posted 2002/11/30 at 19:59
Oh geez, back to paper writing with me. The worst part is that I know these papers will mostly end up writing themselves, but I've just got so little energy right now I haven't felt like doing much of anything. It'll be Tuesday before I see anyone from Spectrum again, and even at that I've got to get things around for our business meeting next Thursday. Sigh.
The weather just keeps getting more and more schizophrenic as well. At least twice today we had blinding squalls, only to be followed five minutes later by sunshine and no precipitation. If anything, there's actually less snow on the ground now than there was when I got up this morning, despite the weather being warm enough to melt snow, despite all the additional snow we got during the day. And of course we're gonna get dumped on again at the start of the week, right when I have to start driving again.
posted 2002/11/29 at 00:08
Well, it's now officially the day after Thanksgiving and you know what that means ...
It's time to start your holiday shopping!!!
Ahem. Seriously, Amazon just took over CDNOW's old revenue programme (note it's disappeared from the menu at the top), and as an added incentive to get all us affiliate people to move their merchandise, those of us who can get at least five people to buy from our links through the end of the year, with a minimum of ten items bought, gets an additional $50 gift certificate to Amazon. So please, if you're going to shop at Amazon this year (and you really should, I've always had good experiences with them), go through the links on this Website, so I can get some extra cash to buy stuff with!
posted 2002/11/28 at 21:59
Well, Operation Ditch the Relatives was a rousing success, even if I had to get out of here like a bat out of hell early in the morning. Abby and Becky were the consummate hostesses, serving great food (the turkey looked great, but I can't vouch for its taste), letting us all watch the Lions game (as they did their best Bengals impersonation), watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, playing video games (I need to brush up on my Mario Kart 64 skills), and a few rousing games of Uno including one that went nearly an hour before I finally won. All in all, a great night, and all the Shannons are now safely back in Michigan so I can enjoy a relaxing night here before getting back to homework tomorrow.
posted 2002/11/27 at 22:31
So the Turkey Day marathon consisted of The Human Duplicators, Mitchell and The Brain That Wouldn't Die, along with more waffles than I care to recall. If that order of episodes sounds familiar, it's because I just popped in a tape from the 1993 Comedy Central marathon, because only two of my fifty-plus MST3k tapes showed up in all my boxes. Then again, apparently some boxes after the fire wound up in our barn instead of the storage place; I already know that's where my board games and pen-and-paper RPGs went. (D&D, AD&D, Marvel Super Heroes, Gammarauders -- yes, not only do I own a mostly-complete Gammarauders, I also own the expansion set. Fear me.) So maybe I have more videotapes out there.
The funniest part about watching nine-year-old videotapes? The commercials. Not that the things in them are any more out of place than some videotapes I have that go back even earlier, but just the fact that there are no Website URLs on any commercial. I swear, one of the best things about me not having anything more than broadcast TV right now is that I don't have to find out what wacky URLs some marketing "geniuses" thought it would be wise to register. (Is it true that the Preparation H Website can be found at www.smearthisinyourasscrack.com?)
So now it's early to bed for me, so I can get the hell out of here tomorrow morning before my father's brothers descend on this place like so many leeches. I may have to kill some time at my father's office before going over to Abby and Becky's, depending on how the scheduling works out; for all I know, I may be picking up someone else to take to the party. (Maria, e-mail me!)
posted 2002/11/26 at 21:53
So yeah, no classes until next Monday. Yay for that. But I've still got two papers to do, and for the next couple of days I've got plans out the wazoo. But then again, I also get to go off my diet for those two days, so I suppose I can deal with that.
Abby and Becky are actually having a movie party over at their place, but I really needed to get home and eat and just try to relax. I'm going to have to get out of here Thursday before any of my relatives show up, so I guess I'm not going to get a chance to sleep in until Friday. Anyway, I will be going over to Abby and Becky's on Thursday for the Thanksgiving shindig, so that should be cool and stuff. Now if I could only get Abby and Becky to post in the .forum (hint hint).
posted 2002/11/25 at 21:47
Just updated my resume to reflect my becoming President of Spectrum, my induction into Golden Key and all that. It still doesn't look all that impressive, though; I've got to find a part-time job here soon to get some "real world" experience, whatever that is. I'm also going to inquire into volunteer opportunities at David's House at some point, though I can't do that now with finals so close.
My father finally got some of the shelves up in my room, so I was able to get my videotapes up. I didn't have enough room for all of them, but at least now I have my Mystery Science Theatre 3000 collection on hand for my early Turkey Day celebration on Wednesday. (I'll be spending Thursday with some Spectrum peeps.) I've got all the anime I haven't moved to DVD back, my Iron Chef collection back, my Daria collection back ... whole bunches of stuff.
By the way, did today's NPR interview with Tom Arnold fulfill your weird quotient of the week as well? I thought so.
posted 2002/11/24 at 21:24
I've still got that book to read for class tomorrow; even though the class just got canceled, there's a paper on it due in a week, and I want to get it read ahead of time so I can plan the paper out in advance. The thing is, I'm still in such a depression fit right now I'm amazed I have the energy to get up and pee. There's a hilarious Margaret Cho routine about that, but it's not making me laugh right now.
So it's probably a good thing I didn't catch the Bengals game today then, because they continue to be the cure for the common happiness. The worst part is, if you count the number of one-play games that the Bengals have lost, and figure what would happen if the breaks had gone their way, they'd probably be over .500 by now. Screw it, I've got nothing better to do (other than homework):
- Week one (Loss to San Diego 34-6): Blowout, but that's to be expected.
- Week two (Loss to Cleveland 20-7): If Frerotte just takes the sack on third down at the end of the first half and doesn't throw that boneheaded interception, and Rackers nails the field goal, the Bengals could have kicked another field goal in the final drive to tie (they were in position), instead of needing two TDs to pull it off.
- Week three (Loss to Atlanta 30-3): Embarassment on all accounts. And why the hell start Frerotte when Akili engineered the two come-from-behind wins the Bengals got in exhibition play?
Week four (Loss to Tampa Bay 35-7): Nothing to be done here, but I still say Mike Brown has given Akili Smith the shaft from the moment he got drafted.
Week five (Loss to Indianapolis 28-21): Cincy actually recovered an onside kick and were primed to score when time ran out.
Week six (Loss to Pittsburgh 34-7): Couldn't have done much here, but what is it with the Pittsburgh quarterbacks this year?
Week seven (Bye): Hey, at least they didn't lose that week.
Week eight (Loss to Tennessee 30-24): Cincy had the ball in the red zone at the end of the game but a blocker missed an assignment and stopped Corey from punching it in.
Week nine (Win over Houston 38-3): Beating an expansion team is like kissing your sister, but you take what you can get when you're the Bengals, right?
Week ten (Loss to Baltimore 38-27): I hear that this game was a lot closer than the score makes it out to be, but I'll stick this one in the "undoable" column for ease of figuring things out later.
Week eleven (Loss to Cleveland 27-20): Cincy had so many chances to tie this one up it was ridiculous. Like I said a week ago, this one was painful, because Cincy had it, I swear.
Week twelve (Loss to Pittsburgh 29-21): Cincy gets first and goal at the five at the end of the game, and the drive ends with four straight incomplete passes. Guh.
So assuming things had swung Cincy's way just once in weeks two, five, eight, eleven and twelve, Cincinatti could be going into next week's game with a 6-5 record, instead of a 1-10 record. The early blowouts were against powerhouse teams and Cincy was still in the midst of its latest quarterback controversy, so all in all I don't know if the Bengals can be called a bad team -- but how can anyone say they're not cursed at this point, with all those close games?
Enough about football. That book's not going to read itself.
posted 2002/11/22 at 15:41
Well, now we should have snow, and we got a nice wet snow overnight, like the "March Snow" I always like to talk about. The difference being that the roads are still warm from the recent heat, so the traffic situation isn't that bad. Still, I just have no desire to go out photographing right now. In spite of the joy of last night, I've still got some things churning around in my head that have me in a pretty down mood. Besides, the snow on the trees has mostly melted away already. That should be a Murphy's Law or something.
Oh, and if this isn't a Murphy's Law, it should be: In winter, your car will achieve a comfortable temperature the moment you arrive at your destination.
posted 2002/11/21 at 23:19
So yeah, just call me Madame President now. I'd thought about running for the position when it came up next year (our former President being term-limited), but then it suddenly came up now and it's like -- wow. It is a relief to finally have other officially-elected officers on the cabinet with me, although I have to say that everyone who is now an officer really saved my ass by helping out the past couple of weeks. I know they'll be a great asset to me in the future, too.
So yeah. Japanese quiz I haven't even studied for tomorrow, whole book to read by Monday ... no rest for the weary, I take it. But still, all that trust that everyone in Spectrum has put in me is ... humbling. Thank you all.
posted 2002/11/20 at 22:07
You know, being the Interim Everything for Spectrum has produced its weird points. Case in point, just now I had to make and print out the ballots for tomorrow's elections, and it felt really funny to be listing the nominees for President and only putting my own name down. Yes, I'm the only one who's nominated at the moment, but it still feels like I'm trying to stack the deck in my favour. Oh well, after tomorrow I'll have four less pairs of shoes to fill -- and all things being equal, the people filling those shoes are some of the coolest people around.
The real fun comes next week, though. My normal Thanksgiving tradition of watching Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and eating waffles has gone out the door, because the extended family is coming down to check out the new house, and of course if they're here, I can't be. Sadly, everyone I know from Spectrum who could give me shelter for the day is either going home for break, or working that day. So I'll be doing my usual Thanksgiving thing on Wednesday and then doing who-knows-what on Thursday. Fun.
posted 2002/11/19 at 22:40
May I just take this opportunity to say how much I love everyone in Spectrum? Thank you.
posted 2002/11/18 at 22:15
They're finally starting to tear down the old Kroger by my house, in preparation for turning that whole shopping plaza into a Wal*Mart and Farmer Jack. They've got those heavy equipment shovels and they're literally just tearing into the Kroger; you can see inside and everything. It's so odd to see the area where I used to buy cheap soda and chips, and now it's just nothing but a floor with a lot of dust on it. The area in the front of the store that used to be the quick-entrance to shove the shopping carts in is gone. It won't be long before they move down to the old drug store, the fabric store and the department store. Not that there hasn't been reconstruction in that area since I've been there, but this is just on such a wide scale it's ... wow.
By the way, I have to say that Pepsi Blue is just about the coolest thing I've had in a long time. It's like drinking a raspberry Slush Puppie, only with carbonation. No one I know likes it, but I can't get enough of it.
posted 2002/11/17 at 22:30
You ever have one of those classmates that seems really cool, but you never know how to approach her? Then all of a sudden you're out shopping and you run into other friends, and she's with them?
The good mood's back. Somewhat. More to come later, I hope.
posted at 16:11
Last chance I get to watch the Bengals this year, and instead of just getting blown out like the previous two times they were on Toledo TV, they have to make it close -- but still lose, of course. I don't know who to blame for the loss, because there was poor officiating, selfish plays, mental lapses, bad coaching decisions. I don't know if you can point to just one thing with the Bengals, wih the possible exception of Mike Brown. But the franchise just seems cursed. Damn, that game was painful.
posted 2002/11/15 at 23:32
Now it's accumulating. So after a summer of record 90-degree days and weeks without rain, the first snow accumulation of the year is at least a week early. You know, it's moments like this that I'm glad that all that stuff about environmental abuse causing radical climate changes is just a bunch of liberal media tree-hugging junk.
Anyway, as is my yearly tradition when the snow comes, I've got Björk's Gling-Glò playing, so now I have a soundtrack for my laying around in my room not doing much of anything. I tried putting some of my thoughts into a .journal entry a couple of hours ago, but it just wasn't working. I just have too many conflicting thoughts in my head right now. And of course this would all have to happen while I'm out of touch with most of Spectrum. Sigh.
posted at 18:15
Yahoo! News - Army Dismisses Gay Arabic Linguists
Nice to know that even in the idiocy and shortsightedness of the "War on Terror", our armed forces still finds ways to be even more idiotic and shortsighted within its own boundaries.
posted at 18:10
So, yeah. Woke up to the first snow (though no accumulation) of the year. Not exactly what I needed to cheer me up this morning. Thankfully the roads were still warm, so there were no driving problems (although I did get caught for several minutes behind a crash on the way home), but I don't like the cold and when I'm coming down off a good feeling, the last thing I need is more triggers to make me feel worse.
For all that I've got all these things going on in my life, I have a real tendency, when I have off time like I did this afternoon, to just lay on my bed and think about stuff and not do much else at all. If I wrote for just half the time I did that, I'd probably have enough stuff to at least pay my tuition with. Yeesh. I think I need the time to do that deep thinking, though, to get my best work out. I guess.
There's too much confusion right now. I could probably go on for a whole journal entry about the things that are twisting my brain and heart and wringing everything out of them, but right now I just feel like staring off into space for a while again. Excuse me.
posted 2002/11/14 at 23:56
So yeah, the first meeting I run as Interim President of Spectrum, and the door to our meeting room is locked when I get there, so I have to call the building manager to get it unlocked. Then we don't exactly have big attendance, especially in light of the fact that we were nominating new officers, and come on, if talking about sex doesn't get people to come to the meetings, what will? Then, of all things, the other speaker never shows up, so it's just my presentation, and whole bunches of people leave during it, including my favourite teacher whom I'd specifically invited to the event. Ugh.
I thought everything went okay given the circumstances, but the more I think about it, the more depressed I get. In the end I'm probably just being victimized by the super-high expectations I usually set for myself. It's a shame, too, because I don't think I've had a good mood that lasted as long as that last one did in quite some time. So much for that.
On the plus side, we're about to get a rocking new cabinet, and the presentation was fun, although I think I just wrecked my voice. On top of that all, I was sucking cough drops constantly before the event, and now my insides are making me pay for that by grunting and just being nasty. Hopefully next week we can get everyone elected and have some fun. As for me, I just want to go to bed.
posted 2002/11/13 at 21:10
So yeah, now all of a sudden the other two Spectrum officers said they were tendering their resignations. I was already masterminding the Safe Sex Education Night we'll be doing tomorrow (I'll even be doing a presentation), and now I'm trying to handle all the office stuff as well, not to mention handling some interorganizational problems. The strange thing is, I think this will all be okay. I've talked to people about running for the vacated offices, and I'm confident that the new officers will kick some major ass. Nothing's set in stone about me being elected President full-time yet, but I'm hopeful about it.
Just please, wish me luck for my presentation tomorrow. On top of doing the presentation, I've also got to run my first meeting as Interim President, and when you combine the two of them it does feel a bit overwhelming. May fortune favour the foolish.
posted 2002/11/12 at 22:41
I am just such a big mound of happy right now. If I weren't experiencing this directly right now, I'd probably be disgusted with myself.
Oh, and Katie: you're pretty damn special yourself, you know.
posted 2002/11/11 at 19:06
Here we go ...
New in the .journal: .org.2: Sean de PoN! All the questions you bothered to ask, answered.
This was kind of fun, actually. Maybe I'll make it an anniversary tradition to do a reader feedback column like that. Then again, you all may have even more questions after this column than you did before. We'll see how it goes.
posted at 16:06
You know, I forget what happiness is like real easily. So when I feel it, like I am right now, I really don't know how to express it. It's not that often when I can do something fun, do a lot of good, and still be the shit disturber that I so enjoy being. I can't say too much more than that right now, but Amy: you just shot way up on my awesomeness scale. You're the greatest.
Yeah, yeah, the anniversary column is coming here shortly. First, though, I need to take care of some homework and some rather unpleasant business. Actually, it's something I've been dreading having to do, but I'm so happy right now that it really doesn't seem to bother me that much. Go figure, huh?
posted at 01:04
Happy second birthday to the .org. I've had to spend the last several hours working on Spectrum stuff, but the second-year anniversary column is in the bag and will be posted later today. Let me just say that while you'll get an answer to one of the two big burning questions on your mind, no one ever bothered to ask the second one. (And don't bother e-mailing now, the question is closed.)
I may not have classes today, but I still have to go to campus to tend to Spectrum business, and on top of that there's a personal matter that I have to conclude today as well. Let me get some sleep now, wake up and get Spectrum stuff taken care of, then you'll get your anniversary column. Get it? Got it? Good.
posted 2002/11/08 at 22:06
Things I have had to do in my first twenty-four hours as Interim President of Spectrum:
- Update the Spectrum Website, because of course I'm still Webmistress of the group.
- Send e-mails to the entire Spectrum membership thanking the old officers for their efforts, and asking everyone to come out to the next two meetings so we can nominate and elect new officers.
- Send about ten individual e-mails related to the change, ranging from asking friends for advice, to asking a professor to be let out of a class next week so I can consult with a former Spectrum president.
- Spend time in the Spectrum office trying to figure out just what in the hell I need to do. It probably would've helped if I hadn't been alone when I did that.
- Continue planning next week's meeting, which was already my idea, but will now also be my first meeting as Interim President.
- Decide that I will run to fill the Presidency on a full-time basis.
- Start answering questions for the anniversary column, because I have a feeling that next week is going to be the biggest rollercoaster of my academic career so far. Oh, I can get A's on the tests my professors give me easily, but this is a test of a different stripe altogether: a test of my character, a test of my mettle, a test of my (in)ability to communicate with people.
All I can say is that even if I didn't have Veteran's Day off, I'd probably still take the day off just so I could figure out just what in the hell I've gotten myself into. Wish me luck.
posted at 00:04
Spectrum President and Vice President resign, and guess who gets to be Interim President until new permanent officers can be elected? Holy crap, what have I gotten myself into now?
posted 2002/11/06 at 21:34
Buy ten copies. Buy twenty copies. Now.
For a while this afternoon I thought I'd had this cold beat, but then all of a sudden I got the nastiest sinus pressure. The kind that makes it hard to see, for all the spots in front of your eyes? Thankfully I had a super-cool professor who agreed to let me out of my last class early, so I got back here, ate, and rested in a warm, dark bedroom. Now I only have to study for a test and finish the rough draft of a paper. Ugh.
posted 2002/11/05 at 22:41
All you need to know about elections, and all you need to know about Ohioans, is that we just turned down the opportunity to have Captain Janeway as the First Lady of the State. Can I renounce my Ohio citizenship?
Oh, and Amy, if you are reading this: you are the coolest person ever. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
posted 2002/11/04 at 20:56
So the next two symptoms of this bug I had are: painful gas bubbles that won't dislodge no matter how much you fart, followed by extraordinary light sensitivity. I'm tearing up just looking at this screen right now. Not good. But the bronchial stuff seems to be going away of its own accord, which is good. I just wish my sinuses would get themselves sorted out, because I've already rubbed my nose raw and it's only going to get worse at this rate.
Just a couple of more days left for you to e-mail questions to me for the anniversary column. Oh, and just to clear up one point someone asked: all the questions will be posted anonymously. So don't worry about your name being attached to any question, or even the column as a whole.
posted at 11:40
Yeesh. Well, I'm feeling better now than I was a couple of days ago, but that's not exactly saying much. I just did what I could this weekend to heal, taking things easy, going into a hot shower a few times to help open things up inside me, and not worrying about keeping up some stupid diet. (It wasn't like I was keeping food down in the first place.) The damndest thing is that my symptoms keep changing: once my sore throat went away, the coughing started. Once the coughing subsided, I had real bad sinus congestion. Now that the sinus congestion's abated, I'm coughing up this brown stuff that's just -- it's too close to lunch to get into that.
Anyway, I am feeling well enough to attend class, but in addition to attending classes I'm also going to have to do a lot of walking around in 40-degree weather. I can only hope that this won't mess me up too much more. My first test of the week is tomorrow, and I simply can't afford to miss it.
posted 2002/11/02 at 22:11
So the moment I figure I've got two good nights in a row ...
I was literally in the process of getting around to head out the door for the Princess Bride party, when I really stopped to think about it. I'd had a bit of a sore throat the previous night, and it had really started to get worse. I was sure I could make it through the party, but I also didn't want to give anyone else what I had. So I decided to err on the side of caution, and not go to the party.
It's a good thing I made that decision, because this cold just got worse and worse. I'm coughing a lot and having trouble breathing, my nose is continuously stuffed up, I can't keep any food down and I've got gas all the time. I could barely sleep last night, and I know there's no way I can get to sleep tonight. I can't afford to go see a doctor, plus I have two big tests this coming week. I am what you would call "screwed" right now.
posted 2002/11/01 at 18:32
I don't want to say that last night's party couldn't have gone better, but it was a real blast. All involved had a lot of fun, and I especially had a blast. So it's not that I don't like parties, it's that I only like certain kinds of parties. I can live with that.
Better still, some Spectrum members (including myself) are having a little get-together tonight to watch the Princess Bride. Just a few friends in a cozy little apartment watching a good movie -- that's my scene right there. Plus I don't have that much homework over the weekend, so I should really be able to relax. So I should have a couple of good nights here in a row -- go figure.
copyright © 2008 Sean Shannon