Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Ziggaföss X. McFolson's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, October 4th, 2009
9:42 pm	Last posting at this age My birthday is tomorrow (Monday) and I sent out an e-mail to my local friends to see if people wanted to do anything last weekend. As usual, my friends all crapped out (except Victoria, who said to let her know if anything was going on). Even my roommates couldn't do anything then. (Corinne had just returned from NYC the day before and had a flight to Pittsburgh the next day at 6 AM.) So, on Saturday at 9PM I'm watching TV by myself and all of a sudden I get a text from one of our project's student assistants. She invites me to a club downtown. (For the record, it was her boyfriend's sister's boyfriend's birthday.) After she twisted my wrist a bit, I got dressed quickly and headed downtown. Man, it had been a while since I was out and about like that. I actually ended up having a pretty good time, even though I only knew two people there and everyone was 10 years younger than me. Apart from paying $16 to park, I have no complaints about the night. I realize now that I need to find more friends who actually like going out every now and then. (Not all the time, mind you, but at least once in a while.) Also, I realized I can still hang with the young kids. ;^) Current Mood: chipper Current Music: They Might Be Giants - "It's Not My Birthday" (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
12:07 am	Three in a Row Current Mood: cheerful Current Music: Harry Kalas - "High Hopes" (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
3:49 pm	Clarification The last post was true, but I should give it some context. I was asked to resign as a GA so I could be hired by the same department as a TA. It was just a formality and I felt I'd go out with a bang. However, when I forwarded the message on to Big Momma (who I thought knew about this stupid bit of bureaucracy), she got very upset. She thought I had been fired and had to drop out of grad school. While making her think this was kinda funny, it was also very mean and I apologize profusely to her for the misunderstanding. (Comment on this)
1:29 am	Resignation Today, I was forced to resign from my job. I never had to do this before and I hopefully will never have to do it again. Below is the actual letter I sent to the College of Education. 23 September 2009 Dear XXXX, It is with great sorrow and heavy heart that I am hereby tendering my written notice of resignation to you from the position of graduate assistant, effective immediately. The past few weeks have been a tumultuous time for me as I deliberated the direction of my career. This was a difficult decision, as working for the College of Education has been a positive experience and one for which I am thankful. I have learned a great deal and have enjoyed working with everyone here. However, career enhancement opportunities have led me to accept a different position. This final decision was reached only after thorough consideration. I regret the inconvenience this immediate resignation may cause, but circumstances have left me no choice. I have enjoyed my tenure here and I appreciate having had the opportunity to work with everyone. I consider just about everyone I have met here to be friends of mine now, and I will miss them all. I thank the College of Education for many opportunities it afforded me to both learn and contribute. I will take many positive memories with me to my new employment. I am looking forward to this new challenge and to starting a new phase of my career. Although there is much to say, I believe the reasons leading to this decision are known by you, and I will therefore leave them unsaid at this time. Please feel free to contact me at any time should you have any questions regarding my past work or if I can be of any assistance otherwise. I hope that this transition will go smoothly for everyone. I wish continued success to everyone in the College of Education, and thank you again for my employment all this time. Sincerely, [signed name] Current Mood: resignation Current Music: Dead Kennedys - "Take This Job and Shove It" (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 20th, 2009
1:56 am	Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, September 18th, 2009
12:47 am	One month! It's only one month until our Oktoberfest party! I'm starting to get excited! :^) (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
5:32 pm	Fucking Bureaucracy ( Cut due to lengthy unimportant rambling ) Current Mood: confused Current Music: Tragically Hip - "Small Town Bringdown" (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 5th, 2009
1:43 am	It's Official 17 October 2009 will be the 4th Annual San Diego Oktoberfest. Order your tickets now. Current Mood: cheerful Current Music: Polaris - "Waiting for October" (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
11:24 pm	TMBG! 17 November 2009 - Belly-Up Tavern - TMBG! I've got my ticket. You should get one too! Current Mood: jubilant Current Music: They Might Be Giants - "Damn Good Times" (Comment on this)
Friday, August 28th, 2009
12:45 am	I suddenly got very excited for our upcoming (4th annual) Oktoberfest party ... even though it's still about 2 months away. Tentative date: October 17th. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
9:27 pm	Two quick notes One: I had jury duty yesterday. I had to get up early and drive all the way downtown ... and then wait in a big room for over 9 hours. It was like waiting for a plane that never arrived. There must be a better way to do this. Moreover, if I was ever put on trial, I don't know that I'd consider most of those people my "peers". (Sorry if that seems dickish. I just needed to vent.) Oh yeah, parking cost me $22 also. Two: It's way to friggin' hot here right now. When it gets hot like this, I get headachy and grumpy. (This should explain some of the miserableness of this posting.) It's currently 9:30 at night and the temperature here is almost 90. It totally messes with my sleep cycles. It's supposed to be worse the next two days. There's my bitching for the evening. I hope you enjoyed it. :^) Current Mood: hot Current Music: Twilight Singers - "Forty Dollars" (Comment on this)
Sunday, August 23rd, 2009
2:56 am	Sketch Comedy ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) (Comment on this)
Friday, August 14th, 2009
12:22 am	I'll just put this here http://moourl.com/arrdev (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, August 8th, 2009
2:31 pm	The garage My roommate wants to turn our garage into a gym. I really couldn't care less, but he's very into this idea right now. Frankly, it's too hot to exercise in there and we have so much crap that we need to store that that it seems impractical. Nevertheless, we're cleaning out the garage as we speak. (I needed a break, so I decided to write this post.) I'm going through old boxes of stuff that I haven't seen since I lived in Santa Barbara. Most of the stuff I'm getting rid of seem to fall into three categories: old clothes, dead electronics, and crap I don't even know why I kept in the first place. Also, I'm getting rid of a lot of stuff my exes bought for me. I had been keeping it for sentimental reasons, but looking back now I really have no attachment to it whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, I still keep pictures and gifts that I actually use, but I'm not holding on to stuff just to hold on to it anymore. The box full of soda tabs with a note attached explaining the inside joke from Sarah -- gone; the black jeans Lauren stole from Nordstroms for me that I no longer fit into -- gone; the weird translucent yellow plastic box Laura once places some presents in for me -- gone. I'm becoming more and more minimalistic as I'm getting older. Maybe it's getting wiser with age, maybe I'm just tired of lugging all this crap around each time I move. I still get way to emotionally attached to objects, though ... *especially* if someone gave it to me as a gift. Oh well, guess I should get back to cleaning. Wish me luck. :^) Current Mood: nostalgic Current Music: Beck - "Lost Cause" (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
12:48 am	dream So two nights ago I had a really nice dream. It was a romantic dream where I met a girl, ran into her later, took a wrong train to keep talking to her, and then made a dramatic feat of bravery to be with her. Lame, I know. It seems like it'd be the script to a poorly-produced "chick-flick". I initially wanted to post it here and let people have a good laugh at it. I mean, I generally have weird dreams and every now and then I post the stranger ones. This one, though, was different. As the day wore on, the joke wore thin. Here it is two days later and I can still remember it vividly. (I always remember my dreams, but usually within a few hours of me waking up, I have forgotten my dreams if I haven't written them down.) Now the dream is somewhat depressing. Apparently my brain is craving some romance and it knows it ain't gonna happen in real life so it'll just have to make it up for itself. This wasn't meant to be a "woe is me" post. I just found it interesting how my view on this stupid little dream that honestly probably has no meaning whatsoever has so drastically changed in under 48 hours. Meh, it's time for me to go to bed. Maybe I'll have another strange dream that I can overanalyze tomorrow. ;^) Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: Barenaked Ladies - "When You Dream" (Comment on this)
Friday, July 24th, 2009
9:00 pm	2 weeks So, my two weeks back in Santa Barbara have already ended. I am exhausted, and I wish I could've spent some time enjoying being back in SB. I had a lot of good food, saw some people I hadn't in ages, and ran a workshop for two weeks. As for now, I am going to relax, have a beer or two, and get to bed. Tomorrow, I'll make the long trek back home to SD. Sorry this post sucks. Like I said, I am exhausted, but it's a good exhausted. Current Mood: exhausted Current Music: Mutual Admiration Society - "Exit Music (For a Film)" (Comment on this)
Sunday, July 19th, 2009
12:41 am	Third visit back to Santa Barbara So, I'm in my suite in SB. I've been here for a week and have another week yet to go. It has been a long week here, although quite fulfilling. My former advisor has set up this 3 week teaching school at Cesar Chavez Charter School. For these three weeks, kids from the area get 90 minutes of math and 90 minutes of language arts. The teachers (some for the first time) are trying out our style of teaching mathematics. In other words, the kids do explorations in which they build up mathematical understandings (instead of lectures and memorization). At the same time, there are pre-service teachers here taking their courses and visiting the classrooms (something they wouldn't normal be able to do until later in their program). Lastly, there are teachers from SB and other districts who come, visit the classrooms ... and have to deal with me for a week or two teaching them better ways to teach math. This is really just background so you know why I am here. I've been doing these workshops for 6 or 7 years now. Every year they grow and get better. This year, though, has been the first where I am exhausted by the end of each day. I'm usually at the school from 8 AM until 4:30 PM. They are long days with no breaks, but I do love working with the kids and the teachers. Anyhow, it's weird being back in Santa Barbara. I don't know anyone in this town anymore ... at least I don't think I do. (If you live in SB and are reading this, CONTACT ME! We so should hang out.) It's weird because I had lived here for 6 years, so this place feels like a home to me, but everyone I knew here is gone, so it feels foreign. I wish I had someone to explore/re-explore the town with me. By myself I can drive around town, visit old hangouts and get some of my favorite food, but that's about it. With someone else I could ... I don't know, go out and have fun and not spend most of my time in my hotel suite. Weekends need to be longer. I don't know how people who work 8 hour/day 5 days/week jobs. I'm glad I don't ever have to do that. Luckily, I just have to survive one more week of it. :^) I guess part of me will always be a Santa Barbarian. That part seems to get smaller every year, though. Current Mood: nostalgic Current Music: Pixies - "Where Is My Mind?" (Comment on this)
Friday, June 26th, 2009
2:00 am	Happy Belated Juneteenth I'm stuck in the early doldrums of writing my dissertation; it's what's known as the "exploratory phase". Basically, I spend my time either at the library or at home searching through articles seeing if anything fits with what I am eventually going to try to do. (I won't bore you with the details of my future research.) There are days when I actually get stuff done separated by what seems like weeks where I do not. I meet with two of my committee members about once every two weeks. I have a love/hate relationship with these meetings. I love my two committee members and the advice they give (especially because they rarely agree with one another), but I hate preparing for the meeting. I work hard but it never seems like much when I get ready to present it to them. Anyhow, today was a good day. They both like my initial model and felt I had done good research. However, this means my next step is to start outlining/writing chapter 2 of my dissertation. (For you non-academites, chapter 2 is your literature review, where you cite all the works that have come before you.) It was nice to meet with them and not leave feeling they probably thought I should've done more work by now. Other than that, not much is new here. I've been trying to take long walks and/or bike rides each day, just to get out of the house and to try and be a bit healthier. I'm still cell phone-less, although I don't mind it too much. (I honestly hate talking on the phone.) The only one who really seems to mind is BMM. My new car is running great, although I haven't named him/her yet. I tried on a few names, but none of them seemed to fit. (If you have any suggestions, let me know.) Future plans: I am taking tomorrow off. I plan on get some groceries, doing some laundry, and just enjoying a day of not reading papers. This weekend Megan (the girl who stayed with us for a month a little over a year ago) is back in town. She told me she'd like to see me (and my roommates, I'm sure), but I think Victoria has the weekend planned out for her (she's even going to try and crash a wedding or something), so I may not get to see her. Next week I'll be busy with getting ready for the upcoming conference our research group is hosting here in town. The weekend after that I think my cohorts and I are going to go to the SD Fair. Then, I'll be back in Santa Barbara from the 12th through the 24th (+/- a day or two) to work with my former advisor. Plus, I get to stay in a nice suite again. (If you'll be in the SB area then, let me know and we'll hang out!) That's enough for the boring update. :^) Current Mood: hopeful Current Music: They Might Be Giants - "Fake Out in Buenos Aires" (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
12:00 am	Holiday! HAPPY (5th Annual) VAGINA-PENIS DAY!!! :^) Current Mood: jubilant (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
4:48 pm	Freaky weather Quick update: Today in SD it was mostly clear and in the 70s. There were only a few clouds. However, around 1:30 the one grey cloud directly overhead decided to direct its anger at us. It was thundering and lightning-ing, which is extremely rare for SD, especially this time of year. The lightning was like flash bulbs and the thunder literally shook our shoddily-made domicile. It even apparently hailed for a few minutes (although I missed that due to my nap). It was very strange. Current Mood: confused Current Music: Phoenix - "Lisztomania" (1 Comment |Comment on this)