Tropical Depression Katrina is a giant tease

I've been waiting for rain for the past two days, rain that was promised to me in countless weather forecasts. It would appear that we in the DC metro area will not be seeing any of the torrential rains the VA newscaster looked so excited to get a piece of. It's very sad that a hurricane that brought so much death and destruction to the Gulf states brought such a glint to the eyes of the weather and newscasting professionals of America. I admit that I didn't watch any of the coverage, and indeed didn't even know that the hurricane was all that bad until Matt Lauer wouldn't stop talking about it yesterday. As such, all of the pictures and footage are completely out of context for me - it's as if the Earth just got angry at a few states and decided to unleash its wrath in the blink of an eye, and while that might be exactly how it feels to all the survivors of the storm, the rest of the world has the overdocumented progression to review and exploit for some months to come.

Regardless, I don't think it's going to be raining here anytime soon, so my car will stay dirty, and I'll have to go out and water the plants anyway.

I have some big, wonderful plans for the Labor Day weekend - working until

Yikes, the fucking power just went off and made me almost pee my pants! And now the cable is out. Damn. Sorry for the bad language, I was frightened.

Back to Labor Day - working until 4. Driving in some presumably bad traffic back home. Going to the State Fair with my mom and Courtney. Going to New York with Courtney to (in possibly the correct order) (cable back on) Katie Musar, James and Surrah Lipchock, Avenue Q, Mark I., Rachel, Upright Citizens Brigade, Katie Musar again. Needless to say, I am beyond excited.

Why did stupid Zoe Bartlett ever date that dumb Jean-Paul guy - he has a pretentious accent, eventually drugs her and gets her kidnapped, and is definitely NOT Charlie Young! I never liked that Zoe.

Still not raining. I wish that I was Amy Garndiner. This entry should really be titled My Love Affair with the West Wing.

The President just explained Max Weber to Abby, and Will Bailey explained John Rawl's veil of ignorance to some communications gals - I love that the West Wing teaches us things. These were things I already knew, but I have a fancy overpriced liberal arts education underneath my belt.

Now, I'm not trying to get philsophical here

But I'm tired of the cycles of life. I'm tired of feeling as if everything is cyclical, returning us to the same point in history over and over again. I'm tired of the unshakable weights around our necks, and I'm tired of the magnetic pull of the moving sidewalk of life.

The names, faces, places, and vices can all change, but it's still all the same underneath. It doesn't matter what you're hung up on, because it always means the same thing. Some might find this reassuring, at least if you're going to get hurt, you know the color of the truck that's gonna run you over. Is it wrong to hope for more? Is it wrong to think that maybe the truck will swerve one of these times, granting that final reprieve? From all that I have seen in my short, short life, that hope is merely a dellusion.

Ironically, it's an Eve6 song giving me solace tonight. Stupid Laguna Beach making me think so late at night. Stupid roommates not housesitting with me. Stupid interweb not being all over the world allowing Courtney to be online and talk me down (or up) from my pit of philosophical despair. Mostly stupid Laguna Beach.

in this time of introspection
on the eve of my election
i say to my reflection
god, please spare me more rejection
'cause my peers, they criticize me
and my ex-wives all despise me
try to put it all behind me
but my redneck past is nipping at my heels
(not Eve6, but so much better.

My Mac can kick your PC's ass and look good doing it.

Sorry, kids, not much more to say than that. I officially own the world's best computer, and being the pseudo-geeky kid that I am, this rocks my world.

I've had a wonderful time rediscovering the world of Finders and open apple keys. I've met the new neighbors, Safari and Widgets. I can honestly say that I dreading returning to my Dell Dimension Desktop at work tomorrow. Even with the bubbly XP design scheme, it's just not slick.

These are things that float my boat, I guess. Wishing you Macintosh technicolor dreams, goodnight.

Now I'm not a racist...

but what's up with the Mexican men on the street? What about my sharing a roadway with you makes you think it's cool to do the tongue clicky noise? Have you ever gotten a good response from the tongue clicky noise? What about Cortez's raping and pillaging of your land centuries ago has led you down this path of unwelcome and unsolicited approval?

Reason these questions don't make me a racist - this behavior really is isolated to the Latino culture. I've never seen a Japanese dude make the clicky noise, nor a Dutch man, nor even an Ethiopian. It's just those South of the Border guys. Somewhere during the creation of delicious fish tacos and guacamole, Latino guys learned it's perfectly ok to devalue women they don't know, in fact, it's complimentary. What do their mother's say?

Hold on, Italian guys were really bad too. I blame the Mediterranean and all of the areas under its influence. Just further evidence of the evils of imperialism.

I Love the 80s

I am currently loving '87, but in 19 minutes, I'll probably be loving '88. I have a lot of good memories of the 80s - I had a green shirt with a big giraffe head and real fringe hair, I had a Teddy Ruxpin, interest rates were of no concern to me, I never had to do laundry, the 80s were pretty cool. My 80s were filled with childhood delights. My decade is starkly contrasted with the 80s of VH1, though. These 80s are adult 80s, not my 80s...but it's all pretty funny, so I fake it. Hurray for the 80s, or at least the contemporary TV and music personality who clever quip about them!!

Ian Michael Black 4 ever.

I Love the 80s

I am currently loving '87, but in 19 minutes, I'll probably be loving '88. I have a lot of good memories of the 80s - I had a green shirt with a big giraffe head and real fringe hair, I had a Teddy Ruxpin, interest rates were of no concern to me, I never had to do laundry, the 80s were pretty cool. My 80s were filled with childhood delights. My decade is starkly contrasted with the 80s of VH1, though. These 80s are adult 80s, not my 80s...but it's all pretty funny, so I fake it. Hurray for the 80s, or at least the contemporary TV and music personality who clever quip about them!!

Ian Michael Black 4 ever.

As long as she's got noise, she's fine

Currently listening to Dar Williams and wondering how a life of cubicle-dwelling and rent-paying can possibly be as worthwhile as that of a travelling musician. Sure, I don't have any talent or instruments, but the story would be great. Maybe I could travel the country entertaining people in grocery store lines, as I have a tendency to do already. Maybe I could pack up and leave on a 4 year trek to find myself - I'm not sure college did the job. I certainly never stumbled upon my inner child or adult, my inner drunkard for a while, but that's it. What if you never really find yourself? What if you just find what you're happy being? Kind of like the caveman diet, you coast until you feel the need to change.

My grandmother left a note on her refrigerator once when she went to the grocery store: "I've gone out to find myself. If you see me before I return, keep me here." I always thought this was remarkably hip of my grandmother, until I saw it on a magnet at some beach-y boardwalk crap store. I still think that my grandmother is remarkably hip, but this is no longer a good example. She can rock an embroidered cotton shirt from Penny's like no body else.

I think I'm definitely a "grass is greener on the other side" kinda gal. I couldn't wait to get out of college because working would be better. It is, but now I can't wait to pick up and travel around because that would be better. And then, I can't wait to do the next thing, cause that will be better. The next thing is always better, which is good, I guess - it keeps you moving.

This is a v. philosophical entry. I think it's because I'm doing tedious things at work today and my id is longing to break free. Or my super id, or ego. Maybe I'M just longing to break free. If I could go anywhere today, it would be to Zion National Park. I would take my bike and towel and my iPod with its everlasting battery. There'd be hiking, spot finding and sitting until the sun went down. Or maybe I'd go to the that little beach on Capri under the ferry pier where my glowy constalation watch met its ultimate demise. I'd like to go to Turkey, too. I hear South Africa is cool, so says Jock Itch Rachel (good job with the Lotramin, btw!) Iceland, Arles, Germany, Morocco, Gabon, Eritrea, Andorra, Cinque Terra, Hondorus, and so on and so on.

You don't know how precious you are, you don't know how much I adore you.

I think I miss the ability to express myself through Away message. The opportunity for passive aggressivity has certainly been taken down a few notches.

I had oatmeal with chocolate chips in it this morning. That can't possibly be a healthy breakfast. They were Trader Joe's all natural chocolate chips, but still. It was delicious.

Perhaps more later.