Nate, we're going to start grilling/drinking at 7 pm, but it'll likely go into the night, so stop by any time after that. Oh yeah, and you were totally in my dream last night and I was totally telling you, Sam, and Alec Johnson to be there at seven.

We're of course going to miss the new roommate, but we have too many alcoholic beverages to drink without everyone's help.

Nate, actually I have to go to Chicago -- so I'm going to drop the package with postage at your house, and if you could just drop it in a blue box tonight, that'd be awesome.

This means I also won't make it to the party tonight, but you all better still be there!

D, hey, sorry about forgetting the movie again, we were mixing last night. If you need it real bad, you could pick me up somewhere on campus at and then drive me home and then back to work, otherwise you could pick it up after or I could bring it to the barbaue tonight. What time does that start?

I'm just posting to remind you all that you gotta come to that party tonight. Everyone on here totally has to be there, and if I don't have your number, and you want details, post it here or email it to me (d at westwash dot org) and I'll give you a call. That means Annie and Caro I guess. Attendance is mandatory!

Last night was my first night in my new home. I didn't really know my roommates before moving in, so I came in with quite a bit of trepidation It looks like things will probably be all right though. I mean, we all sat around and talked a little bit last night, and they seem like nice girls. It's kind of awkward sharing a room with one, but you know how I do.

Nate, where are you? I really need that movie. I was supposed to have sent it at least three days ago. Is there a place I can meet you with it around 12.30? Otherwise can I stop by your house at about 5.15 and get it??? Thanks.

OMG never eat grapefruit just after brushing your teeth.

Oh! guess what?! Amelia and I are inviting people to come grill out and drink beer with us tomorrow night, 7 pm, at the park (James Madison) because every day we stare at it from our window and say we're going to but we never do. Tomorrow is also D's first day in his new place, and I'm sure he'd like some house warming. It's 317 E Gorham Street, or if we're not there, then you'll probably see us in the park across the street. Amelia and I are vegetarians, but we respect filthy carnivores, too, so don't fear--we'll have actual meat as well as veggie burgers to grill.

Everyone's invited please!!

A Picture Share!

Soup, your story made me laugh audibly in the computer lab, where everyone surely wonders what my problem is. I liked your comment about the spicy food high; Amelia said the same thing just yesterday.

Today at the restaurant, an Asian lady came in with her beautiful Asian baby wearing a hat in a stroller. She had been in my dream just hours earlier, but I had never met her before. I told my coworker this and he twitched a little but he didn't really care or understand that this means that I'm psychic.

Or should I say madison will be a little more jewish and a little bit shorter this weekend.

First time I have laughed aloud at a blog entry in months.

As long as I can remember I've had this fear of door knobs. Not the handles but you know when a door is open and that little catch thing points out and there's usually a screw above and below it. It looks like a face to me. If I turn around and an open door is "pointing" at me like that, I immediately get this sense of dread and sometimes scream. It usually takes me a few minutes to compose myself. Its really irrational, kinda like how I still run up the stairs at my parents house because I am afraid of the basement. It's these irrationalities that keep me from running at night as well. At best I'm afraid I'm going to be stabbed by some guy in the bushes. At worst I'm sure there is some life size mosquito out there straight out of the X-Files waiting to suck my spicey brains out. I also must wrap the cellephane top of my cigarettes in the foil from the box everytime I open a pack. My biggest fear is that my airbag will deploy while I am driving.
This one time I was in Amsterdam and was walking through a square there. Some guy maybe catches my eye and I look towards him for just a second, but I'm at least 15 feet away. After we passed him he ran after me and inquired "Why you don't look where you're going?" To which I responded, "What?" He repeated his inquiry. He kind of struck me as not too weird and maybe a little hippy so I thought he meant, why am I not admiring the world around me. I said, "Your right I should." He said, "Why did you bump into me? Why don't you look where you're going? You spilled my coke." "Oh I'm sorry," I replied. Then I look in his hands and find a white envelope with white powder on it and realize he is not talking about the tasty carbonated beverage. "Give me 100 guilder he says" "I don't have it," says I. (I didn't I had just gotten in and hadn't changed any money yet. "Give me 50 guilder then." "I don't have it" My sister gets a little scared and says, "Nick lets go." Now the guy has my name and keeps following saying, "Nick, give me 50 guilder Nick. Nick. Nick you want trouble Nick?" "No." "Then give me 50 guilder." It was a pretty public place so I wasn't terribly freaked out, as soon as we got to a busier street he turned and walked away.

He may or may not have been Turkish.

I think I've pretty much decided that I'm not going to Rawchester this weekend afterall. There's too much to do and worry about. So it looks as though I may have the doggie for another week. Maybe I'll go to the MN next weekend.

Kat: Did you get my picture?

Neither Lindsay or I could sleep last night -- the whole thing was totally running out of batteries on your powerwheels.

Shari: How did your test go?

So I've made nearly $300 on half.com so far this month, and I'm selling my guitar for $400, and after the interview yesterday, it looks as though I'll have a second job soon enough. In addition to all of this, my rent will now be significantly lower. Today, everything seems good. After I get things sorted out, I might get an iPod -- but only if things get sorted out. Unless I get moved out and in with lightning speed, I doubt I'll make it to the game tonight. Good luck to everyone nonetheless. Oh and guess what, you know how I told you all that I made 15.99 on a used DVD last night? Well, today I made 19.99 on a used CD -- smart buy, buddy. Also, if anyone wants to buy any of my art, DO IT. I think I'll make fish tonight.

Sometimes, when I eat spicey foods, I feel like I'm high.

I'm trying!

Good afternoon.
Thanks for adding me, Shari.
My suggestion for a nick-name to stick to this fantastic blog is "sscud," like "scud" which means clouds or rain driven by wind, among other things.
I'm about to have coffee with my Conversational English tutee, Derek, who is Korean and chose the American name Derek because he was told it sounds manly. I think so. I'll tell him you all said hi.

Having to retrieve a library book from the floor that a building-clearing, police and firemen-responding bomb threat was reported on is the NEW having to ask at the front desk for a Playgirl.

Ok so I'm thinking the name Double-S CD is a little on the boring side, so I think we should make it stand for something. Ideas?

Annie: That sort of thing is just too hard for me to do...

A few years ago I lived on a mountain in Virginia. I guess it was a ridge, and I don't know enough about that sort of thing to know if that counts as a mountain or not, but anyway that's what I lived on. I stayed there with my older brother, mostly because I thought there wasn't really anywhere else for me to go. He's ten years older than me -- always has been -- and he's married to a girl named Kara. Kara's an interesting character. This is something I don't really want to get into, but as a taste I'll tell you that she once locked herself in my younger sister's bedroom crying because one of my sisters called another one fat. So at the time of this story, when I lived in Virginia, they hadn't yet been married. She was almost always at his house though, so she practically lived there. She was the band teacher at a small high school located in the valley, and she was from New Jersey. Anyway it ended up that she would be in charge of that year's Miss Page County. This was the annual high school beauty pageant, and you're going to have to take a moment to try to understand exactly how important it was to the community. But wait, first of all, yes, I am going to acknowledge that it is kind of disturbing that a high school would actually hold one of these -- but that's just the way things work in the south. So basically, the girls who went to this school lived in the valley, had probably never left the valley, and most definitely had no ambition to ever leave the valley. All the years prior to their coming of age, you know, being allowed to enter the contest, were just a build-up. These girls' lives were for this pageant. It was seriously the climax of all their years. After this -- it was all just life. The only time these girls would ever taste this kind of excitement again would be when their own daughters enter the goddam contest -- and most of these girls, by the way, probably got started on that and have a few kids by now anyway. In fact, after this particular pageant, one of the contestant's mothers violently freaked out at one of the judges because her daughter didn't place. Scary shit. The whole thing was just garbage bag, but Kara was asked to be in charge of that year's, because she had taken part in some goddam contest at some point. So part of her responsibilty was choosing the judges. She had an actual beauty pageant judge from the big city come down as the head judge. His name was David and he was way gay. She recruited her friend Jessica, who had also taken part in some contests, as judge number two. But she needed a third judge -- and so she asked me. I mean, I didn't know what to do. It didn't seem like the best idea, but she told me that all I'd have to do was ask these girls some questions, write down some numbers, and get paid $75. I didn't have a job, so I needed the money, and it seemed like it might be fun -- so I agreed to do it. The first thing I had to do was write up a quick bio about myself. Well I hadn't really done much with my life (still haven't I guess), no credentials, so obviously I just had to make the whole thing up. I made myself out to be some cool dude who spent the previous year touring Europe with his band or some crap. We ended up having to actually do a bunch more lying too. I think we even lied about my name so that people wouldn't know that she was dating my brother, and that that was our relationship. Oh and I felt pretty awkward with the judges because I really stuck out. So basically the whole thing was just WEIRD. I think I've made that clear, so let's move on. Before the ceremony were the questions. We three judges sat in a room and had to think up questions or read them off of some Pageants for Dummies sheet or something I don't know. Anyway some of the questions I asked these girls were dece, but some of their answers blew my mind. I really can't remember many at all, but I remember asking one girl if she had any pets, and she told me that she had pigs, chickens, and sheep. Sorry I can't remember much more, and I don't remember too much about the actual audience and stage part either, except feeling weird about assigning numbers to their posture, presence, dress, etc. So the prettiest girl ended up winning, Amy Good. That was her name. Kara (years) later told me that she and some of the other girls had little crushes on me and were asking all kinds of questions about my mysterious (but fabricated) life. I found her not telling me at the time very irritating because I truly could have used some companionship there. She said it wouldn't have been appropriate. Anyway a few days later Kara went back over the scores and figured that the gay head judge dude had made some "mistakes" with his addition. The girl who we gave first had actually only earned enough points for 5th place, and in fact all of them were completely messed up, it was all very suss, so she destroyed the papers in case they were found. If I'm not mistaken, the girl whose mom freaked out had actually won the pageant.

According to my iPod, most listened to albums of the past month:

5. Mt. St. Helen's - You Are A Ghostly Presence
4. Detachment Kit - Of This Blood....
3. The Magnetic Fields - i (Only the first half)
2. Hella - Hold Your Horse Is
1. Colony of Watts - Victory Bonds

Actually, turns out my dad and bro are in town and we'll probably do dinner. Where should I take them?

Guys call me around 6:15 if you wanna hang out. I'll be almost downtown then.

5.30 or so I guess.

Alright D, I will not use Paypal. Going over by the zoo is still a must, if only to play with Tessa and goof off.

Nate I don't know about this Paypal thing. I'm not as internet as you. I've only used it once, for donating to westwash.org. It'd be easier to just have the cash or check. We can talk if it's a problem though.

My dog will be staying with me for the remainder of the week, so if anyone is inerested in seeing her again, this may be your last chance! I just found out that the zoo closes at 5.00 so that's not gonna happen dudes, sorry. We can however still hang out in that area and bring my dog -- then we'll have both fun and animals! What does everyone think about that?

D - Excellent. Is it alright if I paypal you the money, cause I have a bunch in my account that I wouldn't use otherwise? Remind me before the zoo and I'll bring the DVD.

Shari - Is peacemeal one of those hippy places? Cause it sounds like it. And tell us a date story, please.

Nate yeah I'll take it down and give it to you for $10. I also need to have Snatch in the mail today.

When do we get to hear about Shari's date?

And we're gonna need a happy post from Annie I think...

D - You're asking for 12.99 for the Power of Salad, plus they charge for shipping. Let's work something out.

Hmm, nevermind, I don't get off work till 6. Are you guys "doing dinner" though? I'd be game for that.

Ok I am way frustrated right now because I wrote this entire thing, then my computer mysteriously turned off, and I lost it all. So now I'm going to have to rewrite it. Here I go. Part two of "Concerning the Turkish"

The first thing you have to understand about Antonia and Katharina is that they are two of the funniest people I've ever known. Upon meeting, we hit it off immediately, and have talked by internet and telephone with some frequency ever since. One day we three decided to go to the zoo by way of train. Funny that it worked out that I have a story about a zoo to tell on the day we all are going to one, isn't it? Whatevs, so Hamburg had a pretty big and famous zoo, mainly because of their elephants. It was famous because there were so many of the goddam things. An interesting thing about zoos in Europe, is that you're allowed to feed a lot of the animals. The famous elephants at this zoo could even do a trick. There'd be a zookeeper standing next to them, you could offer it a Mark (coin), it would take the money in its trunk, hand it to the trainer, then receive a treat. I was really looking forward to doing this again (this particular trip was easily my third time visiting this zoo already), but when we got there, there were no keepers around. I was pretty disappointed, even though we'd brought a sack of old breads to feed them too. So I ended up deciding to offer an elephant some money anyway -- just to see what it would do. It just sort of stood there and stared at me for a minute, but eventually walked across the compound and hid the Mark behind a bush. They say that elephants never forget, and I've always wondered if he was saving it. A bit later there was a Turkish dude spraying a hose in some animal area. I guess he was cleaning or something. He looked up and we three were staring at him like he was some sort of animal attraction or something. We began giggling like a bunch of school girls and first of all I don't know why I remember that and second, I have no fucking clue as to why I thought it'd be a good idea to tell you. So I got pretty sidetracked there, sorry. But like I was saying, we decided to go to the zoo by way of train. We had only been on the subway for a few minutes when I saw Toto (Antonia) had a strange look on her face. It only took me like less than a second to see why. Something smelled -- like shit. So we three got a bang out of this because evidently some goon had taken a shit on the train. Realize that these are really nice subways -- super modern and spotlessly clean, so it was pretty out of place. But then there was this three or four year old kid, jumping up and on his seat yelling about how he had to pee. Now this made us laugh even harder because obviously this little dork had shit his pants or something, the entire car could smell it, and his mother and grandmother were just conversing, completely ignoring the little dweeb. They were Turkish by the way. So at the next stop, we three left the car and ran to another one. We sat down and I noticed a pretty alarmed look on Kat's face. She explained that a couple of Turkish guys had "followed us" off the last car and onto this one. See, she always had the most peculiar fear of Turkish men. I mean she's pretty neurotic though. I heard that when she was a little girl, her brother told her that if she ever dated a Turkish dude, he'd beat the shit out of him. I learned later, by the way, that when she was quite a bit younger, she had been sort of violated by some Turkish guys at a club in the red light district, so her fear was reasonably understandable I guess. I don't know what was up with her brother though -- dude sounds racist. So anyway she's getting all nervous like, and we notice that the train hasn't moved yet. A few minutes pass and we see a worker (Turkish) run by with a bucket and cleaning supplies to the car we'd just left. Some more time passes and we're on our way. We had to transfer trains at one point, and when we get off the train, those two Turkish guys do as well. I can see that Kat's getting way nervous about it. We're standing on this platform, waiting for the next train to come, and you know how some American women think Mexican guys have a staring problem? Well it's like that with Hamburg girls and Turkish dudes -- so yeah, they were looking at her a little bit. So she's scared. The train finally comes and we get on it, and they get in the same car as us. She's scared. I swear it looks like she's going to cry. She takes her cellphone out of her purse, enables the passcode, and powers it off -- in case it was stolen she didn't want it to be used. So finally we get to our stop, we get off the train, go to the zoo, and that's the end of the story. Guess you had to be there.

Nate: Yes we're going -- and so are the Playgirls.

We are going to be at the zoo at 5:30.

I am actually sitting in the library right now with a stack of Playgirls. I just looked at the request form and realized I had to find any reference to some dude. The bad news is that he wasn't in the table of contents, so I just had to thumb through the entire magazine until I find his mention (and picture). New library cock shots!

What time are you going to the zoo? I'm on my bike and could meet you somewhere inside.

D and I are going to the zoo today. Woo! I really just like saying the word zoo. Zoo. Zoo.

Also, in an almost unbelievable turn of events, my work has asked me to photocopy the unthinkable today. I am on my way to Memorial Library to ask, and then photocopy, a copy of Playgirl. I will be taking pictures to document the fact that this is actually happening. I cannot believe that the University actually subscribes to this magazine, plus the fat that someone actually wants something from it, plus that I actually have to walk up to the desk and ask them to retrieve it from their locked case. A winner is me.

Show - Time still not known, but DPC will be doing a short set, and there will be some DPC/Right Arm interplay.

1. My internet is down until Friday
2. My car got towed this morning
3. Yearbook blog errored out on my trying to join
4. Nate search WWB for a huge discussion on your topic
5. I'm going to lunch now.

Nate I don't know much about libraries, but today is day eight of the sore neck.

Shari you should come to the zoo.

Caroline thanks for posting.

Annie whassup.

Kat wtf?

I was in Hamburg once with a friend who had insulin dependant diabetes. She and I flew together on this particular trip, and as I was going to be with her just about the entire time, I learned how to give her shots in case of an emergency. I ended up finding it sort of fun, so I'd practice on her any chance I could. One day several of us were downtown, and it was time to give her a shot. We thought we'd make things interesting, so we decided we'd have me administer the shot in the most suspicious of places. We saw two telephone booths, one of which was occupied. Perfect. So she and I squeezed into the booth, took out the little kit, rolled up her sleeve, and started in on the procedure. At some point during this, our friends got pretty nervous and took off. It didn't take the Turkish man in the booth next to us long to see what we were doing, and when he did, he hung up the phone and set out running. No joke. The dude ran. So we got a little nervous and made way towards the opposite direction too. Now it may have been coincidental, but a short time later, we saw a couple of police officers come around the corner, looking around. Now I don't want to sound racist or anything, because I never understood -- but there was always the strangest relationship between the German Hamburgers I knew and the Turkish. It was like fear or something. Hamburg has an enormous Turkish population. In fact, I learned that more Turkish people lived in Hamburg than in the capitol of Turkey. I can't guarantee that's true, but it might be. Anyway, yeah it was like fear. Another time we were walking in a shady part of town, and we passed a group of Turkish dudes who were trying to sell us weed or something. My friends told me not to look at them and to just keep walking. So I did, but another friend of mine, an American, didn't. They were making some sort of grossish gesture so she yelled something along the lines of, "Fuck you, asshole," and at this point, my German friends took off running like crazy -- so I had to too. I learned later that one of the kids I was with had actually been beaten up by some lot of Turkish guys not too long before. Total classic Johnny and Ponyboy action. After I left the country, some other friends were jumped too. Since you have so much time, let me tell you another story about the Turkish. I lived near the train stop called Wellingsbüttel. At this stop there was a kiosk, which I often patronized, and which was always attended by a Turkish dude. He became quite friendly with me and it seemed completely harmless. He'd always call me "Auslander" which meant foreigner, and he bonded with me because neither of us were German. He made me count my money out loud when I made a purchase and so on, just to help me practice my German. Anyway one day I went to the kiosk, and the dude seemed really excited to see me. He told me that he had drawn a picture of us, and that he wanted me to see it. So he showed it to me and there were two stick characters. One was standing up, looking very happy, and one was dead. He pointed at the dead one and explained that that was me. So I got pretty nervous and just acted like nothing strange had just happened. The next time I went to the station, he wasn't working -- nor was he the time after that, or the time after that, and so on. In fact, no one ever saw him again. There's another story, but I think it'd better wait until tomorrow. Let me know if you want to hear it.

Shari - the Right Arms tonight are a must. They're satarical and by satirical I mean enjoyable. You should also listen to the the song Christmas at the Zoo by the Flaming Lips, it's a very thoughtful discussion of the animal/zoo situation. After listening to it, you should come to the zoo with us on Tuesday, and then to dinner with us at the Burger King.

Also, the yearbook project is making the first tenative steps forward. If you're interested in being part of the project, email me and we'll get you set up on the OMG IT'S A YEARBOOK blog so we can start discussing how to organize everything.

Also again, does no one have an opinion about the favorite method of library organization. To quote Gareth from the office, "Knowledge is power" and knowing where to find information is even more so.

D and I are going to the zoo on Tuesday before dinner. Would you like to come?

D and I also stopped by Genna's for a drink last night. It was very pleasant and I was able to drop off an art prject and official meet one of the bartenders over there. Then, we ran into Jeff from the Hat Party and D went home. The Hat Party, a member of Colony Of Watts, and a Brain Made of Things Made of Gold went to the Crystal Corner to play pool. I sat the first two games out because I am no good at pool. Third game I played, and proceeded to suck it up, but the other team scratched on the eight ball, so you know how we do. Then I bought some potatoe chips. After that, I ate the potatoe chips and got driven home. I slept soundly, until I started coughing and woke myself up at 6:30 this morning and decided to watch 'Mr. Show" until I had to go to work. Work is for losers today.

The End.


What are people's opinions of the dewey decimal system versus the library of congress method to organizing library books? I have an opinion, but I am interested in what other people think are the disadvantages and advantages of the two systems.

Anyone interested in going to Genna's a bit later, give me a call.