- jobless

- So I'm a bum. Yeah, I ended up quitting my job of 5.5 years, and while it's kind of nice not to have to go back to that place, it would also be nice to have some income. It's weird; I don't think I'm going to miss it, really. As long as it's honorable, there is no such thing as work that is too low for a person; that's what I was told over the weekend, and I like the whole noble ideal behind that sentiment.

- It's hard to be funny when you don't have a job. I'm going to miss some people, I guess. We weren't even close; it's just that talking to them made things easier. Ah, well; that's life.

- I'm hoping I can get a job writing, but that would entirely be by the working of God. I have no experience, don't have my degree yet, and there aren't many opportunities around here for that kind of work anyway. So I'm praying in that direction, but I think it's important to stay open to whatever He brings my way.

- Did you hear about the teachers who staged a fake gunman attack at their school? Did they honestly believe they would be able to hold onto their jobs after that? Well, maybe they will, but that's pretty insane. Just wait until the Today show starts interviewing people involved, and Al Sharpton realizes that some of the kids may have been black.

- Favre is demanding a trade! Well, I didn't expect that. I guess he got tired of hearing people say he was washed-up and figured that he could blame his team, and maybe save his reputation. Still, way to alienate the only city you've ever played for, Brett. You understand how much Rodger Clemens is hated by Boston and Houston right now? We're talking about the one sport Wisconsin really has! Now, they supposedly worked it out, but come on, Fav-ray. Better to go out idolized by at least one city then detested by two (the poor team's that would acquire him and Green Bay).

- I think tomorrow I'm not going to do much except write and watch Heroes. My mind keeps going, and it's depressing me. Writing forces me to think about something or someone else, even if they aren't real.

Good news

- No, I still don't know if I'll have a job next week. The good news is even bigger! Tim Kring changed his mind, and decided not to have the Heroes cast be a revolving door situation, where they kill off/get new Heroes every season. He said people liked his current cast so much, and he liked them too, so he decided to stick with them. This is good news, since I don't like the Survivor MO of constantly putting new people through the same stuff.

- Yes, my priorities are all out of whack at the moment.

- My boss is coming in today, and if he can't offer me at least what I could get at any fast-food joint, I'm going to have to quit. Which is a bummer. So I'm praying things go well, but I'm honestly expecting to be out of work soon.

- The vitamin water commercials are pretty good. Urlacher and Ortiz playing badminton (sp?)? Funny stuff. And then the sheep-tossing contest one, which is eerily like the early days of pig-mania. I also like the Vault commerical, where the guy is playing paintball and launches that rabid squirrel at the opponent.

- My birthday is coming up. West Wing Season 4, Sports Night Season 1, Heroes Season 1, and cashews. Oh, and because I'm masquerading as an intellectual, get me a book. Where's Waldo? or something. Dilbert is good, too.

- Mother's Day is tomorrow. My mom never asks for anything. So I have to guess about what she wants, and things turn out horribly, kind of like King Lear.

- Speaking of King Lear, the Fool is one of the best Shakespeare characters ever. Antonio and Sebastian in The Tempest are cool too, in that one scene. The rest of The Tempest is lame, but that one scene right after they land on the island, and Gonzalo is trying to cheer the king is fantastic. Read it, if you get time. And, yes, Henry V is the best Shakespearean character, but that's like saying "superman!" when someone asks you who the best superhero is. Have some imagination. And don't say Batman, 'cause that's stupid.

links!

- Cool song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huRwBFmAx78

- Old link that I was originally shown by my uncle, I think: http://rinkworks.com/fnovel/

sub-link: http://www.rinkworks.com/said/insurance.shtml
(I laugh every time I read these)

- Something everyone should see once a day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSJ1liGPbW0

- Random Antonio Banderas video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8gYxguwLvc&mode=related&search=

- And the obligatory Weird Al video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xEzGIuY7kw&mode=related&search=

(for more good times, check out "Saga Begins," "Bob," and "Trapped in the Drive-Thru", all by Weird Al)

Yeah, that's Seth Green and Donny Osmond, which is great.

- Speaking of which, apparently Wahlberg and Co. are making the Brazilian Job. Because the first one was just so awesome.

- I'm getting bored, and I really feel like I want to write, but I can't make myself do it. That sounds weird, I'm sure. I have some plot points I want to develop, a few scenes I want to get down, but instead I listen to sogns on youtube and write blogs and stuff. And then I'm bored.

- I have to go to work in 20 minutes. Bleah. And I have to work Saturday too. I hope people come over this weekend.

may 9th

- Heroes was kind of slow, but it was a setup episode, so that's to be expected. And it had some good parts, unlike Book 10 of The Wheel Of Time series. I'm still bitter about that.

- Alabamba Labamba was at a rally where he said that "over 10,000" people had died in the recent Tornado catastrophe, when really it was 12 people. Well... he still has clean, eh Biden?

- For some reason, Steph is not coming back to Michigan this summer. Nay, I say thee Steph. Come home. I'll buy you a penguin.

- The Scorpion King was on at work, and it was the first time I've seen it. Wow, was that movie horrible! The Rock still thought he was in in the WWE. Yeah, Arnold was Conan, and it was campy, but this was so much worse; Duane's facial expressions were just laughable. The conclusion was lame, and boring. The guy from the Green Mile was much cooler than the protagonist, and the bad guy dual-wielded flaming swords. But everything else was sad, as in "it's sad that they made a movie like this."

- That's all I have to say on the matter.

- Monday, 7th ...

- ... or the day the new Heroes is on. No, I don't know why I get so excited about a TV show. It hasn't been like this since the 4th season of The West Wing.

- Colbert did a bit on the European Atheist society being started up, and how it's basically a church, with all the church functionality and methods, only their religion is "no religion." It was pretty funny.

- De la Hoya lost to Merriweather, and I don't know if I spelled either name correctly. But I think everyone knew De La Hoya would lose, even though everyone wanted him to win. Basically, De La Hoya wanted more money, and everyone else wanted to see what Rocky 2 would have been like if Rocky had lost.

- I threw a softball around for about 3 hours in the past two days, and I haven't done that for a few years. Now my whole right side is sore, and it's really hard to clean the tanners. So I don't think I will. Because, really, who doesn't enjoy lying in- nevermind, I better clean the tanners.

- I've noticed a lot of my comments in life and online don't make sense to people because I'm referencing stuff they aren't familiar with. Apparently, I'm a Dennis Miller routine.

- Due to recent events, I've been thinking someone should start odds on which "young hollywood actresses" will end up in jail in the next ten years. I don't think Lohan is eligible, since it's basically a given. Or you know, 1000 to 1 odds, at least. I'll put $50 on our next inmate being Mary Kate Olsen.

- It's 3pm. I'm just waiting for the people I don't like to come in.

- Dave is coming home this weekend, and I'm excited about that. That, and how I'll throttle him in Street Fighter.

- Shot some guns yesterday afternoon. Why? Well, because that's what we manly men do. We shoot guns, throw softballs, speak of video games. We also want to be bitten by radioactive spiders and have adamantium claws.

- Spiderman 3 is big! Just like I said it would be. You'd do well to heed my words.

- "Hey, there, old woman!"
"I'm a man."
"Oh, old man."
"I'm 42."
"What?"
"I'm not old, I'm 42."
"Well, I can't just call you 'man.'"
"You could call me 'Dennis.'"
"I didn't know your name was Dennis!"
"You never bothered to find out, did you?!"

That was from memory, so I could be off. Dennis is the best.

Heel-Toe

- That's some bad hat, Harry.

- My new max is 330 push-ups.

- Vikings got Adrian Peterson. I think that's a good thing. Lions, surprise surprise, picked a wide receiver.

- I'm done with classes this semester, and it feels good.

- Heroes was spectacular last Monday. P. Petrelli went all Neo on those security guards. I'm actually not joking; I think Kring was going for a Neo-look there. He even had the trench coat. One of the best episodes yet, even though Bennet in the future got killed by Parkman, and Parkman should never have been able to do that. Bennet is too awesome. I liked how they could kill off anyone they wanted, and how everyone had this masterful control of their powers, because it's in a future they are going to prevent. I could watch that one a few more times.

- There was just a commercial on ESPN comparing soccer to basketball, saying "what do you love about basketball?" and they came up with "speed, athleticism, and desire," concluding that people are fans of soccer, they just don't know it yet. Um... scoring? The gang culture? Criminal behavior? Soccer still has way too far to go to reach the greatness of the NBA.

- You can write this down: Spiderman 3 is going to be big. (yeah, I was being Larry King right there.)

- Creepy Maxfield people keep coming by and looking for my boss. The Maxfield people are shady.

- The Black Donnelly's got cancelled. Just confirming it for you all, since I know you care. I'm going to do a little victory dance. I'll be right back.

*Turn around, now swtich!* Just kidding; I don't listen to Will Smith rap. Really.

- Mavericks are on the brink of elimination. Being a fan of the Sports Guy, I'm kind of swayed by his views on the matter: I want Cuban to win a championship, but I really really don't like Dirk Nowistlsitksityskotoskt. So if they get booted, I'll probably be happy. The Mark Cuban thing isn't because I like him, either. It's just that he's this complete black sheep, and Stern doesn't like him, so it would be cool.

- Watch Heroes. Best show on televison.

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).

watch more television

- Gypsies! Filthy people, we will speak of them no more! *spits*

- Show him there are no free lunches at a Friday night poker game.

- It hurts real bad!

- These are only a few of the movie/tv quotes I was able to properly utilize in normal conversation over the weekend. TV: It does your parlance good.




- "Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations and resentments flit away and a sunny spirit takes their place."

- "A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever we come upon one of those intensely right words in a book or a newspaper the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual, and electrically prompt."

- "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. "

- These are only a few of the many, many reasons why Mark Twain is my favorite author.

Support the Municipality!

- I played football this saturday, and I sprained my finger. My brother twisted his ankle, my one cousin bashed his knee, and my other cousin's ankle popped. So I clearly got the worst of it all. But it's okay, because I have an enormously high threshold for pain.

- Starting today, I have a great deal of stress. A lot of tests and papers are coming due, and my pastor asked me to teach for him next Wednesday. I am FREAKING OUT. Whew; sorry, I occassionally panic and dream of running away to Soviet Russia. In Soviet Russia, the papers write you.

- It was almost 70 yesterday. I had a hard time falling asleep because it was too warm, and my fan blew up sometime last year. I know what you're thinking: "Why don't you put solar reflecting panels up all around the house?" Well, I've considered it; believe me.

- I have no idea what's going on in the world right now. I think Gonzales is still in trouble; I've never been as big a fan of him as I was of Ashcroft. Maybe if he pulled out some ninja moves right around now. Hey, that reminds me, was the Office a new one last thursday? Because I missed it. Because I was playing high stakes, do or die, no-limit texas hold 'em with a guy named Arnaud LaSou. It should go without saying that he defeated me. You can't beat those Irish at games of chance.

vacation

- Not really, but I am going to see some family today; should be a fun time. I'm also going to be meeting the "boyfriend" of one of my cousins. Hopefully I won't have to take drastic action and throw him out. Or watch my cousin Mike throw him out.

- 290 push-ups in a single shot. That's almost as impressive as 300.

- I'm getting stressed out again. I have a major paper due the day before my pastor asked me to fill in for him. The next two weeks are going to eat at me like sharks on Robert Shaw.

- People's thoughts tend to be shaped by the thoughts of those around them. Duh, says you, but I'm going to continue anyway, despite your rude protest. It doesn't matter how ridiculous someone is, if they can get a few people to praise them for how funny, smart, interesting, etc., a whole slew of people will come along and take that exact same position. I think it comes from a desire to belong, which is really the only explanation for the Beatles.

The problem is the resulting vindication of par. We praise the normal, the trite, and the skilless as if they are something great, simply because others have done it before us. We don't reach for the stars, anymore. We are content with the mediocre and we can't really imagine anything better. This has to be why Saved By The Bell lasted as long as it did, and why CSI Miami is still on now.

this day is a rationalization of normality

- I'm going to write a short play that I can actually finish, just so I'll know I can do it. Maybe thirty to forty pages, nothing big. I just really need to get something completed, and I think this would work.

- I'm at the school library, and the computer on the other side of the desk is empty, but someone left a chess game on the screen, so everyone comes over to take the seat, sees the game on there and leaves. I almost told the last person that it's been over two hours and no one's come back to it, but I didn't. Interesting, no? See, what makes this blog so successful is that I know what the people want and I give it to them.

- I was doing really well on my diet yesterday, and then my mom made me this awesome supper after I came home from work. And I ate it, and it was gooooood. I guess my point is, mmmm-mmm.

- I'm kind of tired, so I can't think of anything to say. Or maybe the well gone done run dry. You know, the well from which my wisdom doth come.

He remains an Englishman

- At work on a saturday again. Bleah. On the bright side, I just found out we have this guy who is going to come in and clean the place daily in exchange for a membership, and his name is Oakie. It's like fate knew I needed a "pick me up" today, and threw me a bone.

- My cousin is going to be in either the Pirates of Penzance or the HMS Pinafore. I can't remember which, and "It's Surely To Their Credit" will forever confuse the two of them for me. "It's the one about duty." Anyway, I'm pretty sure I could write a play that would get a better response for at a college viewing. Then again, I'd actually have to have a plot, since people like the story to go somewhere. Ah, silly unwashed masses. It's the language that matters. The language, I tell you! I'm kidding, by the way. I couldn't out-write Sullivan and the other guy, obviously.

- One more hour of this. Then the crazies will go home. "People; they're the worst!"

- There's some trouble brewing at work, but it's not really my fault. However, I have an opportunity to either fix it or make it worse, or I could do nothing. It's kind of like when Pedro goes "Vote for me, and all your dreams will come true," and then Napoleon totally goes for it and saves the day. Or like when Curious George takes the balloons and flies to the zoo. Yeah, just like that.

march 15th

- I ended up with 1050 push-ups. I expected to feel it more the next day than I actually did.

- "Woah! Suns and Mavericks went into double overtime, and they both have won a ton of games and it was such a great game and let's do 8 features on it! * labored breathing into a paper bag *" - ESPN guys.

- The two leading candidates for NBA MVP? Pale Euorpean dudes. I think Nash is European, anyway. He looks European. Let's just say he is, and go with it.

- I really don't want to go to school today, but I have to. Stupid attendance policies! It's like the teachers don't trust us.

- Not a single politician I can think of that I like. Just sayin'.

- I think I'm going to stop at BK and get a breakfast meal. Coincidentally, this is my fourth day of off of my thus-far four-day long diet. So, there's that.