Perils of assimilation

If only life came with subtitles.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

wait, what?

So, as you all know, I have been stealing internet for about a month. Last week, it quit working. I figured they had gotten wise to me, and started protecting the network. But now the internet has inexplicably started working again. I have been feeling lost sans internet. I couldn't listen to Psychoacoustics and I had to hand-type CD track names.

Oh isn't life so fucking difficult? This attachment to electronics is getting out of control. Didn't anybody else's mother tell them to go play outside? Go for a walk? You're told as a kid to use your imagination, but I think maybe all this constant information is ruining our brains. Attention spans are decreasing dramatically. Nearly everyone in Eng348 admitted to only being able to read a few pages at a time before having to take a break. I have been working on 'Gargantua and Pantagruel' since the end of July, because I just can't concentrate. This trend is showing up in music too. When AJ and I do the Morning Show, the Top Ten is supposed to take us two hours to get through and we're done in forty-five minutes. The average song length is about two and a half minutes. Magazine articles are less than two pages.

Speed is a virtue in this American Society, fast is the name of the game. So, I am going to lead by example.

Go for a walk.
Meditate.
Listen to NPR or an independent station.
Read a book.
Cook a meal without using mixes.
Make something out of pipe cleaners and googly eyes.
Go to a museum.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Slam

Acoustic Cafe, 7:00.
Be there.

See Liz read her stuff.

Support Burmese Monks!

Soldiers fired automatic weapons into a crowd of anti-government protesters Thursday as tens of thousands defied the ruling military junta's crackdown with a 10th straight day of demonstrations.

A Japanese Foreign Ministry official told The Associated Press that several people, including a Japanese national, were found dead following Thursday's protests.

The information was transmitted by Myanmar's Foreign Ministry to the Japanese Embassy in Yangon, the official said on condition of anonymity citing protocol.

The chaos came a day after the government said clashes in Yangon killed at least one man. Dissidents outside Myanmar reported receiving news of up to eight deaths Wednesday.

Some reports said the dead included monks, who are widely revered in Myanmar, and the emergence of such martyr figures could stoke public anger against the regime and escalate the violence.

Witnesses told the AP that five men were arrested and severely beaten Thursday after soldiers fired into a crowd near a bridge across the Pazundaung River on the east side of downtown Yangon.

Shots were fired after several thousand protesters on the west side of the river ignored orders to disband.

In other parts of the city, some protesters shouted "Give us freedom, give us freedom!" at soldiers. Thousands ran through the streets after warning shots were fired into crowds that had swollen to 70,000. Bloody sandals were left lying in the road.

Thursday's protests followed early morning raids on Buddhist monasteries during which soldiers reportedly beat up monks and arrested more than 100.

The monks have spearheaded the largest challenge to the military junta in the isolated Southeast Asian nation since a failed uprising in 1988. In that crisis, soldiers shot into crowds of peaceful demonstrators, killing some 3,000 people.

Back In Your Head

Hey, folks. The Neurosis Queen is back. The only legit reason I have for not writing is the lack of internet at the Llama House, for me at least. I have been stealing the nieghbor's internet for the past month, and it has all of a sudden stopped working. It's my fault for not getting NRDave to set my computer to access the right network, but it's also the nieghbors fault for not protecting their network.

I can't really say what has happened in the past week, because I can't remember. I remember some of Monday because I did my first show, and I remember watching Boondock Saints sometime. Other than that, it's a total blur. I wish I could blame it on spending the week drunk, but I can't. The days blend together in one featureless blue blur. I hardly remember going to classes. Drudgery is swallowing me up feet first. I can see my body disappear slowly into its mouth, to stupified to sream or claw my way out. It's grendel's mother, the nastiest motherfucker on earth. It's consuming my memories, my emotions. I hardly felt any panic before my under-prepared speech today. Even my face is numb, like it gets after a few drinks. Where is joy? Where is terror?

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Tune In Tomorrow!

I will be co-hosting the SRI Morning show with A.J. Moen Wednesday morning from 9 to 11.

Yes, it means I have to be up early, but I will be armed and ready with my coffee! We will be playing some of our favorite stuff, counting down for you the "College Radio Top Ten" with the requisite amount of scorn, and having a good time in general.

If you live in the UWEC Dorms, tune in to Channel 75, and if not, go to http://sri.uwec.edu/ to listen in. This is internet radio, which means the FCC has no control over us, and we can play whatever we want! I will also be hosting a show solo later in the month, so I will try to keep you posted about my time slot.

I'm feeling lazy

1. Is your second toe longer than your first?
No.

2. Do you have a favorite type of pen?
I am very attached to my Pilot EasyGlide pen. I can't take an exam using any old pen. No, it must be this one. I've dug around in my bag for ten minutes while a test was going on, looking for this pen. The only place I have found it i in the DePaul bookstore. OfficeMax doesn't carry them, nor any other office supply store.

3. Look at your planner for March 14, what are you doing?
Heading to San Fran, baby!

4. What color are your toenails usually?
Usually, they are toe-coloured.


5. What color are the seats in your car?
Oh, Dolores Del Rio... my gorgeous rusted Camry with blue interior... I miss you.

6. Why did you withdraw cash from the ATM the last time?
For the most nescessary of college supplies: booze.

7. Whose is the last baby that you held?
I don't recall ever holding a baby, no one trusted me with them.

8. What kind of car were you driving 2 years ago?
The maroon Plymouth Sundance

9. Pick one: Miami Hurricanes or Florida Gators?
No.

10. Last person to give you a business card?
The creepy mattress guy.

11. Who is the last person you wrote a check to?
Lee the landlord.

12. Closest framed picture to you?
There is a framed picture of the Eiffel Tower and a beach in Mexico.

13. Last time you had someone cook for you?
Amber will cook tonight, I hope.

14. Have you ever applied for welfare?
no, but I have a feeling I'll be on unemployment for the majority of my life.

15. Do you think the sanctity of marriage is meant for only a man & woman?
Duh. No.

16. Do you play air guitar?
And I'm damn good at it, thank you.

17. Has anyone ever proposed to you?
Caroline once propsed to me, I told her I was scared of commitment.

18. Do you take anything in your coffee?
NO SISSY SHIT FOR ME.

19. Do you have any Willow Tree figurines?
I don't know what a Willow Tree figurine is and I don't WANT to know.

20. Last person you spoke to from high school?
I spoke to Lila on the phone a few days ago, though I'm not sure if she counts because she only attended 2 years of high school.


21. Last thing you read in the newspaper?
An art review.

22. Last time you had a Krispy Kreme doughnut?
Never have I had a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Doughnuts make me want to puke. Someone explain the appeal to me.

23. Who is the last person that left you a message & you actually returned it?
Jessie.

24. Are you an aunt or uncle?
No, and I hope never to be.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Theatre Arrests In Belarus

"RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports that police officers detained the 50 people present, including the actors, directors, five theater professionals from France and the Netherlands, and several children.

The detainees were released four hours later.

The incident is the first reported case in Belarus of police breaking up a theater performance.

The play was staged by the Free Theater, an unregistered theater company that is banned from performing in Belarus. The troupe doesn't have its own premises and screens spectators before every performance.

Mikalay Khalezin, the co-founder of Free Theater, told RFE/RL's Belarus Service that the incident reminds him of a poem by Soviet poet Vladimir Mayakosvky in which a sailor storms the Winter Palace during the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to arrest the temporary government."
(http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/08/bb592da5-4b55-42e4-9d49-a35f68fbb113.html)

Let's take a look back in time, shall we?

"Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold was a Russian theatrical producer, director, and actor whose provocative experiments in unconventional theatre made him one of the seminal forces in modern theatre.

Meyerhold was strongly opposed to socialist realism, and in the beginning of the 1930s, when Joseph Stalin clamped down on all avant-garde art and experimentation, his works were proclaimed antagonistic and alien to the Soviet people. His theatre was closed down in 1938, and a year later Meyerhold was arrested and imprisoned. His wife, actress Zinaida Raikh, was found dead in their Moscow apartment. He was brutally tortured[3] and forced to make a confession that he murdered her, which he later recanted before the court. He was sentenced to death by firing squad on February 1, 1940. "
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vsevolod_Meyerhold)

Art and freethought are the most subursive acts one can commit. Vive la revolution d'art!

Distraught

I am distraught. What to know why?

THE WHITES STRIPES CANCELLED THEIR TOUR.

Apparently, Meg is suffering from an anxiety disorder. I say: so what? Jeff Tweedy performs with an anxiety disorder. Sure, he's slobbering drunk(pre-rehab, that is), but he does it. Suck it up, Meg.


In other news:
I have found that I am unusually good at reading things written in the phonetic alphabet.

Jessie, If you don't come and collect your Malibu soon, only an empty bottle shall be returned to you. It is excellent in hot cocoa.

Having a mug clipped to my bag is one of the best ideas I've had in a long time. You never know when free coffee will turn up. And everyone knows you as "The-girl-who-carries-around-a-stolen-caf-mug."

Bob Muhlnickel is a terrible teacher.

No one really knows what Modernism is, no one really knows what Post-modernism is, and no one knows what Post-post-modernism is. At all.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Fake Lesbian

One of the quintessential parts of living in a college town is drunk students hanging out in the streets, before bar-close, after bar-close, and basically any time of day. Like any smart woman who doesn't want to be hassled by skeazy guys, I am a fake lesbian.

Named Ellen.

Who lives on the fifth block of Ninth.

And is 22.

And is dating a girl named Amy.

Who was mad at me for not liking her friends.


Yes, there is nothing like getting hit on at 3 in the morning. Three guys came up to me on my way back askng if I wanted to smoke weed with them. I declined, of course. They followed me across the street until I would talk to them. They were too wasted to take a hint, so I had to spell it out for them. They let me go, except one wanted to walk me back, fully aware of my pretended sexual preference. I convinced him to leave me alone around Sixth Ave.

enh, all in a day.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Greetings from the EC ghetto

'Sup, loyal readers? yes, all THREE of you. How are you? What's on your mind?
I've been feeling a tad isolated lately, and could use some positive human contact. I feel the need for a little attention, electronic or otherwise. So, I'm just going to write about Nothing.

I know, I know, How is this different than usual? It's not.

There is a pair of shoes draped over phonelines on my street. That's how you know you live in the ghetto.

If you take one of the bike paths around here, it ends up near the porn shop on Madison St., which is across from the senior center, oddly.

Biking 40 miles after not having ridden a bike in a number of years is not the best idea. But Lucy and I did it anyhow.

I am a slob. I should really clean up a bit. I am also exceptionally lazy, so I won't.

Despite listening to Tom Waits' "Way Down in the Hole" on a loop for half an hour, I am still not sick of it. It reminds me of the crazy night my friend's roommate tried to strangle me. Only I would find the memory of that night supremely hilarious. That song is incredibly sexy, but again, blues will always be sexy.

I really miss my best friend, Adam. Someone tell that crazy curly-haired bastard to visit me. And Pete, too. And David. I miss my guy friends. I need their perspective on things.

I am making friends in my Post-PoMo class. This makes me happy because it means I can talk lit with people and not sound like a pretentious ass.

Bob Barth's class is amazing. Take it. He's almost funnier than Matt Bloss.

My roommate Anne and her friend are the most annoying drunks ever. They had one beer each and were falling all over. Anne is what Lucy and I call a "fake drinker," someone who says they like to drink, but really don't drink ever. I don't understand why she has to pretend like she does. If you don't like to drink, don't. I respect those that don't respond to outside pressure.