Month: September 2009

Obviously You’re Not a Golfer

From September 2009 – Northern California

In the last month, I have missed celebrating the birthdays of my brother, my mother, and two of my sisters. To make up for it, last weekend I had the great privilege of going up to Northern California to celebrate Angelo’s 4th birthday – we had a blast. Per tradition, we went to the zoo during my visit. We celebrated Labor Day with the true working person’s pastime (and also that of the Dude): bowling. Be sure to visit the web album for some video of Angelo opening his birthday present from grandma.

Since I’ve been back in LA, I’ve been getting back into the swing of grad student life. This semester, currently slated to be my second-to-last in the grad program, part of what the grad student life entails is writing my thesis proposal. Who knew that so much research was needed to basically say “I want to write a 90-page novella”? The good news is that it’s really forcing me to think about what I’m doing with this piece.

Anyway, I suppose that’s about all I have to say for the moment. Stay tuned for more exciting news.

Gone Fishin’

Gone Fishin’

Last Friday I went with some friends down to San Pedro, where we hopped on a boat and went out into the ocean for some evening fishing. It was my first time on the ocean, which was quite a pleasant experience. It was also my first time fishing since my early teenage years, and I can assure you that there is quite a difference between fishing on the ocean and fishing in a small Midwestern pond. Once I got the hang of it, I began reeling ’em in. I managed to catch six fish total, two sculpin and four halibut. One of the sculpin was too small so I had to throw it back. I had the other filleted on the way back to shore and ate it for dinner Sunday night. The fish was tasty and the fishing trip was a lot of fun.

In other news, I recently stumbled upon the following quote from Alec Baldwin:

“What Vick did is, obviously, senseless and reprehensible. But I believe Vick, as a wealthy and talented athletic superstar who performs his job out in the open before crowds of amped-up and highly opinionated fans, suffers an unfair disadvantage as compared to, say, the heads of a meatpacking plant or the directors of a medical research lab where animals are suffering the cruelest imaginable abuses behind walls and doors that remove them from our sight and, therefore, judgments.”

Alec Baldwin expressing his views on the Michael Vick case in the Huffington Post.

While on one hand I tend to agree with the spirit of what he’s saying here, he does seem to oversimplify a bit, lumping arguably legitimate causes (food and medical care) in with much more difficult to defend practices, namely a barbaric entertainment ritual and senseless gambling. Anyway, I just thought it was an interesting topic.

And finally, via greenlagirl I found this fascinating site that serves as irrefutable evidence that democracy is a farce: MAPLight.org. Enjoy!