I'm getting Tan...

...on my feet. I noticed a fledgling chaco tan line this morning. Considering the fact that it's still March, I'm pretty proud of this accomplishment. woot.

Van Morrison

might be my new favorite. If I had a girl friend and could play guitar, I'd play sing Tupelo Honey about her. That would be fun.

How many times must the cannonballs fly before they're forever banned

I spend a lot of time in Deet's. Aside from my room, it's probably my most frequented location. The coffee is familiar; it probably isn't the world's best. In fact I often won't finish it if it isn't burning my tongue. The other goodies are good enough. Bagels, cookies, and muffins are tough to mess up.
The couches in the back are wonderfully comfortable. Nothing superiorly luxurious, but like the coffee, familiar. They're wonderfully positioned to people watch: girls gossiping, a guy studying, a couple "studying". With my computer or books out, I'm inconspicuously present.
I fall in love about every time I come here, usually with a pretty blonde. I thought it would be the one studying next to me tonight, but she hasn't looked up once. Instead, it's the one sitting in the other set of couches gossiping. Blone hair, blue eyes, nice smile, pink polkadotted rain boots. I'm in maroon sweatpants, hoodie (hood up), chacos, and earbuds. I'm probably not her type. She probably wouldn't be mine either, but I don't think I have one. Well, I like all the cute blondes in Deet's, as long as they look up occasionally.
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright just came on. I really like the Live at Newport 1966 version, but this is the studio album. It's good too. I know you're not supposed to use this word with Dylan, but his voice sounds sweet. He's merciful. "You coulda done better but, I don't mind." I just realized what this song was. I thought it was him trying to pick a girl up, but it's a no-hurt-feelings breakup.
I don't think I've ever been more (something) than the time I was sitting in Deet's drinking fairtrade organic coffee, listening to Dylan, (either blood on the tracks or Highway 61 Revisited), and reading Walden. It was winter, so I was probably wearing shoes. TOo bad I wasn't wearing Chacos. I also probably should have been under a tree, and not inside. Live music would be better too. Oh well.
I think love du jour has noticed my periodic gloancing at her. Too bad. She's very cute. If only she was alone and I was good at talking to girls.
Oddly, Deet's has filled up between 10 and 11. A few big groups of friends. THe rain has died down.
A girl is starting to take trash out. I think they're going to close early tonight.
I wonder what will happen when a nuke goes off on U.S. soil. Obama will be cool, I think. If Palin is president, she'd probably run back to Alaska, or wonder she was left behind (I joke). I hope that cute blonde girl is ok. And Bob Dylan.
I wonder if Blonde girl likes Bob Dylan.
Thoreau probably wouldn't mind if there was a nuke. What's important that Washington has to say to Tehran, anyway? Or maybe he'd stop paying taxes and go to jail.
I wonder if the Pharisees made jokes about Jesus the way we make jokes about our prophets. If he came today, we'd probably find him very amusing.
Who are our prophets? Bono? People like him too much. Probably the comedians. Stewart, Myers, Groening.
I like Obama. That quip to Ed Williams was legendary. I wonder if he thought before he made that Special Olympics joke. Maybe he planned it. He might think it would humanize him. I don't know if he's that smart or that dumb.
Bob Dylan is singing "I shall be free," but I'm not because Deet's is closing. Fortunately, my coffee, my album, and my location are all dwindling/ending/closing at the same time.
Time for bed, I guess. The need decaf fairtrade coffee at Deet's.
I hope that the next girl I fall in love with at Deet's is as cute as tonights.

hat update

I was able to stretch my hat out. I'm really happy. It's still kind of tight and may be restricting oxygen flow to my brain, but it fits and i was able to wear it to day to disguise the fact that I had not showered.

Lol.

From WaPo:

The rhetoric grew so heated yesterday that Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) suggested in a radio interview that AIG executives ought to "follow the Japanese model . . . resign, or go commit suicide." An aide later explained he does not actually want executives to kill themselves.



The most ironic thing about this to me is that a Republican from Iowa is undoubtedly "pro-life." I don't think the term has ever been more meaningless.

Tragic

This morning, I discovered that a very, very, terrible thing happened over break. I washed my hat (ok, my mom washed my hat) and it shrunk. It won't go on my head anymore. I'm not sure what to do, especially because warm hats are out of season. However, it is still cold in Blacksburg, and I anticipate needing a warm hat several times this spring, especially on questionable chaco days. I wear my chacos as often as possible, because it moves back laundry day. I run out of warm socks before anything else.

So far, this is the top candidate for a new hat: http://www.rei.com/product/676661

I think that it would match my hoodie phenomenally. I would miss the braids, but I think I could get by.

If you know of any online retailers who still have warm hats, especially if they have braids, PLEASE let me know. Solving this problem is very important to me right now.

No Line on the Horizon

U2's new album, No Line on the Horizon came out yesterday. I'm on my 6th trip through it. It was very detrimental to me finishing up my paper and getting to bed when I wanted to late last night (yes, mom, I got it done and it's a good paper).

The album is different for U2. The Edge carries the music with big rock riffs a lot more than he has on past albums, and the percussion is much more subtle. It has been a trend we've seen from U2, but the lyricism is increasingly specific in expressing both the band's (read: Bono's) activism (Get On Your Boots, Stand Up Comedy) and spirituality (Magnificent, White as Snow).

It's definitely a U2 album. There is totally the presence of streaking, sireny guitar and expected vocal arrangements (if I knew anything about music I'd expand). We do definitely hear some heavier rocking though, which I love.

My favorite part is possibly the alternate versions of "No Line on the Horizon" and "Get on your Boots." They are carried by dance beats that could totally work their way into Lonely Island songs and are pure fun.


Oh, if you want a real review by someone who knows what he is talking about, check http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/26079033/no_line_on_the_horizon

amazing

A reggae version of Cecilia by Simon and Garfunkel is playing on Pandora. It's awesome.

Thoreau paper

So, on Thursday, my english teacher assigned our first major paper. He'd told us that it would be coming for a while, but for some reason didn't give us the prompt until Thursday. The rough draft is due this Tuesday with the final due Thursday. This paper is like 30% of the grade for the semester. Having four days to write a paper normally wouldn't be that big of a deal except that Matt was planning to come and visit this weekend, and it became an even bigger annoyance when the copious snow extended his visit by at least one day.

So, I'm sitting in Deet's writing this paper. Matt, who is on spring break has little more to do than look at pictures on Reddit, and show me the more amusing ones he comes across (my new facebook profile picture is probably tops).

I really really really like Walden, as probably anyone who reads this knows. In writing the paper, I came across the following idea which I think has a lot of merit and was worthy of a blog post:

"When one man has reduced an idea of the imagination to be a fact of his understanding, I foresee that all men will at length establish their lives on that basis"

Essentially, no the difference between truth and speculation, and never stop questioning everyone.

Also noteworthy, I found Rush Limbaugh's speech at CPAC infuriating. It was almost as hilariously infuriating as the number of close games that Tech Basketball has lost this season.