Thomas G.

post all-nighter rambling

2005-10-31T20:00:19Z

I have come up with a new term for my study habits:

Transcendentally moronic.

You know, like the book we had to read Freshman year, except instead of getting liminal with the dead I'm getting liminal to deadlines for very important assignments.

I had a take-home-over-the-weekend midterm due at noon today; open book, we had as much time as we cared to take to outline and three hours when we actually sat down to write. Outlining began at approximately seven in the morning, the rest of the night having been devoted to a chemistry project. I finished it. Perhaps a little sparser and less coherent than I might of like, but I finished it.

So I stumble into Prof. N's office at about 11:30 am in my long coat and rainbow scarf, rain-sprinkled, wearing only jeans and a t-shirt under the coat; just about everything looks like it could take a spin through the washing machine, including me. I'm that sort of wide-eyed jittery manic one gets when truly tired.

Prof. N: So, how'd it go?

Me (babbling): All right, all right. I left it too late, not in the sense I didn't have enough time to do it but in the sense I wasn't very well rested when I did. Truth be told, I fell prey to my usual bad study habits, which could be described as "transcendntally moronic" this time around. Well, I ought not to say more, 'cause that would bias you before you read the paper, and that would be bad, you can bias yourself just fine by reading it... well, I'm off to collapse! Good evening!

And then I stumbled out with a manic grin and stumbled back to my dorm room floor, from whence I write.

Well done, sir. Well done.

Misc.

2005-09-28T00:55:56Z

1."Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico."

2.Thing's I've learned from British Folk Ballads: (via Ralenu )

If you’re a young lady, dressing yourself in men’s array and joining the army or the navy has all sorts of comic possibilities, but you yourself aren’t going to find it too darned humorous at the time.

If you are an unmarried lady and have sex, you will get pregnant. No good will come of it.

If you are physically unable to get pregnant due to being male, the girl you had sex with will get pregnant. No good will come of it. You’ll either kill her, or she’ll kill herself, or her husband/brother/father/uncle/cousin will kill you both. In any case her Doleful Ghost will make sure everyone finds out. You will either get hanged, kill yourself, or be carried off bodily by Satan. Your last words will begin “Come all ye.”

Going to sea to avoid marrying your sweetie is an option, but if she hangs herself after your departure (and it’s even money that she’s going to) her Doleful Ghost will arrive on board your ship and the last three stanzas of your life will purely suck.

3. I'm taking Battojutsu, a Japanese sword whatsit. They had a thingie during orientation, and it seemed (and in fact, is) interesting. The teacher is an entertaining fellow, i.e;

As to why we couldn't move to the larger gym: "Well, they're teaching juggling down there, so if we went down there they'd try to beat us up, take our swords and juggle with them." (pause, and then seriously) "And then we'd have to kill every single one of them."

On saftey before a cutting exercise: "Our art has had an infinitesimally small number of of injuries..." (quietly) "... since World War II."

Got my thumb throughly bashed during sparing, though. Ah well.

I was going to go to bed, but this was amusing...

2005-09-24T06:38:03Z

... mostly because my sister is apparently a stone-cold killer.

Ninja

2005-09-19T23:20:50Z

I just totally got my first kill in dorm assassin. Go me.

mephastophilis @ 2005-09-11T00:56:00

2005-09-11T08:00:01Z

I finally got one of them facebook things, mostly on the basis of peer pressure. I don't expect I'll use it much, but I used the 'poke' feature a handful of times at various people. Oh, and I seem to be having difficulty finding the "I'm Saving Myself for Turner Hayes" group. Is that Weslyan only? Perhaps I can achieve groupie status....

Does anyone else dread filling out those interests/favorite music/favorite book things? I tend to worry that anyone attempting to form an impression of me based on them will come away with some unpleasant combination of outre, bizzare and dull. Which is, of course, silly, because as said above I don't expect many people to see the thing anyway, but there you are.

Rain

2005-08-29T21:09:33Z

First day of classes today. More on that later, but I wanted to talk about the beautiful rain that's coming down outside my window. It apparently hasn't rained in a while- atypical for Oregon- and the grass on the campus lawns has been unnaturally brown. But this morning it started to rain, and it's been drizzling on and off. Right now it's coming down nicely. My, I'm going to enjoy living here.

mephastophilis @ 2005-08-25T00:34:00

2005-08-25T07:37:04Z

First day of orientation. Things proceed apace. Moved into dorm, hung out with dorm-mates. Cool bunch of folks. Aquired a new possible nickname ("Peaches"). During the "icebreaker," (wherein we were asked our name, place of origin, possible major and "guilty pleasure/most interesting scar") I revealed gamer nature, and shortly found out I was Not Alone. Most excellent. Tomorrow is something of a blank day in the orientation schedule. I will probably attempt to read a) the Illiad (which I was supposed to complete over the summer) and b) the course catalog (so I can be informed when I speak to my advisor on friday).

And now, sleep.

WTFOMGHAXBBQ

2005-08-22T05:55:44Z

Leaving the house in about an hour, flying out another two after that.

Allow me to take this moment to say, holy shit. I know I'm about a year late with this (call me a late bloomer), but holy shit. I'm going to college. All the anxiety is somewhat overblown, really- after all, I was away for much the same amount of time, with about the same autonomy, when I was working for Kerry. But still.

Hung out with Judith, John, Anna and Eli today. It was a great deal of fun, and I thank them all. To those of you I didn't get to see, I'll catch you in december. And anyone who provides, or has provided me with a phone number can expect a call at some point in the next week or so. Guess that's all for now.

To life, to life, I'll bring them...

2005-08-20T19:03:17Z

I'll bring back this dead journal to life!

So, it's been over a year. I figure I might try to get back into the habit of using this thing. The main push comes from the fact that I'm flying out to college crack o' dawn Monday, and hope to see a few folks before I go (yes, yes, I know this is poorly timed. I am an admitted flake). I know Bernie called me a bit ago, for example... my bad for not returning the call. See aforementioned flake comment.

Anyway, I was thinking of gathering tomorrow, any who can come who want to hang out. Maybe we'll rent a movie, go eat dinner together, or something like that. Leave a comment, or call me on my swanky new cell phone (number in associated friends-only post; my friends list, however, is as out-of-date as the rest of my journal, and if you desire it simply leave a comment here).

So! Hope to see you all soon.

mephastophilis @ 2004-10-22T19:16:00

2004-10-23T02:16:55Z

Yo, why he be hatin' the atheist? I gots a 74% holiness rating!

mephastophilis @ 2004-10-19T16:08:00

2004-10-19T23:11:27Z

Just had my first time random-person-handing-you-phone-number experience. Due to a variety of notable factors (i.e, random person being male, already in a relationship, etc.) I will not be acting on the information, but it was very strange.

mephastophilis @ 2004-10-18T00:05:00

2004-10-18T07:12:27Z

Recently, the Michigan Republican party asked for Michael Moore to be arrested for bribing people to vote. The reason? During his Slacker Tour 2004, Moore offered 23 year old first-time voters clean underwear and a day's supply of Ramen Noodles if they registered to vote. In return, Michael Moore filed a complaint saying someone had stolen the Michigan Republican's "Sense of Humor and Brains."

I was much amused.

In other election news:

John Stewart fangirls (http://www.cmj.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/025136.html), which is only logical because, you know, John Stewart kicks ass. (http://www.wonkette.com/archives/tuckergate-the-video-023539.php) (The video is well worth watching. They expect John Stewart to be funny about politicians. John is dead serious about the media. Tucker Carlson looks like he wants to deck him.)

"In every four-year term there is a chosen one. He alone will face the American public, the United Nations, and the forces of darkness. He is the President." Buffy endorses Kerry (http://www.highstakes2004.com/), and her show is a metaphor (http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark/2004/10/joss_whedon_for.html) about the use of American global power. Who knew?

Bill O'Rielly has a falafel fetish (http://falafelfactor.blogspot.com). Who wanted to know?

And I am cited as source in a blog post about the rising violence (http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2004_09_26_dneiwert_archive.html#109651925861192967) from the right wing this election. I e-mailed him after a paticularly bizzare and egregious bout of sign stealing, 'cause I was bored. Just do a search for words on page if you don't want to page through, but he's worth reading in general, and has 2 highly interesting (and acclaimed!) scholarly series on the similarities between the modern conservative movement and fascism.

mephastophilis @ 2004-10-15T21:55:00

2004-10-16T05:00:38Z

In case you didn't know already, Karl Rove is a fucking scumbag:

When his term on the court ended, [Mark Kennedy, who won against a Rove-run opponent] chose not to run for re-election. I later learned another reason why. Kennedy had spent years on the bench as a juvenile and family-court judge, during which time he had developed a strong interest in aiding abused children. In the early 1980s he had helped to start the Children's Trust Fund of Alabama, and he later established the Corporate Foundation for Children, a private, nonprofit organization. At the time of the race he had just served a term as president of the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect. One of Rove's signature tactics is to attack an opponent on the very front that seems unassailable. Kennedy was no exception.

Some of Kennedy's campaign commercials touted his volunteer work, including one that showed him holding hands with children. "We were trying to counter the positives from that ad," a former Rove staffer told me, explaining that some within the See camp initiated a whisper campaign that Kennedy was a pedophile. ... "What Rove does," says Joe Perkins, "is try to make something so bad for a family that the candidate will not subject the family to the hardship. Mark is not your typical Alabama macho, beer-drinkin', tobacco-chewin', pickup-drivin' kind of guy. He is a small, well-groomed, well-educated family man, and what they tried to do was make him look like a homosexual pedophile. That was really, really hard to take."

And this is the man who had the fucking gall to shout at a reporter who wrote an article during the 2000 election about his past dirty tricks "You're trying to ruin me!"

Go cry to your mommy, why don't you?

Fucker.

mephastophilis @ 2004-10-14T23:43:00

2004-10-15T06:44:51Z

See previous post about not staying up late. Bah.

In other news, at the Edwards rally the layout was like such:

Cameras
Edwards
Me.

Which means that I ended up on television at some point- heck, I know I did, since a volunteer said she recognized me during the press coverage.

Now if only I could watch during one of the cheer-and-wave signs moments, and see if you can tell that I was throwing up the horns the whole time....

mephastophilis @ 2004-10-14T16:36:00

2004-10-15T00:03:17Z

Anna was bored one day and googled McMinnville, the town I'm in. She turned up the following comment on a conservative weblog (http://www.jessicaswell.com/MT/archives/001568.html). Here's the part that made it show up in the google serach. It goes on (and on) as an anti-kerry rant, which amused me, but here's the immediately relevant part (emphasis all hers, I assure you).

"I live in McMinnville, OR. While this area is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, I HAVE to TELL you it has been the BIGGEST CULTURE SHOCK of my LIFE and I am so HOMESICK for TEXAS it's just TERRIBLE!! But I guess God SENT me here for a REASON, so I could REPORT BACK to ya'll about all the ANARCHISTS and HIPPIES that live up here who DESPISE CHRISTIAN (like myself)! "

Hmm.

mephastophilis @ 2004-10-14T15:06:00

2004-10-14T22:08:55Z

I was talking with the little old lady staffing the front desk at the office, and we turned to measure 33, which liberalizes the medical marijuana laws. She says, and I agree, that we should legalize them, and I suggest taxing them like cigarettes.

"They used to call those kinds of taxes 'sin taxes,'" she says a little bit later. "Put a tax on sex! Now how about that?"

mephastophilis @ 2004-10-13T00:49:00

2004-10-13T07:50:03Z

It's 1 am. I seem to have forgotten that my previous lifestyle (staying up late websurfing) is incompatible with my new one (having to be at the office at 10). I was doing well for a while there.

To bed, goddammit.

mephastophilis @ 2004-10-12T22:26:00

2004-10-13T05:30:15Z

Life is good.

I have a “Blu-by-u” pizza (blue cheese, mushrooms, chives(?)) here with me in the office, a quarter of which I ate and the rest of which shall go in the fridge to be snacked on for as long as it holds up to my admittedly lax health standards.

By Tuesday at the latest, the office’s unreliable and slow dial-up line will be replaced with DSL (on the Democratic Party of Oregon’s dime), thus allowing me to slack off at 256kps.

Tomorrow, I’ll be one of the few Yamhill Democrats at the John Edwards rally in Portland, getting in with one of the top tiers of tickets (which probably means being within 100ft. of Edwards- hell, watch the news, and maybe you’ll see my face in the crowd behind him during one of the sound bites they play). The event doesn’t start until 5, but you’re supposed to show up at 3 or you’ll get no seats. Fortunately, for reading material I have to Oregon Voter’s Guide- 151 pages of information on the 8 ballot measures I’ll be voting on soon. Published by the Secretary of State’s office, they summarize the measure, print the actual text and you can pay $500 to put a few paragraphs of argument for or against in.

Far from being a dry read, the whole thing is quite entertaining-

To begin with, the relative controversy over the ballots is in itself entertaining to me- measures 31 and 32 (the first two- I don’t know why they start at 31) are about postponing elections if a candidate dies and changing the tax on mobile homes from paying for roads (as the vehicle tax is used) to paying for stuff that house taxes pay for. Neither of these measures are facing any opposition and take up 2 pages each.

Then there’s measure 33, which further expands Oregon’s medical marijuana laws to mandate dispensaries, allow caregivers rather than recipients to purchase marijuana, and allow patients to have more on hand. Some see this as a step towards legalization (whether they’re for or against it…) and generally as a referendum on medical marijuana itself. The measure text itself takes up 6 pages, and the arguments for and against another 6.

Above and beyond the above, which probably only I find amusing, there are productive people with too much money out there. Measure 36, which amends the Oregon constitution to ban gay marriage has 1 page of text and explanation and then 22 pages of arguments. The first 3, which represent a $1,500 investment, are hilarious parodies of the “yes” arguments done by a man named M. Dennis Moore, god bless him. The byline for the three articles, which generally says things like “Ima Lawyer, Chairman of the Defense of Whatsit Coalition” read, respectively, M. Dennis Moore “Traditional Prejudices Coalition,” “Defense of Heterosexual Breeding Coalition,” and “The Beaver State Defense of Beaver Coalition.” I’ll see if I can’t find the texts online.

Meanwhile, I got word from my boss that the rumor is that the Bush campaign will be leaving the Northwest altogether and sending people and money to Nevada. Bush has scaled back HIS pending visit from a two-day stay to a mostly face saving rally in some town that ain’t Portland. The Republicans have already abandoned Washington. More tellingly (if it’s true), a supposed Bush campaign to Kerry campaign leak revealed the details of their Get Out The Vote program- which is to say, they have none. Oregon votes by mail, with the ballots being sent out this Friday, which turns GOTV from a 12-hour drive-people-to-the-polls thing to a 17-day nag-democrats-incessantly-until-they-vote thing. And if the Republicans have no plan to turn out voters in a race where voter turnout is critical, they’re either stupid or they’re cutting their losses. And the Republican’s aren’t stupid campaigners.

Very busy, but most pleased.

Go forth...

2004-10-01T00:54:01Z

and watch the debates.

Seriously. I'm getting really sick and tired about hearing of the largely uninformed and uninterested youth of today. I know that the vast majority of those who will actually read this are already tuned in, and I feel very lucky to know what is apparently a minority of the youth.

So I ask you to proselytize. Make sure those of your friends who can, vote, and that everyone who has time pitches in at a the local campaign HQ. Even is you live in a liberal state like Massachusetts, you still can help. Just ask how. If nothing else you can volunteer at www.johnkerry.com to call people in swing states (lots of people there have volunteered to help, and the list of people to get back to is bigger than can be done without OTHER volunteers to call and activate them).

You all know that if we lose this election, we are fucked in a major way. I shudder to think what will happen. Hell, if nothing else will persuade you, think about this: They've been restocking the draft boards all across the country for about a year now, and once they get past the election, political concerns won't hold them back anymore.

Trust me, you do not want to see the other side of this thing and be thinking "Well, I wish I had helped out."

mephastophilis @ 2004-09-25T22:47:00

2004-09-26T05:48:39Z

Here's the politcal word from Oregon: Klingons are now the swing vote.

From Willamette Week Online (http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=5539):

EXCLUSIVE: Straw-poll shocker! Fierce warrior race strongly backs Democrat.

Even as John Kerry struggles to establish national-security credentials nationally, an exclusive WW straw poll shows his campaign dominating one skeptical, warlike demographic: Klingons.

...

The incumbent has staked his campaign on the war on terror. But those who speak the language of the Trek warrior race--known to disdain dishonor, or quvHa'ghach--seem alienated by Iraq and other issues.

....

"A good war is based on honor, not deception," says K'tok, a 40-year-old Klingon from Lair Hill. "The first warrior, President Bush, deceived us all with this war."

Though the Klingons polled all appeared to be registered voters, they emulate an unfamiliar political system.

"On the home world, if there had been a contested election between Gore and Bush, the honorable thing would be for Gore to kill Bush," explained Khraanik, a 38-year-old from Southeast Portland. "Or the other way around. And then ascend to the head of the High Council."

It's too early for Kerry to chill the ceremonial bloodwine, but Portland Klingons are clearly warming to the cerebral Massachusetts Democrat.

"Kerry has shown his prowess," says 33-year-old Neqha of Tigard. "He saved his fellow warrior under the gun, and has been commended and awarded medals."

Neither the Bush nor Kerry campaigns were immediately available for comment on the poll results.

mephastophilis @ 2004-09-24T12:01:00

2004-09-24T19:04:37Z

Pretty much sums things up....

http://www.msnbc.com/comics/editorial_content.asp?sFile=jd040924

Talk like a Pirate day.

2004-09-20T04:42:48Z

Today it was, matey, and ye scurcy scallawags have best have remembered it.

Alas, I forgot entirely, and probably for the best.

*ring ring ring*
Random, most likely elderly, person on phone list: Hello?
Me: Yarr, me hearty, be this Aba Gayle?
Random person: Uh, yes...
Me: Arr, I be tellin' no lies, matey when I tell ye that I be Scraggily Tom, with Carry Oregon, which be a cutthroat band o' Democrats workin' this election season, yarr. I be wonderin' if'in ye wish to be voluteerin'. We need warm bodies to sale the seven seas of the five-oh-three area code on the new Silverton office phonebanks.

etc.

No good would come of it.

In any case, I am in the aforementioned Silverton, staying with another random family who volunteered to house me. Nice of them. I should be here until the coming Sunday, when the new office throws it's grand opening/canvass party (although we're still open before). Silverton is small (~8,000) and mostly conservative and christian, or so Kyung Eun (my nice, young, mildly hyper/ADD, fellow volunteer) told me. Apparently she got chased out of her high school (locker vandalized/broken into 5 times a day and so on) after putting a "Keep Christ Out of Our Schools" sign on her locker... during Christmas. "I'm more of a rabble rouser than an organizer," she said. "I've always wanted to steal a statue of Mary and put blood running out of the corners of her mouth and superglue it to the sidewalk." Fun to hang out with, she.

One of my jobs, which should occupy most of my day, is to try and fill the phone bank (I say what is listed above, more or less and minus the pirate-speak). First I had a list of people who had actually gave their names to us, and then I moved on to a list of people who have voted democratic in the last 5 elections. I'm not sure if that's once in the last 5 elections or all the time in the past 5 elections. But either way cold-calling a bunch of people tends to produce depressing results. Especially those on the 65+ list. Eesh.

Anyway, to bed, shortly.

mephastophilis @ 2004-09-18T20:54:00

2004-09-19T03:55:10Z

I just nearly choked to death a piece of bagel, and was saved by a kind, elderly volunteer named Joy, one of the 3 remaining people in the office at the time, pounding on my abdomen. Decided it might be time to wrap up. It wasn't terribly frightening, just an exciting 10-30 seconds when I was gasping for air, and mostly I'm left to meditate about how profoundly embarassing it would have been for all concerned if I had choked to death. Myself, obviously, and the staff of the Salem office- "Could you send us another intern? The last one choked to death on a bagel."

mephastophilis @ 2004-09-17T13:13:00

2004-09-17T17:13:41Z

Missive from Mo-Joe House Espresso and Cofee Lounge (with free wireless):

Arrived in Portland night before last. Was picked up by uncle, driven to uncles house, where I was to spend the next two months. Get a call from Gavin, a friend of mine from AGT and out-of-state volunteer coordinator for the Carry Oregon campaign, telling me where I can show up for work tomorrow.

The next day, I bus (note: Portland public transportation is win. More on that later, maybe) to the office, where Gavin has not yet arrived. I change 3 lightbulbs and enter perhaps a dozen points of data into the database when he arrives, hauls me into his office, and tells me they're opening a new office thirty miles south. He wants me to start it.

Say what?

So he sends me across town to another office in the subburb to get some expierience, or something. Meet some cool people there, whom I help out as a receptionist, among other things. Midway through the day Gavin faxes me a copy of the amtrak screen for purchasing train tickets to Salem, from whence I will head to Silverton (a town of about 9,000 souls) and there start a new office. I will leave tomorrow at 11:15 (or, now, today at 11:15).

Say what?

I stay at the office until midnight, watching and helping one staffer and two very helpful volunteers reorginize the front desk area, then head home. As the staffer told me, having been here one and a half weeks: "My best day has been about 13 hours, and my worse about 17." He gets a half day off every Saturday. My uncle, when informed, claimed that I would go crazy working that kind of time.

And I didn't even really think about the fact that I was leaving until Tuesday.

So... uh... wish me luck.

p.s Bon voyage to those heading of to the University of Chicago.

EDIT:Job is lesser, and not as intimidating, as first thought. There is a new office, but my job is not the expected "you're in charge," which is fairly relieving. I "just" have to get volunteers to work the phone banks.

mephastophilis @ 2004-09-10T00:59:00

2004-09-10T04:59:04Z

"On election day, 2000, more than 27 million young Americans did not vote.

An even larger number did not have sex.

Never again.

Take the Votergasm pledge!"

Not relevant to me, but hilarious nontheless.