Where the Weak are Killed and Eaten

Where the Weak are Killed and Eaten
Read. Enjoy. Rinse. Repeat.

Thursday, December 18, 2003

So, how about I throw EVERYONE off, and post a little bit on my blog? Yeah, that's right! I'm posting! It's only been... oh... 4 months or so. Well, everything's slowing down here. I have one more final. And it's a paper for Poli Sci due tomorrow. (Read: I have no more work to do). What a great semester. Great people, good times, good food (well, sort of), (some) good professors, (some) good grades, and a lot of fun.

I have a 6:15 train tomorrow night to Old Saybrook, CT. My Aunt Ellen is picking me up, and I'm spending the night with my parents at her house because Saturday morning we're going to Boston for my cousin Nathan's Bar Mitzvah. Exciting times. Holy Shit. I need to pack. But that's not going to happen. Downstairs Phil told me about some party going on tonight that they're calling XXX-mas... a most promising name.

Everyone's leaving or gone. John and Alex both left this morning, and Alex, it's looking like, will not be coming back. Assuming he gets the transfer to U Miami, he'll be there next semester, and that sucks. Upstairs Phil left, as did my roomate, Chris (except he left this past Sunday). Fortunately, Will, Nate, and downstairs Phil are still around. This whole past week is sort of a blur. I didn't really do very much after Monday, except read this book for PS11. It's called "The Curious Enlightenment of Professor Caritat," and it was an entertaining, although not that well written, book in the spirit of "Gulliver's Travels."

I guess I'll have to see "The Return of the King" this weekend when I get home because I never got a chance to go this week, so if anyone wants to see it with this weekend, give me a ring. I spent my nights watching bad horror movies. Monday, I watched "Dead Alive," Peter Jackson's second movie, which was really, really, really gorey and funny. Tuesday I watched both Evil Dead I and II. II is much better than I. Last night, of course, I watched Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness. Sooooo good.

Anyway, I guess I'll write again? Wow. In an egotistic, bordering sadistic, way, this felt really, really good.

--Joel

posted by Joel | 7:47 PM

Friday, August 08, 2003

So it's Friday night at the lake. I went to see "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged" for the third time in the past four years. It was hiliarious. It starred Josef Hansen, Jonathan Croy, and Allyn Burrows. Hansen and Croy were both in the production that I saw four years ago, and were just as funny as ever, if not more so. Allyn Burrowsl, one of my favorite actors at Shakespeare and Company, was brilliant, although I have to say that I had trouble taking him humorously because every time I looked at him, I saw Henry V. What was also cool was that I got to sit behind Johnny Lee Davenport, another great actor at S&C, so I was able to figure out all the inside jokes of the actors based on when he laughed. Also, the productions of "Much Ado About Nothing" and "King Lear" that I saw earlier in the week were great. Especially notable were in "King Lear," my all time favorite actor Jonathan Epstein who played the title role, and John Douglass Thompson who played Edmund (he was most energentic, and really got into the role, although he made the audience laugh at one or two inappropriate moments.

I watched "Pulp Fiction" last night with Emi and her sister Mika. I loved it, as usual, and I think they liked it as well. My Uncle David confirmed my understanding that The Gimp in "Pulp Fiction" means nothing, and is simply reference to a comic book or something. Speaking of Uncle David (funniest man alive), he, my Aunt Ann, and my cousin Nathan left today, so it's just my mom, dad, and me. I think my Aunt Ellen is coming up tommorow, Saturday, but I'm not sure. I should be back Sunday, so you can give me a call late Sunday afternoon or evening.

I had a great waterskiing run today. My cuts are getting much superior, and my offside is improving slowly. I'm getting some great speed going accross the wake. My turns are looking sharp, and low, and I'm putting up some huge spray. So much fun. Well, I'll write more soon.

-Joel

posted by Joel | 7:33 PM

Tuesday, August 05, 2003

So, I am at the lake. And I am writing this. Thus, I got my new laptop. And it rocks my world. This thing is the shizzle. I can write, go on the internet, play games, and all in glorious widescreen. Of course, it isn't a Mac so it doesn't have letterbox widescreen, but I think that would be overkilll for my purposes anyway. This thing is huge, and a lot of fun.

So not much special has happened up here; it has just been the usual lake splendor and glory. Waterskiing, shoping, relaxing, reading, going to the movies. Actually, on that note... last night we went to see "Spy Kids 3-D." It was pretty good, actually. Lots of little jokes, a little cheesy, but good. However, far and away the best part of the film was the preview for "Shaolin Soccer." Ryan told me about this movie a few days prior to seeing the preview. Aparently, it is the biggest money grossing movie in Chinese history. It is about this group of Shaolin monks who, after several years away from their temple, get back together to play soccer. And they pull some crazy Matrix like shit while doing it. It is amazing. Plus, how cool is the concept? AND the dubbing sucks! It will be the most amazing movie ever.

-Joel

posted by Joel | 6:55 AM

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

I got some good news from Ryan today that suggests that Meghan does understand that I am romantically interested. I sound like a third grader. Anyway, I don't want to post too much about my involvement (or lack thereof) with Meghan and as it stands now, there's nothing to say anyway since I haven't really even established that she understands my intentions.

So I'm going to the lake for three days with Ryan and Christian. Ryan, Christian, and I are driving up tommorow which should be quite the road trip. My Aunt Ann, Uncle David, Nathan, and maybe Leah are going to be there, so it's going to be a crowded house, but a lot of fun. Ryan, Christian, and I are driving back to Jersey Friday evening so that Christian and I can go paintballing on Saturday with Coach, Tuttle, Cooper, Officer Mike Morrison (say what....?), and a bunch of other people that I don't know. Then, on Sunday morning, I return with my mom to the lake to stay for a week.

When I return the next Sunday, I'm home on Monday, then I go to West Virginia on Tuesday. Holy crap. This is a lot of stuff to do. I'm hoping in between these various events (i.e. Saturday night after paintball, and the Monday before West Virginia) that I can arrange to see Meghan. But as I said before, I don't want to talk about my private life too much.

Anyway, don't expect an update for a little while. Unless I get my new laptop while I'm at the lake. Then I could update from there. That would be fun.

Till I see you...
-Joel

posted by Joel | 6:23 PM

Saturday, July 26, 2003

Well, I got a mysterious IM from Tuttle yesterday evening that said that "people in higher places" suggest I ought to call Meghan. It turned out people in higher places meant Julie Z.C. So I said, what the hell. Why not? Oh, I remember why... cause it would be embarrassing and the feeling of rejection sucks ass. That's why not. But being the idiot that I am, I took Meghan's number from Tuttle, and decided to call her.

So after a hard days work (I got one f--king bag. I was supposed to have a putter as well, but the guy never showed. So I got a measly $50 for 5 hours of work. It was totally not worth it.), I got home and decided that this was it. I would call Meghan. I sat down, picked up the phone and dialed her number.

And I got an answering machine. But, hey, in a way, that makes things easier, right? I just leave a message, telling her what I've got to say, ask her to call me, and wait in nervousness for several agonizing hours. What message did I leave, you ask? Well, I took Tuttle's advice. He said that I should say something to the effect of "Well, hi (or hello). It's Joel Weinberger. I was wondering if, you know, you might want to hang out sometime or something." Except that Tuttle really recommended I say chill. But I didn't want to. Of course, it was this sort of ambiguous statement that got be into the whole Benet ordeal earlier this year (For more on "The Benet Situation" see: issues March through June), and you'd think one would learn from their mistakes. However, like an Alzheimer's patient, I ask her if she wants to hang out or do something sometime. I leave my number, and hang up.

Several hours later, with Doug at my house, I get a return phone call. She says she would like to hang out sometime, except she can't tonight or tommorow because of prior engagments, and she's going to be away from Monday to Saturday. F--k. I'm going to be away from next Saturday until the week after that. So that just screws me over big time. Once again, being the late motherf--ker that I am, I essentially miss out on my oppertunity. This will leave me very little time to see her when I get back. We hang up.

And I realize, I don't know if she knows I was asking her out on a date. Her response was just as ambiguous as my initial message. I'm afraid this is Benet part duex, where I think I'm asking someone out (namely Benet or Meghan) and they aren't sure what I'm really asking (and are already involved with someone / not interested). So now I'm back to square one, as sad and anxious as I ever was. However, I had some temporary relief inbetween that involved some form of euphoria when I actually believed that she was interested. So it was not all in vain. Perhaps when I return from vacation I will find out for sure what's happening, or maybe I won't. Who knows.

I just spent a whole entry talking about this. Perhaps next time I'll actually talk about something interesting. Hey, wait a tick... I think Tuttle started this whole scheme just so I would have something to write about in my blog. Very sneaky Tuttle, very sneaky.

-Joel W.

posted by Joel | 4:53 PM

Monday, July 21, 2003

Tuttle thinks I should call Meghan Mejewski (still spelling?). I'm a loser. I don't have her number. A double threat that equals me not calling her. Plus, it was so long ago, she would have forgotten who I am.

I went to the Dancing Goat to hear Ryan DJ and hang out with peoples like Tuttle, Christian, Duncan, Madeline, Scott Robinson and Eric Lindberg (the first two people I saw and knew there), Lydia, Tim, Anna Schall, Janine (although I actually saw very little of her), et al. It was fun and the Chai Latte I got was excellent. Unlike Starbucks, it doesn't burn your tounge.

Turns out Jess really did want Christian, and it wasn't BS as I had a slight fear of it being. That made me happy. I got my AP scores back and those made me happy. Except for Eng. Lit. I should have gotten a 5, and now Mrs. Petrallia is going to feel bad. I got a 4 on the Eng. Lit, a 4 on Stats (which I was thrilled by, seeing that I didn't learn a thing in that class, and Mr. Eismann has never had a student recieve a 5), a 5 on Euro (Whoo-hoo! Go Boni!), a 5 on BC Calc (Damn straight, Gulati), and a 5 on the Physics C Mechanics and a 5 on the Physics C Electricity and Magnetism (And the winning streak continues, Mr. Morill). I'm not going to reveal any specific scores, but it shall be known that I beat both Madeline and Christian on this years AP exams. That's right. Joel is smarter than both of them. Okay, maybe not. But I still can take pride in the fact that I beat them in the last high school grades we ever recieved.

Picking college courses is the hardest thing ever. There are so many things I want to take, and I don't know if I can take them all. It's really weird, and scary, and stuff. I got my college advisor. He's a physics prof, as per my request, and I'm really excited to meet him. I really want to recieve my roommate info. I hope it's someone cool. Like Christian. Or Ryan. Or a combination of the two, like Christian Sciaino, or Ryan Sahner. Yeah. That would be cool. An absent-minded, pious, conservative, music engineer, who is fast, but has two busted up feet, and doesn't have any clue when girls are attracted to him. The last part applies to both Ryan and Christian.

I've spent a lot of useful and good time with Doug recently. Well, good, but not useful. Mainly we've played NBA Live 2003, except when he came to my lake house. He never got up on waterskis, which pissed me off, but he didn't try enough. I totally rocked the skis. I was ripping up the wake, throwing up some awesome spray, doing some terrific tricking, and generally feeling the skiing. I shortened the rope on the slalom which had the desired effect of significantly speeding up my crossing of the wake. Which was fun.

So I probably won't call Meghan; I'll greatly anticipate more waterskiing; I'll caddy during the day; I'll sit around and feel like a loser. Sounds like a plan. 'Till I see y'all:
-Joel

posted by Joel | 8:36 PM

Sunday, July 06, 2003

I hate this world. Hopefully this isn't some sort of odd depression or psychosis forming within me, but I just cannot stand it any longer. Today's events (which are not any sort of major mark in my life) made me realize this.

I caddied today along side an older caddy named mark. He's a black man with a worn face, who looks much older than he probably is. He has a slightly mishapen nose, a scruffy black goatee and little patches of hair all over his checks and neck. He's extremely skinny; it's not a healthy skinny, however. Anyway, he was just a really depressing character. He went to Hudson Valley college (where it is, I do not know) and recieved some sort of cullinary degree. Now, he works the golf course in the summers and kitchens in the winters. However, the only reason he doesn't cook full time is because he's, "...addicted to the money..." from caddying. Granted, he is a little nutty and a bit off the deep end (I can explain that at another time), but the point remains that he's doing something that he doesn't terribly like versus something he loves for a few extra dollars. There's something very wrong with that. Not that I'm promoting communism or even socialism; as many of you know, I've begun moving away from mandated socialist economics. The point is that money is evil, and the mighty buck wields way too much power over society. More exactly, since money is a natural extension of society and communities based on exchange, society sucks.

And my pseudo depression extends further. I feel completely helpless to make a difference in the world. The only way I can possibly think to gain any sort of influence for change in society is by becoming extremely wealthy. While I believe I have the talent to do so and even have the desire to be wealthy, the sorts of jobs that would bring me to that point are not what I want to do with my life. Being a professor doesn't exactly bring about the sort of power, wealth, and fame that I want in order to better society. Basically, in order to be rich I have to be unhappy. More specifically, I cannot make the world a better place while still doing what I like to do. Perhaps, to me at least, this speaks best as to what's wrong with society.

To top it all off are, of course, girl problems as usual. Last week I finally had a conversation with Meghan Meijewski (spelling?) at Ryan Sciaino's (who just moved, furthering my anger, angst, and depression) and Betsy Daelby's grad party. For a while now I've admired her from afar, but was always to timid to talk to her. She and a bunch of people were going bowling that night and invited me, which I did. It was fun (minus my terrible two games and the antisemitic friend of meghan's from Seton Hall Prep) except I never really got the courage to further my relationship with Meghan. Then I toyed with somehow getting her number (i.e. from Laura Tillman or the school directory) and calling her and working on that whole friendship thing. But then I chickened out. So now, pathetically enough, I'm sitting here lamenting and pondering over my existence.

Then there's that whole living forever paradox theory of mine. It's my last hope. Ask Christian about it.

-Joel W.

posted by Joel | 4:31 PM