Tuesday, Finals Week
"Does peanut butter have eggs in it?" -Maria, 10/25/2004
The movie Murder By Numbers is an exceptionally bad one. I do not at all endorse seeing it. On my walk home from the (In)Discrete Maths review session, I could not help but think how much cooler it would have been if it had been about Maths that kill you. This was before The Ring, so they could totally have done a 'you see this combinatorial proof, you have the sum from i equals zero to n of n choose i hours to live' sort of thing. Of course, it came long after Pi, so I'd have to go along a different track than that, but hopefully be just as cool. Or maybe it'd even work as a mathematical slasher flick. There's so much you could do with this!
Come to think of it, movies about maths are always pretty creepy. Donald Duck in Math Land, anyone? *shudder* I can't even think of billiards without being reminded of that movie. And then Pi. And, from what I hear, A Beautiful Mind.
Ah, well. As a friend of mine once said, "Mathematics created a lovely evening." And now I'm going to spend it studying.
Wednesday
"I think your hair would be a great guy to marry." -Aubree, 11/27/2004
Life is a series of gains and losses. Or perhaps a sequence of matrices of gains and losses. Gained: Some sweet henna, paycheck, new lighters, a comb, and three soundtracks on vinyl: the original Chicago, Guys & Dolls, and Star Wars. But no turntable. It was on hold for someone else.
Lost: It Never Rains (On Monitor Hill). This comic has been one of the most beautiful things I know of, and it's sad to see it go. I'll be downloading the archives to CD before the site drops, but. Though I can understand. I loved it, but it was never mine, and I can and have to let it rest.
But I will have those archives, you understand. Just because no one believes Greek mythology anymore doesn't make Greek mythology not worth knowing.
"And you remember how you found the key to his hideout in the Pyrannies. But you wanted to keep it secret, safe, so you threw the key away." Ironic that as I was writing this, that line, maybe the best lyric about loss that I know, should play. "This is the story of your gypsie uncle."
But I retain much. Much that is dear to me. For that, I am thankful.
Plus, this henna is pretty awesome.
Monday, Tenth Week
"Let's face it, you're always sitting at your desk." -Anne Rogers, 11/05/2004
"This fall, I don't know if I survived."
Or should it be "I must be made of steel."? We'll find out later.
Thanksgiving was pretty cool. Didn't get to rest up too much, because I kept getting up early to impress the folks. Granted, it worked, but it wasn't too much of a break for me. Highlights: Mr. Dugan referencing the sack of Carthage; Leah's grandmother saying, of Bill Clinton, "He can leave his boots under my bed anytime."
It's not, apparantly, really "so cold in Ohio".
Thursday, Eighth Week
"Some people say I'm mad, and say the word "penguin" after each sentence. But I believe that we two can make Chicago great, with you as Victor Neminis and I as Will Penguin." -'Will', 11/16/2004
This post was mostly a quote post. I've got a midterm today, the domain expired, but then Zarya renewed it. (Yay, Zarya!) I almost bought the renewal for her (I just found out this week that I'm not broke.... and bought a cell phone. Not in that order.), but truthfully, I wasn't sure if she wanted it renewed. This is what happens when people don't communicate.
The Hot Side Hot is going well. Plan A has seen progress, Plan K has been postponed until warmer weather, and Plan E is working to an acceptable degree, though I wouldn't mind turning up the volume. (A note: Since these have been pronounced at me wrong in the past, let me just mention that all of the above arethe Greek letters, not the Latin. The reasons for this is that Latin letters, suffixing 'Plan', tend to refer to a heirarchy; that is, Plan C is put into action if Plan B fails. This is not the case with my Plans, which, as should be obvious, operate concurrently.)
For the interested: During daylight hours (early afternoon, both times), the Oriental Institute and BJ, baby.
Monday, Seventh Week
"You might get locked in and die, but that's just part of the fun." -Laura, 10/01/2004
"Hopeless bleak despair, it was always there, and then, one day, it disappeared."
So things are fundamentally Not That Bad. I'm on top of my work, I'm not completely broke, and none of my teachers really hate me. Shoot, I even cleaned the bathtub, repaired two shoes, and played some Zelda. I've even found time help Leah reestablish her website; modify the Shorelandband listhost info page slightly, update a couple times, czech my e-mail regularly, and even finally type up my account of LifeLight, which has been sitting on my desktop half-finished for far too long.
So what's next? Oh, more homework, a homily for Thursday, maybe even the Fishbein house webpage. And, of course, dealing with more stuff for the show Friday. Man, that's been crazy, but it actually came together. We'll see how well this weekend.
And, finally, Pimpkin-come-Pimp-o-lantern has been given a neo-Viking funeral, as he no doubt deserves. Well, an econo-neo-Viking funeral. I am, after all, a college student.
And I finaly remembered, now that it's almost time to leave for my lab, what it was I really meant to do between class and lab, and it was just as important as I had told Austin it was when I was complaining about not being able to remember what it was just after class. Oh, well.
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.
Feeds: