Semi-Intelligent Thoughts

Required Reading

I'm getting ready to head back to Jersey (I've been in Pittsburgh for the last two months, if that wasn't obvious), and I'll try to return to regular blogging as I get my life back in order. In the meantime, there's another article out that pretty much saves me the trouble of having to recap any more of this ordeal myself.

Do not even read any new posts until you have read this. It covers just about everything and contains no retarded factual errors like the last couple (to be fair, I didn't say "everyone one of us," but that's more of a typo).

Also, for those of you into Facebook, check out this (public) page. As an added bonus for SIT readers, the photo gallery contains some pictures of a younger and sometimes much heavier CD.

We Live in an Unjust, Uncaring Universe

Fuck you, cancer.

Regular blogging will resume when the world makes some kind of sense again, assuming that ever happens.

VII

Seven years.

It has been seven years since I started blogging.

Seven.

On September 25, 2003, I wrote the first ever SIT post back at the old BlogSpot site (which is still alive, incidentally) after spending about a month reading other blogs and deciding to try it for myself.

I didn't expect it to last more than a week. It has now been, as I said, seven years.

Through all of college, including the 2004 election, this blog was a place to vent. After that, I used it to write about my internship adventure, vent even more about the 2008 election, and stay connected to the outside world during my apartment search and my ongoing job search. I've learned a lot, I've made friends I haven't met, I've written more than I ever expected to in my life, and no matter how many times I try to quit, I keep coming back, even though pretty much nobody reads anymore and I don't have the time or energy to go seeking exposure. At this rate, I'll be blogging about my retirement someday.

It's just so odd to be writing this while thinking back on that first post. I had no idea what I was getting myself into...

Five. Years.

Yep. Today is the five year blogiversary of Semi-Intelligent Thoughts. Can you believe that I've been at this thing for half a decade? Even when you allow for the extended breaks I've taken at various times, it's pretty unreal.

Just think about how much has changed since I started this blog. On September 25, 2003, I was an 18 year-old college freshman, I wanted to be a film director, I was extremely religious, and I had issues with saying/writing swear words. Today, I'm a 23 year-old college graduate, I want to be a film editor, I'm not religious at all, and just about every other sentence I write contains at least one instance of "fuck" or "shit."

However, a few things haven't changed. First of all, in the five years that I've been blogging, I've had the same number of both girlfriends and paying jobs that I had in the 18 years before (i.e. none).

More importantly, I'm still a damn good writer, and I don't plan to stop showing it off on SIT anytime soon.

Take that to the bank.

...On second thought, wait until the economic disaster has been averted, then take it to the bank.

Housecleaning

I'm not sure why I feel the need to share this, but I went through the list of random quotes and subtly updated it so every quote that appears actually reflects my current agnostic Republitarian belief system. It's not like some of the other quotes weren't good, but I don't want to misrepresent myself.

Just in case anyone cares.

Oh, Hello There, Blog

If you're still reading (which is a pretty amazing accomplishment, really) you may have noticed that I took another hiatus. In fact, I'm technically still taking it. A ridiculous amount of stuff has happened since the last post (including my brother having brain surgery...seriously), but I'm not going to bother going through all of it...yet.

Here's the deal: Bear with me a bit longer while I decide if it's worth continuing the blog or hanging up my keyboard for good. If I haven't posted anything else by April 1, consider me retired from the blogosphere (I may make a final announcement of this decision on the aforementioned date). If I post anything before that, it means I'm back for however long I decide to stick around, and I'll share all the exciting adventures of the past few months with whomever is still out there.

In the meantime, I leave you with this fun fact: I can now say that I was one of the 17,000+ people who had the unfortunate privilege of watching the best hockey player in the world crash into the boards and sprain his ankle live and in person (here's a video of the incident, for those who haven't seen it).

Woo fuckin' hoo. Anyway, feel free to use the comments of this post as an open thread or whatever until I decide whether I'm coming back. Also, yesterday was my 23rd birthday, if anyone cares.

Bye now.

Question Time

So I've been doing some thinking, and...I may be getting the urge to return to regular blogging. On the other hand, I may just stop writing entirely and dedicate my time to other things rather than getting everyone's hopes up with sporadic posting.

Therefore, I need some responses to two simple questions:

1. As usual, is anyone still reading this site?

2. If you answered "yes" to the above (and if you answered "no" despite the fact that you had to read the site in order to see the question, then congratulations, you've found a way to defy logic), would you like me to try and make the blog more like it was back in the old days, with commentary on current events, etc. rather than my boring, lonely life and my various music projects?

Please, even if you've never commented before, I would really appreciate a response to this. I do kind of want to return to the blogosphere with the energy I had a while ago, but if nobody will see it, it seems like a complete waste.

I'll leave this up for a few days before making my decision. If I do get back to normal blogging, I will have to address a few things, including an explanation of why I stopped for so long and an update on my view of this fucked up world we live in. I'm warning you right now, it will probably be much more cynical and pessimistic than before, if that's even possible. But again, I'll only bother with that in the event that I still have an audience.

That is all.

In Case Anyone Is Still Reading...

I'm not quitting or anything. Just taking a break, same as last year. I'll be back to regular posting at some point in the next month.

I Stand By My "Bad Week For Computer Issues" Statement

Okay, I'm trying to update the random quotes, but Movable Type and Firefox are being bastards and deleting bits of my main index template without my knowledge, so if the blog looks weird at random intervals (like right now), that's why.

UPDATE
So apparently, there's only limited space in the main index for text to be entered, and I've reached the limit with all the new stuff, which is why the blogroll is getting cut off. I guess there won't be any more random quotes until I figure out a way around this.

Oh, well. No huge loss. Now I just have to remember, in alphabetical order, all the blogs I used to link to before this crap happened.

Shit.

Notice

I know my blogging frequency is nowhere near the "at least 3 posts every day" rhythm I had going a couple years ago, but I thought I'd mention now that if I write practically nothing for the next couple weeks, it doesn't mean I'm taking another hiatus. I just have to get caught up on half a semester's worth of work in a few days, along with post-producing a 15 minute film and writing a 15-19 page paper I haven't started researching yet.

So...yeah, I'm pretty screwed. But it'll all be over by May 11th.

Wish me luck...

Interaction

I've decided to adopt a new policy for this blog that I've seen in a few other places: I'm going to try and respond to every comment on every post including and following this one. I feel like I've been ignoring the minions for a while.

Unfortunately, I'm too tired to blog right now, so there's not much for anyone to comment on yet. Oh, well.

Getting Caught Up

Okay, so...I started writing this post a couple days ago, then got a bit distracted by life. Therefore, let me begin by saying:

GO STEELERS! WOOHOO!!! ONE FOR THE THUMB, MUTHAFUCKAS!!!!

Anyway...

I'm back to blogging. I guess I should fill in the last month or so and explain the direction I want to take the blog in the future. Go to the extended entry for the full story, as it were.

First of all, SIT is going to have a much more personal slant from now on. I'll probably still rant about politics and everything (you'll see why a little later), but as I said before, I feel like two years was long enough for me to write about most of my beliefs, and it seems like a waste of time to keep saying the same things over and over. I'm using my band as a way to get my politics into the public sphere now...or at least I will when someone listens to our demo.

Anyway, I'm writing this post on a brand spankin' new Powerbook:

Yes, I'm aware that my work area is a fire hazard.

My old computer was nice and everything, but it was freakin' huge, and this one is a lot easier to move around. It also has a lot more hard drive space and comes with GarageBand software. Which leads to my next big update:

I'm playing guitar now:

Yep. My parents got me some early birthday presents before I went back to school (by the way, did I mention that my 21st birthday was last Friday? It seems like such a waste...heh...that I don't drink), and along with the computer, I got a freakin' guitar. I was just going to borrow my brother's, but he left it with his ex-girlfriend for some reason, so I guess it was just easier to get a new one.

The guitar itself really isn't anything special (it's basically a cheap imitation Stratocaster), and in typical CD fashion, I managed to break the high E-string while tuning (which means I've been playing a five-string guitar for the past couple weeks), but I am getting better. Check out this recording I made with GarageBand last week:

Guitardemo.mp3

...Yeah. So, now you know why I'm the drummer for Suspended Agitation and not the guitarist. I have been practicing since then, and I've learned to play a few songs very badly and slowly (including two that I wrote a while ago), but it's a slow process. My fingertips hurt.

Anyway, there's really not much more to write about concerning events that took place while I wasn't blogging, but I do want to write about the rather interesting semester I've managed to get myself into. Let's go through the classes individually:

ECN 203: Economic Ideas and Issues: Economics is a bit of a dry subject, but I really need to learn something about this stuff. The professor is...about how you'd expect an economics professor to be. Droning voice, balding, glasses, etc. He looks kind of like the Dad character from "Calvin and Hobbes" with a mustache (observe). He seems pretty sane, although on Friday, he launched into a somewhat random defense of the Soviet Union (based, as usual, on the fact that they had universal healthcare and education) and called Karl Marx "brilliant." He claims he doesn't agree with Marx's conclusions, but that still weirded me out a little.

TRF 521: Dramatic Production: One day a week. Three hours per class. Fun stuff. I've already written a 13 page script, joined a group for a production, and learned how to use Avid. If I go long periods of time without posting, it's probably because I'm out doing something for this class. Hopefully, I'll at least have a 12-15 minute short film to post at the end of the semester. Our script involves deceit, hitchhiking, and architecture. That's all I'll say for now.

PSC 329/HST 341: The Modern Presidency: I'm technically in the history section for this, since the political science section was full, but really, it makes no difference at all, so it counts toward my minor. I have the same professor for this that I had for my history class back in Spring '05 (the one who is a card-carrying member of the ACLU and whose writing guidelines remind students not to use language that "smacks of jingoist nationalism"), and she's being surprisingly unbiased this time around...although she did suggest the other day that Clinton was impeached for "diddling with an intern" (unless that's what they're calling perjury these days). I have a 5-7 page paper on FDR due in a week that I've barely thought about so far. Good times indeed.

PSC 305: Legislative Process and U.S. Congress: Another one for the minor. This class is actually ridiculously boring so far, and most of the information is stuff that I've learned already in other poli-sci classes. Also, the professor cancelled class one day and had to leave early a couple other days, so we're about a week behind the syllabus already. Not much else to report, although when we were discussing the State of the Union address, one student suggested that Republicans are "smoking crack." When asked which Republicans he was referring to, he said "all of them" or something. I love college.

HST 337: World Politics Since 1914: There's so much to say about this class, I hardly know where to begin. In a nutshell, the professor is a cantankerous old man who hates every politician who ever lived. He's the one who subtly endorsed the assassination of President Bush (basically, he mentioned that his niece or some other relative said that someone should "shoot George Bush," and he classified this as a "natural American reaction to incompetence." Oh, and did I mention that most of the class laughed at this? I'm not sure what to think).

Also, he apparently thinks that Ronald Reagan was the second dumbest president of all time (after Warren G. Harding) and that if you believe we're bringing democracy to Iraq, he "has some property in Florida to sell you." In addition, he believes that Americans get concerned about Mexican immigrants and not Canadian immigrants because Canadians "are like us." He also claims that we shouldn't fight wars based on human rights because people don't all have the same rights, only the ones given to them by their government. I assume, therefore, that he's not familiar with (or doesn't agree with) the Declaration of Independence.

I actually wouldn't classify the guy as a liberal, since he also went after John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter, but man...so much material.

So, yeah...I'll be writing a lot about him. I'll try to remember specific quotes and blog them after class (his name is Stinchcombe, so these will be known as "Stinchisms"). Look for those on Tuesdays and Thursdays around 11:15 AM.

One non-political quote to start things off: He was talking about tariff barriers the other day, but it came out as "bariff terriers." Bwahaha. Just a note: If you've seen the show "Crank Yankers," imagine Elmer Higgins saying these quotes, because the professor sounds almost exactly like that. Seriously. I might bring my laptop to class one day and try to make an audio recording, but that's only a remote possibility.

Oh, and I also have to write a 15-19 page paper for that class. Yay.

Finally, I've got a mind-numbing amount of reading this semester. Observe:

I'm already a few hundred pages behind on that, so I can't spend a lot of time blogging, but I decided that now that I have things to write about again, why not?

And now, I have to do my economics homework. Later.

UPDATE
Holy crap, I almost forgot something very important! Check out what my grandparents sent me for my birthday:

This photo is dedicated to Army NCO Guy, wherever he is...

Clearly, My Work Isn't Done

All right, I know there's probably no one reading this, but just in case...

I'll be honest. I wasn't taking a hiatus for the last month. I was seriously ready to call it quits. I felt like I had nothing more to say, and my workload this semester is so ridiculous that I didn't think I would have time anyway. But something happened this morning that made me realize that I still need to blog:

My history professor implied that assassinating President Bush would be a good idea.

This is just one of many, many things you'll be able to read about on SIT in the next few days. I'd write more, but I have to leave for class in four minutes, so keep checking back.

Later, minions.

Anybody Out There?

All right, I know I haven't been posting much, but bear with me. Final exams are coming up and everything...

Just a brief update: My brilliant script is currently on page 58, and it should be finished by sometime next week. I'll be posting it once I've turned in the hard copy next Thursday, so be ready for that. In the meantime...where is everybody? Seriously.

Time Flies

*Blows dust off blog*

Hmmm....

Worst. Open. Thread. EVER.

Anyway, I'm back in Syracuse and back in action. I actually had my computer with me the whole time I was in Pittsburgh, but there really wasn't that much to write about. I was thinking of reviewing my Thanksgiving dinner experiences, but other than my grandfather complaining about Germans and "niggers" moving into his neighborhood and my uncle calling President Bush a liar (did you know that Iraq has no power and no water because of the war? It must be true, because he heard it from an Iraqi...who lives in California), there wasn't really much to tell.

Anyway, don't expect any huge posts in the near future. I've got a script to write and a test to study for. But if anything really important comes up, it'll be here.

Laterz, yo.

Two Years Is A Long Time

You know how you can tell that my priorities have changed over the last few months? It's 9:20 PM, and I just remembered that today is the 2 year blogiversary of Semi-Intelligent Thoughts.

2 years...that's a long friggin' time. Think about it. When I started SIT (using the abomination known as Blog*Spot), I was a month into my freshman year of college, I had just started getting interested in politics a few months before that, and I had only been reading blogs for a couple weeks. My entries were in "real-time" format, which means that I wrote as if people were reading everything the second I typed it, and most posts were completely random.

Over the next few weeks, I somehow attracted readers and links, and I ended up posting a lot about politics and current events. Blogging became a full-time hobby, and I spent most of my free time finding things to write about. I eventually became a Munuvian and switched to Movable Type, and my posts got longer, more detailed, and more focused. This continued through the election in 2004.

After that, I basically used this site to bitch about the idiots in my dorm, and I blogged a lot less often. By last summer, I was just using SIT to pimp my band (by the way, I'm still looking for reviews of the demo) and apologize for not posting. I considered retiring a few times, but for some reason, I never followed through.

And now, here we are...it's September of 2005, I'm a junior in college, and I still have a blog. I'm still not sure exactly what direction I want to take this thing, and I really don't think this post serves any specific purpose, but I'd like to thank everybody once more (if you're still out there) for sticking around.

I keep thinking back to the way life was when I started SIT, and I realize that a lot has changed in 2 years. I've learned a lot, I've changed quite a few of my beliefs, and I've been through a ton of different situations, many of which have been documented here.

Like I said, my priorities have changed a lot, and I don't know if SIT will ever be as good as it was "back in the day," but as of right now, I'm not going anywhere. I tried to quit once, and I couldn't go through with it.

Here's to another 2 years.

Semi-Random Updates (read the whole post for vital info!)

Hey, minions. I just went a week without posting, didn't I? It happens. However, I finally have some free time, and I wanted to detail a few of the things that are happening in CD World right now.

First of all, in case you missed it, I am back at Syracuse. A lot has happened in the last couple weeks. I went through what was probably the worst band camp ever (long story), took my first week of classes as a junior, and performed at the football game this afternoon, among other things. I've been busy.

A bit of good news: As I've mentioned in the past, I finally managed to get my own dorm room this year, and let me tell you, having a single is friggin' awesome. In addition, I'm in a different building now, and The Chimps are nowhere to be found. The people on this floor are actually the quietest I've ever lived with. There are a few noisemakers (for example, the guy in the room next to me, who I refer to as "Captain Loudness" because he talks on the phone so loudly that I can hear him through the wall), but compared to the mind-numbing cacophony that I was forced to endure for two semesters, this is the freakin' Promised Land.

Another note about the room: The view from here is amazing! I'm on the sixth floor of my building, and the placement of my room provides...well...see for yourself:

(Click for full size)

That picture (taken with a camcorder at about 7:30 PM) doesn't do the real panoramic view justice. I'll try to take a better shot when we get a sunny afternoon and I'm actually home to see it.

Just for reference, compare that to the view I had out my window last year.

My classes are pretty good too, as far as I can tell from one week. The real highlight is TRF 411: Dramatic Writing for Television and Film. I want to be a screenwriter, and I'm finally taking a screenwriting class. It is from 8:00-9:20 AM two days a week (stupid schedule), but other than that, I think I'm going to like it. More on that later in the post...

On a totally different note, I'm still looking for more reviews of the Suspended Agitation demo. If you get a chance to listen, please let me know what you think. And yes, I know the singing sucks. That's why we're looking for a lead singer, people.

Now, here's the part that everyone cares about: What is the future of Semi-Intelligent Thoughts? Allow me to explain the dilemma I've had...

On one hand, I know that there are people who enjoy my blogging, and I don't want to disappoint you. In addition, I like doing this, and the thought that I've had this blog for almost two years almost makes me want to keep at it forever.

However (cue disappointed moans and groans), I really don't know how much longer I can keep it up. My schoolwork this semester is going to be insane, and I don't know if it would be in my best interests to try and blog at the rate I used to in the Good Old Days (when I first started, I could crank out 3-5 posts per day with ease).

Also, it's hard to admit this, but I don't know if I have that much more to say. Ever since the election, it seems like every political issue that comes up results in the same arguments happening over and over without any real progress. To tell you the truth, I haven't been that concerned with writing about politics since November 3, 2004. I'm still interested (and strongly opinionated), but I just don't feel that sense of duty or urgency to write about every issue anymore. After Election Day, something just changed. I'm sure you've noticed in the last 9 months.

But (cue anticipatory gasps and silence) I don't want to stop blogging completely. I am a writer by nature, and I need to write. If I called it quits, I'd be back within a week. The main reason I took that hiatus over the summer was to see what would happen if I just stopped posting, and to my surprise, all or most of you stuck around and waited for me to come back.

Thanks for that, by the way.

So it comes down to this: I'm still going to blog, but it's not going to be on a regular schedule, and it's not going to be as intensely political as it used to be. Semi-Intelligent Thoughts will be my place to write whatever I want to write, whether it be personal, political, musical, or a mix of those or any other elements. I know it's kinda been like that for a while, but I've hesitated to post things in the past because of the political history of the blog.

For the last few months, I've been telling myself that I'm just taking a break, and that I'll return to full-time political blogging one of these days. Now, I realize that I was just pretending to be someone else, and I'm finally ready to accept the change honestly. If you are too, feel free to stick around, but just keep in mind that this will no longer be considered a political blog, even if I do end up posting about politics fairly often. I still want to rant occasionally, but I've decided that I should stop focusing so much on liberals and just lash out against stupidity in all its forms. Again, I've done this in the past, but I've never really accepted the fact that I'm allowed to rant from a totally non-political angle.

If you just stuck around because you expected me, sooner or later, to revert back to my old routine of frequent tirades against liberal idiocy, then I'll understand if you don't want to read anymore. But I don't think that applies to most of you.

So, to summarize: SIT is still going to continue, but I'm no longer going to pretend that it exists mainly for political rants. I'll probably still write about politics, but nothing is off limits now, and I'll most likely cover some subjects I haven't really touched on before. Just keep in mind that I'll be busy, so I don't know how frequent posting is going to be.

Now, to go out on a more positive note, I thought I'd share an idea. The screenwriting class I'm taking offers two options for the main focus of the coursework: A 15 page short film script, or a full-length screenplay. I've decided to go for the so-called "long option" (after all, I've written two screenplays on my own), and I have to have an idea ready for Tuesday. I was thinking of doing something like this (initiate "Hollywood pitch" mode):

The story is like a cross between Network and Lord of the Flies. It details the struggle between two small town news networks competing for ratings. When regular sensationalism gets old, they start manufacturing news stories, and when that gets old, the reporters and anchors begin airing personal attacks on one another. Eventually, two reporters (one from each network) realize what's going on and join forces to create a new channel dedicated to telling the truth. Meanwhile, the employees of the big networks have begun attacking each other physically, and it just escalates from there.

This would be a heavy-handed satire, first of the media culture, then of the human tendency to demonize one's opponents and sincerely believe it. For example, one character would be like Howard Dean ("I hate Channel 6 and everything they stand for!"). I haven't worked out all the details yet, but I think it would be fun to write.

Your thoughts?

Hooray For Technology...Or Not

Well, it took a fucking week and a half and a bunch of trips to Computing and Media Services, but I'm finally connected to the Internet in my room. Unfortunately, I have band practice tonight, and in the meantime, there's other stuff to be done, so I'll update in detail tomorrow afternoon.

Later.

UPDATE (8/31, 12:15 AM)
Okay, so I lied. I had class at 8 AM, and I was too tired to write anything the rest of the day. I do want to write a post detailing my current situation, the future of the blog, etc., but I don't know exactly when I'll have a chance to do that. In the meantime, I'm going to try and respond to the comments and e-mails that I got while my Internet was disconnected. If you've communicated with me in any way during the last two weeks, you should have a reply by the time you read this post.

Anyway, keep checking back over the next few days, and I'll try to figure out how I'm going to get back into a normal blogging routine.

Checking In

I thought that since I kinda disappeared after posting the demo, I would let everyone know what's going on.

I left for Syracuse last Thursday, and for the past week, I've been spending 12 hours a day drumming my ass off at band camp. However, I was able to move straight into my fall room assignment this year, so I thought that I would still be able to blog in my spare time.

Wrong.

You see, I'm currently sitting in the computer cluster across the street from my dorm. Why? Because for some reason, the residential network is only working with Macs running OS X 10.3 or higher, and mine uses 10.2.8. They told me that they're trying to get it fixed within the next couple days, but regardless, I've been cut off from the Internet for the last week other than brief e-mail checks in the student center during breaks.

As you might guess, I'm a little pissed off about the situation. Apparently, all this "diversity" bullshit these people spout at every spare moment doesn't apply to operating systems. The anti-Mac bias on this campus is staggering.

Anyway, I just wanted to make sure that in the unlikely event that people still read SIT, they'll know what's going on. Keep the music reviews coming, and I'll try and respond to them once I get connected in my room.

Later, minions.

Hooray For Delayed Milestones

Well, it took four years and one failure, but I finally managed to get this today:

In related news, PENNDOT IS EVIL.

Seriously, they are. Friggin' bureaucrats...

Chronic Beal

In case you haven't noticed, I don't blog much anymore. SIT has been through a lot, and I'm really not sure where to take it from here. Honestly, I don't think I have any readers left.

I don't know when I'll post again. It could be today, it could be tomorrow, it could be a month or more, and it could be never. Until then, here's a picture of a weird pretzel I found:

Discuss.

What Is This "Blogging" You Speak Of?

Man, I've hardly posted anything for the past few weeks.

...
...
...
...

...And it appears that trend will continue.

In other news, my band is up to 8 songs. We're almost ready to hit the studio now. Woohoo.

Behind the Scenes

I'm doing some serious blog renovations. I just added a bunch of new quotes to the random quote generator, I've changed the extended entry code so it expands instead of sending you to the individual entry, and I'm working on adding categories that will apply to almost every post I've written since 2003.

In addition, I feel inclined to write about politics this week. I'm not sure why, but expect some commentary in the next few days.

Open Letter to Comment Spammers

Dear douchebags,

F**K OFF.

Your pal,
CD

Behind the Scenes (again)

I just added a ton of new quotes to the random quote generator. There are now 135 in all, so check 'em out.

Random Status Report

I didn't mention this before, but November brought the highest traffic this blog has ever had, with over 3,000 visits throughout the month. It's not even close to what the big blogs get, but my average is now around 100 visits a day. Compare that to the 60 visits a day that I was hovering at for several months. A lot of them are from Google, but still...that's not bad.

Now, if I could only find a way to get more comments...