Busy times ahead...

So I've got a very eventful couple of days ahead of me, and I'm really excited to be so busy. I almost always have down time here, but I'm going to be hard pressed for any down time in the next 3 weeks. So tomorrow I have a presentation on Ray Kurzweil's book The Singularity is Near and the future of the mind and psychology. It's been bothering me a little, but I'll get through it. Immediately after class I need to call a potential employer in New Brunswick to have a phone interview, and then I make my way to Den Haag as fast as I can for a night of fun filled activities. Apparently Queen's Day eve in Den Haag is really awesome, so I look forward to it. Wednesday is Konnegingdag, enough said. It's gonna be crazy, and I already bought my t-shirt. Thursday morning I need to catch a 9 am flight to Birmingham to spend the weekend with my family. I'm really looking forward to going to England and seeing my Mom's side of the family, who I haven't seen in years. I get back on Monday for some classes, but on Friday I'm flying out again to Ireland. Cork is going to be crazy, Brian and Butler will make sure I have a good time. Then the week I get back from Ireland Corey is flying into Amsterdam from the States. Overall, solid 3 weeks.

I feel like at the moment that I have too much on my mind to get it out in any coherent fashion, so I'm not even gonna try. Instead I'm writing a top 5 list, probably a really stupid one though. Lets see what I think of.

Top 5 things the Mets need to do to make the World Series
5. Get at least 5 wins out of Pedro Martinez, more importantly have him going into the postseason and make sure he is pumped and assuming a leadership role.
4. Delgado and Moises Alou have to bat above .270 on the year, assuming both are playing everyday
3. Johan 15 wins, minimum
2. Willie Randolph needs to show a little life, make sure there are no collapses like last season
1. Young players (Wright, Reyes, Pagan) need to act 3 years older (although Wright isn't a problem) and old players (Alou, Delgado, Castillo) need to act 3 years younger.

If you can't tell I mostly made that up on the spot. I already disagree with some of the things I wrote. Here's another one.

Top 5 Joe Purdy Songs (if you haven't heard of him do some downloading)
5. You Don't Like Me Anyway (may move up the list soon)
4. Far Away Blues
3. The City
2. I Just Can't Seem to Get it Right Today
1. I Love the Rain the Most

That's it for today. I know the top 5 lists are getting annoying so I'm gonna try and write some stuff with substance in the next couple posts. Be well.

AC

Homesickness

So I have a theory, and that theory is that I'm getting homesick. The problem with this is I don't really know if I am, I've never been homesick before. I've never really had a problem being away from home, mainly because I never felt solidly at home because I moved as a child a decent amount and went to summer camp every summer for 8 weeks. So I guess I just avoided the attachment that most people make with a home, or a house. My family will be moving in a couple months (assuming we beat the mortgage disaster that is the US economy right now) so I likely won't even be coming back to Summit when I leave the Netherlands. But anyway, I've been feeling a little alone here, and maybe that is a product of me having my own apartment and not really knowing anybody in my building. It isn't a very social place. The only common room is the laundry room, with its whopping one laundry machine and one dryer. There is no common room, no kitchen, no bathroom, because our rooms all have these things. Furthermore, my key only gets me into my very limited hallway, not the rest of the building. They really don't like the idea of us socializing.

But so a lack of seeing my friends and being alone here is starting to get to me a little bit. I spend most of time reading or on the internet, and I've gotten pretty used to entertaining myself. I'm kind of worried that when I get back I'm gonna be really anti-social and my friends will notice. The other possibility is that I'll be really clingy and my friends will hate me. I just don't know what its gonna be like, plus if you add reverse culture shock (which I actually am convinced I might experience, even though I didn't really have culture shock) it won't be a very nice situation.

So here it is, the top 5 things I miss about Rutgers (friends not included because I miss them all and I don't pick favorites).

5. Buccleuch Park
4. The porch
3. Walking back from Douglass Campus fearing for my life
2. The Daily Targum
1. Brower Subs

That was a fairly impromptu list and subject to change, but still I think it is fairly accurate. Anyway, I'm gonna cut this post short. Listen to Rogue Wave because they are awesome, and read anything by Ray Kurzweil because the man is a genius (and probably going to live forever). Also at the request of Rich Bavier, because I am talking to him on aim at the moment, he is number 0 on my top five list. Seeing as 0 has a negative connotation to it as well, I don't think that implies I'm taking sides on friends. My other friends can maybe go in as fractions, but I'm lazy. Be well.

AC

Another Top 5 List...

Hello. So Rutgersfest got announced today back in Jersey, even though I've known the line-up for quite a while now. Anyway, Third Eye Blind is gonna rock, and I'm not going to be around to see it. Figures that the one year I'd go abroad Rutgersfest would be a decent show. I actually wouldn't have gotten smashed and passed out at 5 this year, I would have gone to the show and I'm sure I would have loved it.

Anyway, in honor of this whole missing Rutgersfest thing I've been listening to 3eb a lot. I had already heard just about every song when I was dating Liz, but since then I haven't heard them as much. The funny thing is, once I got a chance to listen to them at my own pace I actually started really enjoying them. There is no denying that Steven Jenkins is a brilliant lyricist, although sometimes I wonder about his musicianship. A lot of the songs sound the same, and he doesn't seem to be able to write about anything that isn't a horribly depressing situation, but he tends to be very good at it nonetheless. So here is my stream of conscience on 3eb, followed by my top 5 favorite 3eb songs.

Ok, I hate all of the radio played 3eb songs. They all tend to suck in my mind, and I honestly don't equate them with the rest of their music. Sometimes I wonder if they made those songs just to appease the studio label while they made their own stuff. So this means Semi-Charmed Life, Jumper, How's It Gonna Be, Graduate, Deep Inside of You, and Never Let You Go are completely out of contention. In fact, there is very little I like on their first album, expect for the fact that Motorcycle Drive-By is probably my favorite song of theirs. It reminds me of Molly because she put it on a CD for me when we were both really young, and its stuck with me ever since. The lyrics are brilliant, and the guitar is haunting. I like their album Blue because I think its less mainstream and they do more instrumentals. Out of the Vein is good, but a little manufactured. Also, whenever Steven Jenkins goes falsetto it tends to bother me, he really needs to do a better job of picking his spots with that. I love how I sound like I'm critiquing them, when they've obviously got something right (they are a major band and I'm a loser). So anyway, I guess I'll just get to the list.

Top 5 Favorite 3eb Songs

5. 10 Days Late- no symbolic importance on this one, its just an awesome song. Well unless you count all of the accidental pregnancies I've had with girls....(haha). I don't quite get the church choir bit in the middle but its awesome anyway.

4. Crystal Baller- this is a really cool song that I started listening to last summer. I've never really looked at the lyrics until now. First of all, her rhymes the word "ends" with "ends", which is a little weird. But I also realized that it is one of the few happy topics they sing about (sort of), so that's a good thing. Whatever.

3. Faster- this song, on Out of the Vein, reminds me of Liz more than any other 3eb song. I tried to think about what song I'd heard in her presence the most but I couldn't pinpoint it, but this one just tends to remind me of my friend. She always has "You have to steal time from a life that's passing by" as her away message. Also, I've always thought her life moved a little faster than mine, so maybe its symbolic. Maybe I'm thinking into it too much.

2. London- besides being in the movie "Can't Hardly Wait" (which is one of my favorite movies because it is so fucking hilarious) this is a really fun song, despite being about not being able to get over a girl even though she dragged you to London just to make you jealous of her new guy. At least that is what I think its about, it seems obvious but every time I read the lyrics I feel like I'm missing something. I'm half British though, so is there really any doubt that I like this song (on a related note, I will be chilling with my cousin at his sweet apartment in London next month).

1. Motorcycle Drive By- see the explanation above, but also since I've been listening to it here in Europe its been helping me get over some personal issues and made me realize some important facts about my life back home. Yea its a sad song, but its hopeful.

So anyway, I'm thanking God for saving this post when I accidentally closed the screen, and thanking 3eb for playing Rutgersfest. They aren't my favorite band, but they are pretty fun to listen to at the right time. I heard a new album is coming out, but you'd have to talk to Liz about that. I'm not an uber-fan, just a..... casual observer. I like that term. As always readers, be well.

AC

Relaxing Weekend

Hello to all of you who read this (nobody). I think I'd probably be fairly embarrassed if anybody did take a look at this blog. If you do read this and you think its crap, please don't tell me. Right some kind of response to my posts that sounds really optimistic, like "It has a lot of potential." Remember to leave out the part that implies that the reason it has such potential is because right now it has nowhere to go but up. Excuse while I change this awful song to something more conducive to writing.

There, Cat Stevens, much better. I don't care if his name is now Yusef Mohammed and he happens to have ties to anti-Semitic terrorist cells, I think his music is awesome. So today has been really relaxing and it looks good that this feeling will continue all evening. I got up at a reasonable hour (noon) and got lunch with Steph at the new cafe/restaurant/Belgian bar in my building. If you are in the Netherlands while you read this you should check it out, its called Olivier, and they have very reasonable prices except for the coffee. It reminded me of a slightly older version of Rafferty's, only with delicious beers. After lunch we went to the market, which is always nice when the whether permits. Since then I've been reading and considering what I'm going to do with the rest of the weekend. Tomorrow I will go running and see what the basketball courts down by the Lipsius building look like. I was going to buy a basketball today, but I realized I should wait until I saw the conditions of the courts. I'll see tomorrow, and if they actually have nets I could be shooting around by Monday. The Final Four might have something to do with my urge to play ball, but really its just been a while.

So in honor of the fact that I will in all likelihood be reading the book "High Fidelity" in the near future I'm going to try to put together some top 5 lists. I won't bore you with more than one an entry, but I think its good to actually think about music more than just listen to it. John Cusack's characters got it right. Nonetheless, I'm hoping the book is superior to the movie, because if it isn't I'm just gonna end up watching the movie again (would be the 5th time). So here we are, my first top 5 list. I'm starting with a big one too.

My Top 5 Favorite Songs I've Ever Heard (subject to change by tomorrow, but so what)

5. Iron and Wine- Love and Some Verses

4. Matt Pond PA- From Debris

3. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists- Me and Mia

2. The Shins- Pink Bullets

1. Death Cab for Cutie- A Movie Script Ending

Now I realize that nothing about this list is controversial except to people who care about it, which would probably just be me and maybe two of my friends. Let me explain. First of all, I am more surprised than anybody that Ben Folds missed the top 5, I don't know why. Jesusland might have gone as number 6, but then it wouldn't be a top 5 list (obviously). This could change in an hour. Nonetheless, I thought it incredibly unfair that one band would make the list more than once, and these songs aren't my most played songs, but they are my favorites. If they were my five most played I wouldn't enjoy them as much. These rules wouldn't apply to a top 5 list that wasn't personal preference, but since it is my rules about personal preference apply. So there it is, my first top 5. Download them and listen to them in order from 5 down to 1 and tell me what you think (or how much you think they suck). Until next time, be well.

AC

2 things I've realized while not leaving my room today

Ok, well actually three things I've realized. The first is that while Chuck Klosterman might not seem smart, might not act smart, and might now even consider himself smart, the guy is a fucking genius. Well, either he is a genius or he is just lucky enough that everything the man says is (a) correct and (b) incredibly interesting. I now of course realize that the last couple sentences that I've written are in exactly his style, because I've been reading his book Chuck Klosterman IV all day (with the exception of the time I spent realizing the other two things I realized today, and cooking my dinner). Two points Klosterman mentioned in his book really caught me as incredibly interesting. The first was about people that get disappointed with various aspects of our culture or things that happen in their daily lives. This goes for people that feel that they got "betrayed" by the series finale of a TV show or the presidential election going to Bush. The point that Klosterman makes is that culture can't be right or wrong, its just a reflection of what the majority wants. Bush won because a lot of people wanted him to be president (although its debatable how many), and you might feel betrayed by a series finale but a hell of a lot of people liked it. People often desire their opinions of right and wrong to "win out" in society so they are validated, but why do we need that. In fact, he claims, it is better to be in the minority. "Do you want to feel happy? I suspect that you do. Well, here's the first step to happiness: don't get pissed off that people who aren't you happen to think Paris Hilton is interesting and deserves to be on TV every other day.... Because if you do, you will end up feeling betrayed. And it will be your own fault. You will feel bad, and you will deserve it." He goes on to say, "You're not wrong, and neither is the rest of the world. But you need to accept that those two things aren't really connected." This goes along with his other major point that I liked which revolved around not caring what other people think about you, but I'm getting tired of explaining another person's arguments. The book is good, read it.

The second thing I realized today is that I might have a favorite band. I say might, not that I do, and not that I'm sure that Death Cab for Cutie is it. However, if somebody put a gun to my head and said they would pull the trigger if I didn't tell them my favorite band, after a few seconds of shaking with fear I would say Death Cab. Now, it is completely possible that I would be lying, or that I might even change my mind. I take having a favorite band very seriously, and until today I hadn't really liked the idea of choosing one band to define myself by because I thought it was kind of lame. But the more I thought about it I realized that there has to be one band I listen to and enjoy more than any other, and strictly speaking that would fit within the definition. Plus, I did a lot of research into Death Cab today and realized they had a lot of stuff I hadn't heard yet (mostly old or strange compilations) that's actually pretty good. So that was that.

The third thing I realized is I am totally fucked as of June 30th (which is exactly two days after my return from the Netherlands). I would like to make it known for the record that I began worrying about this for the first time today, April 4th. I won't go into this in much detail, other than to say that my being fucked is not making me happy, and I will over the next couple months slowly procrastinate my way into trying to solve this problem.

Notice how this entry has had absolutely nothing to do with the Netherlands. I really didn't leave my apartment today, not even to go to the laundry room.

Be well.

AC

It's been a while..... (Part II)

Its really late at night and I'm supposed to be writing a paper on John Bunyan and Thomas Hobbes but I just don't have the patience to do that right now. I'm really tired but at the same time kind of wired, and I've had such a great time with my last couple days off that I'm really not looking forward to going to class again (I don't know why I'm complaining so much, I have a two hour class tomorrow and another the day after that). Anyway, a lot has happened in a very small amount of time, so I guess I better start getting it all down. Oh, and my Final Four was not so great, so good thing I didn't fill out an actual bracket.

So the beginning of my week was really slow, I mostly just studied for my Peep Behind The Dikes exam that I had on Thursday (I got an A). I mostly just hung around Leiden by myself because everybody else was off doing there own thing. Then on Thursday Brian got here, and we tore it up Thursday night in Leiden and Friday went to Amsterdam. We then took a trip down to Brussels and it was awesome. He ate a ton of delicious food, had some kick ass waffles, went to the 10th floor of some parking garage to get a 360 degree view of the city while drinking beer and eating Doner Kebabs, and saw a lot of great sights. It was a very solid trip if I do say so myself, and the whole thing only cost my 30 euros after the travel and hostel expenses. Not bad.

So I've been back in Leiden now for a couple days and mostly been bumming around, trying to get some work done and also getting personal stuff done. I finally booked my flight to Birmingham, England, which is gonna be a great chance to see my family. Also, I think I'm having some serious computer problems and I'm hoping I don't fry my computer before I can get it fixed. If I don't fix this thing its going to be a very long three months here, I honestly won't know what to do with myself. I would have zero connection to the outside world because I can't read Dutch, I'd probably end up going and buying a television (which I really don't want to do). This could be bad, so I'm crossing my fingers.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about my life recently. I wonder what its gonna be like when I get back to the states, and I wonder what my life is going to be like when I graduate. I think I burned a couple bridges before I left that don't seem like they're going to be rebuilt, and I really wish I hadn't. I am a very strange person when it comes to friendships and relationships, and half the time I don't even know why I do the things I do. I know this all sounds fairly cryptic, but the point I'm trying to make is I'd like to change. I think I've already changed a lot about myself since being here (like my taste in beer) so I can't see why I can't get better in this department. The question I can't seem to answer is if I should try to save some friendships that might already be lost of just start fresh and meet new people? I don't really know.

Liz brought me those Klosterman books so I've been reading those. Still can't stop listening to Kings of Leon and for some reason I'm digging 3eb this week, its weird. Maybe its because Liz is going to se two of their shows this coming week. I need to listen to some new stuff, but its hard to get anything here in Europe. Maybe I'll break into a record store at night.

Be well.

AC

It's been a while..... (Part I)

So it's been a long time since I've written anything, almost two weeks now. A lot has happened. The bike situation got a little better, my first replacement was not a great bike so I returned it to get a new bike that is very similar to my old one that got stolen. That bike was perfect and can't be replaced, but this one is still pretty sweet. I need to trick this one out with the same stuff as my old one (lights, awesome bell, etc.) and then I'll feel completely comfortable.

Liz has been here for the last week and we've had a lot of fun. We hung around Leiden mostly, because I still had classes this week and a paper to write. Thursday we went to Amsterdam which was a blast, even though it was pouring for the majority of the day. The Marijuana and Hemp Museum was very interesting, not that I have any particular interest in the subject. After walking around the city for a while (and we also took a canal boat tour which was awesome) we went to the Van Gogh Museum. The paintings on display there are incredible, and not just Van Gogh's works either. It was too much to see it all in one day, especially because we went with only an hour left before closing. Thanks to my museum card though I can go back whenever I want.

Life is good. I've been doing a lot of reading and listening to new music. Right now I'm all about the Long Winters and Kings of Leon, both of which are bands that I had music from but hadn't listened to a whole lot. Check them out, Kings of Leon was pretty big for a while but the Long Winters don't get much play except with people who are obsessed with The O.C. March Madness has caught my attention even though I don't have a TV and need to watch the games online. I didn't have time to fill out a bracket, but I'm calling the Final Four as UNC, Duke, Georgetown and Pittsburgh. Just watch, those picks are as solid as they come.

Anyway I'm too tired to type anymore and I figure this will be part I of two parts of a catch up post. Tomorrow Liz and I are headed to Utrecht, which should be cool. We'll get to see lots of castles. As always, be well.

AC