Too good to miss

I'm fairly certain Seb already posted this, but it's just too good. Watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DJjp9Bi3f0

Phone calls and DIYs

I was driving to pick up a girl for our first date and realized I was going to show up at her house a few minutes early. In this case, I didn't want to be early or late.

I pulled into a nearby parking lot for several minutes so my timing would be right on.

When I meet someone who understands all of this, I will have found my soulmate.

I have spent most of this semester quite pleased with how well I get along without a computer, until today. Today I realized that my life has become pathetic. When my computer worked, I would spend no small amount of time writing - I'd churn out some chapters in a novel or a half-dozen vignettes. I know some writers still use pen and paper, but my muse doesn't really strike unless my fingers are poised over a keyboard - after all, my handwriting can't keep up with my thoughts well enough. The point is, not having a computer really just means I spend all day watching TV.

Seb wants me to tell you that Clinton actually only won by 9.2. CNN is still saying 10, so there.

As for the DIY, which I forgot to write about the first time I posted this, I found that I can replace the DC in-board (combined with sound card) on my Powerbook for $60, if I do it myself. I'll check on the cost of getting it serviced, but I know that tends to be pretty pricey, so I might try to follow the incredibly complicated process of operating on a Mac laptop. Of course, I can't do any of this until I get back to the States and get the necessary parts.

Your first source in political coverage

Sebastian would like me to note that he - not the New York Times - was the first to post an article covering tonight's stunning election in Pennsylvania, in which the completely unexpected surge to victory by Clinton virtually guarantees her the presidency.

As of this writing, the election has long since been called for Clinton, who currently leads in the actual vote counts 54% to 46%.  That's an eight-point difference, which I would like you to know was my prediction at the beginning of the night (Seb said six).

I wish I'd seen the screen

The other day I was sitting at the kitchen table eating my comida and, as usual, ignoring whatever program my host family was watching on the TV. I wish I had not been so inattentive, because suddenly my host mom grabbed the remote, switched off the TV, and explained that the Bible tells us not to involve ourselves in "such things." Given the rather crude nature of Mexican humor, even on family programs, and the level of violence I've seen them watching in the kitchen, I'm just dying to know what Satan was trying to send us over the boob tube.

It appears Russell and I have found our third. Welcome to Pirate House, Mr. Shellenberg.

It has been suggested that I star in a "Bachelor" style dating show involving me and twenty single Brethren women. This awful idea snowballed until it developed an "Apprentice" like style and now features Ellen and myself competing for the same pool of Brethren bachelorettes, all hosted by Walt Wiltschek and Carrie Fry-Miller.

I have also heard that one of my poems will not only be featured in the Manchester literary magazine Spectrum, but will in fact be displayed on the advertising poster. My fame increases.

The only conversation I ever had with Mark Souder

Mark Souder, for those of you who don't know him, is a quick-tempered, abraisive, ultra-conservative U.S. Representative from Indiana's third congressional district. I have had the opportunity to hear him speak and found him infuriating for both his complete lack of respect for, well, anyone, and his astonishing inability to grasp or adequately explain scientific concepts.

I got to meet with Souder in a crowded hallway in the Capitol Building, along with several other Church of the Brethren youth, to talk about our desire to see a bill that would allow conscientious objectors to have their tax money diverted so that none of it would be used for the military. Souder objected on two counts: First, he said that was stupid because the money would just be made up from other peoples' tax dollars and it would just be a piece of paperwork that didn't actually affect how money was spent (I actually agreed with him on this one, but the Church was telling us what side to take). The second and more startling complaint he had was that (and this is a quote) "Nobody else gets to pick and choose where their tax dollars go. For example, I don't want to see my tax dollars going to support homosexuality."

I could not for the life of me think of any federal program that directly supported homosexuality (perhaps we should deny them medical care or something), so I said that was actually a great idea and that we should create a Federal Assistance for Gays Subsidy (F.A.G.S.).

I was accused of being "unconstructive."

Moving along...

We've all seen or heard tell of the guy falling off the barstool, right? Well, it's been trumped. That's right, Sara Beth has managed to fall out of a bar. I'll spare you the details because, honestly, they're a lot less outrageous than the summary.

Things are moving right along in the Getting Stuff Done department*. I have my schedule for next semester, a work of art created through a very exciting (to me) or boring (to you) process. I have about 19 classes with Abby Fuller and, if he ever gets back to me, a tutorial with the amazing Ken Brown. I have also officially been accepted to the Indianapolis Peace Institute's summer program and am now working on (read as: planning to at some point fill out) all the forms that require my signature. I read through the handbook and just about had a coronary - apparently doing an internship is significantly more complicated than just doing a job, because I have to use introspection. In this regard, I am lucky to have gotten certain traits from my mother, who does not share Dad's intense dislike of self-examination.

Speaking of my parents, I want it to be known that I recently read a New York Times article claiming that the liberal arts degree is the new MBA. Back off my career choice.

Oh, and also moving along is my housing search, as it is now "official" that Russell and I will be living in Pirate House next year (the quotation marks indicate that our landlord doesn't know this yet, but Russell said "official").

Have a day!

* This department is not responsible for my schoolwork, which falls firmly into the jurisdiction of my Things I Never Do department along with salsa dancing and watching Lost.

The name's Bond. No, not James.

Jamie: "Nicolas, what is that trio of women playing violins that have amazing music videos?"
Me: "Bond?"
Jamie: "YES!"
Me: "You love me."
Jamie: "I do."

I would like to note the fact that Bond is in fact a string quartet featuring two violins, a viola and a cello makes it all the more impressive that I was able to instantly answer the question.

By the way, Jamie is correct in saying that they have amazing music videos. Check some of them out on YouTube (I can't link you because YouTube is annoyingly blocked).

Houses and headaches

Well, I sure wish I hadn't been counting so much on getting re-hired, because looking for a house this late is excruciating. I have gotten an astonishing amount of information on what other people are already doing, but very little in the way of options for me. I've been in conversation with Russell about some house hunting, but I also have to tell Steve by tomorrow whether I want to room with him in East Street. I mean, I do, but East Street is so insanely expensive it makes me cringe. Plus I would still be giving lots of money to the exact office that declined to employ me, which those of you who know me well will understand is a very difficult prospect for me. I'm like Rudy Giuliani lite.

Other than that, however, things seem to be falling into place as far as the future goes. Not getting hired means I have extra time at the end of my summer to do an internship, which in turn means I qualify for more grant money. If any of you haven't yet been leaked the information, I did get the Scout Fuller Summer Service Award for 2008, which will (assuming I get accepted) pay for me to do an internship through the Indianapolis Peace Institute. In some senses I can do a pretty lousy job at keeping people up-to-date on my experiences (this blog is a totally random glimpse of my actual life), but I will strive to tell you all about my summer work, as I believe publicizing it will do more justice to the honor I've been given.

In the frustrations department, I continue to wait for college personnel to reply to my e-mails. Residential Life has been particularly bad about this over the past two months, and this last week is no different. I know Lemisia commented a while back on similar experiences, so I'm not just imagining this. I admit that I sometimes lag behind in responding to friends' e-mails, but I have had a desk job on more than one occasion and I did manage to at least acknowledge when people were trying to communicate with me. I did manage to find out that dropping out for a bit won't hurt my merit-based financial aid, which is good news, but once the details of this internship are ironed out that won't really be a possibility, since I got funding based on an application saying I'd use it for school costs.

And there's concern over the future of the peace studies program at Manchester, but that's a completely different can of worms. They're already losing one of their two peace studies professors (not to be replaced), and now they're telling us that eliminating the peace intern "won't mean the college is not still committed to the program."

My understanding is that a good part of peace studies is all the stuff we do outside of the classroom, all of which is organized by said peace intern.

/rant

Suddenly homeless

Well, ResLife won't be providing me with a place to stay next year. I suspect complications with my application, while Mom suspects my inability to resist telling people what I think. I guess I have more faith in the college than her, because it seems to me like an institution that would encourage upwardly-directed input.

Anyway, assuming I come back next year and I can't convince my mom to back me on the couch-surfing plan, I'm going to need some housing arrangements, either on or off-campus. Keep your ears open and see if you can hook me up.

The hidden message in this post is that I might not come back next year. Manchester did, after all, expel my best friend.

What heaven feels like

Normally, a returning RA with my qualifications wouldn't stress too much about getting the job. But given the complications with my application process, I have literally checked my school e-mail every five minutes for the past two hours.

During that time, however, I idly started to investigate Notre Dame, which is currently my top pick for if I decide to go to grad school. I've heard they have an excellent program in Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute. It was during this activity that I made a most amazing discovery:

Notre Dame offers a PhD in Peace Studies and Psychology.

It is as if somebody read my dreams and then made an academic program out of them. Now I just have to decide if I want to do two or five more years of school after I graduate.

Downtime in Xalapa

I could definitely get used to the way the Universidad Veracruzana runs. Not only did we have two weeks of vacation for Holy Week(s), but because those two weeks included two days we would normally have off, we got to "make up" those off days Monday and Tuesday of this week. I am currently in the process of skipping my only class today to write the essay I'm supposed to be turning in (not that I've actually started that yet), which leaves my two classes tomorrow as all I've got this week.

Reminder to parents: My grades here do not transfer.

I have spent the last two days being anything but productive. My routine was as follows: in the morning I would frantically run downtown to check and see if I got any e-mail about calling for an interview with Res Life. Then I'd go home and spend the afternoon switching between playing guitar and watching TV. Now that my afternoon classes have ended, I can watch one episode of Third Watch per weekday, which does wonders when I'm jonesing for a police and firefighter fix (as the second-most corrupt in the world, the police here inspire more fear than awe, and I generally avoid them).

Actually, I threw in some computer games yesterday because Sara Beth let me borrow her computer to work on said essay. In retrospect, backing up Escape Velocity Nova and Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space onto my external hard drive probably wasn't the best decision for my productivity.

I've devoted a massive portion of my time these past few weeks to trying to make sure everything is in order in terms of my RA application. I have yet to hear back about an interview, and job offerings are supposed to go out today, so I'm a little worried here.

Well, there are academics to do (apparently I'm still a student), so I'll bid you all farewell and hasta la próxima.

Nico out.