NYC was amazing!

Alright, so that's the second time I've said something was amazing in my titles. But I believe it was warranted both times. Well, alright, admittedly waking up at 5 after not being able to fall asleep the night before kind of sucked. Scratch the 'kind of;' it sucked. But, as Steff does a lot already, she made me feel so much better after something really sucky. But after she and Kyla found me in the station, we went to this "Gudt Food" place (it makes me chuckle) and got some beignets (I think I'm spelling it correctly, "ben-YAY," by the way). Take it from me: you don't want to suck up confectioners sugar. Then we went to FAO Schwartz, where a new member of the Brick family was adopted. Fao was then put right to work as an attempt at convincing the Central Park Zoo that Kyla was under 12. Perhaps, if she started sucking her thumb... Though, she's probably still too tall. But yes, the zoo was a good time too. My favorite is still the red panda completely passed out in the tree, that's the way to go. Forget it being a dog's life; it's totally a red panda's life. Back to the subway! This time to the MoMA, where we quickly took in some art (to look cultured, of course). Then we totally threw that aside as we went to Times Square and Bubba-Gump! MoMA to Greenbo, only in New York. I whooped ass on the trivia that our waiter decided to give us, except for the last question, which I think was pretty cheap. How long did Forrest run for? Yea, I was close. I said 3 years. The actual answer? 3 years, 2 months, 14 days and 16 hours. ARG! Ah well. More Forrest trivia? (Leave your answers in a comment, and don't cheat!... though this is going to get me like no comments, whatever)

Which three presidents did Forrest meet?

What did he say to each of them?

What was the best thing about being wounded according to Forrest?

What was Bubba's full name?

What was Forrest's son watching on TV when he met him?

Anways, I think those were about all the questions he could come up with. Well, from Times Square, unfortunately, it was back to Penn Station. A good day to say the least, I already can't wait to see her again.

Clerks 2 was amazing!

Well, I think that's about all I can say on that subject since I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone else who is planning on seeing it. Though, I will say this, it's as crude as the rest of his movies and a lot of the time that you'll laugh is just because you can't believe that he went there. Once again, Mer was my savior going to see it with me. I believe we both had a delightful time, especially her, who cracked up everytime that Elias came on screen.

Alright, this now leaves me with nothing to write about. That is, aside from the New York trip tomorrow, but I already wrote about it and there's only so much one can write about such a thing. I kinda also want to bitch about Freedomland and Flightplan (the other P.O.S. movie I was forced to watch by my friends from home), but again, there's only so much you can write about such a thing and only so much people would be willing to read before they, themselves, start bitching.

I've decided, if I ever do become a journalist, I want to be just like Thomas Friedman. If you even just read what he writes on the subject of the current situation in the Middle East, you'll wonder 'why in the hell can't smart guys like this be leading our country.' Maybe because he is clever enough to stay as far as he can away from elected office? Or, are his ideas just not that great and don't apply in real life? I'm hoping it's the first, cause he does seem to make a great deal of sense, at least to me.

So, what's it going to be today?

So, day 2 of this writing exercise thing. Surprisingly, I'm actually going to try using some proper punctuation. Normally, I don't like to since it slows down my typing and train of thought. However, I figure sooner or later I will have to figure out how to write proper sentences and keep that line of thought streaming. Ah well. My fingers are already aching to just plop out a "...," but I got to hang in there. Arg! No more "gotta's" either.

My friends from home have the worst taste in movies. Last night the one who works at Blockbuster, Laurel, rented a few, and among them, Freedomland. I had seen the trailers for it a long time ago, and even my poor memory told me that I didn't want to see it. But, it stars both Samuel L. Jackson ("Snakes on a motherfuckin' plane") and Julianne Moore. I am a fan of both so, tragically, I did not argue the selection as much as a should have. The movie featured Moore going into extended druggie monologues, meaning she would stutter and meander from coherent thought. Perhaps this is how druggies actually talk, but for a movie you can have the camera on someone for 10 minutes straight. One of the first things you should learn as a director is that the audience has a severely short attention span. Otherwise, the story was rather weird, trying to work racial overtones into this murder story. And, even when the murder was solved it was rather melodramatic. Certain strong characters introduced at the beginning, like Moore's violent policeman brother, were forgotten at the end. But the movie was rated "good" by those viewing it, though Mer and I were praying for it's ending.

The whole time I was calling for Clerks, rented at the request of Mer and myself. Unfortunately, we started it severly late so it was at least 1:30 by the time I called Steff back (she called during Freedomland and actually noted something in my voice to suggest that I was supremely irritated with that movie). Though I wish I could have left in the middle of Clerks, considering how many times I'd seen it, I felt an obligation to watch it with them since I had been the main voice calling for its viewing. When the credits rolled on Clerks, it was rated "bad" and "I didn't even like it the first time I saw it." Mer, who is the savior of my sanity with my friends, said that it was "good, but not amazing" (after I proclaimed it as such) and is now planning on seeing Clerks 2 with me tonight!

Meanwhile, the TV room in our house has been turned upside down and sideways as we are getting ready to paint in there. And, actually, my presence is requested down there to start joining in on the painting fun.

exercising

so apparently, my mother being the writing expert that she is, says that if i'm actually going to be a journalism major i need to start writing more, like daily and not just when the mood strikes me... so i figured, since i haven't posted here in a while i could start off by writing something here... though i guess to be properly 'exercising' i should be using proper grammar and such, but i figure i'll just ease into that, and plus who uses proper grammar on a blog?? that's what i thought...

so lately, my life has just been going to work, however work is still really only hardly part of my day since my shifts are so short and such, and my mom is getting all cranky as a result, arg... i can't wait to be back at school... but yea, work and counting down days... every now and then something fun comes along like mini golf last night, and might i add i think i get better each time i play, so you watch out when you challenge me to putt-putt... but another sure-to-be-fun thing is coming up on monday! yea... in case you can figure out with the countdown on the side there, monday would be the trip up to nyc... i should probably order my train tickets soon, but those damn new hope people... dragging their feet :-p ... but i'm probably planning on getting up there like at 1013 (that's when the site says the train will be there, btw... that train leaves h-burg at 630... ewwww)... and hanging out with the coolest girl ever... oh, and those other people... lol, but no, i'm looking forward to seeing britt a lot too, since she and i have been talking so much these past weeks, and other than that, i don't know who is going... lol... but yea, the last train leaves nyc at 630 (also ewwww), but i'm predicting an amazing day...

mon is going to be living in nittany crossing next year!! and i got my football tickets yesterday!! next year is going to be the shit, i can't wait... 3 good guys to live with, 1 amazing girl, and my bro living pretty close nearby... who could not love a situation like that?... i'm actually kinda looking forward to some of my classes next semester too... like i have the newswriting course, acting, a poli sci class with a prof i like a lot, and two other journalism classes, the only one that's going to blow is the GHA gen ed course: food facts and fads or whatever... blah...

alright, i think that's it for today, let's see what i can come up with to write about tomorrow...

When in the course of human events...

On a day of missiles (aka the fireworks of Independence Day), I think it might be a good idea to think about a few in particular. Today North Korea launched three missiles, one capable of reaching this country. Am I the only one noting the inconsistency of this country's response to, the now famous acronym, WMDs? Weapons of mass destruction were the reasoning behind our invasion of Iraq. And while I’m not calling for similar action to be taken against North Korea, it is puzzling that we aren’t doing more to stop this country that is clearly bent on our destruction. I don’t think it can be reasonably argued that North Korea doesn’t have nuclear capabilities, out of date though they may be. Such talk was always countered with the point that they have no way to deliver these bombs to our soil. Well, they are doing their damnedest to get them here. Back to Iraq, why was our administration ramming proof of WMDs down our throats almost to the point of lying to us and aren’t doing the same about North Korea? I hate jumping back to the worn out liberal excuse, but it must have been oil. And, while I support the troops 100%, especially being from a military family myself, it hurts me deeply to think that they are dying over there to get a few people that little bit richer. Of course, now the reason we are there is for the poor Iraqis, to give them a taste of this wonderful thing we call democracy. Why them? Did they luck out and win the ‘democracy installation package’ at the White House raffle? Not that I’m anti-democracy, it’s just the question of how we see this as our greatest mission while in Africa millions die from a variety of preventable things: AIDS, Malaria, and genocide. But I digress, returning to North Korea; understandably we don’t want to go over the top in taking action against them for fear of having China rear its ugly head. But that seems to be another trend these days, to tip toe and put off to a later date any conflicts with China. For your consideration: North Korea, copyright infringements, human rights and Taiwan. Now wouldn’t it make at least a little sense to tell China what’s what on the issue that’s closest to our national security?

Another notable missile today: the space shuttle Discovery. It is getting close to the time when the shuttle needs to be retired. I agree with those that say we need to keep it operational long enough to build the space station. But after that it’s just getting too iffy. Granted, the Columbia disaster might have just been a freak thing (considering how it never occurred beforehand). But when ‘foam’ is becoming the new four-letter word and with engineers seemingly unsure as far as what to do about it, it tells me that it is time to come up with a new way of getting into space. Don’t get me wrong, I’m one who believes money should be spent here, perhaps even more than what is spent now and Mars should be our next big goal. NASA should regain that almost magical aurora that it once possessed when it possessed generations before with its wondrous feats.

So, those were some of my thoughts today as I sat and watched the news on our day off. Sorry if it’s not all well thought out, but I just felt I’d rant a bit and offer some of my insight on some of these topics. Otherwise, I hope you all had a great 4th of July! Happy birthday, America!

Oh, and I also found this rather interesting: America: Freedom To Fascism

Your punk rock band name is The Tired Lava Lamp

the title is the only good part of a quiz i took... and yea, i don't really have much to post, but figured i should since i haven't for awhile... Indy was good fun, spent some quality time with the family and chilled at the race, which was also exciting... huge crash in the first turn, kinda got a bit boring afterwards with so few cars still in the thing (9 of a field of 22 finished)... saw superman returns which was entertaining, and fast and the furious 3 which was not...

i also talked to steff on the phone every night, since i didn't have reliable internet and she left for the beach (for a whole fucking month :-( )... a warning: i'm suspecting future posts are going to have a lot to do with me bitching about missing her... but hopefully this whole nyc visit thing goes down!

otherwise i hope everyone else is doing well and that you all have a good 4th of july!!

WTF is necking??