Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean eu diam a ipsum venenatis pharetra id et nisl. Suspendisse sit amet lectus quis nisl sagittis tempor. Sed vel lorem leo, ac feugiat lorem. Suspendisse arcu mi, posuere at sodales vitae, rutrum vel odio. In tincidunt faucibus dolor, in sodales elit placerat sit amet. Suspendisse sit amet risus et diam facilisis bibendum ut et lorem. Donec sed porta urna. Sed nec tellus id nulla lobortis tincidunt. Curabitur dolor ante, ultrices quis condimentum eget, rutrum pharetra nisl. Proin semper suscipit lectus. Suspendisse hendrerit, dolor quis blandit fringilla, leo nulla ultricies felis, vitae lacinia justo nisi eget erat. Nulla facilisi. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Cras ullamcorper bibendum nisl blandit tristique. Sed et risus lacus, a porttitor libero. Fusce in malesuada magna. Suspendisse potenti. Aenean quis nunc in quam cursus laoreet id vitae lacus.

Morbi aliquam risus et augue scelerisque accumsan. Aliquam elementum odio id leo hendrerit iaculis. Aliquam convallis vulputate lectus, id tristique orci suscipit ut. Maecenas auctor, metus sed feugiat lobortis, massa lectus lacinia eros, eu pretium arcu erat sit amet odio. Proin eget urna est, non cursus ligula. Praesent ac lacinia elit. Quisque id orci orci. Cras feugiat sodales massa a semper. Pellentesque nec erat enim. Suspendisse blandit sodales turpis, ut volutpat nunc ornare a. Fusce a velit id ante scelerisque placerat sit amet eget nunc. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Morbi odio sapien, tincidunt quis venenatis et, dictum eget massa.

Nulla vestibulum sapien eleifend erat adipiscing in laoreet neque ultrices. Mauris aliquet eleifend sem et gravida. Etiam ante sapien, laoreet id pulvinar vel, mollis ut est. Aenean id scelerisque risus. Aliquam sollicitudin rhoncus sollicitudin. Donec enim nibh, fringilla a pretium vitae, tempus sit amet velit. Cras et lacus odio. Morbi condimentum augue ut nunc congue id porta leo iaculis. Sed euismod dignissim erat, at dictum dui pharetra vestibulum. Etiam molestie elementum magna, sit amet adipiscing lorem vulputate vitae. Quisque ornare, justo commodo lobortis posuere, leo purus luctus augue, a imperdiet tortor ante sit amet diam. Ut at dui ante. Nunc tincidunt vulputate fermentum. Integer mattis sollicitudin dapibus. Nulla in tellus justo. Curabitur posuere quam quis eros pharetra eget posuere risus mollis. Morbi tempus sagittis sodales.

Nulla nisi sapien, auctor sed scelerisque id, vulputate sit amet turpis. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Sed varius mollis volutpat. Fusce interdum sodales velit in dignissim. Maecenas convallis, metus id faucibus scelerisque, urna eros tempor tellus, eget cursus velit nunc in libero. Morbi sed felis nec lorem elementum laoreet. Morbi luctus libero quis libero convallis euismod a sit amet diam. In vulputate diam vel magna interdum tristique. Proin vitae dapibus tortor. Cras nec felis elit, eu pellentesque ante. Donec arcu mauris, blandit vestibulum imperdiet vitae, pellentesque ac magna. Nunc sed eros ac risus aliquet elementum et vitae tortor. Praesent non lectus sit amet sapien congue volutpat a sed tellus. Aliquam dolor sem, dignissim feugiat accumsan varius, aliquet vitae est.

Integer gravida mollis ligula, et varius odio rutrum a. Aliquam fermentum tempor bibendum. Pellentesque sapien nulla, egestas in lobortis sit amet, scelerisque eget tortor. Pellentesque consequat mattis enim vel ullamcorper. Fusce tincidunt aliquet cursus. Nam nec felis lacus. Etiam rhoncus turpis ut augue auctor quis viverra felis blandit. Donec volutpat nunc vitae odio adipiscing suscipit. Praesent velit lacus, tempus ut porta nec, fringilla sed leo. Mauris id velit risus, eget luctus est. Ut justo purus, rutrum ac feugiat sed, lobortis vitae enim.

Lorem Ipsum

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean eu diam a ipsum venenatis pharetra id et nisl. Suspendisse sit amet lectus quis nisl sagittis tempor. Sed vel lorem leo, ac feugiat lorem. Suspendisse arcu mi, posuere at sodales vitae, rutrum vel odio. In tincidunt faucibus dolor, in sodales elit placerat sit amet. Suspendisse sit amet risus et diam facilisis bibendum ut et lorem. Donec sed porta urna. Sed nec tellus id nulla lobortis tincidunt. Curabitur dolor ante, ultrices quis condimentum eget, rutrum pharetra nisl. Proin semper suscipit lectus. Suspendisse hendrerit, dolor quis blandit fringilla, leo nulla ultricies felis, vitae lacinia justo nisi eget erat. Nulla facilisi. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Cras ullamcorper bibendum nisl blandit tristique. Sed et risus lacus, a porttitor libero. Fusce in malesuada magna. Suspendisse potenti. Aenean quis nunc in quam cursus laoreet id vitae lacus.

Morbi aliquam risus et augue scelerisque accumsan. Aliquam elementum odio id leo hendrerit iaculis. Aliquam convallis vulputate lectus, id tristique orci suscipit ut. Maecenas auctor, metus sed feugiat lobortis, massa lectus lacinia eros, eu pretium arcu erat sit amet odio. Proin eget urna est, non cursus ligula. Praesent ac lacinia elit. Quisque id orci orci. Cras feugiat sodales massa a semper. Pellentesque nec erat enim. Suspendisse blandit sodales turpis, ut volutpat nunc ornare a. Fusce a velit id ante scelerisque placerat sit amet eget nunc. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Morbi odio sapien, tincidunt quis venenatis et, dictum eget massa.

Nulla vestibulum sapien eleifend erat adipiscing in laoreet neque ultrices. Mauris aliquet eleifend sem et gravida. Etiam ante sapien, laoreet id pulvinar vel, mollis ut est. Aenean id scelerisque risus. Aliquam sollicitudin rhoncus sollicitudin. Donec enim nibh, fringilla a pretium vitae, tempus sit amet velit. Cras et lacus odio. Morbi condimentum augue ut nunc congue id porta leo iaculis. Sed euismod dignissim erat, at dictum dui pharetra vestibulum. Etiam molestie elementum magna, sit amet adipiscing lorem vulputate vitae. Quisque ornare, justo commodo lobortis posuere, leo purus luctus augue, a imperdiet tortor ante sit amet diam. Ut at dui ante. Nunc tincidunt vulputate fermentum. Integer mattis sollicitudin dapibus. Nulla in tellus justo. Curabitur posuere quam quis eros pharetra eget posuere risus mollis. Morbi tempus sagittis sodales.

Nulla nisi sapien, auctor sed scelerisque id, vulputate sit amet turpis. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Sed varius mollis volutpat. Fusce interdum sodales velit in dignissim. Maecenas convallis, metus id faucibus scelerisque, urna eros tempor tellus, eget cursus velit nunc in libero. Morbi sed felis nec lorem elementum laoreet. Morbi luctus libero quis libero convallis euismod a sit amet diam. In vulputate diam vel magna interdum tristique. Proin vitae dapibus tortor. Cras nec felis elit, eu pellentesque ante. Donec arcu mauris, blandit vestibulum imperdiet vitae, pellentesque ac magna. Nunc sed eros ac risus aliquet elementum et vitae tortor. Praesent non lectus sit amet sapien congue volutpat a sed tellus. Aliquam dolor sem, dignissim feugiat accumsan varius, aliquet vitae est.

Integer gravida mollis ligula, et varius odio rutrum a. Aliquam fermentum tempor bibendum. Pellentesque sapien nulla, egestas in lobortis sit amet, scelerisque eget tortor. Pellentesque consequat mattis enim vel ullamcorper. Fusce tincidunt aliquet cursus. Nam nec felis lacus. Etiam rhoncus turpis ut augue auctor quis viverra felis blandit. Donec volutpat nunc vitae odio adipiscing suscipit. Praesent velit lacus, tempus ut porta nec, fringilla sed leo. Mauris id velit risus, eget luctus est. Ut justo purus, rutrum ac feugiat sed, lobortis vitae enim.

Captain Obvious

It's getting out of hand and I'm sick of it.

See, I've been living my life in Imaginary America. Sarah Palin, in an attempt to gain the all-too-important Small Town Vote, referred to small towns as "what I call 'Real America.'" Which, of course, implies that big cities are Fake America. I would say more, but I think Daily Show has me covered. So, moving on... Representative Robin Hayes of North Carolina, while kicking off a McCain rally, shat out this gem: "Folks, there’s a real America, and liberals hate real Americans that work, and accomplish, and achieve, and believe in God."

Goddamnit, this is unacceptable. Wake the fuck up. Do people buy this shit?

Since I was a kid, I always saw attack ads on TV and took them for granted. "Our Democracy kills 12% less babies than the leading brand!" It's simple marketing, and it makes sense. To a 12-year-old, anyway. Now that I'm 20 (and a half), and about to vote, I'm starting to see the crucial difference between laundry detergent advertisements and political smears, which is this: Laundry detergent does not shape your reality.

Democracy is founded on the basis that, as a people, we get what we want. These days, we're more concerned about what we don't want. And sure, I'm guilty of it too. I don't want a shitty economy, for example. But here's the thing about destruction: Thinking about what you don't want doesn't do anything. We need to eliminate the bad, yes, absolutely. Simplicity is king! But! When you destroy something, you need to put something back in its place, and that is the problem with negative thinking.

Here's how it works: People in this country have no fucking conviction. Think, what do ditzy girls sound like? "Um, I guess the economy-thing is sort of like, bad, you know?" Then she giggles and breaks eye contact as her voice gets higher, as if she's asking a fucking question. Entire conversations littered with qualifying "I guess"es, all so that we can say or think whatever the fuck we want and not be held accountable for it, not have to flesh the ideas out fully. And then nothing gets done. Well, guess what? That's how we're running our election. We don't know what we want. The parties don't care what we want, but they know what we don't want.

Telling you we need to end the financial crisis is safe. Telling you that Obama's plan probably won't work is safe. Telling you that mine definitely will? Well, that's a little more difficult. So, fuck it! I'll go the safe route. Might as well. It's simple marketing.

There's no doubt that negative campaigning is (a) worthless and (b) everywhere. But earlier I said that it shapes reality, and here's why: we (as in, everyone) are being told that what We (as in, the party of your choice) aren't, They are. We don't want abortions; They must fucking love killing babies. We don't want this war in Iraq; They must think it's a fucking blast. And so on. And so forth. You build up this Us Versus Them for long enough, you hear the right "We Won't Allow," and suddenly, you find yourself on a side.

So once you've decided to support a party on the basis of a shared dislike, you don't care (or even know) about the issues any more than you did before. You don't have any new solutions. You only know that certain things are inconvenient and you want them to go away.

And suddenly, you didn't get what you wanted.

bs.

Graffiti conversation seen in Willard:
"I have fat arms"
"Yes you do! Lose weight, chubberz"
"PROTEIN"

Chrome went live, Don LaFontaine died, and textbooks are expensive.

Dis-Oriented

It happened today.

I had a fucking incredible summer. It was cool to slow it down a little and enjoy myself. The whole "no job" experiment went really well. Fucking nuts, right? Who knew doing jackshit nothing could be so much fun?

So after 3 months of taking it easy and absolutely loving my general "what I got goin' on," I had to peace out of that piece and come to state to be a bitch. I was really anxious about it. After 3 solid months of continuous self-abuse, it's hard to come back to a place where - omfg - you might go as long as 24 hours at a time without any free time. Success is hard! Simply moving to another place is pretty stressful as well. There's a pretty big shock, having to leave behind all of your friends, all your old haunts, all your habits. Your life. And being obligated to pick up another one where you left off doesn't help.

So what happened today? I stopped caring. It was great. I woke up with the feeling that four hours of class in a day is absolutely reasonable. Not feeling anxious about having to reconnect with different people. Liking the upward mobility of my life here - And, while I wouldn't necessarily call my life in Erie a "downward spiral," there's very little motivation to do anything besides wander in no particular direction at all.

So, I'm here. Back home. I'm good about it.

no really

Stupid things I have said that people have taken seriously:
• I'm a French-Canadian war orphan
• I'm going to start a clothing label, Norma Jeans. In addition to selling retardedly tight denim, the company will produce wrist-gash temporary tattoos.
• I have a big bag of space rocks, which are crack rocks dipped in PCP, in my backpack. You kids need any? Five bucks.

Sarcasm: You say something phenomenally stupid, first with the intent of communicating exactly the opposite of what has been said (because it was stupid), and second, to emphasize that what you said is stupid, and so is anybody that would agree. The more serious your tone, and the more outrageous the claim, the funnier it is, just because of the greater disparity between what is meant and what is said.

Unfortunately, there is a problem. One would hope that if I were to say something such as "I got the space rocks," you would say "Ha! What a delightful joke. Suburban college kids don't actually got the space rocks." But as it turns out, sarcasm will ultimately fail because everybody else but me is a moron.

I witness this constantly. I don't know about you, but I've had to use the phrase "I was just being sarcastic" far more than I should. Maybe it's unfair to expect people to know me well enough to know when I'm "lying," but I guess I understand how terrible it would be to be stupid that you think an ethnic French-Canadian looks like a Korean kid. Wait, nevermind, I lied. I have no conception of what it's like to be that dense. I can't imagine it.

Nonetheless, I will sympathize with those people in the world that just don't get it, the ones who live where people speak plainly, the douchebags that constantly remind me that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. Sarcasm, and his father Irony, should be seen for what they are: Great big walls, keeping the stupid from scrambling north into the liberating lands of intelligent discourse. How can we ever expect to have a truly democratic debate on a level playing field when the smarty-pants types won't even say what they mean?

Is this just me? Are there other people out there who are too sarcastic for their own good? Is it our fault?

For more, incredibly (stupidly) detailed reading on Sarcasm, consult Wikipedia.

Bitch, I ain't got no job.

Yeah, I'm scraping by on yard work this summer. Not giving a shit is pretty liberating, let me tell you what. So I have all this free time and it's actually not driving me crazy or causing me to be broke. A few chores for my parents here and there, and I've got enough money to get by. Truth be told, if I was working full-time, I'd probably spend all the extra money on drugs. So, it's like, I get more free time, less stress, and my body thanks me for it.

So what to do with my free time? I don't know. I have the whole summer to pursue whatever the hell I want. Normally, this would mean "take it easy, smoke some buds, have some beers, and not give a fuck." I wouldn't mind that, and fuck, that kind of behavior is pretty much par for the course since a summer of drug abuse would be, surprisingly, quite healthy. I need some time to just not care about classes, work, women, money (LionCash+ and boardpoints included), roommates, and so on.

But saying "I did nothing because it is summer" (as too many of my friends are encouraging me to do) is an excuse, not a reason. In fact, it's a pretty fucking stupid excuse. Yes, school is on hold right now; However unfortunately, time is not. So, during my dedicated four months away from book-learnin', it's personal development time, bitches.

Right now, I'm trying to eliminate as much excess from my life as I can. Bullshit breeds bullshit, you see; Everything you own contributes towards the mess on your floor, is probably bad for you, and will inevitably need to be fixed, fucked with, unfucked with, upgraded, thrown out, or replaced. This bullshit principle applies to more of your life than material possessions, however. After all, your car payment is dependent on money is dependent on a job is dependent on school. School, of course, conflicts with everything.

What degree of bullshit would you be willing to kick out of your life? Simplicity is nice, but so is running water. I'd like to pay some bills, ya heard? I want to continue lifting weights regularly, learn to play guitar a bit better, pick up some more books (and maybe even read them!), spend more time appreciating the outdoors, and so on, and so forth. And, fuck it, I've got all these half-baked thought-fragments left over from whatever psychedelics I've been cramming into my brain. Maybe I'll spend some time actually fleshing these ideas out while sober, rather than just going to the Ledges (again) and claiming that "I realized that trees are like, pretty trippy, 'cus of fractals and shit, man, drugs really expand your mind."

And yeah, none of those activities sound necessarily fun but if I've learned anything this semester, it's that fun and happiness have absolutely jackshit nothing nothing nothing to do with each other, so grow the fuck up, okay?

So that's me. What bullshit do you want to eliminate from your life? And are you neglecting any positive activities that you should spend more time with? What's stopping you?

ps. link dump: McCain gets paid $58,000 a year for being "technically" disabled, "When every song ever recorded fits on your MP3 player, will you listen to any of them?", and if you feel like wasting your summer with an MMORPG about internet memes, check out ForumWarz.