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Wednesday, September 1, 2004 / 3:30am

Well, it's been thirty days since it was unofficially announced to the world that the world, in fact, would change. I really can't very simply summarize all that's happened in the past month. That's farily evident by how much activity news.sg has seen. It was crazy. It was full of laughter and tears. Now, we find out if September turns out better- especially since I'll need to definitely care about the employment thing sometime fairly soon.

Wednesday, September 1, 2004 / 9:31am

"the list"

one at three

Wednesday, September 1, 2004 / 10:31am

I'll Take The Lower Left Corner For The Win

The unholiday came to an end at midnight, with good times filling the rest of the day. So, I had this meeting. A staff meeting... but, no, not my staff. But I was introduced to a group of cool students that help run the Auditorium, and I'm responsible for their training in terms of front of house ness. It was yet another bizarre (but not bad) feeling to be doing something like that. What I didn't like was not knowing anyone. So many new people to know, so many names. It's like starting somewhere without working your way up there from the inside. In some ways, it's a similar position as the new Kran me must be in, except for the whole "replacing someone" sort of thing. I don't have any shoes to fill. As an update to the Kranland experience, tonight will be the first apparent sign of change to the masses as KCSA will have a General Meeting with its members and (yes) three advisors. My old department will also have a staff/scheduling meeting for the first time without me, and most of them will be experiencing that absence for the first time. I won't be able to mension the usual start of year things, like "Debbie Gibson Day" (actually, I failed to mension her once through the whole day) or whatever. Moving onwards, Trivia Tuesday continued in traditionality, though at a round table than the usual booth. Everyone (even I) arrived later than usual to the event... thanks Carolyn, Chris, Melanie, Paul, Mark, Denise, and Jen for making an appearance. Carolyn even won Showdown! Misato, Carolyn, and I finished the evening by heading to the Beverly for a movie, ending the day with about 30 minutes to spare until midnight. Thanks to everyone for making the unholiday as great as it was for me. My heart hearts you.

Wednesday, September 1, 2004 / 2:33pm

Snow's Informer

I don't really talk ridiculously fast, and the words used in normal everyday Brian conversation aren't the most complicated ones in the world. What I do realize, however, is that I make up some words or phrases that take on a life of their own. So, I've decided to work on a little project. I'm going to try to come up with a Brian dictionary and/or quotes file. And that's where you all come in: if you could email me Brian words/phrases along with their definition, intended meaning, and/or history, I just might include it somewhere on the website! (Of course, I am not going to list all of them. Where would the fun of the randomly coded messages go?)

Sunday, September 5, 2004 / 1:21am

Reality Bites

Wednesday night was a large dose of reality for me; it was perhaps one of the greatest signs that showed me that things are different, and as much as I may try to deny it or hope it doesn't, life goes on. That evening, I found myself lost. Most everyone I knew had a reason to be at Krannert; I did not. And, to know that so much that I had been involved in in the past continued on without me was weird and upsetting. Sure, it happens all the time to everyone. It's just that now it's me, and it's how I feel. The first two or three weeks each school year for the last few years, I was prepared to live Krannert 24/7, and now it's 0/n. There are things that would be most easily done if I did them, and, well, the rest of the world will manage. In some ways, I guess now I can start being a mythical character from Krannert folklore. Though, folklore means I could be forgotten, and while that isn't the case with friends, I know I'm fading into some memories. That whole school thing could be a part of it, too, as people have other things to be concerned with. As for me, I am trying very hard to help people that relied on me in Kranwisdom to start working things out on their own and with whichever person they need to work with. It's super extremely difficult because I'm used to saying some things and it would be final. Like I was the absolute voice in reasoning or the one with the most deciding vote. Or, I just knew historically what worked best, so why reinvent the wheel? Obviously, in the past, I'd still want people to know what they're doing, but I could provide some sort of direction. Now I'm trying to provide even less of that, if any, and people know it. And I hope they understand. It's not that I don't care about them; it's that I can't care about what is being worked for. It won't be fair to anyone left behind if I continued to pick up some slack; it won't be fair to myself. Sadly, this means that I've become distant from the people I care about, as if not being around them in a work setting wasn't enough. So goes more of the struggles... it really got to me that on Thursday, I up and left town, ran away from the madness, and hid myself at home, where I'll continue to be for the remainder of the weekend. Not to suggest that I go through life alone (though I always seem to perpetuate the notion that that will be the case for forever in a different sense), but being not-in-Champaign County has started to remind me that there are people out there that still wonder how I'm doing and hope I'm doing alright; that'd like to hang out or at least hear my voice to know that I don't have fifty billion designated agents acting on my behalf typing away at news. And, no, I don't mean to shun anyone still in Champaign County that feels the same way, either. I know they exist, too. Regardless of anyone's location, people are just a [random method of contact] away.

Friday, September 24, 2004 / 2:06pm

Cell-ing It Because I Can

So, that weekend way back on September 3-6... the one that included Labor Day... as you may recall, I left town to get away. So, faced with a four day weekend in the lovely hometown of Hillside, and also just some miles away from the wonderful city of Chicago, I thought I'd have some fun. That Friday, I randomly got in touch with Anna, so we got together and hung out downtown for the early evening. Then I said, "hey, let's go to the White Sox game." So we did. Because we could. And we bought the best seats we could. Because we could. It was a fun game and a fun time. On the way to not-ballpark-ness, we then randomly had a little late night snack (breakfast?) just off the Belmont CTA Red Line stop with former KCSA president Joe (of spell checked Curliness fame)! It was a blast from the past (okay, it was just a few years ago, but still) and also fun. Good times, indeed. Being home was nice... I don't think I've spent a Labor Day weekend at home since the last century! And it was kinda bizarre (and nice) to sleep in a bed for once on my visits home. (Ever since my departure to the high school, and then the college, the official room and bed status has been altered quite a bit.) Then came Monday... Labor Day. And what was planned? Well, in the infinite wisdom of Brian when I was a few months younger and it was February 28th, I bought tickets to four Cubs games on the day that single-game tickets went on sale. One of those four games was against the Expos on Labor Day in the bleachers! And, thanks to a coordinated effort with Cyril, we had a total of eight seats for a nice Monday afternoon game! Hooray! So, it's not like my weekend home was a spur-of-the-moment thing... it's just that my departure to Chicagoland was a little, oh, moved earlier. (Oh, and on a little note about that... I didn't tell my parents I was coming home, and didn't quite plan a way to get home... it just kinda happened. Doug was going to the Chicago area that day I was leaving, so he took me to near his place because he had something to get to. I then took the Metra commuter rail into the city, then took the Blue Line to Forest Park, where I got onto Pace Bus 301 that took me to within 3 blocks of my house. So, I'm walking down my (not lit) street, and this car drives right by me. It stops in the middle of the road, and my mom yells out the car, surprised, "Brian? Is that you?" I affirm, and then get in the car, and then she takes me to get some food. She said, "I heard from Grace that you were coming home some time this weekend, but she said she didn't know when. I thought that was you... I know my kids anywhere!" Yeah, that's my story.)

Friday, September 24, 2004 / 2:25pm

I Feel Like I'm Her, But Elsewhere

That first full week of September had me doing something I hadn't done in a few weeks. Working. Sorta. My job on the side (which is on the side of nothing) is being the "Assistant Manager - Patron Services" at Foellinger Auditorium, which is just a few blocks away from the Kran. I'm working like any of the students over there, except with a glorified title where I will attempt to formalize any sort of Patron Services procedures over there. So, I'm kinda doing what I did at Krannert... sorta. And, much like the newer version of me at the Kran, I'm the newbie in the middle of a bunch of students that know what's going on compared to my zero experience at the auditorium (classes and exams I took there, exempt). Fortunately, I'm not replacing anyone, and I'm still relatively young enough that I blended in at the first staff meeting. Until halfway through the meeting, no one even knew I was a manager... I didn't even know that was my title until announced as such. Whatever, it's cool... and it'll be fun, I'm sure. As much as I wanted to start organizing and stuff over there, I'm kinda laying low and watching how it goes, and experiencing it a bit so I know what's going on. The rest of the week was alright, as I continued the catching up with people I hadn't seen in a while. Then came the dreaded Friday. No, no, it wasn't just a day, just an ordinary day. It was the 10th: Kran's opening night. My goal was to not dwell too much on it and keep myself occupied. After all, for the last few years, I'd pretty much trained myself to be at Kran 24/7 in September. So, while hiding out in the KCSA office in the afternoon, catching up on those pesky Daily Records, I convinced Misato and Josh to head over to Olive Garden for dinner. Afterwards, Misato hung out and wandered around campus, cutting through Kran twice on our stroll. Perhaps that second time was a mistake. Sure, each time I walked through, I was greated happily by my friends that were all there. That second time, though, I said hello to the desk staff. I restrained myself from being authoritative and telling someone to not sit on the desk, but that's as far as that went. I glanced at the clipboard with the performance information sheet, and in the split second that I saw it, I was bothered. I took it and pointed out everything that was wrong, making circles everywhere. Yeah... not quite over everything, yet, apparently. Don't worry... I've gotten better since then. I ended my evening playing PS2 with Jack, instead!

Friday, September 24, 2004 / 2:44pm

"the list"

one at three (effective Wednesday, September 8, 2004)

Friday, September 24, 2004 / 2:49pm

Take Me Out To The Ballgames

Whilst Illinois's football was taking a mild beating at the hands of UCLA and coming off of a victory against FAMU, A few of us were battling the small crowd crammed into the Kran Studio Theater on the morning of Saturday the 11th. It was the every-other-yearly costume and prop sale. A smaller space than previous years, there was nothing overly worth my standing in a line to pay for. No dog beds or favorite ties, this year, I suppose. Sunday night, "Clueless" was watched at the Adam-email-directed weekly movie showing tradition of his. My watching it pushed back a series of events I'd planned just two days earlier. I would have started the following by leaving that Sunday night... instead, I waited til Monday morning. What was it? Well, in light of Hurricane Ivan, the Florida Marlins would be unable to play at home in Miami. With a schedule already stuffed due to previously postponed games, Florida could not postpone any more games, so, since they were already in Chicago playing the Cubs, and since Chicago has an extra baseball stadium, since the White Sox were out travelling, Major League Baseball made the decision to move two of the Marlins' games to US Cellular Field. So, I decided to be a part of history. I went to both Expos/Marlins games, and, since I was in Chicago anyways, I went to all three Pirates/Cubs games as well. Yes, that's right... five baseball games (48 innings total) in three days! It was so much fun, and also very tiring. Nothing like waking up on a Monday around 7, running to catch a bus to barely catch a 9:05am Greyhound to Chicago to barely get to the first game via Red Line with about 20 minutes to spare! I even got two baseballs at Wrigley that the Pirates picthers threw into the stands during the pre-game practice (one on Monday, one on Tuesday... which I game to my sister, who joined me for both Tuesday games). It was totally bizarre walking into US Cellular Field and seeing displays and hearing announcements referring to "your world champion Florida Marlins". The renditions of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" were wild, with about fifty billion teams' names screamed at the appropriate place. The Cubs fans joined the Expos fans in lining the first base line, and the White Sox fans joined the Marlins fans in lining the third base (home team) side. A combined total of just over 9,000 fans turned out for the two games (I'm sure a good number and I were double-counted, showing up both days, not bad for a game with two non-home teams)! The rest of the week had me lounging at home... as a whole, the week in Chicago was soooo much more like a vacation than Las Vegas was. This time, I truly was able to relax and not have to worry about things. It was nice. Quite nice, indeed.