Wed. night

Ice Climber began almost a year ago in the Odegaard Undergraduate Library here at the University of Washington. I'm here again tonight after a bit of studying. It's always fun to come here. It's like a fashion show, no kidding. The 18-20 year old young women in here seem to embrace one of two extremes: either pajamas in public (a pet peeve of mine) or full-on, hair styled, make-up'd, skin-flashing near tartness. Not that I'm complaining. It's the guys, too. Right now I'm looking over at a dude wearing that multi-colored, vertical-striped dress shirt that I know I've seen in Macy's for $55. It's nearly midnight, so he got the hour right, but he forgot he is in the library and not Club Medusa...or wherever kids these days like to party. And this other dude has salt-and-pepper hair but there's no way it could be natural. How the hell did he do that?!

Anyway, the photos from Black Boy haven't been sorted out yet. In the meantime, I'm going to put up my notes from last week's camping trip...a process neglected earlier this week, again, because of the play. So read and N'Joy like non-dairy creamer.

This color is for writing done onsite.
This color is for writing done tonight.

I stole the term "backblogging" from the Texas Cooking Woman because that's what I'm forced to do for this field trip. I have my phone but there is no reception up here in the woods so there will be no audio post. Damn T-Mobile. It's all good. Practicing writing in the notebook is a good idea.

Four-hour drive to get up here to the Olympic Mountains. Naturally, I'm more interested in my classmates than our surroundings. Everyone here is an up-and-coming naturalist, for sure, but a couple of guys have their own band, one woman is a bartender who looks like a combination of Rachel Dratch and this girl Haane I met in college. Lastly, the three professors along with us are very good-humored. Evidently, they both attended Cal and they've been working together for the past 30 years. So, by now, they've established a little bit of a rapport. Anytime a grown man can say to another grown man "you stupid son of a bitch" and it's absolutely no problem between them...well, that's a sign of true friendship.

It's ten minutes after twelve and we've gotta wake up at 6:30a to go bird-watching so maybe I ought to wrap up. Also, my head is killing me after a margarita, two tequila shots, a Smirnoff Apple and a Lucky Lager. Oh, and Brite Crawlers. How can you top that? Best field trip ever.

Oh, snap! Saw a coupla bald eagles today. One of 'em flying around with a twig! This afternoon, my classmates and I got down and dirty searching for salamanders in a creek. It was cold as FUCK. WhatUpThen is not the outdoor-oriented person, but I certainly didn't want to stand out or otherwise hold the class back. So I put on my rain gear, raised my Leaf Shield and dove headfirst into the brush, baby! Before long, they're gonna start calling me Wood Man.

Spirit of the Woods

Bit O' Weekend

Let me first say that last weekend's class field trip to the Olympic Mountains was, in a word, money. That's money as in a whole lot of it spent on rain gear, etc., as described in a previous post. It's money as in the $25 I spent at a Mexican restaurant the first night, the $33 I spent at a steakhouse the second night and an amount spent on beer at the grocery store that I don't wish to disclose at this time. God, I like to spend money. But, perhaps most importantly, the trip was money in that it was totally valuable, totally enjoyable and I'm totally ready to do it again. Dig?? I got a crash course in forestry, chilled out with some amphibians, met a few very nice people and my cheap equipment survived the excursion.

Unfortunately, the big play is tomorrow and with so much preparation for it I haven't had time to savor the memory of the weekend. Plus, I have no photos because I can't seem to figure out how to upload the images from the damn school-loaned camera and it is due back today. They threaten to bar future equipment borrowing for three months if you return your borrowed items late, so it is a choice between no photos for this trip or none for the next three. I envision an electronics tutorial in my near future.

On Tuesday during the day I'll play host to our performer and this evening I will MC the show, so there's a ton happening tomorrow that I should probably get to bed. To be quite honest, though, I'm most excited because I get to check out a Chevy Suburban from the university's motor pool. I've never driven an SUV before. I've never driven in Seattle before. And if you think I'm turning THAT thing back in a split-second before the motherfucker is due then I don't know what blog you've been reading all this time.

Ho ho! Check it out!! I just figured out the camera! Here are photos. I'm gonna hit the sack. Wish me luck tomorrow!


It's a newt. Must remember what type before midterms roll around.


It's a salamander. Ditto on the ID deadline.


Behind Devon, Victoria, myself and that guy on the right is a 200-foot drop.


Even human structures can't hide the beauty of earthforms.

Off to the Woods

Turned on ER for the first time in a while. The show was about halfway through before I realized that the new cast member was Shane West...not Doogie Howser.

First field trip for ESC 351 is this weekend so I'll be away. I'm set, though. Backpack, shoes, sleeping bag, binoculars and camera so I'll take a few photos for the archive. Maybe National Geographic will visit Ice Climber and pick me up as a new, hotshot photographer.

xXx: State of the Union

I love secondary titles for sequels like "State of the Union" and "Armed and Fabulous". Somehow it seems to guarantee the cheapness of a movie and its entertainment value for all the wrong reasons. Yes, I'm including The Phantom Menace and whatever the 2nd/5th Star Wars was called. Back to the Ice Cube thing...I can't imagine it would ever be a good thing when the press materials for your film begin with: "Actor/rapper Ice Cube, reprising the Vin Diesel role..."

Most Popular Post

It's a quarter after one in the morning and I've taken a break from writing to glance at my counter stats. Ice Climber must have finally gotten included on some search engines or something? I don't really know how it works. Last week I commented about how some individual searched "men naked showering locker room" and ran across my page. Since then, variants on that general theme have been popping up as search terms leading to this page. Back in May 2004, when Ice Climber was barely a month old, little did I know that my post about the benefits of showering at the gym would become my most popular entry. Just in the last week, I've recorded gems such as these:

showering in the locker room
showering in women's locker room
guys showering in locker room
showering at the gym
ladies showering
showering ladies

and the one that started it all...men naked showering locker room

The first four on that list may not understand the operation of search engines...the "in" and the "the" wouldn't have been factored into their search. The last coupla folks got the hang of searching keyword-style.

It's exciting to realize that Ice Climber is the destination for so many people seeking legitimate information! Another day I'll write something about the non-perverse/voyeuristic search terms. Until then, I'm sure writing this post guaranteed me another 100 hits from people who, uh...let's just say they're looking for a little something extra.

1-for-Psyching Myself Up

It's the little things: Safeway had a 2-for-1 sale on 96oz. Minute Maid orange juice. I drink so much orange juice and the 96-ouncer is amazing! It seems no matter how many glasses are guzzled, there's still MORE JUICE! It's virtually neverending. And get this...there's another 96-ounce jug YET TO BE OPENED. If there is a heaven and it really is like a characterized, idealized life on Earth there will be plenty of fresh-squeezed orange juice...selling 3-for-1, dammit.

Last week, a student who shows a surprisingly high (that is to say, more than zero) interest in my love life expressed alarm when informed that I haven't dated anyone since I've been in Seattle. She said: "You're handsome, you're funny. What's wrong with you?"* To which I could only smile. She's so charming with that delicate Dr. Phil touch. But I appreciate her concern. That's 20 months for those tallying numbers. I know that was a damning statistic, but its meaning was amplified this weekend when I attended the Cambodian New Year dinner, dance and celebration on campus. It was an incredible event; entire families were there, but for a slew of reasons I couldn't get a date/buddy to accompany me. But, no, I didn't feel self-conscious at all sitting at a table with my director (and his wife), my co-director (and her husband) and my immediate boss (and his girlfriend). Even when the dance began and the thirtysomethings started to ship out, the director told me to "stick around and get you a girl, WhatUpThen!"** Why does everyone have input all of a sudden?

So now that I've been summoned to rise from this relationship-free stupor, I will do so. Mine those prospects 'til I can shout "Eureka, I have found it!" (CA state motto; my family owned an encyclopedia set when I was a kid). Plus, I certainly don't want to leave this city with a sense of defeat. Hey, I'm 2-for-3 in the got-your-own apartment/job/car qualifier, so I'm good to go. Enough window shopping, time to make a purchase. Ooh, maybe I'll run across a nice 2-for-1 deal!

*verbatim
**verbatim; name changed to protect the incredible

What I'm Working On Now

I've decided that it's okay to stay up until 3am as long as I'm doing something constructive and defined. For example, reviewing graduation criteria or writing my first blogger post in a week. For certain, in not having posted anything new my two readers have been alienated, but perhaps they will be forgiving once they discover how busy I've been.

First, I should tell you about my new discovery. Last year, I found Urban Soul Nation on Internet radio. It was run by one person back East. I even chatted with him for a bit on Yahoo! Messenger and he told me about his struggles in running an Internet radio station: startup equipment costs, maintaining a website, paying royalties. He also sent me the mp3s for Prince's Money Don't Matter 2Night and Brownstone's 5 Miles to Empty. That alone is more than I could have asked for. Anyway, earlier this week I ran across Virgin Radio Groove. It's broadcast out of the UK, classic soul and disco. Absolutely phenomenal. Absolute classics mixed in with shit I've never heard before. Marvin Gaye, Jackson 5, SOS Band, Gladys Knight, Dennis Edwards, Average White Band and SHALAMAR. Come on, now...freakin' Shalamar. Not many people know this, but I've named my left arm Shalamar (and my right arm Excalibur). I would like to name my little boy Shalamar (and my little girl Cassandra...for short, she could be called either Sandy or Cassie!).

Wow, what an aside! Now to make my title relevant. At work, each of the five staff members was supposed to come up with and execute a project for our Culture Series. After a couple of weeks to mull it over we had a meeting to discuss our ideas. My coworkers' ideas were as follows: host a Chicano theatre group, hold a reception for women of color on campus, host a performance by a Broadway actor and host a well-known comedian. My idea was to write book synopses and post them around the Ethnic Cultural Center. I did execute my project, and while everyone raved about it, it just wasn't the dynamic or entertaining impact of a performance or a party. It was called a reception but there were so many women of color, I treated it like a party. Plus, my boss is the one bringing the comedian. It's Dat Phan, and he is pretty fucking funny. Jeff, my boss, is incredible and I know it's not a competition, but it's possible to feel just a little inadequate when I'm writing book reports and he's booking heavyweight comics.

Perhaps out of pity, the ECC director passed his project off onto me, so I'm responsible for promoting that "performance by a Broadway actor" (see above). His name is Charles Holt, he was in The Lion King...those seem like credentials enough. Now he's touring a one-man show based on Richard Wright's autobiography Black Boy. So, I've been going wild trying to promote and as soon as I get our badass poster online I'll link to it, but for now here's this. So it's been a ton of printing, calling, flyering, emailing, postering, chatting, convincing and stressing to make sure I get 500 butts in seats to check out this play. It's supposed to be a real gem, so there's no conning anyone. Plus, it's a free show. But scheduling an event and making it a success are two very different creatures. So, that's that. If you're reading this and you live in Seattle, you need to be in the HUB Auditorium on Tuesday, April 19. It's late, I'll fill stuff in later.

Awesome

I should start compiling a list of the best, funniest, most frightening search terms used by people to find my page. The little CoolCounters device with the Sonic logo records that stuff. Just a minute ago, I learned that Ice Climber pops up if you search "showering in women's locker room" on Yahoo! Somehow I doubt that was a person concerned about getting Athlete's foot.