Week before last was a bit of a breather. Worked up enough comics not to have to panic the rest of the month (though almost three weeks behind for December). Read a comic book collection (Y - The Last Man, about a lone guy after a plague wiped out all male mammals). Dropped in on a screenwriting seminar, catching the last half about the business of screenwriting (lots of potential in freelancing, actually), and it was most informative, even if I did have to put dinner off to 8 o'clock. Went through some good days and some bad, all the while slipping closer and closer to the edge of blissful insanity.
Weekend last I headed home to be a Judge at an academic meet (though there was a cancellation, and I ended up being a Reader). It was very strange being on the other side, asking the questions at the big table rather than ringing in at the buzzer. The morning was early (8 AM for going over the questions... blekk), but I got free lunch at the concession stand (giant pretzels!). It turned out fun overall, though I wouldn't try to make a career out of it. I was getting a bit too into it at one point, and my judge compatriot had to give me a stern talkin'-to to settle me down. Whoops.
The rest of the weekend at home was quiet, what with the TV and DVD player being taken down. Instead, I read through a collection of Mark Twain short stories. The Dog's Tale was so moving that I was whimpering too hard to sleep, so I read a jokey story about burglar alarms to calm to down.
Back in Norman and back in classes Monday, I took up papers from every class. After goofing off Movie Night Monday then Tuesday Too, I threw myself into grading. Wednesday I graded through one class, but by 9 PM was at the point where I couldn't even hold my head up. I slumped into bed and stayed there for 12 hours, feeling more fatigued than my usual exhausted. It might've been a bug, but I slayed it with ample sleep and loads of vitamin C. Thursday night, I was back into grading (after running amok on campus geocaching), and I wrapped up after midnight. I didn't finish until 3:27 PM Friday, three minutes before my last two classes. Everyone had voted to take the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving break off. I think I was more ecstatic to leave campus Friday than any of the students.
Irony struck, of course, on the first day of the break with getting up early to go over to Preston's for a game creation convention. He dreamed of a card game called "Save the Whales" balancing environmentalism and big business with much satirical punches at both, and Aaron and I joined in on design. We got through two of the four decks and hammered out rules for the rest, of course taking a break to visit The Diner. Mmm. We broke late in the afternoon for naps and showers, then headed up to Bricktown for an evening at Tapwerks (so very awesome ambiance, even if the sports game was too loud... the Juju Beans upstairs were awesome, too, except their sound system was unfortunately imbalanced). Bricktown's really spruced up, and I was much agog at such splendor in li'l ole Oklahoma.
I, too, was impressed by exceedingly thick fog last night that made all of the streetlights look like glowing torches and the sky seemed aflame from the glow of the stadium.
Anyway, speaking of games, I've taken up reviews again at Blogcritics, this time focusing on card games. Chad and I talked about a time travel card game, which turns out has already been made. This week, I covered Martian Fluxx, the redo of Fluxx for Martian invaders. Awesome.
In addition, been watchin' loads of films: Moon (about a guy all alone on a lunar mining three-year contract, and he's starting to go crazy), Zombie Land (finally watched! Definitely awesome through the first 2/3, then they get to the "oh, we're bonding" garbage where zombies don't even show up on screen for so long you think it's just a whining movie... also, they weren't zombies, they were Infected), Inglorious Basterds (so, so disappointed... it had tons of great elements, but I was hoping for so much more... four-hour-long DVD director's cut someday?), Namesake (traded Mae Josie & the Pussycats for it; very well acted tale of Bengali coming to America... I was a little upset by their portrayal of the juxtaposition of cultures, mostly because they're probably right about slovenly American mores), Train Man (excellent Japanese movie of a nerd saving a girl on a train and wants to ask her out, but doesn't know how, so he turns to the Internt... ah, nerdiness), Star Trek IV (speaking of nerdiness... hilarious movie), and on and on.
We also finished the Drawing Board, meaning it was time to photograph, wipe clean, and start over.
Monday started Thanksgiving holiday proper, and I've done my best to stay in my PJs all day. Granted, I did hash out my applications but for a few trivialities, so it was productive, but Productivity in Pajamas doesn't count.
It started with a road trip to Stillwater where Preston & I picked up some furniture and kitchenware that James & Sarah were being rid of. Apparently getting married means an end to random, mismatched bits of the bachelor pad. Madness.
The trip ended up being 8 1/2 hours and fraught with side-adventures. We stopped off at Chad 'n Janica's to pick up a trailer and hung around longer than intended eating baked pumpkin seeds from the leftover guts of jack o' lanterns. (Later that day, a jack o' lantern would throw up on me... I was moving it off a step when it bent too far forward and water dumped out its mouth.) The drive up and back were filled with discussions of movies, thoughts, and enormous microwave cannons used possibly to explode tornadoes before they form (actually, I think they would make it much, much worse).
After a tour of James' shed (massive, and awesomely outdoorsy), we moved out the infinitely heavy fold-out couch that once sat in my grandparents' den. Everything went over fairly well until the bed popped out and one of the feet punched through the wall. Ouch. Well, fixable. After all the moves, we capped the trip with dinner at Eskimo Joe's, which is definitely a must for touring Stillwater.
Classes over the week raced by interestingly. Comp II classes voted differently when to watch V for Vendetta, so I'm juggling assignments. Monday covered the legalization of organ sales (they're for it... also for legalization of prostitution. Hm.). Wednesday covered downloading of media (much more split, but we had a good discussion of getting across what's legal and not). Friday, as something of a joke, I asked, "What do you want to learn about today?" They said ghosts, so I told ghost stories for 40 minutes. Then we did the review assignment we were supposed to.
Comp I, meanwhile, hacked its way through persuasion. The rhetorical triangle is really handy stuff. Monday I had 'em try to convince me to cancel class on the Monday before Thanksgiving (I'm convinced), Wednesday and Friday were more practical analyses of commercials and a long discussion of logical fallacies. Logical Fallacy Day is the best day.
Comics took a different turn. Tuesday, I gave my first ever exam. Turned out really awesome, actually. Exams are much more fun to grade than papers. Thursday, we started up the comic-writing part of the semester. We talked about stories on and on. I should totally teach a creative writing course.
Nighttimes were shut down for heavy grading between Monday and Friday. Media between ran with finishing the first six volumes of Cerebus (weird stuff... underground comix are bizarre indeed, and the aardvark makes it all the more bizarre). Then I watched through the Adult Swim show Superjail! (ugh, so violent...) and finally watched RocknRolla (good times... not quite as good as Snatch, but as good as Lock Stock...).
Monday was Movie Night at Laura's with some chili mac and The Messengers (a shockingly good Lifetime film about spooks in North Dakota). Friday was Comedy Fight Night (student comedians... well, some good lines at least), strolling through the library for atlases, and District 9. I'm still torn about the movie. Pros: awesome story, great use of fake (and real) news clips, lots of aliens. Cons: sloppy ending. Glad I saw it, though.
The rest of the weekend was filled to the brim, so much so I had to squeeze in a nap Saturday afternoon between events. Early on, I headed to the Red Dirt Book Festival in Shawnee, listening to a long lecture about the editorial process of Harlequin (much wider range of fiction than I ever believed... I may have to send off some stuff here, soon). It was a good long chat with writers and such, and I mooched a lot of fresh pineapple. That night was a trip up to Edmond for a blind date, most of which was traded shock at how few people of our generation had seen Marx Brothers films. Truly, this is a Dark Age...
Sunday after church, I headed up to Midwest City for my grandmother's 90th birthday party (I recognize so few of my cousins now... so many marriages and kids poppin' out everywhere when I wasn't looking), then spent the evening at Chad's trading game ideas and watching him play some BioShock. That looks like a great game, something I'll have to tackle myself someday.
There's so much media I want to take in, but I just can't seem to do it. Maybe instead of backpacking, I should just sit on the couch and watch five films a day. Hm, I don't like where this train of thought is going...
That's me at James' wedding with an acorn hat. Yeah, it's all about the dressing up for Halloween.
The holiday dominated the last week of October. The week before, I went on my merry way through classes and hangings out. The week of, I was booked solid. Classes continued with papers handed in (though I would put off the grading the week after), and I gave Comp 2 and Comics bonus if they came to class in costume. In Comp 1, it was mandatory. We had a couple Marios, a Twister board, hippies, gangsters, gangstas, a lumberjack, loads of vampires, and on and on. I was a Mad Scientist.
But, I'll get back to that. The main feature of the week was "The Mysterious and Macabre of OU", a guided tour I put together about the spooky side of Soonerland. Way back last summer when I was taking as many ghost tours as I could get my hands on, I mentioned the Ellison Hall ghost to Tess, who suggested I make a tour for OU. I scoffed and said there weren't that many stories. After a few weeks' research, however, turns out that there are more than enough. I scraped together the tales, wrote a script, and eventually led a series of tours around campus relating tales like the 1973 exorcism, the 1986 beheading, the 2005 bombing, and plenty of other creepiness.
John did pictures. We looked up at Walker Tower and discussed the people who'd jumped to their deaths. My folks came along on one tour, and they said they remembered several of the events from their days past. Whew, it's even creepier when it's not just an old story from newspaper microfilm.
It was good fun, and I may have to do it again sometime. I took up donations for charity, too, and the few dollars passed along make it more than worth my while.
Thursday night, after the final tour, I tagged along with Preston & Marisa to a "dive bar", as she called it. I'd been to pubs and such, but never quite the rough'n'tumble of Bill's. Such amusing people! But, oh, the stink. Even so, everybody likes Halloween (or "Fall Festival", if you prefer), and Scaryaoke and the bizarre homemade film showing was more than enough entertainment.
Friday, classes couldn't end fast enough. My first stop of the evening was a cupcake-making party put on by lady programmers, and many cupcakes were devoured. Next was trick-or-treating, in which Cylie and I ventured out for a few minutes despite our ages. The first few houses refused to give us treats. They either wouldn't open the door (we knocked, a shadow appeared at the door, stopped as if surveying our heights, then ducked away) or said they weren't participating. We joked we needed a kid to latch onto, and we spontaneously did so when we ran across a kid with his east Londoner father. The rest of the night proved far more rewarding with lots of stories from the guy (apparently he knew Stephen King's sister-in-law) and successful candy runs. One lady said "Shame on you" as she gave us candy. I grinned and replied, "Happy Halloween."
Next was a series of parties. We crashed Potter-palooza at the Union, swiping bucketloads of candy and getting generally creeped out by the Potter uber-fans. Several of us went through the Trivia Challenge filled with questions of Harry's kids names from the end of book 7 (guh, best guessing I've done since my last final exam), winning neato mugs (to be filled with candy, of course).
Dear guy behind me: you will one day learn the errors of your ways.
Anyway, we headed over to the Triangle party, which John had decorated as Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. Very nice. Lots of costumes as well with a ghostbuster, Leeloo, and ample references to Halloween costumes on The Office.
Halloween proper began bright and early. I headed up to OKC early, hanging out with Joe and eating at a Chinese place that proclaimed, "You Eat Steak!"
It's actually "All you can eat steak", but that's how I first read it. Oh, how hilarious that would have been.
Later on was Chad'n'Janica's Halloween party. I went as a Zombie Astronaut, getting make-upped.
"Want to see a magic trick?"
It was good times with chatting, creepy foods, a little Guitar Hero, a baby to entertain us, and hilarity at some AMC show where rednecks were trying to conjure ghosts. The oil-based make-up got into my right eye, sending blinding pain through my contact, so my costume eventually evolved into Zombie Space Pirate.
Earring doesn't do it for me.
All in all, a good Halloween. Now I've already seen Christmas commercials going and Egg Nog advertised at Braum's. Not until after Thanksgiving, people.
A scene of life. Setting: Classroom next door. Time: Today.
Me (pointing at remote control to the projector, the same for each room, though I can't get to mine as the tech office is closed for the moment): Mind if I borrow this for a second?
Teacher Guy: Sure, not a problem.
I walk out with the remote.
Teacher Guy, behind me: There goes Jeff, always taking my stuff.
I walk in.
Me: What did you say about me behind my back?
Guy: I was making a joke about you borrowing it.
Me: I asked if I could borrow this, and you said I could.
Guy: I was just joking.
Me: For whose benefit? Yours?
Guy (motioning to students): For theirs!
Me (to students): Do you get enjoyment out of this?
Baffled Student: I don't even know what's going on.
I turn back to the guy and begin a long stare, holding it until he shifts uncomfortably. I twirl the remote in my fingers. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the tech pass in the hall back to his office. Seeing that I don't need it anymore, I set down the remote on the guy's desk.
Me: I'll just leave this here.
I leave the room wordlessly.
Picking up the proper remote and waiting a few seconds, I poke my head back into the other room.
Me: I was just joking.
Awkward chuckles had by all.
Me: But it goes to show that we shouldn't joke when it's the same as lying.
Other than the sandwich I made for lunch yesterday, I don't think I've paid for a meal since last Wednesday. Not bad for a mooch like me.
The majority of the free food came along with James' wedding over the weekend. It was a long weekend, being Fall Break, which coincidentally falls on the Texas game weekend every year. Coincidence, indeed. Actually, the Student Congress makes a petition to the OU Admin requesting as such each semester. The academic schedule, however, is made out months before the petition. Once again, student government is astounding, and not in the good way.
After rummaging through class Thursday talking about web comics, I bolted home on my bike and then bolted out of town in my car, heading home to help with the set-up. I picked up Joe on the way, and the evening was filled with getting tables set and preparations arranged for the rehearsal dinner. I was glad to crawl into my big bed at home and sleep knowing I didn't have classes the next day.
What I did have, however, was chopping duty, a ride-along errand, and tux-fittings. The morning was swallowed up chopping tomatoes and wrapping potatoes to be baked. The afternoon disappeared as I rode aside James in his truck, delivering people every which way and pointing out tasks to do Saturday. We arrived back in time to make sure my tux fit correctly and run-through a rehearsal of the wedding to come. Then it was a big night of meeting up with the rest of the family that had flown in from the coasts. It'd been months since I'd seen my older siblings, which made this something of a mini-Christmas.
Saturday dawned early, and I dragged myself out of bed not too soon after, but soon enough. Among my duties as usher was a run into Enid driving James' massive truck. I'd never driven something that large before, and it was definitely exciting. Other vehicles were mere specks and insects beneath me. The whole world could be crushed under my needlessly massive Americanness. Plus, it had satellite radio, and I listened to three different comedy channels at once. First up was washing the truck at a car wash, a place I hadn't visited in probably a decade. In the city, my car doesn't seem to get dirty enough to warrant the use of water and time when it'll rain on its own for free soon enough. Country-driving, however, merits a hearty scrubbing. I didn't know what to expect, and the pressure gun nearly took my arm off with the first grip of the trigger, but it turned out fine with a sparkly truck clean down to scraping the grasshoppers in the cattle-guard. After that, I picked the flowers for the ceremony and topped off the tank (I couldn't imagine having to pay that much all the time... I'll stick with my 35 mpg, thanks).
Pictures followed seemingly endlessly. My sister did the photography for the wedding, and I'm curious to see how we all turned out in our finery. The one picture I got myself was of me in an acorn hat.
Then came the ceremony itself. There was some pressure as usher to seat people formally and to remember which grandma goes where, but it was an honor to do it. The ceremony wasn't long, but had the longest vows I've ever heard in my life. It's like those two were vowing to do everything for each other! I hope they do. Best wishes to you both, brother and new sister-in-law. They also had an inventive mixing of colored sand rather than the merging of candle flames, which should create a neat token for the mantle. Plus, it's the only wedding I've attended where the groomsmen wore cowboy boots and the bride went barefoot. Gotta love country folk.
The wedding itself done, we fell to hanging out in the reception with much wedding cake and sweet, sweet punch, followed by hanging out back on The Farm around the dinner table. (By the way, guess who caught the garter? *wink wink, nudge nudge*)
Sunday saw traditional pancake breakfast, a visit to my home church, and a hurried lunch so Joe & I could leave in time to return the tuxes before the place in Stillwater closed. I dropped him off in OKC and picked up DVDs at Chad's, then arrived in town just in time for a spontaneous U2 concert. Never a dull moment.
It was their 360-tour, featuring the Black Eyed Peas as openers. The Mothership was awesome, the lighting and effects were awesome, and the Black Eyed Peas were especially awesome. The song "Pump It" is infinitely better live than recorded. Robot speaker dancers didn't hurt either.
Not so awesome was the sound system. Seriously, it was like somebody was beating a cyborg cat with an electric handheld blender.
Also irksome were the crowds. Hello, not-quite-sober lady? Can't you see there's a picture being taken?
People never cease to amaze me, such as those who spend hundreds on tickets for seats, then spend half the concert staring at their cell phones. Curious society we've got, no? I also like the ones who follow precisely whatever their mortal heroes tell them to do. Whenever anyone said "Oklahoma", people burst into hysterically ecstatic screaming. It didn't even matter what came before. They could've said, "I've never been to a stinkhole like Oklahoma" and the rest of the sentence would have been drowned out with eagerness that something local had been named. Many Simpsons jokes came to mind, especially the episode with U2.
U2 played a curious concert. They played several songs, had a big finish, then thanked us for coming and said goodnight. It had been a good time, so Mae and I began to head out, but the monitors came back to life after a few minutes and a whole new set began. Why'd they pretend to leave in the first place? Showmanship, I suppose... though still confusing. I'm also still confused about the "stand up" for poverty ("against" poverty?) and how standing up and then sitting down again actually helps anything. Or dedicating a song to Aung San Suu Kyi. Certainly, it was nice, and a good word put out to the rest of the world, but is it going to end her two-decades of military detention? Maybe they're using proceeds to hire a mercenary force to topple the evil regime. Or maybe they're trying to love it to death.
Whining and the cold wind aside, it was awesome, and a positive concert experience. The worst part was that it had to end with classes resuming the next day.
They weren't that bad. Monday caught lots of videos with Comp II doing a rundown of a hypothetical Causal Essay with the first fifteen minutes of The Gods must be Crazy.
Comp I began the persuasion unit with a comedic (and shockingly poignant) look at modern society:
We followed that up with a flow-chart about potential Meanings of Life. Their homework was to define their meaning and defend it. Finally, something important discussed in the classroom.
Monday dinner brought more free food with KFC Grilled Chicken supplied by Laura in celebration of movie night (and we actually watched the movie this time... still, chatting away the evening last week was awesome as well). It was Time Cop 2, which was as awesome as it was hilariously bad. Good MST3k with friends material. Ghostbusters 2 followed semi-spontaneously after, and it was a good night.
Tuesday came with more free food as Preston gathered us 'round the 2:8 house (a Christian group of some kind) that was a fun visit. As we walked there, speaking of Halloween and the significance of being afraid, our discussion suddenly materialized as powerlines behind us snapped and sparked, knocking out the power for a block. I think I've seen that movie, and I don't want to be in it.
Comics class was a review of the Comic Book Ages (Golden, Silver, Bronze, Modern, and Digital) through Batman. First we watched a 1943 movie serial (the Batmobile's a gangster car!), then the Animated Series episode "Legends of the Dark Knight", and then as much Super Friends as one can stomach. Class continued evening-time with a movie screening of 300 with much money spent on pizza and snacks from the classroom excellence fund. I followed along with the graphic novel, pointing out the differences as well as the divergence from actual history. They probably hate my nerdiness by now, but I'm too nerdy to care.
So it's been quite a week, and my fridge is stuffed to popping with leftovers. If anybody's hungry, drop on by for some cake, fruit, and pizza.
