Hazy Vignettes are the New Gonzo (heh, You Wish!)

Not much to report from the last four days save the DNC speeches, except that the days are boiling into a haze. This appears to explain it quite accurately:



Got my reading list for my Philosophy class at UCLA!!!
Due by the beginning of the quarter:
1. "Discourse on Method" by Descartes
2. "The Prince" by Machiavelli
3. Excerpts from "Critique on Pure Reason" by Kant
4. "Discourse on the Origin of Inequality" by Rousseau

Doesn't seem too daunting, eh? I'm familiar with all of them, but Kant has always been one that kind of exceeded my ability to understand on the first go-around. Luckily it's straight from the course reader, however.

While I'm on the topic of reading however I would highly recommend these books to anyone:
1. "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder. Gift from a substitute teacher a while back. A background piece on the story of Dr. Paul Farmer, a maverick epidemiologist who is dedicated to "curing the world," and has become a reason addition to my group of heroes.
2. "The Social Transformation of American Medicine"by Paul Starr. Gift from Hayden. It seems really thick, but it's actually an interesting read on how the medical industry has become this supermassiveconglomeriffic machine that seems to just crank out money to budding physicians.
3. "Licit and Illicit Drugs." Author's name escapes me right now. A really good study into the history of drug law in the United States, and much of how it was not driven by a need for public protection but rather to discriminate against incoming immigrant groups.

Three more days left at the DCC. I am scheduled to run the Snack Bar one more time, which will allow me to practice my "Would you like that served in Bullet Time?" move, which if the customer says yes to I serve the food in super slow-motion (trust me, it's awesomer than it sounds). The other two shifts are R-Checking, which means I get to run around in the exit hallways, flicking the lights on and off, and tip-toeing behind kids trying to sneak in and pouncing on them like a sly raptor (or oversized Mantis).
"Who are you!?"
"Shut the hell up and sit your ass down, let's talk about the MPAA Rating System."
Alex suggests that I make this one more interesting with multiple disguises. I give that idea a big fat Belasco Seal of Approval.

DNC SPEECHES:
Obama gave his tonight. I didn't think it was his best, but what was he going to do? He was in a literal Catch-22. Too rhetorical and he'd be attacked for not being substantive. Too substantive and people would say he "lost his flair." I think it was a fine speech fit for someone who is going to be the first viable black candidate in American history.

I asked my dad if he thought he would ever see this day, and he replied no. I didn't realize for a while though that he was crying. I turned around and his cheeks were puffed up, tears rolling down his cheeks. "The world is watching us now," he said. "Paris to Shanghai. Even down in Lesotho [he did Peace Corps down there for seven years]. Even those goddamn Boers have their jaws slack. They can't believe we've come this far. Hell, I can't believe it.

Joe Biden... he looks a lot like Grandpa Jack."

I kind of have to say it, he kinda does.

21 Days to Go Until LA. Three Weeks.