12/02/2009

Hey there boys, girls, and those with a little of both. I know, I know, I’ve been gone for the better part of a year. Sorry ’bout that. For those of you who have been with me for a while, things are pretty meh lately. I don’t really have anything to rant about, sorry to disappoint, but you never know, maybe I’ll stumble across something while i’m working.

So. what’s going on with me you ask? Well, I’m currently in the mad dash to finish off my fifth semester at college (that means ima junior), I’m coaching fencing for two hours twice a night, still trying to figure out what i want to do with my life, but i’m looking at graduate school for molecular biology, or something.  like i said, i dunno.  maybe i’ll just get my BS and go back to work in west bend.  I would kind of like to talk about college for a little bit, so let’s see where this takes us:

I’m working towards my bachelor of science degree in biology. I’ve taken things like zoology, botany, microbiology, genetics, physiology, chemistry, you know, the sciences.  the nerdy stuff that attracts me to it like a fat kid to so many snickers bars.  but in order to get the piece of paper that says i know how to be a nerd (which will wind up costing me roughly 50 thousand dollars) and the bragging rights to go with it, I also need to be a "well rounded student".  translation: i have to take totally unrelated classes like sociology, literature, art, etc. now, i dont mind taking these classes per say.  i agree that a man should be knowledgable about as much as he can.  the problem i have is with some of these professors.  i came to college to learn how to think, how to observe and test the world around me.  I’m not paying money out the ass to listen to them ramble on about how smart THEY are. (as an aside, i believe i may have found a rant)  the prime source of this frustration is my literature professor.  we’ll call him snuggles. (i dont know either, dont ask)  Dr. Snuggles is a tiny man with shoulder length hair and the most yuppie goatee ever.  no kiddin, i’m surprised the thing doesnt have a sweater draped over it’s shoulders.  anyways, the class he’s "teaching" is called "violence in film and literature".  now, i dont know how many of you know this, but there are some pretty violent books out there.  coincidentaly, there are also quite a few really shitty violent books out there.  for an example, let’s take "blood meridian" by cormac mccarthy.  it’s violent alright, from trees full of dead babies to sodomizing corpses, this book’s got it all.  well, everything except a plot.  and dynamic characters. and anything except an obsurd level of violence.  now, i’ll read some pretty lousy books if i think i can get anything of use out of them, but i haven’t gotten much out of dr. snuggles or his class. he’s a bit pretentious too.  he’s got a lot of "indeed" and "thusly" in him.  but that’s neither here not there.  suffice to say the book was a waste of a tree, and listening to snuggles drone on about it’s subtle undertones of something or other kind of made we wish someone would pull a Fargo and put me out of my misery.  now for the worst part of this class: we watch good movies, like a clockwork orange, kill bill, outlaw josie wales, the good stuff.  but he’s one of those little gits that likes to talk over the movies. we’re watching the bride gear up to whup Bill’s ass, and he’s talking over the dialog goin on about something to do with post modern cubism of some such shit that he’s not qualified to teach anyways. Fuck you, Dr. Snuggles, Fuck you.   ok, well, that’s out of my system.

I’m also taking quite a bit of philosophy (they fill up my humanities credits, dont ask me how) while i’m here at college.  I rather enjoy philosophy.  I enjoy the one i’m in now even more than the one i was in last semester.  this is your run of the mill PHIL 101 class, taught by the crazy philosophy professor. this guy’s bat crap crazy (cookie to anyone that can explain the origin of that phrase), but in the fun way.  we’ve spent a large portion of the semester discussing the idea of god and questioning if it’s rational to believe in the big guy upstairs.  some of the things we’ve talked about really hit home for me, and i think it’s really helped me wrap my mind around my daily dose of vitamin G.  I’m not going to go into any detail, really, but i’m thinking of taking some more Philosophy, maybe even a minor.

ok, i’m going to cut it off here. i haven’t done this talking thing in a while, and i dont want to strain anything.  I’ll try and get my shit together in a few days, maybe once finals are done.   but before i go, i have a gift.  and that gift is THE MUSIC!

song of the…..year?

Cage The Elephant – Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked

I was walking down the street when out the corner of my eye,
I saw a pretty little thing approaching me.
She said I never seen a man, who looks so all alone,
Could you use a little company?
If you pay the right price, your evening will be nice,
You can go and send me on my way,
I said your such a sweet young thing, why’d you do this to yourself?
She looked at me and this is what she said.

There ain’t no rest for the wicked,
Money don’t grow on trees,
I got bills to pay I got a mouth to feed,
There ain’t nothing in this world for free.
I can’t slow down,
I can’t hold back,
Although you know I wish I could,
No there ain’t no rest for the wicked,
Until we close our eyes for good.

Not even 15 minutes later,
After walking down the street,
When I saw the shadow of a man creep out out of sight,
Then he crept up from behind,
Put a gun up to my head,
He made it clear he wasn’t looking for a fight,
He said give me all you’ve got,
I want your money not your life,
If you try to make a move I won’t think twice,
I told him you can have my cash,
But you know I’ve got to ask,
What made you want to live this kind of life?

He said there ain’t no rest for the wicked,
Money don’t grow on trees,
I got bills to pay I got a mouth to feed
Ain’t nothing in this world for free.
I can’t slow down,
I can’t hold back,
Although you know I wish I could
No there ain’t no rest for the wicked,
Until we close our eyes for good.

Now a couple hours past,
And I was sitting in my house,
The day was winding down and coming to an end,
So I turned on the TV,
And flipped it over to the news,
And what I saw I almost couldn’t comprehend,
I saw a preacher man in cuffs,
He’d taken money from the church,
He’d got a bank account with righteous dollar bills,
But even still I cant say much ’cause I know we’re all the same,
We all seek out to satisfy those thrills

You know there ain’t no rest for the wicked,
Money don’t grow on trees,
We got bills to pay,
We got mouths to feed
Ain’t nothing in this world for free.
We cant slow down,
We cant hold back
Although you know we wish we could
No there ain’t no rest for the wicked,
Until we close our eyes for good.

See ya soon, kids.

Till things are brighter.
Nick.