Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Daniel's Blurty:

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Wednesday, August 9th, 2006
12:57 am	The End So I did it: I finally made the switch over to Xanga. Please keep up with me there www.xanga.com/DannTheDragon (Comment on this)
Monday, April 10th, 2006
1:00 pm	Rant on the word "woot" What is this word "woot"? Have you heard it? I'm sure you have. From what I can tell, it means something to the effect of "yay" or "woohoo" or "yippie." So why use "woot?" Well its easy to say, for one. And it sounds more masculine than its said counterparts. So where does it come from? I beleive it came from leet. At this point, I'm sure you're asking, "What the hell is leet?" Leet is the ebonics of computer talk. It is the perversion of our language (and other languages, too aparently) and alphabet into nearly another language by adolescent computer geeks trying to be cool. This is not necessarily just the "lol," "jk," "brb," etc that we have all grown to know and love. Leet is far far nerdier. The leet word for "the" is "teh." The actual leet spelling for the leet community is "teh L337 h@x0rz." WTF, right? Another commonly used leet word is "pwned" which somehow is derived from the word "owned" which is sometimes used as a victory yell as in a video game. Yea, nerdy. Anyways, the word "woot" is derived from the leet word "w00t" (apparently which is starting to evolve into w0t0"). Because of its origin in uber geek language, I have been protesting this word. However, this has proved mighty difficult. I often think the word and almost say it, but I restrain myself. Then this expression is awkwardly verbally replaced by "woohoo" or something to that effect. But what's so wrong about saying "woot"? Is it really that nerdy? I don't know anymore. So many people say it now, and not just the computer geeks. Maybe I'll just say "fuck it" and say "woot!" Woot! Current Mood: thoughtful Current Music: Woot! (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 4th, 2006
7:41 pm	This is Baylor Last weekend, a female Muslim Baylor student was attacked on campus by a white male (supposedly not a student because he was in his 30s) for being a Muslim. He ripped off her hijab, threw her to the ground and hit her repeatedly while yelling anti-Muslim slurs. She is ok, but is recuperating. They are trying to get the FBI involved because this could "possibly" be considered a hate-crime. Baylor has not yet made a public announcement with all the details. All that has been said so far was in an email encouraging student safety. It said that a girl was "assaulted" on campus by someone who "used disrespectful ethnic and religious statements." They have not made it public what her ethnicity and religion were, or how serious the "assualt" was. I know because the girl assaulted has been very involved with my Islam class, and we discussed this incident in class. People are so ignorant, and it really appalls me that stuff like this still happens. Although the guy was supposedly not a Baylor student, it happened on Baylor's campus. It really says alot of this "Christian" institution and what kind of "love" is preached. For those of you assholes who think that "she should go back to her country" (i know you exist, because I've heard that argument before): she has lived in the United States all her life. This is her country. America is a country of immigrants, including you, fucker, so don't pull that bullshit. So much for freedom and equality (oh thats right, freedom and equality only apply to wealthy white Christian Republican heterosexual males... my bad) As you can see, I'm very bitter and angry right now. Current Mood: angry (Comment on this)
Thursday, March 2nd, 2006
12:51 am	My Friend's Blog Entry This is my friend's blog entry. I found it interesting and worth sharing. Just an FYI, he's a fellow atheist and he's studying in the Baylor in Maastricht (Netherlands) program right now. Wednesday, March 01, 2006 Augustine and Philosophy?!? Category: Religion and Philosophy I need to rant for a minute. So in our Intro for philosophy class we for some reason had to study Augustine's City of god. I knew there would be issues as soon as I saw it on the sylabus. Well anyway, we get to it, I read it and write my summary of it. Except in writing a summary, I go very secular and every time Augustine would be refering to God, I write in "Augustine's god." For those who havn't studied Augustine in depth or never quite understood what he is saying, he basically puts forth a completely irrational view of the world and how people should behave. He does this by separating the result of an action from the goodness of doing it and assumes that we should preform an action solely for the good of his god. To put it in simpler terms as an example, compare these two: 'you do not murder because god tells you so' and 'you do not murder because it is taking away the life of another being and it oversteps your rights as a member of society." Of course on the outside this thinking seems innocent enough, but the problem is that priest are seen as mediators between god and man and therefore their decrees and wishes are seen as coming from god and therefore should not be argued with. This type of thinking of course led to the Inquisition as well as many other religious genocides and later also took face in the rise of facism and totalitarianism when the governement and/or its leaders are seen as the only religious institution. This type of thinking also naturally puts an end to philosophical debate as the end means are not debatable. While people can have arguments all day on the justifyability of murder, when you reduce the reasoning to 'because god said so' you completely end any discussion reguarding the rightness of murder and therefore end any philisophical discussion on the matter. Since I stated all this about Augustine, I will say that I loathe augustine. His thinking is anti-humane, irrational, and as far as I am concerned not reconcilable with any religion that has any chance of being in any way right. His book should go down as a heretical work and should be throught of the same way works such as mein kampf are viewed. Any other resonable theoligan I would give the respect of capitalizing god for, but not for thise insane man. Furthermore its inclusion in a philosophy class is moronic and is contraspective to what a philosophy class should cover. Why am I ranting on all of this? Since I did not capitalize god in my paper when Augustine is refering to him, I got a nasty responce at the end of my paper reguarding my not capitalizing god, my professor had gone through my paper and 'corrected' it by capitalizing every use of god. Since I did not capitalize god, I also recieve an A- instead of an A on an otherwise perfect paper, both gramatically and in the sence that I summarized Augustine's writing to my fullest understanding. This obviously isn't a sematics issue once you look at it closely. Take for example if I was Jewish. obviously every time I would spell god, i would write it as G-D as writing the name of god is strictly forbidden. If I had done this, would he have corected it as well and said that I had mispelled god's name. Obviously not. It seems correct to assume that he 'corrected me' because he didn't like the secularization of the word god. Being this is so, I have basically been the object of religious descrimization because of my beliefs on Augustine. Not only that, my paper become the "scandilous" thing to talk about even though we are in a country that has legalized drugs, bars open till 5am, and a population that is nealy 50% nonreligious, and Baylor has students taking advantage of every single one of these facts. (ok, I'm guilty here too, lol) Anyway, where the fuck has the student-teacher privacy gone. I'm tired as hell of answering people's illogical questions about my beliefs or lack thereof and mad as hell that it became a fucking issue because my professor doesn't like that fact that i don't capitalize god. Current Mood: tired Current Music: mars volta (Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 28th, 2006
7:56 pm	Our Country is Spiriling Backwards South Dakota nears abortion ban Monday, February 27, 2006; Posted: 10:49 a.m. EST (15:49 GMT) PIERRE, South Dakota (AP) -- State lawmakers voted Friday to ban nearly all abortions in South Dakota and sent the measure to the governor, who said he is inclined to sign it. Under the legislation, doctors in South Dakota would face up to five years in prison for performing an abortion unless it was necessary to save the woman's life. The bill directly targets Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. State lawmakers believe the nation's highest court is now more likely to reverse itself on the abortion issue because of the recent appointments of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Planned Parenthood, which operates the only clinic performing abortions in South Dakota, has pledged to challenge the measure in court if Gov. Mike Rounds signs it into law. "I've indicated I'm pro-life, and I do believe abortion is wrong and that we should do everything we can to save lives," Rounds said before the vote Friday in the House. "If this bill accomplishes that, then I am inclined to sign the bill into law." The bill passed both houses of the Legislature earlier in the session, but the House had to agree to a Senate amendment. It passed 50-18. The new restriction would become law July 1. Opponents of the bill argued that abortion should at least be allowed in cases involving rape, incest and a threat to a woman's health. If a woman who is raped becomes pregnant, the rapist would have the same rights to the child as the mother, said Krista Heeren-Graber, executive director of the South Dakota Network Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault. "The idea the rapist could be in the child's life ... makes the woman very, very fearful. Sometimes they need to have choice," Heeren-Graber said. Kathi Di Nicola, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa in Sioux City, said her clinic already serves some South Dakotans and is ready to assist others if needed. The Planned Parenthood clinic in South Dakota has performed about 800 abortions a year. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Supreme Court Backs Abortion Protesters By TONI LOCY, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 39 minutes ago WASHINGTON - A 20-year-old legal fight over protests outside abortion clinics ended Tuesday with the Supreme Court ruling that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used against demonstrators. The 8-0 decision was a setback for abortion clinics that were buoyed when the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals kept their case alive two years ago despite the high court's 2003 ruling that had cleared the way for lifting a nationwide injunction on anti-abortion leader Joseph Scheidler and others. Anti-abortion groups appealed to the justices after the lower court sought to determine whether the injunction could be supported by findings that protesters had made threats of violence. In Tuesday's ruling, Justice Stephen Breyer said Congress did not create "a freestanding physical violence offense" in the federal extortion law known as the Hobbs Act. Instead, Breyer wrote, Congress addressed violence outside abortion clinics in 1994 by passing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which allows for court injunctions to set limits for such protests. "It's a great day for pro-lifers," said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue. Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, said the decision was disappointing because the injunction had decreased violence outside clinics nationally. She said the clinic access act is problematic because it requires abortion providers to seek injunctions "city by city" and turns back the clock to the late 1980s when NOW played cat and mouse with Operation Rescue in trying to anticipate the cities and clinics that abortion protesters planned to target next. Newman said his group and others have set their sights on the clinic access law, filing legal challenges they hope will lead courts — possibly even the Supreme Court_ to overturn it. Abortion opponents hope momentum is shifting in their favor: Last week, the high court decided to consider reinstating a federal ban on what opponents call partial-birth abortion, and the South Dakota legislature's passed a bill that would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless it was necessary to save the woman's life. President Bush, asked about the South Dakota measure in an interview with ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas, said Tuesday he hadn't "paid attention to that, to this particular issue you're talking about" but "I am not going to prejudge how the Supreme Court is going to judge a particular issue." However, he said, "My position has always been three exceptions: rape, incests and the life of the mother." Asked if he would include the broader category of health of the mother, Bush said: "No. I said life of the mother, and health is a very vague term, but my position has been clear on that ever since I started running for office." In the abortion protest case, social activists and the AFL-CIO had sided with the demonstrators out of concern that the federal extortion law could be used to thwart their efforts to change public policy or agitate for better wages and working conditions. The legal battle began in 1986, when NOW filed a class-action suit challenging tactics used by the Pro-Life Action Network to block women from entering abortion clinics. NOW's legal strategy was novel at the time, relying on civil provisions of the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which was used predominantly in criminal cases against organized crime. The lawsuit also relied on the Hobbs Act, a 55-year-old law banning extortion. A federal judge issued a nationwide injunction against the anti-abortion protesters after a Chicago jury found in 1998 that demonstrators had engaged in a pattern of racketeering by interfering with clinic operations, menacing doctors, assaulting patients and damaging clinic property. But the Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that the extortion law could not be used against the protesters because they had not illegally "obtained property" from women seeking to enter clinics to receive abortions. Justice Samuel Alito did not participate in the decision because he was not a member of the court when the case was argued. The cases are Scheidler v. NOW, 04-1244, and Operation Rescue v. NOW, 04-1352. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUPPORT WOMEN SUPPORT WOMEN'S RIGHTS SUPPORT WOMEN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE PRO-CHOICE DOES NOT MEAN PRO-ABORTION MEN 4 CHOICE PRO-CHILD PRO-FAMILY PRO-CHOICE KEEP ABORTION LEGAL MAY THE FETUS YOU 'SAVE' BE GAY Current Mood: annoyed Current Music: Random punk/ska (thanks rachel) (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 8th, 2006
2:14 am	again, its been a while Again, it's been a very long time since I've written an entry. I apologize. Does anyone still read/use blurty??? Alot has happened. I'm graduating in May (yay). I got into medical school at UTMB in Galveston, and im in the "alternate pool" at UTSW in Dallas. I've been dealing with a kidney stone and its repurcussions for the past 3 weeks. It put me in the ER/hospital for a couple days. Maybe I'll post a pic or two from that ordeal. So this semester, I'm taking 12 hours, and I only have class on tues and thurs. Talk about senioritis. I'm taking two Biology classes (Molecular Genetics, and Cellular Physiology) and two Religion classes (Islam, and Isaiah). Although i've just about failed all my cell phys quizzes this semester (we have one every day, wtf? i know right?), I got an 88 on the first exam, which compared to the rest of the class, is pretty good. Also, I got a 92 on my mole-gen test today. yay. I was kinda worried about that one. Spring break: 5 days in Chicago, 7 days in New York City. Yay Current Mood: lonely Current Music: Jet - Look what you've done (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 4th, 2005
2:33 am	I'm so sorry I'm so sorry that I havent updated in like a billion years. And yet I'm still not going to do a real update. But I wanted to show you this quiz that my friend Justin made me take after I mentioned how much I hate capitalism... You are a Social Liberal (78% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (8% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test Current Mood: drunk Current Music: Blondie - Call Me (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 30th, 2005
3:36 pm	You're not cool unless... You're not cool unless you come to Waco for the Baylor vs UT game. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 20th, 2005
10:37 pm	Didnt I tell you that I like Quizes? Thanks PopsicleToes Librarian 59% Tastefulness, 37% Originality, 32% Deliberateness, 40% Sexiness [Tasteful Conventional Random Prissy] You don't pay too much attention to fashion and far be it from you to spend hours on designing outfits which could shock your friends. If you ever shock them it's by how little you care about the clothes you're wearing. The only thing you pay attention to is not to look ridiculous. You don't need to draw attention wherever you come but you definitely need to know you are not the object of jokes. You are happy to blend in. I'm sure this approach leaves you a lot of time and energy for more interesting things than fashion. The opposite style from yours is Catwalk God(ess) [Flamboyant Original Deliberate Sexy]. All the categories: Fashion Enemy Bar Cruiser Kid Next Door Sex Bomb Hippie Kid Fashion Rebel Fashion Artist Catwalk God(ess) Librarian Sporty Hottie Office Master Uptown Girl/ Boy Brainy Student Movie Star Fashionista Glamorous Soul My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 53% on Tastefulness You scored higher than 13% on Originality You scored higher than 6% on Deliberateness You scored higher than 30% on Sexiness Link: The Fashion Style Test written by mari-e on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test (Comment on this)
Friday, October 14th, 2005
12:40 am	Noemi Tried to Kill Me The other day...So Noemi and I were at Wendy's. Noemi makes me laugh like no one else. I hadn't laughed all day and she made me laugh while I was chewing a piece of lettuce from the Wendy's caeser salad. So the piece of lettuce covered in caesar dressing is sucked up into my nasal cavity. (you know how when you laugh too hard while drinking fluids, the fluids come out your nose? yeah well this was a piece of fucking lettuce!) Oh the burn. So then, I try to suck it out of my nose and oh yes it comes out... straight into my windpipe. So now I'm choking on the caesar covered lettuce thats in my airway. I'm coughing and coughing and it won't come out. I finally stop coughing, but I'm convinced its still in there. I felt it in there all night and the next day. I don't feel it anymore. But yea i refer to this as the incident where Noemi tried to kill me. She said, "What a way to go, huh?" and i said "What, eating Wendy's" and she said "No, by laughing." :) Anyways, I have my second medical school interview in a few hours, and Im being an insomniac. Really this insomnia thing comes at the worst times. Well I'm gonna try to sleep again. Current Mood: awake Current Music: The Mars Volta (anything from Deloused in the Comatorium) (Comment on this)
Monday, October 3rd, 2005
12:17 am	SUCK This week is going to suck some abnormally large donkey genitals so much school work so little time (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 2nd, 2005
11:26 pm	I love hookah... that is all (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 27th, 2005
1:32 am	Drinking Marathon and The Most Eventful A/A Meeting So... Thurs Night... Piano Man until kicked out, then to Aneesa's... got drunk Fri Night... "social gathering" aka party at Noemi's... got drunk Sat Night... pizza and gay show marathon (sex & the city and will & grace) at Kyle's... got drunk Sunday was supposed to be a drink-free night. So I went to the SUB for the A/A meeting as usual on a Sunday night. There was hella lots of people there, an unusual amount of people there (not for the a/a meeting, but at the SUB). So we didn't have access to a TV. Bummer. Jay says that he met a girl on facebook and she hadn't heard of our group, and she wanted to join. He really didn't know what she looked like though. So we hung out for a while, and people kept making fashionably late entrances and/or not staying for very long. We had some pretty good religious and political discussions at the beginning, which was nice, cuz we don't always do things pertinent to our title. The finally the "new girl" found us because she figured it was the group where the majority of the people was wearing black. HAHA. Anways, she hung out with us too, and joined in on the discussions. So I had recorded "Evolution Schmevolution" week of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which aired about two weeks ago. I edited it and put it in .wmv format and put it on a disc and brought it to the meeting to give to Justin. So we decide to watch the Evolution Schmevolution on Rachel's (the new girls) laptop. But its too freaking loud in the Den, so we moved to the Cub Lounge, which is on the other side of the SUB. So we watched the first 30 mins or so of the show, and Abbey finally showed up. Apparently she works at a bar called Hemingway's in Waco. She suggested that we all go there and have our meeting there. But me and Abbey are the only two that are 21. Abbey says that since she works there, it doesn't matter. So we all go to Heminway's, and I ride with Abbey, nearly dying twice. Hemingways is a nice bar. So much for not drinking on Sunday night. We all hung out inside for a little while, and then Kyle had to go have his cigarette, so most of the group moseyed on outside. Well there were some other people outside too. Ok try to keep up. There was this younger guy named Jacob, and an older guy named Hank. Jacob was already very obviously drunk. He gradutated with a degree in church music, and was getting his masters in some other type of music at Baylor. He is a devout Christian who hates the Christian church because of its corruption. But he still deeply believes in the teaches of Jesus. Oh by the way, Jacob had like a buzzed hair cut. His facebook info says that he is interested in women and is conservative. The older guy, Hank, was in the air force for 26 years. He is retired now. Anyways, somehow Hank got caught in a discussion about homosexuality. He didn't understand the concept of it, and why it occurs. He said some things that were insensitive and obviously shocked us, and upset the hell out of Kyle. That convo lasted a little bit too long, but Hank ended up asking everyone when/if he talked to them individually if they were lesbians/fags. hmmm... So then Hank left, easing the tension a little bit. So then we (the atheist and agnostic society) talk to jacob (degree in church music). Did I mention that Jacob was incredibly drunk? Jay and Jacob both told Rachel (the new girl) how beautiful she was and they both asked her to come home with them, jokingly however. Well somehow later Kyle ended up rubbing jacob's buzz cut head, and saying something Kyle-ish like "wow that turns me on" which is something Kyle would say and everyone laughs, even Jacob. So then we talk more, and later, I look over and Jacob has his hand on Kyle's chair's armrest. I'm like whoa. Then it slowly migrates to Kyle's hip. Kyle is completely ignoring him. Kyle gets up to go to the restroom and/or talk to Justin and Abbey who are now inside, and then comes back and sits down again. Later Kyle and Jacob are holding hands in a way so that noone can really tell, but I can. Anways, that was just an interesting site to see this supposed straight conservative Christian giving into "homosexual temptation." I don't know what happened after the bar, but as Kyle's friend, i hope nothing. Anyways, back to Rachel. Yes she is very beautiful. She gave me a ride back to the SUB from the bar. When we get to the SUB, she said she doesn't know how to get to Wendy's, so I say, "well, why don't i just go with you." So i show her the way to Wendy's. We order food, and I am trying to be a gentlemen so I pay for her $3 worth of food. :) She says something like, well I'll let you, but if it was Diamondback's, I wouldn't. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Apparently Diamondbacks is a very expensive restaurant, I've never been. So after Wendy's she drives me back to the SUB where my car is, and she goes home and I go home and facebook her the second i get home. So today I talked to her and I ask her to have a late dinner at claypot with me tomorrow (tues). She says "Hold on, let me check." I am thinking "great, she's gonna blow me off, and shes gonna think that all the guys in a/a are hitting on her." But then she says "what time?" YAY. So I have a date with this girl. I'm so excited/nervous. She likes pretty much the same music, same movies as me. Shes a liberal atheist and she is gorgeous. There is one little drawback. She's a freshman! umm... She is two months younger than my brother! I dunno. Anyways, most likely it wont go anywhere, so not like i have to worry, but its just nice to be able to say that I have a date. :) On the way home from the bar, Abbey got pulled over and Justin got a minor in consumption offense. Oops... Oh by the way. I've got a few med school interviews scheduled (so far): 9/30 (This friday): Texas Tech 10/22: UT Southwestern 10/28: UT Houston and I am scared shitless... Current Mood: tired Current Music: The Mars Volta - Cicatriz ESP (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 24th, 2005
2:09 pm	The Piano Man, Hookah Party, Rita So there is this bar in Waco called Treff's. Every Thursday night, they have this guy called "the piano man" come and perform. Its just this guy playing the piano and singing, with some other guy on a drum set. Well all they play is covers of songs. It is so much fun. He plays songs that everyone knows so everyone is all drunk and sings along. Well I went last week for the first time, and I also went this week too. This week, we got there over an hour early and we still couldn't find enough chairs. It was so packed. So then the piano man starts and all is good and fun, then suddenly they stop the music and say that the place is over capacity and the fire marshall is shutting down the bar for the night. (#@Q$*!#@($!!! Yeah everyone was pissed. I mean, how could they not have measures to ensure that shit doesn't happen? I'm sure the bar is gonna get a hellafine and the doorman is probably gonna get fired. Well, I heard this one guy payed the doorman $100 to let him in. And knowing the guy, he would do that shit. It really pisses me off. Anyways, I love the piano man, and I wanna try to go again next week. So I smoked a hookah for the first time in my life. For those of you who don't know what a hookah is, its an elaborate Arabic bong used to smoke tobacco. Yes, it's perfectly legal if you use it for tobacco. I think they call the tobacco "shisha" or something to that effect. The tobacco is coated in molasses and flavored with fruits or other things. It was really fun. I did get a little buzz from it, probably because I've never used a tobacco product before in my life. However, I got dizzy really quick on the second round of tobacco, and had to stop. We did this at my friend Jessica's apartment, and the maintainence guy came in and gave us the craziest look. He probably thought it was pot or something. But it definately didn't smell even close to pot. Anyways, I wonder how difficult it would be to build a hookah. I bet if I go visit Rashid again, I could probably get an elaborate hookah for cheap there. So Hurricane Rita. Yeah... She hit the gulf coast this morning. Well... to tell you the truth... I just found out about it a few days ago. I kept hearing that people's families were coming up for the weekend from Houston. I didn't think anything of it because good parents visit their children... But it seemed like so many people's families were coming... So i finally asked what I was missing. They finally informed me that the hurricane was possibly going to hit Houston and all those people were EVACUATING from Houston! So I called my family to see what was going on. They were gonna stay. It kind of freaked me out. They even cancelled school here in Waco! Yeah thats like 200-250 miles away from the coast! Well i think the school cancellation was more for people to be with their families. Well so Rita turned out to not be as bad as everyone thought it was going to be (at least in Houston, I'm sure it was pretty bad where it made a direct hit). Oh well... Current Mood: bored Current Music: The Mars Volta - Drunkenship of Lanterns (Comment on this)
Monday, September 12th, 2005
1:36 am	Lazy Sunday So Baylor won the football game against Samford. 48-14. YES! Well... who the hell is Samford anyways? Apparently it is some Baptist college in Birmingham, Alabama. Haha. Oh well we're 2 and 0, so we're off to a pretty good start. Yeah ok we're going to get clobbered once we start the conference games. Oh well. I finally did my laundry. Yay. And I got locked OUT of the laundry facility with my clothes still in there. Yeah that was annoying. My roommate managed to jump the fence into the pool area to get in through that door and let me in. Thanks Bryan. Well, I should be good for another 3 weeks. Today I went to A/A but it was quickly adjourned after approximately 20 minutes. We had no DVD player and the TV we had taken control of didn't have all the cable channels, so we couldn't watch Comedy Central, which is what we normally do when we don't have anything else to do. So Justin, Kyle, and I went to Denny's. We went to "study." Yeah like any of that happened. We discussed a wide variety of topics, rather loudly, so we managed to receive some pretty interesting looks from other people and our servers. Topics ranged from socialism, communism, America's fake democracy, Bush's idiocy, capitalism, atheism, christianity, intellegent design, Bush's idiocy, contraceptive devices, nonoxyl-9, Robin Williams's standup, sex, masturbation, circumcision, tatoos, Bush's idiocy, books turned into movies, Google.com, etc etc etc. Kyle said something about how we should get college credit for doing our little discussions because we learn more that way than through some of our classes. I happened to like that idea. It really is interesting to have intellegent discussions of such topics. Most of the time, I don't have conversations with friends about this kind of stuff, and it is kind of liberating to be able to talk about what I truly believe in and to share ideas. I never tried to have this kind of discussions with anyone before I met this group of people. Now when I try to have these discussions with other friends, I come off as harsh and idealistic. With Justin and this group, I don't feel like I'm being judged for having certain beliefs. Anyways, I'm really glad I got into this group. I have a problem, and this is completely unrelated to recent events. I have a tendency to create and image of a person through a first impression or stuff heard down the grape-vine, and tend to hold that image to that person. I know it sounds really weird, but in some cases I feel like I idolize certain people. I hold them up on this pedestal. They are perfect in certain ways, and it weirds me out when they do something "normal" like have to go to the bathroom, or trip and fall. Why do I do this? It is such a bad thing. I think it is a self-esteem issue. Maybe I'm used to putting everyone so much above me so that I'm that much lower. I know I have issues to work through, and I know I have a terrible self-image. Like I hate feeling ignored, but at the same time, I really freak out when people look at me. I mean, I'm used to not being heard, being looked over, etc. It still hurts. Maybe because of this expectation, I don't like people looking at me. Like for example, say in a given day on campus, I would make eye contact with only a few people (that I don't know, of course). Some days, I happen to make eye contact with more than the average number of people. It freaks me out. Why are they looking at me? Am I walking funny? Is there ink on my face? Do I have a booger in my nose? Is my hair messed up? Is my fly unzipped? Is there a stain on my shirt? Seriously. This is what goes through my head. I freak out enough that I will literally stop what I'm doing, go to the bathroom, and check in the mirror to see if anything is wrong. I think I need therapy... Wait... I've always needed therapy. Current Mood: pessimistic Current Music: The Cardigans - Marvel Hill (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 10th, 2005
1:35 am	Clay Pot So this week was absolute hell. So much to do. I pulled one late-nighter and one all-nighter. The same week. It's the third freaking week of school. I ended up skipping my first class of the semester. It was Religions of India, China, and Japan cuz I didn't do my hw for it. I was too busy to read and annotate 6 chapters in the Bagavad Gita. Anyways, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. So that is good. So Thursday night was the first night all week that I didn't have anything due for the next day. The only class I have on Fridays is Medical Botany, and that really isn't a big deal of a class. Plus it's at 10 am. Anyways, so Thursday, I ask my friend Kyle to have dinner with me at Clay Pot. He had never been, but he had heard alot about it, so he was excited. Anyways, we ended up talking alot with Quang, the owner, and he ended up sitting down with us and serving us wine. Other people showed up and sat with us, and we all just hung out drinking wine until 1:30 am (which is 2.5 hours after closing time). It was a great night. Anyways, I was exhausted and all the wine I had wasn't helping. I went home and layed down on the couch and put on the TV. I was passed out in less than 5 minutes. So the next morning I wake up and do my normal routine which includes putting in my contacts and brushing my teeth. After I brush my teeth, I usually brush my tongue (it helps tremendously with bad breath by the way). Well this time I did it, and then I spit and it came out dark purple, almost black. I really freaked out and looked at my mouth in the mirror, which apparently I had failed to inspect before that time. My entire tongue and spots on my teeth that I guess I missed while brushing were completely dark dark purple. It really scared me cuz I was like "what the hell did I do last night?" It all came off of my teeth, but only some off my tongue. The only connection I could make was that it was from all the wine I drank the night before. But does wine do that? I've drank plenty of wine before and I don't think its ever done that to me. Was my mouth that color last night, too, or did it develop overnight? If it was there last night, I didn't notice anyone else like that, and I would be extremely embarassed if I was the only one. Earlier tonite was my friend Jen's birthday. She turned 21, so we went to On The Border (her favorite resaturant) for happy hour and dinner. Then we were all gonna go and party at her house. Happy hour and dinner was fine and fun. We were at On The Border for probably 4 hours. At Jen's apartment afterwards, things changed. I really didn't know most of the people there, and she was getting upset that nobody was drinking. Well, she made about 100 jello-shots, literally, but other than that, the party was supposed to be BYOB. I guess since you don't really drink jello-shots, people didn't have anything to hold in their hands to drink. There were a few beers brought in later, but nothing major. Plus there wasn't much talking going on, and most of it was happening between other people. Anyways, I basically just sat on the sofa by myself for a while or playing with the dog. I was planning getting drunk to the point where I had to stay the night, but I ended getting an excuse to leave by taking Janet home, plus I think everyone was going to go to bed anyways. Well so all-in-all I had a great dinner, but I was a little disappointed in the party. I had fun, but not as much fun as I wanted to have tonite. I have absolutely no laundry. I really need to do it Saturday. The Baylor football game vs Samford (who?) is at 6pm. I am gonna go. But I need to do laundry... dilemma. Maybe I should do laundry beforehand so that I can have clothes to wear to the game! Current Mood: mellow Current Music: The Killers - Mr. Brightside (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, September 5th, 2005
12:23 am	Another fun night, and Westfest So on Saturday after sleeping and/or watching cable TV from bed all freaking day, I had dinner with my friend Pauline. Then she came over and we were gonna watch a movie. McKenna from Ed's called to see what was up. We talked for a while, and she was telling about lots of shit that was going down at the pharmacy. hmm... Anyways, she heard Pauline in the background and started giving me shit for having a girl over. She asked me what her name was, her major, if she was cute etc etc etc with Pauline right there. It was awkward cuz I'm sure that Pauline heard her on the phone, and my avoidance of the responses. Awkward. Anyways, I took her home after we watched Garden State, and I called up my friend Gigi. I knew that she was going to party, and she had invited earlier that week. So I got to her friend's party and meet a bunch of the A/A Society people there. It was kind of funny cuz we ended up on the patio drinking and smoking (they were) and this huge debate ensued. See Kyle was there, the gay guy I met last week. And this other guy was there said something about how he doesn't think gay couples should be allowed to adopt children. OH SHIT. All hell officially broke loose. Ok 2 hours later, we decided to end the debate and move the party over to Gigi's apartment. Yeah I kid you not that's how long the debate lasted (or longer) and nothing got really accomplished because the guy against gay adoption couldn't really make a good point, but he wouldn't back down. One of the funny quotes of the night was Kyle basically screaming "I want babies!" Anyways, we all got drunk at Gigi's, I ended up having a conversation with Kyle in spanish, a conversation with Gigi in russian, 4 people managed to throw up, two people ended up in their underwear, and we all just crashed on Gigi's living room floor. Fun times. I wish I did more of this kind of shit BEFORE MY SENIOR YEAR. And it really makes me feel old cuz all my A/A friends are like 19. Anyways, didnt get much sleep, obviously. We all woke up the next morning and hung out in the living room. Kyle went outside to smoke and two little girls who lived below Gigi in the complex were outside playing. One of the girls said something to Kyle and he said "we eat children." The girl got all freaked out and got her older sister to protect her, even though the odler sister was probably about 7. And then me and Kyle just sat outside talking to these kids, and the stuff they said! One of the girls said how evey Wednesday she has to sleep on the couch because her daddy's friends come over and stay the night. We asked why, and she said "I dunno, probably because they drink." HAHAH this girl is like 7 - she shouldn't be exposed to this shit. At that point I had to go inside because I couldn't contain my laughter. Later that day, I went to WestFest with Henry. For those of you who do not know, West is a little town about 20 or 30 miles north of Waco. It was settled by the Czech, and it is known for it's Czech culture. I go up there occasionally to buy kolaches and bread. Anyways, every year they have this Czech cultural festival called WestFest. Oh Man. People come from ALL OVER THE COUNTRY to go to a tiny town called West, Texas to enjoy this festival. It was huge! (at least bigger than I thought it would be). There were tons of little vendors setting up shops, tons of awesome food, at least three stages for performers, polka music, etc etc etc. It was pretty neat. It reminded alot of the Houston Rodeo (cept not that big). Well I had a beer, lots of lemonade. For dinner, I had an awesome sausage sandwich on jalapeno beer bread with poppyseed mustard sause and sourkraut and cheese. Awesome. And i had a corn on the cob. Oh I also bought a jar of Jalapeno jelly and a jar of jalapeno relish. It's so good. Anyways, I'm glad I finally made it out to WestFest. I had never been, and I had always wanted to. It is my last year at Baylor, and I need to do more of the traditional Baylor/Waco stuff before the end of the school year. Peace out playas Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: Polka (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 3rd, 2005
5:52 pm	Last Night, More About Baylor, and a Bad Dream So........... I stumbled in at 5:40am this morning. Definately was not planning that. Let me tell you how it all began. Earlier this week, I ran into my friend Izzy. Now I haven't seen her in like a year, and I thought she gradutated a long time ago. Apparently she's on the 6 year plan? Anyways, I told her that we should get together sometime to catch up, and mentioned ClayPot (a tiny Vietnamese restaurant right off of Baylor campus that's awesome and Izzy's favorite place). She said yes excitingly, but I told her I'd call her later. So Friday, I call Izzy and leave a message on her voicemail. I say that we should hit up ClayPot later that night, and maybe the movie she'd been wanting to see. She text messages me back saying "Yes! ClayPot 2Nite @ 9!". So I'm like yes, I have plans for tonite! I text her back asking if I should pick her up, and she replies that she'll just meet me up there. So I get ther uber earlier, cause I'm a loser like that, and she shows up uber late, cuz she's latina like that. When I walk into ClayPot, I see Quong, the owner, and he gets up and gives me a handshake. He's the nicest guy and is really nice to people who come in there alot. So Izzy shows up with her roommate, Sarah, and she has a bottle of wine in her hand. I'm thinking, ok, this is not that unusual for Izzy. So she's good personal friends with Quong, he gets up and gives her a big hug and they talk for a while. So I ask Izzy if the table I was sitting at is ok, or if she wanted to sit on the floor (ClayPot has floor seating with the little tables, too). She says "No this table is fine, and we'll probably have to pull up another table." I'm like... ok..., and wondering how many people are coming. So finally other people show up, and I being the only male before the couples starting showing up, started to push the tables together. Anyways, there ended being like 7 of us. I didn't know anyone else beside Izzy personally. I had met or seen some of the people once before, but I had never hung out with them. And then so we're chilling, and then she asks Andrew, the waiter, to bring some wine glasses for the wine, and asks him to sit down with us (apparently she knows him very well too) because IT IS HER BIRTHDAY. Yeah. This whole freaking time I had no idea it was her birthday. I felt soooooooooooo bad. I pulled her aside later and apologized that I didn't know and she said no big deal and that it was good that I could come. Anyways, we ended going to one of the girls' apt and meeting some more people who I had never met before. We watched The Ring and The Ring Two and got incredibly drunk. It was so much fun. Mostly cuz a couple of the people had never seen either before, and one of them kept giving us his commentary. It was quite amusing, especially when drunk. LUCKILY, this apartment was in the same complex as mine, only in a different building. So I was free to get completely drunk and then I walked home. I came in at 5:40am and went to bed.... This is was in the Baylor Lariat the other day The Top Ten Best & Worst Things About Baylor The Best Things: Baylor is a great place for networking The professors are down-to-earth and genuinely care You can get the most out of your education through smaller class sizes The Student Life Center is amazing and has everything a student could need to keep busy and entertained Common Grounds brews some great coffee All athletic events are free SING unites the campus and spreads cheer all around Diadeloso gives a well-deserved break from classes Off-campus parties keep the place jumping The size of the community lets you know everyone The Worst Things: Dealing with financial aid can be disastrous The social scene can be a little too tight knit There's a serious lack of diversity Some students are spoiled by their parents' wealth There are too many girls looking for husbands instead of good times It's expensive There is no slack given in terms of parking violations The holiday system is messed up. Ther university will make up holidays like Fall Break but not give off for actual federal ones like Labor Day Public transportation is scarce Everyone knows you, or at least knows someone who knows you, and it can be hard to get away from that. Yep that is about accurate. I could put a few more on each side, but I guess they had to keep it Lariat-friendly... :) Anyways, the other day I had a pretty bad dream. I was taking a nap in the afternoon and I awoke after this dream. It is pretty disturbing on some level, but I really wanted to share it. So I don't remember all the details or the story but it basically took place on an island. This island was either in a volcano or something, but the entire island was covered in an elaborate sprinkler system that kept the island wet and from being consumed by the heat. The water was stored in this huge water tower at one end of the island, and fed into the underground sprinkler system. Anyways, we were filming a movie or something, and it involved using a gun. Everyone was doing their thing, when suddenly I realized that the director of the movie didn't turn on the flow valve from the water tower to the sprinkler system, so the sprinkler system was basically running off of whatever water was left. I started running like crazy to the end of the island with the water tower. The island started getting incredibly hot and I knew that the pressure from evaporating water underground was going to cause all the pipes to burst. And they did, and it scalded my legs and I lept over a cracked pipe still running. But I just kept running. Then I got pretty close to the water tower and realized that it was too late, and I ducked and covered and accepted the inevitable as a wall of fire flew over the island and over my body. I just remembering thinking that dying wouldn't be too bad because it would be a quick death. Then I just was there being burned to death, but not yet dying, and I thought "shit this hurts, and I'm not dying! Hurry up and die!" Then I woke up. The end! Yeah i know that brightened your day! :) Current Mood: hungry Current Music: The Strokes - Last Night (Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 31st, 2005
2:01 am	Gosh I Love Baylor Ok. So this is second-hand information... A friend of mine is in a Intro-Level NEUROSCIENCE class. Ok. Apparently, the professor referenced Darwin's Origin of the Species, and someone in the class freaked out and walked out of class. If he had stayed to the end of class, he would have noticed that the professor also referenced Genesis. But no. Anyways, immediately after class, HE SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERYONE IN HIS CLASS. This is the email (edited for the removal of names, etc): Hi, Most of you have no idea who I am, though some of you I know personally. To identify myself better, I am the guy who walked out of class today. In fact, that is why I am emailing all of you. I realize many of you will not like or even agree with what I am about to say so feel free to delete this now if you’d like, but if you have a few moments I have something to say that you might like to hear. The reason I walked out of class today is because I am a Christian. Unashamedly so. And after Friday’s performance by Dr. P I had prepared myself to do just that very thing if my beliefs were once again attacked. Sure enough they were, so I left. I don’t know if anyone else has been deeply offended by some of the things Dr. P has said, but my guess is yes because of the usual make-up of [our student body]. I’ve been thinking about what I should do in response — I can’t very well let my faith be trampled upon and I have no intention of doing so, but as a student I’m not given a lot of options. According to our syllabus we can miss 11 classes before we fail, and Dr. P is responsible for 5 more. I plan on attending the first few minutes of Wednesday’s lecture, but beyond that I intend to boycott by being absent from his lectures. This may be crazy or irrational, but it is the only recourse I have. I’d like to invite any and every one to do the same. Any who are interested in joining me, I will remain in the hall outside of the classroom for the remainder of his lectures. If you would like to join me, I’d like to hear from you and you may email me at my [school email] address. If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear those as well. Thanks for your time. God bless you and please pray for Dr. P. WTF?????? I Love Baylor Ok so apparently that opened the flood gates. People emailing back and forth and hitting "reply to all" instead of "reply" so all the people in the class got these emails. So then one of the response emails was this: Hi, Most of you have no idea who I am, though some of you I know personally. To identify myself better, I am the guy who walked out of class today. In fact, that is why I am emailing all of you. I realize many of you will not like or even agree with what I am about to say, but rest assured if you delete this email Jesus will frown on you. The reason I walked out of class today is because I am a Christian. Zealously so. And after Friday’s performance by “Dr.” P I had prepared myself to do just that very thing if my beliefs were once again attacked by logic and reason and scientific claims that can be proven. Sure enough they were, so I left. I don’t know if anyone else as been deeply offended by some of the things “Dr.” P has said, but my guess is yes because of the usual make-up of Baylor Students (70% Christian, 20% Adamantly Christian, 5% Fundamentalist Christians, 4% Fingers-In-The-Ears-La-La-La-La-I-Can’t-Hear-You Christians, and Me.) I’ve been thinking about what I should do in response — I can’t very well let my faith be trampled upon and I have no intention of doing so, but as a student who accidentally signed up for a science course instead of the seminary I’m not given a lot of options. According to the bible, “Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live.” (Exodus 22:18) I feel strongly that “Dr.” P’s heretical teachings in the voodoo field of neuroscience constitutes witchcraft. Therefore, next Wednesday before lecture, I call on my fellow Christians to gather rope and kindling so that we may burn “Dr.” P at the stake. It is my firm belief that we must set fire to ALL heretics who seek to destory our most cherished Christian beliefs. This may be crazy or irrational, but it is the only recourse I have that might actually accomplish something. Sure, I could boycott class all semester, but who else aside from me would care? I’d like to invite any and every one to attend the burning. If you would like to join me, I’d like to hear from you and you may email me at my Baylor address. If you have any other ideas (I already considered stoning, drowning, and drawing & quartering but feel fire to be more practical), I’d love to hear those as well. Thanks for your time. God bless you and please pray for “Dr.” P. HAHAHA. Yes. I love Baylor... Current Mood: impressed Current Music: Franz Ferdinand - 40 ft (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 30th, 2005
12:04 am	Back To School Rants So Ok I've already got a few things to rant about: Hot People (everyone else at Baylor but me) First of all (and I'm not alone in this, I was inspired to rant about this after reading a similar post in a friend's blog), have you ever seen Baylor people? Ok its like a freaking TV show or something, like the OC. Everyone is so freaking good looking. I just don't understand. I forget about it during the summers, and then I come back, and I'm like, whoa. A typical day consists of my driving down Bagby or Speight, and I'll see several pretty girls on the side of the road doing whatever. And I think, wow, Baylor is awesome. Then I keep driving and I see shirtless guys playing football, and then I get all sad, and i think, wow, how am i supposed to compete against that, and I think, gosh, Baylor sucks. The pretty people at Baylor is almost a different community from everyone else, although it seems like they are the majority. I wish I was hot. The Bear Trail You know, and then there is the Bear Trail. For those of you oblivious to the Baylor happenings, the Bear Trail is a 2.5 mile jogging trail around the perimeter of campus. If you've attended Baylor, you've done the Bear Trail. It's one of those things. No matter how hot or cold, or dry or rainy, or early or late, there will always be someone on the Bear Trail. Ok so you see girls running the bear trail in their sports bras and short shorts. And then there are the shirtless guys (you know, the ones that were playing football earlier) running too. And it kind of makes me wonder. I had an epiphany. The Bear Trail runs the perimeter of campus parallel to the busiest roads of campus... hmm... then i make the conclusion that, possibly, the Bear Trail is one of those "Seen and Be Seen" kind of thing. I mean cuz you (over)hear all over campus all the time "Hey I saw you on the Bear Trail last night. You looked hot!" Yeah shut the fuck up, bitch. Go read a book or something. So i guess the Bear Trail is a medium for hot people to show off their hotness. I hate the Bear Trail. I want it to die a horrible fat and ugly death. Baylor Firsts So I've been at Baylor for how long? Oh yeah, this is my FOURTH YEAR. Guess what. I have my first black professor, ever! Yay! And he's only a professor for my organic chem lab lecture, so it's not like he's really my professor, but I'm going to say that he is! Yay for Baylor's diversity! So another first. I've met my first Baylor gay guy! I know I've probably met a gay person at Baylor before, but I've never actually met someone at Baylor who was openly gay. Yeah, black professors and gay acquaintances are exciting! (at least at Baylor). Well, technically it is against the student rules to be a practicing gay at Baylor as it's against the Christian Mission (sexual misconduct). Med School Applications So why has it taken me since the middle of May until now to actually finish my med school applications? Yeah, the only thing I have left to do is drop two envelopes in the mail tomorrow, and wait. I'm really nervous that my interviews (if I get them) are going to fall on awkward or inconvinient days, as I know some of my friends have had interviews already on Wednesdays and such. They have to make up classes. That's awfully annoying. I hope mine are on the weekends, but I doubt they will be. Class Schedule Organic Chemistry Lab General Biochemistry Medical Botany Bioethics Religions of India, China, and Japan Beginning Golf Extracurriculars President of Magellan AGAIN Recycling Chair of the Environmental Concern Organization Core-Member of the Atheist/Agnostic Society I wanted to join other organizations, too: possibly Beta Beta Beta Biology Honor Society, Latin Dance Society (only if i have a permanent partner), Karate Club, and/or Anthropology Society. A bit much, yeah? Don't worry, I'm lazy and probably won't get to do anything that I'm not already involved in. Well I guess this was a pretty good blurty as far as content. I'll try to be better about updating often. Dragon, out Current Mood: artistic Current Music: Foo Fighters - All My Life (Comment on this)