Passing Afternoon - Iron & Wine

I saw a flyer for another show at the Starlight featuring (among other bands) Guns 'n Rosa Parks and Noncompliant. From what I've heard, Noncompliant is a really good old school punk band, but that's tangential to the point of this paragraph. The point is this: why is the scene around here so post-punk numetal? What do these greasy little suburbanites have to be angsty about? From a detached perspective, you'd expect the scene to be more folk-oriented since FoCo is still stuck in the small-town mindset. Maybe that's what they're rebelling against. They're gonna show the Fort they reject their conservative upbringing by listening to bad music and not showering. Smoke and stale Doritos will dominate the future.

I've decided to enter the Creative Writing Scholarship Competition this semester. My writing teacher (who is the MFA consultant on the scholarship review board) thinks I've a pretty good shot at it. I'm meeting with her tomorrow to review my portfolio and decide which pieces best represent my work. I wrote a piece for E 210 which caught her attention, and she strongly recommends I submit it.

I called Erico again regarding my scooter, and they told me they're waiting for Piaggio headquarters to give them a definite answer. Running total of weeks they've had my bike: 9.5. 9.5 weeks = ridiculous.

Okay. You can all go home now.

Amie - Damien Rice

An observation:

I love Victoria so much it feels as though my ribcage will implode. Breathing is difficult, and each breath only makes the next more difficult.

This is remarkably similar to the crushing depression which dogged my spirit for so many years. Then, my breaths felt like existing. Now, they feel like dying.

Dying because I don't know how to bear this much beauty and still remain human. My eyes will pop like grapes and run down my cheeks. My eardrums will swell until they break their delicate frames. My nose will turn as big and red as a clown's. My lips will overflow their banks and flood my neck and chin with red wine. My hands will dissolve into a mist too fine to see. My heart will explode like an overripe grapefruit struck by a baseball bat.

Then I will fold in on myself, becoming smaller and smaller beneath the pressure of it all until I'm nothing more than a marble of pure devotion for her to carry in her pocket.

Statuesque

You make me
Feel an infant's ease
Climbing your red-tipped trees.
You condemn
The sky for its size,
The moon for her light,
The rain for your windowpanes.

Black-veined stains
On my neck, in my hair.
Blood breaks
The surface where
Your breath freezes,
Painting their pages
With sweet disdain.

Hammer and chisel
Pound into your eyes.
You
Are
Not
Im
Mor
Tal.

And I am
Not your better.

John Wayne Gacy, Jr. - Sufjan Stevens

This man has made my life difficult through no fault of his own. Read the post (especially number four) to understand the prompting behind this entry.

"How sad is the poet who should have been a king." What of the king who desires the poet's gift? Is he sentenced to an unfulfilling life because his passion and his genius do not lie together? Emerson would say our individual genius cannot be altered, so it remains to change one's passion. How can this be done? Is it even possible? If I discover my genius in housekeeping, can I really conceive and nuture a passion for it?

Moreover, where does one discover their genius? I can say with no arrogance that I have excelled in school, receiving high marks in every subject I studied. I don't believe this indicates my genius is so widespread, but that I simply understand how the academic system works and can use it to my advantage. I've been counselled to "find the one thing I cannot live without and pursue it," but Holstein would argue against it. We cannot live without our passion, not our genius. If my genius were in mathematics, I could live without majoring in math. But then I would be condemned to a mediocre existence in any other field. Yes, I could get high marks in English and graduate with the honors noose around my neck, but "[my] poetry will all turn to dust, [I] will be forgotten where others are remembered." Moreover, I would have missed my destiny in the field of mathematics, leaving a void where my contributions should have been.

I don't hold quite so Calvinistic a viewpoint as I did five years ago, but I still believe we are created with certain gifts meant to be used toward a purpose. Are we then required to cast aside happiness in favor of this duty should the two conflict? Would God create such a rift in His children, or is this bitter fork of our own making?

Enough questions.

Crystal Frontier - Calexico

Word from D-town is that the long-awaited handlebar faring for my scooter has finally arrived, so hopefully I'll have my hog back before the week is out. Unfortunately, I have my doubts. When the part came in, the guys at Erico called me as expected. However, the following conversation was unexpected:

PETER: Hello?
ERICO: Is Peter available?
PETER: This is him.
ERICO: Hi, Peter. This is [Captain Intelligent] at Erico Motorsports. We received a Vespa headlight cover for you today.
PETER: Yes.
ERICO: What do you want us to do with it?
PETER: (small pause) It goes to my Piaggio LT-50 which you guys have down there, so you should put it on.
ERICO: Oh, okay. We'll get that on for you and call you back either today or Tuesday.
PETER: Great, thanks.
FATES: Hahahahahaha.

My two main concerns: 1) they didn't know what to do with the part despite their having my bike for six weeks, and 2) he said Vespa, not Piaggio. Same company, different models. I hope it's the right part.

Following the advice of Mac North, I'm finally getting a new laptop. Huttah for the OpenSource movement, even if it is completely over my head.

Just now, a sip of Gatorade nearly ended my life.

So I've been writing quite a few poems for my creative writing class, but I'm not sure if I want to post them. They're not my best, and they're prompted, not inspired. Maybe I'll post some of the better ones.

Mundane routines suck. Down with work and school.

I hope you all enjoyed my show last night. The music selection made me sleepy, but I thought the set went well. I hate how the station ID's and bumps broke the mood, but not much can be done about that.

Yes.

Not That Simple - Dredg

So I'm in.

The test was absurdly simple. A handful of multiple choice and short answer questions, and a brief identify-the-manager section. Afterward, I had an on-air test that lasted all of two minutes, then Baker gave the okay. DJ Yorick is now on rotation at KCSU Fort Collins. My show is Sundays 2:00 - 4:00 AM, so think late Saturday night if you're planning to listen in. I'll throw on some good music, and we'll have ourselves a nice little radio party. If you call in, I might just get your voice on the air, complete with editing to make you sound silly.

Wow, I'm actually a radio DJ. That's mo-uppin' crazy.

\/\/3R|).

Lateralus - Tool

I have Music Appreciation in 14 minutes.

I will be reading Richard III during class.

Today at 1:10 PM, I have my DJ exam.

By 1:30 PM, I will know if I possess enough talent, wit, and retention to be a KCSU DJ.

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