Letter home, September 19, 2006

Hi Mom, how are you doing?

I've been doing ok back at school. Went scuba diving for the second time
and it was really fun, not as scary this time. We did some exercises where
we had to take off our gear underwater and put it back on, and also we
dropped our airtanks in the water, swam to the surface, and then dove down
to retrieve them again. In the last exercise we had to dive and breathe
from a tank underwater, swim to the next tank and breathe from that, and
swim to the next tank, before coming up again. I inhaled a lot of
chlorine. I was a bit anxious about being underwater without an air tank,
but it was okay, and I'm glad I know how to do it in case an emergency
arises. I think I could handle myself fairly well on a normal,
non-emergency scuba trip.

Today is Talk Like A Pirate Day, which is a holiday made up on the
internet, and occurs every September 19th. So far I am the only one at
school dressed up like a pirate, but some other people at least know what
I'm doing. Every one else is trying to avoid eye contact with me.

Me and Jeremy are starting on assembling our Halloween costumes. The years
previous we have always been very last-minute about it, so we figure now
is a good time to start.

That is it so far. The first round of midterms are rolling around,

See you sometime,
Angie

(Letter to my mom after campus move-in, senior year)

Hello,

I've been ok here. Something of a shock to be living with and around a lot
of people constantly when I was pretty much by myself back home. It's
actually kind of exhausting. I put up some posters after you left but the
apartment is still pretty empty-looking. So far one of the textbooks I
ordered online has arrived, so I've returned the one I bought at the
campus bookstore. I am still waiting on the other.

I have been making an effort to eat breakfast. So far it is going pretty
well. A new eating place opened in the Commons which serves
Mediterranean-ish food, to replace the old fried chicken place which I
never went to. I haven't actually eaten there yet though, because anything
that looks good enough to eat is too expensive for my meal plan. I had a
delicious shepherd's pie on Friday at a frat barbecue. Everyone on campus
is sick of me telling them about how good it was. So now I only have to
say, "Did I tell you about the shepherd's pie I had on Friday-" and
everyone starts to groan. But it really was delicious, so I feel I should
tell you too.

School got closed in the afternoon on Friday because a water main broke,
maybe due to all the rain, and flooded Wilkens Avenue. I hope Dad is
feeling happier now that he no longer has to water the grass, because
before I left he'd been waiting for it to rain for like two weeks. I went
to Patapsco State Park with Jeremy on Monday to hike around the nature
trails. I went wading in the river and he taught me how to skip rocks, but
we had to leave because it started raining (and also, honestly, because I
got tired and he got hungry). It's actually been raining hard here all
day. It got so swamped that I saw a plumbing truck come by to pump water
off the walkways. Some of my books got pretty wet and now the edges of one
book's pages is bright pink from my notebook's dye. Oh well, it's still
readable.

First day of scuba was on Sunday, but we don't go into the water until
next week. On the first day we will be diving in the lap pool but on the
second day we will be diving in the diving well.

So that is what I have been up to.

Say congratulations to Uncle Jim for me,

Angie

So! What Have I Been Doing Over The Summer?

-Saw Pericles by Shakespeare Theatre Company. Once upon a time a girl sat down to watch an enchanted play, where glitter fell from the sky and Diana walked on billowing waves.

-Won tickets for Love's Labor Lost, Shakespeare Theatre. It's like Shakespeare: The Band. Which is not a bad idea. I am so glad I didn't live in the seventies, because man I would've embarrassed myself.

-Karissa got married! ... How is it that jeans-and-t-shirt turns into gossamer, satin, froth and veils, or dorm room hair to a lady's coif? Is it the same person? People I know are getting married, and I'm starting to feel, if not old, then, adult.

-My first job! I've been the phone and office monkey for Baltimore City Council at City Hall and discovering the inefficiencies and meaningless tedium of government employment, how pretty I look in a skirt, the Baltimore-UMBC bus route, the beauty of neo-Baroque municipal architecture, how to answer phones with powerless diplomacy, outdoor cafes, the old character of a city, new buildings built on top of and around old ones, the chugging diesel motor of the water taxi and the water rolling like a molten metal sheet and the skyline in a golden haze hanging on the horizon, and, after spiralling interminably up a stone gothic staircase, a clear sunny view of Baltimore from a belltower on a gold-capped dome.

-Baseball. Air conditioned baseball, in a box. Hotdogs. Beer. Bad beer. Government work has its perks. I could get used to this. The getting sick at a bar in Fells Point, though, is an exception. NO MORE FUCKING NATTY-BOH.

-Re: above ... I have discovered that I don't like beer. Not even Trappist beer. Belgian monks may find God through beer. As for me, in this respect I remain an atheist.

-Got my driver's license.

-Dieting

-Beat Final Fantasy I, am now working on Final Fantasy II and Tales of Phantasia. Go emulators!

-Reading: La Chanson de Roland, The Complete Odes and Epodes of Horace, Prince Valiant: Volume 1, and the Crown of Stars .. uh... septilogy.. or trying to.. MAN I'm a nerd!

-Writing poorly written surrealist short stories

-Playing the violin and butchering Eine kleine Nachtmusik.

Things from the Montgomery County Fair

Kissing on the Ferris wheel. Playing carnival games and losing, and knowing you'll lose due to the imperceptible yet unyielding mistress of the universe, Physics. Admiring epic vegetables. Eagerly anticipating the 4H queen. Spinning mobiles in the sun and wind. Bunnies, chickens, poo and hay. Behemoths made of living beef. Allergies. Equestrian ballet, the Star Spangled Banner, and polo to August glare. Summer evening and the smell of roasting cinnamon nuts and the rhythm of a blacksmith's hammer.

Pershing's Own

Watched the Army Band play at the greensward by the Washington Monument.

-joggers in the park accompanied absurdly by the Olympic theme at full brass blast. It's not every day you get your own heroic anthem!

-the silhouette of uniformed men in swinging strides, black shadow with white glowsticks

-cannons firing in time to the 1812 Overture

-a brief surge of joy

-billowing clouds of gunsmoke on the wind, soft and pale against the dark sky.

Whitewater Rafting!
(Lower Youghigheny River, class III)

On a scale of one to ten I rate this: "Awesome." As nerdy as I am, real adrenaline is unparalleled, all digital challengers not withstanding. I fell out twice (once because we rammed the boat in front of us for shits and giggles, and I bounced out on impact) and can tell you that even in late July, river water is cold -My glasses didn't wash off because I had the forethought to tie them on.

Nonetheless, I'm of the belief that I'm good at rafting because I'm naturally lazy, odd as it may seem. My body doesn't wish to perform any movements that are more work than necessary, and so I paddle efficiently and well. Rafting is an unexpected combination of wild sensation and quick, coordinated discipline (mostly involving being shouted at like a galley slave).

Other notes: consigned to a suburbanish "campground" complete with pool, arcade, and trailer park. Wet sleeping bag + insects + night-time temperatures in the 50's = shivering ick. But nothing beats s'mores and setting things on fire. I toasted the whole shebang instead of just the marshmallow and everyone thought I was a genius.

-Have you ever stood under a waterfall in a torrential downpour? The world is gray and silver and pounding and wet.

Visited Fallingwater!

Fallingwater is the Mona Lisa of residential houses, if you haven't heard of it. I suppose not everyone's mom is a structural engineer. She actually complains about its structural flaws, so don't believe that it's the praise that's informed me. I find myself to be an ardent fan of beauty. Unfortunately, sometimes beautiful things come without air conditioning. I don't know that I'd want to live in a 30's house that despite everything is somehow showing its age. Nothing in particular, just the moldering scent of oldness.

The interior of the house is vastly underrated, the way you flow like liquid from room to room, from inside to outside and outside to in, bed to terrace, steps to water, cavern to light. Architecturally and philosophically, the artificial thing we call a "room" does not exist. After all, the outside of a house, beautiful as it were, graces postcards. The inside of the house though, is where you live.

So, my sister Maggie had her first kid on Friday.

Welcome to the world, Victoria!

So I had this dream where I met Randolph Carter, and he was telling me about the nature of dreams, and how sometimes you're sure something is true in a dream, but it really isn't.

But I don't remember anything about the dream itself at all, so it's rather strange.

Political Indoctrination FTW

Because there's nothing better for a children's book than an elephant trampling over a homeless man.

I had the recurring dream about my teeth falling out again two days ago. Since I have written about it three times I know for sure that it officially qualifies as a recurring dream.

I may be sick over spring break, but that's not keeping me from writing up fake Wikipedia articles.


"In medieval Europe, charismatic, itinerant preachers travelled between cities, delivering fire and brimstone sermons at religious revivals. Spectators would congregate from miles around to hear these rousing speakers, working themselves into frenzies. Wealthier listeners had the opportunity to find seating in wooden grandstands, but landless peasants had to stand during the entire spectacle, frequently for hours on end, and often fainted with rapture when "moved by the Holy Spirit." Because the audience was so densely packed, there was no way to carry anybody out through the chaotic mob, so bystanders would lift the ecstatic worshipper over their heads and pass him on to others standing nearby, without the person ever touching the ground. In time, this practice became known as 'serf-crowding.'"

USC Board Votes to End Controversial School Program

PITTSBURGH — School board members in a Minnesota district call it anti-American and anti-Christian. In New Jersey, members of one school board argue it’s a waste of money. Now, a suburban Pittsburgh school district is abolishing it over questions of politics and cost.

Supporters of the increasingly popular college preparatory curriculum known as International Baccalaureate are firing back with some of the same arguments — saying efforts to quash IB are about the beliefs and politics of the program’s opponents. ...

I had no idea we were that liberal.

My alternating loathing and respect for the IB is matched only by the utter dickishnes of these school board members.

One of my friends was reborn a few months back, and all I can do is watch his mental deterioration. I met him shortly after he was reborn- half a year later, I regret not having met him before; what a person he must have been! I see an inquisitive mind dimming, a wry sense of humor dimming, a love of music dimming into an opaque fog. We used to talk about video games and bands and tv shows, normal things, and now there's hardly a conversation without the mention of God. It's like he's losing what made him his Self, like my grand-uncle with Alzheimers, or someone slowly possessed by the Borg. He's amiable, generous, and thoughtful still; I pray to whatever God that stole him that this will last.

The words on his blog aren't his own, just quotes from the Bible, with him as a hollow vessel. His love of mathematics and physics is endangered by his recent denunciations of evolution. His musical compositions were born in sin; they were beautiful and made him proud, so he purged them from his computer and his hands. He joined a Jewish history class with an eye to understand new cultures and current events, a goal hindered by his attempts to convert the professor. The things that made him a wonderful person to know are being destroyed by this jealous demon in his head-

this insidious thing which is not content to let people be happy
as they must suffer too because He suffered,
from the sinful moment their evil little baby bodies breathed life,
to the sinful moment they die.

I am not religious, but on my honor, I will not suffer to see a physicist consumed by the fog of superstition. I will not suffer to see creativity of the spirit shackled. I will not suffer to see that which I have suffered to see; a man dying slowly, quietly, with none knowing.

I know I shouldn't take it personally, but this is a war of souls. Those that say athiests and agnostics lack conviction should witness what righteousness rises from resignation and despair.

New Animal Resembling Furry Lobster Found

Aw, so cute!

Yay! My baby pet tarantula molted for the first time! Isn't he cute? Awwww..

Me and Jeremy are keeping a collection of its shed carapaces in a little tin.

It'll be like a scrapbook, but for spiders!

(I gots an avincularia avincularia, which is considered a "Noob spider" by hobbyists, but I like. It was a Valentine's day present for Jeremy. Whenever I tell girls this, they're like, "gross!", but guys are like, "Cool!")

Nerdiest quote ever, courtesy of Eric Hamilton!

"In the present active indicactive emphatic of 15th century English, is it colloquially acceptable to separate the do from the rest of the modal auxillary?"

I saw a rant which is indicative of a usual rant among anti-feminists.

"If all women flaunt their bodies to manipulate men, men shouldn't be criticized for enjoying and making use of women's bodies."

This always struck me as silly, acting like it's some sort of equivalent trade between the sexes.

If a woman acts slutty, it's okay to treat her like a sex object^*. By this logic, if a woman sells drugs, it's okay to buy from her.

LAME.

--

The actual, and much less coherent, post is here, in response to a female commenter saying that small breast size was a refreshing change in fantasy artwork.

First, a woman saying that she likes something to be different every once in a while is hardly controversial radical feminism. That's like saying: "Hm, today I'll have the baked potato instead.." ... "YOU FEMINIST NAZI BITCH!"

Second, there is the huge logical fallacy in grossly generalizing about one half of the world's population. Do severe burn patients, agoraphobics, female bodybuilders, nuns, lesbians, lesbian nuns and this idiot's grandmother flaunt their body to manipulate men? Hmm.. no. Those extreme examples aside, what our male guest is complaining about is "the type of clothes you wear, all the make up you trowel on, the type of heroes that you worship in the media," which he cites as proof that womankind is out to manipulate and leech off of men.

Hmmm. For the most part, women dress up to please themselves and other women. When I buy a stylish necklace, I think "Ooh, this is cute," not "Ooh, this will make men do my yardwork." Women like Jennifer Anniston are popular with other women because they're stylish and glamorous trendsetters, not because they have huge bazongas. (And if you can't differentiate between stylish and "huge bazongas," I hope the police are there to pry you off as you uncontrollably hump a pair of Prada shoes.)

Do men care about the color of your nailpolish? Do men care whether your shoes match your purse? Do men care whether you put on moisturizer or curl your eyelashes? ... Well, some men do, but they're gay.

(Not to mention the good number of women who don't dress up at all)

Women dress to impress men as much as men get spinning rims to impress women. Which is to say, a little, but not much.

As to "the type of heroes that you worship in the media," the women that other women idolize are different from the women men idolize. Who's a hot, busty woman? Jessica Alba. What movies was she in that made her popular? ... Fantastic Four, and Sin City. Who watched those movies? Men. Who is Kate Beckinsale in tight leather popular with? Men. Who is Jennifer Garner popular with? Men. Who is Angelina Jolie popular with? Men. Who is Pamela Anderson popular with? Men.

Who's popular with women? Oprah.

I rest my case.


--
*I make a distinction between being slutty and looking good. When I say I'd like some video game women to not have giant gravity-defying boobs, tight leather catsuits and high heels, that doesn't mean I want video games starring withered hag-women and cement bricks. I like boobs of all sizes, actually. It's the ridiculous outfits I dislike. After all, men like to play as attractive men, but you don't see avatars in World of Warcraft wearing butt-thongs and giant codpieces, do you?

Holy crap!

The Ayn Rand Dating Service

Oh, btw, the weekend previously, I had another one of my teeth falling out recurring dreams.