inspiration...

I think I have finally my catalyst to focus my senior dissertation.

The assignment nominally is to assess the American Dream and how its depiction has changed throughout the history of Hollywood, using films from the class and outside research at one's leisure. However, since I am not writing the paper primarily for this university or this history course, but rather for my senior capstone back at NU, I was able to work with the professor to customize the paper for those requirements. More or less, it's basically going to be an expanded version of the assignment.

I do find it almost inappropriate though to not look at the American Dream as anything but the American Nightmare, especially since I will probably take a contemporary approach to writing this piece - essentially, I want to answer the question, what is the American Dream right now? My answer to this question is another question: what dream?

"I'm losing my mind" is overly presumptuous

killing time before my 11:00 tutorial. can't be bothered to write with acknowledgment of the rules of the English language, such as complete sentences or capital letters, too tired. really stupid idea to attempt staying up all night, as i had been up with friends until 2:00-ish. no i didn't, by the way...was concerned that i'd fall asleep and not wake up in time for breakfast and my 8 am - surprisingly, I did.

have been told by a majority of my readers (2) that essentially i can be overly verbose and...erm...borderline obsessed on topics? yah i don't remember exactly what the issues were, not that i care frankly. well my bad, i'll try to be more diverse...or less frequent with writing. I dunno.

would really, really, like to go out this weekend - club, bar, movie - fuck, i'll settle for the dairy! (no, i won't actually...). or alternatively, maybe those who come up could bother themselves to bring other people? (hinty hint HINT.) there are people I want to get to know, but i can't think of a logical or subtle (see a recent post on the subject) way to make this happen on my own, lest i be labeled a complete creep.

whatever. maybe tonight will be an impromptu outing - after all, a few friends are spending the whole day idolizing a strange fellow who they knew for at most...a few days? oh yeah, and getting absolutely blasted.

I've decided it's time for a break from my work. Been at this computer on campus since about 10:30 this morning, researching for my senior dissertation - I think I finally have a topic and direction that will satisfy the requirements for the course I'm taking here, as well as what I need to get done at Northeastern.

So meanwhile, I'm listening to the debate that started...now. I have officially removed my support from McCain (as offical as a facebook page can be...) - perhaps temporarily, perhaps for good. I definitely want to listen to both sides, because I frankly am at a loss on who to vote for...seeing that I just recieved my ballots via e-mail from Vermont...

So here goes. Will probably write some stuff as this malay progresses.

stand out - when your bored, write in a blog. everyone else is just looking at porn.

That should be a sufficient justification for this whole thing.

Anyhow, the boredom continues. Barbecue earlier tonight - I think ill stick to grilling steaks henceforth - I had found these delicious prawn skewers this afternoon at the Auckland Fish Market (more on that in a moment), and I marinated them in a spicy sauce and Cajun spices. BUT when I went to grill them, first I severely undercooked them: the first shrimp was decent, but about 10 minutes after eating it, I got this sudden nasty feeling in my stomach, like I felt like I was going to be sick right there. I thought to look down at the shrimp, and upon going back to my flat and retrieving my watch, which can't tell time but still has a wicked intense light on it, and looking, sure enough - the shrimp weren't cooked. At all. Back to the barbie they went. For a long time.

Of course, in my attempts to keep me alive at least one more night, I overcompensated to the point that the shrimp shriveled up and were permanently adhered to the skewers. Yum, rubber-like shrimp. However, as my friend Sam put it, the barbecue has more or less become his oven - in that there will probably be another cookout tomorrow evening. And for that, I have a steak that will have been marinating in a basic brine and Worcestershire sauce for just about 30 hours...and if I screw up a steak, well I just don't deserve the title of "man," now do I?

I have found my thoughts starting to stray back to what I will do upon returning home - don't get me wrong, it's amazing here, the friends I've made are wonderful, and I hope to keep in touch with a substantial majority of them (preferably all...). But, I think when November does come, it will be time to go back to Boston. I already have a list of culinary things I plan upon embarking in the second I return - UHOP for buffalo wings and mozzarella sticks, "Worst Pizza Place Ever" (aka Pizza Pie-er on Mass Ave) for their jalapeño poppers...ugh the list could go on forever.

(for the record, because I know of corporate types trolling blogs and sites similar to this to get true opinions on products, Pizza Pie-er is actually wicked awesome...)

OH yes, I forgot - the fish market. It is very neat to see - sadly I didn't bring my camera...but I'll probably be going at least once again in the near future to get more things. However, it could not be in a more sketchy location of Auckland - at least on the weekend, as all that are around it are fishery-related factories, which looked fairly desolate - actually completely desolate. Although there is a shuttle from center city to the area, I decided it was a nice day and I didn't want to wait a half-hour, so I walked out to it.

The first 2/3rds of the walk are through what I'm going to guess are reclaimed port areas. What I mean by that is, probably 10, 15 years ago, the area was probably also really run down factories and other industrial type things, but since that point, they have been redeveloped into upscale condominiums and workplaces (e.g. I walked past...Vodafone, Microsoft, HP, you get the idea). But, quite literally, I turned the corner, and all there was were desolate streets and closed factories...if this were any city in the U.S. I'd be concerned about getting mugged (regardless of it being the middle of the afternoon) - the market was an oasis in a desert of shit, quite frankly.

Within - the most diverse selection of fresh fish and crustaceans I've seen in quite a long time - I don't even think we have a permanent market like this in Boston. Yes, we have Haymarket...but that is really just a summer thing...more or less a large-scale farmers market with other things. Also, found a shop that had good quality meats, cheeses, and (hopefully) pies - bought one of those. But I don't think it would be worth going all the way to the viaduct unless its for fish.

¿ʇı ǝlpuɐɥ noʎ uɐɔ

˙ʇuıod sıɥʇ ʎq ƃuıpɐǝɹ pǝddoʇs ǝʌɐɥ ʇsoɯ ǝɹns ɯ,ı˙˙˙ʇuɐɔıɟıuƃıs ooʇ ɹo `ƃuol ooʇ ǝq ʇ,uoʍ ʇı ǝsıɯoɹd ı ˙os ǝʞıl ʎɹʇuǝ ƃolq ǝɹıʇuǝ sıɥʇ ǝʇıɹʍ oʇ pǝpıɔǝp ǝʌɐɥ ı ʇɐɥʇ pǝɹoq ʎlǝʇnlosqɐ os ɯɐ ı

˙ǝɔıds unɾɐɔ ɥʇıʍ pǝʇɐoɔ puɐ pǝʇɐuıɹɐɯ sɹǝʍǝʞs uʍɐɹd `suǝddɐɥ ʎllɐnʇɔɐ ʇı ɟı `ǝnɔǝqɹɐq ǝɥʇ ɹoɟ ʇɥƃıuoʇ ˙ʞǝǝʍ sıɥʇ sɹǝuuıp ǝlqıssod ɹoɟ sʇɔnpoɹd ɹǝɥʇo ʇsƃuoɯɐ `pooɟɐǝs ɟo uoıʇɔǝlǝs ʇsɐʌ ʎɹǝʌ ɐ ˙ƃuıʇsǝɹǝʇuı sɐʍ ʇɐɥʇ `ʎɐpoʇ ʇǝʞɹɐɯ ɥsıɟ - ʎɐʍʎuɐ ʇnq

˙ǝqʎɐɯ˙˙˙dn ǝpıs-ʇɥƃıɹ oʇ ʞɔɐq ǝq llıʍ ʍoɹɹoɯoʇ ˙ʍou sıɥʇ ɟo ɥƃnouǝ s,ʇɐɥʇ

a quiet weekend

Everyone can use a weekend of being antisocial, or dorky/dweeb-like, however you want to interpret it. It so happens that mine was this weekend. Don't get me wrong, I would've been more than content in putting such a weekend off as long as possible, maybe even until I return stateside. With everyone scattered all over the Northeast, be it for school or (mostly now) work, something tells me Montpelier will be a fairly desolate place. It's not like I'll be staying too long, just through Christmas - the whole time I will be looking for a job and whatnot.

Anyhow, no such luck. Finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in respect to catching up in Intro to Logic - only 3 chapters to go! Perhaps I'll be able to start going to lecture again and actually engaging in whatever-the-hell is being talked about! Yeah...about that, I have decided that for the remainder of the term, I shall attend all lectures and tutorials unless a extreme circumstance prohibits this (such as...being so far behind in material there's no point in going...heh heh). Well, okay, most who read that will scoff and realize that I will most likely break that pledge by say...Monday. Not true - I actually enjoy my one lecture at 3 pm...yes Monday is my easiest day.

Now that spring is in full swing around these parts, usually one person or another is holding a barbecue at their flat - such is the case tomorrow evening. They provide the grill, we bring our food and drink - I like the sound of that - however, I am thinking of going to the Auckland Fish Market in the morning with hopes of securing lump crab meat - if so, and depending on price, I plan to make crab cakes - enough for myself definitely, but perhaps for others...and some grilled asparagus and white wine...hmm deluxe barbecue...I'm salivating at the thought of this already. And if I can't do that, I have a backup plan involving marinated steak with cajun spice rub, mushrooms, and a red wine.

I will post pictures of the market if I get there.

Does anyone know why a memory card from a camera won't read in the card reader drive? To get technical - my camera's SD card, upon insertion in my computer's (important) SD drive, will not load (also important - the computer knows its there, as acknowledged in 'My Computer') However, said card works in my flatmate's computer, and other cards work fine in mine...

ugh.

October already?

I don't know what happened. All of the sudden, it's 45 days until I return to the US. It seems like such a blur in all reality...

This week has been strange - I've been sleeping, a lot. Inexplicably also, in my opinion. Today was the second day in a row I was unable to get up in time for my first class, and that led to a subsequent justification for taking the whole day off. Well...it's probably just because my sleeping schedule is completely whacked at the moment - I've been staying up until 1, 2 in the morning...plus 8 - 10 hours = wake up anywhere from 9 to noon. Hmmph. Perhaps tonight I'll try going to bed at, say, 11? Ironically tomorrow I have a light day, no class until 2 pm...

Not that I really think it matters, the classes here are nothing like Northeastern. There, I'd be inclined to go mainly because I knew that a substantial part of a term grade was based on actual participation. Here, it seems to be that course grades are based on one's ability to re-hash learned material. I suppose the one exception to this, and figuratively, the course I feel I'm doing best in, is my history class - that course requires two papers: no tests, no exams, not even that much reading.

I do know that I have some substantial catching up to do...I got my 2nd intro to logic test back, the grade was a spectacular 27%! (oh shit.) In my defense, I was really sick - I had the flu when I should have been studying, not to mention any emotional / mental chaos at the time...I did file the paperwork requesting 'compassionate consideration' for that test, maybe I'll get to take it again, or even better, just have the final exam count higher - because I am studied in the material...the last test was an 85% (which at UoA is an A-).

Also, I realized this week that I've done virtually nil on my senior dissertation...oops.

This weekend though most of my close friends are skipping town for another ski trip; of those left, one is busy with an orchestra concert and the other is in a precarious position equal to mine (well, maybe not...), and I don't know about the others. If I - upon finishing this - start working this afternoon, do a little tomorrow either before or after my two classes, and then go all out Saturday and Sunday, I should be able to handle a little drinking fun...

So on that note, time to delve into the wonderful world of Intro to Logic. Oh yeah, and laundry.