Well tomorrow I'll seek antibiotics. This shit has gone on long enough, and it's probably strep throat so we'll need special pills to defeat it. Another adventure into the medical establishment for the uninsured!

I think it's the flu, but whatever it is I'm out of commission. I detest my weakness, even as I realize that the only thing to do is lie down and drink water for a day or three. I've been downloading and watching old Family Guy episodes to pass the time, and Nascera and her friend Amy(?) made me a healing elixer of ginger-licorice tea infused with a ton of garlic, hot pepper, lemon and honey. We'll see how it fairs tomorrow.

Revenge of the Sith is the best of the new-school, but still falls short of the glory. The pacing still seems off -- or maybe I'm too old to keep up? -- and the over-use of massive/complex digital effects seems more distracting than useful for the most part. Like Episode II, it felt a bit like a video game. Also, the political aspects that everyone seems to be playing up were pretty hamfisted, I have to say. There's just not enough depth in the film to really make you believe that anyone really believes all that much in anything, and you end up just waiting for the next duel.

That said, it was good entertainment. Also, I have Anakin hair. Or Anakin has Josh hair. I just need to perfect my smoldering gaze, score a big hooded robe, maybe get back into the gym for four months or so and find a way to put a cleft into my chin, and I've got a halloween costume all set. To the extent that looking like a pop culture icon helps build relationships quickly, this could be my ace on the road this summer. We'll see.

Taking a little look back at the old Kos:

Day 1
I am progressive. I am liberal. I make no apologies. I believe government has an obligation to create an even playing field for all of this country's citizens and immigrants alike. I am not a socialist. I do not seek enforced equality. However, there has to be equality of opportunity, and the private sector, left to its own devices, will never achieve this goal.

Seems like a pretty susccinct way to say it. I wonder what I was doing at that point...

May 26th 2002: In Your Heart You Know Marx is Right

That's the secret screed of us liberals. Read that in an article in an old Harpers my mother sent me criticisizing a couple books puffing up the Ronald Regan legacy. It's gotten me thinging again about what a piss poor job we're doing, my generation. Sure, we're getting by and having fun, but we're largely a spoiled, self-absorbed lot, more concerned about how and where to spend their money than anything else. For some (postmodernism) reason, there's not a lot to believe in these days, and it's killing us as a society. What the hell are we about, this country, this state, this county, this boro, this block, this house, this person? What about this earth? It just kills me that we let a great opportunity to come together like 9-11 roll on past us, the message from our leaders being "don't stop shopping." See there's a lot of money and power sitting on top of all this anomie, and it doesn't like being disturbed.

The wistful feeling that packing brings: empty shelves, bare walls, simple sad music. Sam's birthday/going away celebration last night, shotgunning Pabsts, vague notions of how I piloted the bike home and a thundering hangover reminding me I'm not 17 anymore. Getting ready to go. Reading urban poetics online.

More like all that in the days before I used software to blog.