But see, I’m a nerd. I’m a geek. Expecting a geek to follow your ridiculous IT policy is like expecting a model to eat a hamburger. It just isn’t going to happen. If you read blogs about Cisco Clean Access, you’ll see people decrying its ability to let IT administrators control and monitor your system. That’s exactly my problem. I used to be an IT professional myself. I am not about to let somebody else mess with my stuff. I’ve bowed to the CCA demons long enough…no more!

On the bright side, I did see a sign indicating that the bookstore has Office 2007 for $15 (I paid $60 online last year) and Vista for $25.

PS: Yes, I realize SP3 may not be that bad. But I want it to be my decision to install it.

I guess I see it as kind of unfair. A student rate is discounted because students don’t have as much money, not because students derive less benefit from whatever they’re buying with the discount. It’s dumb to insist someone pay more in this situation. But what can I do? Nothing really. I’ll miss the conference and the opportunity to network with other interpreters. Life goes on, I guess…I’ll just try to forget that it’s so close to home. Pretend it’s in Hawaii or something.

First of all, let me say that “bigotry” is not what I was expressing yesterday. That is called “jealousy.” I have never said that straight people shouldn’t get married, only that I hate hearing about it because I am jealous. I think it would be really nice if straight people waited to get married until gay marriage was legal, but that’s probably unrealistic. I am jealous, not bigoted.

I am not anti-straight people. Some of my best friends are straight people. I am a teensy bit anti-straight people getting married, but not much. I am anti-hearing about your wedding because it makes me cranky and bitter that I can’t marry the woman I’ve been with for almost 11 years. And this doesn’t even mean that you shouldn’t talk about it or tell me about it or whatever. It just means that it makes me bitchy. Okay? Thank you.

Added: Turns out she wasn’t responding to me. She’s having conversations with other people instead. I was right, she doesn’t follow me anymore. It was just really crazy timing, I guess.

I hate fucking straight people and their weddings. Oh, we’re getting married! Oh, look at us, congratulate us, we’re so wonderful! Fuck that shit. There ought to be a moratorium on all marriages until gays can marry. I know tons of people who have gotten married over the past several years, and I know exactly one couple who is waiting to marry until their gay friends can marry.

Fucking wedding bullshit. You people have such fucking privilege and you don’t even know it. You aren’t grateful for it. You tell your gay friends, gee, I’m sorry you can’t get married, and then you run off and buy a white dress and a ring and find a venue and wave your privilege in our faces. And we’re supposed to be happy and congratulate you!

You know what? I have hated straight weddings for years. And I’m going to keep right on hating until I get married. Thank god we’re going to Massachusetts in the spring.

Disclaimer: if you think the above is about you, IT PROBABLY IS. Because it applies to all straight people getting married. My friends and acquaintances don’t get a free pass here. I hate their weddings too. So if it COULD be about you, then it IS about you.

Fucking bitter, I am.

Afterward, I checked my pager and saw there was an update about the heart transplant kid I interpreted for this summer. I realized, hey! I’m right near the hospital! So I emailed his dad to check if it was okay to come over, and ate my egg salad sandwich while I waited for him to answer. (Got it at Whole Foods because I knew I’d be hungry after interpreting.) He said sure, so I went over and visited for a little bit. That kid gave me an AWESOME hug, god he is adorable. (He’s 16 and would not want to be called that!) I chatted with his stepmom about how he’s been doing, and I asked if I could give him $10 for Subway. (There’s one at the hospital, and he hates hospital food so he gets Subway a lot.) She said sure, so I pulled a bill from the back of my wallet, quickly folded it, and gave it to him. Only after I’d left the room did I realize I’d had a $20 in the back, not a $10 like I thought. Oh well, he can have LOTS of Subway. He’s a good kid, and the family is trying to be frugal right now, so I can help out. Of course I haven’t worked much in the past few months, so I’m broke myself, but it’s okay. (Not like I could ask for it back anyway…and he’s just a real sweetie.)

I have already gotten helpful tips from many people through Twitter, but if anyone reading this has favorite apps they think I should get, let me know! (I would especially love to know about free games that make use of the accelerometer.)

I’m also concerned by my “get over it” attitude toward the article. I didn’t know I thought blacks should just get over slavery. I’m not sure that I do think that. But when Cannick goes on and on about blacks are still enslaved (”my people are still waiting”), I just want to tell her it’s time to forget the past and focus on the present. Yes, of course the disadvantaged situation of many blacks today stems from their experience as slaves…there’s no question about it. But is it really necessary to dwell on the atrocities committed back then? Should it just be a fact of life that blacks had this experience and now we move on? Should we move on? What good does it do to express anger at the “torture, rape, and death of countless black people” from long ago? (Even that phrase, “long ago,” is in question - when did blacks start on the road to equality? Was it the end of the Civil War in 1865, or was it not until the Civil Rights Act of 1965? When does the tragic past of black people end?)

The column definitely provoked a lot of feelings in me. I agree with Cannick’s statement “you will never catch me waving this country’s flag” but I disagree with her line about “I will never claim America as my country.” The whole column has left me shaken, and I think that’s a good thing when it comes to op-ed pieces.