Pre-departure formalities

The Argentines are continuing to make bad impressions on me. Up to this point I have not been able to get in touch with anyone at the Argentine Embassy. Their working hours must be wonderful because they are apparently open only 3 or 4 hours of the day. That's bureaucracy though. We'll see what happens tomorrow at the embassy though.

My current stay at home has led me to a state of lethargy I have come to embrace ever since the end of last summer's break. I don't know how exactly it is that I have become so languid but it is becoming rather disconcerting.

On a more pleasant note, I have been drinking far less. Part of that might be correlated to the fact that I have been going out to far more expensive bars with a more exclusive crowd. So getting drunk at the bars with a bunch of college aged alcoholics doesn't seem to fly as well out here.

However, the club scene seems so irreverently hedonistic. I can appreciate going out to a trendy club and spending a few extra dollars for the ambiance, but when I take into account the fact that the more trendy the club is the more materialized the people become the experience becomes deflated. The people in these clubs effectively cease to be fully human and take on an artificial persona which is all part of the prescribed norm for such environments.

Don't get me wrong, in the moment I still definitely have a good time, but to tell the truth, I would much rather be in a sub-trendy (sub-culturally trendy) dive bar which allows for a more personalized experience, and effectively detach myself on my own accord, i.e. through my own intoxicating behavior, and not by the societal imposition.

On an entirely different tangent, Johnny gets out here tomorrow. The plan is to go bum around Venice beach, to which I have personally never had the pleasure of visiting, despite the fact that I have lived in Southern California my entire life. Not that it's ever been that enticing to go there, but there are a few cultural aspects of that place that I should probably partake in.

I am also making use of this trip to go out to the Argentine Embassy and confirm the documents I am going to need for my student visa. We'll see if the Argentines actually redeem themselves or if they're going to let me down yet again.

I have also found out that it is much more difficult to get your criminal history than I had previously expected. There are only a few times during the week that this can be obtained from the police department and the official documents need to be obtained through the submission of various forms to the state.

I think it wouldn't be too far of a stretch that by the end of this process I will be more apt in my maneuvering through bureaucratic institutions, which is good since the socialist state is founded upon the bureaucracy.

I am currently listening to the "boys of melody" by The Hidden Cameras, which is an amazing song by a gay band. Literally. Apparently the shows are a riot but unfortunately they are not very well known amongst non-gay circles. I became acquainted with them through the soundtrack of the movie Shortbus.

I recommend this movie for those who are truly not homophobic because there is a great deal of male nudity. The movie explores human sexuality through the scope of several individuals in an exclusive salon in New York whose purpose is to provide a medium for the sexually gifted and challenged to come together.

Netflix is awesome, by the way. So is HDTV. Combine the two and I may have found the reason for my lethargy.

I need coffee and a cigarette.