2002-03-22
Numbers one through nine, posted at 7:49 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Not a whole lot is new, which is the reason for the lack of an update yesterday. Here are a few of the thoughts of note:1.) Life is really good right now. I went out last night with Nick and Ryan to watch the fabulous Duke/Indiana basketball game. (I am getting so into this college basketball tournament, it isn't even funny. And it's so against my character - or, at least, the old character. Change is good.) I would have to say officially now that Nick is the best male friend I've made since, oh, Paul or Nate (Who was I friends with first out of those two? I knew Nate first, but was I friends with him first? I don't remember), which is an exciting development in my life. I was out until 10:30 or so, which is way late for a school night and made me miss my daily gym trip today. But oh well. It was worth it, and I'll go tonight.
2) Our first baseball game was cancelled yesterday because of field conditions. I was pretty happy about it. The night before, I remembered that I don't have cleats or long socks. My uniform would have looked pretty silly in regular tennis shoes and short socks. We practiced instead, and I threw batting practice almost the whole time. My arm is sore! (It didn't help that yesterday was also my arms/shoulders day at the gym, so my arm got a double workout yesterday.)
3) Today I'm giving a test over vocabulary, so I'll be able to have a pretty "chill" day today. Which is nice for a Friday. I'm then having them draw a picture of the Radley house using textual evidence - should be fun.
4) Am I being too comfortable in my singledom? I no longer feel that desperation to have a relationship. Jeremy does. The other day, he said to me, "Dude, I got to get a girlfriend. I can't stand it." And, yeah, it'd be cool for me, but I feel happier than I have been in a long time - very fulfilled. I don't want to get too comfortable with it - I'd still sort of like to be married by the time I'm 28, though there's still plenty of time until that happens - but right now I'm pretty content.
5) I'm getting excited about spring break, though a bit daunted by how much I'll be doing. I plan on going to South Haven, then to Lansing, then back to South Haven, then to Detroit, then back to Baltimore, and seeing a whole host of different friends. I'll see my old RA crew on the first Saturday night at the dueling piano bar in Lansing. I'll see Paul and Kelly for hopefully at least a couple of times. I'll see Gale at the Saturday event and at the Detroit Tigers' Opening Day on the next Friday. Hopefully I'll be able to see other folks I would really like to see - Berty, n-media-res (who I've never met, but I had a dream about the other day, after his gets my goat entry because, well, I've lived with Tiffany before too. But we were both equally messy), Kibibi, Nick, my grandma, my cousin and aunt, my pseudo-aunt, not to mention my parents and sister. It will be quite a whirlwind trip.
6) Speaking of feeling daunted... ever since my banner started running, 500 or so people every day have been coming to this diary, and I've been getting lots of guestbook entries. I imagine I have a lot of e-mails sitting in my diaryland e-mail address box as well. I appreciate it all so much, and I'm sorry I haven't had time to respond to much of it. Without a computer at home, I find myself struggling to even find time to have an entry everyday - and the entries are basically for myself, so I can trace my own development and have a sounding board. I write during my planning period generally, and sometimes I have, well, planning to do. Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to get to a library and catch up on it all. Anyhow, don't be offended if I haven't written you back or signed your guestbook - I've been swamped. But it's an enjoyable "swamped".
7) I've decided I'm rooting for Kent State and Maryland in the tournament. Kent State because the the coach used to be the assistant coach at my alma mater, and Maryland because the fans here are a lot of fun.
8) I'm buying a six-game Orioles ticket package today, with six of my friends.
9) We got a memo from the principal that says staff is starting to dress "grubby," and to please attend to this in a professional manner. We all think it's hilarious. Someone is making the Grubby Awards, in honor of the Oscars, and we have the ceremony next Thursday. This school has pretty bad relations between administration and the teachers.
10) My thoughts on the Academy Awards... I'm having a hard time getting excited about them. Not only did two movies that I found intensely overrated - Gosford Park and In the Bedroom - get a slew of nominations they didn't deserve, but the three best films of the year - The Royal Tenenbaums, Memento, and Monster's Ball - were pretty much shut out of the major categories. But oh well. For Best Picture, I hope A Beautiful Mind gets the award - it's way better than In the Bedroom and Gosford Park, it's better than the way-frenetic Moulin Rouge. The only close film is Lord of the Rings, but that had too many dull spots.
For Best Actor, it seems to be boiling down to Washington versus Crowe, which is unfortunate, since Will Smith gave the best performance of the year in the very good Ali. Washington is a great actor, but I thought his turn was a bit too showy and "Look at me! I can play a villian!". Crowe is superb - the best actor working today, probably - but Smith's job playing Ali was magnificent.
For Best Actress, if Sissy Spacek's crummy mannerisms in her overrated turn in In the Bedroom wins over Halle Berry's phenomenal turn in Monster's Ball, then I'll scream.
Best Supporting Actress - I'm picking Kate Winslet to win, but wouldn't be unhappy if Jennifer Connelly walks away with it. For Best Supporting Actor, I'm hoping it goes to Ethan Hawke. Best Screenplay should go to Memento, although I'd be ecstatic if The Royal Tenenbaums got it. Best Adapted Screenplay should go to Lord of the Rings. Best song should go to Sting. Best Director should go to Peter Jackson. Is that all? I think that's the big ones.
I gotta go now.