today neil dropped me off at the train station and told me how to get to the museum of science and industry in manchester. (it was a five minute walk.) 40 minutes later i was getting lost in the museum. 1- it’s huge. 2- pathways aren’t marked for the exhibits. 3- it’s spread out over five different buildings. i think i saw most of the museum in three hours, but i can’t be sure since i was lost.
then i walked across the city in search of a map and a record shop. i ended up finding both. i also bought a jacket from a mod shop. i fell in love with that store, and it was sad. i got a snack there and some coffee. when i went into the cafe they were playing the first pebbels garage comp (recognized the song “spazz”), and then switched to the first nuggets comp. all the snotty nosed emo shithead teenagers couldn’t detract from that. i wandered about some more and then wandered back to a train station. my dogs are barking!
i walked home from the train station- in 40 minutes ore so. neil told me to take a bus, but i knew i could walk it. plus- the bus never came! ha! i just reserved a seat for my flight home and ordered my textbooks for next quarter. it’s just started raining so i’ll fix dinner (tea). hopefully neil makes it back from his sister’s allright.
tomorrow- football! and then a crazy messageboard meetup, because i don’t think there can every be a messageboard meetup that isn’t a little crazy.
today we went to two museums on the manchester quays- the lowry and the imperial war museum north. overall, the war museum was better than the lowry because the exhibits were more interesting. the lowry had two exhibits about football, but one wasn’t very good. oh well.
here’s a picture of the footbridge. it’s really cool. it raises and lowers. tomorrow i’m going to more stuff in manchester and hopefully not freeze to death.
the flight in was long and full of crying babies, but fear not. i’m alive! i passed through customs like a breeze. the customs officer even made fun of me for flying here to see sheffield wednesday. he said he hoped i enjoy myself, and then laughed. indeed.
even better was that neil was outside the arrivals waiting for me. so far, we’ve done little. went grocery shopping at asda, which was a zoo. we also walked around most of bolton, ate at a subway (that didn’t have mustard?!?!), and i took a nap. tomorrow it’s off to manchester and some museums i think.
i put some pictures from chicago up. not all of them, just the ones that weren’t bad.
[Andrew] Johnson’s tumble in the box under Chelsea keeper Hilario’s challenge sparked a touchline row between [Jose[ Mourinho and Everton counterpart David Moyes after the Chelsea boss made a diving motion with his hands.
Mourinho said: "He's dangerous for opponents because you cannot trust him, and I was not happy with that.
"But I think he was a bit embarrassed and he behaved very well after that."
The Chelsea boss stopped short of calling Johnson a cheat, but said: "In my country we call them 'intelligent' players. In other countries you can use different words and are critical.
"I've been in this country for three years now and I am influenced by your culture. It is a country I admire, I am proud to be part of it.
"For me when a player chases a penalty, he is no longer an intelligent player."
now, i didn't get to watch this supposed dive live, since i was sleeping. i regret that decision. did johnson dive? i don't know. does he have the reputation of christiano ronaldo or the entire chelsea squad? no. is mourinho supposed to be responsible as a manager? yes. is he? no. he's an ass, and makes me want to see man utd. win the league this year. so yeah, mourinho's a twat.
this first quarter of library school is almost done… i can taste it. i just need to finish my last bibliography bit and send it to the professor. tomorrow i’m going robo tripping to cap it off. nice!
just kidding.
i’m starting to feel a little down, but oh well. working, school, and the like is taking it’s toll. i realised the other night that i don’t really have friends, because i’m too selfish to keep contact. i really want to, but at the end of the day i want a nap. perhaps the next year or so will be another long cocoon, where i just focus on school only to emerge a real librarian and try to pick up my dead social life from there. i see my other friends in grad school doing stuff. yeah, they’re busy too, but they also have time to hit the bars, play games, hang out, and i envy them. i hope when i get back from england i can work on that band with lbz, but i don’t want to get my hopes up. i’ll probably flip out over my homework load. poor me! i’m so put upon with school and work. (wah wah wah.) oh well. everybody’s got some problems, of course these are only mine.
i think it’s time for me to pull back from kalx and start grooming my successor. that’ll make sense.
and i also need to contact my friends. i’ve sort of started doing this, but it’s just making me feel more like a heel. on one hand i feel bad for not calling/emailing them, but on the other hand most of these people haven’t made an effort to contact me either. when i remind myself of that, i feel a little resentment but then i guess it might be a sign that i killed the friendship in some way and they accepted that. of course, this is a very sefish view on my part. i don’t think they hate me, and that’s why they aren’t talking to me, rather they are too busy or into different things. or maybe i am trying to gloss over my flaws and that they really are mad at me. (who does that sound like?)
i am getting christmas music for the office party tomorrow, and i was reminded of this song (and video). when i was a kid, i was totally into band aid/live aid. i think it was marketed to the kiddies. (or i’m just a sucker.) the only person i actually like on this version is paul weller (and phil collins, because he’s my dad).
i’m almost done with my second term paper. i can sort of taste it. i’m thoroughly bored of the topic by now, but that’s allright. ask me about upgrading to automated circulation systems… i’ll tell you anything you want to know.
i think i’m almost settled on the camera and mp3 player dilemma. i still slightly want the ipod, because i fear change, but i hate steve jobs too much. i also don’t want to be a hypocrite.
i’m close to being ready for my trip. i just need to finish this paper, the next paper, and learn all the necessary football chants.
when i first heard about this mix up, i was somewhat disappointed. i gave up on the daily show when i got sick of stewart’s mugging a few years back, but saying that hillsborough was an example of a hooligan pitch invasion was pretty thoughtless.
i was reminded of this because of world soccer daily. one presenter, steven cohen, tried to connect the fact that liverpool fans were involved in two of the three most horrible stadium disasters, and they were somewhat to blame for hillsborough. the other presenter, redshite nick gerber, was understandably argumentative about that, as were many of the callers. of course most of the american callers missed the point about it.
yeah… this isn’t the worst thing the daily show could have done, but it’s just another example of how they could be better.
here’s some more youtube procrastination from the divine comedy. this was their “hit”. i still don’t know how or why i got sucked into liking this band, but i do.
i’m djing tomorrow on kalx because i’m too lazy to look for somebody else to do it.
actually, i’m just too tired. i turned in my 20 page paper about circulation systems friday, and i have a 10 page paper about a grant proposal for a circulation system tomorrow. let me tell you, automated circulation conversion were big in the eighties. now, they’re not so hot. why? because everybody did it in the eighties! everybody, but my library. oh well. it will be my mark, let me tell you…
so i’m going to go to sleep soon, after i pick out my new camera and mp3 player. jeff, you just made a decision, make this one?
