Scary Moment of the Week

"We're adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop?" - Meredith Grey

Since my new place doesn't have the internet yet, I get my online time at Arsaga's. I had an oldtimer's moment today when I was browsing through high school classmates on Facebook. There are 160 of my 400 fellow graduates on Facebook, listed 10 to a page. I figure half of them are now married and at least 2 of the 10 on each page have a kid (or two).

I don't find it so disturbing as odd that I have no desire to settle down at the moment. It might have something to do with the fact that I have no "real" job at the moment. At some point, I'm going to want a house with a wine cellar and a dog or two. Maybe I'll find that special someone along the way. Singledom has its perks, but it does get old after a while.

Ok, enough of the melancholy. I've got to head home to my cable and internet-less house.

After Austin...

Wow, this weekend was exhausting. More good than bad, but the bad was pretty damn bad. Just for a quick run-through of the trip first.

Thursday night, my friend and I dropped in with a couple of friends who recently moved to Ft. Worth. We hit up a few places downtown, including Pete's Dueling Piano Bar. For the record, it blows Willy D's in Fayetteville out of the water as far as atmosphere and pure talent.

Friday afternoon we left for Austin. Checked into our hotel in North Austin about 5:00 and chilled out for a couple of hours. We headed downtown around 7:00, which was far too early but I wanted to go back to Z Tejas for dinner. It was, as expected, glorious. I also had the oddest drink so far in my life - the Jalapeno Margarita. Tangy, sweet, and spicy all in one heavenly tequila concoction. I must recreate this for future parties.

The first part of Friday night was spent at The Ranch. The only Fayetteville parallel I can make is On The Rocks, and only because of the rooftop bar experience. The Arkansas Alumni Association had one section reserved and it was good to see Razorback fans in the heart of UT country. From there, it was off to East 6th Street and Maggie Mae's. From there, I went to meet a friend from high school in the more colorful 4th Street district. That included stops at Rain and the (apparently) infamous Oilcan Harry's. Quite the experience, I must say...

Saturday was game day...and what a shitty game it was. The Hogs lost 52-10...not a good feeling after coming off a 49-14 loss against Bama. The Longhorns dominated us on offense and defense and I'd say completely demoralized our team. Well played, sir. Well played.

More to come.

Back to Austin

I'm in Austin this weekend for the UT-Arkansas football game. I fully expect us to get stomped, but I couldn't pass up a chance to visit the area again. I'm here with a few friends I went to school with and we're already ready to get downtown. Updates and pictures to come.

Hooray for Passing the Bar Exam!

Just a little shout out to all those (and me!) who passed the Arkansas bar exam. It's been a long month waiting to find out the results and congratulations to the passers. Good luck to those who didn't quite make it and I hope to see your names on the list after the February test!

Sarah Palin...really?

I heard the news about McCain's VP choice, but I didn't have a chance to blog over the weekend. So now I suppose I'll share my initial thoughts about her.

I think she's a sharp lady. To go so far in such a short amount of time takes a tremendous amount of political savvy. I doubt it's as hard to get elected in Alaska as, say, Illinois but Palin really made an astronomical rise to power within her state.

Her personal belief system may help McCain with the far right of the GOP. Even James Dobson, who said he would never vote for McCain - though, as most televangelist types, he was probably exaggerating a bit - called it a good pick. That kind of sentiment on the right makes me want to run from her. On some issues, we agree: drilling in ANWR...hmm, well maybe that's it.

On many more issues, we disagree. Alaska's constitutional ban on gay marriage apparently wasn't quite enough for her, so she has supported a ban on extending state health benefits to same-sex couples. She was a bit too eager to support the teaching of creationism in public schools. She's also a bit too eager to institute the death penalty in Alaska. Perhaps one of her biggest faults is her support for abstinence-only education in public schools. This is especially true in light of the revelation that her unmarried, 17-year old daughter is pregnant. It has been my experience in the past that an event like this can lead a close friend or parent to change his or her views on certain matters. I doubt we can count on that happening with candidate Palin. I hope the media will leave it alone now that the story has broken, but I also hope Sarah Palin will take a lesson from the situation.

Besides disagreeing with her on so many issues, I think the pick was a disingenuous attempt to woo the pissed-off female vote. Ultimately, I believe McCain's poorly thought out strategy will fail. Palin won't win over many of the pro-choice Hillary supporters with one of the strongest anti-abortion stances seen recently. It's probably fortunate that VP candidates do very little to help or hinder the POTUS candidates - both in this race have very obvious flaws.

Finally, McCain's attempt to bring in an outside-the-Beltway candidate also means the experience issue will probably be off the table to a large degree. McCain had a decent argument that Obama had no executive experience, no foreign policy experience and very little experience on the national scene. He ought not raise that again, considering his VP pick was mayor of a small town for a few years and governor for only two years.

Ultimately, the experience factor should matter less than the ideas and core beliefs that drive the policies of a presidency. Sarah Palin's beliefs are less than attractive on the whole. If McCain is elected come November, let us pray that he makes it through to the end.

If... (Weeks 3 and 4)

So since I have a few weeks to catch up on, I'll try to do at least two sets of questions each week. Thanks to my inspiration for this project from JD2.0 and NickyNax.

Without further ado, Week 3:

1. If you could alter one physical characteristic of your mate, what would it be?

I consider myself lucky not to have to answer this question, as I'm single. Sort of a mixed blessing as I don't GET to answer the question at the moment!

2. If you could dine alone with anyone from any period in history, which person would it be?

Haven't I already answered this? I suppose in the entirety of history, I'd have to pick Jesus. Not so much for the religious experience of it, though I suppose seeing water turn into wine might make me a believer!

3. If you could, in retrospect, change one thing about your childhood, what would it be?

I count myself lucky that I never had to go through a divorce or other terribly traumatic event in my childhood. The one thing that stands out clearly to me is my father's terrible temper. I'm not sure what the root of it was, but he was a very angry man when I was growing up. It only took the smallest thing to set him off. My brother and I reacted very differently. My brother rebelled while I tended to retreat. I'm not sure if it was the age difference (he's 10 years older), or some other factor, but we took very different approaches. Here we are years later and he's mellowed out a LOT and we both have a good relationship with him. It makes me wonder how things might have been different if we'd had the same relationship with him all that time he was so pissed off.

4. If you could have any room in the world become your bedroom from now on, which room would you choose?

This is a really tough question. I've been lucky to travel to several countries in Europe, and one would be hard pressed to find more impressive architecture or interior design in any other part of the world. But would it be terribly wrong if I picked Paula Deen's kitchen?

....and Week 4:

1. If you could change one thing in the world right now, what would it be?

I think Jody has it right when he says he would rid the world of religious intolerance. I would take it a step farther and get rid of organized religion generally. I'm glad this isn't asking for a realistic answer because organized religion will always be a part of our world, and religious intolerance is equally inevitable. So many of the world's problems can be traced to religious roots. Granted, there are many peaceful religions and religions with honorable roots and honorable intentions. This is one, however, that I believe has costs that outweigh the benefits. Don't count me as a John Lennon type...I certainly don't consider "Imagine" my theme song, even for this particular issue, but he might just have a point.

2. If you had to assassinate one famous person who is alive right now, who would it be and how would you do it?

I think the most obvious answer to me is Osama bin Ladin (sp?). As the figurehead for the worldwide terrorist network, his death would not end the problem but I believe it would be a blow to the extremist Muslim movement. We have chased him for years and have come close to capturing/killing him but he continues to elude capture. By hiding I think it shows his cowardice, but to his followers, it seems to energize them in some sick way. It's almost like he is more powerful because he has been in power so long and the United States has not caught up to him. As for the method, I say strap a suicide bomb to his chest and make him wander around an empty field waiting for someone to push the remote control button. Make him suffer the same fate as the developmentally disabled women his group sent into the streets in Iraq, but make him suffer longer waiting for it to happen. This answer could easily be related to Week 4, Question 1 above.

3. If you could permanently alter one thing about your physical appearance, what would you change?

As any of my friends could tell you, I've struggled with my weight for years. I lost about 40 pounds when I trained for the Hogeye Half Marathon a couple of years ago, put some back on (but managed not to go up in clothing sizes!), and now I'm working it back off. I've made it an absolute part of my daily routine to go to the gym after work, no matter what I'm doing later in the evening, to eat better, and not drink as much. But if I didn't actually have to do all that, it would be great!

4. If you could have stopped aging at any point in your life up to the present, how old would you want to remain?

I really feel like I could stop aging at this point. I'm sure I could have said that if I had been asked at any point along the way. There are points in my life that I've been happier, but looking back I realize that everything has brought me to this point. I think some of the things in my life could be better (not being single, etc.) but I know I'm far more mature for what I've been through. I've got a lot of great friends who I would never give up and (kind of) a plan for where I want to go with my life.