stupid white man Wednesday, 6.30.04 :: 12:53 p.m. For the record, I think Michael Moore is an ass. No, I haven't seen Fahrenheit 9/11, and I don't really want to from what I've seen of clips and previews. If Michael Moore wants to fight propaganda and fake reporting, then he should burn all copies of this documentary. The only merits of it are that it's causing people to take a stance, whether pro-Bush or anti-Bush, and get educated. Or so I hope. I hope the majority of people who see Fahrenheit 9/11 don't believe everything Moore spits out, I hope they read up on all of his points. I hope they take Moore's advice, and don't trust everything they see, because this documenary isn't to be trusted. All Moore wants to do is make a buck, see his name in the news, and whine like a baby. If he's never had any definite stance on anything (besides taking whatever stance is against what the government is doing), how does he have the right to criticize ANYTHING? Especially if his criticism is totally one-sided and false. And no, I'm not pro-Bush, I'm far from it. In my opinion, Bush has gone about his foreign policy all wrong; he has absolutely no sense of diplomacy whatsoever. Like what I said yesterday, everything he says seems like a threat, whether it really is or not. He's caused most of the world to hate Americans, when that didn't need to happen, or at least it didn't need to happen to this extent. While I don't agree at all with his methods or his timing, I think that in the end he did what needed to be done. Sometimes doing the right thing requires choosing the "evil of two lessers" (thanks for that quote, Mr. Moore), and running with it. I don't think the US (notice I said US, not Bush) will do an excellent job of nation-building and democratizing in Iraq, but I think we might do an okay one, considering the time that it takes to instill in the Iraquis the values and institutions that are required for such a process. The War In Iraq is definitely detrimental to the War On Terror, as it has just further incited violence against the US and our allied countries, but I think it's better to rid the world of a tyrant who delighted in hiding and aiding terrorists. Now, at least, they have fewer places to hide. I would go into the rights of US soldiers, Iraqui citizens, the US economy etc... but that would require the entire day to think about and type up. Maybe some other time. Anyway, Michael Moore, stop the BS, and George Bush, stop abusing the US's hegemony before we cause our own demise. Read points one, two, and three, and then go see Fahrenheit 9/11. Maybe when I have the funds to do so, I'll go see it too, just to be more educated. [EDIT] Related to all of this, I found this article, from The Moscow Times, to be very, um, interesting. Ouch...

whereupon a fetus is startled Tuesday, 6.29.04 :: 09:50 p.m. This is exactly why most of the world hates the American government (most specifically Bush) right now. Bush has absolutely no sense of diplomacy whatsoever: "President Bush called on Muslim nations on Tuesday to embrace democracy and warned Middle East autocrats, including those who are American allies, that they 'must recognize the direction of events of the day.'" To me, even as an American, that sounds like a huge threat. Wow, I hope it's just the way that article was written that's suggesting that. Chirac also needs to get that huge stick out of his ass, and give it to ANYONE to beat him about the head with it. What's wrong with politicians? Ben Folds, Rufus Wainwright, and Guster concert tomorrow :)

gin and juice and music Tuesday, 6.29.04 :: 02:50 a.m. Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire is awesome.

dressed in blue ice Friday, 6.25.04 :: 05:12 p.m. This is scary. Alos, Ainee called, asking for Mom, but since she isn't here I ended up taking the brunt of her spiel on the decadence (always a key word) of today's society. She thinks parents are trying to make up for being partially career-minded by giving their children free reign of the world. I'm not sure whether that was directed at me/Laura or not, but it was amusing. Isn't America supposed to be the Land-of-Opportunity and all that, a place where parents WANT their children to have the opportunity and freedom to explore the world, without having Big Parental Units breathing down their backs? I wish everyone in my family would make up his or her mind already, because I'm sick of being lectured. Gah. I called about 6 job and volunteering places today, but apparently everything shuts down on Friday during the summer. Understandable, but annoying! Cheerio.

i think i know Thursday, 6.24.04 :: 12:28 a.m. Joe and I ventured down to Fort McHenry/Inner Harbor/Little Italy today, and it was fun. Luckily, it wasn't very hot or very sunny, otherwise I would have been toast (quite literally). Unfortunately, there may soon be sightings of Lil The Ginormous Blob, which I will attribute to the HUGE, GLORIOUS eclair from Vocarro's that is currently sitting, half eaten, in my fridge. And I wanted to go running and such today. Humph. Senior portraits are tomorrow and I most definitely would rather not go. Sure, pictures are fine once they're done being taken, but I hate going somewhere to get them taken. It seems like the silliest thing in the world. [EDIT] UPDATE ON THE CONTEST! Snoop - 0, Amish - 1. It's an Amish puppet at that. Bridget's not a slacker, why are you?

m-na na na na Tuesday, 6.22.04 :: 12:23 a.m. Wow, summer should really come more often. Also, I heart Spanish and Russian, and The Fountainhead. CONTEST! Would would win - Snoop Dogg or The Amish? Tell me who, and why, and maybe throw in a Photoshopped travesty of an illustration! Ready, go! :)

prologue Saturday, 6.19.04 :: 02:04 p.m. Yesterday was crazy, and today I can't seem to get anything done. It's not such a great feeling. I need to get a job, but first I have to get a work permit. And I need to make a hair appointment to get my hair cut (finally) because senior portraits are soon, but I can't get through. And I need to call, like, the entire freaking field hockey team to let them know about the practices (Mondays and Thursdays at 5:30 at the HS, if you're on the team), but that's virtually impossible. I need help with that, really. I think I'm gonna go read, do laundry and PLAY MY FLUTE for the first time in ages... yay for no more braces! ... Boo for lots of people leaving soon... Yay for them going to awesome places! And yay for liberal arts people always having the most fun!

to quote laura: Friday, 6.18.04 :: 12:12 a.m. I had so much fun tonight. I must remember something, what was it? Robbins? Something about a cowgirl? Laura, sometime we need to get together and just talk about books and life and stuff, I feel like I'd be so much better for it. Good friends, good (sort of) food, and a good movie = good times. We must do that again, soon. Babysteps, babysteps :)

the early (incoherant) bird says hello Thursday, 6.17.04 :: 02:38 a.m. Just said a cheerful hullo to 2 AM as I woke up, rolled over, and dragged my eyes over the clock. Really, this is ridiculous, who goes to bed and then wakes up in the middle of the night during the summer? I suppose I should be thankful that I actually woke up and saw 2 AM, rather than going to bed at 2 AM, like during the school year. I attribute my being on the computer rather than reading or just tossing and turning to the fact that my computer is in my room. Back in the prehistoric days of no-computers-in-rooms I'm sure I could have gotten a lot more done, and gotten a lot more sleep. Ah well. Summer is panning out in an odd sort of way. There has been much movie watching, eating out, running around, and general stuff going on, none of which includes me getting a job, volunteering anywhere, or arting. Hopefuly, this will soon change. But that aside, I'm taking suggestions for summer reading - I want long lists of really good books that will make me want to plop down on a blanket at Resevoir, or in a canoe in Lake Redman, and never get up. Speaking of which, I really would like to go canoeing or kayaking again sometime soon, because Laura's party was excellent to the nth degree and... I really really liked it? My brain hurts. But! Back to those books. Dig some good stuff up, ok? P.S. The Plague is a really, really good book. Mark this date, because you may never hear me say that about anything French again, unless it's having to do with Voltaire and Co. I sincerely hope that we don't have to do anything outside of discussing it during class next year. I don't want to rehash and overanalyze it, like we did to Catcher. Meh, no good.

and the livings easy Monday, 6.14.04 :: 11:52 p.m. Dear summer, I love you. Yours, Lil From The Plague by Albert Camus (yes, he's French, and yes, I'm reading his book) "To come, at last, and more specifically, to the case of parted lovers, who present the greatest interest and of whom the narrator is, perhaps, better qualified to speak - their minds were the prey of different emotions, notably remorse. For their present position enabled them to take stock of their feelings with a sort of feverish objectivity. And, in these conditions, it was rare for them not to detect their own shortcomings. What first brought these home tothem ws the trouble they experienced in summoning up any clear picture of what the absent one was doing. They came to deplore their ignorance of the way in which that person used to spend his or her days, and reproached themselves for having troubled too little about this in the past, and for having affected to think that, for a lover, the occupations of the loved one when they are not together could be a matter of indifference and not a source of joy. Once this had been brought home to them, they could retrace the course of their love and see where it had fallen short. In normal times all of us know, whether conciously or not, that there is no love which can't be bettered; nevertheless, re reconcile ourselves more or less easily to the fact that ours has never risen above the average. But memory is less diposed to comprimise. And, in a very definite way, this misfortune which had come from outside and befallen a whole town did more than inflict on us an unmerited distress with which we might well be indignant. It also incited us to create our own suffering and thus to accept frustration as a natural state. This was one of the tricks the pestilence had of diverting attention and confounding issues. Thus each of us had to be content to live only for the day, alone under the vast indifference of the sky. This sense of being abandoned, which might in time have given characters a finer temper, began, however, by sapping them to the point of futility. For instance, some o four fellow citizens became at the mercy of the sun and the rain. Looking at them, you had an impression that for the first time in their lives they were becoming, as some would say, weather-concious. A burst of sunshine was enough to make them seem delighted with the world, while rainly days gave a dark cast to their faces and their mood. A few weeks before, they had been free of this absurd subservience to the weather, because they had not to face life alone; the person they were living with held, to some extent, the foreground of their little world. But from now on it was different; they seemed at the mercy of the sky's caprices - in other words, suffered and hoped irrationally." Me gusta. Tomorrow is going to be a day of getting things done (and started), hopefully. Night all.

back from the 90s Sunday, 6.6.04 :: 12:25 p.m. I climb the walls of my mind just like I'm climbing on a jungle gym I am more than content with the state of mind I am in 'cause I am crazy just like you I am crazy just like you. I don't think I need a rubber room, but hey, that might be nice I'm not a manic depressive paranoid or schizophrenic so I don't need your advice. I am crazy just like you I am crazy just like you. The lights are on but nobody's home my elevator doesn't go to the top I'm not playing with a full deck I've lost my marbles The lights are on but nobody's home my elevator doesn't go to the top I'm not playing with a full deck I've lost my marbles. I'm a few bricks short of a load, but a full load always hurt my back. I flew over the cuckoo's nest and I'm never ever coming back because I am crazy just like you I am crazy just like you. I am crazy.

friday, friday Friday, 6.4.04 :: 06:35 p.m. Instead of studying for the SAT (rather pointless, now) I've been playing around with SharpReader, which is really very cool. Once more sites enable it, it'll be even cooler... definitely check it out of you have the time. As for my day, the one thing that sticks in my mind is Triggs' class. I almost always leave that class either laughing, thinking, or shaking out of anger... which is what makes that class worth taking. The topic of discussion today was whether or not a woman should change her last name to her husband's name when they marry. More than half of the guys in our class said that they would definitely expect a woman to change her last name, regardless of her occupation or other circumstances, and that they would consider not marrying a woman if she wouldn't change her name. I hadn't ever really thought about this, but what they were saying had me, as well as most of the girls, really angry. First of all, if a name can come between you and the person you say you love, then it isn't really love. A girl was also saying that she would change her name because of religious beliefs and the fact that it symbolizes commitment, but that still doesn't justify the fact that all of these guys expect women to change their names based on tradition (not religion, in most cases) only. Sure, that's been the tradition, but it was also the tradition that the woman was the homemaker only - a practice that is gradually dying out as more women take on high-powered jobs in addition to caring for their home and family. At the risk of sounding like a brainwashed feminist, I want to know why it is that we should be expected to constantly concede to tradition. Whether it be in the form of a last name or the general treatment they receive from day to day (see yesterday for my comments on that), woman are pushed back. Why did our predessesors fight for equal rights if not to pass them, and the ongoing battle, on to us? It seems like women today take things for granted, since we haven't really had to fight for much of anything. One more point before I run away to go have some good, clean fun... Aren't all of the monarchs of Europe (including the queens) known by their family names? Doesn't that make sense? Amy's house for fun camping things, then frisbee at 9 - come play! (Down with SATs!)

things that scare me Thursday, 6.3.04 :: 03:25 p.m. 1. Spiders, the non-mascot type 2. The fact that most of the guys in our grade think it's completely acceptable, even nice to whistle and jeer at girls. 3. The fact that they justify that by saying that "boys will be boys" and that "boys are dumb." 4. The fact that they believe a girl who is dressed at all inappropriately is "asking for" sexual harrassment. 5. The seniors' last day is tomorrow. 6. The thought of taking all AP/CPA classes next year. 7. The possibility that power in Iraq will be transferred on June 30th. 8. Various aspects of the George Tenet situation. 9. People who eat cicadas. 10. That famine still exists as a result of human destructivness. And how most of us, myself included, can't find the time to do anything about it.

summer? bring it on. Wednesday, 6.2.04 :: 11:14 p.m. Today things went sort of like this: woke up, freaked out because the clock in mom's car is fast, literally failed a math test (maybe two), played frisbee in the mud, went to Isaac's with Joe, ate brownies with Joe, and here I am. Now I think it's time for a little studying of history, reading of Marie Antoinette and sleep. T minus 5.5 days and counting... I'll be glad to see summer break just so my To Do list can be cut in half. Gah, this marking period has been a bust.