Reality is nowhere to be found

LET'S WATCH BRIAN MISS ANOTHER SHOT

CBS bit the bullet and moved the NCAA Tournament to ESPN (as someone on Fark put it, so the Eye could show #1 seed United States vs #16 Iraq) and I'd like to know just how much cash Disney is getting for this. ESPN is undoubtedly getting very little commercial time (there are fewer breaks per half than you'd think, and ESPN could only have the affiliate slots since CBS has inventory of their own to clear) and while you're not getting the incessant "Watch Becker and Raymond!" live promos, we did just see a CBS Sportsline spot; everyone at ESPN.com must be mondo pissed.

Why they didn't just move them to TNN I don't know, though I imagine the NCAA had something to say about that. Mostly the word "no."

I was going to post my prediction bracket, but that would have involved work. It'll be up before long.

SO I WENT AND SAW 'THE HOURS' TONIGHT

Visitors may be confused by the lack of war-related posts here, since it seems every recently updated blog listed on MovableType.org has to talk about it, many with posts simply linking to CNN or MSNBC with a line like "It's begun." Like I get my Jasminlive news from you.

What is there to write about? I guess I could rant about everyone's anxiousness. Not concern, though: a better word would be anticipation. The expectation that something big will happen. The ticket vendor at the cinema today who had to ask if I'd heard any news, even though the deadline was still over an hour away and CNN was playing on a giant screen behind him (and by that, I mean movie screen size, not simply big HDTV.) Or the people inside watching Crossfire expecting immediate action as the minutes ticked down. What do they think this is, a football game? The Super Bowl kicks off at 5:18 or 5:24 or whatever, but we start shooting when we damn well feel like it. Saddam has nothing better to do than wait.

Maybe 9/11, seeing how everything happened in less than a three-hour span, conditioned these people to think that the war won't be much longer than a Super Bowl contest. After all, the ground war only took three days in 1991: we're not expecting Vietnam here.

Admittedly they, and anyone else annoying me with their overconcern, could have a relative or friend right in the thick of things, so I can hardly chastise people for caring. They could have a personal involvement I don't share. Plus there's always that x-factor of domestic terrorism resulting from our actions. But really, what do they expect to hear? To see? Immediate victory? Mushroom clouds? Maybe they're fascinated by seeing the anti-aircraft fire and explosions in Baghdad, perhaps the worst and most exploitive branch of reality television. Iraqis get slaughtered, tonight on Fox! Hosted by Bill O'Reilly!

Myself, I share him's view on the whole thing: opposition but acceptance, with a deep down secret smile knowing that this is all for the best. (Putin refused to vote either way in any Security Council vote: he wouldn't veto the US/UK resolution or support it either.) Yeah, Saddam's bad, weapons hidden, blah blah...it's all true. And the result of this will be good. I just like the idea of containment and mutual assured destruction, both of which work. (And the threat of force worked until France said "no war period unless Saddam uses weapons," robbing the UN of its power.) Since Saddam's more secular than his terrorist friends and certainly more obsessed with power, and won't do anything to jeopardize that (he did invade Kuwait only with the belief we would sit by and do nothing while he "corrected [his] borders.")

With idealistic terrorists there are no such guarantees: they'll die for their beliefs. While Saddam may support terrorists, unless he directly strikes us we really don't have the right to hit him, except that he's technically in violation of the Gulf War peace agreement.

My point? I guess this: the "war" is not the best solution, but will most likely only result in good (any domestic terrorist strikes that result are hardly proof that the decision to go in was bad.) Really I guess it's this" everyone's making a bigger deal than necessary. That may sound horrible, given innocent Iraqis will die as will US and UK servicemen, and even those that come home fine have had their lives impacted. But on the grand scale of things, while this "war" may be a whole hell of a lot more important than reality TV or the NCAA Tournament it's hardly World War III.

Oh, and those of you saying it IS WWIII: take a history class. You need to brush up. Seriously.

POSTING HEAVY ON THE PC/HO

Very little on television can entertain to the extent of old chat logs. Humor. Annoyance. Confusion. Sadness. I think I need to start a Jasminelive website and have people send me chat logs to post and we can all revel in the awesomeness of conversation, or something like that.

I need to bring back my webcam. Or buy a new one that my computer will like and that Webcam32 won't ignore. Like that'll happen.

Speaking of buying CPU accessories, I think it's time to get a surge protector, since I've spent seven years now computing without one. We have good power at home (minus grounding problems that make audio equipment and my capture card go nutty nutty bat nuts) so I never worried about it, and I haven't experienced problems on campus, but I get nervous. The electricity went out for about five seconds tonight, not enough to zero my VCR or alarm clock but still strong enough to shut down the PC. If nothing else I'd like the battery backup, and I might as well use that nice employee discount.

Actually, since all the data is backed up onto the laptop I'll probably continue to gamble, at least until October: going through my receipts this last weekend, I discovered that I did buy Best Buy's service plan on the computer when I purchased it in October 2000; I thought I didn't have the money at the time and reluctantly passed. Since it covers power surge, I'll just let mother nature do what she will. Maybe she'll decide I need a new CD burner; 1x-4x is painful.

FRIDAY FIVE

I started to put that it was May, which would be kind of nice. No school and lots of Matrix Reloaded make Peter a happy guy. Yeah, there's summer school, but a few week break will be enjoyed very much. Meanwhile, there's that nasty old Friday Five standing between today and Saturday night's viewing of The Matrix at Ronnie's 20 in South County. God bless Wehrenberg.

1. Who is your favorite chaturbate celebrity? Nice one. We could adopt this to "Who is your *wink wink* favorite *wink wink* celebrity?" in which case Lauren Graham would win in a heartbeat. Since I really can't think of any other way to look at the question, we'll go in that direction.

2. Who is your least favorite? Probably Julia Roberts. I gave myself five seconds to think of who I would get rid of if I had the power, and Ms. Roberts came to mind, so congrats on your horrible screaming fire death Julie. Not that she isn't talented to an extent, but...you know what, screw that. Russell Crowe, talented as he is (and he very much is,) annoys me much more than The Roberts. Bye bye Russy.

3. Have you ever met or seen any celebrities in real life? I don't think so. If you count TechTV's Leo Laporte and Patrick Norton, then yes. Also, after a Cardinals game in 2001, a friend and I stuck around for autographs and left Busch a couple hours after the game when practically no one was around Stadium Plaza. We noticed a guy getting in his SUV near the main office door --- it was Tony LaRussa. My friend, myself, an empty street and the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. I snapped a photo of my friend and Tony and we split; he was very gracious having just lost a heartbreaker to the Tigers only to have to come back twelve hours later to play the getaway day game.

4. Would you want to be famous? Why or why not? Yeah, I think so. Money is nice, and fame=money. Admittedly I wouldn't want to end up whoring myself out like a lot of low-level celebs end up doing, but the opportunity is there if I want it. There are drawbacks, but while some doors close a lot more open.

5. If you had to trade places with a celebrity for a day, who would you choose and why? Does God count? If not, then Roger Ebert. An in-house theatre, Macintoshes galore, and a gig watching movies in downtown Chicago. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm late

Just past midnight on April 16th...hmmm.

1. File taxes as early as possible, or wait until the last possible minute? Early, early, early...gotta get that refund. I usually file electronically at H&R; Block. This year I got a few hundred back from Bush and nine bucks back from Blagoajksfjdsal;jevich.

2. File electronically, or mail paper forms? We already covered this.

3. Prepare your own taxes, or have someone do it for you? We already covered this.

4. Are you a saver or a spender? We already-wait, no. Sorry. I mostly spend, though less so over the last year.

5. Do you prefer to carry cash, or pay with plastic (credit/debit cards), or by check? Debit card: all the ease of plastic with all the of the "I already have this cash" aspect of cash.

6. You're broke and desperately need a job, but the only places that are hiring are retail or fast food places. Which would you pick? Well, considering I work retail already, that's an easy choice.

7. Keeping track of your money: are you more meticulous or careless about it? Careless, since the AWESOME new online records of Union Planters keeps track for me.

8. What do you do if you find yourself with a lot of change weighing down your purse/pocket/wallet? Do you try to spend it to get rid of it, or do you put it in a jar or a piggy bank? A jar of sorts. Later it goes to the bank and magically becomes paper money.

9. Which form of fake money do you like better...Monopoly money or those chocolate coins covered with gold foil? You can eat the latter. DUH.

10. Thought-provoking question of the week: You find a wallet containing $5,000 in cash, as well as several credit cards and the owner's drivers' license. Your rent is due tomorrow and you're short $200. Do you take the money (some or all of it) and mail back the wallet anonymously...or do you return the wallet with all contents intact? Former owner of wallet to cash: "buh-bye." If I was rich, this would not be the case, but realistically under these cirumstances I'd take the green.

IT DOES NOT TASTE LIKE CHICKEN

Getting homework done a day in advance is very fulfilling. I wonder how good I would feel if I did it, like, a week in advance. Hmm.

It wouldn't get me feeling that great tonight, if for no other reason than The Cold has returned. About three times a year those naughty little germs invade and tie up my body for a few days, though I figured with the bad flu I had the first week of the semester I would get a reprieve at least until fall. No such luck.

It doesn't help that I can't swallow pills. Try and try and try as I might, my gag reflexes get the better of me, so as I type I have the horrible aftertaste of chewed Tylenol Cold in my mouth. I've gotten used to the taste of regular Tylenol, so I can tolerate it without making horrible "this is the worst taste ever" faces. No such luck with the special pills. All I have handy is water, as well, so I can't even eat a donut or drink some Code Red and get another taste on deck.

At this point, I think my mouth is actually interpreting the taste of Tylenol Cold as "sick," so I could probably eat them while healthy as the proverbial horse and force myself to have a stuffy nose and sore throat. Oooh, science experiment.

Wait, there's toothpaste. I was going to do that soon anyway. Off we go.