Random Observations in honor of a blog-shy friend.

I:00 AM currently sitting in my pjs (wearing a toque, for some reason) listening to the Band and updating finally. This is partially because tonight I was at the Night Job holiday party (where I recieved said toque as a gift) and was speaking with the girlfriend of a co-worker (which is really an unfair title since we are connected through other friends and are on less formal terms than that) and we started talking about blogs and stuff and what motivates people to write them and how it's really boring when they're just about the things they did that day. Which, admittedly, I have done. And it is pretty dull. Anyway, I felt that it would be proper if I actually write something down and spew out the random junk that's been accumulating in the proverbial old attic lately.

I finally get cricket. I realize that's a completely nonsensical statement, but I feel that, as an:00 AMerican, this is quite a significant achievement. Especially when you consider that cricket is non-existent as a televised sport in North:00 AMerica. The sport is rather unpopular in Scotland and hence during my time there, I saw about 10 minutes of cricket on the tele and heard about 5 minutes on the radio. So it's taken me a few years, but I finally understand the basic concepts of the five bowls in an over, twenty overs in a match or 10 wickets (whichever comes first). There's a bowler, a batsment, and a wicket keeper. On top of that there are achievements such as a half-century, century, double century, etc. How did I learn all this stuff? Well, some of it came from the newspaper. Most of it, surprisingly, came from online gaming. I've found a couple flash cricket games that have been helpful in me getting a basic grasp on the Old English game. I think this has been a significant breakthrough for me and may prove useful should I find myself stuck in Cambridge, England on a hot summer afternoon with nothing to do but read the Times and sip Pimms. I still that baseball is an update and improvement upon cricket and I would rather watch a football match if in said country.

Grad School Countdown: Six down, two to go. NYU, Columbia, and Chicago all got wrapped up last week and I have Yale and Toronto to go before I'm totally done. I'm hoping to have those sorted by the New Years. It's nice because I can actually start focusing more energy on my fledgling Russian skills. I watched one of the DVDs that the Russians in Lancaster gave me. I was hesitant for awhile since the none of the films have subtitles and so I'll only have a fleeting grasp on what they are saying. A friend of mine who will also be in St. Petersburg with me pointed out that, really, the whole process of interacting with Russians will be like that and that watching these movies will be good preparation for being totally lost in the midst of casual conversations. It's a good point, really.

I never did get my laundry done this weekend. Aw, crap.