Nick - Resting On My Laurels

"Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights.
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous."

-Shakespeare's Julius Caesar


It's somewhat ironic that Shakespeare would have Caesar warn against content men, considering he's the first person that comes to mind when I think of the phrase "resting on one's laurels."

A few people have been calling me "New Nick" this week because I changed my hair / glasses / attitude. Which is funny and clever; and let's be honest, I love attention. But pretty soon this joke will die like every running joke dies, and all the better.

I change up when I start to get too comfortable. Too bored, even. Like when I cut my long hair, or that other time. Because if I've gone long enough without learning something new, without changing up, then I'm doing something wrong. Resting on my laurels is bad for me.

One time I told somebody that everything ends, and they got really upset; I'd like to amend that statement. Everything changes.

One of the best compliments I ever received was from Friday Conor, who told me, "you do what you do, and you stick to it."

There's an apparent contradiction here, but really it makes perfect sense. Living in the moment and doing what you do is all you are; what you've done in the past, and what you say you're going to do in the future are things that people see about you, but they don't make you who you are. They're just words and memories.

I like learning and trying and changing; that's who I am.


"It don't matter that some fool say he different, 'cause the things that make you different is what you really do, what you really go through." - D'Angelo Barksdale, The Wire

-Nick.

An Apology

 Something to tide you over: An iconic scene featuring Omar Litte of HBO's The Wire

by Brendan Cavanagh

Dear devoted Thursay Classic Brian readers,

I sincerely apologize for my absence of a regular Thursday (sober) post, but I'll be honest, I'm addicted to a new, more potent drug. That is, I simply cannot get off the couch and draw myself away from well-written, engrossing, serialized television programs. Seriously, it's like visually consuming a great, long Dickens novel or something of the sort. I guess I should still get some recreational reading done more often, though. A list of opiate-dream programs I've viewed over Christmas Break:

Television:

Rescue Me
The Sopranos
The Wire
Downton Abbey

Movies:

I'm Still Here (yeah, that obscene Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary)
The Big Sleep
The African Queen

Well, it may not seem like that long of a list to be considered an excuse for not leaving the house some nights, but the aforementioned titles are only the memorable, important programs I watched. What can I say? I like that I'm getting back into my old habit of watching excellent movies/television, even if I am voraciously watching it a little more than I should. I feel like I'm just going through a growth spurt of matriculation, or catching-up, if you will.

Tune in tomorrow, when I have more time to elaborate on this blog post.

Nick - Re-Elect Frank Sobotka

Yesterday I realized I have 500 pages that I can print in the computer lab before the end of the semester. The following is a mere sample of my work.

-Nick.