My So-Called Proxy Life

Drunken and lacking in attention span, the norm for a drunken weekend evening, I wandered through the local bar TryAngles. It was a relatively nice night in the summer of 2009 when something peculiar occurred: a note was handed to me by a guy with striking features. Searing sharp eyes, an innocent and shy smile, and impossible eyebrows. His name and number scribbled on the note, one of the only times I’ve ever received a number from a guy at the bar on a note. It felt a bit like being in high school, sparked with that twinge of excitement. Just as quickly as he had handed it to me, he disappeared into his group of friends. This is how I met Jason McCarley. One of my truly devastating problems is my lack of memory. I remember things which occur, but rarely in which order. I have a horrible sense of time, and this recollection is therefore segmented into bits and pieces instead of a linear timeline. The more I think, the more things become clearer, but since I generally suspect my m...

"Because [corporations] may be managed and controlled by nonresidents, their interests may conflict in fundamental respects with the interests of eligible voters." Justice John Paul Stevens, dissenting opinion On January 21st, 2010 , the United States Supreme Court ruled, in a 5-4 split decision, to overturn decades of campaign finance reform under the guise of First Amendment requirements. Justices Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito voted in favor of Citizens United, the nonprofit which brought the lawsuit. Their argument? That their film, Hillary: The Movie , was unfairly prohibited from being screened, since they attempted to broadcast it within 30 days of the 2008 Presidential election. I would like to point out that I have no legal experience, but even I can see how flawed this decision is. The opinion by Justice Kennedy (the current swing vote on the court) spectacularly fails to explain their decision, delving into such random non-issues like video-on-demand s...

"To have a task force make the recommendation that has been made, and to have in this bill the authority that's given to various unelected bureaucrats to make health care decisions, including coverage frequency, in my opinion, is wrong," [Joe] Barton told a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on health. MSNBC.com - Breast-screening debate splits along party lines This sort of quote is something I expect from politicians -- "unelected bureaucrats" should not be making health care decisions. Uh, yes, that is a very agreeable statement, if any sort of rational logic were underlying it. But since most health care decisions today are made by unelected insurance companies, that sort of statement is a bit contradictory.

Sometimes, when love won't answer back, you need to throw in the towel... Courtesy of Dido -------------------------------------------------- I know you think that I shouldn't still love you, Or tell you that. But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it where's the sense in that? I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder Or return to where we were I will go down with this ship And I won't put my hands up and surrender There will be no white flag above my door I'm in love and always will be I know I left too much mess and destruction to come back again And I caused nothing but trouble I understand if you can't talk to me again And if you live by the rules of "it's over" then I'm sure that that makes sense I will go down with this ship And I won't put my hands up and surrender There will be no white flag above my door I'm in love and always will be And when we meet Which I'm sure we will All that was there ...

Saw Zack Snyder's new film Watchmen tonight with a bunch of friends. I should mention first that I have not read the graphic novel which this was based on. With that being said… Watchmen was damn good! It doesn't approach the greatness of V for Vendetta , but it is nowhere near League of Extraordinary Gentlemen bad. The biggest problems with the movie are hard to pinpoint, since it is difficult to say why it doesn't feel as great as it should have been. The use of music was often very over-the-top, and the plot seemed to meander quite a bit. Also, it runs nearly 3 hours long – this didn't bother me much aside from the three or four different endings (the last of which is almost completely pointless). And if you are easily distracted by male nudity (and I am – hey, I enjoy looking, so sue me!), Dr. Manhattan doesn't have any shyness about walking around completely nude most of the time. Talk about blue balls! But damn if it isn't a pretty spectacular movie. A h...

There is a person I know who has the rather obnoxious habit of saying variations of, "Know what I mean?" Sometimes it comes out, "See what I'm saying?" This is related to the unfortunate speaking style many of us Americans have adopted lately – and I fall victim to this frequently myself – where our punctuation becomes verbally expressed with various "ums" and "uhs", "you knows" and "likes". Hell, even our new President, when not reading from Teleprompters, starts sounding like a verbal machine gun. As for my new job, I am still trying to get a feel for this place. It's far different from the corporate world of JCPenney, which was very much of the nameless/faceless megacorps where you can essentially disappear and work on your own without being noticed for the most part. This is good and bad, since it's good to hide the things you don't want noticed, but bad when you want recognition for the good things you do....

30 years old. A major turning point, or at least I think so. Age is probably just a meaningless number, but whatever. I don't have plans to celebrate my birthday because planning for such an event requires time and effort. Plus, I'd rather not have to make my friends come up with excuses for why they won't be able to attend. Maybe I'll go to Brewvies if they are showing anything I want to see. When your birthday is in the middle of a work week, it makes it difficult to do anything. My family won't be celebrating until this weekend, so I could draw this out for at least three or four days. My 30 th birthday will forever be marked by the theft of my catalytic converter and O2 sensor from my Jeep. Apparently theft of these, particularly on high-profile vehicles such as mine, are a quick sell to parts facilities. I've always wondered what type of business accepts an auto part with no proof of ownership. I mean, this obviously isn't a one-time occurrence for the...