I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane.

I'm nearly packed, and nearly ready to go. It's becoming a bit silly how tied to the electornics that I've become. I've got the cell phone (which I need on the trip to the airport, but I'll pop in the bag later 'cause it won't work in the Land Far Far Away), I've got the PDA, I've got the MP3 player, I've got a whole host of camera gear (still haven't decided if I want to bring the film body or not), then of course I've got the laptop and all it's attendant gear. It's really kind of pathetic. I don't doubt that I could go without, but I just don't want to. Is that like the 'I can stop any time I want to' thing? Perhaps...

I still have't gotten the travel jitters that I usually get for a long trip like this. I guess I haven't had time to think much about it all.

Cab in an hour or so, bus after that then a few hours at the airport then a double digit flight - oh joy.

The food better be good. :)

TACheckSportsTrip

Ahem…

Woohoo!!! The TAship is mine! My precious my precious, no one will take you away from me, my one and only precious. I had a phone interview and I guess I was good enough to get the prof’s ok, so now we can go with the ‘had it, lost it, in the running for it, lost it, got it’ scenario. If you had that on your play-at-home sheet, then you get the full points. Sorry to all those who played and didn’t win this time, but I’m sure there will be more opportunities to play.

Other random good news: I got an email from the billing office asking me why I hadn’t picked up one of my fellowship checks. This is odd because everything I get either gets direct deposited or mailed to me. Anyway, I run through my papers and it looks like they didn’t give me a full check some time in March, and so there was a check for the remainder sitting there waiting for me.

Now, if this were me losing money, I would be tweaked that they weren’t on the ball and didn’t get the numbers right the first time, but since it’s a black number in the accounts, I went over to the office with a smile. I did ask if they knew the story behind the check, not expecting much, and they had a little pow-wow for a bit and came back to me with the helpful information that the money was a fellowship grant from my department. Well, true enough, I guess, but I kinda already knew that. Convinced that nothing was to be gained by trying to figure it out, I kept my smile, clutched my check and happily strolled back to my little cave.

More fun info from the billing office: The guy next to me was trying to find out how he would get his athletic scholarship money. He also wanted to know if he could get a replacement ID there (In the billing office. Yeah.). From the way he was twitching and hopping all over the room, and the scattered thoughts that were flying all over the place, I really hope he was on some hard-core crazy drugs. Really. Because if this is the way this guy is naturally, our sports teams are in more trouble than they already are.

Trip Updates!

I leave tomorrow for the grand crazy tour! I’m not packed! I’m not prepared! I’ll be gone for about 2 weeks sweating like a racehorse at scenic spots and popping in on hyper-refrigerated universities. If history is any gauge, there will also be a lot of eating and drinking. If all that isn’t a surefire recipe for illness, I don’t know what is. I shall be strong however, and remain healthy until I get home and have to gear up for school. Then I’ll fall deathly ill – you just watch.

I have gathered some gifts to hand out bearing the University’s fine imprint, and I’m going to get a hat with the name emblazoned upon it, so that when we go out on the excruciatingly hot tour portions of the trip I can be a proper sweaty (but shaded from the sun) representative of my beloved school.

Also, because I have no car, I have to take a shuttle bus to the monstrous airport Many Miles Away. Unfortunately, the shuttle bus leaves from a place not serviced by the fine local public transport service, sooooo I’m guessing I’m going to have to take a cab to the bus to the plane. Ugh. And we wonder why the sky hangs heavy with lung goo.

I will be taking the laptop and hopefully I’ll be able to blog a little bit from the land of Far Away. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to say without blowing my cover, but I’ll hopefully be able to have some stories of non-specific hyjinx.

Ok, that’s all for now, see you on the flipside.

Dukes of Hazzard

Oooo, it was bad! In a pretty good way though. No one was expecting art here, and on that score, there was no disappointment. There were editing problems, plot holes, bad acting, and much much more. On the plus side, there was plenty of what you expect, car chases, flaming arrows, yahoo-ing and accents of dubious southerness.

I will say that I was surprised by Jessica Simpson. She actually wasn’t as awful as I had expected, although he role was. It is painfully obvious that they were trying to give her part a bit more meat. They gave her a couple of lines that tried to play to the ‘smarter than the guys’ kick-ass woman type, but it never really came across. As far as other women characters – well, think of all the farmer’s daughter jokes you can remember and you’ll get the idea.

The other characters were hit or miss. I didn’t care for either of Bo or Luke. Neither of them seemed to be able to act, and they weren’t fun or funny enough to carry the show. Boss Hogg, Uncle Jessie, and Enos were all well cast. Sheriff Coltrane seemed just like Bo and Luke – just flat. He just didn’t incite any anger or disgust or humor at all.

For what it is, it was a good flick. Mindless (and I do mean mindless) fun, although probably much less so for people who hadn’t watched the TV show.

Dukes of Hazzard 5/10

My Snark Lessons Are Paying Off

Things that you say wanting to impress people that don’t.

I only listen to jazz.

Good! I like jazz too, but if you aren’t a musician, the minute you make any music choice a defining part of your life, and foreswear all other kinds of music (and this seems to happen disproportionally to jazz folks), you’ve stepped way over that line to the land of pretension.

Oh, I don’t know anything about (insert inane TV show here). I don’t have a TV.

Wonderful! I agree that TV is a generally a great wasteland, but it’s also a tool to used for good or evil, your choice. Not having a TV is fine, even inspireing, but telling me that you don’t have a TV every couple of minutes sounds like you are protesting a wee bit too much. Do you really just want to come over and watch my TV? ‘Cause I’ve got one, and I know you don’t, and it seems that you’re a bit hung up on it. I’ve even got cable.

Blah blah blah cabernet blah blah blah

Again, I like wine, and I admire those who can pair a good wine to a good meal, but being well-versed in wine doesn’t make you a better person, no matter how much you think it might.

Blah blah blah wasn’t as good as the book.

Of course it wasn’t! Nothing ever is! But more importantly, the movie is fundamentally different than the book. You can’t compare the two forms in equality. One may be better suited to a certain audience or serve a certain message because they are different. This is usually just a transparent effort by people who don’t read books often to tell someone that they read the book, and look at me, I’m smart because I read a book. Well, I’m not sure the novelization of the Dukes of Hazzard makes me respect your noggin any more than I did before.