Thursday, May 17, 2007

terrace, shamrocks

It's only a few hours until my geology exam, and I'm too anxious to sleep. I'm not particularly anxious for the exam, just the ending the year and moving out part, followed by the three months at home part, and the endless shuffle of work.

The past two weeks have been a blur. I, in my naivety, had planned on not drinking both the week prior to finals, the weekend, and the week of finals. On the friday of the last day of classes, I was grocery shopping with my dear friend Kelly when my water polo teammate called me to inform me that he had just finished his last class at UW, and that he would be drinking a few beers and playing cards at the terrace at the union. So my other teammate Sam and I met up with Alex, planning on a few beers and leaving after an hour or two. Seven hours, countless pitchers, and many laughs later left me stumbling into my dorm at midnight, 36 hours from the start of my exams. While not exactly the best start to finals week, I don't have an ounce of regret.

Monday night, however, after three days of intensive studying and three exams, I was looking to go out. My first exam was a casual conversation with my TA and my partner, Louise. Louise is graduating this week, and upon completion of her thesis was looking to start a week long bender, of which I could only oblige in helping her. I met up with her at the Come Back Inn, a solid bar with live music and a $2 margarita special that will leave you saying, "I wish I hadn't flashed that cop in Taco Bell through the window." After a few drinks, I was about ready to get home when Louise's friends decided to head to another bar, so I decided to tag along while we headed in the same direction. The Come Back Inn was far from my dorm, and as I got lost in conversation I ended up at the door of the next bar.

I was already out, and it started to rain so I stopped inside for a drink while the rain died down. When I walked in the bar I began to put together some clues I had missed along the night. Louise's friend, Brian, had just come home after a trip abroad, and was fairly vocal that he was looking for some ass. I'm a believer in the healing power of TLC, especially after a long trip abroad, and because Brian was gay didn't make him immune. There weren't too many people at the Come Back Inn on that Monday of finals week, and the scene was very casual. So that when we finally went to second bar, I should have assumed it was a gay bar. Maybe it was the fact I'd never been to a gay bar, or that the name Shamrocks doesn't have a ring to it like 'The Nut Bush' in Oak Park, but I'd been caught off guard. So I stayed close to Louise, half in an attempt to chat before I headed back to Chicago, half out of unwillingness to move around the room. Once I went to the bar to get a drink, the bar tender asked me for a second form of ID, which I didn't have, so I left. I walked the rest of the way back to my dorm, and I could only laugh when I told my floor mates to ask me about it in the morning. Only on a monday night of finals week in Madison, I suppose.

In my extensive studying, I've come across some goodies. Feast, but at your own risk, this game is both thoroughly addicting and time consuming.

The Impossible Quiz

Sunday, May 13, 2007

finale, last.fm

I'm fully aware that about every two to three posts, I express how busy I am, followed by complaining, then probably a little crying, and a post. Today is not much different, and I'm not going to mess with a recipe for perfection. It's finals week here in beautiful Madison, WI, and in a week I promised myself intensive studying and plenty of sleep. I've filled my quota for frisbee, beer, time on the terrace, going to car shows, and time on the internet, so all I've got left is studying. I've been studying solid for a week, and I think the most valuable thing I've learned is best way to fit a live Bulls mini-feed, music program, and Microsoft Word is to set the layout to normal instead of page on Word and put other programs on the right side of the screen. Decidedly.

In other news, I've been using a music program by the name of Last.fm for the past few weeks. The idea is that you download the program, and whenever you play music it takes note of every song you listen to and records it to your profile. Then, based on what you listen to, the program puts recommendations based on your taste, and you can play it for free as a radio feed. Oh, that's not all. If you are looking for more music like a specific artist, you can listen to a 'radio station' of similiar artists. You can search any music by any word a user has tagged a song with. It's basically a way better version of the 'other listeners also liked' list. The shit is tight, and I feel a duty to share with loved ones.

In my book of sonnets Of Madison and Beauty, I explore into the balanced beauty of a bustling city at one with the warm sun and the peaceful lakes, but let it suffice to say it's the balls y'all. The terrace outside the union has got to be one of the best places in the country to relax on a lazy sunny afternoon. If you've never been, just take my word for it, because if we fight over it the terrorists win.

Fuck finals. Seriously.