I've been packing stuff up, going through all my buried boxes and bags of clothes I never wear, books don't read, etc. I'm gonna make a good shot at relieving myself of some of this burdin. Sal Army and the local library will get gifts; maybe someone's life will be brightened.

It's been filling me with a great feeling of sadness, actually. Even just walking around the corner past the bustle of Prospect Park, friends on the street, bought a lime fruit bar and two tickets to the last showing of X-men tonight... The humidity in the air I won't miss, but it feels sorry and low to be leaving all this energy behind.

This life I've been living for the past eight months hasn't been right for me. I don't try to pretend otherwise. Still, I can't escape the sensation of something valuable -- the last true fillaments of youth maybe -- slipping through my fingers. I imagine shortly I'll start going bald. Oy vey. That's kind of a maccab image, and overblown to say the least. I don't mind growing up, really, but I want it to be on my terms, not a matter of settling into one of these ruts that civilization hollows out there for ya.

The great problems in life are never solved, of course. It's the challenge and engagement that gives us meaning, yes, but I wish I didn't always feel so out of place. I wish I had bigger piece of the world called home.

I wish I didn't want to try and make all women love me all the time. I wish I were simpler, maybe a vegetarian; maybe a meditator; maybe married to my first girlfriend. I wish I didn't read the news. I wish we were smart enough to not be at war, brave enough to live honest and true and close to the soul.

It's a terrible dark thing sometimes, the future, especially in phases like these where I feel more or less weak and helpless in the face of everything, disconnected from my fellow man even though here we are packed in like sardines. G-D it. I know that I'll be allright, but I'm tortured by ambitions and wishes and that out-of-placeness that secretly (don't tell, I swear) drives much of my desire to change the world.

But tomorrow is another day. The thunder is rolling on in.

I've been packing stuff up, going through all my buried boxes and bags of clothes I never wear, books don't read, etc. I'm gonna make a good shot at relieving myself of some of this burdin. Sal Army and the local library will get gifts; maybe someone's life will be brightened.

It's been filling me with a great feeling of sadness, actually. Even just walking around the corner past the bustle of Prospect Park, friends on the street, bought a lime fruit bar and two tickets to the last showing of X-men tonight... The humidity in the air I won't miss, but it feels sorry and low to be leaving all this energy behind.

This life I've been living for the past eight months hasn't been right for me. I don't try to pretend otherwise. Still, I can't escape the sensation of something valuable -- the last true fillaments of youth maybe -- slipping through my fingers. I imagine shortly I'll start going bald. Oy vey. That's kind of a maccab image, and overblown to say the least. I don't mind growing up, really, but I want it to be on my terms, not a matter of settling into one of these ruts that civilization hollows out there for ya.

The great problems in life are never solved, of course. It's the challenge and engagement that gives us meaning, yes, but I wish I didn't always feel so out of place. I wish I had bigger piece of the world called home.

I wish I didn't want to try and make all women love me all the time. I wish I were simpler, maybe a vegetarian; maybe a meditator; maybe married to my first girlfriend. I wish I didn't read the news. I wish we were smart enough to not be at war, brave enough to live honest and true and close to the soul.

It's a terrible dark thing sometimes, the future, especially in phases like these where I feel more or less weak and helpless in the face of everything, disconnected from my fellow man even though here we are packed in like sardines. G-D it. I know that I'll be allright, but I'm tortured by ambitions and wishes and that out-of-placeness that secretly (don't tell, I swear) drives much of my desire to change the world.

But tomorrow is another day. The thunder is rolling on in.

Finally got around to watching the two-part finale. It was pretty decent, although I think the path of "explaining" things is fraught with peril. I've always felt the show works because it exists in parable-space, making up meaning without really having to engage a chain of logic (e.g. "Who are you?" "We're the good guys" -- that's f'ing brilliant!).

So, I'm basically comfortable with a lot of things not getting explained -- that piece of statue, polar bears, etc -- because I think the fun of the show is in projecting your own explanations and theories onto it, and because I fear that attempting to tie up these loose ends will be a dissapointment. But so far so good.

Also, always a pleasure to see Clancy Brown at work. I dig his acting. He was on back earlier this year as US Military dude who interacted with Saed in Iraq. The two times he's appeared the characters have had different first names, but the same last name, but could be the same person. Or not.

Interesting.

A Kos reader is on G-dubs mailing list. This is the "dark matter" of politics: direct mail communications that are generally off the radar. Interesting reading:

Those far-left "527" groups that came out of nowhere in 2004 are back, raising money at an incredible rate from the usual suspects - big labor bosses, Hollywood elitists, and billionaire foreign investor George Soros.

They sure do know how to push those buttons.

Humidity, the backstabbing slayer of spring.

I missed this one from SNL, but it's a goodie. Robert Smigel's "TV Funhouse" has some "fun with real-audio."

It's funny because it's depressing. It's funny and depressing!

I missed this one from SNL, but it's a goodie. Robert Smigel's "TV Funhouse" has some "fun with real-audio."

It's funny because it's depressing. It's funny and depressing!

It's like I'm on the westcoast already, except it's really that I'm too lazy to go buy more half'n'half.

Drywall hanging going on upstairs. Hope it's over soon.

Looking forward to the weekend. X3 tonight!

MyDD has the details, but basically there's a new bill to restore Net Neutrality provisions which will serve the same function as the amendment which was previously defeated. It just passed committee with good bipartisan support.

The lobby efforts of individuals is having a definite impact here, as it's harder and harder for Reps to ignore the fact that the only people who want Net Neutrality gone are big telcos. Everyone else (literally, from MoveOn to the Christian Coalition to Lawrence Lessig to Gleynn Reynolds) is in favor of keeping physical network owners from discriminating about which TCP/IP bits they pass around.

Looks like the good guys may win this one, but it's far from a done deal at this point.

Young Americans "have no idea what's going on" because they "get their news from Jon Stewart", although, as this Media Matters post points out, viewers of The Daily Show are consistantly better-informed than viewers of the Factor.

And there's always this hoary old chestnut:

A new study based on a series of seven US polls conducted from January through September of this year reveals that before and after the Iraq war, a majority of Americans have had significant misperceptions and these are highly related to support for the war in Iraq....

Those who primarily watch Fox News are significantly more likely to have misperceptions, while those who primarily listen to NPR or watch PBS are significantly less likely.

The poll didn't include TDS, but it should have.

Bill, the truth is, my generation is too media savvy to be suckered in by your brand of cheap political grandstanding. But by all means, keep alienating us, please. It'll be fun watching your ratings deflate as your audience tunes out (or keels over from old age).