We try to ask what we did wrong. He won't mention specifics, except Partner's joke. OK... then why glare at me, Irv? Even if that joke was in poor taste, what the fuck can I do about it? He just kept going on and on ad infinitum.

The good news is I have zero respect for him, his class, and his opinion. So by the time I got home after a Rammstein-laden car ride, I was no longer feeling angry or even very bothered by it. But a little annoyance remains... if I did something wrong, why can't he say what? I am pretty convinced I didn't, and my friends who were listening confirm it. So why fuck with me, Irv? Why?

So Irv Seidman - my disregard for you knows no bounds, you worthless waste of time and space. WC out.

Song of the night: "Diamonds" by Los Lonely Boys. Picked up their second album, Sacred, and it's fantastic.

Casino Royale = holiday fun

2006-11-26T23:09:00.000-05:00

So the family arrived Thursday night to spend my Thanksgiving break here with me. It was so good to have someone else around for a change. Kevin stayed here with me, mom and dad in a hotel. Kevin brought along Guitar Hero 2 and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance which made for video game fun. Much to my chagrin Colossus was taken out of the PS2 version, but I had a good time as Deadpool, another Wade.

A lot of the time we all spent together was spent on the board game Shadows Over Camelot, which I'd never played before and which is very complicated, but turned out to be a whole lot of fun once I finally understood what the hell was going on.

But the highlight of the weekend (besides seeing the family, which is a given) was probably Casino Royale. I finally saw it and it was just what I was hoping for. I had wanted a tougher, more hard-edged and ruthless Bond, and I that's what I got.

The WC Review of Casino Royale

It's a departure from the series much like Batman Betgins was. It goes back to the beginning, showing us Bond's ascension to his famous double-0 status. The title animation (one retained aspect) was well done. I knew I'd love this movie from the initial chase scene, one of the best I've seen (and completely on foot!).

Without going into the plot too deeply, I'll say that this movie packed a much-needed punch. There is no Q (I don't much care for John Cleese in the role anyway) and no ridiculous gadgetry, and I didn't miss it. There were also no cheesy one-liners. I'm the first to appreciate a good groan-inducing pun - I love 'em to death - but this lends to the more serious tone of this entry into the Bond series and I find myself glad they avoided them this time around. Ooh! Also, Bond is finally back in an Aston Martin instead of a BMW. And what a car it is.

True to form, there's an absolutely gorgeous girl in this film. Can't say I'm sorry. Feminists, though, will no doubt be happy to find that she's not a helpless bimbo whose chest measurements surpass her IQ. She's smokin', yes, but she's smart and self-reliant as well.

Then there's Mr. Bond himself. I liked Daniel Craig in Road to Perdition and Munich, but hadn't really seen him in anything else besides Layer Cake, which was, in a word, strange. He capably handles the role. Speculation will continue about who is the best Bond, and I have my own ideas about that, but I'll see if Craig continues in the series before making any final judgment. I put him right up there with Brosnan and Dalton (especially the latter, who also made for a more intense, less playful Bond). I completely bought his performance and he did an admirable job in every aspect (including the torture scene that almost made ME scream in pain).

Some reviews I read said it dragged on too long, but I disagree (of course, two of my favorite movies are The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, so I guess I have a high tolerance for lengthy movies). Clocking in at 2 hours and 24 minutes, it takes its time and develops the story as it should (I think moviegoers are too impatient, but that's another topic) and doesn't leave any annoying unanswered questions. My brother, much more the Bond fan of the two of us, tells me much of the movie, including dialogue, was taken right from the book of the same name. Seems to me that that's a good thing.

All in all, I think this movie gives a much-needed shot of adrenaline into a series that's been in a constant downhill trend since GoldenEye breathed new life into it. It's got the best of the old (good action, espionage, hot cars...and heck, who am I kidding, hot girls) and brings it up to speed to compete in the no-nonsense world of Jason Bournes and Ethan Hunts. I'll be buying this when it comes out on DVD, and maybe going back to see it again before then.

Song of the night is Matchbox Twenty's "The Difference." Beautiful.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T14:59:00.000-05:00

I'm thankful for a few things this year, but mostly that I've made a friend in a strange place. Not my strong suit but it makes this program a lot more bearable.

My family's in the car on the way here now.

Song of the day is, fittingly, "Grazie Mille" by 883. Per ogni giorno, ogni istante, ogni attimo che sto vivendo - grazie mille.

Cute but sad

2006-11-22T01:11:00.001-05:00

This makes me want to smile and cry all in the space of 3 minutes. Song of the night is "And So It Goes" by Billy Joel. It's a heartbreaker but beautiful.

Some days I'm ashamed to be a gamer

2006-11-20T21:23:00.000-05:00

The world's a crazy place. The PS3 came out recently, as many people are aware, and caused a little more than dampened spirits. There were several robberies of stores, people on their way out of them, and even people waiting in lines. Get this - someone was SHOT over this thing. WTF is up with the world? Just wait a month or two! Heck, Tekken 6 isn't even out yet, and who needs a PS3 without Tekken 6? ;) But it's not all bad, some if it's downright hilarious. That's right... John Edwards tries to abuse his famous name to cut in line. What a loser. Politicians are scum.

In other funny news, the guy who does Borat tries his brand of comedy on someone who just doesn't want to play along.

Song of the day is "Long Time Gone" by the Gin Blossoms (in case you hadn't heard, yes, they're back together and have a new album out - this is my pick for best song on it).

My new favorite show

2006-11-20T00:48:00.000-05:00

My new favorite show is Arrested Development. Leighton has been telling me I need to watch it for quite some time now, and I know she has impeccable taste (can't be pecked, that taste of hers). Thanks to Ryan, I have now seen season one and a large chunk of season two, with season three just waiting for me. Television shows on DVD are genius. I love them. AD is fantastic. It's the best comedy I've seen in a good while. Great characters, great acting and great writing.

It's narrated by Ron Howard, whom I, like so many others, first loved as Opie (which makes me sound a lot older than I am, but who cares). The narration is a nice touch, I like it. Gob (pronounced like Job from the Bible) is the man and probably my favorite character... I mean he does magic shows with The Final Countdown as his theme song - how killer is that?!

Shame it's been cancelled (as so many good shows are... yet reality TV shows continue unabated. It's a cruel, unfair world), and after only 3 seasons. I recommend it; it gets the Wade Seal of Approval.

Casino Royale is out. I'm excited, hoping it will take Bond back to a grittier, tougher hero, as when GoldenEye breathed new life into the series. Gadgetry is fine, but not as the whole point of the movie. Pierce was great, I'll be interested to see how the new guy does (I saw him in Road to Perdition and Layer Cake). Kevin and I will probably try to go see it if the family comes up for Thanksgiving (still not absolutely certain).

This is fun. I watched it like seven times. This is a blog run by Ryan and his friends. Speaking of Ryan's blogging, I also laughed a lot at this (which is probably common knowledge now, but I saw it first there) and especially this. I want so badly to like Tom Cruise but he makes it so damn hard. Maverick, LeStat, and Ethan Hunt vs goofy antics. The latter end keeps getting heavier and heavier. :(

Another cool link discovery is my BF2142 stats. If anyone reading this plays 2142, that's what I try to do when I have some spare time... message me!

Last but not least, check out Topher Grace turning into Venom. Yay Spider-Man. I love Topher from That 70s Show, about which I'll undoubtedly say more later if I keep this thing going. Add that to the obvious fact that Venom is the coolest Spider-Man villain ever to hit the pages (and now the big screen!) and you've got yourself a winning combination.

Song of the night is "Get Out of My Mind" by Hootie and the Blowfish. This song came to me right when I needed it. Make sure you check out the radio edit, the drum track is much better and the song overall is nicer. This is the song that made me run out and buy the new album after I heard it a mere 2 times.

I still believe you when you say it's another perfect day

2006-11-19T00:16:00.000-05:00

Well this weekend's been pretty good so far. Some ups, some downs... but mostly ups.

Friday

I already mentioned the Bulger awards and the recent source of interest related to them, so I'll just skip that by saying that I shook hands with the brother of one of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted. Probably as close as I'll ever get and I'm happy with that.

Earlier in the day I met with Keitel to discuss next semester. It's going to be hard. Harder than this semester. Sigh. Latin Prose Comp (though it sounds like I'm one up on most of the rest since I've had a comp class before), Vergil (which I hear will be very ambitiously paced), Medieval Latin (that's right... 3 Latin classes), Ed. Psych (blah). Plus the Latin class I teach, plus IPA, plus TA for one lecture class. Eek. Technically Pre-Practicum too, but that needs to get knocked out in January over winter break (yay, work on break).

After the Bulger awards some of us went with Lisa to "Bub's BBQ", which was pretty good (no Big Jim's, but good), for her birthday dinner. I then came home and hopped into Battlefield, but none of my friends were on and it's not much fun by myself, so I just watched TV and went to sleep.

Saturday

The early Thanksgiving party hosted by Rebecca. I made brownies which actually came out OK. Although I had to stop midway to go get baking soda. I KNOW i bought some earlier but I can't find it. Which is quite a feat considering how tiny my apartment and especially my kitchen are. The food at the party was good. The conversation strayed into classics more often than I would have liked, but I expect that at such a thing. Ryan and I left briefly to buy Catchphrase, which got us off classics for a while. It was fun.

During the party came the worst thing about the weekend: my great-uncle Wade Carlton Carruth died today. We all knew it was coming. We weren't close or anything, but it's still sad; he was a good guy. Today was my cousin Tom's wedding day, which unfortunately was probably overshadowed largely by the death. But in a way it's one of those "one thing ends, another begins" sort of things. Being with other people at the party tonight took my mind off that though, and I ended up having a good time.

Got home and got a call from Annie, who's camped out for a Wii after her preorder got messed up by the dumb store she originally went with. Always nice, because she rocks. Talked to Kevin for a while too.

And here I sit, writing my life down as if anyone would ever care to read it. But who cares. Last little tidbit for today: I awoke this morning to an email from Tony Woodman, which made me very happy. I'd been thinking about emailing him to see how he was doing, but he beat me to it. It's nice that someone who made such a difference to me still wonders what I'm up to. What a guy.

Song of the night: "Spit in the Rain" by Del Amitri. With a little luck and with a little time, you'll pull through. Words to live and hope by.

Oh, grad school

2006-11-17T00:12:00.000-05:00

You know how they tell you grad school's more work and less sleep than ever before? What do you know, they were right! It's not even that the work is harder, there's just so much of it sometimes I just hang my head and sigh. I'm not even TA-ing a lecture this semester, nor am I studying for the Latin MTEL like I should. Sigh. But I'm almost done for the week, Cicero's done, another week's almost gone, and the test is written to give my eager young Latinists.

Speaking of my eager young Latinists, I had an outside-of-class (optional of course) review tonight for the kids who are not feeling good about the test tomorrow. As they walked out of the room, as bewildered as they were before, apparently, I got my quote of the night: "Wade, you've ruined my life." They say the joy of teaching is in the difference you make in people's lives. (It's ok, she was just kidding - she's one of my best and favorite students)

Most Fridays I get to come home right after teaching my class. And I like it. But tomorrow I have to attend the William Bulger Awards in the Classics department. This was boring until I found out that William Bulger is pretty well connected to Boston organized crime (seriously, his brother's literally on the FBI's 10 most wanted list; google Whitey Bulger). That raised my interest level a little - a lover of classics who's got connections in 'waste management'. How often do you see that?

A quick aside - a big thanks goes out to each of my friends who makes me feel better anytime I get to feeling sad, lonely, or just plain ready to go home. The early part of the week was pretty rough, but as it turns out it was nothing a good talk with a good friend or a good round of Battefield 2142 (warfare in a new century) with Kevin and his friends couldn't fix. Sometimes despite all the crushing work looming over me, I have to say 'screw it' and just forget about it for a few hours. Sanity tops getting all my work finished any day.

Song of the night: "I've Changed" by the Josh Joplin Group.

PS - it's officially Friday, so 1) yay, and 2) happy birthday to Lisa (who I'm sure will never read this, but who cares?)!

Apple is not a cure-all

2006-11-13T00:12:00.000-05:00

High on my list of stuff that shouldn't matter but makes my head want to explode anyway is the idea that a Macintosh computer will cure all your technological ills.

I'll admit I'm a Windows user, but that's not why it bothers me; I think Apple makes fine products and I'm comfortable using them (had to be at ITC), but they have yet to offer anything that makes me want to switch. Heck, Macs with Intel processors are now out, moving yet further toward the status of PC with a different look. Of course, most people will never realize this.

And that's what bothers me about it. Apple's advertising seems to target people who don't really know how things work and try to exploit that. We've all seen the ads with the guy who keeps sneezing and coughing cause he's the virus-ridden "Windows" guy, next to the strapping, healthy "Apple" guy. Implication: buy a Macintosh, you'll never have virus problems again! Add that to the fact that for some reason the iPod became the thing that every American had to have (I don't. *gasp*) and you've got a whole lot of people out there who think Apple is god. They blather on about how Macintosh computers never get viruses. They bitch about how "Macs never do this" when anything goes wrong on their PC. I've got news for you: Macs are just as prone to trouble as PCs. What should be the deciding factor is really just OS preference. The funny part is if any of these people do make that switch, they'll be lost in the Mac OS and whine about how things don't look the same anymore.

I'm going to be laughing my head off if Macs ever start to really catch up to Windows machines (a distinct possibility), because then the pock-marked, socially inept losers who create viruses in their parents' basement while listening to the latest emo screamo will start targeting the Macintosh OS, and all the people who got suckered in by the "be virus-free!" bullshit will cry in frustration because they bought into the hype and got burned by the fires of justice.

Then maybe everyone will realize that exploits will always be found in any system, there will always be jerks who think it's funny to fuck with people, and common sense and knowledge are, in this as in all things, your the defense. But probably not.

Song of the night: "I'm a Fool" by American Hi-Fi. Which, for better or worse, will always be tied to how I felt the night Jessica and I officially made the jump to being a couple. That was a good feeling, and this is a good song.

Just when I start to forget

2006-11-10T17:08:00.000-05:00

...someone reminds me of how absolutely stupid people can be.

I am so tired of hollow bitchfests about how someone's "going to move out" of the state or country because of the result of a vote. Yeah, OK buddy. Be sure to give me your new phone number so I can not call and see how you're doing. We all know you're not going to move. You're just an older reflection of a spoiled child who didn't get his/her way and is now crying and screaming hoping someone will re-center the world around his/her happiness.

Welcome to real life, where you won't always win.

In other news, MTEL part one is tomorrow. At 7:45 a.m. Until 12:30. Yay.

So with that I'm taking the rest of the evening off, watching TV and playing Battlefield 2142. Song of the day: "Behind the Mask" by Anarchy Club (on a related note - Guitar Hero 2 is out!)

Out of the ashes

2006-11-09T22:52:00.000-05:00

Well my online journal has been resurrected. I don't have much important to say, so I'll provide an update on what's happened over the past several months.

I'm in Amherst, Massachusetts, over 500 miles from home. I got into both the grad programs I applied to, but UMASS has a better one so here I am. Since I'm in grad school you can probably guess that I graduated. I miss UVA and especially UVA Classics, but change is inevitable I suppose.

I hate change, but I was happy to get out of Charlottesville for a while. I needed some distance from Jessica. As I suspected would happen, we've already pretty much completely lost touch. Maybe it's better that way. If I'm honest I still miss her, as much as I hate that I do, but that could be the subject of its own post altogether.

But now that I'm out I can't help wanting to go back. I sometimes think life would be fine if I went back to ITC full-time, where I know everyone and am comfortable. But my comfort zone hasn't exactly worked in my favor over the past year, so I'm giving change my best shot. Sigh.

Anyway, I'll close for now and wax thoughtful more later. Not that it much matters, since I will now likely have a grand total of 1 reader. Meh, no worries.

Song of the night is "Cindy" by Tammany Hall NYC. I first heard it on Scrubs a few years ago and finally tracked it down. It's wonderful.

More to come?

2006-11-08T02:36:00.000-05:00

I might start this thing up again now that I'm in a new state. I was recommended last.fm a good while ago by Jeff but I just got into it today as a way of avoiding work. It's cool stuff. While playing around with it I saw you could add your 10 most recent listened-to songs to your web page/blog/whatever. So I figured I'd test it out. Maybe I'll never post again, or maybe I'll be back with increased frequency. We'll see.

In Flames live

2006-02-24T15:32:00.000-05:00

Haven't written anything in a long time, so I'll update with a concert review.

I went to see In Flames last night with Drew and Jon and several of Drew's friends from JMU. We missed the first opener, Zao, but that's fine with me, mostly because I didn't think too much of the next two, whom we did see. The first was Devil Driver, who struck me as very generic and didn't really have anything special about them. I don't really like screaming vocals all that much; In Flames does a pretty good job of balancing it out but even their vocals get to me sometimes. Devil Driver was all cookie-monster growling. Not a fan. Their songs all sounded the same to me. Add that to the "fuck"-laced crowd interactions and you've got a stereotypical "look at me, I'm tough and totally hardcore" band.

Next up was Trivium. I'd never heard them before, and they struck me as just ok. Some of their songs had the same problems as Devil Driver's. Again the vocals were not my favorite. But unlike DD they did have some good guitar work that stood out in a couple of songs. I may check out an album of theirs and see if I like it, we'll see. The best part of their segment was their tribute of sorts to the late Dimebag Darrell; they played a little Pantera medley that was really killer.

Finally the main event came. I know, if you're reading this you're probably wondering how I can like In Flames so much if I have the complaints listed above. Here's what separates In Flames from the rest of their genre: they write songs that are not just the same old riff rehashed, they mix some actual singing into their screaming, and most important - they have amazing guitar parts. It really highlights what a difference good songwriting makes... the guys in the other bands were obviously very skilled at their instruments, but unless the song is well written it's all a waste. In Flames rocked. The highlights for me were: Pinball Map (opener, a great choice), Cloud Connected, Behind Space, and my two favorites, Only for the Weak and Colony. They played many other good songs, but those were the ones that for me really made the show. They also didn't swear at me between songs like the others did, which I liked. Call me a carebear, but I don't need to be abused by someone I paid to see... I don't understand the people who enjoy being called motherfuckers, etc. It doesn't make you a badass, I promise.

Anyway all in all it was a good show, well worth the money and the drive. I'm very tired and my ears can still sort of feel the effects.

Song of the day is In Flames's "Colony" off the album of the same name. Great, great riffs.

A semester later...

2006-01-04T15:12:00.000-05:00

Well, another semester has come and gone in the time since I've written anything here. A whole lot has happened.

It was the busiest semester of my life but in terms of classes it turned out really well. Latin Prose Composition was hard, but great. Definitely good for me. Italian is as great as ever, and I started German this time around. Last of all is good old Greek, in which we read one of the worst plays ever (Ion by Euripides). Everything turned out fine at the end of the semester.

I've applied to two grad schools, now it's just a matter of waiting to see if they'll take me. With luck I'll be going to UMass (at Amherst) and as a second choice UGA (in Athens). I got recommendations from Mr. Woodman, Mrs. Clay, and Mr. Kovacs, whose names are pretty recognizable in Classics circles, so it's nice to have some heavyweights in my corner, so to speak.

In October Jessica left me after the best 2 years and 9 months of my life. I thought we were made for each other but I guess we weren't. Then my sweet little cat, Calvin, died. I found him close to midnight lying outside. He couldn't move his back legs. I took him to the all-night emergency vet. They said it's not uncommon in older cats; he had a blood clot that was blocking circulation to his back legs and would work its way into his lungs and kill him. It was the first time I'd ever seen one of our pets put down. My parents were gone to Miami so I was the only one with him at the end, but I'm really glad I was. The poor little guy was sweet til the end; he purred while I drove him to the vet. It was a miserable month. But at least Halloween was good, as always. I was a Roman soldier this year (http://www.people.virginia.edu/~wc3s/halloween05/halloween05.html).

Christmas was good. I had a hard time getting in the spirit of it this year but I came around in the end. I got the Chronicles of Narnia in hardback and a CD player for my car, both of which were big surprises.

I've gotten more into Italian music. Got a couple of CDs for Christmas. Beautiful stuff.

New Year's Eve I was worried I'd be depressed about being single, but fortunately that was not the case. Went to Kevin's and spent the night with laughs (Ice Age, There's Something About Mary) and gangsters (Scarface, The Sopranos). It was great.

Happy new year to whoever, if anyone, may read this. Hello 2006, may you be better than 2005.

Song of the moment is the beautiful Il Mondo Insieme a Te by 883. Com'è bello il mondo insieme a te. *sigh*

Star Wars movie review

2005-06-01T10:01:00.000-05:00

Well it's been a good while since I posted here, and I thought why not wax thoughtful on such a hot topic as the new Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith movie. Heck, no one's reading anyway, right?

Let me start off by saying that I thought the movie was pretty good. No more than that, not "great", just "pretty good". A lot of people are saying it's better than Return of the Jedi, but I strongly disagree. It was, however, nice to see some connections. I had a hopeful/fearful outlook to start because while the movie hailed the return of the most badass villain ever to grace the silver screen, let's face it - George Lucas sure has a way of fucking things up these days. But I was pleasantly surprised. One of the definite highlights was the distinct lack of Jar-Jar Binks - finally! R2D2 instead provided the comic relief, and it was great. That's how comic relief should be done! I also have to admit that Hayden Christensen - who, I have decided, is just a miserable actor - actually did an ok job in parts. He even managed to look cool (instead of his usual unsteady combination of crybaby/smoldering) when they slapped a cloak on him and pulled the hood down over his face... finally he drops the pansy act and starts kicking ass. Man I wish cloaks had never gone out of style! But anyway, the best scenes were the ones where he stopped being depressed loverboy and started killing. As always I liked Yoda - he's been my favorite since Empire - but even his lines were kinda goofy. I'd rather mute it and just watch him, he's the man. Even so, I was happy to see him open up a can of it with his mini-lightsaber. Also I got a real kick out of him knocking out the guard. So short, but so good!

But now let's move on to the really fun stuff - the bad stuff. Basically I had the same problems with this one that I had with the last two: miserable acting (for the most part) and even more atrocious writing. Who writes these scripts?! Ol' George can make it as impressive in terms of CGI as he wants, but great effects can't make up for terrible writing and acting. It constantly amazes me how he could make such great movies on such low budgets (4-6) and such worse movies on such astronomical budgets! I also (shockingly) still hated that the bad guys are just goofballs. The battle droid things are ridiculous - if I made a robot built for destruction, you can bet it wouldn't have an emotion chip or whatever these things have. Also, if it had to have a voice, it would be a cool voice. It was like they were battling an army of Number 5s from that movie Short Circuit; talk about non-threatening! My big problems with story connections: 1) why abandon these legions of clone guys and millions of battle droids, etc., for an army of stormtroopers who are equally poor marksmen? It just doesn't make sense - you don't have to pay robots and the clones clearly don't have social lives, families, etc. But oh well. Same with the starships; Lucas's technology frenzy has driven him into outdoing "later" technology with "earlier" technology. Anyway all that aside, it also bugged me to see the beginnings of the Death Star at the end of this movie. The twins were just born... it's going to be a good amount of time before the Death Star comes around. Since they built the second one in a relatively short time, why did the first one take so long? Maybe they had a lot of kinks to work out or something. Eh. The most disappointing thing was Darth Vader's pansification. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO" he screams in a pathetic, helpless way. I'd much rather have seen him go ballistic and crush/destroy things. But oh well. Last but not least, can we get real with the villains here? Darth Sidious? GENERAL GRIEVOUS???? Let's just put in Baron Badguy, Captain Coldblood and the Earl of Evil while we're at it. BAH!

So overall pretty good, despite all my objections. The problem overarching all three of these prequels (besides the awful scripting) is that it just doesn't seem realistic. Yeah yeah it's a space adventure, etc., but I thought the old, low-budget ones felt way more real (with the puppets and so on). There's so much computer animation that it makes me wonder why he bothered to put real actors in it at all. Might as well have animated the whole thing.

Movies aside, life is good! Puppies are growing and full of energy, my friends are back in town from college, and I haven't yet started my sucky summer job (still working at UVA for the moment).

Can I get a HUA, sergeant???

2005-03-04T13:52:00.000-05:00

It's officially spring break. I'm still at work but I'm about to leave and spend a little time having fun before driving off to Miami tomorrow. News tidbits:

- Went to a surprise 21st birthday party for Chris. It was good, I miss my friends from high school a lot. Also in attendance were Sarah and her boyfriend and Meredith. I hadn't seen or really talked to any of them in way too long. Got some good catching up done.

- Had a "congratulations-on-almost-being-married" get-together for Scott (Dictator E.) at Wild Wing Cafe. Scott and his dad were there, along with a family friend and Scott's brother-in-law, and there were several T79ers: me, my dad, the Joneses, Dennis Hogberg, and Greg Paquin. Many good stories from the old days in T79 were shared. It was awesome.

- Tekken 5 RULES. My boy Jin is still in, as is Kazuya, and old favorite Jack is back (this time as Jack 5). And if there was any doubt that the game could be awesome: Devil Jin. Ohhh yes. Only low point is the endings, which are inferior to Tekken 4's.

- Made it to Master Swordsmith in World of Warcraft finally. Geeky and not news to anyone else, but it makes me happy and it's my blog.

- 3 midterms down, 4 to go. *sigh* But on the bright side, I gave New Testament Greek a good smackdown. Haven't gotten anything else back yet.

- Italian is awesome (although this isn't really news, it's always been awesome).

- Puppies are growing and as cute as ever. Also as jumpy as ever, but they're getting really smart too.

- New pet peeve: people saying "whatev." Just say the last syllable you lazy bums.

- I'm ready for warm weather.

Alright, time for me to leave work. Have a good spring break, everyone who has it now.

Puppies! (revisited)

2005-01-18T21:07:00.001-05:00

I got my puppies! Two adorable beagles.

More to come later - I have to think of names!

Back after a long absence.

2005-01-12T22:21:00.000-05:00

Well I'm back, as my topic says, after a long absence; a lot has happened since the 19th.

First of all, a late Merry Christmas to all (if I have any readers). Mine was quite nice, the big thing I got a new hard drive, and I reformatted my computer which I had wanted to do for a long time. I spent a good chunk of Christmas day reformatting and watching This Is Spinal Tap, which was actually my brother's new DVD but he was in the same room as me. Great movie.

Then there was some good relaxing with new acquisitions for a bit, then New Year's Eve on which I went to Jessica's for a party that her family was having. There were some board games and a lot of just chatting. It was pretty fun. The new year began quite well, and I think it will be a good one.

My grandfather died last Wednesday around 3 in the afternoon. Thursday morning we left and drove straight to Miami to be with my mom's family. It was a very long trip. My mom and her family are all doing ok; we expected this for a very long time. He had Alzheimer's and hasn't remembered who I am since I can remember. He's already been gone for a long time as far as I'm concerned, which I feel bad about but cannot help it. I think I am mostly sad for my mom and my grandmother. The funeral on Monday was very nice; my grandfather served in the army in World War II, so he had an American flag draped over his casket and three army sergeants came to the funeral. Two helped my dad, my uncle, my brother and me carry the casket so that we had six pallbearers. After that, the third played Taps while they folded the flag and presented it to my grandmother. It was very moving.

And now I am home a week later, talking to Meredith, missing the days of high school, and writing this up. My mom stayed in Miami and will be there for a few more weeks, I think. It is good to be home.

The song of the night is the always beautiful "Hang" by Matchbox Twenty. When I first got Yourself or Someone Like You, I didn't like the song and never listened to it. After a year or two I went back and listened to it, and it has become my favorite of their songs. I can't think why I didn't like it at the start; it's sad but beautiful (seems to always be the way of the best songs).

Puppies!

2004-12-19T22:06:00.000-05:00

Well it's been a good while so I figured why not hop on the keyboard and write up a bit of my life.

Finals are over. HOOWAH. Man I am glad the semester is gone. It was the hardest one yet. I'm really hoping it's not a trend, but it probably will. There should be at least a bit of a relief next semester because I'm taking New Testament Greek (after the epic struggle that was Mrs. Clay's class). Making the jump to 500 level Latin though. But anyway, I'm now 3 semesters away from graduation. Kinda makes me wonder where time goes, and where I'm going for that matter. But that's the kind of thought I don't like, so I'm forgetting about that for now. A glorious month of time off awaits.

Other tidbits of what's been going on in my absence: I got a raise (finally). I went to the Newcomb theater to see Ocean's Eleven and ended up seeing Anchorman because I got there at the wrong time. Decorated the Christmas tree, which makes me happy every year. I love it. Did my Christmas shopping, which I love slightly less because I am not good at shopping for people other than me. My mom got the Seinfeld DVDs that have been released so far, so I've been watching those. And of course, I've been putting in some Warcraft playing when I can.

And now on to the title topic: I'm finally going to have a dog again! I've wanted one for a good while, ever since our last one died. But then there was the whole SPCA debacle (don't be fooled, the SPCA isn't a friendly helpful organization helping animals find homes; they're bastards. Ask for more details if you wanna know). So I finish my last exam yesterday and come home and what does my mom tell me? Her friend's dog is having puppies, and I get first pick! Life is joyous. Not only that, but they're BEAGLES! My favorite kind of dog! My mom wants to get two, so they can kinda keep each other company which is fine by me. I love beagles. We went out to look at them today, they were just born like a week ago and they're still nursing (we'll get them mid to late January). They were so small it was unbelievable. And of course, super-cute. I can't wait. Now it's time for name-thinking. I was thinking about naming one Woodstock (ha ha) but we'll see what happens. It's going to be great.

Song of the night is the title track off Rammstein's new album, Reise Reise. Definitely my favorite track on the CD. Very interesting band; heavy with a gruff-voiced singer, but very melodic a lot of times. This particular song even has what sounds like an accordion in the background, and crazily enough it works well. I love little stuff like that. It's a solid album, check it out.

Welcome to the World of Warcraft!

2004-11-22T01:35:00.000-05:00

I've been a fan of Warcraft since we got Warcraft II back in middle school. Warcraft III was a bit of a disappointment; I can't say why for sure, but I just didn't think it was as good as Warcraft II (but then, what game is?). But that didn't stop me being excited when World of Warcraft was announced! Then I found out it would be an online-only game. I was disappointed, because I don't like the idea of buying a game and then having to pay a monthly fee to play it. Little did I know how easily this one would hook me.

I was lucky enough to be in the open beta, so I got to play the game free for a couple of weeks. My brother and his friends set up something so we can chat with our microphones instead of by typing in-game. They also invited me to join their guild, which is great because it's nice to have teammates sometimes, and I don't know anyone else who plays. The game is fantastic! You get to pick from 8 races and then pick a class after that (for example, I created a human warrior and an orc hunter). The graphics look plenty great to me! I had so much fun just working out what my characters would look like. The game itself is very well done. You level up by doing quests, which you can do by yourself or with a group if you like. I had a great time playing it, but the beta went bye-bye this week. But the real deal comes out Tuesday. I'm eager already!

Other news tidbits: last weekend I saw The Incredibles. I'm a Pixar fan for life. I was a little disappointed in the short, but the feature was great fun! I want superpowers. Go see the movie. In other gaming news, Half Life 2 came out this week. Kevin bought it, and it is mighty pretty indeed. I'm looking forward to playing the new Counter Strike. Drew's left his amp here so I've been getting to rock the guitar on pure Marshall roar. Life is good.

And now, the other big news: I'm currently planning the second WC Drums original. In case you missed there first WC Drums original, here it is:

For more info, go to my drum page.

My second drum will be my first adventure in wood drum building, which will be a whole new beast to conquer. Staining, sanding, finishing... it is going to be a lot of fun. I won a free paint mask from Fender Custom Vinyl as a promo on GhostNote, so there will be a design on this one. I'm thinking black base on the drum, and either metal flake (probably green) or silver (to match the hardware) for the design. I'll be going with chrome hardware (Ego Well Rounded lugs... so tasty). Can't afford die cast hoops this time around, or the fancy Trick strainer, but it'll be cool anyway. Plus I can always switch out the hoops later. Definites: 8x14 birch snare, chrome hardware. 8 inch depth will show off the design nicely without the lugs getting too in the way, and I've always wanted to try that size. I've also always wanted to try birch. This should be an experience!

One last piece of AWESOME news: my parents went to Miami last week, and what did my mom bring me? GARFIELD'S HALLOWEEN ADVENTURE ON DVD!!!! That's right, I now have the finest in Halloween viewing on DVD (also includes Garfield's Christmas and Garfield's Thanksgiving).

Song of the night: "Home Again" by Hootie and the Blowfish

Halloween Weekend and Then Some

2004-11-08T03:34:00.000-05:00

Well Halloween was awesome as always. The whole weekend was excellent. Friday started things off great. I got home from work and at last the crowning element of my costume had arrived. I had mail-ordered an awesome awesome AWESOME hat and it did not disappoint. I love it. It's black leather, and perfect for a badass cowboy outfit. I had feared it would not arrive in time because the guy never got my money order, but he was beyond understanding and sent it to me anyway just so I could have it by Halloween! So Friday I got costumed up and went to a party at Jessica's (but not before trying out my brother's latest purchase - Battlefield 1942!!!). The party was good. I was kind of dubious about it at first because I didn't really know anyone except Jessica and I don't do the alcohol thing. But it got really really good because not only did I get to spend time with Jessica, but the one and only Kyle Jones showed up and I got to talk to him for the first time since summer. Many good costumes were to be seen, including various pirates, Xena (Warrior Princess), angel, devil, Jasmine from Aladdin, construction worker (including caution tape), and of course Kyle - who was attired in a cape and an orange construction vest. Someone said he looked like Dracula on his day job and Kyle wisely noted that Dracula would have a pretty hard time having a day job. Add to that the presence of dry ice and the party was a big success.

Saturday was the Colonnade Ball, which was exciting because I put on my tux and Jessica put on a beautiful dress and we went out dressed to kill. Or dance, whichever. But unfortunately the music... well, ok, it sucked. Two bands were playing: a rock-ish band that could only play one tempo (no matter how fast or slow the covers they did were supposed to be) and the UVA Jazz Ensemble (because "Band" is too few syllables!), who played just weird music. Not even much swing stuff, mostly just "look, a soloist is improvising" kind of stuff. Not exactly dance music for most of us.... a lot of people just kinda stood around looking at their watches during that. Then the jazz band played a FORTY-FIVE MINUTE song so people could do the "Virginia Reel" to it. That was it. We waited for it to finish and it kept going and going. We stayed after for one more song and when that was no better we left. But it was fun to get all dressed up and we did enjoy the early part of the dance.

Sunday was the day I'd been waiting for. Halloween. Yessssss. I spent the day doing homework and then quit that to do more worthwhile stuff - decorating, dressing up and handing out candy. I am so proud of my decorations. Here are some of the best:

The poor guy under the car was a last-minute idea of mine and turned out to be very popular with the visitors. For my jack-o-lantern (which I thought turned out quite well this year) I decided to try to light it with a glow-stick instead of a candle to try and have green light come out. It looked awesome, and this picture doesn't do it justice:

I think it looked very cool. There was a decrease in trick-or-treaters this year (which, incidentally, was my first year handing out candy) because Page's Field didn't have the usual candy hunt. But there were still some incredibly cute little kids, one of my favorites was a Hershey Kiss. I love small children. After the candy was handed out and the visitors had stopped coming, Jessica came over and completed my tradition with me. We ate candy and watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Garfield's Halloween Adventure. The Great Pumpkin is a wonderful little movie and no Halloween would be complete without it. Garfield is the peak of every Halloween for me. It needs to be brought out on DVD. It's one of the greatest things I've ever seen.

And so another successful Halloween came and went.

Since then it's been mostly schoolwork. But I've managed to find time to play a good amount of Battlefield 1942 with Kevin. It's a great game. My parents left for Miami on Tuesday so we're by ourselves til next Saturday. Today we sorta got the band together. Drew was back from JMU so he and Daniel and I threw together a little rock session for a couple of hours. It was great to play with those guys again. Jon couldn't make it, but hopefully we'll all be back together as a unit soon.

The song of the night is the beautiful "Brothers in Arms" by Dire Straits. It's one of those songs that I can actually lose myself in. A song where I feel like I should turn off the lights, close my eyes and just let the music take me away. I love that. Mark Knopfler is an amazing guitarist, and the tone of his guitar could make grown men weep. He and Stevie Ray Vaughan are topping the list of "tones I'd like to get out of my guitar" right now.

And with that, I am going to bed.

Ahh, the sweet stench of failure...

2004-10-27T00:05:00.000-05:00

Call me cynical, but I really like it when a pop idol gets exposed for the hack they really are.

For those of you that don't know, I'm talking about Ashlee Simpson's royal screw-up on SNL. She comes out for her second song and starts doing her stupid little "look at me, I'm not coordinated" dance and suddenly what should start to play? The vocal track for the WRONG SONG! The song she already sang, specifically. She couldn't even pretend she was singing it, her mic wasn't even at her mouth. I felt sorry for her band, they had to try and cover her pathetic ass, so they switched songs. She tried to do a few more lame dance moves (but only compounded the problem by looking so much stupider! Seriously, what is this dance or hers??) then just walked off stage right before NBC cut to commercial.

You can see the video here.

Then the bitch comes out saying it's her band's fault because they played the wrong song. Then her label says no no, it's SNL's fault; they were supposed to play a drum loop tape and must have "mistakenly" played a vocal track instead... never mind that there was a DRUMMER playing on stage! Now she finally admits to lip-syncing, but says it's due to "her voice...suffering from the stresses of a heavy promotional schedule." (ABC news) Give me a break already, have the guts to admit you suck and can't sing live, we all know it's true anyway. Heavy promotional schedule? Here's a thought, if your voice can't hold up, maybe you shouldn't be a singer! I hate these people. It made me so happy to see one finally get caught. It's funny. And best of all it's her own fault; she can blame who she wants, but someone with actual talent wouldn't have had this problem.

Rant over.

(most of this text was copied from my GhostNote post)

EDIT - latest in the string of excuses is Acid Reflux Disease striking without warning four hours before her SNL appearance... It doesn't sound at all like she's scrambling for excuses. Ha!

I found this article amusing. Highlight:

As with so many celeb foibles, there are lessons to be learned for us ordinary citizens.
1. Don't fake it.
2. Don't lie to cover up a mistake.
3. If you make a fool of yourself in public, don't compound the problem by doing a jig.
But let's not confuse this whole episode with the Milli Vanilli scandal. At least those two guys could dance.

Pretty Good Weekend

2004-10-18T01:22:00.000-05:00

I had a pretty good time this weekend, which is always good. Friday night the coolest guy in the world (Chris) rolled back into town from JMU and we went to the WAHS football game. It was awesome. Not so much for the football (I don't know many people there, and WAHS got pretty well clobbered) as for the excellent company. We started off the evening with a little Sal's Pizza (Crozet's finest... mmm) and chatted at this and that over dinner. Chicks, people we hate... you know, the important stuff. We then went on our merry way to our high school where I managed to see a few people I know. Alex was there which was great because I haven't seen him in ages. It was bitter cold, I was unprepared for it (but neither was anyone else). The poor band was freezing. Daniel, my awesome guitar player, was in a group of five that did a solo section in the marching show (he plays trumpet... damn what a talented boy, right?). We left the game about 7 minutes before the end, when the score was thirty-something to 7, I believe. Post-game we came back to casa del Wade, where we played a triumphant game of StarCraft (following a not-so-triumphant one). But in our defense, we hadn' t played in ages, so I think we did quite well. Finished up the night playing some Day of Defeat. Ahh, friendship. I love that boy.

Saturday was good too. I went into Lambeth and took Jessica and three of her suitemates up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I love it up there, it's so beautiful. It's one of my personal favorite places to be. Unfortunately, it decided to rain, but we got some good pictures in and fun was had by me at least, and hopefully everyone else too. On the way back we stopped at a roadside stand in Crozet and the girls picked out the perfect pumpkins to carve for Halloween. It was awesome. I love Halloween. We cruised back to Lambeth and Jessica and I watched some TV and went to dinner at the Dragon Lady, home of the most delicious cashew chicken I've had. I always get cashew chicken; I almost never branch out. But who cares, it's fantabulous. And finally, we went to see Shrek 2 at Newcomb Theater. God how I love that movie. Antonio Banderas is the man. I love it when sequels are as good as the original! Yay Shrek 2.

Today was slightly less cool, because - as always - Sunday is homework day. But on the bright side, my buddy Matt came over and we played some music for about an hour and a half. Some jamming on Metallica, Nirvana, and "Down on the Corner" by CCR, among others. It was awesome to play, because thanks to the busiest semester yet I have pretty much zero time for drumming these days. Then I really got down to it on Greek, which takes so long. Then it was on to Italian, which I am still enjoying a whole lot. Then I actually got ahead on homework! That's right, Wade Carruth got ahead on homework! I did Latin for about an hour and called it quits, showered, and hit the computer to talk to a few people and visit GhostNote.

In other news, the song of the night is Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved." I'm not one for trendiness but damn this is a pretty song. The singer's voice is not my favorite, but the song is just beautiful. Definitely a great choice for mellow background. Boy, Marie really called this one - two years ago she lent me the CD and I'd never heard of them, now they're everywhere. Well, I reckon that's enough for tonight. Til next time, and, as Truman Burbank would say, "In case I don't see you... good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

First Post

2004-10-13T00:36:00.000-05:00

Well this is my first post on this whole online journal thing. We'll see if I keep it up or not. Tonight I was just feeling like it might be nice to just write down my thoughts somewhere.

I get annoyed by weird things. Today I walked up to the ATM to get out some cash and someone drove up and parked directly in front of the "No Parking for ATM" sign. This is one lane that eventually splits into three for the drive-up teller windows. But no no, the rules don't apply to this guy; if other people respect the rules they're suckers, right? So not only does this clown park there, but he moves about as slowly as I've ever seen anyone move (and no, he obviously wasn't handicapped). Two cars drove up trying to get through to the teller windows. But who cares about their needs, they're just strangers. Then to top it off, I was walking over through the Harris Teeter parking lot and this woman was parked right next to the shopping cart return. She loads her groceries in her car and then pushes her cart to the WRONG SIDE of the cart return (think of the cart return as being shaped like a big squared-off C). Couldn't be bothered to walk a few extra feet and place her cart in the proper location. Like I said, I get annoyed by little things. But dammit, where did people's respect for each other go? This world would be a much nicer place to live if more people thought about someone besides themselves.

But on the bright side, Halloween is coming! Halloween is the greatest of the holidays and I am as excited as ever. It's one of the times of year I get to forget about the real world and let the kid inside out. God I love it. Every year I put together as good a costume as I can, hand out candy and/or help give the local kids a little bit of a scare, get totally buzzed on candy and watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown followed by the king of all Halloween traditions: Garfield's Halloween Adventure. I wish they'd bring out a DVD, all I have is a fuzzy VHS and an equally fuzzy .avi that I downloaded. As it is, it's still the coolest video ever. This year I'll be appearing as a cowboy, my girlfriend and I are going to match (she's doing an indian costume) for a party a night or two before. I have a few things coming in the mail for my costume, I'm largely modeling myself after Liberty Valance, the baddest hombre to ever grace the silver screen in the western genre. I am so excited.

Well I imagine that's enough for tonight, maybe I'll return soon... who knows?