Sunday, February 20

Another eventful day. I could get used to routines like this. Things got rolling this morning by wrapping up “Harold and Kumar” after a gourmet scrambled egg breakfast, prepared by yours truly. The movie has definitely lost a lot of its cachet since this summer, but it was still pretty hysterical. Our original plan was to get up and around in time to make it to the big women’s basketball game against Ohio State for a share of the Big Ten title, but that never materialized. Instead we went out and ran a few errands, picked up some BK, and came back and watched the game—on TV! I can’t believe that the WOMEN’S team is ranked higher than the men’s, and basically clinched a share of the Big 10 title today. Anyway, after the women managed to pull out a W this afternoon, Miss Spiro and I settled in to do some homework (gasp) here at the apartment. It was actually really productive for both of us, and I was able to pretty much get caught up on all my work in just a couple of hours. We finally gave up by 8 or so, and were back into the movie mode with “The Wedding Singer” on TBS. I think that makes the sixth movie this weekend. ELITE.

Saturday, February 19

Sleeeeeep. After finally rolling out of bed at 10:30, it was another REALLY lazy day at the apartment. I don’t know what the deal was, but Stef and I were just in a total movie marathon mindset, so that’s what we did. The day started off slow with “Dead Poets Society”, but it’s still one of my favs—O Captain, My Captain! The afternoon didn’t exactly perk up much, but we did leave the premises for the first time all weekend to head up to Eastwood for some dinner at Champps. Stef and I had totally forgotten about the MSU basketball game against Purdue, so we were glued to the TVs at the restaurant looking for a final score—Go Green! Our dinners were really good, and we did a little shopping at Eastwood before deciding to head out to Meridian for some more poking around for Stef’s friend Danielle’s birthday next weekend. We were just about to give up on finding anything good until we wound up at Hot Topic and saw their stash of Napoleon Dynamite stuff, so we finally managed to wrap up the birthday shopping. We came back to the pad afterwards for more movie watching, with tonight’s double-header featuring “Casablanca” and “Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle”—quite the combo, right? We stopped Harold and Kumar about halfway thru to watch a mediocre new SNL, and that was pretty much it for Saturday.

Friday, February 18

The beginning of a lazy weekend starts with a very busy workday. The office was pretty quiet again today, but there was a TON of stuff to do. Wanda left me three deposits which took up most of the morning, and then I got to spend the afternoon rushing to get our monthly invoices out the door. I was pretty pooped by the time I got back to the apartment, so after running up to Lou and Harry’s to pick up an early dinner for Stef and me, it was time to settle in for the weekend. We started things off tonight by finally wrapping up “The Office” DVDs, and I think I enjoyed the show even more the second time around. Stefy really seemed to like it too, so I was especially glad that I hadn’t given away any more of the ending than I wanted to. So yeah… that was pretty much it for Friday night. Pretty wild and crazy, I know, but it was just what I needed.

Thursday, February 17

After spending the last couple of semesters absolutely hating Thursdays, it’s amazing how pleasant they seem now that I can sleep in until 9 a.m. I finally had some OJ to get things off on the right foot too since I went shopping last night. BZ needs his OJ! My Film History class was pretty energetic this morning, since we had a lot to cover with our discussion of “Pépé le Moko”. I don’t know what it was, but I just really enjoyed this movie, and it was definitely one of my favorite discussion sessions of the semester. Anyway, my dad picked me up after class for our usual Thursday lunch, and we ran out to Panera to grab a bite. While we were over by Frandor we stopped in to CompUSA, which actually turned out to be a smart accident on my part, because I forgot that I’d needed to pick up some DVD cases for that wedding video I’ve been working on (forever). Dad dropped me back off by my car at the lot in front of the football stadium, and I took off for the apartment to kill some time before doubling back for my Film Theory class at 3. We were talking more about “Battleship Potemkin” this afternoon, which I really didn’t care for, but this also turned out to be a pretty interesting discussion session. I think it really helps that my film prof this semester not only knows her stuff, but has the energy of a six year old to help move class along and keep things interesting. So, I was out of there at the usual 4:50, and I thought it would be perfect timing to make a quick stop by the library on the way back to my car, so I could get a head start on my next paper assignment for Film History. I basically had to copy a press kit from the microfilm archive in the library from a film that correlated to the topics we’ve been discussing. I chose Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator”, and since he was such a hi-profile director, the press kit turned out to be about 50 pages long. T hat helped rack up a pretty hefty $7.20 coping fee, but at least I felt good about being proactive on an assignment for once. My productivity continued when I came back to the apartment, as I found myself finally (FINALLY!) finishing that wedding video from last October. I printed the labels, popped the DVDs in their cases, and now I’m done—such a huge weight off. I also found some time to edit together a very short little video project from our trip to Chicago back in January, so you can check that out on the video page. Anyway, it’s about 10 now, and I’m spent for the day. TGIF.

Wednesday, February 16

Well, I made it into Sociology this morning, and it was actually pretty painless. I guess our second quiz of the semester will be on next Monday, so it worked out well that I didn’t miss anything on THIS Monday when I was feeling sick. Anyway, I went into the office this afternoon and things were pretty dead again. I still didn’t get the last article for our newsletter from Melodie today, so I had to find some other stuff to keep me busy. I split out at around 2:15 like usual, and then went and picked up Stefy and took her back to the apartment for what was supposed to be a mini “Office” marathon. Of course, we were about halfway through the second episode when she passed out, so it ended up getting cut a little short. I spent some time poking around online while she snoozed, before waking her up about an hour later to eat some dinner before the basketball game. We left for Breslin with Nate by 6:30, and got there kind of early again, so we ended up sitting on the opposite end of the upper bowl for the second game in a row. I don’t know if it was just because it was a blow out or what, but that side of the arena just seems to be dead during the games we’ve sat there now. The game itself was actually pretty exciting, even though it was never really close. We absolutely pounded Minnesota into oblivion, and the highlight of the night was definitely when the Golden Gopher’s coach went on a roid rage rampage about halfway through the first half, ripping off his coat, and nearly tearing apart his shirt. It was seriously like watching the Hulk or something. The best part came when the Izzone started chanting, “Take it off! Take it off!” Oh man, I love college basketball. So anyway, that was pretty much it for tonight. I ran some errands at Meijer after we got back, but other than that, it was a pretty low-key evening.

Tuesday, February 15

What a blah sort of day. Rain, and lots of it. B-L-A-H! My Film History class was actually pretty decent this morning. We screened “Pépé Le Moko”, which is this really clever French movie from the 30s (or 40s?) that I really enjoyed. It still didn’t help perk up my day though. The couple of hours I spent at the officer were marked by a whole lot of filing, and we all know how exciting that can be. Things took a decidedly boring turn this afternoon with my Film Theory class, where we watched Sergei Eisenstein’s famous “Battleship Potemkin”. Just about every film we’ve screened in that class has had some redeeming (entertaining) qualities about them, but this one was like watching paint dry. I get why it’s an IMPORTANT film and all, and certainly fits in well with the theory we’re discussing with this new unit, but I couldn’t stay awake for the life of me. There wasn’t anything subtle about my dozing off either—lots of head bobbing and the occasional neck jerk when something onscreen managed to rouse me out of my cozy desk sleep. There was more rain on my way back to my car, and then the apartment, and the night was spent on my bed with my nose in my Sociology books. BLAH. It’s not even 9:30 and I feel like I could go to bed. Two weeks and three days. I just gotta keep counting down—it’s the only thing that’s going to get me through to spring break.

Monday, February 14

I woke up this morning feeling pretty gross. I was totally exhausted when my alarm went off for my 8 a.m. Sociology class, I had a nagging headache leftover from last night, and I was feeling pretty sinusy. So, I went back to bed for a couple of hours before getting up to call in sick for work. The rest of my day was pretty lazy, but Stefy was a wonderful Valentine, and came over and took care of me. We ordered some pizza for lunch, watched some TV and “Sleepless in Seattle”, and just took it easy. Stef went back to the dorm in the middle of the afternoon to take some time getting ready for our Valentine’s Day dinner, and I stayed back to finally get cleaned up. I was actually feeling a lot better by the time I went to pick her up for our ride up to Eastwood. My girlfriend looked absolutely beautiful tonight in her new pink skirt, black sweater, and (my personal favorite) fishnet stockings—how can beauty be so kind to an ordinary guy? We put our name in at Bravo, and they quoted us a 90min wait, so we decided to kill some time at Schuler’s. Stefy ended up buying “The Notebook” and “The Way We Were” on DVD, so a Valentine’s chick flick was inevitable for tonight. We eventually made our way back over to the restaurant, and still had about 45-50 minutes to wait, so we sat at the bar and ordered an appetizer. They had us seated at a table before we knew it, and we both ended up ordering the same thing for dinner. We followed up our fantastic meals with Bravo’s ridiculously yummy cheesecake, and eventually wrapped up our lovely evening out on the town, heading back to the apartment to watch Stefy’s pick for the night, “The Notebook”. I certainly wasn’t weeping by the end of the movie, but it was actually much better than I was expecting—that James Garner is just so damn loveable! Anyway, that was pretty much it for the perfect Valentine’s Day with my wonderful girlfriend—the first of MANY. I hope everyone else had a great V-Day.