Christmas Music

There's a lot of things I love about Christmas.  There's the presents to open, the massive amounts of cookies and candy to be consumed, the opportunity to relax and take a break from academics.

But what I love most about Christmas has to be the music.  There's just no other holiday that really has its own music.  Yeah, my family has an old cassette tape of Easter songs, but I don't really think anyone outside of our family is even aware of their existence.  And you could say that there's all those patriotic songs that you hear on Independence Day, but those can be sung / played any time of the year.  Christmas music is exclusive to the Christmas season, and pretty much everybody, even if you aren't a Christian, is familiar with at least one Christmas song. 

As a guy who loves to sing, I especially love singing Christmas carols this time of year.  There's just something about Christmas music that sets it apart from other music.  Maybe its the familiarity of the music, like I said before.  Or maybe it's the spirit of the season, the message of peace and joy that can be heard in the lyrics.  For me, there's nothing like belting out a chorus of "Adeste Fideles" (that's "O Come All Ye Faithful" in Latin, for those of you non-Catholics) or "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", among others. 

Even outside of church, there's a wide variety of popular music that gets played on the radio during the Christmas season.  Some songs bring a tear to your eye, like "Christmas Shoes"; some have a sentimental message, like John Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)"; some are upbeat, like "Jingle Bell Rock";  and some are humorous, satirical, or just plain wacky, like "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer", or even parodies like "Osama Got Run Over By a Reindeer".  Whatever your mood, you can probably find Christmas music for it.

So what's your favorite Christmas music?  I've got quite a bit that I enjoy.  There's the Barenaked Ladies' Barenaked for the Holidays album, which has their renditions of familiar songs like "Jingle Bells" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", as well as a few originals with their trademark sense of humor, like "Elf's Lament" and "Green Christmas", not to mention their cover of "Deck the Halls", entitled "Deck the Stills", in which they replace the lyrics with repetitions of "Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young".  I also have a CD of Irish Christmas music that has familiar songs and Irish folk carols played on hornpipes and harps.  I just downloaded Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli's My Christmas album on iTunes the other day, and absolutely loved it.  He pulls out all the stops on this album, collaborating with a wide variety of popular singers and groups, from Mary J. Blige and Reba McIntyre to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and even the Muppets.  The album's last track, "God Bless Us Everyone" (which I believe came from a musical version of A Christmas Carol) was especially moving for me.  There's a few other songs that are staples of my Christmas playlist as well, like Darius Rucker's "Candy Cane Christmas" and Mariah Carey's ever-popular "All I Want for Christmas Is You".  But my all-time favorite Christmas song would have to be Elvis's rendition of "Here Comes Santa Claus".  It's just fun to sing it in my Elvis voice and dance along like I'm sure The King of Rock 'n' Roll would have.  Just listen to it and try to tell me otherwise.

No matter what kind of music you listen to, whether you're a little bit country or a little bit rock 'n' roll, there's just nothing like Christmas music to put you in the holiday spirit.  There's just no other music like it.  So go out caroling with your friends, or go to church and join in the singing, or just tune your iPod to some Christmas music while you work - just let the music move you with the spirit of the season!

Hope y'all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Stay frosty, y'all!

B-)

Home for the Holidays

Hey y'all!  It's me again!  Yes, I'm still alive, even if I haven't posted in several months.  It's just that the life of a grad student is much more time-consuming than I thought it would be.  I'd like to say my first semester went well, but sadly, that was not the case.  The main problem was that I made the mistake of thinking that I was ready to take graduate-level Abstract Algebra when in reality I wasn't.  Not only did I end up failing the class miserably, I ended up tanking in the rest of my classes as well.  I'll be frank with y'all, there were a lot of times when I thought about dropping out of grad school altogether, and a few days when I just had no will to live at all, when I thought I'd absolutely hit rock bottom and had nowhere to go.  Fortunately, I got a major reprieve last week - the math department decided to let me keep my assistantship, but I'm gonna be on a pretty short leash next semester.  I have to get at least 2 A's and a B, which means I'm gonna have to work my butt off, but it's all first-year courses that I'm taking this time around, and I have friends in each of my classes to whom I can turn for help.  I just need to start managing my time better and start off on the right foot so things don't snowball out of control like they did last semester. 

Anyway, now that I'm back home for Christmas and have a lot more free time, you can probably expect to start seeing more posts from me pretty soon.  There's been so much I've wanted to write about during these last few months, but I just never had the time.  We'll see how things go in the next few months.  Till then, stay frosty, y'all!

B-)

Greetings From SC!

Hey y'all!  Sorry I've been MIA these last couple weeks, but now that I'm pretty much settled in here at Clemson, I should be back to posting on a more regular basis.  Now, I know I said I wasn't going to use this blog as a diary of my life, but I figured I owe it to my readers, after not posting in quite a while, to let them know that I made it down here in one piece, though I was kinda out of it after surviving the 10-hour overnight drive to get down here from Pennsylvania.  I've got a pretty nice apartment on campus - kinda small, but it suits me just fine (despite the occasional appearance of bugs, though it's not been as frequent these days now that I've sprayed around the place), and my roommate is a pretty chill guy.  I've made a lot of new friends within the math department, and we hang out quite a bit.  I'm taking three classes - Abstract Algebra, Math Programming, and Probability - and they seem all right so far, though it's only been three school days into the semester, so it's a little too soon to tell.  I'm also teaching two recitation sections of Precalculus as a teaching assistant, and though I'm not looking forward to the 7 a.m. TA meetings every Monday morning, I'm really excited for my first classes on Tuesday.  I bought a season ticket for football last week, and like everyone else down here, I'm pumped for that as well, especially since we didn't have a football team at Loyola.  The only complaint I have is the humidity, which makes the commute to class rather uncomfortable.  I'm so glad my parents bought me a bike when I got here, because it makes getting around so much easier.  All in all, I think I'm doing pretty well here at Clemson, and I'm looking forward to what I'm sure is going to be an awesome first year of grad school! 

Stay frosty, y'all!  B-)

2 Days To Go!

Those of you who know me well enough will know that I'm only a morning person if you're talking about 1 in the morning, and when I can, I avoid real mornings altogether.  This summer has been no exception.  I've been staying up as late as 4:30 some nights, and I usually haven't been getting up until about 1:30 in the afternoon.  But now that the start of grad school is creeping ever so nearer, my mom keeps insisting that I try to readjust my sleeping schedule by going to bed earlier and getting up earlier.  I've given in a little this week and started setting my alarm for 12 rather than 1, but I don't see the point of trying to adjust right now.  Reason being, I'm leaving for Clemson on Friday night, and it's an eleven-hour drive, which my dad, in his infinite wisdom, has decided to do overnight, even though he's one of those people who goes to bed early and gets up early.  So any attempt to fix my sleeping schedule is most likely going to be thrown completely out of whack by this overnight road trip.  You're probably asking why I can't just sleep in the car.  Well, I've found that, no matter how hard I try, I just can't.  I can fall asleep virtually anywhere else, but in a moving vehicle, I can only sleep sporadically. 

I'm also kinda p.o.'d that my parents won't let me do any of the driving, even though I'm more used to being up late than either of them are.  Their excuse is that I don't know the way there and I don't have enough experience driving on the Interstate.  Number one, none of us have driven to Clemson before, so we're all in the same boat here.  Number two, I may not have driven a car in quite a while, but you never really forget how to drive.  Number three, I'm going to have to learn to drive on the Interstate sooner or later, so better now while my parents are still there to guide me than trying to learn on my own later. 

But, there's just no convincing them.  Where else did I get my stubbornness from?  Oh, well, just thought I'd vent a little here and get it out of my system.  Peace out, world! 

B-)

Help! My Dad's Gone Gaga!

Recently, my dad informed me that he's been watching music videos of - would you believe? - Lady Gaga.  You're probably saying, "Big deal, Mike, everyone's seen her videos!"  But what you have to understand is that this is highly uncharacteristic of my dad, because he is one of the biggest homophobes I know.  Up to this point, he seemed to have minimal tolerance for people of the male gender doing anything remotely effeminate.  I mean, this is a guy who once called his own son a certain three-letter 'F' word just because he used a washcloth in the shower; who once called my soundtrack from Les Mis "dandy* music"; who seemed to think everyone in LOTR was gay just because Sir Ian McKellen is gay; who even found ways to insert gay references into Yu-Gi-Oh (then again, they kinda set themselves up for it with the Flame Swordsman) and other cartoons that were beyond his understanding, verbally reeanacting scenes in which the male characters dress in French maid outfits while my sister and I were trying to watch TV.  In fact, I used to joke that one of the first two things I'd do when I went off to college would be to buy a pink shirt, just 'cuz I knew it would tick him off.  (For the record, the other thing was to shave my head completely bald, though I have yet to do either as of this writing.) 

Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating about my dad's apparent homophobia.  I say this because I've seen him watching such shows as Tim Gunn's Guide to Fashion (meanwhile criticizing my mom for watching Queer Eye for the Straight Guy).  He also seems to have a strange - well, at least for a male from his generation - obsession with P!nk, because I've caught him on several occaisions watching her music videos on YouTube over and over (the most recent being "Please Don't Leave Me"). 

Now, I'm not trying to criticize my dad's tastes in music, because I listen to Lady Gaga and Rihanna all the time when I work out.  What I'm trying to say is that I'm having a little trouble reconciling these two conflicting sides of my dad's personality.  I think the whole Marlboro Man facade comes from the way he was raised as a kid.  I still remember his impression of my pap the time he saw the earring on my aunt's boyfriend ("Aw, for Chri'sakes, what are ya, a friggin' pirate?")  But times have changed, and people as a whole are much more tolerant when it comes to issues of gender and orientation (cf. "Boy Bands", 30 May 2010), and my dad is no exception.  He's found that he's free to listen to whatever music he wants without the stigma of being labeled effeminate, and I like to think it's the start of my dad becoming a much more tolerant person. 

B-)


* For those of you not familiar with certain dialect, "dandy" is a slang term used to describe something seen as effeminate, in the same disparaging way that words such as "sissy", "gay", or "queer" have been used these days.  My dad's the only one I've ever heard use the term, though, so I don't really know where it comes from. 

Real Men of Genius

Today, we salute you, Mr. Watch-Full-Episodes-Online Inventor...

One of the things I love about the internet is the ability to watch full episodes of my favorite TV shows whenever I want, with very few commercials.  In the old days, if you weren't around when your favorite show was on TV, you had to put a VHS tape in your VCR and try to figure out how to program the thing to record the show.  These days, there's TiVo, which I'm sure has its advantages (I myself don't have one), but you still have to program it to record your shows. 

But thanks to online episodes, I no longer have to worry about missing an episode of Flashpoint or The Office, because I can just go on the show's website and watch them later.  I don't have to wait several months for the season to come out on DVD.  It gives me more freedom to do what I want.  For example, last Friday evening, my folks wanted to watch a movie, though it was going to be overlapping the same time that Flashpoint was on.  Had that been a few years ago, I would have found myself going to another room to watch TV, but instead, I was able to enjoy some quality time with my parents that evening and watch the episode of Flashpoint that I missed over the weekend. 

The ability to watch TV episodes online also enables me to have more of a social life.  In years past, I would never go anywhere on Friday nights, because that was when my two favorite shows - Numb3rs and Flashpoint - were on.  But now, since I can watch them on my own time, I can spend my Friday nights however I want.  For example, just a few weeks ago, some friends of mine invited me to hang out with them on a Friday night.  Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I could say yes without any hesitation, and I watched Flashpoint after I got home that night.  I wouldn't have been able to do that a few years ago.  And if you're trying to get a date, you'll have a greater chance of success if you ask a girl if she has a free night during the weekend than you would if you ask her for a specific night.  (Disclaimer: For me, this has only worked in theory so far.) 

Finally, if you have two favorite shows that happen to be on at the same time, you don't have to rack your brain trying to decide which one to watch.  This fall, CBS is moving The Big Bang Theory to Thursday nights, in the same time slot that Community is scheduled to air on NBC.  CBS is trying to better compete with NBC, but thanks to the internet, it no longer has to, and I don't have to be T.O.'d at CBS for it. 

Of course, there's some downsides to it - not all shows are available online (e.g., Miami Medical), and most episodes are only available for a limited time after their original air date, but overall, I love being able to watch my favorite shows online whenever I want, free of charge.  It really makes my life a lot easier. 

B-)

The King Is Dead...

... well, at least, to the people of Cleveland.  As you all know, unless you've been living under a rock for the past week, LeBron James announced in an hour-long TV special the other night that he's leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Miami Heat.  I thought I'd weigh in on the matter like everyone else is doing, especially since I know next to nothing about professional basketball.  Quite honestly, I'm not sure what to think about the situation.  I've been somewhat of a fan of the Heat since Shaquille O'Neal joined the team in 2004, though I'm not as die-hard of a fan as I am of the Steelers and Penguins, and like I already said, I don't really follow the NBA all that much.  Initially, I was excited that my favorite team got another All-Star to go along with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosch. 

But after hearing about LeBron's motives for going to Miami - because he wanted to play for the team that would give him the best chance to win a championship - I can't help but feel sorry for all of those fans in Cleveland.  They have every right to feel betrayed.  As a die-hard Penguins fan, I know how it feels.  In 2008, just weeks after we lost in the Stanley Cup final, Marian Hossa stabbed us in the back by signing with the Red Wings, the very team that beat us, claiming that they would give him the better chance to win the Stanley Cup.  I've always held the belief that a team should win because a good player helped them to do so, not the other way around.  The Cavs pretty much built their team around LeBron, but now that he's gone, what are they supposed to do now? 

As for whether or not the Heat will actually win a championship with LeBron, that remains to be seen.  From what I've heard about him in recent years, he doesn't really seem to be that much of a team player.  I certainly agree with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert's assessment of LeBron as "conceited."  I mean, c'mon, did he really have to have an entire TV special just to announce his decision?  On paper, the Heat look like the team to beat next season.  But more often than not, when you try to put multiple big-name players on the same team, any semblance of team chemistry flies completely out the window as the players compete with one another for their share of the spotlight, and before you know it, the team's whole season goes down the sewer.  Does the name Terrell Owens ring any bells here? 

So come basketball season, I'll still be rooting for the Heat with what minimal enthusiasm I have for the sport, but I'm certainly not prepared to bet the house on them winning a championship anytime soon.  Given LeBron's reputation in recent years, I have this sinking feeling that he's just not going to mesh well with the other Miami players. 

B-)

God Bless America!

Just a few random thoughts on patriotic music:

- Why is the song that begins, "My country, 'tis of thee..." entitled "America", when the word "America" is mentioned nowhere in the song?  It only makes it easy to confuse that song with "America the Beautiful." 

- If you're going to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner", please, for the love of God, sing it right!  I just hate it when singers try to embellish the national anthem by adding and/or changing notes.  It's an epidemic that, sadly, has plagued almost every sporting event that I watch on TV these days.  It especially irks me when they jump a complete octave on the last two notes of "that our flag was still there."  If those notes aren't in your vocal range, then you have no business singing the national anthem in public.  And for God's sakes, make sure you know the words!  I remember this one guy who sang it "for the land of the free."  It's "o'er" - the contraction for "over"!  If you want to embellish other patriotic songs, that's perfectly fine with me.  But when it comes to the national anthem, like the Snickers commercial says, don't be a diva.  It sounds more sincere when it's sung the way that it was written. 

- And don't even get me started on that Spanish-language version of "The Star-Spangled Banner"!  In translating it, they completed butchered the meaning of the song!  This is America!  We speak English! 

- Finally, while we're on the subject of national anthems, I think that "God Bless America" or even "America the Beautiful" would be more fitting for our national anthem than "The Star-Spangled Banner."  A national anthem should be about its country, not just its flag.  I know, atheists are going to cry foul about the explicit mentions of God in the former two songs, but if you look at the second verse of "The Star-Spangled Banner" (OMG, there's a second verse?  Yeah - there were four, actually!), you'll find the line "And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust'".  That sounds a lot more like forcing religion upon everyone than the other two songs do; they're just asking for blessings upon the country from whatever higher power each of us believes in.  More importantly, though, "God Bless America" is a heck of a lot easier to sing than "The Star-Spangled Banner".  The latter of these songs goes really far up and down the musical octaves, making it very difficult for anyone with a normal vocal range to sing it.  Maybe is has to do with the fact that it was written to the tune of a drinking song.  That's right - a drinking song!  Is this really how we want others to see our country - that we're such a bunch of drunken idiots that we made a drinking song the tune of our national anthem?  Not to mention, I don't even know if the tune was composed in America - correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing it was written in Britain or Ireland or somewhere overseas.  "God Bless America", on the other hand, I know for a fact was both written and composed by an American, Irving Berlin.  Our national anthem should be "God Bless America" because it was completely made in America, describes our beloved country so eloquently, and most importantly, is easy to sing. 

- You are, of course, free to disagree with me and tell me what you think.  This is, after all, a free country, which is the very reason that we're celebrating Independence Day today.  I hope all of you out there in Reader Land, from the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam, have a happy and safe 4th of July!  Let freedom ring, and of course, God Bless America! 
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Job Hunting

I've just about had it with my mom telling me for the umpteenth time this week to keep looking for a summer job.  For those of you who haven't been following MikeSpace as much as you should, I've applied to a forkton of different places for summer employment, but got only one interview and nothing more.  I keep telling her that at this point in time, it's completely and totally pointless for me to waste my time and energy filling out job applications - don't get me started on how much of a pain in the ass most of them are to fill out! - when I'm leaving for Clemson in a little more than a month. 

First of all, it usually takes a week, at minimum, to even process my application.  The last non-research summer job I had, which was in a grocery warehouse three years ago, kept me in limbo for almost a month, because they actually had to call all of my references, one of whom was always at work when they called and finally just had her sister vouch for me.  Then I had to go get a physical and a drug test, so it was almost a month before I actually started working.  Granted, that was kind of an anomaly, since it was the first job I ever had, but it would still take some time before I'd be able to start at a summer job - time that I really don't have at this point. 

Secondly, think about it from the point of a potential employer.  I highly doubt that any self-respecting business would want to waste valuable time and resources training a new employee when he's only going to be around for a month at most.  I worked for three months at my last job, and it was obvious that they didn't think it was worth it to give me any more than a one-day walkthrough of what I was supposed to do.  If they don't think a three-month employee is worth training, how much less worth someone's time is it to train an employee who's going to be there for only one month? 

And even if, by some miraculous act of God, I did get a job, I'd have no way to get there, because I don't have a car.  When I was working three years ago, my dad was still unemployed, so he let me borrow his truck to get to work, but only after a good deal of persuasion (he can be quite a stubborn prick sometimes!)  But now that both of my parents have jobs, I'm pretty much SOL as far as vehicles are concerned.  I thought my dad was just being a prick again when he brought the matter up this summer, but I realize now that, as much as it kills me to admit it, he was right.  I'd have to gamble on the chance that one of my co-workers lived somewhere near me and would be willing to give me a ride.  Plus, whatever little money I earned from my minimal time on the job would probably be frittered away on gas and taxes. 

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to make a little bit of money this summer.  But given my situation and the reality thereof, I just don't think it's worth the aggravation to even apply for jobs anymore, and I wish my mom would just take off her rose-tinted glasses for once and stop bothering me about it! 

B-)

Summertime Blues

I've been home for over a month now, and I gotta say that this is without a doubt [Napoleon Dynamite voice] the worst summer ever!  I was reminded again of why I hated summer so much in high school.  Now, my last two summers were really fun.  I spent last summer at the University of Tennessee and had the time of my life, and the summer before, I was at Loyola doing math research.  (Yeah, I know that for most of you, that sounds about as fun as jumping into a swimming pool full of nails, but I'm a math major, so my idea of fun is slightly different.)  But this year, I have absolutely nothing to do.  I've been trying to find a summer job to earn a little bit of spending money for grad school, but so far, only one place even offered me an interview, and from the looks of things, I probably didn't get the job.  I mean, c'mon, I'm a f#$%ing college graduate!  Why won't anyone hire me?  At this point, I'm wondering why I should even bother filling out any more applications, because no one's going to hire me for only a month.  And even if I got a job, my dad probably wouldn't let me use the family car to get there. 

Which means I've had pretty much nothing to do this summer except eat, sleep, read books, watch TV and movies, surf the net, and slowly get fatter - activities that I can only do for so long nonstop before I start to go bonkers.  I'd love to go outside and jog or ride my bike, but it's just way too hot to do so.  I don't go to the town pool anymore, because it's always too crowded, making it impossible to swim laps, and I never see anyone I know there.  I can't really do anything fun because I can't afford anything anymore.  I haven't seen any of my friends at all because they don't seem to want to hang out with me anymore, in spite of all of my not-so-subtle hints to them that I'm only home for another couple months and probably won't be home again til Christmas. 

But the worst part about being home this summer is that I don't have the freedom that I had when I was at college.  Yep, I'm 22 years old, and still have to answer to my parents about everything.  I can't sleep in as long as I want to anymore, or else I'll have to put up with their constant bitching about it, even though, as I stated earlier, there's nothing to do in this godforsaken hellhole of a ghost town.  I have to share the lone internet connection in the house, which my dad monopolizes most of the day, which is why I'm usually online so late at night these days.  But worst of all, I can't go anywhere without having to tell them where I'm going and who I'm with, which is why I don't get out that much, plus the fact that in order to get anywhere, I'd have to either ask them to borrow the car or ask someone to give me a ride.  Quite honestly, I'd really love to just round up a friend or two, hit up the nearest bar, find some attractive single ladies to try to dance with, and just get drunk off my ass (in somewhat that order).  When I was at school, the only one stopping me from doing that was me (my schoolwork, my lack of money, my intuition that maybe I shouldn't go out tonight, etc.)  But at home, I think it would be kinda awkward to ask my parents for permission to go to a bar with someone or come home at 2:30 in the morning in an inebriated state while my parents were already asleep.  It really makes me feel like such a lame-ass loser. 

Don't get me wrong, I love my mom and dad to death, and I miss them often when I'm away, but right now, I just feel so stifled spending my summer cooped up in my house with nothing to do.  So here I sit, counting down the days til I leave for Clemson (47 or 48; I haven't finalized my travel plans yet), when I'll have wireless internet, access to a fitness center, people to hang out with, and most importantly, freedom.  In the meantime, my friends, if you're as bored as I am and find yourself in the area of Berks County, Pennsylvania (or find the urge to make the trip from wherever you live), hit me up so we can hang out sometime!  Hope all of you out there in Reader Land have a great summer - or at least, one that's better than mine! 

B-)

Stay Tuned...

Time for another installment of Things That Annoy Me.  So I'm watching NBC on Thursday night, and about five minutes before the end of every show, the network voiceover guy says something to the effect of "Don't go away - there's more of 'The Office' [or whatever show is on at that time], starting right now on NBC."  They usually do this while they're showing the credits / teaser / whatever-you-call-it for the show's production company.  While it's not a complete lie, I find it rather deceptive, because the way they said it, it sounds like there's another episode of "The Office" coming up next, when what they're really talking about is the last minute or two of the current episode.  I know they're trying to let people know that there's still one final scene in the episode that they probably don't want to miss, but isn't there a better way of doing it?  ABC and CBS are a little better about this, because usually that last bit is just a preview of next week's episode that's shown while the credits are rolling, and they specifically say, "Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode".  If NBC stopped this deceptive practice, and just said nothing at all when they came back from the final commercial break, I don't think anyone would lose from it.  Most people are smart enough these days to know that a show isn't over until the credits are finished rolling, so they're not going to miss the last two minutes of a show. 

Don't go away!  There's more writing from Mike Paul, right now on MikeSpace! 

It's kinda like that.  See how annoying that is? 

B-)

Boy Bands

The other night, they had Hanson as the musical guest on The Tonight Show.  My first reaction was... really?  These guys were popular when I was in fourth grade!  I honestly thought they'd gone out of the business years ago like all the other boy bands.  Turns out, after doing some research on Wikipedia the last few nights, I found that a lot of these bands were still active through much of the 2000's.  I remember hearing last year that the Backstreet Boys had released a new album, when I was under the impression that they had broken up in the early 2000's.  Nope, turns out that they're still performing, albeit minus Kevin Richardson.  N*Sync was still together until 2007, though they hadn't produced anything new since 2002.  And apparently, 98 Degrees hasn't officially broken up yet, either; they're just on an "extended hiatus".  And from the looks of it, a lot of the other boy bands from my middle school days were still active or lasted longer than I thought.  The only reason I hadn't heard much about them was because I had stopped following them when I got to high school. 

Of course, the concept of the boy band still exists today, just in a different form.  The Jonas Brothers are probably the most recognizable example of a modern boy band, though Wikipedia says that some groups like Simple Plan and Good Charlotte could technically also qualify as boy bands.  Unlike the boy bands of the early 00's, however, the members of these modern boy bands actually play their own instruments instead of just dancing around on stage. 

My post tonight will deal with boy bands as defined in the traditional sense, i.e., the ones from the late 90's / early 00's.  In particular, I'd like to address the question of why they seemed to fall out of popularity so quickly.  When I was in sixth grade, they seemed to be the "in" thing.  We used to listen to the radio in the morning before class started, and I remember the first time I brought in my recently purchased N*Sync CD, it got a pretty warm reception.  But within a couple months, I was met with groans and bullying whenever I tried to play it, and people even started questioning my sexuality.  When I asked why, I was told, "It's a girls' group." 

Now let me make this clear:  At no time in my life was I ever attracted to any member of N*Sync or any member of the other boy bands.  As I used to tell people, "I don't like N*Sync, I just like their music."  Not that it helped my image any.  But seriously, back in those days, I preferred any music that was suitable for dancing to.  Weird, I know, but that I can't see how that would make me gay or effeminate.  The only alternative in music back then was bands like Limp Bizkit or Slipknot, which I didn't really care for because I found their lyrics too vulgar for my taste.

But what I don't understand is why boy bands went from being popular with both genders to being something that only girls liked in such a short amount of time.  Were guys just jealous because they didn't have the sex appeal that Justin Timberlake or Nick Carter had?  Probably not.  The guys who made fun of me back then were mostly jocks anyway, and they had no problems attracting the opposite gender.  However, the fact that boy bands - and other pop artists, for that matter - were so popular among the female population was probably a significant factor.  It may have also had something to do with the fact that rock bands actually played musical instruments - they could be judged on actual musical talent rather than choreography and theatrics. 

These days, my tastes in music are still different from the norm, but much more diversified.  I'm mainly into contemporary rock bands such as Nickelback, Daughtry, and Barenaked Ladies, but I still enjoy anything with a good dance beat.  I still have my N*Sync CD hidden somewhere in my room (though I haven't played it in almost ten years); I have more songs by Rihanna and Lady Gaga on my iPod than the average American male; and at karaoke parties, I've been known to sing such songs as "Bye Bye Bye", "Livin' La Vida Loca", and even "Baby One More Time", just for laughs.  The difference nowadays is that people are much more tolerant of my tastes in music - or at least they've been kind enough to not say anything to my face.  Maybe that's why people made fun of me back in middle school - we were all just young and immature back then, but as we grew up, we gradually discarded most of the stereotypes that we had when we were younger. 

B-)

Ohmigod... Shoes!

I hate shopping for shoes.  Anytime I go shopping for shoes, I can never seem to find a pair that fits me just right, because I have such weirdly shaped feet.  Every pair I try on always seems to have something uncomfortable about it.  Either the toes are too cramped, the arch is too high, or the heel is too loose.  Take today, for instance.  I was at Wal-Mart (yes, I shop at Wal-Mart - gotta save every dollar I can!) looking for a new pair of sneakers, because my old ones had fallen into a serious state of disrepair while I was at school.  I was hoping to find a decent pair of running shoes, so I could take up jogging again without hurting my knees as much.  I only found one pair of running shoes that fit me... or at least the right shoe did.  When I tried on the left shoe, I found that the arch was shaped weird, and it didn't fit.  So apparently, my left foot is actually shaped differently from my right foot!  Un-freakin'-believeable!  I ended up just buying a pair of regular sneakers that actually fit me, having decided that I can always buy a pair of running shoes some other time.  Right now, just having a pair of sneakers that doesn't have holes in it is better than nothing. 

B-)

Cookie Dough

I was baking some oatmeal raisin cookies this evening (as I had intended to do while I was at school, but never got around to because of finals and whatnot), and of course, being the perpetual kid that I am, I had to sample some of the dough at least several times before baking.  Which got me wondering: what is it about raw cookie dough that makes it taste so much better than cookies that have actually been baked?  I'm sure we can all remember our moms chiding us about how eating raw cookie dough could make us sick.  When I was a kid, I never got to try cookie-dough ice cream until I was 10 or 11, because my parents just didn't find the concept of eating raw cookie dough palatable.  Then I learned that there isn't really raw eggs in the ice cream; they've already been pasteurized beforehand to kill off any germs.  I still remember the first time I tried it - it was after a round of mini-golf with my aunts and cousins - and I was thinking, man, what have I been missing all these years?

Did that make cookie dough taste even better, the fact that it was forbidden, or at least discouraged?  It can't be the entire reason.  I mean, I'm 22 years old and have been doing a lot of baking on my own lately, and I still find myself popping fingerfuls of dough into my mouth.  No one's stopping me from doing it, and having a few bites doesn't kill me, though I do avoid consuming the entire bowlful simply out of fear of getting food poisoning.  And when I make cakes, I still lick the beaters before I wash them, or offer them for anyone nearby to do the same.  I mean, c'mon, I just can't let that small iota of perfectly good batter go to waste - think of all the starving kids in Africa! 

So why do we take pleasure in consuming raw cookie dough or cake batter?  Are we that desperate for sugar that we can't wait 10-15 minutes for the cookies to finish baking?  My best guess is that it's something to do with the chemical reactions that the dough undergoes while it's baking.  Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I think some of the sugar gets melted or evaporated in the heat of the oven, so the finished product isn't quite as sweet as it was before.  Or maybe it's the difference in texture that makes raw dough taste better.

Which begs another question: why, then, do I like bread better when it's toasted?

The world may never know...

B-)

Real World

Hey, y'all!  I'm baaaaack!  Didja miss me?  Yeah, sorry I haven't written in a while.  It's just been one thing after another - finals, papers, graduation, packing, and going home.  But yeah, I've finally graduated from Loyola!  I never thought that day would come... has it really been four years?  Damn, does time fly! 

I should be happy.  But right now, I'm not.  Yes, I'm glad to have made it through all of my classes (this semester, it was way too close for comfort) and received my diploma.  But, to modify an old adage, college is like a four-year-long dream, and graduation is like the alarm clock.  My fellow seniors and I now have to wake up and face the real world.  I thought I'd be immune since I'm going to grad school in the fall, but I've realized now that I was sorely mistaken.  Grad school and college are not the same.  There's not going to be as much time to go out and party like there was in college (not like I really had the time when I was in college, anyway).  There's going to be a lot more responsibility that I have to assume.  And it's not like I can just sit back this summer and count down the days til I begin my new life.  I have to find a summer job so I have some money to live off of when I start grad school, and I remember how much of a pain in the ass it was trying to find a job three summers ago.  But maybe a little bit of work might help keep me sane during these next two and a half months.  There's nothing to do around here, almost none of my friends from high school ever keep in touch with me (despite the fact that I'm now on Facebook), and my sister's leaving for a summer internship in L.A. this weekend, so it's going to be just my parents and me... yeah, maybe it won't be so bad to get out of the house, in one way or another...

But what's really eating at me inside is the fact that I'm not going to see any of my friends from Loyola for quite a while.  The last three summers, I missed them a lot, but I could take comfort in the fact that I would definitely see them again in just a few months.  But this year, it's different.  Everyone's going their separate ways, myself included.  Come August, I'm going to once again be a stranger in a strange land.  I'm sure I'll make new friends at Clemson, but it's just hard to let go of the ones I already have.  But it's not like this was anything new to me - I had to deal with the same situation when I first left for Loyola four years ago, and I got through it just fine.  Besides, I'm sure I'll see them all again at some point, whether it's during a visit this summer, at Bull & Oyster in January, at a class reunion, or some other time and place.  It's only a matter of when.  The fact that I'm going to be so far from home and might not be able to come home during every break like I used to makes it all uncertain, and it's that uncertainty that bothers me. 

But there is one pain in my heart that I won't be able to assuage as easily.  Three years ago, I met this girl in one of my classes.  It took me a whole semester to work up the nerve to actually talk to her, but when I finally did, I knew right away that I was in love in a way that I'd never felt before.  I really felt that she could be the one I'd spend the rest of my life with.  But try as I might, I could never take our relationship out of the Friend Zone into something more significant.  I've told you all about her before - just read my post from Valentine's Day ("All You Single Ladies (and Fellas)", 14 February 2010).  Well, in the months since then, I finally came to my senses and realized that I just couldn't love anyone else as much as I love this girl.  She means the world to me, and it just kills me that I never got the chance to tell her how I really feel about her.  I should have at least written her a note or something.  Now I don't know when I'll ever see her again, and it would be very difficult in the current situation to maintain any sort of romantic relationship.  When I left home for Loyola, there were a lot of girls that I liked that I had to leave behind, but I knew there were many more, better girls at Loyola.  But this girl is different.  I just can't see myself in love with another girl.  This is the one part of my life where I can't move on.  If I had one reason to want to turn back time and live last year over again, this would be it. 

Well, there you have it.  That's why I'm feeling depressed right now about having graduated from college.  I have to face the real world just as much as everyone else, even though my path is slightly different from those the rest of my classmates will take, and I just don't think I'm ready for it.  I guess the only thing I can do is just suck it up and face my future head on. 

To all of my friends who are graduating this year, both at Loyola and elsewhere, I wish you nothing but the best, wherever your life may lead you.  To all my friends at Loyola, it's been an amazing four years with you all, and I will never forget all of the great times we had.  Please keep in touch, and know that wherever I'm at, you will always be welcome. 

[]_:-)

And finally, to a certain girl from Loyola - I'm sure you know who you are by now - If you're reading this, I just want to tell you that I LOVE YOU, and I miss you already.  I hope that you can forgive me for never having the courage to tell you while we were still together.  I just want you to know that no matter what happens, you will always have a special place in my heart, and if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm always just a phone call away.  <3

2010 Stanley Cup Playoff Predictions

With the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting tomorrow night, it's time for me to make my predictions (though I should be working on my math homework right now instead!)  Last year, I posted them on my Facebook page, but now that I have a blog, I figured this would be the place to post my picks.

A quick recap of the NHL playoff system: The highest-seeded team in each conference plays the lowest-seeded team, the second-highest plays the second-lowest, and so on.  Each playoff series is best-of-seven, with the higher-seeded team hosting games 1, 2, 5, and 7; the lower-seeded team hosts games 3, 4, and 6.  The remaining teams are re-seeded after each round.

Playoff Rankings: 
Eastern Conference: 
1) Washington Capitals
2) New Jersey Devils
3) Buffalo Sabres
4) Pittsburgh Penguins
5) Ottawa Senators
6) Boston Bruins
7) Philadelphia Flyers
8) Montreal Canadiens

Western Conference:
1) San Jose Sharks
2) Chicago Blackhawks
3) Vancouver Canucks
4) Phoenix Coyotes
5) Detroit Red Wings
6) Los Angeles Kings
7) Nashville Predators
8) Colorado Avalanche

And now, without further ado, my picks:

Conference Quarterfinals:
Capitals over Canadiens in 4
Devils over Flyers in 6
Bruins over Sabres in 7
Penguins over Senators in 6

Sharks over Avalanche in 6
Blackhawks over Predators in 5
Canucks over Kings in 6
Red Wings over Coyotes in 7

Conference Semifinals:
Capitals over Bruins in 6
Devils over Penguins in 5

Red Wings over Sharks in 5
Blackhawks over Canucks in 7

Conference Finals:
Capitals over Devils in 4
Blackhawks over Red Wings in 5

Stanley Cup Final:
Blackhawks over Capitals in 6

Got different picks?  Comment with yours!  Happy Prognosticating (and GO PENS!!)

B-)

I Can't Believe It's Not...

Apparently, people in the neighborhood around Loyola don't use butter on their food anymore, because I went to both Primo's (one of Loyola's dining areas that also has a convenience store) and the Royal Farms down the street, and neither of them had sticks of real butter in their dairy cases.  All I could find were products that were similar to butter but weren't actually butter - I think the label on the packaging said something to the effect of "vegetable oil spread" or something like that.  Well, so much for baking cookies this weekend!  And this isn't the first time this has happened to me.  This one time last year, when I needed some butter to bake some cookies, neither Primo's, Royal Farms, nor the nearby CVS on York Road had anything not made with hydrogenated vegetable oil, and I ended up using this Blue Bonnet butter substitute in my cookies.  They came out all right, but it just bothered me that I wasn't using real butter.  Now, if I had the time, I could have gone to a grocery store and got a box of butter quite easily, but unfortunately, there are no supermarkets reasonably close to campus; the only way to get to a grocery store is to take the shuttle to the SuperFresh in Towson, and I just didn't have the time.  It just irks me that none of the places nearby had actual butter in stock.

Why the big deal, you ask?  It's simple - I like my foods with natural ingredients.  Sure, I pass on the organic produce to save money, but it's not like that tomato was synthesized from a bunch of chemicals - it still had to grow from a seed on its own, even if its DNA was altered a bit to make it better, so in my book, it's still natural.  But I draw the line when it comes to the choice between butter or margarine / butter substitutes.  From what I understand, the chemical make-up of margarine is only one molecule different from that of plastic, and I can usually tell by the smell and taste that it isn't real butter.  There's even been studies recently suggesting that consuming margarine can cause cancer.  Kinda ironic, since people who used margarine originally did so because they thought it was healthier than butter.  Health issues aside, I just feel kinda leery about imitation or artificially flavored foods - something about chemically synthesized food products just doesn't feel right with me.  It applies to a lot of things I buy - butter, sugar, vanilla extract, bacon bits, milk, and bread, just to name a few.  I guess it's just the fact that it's not the real thing that bothers me.  I like to know that I'm eating real food, and when I bake anything, I take a lot of pride in using natural ingredients, which is why I only use real butter in my cookies; otherwise I feel like I'm deceiving the people who eat them. 

That's why I'm a more than a little annoyed that I can't seem to find actual butter at any of the nearby stores lately.  When it comes to food, I like to know that what I'm buying actually is the product it's supposed to function as.  'Cause if it isn't the real thing, it's just hard to swallow - in more ways than one! 

B-)

She's Just Not That Into Me

Last night at Senior 75's, I discovered yet another of my pet peeves: guys who try to convince me that a certain female friend of theirs is into me when it's blatantly obvious she isn't.  Basically, a friend of some friends of mine is all like, "Dude, you should dance with this girl [pointing at her behind her back]; she really likes you!" but when I try to dance with her, she so coyly maneuvers away from me, so I'm thinking, okay, maybe she's just a little shy, and then this guy's like, "Seriously, man, she likes you!" while said girl is meanwhile dancing with him along with another girl whom this guy's implying is his girlfriend, and by this point I'm realizing that something just isn't jiving here, so I surreptitiously walk away from them.  Now, I can't really tell whether (a) this girl really does like me, but she's trying to mess with my mind, (b) this guy seriously believes, albeit mistakenly, that this girl is into me, or (c) he's lying to me outright.  Seriously, guys, cut the bull crap!  I've been burned too many times before because of people like you who think it's funny to play mind games with an introverted geek like myself who at 22 still can't even get a girl to have lunch with him.  Even a girl's female friends aren't entirely trustworthy, either, as I've learned from experience.  I'll believe that a girl is interested in me only when she tells me in person.  And even then, there's no way to tell if she really means it or not.  But that's for another post...

B-)

March Madness 2010 Bracket

Just filled out an NCAA March Madness bracket for the first time in several years, so I thought I'd share my picks.  I might note, however, that I know precisely squat about college basketball, so I'm just kinda going with my gut feelings.  Yes, I'm picking Clemson to win the championship; that's who I'm rooting for, since that's most likely where I'm going for grad school next year (are you reading this, WSU?  Where's my teaching assistantship already?), and it doesn't really make sense to bet on one team and root for another. 

So without further ado, here goes:

First Round: 

Kansas over Lehigh  
UNLV over Northern Iowa
Michigan State over New Mexico State  
Maryland over Houston
Tennessee over San Diego State
Georgetown over Ohio
Georgia Tech over Oklahoma State
Ohio State over UC Santa Barbara

Syracuse over Vermont
Gonzaga over Florida State
Butler over UTEP
Vanderbilt over Murray State
Minnesota over Xavier
Pittsburgh over Oakland
Florida over BYU
Kansas State over North Texas

Kentucky over East Tennessee State
Wake Forest over Texas
Temple over Cornell
Wisconsin over Wofford
Marquette over Washington
New Mexico over Montana
Clemson over Missouri
West Virginia over Morgan State

Duke over Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Louisville over California
Texas A & M over Utah State
Purdue over Siena
Notre Dame over Old Dominion
Baylor over Sam Houston
St. Mary's (CA) over Richmond
Villanova over Robert Morris

Second Round

Kansas over UNLV
Maryland over Michigan State
Tennessee over Georgetown
Ohio State over Georgia Tech

Syracuse over Gonzaga
Vanderbilt over Butler
Pittsburgh over Minnesota
Florida over Kansas State

Kentucky over Wake Forest
Temple over Wisconsin
New Mexico over Marquette
Clemson over West Virginia

Duke over Louisville
Purdue over Texas A & M
Baylor over Notre Dame
Villanova over St. Mary's

Regional Semifinals 

Maryland over Kansas
Tennessee over Ohio State
Vanderbilt over Syracuse
Pittsburgh over Florida
Kentucky over Temple
Clemson over New Mexico
Duke over Purdue
Villanova over Baylor

Regional Finals

Tennessee over Maryland
Pittsburgh over Vanderbilt
Clemson over Kentucky
Villanova over Duke

Semifinals
Pittsburgh over Tennessee
Clemson over Villanova

National Championship
Clemson over Pittsburgh

Good luck to all of you who are making your own brackets.  Hope you enjoy the games, and...


GO TIGERS!!!

With Apologies to xkcd

(The capital 'R' is too complicated to make using one's arms, so I had to settle for the lowercase 'r'.)

Procrastination

SPRING BREAAAAAAK!!!!! 

For me, it couldn't have come any sooner.  I've been so out of it these last couple weeks, and I didn't get as much accomplished as I should have.  Add to that the fact that I caught a cold last Thursday, and my motivation to do anything was reduced to absolute zero.  As much as I envy my classmates who are going somewhere warm / exciting over the break (where exactly is Punta Cana, anyway?), I'm glad to just be home and able to rest.  And I think that's what I mainly intend to do over the break - rest.

Sure, there's work to be done.  Anything math or physics, I can usually motivate myself to work on when I'm on vacation, since those are the subjects that I enjoy the most.  But when it comes to reading or writing, that's where I lapse into slug mode.  A couple weeks ago, Loyola canceled classes for an entire week because of the Snowpocalypse that descended upon Baltimore.  I thought I could use the time off to catch up on my schoolwork and get a head start on a paper for History that would have been due that week.  I spent pretty much every day trying to motivate myself to get off the internet and read the book that the paper was about.  But each day, I accomplished relatively nothing.  Not only that, I ended up wasting valuable time that I could have spent sleeping and / or doing something fun (I had planned to bake Valentine's cookies that weekend, but never got around to it until a few days ago), so my week off was neither productive nor enjoyable - a wasted week that I would kill to have back.  I ended up having to turn in the paper late because I couldn't get it done in time. 

This isn't the first time that I've agonized over an assignment many days before it was due, only to wind up having to do 90 % of it the night before it was due.  Last spring, I spent every day of finals week trying to take notes for my term paper for my English class, but each day, I accomplished very little.  I spent almost all day and all evening the day before it was due trying to take notes and finish organizing my thoughts, and I didn't start typing the actual paper until about 1 a.m.  The whole week was spent in a state of misery about not being able to go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. 

The point I'm trying to make here is, if you're like me and tend to procrastinate on things, don't worry about trying to get things done ahead of time, because you know you're just going to end up doing it all at the last minute anyway.  If you actually have the motivation to work, by all means, go ahead, but if you don't get everything accomplished that you wanted to over the break, don't stress about it.  It's called Spring Break for a reason.  Enjoy your time off.  If you spend your entire break agonizing over your schoolwork, not only will you feel depressed when you don't get anything done, but you'll also regret not having done anything fun when you had the chance.  In the words of Ellen DeGeneres, "Procrastinate now, while there's still time.  Don't put it off til the last minute."

Hope you all have a fun, relaxing, and rewarding Spring Break!

B-)

Miracle on Ice

I finally got to watch a little bit of the Olympics this afternoon.  Until today, I hadn't been able to watch any of it at all because either a) I've been too busy, or b) my roommate had control of the TV in our apartment.  But today, I was able to watch most of the men's hockey quarterfinal between the USA and Switzerland.  (I didn't get to see the final ten minutes, though, because I had to go to work.)  I was glad that the USA won, and I'd really like to see us bring home the gold medal, but if we do win, even though we've got a pretty young team, it's never going to be as special of a moment as the 1980 Miracle on Ice was.  For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the USA men's hockey team, who were major underdogs that year, won the gold medal, and along the way, they pulled off a stunning upset over the heavily favored team from the USSR, which had dominated the hockey scene for the last two decades (the story was retold in the 2004 movie Miracle starring Kurt Russell).  The way I see it, there's never going to be another moment in Olympic history that can top that one.  You want to know why?  It's because the Olympics teams in almost every sport today are heavily loaded with professional players.  Until recently, players in the NHL, NBA, and MLB were barred from playing in the Olympics, and personally, I think it should have stayed that way.  Most of the teams that win the medals these days consist almost entirely of professional players.  And since it's highly unlikely that the Olympics will go back to the way it was, no victory will ever be as sweet as that of the USA over the USSR in 1980.  Just think about it - a ragtag group of young amateur players rallying against all odds to defeat what was without a doubt the best team of its time - a victory not only on the ice, but also a victory for democracy, a victory for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.  There's no way you can ever top that.  The Miracle on Ice was named the Greatest Sports Moment of the 20th Century by Sports Illustrated, and unless the Olympics goes back to restricting team rosters to amateur players, it will forever remain the greatest sports moment of all time.

B-)

An Anniversary Tribute

I'd like to take this opportunity tonight to give a shout-out to my good friend and former roommate, Charles "C.G. Wacko" Clark and his blog, The Wacko Monologues, which celebrated its one-year anniversary today.  Charles, a writing major at Loyola, promotes his blog as "A Place for  Insight, Humor, and Breaking Taboos", and his posts run the gamut from opinions on the issues of the day, to insights into his own life, to samples of his own creative writing.  I started following the Monologues last summer, and it was the main inspiration for me to create MikeSpace last fall, as it really opened me up to the idea of using a blog to express ideas that would otherwise remain trapped in my head just waiting to get out.  The idea to make a Facebook fan page for my blog also came from Charles, and I continually look to his blog for guidance on how to improve my own - both the idea to link the posts on my Facebook page directly to MikeSpace's Blogspot page and the Visitor Counter were borrowed from The Wacko Monologues.  If you get the chance, check out Charles' work at http://thewackomonologues.blogspot.com; he usually posts several times a week, and his writing is always entertaining and often makes you think in ways you never would have thought before. 

Charles, allow me to thank you for inspiring me to not be afraid to express myself.  Congratulations on the one-year anniversary of The Wacko Monologues, and here's to many more - may they be even more successful than the first!  I look forward to reading and enjoying your work for hopefully many years to come!

To conclude like the Master himself...

"Word."

B-)

"All You Single Ladies (and Fellas)!"

Valentine's Day... without a doubt my least favorite day of the year.  To me, it's more like Single Awareness Day.  Seriously, seeing / reading about everyone who's enjoying a special day with their special someone just makes feel even more depressed about my inability to find a girlfriend.  It's been like this for me every year since middle school.  And when you get to college and become more independent, it gets even worse.  You wanna know how sad my love life is?  I can't even get a girl to have lunch with me, let alone establish a long-term relationship.

Usually, I'll spend the day baking Valentine's cookies.  But today, I didn't do anything at all, mainly because I have not been able to motivate myself to do anything all week, and today I was particularly lethargic.  I thought about inviting a female friend or two over for dinner, but I just couldn't decide who.  I eventually decided it wasn't worth making only a half-ass effort, and decided to put off any potential Valentine's Day plans I had until next weekend, when I have more time and am in a better mental state to do so.

But the reality is, I'm not really sure if I'm that much in love anymore.  You see, there's this girl that I've had a crush on since sophomore year.  We had a whole bunch of classes together and used to spend many an evening working on homework together.  During our junior year, I really thought we had something going between us.  By summertime, I knew that my feelings for her were more than just a childish crush.  I really felt like she was the one I'd been waiting for all these years.  Put simply, I truly believed that she was my soulmate.

All summer, I kept counting down the days til I got back to Loyola and could see her once again.  I had made up my mind that during our senior year, I would do everything I could to indicate to her my interest in being more than just friends.  I figured that if we started dating early enough in the year, maybe by graduation our relationship would become strong enough that I could consider popping the question around graduation time.  But then the harsh winds of reality blew in to scatter all of my hopes and dreams.  The first time I saw her this year, at Senior 250's, she said hi, but then avoided me for the rest of the night.  I tried several times after that to ask her out on a date - well, technically, I never actually asked her out; I just asked if she had a free night that weekend - but it seemed that she was always too busy for me.  I tried one more time last January, but this time, she never even bothered to return my message.

And then, a couple weeks ago at the Bull and Oyster Roast, I ran into another girl whom I knew just casually but hadn't seen in a long time, and I had a really good time with her that evening.  She seemed somewhat interested when I suggested the possibility of dinner, and even gave me her phone number.  The thing is, though, I really can't tell if I actually have a chance with her, or if it was just the alcohol talking.

So now I'm in a pretty difficult quandary.  I still have feelings for the first girl, and I still have hope that I can reignite the passion that I once had for her - I mean, we know each other well enough that I still believe it's possible - but lately I've been having these really strong feelings for the second girl, even though I don't know for certain if she would reciprocate said feelings in a sober state.  I just can't decide which one I should ask out.

The problem now is, I'm only three months away from graduating, and the three grad schools that I'm considering (Washington State, Clemson, and Tennessee) are all considerably far away.  So if I did manage to find a girlfriend within these next three months, I'm not even sure if a relationship would last long enough to be worth even trying.  I highly doubt that I could maintain a long-distance relationship, and I really wouldn't want to inconvenience my girlfriend by making her relocate somewhere with me, because I'm sure she has career plans for after graduation.  With that in mind, I guess I'm kinda looking for a relationship with a girl who really has the potential to become my wife.  But y'know, maybe that girl isn't here at Loyola right now, but somewhere in the future in some other place.  It's a pretty big world out there, and more than half of its population is female.  I've got my whole life to find that special someone, so right now, I may as well just try to find someone with whom I can enjoy the three months that I've got left here at Loyola.  I have a few in mind, but I'm open to pretty much any girl who might be interested. 

I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to ramble like this, but I just needed to vent, which is the reason I started this blog to begin with.  Thank you all for hearing me out, and to all my single friends out there in Reader Land, I wish you as happy a Single Awareness Day as it can possibly be.  Here's to us Singletons - let's raise our glasses and our heads high, and hope that we have better luck next year!

B-)

Teabagging

As many of you who've lived with me or had class with me can attest, I have been a Cokehead for the last several years.  No, not crack cocaine - Coca-Cola.  You see, I don't sleep very well at night anymore, so I'm always dead tired throughout the day and need caffeine.  I don't like to resort to coffee unless I'm pulling an all-nighter, because it has way more caffeine than I need and really works a number on my excretory system (I won't gross you out with all the specific details).  Therefore, I would always get my caffeine fix from soft drinks.  But not just any soft drinks.  My soft drink of choice was - and still is - Coca-Cola.  For one, it tastes much better than Pepsi does, and since LoCo only sells Pepsi products, it's kinda like my way of fighting the system, y'know what I mean?  Also, Coke is much better for dealing with the headaches that I often get.  This is because it was originally invented as a headache medication.  Seriously.  The only reason it became a soft drink instead was because the guy accidentally added carbonated water instead of regular water.

But a couple weeks ago, I replaced Coke with green tea as my caffeinated beverage of choice.  I've found quite a few good reasons for doing so:

1) Green tea is a lot healthier than Coke.  For one thing, there's a lot less sugar and artificial sweeteners.  Plus, green tea is high in antioxidants, which (help me on this, all you bio / premed people!) help reduce the risk of cancer. 

2) Green tea is a lot cheaper.  I got a box of 40 tea bags for $3.99, compared with $4-5 for a 12-pack of Coke.  That cuts my spending on beverages by about 70%, which is great news when you're practically broke like I am. 

3) Green tea doesn't give me as much of the side effects that Coke did.  I mean, you'll probably have to use the restroom in a short while after drinking it, as is the case with any caffeinated beverage, but because green tea doesn't have the carbonation or acidity that Coca-Cola has, it doesn't bloat my stomach as much.  Also, though Coke tastes good when you drink it, I've always found that it left a bad aftertaste in my mouth and left my teeth feeling sticky.  With green tea, I haven't had these problems.

4) Tea is good at any temperature.  On cold days like these, I find a warm cup of tea to be much more rejuvenating than a cold can of Coke.  And on a hot day, you can cool down with a glass of iced tea.  As for Coke, it only tastes good when it's cold.  It just doesn't taste as good when it's warm.

5) Green tea is more organic / natural than Coke.  Sure, it takes a few extra minutes to heat a cup of water and soak a tea bag.  But in then end, aren't you glad to be drinking something that wasn't processed in a factory as much and doesn't have all those added artificial compounds whose names only bio / chem majors can pronounce?  And if you're worried about the portability of a drink of green tea, just do what I do: heat a mug of water in the microwave, pour it into a thermos, toss in a tea bag, snap on the lid, and you're good to go.  As long as you don't drink directly out of the mug, you only have to wash the thermos, since the mug had only water in it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not quitting Coke cold turkey.  I still plan to indulge in a glass or two every once in a while.  But for my daily caffeine fix, I've found that green tea is a much healthier and more economical alternative.  So won't you join me for a cup or two?  It'll be a jolly good time!

B-)

Snow Day Song

(A song I learned in first grade, modified slightly to reflect my current location.  Feel free to replace "Loyola University" with the name of your own school or workplace.)  

Snow, snow,
Beautiful snow,
I hope it piles up high this year! 
Snow, snow,
Beautiful snow,
I hope it piles right up to here!   [reach high above head]
Snow days are better than other days off...
I like the surprise, I suppose...
I like to wake up, and hear the radio say,
"Loyola University's closed today!" 
Snow, snow,
Beautiful snow,
Don't disappoint me, I pray! 
I'll be waiting every morning for those wonderful words:
"Go back to sleep!   [clap clap]
It's a snow day!"  

Superbowl Halftime Shows

Ever notice that the last few Superbowl halftime shows have all been older people or bands?  I mean, look at the lineup of the last few:

Superbowl XXXIX (2005): Paul McCartney
Superbowl XL (2006): The Rolling Stones
Superbowl XLI (2007): Prince
Superbowl XLII (2008): Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Superbowl XLIII (2009): Bruce Springsteen

And this year's show will feature The Who.  Every year, when they announce the performer for the Superbowl halftime show, I always find myself saying, "Yeah, that's cool, but next year, can we please get someone a little more current?"  I mean, these are artists that our parents grew up listening to!

Ever since Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during Superbowl XXXVIII, there has not been a Superbowl halftime performer from after 1990, and that date is a pretty conservative estimate.  It's like they're afraid that the current class of top performing artists are too inappropriate for family viewing.  I beg to differ.  I can name quite a few popular artists from the last decade whom I believe are capable of performing a decent halftime show without being too provocative: Bon Jovi, Nickelback (at least, most of their more popular songs are clean), Daughtry (who gave a great halftime performance last Thanksgiving), Creed, Barenaked Ladies, Matchbox 20, Linkin Park, 3 Doors Down, Live, almost anyone on the country music scene, and even a few somewhat older but still relatively current artists like Billy Joel, Phil Collins, the Police, and Aerosmith.

Okay, so you might argue that the scope of my choices is rather limited.  I acknowledge that I mostly named the music that I like to listen too.  I guess the reason I'm complaining this evening is just a matter of my personal tastes in music.  In my estimation, about 95% of the music that I listen to is from the last few years, and is heavily weighted toward contemporary rock.  When I was at Tennessee this summer, one of my roommates was really into The Beatles, Jethro Tull, Yes, Pearl Jam, and Michael Jackson, among others.  His library had minimal music from the late 90's or the '00's.  My other roommate's library and mine had only one album by Switchfoot in common; everything else was from artists that I'd never even heard of.  They both groaned when I told them that my favorite band is Nickelback.  And the two of them always seemed to monopolize the music that was playing in our apartment.  One of my current roommates at LoCo is into the Beatles and classic rock, and another lives and dies by hip-hop.  In fact, out of all of the guys that I've lived with over the last few years, I can only recall two whose tastes in music were even remotely similar to mine.   Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against any of their music.  It's just that I could only listen to it for a short while before I needed to hear some of my own music. 

Now, I acknowledge that the post-Janet halftime shows have for the most part been of better quality than the ones in the past.  But I don't think it was because of who was performing as much as it was the format of the show itself.  When I think about it, the only thing about the Superbowl XVIII halftime show that was memorable (for lack of a better word) was the wardrobe malfunction, and that's not a positive note.  The rest of the show just stunk.  The emphasis seemed to be more on theatrics, dancing, and noise than on actual music.  I had bad feelings about the show when they first announced the last-second addition of Justin Timberlake to the lineup (ever since N*Sync broke up, he seemed to have let his libido run out of control, though I think he's toned it down a little since then).  But what really ruined the show, in my opinion, was the mash-up of bits and pieces a whole bunch of songs from a whole bunch of artists.  For a good halftime show, just keep it simple: one artist or band playing just a few of their most popular songs in their entirety.  You have to play the entire song - not just a little snippet or one verse - for the audience to really feel it.  But what really makes a good halftime show is the actual performance of the music - i.e., how well they play and sing.  Lighting and stage effects can turn a good performance of music into a kick-ass halftime show, but all of that goes for naught if the music is lousy to begin with.  I guess the reason you don't really see  hip-hop or death metal in the Superbowl halftime show is because the older generations of viewers can't really relate to that kind of music.  I have yet to meet a middle-aged person who blasts Jay-Z from his car's speakers.

And y'know, with the exception of the Rolling Stones (they're way too old to be dancing around on stage like that, and the midriff shirts just aren't doing it for Mick Jagger!), I actually enjoyed all of the post-wardrobe malfunction Superbowl halftime performances.  Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen were actually a lot better than I had expected, and I really got into the performances, even swaying along and waving my cell phone with the music, which caused my friends to think I was a tad off my rocker.  I guess I enjoyed these shows more because I had low expectations about them beforehand.  The last few halftime shows have been far from disappointing, and I'm sure I'll enjoy watching The Who perform next Sunday, but I don't think it would hurt to have someone just a little more current for next year's halftime show.

B-)

Conference Championship Predictions

Figured I'd weigh in on the upcoming NFL Conference Championship games this Sunday.  Now, I know that some of you out there in Reader Land follow sports a lot more intently than I do, and I don't pretend to be nearly as knowledgeable about all the ins and outs of sports as you guys are, but I still have my opinions, and feel the need to share them.  I'm just telling it the way I see it from my limited perspective.  Y'all are more than welcome to comment with your own opinions; all I ask is that you please do so in a respectful manner.  I mean, hey, what do I know?  I went 0-for-4 in my predictions last weekend. 

All right, enough rambling.  I'll start with the easier game to predict. 

NFC Championship: Vikings at Saints
On paper, both of these teams are pretty well-rounded.  Both Minnesota and New Orleans have Pro-Bowl quarterbacks in Brett Favre and Drew Brees, as well as a respectable, if not high-end, corps of receivers (Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian, and Visanthe Shiancoe for Minnesota; Robert Meachem, Marques Colston, and Devery Henderson for New Orleans).  Both of these teams, though, can also get things done on the ground when necessary - Adrian Peterson has been a beast for the Vikes all season long, and Reggie Bush certainly made the Saints glad they drafted him in '06 in the Divisional Round against Arizona.  But as the saying goes, "Defense Wins Championships", and both defenses will have their hands full with the opposing offenses, though they both seem to be up to the task.  The Vikings have without a doubt one of the most fearsome D's in the NFL, fronted by Jared Allen and the Williams Wall.  I'm tempted to pick the Vikings at first, but don't count out the Saints' defense despite the team's struggles in December.  They did, after all, hold Arizona, a team that put up 51 points against one of the league's top defenses in the Wild Card Round, to just 14 points.  In the end, the offenses and defenses kind of balance each other out, and though both of these teams are used to playing indoors, I'm going to have to pick the Saints, simply because it's in New Orleans and they'll have the crowd on their side.  At any rate, this is certainly a game that I am looking forward to watching. 
Saints 26, Vikings 17.  

AFC Championship: Jets at Colts
First off, these were two of the last teams that I expected to see playing for a trip to Miami.  While the Colts had the best regular-season record in the league, their defense has been rather suspect, and all of the games that they won against competitive teams came down to a few fortunate bounces.  But that wasn't the case last week, as they held Baltimore to just a single field goal, keeping the mighty Ray Rice out of the end zone, and put up 20 on a Ravens team that has been historically one of the best when it comes to defense.  The Jets, meanwhile, seem to have been lucky to have even made the playoffs at all - it was only because the Colts practically handed them the game on a silver platter in Week 16.  This team has a lot of similarities to the 2004 Steelers - a sensational rookie QB, backed up by a rushing offense and a defense that were near the top, if not the best in the league.  One can argue that the Jets' beat San Diego only because Chargers kicker Nate "Baby Face" Kaeding consistently chokes in the playoffs.  But you gotta give a lot of credit to the Jets' defense for keeping them in the game against a very well-rounded Chargers team that had won eleven in a row.  I had predicted a humiliating loss for the Jets, but after seeing them last Sunday, I'm now a believer in the Gang Green.  Now, Mark Sanchez is no Ben Roethlisberger, and to say that would not have been a compliment in the regular season, but in the postseason, that's a good thing, because unlike Big Ben in his rookie year, Sanchez has shown a lot more poise under fire in the previous two rounds.  History is not on Mark Sanchez's side - no rookie QB has ever won a Superbowl, and (correct me if I'm wrong) only one (Dan Marino) has even made it to the Superbowl - but there's a first time for everything.  And as far as defense goes, the Colts aren't exactly the 2004 New England Patriots.  This has been without a doubt the most difficult game for me to pick in all my years of pigskin prognostication, and I kept flip-flopping between the two teams, but I think I finally have my answer.  Though I won't be surprised if I'm horribly wrong, with all due apologies to my roommate...
Jets 23, Colts 21. 

A Matter of Perspective

So I was reading the Greyhound (LoCo's student newspaper) last night, when I came across an opinion piece about Lane Kiffin leaving his job as head coach at the University of Tennessee to take the head coaching job at Southern Cal.  Normally, I tend to just skim over the headlines in the sports section, but this article caught my interest because I spent last summer at UT and am applying there for grad school, and remembered the excitement that was in the air when they hired Kiffin last year, so I read on.  The article's author makes a valid point about Kiffin taking advantage of a prestigious and highly coveted job opportunity, and how the fans might be taking it a little too personally.  The only thing I found wrong in the article was the line "The man is trying to support his family."  Which brings me to the point of today's post:  In the business of athletics, family is NOT a legitimate excuse for leaving a team for more money when you already make seven-plus figures a year.  I remember sportswriters using the same excuse  in 2008 to justify Ryan Malone leaving the Penguins for the Lightning.  Sorry, but that just doesn't wash with me.

Let me put things in perspective:  For the last few years, my family has been struggling just to make ends meet.  Both my parents work part-time, my dad having only recently found a job after four years of unemployment.  On top of all the bills and living expenses, they have to find some way to put both my sister and me through college.  The fact that I'm still at Loyola and not at some community college is all the proof I need of the existence of God.  My parents have completely drained their retirement funds.  I myself am down to my last $300, which will probably be used up in the next month on groceries and an application fee for a grad school that I might apply to.  I have worn the same pair of glasses for the last five or six years and badly need new ones, but that's gone by the wayside what with my dad having to replace his computer and my sister needing surgery on her toe, among other things.  I'm probably going to need a car when I go off to grad school, but I don't know how the heck I'm going to pay for it.  I have a job as a tutor, but it doesn't pay jack squat. 

You get the picture.  The point I'm trying to make is, if I had a wife and kids to support, I think I could live pretty comfortably on even $100,000 a year, a figure which I highly doubt that a college professor would ever come close to making.  According to the Greyhound article, Kiffin was making upwards of $2 million a year at Tennessee, and his new job at USC will bring in $3 million per annum.  Are his wife and kids really going to die without that extra million dollars?  In my humble opinion, he was already making enough to live pretty comfortably.  From that perspective, is one million dollars worth the shame of betraying all those fans who put their complete trust in you?  It's one thing to cite the need to support one's family when that extra money legitimately means the difference between a real house and the poorhouse.  It's quite another to say it when you already make more than you really need.

Loyola's Lousy Job of Planning

This afternoon, I was just about to leave my apartment to catch the CollegeTown Shuttle to the SuperFresh in Towson to pick up some much-needed groceries, when I realized that the shuttle isn't running this weekend.  Why?  Because Loyola decided to start their semester a week earlier than all the other colleges in the area.  It just keeps getting earlier and earlier every year.  My freshman year, we didn't start until after MLK day, but each year, we've been starting earlier and earlier.  This year, we started the second week in January, which is the earliest it's been yet.  Using the NFL playoff schedule as a baseline, it's the first time that I had to go back to Loyola during Wild Card weekend.

Frankly, I don't understand why Loyola feels the need to start earlier than everyone else.  It's just throwing everything off.  The shuttle doesn't run this week because none of the other schools are back in session, so I can't go grocery shopping because I don't have a car and none of my so-called "friends" are willing to lend a hand.  Loyola students who are taking classes at other schools are probably going to be thrown off a bit by having one of their classes start and end a week later than the rest of their classes, which could pose a problem when finals week comes around, meaning they might have to miss classes to take their finals at Loyola, not to mention the hassle it's going to cause for graduating seniors.  It also means our Spring Break is a week earlier than everyone else's, which really means nothing to me, since I'm not really of the partying type, but for those who do head for the beaches during Spring Break, I'm sure it's gotta suck that most of your colleagues are still in school and can't celebrate with you.  It's not just the other colleges in Baltimore that start later than us, but most colleges anywhere, it seems; my sister, who goes to Ithaca, is still at home for a few more days, and she's still going back earlier than the rest of her classmates.  Furthermore, if Loyola started and ended when everyone else did, we wouldn't have to worry about having our graduation on the same weekend as the Preakness, as it's been for the last several years.  It was convenient four years ago, when they had Bob Costas as the commencement speaker, but for relatives trying to book a hotel for the weekend, it's going to be a biz-atch.  What's really irritating is that Loyola even acknowledged that they knew about this on the letter they sent to parents of graduating seniors a few months ago. 

Okay, I think I'm done ranting for now.  I was just a bit p.o.'d because I was planning to cook dinner this evening, but can't because I couldn't go shopping for the ingredients I needed.  I can always order groceries online, but I have to do it a day ahead of time, and it costs an extra $10 that my broke ass really needs to save right now.  Whatcha gonna do?...

BCS

One of the great things about being in college is that, unlike when I was in high school, I can actually watch most of the Bowl games without having to worry about finishing piles of homework assigned to me over the Christmas so-called "break".  But with every Bowl season comes the traditional complaints about how college football needs to institute a playoff system to determine the real national champion.  And I couldn't agree more.  BCS, in my humble opinion, stands for Bull-Crap System.  The two teams playing for the national title should have to earn the right to do so, not be determined by some arbitrary ranking system.  My family and I are all fans of Penn State (my dad's alma mater), and for the last two years, I've been pretty excited watching the Nittany Lions work their way up the rankings with one win after another.  They even made it as far as # 3 in 2008.  But for the last two seasons, PSU's hopes of being able to play in the National Title Game were dashed to pieces with heart-breaking losses to Iowa (who, by the way, beat Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl this evening... darn!).  At that point, I kind of stopped following Penn State as intently, because I knew that they wouldn't have a chance to win a national championship.  While I'm glad that Penn State beat LSU last week in the Capitol One Bowl (what the crap is with all the corporate names, anyway?), it really doesn't mean anything for me as a fan.  It just proved that they could beat LSU, that they could win one game, but it says absolutely nothing about how good of a team they really are compared to all the other teams.

Every football fan in the country wants a playoff system in college football.  It's just the sensible thing to do.  Every other sport determines its champion with a tournament-style system, so college football should be no exception.  You might argue that adding several playoff games to a team's season might take its toll on the players.  But consider this: while most college teams that play in a bowl game end up playing 13 or 14 games total in a season, winning a state championship requires most high school teams to play about 15 or 16 games in a season in order to get there.  If high school players are tough enough to play that many games, I think college players should also be able to handle a season of similar length.  Additionally, a playoff system would give teams extra motivation to continue playing at a higher level throughout the season, even with a loss or two on their records. 

Only one major counter-argument remains: the corporate sponsors.  That's basically the only reason that we still have the BCS - so the executives, corporations, and local tourism industries can make tons of money from their respective Bowl games.  Maybe it's me, but all of these corporate names for Bowl games are just a tad ludicrous.  Every Bowl now has a brand name in front of it (e.g., the FedEx Orange Bowl, the AllState Sugar Bowl, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the Rose Bowl presented by Citi), with some having their original name completely replaced with a corporate one, such as the Capitol One Bowl (formerly the Citrus Bowl) or my personal favorite, the Papa John's.com Bowl (they just had to add the dot-com in there!)

That's why tonight, I propose a solution that will exorcise the BCS demons from college football once and for all: have a playoff system, but have the playoff games at the sites where the Bowl games would be played.  The National Championship Game would rotate from place to place every year like it does currently, but we could have the semi-final games in Miami (where the Orange Bowl is) and Pasadena (where the Rose Bowl is); the quarter-final games in Arizona (Fiesta Bowl), New Orleans (Sugar Bowl),  Texas (Cotton Bowl), and Orlando (Capitol One Bowl); and so on.  That way, the fans get their playoff system, and the sponsors still get their money.  Everybody wins!  So with this feasible solution in front of us, I believe it's high time that President Obama make good on the campaign promise he made on Monday Night Football and work to establish a playoff system in college football.  Because in the end, it just makes sense!

B-)