Nott What You'd Expected...

High Fidelity... a LIST of sorts.

High Fidelity. Great movie. Now a musical? The premise, plot, etc of the movie is irrelevant. The best part about this Nick Hornby adaptation is the LISTS. Top 5 breakups. Top 5 first albums. Top 5 Things to do this summer.

I felt motivated, after reading a decent number of books this year, as well as after realizing my time in Notts is dwindling and there is much I haven't seen, that I should 1) make lists. and 2) blog about said lists. They always say something about writing a goal down makes it real. Well, here it is world.

In all cases, there is no order whatsoever.......

Things to See in Notts before I leave:
1) Wollaton Hall.... famous architecture, famous building.
2) Southwell (pronounced Southull) Cathedral in nearby Southwell.
3) Go to a final Forest game.... this Friday possibly? Forest have the chance to move up to the Champions League (from their current position at the top of the CocaCola League One table)... a win with a point differential on Friday could put them into the promotion game to be played at Wembly Stadium sometime next week....


First things to do when back in Des Moines:
1) plan trip to decorah. duh.
2) Tsing Tsao crab rangoon. again, a resounding duh.
3) family, friends, new puppy, gush gush gush
4) Van Dee's
5) Texas Roadhouse
6) run, hopefully.... with all of this food clouding my lists, I'll balloon.

Road Trips to take loans out to pay for:
1) Decorah. it's been waaaaay too long.
2) Chicago. Grandparents, Cubbies, hot dogs.... what more could a person ask for?
.... how about a giant metallic bean.
3) TC. Twin Cities, MF. With all of my newfound Minnesotan brethren, there is no excuse to not make it up to the cities at least twice this summer. Twins games? I'm game.
4) Ames. on a nightly basis. good.
5) because of my isolationist attitudes, I'll actually give Downtown DSM it's own category. I'm that pathetic.

Music to explore/download/see performed live this summer:
1) Guster, in concert.
2) New Maroon 5 album
3) New Eliot Smith CD (posthumous obviously, but still looking forward to it)
4) Wilco's new one
5) Rufus Wainwright's new CD
6) Spring Awakening, i dunno... some kind of show in Chitown or NY
7) try to keep up with the BritRock that makes me so happy here.... Razorlight, The Fratellis, etc.
6) Basillica Blockparty 2007. Almost went last year, this year it's a for sure.

To Read this summer (bolster my arsenal of literary ammo)....most of these are old, and in no way cutting edge on the literary circuit....

1) Hemingway's Nick Adams series, Farewell to Arms, all that
2) In memory of Vonnegut, everything and anything I can get my hands on....
3) Favorite author from winter break, a genius in my mind.... the man, the legend, John Updike
4) Beloved, Toni Morrison
5) White Noise by Don Delilo
6) Tim O'Brien's work.... I was blown away by The Things They Carried
7)End of Faith by Sam Harris
8) God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
9) Anything and Everything (not a title, just literally anything) that Dave Sedaris has written
10) Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, both by Joyce
11) Room with a View, EM Forster...also his huge posthumous novel that i can't recall...
12) Sillitoe's short stories... notably Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner
13) The Idiot... was that Dostyoeski?


Movies to Watch...
1) all of the British cult classics.... Fever Pitch, Trainspotting, etc
2) Pan's Labyrinth
3) 28 Weeks Later
4) Pirates 2, 3
5) Ocean's 13
6) Hot Fuzz

Shows to get caught up on:
1) Weeds
2) Nip/Tuck
3) LOST recap
4) The Tudors
5) Planet Earth
6) Anything on FoodNetwork, Comedy Central, and sweet lady ESPN


Important crap to do... some of which will be put off for yet another year....
1) I can handle this.... get a subscription to The New Yorker. Damn. Life goal? Get published here.
2) here's where it gets shitty..... Wisdom Teeth
3) take PRAXIS exam for entry into Luther Ed dept.
4) check on Luther classes.... make sure I can graduate...

LISTs complete, I'm tired.... THE paper is done, first draft at least, and at about 3400 words, long enough to rip apart and still be over the limit. This bodes well. Studying tomorrow, some peer review, possssssibly the Forest game on Friday night, TV Final squeezed in on Saturday- once Thursday (next Thursday) hits, it's smooth sailing.....

posted by Kevin @ 2:55 PM