Quo

It's hard to believe how quickly things are winding down. I had my last "real" class today for German. All I have left is my Czech lesson tomorrow afternoon, the last German test Friday morning, and a makeup Czech lesson to be scheduled for sometime next week. And that's all she wrote. My undergraduate career will be complete and I'll just have about three weeks to wait around for graduation, then it's off to the real world.

Well, not so fast. I don't know that I'll be hitting the real world quite yet. Or ever, for that matter. I still don't have any form of gainful employment awaiting me once I finish my tour of duty in the Interlibrary Loan Department. So, barring an unforeseen development, come summertime I'll be sitting in my parents' living room back in California, searching for a job and just slumming around in the interim. It's not glorious, and I think once I'm home and realize how much I'd rather not be sitting on my parents' couch watching TechTV with my dad or helping him take care of my two grandparents who now live with us, I'll have quite the incentive and motivation to find some sort of job that will at least get me out of the house a few hours each day. And therein lies the rub.

I still have no desire to actually work, nor can I envision a job that realistically I'll land for the next year or two to occupy myself until I enter the great abyss known as history graduate school. Frankly, since I have zilch relevant career experience (packing books in the library evidently does not qualify one for a swank research and writing job) and no advanced degree (yet), my pickins is pretty slim.

On the sunny side, I chatted with Joe today, and I think we've worked out a nice network of contingency plans for the next year or two. Here's the two-minute explanation, as posed in the form of a standardized test logic problem:

Condition (1): Joe must get the hell out of Egypt as soon as possible (i.e., once the lease on his new apartment expires on 1 August)

Condition (2): Despite his scholarly (in)inertia, Scott must find some form of gainful employment that will allow his to either a) accrue savings to apply during graduate school or b) get him the hell out of Dodge and to the Czech Republic, where he can at least get some intellectual stimulation (and quality Czech beer on the cheap)

Scenario (1): Joe leaves Egypt and moves to Prague in early August, relying on a savings of U.S. $2,000 with which he will support himself for a month or two while seeking employment, preferably with an English-language newspaper or magazine

Subscenario (1a): If Joe can't find work in journalism, he would accept alternative employment (e.g. proofreading or editing work outside the realm of journalism) to earn the crowns needed to subsist in Prague until he can find said job

Subscenario (1b): If Joe can't find any manner of employment and instead continues to deplete his savings after approximately two months Joe will pack his bags for Chicagoland, where he can live with his aunt and uncle while he figures out a new plan

Scenario (2): Scott continues to search for a tolerable (i.e. no manual labor involved) job in the United States, preferably in or near Chicago

Subscenario (2a): If Scott fails to find said employment prior to the end of June, he will fly back to California as planned, thus biding his time on his parents' sofa

Subscenario (2b): While Scott continues to search for bearable work, he will accept otherwise unacceptable employment as a means of accruing savings in the interim, and in the meantime will also reapply for a Fulbright Scholarship to fund a year of party (er, study) in the Czech Republic for 2004-2005

Contingency (1): If Joe secures adequate employment in the Czech Republic, he will stay in Prague at least one year, and would stay a second year if Scott either (a) wins a fellowship, in-sha-a'Czech Fulbright Commission or (b) saves enough money to move to Prague regardless

Contingency (2): If Scott fails to find suitable work in the United States but comes up with enough savings, once Joe is settled in Prague he will relocate there and mooch off Joe until he either (a) finds sufficient work in the Czech Republic or (b) wears out his welcome in Joe's flat

Contingency (3): If Scott gets into graduate school for 2004-2005 and receives funding that he cannot defer, Scott goes to graduate school and Joe comes up with a new plan

Contingency (4): f(x) = -3y + 4z - 7


So, in a nutshell, Joe and I are still playing it by ear and still hoping to both end up living in Prague for a year or so. I reckon this all sounds much more unsettled and unformulated than I make it out to be, but it's a far more concrete plan than I think either of us had before. So, that's good. It could all easily get blown to hell if something comes up in the meantime, but the beauty of this plan, the genius of its architecture, is its built-in failsafe contingency, the condition that if something changes, we come up with a new plan. Brilliant, ain't it?

"I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off of people."

Capri pants

Nothing to report here. I slept obscenely late, got up, soon went back to bed, and otherwise dilly-dallied around most of the day. On the plus side, I did finally enter the remainder of my plethora events into my calendar (I swear, there's a reception or ceremony or something similar I'm going to every day for the next two weeks). And I made decent headway getting caught up with e-mail. I'd like to say there was a mountain of it awaiting me, but then I'd be lying.

I suppose this is the part where I'm supposed to begin being introverted and opening the doors to my psyche ... but I'm not feeling it. Not tonight. Not when it's, oh, 3:48 a.m. I'm not terribly tired (see sleeping obscenely late, then going back to bed), but I'm just not feeling it. Sigh.

Of course, in many respects, I find the whole pouring your soul out to total strangers on the Web completely clichéd. So, of course, I do just that. (No one can ever accuse me of not living up to my mantle as a "pretensious nonconformist" so nyah nyah.) I'm not really sure why I've opted to bite the bullet and produce my own Web site. I mean, it's something I've wanted to do for quite some time, though in an earlier incarnation this space would likely have extolled the virtues of Trent Reznor, musical genius, or ranted about the Los Angeles Kings defense corps. That's not to say that I won't get around to doing that ... just that it's not the primary mission.

So, here I am, living a cliché, doing it 'cos everyone else is. Yeah, that's boring, and tried. Sure, I'm pretty lame as an amateur humorist, given to bad puns and the like. And no, I won't write great, vibrant prose or epic verse, so I apologize for disappointing anyone who stumbles across this site seeking enlightenment. But, at least it's my contribution to the historical record. Leaving my mark. Making my graffito on the back alley wall of human history. El Barto was here.

Anywho, that's as introspective as I'll be for tonight. Sorry folks.

"That's a pretty good deal. But I think I've got a better one. How about I give you the finger and you give me my phone call?"

Foo you!

Saw the Foo Fighters tonight. They're one of the few bands I've really wanted to see live but hadn't, till tonight. It was an excellent show; I'd say the best concert I've seen since I was on the floor for U2 two years ago. I've loved their songs since their first, self-titled album came out several years ago, and they're really something to see live. Intensity, showmanship and comedy -- an outstanding combination for a rock show. I also showed my support for the band by shelling out a Jackson for a nifty tour shirt advertising the Foo Fighters taquería. I'll wear it with pride sometime this week.

Highlights of the concert including the opening -- a great teaser where they came out and started playing "One by One" behind a curtain before it dropped as the song gained steam -- frequent, abrupt, sudden pauses to toy with the audience; and Dave Grohl choosing to dedicate a song to himself. Again, just beautiful, intense, rapid, rabid punk rock music.

That was pretty much the highlight of the day. I slept late, accomplished little of note before leaving for the show, then we spent about an hour waiting in line for grub at BK once we returned to the mean streets of Evanston. Tomorrow will be a day of (some) work, so we'll see how that goes.

Song of the Day: "Times Like These" by -- who else? -- the Foo Fighters.