So here I am, at home alone on Halloween night. I feel rather pathetic.

Somehow, I've gotten sucked into watching the broadcast of the movie HALLOWEEN on FX. I've never been much for scary movies, particularly the axe-murderer type, and I've never seen this before, but I can't bring myself to turn it off.

And the dog is freaking out. I wonder if she knows something I don't . . .
- posted by Jason @ 6:16 PM

 
I just took the "Which West Wing Character Are You?" questionaire, and it looks like I'm:



The idealistic speechwriter is well-liked by just about everyone. He's known for his excellent writing, sense of humor, and tendency to be clutzy. Although being younger than the rest of the staff, he's often treated as so, much to his dismay.

:: Which West Wing character are you? ::

I guess I can live with that. :)
- posted by Jason @ 7:56 AM

 
So my parents came up and visited for the weekend. They left yesterday morning, but I miss them. Unlike Haley's parents, my mom and dad are really very easy to get along with and good houseguests. Debbie and Roland, on the other hand, always seem to expect that we entertain them with trips into the city, to the mall, or whatever.

Plus, my mother came bearing FOOD! Between her Chili Relleno casserole, fried chicken, and pot roast, (not to mention her salads, which I'm going to have to start making myself) we ate the best that we had eaten in a long time. Since we're staying home for Christmas this year, I'm now hoping that they'll come back for the holidays.
- posted by Jason @ 7:37 AM

 
I have decided that I am going to be a crotchety old man. When you're old, it's okay to be crotchety, and no one seems to bat an eyelash. And let's be honest: we've all had moments when we just wanted to be crotchety and have everyone just accept it. That sounds like fun.

On the other hand, it could just be that I like saying the word "crotchety."
- posted by Jason @ 3:26 PM

 
I attended that teach-in today, and listened to all the lectures from 9AM to 3PM. My brain admittedly feels a little fried right now, but I can honestly say that that was one of the best days I've ever had at school. I learned a lot and I enjoyed all of the lectures.

Dr. Burton said yesterday that he considered the whole thing to be nothing more than a school sanctioned propaganda campaign. I have therefore decided that he's a fool. And I feel perfectly fine about that.
- posted by Jason @ 4:35 PM

 
It seems like I'm becoming less and less impressed with my International Relations professor as time goes by. He said something today that I'm still trying to wrap my brain around, though I suppose it reveals some of the way he thinks.

We're having a series of lectures in the theater tomorrow on a variety of political topics. Some of the speakers will be faculty members, some will be guest lecturers who have been invited. I've known about it for a couple of weeks, but today I found out that Dr. Burton (the aforementioned professor) was also invited to speak but declined. Someone in class asked why. Dr. Burton's reply was as follows:

"I'll tell you what I told Baxter [the head of the Poli Sci Department]: I'm probably the only conservative Republican professor on staff here. If you want a target, go hire one."

Aside from being a rather belligerent way to turn down a lecture invitation, I was reminded of a discussion on the WD a while back about how few conservative professors there are in higher education. How could he complain on the one hand (in the very same sentence) that he's the only conservative on staff, and yet turn down an opportunity to speak to a large gathering of students and provide an opposing viewpoint? The liberal Professor Baxter didn't refuse to allow conservatives to speak. She didn't try to provide only a liberal viewpoint. HE WAS INVITED TO SPEAK!!!!

I'm beginning to think that at least some conservatives have a strange persecution complex. I have a classmate who is a staunch conservative and who I talk with a great deal. Whenever we talk about international relations issues, inevitably one of the first things to come out of his mouth is "They'll blame us if we do that. They'll blame us if we don't do anything. So maybe we should just stay home and let everyone else solve their own problems."

Is this, perhaps, why Fox News has proven so successful? Are conservatives so eager to avoid any disagreement that they prefer to cocoon themselves in a nice, comfortable womb of conservatism? Might that be one of the real reasons that there are so few conservatives in higher education? That they can't handle disagreement?

I guess I'm just flabergasted that he could turn down such an invitation. After all, the only way to change the overwhelming liberalism in higher education is to provide an alternative--to fight against the current and try to accomplish what you think needs to be accomplished.

But maybe that's too idealistic for such hardened realists.
- posted by Jason @ 1:24 PM

 
Well, I took about a month off from the internet, but I think I'm back now. The internet is great and I wouldn't trade it, or my internet friends, for the world but sometimes I notice that it tends to suck up a lot of time. This can be a good things sometimes, but occasionally I feel like I'm spending too much time on the computer instead of actually doing things. So I found the time to do a lot of other things over the past month or so, in addition to the ever-increasing amounts of homework I seem to be getting.

I've started building models, which I've always wanted to do but never had the time for. Right now it's restricted to fairly simple models until I get the hang of this, but I hope to progress to something a bit more complex soon. I've also made some progress on my writing, which I'm even happier about. I used to write a great deal--stories mostly, but that's another things that I just stopped having much time for at some point. It feels good to be doing that again.

I bought the new John Mayer CD the other day. What a great album! Sometimes I wonder how he can write songs that reflect MY thoughts somehow, but I'm glad he does.

Someday I'll fly
Someday I'll soar
Someday I'll be so damn much more
Cause I'm bigger than my body give me credit for

Maybe I'll tangle in the power lines
And it might be over in a second's time
But I'll gladly go down in a flame
If a flame's what it takes to remember my name

Then, of course, I HAD TO buy the Matrix Reloaded DVD because it was my favorite movie from this year. It has so many layers of depth to it--every time I watch it I feel like I get something new out of it (and besides, the fight scenes are just too awesome). The first Matrix seemed to very much embrace myth and religion and faith and destiny--all the things that guys like Joseph Campbell write about. I liked it in spite of myself, since I've never been someone who puts of a lot of (ahem) faith in religion, no pun intended. But then, when Reloaded came out, I felt like the writers turned around and refuted most of what they had embraced in the first movie. The prophecy had been used as a form of control. The prophecy was a lie. There is no destiny. It reflected my own personal beliefs much more, and I thought it was great the way they did it. Now I can't wait for Matrix Revolutions to come out, because I feel like we're going into uncharted territory. What do you do after your destiny has been destroyed?

You write your own. I think that's where Matrix Revolutions is going: we write our own destiny. I couldn't be more excited.
- posted by Jason @ 7:38 AM

 
My apologies for not making an update in so long. I've had three tests, a legal brief, and a term paper outline to do this week, so I've had little time free time. I haven't even been able to squeeze in much WWIIOL (which I promise to rectify soon, if any of my squad-mates are reading this).

Beyond that, though, I must admit to feeling a bit depressed lately. I'm not entirely sure why. The best I can come up with is that it must be a combination of a bunch of things, all of them too depressing to go into here. I've spent what little free time I've had recharging my batteries a bit: watching old Star Treks, going bowling, eating sushi, and just trying to have fun. I get this way sometimes, going back to when I first discovered the internet. I go through cycles of spending a lot of time online and then spending hardly any time. But I will be back very soon, and I promise to post blog entries about less depressing things. Thanks to everyone who's posted a comment or sent an email.
- posted by Jason @ 3:22 PM