More
I just read a piece I wrote in July that I had totally forgotten about. It was a dream I apparently had and it involved vampires. The reason I mention it is because it clicked in my head that vampires are like Christians - at least the ones that always (eventually) get to the point of trying to convert you to the "true faith." Think about it for a second. Like robots hell bent on converting you into one of them. I like that analogy.

Confederacy of Dunces
I just finished reading A Confederacy of Dunces, and I must say, what an awesome book. The story behind the book is so intriguing and tragic, but the book stands on its own - it's just that good. Not only is it well written, hilarious, and charming, but this book is the antecedent to the greatest television comedy of all time: Seinfeld. I can't imagine that Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld never read this book. And if they hadn't, they should. What are the similarities? Well, just think of Kramer and why it is that he's funny. I don't really have the answer, but that character has something that draws us in and makes us laugh. Ignatius Reilly is a similar character in that way. But the real connection is the way that everything in this book is connected. If Toole mentions something in the book - pay attention - it is important and you will see him tie it in at some point down the line. I was watching the Seinfeld special last week and it was one of the earlier episodes, the one where Kramer hits golf balls into the ocean and George pretends to be a Marine Biologist and attempts to save a stranded whale. Seinfeld was saying that they were asking themselves if it was possible to connect the two storylines. Could they make the stranded whale be sick because of a golf ball that Kramer had hit? Should they do it? They realized they should and then Seinfeld said something to the effect of "After we did that, the whole thing exploded." I paid close attention to that line because I was reading the book at the time and had noticed that element in Toole's book. It seems that that episode was a turning point as to how the show evolved. Think about it, that's one of the things that makes Seinfeld (the show) so funny: everything is connected. By the end everything has been tied together in a way that makes us laugh. Even the last episode, recall Newman's constant threats of "getting Seinfeld" and exacting his revenge throughout the life of the show - well he finally got it, along with all the other characters.

Anyway, go read the book, it'll go by fast, you'll laugh, and you can say you read a Pulitzer Prize winning book.

AMEN
I just saw one of those late night preachers on TV and found myself cheering him on. Hold on now, it's not what you think. I have not found the light...yet. Turns out he was lambasting Christians for saying they are christians and then not behaving like a proper Christian. Which is the way I feel about it too. He quoted the bible left and right showing how drinking keeps people out of heaven (unless it's "holy" drinking - in church), how nudity and profanity in TV and movies is out of control, etc. He was genuinely pissed off. He a "billion" muslims don't drink, a "billion" hindus don't drink, but that Christians thought it was OK. THen he spat out a ton of verses from the Bible to show how God said they were committing sins. It was great. I also get pissed off like that about people who call themselves religious but don't actually act on it. I totally agree with this guy. I mean look at the way religion works: it is supposed to be THE most important thing in your life. Not family, not health, not your country, but God. Most "religious" people (here I include anyone that isn't an atheist or agnostic or nothing at all) claim they are something they don't practice in real life. Of course it's the best of both worlds because in your mind you're afterlife is covered - all the while you enjoy the earthly life. My solution? Dump religion out with your trash - what good does it serve you?

Of course I hate preaching, and so the guy did kind of annoy me, but I didn't get a sense that he was trying to convert anyone, which is what really annoys me. He was speaking to Christians, and I think that's A-OK.

It also got me thinking of how crazy it is that so many people base everything they believe in on a book that is so old. On a book they claim contains "the word of God." Come on! I was watching the beginning of Shrek today and something about the whole charm of fairy tales reminded me of the Bible. Imagine people believing that Santa is for real. Well, I guess it's ok until they grow out of it, which people should realize. Then again, I stopped believing until around I was 15. I wanted to make sure those gifts kept on coming. If I was willing to believe in that crap at age fifteen for some measly presents, I guess I can see why it's so hard for some people to snap out of religion - the supposed stakes are much higher.

Bulls
Well, they finally won.

Snow
A liki bom bom yeah

The first snow of the year is falling and turning into slush. Plus it's windy as hell and my umbrella has been mangled. Hi winter, nice to see you.

Alma maters
Between today and this past weekend I made an important realization about the schools we have graduated from and our feelings about them post-graduation. I was always very confused as to why people would give so much money (or even a little) to their universities once they had already graduated. Yes, I understood many of them were thankful and owed their successes to the university, but there had to be something more. In my experience with Boston College, I always said I wouldn't give them a dime. The place is (or was, when I was there- I suspect it hasn't changed) run as a business, and all that bullshit in the admissions catalogue about a "well rounded education" is a bunch of crap. They want my money and that's the bottom line.

I always used the analogy of college as a whore. You pay while you use the services and once you are no longer receiving its services you stop paying, right? Isn't that how whores work? So why on earth would you keep paying for something you are no longer getting anything from? I already paid a LOT of money for my time there, and the universities had better have given me something in exchange (presumably the tools to succeed) for all that money. You know? Anyway that was always the reason I didn't get all the alumni giving so much money years and years after they had graduated. Many times these people didn't even have that much money - but they gave something.

THen this weekend I think I was looking at school ratings or something and kept looking for Boston College. I had already heard a few comments from younger people who had recently investigated schools and it turns out BC is now a much more exclusive school to get into than when I went. MUCH MORE. We had heard intimations of this in our final years there, little brothers weren't getting accepted despite ridiculous scores and other numbers I knew I didn't have. Not only that, the athletic department has exploded. Our football team is going to a bowl game for the x year in a row. Our hockey (always great) is ranked number 1. Soccer is in the playoffs, basketball was in the tourney while I was there and is reaping the recruiting benefits from it. Football will move on to the ACC after this season, more exposure and more money.

In short, the school has blown up - in a good way. How do I feel about this? Great. you always want to see your school do well, no matter what your experience there was like. It was home for 4 years. So then this weekend it hit me: it makes me feel better as a person that the school is doing so well. Not only that, people see my having gone there with more awe and respect now. It is literally a VERY tough school to get into. That reflects on me because I was there. It must be what it feels like (albeit to a lesser extent) to have graduated from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and those type of schools. So it makes sense, of course people will give money to their school - it can make them "seem" like they are more than they were or are. Especially if things didn't pan out all that great and they didn't get the success they thought they would get.

"Oh but you went to Yale? Wow."

"Damns straight I went to Yale, now pass the crackpipe and let's get fucked up."

You see where I'm going with this?

I also saw a top 10 schools list in a Guatemalan paper and was eagerly looking for my high school, kind of wishing it was near the bottom (we all hated our school - more for its failure to capitalize on its potential than for anything else) but kind of rooting for it to be in the top 3 - you know, to validate me. It did make the number 10 slot in Mathematics, which doesn't surprise me, we always had great math teachers at that school.

I hope I've made my point. If not, post a response, it seems we've been running short on those lately.

Go BC!

Alma maters
Between today and this past weekend I made an important realization about the schools we have graduated from and our feelings about them post-graduation. I was always very confused as to why people would give so much money (or even a little) to their universities once they had already graduated. Yes, I understood many of them were thankful and owed their successes to the university, but there had to be something more. In my experience with Boston College, I always said I wouldn't give them a dime. The place is (or was, when I was there- I suspect it hasn't changed) run as a business, and all that bullshit in the admissions catalogue about a "well rounded education" is a bunch of crap. They want my money and that's the bottom line.

I always used the analogy of college as a whore. You pay while you use the services and once you are no longer receiving its services you stop paying, right? Isn't that how whores work? So why on earth would you keep paying for something you are no longer getting anything from? I already paid a LOT of money for my time there, and the universities had better have given me something in exchange (presumably the tools to succeed) for all that money. You know? Anyway that was always the reason I didn't get all the alumni giving so much money years and years after they had graduated. Many times these people didn't even have that much money - but they gave something.

THen this weekend I think I was looking at school ratings or something and kept looking for Boston College. I had already heard a few comments from younger people who had recently investigated schools and it turns out BC is now a much more exclusive school to get into than when I went. MUCH MORE. We had heard intimations of this in our final years there, little brothers weren't getting accepted despite ridiculous scores and other numbers I knew I didn't have. Not only that, the athletic department has exploded. Our football team is going to a bowl game for the x year in a row. Our hockey (always great) is ranked number 1. Soccer is in the playoffs, basketball was in the tourney while I was there and is reaping the recruiting benefits from it. Football will move on to the ACC after this season, more exposure and more money.

In short, the school has blown up - in a good way. How do I feel about this? Great. you always want to see your school do well, no matter what your experience there was like. It was home for 4 years. So then this weekend it hit me: it makes me feel better as a person that the school is doing so well. Not only that, people see my having gone there with more awe and respect now. It is literally a VERY tough school to get into. That reflects on me because I was there. It must be what it feels like (albeit to a lesser extent) to have graduated from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and those type of schools. So it makes sense, of course people will give money to their school - it can make them "seem" like they are more than they were or are. Especially if things didn't pan out all that great and they didn't get the success they thought they would get.

"Oh but you went to Yale? Wow."

"Damns straight I went to Yale, now pass the crackpipe and let's get fucked up."

You see where I'm going with this?

I also saw a top 10 schools list in a Guatemalan paper and was eagerly looking for my high school, kind of wishing it was near the bottom (we all hated our school - more for its failure to capitalize on its potential than for anything else) but kind of rooting for it to be in the top 3 - you know, to validate me. It did make the number 10 slot in Mathematics, which doesn't surprise me, we always had great math teachers at that school.

I hope I've made my point. If not, post a response, it seems we've been running short on those lately.

Go BC!

20/20 or Dateline
One of these shows ran a thing on friday about cheating in colleges. They ran a story on how this girl did all the work for the daughter of one of the main owners of WalMart. Sucks for her, they even showed video of her graduating and shit. You're supposed to feel satisfaction that this hot rich girl is getting "out-ed" since she never did any work and just paid this girl to do her work for her. ANd part of me did, but what I didn't get was the story itself. The outrage from the producers about "how on earth can they be doing this?" The guy who did the piece is the guy with black hair and the pornstar mustache, he looks like the younger brother or Geraldo or something.
Anyway that's what I didn't understand, the outrage. Isn't this common knowledge? The questions and answers made no sense to me. The story was more about bringing down this rich girl rather than saying anything new. They couldn't understand how the students didn't feel guilty about it.

I'm not really getting across what I felt about the whole thing, it was a while ago and has worn off some. The idea is that it seemed like a piece I would've liked many many years ago - but now seems obsolete.

WSJ
I stole one of my neighbor's Wall Street Journal yesterday to see what all the fuss was about. The very first one I've ever read. My review? Unimpressed. Most of the stories seemed like filler to me, and I understand why so many undergrads back at BC simply let the orange bags pile up on the street - the promise of great wealth they expected was nowhere to be found. After all, it's just another newspaper.

Bush
So I caughtBush on TV as I was leaving the gym today, he was speaking for something relating to a "Bill Clinton Library" somewhere. Clinton was there, Bush was speaking. All I heard was Bush praising Clinton's "brilliance and power of persuasion," I chuckled and walked away - what a weird world we have made for ourselves.