More miscellanea.
I am not dead, nor, if things continue to play out as they are, will I be anytime soon. Life, however, will continue to vex me I am sure. (Which I'm also fairly certain is partly the reason I'm not dead.) So, what's happened in my life? I took some summer classes and did well in them. My sister moved to California, leaving me to some extent to wonder what I'm still doing here. (Not that I don't know perfectly well, but I wonder how adequate those reasons continue to be.) I have a laptop, though through some bizarre series of events, no power cable for it. (Though I got the power block somewhat recently.) I played in a Magic tournament with a deck I'm very proud of that I put together (Technically tweaked, I suppose, but more practically recreated) expressly for that purpose and lost possibly due to the most idiotic mistake I've ever made while playing the game though definitely, and perhaps mostly, due to the time limit. We have a running computer and DSL at home now, which is the reason I'm able to type all this right now. Patches, our old cat, has moved back in with us and now roams our house and garden with impunity. Finally, from what comes off the top of my head, I played Obscure, a game which, despite having all the trappings of a bad high school movie, is fun mostly because it's a two-player survival horror game and I've been waiting for one for ages. The problem is Obscure is for the PS2, a system I should have in my possession but do not presently. Oh, also Ravinia is quite lovely, ergo I plan on attending at least one more concert. Also, I've gotten around to answering most of the questions asked of me on my last post. I should have the rest answered by the end of the week.
This, however, just came to mind and is in no way connected to my life except in that vague way with which it is connected to everyone else's. I have my own thoughts about the pullout of Gaza. I will not, however, post them up here unless asked. What I will post up, however, are some thoughts on Ariel Sharon. This is because I can't help but find it odd that the man who took office after Ehud Barak, after a vote of no confidence, I believe, was forced on Barak due to the uprising triggered by Sharon's visiting the al-Aqsa mosque is responsible for the pullout. This is the man who called Barak a usurper and painted the image publicly of him willing to trade Israel for peace over the 2000 Camp David talks. The man who said "Barak does not have the right to give up Jerusalem, which the people received as a legacy." The hard-liner who promised an tough stance with the Palestinians. Yet after causing the event that forced Barak out of office and put him there in Barak's place, he's the one issuing the pull-out without anything as solid at what could have been signed at the 2000 Camp David talks. You could see this as coincidence, I suppose. You could claim that four years of violence and the passing of Yassir Arafat has helped soften his stance. I, however, find that very hard to believe.
This, however, just came to mind and is in no way connected to my life except in that vague way with which it is connected to everyone else's. I have my own thoughts about the pullout of Gaza. I will not, however, post them up here unless asked. What I will post up, however, are some thoughts on Ariel Sharon. This is because I can't help but find it odd that the man who took office after Ehud Barak, after a vote of no confidence, I believe, was forced on Barak due to the uprising triggered by Sharon's visiting the al-Aqsa mosque is responsible for the pullout. This is the man who called Barak a usurper and painted the image publicly of him willing to trade Israel for peace over the 2000 Camp David talks. The man who said "Barak does not have the right to give up Jerusalem, which the people received as a legacy." The hard-liner who promised an tough stance with the Palestinians. Yet after causing the event that forced Barak out of office and put him there in Barak's place, he's the one issuing the pull-out without anything as solid at what could have been signed at the 2000 Camp David talks. You could see this as coincidence, I suppose. You could claim that four years of violence and the passing of Yassir Arafat has helped soften his stance. I, however, find that very hard to believe.