Friends

when i was in new york a couple weeks ago, i was with some friends from my peace corps service. at one point, we were discussing why we remain good friends and so close, despite having very little in common and living far from one another. here are some of the theories:
1. during the development of our friendships, since we were in different villages, we were accustomed to not seeing each other for long periods of time, so from the beginning we were used to 'catching up' every few months and sharing what was important, and our day-to-day lives were never part of the balance
2. we accept each others' faults and annoying habits because we were forced to because there were so few of us PCVs there
3. the act of adjusting to a very different environment and dealing with horrific GI issues bonded us
4. we were told to just listen to each other without projecting or trying to solve any problems because sometimes PCVs just need to vent, so we are able to share things with each other without fear of misinterpretation or judgment

i think that 3 and 4 are not as likely to be the reason, because 3 happens to a lot of groups and we all had different adjustment issues and we all had different GI problems (though i think everyone had diarrhea often) and 4 seems like it would happen among a lot of people other than our PCV friends. i think that it must be a combination of 1 and 2.

just look at these lovely people:

I'm Not There

i watched todd haynes' _i'm not there_ last weekend. a dylan biopic, the film uses six actors to portray bob dylan at different stages of his life. the wikipedia entry is fairly thorough if you want to check it out. to my knowledge, this is the only dylan-approved film about him. it is poetic, which i imagine he likes.

cate blanchett's performance blew me away. she plays the mid- to late-sixties version, when he was going electric. if you've ever seen _don't look back_, you know that the dylan of this era was hard to love. he was proving himself internationally as a true artist and a pioneer. he was also proving himself to be a real asshole. when he saw potential hurt on the horizon for himself, he chose to deflect questions with what's-life-all-about-i-can't-believe-you're-focusing-on-me-'cause-i'm-just-another-human-being rhetoric. while his arguments may have been valid, but he also wielded them consistently when confronted with any criticism, and the effect is that the dylan of that era seems liked a spoiled child. a brilliant artist and a spoiled child. cate blanchett does a great job of showing how maybe it made him unpleasant as a companion, but maybe it's also that demeanor that allowed dylan to wear that houndstooth jacket on the stage in manchester after the intermission and withstand boos and jeers and still respond to someone calling 'i'll never listen to you again!' with 'i don't believe you.'

heath ledger was also great, and his character's wife (played by the eventual love interest from _science of sleep_) was also impressive.

Cedar Point

yesterday i went to cedar point. it's generally considered to be the best coaster-lovin' park in the country. maybe the world! we rode ten of the seventeen coasters in the park. the ones we missed were mostly kiddie ones, but i'm sorry we missed the blue streak and wicked twister.

here are my thoughts, in the order that we rode them:

magnum xl-200: good times! it's quick and fun. eric was very fired up about it, because apparently it was the 'big coaster' when he first started going to cedar point as a youth. we rode this first, so honestly my memory of it isn't perfect.
millenium force: this was also disappointing to me. the first hill is huge, but otherwise it was just a bunch of fast ups and downs and not too much else. it broke down twice while we were in line, which didn't help my mood. i think i am in the minority here, though: most people love this coaster.
mean streak: a classic rough woodie. i thought it was fun, but it does make the head hurt a bit.
gemini: a 'racing' coaster, meaning there are two trains that go at the same time on tracks that stay side-by-side most of the time. we were on the red train. i thought the racing thing was stupid until people in the other train started talking smack during the ride. to total strangers! granted, some parties divided themselves among the two trains to spice it up, but mostly it was total strangers talking smack about something they had no control over. so anyway, though the blue train was ahead for most of the ride, our train pulled ahead at the end, and it was very satisfying.
top thrill dragster: holy god! 120 miles per hour. 420 feet up in the air. then back down. there is one twist on the way up and one twist on the way down. simple, yet terrifying. it towers above the park. just look at this:


iron dragon: really lame, actually. it's a suspended coaster and had it been faster, it would have been a lot of fun. also sort of kid-heavy.
mantis: a stand-up coaster! very hard on the ears, though - it knocks your head side to side right into the harness (and there is no hilarious kitsch value like flight of fear in kings dominion, which i only rode because my friend matt introduced it to me with 'if anyone can enjoy this roller coaster, it's you' and i can't resist that). and the line was as long, if not longer, than the line for millenium force. as seemed to be standard for coasters in the park, as each train came back, the ride operator asked 'HOW WAS YOUR RIDE?!', but for this ride, the response was usually sort of a group 'meh.' for the few train returns i witnessed, the operator responded to this with 'man, if i just waited two hours for a ride, i'd be more enthusiastic than that'. um, doesn't that just make it worse? if the ride isn't as great as some others (hint: maverick), then reminding the user that they just wasted 2+ hours on it is sort of mean.
corkscrew: mostly loops, and fucking fun. the ride is short but so is the wait, mostly because it's near some other big ones, like top thrill dragster. for the time investment, this was a good one. for added fun, it goes right over some of the park walking paths. honestly, the worst part is that the height requirement is lower than some of the other comparable coasters, so the line is full of eager, sugar-filled adolescents who don't seem to understand that touching the person in front of you in line is crossing a personal space barrier.
maverick: fantastic. easily the best ride in the park. it's got a great first drop (you actually curve under the hill). it's smooth. the curves throw you around. at one point you go into a tunnel, which is dark so it's scary, but more importantly, it is hidden from those not on the ride, so a first-time rider hasn't been watching it over and over again from the line so s/he doesn't know what to expect. in the tunnel, the ride slows down, and then uses an LSM launch to catapult the train out again into the second part of the ride.
raptor: lots of fun! it's a suspended coaster. we rode it at night, just before the park closed, and i enjoyed it immensely. we were near the back of the train, and i think that plus nighttime meant that you couldn't see what was happening, which made every turn a surprise. there were a couple of fun loops and corkscrews that probably would be tame if you were in a standard car, but with the dangling feet the sensation was delightful.


it was a great day. i had a lot of fun. i even ate at a chick-fil-a! and i got to see lots of obnoxious t-shirts and lots of very fat americans.

I'm going to Finland

i just got the news on thursday that the teradata team at nokia is expecting me in september. i'm very excited.

check this site for some pictures of nokia hq.

i'll be in the town of espoo.