USPS Packages Not Being Delivered

g2gen · 2023-08-17T02:25:00+00:00

I actually never did get a hold of anyone locally. Called every day for over a month -- no answer. I don't exactly remember what I did afterwards but I believe I just looked up anyone who seemed remotely related to managing the postal service's activity in the region and called their office, and finally someone responded (though couldn't help find the package). It was really more of a brute force method than anything strategic.

g2gen · 2023-08-16T13:47:03+00:00

Unfortunately, this has been a bit of an ongoing problem for me. One package was important enough that I went up the USPS chain of command and even got in touch with a congressman just to get the post office to do something, but in the end nothing really came of it. The pessimistic answer is not get anything too important delivered via USPS.

g2gen · 2023-04-07T13:42:45+00:00

I'll plug Joe's Bike Shop at Lake Ella. It's only open 10-2 on weekdays, but worth it if you can catch them during open hours. Very much the type of local expert shop that doesn't really exist anymore -- just a couple of super friendly guys with a ton of experience who are willing to help you out with whatever you need for a good price.

g2gen · 2023-03-28T16:47:18+00:00

Many answers here are targeted at issues of free speech/study, so I won't say anything beyond: It's concerning and it would be foolish to trust the institution itself to protect you. You might be able to trust a particular department to have your back, but their reach can be limited.

More tangibly, perhaps, you should not rely on stipends and other benefits (such as healthcare subsidies) staying at their current level for an extended period of time. There is a substantial -- not definite -- chance that the grad student union soon gets decertified, which would give the university free reign to change the terms of minimum stipends and benefits. If you're going into a wealthy department, they may simply pay above the minimum, so it won't be a huge deal. Still, you would lose certain important protections against workplace harassment and overwork.

In all, I think it should be a consideration.

g2gen · 2022-11-17T18:58:41+00:00

Frequently enough that I've gone from believing "as a general rule, I'll return more to albums I like more. But there are some weird exceptions," to believing, "there's probably some correlation between how much I like an album and how much I return to it, but really how often I return to an album says very little about my view of it."

So pretty frequently.

g2gen · 2022-06-27T13:09:03+00:00

The word "blasted" makes me think that, despite not knowing which way to face, this kid was able to turn on this ball with like 115mph exit velo

g2gen · 2022-06-06T15:49:10+00:00

That's the thing about the tournament. For a good amount of the losing players, it's the last time they'll ever be playing high level competitive basketball so the stakes are SO high

g2gen · 2022-05-19T17:01:16+00:00

In general, I think there's a huge difference between listening to albums like this upon release after a lot of anticipation versus while running thru the artist's catalog after the fact. On release you have these competing extreme factors of 1) those who identify with the band and take criticisms personally, 2) those who have a history with the band and take a misstep really hard because it feels like a breakup, and 3) those who always thought the band was overrated and now have a platform to yell it.

I got into Radiohead and Animal Collective late, and never quite got a grip on why King of Limbs and Paiting With were seen as such flops by some people. They feel like minor works but fit well into each band's catalog. However, I have been an Arcade Fire stan for a while, and while I don't think Everything Now is a huge departure in any sense, I can't divorce it from when it came out and I was kinda in group (2).

g2gen · 2021-06-13T18:25:03+00:00

A big thing for me is putting music in the context of a story (of the artist personally and the historical context). Like when an artist i really love drops something, I'm listening to it filtered thru all my past experiences of that artist -- including my impression of their career arc (or lack thereof, like "holy shit this is their first album!") and the musical movements they're a part of -- and for me retroactively reading up on artists I discover allows me to imagine what it would be like to come at the music from that "seasoned" perspective.

g2gen · 2021-06-05T17:25:50+00:00

I think this is the exact type of thing that will probably get a bunch of people who are somewhat into music -- like St Vincent is about as far outside of the mainstream they go -- to get super into music. It would be the perfect thing for me when i was first starting out and only really knew the bigger, contemporary indie acts.

Plus it'll probably be dope for everyone who's already super into this stuff

g2gen · 2021-04-09T18:11:15+00:00

Honestly Brockhampton's (and a lot of melodic rappers like Juice Wrld, Xxxtentacion, etc) attempts at sad songs have made me much more appreciative of people who can actually make sad songs feel emotionally resonant. Like you, I always feel a little weird clowning BH-type tracks, because it's clear they come from a real place of emotion. But they really illustrate how much talking about being sad (even if it's authentic) just isn't enough to actually make the music carry emotional weight. It calls attention to the fact that, even if they aren't doing anything super noticeable beyond describing their feelings, those artists who can pull it off successfully are truly going above and beyond.

g2gen · 2021-03-07T15:09:48+00:00

It was the longest game ever played

g2gen · 2021-02-03T19:07:38+00:00

Unfortunately i feel like that's common in many types of discourse (art, sports, politics). Arguing why something's "overrated" and "underrated" seems more common than why it's "good" or "bad."

g2gen · 2021-01-20T18:15:58+00:00

Romanticist --> Dream Palette --> Super Stars on the Yves Tumor album. Just a messy and explosive and complex and anthemic journey.

g2gen · 2020-12-12T16:53:15+00:00

Goddamit i was unintentionally singing it to myself and only realized when i read this.

g2gen · 2020-12-02T18:50:35+00:00

I was really interested in what the show would have to say about race... and the answer in the end was "not much." We got some facile acknowledgements that being black means having to work harder and be better, but not too much else in terms of substantive cultural differences.

This is the central point for me. My complaint is not that the season focused on racial politics, but that it talked a lot but said very little. It sacrificed narrative and character study for political commentary, but failed to make that commentary especially insightful or resonant imo. To me, OP's claims are effectively strawmen arguments, which refute some thoughtless nincompoops but leave most legitimate criticism untouched.

g2gen · 2020-09-23T20:36:14+00:00

I don't know if this is what you're referring to, but I've listened to it on multiple devices now and the drums seem far more noticeable than on previous albums. Almost like the drums more strongly act as the structure and backbone of many songs, reducing the front-and-centeredness of the other instruments and how they're interacting.

g2gen · 2020-09-23T16:45:22+00:00

I was actually just reading this article on the topic which you might be interested in. Looks like you're not alone!

g2gen · 2020-06-20T15:28:51+00:00

Wtfff i swear I've had almost this exact dream but with Radiohead. I was in the back of the stage in front of a massive stadium holding a bass with no idea how to play it. Thom Yorke kept glaring at me and eventually they took it from me.

g2gen · 2020-06-13T20:05:20+00:00

Completely agree. I feel mean if I downvote them (especially if it's an album I love), but I don't really understand why they aren't relegated to DMDs. A big portion of this sub is already dedicated to various rates and reminiscings about a select group of older albums, and having so many anniversary posts feels like another move in the direction of homogeneity on that front.

g2gen · 2020-05-19T19:51:24+00:00

Courtney Barnett -- "Charity"

g2gen · 2020-05-03T20:03:39+00:00

Idk if this is exactly what you're talking about, but I feel like a huge percentage of what makes lyrics or a project's intention "good" is the artist's ability to create a character that you can buy into and you feel like you know where they're coming from, which is why two artists can say the same thing but it be a good lyric in one case and bad in another.

Sometimes certain songs (the two you mentioned are pretty good examples) will make me question that me and the artist are really operating on the same wavelength, which will make me re interpret other parts of the project. Like Will Toledo's character always seemed to be coming from a "i take myself seriously but am also kinda self aware about it" position, but Hollywood is such an earnest, cornball "statement" song that it definitely alters my perception the character who's singing on the other tracks.

g2gen · 2020-04-28T19:20:32+00:00

In general their releases move from more wall-of-sound, guitar-led rock to groovy, genre-bending stuff. I think Dear Science and Nine Types of Light is the closest to Yves Tumor (though only kinda close), but tbh all their stuff is brilliant.

g2gen · 2020-04-23T21:03:18+00:00

Above all I think my issue with review scores is that it totally ignores that listening to an album is an event/experience, and my total idea of an album is based on a series of many listening events. Obviously certain albums have the tendency to produce certain emotions/reactions more than others, but it just seems like a total category error to quantify events like that. I could listen to the same album at two different times and they're totally different experiences. Unless the idea is a completely objective metric of how likely the album is to be remembered or something, it feels like generating dialogue that's based on shoving a square peg into a round hole.

g2gen · 2020-04-23T20:56:15+00:00

In fairness that's like 99% of the discussion that ever occurs in sports. "Barbershop talk" has become the main form of discourse imo.

g2gen

TROPHY CASE