You're goddamn right I'm UNCERTAIN

[alex]

So, on Monday night it seems that I drunkenly ordered a book that I'd been meaning to read for quite a while (B.Anderson's Imagined Communities.) and it arrived today, thing is I don't really have the time to read it, I was planning to save it for the summer, but beer got in the way of that plan. It's bad enough I'm distracting myself with a little bit of fiction at this point, as I've got enough reading to do for school, but at the same time I wanna read it. It's a tough life.

My latest late-night I-barely-remember-doing-this order was Peter Galison's 'Image & Logic'. It came in yesterday. Wanna trade?

I can almost guarantee that you'd easily withhold the temptation of reading that one instead of the stuff you need to read to school. Not reading the Anderson book is probably going to be a lot more difficult, because, if the one chapter out of it that I've read is any indication, that's a pretty damn impressive book you got yourself there.

(I kind of need the Galison book for my PhD, though. Sigh.)

[Wally]

You're not supposed to be pushing me towards my new book, I'm lacking in self-control as it is. Although I'm not suprised to hear good words about it (even just the first chapter), it's been referenced by a lot of the best stuff I've read this year. Including a book called Ethnicity of Everyday life, by one of my lecturers, Christian Karner. And, alex, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but he is the only other Austrian I've ever had communicaton with, leaving me under the impression that all Austrian's are social scientists.

[alex]

It occurred to me that that was probably not a very helpful comment, sorry. Though for the record, it was not the first chapter that I read.

You did mention that while discussing accents, yeah. Funny, though.

[Greg Nog]

I'm trying to decide whether or not to sign up for a 5K run for the Special Olympics.  It sounds nice and all, but the whole central fund-raising seems based around asking people to give me money, which is a little repellent to me.

[alistarr*]

i always think the way charity runs are set up is kind of weird. to me it often comes across kinda like "i'm engaging in an activity that will enhance my overall fitness and provide me with a general feeling of happiness at no personal cost, and i want you to pay someone some money because i'm doing this", rather than "hey i'm doing this run to raise awareness and i'm donating some money to the campaign, d'you want to donate too?" but it's entirely possible that's just my own perceptions clouding a simple matter.

but basically yeah - do the run, and be the first person on your donation sheet. there are no losers (until the race).

[Wally]

It occurred to me that that was probably not a very helpful comment, sorry. Though for the record, it was not the first chapter that I read.

No worries, I did the smart thing and took the book to a friends this morning. They're going away for a month, starting from next week, so at least I won't be able to get my grubby little mits on it.

You did mention that while discussing accents, yeah. Funny, though.

Seems like I'm getting a case of "so, wait Tom Waits is touring.", must nip that in the bud pronto.

[silentsigh89]

Classes are canceled today for a big carnival. Ted Leo is playing at my school tonight. I am uncertain about how my teeny tiny school convinced him to come here. I am also uncertain about the carnival! Everything is covered in vomit. everything. It began last night, and it's just been vomit all around.

I am uncertain how I feel about the whole event!

[Greg Nog]

Update:  I registered for the run, and set my goal as $20.00.  And the registration fee was $20.00, so I already reached my goal!  WOO!  I'm part of "Team Billiardsburg", which is a pool-related website run by this girl I know from the bar.  Being shit at pool, myself, I cannot vouch for the quality of that website.  I can only vouch for my ability to run through the Lincoln tunnel.  If any of you want to donate money to the Special Olympics, you can do so here. 

[Andrew_TSKS]

i always think the way charity runs are set up is kind of weird. to me it often comes across kinda like "i'm engaging in an activity that will enhance my overall fitness and provide me with a general feeling of happiness at no personal cost, and i want you to pay someone some money because i'm doing this", rather than "hey i'm doing this run to raise awareness and i'm donating some money to the campaign, d'you want to donate too?" but it's entirely possible that's just my own perceptions clouding a simple matter.

but basically yeah - do the run, and be the first person on your donation sheet. there are no losers (until the race).

it's interesting to me that you see it this way. i myself see running as an activity that sucks donkey balls and would ruin my entire day if i agreed to do it. therefore i guess the idea of giving someone money because someone else ran a certain distance makes a lot more sense to me. you see it as pleasurable, i see it as a sacrifice.

[jebreject]

Greg, you should only run if the following conditions are met:

1.) You have a chance, however slim, of winning back the mother of your child, who you left on the altar several years ago

2.) You are like, slightly overweight. Like by a couple of pounds. And you smoke a lot of cigarettes. Maybe you are a security guard also. And British.

3.) Your best friend has bet a significant amount of money that you will not only partake in but complete the run

4.) Your almost-wife's current love interest, a cocksure Yank who works in finances, is also running, and also he is much more athletic than you and also he won't let your son play with a remote controlled boat

5.) The whole thing is sponsored by Nike, and David Schwimmer is there, for some mysterious reason

[elpollodiablo]

Like because he's directing the picture.

Also in what fucking universe is Simon Pegg fat?

[Greg Nog]

I guess in England?  They seem to have lower standards for fatness over there.

girl, is that you whose donation is listed under "girl"?  Thanks!  I'll think of you as rivulets of sweat are wicked away into the cool New Jersey air.

[santaclaustral]

Hey... can everyone direct some good energy in my direction in about 7 hours?

Because the band I'm in have a gig tonight. And our bassist has a fever and can't play, which sucks but that is life - there are four other people in the band and we can totally make it work.

However, our guitarist/pianist is saying that he won't play without the bassist because he doesn't want to do less than a 100% perfect live show. And there's a chance that our violinist won't play without our guitarist/pianist. So it might be that for our second ever gig and my second ever gig, it's going to be me and our drummer and I feel so fucking let down and really very shocked that anyone would even think to cancel a gig unless it was absolutely unavoidable.

Also, last weekend we were in the studio for two days recording, for the duration of which I was singing with the sore throat from hell and I spent Monday-Wednesday being a mute and communicating with a pen and paper because that's how shot my voice was and it's still not fully recovered and now I have to hold down a set with just our drummer to help because of reasons that I still don't understand?

So I am feeling really very uncertain right now and honestly have no idea whether we'll still have to cancel the gig because my voice is so shaky but, fuck... you don't just go around canceling gigs unless you 100% *have* to, do you?

So, yeah, good energy my way please cos we're gonna need it.

[elpollodiablo]

Well, good luck G! I realize it's real short notice and you don't want to, but I think in the future having an absolutely shot voice and 1/2 your band MIA constitutes grounds for a cancellation.

[diesel_powered]

Good luck!

And if your guitarist/pianist thinks theres such a thing as a 100% perfect show, he's nuts.

[jebreject]

Yeah, I don't want to flog any dead horses or really bring this up again at all, but I think expecting consistently perfect shows is pretty ridiculous.

But Grace, good luck if you're still going to do it! I think you can definitely pull it off, and it's going to be awesome! And if it somehow does go awry, well, then you have that under your belt, you have faced The Worst That Can Happen and you have survived. But that's not what will happen. Things will be awesome. So definitely don't cancel it on account of the rest of your band being weirdos. However, canceling it on account of your voice isn't a terrible idea, just so you know.

[santaclaustral]

Thanks for the support, guys.

We got all the way there, soundchecked, and then ended up cancelling after all. It was the right decision, though it sucked to make it.

On the other hand, I do not have to think about band stuff for a few days and can now concentrate on resting, reading, and catching up on the past 10 days of LPTJ. So there's that.

[girl]

girl, is that you whose donation is listed under "girl"?  Thanks!  I'll think of you as rivulets of sweat are wicked away into the cool New Jersey air.

Yeah, I had the scroll say girl instead of my name so you'd know who the $5 was from. Glad that worked out exactly as planned.

[Greg Nog]

smooth thinking!  if it had said your actual name, i woulda been all, "who the hell do i know named chris, what the f?"

Thank you!

[hannah]

I have to go to a seder in Ohio next weekend. It's going to be incredibly boring. On the other hand, there will be a baby there, and I will eat him.

[girl]

Don't eat the baby, hannah.

[hannah]

With my eyes, then.

[Greg Nog]

This baby we eat symbolizes the bitter babies of our ancestors.

[Augo]

I fell in love with a woman who has no actual heart!  This has been causing extreme uncertainty in my life for some time now!

I better go to bed.

[alistarr*]

never mind; this uncertainty was resolved.