Am I the only one having problems posting on this site now?
Edit: Yay, I can post again! Would have been nice to have been able to do that for the last month or so. I’m thinking of switching to mee.nu, because even if it’s a little DIY, at least I can actually post regularly.
*pouts* I should have researched hosting sites better before I went with wordpress.
So, I’ve been pretty much dead for the last two months, mostly because I’m one of those college students who actually have to study a lot to get good grades. Trust me, as I spent my non-class time studying multivariable calculus, I cursed those students hanging out at the pool, all of whom were either geniuses or education majors. Alas for me, I’m too smart to be an ed. major, but too dumb for everything else, so I’m trapped.
And then after that, I went on a family vacation to Disney World, which was a level of “crowded” above any previous level of crowded I’ve seen before. Considering I lived in Seoul for four years, that means it’s really really crowded. So, I saw Magic Kingdom, saw Epcot, went to Universal Orlando, and for the final flourish, we went to GatorLand! which was awesome, by the way. Disney’s primary strength is in animatronics and really nice sets. Univeral has cooler rides. Gatorland takes the cake, just because it has GATORS!
Yeah, that was cool. Lean mean snapping machines. Prehistoric amazingness. They were pretty active even though it was winter, so they must be even nastier in the summer.
Anyway, I got a pretty nasty cold at Disney World, so all I’m doing now is sleeping and reading. So, look for some book reviews in the future – a lot of history books on the list, which are always interesting.
And have a happy new year!
AHHH! IT’S SNOWING! SNOWING IN TEXAS!
And everyone’s first instinct was to 1) pile out of their dorms 2) look up at the sky in slack-jawed amazement 3) call their friends 4) start cheering and making “honk yer horn” gestures at passing cars 5) start singing Christmas carols 6) have some guys (good-looking guys, mind you) get down to their boxers and start running around campus with the college and state flag 7) start fight chants 8)Sing “The Eyes of Texas” 9) as more people join in to look at the sky, repeat as necessary.
This is one of the times when I love my school.
So, it’s Veteran’s day, formerly known as Armistice Day, when the Great War ended ninety years ago. I’ve not much to say – I’ve actually spent the whole day at classes, or studying for a managerial accounting exam – but I don’t think most of my classmates know the significance of the date (except for the ROTC guys, that is). Which is normal, actually, since the average student wouldn’t notice a holiday unless it had immediate relevance to their religion or the school gave us a day off.
So this is not a totally lame post commemorating the day, here is a column I’m always liked about the subject by Mark Steyn – I especially appreciate it because I was one of those teenagers who did wear a uniform all through high school, and would have gladly worn it through college and after, too; here is a round-up of useful military charity links – seriously think about donating; this is one of my favorite books on the American contribution to WWI.
So, I thought I should make a separate tag for my roommate, but I’ve decided not to, as roommates are transient, but dorm life is at least for the next two and half years of my life. Anyway, I’ve learned over this last semester that I got lucky last year with my last roommate. She was quiet, she studied as much as me, and when she was loud, it came in bursts of three hours or less, and I could usually sleep through them.
This roommate is a freshman, but she’s a freshman who seems to have totally forgotten she is in college. Thus, she’s usually gone from Thursday/Friday to Sunday night, and when she’s here, the TV is on ALL THE TIME. I kid you not. She comes in from class (or doesn’t go to class at all), gets into bed, and turns on the TV, usually to E! or TLC or MSNBC – god, why won’t Keith Olbermann shut up? Seriously! And then she wonders why her grades suck so much!
Anyway, I would ordinarily not care, except for the fact that I can’t get any sleep and I can’t study. I’m reduced to pulling out books I need, going to the library, and studying there – which would be alright except for the fact that at 2 in the morning, you get a helluva lot of strange people hanging around outside, and it’s, like, 50 degrees Fahrenheit inside. Also, I’m writing a 20 page paper on the crusades that references nearly two dozen books. I can’t do that at the library – my backpack isn’t big enough to carry my books there!
*sighs* Maybe it’s petty, but goddamn, it’s driving me crazy.
Anyway, she’s finally gone. Maybe I can actually get some work done while she’s out…
I should note how glad I am that I don’t live in California, and thus did not have to vote on Prop 8. Because on one hand, I favor marriage equality – or rather, I think the government should just get out of the marriage business entirely – but on the other, I hate what is essentially legislation from the bench. I wish the LBTG movement would stop using that tactic, because I find it super irritating.
More to the point, why do they use it? I mean, if you want public approval of your lifestyle from a broad majority of people, shouldn’t you try to work through the legislature by persuading people it’s the right thing to do, instead of shoving it down their throat by using the courts? It’s not a very good way of making new friends, if you know what I mean…
On the other hand, if you don’t care about public approval at all, you could just get a sympathetic preacher/rabbi to marry you and get an attorney to hash the whole thing out legally, and go around calling your significant other your wife/husband. Of courses, taxes come into play, then. I’m not sure how you’d handle that…
Anyway, I’m still glad I don’t live in California.
So the election is over, and the Republican party starts it’s implosion right on schedule. The McCain campaign aides are trashing Palin like there’s a book deal on the horizon, the libertarians are blaming the social conservatives for this loss, and the social conservatives are staring at the libertarians and saying things like “what the hell is wrong with you?!”. It’s sort of funny, but mostly horrifying. Seriously, do we really need a replay of Lord of the Flies right now?
My basic instinct at this point is to think we missed a bullet with McCain’s loss. His campaign fell apart the day after the election and immediately began talking to the rags – if he can’t control them, he wouldn’t have been very good in the Oval Office. Let’s move on.
As for the vicious infighting among the conservative base… the social conservatives don’t deserve the blame for the GOP collapse. No, they aren’t always right, and my sympathy for their positions only goes so far to letting the issue(s) (like abortion) they care about devolve to the state governments, but they are not the reason we lost.
We lost because we were hypocrites. The libertarians are right – we didn’t cut spending, or stop corruption, or limit government, and we deserved to lose for that. I supported divided government in 2006 – although I couldn’t vote because I was still a minor – because I believed the Republican party needed to be punished. Now I’ve had to suffer through two years of a Democratically controlled congress, I’ve changed my mind – but it’s going to take more than than to change everyone else’s mind.
But I’m hopeful that total loss will lead to rejuvenation. Bitchy, santimonious “big L” Libertarians aside (I’m so disappointed with Reason this year), the rest of the grassroots seem to be regrouping and analyzing what went wrong and what we could do right – which is all theoretical until Obama takes power and starts governing in January. But once that happens, I expect things to go easier…
Also, concentrate on local politics. I know I will, even though I live in Texas. This may be a conservative state, but it could always be a bit cleaner and more transparent and all, right?
By the way, for those of you who thought that with Barack Obama’s victory, comics would begin making fun of him – uh, that’s not going to happen. Know why? He’s the president. Also, Joe Biden is off-limits, because he’s the Vice-president. Sarah Palin is still fair-game, though, according to the obnoxious host of Chelsea Lately and my roommate. I asked my roommate if she thought Dick Cheney and George Bush hadn’t been funny over the last eight years, and she said, “No.” To which I replied, “You obviously haven’t been paying attention for the last couple of years.”
Yes, my roommate is very obnoxious. The sin of watching Chelsea Lately, and thus forcing me to watch is as well, is only one reason she is such. Also, this proves (by the totally scientific method of relating an anecdote) that liberals (or maybe just young liberals?) have no sense of humor.
And we can all move past the horrors of the past two years of campaigning, thank god.
More to the point, we have chosen a new president. Granted, it’s not the guy I voted for, but hey, that’s life. Congratulations to Senator Obama, I hope you govern wisely and well. I expect I’ll spend at least the next four years in the opposition – but hey, Democrats have been in the opposition for the last eight years, and it didn’t kill them. I think I’ll enjoy it. So, without further adieu, I present “Five Reasons to be Happy the Guy I Didn’t Vote for Won”:
1. 1. The next time someone starts talking about the innate structural racism of American society, I will be able to just go out to a newsstand and point to a picture somewhere on the front page and say “O RLY?” This makes me happy because a) it really is cool and b) it will finally shut up all those annoying people who talk about the innate racism of Americans. And if they keep talking about it, I will use said newspaper to hit them in the face. Seriously, this should make Ward Connerly very, very happy.
2. 2. Nancy Pelosi will finally have to stop whining about those evil House Republicans. She’s got a majority in the House and she still can’t get anything done, but with a Democrat in the White House, at least she won’t be able to blame it on the veto.
3. 3. As an economist, I look forward to any new administration – especially one which talks about the New Deal approvingly. I, too, hope to do as well as Amity Schaels.
4. 4. I think being in the loyal opposition will be quite fun. Schadenfreude is a very satisfying emotion, don’t let anyone tell you differently. For example, next time somone says “political money is bad”, I can point to our president as an example – although really, has that ever been in doubt? I never liked McCain-Feingold, and I think Obama’s fundraising is proof that people vote with their dollars. Why restrict that?
5. On a more serious note, Barack Obama can’t be as bad as Jimmy Carter. No one could be as bad as Jimmy Carter…
Anyway, enjoy the rest of the night, guys. I can’t party because I can’t drink – but what the hell. I’ll get the seniors to buy me a beer…
EDIT: I feel I should make a note of this, since I didn’t, and it’s important. This is the 44th time America has changed government peacefully. It’s a record that most of the world can’t boast of – so enjoy, guys. America truly is a great country.
EDIT 2: OK, yes, I forgot 1860. Sue me, it’s still a great record.
My favorite thing about my new RA is how concerned she is about “women’s issues”. When I moved back into the dorms in August, the doors had these helpful little name tags. They were really pretty – the RA is some kind of art major, so they were essentially very pretty fashion plates. So far, so good, right? Everyone loves pictures of thin, faceless women in georgous clothing! But in a lovely example of cognitive dissonance, the name tags also had helpful little feminist quotes on them, many of them castigating those who don’t understand that women aren’t clothes horses, have a special internal beauty and light, and need a man about as much as fish needs a bicycle, etc, etc. It was a little jarring…
Now there is a display comparing McCain and Obama’s policy positions on – you guessed it! – women’s rights! Women’s rights as in abortion, daycare, birth control… apparently, as a woman, I vote with my uterus. It’s particularly strange considering we’re in the middle of a war and recession…
But remember – the uterus comes first!
You know the best thing about living in college dorms? At 2:30 in the morning, crazy drunk chicks will wake you up by running up and down the hall, tearing things off people’s doors and throwing it on the floor. Classy move, guys, classy move.
And yeah, I know, drunk people do stupid things – but it was their choice to get drunk. Some self-control, girls? It might be helpful.
Now, back to my desperately needed sleep.
elenathehun 