So. For the first time in my life, I'm faced with the prospect of venturing out on my own without the safety net. As my mother has said to me, if I want something bad enough that I can't consider another possibility, then I should be willing to work and sweat and bleed for it. So I am giving serious thought to the possibility of subletting my place in Boston and just moving out to Los Angeles without a job lined up or anything set up in advance besides a place to live.

I figure that if I was willing to be a Blockbuster manager or take some other "pud job" as various people put it (including Candi, who first brought that term to my attention), then I'd be willing to do it in L.A. where my rent would be cheaper than Boston and I'd be able to pick up a cheap health insurance plan (Massachusetts' insurance laws prevent me from getting insured by anyone other than the state, a school or an employer and COBRA payments are bleeding me dry).

The possibility of the Dream Job may come yet, but I'd have to be in L.A. to get my foot in the door. And I think for that, I might be willing still to work, sweat, bleed and cry for it. The question is, do I have the balls to do it and venture out on my own and play the nomad and see where life takes me and risk being cut off by Mom & Dad because I've been branded "fiscally irresponsible" for making a rash maneuver like this, or do I tuck tail and stay in Boston or move back to Connecticut and get some pud job for the next few months and then go to school to become a radiology technologist? I'm leaning towards the former, since I'm 25 and if I want this bad enough, it's time that I finally recognize that there's something in this world that I have a burning desire to do and I stand up and do it. But the fear is holding me back. Well, that and the fact that I still need someone to sublet my room.

If I try, I'm halfway to triumph
So c'mon c'mon
If I sigh, I'm halfway to silence
So c'mon
I'm alive and I'm halfway to dying
So c'mon c'mon
And I'm halfway to laughing and halfway to crying...
-- Rustic Overtones, "C'mon"

We will now pause while Keith's life takes an unexpected turn away from where he wanted it to go. Namely, California is looking even more distant and unprobable, and the parental units are pressuring me to make an immediate decision to do something. Pardon the lack of entries, I've got more crap to deal with now than I wanted.

We will now pause while Keith's life takes an unexpected turn away from where he wanted it to go. Namely, California is looking even more distant and unprobable, and the parental units are pressuring me to make an immediate decision to do something. Pardon the lack of entries, I've got more crap to deal with now than I wanted.

There are just some times when I feel like I want to run away from it all, just get in the car and drive to some far-off place and set up shop and a new life in some random locale and forget about everything as I know it. It may sound cheesy in some folk-song-ish kind of way, but the prospect of just going someplace new and starting a new life has its comforts and its appeals, plans and jobs be damned.

There are just some times when I feel like I want to run away from it all, just get in the car and drive to some far-off place and set up shop and a new life in some random locale and forget about everything as I know it. It may sound cheesy in some folk-song-ish kind of way, but the prospect of just going someplace new and starting a new life has its comforts and its appeals, plans and jobs be damned.

He's faster than the speed of thought! No... umm... He's stronger than a frail old man in a cave! No... umm... Well, he's impervious to any faux pas he might make! A story was quietly released early this morning, in which President Moron apologized for making a racial slur against Pakistanis. Apparently, he referred to them as "Pakis" when talking to reporters on Monday, which is considered by many Pakistanis to be an insulting slur.

The thing is, this guy seems impervious to everything just given the fact that he's the president right now. Where was this "we've got to support our President and his administration, right or wrong" mentality when Clinton was in office? Clinton was involved in the Whitewater scandal several years ago (which didn't really affect that many people anyways) and he got a consensual blow job while he was in office which affected no one except him and Monica and Hillary. Moron, on the other hand, has allowed his people to stomp all over the Bill of Rights and trash the Constitutional rights of thousands of Americans, plus most of the members of his Cabinet were major shareholders in Enron until recently (including his vice-president Dick, who was heavily involved in using Enron to formulate the government's energy policy) which has affected even thousands more. Yet the media hasn't said a peep about this, his opponents haven't brought it up, and the critics and pundits are mostly silent on this issue.

I don't get it. If anything, this should be a time to question every action of our administration, not give them free reign to exercise absolute control over us and the country. Yes, our country was attacked by terrorists. But that doesn't mean that we should let our government run amuck with itself unchecked.

He's faster than the speed of thought! No... umm... He's stronger than a frail old man in a cave! No... umm... Well, he's impervious to any faux pas he might make! A story was quietly released early this morning, in which President Moron apologized for making a racial slur against Pakistanis. Apparently, he referred to them as "Pakis" when talking to reporters on Monday, which is considered by many Pakistanis to be an insulting slur.

The thing is, this guy seems impervious to everything just given the fact that he's the president right now. Where was this "we've got to support our President and his administration, right or wrong" mentality when Clinton was in office? Clinton was involved in the Whitewater scandal several years ago (which didn't really affect that many people anyways) and he got a consensual blow job while he was in office which affected no one except him and Monica and Hillary. Moron, on the other hand, has allowed his people to stomp all over the Bill of Rights and trash the Constitutional rights of thousands of Americans, plus most of the members of his Cabinet were major shareholders in Enron until recently (including his vice-president Dick, who was heavily involved in using Enron to formulate the government's energy policy) which has affected even thousands more. Yet the media hasn't said a peep about this, his opponents haven't brought it up, and the critics and pundits are mostly silent on this issue.

I don't get it. If anything, this should be a time to question every action of our administration, not give them free reign to exercise absolute control over us and the country. Yes, our country was attacked by terrorists. But that doesn't mean that we should let our government run amuck with itself unchecked.

So on Monday, a killer asteroid came within 375,000 miles of Earth (about twice the distance from the Earth to the moon). If it had hit the planet, scientists estimate that it would've wiped out a large country and had a devastating effect equivalent to several nuclear bombs. But it missed us -- and even though 375K miles seems like a long distance, in the grand scheme of things, we were inches away from a sideswipe. And the thing is, they didn't find out about the asteroid until December, which would've given us maybe three weeks to prepare for it. Yes, I know, in the words of Billy Bob Thornton in Armageddon: "It's a big sky." Which means there could be something else out there headed right for us that we don't know about yet.

Scientists were talking about how there's another asteroid that's going to make a near-Earth pass in the year 2027, but that too should miss us. However, they said that we currently don't have any plans or technology to help ourselves should we find an asteroid on a collision course with our planet. Benny Peiser of the Royal Astronomical Society in England said, "If we had 20 or 30 years' time, then we could develop a technology to deflect an object. With our current lacked of preparedness, we are helpless."

I've got a great idea -- instead of just sitting around waiting for someone to invent the technology that can help you, why not come up with a plan yourselves? You're scientists, you're smart -- this is your job! Don't pass the buck and hope that technology will have advanced to the point where we can deflect an asteroid when we need to. Get up off your asses, stop playing Snood on those big supercomputers and get to work.

So on Monday, a killer asteroid came within 375,000 miles of Earth (about twice the distance from the Earth to the moon). If it had hit the planet, scientists estimate that it would've wiped out a large country and had a devastating effect equivalent to several nuclear bombs. But it missed us -- and even though 375K miles seems like a long distance, in the grand scheme of things, we were inches away from a sideswipe. And the thing is, they didn't find out about the asteroid until December, which would've given us maybe three weeks to prepare for it. Yes, I know, in the words of Billy Bob Thornton in Armageddon: "It's a big sky." Which means there could be something else out there headed right for us that we don't know about yet.

Scientists were talking about how there's another asteroid that's going to make a near-Earth pass in the year 2027, but that too should miss us. However, they said that we currently don't have any plans or technology to help ourselves should we find an asteroid on a collision course with our planet. Benny Peiser of the Royal Astronomical Society in England said, "If we had 20 or 30 years' time, then we could develop a technology to deflect an object. With our current lacked of preparedness, we are helpless."

I've got a great idea -- instead of just sitting around waiting for someone to invent the technology that can help you, why not come up with a plan yourselves? You're scientists, you're smart -- this is your job! Don't pass the buck and hope that technology will have advanced to the point where we can deflect an asteroid when we need to. Get up off your asses, stop playing Snood on those big supercomputers and get to work.

So I thought that my second show was a bit of a train wreck and was glad that no one was listening, though on listening to my aircheck tape, it wasn't as bad as it seemed during the fact. When you're behind the mic and your mind goes blank, milliseconds when you're not talking feel like minutes. And I managed to shock the CD players into completely stopping not once, but twice. Go static electricity! I think next Monday when I go back there, I'll wear gloves or something.

From the "Man, am I glad that wasn't me" files: on my way to the station, I was caught in a traffic jam as a result of someone hitting a state trooper's car. I was trying to decide whether or not more emergency vehicles than normal responded to that accident, since Massachusetts is rife with patronage and the Old Boy Network always has some pull. Do your insurance rates go up even more if you hit a police car?

So I thought that my second show was a bit of a train wreck and was glad that no one was listening, though on listening to my aircheck tape, it wasn't as bad as it seemed during the fact. When you're behind the mic and your mind goes blank, milliseconds when you're not talking feel like minutes. And I managed to shock the CD players into completely stopping not once, but twice. Go static electricity! I think next Monday when I go back there, I'll wear gloves or something.

From the "Man, am I glad that wasn't me" files: on my way to the station, I was caught in a traffic jam as a result of someone hitting a state trooper's car. I was trying to decide whether or not more emergency vehicles than normal responded to that accident, since Massachusetts is rife with patronage and the Old Boy Network always has some pull. Do your insurance rates go up even more if you hit a police car?

I've become very aware of people making a clicking sound using their tongues against the roof of their mouths before they begin a sentence or every time they close and reopen their mouths. It's much more prevalent that I'd previously thought -- watching Miss Congeniality last night was a clickfest. Sandra Bullock had an annoying tendency to do it before each sentence, especially in her final little speech at the end.

I guess it's just one of those vagaries of human functions that everyone kind of naturally ignores until it's called to their attention, then they can't stop noticing it. Like listening to DJs give a monologue, either during a commercial or when they're reading a long statement like the news, you can hear them take a sharp intake of breath so as to fill their lungs with the most amount of air in the least amount of time. But unless you're paying attention and listening for it, you won't notice it because you're so used to it.

I've become very aware of people making a clicking sound using their tongues against the roof of their mouths before they begin a sentence or every time they close and reopen their mouths. It's much more prevalent that I'd previously thought -- watching Miss Congeniality last night was a clickfest. Sandra Bullock had an annoying tendency to do it before each sentence, especially in her final little speech at the end.

I guess it's just one of those vagaries of human functions that everyone kind of naturally ignores until it's called to their attention, then they can't stop noticing it. Like listening to DJs give a monologue, either during a commercial or when they're reading a long statement like the news, you can hear them take a sharp intake of breath so as to fill their lungs with the most amount of air in the least amount of time. But unless you're paying attention and listening for it, you won't notice it because you're so used to it.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks there's rules to Netiquette. Someone actually wrote a book about it, and posted salient points online.

There's fierce debate raging on one of the online discussion groups I participate in regarding the Secret Service agent who was pulled off the American Airlines flight a few weeks ago. While it was agreed that both the agent and the pilot probably got a little territorial and heated words were exchanged, it's still unclear as to who was in the right. Someone on the list posted a message saying that if he were asked to leave a flight, he would leave peacefully and raise an objection once he was off the plane. I disagree, and I think it's hard to judge what actions one would take when faced with the situation. Personally, I think that if I were unfairly judged by my appearance, I would probably raise holy hell, especially since this racial profiling doesn't seem to be working.

Racial profiling is fine for everyone until they're the ones being profiled.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks there's rules to Netiquette. Someone actually wrote a book about it, and posted salient points online.

There's fierce debate raging on one of the online discussion groups I participate in regarding the Secret Service agent who was pulled off the American Airlines flight a few weeks ago. While it was agreed that both the agent and the pilot probably got a little territorial and heated words were exchanged, it's still unclear as to who was in the right. Someone on the list posted a message saying that if he were asked to leave a flight, he would leave peacefully and raise an objection once he was off the plane. I disagree, and I think it's hard to judge what actions one would take when faced with the situation. Personally, I think that if I were unfairly judged by my appearance, I would probably raise holy hell, especially since this racial profiling doesn't seem to be working.

Racial profiling is fine for everyone until they're the ones being profiled.