Happy Valentine's Day!

This is a day that I look forward to every day of the year, though not for the traditional reasons. One, there is a chance some people may give me candy. I don't really eat much candy, but that doesn't mean that I do not like to get it. Two, it's my day to sit down and watch horror, dark film-noir, and not-so-happy-ending love story movies. It's been a tradition of mine going back to high school.

I've only been officially dating someone twice on this day. My high school girlfriend (I got her to watch a few scary movies with me, but was forced into cooking dinner before hand and buying stuff) and also my sophomore year of college. The college girl was great as we both wanted to rebel against Valentine's Day for a myriad of reasons, so it was an easy sell for not buying anything and watching movies of love being torn apart.

I make it sound like I'm bitter towards love and so on, but that's not the case. I'm not against love should it find me, I'm just not looking for it. I'm perfectly content going through college without any attachment. One, there are lots of college co-eds and I want to see as many of their boobs as possible before I'm old enough to where it's creepy. Two, if I had a girlfriend...would I be able to spend an entire day in my pajamas, getting stoned, and watching movies/playing video games? If there's a woman out there that I can trust and doesn't mind that I do those things, then you should contact me. If not, well, that is why I'm so much better being single.

As many of you know, this is the second consecutive day that the University of Illinois has let out classes due to weather-related conditions. Yesterday was the first time it has happened since 1979. I feel like I'm a part of history. That said, it would have been tough to get to class in a foot of snow, snow drifts up to 5-6' tall, and 40 mph winds. I was annoyed by the winds the most because it made it a little hard to light my pipe when I was outside.

I'm going to listen to some more downloaded music today...I picked up a few albums over this past weekend and I'll note some songs that you should be sure to pick up.

The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth
Solid cd, especially if you like their previous stuff. I gave it an overall rating of a B-. I absolutely love Ize of the World and also find myself listening to Electricityscape, Vision of Division, Razorblade, and Heart in a Cage

Rise Against - The Sufferer and the Witness
I absolutely loved this album. It's the fast-paced pop rock that I tend to get into and find catchy. Prayer of the Refugee has become one of my favorite songs and I'm also really digging Injection, Ready to Fall, Under the Knife, Drones, The Approaching Curve, and The Good Left Undone. This album is an easy A for me.

The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine
This is a band that I had never listened to, but liked some of their samples so I checked into them. Glad I did as I found an album that I really enjoyed, giving it a B+ overall rating. Here's to Your Future and Power Doesn't Run on Nothing are my favorite songs from the album, while I also really enjoy I Might Need You to Kill, A Pillar of Salt, Returning to the Fold, and St. Rosa and the Swallows.

More to come later.

I'll finish with a question. How in the world did Deron Williams not get picked to represent the Western Conference in the All-Star game? What a shame. He's arguably the guy most important to his team's current placement in the conference (even more so than Boozer...and Okur). I understand that Ray Allen is the bigger name, but I really feel that Deron deserved that spot.