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I got a package today, from my grandma, filled with Dean paraphernalia. I love my grandma. And not just because she's a democrat, either.

Last night Charlie did his show. Things went awry just in time for the start, when one of the two CD players broke and made the show exceedingly difficult to put on. Charlie pulled through, though, with only the briefest moments of dead air. I sat there and ate graham crackers, occasionally reading hip-hop news and berating Atmosphere for their latest effort, Seven's Travels, without ever having really heard most of it. Regardless, they cancelled their big show down here, depriving all the fans (re: everyone) of a really, really rad show. Not cool. Slug must think he's better than small-town Iowa, and, yeah, he probably is, but better than a $6,000 payday? I think not.

Peace.
-Todd

Yo La Tengo. Man. Oh, man. Wow.

Translation: Last night, Yo La Tengo played at Harris Center, and they absolutely rocked my world. I stood at the front, in the center, just inches from the action, of which there was no dirth. They encore-d twice. During the latter of the two, they asked what we wanted to hear. I said "Upside-Down." They played Upside-Down. It was really good. They also played a fifteen-minute jam with their opening act, The Aisler's Set, who were also great, and on whose bassist I now have a big crush.

If you ever have the chance, I definitely suggest that you see these bands live. Man. Oh, man. Wow.

Peace.
-Todd

My alarm clock woke me up this morning, and, I swear, if I wasn't so deathly afraid of guns and had one of my own, I would have shot it to death. Perhaps putting it on the "loud, incessant, rapid beeping" setting is a bad idea. There is really no way I would ever get to class if I didn't though, but because of it, I do, and my classes are not bad. They are good. They would be better, though, if, in them, I wasn't a zombie, but I make do.

Right now I am in the middle of two great road trip books: Kerouac's On The Road and Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. They're both great, and moderately to uproariously funny, as a whole. I probably shouldn't be reading for pleasure when there are other books I should be reading instead, but I am. The end.

Peace.
-Todd

I went back and read a bunch of my archives. I kind of wish I had a time machine now. It would be great to go back to January or February and do it all again. If things were perfect...

Not to say I'm not still having a grand time down here. I am. But there are lots of things expected of me and, right now, being in high school, having no responsiblitities and just chilling out twenty-four/seven sounds pretty nice. And I'm a little homesick.

What if you farted in front of the Dalai Lama?
What if he farted in front of you?

Good weekend (I'm purposefully vague. People read this, believe it or not, and some of them should not be privy to all the things I do. Let's leave it at: I'm in college.). I was bored today, spent a lot of time doing laundry and didn't go outside. It was raining.

The Twins have almost clinched it. That brass ring is within reach. Somebody needs to send me a goddamned homer hanky.

Chas and I are listening to Sigur Rós. It's making me really mellow and sleepy.

Maybe I should go to sleep. Yeah. Sleep.

Peace.
-Todd

It is, despite having been stuck twice this week -- on Tuesday and then again on Thursday (Seriously... the days would just not end.), the weekend. This is definitely a good thing. This morning... heh... this morning... Oh, god. I was beyond tired. I was dead to the world. When I finally awoke, I found myself in real clothes and in the middle of Art History class. I like that class.

Now I'm listening to French gangsta-rap that François, the guy who teaches my French speaking class, loaned me (He's a class act). It's really good. I think. I have no idea what they (NTM) are talking about, but one song, "On Est Encore Là," has a lyric that goes "Nick le CSA!" I think that is the equivalent of "Fuck the FCC!" Fantastic.

Speaking of the FCC (I think), my radio show starts on Wednesday. Cool. I forgot to listen to Joe's show yesterday (two days ago?). It turns out no one -- except those within a twenty (or so) mile radius of KDIC's antenna -- will be able to hear mine. Webcasting at KDIC would cost loads in royalties. Oh well... I'll still shout out to Alison (in Oregon), like I said I would.

Yeah. Watch the Dean video. I finished it.

Peace.
-Todd

Today I got it in my head that, at some point, I was going to do a really, really good post. Somewhere around the third or fourth episode of The Family Guy though, all thoughts of doing so vanished. I don't know why, then, I decided to sit down in front of my computer and put into words the empty chasm that is my head right now.

Yesterday we 'went into town' to get some soda and dish soap. Both Charlie and I came to the conclusion that, off-campus, neither of us feel quite right. We don't much care for 'townies,' nor do they for us. We live in our own little bubble of a world on campus and leaving the confines of this dreadlocked, sandle-clad utopia strikes fear into the hearts of the best of us, from the patchouli-scented art majors in the south to the puffed out jocks in the north.

There's really nothing to fear. Downtown, hot jazz is piped in over loudspeakers atop buildings. Donning my aviators while exiting the bank last week, it was as though I had walked onto the set of a movie. Really cool. Regardless, I couldn't help but feel as though everyone was questioning me. Prying eyes, mouths agape: "Hey! Check out the new guy!" At a red light, waiting on my bike, some guy with a dog in a pickup blasting some country tune (about some guy with a dog in a pickup blasting a country tune) gave me the hairy eyeball. I hurried back to base... I mean campus. Safe.

Peace.
-Todd

I turned on my computer earlier today. It didn't work. I tried again. It didn't work. I called Apple tech support. They made me pay them forty-nine dollars to tell me that I had to erase my hard drive and re-install OSX.

I lost all of my files including the workings of a damn good Art History paper, all my friends' new addresses, six different video projects, Final Cut Pro, Microsoft Ofifice, Adobe Photoshop, the playlists for my upcoming KDIC shows, and over 10,000 MP3s which constituted my entire CD collection, which I left at home, foolishly assuming that my G4 could handle the coming month and a-half. It couldn't. It didn't. It crashed. Now I'm forty-nine dollars poorer and still quite upset.

But I saw Amélie tonight, so I'm in an okay mood.

Peace.
-Todd

Last night, Rainer Maria rocked Gardner. So did Denali. Both did so in a manner that was hard, but Denali a bit more so.

That was only a little important though, because compared to the event I attended earlier in the day, neither rocked, in even the slightest. Well, Denali did, a little, but Rainer Maria didn't at all. Except for that one song with the really cool hook, but other than that, nothing.

First, we went to Dean headquarters in downtown Des Moines, out of which we were quickly ushered with directions to Indianola, site of the twenty-sixth annual Harkin Steak Fry. Before going to said Fry, though, we were sent to Pickard Park, where Dean held a rally. It was a good rally. I think. I don't go to a whole lot of rallies. Once I went to a rally and it turned out to be more of a gathering. Not even. It was, like, an assembly. I guess.

So then everybody hightailed it about a mile down the road to see all the Democratic hopefuls and Iowa Senator Tom Harkin... and to eat steak. Then Clinton came on and my camera ran out of power. It was a shame. A damn shame.

Denali were pretty cool, though.

Peace.
-Todd

Farewell To The Man
Johnny Cash dies at 71

beneath the stain of time / the feeling disappears / you are someone else / I am still right here // what have I become / my sweetest friend / everyone I know / goes away in the end

Me:	Guess what.
You:	What?
Me:	Guess!
You:	I dunno. What?
Me:	Fucking guess, man!
You:	Okay, fine. You've... decided to take up tae-kwan-do.
Me:	Pfft. No. What the fuck's wrong with you?
You:	Fine. What then?
Me:	GUESS!
You:	Would you just fucking tell me already?
Me:	Screw you. You're no fun.

I got a show on Grinnell's radio station, 88.5 KDIC. Yeah!

Peace.
-Todd

I'm going to have lunch Saturday near Des Moines. Charlie is going to come. Some other friends of ours will be there as well. You might have heard of them. Their names are Senator Tom Harkin, Governor Howard Dean and President Bill Clinton.

It's pretty exciting. We're going to Harkin's annual Steak Fry, so not only will I be enjoying a meal with said excellent democrats, I will be enjoying steak with said excellent democrats. I will be enjoying steak for free with said excellent democrats.

I also get a t-shirt.

Peace.
-Todd

My schedule here at Grinnell is such that I have no classes Monday Wednesday and Friday after 11:00 and Tuesday and Thursday after 10:00, which leaves me with quite a bit of day left to goof around with. At least until I get a work-study thing going.

That's the good. The bad is the part where I wake up at 7:30 in the goddamned morning just so I can get ready. The ugly is me at said waking hour. Yeesh.

But other than that, it's alright. I'm still having the proverbial "blast" of which I was assured.

I'm going to go fix my bike. It's broken.

Peace.
-Todd