The Misspent Life

I Also Must...

...find some time this summer to take the GRE and the GMAT. Everyone tells me that I will knock it out of the park, but then eveyone says a lot of things. I still am not looking forward to it. The last time I planned on taking those tests I ended up on a project that ended with me in the hospital. Let's hope this time around things work out better.

Grrr.

I Suppose I Must

I suppose I must link to this site that details rather strange change in opinion from many, many film critics between The Passion of the Christand that "documentary" people keep talking about.

It is a very interesting read, and while I'm not convinced that political/social bias and general hostility to religion explains every single one of these I am fairly sure that it explains many. The others can probably be explained by a certain "me-too" mentality that infects too many critics. One does not get ahead by bucking what the boys and the NYT say, does one? How is one ever going to get invited to the right kind of conferences and cocktail parties?

I Got Spurs That Jingle, Jangle, Jingle

...as I go riding merrily along.
And they sing, "Oh, ain't you glad you're single."
And that song ain't so very far from wrong.

Just so you know.

And Now For Something Completely...

For some reason I have taken it upon myself to relate just about every point I make when talking with myself to one particular quote by Samuel Johnson. Which one? This one:

"Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."

Don't ask me why that quote has been bouncing around in my head. Also, don't ask me about my talking with myself. I tend to have a lot of time alone on the weekends during which I practice expounding on some topic or give some speech or structure an outline for some essay. This is done either in my head or out loud. The product is often quite good, and wish that I had someone on hand to take shorthand.

Yes, I do realize that I am anything but sane.

N.B. For a great Johnson web resource, go here.

A Silly Thought

I think that I have a fondness for chicken rock. By "chicken rock" I mean rock music that has that beat that creates the image of the lead singer prancing back and forth on stage like Mick Jagger with his arms folded like chicken wings and neck bobbing back and forth like a chicken pecking at the air.

I had this revelation, which is probably bull anyway, since I don't like Mick Jagger or the Rolling Stones, while listening to the band Maroon 5. All of their popular songs seem to be chicken rock, and those are just about the only songs I can listen to.

Cluck, cluck.

Shoo Shoo Shoo

Sju sjuka sjuksköterskor skötte sju sjösjuka sjömän.

Grumble, Grumble, Grump

Friends, I really don't have much to say today. I'm rather in the doldrums, to be honest. I'm sitting all alone at work, since two of my colleagues who used to sit in the same area have left the project and the other is not coming in this week. I've been told I should sit downstairs with the others, but that would set a bad precedent. The usual reason I give for not sitting with them is the lack of space. Many people are on vacation this week so there is actually a bit of room for me. I then have to gently make it known that the true reason I don't sit down there is that I don't particularly like them. I've also made an excuse having to do with the snacks I brought in and the fact that they are all lecherous vultures and I spit on them.

I was busy earlier in the day, though. Our fearless leaders dropped a deadline on me at 7:30pm last night for the next morning. First off, I think it is obscene that I'm still at work at 7:30pm, but I find it even more off-putting that people would be so damn impetuous as to think that 7:30pm is an OK time to start assigning tasks to people. It's not like this popped out of nowhere. Why should I have to bear the brunt of their incompetence?

When told what I needed to do I looked them in the eyes and said, "It would have been nice to have been told this a few hours ago. It's obvious you weren't planning appropriately and would appreciate a bit more effort on your part in the future." I then turned and left the room. Friends, it is unbelievable! I'll grant you that my ire is somewhat misplaced because I was able to shirk my duties that night and get it done in a few hours time this morning well before the deadline, but I only got the necessary reports that morning and if it were anyone else here it would have taken two or three times as long to put together the information. Anyone else would have been s-c-r-e-w-e-d.

I do not see why people should force you to put in unreasonable hours just because they are of the opinion that working for fourteen hours a day somehow means you are a better worker than someone who gets the job done in ten. That is bunk. If I can do my work in four hours I am a better worker than someone who takes three days to do the same thing. It's not like I haven't been in that situation and been yelled at for reading a website in the long stretches of downtime that results. These are the people that always tend to be someone's favorite for some reason. Bastards.

Cue My Dad Yelling

This will set my pops off, big time: I don't really mind Governor Blagojevich all that much. The fact that he is fighting with Mike Madigan doesn't hurt and this doesn't hurt either: from the 6/12/04 National Review:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D., Ill.) says he voted twice for Reagan: "We had hostages in Iran, and nothing was getting done. . . . We Americans were losing confidence in ourselves. And then here comes this guy who spoke to a lot of Democrats, who talked about hope and optimism, and was determined — and this is what I liked about him, too — was determined to shake up a system that got rusty and archaic, complacent and arrogant. And I have to say, that's an inspiring way of doing business."

Granted, I'd never vote for him for a national office because he'd end up chucking all this kind of talk to get accepted by AFSCME, SEIU, NEA, NAACP, ATLA, NOW, NARAL, HRC, and all the other coalition groups that make up the national Democratic Party.

NB- You can add him to the list of Dems I like along with Zell Miller, Joe Lieberman, Ed Koch, etc.

Semi-Celebrities Read It

Take a look at the Forward Edge of Freedom, if you haven't already. It should be part of your daily regimen. Sort-of-famous people read it, at least that is what I've heard.

Good Quote

From Andrew Sullivan:

"But there is an added technique for weakening a nation at its very roots ... The method is simple. It is first, a dissemination of discord. A group - not too large - a group that may be sectional or racial or political - is encouraged to exploit its prejudices through false slogans and emotional appeals. The aim of those who deliberately egg on these groups is to create confusion of counsel, public indecision, political paralysis and, eventually, a state of panic. Sound national policies come to be viewed with a new and unreasoning skepticism ... As a result of these techniques, armament programs may be dangerously delayed. Singleness of national purpose may be undermined. . . . The unity of the state can be so sapped that its strength is destroyed. All this is no idle dream. It has happened time after time, in nation after nation, during the last two years." - FDR, May 26, 1940