If you were me...

...and you had the chance to go to one place in October, would you go to:

a) San Diego
b) Atlanta

Please limit your responses to one page, double-spaced.

Chutes and ladders

I realized I've been posting infrequently, and when I do it's usually some dumb link to this or that website that I've discovered. I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm in a mid-grad school lull, and things are kind of stable and settled for now. I'm actually almost exactly halfway done with grad school. A little over two and a half years down, a little under two and a half to go. Hard to believe. Very hard to believe. I noticed that for a while before grad school, many of my thoughts were occupied by "How can I get in?" or "Am I going to get in?" or "What can I do to help me get in?" And then for a while after I arrived, I was satiated. I didn't really care about the next stage. I was here, I had arrived, and I was just glad to have made it. It was like being on a very long road trip. You drive for so long, and then when you pull up to your destination, or walk through that door, all you think about is what a great feeling it is that you're there. That the image in your mind, the thing you've been driving toward for so long, the reason that you've made the journey, is now real. And you're there. That's how I felt when I first got here. I allowed myself to be completely immersed in my destination, and what was promised to those who "made it" and were accepted here.

Recently, though, I've noticed a shift in my thinking. That future-oriented thinking that makes one a little uneasy, as opposed to the present-minded thinking that is so calming and soothing and uninterrupted. I've started thinking about my next step, which is internship, and the next city Kia and I will live in, and how that will be, and what I'll do after that, and whether my career path will become clearer or even more blurry at this next checkpoint along my journey. You could say I've rounded the bend, and rather than looking back at where I came from, I am now more concerned about where I'm going. That's what I've noticed recently. It tells me I'm settled here. It tells me I've been here a while. It's funny that I'm closer to leaving than to arriving.

I think I'll miss it here when I leave, but right now I'm not sure how much. I was thinking today that certain songs are inextricably (is that a word?) tied to person, place, and time. You hear a certain song, and you inevitably think of someone, or something, or someplace, or all three. 90s crap by the Goo Goo Dolls or Matchbox 20 - Lexington. Neutral Milk Hotel - Oberlin. Any song from "The Rising" by Bruce Springsteen or "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" - Walking to the Metro in Maryland. I am curious to know what I'll associate with my time here.

But this post was intended to be about something else, so I'll tell you about that.

Friday night was a trip to The City Museum. This place has many great features, the most salient and fun of which is this huge, metal, outdoor structure that has seemingly been cobbled together from various industrial throw-aways and other such things you could find at a junkyard. There is a plane you can sit in, many bridges and things you can walk over and slither through, and an endless supply of slides to...well, slide down. There's also a new feature, which is a big ball pit, sort of like at Chuck E. Cheese, except the balls in this ball pit are kickball-sized, and the kids in this ball pit just want to pelt each other with the balls. Although the whole structure is completely stable, the thought that keeps running through my head as I navigate this thing is, "How have they not been sued yet?" Kia and I both slammed our heads while trying to duck under an overpass, and there are so many ways (SO many ways) that one could accidentally fall off the whole thing at least 50 feet and be pretty badly hurt. I marvel at the fact that they've stayed open this long.

But I'm quite glad they have. Tim, Kia, and I had a pretty good time trying to see how many different places we could explore in this metal labrynth. To help you visualize, and to celebrate the fact that we just learned how to put pictures on our computer (thanks, Tal), I'll illustrate who I'm talking about.

This is Tim. He plays guitar.
















And this is Kia, apparently nibbling on Moose's ear for some reason.















And that's me, apparently smelling something bad at Ben & Jerry's.














So yes, it was indeed a good time. The whole outdoor structure is great, and has other features I haven't mentioned (like a wall you have to climb with a rope and tunnels and ladders made out of wire that you can climb through and be suspended way up in the air). Needless to say, it's not for the faint of heart, or the claustrophobic (many opportunities to become stuck in tight places). By the end, Kia's knees were all bruised up and my lower back was feeling the ache. I think Tim somehow came out of it unscathed.

The inside is good too. In addition to another set of caves which appears to be inside a huge whale, there's a big fish tank where you can see fish and pick up turtles (although I don't think you're supposed to). There are many large rooms that look like they're about 100 years old and don't seem to serve much of a purpose in the museum. But they're there. And some of the walls outside the restrooms are made entirely of industrial metal sinks.

Cool place, that City Museum. Right off Washington Ave., if you're ever in the neighborhood.

Stealing the covers

Kia and I have an ongoing debate that, perhaps, some of you can shed some light on (i.e., tell me I'm right).

She says that there are certain covers of songs that are better than the original. For example, there's a cover of the Eagles' "Take it Easy" which she finds to be an improvement on the original.

I say that covers can accentuate certain features of the original song or provide a new take on an old favorite, giving it a new life. But being a purist, I don't think that the cover can be better than the original. After all, if the original were never written, there would be no cover.

Comments welcome.

Barry Jive and the Uptown Five

I love this movie. I. Love. This. Movie. Probably more than most other movies. I saw it again recently and every time is great, almost better than the last time. I hesitate to say that's it's my favorite, because what is that really? Can anyone have a favorite movie, really? Doesn't that depend heavily on one's mood, disposition, time of day, time of year, company (alone, two people, big group), etc.? It's just like John Cusack says in the movie when someone asks him for his top five favorite songs - he can't say. In the club or at home? It's just too hard of a question. That's how I feel about a lot of things. But this one is definitely in my top five.

Anyway, the point of all that was there's a good quote page here that should bring a smile to the face of anyone who's seen it even once.

I know my birthday's not for 8 months...

...but if you love me, you'll get me this.

It's a little on the minimal side, but you get the idea. And that scoreboard needs a little adjustment, too.

New Busch

How do I know spring is here? That creepy, sketchy ice cream truck is back, roaming the streets with repetitive, clangy music emanating from its top.

How else do I know that spring is here? I got to tour the new Busch Stadium. Yesterday, my man Bryan hooked me and some other people up with free tickets to what I believe was being termed an "open house" at the new Busch. It's a funny image, if you think about it. Walking around, trying to admire things without getting the floors dirty, nibbling on finger food and making small talk with the owners. Well, not so much with the finger food, although I did have my first ballpark hot dog and beer, while sitting in the seats, watching the Cardinals play the Cubs on the big screen. It was almost like watching a real game.

To me, the new place is pretty much like the old place, although others who were with me told me there were lots of differences. For one thing, there was this indoor area with all of these gourmet foods, completely removed from the game or the elements. Think of a mall. That's kind of the feel of this place. I guess some people would like this, but to me it seems to go against the point of being at a baseball game.

All in all, great to be out at the stadium, even if there was no game going on.

End of the line

Well, I've had a good run. That's it. I'm calling it quits on the ol' blog. Happy trails, everyone.