4.30.2007

Fredno

ahh, back in lovely fresno for a few days here. of course it's nice and toasty compared to socal. should be around for most of this week. looking into buying a car. yea, more debt. always a fun thing to do. also heading out to central for a visit with the old swim team. maybe dropping by bullard to visit my high school journalism teacher, the inspiration behind my career choice. and of course, eating lots of home-cooked meals.

posts may be sparse for the next few weeks as i graduate/move/start job/etc. could be a bit hectic. hell, will be hectic, i'm sure. all seems a bit unreal.

if i weren't so mentally lazy, i'd rant about a number of bush-related items, like the purple heart and sticking up for alberto "i-don't-recall" gonzalez. just imagine i have and shake with inner rage along with me.

4.25.2007

Paragon

if you appreciate good journalism and good writing, and you aren't reading dan neil, you need to start. right now. right here. this is the first paragraph of the aforelinked article:

ONE is British, the other German. The Brit is a 1-ton, mid-engine atomic pixie stripped to the bare metal floor, a car so loud and raw that when its 220-horsepower supercharged four is at — how to put this delicately? — full suck, it sounds like an Oreck vacuum cleaner has taken up residence in your helmet. The German is almost exactly a half-ton heavier, a winged, ground-skimming vampire with a 415-hp, 3.6-liter flat six stuck in its keister. The sound of this engine is breathtaking, biblical, deeply sinister, like a two-man logging team cutting down the Tree of Knowledge.

now that is some goddamn writing. i challenge anyone to write an article about two cars that would make even the most spark plug and drive train-ignorant reader gasp in wonder. he's good. real good.

Dip and Wax

tomorrow evening is the infamous usc fountain run, when all the graduating seniors get a little drunk and ... jump in fountains. should i participate? it's been a little chilly lately.

today is essentially my last day of class. i'll have to come back to campus for my guitar final and to hand in my final design project, but this appears to be it. i feel ... not very different. a little relieved, maybe, to be done, to look at my transcript and see a staggering amount of courses. 142 units, i'll be ending up with. they all seem very distant to me now, just names on a page. it seems unlikely i actually took all those classes.

4.24.2007

Drawing Board

yes! major profile done and done. i'm going to try to get it published somewhere, but if not, maybe i'll post it here. or maybe both. but that's out of the way.

i'm listening to a cd i made in 2003. doesn't seem that old.

speaking of old, i'll be 22 pretty soon. a few months anyway. now that is strange to say. and i'm doing all these grownup things, like buying a car and getting a job. damn.

Ego Already

i'm sorry, but i just can't seem to stop whining about the dt. why does every graduating columnist think we care that this week is the last week they will be writing a column? why would they waste their last column writing about how it's their last column? save that crap for the last paragraph, if at all. every year another columnist graduates. you aren't that special. in fact, the only people worthy of writing a 500-word goodbye are columnists who have written for a paper for over 10 years. that's my opinion, at least.

watch, in about two weeks i'll be rehashing the past and conjuring up maudlin images like tear-soaked bricks along trousdale as i write my last post from usc.

4.23.2007

Lofty Goals

i don't know about anyone else, but i'm getting a little sick of all the "loft living" stories in the los angeles times. okay, we get it. downtown is being revitalized. are you its goddamn pr agent or something? cripes. every other day there's a headline like "the loft: redefined" or "warehouse to luxury." how many possible times can you write a story about how to decorate an 600 sq. foot box? report on something that matters, please.

4.22.2007

Upon Request

oh man, it is so hard to motivate myself to do this last bit of work. come on, people. give me a little encouragement.

some d-bags have been playing soccer in the hallways of my apartment complex and breaking shit. such disrespect. it's embarrassing. grow up.

it's been pretty chilly around here lately. i like it. i can go down to the gym and work out on the exercise bikes they have outdoors and not get drenched with sweat. well, i still get drenched, but it's not as bad. i need to get back to the pool though. it seems everyone loves to schedule events that i want or have to attend in the three-hour window when the pool is open. but this week i'm getting there every day. i might even talk myself into getting up early to hit the gym. like the old days.

4.19.2007

Choose One

oh baby, check out this great cartoon in the laweekly.

Open Hand, Smack Forehead

here we go again dt:

hed: Activist criticizes plan to increase bus fare

subhed: Author Eric Mann says the bun fare hike is an example of a bigger racial problem.

this is just getting sad. this is on page 3. i'm going to keep reading and hope i don't see anything else.

4.18.2007

Waterfell

i officially accepted the reporting job at the santa barbara daily sound yesterday. i'll be covering city hall. i'm psyched. only problem, now it feels like there is no reason to try on these last few assignments. i know they are coming up, but i can't manage to drag myself in front of the computer to get them over with until the last moment. wait. that's what i always do. nevermind.

the air is beautifully clean again today. more wind has blasted all the nasties out of here, and now this place looks half decent.

4.17.2007

Elevity

let's see, what to talk about? not much, really. things are wrapping up here. design project, profile rewrite, sierra madre rewrite and guitar final. that's about it. i don't know what else to tell you.

oh, someone watched as i walked up to the elevator and pressed the call button, then walked up and pressed it himself. now that has to be just the last brain cell in this guy's head. why would -- what -- i just -- i don't understand.

4.16.2007

Desperate Indeed

i know i'm on the home team here, but i just have to post this one. from the daily trojan, our fine paragon of journalistic integrity, comes the following sentence from this editorial:

Comisar is hip to government lies about why we invaded Iraq and is skeptical of the recruiting propaganda dished out by the Pentagon pubic-relations machine.

did you catch it? i sure hope so. it very nearly jumped off the page and choke-slammed me to the floor. to find out that the pentagon has a machine that has relations with pubic regions, in addition to spreading war propaganda, came as quite a shock to me to say the least. glad i wasn't on the desk last night. although i don't see myself missing that little fella.

Elevation

here's a hypothetical scenario for you. don't think about it too long or blood will shoot out your eyes. you approach a tall, young man not unlike myself. he's standing in front of three elevators, staring at them patiently. the call button is lit up. how insane do you have to be to walk over and press the call button and stare expectantly for the doors to open? because i'm pretty sure at least 90 percent of the people who work in or visit the building where i work are pretty goddamn insane.

4.15.2007

Cursed Mistral

so i go to the pool today. and of course there is a girl's water polo game. so of course i have to swim in the sauna that passes for a dive tank. and of course it's so windy that my kickboard and pull equipment blow into the water. and of course my pull buoy is lost somewhere in the cavernous gutters, probably swept into the filtration system because the grate covering the drain is bent in and only covering half of the opening. so of course i'll probably never see that pull buoy again. i've had that thing since i started at the fresno dolphins when i was 14. bastards.

looks to be another typical sunday. rushing to finish my article on sierra madre, wasting time, lamenting the start of the week and putting off reading until two hours before class tomorrow. around 4:30 in the morning, i was up and watching about 15 minutes of a thunderstorming deluge of rain. i wanted to go up on the roof, probably subconsciously tempting the skies to strike me with lightning, but of course conquest closes the roof at 10 p.m. and of course the place is littered with security cameras. big brother. my home is more tightly guarded than san quentin.

i need a haircut, a shave and some ice for my toe, which i somehow insist on reinjuring every time it seems to be fully healed. i think i'll try to take care of at least one of those things today, along with banging out a semi-decent article (i don't want to write it too well this time around, since my final in that class is a rewrite) and finding something to eat that doesn't involve more than 5 minutes of moderate exertion. and of course, catch the latest entourage. but that's a given, right?

4.13.2007

Toss Up

i have a quandry. two good job offers. pretty much equal in my mind. how do i decide. help me, readers. santa barbara or antelope valley? city hall or courts/prison? i just don't know. but it still feels good to be in this position at least. and a little frightening. a real job. eek.

4.12.2007

Roadhouse Flashbacks

there was a recent student protest at usc against sweatshop labor-produced items being sold at the usc bookstore (more specifically that usc is a member of a particular labor watchdog board that apparently is not as tough as another particular labor watchdog board). a group of students conducted a sit-in at the president of the university's office. they were given personally addressed letters informing them they would be expelled from the university and would have to leave university housing by the following day. their parents were also called and informed of the sit-in. they promptly disbanded the protest. now the administration building is on lockdown for the remainder of the semester. anyone entering the building must be checked in and possibly escorted by the department of public safety. is this not the most ridiculous waste of security? shouldn't they be keeping the students safe instead of checking ids like some sort of group of bureaucratic bouncers? and this is not even mentioning the unbelievable overreaction to a peaceful student protest. facists.

4.08.2007

Freeze Frame

i wrote a post a few months ago, maybe a year ago, about remembering a single moment. i wrote to my many faithful readers that when they read that particular post, they should take five minutes to concentrate on how they were feeling at that exact moment. then one day, many years from that moment, we could meet and talk about that one collective memory we all shared of that one moment in our lives, no matter how divided by distance we were. well, i had one of those moments tonight, a moment that will never escape my memory.

the first time i wrote about this memory-sharing business, i think i was just a little reflective because it was a bit of an overcast day and i was feeling, well, pensive. but this time i think you need to find someone you trust, explain the situation to them and then capture your own little time capsule of memory. sure, it sounds corny and cheesy and embarrassing and cliche. which is precisely why you should do it. now.

4.06.2007

Options

interview at the antelope valley press went pretty well. i think if i do a decent job on the test story thing they are setting up, i'm pretty much guaranteed a job there. now it's off to santa barbara to see how that compares. and a phone interview with the klamath falls guy. so we'll see how things shake out. this weekend i'm in sierra madre reporting on their land development issues. great fun. it should be interesting to see if i can bring life to such a city council-driven story.

4.05.2007

Vindication for Below

another point against daniel mcfawn, author of the daily trojan opinion article discussed below:

...the moral debate "reflects an underlying tension between competing subsystems in the brain." On one side are "the social-emotional responses that we've inherited from our primate ancestors." On the other side is a utilitarian calculus "made possible by the more recently evolved structures in the frontal lobes."
...
Since people with VMPC damage are "abnormally 'utilitarian,' " they argue
, emotions are necessary to produce "normal judgments of right and wrong."

and mcfawn wants men to ignore these emotional responses for the sake of remaining crotch-grabbing cavemen that don't care about right or wrong, as long as they can eat meat and drive things that go fast and make lots of noise.

President-in-Training

here's the full story if you want to read it all. but let me just quote a few choice bits from the latest daily trojan opine.

Global warming activists are liberal people who support other liberal causes so that a once stand-alone issue blends with others, creating a big, steaming soy latte of metrosexual animal-rights environmentalism.
...
Attempting to convert guys to emotional beings, global warming pseudo-prophets have recruited liberals of all shades, stripes and polka dots who stand to advance their own agenda in the face of vanquished masculinity. Eco-Nazis, animal rights activists, ultra-feminists, chardonnay socialists, outright communists, John Lennon fans and Ralph Nader can now use global warming as an excuse to advocate the halting of macho activities.
...
So rather than fall victim to the omniscient oracles of the global warming apocalypse and mass emasculation, throw a piece of animal meat on the barbecue and fire up that sweet V-8 under your hood. A future of composting, puny cars and tofu is no future at all.

where to start? first of all, the author. any guesses to this guy's field of study at usc? yep, business administration and finance. just the kind of open-minded, issue-conscious epitome of a moral compass we need running our companies and handling our money. is it any fucking surprise that our government is full of assholes and liars and criminals? okay, i'm getting a little worked up. back to the basics of the article. so global warming activists also dress well and care about animals. what bastards. and their main goal is the emasculation of the male populace. right. and your main goal is acting like a jerkoff. okay, cheap shot. and your main goal is doing everything in your power to keep the global warming trend steaming ahead at full bore in the name of testosterone and big-balled manliness. and this name-slinging paragraph -- with eco-nazis and john lennon fans who are now using global warming to stop men from acting like ... well, machoistic douchewads -- is probably the most bigoted bit of writing since mein kampf. it's this kind of bullshit posturing, ego-stroking, chest-puffing, self-aggrandizing, autoerotic male mentality that forces men to start wars and refuse to admit defeat.

every single sentence in this long diatribe against common sense can be rewritten to apply to conservative masculinity. so conservative people don't support a number of conservative ideas? their issues don't "blend" with others to create a huge beer keg of right-to-life, gun-toting, so-called patriotism? And these conservative radicals aren't using religion and the american flag to stir up liberal-bashing sentiment in an attempt to advance their agenda of getting a long, thick stick jammed up the butt of every human on the planet? normally i'd simply laugh in the face of such hypocrisy. but believing that global warming is just an excuse to get men to act like pansies is a little scary. hell, it's more than a little scary. it's downright batshit crazy. this author is no longer based in reality. and in a few short months, he could be working for a fortune 500 company, working his way slowly up to a position of power, where he can continue to funnel his hate-mongering dogma into the too-often weak minds of the leaders of our nation in the form of campaign contributions and under-the-table bribery.

4.04.2007

Immodest Plea

it's unbelievable the amount of garbage that is printed in the average daily newspaper. what's more unbelievable is that i still don't have a job. i can go through any medium-sized daily and find at least half a dozen stories i could've written better. someone fire at least one of these hacks and hire me. i promise you won't regret it.

4.03.2007

Senior Standards

ooh, it's getting close. the finish line is shimmering in the distance. final projects are starting to take form. here's what i have left, if i'm not forgetting anything:

1. rewrite of major profile of navy surgeon

2. feature story on sierra madre measure v

3. undetermined feature story

4. physics newsletter layout/design, 4-6 pages

5. guitar performance/written final

6. profile writing essay final

and that's it. i'll be done. incredible. a list of six things. i can't imagine how long that list must have been eight years ago. and i wonder how much of the information that passed through my mind as i worked my way through the seemingly neverending flood of assignments is still with me. well, i guess it's almost that time, to be overcome with nostalgia and commiserate with friends about how it all went by so fast.

man, remember when we...

doesn't it seem like it was just the other day when...

Burrito Blitzkrieg

i witnessed two officers of the peace park their cruiser in a red zone to get chipotle for lunch yesterday. the parking garage is replete with the oversized suvs and pricey midsize sedans indicative of a private university populace. it's a feeding frenzy. i've frequented the burrito joint twice since it opened below my apartment complex and i doubt i will have the constitution to once again brave the barbacoa-crazed hooligans that pack the entrance and spill out onto the sidewalk, clutching cellphones tight to their ears as they try to memorize the burrito orders of twenty of their closest friends. i understand its allure as one of the few respectable and affordable places to eat around usc, but i'd still like to make it to the tuscany lobby entrance without having to fight through crowds of drooling burrito bol barbarians and guac fiends.

sadly, in an inevitable sort of collation with the 'i knew them before they were big' indie music freak mentality, i too have succumbed to feelings of meritorious superiority as an accomplished habitué of the chipotle dining establishment. these foolish newbs to the world of cilantro-lime rice and tomatillo-green chili salsa are not worthy of the chipotle adobo-marinated chicken or freshly mashed guacamole i have known and loved for many years, i think as i pass the crowds huddled under sidewalk umbrellas, sunlight like fire on their iconic red baskets. i become protective, glaring at an incompetent patron who in my estimation has performed an improper decloaking of his tinfoil-wrapped comestible. tear the top half away and slowly peel downward as you approach the glorious, salsa-soaked tail, my mind screams. i laugh inwardly as the bottom gives way and steak, rice and black beans plummet to the wax paper below, but my mirth is tinged with the pain of watching another burrito fall victim to a chipotle neophyte.

4.02.2007

End in Sight

well, another long week of class and work stretches out before me, once again. the downtown skyline has retreated into its protective halo of smoky haze. i never heard from the hawaii copy job. the guy was supposed to call on friday, but never did. i'll be visiting the antelope valley press office in palmdale this friday for an interview. then next tuesday i'll probably be heading down to santa barbara to meet up with the editor of the santa barbara daily sound for another interview. that should be a fun one-day road trip. i'll probably spend two hours there and four hours on the road. oh well.