Tag: life

Categories
Narrated

June

It’s been over two months since my last post, which is terrible. I hope to write something a little more in depth soon, but here’s some general updates for the sake of not losing track of what’s happened in my life.

JC in Spring

The weather finally turned, ending my terrible hatred of the outside that developed over a brutal winter.

Enjoying a Bottled Negroni

We went to the Manhattan Cocktail Classic Gala for the first time. It will probably be the only time: it’s a fun event, but it’s also intensely packed. I enjoy nice cocktails, but I like not moving around as a herd to get them.

The American Dream (Which Might Be A Turkey Leg)

US Soccer came to town for a friendly against Turkey in their run-up to the World Cup. Many soccer things happened, including me making a joke about Landon Donovan that could’ve gone disastrously. Thankfully, it did not.

Gervais

I saw Ricky Gervais again at the Paley Center, this time talking about Derek. It was nearly 10 years ago when I last saw Gervais at what was then the Museum and Television and Radio, which had some special significance. It’s weird to see someone like that twice separated by a decade.

I turned 34. Somehow, I don’t have a picture of any of the weekend’s activities, but heartfelt gratitude to all the friends and folks who came out to my overly planned birthday festivities. Love you all.

Woy In The Jungle

The World Cup started. If we’re playing the “Dan denotes everything of his life in stages”, the 2014 World Cup marks the completion a four-year World Cup cycle since I got back into soccer, since it was the start of the 2010 World Cup that brought me back. I have been busy getting up at 6 every morning to write about the Copa Das Copas. It has been a fantastic tournament. I will be sad when it’s over.

First Goal In An Eternity

I played my first game of soccer in 16 years, as part of the first annual Media Game at Red Bull Arena. Being completely out of shape, I spent much of the match sucking wind or getting burned. I also took a bump on a challenge, fell on my arm, and have had lingering pain for the two weeks since. But I did score one goal, and managed to celebrate it like a complete nerd, as illustrated above.

Just After Midnight

After having made something like 20 podcast appearances, I finally made my first ever television appearance, doing a 10 minute spot on NY1’s “Sports on 1: The Last Word” with Budd Mishkin last Thursday. If there’s anything I miss about living in Astoria, it’s not getting NY1 anymore, so I have not yet seen my own appearance. But a friend from work took the above screen cap, I’m getting a copy of the show on Thursday, and the producer sent me some kind words this morning, so, I’ll take it.

Gaming wise: on PS4, enjoyed the hell out of the Destiny Alpha, had a blast with Sportsfriends during my birthday, and I’m really digging Valiant Hearts: The Great War. On Steam, Nuclear Throne, Full Bore, and Shovel Knight have been good distractions over the steady hum of Dota 2. iOS, nothing substantial – mostly just Disco Zoo and Two Dots.

That’s all for now, I suppose.

Categories
Debated Disliked

America – Now With Less Freedom!

I’ve been following the Terry Schiavo case a bit over the last few weeks, keeping my fingers crossed this wouldn’t become a national issue.

Lo and behold, [here we are](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4367201.stm).

Friends, this affects every last one of us. You have lost the ability to make critical care decisions for loved ones. You no longer can expect someone to be able to take mercy on you and end years of pain and suffering and vegetative state. Personal decisions *and* the decisions of your doctor have been usurped by the government.

I don’t care if you’re Democratic, Republican, Catholic, Jewish, Agnostic, or SubGenius – read the [details of this case](http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/infopage.html) and realize how tragic this is not only for Terry Schiavo and her husband, but for the United States as a country.

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> In cases like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws, and our courts should have a presumption in favour of life.

-George W. Bush

> By now most people who read liberal blogs are aware that George W. Bush signed a law in Texas that expressly gave hospitals the right to remove life support if the patient could not pay and there was no hope of revival, regardless of the patient’s family’s wishes. It is called the Texas Futile Care Law. Under this law, a baby was removed from life support against his mother’s wishes in Texas just this week. A 68 year old man was given a temporary reprieve by the Texas courts just yesterday.

–Digby’s *Hullabaloo*

I’m not even going to get started on his very much pro-death penalty ways; I’m content to stand pat and call the man a massive hypocrite.

********

While reading the [fantastic MetaFilter thread on the ordeal](http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/40549) – about Congress rushing through legislation to score political points; the stringent court cases that have assessed her as unable to recover; the fifteen years Michael Schiavo has spent flying her all over the country seeking treatment – I was struck by some odd nostalgia.

Bill Hicks, who by now should be up for sainthood, has a bit on one of his CDs (*Rant In E Minor*) about pro-lifers; it was one of the first Hicks routines I had ever heard. The jist of the bit was that if you’re so pro-life – if you so dearly value the sanctity of human life – then stop blocking abortion clinics, and instead links arms and block cemetaries.

Never in a million years did I expect anyone to actually take the suggestion to heart.

(As I write this post on the subway, *I’m Afraid Of Americans* by David Bowie + Trent Reznor came on my iPod. Irony noted.)

Categories
Happened

Sunday Afternoon Nooz

Well, it’s an average Sunday around here. I’ve spent most of the day cleaning up old crap kicking around my room. In probably the most boring thing I’ll ever post to my web page, I would like to note I had a crapload of change kicking around, and rolled it for an extra $44 of income. Woot.

In the bizarre, fanatical hobby department, I finally got around to working on my Nerf gun today. For those who don’t know, I purchased a Nerf Lock N’ Load Blaster in April, and have since modified it from a semi-good gun to an ungodly gun. This sounds ridiculous, but believe me, it’s good stress relief, especially in a dorm setting. Anyhow, today I added a pullback ring, since the gun was lacking an easy cocking mechanism ever since my initial modifications, and I figured out how to reduce the recoil and increase the accuracy with some well placed tape. No more randomly flying darts! Woot!

Now that I’m done scaring all of you, on to the rest of my life. Kate gets up here on Tuesday, so as usual I won’t be around much. Thursday we’re heading up to Watertown for a wedding, so we REALLY won’t be around then. I rejoin the real world on Sunday, kicking and screaming as usual.

Anyone who’s even vagually interested in wrestling is required to check out WrestleCrap.com, a site dedicated to ridiculous gimmicks. It’s in the Linkpad, if you’d rather.

Other than that, I don’t have much else to report. Campus housing opens on the 18th, and my move in will be slow and leisurely. The FV project is progressing nicely, and hopefully we’ll be ready to go by the end of the month. And Deus Ex rocks.

If you’re bored, drop me some mail.