Stick with hookers...

Some of the very fine relationship advice I recieved today from the ever-sagacious Maloree. As if there was any other option, haha. It was a good day of interesting occurances, and at this point I must make a distinction. It has been pointed out to me that I constantly seem to claim having interesting days; it must be impossible that so many days can be good and interesting consecutively. In response to this I make the obvious point that perhaps my standards for "good" and "interesting" are just so damn far below the norm that what most would consider a average, or perhaps even shitty day, qualifies as a noteworthy experience in my book. That is what you get when you come from a town with no Wal-Mart. Today work was easy and slow, as mornings usually are at the union. Philosophy was long and there were far too many names to remember, with the added difficulty of sitting in a lefthanded seat. Needless to say, not many notes were taken, but I did practice writing my name lefthanded. The real gem of the day was Poli 80, where Prof. Sullivan reaffirmed my faith in the ability of profanity to enhance any lecture, regardless of relevance. Not only was badass used around 10 to 15 times, shit, holy shit, and damnit made an appearance. The lecture consisted of a sheet of 6 questions on the prisoners dilemma; in a normal class this would have taken 15 min. We made it to the 2nd question when the mornonic girl next to me asked a question about dominant strategies, the easiest and most obvious part of the problem. Sullivan took this as an opportunity to launch into an unclear analogy about buying a car, a mitsubishi mirage, for $19,000. After about 10 min of this, with the girl none the wiser as to dominant strategies, David "your boy" Moses attempted the bail out question, asking if there was an equilibrim in the problem at hand. Then began the most amazingly unnecesary metaphor for prisoners dilemma, ever. It began with Sullivan pointing out that he prefered the Kurt Russel version of Wyatt Earp, as portrayed in Tombstone. This proceeded to the fact that the town suffered from a collective action problem, that was, dealing with the Cowboy Gang. All was good to this point; enter the Earp brothers. "They had to prove they were the real Badasses of town, they had to go around kicking ass to make sure the gang knew they ran the show now." Continue to the shootout at the OK corral:"They didn't let anyone go, they dragged this guy out of a barn by his boots, and shot him in the face. This guy that got shot in the hand, he was begging to not be killed, and they just shot him, like 'Fuck you and your Fuckin mother too." That's right, he dropped the F-bomb in class, much to the amusement the guys, and the horror of the easily offended students who thought they were taking a serious class in political interaction. Easily in the 10 ten all time moments of in-class events in my book, right there with the time that the girl passed out in my History 11 class and we all got to go home, and the time the red phone rang in russian history and Prof. Griffiths said "I don't know who the hell that is." in response to a question about a student. As for after class, I ate a burrito from cosmic with Jimmy then walked home to take a huge nap, which explains me staying in on this cold as damnit night. Would have been a great night to read some of the hated book, but it turns out that the book has beaten me. I have been defeated on this night, as I only read 7 pgs. It gave me a chance to have a conversation with alison confirming my opinion that being unbalanced adds character and depth, two qualities I strive for. Unbalanced is a nice euphemism for crazy. I also got a chance to read a few articles on Iraq, at which point the attitude became more somber. I know people hate hearing about Iraq anymore, but I think it is something that should be discussed on a daily basis, it is our friends and family that are there dying. Whether or not you agree is irrelevant at this stage in the conflict, and I am beginning to see why my parents were so worried when the war first began; they had seen a similar situation in Vietnam devolve into everyone's favorite example of how not to conduct a war. I am certainly not saying the situation is the same, they are quite different, anyone that tells you we are in another vietnam is more than likely still hot over Kerry losing in November. But a few points from the two can be comparied, because that's what history is for. What strikes me most about the two is the difference of reaction to the situation in the general public and the administration. The difference between the way Bush and LBJ/Nixon delt with the stress of the job shows the personal involvement and Presidential involvement of these two conflicts. Vietnam basically killed Lyndon Johnson, crushed his dreams of a "Great Society", and stained whatever legacy he could have had continuing the Civil Rights reforms started by JFK. In direct reaction, we recieved Nixon, an amazingly political man who managed to turn his name into a political curseword. The war crushed both these men, deep stress and mental problems resulted from dealing with this great dilemma and the resulting casulities. True they were not the finest men of our time, but the proof remains. Contrast this with Bush, who seems to be blissfully unaware that anyone has yet to die in Iraq, and presents a positive outlook and a happy-go-lucky approach to the presidency. LBJ and Nixon were both intimately involved in policy planning around Vietnam; LBJ basically created the justification for escalation of hostilities, but the role of Bush seems much less involved and almost detached. Of course all of this is pure speculation, and I'm sure at some level the President is deeply affected by loss of life in Iraq, it just strikes me as interesting to compare the difference. This might be the longest damn post I've made yet, and I'm amazed you read it all, so let's all go drink to the use of profanity in lectures everywhere. Fuck Yeah!