I don't sleep

I don't have any excuses. I really don't. Most of the nights I don't sleep it's just due to my idiocy. Well, I've done self-psychoanalysis and come to the conclusion that I stay up late because I worry that I will miss something. It's definitely subconscious. Now, for the first three semesters of my college career, I would just sleep in and skip classes when it got to be bad. But lately I've been forcing myself to go because I'm trying to get into the School of Education. However, I make up for it on the weekends and suffer for it during the week. The funny thing is that I miss more by sleeping in because it's poor use of daylight. I'm sleeping while people are awake.

Okay, that's not true at all. Everyone's hungover on weekends and sleeps as late as I do. Although, with the way people drink around here, I could see them being passed out really early. I was walking down the street on Friday last week, and a girl hits me and goes "Hey, Sexy" and stumbles all over the place, and I go "Seriously? It's 7 o'clock". But that's Madison for you.

I dunno, I guess I just like being awake at night. I don't know what it is. I guess I just keep telling myself to hold out until something eventful happens and then I can sleep. But I always just end up looking for new bands for hours and stuff, because everyone else is sleeping. And usually the one night I am falling over tired is the night I'm racked with homework.

I might be able to go to sleep now though, because I did something eventful. I just called someone and sang "Hit Me Baby One More Time" in Robert Goulet's voice (for your own amusement, please click on that link). Yeah, this is what I've been reduced to for entertainment at 1:27 AM on a Thursday night / Friday morning.

In other news, I helped push three people's cars out of the snow that I just happened to walk by in the two blocks on the way home from intramural hockey. Also in other news the song "Will You Be There" by Michael Jackson just game on my iTunes. You know, the one from Free Willy. It's the only MJ song i own (a result of a Graduation mix a friend made me), and it came on because I just got to the end of my Menomena collection. There's got to be a Michael Jackson joke where the punch-like is about freeing little boys' willies (no link here, that'd be creepy).

So, in honor of my failure to sleep, the song of the day will be the Strokes' "Fear of Sleep" from the album "First Impressions of Earth". I'm sure many of you are familiar with the Strokes, but in case you didn't know, they're from New York. I don't know what to say about the Strokes. I know a lot about them, but there's no real interesting fact I can give you. They're one of Conan O'Brien's favorite bands? I have a poster of them on my wall? Their guitarist, Albert Hammond, Jr. put out a really good solo album last year? Yeah, I dunno. But their music keeps getting better in my opinion.

The Strokes' "Fear of Sleep"
The Strokes' myspace
The Strokes' official website

No way, a blizzard in Wisconsin?

Believe it, people. We've gotten about 10 inches in the last 24 hours. Good times. Unless you go to UW-Madison.

Yes, virtually every school district in the state got off. My sister got off. My parents got off. Every institution in Madison is shut down. Does that include UW-Madison? No, we were only about 30 inches too short of the requirement for closing at this school (Disclaimer: Not supported by facts). No, our lovable Chancellor Wiley did not believe that the weather was threatening enough to the students safety to cancel classes. Fortunately for him, he does not have to walk anywhere, he has a cozy office in Bascom Hall.

The students, on the other hand, had to encounter menacing ice falling from the sky. No, it wasn't big snow flakes, it was ice. To the school's credit, they did eventually give in and cancel classes... at 3:30 pm... 15 minutes after my last class ended. Although, Wiley didn't do it, a provost did. Where was Wiley? Hmmm.

I'll leave you with some pics for evidence.

Getting started

Hey, guys, it's Teej,

This is going to be looked down upon by some of my friends, which is fine. I know posting notes on facebook is laughed at, let alone blogs. I dunno, I just thought this was a great way to get things off my chest. As many of you know, I like to write. It's part of the reason I'm a history ed. major. This often results in me having very long away messages or facebook posts, consisting of thoughts I've had, descriptions of bands and songs, and fun facts. I figure by starting a blog, I can put all that stuff here, in one place that you don't read rather than a constant stream of things you don't read, haha. Additionally, I am much better at writing my words down than expressing them verbally, as I tend to stutter and lose my train of thought. Thus, you may find out things about me that I have never been able to really say before.


As most of you know I am essentially a straightedge. By that I mean I don't drink or do any form of drugs. I also don't swear. This comes with a large amount of challenges. I don't know how much I will get into this over time, but I might. I'll give you a brief synopsis here. A lot of people ask me why it is that I don't do any of these things, and I have a hard time answering, but I'll try to do my best. Basically, it's a personal decision based on how I was brought up, and at the point where I started thinking about these subjects on my own, as a result of peers participating in these activities, I came to the conclusion that I liked my life the way it was and adding these new aspects to my life was neither beneficial nor safe to myself, as I sometimes have an addictive personality. Over time, my views on these subjects have come looser as I have been exposed to them. As more people begin to paricipate in these activities, sometimes it is difficult to maintain relationships and relate to people without using them, especially at a university like Madison that has been ranked the number one party school in the country various times by various people. However, I have still stuck to it despite these handicaps, and I believe the friends that I am left with accept me the way I am. The irony of the situation is that the people that are involved in these activities are often intolerant of people that aren't involved in them, and as a result don't realize that I myself do not look down upon them because they partake in them. It is simply a personal decision that has nothing to do with a prejudice. Simply put, I would just feel bad if I went back on this commitment. I feel more of a lack of anyone who can relate to what I'm going through than an anger towards anyone who does drink or smoke. Like I said, I may go into this in more depth over time.


Anyway, moving past that, I am hugely into music, and without it I don't know what or where I'd be. I am sure with every post (including this one) I will give you a song I am enamored with, so without further ado, here are two. I will start with songs by my two favorite bands: Radiohead and the Velvet Teen (the picture below is of me and Judah Nagler, the singer). There is a stark contrast between their popularity. Radiohead is one of the most listened-to bands in the world. Their music influences half of the bands that exist today. I could go on for hours about the originality of Radiohead, but I won't. The main reason I love them is because, despite their fame, they continue to make the music they love despite what is being played on the mainstream airwaves, and have no qualms about how their music is rarely played on American radio. The Velvet Teen on the other hand, is a little indie band from Santa Rosa, CA. They are like Radiohead in the sense that they have continued to make whatever music they feel despite it's failure to bring them fame. This has resulted in every album being very different and very unorthodox. Elysium featured no guitars, yet it is some of the most mature music you will ever hear, and one of my two favorite albums with Radiohead's OK Computer. Thus, the two songs that I feature today will be from these two albums, one being Radiohead's Paranoid Android, my favorite song of all-time, and the other being the Velvet Teen's A Captive Audience. Enjoy.

Paranoid Android video
A Captive Audience at Last.fm
www.myspace.com/thevelvetteen