Don’t be so obscure.

This semester I will be taking the lowest credit load ever—15. I know, that’s really not all that low. But hey, I’m trying to graduate this year, and if everything goes well, I’m only a super-senior for a few months this summer.

Last semester I had four-day weekends every week. Not so lucky this semester, but maybe it will provide more focus.

Mondays: Geology, Software, Projects
Tuesdays: ROTC, Thesis
Wednesdays: Same as Mondays
Thursday: Thesis, ROTC
Friday: Geology, Software

I’ve been watching more TV than usual since I got sick last week. Dave claims that watching TV burns less calories than sleeping, and I believe him. On the History Channel, they had this rad series about the Presidents, and I watched every hour of it this week. During commercials I caught VH1’s I Love the 90s Part Deux. This, on the other hand, has got to be the dumbest show out there. Guess what, VH1? 1999 ended just five years ago! I can understand I Love the 80s, because to people like me, that is ancient history. The 90s, on the other hand, were pretty recent. So what are they going to call the retrospective about this decade? I Love the Aughts?

I’m enjoying my status as the only suburban white guy that doesn’t like Garden State. I know, I’m such a jerk. The thing that pisses me off is how it’s marketed as this really “independent” film, and then it totally follows the Hollywood formula. I don’t know if this is really a class of movie, but Garden State may be one of the first whitesploitation films (or maybe its emo-sploitation.) Just like blaxploitation films of the 70s, Garden State relies totally on cultural stereotypes—this time the self-absorbed malaise and self-induced psychosis of rich white people. So while most people laughed, cried, or were otherwise affected by Zach Braff and Natalie Portman’s escapades in cliché, I was bored out of my skull.

Last night I finally watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This movie was awesomely strange, and somewhat though-provoking. I think it merits another viewing before I decide whether I like it or not. Preliminary results say yes. It reminded me of German Expressionist films from the 30s, but updated.

I finally set up my new computer speakers. They rock. Eventually, I will probably use them as my main sound system, since I’m not taking the gargantuan 80s system with me after I graduate. My new system is easily 100 times smaller, and the sound is better. So there.

About 150 pages remain in my quest to complete Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. This has been quite an ordeal, but hopefully worthwhile. After that I suppose I will read its antithesis, which is probably the next Harry Potter novel.

In the next few months, I am going to buy one of these, effectively saying “Fuck you, Bill Gates!” for the last time. If anyone needs scrap parts off a Dell computer, you know who to ask.

I didn’t realize there were more cartoons at JibJab, so we watched them recently. Not nearly as good as the original. And The End of the World is still my favorite flash cartoon.

Lastly, it has been snowing and being cold. This is unacceptable. I refuse to go outside until the temperature is at least 50.

To be continued…