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Sunday, June 17th, 2007
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7:26 pm - God Damn Phillies
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I've been to six Phillies games in my life (four in this season), and you know what their record is during those games? 0-6. Zero and six! If I weren't so lazy, I might try to calculate the odds of that, but I'm assuming, given the Phils' 19-17 record at home this year, that they're pretty bad. They win plenty of games that I watch on TV, but they can't seem to pull through when I'm actually at the ballpark. If I believed in luck, I might say I'm a bad luck charm, but I don't, so let's just say the Phillies kind of suck.
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| Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
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9:21 pm - What is it about death that makes people so damn creepy?
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I might as well get right into it: huggable urns.
http://www.huggableurns.com/
The idea is that your deceased loved ones' ashes deserve to be in something more comfortable than an ugly metal urn. Indeed, the creator explains, "Soon after my Dad passed away he started to communicate to me how upset he was that after living his life to the fullest he ended up in some ugly hard container. This was just not acceptable to him. Was I surprised!!! Boy! I have never talked to my Dad so much in my whole life as I have since he passed. Not only has he guided me every step of the way in the creation of Huggable Urns but he also has guided me in my personal life. He wanted something soft and cuddly that people could hold and to have around them at all times."
So, the dead are upset that their remains are being kept inside metal urns, so we should put them inside teddy bears instead?
Yes!
Oh, okay.
I don't know where to start. I might as well just skip over the whole "my dead father talks to me" bit; what can I say about that that you can't imagine on your own?
People have to stop thinking that their loved ones are still alive once they die. When you put one's ashes in an urn, he isn't trapped inside of the urn; his ashes are trapped inside of the urn. This sort of acceptance of practical truth would seem to square with religious belief as well. After all, I was always under the impression that when one died, religious folk believe that the soul vacates the body. Thus, the person is no longer inside of the body. It's just, well, a body. I am not religious, and I don't believe in souls, so I naturally agree that a dead body is just a dead body. It deserves no degree of care, and I think it is simply absurd that people have made businesses out of taking care of things that need no taking care of.
My point is this: when you hug that teddy bear filled with ashes, you aren't hugging your grandma or your dog or your sister; you're hugging a sack of human remains, and that's fucking disgusting.
Now, perhaps it is tactless to poke fun at people who are simply trying to cope, but I don't think coping is a legitimate excuse for living outside of reality. Just check out some of these testimonials:
"We have put a terrible year behind us and now we can be a little bit happier knowing that our son Nick is inside of this beautiful bear to have and to hold whenever we want."
"We now take our sons to all of [our family get-togethers] and wouldn't have it any other way."
"Now we can still take her with us wherever we go."
"My parents had many plans on taking Lily on a cruise trip when she was alive but couldn't go due to her being to sick to leave the house. So thanks to you she can go and enjoy it with her grandma and grandpa."
"Gizmo was our 14 yr. old mini schnauzer. He has been a very loved member of our family. He was in my son's graduation pictures and a part of our son's wedding. Gizmo died 5 months before Cole was born. This is a picture of Gizmo with our week old grandson. Cole looked right at Gizmo. It's like Cole knew it was Gizmo."
"I wanted to send you the picture we had made of our boys for Christmas. I had to include Gizmo in the picture. It turned out well."
People need to learn how to move on. Refusing to deal with death (i.e. accepting that the person - or animal - is actually gone) simply cannot be healthy. It may be comforting to believe that the person is still around, but it all seems rather morbid to me. This fascination with remains (we see it pretty clearly at wakes, too) just boggles my mind. A body is simply a body. Without any brain functionality (or a soul, if you want to call it that), there is no person there. It is just flesh and bones. Or ashes.
Hell, and I always thought cremation was the more rational way to go.
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| Thursday, June 7th, 2007
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11:18 pm - When is sacrilege acceptable?
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I never thought I would root for the New York Yankees, but from the 15th through the 17th, the Yankees are hosting the New York Mets, the leaders of the National League East (of which my beloved Phillies are a part). So, for the Phillies to start gaining ground in the division, the teams ahead of them (the Braves by 1.5 games and the Mets by 5 games) need to lose games as the Phillies (hopefully) win games. After all, winning doesn't do much good if the leaders are winning too.
Of course, winning against the leaders is key, and the Phillies just swept the Mets in a three-game series, taking the Mets' lead from 8 games to 5.
So, I will be rooting for the Yankees (or maybe I should just say I will be rooting against the Mets), but for the sake of the Phillies. That's okay, right?
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| Sunday, May 20th, 2007
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6:10 pm - Phun in Philadelphia (HAHA GET IT?)
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So, I went in to Philadelphia with the parents today to see if I could add to my used LP and book collections (I had some success with the former, not so much with the latter), and I had quite an adventure.
First, I got lost. I somehow managed to pass South Street coming from Market East (I still have no idea how I pulled that off) and ended up about six blocks past where I wanted to be. But, that route allowed us to catch a minute of an apparent "Battle of the Races" softball game (an all-black team v. an all-white team) and, more importantly, to check out the Italian Market. Inner-city Italians are a fun bunch; there's really nothing else like them. If you look like a fellow Italian (which my dad does moreso than me, but if you're at all good at picking out ethnicities, you'll know that I have a rather Italian nose) they'll start talking to you about anything, and when you say goodbye, they'll shake your hand and say "Good seeing you, brother!" as if they've known you for years.
It's nice, especially when in the city, to get a good dose of niceness. It (and perhaps good Italian water ice, too) can really brighten one's day.
So anyway, it, much to our surprise, happened to be the "Blessing of the Italian Market" today (you know, where they roll the statues of saints down the road and good Catholics pin money to said saints). But, the Italian Market has, over the years, turned into something of an "Italian/Mexican Market," so there were Mexican bands playing right along with the Italians.
I don't think the Italians were too happy about it, though.
But, anyway, that's the closest I've been to church in a while. Of course, as good Italians (if not fully in blood, then perhaps in spirit), we got cannoli, and let me tell you, it was the best damn cannoli I've ever had.
So, I was eating my cannoli, minding my own business, and I say to my dad, "Hey, that's Michael Nutter!"
To those of you who do not live in the Philadelphia area, Michael Nutter is the Democratic candidate for Mayor of Philadelphia, and given Philadelphians' general hatred of Republicans, he is 99.9% likely to win the general election in November. So, I met the future Mayor.
I call him Nutter Butter. Not to his face, of course. Only when proper. Anyway, his politician smile seemed more forced than some other politicians you see around, but perhaps that's a good thing. I think you can trust a politician with a bad politician smile more than one with a good politician smile. Although, Barack Obama has a great politician smile, so maybe I don't want to believe that.
That brings my "Politicians Met" count to three (others include the aforementioned Obama and Rick Santorum - I would count Lois Murphy, but she keeps on losing).
So, after we finished our detour, I got to the business of looking for books and LPs. And let me tell you, it's a tough business. For every gem you find in a used record or book store, there are 1,000 turds you have to wade through in order to find it. But, I did find a few gems by Yes, Stephen Stills (okay, maybe that's not really a "gem," per se), Ten Years After, The Grateful Dead, the Eagles, and Traffic. As for books, I only found The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger (AKA the Pride of Ursinus College).
And now my feet kind of hurt.
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| Wednesday, May 9th, 2007
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4:13 pm - Two things
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First, I hate driving on 202 and 422 during the "downtime," (i.e. 10 - 3 or so) because the people driving are not the daily 202/422 drivers. They're the soccer moms and old people who only use those roads occasionally. And they don't know what the Hell they're doing. Those are my roads, damnit! I know them like the back of my hand, and these hacks ruin my driving experience.
Also, I lost my favorite guitar pick, and I'm very sad.
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| Monday, May 7th, 2007
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10:03 pm - On poking.
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What the Hell does it mean when a guy facebook pokes you?
Does it mean he wants in my pants?
I'm scared.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Saturday, May 5th, 2007
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2:47 am - At long last.
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So, I finally broke 200 in bowling tonight. Indeed, I rolled a whopping 221, throwing six strikes in a row. I feel the need to brag about this to someone, so who better than the internet, right?
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| Friday, May 4th, 2007
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3:25 pm - Why, oh why?
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Why is it that no one can figure out how to make a good movie out of good books by Kurt Vonnegut? I just watched Breakfast of Champions the other day, and it was terrible! And it's one of my favorite books. Now, I try not to by that "Oh, the book was far better than the movie" guy (as I fully admit that the Lord of the Rings, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas were all excellent movies), but sometimes I can't help myself.
And apparently Leonoardo DiCaprio got the rights to Cat's Cradle, either my first or second favorite book (I suppose it's a tie between that and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest). I'm scared.
So, I haven't been updating much. Here's why: I have a new-fangled, slightly more serious blog.
www.ompblog.blogspot.com
If you have not bookmarked it yet, please do. My friend Dave and I write all sorts of musings about politics. It's usually updated two to three times a day between the two of us. So, please read. You'll be entertained.
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| Wednesday, April 18th, 2007
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12:58 pm - ABORT! ABORT!
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So, as I expected, the Supreme Court upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, which outlaws a specific kind of abortion ("partial birth" is a bad term, but I don't feel like getting into that). In short, it bans a procedure that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists found to be the safest option in some cases. But, apparently the procedure is "vile," so we can't allow it, right?
However, the Court struck down the same ban just a few years back. Granted, it was a state law that they overturned, and this one is federal, but that shouldn't be enough to legitimize overturning such recent precedent.
This case really delegitimizes the Court. Not because it made what I consider the wrong decision, but because it shows that the results can change from year to year based on partisan majorities. Of course, I would never try to deny that the Court is inherently a political body. I don't believe the myth that the Court is somehow "above politics," but at the same time, they have a duty to respect precedent, unless there is some compelling reason to overturn it. I don't see a compelling reason here, except, of course, for the fact that O'Connor has been replaced by Alito.
And that's not a good enough reason.
However, perhaps there is a glimpse of something good to be found in this opinion, or at least in the concurring opinion. Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion (which Scalia joined) stating his opinion that neither Roe v. Wade nor Planned Parenthood v. Casey has any basis in the constitution. It is interesting to note, though, that neither Roberts nor Alito joined in this concurring opinion. Perhaps they do not feel as strongly about abortion as Thomas and Scalia do.
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| Sunday, April 15th, 2007
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7:11 pm
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So, remember how I was going to test my political affiliation every so often? Well, apparently I haven't done that in a year. Here are my results:
This seems to break the trend:
September 2005: 80% socially permissive, 43% economically permissive
December 2005: 76% socially permissive, 56% economically permissive
April 2006: 70% socially permissive, 60% economically permissive
April 2007: 70% socially permissive, 28% economically permissive
Somehow, I've gotten a lot more economically liberal. I thought it would've been just the opposite. Bizarre.
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| Thursday, April 12th, 2007
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12:07 am - ...
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Some sad news. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has died. Perhaps it isn't really that sad; he hasn't really been doing much lately. Sure, every once in a while he'd make a clever quip about the Bush administration, but his death isn't really robbing us of anything. His genius is still immortalized in his books. But, still. It's sad.
My first taste of Vonnegut's satire was Breakfast of Champions, which is a great book, by the way. Ever since then, I've had an insatiable desire to read and to write satire. Indeed, I've been known to, umm, "borrow" aspects of his writing style and incorporate them into my own. Without his influence, I don't think I ever would have become a satirist. No other artform has ever affected me as powerfully as satire, and I have Mr. Vonnegut to thank for that. And I suppose you Communism for Dummies fans have him to thank as well.
We have to laugh. In the face of unbearable cruelty (Slaughterhouse-Five), the absolute absurdism of organized religion (Sirens of Titan... although, I'm sure there are other themes I'm missing), and of course, the end of the world at the hands of science (Cat's Cradle), what can we do, but laugh, and at least try to make the best of this place? Here is what I take from Vonnegut's writing: this place (America, earth, perhaps even the universe) is pretty shitty, but that's only because it is inhabited by shitty people. So, what ought we to do in the face of this shittiness? Well, one might despair, and although Vonnegut did try to kill himself at least once, I don't think he would suggest despair as the best option. Rather, he would say, "we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different." In other words, don't fret too much about this nastiness. Laugh at it. Enjoy what you can. And most of all, be kind. There is enough meanness in the world, we shouldn't be concsiously adding more.
And I think that's a philosophy worth following.
But, really, would Kurt Vonnegut even want to be eulogized? Would he want to be remembered for all this? Maybe not. If his narration is any indication, perhaps this would be his ideal eulogy:
"Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. died.
So it goes."
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| Friday, April 6th, 2007
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7:32 am - Weird dreams
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So, I just had a pretty bizarre dream. In this dream, Dr. Stern and I were doctors (you know, the real kind) in some sort of a hospital. He was being accused of some sort of malpractice, and he refused to admit to it. I, being a diligent sidekick, waited for everybody to leave and started to investigate, to try to find evidence to defend him. In doing so, I started tinkering with a big machine (perhaps an MRI machine?), and I somehow made it explode. Indeed, the whole hospital blew up. But, I managed to run outside in time.
But, the next day, I returned to this place, but it wasn't a hospital this time; it was somebody's house, but apparently it was also going to serve as a classroom. Some of my real-life classmates showed up and said how happy they were that I didn't die in the explosion, which was nice. But, after some bullshitting, this guy walks in and heads to the front of the classroom. It was Robert Bork, and he proceeded to teach us Spanish... very poorly. Then it was time for recess (hell yes, my dreams have recess), and we played some sport were you fly around on bungee chords and try to throw balls at eachother. It's like dodgeball on crack. It was fun.
But, yeah. Robert Bork as a Spanish teacher!? WTF. How the Hell did that pop into my subconcious?
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| Saturday, March 31st, 2007
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8:54 pm - On Credit Card Fraud
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So, I got a call today from Visa's fraud division. Apparently someone got a hold of my Credit Card number and bought $455 worth of stuff at flowers.com. However, they used an old expiration date.
Which raises two questions. First, if you're going to defraud someone, wouldn't you want to buy something better than flowers? And, second, wouldn't you use a non-expired expiration date? The whole bad expiration date thing doesn't make sense, because my credit card was never renewed, so I never had one with an old expiration date. So, if they got a hold of my card information, they should've also known my expiration date. Maybe they used a random number? Who knows. But I know this, if I were ever going to commit credit fraud, I'd try to be a bit smarter about it.
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| Wednesday, March 28th, 2007
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7:18 pm - Why not?
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Leave a reply and...
1: I'll respond with something random about you.
2: I'll challenge you to try something.
3: I'll pick a colour that I associate with you.
4: I'll tell you something I like about you.
5: I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6: I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7: I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you.
8: If I do this for you, you must post this in your journal.
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| Thursday, March 22nd, 2007
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9:43 pm - What a relief...
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It's funny. I just finished a 30 page paper in roughly one week. Yet, I will get paid $2,500 for writing a paper of the same length over the course of eight weeks this summer. Crazy.
So, anyway, I managed to finish this paper and my other 20 page paper with four days to spare before they're due. Go me!
Check this out, though. It was 30 pages, 8,405 words, or 43,434 letters, or 51,828 keystrokes long. And there are 92 (or two and a half pages worth of) citations. Crazy, man.
I'm not looking forward to doing the revisions on these papers, though. Oh well, at least the hard part is done. Now I can actually relax for a few days.
*sigh of relief*
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| Monday, March 19th, 2007
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11:18 pm - Well, shit.
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I never thought I'd run into this problem. My 20-25 page paper entitled "No More Souters: An Analysis of Presidential Strategies in the Nominations of Supreme Court Justices from David H. Souter through Samuel A. Alito" is actually going to turn out to be about 30 pages. I'm already done page 25, and I haven't even begun to discuss the Alito nomination yet, so that's probably another five pages. Crapzilla! Fitz better not make me cut five pages out, because I have absolutely no idea how I would go about doing that.
So far, I have 77 (or about two full pages of) citations. I feel so scholarly!
Oh, and if you care, readers, I'm not taking Fundamentals of Music. I think I'll be taking Politics and the Arts instead. I can't stay away from Politics courses; I just can't!
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| Saturday, March 17th, 2007
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3:31 pm - A tentative schedule
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Let's see what there is to look forward to next semester.
MWF 1:30 - 2:40 - HIST 205: Russia and the USSR
TuTh 10 - 10:50 - BIO 100, WOO!
Th 3:30 - 5:20 - Bio lab
TuTh 1:30 - 2:45 - MUS 121: Fundamentals of Music
ALL THE TIME - POL 491: Independent Research aka 100 PAGE PAPER HERE I COME! My topic is this: "A Presidential Powerplay? On the Constitutionality and Institutional Implications of President George W. Bush's Use of Signing Statements."
Thrilling, I know.
After next semester, I'll be one class away from an IR minor, so I guess I'll pick that up in the Spring. We'll see.
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| Monday, March 5th, 2007
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12:15 am - ITT I am social
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I hate going out in public when breaks roll around, because I see people from high school who I thought (and hoped) I would never see again. One of the great things about graduating was that of those five hundred people I graduated with, I would only have to see those whom I chose to see.
So, anyway, I went bowling tonight (I got a 173 and a 194, the latter being my best showing ever). As we were pulling into the parking lot, I noted what I said in the paragraph above. And what do you know, when we got in there we were flanked by people from my graduating class. They weren't people who I had hoped I would never see again, so it could have been worse, but I would have been content had I never seen them again. I didn't hate them in high school, but I didn't like them either. It's just strangely awkward seeing people who you sort of knew, especially when you don't remember their names. I get claustrophobic in those kind of situations. Very strange.
My brother was feeling the bad vibes too (and he blames his losing to me on that), and wanted to get out of there. So, we headed over to the diner. On the way in, he says "Are you going to jinx us again?" So, I said "Man, I hope I don't see any douche bags from high school." This time, I didn't jinx us; I just saw my buddies from Space Pirates, which was a pleasant surprise.
Sometimes I think "Man, I should just move away so I don't have to see these damn kids," but every once in while, you see people who you actually enjoyed in high school. It may be rare, but it's nice to see that they're still alive and to bullshit with them for a few seconds.
So, the lesson of this post? Hang out at the diner instead of the bowling alley.
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| Tuesday, February 27th, 2007
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11:47 pm - I've been published?
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So, I did a google search for my name, and I found a rather interesting result. It is a book entitled "The Real Meaning of Life," edited by David Seaman. Apparently, a few years ago, I responded to some sort of call for ideas on the meaning of life. Anyway, my response, along with a few hundred others, got published in this book. I'd like to see what I wrote; I can only see the second half or so on google books. This is all I can see...
"After all, I'm sure I would have killed myself before being able to write this if I felt I had no purpose. I feel that the meaning of life is really whatever you want it to be. For me, the meaning of life is simply to enjoy life, to help others enjoy their lives, and to make sure future generations enjoy their lives more than we enjoyed ours. Or, if that seems too daunting, just not to be mean.
No one is watching over us, so we'll have to handle this one on our own. We all must figure out what the meanings of our lives are, and we must not despair just because there is no 'purpose' for us set in stone. We will make our own purposes and fulfill them, because after all, this humanity thing is pretty neat, and it will not be around forever. Let's make the best of it while we can, shall we?"
I assume I made the point that agnostics and atheists don't want to kill themselves prior to the start of this quote. I guess I (and you!) will have to just buy it and find out!
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| Monday, February 26th, 2007
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7:02 pm - No surprises here...
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