I picked up my petition to graduate today. Granted I don't graduate until next year, but OSU requires you to fill it out 3 quarters prior to graduation. So, that's what I did. It felt...nice. Almost out of here.

(Sorry LJ readers, I'm using this blog update to post my paper on The North Market. It's 25 pages on the history of it, in case you care. It's below the fold, and I'm linking readers from Fabulously in the City here. Blogger doesn't allow for "below-the-fold" entries)

 

( History of The North Market )

So I totally met an Asian girl this weekend named "Min Hee Heo"...Mini-ho!!!!

Chris Hooker and Mini-ho...LOVES IT!  

I decided not to do the RSS Feed on here because I honestly don't want all of those entries coming up here on LJ. I'm updating a minimum of 5 times a day, and I think that would piss a bunch of you guys off :-P. SO, instead, I'm keeping this just as a journal and for all other things I'll be posting at the other blog.

That being said, I just posted a rant. I think you'll like it. :-)

As I'm working on the move, I've been going back through LJ to try and find any interesting stories I should import to the new site, and I've come across some incredible stuff! I had entirely forgotten about the story I wrote about my mother once she came out of her surgery. Rereading it, I cried the entire time.

I imported it over to Fabulously in the City, so if you want a good read check it out. Or, well, at least I think it's a good read.

I am so glad I've kept a journal over the years. Again, I'll still be updating here--but mainly just Friends Only entries. :-)

Oh, and yes, I'll set it up with the RSS Feed thing. Tomorrow. :-)

Ok, no, not that kind of move. I am still staying in Columbus, Ohio. But I have decided to move to Blogger! That's right--no more Livejournal!

Fabulously in the City

I dream of life in the city, so I decided to go with the name "Fabulously in the City". Why "Fabulously" and not just fabulous? Because it wasn't available. Heh. AND because I want to show how we all can be living fabulously in the city. I like the sense of urgency when there are assumed verbs. It's not grammatically correct, but I like it and I'm sticking with it.

But, don't fret, I'm not entirely getting rid of LJ. I will certainly keep it for its true purpose--as an online journal. I will read my friends' entries and I will definitely write some of my own. But the majority of the things I post on here are commentary on politics, society, relationships, sexuality and plenty of other non-journal-like entries. I want to continue with this tradition, but I want to move to a new medium for a variety of reasons:

-Zschechfan is hard as hell to spell (and SO outdated--I'm frickin' Atheist! I can't have a SN with a Christian singer!)
-I don't like the setup of LJ
-I want a host with easier commenting features.

So here are the URLs:

Fabulously in the City

www.fabulouslyinthecity.com

fabulouslyinthecity.blogspot.com

Check it out. I have made a few updates already which should be indicative of how I will maintain the blog. It will be a mixture of Columbus news, politics, sexuality, city events, city planning, gay news, religious rants and of course, an outlet for my many strange anecdotes I've accrued over the years.

Favorite it! Read it often! Comment, too! :-)

*EDIT*

When I installed Haloscan, the commenting feature that lets anyone comment, it messed up the layout...so it doesn't look right. Oh well! I'll fix it once when they get back to me...

Because 9/11 did not happen under a Republican President, a Republican New York Governor and a Republican NYC Mayor. Nope. Should we be surprised that the batshit-crazy-loon who put this message up is a self-proclaimed man of God?

*smacks forehead*

You ever hear someone say, "it goes without saying", then proceed to say it anyway? That always bothered me, but I'm going to say it anyway. It goes without saying that as a logistician, you have to be good at math. It is primarily a numbers based industry, and I love it for that reason.

Today, I got a 100 on my Calculus exam. As shocking as that is by itself I am more shocked that the ridiculously hot, Abercrombie-model-wannabe who sits next to me asked for my number so I could help tutor him and help him "get caught up with the shit". Hmmm...it's not the first time I've had a math infatuation ask  for my help....maybe this should become a trend? I hang out in math classes and lure the jocks into making me their tutor? :-) Then I'll whoo them over with my ability to take derivatives, clearly the consummate example of sex appeal! I win!

In another news, today I was on the news. NBC4! Right after work, my good friend James Ferguson and I enjoyed a glass of wine at Due Amici, and upon leaving we were stopped by a news crew. They were doing a piece on parking downtown, and they wanted to know what we thought of it. Funny enough, we had contrasting opinions--I feel the parking is ample and he feels the parking is lacking. Still, it was fun yet again being on TV here in Columbus.

It's been awhile since I wrote a story about some of my strange happenings. I think I have just the right one to write about, so expect it in the next few days...:-)

Tonight, I called someone "forgettable as a pair of shoes".

I think that's pretty darn funny.

''[Osama bin Laden] said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel'' -- about six times what it sells for now." Roger Diwan, a managing director, Petroleum Finance Company, New York Times October 14, 2001

Ten years ago, back in those awful Clinton years, the price of a barrel of oil was just $15. And thanks to the trickle-down effect ofthe Bush Administration*,  the price of a barrel of oil rests at $144 — a ten-fold increase. And believe me, the price of gas hasn't even come close to adjusting. Within the next five years it will be a minimum of $7-per-gallon. If anyone disagrees with me, I'll be glad to make a $100-bet. (I'll need to the money to pay my gas bill).

*(I do not blame Bush directly for the price of gas, since clearly Government and oil companies are seperate entities. However, poor international policy, poor Government spending, lack-of-responsibility on environmental, health and transportation issues, giving tax benefits to ship jobs overseas, cutting taxes before going into two wars, and misusing the $230 billion surplus left by the Clinton Administration will certainly work to destroy the American dollar. Thus, with a weak dollar, it requires more money to buy the same amount of gas.)

Sometimes, it hurts to be an American. It pains me to see my own family revol in their blind allegiance, claiming that George W. Bush has been a fantastic President. Are we really that stupid? He's at a 27% approval rating--lowest in history!--and yet millions and millions of Americans remain with eyes closed and bricks over their ears so they can continue to live in the delusion that our country still is strong.

It aches knowing that men are having their lives threatened because they do not respect crackers. It enfuriates me that small businesses can't offer health insurance (too expensive! so sorry!), and people have to play a gamble with living or dying. Unfortunately, this guy lost the game and now owes over $100,000 in medical bills.

But I'm just not quite ready to give up on it.  Not quite yet. Not until November, at least.

It was five years ago that my life changed. There were chains wrapped around my life, and I broke free. The mold I had been given was not what I wanted for my life. It was five years ago that I told my best friend, Catherine, that I could no longer do it; I could no longer live in the ambivalent struggle between who I was and who others wanted me to be.

July 11th, 2003 was the day I succumbed to what I had never wanted to admit--I was gay. And for a student on his way to a bible college on a Christian leadership scholarship, this was not just a mere acknowledgment of a predicament, it was a defiant call for my life to never be the same. Instead of fear, I felt strength. Instead of apathy, I felt pride. And instead of guilt, a gentle sense of equanimity fell upon me, and for the first time in my life I felt security in where I was heading.

But that was July 11th, 2003. What really mattered was July 12th, when I began to live it. Coming out was not a chiaroscuro-like effect, subtle and gradual, it was more like a surrealistic explosion--ostentatious, loud and proud. By one bold declaration I had changed the course of my life, and I felt no inhibitions. I have never once looked back with regrets.

So now, five years later, what can I say? There was a time I would have said, "I don't want to be gay. Who would ever want to be like this?". But today, I would never dare say that. Everything I am today stems from that decision. I would not be in Ohio, I would not be an atheist, I would not have lost a ton of weight and I would not challenge my mind like I do today had I not made that decision. I wouldn't have a reverent image of man, I would not live my life to the fullest and I would not cherish the gift of existence had I not made that decision. Instead of regret for my circumstance, today I rejoice in the fact that I am gay because if I were not gay I would still be lost in the indifference of my former life.

I am proud. I am proud because five years after coming out, I don't stand here impassive. It's not even mere joy--instead, I'm so proud I'm prancing. I am proud because five years have passed and yet I have never lived a better day than this day. I am proud because no matter my circumstances, I still have control over my choices--and I today I live with no regrets. I am proud because my fellow gay brothers and sisters stand right beside me as the strongest men and women I could ever imagine. I am proud and honored to even know such beautiful people, much less have them as my family.

And finally, I am proud because tomorrow will be even better than it is today.

Folks, It's all in your head. Those 3.202 Million people who are on unemployment? All a figment of your imagination. The data that shows Americans are at the lowest rate of consumer spending since 1991? It's just a silly graph with no real meaning. And those 62,000 jobs that were lost in June? Yet again...someone just made it up! Quit being such a whiner!

That's what top economic advisor to John McCain, former senator Phill Gramm, has to say about the American people. We're not the hard-working, proud Patriots we used to be--today we're just a bunch of slackers too pissed off to do anything about our predicament. We're a bunch of whiners, a nation of them, actually, and the data for a bad economy just isn't there. Ask Phil Gramm how bad the economy is, and he'd answer, "How bad is the economy? Oh, not bad at all! It's going just as well as the victory operation in Iraq--gloriously well!" According to him, the only real kind of recession we are in is a mental recession.

Well Phil Gramm, I have something to say to you--you are a dimwitted fool. You insult everything that this country stands for. I work a full-time job, take 24 credit hours during the summer, manage to find time to run 10-20 miles a week, take care of a Chinchilla and I STILL scramble to live my entire life without a penny of credit card debt. I forgo sleeping and eating in order to make sure my bills are paid and my grades are high. But to you, all I am is a whiner. I'm a pathetic breed of indifference to a slumping America. I'm a lazy, whining, socialist liberal who expects the Government to fix all of my problems. Well sir, you are wrong.

I see Americans working harder than ever. I think of my step-mother who cuts and saves coupons more often than she reads the paper. I think of my sister who is pushing herself through graduate school and still making time to educate special needs children during her spare time. I think of a friend of mine who recently decided to park his car and bike everywhere to cut on the cost of gas. I think of my co-workers who have changed their eating-out habits in order to better budget their money.

To you, these are whiners. To me, they are cost-cutters utilizing the joys of the capitalistic system. To you, they're lazy Americans. To me, they're brilliantly embracing the obvious economic condition and instead of complaining about it, they're doing something about it.

Phil Gram, you are terrible person. Your campaign calls Barack Obama an elitist and then you turn around and disgrace every hard-working American. You deny facts, insult our work ethic and then backhand us with a slap about our own mental capacity. Is that what the new face of a conservative is like--one who mocks those who actually conserve? 

I want nothing to do with your campaign. I want nothing to do with your candidate. But then again, it's not like I'd have time to contribute anyway--all my time is already spent complaining!

(via Pharyngula)

There are days when it is agony to read the news, because people are so goddamned stupid. Petty and stupid. Hateful and stupid. Just plain stupid. And nothing makes them stupider than religion.

Here's a story that will destroy your hopes for a reasonable humanity.

Webster Cook says he smuggled a Eucharist, a small bread wafer that to Catholics symbolic of the Body of Christ after a priest blesses it, out of mass, didn't eat it as he was supposed to do, but instead walked with it.

This isn't the stupid part yet. He walked off with a cracker that was put in his mouth, and people in the church fought with him to get it back. It is just a cracker!

Catholics worldwide became furious.

Would you believe this isn't hyperbole? People around the world are actually extremely angry about this — Webster Cook has been sent death threats over his cracker. Those are just kooks, you might say, but here is the considered, measured response of the local diocese:

"We don't know 100% what Mr. Cooks motivation was," said Susan Fani a spokesperson with the local Catholic diocese. "However, if anything were to qualify as a hate crime, to us this seems like this might be it."

We just expect the University to take this seriously," she added "To send a message to not just Mr. Cook but the whole community that this kind of really complete sacrilege will not be tolerated."

Wait, what? Holding a cracker hostage is now a hate crime? The murder of Matthew Shephard was a hate crime. The murder of James Byrd Jr. was a hate crime. This is a goddamned cracker. Can you possibly diminish the abuse of real human beings any further?

That's it, it's over. The UAE has decided to cancel Iraq's $7 Billion Debt in an effort to "develop close ties with all countries in [the middle east]." Yup, you read it right. The UAE is going to join forces with Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and even good old Israel. Then, the world will be over. Nukes everywhere. Jihad across the globe. Death like it's 1944.

Ok, I'm kidding. Hopefully. But I don't like this. Not one bit.

Accounting 212
-Submit Online Homework
-Review Chapters 1-6
-Re-watch online Lecture Slides
-Re-watch in-class lecture slides
-Take Three Online Factory Tours
-Retake Flashcards/MC Quiz for each chapter
-Redo Homework problems and compare solutions
-Study time with Kelly Tuesday from 3:30 - 6:30
EXAM ON FRIDAY (1-6)
-Chapter 7 Material due on Sunday

Computer Science and Engineering 200
QUIZ ON MONDAY
-Review Boolean Logic
-Review Ifs and Nested Ifs
-Pre-lab (8 Hour allocation before Wednesday night)
-Read Chapter 3 and 4 (240-388)
-Redo Previous Homework Exercises 5, 7, 9, 17, 18, 19, 21, 24
-Do Homework Exercises 26, 28

Econ 520
MIDTERM ON MONDAY
-Chapters 1, 17, 18, 5, 6
-Study time with Margarette 10:30 - 11:18 on Monday
-Review online slides
-Review previous Homework
-Review Quiz/E-mail he sent out!!!

Math 131N
-Review previous exam and re-take problems you got wrong
-Homework Sections 11.3, 11.4, 12.1
-Review Online lecture Notes
QUIZ ON THURSDAY

Love in World Literature
-Go to class. Study something else during class.


...All right. Let's get started.

My straight neighbor keeps shouting out a "grrr" in an attempt to impress the girls he has over. It sounds like he's bellowing from the depths of his soul. Imagine a wookie mixed with a few beers. I swear they can hear it down the street. Is it some kind of bizarre mating call? They're all on their porch, listening to blasted Led Zeppelin, and the girls keep responding with a "hee hee, you're so funny ok let's have sex" kind of comment, and he keeps "grrr"ing at the top of his lungs to provoke more from them!

I don't understand straight people. Is this normal?

Today in "Love in World Literature", a girl asserted that for the rest of the class, we should begin every sentence with "I believe", "I feel", "I think", or "it is my opinion that..." since there are no right or wrongs and no absolutes.

I think I let out a gasp when she said it.

Fortunately, the people in the class thought this was a terribly stupid idea (as did the professor). The students uproared at even the idea of required warning labels to every thought pronounced. So although the students' average IQ may be equal the square root of 6561, I was proud that my peers had enough intellect to realize the pitfall of removing absolutes. Why, if nothing is absolute, and everything is "I feel", then can't I feel that I should get an A in this class even if I don't show up? Can't I feel that I am I in the room, even if you feel that I am not? By that subjective logic, am I typing this now? Do I exist? If there are no absolutes...who is to say you are even reading my words? This could be a dream. Your life could be a dream. I could be dreaming of your existence.

Without absolutes, life could not exist. It is by absolutes that your blood continues to flow. It is by absolutes that you breathe without thought of it. It is by absolutes that any single person functions. There are absolutely absolutes, and not just concrete ones. There are moral absolutes, absolutes in reality and absolutes even in abstracts.

I wish I had time to write an entire entry on why there are moral absolutes. I don't. But, feel free to chime in and tell me if you believe in abstract absolutes, or if you believe culture shapes what is right or wrong. I'd love to hear opinions :-).

Here is a list of random rules from the unaccredited Pensacola Christian College.

DRESS CODE:

Men may not wear a necklace.

Hats may only be worn outdoors, but NOT at outdoor sporting events.


This is precisely why I could never be in Human Resources. If I received an applicant from an (unaccredited) Christian University, I'd toss it out the window.