• The Problem with Atheism
  Offered without comment. [via slyfoot]
  Tags: religion
• Popular Enoshima aquarium seal dies after 10 1/2-year run | The Japan Times Online
  The LOLrus has passed away. Or, in other words - mah bucket, I has kicked it.
  Tags: animals

I wrote this on April 5, 2007. Just wanted to look back on it now.

I am so fucking scared. Today I got notification of my raise for passing the CI, which is retroactive to the date I took the test (they didn’t do that for my CT, which was 9 months before I got the results). I am making $51,500/yr. And I’m leaving it to go back to school full time.

Am I fucking insane? I must be crazy. There can be no other explanation.

I’ve agonized over this, I’ve cried over this. I’ve bawled over this. There have been honest-to-goodness real GOVERNMENT jobs for interpreters coming up on USAjobs.gov, and what am I doing? I’m going back to school. I am making $51,500/yr and I am 26 years old. And what am I doing? I’m going back to school.

In-fucking-sane. God DAMN.

And yet this is still the best decision I’ve made in my life. I am so happy now. I am elated to be in school and have friends and learn things. I’m thrilled that I might actually get my degree this time. Seeing how much I was making is still a little shocking, but all that money still couldn’t have bought me happiness. And now I am happy.

We’re back from Rehoboth Beach…back to the land of sales tax. It was so nifty seeing stuff ring up for exactly what it said on the tag! My Torrid clothes were here when I got back, and I think they mostly fit. A isn’t too sure but I like them. The skirt and pants were kind of wrinkled though, I’m not sure what’s up with that. They looked like industrial wrinkles rather than wearing wrinkles. Anyway, I slept most of the way home. And then we got home and we took a nap for another couple of hours. Tomorrow I only have one class, and then our math teacher canceled class so we could work on our projects. It will probably only take an hour or two, nothing I couldn’t have done in the evening, but he canceled class so we could work on it. I am hoping to go to the “pay what you can” chiropractic day in the afternoon to see if they can do stuff with my back. I don’t think chiropractic is a cure-all for everything, but I’m hoping they can stretch me out a bit or something. I’m sure they just want to sell me more sessions, but I’m going to at least check it out.

Technically dogs aren’t allowed on the boardwalk from April 1 to October 31, but it’s definitely past tourist season even though there’s technically a couple of weeks left. Nobody seems to mind the dogs around. A gay male couple just went by the one direction, walking a tiny Yorkie. They passed a giant St. Bernard wearing (I swear I am not making this up) a hot pink harness and leash. I think I actually heard the guy say “don’t laugh” as I started to chuckle. Anyway, the St. Bernard passed and the Yorkie sniffed at it, and the gay guys walking her said “down girl, don’t hurt that big dog!”

• TribalPages
  Our free genealogy hosting includes a custom URL to make sharing your site easy. Enter your family name or other text to find a great home for your family tree. (Can import GEDCOM files.)
  Tags: genealogy

We arrived safely in Rehoboth Beach for our little couple’s weekend. I am tired because I have been driving since I left school around 5pm, with a 35-minute turnaround at home to finish packing. I haven’t opened my laptop but I doubt this place has wifi and I don’t think we’re near enough to pick up anyone else’s. That’s okay, I know what I need to do for my English midterm.

It is so nice to see so many gay businesses in town. In the dark I spotted a double-L bar, the Partners bistro, and the Out Wear & More store. I can’t wait to do stuff tomorrow but right now I am tired.

I was on my way home and I pulled over near the Greyhound station to buy a soda from a street vendor because I was thirsty. A guy walked up, pointed at his ear, and showed me a note saying he’s deaf and needs money etc. So I said “are you really deaf?” And sure enough, he starts rattling off his life story. Blah blah, somebody owes him money, he needs to buy food for his daughter, he graduated from MSSD, etc. So I said “How about this. I have a $5 bill, I want to buy a soda, and I’ll give you what’s left.” Turns out the change was $3.75, so I made him a happy man. Oh well, at least he wasn’t a hearing person pretending to be deaf so people would feel sorry for him. I don’t normally give to beggars and peddlers, but $3.75 isn’t going to bankrupt me. Maybe good karma will smile and pat me on the head and something nice will happen.

Can we please stop fighting over the 9/11 stuff now? Specifically I’m talking about the conspiracy theories. Through random surfing, I found my way to another one of those sites that is full of hue and cry about buildings being brought down deliberately, whether the hole in the Pentagon could have been made by a plane, etc. My response to all of that now is: Shut the hell up. It doesn’t matter.

Seriously, why does it matter if the government was lying to us? Is that going to change anything that happened? Newsflash: the government is elected in the United States. If you don’t like the government, if you think they lied, vote them out of office and change it! Let me know if that brings back the 2800 people who died that day.

The question should not be “what happened then?” The question should be “what do we do now?”

• Worldmapper
  A collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest.
  Tags: education