YouTube as the vanguard; you know this is a phone-in post.

I start to wonder whether or not this is the career for me; when it comes to writing, I spend most of my time at the keys playing with the relationships between language and syntax. Word choice takes precedence over clarity, and euphony always trumps conciseness. As a journalism student, I find this predilection is frequently at odds with the oft-stated objective to seek and disseminate truth as clearly as possible.

Also, Japanese is hard.

Did you guys see that the House failed to approve the bailout plan? I can't help but feel this is probably for the best; many pundits are forecasting doom and gloom for the world economy if we delay in pursuing an immediate solution. They might be right, but it seems like a poor idea to try and fix a problem we didn't anticipate due to market fluctuations that many in Congress don't seem to fully understand. I know this means our economic woes are far from over, but I'm more comfortable putting my faith in the free market while we wait for cooler heads to prevail.

I had a bit more to scrawl, but I took some NyQuil earlier and I think it's kicking in. Mmmm, antihistamine-induced coma.
I was privileged to reclaim my first submitted article from my professor today, with a bevy of helpful hints thrown in free of charge. The usual commendations regarding an expansive vocabulary, proficiency with the language etc. rang a little hollow; I'm 23 and finishing my upper-division coursework in a class that is widely touted as the "boot camp" of the department. The capability to string two cogent thoughts together with the aid of our friend the semi-colon ought to be expected at this stage of the game.

Also, I was chastised for "overwriting."

What the fuck is overwriting? That's like berating the pizza delivery guy because your pizza got there too early. "Hey man, what the hell are you doing here so quick? I barely had time to finish burying the dead hooker out back! You got a serious problem with overdelivering, and I don't tip for that shit."


This post was originally conceived as an earnest attempt at extolling the virtues of Skippy. Honey Roasted Super Chunk in particular, though when it comes to peanut butter our apartment provides a lavish smorgasbord of decadent delights for even the most discerning palate. No lie, we've got no less than five opened containers in the kitchen, and a freshly discarded one in the bin. Other students amass enough cold pizza and half-empty cartons of dubious Chinese food to feed a small army; we hoard nut butter.

Unfortunately I've got two case briefs to prepare and another couple of chapters to burn through in order to get abreast of the class discussion regarding Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. That, and another fifty-plus characters to memorize for a kanji quiz on Thursday. Good times.

Had to start a local neighborhood blog for one of my courses, check it out if you're bored and have an unquenchable thirst for information about the San Francisco peninsula.

Hey, so I trekked into town to get a comprehensive blood test done today. Doctor thinks I might have hepatitis A. That or liver failure.

Good times.

On the upside, going to a barbecue with my roommate tomorrow. Also, made a really kickin' sandwich today. Toaster ovens are ridiculously under-appreciated in modern culture.
Ho hum.

Rocked the house with my classroom court presentation today, arguing the merits of prior restraint cases when dealing with threats of imminent danger to human life. Feelin' pretty good 'bout my grade, and it's 15% of the class so when it comes to Comm. Law my knickers are feeling warm, comfy and fresh-out-of-the-dryer toasty.

Unfortunately, I totally bombed my kanji test which only served to immediately return said knickers to their hideously twisted state. Gonna relearn the Japanese writing system this weekend, plus another 50+ characters. I'm actually kinda happy about that; with no classes Friday to Sunday are the loneliest days of the week for me. Hopefully I'll meet some interesting people soon; clubs start up next week, and my roommate was cool enough to invite me to a barbeque on Sunday. I have no doubt sumptuous heaps of hot dogs, hamburgers and (hopefully) attractive and interesting women will be available. My roomie's Japanese, and you know what they say about Asian women and tall white guys.

They buy platform shoes? I'm sleepy, fuck off.

Also, my grandmother (who's in her mid-90's) while wandering around the house delirious early yesterday morning managed to fall and break her neck. She then promptly got back up and wandered in to my uncle's bedroom to complain of soreness. Apparently she fractured some vertebrae, and she went through surgery today to fuse something important to something even more important to keep something vitally important from being severed. I guess she's been kept paralyzed and unconscious after the surgery, and they're hoping they can wake her up tomorrow. She'll probably stick around for a little while longer, but I doubt she'll ever leave the hospital.

Cranked the page down to one post at a time for comfortable reading, don't forget to check out what came before.