RIP Jerry Orbach

A.K.A. the singing candlepiece from Beauty and the Beast A.K.A. the disapprovong father from Dirty Dancing.

We'll miss you Detective Brisko and your little quirks.

"When you absolutely positively have to kill someone overnight."

Though I don't want a colonoscopy or whatever its called when I turn 50 or so I know I should...

On a lighter note, I applied for Michigan Tech for no real reason except that it was free and easy. All I need is a single sheet from Rikli and that's it.

And I sent my MIt forms and my RIT waiver

Cambridge

So I finished my MIT forms finally and with any hope they'll be in the mail by tonight.

And my my what a trip it has been

OK I take that back I still gotta resend my RIT fee waiver

But anyway the college search is over! Wow. Since Sophomore year I've been worried about this and ready to relax. But on one hand I see that's just a joke. You still have to monitor your progress. I mean if all of a sudden you have 3C's 2D's and an Incomplete I think the colleges would be very suspicious.

As for my MIT debacle, here's the rundown:

I kept the MIt Number 14 essay relatively unchanged. I downplayed the angst I had with the essays but kept it pretty intact.

As for which piece to include, I'm still tossed but think I might submit 2 songs.

Or 3

They're between "Houston", "Eulogy", and - the shocker- "SlowBabyDown(Baby)" It just makes sense to me that I should maybe have a piece that's not so serious. I think SBD(B) is a great way to round off my haziness with some downright 80's style glam rock. It works really well if you sing it to the guitar from "The Boys of Summer" (by either Don Henley or The Ataris, depending on who -or is it whom?- you ask) and it ROCKS!

LAters!

And thank you, Detroit!

The blog about everything

First of all, I hope you're all having a wonderful winter break.

Now, let's get down to business, shall we?

"The Root of my Fears"

I think it's finally dawned on me why I'm so afraid to drive. It comes in two parts.

a) the idea of me being in control. I don't like to have the responsibility on my shoulders. I'll easily be second in command, but if forced to be first then if I go down I'm taking you all with me. I guess I'm submissive like that. This correlates to the bad dream I had freshman year (It's probably in the archives somewhere)

b) Road rage. After about 14 near death experiences in my cousin's truck on our way to Wal Mart Christmas Eve, I realized that my famliy has very pent up feelings and anger issues. First of all, my cousin. He's not a defensive driver. He's more of an offensive driver, and in more ways than one. He's the one who will be ranting up a storm if you're in front of him only going 5 mph above the speed limit. He's the type that weaves in and out of traffic just to get ahead of the white VW beetle driven by the old lady. Then there's my mom. While a more subdued kind of person, she hates it whenever things get in her way. If one guy suddenly pulls ahead of her, she's moody for the whole trip.

And the scary thing is that I know deep inside I am exactly like that. I want to think of myself as the timid one that nobody wants to be stuck behind, but if you've ever seen me in the hallways I prtray a different meaning. Especially when the bell's rung, I find myself darting while other people are casually walking to their rooms.

Ok, fine, maybe 3 things.

c) I don't think like a driver. Mr. Wagley always said in Driver's Ed to always look at the big picture and to not focus on the little things. BUt I do and have all my life. I was that kid who would stare at the mile post sign until we passed it and proudly announced that we were a mere 142 miles from home. Even when mom took me to the office parking lot a few weeks ago, which was fortnuately practically empty, I found myself looking at one thing at a time and not as a collective set. PLus I don't have good brake control. I get that from video games.

"Reminder"

I hate to sound rude, but I WOULD REALLY LIKE SOME ASSISTANCE HERE for my MIT essay. Seeing that I didn't get the Flinn, now I'm overly worried that my MIT essay will be in the first pile of rejects, so editing help would be lovely.

Also, about which piece to add, I've narrowed it down to 4.

a) "Houston"
b) "InMorning"
c) "Cabbie Chevrolet (Parts 1,2, and 3)"
d) "Eulogy"- which I don't think I ever posted but it says a lot about me I think.

Why not, here it is:

I don't know the most words
But that's all right with me
And I could play until my fingers hurt
But that's all right with me
'Cause I don't want to lie here hearing all your sympathies, no
That's all right with me

And I could say that I'm sorry
If that's all right with you
Could I sound like a martyr,
If that's an ok thing do do
'Cause you never realized what words were coming thorugh, oh
That's too fine for you

(chorus)
I want you tell me if I'm doing something wrong right now
But I don't that it doesn't matter anyhow

(repeat)

And I know all the numbers
But that's not fine with me
I could lose 'em and be dumber
If it's what can set me free
Whatver it takes to be part of the astronomy
This astronomy

(pre-chorus)
But you got it wrong
You're screwing up the song
You're singing all the wrong notes
And they're in the wriong key
But you've got it wrong
You're screwing up this stupid song
And that's won't fly with me

(repeat chosrus 2x)

(musical interlude)

(pre-chorus)
(chorus 1x)

Now I'm here standing taller
And that's all right with me
I won't be here tomorrow
I'm headed out to sea
I'm just here reciting your eulogy


So, what will it be? Really I would appreciate some input.


"HappySad Panda"

So hopefully by now everyone's opened their gifts. And though my stuff isn't the most lavish things in the world, I happy.

some clothes
Crazy Taxi and Taiko: Drum Master for my PS2
And one fo those really squishy polyester pillows!

Taiko: Drum Master is a lot like Donket Conga if you've seen that, just batting away at the drum like you just don't care.

Except my PS2 won't play it.

Now I had heard that some Playstations were having difficulty playing certain games. The worst part is that neither of my new games work! They both have this funky, shiny purplish/ blue bottom as opposed to typical CDs and DVD's. But my PS2 won't play newer music, either. So I am sad. My cousin brought his older PS2 and both games worked perfectly fine on his, so mine has to go to repairs. I called Sony this morning and they said they could fix mine for free (Plus S&H, of course) in only 10 to 15 business days. So I'll be looking for some help. My PS2 is no longer under warranty, so if anyone knows any dirty rotten tricks to fixing this (Todd, I'm glancing in your direction) I'd really appreciate it.

"Crayon Seahorse"

I saw The Life Aquatic last night, and it's pretty good. The Star gave it 3 stars, which would have to be my best estimate of it. It's more weird than funny, and sometimes not as thought provoking as it tries to be, but it helps if you David Bowie songs and Portuguese. The only one I could decipher solely based on the guitar was "rebel rebel"

But be warned, Bill Murray is in a speedo.

That reminds me...

"Has anyone seen Cocoon?"

freedom

So I got a letter from the Flinn foundation this morning.

And I did not get into the round of 76.

HALLELUJAH!

I appluad them for seeing thorugh my superficial sincerity, cuz, you know, I didn't want the Flinn from day one cause that would mean I'd have to stay in state. Granted, I still have to finish my MIT app and resubmit my RIT app fee waiver (cause they lost the first one!) but now I feel less restained and so I am glad. I mostly applied to it so Mom would be happy. Though now I don't know how to break it to her...

Although, to be honest, I really liked one of my essays. It was to comment on Einstein's quote that science and religion are opposite but essential comrades, or something like that. I analogized that prompt to the odd couple, and I thought it was pretty sweet.

I betcha I know what made them turn me down. I shouldn't have said that I originally thought that the Flinn was one of those fradulent, spam-based, will send your Viagra in a plain brown box type of websites. Well, it was the truth, and sometimes the truth is hard to take but it's not what they wanted to hear. It's the same thing with MIT. I don't want to sound like everyone else (MIT is the best school! I've always wanted to go to MIT! I wanna be a stuck up sophisticrat, too!! PLease accept me!!!) but I don't know guess I have to wait til April to see if my semi protest to the system was effective or not.

Side note: on my "Pregunta" blog my letter ends with "Thank you for your time and effort" and that is exactlywhat it says at the end of the MIT application forms, so is that being sarcastic or is it witty?

fluffy coats

My grades. They are sheep. They go BAAAAA.

pregunta 2 and "out of the bag"

Another question:

On the MIT thing is says to inlcude some thing you've created. So I was thinking one of my songwriting things. SO the question is: which one? If I submitted "Houston" (which I wrote before thinking about Rice, mind you) would that be seen in a negative light? Please I would like some input.

Out of the bag

It sucks that I think I know what I'm getting for Christman this year, seeing that I've pretty much been wioth mom in the layaway lines and at the stores, and for now it looks like some clothes and a drumming game for my PS2 and a nice watch. Not 0nly do I know what each thing is, but also what it cost. Humbug. Who knows, maybe there's some hidden surprise this Saturday and I'll be like "WOW!" though I frankly doubt it.

pregunta

Ok so I'm about done with my MIT application stuff. There's one optional essay, though, one of those "if there's anything esle about you you think we should know let us know" prompts, and though there's no word limit, it's like 800 words. SO I was wondering if you guys could just give, you know, editing goodness and whatnot. I'd appreciate it.

To whom it may concern:

It has come to my attention that communication is highly overrated. This coming from a lifelong mumbler, I know a few things about the strengths and weaknesses of the spoken and written word.
The first problem is languages. As there are easily hundreds of modern, antiquated, regional and personal tongues, a lack of knowledge can cause a great hindrance in production. Oh sure, Italian and Spanish are similar with their Latin roots and such, but they’re still different and an incoherent blurb is produced during attempted communication. What we need to do is develop a universal language, one that everyone can learn while maintaining the historical merits of older dialects. Whether this is English or binary or Japanese, I have no idea, but language can create serious issues.
But even if we all knew the same language, there would still be obstacles to tackle. Personal experience comes into play here. I’ve been a mumbler all my life, and I’m not ashamed to say it. My mother and teachers and friends would say it’s because I only open my mouth a little so the words come out all jumbled and inaudible. In a strange way, though, that is what makes me unique. Ever since who-knows-when I’ve been the quiet kid, the one who would raise his hand and wait to be called on by teacher, the kid who waited quietly in the line until everyone else shut up so we could go outside and play, the one who followed the rules to the letter, even in drama class. But now I see words as just a single, solitary method to portray oneself. Screw the BS essay I was talking about earlier, because it in no way really emphasizes who I am.
Although, I must admit, haze has its strong points.
Earlier this year I wrote a résumé for my counselor (It was mandatory- everyone was supposed to do it) and it concluded with me saying that if the colleges I apply to don’t give a crap about the people behind the matriculated numbers, then I couldn’t devote the self they don’t know to its full potential. Right now, for me, college is just a cold, drafty set of buildings. In order for it to have warmth, it needs a face, something familiar. As a futile attempt, I shall offer up my face to you in hopes to receive the same. They say to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, but no one says “unto” anymore.
You know my name is Mitch Wilson, so I don’t have to start with that. I am at odds with myself, facing this epic quest to determine my interpretation of mankind. I want to believe that people are essentially good, but everywhere I turn it seems lay the antitheses. The other night I think a young woman tried to rob us, but I guess she did a crappy job.
And we all know my test scores are satisfactory and whatnot, but there are the things no test can measure. My friends think I have a dirty mind. At 18, I cannot drive. Every time I go to a public restroom I am deathly worried about accidentally wetting myself. I’m probably the best DDR dancer in my school for my weight division. My class voted me Homecoming Duke sophomore year, and for a prize I received one of those glow sticks you put around your neck. It was a very pretty shade of green, but it started to leak when I got home and the carpet looked like an investigative crime scene…
But there is only so much paper can say. This is me. I’m gullible and like garlic, but pull out the onions in my onion rings. I hate salads and can only eat my cheeseburgers with cheese on top. The best mozzarella sticks I’ve found are at Arby’s. There is an Arby’s up there, right? I sure hope so. But as long as I can look up at night and see the stars, I think I’d be all right.
I’m a blogger, a hopeless romantic, and apparently don’t know how to spell since my word processor has tried to correct me some forty times by now. And I fear I’m going to come off as sarcastic and not intellectual enough, and to that I say, “Fine. It’s your loss.”
The interview process gave me a great opportunity to meet an MIT alum, but even there I feel I might’ve given off the wrong impression, but I don’t know where I’m going with this. I li country mrsic an stuff li tha. But what’s mos imprtan to me is the fac that I can speak my min an potenshly shammy word with othus.

Thank you for your time and effort,

Mitch Wilson

How is it? I need constructive criticism here.

Oh and Laramie was so awesome. Annie was so good that she deserved two Chia pets! I am so glad I went to see it. Except, frankly this is the part that surprised me most, I didn't cry. I think I was just trying to block out the sad stuff, like when Danny was playing Matt's dad and he was talking about all the friends he had out there with him- the sky and the city lights and stuff- I was trying to think of how chhesy it sounded on a superficial level so as not to get to attached to it.

But I loved the mirror stuff. Whose idea was that? After all, this is art imitating life, and we tend to forget to relate the art we perceive back to real life. Damn, this is exactly my thesis for our English final. I did H.o.D. What did you do?

Da constitution: representing, y’all

Preamble- “We the People” most clearly illustrates the concept of popular sovereignty

Article 1- the legislative
Sec.1- Congress has two houses
Sec.2- H.o.R terms and stuff
Clause1: H.o.R. elected every two years by the people
Clause2: 25 age minimum
Clause3: representative of the people. Census every ten years or so. 1 representative for every 30000 people. 3/5 for slaves. Virginia gets the most initial representatives.
Clause4: if vacancies happen, Executive can issue writ of lection to fill hole
Clause5: H.o.R. picks Speaker and Officers, and has sole power of impeachment
Sec.3- senate terms and stuff
Clause1: two senators of each state, every six years. Each senator gets one vote
Clause2: split senate into 2 groups so not all up for election at same time. Exec can fill vacancies.
Clause3: minimum age 30
Clause4:VP is prez of senate but only votes in case of tie
Clause5: senate chooses some people
Clause6: Senate has power to try impeachments. When prez impeached, Chief Justice presides. 2/3 vote for conviction. Senate acts as jury.
Clause7: Judgement just removes you from office andgives you a bad street cred, and then you can be accounted for other stuff later
Sec.4- meetings
C1: each legislature makes schedule
C2: Congress meets at least once a year
Sec.5- certifications
C1: need most of the people there to do stuff
C2: Each House needs to put bad members in the corner or expel with 2/3 vote
C3: Each house shall keep a blog of its proceedings and publish when necessary
Sec.6- more rules
C1: Members will be paid and can’t get arrested for stuff at the session or whatnot
C2: Members can’t hold civil offices (check)
Sec.7- how to pass a law
C1: All bills involving money need to start in the H.o.R. (appropriation of money)
C2: every bill passed goes to prez. Can sign it. If rejects it, supermajority of 2/3 supercedes prez. Pocket veto if doesn’t sign it but if Congress cession ends before ten day period. Also can just let it sit for ten days and thus accepted as approved.
C3: this applies to most any bill or resolution
Sec-8. Meat and bones.
C1: can collect and lay taxes
C2: borrow money on credit of US
C3: Commerce clause. States not happy. Interstate.
C4: uniform laws
C5: To coin $ and regulate
C6: Punish counterfeiters
C7: Post offices and roads
C8: Patents for Arts and stuff
C9: CONSTITUTE TRIBUNALS INFERIOR TO THE SUPREME COURT (check)
C10: Define and punish pirates or something
C11: DECLARE WAR AND SUCH!
C12: raise and support armies and stuff (checks on prez)
C13: Navy
C14: make rules to govern Navy
C15: Make army execute laws of Union
C16: more military stuff
C17: DC is 10 sq. Miles. Control over Forts and Arsenals and such
C18: Elastic Clause: to make all laws necessary and proper to carry out powers of stuff that might not have been useful here
Sec.9- Limits on Congress
C1: Slave tarde laws ineffective for 20 years, though taxes are allowed in time period
C2: Habeus Corpus won’t be suspended, except for like rebellion and stuff
C3: No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto* (indiv. Rights, along with no religious test and trial by jury)
C4: tax and stuff based on census
C5: Meh, who cares. No taxed exports
C6: No Port-ial preference. All equal.
C7: No money taken from Treasury and receipt accounts and stuff shall be published
C8: No nobility titles
Sec.10- State Limits
C1: No state treaty, no state currency, no state nobility, etc
C2: no taxes on imp/exports
C3: No state armies

Pandora

OK so I had my MIT interview yesterday. The guy's name was Dante, which in itself is really really cool, but I didn't feel like pointing out the obvious.

But during our talk I think I might have blurted out that I have a blog, my other one in particular. So the question is should I edit it on at least a superficila level so as not to come off as pissed (I'm thinking of 'WhyIDon'tDrive" specifically) or as a typical teenager? Or is it too late? Eeepies!

Or could it be a good thing? I wish I had an idea!

Well all I can do is finish the rest of their paper application. Yes, I'm doing it via paper. Call me old fashioned, but I want to think about letters in the mail and not some casual email saying 'Sorry, you suck. PLease try again'. It's tradtion, goddamnit!

Crap I sound like a Republican...

Well maybe this is some sort of revenge for mentioning Elise's blog to Mr. Herring. No bad feelings, right? One of my student related prompts was "Express your political position or your opinion of politics in general in B minor" Granted, I have no idea how to write music nor what distincts B minor from A major. BUt I think it wound up being a plagiarized version of the William Tell Overture, or the Presiden't Song, I forogt.


EEpies! We're almost halfwy done!

The truth about lying

I think I like Hobbes. Though I wouldn't go and say we're atoms of self interest, we're probably just organisms of greed. Like Tickle Me Elmos. Why did we want one? Because we didn't have one. Did we play with them for long? NO, cuz it was stupid.

So Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, and almost the whole freakin' MLB has been probably doping up. Wow, that's a surprise. Who'd've thunk it? Those big, musclular people actually WORKING hard all by their little lonesomes? Ahem, if you haven't noticed, we're American. We want the road that's faster than the shortcut. We want faster fast food. We are a nation of surplus and don't know what it means to slow down. We're running downhill and the only solution we have is to keep running faster or else we'll fall flat on our faces and get skidmarks and the Communists will win. Face it. So we need to keep bulking up because the last thing we want to do is lose. Second place is first loser.

We say we're a country of moral values. that's why we re-elected Bush for four more years. But we have to values anymore. We cheat on tests, we steal for drug money, we're only out for ourselves and don't give a shit about what anyone else cares. Whoa. I originally had Texas instead of ourselves. Freudian slip.

YOu watch your back. I'll watch mine.