What I'm about to tell you is slightly embarrassing, but what's a blog for if not for full disclosure?
When I took A.P. Economics my senior year of high school, I might have had a little bit of a massive crush on my teacher. And, like the crazed high school stalker I was, I knew he liked The Pogues. I spent a solid chunk of time trying my hardest to like The Pogues and somehow have something in common with my teacher, other than that 10:15-11:05 chunk of time on MWF.
Much to my dismay and the ruination of my future with Mr. M., I didn't like them.
Except for this one song, which I blared out my windows while driving on this sunny and warm fall day.
Last week, one of my favorites, Ray Lamontagne, came into town with one of my other favorites, Brandi Carlile, as his opening act. In other words, this was a concert I could not miss.
I don't often go to concerts, curmudgeon that I am - I feel so overwhelmed in crowds, I hate long drawn-out instrumental interludes, I can't stand it when the band is so loud that you can't make sense of the vocals. But this concert was golden! It was so mellow and chill, and everyone sat in the grass swaying sweetly to the music.
snack time
One of us [ahem] may have forgotten the blanket to sit on, but the couple beside us had a spare and was kind enough to loan it out. Jessica brought me my favorite candy, Swedish Fish! She sure knows how to treat me right...
I'm the lame one who brought a banana. Seriously.
I'll also be handing out raisins and gospel tracks for Halloween, if you're interested.
Our "date night"
ahah
The Secret Sisters were the first opening act - I only recognized them because they had a song that was free on iTunes once. They are a sweet and adorable sister duo that sings songs with old country and 1950's influences - Jessica was in heaven.
"Secret Sister Sandwich"
The Secret Sisters about took Jessica home with them when she told them how much she loves the Everyly Brothers
I promise you that Brandi Carlile is on that stage, you just can't see her.
I could kick myself for not bringing my camera - we were told they weren't allowed. Only everyone but me had a camera, and I just had my phone.
Ray Lamontagne is a little bit eccentric - he doesn't talk hardly at all between songs. Regardless, I was so glad we got to hear him perform. I told Jessica that one of his songs made me feel weepy, and she wouldn't stop making fun of me. Hah. Next time I'll weep just to make her feel uncomfortable.
Anyways - this concert was beautiful. Everyone reclining in the grass rocking to the mellow music...I loved it.
"I hope we find a cure for every major disease. I'm tired of walking 5k's."
- Daniel Tosh
I know I've said this about a gatrillion times, but did you know you can listen to comedians on Pandora?
Jim Gaffigan is probably my all-time favorite - I love that creepy little voice he does.
Who's your favorite comedian? If you're going to say Dane Cook, imma ask you not to comment.
Also, you should know that one of my rats just tried to eat the jeans I'm wearing through the bars of his cage...that's what I get for dangling my legs clad in their deliciously jean-y jeans near their cage...
The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they will always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be. - Marcel Pagnol
via buzzfeed a shark swims down the streets of Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene
Waldosia: n. [Brit. wallesia] a condition characterized by scanning faces in a crowd looking for a specific person who would have no reason to be there, which is your brain’s way of checking to see whether they’re still in your life, subconsciously patting its emotional pockets before it leaves for the day. dictionary of obscure sorrows
Fall is coming so quickly, and I'm not ready for it. I feel like I haven't gotten my share of summer yet, since Germany doesn't exactly do summers to my liking - too chilly, too rainy. Autumn's my favorite season, but I want it to hold off for just a little longer this year...
I am mad in love with this photo. I wish I were her...
Time to get back to my programming, I suppose. Do you know, Interwebs, what's worse than having two tests in one day? Bombing two tests in one day. And then having a lot more work waiting for you at home. And spending yet another cold night in the library. As my little broseph might say, first world problems.
Bless my little heart, I tried cooking again. This doesn't look too hard, does it? It's a glorified baked potato, for crying out loud.
Somehow, I managed to mess it up...badly.
First off, cloves of garlic? Who do they think I am, Buffy the Vampire slayer? Why on earth would I have three cloves of garlic just laying around? My potatoes will be smothered in garlic powder, and they will like it. And Sea Salt? Name one college student who stocks up on sea salt...That is not any kind of go-to staple item. Potato, you will be sprinkled with regular cheap-y salt. And finally, freshly ground pepper...
As. If.
I was hoping, against the odds and every single other cooking experience I've had ever, that this potato might still somehow manage to be delicious.
But now, as I reread the recipe, I suddenly notice why it took about 3 hours to cook one measly potato. The directions say to place the tater in the oven at 220 degrees...
celsius.
I ignored the Fahrenheit part right there in parentheses.
That potato was doomed from the get-go.
It's a good thing I have engineering and my good looks to fall back on, because I simply can't cut it in the world of domesticity.
(Believe it or not though, I've actually gotten really good at making the toast with the egg in the middle!)
Facebook's a tricky little bugger - I almost logged on, thereby reactivating my facebook, about three times today. It's my muscle memory...my fingers just start clicking away and before you know it I'm at that wicked ole site...
unrelated
I'm on kind of a music high right now, which is good, because I have lots of programming to do tonight. I'll just be jamming and programming over here...without a news feed to entertain me. So if you wanted to comment, or something...
Now that I can't procrastinate on facebook, I've developed a really weird habit where I take either a mechanical pencil or a thumbtack and use it to scrape out the dust from under the keys on my QWERTY like the most OCD kid you know. This goes on from anywhere between 3 and 20 minutes. I should probably feel a little ashamed. But really I'm just more aggravated that there isn't any more dust there. It's kind of like my own warped zen garden...
It's come down to that. This semester is kicking my heiney (is that word even spell-able?). I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to pull four consecutive all-nighters to complete my homeworks, projects, and tests this week.
But we're all busy, right? Well, yours truly here has a serious lack of self-control and is incapable of going 3.7 seconds without checking facebook. So here's to extreme measures.
Honestly, as dumb as this sounds, I'm slightly concerned no one will read my blog without checking facebook.
But YOU, dear loyal reader, are here now, so you can either click that little follow button -->, or just read whenever. Or not read. That, too, is an option.
I've been turning into kind of a Stats Addict anyways. It'll be humbling when I wake up and only have three page views. Who doesn't need more humility?
And let's be real for a hot minute...this will probably last until next weekend, at best.
Anyways, over the course of the next week, I promise to try not to just post a slew of would-be status updates.
Here's to a week of more intentional contact with people, but mostly just more productivity..
over and out, facebook. [for a week]
-bRob
Vote now: Is this fare well more or less dramatic than this farewell?
I didn't like the depressing tone of the last post, and also I think it's time for this blogger to take a break from the Nerdvanalicious posts she's been doing lately. Two memes and an xkcd post in one week? Excessive.
Also, a month ago, Anonymous wrote, asking if I'd ever thought about setting my blog to cello music. Well, dear Anonymous, I realize you were probably joking, and even if you weren't, you probably meant something like Yo-Yo Ma...but I thought I would let you know I listened to your request. [If it counts as a request?]
Apocalyptica, a hard rock cello band that plays Metallica covers. It makes me appreciate the cello even more than I already do.
I played cello in high school [so we might have to work a little harder at veering away from Nerdvana], and I think we all secretly dreamed about being in Apocalyptica.
Post checking my email this morning. Some people have a sense of mercy. Apparently my professor does not fall into this category.
I'm tempted to go on a diatribe here, but I'll spare you. I won't be in any better of a mood for writing it, and you won't be any better of a person for reading it.
I am pretty sure if anyone ran into me right now I might actually growl at them.
Anyone who gets this joke has probably already seen it, but since the last 36 hours have been solely dedicated to programming [poorly]...and maybe some other things, I thought it was fitting.
I turned in my project four minutes too late today. That was disappointing. I'm hoping it won't be too big of a deal, since there were two different and conflicting due dates listed. But hey, who needs that last 20 points for being on time, anyways?
It's a good thing I haven't been banking too heavily on becoming a genius computer scientist, because that ship has certainly sailed.
It's more like your insurance increases astronomically and you also have to talk to the police.
Also, not to be ridiculously feminist, but why does the guyalways win the girl a panda? For once, can we see a girl win a guy a stupid stuffed bear that he will promptly throw away? I mean, that girl would not be me, because I have really shaky hands and I can't aim or throw...
But I'd be in if it were a trivia match about blogging or sand casting . I could win a stuffed bear at that.
My job as a lab assistant starts up soon, and I only wish I had a pair of these Lizzie sunglasses. Their design is based on that of vintage safety goggles.
In all seriousness, I want to take a cybermoment and thank all my readers for stopping by. Whether you are a regular reader [holla atchu, mom!], you accidentally stumbled here, or you clicked my link out of sheer desperation at 3am when no one was updating your news feed...
click for source
Thanks, guys. You're the best. All of you, each of you...are...is...the best.
