Dangle

For the past twenty minutes, I've been sitting at a desk on the 8th floor of 233 N Michigan Ave, watching strange snowflake-like white poofs fall past the windows in a nearly constant stream. I lost interest for a while, because I couldn't figure out what it was (seeing as it's about 80 degrees and sunny out, I ruled out snow after the first ten minutes).

Then, there were some guys outside my window. Not directly on the other side, on the adjacent building actually, but still, at least eight floors up and outside the window.

Soap bubbles: That's what I had been seeing falling. So now I'm stuck not doing any work because I have to watch the window washers repel down from the top of these huge buildings with nothing more than a harness, a bucket of suds, and a squeegee or two.

It's impressive, really. I mean, these guys start off at the top, which is, I'm guessing, around 25 stories. And then they just calmly scoot down the side of the building, washing the windows as they go. And when they lower themselves, it's not in a gentle manner. No, it's a fast jerk, a six foot free fall before they lock off again. I bet it's a rush, but I also bet that I don't really ever want to do it. Unless it pays well.

What a Crazy World

Two things, real quick.

1) Sometimes, a 'yes or no' question actually only has one possible answer. It is the lack of answer that an answer is inferred from. For instance "Are you sleeping?" can only have one possible answer of "No." The absence of an answer leads the inquisitor to the only other option of "Yes" even though no answer is given. "Can you hear me?" is another such question, the only possible answer being "Yes." One would think that language would have come up with some sort of way to rephrase or redirect such types of questions.

2) On my walk from my cubical to the café and back, I passed through 8 doors (only 4 doors, but passed through each twice). Of those 8 passes, 4 of them (2 doors) did not have windows in them, such that I could not see on the other side. At each of these 4 windowless passes, I had the pleasure of attempting to open the door and the exact time someone on the other side was attempting the same thing. This resulted in each of us being caught a bit off guard at the ease of the door opening, as well as flustered at the prospect of another human being in our door-space. The likelihood of this happening at each possible locale seems to me to be quite minute. I should by a lotto ticket.

To the Balmy Medow

I tell you what. Two Worlds was a HUGE disappointment. That game blew so much ass, it was like it thought that ass was a balloon. Did that make sense?

So I returned it today and picked up The Darkness. Now this game is cool. I'm usually not into the first person shooters (from now on, referred to as FPS) but this game is something special. And it's made by 2K games, who just released BioShock last week, which has been getting rave reviews, so I may have to get that eventually too. However, Blue Dragon comes out tomorrow, so I'll grab that when I'm done with The Darkness.

Ah, the life of a gamer.

So, this past weekend, I went down to Augie with Katie and her 'rents to help move her into her new house. It's a pretty nice place, as far as college houses go. Definitely needs some improvements, and once everyone is living there, it'll feel much more homey, but yea, it's a house.

Her room was this pastel lavender color, and she didn't care for it, so we painted it blood. Technically, it was called Cherry Cobbler, but it really looked like blood. Not that it's a bad thing. In fact, I think once she's all moved in, it'll look really nice.

For the first time today, I really used my scooter to its full potential. And by that, I mean that I wove through traffic to avoid all the, um... well, traffic. It was nice. I got to the gym in about 20 minutes. The bus ride usually takes about 40, so this was quite a pleasant situation. Plus, I got to park right in front of the gym. Woo!

Peace,
~Bry

More Than One

It stormed like crazy in Chicago yesterday. Easily the worst I've seen since I've been here. I guess a roof on the industrial west side collapsed the winds were so strong. I took a nap around 1pm, when it was bright and sunny outside. I woke up around 2:30 and it was near pitch black and thunder and lightening were quite frequent.

I took this as a sign that I shouldn't go take my final for the last of my summer courses. I settled in and watch an episode of House... but then it stopped raining, so I decided I should go take the final.

The traffic was the worst I've seen since I've been here (not unlike the weather) and I ended up getting there a half hour late... but the test took me all of 10 minutes. It was kinda bullshit because the professor had said on Tuesday he was going to post a sort of study guide on the class website. Well, he never did, and it turned out to be one of those tests where I studied for all the wrong things. So fuck him for that. But I got a B+ in the class, which is fine, because I just needed a B for it to count and now I'm done with all the pre-reqs and can move on to the real courses in a week.

Katie came in last night because she's taking the GRE today. Right now, actually, she is probably sitting down in some building on Clark and Madison to take a huge test that tries to see if you learned anything in college. It seems pretty intense, as she did a 1.5 month study course for it, and it pretty much determines her future. But I'm sure she'll do well, cos she's a smart cookie.

I'm really hoping Gamestop opens early today, because I need (yes, as in physically and mentally require) Two Worlds, which comes out today. Stupid Katie is making me go to Rock Island to help her move in and paint her new room... so I only have a few special hours with this new game before I must head out. The sooner I get it the better.

So here's hoping the open at 9 and not 10. I hope you'll all hold me in your thoughts.

~Bry

2D

I'd been meaning to post some of the work I did in my graphics class last spring, but I never got around to it. So here are a few of them. It was just a class exploring 2D graphics, and these are really my first foré into them. Enjoy.

Me

Explosion

Leaving

Dead Dog

Drums

Knights, Walls, Whiskey

I headed back out to the Cary/LITH area this weekend to hangout with Katie. I got down Friday evening, and since Katie was still at work, I went out to dinner with my parents and the Carsons at the Tracks. It was enjoyable.

At Katie's, we watched The Prestige, which was a really freakin cool movie. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Saturday, we woke up semi-early (9ish) and headed out to the North Wall to do some rock climbing. It had been a while since we last went, and it felt really good to get back up there. I need to find a good gym down here that has rock climbing. Though I like the 'freeness' of the DePaul gym, it's a pain in the ass to spend a half hour getting there...and they don't have a climbing wall.

After cleaning up from rock climbing, Katie and I marched out to the Bristol Renaissance Fair. We got there just in time to catch a good 'ol joust before it started raining. But we were troopers...troopers who left the umbrella in the car...the car that was parked about a mile away. So essentially, we were very wet troopers. We also practiced some archery. Katie managed to get two arrows to stick in the target. I got none. But I did get a nice bruise on my left forearm... We left a bit earlier than we really wanted to, but we were cold and soaked to the bone, and just didn't want to be in the rain anymore.

After getting back, we took a nap, and then headed to her neighbor's for the 27th annual Czhilispiel. There was a lot of chili and other good food, as well as a bunch of people. Oh, and whiskey... there was definitely alot of whiskey. Stupid adults kept giving me shots, and then I woke up at 8 on Sunday morning.

Sunday was a very 'blah' day. We went and saw Superbad with my parents, which A) was hilarious and B) was not a movie to see with your parents. Then we went out the Breakers for some Chinese, but it really wasn't that delicious, which made me sad. I suppose you can't win them all.

Then it was volleyball time. Last game of the season, a tournament really. We lost. 'Nuff said.

I called in sick to work this morning. I am feeling slightly less than 100%. Maybe like, 87%. But probably well enough to work. Either way, I need to beat Zelda today, and I haven't not gone into work in... well, I think maybe since spring break, so yea. I deserve this.

~Bry

This post is mostly about music

Mostly, because I'm going to start by saying: I booked myself a mobile workstation at motocity:chicago. That is the Motorola offices downtown here, and since I work from home on Thursdays, I figured I'd check it out. It was a really cool building. I had a window desk on the 8th floor, which gave me a pretty cool view, and they had free coffee, of which I partook until I shook.

Now, onto the music.

I downloaded a bunch of Sufjan Stevens last night, because I remembered Had making me listen to it on the way back from the bars one night. I think Tess also really likes him. Anyway, really cool stuff. Pretty mellow, and there's banjo in at least one song. He's been writing albums with state themes, and thus far I think Michigan and Illinois are the only two. Obviously, I grabbed Illinoise (as the album is called) and it's so far quite good. I recommend it to anyone who doesn't have it and isn't stupid.

I also snagged the new Coheed single, Running Free, off their upcoming 4th album, which I believe is a continuation of Good Apollo. It sounded Coheed, that's for sure. I remember when I heard Welcome Home off Good Apollo, and i got chills. I was so excited for that album. But when I finally heard the whole thing, I was left a little unsatisfied. It was over-produced, I thought. Too many effects and not enough raw sound.
Second Stage Turbine Blade was perhaps the epitome of the raw album as far as this genre is concerned. The guitars had near no distortion, and almost a hollow twang, and the vocals were pure. They added some more effects in In Keeping Secret... but it was still pretty much just the band. Good Apollo was thick on guitars, and layered so many Claudio vocal lines on top of one another that it almost didn't sound human sometimes. Hopefully, we'll find them drop some of the computerized sound and get back to the delicious purity of their earlier albums.

On the ride downtown last Sunday night with Chris and Dave, we briefly talked about the new slough of Thrice albums coming soon. They are doing a four disc set, released two at a time, one for each element (fire, earth, wind, water). I'm really excited about this, because Thrice has benefited greatly from past experimentation. With each new album, they leave a bit of their old self behind, but discover something new that is not only engaging and enjoyable, but is still very much 'Thrice' in essence. I have high expectations, which can be dangerous (Motion City's sophomore album...), but I don't think I'll be let down.

Peace,

~Bry

A new beginning

A deep title, but really only related to the locale of this blog.

As I made that last post in both my LJ and MySpace accounts, I saw that the last blog I posted was right before I moved to Chicago. That was two months ago. Two whole months of one of the biggest changes of my life, and I'm wondering how the hell I didn't feel the need to blog about any of it. So I'll probably forget alot of stuff, and I'll probably be brief, but you'll read it anyway. Yes, you will. HEY! Read it!! *Shakes fist*

The move in went pretty smoothly, which was impressive, since it was just Steve, his 65 year old father, and myself. We filled up my car, Steve's car, and a huge U-Haul truck. Steve's dad was a truck driver, so he was cool with driving the massive beast downtown (thank god). Unfortunately, it was about 95 degrees and there is a rather imposing staircase leading up to our apartment. All in all, I think it took us around three hours to move everything in, and I can honestly say that I've never sweat that much in my entire life. After everything was moved in, Kelsey and Katie showed up and helped us arrange things decently so we could get at everything and made us dinner, which was awesome.

These days, we've got the apartment looking pretty snazzy. We've done some nice decorating thanks in part to my parents and a Crate & Barrel 2 gift card, as well as a kick ass store up on Belmont and Clark (yes, part of the Alley) where we got some really cool African masks.

Turk has adjusted nicely, despite taking a dive from the lofted bedrooms (he was ok) and his decision to never be quiet. But he's still a cat, and for that I love him.

My career current job is still going....well. The commute to Libertyville is a long one via the Milwaukee North line, but I kind of enjoy a nice cup of coffee and my DS a few times a week. It's Bryan time. And on the rides home, the 'ol Champaign of Beers gets to join me. Lucky it. I've been a bit unhappy with my job recently, and have had a few prospects, but so far nothing has panned out. It's unfortunate that Motorola is so good to me. I get to work only 20 hours a week but still maintain full health benefits, plus they pay better than anything else I've been finding. Oh well... that's the reason I'm back in school.

The Master's in Graphics and Animation has been going well. I'm almost done with my summer courses which will wrap up all the prerequisites that I need before really getting into it. So that means, come Sept 5th (or somewhere around then) I 'truly' start my life as a grad student. I'm looking forward to it.

On the musical front, Davenport is no more. It was a hard thing to do, but I know it was the right decision for me to leave the band. Luckily, the rest of the band was only pissed at me for a while, and we are now back to the normal homo erotic/alcoholic/psychotic stuff we do. I've been looking for some other people to play with down here, but without much luck. I auditioned for the band Slings & Arrows, but that didn't work out. I'm sure I'll find some way to get back into drumming soon enough, for my own sanity's sake.

Of course, Katie and I are still together, and I am enjoying every moment of her. She goes back out to Rock Island in just a few short weeks. It'll be hard to do the long distance thing again, but I'm sure we'll do just fine. And then she'll be moving into the city to pursue her Master's as well.


Woo, so now that we're done with that novel... I think that's what I'll leave ya with. Thanks for reading, and if you notice that I haven't updated in over a week, please yell at me.

~Bry

Oh hey, a blog

It's been ages. Almost 3 months I think, really. And it's not that I haven't been up to much. Indeed the wheels of my life have been turning quite a bit, but for the most part, I haven't felt the need to write about it. That, of course, comes as a hard hit to you, the reader. But fear not, for I shall try to update a bit more frequently, as it just seems appropriate.

First thing's first. Following in line with Mr. Sherry, I'm pretty much going to be neglecting Live Journal and MySpace for future posts. Rather, I'll be using Blogger (or Blogspot... I think they're the same thing). I started an account there quite some time ago, but was interested in more of a socialnetwork/blog than just a straight up blog. I have, however, now lost my interest in the mind numbing filth that are social networking sites and am pleasantly enamored with it's simplistic approach. For now I'll just use the default theme, but I may work on personalizing it a bit more in the months to come.

The reason I've decided to try and get back into blogging regularly is really the same reason I started blogging in the first place: Alot of my friends don't live right next door anymore. I don't talk with everyone every day, and as it was when I started college, I feel that this is a pretty good way to stay "in touch".

The new blog address is urgack.blogspot.com . Oddly enough, it is exactly one year, to the day even, that I created that account. If you're already reading this on blogspot, I'm impressed, as no one knew about that. Good job.

I think I'll make a new post exclusively on that blog with the actual "content" as it may be. Just to make things more difficult for you. See ya there.