CoochBlog

2003-02-25T17:57:00.000-05:00

Due on Monday: A Chemistry lab report (4 pages typed, plus a whole bunch of tables, graphs and calculations) and a 4-5 page paper for Writing class. Due on Tuesday: A Biology lab report (ended up a tad short of 10 pages typed). I love it when that happens.

As stressed out as I can get when I've got oodles of work to do, it's a good feeling to finally have it all done. When you've been telling yourself for the past week that you have to do this, this and this every night, it's nice to finish an assignment and immediately think, "OK, so what do I have to do next?... Oh, that's right. Nothing." Then again, that feeling of relief might also stem from the fact that it's 2 in the morning and I can finally go to sleep... crap, did I say that out loud?

During my absense from updating the site, I went home for the weekend and attended Six Flags Employee Orientation. For the third straight summer I'll be returning there to work, except now that I'm 18 tears old they can work me more than 8 hours a dayif they need to. Hurray. My hard work, however, is being recognized: I've been promoted to a Training Lead. Basically, the Games department was so impressed at my uncanny ability to spew bullshit over a microphone in order to get people to come play Whac-A-Mole ("It's the most exciting game on the midway!") that they've decided to let me teach all the new employees how to do it. I'll be telling them how to run the games and do all the stuff they have to do, and check up on them from time to time and give them advice on how to do their job better, from the sounds of it.

So, if you visit Six Flags New England this summer and walk through the center area of the park, and you hear people on microphones saying all sorts of wonderful things to try and get you to play their games... it'll be because of me. Now that's spooky.

2003-02-19T20:59:00.000-05:00

I'm not particularly fond of my Spanish classes here at BU. After taking 6 years of French in high school and still not being all that good at it, trying to learn a third language has proven to be quite an experience for me. I have to admit, though, it's kind of funny when I try to think out a sentence in Spanish and half of it comes out in French.

By far, my least favorite part of the class has to be the in-class compositions. Two or three days beforehand, we're given a sheet with two possible topicsfor the composition, so we can go over any necessary vocabulary and grammar. Then, one day in class, we're asked to write a couple of paragraphs on one of the topics without any outside help - no books, no dictionaries, no notes, just everything off the tops of our heads. I felt I was fortunate to get B+'s on both of my compositions in first semester Spanish.

Today's Spanish class involved writing another one of these lovely things. While preparing for this one, I suddenly got an idea: Why not just write the entire thing here in my dorm room, memorize it, and re-write it in class? I'm pretty good at memorizing things; when I'm in plays I'm always one of the first to have all my lines memorized, and by the time the show's over I've memorized most of the other character's lines as well. With this in mind, I decided to give my idea a try.

It worked a little too well, I think. I was finished just 15 minutes into the hour-long class, and that includes proofreading and trying to think of other things I could add. Even the professor gave me a weird look when I walked up to turn it in. It was quite funny, I thought.

Not as funny as this. though: last night, while talking to a friend, Aaron (my loud, obnoxious roommate, for those who don't know) said that when he finishes CGS, he wants to transfer into SMG. Fortunately, he was so busy being loud and obnoxious that he didn't notice my struggled efforts to not laugh.

2003-02-18T18:48:00.000-05:00

Being the wonderfully nice person that he is, Jon was kind enough to chime in with his thoughts on my Canadian skiing trip shortly before I left.

"I'll tell you what I think. High temperature in Montreal on Valentine's Day? SEVEN DEGREES BELOW ZERO. Have fun!"
Okay, so it was a tad chilly up there. But, other than the cold and the fact that most of their stores are closed on Sundays, I still don't have any major gripes with the Canadian people. I'm sure Jon has his reasons for despising them the way he does, but they're okay in my book. Wish I could say the same about the BU Ski Club, which organized the trip... but that's not the point.

At about 3:15 on Friday afternoon, our buses departed from the GSU en route to Quebec City. The bus ride was rather uneventful, other than the fact that the array of movies shown (Mickey Blue Eyes, Dumb & Dumber, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and one other one that I can't remember) did a fine job of preventing me from getting any studying done. The crossing of the US/Canada border was celebrated by the passing around of copious amounts of booze by my busmates. I, being the way I am, respectfully chose to not take part in such revelry... okay, so I had one can of Icehouse, but that was it. By the time we reached Quebec City at around 12:30, the combination of drunkenness and tiredness had reduced many of my busmates to babbling idiots, whose constant spewing of such nonsense as "Houses are just popping up out of nowhere" and "Oh, I thought those were pictures of snow I was seeing outside" made me want to punch something... or somebody. Fortunately, I was able to restrain myself.

When we finally arrived at our hotel, room keys were passed out. I assumed I'd be rooming with three other guys, thinking that the school would frown upon co-ed rooms due to the possibility of... well, you know... especially given how much alcohol would be consumed on a trip like this, where everybody could actually drink legally. I was called up to the front of the bus along with a girl, and we were notified our other two roommates were on the other bus. Alright, I thought. This is a tad strange. Maybe it'll be two guys and two girls in each room. That would kind of make sense. Then I took the envelope with our room keys in it, and noticed my name alongside the names of three girls.

They didn't appear to be the smartest girls at BU, but they were all nice nonetheless, and didn't appear troubled in the least by the fact that they were sharing a room with a guy. Of course, they closed themselves in the bathroom whenever they showered or got changed, but other than that nobody complained about anything. Now, someday, when my kids ask me when I first slept with a girl... I'm not going to have a very interesting story to tell. Oh well.

Despite the fact that it was roughly 1:30 by the time we were settled into our rooms, not to mention the fact that most of them were already drunk, many students felt the need to go out and explore Quebec City's pubs and clubs. Me and the girls, on the other hand, stayed in and went to sleep.

The next morning, we boarded our buses and set out for Mont-Sainte-Anne, arriving shortly before 10 in the morning. It's a nice mountain, with about 60 trails spanning the entire spectrum of difficulty levels. For reasons I still don't entirely understand, there were two Saint Bernards named Maggie and Gertrude stationed at the top of the mountain for people to cuddle, take pictures of, etc. They must have known what a sucker I am for animals. While these and many other good things made the day an overall success, there was one negative factor: the weather. Despite the fact that I managed to cover every inch of my flesh with some sort of protective fabric, the routine for the day went something like this: Go up mountain, ski down mountain, go up mountain, ski down mountain, go into lodge to warm up and let the ice thaw off of my face mask, etc., etc. This continued until about 3:00, when we all boarded the buses once more and headed back to the city. After some time in the hotel, people went out to bars for evening, and I decided to join them for once. And a good time was had by all. Yay.

The next morning, we were supposed to leave the hotel at about 9:30 to go skiing again. However, the numbing cold outside kept the buses from starting. When we were told at 10:00 that it would be at least another hour before the buses showed up, I thought it might be more worthwhile to go explore the city instead. So I did. Quebec City is a deeply historical place, with lots of nifty little landmarks to visit. There's all sorts of stuff you can see and do... especially during Winter Carnival.

Ah yes, Winter Carnival... Canadian for Mardi Gras, essentially. While there's no beads and flocks of college students flashing each other (at least that I saw), there's still plenty of singing and dancing and hijinks and merriment going on. And it's all led by "le Bonhomme du Carnaval," a fat snowman in a Santa hat wearing a rainbow-colored scarf around his stomach. I watched a parade Saturday night, and the only thing funnier than the giant dancing animals that seemed to adorn each float was watching all the Canadians dancing around in the streets, singing and yelling all sorts of strange things. It was crazy.

I also took a ferryboat across the St. Lawrence River and explored the town of Levís. Given the fact that it was Sunday and pretty much everything was closed, there wasn't a lot to see there. However, given the fact that it has a statue of Guillaume Couture, the first member of my family to come to America, I felt it was my civic duty to at least go take a look around.

We were originally going to go tubing that night, but the people in charge decided it was too cold to do that. So, what did everybody do instead? Go out and get drunk, of course! I opted to stay in the hotel, watching The Simpsons and Spongebob Squarepants on French and catching up on some of my studying.

We left the hotel at about 11:00 Monday morning and headed back home. Other than stopping at the duty-free shop at the border (I found candy bars on sale for $1.79 Canadian... which was exactly the amount I had left. Yeehaw!) and passing through customs, nothing noteworthy happened until we hit Massachusetts and saw that it was snowing. Oh boy, was it snowing. A couple of phone calls later, it was discovered that BU had already cancelled classes for Tuesday, much to the enjoyment of everybody on the bus. People immediately began discussing their plans for that night and the next day. They could go sledding on that big hill out towards BC... or maybe they could have a party tonight and get drunk!

All in all, it was a fun trip, although I don't think I'll be joining the Ski Club on any more Canadian vacations. I don't fit into the club that well, since I can't bring myself to get drunk for four nights in a row. Several students admitted that it wasn't as much a skiing trip as it was a "drinking and hangover recovery on the monutain" trip. They have weekend trips up to Vermont every once in a while, which I might take part in, however. There wouldn't be quite as much drinking, given the fact that they'd still be in the US... I hope.

2003-02-17T21:01:00.000-05:00

Well, I made it back alive. And given what the weather's like right now, that's actually saying something.

BU's already cancelled classes for tomorrow due to the snowstorm, so I'll wait until tomorrow to write a recap of my crazy Canadian adventure. I'd do it right now, but lugging two shoulder bags, a backpack, and skis from the GSU to West Campus in a blizzard has a way of tiring one out. Now, please allow me to collapse.

2003-02-13T20:17:00.000-05:00

There's been a pair of skis sitting under my bed for the past week. Aaron, my roommate, as well as a couple of his friends who have visited the room, have noticed them and talked about them for brief periods, so they certainly knew that they were there. So naturally, when Aaron comes back to the room this evening after class and sees me stuffing my weekend bag full of clothes, the first thing he thinks to ask is:

"Oh, are you going snowboarding this weekend?"

Every time I try to convince myself he's not a moron, he goes and proves it to me again.

Tomorrow afternoon, I shall join the BU Ski Club in a weekend expedition to Quebec City to ski Mont Sainte Anne, which appears to be a pretty nice place. My dad's jealous, given that I'll be wandering around the lands where our brave Couture forefathers first set foot upon American soil. My mother worries for my safety, warning me that the underground shopping mall/convention center/thing connected to our hotel might get pumped full of nerve gas by terrorists. My brother... well, given his views of Canada, I'd rather not know what he thinks.

I'm certainly looking forward to it, considering how little skiing I've gotten to do in the past few years. In addition, the 8-hour bus rides to and from Quebec will give me an opportunity to catch up on my studying... I hope.

"Drinking on bus: As per the Sno-Search policy, we cannot advocate it. However, as long as people are in control, and pick up after themselves, it shouldn't be an issue. And remember 21+ in the US ;)"
So sayeth a "last minute info" letter from the ski club officers. I don't know about you, but there's no other place I'd rather spend my Valentine's Day than on a bus full of drunken college kids. Yay!

You know you're in for a fun day at work when you get home from your morning shift at 11:10, sit down to read your e-mail, and see "Hey Matt, I can't come into work today. Can you go in at 11 and cover for me?" At least Joe gave me a few "special assignments" today... like going upstairs to get him a cup of coffee. He's a great person to work for, really.

2003-02-11T09:46:00.000-05:00

Anybody critiquing Boston University Hockey's performances against Boston College this year would certainly have a lot to talk about. They could mock us for getting swept in our regular season series with BC, and talk about how we played in any of those three games. Or they might choose to discuss our performance in last night's Beanpot final. How we spent so much time on the defensive, or how we only had 4 shots in the entire third period, or how Baldwin (BC's mascot) beat Rhett at beer pong during the first intermission, or a number of other things.

If faced with such an argument, however, there's no need for a BU fan to panic. All they have to do is utter a simple three-word phrase. A wonderful little phrase it is, which will likely silence anybody who speaks ill of Terrier Nation.

"Where's your Beanpot?"

I saw it with my own two eyes, but I still can't fathom how we beat BC 3-2 last night. In what seems to be routine for them, BU had many careless penalties, and often had lots of trouble getting the puck out of the zone. All I can say is that Sean Fields is my hero. He had some tremendous saves in both games, and is certainly deserving of the MVP trophy.

While I may not have been on television or on the Jumbotron screen like some other people, the Beanpot experience was everything I could have hoped for and more. We chanted all sorts of wonderful things at the BC crowd, as well as at the pack of Northeastern fans who heckled us whenever we got penalized. Rhett walked up and down the aisle between BU's two main fan sections several times, flailing his arms around and hugging everybody in sight - myself included. Even riding the T back to campus after the game was fun, as we joined a pack of face-painted freshmen in heckling an old BC couple and cheering when the driver announced, "This is a Boston University train." Good times, indeed.

Since I haven't updated in a week, I should probably talk about non-Beanpot related matters for at least a little bit. With three exams last week, I didn't have much time to talk, and most of the time I did have was spent playing a new computer game which has proven to be quite addicting. My hard work is paying off, however; I got a 68 on my first Chemistry exam (class average was a 58) and an "A/A-" on my first Writing assignment. Both of those grades are higher than anything I got in either of those classes last semester, which is encouraging. Now, if only I can kep it up for the whole semester, I'll be all set.

2003-02-04T09:32:00.000-05:00

Today's update comes to you live from 44 Cummington Street, Room B-15. (The Copy/Mail Room, for those unfamiliar with addresses) Because I can.

I'm sure most of you reading this need no introduction to the Beanpot. The annual tournament between BC, BU, Harvard and Northeastern draws the attention of not only the city of Boston, but much of the rest of the country as well. Other than Travis Roy's graduation, it's the only time I've seen BU hockey talked about on ESPN. It's more than just another hockey tournament... despite what any polls on USCHO.com would have you believe.

The excitement peaks at the campuses of each of the four schools, as the student bodies try to cheer their team to victory. Students go to class decked out in hockey jerseys and other paraphinalia. Games are projected on giant 20 foot screens for all those who weren't able to get tickets. Even BU's School of Management, known for the hefty workload its studnets must endure, did not schedule any tests or projects for Monday so that all its students could go to the game and cheer on the Icedogs.

Unfortunately, the College of Arts and Sciences decided not to do anything similar.

A 5:30 Chemistry exam effectively destroyed any hopes I had of attending last night's 5:00 BU-Harvard game. By the time I finished the exam, ate dinner, and got back to my dorm to drop off my books, it was almost 7. I decided to take a trip to the mall in Cambridge, and as the T train I was riding passed the FleetCenter, Harvard's pep band and several fans from both sides were getting on the westbound train. It was somewhere around there that I stopped thinking that selling my ticket for $30 was a mistake.

Being the eternal pessimist that I am, I thought that Harvard might take advantage of the good season they're having and shock everybody by beating us. I guess I forgot that this is the Beanpot, and BU doesn't screw around. It sounds a little closer than I would have liked, but a win is a win, and BU's in the finals once more. Now, next Monday night, they have a chance to avenge their three previous losses to BC this season. And you'd better believe that I'll be there.

2003-01-31T20:47:00.000-05:00

Well, that was certainly fun to watch.

The arena wasn't anywhere near full, and the fans who were there weren't all that loud, but the 2,612 people who did bother to attend last night's BU-Merrimack Beanpot warmup saw quite a show. They watched as BU came out swinging with two goals on nine shots in the first eight minutes of the game. They watched as Ryan Whitney tallied a goal and an assist and was named the game's number 1 star. They watched Sean Fields recorded his third shutout against the Warriors and the fifth of his career, although a large part of it came thanks to great defensive play.

And they got bobbleheads. Oh yes, they got bobbleheads.

Since the beginning of the school year, advertisements for BU's hockey games have taunted fans with the question, "Who is the Mystery Bobblehead?" Seeing pictures of a BU hockey player bobblehead doll with a question mark over its face must have no doubt made Terrier fans giddy with excitement. As second semester began, the ads continued, promising that all would be revealed come January 30th. (Man, am I overdramatizing this or what?)

Before last night's Merrimack game, fans had the opportunity to guess who the bobblehead would be. With all the talented players on BU's roster, there were many possibilities... it could be Freddy Meyer, team captain. Or Sean Fields, goaltender worshipped by all. Or Justin Maiser, last year's Beanpot hero. Or John Sabo, because... well, he's Psycho Sabo. I had no idea who this "Mystery Bobblehead" could be...

Of course, the thought that they'd make a Jack Parker bobblehead never crosed my mind. Because that would be too obvious. Yeah.

It's a fairly nice looking representation of Parker, although mine's head is a tad crooked. And if you weren't able to get a bobblehead of your own, have no fear... just keep checking eBay. They're bound to start popping up there before long.

2003-01-29T21:54:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, as I was browsing DDR Freak's "New England" message board out of boredom, I stumbled across a plan that was ingenious in its simplicity.

Some of the regular posters on this board had taken notice to those coupon books BU hands out in the bookstore when you buy your textbooks. Each book contains a coupon for a free $5 player card at Jillian's. Since the school is just trying to get rid of these books anyway, one could conceivably grab a whole box of them ("If anybody harasses you about it, just say that you're an RA") and help yourself to free DDRing or DOCing or whatever you like to play at the arcade for quite some time.

By the time I'd heard this idea and got down to the bookstore, most of the coupon books were gone. However, last Thursday afternoon, a stack of about 70 of them magically appeared on a countertop just past Sleeper Hall's security guardbooth. Now, excited as I was when I initially saw them, I didn't just start stuffing them all into my backpack or anything like that. No, no, no... that would look awfully weird, not to mention how downright rude it would be.

I just grabbed 6 or 7 of them every time I passed by the stack for the rest of the day. And that, boys and girls, is why there are 32 coupon books sitting in one of the drawers of my computer desk.

Armed with my newfound freemoney, my trips to Jillian's have increased to roughly one per week, provided I'm caught up with my schoolwork and reading. Since they're becoming so commonplace, I don't feel the need to write an update about each individual one anymore... unless I were to, say, pass Justin Gorman and Bryan Lavin on Lansdowne Street as I was walking home.

If either of you are reading this, I hope Atlas Restaurant's food was yummy, and I hope to see you again sometime soon.

Needless to say, I play the horsey racing game whenever I can get the opportunity... which, lately, hasn't been very often. No matter what time of day or day of the week I go to the arcade, the Derby Owners Club machine is always populated by the same flock of roughly 15-20 Asian people. They smoke, they give their horses stupid names, they talk to each other in languages I don't understand, they carry around dozens of those horse data cards in trading card leaflets, and they soundly kick my ass whenever I get to play. Heck, one of them even laughed at me after I had a particularly bad race.

I tend to develop my opinions of certain peoples based on my experiences with them, such as the fact that I'm not too fond of African-Americans after they gave me shit all last summer when I worked at Six Flags. Now, between Aaron, his friends, and the DOC fanatics, my opinion of our friends to the far East is quickly going down the toilet.

2003-01-29T15:03:00.000-05:00

The Boston Red Sox and Florida Marlins are my baseball teams of choice. That's the way it always has been, and the way it will remain for the foreseeable future. It seems, however, that another team is doing everything in tis power to get itself inducted into my personal pantheon.

I've always viewed the New York Mets as "that team from New York that isn't the Yankees," which, while certainly a good thing, was never enough to actually make me cheer for them (unless they were playing against said Yankees, as in the 2000 Subway Series). During the offseason, however, the Mets signed the bestest baseball player in the whole wide world, Cliff Floyd. Ever since I stopped mourning the fact that I'd never get to see him in a Sox uniform again (I did see him play against the Blue Jays in September. He went 1-for-3, drove in a run and had a very nice diving catch), I wondered I should actually start rooting for the Mets, similar to the way Jon now sort of roots for the Calgary Flames because they have a certain Mr. Drury. But I forgot about it after a couple of days.

Until today, when a chance visit to MLB.com revealed that the Mets now have orange jerseys. Damn them! They know I'm a sucker for orange... I did go to AHS, after all. Still, while my interest has been piqued yet again, I don't seemyself becoming a fan of the Mets anytime soon. After all, they're in the same division as the Marlins, and therefore must die.

And for the record, this is what happens when I have nothing to talk about and I'm listening to DDR music while I write.

2003-01-27T20:33:00.000-05:00

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have won Super Bowl XXXVII. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are world champions.

Maybe it's just me, but that just doesn't seem right. Considering everything that's happened to them in the past, I just can't visualize the Bucs being the best team in the league. But apparently they are, judging from how they smacked around Rich Gannon and the Raiders last night. It seems that the latest trend in the NFL is teams coming from out of nowhere to win the Super Bowl. I mean, you had the Pats last year, the Bucs this year... personally, I like it. Watching the same teams win championships year after year gets boring really quickly. I like it when a sport mixes it up like this.

Which leads me to my next point: The Jacksonville Jaguars will win Super Bowl XXXVIII. Because no one expects them to. You heard it here first.

But enough about football... let's talk hockey. As I returned home from Jon Rea's apartment last night, I wondered if it would be worth heading down to the ticket office and camping out for Beanpot tickets, which went on sale this morning. I ultimately decided it wasn't, and went to sleep in the nice, warm confines of Sleeper 609. At roughly 7:00 this morning, as I prepared to head out to Warren Towers for breakfast (despite the fact that West has a dining hall, I've started eating most of my meals at Warren because, as Jon's been telling me all along, their food is much better), I decided I'd swing by the Case Center really quickly and see how long the line was, just for ha-ha's.

At 9:30, I returned to my room, Beanpot tickets in hand.

I don't get it either... Did the hardcore fanatics already get their tickets Saturday night?* Does nobody care about BU hockey anymore thanks to the subpar season they're having? Is this what happens every year, and was I just being paranoid when I imagined a line akin to that which I saw for BU-BC tickets months ago? Whatever the reason, there were only about 25 people in line a mere two hours before the ticket office opened, and as a result I will be joining Terrier Nation at the Fleet Center for the next two Monday nights. Woo!

* - The BU men's basketball team finally figured out a way to get people to come to their games... involve the Icedogs. At Saturday night's contest against Northeastern, the first 300 people to show up with SportsPasses and copies of the Free Press got vouchers, which could be used to buy Beanpot tickets directly after the game. This is how all of my floormates got tickets, and as luck would have it, my seats are only five rows behind theirs. Huzzah!

And how did BU B-Ball respond to having so many more fans than normal? They lost. To Northeastern. Way to keep them coming back, morons.

2003-01-26T15:18:00.000-05:00

I have returned from my Philadelphia adventures. How did everything go? Well, to be brief, I enjoyed every aspect of the trip except actually playing in the tournament matches.

Our brave band of 9 - myself, Ellen Rosoff, Erik Nielsen, Jon Rea, Pradeep Mouli, Rosie Vargas, Harrison Magy, Sarah Harriman and Mike Hoey-Lukakis - left BU at roughly 9:00 Friday morning. The ride down to Philly was about as eventful as a 6 hour drive that involves spending a good amount of time in "the armpit of America" can be. Jon, Rosie, and Ellen played the movie game (one person names a movie, the next names a person from that movie, the next names another movie that person was in, and so on and so forth) for roughly two and a half hours. We are the TRASH undergraduate national champions three years running for a reason, y'know. We also made our traditional stop at the Vince Lombardi Service Area in Jersey, where I finally got to see the much-heralded "Two Meat Combo" in all its glory. Unfortunately, nobody felt like drowning themselves in meat at that time of the afternoon.

One of the funniest moments of the entire trip came as we were entering Philly and saw two billboards directly across the highway from one another. To the left: an advertisement showing a man wearing a sign that said "Heart Disease is Near." To the right: an advertisement for Tasty Kake donuts. Ahh, the wonders of product placement.

We stayed in the Penn Tower Hotel, which appeared to be a medical center with four floors near the top sectioned off for hotel rooms. Except for the fact that our room reeked of cigarette smoke, it was pretty nice. Jon Rea volunteered to sleep on the floor since he apparently had mono, meaning Pradeep and I each got a bed to ourselves. After a couple hours in the hotel, we set off for UPenn, ultimately arriving far too early; the tournament was late getting started, largely because a van carrying three of the four Yale teams got sideswiped on the streets on Philadelphia. Yes, the same Yale that saw four of its students killed in a nasty car wreck about a week ago... apparently driving skills aren't a requirement in getting admitted to Ivy League schools. Fortunately, no one was injured.

After the opening five rounds (our A team of Erik, Pradeep, Jon and Ellen went 3-0, while the B team of myself, Harrison and Rosie went 0-4), all of the team members who were of proper age went out to follow the Three Pitcher Rule. Pradeep and I were left in the hotel to order obscene amounts of food and watch more of the Game Show Network. The next morning, the trends set by both teams continued; Team A finished the morning round 6-2 and 2nd in their bracket, while good 'ol Team B finished 1-7, which was surprisingly good enough for 7th. Teams were then reseeded into 10 new brackets of six, with the top four teams from the top three new brackets earning spots in the playoffs. BU A was placed in the highest bracket for the afternoon rounds, where the strength of the competition drove them to a 1-4 record (apparently they won one of the other games, but the other team protested, causing the victory to be overturned halfway through the next round... they're so disgusted by it that they won't mention any of the details) and a 7-6 overall record. My team finished 1-12 overall. After that, we all agreed that we'd had just about enough bad questions being read by horrifically bad moderators and headed home.

As for my own personal performance, both of my pre-tournament goals were met (see below) as I correctly answered not one, not two, but THREE tossups! (Saratoga, Jay Sherman and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, if anyone cares) The individual stats haven't been posted online yet, but 2 PPG should be enough to keep me out of last... I hope.

I arrived back at 609 Sleeper Hall at roughly 3:15 this morning, immediately going to bed and sleeping until about noontime. Now, despite my utter lack of interest in the gameitself, I look forward to Jon Rea's Super Bowl party, which I have decided to attend instead of camping out for Beanpot tickets. Methinks it wouldn't be any fun camping out all by myself, and Mr. Rea says I can always come to his place and watch the hockey games if I want to. What a nice guy.

2003-01-23T11:08:00.000-05:00

I hope everybody enjoyed my little midnight rant (scroll down if you don't know what I'm talking about). I assure, I did eventually fall asleep, and am now feeling much better for it.

For one, my rage about being left out of Stage Troupe this semester has subsided (other than the fact that I didn't get a ticket to tonight's BU-UNH hockey game thinking I'd be at callbacks, but I'll live. I have a bad feeling about this game anyways). Sure, I wish I could be in one of the plays, but now that I won't have rehearsals 3-5 nights a week there'll be that much more time to focus on my schoolwork. And the lack of weekend rehearsals and events will allow me to partake in many other events... such as the ski trip to Quebec City I'll be signing up for tonight. With all this newfound free time, I just hope I can find some way to occupy myself that doesn't involve feeding my DOC addiction.

Besides, I've got plenty of other things to look forward to. For example, tomorrow morning I shall join the BU College Bowl team as we travel to the University of Pennsylvania for the 12th annual installment of their glorious Bowl. I initially thought I'd be a moderator, but apparently I'll be playing instead. Given my past experiences with academic tournaments, I have set two goals for myself:

1) Answer at least one tossup correctly.
2) Don't come in last in individual scoring.

I was informed Wednesday night that I'd probably have to have a negative overall average to come in last, so given that I never buzz in, I should be fine. And apparently, someone from BU did come in last individually at a past Penn Bowl. Maybe that's why she now despises College Bowl, I don't know.

2003-01-23T00:15:00.000-05:00

It's midnight. I went to bed an hour and a half ago, yet I'm still awake because my roommate can't stop talking on his god damned cell phone. Sure, he went out in the hallway for once, but it's not enough - he has the loudest, most obnoxious voices I've ever heard, enough so that I can still clearly hear him out in the hallway. It's ridiculous. The only person on this floor that I can't stand being around on this floor is my roommate. I love the BU housing lottery.

The one "advantage" to my being up at this hour is that callbacks have been posted online for Stage Troupe's spring shows. Why is "advantage" in quotes, you ask? Because it's not really a good thing. Because my name's not on the lists. Oh sure, most of my Othello castmates got callbacks for a play or two... heck, one of the other Ensemble members got called back for three shows, and another got callbacks for all four! Me? Nothing. I will not be in a Stage Troupe production this semester. And I thought I actually had some talent to speak of, silly me. Thank you, Agawam High School, for not having any theater program whatsoever, so I could be so far behind everybody else in acting ability.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try and get some sleep. Or go punch Aaron in the face. I haven't decided yet.

2003-01-22T16:30:00.000-05:00

We Americans just can't seem to get enough of watching people perform. The ability to act, sing, dance, or any combination of the above will draw the attention of just about anybody these days. And even if you have no talent to speak of, at least we can laugh at you for sucking so much.

The evolution of the "celebrity culture" in America has been a fairly straightforward process. At first, only the best and brightest "stars" gained the attention of the American public. Talented (and some not so talented) actors and singers the world over gained the admiration of millions. We obsessed over them, and watched as supermarket tabloids and such TV programs as Inside Edition and Entertainment Tonight chronicled every waking moment of their lives. We couldn't get enough of them.

But it wasn't enough. "There must be more people out there we can shower needless attention upon," we said. "What about all the people like you and me who are ridiculously talented, but have lives to lead and can't make a career out of it? We have to find them and celebrate them as well!" So, fueled by programs like American Idol and Star Search, the "talent show" craze began. Our new duty as fans was to find the diamonds in the rough, the regular Joes who can sing like angels and make us laugh and cry, so that we might elevate them to celebrity status and give the respect they so rightfully deserve.

Wait a minute... why do I keep saying "we?" Why am I including myself in all this? I've always hated the love and attention we shower upon celebrities, and I've never really liked any of those shows. So why do I care about any of this, and why am I making you read about it? Maybe it has something to do with this tidbit of information I stumbled across at Tuesday night's RHA meeting:

"Inside Edition will be coming to BU on Thursday, January 30th for a talent showcase. Singers/dancers/etc. should keep an eye out for more information."
Not just an ordinary talent show... but a talent show being hosted by the worst program on television! Given my past exploits on Agawam's Top 40 stage, this opportunity might be too good to pass up. If I hear any new information, I'll be sure to post it here. Stay tuned.

2003-01-20T22:47:00.000-05:00

In honor of my attending auditions tonight, allow me to present the Boston University Stage Troupe Spring 2003 season.

A Complete Hostory of America (Abridged) - A product of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, this play is what it sounds like: the complete history of the United States, brought to you by three people in a span of roughly an hour and a half. I'm told it contains all sorts of wacky hijinks, which is always fun for everybody involved. The audition process for this play was the most complicated of any I've seen so far, as the three potential cast members were all required to identify what an alpaca was, tell a joke, and talk in two different accents (mine were Televangelist and Drill Sargeant, both of which I think I did rather well). Since the cast consists of only 6 people (3 of which were written in by the directors so that more people could be involved with it, mind you) and I'm not funny, you probably won't see me in this one.

The Real Inspector Hound - From what I've heard about this one, it involves a pair of critics who are reviewing a play and eventually become characters in the play themselves. And depending on their abilities to do so, the cast may or may not speak in British accents. Fortunately, no accent was required for the audition, which is probably why it went as well as it did. Just as was the case with Othello, the directors made sure to point out to me where callbacks would be posted as I was leaving, which leads to believe I will get called back for the show. Hey, it worked with Othello.

A Light in the Theatre - An original play based on the poetry of Shel Silverstein, this is Stage Troupe's "Kids Show" for 2003. In addition to being put on here at BU for the student body, this show will also be performed at various locales around Boston for the little ones. Our way of giving back to the community, if you will. This is the only show I didn't try out for tonight, but I'm thinking of going back tomorrow night to remedy that.

Oedipus Rex - Greek Tragedy: Because, as our vice president put it, "Stage Troupe has to put on at least one horribly depressing tragedy each semester." Considering this show has the largest cast, is being co-directed by one of my friends from the Othello cast, and not too may people seem interested in it, I initially felt I had a better shot at getting in this show than any of the others. Now that auditions have come and gone, I no longer know if that's the case. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Since I know the suspense is just killing you all, I'll be sure to let you know how things turn out come the end of the week.

2003-01-19T01:25:00.000-05:00

I was going to write a post about how awkward I felt after going to a party tonight with my floormates, only to leave after about an hour because the taste of beer seems to make me sick to my stomach nowadays. But I just couldn't word it in a way that seemed right and didn't make me burst out laughing because of its absurdity. So, I'll just leave it to your imaginations. Please, don't think too harshly of me.

2003-01-18T00:14:00.000-05:00

There is, in my humble opinion, no better way to end your first week of classes and head into a three-day weekend than to take a trip to Jillian's... except maybe if you went with your friends. Mine are always busy, or not around, or some other thing... but I don't let that ruin my fun. With a sizeable arcade, billiards, "blackjack for fun" and more, Jillian's is a place I'd wanted to visit ever since I first heard about it during Jon's time at school. Fiscal and time constraints kept me from going until the last week of first semester, but I found it to be worth the wait, seeing as it had everything I'd expected (DDR! Yeah!) and much more.

While I find DDRMAX2, the latest incarnation of the game, to be quite enjoyable, the lack of most of the songs I was good at back home is making me have to try and expand my limited repretoire. At least I have the encouragement of the locals, who always complement me on my good performances. This is probably the biggest change from back in Holyoke - even the best players, the ones who can excel at the game with the arrows traveling twice as fast and disappearing halfway up the screen (and yes, there was one guy there tonight doing this) give me a pat on the back after my performances and actually talk to me. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and appreciated.

While no trip to the arcade would be complete without a game or two of DDR, there is another game at Jillian's which is attracting much more of my attention and money: Derby Owners Club, a maddeningly addictive horse racing and breeding simulator. While I've never been that big of a horse racing fan, there's something about this game that keeps me coming back time and again. You start your first game by picking two parent horses from a collection of pre-loaded sires and dames, many of which are named after actual champion horses. Then, after you name your baby horse and make a set of jockey silks, you're ready to get started.

Before each race, you train and feed your horse to improve its stats. During the race (which is shown on a giant video screen, for the sake of any spectators nearby), you control your horse's speed, whipping it at different times depending on its leg type to get the best results. Then, after the race, you can interact with your horse to improve (or worsen) your relationship with it. And so it goes on and on, for as long as you wish to race your horse. When you're done, your horse's information is saved onto a card that you take with you. When you come back, just put in the card in and you can pick up right where you left off.

After 20 races (and each race after 20, if you choose to keep on racing), you have the option of retiring your horse. This leads to the best part of the game: if you have a retired horse's card, you can pop it into the game when you're creating a new horse, and use one (or two, if you have one horse of each gender) of your horses as parents for the baby horse. In this way you can, over time, build up your very own stable of race horses. Very cool... just what you'd expect from the fine folks at Sega.

Tonight, I retired my first horse, Silver Star. She initally suffered due to my lack of knowledge about the game, but as I got gradually better, so did she. In the end, she only won 2 races out of 27, but she was usually up front at the end of each race, and I'm proud of her. My new horsey, Raging Rhett (I even gave my jockey a scarlet and white outfit... is there such a thing as too much school spirit? I certainly hope not) is getting off to a pretty good start, although I ended up spending $100,000 of his winnings on new bedding. It did make him happy, though... and you know what they say: A happy horse is... something. I forget the rest.

I had a fun time, I got a good workout on the DDR machine, the people were friendly... only one thing kept this night from being perfect. You'll notice I haven't.... wait, I already did this last night. Never mind.

A come from behind victory, with the clincher scored with less than two minutes left in regulation... my fears of a below average Terrier hockey season are quickly resurfacing. They'd better find their game in time for the Beanpot, or I will not be a happy boy.

2003-01-17T14:25:00.000-05:00

I'm back. And if you're reading this, Mom, don't worry. The Chemistry quiz went fine.

In last semester's Chemistry 101 classes (and in many other classes where you solve problems, such as math and physics), it was required that you sign up for a Discussion section. This hour every week would be an opportunity for you to meet with a TF and get answers to any questions you had about the material. While you had to sign up for one, you weren't actually required to go to your discussion every week; they didn't take attendance, and they actually told us during the first week that we didn't have to come if we didn't want to.

You can all probably guess how that turned out.

I was among the hundreds of students who, from that point on, only attended discussions to pick up my graded exams. I always felt I had a pretty good understanding of the material, and if I did have any questions, I just went to see my professor during his office hours. So, when I was plotting out my schedule for second semester, I chose a discussion section that met Thursday nights at 7:00, assuming that I still wouldn't need to attend them. My rationale was that placing it out of the 9-to-5 range would allow more time for work and other important matters.

Little did I know, however, that the fact that nobody was attending discussions wasn't going over well with the professors. They came up a way to rectify this situation for Chemistry 102: they got rid of the online problem sets that had been 10% of our grade in 101, replacing them with biweekly, single-problem, relatively easy quizzes that would be given in... well, you figure it out.

At first, since I have no social life to speak of, I figured I would just attend my nightly discussion and be done with it... but then I remembered that I had plans for the next few Thursday nights. Fortunately, the class coordinator gave no objections whatsoever to my request to switch discussion sections; I'm guessing I wasn't the only one to come to her with such a request. So, now my classes run an hour later on Friday afternoons, but other than that all is right with the universe.

And now that 95% of my audience has left thanks to my boring stories, the other 5% of you get assorted random news tidbits! Yay!

- My beloved Jaguars have a new head coach. Can't say that I'm familiar with Mr. Jack Del Rio, but the whole "brought the Panthers defense from 32nd to 2nd in the league in 2002" thing makes me smile. It's kind of early to make any predictions, but needless to say I'm looking forward to next year. Especially since any and all teams I even remotely care about have been eliminated from the playoffs.

- Jon's becoming a DDR freak. And he thinks it will pass with time, too. Foolish little man... the sooner you end your futile resistance, the better it will be for everybody involved. (insert maniacal laughter here)

- I've linked to my brother's site every day I've updated this site. Because no, I really can't get out of his shadow. I feel like this should bother me more than it really does... ah well.

2003-01-17T07:04:00.000-05:00

For those who want to know, here's some more information about last night's game. I would have included this in last night's update, but it hadn't been written yet.

2003-01-16T22:25:00.000-05:00

My first attempt at getting tickets to a BU-BC hockey game did not go very well. Foolish freshman that I am, I thought showing up an hour before the ticket office opened would be sufficient. To say that this was not the case would be a gruesome understatement... I found myself at the end of a very, very, very long line. I found a floormate some ways ahead of me in line which allowed me to move up a bit, but it was to no avail; five painful hours later, as I stood literally inches from the ticket window, the game sold out. Bitter and depressed, I headed home and looked forward to my next opportunity.

As the second BU-BC game approached, things didn't look any better; I had classes nonstop from 8:00 to noon this past Monday, the day tickets went on sale. I wasn't expecting a whole lot, but nonetheless I rushed to the ticket office after my classes just to check. And what do I find? No line whatsoever, and plenty of seats still available in Section N. Guess the madhouse ticket sale from two months ago discouraged quite a few of my classmates... oh well, their loss.

Since most of Walter Brown Arena's sections are numbered, I spent most of the week trying to figure out where the heck my seat was. Once somebody told me it was the set of bleachers at the far end of the rink between Sections 7 and 8, I was discouraged - I didn't think I'd be able to see much of the game from there. As it turned out, however, I was high enough that I could see the entire rink, and the fans were just as insanely loud as everywhere else, if not moreso. The fact that my floormates, who also had seats in Section N, were tossing out some of the crudest insults and joining me in the traditional chants just made it all the better. All this, combined with the fact that I got to see Mark Coen and company again, made for a pretty entertaining evening... except for one tiny detail.

You'll notice I haven't said anything about the actual game yet. There's a reason for that. While there was plenty of hitting and checking and fighting and violencing and all of that good stuff, the Terriers just couldn't put the puck in the net. On the other side, BC scored practically every time they were on a power play... and the refs made sure they had plenty of opportunities with some horrifically bad calls. One such call towards the end of the second period led to BC's third goal, and was so disheartening that come the end of the period, we couldn't even bring ourselves to boo the Eagles off the ice. Truly a sad sight to see.

But enough ranting... I have a Chemistry quiz tomorrow I still need to study for. Huzzah!

2003-01-15T19:59:00.000-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you... CoochBlog. (See, my nickname is CoochDog, so I took out the "D" and put in a "BL." Isn't that great? Hahaha!... yeah.)

For those of you who don't know me, hello. I am Matthew Paul Couture, an 18-year old freshman in Boston University's College of Arts and Sciences. I am the younger brother of one Jonathan Couture, whose wonderful web site has inspired me to try and make a site of my own on several past occasions. However, a number of factors (short attention span, my life is boring, etc.) have kept me from maintaining any of them for very long. This time, however, I'm going to stick with it. No, really, I mean that. I think.

My second semester of college has gotten off to a rather uneventful start. Taking advanced versions of all the classes you took last semester will do that to you, I guess. With my science labs not starting for another two weeks, I really don't have much to do or talk about at this point in time. But, with BU/BC hockey tomorrow night, Stage Troupe auditions at the beginning of next week, and Penn Bowl at the end of next week, I should have plenty of conversational material relatively soon. Or so you would think.

Well, I think this has gone on long enough for right now. Au revoir, mis amigos!