|
| It’s been many a month since my last real weblog entry, much to the dismay (I’m sure) of everyone that used to read about my life. I said it when I first started doing this: I’m going to get lazy and abandon it in the woods somewhere, where it can stare back at me with those sad eyes. Well, as often occurs among the deadbeat fathers of this world I am returning to my little lost love child, although how long I’ll stick around to raise the little tike is up for speculation.
Life is going relatively well. Although I did recently discover that I could work in Canada (and thus live in a nicely furnished Langley basement with roommates rather than my self-furnished Bellingham hole), to do so would require an uprooting of Herculean proportions and the taking of two other classes. Although they would be nice, I would have to do them on Monday/Wednesday, the same day as my already existing class, to maximize that day as my Day of School. I would also need to, in the following order, a) get into the school with the classes, b) get the work permit, c) find someone to take over my lease, d) pack up again, and e) get a job, which I just got here. No, I think that despite my strong desires to return to the white Northlands I am doomed to at least a semester within arm’s length of its snowy shores.
I have discovered the intriguing world of podcasting and how, connected with my iPod and iPod transmitter, I no longer have to listen to the inane quirks of NPR, nor will I have to miss the pieces that are informative rather than O’Reilly-esque in execution. I just make my own playlist, made of the shinier detritus of NPR, the BBC and the CBC. Back episodes of various shows still bewitch me, though, and I doubt I’ll get all caught up on things anytime soon. | | |
| Alright, so I pilfered the subject from a post where I found this bit, but here's the deal:
In case you hadn't heard, Vecna Technologies has designed a robot that will rescue injured soldiers. To reassure the soldiers, it's got a face that looks like a teddy bear. Its name is the Battlefield Extraction Assist Robot, or BEAR.
That's right. Soldiers will be rescued by a teddy-bear robot.
That's not all. Handling the injured and the dead is appropriate for the company, as its namesake, Vecna, happens to from Dungeons and Dragons. And is the evil one-eyed lich-god of death.
In other words, the Pentagon is contracting with geeks that run a technology company named for the fictional source of all evil and death and design teddy-bear rescue robots.
The Article
Vecna, God of Death | | |
|
I am in Bellingham.
No, not to visit, not to stick around
for a few weeks, and not for just the summer. I'm here through
Christmas.
These past few weeks have been
upheaval, to say the least. I now have a car (with car payments,
insurance payments, and maintenance payments), an apartment (with
rent), furniture and a job (almost). I don't have people I'm hanging
out with in Bellingham – my friends are all either an hour or more
south or an hour north. I do have one friend in Bellingham but she
is, regrettably, ridiculously busy. Anyone I know at WWU, which is
only across the street from my place, doesn't know I'm here. Well,
they know now. (By the by, if you want to hang out feel free to email me.)
I still have
schoolwork. Yes, that's right: schoolwork. I have a paper and a
couple little essays to write. I'm going to have to start hanging
out on campus to get this stuff done, though, as my room is presently
not equipped for schoolwork. My desktop computer isn't even hooked
up yet – I'm relying on my laptop to get me through.
It's stressful,
it's disconcerting, but I'm growing up. I'm all but finished with
school. I'm dating someone. I have my eyes set on where I want to
be when my last class is finished this fall. I'm scared, though.
We'll see how this experiment turns out.
| | |
| I'm sick, and not in the good way. Like, sore throat, feeling awful kind of sick. I think I got it from Tiffany (the new girlfriend) by being overconfident in my immune system's ability to handle any issue. The result is that I'm missing yet another day of weight training (no good, no good!) and I need to go to bed now instead of in three hours after working on reducing my workload, which is substantial. It will be done, though when is another story.
| | |
|
So, for some of you it’s been more than a month since my
last entry. I apologize, but every time
I think of something to write I’ve been sidetracked by something else that needs doing.
I went and saw Derek Webb the other night and during the
proceedings I finished a thought I’d been mulling over for the last few
months. Inspired by my pen pal, I’d been
wondering why we seem to lack a sense of heroism in our culture. Well, not that we lack a sense of it – the guy
that saved the other guy from dying beneath a subway was promptly recognized –
but rather that we can’t seem to actually do it ourselves. The result was this: we’re too bored to actually do anything. The battles we’ve won have left us pretty
well and good. When was the last time
you were hungry because there was literally nothing to eat? I’ve been hungry because I’d rather not eat leftovers,
but certainly not because there was no money to buy more food. The battles we have left begin with the fight
against apathy. Everyone needs to fight
this battle each day. The politicians we
don’t like need to fight against going through the motions of politics. The staffers need to fight against
cynicism. The people that serve the
homeless need to fight against depression and pessimism. It is apathy that destroys heroism. Nobody’s spurring you to action, and nobody
will force you out of your major or your career. That’s your job, and that’s why there are no
more heroes.
In other news, I’m ridiculously busy: I have more
assignments than I can shake a stick at, I’ve got friendships to maintain, I’ve
got a dating relationship to establish (yes, I’m dating someone – more on that
at a later date) and I’ve got friends up visiting. Life, though, is good. I hope all is well with all of you. | | |
|
