thebeliever

Every day is another example of how we're fortune's fools, to cite Shakespeare. That's really been in my head this week, after I heard the news that one of my favorite all-time students-- a beautiful girl, outspoken and intelligent and very, very independent-- had lost her arm in an accident. She had just signed up for a career in combat medicine, which was destroyed the...
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Saw something really weird on Saturday. I was driving in Point Reyes to meet up with my hiking group, a beautiful, misty morning; and I come around a curve, and there is an RV engulfed in flames, just an inferno; and a cop car pulled along side it. The cop has a very worried expression on his face, and appears to have drawn his gun,...
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Feeling a bit guilty for neglecting this blog. So a few random things... hell YES, my 49ers had a huge victory today.....The new Girls album, Father Son Holy Ghost, is truly great; they are exanding by leaps and bounds with each release.... and I am SO glad that Fall is here...cool temperatures for my sensitive Irish skin; football; barbecues; and beer tastes best in the...
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Hey, if anyone out there doesn't have enough random stupid shit to read in their life, feel free to, uh, follow me on Twitter. It'll make me feel that there's a bit more purpose to my salient obserations and poorly thought-out jokes. Look for "rycallen" on Twitter; and while you're at it, I'd like to follow some o' youse, if you're not virulently racist or...
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So I've lagged-- guess I've been pretty busy. Got on tonight and realized I was about 50 posts behind in my "recent activity" thing-y. I hope everyone is doing well, uh, reasonably well, um, is still vertical (at least when you want to be). I guess I'm just busy with school etc. Watching the last days of my Giants Empire. Getting uproariously drunk with my...
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Labor Day and I did not do JACK SHIT except sleep off a hangover and make a gigantor pot of baked beans. Workers of the World, I salute you!!!

I just saw a human being called "Jessie J" on SNL. She made me want to stab both of my eyes, then cauterize the memory portion of my brain.

School is good. Life is mellow. Today I was told that I'm "very theatrical" by an amused student. I can definitely be a spazz up there. Years of attempting to get teenagers involved in grammar and lit will do that, I suppose. I wonder how much I do that outside the class? The Al Pacino of Santa Rosa, CA, all broody and demonstrative and shit.

From now on, whenever I feel shitty, I'm going to stay away from my blog for at least 24 hours. Besides, I have Twitter.

Ever feel like you're in a rut? Socially, that's me. If I were to have a dinner party right now, with great food and drinks, fun things to do, etc.; and if I were to invite 12 of my friends (strangely, I do have a lot of friends, though they are scattered around NorCal, mostly), I'd probably get, like, 2 RSVPs. Then, one would cancel;...
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Does it make me a bad person that I think the new Bon Iver album is boring? I know the whole world seems to love it. Maybe it's just me... On the other hand, the new John Maus is really good, if anyone's heard it.

Yes, I'm a music nerd. And I'm very, very excited that the Smiths catalogue is finally getting remastered. And if...
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Went to the Sonoma County Fair today and did my damnedest to send myself into a food coma. Also saw tons of obese people, brightly-colored over-priced trinkets, crying kids, earnest portraits of pets and grandkids, and whole flotillas of cellphone-clutching jailbait. Plus bunny rabbits in cages. A good time was had by all.