I have no need of hobbies, friends, or a real life. I've got The Sims!

And the TMBG compilation still rocks.

Listened to a song tonight ("From Heck") my brother John and I recorded last August when Julie and I were visiting. It's stylistically pretty minimilistic, but pretty good, and made me wish that John and I could record more often. As awesome as Florida is (at least when it's not raining, and when we're not making fools of ourselves on a national level), I still miss my brothers, dad, grandparents, and homies. Bleah.

Oh, and in non-geek news:

I am having the best teaching year of my life to date. World History isn't sucking half as bad as I had feared it would- in fact, it's pretty nifty. Except that most of my class flunked my first test, due to my heavy weighting of the essay questions. These aren't honors students, and although they are intelligent and capable of doing the work, some of them either don't study or simply can't read well enough to figure out what's going on. Big shock. Nonetheless, they're a cool bunch.

The chorus classes are awesome. I have 60 kids in Concert Chorus, including twenty or so guys- the most I've ever had in one choir course ever. All of the singers are working hard, and seem to really be into it this year. Even my beginning choruses are rocking, and those classes are usually a tetanus-infected syringe jabbing my ass. Plus, the students in my 13-voice vocal ensemble have more heart than any other incarnation of the group I've yet had at HML, and they're starting to get a pretty good sound. Big ups.

Of course, I could go in tomorrow and find that the music building burned down or something, so I suppose I'll avoid irrational exuberance.

"I want to raise my freak flag higher and higher..."
- "I Want To Sing Like A Girl," by TMBG

Today, in an uncharacteristic burst of conspicuous consumption, I picked up the new TMBG compilation "Dial-A-Song: Twenty Years of They Might Be Giants."

And it rocks. Boy, does it rock.

I also bought the brand-spanking new full length by OKGo, who opened for TMBG on their last couple of swings through Florida. Another rad album.

Speaking of "rad"- is it just me, or are more people using this word now? Even while living in San Diego, I remember years going by where I was virtually the only person saying this word consistently (with a few exceptions, most notably my homies Ben and Amanda). Now, while not exactly ubiquitous, "rad" does seem to be gaining in usage. Latest example- Julie and I rented "Van Wilder" last night (movies featuring sophomoric humor are a guilty pleasure), and a drunk guy referred to the title character as "the raddest fucking dude alive." Heh.

One thing about Floridians; we sure know how to fuck up an election.