I got one new track from Big Boi and Dre Present, Outkast, The Whole World, which bounces faster than your momma’s check. (What do you think of that one? I just made it up meself). The album seems to have only three new tracks so i’m not sold on pulling out the cash yet. But i will find the reamaining two tracks and let you know.
So every year or so the same stupid thought enters my head: “I’m feeling bored and dumb, maybe i should go back to school”. And then i think, hell why not?! I’ll take the darn GRE and see how i do. And then right on schedule i do about an hours worth of research/surfing and realize it is totally impossible for me to go to grad school. First of all the test itself is 100 bucks. I know in the long run, it’s not a lot, but in the here and now it is a lot. Do you know how much wine 100 USD could buy me? A LOT.
So then i poke around looking at the programs that interest me. Inevitably i download an application to take a look, and then my fate is sealed. There are like six lines for prizes, honors, fellowships honor societies. Errr. Strike 1. Absolutely none. The only thing i’ve “won” in like the last 7 years was a stuffed animal (stuffed with sand i think) at a coney island water-gun-shoot-into-balloon race. Oh wait, my dad won that for me. Rats. Okay zero. Let’s move on.
Next – Two lines for work experience. TWO! What’s up with that? Like all good children of the new economy i’m on my fourth job in three years (fifth if we want to get real technical, but we don’t).
Then three letters of recommendations from all those professors you dazzled as an undergrad. Cough cough. The only professors i made any of an impression on were grad students that i ended up drinking with i’m quite sure. And even those two or three, i’m positive, don’t remember me. I had one printmaking professor whom i actually became close to. But i don’t think a grad program in HCI or economics (my two hair-brained choices) will be so impressed by how well i can wipe ink off etching plates. So nada on the letters of recommendation.
And just for kicks, “From which languages can you translate scholarly materials into English?” Ohh just about all of ‘em.
And then i remember that while in college, i was absolutely positive i never wanted to go to grad school. Or maybe i just convinced myself of that so i would never have to go the extra mile in my coursework, and never try and suck up to or make idle chit chat with professors who were clearly bored with all the undergrads. Or more likely i was just afraid of them.
Oh well, i can’t afford that shit anyway. I’ll be paying off the first round of scholarship for another 13 years.
And really, i just saved myself 100 USD. Wine anyone?
It’s been a research day today. New wireless phones, unified messaging, sms, mms, sss, sssxxss. Ok i made the last two up. Here are some useless thoughts.
Wireless phones are starting to get really weird. Let’s look at some examples:
This one looks like one of those super cheap handheld qbert games your mom wouldn’t buy you. Or maybe an etch-a-sketch
There’s something sort of gross about this. No not sexual, just sort of reminds me .. um.. okay maybe it is sexual.
I myself like the Ericcson R520m. It looks like it won’t break when you drop it for the fifth time that day. I’m really not fit to be on the cutting edge of technology clearly.
Another thought: The way these people write about the business world, it seems so painful and life-threaning. Examples:
“Consumer electronics guys are trying not to be left out in the cold, but there’s a good chance they will be,”
“The standards task force, for its part, continues to be at a standstill in choosing an appropriate standard for IM interoperability. ”
electronics companies are nervously eyeing computer-industry efforts, worrying they might get shut out of the game.
“On some level these two will always be kissing cousins..” (what the hell are “kissing cousins”???)
ok that’s all for now. I may have Vietnemese food tonight…
Umm.. I’m listening to a lot of BeeGees right now. Like, “I started a joke which started the whole world crying…” Puzzled? I sure am.
Well i’m back from my petite sojourn in the UK. Lemme tell ya it was freezin beyond belief. But it was nice. Especially lovely to speak in my native tongue. I relished it like nuthin. It’s so close that one would think i could go over whenever i needed a little understanding. Unfortunately London is really really expensive. A weekend every 2 months there would wipe out any of my saving money plans. But there were my super cute little cousins, and charming Brighton, and dancing to good music that was badly mixed. You can’t win em all i guess.
One good thing is i definitely like Paris better than London. It is just so beautiful here. Even when it’s damp and grey and cold. I was talking to someone french about it, at my party i think. He asked how i was liking being here and i gave my usual response that it is hard, but Paris is an amazingly beautiful city. He replied in this matter of fact tone, “Yes Paris is beautiful. That’s because we surrendered right away”. It took me a few seconds to get that but then i chuckled. Quite the witty and insightful remark.
So i’m happy to be back, well relatively happy anyway. It will be a short workweek and i’ve got some strange market/cabaret thing lined up for sunday. What else can you ask for in dreary december?
In other news, i received my secret santa assignment and it’s great. This cute little tortured college freshman boy. On his wishlist are a medley of how-to dating books and dylan thomas poetry collections. I fucking love it!
.. i hate having to forfeit my coke allowance to buy some
distant relative a new set of spatulas..
Christmas cheer from tarryn. Oh and she is quite right about the french love affair with strikes. I keep meaning to bitch about it, but it just seems so pointless, like bitching about weather. Wait i bitch about the weather all the time, don’t i..
A very good read,
The Morning News – Roundtable: Writing on the Web
but do you ever get a bit tweaked when you find yourself taking something you do just to waste time so seriously? In other words, articles like this make me take my stupid blog seriously and make me want to do many more interesting and thoughtful things than i currently do. Which may be a good thing. But then again, i’m like, it’s just a stupid blog.
“This could be big. This could be the culture shift.”
brought to us by wood s lot
—
para Ken Layne
So yeah a few days without any posts. That means things are looking up, right? Well work’s been keepin’ me busy recording tidbits like:
in my best flat and boring voice. It’s for our VoiceXML thing which i keep talking about.
Every time i hear my recorded voice i am horrified at how LA i sound. I’ve worked hard to shave off most of the sunshine-y Southern California ditsy-ness from my voice, but i couldn’t get rid of all of it.
Oh and, if you’re sufficiently interested in this shiat, this link tells you how to syndicate your blog into VoiceXML, so that people can call an 800 number and have your blog read to them over the phone. Isn’t that just fabulous? I’m too lazy right now to do it myself, but if you do – let me know how it turns out.
On friday i’m flying to London for a long weekend, which should be fun. I’m flying because it’s at least a hundred dollars less than the Eurostar. The Eurostar is a total rip-off. It’s really nice and all, but a 3 hour train ride should not be costing upwards of 200 smackers. Even if you are lazy and don’t buy your ticket until 2 days before.
More later.
Okay.
Rob Bresney’s horoscope seems to have explained away my winter, homesick, isolation misery:
…you can’t reprogram yourself until you deprogram. And seeing as how deprogramming requires the destruction of outmoded brain circuitry, it doesn’t always feel real bouncy and peppy and fluffy. What does this have to do with you? Everything. You’re right in the middle of your deprogramming season, with the reprogramming phase soon to follow.
Is this true? I sure hope so as it would explain a lot. It leads to more questions though. Like which part is getting deprogrammed at the moment? It seems to be the part that’s fun, communicative, and has friends. Now what’s on the menu for reprogramming that? Maybe i’ll be able to talk to birds in a secret “cooing” language after all this is done.
In other news, a character from my somewhat-distant past turned up in Frankfurt last week. Tomorrow he’s driving into Paris to hang out. This may or may not be such a good thing. On the one hand, i sho could use the company. And once upon a time, he was good company. On the other hand, that somewhat-distant past can be described as a *very sketchy* time in my life. At the time i was sure i had it all under control, but as we always realize later, i was diving for pearls at the very deepest part of the stupidity ocean.
In any case, it may make for more interesting blog entries than the one i posted last night.
New Angeles Monthly, June 2008
Weekend America, March 30, 2008
Los Angeles Times, March 13, 2008
Los Angeles Times, March 6, 2008
Nil by Mouth is written by Neille Ilel. Neille is a writer, reporter and user interface specialist in Los Angeles. If you think that's a lot, she's also got a host of meandering sidelines including improv comedy, tennis, cooking, drawing and thinking about learning to play the guitar.
Nil is her given name. It's a long story.
E-mail her here:
nil
@
neille
.com