WTF…. Polyp Man??

I mean, it’s one thing to be able to poke fun at a condition that you have, rather than let it get you down. It’s another thing entirely, the fact that we’ve gotta use humour to get people to pay attention to serious issues. It’s a pretty sad state of affairs, really.

“Hey doc, I just saw this hilarous commercial on TV. Wanna check out my polyps?”

Prufrock says, “You guys gonna watch the ‘State of the Union?’”

You say, “i prolly should”
You say, “so I find out where we’re gonna bomb next”
Prufrock hah.
You ask, “when is it?”
Prufrock says, “Maybe Bush will be so excited about it that he won’t be able to keep National Security secrets..”
You say, “we’ll see that little stream of spittle fly outta his mouth as he talks about crushing terrorism..”

Prufrock says, “In the background, somewhere in a hidden bunker, Cheney will be sadly shaking his head..”
You say, “bunker? ssh! it’s an ‘undisclosed location’..”
Prufrock says, “I believe the state of the union will be addressed at 9pm.”
Prufrock says, “It’s probably a hall closet in the White House.”
You grin.
Prufrock says, “Oh, hey Dick…. will you hand me my coat? Keep up the good work.””

You say, “nah, it’s probably a play room with Monopoly and Risk game pieces scattered all around”

It was warm on the walk over to the post office; It was warmer still on the way back, I’m pretty sure.

They say that the sense of smell is one of the most likely to trigger “memories”, to make one remember things from the past. On the way back, the scent of the grass, and the trademark virginia red clay had me thinking of the countless games of little league and neighborhood baseball I played as a kid.

Compare this to the acrid scent that rampaged my nose soon after returning, that of the fake-banana-odoured cleansing product they use here, to clean the bathrooms.

Doonesbury has always been a beacon of truth.

[I have a larger version of this comic if you want it. Just email me.]

It’s supposed to be crazy warm today. In fact, my lunch break today will be spent walking something over to the postal facility nearby. No need to drive when it’s 65!

It was quite warm yesterday, too. In fact, I used it as incentive to go walk on a bike/jog trail near my house that I didn’t know existed. Apparently, my sister and her bf hid a geocache out there recently. I was told by aformentioned parties where it was supposed to be, but I couldn’t find it. Then again, I don’t have a GPS, either, and I think that’s the point.

So I took some pictures on the trail. A few nice ones, some that weren’t so good. I am trying to figure out if/how I can post them here — I hate putting enormous pictures online in my journal. Now, I could thumbnail them, but they lose a lot of detail that way… also, even at 640×480, they’re about 900k each, I think (?). I could see myself taking up a lot of hdd space on the hdd of the machine where my shell account resides. More than I am already (I wish I had feckin’ broadband, so I could move most of that).

We’ll see. I think I took 9 pictures while on the trail, plus one more afterwards . I only kept about 5 of them though.

Because I was bored and needed direction, more than anything, really.
Because I needed a good mental flossing.
Because I never much like drama in the first place.
Because it really shouldn’t be that big a deal.
Because burning bridges isn’t my thing, either.

Draping Lady Justice.

(article saved for posterity)
(more…)

I posted this elsewhere. Considering mailing it to a newspaper, as well. Posting here for my own records.

Regarding the “unlawful combatants” currently being held in Camp
X-Ray, it’s far too easy to say, “Hey, look what they did to us. They
deserve whatever they get, nothing we could do to them could be bad
enough as payback for September 11th.”

Now the purpose of this apologetic is not to debate the idea that

‘revenge’ may or may not be justified — it’s simply not my point
here. We all had feelings of revenge in the beginning — it’s a natural
reaction. Nor is the purpose to argue whether or not the prisoners are
currently being treated fairly.

Rather, this statement is regarding our hesitancy to consider
them “prisoners of war”, which would thus put the burden on the
United States to adhere to the tenants in the Geneva Convention.
It is an issue of taking the moral high-ground when something
like this occurs, especially in the light of this war’s scope.

In his 20-Sept Joint Session speech, Bush said, regarding the attacks:

Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate what we
see right here in this chamber — a democratically elected
government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms –
our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and
assemble and disagree with each other.

In making that statement, Bush made the impending war one for freedom, and
the ability to save all aspects thereof, from the terror threat that,
unattended, could destroy it. In doing so, he indeed (wisely) turned
the reason for war away from ‘revenge’, into something that

“…is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance,
and freedom”.

Bush said that the reason we were attacked was because the US stands for
freedom, and that these terrorist forces despise those ideals that we set
forth.

So then we step all over those ideals, and trample the Geneva
Convention? How does this demonstrate how well freedom stands strong
against its adversaries? How is this resistance against what al-Qaeda
wants to demonstrate?

In bending or breaking the statutes in the Geneva Convention, the US would
be showing that, indeed, it’s impossible to function, playing by the
rules. They’d be showing terrorist groups around the world exactly what
they want to see — a United States that doesn’t embrace freedom, the
world over.

Indeed, Bush recognises this is a world threat, as well, in his speech:

The civilized world is rallying to America’s side. They
understand that if this terror goes unpunished, their own cities, their
own citizens may be next. Terror, unanswered, can not only bring down
buildings, it can threaten the stability of legitimate
governments

Bush has made this a battle for freedom, and a global one at that — and
for that, I’m appreciative. However, in doing so, he’s also brought that
bright, glaring spotlight upon the US, that we might uphold the global freedoms
that we’re talking about defending.

…This ought to remove any disbelief.

So… John Walker has arrived in the US, and it appears that they’ve shaved his head and face.

What-oh-what will the media do now? For several weeks now, they’ve used a file photo of Walker, just a headshot, as opposed to the whole photo, which made him look most sinister. In fact, I thought he looked an awful lot like another well-known American deviant…

Can you pick out the REAL JOHN WALKER from this lineup of imposters?

Note the resemblance? I can’t shake the notion that it was intentional.

Garden Grove (Redux)

With apologies to Sublime

We took this trip to Garden Grove
Shoulda stayed inside the van, oh yeah

This ain’t just cyber-cafe violence,
Duke Nukem at the door,
It gets so real sometimes, who cut my line?
I’ve got the TCP, got the DSL,
I’ve got the gamepad, and a highway to hell, oh yeah

If you only knew all the fraggin’ I find,
It’s hard to keep my life o-offline

You’re a fool, don’t mess with my avatar
All I can see I can kill
I fill up my hard drive, cuz in my mind
Fraggin’ from the cafe, all the rage that I found
It’s hard to keep my hate underground,

It’s you, it’s that Half-Life under my shoe,
It’s the email covered with spam,
It’s that crazy new game jam,
Lots of traffic on the LAN,
Getting blisters on my hand,
Watching Quake thugs having to stand,
Getting up to take a crap
Never stop to take a nap
Getting stabbed with no delay
Starting fistfights every day
Leavin’, I always have a tail
Spending the night in a jail
Livin’ in my parents’ pad
Getting really, really mad
Sayin’ yer laggin’ when you’re not
Finding ways to slip the cops

Oooohhh…
All these thoughts, they fail
When I’m waiting for bail…

* It’s weird when you have a dream you’re discussing a movie with someone from LJ that you’ve never met (hapachan)
* It’s weirder yet when neither the movie (The Royal Tannenbaums) nor its director (Wes Anderson) are subjects with which you are familiar.
* It’s weirder still when you find yourself transcribing the conversation in an “AIM”-styled format so you can post it in your LJ, later on.

However, none of that compares to the weirdness of when the aformentioned director bursts onto the scene and tries to get in a fistfight with you.

I guess dreams aren’t meant to make sense after all.

On the way to the store today, I saw a Lexus drive into the subsidised housing complex behind my condo. On the way back in, I saw a Saab enter said complex. What is wrong with this picture?

Also, I have a feeling I have taken the last step on the way to becoming an LJ whore; That is, I just bought an Olympus C-700 digital camera. Hopefully I’ll exercise some restraint.

In the last 48 hours, word has gotten out that there are nations out there who want access to the prisoners and/or are suspicious/criticising the US regarding treatment of the prisoners.

Here’s the tripe: On MSNBC today, they had some talking head on, blabbering about how the US is not necessarily going to consider the detainees being brought to Guantanamo Bay as “prisoners” of war, as they don’t meet certain criteria, based on the Geneva Convention, to be considered “soldiers”. Some of these criteria include “uniforms” and “distinguishable rank and class”. Rather, they are being called “war criminals”

Can you see where we’re going with this? Not soldiers, per the Geneva Convention = Geneva Convention, prisoners’ rights, out the window.

I’m suspicious that the US is talking out of both sides of its mouth¹ here. First, we declare “war” on a faceless entity — and yet, detained parties thereof are not being considered “prisoners of war”

¹ – Not that this surprises me.

If this turns out to actually be true, I’d be happy as… well, I dunno. Really happy.

Funny I never heard about this before, all things considered.

Nothing out of the ordinary tonight, I suppose, but I guess I should write about this just because it’s such a great time, all the time…

Another night of cigars and red wine. Bought a few ’97 California Cabs, as that’s a pretty good vintage, and a pretty good gamble. Tonight’s selection wasn’t all that great as compared to the other ’97s I’ve had as of late, but the wine is a mere part of the evening.

Wine is a nice, warm heady buzz. Not a drunkeness, no revelry, just a pacific, immensely august experience. Once or twice a week, M and I sit out on my balcony and smoke a stogie and enjoy some red wine, just relaxing, chatting, philosophizing. One of these nights I’m gonna record our conversations, because we have the best discussions regarding any topic under the sun… usually it comes back to the dismal DC lifestyle, but it’s not nearly that ominous. It’s amazing how much we can talk Dylan, Beatles, career, decisions, changes. For sure, we don’t always look at things from the same angle, but we can discuss things cordially, in a civil manner.

I guess all this is nothing spectacular, but it’s a great buffer from the harsh, obtuse DC suburban backdrop.

Local record store @ the mall is going outta business — for good reason, they were completely, insanely overpriced. In any case, after a round of 25-40% discounts around Christmas, the dropped ‘em again to burn the chaff. CDs normally $19.99¹ were $7.99, and that’s pretty much the top range.

Can you say, “Like a kid in a candy store”? Selection was getting thin, but I made out pretty well….

Pearl Jam – Live: 8-10-00 West Palm Beach, Florida

Mother Love Bone – Mother Love Bone
Michael Hedges – The Best Of

Susan Tedeschi – Better Days
Leonard Cohen – Field Commander Cohen: Tour of 1979

Spiritualized – Let It Come Down
Chris Isaak – Forever Blue

Squirrel Nut Zippers – Sold Out
Corey Harris – Fish Ain’t Bitin’

Corey Harris and Henry Butler – Vü Dü Menz

Total — about $72. Not bad, not bad at all.

¹ – Any reason why anyone would spend $19.99 on a CD is beyond me. But most of these were regularly $18.99 – 19.99

Quick entry before I go to bed.

Excellent steak for dinner tonight at Sam & Harry’s. Absolutely exquisite. The evening was excellent, all up until the point where it was time to go home.

Basic outline:

1. Go down Rt 7. Big accident down near the 7/267 Interchange. Rt 7 blocked off.
2. Cop tells me go down Tyco -> Spring Hill -> Lewinsville (sp?) Rd. I know Lewinsville intersects with Rt 7 — but I don’t know Tyson’s at all, I have come to find out.
3. Didn’t find Lewinsville from Spring Hill. What I did end up doing was somehow going in an enormous circle and ending up down by Tyson’s Corner Mall – that’s further east than where I started!
4. Driving down 123 frustrated, I decide not to go back down 7 and try again — the traffic was getting nasty. So I decide to cut down through Vienna somewhere. But again, at this point it’s late and I’m frustrated.
I’m going 55 in a 35. That’s reckless… hey, what are those blinking lights doing…?
5. Hello Mr. Pigolice Officer. Actually, I shouldn’t say that — I explained my frustration and that I couldn’t figure out how the hell to get back. He let me off with a warning. The strange part is, this cop had no idea about the accident, not more than 5 miles away — an accident with what must have been every other cop car and ambulance in Fairfax County there. (Hmm. Maybe that’s why he let me off)
6. Weaving through Vienna -> Reston on Lawyers Rd./Hunter Mill Rd., I finally make my way home. All in all, it probably took an hour to get home. It’s normally a 20 minute drive.

Good freaking night.

Guy gets out of car, to go into the office. wearing all black, military-style black boots. head all shaved, sans a downward-pointing triangle of dyed (black? blue?) hair starting about the base of his skull.

One of these people who wants “to be original”, I guess. Wants “society to let me be who I want to be”. I don’t have any arguments with that. We all want this.

However, when you’ve got bumper stickers on the back of your car like, “Jesus says you suck”, “Product of Society”, “Your parents lied”, and others much like that, you are neither being original or free-thinking. Nor is anyone going to take you seriously or cut you any slack when you purposely try to offend them.

Thomas Boswell is a brilliant journalist.