Good times, past and future

Today I experienced a holy trinity of goodness.

When I arrived home, I had waiting for me:

1) My new laptop bag
2) The Depeche Mode double live CD set from the concert in April
3) My tickets to the VAST show in September

Seriously, I have a boner so firm and angry, it’s almost purple. I don’t think it will go away for a while at least.

I haven’t really bought myself anything new lately, so this has been a nice little treat. And before you tsk at me for being a moneyburner, I bought the laptop bag with a gift certificate someone gave me and frankly I desperately needed a carrying case for the laptop, the VAST tickets were only $15 apiece (and only one is for me, the others I will be reimbursed for), and I saved up my pennies for the DM discs. So put that in your pipe and smoke it, eh?

At the moment I’m rubbing the CDs on my nipples and chanting the band members’ names in reverse alphabetical order. The awesomeness of hearing “A Pain That I’m Used To” live again is almost too great to bear.

OK. Here’s the thing: I don’t really want to talk about school? But I feel like I need to because my inbox is getting peppered with questions about my educational status.

So this class I’m taking.

The official title of it is “Bioscience 12 – Environmental Science.” I thought I was being fancy and finding a way to take another forestry-ish class without actually taking a forestry class.

Turns out this class? Is extremely similar to the Conservation & Ecology class I took in Fall 2004. And by extremely similar I mean IT’S THE EXACT SAME FUCKING CLASS.

My intelligence feels simultaneously stimulated and insulted. The only bonus is that I’m halfway through the class and I’m able to maintain an almost ridiculously unfair A+. No joke. Unfortunately, most of the people in my class are boobs. Nice people, but total and complete boobs. Oh, it’s an online class. So my only interaction is during our weekly assigned discussions. These folks…bless their pointy little heads…apparently cannot fathom what the professor meant by “I want you to post intelligent, well-thought-out responses. ‘I agree’ or ‘Good job!’ doesn’t count.” Because most people? Respond with “Good job!” Or else they respond with “Here’s a link I found that you might be interested in.” Which is essentially the educational equivalent of spam.

The link thing is hysterical. Because the professor’s instructions said that we should respond with a discussion, further questions, or it would be really helpful to research the topic online and share our findings. So that is exactly what people are doing. They’re Googling up a link and posting it and that’s that.

So as you can see, it’s not real tough for me to maintain an A+ in this class. Not to be mean, but these people are lucky the prof doesn’t grade on a curve. They’d all be fucked.

The nice thing about this class? It’s helping me to solve an educational conundrum. Come November, I will have submitted transfer applications to Oregon State University, CSU Humboldt, and UC Berkeley. Depending on who accepts me (and hopefully only one does because it will cause further quandry if I have ALL THREE courting me), I will be heading down one of three paths…Environmental Science/Natural Resources (double-major), Geophysics/Geology (not sure which I prefer), or Forestry with a minor in Creative Writing (weird, I know, but their creative writing minor is INCREDIBLE).

Unfortunately, this means I have to score a perfect summer semester (I’m taking two other classes as well, but neither is interesting enough to even bother discussing here) plus take on a full load in the fall and score a perfect fall semester. Competition is so stiff for transfer students into the UC/CSU system, although I do have a leg-up because I’m coming from a community college. On the food chain of transfer students, California community college students are at the very tip top, having first crack at filling spaces in the UC/CSU system. No joke. If it came down to me and a guy from Stanford, I would be given priority. Makes me feel just a bit smug, really.

We’ll see where this path leads. Frankly, I will be the first to admit that I’m biting off more than I can chew. But whatever gets me out of this godforsaken job I’m in now is peaches ‘n’ cream to me. I already have no life. What’s it matter if I pretty much marry myself to school?

It’s gear-up time for the fest again. I keep trying to psych myself up and stuff, but I’m just too tired this year. It’s evil.

I can’t help but worry about what next year’s festival will be like. With Jordan and Kelly expecting, will it be just Jared and I? Which would mean I’d have to interface with celebs. Which scares me in ways I cannot possibly explain. I have this inane fear of looking stupid in front of the celebs. Sad, considering that the chances of me seeing them in my daily life outside the fest is slim-to-none. I’ve been gunshy ever since the Great Julee Cruise Fiasco of 2002. I blame her for the fact that I’m a social ‘tard.

I am definitely looking forward to rekindling the fire with all my faraway pals. Jordan, Kelly, Jared, Rhi, Rach, Chris G…and of course, just before fest, Jenny. WOO.

There’s just a lot of work to be done standing in between me and them. Life’s so not fair. Who can I sue?

For your enjoyment (and because I think it’s physically impossible for me to limit this electronic orgasm to just myself at this point), I’m providing you with one of my fave tracks off this live DM CD set. If you’ve ever seen the music video for the song, you’ll know exactly how I danced while the band played on…

“I Feel You” by Depeche Mode, recorded at Shoreline Amphitheater April 27th, 2006. And I WAS THERE! If you listen hard enough, you can hear my desperate singing and flailing.

OK, maybe not. But you can probably picture it anyhow…