Story #14: Deodorant

A couple of weeks ago, we had a party.  It was in honor of the first year graduate students in our program, and everyone had chipped in for a keg.  After a while, the people in our program get a little drunk, and the evening always turns into a dance party.  Always.  It was hot.  People were sweaty.  I understand this.  Everyone understands this, so I don't think anyone was being too judgmental about anyone's sweat...

So I was quite surprised when I went to the bathroom late in the night to find my deodorant sitting by the sink.  My bathroom is tiny, so I keep all of my toiletries, including deodorant, in the hall linen closet.  This means that someone actively searched for my deodorant and found it in the hall closet.  I'm assuming they used it, and then left it in the bathroom.  Granted, I'm glad I know it was used rather than just using deodorant the next day after it had been on some random person's sweaty pit the night before, but...seriously?  Who does that?  I can't think of a single person at the party I would expect to do something so gross.

Music Post #6

New music from the last few weeks.  Bold means I like it.  If nothing is written, it means I haven't decided what I think yet...

• Antony & the Johnsons - Another World: Backed by symphony orchestra.  Beautiful and soft.
• Brazillian Girls - New York City
• Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty
• Deerhoof - Offend Maggie
• Gregory + The Hawk - Moenie and Kitchi: Beautiful, melodic.  Sometimes melancholy, sometimes sweet...
• I'm From Barcelona - Who Killed Harry Houdini?: Big sound - a la Polyphonic Spree.  I think they may even have the same ridiculously large number of "band" members.
• Lake - Oh, The Places You'll Go: Poppy, peppy. My guilty pleasure.
• Land of Talk - Some are Lakes: Mixture of light and pretty female vocals with fuller sounds.  Each song is a bit different.
• Margot & The Nuclear So and So's - Animal!/Not Animal: So I listened to Animal! first and felt a little let-down after loving their Daytrotter Sessions EP so much.  But Not Animal definitely lived up to my expectations.  Much more in line with the Daytrotter stuff.  I feel like there are tons of musical influences and references, but I can't place it really.  Perhaps it is too much of a mix to really pinpoint precisely.
• Mason Proper - Olly Oxen Free: has a sort of Flaming Lips-esque sound somehow.  Or maybe that was just one song...
• Jennifer O'Connor - Here With Me
• Pivot - O Soundtrack My Heart: eh...sounds like something anyone could make on their computer.
• Marnie Stern - This is it...: Maybe too much heavy guitar for my taste, but other people are loving this.  It's probably good, just not my style.

Story #13: Obesity

I haven't written in a while in part because I have been busy with work and media interactions. Because this blog isn't about my professional life, I am not going to get into the details of all of this. BUT - I work in the obesity field and today I interviewed with a Singapore radio show. After hearing about this interview, my sister's friend asked, "Are there fat people in Singapore?" A quick Google search suggests that obesity is an issue in Singapore, but that perhaps they are doing a bit more on a large scale to prevent it. We always think of obesity as an American issue, but the response to this work suggests that it's a worldwide issue. It could still be due to the Americanization of the world. Who knows...

Story #12: Eugene's Week of Music

This past week was a rare event in this small Oregon town where I live.  There were good concerts almost every night, and a few nights had too many shows to choose from.  I saw Ben Kweller on Monday, Stars on Tuesday, and Brightblack Morning Light on Wednesday.  Here is my quick recap.

1. Ben Kweller.  I hate country music.  Occasionally country music will be more folk or bluegrass than country, and then it is decent, but for the most part, I'm not a fan.  Apparently Ben Kweller's new music is country.  He began playing, and I thought, "oh man, what have I gotten myself into?"  Fortunately for me, he only played 3, maybe 4 new songs, sticking to his old stuff for the most part.  The crowd was pretty big and made up almost entirely of big Kweller fans.  Not big in size, but big in excitement, dedication, and most apparent, sing-along-ness.  Knowing his crowd well, Kweller pulled out his classics upon request (at one point directly stating that he takes requests, then playing songs in requested order for most of the show).  He played a song on the guitar that is normally played on the piano.  It was phenomenal to see him play the guitar like that.  And he just has this energy - you know he lives for this, loves it - he's just up there having a good time.  And my nostalgia came back in full-force when he played some of the old favorites, particularly In Other Words.  I am a huge sucker for the piano.
2. Stars.  Smaller crowd than Ben Kweller, although not too much smaller.  Much less into the music, or at least much less knowledgeable of the music than the Kweller crowd.  For the first 4 or 5 songs, I felt like they were trying too hard to be cool.  I felt a little embarrassed for them, as they sort of looked like the stereotypical aging rockers who are yearning to stay cool and young and "hip."  But after a while, they become more comfortable and lost the fake, forced "rocker" antics.  They became much more enjoyable to watch at that point.
3. Brightblack Morning Light.  This was perfect for a chill night sitting at a table with friends.  Unlike other shows in loud concert-hall type venues, this is music that you can talk over, and still feel like you're enjoying the show and not being rude.  I think it was probably a good ending to the set of 3 shows in as many days for that reason.

And completely unrelated: I am currently writing this from the window seat of a local coffee shop.  Outside is a car that instantly reminded me of my first real "date" in high school.  A Nissan 240SX.  My first date where a guy picked me up in his car and took me out.  He drove that car.  His was totalled a couple weeks later, so it's just this random one-date memory that this car sparked for me.  We went to a football game, dinner (although I can't remember where), and then went dancing at a local 18+ club.  I was not 18.  He knew the bouncer.  I thought I was the coolest sophomore in high school ever for being at this club.  The fact that I felt that excited is probably evidence of how lame I actually was.

Story #11: A Weekend of Thoughts

This is my fourth year of graduate school.  The annual "welcome back" party held by the department occurred last Friday.  In prior years, the bar began to close around 8pm, then people hung around for about a 1/2 hour longer before heading out to another nearby bar to continue the night.  My first year there was a "stolen" bottle of wine that got us in trouble (does it really matter if it is consumed at the party or afterward?  Doesn't the department pay for it regardless, so why should the catering company care...), and since then I feel like they've been trying to curb the drinking a bit.  This year "last call" started right at 7pm, and they were packed up by 7:15.  Sure, this should cut down on alcohol costs at the party, right?  To stop serving an hour earlier?  Except that we're poor graduate students who take every opportunity for free drinks.  So instead of sticking with the full glass of wine in your hand when last call is called, people were downing their glasses and heading back for more.

Last night, I attended a "hoedown" at some stables in a town south of Eugene.  I took zero pictures, although I had brought a camera to capture the events of the night.  It is nearly impossible to take pictures and square dance at the same time.  I would definitely have messed up the right left pull by if I had a camera out.  I need to do more square dancing, I think.  I was laughing the entire time - and sweating despite the fact that we were outdoors in 45-50 degree weather.  There were also sack races, human wheelbarrow races, and a 5-legged race.  Our team for the latter race was totally together and organized, but couldn't beat out those who basically ran and dragged the slower members across the finish line.  On the bus back to Eugene, this had to be stated on behalf of the bus driver: "The bus  driver requests that you put out your marijuana cigarette...  She says it is 'extremely illegal.'"  I'm not sure I would have used the "extremely" adverb.  It seems like one of the "less illegal" drugs to me.

Story #10: Your Local Anchor(wo)man

I rarely watch the local news.  I rarely watch TV at all.  I get my news from the internet.  This means I never hear about sweet local kitties stuck in trees, but I honestly don't care.  So I guess I never really wondered what anchormen and women do in the 'downtime' when the weatherman or remote reporters are doing their parts of the news.

But today I found out.  I was on Gmail chat, and received a message from my closest friend from high school who is a reporter for a local station in Tulsa, Okla.  She said hi, as many messages often begin.  Then she told me that she was anchoring the news. She is technically a reporter, but does some anchor shifts on occasion, so I thought she was just telling me (for whatever reason) that she was anchoring later that night.

Nope.  What she meant was that she was anchoring at that moment.  Apparently, they were in the weather section, so she signed on to Gmail while sitting at the anchor desk.  I guess it just seemed odd because I assumed that they would be expected to be focused on the news and on the show itself for 100% of the news hour.  I am apparently wrong.  When you are hearing about tomorrow's 30% chance of rain, the anchors are chatting away about nonsense or maybe even looking up internet porn.  I mean, who really knows?