something...else

- apparently my previous opening was already used by my brother, and not wanting to plagarize his homage, I changed it. Because that's the cut of my jib.

- One more exam today, and then one tomorrow evening. And a couple papers that shouldn't be hard. Then I have all summer to think about what I did. OR will I??

- Got a new car. new as in '92, but it's really nice, and in great condition. And it has in microwave in it, only without the actual microwaves. The beeping is there, though. Of course, it might be something else, but I doubt it.

- It's a good thing I slept pretty well last night, or who knows what horrors I might be unleashing on this unsuspecting world. Like, I might have linked that video of Ironforge Cossak. "Hey! hey! hey! hey!"

- So I have yet another idea for a writing project, but I haven't started yet. I'm hoping I get so bored during the summer that I am driven to pontificate through the written word. By the way, does anyone know if Hillary actually said she was a "linguistic polyglot" or was the Right just making fun of her? Because, if she said that, that would be, quite frankly, awesome. Like Southshore beach. And sand lobsters.

- I'm a linguistic polyglot. I'm going to make this my new description of myself. I better come up with an accent.

- So my cousins didn't know who Louis Armstrong was. I don't mind that they aren't familiar with early jazz musicians, I mind that apparently they've never seen a show where people do imitations. Wayne Brady does a mean Louis Armstrong.

- Heroes is on tonight. I'm psyched. Although, I've read some spoilers, so I know what the Hiro storyline is going to be. I can't help myself. I used to always read the end of books too. It may come in handy some day.

- Some family is coming over this weekend. I better prep the tiger cage.

- My little sister got a hamster, and the wheel that she runs in non-stop is extremely squeaky. I could hear it from my room upstairs if I left my door open. I think she's in training for the championship. "Showdown, goin' down, how ya gonna mess around, showdown, put your nose down, showdown!" You go, Mrs. Rosencrantz. Wagon-full-of-pancakes got nothing on you.

-return of good tv

- Heroes was back, finally. I really missed that show. And then after it was over, that "Real Wedding Crashers" show as on where these five people are professional crashers, brought in by the bride and groom to crash the wedding. I only watched half of it. It wasn't horrible, but wasn't as good as I was hoping.

But back to Heroes. The fight scene between the two major powers was kind of lame. If you can turn invisible and use telekinesis, wouldn't you do something other than turn invisible AND turn your back to the villain so you can get hit in the head with glass? Maybe... I don't know, turn invisible, and then push a chalkboard into the guy, because he's impervious to everything but that? That's what I would do. The rest of the episode was pretty cool, though. Isaac kind of had a hard time, but I think he might pull through. I mean, having the top of your head chopped off and your brain eaten isn't all THAT bad.

They need to bring in a character that's like the Pretender. He can do everything any normal human can do; like perfect martial arts, marksmanship, any academic discipline, etc. just by seeing or reading or something. I think that would be a sweet power. Or, you know, you could bring in a Fantastic(!) character that - wait for it! - stretches! Because EVERYBODY lovers Mr. Fantastic.

Honestly, he never comes up in any conversation of superpowers. Superman, Spiderman, Flash, Batman, Wolverine, Professor X, etc. Never-ever the guy named "Mr. Fantastic." Anyway, I hope Peter, Greg Grunberg, and the Bennets form the Justice League. And Pretender. He can join too (This is not an endorsement of the show "the Pretender." I didn't like the show, or the guy who played the protagonist; I didn't like the female lead or the guy who played the "father-figure/villain"; I didn't like that he solved a murder by using spam; he was like the potential super-soldier who wasn't).

- The last episode of "Angel" gets better every time I watch it (unlike it's counterpart in the same universe). I hated it the first time. I think it helps knowing that Whedon has them living through it in canon. It's probably the only tolerable episode in season 5. And the puppet one. Heh.

- Almost done with the semester. I'll try to keep up with this thing during the summer; better than I have this past month, anyway.

- "Once you have two people disagreeing, you have a scene." - Aaron Sorkin. (I'm doing "research," and needed a place to put this where I wouldn't forget it.)

"Collaboration is about having smart people disagree with you. It's also about standing on couches and shouting at each other because you believe something is right." - Sorkin

zoinks!

- So we're apparently going to be having a meeting at work on Sunday. They will meet my demands or fall into the depths of the Failed Business ring of Hades. You know, the one where you can't access the system/program website because the only guy who knew the password quit, and prior to quitting he also deleted the computer's hard drive? Yeah, that one. If it goes really badly, someone might break off a key in the office door; you know, theoretically. I mean, it's probably been known to happen.

- My car died. And my dog died. And we all thought Penny died, but then she woke up, and then she wasn't Penny at all! Lost was humorous, but to be honest, they live on an island, and Jin is like "Camping? Swweeeeeeet!" They live in tents. Camping. That would be like if House was on a plane and happened to come upon a difficult-to-diagnose in mid-flight, and... yeah. I would think writers could have come up with a better excuse than "camping," but I'm not going to complain.

- Could The Flash outrun Superman? Now I'm curious. I know on the one "Lois and Clark" he (superman) vibrates so fast that he demoleculizes and passes through a force-field.

- I saw Man On Fire at work a week ago. With Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning and Bruce Dickinson-, er, Christopher Walken. Yes, THE Christopher Walken. It's cool because he kills everybody. Washington, not Christopher Walken. Fanning doesn't kill anyone either, I don't think. But, like all Denzel Washington Movies, he *spoiler* dies at the end. Seriously, besides Much Ado About Nothing, does he ever live through anything? Now people are going to rattle off the submarine one, and the pelican one, and I'm pretty sure he lives in the one with Clive Owen and the diamonds, but he dies a lot for a main star, okay? Fallen (but really cool anyway), Training Day, Deja Vu (sort of), Malcolm X, Man on Fire, Glory. I've only seen three of those movies (and not even the whole thing of Glory), btw. And I'm guessing on the Malcolm X one. Hey, if they can kill off Professor, they can keep Malcolm alive.

- I just looked up a list of D.W. movies. He lives through a large majority. Who cares...

- I'm out of things to say. I need a car.

- Because I'm bored, some Colbert quotes.

On speculation that JK Rowling will kill off Harry Potter in the seventh book: "Wise move. He's a wizard; he should have been stoned a long time ago."

"We have barely recovered from the original Y2K. If you don't remember, seven years ago at the stroke of midnight, planes fell from the sky, the banking system collapsed and power grids caught fire from coast to coast. Or so I assume. I was locked in my underground shelter cleaning my zombie rifle."

"This teaches children a valuable lesson: Expect nothing and be happy you're not kidnapped."

"The NY Times wants you and your family dead."

"Equations are the devil's sentences!"

Colbert: [debating himself on torture] This is America. We don't torture. Respect for human life is what separates us from those we're fighting. If we stoop to their level, in a way, we've already lost.
Colbert: But if we don't stoop to their level, we might lose in a worse way... by actually losing.

-checking out

- I'm worn out, tired, beat, ready to be done, etc. I want school to be over and for work to make sense, but it looks like a few more weeks before either of those things happen. I wonder what would happen if I quit; or better yet, put off my "nice-guy" persona, and just yelled at everybody for awhile. Then I could quit, if they didn't meet my demands. (1. Bring back the play-station in the office...)

- I can't believe I actually spent four years of my life at this place. Some kid called me last night wanting to know if I would donate $50 to the senior scholarship fund, and if I did, I could get a signed brick to put in front of Warner Hall. What... in... the Tartar Sauce...? I told him I didn't really like CMU, so having a brick with my name on it wasn't a drawing point. A brick. Yeah, I can see me now, holding a brick... chucking it out the 4th story library window.... Hmm, I should call that guy back.

- Juliette is bad? Crackles! oh, right, we all knew that. Kind of like how we knew Prison Break: Season 3 wasn't going to be about "family time on a riverboat."

- I don't listen to Imus. I never will listen to Imus. But the fact is, Sharpton once publicly said that white people were still living in caves while blacks were teaching each other art and culture. When can we expect you to resign from your radio show, Mr. Sharpton? Hypocrites. Imus should have went after these guys, instead of cowering away, because now he's up the creek.

- My mom and two sisters are going to Wisconsin today. Dad is going to work, and poor Abby (our dog) died this week (not sure why, she wasn't that old; just got sick, I guess). So I have the house to myself. As if I'm not bored enough as it is. I really have no idea what I'm going to do. Watch the Office. Maybe watch Scrubs.

- Is "crikey" a cuss in austrailian? Just wondering, 'cause it's fun to say. Another good one is "bloody," but you can only use that in certain situations, like "I cut my bloody fingers with the bloody knife!" because I'm pretty sure that really is a cuss in Britain. And if someone's foot got caught in a door, one might have the opportunity to say, "I already told you: darn those bloody socks!" I think I need to set that up...

Edit: Drudge has up that Imus is calling out Sharpton to apologize to the Duke players now. About time he showed some backbone. Good move, Imus. Sharpton's a racist bigot; unlike, interestingly enough, Mel Gibson, who is not a bigot, and Michael Richards, who is not a racist. That's the crazy thing.

Confrontation

- Had a great time over the weekend. A bunch of people came over on Saturday and Sunday. But now I've kind of been dwelling on the last major thing we talked about; namely, confrontation, and how some of the clan seem to view it as a bad thing. So I wrote out 4 or 5 pages during budget class yesterday, and there were still more things I wanted to address. When I finish, I'll type it out, send it to a few people I know agree with me for refinement, and then maybe mass email.

Confrontation is good. It's healthy. It refines. As Mike V. said, iron sharpeneth iron. All theology is, at its core, about the character of God. Nothing in the Bible is arbitrary. Therefore, for people to take a stand against what happens at out semi-annual meetings is completely... embarrassing, I think is the word.

Of course, the objections become more varied because no one wants to come out and say "who cares?" about theology, even if it's what they might be thinking. So it becomes an excuse like "well, we need to see more application" or "there's not enough love," both of which I address in my paper. Anyway, I might chicken-out, since sending "my take" to adults isn't something I feel comfortable doing.

- Next time you talk to Joe, tell him "I can't believe you told that joke!" and see what his reaction is.

- Turentin said that Adam's sin is the result of God withholding grace. Page 518 of volume 1, I believe. So we got into this big thing about that. Wish you could have been there.

- happy b-day, Jenn. She had the violin for a day and was already playing Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Loves Me, and Enya's May It be.

- Learned all about Custer in today's rousing lecture, especially how he became mythologized, and what really happened, etc. Apparently, Buffalo Bill had a huge part in making the legend. Cody was an interesting guy. Of course, we got to see a clip of "They Died With Their Boots On" starring Errol Flynn. I'm a fan of Flynn. Too bad he killed that one guy that one time.

Anyway, so Custer was a hero, but really a villain, but really an insane maniac out to kill Dustin Hoffman in Vietnam. I think they all got it wrong, actually. They should have called him Custard, because mmmmmm, boy. Who doesn't like custard? The terrorists, that's who. Support Custard, support our troops.

- I left my wallet at work. So hopefully I won't get pulled over tonight on the way home from school. I'm really tired right now. I don't have to work this weekend, however, so that means I can... stay up all night playing computer games...

- Work is going well, I guess. It's like there's a constant foreboding of trouble around that place. The minute something starts to go right, the ptb (powers that be, i.e., my bosses) decide we need to change something. I'm not kidding. If there's no drama, complaints, or problems of any kind, they will still decide to change something. It's impossible for them to not. Makes the whole thing a bit more stressful than a Regional Fitness Czar position should be.

- What say we take out all the flashbacks in Lost, change the location to Miami, and have Hurley and Sawyer learn a new life principle each week while experiencing all sorts of of adventurous hi-jinks, like alligator wrestling. Tell me that wouldn't be a better show. (Editor's note: Various forms of this joke regarding various TV shows have been used before; the author is not attempting to be original. Also, the concluding sentence is probably a registered trademark of the Sport's Guy.)

- Prison Break has a habit off killing off the only good characters. First the mob guy, and now Kellerman. I'm glad it's over for awhile. Too much ludicrous stuff going on over there. Of course, I say that while eagerly anticipating the return of a show where people fly and turn invisible.

Class

- I don't have a lot of time, but I was just watching Stewart's interview with Bolton, and we all know Stewart is a liberal who has gone after Bolton repeatedly in his comedy, but Stewart is a class-act. Unlike Letterman and Mahr, who are classless and frantic (at least in political terms), Stewart (who takes his shots) comes at the whole thing with a level of respect and willingness to actually discuss things. Seriously, it would be great if more guys (liberal and conservative) were willing to apporach debate with the same level of class.

Stallone vs. Tarvar

- I saw Rocky Balboa yesterday, and I thought it was pretty good. The fight was the only part I didn't really like. There's no way Tarvar could have taken as many punches of Rocky's force if he were really the cream puff they were making him out to be. Not that Rocky would have hit him as many times as he did, but if he got that many hits, Tarvar would have went down, imo. Anyway, it was kind of cute, kind of funny, decent enough.

- Stallone is making Rambo 4. Because the cry of the American public was too great for him to ignore. Thank you, Mr. Stallone, for making our dreams come true. By the way, the opening song in Rock Balboa was sung by Frank Stallone. I have a feeling that their relationship has to be weird. Sylvester got the zany name, Frank was called... well, Frank. Sly is a big movie star, Frank guested on Walker Texas Ranger; Sly makes a movie, Frank does commentary on VH1's "remember the 80s". And we're supposed to just assume there's no resentment there? I don't think so. Personally, I think if I were Frank, I'd blame my parents for the name. Sylvester had an advantage from the get go.

- I have this paper I have to write. I have six hours at work this afternoon/evening, so hopefully I can get a lot of it done then. I really need to work on my procrastination problem sometime...

- Looks like I'm not going to Florida. Which I guess works out, since work is kind of crazy, and school is getting busy, and i don't really have much money. But it would have been nice to go.

- My cousin and two of his buddies from flight school came over to the house yesterday after church. They sat at the table quizzing each other on these inane questions for some test they have to take. Looked wholly joyless. So we ordered pizza.

- Charlie Sheen is, in my opinion, the best potential candidate to take William Shatner's mantle. He's full of himself, he's already parodied himself in Hot Shots. He's got the mock intensity-thing going. I have high hopes that in the next five years he'll release an album. Think about it.

- I didn't do any good pranks for April 1st, but I still have the rest of the week. I wanted to call Ben and have him call people from the police station and say I was dead or something, but Joe said he probably wasn't allowed to do that. Plus, those things could conceivably go wrong (i.e., some one hears the news and decides to throw a party; because that wouldn't be cool; for me, anyway; the rest of you would get to go to a party, which is kind of cool, I guess) (I use a lot of semi-colons; it's because I don't like the finger position it takes to capitalize, which is necessary if I were to break things into separate sentences).