Canto L

So it's been more than a week. I kept telling myself to get around to doing this, but, well, you know... Stuff. But there's now lots of things to talk about! And some of it may even be interesting.

Blogging the Simpsons will start up in about a month or so (maybe to coincide with the release of Season 10), but right now I'm fully back into Final Fantasy XII mode. I'm really looking forward to doing The Simpsons, my plan is just to sit down, watch an episode, then write whatever I feel about it. What will that take? 30-40 minutes a night? I bet I can get through 5+ a week. Let's see here, 10 seasons is about 220 episodes, so thats about 44 weeks worth of material. That's almost a whole year's worth of blogging! You'll just have to keep coming back. I'm really looking forward to some of the more obscure episodes that I don't quote as frequently. Will it be like watching them new (even though, most likely, I will have seen it several times), or just a refresher? We'll find out together! Also, FYI, The Simpsons Movie is coming at the end of the month.

The Fourth was last week. We went out to the Arboretum with Steph's new camera and some friends. It was a lot of fun, and the weather cooperated while we were there in the afternoon. On our way home, however, it started to rain and wasn't looking too good for fireworks weather. So we stayed home and Steph did her homework for the class she's taking at Tufts this summer. And I played Final Fantasy. So no cool fireworks pictures, but maybe next year.

But the real big news was on Thursday, The Retrofits were in town! I went out to see Jake, George, Brud, and Dusty. Also with were Andrew, and their photographer whose name I forget. Actually, they were running late, but managed to squeeze in all of 4 songs. Due to some sort of scheduling snafu, it was Punk Night, so the next 3 bands (and the audience) were of a different flavor of music. While it may not have been their best gig ever, afterwards we had a great time. You know partying like rock stars? I'm not even sure you need to be a rock star to actually party like that, just somewhere in the music business. After parallel parking the passenger van with trailer in the North End (!! - you have no idea how awesome that is, people walking by actually applauded us), did some dinner at Boston Beer Works. Not the greatest place, but the kitchen is open late and they serve beer. Unnamed individuals went off to have sex in the van, but couldn't find it. Others went home with some women who were at the show, despite needing to leave very early in the morning to get to a show in North Carolina (!! - 14 hour car trip for a show at 9:30pm). They took a cab back to my place a 3:30am. We pretty much stayed up all night hanging out back at our place. Steph woke up around 3 or 4, and stayed awake for an hour. They decided just to leave at 5am, so around 4:30 everyone was slowly moving around trying to find everything and go to the bathroom, take showers, use the computer (internet access has been spotty for them), and so on. But they managed to leave around 5am, and even made it to the next show in freaking North Carolina. It was really interesting to see the dynamics of a traveling band at work. Who does what, who's angry at who, who's taking responsibility, etc. I sure hope they make it. If you haven't bought their CD yet, iTunes and Amazon.com both have it.

Anyway, I was in no condition to do physics that friday, but I had a great time. I miss those guys. It's good to cut loose every so often. I don't think I could live like that for more than a couple days (apparently they've been keeping that up for more than 2 weeks, and still had 2 more to go), but I had a great time anyway.

Also, last Thursday, July 5th, was one of the greatest days in the history of science. In 1687, Issac Newton published his Principia. It is considered the birth of modern physics formulated in terms of mathematics. He also started a long tradition of physicists leading the way in math, continued to this day in many areas of topology and geometry by String Theorists.

Not much other news. My parents got back from their European vacation in England and France. Sounds like they've got plenty of stories. Steph and I need to travel more. For the last 3 years, all of our vacation time has gone to visiting Oregon. Which is great, but there are other places to visit in this world. And now back to work...