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Don’t Ease Me In by The Grateful Dead
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/gd85-03-29.oade-schoeps.sacks.23475.sbeok.flacf/gd85-03-29oade-d1t08_64kb.mp3]

A week ago I was in the library, 5 minutes before my Philosophy class started. I was printing out the homework due that day (the printer in my room doesn’t work at the moment). I noticed another dude from my class doing the same thing. We both sent out assignments to the communal printer at about the same time, but he got to it first. The way the communal printer works, is it displays the queued documents, the user selects which they want to print, then they pay for them and the document prints. Turns out both he and I printed from Google Docs, so they were indistinguishable on the screen (just the Google Docs url). So he printed out his, and went on to class, and afterwards I did the same. I noticed on my way to class that I had his paper, so I suspected he had mine. I didn’t say anything to him, and he didn’t say anything to me. In fact, we never acknowledged that the mix-up ever occured. Not before, during, or after class. As we left the room once class had ended, he handed in my assignment (I checked to make sure he had in fact handed in my assignment, and he had), and I handed in his.

Maybe he never looked at his paper, and never noticed that the name on there wasn’t his, or the answer underneath that was shorter and differently formatted than his. But I doubt that. I’m pretty sure he noticed, and just went with it. I think that’s pretty cool.

New York, NY

Went to NY with Ali this weekend to see some friends, sights, etc. I enjoyed the city a lot more than I did on previous visits, and I’m pretty sure its because we did the city at night. Daytime in NY gives me a headache, and on top of that I don’t like the rush. Nighttime is different. We did a lot, and I could tell a lot of different stories, but I’ll just tell the one anecdote that stands out from this weekend.

At some point on Saturday, someone commented on/started singing/started humming Mahna Mahna. Slowly, it crept into everyone’s mind, and refused to be stopped. Later into the night, we started bursting into song, because we just couldn’t keep it inside. While hanging around the Bamn! Automat (which I very much enjoyed, even if I didn’t eat there) Max decided to try and get people on the street to join in with us in song. He went up to the corner, and started singing/humming, and one by one we joined him, as if we were just passersby, caught up in the magic of the song. We got a couple other folks to join in with us, but for the most part people just walked past us, bemused.

This wasn’t nearly satisfying, so we started to look for another target. Across the street were two musicians, playing trombone and accordian, playing traditional klezmer songs. We walked up to them, and waited for them to finish the song they had been playing before tossing the Mahna Mahna ball into their court. Quickly, they picked up on what we were doing and started to jam along, creating an entirely new beast of a song. Max was clever enough to think of recording it, and hopefully I’ll be able to get a copy. Once that was finished, they started back up with their own repertoire, with us clapping and dancing along. Soon, a crowd had gathered to hear these guys play. Some in the crowd were musicians with instruments in hand, and before long they had joined in as well. Now we had a five piece band consisting of a soprano saxophone, fiddle, guitar, trombone and accordian, with a mass dancing and clapping people around it all. On a street corner in New York City. At 4 in the morning.

Free Your Mind

Casey Jones by Phil Lesh and Friends
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/plf2007-10-14.adkA51TL.flac/plf2007-10-14d02t02_64kb.mp3]

I think I finally realized why I don’t do drugs. Its taken me a while, and over time I had come up with a few explainations which tried to put my thoughts into words. I started off quite simply by seeing someone who was drunk, stoned, or in any sort of altered state, and deciding that I didn’t want to be like that. But I didn’t have a why.

For a while I said it was because I didn’t want to alter my perspective, and that’s closer to the why. Earlier tonight, someone asked if it was just about clear-headedness, and it is, but that still isn’t the answer.

When walking home tonight I realized what it all boiled down to: independence. Now, that word has a lot of interesting political connotations to it, that I don’t want anything to do with. Let me make it very clear: the definition of independence I’m using is ‘Free from the influence, guidance, or control of another or others; self-reliant.’

Mind altering substances reduce your freedom. If you don’t find yourself having as much fun, or being as creative, or as relaxed as you are in an altered state, then you’ve certainly lost some of your freedom. If you want to reach that level again, you’ll need to go back to whatever helped you get there in the first place, and you become dependent. It becomes a crutch, which you would prefer not to be without.

I find it interesting that people claim drugs help them free their mind, when in reality the opposite is true. This concept also gives a new meaning to the phrase ‘drug free.’

The theme of independence permeiates throughout all parts of my life. I don’t want to be tied down to anything that won’t come with me. The bus is an example of that.

I really do wish more people had this view, but I won’t hold my breath.

Shadows

Revelation Two Step by Donna the Buffalo
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/donna2007-10-11.meadowstage.sbd/donna2007-10-11.sbd/donna2007-10-11t03_64kb.mp3]

Walking back from breakfast today (which was really just minutes ago) I had the sun at my back. It was warm out with a nice breeze, clear blue sky, and all in all a perfect day to enjoy nature. When I looked down, I saw my shadow extending about six feet in front of me. And in the middle of this incredible gift of nature, I realized something: I really like my shadow.

Its the most immediate and tangible example of my impact on the world. Even people who are thought to have nothing, and thought to have accomplished nothing in their lives, always have their shadows. Its a reminder that we do matters, and that we do have an impact on the world. That gives me a sense of comfort, which I had never seen in my shadow before.

MythTV

Its about damn time. Finally, my MythTV box is working. I credit KnoppMyth. I’ve tried many other distros (some of which didn’t even bundle MythTV) and none worked with my machine. Knoppix was able to do it, and the KnoppMyth distro made it so I didn’t even need to set it up.

Desert Sea Lion Recap

See The Light by The Breakfast
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/breakfast2007-10-06.483.flac16/breakfast2007-10-06d1t03_64kb.mp3]

Saturday morning arrived, and I woke up early. I had a mission, which was rare for a weekend. But I had to save the desert sea lion. When we concieved of this idea weeks ago, the original idea was to chill in the dining hall for a whole day. Somewhere along the line, we thought to make a fake cause to justify hanging around all day. Later on Ali came up with ‘Save the Desert Sea Lion(s)’, which stuck.

So on Saturday morning around noon, I arrive in the dining hall with some poster paper, some lined paper, and some markers. I dick around and eat until more friends start to arrive later on. We draw up a sign on the poster paper, and set it up hanging off the side of the table. This is when people start to notice us.

Part of our idea was to have a mailing list that asked for really intrusive and personal information. The first draft of this included Social Security Number and Sexual Activity. Most people quickly caught on that it was a joke when they saw the mailing list. We revised it to see if we could really get some signatures. The new mailing list asked for Name, Blood Type, Eye Color, Shoe Size, and Y/N. Note how none of these have anything to do with sea lions, or how we don’t ask for any sort of contact information on our mailing list.

We were able to get some signatures before a serious looking guy walked up to us and told us we would have to move outside. “We don’t let the guys with Bibles in here, and you can’t be here either.” So he set us up with a table right outside the entrance of the dining hall, and said we’d be able to go in and get food whenever we wanted to, we just couldn’t try to save the sea lions inside. So now we’re VIP. We also have a little more credibility since people are used to seeing folks outside the dining hall for one reason or another. More and more signatures fill the page, until we have to start another list. Most people didn’t question the relevance of the things on our mailing list, or ask about how we would contact them.

A couple listened to our story of the Desert Sea Lions, and signed up, although they were a bit skeptical. They left, only to come back five or so minutes later and erase their names from our list. They told us “We just Googled it and it said they don’t exist.” I’m curious where the page is on the internet that says “Desert Sea Lions Don’t Exist.” (here)

We wanted to change up the mailing list anyway just to see what would happen. It seemed in line with the rest of the stuff we were doing (facts we proclaimed changed from person to person). Our next mailing list asked for Name, Blood Type, Eye Color, Date of Birth, and Hometown. This drew even less questions than the first mailing list. I’m not sure how that’s so. This information is much more important to a person than Shoe size or Y/N. During this round a girl casually mentioned as she was signing that she was an Animal Science major. Eric asked if she had heard of the Desert Sea Lion. She told us “Yes, but I didn’t know they were endangered…the Discovery Channel is a wonderful thing.”

The second page of signatures fills up, and our third changes it up again. We ask for the same info as on the second sheet, but GPA replaces Date of Birth. This page fills up as well, just as the dining hall is about to close. All in all, over one hundred people concerned about the plight of the desert sea lion. Incredible.

Save the Desert Sea Lion(s)!

Peace on Earth by Railroad Earth
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/rre2007-09-28/rre2007-09-28flac16/rre2007-09-28d2t05_64kb.mp3]

It’s time for me to get a bit more serious on this blog. October 6th (tomorrow) we’re holding a rally in the Tower’s Dining Hall to try and spread awareness of the plight of the Desert Sea Lion(s). The general public knows little of these marvelous creatures, but we feel if we can show people some cute pictures, their attitudes will change. Trust me, they’ll come around. They just will.

If you’re in the area of UConn on Saturday, we’d love to see you. We’ll take any help we can get, whether that just be sitting down to eat with us, or helping us spread the word. I hope you’ll consider our message, and with any luck, the sea lion(s) can look towards a bright future.

What a weekend

Runaway Overlude by moe.
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/moe2007-09-29.flac/moe2007-09-29d1.flac/moe2007-09-29d1t03_64kb.mp3]

I had a mighty fine weekend. I think it is best explained by my Saturday. On Saturday I woke up in Bozrah, CT, which is out in the middle of no where – really beautiful country. I was at a party there the night before, and spent the night. Once everyone had woken up (11-12ish) we got working on breakfast. Well, some of us did. Not everyone has the ability to cook things other people would want to eat, but we all pitched in here and there. All to the sounds of the Beatles, which is much more fun in the morning than I would have ever expected. The vibe in that kitchen was so wonderful, it couldn’t possibly preface anything bad.

Mike was coming up to UConn later that day, and after that we’d be heading to see moe. at the Chevy Theater. Two VIP tickets had fallen into my lap Friday morning when my dad called me up and asked if I wanted them. He apparently had won them in a raffle, but had gotten the date wrong, and wouldn’t be able to go to the show. So I got back to UConn around 4ish, took a shower, shaved, and as I’m coming out of the bathroom Mike calls and says he’s here. So I go to meet him, get more food, and then we hang around the dorms a bit. At 6ish we take off for moe., whom neither of us had seen before. I’ve been listening to them for years, but I hadn’t been to a show yet. And the show was awesome. The song embedded in this post is from that show, and if you click the link above, it’ll bring you to the whole three hour show. See for yourself, it was a mighty fine time.

After the show we headed back to Middletown where we hung around for a while with some friends, and then passed out around 2 or 3. I want to do it again.

Restless

Lost Soul by Strangefolk
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/sf2006-08-18.km184.flac16/sf2006-08-18.flac16/sf2006-08-18d1t05_64kb.mp3]

I found myself staring at the ceiling the last couple nights, not able to sleep. Last night I was thinking about Bonnaroo, the night before that I was thinking about the bus, the night before that I was thinking of the mall. Maybe its just because I’m not really loving school this semester. Although its certainly better than last year was, its still failing to be what I wish it was.

No matter. Landshark is coming along, and in half a year’s time, I’ll have the bus.