No more b-ball, lots more '70s arena rock

San Antonio won. Detroit lost. Sigh. Like I said, I like the Spurs OK, but I'm still a bit depressed. I'm gonna go eat a cow or something now.

Adding to the despair is the fact that they really abused the use of Queen songs. Being Game 7, ABC decided to play "Pressure" at every commercial break and "We Are the Champions" when the Spurs won. There was quite a lot of "We Will Rock You" blasted throughout arena during the game as well. I'm a big Queen fan, but I think SBC Arena (where the Spurs play) might be the place where songs go to die from gratuitous overuse. Ah well, at least the constant pummeling of 70s arena rock made me Google Freddie Mercury, who was an awesome frontman. Did you know he was Indian?!? You learn something new everyday.

Gaaah! And life revolves around a stupid ball for another night...

Pistons beat the Spurs. That means Game 7 for the whole bag o' chips on Thursday. That means me arranging my life around the NBA finals for another night. Game 5 (OT) almost gave me a heart attack, Game 6 was excellent and all these darn games are pretty late. So sleepy...just wanna sleep. I further lament that the TV commentary is quite sucky and they keep playing a Rob Thomas song ("This is How A Heart Breaks") at inappropriate times. Way to kill any enjoyment I may have had for Top 40 radio, ABC. Thanks!

I'm rooting for Detroit, but mostly because I've realized that I'm cheering for anything vaguely Midwestern now (it must be the already-rising nostalgia from having to leave soon). Plus I kinda like the bad-ass, working-class charm of the Detroit team. I'll try to forget the fact that they actually play in Auburn Hills, which is a fairly ritzy suburb 30 miles outside the city, thereby depriving Detroit of some much-needed economic development. I'll steer clear of further social commentary, though!

Not that I have anything against the San Antonio Spurs (besides the fact they are from Texas). They're actually a really laid-back team who are really excellent - me likey. I like Tim Duncan, because who doesn't appreciate a quiet, hard-working, and humble superstar? And the international players are fun to watch, because who doesn't like spazzy Argentinian point guards and French dudes who have sweet floaters and date Desperate Housewives?

Incidentally, there was an nifty commentary on the NBA (its stars, the post-season, etc.) on NPR today. Gosh I love Frank Deford.

I think people are surprised to hear that I follow or even like sports...'cuz I'm a D-O-R-K (kindly refer to NPR link above). Well, those who can't play (i.e., me), watch. Obsessively. To the point where they fall asleep at work. I'm pretty open to enjoying all sports, with the exception of American football (I have struggled in vain to appreciate it, but I just can't seem to. Downs?!? What?!?!), NASCAR and golf (my dislike of the latter two are because of all the obvious reasons).

Roadtrip! Big ol' cheese country (hold the cheese)

When driving up to Wisconsin on I-90 West, remember to bring a journal to log the variety of roadkill (e.g., deer, racoon, possum, cat, rat) and the number of torn tires peppering the road (er, many).

This past weekend, I accompanied a pal (let's call her DJ J-Cap) up to Madison, Wisconsin, where she shall be attending the illustrious university in order to pursue her dream job of improving adhesives and, in so doing, our lives. It was a pretty nice ride and not a terribly long trip for those people who actually live in large states that can't be traversed under 3 hours, unlike some of us. It was an excellent time to sing and spazzily dance along to newly acquired hipster tunes.

Alas, we did not travel far enough to see Wisconsin's famed cows or any breweries (that's Milwaukee...or Millioke, which is Algonquin for "the good land"), but there were certainly enough farms and looong country roads to make one appreciate why Laura Ingalls Wilder was always so excited to go to town and get that half-penny piece of candy. Yeesh. Speaking of good ol' Little House on the Prairie, we even stayed in a neat old farm house! J-Cap's very friendly acquaintances were nice enough to let us stay the night in their house, which is just outside of Madison. Apparently, they never bother locking the doors. Hmmm... The house was built in the 1870s, and I was halfway hoping that it would be haunted by some poor murdered soul seeking vengeance, just like in one of those Unsolved Mysteries segments I used to watch when I was little. No such luck. Apparently, the owners told us that they were also disappointed that they didn't find any hidden treasures when they bought the house. What kind of boring, non-murdering, non-pack rat people lived in this joint?!?

Anyhoo, the rundown on Madison is that it's an unexpectedly cool place. It has pretty lakes and good restaurants, which is more than I can say about my grad school destination. The ice cream is excellent. There is a distinct lack of cheese, but an abundance of coffee shops. And, in the tradition of the grandest college towns, the town is rife with crappy apartments run by sketchy people trying to make a quick buck (we did find a nice one owned by a very nice professor-type just as our wits were running out, though). We also discovered that the State Capitol is an extremely popular venue for weddings (at least 3 were in different stages of progress during our brief walk-through). I will always remember Madison as where I discovered Ting. Moreover, I can't diss the city too much, as it is probably the only reason why Wisconsin was a blue state in 2004. By no means is Madison representative of the rest of the state (the city is nicknamed "78 square miles surrounded by reality"), but it's nice that it is the state capital so that any irrational conservatism can be tempered a wee bit. Still, seeing so many old Kerry-Edwards signs or stickers made me die a little each time. Sigh. Long live the college town!

Workin' hard...or hardly workin'?

I think you know the answer.

As I sat staring into my computer screen today, I realized that I've had some interesting work experiences over the years. I tried to think of all things I have ever done for money or some sort of compensation. Here's what I remembered, in rough chronological order:

• Chinese Restaurant child laborer *
(taker of orders, answerer of phones, packager of fortune cookies)
• Grocery bagger
• Beach concession stand worker / Italian ice scooper
• Keychain engraver / Boardwalk Carnie
• Rental video store clerk
• Doc Films voluntary slave †
(general lackey, ticket seller, show captain, projectionist)
• Admissions Office Student Assistant
(alphabetizer/sorter of applications, stuffer of envelopes)
• Human Guinea Pig
• Usher (not the R&B superstar...I wish!!!) / Link in Human Chain (graduation ceremonies, N’Sync concert)
• Scholars at Risk Student Case Manager
• Public Radio production intern ‡
• Business economics research assistant
• Survey Research Program Assistant
• Generic “Analyst”

What's the craziest thing that you've done for money?


_____________________________________________________
* Oh, relax…it was my parents’ restaurant.
† I got a free movie pass and, eventually, a T-Shirt.
‡ They paid me in BOOKS! Best job ever!!

Speaking of Chicago weather...

...this says it all.

I cut this out from a free weekly paper (New City?) a couple of years ago. No copyright violation intended!

Hot Hot HEAT

It's hot today. How hot is it? HOT. So hot that Peter at work, who probably wears a three-piece suit 360 days of the year, was slummin' in a polo shirt. So hot that, as I climb the stairs to my 3rd floor apartment, I can feel my skin crisping with the increasing degree (that's Fahrenheit, not incline) of every step. So hot that my diet at home has so far consisted of (cold) water and (cold) peanut butter and (cold) jelly on (cold) bread. So hot that, when I looked at the light fleece jacket that I usually wear to work, I kinda felt like throwing up.

You get the picture. And it's only going to get hotter!

Actually, I'm grateful to know that summer has arrived. After a pretty nasty (i.e., typical) winter, there were a few really nice 80+˚F days scattered throughout April and May. However, after each nice day, I observed that the temperature the next day plummeted to the 40s. This happened at least three times, before I either (1) lost interest or (2) gave up on summer (and spring) altogether. Consecutive 90˚F days must mean it's summer!

Chicago weather is famously fickle, but at least there are four seasons...for the most part. It's quite extreme on both ends: I only ever remember the really cold days (when I feel the cold coming up the street, through my shoes and socks, into my feet, aiming to freeze my brain) or the really hot ones ("Dear, GOD, I'm in HELL!"). My roommate and I had to suffer with no heat in our apartment during the seemingly 3 coldest days of the year (probably -20˚to -30˚F outside temperature) , but I think a bad Chicago summer is much worse. Around August, you always hear about some little ol' lady stuck in her apartment and dying from the heat. Sad!

I guess we can't all be Berkeley. When planning my travels, I really have to avoid places with crazy solstices.

Yo, where my peaches at?!

My will to blog has been developing slowly as I have been reading other people's blogs -- my friends' and famous people's. All right, maybe not Jesus or Beatles famous, but more famous than me. In fact, my blog name blatantly rips off OK Go's blog (http://thewilltorock.blogspot.com). OK Go is a great (and "famous") band from Chicago that I like. I decided on the quasi-plagiarism after discovering that my first-choice name (http://dartsofpleasure.blogspot.com -- blatantly ripped off my favorite Franz Ferdinand song) was taken. I like this current blog name much better. Thanks, OK Go!

As an amateur humanist/social scientist (or, if you prefer less pretentious terms, a frighteningly over-qualified potential stalker), I like learning about people's lives - those I know personally or through history/media. I love reading blogs. However, I've been loath/loth (see comments) to blog myself. Besides the fact that people can potentially stalk me (hey, this is a one-way street, baby...), it seems that a lot of blogs are very complaint heavy, even if they are amusing. Knowing the person I am (er, because I'm me), I can see my posts degenerating into massive bitchfests. For example, a rant about how my fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt this morning was distinctly lacking peaches even after vigorous stirring. Or an irrevelant and pretentious philosophical musing à la Seinfield, except completely devoid of humor ("Why...do people wear pants?"). Boring others with my own feigned self-importance seems selfish. Plus, the thought of exposing my crappy writing, mispellings, and improper punctuation to readers is wholly intimidating, not to mention scarring to my title of 4th Grade Class Spelling Bee Champion. Of course, this is assuming that people will even read this blog. Pretty darn presumptuous and self-important of me, huh?

Anyhoo, I have decided to embark on this blogging endeavor mostly because of one reason: at the end of Summer 2005, I will be chucking my job and pursuing a year of income-less wanderlust. Kind of like Gauguin, except sans the trysts with adolescent Tahitians and syphilis (I hope). I wanted a way to let my friends and family know that I would be a-OK during my solo travels. I also thought that blogging would be a great way of sharing my new cultural and personal experiences with others. I am beginning to post a little in advance of my exit from Chi-town so that I may experiment with Blogger and make this experience - both aesthetically and content-wise - as painless as possible for any readers.

So this I pledge to you: I will try my very best not to complain about the inanities of life such as lack of peaches at the bottom of yogurts. What you will actually get is much less certain, but thus begin my blogging (mis?)adventures. Get used to the writing style as demonstrated in the title of this post: inappropriate colloquialisms, phrases that end with prepositions, and enthusiastic overuse of punctuation marks. Whee!! See what I'm talking about?