I"M ON THE BLOG!

Finally, now that i have my school e-mail account my e-mail isn't being monitored and blocked by Aol. So the blog e-mail came through. Just thought i'd share. I'll be posting now!! Gotta get back to work.
GO Obama! (who is running against NO ONe at the moment!)
-Alexis

Hi guys

Ok, I don't have much time because I'm in a cybercafe in Split, Croatia and my mom is bitching at me to hurry up, but I figured I'd post a little something just to say hi because I haven't for so long. So hi everyone, and I'll post more when I get back. promise. Tosin, how long will you be in Philly? Maybe I can visit you. Well, I gotta go eat. Bye!

good song, keegan

Some news for you, Miriam:

looks pretty damn painful, I think

I got my diploma this morning, after I turned in all my missing textbooks. Joy.

The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls

First of all, congratulations to you, Alex, for discovering in your bonnie lass something that is worth making great sacrifices for. Moreover, well done on having recognized love (to a greater degree, at least), and being strong-willed enough to understand and embrace challenges, such as her going to Israel, which no doubt fills you with an overwhelming truckload of emotions. Additionally, to Cornellians, I finsihed The Trial, and would like very much to hear your views on it, either here or via e-mail.

By the way, FRANCE JUST GOT ELIMINATED from Euro 2004. There is a God. Additionally, to prove his benevolence, he also eliminated Spain and Italy. Sadly, the English fell, but their captain is Beckham, so I'm not complaining too much, especially since he missed a PK that could have won the game. It's up to the small teams now, unless Germany does it...

Oh yes...I almost forgot to mention. Fuck. That's for a lot of stuff, so it's easiest to just say the one word. I'm pretty bored and it's only eleven right now, so I may be posting again soon. I know you all await that with eager eyes.

Still here

Linda is right, it really shouldn't be that hard to keep in touch. I read the blog often, but almost as often feel like i have nothing of interest to say. But, as i keep saying, I'll try.
What's going on in my life right now? Well I'm in Philly at the moment, chilling with family. I haven't done much that is constructive, other than baby sit and read mindless books. Oh, i read An Ideal Husband, a play by Oscar Wilde. I thought some of the ideas rather archaic and sexist (and it figures, Mr. Wilde wasn't exactly a 20th century man), but it was sweet. I can't decide if i think women should forgive like Lady Chiltern did, or just bust a cap in their husbands' asses. But oh well, i hope i never have to make that decision.
Tomorrow, when i'm at the library, i'm hoping to finally get a copy of Memoirs of a Geisha to read. Yay!
I got a $25 b&n gift certificate for grad, and i still can't figure out what to get. There's so much that i could get... Any suggestions?
I know i'm one to talk, but please please please someone email me?! Thanks.

sorry

I'm not going to post a real post right now. But I'm going to post a post about POST. Hey Cornellians, are you going to POST? particularly Linda. I'm having the problem that I can't get a flight that arrives early enough in the evening. So I think I'm going to have to come the day before and stay over. Anyone else having this problem? And is there still a NY reunion planned for the 14th? This may force me to be able to make it.

So I’m not sure if it’s ok to do one of these things for ourselves, but I’ll do it anyway. I think these things are fun.

DESCRIBE YOUR:
[ x ] Wallet – Fossil, Brown, leather
[ x ] Jewelry worn daily – Sparkling eyes and enchanting smile.
[ x ] Pillow cover – dark green
[ x ] Underwear – boxers and boxer-briefs
[ x ] Favorite shirt – my FUCK BUSH shirt
[ x ] Perfume/cologne – Axe doesn’t really count, so I’d say…nah, never mind. Axe: Kilo.
[ x ] CD in stereo right now – Tenacious D
[ x ] What you are wearing now – Quicksilver shorts, NJROTC T-shirt, and underwear.
[ x ] In my mouth – A song
[ x ] In my head – confusion
[ x ] Wishes – That all the terrible events of the summer will soon be but a memory, and that Cornell is all I hope it will be.
[ x ] After this – Work out, read the trial, welcome home my mother and father.
[ x ] Something you're looking forward to in the upcoming month – Anything that doesn’t involve me staying at home
[ x ] Do you like the taste of blood – I love it, especially when it is earned.
[ x ] Do you believe in love – What else is there?
[ x ] Do you believe in Heaven – In various ways.
[ x ] What do you want done with your body when you die – A huge funeral attended by all my friends, with a full-blown traditional Irish wake preceding it.
[ x ] If you could have any animal for a pet, what would it be – An Ankylosaur
[ x ] What's your favorite coin – A pound coin. Did you know there are four different kinds of pound coins? There’s one four each of the four British nations, but can be used anywhere.

So that’s that. Huzzah once more for Linda’s bold initiative. And in keeping with her plea, I hereby declare the 9/11 commission a huge, massive, completely useless waste of time heap of shit. I don’t know if they were the ones who gave the money to survivors and relatives, but whoever did I respect and believe was right. However these pompous asses who conducted the fucking partisan inquiry just so the democrats and republicans could take turns slinging mud was retarded. Think what you may, 9/11 had elements of intelligence failure and so on and so forth. But bottom line, it was a successful attack carried out by years of planning by terrorists who showed more cunning and intelligence then we want to credit them for. Evil, but cunning and intelligent none the less. What this whole thing’s about is the superiority and island complex America as a whole suffers from. “Those Arabs could never have scored such a win unless we let them,” is the whole message that’s being conveyed. Bull. They simply outmaneuvered us, and we in turn outmaneuvered them later on. Trying to point a finger at the government is simply retarded. You want to know who’s to blame? Well, why can’t we believe the truth? Terrorists.

apparently people our age love these things. i did one on lj. this is me copying of my self and cheating...

DESCRIBE YOUR:
[ x ] Wallet – Nautica, black, leather.
[ x ] Jewelry worn daily – three silver rings and a black bracelet I stole from Linda last summer.
[ x ] Pillow cover – dark blue
[ x ] Underwear – boxers and boxerbriefs
[ x ] Favorite shirt – my FUCK BUSH shirt
[ x ] Perfume/cologne – Right Guard “cool” smell
[ x ] CD in stereo right now – Dead [Mudafucking] Prez
[ x ] What you are wearing now – black polo, levi low cut jeans, undies…
[ x ] In my mouth – germs
[ x ] In my head – disquiet
[ x ] Wishes – the next sensation
[ x ] After this – work, pracrastinating
[ x ] Something you're looking forward to in the upcoming month – my baby’s graduation
[ x ] Do you like the taste of blood – it isn’t bad
[ x ] Do you believe in love – most of the time
[ x ] Do you believe in Heaven – thank heavens I don’t
[ x ] What do you want done with your body when you die – thrown in a river or grey-yellow storm
[ x ] If you could have any animal for a pet, what would it be – baby rhino
[ x ] What's your favorite coin – obsolete Mexican peso.

i saw KD Lang perform at my works today!!! any other KD fans in the TASP blog?

-one love
rafie

who i am, right now

well, linda did a fantastic job of making me feel guilty about not posting, and rightfully so. so what is there to update all you folks on...

i haven't started the trial, but i got it in the mail. i'm still reading Sidwalk, which i'm really really liking. i just bought it for myself, along with the MLA (i'm such an english nerd).

i'm graduating tomorrow. this is both a wonderfully happy and terribly frightening experience. there are quite a few people i won't mind never seeing again...in fact, my grade has really been getting on my nerves. but there are people i will miss terribly terribly much. also, i'm finally in a place in my life that i'm stable and happy, which i haven't been in a long time, and now that i am, it all has to be ripped away. not that i'm not excited about going to cornell; in fact, i honestly can't wait. but it's still very harrowing, very overwhelming. so many forms, so many people...and such a new life to throw myself into.

the following people are coming to my graduation: my father (who is president of the school board, and will actually be handing me my diploma...weird, huh?), my mother, my brother, all four of my grandparents, and molly. molly is my girlfriend, another both happy and sad thing. i have a relationship with her like i've never had with anyone else, it's wonderful. but she's going away for the summer, leaving on the 5th for israel, and not coming back until august 11, and i leave the 15th for cornell. i really wish we had the summer together...but there's nothing i can do about it, so...

what else is going on in my life? i'm working this summer at a nature camp, and i'm very excited. i was a camper there forever, and i've been a junior counselor there before, but i've never actually been in charge of a group like i will be this year. i think it's going to be great. unfortunately, i've been lazy/busy and haven't gotten my liscence so i can't drive myself there which sucks a whole lot. but that's my fault.

so yes, post!! and talk about yourselves! and talk about me!! and about farenheit 9/11, which I can't WAIT to see!!! and i'm going to see Raisin in the Sun with molly next week, which should be great. and hopefully i'll see the Frogs this summer. it's a play by aristophenes adapted into a musical by stephen sondheim starring nathan lane and chris kattan!!!! my god will it be amazing!!

-- alex

beware!

you know, guys, it's a fine line between not dumping problems on each other and feeling like we have to appear invulnerable on the blog. or just in general to each other. I love you all, and I also know that you're not superheroes (at least not always--the tights have to come off sometime) and I want to hear about your LIVES. can we do that? keeping in contact is hard, I know, but I really want to. let me say that again: I REALLY WANT TO. and what that requires is DIALOGUE, and the place we can do that is HERE. we're coming up on our one-year anniversary, guys, and posting once a month is just not that hard. making a post once a month in which you reply to something someone else has said is slightly harder, but still possible. I'm not excluding myself from this ass-whupping, by any means, but here's my proposition: let's stop lurking! we are lurkers! we lurk, and lurk, and do not talk to each other! let us be as inflammatory as possible, and piss each other off!

On that note:

Keegan, Auld Lang Syne is a lovely song indeed but, as we discussed, I have never heard it at an actual new year's eve party. it doesn't seem very practical. I think we need a hip, new-age new year's song and I think the Spice Girls are the people to write it.

Rafie: that news article pissed me off because it was extremely condescending toward the indigenous cultures it discussed. I like environmentalism but some part of me is asking, are whales really more important than people? especially when the people in question are simply throwing the whale a party in a place other than where a bunch of white scientists think the whale ought to be. well, that's shit. since when did we care so much about whales anyway? I hate whales. I eat whales. I wear whales.

Alina: I did not read your news article because every time I've tried to sign up for the New York Times online my computer has frozen, and now I am paranoid. could you summarize?

East Coasters: are you guys having a reunion? is someone organizing it? I will organize it, if nobody else is going to. just someone, anyone tell me.

this is what I'm up to: I'm home from boarding school, trying frantically to find a job, basking in 110-degree heat, reading The Trial, which all Cornell incoming freshmen are required to read. has anyone read it already, and would like to talk about it with me? I also just read The Tao of Pooh. I like the ideas in it but I feel like I would be fooling myself if I tried to live that way. but then there's no harm in trying, so maybe I'll embark on a summerlong Taoist Trial, combining Eastern and Western philosophy in a mighty Taoist/Kafkaist compendium of human knowledge and experience.

I have not gone swimming yet because I cannot find my swimsuit. my little brother is taller than me now. and how are all of you?

A reading from the book of Keeganaem, chapter 4

1.And so speaketh Keeganaem of Naples, friend of Tosin the friendly, friend of Janice the calm, friend of Ashley the devoted, friend of David the unique, friend of Dustin the logical, friend of Jordan the accepting, friend of Alina the energetic, friend of Greg the chug-a-lug, friend of Rachel the God, friend of Brendan the Evangelion, friend of Alexis the caring, friend of Brandon the Michigan, friend of Chris the shutterfly, friend of Krishanu the question mark, friend of Tina the understanding, friend of Rima the colorful, friend of Blaen the astute, friend of Sid the procrastinator, friend of Seyram the passionate, friend of Haruko the sympathetic, friend of Isaias the leader, friend of Miriam the latin, friend of Rafael the revolutionary, friend of Alex the caretaker, friend of Hannah the pure, friend of Adam the fun, friend of Linda the all-knowing, friend of Elise the brave, friend of Eddie the pianist, friend of Nikki the violent, friend of Nancy the composed, friend of Dara the pleading, friend of Xian the visitor. 2.Verily I say unto thee, post up for others, as they have posted up for you. 3.For shouldst thou follow the path ye walked with such hope and promise in the beginning, thou shalt find fulfillment and sanctity in life. 4.Shouldst thou not, then thou shalt be scattered liketh the grain in wind. 5.Yay, liketh the islands in the ocean shalt thou be dispersed, and the more time thou let pass, the farther apart ye shall find thyselves. 6.And, upon seeing this great separation, thou shalt have to span gulfs with bridges beyond normal masonry. 7.Let not these great names grow dim, for thou hast been given lead for to build solid foundations, not to waste in a vain attempt to make shiny gold.

Chief returns as whale...

coincidence or not? Cornell II's should have a response to this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3821027.stm

remember when...

remember my pubspeak about plastic surgery? well, read this...
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/17/international/asia/17beau.html

Such a great song...

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?
And days of auld lang syne, my dear,
And days of auld lang syne.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?

We twa hae run aboot the braes
And pu'd the gowans fine.
We've wandered mony a weary foot,
Sin' auld lang syne.
Sin' auld lang syne, my dear,
Sin' auld lang syne,
We've wandered mony a weary foot,
Sin' auld ang syne.

We twa hae sported i' the burn,
From morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roared
Sin' auld lang syne.
Sin' auld lang syne, my dear,
Sin' auld lang syne.
But seas between us braid hae roared
Sin' auld lang syne.

And ther's a hand, my trusty friend,
And gie's a hand o' thine;
We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

tough choice

Yeah, that sounds like a difficult decision. I know that I would opt for the factory job, but then again, I'm a selfish bastard who feels uncomfortable staying in a house alone with an elderly person, and also I've always had this bizarre romantic attraction to factory-esque work. I don't know why. I've done some labor along those lines, and I must say I enjoyed it. God knows why. Well...this was somewhat useless to you. Best of luck!

Oh, what do you gamble on?

Just remember what the Pogues said: "And the turn of ticket stubs from a hundred thousand nubs, now washed away like dead dreams in the rain"

Rafie needs help on this one...

i have been offered to stay at an old woman's house in new orleans during the month of july for$2000. would you guys do this? she is funcitonal to the point where i wouldnt have to do the caretaker thing: bed pan, bathe, clothe. i would just stay in the house and call for an ambulence when she needs one. a young poet in the prime of his life as an apprentice to an old woman who weighs as much as she is old. it is either this or factory work at seven maybe even eight dollars an hour. i need tasper advice, should i do this or not?

pros: tax-free $2000 in cash,
location is supposed to be decent,
no parents,
potential liberation from my gambling habits...

cons: no friends interaction for the month of july,
no Linda (well, there is no Linda in Milwaukee either so i lose on both),
no exotic trips to china or ghana (i miss you seyram),
(i am working all summer anyways so the latter was never in the picture)...

comments s'il vous plait...

attention sid!

sid,
alexis has asked me to post this for her. she really really wants to get on the blog but she can't. will you please email her at alexusm7@aol.com and help her out! thanks and have a nice day (god i love sounding pseudo-official).

graduation

so i graduated and i didnt cry, though maybe i should have. i did, however, have a strange urge to sing all those cliche graduation/saying good bye pop tunes like the one by vitamin c ("as we go on, we remember all the times we spent together..."). and during our senior slide show, the song "only the good die young" or something like that was played, which i thought was weird. ok now i must sleep. good night and good luck to all of you.

good summers

Hey guys! I just hope everyone's having a great summer. Mine's been marvelous, although it has been somewhat odd as well. The odd things have included my grandma's kidney failure while she was here, my mom taking her back to California, my mom and sister declaring they're going to move to philly, a dead man I saw in a metro train station, my being robbed at knife point in a very bizarre and confusing experience that I have to detail to you all sometime, and the fact that I will be left to basically take care of the house on my own until I leave in August. However, on the whole it's been awesome, and I hope you all are having a blast. Ciao!

Stuff (or Things...?)

So as for the reunion, tell me when it is and I'll do my best to be there. It's way hard to get from Ithaca to NYC (there's no train) but there is a bus. Us Cornellians will manage if that's what we decide to do.

Rima, Linda, whoever -- how do I know if I'm actually involved in a pre-orientation program? See I filled out a form for POST, but I was unwaitlisted, so it was late, and I know they have limited spots, so I don't know if I'm in. How do I know? And what about email addresses? Or The Trial? ::sigh:: There's so much I feel like I don't know.

And as for books, I have two to recommend. I just finished Bullet Park, by Cheever, one of my new super-dy favorite authors. It went from being tongue in cheek to scathingly sarcastic about suburbia, and was, overall, brilliant. I only got about 70 percent of it, but it was great nonetheless. The last line is something to the effect of, "And everything was as wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful as it always had been." Ooh, burnt! Take that suburbia! Damn good book.

For non-fiction, I recommend a great book I'm in the middle of called Sidewalk, by Mitchell Duneier, a sociologist. He lives (lived?) in the Village in NYC and wrote a book on the sidewalk people of 6th Avenue and Greenwich St. It's really articulate and fascinating, if you're into that kind of stuff. I'm really enjoying it.

I hope everyone is well, and that everyone's year is winding down. I'm done with my last project, and I have no finals (NO FINALS!) so I'm DONE DONE DONE DONE DONE!!! Thank God, Cornell, here I come!

-- Alex

Later in August?

I must apologize, I haven't been able to follow the debate that well as I've had a friend here and we've been pretty busy running around a lot. I do know that I will be in Cornell for sure starting August 14th. However, I am unavailable from the 14th through the 20th, because that is my NROTC orientation week, and I'll be in barracks with no liberty pass. After the 20th though, I'm open for anything.

suggestion

I also can't make it on the 15th. but here's my suggestion:

let's have two reunions!

or more! right? can we have one before school starts and then one well into first semester, when everyone's already settled? I mean, if some people can make it to nyc once, surely you can do it again. and then those of us who are coming up for college will be there for another later in the fall. unless there's some kind of expiration date on this that I don't know about.

I agree also, but I think that means I'm deciding I can't go.

I won't be able to attend any reunion before school starts, and I don't want to leave school for a reunion during the first few weeks of school.

I have to agree with Miriam on this one. September 4th is still an orientation day for Amherst - so I would not be able to come at all. I think that we made it before school starts, that things would be far more relaxed - maybe people could even stay overnight somewhere. Once school starts, that will become an impossibility. I vote August 15th.

But isn't it a bad thing if we have the reunion during school, when everyone will be just starting their freshman years, working out schedules, forming initial relationships, getting involved with activities, and generally being busy little TASPer bees? I'm just not sure that when the moment comes many of us will be very enthusiastic about having to worry about traveling away from it all in the midst of freshman excitement. Shouldn't we get the reunion out of the way before everyone's lives become so hectic with college?

I would like to give a hearty vote for saturday september 4 because:

I really can't make it the 15th of august because school doesn't start till the 27th, and I can neither stay between the two dates nor justify going home between them. I'm guessing it will be the same for many people. Our schools all start at such different times that I don't think we could coordinate for before school, and everyone will be crazyass busy then anyway.

And:

Everyone will be in school, or about to start school, by then, right? This is a good thing because most of is will be in the northeast, but a bad thing because not all of is would be. but, still, i vote for the 4th. anyone else?

A few things

With regard to the date, I can really make it anytime in August or EARLY September (I have to be in Cambridge on the 5th for the Freshman Arts Program, so really anytime after that is impossible for me).

And anyone who can should sign up for www.thefacebook.com - anyone going to: BC • Berkeley • Brown • BU • Chicago • Columbia • Cornell • Dartmouth • Duke
Emory • Florida • Georgetown • Harvard • Illinois • Michigan • Michigan State
MIT • Northeastern • Northwestern • NYU • Penn • Princeton • Rice • Stanford
Tulane • Tufts • UC Davis • UCLA • UC San Diego • UNC
UVA • WashU • Wellesley • Yale. It's addictively rocking.

Although a number of you seem to be chiming in for September, I have to respectfully disagree. I fear that if we put it off until people are in college, it'll just keep getting pushed further and further back until it doesn't happen.

Which would make me sad.

Besides, it'd be delightful and relaxing to have it during the summer.

reunion

I, like Linda, would need a ride up to Ithaca after the reunion to make it at all feasible that I could go. My parents have all but forbidden it, even so. ("Flying into NY is a disaster. Don't even talk about it.") If we move it back much at all, I definitely won't be able to go. Aaaah, scheduling is so complicated. Actually, the best thing for me, although maybe not for you all, would be to have it after school has started proper--maybe on a three-day weekend. I think we should email everyone and ask them to vote.

adam

building on precedence, i will bold information that is critical, and not bold points that are details:

i feel that saturday, september the 4th 2004 would be an awesome time to reunite. This is so because Labor day happens on the following monday.

I just came back from Montreal, Quebec. Coincidentally, montreal is one of the greatest fucking cities in the world. The reason that this is true is because of the awesome people, great food and restaurants, and wonderful music events. Also, my sister lives there, where she is studying to become a veterinarian. I spent the weekend there. I came back, driving through a very mountanous and green vermont and new hamsphire.

in other news, phish, the band, announced that they will no longer be a band after this summer. As a late convert to their music, i was deeply troubled by this announcement. Nonetheless, I enjoyed their music.

books, books, i was reading some books in the car. These included 100 years of solitude which is amazing (obviously) and an analysis of the 20th century french novel. I am now inspired to read remembrance of things past by marcel proust. My dilemma, as beautifully put by alina and linda, is whether I have had enough experiences in my life to relate to what the author is saying. I feel that I will relate to many, if not all themes in the book. This I feel, the ability to better understand myself and my condition, is certainly enough compensation to read the book.

I am still going to school. An obvious insult to sensibility, given the awesome weather outside, in which I could be doing all sorts of things like playing basketball or picking lilies or swimming. I am not happy at the fact that I am still in school.