see how long this lasts

Have an early, and expensive, xmas

One more thing that I forgot to get angry about in my previous post. I realize this is hardly original but, jesus, the holiaday ads are being run early and often this year! I saw one two weeks ago. I mean two weeks before thanksgiving! And they are all exhorting me to buy ipods and laptops and plasma screen TVs for my loved ones. Where in the world would I come up with the money for this stuff? Apple sends me emails almost daily telling me what I should get my little sister and father, and their suggestions add up to thousands of dollars. If they did their research right they'd know I have only ever bought ipods from them, and that both ipods I bought I got replaced after malfunctions, so theorectcally I've purchased 4 ipods at half price! well they wouldn't know that my credit card is 25 bucks short of maxxed and that I'm decideing bewtween paying my car payment or my health insurance for the month, but thats ok apple you can keep stuffing emails into my inbox exhorting your uber-expensive products. Ok a lot of that was an exxageration, and I probably sound like Adam Waldman's blog now, but thats ok.

Im not over here now, because adam is over there.

Rockin' the Suburbs: Baltimore Edition

My travels are never ending. Yes, once again, I am a denizen of the fair city of Baltimore, nestled uncomfortably on top of the Mason-Dixon Line, and unable to make up its tiny mind as to which part of the US it really wants to belong to (ok, it's not really on the Mason-Dixon Line, it's south of it, but it still suffers from an identiy crisis). I'm in a new job, and Lo! it is a good one. Instead of using a 20" carbide blade to cut through concrete, I now use a 20" flat panel to move tree symbols around theoretical concrete, and the difference is remarkable. I am trying to shed the 10-15 pounds I gained while under the grandmotherly cooking regime, and that seems to be progressing well, even if it never goes as fast as you want it to.

I went to a Ben Folds concert last week that was really pretty fun. It was Ben Folds with the Baltimore Symphony, so it was at the Meyerhoff and it wasn't too weird for me to be there by myself. The concert was good, and I was happy to see that while he didn't play Rockin' the Suburbs or Song for the Dumped, he didn't sensor himself and turned out some old goodies like 'Army' or 'one angry dwarf...' which actually really rocked with a 90 person symphony to back them up. It was a good experience, and almost worth the 50 bucks I shelled out to see it.

I finally gave in last night, after months of swearing my undying hatred of Conor Oberst, that wuss who has taken my name and made silly music with it, and listend to a Bright Eyes album. I really really hate to say this, but for some fucked up reason, I like it now, whereas 5 months ago it made me and my brother gag, despite the ridiculous critical acclaim it was getting. My how we change. So Conor, you can keep your name, for now. Just remember you're still On Notice.

I'm kinda curious as to how the Colbert Report will go. I'm back to watching Comedy Central, now that I'm back in a house with cable, and I was pretty skeptical about how they'd pull off a daily show like show with ex daily show alums right after daily show with tie in right from daily show. I'm not totally convinced yet, but so far the format seems different enough, and they have established distinct features that lend the show it's own sense of self, so I am mostly pleasantly surprised. I still like john better anyway though.

I'm in the middle of trying to complete applications for grad school, and I'm getting strong nostalgic whiffs of early senior year in high school. Each school has it's own little special form for reccomendations, their own little way of getting materials, their own little due dates and policies. It's terribly annoying, and one thing that I really liked about the way people in Ontario apply to school--one bland app with stats and requisite information. I suppose that doesn't fit the grad school model so well, but I wish it did. Still though it's all very exciting I have to admit. The idea of being back in school, and being in grad school no less, thrills me.

I saw Ben and Mike a week ago in DC, and had a really good time. I was only down for the evening, and left really early the next morning so I could make it to a Western Maryland Antiquing trip (I know, I know, why would I do that, right?), but I got enough time to catch up and drink a lot of beer. BEn and I hung around the international student house courtyard with a couple six packs for about two hours and managed to have conversations with a french girl about the riots and the problems of islam, a polish guy who was impressed with our czech beer selection and educated us about the precarious position of poland in the EU and a funny british chick from bristol who seemed ignorant of Massive Attack (I could have sworn they were bristol based). All in all a varied evening. We ended up at a house party of a student house alum who works for the IMF or World Bank or something, and it as fun smoking in his apartment to eurotrash dance music while representives of most of the major european countries got smashed around us. Once again, trips to DC always seem to be pretty fun, even if theres no Dance Cave or matador.

oh well can't think of much else. oh, CHARLES UPDATE MORE! LESS BASEBALL! MORE MUSIC POSTS!