My eyes! My eyes!

I have yet to have what Garrett calls an "encounter" with a homeless person. I have not ever had one yell at me, or come intimidatingly close. Sure they ask me for change all the time, sometimes when I'm on my bike they'll yell - I kid you no- "Ay, Yo Girl!" I'm very good at ignoring all of this, and homeless people in general.

So, on my way to school tonight I saw a man relieving himself in some flowers.

Last year when I was visiting friends in Charlottesville I saw a man with a walker, walking, with his pants down and urinating as he walked, while he supported himself on the walker. This was completely different because were close to an old folk's home and a hospital and I figured he could he either do that or wet himself. If I were him I would have chosen the former also.

I'm also familiar with guys peeing anywhere, but not usually out in the open. Really, why couldn't he have least faced a building or something? Instead of standing next to a tree, and not a large tree, though I suppose he was trying to hide behind it? I don't know. I just really wish I had not seen it. And now I would like very much for that picture to stop running through my head.

everyone loves a debate

You all know who Christopher Hitchens is. He is a complete arse. He is an atheist. he is an anti-theist. He Is also, most importantly a journalist/author/critic. He is probably the most important intellectual on the placnet currently and if not, he's definitely in the top ten.

Last night he spoke at VCU and debated some guy named Turec, Turek? Turreck? I don't know, nor does it matter. The debate was whether or not there is a God. Obviously Hitchens was against and the other guy (who I will now simply refer to as T) was for.

I myself believe in God, I also reject organized religion. So, I agreed and disagree with them both. Now, we all know that Hitchens likes to go on and on about how horrible religious people are and all that, and he did last night, it has become apparent (as he's gotten older) that he does have morals. Which raises the question, and was proposed by T last night how can one have morals if one does not believe in a God, or at least a higher being?

I don't know, I believe in God. But I don't think that one must have religion to know right from wrong,but I do think that we all as humans are born with that knowledge, from a higher being. It's all interconnected, and I am entirely to inarticulate to explain it, so I won't.

Anyway, I have great admiration for Hitchens and his peers in the journalistic world. If I am half as successful as he is I'll be happy. I luckily got to speak with him last night.

We've met a couple times before because he lives next to a friend of mine and while he didn't remember my name he did recognize me (gush!). I was able to speak with him after - it's common knowledge that he is a heavy drinker, it's also typical that alcohol is forbidden on all college campuses - I noticed/smelled his drink and asked what it was (i thought they were doing product placment with the pepsi cups, because it was recorded, vcu doesn't have money blahblahblah...) when he replied, ever so casually, "scotch! do you want some?" I declined and sat behind him as he spoke with hundreds of fans before leaving. My favorites were the Christians who stood in line to tell him how much they loved him and how they're praying for him and how they hope that one day he'll "find God." Oh dear! they were so cute! Anyway, I asked him if he wanted to go to Penny's, but he couldn't because he had to go out with the crazies that invited him to speak, and it just so happened that that is where they took him. Though, I didn't go, I did get a raincheck.

Prior to the debate I met a man whose name I won't post, but he works for a large PR firm in Reston and chatted with me for awhile. Anyway, I got his information and if an internship at the Post doesn't work out this summer I may have this to fall back on. Maybe I should go into PR, this networking thing is just too easy.

Election 2008

In an effort to find this quote:

"Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance."

I found this one, and I do believe that is sums up my complete feelings about the political world this year:

"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes."

Both are by Oscar Wilde.

blahblahblahsobsobsobsniffsniffsniff

I've been at school for about a month. My classes are fine. I'm taking sixteen credits and managing fairly well. The only classes I'm having a hard time in are Energy! (on my transcript that exclaimation point will be included) which is a physics, chemistry combo. It's not horrible, I just really hate doing math and this class requires all sorts of conversions; economics is similar, but more theory, so not as difficult and at least I find it interesting and it'll be helpful in journalism; and last, Focused Inquiry - it's the required freshman course, it's very similar to what English was like my first two years of high school, except my teacher is horrible and I want to punch him in the face and he's always "encouraging" us to be "creative" and to "step out of the 5-paragraph box" but when I do he tells me that I'm doing everything wrong.

Focused Inquiry is the worst replacement for an English 101 class. I understand that kids don't know how to write upon their arrival to college. I get that, but at least in high school I wasn't clumped with them in English (I was in advanced and AP English courses). So now he, an acting major (this class is taught by professors from all concentrations) is trying to teach me how to write.

This includes giving us "worksheets" aka busywork, that we have to fill out instead of writing comments and making corrections directly on each others' papers. I find assignments like this exhausting. Nothing is benefited from them. I can write, fairly well, I'm not Vanity Fair material...yet.

Anyway, I started doing homework yesterday and then I couldn't concentrate, so I wrote a blog. That kind of got everything out of system. Not really. I miss DC. A lot. People should not be this attached to cities. I know I've been very negative about Richmond, and it not having anything to offer, but it's true. It is unbelievable true. I can only imagine how much unhappier I would be at somewhere like JMU or even UVA.

I'm really trying to like Richmond. I went out Friday and Saturday. Friday we (my roommate Jessica, Garrett from econ and his friend Bryan) were going to go to that toga/underwear themed party, but none of felt like dressing up, and they wouldn't let us in unless we took our clothes off. Then we made it to a frat-party Jessica knew about. We were let in, and stayed for maybe ten minutes, because we all weren't invited (just Jessica) we were kicked out. It was disgusting. So after calling the cops and reporting underage drinking, we headed to Garrett's friend's house. That, while being a little awkward when his ex showed up, was far better than the previous two attempts to have a good time.

Luckily Saturday was my first day at work - Images Salon. It was a slight distraction from all the craziness that is my life, but of course there was salon drama. My first day was another girl's last. She was very bitter, not at me, just in general. I had two clients, and made at least a hundred bucks, plus tips, so I think I'll be making pretty decent money in no time.

By the time work was over the rain was gone and I was looking forward to exploing the city a bit more. Jessica keeps being added by these random guys on facebook who see her in the VCu network. She talks to them via facebook and they asked if she wanted to meet in the commons for dinner. I of course accompanied her. It was awkward and they were not fabulously good looking, I don't know what she was thinking.

Anyway we ended up inviting them to go see Cartel at the Canal Club with us. They came. We went. We saw the most horrible "venue" in the world. It is a combination "venue" and sports bar. Like Jaxx, but about four times the size.Ick! And to make it worse it was all ages, which is fine in DC, but in Richmond that meanst that the shows have to be done by ten thirty, on a saturday night. Really. I'm not even a fan of Cartel, and the crowd was full of fourteen-year-old scensters wearing the band shirts their parents bought for them that night. AWFUL!

And then of course yesterday I started crying, for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because I miss DC and Richmond is not close to coming up anytime soon.

I eventually got in touch with April and she came and picked me up. We went to Chop Suey (a used bookstore, awesome) and got ice cream. It was what I needed. Afterwards I met up with friends at Panda Veg (vegan chinese restaurant that is surprisingly good) and then went to the Ink (magazine) meeting.

I think Ink will probably be the defining factor as far as my college experience goes. I hope it works out. Wish me luck!

How to use a Telephone

Everyone I know is incapable of using the telephone, more spceifically, their cell phones. I believe that I am one-hundred percent correct in thinking that the reason we have telephones is so that we can be reached virtually any time.

I'll admit, I'm needy, and am very much a phone person because I like to be in constant contact with the rest of the world. Unfortunately all the people that I'm closest with are idiots in the telephone realm and never pick up. This becomes a large problem when I'm having a shitty day and need someone to vent to, am having computer problems, have made plans with them, etc.

Now I understand that sometimes people need time to themselves or whatever, but this isn't an occasional thing; this happens to me all the time. Literally.

The only acceptable reasons for not answering the phone are as follows:

1. You are using the bathroom - Now, I know people that use that phone while they're taking a dump. I personally find this repulsive.

2. You are in the shower - I also know people talk on the phone in the shower (I hear them here at school) but I don't see how combining electronics and water is ever a good idea.

3. You don't have service/are on the metro/bus - Alright, so these could all be separate, but they're very similar. If you don't have service, that's fine, or if you lose it while we're talking, have the decency to call me back. If you're on the metro/bus, everyone knows you should never talk on the phone because you will annoy everyone around you.

4. You are having sex - Actually, I hope that for all the times I call people and they don't answer that they are having sex because that would mean that they have an exceptionally healthy sex life. And everyone knows that they more you have the happier you are. So when you're done, you should be in a really good mood and therefore even more pleasant to talk to, so call me back.

5. You're at work - So, this isn't really an excuse unless you have a government job and aren't allowed to take your phone to work. At every other job, you most likely have your phone at work and will be fired if you're talking on it excessively, I understand that, I really do, but that's why you have a plan with texting, so you can tell me that. Duh.
If you don't have texting then we will probably never be in contact again.

If I'm calling I obviously have something to say, and when you don't answer or call back you just make me mad.

Yesterday my sister and I made plans to hang out today. She told me to call her at any time today so that she could come pick me up. It's been two hours since I first called. Her husband also didn't answer, so by God they better be having sex.