last night we went to the bar. it got awesome at the end. usually the bar seems kind of...i dont know. its an oppressive atmosphere sometimes. but last night it was very relaxed, very open. joe (the bartender) gave us tons of free drinks, and had jarett analee and i do these tequila shots. i think he just wanted to see us act like idiots. that's what i'd do if i were a bartender - which i probably will have to be soon enough. charis (i.e. a brit) was with us, and shes very good friends with joe so maybe that was part of it. but there were also a bunch of freshman at the bar - are they not carding anymore? whatevs, some of them were really kind of cool.
then around 3 or so it was time to go to eileen's, this little old irish diner in the irish part of yonkers. we were the only ones there, but there were like 45 of us. i ordered three scrambled eggs and two silver dollars but then when my plate arrived, there were like FIVE eggs and literally 12 pancakes. and i wont question the will of whoever was in the kitchen. last night they taught me a lesson.
im having a lot of fun with my new 'micromemo' ipod recorder. i am making joes class into a little podcast so everyone in our class can listen to it. i feel so dumb, saying 'podcast,' maybe i should revise that and say 'file.' but ive also found that taping conversations is way funner than i thought.
yesterday afternoon before dinner justin jiddy and i were smoking and talking about the future as we are wont to do, and i tried it out. the conversation turned into just justin and i talking about history and whether we can talk about it as the kind of narrative that modernism and arch history generally apply to it. in other words: the rome/usa debate. i couldnt believe it - it was something out of first yr. so interesting. justin and i get in these conversations where we kind of go deeper and deeper into these weird vocabularies whose meanings are oblique to the actual subjects being discussed. its like were talking in a secret language - sometimes you get lost too, but you try and get back on the same path as the other. ive never been able to do this with our other friends. i think it has to do with sharing a certain awe-struck-ness in 'the future.' or history, in this case the same thing. and its always about america, in some way or another. america and the future.
there were a few real gems.
: facebook is crazy..the things that are happening to our generation..i dont think we're prepared.
: the modernists, they were all making utopian dreams at our age. im just, we dont have anything. theres too many ideas, information. in 10 yrs everyone will be a business major.
: we lost 500 points so we can spend the next five yrs building it all back up, and then do it again (re: stock market)
: the fact that dubai exists means that our system is corrupt.
: im an optimist. ive taken poly science stuff, ive seen breakthroughs.
: nobody cares about the packaging at grocery stores - why our cereal cant be in bags. target doesnt have to be a daily activity. but it is for me, when im home in the suburbs. but as you come to this realization, that you dont need it, you find yourself consuming more and more.
: the moneys gonna dry up, there's going to be a global recession. why do we have to call it a panic?
: the katrina cottage was a shotgun house but didnt have the back door which is what validates the whole form. the cottages use a/c. its not a dignified way to live - it should have been a temporary, government solution.
: im suddenly into thinking again
the reason i have apocolypse dreams is the same reason i love this kind of shit. its like destructoporn. its all so cryptic. its related to an intense fear of death.
ive had this project in mind today. in that way you do sometimes, when you keep a place or image in the background of your mind as you go about conversations and so on - just sort of a reticent image that sticks around and that you associate with whatever conversation you had while it was there.
but today its the utrecht university library, which we saw last yr. "the anti-seattle public library," also by a dutch firm, wiel arets. i loved it. its very imposing but at the same time, sort of...empyreal? is that the word? it adheres to this kind of somber color coded classicism thats the direct opposite of oma's witticisms. sort of refreshingly stoic.
(images via googleimage)a propos utrecht - this was a place i felt i could stay for a while. the netherlands to me is the most alien european country, but had the smartest and happiest design and public spaces.
