26 posts tagged “qotd”

Ever run for office?  (School, club, organization, politics, etc.)  Did you get elected?

I ran for vice-president of student council once in 7th Grade.  My campaign speech was only notable because I made a comment to the effect of "Even if you don't vote for me, vote for [this other kid] for president."

The other kid won, but I sure as hell didn't.

I also never ran for a position in the much-beloved Cornell Concert Commission, but I was installed in the executive board (as Production Director) for one semester when a friend of mine was forced to leave the school.  I ran two shows: Cake + Rahzel + Spoon (which went perfectly!) and Biz Markie + Run DMC (which went horribly).

How do you take your tea or coffee?
Submitted by Vasquez.

I don't drink coffee unless the remaining prospects are all horrendous.

Tea-wise, I see three potential answers:

• Earl Grey: I take with sugar and cream; at certain establishments, I can forgo the cream.
• Green Tea: I take straight
• All other teas: I generally put sugar in.
  

The world's most expensive but worst tasting commercial instant coffee/tea brewer machines ever created, by Mars Inc.

While the tea selections aren't horrible, I am more of a hot chocolate drinker - and Flavia prisoners will be familiar with Choco, the hot chocolate work-alike.  I take mine with two sugars and two creamers - and while this may sound disgusting to those of you never "blessed" with Flavia, believe me, it needs it.

I also just discovered that Flavia has a recipe exchange.  Huzzah for new entertainment at work!

Have you ever Googled your own name? How did you feel about the results?
Submitted by elen.

Over 50% of the results on the first page are me.  My ego is ecstatic.  The rest of me doesn't mind.

Google is not always my friend, though - be sure to read "Like A Gay Porn Site With A Mac Bent".

What's your favorite music for a Sunday morning?
Submitted by Nick.

You know, I had a playlist entitled "Brunch" on my old (now fried) machine.  Sigh.

Five random ones from that list that I can still rely on:

• You Can Have It All, by Yo La Tengo
• Five Man Army, by Massive Attack
• Whistle Song (Suaga 't Experience Remix), by Fantastic Plastic Machine
• Every Planet We Reach Is Dead, by Gorillaz
• Learn To Live With What You Are, by Ben Folds
  

What comedian makes you pee your pants laughing?
Submitted by pookieb.

Stephen Colbert, Jon Glaser, David Cross, Demetri Martin, Eugene Mirman, Leo Allen, The Sklars, Todd Barry, Julie Klausner, John & The Cowboy, Charlie Todd, I Eat Pandas.

I apparently pee my pants a lot.

What's your motto?

Like Janelle, the closest thing I have is the byline for my blog, which is currently:

Take me back to prouder days, but please don't take my anger away.

It's not surprising that this is a Ted Leo quote; it's from St. John The Divine, which I've always felt had a lot of well-written lines in it.

It was three days after the party.  The one where we christened the new house, the house we were spending our senior year in.  Way too many people.  Way too much booze.

And at 2:30, I'm sitting there on the discolored carpeted steps, shaking my head to myself as I knew one of my best friends was in the other room making out with someone who wasn't his girlfriend.  Or at least, I thought they were just making out.

I escaped home the next day - trying my best to avoid the pain and the yelling and the crying, the drama that inevitably comes after nights like those.  Nights like those are why I don't drink.  I came back that evening and found him, waiting outside for me.  He needed a friend to lean on.  I was all he had left, I think.

From there, it was hard to see anything that could've been more damaging to our little world than that.  Seems funny, in hindsight.

I woke up at 8:30 on the 11th and stumbled over to my email - 12 breaking news bulletins from CNN in the hour before.  My heart dropped as I thumbed through them.  I floated downstairs, not really sure what to expect as I turned on the TV and sat by myself, watching the towers burn.  Then they fell.

Campus was quiet that day.

The drama in our lives blew over, overshadowed by the weight of the world.  We went on with our lives as best we could.  Three months later, it would all kick back up - bridge-burning emails, hateful stares, and me left caught in the middle.  I'd be the only one he wanted any contact with, and with such unreasonable constraints, we soon drifted apart.  My closest friend for 11 years shrunk to "friend", to "acquaintance", and on into insignificance.

So when I think about September 11th, I think about that party.  I think about sitting on those steps, in the moonlight of the early hours, and how we can never really be sure about what's next.

What was the last game you played?

The very last game I have played, about 10 minutes ago, was Ultimate Ghosts & Goblins for the PSP.  I died more times than I could keep track of in the first level.  It's nice, having a game kick my ass every now and then.

Other games I have played within the last week:

Beatmania IIDX 11: IIDX RED (PS2) - I hadn't touched IIDX in about two months.  I am still horrible by most metrics, but it's very enjoyable to fire up the game and play songs I enjoy on Light 7 just for the hell of it.

Every Extend Extra (PSP) - picked this up as an import at VGNY; it's considerably more addictive than I expected it to be.

Loco Roco (PSP) - every bit as cute as I had hoped.  Looking forward to working through this even if it's as short as everyone claims it is.

Valkyrie Profile Lenneth (PSP) - never played the original, worked on this a bit during the Ithaca trip this weekend.  Enjoyable enough.

Point Blank DS (DS) - also picked up at VGNY; it's sad when I buy games and I'm not expecting much and I'm still disappointed.

Full Auto (360) - got this on the tremendously cheap.  Gave it a test spin for 10 minutes.  Seems alright, if not for the wonky steering.  FUN FACT: No one on my friends list has apparently played this, or at least not online.

Madden 2007 (360) - also got this on the tremendously cheap.  I had a great laugh reading over the new features, where you could "jump" the defense by hitting a button to try and rush after the snap.  This is a new feature?  It was in the first Madden game for the SNES.  Sup EASN?

Dead Rising (360) - this is going to end up high on my year end list at this rate because I've been having so much fun with it, even when the AI is being retarded.

Marble Blast Ultra (360) - also fun, despite all my claims that I would never buy this.

What's your favorite song to sing karaoke-style?  If you don't have one, why not?

While we were in London, one of my most enjoyable purchases Singstar Rocks.  It's a kareoke game series that's huge over in Europe but still hasn't made it out over here yet.  (This is changing soon.)  Standing offer to everyone I know - come on over, play some Guitar Hero, some Singstar, and some Beatmania IIDX; you've never had music gaming so good.

Anyhow, Singstar Rocks contains a lot of great rock songs, and I get some sort of odd joy out of singing Everybody's Changing by Keane.

What song or lyrics are stuck in your head at the moment?  What album is it from?
Submitted by Lox Ly. 

I've had multiple tracks from MC Chris' new album, Dungeon Master Of Ceremonies, stuck in my head.  This makes me pleased, actually - the last album (Eating's Not Cheating) was uniformly uninspiring, and this one is really similar to his first (and best) album, Life's A Bitch And I'm Her Pimp.

One weird thing, though: I caught Chris' show at UCB a few weeks ago, where he did most of the album live along with a couple of the skits (using the guys from Cracked Out and Death By Roo Roo).  I know there's no factual basis for it, but something about the album strikes me as very Aziz.  Maybe it's the name check to M.I.A. in Arulapragasm.  Maybe it's that the skits and songs are so self-deprecating.  Maybe it's the tight embrace of Chris' inner geek.  In any case, it's a great album, and worth picking up.