"Under Pressure"

I'm currently neck-deep in my Midpoint Portfolio, the biggest steaming pile I've yet to encounter in the whole compost heap that is the Master's of Education program, but I thought I'd pause to relate an amusing anecdote from my life to you, the faithful reader.

I woke this morning at a decent time, which is roughly ten minutes before I usually wake up. I stretched and began the blind grope-search for my glasses on the nightstand where I always leave them. They weren't there. I checked on the floor, as sometimes I accidentally knock them off when I toss or turn during the throes of the night. Not there, either. I began searching the other nightstand, where I know I never keep the glasses. They weren't there. I was starting to get a little panicky; not because I really need my glasses to get from my room to the bathroom, but because these are my glasses we're talking about here. Sure, it's just a pair of glasses now, but what next? My wallet? My keys? My cellphone? My guitar?

This was clearly an issue that needed resolving, and fast.

So I sat up in bed, intent upon continuing my all-important search. Time be damned, I needed to find my glasses.

It was at this point that I noticed I could read the alarm clock from my sitting position in the middle of the bed, albeit with a bit of fuzziness to everything.

Hmm, that's odd, I thought to myself. I can't usually see the alarm clock when I first wake up without my glasses.

That's when I realized I hadn't taken out my contacts the night before.

The mystery of the missing glasses was then easily solved: they'd never left the bathroom counter, their resting place during the day while the contact lenses do all the work. So I took out the contacts and tossed them in the trash (something I'd have done Tuesday night anyway, what with the beginning of the new month and all) and wore my glasses all day.

Of course, my glasses have a slightly weaker prescription than my contacts, so things have been a bit blurry all day and I've got a bit of a headache...

And now, of course, I've been staring at a computer screen all night. You gotta admit, there's just something not right with my head.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Elliott Smith, "Coming Up Roses"

"Shuffle Through The Aches And Pains"

I got a lot accomplished this weekend. At least, it feels like I did. Really I just got a couple of very big things figured out, so even if I didn't do much I at least did things that were important.

For starters, Michelle and I have found a bed and breakfast at which to do the wedding thingie. That was a load off. Tonight we're having a discussion with Wendy and Tim about the feasibility of Michelle and me taking over the apartment after they get a house.

I also watched several episodes of Seinfeld as part of my preparation to have dinner with Michelle's parents next Saturday. See, her father has a very specific pop culture frame of reference, and if I don't share this frame of reference I'll be in serious trouble (mostly of the "this guy is too damn stupid to marry my daughter" variety, I think). So Michelle and Chad sat me down and showed me several key episodes of the show. I think I get it now.

I'm currently working on artifacts for my Midpoint Portfolio. I have to say, I absolutely hate education classes. I hate this portfolio. It's all pretty damn pointless and stupid, and if I had any way to stop it all, I would. Possibly it would involve explosives. Or maybe just a big stick to hit things with. That'd probably work.

Halloween is Tuesday, and I'm trying to figure out what to go as that wouldn't cost much money. So far, very little (in fact, nothing) has come to mind. I suppose I could go as a Goth, but where would I find that much eyeliner and black clothing? And how do they actually fix their hair?

~chuck

Song of the Moment: My Morning Jacket, "Wordless Chorus (Live)"

"He Gets Wise In His Own Eyes"

Had a busy week. Tuesday saw the midterm for my Reading and Language Development class. My group did well, scoring an A with no trouble (and getting finished first to boot). Thursday featured a guest lecture from one of the clinical psychologists from our school. She talked about multicultural education, and later commented that I was the best student she'd ever had in a class.

Friday I went with Michelle and got a new cellphone. Very shiny. We then went to hang out with Lauren. Saturday, I went and saw The Prestige with Lauren and her brother; then Michelle, Lauren, and I hung out that night and watched Labyrinth. Yes, that's right: two movies that featured David Bowie. I kept expecting him to say something like, "hey, listen to what I'm talking about. I'm Ziggy Stardust, bitch!" or "y'know, Diamond Dogs wasn't that bad of an album." He must have been doing so much cocaine during Labyrinth...

Today I went to church and then helped Wendy strike set. Michelle came over for a bit and had dinner with us, but then she had to go so she could attend the Frank Black concert up in DC. Her text message earlier this evening indicated that she was enjoying herself.

Anyway, it's another busy week coming up. Dunno how I'll find enough hours in the day to do everything I need or want to do, but I'm sure I'll figure something out.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: My Morning Jacket, "Take My Breath Away" (yes, that "Take My Breath Away." I think they've got a warped sense of humor)

"A Kiss To Build A Dream On"

Another busy week has rushed past me, and I've barely had time to catch my breath. Helping Wendy work on the set on Monday, class on Tuesday and Wednesday, and just more work than anyone really wants anything to do with the rest of the week.

Michelle's been sick again this weekend. She thinks it's my fault, but I keep trying to tell her that allergies are not contagious. And that's what I've had, I'm sure: allergies. My symptoms responded to allergy medicine, hers did not. I think that speaks for itself.

Last night, we went and saw Wendy's latest show, The Girls of the Garden Club. I swear, the 1970s living room set looks exactly like so many of my friends' houses back in Oklahoma. The wood paneling, the garrish wallpaper, the gross carpet color...it's like stepping back in time to a decade that we just wish would go away. The show itself was pretty good. There were some decent gags and fairly solid acting, though there were quite a few dropped cues and some stumbled lines that there shouldn't have been. I'm sure next week's run will be even stronger. Might have to go back and watch it again.

The latest evidence that Michelle and I are becoming adults and actually getting married: we got a joint cellphone plan last night. Actually, we just added a line to her existing plan, but that means I'm on hers instead of my parents' (which is how it was back in Oklahoma) or on my roommates' (which is how it's been here until now). We also checked to see how much it would cost to add each other to car insurance; looks like we'll just put her car on my insurance instead of the other way around, 'cause it's significantly cheaper. We've also started discussing things like health insurance (should we try to get one of us on the other's health insurance? Or should we each maintain our own separate policies?) and the purchase of cars and houses. It's made me feel a little too much like an adult; I think I may have to spend part of the afternoon playing videogames just to balance things out.

In other news, my computer mouse--the wireless optical mouse I bought about three years ago--has crapped out on me all the sudden. It was working fine Friday afternoon, but Friday evening the optical laser wouldn't work right and kept turning off. I could get a few seconds of use out of it each time before I had to hit the button on the bottom of the mouse to reconnect the mouse and (hopefully) get the laser going again. Rather than continue fighting the mouse, Michelle just loaned me her trackball. It's starting to grow on me. I don't usually like trackballs, for some reason, but it works pretty well. Just takes some practice, I guess.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Glen Phillips, "Greer Zoller (Live)"

"Great A'Tuin"

If someone wanted to make me this cake at some point in the near future--say, for my wedding--I think it's entirely possible I would call that person my new best friend.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Roger McGuinn, "Up to Me"

"Say Yes"

The three-day weekend turned out great, aside from me getting kinda sick. I think it's just allergies, and truth be told I already feel a lot better than I did Sunday or Monday. It's mostly head congestion, sinus pressure, and way more mucous than I thought you could fit in the human nostril, but that's just the way of things. It's mostly just had me kinda run down and achey, but I'm recovering and made it through a full day of school and class tonight without dying.

Meg and Bob's wedding on Sunday was really nice. It was a simple, understated affair that featured readings from Carl Sandberg and Bob singing a song slightly out-of-key but with true and heartfelt emotion, so that was cool. The reception was a barbeque/charcoal affair, featuring hamburgers and hotdogs and the like. And an open bar. I myself didn't take advantage of said open bar, as I was the driver and had to get us home, but most everyone at our table at the reception (Michelle, Ken and his wife Rebecca, and Wendy and Tim) took advantage of free booze that was liberally doled out.

I also got engaged.

So yeah, funny story: Michelle and I are sitting there on the porch of the building where they did the reception, chatting and enjoying the beautiful night. We're not really talking about anything of importance; in fact, I don't really remember what we were talking about at all. There's a pause, then she looks over at me and says, "So, wanna get married?" To which I stammer, "What? Like, right now?" She seriously meant within the next week or two, but we're actually gonna wait until April. But I said yes, we both broke out in huge grins and started giggling, then we went back inside and joined our friends. It was simple, quick, and felt right.

Then the car got stuck in some mud and it took a truck, a rope, and four guys pushing to get it out of said mud. So much for the power of the SUV.

But yeah, I'm engaged. It's sort of a weird feeling, in a way. I mean, I'm basically a kid in a lot of respects, but this feels like it's what we should be doing, and who am I to stand in the way of that? Plus, Michelle said I could be a house husband after she gets her CPA and starts her own business, so that's cool. I like the idea of getting to stay home and keep house and have time to write and stuff. Plus she said I could pursue my PhD. The woman knows the way to my heart, that's for sure.

Anyway, we've got a tentative date set for April. We're looking into locations now, trying to figure out how we want to do it all. We're thinking something very simple; an elopement, really, except our family will be there. It's a strictly family affair, but we're going to have a big party/open house thing in July and try to get as many of our friends to come out and visit us as possible. We'll see just how many people we can cram into this apartment. It'll be keen.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Mark Knopfler, "Prarie Wedding"

"A Memory From Your Lonesome Past"

The weeks fly by but seem to drag at the same time. So busy. Class every Tuesday and Thursday nights, ceaseless working during the day, and weekends that aren't ever nearly long enough.

The classes are progressing okay. We had a debate Thursday night about inclusions (keeping students with LD in the general education classroom), and I totally rocked the debate. "Pwned," as they say in the vernacular.

I got the Martin and the Fender both restrung this afternoon. They sound so nice now. This means that all four (!) guitars I own are tuned up and with (reasonably) new strings (the Epiphone was changed like three or four months ago, but it rarely gets played so the strings are still good).

The temperature dropped down into the forties yesterday, which was fine by me. I like cold weather, you'll remember, and I'm happy to finally see the back of summer...though it's always possible the temperature will climb back up during the week and render me a sweaty, miserable mess. The one downside to the weather change has been that my seasonal allergies seem to be kicking in: I'm stopped up, I have junk in my throat, and I've a bit of a headache. Hopefully all this will pass soon enough.

Current events on Capital Hill do nothing but fill me with rage. The whole Foley case especially really upsets me, in large part because he's trying the Mel Gibson defense: "It was alcohol what made me do it, honest!" he seems to cry. Yeah, he's blaming alcoholism for his sending sexually explicit emails to young teenage pageboys. Folks, pay attention: alcohol doesn't make you do things you wouldn't do otherwise. It may relax your inhibitions, but it does not change the sort of things you think, say, or would be willing to do. It just makes you slightly more likely to think, say, or do them. I don't care if he was drunk off his ass every single time he sent one of those emails, he is still culpable.

Our society lets too many people off the hook because they refuse to take responsibility for their actions. People used to say "the Devil made me do it" or "I was possessed by an evil spirit." Do we believe that some evil spirit inhabited someone's body and made them kill a person? No. But we do something very similiar each time we deny a person's responsibility for his or her actions. "Oh, he couldn't help it, he's alcoholic." Saying that not only negates the guy's responsibility for whatever stupid-ass crap he pulled, it denies his agency and his choice.

Okay, clearly I'm full of too much rage about this. I've a wedding to go to tomorrow (Meg and Bob! Hurray!), so that should be fun. Plus, the reception will be serving barbeque, and I dig me some barbeque.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Thom Yorke, "Atoms for Peace"

"Talk Is Cheap Almost All The Time"

God, what a week it's been. Class on Tuesday and Thursday nights, Back-to-School Night on Wednesday...I've barely had a day to breathe. But I managed to get the comic updated on time every night, so that's a good sign. Just wish I had a little more breathing space.

Spent most of yesterday sitting in Wal-Mart, waiting for them to change my oil and rotate/balance my tires. Took them 4 1/2 hours. Good thing I didn't have any pressing engagements.

Spent this afternoon helping Wendy build set, and this evening hanging out with Michelle and trying to focus on getting stuff accomplished for one of my classes (which didn't go as well as I'd have liked, but hey, what can you do?).

Next week should be slightly less hectic. No Back-to-School Night, so Wednesday is free at least. Next Sunday is Meg and Bob's wedding, so we'll all be in attendance at that. I'm sure I'll be forced to wear a shirt with a collar. I might even have to tuck it it, something I didn't even do for Back-to-School night. We'll see.

If the weather should maintain it's recent trend, I'd be a happy man indeed. Mid-60s is perfect weather, as far as I'm concerned.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: They Might be Giants, "We Want a Rock"

"An Epic Experience"

So VirginFest (as they called the music festival thing yesterday) was a blast. We got there pretty damn early (about 9.30 am. They didn't even open the doors until around 10 or 10.30) and we stayed until the end (about 10 pm). The breakdown of the bands is as follows:

Drive-By Truckers: These guys were great. They do a country-rock sorta thing along the lines of Blue Mountain. They rocked hard and had a pedal steel guitar player. And three electric guitars. That's a hell of a guitar onslaught. Definitely need to check out some of their albums.

Wolfmother: I'd heard good things about these guys, but in concert they struck me as a third-rate ersatz Zeppelin. I mean, they were okay, but they seemed entirely too impressed with themselves by the fact that they could create distortion and feedback. And the guitarist guy was unnecessarily hard on his guitars not because it fit, but because he was trying to say, "look at me, I'm hardcore." So yeah, ot all that impressed, but they had a few decent songs and some solid guitar work.

The Raconteurs: These guys rocked hard. Excellent guitar work, great stage presence, everything was great. Cleansed the pallate after the disappointment of Wolfmother.

Gnarls Barkley: Again, I was not impressed by these guys. Their sound is supposed to be pretty unique, but they struck me as a funk/pop band. It's been done, and it's been done better. And their song, "Crazy," is pretty blah if you ask me.

The Killers: These guys are convinced it's still the 1980s, and that isn't a good thing. Lead singer wanted to be Bono in the worst way, but didn't have the range for it. Also wanted to do some Bruce Springsteen-style story songs about the plight of the working class, but dude just didn't have the ability. Another pass.

The Who: Guys kicked as much ass as I'd hoped. Totally worth it. Did a great medley from Tommy to end the show, which was surprising and cool. These guys may be old, and Roger Daltry may not have the vocal range he once did (let's not talk about Pete Townsend's vocal range, please), but they still know how to rock hard. Besides, they've got Zac Starkey (son of Ringo) playing drums for them, and that's always cool.

Scissor Sisters: Only caught the last about 15 minutes of their show. Pretty fun dance-pop, though I'm not too keen on disco-inflected pop. Their cover of "Comfortably Numb" still bugs me, though.

Flaming Lips: These guys alone made the whole day worth it. Easily one of my top five shows ever. Everyone (well, except for one of the girls who was with us who doesn't like the Flaming Lips for some reason) had a smile plastered across their face as we sang along at the top of our lungs. And Wayne Coyne likes his fog machine. And his giant balloons. And his confetti.

Overall, great experience. I'm sad Michelle didn't get to go, but it did give me the opportunity to see some damn good bands.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: The Flaming Lips, "Free Radicals (Live)"

"Form Blazing Sword!"

So we didn't have school today. Apparently the transformer blew, so we didn't have power. Hard to teach students in classrooms with no light (and dude, the bathrooms were pitch-freakin' black. So we sent all the kids home, did a bit of inservice, and then went home ourselves. I spent my free afternoon preparing for classes, watching Voltron, and napping.

Ah, Voltron...my introduction to anime, way back in the mid-1980s. I remember thinking at the time that this was the coolest damn show ever. It had a great theme song, the toys rocked, and the animation style was totally unlike anything else on TV (well, except Robotech). The show's not as bad as I feared it would be, but the animation is definitely early '80s anime (the show was originally done in 1980-81 in Japan, and came over to America in a chopped-up, spliced-together form in 1984) and you'd think that the bad guy would stop relying on the same plan every time (try to separate the five pilots of Voltron so they can't form the robot, then let the witch or the general guy send a giant robeast to attack and destroy Voltron). But overall, it's a fun nostalgia fest, and I'll definitely be picking up the other sets when they come out. Because there's something about having my childhood on DVD that appeals to me, for some reason.

I have to find a hat for Friday. We're having a Spirit Day at school, and the theme is Hat Day. So yeah, I need a hat. I'm thinking something snappy in the fedora style...

I spent four and a half hours last night in a class that should have taken ten minutes. We're doing a midpoint portfolio thing, and it's a pain in the butt. Not, though, because of the portfolio itself. That's pretty simple, since I've been doing them since I was a freshman in college. No, what was annoying about this was that (1) I had to pay another $200 dollars for this crap and (2) the woman made it sound significantly more complicated than it really could possibly be, and she did it for over four hours. So I'm pretty fed up with that.

It's an absolutely gorgeous day out today. If I didn't still have the gout bothering me (though it's nearly gone now), I would have gone for a walk this afternoon.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Voltron Theme Song

"Standing In The Alpha Beta Parking Lot"

Had a good weekend. Michelle, her sister Alison, Chad, and myself went to a Thai restaurant for dinner last night, then watched MST3K, Animaniacs, and Golden Girls (yes, I'm aware of how bizarre that combination is).

The cleaning lady came by today and the apartment is sparkling clean once more. It's kinda nice to come home from church and see the whole place neat and tidy.

The 7-Eleven around the corner from us is closing tomorrow, apparently. Dunno why. The place is always full of people, and Lord knows I'm there once every couple of days for stuff. Strange things indeed.

Already got tomorrow's comic drawn and uploaded. So that's pretty swifty.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Thom Yorke, "Harrowdown Hill"

"One Foot On The Pedal"

So yeah, my gout flared back up on Monday. I've been hobbling all week long, though this bout hasn't been as bad as previous flare-ups. I have had to give up on caffiene, which is a real wrench, but it was probably for the best. I did have a nasty caffiene headache Tuesday night. Felt like my head was gonna split open. Seeing and hearing got kinda difficult around 8.00 pm Tuesday night, which sucked since that was about the time I got out of class and had to drive home in the dark.

It's been raining and cold all week. Which is nice, in a way, 'cause it's been a great temperature for me. Dunno how long it'll last, but it's good for now.

School and the class I'm taking are going well, though the class is gonna be pretty boring (and there's a second, significantly more pointless class that we have to take simultaneously that I have to pay more money for. Dammit).

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Barenaked Ladies, "Bank Job"

Open Letter to John Mayer

Hey John,

Dude, stop. Just...stop trying to be a bluesman. You're not. You're a pop singer. Yeah, okay, you can play the guitar, and your technical grasp may amaze those who've never heard real blues, but seriously, you're pretty bland. You do cookie-cutter, by-the-numbers blues tunes, you try to sound like Stevie Ray Vaughn, and you think this'll make you a true bluesman. It doesn't. Everything about your music--whether you're trying to play the blues or anything else--is too processed and calculated to be real. It's inauthentic. You might impress the teeny-boppers who don't know any better, but you can't fool me. There's more to the blues than the notes you play or the words you sing, and you seem to think that paying lip service to the style is sufficient to create true blues music.

So. Go back to your DMB-clone pop. Leave the blues alone. Leave it to the people who actually put something true into the music. You'll be doing us all a favor.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Stevie Ray Vaughn & Double Trouble, "Look at Little Sister"

"The Sound From A Hundred Dollar Guitar"

I finally got the Yamaha guitar restrung last night. It took three sets of strings, all for one damned B string that kept breaking every time I tried to put a new one on (every other string on the guitar? Got 'em on the first try. I had to buy two sets of strings specifically for one string, which is pretty damn annoying). The guitar has a really nice sound and plays real easy. And hey, since I got it for free from one of my students' parents, I really can't complain.

Had a dream last night that I got an electric guitar from someone for free. Then I got in a guitar duel against some punk kid (a kid who was a little shit, mind you, not that he was a punk punk) who thought he was hot stuff. I remember that, in the dream, the kid really rubbed me the wrong way. I also remember that the place where this was all happening was in Shawnee, but I was there with students and teachers from my school here in Virginia. We were on a field trip there for some reason. And then the driver's side door on the van wouldn't close when we left. I don't know how all of that is connected, but I'm sure it is somehow.

So yeah, lots of guitar-related stuff, eh? Good times.

Made it through the first week of actual classes at school. My students all seem pretty good. Looks like I'll have a good year. They all seem pretty interested in the classes they've got with me, so that's good.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: The Wallflowers, "Ashes to Ashes"

"Beyond The Horizon"

Well, y'know how I said I doubted Dylan's latest--though it's a great album--would bring any new members to the fold? I might've been wrong, since Modern Times grabbed the #1 spot on the sales charts last week. Couldn't have happened to a better album (though I wonder if Ray Lamontagne's latest managed to chart in the top ten or even top twenty. It deserves to. Go out and buy Till the Sun Turns Black right now. And Modern Times. You'll be doing yourself a favor, honest).

I doubt this means that America has come to its musical senses and will stop buying prefabricated dreck (after all, Paris Hilton's "album" came out, too, and landed in the top ten. God only knows why). I can dream, though.

My history co-teacher has an electric guitar he might sell me cheap. It's nothing fancy (hell, I'm not even sure it's a brand I've ever heard of), but it'd play and it'd sate my desire to have an electric with which to rock out, as they say in the parlance of our times.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Bob Dylan, "Nettie Moore"

"Boy Broken Toy Soldier"

I'm supposed to like the White Stripes, aren't I? I mean, minimalist rock, right? Clif and I are about as minimalist as it gets (vocals and guitar, baby!). Blues and psychadelia blended into some good ol' fashioned straight-ahead rock. That's good, right? Strange, sometimes nonsensical lyrics. I listen to Dylan, don't I? Hell, I even like the Raconteurs.

I've never been able to bring myself to like their stuff, though. It's weird: something about them just rubs me the wrong way. I couldn't even begin to tell you what it is, though.

I think part of it is that they were supposed to be part of this pack of bands that were going to "save" rock and roll in the first couple of years of the 21st century. Them and the Strokes, and maybe the Hives and some other bands I don't remember and never liked. Can't stand the Strokes. I tried, I really did. I bought Room on Fire, which everyone said was a fantastic album, and I barely got through it once. Couldn't handle it. Too murky. Too bland. The vocals were pushed so deep into the mix that the guy might as well not have even been singing (if you could even call it that). Granted, when I read the lyrics in the liner notes, the inability to hear/understand the words didn't seem like such a bad thing.

But no, I don't think I've ever really cared for the White Stripes. I've tried, Lord knows. I watched a couple of their videos, downloaded their cover of Dylan's "One More Cup of Coffee (The Valley Below)" (which hurt. It really, really hurt), tried to listen to one of their albums...I just couldn't do it. Sad, really, 'cause I'm sure there's something in there worth something.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: The Raconteurs, "Hands"

Bob Dylan - Modern Times

It's a good time to be a fan of Dylan. His last three records now--Time Out of Mind, Love & Theft, and now Modern Times--have all been jaw-droppingly fantastic. A man in his early 60s shouldn't be able to make music that is vital and immediate, your brain tells you.

Don't listen to your brain. It is lying to you, as it does with so many things.

Trust rather your ears, which will hear some of the best damn music out there on Modern Times. Falling somewhere in style and tone between Time Out of Mind and Love & Theft, Modern Times seems actually anything but. Dylan uses genres and song forms that were popular sixty, even seventy years ago, bouncing between traditional pop, jump blues, ballads, and apocalpytic ruminations about women, the world, and what went wrong with both of them. Lyrically, this album is at least as strong as Time Out of Mind or Love & Theft, leaning more towards the end-of-the-world wearniess of the former than the sentimentality of the latter (though he manages to mix the two quite well on a few songs, especially "Ain't Talkin'." I don't know how he does it, either).

These songs feel immediate and crafted, the work of a man who's been making music for well over 40 years now. There's an effortless competency to these songs, a sense that Dylan could crank out potential classic after potential classic in this way until the day he died (oh please let this be the case, ohpleaseohpleaseohplease).

This isn't to say the record is perfect. The major flaw is one Dylan's suffered from for decades: knowing when to stop. Some of the songs run on a bit too long and could have benefited from some judicious editing (the beautiful "Spirit on the Water," for instance, is a fantastic song with some great lyrics, but it just keeps going. Nearly eight minutes is just too much, given how little variation there is in the instrumentation in the song, and the circular guitar riff is nice but gets old after about five minutes). Dylan's always had a tendency to let songs go on longer than they should ("Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again" jumps readily to mind), but it's a weakness that a good majority of these songs suffer from. For an album that only runs 10 songs, it lasts for an hour. But at its best moments, you don't notice this. The songs generally flow pretty well, and Dylan's backing band is supple and muscular like an Olympic runner (but not one of those Olympians on steroids. No, this is one of those lean, wiry runners who can leg it down the track really damn fast, but usually prefers the long-distance events where they can pace themselves, run forever, and still have a burst of unexpected energy in the last 100 yards).

Despite that tortured metaphor, Dylan's backing band--his touring band for the past several years, though sadly now minus Charlie Sexton (damn you for pursuing solo interests, Charlie Sexton! Even if your solo work is so damn good)--is the perfect complement to Dylan's songs and his voice (no mean feat, lemme tell ya. His voice just gets more worn-out each time).

Overall, this is just another great album from a man who has clearly reached a late-career peak. While it probably won't win him any new converts to the fold, he's not really making music to win new listeners. He's just making the music he'd want to listen to, and the rest of us just get the benefit of that fact.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Bob Dylan, "Ain't Talkin'"

"Real Art has the capacity to make us nervous."

Apparently the Crocodile Hunter died. So that's kinda weird.

Made it through Orientation week, though only just barely. Work time is entirely too early each morning, if you ask me. Coworkers seem pretty good, though, and my classes are gonna be neat.

Had a weird weekend. Michelle got ill last night, my car got towed, and we were forced to watch the tremendous trainwreck that has become Sharon Stone's career in the form of Basic Instinct 2. I felt this film needed a good subtitle, one of those that comes after a colon. Like BI2: Basic Harder or BI2: You Might Get to See Sharon Stone's Hoo-Haa, But Don't Count On It. Everything about that movie was pure crap. Poor David Thewlis needs someone to make career choices for him. He's a good actor, but he has no ability to choose a decent flick (he was also in the recent remake of The Omen, which was also a dud). His accent was also a tour of the British Isles, shifting from Scottish to Welsh to Cockney to Northumbrian with little to no provocation. And the sex scenes in this flick...the director was apparently under the misapprehension that violent thrusting is sexy. And that what the world really wants to hear is Sharon Stone uttering lines like "You know how some guys are into blondes, and some guys are into killers?" without a hint of irony or actual emotion. It was easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen, and I've seen Supersonic Man (and Meteor Man, but we're not gonna talk about that).

Anyway, we've got this groovy three-day weekend going on, and Monday is gonna be a whole lot of me sitting around not doing a damned thing. I might clean my room, as stuff has just sorta piled up everywhere, and I might work a bit more on stuff for school. Aside from that, it's easy street.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Mark Knopfler, "Back to Tupelo"

"Why Do Little Blue Midgets Hit Me With Fish?"

Got the new Bob Dylan and Ray Lamontagne CDs last night. Also picked up Season 1 of The Tick. Man, that show kicked ass. I had high hopes for the live-action version they did a few years back, but it never really lived up to expectations (even if it had Patrick Warburton in it).

The new Dylan album is great. Very mellow, digs deep into traditional American musical styles. Sweet. Ray Lamontagne's new record is also really freakin' cool. Sounds very different from his first album, drops the country-rock-meets-Van Morrison feel of his first record in favor of a very atmospheric, R&B-tinged collection. I'll try to have something more substantial to say about both of those later this week.

I got my schedule for school today. It's pretty good, for the most part, though there are a few things about it that annoy me: for instance, I'm helping out in an Algebra class. My math skills are, of course, pretty pathetic. Non-existant, some might say. But that's okay, 'cause I get to do three history classes (US History, World History I, and World History II). I'm also helping in an English class, since the new woman we hired to teach English quit last week before school even started. I'm also helping out in Art, which is always groovy.

The most interesting class, to me, is that I get to teach a Humanities class. When I asked my boss what she wanted me to do with it, she basically said it was up to me. I've been kicking around ideas with Michelle and Wendy, and I've got five or six different units figured out for the class. We'll see what I come up with (like textbooks...don't have any of those yet).

We learned CPR today at the school. It's been about a decade since I last did CPR, so it was interesting to see how much I'd retained of it (of course, it's not like CPR is that difficult or changed that much in ten years).

Tomorrow's more orientation crap. Most of this stuff is really useful for the new teachers, but not for the returning teachers. I mostly just want time to get the classroom in order and get some lesson plans written up. We'll see.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Bob Dylan, "Thunder on the Mountain"

"As If In A Dream"

So I start back to work tomorrow after my two weeks off. Seems like it was a lot less than that, but that's because I spent so much of it running around Oklahoma. It'll be nice to get back into things, though. I've got a lot of ideas for the new school year that I really want to impliment. We'll see how long this enthusiasm lasts.

I'm really hoping that music appreciation class they asked me about will come through. I'd have a blast teaching that, and I think the students would learn a whole lot from it. Plus, hey, I'd be getting paid to talk about, listen to, and play music. You can't beat that. And genre analysis. That's always fun. I'll have to do some of that.

I'm going to have to take a couple of the guitars back to school with me tomorrow. There's not enough room for all four of the acoustics here in my room. I'll take the Epiphone and the Fender, I think, and then the Yamaha once I get it restrung. Then I'll grab the Fender again, restring it, and take it back to school. I have no idea where I'll store these at school, either, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

The Martin, of course, remains in its place of power next to the bed, where I can grab it quickly and play to my heart's content.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Golden Smog, "I'll be There (Live)"