In "Pursue the Passion"

A longtime lurker is coming out of the closet on this one. This topic has been largely consuming my (rather young) life in recent months. After Hurricane Katrina & Co. blitzed the hell out of the Gulf Coast, I enlisted in Americorps and worked on recovery for a year. Before I went South (native Seattlite), I had been vague about future careers, and unmotivated to settle into a firm plan. Teacher, psychologist, lawyer, maybe? Nothing quite fit, and nothing seemed worth the fantastic amount of effort and schooling that those jobs required. Before two months of Katrina relief was out, I knew absolutely what I wanted. I loved the work that I was doing. I wanted to do disaster relief and recovery for the rest of my life. A Masters in Emergency Management is required, but seemed easily obtainable. At the end of my term of service, I came home to go to school and start working towards my goal. Which brings me to this point, six months later. I couldn't get accepted to a four year school because of my abysmal high school GPA. I enrolled in a community college, part time, evenings to be able to make my rent. I washed dishes until Tuesday, when I got into fight with my chef and ended up fired. My only prospect now is another dishing job. I know, cognitively, that I am getting closer to my goals. Every day, though, I feel that they're further off. My general dissatisfaction has made me start missing life when I didn't give a shit about what I was doing or what I wanted when I 'grew up'. I still think that pursuing my dream is worthwhile, but I envy those whose dreams can be realized by 'dropping out' and giving things up. While it's necessary for me to make sacrifices, I have massive amounts to accomplish to even begin to work in the field I want, in the manner I want.

In "FEMA, so, so, infuriatingly sad. (WM video)"

I'm joining an Americorps disaster relief team in January. I have no doubt that, after a few weeks quick training, I'll be learning on my feet in Katrina's wake. What's making me sick and despondant is that I can't be there now doing the same job. Without the training and support team, I'd be more of a burden than a help to everyone there, and until January, I can't do much more than sit here safe and sound and fundraise. It's killing me to not be able to do my part.

In "Curious George: Science Gone Amok?"

I must say that I am grateful to science for not only building our future, but for preserving our past. Were it not for the efforts of chemists, architects, engineers, and a host of other applied scientists, the vast majority of the world's antiquities now on display would be lost to decay. The British Museum Reading Room, for example, contains one of the world's largest libraries: over six million volumes, most of them irreplaceable, and all of them extremely prone to vermin, decay, mould, and, most worrisome of all, fire. The legacy of Western society is protected by science in this setting, and I find that extremely comforting.

In "How to Save Kids from Math Anxiety"

I've always had a love for conceptual math, because it's just so damn cool. A system which provides an elegant and functional backbone to just about everything is impossible to dismiss as boring. Despite my interest and best efforts, I've never been able to sit down and do math. All of my math classes, high school and college, I've bombed on practical application. Economics have always been A's, and Physics have always been B-'s. While I admire the ideals of the program, and it's optimism, similar efforts never worked for me.

In "Curious George: It's raining, it's pouring, "

The Lord above, Send down a dove, With beak as sharp as razors To cut the throats! of them there, blokes what sells bad beer to sailors

In "Curious George: What's in a username?"

Victory Gin is the state manufactered and distributed booze in Orwell's 1984. I suppose both George and myself are comforted by the fact that, no matter how much the single party system crushes your humanity and soul, you still have gin to wash it all away.

In "Curious George - Whom/What do you trust?"

My pen A good gin martini Matzah The fact that my family will never truly forgive me for not trusting in God.

In "Worde Up. "

I find it both appalling that Cambridge supports this "His visits to classes of 15 and 16-year-olds are part of a Cambridge University project to encourage children to love literature." and that the man has completed a masters thesis on Chaucer himself and doesn't consider this a sin.

In "Curious George: I'm hungry, dammit."

Pre-vegetarian: pickled onions, lox, and shmaltz on pumpernickel. With borscht. Lots of borscht. vegetarian: brie, basil, tomatoes, and a flavorful olive oil on a crusty baguette, toasted open faced until the brie bubbles.

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