"I don't want to feel so different, but I don't want to be insignificant, and I don't know how to see the same things different now. Oh, could you see me? I'm one is a million. I am Icarus falling out of the sun. Could you see me fall in the light of spotlights and jackknife through night as black as a bedroom and white as a lie?" ~counting crows

Here's something funny I wanted to mention about the two albums I posted yesterday: I think it's interesting that they're both in digipak cases instead of the traditional plastic jewel cases. Someone on the official CCMB complained about the digipak case, and Adam responded to the complaint in his funniest voicemail ever. He said that they're more environmentally friendly, they look more like record cases, and the band actually had to pay extra (30 cents per album) to make those cases. I think it's great that he actually reads and responds to what we write. He calls us very unpleasant people very often, but I suspect he secretly likes the fact that we're just as unpleasant as he is because it gives him something to complain about. Here's an excerpt from his voicemail:

"So fuck off!!! It didn't save us money, you schmucks, it cost us money! God! You're the most hysterical group of fans ever. I fucking love you. No other band has fans as loyal or as looney as ours. I swear to God, it's unbelievable. I gotta go, I gotta go to bed. I'm just punchy. That was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. Do you know how angry I was that they made me pay those, they made me pay the 30 cents? I was so angry and I sucked it up...and you want a jewel case? Who the hell wants a jewel case?!?"

He was definitely punchy that night. And he had to wake up in less than 4 hours to do Good Morning America.

Last week Nic and I went to a screening of Young @ Heart. A long time ago, after I had seen a trailer for it, I mentioned it to Nic but couldn't remember the title, so I said, "You know, the movie with the old people..." and she immediately knew what I was talking about. I thought that was funny. Anyway, the movie was wonderful. It was funny and sad and touching. It has a 100% on rottentomatoes right now, which doesn't surprise me at all. If you haven't heard about it, it's a documentary about a chorus of elderly people who sing rock 'n' roll songs. I highly recommend seeing it when it comes out.

I've spent this weekend grading journals and papers. It takes so much time. If I spend 15 minutes per student, it takes about 6 hours total. That's a long time. And it gets so tedious that I'll grade 3 or 4 and then have to stop and take a break. Ugh.