val7's rants, ramblings, and a ton of other stuff

[val7]

Soccer season is almost over :cry: now I don't have an excuse to not do my homework. (but I have more time to post... :D )

I've seen: Red Dragon, Sweet Home Alabama, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. all are really good

I've read (recently): Legends 3, God Emperor of Dune, The Silmarillion (boring), and a bunch of stupid short stories for lit.

I bought two Shakira cd's yesterday! :D I'm listening to one right now! for you poor, confused people who don't know who Shakira is, she is a really good Latin (and a ton of other styles) singer who sings mostly in Spanish (which I don't know enough of to know everything she says...), and looks a little like britney spears (although, unlike britney spears, shakira can sing).

I've been to a lot of cool sites... I'll post some later.
Maybe I'll have a quote of the day (or week, depending on homework).

"The will of Cyric shall descend on this weakened city like... like... like some suitable metaphor I'll think of later! Oh yes... fear my coming retort!"
-Neverwinter Nights
(possibly the funniest quote ever! describes most people here, though.... :shattered: )

:dozey:

[val7]

Stupid printer! *kills printer* It always says it's out of ink, but it's really not. But NOW, when I have to print an important paper... it is really out of ink! :furious: now i have to waste time replacing the ink! :grumbles: my week is ruined. :cry:

Actually, it will only be ruined if we lose soccer sectionals tomorrow.

[val7]

*counting down to soccer sectionals tonight* 1 hour 45 min.! We better win!!!!!

"And what would humans be without love?"
"RARE," said Death, "NEVERTHELESS..."
-Terry Pratchett
who, by the way, looks like a redneck/hillbilly on the back of some of his books. Yellow teeth, cowboy hat, glazed eyes, farmer shirt... But he's still an awesome satirist (is that what it's called?)
*runs off to look it up*

I'll post the results of our sectional in... 4 hours.

:dozey:

[val7]

...or 24 hours. We won, but our best player sprained her ankle, so we don't have much hope of winning sectionals. :cry:

"In Ankh-Morpork, curiosity not only killed the cat, it also threw it in the river with lead weights tied to its feet."
-Terry Pratchett

I don't like profound, thought-provoking statments. They make my head hurt. :(

[val7]

What is the point of spam? It's not like anyone ever buys the stuff. No one likes to get spam. It makes them think the only way that company will ever sell its terrible product is by spamming innocent (for the most part) people. If you see spam, you automatically think that that company can't manage to sell the product by normal (and slightly less annoying) ways. You form boycotts against the companies and refuse to speak their evil names ever again. (and I'm not even going to mention the ones that say "watch 16-year-old Ashley lose her virginity on live webcam!")

Some people say, "what's the big deal? It's never hurt anyone. Just delete it!" Easier said than done. They must not get very much, or they enjoy reading the myriads of unoriginal crap. I was gone for One Weekend, and I come back to see that I have 30 new messages. Only 8 weren't spam. :grumbles:



oooo new smilies! (well, at least for posts)
:love: :toussel: :kill: I like the toussel one! :toussel:

[val7]

I'm sick. *cough* *sniff* My PE teacher made us (just the girls) stay outside for 4 1/2 hours today and it was 30 degrees (F). We had shorts and t-shirts (a couple lucky ones had sweatshirts), and we played frisbee golf. It wouldn't be so bad if it had been an active game, but NOOO, it was a game where you just stand or walk a few feet. Of course, my PE teacher had sweats and a winter coat on, so she was warm. :grumbles:
The volleyball and soccer coaches are really mad because there is a volleyball game tonight and we're in the middle of soccer sectionals and half the sophmore girls are sick. And then, to Make Things Worse, I have that same PE teacher for health 7th period, and we're doing the "dangers of alcohol" unit. She made us wear those glasses that distort stuff and make you dizzy. So we had colds AND felt like we were going to throw up. :cry:
*goes to bed*

[val7]

I'm going to be on the Academic Superbowl Team for english! yay! (even though I don't like english) The bad thing is, I have to read Dante's _Inferno_ and a bunch of old english poems that spell begins as bygnneth. but it will still be fun- I hope... :)

"And yet there is no visible aqueduct, you notice."
"No aqueduct, right," said Cohen. "Prob'ly flown to the Rim for the summer. Some birds do that."
"Which rather leads me to doubt the saying that not even a mouse can get into the Forbidden City," said Mr. Saveloy, with just a trace of smugness. "I suspect a mouse could get into the Forbidden City if it could hold its breath."
"Or rid on one of them invisible ducks," said Cohen.
-Terry Pratchett

:dozey:

[val7]

Here's an excerpt from The Inferno :
Midway in our life's journey, I went astray
from the straight road and woke to find myself
alone in a dark wood. How shall I say

what wood that was! I never saw so drear,
so rank, so arduous a wilderness!
Its very memory gives a shape to fear.

and of course:
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. :D It's a kind of interesting book/poem, but a little *weird* sometimes.

We lost the sectional championship. :cry: :cry:

300th post! yay! :D :D (even though that's nothing compared to most of you... :( )

[val7]

lots and lots and lots of homework. :( :( :(

Googlisms for George Bush (shortened list- it's very long):
"george bush is a monkey
george bush is an american
george bush is a coward
george bush is torn about tax
george bush is clearly not up to the job
george bush is not a christian
george bush is the brer rabbit of america
george bush is a tax raising special interest slot machine
george bush is losing control of america
george bush is a drag
george bush is a clinical psychopath
george bush is getting thrown into the briar patch
george bush is a fan of ozzy osbourne
george bush is a tool of greedy rich people
george bush is contributing the the personal destruction of tens of thousands of lives aroung the world
george bush is demanding to be heard by hugo young
george bush is not the total
george bush is invited to tea with the queen
george bush is torn about tax cuts
george bush is not a christian
george bush is not stupid convention
george bush is a post turtle
george bush is looking for another 911
george bush is scared of ron kirk
george bush is losing control of the american political agenda
george bush is worried about hurting american industry if america kept its' promise on the kyoto accord
george bush is 100% aware of various warnings about recent events and is determined to keep these warnings from us citizens
george bush is not to be found in white house press releases
george bush is on a private visit to japan
george bush is a twinkie
george bush is a fascinating one of adventure
george bush is the same man who in 2000 said he believed in "limited government"
george bush is already failing his third chance
george bush is an idiot
george bush is planning to take over the world
george bush is not giving you free money
george bush is attempting to tear up the kyoto protocol in the face of world opinion
george bush is running and they talk about his "bloodlines" and his name
george bush is the most empty signifier we have ever elected
george bush is handling his job as prez? 100% 3 votes yes
george bush is a tool of wealthy corporate fatcats
george bush is an immigration radical
george bush is able to bail out of the aircraft as it plummets from the sky
george bush is the grandfather of "first twins" jenna and barbara bush
george bush is the king of america and he is bombing us to catch bin laden
george bush is the second president whose son became president
george bush is satan
george bush is not the first empire
george bush is scandalous
george bush is a cowboy
george bush is a bigot
george bush is going
george bush is mired in a fiscal policy crisis worse than anyone could have envisioned
george bush is a no brain coke head
george bush is a stupid
george bush is undoubtedly about to embark on a stupid and disastrous mission"

*cheer4googlisms* :D

[val7]

I saw Sweet Home Alabama last night. It was pretty good, and kind of funny, but I've seen better. I don't have any school today! :D or tomorrow! :D ....because of parent-teacher conferences. :eek: :eek:

"Well, the Hogfather is for kids, isn't he?" said the Dean. "But I'm sure they all believe in him. I certainly did. It wouldn't be Hogswatch when I was a kid without a pillowcase hanging by the fire-"
"A pillowcase?" said the Senior Wrangler, sharply.
"Well, you can't get much in a stocking," said the Dean.
"Yes, but a whole pillowcase?" the Senior Wrangler insisted.
"Yes. What of it?"
"Is it just me, or is that a rather greedy and selfish way to behave? In my family we just hung up very small socks," said the Senior Wrangler. "A sugar pig, a toy soldier, a couple of oranges, and that was it. Hah, turns out people with whole pillowcases were cornering the market, eh?"
-Terry Pratchett _Hogfather_

:dozey:

[val7]

www.gwbush.com :D

*cheer4bush-bashingsites* :D

[val7]

I was at my brother's soccer tournament in Indianapolis over the weekend and it was fun. :D They are a really good team and are 2nd or 3rd best in the state, but whenever they go to a tournament, they come in 3rd or 4th, when they could win (except indoor tournaments, they've won a couple of those). It was very cold and it snowed a little. :D :(
On the way back we saw a very bad accident. :( some guy hit TWO deer, ran off the road, hit a tree (in someone's yard) and his car was practically wrapped around it. :eek: The deer were splattered all over the road and we had to drive over it :eek: (there should be a smiley that is throwing up), and they looked like they exploded. :(

"This little piggy went to Hades
This little piggy stayed home
This little piggy ate raw and steaming human flesh
This little piggy violated virgins
This little piggy climbed a heap of dead bodies to get to the top."
-Terry Pratchett Good Omens , Crawley's nursery rhyme
(rhyme is a funny word :D)

:dozey:

[val7]

At the soccer tournament in Indy I went to a little Barnes & Nobles in the circle centre mall. The employees there had committed a heinous crime. WoT was in the wrong order! :eek:
so of course I had to rearrange them (the order was: tEotW, tGH, tSR, tDR, tFoH, LoC, tPoD, aCoS, WH). An employee came over and asked if I was buying anything, and I informed him that they were trying to deceive newbies to the series with the wrong order! he thought I was weird and walked away. :D

"Air pollution does amazing things to sunsets- it made the sky look as if it was on fire. A carelessly thrown match would have set fire to the river too, but that could wait for another time."
-Terry Pratchett _Good Omens_

[val7]

"Dear me," I said. "We are all becoming a trifle smutty..."
-Elizabeth Peters _Deeds of the Disturber_
:D funny quote because I think she meant something else, because she's talking about 19th century London. :D

I have a cold again. :( science today didn't help. We were doing water testing, and we had to boil water on bunsen (sp?) burners, so the room was like 85 degrees (F) and it smelled really bad. I almost went home sick, but we have an orchestra concert (I play violin) this Friday and the teacher lowers your grade 2% (a lot, considering that all the points are for practicing, and I don't practice...much... at all... :D ). so I suffered. :cry:

*is very very tired and sick* :cry:

:dozey:

[val7]

Yay! it's halloween! *thinks about chocolate* :D
one of the news stations around here did a survey about whether parents would let their kids go trick-or-treating, and 61% said NO and 49% said yes! :furious: What's wrong with parents now?!?!? Little kids have to go trick-or-treating!

I'm a Mennonite, so it's okay for me to tell these jokes, they're kind of inside jokes, but they're still funny :D (most of them are, sadly, true) :
How do we know that Adam and Eve were Mennonites?
-Who else could be around a naked woman and be tempted by a piece of fruit?

What's the difference between a Mennonite girl and the garbage?
-The garbage gets taken out once a week. :cry: (that's not really true)

What's the difference between a Mennonite guy on a date and a rock?
-The rock moves faster.

:dozey:

[val7]

I had an orchestra concert last night and we actually played the songs good! :D (except one of them, the french horns had a solo and they aren't good, so they kind of died in the middle...)

I didn't trick-or-treat this year, :( but I still got a lot of candy! :D nobody ever comes to our house, but I tell my parents to get a lot of candy Just In Case Someone Comes. *evil grin* So once again, noone came and I got a lot of candy! :D

Really funny news story:
not exactly a low-scoring soccer match... (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=573&e=3&cid=573&u=/nm/20021101/od_nm/soccer_dc)
:D

"Nothing says maturity like transforming robots for 8-year-old boys."

:dozey:

[val7]

*is very very very very tired* :dozey:
my church youth group is doing a service project with some tiny little spanish church to raise money for them, and so today we went to each other's church services. We went to mine first, which was about an hour long, then we went to theirs. It was 2.5 hours long. And everything is in spanish, and since I'm only in Spanish 2, most of it went straight over my head.
Also, my youth group is very big (50 or 60 :eek: ), and theirs is very small (7 or 8). When we got to their church and went in, there were only about 30 people (counting various little kids and babies), who barely filled up 1/4 of the church. Then along comes our youth group with twice as many people as their whole church, and fills up every single spot. :blush: Plus, we had to leave their 3 hour service early (at least it looked like it was gonna last that long) because lots of people had stuff they had to do. I felt sorry for the preacher/pastor; half of the church got up and walked out. :blush: :(


it's the pygmy shrew! (http://www.wired.com/animation/collection/pox/pygmy/)

:dozey:

[val7]

I'm reading _The Fifth Elephant_ (Terry Pratchett) right now. :D It's the Blinding Hot Pink edition :eek: I got a couple *comments* on it when I was at school. ;)

A quote from it (Lady Sybil and Sam Vimes, over Igor, a Frankenstein-like thing):
"What a fine figure of a man," said Sybil weakly, as they stepped inside.
"More than one man, by the look of him," said Vimes.
"Sam!"
"Sorry. I'm sure his heart's in the right place."
"Good."
"Or someone's heart, anyway."
"Sam, really!"
"All right, all right, but you must admit he does look a bit... odd." "None of us can help the way we're made, Sam."
"He looks as if he tried-"

:D

[val7]

I couldn't get online for a couple days cause our printer/copier/scanner/phone-thingy was all messed up. :cry: when I came back everything was different! :cry: it's probably better, but different, and I am busy digging through the new forums to find threads... :( I'm at college! I'm spending the weekend with my sister at college and I'm using her computer, which is so much better than mine. :cry: Her dorm room is cool! :D
*falls asleep on the big poofy pillows on the floor*
:dozey:

[val7]

now it's back to the old way! :confused: or is it just that my sister's computer is newer or something? Or did I just imagine that it changed? :confused: It's all a plot to confuse me! :cry:
*goes to bed*

[val7]

Yay! the first...chapter...of...CoT...is...out........ :umm: so maybe that isn't so exciting.... I mean, this is when CoT was supposed to be realeased, and RJ has just finished it! :grumbles: but it was ok because it was about :D Mat :D *cheer4mat* :D If it's all about mat, and there is no faile or perrin, RJ will be slightly forgiven for torturing us for an extra 2 months.

Stuff I think happened in chapter 1, but am not really sure about because I skipped to parts where Mat was talking:
-Noal went fishing!
-Egeanin and Mat are lovers! (well...just pretending for a Disguise)
-Everybody in Mat's group got out of Ebou Dar and is with Valan Luca's show (except the windfinders)
-seems like the windfinders and remaining Sea Folk got massacered or something while they were stealing ships
Looks like it will be pretty good :D

*really only liked it because it was about Mat* ;)

[val7]

:grumbles: In choir (required for sophs) our teacher bases our grades solely on participation and the occasional (like, once a grading period) worksheet. I'm not a very good singer, so I'm getting a C+ in the class.
We recently got a worksheet over key signatures and stuff, and since I'm in orchestra and I've played piano for 8 years, I figured I could get 100% on it and raise my grade to a B. At my school, teachers are required to post grades every 2 weeks. When my choir teacher posted the worksheet results, I saw that I had gotten 45/50. I asked him which ones I missed (since I had checked over it millions of times to make absolutely sure I didn't have _any_ mistakes), and he said I got all of them right.
I asked him why I didn't have a perfect score, then, and he said he didn't give anybody perfect scores because I was the only one and he didn't want others to feel bad :furious: Where's the logic in that???? People who missed problems deserved a 90%, but since I didn't miss _any_, I deserved 100%! :grumbles: I told him that, and he said that "it was obvious that I hadn't really tried, so he would keep my score the same." I told my parents :D and they called him... but he still said that it would be "unfair to the other students if I got 50/50 and they only got 45/50." WHAT ABOUT BEING UNFAIR TO ME????!!!!!!?!!!?!???!!
:furious: :grumbles:


In other news, I won a cactus piñata at a fundraiser the other night! :D

[val7]

Smiley list I found on a newsgroup:

:-) Your basic smiley. This smiley is used to inflect a sarcastic or joking statement since we can't hear voice inflection over e-mail.
;-) Winky smiley. User just made a flirtatious and/or sarcastic
remark. More of a "don't hit me for what I just said" smiley.
:-( Frowning smiley. User did not like that last statement or is upset or depressed about something.
:-I Indifferent smiley. Better than a :-( but not quite as good as a :-).
:-> User just made a really biting sarcastic remark. Worse than a ;-).
>:-> User just made a really devilish remark.
>;-> Winky and devil combined. A very lewd remark was just made.
:) Midget smiley.
:] Gleep...a friendly midget smiley who will gladly be your friend.
=) Variation on a theme...
:D Laughter.
:I Hmmm...
:( Sad.
:[ Real Downer.
:O Yelling.
:,( Crying.
[] Hugs and ...
:* Kisses."
(-: User is left handed.
%-) User has been staring at a green screen for 15 hours straight.
:*) User is drunk."
"[:] User is a robot.
8-) User is wearing sunglasses.
B:-) Sunglasses on head.
::-) User wears normal glasses.
B-) User wears horn-rimmed glasses.
8:-) User is a little girl.
:-)-8 User is a Big girl.
:-{) User has a mustache."
:-{} User wears lipstick.
{:-) User wears a toupee.
}:-( Toupee in an updraft.
:-[ User is a vampire.
:-E Bucktoothed vampire.
:-F Bucktoothed vampire with one tooth missing.
:-7 User juust made a wry statement.
:-* User just ate something sour."
:-)~ User drools.
:-~) User has a cold.
:'-( User is crying.
:'-) User is so happy, s/he is crying.
:-@ User is screaming.
:-# User wears braces.
:^) User has a broken nose.
:v) User has a broken nose, but it's the other way.
:_) User's nose is sliding off of his face.
:<) User is from an Ivy League School.
:-& User is tongue tied.
=:-) User is a hosehead.
-:-) User is a punk rocker.
-:-( Real punk rockers don't smile.
:=) User has two noses.
+-:-) User is the Pope or holds some other religious office.
`:-) User shaved one of his eyebrows off this morning.
,:-) Same thing...other side.
|-I User is asleep.
|-O User is yawning/snoring.
:-Q User is a smoker.
:-? User smokes a pipe.
O-) Megaton Man On Patrol! (or else, user is a scuba diver)
O :-) User is an angel (at heart, at least).
:-` User spitting out its chewing tobacco.
:-S User just made an incoherent statement.
:-D User is laughing (at you!)
:-X User's lips are sealed.
:-C User is really bummed.
<|-) User is Chinese.
<|-( User is Chinese and doesn't like these kind of jokes."
:-/ User is skeptical.
C=:-) User is a chef.
@= User is pro-nuclear war.
*<:-) User is wearing a Santa Claus Hat.
:-o Uh oh!
(8-o It's Mr. Bill!
*:o) And Bozo the Clown!
3:] Pet smiley.
3:[ Mean Pet smiley.
d8= Your pet beaver is wearing goggles and a hard hat.
:-9 User is licking his/her lips.
%-6 User is braindead.
[:-) User is wearing a walkman.
(:I User is an egghead.
<:-I User is a dunce.
K:P User is a little kid with a propeller beenie.
@:-) User is wearing a turban.
:-0 No Yelling! (Quiet Lab)
:-: Mutant smiley; the invisible smiley.
.-) User only has one eye.
,-) Ditto...but he's winking.
X-( User just died.
8 :-) User is a wizard.

[val7]

I'm reading A Storm of Swords *again*. GRRM kills off some of his best characters! :grumbles: He kills Robb, Catelyn (even though he just brings her back), Joffrey, practically the whole Night's Watch, Tywin Lannister, and possibly Sandor Clegane. Next he'll probably kill Rickon, Arya, Sansa, Cersei, and John! (not that I'm complaining about some of those, especially Joffrey, but they were really major characters.)

I have also read every single Terry Pratchett book! :D

"Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhagar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died."
-aSoS

[val7]

funny smilies!

http://www.click-smilie.de/sammlung/sauer/sauer035.gif

http://www.click-smilie.de/sammlung/tiere/tiere046.gif

http://www.click-smilie.de/sammlung/engel/engel007.gif

http://www.click-smilie.de/sammlung/alles_moegliche/allesmoegliche001.gif

http://www.click-smilie.de/sammlung/alles_moegliche/allesmoegliche030.gif

[val7]

"I never win anything," Dolorous Edd complained. "The gods always smiled on Watt, though. When the wildlings knocked him off the Bridge of Skulls, somehow he landed in a nice deep pool of water. How lucky was that, missing all those rocks?"
"Was it a long fall?" Grenn wanted to know. "Did landing in the pool of water save his life?"
"No," said Dolorous Edd. "He was dead already, from that axe in his head. Still, it was pretty lucky, missing the rocks."
-GRRM, A Storm of Swords

[val7]

"The universe contains any amount of horrible ways to be woken up, such as the noise of a mob breaking down the door, the scream of fire engines, of the realization that today is the Monday which on Friday was a comfortably long way off. A dog's wet nose is not strictly speaking the worst of the bunch, but it has its own peculiar dreadfulness which connoisseurs of the ghastly and dog owners everywhere have come to know and dread. It's like having a small piece of defrosting liver pressed lovingly against you."
-Terry Pratchett Moving Pictures

:dozey:

[val7]

"Poets long ago gave up trying to describe Ankh-Morpork. Now the more cunning ones try to excuse it. They say, well, maybe it is smelly, maybe it is overcrowded, maybe it is a bit like Hell would be if they shut the fires off and stabled a herd of incontinent cows there for a year, but you must admit that is's full of sheer, vibrant, dynamic life."
-Moving Pictures

:D My dog turned 2 today! But she already has arthritis... :cry:
I finally got my ears pierced today! :D I wanted to at the end of 8th grade, but my mom reminded me that I wouldn't be able to wear them during soccer season. But soccer season is over now. :D

:D

[val7]

"You must have a bladder like Lake Eerie! I think empires rose and fell in the time it took you to pee!"
-Neil Gaiman American Gods

I have to write a 3-page paper on obsessive-compulsive disorder. By tomorrow. :cry:
*is a procrastinater*
*has exams this week* :cry:

[val7]

Dear Santa
I wud like a kool toy space ranjur fer Xmas. Iv ben a gud boy all
yeer.

Yer Frend, BiLLy

Dear Billy,
Nice spelling. You're on your way to a career in lawn care. How about I send you a book so you can learn to read and write? I'm giving your older brother the space ranger. At least HE can spell!

Santa
**
Dear Santa,
I have been a good girl all year, and the only thing I ask for is
peace and joy in the world for everybody!

Love, Sarah

Dear Sarah,
Your parents smoked pot when they had you, didn't they?

Santa
**
Dear Santa,
I don't know if you can do this, but for Christmas, I'd like for my
mommy and daddy to get back together. Please see what you can do.

Love, Teddy

Dear Teddy,
Look, your dad's banging the babysitter like a screen door in a
hurricane. Do you think he's gonna give that up to come back to your frigid mom, who rides his ass constantly? It's time to give up that dream. Let me get you some nice Legos instead.

Santa
**
Dear Santa,
I want a new bike, a Playstation, a train, some G.I. Joes, a dog, a
drum kit, a pony and a tuba.

Love, Francis

Dear Francis,
Who names their kid "Francis" nowadays? I bet you're gay.

Santa
**
Dear Santa,
I left milk and cookies for you under the tree, and I left carrots for
your reindeer outside the back door.

Love, Susan

Dear Susan,
Milk gives me the runs and carrots make the deer fart in my face when riding in the sleigh. You want to do me a favor? Leave me a bottle of scotch.

Santa
**
Dear Santa,
What do you do the other 364 days of the year? Are you busy making toys? Your friend,

Thomas

Dear Thomas,
All the toys are made in China. I have a condo in Vegas, where I spend most of my time making low-budget porno films. I unwind by drinking myself silly and squeezing the asses of cocktail waitresses while losing money at the craps table. Hey, you wanted to know.

Santa
**
Dear Santa,
Do you see us when we're sleeping, do you really know when we're awake, like in the song?

Love,
Jessica

Dear Jessica,
Are you really that gullible? Good luck in whatever you do. I'm
skipping your house.

Santa
**
Dear Santa,
I really really want a puppy this year. Please please please PLEASE PLEASE could I have one?

Timmy

Timmy,
That whiney begging shit may work with your folks, but that crap
doesn't work with me. You're getting a sweater again.

Santa
**
Dearest Santa,
We don't have a chimney in our house, how do you get into our home?

Love,
Marky

Mark,
First, stop calling yourself "Marky", that's why you're getting your
ass whipped at school. Second, you don't live in a house, you live in a low-rent apartment complex. Third, I get inside your pad just like all the burglars do, through your bedroom window.

Sweet Dreams,
Santa



Santa Stages
1. You believe in Santa
2. You don't believe in Santa
3. You are Santa (for your kids)
4. You look like Santa

:dozey:

[val7]

"The book was very old. It would be the kind described by librarians as 'slightly foxed.' It also looked as if it had been badgered, wolved, and possibly beared as well."
-Terry Pratchett The Light Fantastic

*runs off to study for exams* :eek:

[val7]

My best friend has cancer. We just found out today. She'll be in the hospital over Christmas.

[val7]

She left today for Minnesota. She'll have to fly up there a lot for the treatments. The cancer should be relatively easy to treat, since it's in her arm. Her sister said that the doctors are hopeful that they won't have to do chemo, and instead do just surgery, but they aren't very hopeful (about not having to do chemo). She's been on my soccer team for 4 years, but now she can't do indoor soccer, spring soccer, and probably not next fall either. She wasn't a star player or anything, but she tried hard and improved a lot. Since she's gone, she'll miss finals. At least that's something to be cheerful about.

There are two other people at my school, both seniors, with cancer, and they are more likely to die from it than her. One has two brain tumors and has gone through chemo seemingly hundreds of times. The other has leukemia. She got it her sophmore year, and was in remission by the end of her junior year. Just 2 1/2 weeks ago, they found out that she has it again. She'll need bone marrow transplants and all that other stuff. It's so sad, because she is a very good violinist and singer. Why is it always good people who get diseases? Why don't murderers and other evil people like that get them?

I go to a very small school (only about 300 in the high school), and three people have some kind of cancer. A sophmore was in the hospital at the beginning of the year because he has spina bfida, and one of last-year's sophmores died in a car accident. I went to one of the bigger area schools last year, and only ONE person, in a school of about 1000, had leukemia, and they've been in remission for three years. What is it about my school that everyone gets sick or dies?

One of my cousins has some weird disease that she has to fly out to Colorado every other week to get it treated, and if they don't cure it, she will lose her whole leg, and even then the disease won't go away. (it's something to do with a bunch of blood vessels in one place, which is usually cured after a couple treatments, but with her it's in an almost impossible to reach place). She had something called Turner's syndrome already, and now this. She's only 7, and she has to use a walker.

[val7]

My friend called today... she didn't sound so good. :( The freshman class is buying her a five-foot teddy bear. :)

FINALS ARE OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


There was once a Gujju businessman who was involved in a car accident. At the hospital, when he awoke, he called for the nurse to tell him what had happened to him. "I'm very sorry, sir, but you were involved in a very bad car crash."

"Car crash! My Benz! My Benz! Is my car alright?" he asked hysterically.

"Sir, your car was destroyed, but that is the least of your worries. You lost your left arm in the crash, and we were unable to save it" she said apologetically.

"I lost my arm? My Rolex! My Rolex!"

"Sir, please calm down. That is the least of your worries. You are in very critical condition, but all your family are here to see you." He asked for his family to be called in. As they gathered around the bed,he called for each of them by name.

"Manju, are you here?"

"I am here my husband, and I will never leave you."

"Dilip, are you here?"

"I am here my father, and I will never leave you."

"Anil, are you here?"

"I am here Father, and I will never leave you."

"Priya, my child, are you here?"

"I am here father, and I will never leave you."

"Well" said the man thoughtfully "If Manju, Dilip, Anil, and Priya are here.......... THEN WHO THE HELL IS LOOKING AFTER THE SHOP?!!!!!!!!!!!!"
============
Potential and Reality

A son asked his father: "Dad, what's the difference between potential and reality ?" (a question he was asked at school)

His father replied: "Go ask your mother if she would sleep with the milkman for a million bucks."

The son did this and returned that his mother would sleep with the milkman for a million bucks.

His father said: "Now go ask your sister if she would sleep with the milkman for a million dollars." The son did this and later replied "Sis said that she too would sleep with the milkman for a million bucks."

His father then said "Go ask your brother if he would sleep with the milkman for a million bucks."

The son getting rather irritated did this. He returned and said:
"Ivor also said that he would sleep with the milkman for a million bucks. I am getting tired of asking people if they will sleep with the milkman. Please tell me what's the difference between potential and reality "

His father looked at him and said: "This family has the potential to make $3,000,000, but the reality is that we have two sluts and a homo in the family."
============

[val7]

This weekend my parents forcibly dragged me down to Merrilville with my aunt and uncle and cousins to see a concert by some people called the "Oak Ridge Boys." Evidently, they were pretty famous when my parents were in college, but, as I always say, "If I haven't heard of them, then they're not famous." It was 2 1/2 hours long. It was torture. The only kind of cool thing was that one of the singers had this extremely low voice that made the air vibrate. :)
*had her copy of tEotW and a little flashlight, or else she wouldn't have survived*

CoT has already been released in the UK. :( Not fair. :(

[val7]

IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My friend is still in the hospital. :( She can come home the day after Christmas. :)

I have to wrap gifts for my church at what barely passes for a mall for THREE HOURS! :( I don't even know why they call it a mall... the only stores it has are:
The Dollar Tree :rolleyes:
Bath and Body Works :D
Family Christian Stores
Walden Books :D
JC Penny
JoAnn Fabrics
Claire's
Hallmark
Enzo's Pizza
Deb
and coming next summer: Hobby Lobby
(it's not as bad as the Pierre Moran mall, which has a grand total of THREE stores: a karate place, which is never open, the Cookie Basket, and some arcade thing. They had a Target, but it moved.)
I have to go all the way over to South Bend, to the University Park mall, for good stores. :(

[val7]

"The half-elf felt a sudden urge to push Raistlin off the side of the mountain."
-Dragons of Autumn Twilight

:D

[val7]

GRRR *cough cough* I have mono. :( I got it from my sister, who got it from her friend.... :cry:
*is too tired to find any quotes*

[val7]

Well, New Years is going to be a lot of fun. :rolleyes: I get to take a pack of screaming little girls to go see the Wild Thornberries to keep them "out of the way." There's another guy who's my brother's age, so they get to go see Star Trek. I'm the opposite of a Star Trek fan, and that movie is supposed to be really stupid, but, hey. It's better than some cartoon about a little freckly red-haired freak with braces who can talk to animals.
On the plus side, I'm getting paid for 'babysitting.' They better pay me extra for the torture.
I'll probably fall asleep. Mono makes you realllly tired. :dozey:

"He is going insane!....and I am reaping all the benefits..." :D

[val7]

Guess what! Nickelodeon is making a "Rugrats meet the Wild Thornberries" movie! And "Piglet's Big Movie" is coming this spring! :rolleyes:

Synopsis of Wild Thornberries:
1. something about a cheetah cub getting caught by poachers. (oh no! the horror!)
2. cheetah getting caught = Eliza's fault.
3. Eliza shipped off to boarding school- guess what: monkey friend hid in suitcase and made mess on snobby roommate's bed. 4. Eliza runs away back to somewhere in Africa.
5. Jumps off of train
6. meets mysterious couple, and of course they couldn't be the poachers, they 'help' the wildlife!
7. solar eclipse makes elephants migrate.
8. Eliza sacrifices power to talk to animals to save sister. Aw. how sweet.
9. Surprise surprise. Poachers turn out to be mysterious couple with devious plan to electrocute hundreds of elephants.
10. Eliza saves the day. woo.
11. Dancing with baboons. Wedgies and baboon butts all around. yay.
[/sarcasm] :rolleyes:

I would have fallen asleep, but I had had about seven refills of Dr. Pepper, and earlier had had two cans of Mt. Dew. Caffeine high. :D And of course, there was the helpful little boy two rows ahead of us alternately screaming, crying, and making animal noises. joy. And the adults decided to send youngest boy with us instead of to Star Trek ("too violent! he'll be scarred for life!"), turns out to be annoying 7-year-old mayor's son. The 6-yr-olds were in awe of the 'celebrity,' :rolleyes: and, thankfully, were quiet for about five minutes.
But, I did survive. :dozey:

[val7]

I'm heading up north for about 5-6 hours to Crystal Mountain ski place (hey, even if it's not Colorado, it's better than the one we have around here) for a few days. I don't even know if I want to ski much, with mono, so I'm taking a ton of books to read if I just lay around at the hotel. :dozey: My sister is staying home because she has it so bad.

"And what are you going to do now, Mr. ----? And thank you so much for shooting him right between the eyes, so that it does not look like an accident. And what did you think you would tell the police, who are, of course, already on their way here. What is your brilliant plan now?"
-Fierce Creatures

[val7]

Just got back! :D
Tally up the injuries (quite a few, since we went with a big group) :
1. S****** sprained her ankle
2. M******* went down the Gorge on her face, all black and blue an scratched up
3. C****** dislocated his shoulder
4. My brother wanted to take snowboarding lessons, but quit when he got a slight concussion on the Bunny Hill :p
5. My dad had to be rescued off the Cheer's chairlift when it broke. They got everyone down with ladders, it was quite funny :p
And I did not fall _once_. :D *cheer4me*

[val7]

grrr... I woke up this morning, dreading going back to school, and got ready to leave. Guess what. 10 min. before I was supposed to leave, my school announces a 2 hour delay. After I'm almost totally awake, I find out I could have slept in 2 more hours. :grumbles: But, I'd rather be at home for 2 extra hours than at school... :D

[val7]

"Whoever said something was as easy as taking candy from baby, never tried taking candy from a baby."

:dozey:

[val7]

"Well, if you want the toy, and I want the toy, then who will get the toy? I could smash your teeth in, and that'd get me the toy. But then you could call the cops, and then you'd get the toy. But then, if I break out of prison, break your legs, cut your throat and dump you in a ditch, then I finally have the toy all to my own."

[val7]

Guess what. This semester, for study hall, I have the Study Hall Nazi. woo. Most other teachers let you talk, sleep, eat, or help people with their work, but this guy doesn't. He actually follows the rules for study halls in the faculty handbook. He reads all of them to us at the beginning of each week. All 15 of them. Every week. And if we "misbehave" in the library/comp lab, he reads them to us and doesn't let us leave the room, even with a pass. Even if it wasn't us who did it. :grumbles:

"Combat, in its simplest form, involves shooting, blowing up, and otherwise wreaking havoc on your enemies."
-Ghost Recon manual

:dozey:

[val7]

My friend's cancer spread, and they aren't able to do surgery without damaging nerves in her arm (which would make it harder to move and less able to feel things), but it's all still just in her arm, not near any vital organs. She's going to start chemo next week. :cry:

And, guess what else. My grandma has leukemia. If anybody is keeping score, and if you count my friend's mom and my dad's friend, I know six people with cancer (three are about my age :(), one cousin killed by a drunk driver, and one cousin with some weird disease. And, my last memory of 2002 is the Wild Thornberries, and I have the study hall nazi this semester. And, CoT came in the mail today, I'm 216 pages in, and nothing has happpend.

(one good thing: report cards today, all A's, one A- :D)

[val7]

*is 15 now* :D
*has lots of homework* :(

"You must have a bladder like Lake Eerie. I think empires rose and fell in the time it took you to pee."
-American Gods
:dozey:

[val7]

wow. there must be some major disease/virus/whatever going around the schools in northern-central Indiana. My tiny little school had 60 people absent, and my brother's bigger school had 127 people absent in the morning, and about 20 people had gone home by the end of the day. I hope I don't get it, I mean, I just got over mono! I don't need anything else!

and, by the way, I'm still contagious, so watch out! *evil laugh*

[val7]

some guy in my class shaved his eyebrows off, and he spent the whole day pulling out his eyelashes. eww. that can't be good for you. *thinks we should have a sick-looking smilie*

quote from my lit. teacher:
"Get the hell out of my way, you god-damned fucking asshole!"
(he's a very... different... teacher)

:dozey:

[val7]

FINALLY finished CoT, which was very boring, so I kept picking up other books that were more interesting, but I figured I had to read it sometime, so I sat down last night and forced myself to read it. :( I was extremely disappointed at first, but then I realized, why should we expect an action-packed book? The last book had a major event, we can't expect CoT to have one too. Granted, we didn't have to have a detailed description of weevils, the very cold snow, and every channelers' reaction to the cleansing, but we were setting ourselves up for a bit too much plot resolution. In reality, there was none. At least Sweet can say that for once in his miserable life, he drew something that happened in the book. That's right: all those things we before thought might be horses (in some other dimension) are actually WEEVILS! ridden by the amazing blue monkey!
(ya know, I asked some of my friends if they thought that blue... thing... was a guy or a girl, and all of them responded without hesitation: it's a guy. I told them it was a girl (Tuon) and they didn't believe me)

< end rambling that made absolutely no sense >

[val7]

Three Texas surgeons were arguing as to which had the greatest skill.

The first began: "Three years ago, I reattached seven fingers on a pianist. He went on to give a recital for the Queen of England."

The second replied: "That's nothing. I attended a man in a car
accident. All his arms legs were severed from his body. Two years after I reattached them, he won three gold medals for field events in the Olympics."

The third said: "A few years back, I attended to a cowboy. He was high on cocaine and alcohol when he rode his horse head-on into a Santa Fe freight train traveling at 100 miles per hour. All I had to work with was the horse's ass and a ten gallon hat. 2 years ago he became president of the United States..."

:dozey:

[val7]

Next week I get to leave school early to drive 10 hours to New York to go to a peace rally on Feb. 15!!!!!! :D
www.unitedforpeace.org (http://www.unitedforpeace.org)


Chaos is < insert definition here >.

:)

[val7]

woo! 500 posts! :D but, considering I've been here for... *counts on fingers*... almost 10 months, it's not a lot compared to some people. :(
I was watching Amelie last night when I realized that the song they play while she's watching about her "funeral" on tv is Barber's Adagio! My orchestra is playing that right now! :D It's in 2/2 time and is very slow and hard. :(

"Do you ever wonder why sheep don't shrink when it rains?"
-Playing Mona Lisa (not that great of a movie)

:dozey:

[val7]

HOW TO IDENTIFY WHERE A DRIVER IS FROM:

1. One hand on wheel, one hand on horn: CHICAGO

2. One hand on wheel, one finger out window: NEW YORK

3. One hand on wheel, one finger out window, cutting across all lanes of traffic: NEW JERSEY

4. One hand on wheel, one hand on newspaper, foot solidly on accelerator: BOSTON

5. One hand on wheel, one hand on nonfat double decaf cappuccino, cradling cell phone, brick on accelerator, gun in lap: LOS ANGELES

6. Both hands on wheel, eyes shut, both feet on brake, quivering in terror: OHIO, but driving in CALIFORNIA

7. Both hands in air, gesturing, both feet on accelerator, head turned to talk to someone in back seat: ITALY

8. One hand on 12 oz. Double shot latte, one knee on wheel, cradling cell phone, foot on brake, mind on radio game, banging head on steering wheel while stuck in traffic: SEATTLE

9. One hand on wheel, one hand on hunting rifle, alternating between both feet being on the accelerator and both feet on brake, throwing McDonald's bag out the window: TEXAS

10. Four-wheel drive pickup truck, shotgun mounted in rear window, beer cans on floor, squirrel tails attached to antenna: ALABAMA

11. Two hands gripping wheel, blue hair barely visible above windshield, driving 35 on the Interstate in the left lane with the left blinker on: FLORIDA

edit: found 3 more:
12. Driver has two hands on the wheel, one foot on the gas, one foot on the brake, and is currently skidding through a stoplight, wide-eyed with terror: NEW ORLEANS and, god forbid, there's Ice on the road.

13. Driver has one hand on wheel, one hand on cell phone, and is going nowhere: GEORGIA, stuck on 285.

14. Driver has both hands on wheel and is careening all over the road while staring up at the sky in wonder: ARIZONA, and it's raining.

:D

[val7]

:( don't get to leave school early. But instead of taking stinky little vans, we get a charter bus! woo! The protest is going to be awesome... except I can't think of anything to put on my sign. :(

www.elftor.com (http://www.elftor.com)
"Poorly drawn comics about a small, violent elf and his drunken adventures. Often described as hilarious or retarded." :D

[val7]

my school has something called Spring Arts Day that everyone has to do something for (sing, instruments, paintings, poetry...), and I'm in the frosh "instrument" group. We're playing a song called "Men at Work" (even thought the whole group is female...), it's a tribute to Bob Vila. It's kind of like Stomp, with tools like saws and hammers and stuff. I get to hit a crowbar with a screwdriver and smash a fake cell phone! :D It's kind of funny cause we had to get special permission to bring saws and hammers and crowbars to school. ;) It will be really cool if we ever figure out the rithyms (*is horrible speller*) and play it at the right speed. :)

I'm so creative. I put "no war" on my sign. :rolleyes:

"How will you keep your marriage happy?
Tell them they look pretty every day, even if they look like a truck."
-7-year-old
(how can you look like a truck?)
:dozey:

[val7]

I'll post stuff about the rally tomorrow. I'm too tired and I have a paper to write right now.

"Beef is the most versatile meat. Name one thing besides chicken that doesn't have beef in it."
"Ice cream."
"Now that's where you're wrong. What is ice cream made out of? Milk. Where does milk come from? Cows, which are beef."
-excerpt from one of the many *interesting* discussions that took place on the 24-hour bus ride (round trip)

[val7]

...or maybe a couple days...

The rally/march was so cool! there were at least 500,000 people there! I didn't make it to the actual rally until almost the end. I only got to see Danny Glover speak. :( But it was kind of funny, because the NYPD hadn't let the united for peace people get a march permit, but... "Where do hundreds of thounds of people go? Wherever the hell they want." And they/we did. :D People pushed over the police barricades, and one group was actually carrying one around. :D I kind of felt bad for the police tho.

One of my friends brought crutches, and the police took them away! He had to go back to the bus because he couldn't walk without them! :mad:

One of the groups from our group that kind of got seperated from the main crowd had an *interesting* experience. They were walking, and were almost the only protesters in that area except for a group of about 5-6 adults. One of my friends had made an American flag with a peace sign on it. (I thought that she shouldn't have done that, some people get really mad when someone "defaces" a flag, and it doesn't really help prove your point. The people are already mad enough that they aren't going to listen.) They were walking past some restaurants when a couple came running out and started screaming at them about supporting sadam hussein and how they should be expatrioted (is that the right word?) for not supporting the US. The husband tore down the flag and started ripping it up. (yeah, that helps a lot. Now it's a torn up defaced American flag. :rolleyes: ) My friends just stood there, cause they didn't want to cause any trouble, but one of the adults got kind of mad that they were taking a sign away from teenagers, and started yelling at the couple. A policeman came over and arrested the adult yelling at the couple! The couple started it, and the adult wasn't doing anything! But when the policeman arrested the guy, he slammed him against a wall and in doing so knocked one of my friends down. :furious: And proceeded to ignore everyone except the couple, and he believed their story of my friends insulting them and the adult trying to attack them. :grumbles:
But other than that incident, noone got hurt (unless you count the guy who got his crutches taken away.)

And did you know that port-a-potties are a security threat? the NYPD wouldn't let them have them at the rally. :rolleyes:

[val7]

My friend (the one with cancer) finally came back to school today! :D She had to stay away because tons of people were sick and when you're having chemo your immune system is weaker and a simple cold could almost kill you. ( She was kind of tired and pale, but she acted normal. :) She has to go back for another treatment in a week and a half. :(

"An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind."
-Ghandi

:)

[val7]

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."
-- President G. W. Bush

It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper
--- Rod Serling

"Every time anyone says that Israel is our only friend in the Middle East, I can't help but think that before Israel, we had no enemies in the Middle East."
-- John Sheehan, S.J. (a Jesuit priest)

"I believe that if we had and would keep our dirty, bloody, dollar soaked fingers out of the business of these [Third World] nations so full of depressed, exploited people, they will arrive at a solution of their own. And if unfortunately their revolution must be of the violent type because the "haves" refuse to share with the "have-nots" by any peaceful method, at least what they get will be their own, and not the American style, which they don't want and above all don't want crammed down their throats by Americans."
--General David Sharp [Former United States Marine Commandant 1966]

"Scerrorism: Terrorism of a population by the media, carried out by reporting acts of terror that might happen but never actually do."
-- Bonny Stilwell

"It's really not a number I'm terribly interested in."
--General Colin Powell [When asked about the number of Iraqi people who were slaughtered by Americans in the 1991 "Desert Storm" terror campaign (200,000 people!)]

Q. "Mr. President, have you approved of covert activity to destabilize the present government of Nicaragua?"
A. "Well, no, we're supporting them, the - oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, I'm sorry, I was thinking of El Salvador, because of the previous, when you said Nicaragua. Here again, this is something upon which the national security interests, I just - I will not comment."
-- Ronald Reagan, former US President, Washington press conference, February 13th, 1983, as quoted by John Pilger in 'Heroes'

"Stopping terrorism is simple. Just quit screwing around with other people's countries and the terrorists will go home. But the government of the United States wants to go on screwing around with other people's countries, refuses to stop, indeed views it as Manifest Destiny for the United States Government to persist in screwing around with other people's countries, and views the inconvenience, increased tax burden, loss of civil liberties, and even deaths among the American people as just another cost of doing business.
-- Michael Rivero

[val7]

iraq iq test (http://www.dallaspeacecenter.org/quiz.htm)
I'm not sure if all of those figures (like the 10% feeding the world one), but I can definitely believe the others.

They were talking on Dateline (*refuses to dignify it with the title "news"*) about the nuclear subs and how high-tech they are and blah blah blah... Why on earth do we need nuclear subs? :grumbles: Just a more convenient way of killing hundreds of thousands of people. And they said each sub costs 2,000,000,000 dollars to build! :furious: If they spent that money instead on food or health stuff for poor countries, they could make a huge difference. But no, they have to spend it on military stuff! Even if they didn't want to help other countries, they could spend it on stuff here in the US, like helping homeless people, healthcare, and education.

[val7]

I'm so excited! we might be moving to Sedona, Arizona this summer! The school I would go to is sooooo awesome!!!!
Verde Valley School (http://www.verdevalleyschool.org) (it is also soooo expensive...) :D AZ is so much better than IN! :D (so what if it's hotter, it isn't humid and gray) The school's views are cool: working for world peace and a respect and understanding for different cultures and the environment. (perfect for me :D). And almost half of the student body (about 120 students) is international students. :D

[val7]

"There was some sort of chemistry there, although it was the sort that results in the entire building being evacuated."
-Terry Pratchett

"He grinned. It was the sort of grin that Agnes supposed was called infectious but, then, so was measles."
-Terry Pratchett

[val7]

...or maybe we're moving to Prescott. :) I don't care as long as it's away from Indiana. :D I would go to a school that doesn't have school on Fridays!!!! :D :D But we're still not sure whether we want to move to Sedona or Prescott, or if it will be this summer or next summer (more likely this summer...). :)

[val7]

I'm not going to be posting much during March, I have to go straight from orchestra to Driver's Ed, which is from 6-8, and when I get home around 8:30, I have to do homework. :( And I'm going to be gone all next weekend, and then most of spring break, which starts the first week of April. :)

"If you have asthma attacks or something, you have to tell me so when you're passed out on the floor gasping for air, I can say 'Oh yeah, they told me last week that they have asthma.'"
-my orchestra teacher

:D

[val7]

"'At four he got up and went to the bathroom again. He opened the door to the bathroom...' and so on.
It doesn't advance the action. It makes for nice fat books such as the American market thrives on, but it doesn't actually get you anywhere. You don't, in short, want to know."
-So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish

What series does that quote make you think of? :D

[val7]

Well, looks like Bush has finally gone over the edge.


On a lighter note:
"Shadow looked at the corpse of the deer. He decided that if he were a real woodsman, he would slice off a steak and grill it over a wood fire. Instead he sat on a fallen tree and ate a Snickers bar and knew that he really wasn't a real woodsman."
-American Gods

[val7]

I have no idea why, except that I was bored, that I was looking up Arabic names, and I don't know if the meanings are right or anything...

WoT:
Aludra- virgin
Aram - signs, flags (note: this was under feminine arabic names)

Aladdin (Disney):
Aladdin- Nobility of faith
Jafar - Rivulet, little creek
Raja- hope

And I might not be posting much for the next few... months if we do decide to move.

[val7]

"Oh Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; ...help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land.... We ask it, in the sprit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love."

- Mark Twain, after viewing a pre-emptive war in the Philippines a century ago. Cited in the March 30, 2003, New York Times magazine.

[val7]

"When you first purchase a young cat (known as "a kitten" to scientists and spacemen), it is obviously "alive." If you fail to staple its paws to the carpet, the kitten will run around like an idiot and engage in various kitten-like activities, such as jumping into walls, staring at invisible entities floating around your head, and eating threatening enemies such as plastic candy bar wrappers and pens. When you attempt to sleep at 3:00 AM, the kitten will invariably express the fact that it is "alive" by producing a series of sounds that resemble an adult weasel being slowly crushed inside a trash compactor. When you wake up, the kitten will show you how "alive" it is by staring coldly into your eyes and attempting to steal your soul, possibly by using ancient Indian magic or mitosis. When you try to work or relax, the kitten will demonstrate that it is still "alive" by chewing on electrical cables and spending roughly six consecutive hours moving all the cat litter in its box from one side to the other, then moving it all back to the position it originally occupied. Kittens find these types of activities very fun and amusing, mostly because they have the IQ of a trombone. However, kittens undergo a transformation sometime in their lives when they metamorphosize from "alive" to "furniture." For the sake of simplicity, I will include the state of "dead" under "furniture," as I am fairly sure most of the furniture I've seen in my lifetime has been dead, except at that one weird fetish party I attended in college where I blacked out for seven hours and woke up in the back of a pickup truck the following morning."
-www.somethingawful.com (http://www.somethingawful.com)

[val7]

Found this on aol news today:


BAGHDAD (April 11) - Marine Cpl. James Lis, 21 years old, is worried that for the rest of his life he'll be haunted by the image: A clean-shaven, twentysomething Iraqi in a white shirt, lying wounded in an alleyway and reaching for his rifle -- just as Cpl. Lis pumped two shots into his head.

"Every time I close my eyes I see that guy's brains pop out of that guy's head," Cpl. Lis, from Shreveport, La., told his platoon mates Thursday, as they sat in a circle in the ruins of the Iraqi Oil Ministry's employee cafeteria. "That's a picture in my head that I will never be able to get rid of."

For Marine infantrymen now occupying the eastern half of the Iraqi capital, the worst fighting is probably over. But they're just beginning to cope with the psychological aftershocks of having faced death and inflicted it.

One lesson the military learned from painful experience with post-traumatic stress disorder after Vietnam is that troops may come home more mentally intact if, as soon as possible, they talk to each other about what they've gone through. In infantry school, Marine officers are taught to encourage their troops to talk about their experiences after battles. So, platoon by platoon, many Marines in Iraq are starting to hold informal group-therapy sessions -- "critical incident debriefings" in military parlance -- in which they share their feelings about what they've seen and what they've done.

"The touchy-feely stuff -- that's no joke," Second Lt. Isaac Moore told the platoon he commands in Lima Company of the First Marine Division, Seventh Regiment, Third Battalion. "If you keep picturing this guy and you shot him in the head, you've got to talk about that.

"Though a few had been shot at in Somalia, none of the 47 Marines of Lt. Moore's Second Platoon had seen any real combat before arriving in Iraq. Even during the war's first weeks, it seemed unlikely that they'd have to test their mettle. Iraqi forces always ran away before the platoon arrived. The platoon's first scrape was a minor encounter three weeks ago near Zubayr in which somebody took a few shots at the Marines, who returned fire for 40 minutes to no practical effect. No one on either side was hurt.

As they moved into Baghdad, however, the platoon ran into an escalating series of firefights with pro-regime militants armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The fiercest was a battle Tuesday in the shell of a large building under construction in the city's southeast. The platoon began taking sniper fire, and the Marines soon found themselves shooting at enemy fighters just a few feet away, in a maze of pillars and open staircases.

It's a fight that has left deep marks on the young men. That's what Lt. Moore wanted them to talk about. So as they relaxed on cushions stripped off Oil Ministry sofas and awaited orders to patrol the city for Fedayeen holdouts and foreign suicide squads, the lieutenant invited each Marine to tell the platoon what he experienced, and how he felt about it.

Cpl. Anthony Antista, 29, from Monrovia, Calif., initially celebrated after he shot dead two Iraqi paramilitary men in a corner of the building site. But the exhilaration instantly gave way to guilt, especially for having felt glad that he had taken lives. "Hey, I shot two people," he told his comrades immediately after the fight.

The rest of the platoon brushed him off. He persisted: "I shot two people." They thought he was bragging. What he was really doing, he said, was trying to find someone who might understand how bad he felt.

It's an issue that was still on his mind two days later. "I can't share my pain with you because you don't accept that I killed two guys," Cpl. Antista told his comrades. To emphasize his point, he removed the magazine from his rifle, emptied the round from the firing chamber and acted out the encounter. He showed how he raised his rifle and fired. Then he sat on the ground and demonstrated how the Iraqis slumped when the rounds hit them."

The life just flowed right out of them," he said in a pained voice. "They were like Jell-O."

Staff Sgt. Matthew St. Pierre, 28, from Vallejo, Calif., faced off with an Iraqi fighter whose eyeglasses and face reminded him of one of his own Marines, Lance Cpl. Lance Carmouche, a 21-year-old machine gunner from Beaumont, Texas. The sergeant, the platoon's senior noncommissioned officer, took two shots as the Iraqi popped up from behind a low wall five feet away. He wasn't sure whether he hit the man, but the sergeant saw his body later."

Now every time I see Lance Cpl. Carmouche, I think of him," Sgt. St. Pierre told his men. A few minutes later in the fight, Sgt. St. Pierre found four Iraqi men in a small enclosed area. Three were apparently dead, but one, wounded, reached for his weapon. The staff sergeant shot him between the shoulder blades. The man again reached for his rifle, this time more slowly. The staff sergeant shot him in the back of the head.

When the gunfire quieted, the staff sergeant "eye-thumped" the Iraqi's body, to make sure he was really dead. The process involved poking the man in the eye with a rifle muzzle, the theory being that no man alive can avoid scrunching up his face in response to such a provocation.

It was an "eerie feeling," the staff sergeant recalled, "like I just did what the Lord in the Bible says not to do." But he added, "we did nothing wrong. They made no attempt to surrender, and we put them down."

Lt. Moore, 26, tried to comfort his troops by relating his own experience as a hunter, growing up in Wasilla, Alaska. He shot his first caribou at the age of seven or eight, he told them. It was thrilling to see the animal fall. When he got closer, however, he saw the caribou was still alive, convulsing in pain. The boy was unsure whether he was supposed to feel good or bad.

Over years of hunting caribou, bear and other animals, he grew accustomed to eye-thumping and death. So when Lt. Moore looked down from a staircase in the building in Baghdad and saw three Iraqis below, he didn't hesitate. The men had been wounded by a burst of machine-gun fire, but they were still moving. The lieutenant shot one man point-blank in the head and watched the results; the next man was twitching and got the same treatment."

It's gross, but here's the thing," the lieutenant told his Marines. "That queasy feeling -- I don't get that at all."

Keep in mind, he continued, the kind of die-hards they are fighting. To illustrate his point, Lt. Moore told them about something that had happened earlier in the day: A man who had escaped from one of Saddam Hussein's prisons after 13 years walked back to Baghdad to look for his family and somehow got past Marine guards at the Oil Ministry. The Marines found him curled up asleep in a corner. The man, Lt. Moore recounted, had acid and electric-shock burns on his legs.

The people who did that to the prisoner, the lieutenant said, are the sort of people the Marines were killing. "This is not somebody you need to worry about killing," he assured his troops. "When you stand outside the Pearly Gates or whatever you believe in, you're not going to be looked at any differently for what you did here."

Cpl. Lis, however, couldn't shake it off so easily. A genial jokester with a sand-colored buzz cut, the corporal has had the platoon's closest brushes with death in Iraq. He recounted them, one after another, for his fellow troops. On Wednesday, when the Marines seized the Oil Ministry, Cpl. Lis climbed to the roof to take a look at downtown Baghdad. A bullet heading towards his face missed him only because it hit the narrow metal rail in front of him.

At one point during the gunfight at the construction site, Cpl. Lis threw a hand grenade at an enemy fighter, only to have the Iraqi throw it back at Cpl. Juan Nielsen, a 26-year-old from Los Angeles. The grenade exploded, sending small pieces of metal shrapnel into Cpl. Nielsen's outer left ear -- a painful, but minor wound that turned out to be the only American casualty of the fight.

Later, Cpl. Lis saw a pineapple-shaped Iraqi grenade land less than eight feet in front of him, and two others -- Sgt. Timothy Wolkow, 26, from Huntington Beach, Calif., and Cpl. Dustin Soudan, 21, from Girard, Pa. Cpl. Lis yelled at the others to get down, and they crouched, covering their heads as it exploded. None of them were injured.

Then there was the moment that he worries will always haunt him: He saw the young Iraqi in the white shirt lying on his back, his right arm extended above his head, where a rifle lay. Another rifle was near his left arm. When the man moved his right arm toward the rifle, Sgt. Wolkow shot him. The man started moving again, and this time both Marines shot him in the head, Cpl. Lis firing twice.

Then Cpl. Lis performed the eye-thump ritual on the man. "It's the sickest feeling I've ever had in my life," he said at the therapy session.

Sgt. Wolkow had a more fleeting reaction. "As much as I love the Marine Corps and want to kill people, for a few seconds there was a kind of eerie feeling," after the first time he shot the man, he said. "It went away, and I shot the guy some more."

Write to Michael M. Phillips at michael.phillips@wsj.com

[val7]

Chris Rock's quote of the day:

"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon'. Need I say more?"

[val7]

I finally got around to reading the Death Gate Cycle, and it's really good so far (I'm on book 2). I'm also trying to find time to read Silverthorn and Sara Douglass's wayfarer redemption series. the wr is pretty good (not as good as GRRM ;)) and has an interesting story.

"'You wouldn't happen to have a pipe and a bit of tobacco about, would--'
'I heard that!' rumbled the dragon.
The old man cringed. 'Gandalf enjoyed a good pipe!'
'Why do you think he was called Gandalf the Grey? It wasn't for the color of his robes,' the dragon added ominously."
-Elven Star

[val7]

"Say that we're moving at the speed of light...
Impossible, of course, if you believe physicists.
Which I don't, by the way. Physicists don't
believe in wizards-- a fact that I, being a wizard,
find highly insulting. I have taken my revenge,
therefore, by refusing to believe in physicists."
-Elven Star

[val7]

"There is an eastern religion that claims tears are coins that God accepts to allow a soul into heaven. Man being what he is, of course, eastern men pay people to cry for them at their funerals."
-Morningstar

[val7]

"Okay, what grinds corn?
Umm... peasants?"
-Interesting Times

[val7]

Fertile Crescent (Bad Religion)
Come and see the brilliant light
don't let your emotions mask your sight
it's the manifestation of a deeper fight
that affects me and you
my optimism was running high
a new world order was on my mind
but I couldn't believe it when I heard them say
they're blowing it away
and the fertile crescent is burning today
and baby my emotions are too
the cradle of humanity has led us all astray
and we're all in this together don't you know
'cause our species has nowhere else to go
aggression rears its ugly head
retaliation brings further dread
the two are linked by unseen threads
that wind back through time
I don't agree with the outdated trend
nationalism is an evil friend
but hatred is instilled by invisible lines
drawn in our minds
and the fertile crescent is haunting us today
and baby our instincts are too
the ghost of humanity is warning us this way
and I think we all should heed it don't you know
'cause we've got nowhere else to go

[val7]

I found out today that the senior with brain tumors only has an estimated 2 months left. :( she and the one with leukemia will both be missing graduation. :(

EDIT: The one with brain tumors died two days before graduation. :(

[val7]

The Panama Deception (Anti-Flag)
their 2+2 does not equal 4
their 2+2 equals whatver, they want us to die for
about face! - snap to attention
form your own conclusions to the things you see
about face! - sometimes the explanations
don't add - up to the facts
time and again they manufacture a cause
and rally the public around it, check out the movie "wag the dog"
killing - to further the interest of private corporations
killing - to control global economic situations
Killing - for personal gain (i.e. Bush in Panama)
Learn the fuckin' TRUTH you won't be so quick to sign on!
Our lives reflect tv sitcoms and tragedies
Like a bad joke, i ask, "how many of you don't see...? and just how many...
How many of you swallow the lies...?
How many of you do not realize...?"
Gung ho and true - to the stars and stripes
they fuckin' brainwashed you, to do their bidding...
and like a flock of sheep - with wool over your eyes
you never stop to question - you just fall into line
the media's a business, that provides entertainment
heir bottom line: money, and stories that will make it...
so they run with stories, that promotes the lies
to keep the ratings coming, wealth from promoting world strife
life must be so easy, when you don't have to think
black and white like printing, from the newspaper's ink
i wish i had the chance, to reveal the lies
but you're so fucking brainwashed, would it even help to try...
TO GET THROUGH TO YOU!?!?

[val7]

My favorite scene from the Holy Grail: :D (=is arthur, #is dennis, ~is the 'woman')

=Old woman!
#Man!
=Man. Sorry. What knight lives in that castle over there?
#I'm thirty-seven. I'm thirty-seven. I'm not old.
=Well, I can't just call you 'Man'.
#Well, you could say 'Dennis'.
=Well, I didn't know you were called 'Dennis'.
#Well, you didn't bother to find out, did you?
=I did say 'sorry' about the 'old woman', but from the behind you looked--
#What I object to is that you automatically treat me like an inferior!
=Well, I am King!
#Oh, King, eh, very nice. And how d'you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers! By 'anging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society. If there's ever going to be any progress with the--
~Dennis, there's some lovely filth down here. Oh! How d'you do?
=How do you do, good lady? I am Arthur, King of the Britons. Who's castle is that?
~King of the who?
=The Britons.
~Who are the Britons?
=Well, we all are. We are all Britons, and I am your king.
~I didn't know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective.
#You're fooling yourself. We're living in a dictatorship: a self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working classes--
~Oh, there you go bringing class into it again.
#That's what it's all about. If only people would hear of--
=Please! Please, good people. I am in haste. Who lives in that castle?
~No one lives there.
=Then who is your lord?
~We don't have a lord.
=What?
#I told you. We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week,...
=Yes.
#...but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting...
=Yes, I see.
#...by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs,...
=Be quiet!
#...but by a two-thirds majority in the case of more major--
=Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!
~Order, eh? Who does he think he is? Heh.
=I am your king!
~Well, I didn't vote for you.
=You don't vote for kings.
~Well, how did you become King, then?
=The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king!
#Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
=Be quiet!
#Well, but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!
=Shut up!
#I mean, if I went 'round saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!
=Shut up, will you? Shut up!
#Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system.
=Shut up!
#Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being repressed! (best line! :D)
=Bloody peasant!
#Oh, what a give-away. Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm on about. Did you see him repressing me? You saw it, didn't you?

http://mwscomp.com/movies/grail/inlines/03_denni.jpg

:D

[val7]

"This seems to be our lot in life. We are 5 feet from the goal, the goalie is out of the goal, and the we kick the ball 10 feet over the goal. We get 30 shots on goal and 1 or 2 go in, and the other team gets 1, and it goes in."
-My brother's soccer coach

[val7]

I almost died when I saw this. It would be more funny if it wasn't so obvious that these people don't have lives.
http://www.petoffice.co.jp/catprin/english/#top
Check out the "transformations."

http://www.petoffice.co.jp/catprin/images/hitsujiset_rudo_s.jpg "He is disguised as the sheep with a black black cat."

http://www.petoffice.co.jp/catprin/images/pop_kaeru2.jpg "I am a frog."


These cats don't look very happy to be wearing such dear and foppish transformations. :rolleyes: Although it could just be the translation that's funny

[val7]

http://www.actsofgord.com/index.html hehe. not sure if all of those stories are true, but still funny. :)

If someone rents something and doesn't bring it back, what do you do?"

"The account is forwarded to collections."

"Ah, ok then. I'd like to rent these four games for a night please."

The Gord sees that all the games are new releases, and multi-CD games.

"Do you have an account?"

"Nope, what do you need."

"ID and a credit card."

"Why a credit card?"

"Take a guess. In a book, it's called foreshadowing."

[val7]

I haven't been posting very much recently, :blush: but I have an excuse, with moving and all. From June 3-17 or so I probably won't be posting at all, cause that's when we're actually moving.
It takes roughly 1.5 days to get from northern IN to central AZ, and that trip will be fun, with an arthritic Golden Retriever. :rolleyes: we're going to have to make a ramp or something for her.

No more humidity! No more mosquitos! No more snow! (actually, Prescott gets about 3 in. a year, but it doesn't stay very long)
:D :D

[val7]

I just finished the 5th HP book! :D It's pretty good but...
SPOILERS!!!!!!

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How could Rowling kill Sirius? :( Now Harry's all alone again (sure he made friends with the rest of the Order, but he doesn't now he doesn't have any 'family' unless you count the Weasleys). My favorite part was Fred and George's escape. :D It did seem as though everything that could possibly go wrong for Harry happened. Although the lenght of the books may be starting to resemble RJ, there is certainly a lot more stuff happening than in WoT.
This doesn't mean that I like HP better than GRRM (duh) or even WoT, I just think HP is a good thing to read for some quick entertainment.

[val7]

600th post! :D

[val7]

:D I just bought Amelie ($20), some headphones ($20), and the Bad Religion 'All Ages' CD ($15), and the cashier guy asked me if I wanted a discount so I said sure, and he said you can have all of this for $40! :D I'm happy now. :)

edit: come to think of it, he probably shouldn't have let me buy Amelie, seeing as how it's rated R and I'm only 15. ;)

[val7]

http://www.fireball20xl.com/bb.html hehe. galoshes. :p

[val7]

:( The senior with lieukemia died on Fri. I knew her better than the other one because I sat next to her in orchestra (when she was able to come to school at least). Even though she missed most of the last quarter because she was hospitalized, she still managed to be a co-valedictorian.

[val7]

Against The Grain
Three thousand miles of wilderness overcome by the flow,
a lonely restitution of pavement, pomp and show.
I seek a thousand answers, i find but one or two,
I maintain no discomfiture, my path again renewed.
Against the grain,
that's where i'll stay,
swimming upstream,
I maintain against the grain.
Here labelled as a lunatic, sequestered and content,
there ignored and defeated by the government.
There's an oriented public who's magnetic force does pull,
but away from the potential of the individual.
Against the grain...
The flow is getting stronger with small increments of time
and eddies of new ideas are increasingly hard to find.
You need all that the other has, it is your right to seize the day,
but in all your acquisitions you will soon be swept away.
Against the grain...
There's a common consensus and a uncomfortable cheer,
a reverberating chorus that anyone can hear;
it sings "leave your cares behind you, just grab tenaciously",
this lulling sense of purpose will destroy us rapidly.
Against the grain...

[val7]

Punk Rock Song

have you been to the desert?
have you walked with the dead?
there's a hundred thousand children being killed for their bread

and the figures don't lie they speak of human disease
but we do what we want and we think what we please

have you lived the experience?
have you witnessed the plague?
people making babies sometimes just to escape
in this land of competition the compassion is gone
yet we ignore the needy and we keep pushing on
we keep pushing on

this is just a punk rock song
written for the people who can see something's wrong
like ants in a colony we do our share
but there's so many other fuckin' insects out there
and this is just a punk rock song
(like workers in a company we do our share
but there's so many other fuckin' robots out there)

have you visited the quagmire?
have you swam in the shit?
the party conventions and the real politik
the faces always different, the rhetoric the same
but we swallow it, and we see nothing change
nothing has changed...

10 million dollars on a losing campaign
20 million starving and writhing in pain
big strong people unwilling to give
small in vision and perspective
one in five kids below the poverty line
one population runnin' out of time

[val7]

HP SPOILERS
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I've been listening to the HP OoP audio tapes since I finished the book, and that reader guy is amazing. There are 1 or 2 places where the voice is different from what it was before, but what can you expect from a guy who has to do 130+ voices? :) Also, I noticed that, when dumbledore defeats fudge and the aurors, the headmasters make "rude gestures." Now, what exactly are those? are they the single-finger-salute? And when the fireworks write "swear words," are they 'shit' etc? or, as is written later on, are they simply words like 'poo'? Because I certainly don't consider that a swear word.

[val7]

tonight I have to be @ my church @ midnight to leave for Mennonite Youth Convention in Atlanta, GA. I don't want to go because the charter bus is going to be packed (we have about 50 people going), and it's like 15 hours! :grumbles: and it's overnight, so we won't be allowed to talk or anything! :mad: And on the trip back we are supposed to get back @ 3AM! :eek: I'm moving the next day, too. :(

[val7]

Some stupid, weird, funny, etc. links:
www.pimphats.com (http://www.pimphats.com) :umm:
final meals (http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/finalmeals.htm) kind of funny, except it's not really.
world's worst website (http://www.magic15ball.com/)
http://www.stainedapron.com/
why did the chicken cross the road? (http://www.chickenjoke.com/)
cows (http://wallyworldlife.com/cows.html)
http://evil-guide.tripod.com/
http://www.watchmedance.com/ hehe
pick-up lines (http://linesthataregood.com/)
patriotic, yeah right. (http://www.crazyass13.com/featured/patriotic.html)
real-life smilies (http://www.hokies.net/01_11_01.htm)
http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html everybody's proabably seen this already...

[val7]

I got back at 3 am this morning. singing 606 (praise god from whom...) with 6000+ mennonites is fun. That georgia world congress center is ginormous! :eek: It was really humid and hot in atlanta, and it is a 25 min. walk uphill from my hotel (hilton) to the center. *sweat*

Speakers I heard:
Jimmy Carter! ("If I ever stop being a Baptist, I'll be a Mennonite") :D
Chuck Neufeld
Irene Mendoza
John Paul Lederach
Tony Campolo (the best one!)
Luke Hartman
Stanley Green
Michele Hersheberger
Mike Yaconelli (somewhat of a disappointment)


The Mennonite colleges (goshen, emu, hesston, bethel, bluffton) must be bankrupt now. They gave out 2000+ of those Nalgene bottles, 4000 keychains, 1000 bandannas, 2000 frisbees, and uncountable pens, pencils, and temporary tatoos (at a mennonite convention :confused: )

It was fun, and I'm off to AZ :D

[val7]

toast? (http://www.teamfishcake.co.uk/toast/) :umm:
singing horses? (http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.swf) :umm:

[val7]

I saw Pirates of the Caribbean last night! :cool: That is one awesome movie. And it has ~Orlando Bloom~ in it. :love: I never thought a Disney movie could be that good.

[val7]

http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/pirates/images/pstr_teaser_r3c2.jpg

[val7]

Burrich, over Fitz's bond with Nighteyes:
" 'How long can you share minds with one who scratches and licks himself, who will roll in carrion, who goes mad when a female is in season, who thinks no further than his next meal, before you accept his values as your own? Then what will you be?'
'A guardsman?' I [Fitz] hazarded."
-Assassin's Apprentice

[val7]

I went to Sedona yesterday via Jerome (that little town clinging to the side of the mountain that one good-sized boulder could wipe out). It's a long mountain road with steep grades, hairpin turns etc. And at the top of the mountain they have a sign that says "Don't drink and drive." :umm: Do they REALLY think that someone who has been drinking and driving is going to make it that far up the mountain? :p

[val7]

Rescuing Ourselves: Can America do more than save its own?

by Tad Daley
Imagine the euphoria that must have swept through the national football arena in Monrovia, Liberia, on June 13. Thousands of refugees had been crammed into the stadium for days, cowering under a driving rain, seeking sanctuary-again-from 14 years of civil war. On three sides of the city, rebel forces had been killing civilians indiscriminately. Inside the two things most in evidence were rotting corpses and armed thugs.

The Pentagon announced that day that the U.S.S. Kearsarge-carrying attack helicopters and 3,000 bristling Marines-was diverted to Liberian waters from its journey home from Iraq. U.S. forces were on their way to a land with which America had deep historical bonds. Liberia was founded by freed slaves in 1822; its capital is named after U.S. President James Monroe.

The most recent effort to topple Liberian president Charles Taylor has come with wearying tales of brutal crimes. As is often the case when lawlessness reigns, both government and insurgent forces have engaged in mayhem and murder. "At night we don't sleep," said refugee Ciaffa Fahnbulleh. "Fighters go around raping, breaking into people's homes and looting." Enslaved child soldiers, doped up to make them fearless and fierce, have perpetrated many of the most macabre atrocities. The Los Angeles Times ran a photo of one such young warrior; he wore a teddy bear pack on his back.

Imagine, then, how quickly elation in that arena turned to bitter disappointment when the full meaning of the Pentagon's announcement became clear. Was the American military coming to bang a few heads together, protect vulnerable refugees, and bring an end to bloodshed and butchery? No. American soldiers were deployed for one reason-to rescue Americans.

According to the U.S. Navy's Web site, the Kearsarge was being diverted "to aid in the potential evacuation of U.S. citizens." "The United States," said Pentagon spokesman Jim Turner, "is committed to providing for the safety of its citizens." Special operations forces, said the Navy, were helping to conduct "an orderly departure of U.S. citizens" in what they candidly dubbed "Operation Shining Express."

There are no American national interests in Liberia. There is no oil. There are no weapons of mass destruction. On the American geostrategic chessboard, Liberia might as well be on the moon.

AFTER THE FAILED coup attempt in Ivory Coast last September, U.S. forces made a dramatic helicopter rescue of Americans and left Ivorians to their fate. American officials made it clear that U.S. troops wouldn't assist the frantic Ivorians. "The U.S. European Command is moving forces to the region to ensure the safety of American citizens," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Donald Sewell. "This movement was undertaken solely for the purpose of protecting American citizens and property," President Bush wrote to Congress. "U.S. forces will re-deploy as soon as it is determined that this mission is completed."

Our sins of omission in Liberia and Ivory Coast have been magnified a hundredfold in Congo. Although Afghanistan over the past quarter-century might give it a run for its money, Congo today might well be the most wretched place on earth. In recent months the citizens of Congo have seen their villages burnt to the ground, machete massacres of babies, cannibalism, and a complete absence of government over vast portions of the country. The death toll in the past five years is considered to have exceeded 3 million-the greatest bloodletting anywhere since the end of the World War II.

The good news for Congo is that several nations have contributed troops to a U.N. peacekeeping force led by France, woefully inadequate and dilatory though it may be. The bad news is that the most powerful nation on earth refuses to participate.

But what can Washington be expected to do? In 1993, Somali warlord fighters dragged the bodies of 18 American soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu and into living rooms across the United States. Not 18,000. Not 1,800. 18. But those 18 have essentially stopped American intervention in any African crisis for nearly a decade.

Is there any quantitative point beyond which we might sacrifice the lives of Americans to save the lives of others? Would we be willing to suffer 10 American casualties to save 10,000 Liberians? Could we bear to lose 100 or even 1,000 American soldiers if we managed to rescue 1 million Congolese? How many American lives would it have cost to save the 800,000 souls who perished in Rwanda's orgy of blood in 1994?

"Tell that to the parents of those American soldiers," might come the reply. But it also seems possible that if our country ever chooses to go down this road, some American mother might say: "I lost my daughter this morning. But because of her sacrifice, 1,000 African mothers have kept sons and daughters of their own. Have no doubt, my little soldier girl did not die in vain."

This enduring dilemma for decision-makers was vividly portrayed in a February 2003 episode of the TV series The West Wing. President Josiah Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen, becomes increasingly agitated as he receives reports of genocidal violence in the fictional land of Kundu. He asks for a "force depletion report." Pentagon analysts inform him that U.S. troops could quickly stop the massacres, but that American forces would likely suffer as many as 150 casualties doing so. Meanwhile the death toll in Kundu rises to 25,000. "Why does an American life," he asks an aide, "matter more to me than a Kundunese life?" "I don't know," the aide replies, "but it does."

AN ALTERNATIVE that could free an American president from such predicaments-a proposal repeatedly revived since the founding of the United Nations-is the establishment of a U.N. Rapid Deployment Force (UNRDF). Such a force would exist not to rescue the citizens of any particular state, but to protect the citizens of every state from genocide and crimes against humanity. Its raison d'etre would be to act when mass violence does not happen to engage the interests of any outside power, but does threaten our common human interest in promoting the world rule of law.

The individuals volunteering for such a force would not be serving only their countries; they would be serving the whole of the human community. They would be citizens willing to put their lives on the line to protect the innocent, even when their own country has no dog in the fight. A UNRDF would call upon and cultivate people's global citizenship, their planetary patriotism, their allegiance to humankind. That element alone could capture the imagination of much of the global public, especially Internet-linked young people who've grown up with "globalization" as part of the fabric of their lives. It would be history's first army of humanity.

A force authorized and dispatched by the United Nations possesses greater legitimacy and accountability than when one country makes unilateral judgments about military intervention. A UNRDF could be deployed rapidly to the scene of crimes against humanity. It wouldn't have to patrol every square inch of a country, but could concentrate on establishing secure corridors and safe areas for refugees fleeing for their lives. If given the mandate to do so, it could also disarm combatants, arrest criminals, secure borders from outside troublemakers, and replace anarchy with some semblance of law and order.

In the weeks following the Kearsarge episode, pressure mounted inside and outside Liberia for the United States to intervene. Angry crowds laid the mangled bodies of children in front of the U.S. embassy. Thousands of Liberians, many missing limbs, demonstrated daily in Monrovia. Britain, France, several West African states, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Washington to do more than save its own. There was a pervasive sense that because of its historic ties to the country, its massive military establishment, and the recent interventions by Britain in Sierra Leone and by France in Ivory Coast and Congo, it was simply Washington's turn.

As President Bush prepared to depart on his first trip to Africa July 7, the White House indicated that it was indeed considering a dispatch of forces into Liberia. But virtually every comment on such a possible deployment focused on what Washington wouldn't do. U.S. officials emphasized that such a force would be small-perhaps as few as 500 to 2,000 troops. They said they expected the bulk of the soldiers to be supplied by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). They insisted that any deployment would be short, probably no more than three or four months. "If there is U.S. participation," said Secretary of State Colin Powell, "we see it as being very limited in duration and scope and really for the purpose of getting ECOWAS in there…to put the blue helmets on and be the peacekeeping force."

Perhaps most important, the Bush administration emphasized that "where you have insecurity and instability you're creating an environment in which terrorists can take root quite easily," in the words of one senior administration official. That, of course, qualifies as a vital U.S. interest.

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But even still the decision was a long time coming. Most Washington pundits expected Bush would make a formal announcement before his departure for Africa. That didn't happen, and as he returned from Nigeria July 12, he still had "not yet decided." (One of the arguments for creating a UNRDF is that the decision to deploy it would not become a political football dependent upon the will-or whim-of any one country.) As the Bush administration dithered, the plight of refugees in Monrovia grew bleaker by the hour.

U.S. intervention in Liberia, even in such a limited way, should certainly be applauded. But it hardly absolves Washington of its abandonment of victims of horrific African violence in the past. Nor does it convey an unambiguous commitment for the future.

Realistically, a U.N. Rapid Deployment Force will not come into exist anytime soon. That means that American political leaders-this president, the next, and likely the next after that-will face the same stark choice time and time again. When violence erupts in places distant from American concerns, will the unchallengeable American military ever be dispatched to protect the victims of genocide, crimes against humanity, and abominations that rival Dante's inferno? Or will we do nothing more than rescue ourselves?

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Today's Headlines from Liberia

July 21, 2003, was one of the bloodiest days yet in the Liberia conflict -- 60 to 90 deaths, more than 300 people injured, including 25 people killed when a mortar landed in a U.S. Embassy residential compound where 10,000 have taken refuge.

Liberians are wailing outside the U.S. Embassy, piling up mangled bodies, pleading still for U.S. intervention. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, too, is calling out for an American peacekeeping mission.

So what did the United States do instead? A dramatic helicopter evacuation of aid workers and journalists, and a bolstering of the contingent protecting the U.S. Embassy with 21 new Marines.

President Bush explained: "We sent a group of troops to protect our interests. We're concerned about our people." Not one word about the status of his consideration of U.S. intervention.

Voices in the crowd outside the U.S. Embassy cried "We're dying here," as U.S. Marines watched from behind bulletproof glass.

One other factor: Humanitarian aid workers want to stay in Liberia, but there's no one to ensure their safety. "We came in to do a job," said Eleanor Monbiot of World Vision. "We have the resources and the ability to do the job. But we don't have the security."

The bottom line, for longtime observers of the situation: If President Bush had done what everyone thought he'd do two or three weeks ago -- send peacekeepers -- this latest round of violence would surely have been avoided. - Tad Daley, 7/23/03

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"...Lots of lies can be uttered in less than 16 words. 'No Child Left Behind,' for example, is four words, and 'Clean Air Act,' only three."
-From "The Daily Enron" blog
(produced by American Family Voices).

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I went to Estes Park this past week and my family stayed at the Stanley (a gorgeous hotel). Part of Dumb and Dumber was filmed there, and it inspired Stephen King to write 'The Shining.' They didn't film the movie there, but they did film the mini-series on site. The Stanley was showing those three things on TV and I watched all of them.
Comments: the movie, with Jack Nicholson, had some weird lady playing the mother, and she was so annoying and stupid that I wanted to kill her too. When I watched the mini-series, I realized that we had stayed in room 217 on our previous visit, and that the characters should have just walked down to the Safeway at the bottom of the hill to get help ;)

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"I think I can speak for the majority of males in the age group of 4-28 when I say that video games have played a major role in our childhood and a part of our daily lives. From the halcyon days of moving a clump of dots away from the smaller clump of dots until you pass out or your controller explodes, to the golden age of arcades where a quarter guaranteed at least a good 15 minutes of playing time, and into the present age of high graphic first person shooters and immense strategic games, we have immersed ourselves in this form of entertainment, taking over the TV as the time killer of choice. Everything we need to know to succeed in life we've learned through video games. For instance:

-If you see a mushroom in the forest, eat it to grow 2x in size.
-Horde as many gold coins as you can. Kill anyone who gets in your way of obtaining them.
-If you ever get in a fight, position your opponent next to a cliff or pit so you can take him out with one jump kick.
-Eating hamburgers and similar food items will heal any major wound.
-If you beat hookers or bums to death with a baseball bat, floating piles of money will appear above their bodies.
-Fuck saving the princess or any female for that matter. The bitches are never where they're supposed to be.

When I try to explain all this to my girlfriend she can't understand it, or why I spend hours a week building mighty civilizations, storming bunkers while shooting Nazis in the groin with a rifle, and building my character's skills so I can make pants for Stormtroopers. Frankly I don't think she'll ever understand, so the battle continues. "
-www.somethingawful.com (http://www.somethingawful.com)

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just realized i start school next mon. shit.

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The sea's evaporated
Though it comes as no surprise
These clouds we're seeing
Their explosions in the sky
It seems it's written
But we can't read between the lines

(sleeping with ghosts- placebo)

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where will you go with no one left to save you from yourself

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I read an article written by some preacher guy about Howard Dean and Dubya. It made me very mad. His main point was that since Dean hasn't really publically professed to be a Christian, we should vote for Dubya because 'Bush's faith is obviously a big part of his life.' :furious: And I thought 'WTF is wrong with you?!?!?!?! Going by what some of my christian friends tell me (loving enemies, forgiving, no revenge, helping those less fortunate, etc.), there is no way in heaven/hell that Dubya is a christian. SO WHAT if whoever Bush's opponent is isn't a christian?? Dubya has done so many terrible things to other countries, the environment, and our own lower class that ANYBODY, no matter what faith or no faith, would be better. :grumbles:

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:furious: :furious: FUUUUCCCKKK!!!! :furious: my good computer with ALL of my music CRASHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :furious: and i had spent the WHOLE DAY yesterday downloading music!!!! I had enough that I was going to burn 4 or 5 CDs today!!! :furious: not to mention all the documents and games etc. that I had :furious: :grumbles: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jackaram/assets/images/boese076.gif
http://www.click-smilie.de/sammlung/sauer/sauer035.gif http://www.click-smilie.de/sammlung/alles_moegliche/allesmoegliche030

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good thing came from computer crash: my dad went on a computer buying craze and bought two new monitors and a new laptop. :D

:D:D WOOOO!!!!! :D NO SCHOOL ON FRIDAYS THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!:D :D :D