Stop the Noise (Inactive)

This is something I was introduced to about 4 years ago--but until now I've never seen the video. The 1812 Overture is a great piece, and hearing it/seeing it done a capella is just... great.

Long live classical music and its fans.

http://www.singers.com/videos/swingles1812.html

In approximately 40 minutes I will technically become 20 years old. I will no longer fall into the age group of "teenager", and the kids I worked with over the summer will, in a numerical sense, think of me as an adult. I don't know how I feel about it. This number seems to be even more significant than 21 -- to me at least. But I'll reflect on that when I get there. For now... I am still young, I am vulnerable, I am dependent, I am still, in a sense, a child. It's fine. Really.

Link my dad sent me: http://news.independent.co.uk/media/story.jsp?story=646971



I was just on Fleet Street a week and a half back or so -- probably walked right past Reuters. Probably.

Colorado's governor dissed out on Minnesota's quarter. He totally ripped on it -- several times. Looks like something about it really really bothered him. He mentinoed the quarter issue several times, including at the unveiling of Colorado's quarter.
MN governor joked about having a full-out investigation on the mountains in Colorado's quarter plan because it is believed that there is some subliminal message about the CO governor being butt-nekkid.

I think that we're really grasping for news stories lately. Lots of plane crashes, too. Lots of those. Um... the Schiavo thing is still going on, Michael Jackson is a free man with a clean slate, and my mom got a new couch. Life goes on!

Here's one you don't get to use often...

palooka \puh-LOO-kuh\ noun

*1 : an inexperienced or incompetent boxer
2 : oaf, lout

Example sentence:
"Before Ali, they say, boxing was just a bunch of palookas punching each other." (Joseph D. O'Brian, American Heritage, October 1991)

Did you know?
The origin of "palooka" is unknown, though various theories have been put forth (some sources credit the baseball player and sportswriter Jack Conway with the coinage, for example). "Palooka" first appeared in print in 1924, and may have been popularized by a comic strip titled "Joe Palooka" (by Ham Fisher), which began a few years later. The probable connection between Fisher's comic and "palooka" only adds to the mystery surrounding this term, however. Joe Palooka was a boxer who was neither incompetent nor clumsy and oafish, and yet the word "palooka" came to have these negative meanings. In addition, limited evidence shows that "palooka" is occasionally used as a general synonym for "rookie" and also as a term describing horses with very little chance of winning.

*Indicates the sense illustrated


Soooo....instead of the sexist "dude, you hit like a girl" people should use "dude, you hit like a palooka." it's more accurate.

Ever notice how it's hard to stay away from things that are forbidden to you?

Yeah.

So I lie once again. But this time the M-W word of the day caught my eye in context with college. Or having fun at college. Which excludes most classes. Specifically astronomy. Well... only astronomy, actually. Anyway! Last night was our school's "Presidential Ball." Which means dress up nicely, go to a very formal-atmosphered dance that isn't all that formal, swing dance if you know how to our school's jazz band (who are playing swing music...), and maybe see some of your professors (and many alumni) get sloshed. I didn't see anybody over early 20s sloshed, so, good for you, professors! I don't have to make fun of you this time around!

But last night was alright. We went to Chili's for dinner, had a good laugh, thought that a waiter touched my hair when it was really just Anna. Pres. ball was, admittedly, kind of boring. It was last year, too, so at least I knew what to expect and wasn't disappointed. Pres. Ball is all about the dancing, and if you don't have a date, it's hard to dance. Got one dance in with a friend and we talked about how I had a reputation (if anyone really cares to know what this reputation is, let me know and I'll explain it. Like maybe if my parents.). So who wants to know the word of the day? I think it's the perfect explanation of how college is (if you like college) during the good times. And how, in a sense, you want it to end but don't. I love this place and I love these people. That's a big part of "what there is to it." Enjoy:

timeless \TYME-luss\ adjective

1 : having no beginning or end : eternal
*2 : not restricted to a particular time or date
3 : not affected by time : ageless

Example sentence:
Fashion experts agree that the little black dress worn with a strand of pearls is timeless.

Did you know?
"Time is money." "Time is the great physician." "Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations." Everyone seems to know what time is, but what does it mean to be "timeless" — that is, "without time"? At one time (the 16th-19th centuries), "timeless" meant "out of its proper time, untimely, premature." In the course of time (by the 17th century), the word came to mean "eternal; lasting through all time." The two modern senses given in our definition were added just in time for the 20th century. (By the way, the quotations we started with came from Benjamin Franklin, British statesman Benjamin Disraeli, and American writer Faith Baldwin, respectively.)

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.