9/18/2001 10:35:49 AM

Feedback Loop

Well, in reaction to my last posting about Americans doing bad things I got my first legitimate reaction to something I wrote. Sure, I've received a "You funny, make me laff!!" email or two, but this was a response which showed that someone read what I wrote and something to say in return. Unfortunately, it was a semi-angry letter from my sister, chastising me for being overly cynical in a time of tragedy. I still think that the horrible acts of racism which have occured in the past week are what worry me most right now, because they are the things I have the most power to prevent. I can't get (directly) Bush to call off a War but I can try to help minimize the errors of the common man. But, there have been good things that have happened over the past week. People have come together to help victims and friends of victims in their time of need, and that has been good. There's been some patriotic nationailsm which, while not always good, seems healthy and good right now as people band together as neighbors and friends. Heroes are bred by adversity, and while what has happened has been horrible, the acts of selflessness in response have been tremendously great.

Unrelated Good Things

In my life there have been plenty of good things, but these are not related to the previous paragraph.

1. Last week, they were showing back-to-back episodes of Quantum Leap all-day on the Sci-Fi Channel for a couple of days.
2. Erica and I beat Escape from Monkey Island (the 4th Monkey Island game), Yesterday.
3. My package from DoubleDiscount.com came containing everything I ever wanted, including:
a. A D+D Player's handbook for Erica and I so we won't have to share one anymore.
b. The Klingon Dictionary.
c. The Klingon Translation of Hamlet.
d. A book of Postcards showing the Women of Star Trek Voyager (Trust me, Erica was far more psyched about it than I was)
e. A couple of Dragonlance books for Erica (She already finished all 585 pages of the first one)
f. A book of Pokemon Origami.
(** I bought this stuff at cheap cheap prices back when I had a job, but it just arrived now**)
4. I'm about 30 pages away from Finishing the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, then I'll be all set for the movie release in December.
5. Kevin and Glen came up to hang out Friday night, RIght here in Riverdale.
6. Dave got the game "Summoner" for the PS2 which has a funny D+D related "skit" in it when you view the credits.
7. It's gotten cooler around here so we're not running the AC anymore. Maybe I won't need a job afterall....
8. I'm signed up to play in the Odyssey Pre-Release Tournament (Magic) this weekend. It's going to rule.
9. Michael came through town with Ashley while helping her move up to Boston with him. They got really lost but we had time to go eat at Boston Market before they set off again. They're living a couple blocks from where Brent and Amanda are living.
10. I still haven't found a job. Oh wait, that's not a good thing, but I had to round out this list to an even 10.

Letterman's going to be pissed

OK, after writing all that and fluffing it up with crap, I came up with two more good things that I had meant to mention, but I forgot, so I'm adding them now:

11. I got the new TMBG album "Mink Car" on Saturday. Best Buy had it for $12.99 where Tower had it for $18.99. I spent the $6 I saved on a California Tortilla Burrito. I hope the corporate big-wigs appreciate their free advertising. THe small record stores nearby didn't have it unfortunately. The album is good, though each TMBG album is less and less "the way you remembered them being", but I can take it.

12. Also at Best Buy, they had the Pikachu-2 Virtual Pet, for $4.99. We picked that up as well and we've been taking good care of it. Have you guys heard of this place, Best Buy? I can't praise them enough, apparently.

User: Joel Shaughnessy

9/13/2001 09:58:30 AM

There are no words which can do justice to the tragedy which occured on Tuesday. I will not attempt to keep this entertaining.

As I watched in the hours from 9am to 1pm as things went from horrible to more and more horrible I felt many things I haven't felt much of lately. I felt a sense of community with a nation whose actions I don't always agree with. It can surely be said that the US has caused grief to many other people in many other nations, but there is little I can think of which is more terrifying than a faceless enemy preying on the lives of the innocent. We want someone to vilify, we want a bad guy. So, I felt a kinship with my fellow Americans for a while. I thought of how our generation hasn't felt the pain of war and hasn't felt truly threatened in my lifetime. I thought about how Pearl Harbor and The Revolutionary war brought people together in opposition of a common enemy. These enemies are now some of our closest allies, and it's curious to wonder how this came about.

So after feeling so concerned about the well-being of the victims and their families, and after wanting to be proud of America and all that it stands for, I am reminded of why I haven't felt this very often before. Americans of all sorts of ethnicities and backgrounds have become targets of racist comments and physical violence over the past 48 hours simply because people want an easy outlet for their frustration at having no idea who to blame for what happened. Closet racists are jumping at the opportunity to fill their comfortable roles as oppressors and adopt a mindless mob mentality. The victims of these terrorist attacks have become veiled shields for bigotry and HATE. Unwitting victims become martyrs for a cause they might never have championed, just as religion justified the Crusades, The Colonization of the Americas, the Inquisition, and all the Jihads in the world. We read about the Japanese Internment camps in WWII and wonder how backward we were back then, but even now there is plenty of evidence of how little progress we have made. People are people and evil is evil. Harming the innocent, regardless of who you are, is evil, and evil knows no boundaries so far as political lines separating countries, skin color, or heritage.

Many people in America are not evil, but there are plenty, and that can be said for all humanity, on a person by person basis.

User: Joel Shaughnessy

9/5/2001 02:19:35 PM

THere's a part of the river in all of us

But for me, there was literally a chunk of rock stuck in my knee and that explains why my 3rd kneecap kept flaring up and getting pussy. Maybe that should be "pus-y" but I don't know. I love to spell, but that doesn't mean I'm very good at it. So, 10 days later, a tiny rock that had lodged itself into my flesh was extracted and now sits on a paper-towel next to the television. I should probably clean that up before Dave gets home. Maybe that rock was with me long enough to sap up some of my spirit, and throwing it away would be like burying a friend. Yep, burying a tiny, worthless, horrible friend who burrowed into your knee and made you limp around with a big bulbous pus-filled tumor on your leg. Goodbye my friend. Goodbye.

What's up with the J-O-B?

I've been getting calls about jobs (3 yesterday) but nothing solid yet. One wanted me to move to North carolina, so that was out. One wanted me to Drive to Vienna, VA each day (Over an Hour each way) to do Admin type work for Big Blue (IBM), but i'm through with the long drives if I can help it. I don't have a lot of freedom, but I still have some. There's the neverending Nextel possibility where I'd drive a company car around to cell-towers making sure everything was peachy for the drug-dealers and annoying dudes who talk too loud everywhere they go. The problem with that one is they always push it back and push it back so I'm not sure if there's really a job there or if it's just a horrible, boring, candid-camera style trick to keep me unemployed until I die.

Hero on the Halfshell

THen there's the one I got an email about today. The email came from "Micahel Angelo Jr." and said simply "Cowabunga, dudes!". Actually, it didn't. sorry. It did talk about a high-paying job travelling across the country installing some system in Post Offices so that the employees can use AOL Instant Messager. Actually I have no idea what I would be doing, but I'd be travelling 90% of the time, which brings so many up so many issues. Obviously, I'd really like to get paid to go around and see new places and there's no time like the present for something like that. The drawback is that I am really happy where I am right now. I live with Erica, whom I would miss terribly while I was away. Also, I've had an extremely fun summer hanging out with friends and having a good time playing D+D every week, playing Magic Every week, and just hanging out having cookouts and playing croquet. I guess if I was travelling I could still do that sortof stuff on the weekends, but every Sunday there'd be a looming black monday where I'd have to sayd goodbye to everyone and go back into isolation. I really do like getting time to myself when I can, but I don't know if this is how I'd want to do it. I'll let you know here, unless I give up like some sort of sucka.

PS. I'm not a sucka.

User: Joel Shaughnessy

9/4/2001 06:05:13 PM

A New Hope

I kicked off my first real day of re-unemp[loyment in the best way possible; I drove Erica to school when she woke up late. Actually the good part is when I went and played a solo-18-holes of Disc Golf at 8am. It was a pleasantly cool morning and I was the only one out there, so it was peaceful and refreshing. It helped to put my life into perspective, and it felt great. I recommend geting up and getting a little exercise each day to anyone who has absolutely nothing left to do with the rest of their day. If you're working, screw it, because you just don't have that kindof time.

Makes you wonder what Andrew 'Dice' Clay's Parents think

I got a jarring wake-up call last night when I was talking to my parents and tell ing them what I had done during the week and they said "Yeah, we know, we read about it at your website" and my mind began racing trying to think of how many profane, blasphemous, disgusting things I had written recently. Luckily I couldn't think of any, and upon viewing today I'd say the worst there was was me saying "bitches" in the friendly, non-derogatory way. Here's hoping the parents were hip enough to catch that. One time, back in High School, I let my Dad read one of the books that my friend Brian Costello wrote and then remembered a passage he wrote saying that his Dad would have been out "fist-fucking goats" if Reagan had told him to. The obvious part is, parents are adults and are not shocked by curse words or even the idea of unorthodox-sex with animals. Hey, if they didn't know a thing or two about it we wouldn't be here, right? Ugh, You should have stopped reading a few lines ago, Mom and Dad. Sorry!

User: Joel Shaughnessy

9/2/2001 11:20:09 AM

I refuse to be like you

That last entry was a real pile. It was festeringly bad, and I could never do that to you again because it would hurt me too much. Short entries are fine, if they're interesting, but that one was not and to leave you hanging onto that for almost 5 days with nothing more than that was downright cruel. Forgiveness, Preese.

The psychological implications

I'm real insecure about what I write here because I get worried that I ramble and bramble my way into generally unreadable drivel. I have trouble going back and reading them myself, even though sellf-study is my major at LU (THat's Life University, bitches). I ask everyone to let me know what I can do better and noone says anything. They prefer to let me piss my life away rather than face the burden of critique-ing a friend, and I guess that's cool. Cool if you want to live a Lie, I mean.

Regularly scheduled Prgm

So, back in the saddle I write quick and dirty run-down of everything I am. I lellft my job on Friday at 11AMfor the last time. During my last week I scored 3 free meals (Italian, Indian Buffet, and a Muffin/juice breakfast), 2 hugs, a no new jobs, so I'm riding free in the unemployed world again. I'd like to think that means I can redesign this site, release the updated Virtual Joel, Record an album, and begin my long, tumultuous trek to the presidency, but most likely I'll get stressed about having no money and piss my time away playing video games. I did get Worms: Armageddon for PSX on Friday, and I haven't even opened it yet. I've been too busy. Busy is for sissies. TIme to go to Harmony and meet up with Andrea Petersen and Derek Moffet. It's like 1996 all over again. Keep reading, because you know I'll keep writing. I just hope you can look yourself in the mirror each day knowing you're not telling me what I can do to make my website more enjoyable. Why not repent from your ways and tell me what you really think? OK, I give this entry a 7. There, I got you started, work with me.

User: Joel Shaughnessy

8/29/2001 09:27:59 PM

Test your might; Fight!

Mortal Kombat movie is on the Superstation right now.

(this is what you consider a peppy/fun/short entry. Enjoy it.)

User: Joel Shaughnessy

8/28/2001 11:35:53 AM

Recurring Theme song

Yesterday, when I got home from work, I saw the end of the one episode of Quantum Leap that I remembered from childhood. Sure I had pieces of other ones in my memory, but this one stuck with me because it pulled the old "Bait-n-Switch" that we americans love so much. Sam was a Cowboy trying to win the heart of stubborn cowgirl and eventually he softens her up only to lose her to another dude, so Sam thinks he's lost and will never leap out until he's looking for a Pig and inspires a young dorky Buddy Holly to change his song from "Piggy Suey" to "Peggy Sue". Classic, right? Right?

Father Figured

My dad was a big fan of Buddy Holly, or so I thought. He had a tape of Oldies that he got at a Gas station and he'd sing along to Buddy holly, so I figured he liked them a lot. After I got a job at Kmart's Lil Sleazers Pizza Station I had enough cash on hand to buy a really thoughtful (pricey) present for my dad for his birthday and I got him a Buddy Holly 2-CD retrospective. I think he liked it, but he never really listened to it as much as I hopedhe would. It was one in a line of presents for my dad that I tried to be thoughtful with and wasn't quite satisfied by the results. Recently, I got him some Babylon 5 Action figures for Christmas, thinking he'd have fun setting them up to re-enact his favorite scenes (Like Erica and I do with our Star Trek Figures) but he put them up in the attic to save and sell later. Not really a lucrative investment, but he did end up trying to go find more of them online at ebay auctions, so I guess it went alright.

The Buddy Legacy

In 1995 or so I was at Blockbuster music with Adam and he found the First Weezer album and brought it to me saying I should buy it because it had a song on it called "Buddy Holly" and he knew I had bought a buddy-holly CD for my dad a few years back. I considered it but put it back thinking they looked like another wacky alternative band cashing in on kitsch. My next Brush with Weezer was in Boca Raton when visiting Adam's friends from American university while we drove around in Ilana's car listening to Pinkerton. The songs sounded really good and I remembered the lines and melodies long after that night, but I didn't act on anything until 1998 when I was hanging out with Kevin McGowan and talking to Weerez1053 online. Now I revere Weezer as a band that made two of the finest albums I've heard, perfect for parties AND screaming along to in post-breakup sadness while driving in the car.

Buddy Holly... Can't bust-em.

User: Joel Shaughnessy

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