Hello, New York

Three planes and 8 hours later...

Getting to New York wasn't too bad. Met some nice people on the planes--an older couple who thought I had a good sense of humor and a girl interning in chem/med here for the summer. Weirdly, though, the last flight was a bit odd. I kept getting dripped on from above. I narrowed it down to 5 possibilities: Something was leaking in the overhead bin, someone sneezed in the air filter, there was some kind of toxic preserving chemical up there, the plane had recently crashed and the air masks had not dried yet, or I was going crazy. Turned out it was condensation.

Oh, and an old lady got locked in the bathroom.

In the airports and on the planes, I read the first 157 pages of Karlology by Karl Pilkington. It's hilarious. You should check it out.

I got to the airport, got my luggage, and jumped in a van marked "Laguardia Airport Hotel" with two locals and two people from Marshfield, WI. I got to the hotel only to find that there are, in fact, LOTS of hotels called Laguardia Airport Hotel and I was at the wrong one. So the driver took me to the right one through busy post-game traffic in 75 degrees and me in three layers of clothing.

Finally got to the hotel and had to take a shower because I was sweaty. Then I realized I forgot to pack shower shoes. I hooked up my computer to the hotel wireless, but then remembered that I do not have an ethernet cable, which is what you need to access the internet in the dorms. At this rate, I may have well not brought luggage at all.

But that is a small concern. Now I'm just relaxing and waiting for Gina to arrive in New York. Hope she gets to the right hotel.

Last of Wisconsin

Running out of days here in Madison before I fly off to New York, but it's been pretty chill.



Playing baseball is hard when you only have five people, a metal bat, and tennis balls.

Updated Robin Ince drawing from previous post.

Red Dwarf marathon today with Allison.

The episode of Carpool with Stephen Fry just went up. It's the best episode yet, in my opinion. Not just because it's Stephen Fry, but the content of the chat is very interesting, at least to me.


Tried to check my itinerary for my flight, but I couldn't log onto Expedia for some reason, so I called the 1-800 number. It's weird talking to machines. Not just answering them by pushing buttons, but the voice recognition thingy that you can actually talk to. It's pretty accurate, but I had to try hard not to say "Uhh..." before answering every question.


Burbank Chapter 2 is up and running, by the way. Check it out. Post a comment, please.

Memorial Day Weekend

Brief updates, everybody...

MADE A VIDEO
I have finished my senior year video. It's not on YouTube at the moment, partially because it has other people's music on it and partially because it's over 10 minutes long. It is on facebook, however. I can embed it here, but the right side gets cropped off...


BURBANK
Today, I started writing Chapter Two of Burbank with a Baedeker. There'll be more on the writing blog once I actually post it. It's good, I think. It's about wheels.

NEW YORK
I packed my luggage.

CONCERT
I just got my schedule for the first day of class and it says we have individual group meetings until 8pm, which is when the Among the Oak and Ash concert/opener starts. I'll try to get out of there half an hour early, but it's looking like I might not make it. But here's a cool new Among the Oak and Ash video I found.

WEBSITE UPDATES
jleighnelson.com
1. I added a video trailer of the London documentary I made a few years ago.

2. I added a drawing journal entry of Robin Ince.

HOMEWORK

I went to Borders to culture surf. There's a lot of books about religion and science on the best sellers today. Probably because Demons and Angels is in theatres now?

I also have 4 out of 5 book pitches written.

XFM

Oh boy. You can download all 92 episodes of The Ricky Gervais show on XFM off Pilkipedia. This is potentially dangerous for my harddrive and free time, but not my wallet because it's free.

MOVIES

"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" wasn't that good. The cast was good, but the writing was so-so. It is about the New York publishing world, though, so it was cool to see even if it's skewed. I think the only part I really liked was when Simon Pegg's character got drunk and climbed a wall, started singing, and fell off again.

"Twilight" sucked terribly. It was funny to make fun of it. There's really nothing redeeming in it. Not the acting, the writing, the editing, or the makeup. I can't believe they got away with releasing it.

"Let the Right One In" was the one good movie I saw this week. Not the best movie ever, but a fresh (and Sweedish) look at vampires. It's good they're re-releasing it because the subtitles were wrong and the English dub was a little ridiculous sometimes.

BASEBALL

Playing baseball with bread, jelly-filled strudels, apples, and corn on the cob is one of America's best pastimes.

SAMI'S BIRTHDAY

Sami had a birthday. We played Quelf, Apples to Apples, and Put Ice Cubes Down Nicole's Back.

random things I'd like to tell you because it's the middle of the night

This is my new iPod. It's orange. I've discovered the iTunes store, which I fear might make me poorer than going to New York. For the first time, I've gotten quite interested in podcasts. The wonderful thing about them is that most of them are free. Well, not so much Ricky Gervais's ones, but that's what iTunes giftcards are for. There are free samples, though.
I've also downloaded (for free) Robin Ince's Utter Shambles. I can't seem to find the first season (called Show and Tell) on iTunes though, don't know why. The basic premise is that Robin, Josie, and the guest of the week each bring in something odd and they talk about the things on air and then Robin talks really fast about something until someone interrupts him because that's the only way to get a word in. I quite like it.


In other news, I've just spent far too long and nine CDs backing up my harddrive onto something that can stay here while I go to New York because heaven forbid I get my laptop stollen or broken. I'm also in the process of moving all this garbage off my external and onto DVDs.

I bought Among the Oak and Ash (Josh Joplin and Garrison Starr) tickets for the first Monday I'll be in New York. Not sure I'll be able to make it, though it's pretty close to the dorm, but they were pretty cheap tickets (though not after Ticket Master had a go at the extra fees). All right, so they're opening for Jessica Lea Mayfeild. I don't know who she is, but I'm sure it's worth it.

I have HOMEWORK!!!!

I'm revolutionizing the world of fiction, though I'm sure someone's done it before me. Typical.

Some movies I've seen recently are Milk (pretty good), Star Trek (hate Star Trek with a passion but Simon Pegg was very funny), and American Movie (both funny and depressing...why does everyone in Milwaukee in this film sound like they're from Fargo?).

Oh, I'm also creating a 20 minute video of all my senior year footage and photos. Actually, it's already done, but I'm waiting on a couple photos from some different people to drop in. I'll post a link when it's done.

I'll take my degree now, please

I now have a BA in English. Let's look at this week's events...

THE LAST WEEK

1. Final CAB party

Tiffany and her advisees

This was my idea, obviously.

Yay, CAB

Me and Jara. Aw.




2. Good-bye to English Club


Sharon, Megan, me after lunch

English Club end-of-the-year dinner at Fayze's

We finally got our shirts that I designed!
Andrew picked out the slogan. I did the art.





3. Jolie had a birthday. I gave her a pineapple.

GRADUATION

1. Graduation Day

me at the clocktower

I graduated. There was a bat.

2. Graduation Party

me and Lindsey at the party

My brother and I had a double graduation party because he's graduating high school as I graduate college. There were over 40 people at the party. Thanks to everyone who came!

Thanks to my parents who got me an iPod. Yes, I've been holding out a very long time. I really feel old when I rebel against new technology.

Next stop, New York. I leave May 30th.

My newest writing blog entry is about summer reading:

http://j-leigh-nelson.livejournal.com/28796.html

1. Final Bradbury Drawing

This is my fourth drawing for my 22-hour problem. It's based off a couple stories. The quote is from "A Sound of Thunder," describing what the time machine sounds like. The calendar back is from "The Sound of Summer Running" which says that when people lie out in the sun too long, their backs peel like calendars. I thought that was a powerful image and, since calendars measure time, I thought it went well with the bonfire. So, this piece is called "A Sound." It's an experiment in cutting and glueing pieces on. Almost everything in this picture is a separate piece stuck on later.

"A Sound" in progress

"A Sound" finished

2. Literacy and Lyrics Book Drive

We were worried it would rain, so we moved it to the gazebo, which doesn't get as much traffic, but we did get a fair amount of books donated (5 UPS boxes full). Plus all the musicians were great. It was a pain trying to haul the books around afterward, though.

3. English Dept. Social

You know we're a sporty school when even the English professors go all out on wiffle ball. We played on the baseball diamond. Oddly enough, I think 4th grade softball helped me out on this one because I knew the rules already. I batted 4 times, hit the ball 4 times, made it home 2 times, got tagged at third base once, had my fly ball caught once, and fell on my butt once. I'm pretty sure we won, but there is some disagreement, of course.

After loading out from Augustana, I was sore for a couple days, then had to carry books for L&L and was sore again, then went all out on wiffle ball and am sore again. I'm ready for summer.

I also got a certificate of appreciation during the awards part of the "program."

And my friends came up from Madison and came to this event! (see below)

4. Friends Visit

My friends from Madison came up to visit for four hours. That made me very happy. Thanks, guys!