So, how about I throw EVERYONE off, and post a little bit on my blog? Yeah, that's right! I'm posting! It's only been... oh... 4 months or so. Well, everything's slowing down here. I have one more final. And it's a paper for Poli Sci due tomorrow. (Read: I have no more work to do). What a great semester. Great people, good times, good food (well, sort of), (some) good professors, (some) good grades, and a lot of fun.

I have a 6:15 train tomorrow night to Old Saybrook, CT. My Aunt Ellen is picking me up, and I'm spending the night with my parents at her house because Saturday morning we're going to Boston for my cousin Nathan's Bar Mitzvah. Exciting times. Holy Shit. I need to pack. But that's not going to happen. Downstairs Phil told me about some party going on tonight that they're calling XXX-mas... a most promising name.

Everyone's leaving or gone. John and Alex both left this morning, and Alex, it's looking like, will not be coming back. Assuming he gets the transfer to U Miami, he'll be there next semester, and that sucks. Upstairs Phil left, as did my roomate, Chris (except he left this past Sunday). Fortunately, Will, Nate, and downstairs Phil are still around. This whole past week is sort of a blur. I didn't really do very much after Monday, except read this book for PS11. It's called "The Curious Enlightenment of Professor Caritat," and it was an entertaining, although not that well written, book in the spirit of "Gulliver's Travels."

I guess I'll have to see "The Return of the King" this weekend when I get home because I never got a chance to go this week, so if anyone wants to see it with this weekend, give me a ring. I spent my nights watching bad horror movies. Monday, I watched "Dead Alive," Peter Jackson's second movie, which was really, really, really gorey and funny. Tuesday I watched both Evil Dead I and II. II is much better than I. Last night, of course, I watched Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness. Sooooo good.

Anyway, I guess I'll write again? Wow. In an egotistic, bordering  sadistic, way, this felt really, really good.

--Joel

So it's Friday night at the lake. I went to see "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged" for the third time in the past four years. It was hiliarious. It starred Josef Hansen, Jonathan Croy, and Allyn Burrows. Hansen and Croy were both in the production that I saw four years ago, and were just as funny as ever, if not more so. Allyn Burrowsl, one of my favorite actors at Shakespeare and Company, was brilliant, although I have to say that I had trouble taking him humorously because every time I looked at him, I saw Henry V. What was also cool was that I got to sit behind Johnny Lee Davenport, another great actor at S&C, so I was able to figure out all the inside jokes of the actors based on when he laughed. Also, the productions of "Much Ado About Nothing" and "King Lear" that I saw earlier in the week were great. Especially notable were in "King Lear," my all time favorite actor Jonathan Epstein who played the title role, and John Douglass Thompson who played Edmund (he was most energentic, and really got into the role, although he made the audience laugh at one or two inappropriate moments.

I watched "Pulp Fiction" last night with Emi and her sister Mika. I loved it, as usual, and I think they liked it as well. My Uncle David confirmed my understanding that The Gimp in "Pulp Fiction" means nothing, and is simply reference to a comic book or something. Speaking of Uncle David (funniest man alive), he, my Aunt Ann, and my cousin Nathan left today, so it's just my mom, dad, and me. I think my Aunt Ellen is coming up tommorow, Saturday, but I'm not sure. I should be back Sunday, so you can give me a call late Sunday afternoon or evening.

I had a great waterskiing run today. My cuts are getting much superior, and my offside is improving slowly. I'm getting some great speed going accross the wake.  My turns are looking sharp, and low, and I'm putting up some huge spray. So much fun. Well, I'll write more soon.

-Joel

So, I am at the lake. And I am writing this. Thus, I got my new laptop. And it rocks my world. This thing is the shizzle. I can write, go on the internet, play games, and all in glorious widescreen. Of course, it isn't a Mac so it doesn't have letterbox widescreen, but I think that would be overkilll for my purposes anyway. This thing is huge, and a lot of fun.

So not much special has happened up here; it has just been the usual lake splendor and glory. Waterskiing, shoping, relaxing, reading, going to the movies. Actually, on that note... last night we went to see "Spy Kids 3-D." It was pretty good, actually. Lots of little jokes,  a little cheesy, but good. However, far and away the best part of the film was the preview for "Shaolin Soccer." Ryan told me about this movie a few days prior to seeing the preview. Aparently, it is the biggest money grossing movie in Chinese history. It is about this group of Shaolin monks who, after several years away from their temple, get back together to play soccer. And they pull some crazy Matrix like shit while doing it. It is amazing. Plus, how cool is the concept? AND the dubbing sucks! It will be the most amazing movie ever.

-Joel

I got some good news from Ryan today that suggests that Meghan does understand that I am romantically interested. I sound like a third grader. Anyway, I don't want to post too much about my involvement (or lack thereof) with Meghan and as it stands now, there's nothing to say anyway since I haven't really even established that she understands my intentions.

So I'm going to the lake for three days with Ryan and Christian. Ryan, Christian, and I are driving up tommorow which should be quite the road trip. My Aunt Ann, Uncle David, Nathan, and maybe Leah are going to be there, so it's going to be a crowded house, but a lot of fun. Ryan, Christian, and I are driving back to Jersey Friday evening so that Christian and I can go paintballing on Saturday with Coach, Tuttle, Cooper, Officer Mike Morrison (say what....?), and a bunch of other people that I don't know. Then, on Sunday morning, I return with my mom to the lake to stay for a week.

When I return the next Sunday, I'm home on Monday, then I go to West Virginia on Tuesday. Holy crap. This is a lot of stuff to do. I'm hoping in between these various events (i.e. Saturday night after paintball, and the Monday before West Virginia) that I can arrange to see Meghan. But as I said before, I don't want to talk about my private life too much.

Anyway, don't expect an update for a little while. Unless I get my new laptop while I'm at the lake. Then I could update from there. That would be fun.

Till I see you...
-Joel

Well, I got a mysterious IM from Tuttle yesterday evening that said that "people in higher places" suggest I ought to call Meghan. It turned out people in higher places meant Julie Z.C. So I said, what the hell. Why not? Oh, I remember why... cause it would be embarrassing and the feeling of rejection sucks ass. That's why not. But being the idiot that I am, I took Meghan's number from Tuttle, and decided to call her.

So after a hard days work (I got one f--king bag. I was supposed to have a putter as well, but the guy never showed. So I got a measly $50 for 5 hours of work. It was totally not worth it.), I got home and decided that this was it. I would call Meghan. I sat down, picked up the phone and dialed her number.

And I got an answering machine. But, hey, in a way, that makes things easier, right? I just leave a message, telling her what I've got to say, ask her to call me, and wait in nervousness for several agonizing hours. What message did I leave, you ask? Well, I took Tuttle's advice. He said that I should say something to the effect of "Hi (or hello). It's Joel Weinberger. I was wondering if, you know, you might want to hang out sometime or something." Except that Tuttle really recommended I say chill. But I didn't want to. Of course, it was this sort of ambiguous statement that got be into the whole Benet ordeal earlier this year (For more on "The Benet Situation" see: issues March through June), and you'd think one would learn from their mistakes. However, like an Alzheimer's patient, I ask her if she wants to hang out or do something sometime. I leave my number, and hang up.

Several hours later, with Doug at my house, I get a return phone call. She says she would like to hang out sometime, except she can't tonight or tommorow because of prior engagments, and she's going to be away from Monday to Saturday. F--k. I'm going to be away from next Saturday until the week after that. So that just screws me over big time. Once again, being the late motherf--ker that I am, I essentially miss out on my oppertunity. This will leave me very little time to see her when I get back. We hang up.

And I realize, I don't know if she knows I was asking her out on a date. Her response was just as ambiguous as my initial  message. I'm afraid this is Benet part duex, where I think I'm asking someone out (namely Benet or Meghan) and they aren't sure what I'm really asking (and are already involved with someone / not interested). So now I'm back to square one, as sad and anxious as I ever was. However, I had some temporary relief inbetween that involved some form of euphoria when I actually believed that she was interested. So it was not all in vain. Perhaps when I return from vacation I will find out for sure what's happening, or maybe I won't. Who knows.

I just spent a whole entry talking about this. Perhaps next time I'll actually talk about something interesting. Hey, wait a tick... I think Tuttle started this whole scheme just so I would have something to write about in my blog. Very sneaky Tuttle, very sneaky.

-Joel W.