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August 2004

 

August 31, 2004

I watched Bubble Boy today while I was reading some of the texts for my classes. I remember wanting to see Bubble Boy in the theatre a couple of years ago, mostly because Jake Gyllenhaal looked really cute but also because the story just looked funny and sweet.

As it turns out, Jake Gyllenhaal is really cute (and then some), and the show was funny and sweet as well, even moreso than I'd expected. It had the same sort of magical silliness that worked so well in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, and it made for a great afternoon flick.

I was glad to have the lighthearted few hours because studying, hearing the lies coming out of the Reoublican National Convention, and mowing the lawn were all extremely low on entertainment value today - not that I expected much different.

Posted at 9:56 PM

 

August 30, 2004

You know, being alone and being surrounded by cute guys all day really sucks. I not only am feeling completely inadequate to these guys, but I'm feeling invisible and hopeless as well. Sure, they're practically half my age in most cases, so maybe it's fair that they, in their prime, are indeed so much more beautiful, vibrant, sexy, and hip than me. I should probably be finding guys my own age and all. Of course, there aren't any venues for me to be around guys my own age, at least not here in podunk Ohio, and I'm on campus all day surrounded by gorgeous guys regardless.

Tantalus never had it this bad ...

Posted at 1:38 AM

 

August 29, 2004

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

- This message brought to you by the Republican National Committee

Posted at 11:01 PM

 

August 28, 2004

Huh. I should have known all along, but George W. Bush has been hiding the truth from us all.

George Bush's Secret War

LOS ANGELES -- Veterans of George W. Bush's National Guard unit charged today that the president has misrepresented his military service during the Vietnam War. The veterans allege that during a period when the future president was supposed to be serving in the Texas Air National Guard, he was actually fighting in Vietnam.

"For more than 30 years we have remained silent," said the head of the group, which calls itself "Stiff Drink Veterans for Kerry, Whoops We Mean for Brewsky, Whoops We Mean for Truth." But, he added, "We want to be on Larry King just as much as those Swift Vote guys."

Two members of the group claim to be eyewitnesses. "It was a typical night at the Guard offices," one of them recalled at a press conference yesterday. "Okay, I'd had a few. But I personally saw George parachute down from a B-52, kill a dozen Cong with his bare hands, leap into one of those Swift boat thingies and stick his tongue out at John Kerry."

The White House yesterday strongly denied the Stiff Drink version of events. "As has been his policy throughout his entire life," a spokesman said, "the president never left the continental United States during the entire Vietnam era -- well, except for a few weekends in Tijuana. These Stiff Drink fellows are nothing more than a front for the Kerry campaign, which would like to convince the American people that George W. Bush is responsible for the Vietnam War."

The Stiff Drink story is not easy to confirm or refute. On one side, claiming that Bush has been lying, are two obscure drunks with close ties to the Democratic Party and longstanding grudges against the Bush family, which they claim cooperated with space aliens who kidnapped them to Crawford, Tex., or possibly Mars ("Who can tell?") and examined their genital areas. On the other side, confirming Bush's version of events, are 143 fellow reservists who have signed affidavits attesting that they saw the future president popping a Bud in the Guard offices at a time when the Stiff Drink group alleges he was on a secret mission to Hanoi, where he personally arm-wrestled Ho Chi Minh.

There is no documentary evidence supporting the view that Bush was in Vietnam. However, there is an extensive collection of speeding tickets from several Southern states, issued throughout the period in question to someone whose description resembles that of George W. Bush. This person, whose identity cannot be firmly established, called himself George W. Bush. He was driving a car registered to Bush and was carrying Bush's driver's license. In addition, there are photographs of Bush at the time in Texas papers, accompanying stories such as "Bush Son Seeks Own Way" (Houston Chronicle, March 28, 1969) and "Bush Son Still Seeking Own Way" (Dallas Morning News, Dec. 12, 1972).

Bush also kept a diary throughout this period. Supplied to reporters yesterday by the Bush-Cheney campaign, the diary contains multiple entries along the lines of, "Woke up. Terrible hangover. But at least I'm not in Vietnam. Thanks, Dad!"

Bush signed up for the Texas Air National Guard in 1968, to defend the state of Texas against the Viet Cong. In 1972 -- having decided, sources say, that Texas was now secure from communist infiltration -- he transferred his allegiance to a Guard unit in Alabama.

There has long been mystery and controversy about what exactly Bush did in Alabama and whether he fulfilled his reservist's obligation to show up and sharpen pencils for 45 minutes every other weekend. This is different from today's National Guard and Army Reserve policy, under which a recruiting officer leads young people to believe they are signing up for pencil-sharpening duty and then, as soon as they've signed, shouts "Aha! Gotcha!" and ships them off to a distant war.

"Look, Larry," the president told Barbara Walters in a recent interview, "just because I got away with it is no reason they should get away with it." Although Bush has never said what he was doing when he was supposed to be sharpening pencils for his country, he has not denied published hypothesizes that he spent the period drinking, sleeping and watching sports on TV. "It sounds easy," said one Bush friend from that era, "but keep in mind that in those days there might be only one game on the tube at any given time."

The Stiff Drink group, however, insists that Bush was actually flying sorties over Hanoi. And doing it without a plane. In the end, it is their word against his. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. And the full story of George Bush's secret war in Vietnam will never be known.

The writer is editorial and opinion editor of the Los Angeles Times.

Posted at 11:23 PM

 

August 27, 2004

Well, one week down, fifteen to go. Oh joy.

It's not so bad, I guess. In fact, I've really enjoyed my Classical Mythology class so far (it's already met three times this week). I can see that my Poetry Workshop will have its annoyances since Sharon (the professor) is going to try to seriously curtail my involvement (and I understand her intention to try to get others involved, but that shouldn't by default mean that I need to be completely excluded from discussions). It's too early to tell how my Popular Film class will play out, although it may well be more rigid and dull than I had hoped/expected. And the Modern Latin America class will be a lot of work, although possibly the slightest bit less overwhelming than I'd expected. So it's a mixed bag, really.

If there's one thing that's truly annoying it's the road construction on my route from Sandusky to Bowling Green. Each day the crews have grated down more and more of the stretch of roads I travel. I can only hope that they'll get to the resurfacing soon, but they simply seem to be working only on grinding off the upper layers of the old asphalt and not with laying new stuff. Considering one unbroken stretch of grated road is now about 20 miles long, I think it's a bit ridiculous not to finish at least one section before grinding down more, but what do I know? Heck, not only would I not fuck around with so many miles at once without finishing part of it before moving onward, but I also wouldn't have started all of this during the two weeks that all primary schools, high schools, and some colleges resumed classes and therefore made more traffic along that route - but that's just me.

Posted at 11:48 PM

 

August 26, 2004

I should have mentioned yesterday the surprising part of my car troubles - genuine good-neighborliness. Keep in mind, I was sitting in a car without power and therefore without lights, just to the side of the road on U.S. Route 6, a small, not-to-busy road without any lighting, and five miles from even being in Fremont (which itself isn't much to talk about as towns go). So here I am, pulling my flashlight out of my glove box and dialing AAA on my cell phone, and I've barely started talking to the service person at AAA when a Ohio State Highway patrolman pulls up behind me. Not only was it nice that he wanted to be sure I was okay (and he probably wanted to know that I wasn't a drug dealer or something, too, but we'll focus on the good points tonight), but it was also convenient to have the cop show up so that I could get better details about exactly where I was on Route 6, because I honestly didn't know what the nearest crossroad was named so that I could provide my location to the lady at AAA.

The cop didn't stay long - just long enough to be sure that AAA was on top of things and had help on the way - and I was left to sit alone in the dark for a while. Still, of the few cars and trucks that passed while I was waiting the 45 minutes for the tow truck, three different cars stopped and asked if I needed help, one of which had turned around to come back to check on me and one who was a tow truck driver for a different company than I was expecting (and he even offered to tow me, but I figured I already had things arranged, so I sent him on his way.

So maybe it shouldn't have seemed like such an exceptional thing to me, but I generally feel like people are much more out for themselves these days and not so concerned about the predicaments which others find themselves in. To have four different people stop and make sure I was alright and see if they could help was a big thing to me, and it restores my faith in people a little bit to have been shown some common courtesy and concern. I hope that this wasn't a rare occurrence and that this sort of help is being offered to people on a regular basis. That's certainly the way it should be.

Today, of course, I dealt with the aftermath of the car dying, specifically the issue of getting it repaired. I made arrangements to have my grandma taken to and from her hair styling appointment (since I was unable to drive her myself), and I called the auto dealership where I'd had my car towed last night (Foster). The dealership was quite professional and quick to help me out. They even sent a driver out to pick up my keys and get my signature, obviating my need to find a way to them instead. They sent the same guy back later to pick me up and take me to the dealership to get my car just as they were closing shop at 5 PM. They had even washed my car when they had finished, and not just a basic car wash either but a very quality scrub. They did good work.

And I suppose they should do good work for nearly $500. It wasn't an unfair price considering the parts alone were nearly $300, but it still was a huge bite out of my credit card. The major problem turned out to be the alternator, something I should have considered as the problem myself considering I've had alternator problems with other cars before. The battery itself was overworked a bit with the failure of the alternator, and I had it replaced as well. Both the alternator and the battery had been factory originals, so the new replacements should hold up for quite a while. It's good to realize that there was a simple, direct explanation for my power loss last night, and it's good to have it fixed. Still, being nearly $500 further in the hole is never a happy situation, so I'm not particularly happy overall.

At least the car's clean, though. That's a plus.

Posted at 2:22 AM

 

August 25, 2004

I've had an incredible run of luck today - all bad. There were certainly a number of minor irritations and upsets, but three major things happened to truly turn what had been some of my basic depression into just a complete sense of dejection.

First, and certainly not anything that would have been a major bother on its own, was the news from Lee that she would have to cancel our planned lunch get-together today because of family obligations. This wasn't a big problem because I know that Lee will reschedule soon, and we will see each other and get to talk, probably as early as next week. I was just disappointed because I knew that visiting with Lee would cheer me up, and I was looking forward to not only seeing her but also seeing my depression lessened a bit by sharing her company.

The missed luncheon date with Lee was, as I said, not a big deal. Learning that my uncle Kermit had died was much more significant and disappointing, however. It was no surprise, exactly, as Kermit had been diagnosed with an incurable, inoperable cancer, and he had only been given a very brief life expectancy. He was my father's oldest brother, and honestly the least-known to me of my uncles (in fact, I'd say he was the least known to me of my uncles and my aunts as well, and from a group of ten aunts and uncles, that's saying something. I'm always quite stoic about death in people I haven't really been close to, so while I was sad in a way, Kermit's death doesn't hit me like someone whom I'd really known. I guess that's really insensitive of me, but that's just how it is. I am saddened by his death, but I barely knew him more than my most casual acquaintances. Still, his passing didn't make me feel any better, and it in fact made me a bit more depressed.

It wasn't until late this evening that the most direct bad luck truly hit me, however. Just less than half way to Sandusky on my drive back from Bowling Green, at around 9:45 PM, different warning lights on my dashboard started lighting up and then going off as my displays dimmed and stopped and fluttered, and within a few short minutes I lost all power entirely. So, dead on wheels on U.S. Route 6, I coasted to the side of the road and came to a stop and had no luck in reviving my car. Fortunately, I had renewed my AAA membership last week (funny in a way; I guess that $73 for the Plus-level membership has already paid for itself in towing costs). I used my cell phone (which for once I was glad to have, even if it does costar me $50 a month) to call AAA, and about 45 minutes later a tow truck showed up and hooked me up for a trip the rest of the way to Sandusky.

As of now, my car is sitting in a dealership lot, outside of a Service Department I've never used, and I'm back at the house thanks to the young (20ish) tow truck driver (Brian - a real cutie, even if he is tremendously straight and sort of a red neck). The car remains dead, and tomorrow will be a whole new bunch of fun (not) as I figure out not only how to get to the dealership without a car but also as I see if the dealership can even fit it into their schedule tomorrow to fix it. And heck, what exactly needs to be fixed? It seems much more significant than a dead battery, so who knows what sorts of diagnostic tests will need to be run at exorbitant expense to me. Ugh! It's just not something I look forward to.

So yes, a bad day indeed. Each thing (these major items and some other, minor items) just build and build upon each other. Strangely I'm not depressed like I was this morning. Then, after waking up, I was full of the sort of depression born of loneliness, and that's what I find the most difficult to face. Now, as I'm getting ready to go to sleep, I'm saddened and frustrated and concerned about the various things that have come up over the course of the day, but I feel more in control of these issues, knowing that I've survived all of these types of things multiple times just fine. Sure, they suck, but I know how to deal with them. If I could learn how to deal with the loneliness I'd be all set. But I guess for now I should just focus on getting through the other, more immediate concerns that have arisen. That will be quite enough, thank you.

Posted at 1:18 AM

 

August 24, 2004

Why even try?

Posted at 12:21 AM

 

August 23, 2004

Well, it could have been worse.

I started out the day practically dreading what was to come. I knew going into things that there would be a lot less people on campus who I'd know, and I knew that I would have a lot to do to keep up with classes around my obligations to my grandma. There was certainly a fair amount of depression and loneliness involved, and my typical fear of rejection played a part as well.

Getting ready and gathering up my things (and taking my grandma to the YMCA) took all morning, and I fixed a quick lunch as well before leaving. The trip to Bowling Green was horrible because of the unbelievable amount of road resurfacing, road widening, bridge rebuilding, and new-curb construction. There literally must have been construction of some type or another over half or more of the entire stretch of roadways I take to Bowling Green, and it's not like I can take another route without going well out of my way and adding another half hour or more to the trip. Still, as annoying as that was, I was listening to a playlist on my iPod that kept up my spirits (a varied set of techno and dance tunes that I like). I even found a great parking spot immediately upon entering the campus parking lot I wanted, so that was a big plus. I still had my trepidations, fears even, about the day ahead, but I was fairly relaxed.

I headed for the Administration Building first, still having about 45 minutes before my first class would start. I passed a multitude of beautiful people on the way, and let me assure you that it was like being a kid in a candy store ... a poor kid in a candy store. So many wondrous things to see, all waiting to be tasted (lol), yet all beyond my reach. Strangely, that thought didn't get me down as much as it often does, and I really just appreciated the view as I crossed campus.

The line within the Admin Building, a cue for people waiting to get their financial aid disbursement checks, was not terribly long, and I was behind the cutest guy, so time went by pretty quickly. My check was ready to go once I got to the window, and I still had plenty of time before my first class started, so I just casually made my way back across campus.

As I was just about to reach Eppler Center North, the building where my first class would be, I heard my name being called and scanned around to find Phil, my favorite professor. Phil had gotten a new, short hair cut and was looking particularly well-rested and upbeat, and we talked for a while about what classes he was teaching and what classes I was taking. We each had to go our own ways from there, but seeing Phil gave me an incredible boost, and I felt a good bit less apprehensive about the day than I had even moments before.

My first class was in Classical Mythology, a class in the Classic Civilizations department that I've been wanting to take for four years. The professor in Dr. Pfundstein, a professor I've never had before but who has a great reputation as being fun. He also, based on his reputation and what I saw today, is much like Dr. Hendry, my second favorite professor ever after Phil. Dr. Hendry also used to teach in the Classic Civ department, but he left for another university years ago, and I've missed him. So Pfundstein seems like he'll be a blast, and I'm looking forward to the class. His teaching style will be a bit different than Dr. Hendry's was in similar classes. While Dr. Hendry had taught classic Greek or Roman texts as literature and explored them for their content, Dr. Pfundstein will be exploring the basis of myth in the ancient world and drawing connections between various types of myths as archetypes. Sure, we'll read quite a fair amount of tragedies and other works, but we'll also be considering some larger works simply based on their mythical synopsis. I'm looking forward to this class more than any other, so it's a good way to start my day.

I should also mention that there are three or four incredibly attractive guys in my class, one of whom sat down right in front of me, and it was nice again to just be able to appreciate works of art in their natural setting.

From Myth I had to cross campus to East Hall, the English building. I'm taking the Senior Poet's Workshop again, not because I got a bad grade (I got an 'A' in fact) but because I'm allowed to take any workshops up to two times each, and I learned more about poetry from Sharon Muir, the professor, than I have in any other class at BGSU. I was really surprised to find that I recognized most of the class, and I was really pleased by that. This class closely reflects the people who were in my Fiction Workshop in the Spring, so I remembered most of their names and felt familiar with them, even if I never really talked to any of them outside of class. The two cutest guys from my Fiction Workshop (each attractive to me in their own, very different ways) are in this class - Jeffrey and Michael. That makes me happy, too, both for being able to gaze at them and because I like their work. In addition to these other familiar faces, Penny is in this class as well. Penny is a somewhat older non-traditional student like me, and we have known each other since I came back to college. Penny was in my first class when I came back, and she has been in one class or another here and there over the years, but even in semesters when we haven't had classes together, we've always run into each other regularly on campus and talked. Penny is a very familiar face, and her extended education has followed a number of twist and turns just like mine, so we relate on a lot of levels.

As for the class, the Poet's Workshop, Sharon remembered me, and it seems as though she will run the class exactly as she did the last time I took it. That's great, because that should push me creatively, but it will also mean that I won't be overtaxed by work from this class, and that will help my overall workload immensely. Much of the work we do will be in class as far as the workshopping itself, and the main work outside of class will be creating a new, quality poem each week. There will also be a final portfolio and a reading journal due at the end of the semester, but those are manageable projects. So I'm looking forward to this class as well.

Sharon let us out of class quite early, so I walked and talked with Penny for a while afterward. We caught up with what we're each taking and our plans to graduate in the Spring, and Penny told me about the work she and her husband are having done to her house. In the midst of our talk, someone came up behind me and wrapped their arms around my neck affectionately. I was surprised, and I was sure it must be Laura, and I said as much. When I turned around, though, I was really surprised to see Sara, smiling a looking great. We hugged and talked for a while, and I was surprised to learn that she hadn't graduated in the Spring as I had expected. She still has to complete four more credit hours to graduate, so she's back for this semester full time, and then she's done. Still, I'll hopefully get to see her now and again, and that'll be great. We have already talked about getting together for lunch soon, and with luck we'll see each other fairly often.

I had to move fairly quickly to my last class of the day, having stood and talked to Penny for so long, but I made it to Olscamp Hall with time to spare and found a seat in my Introduction to Popular Film class. This class, which runs from 6-10 PM on Mondays, I expect will be fun and interesting, and I took it mainly to lighten my work load. I had been told that this class was relatively easy, and I wanted just such a class so I could concentrate on the history class I'll be taking on Wednesday nights. I already know the professor for the history class and the large amounts of work he assigns, and that is clearly the class I dread, so I wanted to be sure not to overload myself with work from other classes as well.

Popular Film should, indeed, be interesting, but it will be more work than I anticipated. It won't be an overload of work to be certain, but it will take some weekly effort to finish the various papers, reading, and projects that are required. It's interesting that I haven't seen any of the fifteen movies Dr. Colletta has chosen, but they are all great film classics, so I look forward to that.

The fact that the class is four hours long rather sucks, partly because of the length in general but also because it starts so late, and I know from experience that classes after 6 PM don't hold my interest as well as earlier classes. Plus, we're in standard classroom-style chairs for four hours watching a movie on a cheap screen. You'd think the university could put us into one of the many auditorium-style classrooms with more comfortable seats and better projection screens (or maybe even put us in the Student Union Movie Theatre or the Gish Film Theatre), but alas, the university never does the sensible thing, so we're stuck being cramped and uncomfortable. Possibly the worst problems with this class will be food. Since I have lunch and then drive to campus, I have to each around Noon or close to that. That in itself isn't a problems, but between driving to campus and having my classes back-to-back with only a ten minute break to cross campus to the next class, I have no time to eat dinner. "No problem," I had thought to myself, figuring I could eat something quietly during the films we'd watch during this last class. No such luck, though. The professor explicitly bans eating food during class. That means I have to, somehow, eat beforehand. As it was tonight, I ran out during our first 10-minute break and quickly ate through my bag of sectioned oranges like a man possessed. It was enough to get me through the class, but I was so hungry afterward that I ran through Arby's before driving back to Sandusky.

The film we saw tonight was Sullivan's Travels, a landmark film from 1941 that revolves around a Hollywood director of early slapstick comedies who wants to do a serious work and decides to go out on the road with only a dime in his pocket to see how he fares in the shoes of a poor man. The movie is set during the Great Depression, and the director gets more than he bargained for, finding trouble and the pains brought about by absolute destitution, and in the end he sees the greater value of comedy for the poor than any serious work, no matter how realistic, could do to reveal their problems to the well-to-do people of the world. Some aspects of the movie were a bit too slapstick for me, particularly right before a dramatic scene, but the movie does work as a whole, and it makes a very solid statement. It was an interesting choice for our first night's viewing, and it makes me anxious to see what's to come.

This film class, like my previous classes, had about three really attractive guys in it. This is rare for me - usually the attractive guys are only in one or two of my classes ... or maybe I'm just more desperate - but I don't think that's it. Anyhow, one guy, who was sitting right in front of me, was amazing to me, even though i know that he wouldn't seem like much to most people. He doesn't have the conventional cuteness, but he was really cute to me. I enjoyed gazing at him during most of the class (and at the others attractive guys, but mostly just the guy in front of me), and I was content. But somewhere in all of that it hit me, as it always does, that this guys ... all of these guys, really ... were young, cute, trim and healthy, and just getting out and shaping their lives, and if they noticed me at all it certainly wouldn't be with the thoughts that I could be a great friend or possibly more. I must just look like some old, out-of-shape adult with no sense of what it's like to be young and carefree. Maybe they'd even be right to think that. It took about 20 seconds for that thought to hit me and take most of the energy out of me. I didn't get as depressed as I sometimes do in the same situation, but my edge of happiness was pretty much gone. In fact by the time I got back to my car I was quite despondent. I had a few errands to run, notably to get food since I was starving, and I made my way out.

AS I drove back here to Sandusky, full of food and listening to another playlist on my iPod (a playlist called "Mellow Fellow" for when I'm down but trying to feel better). The songs I'd chosen helped, and I'm not really depressed right now, but I've lost any edge of upbeatness that I'd gained over the course of the day. I hope the whole semester doesn't follow this sort of pattern, but I have no reason to believe it won't. We'll see, I guess, and I'll be thankful that at least there are some high points for me during my days, things that will bring me some happiness.

And truly, it could all have been much worse.

Posted Written at 2:47 AM

 

August 22, 2004

Well crap.

Classes start tomorrow for the Fall semester, and I really don't want to go. I feel tired, depressed, and empty, and I certainly don't feel like I have gotten very much at all done of what I had planned to do over the summer. And really, I just don't have any good feelings about going back.

With all of the problems I had in the Spring, juggling academics and my caregiving of my grandma, I see clearly that many of those problems will be back again. Even worse, so many people have graduated now that there are very few people who will be around campus who I know well enough to talk to, let alone hang out with. And of course I have classes that run literally back-to-back, so I wouldn't have the time to hang out anyway; it'll be enough just getting from one class to another in the ten minutes I'll have. And let's not forget that I have a 3-hour long and a 4-hour long class each week, both late at night, meaning that I'll be getting back to Sandusky as late as 10:30 or 11:30 at best. Oh, and I have I mentioned that I still haven't figured out how I can find time to find and eat dinner on Mondays or Wednesdays with back-to-back classes? Yeah, that's a problem: no dinner, long classes, and not getting back to Sandusky until quite late - it just sounds like an accident waiting to happen.

But heck, I'm probably just being too paranoid and whiny. That'll happen when you get depressed. So whether I like it or not, classes start back tomorrow. Crap.

Posted at 1:23 AM

 

August 21, 2004

It's been raining every day since I got back from Lafayette, so today was the first day I could mow the lawn (Oh joy! Mowing the lawn blows my mind - not!). It occurred to me that this must be a pretty common occurrence in Seattle, where it rains quite frequently, or so I'm told. What do they do in Seattle? Mowing a wet lawn is both bad for the grass and bad for the lawnmower, and it usually turns out looking pretty bad, too. So what do Seattlites ... Seattlans - whatever you call people from Seattle - what do they do to mow their lawns? Do their lawn services use diamond-tipped blades on their lawnmowers? Or do they just have lawns of stone, as my grandmother suggested (although I rather doubt this one; yes, it is done commonly in Arizona, but that's because grass dies almost immediately in that sort of heat and sun, not because mowing is a problem due to rain)?

Sure, this really has no importance whatsoever, but still, I'm curious. I can't help it, that's part of my nature. So if anybody knows, send me an e.mail with an answer. I won't lose sleep if I never find out, but it does make me wonder.

Posted at 12:48 AM

 

August 20, 2004

New set of used books for Fall semester: $200
Gasoline for commute: $10
Paying back college expenses for the rest of your life: Priceless

Posted at 2:49 AM

 

August 19, 2004

The big thing that stays with me about visiting Lafayette is the minimal amount of apathy. Don't get me wrong - I don't think there's a town in America that doesn't have more than its fair share of apathy -but Lafayette is a thriving town because people are determined to reach for their dreams and push themselves to be better. Chris and his friends are great examples.

Chris had a tough start in life. His family hit hard times when he was young, and Chris barely got by. For various reasons, Chris left home at 15 and lived as he could with friends, picking up odd jobs and holding on to some for a while (like the job I hired him for at Kinko's). He had had to drop out of high school, even though he was very intelligent and got good grades, and he had a lot of worries about his life. Still, Chris always believed in himself and believed he could be someone great. He was right, too. Not only did he get his GED, but he's studying at Purdue to be an engineer, and he's getting top grades, too. Chris also has a great eye for art, and he has honed his skills in photography, graphic design, and music to greatness. Chris could be an artist of accomplishment in a variety of fields, and he has put time and effort into trying a both of each, both in his solo efforts and as part of various community art groups he has helped form. He's only 28 now, and he's dynamic as far as I see it. He works toward his engineering degree; he supervises the photo lab at the Art Museum; he teaches photography classes at the Art Museum, he teaches Photoshop classes at Ivy Tech; he does freelance photography work; he works in a computer lab on campus; he is active in the Blue Monday craft group; he is treasurer of the Purdue University Macintosh Users Group; he creates various artistic gifts for his friends throughout the year; he creates music like when he won the Purdue Garage Band Contest; and he works on all sorts of projects to help his friends with design work and photography and computer networking. Oh, and he finds time to skateboard and drive Autocross racing in his free time. He's really simply amazing.

Chris isn't alone, though. His friend Pat, who has a well-earned reputation as a fine musician and singer, is about to put out a solo album through a major independent label. Pat has been the front man of a number of successful bands over the years, covering various genres of music, and he is talented on a variety of instruments (and he has a fantastic singing voice and a knack for writing music and lyrics). Not only that, but Pat is a hugely talented artist. He can make incredible drawings incredibly fast. Pat's new album may be what he needs to finally get noticed nationally. I wouldn't be surprised.

Then there's Dave, another friend of Chris's. Dave's just a simple family man, but he also has played alongside Pat in a number of his various musical groups. Dave is also a very impressive photographer, and he recently opened up his own photography studio in downtown Lafayette and is doing a very solid business. Dave not only has the musical and visual talents, but he also runs Autocross racing with cars that he customizes largely himself, cars that he makes into true racing cars with not only speed and safety but perfect visual combinations of lines and colors as well. How Dave juggles all of this with a wife and kids, I have no idea (but then again, Pat has a wife and a kid as well, so go figure).

Those are just three people out of the whole population of Lafayette, but there are many, many more. My friend Lorna created her own very successful copy and print shop and has another store in Muncie as well. Chris and Pat are friends with people who created Amused, a two-location store selling skateboarding supplies, clothing, incense and so forth - the cool stuff. There are all sorts of people like this making their own independent stand for artistic creation or small business, and they're all doing great. There are also more festivals and exhibits than I could hope to name, organized and marketed for the whole region. There's huge activity and inspiration in Lafayette, and it seems boundless. The apathy I see throughout Ohio is far less prevalent there, and the results are plain to see.

Don't get the wrong impression here, either. Chris, Pat, and Dave are dynamic and amazing, and they are far from common, even in a city full of people that seem determined to excel. Still, the whole of Lafayette is vibrant and alive, and that is truly something I will miss being away from, whether in the form of my best friend Chris or in the shape of the various endeavors I could see throughout the city. It's all good, however you look at it, and I'm already missing that magic, even after on two days.

Posted at 1:23 AM

 

August 18, 2004

Maybe it's a cheat on my part, but I wrote some comments about my trip to Lafayette in an e.mail to Kristina that I sent earlier today, and I'm going to reprint what I wrote. My original intention had been to write about some of this today anyhow, and now that I start typing away, I'm not sure that I can write it a whole lot better than I did to Kristina. So here goes ...

I'm back from Indiana, and guess what? My return has reminded me of a song:

My City Was Gone

I went back to ohio
But my city was gone
There was no train station
There was no downtown
South howard had disappeared
All my favorite places
My city had been pulled down
Reduced to parking spaces
A, o, way to go ohio.

Well I went back to ohio
But my family was gone
I stood on the back porch
There was nobody home
I was stunned and amazed
My childhood memories
Slowly swirled past
Like the wind through the trees
A, o, oh way to go ohio.

I went back to ohio
But my pretty countryside
Had been paved down the middle
By a government that had no pride
The farms of ohio
Had been replaced by shopping malls
And muzak filled the air
From seneca to cuyahoga falls
Said, a, o, oh way to go ohio

So anyhow, I'm back in Ohio. Whoop-de-doo. It is unbelievable to me that Lafayette, Indiana is so far ahead of any city I know of in Ohio right now: there's huge building of multi-storied buildings and complexes; there are lots of jobs; there's constant festivals and culture; nearly the whole geography of the city has wireless internet for free; there are all sorts of community groups and art groups everywhere; there's amazing diversity in the population; there are phenomenal restaurants run by first-generation immigrants from India, Turkey, Japan, China, and Mexico as well as a variety of other great local and chain restaurants; and there are big-box stores of all kinds while still having all sorts of incredible local businesses. Ohio seems incredibly backward and fucked up by comparison, and that's seriously depressing.

I've always loved Lafayette, ever since I first saw the place when I moved there in 1992, and I have always appreciated the charm and beauty of the city and the surrounding countryside. In the last few years, though, as Ohio has seen huge increases in unemployment and a huge increase in dereliction of buildings and community space, Indiana has gone completely in the opposite direction and is quite alive and vibrant. More than that, it is moving forward into the new millennium, something Ohio simply has not even seemed to think about doing at all. Ohio has a lot of catching up to do, believe me, and it would do well to take a simple look directly at its neighbor to the west. Ohio residents deserve at least that.

Posted at 12:13 AM

 

August 17, 2004

It was a long, mindless drive, but I'm back in Sandusky after my little vacation in Lafayette.

Chris and I talked a bit this morning before I drove him to campus and then got myself going. I hope that Chris enjoyed my company (and he seemed to) because I certainly enjoyed visiting. The hospitality, the conversation - even just the change of pace - were all great things for me, and I certainly loved having time with Chris since we always have share so many interests and can talk about all number of things for hours.

After leaving Chris, I grabbed lunch at one of my favorite places, Sgt. Preston's Bar and Grill. They have the absolute best garlic cheese bread anywhere, and the grilled cajun chicken sandwich I had was yummy as well. It was a good thing I had a big lunch because I ended up driving straight back here, leaving at about 1 PM, gaining an hour as I switched time zones, and getting back to the house in Sandusky just as it struck 8 PM.

I'm actually pretty tired, mostly from sitting so long in the same position, but I've talked to my grandma, eaten, put things away, caught up on my mail, and even watched a few tv shows that I had recorded while I was gone. There's a lot to do in the last few days I have before Fall semester classes start on Monday, but I feel pretty good about facing all of that.

Right now, though, I'm looking forward to laying back and basking in a queen-sized bed with a good mattress and springs. Chris' couch is, for a couch, quite comfortable, but for someone like me, who twists and rolls around all night as he sleeps, the narrowness of a couch always falls short of my nice big bed. Ahh ... my bed. It's calling my name as I type. Sorry, but sleep awaits ...

Posted at 1:07 AM

 

August 16, 2004

My dentist appointment went quite smoothly this morning, and I've got no problems to worry about with my teeth.

I got together with Chris and Emily around Noon for lunch at the China Gate for a good buffet. Emily had to head to work as we finished, but we had a fun time talking during lunch and joking around.

Chris and I ran some errands afterward, mostly to get some of Chris's eBay sales shipped to their purchasers, but the bigger part of the afternoon was spent with Chris giving blood at his mom's hotel (apparently in the hopes that their hotel would collect more blood than a competitor hotel and thereby gain ... something ...). It took forever, over an hour and a half, for Chris to go through the "interview" process and give his blood, and around talking to Chris while he waited, I also: made a call to check up on my grandma, drove a girl back to her apartment because she was running late and couldn't wait for her ride, and checked out a good-looking guy who was about to give blood. Chris was a good sport, though, as were his mom and his sister, both of whom gave blood while he was just starting the whole process.

We headed back to the apartment after the bloodletting, and we just hung out for a while. Just after 7 PM, though, we headed out for 'craft night', something Chris now does every Monday night with a group of people who call themselves Blue Monday. Chris and I were the first to arrive, and one by one more people came until there were seven of us. All of these folks create items as craftwork and then sell them Saturdays at the Farmers' Market downtown. Chris regularly makes clocks out of various found items (such as an old circuitboard), lamps out of various things (like 45 rpm records or designer vellum), or tonight's projects - customized DVD's and cases for the recent wedding of some of his best friends. Chris has always been extremely creative, when in photography or graphic design or 'zine creation or customized CDs or any number of things. He is brilliant for creating beautiful designs and projects, and he is in his element with this craft group. He's even pushing his own areas of expertise and learning to sew and other such things. He never ceases to impress me.

Craft night lasted quite a while, and when Chris, Emily and I finally left (the last people to go), it was already nearly 1 AM, and we just grabbed some Taco Bell for dinner and went back to the apartment to eat and watch Family Guy.

Now, with Emily and Chris in bed, I'm quite ready for sleep myself. Tomorrow brings my drive back to Sandusky (something I had originally planned for today, but which was postponed so I could see what "craft night" was all about). I've had a great time, and the change of pace has certainly relaxed me. This was just what I needed.

Posted at 2:21 AM

 

August 15, 2004

After poking around Chris's apartment most of the morning, we headed out to lunch at Arnie's, a classic Lafayette restaurant that I make sure to visit each time I come back to town. We had the classic broccoli pizza (Hey! Don't dis the 'za 'til you've tried it!) and I had the always massive "Junior" salad (although without the ham). It was all yummy, and it proved to be a great start to the day.

Chris drove us down to Indianapolis and the Keystone Crossings mall. We quickly made our way to the Apple Store and ran immediately to a friend of Chris's who's part of the Purdue University Mac Users Group, a Mac support group that Chris is a part of on campus (he's the Treasurer). We talked for almost an hour and a half about the various new model Macintosh computers, the new flat-screen line of monitors, and programming websites. Chris's friend was good-looking, as were some of the customers who came and went as we stood there, so I was dividing my time between gazing and talking, and it was all good. After Chris's friend left, we spent more than a half-hour still looking around the store (we're both unashamedly mac geeks, and this is like a trip to Mecca for us). But eventually we made our way out into the rest of the mall.

We stopped in the Game Preserve briefly and looked around at what they had to offer, but our objective was to look in the Sharper Image store. I had been looking online and saw a great-looking neck massager that I thought would be a great gift for my grandma for her birthday. It turns out, though, that it was pretty lame and had a weak massaging-vibrations mode. As we made our way back to the car we stopped at Brookstone but still couldn't find any decent neck massager. So we just made our way out and headed back to Lafayette.

Chris needed to write up an article for the newspaper before the evening deadline, so he worked on that and I surfed the web a bit and relaxed. Chris had me edit his article after a while (and after Emily finally returned from work), and we made our way to a late dinner.

We were so late for dinner in fact, around 10 PM, that we had few options of what restaurants would still be serving, so we wound up at Denny's. Not my usual choice for a meal, this Denny's was surprisingly clean, freshly remodeled, and bright. Plus, the waiter, Asher, was HOT. Seriously, he was a dream, and although Chris kept saying he didn't see how we could consider him good-looking, Emily and I drooled every time he came near. That was quite nice.

The meal was decent, too, as well as the dinner conversation, and all too soon we left. We got back to the house a little while ago, and I'm ready for sleep soon. Chris and I are watching Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network, but sleep beckons me. It's certainly been a seemingly simple day, but it was good. I'll take days like that any time.

Posted at 1:21 AM

 

August 14, 2004

Chris and I slept in a bit today. Emily had to go to work quite early, but we didn't get up until about 9:30 AM, and I think we might have slept longer if the little kids upstairs hadn't been making such vast and continuous noise as they did running around their apartment. Chris needed to update his eBay sales and work more on a promotional flier for the Art Museum, so he worked on that all morning and the first couple hours of the afternoon while I surfed the web, showered, and read online newspapers. We would talk with each other now and again, even while we did our own things, but there was always a comfortable silence between us between those brief moments of speech. Chris is my closest friend not merely because we like and trust each other, not merely because we have a huge number of shared interests, and not merely because have fun when we're together, but largely because we can be happy in each other's company even if we are just watching tv together or just individually doing our own things but still in the same room. We have a great comfortability with each other, something that I think is rare and wonderful. So while some might think the beginning of the day was quite hum-drum, I found it very gratifying. Having this close of a friend is infinitely important and rewarding to me.

As the afternoon progressed, Chris got showered and we got on our way. We had little time, so we ran a couple of errands, stopped at Penn Station for some kick-ass grilled subs, fries, and lemonade, and then rushed back to the apartment before Chris got on his way to work. Chris played bartended for eight hours at a hotel wedding downtown. It wasn't something he does often, but it pays good money when he is asked to lend a hand.

With Chris and Emily both gone, I decided to check up on my grandma, who sounds like she's doing great. We spoke for about a half hour, then I decided to watch some of Chris's DVDs that I had never seen.

The first choice was the original Spiderman movie since I'd seen the sequel last night at the theatre. As it turns out, I actually have seen the original movie. I had thought that I'd only caught the last part of the original but missed out on a lot. On the contrary, I had missed very little and saw most of what was going on before. Still, it was fun to watch again. The sequel is far superior, but the original is still quite good. I must say that James Franco (who played Harry Osbourne) is fucking hot.

After watching what I had apparently already seen before I decided to watch About a Boy, a Hugh Grant film and Nick Hornby novel adaptation that I had wanted very much to see when it had first come out which I have, until now, never seen. As much as I had been looking forward to this movie, I found it to surpass all of my expectations. It was smart, funny, full of cool music, and very poignant. It had a lot of resonance with my own life, something Nick Hornby works always seem to have, strangely enough. I was thrilled by it, really.

Not long before the end of the movie, Emily returned home and alternately showered and watched the movie with me (it's one of her favorites). We left after the movie ended and had dinner together at the Parthenon, the best Greek restaurant around (at least to my experience). Emily and I had a great, long talk about each of our lives, mostly regarding work and college, but it was by far the longest talk we've ever had, and it got us chatting quite a bit as we drove back to the apartment.

Emily joined a friend of hers at a local bar (her friend is moving out of town soon), and I stayed at the apartment to just chill out. I ended up just watching tv and reading a new online chapter of Carrots and Celery. Not long after I started this Journal entry, Emily returned and Chris called to say he was done with the bartending gig. It looks like he'll bee going over to Dave's place for a while, so I'll just plan on crashing soon.

Posted at 12:28 AM

 

August 13, 2004

Today was pretty fantastic with one exception, that exception being that I learned only a few hours ago that Julia Child has died. I really enjoyed her cooking style and her attitude, and I'll miss not seeing her do anything more. Rest well, Julia.

The day started on a far better note with Chris and I talking a bit as we got ready to go out. We spent some time at Purdue (where Chris is studying Computer Science Engineering) so that Chris could try to rearrange his schedule and check about some financial aid issues, and we had lunch at this great new restaurant called Scotty's. Scotty's, to some, might be seen as sort of a Friday's clone, but it feels much more open and hip than that, plus it's not as noisy as Friday's, even when it's packed full of people. Best of all was the huge selection of food, and everything I tried was amazingly wonderful. I could get very fat there.

We spent a good part of the afternoon running from office to office on campus, and by the time we finally left it was around 2:30. We went from there to Hobby Lobby to look for a patch for me (for my coat) and for various craft items for Chris to create some new things to sell in the craft group he belongs to. That store has everything, and we looked at all sorts of stuff, even stuff we had absolutely no use for. I'm the same way in Home Depot or similar places, just looking at all of the different stuff and thinking of all of the different uses you could have for various things. Maybe this is how my gay shopping gene displays itself - I don't know. From there we went to h.h. gregg, an electronics and appliance store that has been in Lafayette for many years but just recently moved from their age-old location to a new anchor spot as part of the Tippecanoe Mall. The new store is very slick, and their grand opening sale was amazing. Their sale prices were amazingly low, and their product lines were leaving both me and Chris salivating. Seriously, who doesn't want a 60" wide-screen flat-panel HDTV? Or who doesn't want a Sony DVD surround sound home theatre system for $100? It's amazing that Chris and I escaped with any credit still intact, but we did finally leave, Chris having bought a new boombox to replace the one that had died at the photography lab in the Art Museum, one of the places Chris works (he teaches at the Art Museum and Ivy Tech and also does freelance photography).

Once back at Chris' apartment, we watched some Comedy Central with Emily, and Chris put in some work on an advertisement Chris is creating for a new exhibit at the museum. Emily left to see the new-born baby of a friend of hers, and Chris and I each got involved in our respective computer tasks. By the time we checked our clocks it was already going on 8 PM, so we got on the road, picked up Emily, and went on our way to dinner and a movie.

Dinner was at Khana Khazana, a fantastic Indian restaurant that was still fairly new when I came last year. The food, as before, was amazing, possibly even better than what I had last year, and we all relished everything we had.

After dinner we went to see Spiderman 2. I still haven't seen the original Spiderman movie, but I know more than enough about the comic book storylines that I couldn't see any reason I would feel lost about what was gong on. The movie, in short, was great. The special effects, the storyline, the acting, the set-up for the next sequel, the subplots - it was all incredibly well done. This is how comic book adaptations should be made. I am even more interested in seeing the first movie now, and I'm anxious to see the third movie when it finally arrives. By the way, need I state that Toby Macguire is an absolute hottie? I didn't think so.

By the time we got back to Chris' apartment we were all a bit lethargic, so we plopped down to watch some tv. Emily went to bed fairly soon after than, and it wasn't long past that when Chris and I both fell asleep on our respective couches. I only slept for an couple hours before waking up and taking some time to type this, but but I'm way ready for some good sleepy time now. It was a great day, and now I'm ready to sleep.

Posted at 4:27 AM

 

August 12, 2004

You wouldn't know it by just looking at my website, but I'm in Lafayette now (that's in Indiana). I'm visiting my good friend Chris for a few days, and I'm already having a great time.

The trip here took longer than expected with all of the single-lane construction nightmares along my route, but I still got here just before 5:30 PM. Chris and I talked for a little while and watched the Daily Show before heading to Little Mexico for dinner <yummy!> We had talked about college (for each of us) and financial aid and stuff while at the restaurant, then when we got back around 9 PM we talked politics for a while, and we had just started surfing the web on our respective computers when Emily (Chris' girlfriend) got back from work.

We are now watching the Graham Norton Effect on Comedy Central (John Waters is a guest), and we're joking about the show, the commercials, and each other. It's great to just be able to share simple, relaxing fun like this with other people. It's different to be able to do this with people who are closer to my age than my grandma, and it's really fun.

The next few days promise to be very enjoyable. I'll keep you posted on the details.

Posted at 11:48 PM

 

August 11, 2004

It would seem that I'm running out of time this summer, and the first casualty was my planned garage sale. I decided a few weeks ago that that would have to wait until next summer, and I've tried working at other things in the meantime. Today, however, I'm pretty much facing the fact that another accomplishment I had planned for the summer - converting this web Journal into a PHP-based system using Greymatter or Movable Type. Either system would have been great, and they still will be, just not this summer.

It's taking me too long to grasp the PHP programming style, and even when I have a solid hold on how to use it, I would still have to spend quite a bit of time in formatting and then transferring all of my Journal entries, each separate day as a new entry in the new system. I still really want to move to such a system, particularly so that you readers can post replies to any given Journal entry directly, but with the last couple weeks of the summer now withering away, I have to face facts and realize that I have other, more important things that have to be done.

Having decided to shelve the PHP upgrade to the Journal, I did finally do a sweeping update of the website to make sure that all of the links work and to update suggested links pages, the Bio, and even a revision of a story, The Damned (which was previously titled "Blood and Guts"). I also updated a few bits of formatting here and there that were just slightly off, so hopefully everything looks and works really great now.

I didn't make a big deal of it when it happened last week, but my hit counter rolled past 25,000 unique visitors to my website. Pretty wild, really, that over 25,000 people have now seen this site. Granted, they may not have liked it or may not have stayed, but a number of people chose to look around, and heck, a number of you even come back on a semi-regular (or in some cases very regular) basis. It's a small total compared to some other websites, but I'm quite content with the notice I've received, particularly considering I don't have the volume of writing available as on some of those other sites. Hopefully that will change as time progresses; I have plans for a number of new stories, both short stories and serialized works, and I still have plans for what I hope to do with "Hope, Need & Fear." New things have come at virtually a snail's pace, I know, but I do have every intention of writing and posting more. Hopefully you enjoy what's available for now.

And if you don't ... well ... then just wait 'til the hit counter gains another 25,000 - surely by then I'll have a lot more stories for the reading.

Posted at 11:16 PM

 

August 10, 2004

Let me state once again, undeniably, that yard work is the predominant torture of the ninth circle of hell.

Avoid yard work at all costs!

Posted at 11:46 PM

 

August 9, 2004

I watched Lara Croft: Tomb Raider for the first time on Tv last night. It was okay although a bit lame. It was like making a Chapter IX version of Indiana Jones, except that Indiana Jones was less of a know-it-all and didn't always get the best of every single bad guy. It's not that I don't think a woman could be that well-educated or that much of a kick-ass bad-ass - I just don't think that anyone could be that omnipotent. It was just too much of a stretch for the imagination.

I suppose if I were straight it would have been a great movie, but being gay, Angelina Jolie's boobs didn't do a thing for me.

Posted at 12:28 AM

 

August 8, 2004

Apparently it's not enough for the Republicans to gerrymander districts throughout the states they control, such as Texas, in order to give their candidates an unfair, unjust superiority over their opponents. Apparently it's not enough that the Republicans plan on fraud and irresponsible management of the electronic voting systems throughout the country and are writing to their Republican constitutes to vote by written, mail-in ballots. It's not enough that the Republicans and their pundits misquote and distort the words of their opposition because they are too afraid of letting the truth be seen. It's apparently not even enough for Republicans to prop up Vietnam vets to lie about Democratic candidate John Kerry's meritorious service in an effort to discredit his heroism, even though they weren't present at the events for which Kerry was honored.

No, it's not enough to lie, cheat, and steal, not enough to illegally and immorally manipulate all levels of government in this country, not enough to misinform and abuse control of the media, and not enough to use the threat of terrorism as a tool of fear against the American people and their right to vote based on their own interests. Apparently none of that is enough, so the Republicans have to go out of their way to not only bribe conservative Democrats to switch to their party but to do so at the last possible minuet available for the Democratic party to place another candidate on the ballot, thereby leaving the Democrats unable a fair opportunity for election and, further, denying the American people the right to actually choose their government representative from the choices presented by the political parties. The sort of low deception and deplorable ethics involved in this recent situation are beneath any candidate for political office (and probably beneath most human beings in general).

If the Republicans are this afraid of their chances against the Democrats that they can't run a clean election on any level then they should reassess what the Republican party stands for. I can only hope that the press makes this sort of election shenanigans clear to the public, but I rather doubt that very much attention will be paid to this situation at all.

Democratic Representative Switches Party

(CNN) -- Rep. Rodney Alexander, a conservative Louisiana Democrat who won an unexpected victory in a GOP-leaning district two years ago, decided Friday to seek re-election as a Republican.

On the last day of qualifying for the fall ballot in Louisiana, Alexander filed for re-election as a Republican, after filing earlier in the week as a Democrat.

The timing of the switch prevents state Democrats from fielding a big-name candidate to take on the newly minted GOP congressman, who just five months ago had announced he would remain a Democrat.

"I've seen some cowardly things in my career, but this is the worst," said Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu in a statement. "Nobody likes a coward, least of all the voters of Louisiana."

Feelings were different on the other side of the aisle. President Bush called Alexander on Friday evening "to welcome him to the Republican Party and wish him well," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

In Louisiana, all congressional candidates, regardless of party, run against each other in a single race in November. If no one wins a majority, then the two top vote-getters face each other in a runoff. Alexander will have two competitors for the seat -- former Republican state legislator Jock Scott and Zelma Blakes, a little-known Democrat.

Alexander, 57, represents the state's Fifth District, which includes northeastern Louisiana and parts of two parishes west of Baton Rouge. In 2000, he won the runoff for the seat by less than 1,000 votes over Republican Lee Fletcher, putting what had been thought to be a traditional GOP seat into Democratic hands.

Given that the district went for President Bush by 17 percentage points in 2000, Republicans had been eyeing Alexander's seat as a possible takeover target -- but they had also been wooing him to cross the political aisle.

Alexander's congressional biography describes him as "pro-life [and] pro-Second Amendment" and notes that he is an active member of the Blue Dog Coalition of conservative Democrats. He supported both the Iraq war and President Bush's tax cuts.

Talk of party switching crescendoed in February after Alexander told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he preferred Bush to his own party's presidential nominees. But after intense lobbying from state Democrats, he announced in March that he would not change parties.

The switch gives Republicans 229 U.S. House members, compared with 205 Democrats and one Democratic-leaning independent. In order to wrest control of the House this fall, Democrats will now need a net gain of 12 seats.

Posted at 10:14 PM

 

August 7, 2004

The Boston Pops played a concert tonight at nearby Sawmill Creek Resort. It was the first outdoor concert ever (maybe even the first concert ever) at Sawmill, and everything had to be created from scratch, including an orchestra shell. There was a lot of work put into things and a lot of local sponsorship, and it was good to have some community activity for residents and not just tourists.

The original plan had been for me to take my grandma and her close friend Mary, but Mary decided not to go the night before after my grandma told her how long she thought the event would be. My grandma, having read the newspaper, had read that parking would begin at 4 PM and then completely disregarded every other time noted in the newspaper, even after I told her on numerous occasions that the concert didn't start until 8 PM and even the organizer didn't suggest anyone arrive much before 6:30, even though they had arranged jugglers and other types of street performers as well as concessions and food for the few hours preceding the concert. Mary thought that six or seven hours would be too tiring, and she would have been right, but there was no way it would ever have been that long.

As it turned out, it was just me and my grandma and one useless extra $35 ticket. I talked my grandma into eating at Friday's for dinner, taking quite a while to convince her that this would be the most efficient use of our time that would still allow us to arrive with plenty of time (although it was, as most things are with my grandma, quite an endeavor to convince her that eating at home or eating somewhere else on the far side of town would have taken far longer than eating at Friday's). I had a great meal, but I was incredibly distracted by one cute guy after another, some so beautiful I just couldn't take my eyes off of them.

The concert, as it turns out, was also full of incredibly cute young guys. The crowd (of about 5000 people) was largely over 50, mostly over 60 in fact, but there were more than enough younger guys to keep my eyes darting around. It was very strenuous activity, I assure you.

Music for the evening was a selection of broadway tunes, some wholly instrumental and some with a singer, and then a closing of a medley of patriotic songs in a sing-along and then the 1812 Overture as a close. The performance was quite good, but the acoustics and volume were quite sub-apr. I could hear things (and we had decent seats), but it wasn't very full sound, and the speaker system amplified the treble and bass quite well but had absolutely no mid-range sound at all, so the whole performance sounded somewhat hollow. That was quite disappointing. The music itself was okay, and while I enjoy Broadway tunes, I would have much preferred a full set of classical pieces. I was happy to see the 1812 Overture performed since that's my favorite musical piece, and the performance was decent.

I'm very picky about how the 1812 is conducted, and I wasn't terribly impressed. One of the fantastic things about the 1812 is that Tchaikovsky has constantly varying volume and pace, having certain sections become quiet and then increase in volume or vice versa and having the pace slow or speed up in a manner that emphasizes the mood of a particular section. The cues are written into the music, but it is invariably up to the conductor how soft, loud, slow or fast he makes things based on those notations. That's what makes the 1812 so fascinating to me, and I have my own ideas of how the whole symphony should be conducted. I have yet to hear a performance that matches my desires completely in this fashion, but I was quite disappointed in this performance. The conductor did an adequate job, but he really made no notable variation in volume or pace - he just kept pace like a metronome and didn't call for any volume change. It was okay, but that was it.

The fireworks that followed the performance were quite fantastic, however, possibly as good as I've ever seen anywhere else, and the entire display lasted for well over 20 minutes, close to 30. It was a nice end to the evening.

Of course that wasn't the end of the evening, and getting to where the car was parked took 25 minutes around crowds and traffic, and getting out of the parking area too another 35 minutes from there. That was possibly the worst aspect of the event, the parking. Still, the acoustic/volume problems were pretty significant, too. It was the first such event they had held, though, so there is certainly a chance to improve things for future concerts.

My grandma had a good time, though, and even though she was a bit tired by the end of the day she was very happy to have gone. It was a nice change from the usual humdrum existence I've had this summer, too, so even though it had it's problems, it was a good time for me.

Heck, just seeing all of the cute guys would have probably been good enough, even without everything else.

Posted Written at 2:02 AM

 

August 6, 2004

Compassion, truth, and love - they're really all that's centrally important. And yet they are sadly in short supply.

Why is that?

Posted at 10:45 PM

 

August 5, 2004

The bat is gone (although I have to tell you that it took forever to get the darn thing to find the open front door to fly through). My grandma will be much happier now, and that will certainly make me much less nagged.

Today was also positive in the sense that I have completed the updating and expansion of my iTunes library for my iPod. I have re-converted a huge number of my CDs (converting to Apple's AAC format rather than the MP# format I'd used before). The new files have as good or better sound quality, but they are also smaller, taking up 25% less space than before. Once I had redone all of the songs I had before, I set to adding conversions of more CDs from my music library. Keep in mind that I have well over 1000 CDs, so I have no way of fitting them all on my 30 GB iPod, however I have gotten well over 400 CDs onto the iPod, a total of 5150 songs (with about half a gigabyte left for more) - not bad. That nearly doubles the number of songs I had on the iPod before, so that should give me a lot more options of what to listen to as I drive back and forth between here and Bowling Green for classes. I even made a half-dozen playlists of select songs to fit various moods. That will be quite cool when it's late at night or storming and thereby difficult to select something to listen to either one album t a time or even just one song at a time. All of this has taken me about a week around other tasks, errands, and obligations, so while I'm quite happy to have the new, expanded iTunes library, I'm also incredibly happy to have this labor done.

Now if I could just get some other, more important things done, the I'd be much better off.

Posted at 1:58 AM

 

August 4, 2004

Rain has been falling almost constantly today, and I suspect that that is why our visitor-of-old has returned. A bat has found its way into the house again, almost certainly the same bat as before, and my grandma is, of course, apoplectic.

There's really only so much I can do to get rid of the bat (which, by the way, is next to nothing except on the rare occasion that I might be in the right place at the right time to be able to close certain doors and keep him confined to just a few rooms where I could find him and direct him out through the front door, the likelihood of which is small). None of that stops my grandma from freaking out, of course, and even the fact that I am fairly certain that I've confined it to the basement hasn't really done anything to allay her concerns. I guess I understand how she feels, even though I do believe the bat is more frightened of her than she is if it. Still, the whole conversation, repeated infinitely to the end of my patience, leaves me frustrated that I have no way to just fix the situation and have the chance to try to get my grandma past this (and moving forward to the next thing she can find to worry about).

The fun just never ends, does it?

Posted at 12:39 AM

 

August 3, 2004

Finally, somebody within the media admits the bias of the media against the Democrats.

Reading the Script

A message to my fellow journalists: check out media watch sites like campaigndesk.org, mediamatters.org and dailyhowler.com. It's good to see ourselves as others see us. I've been finding The Daily Howler's concept of a media "script," a story line that shapes coverage, often in the teeth of the evidence, particularly helpful in understanding cable news.

For example, last summer, when growth briefly broke into a gallop, cable news decided that the economy was booming. The gallop soon slowed to a trot, and then to a walk. But judging from the mail I recently got after writing about the slowing economy, the script never changed; many readers angrily insisted that my numbers disagreed with everything they had seen on TV.

If you really want to see cable news scripts in action, look at the coverage of the Democratic convention.

Commercial broadcast TV covered only one hour a night. We'll see whether the Republicans get equal treatment. C-Span, on the other hand, provided comprehensive, commentary-free coverage. But many people watched the convention on cable news channels - and what they saw was shaped by a script portraying Democrats as angry Bush-haters who disdain the military.

If that sounds like a script written by the Republicans, it is. As the movie "Outfoxed" makes clear, Fox News is for all practical purposes a G.O.P. propaganda agency. A now-famous poll showed that Fox viewers were more likely than those who get their news elsewhere to believe that evidence of Saddam-Qaeda links has been found, that W.M.D. had been located and that most of the world supported the Iraq war.

CNN used to be different, but Campaign Desk, which is run by The Columbia Journalism Review, concluded after reviewing convention coverage that CNN "has stooped to slavish imitation of Fox's most dubious ploys and policies." Seconds after John Kerry's speech, CNN gave Ed Gillespie, the Republican Party's chairman, the opportunity to bash the candidate. Will Terry McAuliffe be given the same opportunity right after President Bush speaks?

Commentators worked hard to spin scenes that didn't fit the script. Some simply saw what they wanted to see. On Fox, Michael Barone asserted that conventioneers cheered when Mr. Kerry criticized President Bush but were silent when he called for military strength. Check out the video clips at Media Matters; there was tumultuous cheering when Mr. Kerry talked about a strong America.

Another technique, pervasive on both Fox and CNN, was to echo Republican claims of an "extreme makeover" - the assertion that what viewers were seeing wasn't the true face of the party. (Apparently all those admirals, generals and decorated veterans were ringers.)

It will probably be easier to make a comparable case in New York, where the Republicans are expected to feature an array of moderate, pro-choice speakers and keep Rick Santorum and Tom DeLay under wraps. But in Boston, it took creativity to portray the delegates as being out of the mainstream. For example, Bill Schneider at CNN claimed that according to a New York Times/CBS News poll, 75 percent of the delegates favor "abortion on demand" - which exaggerated the poll's real finding, which is that 75 percent opposed stricter limits than we now have.

But the real power of a script is the way it can retroactively change the story about what happened.

On Thursday night, Mr. Kerry's speech was a palpable hit. A focus group organized by Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster, found it impressive and persuasive. Even pro-Bush commentators conceded, at first, that it had gone over well.

But a terrorism alert is already blotting out memories of last week. Although there is now a long history of alerts with remarkably convenient political timing, and Tom Ridge politicized the announcement by using the occasion to praise "the president's leadership in the war against terror," this one may be based on real information. Regardless, it gives the usual suspects a breathing space; once calm returns, don't be surprised if some of those same commentators begin describing the ineffective speech they expected (and hoped) to see, not the one they actually saw.

Luckily, in this age of the Internet it's possible to bypass the filter. At c-span.org, you can find transcripts and videos of all the speeches. I'd urge everyone to watch Mr. Kerry and others for yourself, and make your own judgment.

Posted at 12:45 AM

 

August 2, 2004

I've shopped, changed oil in the car, car-washed, hair cut, lawn mowed, chauffeured, cleaned, read, converted CDs to music files, and driven 120 miles. Now I'm tired again. Go figure.

Posted at 11:44 PM

 

August 1, 2004

Today has been a rough day. I'm way short on sleep this past week, having had to be up early four days in the past week (three for driving my grandma to appointments and the fourth to get an early start yesterday to drive to Fremont to see Steve), and even days like today, where I had planned not to really sleep in very late but to at least have seven hours of sleep - but instead was woken up hours earlier by the insistent ringing of my intercom by my grandma who was up early and wanted to see if I was up (well gee, grandma, I am now. Thanks.). These low levels of sleep, coupled with the continuing headache and the continuing depression, have left me weak and almost dazed with being tired.

Somehow I can be so tired as to want to lay down, but not tired enough (somehow) to fall asleep when I have a chance. I'm not a person who takes naps just about ever, but I'd have made an exception the past couple of days if I could just fall asleep.

So hopefully I'll sleep well tonight. I'll still have to get up relatively early to drive my grandma to the YMCA in the morning. When oh when will I get a full nights sleep!

Posted at 11:19 PM


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Journal, by Paul Cales, © August 2004