fling93 loves fishies

Busy, Busy, Busy

Okay, maybe I was wrong about last week being unusual. I think my general lack of free time may be an ongoing theme for a while, so posting may get a little more erratic. If you’re not yet reading this site using an RSS feed news aggregator, I’d highly recommend it. I was hoping to blog on that sometime, but in short, it saves you the trouble of browsing to websites to see if they’re updated. Instead, when the site has a new post, the aggregator grabs it for you to read. This is real handy if you follow a lot of blogs and websites and news sources, especially if some of them update irregularly.

I still hope to post at least a once a week, but let me tell you what’s been going on so you’ll understand if I don’t.

Blogger meetup

First, I attended a meetup of the South Bay SF Bay Bloggers (now back on Meetup.com) on Wednesday. I really have to thank my wife for discovering this group, if only because nobody would have ever linked to me otherwise. :) At the meetup I exchanged books with Rich Thomas, and stayed real late chatting with Rich, Jon, Antwon, and Ealasaid on everything from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a truly bizarre and hilarious animated series on the Cartoon Network (that I hadn’t heard of until then) to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, where you commit to writing 50,000 words in November). It’s been a long time since I’ve tried my hand at fiction, but it sounds like a lot of fun (and work), so I think I’ll give it a shot this year. Time-permitting, of course, which isn’t assured (Update 1/28/05: Indeed, I did take a shot, although I ended up with only 25,000 words).

In memory of Vincent Lusk

The next day, I was absolutely shocked to hear that one of my old pool-playing teammates at my 9-ball league, Vincent Lusk, had passed away due to heart failure. He was only 41, and in great shape, though I guess he had a history of high blood pressure. I’d given up pool several months ago (mostly because I wanted to free up time for writing), and I hadn’t seen him since. But he was an unforgettable guy. Tons of energy, always smiling, and a laugh you could hear a mile away. Hell of a shooter, too. And it was just the best feeling in the world, making a tough shot and hearing him celebrating and whooping it up. I just can’t believe he’s gone.

Went to the funeral on Friday, and it was packed cuz everybody who knew him just loved him. His sister sobbed her way through a simple but heartfelt poem, and a friend told a funny story about how they got lost during a hunting trip. Even his ex-wife was there, since they’d become friends again several months ago, and it was so moving to hear her talk about her bittersweet feelings, being glad that she did get a chance to be a part of his life again before he left, but feeling cheated at having him torn away when he was. It made me feel tremendously guilty for leaving the team when I did and not staying in touch. It’s just too easy to take people for granted until they’re gone. He was a great guy, and I’ll miss him.

Fixing the system

No rest for the weary, since on Saturday, I did some tabling (badly) at the Palo Alto Art and Wine Festival for California Clean Money Campaign, which I blogged about earlier. It was over ninety degrees, so the turnout wasn’t that good, and none of us there was really experienced at this sorta thing, so we weren’t very aggressive, not really approaching people but just talking to the ones that came to the table. But I guess it was a start. I’m sure I’ll get more comfortable at this sorta thing as time goes on. Also, one of the people there told me about Californians for Electoral Reform, which is my other pet issue, although I don’t know if I can spare them any time.

Speaking of which, for those of you awaiting, with bated breath, Part II of my posts on electoral reform, I’m still researching the topic, so it’ll be a while longer (Update 1/28/05: Part II is now up). But for a taste of what’s in store, check out my comment at Cormac’s LiveJournal. Cormac is one of the guys I went to that rave with, and he was trying to help his group of gamers select the next game, and so he took a poll and used the results. I help suggest some ways to interpret it.

Drooling for Natalie

Anyway, I meant to blog Sunday or Monday, but I was drained (and work’s been rather hectic lately). On Tuesday, I saw Garden State with fellow bloggers Elke, Rich, Silvia, and her friend, Greg (film highly recommended by Courtney). Proceeds went to the Valley Medical Center Foundation. I was hoping to write a full review of the film, but given my upcoming schedule, I don’t think I’ll get to it. In short, I liked it quite a bit, as it has memorable imagery, interesting characters, a kick-ass soundtrack, and — of course — Natalie Portman. I wasn’t fond of the ending, though. All in all, I’d probably give it 8 cute smiley fishies. Although I have no idea why, as Dan Drezner reported, the trailer became such an Internet hit (incidentally, I commented that he was very remiss in that post).

I have class

And on Wednesday night was my first day of class. That’s right, I’ve mentioned a couple of times that I’ve been contemplating going back to school. So with a kick in the pants from the wife, I’ve finally taken a first step and am taking a night class at Mission College. I’ll probably take a class or two per semester for a year or two before deciding whether or not to plunge back into school full-time (probably back to Berkeley). I’m taking Economics 1A, Principles of Macroeconomics. That’s right, even though I’ve blabbed plenty about economics in posts like this, this, and this, I’ve never ever taken an economics course in my entire life. Everything I know, I got from reading The Economist and watching several episodes of Economics U$A on PBS. Given that it’s a topic that I apparently like to write about, I figured it’s about time I knuckled down and learned it for real (Update 1/28/05: And, of course, I got an A! w00t! Now on to Political Science…).

That’s the main reason I’ll probably be pressed for time in the foreseeable future. And it’s not helping that I’ll also be going to a Shakespeare class that Ealasaid is throwing. It’s a small informal thing, with the first meeting 7-9 PM this Sunday (and a couple of other dates in September). There’s room for more, if anyone else is interested. She’s charging $10 an hour, or $60 for the three meetings in September. You can read a bit more about it here. If interested, leave a comment for her. Ealasaid’s a really cool person, so it should be a lot of fun.

The future?

While the Shakespeare class won’t have homework, the economics one will, so my time will be increasingly limited. Which is kind of a shame, since I felt like I’d just been hitting my stride again and finding more inspiration. And it’s not going to let up, since this month I’ll be going to two weddings as well as a family reunion in Santa Barbara. When it rains, it pours.

If you’re a regular reader, I hope you realize that I take this blog very seriously, and am determined and committed to keep it going, even if I go back to school full-time, so rest assured that the site will stay up. Just bear with me if the posting frequency gets erratic. Thanks for your patience!