Normally I wouldn't link to porn, but this is a special case. This is the first time I have run into pornographic material on a blog on blogspot. In fact, I haven't really seen porn any blogs at all. I was thinking that porn would violate the blogspot user agreement. I guess not. I wonder what his PageRank is?

I wanted to say something about the guys they arrested for the sniper murders. They're BLACK! I keep looking at their pictures looking for white skin.

I just realized why people don't visit my site. PageRank! My PageRank is zero!

This is a bad idea. I would credit Espn.com, but they don't really seem to have a real website. The final url that you end up with is just too ugly for my taste.

I just read this editorial from Michael Kinsley. The contempt for President Bush he feels is palpable in this piece. I don't think Michael Kinsley is capable of writing about President Bush in an objective manner. Kinsley tries to soften the blow and make his conspiracy mongering more respectable towards the end, but his words are insecere. That he subtly invokes his own Jewishness to shield himself, makes his arguments even more repugnant to me.
I am forced to admit thatthe charge that oil is a concern is most likely right. I see nothing wrong with this though. I do take offense at Mr. Kinsley's implicit charges of conspiracy. I wish I could tell him directly. I don't know why I am so angry. He doesn't claim to be objective.

So what's the plan? I'll proceed on two fronts, working in gaming and starting this oganization. First the games:

1. Revise resume
   
2. Compile list of Dallas area game companies that interest me.
   
3. Write individual letters to each one expressing interest in an unpaid internship.
   
4. Code technology demo to demonstrate skills
   
5. Begin compiling portfolio of work.
   

For the non-profit organization I will proceed like so:

1. Check availability of domain names.
   
2. Consult Lawyer.
   
3. Register as a non-profit organization.
   
4. Purchase Domain.
   
5. Build organization website. (includes finding hosting)
   
6. Write promotoional literature.
   
7. Solicit donations.
   
8. Build database of copyrighted material.
   

So which one do I do first? Look for domain names. it's easiest.

Here's a little something I wrote in my notebook about my nonprofit organization idea:

PublicCopyright.org is a non-profit repostory of expired copyrights and a purchaser of of copyrights for redistribution at cost or free to the public.
For Profit companies may buy nonexclusive access to copyrighted material .
PublicCopyright.org's primary mission will be maintenance will be maintenance of a searchable database for public use for free at least at a low cost. In addition, PublicCopyright.org will provide copyright material in a physical form on request at cost, low price, or free. Private for-profit companies will be able to acquire non-exclusive access to copyrights for a fee.

My idea is to manage copyrights for the public good. Extension of the time that copyrights maybe held has the effect of keeping information out of the public domain. Extending copyrights benefits Hollywood and the record industry and a few private individuals but for the most part no one else. I am afraid that many lesser known works will slide into oblivion because the original copyright holders will die or slip into obscurity, depriving the public of work that would normally have been in the public domain. I intend to purchase older copyrights, solicit donation of copyrights, and provide cheap access to the public. The organization will allow any non-commercial use of the copyrights for free. Commerical use will require special agreements. Once a copyright is purchased, it will not be resold. The organization may retain the rights to the copyright until it lapses into the public domain. The organization may also charge fees to recoup the cost of purchasing the copyright and maintenance of the database.

Quick highlights from my life between posts.

1. First Paycheck from DISD!
   
2. Taught at Thomas Marsh Middle School Wednesday
   
3. Saw a dude on the bus with staples in his head
   

My life needs more excitement...
I have two ideas I am going to pursue:

1. Unpaid internships in the gaming industry.
   
2. A non profit copyright management organization
   

Funny quote from Slate magazine's messageboard

Since when did Conservative Christian Corporate America (Coors surely falls within that realm) start sponsoring incestuous group sex, or at least the heavy suggestion of it? I mean, I'm not going to say it's necessarily a bad thing, but it does seem like a radical departure …

The post...

I just found out that a friend's daughter has just been diagnosed with a brain tumor. I am not much for prayer, and I don't know what you believe, but it seems that prayer would be appropriate right now. She's 13.

Clarification, I don't like giving women relationship advice. I don't want to be anybody's gay boyfriend. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
The problem is that, I am finding that I have been tempted lately tell the girls to just dump their deadbeat boyfriends and just hang out with me. Not in so many words, but...

I have been worried about a quality dropoff in my writing for the blog for a while due to boredom and involvement in outside activities, but I have decided that it's ok. I am going to be gleefully mediocre.
One thing I have learned in my short life about relationships is that you must be happy by yourself before you can be happy in a relationship. The other thing I have learned is that I don't like giving advice. I want to be the person causing someone else to seek advice. I don't want to ask for it and I don't want to be anyone's shoulder to cry on. Well at least till I have made somebody cry. (That sounds perfectly awful I know)

Fighting writer's block. :( More tomorrow after the Cowboys game. Maybe if I keep working on different things I'll get through it. I think I need to quit copping out and just try to work through my writers block.

A snippet from another script I am writing:

“EMMY’S ADVENTURES IN PADRE”



A screenplay by

Idahosa I. O. Edokpayi

















O2Cool Games Software FIRST DRAFT
11311 Idontlivehere Dr. August 9, 2002
Dallas, TX, 75217


"EMMY’S ADVENTURES IN PADRE"
FADE IN:
EXT. SUBURBAN DALLAS NEIGHBORHOOD – NIGHT
We’re in front of a nice house in a Lake Highlands. Not as nice as Highland Park but well to do just the same. Many cars line the street in front of one house in particular. The lights are on and we can see shadows of people moving through the windows. One window in particular draws our attention and we move closer till…
INT. WILD PARTY IN HOUSE – NIGHT
BOOM! We’re inside and we’re in your parent’s worse nightmare. Mom and Dad are gone and the kids are living la vida loca. There are decorations on the wall, a Christmas tree, lights, a DJ, and astounding quantities of alcohol. College students stumble around drunkenly, dancing or at last attempting to, all to the DJ’s deafening beats. People are making out and one couple in particular is getting increasingly intense in their affections. They get crazy, find a bedroom, and close the door.
INT. WILD PARTY BEDROOM – NIGHT
The couple continues to make out sidestepping slowly till they hit a bed. The bed trips them and they fall sideways into the bed. The girl rolls over on top and props herself up on her hands and knees. She drops her head as if to kiss him again but stops.
KELLY
Are we about to have sex?
EMMY
I sure hope so!
Kelly leans into him brushing her lips over his as she leans closer to his ear.
KELLY
(whispering)
Only in your dreams…
INT. SAME HOUSE LIVING ROOM LATE FEBURARY – DAY
Emmy lounges on the couch watching television during the day when he should be in class. The phone rings and he answers. It’s Kelly!
EMMY
Hi.
INT. KELLY’S APARTMENT DAY
Kelly’s lying on her couch in a college logo t-shirt, short-shorts, and ankle socks – typical dorm room wear. Her feet are up on the arm rest and she’s cradling the phone in the crook of her neck. She’s twirling a finger in her hair. A huge poster adorns the wall behind her.
KELLY
Hi.
INT. SAME HOUSE LIVING ROOM LATE FEBURARY – DAY
Emmy is up now, striding to his bedroom.
EMMY
(Gruffly)
Whatcha want?
INT. KELLY’S APARTMENT DAY
KELLY
(tenatively)
Well I was wondering… I am going to Padre Island for Spring Break and I was wondering if you wanted to go?
INT. SAME HOUSE LIVING ROOM LATE FEBURARY – DAY
Emmy’s reached his room and he picks up a miniature soccer ball.
EMMY
So you can leave me with a hard-on every night for a week instead of just at Christmas parties once a year?
INT. KELLY’S APARTMENT - DAY
KELLY
(frowns)
No, because we’re renting a beach house and had some people back out.
INT. SAME HOUSE LIVING ROOM LATE FEBURARY – DAY
Now Emmy’s in the den and he’s juggling the soccer ball. The ball bounces off his thighs, his feet, and his head all with the phone clamped to his ear.
EMMY
(concentrating)
Who’s we?
INT. KELLY’S APARTMENT – DAY
KELLY
(bites her lip)
Me and some of my sorority sisters.
INT. SAME HOUSE LIVING ROOM LATE FEBURARY – DAY
Emmy still has the ball in the air, but now’s he sweating a little.
EMMY
How many are going?
INT. KELLY’S APARTMENT - DAY
KELLY
(Crossing her fingers)
13, all from the sorority.
INT. SAME HOUSE LIVING ROOM LATE FEBURARY – DAY
Emmy drops the ball.
EMMY
(incredulously)
Is this some kind of joke?
MONTAGE – ROAD TRIP SEQUENCE
A) A tiny car drives over a map of Texas tracing a path toward Padre Island.
B) downtown Dallas
C) state capitol in Austin
D) Highway sign indicating San Antonio
E) Highway sign indicating Kingsville
F) Highway sign indicating Harlingen
G) Highway sign indicating Port Isabel
EXT. ROAD AN HOUR OUTSIDE OF PORT ISABEL
Emmy’s driving and is clearly tired. Everybody else is asleep and the car is cramped. His eyes droop and he begins to slump and falls asleep at the wheel. The car begins to drift into the opposite lane and into the path of a huge semi bearing down on Emmy’s car fast. The trailer blasts its horn and Emmy is jolted awake. He reacts quickly and the car swerves away from the semi but towards a heavy wooden gate. Emmy throws his hands up over his face and screams…
INT. INSIDE THE CAR
Emmy is covering his face and his mouth is frozen in a ring of horror. He isn’t dead however. He lowers his arms and looks to see Kelly in the Driver’s seat smiling at him.
KELLY
That was a long nap. Have any good dreams.
Emmy
(mumbling)
Something like that.

The money train gets rolling Wednesday. When it arrives I am not sure. I am officially down to my last dollar. The problem is that several people have laid claim to the next few hundred dollars. I am going to dig through my files and find something else old that I've written to post after I get up.

This is the type of thing that makes you do a double take. Scored the link from the Shack.

I have an idea for my employment. I work three days a week as a substitute teacher, say Monday, Thursday and Friday. I work as a waiter or some retail job on Saturday and maybe even Sunday. Tuesday and Wednesday I work for free as an intern at a company in an industry I'd like to be in. Sound good? It does sound like I'll be very tired all the time.

A kid at Kimball High told me an interesting story today about a girl who went into the boys lockerroom. She had sex with 15 boys one after the other. Somehow, I don't think any of the other teachers have heard that story. The girl got caught too. The other girls ratted her out, probably for sleeping with their boyfriends.

I couldn't resist posting this link and this quote:

A young woman raised her hand. "Professor Pinker?" Yes? I said. "I'd rather be a happy pig." Other hands shot up. "Me too!" "Same here!" "Pig!" "Pig!" "Pig!"

From the happy liberal folks at Slate.

The Blogger software wasn't functioning well yesterday so I didn't publish yesterday's post or make any new posts. If I don't update for a day you might try checking the Blogger status page.
I taught at Justin F. Kimball High today. Once again thank God for teachers with no first period classes. God has no such largess for me two days in a row though, so I'll be forced to be on time. I was a "floater" today. Meaning that I didn't have a classroom. Menaing that I wandered the classroom with my schedule and a stack of books swimming upstream against the rushing stream of students going to class between periods. By the way, any direction in a hall way in a high school between periods is upstream.
My parents retrieved the piece of junk today! Now I shall sell the ugly object of torment to the first sucker who comes along. The stupid thing cost $350 to retrieve. The proceeds of the sale will go to benefit the "Buy Idaho a New Ride Foundation". I am accepting doantions and I will soon post a Paypal link for those who wish to donate.
The pipeline of previous work will dry up temporarily (a day) because I don't feel like readying any of my ol stuff for human consumption. No links either, my laziness abounds.

This is the text of a movie script I wrote for fun one day


“OG KILLER JOHNSON IN SENSELESS VIOLENCE”



A screenplay by

Idahosa I. O. Edokpayi

















O2Cool Games Software FIRST DRAFT
10011 NotMyStreet Dr. October 15, 2002
Dallas, Texas, 75243
(972) 844-0000




" OG KILLER JOHNSON IN SENSELESS VIOLENCE "
FADE IN:
INT: LIVING ROOM IN SOUTH DALLAS HOME AT NOON SUMMER TIME
11 men are gathered in a cramped room around one man whispering into a cell phone. The man hangs up and sits stricken for a moment.
JOHNNY
Well how bad is it? Are we in trouble? Does he want his money? What does he want?
CELL PHONE GUY
He’s sending OG Killer Jackson!
This is obviously the worst possible thing you could ever hear. The men scatter, running to the doors leaving as quickly as possible. 6 men hold their ground drawing weapons. One man is trembling visibly.
EXT: 30 SECONDS LATER OUTSIDE THE HOUSE
A scary looking dude in a long coat and sun glasses is striding through the Texas sun on an incredibly hot day. He walks up to the door of the house and reaches inside his coat with both hands.
INT: LIVING ROOM
The men are still fumbling around the house looking for ammunition. The doorbell rings and everybody pauses, looking at each other in consternation.
EXT: 1 MINUTE LATER…
After a hailstorm of gunfire punctuated by anguished screams and bloodcurdling yells, the scary dude – OG Killer Jackson – stands at the back door of the house with identical silver 45’s in each hand with smoke still coming out of the barrels. He’s looking down at the blood flecks on his shoes. He walks methodically to a waiting car in the alley, leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints, and roars away with a screech of the tires.
INT: 24 HOURS LATER… APARTMENT IN DALLAS AREA
Johnny is holed up in a dirty apartment with two other friends. They’re gathered around a low coffee table sitting on a cheap couch. Money is strewn all over the table, there are a couple of handguns and a suspicious white powder covers everything on the table like dust. The men sit slumped couch drinking (beer? soda? Does it matter?) and laughing. The door burst open and police swarm in like a cloud of blue bees. Johnny’s two friends sit frozen like deer in the headlights. Johnny bolts to the back running as if his life depended on it. (it does) He streaks to the patio of his first floor apartment and inexplicably there is no one there.
EXT: OUTSIDE APARTMENT
Johnny runs out the patio door and clambers over the fence. (A body lays partially hidden in the bushes next to the patio) Johnny runs away stopping only when he has reached his car. He pauses, gasping for breath by the trunk of his car. A gloved hand reaches from behind him and covers his mouth. A terrific but silent struggle ensues. Finally Johnny loses and pays dearly for it. OG Killer Jackson stands over Johnny’s body wiping the dust from his jacket. He strides over to a waiting vehicle and screeches off.

INT: 15 MINUTES LATER… LIVING ROOM IN HOUSE IN DALLAS
Cell Phone Guy sits glumly staring at his blank television screen. The phone rings but he ignores it. A suitcase full of bills sits open next to him and he glances at it idly. He holds a can in one hand drinking from it and an unopened one in the other. Somehow OG Killer Jackson is inside and walking up behind him. Cell Phone Guy doesn’t notice until he sees his reflection in the black screen of his TV.
CELL PHONE GUY
Do you want a beer?
OG Killer Jackson whips out a silver 45 but Cell Phone Guy punches up and behind him knocking the weapon away. A Jackie Chan film breaks out. Household objects take flight, dollar bills fly, fists and feet slice the air, all the while with nary a word spoken save for a few grunts. A clever screenwriter finishes off this story and we get a funny but macabre ending. Idaho goes to bed and Andrew reads it and thinks “Cool…”

Lord preserve us from those who love us so much. I saw this while browsing my favorite neo-liberal webzine, Slate.com.

I am going to be posting some other random things that I have written before.I am only doing this because the last thing I posted was such an unqualified success and traffic improved so much that two fo the four people who visit the webpage everyday stopped coming!

I'm car shopping today. I'd post links to the ads but then I don't want random people looking at the cars I am interested in and buying them before I am ready. Decision making for me is a very leisurely process. The two leading candidates are Mustangs though. I love pony cars. Anybody selling a car that goes fast, has air, manual transmission, and a cd player should contact me.

Did you watch the last 5 minutes of the Cowboys game? Wow... Despite his stellar perfomance in the waning minutes of today's game, a lot f my fellow Cowboys fans are calling for Quincy Carter to be benched in favor of Chad Hutchison. I have two points.

1. Hutchison would be worse. Carter makes rookie mistakes. Hutchison hasn't played at even the college level for three years so he is worse than a rookie. Hutchison's mind wouldn't be quick enough to make the reads at NFL game speed. Also, Hutchison would get drilled since he isn't athletic enough to escape the rush. Our porous offensive line would leak 300 pound lineman like a very large weighty sieve and Hutchison would quickly be curled in a fetal position on the nice shiny new carpet Jerry put in.
   
2. Getting rid of Quincy would put us in the same territory as Cincinnati.We've invested the better part of two years in Q and we'd lose that by dumping him. Quarterbacks really don't develop till after playing for two years. Cincinnati is bad and will remain bad because they don't have the patience to invest the necessary time in a quarterback.Well, that, and they did a poor job of scouting their draft picks. The Cowboys are better of with Quincy now even if he never becomes better than mediocre than we are starting Hutchison and getting set back another two years. Mediocre quarterbacks win a lot of games. Besides Quincy Carter's physical talent means that he'll either be spectacularly bad or he'll be really good.
   

All that Quincy Carter has done is bring the Cowboys back to win games in the final 2 minutes twice this year and thrown for 200+ yards 6 times in a row. That looks pretty good to me.

Today was a tiring day. I'll tell you about tomorrow...

Sad link from Scrappleface. I want to know just what the hell everybody was thinking? I want to know why she and her husband conceived the baby if another baby would be too much of a burden and I want to know why the hell they put the baby in a jar labelled with the woman's name on it! It's almost as if it was calculated to make her feel bad. What is worse the fetus was "baby-like" in appearance from what I gather. Otherwise I am guessing she wouldn't have noticed. This is the link to the original story on the Daily Record a British newspaper.

One more link from College Humor.

Another fun link from College Humor.

Comedic Brilliance like this never goes unpunished. The link is from College Humor.com.

Very Cool. I'd use more pictures but I would need to cut down on the size as large pcitures stretch out my layout.

Always shut your windows!

OI am feeling lazy tonight, so I thought I'd post an editorial I wrote for the student newspaper at UTD. A lot of people didn't like it then a few might not like it now. I wrote it just before the presidential elections as counterpoint to the majority opinion of the newspaper staff.

I'm hyped and I 'm amped!
Most of my heros don't appear on no stamps!!
Soccer today, I have a little energy to burn off and no work to do.

Look.

I am desperately in need of purpose and direction in my life. I need an overriding career goal. When I started college I believed that a degree in computer science would get me a job and thus provide de facto direction in my life. I was wrong. In fact, I have known that a degree in computer science does not do that since my sophomore year and my first job as an intern. Companies are no longer hiring people based on the flimsy weight of education credentials. During the Dot Com Bubble they had little choice really, but now in the Dot Con Crunch, I am getting the feeling that programmers will be just a step above mechanics on the employment food chain. What is worse a degree in computer science does not even qualify you as a programmer. It qualifies you to be a research assistant or a graduate student if your grades are decent.
I screwed up by not following through on my schooling with as much heart and desire as I should have. I have never been extremely enthusiastic about school but until college my (non) effort had been enough to score mostly A's. My Dad pushed me so I scored a 1300+ on my SAT because he wanted me to get into a top school - MIT. I nearly did I think. Had I progressed passed Algebra II in high school I might have made it. As it was I scored a 650 on the Math portion after re-teaching myself geometry and and struggling with basic algebra concepts. (I later recovered enough to score an A in Calculus I and a B+ in Calculus II but not before retaking each class once. Go figure.) With better prepaation I would likely have scored in the low 1400's. My highest verbal score was a 750. I had potential. I still have it. The question is what am I going to do with it?

I taught at Hillcrest High Thursday. I was miserably late; due once again to my inability to get up early enough to leave the house on time, and also the fact that I got off the train at the wrong station. When I finally did catch my bus I was riding what appeared to be the Park Cities Spanish-Speaking Domestic Help Shuttle. The driver spoke Spanish exclusively, and most of the passengers wereolder hispanic women who disembarked as the bus wound its way through tony University Park and Highland Park streets.
I got in and was signed in by an unusually young dean. Most dean's are candidates to join the aarp. So a 30-something dean is remarkable. I hung out in the teacher's lounge until the dean summoned me to cover for a teacher who was having a conference with the principal. My first class was fun. It was marred by one student walking out and not coming back due to instructions left by the teacher to not write bathroom passes. In retrospect, I should have just written the pass because it must have truly been an emergency for the student to dare the consequences. I did write passes for other students during the day claiming emergency bathroom situations. I suppose bathroom trips should be expected, since other than lunch, students only have five minutes to make each class. High School campuses between periods are large madhouses. Making it all the way to the restroom, locker, and attending class on time would be a herculean feat.
After lunch I noticed that I was supposed to be teaching French for 8th period. Needless to say, I was nonplussed. I don't speak French but the lesson plan provided called for extended babysitting. The only major incident involved a student not in the class calling one of my kids a "bitch". Usually, the kids let profanity slide, but the girl took offense because she didn't know the other student. Also he was an insufferable pest. I brought in another teacher who forced him to apologize in frontof the class and gave him a thorough reprimand. (Profanity is an extremely useful crutch. I just had to consult a thesaurus no less than three times for a word meaning "annoying person" and had to substitute reprimand for my favored noun - a** chewing. Being PG-13 is hard. Maybe I'll relent and just got to being R-rated as long as the sex, profanity, drug use, and violence is not gratuitous and has actual merit. The problem being that I love gratuitous sex, drugs, violence, profanity, and rock and roll.)

William Saletan is in favor of a resolution authorizing war with Iraq! To explain why I am surprised at this, let me tell you that Mr Saletan is strongly opposed to war with Iraq as are most of the writers at Slate. What he realizes, and everybody else in the liberal left should realize, that when President Bush asked for authorization to declare war on Iraq, the best way to stop him from going forward with war is to give him permission. If Bush's only aim was to get Saddam Hussein he could have just ordered massive unauthorized attacks on Iraq - an unofficial war. The President of the United States can do that. Obviously he asked for permission, so elimination of Saddam Hussein is not the only goal, or at least it isn't important enough to risk becoming extremely unpopular. Bush's constant pushing on the issue has had the effect of causing our allies to yield to increasingly more drastic consequences for Iraq should they fail to disarm. Iraq in turn has been forced to be more conciliatory. The game liberals should play is that Saddam is rational enough to finally yield in the face of certain annihilation. Bush wants to test the theory of Self Preservation - Saddam doesn't want to die so he won't use nuclear, chemical, or bioligical weapons against us. If Saddam is rational he will yield and and the liberals will have proved their point. If he is not we'll go to war and President Bush and the Hawks will be vindicated.

One more thing, I saw an old college aquaintance, Jeremiah, at the train station. Weird.

I am having trouble with students flirting with me. A girl today wanted to know "Is it true that you have six pack abs?" I immediately responded "Who told you that?" Then I realized there was no way she could have known, she was just flirting.
I went to sex education today for the first time! Kind of an eye opener for a 23 year old virgin. I realized that I was unable to name the parts of the sex organs. I still can't name the parts of the sex organs; but I think I might do a better job of locating the labia majora and labia minora. One girl in class volunteered that she found male virgins very attractive - definitely not the time to mention that I belived in abstinence so much that I was still a virgin. There was no talk of birth control or protection but a complete concentration on the dangers of even protected sex and the immorality of sexual intercourse outside marriage. It was odd to hear a teacher in a public school saying that pornography, television, movies, and music all might lead to sex before marriage. I suppose I am an oddity, having indulged heavily in entertainment and still maintained my physical purity.
My biggest beef with the sexual education is that by preaching abstinence the public school system is forced to rely on moral instead of practical or scientific arguments. Public schools really are not in the business of teaching morals because religion is not allowed. Without some concept of religion or God, morality has no meaning to me.There is no God or religion in public schools. Most people teaching abstinence are going to need to rely on religion to justify abstinence, which isn't allowed. What's more, the teacher also spoke against homosexuality. Homosexuality is a moral issue and again public schools have no business teaching morals. Perhaps sex education should be left to parents so that children are not taught contrary to their parents' morality. If sex education is taught, birth control and protection (condoms, spermicides, etc) should be mentioned and perhaps even provided. Abstinence should be emphasized by all means, but even long ago before our parents were children, teenagers did have sex and would have benefited from using protection.

The Dallas Morning News has an article on the front page about an Israeli missile attack that Palestinians claim killed fourteen civilians. What I just realized, and everybody else who takes an interest in the war on terror should realize, is that terrorists are civilians. Soldiers and governemnt operatives don't strap bombs to their chests and board buses. So the two (terrorists and civilians) in many places are indistinguishable.

A New York Cop, writing for Slate (I am linking way too much to them) thinks that the DC sniper is going to be very difficult to catch. I can't help but agree. I am not an expert but it is fairly obvious that this guy is good, a veritable killing machine. He has probably had military training because civillians just don't shoot that well without expensive hard-to-buy equipment. An insurance salesman who stopped by the house made an interesting point. The killer seems to be choosing his targets at random, but he could be killing some of the targets to obscure his motive for killing one target. Otherwise the sniping is just a very sick game.
I must be the world's worst telephone conversationalist. Somebody called me today looking for a pick me-up (I am guessing anyway) and I failed miserably. I told a lame joke about two hunters in the woods. You know, the one where the guy shoots his buddy because the 911 operator tells him to make sure he is dead. My delivery is always rushed when telling jokes and I am usually ill at ease telling them. I do better with wise cracks and stories. I can be funny (at least I would like to think) but not that type of funny. Call me again! I'll do better next time.
My brother is getting too big and strong for me to wrestle with. I had the upper hand physically in the past by a safe margin.Now he's so strong and agressive that the stakes are kind of dangerous. I can still whup him, but the amount of effort is enormous. Plus he's a mean little squirt. He's taken to sneak attacking me and wrestling me to the ground by my head. I have taken to pushing him off and demanding shrilly in a little girl's voice that he "leave me alone!" My Mom warns us not to break the furniture and him not to complain when he gets hurt fighting someone bigger than he is. It's sad - I can bench press twice his weight, but I can barely beat him in a fair wrestling match.

Wow! Who knew that sex kills? This is the Egghead column from Slate.

Poetry from Slate.com.

Crazy about baseball? Here's a bookmark worthy blog. He could use an editor to clean up some of the typos but so could I.

Just when I think my life can't get any worse somebody tows my car. I am inclined to let them have it but I could sell it for at least $600. DOH!

Down in the middle of this article from ESPN is the type of picture that makes me go whoa. I guess rednecks do have more sex than the rest of the population. I used to comfort myself with by claiming that it was with skanky women, but even skany women have their charms.

WIlliam Saletan makes the casethat Iraq and The War on Terrorism are two different issues in this article in Slate. So what? I believe the need to rid the world of Saddam Hussein's influence is a compelling enough reason for war.

I wonder how many schools double as Nuclear Fallout shelters? T.J. Rusk is apocalypse proof.

Has anybody ever noticed how blogger has a habit of hiding the archives every so often? Very annoying...

I had something really important to say but I forget what.

YES! I always want to weep for joy when people argue for things I believe in with this much force and clarity. Saddam must go!

Kids say the darndest things. A girl asked me to day if I "give head". I replied that I didn't. She wanted to know if I knew what that meant. I said I did. She asked how. I turned the question around - how did she know? She replied that she just knew. I replied that I knew because I was a teenager once.
Another girl wanted to know if I'd lick her toes. First she wanted my opinion about whether she had cute toes. She insisted on showing them to me, so finally I agreed that she had pretty toes. Then immediately she wanted to know if I'd lick them. A hypotheical question to ask the substitute, you know. I demanded to know why she wanted to know. I reminded her that I was a teacher and teachers in general tried to limit their contact with students to above the waist. Licking her toes, while not as bad as some other things would probably get me fired. The kids immediately chimed in that they wouldn't tell and hey it wasn't sex. I told her no I wouldn't lick her toes. She looked hurt. "No guy I have asked has ever told me that." So I amended my response, "Ok if you were 18 and not a student, I'd lick your toes." I hope she was satisfied...

Your friend and mine Bud Selig is not a happy man just now. The Yankees lost! Minnesota won! Baseball world in disarray!

I have officially given up on Trillian. I don't talk to anybody on anything but AIM and Trillian has begun to lose my AIM messages.

Congress is busy making a mess of the Iraq issue. What people who are against war in Iraq should realize that the best way to avoid war is to make the consequences of continued defiance very dangerous and very clear to Sadam Hussein. If we say that we are unwilling to go to war Saddam will only get worse.

No Autozone within a 3 mile radius of my house has the part. If it wasn't for the fact that it isn't really my car, I am almost inclined to say, "Screw the car!"
Public transportation is a good thing.

The weather outside right now is insanely beautiful. It's the type of day that taunts you when you are inside looking out. I am on hold with the telephone clamped between my ear and shoulder, wondering what exactly the guy at Autozone could be doing, while slowly developing a cramp in my neck.

You know I just feel the quality of my writing has been down a little of late. You know what would be fun for the blogger set? A 'rate my blog post' feature would be cool because I could gauge the crowd response (from 4 people daily!) and adjust my writing to improve the reponse. The problem is that if you write to please an audience then you lose a lot. I feel that I write best when I write for myself. If I like than chances are others will too. (especially since my tastes are so middlebrow) Hollywood movies are a perfect example of the pitfalls of consumer input. When you want to accomplish something new democracy is bad. Dictatorship is good. If a lot of people try to impose their vision on a project, the ideas get muddled and only the most generic things survive. When you ask the average man has input on your work you can expect average results.
I have decided that I live a manifestly boring life. I need to do something other than teach and workout and sleep. Maybe I should curse at a student. It would be cheap entertainment and all the other teachers do it. According to the students, that is; judging by some of the kids behavior< I think I believe them. Restraining profanity from spewing from my lips when dealing with certain students has been difficult.

I took the train today.
School was interesting, the train got me there in surprisingly good time, and for once this week was not a major headache. Getting up in time was though. I ate two oranges for breakfast rather than spend the usual amount of time preparing something to eat. I was actually close enough to being on time that the lady in the office didn't lecture me for my lateness. The sad truth is that I have been on time for an assignment only once. Usually, as long as I arrive before class no one complains.
The one annoyance I had today, is that the assitant principal kept visiting my classroom as class was starting and I was reading roll. This is when the class is at it rowdiest, before I had a chance to calm the students down. It looked as if my classroom was always out of control. I don't mind him coming to visit, I just want don't want to look bad. I should probably take a firmer hand with the students.

My new favorite political blog.

Some stuff I forgot to mention because I was pissed about the car...
There's a dance being held at T.J. Rusk tomorrow and the kids keep trying to talk me into going. I immediately say that I won't go without a date and the kids immediately suggest that I go with a teacher. They always suggestone in particular whose classroom is directly across the hall from mine and appears to be fairly young (25-28) . They always say "That skinny white woman, Ms. Soandso, she's a fox!" I always smile because that is the best I can do towards a straight face without completely cracking up. Today one kid, named Michael, asked me plainly if had seen any teachers I liked, "So Mister, what do you think of our teachers? You seen any really hot yet? You should have been here last year to see Ms Ayala, she was HOT!" Kids say the darndest things.

Ughh. Somebody please kill Saddam now. Apparently, according to the article I just linked on Slate. Saddam has a wicked secret weapon that kills little kids with liver cancer.

You know next week I just might stay home and pull the covers over my head. Maybe if I get a job I'll just walk or ride the train, or maybe I need a new job :P

Once again I wussed out and didn't leave early enough to catch the train to school, so I drove. The results were a disaster :p
I didn't update from school today because the teacher left a note on the desk explaining in no uncertain terms that she wanted nobody using the computers - no students, no teachers, and definitely not this sub! Nonplussed, I went to the library at lunch to find access. It turns out that the library computers are prehistoric dinosaurs - like many of the computers in DISD - with no internet access! Oh the horror! There is one other place that had access in T.J. Rusk Middle School, room 203, tended by the amiable Mr. Morris. I didn't catch up with him till after school when he was locking up and I was getting ready to leave. (I thought) He was only too happy to give me access - tomorrow.
Since Ms. Eldridge, the teacher I am subbing for, didn't have any classes scheduled for the final 45 minutes of school, the school administrators bade me depart and enjoy my evening. Knowing my car wouldn't start without a good electric shock, I asked the lady at the front desk if anyone could give me a jump. She called the janitor and he obliged. He rolled his cherry red classic automobile over to my cheap '87 Camry and fried both of our batteries. (He was able to drive off though) The instant I clamped the positive terminal to the jumper cables it set fire to the contacts of the batteries, melting my battery's positve terminal and leaving a scorch mark on the body of the car where I had clamped the negative clamp of the jumper cables.
I realized that by know my battery was a lost cause. The contact on the positive terminal was now a charred scrap of metal with a bolt in it. I called my mom and she dispatched my brother to deliver a new battery and contact. After about an hour of driving by and through and under some of the most fearsome traffic in the Dallas area, Nosa exited on Mockingbird lane and turned left into the beautiful old money neighborhoods of Univerty Park. This would usually be a good thing as University Park is very scenic, unfortunately Inwood Road is to the right off the Tollway on Mockingbird. So around, 5:30 or 6. after stopping at a nearby elementary school on Inwood to look for me, Nosa rolls up in his shiny champagne colored '89 BMW (no, I am not jealous, I swear!) and delivers the new parts. The contact doesn't fit right and the battery is a little big but we try anyway. No juice. :( We quickly discovered that the 80 amp fuse on the positive terminal had been burnt by the impromptu barbecue the janitor and I had held earlier. So we stripped the car of is it valuables - took all of 30 seconds - to prevent theft and went home.

Dude, I feel your pain! It's tough being young and conservative.

Random weird blog of the night! This couple needs to chill, really. (The truth is that I am just jealous!)

I have to ask what the men mentioned in the article were thinking? Hey, lets go visit a murderer and plead to negotiate with him, look like buffoons and get sympathy from other bleeding heart liberals like ourselves!

Competing review blogs. Cool.
I had a weird prescient dream again last night. I mention it now because it seemed as if something was working to make it come true. I saw my friend Marcela (she's my friend who likes her venus) and her roommate Crystal under a marquee. I was across the street about to go into a storefront that housed a club or bar and they wanted to come too - which they shouldn't since they are both sweet and mostly innocent church girls. I walked in and they started too only to be confronted by the Assistant Pastor of my church. What he was doing there at a night club I am not sure. I felt that I should mention this dream because tonight who should I see in church but Marcela and Crystal! The dream didn't come true and isn't likely to come true since Crystal is moving to New Hampshire and Marcela is moving back in with her family here in Dallas. If it does come true, I want it documented here.

Would someone using Internet Explorer 4 be kind and email me?

I have seen the bad things in Netscape 4.X browsers. I need to see the bad things in Internet Explorer 4.X browsers again. I am very distressed that I should have spent so much time getting my layout right and then find out that it is still not working quite right. Code wise I am going to change a lot but the page should be essentially the same visually as much as possible between versions. I might try to get by with less Javascript though. Maybe use some noscript tags. Anybody trying to edit a website to look good in across browsers would probably be interested in this.

I am the only person in a computer literacy class using a computer... Something is wrong!

I am teaching today at T.J. Rusk Middle School in the Bachman Lake area of Dallas near Love Field. I am teaching a computer literacy class in which kids are not allowed to touch the computers! Go figure... Something deep within me instinctively rebels at the policy of this class. The children are well-behaved though. The teacher I am subbing for has a reputation as someone who I don't want to trifle with, which probably explains why the children are so quiet - they're terrified.
I spent all day yesterday fixing my car. The alternator belt had snapped the night before and in the morning as I was driving to my next sub assignment the radio began to blink on and off until finally the car died quietly and rolled to a stop on the shoulder of the road right at the Tollway South exit on 635. Fortunately cars are not like people and they can be resurrected after they die - especially since we kill them almost everyday. My Dad went to Auto Zone and got a loaner battery for me and Nosa (my brother) and I drove out to pick it up. The car started right up as soon as we put the battery in and we drove it to Autozone. The helpful store employee immediately noticed that the belt was gone and I used the refund from the loaner battery to replace the belt. THis part should have been easy but since this is my life and not a story from somebody else's life it was not. The alternator had a bolt we needed to loosen that had been worn almost completely round. No amount of profanity and elbowgrease could loosen it using the adjustable wrench I had brought with me. Chris, the store employee, and I struggled futilely for the better part of an hour. Finally, another store employee came out and removed the bolt in 30 seconds using the same tools we had been using. Replacing the belt from here was easy or should have been. As soon as we got the belt on, adjusted the tension correctly, and replaced the worn out bolts, I charged the battery and tried to leave. The car began to shake, smoke, and screech. I started to just drive home and ignore the problem but good sense prevailed over sheer exasperation. Chris had left by this time but I popped the hood anyway and begged a store employee to tell me what was wrong. He immediately diagnosed the problem as a bad air conditioning compressor. AC compressors cost around $200 to replace with around $500 dollars in labor; but since I could do without the AC he recommended just getting a shorter belt and removing the old AC compressor. I could do this myself he said; but who should I see outside of the Autozone? My new friend Chris! Chris and I rattled back to my house and wrestled the compressor out of the guts of the old Camry and replaced the belts once more using my Dad's shiny new ratchet set - something we could have really used about an hour before. I took Chris back to his apartment with the promise to get in touch in the future. So I spent a grand total of $20 dollars (Dad's money) that day fixing my car, could have been worse, but I also lost $70 dollars of income by not going to my sub assignment. Public transportation looks really good right now.

I just looked at the blog in Netscape 4.7 and I must admit that it looks awful. Who do I blame? Netscape of course. :)

Another link from the Shack. This has the potential to be very cool and very powerful. Decentralized, super-resilient world wide networking using peer to peer techniques. It also has the potential to get lobbied to hell by Hollywood.

Are games overpriced? Link stolen from Shacknews.
I was reading Scary Duck today, and I realized that my blog cannot be like his. The emphasis in my blog is on the now.The past is only relevant when it illuminates the present.

By the way, my apologies to anyone reading this blog on Internet Explorer 4 or earlier. I think it should look ok on Internet Explorer 5, 5.5, 6, later versions of Netscape, Mozilla and Opera; but I recently saw it on a computer with Internet Explorer 4 and it was awful. I am not sure how to go about fixing that either since I don't have access to any computer with IE 4 installed on a regular basis. I already use a bit of Javascript trickery to make it work on certain browsers but I think that IE 4 doesn't support the version of Javascript I need. It is going to take a clever bit of coding to fix this. All I have to do is find the energy to fix it. :(

The most striking thing to me about political discourse in Amerca is the villification of people who differ ideologically from the speaker's postion. Not only are you right, but everyone else is the enemy of all that is good and holy and or a cretin because they don't agree. The amount of distrust peopIe have for those that disagree is staggering. I can't imagine that rational people differ much from me but I realize that political ideology and religion are a function of upbringing and environment. In fact, I believe one's profession has a large impact on both. I am a republican and I admit the republican party is the party of power and privilege. You are a Republican if you feel you have built something (or will build something) you need to protect. Democrats are crusading to better society by fighting seeming injustice in the world.
What shocks me in religion and politics, is how radical and ill-considered many people's postitions are. Paranoia, and ignance dominate the average persons view of politics, so honestly I disregard most non-professional political discourse. What disturbs, but does not surprise me, is the cynical way people in politics use ignorance and paranoia to advance their postions. I am glad the average person doesn't get much involved, because the average person knows bloody nothing about politics and usually gets cleverly manipulated by powerful people to advance their secret agendas.
In spite of it all, I like the fact that we have an adversarial system. I think centrism is dangerous and unproductive. Relentless centrism in France nearly resulted in the election of a radical bigot. Centrism kills enthusiasm and muddies the political waters. Why does it matter who you vote for when the candidates are both racing to the center, and in effect screaming, "Elect me or my twin in the other pary!" Politics in America is in need of a few radicals to polarize the discussion. By pushing, everybody to the fringes and outraging the populace, radicals make room for a new leader to galvanize and unite the public by coming back to the newly opened center. America is an adversarial system and itis important that the political parties remain adversaries. Agreement simply wouldn't do. America arrives in the middle by allowing each side to push against one another. Hence, the American penchant for electing a house and senate opposed to the president.
The upshot of having an adversarial system that the only people who are involved in politics in anything approaching a knowledgeable or reasonable manner are the people with strong ideologies or interests- the very liberal, the very conservative, the very old, and the very weird. Nobody else beleves strongly enough to care. The solution is to introduce a few radicals into the scene. People will either get very pissed off and vote or develop some crazy ideas of their own and take to the streets to proselytize others. A net gain either way. Gridlock and partisanship is a good thing, believe me!

The entertainment industry is a tool of Satan. The gist of the article is that Hollywood intends to use copyright law as a legal bludgeon to amass wealth for itself and deprive the public domain of necessary new material.

I just got an email from the guy who updates the imakecontent blog. Cool guy (he responds to email!) and he received second place (and a cool hundred pounds) in the "Best British Blog" contest.

I knew as soon as I put a full tank of gas in that stupid car, that it would die. Silly thing, I think the automobile world has conspired against me to keep me in old decrpit cars that consume my time, gas, and money. If this wasn't a PG-13 blog I would curse cars and that cars in general roundly.

How do teachers live on such tiny lunches? Most of the female teachers I see carry tiny lunches in neatly packaged tupperware. A lot of the male teachers just eat the cafeteria food - greasy hamburgers, pizza, etc. I am teaching today at Raul Quintanilla Sr Middle School, a bright, shiny, new middle school in a middle class part of Oak Cliff. (Middle class neighbiorhoods in Oak Cliff!) The teacher I am subbing for, Ms. Mogilniki , (I am certain that I misspelled her name) wrote a note saying that I was teaching a special group of students; and they are. I have never taught a class as quiet as the first period was. The second period class was a little rambunctious and a fire drill interrupted class, but thus far has been mostly uneventful. The only thing that happened to day is that a girl in class noticed that my nails had been polished. I had a manicure before the modeling work, because I had been told that it was a good thing to do before a shoot.

I just realized something about how the substitute system works in DISD - teachers must have a deadline on illness absences of 10:30 of the night before. So they delay calling until the last second and since the system only calls out untl 10:30 none of the jobs get assigned until the next morning. DOH! That's why I have to call in to get work.

My biggest dilemma with employment right now is my need for short term employment to finance my pursuit of more lucrative long term employment. Over the sumer, I realized that it was imperative that I have a job while I was looking for long-term employment. The problem with substitute teaching is that the amount of preparation required before cashing in. It took a month of paperwork before I could work and now I must wait a month for my first paycheck. The only reason I can afford the delay is that I live with my parents. If I was renting an apartment I would be working at McDonald's.
My other problem is maintaining the drive and focus I need to continue pursuing a better job. All my friends who were previously unemployed have since found well-paid entry-level positions. Definitely not at the ridiculous dot com levels but still respectable considering the low cost fo living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I am so anxious to not oversell my skills that I suspect that I dangerously handicap my job search. Not only that, but I am so frsutrated with the availability of jobs in the tech sector that I often fail to find and follow through on job leads.
Maybe I'll just go back to school. :|

I need a new employment strategy. I'll make decent but not great money substitute teaching. I enjoy it immensely because it fits my character. I get to hang out with teenagers and essentially babysit most of the time since the teachers don't trust me to actually teach. $70/day for a high school assignment (8 AM to 3:45 PM) works out to a little less than $10/hr. With my diploma it will be right at $10/hr. Time for church! More later..,

Why the sudden fixation with jeans? Low slung rockstar style jeans? I don't know. Maybe I just want a piece of that rock and roll lifestyle.

This one from JCrew is nice too.

You know now that I think of it, I think the Levi's Skinner jeans should be number 2.

Pictures are nice and all, but I just realized that it might help to have some text describing where these jeans come from. So here it is:

1. Armani Exchange Low Rise Jean
   Extra low rise jean is slim fitting through the thigh. Stonewashed, handbrushed, and tinted to give a worn appearance. Sizes: 28" - 38" waist regular/long
   Style B6J67TR - 1010.10352.7067
   $88.00
   
2. Armani Exchange Low Rise Straight Leg Streaked Stretch 5-Pocket
   Light stone washed low rise jean is streaked throughout with a two-tone treatment. Easy fit. Straight leg. Shown in indigo. Sizes: 28" - 36" regular 30" - 38" long
   Style B6J65MO - 1010.10366.7650
   $88.00
   
3. Levi's Skinner™ Low Rise Boot Cut Jeans
   • Low front & back rise
   • Sexy fitting boot cut for men, fits close in the seat and thigh
   • 19.75" leg opening
   • 100% cotton
   
   
4. Levi's Low Rise Boot 527™ Jeans • Low cut for a confident look
   • Slim fit, boot cut
   • 18.5" leg opening
   • 100% cotton
   
   
5. Levi's Low Rise Straight 529™ Jeans • Low cut for a confident look
   • Loose fit, straight leg
   • 19.5" leg opening
   • 100% cotton
   
   
   
   
   

To continue with my materialistic denim obsession I am going to post candidates 3 and 4 in my contest for most coveted pair of jeans.
Number 3. Number 4. Here's number 5 just for good measure.

A close second in the contest for most coveted jeans.

The newest candidate for most coveted pair of jeans!

Wacky linguistic tomfoolery. Panglish indeed! Interesting in a way, really though.

I also wrote something about whole cool the layout of this blog is. It is also illegible.

I just wrote and lost this long post about how cool Alltheweb.com is because it actually brings up this blog. The Blogger software seized up and destoryed the text of the post when I tried to publish it. :(

Did I mention I am thinking about becoming a model? Well I am. Here are a few pictures of me. The photographer was kind enough to provide a CD with 200 snapshots from the shoot.









That is my entire portfolio thus far. I'm a handsome devil aren't I?

Today was a slow day. No school to teach, nothing big to do. I played a little soccer and slept. I think I'll go to bed early. I need to write some code. I have been meaning to code up a version of Pong forever and I have even designed C++ code to do it. I just can't bring myself to do it. I need to use my coding skills before I lose them and become irrelevant.

Somebody buy me some clothes!

Kausfiles points out some interesting welfare trends. That welfare rolls are still shrinking and poverty among black children is down, despte the recession.

Jacob Weisberg is right!