Potpourri

It's the last day of BEDA. Also it means it's a day before my birthday. As this is the final day that I've obligated myself to do posts with, this is going to be potpourri. So, there will be a few things in this post that don't warrant their own posts, but won't necessarily fit into any posts that will come up.


Pro-tip: I know those super gigantic sunglasses are very fashionable for women right now. I'll tell you what they make me notice. It makes me notice how weird your nose is or how strange your chin. A girl I think is really pretty can put on a pair of giant sunglasses and suddenly she's not anymore. It's some sort of magic they have. They make ugly girls cute and cute girls ugly.

So, put the giant glasses. You're pretty without covering your entire face, I'm sure.



I think the it's rather scary how reactionary this Nation has become. It's not just that there are reactions, but how rapidly they can change. I beginning to think that the Economic troubles will be very much slowed down by having a new government every two years, because the economy isn't recovering. Vicious cycle blah, blah, blah...

It seems an intelligent media dialogue cannot exist. News sources are so ever present that they have to stick out from each other to get eyeballs viewing them. Therefore the goal becomes entertainment and not information. Hyperbole sells and thus reactionary nation.




The Interstate System is probably one of the best things that this nation has created. However, it was created at precisely the wrong the time. Traffic volume was so low when it was designed that it's now handling many, many times what it was meant to. Therefore, what should create a more efficient and safe route creates the opposite.

Worse, is that big Public Works projects went missing for so long that there are so many problems that addressing gridlock isn't important. The roads themselves are dangerous. Damns aren't safe, etc.

Improving Infrastructure is way more important than holding to someones Conservative ideals, because falling behind on that shit is a very big problem.




That's it for BEDA. I hope it wasn't to terrible for you guys. Thanks for putting up with my daily nonsense.

-Michael

Fruity Admiral

William was dressed like a fruity admiral and the Bridesmaid was wearing white. That family definitely needs some new blood. Royal or not, that's just weird.

Note: That's all I've gained from pictures thrust in my face on various news sites and Tumblr. I've not read any articles.

Well, today, I've developed a cough. I think this has to do with mowing the grass yesterday. My legs don't like the outside this time of year. They're like, if you expose to allergens for longer than a walk to and from the car, we're going to make your life annoying.

It's particularly poignant when you spend your Friday night watching the 2nd and 3rd of the NFL draft. That's kind of a ridiculous step in hermit crabness. And this isn't just any weekend, it's my Birthday weekend and this how I choose to spend my time. It's what I want to do though. I like the draft even if it's on Friday Night. If I were out, I'd preoccupied about the Browns picks or if certain players got drafted.

Today was the first day in ages where it hasn't rained here. I didn't particularly mind it, but it seemed everyone else was pretty upset by how much rain we'd been getting. Rain tends to beget rain, so I I don't think the weather pattern has been broken yet.

Alright, 2nd to last day of BEDA. I don't know what to think of BEDA this time. I feel like I do it in August, I think I'll pick some sort of theme or something. My life just isn't interesting enough to write a post a day about. I definitely really enjoy having a lot of extra blog post to read though. That's definitely the best part.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

Tornado Outbreak

I was planning on writing this post following the Brown's draft selection. Then they traded way back so they'll probably be picking around midnight now. That means this post was moved the ever present, "in the meantime." I may accidentally type exclamations in reaction to the picks.

Holy Hell, the Vikings took Christian Ponder?

See like that.

I prefer this to anything to do with the Royal Wedding*. I care a whole hell of a lot more about players becoming NFL players than some commoner becoming princess.

I took a midterm today. It sucked. I probably didn't do very well on it. I ended up guessing on a lot of the Multiple Choice questions. I think I did alright on the Essay portion. I really should have studied a lot more for it, but I just didn't.

This is about to take a heavy turn.

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There may be a new rival for the 1974 Super Outbreak. I don't think we'll every see an outbreak that will compare to 1974's in terms of EF5 tornadoes. There were 6 over a two day period and that would be about normal for a decade. However in the past few days there have been about 150ish tornadoes. There is a lot of confirming and investigating to be done to have a sure number. That is very close to the number of twisters in the 1974 outbreak. The death tolls are beginning to approach each other. That is probably the most disconcerting part of this.

It's 2011. We have Doppler radar. Media is more abundant. And most importantly warning times are much, much better than they were in 1974. Tornado Outbreaks will happen. However, the death tolls should never be as high as they once were. And they haven't been recent times, until recently. Something is going wrong in the system of Warning and it is putting people in danger that we shouldn't be in 40 years down the line.

I know I am personally desensitized to Tornado Warnings. I discussed this issue more in detail here. I know it's better to give some Tornado Warnings when there aren't Tornadoes than to not give Warnings when there aren't Tornadoes. It's hard to begrudge the NWS for some false warnings.

One action that I think should be taken is that the use of Tornado Sirens should be more localized. The National Weather Service changed their warning system within the past year so that warnings are no longer based on counties, but rather on Storm path. The local warning systems should reflect this change. There also shouldn't be areas that don't have sirens. I can't imagine Tornado Sirens are that expensive. If an area doesn't have one, it shouldn't be a terrible cost to the state to put one up.

I'd say in the past few years, I've been a Tornado warned county around 5 times a year. Whether the storm that gets the warning is near where I am or not, I hear the sirens. They have stopped producing any urgency for me and I know it's the same for a lot of other people. It's almost a "meh" reaction when I hear them off. The sirens can be going off, but if it doesn't look bad out my window, I don't change what I'm doing.

I don't see why it would be so tough to have control over individual siren control. Let the areas that will be affected by the storm hear the warning sirens and avoid diminishing their power.

Steps need to be taken. The high number of fatalities we've seen this April from Tornadoes is not acceptable in 2011. We have the Technology to keep Tornado deaths to a minimum and we need to ensure that is that is the case

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

*What will I bitch about when it's over?

Gaming Tuesday

I forgot to mention this two days ago, but this blog has now reached 200 posts. This milestone deserves some acknowledgment. So here it goes:

200

That's right the number two hundred with bold, italicized text, center aligned and bright red. Damn, I forgot an exclamation point. Now everything is ruined. And it's 50 more posts until I can reasonably try again. Well, it's actually 48 as this really my 202nd post.

On to the news

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Playstation Network apparently was crashed because of hackers. I can't really tell whether Sony is saying that hackers crashed it themselves or if Sony destroyed its own network to stop the hackers. Whatever actually happened, it's clear that hackers were able to get personal and confidential data.

It's not really that surprising that hackers would attack PSN though. Hackers are pretty pissed off at Sony for their heavy handed legal tactics against lone-wolf hackers. Also given the fact the the Playstation 3 has had some many problems with hackers means that is apparently an easy target.

PS3 gamers must be pissed of pretty badly though. Not only is personal data and potentially credit card data unaccounted for. Worse was that it happened in the midst of probably the biggest non-forth quarter gaming release date ever. How many times can you play through Portal 2 solo? PS3 may have gotten an exclusive Character for Mortal Kombat, but I can go online with my XBox.

I suspect this breach is going to cost Sony more than they won in their settlements against hackers. There are already lawsuits. I doubt Game Developers, especially those that made Mortal Kombat and Portal 2, are happy about what's going. Plus, this raise a huge red-flag for potential buyers about the security of the PS3.

Apparently, the PS3's attempts to sink Sony aren't quite done yet.


It looks to me like L.A. Noire is going to have a lot of RPG elements with it. I can't say that uniformly I don't get into RPGs, but a lot of the times I don't. I have a lot of faith in Rockstar though. It'll be hard to follow up Red Dead Redemption, but I suspect that this will be another fantastic game from them.


Peyton Hillis is going to be on the cover of Madden 12. He won a fan vote over Michael Vick. Not surprising really considering a lot of people* won't forgive him for what he did. This of course means that Hillis is now cursed. He could go the Michael Vick route who was one the cover in 2004. He could break his legs this season, then have a few good seasons, and then be sent to prison for a while. Or he could go the Eddie George Route. That would simply having his career fall off the cliff this year.

Let's hope those don't happen to him. He's all us Browns fans have right now. Maybe the curse can strike him in another area of life. His car could break down a lot or something.

*Note* Someone see about reanimating Professor Snape. He seemed pretty good at breaking curses.

I really need to get to studying for a midterm tomorrow as it's a quarter after eight and I haven't started yet.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

*I'm not one of those people

Memory Divisions

I don't particularly think my memory is that good. I feel like I've forgotten so much. Most people who know me would probably disagree with that though. However, I think it's a trick. I remember stupid shit about past situations. I may have forgotten loads about something, but I'm able to recall something small and it's assumed I remember more than I actually do.

My memories are never very stark either. I suppose that's just part of things being memories. I just wish some memories were clearer. I feel like I should be able to more clearly visual things that happened to me.

I don't really have a clearly defined first memory either. I have a very vague recollections of what I think is my 4th birthday and my Grandma being there. I don't ever know if that really happened. Grandma didn't come down for any other birthdays in memories. Also I remember walking into the wrong room on my first day of Kindergarten. I stood around for a while and no one payed attention to me. I must have figured it out because I went to the right class room.

The way I divide my memories and past experiences is not by age, but rather by school year. I can tell you what grade I was in when something happened most likely, but I couldn't tell you how old I was. This is a rather inconvenient way to divide things. A grade has no meaning to most people.

So that's something I want to know about. How do other people divide their past? If you want to, let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

Gloomy Gus

School isn't usually such a drag for me, but this quarter I'm really finding myself not wanting to bother with it. I don't want to get up and make the drive in Rush Hour traffic. I'm spacing out way more often than I usually do in class. I don't really know when assignments are due and they're sneaking up on me.

Part of this is that I missed the entirety of week three. When your classes only meet twice a week missing a week feels like a month. I feel way further behind than I actually am. I suppose I'm feeling a bit flustered with it even with dropping the one class.

I'm usually pretty obsessive about things like quizzes. However, last week I totally forgot about an online quiz and missed the time frame that I could take it in. I've never had that happen to me before. The closest I've come to something like that is not taking a quiz when I know the lowest will be dropped and I've already gotten enough with perfect scores.

Hopefully I'll get my ass in gear soon.

My annoyance level is increasing to dangerous levels about the Royal Wedding. There is so much that is way more worthy of attention. I don't care about Kate's dress or any of that nonsense. If the UK want to keep their Royal Family, ok, but why do we have to indulge them. In the U.S we certainly don't hold the products of generations of inbreeding in a place of acclaim. In fact we make them live in West Virginia*. Old bats with delusions of grandeur get a room in a nursing home not a palace.

That sounds rather nationalistic, which I suppose it is at least on this issue. Never having a royal family and fighting a war to be rid of one is pretty damn baller.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael
*There's nothing wrong with West Virginia and I'm sure most people there aren't really inbreed**
**;-)

Life Drabbles

Today my family had the combo celebration to end all combo celebrations. It was the Easter/My Birthday/My Brother's Birthday extravaganza*. I ate way too much today. Huge lunch followed by cake and ice cream. Big dinner of leftovers. And I've just finished this. The only consequence so far is that I'm feeling lethargic.

I got loads of candy. We've done away with the Easter Baskets and we just have free-for-all** where we have to get our own candy. So I have a grocery bag full of candy to work on. I also got Gamestop Gift Cards from my siblings as Birthday presents along with two boxes of Peeps from my Sister.

I'm really looking forward to the new Okkervil River album. It's coming out May 10th. It was recently leaked, which sucks. However, it happens with almost everything. I still like to pretend to that it doesn't happen and wait for release day.

I'm still suffering from a lingering cough. It isn't constant any longer. Just sometimes I end up sounding like I have tuberculous. My lungs just don't want me to get well too quickly.

I've noticed that I accidentally capitalize a lot of letters I shouldn't when I type. I reach for the Shift Key far to often. It's like my typing securtiy blanket or something. I'm usually able to catch it pretty quickly, but still when proof reading stuff for, like, school I always notice that I do that a lot.

I'm about to fall asleep. My body wants food coma, so I'm going to call it a night.

Thanks for reading

-Michael

*I wasn't that extravagant
**It's cut-throat

Basically Jesus Was a Zombie

I did a post on my Sports specific blog today, so I don't think making this one super short is cheating on BEDA. Nothing to exciting happening today. I played a lot of FIFA and made a quick trip to Kroger.

I also became more annoyed about the media's ridiculous coverage of the Royal Wedding. I don't give a shit and I don't understand why anyone, even those in the UK, would. The royals just seem like an unnecessary waste of money. I feel like they only keep them around to keep us Americans entertained. That's funny because we fought a fucking war to be rid of them.

I really don't think it feels like it's Easter tomorrow. I don't really think about it as a holiday anymore. I mean it is basically ignored by most institutions, so nothing really changes.

Freddy the Racoon explains why we have this holiday that isn't observed by any secular institution:



-Michael

Suspending Disbelief

I'm a very movie illiterate person. Every time a conversation turns to that topic I end up lost and annoyed. This happens to me all the time:

"Have you seen *Insert Movie Title here*?"

"No"

"You need to"

"Ok"

I probably am not going to see whatever film is suggested in that scenario. It's not that I don't care that you're giving me movie advice. I just don't find movies to be something I like to fill my free time with. I'd much rater play video games, read, do things on the internet or watch whatever crap is on ESPN.

The biggest problem I have with movies is my own inability to suspend my disbelief while watching a movie. In a lot of films I can't get over the ridiculousness of it. Especially in Science-Fiction or Action films.

I can't suspend my disbelief watching Films or TV shows, but I absolutely can while reading a book. I think my brain likes filling the gray areas on it's own and Movies don't really allow for that. I like imagining Hogwarts or Winston Smith's apartment. In movies there's not that ambiguity. The scenery is absolute.

The type of movies I am most likely to enjoy are comedies, documentaries and films based on historical events. Comedy is already based in ridiculousness so I don't need to make my mind pretend that it's real. Documentaries of course depict the real world. Films that are based historical events at least have some basis from the real world.

I often feel like an oddity for not being a "movie person." So that's what I want to find out. Are you a movie buff? How big are films in your life? Is there anyone who feels the same way I do?

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

Resigning = Innocence

Today, we have lost one of the comical Republican Senators. John Ensign of Nevada will resign amid an ethics investigation. He of course insists that he's done nothing wrong. And you know it's really a sign of innocence when you resign. It's not like there's pretty clear evidence of bribing the women he cheated on his wife with.

We'll miss you, Senator Ensign. Now we've just got Larry Craig. The rest of them don't really have the humor. Most are just downright scary.

I've done two things today. I went to class and I played FIFA. Right now I have terrible headache.

I depended on cough drops to stop my persistent cough during class, which works for the most part. However, it isn't ideal to suck on Honey Lemon cough drops for something like 5 hours straight. My mouth and stomach hated me for a while after that stunt.

Also remember yesterday when I said there probably wasn't a Tornado. Well, there was. In fact there were two Tornadoes confirmed in my County. The one that is nearest to where I live was an EF2.

I'm still so hardcore.

Ok, I can't really bear to stare at this computer screen any longer. So, a short and terribly disjointed post. What else would you expect?

Thanks for reading

-Michael

Gaming Tuesday

Ok, as promised to have been yesterday on Monday, but it didn't happen yesterday, because I talked about Jelly Beans, so it's happening today now. Mortal Kombat. I'm not feeling all that articulate tonight, so this won't be any good.

I think it's important to understand that I haven't played very many fighting games since Mortal Kombat 2 on the SEGA Genesis. That then means the learning curve for me is very steep, which will likely lead to me criticizing the game unfairly. I'm absolutely terrible at this game. I started on Normal difficulty and got my ass handed to me repeatedly. I knocked it down to Easy and I was almost competent.

It is as wonderfully gory as you'd expect. The fatalities are bloody and disturbing*. There are lots of different game modes, which is nice. I can't really speak to the game play mechanics yet as I'm still trying to grasp them**.

The one true complaint I have isn't really about the game necessarily. In Mortal Kombat it is necessary to use the D-pad. On the XBox controller that is a big issue. The D-pad is just terrible on that controller. It is impossible to be precise at all. If I can work that one out, then I think I'll be able to get this game.

When I went to pick up Mortal Kombat, my local Gamestop finally had FIFA 11 in stock. I've wanted this game for a while. It was definitely worth the wait. The gameplay is improved over last year. It is just fine tuned, which is all that the series really needed.

I don't have anything else to say about Video Games today.

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Last night I posted this tweet. Nailed It!

Apparently there was a Tornado Warning last night. I slept through it, because I'm so hardcore. There probably wasn't a Tornado, but apparently there's quite a bit of damage just East of where I live.

Thanks for reading

-Michael

*Expect when it's robot. Those are just not as fun though.
**n00b

I Don't Like Jelly Beans

This is an issue that only comes up this time of year, which is for the best. I just don't like jelly beans at all. Their texture is unpleasant. I've never really found a flavor of Jelly Bean that allows me to get over that. Lots of them are just unpleasantly sweet. Others are just nasty.

However, the other candy that this time of year brings out is one of my favorites. I absolutely love Peeps. I don't understand why these are only made for the Easter Holiday. Why can't I eat a sugary Santa during the holidays? Or a grainy American Flag* on the forth of July?

Get on that one Science/Candy Makers/Zeus

It was an absolutely dreary morning today. It was raining. It was chilly. And I had to be at class at 8:30. Generally, I rather like rainy weather. It was definitely that type of day. The ceiling was so low that I couldn't really see the sky scrappers downtown. I'm usually able to see them for most of my drive. That is the type of day I like to look out and see if it can't be winter.

However, it really sucks when you have to commute during rush hour. Any moisture on the roads and the traffic flow ends up sucking horribly. Problems that are already congested get worse. Drivers randomly decide to use their brakes. Drivers decide it's appropriate to go way below the speed limit in the fast lane.

That all could have been summarized in this: If I don't have to drive during rush hour rain is awesome. Otherwise I'd prefer it would stay away.

Anyway, as expected not a lot of people actually bothered to come to class. It is Spring Quarter after all. A quarter where you may skip too times in a week, once because the weather is too shitty, the other because it's too nice. I like this professor, I do, but taking notes from his lectures is just irritating. He likes to give back stories that we don't need to know about, which he'll qualify by saying we don't need to know. However the transition to material we actually need to know isn't acknowledged. As I sometimes tend to space out during the back story, it leads to missing notes I ought to be taking.

We watched a documentary about the Influenza outbreak today as well. It succeeded in making me feel bad. Not only because it was tragic and all. I coughed periodically during the film and I felt like people were terrified of me**.

Remeber that time I told you I'd write about Mortal Kombat today? That's been delayed until tomorrow.

Finish Him!

-Michael

*I don't hate the flag or the United States
**I use the proper covering of my mouth form, mind you!

We Do Our Dates Better

I don't dispute that in most measurements, the American contrarian nature has created a lot of things that aren't as good as their international counterparts. Our measurements of length have no understandable method to them whereas the metric system is simple. I know what a Kilometer means relative to a meter; I don't know what a mile means relative to a foot relative to an inch.

However I think the American way of dating is better. Let's look at it:

April 18, 2011

18 April 2011

Having the month first provides me with actual data that I can understand. I know what April means. There's only one April, but there are twelve 18ths of the month*.

Take that, World.

After a week of being ill, I'm going to go back to school tomorrow. My cough is still there, but I think I can keep it under wraps for the day. I've only got one class to go to, which is good too. My Soc class is canceled and I dropped my late class**.

Also, Mortal Kombat is out tomorrow. There will be much more about that tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

-Michael

*Did I get the pluralization of that right?
**Remember the class I said I was really uncomfortable in?

I Cough Everytime I Laugh

This is my new thing for today: If something makes me laugh, I have a coughing spell. It's brilliant and excruciating. Brilliant because it reminds how often I laugh. Painful because my head, chest, and abs are all really sore from so much coughing.

I beat Arkham Asylum last night and today I finished collecting all the collectibles*. Next mission is to beat it on hard difficulty.

I've also just realized that I have a big research paper due Thursday that I've done nothing for and have zero knowledge to go in with. I'm sure that will be a high quality paper. I think it ultimately means that my BEDA posts will be lower quality than the low quality posts you expect.

This is super short, but there's nothing else for me to say. Here's a video:



Thanks for reading

-Michael

10 Favorite Harry Potter Characters.

Inspired to make a list by Kayley over at owlsayhooot, I was determined to to just make list for today's blog post. It's should be simple and provides false impressions of length. I then had to think about what to make a list about. And that's why it's nearly eleven.

Then I just know I'll leave something/someone out of my list who I really meant to be in there. So here goes nothing. These overviews and explanations are going to be so general, so I apologize in advance.

My Top Ten Favorite Harry Potter Characters

1. Hermione Granger

She's a genius. She's idealistic. She's usually right. Where she really won me over personally, is when she stayed with Harry when they were on the run.

2. Luna Lovegood

If you don't love Luna then I don't know what's wrong with you.

3. Albus Dumbledore

He's just so fucking wise. If you try to you're best to act like you think Dumbledore would I think you'll do alright. That's not to mention that he's the greatest Wizard around. I feel like if you saw him do just a simple charm it would be super badass.

4. The Weasley Twins

I can think of no two better examples of good-natured people anywhere. They tease, but they're never cruel. Bad stuff happens to them they still crack jokes.

As characters they are unable to separated. Some people suggest otherwise, but they seem like two of the same people to me in the books.

5. Remus Lupin

The best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we get to see at Hogwarts. He was the best bet to keep the reigns on Sirius at Grimmauld Place. He was brave and a talented Wizard. He suffers a lot of injustice too because he's a werewolf. Plus he's the only Marauder on the list.

6. Hagrid

He's a super emotional half-giant. He's very loyal.

7. Harry Potter

You make the list when you Kill Voldemort.

8. Tonks

She married Lupin and was a Metamorphmagus. She was a klutz and an Auror. Did anyone else think that she had died in the Battle at the Ministry? I've reread that part recently, knowing that she survived and it still sounded like she got hit by Killing Curse.

9. Arthur Weasley

A wizard who loves muggle things, which provides create a few great bits of humor in the books

10. Cedric Diggory

In reality Cedric doesn't deserve this spot, but well I've got to put a Hufflepuff somewhere in this.

There you have it. Tell me someone I obviously missed in the comments.

Thanks for reading.

-Michael

Where's the Batcave?

11:26 Time to do this shit.

As this blog is slowly devolving into a symptom log. Well here how it it today.

I'm generally over most of my symptoms. My throats not sore most of the time, which is the big thing. I'm still coughing a lot though. It's to the point where the muscles in my stomach and back are starting to hurt badly. It's gotten worse later tonight and that's something I've noticed following illness the past few times. I start to have a really horrible chest cough late at night and I haven't found an adequate explanation for it really. I think it's mostly because my lungs hate me. It sounds like I have Pneumonia or something, but I don't as I don't have: 1) a fever 2) a deep cough all the time and 3) I'm not coughing anything up. However this will eventually lead to an annoying encounter with my father.

I've spent a lot of time today playing Batman: Arkham Asylum. It really is a fantastic game. I wish I had picked it up sooner on the advice of so many people. Also it produced (I hope) about as good of an anecdote as I can give you from a single player video game.

As the player of course you get to control Batman. So, I needed to get to the Batcave for a mission. I'd been there once before earlier in the game, but now I couldn't remember how to get there. So, I made Batman wander around for more than an hour looking for the Batcave. In effect Batman had forgotten where he put his Batcave. It was weird conversation with Oracle.

I eventually found it*. I had backtracked unnecessarily because I completely missed an obvious door. That isn't the first time that's happened to me either in this game. So if I have a criticism of this game is that the doors aren't obvious enough. Couldn't they be bright orange and noise?

I make for a pretty incompetent Batman.

It's 11:58. Suck it, BEDA

Thanks for reading

-Michael

BEDA Filler Time

I'm really lacking any semblance of an idea for what to blog about tonight. I'm still sick, so I haven't done anything. The best thing I can say I did today is watch two episodes of Top Gear. I tried my best to find food that wasn't to abrasive to my throat. I also didn't have my voice for most of the day. Worse though is the pains that my cough is causing me lots of pain.

I have a big time aversion to Urgent Care. You have to wait for hours and hours. You aren't guaranteed to get a doctor worth a shit. Also the waiting room is just awful. It's Pneumonia, Flu, nothing seems to be wrong with that person*, I think that person is going to die. That being said I generally avoid that place until it becomes a necessity. I don't even think I'd get anything either and that's definitely not worth the trip or co-pay.

That seems to be all I can come up with now. So I'll give you this and call it a night:



Honey Badger don't care.

-Michael

Ill Michael is Ill

I feel like death warmed over. Those second hand Wrock Wreggies' germs are taking their toll. I really just want hot tea, with lemon(and vodka.) My throat is just so irritated and sore. My voice is waxing and waning. I have an annoying throat cough.

I'm not one to tell anyone about nasty things that happen when I'm sick. I don't know exactly what I have, but I won't list gross symptoms for anyone to have a guess. I get Sinus Infections all the time and this sort of feels like except it is missing the key component of one, Nasal Congestion*.

The throat pain is the most annoying about being sick for me though. It makes me not want to drink, so I don't say hydrated. I just don't want to swallow cause it's painful. Then it's annoying i enough that it makes it hard to fall asleep**.

It also means I'll be missing class. I'm certainly capable of pushing through sickness; it's what I did in high school. I may feel like shit, but I feel like shit frequently enough that I'm able to force myself through it. However I don't like going to college sick. Partly because I feel like uncontrollable coughing is disrespectful in a class where attendance is strictly voluntary. Partly because my fellow students in college have real lives that if I got them sick would suck.

I'm not actually missing anything required though, so I guess no harm no foul. Just reading the book suffices in most classes. I still generally don't like to miss classes***. I mean I had already thought that I would probably skip on Tuesday, but that's when I woke up sick. Unless I wake up feeling much better I won't go tomorrow, which is effectively missing a week of classes.

This has been a bummer bitchy post. If you've made it this far you're amazing.

As sickly as I am I do have some methods to avoid feeling so awful. Methanol Cough Drops are almost always in my mouth****. The best liquid that isn't warm for a sore throat that I've found is watered down caffeine-free soda. The best way to achieve this is to get the biggest soda***** from a fast food restaurant and it'll be watered down with all the ice in no time and the drink will last forever******. If you don't drink soda, I think the same trick would work for non-citrus juices as well. Ice water with lemon is pretty friendly to the throat too.

I'll try to do better tomorrow. I think six notes is a record, so that's something

Thanks for reading

-Michael

*I'm taking a decongestant in case you were wondering and it isn't changing. Pro tip though: Mucinex is the best decongestant around. It's better than any prescription I've ever had.
**That's why I want Vodka
***There was one quarter that I took Economics and skipped more often that I attended and still got an A in that class. I was surprised by how much the Professor actually liked me. It wasn't easy to hide how often I skipped considering there weren't even ten people in that class.
****It's important to stop in enough time for meal time though.
*****Saying soda instead of pop is about as weird as it gets for me.
******Seriously have you seen how huge the drinks at fast food are? Even the Mediums are massive.

Wrock Concert

Yesterday night I went to a Wizard Wrock show at Team Thunder Road Headquarters. It was a brilliant time. Monica was a great host and all the music was fantastic.

I've said several times that I'm generally terrible at timing arrivals. I can never get it quite right. I compensate way too much most of the time, which leaves me earlier than I want to be. It was rainy and nearly rush hour when I left yesterday, I figured I'd give my self an extra cushion, which means I ended up arriving almost 25 minutes early. I don't know. That just seems really early for a house show.

There were six sets at this show and all of them were awesome. In order

Kwikspell
Snidget
Lauren Fairweather
The Whomping Willows
Justin Finch-Fletchley (3D!)
Tonks and the Aurors

Beth(Kwikspell) sounded great even though her voice was nearly gone. Grace of Snidget's played a really awesome set. She played a dulcimer, which makes a very pretty sound and her lyrics were beautiful as well. Lauren's played very well. I really do look forward to her next album "The Prince's Tale" as the songs that she played sounded great. The Whomping Willows and JFF both brought some energy to what was a pretty laid back show. Finally, Steph (Tonks and the Aurors) gave the ever rare triple encore.

I bought loads of Merch. after the show. I'll probably put some pictures on Flickr soon.

It was a really fun experience. Everyone was friendly, the music was awesome and it was ultra nerdy. Lots of laughs as well. That is basically all that is needed for a fantastic evening.

The only bad thing is that I think I caught some Wrock Wreggies germs second hand. It's totally worth it.

Thanks for reading

-Michael

Monday, Monday

I've been so sleepy lately. I've been going to bed at reasonable times, but still have been sleeping in ridiculously late. Then when I finally get up, I start wanting to go back to sleep pretty quickly. This new pattern isn't ideal especially for today.

I've got to get a lot of school work done before leaving this afternoon for a concert. I managed to wake up at about nine this morning, so that's not to awful. I'm almost done with the outline I'm supposed to do that is due tomorrow. I've still got to do some readings as well. I'm just lacking motivation. I'd just rather take a nap that's all.

Yesterday morning I had some strange dreams. The content of the dreams isn't what was strange, but rather how they were happening. I kept falling asleep and waking up like 15 minutes later having this seemingly long and detailed dream. It felt like dreams like those should take longer than that.

I forgot to share a story yesterday about Saturday.

I accidentally bought one extra ticket for the game. So we were looking to sell it to someone it to in the line. Everyone we asked was looking for multiple tickets, then I saw him.

"That guy" I said

He was the creeper extraordinaire. I knew he only needed a single. He did. I'm good at recognizing my own kind, I guess.

Thanks for reading.

-Michael

Crush

Yesterday, I went to the final Blue Jackets game of the season with my friends Pat, Tommy and Sarita. As I'm generally a hermit crab this is the most unusual of occurrences. It was a fun time. There were loads of Buffalo fans there, which is typical when the Blue Jackets aren't competitive and the team their playing is from relatively close. I mean nothing to extraordinary happened.

The interesting thing I noticed at the game was that there were loads of people dressed up. Ladies were in fancy dresses and guys were in suits. I noticed this initially while standing in line for tickets outside and thought it was a little early for any Prom to be going on. I was more puzzled by the fact that all these people were actually in the Arena for the game in their own section.

I couldn't figure it out last night, but I've come up with a theory. I think it was a Wedding Reception. There was a bride and groom getting their pictures taken across the street as we waited for a table at a restaurant. Why someone would want to have a Wedding Reception at a Blue Jackets game is the only thing that is making me still question it.

So, last night before the game, I saw the biggest crush I ever had while we were at dinner. I didn't say a word. It wasn't like she was at the other side of the restaurant or I'd have to chase her. I don't think it would've been terribly awkward either.

Tweet

How did I rationalize it? Well, I didn't really.

Brilliant ending, I know.

-Michael

Special Comment- The Biggest Fight Is Yet to Come

How messed up has political discourse become now that John Boehner is seen as 'reasonable?' He certainly isn't, but for some reason everyone is accepting the farce that the Tea Party deserves a seat at the table. It is because the Republican leadership is scared of that extreme wing of their party. A big part of that is the media acting as though the teabaggers are equal to the two political parties. Therefore, their bat-shit insane ideas are given equal opportunity even if their numbers are small.

They're loud and they have an unreasonable pull on the early primaries for the Republicans, so the Republican leadership is hesitant to just cut them out of the deal. The early Republican primaries are largely white-bred and have an uber-conservative electorate. So their pull is exaggerated by the media because their message is insane and loud and they have a pull thanks to the unfortunate scheduling of primaries.

There wouldn't have been a near government shutdown last night had Boehner been willing to lose some of the self-proclaimed Tea Party votes. House Democrats and the non-extremist Republicans could have easily passed the budget, but the Republican is too afraid of the Tea Party to do something like that. The Democrats did nothing but give in the negotiations and nearly wasn't enough as the Tea Party feels they are entitled to get everything they want even though they are merely a small faction within a political party. Not withstanding the fact the Senate and Presidency are in Democratic control.

As big as this budget fight may have seemed, it will be nothing compared to what is coming in a few weeks. There was a way to compromise with the budget. There won't be one when it comes to the debt ceiling.

In advocating not raising the debt ceiling, the Tea Party is basically advocating the collapse of the global economy and American civilization. The United States defaulting on it's loans would cause the an economic crisis that would likely put the Great Depression to shame.

Not only should the debt ceiling definitely be raised, but cutting spending at a time like this is just plain dumb. The deficit doesn't matter right now. The government needs to keep spending. It is the best thing the fragile economy has. The cuts that have already been passed and will be passed for the 2012 budget aren't going to help the economy, because the deficit isn't a drag on the economy right now. What is drag is that money isn't flowing and government has the ability to make that happen by itself.

What's really funny is that the Republicans ran up huge deficits when they weren't in any way necessary. They fail to notice the debt added on by George W. Bush is significant and is much worse than what is being added now. That debt was created for tax cuts for the wealthy and unnecessary wars. That was a period where the budget could have easily been balanced.

Debt and deficit just don't matter at this moment in our nation's history. Tens of Trillions of dollars of debt sounds way more scary than it actually is. We are the world's biggest market, so any country that would demand payment on their loans would be destroying their own economy. Spending is the way out of this shaky economy. It's not tax cuts. It's not dealing with the deficit.

That's not to say that the issue of debt and deficit shouldn't be dealt with, but now isn't the time for that. If the economy is stable and the country's work force is working, the government should definitely not spend the way that it is spending now.

And honestly the way to deal with the deficit isn't through domestic spending. If someone is really serious about that issue they have to be willing to take on Military spending and Entitlement Spending. Those are the areas where real changes can be made. Money to Planned Parenthood isn't a drop in the sea, but spending on an over-size, over-utilized military is absolutely massive.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael.

I'll Fight Off The Spring

This is going to be choppy and stupid. Not that everything here isn't that way, but it's bad enough this time that I thought I'd give warning

I hate the Spring. It is without question my least favorite season.

Nothing good ever seems to come out of April. It's never a positive when you bring up what happened on a day in April in History. Bombs kill people, great men are shot and senseless massacres.

Spring is by theory identical to Fall. In practice they just aren't though. I'm sick basically all of the time in both seasons, but it's so much worse in spring.

I've been over how everyone is bitchy in the spring too. Everyone has to bitch about the weather as if it's never happened like this before, but of course it has. It's what fucking spring is. It never just suddenly decides to be warm and then stick. It'll be warm and then it'll be cold. Some days you'll start off in a winter jacket and end wearing shorts. It's the same every year.

Funnier still is the people who refuse to accept that the weather fluctuates. As soon as it hits 70 degrees once, the reasonable clothes go away. It may have been seventy a few days ago, but now it's below freezing. Why are you wearing flip-flops and a mini-skirt?

The worst thing for me though is that it signifies the end of winter. I much prefer the cold.

In summary Spring sucks because: I'm always sick, people are bitchy, the worst month of the year, and the winter ends.

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I sound way more upset about that than I actually am. It happens sometimes. It's not all bad. I mean it's nice to not have to scrape off the car. Spending sometime outside is nice too. My Birthday is in spring, so is my brother's and my Mom's.

I'll probably be writing about the (potential) government shutdown tomorrow. Hopefully that will be better.

Thanks for reading.

-Michael

I Don't Want To Line Dance

I'm rather tired of seeing Alan Jackson before every Youtube video I watch. Let me tell you something. I don't want to 'see you down the line.' I mean fucking line dancing? I can't imagine that line dancers is a very big demographic. Who in the hell is this supposed to appeal to? I prefered the Asian man telling me something that violated the laws of thermodynamics.

More importantly, How in the hell do I know Alan Jackson is? I feel like it is a waste of a part of my brain to know some random Country singing.

I think it is a new strategy by some advertising; to be as annoying as possible. I mean why bother creating a decent commercial when a lot of people don't watch them? So, just be as annoying as possible in the mediums where the ads can't be fast-forwarded through. We are were horribly assaulted by those terrible NAPA lip-syncing ads during the NCAA tournament. They were unavoidable because they were during live sporting events.

I wish I had something exciting to share, but really nothing in my day is that worthy. It cost me $42.15 to fill up my truck today thanks to oil speculation on Wall Street. I pre-ordered Mortal Kombat as well. That's the best I can give you guys.

I'll try to think of something better for the next few days.

Thanks for reading.

-Michael

Re: Sirius Black

In response to Tyrannosauruslexxx's post about Sirius Black yesterday.

In the Order of the Phoenix, Sirius Black is definitely not shown in his best light. Honestly, almost none of the characters are shown in their best light. He seems reckless and at times treats Harry more as a friend, or replacement for James, than he does a godson. Dumbledore won't talk to or acknowledge Harry despite the promises made following Harry's return from Little Hangleton. Harry is a whiny adolescent for most of the book, even locking himself up with Buckbeak after deciding everyone would be better without him.

I think Sirius in the Order of the Phoenix isn't upset that he's stuck in Grimmauld Place like a grounded teenager. It is about not being able to help the Order; not being able to do anything to protect Harry. Lupin, Hagrid, Dumbledore and worst of all Snape were able do be active in the Order. He didn't like that his friends were in so much danger or that his enemy was able to be hero while he had to remain sedentary and could easily be made out to be a coward. Sirius could deal with being stuck in Grimmauld Place, but not while the world was going to hell all around it.

In The Order of the Phoenix, Sirius and Harry were actually in pretty similar situations. Sirius is stuck in his house. Harry is under the thumb of the biggest bitch* in the series. Sirius definitely advised Harry to do some reckless things, but most of it wouldn't put Harry in any real danger. The exception being proposing the meeting in Hogsmeade, but even that probably wasn't as horribly risky as it may seem and is out of desire to see Harry as much as getting out of Grimmauld Place.

Still, I don't think Sirius completely dropped the ball as 'grown-up' in the Order of the Phoenix. There are a few particular points in that book where he put aside his grumpiness and was a bit more parental.

The first is the fight between him and Molly about what Harry should be allowed to know about what was going on with the Order. At that point in Harry's life he had already faced Voldemort three times and certainly deserved not to be kept in the dark about what was going on. Molly was being over-protective. She was not serving as a better parental figure than Sirius. Keeping Harry in the dark to 'protect' him would have likely caused Harry to do something stupid or dangerous.

"Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry," said Lupin sharply, "Sirius, sit down."

When the children returned to Grimmauld Place after Mr. Weasley was attacked, Sirius was very mature and acted as a authority figure. He wasn't going to try to rescue Arthur himself. He didn't rush them to go see their father. He was calm and had them stay put and wait for word. That certainly wasn't a rash thing to do, but it was what was for the best.

There's no denying that Sirius had a bad temper. Still, I don't think that hurt his ability to do well as Harry's godfather. This bring me to the Occlumency lessons. I think that what Sirius did when Snape showed up at Grimmauld Place to tell Harry about the lessons is probably what James would have done in that position. It may not have been the wisest thing, to almost duel in the kitchen, but it was out of love for Harry and hatred of Snape. When Harry used Umbridge's fire to talk to Sirius, it was a combination of Lupin's telling him that he must continue with the lessons no matter what and Sirius' indignation that showed Harry how important those lesson's were. Sirius wanting to 'have a word with Snape,' wasn't the smartest thing for him to consider, but it clearly showed how much he cared about Harry and his understanding of the importance of those lessons despite Snape.

"Nice one!" shouted Sirius, forcing Harry's head down as a pair of Stunning Spells flew at them. "Now I want you to get out of---"

Finally that brings me to the Battle at the Ministry. Sirius came to protect Harry. He fought Death Eaters while trying to get Harry to get out of there. He loved Harry cared that Harry was safe way more than he cared about himself and his actions in the battle clearly showed that. Ultimately he died because he loved Harry so much.

Going backwards, in the Goblet of Fire, Sirius was definitely a more sound advice giver to Harry. It was clear to him that Harry was in real danger at Hogwarts that year. Whereas in the fifth year, the danger was real, but in reality Harry was safer in the fifth year than the forth. Voldemort had no chance to get into Hogwarts in year five and unlike year four there was no agent of his in the school.

That's all we really end up getting about Sirius. We know the actual Sirius for two books. He wasn't the best role model. He was definitely arrogant and brash. Still, he loved Harry like a son and having that capacity is amazing considering he was locked in Azkaban for so long. He didn't show Harry how to be the ideal wizard. However, he did show loyalty, courage and the power of love. Those were the lessons Harry really needed; not a how to keep his temper under control.

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I couldn't really find a way to put this into the post, but it fits so here it goes.

I really think that Sirius and Dumbledore both feel tremendous guilt about the Fidelius Charm on the Potter's home. It's obvious in hindsight that Sirius' idea to use Peter Pettigrew instead of himself was really dumb. I think this is part of the reason he doesn't fill the father role exactly, but treats Harry more like a peer in some circumstances. He doesn't think he's worthy to fill James' shoes, because he blames himself for his and Lily's deaths.

The strange about that to me is that I think the end result would have been the same, just slightly delayed had Sirius been the secret-keeper. Sirius would have been killed by Voldemort, because as talented of a wizard as Sirius was he would be no match. As we learned after Dumbledore's death, once the Secret-Keeper dies everyone who know about it becomes Secret-keeper. Peter Pettigrew would've undoubtedly would've know about the Potter's home and once Sirius was dead it would be the same result.

I think Dumbledore feels guilt about not forcing James and Lily to make him Secret-keeper. Voldemort wouldn't have dared take on Dumbledore, so the Potter's home and little Harry would have been safe. I think that is at least part of the reason he was always certain of Harry's safety and took such an interest in him.

So today comments are for your thoughts on Sirius Black and the Fidelius Charm.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael
*Ok, the biggest bitch not named Bellatrix LeStrange

Gaming Tuesday- Homefront

Last time on Gaming Tuesday: I told you that I was fighting the urge to go get Homefront. That I'd just wait until I could pick it up used and on the cheap. Now on Gaming Tuesday:

I bought Homefront. It was a breakdown in my better judgment. I kept hearing about how awesome the multiplayer was and I just went to Gamestop and dropped the full price on it. This is as borderline as I've ever been on whether or not the game is worth it. I'm not going to do a review since it's already been out for a while, but I'll tell you what I think of the game. There will be no major spoilers, if you're worried.

I'll start with the single-player campaign. Simply put, it is below average. The story isn't horrible or even that crazy once you get over the premise, but it is by no means extraordinary. It succeeds in horrifying the player with the first cut scene. You see Americans being shipped to internment camps and most awfully parents being executed in front of their small child. They certainly didn't pull any punches when it came to setting the true horror of the setting.

The player finds a few more horrible scenes as he or she plays through the campaign. Those scenes go along with pretty typical first person shooter type objectives. You know, 'kill all the bad guys and get something' or 'take out something at a certain point,' the status quo. The game play mechanics are identical to Call of Duty, so one won't struggle with the controls in all likelihood.

It sounds fine, but this game was not done very well technically. The graphics are terrible for a game in 2011. There are frame-rate issues caused simply by having your character turn to the side. There is no bullet penetration, which is just annoying. The controls aren't actually sluggish. In fact there as close to Call of Duty 1:1 as I've played, but they end up looking sluggish due to the choppy frame-rate at times.

The thing that is worst about the campaign is how fucking short it is. A game like Homefront, with such a unique story, should not have a campaign that is only five hours. A longer campaign would allow the story to develop more naturally and would just be better. A Call of Duty 4 length campaign would've suited this game very well. It should have been longer, more exciting and should have built to a fantastic crescendo*.

The single player was definitely a big let down in Homefront. There's not even a cool secondary single player game mode. The best props I can give to that aspect of the game is that the collectibles are really cool.

It is then surprising that out of that Single Player came the Multiplayer that Homefront has. I would've thought the focus of a game like Homefront would be single player. It would've been a way for this game to stand out from Call of Duty, whose last two single player campaigns have been lacking. However, that is clearly not how THQ and Chaos went about it. Their focus was obviously multiplayer and they ended up doing very well at it.

The most notable thing about Homefront's multiplayer is the absence of Killstreaks. They are replaced by an in-game currency system called, "Battle Points." You earn these points through getting kills, capturing objectives, taking out enemy vehicles and a few other things. This relieves the stress of getting to your Killstreak reward and thus makes it a much less stressful FPS. You don't have to worry about getting the streaks that you need in Call of Duty, but can focus on getting as many kills as quickly as possible for you to my your reward.

The Killstreaks themselves are pretty cool. You can get into armor or a helicopter. You can use your points to buy recon for your team. This sounds like it would get annoying, but it isn't that awful as it is pretty well balanced. Another cool thing is that a lot of these rewards have a second seat that a teammate can spawn into, which ends up benefiting both players.

Also this game had dedicated servers. Dedicated servers give me a boner.

There certainly are some flaws in the multiplayer. The hitbox is too small. It is really hectic and hard to really get into a good flow since there are so many players on the map. It's not uncommon to get repeatedly fucked by tanks and helicopters. Spawns aren't that brilliant even though they give a bird's eye view.

I really know that Multiplayer is good, because I'm terrible at Homefront, but I still enjoy playing it. I can think of few games I can say that I can actually enjoy while doing terrible, but this is one of them.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael
*If I had told you how the game ends, it would sound a lot cooler than it actually was.

I'm Looking For the BEDA Authority

I've been wondering if it's allowed/if it counts to have a post on another blog. My sport's blog, which is linked at the top of the page, is seldom used, but I've been wanting to write some posts about amateurism and the NCAA. Those would naturally go there rather than here, but I don't know if that would count towards my 30 day goal.

The sky was beautifully ominous when I woke up this morning. I really like thunderstorms. So waking up, hearing thunder, and seeing the dark sky makes me happy. There's been a few Thunderstorms roll through today. None of them were particularly great or strong, but still rain beating against the window and thunder in the distance is awesome.

The thing is, I used to be absolutely terrified of thunderstorms when I was younger. I mean, run to my Mom and cry scared. Just the forecast of severe storms would make me super anxious*. I think that was probably what got me interested in the weather. Now, I know so much about storms and Tornadoes. Understanding was at least part of the way I was able to over come that fear.

Tonight is dedicated to the Basketball National Championship game and rationalizing why I haven't the readings I need to do for class tomorrow. I feel way too typical.

Tomorrow, expect a post of decent length and slightly less rambling nature. It'll be the return of Gaming Tuesday.

Thanks for reading

-Michael

*The type of anxious that I know experience before a social gathering with unfamiliar people.

Tattoos

I'll share something I've never told anyone before. I really don't like Tattoos. I mean it makes me feel horribly closed-minded. I just don't find them cool, appealing or attractive at all. It's not a moralist thing either*. It's just something about tattoos that I really don't like.

It's not exactly absolute. I can get over little tattoos on a girl's wrist or ankle. Anything bigger than that and I just can't. If I were to use the classic 1-10 scale for attractiveness a large tattoo is probably -1 point in my eyes.

It's weird. I like to consider myself progressive. In this area I feel like such a conservative grandpa though. If someone says out loud that they want a 'tattoo,' I cringe**. I wouldn't ever tell anyone not to do it if that' what they really wanted.

I don't really have any theories on where this distaste for tattoos comes from though. I don't ever remember this idea being put into my head by my parents. I haven't had any terrible experiences with a person that has tattoos.

I don't know. Maybe I'm some sort of naturalist who just thinks human skin is beautiful and shouldn't be messed with. I don't think that's really me though. Skin is nice and all. I mean my bones and organs aren't all exposed and stuff, but sill I think it's probably for the best that we keep most of it covered most of the time.

While were here, I suppose I should touch on piercings as well. I'm fine with most piercings. In fact I find some of them cute(i.e. noise piercings.) Some of the more bizarre do gross me out though. Like the ones that go through the middle of the nose.

Questions for the day: Do you find tattoos attractive/just like them? Are there things you dislike that make you feel closed-minded?

There you have it. Day 3 and you're already getting random ass confessions.

And now I feel terribly judgmental. And on that bombshell...

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael
*I don't think that's the first time I've used that rationalization on this blog.
**Particularly if it's a girl. I don't like tattoos on guys either, but since I don't find them attractive it brings about indifference.

Boring...

It's been a long time since I've told you anything that's has been going on in my life. The reason for that is pretty simple. There hasn't been anything worthy of note going on in my life. I mean unless you consider playing video games and sometimes doing well at them worthy. Or possible spending way too much time on Tumblr.

Let's go back to the five weeks or so where I thought I had pinkeye in late January/early February. I probably did have pinkeye, but after some reverse diagnosis I'm not sure what to think about that episode. I've never had allergic reactions in my eyes before. Still, my eyes are definitely irritated and red frequently and if it were still an infection I would be a corpse in the ground.

That's pretty much the only story I have from taking off Winter Quarter. The only thing of any note is that I completed my reread of all the Harry Potters. I've started on the Hunger Games, but that may take a while since my hunch is that pretty much all the reading I do for the next eleven weeks will be for school.

Spring Quarter started this week. I'm only going two days a week this quarter, which is the first time I've managed to pull off that feat of scheduling this my first quarter. The three classes I'm taking are Humanities 152- American Civilization since 1877, Sociology 202- Social Problems, and Humanities 245- American Art and Music since 1945.

I still have yet to be able to find the time to leave that doesn't result in my being super early or a little late. I mean just a few minutes difference in departure time can equal a lot of time in traffic. I really would rather not be 45 minutes early to my 8:30 class, but certainly don't want to walk in late either.

My professors this quarter seem to be alright. My American Civ Professor seems like he's going to be a bit anal (retentive.) I don't think it'll be too bad though. My Soc professor is pretty cool. Another redeeming quality for both of them is that they seem to keep the class for most of the scheduled time. That may seem like something that shouldn't be praised, but going to a commuter school where parking is a nightmare(enough so that leaving for a bit is a terrible idea) creates hours to kill where I end up looking like a loser/creeper.

I haven't really had the bat-shit insane, quite stereotypical college professor yet. That brings us to my Humanities 245 professor. He is definitely unique. Starting off, he's going to go backwards on the timeline. Giving us an excersize to draw the person sitting next to us with our left hand without looking. The capper though is showing us video of a photo session that was just a mass of naked people.

I don't mean to imply that I think it's bad. I think I'll enjoy this class if I can avoid failing it. I mean I don't personally have that huge of a beef with most of convention, but I suppose avoiding it at all costs can't be that bad either. I certainly will confess that I've never been so uncomfortable in a college classroom before though.

That's about it. That's 2 for 2 so far this BEDA.

Thanks for reading and please comment(especially if you have post ideas.)

-Michael

Born Elsewhere the Definitive Argument

I had a dream last night that made it so clear to me that the President wasn't really born in this country. It all came together in my head. I know I've been dismissive of this idea in the past. Often claiming the 'birthers' argument is filled with logical fallacies and just plain lunacy.

You see, it's so obvious that Obama was born in Kenya. I can't believe I couldn't see it before. I can't believe I though all the evidence was crazy or just made up. More so, It's so clear that Obama's Mother knew for certain that her son would grow up to be President of the United States though. She faked birth announcements in Hawaii. Then the crazy leftist Hawaiian government went along with the plan. I mean they didn't really make a birth certificate, but claim to have it 'on file' along with everyone's who was born there.

Hawaii shouldn't even be a part of the Union if you ask me. They want to keep their own language and culture. Who do they think they are? Give those volcanic islands back to the savages and just subjugate them.

Then, even if you accept that absurd notion that Obama was born in the U.S., he was obviously naturalized in Indonesia. An American would never spend anytime living in Indonesia unless they absolutely had to, even a child. I mean, what a hell hole!

Finally here is the ultimate proof.







I hope you guys were able to figure this one out, but APRIL FOOLS!

Obama was definitely born in this country and anyone who believes other wise is an idiot or an ideologue exploiting idiots. Also, I'm happy to have Hawaii as part of Union.

So, I'm back from an unannounced and unintended hiatus. Since April begins with the letter A, it also means that it's BEDA.

Thanks for reading.

-Michael

P.S. I'm very sorry to anyone who actually clicked that link.