Monday, January 01, 2007
2007
Happy New Year, loyal readers. The Invisible Ben is still very much alive, even if his enthusiasm for blogging has waned somewhat of late. Such things are to be expected, however, when the break between semesters is filled with intimidating research projects. Of course, I haven't spent all my time in the library, just the majority of it. On those rare occasions where it's been closed, I've been forced to pursue other interests.
For example, on Christmas, after watching a brief historical reenactment of Washington crossing the Delaware, I drove to my local theater and watched Casino Royale. Having read the original novel when I was an undergraduate, I confess that I was not thrilled after reading some advanced reviews about some of the liberties taken with the plot. Texas Hold 'Em poker instead of baccarat? Changing the location of the casino to Montenegro? And where the hell were David Niven and Woody Allen? Nevertheless, I am pleased to report, at the start of 2-007, that the film was well worth the price of admission, even if I found myself slightly disoriented by the film's geographic scope. Within the first hour, our stalwart hero is in 5 different countries: The Czech Republic, Madagascar, Great Britain, the Bahamas, and the United States...and that's before they get to the title establishment somewhere in the former Yugoslavia! Carmen Sandiego has got nothing on James Bond.
But there was more to my holiday season than movie watching and paper writing. For example, I got to have dinner with the Invisible Dad when he came down to visit his parents. He brought along Invisible Dog, who is not nearly as petite as she was when I posted that picture so long ago, which made dealing with leftovers a snap. And right after Christmas, my girlfriend returned home from seeing her family, so I got to spend some time with her. To celebrate the winter solstice, and all of its affiliated festivals, we went to dinner at the Melting Pot, a restaurant dedicated to the preparation and consumption of fondue. Not just cheese fondue, however. No, there were fondues of all kinds, savory and sweet, in which one could dip damn well any vegetable, fruit, or dessert one wanted. Near the end of the meal, the waitress was even nice enough to volunteer my coat for dipping, when she accidentally spilled one of their fancy sauces on it. She cleaned it off and I tried not to make a big deal of things, especially since I had other business to attend to after dinner, namely a trip to the theater to see Chicago...the musical, not the band.
All of this, of course, served as precursor to New Year's Eve, which marked an anniversary of sorts for us. As some of you may remember, I had planned to spend my New Year's Eve last year by myself. The best laid plans of mice and Ben, however, can often go astray, and in this case, my current girlfriend and past coworker was responsible. She was kind enough to invite me, at the last minute, to attend a party that some of her friends were holding downtown. The party, it turned out, was actually starting to fragment by the time we arrived, but the two of us decided to hang out anyway and rang in the New Year together, watching the fireworks explode in the cold night air. A few weeks later, I asked her out on a more formalized "date," and the rest, as they say, is history. So New Year's and its associated celebrations holds a bit of sentimental value for us. We spent our New Year's this time around in a slightly less frenzied environment than a city crowd, sipping champagne in her apartment and watching a somewhat haggard looking Dick Clark count down the final seconds of 2006. All in all, I can think of no nicer way to have spent the time.
Looking back, 2006 was a busy year for the Invisible Ben. 2007 promises to be much more stable, with far fewer Underwood related escapades and many more of the mundane events that characterize graduate school life. Nevertheless, my hope...I hesitate to say resolution...for 2007 is that I will pay closer attention to the fascinating and bizarre aspects of this wonderfully strange world of ours and keep a more comprehensive record of it here for you to read. Whether this means pointing out foibles of the academic types with whom I rub elbows or the random eccentricities inherent in history, politics, pop culture, or some other miscellaneous category, it's all fair game. So stay tuned, folks, because 2007 is going to be an interesting year. I hope you won't mind me tagging along for the ride.
Happy New Year, loyal readers. The Invisible Ben is still very much alive, even if his enthusiasm for blogging has waned somewhat of late. Such things are to be expected, however, when the break between semesters is filled with intimidating research projects. Of course, I haven't spent all my time in the library, just the majority of it. On those rare occasions where it's been closed, I've been forced to pursue other interests.
For example, on Christmas, after watching a brief historical reenactment of Washington crossing the Delaware, I drove to my local theater and watched Casino Royale. Having read the original novel when I was an undergraduate, I confess that I was not thrilled after reading some advanced reviews about some of the liberties taken with the plot. Texas Hold 'Em poker instead of baccarat? Changing the location of the casino to Montenegro? And where the hell were David Niven and Woody Allen? Nevertheless, I am pleased to report, at the start of 2-007, that the film was well worth the price of admission, even if I found myself slightly disoriented by the film's geographic scope. Within the first hour, our stalwart hero is in 5 different countries: The Czech Republic, Madagascar, Great Britain, the Bahamas, and the United States...and that's before they get to the title establishment somewhere in the former Yugoslavia! Carmen Sandiego has got nothing on James Bond.
But there was more to my holiday season than movie watching and paper writing. For example, I got to have dinner with the Invisible Dad when he came down to visit his parents. He brought along Invisible Dog, who is not nearly as petite as she was when I posted that picture so long ago, which made dealing with leftovers a snap. And right after Christmas, my girlfriend returned home from seeing her family, so I got to spend some time with her. To celebrate the winter solstice, and all of its affiliated festivals, we went to dinner at the Melting Pot, a restaurant dedicated to the preparation and consumption of fondue. Not just cheese fondue, however. No, there were fondues of all kinds, savory and sweet, in which one could dip damn well any vegetable, fruit, or dessert one wanted. Near the end of the meal, the waitress was even nice enough to volunteer my coat for dipping, when she accidentally spilled one of their fancy sauces on it. She cleaned it off and I tried not to make a big deal of things, especially since I had other business to attend to after dinner, namely a trip to the theater to see Chicago...the musical, not the band.
All of this, of course, served as precursor to New Year's Eve, which marked an anniversary of sorts for us. As some of you may remember, I had planned to spend my New Year's Eve last year by myself. The best laid plans of mice and Ben, however, can often go astray, and in this case, my current girlfriend and past coworker was responsible. She was kind enough to invite me, at the last minute, to attend a party that some of her friends were holding downtown. The party, it turned out, was actually starting to fragment by the time we arrived, but the two of us decided to hang out anyway and rang in the New Year together, watching the fireworks explode in the cold night air. A few weeks later, I asked her out on a more formalized "date," and the rest, as they say, is history. So New Year's and its associated celebrations holds a bit of sentimental value for us. We spent our New Year's this time around in a slightly less frenzied environment than a city crowd, sipping champagne in her apartment and watching a somewhat haggard looking Dick Clark count down the final seconds of 2006. All in all, I can think of no nicer way to have spent the time.
Looking back, 2006 was a busy year for the Invisible Ben. 2007 promises to be much more stable, with far fewer Underwood related escapades and many more of the mundane events that characterize graduate school life. Nevertheless, my hope...I hesitate to say resolution...for 2007 is that I will pay closer attention to the fascinating and bizarre aspects of this wonderfully strange world of ours and keep a more comprehensive record of it here for you to read. Whether this means pointing out foibles of the academic types with whom I rub elbows or the random eccentricities inherent in history, politics, pop culture, or some other miscellaneous category, it's all fair game. So stay tuned, folks, because 2007 is going to be an interesting year. I hope you won't mind me tagging along for the ride.
