So, the first DVD of The Boondocks arrived from Blockbuster yesterday. That show is hilarious. I love it when comedy pulls off that (I can't believe I'm about to use this term) synergy of having something to say and being really funny at the same time.

One of my teachers divides the "learning cycle" into four stages:

1. Unconscious incompetence
2. ( Read more... )

I would like to take this time to tell you about Escobar.

Escobar is an individual who is entirely born of my imagination, but I like to consider him a collaborative effort done in part with all the women in the world. I’m going to give you two descriptions for Escobar, and you will come to understand him better.

1. Escobar is the ( Read more... )

You know, our school of aikido isn't noted because we can toss people around. There are a lot of folks out there who can do that. What generally gets us accolades is that anyone who works hard in our system will be able to reproduce the feats performed by senior practitioners.

You'd think that reliable reproduction would be one of those "no shit" ( Read more... )

A mutual friend introduced me to a man in his late twenties. He stood tall, probably 6'2". I extended my hand to shake his. He grabbed my fingers, squeezed hard, and pumped rigorously. It hurt. He kept at it for maybe a second longer than the two or three most American's allot to hand-shaking. He leaned in and smiled at me, a curved showing of ( Read more... )

Always look with askance (if not downright skepticism) at a literature scholar who says he's read all the great books. That simply is not possible. I certainly read a lot of books during undergrad, but I still haven't read a tenth of the books a scholar of literature "should have read".

I make a point to soak a few up between lighter reads. As I've ( Read more... )

Oh wow. It's a testament to my fatigue last night that I didn't think of this when trying to write. This particular idea has come to dominate nearly all my behavior for the past couple months.

( The Heart Attack Test )

( Serious Wrasslin' )

Deep breaths, happy thoughts. It's been a kind of stressful day. Hopefully a bit of jazz and some library writing will help level me out a bit ( Read more... )

Well, my S.O. stole my thunder on the big announcement, but it really isn't my thunder anyway. It's hers. It's going to be hard, but it really is the best option right now. One of my favorite quotes from David Eddings: "Even a king must bow to reality." (Though, Madshutterbug, you stole my Dune quote.) I've got plenty to say on this, but it isn't ( Read more... )