(no subject)
Re: What I've been up to
1. Taking classes
a. Russian 5. There are only ten people in this class so it's fun and very one-on-one. My written Russian is good but my speaking skill are lacking. I just need more Russian babes to banter with for practice.
b. Intro to Linguistics. I'm a Language Studies major so I've been taking linguistics classes every quarter since I've been here. I've already seen all the material before so it's way too easy, but the teacher's funny and I sit next to a cute girl so its bearable.
c. Everyday Soviet Life. This is taught by my beloved Russian teacher Bill, but he treats it like a lit class and sends us book-length PDFs every week. I don't read them and we haven't had an assignment yet, so I'm okay. I'm taking this because of the Soviet Apartment, which I'll explain later.
d. Natural History of UCSC Campus. This is a field study class that meets once a week. It's totally awesome. We walk around campus and learn the names of mushrooms and lichen and trees and shrubs and animals. My teacher knows everything and I sorta got a crush on her.
2. Playing music
a. Recording music. I haven't been recording as much lately but that's because I've been writing more stuff for live performances (see b.). I put all my songs (all fourty something of them) on last.fm, and you can download them for free. Wee.
b. Playing shows. My friend Brian's been booking me gigs on campus. I've played six or seven, half unplugged and half with an amp and digital delay pedal. Brian also made a website for me and some other SC artists and it looks very professional. Check it out - thisisnotarecordlabel.org
3. Being outside
a. Camping. I set up my tent and sleeping bag ten minutes into the forest, built a fort around it with logs and sticks, and have kept it out there all year. Last quarter I slept out there a few times a week but it's been cold this quarter so I've been out more sparingly. It's very nice to wake up under trees.
b. Hiking. I've probably seen every inch of campus (and its a very big campus) because when I get bored I walk around and try to find new things. There's also miles and miles of forest above campus and something strange and new to find every time I go out because there are dozens of forts, old campsites, shrines, and odd ephemera scattered about.
c. Mushroom hunting. This is a new hobby I took up after I started learning about fungi in my natural history class. There are tons of different kinds of mushrooms all over the place, and they all have funny names and stories about them. If you think mushrooms are boring then you're not really paying attention.
4. Altering my consciousness
a. Weed. Everybody smokes here so it's hard to avoid, but I've been trying to avoid it this week. I find this very difficult because it's just something I do when I'm bored, and I'm bored quite often.
b. Alcohol. I pretty much just drink on the weekends. UC Santa Cruz doesn't have frats and campus is pretty far from town so there's not a big party scene. I get drunk with my friends a few times a week, but I probably drink about half as much as every other college student I know.
c. Psychedelics. Some people up here do shrooms like every weekend but I think thats absolute insanity. I've taken shrooms and acid a few times and I'm over it.
5. Trying to meet girls
a. I suck at it.
6. Miscellanea
a. Drawing. I've never considered myself a good artist, but I've been doing these abstract, symmetric line drawings then I'm rather proud of. I'll upload some one day.
b. Watching movies. I watch a few movies a week from Netflix. Mostly documentaries, indie films, and Bill Murray movies.
c. Internetting. This is something I do pretty much all day, and I've been trying to cut down. Going on facebook, browsing wikipedia, butt above all, reading political blogs. I'm an Obama fan and a little obsessed.
Anyways...that about sums up my life. At any point in time I will be doing some combination of the things above, or sleeping. I live a pretty simple life. Give me suggestions for some new hobbies - getting high and reading about mushrooms and politics can only entertain me so long.
Go Obama.
1. Taking classes
a. Russian 5. There are only ten people in this class so it's fun and very one-on-one. My written Russian is good but my speaking skill are lacking. I just need more Russian babes to banter with for practice.
b. Intro to Linguistics. I'm a Language Studies major so I've been taking linguistics classes every quarter since I've been here. I've already seen all the material before so it's way too easy, but the teacher's funny and I sit next to a cute girl so its bearable.
c. Everyday Soviet Life. This is taught by my beloved Russian teacher Bill, but he treats it like a lit class and sends us book-length PDFs every week. I don't read them and we haven't had an assignment yet, so I'm okay. I'm taking this because of the Soviet Apartment, which I'll explain later.
d. Natural History of UCSC Campus. This is a field study class that meets once a week. It's totally awesome. We walk around campus and learn the names of mushrooms and lichen and trees and shrubs and animals. My teacher knows everything and I sorta got a crush on her.
2. Playing music
a. Recording music. I haven't been recording as much lately but that's because I've been writing more stuff for live performances (see b.). I put all my songs (all fourty something of them) on last.fm, and you can download them for free. Wee.
b. Playing shows. My friend Brian's been booking me gigs on campus. I've played six or seven, half unplugged and half with an amp and digital delay pedal. Brian also made a website for me and some other SC artists and it looks very professional. Check it out - thisisnotarecordlabel.org
3. Being outside
a. Camping. I set up my tent and sleeping bag ten minutes into the forest, built a fort around it with logs and sticks, and have kept it out there all year. Last quarter I slept out there a few times a week but it's been cold this quarter so I've been out more sparingly. It's very nice to wake up under trees.
b. Hiking. I've probably seen every inch of campus (and its a very big campus) because when I get bored I walk around and try to find new things. There's also miles and miles of forest above campus and something strange and new to find every time I go out because there are dozens of forts, old campsites, shrines, and odd ephemera scattered about.
c. Mushroom hunting. This is a new hobby I took up after I started learning about fungi in my natural history class. There are tons of different kinds of mushrooms all over the place, and they all have funny names and stories about them. If you think mushrooms are boring then you're not really paying attention.
4. Altering my consciousness
a. Weed. Everybody smokes here so it's hard to avoid, but I've been trying to avoid it this week. I find this very difficult because it's just something I do when I'm bored, and I'm bored quite often.
b. Alcohol. I pretty much just drink on the weekends. UC Santa Cruz doesn't have frats and campus is pretty far from town so there's not a big party scene. I get drunk with my friends a few times a week, but I probably drink about half as much as every other college student I know.
c. Psychedelics. Some people up here do shrooms like every weekend but I think thats absolute insanity. I've taken shrooms and acid a few times and I'm over it.
5. Trying to meet girls
a. I suck at it.
6. Miscellanea
a. Drawing. I've never considered myself a good artist, but I've been doing these abstract, symmetric line drawings then I'm rather proud of. I'll upload some one day.
b. Watching movies. I watch a few movies a week from Netflix. Mostly documentaries, indie films, and Bill Murray movies.
c. Internetting. This is something I do pretty much all day, and I've been trying to cut down. Going on facebook, browsing wikipedia, butt above all, reading political blogs. I'm an Obama fan and a little obsessed.
Anyways...that about sums up my life. At any point in time I will be doing some combination of the things above, or sleeping. I live a pretty simple life. Give me suggestions for some new hobbies - getting high and reading about mushrooms and politics can only entertain me so long.
Go Obama.