NewSc2

I needed some office supplies (cardboard file folder boxes, apparently they’re called “Bankers Boxes”), so to Amazon.com I went. And tacked on a few more books to the order.

Without further ado:

Fellowes Bankers Box 4-pack
Solemate Adjustable Foot-Rest
Razer DeathAdder 3G Gaming Mous
Chuck Klosterman - Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
Johann Fux - The Study of Counterpoint (Counterpoint wiki)
Ron Gorow - Hearing and Writing Music
William Russo - Composing Music: A New Approach

The mouse is awesome–it feels like an upgraded Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer (heavier, better tracking, glides easier). I needed a more sensitive mouse to track around the 30″ monitor.

The footrest is taking a bit of time to get used to… I usually use a subwoofer or a box of some sort as a footrest, and this is the first one I’ve bought that is actually shaped like a real footrest to rest your feet on. Sitting in an upright, non-slouching position is, um, weird.

Been reading Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs — I’m on the 3rd essay. It’s been a good read, kind of emo so far, but I am in the emo section of the book.

Oh, and of course, the bankers boxes. Those came in handy.

I’m an unabashed fan of Bill Simmons. Ever since his Spelling Bee article I’ve been a steady fan, and with other golden articles like the Anchorman-NBA parallels, he’s become one of my favorite writers.

Simmons’ latest NFL Week 2 Predictions article was a pretty disjointed ramble (he even admits it to start), but there was a little gem in the Sports Gal’s Rant (Simmons’ wife writes a weekly entry during the NFL season):

Bill has a rare talent for illuminating issues that are sitting right there, only the average person never notices them. For example, Bill hates “The Hills” and thinks it’s scripted, but somehow ends up around the TV every time I’m watching it. Last week, I (we) was (were) watching the episode where LC and Audrina were arguing about their deteriorating relationship. So the Illuminator says, “The real problem here is that both of them are pursuers and not pursuees.”

Of course, he stole the pursuer/pursuee theory from me, but he was right. I have always said that female friends are “pursuers” or “pursuees.” I am a “pursuee.” You have to pursue me to be my friend. I don’t like planning things or calling people, I’m bad at returning e-mails and will absolutely let four months pass without you hearing from me. That’s why I usually stay in touch with “pursuers.” They are the ones who like to plan everything and be in charge. Pursuers plan Vegas weekends or baby showers; pursuees just show up. The problem is that two pursuees can’t be friends because neither of them ever calls the other one! Like, Bill always gets mad that I don’t hang out more with my friend Lynette (we both love music and we’re both easy-going), but she’s even harder to chase down than I am. I wish there was a Web service (pursuer.com?) that could organize lunches and buy concert tickets for us. Then I’d see her more!

The rant goes on a bit more, but the jist of it is there. Anyway, it got me thinking — am I a pursuer or a pursuee?

I think I was more of a pursuer when I was in high school — I took all those AP classes, set up SAT schooling myself and took on extra-curriculars because I could. Junior year was class from 6:15am-5pm (Newspaper, 5 AP’s and precalc, and Culinary Arts), SAT schooling on weekends, and KIWIN’s in whatever time I had free.

College? Not so much. Lazied out. Smoked too much, probably.

I’ve also acted like a pursuee in relationships.

Nowadays, I’m getting back into a pursuer groove, in certain areas. I’ve been picking up a lot of hobbies and reading and music, and also at work I’ve taken up more authority. I’ve been planning more get-togethers and going-outs with friends. 

Sometimes I’d feel like I was the only one planning and acting gung-ho about arranging trips… like I was the only one interested in going and everybody would just tag along. But I’ll chalk that up to pursuees now. I don’t like pushing people to do things, but if in the end they don’t mind and plans come through, maybe it’s for the better?

I’ve begun to realize progress comes in slow and steady chunks (learned that from working out consistently), and also in being very selective on what to pursue (picked that up from DJing). Not trying hard and stopping when results don’t come. Not settling for mediocrity.

We’ll see where this takes me.

Editor’s Note: What a horribly written post. I need to re-read a couple chapters in On Writing Well…

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

I think it was Vonnegut who said something about not using cliches or common sayings while writing. Oh well… when in Rome…

The Apple “Let’s Rock!” event came and went today, and new iPods were introduced across the line. Which is cool — my Nike+iPod just refuses to work with my old iPod nano, so I’ve been thinking about an upgrade. But the iPod refresh just made my decision all the more difficult… the new iPod touch comes with a built-in Nike+ receiver… Considering I already have an iPhone, having something so similar is overkill, but the Nike+ receiver is one more thing I need to latch onto the iPod nano… and do I really need a new iPod? Nah..

Anyway, the Apple site has a really pretty picture of the iPod nanos:

Of course, I’d just finished the latest Taccia catalog sheets, and well, I sort of noticed some similarities:

I’m still impressed by the sheet I did, though. If I told myself 3 years ago that I’d be making catalog sheets that look vaguely similar to what Apple’s front page looks like, I’d.. I’d cream my pants be very happy.

So I bought Amazon Prime (and I love it, it’s like a Costco membership). Every month for the past couple months I’ve been putting together an Amazon order.

For September:

Bertrand Russell - A History of Western Philosophy
The Remixer’s Bible: Build Better Beats
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
Investing for Dummies, 5th Edition
Douglas Adams - Restaurant at the End of the Universe 
Douglas Adams - Life, the Universe, and Everything
The Te of Piglet

Finished Restaurant at the End of the Universe (great book), currently reading Life, the Universe, and Everything, On Writing Well (great book, hopefully my blog posts improve), A History of Western Philosophy (it’s sooo boring long) and The Remixer’s Bible. 

So you know what that means. Longer nights (yay!).

For those who don’t know me well — I’m a vampire. When the sun goes down my mind wakes up, and it’s during these hours I read, enjoy good company through IM boxes, meditate, get motivated to work on music, study, plan my life out… all the good stuff.

In a schedule without deadlines, the only one I can set for myself is the one where I stop fighting consciousness and fall asleep.

This summer’s been pretty eventful, and I have a lot of pictures to upload. I’ve been meaning to post-date some blog entries, but I think I’ll end up doing a summary of this summer’s events in a future post.