The Sufferings of Young Drakos.

I received a rather interesting voicemail, so I've decided I'm probably going to get rid of the little widget entirely. I went ahead and made the message public, so until I decide to scrap the whole thing, feel free to listen to it. For weeks I waited for someone to leave me an inspirational message that would turn my life around. Weeks. And then this.

In truth, my main problem with the thing is I can't really change the formatting of it and nothing brings me as much pleasure as being able to tweak HTML for hours resulting in barely noticeable changes. So it goes.

My brother has been toying with my emotions as of late, with his constant "reconsidering." First he found a place to stay here in Boulder until the summer, then he was staying here till the summer, then he going home until July, then he was moving to The New North Boulder. Now it appears he is staying through March and then going back to Maryland, tying up his loose ends and then moving out here to be my roommate in August. I'm alright with this, as the two bedroom apartment I made him apply for is pretty sweet and will save me some money (which will go straight towards this baby). Also I'm much happier having the company, even if I approach life from my illogical commie-fascist perspective, and he from his cogently-formed humanism. I feel like his presence creates a certain balance in my universe, and in this new apartment I'd have not only my own bed and bath, but it's on it's own floor. So anyway, he still has to be offered the lease and then sign it, so nothing is written in stone yet, and as March has several weeks ahead of us who knows what his plan will turn out to be. What I am sure of though, is that this is a bad season for apples.

What else have I been doing... well, I got a job for summer, which basically involves me collecting donations to help lower Colorado emissions to lessen the coming tragedies caused by global warming. I don't know all the facts yet, but apparently the rising temperatures are decreasing the Colorado snow-pack (although you wouldn't know it from this season) which is where we get the majority of our drinking water. Not to mention that the ski industry that more or less drives the state's economy will suffer greatly from this. Granted it's not going to be nearly as devastating as what global warming supposedly is causing in Bolivia. But still it's a cause worth putting my efforts into, especially when my other option is working at Pharmaca full-time again.

Finally, I've begun to work on my semester research paper, which will take all of my cunning. So I'm pretty sure my plan is to abandon thoughts of coming home for Spring break, and using that time to pool sources, put together an extensive outline, and write a big chunk of the thing, so that in April I'll only have a few hours of writing on top of my regular work load. Right now I'm leaning towards doing a way in-depth analysis of the sex scene from book two of Apuleius' The Golden Ass, which was by far the most memorable part in the first half of the work (which was the half I actually bothered to read years ago in Roman Lit). Is there twenty pages in it? In the hands of a skilled writer definitely. We'll see if I can somehow manage 18.

My Terminal M.A. among other things.

I've pretty much decided at this point that spend another three year to five years in school beyond my supposed 2009 graduation isn't really what I'm looking for. I know my limits in the academic world, and I'm thinking the lifestyle of a Classics Professor, although glamorous, would probably send me straight into an early grave. That doesn't even include what I would go through as I tried to whore myself from school to school looking for someone who thinks my scholarship isn't just a load of horse-shit, which up it has been to this point and probably into future. Let's face it, I clearly moved to Colorado for the sunny beaches, not it's stellar Classics Department.

I took the first exam of my graduate school career on Tuesday, and I was shocked to find that I didn't do all that bad on it, and really all I did to study was re-read all the Latin we've done so far, which the second time through wasn't nearly as time consuming. So it looks like I might make it through the program after all, and I might even learn something in the process, but still I fear the day when I'll actually be taking more than one class. The horror. I may even have to take three one semester. The agony. So in the event that things stay the way they're going, I may finish my M.A. before it finishes me.

Also, my brother showed up this week. I keep trying to show him the sights here, but it kept snowing, and also I've never really done anything here before, aside from work, go to school, blog, and play videogames. But I'm gonna blame it mostly on the snow. And I guess I'm lying a bit. Since his arrival we did see Babel at Boulder Theater, where you can drink beer and watch movies, and last night we saw The Fables, a Beatles cover band, at an Irish Pub. I had seen them once before, and they do a fine job, but it was Drakos the Elder's opinion that the set list was abysmal. I believe I'm not far from accurate to quote as saying something to the effect of, "Where's my White Album?" and "SEXY SADDIE!"

Apparently I am the spitting image of my father when it comes to anything involving my apartment. I seem to have the opinion that since I pay the rent I'm entitled to force him to clean up after himself quickly, so that the mess that I already create isn't added to and push beyond my limits. But honestly, since he's been here he's erased my cookies, which streamline my browsing experience, ruined the integrity of my iTunes Library with the likes of KrautRock, and spilled candle wax onto my carpet. I fear that it has bonded to the fibers forever. We run a tight ship over here, and I can't back down or else life as we know it will be changed forever. I'll let you draw you own conclusions about what a place run by my brother would amount to. Also, my brother had the audacity to insult my hair, and worst all refer to the Nintendo Wii-remote as a piece of junk that was in no way original or inventive and not only has nothing to add to game controller, but subtracts from the enjoyment significantly. He then proceed to tell me that no system following the SNES, including every venture by Sony, Sega, and Microsoft, has been worthwhile and at all useful. After struggling to catch my breath after the notion that the gaming industry has wasted these last 15 years, just as I have playing these games, I was able to contain myself because he is just as disappointed at the very way this world's economic system works. It is his opinion that everything about the way society buys and sells culture is mistaken. $50 videogames on $300+ consoles that are obsolete every five years, iPods run by the iTunes system which is purposely designed to snub technology that has existed for years that would allow the mass sharing of music. His definition of what exactly the Public Domain should include is vastly different than what our world appears to have put into practice. I can't help but agree that with the technology that exists we could easily do a lot more, such as trade multimedia wirelessly to anywhere in the world, but I still can't even fathom the device he speaks of that supposedly could exist; the philosopher's stone that would eliminate the compartmentalized life that modern electronics have forced to create, where music, media, games, and information branch apart. I think in his picture, the game aspect of this device includes the Power Glove. We are of a different generation.

Today I have an Agenda.

I know I don't normally do this, but I just received an e-mail petition that informed me that in Bush's new budget, in order to afford dumping several billion more dollars into Iraq, funding for NPR and PBS will be cut drastically. If you care at all about National Pubic Radio or the Public Broadcasting Service, or if you just want to humor me, it only takes a minute to sign the petition. Even though it's gotten all weird with all the Spanish monsters, could you imagine a generation of children not having Sesame Street? And for that matter shows like Reading Rainbow, and that one with the aardvark guy? And don't even get me started on NPR, lest this turn into a twenty page doctrine on podcasting (which as per my style would contain very little factual information, and many crazed illogical assertions). Although it is unlikely that Congress will let most of the cuts Bush proposed go through, he's going to find his money somewhere. I'm just asking that we do what we can to avoid losing the last media haven, which remains uncorrupted by advertising, as it falls through the cracks of our society. Sign it not just to ensure the safety of public broadcasts today, but so that we can make funding for these services permanent. Thanks all.

Double your Drakos, Double your Fun.

So my brother hopped a train to Chicago yesterday, and after a week or so of dicking around there he will be joining me here in Boulder. Now for those of you who don't know my brother, he's pretty much the wind beneath my wings, my inspiration, and a total eclipse of the heart... well maybe that's a step too far, but anyway I'm excited for his arrival. And in truth this isn't just a vacation, it's an audition. If I can tidy up this city enough before he gets here he might decided to move out here in the summer, and then we can get a bungalow in the foothills and settle down to the business of training our army of clones. So the downside to this whole thing is I'll be sharing my one bedroom with him for at least until mid-March, when he finally decides he's graced me with his presents long enough. This will infringe upon my lifestyle in few key ways:

One - My couch will now be his bed, and no longer my night-time fort. Granted I could still lay on the carpet in front of the couch with blankets and pillows in piles, in a room lit only by fiber optic lamps, listening to Parachutes, but without the cushions to fortify me it's useless! Now that I think of it, that does actually sound like a really awesome thing to do. I ought to get this fort in action tonight.

Two - I'll actually have to shut my bedroom door, which is something I have only a handful of times here, whenever I want to have an intimate moment with a certain special someone. Also I've always had a lingering fear of my brother coming into my room in the night and pretending to be a murderer. I went ahead and installed a lock on my bedroom door to prevent this from happening, but still, now when I get up in the night for an improvised "4th Meal" or something, I'll have to unchain the bolt. Yes, I bought a chain bolt, as it was the easiest option without removing the knob or lowering my privacy standards.

Three - This one ties back into One a bit. Recently, I've taken to watching the Wii News Slideshow in the morning. I find the music soothing, and I can get a glimpse of the headlines news while I stir up my instant breakfast. The problem is, I've kinda of added this to a portion of my morning routine when I haven't yet.. dressed for success we should say. My brother may not have much of a problem with it, but I do.

But besides these minor details, I'm excited to be getting Drakos the Elder added to the team. Hopefully this will lead to a post where I've actually done something worth speaking of, or at the very least one that is quite as emo as many up to the point have been.


On an unrelated topic, I'm hoping to get back into putting pictures into these entries, but it's hard to describe just how shitty the weather is right now. As I'm not supposed to have my camera anywhere near moisture it's been pretty much stuck on the shelf. With any luck we're on the tail end of the constant snow and cold, and those outrageous plowed snowpiles will melt away.