4.30.2006

Excuses Excuses

this is so classic. check out this ny times article. we don't want to send them home where they may be tortured...because we are doing a much better job here. all of a sudden the government is concerned about their well-being. what a crock.

Ice Bath

just got back from the pool. main set: 5,000 meters, no breaks, straight through, 100 laps of long course freestyle. lesson of the day: never do that set again, ever, ever, ever. an hour and 20 minutes of non-stop swimming with no one to race. i have a frat boy in his boardshorts on my left, an old woman and a skinny asian girl in a bikini on my right. i don't feel smooth until around lap 75 because of a pretty tough weight session at the gym last night. so it was basically my most painful experience of recent memory. i'm off to wrap my body in ice packs until i can't feel anything anymore.

4.29.2006

Major Update

i have a number of items to discuss this evening, so let's get to it. first of all, i'd like to applaud fresno for making national news...for a lawsuit involving employees being spanked at work. nice. read about it here.

i went to a couple guitar recitals on campus today, which were pretty interesting. it was a little inspirational and a little depressing. of course, i went straight home and tried to fake-solo, which astonishingly didn't sound half bad despite the fact that i was mostly hitting random notes.

i've started trying out some new recipes in an attempt to get out of the steamed rice, pasta, salad, steamed rice, pasta, salad rut i've been stuck in for pretty much the whole semester. so far i've tried pesto chicken with cous cous, a greek tortellini salad and lemon shrimp skewers. so far it's all been edible, thankfully. i've made sure to slightly overcook the meat dishes to ensure that i don't kill myself with bacteria, but it's all turned out well. i'd appreciate any input (in the comments section) on dishes to try. don't be shy.

i hope to get a few final things out of the way tomorrow. first, two concert reports (on the guitar recitals i mentioned earlier) for my guitar class. then, my take-home essay questions for law of mass communication. if i can put those to bed, i'll have french on thursday and blaxploitation on the following monday. and that will put a close on my third year. wow. that's all for now. off to read some camus. stay tuned.

p.s. just want to plug my other blog again, because i'm pathetically seeking approval...just go there and laugh. or leave mean comments telling me i'm not funny and why. enough necktie. click it.

4.28.2006

Homestretch

ah, so here i am at work on the last official day of class. i actually finished up yesterday afternoon. anyway, i have a few finals left and then it's into my summer mode of interning and working at the marshall school of business. i have a few goals for the summer:

read for fun...like when i had time for that kind of stuff

write tons more...on this blog and my enough necktie blog, plus maybe a short story or two

network...get everyone at the l.a. times to remember my name and face

relax...go to the beach, go to the mountains, sleep a lot

4.27.2006

Back in the Game

hey all, i made it through the week and am excited to be back in the blogosphere. right now i'm a little worn out so i'll catch you all up on the happenings later.

4.25.2006

Too Little, Too Late

i'm sorry, i just had to post this: check it out. fuck yea, pelosi!

4.23.2006

Crunch Time

hey all, looks like i'll be taking a brief hiatus from posting to concentrate on the immense amount of stuff i have coming up this week. so hang in there and i'll be back eventually.

4.21.2006

Socially Accepted Vices

marijuana legalization took another blow today. i don't get why it is such a big deal. i feel like marijuana is on par with something like alcohol, which is, of course, legal in the united states with some obvious restrictions. why can't the government do the same for marijuana? it has semi-legal status in amsterdam and they aren't dissolving into a state of pure mayhem and anarchy. so what is so scary about this idea that it leaves some politicians frothing at the mouth? adults have the right to drink alcohol, which offers up some serious health consequences, not to mention the right to pop a million different kinds of pills, from prozac to oxycontin. this arbitrary division when it comes to a natural-growing plant seems somewhat ludicrous. anti-hippie-ites.

4.20.2006

Chops From Outer Space

i think it's amusing when i watch a movie about music/a band, like the documentary hype! i just watched, and then get all excited and want to play guitar like them. and then i go play yankee doodle and home on the range...slowly. rock on! however, i am progressing, despite my self-deprecating humor. got a few spinal tap riffs somewhat conquered and approaching zz top-like licks. so as you can see, beneath the veneer of intellectual discussion and political snarkiness, this blog is mainly about the inflation of my ego. so sue me.

Priorities

this is an oversimplified model of religious conservative vs. liberal motivations:

conservative:

1. wealth (corporations, oil, stock market, etc.)

2. power (control, government, religion, etc.)

3. happiness (derived from 1 and 2)


liberal:

1. happiness (individuality, self-realization, spiritual interaction, etc.)

2. power (responsibility, knowledge, literacy, etc.)

3. wealth (family, comfort, good beer, etc.)

4.19.2006

Dropping Like Flies

bye bye scottie...guess he just couldn't roll with the punches anymore. someone alert the white house kitchen staff that bush will probably be looking for a replacement among them. his chaffeur is also a strong contender. snark snark.

Empty Picture Frame

i can't think of anything to write here. i've been sitting and staring at a blank screen for about 15 minutes now. i can only think about one thing, that life is full of missed opportunities and i'm slowly letting them get away from me without doing anything. i'm tired of doing that. and since my mind is apparently devoid of any other rational thought, i'll leave this post at that.

4.18.2006

Conundrum

go to my last law of mass communication class or go to bovard and watch steve miller play guitar with the usc orchestra? weigh in and help me out with my decision. must be made by 6:00 p.m. on tuesday, april 18.

4.17.2006

Debts

we discussed another interesting topic in my french class today (it's funny how a class that is so incredibly uptight and shy talks about such important questions and ideas). we were talking about meursault in the stranger and the validity of everyone having to pay a debt to society. my professor talked about how it's important to follow the rules of our society and our institutions, i.e. marriage, religion, the law, etc. i think that's valid to a certain extent (a fairly minimal one in my mind actually). but there is something that just seems to be a whole lot more important to me than this idea of a debt to society, and that is a debt to oneself. i'm not advocating chaos and anarchy here; i completely understand the need for rules and institutions. but as selfish as it may seem, it is just more important to me that i live my life in a way that makes me content. if i spend my whole life helping others and following all the rules and going to church, but during it all i'm completely miserable? that to me is a denial of a basic need that exists within everyone: the desire for happiness. and people always give me this argument that sacrificing one's own happiness for the betterment of others is a noble cause because it is very painful and difficult to achieve. but it seems to me that it's much easier to denounce one's own desires in the name of humanity than it is to embrace those desires and try to find a way to realize them. i think there is an important balance to be found between the two; between the selflessness and the selfishness. and i think it's necessary to be content, or at least somewhat at ease, with one's own life before trying to help others.

4.16.2006

In The Dark

a while ago in my french class we were talking (one of the rare occasions that this event actually occurred) about putting up a facade; basically hiding our true identities. and i definitely do this. i won't lie and say i'm not an actor pretty much every day of my life. not all the time of course. but it's definitely there. and it's a little scary, because if i'm doing it, then i have to figure that most other people are doing it as well. so here i am, on a campus of 30,000 students, and i'm pretending to be someone else, and they're all pretending to be someone else, and somewhere in that madness i'm supposed to make a connection with someone that means something? scary. how do we find that place where we can be honest with each other, where we don't need that facade? does it even exist, or are our true selves just alone, floating around behind iron-plated shields, despite how much we tell each other that we are being open and honest? and how can we ever know that our openness and honesty is being reflected by anyone we decide to be open with? it seems like it amounts to putting a lot out there and hoping it doesn't get shredded to pieces. scary.

Reality Check

hey all. i know i've been slacking a little on the posting, and i'm afraid that may continue until i'm through with classes and paper-writing and all that. so be patient and you'll get your fix. last night at ralph's i was standing in the checkout line while some guy next to me was babbling about how peeps are actually made from pork and i realized that people will believe just about anything if it is packaged correctly. this is probably related to watching the tom cruise interview with diane sawyer and realizing just how much he is out of touch with reality. it was really kind of sad.

4.15.2006

Fire Alarm Bandit Strikes Again

probably the 5th or 6th time this semester. a little ridiculous and a lot immature. not much else new to report. another lazy weekend. closing in on the end of the semester.

4.13.2006

Ignorance Anyone?

while looking for articles on the georgia tech debacle, i stumbled across this little gem:

"there is no doubt in the world that the Left have used their extensive control over education to promote and propagandize for homosexuality -- all under the guise of getting people to "tolerate" it, of course. And in so doing they have caused great offence and upset to many parents (e.g. here).
Why do Leftists do that? Because they hate ordinary people who are happily getting on with their lives. Revolution is the ultimate Leftist aim but small attacks on society will do if big ones are not feasible."
yes! the leftists have this ultimate goal of turning america into a huge gay party with rainbow parades down every street. and they hate "ordinary" people. ordinary as in...what? hetero? does anyone else think this guy is suffering from a little bit of paranoia and a whole lot of homophobia?

Sides Of A Coin

the interesting thing about the whole iran situation is that one side is led by "a religious fanatic suffering delusions of grandeur with a taste for demagogic posturing" and the other side is led by, well, that religious fanatic mahmoud ahmadinejad.

(quoted material by matthew yglesias)

4.12.2006

Is Anyone Surprised?

check out this story about how bush's impressive streak of being completely full of shit continues. bush is angry about it. someone get him his pacifier. mcclellan: ""This is reckless reporting and for you all to go on the air this morning and make such a charge is irresponsible, and I hope that ABC would apologize for it and make a correction on the air." first of all, how is this reckless reporting? it's fucking true!!! second of all, about his comment that this is just rehashing an old issue because it's already been decided that intelligence on iraqi wmds was wrong: the article was not trying to say that intelligence on wmds was wrong. in fact, in this case, it was right. the issue is that the president, after getting this intelligence, made it wrong...by completely fucking ignoring it!!! and don't claim innocence and that this was merely a preliminary report...the bush administration publicly stuck by the claim that the trailers were mobile biological labs for nearly a year. this of course after making liberal use of their "classified" rubber stamps. the fact is, they had the intel two days before the statement, preliminary report or not, and they bullshitted the whole thing and tried to hide the evidence. don't piss on me and tell me it's raining.

Most Used American Word: More

have any of you seen the advertising on nbc for their new reality show called celebrity chef showdown or something? it's pretty telling about american society. here is the lead-in to the commercial: "there's only one thing that can get people this worked up...food!" yea, not global warming. not de facto annihilation of the 4th amendment. not environmental destruction. not potential global nuclear war. no, it's food. because that is what americans are all about these days: their fried burrito-wrapped caesar salads and their tube-cooked egg, rubber sausage patty, greasy bacon and partially hydrogenated cheese by-product piled in a sugar-drenched, deep-fried krispy kreme donut.

4.10.2006

Cool Burn

there are few occasions that rival the warmth and happiness derived from a well-chosen, well-planned and well-executed burned cd mix. when it all comes together, all the songs transition perfectly into each other, despite their dubious limewire origins, there is this magical feeling of accomplishment and pride. please send a sase with blank compact disc for your own copy of my latest creation.

Attack Everyone

oh man, stupid people. check out this link i stole from collegehumor.

Here We Go Again

looks like iran is looming large on the prez's radar screen. check out the new yorker article. thanks kev for the tip.

"The President believes that he must do 'what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do,' and 'that saving Iran is going to be his legacy.'"

a legacy of anti-american sentiment. a legacy of destroyed countries and destroyed families. a legacy of dead bodies. save iran, mr. bush? don't you remember what mommy said? clean up one mess before you start making another.

update: check out this msnbc article. apparently these plans for attacking iran are simply "wild speculation." jack straw calls the idea of a nuclear strike against iran "completely nuts." hmm, i wonder if he commented on just a normal, blow-the-shit-out-of-the-country-with-conventional-missiles attack.

4.09.2006

Above The Wagon

another wasted weekend. wasted in the sense of lost time, not in the sense of drunkenness, although i must admit, some was involved. i bought a new book, the first man by camus, so i'm looking forward to getting into that when i get some time...that i'm not wasting. i'm also finally getting my new picks in, supposedly by tuesday, so that will be great. i'll get to play with something other than this worn down stump of a pick.

really not a lot to report from the front lines. three more weeks of class, so it's winning time, as uncle rodger would say. i did see the girls waterpolo team play ucla on saturday. 6-4 victory of course. it was a pretty intense game, especially for me, since i had just pulled an all-nighter for no apparent reason and was on the brink of insanity. slept for almost 16 hours. it was nice. that's all for now, go entertain yourselves in some other way.

4.07.2006

The Authentic Life

check out this excerpt from porfirio on existential choice:

"the precipitous slide of existentialism towards nihilism is only halted by its heavy emphasis on man's freedom. in exchange for this benefit, the individual must be willing to cast aside the weight of outmoded beliefs in a tough recognition of the meaninglessness of existence. he must choose, in other words, between 'being and nothingness,' between the 'authentic' and 'inauthentic' life. the inauthentic life is the unquestioned one which derives its rationale from a facile acceptance of those values external to the self. to live authentically, one must reject these assurances and therein discover the ability to create one's own values; in so doing each individual assumes responsibility for his life through the act of choosing between two alternatives. and since man is his own arbiter, he literally creates good and evil."

sounds like what this country needs is some good existential thought. it seems like everyone i meet is hung up on tradition and the "values of our elders." i'm sure some of them are good. and then some of them are bad. it's almost like an epidemic of laziness. i'm not just talking about physical laziness, which is definitely another problem with its own conversation. people are too lazy to think, to form their own opinion. i don't mean to suggest this is a new phenomenon. it's been that way since the inception of this nation, and probably a lot earlier than that. why do we have a two-party political system? with only two options, it makes it a lot easy to make a decision. and most people willingly become a cog in this big machinery of social constructs. i've heard little kids telling each other their party affiliations. it seems like most children are trained from an early age to accept. to have blind faith. not to question. it's only creating a society of robots, incapable of true self-exploration. is it so hard to create one's own values? is it so hard to have a mind of one's own? is it so hard to be responsible for one's own life?

shut your mouth and open your mind.

4.05.2006

Coincidence? I Think Not

something very similar to my super mario story on enough necktie actually happened. check it out here. and you thought that story was a farce. i wouldn't be surprised if we saw incidents like this springing up across the country. there is a problem here, people, and the sooner you admit it, the sooner we can get together and finally defeat bowser.

Comme Des Automates

i don't know what the problem is. i had an eight o'clock french class last semester, and it had a hundred times more talk and interaction. so it can't be because it is at nine. it must be the people in my class. they are apparently a breed of mutes. it's like a couple of other people and i are carrying the whole class. and i feel so bad for my professor. i caught a glimpse of what it is like for her. we have to do presentations about chapters out of camus' l'etranger and ask questions to the class about themes and whatnot. it is a very unpleasant feeling to ask a question and have a group of people stare down at their desk like they are searching for some recondite truth in its fake-wood veneer. i can't imagine what it is like for her on a daily basis to have to constantly prod and poke at people, trying to elicit any sort of vocal or gestural response. they are like fucking robots. we are in college, people. enjoy yourselves, have a little fun in class. even if you absolutely detest the class, sitting there in mindless robot mode is only going to drag it out and make it worse. especially for me. ce n'était pas dificile. parlez!

4.04.2006

Aww, Thanks

unbelievable, dude.

hey, why don't you...i don't know...stop building walmarts? i think that may help the average small business out a little. like walmart gives a shit about them. all the pr in the world isn't going to convince me that walmart is anything but another corporation filled with corporate assholes with nothing but global conquest on their corporate little minds.

4.03.2006

There Is A God

it's about goddamn time. nuff said.

Where's Waldo?

check this out...

i love how mccormack, the assistant secretary of state for public affairs, is looking for an iraqi journalist during the q & a period...and condi replies with "i think this woman, this woman all the way in the back." figures that the iraqi woman journalist, perhaps one of the few people there who will feel an immediate impact from the events that are being discussed, is in the back of the room.

Skipping AA

ooooh, get 'em obama: "Saying that America is addicted to oil without following a real plan for energy independence is like admitting alcoholism and then skipping out on the 12-step program." love it!

Update

i just got off the phone with my friends at united independent taxi, and after an estimated 13 transfers (i estimate because i lost count...it's not even a joke) i finally got my money back. thought they could screw with me, ha!

anyway, it's supposed to rain here until wednesday and i'm getting ready for some thunderstorm weather, which is supposed to happen tomorrow. figures. the one day i have to leave the apartment about 4 times for class and work. any other day would've been a thousand times better. c'est dommage.

playlist: phoenix - too young, my bloody valentine - sometimes, the jesus and mary chain - honey, steve vai - bad horsie, brand new - the quiet things that no one ever knows, isaac hayes - soulsville, cartel - say anything (else), the who - the seeker

Short Poem








there is something quiet
in every part of the sky

it makes life a little easier

4.02.2006

Mission: Accomplished

sorry, had to put in a bush joke up front. couldn't help it. but i finally got around to finishing my research paper, whew, which is actually due tuesday. so i'm a little ahead of schedule and i can take a little time tomorrow evening to do some editing and rewriting. exciting, i know, but i can't spend too much time celebrating, because i already have my next writing assignment. and after that, plus all my other finals and whatnot, i'll be done with my junior year of college. scary. time to start looking for a real job. time to start getting used to the idea of not having three months off during the summer.

just a word of advice: don't use united independent taxi...or independent united taxi, or some combination of those words...if you are in los angeles and in need of a taxi service. i didn't have enough cash so i had to pay with my check card and ended up getting charged twice for the ride. they keep taking my phone number and promising that someone will call me back about it, and i'm getting more and more pissed off. it's not the $13.40, it's the goddamn principle of the thing. tomorrow, it's time to be angry adult, not pushover kid. i'll keep you in the loop, but right now i need to write up an enough necktie story and then go watch a movie or something.