Chomping at the Bit!

Finally got around to watching Cloverfield. It was AWESOME! And not just because it was filmed in NYC. In fact, it's awesome despite the fact that it is about the DESTRUCTION of NYC. And let it be said right now that my friendship with anyone that would say otherwise is in serious jeopardy. I bet you're worried now, but don't be. I was just kidding.

Now I'm watching Juno. I hear it's good, and by damn it better not disappoint! UPDATE: I'm now a little more than half way through it, and it's ok. Not wonderful, but ok. FINAL UPDATE: It's over now, and I'm a little disappointed. I think I heard that the ending was supposed to be amazing. I disagree. Not a bad movie, but not worthy of all of the hype in my opinion.

Also watched a weird but okay movie called Bug. It's a psychological thriller directed by William Friedkin, the same dude that directed the Exorcist like 35 years ago. He's still got his touch, but it wasn't near as good. It had Ashley Judd and Harry Connick Jr in it. It was basically about extreme paranoia, and it takes you along for the ride. I'm glad I watched it, but I wouldn't recommend it. I followed it up with a Disney flick—Meet the Robinsons. I've seen it before, but it's awesome so I watched it again. Mostly at the request of my sister and her fiance, neither of which had ever seen it before. They liked it. And I liked it for the second time.

Oh, and I watched a movie called Employee of the Month, but not the one you're probably thinking of. Not the one with Jessica Simpson and Dane Cook. This one had Matt Dillon and Christina Applegate. It was pretty good, though now that I've had some time to think about it it was a little far-fetched. But it was entertaining.

Then, I watched Iron Man. It was AMAZING! I liked it from beginning to end—totally lived up to the hype. Good stuff. I made a mistake when I followed it up with the new Indiana Jones movie. It SUCKED! I have never seen so much money and talent go to such waist. The writing and acting was a mess, and the story was ridiculous. There were quite a few scenes that made me think, "Was that really the best take they had of that scene?" So sad...

Then I watched Secondhand Lions for the first time on DVD. Good movie. Nothing life changing, but good.

Aside from the catching up on my movie-watching, hanging out with family and friends, and just R 'n Ring in general, I've been chomping at the bit to get out of the military and on with the rest of my life! Good Lord, I have until January, and all I can think about is all that I need to get done, and how bad I just want to be there. I'm taking three—count 'em, three—courses over the summer. And summer sessions are shorter and more compact, so I'm not expecting an easy ride. I at first had thought maybe they'd be easy As, but I'm not so sure anymore. All of them are required for my degree, but none are philosophy classes. One is a study of the Beatles and their influence on popular culture, which I really thought was gonna be a cake walk. But then I checked out the course website, and it looks like the instructor is trying to validate the class (and his ego) and 'counter' such a leisurely perception of it by providing no less than three required texts and a slew of DVDs that we will be required to watch. The syllabus calls for weekly essays, a 10 page midterm paper and a 10-15 page final paper. Are you freakin' kidding me??? It reminds me of my one bs class last semester about polls and surveys. There were four required texts for the damn class, and I swear I only cracked one of them a handful of times to get an A in the course. It's like the instructor KNOWS how ridiculous the course is, so he tries to throw a bunch of textbooks and bs assignments to make it seem more relevant. It doesn't. It just wastes my time and money and stirs my resentment. I predict the same for this Beatles class.

The other class I'm going to take is about animals and human civilization. This one I expect I'll enjoy. Even if it's bs. ESPECIALLY if it's bs!

The third is a calculus course, which I had to take a placement exam for in order to be eligible to take it because I haven't taken a math class in like ten years. I barely made it! So this should also be a fun class. But at least it won't be bs. Presumably.

In the midst of all of this, I have to study up for my yearly Korean proficiency test, which means I have to practically re-teach myself the language, and I'll probably have to start getting ready to deploy to the desert here in a couple of months. I also need to write up a resume and start looking for a post-military job. They don't just come to you, ya know! I hear that the resume-writing thing has changed a bit since the last time I've had to do it, so I'll have to do some research. I actually looked online for some NYC jobs, mostly paralegal jobs. I figure it might do me well to work in the field and get a more legitimate feel for whether or not a career in law would really suit me. But I also think it would be kind of cool to just try some random but interesting job and see where it leads me. Of course, I'll probably just chicken out and try to use my clearance to find a more 'secure' intel job in the city while I figure out what I really want to do. Who knows? I fluctuate between excitement and anxiety about what my life is going to be like in a year. Right now, at this particular moment, I'm in the anxiety mood.

But life's actually not too bad these days—I'm home! For another week and half or so now. It was 108 degrees in the beginning of last week and I got hella-sunburned. It was invigorating. But then it got all Omaha-ey and dropped down to the 70s and got all stormy later in the week. In May! In Arizona! The gods must be crazy. But back to the good stuff--I got A's in three of my classes last semester, and I'm still waiting for my grade in the fourth class. Keep your fingers crossed! Trying to keep that GPA up; I'm gonna need it to get into NYU Law, especially if my performance on the practice LSAT I took on-line today is any indication. In my defense, I did it sporadically rather than sitting down and focusing on it in one sitting, and I did at home here with everyone and everything making a racket, and I did at least half of it on an empty stomach, and (my final excuse) I mis-utilized my time on one section, forcing me to rush through and randomly answer like ten of the questions before time ran out. Still, I didn't like the score. Speaking of NYU, the economy going the way it's going and my aversion to debt of any kind has lead me to consider—and only to consider—applying for the law school at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Though it's not NYU caliber, it's considered to be a pretty good school and my instate tuition would be significantly less than the nearly $40,000/year (plus books) that NYU Law charges. Still, the dream is New York and by golly I'm still wanting to go for it at this point. But I'm staying flexible—and practical.

Oh yeah, and I recently gave in to the desire that I've been fighting for about six months now and bought a new laptop. Dell's building it now, and it should arrive here in a few days, and it is FULLY LOADED--economy be damned! 17" high-resolution screen, 4GB memory, 640GB HDD, Intel Duo Core 2 2.4 GHz processor, 256MB Nvidia graphics card, you name it. It's even got a blue ray drive/writer. Sah-weet! And I ordered a tv tuner for it too. Yes, yes, I love my toys. And it's got anti-theft coverage with lo-jack tracking, so don't go trying to steal it cuz I will find you. Unless that's what you wanted to begin with, but if it is you really should just text or call me instead. It's kind of awkward to hang out after I had to track you down for stealing my laptop. Just trying to be the voice of reason here.

Fin

Listening to: Hard Candy by Madonna

Sorry Hilary

Alright, so here's my deal on this. I tend to be an under-dog person, so I was naturally sympathetic to Hilary's plight. I got tired of hearing all of the negative crap about her from people that I'm pretty sure have no idea what they're talking about. Mostly because I was in high school during Pres. Clinton's first term in office, and a lot of the Hilary-bashers I've listened to were barely out of elementary school by that time, if that far. I barely remember anything about that administration except the Monica scandal, and what I overheard my parents say—and I was in my late teens. So how could they possibly think they know what they're talking about? Yet they have all this shit to say about Hilary. So I did some research. I spent one night and read up on her a little, and found very little that I disliked. Then when I went back to some of these nay-sayers to discuss my findings, many simply stated something like, "Well, she might make a great president, but I just don't like her." That's retarded. Seriously. It makes absolutely no sense. It's a cop-out. Not to say I was anti-Obama. I just thought it was a stupid reason to champion for Obama just because you perceive that you don't like Hilary. I've worked with plenty of people I haven't personally liked, but whom I respected because of their professionalism, qualifications and talent for their job. With the state of our country these days: the economy, the war, the political and ideological divisions; choosing a president's just not about liking. It's about, who can do the job the most competently?

But after all of that, the course of the campaigns have caused me to lose my sympathies for hell-bent Hilary. I would not call myself a fan of the current administration, and the fact that Mrs. Clinton seems to be acting in a fashion far too similar to it alarms me. She seems content to trail-blaze for her campaign, regardless of the political climate, when it is clear that it would be best for her—and the Democrats--to bow out gracefully. She makes the same mistake that I think Bush has made in mistaking "good, strong leadership" for "egotistical bull-headedness". When she claims that she can still win the party nomination in the face of her diminishing delegate support, it sounds like Bush in the early stages of this war. And that is a mistake I do not want to see made again in the White House. In fact, I'm pretty sure Hilary knows she doesn't have a prayer at this point, but she'll push it as far as she can to ensure her name goes down in history. So I'm sorry Mrs. Clinton, but I think you're out of the race. And it's probably for the best.

Reading: Zima Blue and Other Stories by Alastair Reynolds