A Month Already? Jebus!

So since I last wrote, I’ve been to Vegas, come back to Oklahoma, spent a week being sick, recovered, and generally milled about as a grad student for a while.  More on that in a moment – first, this thought:

I just made my second attempt at liking The Office.  It is so…. fucking…. passive aggressive… that I want to go punch my fist through a cow, pull out its steaming viscera, and devour them messily – anything to counteract the 20 minutes of pathetic half-smiles and mumbled sniveling that is that show.  I’m further perplexed that someone could go and work in an office for 8-10 hours and then come home and watch that.  …ahem.

Of actual importance, Vegas was a very nice trip, and I’m glad my mom got to see it – she hadn’t been there in 50 years, so things had changed a bit.  🙂  We saw Penn and Teller and Ka, a Cirque di Soleil show.  Both were excellent.  Penn and Teller was much more laid-back than I expected, a sort of thoughtful musing on deception and what it means to master something.  Many of their tricks were centered around the idea that the feat was not the result of magic or even talent, but shitloads of practice and time.  Ka was totally different – an utterly thunderous spectacle with acrobatics that I can only describe as ‘beyond nuts.’ Most of the show was built around preparing you for the idea that they were about to do something completely insane, and then doing something five times more insane.  And again, the theme of mastery through raw repetition was everywhere – this was a flawless that came from inconceivable amounts of rehearsing.

We spent a lot of time in the Bellagio, even though we weren’t staying there.  There was a sort of serenity there that the rest of Vegas doesn’t match – it’s a place where you can sit in a pair of chairs in a walkway and hear yourselves talk.  There was a conservatory and gardens and all sorts of things that don’t come to mind when you think of a casino.

Our own hotel was Planet Hollywood, which was far, FAR nicer than my first Vegas hotel, the Imperial Palace.  We stayed in the cheapest room at PH and still had loads of space, a plasma screen TV, and one of the nicest hotel beds I’ve ever slept in. 

Since it was March Madness, every hotel had giant rooms devoted to basketball betting, which was pretty amusing to watch – boisterous manly cheers would periodically erupt when something happened.  I’m sorry my Spartans lost, but they were pretty much David and Goliath, with ‘Goliath’ being one of those mechs from Starcraft that fires anti-aircraft missiles.  Alas.

After I got back from Vegas I was sick for a while, which sucked, but now I’m in good shape again.  There’ve been various social gatherings, the latest was the English Department’s Spring Mixer, which was a very good time.  Lil’ Smokies were consumed, cash bars were patronized, and after a while we retired to the Stonewall, which is sadly the grad student hangout bar.  I say ‘sadly’ because right down the street is Eskimo Joes, which has  awesome burgers and booze.  Instead, we frequent the one bar in the freaking universe that sells NO food!  They don’t have a kitchen, but hell, if they microwaved freaking Hot Pockets they’d make a fortune.  I’m always amazed when people think to themselves ‘The last thing I need is for my business to be raking in money hand over fist.’  Alas.

Two weeks of class left, then finals.  No idea yet if I’m teaching over the summer, but I should hopefully find out soon.  I definitely want to get back to mitten-shaped places before the fall, and I can’t plan anything quite yet.  Alas.

I’m working my way through Sandman, and it is magnificent.  The seventh book is the last one I finished and probably my favorite so far – four books yet remain, and I’m trying not to finish them too quickly, since there’s no more to come.

But now, as it’s very late and this entry’s very long, it’s bedtime.

Pictures!

Here’s a flickr set of photos from Vegas:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aelfscine/sets/72157601763387815/

All taken by cell phone, so don’t expect ‘high art.’  😉

I Went to Vegas

It was really freaking cool, but I’m dead on my feet right now, so you don’t get to hear about it, or see any pictures (including the river running through the parking garage) until tomorrow.  You also get to hear nothing about gambling winnings or ridiculously good chocolate desserts, nor will you know if my stories of crazed professors with handlebar mustaches are truth or spurious lies.