dietsch ::

David Byrne at the Murat

I should have posted this before. Sunday evening, I saw David Byrne in Indianapolis with friends Anne, Emily, and Dawn. Before the show, we dined at a cool place on Pennsylvania called Ruthellen's and then walked over to the Murat Center to see Byrne. As much of a Talking Heads fan as I am, I'd never seen Byrne perform live. Dinner was fabulous--the food was wonderful, conversation was great, and the service was very good. I appreciated very much that the staff allowed enough time to pass between appetizer and salad and dinner that we felt as if we were lingering leisurely over our meals. Byrne was amazing; he was full of energy and humor and just as limber as he was 20 years ago. His band that was tight, focused, and also energetic. We were in the Egyptian Room at the Murat, which is SRO and general admission. We were close to the stage, and so we could see Byrne and the band very well. But there was enough room for us to dance and really rock out, too. He performed about five old Talking Heads tunes, a nice selection off his new album, and several other songs--including Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody." Sunday evening was the happiest thing I've done in a very long time. And what makes it all the more remarkable is that I've known Emily and Dawn for less than a month and yet you never would have guessed that. There are far worse things for a young man than to spend a nice evening in the company of three lovely and witty women, watching one of the finest songwriters and performers of the last 30 years. I've long thought that if I could choose any place and era in which to live, I'd choose to hang with the CBGB crowd circa 1977. Imagine watching the Talking Heads, the Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie, and the Pretenders, all early in their careers.

Lionel

More fun with music: On the way home from the library tonight, I passed a house blasting Lionel Ritchie's "All Night Long." I looked over at the place, and saw a banner that said "Cool people live here." I'll leave it to you to decide whether these facts are contradictory.

Funk

It's been a while since I've updated this. I was exhausted and depressed today. My brain's chemistry, like most people's, ebbs and flows. Just so happens it's ebbing now at a time when I'm already sad about the events of last week and other things that are happening in my life. So, I'm crashing right now, and it's not pleasant. Strange day. I spent most of it in a complete funk, unable to really concentrate on anything. I tried taking a nap this afternoon, but that didn't help either. I think I napped for only about 20 minutes. I finally got the hell out of my apartment for a while and walked downtown for dinner at an Indian restaurant. Yummy. Strange thing there, though: I had my backpack with me and, to keep it out of the way, I placed it on the chair opposite. None of the wait staff seemed to know what to make of that. They'd look at my bag and then at me, quizzically, and then back at the bag. Even other patrons did the same. After stopping at the library and talking to Anne and Shannon, I hoofed it home. On the way, I heard a garage band practicing a crappy cover of "What's the Frequency, Kenneth," of all things.

Swingin'!

Well, I made a couple decisions today. First, I've decided to drop Japanese. The time I spend preparing is time I could be, oh, sleeping or eating. I just can't imagine that I'll catch up and be able to stay caught up given how busy my semester will be. And I had trouble sleeping last night, in part because I was stressed about the class. It's disappointing. I've looked forward to this for a few years and I was really beginning to enjoy my instructors and classmates. But I don't think it's worth the stress, in the long run. My other decision, one I'm happy about, was to join the IU Swing Club this evening. I'll be taking lessons the remainder of the semester and I'm looking forward to it. I think dancing will give me an outlet for stress. We just signed up tonight and watched the experienced folk take the floor, although we did learn a simple Charleston line, which was fun. Next week, East Coast Swing.

Redesigns, etc.

I just finished a relatively major update and overhaul to my site. I changed some of the headline fonts, replaced the background image, tweaked the colors, and added a bunch of new photos. There's new text on virtually every page, or at least changes to existing text, so if you're reading this and you're interested enough, go read through my site. My resume looks okay, but I still need to make some changes to my Course Information page. Just minor stuff, really, but it needs done. Otherwise, Japanese is still a challenge. I've memorized most of the hatagana syllabary now, but only in one direction. That is, I can look at most of the characters and tell you what sound is associated with it. I can't yet really go the other way, and unfortunately, I was quizzed on that this morning. I bombed it. Well, it's only five points and at least I know my weaknesses. I'll study up on that starting today. I'd love to go to the IU Swing Club this evening--learn a few moves, meet some ladies, get more exercise--but I'm not sure I have the time right now.

Updates are pending

Updates are pending. I have new photos to post (once they're developed) and my resume and course listings need an overhaul. It's easy to keep this Web log and the About Dietsch pages updated because they're kinda fun, but the other content is a bit of a drag. Japanese is getting better. I finally feel on an even keel with the rest of the class. We're all making roughly the same mistakes and I'm now neither better nor worse than the rest. This makes me happy, because it means I'm making primarily the same mistakes that new learners commonly make. And I feel less ashamed now. It's rather embarrassing to feel you're the only one in the class who's not keeping up. But I'm tired a lot and I've been depressed lately, so I feel like I've been kicked repeatedly about the head and torso. It'll pass, though, especially as the semester deepens and I get more involved in what's going on. It's funny, but when school's going full swing and I'm constantly meeting new people and trying new things, I usually never know just what's going to happen next. I missed that unpredictability while I was primarily working during the summer.

I don't like Monday's

On Monday, I wrote: "Monday's are rather light for me..." I am a copy editor. I know you never form plurals by adding an apostrophe and an s. Stupid, stupid, stupid... And that "little bastard" has turned out to be a rather decent fellow. Live and learn or whatever.