Umbral Echoes Blog

• 15:32 Back from Chicago, chillaxin’ at the house. Trying to buy tickets to GenCon events, and failing. #

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• 19:36 Finally got around to purchasing GenCon badge. #

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• 14:02 Slept in so late. Had odd dreams of Ronald McDonald with machine guns in his back, firing upon diner patrons. #

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• 13:56 Heading to the datacenter where our servers are located today for a tour. Should be interesting. Also, Google maps has CTA info. Tres cool. #
• 19:00 My hero of the day: tinyurl.com/6c96al #

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Today was a good day.  I feel a lot more relaxed, like a weight is off my shoulders.  I also feel like it’s been a productive day, even though I really haven’t accomplished a whole lot.

In the early afternoon, I took the bus downtown to see the hosting facilities of our hosting provider.  I’ll spare the boring tech details.  The really cool part, in my opinion, was getting to see some of downtown Chicago, which I really liked.  I’m coming to realize that I’m a real whore for architecture.  I loved the buildings, the flow of people on the sidewalks, even the rail lines going over Van Buren Street.  It reminded me of Batman Begins — in fact, I think they might have taken some inspiration for various parts of Gotham from a blend of both Chicago and New York City.  I should have taken pictures.

The public transit system was really easy to use.  In fact, Google Maps now includes Chicago public transit information, so you can say, “Tell me how to get from here to here, using the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) system.”  Indeed, the Google method only involved one transfer, whereas the CTA website involved two.

I had a few pleasant conversations with people on the buses.  I forget names, but an attractive girl I struck up a conversation with had apparently just moved here in January, and ironically was asking me about the bus system, since she was more used to using the rails.  It ended up that we were both getting off at the same stop, so we walked together for a while before parting ways.

Then on the way back, a middle-aged black guy with a cane sat down next to me at the bus stop.  I asked why the cane (it was the medical type, not the stylish sort), and he said he had a slipped disc in his back, which apparently screwed up his whole right side.  Having had back problems myself, I could relate.  He lamented over this a bit, then made some thrusting motions and said, “Even gets in the way of that.”  To which I responded, without even thinking, “Just have her get on top.  Reverse cowgirl style.”  I seriously have no filter.  Then I had to explain reverse cowgirl to him (link is NSFW), much to his entertainment.  Just after that, the bus came and I had to leave.  He patted me on the back as I was leaving and stated a couple of times variations of, “You’re cool man, you’re cool.  I like you.”

Had lunch at a nice Italian place called Leona’s which happened to serve a high-grav Belgian beer called Tripel Karmeliet.  Mmm, Belgian beer.  Of course I partook, and the world was even better.  And then, coming back to the co-op house, I talked to one of the guys that lives here, and discovered that he, too, is originally from Louisville.  Never know where you’ll find another Louisvillian.  Hmm, that is very close to Louisvillain.  I feel a mad cackle coming on.

Bet your bottom dollar you lose the blues in Chicago, Chicago.
The town that Billy Sunday couldn’t shut down.

Went to a lecture last night by Jackson Katz, which was centered on male violence toward women.  It was interesting to see a man speaking on gender issues, and likewise he did come at it from a very different angle.  His premise is that things like this shouldn’t be called women’s issues, or even gender issues, but men’s issues.  He gave several reasons for this, like the fact that the vast majority of violence/abuse is perpetrated by men, and therefore it’s an issue with the male culture of violence.  What struck home for me was when he said when it’s labelled “women’s issues” or even “gender issues,” men tend to automatically ignore it and assume it doesn’t apply to them.  I realized that I’ve been guilty of that, myself.

What was also interesting is that Katz is a very “manly” man — college football player, solid-looking guy with a square jaw and stubble, the whole nine yards.  It was an odd contrast hearing a guy like that talk about these sorts of issues, and I think that probably helps the effectiveness of his programs.  Hearing this same message from an effeminate guy, for example, wouldn’t have nearly the same impact.

One really interesting thing that he demonstrated was the image of males in the media.  We often hear about how women are pressured to be this ideal Barbie-like form, but he showed some examples of the image of men changing, too.  Professional wrestlers, for example, used to be big guys overall, but also a little tubby.  These days, they’re steroid-infused freakshows.  And the best example was toys — he showed an example of a Luke Skywalker figure from the 70’s, versus one from the 90’s.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a great one from the 90’s, but I think you can tell the difference here, regardless.

70’s:

90’s.  Check out these pecs:

Katz works with the Marines, high school and college sports organizations, and other such groups to curb violence against women.  He said that one really important factor was to create a culture in those groups where it’s not okay to abuse/mistreat women.  I found this to already be true in a lot of groups that I’ve been in — both friend groups, and sporting groups.  There has always seemed to be a general attitude of, “If some guy hurts a girl, I’ll kick his fucking ass.”

In fact, I knew a guy in middle school named Andy, who was 2 years ahead of me.  For a while he was sort of a big brother/mentor to me, and he was involved in a group that essentially acted as vigilantes.  He told me a story once of how they took a crowbar to the knees of a guy who physically abused his girlfriend.  Of course, I could never know if any of it was actually true, or if he was just trying to win my awe (he was successful, if so), but in either case it shows the sort of counter-abuse culture that Katz was talking about.  Though granted, probably taken a few steps past what he intends.

There were a lot of other neat points in the lecture, but I won’t go into them all here.  Suffice to say, it made me think about some things differently than I had before.  He came at it from a viewpoint similar to that in Boondock Saints.  “I don’t hit or rape girls,” isn’t really saying much of anything.  If you see injustice happening, and do nothing about it, then you’re essentially condoning it.

• 18:42 It’s warmer in Chicago than it is in Atlanta, today. Obviously, I am just that damn hot. #

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• 15:24 Just had a conversation starting with roleplaying, going on to acting, world religion, and philosophy. This house is definitely interesting. #

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• 22:39 In Chicago, preparing to watch some Battlestar Galactica. #
• 23:01 Got the accursed wireless connection to work. Woot! #

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Got into Chicago okay, and things have already been eventful.  Last night there was a party at the house I’m staying at, which included a live band and then several DJs later on.  The band apparently brought some of their frat friends to drink our alcohol.  I purchased some Captain Morgan’s since the rum they had (“Lieutenant Dan’s”) wasn’t… quality.  It was in a clear plastic container, not glass.  Never a good sign.

As I posted before, the party had a “revolution” theme.  So I ended up going as Lucifer, the original revolutionary.  Even found a pair of black angel wings for $10 at one of the stores Lydia and I went to.  However, we couldn’t find a fabric store that was open, so I ended up having to use a sheet for a toga.  Here is the result:

I drank, and talked to many people.  This cooperative living thing is very conducive to socializing.  So it was good times.

Today we went out to an old-time radio demo, where some people on stage recreated some old radio shows.  One was a comedy, one was a pretty cool horror story based on a short story.  The event itself was held in a rather awesome cathedral.  I love cathedrals, and beautiful architecture in general.

Afterward, we went to see Sweeney Todd, which I had not seen before.  It was pretty awesomely twisted, and Lydia told me about is one scene that is often even cut from the Broadway play, involving the main villain masturbating.  I now really want to see the musical — a version which includes that scene, specifically.

Internet access here is rare.  The WiFi connection seems to disagree with my laptop, so now I’m borrowing the wired connection from the house computer downstairs.  I can’t seem to get into the router to investigate (maybe they changed it to a non-standard IP), so for now I’ll have limited access.