Life is still pretty shitty right about now. I guess it's kind of a zigzag curve; at the very least it's not dipping as low as it did about a week ago. Much of it stems from completely unreasonable fights with my mother, who has gotten more entrenched than ever with her conservatard politics and is going on the offensive every now and then. Trench warfare, in other words. Brutal, filthy, and altogether miserable in its utter inability to advance either way. Curiously appropriate analogy.
The binoculars arrived today. In case you were wondering, they're
the model seen here - 7x35 Wide-Angle Outbound. Let's all briefly smirk at the outrageous gouge-price seen on that site, considering how I effectively paid less than a tenth of what's listed there. They're pleasantly excellent (but then again, what do I know - my prior experience is effectively limited to childrens' and theater binoculars). The image is clear from what I can gather. The binoculars have no focus knobs and are instead permanently focused on infinity, which means objects less than 10-20 meters away look blurry, but then again such is the philosophy of use for these: appraise distant scenes at a glance without worrying about focus. Stars and look decidedly pretty in these: they ought to, what with how I'm in light-polluted NYC and haven't properly seen them before. Still have yet to try the moon on for size. There's also a kinda flimsy removable cap at the longitudinal pivot joint which conceals a tripod mount screw. Seems like these would make good hunting binoculars, if they turn out to be hermetically sealed (against water, fog, and condensation). I feel good about the purchase.
Been reading up some about the prospect of scoring a teaching job; namely, took a look at the
NYC Teaching Fellowship site. No good. They all require college commitment to validate potential types, except for special ed - but I might as well just off myself if my future is going to commit me to "teaching" retards. The little inner-city slideshow on the site's main page also dug up some bitter memories from junior high. Fuck 'em. I'm not asking for luxuries - hell, I can get by with very little - but this wouldn't even be living; it would be eking out an existence. My psyche couldn't weather such long-term punishment.
Fired off an e-mail to the counseling department of Brooklyn College. Got to try getting back in there... Time's ticking away on jack shit, at least I ought to be earning a degree doing just that.