Dexter's desk

12:16am: Going to school and taking care of a kid is time consuming. Not much time for the internet. Between semesters right now.

11:50pm: I posted this in another's journal. I don't know them, so I'll not be so forward as to mention them here. Just know I wrote it in response to their general internet inquiry.
Forgive my long post. I ponder this kind of stuff once in a while.
I don’t think the death penalty is necessary. ( Read more... )

10:25pm: "I've learned that depression is merely anger without enthusiasm"
Not really true, but I found it funny enough.

10:02pm: I'm not trying to be inflammatory. I posted a blurb about Intelligent Design relating to abortion over at Random Salad. Don't hate me.
http://www.randomsalad.com/board/viewtopic.php?p=2584#2584

3:05pm: Hair cut.
Does anyone else cut their own hair? ( Read more... )

10:32pm: This is a few days late.

This was said at my house in an attempt to end a post-dinner argument about religion...

"Jesus! It's Christmas! Can we not talk about religion?"

1:54pm: LJ Etiquette
So what is LJ etiquette on posting to others LJ (that you don't know)? I just posted to someone's journal, only, I don't know her. I troll the internet looking for comments of interest, then I am inspired to respond. The problem is that I don't want to intrude on others space. I would like to participate and contribute, but only if that is wanted/acceptable. I know LJ is kind of public, but that doesn't mean that someone, or anyone else's journal I my stumble across, wants to hear from me. Someone shouldn't have to make their journal 'friends only' to keep out the riff-raff (Just because someone doesn't lock the doors on their house doesn't mean they want any old stranger to stroll on in).

The flip side is it's kind of strange being so direct as to post a message on someones LJ, asking if it's ok to post a message. How could they know if you have anything of value to say if all you say is "I want to say something, OK?"

I'm going to go search the LJ FAQs.

12:12am: Death of a pet
I guess I'm mostly over our almost 15 year old dog's death. ( Read more... )

11:21pm: Life is testing me in little ways.
On both of my first two calculus test I got 98s. My third and last test I study more than ever and get an 82. I choked. I CHOKED. I should sue the school for not attempting the heimlich on me I choked so bad. I get a tainted "A" for the semester.

1:27pm: end of the earth
This is just too good to not post here. By good, i mean, it just came out of me so 'already put together.'

I posted this at
http://www.randomsalad.com/viewtopic.php?t=133&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
as a response to the 'how will the earth end?' poll.


What do you mean by the end of the earth? The end of the earth has already occurred according to the dinosaurs, yet the earth is still here to end for us.
I assume you mean 'as we know it.'

If the earth ends as we know it due to a global pandemic, one could say that it was a natural end to the earth. I, however, will consider it man induced, due to our preference in curing baldness and impotency as opposed to preventing global pandemics and asteroid collisions.

The list of non-preventable causes for the end of the earth is becoming shorter as technology advances, unfortunately the list of probable ends of the earth is getting longer due to humans inherent dumb-fuckedness. An example of the probable list getting longer is nukes, war, religion, etc. An example of non-preventable causes becoming preventable is collisions with asteroids, global pandemics, etc.

Here's another way to look at the end of the earth. Think of humans as a bioluminescent bacteria and click this link (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights_dmsp_big.jpg)
We appear to be spreading.

I say that the end of the earth is well under way. But I don't think the earth really cares, it will still be here well after we are gone. Its net energy will remain the same, right?

11:18pm: More about language
When we put out two+ year old in 'time out' (his portable crib), he always wants to get out so he can immediately resume doing what it was that got him into trouble in the first place.
Well, when we walk by him, he pleads to get out, we always ask him "Are you going to be good?" or "Are you going to behave?" So he holds his arms up and says "have...have" and "have..good...have" See, he thinks he can be both 'good' ("be good!") and 'have' ("behave!")
It's kind of funny that our two year old has the right idea and we will have to teach him to go against logic and common sense. No wonder people act crazy. Society teaches them to.

11:34pm: Content
I created this LJ just before www.randomsalad.com went online. It is sucking away what little content I have to offer. But now that memojuez has signed on at randomsalad, everyone that is on my LJ frineds list is at RS also, so what's the difference? I know, I'm sure there is one. I don't want to doudle-post my words here as well as at the place that triggered the outpouring, but it seems a waste for my words to be 'out there' but not 'in here'. I'll find a balance. Maybe. Hey Memojuez! Did hurricane season treat you well this year?

12:27am: Good hood food? One of those is out of ( tune, )

12:02am: In an effort to improve my overall health, I've decided that tea is vegetable juice. Coffee? ( Ditto )

12:03am: ( Anyone here been to www.ratemyprofessor? )

10:49pm: Dexter
I think my posts need a little work on their readability. I don't often read posts that are as long as mine. And while I find my writing style occasionally entertaining, the whole 'Dear Diary,' thing leans in the wrong direction. Too serious.
I'll work on it.
Summary: n00bie!

Having said that...

11:19pm: Awkward moment 101b
Not only is this content that I said may not exist, it is content that may lead to a partial understanding of my life. That could shatter the super cool aura that I have created online. I’m a real daredevil. Caution be damned. I am boring, in a very, very interesting way.
Well, I took my kid to the park today. He’s two(ish). Had awkward parental moment number 101b. The retarded children were there. I’m not sure if that’s their clinical diagnosis, and I’m not being condescending, it’s just that these kids were really ‘retarded’. Anyway, one girl who looked about 9 or 10 and acted, well, how she acted, she was somewhat separated from her caretaker and was trying to climb the ladder to reach the overhead rungs so she could do that had-over-hand monkey thing across the rungs. Well, I’m the only adult real close by so she does just what she has been taught to do and asks for help. But it’s like a real cry for help. “Mister! Help me! Please help me!” Like she is drowning or being attacked by alligators or something. But she is only just starting up the ladder, on rung three maybe. So I’m like “No, I can’t help you, I have to watch my boy here. Who are you here with?” Well, she just repeats “Help me! Please help me!!” I’m just like totally on the spot here, other parents semi-nearby maybe looking my way, maybe not. I’m just looking around for the lady in control. Luckily she was noticing the commotion and stated herding another boy over (almost 6 feet tall if you unhunched him). She came over and grabbed the girl around the waist and held/helped her do her thing. I know I did the right thing. I don’t know if she is ‘allowed’ to do that sort of thing. Nor am I authorized to touch this girl. The only way to help her would be to wrap my arm around her waist and semi-carry her across, which would leave my two year old free to run fast and far away. But yet I still felt guilty for not helping the poor little retarded girl who just wanted to play like the other children. Sigh. Truth is, I would have refused that request from any child. I can only pay attention to one child effectively, and if my child is there, that’s the one it’s going to be. But the whole retarded thing tricks my mind into feeling bad because maybe this time I was refusing because I could not deal with this child’s handicap. Oh well.

11:41pm: Dexter
A guy I went to high school with (class of ’88) died last week. Apparent heart attack. Tried to drive himself to hospital/ didn’t think it was necessary to call 911. (Would you think it was a heart attack at 35 years old?) Supposedly ended up off the road and died (from the heart attack, not from the wreck). Probably fairly accurate version of what happened, but third-hand, grieving, word of mouth may not make for 100% accuracy. The first obituary had key facts wrong, and was re-run the next day corrected, so I may not have the facts surrounding the death correct either. The death part is in fact correct. Out of four brothers, he is the second to die. Car accident for the first (decades ago) and heart attack at age 35 for the other. I’m not sure of the wife’s age, early thirties also I guess. I met her a few times (they lived out of state). Their first child has her first birthday at the end of this month. That funeral was the saddest thing I have had to deal with in a long time, if ever. I think having a two year old is why this affected me so much. The service was sad. Family members spoke, I cried. The bit at the cemetery was what was too much. The friends carried the casket from the hearse to the lowering apparatus over the open grave. More words were said, sad some more. But man, let me tell you, when they started lowering his casket down into the earth, you knew it was final. It was over. Totally helpless to change the course of things. Many of the family lined up to each take a turn shoveling sand into the grave. As the young widow and the deceased man’s father put the first shovels of dirt into the grave, it made a soft hollow thumping sound as it hit the wooden casket. A casket is like a hollow wooden musical instrument. Like a guitar or a violin. That sand falling down in clumps onto the top of the casket has a sound I’ll never forget. I can’t quantify its sadness. If you wanted to know, I could only point you in the direction of heartbreak and tell you to keep going. A new mother/young widow and an older man burying a son for the second time. Fuck.

I wasn’t too terribly close to the deceased. Most/all of his life’s best memories probably do not involve me. We went to school together and did some extra-curricular activities, but I was not part of his core circle of friends. I’m pretty sure he signed my year book. But in the years since high school, I kept tabs on him via a mutual good friend and we saw each other at various times over the years. I was always glad to hear about him. He was the first person I knew to get a PhD. A DMA actually, I think. That was cool. I became closer to his younger brother in the years after high school. My wife just loves the younger brother. So do I really. I’m off on this tangent, because when I was informed of his untimely and unexpected death, I wasn’t sure about etiquette. I knew that if the service was open to the public, my wife and I would be there to show the family that they are loved, valued, and respected members of society. The procession to the burial grounds was less obvious. I felt that the younger brother was genuinely glad (not really the right word, but you get it) to see us at the service, so I felt ok with the decision to be part of the procession. I kinda figured that if the deceased could make up a funeral guest-list, it would include the same people who were invited to the wedding, right? Well, we did not go to their wedding, but since the death was so sudden, many people who might have wanted to go to the funeral (who went to their wedding) may not have been able to make travel arrangements on such short notice, and since we wanted to support the family as well as pay our respects to the deceased, my wife and I figured it would be best to participate. After witnessing the sadness at the burial, I said no to the invitation to the man’s parents house. Many of my old high school buddies were obviously going, as they had known him much earlier in life and were closer. I felt that I did not want to risk diluting the intimacy of the grief that was to continue back at the families house. I think I made the right decision. I hope so. Those are nice people. I can only hope that in being sad with them, for them, I can help them bear some of the load. If I was in their place right now, that last statement would almost surely sound insane. How could anyone know their pain? How could my sadness help them with their immeasurable grief?
It's just too bad.

10:07pm: Dexter
I actually have three 'friends' listed now! How unexpectedly exciting. Nice to see you listed Spot. I never see any of your activity since validatethis's existence became so 'almost non-existent'. I got tired of posting to Joey Michaels with no icon, so I said WTF and signed on. When I signed up, I didn't plan on any content as such, but my mood may change. I have more things to do than I have time.

2:58pm: Icon
I started a(n) LJ so I can post to other LJs while having an icon. I've wondered about if it's rude to post on other's LJ without having my own LJ. Now people can report me and/or flame my LJ if I mistakenly offend. I say mistakenly because I never intend to offend, but as we all know, opinions and attempts at humor can sometimes rub people wrong.
I'll work on a more appropriate icon later. This (possibly temporary) icon is of a nut, which I sometimes act like.
I'm learning already. I just leant that LJ's spell check flags 'LJ' as a typo. Hmmm.

10:12pm: My first content.
(sigh)

10:08pm: Is this thing on?
Well? Is it? I'm waiting for my pizza dough to rise. Rock on dough! Rock on!