Not completely moribund, afterall?

It's been the better part of a year since my last post. Perhaps it shouldn't have come as a surprise that life stateside, compared with the incessant excitement of living in another country, wouldn't provide enough interesting material to maintain a blog. It is this lack of material, combined with a deficit of spare time as well as motivation, that best explain why I haven't been writing.

I am writing this as my college career races to its finish; in less than a month (I can hardly believe it) I will loose the protection from the elements that is college and face the harsh realities of life, which I expect to be akin to a Siberian winter, given the prevailing economic, financial, commercial, and pecuniary conditions.

I could, want, and perhaps should go on a rant about how hard it is to find a suitable job right now, but I'll spare you. The current recession, or depression, whatever it is, is an interesting thing. For all the talk you hear in America about how Obama's policies are leading us towards socialism, I have to ask, with the given state of affairs, is that so terrible? Look at France, for example. It is the prime example of a European (continental) style of capitalism - strong state, high taxes, generous welfare. In the past months, as unemployment rates in America and the UK have skyrocketed, France's have remained quite stagnant in comparison, due to state limitations on firing practices. For those that have found themselves jobless in France, they are supported by continental Europe's well known (and often envied) unemployment benefits. Of course, such a system has drawbacks - it can stunt business performance, if a company wants to lay off a few hundred workers but can't - but at least it's humane. I am no expert, but it is time for things to change in this country, and whether it takes form as a step closer to socialism, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Socialism has a definite stigma in American society, but I think it's important to keep things in perspective and realize that no one, not even Barack, is trying to take away our precious free markets.


This may be more of a reminder for myself than anything else, but today I finally realized the important of doing things in advance. I can't tell you how often I put things off, thinking that I'll get to them before the last moment, and then chastise myself for not taking care of it earlier.

As a final note: I'd like to start using Twitter, which at first I thought was an awfully stupid concept, but it would only be worth while if I knew people who used it, which at this point I do not. Hopefully that will change, because using Twitter without people following you is a lot like keeping a blog which no one reads....

1821 Torrey Pines Rd.

It takes me seventeen full seconds to get from my room to the nearest functional bathroom. Might not sound like a lot, but when you have urgent business to take care of, in addition to the unconditional amount of time it takes to find suitable reading material, seventeen seconds can feel like an eternity. This is just one example of life in 1821 Torrey Pines, ‘The Cove House’; once a clean and proud family home, now overrun by 7 college students.

There is a lot to chronicle about life in this house, as I will most probably never live in a place quite like this again, be it for better or for worse. At first glance, the place is pretty remarkable. Made entirely out of wood with large ocean facing windows, it elicits drastically different reactions upon first sight. On most friends’ initial visits to our house they shower it with compliments and exaggerated honors, often declaring it to be the most amazing place they’ve ever seen. When my mother first laid eyes on it, she said she'd like to tear it down and rebuild a nice new house in its stead, to better blend in with our millionaire neighbors, I guess.

When it’s clean, it’s a pleasure to be in. The backyard is seemingly limitless and overflowing with all sorts of things that grow, and the sun can be seen falling into the ocean from the living room and kitchen. And from the deck above, my room, and the roof, which creaks and moans under our weight every time we dare to ascend in search of ping-pong balls gone astray.

Unfortunately the place is far from clean, filthy in fact, about 4/5 of the time. --For the readers who have yet to go to grade school, 4/5 means 80%. And for those who already have great-grandchildren in grade school, perhaps 4/5 is better--. I hope that helps, it’s always nice to help the mathematically retarded and the bodily impaired. Moving on, since my room is connected to the rest of the house through the kitchen, I always walk by the huge mountains of dirty dishes that accumulate in the sink. You may be asking yourself why I don’t do something about it. The answer is, I do. But when you destroy the mountain and it gets resurrected in the span of just a few hours, you begin to want someone else to do it this time. I’m fairly certain that this mentality is universal among us, explaining therefore the omnipresent and ever growing mountains of dishes.

The story is similar with trash. Believe it or not, trash piles up quickly when you live with 7 people, and it gets taken out in excruciatingly long intervals. What tends to happen is that trash is accumulated to the maximum possible extent, until it is finally taken out by someone whose patience has begun to sputter. Invariably he who takes out the trash returns feeling like a hero.

Some say our house has a slight air of ‘fraternity’, the way the word is understood coming from an angry neighbor at 3 in the morning. Not long ago we had a party with a live band. Giant speakers, two electric guitars, drum set, microphones, the whole deal. Retarded. It was loud as Christ, for lack of a better word. Our house must have been heard from at least 2 blocks in every direction, and it was my first time being mercilessly screeched and yelled at by an elderly lady, what a nice neighbor she is. Doesn’t convince me though, after all, out of the 7 of us, only 2 are in a fraternity.

On a slightly different note, today something interesting happened on the beach. I was walking into the water when I noticed a seagull approaching overhead. Normally I would have proceeded onwards, but something about the bird’s uneasy facial expression told me that he was preparing to unload some serious cargo. I stopped, and wouldn’t you know it, the cargo landed directly in front of me, undoubtedly where my head would have been had I not changed stride. I outwitted that bird today, evaded the bastard’s dangerous tactics. From this day forward I will always be aware of any immediate overhead avian activity, and I highly recommend you to do the same.

Trivia question: Dre Dawg got half an O. He gave a quad of it to a friend, and magically turned a g into smoke, how much does he have left? If you can answer, write it in the comment field below.