My blogging habit

So I've noticed a trend. It seems to me that I blog more frequently when I'm instant messaging/emailing the most often. I stopped blogging from the 2nd half of last summer till the end of this past semester. Likewise, my IMing has been less frequent during those dates.

I want to blog more frequently. Thus I should probably IM and email more often as well. Help me meet these goals my IMing the crap out of me. My AIM SN is but greg says. Hit me up.

Sitting in a warm room,
Greg

A new hope

Today, the United States of America will swear in their 44th president, Barack Hussein Obama II.

Now I can talk about a lot of thing. I can talk about how terrible and inept our 43rd president was; I can talk about what an Obama administration means to this nation- a nation where a black man at one time was worth only 3/5ths of one; I can talk about the man's celebrity; I can talk about the challenges President Obama faces- the worst economic downturn since the great depressions, the Middle East imploding, Russia becomming redder, an incredibly inefficient and imperiled American welfare state.

I want to talk about- I'm sure you're tired of this word- hope. On the night of Novemember 4th, 2008, I watched as the City of Baltimore celebrate. People were out in the streets into the wee hours of the morning, fireworks were being shot in the sky- this is what hope does to people. More than anything, the Obama administration is hope- hope that the next 4 years will be different, maybe better. Since September 11, 2001, hope has been hard to come by. At the moment, there's pleanty of it


Optimistically,
Greg

Song of the Week- January 10, 2009

Ah the first Song of the Week for the new year! For this occasion I present "In the New Year" by The Walkmen.

This was probably my favorite song of 2008. The Walkmen released a surprisingly great album last year called You & Me. I think it's their best album- it captures their sound to a T. My friend likes to describe this song as Lou Reed actually making music. I don't think that's too far off. The instrumentation gets large-hall reverb treatment giving it a very vast and sparse sound. The song begins with a clanging guitar with singer Hamilton Leithauser's coming in a few bars later. "Oh I'm still living/ At the old address" he starts. Lyrically, the song sounds like it's written by a loser- a loser in the literal sense of the word: the narrator has many losses under his belt. It's a song about yearning for something better in the new year. This mood really comes out in the chorus as Leithauser's singing becomes a pained howl. This mood is complimented with the ascending organ lick, giving it a hopeful flair- suggesting "yes, most defiantly in the new year."

Alright that's with that. Enjoy

With the cans on,
Greg

Haiku- 29

Pissed off driving home
Until no red lights are met
Tiny joys of life

Here's to me working on my New Year's resolution!

I resolved to blog again. So here I am.

I had a spare moment to kill. I'm going to be spending the next few days recovering from getting three teeth removed. I'm hopped up on Percocet, swollen, and bleeding.

Funny thing painkillers do to a person's psyche. I never remember my dreams- I haven't for a couple years now. But I remember mine from last night- the night I went to bed after popping two of those round little white pills. It was a strange dream. It took place in some strange Baltimore/Ashbury Park boardwalk hybrid and starred me, my first brother Daniel, my high school crush, her family (who suspiciously looked like my uncle's family), my roommate Jim, and a talking Jack Russell terrier. This dream just reinforces my feeling about painkillers in general: they scare the crap out of me- they fuck you up.

It's too bad because prescription drugs, like the Percocet I've been prescribed, are now the most commonly used drugs in high school, surpassing even pot. And teachers wonder why high school kids are getting more and more fucked up.

Is that you God?
Greg

Haiku- 28

The days come and go
Nothing ever seems to change
Just more of the same

Happy New Year

It's the first day of 2009. 2008 was an interesting year wasn't it? We elected our first black president, come to the realization that America isn't as progressive as we thought in terms of civil rights for homosexuals, witnessed the most politically polarizing and dramatic election in our history, became intimate with Alaska, watched as financial institutions crumbed, got acquainted with a human being that could out-swim fish, realize that corruption is still rampant in our political system- it was a year, folks. Rather than me doing a fairly loose recap of the year that was, check this post out from mental_floss- it's a nice retrospective.

2009 promises to be just as interesting. Here's to a year's past and another on the way.

Cheers,
Greg