God, fuck the Spurs and fuck Pennsylvania. I shouldn't have had that last shot last night post-Hate Eternal...now I'm all surly and there's too much work here to feel like that. But not enough to stop me from some random Wednesday thoughts:

I want a gif of seconds 3:58 to 4:00 of this.

These will eventually become self-aware and take over the world.

I wonder if I can get Agalloch for our kidergarteners?

I'm glad this got made just for these scenes.

Hi Liza, I work with retarded children also. And laugh at musical theater majors.

Do not rent Shortbus. You may be lured by the promise of "real people" having "real sex" on camera, but trust me, what follows is not worth an hour and a half of your time. It's a half assed version of both a porn movie and independent film, and it does neither well. It's basically a bunch of self absorbed people who occasionally fuck each other, and you won't care about any of them. After watching the extras I found out the actors and partners were cast before anything was written, and it shows. The story is second to the director wanting to film people boning. What's more - for all the sex, this is one of the least erotic movies I've seen. It think it actually turned me off. That may be because I can't relate: gay dudes having blowjob circles, drag queens, "open" couples. Fine, great, but at least make me care about the people. I wanted some sort of realistic love story sprinkled with sex. No luck! But it had sweet enough intentions, even if they didn't go very deep. And I was impressed by the one guy's ability to fellate himself.

Thank you fourfour!! (this is a gay man I can relate to) I will to make some time this weekend to enjoy the My So-Called Life box set I got for Christmas, but I want to stretch it out as long as possible...

I got this email this morning:

Amanda-Got final word. She will be out June first and you are in. Hope this is OK. Let me know for sure.

I said yes, but asked him to meet me to discuss details and sign a lease. Hopefully this is the last bump in the apartment road and I'll be moving in on June 1st. :)

It's interesting how easy it is to talk yourself out of something that's unavailable to you. I was so pumped about this place, then I had to un-pump myself, so getting it now is a little anticlimactic. I spent the last week convincing myself it was for the best, it was on a busy street, I will find something better, etc. and now I have to put all that enegy back into getting excited about it!

This search has also showed me how hard it is to make a decision when faced with so many choices. I have this problem with most choices, no matter how small. Salad dressing, kleenex, pens...I spend waaaay too much time staring at shelves and weighing my options. I truly think these tiny choices are going to affect the quality of my daily life, so I want to make the right decision. This problem just gets worse when I have to make a more serious decision...thankfully I usually have strong feelings either way immediately.

The fact is most people make crap decisions because we don't have enough information or are overwhelmed by the amount of it. Maybe this can help?

Got this one from the landlord who bailed on me:

Amanda- Do you still want the apt. if I can swing it?

Swing it?! What does that even mean? Did the other girl change her mind? Are you going on forceably remove her from the place? Are just a insane flake? Hmmm. And I had just gotten over this place and mentally pumped myself up to find something else. But of course I still want the apartment.


Also got this nice one from my favorite UWW professor:

Hi Amanda, It sounds to me that you have made a wise decision--which, of course, I would expect from you. Teaching is a delight, even if one can work some Heidegger into the classroom ( I-am- currently-doing -Heidegger- in -Contemporary-Philosophy. I am even planning of bringing Being to the next class!)

I hope that your life keeps going well.

Joys,Dave


From: Amanda
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 3:40 PM
To: Cartwright
Subject: Changes...

Hello Professor Cartwright! I wanted to thank you once again for your letter of recommendation - I was indeed accepted into the program at Marquette, but have since decided to pursue my master's and certification in special education. I'm currently working for a school district and my experiences here have led me into the classroom. I'm taking classes part time and am very much looking forward to teaching. Maybe I can work some Heidegger into my lessons. :)I hope you had a good year and enjoy your summer.

Sincerely, Amanda


Yeeee.

As someone who has always struggled with indecision, this article was especially interesting...

Finally got to see some shows over the weekend..it seems like it's been a long time since national tours have come through. We caught Monstrosity and Today is the Day at seperate shows in one night, which made me very happy. Monstrosity sounded great, probably because I haven't seen a straightforward death metal show in a while and I'm nostalgic about them. I'm always worried about seeing bands I've loved for a long time on these semi-reunion/new lineup tours, but they were solid.

I also had my heart broken by an apartment. The situation pretty much consumed my brain for the rest of the weekend. I saw it on Friday night and it was perfect...hardwood floors, arches ceilings, new bathroom, above a storefront, etc. The landlord said it was available in June, so I went back home and got my lease extended a month, and called the new landlord to confirm. He said it was mine, and that we'd get the paperwork done when he got back from vacation. I was so excited about it...we had a little celebration dinner, and I started planning the move. I stopped by my mom's on Saturday morning all gun ho to get things done and I discovered an email from the new landlord saying the current tenant had decided to stay for another year. Fuck. My heart sank and I spent the next few hours laying around watching Top Chef in a zombie state. I was so disappointed. Russ had a party that night, so that temporarily took my mind off things, but I've been thinking about it since.

I think I've built this place up in my mind so much that it's going to be hard for me to find another apartment. So I woke up yesterday and decided that I was going to make a last ditch effort to get it. I called the guy and calmly explained my situation. He was very apologetic and said he might have another place available. We talked for a while and I'm feeling better about it. Maybe I just needed to hear him say he was an asshole. Meanwhile, my apartment is up for rent, so the search is still on. Craigslist has been funny...I placed an ad and got the most ridiculous responses - "Come live in my extra bedroom for $800 a month! I'm a 47-year-old male! You pay utilities!" - but I am not giving up. (...if anyone knows of a cute place in the Wauwautosa/West Allis area, let me know...)

New Office on Thursday! And look at this little...