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Ever So Late to the Dance - De File
Does Collecting Make You Feel Dirty?
05:39 pm February 24th, 2006
cbertsch
cbertsch
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Ever So Late to the Dance
I lit my first match at nineteen and just had my first internet chat yesterday at thirty-seven. What does that say about me? I wouldn't have taken the plunge on the latter, but a window popped up when I was in Gmail and I figured what the hell. The reason I was opposed to chatting before is that I like to archive everything. But Gmail archives your chats for you without having to do anything. I like that.

In other news, I read my paper off my laptop because I'd made changes since arriving and couldn't get the printer I'd brought along to work. Luckily, I'd brought a mouse along so I could just keep the cursor on the down arrow without touching the laptop itself. It wasn't my best presentation, but the panel was better than expected. Sometimes papers that don't seem to be closely connected work well together. That was the case.

I'm losing my virginity left and right these days. Last night I went to T.G.I. Friday's for the first time. I desperately needed protein and it was too late to search for a "real" restaurant. The steak I got was actually decent. And I got to watch two college basketball games on television and follow the Cal-Washington State game on my mobile phone. My finger got a cramp from pushing "Refresh" over and over. Luckily the Bears won -- 43-41! -- so I didn't run the risk of personal injury. The funny thing was I kept thinking that I'd read the score wrong and had to check over and over to make sure I hadn't.

I just realized that I'm using Live Journal the way that people use Live Journal! That's very exciting. Now when all of those people tell me that "real" blogs aren't on LJ, I'll be able to agree with them. And what's with the daily changes to the LJ home page? I'm getting tired of that parade of new features. There is such a thing as feature-creep, you know. Give me simplicity or give me death!

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24 comments or Leave a comment
Comments
Thread started by zoe k.
From: zokah Date: February 24th, 2006 08:43 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
this is one of the funniest things you've written! Seriously, I can not stop laughing.
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cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: February 25th, 2006 02:45 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Thanks! I enjoyed your hotel entry, especially the way the photo worked with it.
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Thread started by [lindsey]
xxxpunkxgrrlxxx From: xxxpunkxgrrlxxx Date: February 24th, 2006 11:27 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
today i read play it as it lays in one fell swoop



the whole abortion thing almost gave me a panic attack, because it was so easy to visualize.
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cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: February 25th, 2006 02:48 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
I think it's really powerful. The fact that you can read it quickly is an advantage in that regard. It was strange to be presenting a paper on the book yesterday that covered the same territory I would have covered in class. It went well enough, though, and I'm glad to have come to the conference.
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xxxpunkxgrrlxxx From: xxxpunkxgrrlxxx Date: February 25th, 2006 02:54 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
i liked it, and i'm glad it was a quick read, unlike the acosta book that i had to re-read parts of.

glad your presentation went well!
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cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: February 26th, 2006 03:28 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
The Acosta is hard to follow at times. But it grows on you. The font doesn't help.
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Thread started by Dave
dlowestanimal From: dlowestanimal Date: February 24th, 2006 11:54 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
I thought of you as I watched the end of the Cal game last night. It was scarier than you'll probably realize if you just read about it. When Wazzu blocked a shot with under 10 ticks remaining and took final possession with a chance to win, I got about as nervous as a guy can get for another man's team.

The worst thing about Friday's is that it's a chain of clones without any individuality, trying to create the feel of uniqueness. However, if you've only ever been into one, and it's in Louisville, then this should mean nothing to you. As a standalone event in your life, you should be able to revel in the Friday's charm and think of it as quite kitschy and quaint. It doesn't have to be corporate in your mind. That won't come until you set foot in Friday's #2, #3, and so on. If you can ignore that, at least you'll know that you can get a reliably decent steak anywhere on the globe.

There's a Friday's in Berlin now. I was half tempted to look at the menu when I passed by. The other half kicked the first half's ass.
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cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: February 25th, 2006 02:51 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
I actually had a pretty clear sense of how bad the last few minutes of the game were. When you "watch" it on your phone, you get enough detail to imagine the horror. I suppose I should be grateful, though, considering the fact that Washington State beat Washington twice. Dick Bennett has long been a Pac-10 nemesis. His Wisconsin-Green Bay team broke my heart in 1994, when they ousted Jason Kidd's last Cal team in the first round of the tourney. And the Cougars always make me anxious as well.

I'm sure you're right about Friday's. But it was definitely preferable to the Hard Rock Cafe across the street!
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frostedfuckhead From: frostedfuckhead Date: February 27th, 2006 04:17 am (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Ha, a Fridays in Berlin. That still beats the Sizzler we got here in Beijing. It's right near my home and one day, desperate for a hunk of cow, I tried one of their horribly overpriced steaks. It was decidedly *not* decent.

I actually saw a Friday's here in Beijing, too, in a foreign district. I guess they really are everwhere.

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Thread started by Steven Rubio
masoo From: masoo Date: February 25th, 2006 01:05 am (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
I'm very happy if you start doing IM, but I can't let this slide: "The reason I was opposed to chatting before is that I like to archive everything."

Are you also opposed to talking? Hard to archive a conversation, after all ...
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cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: February 25th, 2006 02:52 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Actually, I went through a phase of wanting to record phone calls. I even did so for a little while towards the end of my relationship with Annalee. But I've learned to temper my archival impulse slightly. . . :-)
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masoo From: masoo Date: February 25th, 2006 02:54 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
That's pretty funny! I know when Gmail started, some people asked that I not use it when emailing them because they didn't want their words sent through Gmail's filters.

So, when you recorded calls, did they go "beep" every few seconds?
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cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: February 26th, 2006 03:29 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Nope! My philosophy is to flood the filters with content, not to avoid them altogether.
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Thread started by Elaine Axten
From: e4q Date: February 25th, 2006 07:49 am (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
yeah, me too. everything online i have done 'new' in the past year. i beat you with the IM though. and it is annoying it's not documented, because the main person i talk to is this guy jeeff in canada, and we got to know each other online, and i suspect strongly that if we had the text we could do something great with it. (except, maybe, our games of illiterati. they might not be quite as interesting to the casual observer. what is creepy is that you do get people watching your games... what can that be about????)
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cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: February 25th, 2006 02:54 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Great icon! I think it's called voyeurism. A lot of my initial interest in LJ was voyeuristic in an academic research sort of way. Anyway, you should check out the Gmail chat feature. It works better than others I've seen.
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masoo From: masoo Date: February 25th, 2006 02:58 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
I'd say Gmail's chat is easier to get started with ... other than that, it isn't up to the other chat programs yet.
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From: e4q Date: February 25th, 2006 03:39 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
i will have to check it out, i am too nosey not to
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cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: February 26th, 2006 03:30 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Probably true. But I don't know how to chat, so it works for me. It's like a Mac!
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From: e4q Date: February 25th, 2006 03:38 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
ta, it's the original silly cow painting image.

i do mean to get with the gmail chat, i am gmailed.

my start was all about dialogue, lucking in, as i did, to a phtographic site that was easy and friendly and supportive towards me, and, at the time, crucially, for me, without tricksy signing in fuss.
later on i joined the elljay, and mooched around finding my way - but joining myspace was totally voyeuristic, and rejoining friendster, which i had been joined to a few years previously. i was nosey as hell as to comparing the feel of the blogs and whatnot. i do find i have a use for myspace, though doubtless i am not on their radar as far as 'client group' is concerned, but as long as these things are useable then people will use them. meanwhile friendster festers away quietly, despite having been modernised it seems to be as klunky and useless as it was before.
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cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: February 26th, 2006 03:31 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
Friendster is dead.
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_luaineach From: _luaineach Date: February 25th, 2006 07:59 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
You *can* save all your AIM chats you know.
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_luaineach From: _luaineach Date: February 25th, 2006 08:01 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
(in that, right in your chat window, under the File option, is a "Save" one). I save a lot of them with some people because the saved version then serve the purpose of back reference a la a conversation via email.
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From: e4q Date: February 25th, 2006 10:44 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
i would like that. it is a shame i am so computer illiterate.
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cbertsch From: cbertsch Date: February 26th, 2006 03:32 pm (UTC) (LINK TO SPECIFIC ENTRY)
I know that. I just like the fact that Gmail does it without asking.
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24 comments or Leave a comment
PROFILE
Charlie Bertsch
User: cbertsch
Name: Charlie Bertsch
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ABOUT DE FILE
You're looking at content from my Live Journal, which I have been keeping since 2003. I consider it a personal blog, though it lacks stream-of-consciousness revelations that typify that genre.

That said, if you manage to discern the confessional mode within entries that are superficially tight-lipped, I will reward you handsomely. Or at least pretend to do so.

In addition to reflections, however mediated, on my daily activities, De File features periodic excavations of material from my "files," a revelation sure to disturb anyone who has seen my garage. It's an experiment in integrating past and present, perhaps with a little redemption along the way.

Politics is always on my mind, but rarely explicit here. I’m working on a theory about what personal writing like this does to literary identification and why some people resist its pull so powerfully. But my goal is to make that theory dissolve in my practice, a density in liquid.

You'll note that I have links to blogs not on LiveJournal directly above, as well as assorted websites of note. The blogs I read regularly on LiveJournal itself fall under "FRIENDS" at the top, for those of you unfamiliar with LJ’s workings.

You can write me. I'm "cbertsch" before the circle-a and "comcast.net" after it.
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