The Way Things Go...

When I leave you guys alone for about a month, really the only thing that feels comfortable for me to do is give a rundown of my life. And, something tells me, you probably appriciate Jeff's Life Updates more than you do Jeff's Divergent Thoughts. So, without further ado, my life, in 700 words or less:

I finally finished up my Masters degree this past Monday. Many of you probably thought I graduated this past May...and I kinda did. I walked, received my diploma cover, and was technically done with 98% of my requirements for the degree. But I hadn't yet passed my Ethics comprehensive exam. What can I say? I'd never really had any ethics (sic). The only exception was a course in which the professor yelled at me for being a "fucking socialist." Naturally, I'm not really sure that I got much out of that course. But, a good weekend's studying later, I'm fairly sure that I am now finished at NIU.

Ah, and I'm a bouncer. Surprised? Yup, I bounce at a bar in town that is very, very similar to Bruno's in its atmosphere. Thankfully, that also means I don't have to break up too many fights. But it does provide ample opportunity to work on my small-talk skills. Since I'm only around for the summer (and I told them that when getting the job), I've no chance to move up to bartender, but once I get up to Madison I'm fairly sure I'll try and secure a job bartending straight out of the gates. A Monday night bartender, during the summer (which, for DeKalb, means the entire city clears out), makes close to 300 a night. That'd really help that graduate assistant pay actually sustain my lifestyle. True, it'd be stressful, but it'd be during the hours I had free, anyways, and I think it'd be well worth the stress and pain. Now, I just have to land such a job.

I was told the other day how funny it is that I, the soon-to-be professor of philosophy, of all things, is a bouncer. Quite a disparity of images, I suppose. So I've added another one; motorcyclist. NIU offers a free course where you learn all the basics of riding and, at the end, you're m-class driver's license certified. I just finished up the second day of that today, including some practice at bobbing and weaving and cutting tight corners in third gear. It was an amazing time. I got so pumped from this afternoon's practice (on a Honda NightHawk) that I'm fairly sure I'm going to be buying a bike before the year is out. You can imagine it; rolling up to campus with my tweed jacket with the elbow patches on a classic cruising-style bike. And, to add to the picture (though it won't be visible on my right upper shoulder), here's a picture of the tattoo I'm going to be getting when I head home this July. It'll be my first one, and I'm planning on getting it on my right shoulder, where the center of the crescents will essentially be positioned right on the balljoint of my shoulder (facing towards my right side). It'd overlap up top a bit, but at about the size of my closed fist, it would basically be fully visible from a side angle. And don't mind the colors; the actual tattoo would be monochromatic black/gray.

Finally, a last little rant. I have a friend from a very long time ago (highschool) who happens to be on facebook and is pregnant. Without naming names, is it not incredibly disturbing to see a note-update that someone you knew from highschool is dilating? Just an effed-up realization I had this morning.

Hope life is treating you well, 'cause I ain't got no better stories to tell. If anything exciting happens (which, I'll let you know now, is rather unlikely for the next month of living in DeKalb) I'll post again soon. Otherwise...

Namaste'.