wednesday, 10 august

overheard: 'practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking.' -mary poppins

just a short update today. as you know, i've never been really freaked out by supreme court nominee john g roberts. he's catholic, after all, and not a crazy catholic like mel gibson, claire short or pat buchannan. i get that he's conservative, but he still seems like a reasonable man and a responsible jurist. nevertheless, i was relieved to read about his concerns about the behaviour of the congress in the terry schiavo case.

in happier news, i downloaded everyone's favourite romanian dance hit, 'dragostea din tei'. and y'all should go watch the japanese flash video for it, which is hilarious enough for those of us who don't speak japanese, but is apparently even better if you do. reminds me a bit of the infamous yatta.

tuesday, 9 august

overheard: 'i don't mind if they're having sex in the driveway. if there's alcohol there, i expect him to leave' -mama, on the party robert went to last night.

well, jack made it back to london safely yesterday. that's good news. and i made it up to the gym in 95 degree heat. which was no small feat. thanks to julie for offereing answers to sunday's questions. any others are welcome. we're specifically still curious about the walmart/nytimes overlap. any answers can be emailed via the link to the right. thanks in advance.

oh. julie also recommends this website, leading me to wonder whether she saw said wall thing when she was in israel in june.

i must say that i think this op-ed piece by irshad manji in today's NYTimes is absolutely brilliant. my favorite part: 'Neither the watery word "tolerance" nor the slippery phrase "mutual respect" will cut it as a guiding value. Why tolerate violent bigotry? Where's the "mutual" in that version of mutual respect? Amin Maalouf, a French-Arab novelist, nailed this point when he wrote that "traditions deserve respect only insofar as they are respectable - that is, exactly insofar as they themselves respect the fundamental rights of men and women."' i think ms manji is generally an amazing human being, and i'm very jealous of my friend henry for having had the opportunity to sit down with her.

e j dionne's WaPo column, which focuses on bush's poll number, should be read hand-in-hand with the op-chart in the NYTimes. mr dionne includes the standard caveat about the dangers of underestimating the president's political resilience. but i'm beginning more and more to think such resilience is the combined result of the president's stubborness, karl rove's mud-wallowing, and (mostly) the complete and total apathy of the american people. icky.

monday, 8 august

overheard: 'there aren't enough funerals in the world' -one of the million what not to wear episodes i watched yesterday.

i did, however, miss the trashy, guilty pleasure of footballers' wives. ah, well. allison D came over for dinner again, and brought a lovely selection of beers. really, the rest of the day was rather boring. i can't even recall what i did. oh. i wrote a couple transition paragraphs for my chapter. after the gym today, i'll continue to work on that bad boy. i cleaned my room a little. and that's about it.

something i forgot to mention yesterday. twice on sunday, i was asked whether i played football. on separate occasions by different people. does that mean i look fat?

sunday, 7 august

overheard: 'do gay bars have ladies' restrooms?' -bo

inspired by my younger brother's spirit of inquiry, i present to you the questions i have asked in the past day or so (some are easier to answer than others, i suppose):

almost 1.7 million copies of the new york times are sold each sunday. walmart has 1.6 million "associates" (read "serfs"). to what extent to those two populations overlap? what about the overlap between regular walmart customers and NYTimes readers?

where was the london real world house?

at what point does the situation in subsaharan africa cross the line from "famine" to "just not self-sufficient in the production of food"? is that line more easily crossed in the modern era of air-lifted poptarts?

what sort of sick irony was evolution (and/or god) entertaining by making 20ish year olds so darn hot? i know its largely cultural, but i don't think three in a thousand would make good parents.

on a related note, why do people not like getting older? is it really that bad? it seems like if one works it right, it can come with a lot of wisdom and a lot of dignity.

does being a huge nerd make me seem slightly charming or slightly sad?

can i go to royal ascot next year? what about henley and wimbledon? england is so wonderful in the summer.

how has the dollar been faring in the international currency market since china decided to stop fixing the yuan to it?

okay. that was fun. i could update you on my life, but i think not. let's do this again sometime. mwah. mwah.

saturday, 6 august

overheard: 'bad culture=dead babies' -brian to the rhodes listserv

there's a debate raging right now on the rhodes list about whether all cultures are equally valid. or valuable. but it's also kinda about whether western democracies should boot out assylum seekers who proceed to call for terrorism against western democracy.

but enough on serious topics. last night i watched a show on TLC about lottery winners. one guy was particularly heinous. he seemed to think that having a lot of money meant he had to fill his way-too-big house with expensive ugly sh*t. it was really bad. his dining room table was this hideoud, colourful sculpture of dolphins springing forth, with jets of water. on their noses they were holding the huge glass tabletop. with pride he said, "this table cost more than my previous house". shudder.

this morning, meanwhile, i took katie to the airport a bit before six. my mom came to wake me up at 5.30, to which i think i responded to her, "sharp pointy sticks". whatever that means. so katie has left, anyway. won't see her until christmas. sad day. coming back down the sunset hill, however, downtown was draped in a light fog. it was very pretty. i love fog. especially summer fog.

got back from dropping katie off at about 6.30. then to the gym and now i've already made some brownies. so now i just have to scrounge up some breakfast. i'm staaaaahving.

friday, 5 august

overheard: 'there's an omosessuale village?' -mambo italiano which was both adorable and occasionally heartbreaking.

so apparently bob novak is completely nuts. no surprise there. this roberts gay rights case thing seems to be coming to a boil. as the note points out, it's above the fold on the front page of the new york times today (although the washington times--aka the GOP daily--buries it in the 11th paragraph of a story on rehnquist's health. yeah.

short update today because i'v got work to do. more later on my fear of failure.

thursday, 4 august

overheard: i gots nothin

so i've only been awake for a quarter of an hour, but already today is shaping up to be pretty darn good. for one thing, i woke up before 8 am. that's always a good sign. it's in the mid 60s right now, and i didn't wake up to the sound of a truck backing up. this all makes me happy.

even more importantly, i won't be homeless for the first few weeks after i get back to oxford. i got an email from the secretary to the tutor for graduates today saying she'd do her best to find me a room for a few weeks starting september first. during those few weeks, i'll be able to track down an actual place to live. hurrah.

on to politics. i think wonkette is brilliant as always. even more brilliant is the op-ed piece by jim wallis in today's new york times. he hits the nail square on the head. i was chatting with a republican (I KNOW!) the other evening, telling him how icky karl rove is, and how any sensible human being would be turned off by rove's ruthless pursuit of politics over principles. he claimed that it's just the way the game is played, and that sincce both parties do it, it's not so bad. now, i think that's both hogswash and not good enough. i mean, maybe the democrats would do so if they had anyone as good/soulless as rove. but they don't. and it's really not what they need.

yeah, it would have helped the democrats last november if kerry could have articulated even the simplest policy initiatives (or opinions, for that matter). but you know what would have helped them more? a distinct vision of where america should be headed, and a principled approach to steering our country there. you can try your hardest to market a product that doesn't exist, but you're gonna run into trouble. and that's why jim wallis rocks.

it's also why the democratic leadership conferrence needs to roll over and play dead. or die. one or the other. i was telling that republican (I KNOW!) that. well, actually i was telling him that i find the DLC about as tiresome as the second amendment. i'm sure they both matter to certain people, but i honestly can't be bothered to care about either of them. they're extraneous to my political reality.

one last thing. anyone see this story in today's LA times? i mean, i'm not saying it's the best news ever, but it's better than no news on this front, eh?

wednesday, 3 august

overheard: 'he must be from the north side' -becky, to me, watching a dirtbike rider attack the mounds of eart on the torn up street in front of our house

i've started to specialise in travel nightmares. normally they're about showing up late for the airport, or showing up at the wrong airport. i've never had a safety-related travel nightmare, just planning nightmares. last night i had a new one: after i put most of my stuff in storage in oxford, i was in such a rush to get to heathrow that i forgot to do any further packing. halfway across the atlantic, i realised that i'd left all my clothing and all my luggage in my room.

i woke up and looked in my closet, of course.

did i mention that yesterday i tried to get a haircut, only to fail? well, i did. so i went searching for a gift for jack, which i also failed to do. but i'm thinking perhaps my gift idea may be easier to procure in london. what's not? anyway, i ended up in the gap, where i found a shirt that i had liked earlier in the summer, but which i had thought was a bit steep at $54. lo and behold, it was marked down to $6.97! so i bought it. with cash! and life was good.

allison D came over for dinner and judging last night. great fun. we watched a (very very old) british what not to wear followed by brand new you. tonight is the premier of trailer fabulous on MTV at 10pm. you know i'll be watching.

tuesday, 2 august

congrats to my cousin michelle on the birth of her 2nd child, carter!
overheard: 'it's just bobbo in a chicken head' -emmy, when we tried to scare the pee out of her

gym today was rather disappointing. my attention span there was abnormally short. perhaps it was the lack of fitties. probably.

the party last night was great, thanks in large part to uncle mike going outside to ask the construction workers if they could finish up early on account of said party, which they very considerately did. jeff's cooking was wonderful. robert is now in trouble for taking the two remaining chicken avocado wraps to work with him. boo. but happy birthday to aunt marguerite and uncle steve.

those who know me well will be aware of my deep distrust for the city of boise (and, indeed, the entire state of idaho). in the interest of full disclosure i should mention of never been there. i've seen pictures, though, and heard countless times what a "livable" city it is. but i've seen pictures. it looks like spokane only dried out. and, as i realised today, there are no jesuits in boise. does that seem odd to anyone else? there are apparently seven high schools in boise, sx public and one diocesan catholic. but no jesuits. seems fishy to me. and not at all livable.

speaking of the society of jesus, my aunt told me an adorable story yesterday: a young boy tell his mother "i want to be a jesuit when i grow up," to which she responded, "i'm afraid you can't do both." ha. haha.

monday, 1 august

overheard: 'i've eaten watermelons bigger than that [baby]' -beckers

ok. i'm trying to wrap my mind around its being august now. having some trouble, though. i bought some jeans yesterday. ran into some random acquaintances at the rack. told them how much i liked shopping in spokane. they looked at me like i was mad. but as i told them, where else can a medium-sized person find nice things on sale at really cheap prices? in spokane, no one knows the difference between diesel and quicksilver jeans. and that makes my life better.

sounds like julie and oliver are having a good go of it. she's taking him on the T today. sounds like an adventure. i hope photos were taken.

i've got two birthday parties today: brunch for my uncle steve and then a party at our house this evening for my godmother. hurrah. i'm not very hungry, though. maybe i will be once we get to the restaurant.