Mates in Sarcasm

**musical mood preference: The Shins - Kissing the Lipless**

My speech went well today. It was on the history and spread of Gaelic football in and outside of Ireland. 3-4 minute, one-point speech with an extended example, two statistics and a primary source.

I just wanted to write about how I appreciate the art of sarcasm, as when it practiced correctly I believe it can be just that, an art. I am a practioner of this artform and have always been drawn to people, especially intelligent girls, who are as well.

In high school, it was one of these girls that drove me to do well and compete with her. From grade 7 on, she was there, torturing me if she got a 97 and I only managed a 94. I missed that for the last few years, but I think I found it again. MB, thank you, you're a pain in the ass but I like it.

Weekend

**musical mood preference: The Smiths - This Charming Man**

First of all updates from Thursday:

-JP's picture was the front page of the Times Leader sports page.
-Dad rear-ended a John Heinz Rehab van with his truck on Carey Ave.
-I learned how to install a wiper motor into a car.

Now onto the weekend:

My weekend turned out to be interesting, even though I thought it was going to suck pretty badly and be consumed with work. The work portion of the weekend was still there, but the monotony of sociology and business law was broken up by a wrestling meet on Saturday (JP won again, 10 in a row) and a nice surprise at a local Dallas bar Friday night.

On Friday night, I went into this bar to see if a friend of my dad's was bartending. Well, she wasn't, but I did know someone who was there at the time. A girl from my English class last semester was there having drinks with her friends, and I ended up staying til closing talking with them. So Friday night turned out well.

Saturday, I went to my brother's wrestling meet at Wyoming Area which Dallas won, putting them into contention for the Wyoming Valley Conference championship. Following that, my parents and I attended a fundraising event for the wrestling booster club which was DEATHLY boring.

Later Saturday night, I took a ride to Scranton to see Teenage Girls at Farley's. Their set was short but impressive. It's the best I've heard them play, not to diminish their other shows, which are always entertaining. Following their set, I left and drove back to Luzerne to meet someone working at a bar there. It was another closing bell night, as I listened to stories about people I grew up around. So all in all, it was a good weekend.

Sunday was consumed by the work I should've been doing during the time I was enjoying myself. A speech about Gaelic football, studying for Monday's sociology test, and catching up on my curret event project for political science.

Guess The Lyrics - Post your answers in comments

PART TWO

26)Some jealous punk,/Snuck up around my back,/Tried to take a lovin’ over me;/Lord I got into a fist fight,/And wound up in jail all night
27)But the girl on car in the parking lot says/’man you should try to take a shot/Can’t you see my walls are crumbling? ’/Then she looks up at the building and says she’s thinking of jumping/She says she’s tired of life,/ well everybody's tired of something Counting Crows - "Round Here"
28)Am I going insane?/think again/I got so fed up with being unstable/NO MORE/I'm screaming out, /Somebody listen,/It feels so good, /This therapy! The Unseen - "Scream Out"
29)We spend all day getting sober/Just hiding from daylight watching TV/We just look a lot better in the blue light/Well, you know I gotta get out/But I'm stuck so tight/Weighed by the chains that keep me Counting Crows - "Hangin Around"
30)Oh no- here comes that sun again. /And that means another day without you my friend./ And it hurts me to look into the mirror at myself. /And it hurts even more to have to be with somebody else.
31)Abolish government means nothing to me, /Forget about god, he's not here to see, /We live by a system, a perfect mold, /People perfect people who are poor and old Kottonmouth Kings - "Peace Not Greed", or TSOL - "Abolish Government"
32) She’s walking down the street/Blind to every eye she meets/Do you think you’ll be the guy/To make the queen of the angels sigh? The Doors "Hello, I Love You"
33) Lousy lovers- pick their prey/But they never cry out loud/Did she make you cry/Make you break down /Shatter your illusions of love Fleetwood Mac - "Gold Dust Woman"
34) I've seen your black man comin' round/ Swear by God I'm gonna cut him down!/ I heard screamin' and bullwhips cracking /How long? How long? Neil Young - "Southern Man"
35)i want to be the girl with the most cake./ i love him so much he just turns to hate./ i fake it so real i am beyond fake Hole - "Doll Parts"
36) Uppers and downers /Either way blood flows. /Inside outside. Leave me alone. /Inside outside./ Nowhere is home. /Inside outside, Where have I been? /Out of my brain on the five fifteen. The Who - "5:15"
37) So I'll start a revolution from my bed/'Cuz you said the brains I had went to my head/Step outside, summertime's in bloom Oasis - "Don't Look Back In Anger"
38) She had rings on her fingers and bells on her shoes./And I knew without askin’ she was into the blues. Sublime - "Scarlet Begonias"
39) When I'm sad, she comes to me/With a thousand smiles, she gives to me free/It's alright she says it's alright/Take anything you want from me, anything Jimi Hendrix - "Little Wing"
40) I keep a close watch on this heart of mine/I keep my eyes wide open all the time/I keep the ends out for the tie that binds/Because you're mine Johnny Cash - "I Walk The Line"
41) You may say Im a dreamer /but Im not the only one / I hope some day you'll join us/ And the world will live as one. John Lennon - "Imagine"
42) i wanna be the light that burns out your eyes/cuz i know there's little things about me/ that would sing in the silence of so much rejection /in every connection i make
43) One baby to another says I'm lucky to have met you / I dont care what you think unless it is about me. Nirvana - "Drain You"
44) Save some face, you know you've only got one/Change your ways while you're young/Boy, one day you'll be a man/Oh girl, he'll help you understand The Killers - "Smile Like You Mean It"
45) He's my friend, /he's my alibi,/ my accessory to the crime. / a bond that will never die/ till the end of time The Bouncing Souls - "Manthem"
46) Mister city policeman sitting/Pretty little policemen in a row./See how they fly /like Lucy in the sky, see how they run. The Beatles - "I Am The Walrus"
47) Mechanical panaceas/absolved by history/phonetic paralysis/inflicted through morality
48) But it was only fantasy. /The wall was too high, /As you can see. /No matter how he tried, /He could not break free. /And the worms ate into his brain. Pink Floyd - "Brain Damage"
49) We got a thousand points of light/For the homeless man/We got a kinder, gentler,/Machine gun hand Neil Young - "Rockin In the Free World"
50) Love, sister, it's just a kiss away, its just a kiss away. The Rolling Stones - "Gimme Shelter"

I am a tool

**musical mood preference: TOOL - 46&2**

I wore my varsity jacket to John Paul's wrestling meet and I felt like a sizable idiot. Now, it could've been that I've been out of high school for 3 years... or it very possibly could've been my dad humming Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days", I'm really not sure. But either way, I felt like a moron.

On a positive note, JP is on a nine match winning streak. So, good for him. But I still felt like a cock.

John Millington Synge's Playboy of the Western World 1907

**musical mood preference: The Wolfe Tones - Botany Bay**

January 26, 1907 marked the first production of JM Synge's controversial play. At the famous Abbey Theatre in Dublin, the play went on thru protest and rioting. The language was so strong and obscene and suggestive at times that the relatively conservative crowd was shocked. On top of that, the way in which Irish peasants were portrayed turned the crowd violent and there was a riot in and outside the theatre following the play. Synge said later that he only meant the play to be "a comedy, an extravaganza, made to amuse. I never bother worrying whether my plots are typically Irish or not; but my methods are typical."

William Fay, playing the lead character in the work, said the audience became "a veritable mob of howling devils" at the very mention of a petticoat.

Sinn Fein founder, Arthur Griffith, detested the play's "foulest language", saying that it was "a tribute to the good taste and common sense of the audience". By Monday, the crowd that showed up to see the play were primed to explode before the curtain opened. WB Yeats and Lady Gregory pleaded with the crowd to stop their boo-ing and screaming, but they continued, yelling "Kill the writer" and other such violent phrases.

WB Yeats later recollected that second performance of the play:
'On the second performance of The Playboy of the Western World, about forty men who sat in the middle of the pit succeeded in making the play entirely inaudible. Some of them brought tin trumpets, and the noise began immediately upon the rise of the curtain. For days articles in the Press called for the withdrawal of the play, but we played for the seven nights we had announced; and before the week's end opinion had turned in our favour. There were, however, nightly disturbances and a good deal of rioting in the surrounding streets. On the last night of the play there were, I believe, five hundred police keeping order in the theatre and in its neighbourhood.'

The play was a bleak, though fairly accurate, representation of the Irish peasant. Many screamed that the play was indecent and guilty of promoting negative stereotypes of the general Irish population. Now it is viewed as a great cultural work of Irish literature.

On Those That Hated "The Playboy of the Western World"
by WB Yeats
Once, when midnight smote the air,
Eunuchs ran through
Hell and met
On every crowded street to stare
Upon great Juan riding by:
Even like these to rail and sweat
Staring upon his sinewy thigh.

Snow

**musical mood preference: The Bouncing Souls - Manthem**

So much snow.

So much shovelling.

At least I got a two hour delay to sleep off my hangover. As a rule, I will not be staying out until closing time on a Monday night. That was such a mistake.

Guess the Lyrics - Post your answers in comments

Step 1: Get your playlist together, put it on random, and play.
Step 2: Pick your favorite lines from the first 50 songs that play.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song the lines come from. (Post your guesses in the comments)
Step 4: Cross out the songs when someone guesses correctly. No cheating and pasting the lyrics into a search engine.


PART ONE


1)One pill makes you larger/And one pill makes you small/And the ones that mother gives you/Don't do anything at all/Go ask Alice/When she's ten feet tall "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane
2)Ain’t got no quarrels with God/Ain’t got no time to grow old/Lord knows I’m weak/Won’t somebody get me off of this reef "Badfish" by Sublime
3)I shouted out,/"Who killed the Kennedys?"/When after all/It was you and me "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones.
4)Woman so weary, the sweet cause in vain/You make love, you break love/It’s all the same "Manic Depression" by Jimi Hendrix
5)I don’t gamble but I bet,/I’m gonna die by my last cigarette/Hold me close I always play the mack/With this monkey on my back.
6)I sit in and dwell on faces past/Like memories seem to fade/No colour left but black and white/And soon will all turn grey
7)He's a legend in the bar with every scar,/fights a thousand bigger men/ now he fights and loses/got all the bruises/will someone please step in?/ Cuz this Irish fools got a great big heart,/he keeps climbing back into the ring "Barroom Hero" by the Dropkick Murphys
8)What have I become /My sweetest friend /Everyone I know goes away/ In the end / And you could have it all /My empire of dirt /I will let you down /I will make you hurt "Hurt" by Johnny Cash
9)Now, I’m gonna love you,/till the heavens stop the rain/’m gonna love you/til the stars fall from the sky /for you and i "Touch Me" by the Doors
10)So he built his great empire/And he slaughtered his own kind/He died a confused man/And killed himself in his own mind "We're Only Gonna Die From Our Own Arrogance" by Sublime
11)Breathe it in and breathe it out/And pass it on, it's almost out/We're so creative, so much more/We're high above but on the floor/It's not a habit, it's cool, I feel alive/If you don't have it you're on the other side "Not an Addict" by K's Choice
12)Truth - covered in security /I can't let you smother me /I'd like to but it couldn't work /Trading off and taking turns "Lounge Act" by Nirvana
13)Cancel my subscription to the resurrection/Send my credentials to the house of detention "When the Music's Over" by the Doors
14)I took a little nap where the roots all twist/Squished a rotten peach in my fist/And dreamed about you woman/I poked my finger down inside makin’ a little room for a ant to hide/Nature’s candy in my hand or can or a pie "Peaches" by the Presidents of the USA
15)Say hey Johnny boy, the battle call./United we stand, divided we fall./Together we are what we can't be alone, /We came to this country, you made it our home. "Boys on the Dock" by the Dropkick Murphys
16)Cuz I don’t care where I belong no more/What we share or not I will ignore/And I won’t waste my time fitting in’cause /I don’t think contrast is a sin
17)Then the rosary beads count them one, two, three/Fell apart as they hit the floor/In our garb of black we must pay respect/To the colour we're born to mourn/Walk away me boys, walk away me boys/And by morning we'll be free
18)I would go out tonight/but I haven't got a stitch to wear/this man said "It's gruesome/that someone so handsome should care"
19)But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao/You ain't gonna to make it with anyone anyhow "Revolution" by The Beatles
20)I don't wanna watch no porno/I don't wanna play guitar/I don't wanna spank the monkey/I don't wanna go down to the corner bar "Burritos" by Sublime
21)And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for/don't ask me I don't give a damn, next stop is Viet Nam/And it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates/ain't no time to wonder why, whoopee we're all gonna die "Fixing to Die Rag" by Country Joe McDonald
22)Herb the gift from the earth/And what's from the earth is of the greatest worth/So before you knock it try it first/You'll see it's a blessing and not a curse "Burn One Down" by Ben Harper
23)Chimney falls and lovers blaze /Thought that I was young /Now I've freezing hands & bloodless veins /As numb as I've become
24)I want those feeble minded axes overthrown/I'm not into your passport picture I just like your nose/You welcome me with open arms and open legs/I know only fools have needs but this one never begs
25)And all the roads we have to walk along are winding/ And all the lights that lead us there are blinding /There are many things that I would /Like to say to you I don't know how "Wonderwall" by Oasis

Blah

**musical mood preference: The Killers - Mr Brightside**

In my Business Law course, I sit next to this very attractive young woman with some of the most alluring eyes I've ever seen. My only complaint: she wears WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY too much makeup. I bet that she is still very pretty without her 43,784,534 layers of makeup. Then again, I've always been sort of turned off by caked on make up. Little bits for accentuation is nice, but if you have to coat your entire face in the stuff...why bother?

It's a Saturday night and I'm officially a loser. I had planned to go to the Felix Sarco/Teenage Girls show at the Staircase in Pittston, but it got shot down from both directions. It was cancelled first off... and if that wasn't bad enough, my car is shot (timing chain, and tons and tons of fuses). The windows are stuck in the DOWN position (remember that it snowed 8 inches today), the windshield wipers don't work (once again, remember the EIGHT INCHES), the speedometer and tachometer are allllllll screwed up, the power locks aren't working and the rear defroster is on the fritz. So yeah... its a heap of complete shit.

So instead of having fun at a show, I'm sitting here in my room reading about deviance and contractual law. Booo snow, boooooooooo automobiles that break down. Boo friends who live far away, boo loneliness.

Poe's Birthday

Mystery Visitor Comes Again

Every January 19th for 56 years, a man has visited the grave of Edgar Allan Poe. It had been 100 years since his death in 1849 when a mystery guest adorned with a white scarf and black hat first paid his respects at the grave of the revered American writer. It would be 45 years that this man would visit on the 19th until 1994. "The torch has been passed", a note read in that year, when, apparently, the original admirer passed his tradition onto his sons. Since then, his boys have carried on the ritual of placing three roses (one for Poe, his mother and his wife) and a bottle of congac.

This is so romantic and mysterious and I get a chill every year when I read this story. Here is an impromptu bit I did on women in some of Poe's stories and poems. It's badly written but the ideas are all there. I have loved Edgar Allan Poe since I was about 10, reading a thin volume of his short stories (brought down to about a 5th grade reading level, mind you).

Neko Case - I Wish I Was the Moon

Chimney falls and lovers blaze
Thought that I was young
Now I've freezing hands & bloodless veins
As numb as I've become

I'm so tired,
& I wish I was the moon tonight

Last night I dreamt I had forgotten my name
Cuz I had sold my soul but awoke just the same
I'm so lonely,
& I wish I was the moon tonight

God blessed me, I'm a free man
With no place free to go
I'm paralyzed and collared-tight
No pills for what I fear

This is crazy
I wish I was the moon tonight

Chimney falls and lovers blaze
Thought that I was young
Now I've freezing hands & bloodless veins
As numb as I've become

I'm so tired,
& I wish I was the moon tonight

How will you know if you found me at least
Cuz I'll be the one, be the one, be the one
With my heart in my lap
I'm so tired, I'm so tired
& I wish I was the moon tonight

Neko Case - South Tacoma Way

I put on that sweater you gave me
I woke up in the kitchen a few minutes later
I didn't know how I had gotten there
Did you guide me?

I didnt make it to your funeral
I didnt want ritual or resign
I just wanted to hold hands with JP & Mary Jo
But I couldnt conjure (???)
Were too good for stupid angels
Like this hell-eth bred beside me
And burn the air til it was gone
Til it was gone

Couldn't pay my respects to a dead man
Your life was much more to me
And I chased away with sticks and stones
But that rage kept following me
Following me

So lost, I was sleeping in the palms of your hands
And dreams we were happy and safe
I cant comprehend the ways that I miss you
They come to light in my mistakes
In my mistakes

Now I'm driving down Tacoma Way
And the world turns in slow motion
Its the twlight of our old home
And I'm still in love with you
Here on South Tacoma Way
We've memories from matenees
And the tears fall warm and heavy
And the cross streets bear your name

Neko Case - Deep Red Bells

He led you to this hiding place
These lightning threads spawn silver tongues
The red bells beckon you to ride
Handprint on the driver's side

It looks alot like engine oil
And tastes like being poor and small
And popsicles in summer

Deep red bells
Deep as I have been done
Deep red bells
Deep as I have been done

It always has to come to this
Red bells ring this tragic gun
We've lost sight of the overpass
The daylight won't remember that

No speckled fawns raise round your bones
Who took the time to fold your clothes?
And shook the valley of the shadow.

(Chorus)

Where does this mean world cast its cold eye?
Who's left to suffer long about you?
Does your soul cast about like an old paper bag
Past empty lots and early graves?
Those like you who lost their way
Murdered on the interstate
While the red bells rang like thunder

(Chorus)

Neko Case - We've Never Met

Oh my darling, oh my darling
How can you forget?
All the love we had between us
Now it's like we'd never met
Oh how it kills me, how it kills me
When I think how I held you up
You were golden I was blind with your poison in my blood

Bittersweet are the memories that make young lovers pine
But I trade all the memories just to have your heart in mine

Everybody's talking to me but they just can't explain
Disappeared from all the pages
Now nothing seems the same
Was a time I thought I knew you, when I looked you in the eye
Now the same eyes look right through me
You're too good to see me cry

Bittersweet are the memories that make young lovers pine
But I trade all the memories just to have your heart in mine

Oh my darling, oh my darling
How can you forget?
All the love we had between us
Now it's like we've never met

You were golden I was blind
Now it's like we've never met

YOUR FRESHMAN YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL

**musical mood preference: Dropkick Murphys - Boys on the Dock**

[What year was it?]
1998/1999

[What were your three favorite bands?]
Nirvana, Korn and Marilyn Manson

[What was your favorite outfit?]
Ratty jeans, a t shirt and flannel

[What was up with your hair?]
bushy and curly

[Who was your best friend?]
honeychuck and brianna

[What did you do after school?]
in the fall and winter it was Drama Club, and in the spring it was baseball.

[Where did you work?]
painting with my dad.

[Did you take the bus?]
most of the time. towards the end of the year I started getting rides.

[Who did you have a crush on?]
Martiena and Rachel

[Did you fight with your parents?]
Ohhhhh yes.. OHHHHH YESSSSS.

[Who did you have a CELEBRITY crush on?]
No one, actually.

[Did you smoke cigarettes?]
Yes. Frequently.

[Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack all day because you were too nervous to find your locker?]
They wouldn't let us carry our backpacks around. Remember that shit? We always had to carry our books.

[Did you have a 'clique'?]
Sort of, I suppose.

[Admit it, were you popular?]
Yeah, I guess. I mean, I had plenty of friends and I knew lots of people.

[Who did you want to be just like?]
I sort of wished I was more like my friend Rachel. I emulated her and loved the way she was.

[What did you want to be when you grow up?]
A doctor, once I hit college, I sort of realized I didn't want that anymore.

[Where did you think you'd be at the age you are now?]
nearing the end of my undergraduate course work. Now that didn't work out, did it? I suppose its for the best though. I have the life experience and everything that goes along with it. I'm happy with who I am and where I am now. So everything is great.

[What advice would you give your freshman self?]
be who you want to be. don't waste time trying to be a person you aren't.
don't waste your time trying to be a doctor. there is too much bureaucracy and politics involved, and there are so many other ways to help many more people than stupid HMOs and insurance companies allow.

Stars

**musical mood preference: Counting Crows - Pale Blue Eyes**

Even though I'm being bitter, I did notice that the stars are gorgeous tonight. Sparkles and twinkles. Too bad its so terribly cold out; sort of takes the fun outta looking up.

Classes are good so far, no complaints from me.

Heart stoppers

**musical mood preference: The Smiths - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want**

The eyes are the jewels of the body.
-Henry David Thoreau

I love eyes. Personally, for me, beautiful eyes don't come in a specific color. It's all about what's attached TO the eyes that makes them beautiful. Personality, piercing and inspiring, builds what may be pretty eyes into jaw-dropping, sparkling, heart-gripping pools. Amorous stares filled with kindness and glinting twinkles during laughter. The most attractive and drawing parts of a woman, her eyes.

Ohhhh eyes. Make me melt.

PSU

**musical mood preference: Jimmie's Chicken Shack - Blood**

Another nice weekend at PSU. Thanks to all involved and there will be more to come.

Recommendations:

1. Make Chuck take his shoes off before doing keg-stands
2. Put a leash on Beardsley after about 15 beers.
3. Cover the floor around the keg with towels or something.

Penn State

**musical mood preference: Blackthorn - Back Home In Derry**

Another PSU weekend coming up. Wonderful

GUILTY PLEASURES

*musical mood preference: Sinead O'Connor - Paddy's Lament**
taken from SheilaO'Malley.com

CD I have in my car that I roll up the windows to listen to -
My Irish mixes would fix that bill. I've gotten some strange looks at stoplights with the windows down when I have that stuff on.

Book I read flat so no one could see the title
Not so long ago, I re-read some of the Goosebumps books... Not sure why, I couldn't remember any of them and they used to be all I would read when I was 8-9-10. Yeah, I had to hold them flat to stifle laughing from the peanut gallery.

Crappiest song ever sung at karaoke
I did a duo with a Penn State buddy of mine of Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." It was horrendous considering neither of us can sing and why we chose a 6 minute song is beyond me. The wonders of alcohol.

Bad movie I watch repeatedly -
Have you ever seen Red Dawn? Yeah, its bad. Bring It On as well.

Article of clothing I love though I know it's wrong -
My old Susquehanna County all stars shirt where my name is falling off the back and the numbers are missing. I love it, its so comfortable, no matter how many holes it has or how ratty it looks.

What I order at the bar when no one is listening
STRAWBERRY MARGARITA. No, really... Blue Moon...

Fast food item I adore
I love Wendy's chicken nuggets. But I actually dislike pretty much every other fast food place (But I do eat McDonald's fries though they need salt now! and the no longer serve SUPERSIZE!) .

A TV show that is a good example of the downfall of civilization that I love anyway
OZ. Drugs, violence and man-love.

Lack of original motivation

**musical mood preference: Counting Crows - Omaha**

Particular favorites are bold & italicized

My current top ten favorite movies of all time in no order:

Animal House
Dazed & Confused
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Full Metal Jacket
Indiana Jones Triology
Clerks
Dogma
Usual Suspects
Bull Durham
Monty Python & the Holy Grail

My current top ten favorite albums of all time in no order:

Nevermind - Nirvana
Unplugged in New York - Nirvana
Dookie - Green Day
Hatful of Hollow - The Smiths
Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
August and Everything After - Counting Crows
Evil Empire - Rage Against the Machine
40 oz. To Freedom - Sublime
Morrison Hotel - The Doors
Are You Experienced? - The Jimi Hendrix-perience

My current top ten favorite books of all time in no order:

The Master & Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe
Ulysses - James Joyce
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - James Joyce
Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty - Sebastian Barry
Barrytown Trilogy - Roddy Doyle
The Chosen - Chaim Potok
West of Kabul, East of New York - Tamim Ansary

Some of my favorite TV shows over the years:

OZ
My So Called Life
The Sopranos
Angel
Family Guy
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
X-Files
Brimstone

:)

**musical mood preference: The Smiths - The Charming Man**

All smiles.

Hope the smiles are reciprocated.

Had a nice time.

I was reminded how much I miss having someone. Just to talk to, hold hands. Lovely.

Good night.

Master and Margarita

**muscial mood preference: The Beatles - Revolution**

This book has got it all: crucifixions, vodka-drinking cats, decapitations and naked women flying around on broomsticks. What's more, it is a refreshing change from the books that most people think of when they hear the term "Russian literature." Bulgakov is no Tolstoy or Dostoevsky, he is something completely different and rare, and I mean that as a great compliment to the lot of these Russian masters. All three of them are wonderful writers, each with their own strengths. But Bulgakov differs from the other two is in his ability to infuse his work with a light-hearted humor, even when his subject matter is deadly serious. Tolstoy is known for epic tales on the grandest of scales, and Dostoevsky for his insights into the dark side of the soul; Bulgakov breaks away from his literary forefathers by creating fiction with a unique flare and stories that dance off the page, with an undeniable helping of humor that is extremely rare in Russian literature, especially from the period of the 1930's.

Most enticing to me, was the chapter entitled "Pontius Pilate". It is an imaginative re-telling of the age old story of the last hours of Jesus Christ (Yeshua Ha-Nostri). The chapter has a focus on the procurator and his time before and after his encounter with the Nazarean rabble-rouser.

The book is Bulgakov's vision of a Satanic visit to Moscow in the early 1930's. In the guise of a black magician(Woland), the Devil wreaks havoc upon the Stalinistic society. In the last ten chapters, magical tricks, disappearences and Satanic spells literarily slide toward a Gommorrah of decandence and sin, climaxing with Satan's Ball.

Afterwards, Satan is no longer the sower of chaos and discord or the "prince of darkness", but rather, just a anti-establishment figure who "saves" his followers by transforming them into witches. Following the ball, the disciple Matthew appears to beg Satan to redeem the Master and Margarita. All funny and also sad parts of a wonderfully entertaining book.

I think that anyone who has a background or a fascination in Russian literature or history should take a stab at this book, if only to better understand this portion of Soviet social history.

Weekend

**musical mood preference: Neko Case - My '63**

I had a solid good weekend. Friday was the night out. Chuck, Dave and I went up to Scranton to see Felix Sarco at the Cultural Center. Had a few drinks, listened to some quality rock and came back to the Valley. We headed to the bar for a couple of hours, and after last call we went home to sleep. All in all, a good night.

Saturday, I relaxed most of the day and then went to a movie with Mathew. We saw White Noise . . . all I can say is that it is a creepy movie that makes you squirm in your seat. We went back to mom's house and I dominated Risk, game of world domination. Another quality weekend night.

Sunday . . . I guess we'll see how that pans out. Monday is what I'm actually looking forward to.


On another note, grades were finally issued... my only comment about this: getting grades at Luzerne is right on par with an elementary school report card. It doesn't take much to do well. It's sort of discouraging.

I finished The Master and Margarita this morning. I will do a review later tonight.

Out of Room

**musical mood preference: Bloodhound Gang - Asleep at the Wheel**

I need a new bookcase. I got two six-shelved cases for my 15 and 16 birthdays, and I thought that they would provide plenty of room for a long long time.

Well, I was badly mistaken. Over the last two years, I have given away more books than I actually still own. It's ridiculous. I think I should open a library, ffs! I sit around and wonder why I'm broke all the time... to answer my question, all I would really need to do is look at my book cases... thousands of dollars in literature and history.

I'm so bad with money.

Dinner dates - Anyone living or dead.

*musical mood preference: Jimi Hendrix & The Beatles - Day Tripper**

I would love to have dinner with the following people. They include literary, historical, pop culture and legendary figures. The possiblities are endless. Assumption is that comprehension will be there, language not being a barrier.


James Joyce - I must understand Finnegans Wake
Jesus - So many things could be clarified for me at this meeting
James Connolly - just for the experience
Kurt Cobain - my musical obsession for almost half my life
Monica Bellucci (this is my mandatory libido-inspired choice)
Cathal Brugha - I'd like to meet a man who's ideals were unbendable
Moses - so many questions about Pharoah, Egypt and the Ten Commandments
Ben Franklin - I hear he was a party animal
Friedrich Nieztsche - Prior to insanity, preferably, but not required.

Pictures notes

Click the pictures to view the bigger versions. Thanks for a good New Year's guys.

Jaime FINALLY shows up.  

Glass shattered everywhere. This is where the liquor bottles were thrown from the balcony. Notice the sad and lonely unbroken bottle of Jack Daniels.  

Chuck with his beads.  

Five dumbasses asking for a felony charge. But it was worth the laugh.  

Before it began. 

Mess strewn everywhere right off of Honeychuck's balcony. Soda bottles, champagne bottles, sign posts, beer cans and general trash. 

GOT CRUNKED - Let's GO!

**musical mood preference: Lords of Acid**


Well, to say my New Year's was interesting would be a major understatement.

Hoppe and I started drinking before 5pm, liquor straight thru until we all collapsed around 3am. The count regarding the number of bottles we went thru as a group is muddled by the fact that we stole an unknown amount of booze from a party that we essentially raided without an invite. We knew absolutely no one in the place, and with our ten person group, we just about doubled the number of people in that small ass apartment.

It didn't take long for tensions to rise up. Some bratty freshmen told Honeychuck he looked 30 while Ben was skeefing bottles and bottles of liquor.

For the record, initially, I didn't know that they had stolen the idiots' liquor. If I had, I probably wouldn't have gotten into it with a kid wearing a WVU sweatshirt. There was some pushing, and I was forced to put my drink down, then there were some punches thrown. A few landed, one or so from each side of the fight. Then the West Virginia boy's friends jumped on my back. Their advantage didn't last long, as Honeychuck came charging thru their crowd of people, pushing four out in front of him. At some point, that big bald bastard attempted to throw his Jack&Coke in the face of the WVU kid, but mostly got me. And dammit all if JD doesn't burn when it gets in your eyes.

The fight really just ended there. Wasn't much of a fight, but the premise of the situation makes it an interesting story anyway. We invaded their party, tried to pick up their girls, stole their alcohol, ate their food and insulted them... Then we instigated a fight and got away scot-free. Outstanding.

The rest of the evening was consumed by stealing road signs, and throwing things off of Chuck's balcony. When we got up in the morning, we had a huge pile of cans, bottles, sign posts and other various pieces of trash on the ground below. Maybe I'll have some pictures of the mess later on.

All the empty liquor bottles were apparently thrown from the balcony across the courtyard and onto landing of another building, shattering everywhere. At last remembered count, these numbered 8. We did good.

Crunked was the word of the night, with me repeating it for no reason.
Good and wild times had by all in State College.