in my excitement at finding this glorious haven, i totally forgot my whole reason for wanting to write in the first place. these were the three quotes on my homepage today (if you do not have a igoogle home page, i suggest it as it is lots of fun and you can add anything (limited) that you want.)

The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt, too.
- Oscar Levant

Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us.
- Jerry Garcia

Save a little money each month and at the end of the year you'll be surprised at how little you have.
- Ernest Haskins

i think my favorite of the three is the jerry garcia line. if i could be in the white house today, i can imagine this idea going through bush's mind when considering the wall street issue (i wont use the "c" word because i think it plays into the false belief that wall st has somehow gotten itself into something it cannot get out of. bullshit. they need to suck it up.)

anywho, happy monday.

ok, i have to write about something very funny. i just discovered that on the fourth floor of the library is a locked room only for grad students. you must have a student id to swipe at the door in order to get in. then, you can look, laugh and point at the "little" people who sit on the outside. with all their noise. and people walking. and books distracting them. we have lockers. of course i dont have a key to any of the locks, BUT, if i DID, well, then i would have a locker. in the library. i know. pretty fabulous.

i want to make it very clear that i am not for segregation. or putting some people above others. except in this case. and any other time that being over 30 is an advantage. yahtzee.

did you know duke has a football team?

ok, before i get into jimza's comment, i have a funny story from french class. so the teacher asks - qui est-ce qui vous avez voir apres le cours. now, in spanish, b and v sound the same. so, i heard - qui est-ce qui vous avez boire apres le cours. boire means to drink. voir means to see. the second question makes no sense, but as i heard incorrectly, i thought she said "drink and after class," so i looked at the kid next to me who was obviously hung over and replied, "john va boire apres le cours." the teacher looked at me strangely until she got that i misunderstood the question. my answer to "who is going drinking after class?" was "john is going to drink after class." after explaining my mistake, the teacher and the rest of the class thought it was funny (read- i am stupid)

so jimmy d, p-bot, i definitely remember your pager. i also remember using your pager after it either stopped working or no one paid the bill. good times.

i also remember my first-year roommate stealing some dude's pager at a party. classy. also, said person was the first one i knew to own a cell phone. although, as his night shifts at wade's might not have paid the bill, i dont think he kept it long. of course, after he dropped out and remained living in my room for the next three months, he was definitely saving money (and let me tell you how much fun it was not to be able to lock my door for those three months because jackass, after dropping out of school, had to give his dorm key back, which made his comings and goings all the more obnoxious). ah, freshman year. your mention jammer of "upper quad" threw me for a second. did we know it as anything other than the ghetto? all the kids on the other side of campus called it bfe, but that is another story.

the lost boys. fidel da fish and the "burial at sea" after his untimely death where 'foul play was suspected.' how can i forget going into the bathroom late one night and seeing jesse's head sticking out from under the stall as i was myself using the urinal? dude, are you ok? to which no response meant i had to go down the hall to see "the lost boys" and inform them that one of their own needed removal before the ra, tyler i think he was, found him. i remember watching them drank the poor kid down the hall (i think it was by his feet, but i could be misremembering). i think the fourth floor of thomas saw about 20% of its residents move on to another year of school. the rest, like ol jesse, never made it back.

was the power plant that operated outside your (jimza) side of the hall a coal plant? i seem to remember you not being able to open the window.

jesse. i remember the night he entered thomas from the wrong side of the building and climbed into bed in your room because it was the third door down on the right from where he entered (the exact location of his room but the opposite of the hall). damn. how many stories do i have of jesse? and consider, these are the only stories i can actually put onto the internet (mainly bc they do not involve myself or any of those who might read this bad boy).

jim, you are a nice guy.

when was the last time i updated?

ok, so i am back in school in the usa (anyone ever see the rodney dangerfield flick, i think it was called back to school?)

some lessons from school and working at a bar where 21 yr olds and even underagers like to hang out:
1. monday is a drinking night. so is tuesday, wednesday and every other day.
2. college kids are cheap as hell (we knew this one too)
3. no one does homework in undergrad classes (except me - rocking the 93 on my french exam). few do homework in grad classes
4. now that one of my grad classes is down to two people, we better do the reading.
5. walking down the sidewalk in a college town, after around 7pm, is hazardous - you might get hit by a car (evidenced by the two kids who were hit, at least one dead, about three weeks ago while walking home from the bar)
6. if you dont have an ipod, you are not as cool as you think you are.
7. no one drinks water, everyone drinks soda during the day.
8. short shorts and skirts are fashionable even when it is in the high 40's at night
9. a prom dress, cut off around mid thigh with a fat elastic band holding it to their legs is now fashionable for girls. sad really.
10. asking for the id of a woman in her thirties (in this town at least) will raise your tips by at least 30%
11. if you are a bit older (30, ahem), then customers who are also a bit older will tip you better if you talk to them. most college kids still dont tip bc they have no money (to which i can relate)
12. the percentage of people who consistently go out to bars, out of the total population of the school, is about 15%, e.g. you see the same damn people week in week out
13. redneck accents while speaking french are fucking HILARIOUS
14. 75% of people in philosophy would be considered dorks by 95% of the campus
15. we are all dorks in my program
16. except me (see 15)
17. working until midnight or so does not allow you to get bed by 1am after riding a bike home. you just cannot relax enough
18. working at a restaurant makes you stink of food.
19. not washing your work shirt enough can lead from no 18 to making your house stink of food too
20. when your over 60, retired, gregarious landlord is at the bar where you work more than you are (bc he tells you, "hey william, guess you didnt work ____ (fill in day,) i looked for you", give up trying simply to smile and wave when you leave the house in the morning. conversely, refusing a beer at 11am on a tuesday is also grounds for said landlord to eye you warily.
21. acting standoffish toward your extremely outgoing and talkative landlord at the beginning of your lease is something you will only forget to do once in your life.
22. the amount of spare time you have to write on your blog drops precipitously once you are in classes.
23. three grad classes is a full load. adding a language class to it is not recommended if you like to do things with your free time other than work or study.
24. you can no longer rent taps for kegs. you have to buy the damn thing (we bought a pony keg for our birthday dinner last weekend)
25. a pony keg of good beer is twice as much as twice as much natty lite. shocker
26. the first response to anyone who mentions an upcoming birthday is, "so, you going downtown?"
27. girls drink cheap, cheap beer just like guys.
28. skipping happy hour (which at most bars down here is four hours long every day) is like leaving your cell phone in your apt/dorm room. doesnt happen
29. not drinking soda at work (only water) makes other younger servers think you are "weird"
30. irresponsibility, when taken on a grand scale - say 70% of population- is not only disturbing but contagious.

hope one or two make you laugh.
cheers