I have to be perfectly honest that I have just not been in a blogging mood as of late. Moreover, I don't really feel like I have much to blog about that isn't going to come across as overt and outright bitching about ivory tower politics.
However, what bertminatti wants, bertminatti gets when it comes to birthday requests and his birthday request (sad, but true) is that I update my damned blog.
So.
A blog, huh?
Well, let me talk about this: I have been mildly obsessed with Pokerroad ever since its inception. I listen to all the shows (yes, even Cash Plays) read all of the blogs, and I should have been jumping for joy when they finally started a forum for their legion of followers and fans. However, there is a tiny problem: I never have anything to post about.
I have the same problem at PocketFives. The joke amongst the reporters is just how bad and mindless my posts are. "The Rio is indeed cold, you should consider bringing a sweater". "Mike Watson won $1.6 million! Yay!". "There are 4 parking levels at the Horseshoe Southern Indiana parking garage".
In other words, they are the epitome of ascinine. However, I was intimidated to ever volunteer my poker opinion in PD because I am not particularly skilled at poker. While I play my fair share of $3 KO 90 man SNGs (my new obsession---brag coming....186% ROI kids! Granted, small sample size, but shhhhh), I don't think I am qualified to answer strategy and I just think to myself "oh no one really cares what I have to say about that".
With the PR Forums I had high hopes things would be different. After all, while I may not know poker, I do know Pokerroad. But now that the forums are up and running I keep encountering the same problem---what can I add of value to this conversation? "QFT", "+1", "Oh Ali, you so funny"? These seem equally bad in terms of post quality. But I find myself not really having anything enlightening to say about "Know Your Casino" or feel compelled to add to the "What's your favorite episode?" thread. Does anyone actually give a shit what some random stranger has proclaimed to be the best PRR episode ever? Because I don't. I truly don't. And I just have a hard time believing that others eagerly sift through 6 pages of responses to learn what random peoples' favorite moment is.
What I do believe is that the posters that help these forums thrive and keep them going are those who have no filter stopping them from saying "well, who would genuinely care what I have to say about this?" And God bless them for it. There are people on Pokerroad's forums that have found 500 things to say about various posts in a matter of around a month while my piddly post count sits at 7. So, with that in mind, I salute you bertminatti for your endless knowledge about fantasy sports, your quippy and sasstastic comments in response to stupid threads, and your fountain of knowledge about various abbreviations and internet lingo. Most importantly, I salute you never being "internet mean" and managing to evade the plague of early-20s assholeishness that tends to plague that place from time to time (I'm looking in your direction OT)
Happy Birthday (one day late) Brett!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
1 Week Down, 14 to Go....
I have survived the first week of the semester and it went a little faster than I expected, which is always nice. My schedule is such that the first half of the week is really slow but my Thursday and Friday are a bit crammed. Obviously I am not complaining about the perpetual three day weekends and the minimal amount of obligations on Tuesday and Wednesday, but this early in the semester there is just not a lot of work to fill the time with. Now that my syllabi are in my possession all that will quickly change.
In typical grad school form, there was a fair share of Republican bashing in the classroom. Most everyone in my cohort knows that this is my grad school pet peeve to end all pet peeves and this particular incident sparked a reaction from everyone, not just me:
In my Media Ethnography class we watched a brief clip from a 1950s propaganda video entitled "The House In The Middle". The basic gist of the film is that your house is less likely to burst into flames in the wake of an atomic blast if you keep it tidy and uncluttered. They would blow up a "messy" house and watch it burst into flames that engulfed the home in a matter of minutes. Then we saw how the "tidy" house also had the roof blown off as a result of the blast and still caught fire, but this fire was much more easily "extinguishable". I don't know about you, but I would hazard to guess that I don't have a fire extinguisher handy when/if an atomic bomb goes off. And, considering my house is so tidy, I doubt there would be a blanket or some other tool to smother the blaze sitting around either.
I digress. One of the comical aspects of said film strip was the tinge of excitement in the narrator's voice when he got to say "bomb", "fire", "blaze", or any other word related to nuclear explosions. As we were discussing this a man in class raised his hand to add his own thoughts on the matter. His comment began discussing the 1950s atomic bomb film and then, apropos of nothing, the subject changed to...Sarah Palin.
Yes, that is right, Sarah Palin. I don't know about you, but apparently this fellow made the logical jump from 1950s nuclear film strip narration to the rhetoric of the hockey mom VP candidate with the greatest of ease. He explained how Palin would seem sweet and nice, but then she would inject something "venomous" or even "mean" into her speech. I must admit I did not watch the RNC despite being a registered member of the party--I do not like John McCain and I am in a bit of a quandry about where my vote is headed. What I do know is that I will not be voting for him, ergo I found the task of watching the RNC to be unecessary.
Based on this man's remarks and what I have read in the news, it sounds like he was hating on her in part because she was sarcastic. This is really beside the point though. The man said point blank that Palin is mean, evil, and venemous and no one in the classroom said anything to challenge 1) the way this information was presented as a fact everyone had to agree with rather than an opinion or 2) the pertinence of this information to the discussion at large. Even I kept my mouth shut because I am just tired of having this discussion week in and week out, but I rolled my eyes rather overtly and began to watch the clock, hoping class would just end.
One week down, 14 to go. I got through the week with 3 anti-Repub references in class, so I am going to set the over/under at 70. Any takers?
In typical grad school form, there was a fair share of Republican bashing in the classroom. Most everyone in my cohort knows that this is my grad school pet peeve to end all pet peeves and this particular incident sparked a reaction from everyone, not just me:
In my Media Ethnography class we watched a brief clip from a 1950s propaganda video entitled "The House In The Middle". The basic gist of the film is that your house is less likely to burst into flames in the wake of an atomic blast if you keep it tidy and uncluttered. They would blow up a "messy" house and watch it burst into flames that engulfed the home in a matter of minutes. Then we saw how the "tidy" house also had the roof blown off as a result of the blast and still caught fire, but this fire was much more easily "extinguishable". I don't know about you, but I would hazard to guess that I don't have a fire extinguisher handy when/if an atomic bomb goes off. And, considering my house is so tidy, I doubt there would be a blanket or some other tool to smother the blaze sitting around either.
I digress. One of the comical aspects of said film strip was the tinge of excitement in the narrator's voice when he got to say "bomb", "fire", "blaze", or any other word related to nuclear explosions. As we were discussing this a man in class raised his hand to add his own thoughts on the matter. His comment began discussing the 1950s atomic bomb film and then, apropos of nothing, the subject changed to...Sarah Palin.
Yes, that is right, Sarah Palin. I don't know about you, but apparently this fellow made the logical jump from 1950s nuclear film strip narration to the rhetoric of the hockey mom VP candidate with the greatest of ease. He explained how Palin would seem sweet and nice, but then she would inject something "venomous" or even "mean" into her speech. I must admit I did not watch the RNC despite being a registered member of the party--I do not like John McCain and I am in a bit of a quandry about where my vote is headed. What I do know is that I will not be voting for him, ergo I found the task of watching the RNC to be unecessary.
Based on this man's remarks and what I have read in the news, it sounds like he was hating on her in part because she was sarcastic. This is really beside the point though. The man said point blank that Palin is mean, evil, and venemous and no one in the classroom said anything to challenge 1) the way this information was presented as a fact everyone had to agree with rather than an opinion or 2) the pertinence of this information to the discussion at large. Even I kept my mouth shut because I am just tired of having this discussion week in and week out, but I rolled my eyes rather overtly and began to watch the clock, hoping class would just end.
One week down, 14 to go. I got through the week with 3 anti-Repub references in class, so I am going to set the over/under at 70. Any takers?
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Rainy Days, Chinese Takeout, and the Biz
After class today it began to drizzle outside. As I talked to Dani in the lobby I began to notice the rain falling harder and harder and I realized I needed to book it home--and fast. However, I also needed sustinance--and fast. I popped into Dragon Express on the way home and enjoyed a leisurely early dinner of Chinese takeout eaten at my bedroom window.
If the expression on my face does not convey it on its own, let me explain how over this evil metal bucket filled with beer I truly was. First of all, I loathe beer--carbonation really messes with my tongue and the taste of it can only be described as putrid. Secondly, James is a Sink The Biz Nazi and if he thinks you are not drinking enough, he will purposefully attempt to get the Biz to sink on your turn, thereby forcing you to drink. He will massively overpour on the turn prior to yours, he will pound the table during your turn, and he will blow on and shake the bucket before the next person goes. James, you know I love you dearly, but I am putting my foot down this year. There will by no Biz sinking for Ms. Welman! There will be alcohol consumption, oh trust me, there will be that. But it will not be beer and it will most certainly not come out of a bucket!
It is kind of hard to explain the layout of the rooms here, but I will do my best. The wall opposite the door consists of mostly window. The window extends across all but a foot or so of the wall and is probably five feet in height, stopping just below the ceiling. There are several features of said window that I am quickly growing to enjoy:
1) My bed being located right next to the window allowing for ample natural light. I think that copious amounts of natural light is quickly becoming a dealbreaker on whether or not I am willing to reside somewhere. Nothing compares to the feeling of sunshine on you when you wake up in the morning.
2) The view. My window looks out away from campus and, since the building is located on the edge of campus, there is a vague illusion of nature. Most of what I see is tree tops and I can pretend I live in seclusion rather than on a hall with several dozen other students who are 5 and 6 years younger than me.
3) The ledge! The window ledge juts out a good eight inches or so from the wall allowing for objects, such as Chinese food to be perched upon and consumed from the comforts of my bed. If you have never tried eating Chinese food in bed on a rainy day, let me assure you that you are really, really missing out.
Duncan is trying to persuade me to drive up to the Horseshoe this weekend, but I have numerous social obligations of the utmost importance here in Btown, the first of which is the 80s themed party at Casa del Pyramids tomorrow night. I have my Little Mermaid t-shirt clean and ready to go, but other than that I am lacking in the costume department. Maybe I will go and buy a scrunchie tomorrow.
The second fiesta is James' birthday shenanigans Saturday night with our traditional trip to Nicks and rousing games of Sink the Biz. I cannot explain the game to you nearly as well as the blogger in the link has, but let me assure you that game is a beast. Here is a horrifyingly unflattering photo taken from James' previous birthday extravaganza:
If the expression on my face does not convey it on its own, let me explain how over this evil metal bucket filled with beer I truly was. First of all, I loathe beer--carbonation really messes with my tongue and the taste of it can only be described as putrid. Secondly, James is a Sink The Biz Nazi and if he thinks you are not drinking enough, he will purposefully attempt to get the Biz to sink on your turn, thereby forcing you to drink. He will massively overpour on the turn prior to yours, he will pound the table during your turn, and he will blow on and shake the bucket before the next person goes. James, you know I love you dearly, but I am putting my foot down this year. There will by no Biz sinking for Ms. Welman! There will be alcohol consumption, oh trust me, there will be that. But it will not be beer and it will most certainly not come out of a bucket!
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