The Flow of Life
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FF VII Original Sound Version · Interrupted By Fireworks
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So now (as of 4-23) I am an official owner of a 15″ PowerBook G4. While not as nice as my last computer, the door to the portable world has been opened and I now deal with all the stuff that laptop users deal with. The bag I got for this (backpack from the Apple store) is decent, but fucking bland and square looking. I kinda wanna return it, but despite its looks, its actually quite functional. Imma check out the bags my roommates got for their laptops (and some @ stores) to see if I find anything that tickles my fancy.
Its kinda cool, cuz I can use my computer in my bed w/o feeling like a fucking slob/loser (previously, I had strapped my lcd screen to my chair, and laid down with keyboard and mouse right next to me. It was kinda uncomfortable for extended periods of time though). Also, having wireless internet is really keen, though i’m still teathered by the power cable (the blood to my powerbook flesh).
Suffice to say, I’ll be around more often, and will start working on another ‘real’ site soon (as i get a fucking mouse. this trackpad shit is stupid).
One thing I don’t like about this is that it gets dirty fast. I’m a palm sweater, so after like a minute of use, I will have accumulated some grime on the thing (especially the wrist rest area). Its more annoying than anything else, me wanting to keep my new toy as clean as possible for as long as i can. But its nothing a wet towel/paper thingy can’t clean right up.
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I also have an iSight webcam (and .Mac membership) still wrapped up nicely somewhere; I’ll have to get to that tommorow. Today was dedicated to Airports and HP Printers (which I might add is the most high-end printer my family has owned). The old Epson SC 740 is going back home for the fam. That was a trustworthy printer (unlike the previous SC II pos we had that doesn’t ever remember its connected to the PRINTER port and NOT the modem port, or that you should be able to put more than 5 pieces of paper in it w/o jamming). It did its job, nothing more. Though it did suck that it didn’t have Classic support (the new one supposedly does, but it isn’t working right now… i think? Printer drivers is a messy and ambiguous business in MacOS X [cept for gimp!]), it did everything else just like it was supposed to (a shocker in the computer world).
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While deciding on what pbook to buy, I was stuck on the 17″ for awhile (since insurance is SUPPOSED to cover this purchase [and it better or i shouldn’t have maxxxxed out every feature/add-on]) but decided against it after reading (on TidBITS?) that it could NOT be used in an economy seat on a plane (but ok for economy +). After looking and considering how fucking huge those things are (and how heavy they are), I figured that I’d be way too much trouble to use one in the crowded seats in Warren Lecture Hall or something. So 15″ it was (I did consider for a bit the 12″ for portability reasons, but figured screen real estate was more important).
This book couldn’t have come at a better time either. I have my Music 15 midterm (Globalization, Reggae and Bob Marley) on monday and I needed to do some real>mp3 ripping to study for it. That being said, these 2 things have pretty much taken up my whole weekend. I’ve been setting up the comp, ripping and burning the music and typing and reading and listening to stuff for music.
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TomorrowToday there is going to be a little reggae thingy going down in Balboa Park as part of the Earth Day celebration. From what I hear about it, its pretty much a dilluted version of 420. So I guess if someone asks me if I’ve ever smoked ganja before, I could say that it was for a class assignment. Anyway, the reggae part is gonna be in the WorldBeat Center (where that is) so be there. I know I will, along with 98% of the Music 15 class, as its the only 18+ concert there is for the report required for the class. Which brings me finally to the class itself.
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Doesn’t “Globalization, Reggae & Bob Marley” sound like it would be the chillest class EVER? Well it isn’t. There are a couple of reasons for this. One of them has to do with the 1st word of the class, Globalization. Now, coming right from an Ethnics Studies class on immigration last quarter (1B), the concept of globalization is still quite fresh on my mind. But since we’re talking about a cultural form here (music), other terms such as popular culture and… well, popular culture is enough.
If you seriously don’t believe me and think that I’m lying about this class cuz I’ve been slacking off, blah blah, check on some readings by Stuart Hall. In particular, “What is this ‘black’ in black popular culture”. Now all of the readings (there’s also a biography on Marley that’s required, but that’s actually interesting) for this class are AT LEAST 10 reader pages (our longest one so far was 27 double pages or something). This article being only 6, I thought it’d be easy-mode. NOPE. I read and re-read this thing 5 times, and I still don’t know what the fuck this guy’s trying to say. I think he talks about black ppl like twice in the whole article. The rest has to do with popular culture and post modernism (which is week 5’s focus apparently, and is something that I don’t understand at all), but is expressed in words that are too big (or made up). On friday I asked the TA what the fuck it all meant. Basically, he said that all it says is that the definitions and context of cultures is always changing. So to say ‘black’ popular culture now is different than saying black pop culture 10 years ago, or in the UK, or something inherently obvious like that.
This article is supposed to be one of the “IMPORTANT ONES” for the test. So important that my TA (an Ivy league graduate) said “I just read what was underlined, that’s all that’s important.” I think there’s about 10 sentences underlined. One of them is as follows:

“Selective appropriation, incorporation and rearticulation of European ideologies, cultures and institutions alongside an African heritage–this is Cornel West again– led to linguistic innovations in rhetorical stylization of the body, forms of occupying an alian social space, heightened expressions, hairstyles, ways of walking, standing and talking and a means of constituting and sustaining camaraderie and community”

BTW, that means: “Europe culture + African culture = something different”. I woulda given a better example of the wordiness of this guy, but that woulda required looking through this BS again. fuck that, as nobody’s gonna read this anyway (and those that do’ll probably skip this [and if you didn’t, i’m sorry you did read]). Also, the class is from 6-9 PM on Mondays. Fucking long and boring.

At least its not opera though.
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