Better By Nightfall

. . .watch Bjork beat up a journalist!

I recently found Lydia when searching for new music on iTunes. Their music is haunting, but upbeat and displays a range similar to Copeland mixed with Eisley and hints of The Fray. Hopefully you can catch their music on The Hype Machine. I recommend "This Is Twice Now," "Hospital," "One More Day," and "I Woke Up Near The Sea". It is definitely worth listening to if you need something soft, subtly complex, and hauntingly vibrant.

(And this will be the last video I post for a while, I promise!)

Pitch, my cat, still isn't sure how to handle herself in our new home. We have more space than we have ever had, partially because we have no furniture, and nothing to really do with it. Sometimes I think it makes her a little stir crazy, especially when she runs wildly around the apartment and then tries to attack her reflection in the mirror. It is hilarious and she is so adorable when she does it, but I think she'd much rather have a couch to cozy up on.



I think we just need to fill in the spaces.

I can't stop listening to this song. Hopefully you'll enjoy it too.

I happen to think myself a mellow, patient and tolerant person. I am not too akin to rage and I really only get pissy when I don't have my coffee, but today re-opened my bitterness with insanely massed public spaces.

I want to use another word to describe what my shopping experience at IKEA was like, but to use any other word (which also functions as a general expression) fails to fully encompass my antipathy for the douchebaggery that occurs when masses come together over anything cheap.

Look, I'm not trying to piss on the parade of cheap furniture at IKEA. Hell, I bought $260 worth of it despite the fact that it is mostly particle wood (and will probably break if I ever move). Also, I must say that MOST of the employees at IKEA were friendly and helpful. What I am pointing to, however, is the fact that people lose their sense of decency and civility when they gather in mass in confined spaces. Once people come into contact with others while looking for "personal" items, be it food (like at CostCo) or furniture (like at IKEA), all decorum goes out the window and everyone is in it like a free-for-all. It's almost like everyone's innate pre-historic piss-poor self rears in the face of nabbing the best item before someone else does.

For example, while shopping for items today, I parked my cart at the end of an aisle near some picture frames. No carts were near me and since on of the tires on my cart kept careening to the right, I didn't want to overcorrect it as I walked through the aisle. Apparently this bothered a woman in her late forties who, upon seeing me park the cart, grabbed it and pushed it out of the way to the aisle across the way. I glared at her as she did and said, "Uh, that was my cart." She sneered bitterly in my direction and strode up the aisle without saying a word, all so she could fat arm a few frames into her cart.

I have witnessed this pandemic of douchebaggery many times before at CostCo and I am always dismayed by it. In fact, I utterly dread going to CostCo because people become retarded (figuratively speaking, of course) over food. People run ahead to grab free samples, they cart cut to get a better place in line, and they are complete assholes in the parking lot while parking, loading, and leaving. Apparently people at IKEA are no different. (And yes, I know Labor Day weekend might have contributed to this, probably making it even worse, but I still feel that people are increasingly rude toward one another.)

Let's forget IKEA and CostCo for a minute, though, and question the source of the problem: massive gatherings of people in enclosed spaces.

RQ: What is it about enclosed spaces that breeds indifference in people toward others?

Seriously, did I miss something while I was growing up? Were there lessons taught in school that I missed, even though I had near perfect attendance? Did the cowboy culture of bygone administrations impart dickheadedness to the culture at large? What happened? </end rant>

Bottom line: People need to chill out at these places and treat everyone with respect. We're all shopping for many of the same things and, unless the world is about to end, the items will be around. Even if they aren't, it is not like one couldn't obtain them later. There is no reason to push people's carts out of the way, cut them off, or be a complete douche bag in the parking lot. Human decency isn't a virtue, it is an unspoken obligation toward humanity at large.

Basically, don't be a dick. (This means you, cart lady and asshole driver who didn't let me back out when I was halfway out.)

Things seemed to have settled, more and more, over the last couple of weeks now that school has started. My schedule is still a bit hectic, particularly because I have not figured out how to balance my time at school and at home, and because I haven't figured out how exactly to get to campus on the days I teach.

I know how to get to campus with the bus system and I have done it frequently, but I have to clarify something here: I don't like riding the bus when I am dressed up in my nice slacks and dress shirt. I could care less that I'm dressed up and riding to school around people that are dressed normally. No. This is different. I care about the fact that I am dapper for too long.

Yes, you read that correctly. I do not like to be dressed up for extended periods of time. Don't get me wrong. I know I look amazing in a pleated pair of gray slacks and a finely pressed blue button-up shirt with a sexy silk tie, and the ladies all confirm this; I, however, dislike the way the clothes feel on my skin after a few hours. I know it is entirely psychological, but after being "suited up" for three to four hours, I desperately want to rip my clothes off (and, no, I do not want to run around naked). It is almost like I have a sticker all over my body and I can't pull it off until I am home, which is not until late in the evening.

Maybe I'm just mental?

I suppose all of it wouldn't be so bad if I either lived closer to campus or if I could store my suits in the office; neither of which are options. So, I guess I need to figure out this alleged semi-formal style that includes walking around in a blazer with jeans. I'm not fond of this option, mainly because I think it is a little douchey, but it seems like it would be the easiest solution because I could use the blazer as outwear. Plus, I suppose it would demonstrate that I'm still the authority figure of the class. Who knows, though?

This has been my random dilemma for the last two classes I taught. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.


On a completely tangential note, a friend of mine pointed me toward 2081. As you can tell from the video link before, 2081 is a new movie that is soon to theaters. What you might not know, though, is that it is Hollywood's take on Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron. Watch the video and check it out for yourself:



What do you think? On the one hand the movie is a little unsettling, particularly because the short story seems too short to be a fully length movie. On the other hand, the movie looks promising in terms of vision and scope. Plus, Patricia Clarkson (from Six Feet Under and Lars and the Real Girl) is the narrator of this dystopian take on the future of an egalitarian utopia.