5 32 pm pdt [ Things I have been thinking about recently: ]

The French Laundry:

I haven't wanted to talk about going to The French Laundry. I realized this is because I feel guilty. I feel guilty that it wasn't a religious experience for me to eat there. I'm sure I shouldn't feel this way, but I do. Not everything I ate was good and the service could have been better in several ways. It was a wonderful and fun experience, but it wasn't perfect and I don't think that is my fault.

Eminem:

When I heard that Eminem's mother was suing him for defamation of character, I wondered if they might have planned the suit as a publicity stunt. They might get along fine, the whole conflict being for show. The only song I've really heard of his is My Name Is. The questionable lyrics include "How you gonna breast feed me mom? (Waah!) You ain't got no tits!" There's no defamation there. Either she had small breasts or she doesn't. The only suable lyric is "I just found out my mom does more dope than I do! (Damn!)" Suddenly I realized that regardless of whether they are in on the lawsuit together, she can't win. The record is called Slim Shady and the song I have quoted lyrics from is sung by a persona: "Hi! My name is.. (What?) My name is.. (Who?) My name is.. {scratching} Slim Shady." Eminem is singing about Slim Shady's mother, not his own.

alphabetizing:

When we alphabetize titles (for books, films, song, etc.) we don't count the words "the", "a" and "an". Likewise in other languages. Matthew was thumbing through rap CDs at the store the other day and I though it would be really funny if certain titles were so common in rap artists' names as to not be alphabetized. We could skip "Dr.", "DJ", "MC" and perhaps even "Ice".

work:

Working on campus will be weird, but I think the environment is decent and I've found at least one job to apply to. Now that Matthew has helped us determine that we intend to stay in Berkeley, I can look for a job here. My only negotiation will be in the vacation time I already have planned for September: returning to Amsterdam with Matthew and then going to Indianapolis to see Formula One less than a week after we return.

time well spent:

No one would approve of how much one of Matthew's roommates watches television. I would estimate he consumes about ten hours per day, every single day. I can't imagine any human being saying that spending ten hours a day watching the tele is good or healthy. On the other hand, if one spent ten hours a day writing or painting, most people would think that was wonderful. "You are so dedicated to your art." People might even approve if you sacrificed your social life for your canvas masterpiece or your great American novel, but of course not for watching television. Which lead us to the computer. Ten hours a day surfing the internet is quite tantamount to ten hours watching the tele, but what if you spend ten hours a day writing or painting on your computer. I think most people would still disapprove. The medium doesn't hold the same weight as the more classic artistic styles and vocations.

I'm off to fetch a snack...