i felt like for a long time there i wasn't writing very much. the impulse got away. well seems like i'm back now, if i was ever gone.

so apparently this is my 800th post. that's 500 more than dea, in case you didn't notice.

and i have something notable to write. this will be a special entry indeed. i have a plan.

should i tell you? maybe i'd be jinxing myself. i don't usually write about the future here you know, just the past. oh, it's not that exciting a plan. it doesn't even extend a week into the future. my plan is to finish my work.

today, i am going to pick a topic for, prepare to write, start, and then finish the short philosophy paper that is technically about two weeks overdue now. that's uncharacteristic: i almost never turn in papers late. but whatever. what should i write about - brandom or cavell? or chomsky?

then, tomorrow, i will do the same for the long philosophy paper that is not overdue yet. maybe i won't finish it tomorrow, but hopefully by saturday afternoon. maybe i'll go talk to old boy eldridge. that would be nice. what should i write about - chomsky? or cavell or brandom?

then, after that, maybe i'll go to syttende mai. but not baltimore. because then i get to write my art history paper! it will be the last paper i will write at swarthmore! it will be beautiful. and i will talk about this funny old man and his funny old paintings.

i have been preparing for this. yesterday i spent all in the cantina, reading five books about henri julien rousseau and his art, and taking notes on my computer. except for in the evening, when rob called and asked if i wanted to go to a concert in the city. i was planning to go hear andrew and joe, and then go to vertigogo, but i agreed to go with rob instead to keep him company. unfortunately, even though it was a very nice night and the north star is a very nice venue, neither of us enjoyed the show as much as we had wanted to. i kind of liked the first band, frog eyes, even though it wasn't really what i was in the mood for. they were somewhere in the xiu xiu universe, but more poppy and 50's-influenced (?), and with nice synthy organs. they had an awkward frontman who was a bit of a childman, with an intense voice but defiantly normal appearance. destroyer was next, and frog eyes stayed on as his backup band. maybe we would have liked it more if it had just been mr. destroyer by himself. but honestly i didn't like his songs at all. okay, there was one i liked. part of it is i don't care much for his voice. maybe his aesthetic is just not compatible with mine. even his songs on the new pornographers records are the low points for me. it's kind of like how i don't really like looking at duchamp's paintings. anyway. so we left when he was almost done with his set. we didn't stay for califone. i like califone a lot and they're fun to see live, but i've seen them twice before and that's enough for now. then i went back to the cantina.

i also prepared for it, sort of, by going to the philamuseum with michael, erin, and claire this morning, and talking about rousseau with them. i'm finding it really hard to bring the biography into conversation with the painting. there are so many contradictions in his life and work that are difficult to reconcile. it should make for an interesting but i'm afraid pretty inconclusive paper. then we went around and looked at some of claire and michael's favorite paintings.

so, as i was saying, the plan is to write this paper by next wednesday. next wednesay will be henri julien rousseau's 160th birthday. he was born on 21 may 1844. so i thought it would be nice to finish my paper on his birthday.

i won't tell you about the next part of the plan. it involves having a party to celebrate rousseau's 160th birthday and the end of my work as a swarthmore student. actually, that's the whole plan. the rest of it is that the party will be jungle themed. and modeled in spirit after rousseau's "soirées familiales et artistiques" and picasso's "banquet rousseau." okay, so now you know.

now i'm going to go to the theatre department picnic. and get a hair cut. and maybe i'll have a popsicle.

ekyasandiyashadjanasandiyasooksabellyandanudina-atunomdiyeh! kimerakarkree

(well what do you think he's saying?)