A small preface: if you haven't seen sorryeverybody.com, (go to the gallery) I have linked for your convenience. These pictures, some quite eloquent, are pretty damn expressive of my feelings about the election. So I made my own to send. It's the new hip thing, so why not?



Sophie, you have formal permission to iconize. In fact, I'd like to commission that, if I could.

So. I was thinking about alphabet soup when I was eating my apologetic dinner. And it occurred to me that alphabet soup must not have hit the consumer market until most of the buying public was literate. When was literacy so prevalent that alphabet soup could be successfully introduced? To Google!

...so naturally, the internets crash. I'm having laptop difficulties like no other. Our wireless is incredibly unreliable and now my sound driver is fucking up for no discernable reason. I NEEDS MY MUSIC. This is making an iPod more and more attractive. Ima go reinstall some drivers now.

I promised pictures, and be damned if I don't deliver! VIEW MY APARTMENT AND ITS SHABBY GLORY!


Our lovely view. All you New Englanding foliage elitists can shove it. Eugene is gorgeous in the fall.


Unfortunately, Smoking Dude is not out smoking. We tend to stare at him, and laugh when he tries to adjust his (very nice) aloe plant and fails. He seems mildly intrigued by the three girls living yonder, but our relationship is limited to staring, laughing and the occasional wave. We can see into his living room (and he ours) -- we're glad he moved his furniture because now we can't see his creepy ceramic monkey. This thing could have a series of horror films. Seriously.


Our kitchen has a pointless wall. It seems to be there only for toe-stubbing reasons. I managed to get three toes simultaneously today. Needless to say, it better be load-bearing or else...


The rest of our kitchen. Note the bright orange countertops (only the finest in 70s decor here at Club Mill) and mostly-done dishes.


Here's the living room. The couches and endtables were so free. As was the lamp. In fact, we have tons of free stuff in our apartment.


Living room, different angle. I need to remember to post a picture of Awesomesaurus later. Truly Awesome. Saurus.

Okay. This is the only decoration in the living room, wall-wise, and it isNOT mine. Nor is it Kyle's. This tackiness, which I can't even enjoy ironically, brought to you by Marie. The one with the dragon and the yin-yang is (thankfully) in her room. She's a great roommate otherwise. Except for the bathroom time issue. But enough words. More pictures!


Show-ah. Our bathroom is pretty tidy. Current reading material: Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer. We read about yuppie food in our water closet.


Close up of a shower tile. Does anyone else think this looks like what I think it looks like?


Mah room. Note the posterage. One is of Mannhattan, another is pasta. Quilts courtesy of my mom.


The built-in desk/dresser. It's pretty nice, but I never do work there. I haven't once. Great place to put stuff, though.


You may have noticed the floor is clear of clothing. It was once not so. Piles of clothing EVERYWHERE until we invested in this fine device. I can walk without tripping again! I've reclaimed my life!


The obligatory mirror shot. The better of two.


I loves me the Freudian criticism like I loves me the barbeque.

General update: I am buried in work (for which I finally got paid. bastids) and schooly-school. My brother is officially coming down to Eugene over spring break. He's going to have a blast. Or he better, if he knows what's good for him...
Our friend Aaron came over last night, ridiculously stoned. He wanted to have a nerd party. That may or may not happen. He's a nutty guy, and he's got that lovable college scruff going for him. He'll have some great stories when he's 40.

To bed!

Short post for the moment, but if you're not actively seeking independent news sources by NOW, you may as well plug into FOX news. So try Salon. You have to watch a short ad to log in, but it's worth it and the cookie lasts all day. They carry Tom Tomorrow and WayLay too, so all the more reason.

Also: Forgive the lack of postage, please. Like all of you, I'm ridiculously busy. The next post will have pictures. I promise.

Since it seems to be trendy to bitch about the election and/or make stirring posts about Our Civic Duty, consider this my two bits.

First, I'm disappointed and shocked. Our civil liberties will need defending. Chances are, the US will continue to lose international support. The US may end up very alone. Things look bleak, and action will be necessary.
That said, I want to give my gut to the noble e-speeches cropping up in my Friends List, in high-profile political blogs, in a few scant op-eds floating around. I do agree that we will need to shout louder and hit harder and raise more money and cause more hell. But will the inspiration be there for the public? My first reaction to Kerry's concession was not plotting to overthrow the Bush regime, nor was it dreaming up a new non-profit to defend us. It was to leave. Expatriation for an ex-patriot. In essence, I said, "Fuck this." Because I didn't choose him the first time around, and I didn't choose him this time, but apparently by dint of being an American, I deserve this circus. My first point: I, like many, simply want to leave it all behind.
A mass exodus, however tempting, seems unlikely. At the first signs of the flood, most industrialized countries would close their borders, leaving the ones to whom our lined American pockets would be a boon. Historically and by the fact of human nature, no one does anything until their standard of living is in peril. Not just in rhetorical terms. The Patriot Act chafes us and robs us of our basic right to privacy, but it doesn't keep food off of our tables. Until, like wars past, everyone knows someone who was injured or killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, or whereever we invade next, nothing will change. The US presence stayed in Vietnam for almost a decade --that's how long it took the people to impress upon the government that something had to change. And that was a certain majority America talking. Second point: When people can live normally, politics floats to the periphery.
The majority was tired of seeing the death toll. For some reason, the number, somewhere near 1100 now, of Iraq casualties flashes on the screen and then goes down the memory hole. No one is impressing the horrors of war onto us. No one is showing us that No Child Left Behind is a steaming heap of shit that will make struggling schools worse off than before. No one is showing us how borrowing some healthcare ideas from those Crazy Canadians or "Old Europe" may actually help us, especially our senior citizens choosing between food or pills. The media is failing us because, pay attention, they make money off of partisan politics. The punditry and business and dog and pony show of it all is good for business. Don't want to alienate the (left/right)-leaning advertiser? Tweak the story, change the wording. It doesn't seem to make a difference because we're locked into the two-party system anyway. Another crazy idea from those countries that aren't US. Final point: Media + two-party system = political circle jerk.

So my basic message is, yes, your heart is in the right place. I will help, for as long as I'm an American. But please, and I mean this without aggression or arrogance, put your money where your mouth is. A lot of people can talk or write well, but who can follow up?

This is hilarious. It's already been Sophie-approved, so don't just take my word for it. These people are passionate about their cheese. I mean Wallace passionate.

I'm trying to solve the "More..." dilemma with the last few posts. Ideally, I'll have the cut-text option with some nifty little code bits, but I guess I did something wrong.

NaNo: 706 wds.

So...who's NaNoWriMo-ing with me? readysetgo.

Update: This is amazing. It's already gotten Sophie-approval. Check out the mirror site in Italian.

I NaNo'ed a bit at work. The excerpt is up at nanowrimo.org -- my author name is (you guessed it) ericarothman.