October 30, 2004 :: Link potpourri

I'm working on a Saturday. This sucks. Another friend of mine also has this misfortune, and he asked me for some "interesting websites" with which to pass the time. I searched my nine-day browser history, and came up with these gems:

Why the Redskins game tomorrow might predict the outcome of the presidential election

Somebody who has WAAAAY too much time on her hands

My Amazon wish list. Wonder what kind of music I've been listening to? Check it out. You can find out a lot about a person by looking at their choices in consumptive media.

Story about how GTA San Andreas was leaked to the Internet ahead of its scheduled release date

My friend Lenora Jaye's music site... you can hear her latest studio work

Doom comics. Probably not of interest if you never played the game.

A fun Bush-bashing Flash game.

An article about social frictions intruding on a multi-player online gaming environment.

Eminem's "Mosh" video.

A Slate/NPR radio clip explaining a bizarre scenario under which John McCain could be our next president.

posted by Rainmayun at 4:54 PM -

October 29, 2004 :: Coping: Election Day Special Edition

A friend of mine is having an election day party. We're all going to pile up in her living room, glued to the TV, with wireless internet for surfing those all-important results websites. As the majority of her guests and friends are all unrepentant drunks (because alcoholics go to meetings), she and I came up with a drinking game:

First, get a bottle of something that you can do shots with. A friend suggested tequila, but I have to go to work the next day, so I think a flavored vodka will do. Then make a map of the battleground states. As of today, the Washington Post has 14 battlegroud states on their electoral vote map. If you are a Kerry supporter, then you take a shot when he wins a battleground state. If you are a Bush supporter, you drink when he wins one. If you are a Nader (or other fringe candidate) supporter, you drink when he fucks up the result in a state that Kerry would otherwise have won. If a state has such confusion that no winner can be declared, then everybody drinks.

This should be fun... probably best in an environment where you have various types of supporters. As it is, our election party will probably be all Democrats since the host works for Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis). Happy .... er, electioneering!

posted by Rainmayun at 2:33 PM -

October 28, 2004 :: It has been said...

Quote:

you put out a vibe that you believe everyone has an ulterior motive, nobody can be interested in just you without wanting something. That's a very uncomfortable feeling for those that try to be your friends, i'm sure.

posted by Rainmayun at 11:07 AM -

October 18, 2004 :: Return of the party shirt

OK, I apologize, this post is about 12 months late.

I saw this trend coming. The first couple of times I saw guys wearing striped shirts around the middle of last fall, I knew they would be hot. By the time I could actually find some in the stores, it was the Christmas rush, and they were on sale almost everywhere. By spring, stripes of every type were everywhere. It was as if you could not buy a men's shirt unless it was striped... the old standby blue and white oxfords were shoved to the back of the shelf. The trend was in full force.

In fact, it was so easily identifiable as a trend that I had to stop wearing the few I had very much, and I surely wasn't going to buy any more. I still think that next year sometime, anybody caught wearing one will look quite passe. And so many of the designs are so loud and raucous that you can't really wear them as dress shirts to work, so they are only suited to the club. Hence..... party shirts.

I'm going to run a pool on the life expectancy of striped shirts.... right now, the over/under line is about March 2005. Any takers?

posted by Rainmayun at 10:04 AM -

October 12, 2004 :: Lucky

This weekend, two small things happened to me (well, three things, really) that were remarkable only in being rare.

On Thursday night, I met a woman who said she was half-Ethiopian. She ended up giving me her phone number. On Saturday night, I met a woman who was 100% Ethiopian. She ended up giving me her phone number. You might find this unremarkable, but I was greatly surprised. You see, I've been batting somewhere around 0 for 637 with Ethi chicks ever since I started approaching women, many many years ago. Not once did I ever get anywhere with any of them. Is this a fluke occurrence, or the signal of some trend of increasing desirability on my part? Not sure... one would have been a fluke, two was cause for reflection.

On Sunday, going to a barbecue at a friend's house, I found a gold collar stay in a crack in the sidewalk. It exactly matched a gold collar stay I lost and for which I have been hunting in vain for weeks. Same length, same brand name. I decided it was the same one I lost, in which case it avoided all the magpies and bums around the Adams Morgan neighborhood for a good six weeks (a feat in itself), or else it just happened to be exactly like the one I lost. I was really happy about this, because I only had one pair in that size and it is the size I used the most.

So there is some luck trend going on here. Maybe I should play the lottery this week.

posted by Rainmayun at 5:21 PM -