Am I cold?

Well, it's the time of year where the average daily temperature is not in the 70's. Oh dear, the pain of living in the midwest.

That said, my outfit has not changed. A graphic t-shirt, loose unbuttoned button-down over-shirt, shorts or pants, and shoes made of some sort of leather (topsiders or moccasins). This outfit is not well-equiped to handle the great outdoors, it would seem. In fact, walking around, many various bundled people ask me the same question: "Arn't you cold?". They ask it from within layers of wool, cotton, and fleece. "Arn't you cold?"

Well, I have two answers to that question.

No:
Honestly, sometimes I am not that cold. I have always favored the winter seasons when I grew up on the east coast, and I played hockey throughout my life. In high-school, this involved a drive to the rink (My car's heater does not work), before walking to into the rink (no heating), and to the locker room, where finally the weather was the pleasant side of 32. Then getting dressed in wet (and smelly) equipment before getting on the ice, which is kept at 16 degrees or below (a rink does't have much heating ability). In fact, the rinks heaters were not on this early, and the showers after the freezing hour and a half were below-freezing. This is no hyperbole: ice literally formed by the drains. Then get dressed, walk to the lobby and eat, get in the car and drive, and walk into the school to experience something above 50 degrees for the first time since waking up, hours earlier. This happened twice every week for 3 years.

So I am used to the cold. And It was cold. I complained and bitched about it right beside everyone else. It was cold, but what could you do? Answer: Mutter profanity under your breath. But this re-adjusted my personal reference scale as to what is and what is not cold. And sometimes when I am wearing a t-shirt and shorts during 47 degree weather, I don't actually think that it's cold.

Yes:
OK, so its below 40 degrees, and my own lifestyle dictates that I may acknowledge the cold. But I will not complain about it. A personal creed, a vow I took with myself after I stopped playing hockey. I will not complain about the cold. Cold is my annual experience of asceticism. It is the one bad-ass, tough thing that I have, the only tough thing I really do. I don't complain about getting cold. Combine this with my high tolerance, and my joy of making a point of these things, and a few friends think I am a freak. In regards to "making a point", I once walked around through the snow barefoot a little while just to prove to a friend that I could. (He had taken my literally when I had said: "I'm not wearing a jacket because I don't get cold". No, I do get cold. But I am still totally willing to convince a friend that I don't. I will gladly take the role of my campus's Wim Hof. I may not (yet) be a master of Tummo meditation, but I will (on my honor) not complain about being cold.

So am I cold? No. Of course not. I don't get cold.

A note for my mother:
I am not going hiking or camping. I am walking to class. These are 10 minute walks outside. A jacket is large and annoying to carry around, for I am inside for most of the day. And any time that I am outside? I am not cold enough or in pain for a long enough period of time to warrant a jacket. It just isn't worth it.

Greek God and Goddess

A letter to the class of 2062

The following letter will be saved to a floppy disk and placed in a time capsule to be opened 50 years from now.

Honestly, we expect things have changed more than they will. We want change and miraculousness, but things are probably about the same. Sure, technology may (ok, probably) has improved, clothing will be different, and the Rolling Stones might have died off, but for the most part, we live the same lives. The context around our lives may be drastically different, but there are far more similarities than historians or evolutionary psychologists give credit. Bureaucracy is frustratingly inefficient, taxes are unfair, and Nicholas Cages acting ability is underappreciated. Popular music seems shallow and nobody can ever quite seem to understand exactly what troubles you are going through. The Israelis and Palestinians will still be fighting (or all dead).  Bitches be crazy, men be idiots, but we continue dancing along, going through the motions. You will find yourself waking up earlier and staying up later for stupider and stupider reasons. Things are going to be OK in end, and you will be rewarded for your efforts. Unless you die of alcohol poisoning, as us DePauw students are want to do.

Some Questions for you, future person:
- Dude Chuck Norris die? If so, how totally bad ass was his death?
- Did the 9/11 monument at ground zero get completed? People better still be remembering that. (Just like I still remember the Alamo. Respect)
- Have we been to the moon again, yet?
- Did we ever figure out what was wrong with Lady GaGa?
- As a child, I was able to eat insane quantities of unhealthy candy and sugar. Is this still possible, or are you guys all "healthy"?
- Is California still attached?

And some notes on things that may be skewed historically:
- Politics is an innane process where you can buy your way into power, lobby for what you want for and appearance/oratory is everything. You don't need to know anything abut how the world works to run it, you merely need to be persuasive and have a good smile. Lets hope this has changed.
- Charlie Sheen wasn't (isn't) that crazy
- Michael Jackson wasn't that adored (until his death)
- People sometimes say acronyms out loud. We do this because of how much we "txt" each other, which is all of the time. It's kind of weird but I beli- hold on, i need to respond to this
- People of this time did watch Jersey Shore seriously, but nobody here likes those people.
- Bill Nye the Science Guy is totally boss
- as is Spongebob Squarepants, Ed, Edd, & Eddy, Dexters Lab, and other cartoons (Loony Tunes is still great now, These will still be great then (er... now)
- Obama is a cool dude
- We are totally reliant on foreign oil to power our cars, of which most families own multiple. It's pretty bad.
- Girls enjoy wearing really tight pants that are textured to look like Jeans. They are called jeggings. Nobody is complaining.
- We have the word "God" on our money
- There are way to many people who believe in Creationism (I hope you have never heard of this, google it).
- "Google it" means to search for something on the internet.
- The internet, at this point in time, is a complicated series of tubes people use mostly to share pictures of cats and videos of people hurting themselves. You can buy pretty much anything on the internet, and have it shipped to your house in under 2 day for not that much money. I can only assume by your time, that has decreased to same day shipping.
- There is a "Top 10" (very popular) song with the following verse: "Ass. Ass. Ass. Ass. Ass. Ass.".

- Poop jokes: funny always
- There is a McDonald everywhere.
- Hot Stock Tip: invest in Apple, not Enron.
When you get this, give "Hunter (Hugh) Dyar IV" a call. You can find his number by flagging down any local "maps of the celebrities houses" guy. That guy will probably be Hunter, as he will not likely have any sort of respectable job. This is, of course, assuming Hunter is still alive, and hasn't tragically died in an event that will be known to simply be called "The dolphin incident".

Flip Spiceland, A Magnificent Bastard

The theater nerds at DePauw do a pretty cool project called Insomniac theater. The idea is simple. Actors, Writers, and Directors all meet Friday evening at 7:00. Actors auditions and writers select them. Then, the actors and directors go to sleep. Meanwhile the writers stay up all night and they each deliver a 10 minute play by 7am. From there the directors and actors meet and get the play memorized, blocked out, and ready to be performed. The performance takes place at 7:30 Saturday night (24 hours after it "began").

Last year I was an actor. This year, I wrote and directed my own play. Basically, that means I got even less sleep.

The writers had three rules to follow: There must be a character named Flip Spiceland, Toilet Paper must be used as a prop, and the line of dialogue "Do you have to do that now" appears.

Sadly, my camera died before my play could get recorded (it went last), but click here to download and read the play. It got changed a bit while we rehearsed and worked out a lot of the dialogue kinks, but there was nothing major changed.

You may notice "magnificent" is spelled wrong in the title page. I added that at the last minute at 4am, and I am leaving it in there as a mark of the play's rapidly-written nature.

An interesting thing about writing a play in one sitting overnight is that you don't get any perspective. You have nobody to tell you if the whole is offensive, irrelevant, wordy, strange, or just plain stupid. That's what made these plays so great. One of the other writers wrote a play about a secretly gay husband, which was very funny - but some people were offended. All of the plays were very different and they all were insane. They also all were comedies! Insomniac theater is a fantastic project, and we had a great time doing it.

Click here to download a pdf of the play

For those curious, I wrote in Google Docs with Fountain.io, and then a bit in vim, and finally in adobe story

Friday the 14th - Radio Playlist

updating in real-ish time

This is the music I played during my radio shift, weekly from 2-4am. It's one hell of a time slot. Songs are listed here in the order that I played them.

Bold means that the artist is a personal favorite.

• Charlie Winston - Kick The Bucket - Hobo (album)
• Moonface - Yesterday's Fire
• Magic Trick - Melodies - Melodies (Album)
• Fistful of Mercy - Father's Son
• Beach House - Lazuli
• Steve Martin - Late For School - The Crow (album)
• Beachwood Sparks - Sparks Fly Again
• First Aid Kit - Emmylou
• River City Extension - Point of Surrender
• Wax Tailor (feat. Charlie Winston) - I Own You - In The Mood For Life (album)
• Crystal Fighters - Xtatic Truth
• Kormac - This Party Must Continue - Word Play (album)
• Jack White - Sixteen Saltines

The top of the hour now: AP radio news.

• The Shins - The Rifles Spiral
• Propellerheads - History Repeating (Featuring Miss Shirley Bassey)
• Poor Moon - Pulling Me Down
• The Fresh & Onlys - Yes Or No
• The Cat Empire - Panama - So Many Nights (album)
• David Bryne & St. Vincent - Who
• Tea Leaf Green - Let Us Go
• Sufjan Stevens - Futile Devices - Age Of Adz
• Iiris - Melyse
• Father John Misty - Hollywood Forever Cemetary Sings
• Harper Blynn - Busy Hands, Empty Hearts - Busy Hands (album)
• Moe. - Stranger Than Fiction
• Opossom - Why Why - Electric Hawaii (album)
• Massive Attack - Girl I Love You - Heliogland (album) 
• Yung life - Back For You
• Fanfarlo - Fire Escape

I played a lot of songs that have a few standout lines that have stuck with me over the years. like "Some people won't dance if they don't know whose singing / Why ask your head it's your hips that are swinging" from History Repeating or "I love things that seem impossible" from Panama. If the artist above is in bold, it probably means the song has some line or another that has stayed with me for a while, or had some sort of significance. That is this weeks 'theme'.

While I recommend purchasing/listening "by the album", but I still link to individual songs because most people listen "by the song".

My Problem with Agnosticism

Warning: religious and philosophy talk ahead. Proceed at your own risk.

Click on the follow through link to read my essay "My problem with Agnosticism". It's probably worth reading if you like philosophy, I think. Before you begin, however, here is a link to what Wikipedia has to say and understand that I will define agnosticism and then refer to my definition of the term. So before you write me off for being "wrong", try and understand my points and my point of view. Don't disagree with me until you understand what I am saying. OK, disclaimer over, essay ahead.

Also, there arn't any photos, because throwing some in would be irrelevant. Sorry.

God Damn I am tired

I got 1 hour of sleep last night, and that is being generous. The past 3 days don't total nine. This isn't so much of a blog post as it is just holy balls I am tired.