Monday October 31, 2005

Not just Halloween

It's Reformation Day, too!

Does this mean we have to dress like monks?

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Sunday October 30, 2005

A Democrat. Shocker.

Something I stole from Jenn:

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Friday October 28, 2005

A little faith in the system

It's been a little while since I wrote anything overtly political on this here blog. Election's over, and I've accepted that fact that no amount of writing long spiels on my website is going to make the current administration magically start being honest with people. I guess you can say I started to experience a bout of learned helplessness. And I was getting a little weary of being labelled nasty things for expecting better from our elected officials.

When I was a kid I didn't understand the nature of politics in America. I respected political leaders because they were political leaders, and assumed they were in their offices because they truly wanted to make America better. I was more than just a little naive. I was stupid. Just plain stupid.

All of that changed some years ago when I became more aware of backdoor deals and rigged elections. Disillusioned by lie after lie, I lost all the faith I had in government. And the last year in particular hasn't done much to change this... especially after my worth as a human being has frequently been called into question because I don't agree with the President.

As cynical as I am, though, today I can't help but feel that maybe I was wrong on a few of the details... that my distrust of the hustlers in office may be warranted, but that I should have at least a little faith in "the system." Lewis Libby may be only one person in a sea of charlatans and con men, but his indictment today prompted me to reconsider some of my antipathy. A comment on a satirical liberal blog summed up my feelings pretty well:

...it was, at long last and undeniably, a small resurgence of pride in my country. YES, I thought; YES, THIS is the America I remember. [Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald] spoke of the crimes that have been committed by those in control as, well, CRIMES against our country. OUR country, not the personal, decimated playground of corruption that the current cabal seems to think it is. The Constitution. The First Amendment. A government where even the most powerful shitbag is no match for the system, when it works, when it is in the hands of people such as Fitzgerald. Rove's (and, hopefully, others') come-uppance may still be a dream deferred, but for today, at long last, I felt good about living here again.

It's good to feel good about your country.

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Thursday October 27, 2005

Feeling better

...and in the mood to make you all jealous. Meet my brand new fifth generation 30gb video Ipod. Pretty. So pretty.

Ooh.

La la.

It's so much tinier than I thought it would be. I figured the Nano might be this small, but not this Ipod. I'm a little worried that I'm going to break it... the darn thing is so small it could slip out of my hand.

It still fits a lot of music, though (which gives me an excuse to buy some more). Man I love this thing.

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Tuesday October 18, 2005

A dying toad

That's what I sound like.

My nearly week-long silence? Blame the wicked sickness. No blogging until I feel better. Too busy with eating soup and feeling sorry for myself.

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Wednesday October 12, 2005

Wikipedia

The Drina Wiki. I feel so important.

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Tuesday October 11, 2005

Ipod letdown

A few months ago I bought an Ipod Mini and proudly bragged about my new toy. I think there's a picture floating around here somewhere, but I'm too lazy (and too busy... see last Thursday's post) to find it. Anyway, my beautiful palm-size Mini has recently reached its 6 megabyte limit and I can't add any more music. I thought 1500 songs sounded like a nice big number, but apparently it just doesn't cut it for a music afficionado like myself. What a bummer.

My brother will soon be the proud new owner of my Mini (hey Klara, Na Na Nana Na Na). I need to upgrade.

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Friday October 07, 2005

Not fair

My sister went to Las Vegas and touched Billie Joe Armstrong's hand and I am jealous.

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Thursday October 06, 2005

The speed of life

My life feels like it's moving at twice the rate it used to, easily doubling the speed of my youth, when my mom packed my lunch and my biggest concern was getting picked last for dodgeball.

When I was a little Vurbic, I spent hours doing things that had nothing to do with school, or chores, or my future. This included a lot of time at Sarah's house trying on makeup in her bathroom and reading Seventeen. I helped maintain the Vurbic food chain, picking on my sister and getting picked on by my brother. And I can't forget the many hours I spent arguing with my parents. There was time for all of these things, and they were all memorable. But that's all over.

The days seem a lot shorter now, and I have more things to do than time in which to do them. Today alone I added seven things to my October to-do list, which has 19 items left over from my September to-do list, which had 9 holdovers from August. I've been meaning to order contacts for the last four months. I have this old pair that I've been wearing since July that crap out on me during the drive home from work. People speeding by look at me like I'm crazy because I've got only one eye open. It's completely ridiculous, but I just don't have time to fix it.

I've also noticed that I no longer remember most of my days. I can easily discriminate my years up to about age 16 or so, then everything after gets mushed up into this big messy ball. I get my years mixed up easily. I realized this when stating my employment history on a recent job application. I couldn't remember when I held which job, and when things happened to me. Two years ago or five... same difference.

I guess when you don't do anything remotely interesting, your brain doesn't care to remember it. Sure, some of the sciency-type things I do at work are cool, but outside of work I don't have time for anything interesting. I'll probably wake up one day in my 60's and not remember a darn thing that happened to me since I started my adult life. There just isn't any more time for the memorable stuff.

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Tuesday October 04, 2005

And work started... slowly

During the orientation process for my new job, I was handed endless stacks of forms and packets to review before I was allowed to actually do anything. The last four days have been nothing but training videos, tests, forms, classes, more forms, and waiting in lines longer than the ones at the BMV.

Tomorrow I actually get to work. What a concept!

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Back in the saddle

My old roomie!

While on break from teaching the youngins in Atlanta, Steph came back to Cleveland for a visit. Last night she and I went out for dinner, repented for our dinner at the YMCA, then watched Beauty Shop at Sarah's house, which was not very funny (the movie, not the house). It was cool getting to hang out with her, though.

Here's the best part of our evening. Stephanie, the anti-punk worshipper of all things Walmart, needed an outfit to wear to the gym. And this is what I gave her:

Black! Success!

I was so pumped about getting her into something non-flowery that I had to snap a picture. She didn't know who the Strokes were, but it didn't matter. This was the greatest visit ever.

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Sunday October 02, 2005

A bummer

Although I'm not the obsessed Tribe fan I used to be, I was relly pumped about this year. I really thought the Indians had a chance. Darn those ChiSox.

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