Stephen Colbert is a God Among Men. Last night, on live television, he flipped off Anthony Scalia, insulted the White House Press Corps, and called the President's recent reshuffle as "rearranging the deckchairs on the Hindenburg." To his face.
It's definitely worth a watch. I'm guessing he's not going to be invited back any time soon.
I didn't cry during Doctor Who. Honest. K9! *sniff*
A reminder to one and all in the Carrboro area - they're filming the It's Carrboro video in Wilson Park tomorrow at 2pm. Go! Be as Carrboro as possible!
In Gatwick, we got Radiohead and Electronic over the plane's PA system. In RDU, we got James Blunt. This means something profound, I'm sure.
Flying back home is always hard. Still, it'll be good to see everybody back in Britain, and you can't find a decent digestive biscuit to save your life in the Triangle (and the speciality shops charge almost $2 for a Flake! It's confection-related robbery, I tell you).
And I've just realised I don't have any money to buy my bus pass on Tuesday. So it means I have to go outside during the weekend; no hermitage for me, at least not yet, anyway.
Oooh, and Bonnie went to see Take That last night; I wonder how she got on. I suppose I can ask her in about ten hours or so. Before I subject her to all the CDs in my One Kiss Can Lead To Another boxset. Mind you, I do want to live to see Doctor Who on Saturday. So perhaps I should listen through headphones.
Four hours to go. But I have just watched my first airline film in about three years. Okay, so it was Sixteen Candles, but hey, they had Dr. No on the way out. I think Molly Ringwald is infinitely preferable to James Bond, you see.
I should sleep. Sleep would be good. Jangling guitars and MIDI interfaces in my ears, but I can't keep my eyes open. So, off with me, and back when I'm back.
some time later…
Well, that didn't work. But there's now only an hour left. It seems to have gone quickly. Playing Tetris, reading the first volume of Y: The Last Man and whatnot has seen me right up to the Irish Coast…
And now…back. Clothes…everywhere.
To sum up:
And now it's time for home. Fun was had by all, at least I hope so.
Where we learnt, once again, that Collin should not be trusted with secrets. And had a very enjoyable night watching the rain come down outside, blowing cool air through the bar. We're also very good at scaring people away from our seats. Muahaha.
Today, then. Off to the Post Office to send some things home (I bought stuff, okay?), but Laura's directions were a little vague about a detail which turned out to be fairly crucial to where I was going. After about an hour of changing directions, rather heavy packages, and wondering why the scenery was turning green and not very-towny, I headed back to the Spotted Dog to have a word with Laura about her instructions. After Cat and her had finished laughing at me, they took pity on me. Laura even bought me lunch! Awww.
Having got directions from those two, I decided to cheat and ask Collin for a lift. It turns out that I was between five and ten minutes of getting to the Post Office when I turned around and walked back to Weaver Street. Oops.
I then got caught in the afternoon's storm. I don't think I'm catching a break today. Hopefully, tonight will be a bit better. Wine, pizza, fried pickles, sweet tea (EWWWW), and Elf Power! They're Cat Power's secret brother. Or something. I think I'm promised lo-fi hiss, anyway!
There never is, is there?
…miss the righteous ire often spewed against politicians on this blog, then don't worry, because I think Charles Clarke is just trying to get on my nerves at this point. You can't complain about a poisonous media after you've tried to make it legal to hold anybody for up to 90 days without charge, will happily extradite anybody to the US without evidence, be present over a bungled anti-terrorist operation which has made the Met look like idiots who are desperately trying to cover their tracks, oh, and attempting to pass a law through Parliament that would allow any future Government to essentially rule by decree. And I didn't even mention ID cards. Or the CCTV extensions. Seriously, what is it with the Home Secretary position? Everybody who occupies seems to turn into a hardline lunatic by the third week…
Yesterday, then. A day of "OH MY GOD, IT'S THE APPLE CHILL!"
For those of you who are either not native to Chapel Hill or spend enough time here that people think you live here: the Apple Chill is an event that takes place in the centre of Chapel Hill at the end of April. Franklin Street is closed off, and the road is filled with little stalls, bouncy castles, motorbikes, candy floss sellers, and gunshot victims. The latter is perhaps not quite so much fun, but everything else, yay!
I led Stacie and Srav up and down Franklin Street, in blistering sunshine, until I'd seen everything (and to the point where they were willing to put aside humouring the British person and thinking about stabbing instead). But where else can you have a funnel cake, candy floss and a balloon monkey? Exactly. And they had fun really. Inbetween the death glares.
My favourite part of the afternoon though, was when I was ordering the funnel cake. There was a girl in front of me waiting for a hot dog, and as soon as she heard my voice, turned around and said "Are you English?" in an English accent. She was an exchange student from Canterbury, and she sounded so happy to hear a similar accent. It was very endearing…
Now, we were also supposed to slaughter the piñata last night, as it has been sitting unloved in Laura and Collin's house for a couple of weeks now. The plan was to head over to Heather's house, drink the bottle of wine she got me as a birthday present, and then indulge in massive violence. But Heather never called anybody after she got off work, so Christa and I ended up thinking maybe the two of us should just kill it.
So we went into the woods. At night. I'm very impressed with Christa's night navigational skills - you have her to thank that I wasn't eaten alive by hungry centipedes last night. Anyway, after a fun walk across creeks and through a wood that wanted to make sure we knew who was boss, we ended up at one of the adventure playgrounds, and proceeded to destroy the poor piñata. Definitely the best way to spend a Sunday night.
The Scrap Exchange is a lot of fun, but it's probably a good thing that I don't live here, because I'd spend far, far too much time there. Magnet scraps, boxes, foam tubes, biohazard bags, stickers, IV lines, and Catholic school uniforms - it's all there. I only spent two dollars, honest (and had a lovely conversation with the girl behind the counter about my Invisibles wallet and comics, as well).
The rest of the day? Well, let's just say that a little too much alcohol was consumed. I'd say by all, but being honest I think it was me who came off worst. For those of you keeping score at home, there was at least a partial recital of Eliot, plus lots of cowering in the corner from embarrassment. Oh, and we played Parcheesi, which is a bit like an evil version of Ludo.
I have pictures, but I'm a bit scared of actually looking at them…
Actually, despite all the worrying beforehand, the MODERNEXTENSION dance performance was good! It proved, at least, that Coldplay album tracks are indeed worse than the singles, and that you can have lots of fun with exercise balls. And Christa's vitriol at her past in the group was highly amusing (to paraphrase: the modern dancers hate the ballet dancers, the good dancers hate the bad ones, and everybody hates tap with a pathological fury. Who knew that it was such a hotbed of simmering rage, eh, readers?).
Weirdest part of the evening: all week, I've been wondering just why I recognised the name of one of the people we went with last night. It was oddly familiar, but I couldn't place it. And when I met her, it was even worse, until it was mentioned that she used to be a CS undergrad at UNC. I'm fairly sure that I was her TA for a course during the 2002-2003 year. The algorithms one, I think. Which was a little freaky.
Tetris DS update: the world is beating me down hard. I used to think I was a reasonable Tetris player; that illusion has been swiftly ripped asunder. I've won about six games since going online - these people are machines.
Not much going on just right now; some washing, some charging, getting mystified as to why somebody from Seattle wants to be my friend on MySpace, and looking worryingly at the increasingly angry-looking sky.
Tonight? Modern dance! And other things! My final Friday in Carrboro for a while…
"It's like the pizza: if you don't dance with me, I'll kill you. Sorry."
I always seem to be afraid for my life when Christa is around. I can't imagine why. Last night's death threat stemmed from going to see Luminescent Orchestrii at the Cave in Chapel Hill. There was supposed to be a rather large gathering going, but it looked as if only Christa and I would end up being there. And as she was intending to dance, I was going to be press-ganged into service.
As it turned out, Mary and Stacie showed up a little later, which was good, as it meant that Christa could go off and dance with a group who don't have two left feet, and I kept Stacie company as we stuck to our guns and watched from the sidelines. I can't say that I've heard too many Romanian gypsy punk bands, but they were good, and certainly got people up and dancing.
(Weirdly, I think I saw somebody from UNITAS last night; she looked an awful lot like Jenny, and blocked our view for a considerable part of the concert.)
Oh, and I had a crumpet! Yes, Carrboro even has those; although without the obscene amounts of butter, they're just not quite the same.
And for those of you in the area, I had my first pizza from IP3 this afternoon. Shocking, I know…
Yet, even with a messenger bag, I think my unironic love of Hilary Duff will probably save me from the clutches of hipsterdom. That, and I'd just feel silly as one.
Today! Fun and games with the bank! I got a shiny new debit card yesterday from my American bank, so I decided to dump all my traveller's cheques into my account this morning. Afterwards, I tried to check my balance. "Invalid transaction or account". Jeepers. I tried a different ATM, but with the same result. So, after a quick (when I say 'quick', I mean 'expensive') visit to the comic shop, I went back to the bank, begged them to help me, and they did! Apparently, my account was marked as dormant, and this was causing the trouble. It should be active again in the next 24 hours. Something of a relief seeing as how it now contains all my dollar currency. And they let me have a raspberry lollipop too!
That brings us to a side point - why are raspberry things blue? It seems a little strange. Christa and I have a theory that the strawberries and cherries got there first and wouldn't let the raspberries into the red house, but if you know an actual reason, I'm sure we'd love to hear it before discarding it in favour of our 'evil fruit' hypothesis.
Then! An afternoon in Battle Park, writing sentences on index cards. Because I do that sort of thing. Do you?
We are apparently promised sexy gypsy dancing tonight. I will keep you posted.
So, erm, yes, I've bought my clothes for winter…what? They were on sale!
More disturbingly, I looked at the clothes I got afterwards, and noticed something. Aside from the outer jacket, I seem to have obtained The Tenth Doctor's outfit. Oh dear.
I also obtained Brain Age: Train Your Brain for my Nintendo DS. It's a set of games that is supposed to increase brain activity (although it's more fun than science, I think). On my first go, I had a brain age of 65, but after figuring out that the handwriting recognition was mistaking my 7s for 5s, I managed to get it down to 25 fairly easily.
Okay, hopefully now I've finished my consumer cravings for this holiday. Just a few presents to go now. Oh, and an WXYC t-shirt, because I've wanted one for ages, but always seem to forget…
Oh, and I also caved into the messenger bag, buying a reasonably cheap one at Gap. It's very plain, which is good, as I intend to do evil things to it muahahahaha!
The only downside about coming to Carrboro is the period a week before it's time to leave; I wake up feeling that I actually live here, before realising that in a short time, I'll be back in the UK.
Of course, all that means is that I have to fill the last few days with as much fun as possible. I may have also just signed up for total humiliation. Oh dear.
You can spoil New Earth all you want now. My thoughts: much the same problems as last series, but still enjoyable enough, although again, I think the non-RTD stories may turn out to be the better ones.
Oh, and from back home (nicked from The World of Stuart): watch a BNP spokesman get completely outclassed by a BBC News 24 reporter, as he goes from 'we're not racists!' through to 'Labour, the Tories, the Liberals, and the Church of England are all Marxists!' before finally ending up with 'well, ideally, we'd like to send every person of foreign origin back home. Erm…we're really not racists, honest.' Apparently, 1 in 4 Britons is considering voting BNP at the next local elections. Do I really have to go back?
Perhaps something of an update is in order. Neko Case has a wonderful set of lungs, even if she managed to avoid playing any of my favourite songs during her Thursday night set at the Cat's Cradle (the songs she did play were fantastic, though). And I stand by my comments on Kelly Hogan.
Friday was a walking day. With added pizza. Christa had invited me for a walk, and also suggested that we have pizza in the strip mall next to her apartment. Then she added (paraphrasing, but definitely getting the basic gist): "Oh, we're having a large cheese pizza. And if you don't eat half of it, I'll have to kill you". Ulp. Thankfully, I managed to hold my ground, although I was pleased that she took the biggest slice right at the end. Then! Off into the woods again. More rickety wooden structures, walking gazebos, and a rather evil-looking rope swing poised temptingly over a particularly foul patch of the river. We were strong, and thus kept ourselves from turning into radioactive monsters. It would have just been a hassle.
Friday night was spent at Wootini to see their new art installation (and to gasp in horror at the price list as we were eating all the mints and cheese), and another night at OCSC, much to the delight of Stacie's allergies. As the clock struck midnight, I was wished a happy birthday by all and sundry. Which was nice.
Saturday! Presents from my family, Laura and Naomi started the morning. Laura got me a very old (1835!) book about "how to live a Godly life" and a copy of Chairman Mao's little Red Book (for fun and games at immigration), plus badges and a SplitCam! Naomi's present was a handmade book made from circuit boards. It's about twice as cool as it sounds, trust me.
The day had only just begun, though. We went off to The Rock's house (I don't know her actual name; in general, I'm against people speaking in the third person about themselves, but my, she can carry it off well) to dye eggs. You can see one of the results in the photolog. Needless to say, much fun was had. After that, and a tequila shot which I didn't really have that much choice about, truth be told, we headed off to the Really Really Free Market, at which I resisted the temptation of taking home a Quadra Macintosh and got a tarot reading at Naomi's insistence. Apparently, I sent ships out, and they'll be coming in shortly.
Then! Oh yes! Maple View Farm for ice-cream! A pleasant walk with Stacie to the comic shop and the Asian shop! Popsicles! A strange mango tangerine orange drink that looks like chemical waste!
Which led to the second part of the day: a birthday dinner, and things to follow. Heather and Christa joined us for this bit, with Naomi and Laura dropping out for moving and work reasons. Heather gave me a bottle of wine (which will apparently undergo a transformation after we've finished drinking it, which sounds interesting), and Christa got me the first book of Y: The Last Man (shortly followed by Bill giving me the next two books, so I have plenty to read), as well as Strawberry Pocky. Which, I note, she consumed before we all got together. Hmph. Anyway, dinner was at PF Chang's; huge amounts of food and something called The Great Wall of Chocolate, a seven-layer cake with raspberry syrup that almost defies the imagination. I feel full again just thinking about it.
Silly Hat Department 1: Christa loaned me her tiara for the evening. I should probably not promise to wear something before I see what it is.
The final event of the evening was late-night bowling (the dramatis personae for this part of the evening consisted of Christa, Stacie, Srav, Laura, and Naomi). Plus DDR. Which I suck at. I mean, really, really bad. Admittedly, I'm not much better at bowling, either. Although I was almost disembowelled after saying that and getting two spares on my first go. Thankfully, my form reasserted itself, and the threat of bloodshed passed. Lots of fun (although Laura has to be barred from all our future games, because she's far too good).
Silly Hat Department 2: I was worried about breaking the tiara at the bowling alley, so a compromise was worked out: I would wear Collin's purple fluffy hat instead. Hmm.
That brings us to today and my sneaky friends. Naomi had to go to work this morning, and got a lift from Stacie into Durham. Or so I thought. Because Laura and I went off to Durham later in the day, ostensibly to a place called The Scrap Exchange, but we had to drop a bottle of wine of at Laura's new apartment…
…where a surprise was waiting for me! A surprise Easter Egg hunt, in fact. Naomi had hidden plastic eggs full of sweets in their house and in the wonderful woods surrounding. It was our job (Stacie, Srav, Laura, and me) to hunt them down. More difficult than it sounds, and some squirrels will be dining well tonight, as five or so eggs (from sixty, so we did quite well!) could not be recovered during our search. Pictures will probably go up tomorrow. I also got an extra prize; an egg keychain from Christa, who couldn't join us as she was off with family. But no pie, I'm told.
Srav and Stacie had to go off to write papers and take exams; yes, all that boring but necessary stuff. Laura, Naomi, and I, on the other hand, went off to the Museum of Life and Sciences to play on the drums, spray each other with water, and look for wolves. We had much more fun. Plus! Dinosaur! Easter Sunday simply isn't complete without a huge dinosaur making an appearance.
Silly Hat Department 3: Most of this afternoon was spent wearing a fez. And scaring small children. Again.
That, then, was my birthday weekend. And much fun was had by all. At least, I hope so, anyway.
I have not yet seen New Earth. Anybody telling me spoilers (I've downloaded a torrent to watch sometime soon) will be attacked viciously with a sonic screwdriver…
Pizza, ice-cream, walks, Coke Blak, and getting drunk in the dark.
And never tell Collin a secret! ;)
Kelly Hogan is as cute as a button and a ball of yarn.
EASTER! JESUS IS COMING WITH AN ARMY OF BUNNIES AND CHICKENS AND CHOCOLATE!
METAL FLUTE!
I have to eat half a pizza tomorrow or I will die a horrible and messy death. It's not all fun and games here, you know…
About a great many things. But! This afternoon, we'll concentrate on the most recent: Pit Preachers! Redux!
They just fascinate me; while we often get people with loudhailers yelling tracts in the bigger cities, you don't often see an organised, rolling tour of universities that these people put together. They stand they all day, abusing the students (who, it must be said, give as much as they get), making curious leaps in logic (today's example: "If you believe in evolution, then you support paedophiliacs!), and generally not being very successful in converting anybody.
You have to wonder why they continue to show up, abuse and get abused, with nothing to show at the end of the day except a tired throat. Surely, their energies could be better applied elsewhere?
Tomorrow! Kavi comes to town! Hurrah! And Neko Case! And then the weekend…oh my…
God mixed honey and mustard, and lo! Another miracle appeared in Eden (oil and water could also mix there, a secret lost when we got kicked out (damn that Eve — The Catholic Church)). But we hid honey mustard in the fig leaves, and all was good…
(incidentally, I do hope people are planning on watching the Manchester Passion, because it seems like it's a wonderful car crash just waiting to happen. Although I'm disappointed that Ian Brown isn't playing Jesus)
Yesterday: feeling ill and sleeping. (Hurrah for ginger ale)
Today: a lovely homecooked meal for a change, courtesy of Stacie, plus discussion on the possibilities of a Giant Panda vs. Evil Moles face-off...
I went to a drag show last night. Mind you, it might be a different setup to what you initially think. The Cuntry Kings are a drag king act, instead of, say, a drag queen act. The event in question was an open-mic affair which allowed anybody to put on a performance. We were there to see Laura and Lyda's performance of It's Carrboro (rapidly becoming the town's own anthem to go along with their currency), complete with a PowerPoint show of the sights of the fair town. Even though the timing of the presentation was a little out of time with the music (through no fault of their own, I hasten to add), it was a fun little skit. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures, as I didn't want to annoy the girl behind me any more than was strictly necessary. But! Naomi filmed it, so perhaps there's a chance of getting some stills from that later on.
(We felt sorry for Stacie, who had to endure a rendition of Stacie's Mom. But she got her own sweet revenge on Srav later…)
Then, off to Hell for its monthly dance party. And my ears haven't stopped ringing yet. Lots of dancing, as you might guess; True Faith making a welcome appearance, although we didn't really have the room to re-enact the video (and who would get slapped?). By the end of the evening, we had discovered the requirement for a Orientation and Intentions tattoo system on people's foreheads, so decisions could be made without having to try and make yourself heard over the music. It could be extended to a Homeland Security-type system easily enough: a black armband means you have to stand with the creepy guys in the corner, while red sees you being showered with advances. Well, we can dream, can't we?
Okay, I'm now going to try and sleep, seeing as how I spent last night trying not to be sick (no drink involved, before you say anything - it struck me yesterday afternoon, but I don't think the dancing helped too much!)
It needs to be said: you can be any age and still enjoy silly hats, sweet necklaces, and a tiara. Which Christa proved last night in spades (and there's still a piñata to destroy! It's the birthday that keeps giving!). A lot of fun was had at Fuse last night, heading to the bar to order drinks with our hats on (funnily enough, it tends to make bartenders avoid you), and drowning out the Signal band with our horns (it really needed to be done). Conversation topics involved Grant Morrison, imitations of English accents, the power of inflatable guitars, and doing dastardly things to Collin after he fell asleep.
I have bought PixelBlocks. Oh dear.
And then this morning! Oh my. Christa asked if I wanted to go on a 'woodsy adventure' with her. Well, I thought, at least this time I'd have a guide and so wouldn't get lost.
Ahahaha.
I think I have some sort of direction-scrambling aura around me, because we did indeed get lost. But it was still a lovely way to pass a morning / early afternoon, even if some inconsiderate person stole the Buzz Lightyear figure that had been silently saluting oncoming trains for the past few weeks. I even managed to walk across a reasonably high, fairly rickety wooden platform without passing out. So hurrah! We did get a teensy bit wet, though.
Tonight! A drag show! And then we're all going to Hell. Ha. Ha. (dies)
"Hey! I remember you! We went to the strip club together!"
And now, two reasons why I am DOOMED.
I was browsing through Club Nova today, a thrift store I've talked about before, as it often has wonderful cheap clothes along its walls, when I got an attack of Catholic Guilt. I have money now, I guess, and buying clothes from a thrift shop now means that I could be depriving somebody of an item which they need much more than I do.
Luckily, my guilt was relieved by my not finding anything in the shop, but it doesn't help me out of my quandary. (I did later find trousers in the Gap for about $10, thus giving me a cheap purchase, sticking it slightly to the Man, and only indirectly helping to support sweatshops overseas. Yay for guilt!)
Confessions of a DOOMED person part 2: Walking along Franklin Street, just outside CD Alley. A very pretty girl is walking towards me. She smiles at me, I smile back....
....and my foot catches a raised section of pavement, sending me flying and almost smacking my face down on the ground. Thankfully, my sunburn probably covered some of my embarrassment. Sometimes I think my life is being written by a perverse Richard Curtis, which is a rather depressing thought.
I have introduced Collin to the World of Macintosh. Well, he asked for my opinion on buying a new computer! And he was leaning Mac anyway! But last night, he was taking pictures of all and sundry using Photo Booth on his shiny new MacBook Pro, and I thought to myself "What have I done?" I'm so, so sorry.
(On the other hand, I'm rather proud of directing Arthur, the drummer from Stellastarr*, to Weaver Street Market, and explaining all about Carrboro. Especially when I told him that they have their own currency)
I am busy putting together Secret Projects. One of which caught me a little short at Target today. I didn't have time to walk to the mall to get something for lunch…so I ate in Target. *shudder* I won't be doing that again in a hurry. Lots of fun stuff to be had there, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, it falls considerably short as a restaurant experience.
Haven't found any Coke Blak yet, though I am looking. Rest assured, I will fulfil my obligation to drink an almost certainly disgusting drink FOR SCIENCE!
I also think I want a messenger bag. This may be further evidence of a dangerous downward spiral on my part, but I'm ignoring all the sensible voices in my head until I get back home. Be warned.
I Love You, But I've Chosen Darkness didn't quite live up to that name. Mind you, in order to do that, they would have to have been a three-piece girl band with guitars and songs about vodka, rusted kisses and laddered tights, so I wasn't too surprised when they turned out to be a post-rock band from Austin. They were good; I probably wouldn't have bought a t-shirt, but come on, I LOVE YOU, BUT I'VE CHOSEN DARKNESS. It had to be done.
Mandy and Josh left on Monday morning, so our group is now a little smaller. But they're moving back here later in the year…and Stacie is coming back to the fold today! Hurrah.
I did have lots of curious comments and amusing anecdotes about the size of the cheesecake in The Cheesecake Factory and other various bits of American culture that I could make witty asides about, but I've forgotten them all. Which makes me useless as a travel writer, really.
But! I'm in Laura and Collin's apartment now, so no more late night scurrying back to Durham. Instead, I'm now firmly in the Carrboro bubble! I sense several more late nights at OCSC in my near future…
Although it's somewhat amusing to see him on America's equivalent to The 11 o'clock Show (equivalent except that The Daily Show is actually funny), I do feel as if Jon Stewart is being infected just by sitting next to him.
While I'm still waiting for girls to fling themselves at my feet (Richard Curtis promised me that it happens, you know), I did manage to convince Best Buy to cash a cheque without ID. Because we're trustworthy, you see.
(Yay! I have Goodnight and Good Luck, and the all-new version of Breakfast At Tiffany's!)
So, um, is there anything I should know about The Editors before I interview them on Wednesday? I really can't remember much about them…
I had had a few drinks when I heard the recipe, so I'm assured that the eggs are indeed scrambled (and definitely not raw!), plus I forgot the cheese grits, and made a mistake concerning the pancakes; they're blueberry pancakes covered with jam mixed berry coulis. Not blueberry syrup.
Obviously, I need to find one of these.
I must confess that I'm still not convinced, but then my sister would point out she can't eat pancakes around me as I've put her off so much…
It wasn't my fault. Okay, so it was really. After a delightful lunch with Srav and Stacie at the Udupi Café in Cary (who knew that honey and carrots would work so well together?), I asked to be dropped on Franklin, chiefly so I could buy a ticket for the concert which I supposed to be going to later on. That took all of five minutes, so I was at a loose end for the next six hours or so.
That's obviously very dangerous. Yes, I decided to have a walk. I went over to Battle Park, one of my favourite places around UNC campus. It has an open-air theatre, lots of streams, and lots of pathways through the woodland. I always miss it when I'm not here (along with other things, obviously). So I walked. It was quite pretty; parts of the woods are still completely bare, whereas other parts are now flowering all over the place.
I'd like to point out that I didn't actually get lost in the woods. However, when I came out of Battle Park, it was into a rather confusing housing estate that seemed to loop back on itself in all directions. I was a little bewildered, and then Collin called. He requested my presence, and I had to tacitly admit that I had no clue where I was. Piled on top of my Target adventure last Tuesday, I was beginning to gain a reputation. Eventually, though, Bill and Naomi came to my rescue, picking me up and whisking me off to the others.
The rest of the afternoon (and most of the evening too, come to think of it) was spent at Bill's apartment in Carrboro, along with a seemingly never-ending supply of wine. Not bad, considering that I met him for the first time on Friday night. Bill is another of what I call 'mirror-images' - computer nerds who seem to have much less trouble with life than I do, in that he wasn't the wallflower sitting around most of the time. I wish I could borrow a little of that energy sometimes.
Anyway, despite my long-standing feelings of inadequacy (many of which are just a product of my mind, after all), much fun was had by all, with people choosing between the Hilton Sisters and the Olsen Twins, a man called Elbow, phantom fan letters to Natalie Portman, and Christa's repeated attacks on the tomato supply.
It got a little colder outside, so we retreated indoors, where things took on a sleepier tone. At which point, Christa decided that she was going to go home to bed instead of the show. Which didn't go down well with everybody else. They tried cajoling her, but to little avail, and then they were forced to give away their secret:
The others were planning on springing a surprise party of Christa, Naomi, and me afterwards. Shock! I must admit that I thought they were joking to try and get Christa more enamoured with the idea of going to the show. But no, they really had talked about it for ages, keeping it a fairly-well guarded secret.
In the end, we compromised; Christa went off home to rest, but promised to come along to Collin's later. The rest of us headed to the show: The Rosebuds at the Cat's Cradle. Now, I hadn't heard them before, but I was quite impressed; an indie band styled on UK indie staples like Ash and Spearmint, rather than too many American ones. And Collin gave me their album for my birthday, so hurrah!
The party turned out to be a little subdued (especially since Laura and Naomi had fallen asleep waiting for us, and were thus absent), but it was nice and cosy. New Order videos, breaking in my camera, and an INVASION OF THE POLKA-DOTS!
A day full of ups, downs, lefts, rights, sun-dried tomatoes, dress-up closets, autistic worms, and men in fat suits slapping each other. A day of Carrboro in all its glory.
Tonight? Well, we're heading off to see I LOVE YOU, BUT I'VE CHOSEN DARKNESS. On the strength of their name alone.
A charming image, there.
Last few days: the return of Ian Is Dumb!
Other news: the burritos at Fiesta Grill are about twice the size of a swiss roll…guh
Magnetic paint is actually quite hard to find.
You can buy non-spill bubble cups from Target.
Dinner with Mandy wasn't quite as scary as it first seemed.
Chocolate chip cookie dough pop tarts are really quite nice!
Christa really wasn't kidding when she said she loved Elizabeth Shaw mints.
