Tag Archives: U2

Insomnia, pt. 2

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Yesterday was the first day of the spring semester at UML.  I’m usually a bit nervous before the start of the new semester, and the two nights ago certainly was no exception.  I didn’t get much sleep the night before, about four hours, due to my mind’s inability to relax and also to a fear of oversleeping.  I had trouble falling asleep last night, too, again because my mind just couldn’t settle down.  Among the various subjects my mind contemplated were:

  • The new semester: I hope I teach well and I hope my students are receptive to my methods.
  • Relationships: past, present, and future; platonic, romantic, familial.  It was a long weekend, to say the least.
  • The first six measures of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”: I’m using that as an example in class on Friday, so I transcribed it into Finale Sunday afternoon and haven’t been able to get it out of my head.  Along with…
  • “Get On Your Boots,” U2’s new single: I’ve lived with the song for a week now and I can say with full confidence that I like it.  It’s a new direction for the band, which was their intent on this album.  I was reluctant to write about the song until I’d listened to it enough.  I have, and it’s a keeper.  Like the rest of the U2 fans out there, I’m very excited for No Line On The Horizon.
  • The impending snow storm: I hope my tires don’t get flat again.  I’ve spent a pretty penny getting them changed; I’d really hate it if I had to through the hassle of changing yet another tire.  On the bright side, Oreo will have more snow in which to run around.
  • Travel plans for Spring Break:  My mom wants to go to Vegas, Mike is hosting FriendFest ’09a in DC, and I’d like to visit Houston again.  Three place, one week…something’s gotta give.
  • My country ’tis of thee sweet land of liber…DAMN IT!!
  • The Australian Open: Djokovic has all the talent in the world, but no heart.  I realize that court temperatures of 142 degrees are torture, but he’s a professional with adequate time to prepare for the conditions.  It’d be different if this was the first time he retired, but he’s developing a trend of quitting when he’s down.  Federer, the game’s gentleman champion and ambassador, even called him out.  Not a good sign, Novak.
  • Nashoba Valley Chorale: I sang with them for the first time last night and the music was tough.  Of course, I was rusty, but a lot of the music was in French, a language I have trouble with.

So yeah, the way I see it, it was impossible for my mind to shut down while all this crap swirling around.  I’m not sure how well I’ll survive averaging less than five hours of sleep a night.  Here’s to an early bedtime tonight!

Click here for “Insomnia” (pt. 1).

December 2008 12 of 12

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6:13am – The weather outside had been crappy for the past few days.  Today was no exception.  Little did I know it was going to affect my day so much.

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6:47am – Since the weather had been so grey lately, I decided to dress brightly for the last day of classes.  All for naught, however…

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6:52am – The view from my car’s driver’s side window.  The water from all the rain had frozen into a sheet of ice.  Lovely conditions, really.

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7:20am – Driving HOME from school.  Yup, that’s right: driving HOME.  The severe weather had caused campus-wide power outages.  So much for the orange brightening my students’ day.  Note how the only lights in the picture are the headlights from oncoming traffic and the flash’s reflection in the windshield.

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9:58am – UML’s text about campus closing finally reaches me…three hours late!

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11:43am – Working in Finale, editing a portion of one of my finals I’m giving next week.  Mmm, part-writing.

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1:47 – While preparing my first-ever batch of homemade chicken noodle soup, I decide to put on a little John Mayer.  I haven’t to listened to this CD in a while: I was reminded of how good it is.

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2:58pm – My very first pot of chicken noodle soup.  It turned out pretty well.

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6:36pm – While cleaning up the kitchen and making a breakfast casserole for the weekend, I pop on the DVD of U2’s 2005 Vertigo tour from Chicago.  It was a pretty good show, although I like the Elevation tour DVD from 2001 a little better. 

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8:30pm – The breakfast casserole is ready to be put in the oven tomorrow morning.  Thanks for the idea, Mrs. Blessinger (I don’t mean Marty).

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1:01am – Mike and play a three-game series of NCAA ’09.  He tried a new team, Georgia Tech.  It was an ugly win: I managed to squeak out an overtime victory in game 3.

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3:12am – After a long chat with Marty and finally taking Oreo out, I crawl into bed and read a few pages of Eclipse before passing out.

U2 Conference

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It’s been a while since I last updated, so why not add to the entry list with a blurb about U2.

As you readers (all 3 of you) know, about a year and a half of my life was dedicated to the boys from Dublin, presenting my Interverse paper all over the country and writing/defending my dissertation at FSU.  Well, wouldn’t you know it, but this coming May, in New York City, there’s going to be an academic U2 conference (right now Mike is throwing up in his mouth a little.)  Here’s a banner to prove it:Print

I’m hoping to present at this conference and meet some U2 fans, scholars, and journalists.  I know it’s a far-fetched fantasy, but I’m not-so-secretly hoping some or all of the band will be there.  It’s not that far out of the realm of possibility; I mean, it’s a conference on them, so the way I see it, it would make sense form them to attend, right?  I guess they’ll be busy promoting the new album and planning another groundbreaking world tour, but it’s in NYC, so I’m going to keep hoping.

I know that there are some out there who are not all that enamoured with U2, be it their disdain for the band’s music or a lack of understanding of Bono’s intentions.  First of all, I think their music is fantastic.  Their hits stack up as some of the greatest songs of all time: “With Or Without You,” “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “Pride (In the Name of Love),” “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “New Year’s Day,” “One,” “Mysterious Ways,” “Please,” “Gone,” “Beautiful Day,” “Walk On” “City Of Blinding Lights,” and “I Will Follow” to name but a few.  I realize taste in music extremely subjective, and each person is entitled to an opinion.  But if Radiohead, who haven’t been on the music scene even half as long as U2, have a book out on their music (I saw it at the SMT conference this past weekend), then U2 deserves a conference, at the very least.  (That is not to say I have anything against Radiohead or think they’re not worthy of research or discussion.  I’m merely trying to make the point that U2’s longevity, if nothing else, warrants discussion and study of the band).  (As another aside, I hope to turn my dissertation into a book, so if there are any publishers out there who are willing to give me a chance, I won’t disappoint!)

And as I wrote back in a July entry, those who think Bono’s political work is for self-promotion are not getting all the facts or are simply jealous.  He’s got a lot of money, yes, but at least he’s using his cache and financial resources to try to raise awareness for some of the social and economic injustices happening across the globe.  SOMEone’s got to do it…why not Bono?

30 of 30(‘s)

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I turned 30 on couple of days ago, and frankly, it was weird.  I’m not freaked out, like some people get when they reach this “milestone.”  It’s weird in that I’m starting another decade of life.  It’s weird how much older 30 seems than 29.  It’s weird because it doesn’t seem any different from age 29, except when I say out loud “I’m 30.”  I used to use the phrase “you’re only as old as you feel” when I worked retail.  I said that to men who would come into the store and hesitate to buy an item because they felt they were “too old for that.”  The way I see it, I certainly don’t feel too old for anything.  In fact, I don’t feel like I’m 30, which is contributing to the weirdness of the occasion.  I still make crude fart jokes, poke Marty incessantly when we’re together, dance around my apartment in a silly manner when I’m giddy, and get excited to play new video games.  Again, I don’t feel like I’m 30, but I am.  So…there it is.

In honor of my 30th birthday, I thought I’d make a list similar to the monthly 12 of 12 I try to post.  This time, however, the list is comprised of things I hope to see and/or do while in my 30’s.  I’ve got a decade to complete the list, so I think I’ve got a pretty good shot at checking off everything.  Here goes (in no particular order):

  1. Watch the Cubs win the World Series.
  2. Pay off my student loans.
  3. Go whitewater rafting in the Grand Canyon.
  4. Learn Chopin’s “Fantasie Impromptu.”
  5. Write and publish a book.
  6. Meet U2.
  7. Buy a house.
  8. Go to Wimbledon.
  9. Watch the Bears win another Super Bowl.
  10. Learn to write left-handed.
  11. Celebrate Oreo’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th birthdays.
  12. Get married.
  13. Add a different stamp to my passport.
  14. See my parents retire.
  15. Win a tennis tournament.
  16. Become fluent in Tagalog.
  17. Learn Spanish.
  18. Get tenure.
  19. Present at an international conference.
  20. Buy a new car.
  21. See a sunset on the beach at Boracay.
  22. Drive on the Autobahn.
  23. Skydive.
  24. Watch FSU win another NCAA college football national championship.
  25. Have a child.
  26. Swim with dolphins.
  27. Visit all 30 (ha!) MLB parks.
  28. See Niagra Falls.
  29. Learn to cook more Filipino food.
  30. ?
You’ll notice that #30 was left blank.  That’s where you, the reader, comes in.  I’d appreciate your suggestions.  They could be silly or sincere (I prefer sincere).  In any case, I look forward to reading what you think I should do in my thirties.

Bono Criticism

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So, I’m listening to Pandora while packing up my office, preparing for the big move at the end of the month.  I turn on the U2 station that I created (of course), and out of sheer curiosity, I click the band’s biography and peruse the user comments.  I find it interesting that several of the comments totally slammed the band, Bono in particular, for their social work.  Now, I realize that not every one likes U2’s music, and I can live with that.  To each his own.  But some of these users need to get their facts straight.  U2 has not been around for so long just because they’re “the critics [sic] little darlings.”  They’ve won 22 Grammy Awards and have sold almost 150 million albums worldwide, despite getting hammered by those very same critics for releases like Ratttle and Hum and Pop.  More to my point, however: just because you don’t like their music, does that mean you have to bash their character and their charity work?  How is Bono a hypocrite?  How is he “using the children”?  What?  Criticize the music if you must, but I suggest you lay off his charity work.  What have YOU done for societal betterment bromide01, jayroy, and dave3569?  Bono’s got money and star power, and he’s using his cache to try to draw awareness to some pretty horrific situations.

This is a kind of Catch-22, in that Bono’s getting impugned for his charity work because he’s “just a rock star,” yet many of these trigger-happy critics turn right around and attack stars for doing absolutely nothing with their fortunes except horde it for themselves.  Why so bitter, boys and girls?  Jealousy?  Or just plain cynicism?  The way I see it, you can hate the music.  Fine.  You can disagree with his politics.  OK.  But to attack his charity (which comes out of his own pocket, mind you), that’s uncalled for.

Now, I realize that because I wrote my dissertation on U2 this entry isn’t entirely unbiased.  But then again, this blog isn’t about being unbiased; it’s about how I see things.  Disagree with me?  Bring it.