Sorry for the lack of updates recently, but between Un/Gagged taking my time up and dealing with some painful personal issues, there hasn't been too much to say here. It sure will be good to go get a hug from Jessi today, though.
A few weeks ago I mentioned picking something up that I'd get around to writing about later, but I'd forgotten about that last part until just now. Anyway, I have finally joined the MP3 age with my own 2GB MP3 player. As planned, I'm using the player mainly for background music while working on school stuff, and even with all the new age CDs I've been picking up lately I've still only got the thing a third of the way full. I can definitely hear the lost frequencies if I have the player going at home, but I usually have my CDs playing at home anyway; on campus and in coffeehouses, I can't detect the lost frequencies over the general hubbub. It has definitely made things a lot more enjoyable when I'm using it, though.
The first time I ordered a Cobalt Flux, it arrived six days after I placed my order. I placed my order for the doubles set this past Saturday, and given that I just finished up the big midterm rush of schoolwork, I was hoping that the pads would show up here soon.
Well, after nothing coming today, I decided to go onto Cobalt Flux's Website and try to check the status of my order.
DECLINED.
My debit card was declined, in spite of the fact that it worked the first time I ordered from them, and I'm damn sure I have enough money on the card for the set.
I don't even mind so much that the card was declined, because I'm sure that this is a matter I can rectify here shortly. (It's been working at other places since I placed the order.) What bothers me is that no one at Cobalt Flux or the debit card company cared to share with me that the order didn't go through, so instead of getting the matter resolved earlier this week, I now have to wait even longer to get my new pads in, and have to spend even more days driving down to Bowling Green just to get my DDR/ITG fix.
Oh well, I have to go return a book to the campus library tonight anyway, I guess I might as well hit BGSU up for some DDR ...
For those of you who have been following the "How can New Orleans have Mardi Gras at a time like this?" controversy, Poppy Z. Brite gives her own exceptional take on the whole matter here:
http://docbrite.livejournal.com/2006/02/19/
Damn, if only I could spit out that kind of vitriol whenever I needed it ...
Let's see here ...
Spacey feeling because my mind wouldn't shut itself off long enough to let me get a good night's rest last night? Check.
Inexplicable physical maladies starting to strike me for no other evident reason than nervousness? Check.
D-Generation X's theme music running in a continuous loop in my head for who knows what reason? Check.
Gee, the big Un/Gagged meeting must be tonight. Oh look, it is.
You know, I have a test on Thursday and a major paper due on Friday, and these are graduate-level things I'm talking about here. Plus I have a batch of my comp students' papers that I really need to look over and get back to them by Monday. So why is it, then, that I've been unable to do much today except to lie here on my bed and mindlessly go around visiting Websites for no real reason? Sigh, maybe it's my way of coping with stress.
Haven't said much about the weather lately, although there's been some stuff worth reporting on. That storm that dumped record snow in New York City last weekend actually came through here a week ago, and while we didn't get more than a dusting's worth of accumulation, it totally screwed up traffic here for the night because even though it wasn't accumulating much, it was still turning the roads totally nasty. We had a warm-up at the end of this past week (getting up into the 50s), but today we only hit 14 for a high and we're on our way down to 3 overnight.
Still, we've had very little snow to deal with so far this winter, and when there has been snow it has usually melted within a day or two, and for that I'm glad. Still, when the weather gets this cold it kind of keeps me at home, which is almost as bad as the snow (albeit without the driving problems later).
It would help if I had working dance pads here so I could get in some practice, but I don't. As I said on the diet log, though, I did order a new doubles set from Cobalt Flux, so that should be arriving here in a week or so, I hope. This does mean that Nevada for Spring Break is off, but I am confirmed for the ITG tournament in North Carolina over my birthday weekend, so there's that to look forward to. Besides, I'm kind of hoping that events in the coming days will make my reason for going to Nevada moot. That's all I'm saying about that.
Catherine Marie Charlton's CDs continue to grow on me each and every time I listen to them.
See, I can do a whole entry here without mentioning you-know-what. As for .journal entries, though ...
BGSU campus newspaper article about Un/Gagged
Funny how the .forum seems even quieter than usual these days ...
Letter to the Editor of the Independent Collegian against UT Un/Gagged (From Monday's issue)
My response (From today's issue)
I'll be printing out and posting flyers for our next organizational meeting today. At least I'm getting close to when I can actually start doing something with the group and not just talk about it.
Do I need to write about how Valentine's Day is just a cynical ploy by marketers to make people buy stuff for each other and has very little to do with the act of loving itself?
Do I need to write about how people like me usually hold these opinions because we're single and jealous of all the schwag that people around us are getting?
Do I need to write about how the food industry benefits no matter what, since people either give chocolates to each other or else drown their sorrows in food and booze?
I fucking hate Valentine's Day. :(
In today's campus paper someone finally bothered to write a letter to the editor explaining why he thought the University shouldn't recognize Un/Gagged. (Of course, I just spent a good part of my afternoon writing another letter to the editor in response to his.) I'm glad for this, not only because the continued press coverage will help keep publicity for the group going, but because I really do want to have a dialogue with Un/Gagged's opponents so we can keep the flow of information and opinions going and people can have truly informed opinions about the group. I know, it may be naïve of me to assume that my opponents will actually consider the points I make, but I have to make the effort, right? (Which isn't to say that everyone on "my side" of the issue is as considerate as I am, but at least I try to foster that courtesy.)
Now tomorrow night I get to go down to BGSU to get interviewed for an article in their campus paper. I was going to go down there to play DDR anyway, so it's not like I have to go out of my way. Still, I do wish I could just get this stuff out of the way so I can get to the actual business of Un/Gagged. It's not that I don't appreciate the purpose for the debate (and, indeed, the debate itself), but after so much talking I just wish I could get to the actual actions here.
Last night while I was out grocery shopping I got recognized from my recent TV appearances for the first time. Looks like I might have recruited two new members for Un/Gagged as well. I'm still getting antsy just waiting until we can get the next meeting over and done with, so we can finish up the paperwork, finalize our application for recognition to the University, and let things fall where they may from there.
Oh, and as if I didn't have enough things to take my money from me, this popped up. Looks like I might need to buy Acid here after all. At least my income tax refund finally showed up, so I'll have the money for that. As for other things, though ... le sigh.
Yesterday another front-page article about Un/Gagged came out in the campus paper, reiterating some of the same concerns I heard about from the free paper. No one from the University's addressing their concerns to me, and I'm still a bit troubled by this. Maybe I need to take the initiative and send something to them to try to assuage any problems they may have with the idea of the group.
On top of that, I have an interview with the big local paper coming up here soon, possibly later today. You know, it's not that I don't like the press (especially as it helps give the group lots of word-of-mouth advertising), and it's not that I mind doing the interviews, but really I just want to get on with things and get the group up and running. I'm growing a wee bit tired of just talking about the group; I really want to do something with the group here soon. I should have everything submitted to the University for approval in a couple of weeks, though, and hopefully things will go for the better and I can start getting the group going.
The second print Un/Gagged article came out, and in it I was ... well, I shouldn't say that I was surprised to hear that some people had voiced opposition to the group's forming. What surprised me, perhaps even bothered me, was that the guy who wrote the article heard about this fact from UT's administration, when the administration has yet to inform me about any of this.
I expected that people would rise in opposition to the group's forming, but I guess that right now my main concern is that the University won't provide me a forum to rebut any of the claims said opposition is making about Un/Gagged. Likewise, I think it's only fair that the opposition also gets to hear my points directly (instead of just those points that make it through to these newspaper columns, which by necessity can't be long enough to contain all of my arguments). Hopefully the University will allow both sides to get together at some point and have a rational debate about the group's recognition, instead of just having both sides come at them with points that can't be rebutted as directly.
Oh, and the Fox Toledo reporter wants to do another interview here, although right now that's kind of on the back burner because of a huge apartment fire yesterday. (Just as I typed that, I got a call from the reporter, so now I have to go down to the Student Union for another interview. More to come.)
Gee, from a cursory look around the dial here, it would appear that there is some sort of large-scale sporting event going on later today. *sigh* You know, it's so easy for me to see how ridiculous and absurd sporting championships are when my teams aren't involved. When they are involved, well, then it's a matter of life and death. Yes, I am pathetic, thanks for asking.
I know my Mom's a Steelers fan, but her Steelers knocked my Bengals out of the playoffs after all, and the Seahawks knocked my brother-in-law's team (the Panthers) out. I'm half-tempted to be real facetious here and say that I'm going to root for a terrorist strike on Ford Field two minutes into the first quarter, but even if I wasn't worried about some right-wing nuts misconstruing my words as being serious, that's still not the kind of thing I think should be joked about.
I guess I'm trying to look for some kind of humour here because I feel caught between a rock and a hard place. The folks are having a mini-party here (no invitees except for Jeff), but I know that trying to get schoolwork done here will likely be a losing effort on my part. The alternative would appear to be to go to a coffeeshop and work there, but not only am I willing to wager that the coffeeshops will be full of other people deliberately avoiding the Super Bowl, but of course then I have to deal with post-Super Bowl traffic, aka the Drunk Driver Deluge.
It's times like this I wish that the former owners of this property had installed a bomb shelter out in the backyard. At least I'd stand half a chance of getting some peace and quiet out there.
The new graphics card has been installed, and all the problems I was having with screen artifacts and the like have been resolved. Now if only my new mouse (I had to swap the old one out after the scroll wheel stopped working) would stop jumping all over the place ...
Not to sound (too much) like an old fart, but whatever happened to the concept of buying a simple graphics card? I got the cheapest model they had at Best Buy ($70), but I have absolutely zero need for 128 MB of RAM and all this 3-D garbage. I just want to be able to run 1280 × 1024 at 24-bit colour. That's it. Why can't they market a simple 8-16 MB graphics card any longer? Sigh.
Oh, I picked up another piece of electronics too, but more on that later. (No, it's not anything naughty, get your minds out of the gutter.)
Things with my graphics card have gotten to the point where I'm absolutely going to have to buy a new card after I get my paycheque tomorrow. Oh, and my printer ran out of black ink yesterday, so I need a new cartridge too. Plus I have to renew my update subscription for my anti-virus programme.
Nevada trip? What Nevada trip?