Streaking

Until this week, every time I had interviewed for a job, I had been offered the job. Every time. I'm disappointed not to have the opportunity to teach at such a cool school, but at least I have a job.

In other news, I recently completed an "album." On it, many of my talented friends sing and play, making it a little more like listening to a mix than to a traditional album (think Magnetic Fields). I don't know how many people will actually listen to it, but a lot of time went into it and I believe there to be some very good songs on it.

I began writing for and recording the album after finishing my previous large project, this book. The entire time I was writing Life: A User's Manual, I refrained from reading or writing fiction, lest I get distracted.

Now that I'm done with that, and done with my "album," I'm ready to start writing fiction. Enter yet another subdomain*. In hopes of getting feedback, I'm going to post drafts of chapters as I complete them. Hopefully, this will provide more immediate gratification than writing books generally offers - the reminder that there will be readers is motivating. This idea was inspired by She Hates My Futon, which was a delightful read but never completed.

I'm also going to write this book using an interesting online word processor.

*Presently, there's only an opening paragraph, but the site itself is pretty neat.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

This weekend Lisa and I threw a Rock Band party. I got to sit back as my friends played a Baba O' Riley, and I was pretty happy. We followed that with an impromptu dance lesson with our friends. Today we had breakfast across the street and then went to the shore and flew kites (I bought myself a new one) before watching the new X-Men film (forgettable, but still a pleasant way to spend an afternoon). Now we're going to order pizza instead of responsibly cooking.

Unfortunately, my district did not close for the swine flu, so I need to go to work tomorrow. I'll learn whether I scored a new job tomorrow or Tuesday, though I'm not feeling optimistic; my interview went well, but maybe they would have alerted the person they chose by now.

Pictures of our kite flying can be found here with a login.

Mensa

Pardon the delay in posting. Between spring break (part deux), teaching, taking classes, and all of the things I'll write about here, I've been a busy fellow. I've decided to summarize recent events in a handy table:

Good - We bough Rock Band and are having a Rock Band party tomorrow! - I interviewed for a cool job. I've never interviewed for a job and failed to be offered it, but this could be the one; I'll learn by Tuesday. - Lisa and I had our first dance lesson tonight (I missed the last one; see opposing column.) - Lisa's taking really good care of me in my time of injury. - My album came out. Though it seems unlikely that anyone who would read this blog wouldn't already know that. - The new Decemberists CD has grown on me, and we'll see them in concert soon.

Bad - I comprehensively threw out my back a week and a half ago and am only now moving normally. - The swine flu is taking over Milwaukee (though, if they close school on Monday, this hops over a column.)

Cool! Not many bad things!

Miami Sound Machine

So we just got back from Miami. Some of our adventures:

While we were waiting for a bus late Saturday night, a drunken 39-year old approached us in search of the time. He wasn't surprised that it was 10:00, but he was sure surprised that it was Saturday.

"Holy f*ck! No way it's Saturday!"

"Yeah. It's Saturday."

"Hell no! No way! Don't tell anybody!"

"Um, we won't?"

He also thought he was twice our age, mistaking us for undergraduates on spring break. We proceeded to tell everybody that it was Saturday.

A woman approached us on the beach, twice, trying to get Lisa to pay for hair braiding. Only, this woman was carrying a decapitated head, or a very realistic mannequin's head; either way, it had pretty hair. One should have a camera handy at all times.

The only boobs we saw were on this window, which isn't what I expected from South Beach during spring break. Usually there are only boobs on windows over the summer around there.

We bought for ourselves a few days of summer, and enjoyed it tremendously. More pictures to follow.

It Was a Zoo (Cage Match)

Lisa had a great idea for seizing the day today: the zoo. It was 53 degrees and free admittance day at the zoo. The Milwaukee Zoo has a device in the primate building which allows you to compare the strength of your grip to that of an orangutan, whose hand can squeeze with 130 pounds of pressure. As it turns out, so can mine! Lisa asserted that the orangutan could still kick my ass, and she's right.

This, however, got us to wondering which zoo animals I could beat up*. Our best guess is that the correct answer is: very few. I doubt many of the birds would be a problem, and the small mammals looked like pushovers. I suspect, however, that it's hard to beat up even fairly "harmless" animals, such as deer. As a rule, I think one would need to outweigh most non-human animals by several-fold to have a chance in a cage match.

What's the toughest animal that you could beat up?

*Note that I said could, not would. Punching fish is funny only at the theoretical level.

Lordy!

Lisa and I rewatched the Lord of the Rings trilogy this past week. Holy crap those are good! I draw your attention, however, to the following comic, which addresses a qualm I had, even with the books (click here for larger image):

It does seem like that would be an easy solution, doesn't it. In reality, the eagles only show up at the last minute to help, preferring to stay out of it most of the story. I kind of thought the eagles were jerks for not helping out earlier, and always thought Tolkien kept them out of it just to make it harder for the humans, only bringing them back when he didn't know how else to rescue Frodo and Sam. Now I think I know what was what. Tolkien was probably using the eagles to represent the U.S. (if only he'd used a less subtle symbol) and was criticizing America's late entry into WWII. Duh.

Also related to the WWII symbolism in the book (and film), which is all over, I really enjoy the post-script about Frodo struggling to find his place back in The Shire. There are a lot of epics in film and literature, but rarely are the trials of soldiers after the war covered in the epilogue.

I recommend reading the IMDB trivia on the films, if you liked them. It's pretty interesting.

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House

I could be wrong, but I believe that House likes to cook. If you aren't an ardent follower of the show, bear with me. This was surprising to me because he never brings leftovers to work, in fact steals everything he eats from others. If only a little, I thought that this detail added depth to the character; it added depth not because it was additional information about House, but because it was additional information not entirely in keeping with the rest of his persona.

Those of you who don't watch House may meaningfully rejoin the conversation.

Recently a Facebook friend, a bridesmaid from my brother's wedding, posted a list of things that many don't know about her. Of course, as I barely know the woman, it was all new information for me. I wonder what I would write on such a list. Meanwhile, my brother-in-law (Ben's blog is linked at the right) has decided to take up the building of mash-ups (remixes combining multiple songs into a coherent whole), a past-time not out of keeping for his character, but wholly unpredictable.

Now I bring it home. Why couldn't I think of something that people don't know about me, which isn't presently true, and then endeavor to make it true. I could take up a new hobby or accomplish something that one wouldn't expect from me. I just need to think of something worthwhile that I would enjoy/feel good about that would surprise people, adding depth to my character.

Suggestions?

What would people find surprising about you? Feel free to consider something which isn't yet true, but will be in time.