Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Brennen‘s been posting a multi-part essay (see part 1 and part 2) about the state of American primary education. He’s working very hard to make a case with which I generally agree. However, I want to argue two points. One: Why punish children for using the language of their parents, their older siblings, and their culture at large? Does saying “fuck” actually render a person somehow less valuable? Contrariwise, do […]
Monday, July 25, 2005
Hot day. As soon as I stepped outside, summer wrapped me in a thick blanket of heat and humidity. I practically staggered under its oppressiveness. More is expected tomorrow. Which means…what, exactly? Par for the course in D.C. Our summers can be vicious brutes. A lot of people around here talk wistfully of moving to the Carolinas, where you still get the seasons but summers aren’t as nasty. Of course, they never move. D.C. […]
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Hey, I managed to update every weekday last week! Hurray for me. Saturday was a quiet, lazy day, though “lazy” for me means that I completed ten tasks instead of twenty. My primary goal this weekend is to catch up on Gundam Seed Destiny, so I watched a handful of episodes yesterday. I’m now up to episode 32 (out of 50, probably), so I ‘m now well into the main plot. The show […]
Friday, July 22, 2005
Sasha the Space Corps Boy just left my house, where we had a great time watching the new Appleseed movie (I’m now annoyed by the reviews that sniffed at its mediocre plot; it’s little more than a high-powered action movie, but it does a great job at being one. The plot is somewhat complex, but this is not a deep movie, and it never pretends to be. That’s why […]
July 21, 2005
…But, no, that’s not going to happen. I spent all evening on the phone doing business with Saalon, and vegging out in front of MST3K (“The Killer Shrews”), exhaustion seeping into my bones like dry rot. I’m beat. I’m so beat that I’m calling off a bunch of my commitments for this weekend, and plan to spend the next few days recharging. I need it. Lots of good stuff this week, but too […]
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
This was the last day of the certification audit at work. As yesterday, I just had to wait for information requests, and today, I received none. I did attend the final briefing, at which I received a round of applause for my efforts. So. A good day. I arrived home, ate dinner, started a load of laundry, and received a phone message from a member of my role-playing group, who asked if we could switch role-playing to tonight. I glanced at the clock, swallowed the last gulp […]
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
What a peculiar day. I returned home from the game last night at midnight, trudged upstairs…and felt heat like an oven was left on. Now, my oven doesn’t work, and it’s not upstairs. Uh-oh. I went back downstairs and realized: Yesterday, I switched the A/C off so I could talk to a friend outside while standing next to the A/C unit and he wouldn’t think I was standing next to a running jet engine. I forgot to switch […]
Monday, July 18, 2005
Tonight, I met my Dad at McDonald’s, then hopped on a bus which took us to the fabulous D.C. subway system, which whisked us downtown to D.C., where we joined the crowds of teeming, streaming humanity entering RFK stadium for a Washingtion Nationals baseball game. I have been to a baseball game in over ten years, so I obviously haven’t been to a Nationals game yet. I had a great time. The seats were big, we had […]
Sunday, July 17, 2005
My garden is looking much improved. My parents came over today with a load of plants that they had yanked from their own garden. We all pitched in and planted veritable miles of pachysandra and Virginia creeper, plus several hostas and impatiens. Kind of them, plus it filled out my garden nicely. Can’t wait to lay down some mulch now. We also watched New Police Story, Jackie […]
Friday, July 15, 2005
Geh. Accidentally deleted my journal entry for today. Briefly: Got DVD case in the mail, but it was the wrong size. Everyone involved was extremely helpful. Can’t complain. Wrote overwrought metaphor concerning this. Saalon‘s helping me edit Summer Storm, which means I’ll have less creative control but more free time. I feel this is worth the trade. I’m keeping pretty well on top […]