it’s been a while … & bp

dear friends, family, and anonymous google visitors:

i sincerely apologize for the lack of updates to the cage.  i’ve been busy — graduating from college … and stuff. wrote a couple of drafts of things to post on here but they didn’t meet my stringent qualifications for publishing, so they’ll sit in a virtual folder for a while until i choose to finish them and share. one is a particularly interesting ramble that i penned on the last day of undergraduate classes. anyways.

the world is an interesting place to inhabit right now — the oil crisis grows in intrigue to me on a daily basis. i sat on my couch yesterday afternoon and flipped between the congressional hearings and ‘keeping up with the kardashians’ for about four hours (no kidding. this is what i’ve become now that i possess two degrees … miserably beholden to gorgeous armenian women. ) and perhaps this will construe me equally as villainous, but i couldn’t help but develop some pity for tony hayward (bp ceo) and the sickeningly incongruous lashing that he took yesterday courtesy our beloved washington lawmakers. yes, the veritable billion gallons of oil which are leaking into the gulf _ at this very moment _ are of great concern to me. i’m concerned for the environment, the economies of the gulf states, and the greater domestic economy, but seriously – is it fair to singularly place the blame on the ceo of a multinational corporation who was, in all likelihood, in ENGLAND when the disaster occurred? i think not. however, i do understand that it is the very nature of the american populace to place blame on someone or something. and who better than the ceo (boo, big business, boo people with nicer things than us) of a foreign DIRTY OIL company. not that we were the ones greedily demanding the oil be drilled to fill up our gas-guzzling automobiles and boats. oh no, not us. and, although he has no other choice, hayward has made select few gaffes in regard to this situation, saying the right thing (legally, morally, and ethically) 99.95% of the time. sure, telling the media that he hoped to resolve the situation because he ‘wanted his life back, too’ was a poor choice of words, but nonetheless true. and you have to have some respect for a man who sits in front of blithering grandstanding congressmen for hours upon hours who first insult his company and then predictably eventually resort to insulting him asking him when he is going to resign. really, congressmen, who the HELL do you think would take that job right now? i don’t care how many golden parachutes are involved, i wouldn’t touch that position with a hundred-foot-pole.

drug driving.

interesting new uk psa and such:

things i’m liking right now.

– bbc’s ‘in new DJs we trust’
– lavazza premium drip
– qrip.com
– my current baseball mogul franchise
– warm days and cold nights
– long and aimless bike rides
– long sleeve t-shirts
– dreams about past loves
– fast & french meals
– black jelly beans
– cinnamon raisin english muffins
– android 2.1
– having no money
– range rovers
– my family

justin bieber.

– i don’t understand what is going on here. the setting is a bowling alley and justin bieber is being rejected by a girl. like, clearly rejected. he is falling all over pool tables and jumping over bowling equipment trying to get in her face. he stalks her, screams ‘baby, baby, baby’ in freakishly high falsetto, and tells her that she’s his first love.

– random break-dancing scenes wedged in-between closeups of bieber doing weird things with his hands and quasi-dancing

– quite magically, the two get together at the end, although i was waiting for the kiss that never happened. is it even legal to show children that young kissing?

– ludacris is also in the video. he talks about being in love at the age of 13. i fail to see how this is not scary.

– i’m bored.

i need a car.

ever since my trusty 2000 ford explorer died [well, literally exploded on i-26] on thanksgiving day 2009 i have been without car. living in downtown charleston it fortunately hasn’t been too difficult to get around on my bicycle, but it’s nearly summer and i am anxious to have a car again. i miss driving. i’ve decided that i don’t want to invest much into a vehicle, primarily because i don’t have much to invest, but also because the prospect of years of financing is a relatively nauseating one. i want something with wheels – an suv, that can tow, and isn’t a shoddy import [see kia]. so i’ve been looking at procuring a used vehicle, with a monetary cap of around $5K. mileage not so much a concern, but preferably under 100K miles. i really like range rovers, and you can find mid-90s models around said mileage from anywhere from $3K to $7K. i’ve read that ranges can be a maintenance nightmare, but, from what i’ve gathered, worthwhile vehicles that rank highly in overall customer satisfaction.

i found one on craigslist several weeks ago that was perfect. it was a 95, but with barely over 100K miles, in good condition, and a classic model. it was white, though, and, ideally, i’d prefer a darker color. there was a 99 model posted recently, for $5.5K, but it’s tan-ish. i’m really into the aesthetics of whatever car i choose, and something about tan color on tan leather screams bland to me. it does only have 93K miles, though, with tow package and sunroof. and v8.

moscow metro bombings. and trains.

– reading the news about the metro bombings the other day i became temporarily fascinated with the moscow metro. the metro is so integral to the daily function of of moscow that even after the initial bomb exploded at lubyanka station rail authorities kept the entire system up and running. of course, another bomb went off, at park kultury station, two stops down the same line, 40 minutes later. for some reason i have a real obsession with urban transportation and began thinking about the public transportation that i have taken before [and been stunned by]. i began looking up videos from the 7/7 tube bombings in london, and then somehow found my way to 9/11 news footage from the morning of. if you haven’t watched the early reports of either event, you are missing out on some hair-raising news coverage. on 7/7, in london, the public was lead to believe that the attacks were actually a ‘power surge’ for some 40 minutes, whereas on 9/11 nobody was sure what the hell was going on until the 2nd plane impacted.

– along the same trail of transit thought, i really enjoy french trains (paris metro included) … by and large the country’s livery is new, clean, and enjoyable to travel on. it’s a publicly owned company – and you can tell. the french really are proud of their trains. the one linked there recently broke the world record for speed at 357.2 MPH. they also have a really catchy jingle that they sample from as a tone for everytime a train arrives/departs from a station.

and so it is.

it was suggested to me recently that i begin to blog as a means of cataloguing the mass of thoughts which tumult my brain on a daily basis. essentially pure word vomit.

clearly, i’m here, and i’m writing – but with some reluctance. i’m not wild about the prospect of what i write being read by specific people (read: those i’d like to impress upon in a positive nature, certain members of my family, or anybody that wants to take what i say i’m thinking out of context), or the very real possibility of beginning to treat this webspace as a personal diary.

i’m pretty sure i had a blog once before, when i had a myspace account, and ended up putting it on private, keeping it as a journal of sorts until one day somehow the permissions changed and a couple of my friends were able to read the super secret entries. i was forever mortified about the concept of an electronic journal.

so, to be clear, no ‘dear wordpress’ is to be found here … i hope.

enjoy.