Wham-BAM

2011-02-20T17:40:00.003-05:00

Hello, my remaining 2 or so readers.

Since I finished school, pretty much the only things I have written are emails and occasional Twitter entries. Oh yeah, IMs here and there. It's scary how much my writing skills have atrophied since.

Well, I better get started blogging sooner than later, no? You can view my effort here from now to on as an old man taking occasional walks around the block to keep his legs from turning into useless nutrient-sucking appendages.

2010-01-01T19:37:00.004-05:00

For the past 3 years, I must be the most wishy-washy blogger ever. But at least I got rid of that dysfunctional iPhone template.

Packing now for the Bay Area. Will miss the SD weather.

2010 has a nice ring to it. Makes us feel like we're in the future and shit.

2009-02-28T15:19:00.002-05:00

Well, been an interesting journey since I graduated from college. It seems so long time ago already. I miss blogging in some ways and hope to do it more often.

2008-02-18T15:18:00.001-05:00

I feel kinda bad for not writing for deafdc more often. Will draft posts here so if my posts seem a little more "serious" from now to on, you know why.

2007-09-13T23:34:00.000-04:00

Nope, I don't have a iPhone. Using this template just for kicks. After the cheap high wears off, I'll change it.

2007-05-29T16:33:00.000-04:00

What a fun, beautiful and horrible weekend. There was a party at somebody's grandparents' house in Severna Park. It's by Chesapeake Bay and it couldn't be a better place for some Memorial Weekend fun.

I tried to find pictures off the internet that could do the place justice but the best I could find:

Basically it has hilly, jagged harbors. You'll get a better idea by looking at this map. The backyard itself is that peninsula jutting out from the end of the street.

The sun, good people, games, water, boats, inflatable jumping devices, you name it. I had a fantastic time. During the night, I tripped or something while talking to somebody and took a bad tumble head-first down a sharp slope. My friend said once I landed on my face, my back jackknifed—my legs almost touched the back of my head.

The next day, I had scrapes on my face and my forearms and bruises all over, but otherwise I felt fine. I could toss a football back and forth.

But after taking a nap, my back was killing me. I finally could move around a bit only after poppin' in a coupla Advils. Since my friend thought for a second I might become quadriplegic from the look of my fall, I gotta count my blessings. The whole half-full glass shizz, yeahh.

Oh yeah, I "graduated". The funniest memory of the ceremonies is watching a drunk Joe V. wandering around on the stage before Mr. Pramuk gave him a good nudge to get him off the platform—I was disappointed that it happened outside the video clip's frame. I still gotta finish a coupla courses this June before I get my degree.

2007-04-09T21:58:00.001-04:00

2007-02-24T13:31:00.000-05:00

Is Nov. 14 the most common birthday?

If you're wondering why I'm wondering about that, subtract 9 months from the date.

2007-01-01T19:08:00.000-05:00

How's your NYE? I feel like crap right now. Recently went out to dinner with my parents to celebrate my Mom's birthday (belated) trying not to make it obvious. Partied so hard I was still buzzed when I drove home at 11 am. I read my IMs from last night and had only one thought. Wouldn't it be lovely if our sidekicks just shut down when our BAC reached a certain level? OK bye.

2006-12-19T00:41:00.000-05:00

So begins my last winter break (ever?).

2006-11-18T11:29:00.000-05:00

I love this idea. People need to find more creative ways to punish tyrants than the tired old death penalty. If it was tried here in USA, it'd be considered a "cruel and unusual punishment"- while no one blinks an eye at the idea of executing criminals. I found this @ espn.com (yes, espn.com):

Q: My buddies and I were talking about appropriate punishments for dictators like Saddam Hussein, and we came up with an idea that works for everyone and could raise money for the International Criminal Court without using tax dollars. Why not charge admission for people to look at convicted dictators in their jail cells, kind of like a zoo for genocidal megalomaniacs? Think about it: you put them in small, basic cells behind plexiglass and charge 25 euros to watch them go about their day. Tourists could get baked at a local coffee shop and head over to the jail to gawk at Slobodan Milosevic sitting on a cot watching "90210" reruns. You could even charge extra to feed them falafel pellets and shawarma biscuits. This would be a far worse fate for a once-proud dictator then being executed. Who wouldn't pay 25 euros to watch Saddam Hussein in his underwear eating Cheetos?
--Kris, Washington

2006-11-17T00:16:00.000-05:00

I'm doing OK in classes except for Human Sexuality. It's a pretty interesting class but I've been having a hard time doing the assignments. I guess I'm used to talking about sex in a spontaneous, informal manner. What I'm supposed to do now is to write a diary for a week recording my thoughts about sex for the day. Not too bad, but at the end of the day, I couldn't possibly remember my thoughts. So I think I'll just write about my interactions with the opposite sex and what was on my mind- easier that way. It's gonna feel weird to hand it in to the teacher who happens to be the hottest I've ever had at Gallaudet. It sounds so stereotypical- the hot sex ed. teacher. It isn't a sex ed. class obviously- it covers a wide range of aspects of sexuality...biological, anthropological, sociological, psychological, etc. Learned some interesting stuff. The weirdest part had to be infant sexuality. Oh yeah, I'm the only straight guy in the class. Any question or comment about heterosexual males, all heads turn my way. I suppose more women take the course because they're more comfortable talking about personal lives to semi-strangers? All I know, I feel weird as hell turning in assignments about my sex life to that sultry imparter of knowledge.

2006-09-28T13:35:00.000-04:00

During the new year eve party, somebody said there was a surprise in store for me. I asked her what kind of surprise and she refused to elaborate.

I think I know what she meant by now, but she might as well as have been talking about my year. It's been full of surprises so far. I'm just going along for the ride.

2006-09-05T02:07:00.000-04:00

I was reading a wikipedia piece on Gary Coleman (don't ask). Whoo hoo, to my delight, his life's even more bizarre than I imagined. Some facts—I already knew some of them and so do you, but some things just bear repeating:

-he lives in Utah now.

-in 2001, he was employed as a shopping mall security guard in the Los Angeles area.

-he made an appearance on E's short-lived celebrity dating show where washed up celebrities went on blind dates with regular people

-In 2006, Coleman appeared in a commercial for a cash-advance loan company called CashCall. He ends the commercial by saying, "Pay your bills on time and everyone will love you."

-Coleman appeared in court on November 2, 2000, charged with assault. He was ordered to pay bus driver Tracy Fields $1,665 for hospital bills resulting from a fight. Fields had attempted to get Coleman's autograph while he was shopping for a bulletproof vest in a California mall.[1] Coleman said he felt "threatened by her insistence" and punched her in the head. Coleman was working as a security guard at the time

-Coleman was a candidate for governor in the 2003 California recall election. After Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy, Coleman stated that he would be voting for Schwarzenegger. Coleman placed 8th in a field of 135 candidates, receiving 14,242 votes.

-In 1993, Coleman opened the Gary Coleman Game Parlor, a video game entertainment center, in Fisherman's Village in Marina del Rey, California. The motto of the GCGP was "Our games are easier, so you can play longer". It went out of business in 1994.

-In late 2005 Coleman opened an ice cream shop in Cheyenne, Wyoming, called Short Stuff's frozen treats. He is already making plans to expand his business and hopes that he will be taken seriously in the business world.

-Gary Coleman is a character (not an actor) in the hit 2003 Broadway musical, Avenue Q, which won the 2004 Tony Award for best musical. In the American version of the musical, Coleman is portrayed by actress Natalie Venetia Belcon. (WTF?)

"As with Day-Glo, Rubik's Cube, Valley girls, Care Bears, Mr. T, the Smurfs and other artifacts from the early 1980s, Coleman's popularity coincided with the childhood of a particularly productive generation of internet users, and he is, as of 2005, a minor cult figure."

I think I've found my life's purpose—to be a minor cult figure. Have a nice day. <3<3<3

2006-08-26T05:24:00.000-04:00

I just watched Gandhi. Wow. If you haven't already, do it. It may change how you see human nature.

2006-08-01T18:46:00.000-04:00

Last week, I recommended to my parents that they purchase shares of Apple since, as I've mentioned, their value has been rising and probably will continue to do so for some time. Plus Apple's gonna showcase Leopard and new products next week. So they bought 200 shares. The price has since went up $8 a share, which means they've made $1600 in a week by doing nothing. It's cool to own stock. *knock on wood*

Just a week before I go back. I miss it here already.

2006-07-29T22:20:00.000-04:00

The world map of happiness.

2006-07-25T15:14:00.000-04:00

Chuck Norris owns the greatest poker face of all-time. It helped him win the 1983 world series of poker despite him holding just a joker, a 2 of clubs, a 7 of spades, and a green number 4 from Uno and a monopoly 'get out of jail free' card.

2006-07-23T15:18:00.000-04:00

Ah, that night. I'll compress it before moving on. I played poker with the fathers of 4 Gally students. Got off the bus with an apparent quadriplegic. The walking route from the bus stop to "home" went downhill, so he had an advantage. The appartus he was on was like a black baby carriage, except that he was sitting not lying. There was a black awning surrounding him so I couldn't really see him. He quickly wheeled down while I ploddily walked. He was 100 feet ahead of me in no time but had to stop because a train was crossing. It was on the very tracks that killed Miss Deaf Texas. I think about her every time I crossed. The baby carriage stood still while I caught up. I took a quick glance to see what he looked like. He was a midget. Once the tracks "but" (sign it in asl), he motored on and became smaller until he faded out of the sight.

Do horses bite strangers? There's a couple of 'em in a pen on that route and I wanna pet them. They seemed friendly but they acted funny when I raised my hand to stroke them. Me not grow up on farm. Me shud dodo? Equine teeth are big enough to sink deep into the flesh of my precious talking arms.

2006-07-16T18:45:00.000-04:00

In case if you're wondering, yup, a chimp can play Ms. Pacman.

Last Friday, I met up with Benj at a sports bar in downtown to play something called fantasy poker. Unlike regular poker, there's no buy in. If you finish somewhere in top 8 (out of about 100), you get prize money, $100 being the highest. There's nothing to lose. It's new to me. The first time, I played sloppily and got ousted in only 2 hands. Benj was done not long after, so we went out for a romp before the 2nd round started.

I finally got to see the famed bats. If you didn't know, 1.2 million bats sleep under a large bridge over Colorado river. From springtime till autumn, when the sun sets, the bats wake up and fly away, gobbling up about 600 airborne insects each en route to Houston and back.

It was an interesting sight. The bats were smaller than I thought—they looked like large insects. They flew off into neat tunnel-like swarms, sorta like locusts, or like a smoke stack going horzionally, if that makes any sense. It wasn't in a straight line but in curves as they maneveured over trees and whatnot.

After the show was over, we walked to 6th St., the "party street" of Austin (if you watched Real Life in Austin, that's where the crew barhopped). A tall black guy waved at us and said, "You deaf?" We stopped to chat. Turned out he played for the TSD football team that travelled to DC to play MSSD in 1988. I was just a Kendall tyke watching. TSD won but barely.

The dude said he caught the TD that put TSD ahead and that he was one of the 2 guys who knocked MSSD's starting QB out of the game. I playfully made like I was gonna punch him out on the behalf of MSSD. Benj was lost, being a mainstreaming kid all the way till he got into Gally for a year.

(to be cont'd)

2006-07-13T19:55:00.000-04:00

Fact: if you bought stock from Apple as recent as early 2003, its worth would grow 10x by now (price: from around $7 to $60's).

2006-07-03T14:09:00.000-04:00

I camped @ Pace Bend Park the whole weekend.

See and hear no evil

2006-06-23T16:41:00.000-04:00

Last night, while waiting for a bus in downtown Austin, a blind man was sitting next to me. I looked at him. He probably heard my breathing. I can't hear but can see. He can hear but can't see.

How would I tell him something? Fingerwrite on his belly? It'd freak him out if I touched him without saying a word. And how would he tell me something, even if he managed to understand that I was deaf? If he was blind all his life, would he know how to write? He got some training, I'm sure. Is teaching a blind person to write like teaching deaf people to speak?

"People tell me I have a clear handwriting, as clear as a mountain lake. They tell I have a beautiful handwriting, as beautiful as a newborn doe or a freshly showered Angelina Jolie." *holding up a barely decipherable sign*

That's why I don't get too mad at hearing people for asking dumb questions about us. ;)

2006-06-19T23:55:00.000-04:00

A recent convo with Emilio, a friend in Italy.

2:13:11 AM x: damn
2:13:26 AM x: the more i hear such things the more i want to leave here
2:13:42 AM x: cant find such stimulation here
2:13:42 AM dabamoor: not much hope for deaf ppl there?
2:13:49 AM x: it is not about hope
2:13:53 AM x: it s about stimulation
2:14:00 AM x: most ppl here are happy of what they r doing
2:14:09 AM x: most my friend got a mercedes
2:14:13 AM x: i mean deaf friends
2:14:16 AM x: a mercedes, an audi
2:14:18 AM x: a bmw
2:14:32 AM x: many advanced cell phones
2:14:38 AM x: how?
2:14:41 AM x: just be a dependent
2:14:49 AM x: working 20 or 40 hours a lousy job
2:15:04 AM x: and buying things thru discounts for the disabled ones
2:15:19 AM x: that s fucking boring...no life excitement
2:15:26 AM dabamoor: haha it d be funny if bmw and benz offer discounts for the disabled
2:15:31 AM x: they do
2:15:34 AM x: 30 per cent
2:15:38 AM x: that s pretty high
2:15:39 AM dabamoor: really? wow
2:15:47 AM x: if i recall it correctly
2:16:04 AM dabamoor: hearies prolly wonder why so many deafies drive bling bling cars..
2:16:10 AM x: def
2:16:15 AM dabamoor: "the children of silence are dealin drugs now"
2:16:16 AM x: international deafies too
2:16:18 AM x: haa
2:16:28 AM x: u might met up a deaf who works at a factory
2:16:31 AM x: who s got a bmw

2006-06-14T03:53:00.000-04:00

I lived in Austin 5 years ago. It was a trip. Living with strippers, graveyard shifts at TSD, dealing with a psycho, etc., etc.. Now I'm back, interning for the next 2 months.

It was 104 degrees today but it was dry heat, so it's all good.

2006-06-05T22:44:00.000-04:00

Harp! The source of the protest's naysayers' fixation:

The picture is from Tower Clock. Funny how a simple sign, just one of many hurriedly scrawled that afternoon, could discredit an entire movement...at least in the eyes of some people.

2006-05-25T14:33:00.000-04:00

I banged up my thumb while playing basketball yesterday. It was months since I last played and within the first minute, the ball ricocheted sharply off the rim and jammed my right thumb. The thumb's all swollen now. With it disabled, I have a hard time doing simple things like buttoning up my jeans. Levi 501s have buttons instead of zippers. I wore one yesterday but not today. Normally I'd squeeze the shampoo bottle with my right hand and lather up with my left. Today, I had to reverse things because my righty can't squeeze. Running through my hair felt alien, as if I had never done it before. My hands have separate memories.

2006-05-18T19:42:00.000-04:00

The latest letter from the Board of Trustees sounds nice. They seem to want to change things that caused this whole mess in the first place. They seem willing to twist Fernandes's arm to stop her from being so her. Funny, if it wasn't for the things she told the media, I might've been inclined to forget about protesting. What she had to say recently is just laughable:

"Hearing aids are better than ever. Implants are better than ever," Fernandes said. "Progress in genetics is leading to the idea that you could choose not to have a deaf child. All that puts huge pressures on these deaf students." (Washington Post)

“Medicine has made huge strides with cochlear implants — electronic devices that can help provide a sense of sound to those with serious hearing problems. When a majority of deaf students at Gallaudet make use of this new technology, some students and faculty may worry about what may become of deaf culture and sign language.

“They may be afraid of changes that are coming,” Fernandes says. “And I really need to reach out to people and express that I am more than willing to work with them.” (ABC News)

She's still parroting the same things over and over, even after we corrected her millions of times. There's no way in the hell I'd recognize her as a president now. She's clearly hopeless.

Many students are talking about taking LOAs to pressure Fernie into resigning. A few days ago I almost started an online petition in which current students would sign to state that if a deadline passed and JK was still the next president, they'd drop all of their classes for this fall. FSSA said to hold it until they discuss it on Monday (they have weekly meetings).

If we go ahead with this threat and she doesn't back down, actually following through is easier said than done. I'll be the editor in chief for Tower Clock—it'll be a great experience to run an official organization, being able to hire my own employees, etc. Then I'll graduate. To give it all up because that IKJ lapdog wouldn't get lost? Almost everyone'd give up something as well if they eschew school this fall. Is it worth it? But if at least 500 students do go along, I'll do it.

2006-05-16T23:02:00.000-04:00

Even psycholinguistics can be funny and adorable. Especially the part how children acquire language. An excerpt from the textbook:

Another example of an idiomorph is reported by Reich (1986), who told of a child who referred to ice cream as ABCDE. Although his parents were initially puzzled, they eventually figured it out. They tended to spell out certain words that they did not want the child to know, so they might ask each other, "Would you like some I-C-E C-R-E-A-M?" The child could not spell it, so he simply used the only letters he knew!

But my favorite example comes from Hakuta (1986), who reported that a child said, "Whew!" as a way of saying hello to guests who came to the house. It turns out that the mother often greeted the child in the morning in this way, along the lines of, "Whew! You must have some load in your pants!"

2006-05-12T17:53:00.000-04:00

Will pitch a tent @ you know where this evening...

2006-05-10T13:12:00.000-04:00

I'm actually like most of you, following the protest mainly through blogs and the media. I've been to Tent City only twice. I have my reasons. For one, I'm sick. :) I just took meds and should be heading over there this afternoon.

2006-05-09T23:40:00.000-04:00

Cyberbanging: these days even gangs have their own websites.

2006-05-04T00:55:00.000-04:00

I admit I was the one who held up the "she doesn't say hi" placard.

Just kidding.

The Washington Post reporter, Susan Kinzie, covering the protest finally sat down with students for a decent talk. Look out for incoming investigations on the IKJ administration, that's all I can say.

2006-05-02T11:39:00.000-04:00

SBG OFFICIAL STATEMENT

We want our next Gallaudet President to be a leader who will transcend the pathological approach to deaf education and embrace bi-lingualism; reject insular, vertical leadership styles for deaf-centric, horizontal leadership models. We want a president who can address critical issues at Gallaudet, from low academic expectations to poor community morale, in which Jane Fernandes during her 6-year tenure as Provost has demonstrated an inability to make significant progress. She has created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation among the faculty and never followed through with her promised implementation of the Audism Mandates, failing to recognize deaf and hard-of-hearing students' communication rights.

The Board of Trustees has revealed itself to be oblivious to the real Spirit of Gallaudet by making their choice contrary to the Gallaudet community's wants and needs. Faculty, staff, students, and alumni were constantly promised by the Presidential Search Committee that their views would be heavily weighed by feedback forms, polls, and open forums with the candidates.

And yet, when in an official GSA poll, 65.9% of graduate students found Fernandes to be unacceptable; when in an official SBG poll, 81% of undergraduate students found Fernandes to be unacceptable; and when in an official faculty poll, 63% of the faculty body found Fernandes to be unacceptable, and after we all submitted countless feedback forms in favor of the other two candidates, and especially in opposition to Jane Fernandes, the Board of Trustees STILL chose her.

And hence we have two demands:

1. Jane Fernandes resign as President and the search process be re-opened.

2. No reprisals for students, staff, faculty, and alumni.

2006-05-01T16:53:00.000-04:00

For the best accounts of today I've seen so far:

Ridor

Elisa

deafprofessional.net (although the statement that RC started it all is inaccurate—I was at the overflow room with hundreds of people, and the second JK was announced as the next president, 75% of us got up and walked out in disgust. It was a spontaneous response. We saw RC only when 2 cops were accosting him in the lobby. He's certainly to be commended for doing the right thing since people at the auditorium seemed unsure how to express their disapproval.)

2006-04-29T22:30:00.000-04:00

April's always strange. The weather's so good, I feel stoned. The warm sun, cloudless blue sky, emerald lawns and blooming flowers soothingly beckons me to come outside and wham! The end of semester crunch time. Only one week to go...

Thanks for voting on the colors!

2006-04-20T23:14:00.000-04:00

Went to the awards ceremony. I thought Provost looked somber when giving her speech.

In addition to the faculty member I mentioned, I asked two of my profs about this hoopla. The first one mentioned what you've heard a thousand times by now—her now legendary non-charisma. The only times she made eye contact with him were when he talked to her during a formal meeting. When they walked by each other, she never acknowledged him. She's mostly cold and distant. Weiner's cool by his book. Knew Stern but not well.

The class talked about Dr. Anderson. Him not making it to the final round pissed off black students. But in this class, a black student said she heard that during his interview, he compared racism at Gallaudet to the apartheid South Africa, and that spooked the committee and/or BoT. All hearsay, mind you. The prof said it's also that Dr. Anhderson isn't as qualified as everyone thinks—he didn't have much experience in the field of education, for instance.

The second prof was hesistant about discussing the candidates directly but one thing she could confidently say is that she's on the same page with the students about JKF.

Know what's interesting? All of the 3 faculty members are hearing. They're not wild-eyed deaf militants. That shows that students' concerns are legitimate, not just a mindless backlash to what happened last fall. Not only that, students are also forming committees to respond what's happening and a good number of faculty members are in them. JKF's only friends are IKJ and the BoT.

Weiner's presentation: pleasant and cliched. Inclusion, diversity, blah blah. Said absolutely nothing that surprised or impressed me. But he's possibly the least divisive of all candidates—he is a known commodity in Kendall Green plus he can connect to people.

Stern's presentation went great tonight. Extremely articulate. He was able to give good yet honest answers to every question thrown at him. When asked about the lack of experience in higher education, he said it's true that he doesn't know everything yet, he won't be afraid to ask questions. In my opinion, experience is somewhat overrated because anyone'd eventually gain experience in the role he/she's given. Potential, on the other hand, is something people can't just "gain", and Stern has it. Looking forward to JKF's turn.

'Nitey nite.

2006-04-16T17:01:00.000-04:00

I think I may be too hungover to blog. Blogging's my favorite way to warm up before working on a paper. See see. Impt try best.

The night started with...church. After eating at a restaurant with my parents, cousin, aunt and uncle, we went to watch a play about Jesus. I went only because my mom begged me to. I had no heart to tell her that I'm not religious at all—it'd be the worst thing she could hear. She'd prefer to find out that I'm a murderer and a Christian than an upstanding agnostic citizen. I'll tell her someday anyway. The play wasn't bad after all—I didn't really pay attention to dialogue, but the production was beautiful.

I saw Jennifer, a blast from the past. Her sister Rachel was the first girl I've had a crush on. We were 13. She was a hearing daughter of the deaf preacher of my family's church. I didn't really notice her until one night my family were at her home and she handed me her cat with a shy smile. I noticed how pretty she was. I found out she thought I was "cute". My heart went a-fluttering.

The next time I saw her was at a new year eve party. I didn't know what to say to her. So I hit her with a pillow. Harder than I meant to. She cried. I apologized later. She glared at me. But when I saw her at church, her shy smile returned. She started coming to the deaf sunday school "class" instead of the hearing one. I still didn't know what to say to her. I'd ignore her and talk with my cousin, who turned out also had a crush on her. He didn't know what to say to her either. Oh the memories...

Usually I hated getting up early on Sunday and had to drag myself to church. All the sudden I was always bugging my parents to hurry or we'd be late. They must've thought I caught some serious Jesus fever.

Then the church kicked her preacher daddy out, because he jettisoned a popular deacon for telling a Gally student God would be down with him joining a frat. I saw her only once since. We were 19. We finally had a real conversation. She was still gorgeous. But I felt a bit sad for her—her life was so constricted and sheltered. She went to small Christian schools all her life. What did she know about real life?

Not too long after, I heard she married a Christian man. Gave birth to a boy. Divorced because the guy was a beater. Since they were forbidden to co-habit before marrying, she didn't know until it was too late. All of her sisters, 2 of them, married when they were very young too and all of them divorced with children. I felt bad for them—they're really good women who happened to be raised on dogma.

Then I heard that Rachel got married to a deaf man with one arm. My first reaction was to feel even sorrier for her—her stock had fallen so much, she was marrying a one-armed guy? Then it occured to me he could be a great guy who's just missing a limb. They now have 4 kids.

Jennifer asked me if I was married. I said no. She was like, "Oh you definitely should take your time! I think all men shouldn't be married until they're 35. They need to date around first." I could've sworn she meant "sow your wild oats first." Regardless, she's wise.

After the play, I went off to DC for a night of debauchery. Went to a small party then to a "science party". = 5th grade science experiments + beer. Hosted by a grad school student. Then some place called Hell & Heaven (the irony of it) @ Adams Morgan. Then a couple of post-parties. KO'd at 6 am. Thank, thank.

2006-04-14T13:42:00.000-04:00

My take on the 3 finalists:

Ron Stern: intense, idealistic, gets results. I disagree with Ridor that he isn't qualified—he's a skilled networker who can grease elbows with politicans despite the fact he's culturally deaf. I didn't need gallypreswatch.com to know he's good friends with the governor of New Mexico. One negative is that he can be TOO intense.

Steve Weiner: I don't know much about him, never took a class under him. Heard he's quite personable. But charisma's overrated. Bush was supposed to be more charismatic than Gore and see where he's taking this country. Any substance behind the style? I wouldn't know.

Jane Fernandes: blah. Although the next president doesn't have to be overly charismatic, he/she shouldn't be anti-charisma, either. I talked about it with a faculty member who is pretty neutral, he had this to say about her: she's a capable administrator with poor people skills, and administrating duties fall on the provost position, while the president is more about vision, networking and being the face of the university.

So why might she become the next president? Audist conspiracy theories aside, maybe she has more university-related experience. And of the 3 finalists, she'd be the easiest for the board to control. I'd say Stern's the hardest one to control—I assume so since all of his offsprings are hard-headed and as they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. :)

2006-04-13T20:30:00.000-04:00

Buck Naked Bison's history. I'd love to see it go on but school and TC are gobbling up my attention and when I do have free time, I wanna chill. A couple of people wanted to take over BNB but didn't follow through. It's hard to stay dedicated to something that doesn't hand you a paycheck, I guess.

Don Tropp told me the Buff and Blue will be online soon.

2006-04-01T15:59:00.000-05:00

One nice thing about being a DC area native is that in any given year, there's always at least one good local college team. My #1 team is U of MD but if it sucks, there are always Georgetown, George Washington U...and I never thought I'd say this: George Mason.

Although GMU's based in northern VA, all of their starters came from Maryland. ^_^ Looking forward to their final four game tonite.

A college superstar's reputation crumbled in a matter of minutes because he cried. Has this ever happened before? I couldn't believe my eyes. Adam Morrison of Gonzaga (in Wash. state) started sobbing because UCLA came from behind to take a 2-point lead. The game wasn't even over! His team was only a shot away from winning the game with about 3 seconds on the clock. He just stood around weeping as a teammate's shot bounced off the rim then collapsed on the floor, bawling and covering his face with his jersey. I felt sorry for him—it's gonna take a long time to live that down.

Only two things can happen: after the humiliation of seeing thousands of pictures of him weeping like a 6 year old who fell out of his swing, he goes into a tailspin and become a dud in NBA...or he channels his anguish into becoming a great player and make everyone forget what happened. There's no between.

2006-03-29T22:56:00.000-05:00

Last night, I was in the pool for scuba diving class and about 100 feet away, Senators and Congressmen were huffing up and down the basketball court for the annual Republicans vs. Democrats fundraiser game. Before I went to the pool, I saw I. King Jordan hobnobbing with the bigwigs in the gym and told classmates, "Guess who won't make it to the class tonight."

Snorkeling's fun but being able to breathe underwater takes the swimming experience to a whole new level. It was awesome slithering in the pool's deep end with all the time in the world.

On the last weekend of April, we'll go to a quarry in PA for our first open water dive and certification. Will be good to see some fishies but the water's gonna be 50 degrees.

2006-03-24T20:13:00.000-05:00

Ten Angry Deaf People

Five men chained to a woman. Ten people making a jailbreak. The networks are trying way too hard to think of clever twists on the reality genre. What would we at Soundbitten produce, if someone finally acknowledged our programming genius and let us make shows? Ten Angry Deaf People. Think about it. The biggest weakness of the reality genre is all the boring talk. But with deaf people, there is no talking, just lots of mysterious and dramatic gestures. And when have you ever seen ten deaf people together at the same time? And all of them mad at each other? Once, many years ago, we saw just three deaf people arguing in a restaurant and it was one of the most compelling spectacles we've ever seen. We're telling you, Mr. Sassa: Ten Angry Deaf People.

2006-03-18T17:58:00.000-05:00

2006-03-08T23:57:00.000-05:00

I'll be damned. I just watched a TV program in which a white family lives with a black family and get this, they switch races. Professional make-up artists turn the white family black and vice versa. It's so they can experience the world of the other race.

It was on FX channel at 10 pm EST. "Black. White."

The white family could easily pass as black—the dad was a bit iffy, tho. But with the black family, only the dad could look white. The mom had the typical big african american nose and lips so she looked biracial at best. The son looked like Michael Jackson's offspring.

EDIT: In the beginning, the black family taught the whitebreads how to act black. The white woman said something like, "So uh I guess when I come in (to an event where she would have to interact with black people), I'll like high-five everyone and talk in jive?" I could see the black family struggling not to roll their eyes so hard that they spin like casino slot machines.

Ah here's a link to a review by a real writer:

2006-03-01T19:22:00.000-05:00

I know older ladies are generally nice but there is something slightly instrusive about Asian women's niceness. Is it just me or do they treat everyone as if they were their aunt?

And why are all dry cleaning places owned by Koreans? Is there a dry cleaning university in Seoul that I don't know about?

2006-02-26T23:35:00.000-05:00

So long, Torino.

Snow day pics

2006-02-12T18:18:00.000-05:00

My mom's in Costa Rica right now. My dad thought we'd send her snapshots of us with Jolly the family dog. He's very dear to her, like her 2nd son or something. But since it doesn't snow often here, Jolly isn't used to it. He was so distracted we couldn't get him to look at the camera. *nudge* *nudge* No luck. :)

2006-02-10T19:28:00.000-05:00

A nod to Jake.

Regarding Ridor's blog and the comments: he made mistakes. Was he a horrible person? No. To those who weren't aware of his flaws, he was the greatest guy. To a few who were, he was Judas. But I believe he was the type who'd learn from his mistakes and eventually become a better man.

Jake and I had an unusual friendship, I guess. We didn't hang out that much—we had different friends or something—but we still managed to go through pretty wild stuff together and got to know each other.

Instead of dwelling on the tragic circumstances surrounding his death, it's better to honor somebody's life by remembering the good moments and his best traits. This guy did a good job. And to look at him in action, go to Ridor's blog and scroll down a bit for a video clip.

I'm certain almost everyone who knew him, considered him as one of the best people to chat with ever. A convo with him could go anywhere.

You can see his sense of humor in the snippets of old IM convos below. Although I hadn't read comics in ages, sometimes we'd pass time by coming up with absurd superheroes and villains. One day we discovered that both of us thought male models were hilarious. He'd have liked 'Zoolander'. The topic spilled over to those IM chats, spread over his last few months. It's amazing how he stayed sharp through all that chemotherapy crap.

Hope the afterlife's good to you, Jake. You're missed.

DaBamoor: a crime fighting gang composed of male models
JesterSuperhero7: they comes in various male-model stereotypes
JesterSuperhero7: latex - grunge - preppy - etc
DaBamoor: italian
JesterSuperhero7: and the classic johnny depp bad boy type male model
DaBamoor: all-american blond boy
JesterSuperhero7: leather jacket, stoic, angry eyes
DaBamoor: always petulant
JesterSuperhero7: with his lips curled
JesterSuperhero7: unshaven
DaBamoor: aye
JesterSuperhero7: would be hilarious if all male-models are of 80's stereotype
JesterSuperhero7: goatee, dimples
JesterSuperhero7: they snort coke
JesterSuperhero7: speed, valium, etc
DaBamoor: 80s male model stereotype includes goatees and dimples?
JesterSuperhero7: that's for the gucci guy
DaBamoor: wouldnt know, i never noticed male models during the 80s ha
DaBamoor: yeah drug use.. gay orgies
JesterSuperhero7: oh yeah - don't forget to include a clean shaven african-american male model with high cheekbones
JesterSuperhero7: and slim nose
DaBamoor: and exquiste lips
JesterSuperhero7: heh yea
DaBamoor: i always see this same model
DaBamoor: i forgot his name
JesterSuperhero7: yeah with chestnut eyes
DaBamoor: and a body building model
JesterSuperhero7: A Crime Fighter Formerly Known As Prince
DaBamoor: he ll be constantly striking body builder poses
JesterSuperhero7: heh heh
DaBamoor: he cant go a second without contracting a group of muscle
JesterSuperhero7: he cracks walnuts between his pecs.
DaBamoor: yeah
JesterSuperhero7: his code name: Steelbrick.
DaBamoor: the movie starts with a male modeling drought that put male models out of business
JesterSuperhero7: real name: brock.

JesterSuperhero7: definitely a victim of oppression: a black, deaf, lesbian, and crippled woman.
DaBamoor: yeah i know such a woman... not a cripple tho
DaBamoor: u know her? a very short black woman? she walks funny tho.. maybe she s a cripple
JesterSuperhero7: yea the miss leather of baltimore
DaBamoor: miss leather?
JesterSuperhero7: u know that short black lesbian woman?
JesterSuperhero7: she won a contest - something to do with leather
DaBamoor: really?
JesterSuperhero7: yea
DaBamoor: deaf right? with short hair?
JesterSuperhero7: yea
JesterSuperhero7: "butch" type
DaBamoor: so what s the contest? she whips somebody up or ?
DaBamoor: or the best looking in leather?
JesterSuperhero7: i dunno. i assume the latter.
DaBamoor: haha if she was the best looking, i shudder to think what the other contestants looked like
DaBamoor: but yeah it did occur to me that she was a member of practically every minority
JesterSuperhero7: heh yea
DaBamoor: we can safely say there s no one like her ha
JesterSuperhero7: she's an unique cat, yea
DaBamoor: how abt a character that is a member of every single minority possible
DaBamoor: deaf, woman, black, lesbian, blind, wheelchair-confined, retarded
DaBamoor: and...she's a crimefighter!
JesterSuperhero7: with fusion-powered wheelchair
DaBamoor: "she can't hear, see, walk, think, but boy can she do everything else!"
JesterSuperhero7: heh
DaBamoor: yep
JesterSuperhero7: she has problem with obesity, too
DaBamoor: maybe even have a special team-up comic, featuring her and the crime-fighting male models
DaBamoor: yeah obesity
JesterSuperhero7: hahahahah
DaBamoor: she s also an albino
JesterSuperhero7: yea albino!
DaBamoor: so she s rejected by the black community
DaBamoor: a midget as well
JesterSuperhero7: crikey, yes!
DaBamoor: she s a beige blob on wheels
JesterSuperhero7: poor gal
JesterSuperhero7: what's her power?
JesterSuperhero7: iron will to overcome oppression? the power of ADA behind her?
DaBamoor: heh
DaBamoor: "the ADA guy" is her sidekick
JesterSuperhero7: harvard-educated lawyer by day, crime-fighting sidekick by night.

DaBamoor: one character quits the group due to vanity, something like "crime-fighting is rough on my nails"
JesterSuperhero7: heh good one
JesterSuperhero7: use the classic comix book cover with a model walking away with suitcase, saying "i quit." while the remaining team standing in semi-circle looking sullen.
DaBamoor: heh yeah
JesterSuperhero7: what type of villianry do they combat against?
DaBamoor: or like that stupid "you...you're an alcoholic, green arrow?" cover u told me abt except that..
DaBamoor: it's "you...you're NOT a coke addict?"
JesterSuperhero7: hahahaha
JesterSuperhero7: we cld have a storyline where a male-model, who everybody assumed was homosexual, but is....NOT!
DaBamoor: haha yeah
DaBamoor: they could battle the homo-converting jehovah witnessers
JesterSuperhero7: the revelation was made in the middle of battle
JesterSuperhero7: everybody, even the villains, stopped, stunned.
DaBamoor: the villains were winning, abt to defeat the male models... when one model made the revelation...
JesterSuperhero7: haha yea
DaBamoor: the villains are so stunned that they are unable to fight
DaBamoor: that s their secret weapon... 'the revelation'... it works every time until tabloids get ahold of the info and make it front page stuff, with huge headlines
DaBamoor: cuz of that, they lost that power, cuz everyome knows abt it
JesterSuperhero7: hahaha
DaBamoor: so they have to resort to other measures
JesterSuperhero7: one of 'em said, "Perhaps we should, like, you know....actually fight?"

DaBamoor: and how abt...
DaBamoor: a romance novel cover model?
JesterSuperhero7: yeahhh!
JesterSuperhero7: Lucius Lionheart
DaBamoor: a muscular guy with long flowing wavy hair
JesterSuperhero7: holding the damesls, her bosoms rising, against his massive pecs.
JesterSuperhero7: yeahh he's the romance novel cover male model
JesterSuperhero7: like fabio heh
DaBamoor: yeah or a brooding type
JesterSuperhero7: exotic looking
DaBamoor: u know, the stranger who knocks on a female's door during a rainy night in wales
JesterSuperhero7: ha yea
DaBamoor: and comes in to warm up before the fireplace
JesterSuperhero7: "...she longed to touch his chiseled jaws..."
JesterSuperhero7: "...his golden lock, dampened, clenched to the glistening sweatdrops on his furrowed brows..."
JesterSuperhero7: "...a gasp escaped her throat when Lucius grasped her neck, firmly but tenderly, and bring her against his bronzen chest..."
JesterSuperhero7: that cheesy romance novel style
DaBamoor: hahaha
JesterSuperhero7: anyway, that's how i pictured the bodybuilder
DaBamoor: he's obsessed with his image to his female fans
DaBamoor: he's always like "my female fans this and that"
DaBamoor: "this wouldnt look good to my female fans"
JesterSuperhero7: hahaha
DaBamoor: also prolly gay but he hides it cuz of his "female fans"
JesterSuperhero7: ha yeah
JesterSuperhero7: i like that
DaBamoor: or...
DaBamoor: he's the over the top ultimate ideal man for women
DaBamoor: he writes poetry, is an excellent cook, the whole shit..
DaBamoor: he's obsessed with finding his soulmate
DaBamoor: he's a ROMANTIC, with cap letters
JesterSuperhero7: not bad hha haha
DaBamoor: other guys will find him sitting outside, gazing at stars.. and ask him what he s thinking
DaBamoor: he ll always answer with something like "i'm wondering what my soulmate's doing at this moment"
JesterSuperhero7: hahaHAHAHAha
DaBamoor: as occasional subplots, he ll date women
DaBamoor: but they always fall short of his expectations
JesterSuperhero7: and he's a virgin
DaBamoor: even women who are great in everything... inevnitably they ll do something wrong in his eyes
DaBamoor: virgin? that s a possibility
JesterSuperhero7: yea cld do that
DaBamoor: he always have this "lost in thought" look on his eyes
JesterSuperhero7: i had a romance novel cover model in mind, but had'nt gone deep into personality. i like the ROMANTIC one
JesterSuperhero7: it'll be damn hilarious

DaBamoor: J.D. the all american model's always carrying and tossing a football simply cuz "hey i look good doing it"
JesterSuperhero7: hahaha
DaBamoor: always fake laughing
DaBamoor: u know those ads?
DaBamoor: those jocks are always laughing
DaBamoor: throwing themselves back.. usually lying on the grass
JesterSuperhero7: yeah i know what your'e talking about
JesterSuperhero7: abercrombie & fitch models
JesterSuperhero7: hilfiger
JesterSuperhero7: he can stroll in underwear and still look like he's having good time
JesterSuperhero7: like those undie ads
JesterSuperhero7: with tshirt tucked into the briefs
DaBamoor: he always try hard to look as if he s having a good time, no matter what, even in a funeral
JesterSuperhero7: and a murder scene
DaBamoor: no matter where he is, he looks as if he s on a & f or hilfiger ad
DaBamoor: heh yeah
JesterSuperhero7: we shd have a mastermind behind the crimefighters
JesterSuperhero7: a prof x of the group.
JesterSuperhero7: an aging fashion magazine publisher, retired.
JesterSuperhero7: or anonymous voice who calls himself Publisher Emeritus

Kajetemo: yea he's quite a character
Kajetemo: a romance novel cover model heh
Kajetemo: i havent' seen a character like that
DaBamoor: yup he s an original
Kajetemo: a benjamin moore/jake temby original
Kajetemo: do u remember the names of other characters?
Kajetemo: the rebel, the african american hotshot, the rugby player...?
DaBamoor: hmm
DaBamoor: the rebel.. a morose brooding luke perry/ johnny depp type right?
Kajetemo: yea
Kajetemo: judd nelson of "the breakfast club"
DaBamoor: i dont catch that
DaBamoor: dunno judd nelson
Kajetemo: 80's flick
Kajetemo: but let's stick with luke perry/johnny depp
DaBamoor: ok ha
DaBamoor: the gay one.. the pretty boy.. women claw at him but they cant have him
DaBamoor: maybe he isnt gay but only looks and acts like it? remmy the cover "(gasp) u...arent homosexual?"
DaBamoor: the figure standing in the doorway with that demi-gay guy in bed with a woman in a darkened room
Kajetemo: oh yeah
Kajetemo: the non-gay homosexual
DaBamoor: heh.. but maybe in the end, it turns out it was just a horrible misunderstanding and he IS gay after all
Kajetemo: yeah he'll say soemthing like "yes, i'm gay, but that's not who i am."
Kajetemo: i like the idea of making him gay, non-gay type
DaBamoor: it ll be a great mystery.. everyone ll be trying to figure what he is
DaBamoor: one moment, seems like he s gay, next he isnt! ha
Kajetemo: yea ...we cld carry a "maybe he is, maybe he ain't" aura on him
Kajetemo: heh great minds think alike
Kajetemo: he's not quite...bisexual either :-)
DaBamoor: and not asexual either ha
DaBamoor: finally in one issue, in the last panel
DaBamoor: he finally tells the gang "OK enough of this, im gonna give this straight to u, im..." end of issue
Kajetemo: or we cld have him about to reveal his sexuality but keeps getting interrupted by villains
DaBamoor: haha that d be perfect
Kajetemo: we cld have a post-party morning-after scene with other models gathering at breakfast table
Kajetemo: the latin one is late...then his bedroom door opens and a man walks out, then a woman...
Kajetemo: the boys stare at latin dude and he says "nothing happend." and left it at that
DaBamoor: hahaha
DaBamoor: maybe the truth is, he's "autosexual".. he considers himself the only one on this planet good enuff to fuck.. since he cant, he remains celibate.. but he dreams of the day he ll be able to clone himself
Kajetemo: yea he's in love with himself
DaBamoor: he even sends lawyers and writes letters to senators to fight the anti-cloning bill
Kajetemo: i like that
DaBamoor: he eventually succeeds cloning himself but the clone, of course, turns out to be evil
Kajetemo: ooo i like that
Kajetemo: and the evil one turned out to be....homosexual
DaBamoor: that d mean the guy d still be able to fuck the clone?
Kajetemo: i guess so :-)
Kajetemo: so if enrique wants to fuck the male clone of himself, that'd make him a homosexual?
Kajetemo: since it's not really enrique, but another male, meaning that techinically he's not fucking himself?
DaBamoor: heh
Kajetemo: the guy enrique sees in mirror is enrique, but the clone is not enrique, never mind the fact they got same dna pattern
DaBamoor: elementary school ought to pose this question to students to enhance logical problem solving
Kajetemo: heh yea
Kajetemo: the male models cld have this discussion...
Kajetemo: that'd be interesting :-)
DaBamoor: haha yeah
Kajetemo: they cld do that while costumed and fighting henchmen
Kajetemo: one of the henchman, who apparently follows enrique's career, would say "he's gay!?"
Kajetemo: while parrying lucien's punch, then they carry on with the discussion
DaBamoor: while somebody pipes up a counterargument
DaBamoor: and so forth yeah
Kajetemo: yeah yeah
Kajetemo: that'll be hilarious
DaBamoor: one villain..
Kajetemo: so we got 5 guys: lucien, enrique, the blonde, the african american hotshot, and of course, the rebel
DaBamoor: The Humiliator.. his slogan: i relieve people of the burden of dignity
Kajetemo: heh
DaBamoor: his special power: to make people involuntarily pass gas
Kajetemo: oh the shame!
DaBamoor: even the prez during a national TV speech
DaBamoor: and make people say exactly what they think
DaBamoor: everythging on their minds.. they cant stop it
Kajetemo: he holds america ransom... if they don't pay him billions dollar, he'll make the prez pass gas...get this... in public!
DaBamoor: ha
Kajetemo: that'd make a funny cover
DaBamoor: well maybe after he proved his powers to the prez, he scares him shitless by saying "i can do the same to u. u'll helplessly pass gas for the rest of ur public career. u'll be known as "(insert unflattering nickname)".. and the prez's "NO! NOOOOO!"
Kajetemo: ha yeah...the prez with his his hands clenching high in air
Kajetemo: for some reason , i pictured the prez looking like william shatner
DaBamoor: ha yea
DaBamoor: we show the dangers the humiliator poses by showing a small town he attacked
DaBamoor: a small snooty WASPy town in conn.. when he was done with it, people were running around naked and hurling feces like apes
Kajetemo: hahaha
DaBamoor: in the end, after CFMM won, the moral lesson, as one of the models solemnly put it, "relieving ourselves a bit of dignity can actually be a good thing, but not too much of it."
Kajetemo: heh heh heh
DaBamoor: maybe after every battle, there s a moral lesson
Kajetemo: at the beginning of that issue, one of the models would mention "why isn't my life like a 80's tv shows?"
Kajetemo: "what do you mean?"
Kajetemo: "they always laugh at a corny joke at the end of the show."
DaBamoor: heh
Kajetemo: then after one of the model say that joke, the last panel wld of them laughing
Kajetemo: then maybe add the credit roll
DaBamoor: yeah
Kajetemo: we need a charles xavier type - a mentor
Kajetemo: he shld be the guy/gal who organizes the group
Kajetemo: a transexual, perhaps
DaBamoor: ha
DaBamoor: ex-porn actor
Kajetemo: heh not bad
Kajetemo: the burn-out ex-porn actor from 70's
Kajetemo: always boasted of good ol' days when everything's pure
DaBamoor: "im weary of fleshly pleasures. i seek something more"
DaBamoor: ok i better hit the sack.. i gotta get up at 630 am for work
DaBamoor: im tempted to continue this discussion, but i...must depart from ur company
Kajetemo: i....understand completely.
DaBamoor: away i go to the sweet night
Kajetemo: laterade gatorade

2006-02-02T22:32:00.000-05:00

One of the courses I'm taking is psycholinguistics. Interesting so far. ASL (any sign language really) is far from being the only language with a very flexible word order in grammar. In English, the word order mostly determines the meaning of a sentence (i.e. a python swallows a teacup chihuahua vs. a teacup chihuahua swallows a python). But in many languages, Russian for example, the word order doesn't matter. How words end (affixes) does. In that sense, ASL is more similar to them than English.

Looking at ASL from lingustic perspective makes me respect it more. It has many unique features that aren't possible for spoken languages, like being able to convey more than one concept or action simultaneously.

Taking a scuba class. I've heard enough about it from friends to decide it's worthwhile. It's been fun. The hardest part so far is learning to swim with flippers. Normally when I swim, I thrust my legs. I don't "flutter". I've never fluttered in my life. I like the feeling of propelling myself with powerful kicks. That habit's gonna die hard.

I. King Jordan's the instructor's assistant. More on that later.

2006-01-30T21:20:00.000-05:00

First time I saw a teacup chihuahua. Yep, like Paris Hilton's handdog Tinkerbell. Its owner handed it to me and it trembled in my hands. It's amusing but not my cup of tea :)

2006-01-17T00:35:00.000-05:00

So this sweet break draws to a close. Unusually high number of students stayed in DC. Never have I partied so much during a winter break. The last 2 days, I rested. I chilled. I'm like refrigerated food now. I'm itching to get back in action.

Anyone seen the British version of 'The Office'?

The Buck Naked Bison staff has yet to convene about the next issue. Right now, I'm working on possible topics for the articles. If you happen to have a great idea, or even want to contribute a 'guest' piece, don't hestitate to contact me. Also, we'll do this fundraising valentine thing again (it didn't work last year because of a bad database connection). We'll have to decide which cause or organization is most worthy of a donation. If you know of one, please LMK.

2006-01-15T18:43:00.000-05:00

Your Inner European is Swedish!

Relaxed and peaceful.

You like to kick back and enjoy life.

Who's Your Inner European?

Well, what's yours?

2006-01-02T21:34:00.000-05:00

When I bought a digital camera last fall, I didn't know there were steps to becoming a bona fide camera owner.

1) Buy a camera.
2) Remember that I own a camera. I got over this hump just a month ago. Then...
3) Remember to take the camera out of my pocket and actually take pictures.

Watching the ball drop.

Jason's eye's the only reason I'm posting this. (Click for close-up)

Yeah, booze was readily available and flowin'. (Also see below)

I don't remember this moment. I must be scowling because Joy snatched my camera. Or maybe I was trying my damnedest to poop *shrug*

I won't be a bona fide digital camera owner until I post some drunken pics of people & me, with our faces SQUASHED TOGETHER. By this late April hopefully.

2005-12-26T20:46:00.000-05:00

O' the beloved brothers and sisters with wide-set gleaming blue (or multi-colored) eyes and white streaks blazing their hair proudly and prematurely.

Yep, the Waardenburg folks. A coupla things just occured to me.

They're brazen.

And I know only one WS chick who is completely hetero, and I can't think of any gay WS guy. So regardless the gender, they sure like women.

2005-12-26T20:44:00.000-05:00

Quotations of the year by the most quotable president ever:

"I think I may need a bathroom break. Is this possible?" --in a note to to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a U.N. Security Council meeting, September 14, 2005

"You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." —George W. Bush to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005

2005-12-15T17:34:00.000-05:00

The moon looks kinda bluish right now.

This goddam paper then I'm done.

2005-12-02T12:15:00.000-05:00

2005-11-30T21:37:00.000-05:00

This is an autumn of controversies.

TC shamelessly capitalized on what happened between Provost Jane Fernandes and the student body. The shirts sold like hotcakes, all 70 in less than an hour—we had to reorder.

Other shirts in the works: IKJ Rockstar...the beauty of it is that it's for both people who love and hate him—the former will see it as genuflective and the latter, tongue-in-cheek—it'll be whatever you want to see...and 1970's vintage style Carl Pramuk, captions: "I used to be cool".

When Provost heard about her shirt, she claimed to be amused and want to buy one, but her office tried to make SBG order students to take off the shirts. SBG declined. IBProvostwasreallypissedbutherPRspecialistadvisedhertoplayitcooland
pretendtolaughatherselfwhilesiccingherproxiesonus.

Another, and more significant, controversy is Ryan's protest. This blog pretty much says it all. I saw his girlfriend on campus today and she said Ryan lost 20 pounds. I'm glad he's eating again because it had occurred to me that he wouldn't last long. A person usually can survive about a month without eating, but cold weather causes humans to burn calories faster to stay warm and Ryan already has a fast metabolism. She said Ryan had to endure a lot of people (mostly parents) coming over to scream at him. But he also got support so that evened things up a bit.

Obese people should try the Hunger Strike Diet sometimes. Less injustice & more hotties in the world.

2005-11-25T20:10:00.000-05:00

Ate the big turkey with my parents, my cousin's family, my cousin's aunt and her husband, Will. Will is one interesting fella. The last time I saw him was when my cousin, a friend and I headed to NYC for the 1999 NYE to see the big ball drop. We stayed at Will's apartment. We met him at a Turkish bathhouse where he was a masseure.

His Jewish parents fled Germany in 1938 and settled in China where he spent the first 13 years of his life. He grew up watching heads roll. Back then the Chinese chopped off thieves' hands and murderers' heads in the public. Bells would ring in the town square and people'd flock to watch the spectacle.

Nobody taught him to write or read—he communicated only with homemade signs. Then his family moved to New York City and he finally got some education at PS #47. Now, he talks and acts like a typical jolly grassroots deafie. In addition to wages from kneadin' up stressed out hot babes, he receives $1200 monthly compensation for lifetime from the German government because a Nazi doctor did something to cause his deafness when his mother was pregnant with him.

2005-11-22T14:41:00.000-05:00

Had one of my best dinners ever last Sunday. Great company—I'm biased but I think TC has the coolest people of any organization—great food and even greater entertainment.

The TC staff ate out, all expenses-paid, at this Japanese restaurant in Georgetown where dinner was simultaneously food and performance art. We sat around a big flat stove watching the cook perform. We were mesmerized. It was one trippy food theater.

I also finally ate sushi to my heart's content, about $30 worth. The plate was a kalideoscope of different rolls and sushi.

The only thing missing was a nice dessert orgy to hit the spot.

2005-11-17T14:06:00.000-05:00

2005-11-14T14:08:00.000-05:00

I dreamed that my dad went senile and dyed his hair bright pink. You'd laugh if you knew him. A pretty traditional guy.

Last weekend, I played my first poker game at a full table with fairly high stakes. One player was a card shark, winning about 70% of games. Nevertheless I was playing well and had the highest stack after about 3 hours. Then one guy bitched about having to split soon and kept on going all-in, but everyone'd back down and he'd roll his eyes as he collected the pot. He seemed tired and dying to leave. Then I had a decent, not great, hand and he went all-in. I thought he was trying to throw away the game so I called him. Turned out he had a great hand and suddenly I was crippled. I didn't have patience to slowly work my way back to where I was. Next hand, I went all-in and lost. From a fat stack to nothing in 2 hands.

2005-11-08T19:10:00.000-05:00

The VB team has won 16 out of 17, the only loss being to the #2 team in the nation. It captured the CAC title and is heading off to play the first round of NCAA tourney this thursday.

Not bad, considering the team lost its star player early in the season.

May Jesus lift their feet higher and make them spike the ball harder and place the ball squarely on their forearms.

2005-11-07T19:10:00.000-05:00

Saw this away message:

"Procrastination is like masturbation. At first, it feels good but in the end you're only screwing yourself."

There was a town hall meeting on campus to discuss what had happened recently. I didn't go but a friend filled me in. Provost turned off a lot of students by bitching at everyone, when only a small number of students were guilty. A few friends and I talked about it.

Maybe it's because I'm jaded with Gally, with a foot out of the door, but my reaction had been mostly 'zzzz'. But Provost's ranting hit a nerve.

-I'm sick of hearing bad behavior being associated with deafness. People knock down goal posts everywhere. Parties get out of control everywhere. Neighbors complain about parties everywhere, and so forth. Black people say one of the worst things about being black is not being seen as unique individuals. I think it's the same thing for deaf people. A few members behave badly and we have to be embarrassed?

-The administration should take SOME of the blame for the Hyatt fiasco. I mean, c'mon. Drunken froshies and a 5-star hotel? ANYWHERE, the same thing would happen. Unlike SBG, they're old enough to see that coming and didn't lift a finger. The same goes for the Hyatt folks—they knew what goes with college students.

-The basic reason for DPS and the police trying so hard to prevent students from taking down the goal posts was safety (you know the story, a U. of Minn. student got killed, blah blah), not destruction of property since they'd be replaced soon anyway. Quite a few students got hurt, all right. By the police, the very people "concerned" about safety.

Off I go.

2005-10-29T13:54:00.000-04:00

Infantilism: the latest rage at Gallyland.

That's Tim. He was pissed at us for buying that costume. Then he saw the light and embraced it. After we got dressed up for the Haunted House, there was a fire alarm. All of us had to go outside. As you can see, comedy ensued.

For the full impact, see him in a dark room lit by strobe light. (BTW psst...he had to change his diapers twice.)

See the previous post for explanation. Click to enlarge.

2005-10-28T13:17:00.000-04:00

A couple of friends got attacked on L St. 2 nights ago. One of them was shot clean through his thigh when he was running away. Yesterday he was walking just fine and pulled up his shorts to show me his 2 wounds—entry & exit. Good thing it was only a .9. He was laughing about it. He was tickled pink about being able to say he was shot once.

Tower Clock staff's been working on its section in the Haunted House at Ole Jim (all student organizations host it together). A couple of staffers and I went out to buy costumes and shit. We decided that a mix of sweet innocence and horror would be more disturbing than the tired old vampires and ghosts. So we bought costumes of Baby Doll and Tinkerbell (along with a jail escapee, a nun and a doctor) and have the staffers who wear them put on bloody, gruesome make up.

When Tim W., the EIC, first saw those costumes, he exploded into a stream of furious WTFs. I laughed until I cried. The thought of him thinking that we'd plan to have earnest babies and fairies in a haunted house...

My idea for the baby is to have it crawl slowly up a hallway to every visiting group, carrying a doll or a baby bottle, then suddenly swivel its head up to reveal a hideous, snarling face. In the tune of 'Trainspotting'.

As for the fairy costume, it was a mistake. We sold it to a frosh chick.

Speaking of froshies, Class of 2009's section's theme is very anti-Buff and Blue. You see, BnB published a couple of columns telling them to grow up. Ooo.

What will you be on Halloween?

2005-10-20T13:37:00.000-04:00

In the living room waiting for the housing inspector to ring the doorbell, working on an anthropology paper (5-9 pages on how deaf people use pagers—one assignment the current prof carried over from Ms. Grant *big eye roll*), and watching Casino the movie.

The new anthropology prof is steady, not spectacular. It's really from the textbook that I learned a lot of interesting shit. She has a cheerful disposition but it's funny how little it takes to rattle her. Yesterday, a student kept on opening and closing her mouth and it infuritated her. She also didn't like it when another student rocked her head sideways and she kept on telling her to stop. Professors don't realize it's distracting to us if they're easily distracted.

Looks like it'll be chilly and rainy this weekend—HC weekend. It hasn't rained much lately, but when it does, it sure know how to pick great times.

Alright, back to the paper...

2005-10-18T23:52:00.000-04:00

An ex-housemate of mine would've loved this. A magazine for alkies.

2005-10-10T13:14:00.000-04:00

The rain rained on my parade last weekend. A bunch of people and I were gonna play paintball. We had to take a rain check. GET IT? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!

On the bright side, maybe the grass'll turn green again. Before the weekend, some TV weather guy said we had less than 1 inch of rain in last 2 months.

I notice more and more locals are using bicycle.

2005-10-04T12:36:00.000-04:00

The Field House's basement's full of dumb, cliched motivational quotations posted by PE professors/coaches. But this takes the cake. There's a clipping of a newspaper article about Julius Peppers, who plays defensive end for the Carolina Panthers. There's a paragraph that sings praises about what a genetic freak he is. He's 6-7 and can explode, etc. Next to it is a written note: "If you follow BSF program, you can be as good as him!!!"

2005-09-30T15:24:00.000-04:00

The joke's over.

We entered anthropology class and a different professor was standing. The first thing she said: "Ms. Grant won't be teaching anymore."

No more professor who thought ASL was invented in the 1960s, and affirmative action brought about deaf culture and installed IKJ into presidency.

Funny, a couple of students were bummed about her dismissal because they'd be losing an easy A or because they liked her candies.

I feel bad for Ms. Grant, tho. She's a sweet, clueless soul. Hope she finds a line of work that suits her better.

2005-09-23T18:30:00.000-04:00

Classes are ok, but I'm not too sure about Anthropology. The professor seems out of it.

Incident reports:

-During the first class, she called herself an old fart 3 times. Thereafter, she'd mention it at least once in every class. (She finally stopped doing it, tho.)

-She wouldn't stop talking about pagers being a phenomenon in the deaf community. She seems to pat on herself for noticing it.

-For an anthropologist, she seems awfully clueless how to relate to people of other races. There are 3 black people in the class and she ignores them except when she asks them about black issues. For instance, she was talking about what pagers (see above) represent in deaf culture and a black student was trying to give his input. She interrupted him and said, "Do you know Malcolm X"? I could see him restraining from rolling his eyes. She rambled on about what Malcolm X represents—black power, etc. Every time she talked about black people, she'd look at them and nod knowingly.

-Many sentences in her syllabus end with "smile".

-She told a black female student, "Your status lower because you black, even lower because you woman, really low because you deaf." There are better ways to explain sociology.

-She assigned my group to do a skit based on a dry academic book. The skit? How the internet affected the society or something. Two students acted as computers. One student got in front of one and ordered stuff and got broke, while I got fat from sitting all day. That was the skit. After the class, the professor strided up to us beaming and said she was giving us bonus points for doing such a great job. Next class, she got the department chairperson to come to the class and asked us to do the skit again.

-Her incoherent lectures...I can't put 'em in words. You have to see them.

The only good thing I can say about her is that she's nice. Really nice. She always gives us candy before the class.

I'm just waiting for Ashton Kutcher to pop up with a TV crew. "We been punk'd! *hysterical laughter*". I'm only half kidding. He knows Ty Giordano.

2005-09-22T21:36:00.000-04:00

I recently saw a CNN headline "New Orleans Evacuees to Evacuate Houston". Ouch.

2005-09-18T16:41:00.000-04:00

Since school started, life's been a blur. Know what'd be cool? If there was a practical way to record ASL convos. So many interesting chats lately and I'd be able to write down some choice excerpts (I don't do AIM much). Some hearing fucker did it with a tape recorder. Check out Tucker Max's chronicles. They're extremely candid and hilarious.

2005-09-12T11:40:00.000-04:00

A few days ago, I came across this lovely piece of writing adorning a power supply box on 6th St. & K St. (Orleans = Orleans Pl. not New Orleans):

Fuck (unreadable) orleans bitches
Fuck the orleans haters
Orleans don't run shit
The 6th st honnies bang all them out! :)
(Unreadable) got bang out

Last Saturday night, a local stranger burst into a house party on Orleans Pl., immediately followed by a thug (must be that 6th St. poet) who then literally popped a cap in his ass in front of everyone. The victim collapsed on a sofa, but he was only worse off with a sore ass.

I was somewhere else when it happened.

I still don't fear for my safety. The cold truth is almost every crime in the area is black on black. The only homicides on Gally students in history occured on campus—so it could be argued that caucasian students are safer in the 'hood.

2005-09-07T18:24:00.000-04:00

I have a widget that points me to the cheapest local gas station. $2.98 actually made me go yahoo! How sad is that?

(gas usually goes for $3.40 in DC nowadays)

2005-09-07T17:41:00.000-04:00

Friends threw me a surprise b-day party last week then we went out. Sounds corny but I was touched—by how far some friends went to see that I had a great time (no prostitutes were involved, I swear) and how some people I haven't seen much lately showed up and gave me a gift.

Didn't do anything wowow during the weekend. Had a picnic at Hains Point and played football. And, of course, parties. On Fri. nite, Bren and Nate threw one to celebrate IKJ's retirement. There was a board with a sign next to it saying before scribbling your words of "appreciation" for him, you must've had downed at least 5 shots. Let's just say the Pope wouldn't be pleased with most of what's scrawled. Bren says he's serious about handing the board to IKJ. Yeah right.

There'll be plenty of parties ahead. I enjoy them for the time being. However, I'm thinking about establishing a club—call it Urban Adventurers. The city has so much to offer and we Gallaudetians end up doing the same things and going to the same places over and over. The purpose of the club would be to shatter that monotony and challenge ourselves to constantly find exciting new activities and places.

2005-09-01T15:06:00.000-04:00

I. King Jordan's big announcement that he'll retire in Dec. 2006:

At around noon, people who I'd never seen before walked around passing out yellow flyers saying there'd be an important announcement about the future of Gallaudet at 2 pm, and all classes would be cancelled. We sprouted various theories, but one became an obvious favorite: IKJ's done. Regardless, the air was thick with suspense.

2 pm was approaching and everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, flocked into Elstad Auditorium. I can tell you this—it NEVER happened before. It felt surrealistic, as if we were about to hear that aliens had taken over the earth. A few minutes later, IKJ and some people walked onto the stage and took seats. One of them was a biracial kid. Maybe IKJ was about to confess that he had sired an illegitimate kid.

Dr. Glenn Anderson popped up on a huge screen (I'd say 30' x 30'). He was VPing to the audience! The wonders of technology! Then the screen froze, a 25-foot Dr. Anderson in mid-sign, his face bizarrely contorted in mid-expression. Alas, the downfall of technology. That grotesque face stared at us for good 30 seconds before finally moving again...for a few seconds, before stopping again. It happened over and over again, and the video always froze at the most unflattering moments. The gignatic form of him snarled and grimaced at us, signing gibberish. IKJ even chuckled.

It went on for about 10 minutes before they decided they could do without Dr. Anderson's virtual participation.

2005-08-28T18:53:00.000-04:00

Last night, went to a party announced at last notice. Unbeknownst to me and a couple of friends, everyone was supposed to be dressed punk. We couldn't be more square—I was sporting a blue polo shirt. My friends fled. I stayed. I stood out like a sore thumb. Had a decent time anyway, even with sweat drops streaking down my face (from humidity, not humiliation). Somebody told me I was the only bona fide article in the party because to be a punk is not to conform. LOLOLOLOL %$&#%$&#^%@*&##* BLAH!!!

2005-08-20T19:41:00.000-04:00

Last night, I chatted with a guy from KY who worked at Aspen deaf camp during the summer. He said kids from rich families went there and he was stunned by how they were jaded and savvy beyond their years.

That reminded me of a kid at KDES when I was subbing. She was a Korean, in 6th or 7th grade. A rich family from VA (The Martins) adopted her. Turned out Josh, the KY boy, somehow knew the family and said they owned a part of the Cincinnati Reds (?!). Anyway, the Martins had about 30 kids at a time and bought an entire floor of a high-rise Condo building as their home.

There were lots of "siblings" that were older than that girl and they didn't hestitate to introduce her to the world of debauchery. In one class, she piped up to me about partying with her brothers, getting hammered on shots of vodka and puffing the magic dragon. She was a coupla years away from HS. Moments like this make me feel like I grew up in the 1950s.

Josh said, "Now I know how my parents felt when bringing me up."

At this rate, our grandkids'll be hiding pipes by the time they're 18 months old.

2005-08-17T01:48:00.000-04:00

Watch "Kung Fu Hustle". You've never seen a martial arts flick like this one, trust me.

2005-08-11T02:27:00.000-04:00

Seems like every summer camp has its own drama. My cousin told me what transpired at the camp he worked at, worthy of a groundbreaking HBO series (btw I take back what I said about 6' Under...it became less funny as it went on). For instance, this camper with severe ADHD hit a staffer's head with a big rock. He got sent home.

Makes me wonder what's an ADHD-only camp like.

2005-08-06T21:40:00.000-04:00

'Tis a Saturday night and I'm stuck home alone because my housemate hasn't returned my key and he's been out all day. It's moments like this that make me hate people without pagers with temporary passion.

Saw a lot of old faces lately thanks to Gallaudet's summer programs for professionals. None of them older than Terry's—we've been friends since the first grade. He's newly married, living in Italy and running a tour guide business, Hands on Italia. During its first 2 years, he felt it was going nowhere and mulled about a new line of work. Now it's doing so well he's thinking about expansion. Taking bunches of people to the best spots and the finest restaurants in Italy and making money off it—he's certainly living a good life.

When we were 8 years old, both of our families moved into a neighborhood called Woodstream. It was wild having my best friend living just a few houses away. There were also other deaf friends in the same neighborhood—about 5 less than 500 feet away. So growing up I didn't feel like I missed much by not having siblings. It's only until adulthood that I began to appreciate the value of them: having somebody to make fun of your parents with.

The sun has set on the Woostream era. Everyone has migrated south except for my parents.

The heydays:

Glenn, Terry and I making a tunnel @ my house.

The next door neighbors were an elderly German couple. They worked at Library of Congress before retiring. They'd give me surplus books from the library. Very nice people. I like their backyard—German industriousness at work. They take a lot of trips to Germany and always return with Teutonic chocolates. But flash a little Nazi salute to them, just for a split second? Boom, 20 years of good neighborly relations up in the smoke. :)

2005-08-05T19:31:00.000-04:00

All kinds of people are vital to the civilization's survival. We like to criticize certain types of people, such as closed-minded people. But if everyone's so open to new experiences, we wouldn't have farmers, janitors and guys to scrape gum off the seats at movie theaters. Everyone'd want to travel the world and rise to new heights. We need xenaphobic drones for the most mind-numbing tasks. They're our worker bees.

2005-08-05T00:44:00.000-04:00

My last night here before my life goes back to DC. Farewell to having a clean kitchen sink.

Yesterday at Pourhouse, a friend and I met an earnest girl who's learning sign language at Gally. I wasn't in mood for a "how do you like Gally so far?" convo with a stranger signing haltingly so I opted to concentrate my efforts on convincing her that the campus was designed by a 19th century pornographer. I told her if she looked at the layout from a high elevation, say the Washington Monument, a female nude would be visible. The circular road in front of KDES and another circular road in the back formed a set of racks and so forth. My friend went along and tossed in some details of his own making. We told her that Edward Gallaudet didn't know about it until it was too late.

She was skeptical until she asked a random guy what kind of picture the campus formed. The jig was almost up but I managed to give him the correct answer just outside her "eyeshot" and he accidentally formed the perfect "you didn't know this?!" face as he said, "woman."

That did it for her. You should've seen her face.

2005-08-03T01:07:00.000-04:00

Rate your interpreter.

Feed it!

2005-07-22T17:12:00.000-04:00

DCers: ultimate frisbee tonight, poker tomorrow, pool party on Sunday. More info, page me.

2005-07-20T16:01:00.000-04:00

Deaf education right now is doomed to Catch-22. To have enough deaf teachers for deaf kids, almost all of the lucky few who have beaten the obstacle of having broken eardrums would have to teach. But if they did, deaf education would be just a self-perpetuating cycle, contributing nothing to the world at large.

What if there's a program in which deaf college grads dedicate the first 2 years of post-college life to deaf education before moving on to plum jobs? Much like Peace Corp for the deaf America. Within a given 2 year span, let's say there are 600 deaf graduates from Gallaudet, RIT, CSUN and ASU. 600 deaf teachers nationwide—not bad. Of course, realistically, not all of them would be willing or even be suited for teaching at all. Mere 200 still would be about 5-10 times the rate those schools typically churn out.

You don't need a degree in education to teach well. I speak from experience. When I was a sub teacher, I didn't receive training yet many Kendall students said I was better at teaching them than their regular teachers. I felt like I could teach them anything. It isn't because I was so great. It's because I could communicate with them. Plus they probably find young deaf adults infinitely more intriguing than hearing old farts.

I still think the single best strategy to improve deaf people's literacy is to broadcast a national public service TV commercial that would educate hearies how to raise deaf kids. Have high expectations, communicate visually, read to them, and all that shit.

2005-07-11T17:58:00.000-04:00

A post by a Xanger cracked me up. Copy 'n paste of a message board. What's funnier than a bunch of stoners wondering how deaf people wake up? Not much.

That reminds me, I talked with that Xanger, Brianne, about a coupla weeks ago. I told her I never buy women drinks. I buy drinks for my friends, regardless the gender, sure, but not for female strangers to meet them. I mean, buying a woman drinks is like trying to buy her attention. She seemed stunned and asked me how I meet women. I said I just talk with them. She dropped her jaws, looking as if I solved Fermat's last theorem. She said I better not impart this little gem of wisdom to other guys or her nights of expense-free drinking would be over.

Don't worry, the secret's safe with me ;P

;P isn't too bad. I've warmed up to it. ;( now is officially the stupidest emoticon.

And no matter what, :o(~ will never be cool in my book.

2005-07-10T23:58:00.000-04:00

When working on Tower Clock, Gallaudet's yearbook, I noticed a couple of things about the Greeks. First, Alpha Sigma Phi has more officers than regular brothers. Second, Kappa Gamma has the most members of any Greek organization...and its slogan is "The Chosen Few" :)

2005-07-07T14:46:00.000-04:00

Life's been good and ordinary. No 6-4 topless women strolling in areas of commerce and no childhood friends trying to sell me firearms. Nevertheless I feel like I have a lot to say. It's just a matter of remembering what.

I'll just start with the latest bombshell, no pun intended. The attacks in London. Here's a thought: the media truly is a terrorist's best friend. Without its coverage, his mission'd be pointless.

The media provide terrorist groups free commercial air time by broadcasting their tapes. They bring glory to them simply by announcing their responsibility or printing the names of the individual terrorists and, in many cases, their pictures.

No wonder terrorism is an attractive field for impoverished, disgruntled, bored young men hungry for some acclaim. And 72 celestial cherries.

2005-06-26T05:54:00.000-04:00

I just woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. Having a sore throat over the weekend (apparently I did too much cuddling with one of them).

I just got these pics, taken in March 2004.

The guy next to me, looks familiar? He appeared in this blog once and one of you likened him to a malnourished man craning his neck to be fed. Better lookin' this time? :) The woman next to us is Dr. Donalda Ammons, one of the "celebrity" profs at Gally. She's also president of CISS, the body that governs the Deaflympics. I didn't take any of her classes (she mostly taught Spanish) so it was my first encounter with her. She seemed nice and cool.

The pics were taken the night before the movie "Deaf Noir" was shot. In this picture, the actresses who played the Croatian bitches are in the audience. Play a little "find Waldo"? One of them is several rows behind Dr. Ammons and the other one's a few seats right of actress #1.

I think I'll let a book lull me to sleep now.

2005-06-24T15:25:00.000-04:00

Few years ago, Julie T. had a sting operation to bust the guy who stole her pager. The Washington Post even ran a story on it.

I was reminded by it because somebody swiped my mom's SK2 a couple of weeks ago. Next day she checked her account online and found everything wiped out. The address book already contained the thief's home phone number, as well as his friends' and...his mother's :/ In the photo section there was a picture of a young man sitting on the floor eating. My mom printed everything out and showed those juicy leads to the police.

So far the donut munchers've been sluggish on the uptake. She's mulling about calling the thief but doesn't want him to panic and throw away the pager. We're considering other strategies as well.

Julie, I'm trying to remember, how did you get the police to go along with the operation? A cop had a crush on you and did it to woo you, right? Took more than that to sway you apparently :)

2005-06-21T17:30:00.000-04:00

"Chow down on juicy T-bones and 3-egg omelets prepared with real butter...Trade in that water bottle for a case of ice-cold beer...Drink all the coffee you want, laced with heavy cream if you like...Take naps instead of running laps!" Well, well, if he's not telling the truth, he's driving thousands of people to early graves with his advice.

Although it's true that mega-healthy eating won't extend our lives that much. Many studies of people who lived to celebrate their 100th birthdays show that they had many vices and the single most important factor for their longevity is to chill—the formal term being "stress management". Not being obese is #2.

I also read just yesterday in the papers that people in northern latitudes are much more likely to get cancer. Turned out not getting enough sun is a huge risk—odds of getting all kinds of cancer except skin cancer skyrocket. Maybe that madman's onto something.

And here's an interesting nutrition news that may alarm some of you (thus shortening your life by 2.4 seconds but giving back 1.9 by making you less obese).

2005-06-21T14:56:00.000-04:00

My crib.

Living room #1

Living room #2

Zilla the Iguana

Living room #3, doubling as the VP room

2005-06-17T16:07:00.000-04:00

I'm staying at my parents' house for the weekend, sitting their dog while they're vacationing. It's great to be here. I tell you, you can't fully appreciate the green grass and trees until you live in the city.

2005-06-10T16:25:00.000-04:00

Yes! He exists.

2005-06-08T00:53:00.000-04:00

Just had a convo that took me back to Fall 1998. Jesse and I got laid off from a printing company that was downsizing. We weren't sure what to do. Aha! Live in a tent in Key West for a few months. A girl joined us and we hit the road.

Once we got there, we found out it cost around $50 a night in its only campground. We slept there for only a night before hunting for a cheaper residence. The only available place we found was a villa for recovering alcoholics.

We didn't sink so low as to pretend we were alcoholics (although it was the only time in my life it'd be a good idea to show up sloshed for the application process) but the landlord got us an apartment because he had a deaf brother in law that died young or something. One catch to living there was...you guessed it, we weren't allowed to drink. Not a drop, lest one whiff of our boozy breath tempteth the fellow residents to jump off the wagon. We visited the local bars anyway. It's strange, the power to destroy scores of lives simply by having a beer.

Our last night in K.W. was wild. A hurricane struck and left the island powerless, among things best not mentioned in the public.

2005-06-06T15:14:00.000-04:00

My housemates and I used CL to find ourselves a sublet. Yep, a hearing stranger. About time for something different. He's a skater of an unidentifable ethnicity (biracial? Italian? Jewish? Hispanic? Not that I care) who appears in videos or sumtin'. Seems like a cool guy. Is it possible to be a skater and be square?

The weather makes me want to flee to the West Coast or the north. It isn't the heat, it's the humidity.