Ma Rainey's dramatic lilt

lilt \lilt\, noun:

1. rhythmic swing or cadence.
2. a lilting song or tune.

verb:
1. to sing or play in a light, tripping, or rhythmic manner.

I like to believe that I have made my Interpretation of Drama class famous on this blog, and the interesting events just keep rolling in.

Yesterday we had to read (and yes, I say had to because nobody read the play, we were all too busy writing a paper for this class the night before) a play called Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, a play that I also believe no one in the class had ever heard of.  Luckily, I think there was a point in the class that m teacher realized that no one read the play.

 So what can you do in a situation like this?  Show the class video clips of the bluesy lilt for which the play is named?  By the original Ma Rainey?  YES!

That's exactly what our teacher did.  For a good seven minutes or so, instead of discussing why Ma was late and forced her band to go get her a Coca Cola, we listened to the original Black Bottom song, and then clips of people dancing to it in the 1920's.  It was pretty interesting, and I honestly wish that kind of dancing was around now, instead of the grinding that we currently have.  The black bottom is so much funnier/classier depending on who you dance it with.  Maybe I would go out just a little bit more on the weekends....

Here's what we got to sit and listen to:

Rainy ingressions

ingress \IN-gres\, noun:

1. the act of going in or entering.
2. the right to enter.
3. a means or place of entering; entryway.
4. Astronomy. immersion (def. 5).

I was able to use today's WoD in a tweet!  Since it was raining extremely hard today, I had absolutely no desire to go outside, so I decided to order delivery.  My tweet went as such:

"I don't think the ingress of Sadler is worth it right now #rain #delivery"

Sadler is the building next door with the dining hall that I had no desire to enter.  My delivery was fan-freaking-tastic by the way.

Machinating the Internet

machinate \MAK-uh-neyt\, verb:

to contrive or plot, especially artfully or with evil purpose: to machinate the overthrow of the government.

Oftentimes I machinate to do my homework early on in the day, but fail miserably.  I blame the Internet for being such an entertaining place.

Plethoric amounts of rain in Syracuse

plethoric \ple-THAWR-ik, -THOR-, PLETH-uh-rik\, adjective:

1. overfull; turgid; inflated: a plethoric, pompous speech.
2. of, pertaining to, or characterized by plethora.

I don't usually say this, actually, I've never said this, but Syracuse has a plethoric amount of rain right now.  Seriously, there's thunder and lightning and everything. 

So.  Much.  Rain.

Stranger Danger

See this piece of Hershey's Chocolate? It was taken from the arms of a stranger. Let me explain...

My friend Ali and I were walking to class when we passed by a student with a colorful sign that had the word "FREE" written in one hand and this piece of Hershey's Chocolate dangling in the other. Both my friend and I noticed this as we walked by, but neither of us wanted to take the piece of candy. After all, "stranger danger" comes to mind with such a creepy, atypical move. A few moments after passing by, we both just knew we wanted that candy, so we went back and greeted the guy and each of us received a piece of milk chocolate!

Recently, breaking the "stranger danger" rule has been a novel concept to me. It shocked me the other day when I was playing basketball at the gym with my friends and a group of guys I didn't recognize asked to play with us on the same court.

This concept of "stranger danger" has always been a rule I'd follow as a kid, but as an adult, you're forced to face strangers everyday.  It doesn't help to shy away from something you want or new people you could potentially meet. There's a point where you need to recognize that not everyone is out to get you.

It was warm today.

Today was so warm, it was 60 degrees! Jillian and I just had to get some froyo at Yogurtland, so here's a lovely picture I took today on a stereotypical park bench with my $10 worth of yogurt.

Sorry I didn't take a more meaningful picture today...

To all those demimonde engineers

demimonde \DEM-ee-mond; Fr. duh-mee-MAWND\, noun:

1. a group characterized by lack of success or status: the literary demimonde.
2. (especially during the last half of the 19th century) a class of women who have lost their standing in respectable society because of indiscreet behavior or sexual promiscuity.
3. a demimondaine.
4. prostitutes or courtesans in general.
5. a group whose activities are ethically or legally questionable: a demimonde of investigative journalists writing for the sensationalist tabloids.

Personally, I like the second definition, one can have so much fun with that if ever there was a funny social commentary.  The first, however, reminds me of my favorite show ever, The Big Bang Theory, therefore I shall write on that one because it is even funnier than social commentary.

For those of you who have not seen The Big Bang Theory, change that status, immediately!  It is a fantastic show about four nerdy guys who work at CalTech in Pasadena, CA and have a beautiful friend whom one of them likes very much and ends up dating and then there are two other girls as well for two of the other guys but there's still that random single guy who's mad about it and there's lots of Star Trek and Star Wars and Doctor Who and other comic book references and it's just great go watch it it's good for your soul.

In the show, there is a character named Howard Wolowitz, a.k.a. my second favorite character on the show.  He's different from all of the other guys because, well, he only has a master's degree.  No Ph.D.  What a loser.  It's funny because this little nip in eduction makes him a demimonde amongst his other doctorate friends.  He is (spoiler alert!) the first of his friends to get married, however.  

There, I've done it, I've used the Word of the Day.  Now I'm going to humor all of you with my favorite scenes and pictures from Big Bang.  You're welcome.

Above is a tribute to Howard Wolowitz.  Shout out to all the engineers out there.

The Whipped app.  I swear it's really funny.

Best.  Scene.  Ever.

The cast looking extremely attractive.