It's been quite a while since I updated this bad boy. And quite a lot has happened since, what, August? Damn. So life in Berkeley has been...interesting. My tomb has yet to improve, and I still despise it with a vehemence I reserve normally only for Ron Howard. School has kicked my ass. For the last month and a half of the semester I did absolutely nothing except work. I would wake up, go to class if I had it, and then study and write until I went to sleep at about 3 in the morning. I was about ready to tear out my hear. I actually went down a pant size (first time since I was in MIDDLESCHOOL!!) because the stress was making me feel like shit, and causing me not to eat. Luckily, break was a cureall. I was able to see Mariah, all the guys living in Mpls, my parents, Liz and Mike in Austin (as well as X and Autumn), and was able to sit on my ass and do absolutely nothing whenever I felt like it. I never thought that being completely inert could be so much fun!
Now, I've recently returned to the tomb, but refreshed and ready (hopefully) for whatever the new semester can throw at me. I'm counting on having an easier course load this semseter...here's hopin'! Well...tonight I'm supposed to get crunk with my roommates. I hadn't had a chance to get to know the two new guys that moved in (long story, but, in summary, only Trevor, who was here when I arrived, has stayed over the course of last semester. The other two moved in during my month + 1/2 of pain, where I didn't really communicate with them because I had locked myself into seclusion). So, with that, I'm going to stop for now. I'll get back to reading everyone else's posts soon, so I can figure out what's up wit y'alls lives (and shit).

-Goo

PS. The show "Fight Quest" on Discovery Channel rocks my world...it's made this post take twice as long to write as normal, since I keep looking over to watch it:P

I'm sorry I've been such a flake about LJ now. I admit that I haven't been reading anyone's journal entries for a while now. School is killing me softly....with its song. This last week in particular has been just deadly. It's 2AM right now, and I was about to race through about 50 pages of text within the next hour for class in the morning. The book was checked out of the Art History library earlier today so I was like "Ok, well I just check out the other copy in the main stacks." Get down there, find it pretty quickly, check it out, done. I just opened the book about 3 minues ago to begin reading. Italian. Lol. I guess that's why nobody checked that copy out. Well, I guess it means that I can go to bed earlier than I was planning.

Go Italy!

I'll be rooting for you in the next world cup thanks to this!

-Goo

You know what's really nerve wracking? No, not the hundreds and fucking hundreds of pages of art philosophy reading. Not living in a place most decidedly not Minneapolis. Not the encroachind deadlines of papers. No...it's writing a tenure recommendation for one of your undergraduate professors...one who, perhaps without their influence, you would never have purused your current career goal. Preasure much?
-Goo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8wYJHrTSKM

Then there's this one. Seems a little like overkill at times, but gotta love rolling boulders on people. Ostriches in a bathroom is pretty genious as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnVEA46Y3Rs&mode=related&search=

Damn Japanese people keeping me from my work...

-Goo

Haven't done this in a while:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DMhf2azGW90&mode=related&search=

Needs to be watched. Like now.
-Goo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbfs2lYM2sQ

wow...I need to watch people's court more often

-Goo

Oh...my...god! I just found out that Robert Jordan, the author of the Wheel of Time series just died. For those of you who are not complete nerds, it's this massive fantasy novel series of which there are currently 11 books. He was writing the 12th, and final, novel when he died. I hate to sound so insensitive, but I hope to god that someone else picks up his notes and finishes the damn thing.

uggg...so many days I have spent reading those books...if there's no ending I may explode...
-Goo

Goddamnit! Some fucking shit head stole my f'ing bike! I went to class at 9 this morning, and when I went back to my bike at 1, it was fucking vanished and shit. Fuck fuck fuckers! That was my only means of free transportation. Luckily campus is 2 blocks away, but the damned geocery is at least 2 miles away. Horray! Multiple hour geocery store trips! Whoopie!

Also, last night I had a dream about Kantian aesthetics. All night long. I study that shit enough during the day, leave my nights alone!

Fucking fuck fuck,
Goo

Kant has hurt my brain. Winckelmann didn't help. Trust me...if you haven't read their works, and you hear their name come up in conversation, run far away. You're only saving yourself a headache.

And fucking two whole days of trying to figure out what the hell they mean!

Ambiguously,
-Goo

Well, it's friday night, at around 9:00PM...and I've run out of things to do today. Kind of sad:( Oh well, tomorrow I have a party invitation, so I won't be sitting around at night writing in my blog.
Anyway, this week was quite a bit better, classwise, than last week. No major hangovers, no migranes, no Japanese class bullshit, etc. etc. Although this week was really the first week I've had work so to say. Tons and tons of reading, which I forgot how much of a neck cramp that gives me. Today I had a Japanese test. It was pretty much a joke. Well...at least I don't have to work my ass off on it.
But, as I was walking around campus today, I realized that I've already assigned names to all of the places that I'm going to be frequenting for the next 7 or so years. So, first off, you already know the tomb (my room) - which isn't to be confused with the saying "my throat is a tomb/open grave" (I have a sore throat). Other than that, the library has become "the bunker of knowledge." The library here is so fucking ridiculous. I actually didn't even find the main book stacks until yesterday. They are stored in this underground facility that stretches forever. Hence the name "bunker." I think that during times of stress, such as when my seminar papers get close to being due, it will become "the pit of dispair", which refers to the gigantic marble staircase that leads down into the depths. It's very impressive...and also a kind of depresing reminder of how isolated you're becoming by going down there.
The art history department I'm henceforth refering to as the "Ivory tower." The reasons for that are pretty obvious. The more time I spend there, the more I'll become seperated from the real world. Really adding to this name, though, is the fact that right outside the main art history seminar room is an actual ivory tower; the school's bell tower. It's this gigantic white clock tower that can be seen for miles away. Every hour it sends out these booming chimes, and then at noon and 6PM (maybe other times as well) it plays music (I think it's one of those German bell thingers whose name I can't remember...the bigest one is in Munich though:P). It lends to some pretty great dramatic moments in class. It think the last one was;
Professor Davis: "Michelle, what area of art history are you interested in?"
Michelle: "I don't really know yet..."
1 second of silence...
Bong! Bong! Bong! (+7 more).
priceless.
Finally, the athletic center, which is the "Fitness terror dome" (I love the name terror dome). Again...gigantic. And really sleak and modern. I don't feel trendy enough in my non-athletic socks, and lack of an ipod arm band. There are three weight rooms (none of which alone are really satisfactory), and they're right next to the Jazzercise or whatever kids do for trendy workouts room. So the entire time I'm working out today I hear (and this is verbatim) "Ok! One more time! Jab jab jab kick! Jab knee knee jab cheap shot! Jab jab Jackie Chan! Now Terminator!" WTF was all that! I can't make that shit up! But on that note I'm ending this blog. I only wish that they had a "Judge Dredd" as well. Flexes the acting muscle.
-Goo

Classes started on Monday...and that seems like such a long time ago. I gotta say, graduate school is great, but I have been through so much bullshit this week that I feel like utter crap. So lets get started, shall we?

First off, my Japanese has become severely defficient in several ways. I started off Monday by going to Japanese 101 (4th year Japanese - consisted mostly of translating humanities writings. Which what I need to practice most to pass my translation test, which needs to be done by fall next year). I go...I understant the teacher, but at the same time am completely lost in the reading. Chalk it up to my complete lack of kanji recognition right now. So, after class the teacher asks me to stay a while longer to take a proficiency exam. I completely bomb the shit. "Alright", I think, "I guess I'll move down to 3rd year." Strike two. That exam, while considerably easier, with me being able to understand most of it, still is beyond me. The kanji portion is too much for me, as well as any ability to answer the questions (even though I can read them). At this point, things get dicey. I need to be in an advanced language course to get my FLAS fellowship (which is the equivalent of something like $30,000). I try to explain this to the teachers, but they are of no help, and adamant that I go to 2nd year class. It doesn't help that I haven't had a chance to eat that day, and am getting tired, so my speaking ability is getting worse and worse, until, in a final act of desperation, I explain it all again in English. Well....needless to say I was still denied access (in that roundabout Japanese fashion). Let me pause to explain that everything that is being said to me I understand, it's the responding that I've fogotten. Weird. The next day I go to the higher ups in the office, and explain everything. Thank fucking god they are helpful. So as it ended up, I'm in second year Japanese, but with express permission from the FLAS committee. I feel like the class if fairly easy, but is a nice review. It will do nothing to help my translation abilities, but I guess I'll just have to do that on my own.

My other two classes: art history pro-seminar and fragments of art history are facinating, and should be fantastic. In fact...they're a little less work than I was expected them to be. Fairly similar on the difficulty scale to a senior seminar at Olaf. But since I"m taking only 3 classes total, it should be much easier to concentrate on them. Nice.

So things are going pretty well up until Wednesday night. Now on Wednesday, I forget to eat. Don't ask me how, 'cuse I don't know. I usually eat quite a bit, but recently I've been forgetting. Again...weird. That night my flat mate, Trevor, and I go to a bar about a block away, where they have 2 dollar pints (of good beer) from 8 til close on Wednesdays. Just to pause a second, of my three roommates, I have met two. Trevor is great fun, and very social. Danny (I think that's his name) is nice, but fairly secluded. The third...has not arrived yet. Maybe he won't ever come, I don't know. Anyway, back to beer. We have maybe 3 or 4 pints and a shot. I have forgotten that I haven't eaten in24 hours, and get quite pissed. The next morning I've got the hangover from hell. Go me:P By evening it's clearing up. There's another fucking fire alarm at about 7 (although this one is a drill). While waiting outside, Trevor and I decide to tie one back to pass the time. We head to a great place on Telegraph, with a fantasic beer garden outside. $3.50 for great beers, and that's all the time...awesome! We have just one, just to be clear....I"m not that kind of lush. We get back, and go our seperate ways to study. At around 11PM, I start getting this head ache, and by midnight, it's bad enough for me to call it a night, and try to sleep it off. I wake up at 2AM with what I am now going to refer to as the headache of ages. I have never felt this kind of pain before. I've only had a migraine a couple of times, but this was by far the worst. From about 2 until 6 this morning I spent the night lying down, only to have my head hurt so bad that I need to get up and run to the toilet to dry heave for a while. The pain was that bad. Those of you out there that have this happen fairly regularly, I am so sorry. I would not trade to have that for anything. It didn't help that I had no drugs at all to help me.

Today, the pain is still here, but blessedly small by comparison. I had to force myself out of bed at 10 to do a little studying for Japanese (which meets everyday, thankfully. At least I'll have a lot of exposure). On the way to class I was able to buy some asprin, which were some of the sweetest pills I have ever taken. Thank god for pain killers. After that, aside from some residual upset stomach, things have been going pretty well today. I've made a couple of new friends, Doug and Julie. They are both in the same class as I am, although Doug usually goes to the 9am one, and Julie is in another section than I am (although she's also in one of my seminars). Dougs a Buddhist studies graduate student, and Julie an undergrad in art history. By the by, the grad students in my department all rock as well. There's 12 of us, and everyone's outgoing and very friendly.

This week's been hell in many ways, but at the same time I'm very opptimistic. I've just had some bad luck it seems. Anyway, I think I may need a nap. I should do some more studying (wooo! Grad student life! Studying all weekend!), but first some down time is a definate necessity. Until next time.
-Goo

Fucking hate my "apartment". I walked out of my room to go to the bathroom, and the door locked on me. So I"m stuck in my "living room" with no way of getting to my tomb. I have no shoes...I have no phone...I have no keys. I can't break into my room. Finally, my roommate (who I didn't know was home) comes out of his room to go to the bathroom as well. He lets me use his phone. Then, I have to walk barefoot to one of the freshmen dorms across the way, and wait for 15 minutes for an "AA" to unlock my door. She was a bitch. Wanted me to erase her number from the incoming calls list on my roommate's cell. WTF!? Unlocked my door, but gave me a side of sass, and cold silence. I hate my dorm...

-Goo

Before anything, I gotta say that the article for MTV has already been posted on to the the MTV site. Here's the link!: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1567107/20070814/nirvana.jhtml

So, as I have stated in the subject, I have moved. And holy shit was it not fun! Driving to California from Minnesota in a van with bad breaks, and some wheel alignment problems was a little harrowing. The states that we drove through were awfully boring as well. South Dakota=lame (except for the bad lands, and black hills, both of which we did not drive through). Nebraska=lame (the sand hills earn extra kudos for being lame, and uninhabited). Wyoming=lame (the moutians are cool...then you get out of them and there's nothing. Utah=had potential, but in the end extremely lame (got stuck in shittly laid out road construction for 3 hours...wtf!...and mormons! WTF!). Nevada=lame (casinos are by definition lame unless they are in Vegas...then they're only kinda lame. On the up side, however, I did have some delicious pasties at about the only restaurant in the state not connected to a casino). California itself was pretty nice. It's like the made the state line right on the spot when America becomes not so lame. Still, the traffic sucked. So, as you can tell moving started with a bang. On Saturday I moved into my place. The best way to describe my room is a tomb within a dorm. They are advertised as "graduate apartments" but really it's just a glorified dorm. Sigh...it feels like such a step backwards when I've been living on my own for the last 2 years. Moving in was also a huge pain. There were dollys for transporting boxes and stuff up the elevators. Unfortunately the only one present at my dorm had a broken wheel. In the end, it's safe to say that moving sucked. But...when does moving not suck?
Since then, however, things have been decent. I've been out for some great chirashi (which is basically an assortment of raw fish served over rice. Think sushi, but not individually wrapped). It was a first for me, but I've been meaning to try it for a while. Definately will have to have it again. Other than that, it's been unpacking, and running errands to get settled in the area. I have one roommate so far, with two more apparently on the way. The one guy is pretty nice, although I haven't seen him too much yet. The kitchen is aweful...tiny with an electric range...bleh. The room is tiny, and looks out across the street towards the freshman dorms. But, despite all this negetivity in my post, I'm actually pretty happy to be here. Lonely, yes, but very excited to get started on my classes next week. Soooo, that's enough text for one post. I'll let people digest it before adding to the on going saga of grad school. I'm sure everyone will be waiting with baited breath:P
-Goo

PS: Here's my new contact information if you are wondering!
Carl Gellert
2333 College Ave. Apt 405C
Berkeley, CA 94704-1792
Phone (the same): 612-619-1165

Again, I have been neglecting the LJ. I figured that it was about time for an update, considering quite a bit is going down in Goolund. First off, I'm sure everyone has heard of 35W collapsing in Minneapolis. Really scary stuff. 35W is one the largest arteries into the city, so not only was it just packed when it fell, but it can be a bit of a pain to get to different parts of Minneapolis, especially the University campus and surrounding area (known as Dinky town). I've talked with a bunch of people in the area here, but I hope that those of you who I haven't spoken with family, etc. here didn't know anyone involved. Mariah and I were actually on the bridge not 5 minutes before it fell. We were driving back from Canada, and by the time we had crossed it, and turned on a TV back at home it had collapsed. I couldn't believe it! It really freaked us out.

On a lighter note, as I said, Mariah and I have just come back from Canada. The fates were against us leaving, and about everything possible to delay us getting out of town happened (including me losing my passport!). But, luckily, you don't need a passport to get into Canada (and you only need a birth certificate to return to the US), so we eventually got there. It was great fun. We mined amethyst, walked Canada's longest foot suspension bridge, and generally hiked and poked around Thunder Bay. We did not eat good food. Presumably because there was none.

This last weekend we drove to Iowa. woo...

No, it was actually a good time. The driving blew, ture, but Mariah got to see a bunch of her friends, and it was fun. And we listened to a freak ton of This American Life. Muzzi was so kind as to burn me off every episode before flying to China, so now I'm swimming in Ira Glass.

In some odd news, I got a call from MTV last week. A reporter is going to interview me tomorrow for an article on the kids who were on album covers, and what they are up to now. The Goo Goo Dolls strike again...

Finally, in a shout out to Liz, I have not yet finished the photo labeling. I would like to say it's because I've been busy...but that wouldn't be entirely true. I would say laziness it the overall culprit. Maybe I'll go work on that now...
-Goo

PS. Oh, and I'm freak ton scared of leaving next week.
Fuck.

Lordy me, I have been ignoring Live Journal since I've been back! It's a strange feeling that, even though I'm not working, I constantly have something on my plate to do. Or at least something I should be doing. Yes, I've been slacking off some,and think that this week was not nearly as productive as last. But I have high hopes for next week! The goal is to get my car cleaned up and on Craig's list ASAP, take my written exam for motorcycling, finish re-learning the Genki kanji, and finally get done with my picture sorting. All sprinkled with trips to the gym, and a healthy dose of Mariah time. I am not confident that all of that is going to get done...
Anyway, in update land, last weekend Maraih and I decided to go camping. Well, it was more of a "we should go camping" (that would have been said a week before we left). Time passed...suddenly, the day before Friday "we're going!" Pack everything, drive up to duluth, find a camping site (luckily they weren't filled up), and voila! Camping. Aside from it being a tad chilly, and in our haste us forgetting to pack anything warm XO, it was a good time. The bugs weren't bad, and it was awfully pretty.
As for next week, aside from working on aforementioned list, I think Mariah and I will hit the Taste of Minnesota for the 4th. We'll be offering our services to a friend's rugby team's beer booth to help them fund raise. All the while enjoying the possible deliciousness of the Taste festivities.
-Goo

So, I have returned from the Europe in one piece. Well, I actually returned last week on Wednesday, but I've been pretty busy catching up on things in the homested. Studying, cleaning, picture sorting, selling my worldly possessions before moving....woo! I've also been to Duluth and been re-ended in my car! Horray! (there was no damage to my car, thankfully, since I have to sell it sometime this summer as well). Anyway, I'll post later about my traipsing through the UK with Liz (Japan Liz, or Liz 2, what have you). Speaking of which, Liz: I'll send you my pictures soon. I'm trying to label them first, so I'll get them off to you soon. As for the rest of you, if you would like to see a stupid number of photographs from my trip, or even just one or two, I'll be posting them on facebook when in a few weeks. The excitement is palpable, I know.

So, to sum up:

1. I have returned
2. I am alive
3. I am posting pictures eventually
4. Judge Dredd is not a real person, and the world is a colder place because of it

-Goo

I realize that most of my posts are pretty irreverent, usually talking about Judge Dredd this, zombie that. But I'm not really up to it just this second. Maybe it's because it's grey, dark, and raining, or perhaps that I'm only half way through a crawling work day, but I'm a little down. I've been thinking a lot today about going to grad school. And while I've mentioned before all the excitement I'm having for going and actually working on something that really interests me, it's still partially bitter-sweet. When I go, it is very possible that my relationship with Mariah will end. So while I'm pumped to begin moving on my professional life, I'm also dreading the come of August. It puts me in this weird position of wanting time to get a move on, and, at the same time, wishing it would move slower. Mariah will hopefully be hearing the results of her California state and national vet board exams sometime in the next month or so (yeah, I'll be in Europe at the time...what shitty timing!), so I'm hoping for the best news possible.

In random update news, I received notice that I my application was accepted for my apartment in Berkeley. I received that news with extremely mild fanfare. It's still something like $950 a month for a small bedroom, with a common room, kitchen, and bathroom shared with 3 other roommates. I have never seen the apartment on the inside, but, it looks decent enough from the pictures I've seen, and the outside looked snazy enough from my inspection during my last Berkeley trip. Plus, it's across the street from a sushi restaurant:D. The other news is that I saw Spiderman 3 over the weekend. I must say...I was not impressed. I thought it was by far the weakest of the three movies. With the source material, i.e. black suit spiderman and venom, I would have thought there was no way that this movie would be worse than the other two. Well, I was wrong. Damn you Sam Rami! Although I can't stay too mad at him, since Mariah and I are still watching Hercules: The Legendary Journeys on a semi-nightly basis (we're on season 3!).
-Goo

Well...I never finished the story I started two weeks ago. It is oh so interesting. I got my car back, and paid fines of about $180. INTERESTING! So...what's new, what's new....Not a heck of a lot it turns out. I only have two more weeks of my job as of today. Quitting a job is always exciting. Then, after that, I've got a week to bum around, and then off to the UK for something like four weeks. That should be a blast. And hopefully not the last trip before grad school eats my life. That's the basic news of interest. I had a thought today, though. And while I thought it was interesting, many others would be advised to stop reading right now. But, I was thinking that it's very weird that I don't like Val Kilmer. I have a strange facination with bad actors (even if I can't spell their names): Sly Stallone, Martin Lawrence, Paluie Shore...yes I said Paulie Shore. Who could forget the delightful "In the Army Now"? Paulie leads a pack of misfits to help the military win Opperation Desert storm (or some such). Brilliant! And let's not forget the instant classic BioDome. Just mentioning it makes me want to go home and pop it in the dvd player. But I digress. Val Kilmer sucks. When compared with his contemporaries, i.e. 80's to early 90's buffed out action heros, usually with a speach impediment, he just sucks. Sly, Arnold...even VAN DAMM! They kick his ass in just about every way possible. It's like comparing delicious beef stroganof to the horrible mochi (except frozen mochi...that stuff is tasty). Now, some may argue, "Hey...Val was in Willow! That was a pretty solid movie!" That is true...it was a solid movie. But through no fault of Val. Think about how much more awesome it would be with Sly, hanging from cliffs, ridin' around on his hover bike shooting people with "double whammy." In fact,every time you see a Val Kilmer movie and think "Hey...this isn't so bad", just try replacing his character with the Dredd (or the terminator or Time Cop). Then you'll see how much Val Kilmer sucks.
-Goo

Fucking hell, as X would say. I walk outside...first thought: "Dude, where's my car." That evolves into "Where in the goddamn hell is my car!" Well, as it turns out, coming back from Japanese class last night, it was dark and I didn't see the "NO PARKING THIS BLOCK THURSDAY" signs. Who would have guessed a street littered with cars would have warrented no parking. So now, I am "le stranded." To make things all the more difficult, the impound lot requires proof of insurance and registration. Well, I should have all of that. Except that my damn insurance agency has been lax on sending me new stubs, so that's expired, and recently I noticed my registration is missing from my glove box. It was near the end of a long list of things to do. Damn...Well...Damn
-Goo

As I settle down at my desk for a lunch of Gyro (pronounced gee-why-row)and Easter meats, I wonder why the office smells of dog food...