Merits of a ping pong table

My roommates and I threw a party on Saturday night, and while we've enjoyed the odd game of ping pong since getting our new ping pong table, lots of friends and alcohol are needed to really demonstrate its full potential. And so, in case any of you were waffling on whether or not to buy yourself one, listed below are the many benefits of owning a ping pong table:

1. lends itself to playing ping pong
2. matches green furnishings
3. easy solution to the old "so what the hell do we do with this room?" problem
4. great for flip cup tournaments
5. drunk ping pong not as prone to injury as drunk bowling; also much more convenient
6. beer pong rocks
7. perfect when you're trying to play Kings with a group of 15
8. can probably play a central role in any drinking game, really
9. net as apparel has fashion statement written all over it
10. totally cooler than "table tennis"

Now I remember why I hate politics

I'm watching the debate right now, and I've remembered why I never pay attention to politics. It's a waste of my time. Politics is nothing but soundbites and factoids written by staffers who've read How to Lie with Statistics.

I consider myself to be fairly liberal on most issues, and there are certainly things Bush has done with which I disagree. However, I think it's unfair to slam him for decisions made when, at the time, evidence supported those decisions. Uncovering additional information that now shows those decisions to be be incorrect is unfortunate, but no one can go back and change those decisions. They had to be made; if we always waited until we had all the facts, nothing would ever get done. I also seriously resent Kerry's claims that are backed by absolute numbers: 1.9 million jobs lost during Bush's administration, a number not matched in 70 years (from the stock market crash and the Depression, remember those?)? No shit, our population's grown a bit over the years. Our deficit increased more during Bush's administration than during all prior administrations put together? It's called decreased buying power--let's see those comparisons in real dollars. China and India are graduating more people with technological expertise? Ya think?! Have you checked those populations recently?

Everything is half truths, things to which you'd have to reply "Yeah, but..." and then be cut off, because a full statement of the facts is not in the current speaker's best interest. Both candidates are doing this, but I suppose I react more strongly to Kerry doing so simply because I dislike the blanket hatred of Bush that I hear from so many sources that won't give him the benefit of the doubt. (I'm totally gonna get shit for that from my more informed friends.) Michael Moore is case in point, and that is one of the few people whom I actually hate. He seeks to deceive as much as he seeks to expose, and is arguably worse than presidential candidates because he can cast himself as objective when his work is no such thing. That makes me so angry that I can't even think about it; that's an issue I can't resolve and may as well devote myself to more productive pursuits.

It's all so disillusioning. Jesus H.

Definitely a fan

I love Better Than Ezra. I'm absolutely crazy about them, and discovered this today when I visited their website, saw they were coming to Chicago in November and had just released a live cd and immediately bought tickets and the cd, without question. I've already been to two concerts and now have all their albums (I borrowed two today from a friend, and it was listening to some of the tracks on those cds that motivated me to buy the live cd simply because they have so much more energy in their live performances), and am the proud owner of one BTE t-shirt.

The weird thing is, I've never been the rabid music fan kind of girl. I'm still not, really. Figuring out I liked Better Than Ezra has been years in the making; until a year ago I'd only ever heard the singles they'd played on the radio (Desperately Wanting, Good, and Extra Ordinary). And I was a big fan of said singles, but never really explored further. Then last summer I played a couple of them for a friend who'd never heard them before but whose musical opinion I respect, and she commented on how much she liked Extra Ordinary and how she'd like to hear other stuff like that. I decided that wasn't a bad idea and when I ran across the Closer cd for $10, I decided to take a risk. And I absolutely loved it.

This past summer I finally get it in my head that I'm going to go see bands I like, and BTE was playing a free show up in Palatine. Not a lot to lose on a free show, so I drove up there. And I was absolutely blown away--I went alone and was hanging out in the hot, humid air and still had a fantastic time because the band is just so engaging (Kevin Griffin, the lead singer, is the definition of presence). That was it for me, I was hooked, and have been looking for ways to get to know more about them ever since; all their cds, any concerts, you name it, I'm in.

I'm surprised by my enthusiasm; I've never been all that passionate about anything, nor have I ever been all that given to trying new things--it's almost like I'm growing up, or something. It's taken years, but now I can try something new without having to be dragged kicking and screaming. (Except for spicy food. Keep that the hell away from me.) More and more it seems as if, looking back on growing up, that I was in a cave, with nothing really allowed in or out except for books, and plenty of 'em.

It's slow, but something's defnitely changing, even though it feels like it's ten years late. Whence this sudden acceleration (I mean, those first 22 years feel like they were absolutely static from where I stand now) I don't know, but I hope it continues.

If all else fails...

Here's a definite job possibility.

Or I could go to Australia and never come back.

I suppose the two aren't mutually exclusive, but if I went to Australia I'd want to do something stereotypically Australian, like walk around saying "G'day."

They pay for that, right? I mean, that's why the Aussies do it, right?

Brrr

It's 49 degrees out. At 11 in the morning. It's October friggin' 4th.

I was informed last year that this sudden temperature drop at the beginning of October was very unusual. Likewise, our suckier-than-average summer was also very unusual. These observations have not done anything to actually improve the weather, and they're not doing much to improve my attitude towards it anymore either.

But as I made my way down Clark, wearing my wool coat for the first time since spring, it occurred to me that my handling of cold weather this year, after only 2 months of summer, is likely to be somewhat different than my handling of cold weather last year, which followed 21 years of summer. A significant amount of the novelty has worn off. Plus I now have to walk over a mile and take a train to get from home to class, rather than biking three blocks. Lots more opportunity to really experience all the variety in weather conditions Chicago has to offer.

Shit.

Fair-weather fandom still counts, right?

One of the client sponsors we met on Friday (I'd decided not to shower that morning, of course; I'm all about first impressions) had flown in from Columbus that morning, and according to his report, everyone else on that plane was bound for Northwestern as well. The Buckeye bandwagon. Freakin' Buckeyes. All gung ho and shit.

Wish I was on their flight home today, though... how much must it suck to go from winning the national championship two years ago to losing to Northwestern. The only reason that school is still on their schedule is a combination of pity and ego boost (and that whole Big Ten thing may have something to do with it too).

Actually, it sounds a lot like last year's USC-Cal game. We were like, dude, it's Cal, (I'm totally not paraphrasing) and then went and lost in OT.

But hey, at least we got to go home to Los Angeles. The Buckeyes had to fly back to Ohio.

Would you rather...

Sure, I could be watching the presidential debate right now. I'm certain to be out of the loop at the water fountain tomorrow. Or I could go have a couple drinks with my friends right now and bask in the euphoria of a sudden leap of success in my job search (it really is who you know) and read about the debate online in class tomorrow. (I'll be ready for that trip to the water fountain, dammit.)

As usual, alcoholism wins out. Plus I've gotta do something to avoid finishing that (1 week overdue) paper, and drinking beats the hell out of watching Tweedle Dum and Tweedle W talk about, like, important issues may or may not affect my future... and stuff (see above paragraph).

Cheers!