bingo. bango. bongo.

Hello! It's been about 10 months since I've done this, but hopefully I can shake off the rust and deliver a well-crafted blog post to all our faithful readers out there (aka Mike) just for old time's sake.

Where to even begin. Well, I'm graduating tomorrow, but that's all I'll say about that (if I start to write about graduation, this post will never end). In any case, I still haven't bought my plane ticket home yet. I'm usually bad about buying one early on, but I've never put it off for this long before. I've been saying that I haven't bought it because I have a lot going on right now and I just want to take care of other things first. That is true, but I think the real reason behind it all (which may have been obvious to everyone but me) is that buying a plane ticket is really a cheap symbolization of the school year ending.

Buying that ticket is the first real step towards acknowledging that "it's over," and I am just honestly not ready for that yet. Yes, classes have been over for two weeks now, and yes, Eddie's is covered with chairs and Keating with giant maroon banners, and yes, Fordham has been doing its best to instill a sense of finality in everything that us seniors do, but none of that has been my doing. I get to choose when I buy a ticket home; it's the only thing in this whole situation that I have any sort of control over. When I buy that ticket, I'll be putting the bookend on my undergraduate career, and I want to put that off as long as I can. I guess this turned into a post about graduation anyway. It's not nearly as light-hearted and witty as I was hoping it would be. Oh well, I'll do better next time, when I'm not in the midst of the most important milestone in my life-to-date.

Also, if I see you between now and graduation, I may or may not give you a huge hug and say "This could be the last hug we ever have!" I (inadvertently) made a habit of doing it last night (the phrase "drunken stupor" comes to mind), but any excuse to give and receive hugs is a-okay in my book. I'm such a hippie.

Closer I am to fine,
Mai

Greatest Hits

Well, I was reading some old entries, and I've decided to compile a list of what I consider "In Search of Lost Time's Greatest One-Liners/Few-Liners." Enjoy.

1) We were all doing homework. Mike and I were reading books for class (something we've both been doing a healthy amount of lately) and Jake, in typical fashion, was listening to the book I was reading on tape while watching tennis on his computer. - Mai

2) No longer is the caf a place to get together after class and discuss how the day has been, how excited we are for the new episodes of The Office and 30 Rock this Thursday, or how anyone could possibly think that serving mussels at the International Station would ever ever ever be a good idea. - Mai

3) As I meandered through those halls, unaware of what floor or wing I'd end up on as I turned each corner, I got a brief feeling of nostalgia that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I remembered back when Sarah was that girl who kept doing that one Christopher Walken impression; when Claire was that girl who did cartwheels when she scored in a frisbee game; when Joe was that guy with the terrible roommate. - Mai

4) They had lamb stew again today. As well as chicken pot pie...minus the pie. Take the ingredients of a chicken pot pie, and put them in a lovely orange caf bowl. That's what they called chicken pot pie. Gotta love the caf! - M. Ward

5) So it's snowing pretty hard here, everyone seems to think snow day. And no, not the really good movie. Maybe it will be like that tomorrow, but without Josh Peck. I doubt it though. I ain't buying into the hype. Plus i don't think there's an evil plow guy on campus. Fordham's snow removal team seems to be one guy walking around throwing salt. - M. Ward

6) Mike and Jake have started going to bed with headphones on; I think it's because I snore too loudly. - Mai

7) i'd like to give a warm welcome to katie and ian to the "blogosphere". lawl. i heard they were dating. - M. Ward (This really isn't that funny, but it makes me laugh every time I see it.)

8) Also, I took a shower earlier but there is still a pair of socks on my bed. I can't tell if I'm wearing the "dirty" socks from before the shower or if the socks on my bed are the dirty ones. Yikes. - Mai

9) Speaking of which, I've been woken up early in the morning (8am-ish) twice by stupid birds that won't stop tweeting (we're keep our window open because it's not -892305.8 degrees out anymore). They should be restricted to love scenes and Disney movies. Let me sleep damnit. - Mai

10) The opening scene was a shot of both Batman and Robin's suits that had nipples. Oh and don't worry, the director threw in a few crotch shots too. And imagine that it got worse from there! In honor of being frank, we can end by saying that if you have a free 124 minutes, definitely check out Batman and Robin again, you will be disappointed. - M. Ward

11) Having balloons around you will amplify the effect of whatever facial expression you have on, good or bad, one-hundred fold. - Mai

I'm bored of this. More to come though! Some of these are very funny. Come back Mai!

peace, love, & abe lincoln,
m.w.w.

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Now playing: Titus Andronicus - Theme From "Cheers"
via FoxyTunes

watch me unravel, I'll soon be naked

It's been awhile, man. Life's so rad! This band's my favorite, man. Don'tcha love 'em?

So! Today I received my cap and gown, and my Fordham Alumni Card. Also, as a send off Fordham was giving out watercolour paintings of buildings on campus. I received a beautiful impression of the University Church. This is a nice compliment to the watercolour of Keating Hall that was bestowed upon me during this past year's orientation training. Looks like I'll have to try and gather the entire collection.

Anyway, besides getting my cap & gown, we set tables for Senior Ball and the Parents Appreciation Dinner. I'm glad that's done and out of the way. Excited for both, as they should be enjoyable events to cap off the end of the year.

So I haven't decided yet if I'm going to jump on the bandwagon with Camisa and Dan in writing entries about a "college greatest hits." Most of my favourite memories can be summed pretty briefly. Maybe I'll write it up at the end of the semester as one entry. Who knows though, maybe I can come up with enough to say and treat you all to multiple entries.

Until next time bros.

peace, love & baseball,
m.w.w.
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Now playing: The Allman Brothers Band - Dreams
via FoxyTunes

Read all my books and talked about, listened to my radio

So today on the train I finally sat down and listened to all of #1 Record by Big Star. I had listened to bits and pieces of it, and really liked a song or two, but never really gave it my full attention. Now you're probably saying to yourself, "who the hell is Big Star?" which actually isn't a bad question. They're a band who got their start in the early seventies, and amid critical success, were never able to get really big, like everyone thought they should have.

One of the many reasons I wanted to listen to it was because one of their main songwriters, Alex Chilton, died a week or two ago at a youngish age. The most interesting thing I learned in reading about him was that my first exposure to Alex Chilton was actually way before I knew who he was. He was the lead singer of band called The Box Tops, who's song "The Letter" I absolutely loved as a kid, and still do to this day. I remember it was on some compilation of 60's songs we used to keep in the car that had songs like "Mony, Mony," "Happy Together," and "Long Cool Woman" on it. You know, classic mid 60's radio rock songs.

Anyway, after reading some of the stuff people had to say about him & his music, I thought it was worth getting to, and boy am I glad I did. The album is incredible, but there was one song in particular that really, really stood out to me. It's one of those songs that you listen to 5 or 6 times in a row without thinking twice about hitting the back button on your iPod, or sitting by the turntable to move the needle back to the beginning of the song. As soon as it started I felt that connection that you only get from certain songs. It was the feeling I got the first time I heard "Change" by Blind Melon, or "Bittersweet Symphony" by the Verve. The song is called "Thirteen," and it is by Big Star. I highly recommend that you listen to it, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Thanks for writing it Alex Chilton.

peace, love, & big star,
m.w.w.
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Now playing: Big Star - Thirteen
via FoxyTunes

Listen to me, I'm on the stereo

So. It is spring break. This is pretty exciting news. So exciting that someone forgot to wake me up before 3pm this afternoon. What I'm really trying to say is: I have done pretty much nothing of note so far in this young week. I've watched a lot of movies though. I've watched Pirate Radio, Sex Drive, Fired Up!, and She's All That. Don't ask me why I watched Fired Up, but She's All That was on HBO after I came back from Davey's, and I watched Pirate Radio, and Sex Drive because I wanted to. That being said, Pirate Radio, Sex Drive, and, Fired Up were all enjoyable movies. As you could have guessed, I really, really, really enjoyed Pirate Radio. It had everything I look for in a movie: good soundtrack, took place in the 1960's, and was about music in the 1960's. Win, win, win. We all win. The other movies were just regular old high school comedies, but still weren't a waste of time. And yes, I had seen She's All That before. Don't worry.

Besides movies, its been all music. I've gotten the new Gorillaz, Titus Andronicus, Jimi Hendrix, and Broken Bells albums, as well as some Pavement albums I didn't have. I also had the pleasure of enjoying the new White Stripes live album, and new She & Him record. Thank goodness for NPR, right? Anyway, everything has been a joy to listen to, especially the new Titus Andronicus record. I had heard their first record a few times, and wasn't incredibly impressed, but this new record...wowee. It is really enjoyable. Its an added bonus that they mention New Jersey in the lyrics a bunch of times due to the fact that they're from Glen Rock.

In other news, March Madness! The tourney tips off Thursday, and I could not be more excited. Hopefully my bracket turns out okay. We shall see!

peace, love, & 12 seeds,
m.w.w.

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Now playing: Titus Andronicus - A More Perfect Union
via FoxyTunes

and that's a pretty nice hair cut

All in all, this was a pretty good weekend. I got do to a few things I don't normally do, which can be a fun thing.

Friday night I had to go into the city to go to the New York Historical Society to look at some paintings for my American Art class. The paintings I had to look at for class were pretty boring, but to my surprise, (and delight), there was a Grateful Dead exhibit, and a really awesome Abraham Lincoln exhibit at the museum. Besides the Grateful Dead exhibit, the museum was also giving away free Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream. After the museum, I headed into Willamsburg (not the Colonial one, unfortunately), with Gwen, Mary and Claire to meet up with Gwen's cousin who was bar tending at a restaurant. This was actually really great news, because besides the free ice cream, and whatever lunch I had that day, I hadn't eaten, and it was pretty late by the time we got there. Anyway, I had a pretty epic burrito for dinner. In the burrito was radishes (which I ate for the first time, and enjoyed), chicken, rice, and other stuff. It was awesome, and exactly what I was craving at the time. We hung out at the restaurant and had a few drinks, and then once Gwen's cousin was done with work, we headed to a different bar down the street. We got home around 3 or so, and I re-played a game of Madden that luckily didn't save because I lost. Unfortunately, I lost the second time as well, by one less point.

Saturday was cool too. At like 4 or so, Mai and I headed into the city to go to Guitar center so we could both get strings. At Guitar Center we met up with some other people, but that is not important. What is important is the beautiful left-handed Taylor Guitar Center had. Oh man. I could have sat in that Guitar Center all day and played it. I actually seriously considered buying it on the spot. Good thing I didn't because the price tag was a cool $850, which would have seriously depleted my funds. But hey, you can "finance," or whatever, things like that, right? Anyway, after Guitar Center we hung around the city for a bit, ended up at the restaurant where Warren plays piano. I'm fairly certain that you can assume that we went to hear him play, but I'll say it anyway. We went to see Warren play. Everyone ate, except me, but that was because I was saving room for Japanese food. At the restaurant I enjoyed a delicious German pilsner. At around 8:45 or so we left Warren's restaurant, and headed uptown to go out for Joe's birthday with 30 of our closest friends. The restaurant was called Chinatown East, and was pretty good. I think it was picked because of it's all you can eat/all you can drink menu. I didn't do all you can eat because it was sushi (I had chicken teryaki instead), but I did indulge in the all-you-can-drink aspect. Needless to say, the Sapporo was flowing. The food was good as well. I wish they had given me rice with the food though. I could have definitely used some. After we got back from the city a few of us tried going out, but to no avail. We just went home and hung around for a while.

Sunday was band practice. TSRJ is back and pretty much the same! I don't want to get everyone's hopes up. Keep your expectations low. But as Chris said in one of his most recent posts, keep your ears peeled because we do have some pretty exciting news coming your way. You didn't hear this from me, but, the news is actually exciting.

Also:
1) The mandolin is totally awesome.
2) Looking forward to going home for spring break.
3) Done with two-thirds of my graduate school applications.
4) NCAA Tournament/March madness bracket time very soon!
5) MLB opening day in less than a month!!!!
6) Started watching the O.C. It's actually not horrible, and kind of really good.

It's good to have these things to look forward to.

Thanks for reading.

peace, love, & the old grey cat,
m.w.w.
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Now playing: Broken Bells - Trap Doors
via FoxyTunes

There's blood in the streets its up to my ankles

There was a fight outside of my apartment yesterday. All year I've been sadistically hoping to witness one, and finally it happened. At first it was totally awesome. Then I went outside, and saw the bloodshed. Unfortunately, I am not exaggerating when I say that. I went to get a sandwich for lunch, and the blood stained the sidewalk for almost 2 blocks. Not to mention the fact that my front door/foyer looked like something out of CSI: Miami. *Insert awesome Horatio Caine one-liner*

In other news, Dan & Mai were the only ones who made the playoffs in our Madden game. Dan made it to the Super Bowl and lost to the Browns, riveting.

The 100 Nights 'Til Graduation dance was a ton of fun. Also, apparently it was not 100 nights, but 92 or something. Not sure how that works, but I definitely feel cheated out of those 8 days, and would like them returned eventually. Here I was thinking last Thursday was 100 nights until graduation. I feel cheated, somehow.

Last week I stared reading Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood. So far it's really good. I haven't had a chance to pick it up since but, it's a book about two friends living in a post-apocalyptic world. I'm excited to be able to get back to that later in the week once midterms/homework/graduate applications are out of the way. Come Thursday I am going to be one happy camper, I hope.

So, I know I mentioned our 100th (maybe 150th?) post, but for some reason I neglected to mention our 1 year anniversary at "In Search of Lost Time - (we)blog." Well, if it means anything, we've been writing for you for 1 year, 1 month, and 3 days. Here's to another year, month, and 3 days of blogging enjoyment in the future (at least).

EDIT: I knew I was forgetting something. American Idol! The new season has started, and it's pretty good so far. I don't have a favourite yet, but I'll keep you posted as time progresses. There doesn't seem to be anyone as awesome as Danny or Adam this season, so we'll see.

peace, love, & mandolins,
m.w.w.
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Now playing: Coldplay - Warning Sign
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