Going to go fragging insane...

...things that should be getting better aren't, things that should be getting done are, but slowly. Is there some sort of retrograde Mercury thing going on? (*Checks*) Nope, not Mercury. And the only one that is simply says, "expect the unexpected". I suppose that's normal. Either way, time's short, duties are long, and my usual bastion of relief, marching band, is falling to frigging pieces. With the way things are degrading, I'll be the senior who's a reserve for his last game at Michigan. I suppose I'm sliding slowly into the deep end. It's either that, or I just need to have a good bawl and confessional. Of course, my normal standby for such an outpouring of societally repressed emotion would be welah, and he's, well, out in Washington. So, yeah. Nobody here but us crazies.

There was a lunar eclipse tonight. Very interesting to see, although I think the city where I live cut down on the effect because it has a lot of light pollution. Still, one of my housemates took pictures. If he posts them, it'll be on my friends list.

Congratulations to the 2004 Boston Red Sox - World Series Champions. Rather appropriate, I would think, on an eclipse night to have any apparent curses broken. And we're close to Hallow'een, too, so perhaps the Bambino was finally directed to the Summerland properly, or something.

Speaking of Hallow'een, Linus meets the Great Pumpkin. But the Pumpkin's an Old One...

Platypus - God's sense of humor or Eris's finest creation? You decide.

In the "Good idea but lousy execution" category, we present Evil Bible dot com, which collects some of the less than divine commandments, judgments, and segments in the Bible, aimed at promoting the atheist belief as the only real and rational one. The quotes provided can certainly be interpreted in the manner that the web author suggests, but in the same way that I get annoyed by fundamentalist Christians, I get annoyed by fundamentalist atheists. Both of them are rather secure and smug that they're right, and it's damn near impossible to get either of them to admit they're wrong. (Which, potentially, they both can be.)

And finally, somewhat importantly, be aware of what you say in public forums. Someone may just decide to report you to the FBI for voicing a strongly dissenting opinion on the President. Since the original post has apparently been deliberately lost, to avoid further difficulties, I do not have full knowledge of the incident in question. Anyone who feels like enlightening me may do so without penalty. We hope, anyway.

Is this 1984's Thought Police exercising themselves? I would think that the crime is the point where thought and/or talk crosses into preparation or action. One you can prove that preparations have been made to carry through, then by all means, do your duty. But "innocent until proven guilty" is still the standard in this country. To assume otherwise, even covering it with the veneer of "Homeland Security" is to place the founding principles of the country in grave jeopardy. It is akin to an elected official pissing on the Constitution (although there can be allegations leveled at the incumbent and his administration of doing precisely that).

Lastly, remember that text is often the most difficult medium to express emotion and humor with. You may have to preface yourself with a "just kidding around" if you don't want some random wanker (and I use said term in the more insulting sense of the two) jumping to a conclusion of "OMG Liberal!->Terrorist->Evil! Time to be a true patriot and turn them in!" For those who laughed, it's funny cuz it's true. For those who didn't laugh, it's still true, isn't it? Chew on that.

Oh, and lordmork's still right.

Lastly, welcome greyweirdo to the friendly-list. A couple good Nero Wolfe jokes, an incisive commentary on language style and preference, and the proper sort of Dynamic Discord means that he should fit right in. (And he's not too far away from where I am... same region of the state, anyway.) Good night, troops.

Pfft.

Challenges pushed back to Monday. Gives me a weekend to re-center and get back to the Zen state with regard to marching band. Hopefully, that means that my problems go away. Basketball season starts next week, so the time crunch is likely only going to get worse. Luckily, after this Monday, I think there's a slight relaxation of the deadly-line so that I can handle it. Did I mention that I have an exam next Friday again, for Greek Sport, that I might need to study for?

And there's the voting thing, too. I mean, first election, probably going to have fun filling out a provisional ballot or something, even though I voted in the Governor election two years ago. It'll be nice to have it over, but it's really only the beginning of Phase Two, where the lawyers clash over faults, real, or apparent. And, in the strictest sense of the election, my vote really doesn't matter except as a suggestion to the delegate to the Electoral College that I would like them to place their votes for a particular candidate.

Speaking of elections, if you want to know what the Illuminati are up to, here. Have this. Of course, it could all just be a ploy, but it could also be real because they think we'll think it's a ploy...

If you have some time, and want to go look at films, some funny, some poignant, some musically inclined, head over to Arkham Films. The name reminds me of the Gotham City Mental Asylum... and the films there could remind someone of that place as well. Especially Human.

After reading this essay on Occulture, the reason why I want to be a librarian starts making more sense to me. Such a wonderfully untapped potential in both information and imagination. Perhaps I see that profession as being a point where imagination can run unbounded. And, perhaps, a little bit of the Pagemaster in me, as well, and all of those stories, few that they may be, where the librarian turns out to provide the most useful thing in the story, or is secretly a far more powerful ally to the hero than originally thought. I feel a little bit better about my career choice now. Might also be helping the way I think about shaping a collection.

And from that, it's time I hit the sack. For those of you who are curious, even though I won't be there, watch ESPN2's Cold Pizza tomorrow morning, as they will be broadcasting from the Stadium, hopefully with a fairly large group of fans and possibly a marching band appearance. Too bad my professor counts attendance in his grade...