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I have to go shopping for a Halloween costume sometime today. I hope there's something decent left.

I ordered the Camper Van Beethoven box set, but it won't actually be released for over a week.
posted by Nathan at 2:37 PM

 
I still don't know what to be for Halloween this year. Anyone have any ideas? It should be something fairly easy and cheap, but not totally lame.

The new Tori Amos album and Lemony Snicket book were released today. I doubt I'll buy either one, but I don't know.
posted by Nathan at 4:25 PM

 
Not only did I not get the job I wanted, but NO ONE did. It was supposed to be a newly created position, but there was new management or something at the library, and it was never actually created. For some reason, this makes it even worse than if they had simply rejected me, possibly because I realize there are other people in my position, and ONE person (even if it isn't me) getting the job is probably better than nobody getting it at all.
posted by Nathan at 6:46 PM

 
I got my concert ticket and my replacement hubcap. One of my tires seems to have low pressure, though, and I'm not sure whether it needs to be changed, or just needs more air.

According to a possibly unreliable person on the alt.music.tmbg newsgroup, the They Might Be Giants song "John Lee Supertaster" actually IS about John Lee of Muckafurgason, which is a suggestion I had jokingly made some time ago. (It is not, however, about my girlfriend's cousin's boyfriend, who is also named John Lee.)

I'm worried that I'll never get a job, but I'm also kind of worried about actually getting a job. The money and the ability to get my own place will be nice, but it hardly seems like there's enough time in a day NOW, and I don't really do anything. I'm not sure I can imagine what it would be like if I had a full-time job. I guess I would adjust eventually.
posted by Nathan at 5:37 PM

 
Mapping utilities (like MapQuest and Rand McNally are weird. Regardless of where you're going, they pretty much always tell you to take the most major highway in the area. I really don't think I need to take the by-pass to go two miles.
posted by Nathan at 5:17 AM

 
Beth and I went on another hayride tonight, this time with Mark. This was after a trip to the mall, where I had intended to buy a concert ticket at the Ticketmaster outlet in Strawbridge's, but they closed shortly before I got there, which was maddening. The hayride itself was fun, but the lines were really long (much worse than the ones in Medford), and they eventually let us off the wagon for a haunted trail and house. The house ended up being scary, but not for the right reasons. It was VERY dark in there, and there were a lot of doors that had to be opened, as well as one part where you had to go up a ramp and down another one. It seems to me like making people walk down ramps in the dark is pretty dangerous. Fortunately, we didn't fall or anything.
posted by Nathan at 3:54 AM

 
Tonight, Beth and I saw a local Halloween parade, and went on a haunted hayride at a Christmas tree farm in Medford. The parade was very low-key, but all right. I did get a hat advertising the local Democratic candidates, although I can't vote for any of them. The hayride was well-done, and included some humor in addition to the scary stuff. Some of it was just weird, though. A witch summoned some kid who danced to Eminem, and the scenery included two peeing skeletons.
posted by Nathan at 1:15 AM

 
I don't really have much to report now. Beth showed me The People Under the Stairs, which was directed by Wes Craven, but was almost more of a social commentary than a horror movie. On Friday, we went out to a new Subway in the area with Beth's mom and uncle. The food was good, but they didn't cut the bread in the typical Subway fashion, meaning it was messier than usual. It didn't taste any different, but it was just weird, sort of like if I had ordered a burger at Wendy's and it turned out to be round (not that I ever get burgers at Wendy's; it was just an example). After a little bit of shopping, we came back to Beth's house, and I went to bed, having not slept much the night before. I think I'm the only one up here now. I'm hoping to go to the mall sometime today, and maybe see a movie with Beth. I guess that's all for now.
posted by Nathan at 7:28 AM

 
Last night, Beth and I saw The Ring. It was pretty scary, largely because of how it was made. There were a lot of times when images would flash on the screen, accompanied by the soundtrack getting louder. It was a fairly frightening concept anyway, but all the flashing and noise was what really got to me, I would say. I don't want to give too much about it away, in case anyone reading this might want to see it, so I won't go into any more detail just now.
posted by Nathan at 5:05 PM

 
I had a fairly eventful weekend. On Friday, Beth and I saw Ben Folds in Philadelphia. I've always heard people complain about city driving, but I never really understood why. Now I do. It's complicated, what with all those one-way streets and roads that don't go through to where you want to go. It doesn't help matters that they tend to be crowded with people who know EXACTLY where they're going, and make it hard to switch lanes or collect your bearings. I got there all right, although it was later than we would have hoped, and we didn't get very good places. At least they were better than last time, though--I could actually see Ben's face this time. I'm really starting to dislike standing room only concerts; I think I'd almost prefer a bad seat to a good standing place, just because it wouldn't be so exhausting. Maybe I'll change my mind after seeing Tori Amos from a not-very-good seat, but it's just painful to stand throughout an entire show, especially when there are breaks with nothing happening (and it took FOREVER for Ben to get on stage after the opening act had finished). I know that it hurt Beth's legs and back. Unfortunately, I'm not really a fan of any bands big enough to play huge arenas, or small enough to only play coffeeshops and bars (not that I like bars anyway), so I'm usually stuck standing when I go to concerts. I did get to go to a sit-down They Might Be Giants show once, but a lot of people there didn't even sit down through most of it. (It was last November 16th, in case anyone wants to search the archives for my account of that concert.) The show itself was pretty cool, though. It's amazing how good Ben can sound with just a piano. He did a lot of the same stuff he did last time, but a few cool new things as well. He played a drum set (which was actually assembled by a roadie during the song) for "Steven's Last Night In Town," and did an amusing rendition of "I Touch Myself" with opener Ben Lee. Even though I wasn't all that impressed by Lee's own songs (they weren't bad at all, just not anything that blew me away), I thought it was cool that Folds actually interacted with him. I like it when the main act does something with the opener, so that it's not just like the opener is some random act that has nothing to do with the headliner.

On Saturday, Beth and I went to Great Adventure with Beth's cousin Marji and Marji's husband Ronnie. Due to a combination of leaving pretty late and long lines, we weren't able to ride very much (I wish we could have ridden Nitro, but we didn't have time), but it was still fun, and at least we could get in for half price.
posted by Nathan at 3:39 AM

 
Is it going to rain EVERY Thursday night? Fortunately, it looks like I'll be driving away from the rain tonight, which is good.
posted by Nathan at 7:07 PM

 
YACCS says something about old comments being unavailable, so I guess they're on top of the problem.

I did a few scheduled maintenance checks on my car today. The lights and oil are fine, but I'm not sure about the windshield wiper fluid, and the manual doesn't do a very good job of explaining it. I need to buy some more fluid anyway. I guess I'll do that tomorrow. Would they sell it at any store that carries automotive supplies? I also need to check the tire pressure, but I'll do that when it's not raining. My mom gave me a digital tire pressure gauge, so it shouldn't be that difficult.
posted by Nathan at 3:53 PM

 
What happened to all my old comments? YACCS seems to have lost about thirty of them, and Beth has the same problem.
posted by Nathan at 8:16 PM

 
The 27th of this month is "Oz Day" at Books of Wonder. I seriously doubt I'll go to it (maybe if I had something else to do in New York that weekend, but it's not worth going JUST for that), but it's pretty cool that there IS one.
posted by Nathan at 8:13 PM

 

Quiz
created by Polly Snodgrass.

FIRE OF WATER. You are tolerant toward others and are good at easing tension. You make others feel calm and understood. You are patient in even difficult situations or with difficult people. You would make a good therapist or healer. Because of your accepting nature, you are able to have friends from all walks of life. People seek you out for advice because you always know what to do/say for the betterment of everyone involved.

I have a Tarot deck, but I never really learned to do anything with it.
posted by Nathan at 4:45 PM

 
There was more traffic on the way home between 5 and 6 AM than I would have expected. A lot of trucks, especially. I didn't have any problems getting back, though, so I guess it isn't a problem.

I should do some maintenance checks on my car tomorrow, since I haven't yet, and I've had the car for over a month. (Wow, has it really been THAT long?)

I'm wondering whether I should get a pet when I get my own place. I've always been fond of cats, and, thanks largely to Beth, I'm warming up to dogs. (I used to be afraid of them.) I just don't know how good I would be as a pet owner. I'm sure I would love the pet, and feed it and all of that obvious stuff. I'm just worried that I'm not careful and gentle enough, and wouldn't necessarily know what to do in a situation where the pet had a problem. I guess this is one reason I don't want to have children, also, although not the main reason.
posted by Nathan at 6:36 AM

 
There's now a section of the XTC forum where Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding answer fans' questions. It's pretty interesting. I used to read the forum occasionally back when XTC's website first came online, but I haven't looked at it in some time. Actually, I haven't listened to much XTC recently, either. I'm hoping they come out with a new album sometime soon. There's the Fuzzy Warbles demo collection in the works (to which Colin refuses to contribute), but I'd also like to hear some new songs. I guess I should just be glad I didn't become a fan until the END of their strike with Virgin Records.

Speaking of musicians answering questions, I wish Weird Al would start doing the Ask Al column again. I guess being married is taking up too much of his time. {g}
posted by Nathan at 12:04 AM

 
Beth and I were going to go to Great Adventure today, but both she and her cousin Marji, who was going to go with us, aren't feeling very well. It's also raining, so we decided not to go. DaVinci's Notebook is having a concert nearby, but we never got tickets for it, so we're not seeing that either.

I'm hungry. I'm going to make myself a ham sandwich soon, but I wonder whether I should go out after that.
posted by Nathan at 10:08 PM

 
I'm really tired. I wish I didn't have so much to do today. (Okay, it's really not THAT much, but I have to go to the post office soon, then to my mom's, and later to Beth's.)
posted by Nathan at 3:17 PM

 
I'm working on sending résumés to various libraries in Beth's area, even if they don't actually advertise positions. I'm hoping I'll get some replies, because I really need a job. I wasn't able to address as many as I would have wanted last night, because Comcast had more Internet troubles, but everything seems to be working okay now, so I'll probably get back on that soon.
posted by Nathan at 4:20 PM

 
Beth and I just finished watching I Know What You Did Last Summer. It was better than I thought it would be, and it managed to hold my interest all the way through. Beth is trying to get me interested in horror movies, which is a genre I just never watched in my youth (well, my previous youth, since I'm still pretty young). I don't think I'll ever be as much into horror as she is, but I've liked a lot of what she's shown me.

I want to go to Great Adventure soon, but I don't want it to cost an arm and a leg. Burger King had some $10 off coupons, but that really isn't enough off. I don't even know why admission is so high when the park isn't even open for very many hours per day.
posted by Nathan at 1:53 AM

 

What box do you get put in?
brought to you by Quizilla

posted by Nathan at 4:18 AM

 
I got my People Are Wrong! sampler in the mail recently. It's pretty cool, and I wish I could have actually seen it, but no such luck. Oh, well.
posted by Nathan at 6:33 PM

 
ScanDisk takes a LONG time to complete on my computer. It's kind of annoying. I guess I don't have to run it that often, though.

I had some weird dreams last night, and I remember waking up from at least one and thinking that I was glad it wasn't real. I remember one where my car wouldn't stop when put in park. My parents told me I might have to get a new engine. I think there was another bad dream, but I don't know what happened. I know there was one where I was playing The Sims and several of my characters lost their jobs, but I don't think that one was so bad. Besides, in real life, my game keeps crashing, and that's probably worse.
posted by Nathan at 6:29 PM