"Hello there, good to see you. How are you? I need you."

So the other day (Tuesday), I had a "Come-and-Seer" stay in my room. He was a little awkward, not in the "home-schooled and doesn't talk" way but more in the "seems to have strange ideas about social interaction". And I don't even mean like that one "C&Ser" who second-based Pinne. This guy's deal was that he asked a lot of questions. Conversation would pretty much consist of him asking a question, me answering it, him asking another question, me answering it, ad nauseam. Now, that's alright in itself. Questions are a great way to get to know people and what sort of people go to a certain school, and at least he didn't just sit there awkwardly. The strange thing (I come, at last, to my point) was the nature of his questions. They were all extremely /factual/, for lack of a better word. Things like "What's your favorite caf meal?" and "Do you often have a lot of homework?" These may seem innocent enough in themselves, but the way he asked them was purely data-gathering, which made it a little weird.

Then we get on to the /really/ special part: personal questions asked in the same spirit of data-assimilation! He says: "So have you dated anyone on campus?" I figure, well, maybe a little personal right off the bat but, hey, I'm not /that/ private of a person. So I say: "Yeah, but we broke up." Now, I'm ready (if he asks) to give a civil explanation of the reason why, and how (as far as break-ups go) it really went pretty well, etc. but his next question is anything but "Oh? Why's that?". It is, in fact, "Was she pretty?". Now, /that/ was kind of weird, but I shrug it off and say: "Well, yeah. I mean: /I/ sure thought so." To which he chuckles and replies, "Yeah, I mean: we're guys..." So at that point, I'm not even sure /which/ is weirder: that he thinks the most important question to ask about a relationship has to do with looks, or that he thinks the only reason I was in a relationship with this girl is because I'm a guy and ergo think girls are pretty. So, needless to say: a weird C&Ser. He also dropped an awkwardly-placed "I'm hanging out with college guys" F-Bomb while we were talking. Oh well... I guess he was only a High-School Junior. He has some time to grow up.

However, one amazing thing did come out of the experience: I ended up watching 28 Days Later with a bunch of guys. Well... I don't think I can really credit the C&Ser with that one. I mean, he was /there/, but I watched the movie because Mr. Tumnus and Dirty Dan both gave it high recommendations. I was very pleasantly surprised. The movie was billed as a zombie-flick, but that's really not what it's about. It's more of an "epidemic movie", as Double-D asserts. The zombies only appear in a few scenes, and are more of an aspect in the plot rather than the reason for it's creation. Despite the USCCB's hyperbole, it was not "excessively violent", especially for a zombie-film, and only had two "cringe-moments", both pretty minor.On the whole: it was a film about man's will to survive, the importance of family in hard times, "man's inhumanity to man" and ultimately: hope. The movie also starred Cillian Murphy, who lends a lot of intimacy and authentic humanity to the movie. I think that after Batman Begins, Red Eye and now 28 Day Later, Mr. Murphy is on my "Sean Connery List" (which, to the uninitiated, means that any movie he's in is bound to be good at least insofar as he's in it). The soundtrack for the movie was also pretty rocking. At one point during an instrumental post-rock piece, I leaned over to DD and said, "Hey, do you know who did the soundtrack? This sounds a lot like Godspeed You! Black Emperor." He had no idea who did the music, and I resolved to check later. Upon checking, I discovered that GY!BE did in fact contribute a track to the score: a fact which made me very happy. Identifying obscure Canadian bands from an obscure genre by a minute-long (their songs are generally around 15min) instrumental segment is pretty much what I live for.

I really need to start working on my paper sometime. I'm turning it in on Monday. I have CTL Date Night this Saturday... Sheesh. I just need to get this thing done with!

Hesychia,
-L