Shop 'til you drop
Woo hoo. It's class selection time!

So far I've decided I would rather take a more difficult, very cool course on "Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics" than the basic non-math (read: high school) physics course. But I won't take either if I can get into one of two creative writing seminars. I'm pretty sure I want to take "Myth and Ritual," if I like the prof, and "Intro to Native American Studies," which both meet today. Finally there is the second half of "Archaeological Ceramics" which I started last year. Fun fun fun.

Is it just me or is it lame to start a new semester before all your grades from last term are in?

The Return of the Swing (Space)...ok, horrible. HORRIBLE!
Mood:  bright
A good day. I got enough sleep last night. I'm back with all my friends. There's snow on the ground and classes ripe for the picking. I'm remembering why I love school. In the bookstore today, Kate and I perused textbooks from all departments, tempted to buy fascinating-looking volumes for classes we never planned to take. Unfortunately I can't take the Fiction Writing class I wanted to take because, contrary to the course listings, the Department website and the prof say applications were due in December. Apparently over 100 people applied, so my chances might not have been so high anyway given my meagre body of work. So it looks like science for me, unless I get into one of two college seminars on writing (highly unlikely, since they're not D-port seminars).

We rearranged the common room furniture. we're not sure we like it, but we needed to change something.

And you thought Ashcroft was bad...
The President's new choice for Attorney General, Alberto Gonzalez, actually had to come out last week stating he was against torture. In any other administration, this would be obvious. Not so with Gonzalez, whose memos last year called the Geneva Convention "quaint" and not applicable to prisoners of the War on Terror. Some say his attitude contributed to the Abu Ghraib atrocity. He certainly has a human rights record worthy of intervention by Amnesty International. People for the American Way has issued a statement of opposition to his appointment, citing substantial evidence of this record. At MoveOn.org, you can donate money to fund their anti-Gonzalez TV ads.

Happy New Year, world.

Goodbye '04
Now Playing: "Step Into My Office, Baby," Belle and Sebastian
This is it! The decade's halfway through. So much has happened in the five years since fanatics everywhere were worrying about Y2K! Two disasterous deadlock elections, two wars, and many tragedies, including 9/ll and this week's awful tsunami in Asia. If you haven't yet, consider giving money to the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, or one of the many other agencies ready to aid the suffering victims overseas.

I can't say it's been a particularly great year. In fact, it's been pretty bad as far as the world is concerned. However, this is a new year. Maybe new good things will happen.

Here are my own resolutions:

1. Be more patient
2. Keep my hands away from my face
3. Get in better shape to train for Muir Trail 2.0
4. Do something for my own pleasure every day

O Come All Ye Faithful
We got our Christmas tree yesterday and I decorated it! It never really feels like Christmas until that amazing fir smell fills the house. It feels so great to be done with school.

I can't believe how much Christmas is being exploited, and I'm not just talking about commercialization. In Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, an organization is trying to . That' not such a bad thing, right? Think again. They are petitioning to add "Merry Christmas" to the red-lighted "Season's Greetings" sign on the main government building and selling yard signs that read, "We believe in God. Merry Christmas."

Ok.

It would be one thing if these people were merely trying to reassert their faith, reminding us of the true meaning of Christmas (hint: it's not shopping). However, in today's context I can't help but see it as threatening. And it gets worse: one church in Raleigh, N.C., recently paid $7,600 for a full-page newspaper ad urging Christians to only buy from merchants who include "Merry Christmas" in their ads and displays.

Religion is becoming a bigger and bigger problem in our country, and more and more politicized. A survey by Cornell University found that 44 percent of Americans believe that Muslim Americans should have restricted freedoms just because of their religious beliefs. Unsurprisingly, most of them were Bush supporters. I guess nobody told them that Muslims also believe in God.

A Dilemma...
Now that I'm back in sunny SoCal, should I get rid ofthe snowy background? It feels kind of wierd. :) hee hee hee I'm home!

Got one last task to do and then I'll be thruuuuuuuuuu!

Homeward Bound...
Now Playing: "Going to California," Led Zeppelin
Going home tomorrow, work is almost done. Skies are blue and winter's closing in. Another semester gone.

Soon I will be done...
Archaeo Ceramics Paper: 15 pages (check)
Music Exam: 2 hours (check)
Lit Paper: 9 pages...on Faulkner! (check)
Knowing 3 of your classes are over: Priceless.

Study break
Laugh. Under the plains of heaven and under the threadbare trees, laugh. Forget forget forget and just laugh laugh at the toil and the winter for they will not bring you down. Your head is filled with useless words and your feet are caked with winterfilth and your hair is crusted with tears and cold wind but your eyes are bright and your heart is not yet failing. Burn that light. Burn it to the end. Burn that light in the dark of the unknown and the horror of the possible, until the unknown is no longer dark and the possible is no longer before you but behind you. But to laugh you must first forget, and to forget, you must first know hope.

No business like SNOW buisness...
Now Playing: Stravinsky, "Rite of Spring," because I'm writing a PAPER on it!!!!
It snowed this afternoon! For a little while it was really coming down. Things would be so much happoer if it would stay on the ground.