Wow.

I'm writing a research paper that is neverending. I think I could seriously write a dissertation on this subject -- the visuality of text.

I'm relating A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man to a visual portrait and then to visual theories. Which all lead to the Buddhist idea of tathata, or "thusness." I don't really know what that means, but I'm working on it...

Intriguing, I know. I'm sure you're thrilled. Point is, I've spent my whole Thanksgiving break reading and writing about this stuff.

But you know what? I'm thankful for it. Corny, I know. But gosh, I'm thankful that I can process this stuff; I'm thankful that I actually get excited about my studies these days; I'm thankful that there are such smart people in the world that come up with these advanced theories that I can read about and even attempt to understand.

And you know what else I'm thankful for? The times when seemingly dissimilar theories come together and coincide. Those moments make me realize that there truly is something greater that drives us to search for it. And that's what the Buddha termed tathata.


It pretty much goes without saying that I am 100%, completely, totally, thankful for the life I have been blessed with and the people that surround me.

Google, Are You Listening? I Have an Idea!

I think that Google Reader should be able to track the comments you make on other people's blogs. Especially if you use your Google account to post comments (which I do). Flickr does it. It has a section that says "Comments You Have Made" and it shows any comments made after yours. Then we could always know if somebody answered our comments.

And if you use this idea, Google, I want royalties.

Most Over-Used Sentence in Music Journalism

"Hailing from New York City, (enter band name here)'s infectious melodies and syncopated beats are in full effect on the band's latest, (enter album name here), one of the best records of the year."*

It is always "infectious melodies and syncopated beats" together. Always.

*Last found describing The Rapture's Pieces of People We Love, Paste Magazine's band of the week.

Gosh, I miss these kiddos.

To see some of the most beautiful photos of two of the four kids I babysat in New York, click this link. I'm telling you -- these kids are unbelievably cute. But I'm biased, I guess.

Here's a sampling:



See? Beautiful.

Upcoming Shows

The Black Keys show at the Variety Playhouse tomorrow night is sold out. I had psyched myself up to go alone. That's what I get for procrastinating.

Have you ever been to a show alone? I think it would be a little weird and awkward, but I was kind of looking forward to it. Kind of a rite of passage, I guess. What would I have done between sets when people talk over the extremely loud garage beats? Well, let's just say, you guys probably would have gotten a lot of text messages...

But here's the important part:

• If you live in NYC, a friend of mine (from Atlanta) is playing at the Lit Lounge on 2nd Ave. and 5th tomorrow night (Friday). The name of the band is Parade. So if you don't have plans, you should check them out. Tell the bassist (Emily) that Lauren sent ya.

• If you live in Atlanta (or the surrounding areas), a guy I know from Brooklyn is playing at the Variety Playhouse next Tuesday night (the 14th) . His band, The End of the World, is opening for Cursive. I'm definitely going, and I've talked Sara into going with me. Anybody else wanna come? You are cordially invited. (You can stream their new album here. Look to the left of the page.)

C'mon, guys. Get out and about and enjoy yourselves by listenin' to some fine tunes.

Ouch.

This is what UGA's quarterback, Matthew Stafford, looked like after last Saturday's game. How sad is that? Poor kid. 18 years old and starting against 300lb tackles. And without an offensive line that protects him.

What Goes Around, Comes Around

A while back, we had a test in my film class. The test was scantron, so I brought my trusty number two pencil.

The girl beside me asked if I had another pencil. I informed her that I did not. She proceeded to ask everyone around her. No one had an extra pencil.

The tests were handed out and the class began bubbling in their answers. But the girl beside me fidgeted and looked nervous, not sure what to do.

She then started to mark the answers on the test sheet itself with her pen.

I finished my test with plenty of time to spare, gave the girl my pencil, and left the classroom. (We could leave after we finished the test.) The girl thanked me and began bubbling in her answers furiously.

The next time the class met, I sat beside the same girl again. She thanked me for the pencil. "That was so cool of you. I was freakin' out." "No problem," I said. "No problem at all." But she made no intention of opening her bookbag, shuffling around, and finding my pencil.

And, in fact, she never gave me my pencil back. And it was my favorite one. It was a cool metallic silver cheapo Bic that I loved. And it's gone forever.

I mean, c'mon. Doesn't common courtesy imply that I was letting her borrow my pencil, not giving it to her? I thought about asking for it back, but it was just such a weird situation, that I didn't/don't know how to respond.

I sit by the girl in that class everyday. She's nice enough. Smiles and says "hi" when I walk past her. Lets me look at her notes when I'm absent. But no pencil. No freakin' pencil.

What's My Deal?

In the past two days, I have spilled three (non-alcoholic) drinks. It's like I'm a kid all over again, spilling my chocolate milk all over the place.

Doesn't it seem kind of. . .unnecessary to have a Democrat run for Agricultural Commissioner? Or is it just me? I mean, it seems like all the folks that really care about the going-ons of agriculture are. . . well, probably not Democrats. Or maybe that's just a stereotype. Maybe that just goes for the state of Georgia, or maybe the South, in general.

Why Do You Hate Me, iPod?

I still haven't been able to figure out what the problem is with my iPod. I've installed new software, synched up with my iTunes (which works with no problems at all). And my iPod still skips over almost all of the songs.

Any more ideas? Looks like I might be calling Apple tomorrow. Because I'm not reloading all of my CDs. It took me two weeks the first time.

And Another Thing...

(What is this -- a record? Three blog posts in one day?)

This morning I yelled (out loud), "UGHHH! I hate you, left side of my hair! Why won't you ever do what I want you to do?!?"

I then realized that yelling at hair is probably a sure sign that the next stop on this train is the looney bin. (And blogging about my lunacy is probably even worse.)

Ohi-Oh, Really?

Take a long, hard look at the Ohio license plate. What strikes you as odd? The other day, I saw this and I thought, "Huh. 'Birthplace of Aviation,' eh? I thought that was North Carolina." I mean, the Wright Brothers, right? Kitty Hawk, NC ring a bell?

Now, I'm all about the South. I'm all about giving the respect due to our region. I mean, geez. Everybody in the entire world thinks we're rednecks (or cowboys). The least the rest of the U.S. can do is give the South credit for aviation. C'mon.

But really. Does anybody know why Ohio is the "Birthplace of Aviation"? I mean, Boeing is based in Seattle, but was it in Ohio at some point? What's the reasoning behind this? Just curious. (Wikipedia anyone?)


(And no help on the iPod deal? Somebody's gotta know what to do. Dang it. I'm driving 12 hours this weekend, and I won't have my iPod. What the heck am I gonna do?!?)

(Also, for those of you that gave me feedback on Vanitas, I had my critique in class today. It went really well, and I got a lot of compliments. Thanks for your comments on it!)

Help.

I'm trying to transfer my iTunes from one computer to another. I downloaded all of my iTune files onto my external hard drive and then tried to drag them into my new iTunes. And it works. The songs play and everything.

But then I synched up my iPod after I had added some new songs to my iTunes. Now the songs show up on my iPod, they're taking up all 13GB of space that I have in my iTunes, but they're not playing. It skips over all of the songs, from one to the next, until it finds one it can play.

I've tried deleting the whole library and dragging it again. I've tried adding the folders to my iPod like it's an external hard drive. I've tried synching it up manually. Nothing works.

I was whimpering. Now I'm pissed off.

Somebody PLEASE help me.