A few weeks til the end of my first session here. What a time it has been. Finals in less than two weeks... professors racing through the second half of their courses (nothing new there). Right now I'm listening to James Taylor, his "Hourglass" record. What a superb recording it is. I saw him live a few weeks ago. Did I tell you about that? He's an incomparably good performer. And I'm not just gushing. He had the entire crowd at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in the palm of his hand. The performance was part of the annual Bridge School Benefit, a concert put on by Neil Young. Yes, Neil played a set as well. Rougher around the edges than Mr. Taylor but still a once-in-a-lifetime cool thing to see (in my book, anyway).
Does it occur to you as strange that I come all the way to this university, and the first thing I'm gloating about is seeing a few washed-up folk artists live in concert? It strike me as strange. Well, that's the way it goes.
I spent last weekend getting Linux up and running on the PC that my room-mate lent me for my computer audio projects. (Yes, Mom and Dad, that was time that could have been spent studying). It was an enormous pain but things are finally running nicely. To computer enthusiasts out there: Red Hat 8 is really looking nice. You should give it a try. Just be prepared to sacrifice a weekend, as I always seem to do whenever I try to get a Linux system running.
My room-mate (fellow Canuck Kevin) is gone for the weekend (that being this weekend, that being the Thanksgiving Weekend). So I'm having a bit of a mini-retreat. Much silence. First golden, now deafening.
This journaling thing is strange. I'm always wondering whether I should qualify things or not. What if someone cares about reading this? What if my offspring want to read it some day? Can someone please check the spelling and grammar and get back to me?
It's sort of like that 90s TV show "Doogie Howser, M.D.," where he always found the two most poignant, inside-joke-yet-profound lines to sum up each episode in his computer diary each night. I remember a Doogie Howser once where Doogie's sidekick, Emilio (I don't know if that was his real name, but he was hispanic), took a cold shower in Doogie's bathroom to cure his overactive libido. He came out of the shower naked, and Doogie remarked at the fact that he had lost his erection. That struck me as really weird. How about it, guys: were you ever that close to your buddies way back when?
As a side note, there is an organization called NAMBLA, which stands for the North American Man Boy Love Association.
I was having this really poignant moment, which motivated the writing of the journal entry. I think it's gone now. How many times have I used the word "poignant" in this entry? I think I'm using it correctly.
The other thing that you may be able to infer from the date and time on this journal entry is that I am still quite nocturnal. It's the only time that I get anything done. But sleeping in daylight sucks.
But yeah. Listen to some James Taylor. You'll get the idea.