Italics/comic sans

"Doubt is not a pleasant mental state, but certainty is a ridiculous one." -Voltaire

I'm in an unpleasant mental state.

I will be super annoyed if something doesn't happen tomorrow.

Comic sans what, you know? The comedy?

Status quo

"I also kind of appreciate really stupid shit" - me too, Rich, me too. That's why I only watch TV shows about vampires, prostitutes, teenagers, or all of the above.

New goal: do a little bit of yoga every day. Even if it still hurts from yesterday. ow. I did yoga for bed time today, or at least tried to. I also ate a vegetable. New year's resolution #4 is totally under control. Tomorrow: yoga for mavericks.

I promise to write about something not completely vapid and insignificant sometime soon, promise. Probably synthetic cannabinoids. They're a big problem!

Thought experiment

Just copying David (as usual) (I don't have original thoughts) and posting about abortion. Read this, then this.

p.s. I am really heroic, dunno about you.

Final Decision Pending

"I know that there is good in the world, and I know that it is so important to keep going and keep trying to fix all the things that are broken out there. Sometimes, though, I see something or read something and it shatters me inside because I cannot understand how people can get to such a place of destruction."

- Kristin from everyone is gay dot com

Simpatico

"If he were insane, however, his was a very cool and collected insanity"

-Jane on St. John, page 536

It's two days into school and I'm already feeling AAHHHH

It's almost February.

!!!!!!

I have homework.

!!!!!

The FAFSA.

!!!

It's also well-documented that I'm better at dealing with bad news than with good (possibly good? maybe? I need to send that update letter) news.

Amelia pointed out that the little girl in the background picture is not wearing pants. Please notify me if this offends you.

Resumed: Link Sunday

Feel it all around - Washed Out

These three sentences (emphases mine). Ready?

"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that repealing the reform law would drive up the deficit by $230 billion over the first decade and much more in later years. For all his claims of fiscal rectitude, John Boehner, the House speaker, immediately dismissed the budget experts’ report as “their opinion.” In a particularly cynical move, Mr. Boehner and his new team have exempted the repeal bill from their own rule that any increase in spending be offset by cuts in other programs."

Fuuuuuuudge.

It was really interesting to see U.S. things unfold from afar for a few weeks. We watched some CNN in hostels and snippets of BBC in cafes. And when the Tucson shooting happened, we couldn't believe we felt safer in the slums of Cusco than we would in Arizona.

Other Sunday things:

1. KK is back in form. Pay particular attention to the second half of the column. I have a hard time believing that the only options are the world as it is and an impossible, perfect world. I believe that the world can be better and it is in my power, this generation's power, our society's power to make it better. And I feel an incredible amount of pity for Katherine if she feels powerless and resigned to accepting things as they are.

2. I need you to read this article that I read while waiting to get my haircut. There's nothing in it that you don't already know, but I still want you to read it.

3. I want you to watch this video that I poached from Zach. It is rare to hear it spoken so plainly.

4. I want you to watch this new show called Portlandia. I even put the Hulu link in for you. It's so good. I stared at the screen in amazement the whole time. And, you won't have to try to frantically remember what song they use for the title credits, because I've already put it at the top of this post. Please watch this show so I have someone to talk about it to.

Alter Your Politics

1/7/11

"[T]he only thing that you can legitimately volunteer for in Latin America might be voluntary powerlessness, voluntary presence as receivers, as such, as hopefully beloved or adopted ones without any way of returning the gift."

- Ivan Illich, 1968

Q: So, what are you doing that's actually biology?

A: Biology is the study of life, right? Life is neatly defined and pretty in a prepared slide under a microscope. But whether you like it or not, life is also incredibly messy and dirty. It involves politics and the economy and land disputes and sex and drugs and trash collection and hitchhiking and noisy street markets and boredom, disappointment, and anticipation.

So, I am in Peru, studying life, doing biology.

I have consumed more alcohol, formed more calluses, and muttered "oh my good lord in heaven" more in the past few days than in my whole life.

I have read 456 pages of Jane Eyre.

I have also read an article in Cosmo Magazine entitled,

"ARE YOU RUNNING OUT OF TIME TO HAVE A BABY?"

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1/15/11

I'm back. My sister ate my oatmeal.

I got into Home School while falling in the ocean. The packet came in the mail today and they are already offering me $$$. I wasn't hugely enthusiastic after interview day but should they give me more after financials are turned in, it will become likely that I'll be sticking around these parts. This all depends, of course, on what goes down on February 1st (fingers crossed), and to a lesser extent, what goes down in mid-March.

Summary: Things are happening, nothing is final, long process, yada yada yada.

UPDATE

I'm reading. I'm writing. I'm learning. I'm coming home soon.