Sunday
"Blood? I don't have any blood!" -Matt Hacker, 11/07/2004
From the Book of Common Prayer, Prayers of the People, Form Six:
For this community, the nation, and the world;
For all who work for justice, freedom, and peace.
For the just and proper use of your creation;
For the victims of hunger, fear, injustice, and oppression.
Though Form Six is definitely my favorite of them, I've never particularly cared for the Prayers of the People, preferring the 'deeper prayers' elsewhere in the Eucharist. They always seemed so superficial and trite to me. This year, though, they've begun to seem more relevant; and when I read those words tonight, words I've recited a hundred times and more, it somehow clicked just how important these things are. I mean, yes, the forgiveness of sins still takes dominance in my mind, but I can't say things like "justice, freedom, and peace" are trivial.
I wish fewer things were important; it would make life.... actually, no matter what adjective I used there, it'd be wrong. If my life were more trivial, I would just assign greater importance to those trivialities. There is no escape, and my spacebar is becoming increasingly unreliable.
I've been meaning, if excessive political musings maybe forgiven, of posting my Caesar theory as well. It goes along these lines: Using Rome as the classical (and Classical, heh) example, most Republics have a functional duration of just over about two hundred years before shifting into an autocracy. Caesar acheived this autocracy by uniting the various fields of government under himself and killing off his enemies. Is any of this this sounding familiar yet? Let me continue. He acheived popularity by, among other things, leading campaigns again the enemies of the state in foreign wars. Getting creepy? Don't worry too much, all you Democrats. Geoff "Zechariah" Thompson expressed in his usual hyperbolic way to me his belief that the new Caesar will be "a Liberalist". Consider that a large part of Caesar's success was his vast charisma. While I could not claim that Bush lacks charisma (he won, didn't he?), I would not think he has sufficiently enough to become the Caesar. What is worrysome in this theory is not that this particular consul -excuse me, 'President'- is displaying Caesarian qualities, but that a trend towards qualities has been forming.
The catchphrase "Unless we learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it." is decieving; it tries to make us think that history does not still repeat if we have learned the lessons it offers. Of course, those lessons at least allow us to make pretentious political commentaries like this one.
This post is getting long, ne? And perhaps a bit heavy-handed? Perhaps you may, like Roy Orbison, find relaxation in the loving caress of cling film. So.
early Wednesday morning, Sixth week
"Melts in your mouth, not in your hand, as long as you're not a dumbass." -'Tricky', 10/27/2004
toast =>? the end of the world
This is the outcome post.
I was listening to Great Big Sea to console myself, but the next song up is their cover of "The End of the World As We Know It". CNN lists incomplete results for New Mexico, Iowa, and Ohio, and Bush with a lead of only two electoral votes. A closer examination shows, however, that Bush has the majority in Ohio and one of the others, and the most votes, though not the majority, in the other. Those twenty Ohio votes mean Bush gets four more years. Maybe. He could be kicked out of office sometime in there, or, (heaven forbid) rig a way to remain in power. This problem is made worse by the fact that the Republicans very much have a majority in Congress. This is not inherently bad, but it's nice to have those two branches controlled by different parties. I personally would prefer a Democratic president with a Republican Congress. Half-right, unfortunately, still means all-wrong in this case.
Obama won, thankfully, but that wasn't in question. Daschle, however, whom I had also thought of as a good bet, lost by a slim margin to John Thune. Looking at the exit polls last night, the rural and small town votes went to.... guess who? That's right, Daschle, the Democrat. Why? Because he does -excuse me, did- a very fine job of supporting their interests in Congress. It was the insulated people in the cities who voted along "moral" lines to pick Thune. Bad. Go. Thune is a slimeball. He outright refused to speak against the out-of-state Republican groups who have been smearing Daschle for a year and a half now. His idea of moral on many issues is dubious, and I'm talking from a conservative standpoint here. But, you know, he's against abortion. And in South Dakota, that's what counts.
There are other freaking issues, people! GAAH!
Enough about that, if I can. There is also good news in the air (and your drinking water!). Remember that time I applied to be a Scav Hunt Judge? Well, later that night, after I had collapsed (OK, jumped/climbed, my bed is at chest-level) into bed, just before I fell asleep, Courtney and Christian came with cake-pudding and told me the good news. I was, however, forbidden to tell until the bad news had also been relayed to those who would receive it. The full list of new judges consists of Colin 'Bitch' McFaul, Sara from the FIST, Matt Fink (the name everyone recognises but no one can place), Nick Poulos, and myself. Two FIST, two Shoreland, one wildcard. Oh, and your mom, but she's a "special" judge. And by special, I mean, uh, 'your mom'.
A few days ago, I was told I could spread the news like a VD. Since I had gotten the news from a girl and subsequently told many other girls, it seems appropriate. And now, I'm infecting you all, you poor, doomed suckers.
The first person Poulos infected was apparantly Katie Callowright. Whoops.
We'll see who pulls off a better reign of terror: Bush or me.
Election Day
"I'm going to be a President who believes in Science." -John Kerry, 10/08/2004
Crazy weekend! First, by which I mean second-to-last, I almost certainly didn't fail my Systems midterm! Second, by which I mean last, Cobb wasn't on my ballot! Third, by which I mean after that other one, I smudged the room, and Alice accused me of paganism; she has a good point, and I'll have to consider what she said! Fourth, by which I mean even after that other, it looks as though Thune might beat Daschle after all; shaft!
Fifth, by which I mean second, trick-or-treating with Tori in the suburbs was much fun and very relaxing. Sixth, by which I mean first, The vegan party Saturday was totally not up to par. It was also a bad night for me. I drank too much; I blame this primarily on the fact that I was not mixing my own drinks, and thus was not as aware of how much I actually consumed. I was, however, able to use my hook as a cupholder (I went, then and for trick-or-treating, as a pinja) and even dial down the center. I found out that (a) Dee, the dirty tie-thief, still has my second-ugliest tie, but (b) Gina is her roommate; however, (c) she will not steal it back for me. Pooh. There was also a lot of very sketchy things going on, few of which is it my business to comment on. And there was this guy in an Amish costume who could not, for some reason figure out how to operate the front door at all, and I had to keep helping him with it. Sixth, by which I mean beforehand, Vanessa's birthday party was fun. I think Leah got to know my other crazy friends a bit better, which is cool.
Seventh, by which I mean just now, Daschle is now neck-and-neck with Thune. Here's hoping; here's goodnight.
Thursday
"He groveled. It was good." -Leah, 09/27/2004
First, Lorange, I don't hate you. But there's still no comments, yo.
You know what the thing is, out of all I've seen and heard, that most makes me want to vote for Kerry? This:
So cute! So innocent-looking!
But anyway. Twenty-six applicants, thirteen interviewees, four new judges. Presumably this doesn't include the girl who gets an automatic in. My interview is in just over two hours. I almost didn't see the postscript to the e-mail telling me this: "Silly hats only." I don't know whether to bring a silly hat or a two-by-four. Either way, I've got it covered.
Two midterms down, two to go. I'm not dead or failed out yet.
"September was the first time I had to breathe."
Tuesday Tuesday, Fifth Week
"Stop hitting on me; I have to sleep with you!" -Danit, 10/25/2004
So last Easter, Anna and I dyed about a dozen eggs, and I hid them around Fishbein.
I just found one.
Fridelicious
"If Science is what it takes to become immortal, then I'll go down that road." -Jimmy Chang, 09/23/2004
So today may very well have been the first day all quarter I've done and turned in all the homework that was due. On the one hand, it shows that Plan E is working, on the other, it's sad that I haven't done that before now.... Bleh.
So as of Wednesday night, I have confirmed that my hair is long enough to put into a good low ponytail. You know, now that I'm not waiting tables.
Also in the news: David and I devised a hypothesis that all of human life comes down to just four variables, which correspond to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. Everything else, then, is an equation or a function off of these variable. This leads to such possible remarks as "Don't increment my war variable today!" and "Oh, man, that dinner really decremented my famine variable," and of course "Turn your head when you sneeze! Are you trying to increment my pestilence variable?"
So I uploaded these a while back, but neglected to demonstrate most of them until now.
HS vs. local geography.
Kat suggests a solution to my computer problems.
Paul has an idea.
Paul is a mack daddy.
Paul invents the anti-rave.
Tara on school, katsup, and Milo and Otis.
You know what it is about fourteen-point type? It's bigger, but it's not really that much bigger, is it?
Tuesday Tuesday, Fourth Week
"Twice you burned your life's work: once to start a new life, and once just to start a fire!" -'New Girl' by the Long Winters
Fourth Week already. Phew.
Today I figured out what I'll be for Hallowe'en. It was a good day, filled with good conversations and solid working; very little wasting of time. I enjoyed it immensely. In a very short time, I'll go set up the Shoreland Band meeting, and when that's done, I'll get back to work. Maybe I'll go to bed early.... raiiiight. Well, at least I can go to bed, raight? Hopefully?
"What happened to my yesterday?"
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