Rounds for Tuesday June 12th!

Greetings all!

Here's this week's rounds:

1) In The Year 2525 10 pts
2) Wordy Satan 10 pts
3) Match- Barber Stylizes Ice 14 pts
4) Chemical States Round 16 pts
5) Dead Or Canadian 11 pts
6) Picture 15 pts
7) General Knowledge 24 pts

As always, please arrive early for the best rounds, and the show will start at 8!  Please note that there is a Cubs home game tomorrow night, so please plan ahead!  See you tomorrow!

Vonnegut Project: Completed.

23 books and 5,966 pages later, I'm done.

Remember back when I started? I knew it was going to be tough. What I didn't know is that I would be less a fan of the author whose works I treasure most.

I pains me to say and I've grown tired of his politics, most of which I actually agree with. But after reading the last three books, the last two of which are pretty much repeats of the first, I'm tired. I'm glad to be done. Glad.

So, now I'm open to reading new things, after almost exactly 8 months of the same author. I welcome your suggestions.

More later. For real this time.

Wow

So, I haven't blogged in almost 2 months. Miss me?

Here's a quick Vonnegut project update:

I'm almost done, which is good. I'm learning a bad lesson here: most of his books have similar themes. I'm tired, I'm bored. I have so much else I need to get done.

But with under 1000 pages to go, the light at the end of the tunnel is there.

More later? Maybe. If I have time, which I probably won't. Here's my favorite picture from my trip to Barbados in early December:

So, I've reached THAT age.

I was talking with my brother a couple weeks ago about my upcoming trip to Toronto for Accordion Guy's birthday this weekend. I'm trying to put together a trip to Kitchener so I can go see the first hockey team I ever saw play live, the Waterloo Siskins. The conversation went something like this:

"I'm totally stoked about this- it'll be my first time seeing them in ages, what, like, 21 years or so?"

"Wait. When did you see them?"

"It must have been right around when you were born, because only dad and I went. I'd say Spring of 1976."

"D," said my brother, "That was THRITY-one years ago."

Ok, so I'm no longer carrying the one any more. I would have thought of this as an isolated incident, if it hadn't been for a comment I made while speaking with one of our inventory reps today. I had made a comment that sounded like something someone under 10 would say, voraciously juvenile and silly. Then:

"Wow, is it just me, or did maturity levels just drop by about 15 years?"

"[laughing] That sounds about right, funny though."

"Wait. Shit. I just did the math again. 15 years ago I was 19."

"Ouch."

"Ok, call it 25, then!"

So, I guess I've reached that age where decades become less important- or, at the very least, much harder to keep track of. This is unfortunate, but manageable.

Counting the times....

I've been working on this since Friday, when a slightly crazed er Doctor put me on some mega-dose anti-biotics: how long has it been since I had a completely sober birthday?

I went back through the past 5 knowing that there wasn't a time I wasn't out drinking for my birthday. Perhaps most legendary (blog-wise) was my 30th birthday, where I woke up the day after the party still wearing everything buy my hockey jersey. Boots and all, folks. Boots and all.

As best as I can figure, my 17th birthday was my last sober birthday. 18th, I was at a baseball game and snuck some beer. After that was college, turning 21, and all that jazz.

On my 21st birthday, FYI, I went to the same liquor store I had been going for 2 years. They said 'hi Dave' when I walked in and everything. It still seems wondrous that they never, ever carded me.

So, I've been sober for this one, and well, oh well. Worse things could happen. After all, I've got a brand new Wii to keep things light and painkillers to boot!

Vonnegut Update

I haven't posted one of these in a while- mostly because I got hung up on one book. Specifically, Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons, a collection of essays, speeches, and an interview. I won't lie or try to beat about the bush about this, but I was bored shitless trying to read this book.

While I understand the historical implications of the things he discussed in these books, most of them mattered so little to me that I couldn't even feign interest to myself. There was no small amount of joy in my heart when I finished it Wednesday on the way home from work. I can only estimate, but I believe it took me at least a month to read those 288 pages.

Today, however, I had the distinct pleasure of beginning my favorite Vonnegut novel, Slapstick. Something about this book just represents the best parts of Vonnegut to me. That something is the cunningly absurd idea which wins the main character the presidency- the idea of artificial middle-names to create extended families. It is a fun idea because it would mean a great deal to a great many people living far away from their origins, far from their families.

I've recently been exposed to a wide network of extended family- mind you, I already have one myself- in the Assassin's family. She has probably 4 times the number of cousins I do, and most of them live in or around Chicago. Well, most of the ones I've met so far. I digress.

The other thing I really love about this book is the duality of Wilbur and Eliza- the genius they create when they're together.

It appeals to the romantic in me.

Years ago, I started writing a novel, and the first line was a tribute to this book. I still remember it, too:

"I am in New York. It is raining."

Chapter 1 of Slapstick begins:

"To whom it may concern:
It is springtime. It is late afternoon."

The sad thing about starting this book today is that I only started reading it on my way home from work, catching the 3:45 train home. I finished the book about half an hour ago. This saddens be because if I wanted to write a movie based on this novel, I would probably take about the same amount of time to tell the story, perhaps a little longer. That, and I feel like I didn't get time to really enjoy it.

Ah well, as we all know, the show must go on, and I must keep reading. I have just crossed the halfway point in terms of pages on this project:


In other news, I am sick. I am in a bad mood, despite having just read my favorite novel. The mood is mostly work related. The sickness is mostly throat related, after being sinus related earlier this week, which means no karaoke for me. Hopefully it will pass soon. As always, there will be more later.

Uncle Logan's Dave, Part II: Electric Boogaloo

The irony of today isn't lost on me, I personally guarantee it.

Today my friend Rick was buried. We're having a drinking wake on Friday night, which will undoubtedly be a very late night.

Today the Assassin's parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary with dinner with myself, the Assassin, and the Assassin's little sister.

I also had my tooth, well, now lack of tooth, check-up today. Everything looks ok, so I'm happy, the Doc's happy, and that's good enough for me.

My sister T, also gave birth to a baby girl tonight. My father reports baby, mama, and papa are all well. Pictures, and the properly spelled name (my dad wasn't sure how her name is spelled yet) are coming soon!