7:17 PM

I'm kind of tired of talking. I think you people should have to say something.

 
8:16 AM

Why does it make me feel so guilty to come to a class unprepared, or show up late, or not show up at all? It's not like they're paying me to be there. Quite the opposite.

 
8:00 AM

The coming Ohio recount

I think it would only be fair, and quite possible, for the two third-party presidential candidates applying for a statewide recount to somehow pay the state of Ohio the actual cost of the recount, rather than the paltry $10 per precinct maximum provided for by law. There's $1.5 million out there around the country, and the taxpayers shouldn't be made to suffer just because they caught our legislature with its pants down. I don't know what you do...just write a check to the treasury? Would that be tax-deductible?

 
6:43 PM

The novel is dying a slow death...

I'm behind by over two days or about 4,000 words. I'm still reeling from not one, but two preposterous plot twists that I put in when I couldn't think of anything else to say. Maybe I can edit it down to a serviceable short story...and submit it to the New Yorker, per Law Dork's suggestion.

 
9:25 AM

RIP ODB

WTF?

 
10:04 AM

So I'm only eight days away from my first (and possibly only) Michigan game. You tell me why I'm not excited. Then again, maybe I have a pretty good idea myself.

 
2:25 PM

Coming soon to a theater near you...a movie that I'm not going to see, Seed of Chucky, because on the one hand, I don't like scary movies, and on the other hand I could never stand to see a sequel without having seen its relative prequels. But can you believe Jennifer Tilly is 46 years old?!

 
8:44 AM

Things I don't like

• Having a job
  
• Looking for a job
  
• Not having a job
  
• Going to school

Being a grownup sucks.

 
4:04 PM

I'm starting my Civ Pro tutoring gig tonight. I'll be at a slight loss tonight because I haven't met with the professor yet whose section I'll be tutoring. I figure I'll go over how I've prepared for exams in the past and show them the web site.

 
1:12 PM

I took a break from the novel yesterday, but I'm still almost on track with 11,316 words.

 
10:36 PM

I'm starting to get tempted to put a line in my novel that says: "You know those last few pages? Well, yeah, that was just a dream. This is what really happened."

 
12:22 PM

Ted Ginn's ego

Okay...take it easy there, Junior. It's not always going to be this great. Think real carefully about what you're going to say to the press. Don't get hurt. Come back next year, get the Heisman, and then give us a chance to convince you to stay one more year and win the national championship.

 
11:53 PM

9,531 words

Still chugging along with the novel. When I typed "along" just now, I accidentally typed "alone" first. That's also true. Writing's a solitary business.

I decided to come write at Easton. Some teenager with a group of people just passed by and said: "Why didja come hang out here? You can do that (stuff) at home."

 
9:09 PM

Bush can screw around with the tax code and Social Security all he wants. I don't care. Just please, please no more invasions, alright?

 
9:04 AM

I missed Rushdie!

Arrrrgh! He's like my favorite author! And though he's no Salinger or Pynchon, he's relatively hard to find. They're trying to kill him, remember? He spoke at the art museum last night, and I was supposed to go, but I forgot and signed up to teach that GMAT class.

 
3:23 PM

Guh...what was this blog supposed to be about again?

I'm only in two classes, plus the journal I'm sort of working on. One class was cancelled today, and I skipped the other because I was too hurt and tired to go. Things are kind of wound down right now, but if I decide to stay, I can wind them back up again and study enough to pass the classes before the exams: December 14th and 21st.

 
11:20 AM

Coming out of (a) closet

Okay, I'm going to come clean. I voted for Bush in 2000. (In Illinois, so it didn't matter anyway.) I regret this with every fiber of my being. To understand why I did this, you must understand how much I despised Clinton's foreign policy. To this end, I present a blast from my distant past, my University of Chicago admissions essay, circa fall 1996. (Please excuse the unvarnished nonviolent idealism. I was only 17!)

---

I have been left dumbfounded by our government's latest scuffle with "Saddam," as well as the public response of the American public. After the deaths of five Iraqis in our recent cruise missile attack, some are unsatisfied. Critics say we've been soft on Mr. Hussein, and would consequently propose that our military launch an all-out, unprovoked war upon Iraq and its people. As other world leaders attempt to employ diplomatic means of dealing with this complex issue before resorting to violence, our military has prepared to launch one of the largest ad hominem attacks in history. It's no wonder that Martin Luther King, Jr. called our government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world."

Though the oft-repeated myth is that our actions will "punish" Mr. Hussein personally, persuading him to fly right, the truth is that we're going to kill a few thousand more innocent Iraqis. It's not even clear to me how Hussein would be bothered by having a few of his people killed; he seems to have very little concern for them anyway. Even if we were successful, the ousting of Hussein could instigate a bloody civil war in which millions could die. The next leader to come to power could be just as brutal.

Our media is eating it up. In this Dispatch article alone, I find the Iraqi dictator referred to seven times as "Saddam." Now, I wouldn't say that this man deserves much respect, but I doubt you'll ever hear other world leaders referred to as "Bill" or "Boris." You also won't hear many dissenting opinions in the press, including those of average Americans like me who are confused and frustrated with the actions of our government and our military. Just as it did during the Gulf War, the media is turning state-sanctioned murder into a game. It repeats the half-truths and distortions emanating from Washington, which are designed to lull the American public into acquiescence. Each story parrots the "punishment" myth, and most fail to delve into the crucial complexities of the Kurdish situation.

I personally harbor the belief that all men are brothers. I believe that the cost of our international involvements should be measured in human lives, not just American lives. I believe that the killing of five Iraqis by our military does no more to solve this problem than would the killing of five Americans. Even if one does not agree with this principle, there are plenty of other problems with our policy.

In July, Iran incurred upon Iraq in support of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. This spurred the takeover by Iraqi forces of Irbil last month. We certainly did not launch a battery of cruise missiles at Iran. How do we justify this uneven treatment? In addition, the U.S. cannot justify our support of the PUK by virtue of its moral superiority. Both the PUK and the Kurdish Democratic Party have committed arbitrary political killings against each other, while causing hundreds of casualties among innocent civilians; this according to Amnesty International. Furthermore, by supporting either Kurdish faction, we effectively support their aim of the creation of an independent Kurdistan, whose boundaries would encroach upon the borders of several existing countries. I wonder what Turkey, Syria, Armenia and Azerbaijan would think.

Briscoe, David (AP). "Iraq puts Clinton in quandary." The Columbus Dispatch, September 15, 1996, page 1A.

 
11:03 AM

Licking my wounds

It appears to be all over but the shouting. And I prophecy lots o' shouting.

So now what? Not having beaten 'em, join 'em? Some say that the war for the soul of the Republican Party between the evangelicals and principled conservatives starts today. The neocons almost cost Bush this election, and apparently didn't do anything to win it for him. Maybe with a good swift kick in the crotch we can vanquish them permanently and bring Bush back to the foreign policy that he said he was going to apply when he ran in 2000.

By the way...just who is it that lives in a 9/10 world? I think the neocons are still living in a 1/26/98 world.

I guess the result of this election in the near term is that it makes me want to speak my mind a lot more and say things that are not necessarily going to make me very popular. It hurts not to be liked, but sometimes it hurts more to feel completely powerless and voiceless.

 
6:00 PM

Who in 2008?

Dick Cheney's not running in 2008, even if W makes a comeback tonight. Rudy, Ahnold, McCain, Pataki, even Colin Powell...none of these people would seem to appeal to Bush's base. In fact, if Bush loses, I wonder if he wouldn't try to pull a Grover Cleveland and run again himself in 2008. For those of you who are Bush supporters reading this, to whom do you want to see him pass the torch, or otherwise, who do you want to go up against Kerry next time?

How about for the Democrats? Please, please, anybody but Hillary. What are her qualifications? Smart, and the wife of a former president. Well yeah, but she's a senator. But how'd she get to be a senator? Smart, and the wife of a former president. I have no reason to support her. Where's a good moderate when you need one? Joe Biden? Uh...Tom Vilsack? Not Bill Richardson. I hate that guy. Maybe someday I'll tell you why.

 
5:05 PM

Dateline Ohio: SERIOUS, WIDESPREAD IRREGULARITIES IN VOTING PROCEDURE!

Namely...those "I Voted Today" stickers are not nearly sticky enough. I did my civic duty, and darn it, I want a sticker saying so that will stay stuck to my shirt at least until the polls close without me having to constantly fuss and smooth it and preserve it from the elements.

 
11:23 AM

Nervous

I feel like this is a day where the seams of our system are going to be showing and will be stretched. I hope they don't come apart. It didn't really hit me until just today and until after I cast my vote. I guess I was excited before I cast my vote, because I felt like I had some power. Now it's totally out of my hands (unless, I suppose, I show up somewhere as an after-the-last-minute volunteer). I'm worried. Let's get a result and get it over with.

 
7:45 AM

Talk about "motor voter"...

I was in line for about 45 minutes, and it took me less than a minute to vote. I had all my picks written down, so I just went push button, push button, push push push then check check check and hit the green button and was done. Probably 45 seconds tops. I AM THE KING OF SPEEEEED VOTING!

 
1:30 AM

Yes! I'm noveling!

2,214 words so far! I'm ahead of the curve! And I drank probably more coffee than I ever have in my life!!!

 
1:42 PM

STOP THE FREAKING PRESSES! MIKE SHECKET'S PRESIDENTIAL ENDORSEMENT!

Yeah, I'm voting for Kerry. But here is a list of people I would rather be voting for:

• John McCain


• Jesse Ventura


• Andrew Tobias


• Jimmy Carter


• Gerald Ford


• Bob Dole


• Howard Dean or even...


• George H.W. Bush

I'm basically a one issue voter, the issue's Iraq and the neocons, and I am con the neocons. Basically, I don't care how badly we screw up our own country as long as our country behaves morally in relation to other countries.

Please don't hate me if you disagree. I don't hate you if you're voting for Bush, or even Nader.