[2004.02.29 2358h]

   [movie] so close
   [music] dj gt \\ voices of summer 2003 moonshine
   [vgame] final fantasy crystal chronicles [nintendo gamecube]

to everyone out there who has a birthday today, i wish you a very happy
birthday.  seeing that your birthday doesn't come around very often, you
might as well get as many birthday wishes as you can.  on the other hand,
seeing that i'm writing this entry so late, you're probably not going to
see this today anyway.  alas.

apparently, i still can't shake off my sickness.  i thought i was doing
much better a few days ago, but for most of today, i have been sneezing
like crazy.  perhaps it's because i woke up today around sunrise like a
normal person.  this afternoon, i had a nose so stuffed that once i tried
removing the tissues i had jammed up my nose, only to realize that there
weren't any.  i felt so tired that i went to sleep again this afternoon,
and now that i have woken up again, but this time during the night, i've
been feeling much better.

around noon today, some person walking past my window laughed out pretty
loudly all of a sudden.  the laughing totally startled me, as since i did
not even realize that there was a person out there until the laughter
commenced.  i'm not sure who it was that was laughing, as since i had my
blinds drawn.  i'm wondering what caused the laughter, as since i know of
nothing outside my room that anyone would find very risible.  one of my
roommates saw the person walking past our door and laughing, so i know i
wasn't just hallucinating.  my roommate was also wondering about the
reason for the person's sudden laughter, as since the person appeared to
be just walking along, and there didn't seem to be a cell phone present.

for all you aspiring disc jockeys out there, please don't play around with
the balance knob.  swinging that thing left and right to the beat of the
music sounds awful, and leaves my head spinning when i'm listening to your
music on my headphones.  however, if you must play with the balance,
please do so in moderation.  it is indeed possible to use the balance knob
to produce better music, but rapidly shifting the balance to the beat can
hardly be considered to be producing better music.

the other day, i was biking around just after sunrise.  it had just rained
the previous day, so the roads were still wet.  so much sunlight reflected
off the wet roads that i had to squint my eyes so tightly that i had to
hold my head up high to properly see the road, which can't be safe.

i find it interesting how insignificant a lot of popular culture is.  
much of the popularity seems to stem only from the fact that it can
provide a shared experience between people, giving them a common ground
for conversation.  for example, it's rather ridiculous how so many
americans are concerned with what some people are wearing as they walk
down some unusually colored carpet to attend some awards show.  if it
isn't already obvious, i'm referring to the walk down the red carpet prior
to the academy awards.  so that people will not misconstrue the intentions
of my description, i'll explicitly state that i am not trying to mock the
event, but only to emphasize the ultimate insignificance of such an event.

for those of you who are unfamiliar with the academy awards, i should
state that it is a chance for the academy of motion picture arts and
sciences to present awards to people mostly in the movie industry.  the
awards show is american in origin, and the awards are commonly called
oscars, although i'm not sure of the origin of the nickname, and
apparently, neither is the academy.  basically, as the nominees arrive,
they walk on red carpet, and various television crews and commentators are
out there making a big deal out of the wardrobe of the nominees.

i remember, three years ago, i joined a few other people in my house to
watch this wardrobe parade on our huge television screen.  i can't
remember much about the event, let alone what most people were wearing.
however, i do remember bjork's swan dress, and the fact that i enjoyed
hanging out with people, generating our own commentary to go along with
the fashion show.  in addition, i'm glad that i came away with an
experience that others who also watched the show can share.  after all, if
you've seen bjork's dress, you probably remembered it too, and no matter
what you thought of it, you will probably at least enjoy its recollection
and, at some level, appreciate the shared experience between us two.