"Don't encourage him."

Those were the words spoken by my fiancee in a moment of sheer wit -- I had started clapping along with the Congress during Bush's State of the Union address.

Funny, insightful, and true.

Yūgen

I step out of the train at Southport. I flick on the iPod (it decides to work), press play.

It's snowing.
It's been snowing all day.
I've been watching it from the 34th floor of a building in downtown Chicago. An averge snowstorm looks impressive and beautiful from that height.

I step out of the station at Southport. I walk into the brisk Chicago wind. It carries thousands of snowflakes in its blustery caress.

Ministry comes over the headphones ("No W"). As I hear the frenetic, throbbing beat, my pace unconsciously quickens. A smile breaks over my snow-laden face. I step in piles of salt to get a better grip on the slick sidewalks. Ministry drives me forward.

::brief respite for supply acquisition::

Back on the sidewalk, Ministry gives way to Starlight Mints ("Pumpkin"). My jaunt becomes more...

jaunty.

I turn from the light of Southport onto a darker side street. The wind changes to meet me head-on, again. I laugh as its icy hand toussles my hair.

Almost home now; Rammstein finshes me off ("Mann Gegen Mann"). Outside my building, I stop to look around - snow sworls in the streetlamps. The smile never leaves.

I fuckin' love winter...

Filing for Divorce from Reality

There I was, watching Scarborough County. Now, I don't often tune in to watch this news show on MSNBC, but I catch it every once in a while. The host, Joe Scarborough, is a former Republican Congressman. Though he might be of a conservative bent, he tends to support his assertions -- a quality most such hosts tend to half-ass. Now, I don't swing conservative, and I disagree with Joe on many points... but I respect him as an intelligent and fair host.

Anyway, there I was watching Scarborough County, and Joe was talking about the latest O'Reilly gimmick in his war on 'liberal' NBC. I kinda started twitching at the name "Bill O'Reilly" (there it is again). During the course of this segment, one of the guests, and obnoxious interrupter-type... repeatedly implied that Scarborough County was leaning liberal.

Joe's shock mirrored my own. Scarborough County, liberal? Seriously. Scarborough County. Liberal.

I'm calling it. The "Expose the 'Liberal' Media" campaign has officially jumped the shark.

Rejuvenation

Nothing like a little time off to get the head cleared and the creative juices back in order. "Tea & Ragnorak" is delightfully Ibsen-ian, meaning it's less comedic than I originally planned.

On the Hub, I've posted stuff on Samizdat, Miskatonic, and the Cantina. Check 'em out.

Well, back to work.

Passports & Canadian Debauchery

My heart goes out to those BGSU folks who were set on going to Windsor, Canada, for drinking or gambling or bachelor parties or any combination thereof. Well, not really, but it looks like any would-be visitors to Windsor need more than expendable income:

Travel to Canada, Mexico is about to change with new passport rules

In other words, don't lose your passport when you're losing your ass on the craps tables.