I've Sold Out. I Hope.

05/26/09 - So the astute haganblog reader may have discovered by now that there are ad's placed strategically on the top of the main page. And probably the subpages too. I'm not sure, I didn't bother to check. The reason for this is simple. I saw an ad that advertised selling space to put ad's on your blog page. So I thought to myself, SELF! You have a lot of space on your blogspot that you AREN'T using! My inner voice likes to speak in italics, all caps, and exclamation points. Why not sell this space and make some money! ALSO, you should sell your kidney! You really only NEED one...! I ignored this second recommendation, but the first intrigued me. So i signed up for this service, and began waiting for the money to flow in. As it turns out, I only get paid when someone clicks on the ad's on my page. Also, I can't click on them myself. Which annoyed me: what if I saw something being advertised that I liked, or was interested in? I'm not allowed to click on it. I really feel like that's not fair. I clicked on that first ad. Obviously I'm one of the few people on the internet that click on those annoying little ad's, but I can't even click on the ones on my own site! Because of a conflict of interest or something. Which really it wouldn't be. I'd be interested in both my blog and the ad. But they don't really care about that.

Anyway, this is now no longer an indie blog. I'm commercialized. Let the boycotts begin. Oh, wait. What's that you say? The hipsters never read my blog? So they've technically been boycotting it since its inception? Well played indie punks. Well played indeed.

05/25/09 - So I was supposed to write a blog this afternoon, but I got to talking with my mom, and then I had to make dinner, and then we all watched a movie... I guess it just never materialized. Anyway, I'm writing it now, so that's that.

So. What would we like to talk about today? Or, I guess I should say "tonight." So I'm going back to work tomorrow morning. At 9 AM. So that should be fun. It could be worse, though, I suppose. Last summer, I worked for the county's Road & Bridge Department. I had to wake up at 6 every morning, be at work at 7, and then I wouldn't get home that night until like 5:30 or 6. so this year, work is a lot nicer. For instances, I'll be inside most of the time. I'll get to eat at nice places for lunch. I'll be paid a lot more. On the downside, I'll be doing a lot of rather mindless work, i.e. filing case documents. Also, I'll need to wear a tie everyday. Which isn't really a downside, as I actually like dressing nice.

I'm only working 4 days this week because today was Memorial Day. Did you remember that? Some people didn't, and so it was kind of a surprise to them that they didn't have to work today. Not me, though. I kept Memorial Day on the forefront of my memory. Also, I'm leaving Friday afternoon to go back to Austin for the weekend. Hopefully, I'll be getting out from work early (ideally 3 or so) and will leave straight from it for the city.

One thing I really dig man, is road trips. Partly because I love to drive, and partly because I love to listen to loud music. Or, more appropriately, I suppose, "music loud." Anyone who knows me will tell you that. I can never get my music up loud enough actually. I just keep turning up the volume, and it never gets too loud. That or I'm going deaf. Which is definitely possible.

My least favorite thing about my car stereo, is that my iPod plays some songs at different volume levels--even when sound check is on! I don't understand why it can't just make the Beatles play at the same level as Scary Kids Scaring Kids. I can do it manually, and I'm a man; why can't my automobile do it automatically? Anyway, it annoys me, but not enough to really do anything about it. Besides, whenever I get up for work in the morning, I'm just gonna listen to NPR Morning Edition anyway. 89.9 Red River Radio. Get excited in the morning for a little bit of Steve Inskeep with your cup of coffee. Renee Montagne? There's a reason you're on the radio.

That is all everyone. I gotta get up in the morning. Adios.

Summersong

05/14/09 - I haven't posted for awhile, so today I thought I'd write a song about the end of school and the beginning of summer. Here it is:

"Summersong"

Ah well,

The Summer's here, & babe, the Winter's reached its end.

And yes,

The end is near, but baby, Time don't break, It bends.

Oh well,

And don't you know, my Dear, that soon I go to leave.

And yes,

I hate the truth, but girl the proof's the sand & the sieve

Oh well,

The people come, & babe the people go afar.

And yes,

The moon it shines & babe the sun is gold, but you're my star.

Oh well,

I can't be worried, yes babe, we're all hurried along.

And yes,

We might have time, but girl don't forget this song.

The spring-time song is what we've been singin'

And like all good things, this too, it will pass.

And the Summersong will come along a breezin'

You & I will find the time to make it last.

There's

Hot air blowing across my face, and what's more

Is that

I smell the grass & I hear the thunderstorm.

Yes the

Earth is turning, & I feel it 'neath my feet.

And the

Earth is warmin', but I'm ready for the heat.

The spring-time song is what we've been singin'

And like all good things, this too, it will pass.

And the Summersong will come along a breezin'

You & I will find the time to make it last.

As I

Walk outside, the sand is in my toes.

And the

Pipe is smoking, & we're where no one knows

That to

Live is to die, but we don't need all that.

Because

It's Summer on the road & you know we never need a map.

The spring-time song is what we've been singin'

And like all good things, this too, it will pass.

And the Summersong will come along a breezin'

You & I will find the time to make it last.

Maybe it's trite, and maybe you just have to hear it. But take my word. It's a good fuckin' song.

Goddam it's a Good Day to be Driving

05/10/09 - So it's Mother's Day today. How do I know this? People have been reminding me. Constantly. I've been getting reminders since last Sunday. Apparently, no one wants me to forget about today. So i remembered. Love you mom.

So yesterday i went driving around Austin for a good thirty minutes. I left campus on 24th street--took it all the way to MoPac. I went south there, crossed the river, until I hit 360 North. I love that highway man. It goes through some of the most beautiful country in Austin. The canyons it goes through, the valleys it goes over. I dig that man, I do. I turned off of 360 onto the 2222 exit and then I followed that road all the way back to MoPac. After I got back in the southbound lane, I got off pretty quick afterwards onto 45th, which is the street im living off of next year when I come back to Austin. I took 45th up until I got to Lamar, which I followed down to 35th street. A couple of blocks going down that street and I was back on the drag. Man, now, that's a street I could go without driving on. Soon I was back on campus. I was home at Blanton, and god did I wish I wasn't. It's a shithole of a place to live--anyone who's been here can tell you that.

I like to drive around. I like to roll down the windows; turn up the music. I love the wind and the sun, but I dig the moon, too. When I'm driving around, everything is good.

My dad's favorite song is one called "It's All Right" by the Traveling Wilburys, but he always calls it "Ridin' Around in the Breeze" after a line in the song. George Harrison is the one who sings this particular lyric, and it speaks to my dad like nothing else does. I don't have the same feelings associated with it that he does, but it speaks to me too. I know the feeling of the breeze in you face, and the wind whipping all around; the feeling of taking the wheel and feeling like you're in control of everything on the highway. It's a high you can't get with any of the substances I've tried. I love it, man--and everything that comes with it.

I'm going out driving now, I'm going to have the breeze hit my face, and I'm going to live on this Sunday afternoon. I'll ramble on, hitting that open road. It's life, and so, it's love, man--it's everything it can be. Take it easy friends.

April Showers Bring May Mugginess

05/07/09 - So have you ever been talking to someone, and you think they may be interested in you but mostly you think that they're just being nice? Yeah, that sucks, doesn't it? Anyway, I was taking a psychology exam earlier today. Now this exam was kind of superfluous. I didn't need it for a grade. I'm already making an A in the class, and he drops the lowest test grade. Which would have been this last test had I not taken it. As it turns out, it will still be this last test. I did poorly. But not the point. Actually, that was the point. Okay, well sorry for the brevity tonight, but it's time for Thirsty Thursday.

P.S. I'm not really sorry.

¡Ój No! ¡Debo trabajar como una mula!

05/06/09 - So as I groggily awoke this morning at around eight--with a bad case of cotton mouth--I realized something that I wish I had thought of sooner: I had scheduled my Spanish Interview about ten minutes before the start of my Calculus class. To understand the frustration this sudden realization thrust upon me, you need a general overview of the UT campus (mostly just where my classes are).

So here it is, a very, very general overview of campus with respect to my Calculus and Spanish classes: Calculus is on the other side of campus from Spanish, with a good ten minute walk between them. Which would work out perfectly if my interview consisted of me walking in, touching base, and then running back to calc. However, for some reason, I suspect that I'll be needing to say... something. I mean, it is an interview for chrissake. So even if the interview took five minutes, which is pretty short, I would be late to calc.

So now you're probably thinking, "Well David, Calculus is normally a rather large class. Wouldn't it be possible to just come in late? I'm sure it happens all the time. Chances are, you wouldn't even be noticed!" Yeah, fuck you. I'm getting to why that won't work, if you'll just calm down and let me explain it. Christ, I mean, what do you think this is, Your Story? You want me to let you tell it? Fine, go ahead. Tell away.

...

Okay then. So the reason this is a big problem for me is because we happen to have our last homework due today in calc, at the beginning of class. Which I will be missing. Because I'll be at the spanish interview.

So check this out--this is what I did: I got my friend who's in calc to take it for me. While I'm in spanish, he'll take my paper and turn it in to the teacher during the beginning of class! That way, I can take my time with the speaking of the spanish, and yet, I will still get my calc homework in on time! It'll be like I'm in two places at once! Well I mean, it won't really, but it'll be kind of like that. In a way. Well you get the point. Crisis averted, is what it boils down to.

And the kool part is that I managed to do all of this before 11:00 A.M. and also work in a trip to the ATM, getting a cup of coffee, and making a small purchase via the money attained from the trip to the ATM. I feel like I am set. Well, take it easy everybody, schools almost over.

Okay, I know I posted this today, but it counts as yesterday's entry

05/04/09 - I want to make a proposition. There are two kinds of people in the world. Now, as you can tell, this is going to be a gross overstatement. And there is no way this is the only way to divide the worlds people up. We, as a species, are finding new, incredible, and profound ways to do that every day. Point is, this is something that occurred to me. Obviously.

You have seen, I am sure, a police officer (from here on, I'll say cop. It's gender neutral and shorter to spell) stop a person, not because they're doing anything horribly illegal, just lets say, kind of illegal, or technically illegal. Say, something like a skateboarder on a side walk, or walking on the grass somewhere. What thought came into your mind when you witnessed this? Did you think, "Good! Fuck that guy! How dare he skate here! Doesn't he know good, law-abiding citizens like me are in danger of being run into and injured every time he skates around here on this sidewalk?" and it's a legitimate concern, and skateboarders shouldn't be on the sidewalk, and neither should bicyclists. That's not the point. The point is whether you think like that, or instead you think along the lines of, "Man, fuck that cop man! Where does he/she get off tellin' people what they can and can't do! It's a free sidewalk, and that dude has as much a right to skate on it as I do to walk on it! It's a free country, man!" Which is true, we live in a pretty liberated society. We could always be free-er, but we're still pretty well off.

Again the point behind this is not whether in this intensely hypothetical situation you would think precisely in the manner I described, it's just if you thought along the lines of one of those thoughts. Like me, my exact response would be something like, "Ah, man. Poor guy has probably skated down this side walk all year and not bothered anybody, but I mean it's the law, so I guess he's got what's coming to him." See, I empathized with the skateboarder, but not to the extent that I stereotyped the pro-skateboarding thought. Hopefully you get the idea.

Anyway, as I thought about it, my emotional response is pretty much the same to every instance of "the man" exercising its responsibility to uphold justice. Which could be because I grew up in a liberal household with a judge and defense attorney as parents. Or maybe I'm just an empathetic person by nature, or untrusting of law enforcement by nature. Although that last one's probably not it, I get along with cops pretty well. Unless they're arresting some one.

What puzzles me is not so much what different people think after seeing the same situation, or even why they think it. It's the idea that people do think in these basically two different ways. Why don't all people empathize with the authority, after all, it's us that put them in power, asked them to do these things. On the other hand, why don't we all empathize with the person being subjected to that authority. After all, It could easily be us next time. The reason that I see behind it--if there is one--is that, as a society we need balance. Think about what would happen is we all, collectively, hated anyone who broke any law. No MLK day, that's for sure. Gandhi would have been the Muthafucka instead of the Mahatma. And we would just throw people in jail, with no regard for the depth of their transgressions or even if said transgression even occurred. Just sounds bad, man. But on the other hand, what if we all had a deep-seeded disrespect, mistrust, and even hatred for law enforcement? Peace would be very difficult to keep. Society would be in chaos.

There are people, I'm sure, that would enjoy either of those two extremes, fascists on the one hand, anarchists on the other. But they're the two extremes. Hell, most of us would say they're unrealistic, if not bat-shit insane. If you generalize, you can really group the two different views of power and authority into two different branches of political thought--left and right, liberal and conservative. Most of us can agree, I think, that society would have a very hard time maintaining itself if we didn't have people on both sides of that political aisle. We would migrate towards the extremes until we collapsed either from too much government or not enough. When looked at like this, I can almost describe it as a sort of sociological evolution which serves a protective and self-maintaining function for society.

However, recognizing this trait of society leads to a paradoxical question in the means of the functionality of political debate. On the one hand, it seems like we have to debate our viewpoints, otherwise having them would be pointless. If we don't let the other side know what we think, we simply won't be represented, and then we will drift to the extremes of political thought. On the other hand, debate seems useless if society as a whole wants to maintain an equilibrium in political thought. Why argue about things when our own society wants the two approximate halves to believe two different things?

Maybe I should take a sociology course. It seems interesting to me. But, if my line of thought is right, even discussing this topic is slightly useless. That's a big assumption, I suppose. But you know what they say about assumption... it makes an ass out of u and mption.

That made me laugh, rereading it.

OMG! They're gonna make the kids kill each other!

05/01/09 - Accomplishments today:

• Wake up for class.
• Eat a banana.
• Get coffee.
• Go to Spanish.
• Leave from Spanish after 15 minutes upon finding out the teacher isn't there.
• Learn songs for Quad Fest.
• EAT POPEYE'S CHICKEN!
  • ENJOY POPEYES DELICIOUS WONDERFUL CHICKENY GOODNESS
  • Feel like I'm about to burst from all the chicken.
• Work on Quad Fest songs.
• Drink.
• Drink more.
• Watch Battle Royal.

All in all, it was a good Friday for me.

Now I'm going out. ¡Adios!