blabberings abound

yes indeed,

this is what happens when monday was slow.. tuesday is slow.. and the sun outside beckons to me through a measly window in the office: i write for the 3rd time today. but really, only the second time 'cause the first one was really "yesterday." and it was a poem, for god's sake. i haven't had poetic inspiration in years. go willie's cell phone.

i'm still in the midst of the relatively long, ongoing process of dealing with this inane website. it's actually fine -- the work keeps me occupied, and i'm refining my html skills... but the boss-man, in fits of brilliance, comes up with the stupidest edits and worst organizational ideas from time to time (and "from time to time" essentially means every other day). for a while, i attempted to calmly explain to him that such changes would counteract all the good that i was trying to originally do. and also suggest alterations to his brainstorms. but it's tiring to explain such things to someone who has no concern whatsoever for webpage layout, format, and management. so nowadays, unless the changes are absolutely obscene, i just go ahead and do them. i've become a dutiful slave... this is where $160,000 and a B.S. have gotten me.

okay anyway, two items of noteworthiness:
dana reeves, the widow of christopher reeves, died today. she was 44 and succumbed to lung cancer even though she never smoked. for some reason, it saddens me a lot. maybe 'cause she was such a good person and helped so much with paralysis research... maybe 'cause she leaves a young son behind. i dunno.
the other thing, which escalates my blood pressure to dangerously high levels, is the news that the south dakota governor has signed a bill to ban abortions. apparently, abortions are now only allowed in cases where mothers' lives are threatened if not performed. but even then, pregnant women are "encouraged" to seek other means to stay alive and continue the pregnancy. what the hell. beyond that, abortions aren't even allowed in circumstances of rape or incest. the governor, in signing this bill, basically wants the law to challenge roe v. wade and continue all the way up to the now-"reformed" supreme court. egads.

our government is incredible. the bush administration is amazing.
we've gone through... (and are still going through, in some cases):
9/11
anthrax attacks
impending bioterrorist and infectious disease crises
cheney's shooting of a non-quail
two, actually three (one miserably failed), supreme court nominations
some crud about WMD
the iraqi war (and soon-to-be civil war?)
osama bin laden.. oh wait, is he connected with iraq somehow?
iran
india
hurricanes, particularly katrina, and subsequent flooding
ports
eavesdropping and domestic spying
patriot act renewals
the disaster better known as the department of homeland security
oh, and fema too

living in washington, dc is stressful.

this wasn't meant to be a political rant.


in actuality... i wanted to blabber about something else. random thought #540913: some of the people here in this tri-region area are... bad. and by bad, i mean, good. and by good, i mean inspirational. so really, they're very cool. but bad for my reasonings of practicality and reality. why? because they've found the balls to just "up and go". what the hell am i talking about? one of the climbers, with whom i'm not great friends and barely know, recently quit his steady (yet probably boring) job in maryland and moved out to australia on a 3-month permit. he's out there for three main reasons, i think: 1) to climb in the beauty of the down under; 2) to see his super-awesome girlfriend, who had previously spent a couple months of her own in the states to do ph.d work (and climb, thus beginning the romance of two ridiculously nice and cut climbers); and 3) because it was time to take a breath and just "up and go."

it's admirable to me, i guess.. maybe it's a thing-of-the-times.. where it's just not good enough to have a stable, paying job. we've been, in subtle ways, trained to want happiness and joy as well as financial stability. and we're going about it in different ways than those of our parents and previous generations. a third of us stick with boring, un-inspiring positions and hope for normal pathways of praise, raise, and job advancement. another third have committed the first couple of years of their post-graduate lives to a consulting or tech or financial company and are currently working nights, days, weekends, and mealtimes to achieve lofty (though granted, seemingly reachable) goals and make a hefty buttload of income in the process. and the other third of us, relatively unsatisfied with the random direction we've taken so far, are trying to find that other road. and sometimes, that other road requires you to just "up and go." am i brave enough to "up and go"? am i lucky enough to find something -- a position, an internship, an opportunity (maybe even while currently employed) -- that'll be super-duperly-great? i hope so. i really really do....