In the spirit of expanding my horizons and doing things on my list of undone, I am A) having a party in my own apartment and B) reading Ulysses. For real this time. I'm in a class, so I have to. I got the annotations from the library and I'm going to do it right. Already it's dense as hell, but the more I learn about Irish history, catholicism, Shakespeare, and modernism the more amazed I am with this book. It's the only novel I think I've ever read where each word, sentence, paragraph, and chapter are labored over in both minute and grand scales. Or at least the only one where every word has the greatest possible meaning. Granted that I'm only up to chapter two, Joyce is awe-inspiring nonetheless. I'm hooked enough now, scant pages into the work, to consider a life as a Joyce scholar. If only someone would actually pay me.

The more interesting subject being the party, I'll go on about that now. Yes, it's a collegiate party with booze and revelry and more people than the fire marshall would approve of (admittedly not that many considering, but we've invited everyone we know and like.) We have agreed, out of cheapness and practicality and safety, that we aren't going to provide enough alcohol for any one person to get shit-faced. This will be a social, partially BYOB, and hopefully monstrously fun occasion. I'm cooking up a huge thang of pasta and several huge thangs of sauce (perhaps veggie and meaty, though entirely veggie may be how it goes), and the bottle of wine we hoarded in the dorm for half the year will finally be deflowered. Funny thing: We're asking everyone to bring a plate because we don't have enough for everyone. In fact, we have five plates for three people. I actually consider that quite respectable, given our student status.

Meine Deustch Professor ist nicht gut, aber nicht schlecht. Er spricht als wir Kinder sind. Meg, wer hast du? Hast du Maria wieder?

I have the same birthday as the following celebrities:

Britney Spears
Lucy Liu
Maria Callas
Julie Harris
Ed Meese
Nelly Furtado
Stone Phillips
Nigel Spackman

The following people died on my birthday (among many others, no doubt):

Philip Larkin
Desi Arnaz
Marquis de Sade
Harrison Ford (not Indiana Jones, but a silent film actor of the same name)

Connie Chung and Maury Povich were married the very day I was born.

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With all of that out of the way, I figured I should update. Cultural Forum (henceforth "the cult") training is going well. My job is probably the least labor-intensive, which is good because my stipend is crap. It's also something I would probably enjoy doing in the real world. I'm curating two small galleries in the student union. So far, so good.

My apartment is starting to take the shape of a home now that we're stocked up with food and shelving and a vacuum cleaner. We (myself, Kyle, and Marie) are waiting for classes to start, revelling in freedom/boredom. Marie has taken to walks about campus and Eugene, while Kyle and I are researching food-making ideas. Homemade bread and pasta, as well as homegrown herbs, are in our future. (!!) This will also be the point at which I mention that Marie is 21, so I can ACTUALLY cook with wine and liquors. And enjoy a glass of vino with my well-prepared meal. Soon, we roast a chicken and make stock from the carcass. Hooray for chicken noodle soup!

On the downside of apartmenty things, we have ants. It's a minor problem, so we probably won't spray. Infestation still bothers me a great deal, but they're leaving my goldfish crackers alone. I guess I can't really complain. Qwest, however, is on my shit list. Boycott them whenever possible. Their phone service alone gave me a fucked-up little run-around, and apparently we need to "apply" for internet service. My ass.

Classes start on monday. Tomorrow night, I host the comedy open mic night for the cult as a part of "intermingle" -- basically, a big UO block party. (Eugenians: It's at 11 in the buzz. Please come and laugh and bring funny friends.) Until classes start, I'll be cooking, exploring Eugene, and camping out in a library from time to time to work on my other web projects. If I haven't emailed or written you, it's not personal. I'm lazy. This is something I am making time for over the next few days. Expect emails and letters. I still miss everyone fervently. Eugene is not quite home yet, no matter how much ramen is in my cupboard.

I can hear "Radar Love" coming from another room. Oop, crossfade to Pearl Jam. An improvement. Anyway, I've been not-blogging for a while because I decided that livejournal et al was equal to poison in its addictiveness and ability to hurt people. The stalking thing, too. It enables stalkers easily. However, it's one of the easiest ways to keep in touch with people. So: Yes, I'm still reading you all. No, I (largely) haven't been commenting much. No, it's nothing personal. Yes, I'll eventually be more dilligent about it. No, I don't really think I'm going to switch to LJ for anything other than accessing friends-only posts.

In other, more relevant news, I'm thinking of starting a new blog dedicated to shoestring photography, digital and film. It would be an excuse to post photos as well as research and get creative with cheap tricks, goods, and services. And if there's anything I love, it's cheap services.

SERIOUS QUESTION ALERT: I'm in a new music/reading material mode. Please tell me what you've been reading and listening to lately. Do eet!