Do you think that when Sufjan Stevens finished writing the song "Chicago", he ran through it in his head one final time, then leaned back in his chair, glanced over at his reflection in the mirror he kept handy for this purpose, gave himself the slow nod of acknowledgement of incredible coolness, and said to himself, "Self, you are the shit."?
Because he probably should have.
I'm working (or more precisely taking a small blogging break from working) on my massively intimidating research paper for Stone Age of Africa, for which I have a detailed outline due tomorrow. Thursday I have a panel presentation in Prehistoric Art. Friday is a school holiday and all I have due is another Discworld reading response, though, mind you, I was accidentally reading the wrong book last week and so I have slightly more than half of the correct book left to read. But I'm falling badly behind in the reading for all of my serious classes, which explains the note written in half-inch-high capitals in Sharpie on my left arm: BY FRIDAY MIDNIGHT I WILL BE CAUGHT UP ON MY READING. If I don't get caught up, I'll be royally screwed in another week or so, so I may as well grit my teeth and do it.
In short, I'm busy and a bit worried and I'm going to be counting my hours of sleep per night on the fingers of one hand for pretty much the entire week. My playlist looks something like this:
Sufjan Stevens - Chicago
Gary Jules - Mad World
Sufjan Stevens - Chicago
Bright Eyes - I Believe in Symmetry
Sufjan Stevens - Chicago
REM - Nightswimming
Sufjan Stevens - Chicago
Iron & Wine - Love and Some Verses
Repeat
It's pretentiously hipstery and by all rights it should be putting me to sleep, but somehow it works. Oh woe, oh woe, and did you know that standardization of stone tool shapes appeared in northeastern Africa around 1.6 million years ago, but we don't know if they had verbal language with which to teach technique or not? Imagine trying to explain to someone how to make an oval handaxe just like this, see, no, a little flatter on the bottom, and hold the punch lower when you hit it no not like that I carried that piece of rock all the way up from the river and now look what you've done to it! If you'd waited until I was done explaining* I could have told you how to do it right. Jeez. Kids these days have no patience.
*Say, another million years to develop enough language to explain with.
Along with millions of Devotchka songs, "Chicago" is prominently featured in the soundtrack to Little Miss Sunshine. True story.
As the title to my recent woe-is-me-I-missed-Sufjan post might indicate, I've been listening to "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us!" quite a bit lately. In fact, I indulged in a little OCD yesterday and put it on repeat for a full hour. I'd like to somehow prove how that doesn't make me pretentiously hipstery at all, but I suppose I did replace my faded gray cords with a pair of dark wash jeans. Curses.
Posted by: Jacob at November 7, 2006 11:10 PMOh, yeah. Now just grow your hair out so you can shake it irritably out of your eyes, constantly, and you'll be all set.
I just discovered that the full title of the song which I am going to insist on calling simply "The Black Hawk War" doesn't actually fit in a standard full iTunes window at my screen size and resolution without having to scroll sideways to see the rest of it. That is utterly ridiculous.
I want to see Little Miss Sunshine! I tried to get a detachment from my house to see it last week at the Parkway, but I had to cancel because of a meeting for a school project. Perhaps I should just wait until I can rent it. It's easier to coordinate the living room and a cup of hot chocolate than a ride and company.
Posted by: Dianna at November 7, 2006 11:23 PMOh, and I forgot to include "Modern World" by Wolf Parade in there about three times.
Posted by: Dianna at November 8, 2006 09:16 AM