Sunday, November 29, 2009
Stress
Why are there so many people succumbing to stress and leaving school? I can't handle it - the stress or the departures. I had two breakdowns this weekend. Maybe it has something to do with the weather. I feel like it needs to just snow. That way we can all be washed clean of the stress. That will also help remind us that school is almost over. Just two more weeks and we're home free. This was not the best semester. Hopefully next semester will be better. I'll be in the city a lot and the change of environment will be a breath of fresh air (figuratively, certainly not literally). Getting off campus will be really nice. It's only too bad I couldn't study abroad. That would've been delightful.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
A New Bestiary Entry for the Guide to the Gus and Margie Hart Dining Hall
Lingerer [neverus canleavicus]: This observer has noticed that a peculiar sub-group has emerged from every main species - the Lingerer. These creatures have developed from a desire to be both part of the herd and separate from it. Every group from the Sorority Girls to the Theater Geeks to the Weirdos and Loners has a smattering of these individuals. They seem to be trapped in some kind of limbo - being members of both their main group and this sordid sub-group - trying to break free of one and be a full member of the other. But which group they want to abandon is a mystery.
Friday, November 27, 2009
My Issues with 2012
First of all, how is John Cusack the luckiest man alive? Somehow he magically escapes every single time an earthquake creates a giant chasm in the ground? Is that even possible? How does he crawl out of the earth after the giant fireball explodes in Yellowstone? That doesn't even make sense. And why didn't he just take all the damn maps and search through them in the airplane instead of trying to figure out which one Woody Harrelson told him about which was really just a picture of China? How brutal was it to watch John and Amanda take a minute to make love right before John had to go into the gears of the giant ark? Really brutal. Especially since Tamara magically died even though her compartment should have filled up after the one holding Auntie An Mei from The Joy Luck Club and Amanda Peet. How did John Cusack get enough strength to pull a drill out of the gears of the ark? Shouldn't the gears have crushed the drill? That didn't make sense.
Interestingly, the cracks only miraculously missed our heroes and no animals or children were shown dying in the movie. But then, there would have been an uproar about animal or child cruelty as everyone is always concerned for their well-being. But we love watching hot chicks die in movies.
On a more environmental writing note, it was nice to see that the movie ended with what would realistically happen - the oceans would recede and land would surface again. It wouldn't have made sense for the oceans to stay overflowing since there is only so much water. It's not overflowing, it's just displaced.
All in all the special effects were decent, the action sequences were ridiculous, the luck of the pointless protagonist was ridiculous and the acting and writing were terrible.
The only realistic parts about the movie were the amount of destruction, Oliver Platt's corruption (but in truth, realistic agenda), and the fact that the government would take priceless artifacts and rich people over old so-and-so living by himself down the street with his 6 cats.
P.S. Who was surprised the little dog survived? I hope no one, because of course it was going to.
Interestingly, the cracks only miraculously missed our heroes and no animals or children were shown dying in the movie. But then, there would have been an uproar about animal or child cruelty as everyone is always concerned for their well-being. But we love watching hot chicks die in movies.
On a more environmental writing note, it was nice to see that the movie ended with what would realistically happen - the oceans would recede and land would surface again. It wouldn't have made sense for the oceans to stay overflowing since there is only so much water. It's not overflowing, it's just displaced.
All in all the special effects were decent, the action sequences were ridiculous, the luck of the pointless protagonist was ridiculous and the acting and writing were terrible.
The only realistic parts about the movie were the amount of destruction, Oliver Platt's corruption (but in truth, realistic agenda), and the fact that the government would take priceless artifacts and rich people over old so-and-so living by himself down the street with his 6 cats.
P.S. Who was surprised the little dog survived? I hope no one, because of course it was going to.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
It's Been a Few Days
"About a Tree"
-in the style of William Carlos Williams
There stood the oak
tall and brown.
Its thousands of green leaves
cascaded around it.
Many acorns
fell to the ground.
-in the style of William Carlos Williams
There stood the oak
tall and brown.
Its thousands of green leaves
cascaded around it.
Many acorns
fell to the ground.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Bland
Awake at 6 -
grey
Awake at 11 -
grey
That weird part of
Fall
when from
Autumn
the season wants to change to
Winter.
Walk out the
Door
my eye glossy like a dirty
Window
stop and lean against the
Wall
outside my building.
Nothing changes;
nothing stays.
Exhausted of seeing naked trees,
no green leaves,
no white clothes.
In bed at 11 -
black
Asleep at 2 -
black
grey
Awake at 11 -
grey
That weird part of
Fall
when from
Autumn
the season wants to change to
Winter.
Walk out the
Door
my eye glossy like a dirty
Window
stop and lean against the
Wall
outside my building.
Nothing changes;
nothing stays.
Exhausted of seeing naked trees,
no green leaves,
no white clothes.
In bed at 11 -
black
Asleep at 2 -
black
Friday, November 13, 2009
Warm Winter?
I am in the process of making my bulletin board for my building. It's about snowmen. Little happy snowmen with their carrot noses, coal buttons and top hats. Delightful. But one of my friends, who shall remain nameless - fine, I won't use last names, Talia S. - said we're not going to have snow. We're going to have a "warm winter." I won't have it, I simply won't have it. I need the snow, the beautiful white to cover the grass, to blanket the lawn. It's my favorite of all the seasons, sitting next to an orange fire with a mug of hot chocolate with a few iceberg marshmallows skimming the surface. I haven't sat next to a fireplace, mesmorized by the flames in quite some time. I resolve to do so this season. I do so hope to have snow. I want to go sledding and sit by my window to watch the flakes float to the ground on Christmas Eve. Who wouldn't want that? Last year I spent Christmas with my family and then drove to Florida to visit my aunt. I was blessed with more family than ever and both poles of seasons - winter and summer all in a week. Delightful. I won't be going there this year, but I can still reminisce, can't I? I wonder what this Christmas will be like, but I think I will drink it in more than ever before. I don't know when I'll have my family together like this again. Who ever really knows.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
New Car
My parents called me to tell me that they bought a new car. It is a Cadillac XLR - a two-seat roadster convertible. My dad works for a Caddy dealership and had this silver beauty come in as a trade-in. It was really nice to hear that they did something for themselves, since as my sister says - and she's right - my parents do for everyone else and never for themselves until now. And it couldn't come at a better time. Almost a year ago, my mother, brother and I were in a horrible car accident in my mom's van so now it's a wreck but she still drives it. So now that she has this beautiful new "bertible," she can drive something killer during the nice weather, which we have. So suck it accident!!!
Cut to three days from now when the snow comes and the roadster goes into the garage for four months.
Cut to three days from now when the snow comes and the roadster goes into the garage for four months.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The May-Flower Project
It’s 2 a.m. when I peer through the dark curtains which shade my room from the blinding sunshine outside. Without hesitation I drop the cloth as the heat and light shocks my eyes. I open my closet to decide on the clothes no one will see me wear. It has been three years, eight week, nine days, twelve hours and fifty-two minutes since Mercury fell out of rotation with the sun and collided with Venus, sending both bodies hurtling into our celestial life and light-giver.
Because of this catastrophe, our home planet has slowly begun to, well not too slowly, travel towards the sun. We’ve now cut the distance between Earth and Sun by about one percent; this means that experts expect us to collide with the large star in roughly three hundred years. Of course by then, it won’t matter to us because all life on Earth will be extinct. In fact, government officials have estimated that by then end of 2027, just six years from now, the surface of the planet will no longer be suitable for any life as temperatures will have risen 5,000 degrees. Not only will all of the ice on the planet have melted, it will effectively have evaporated for eternity. The surface of the earth, they say will be intolerable to walk upon in less than 6 months. Already the temperature outside is up 40 degrees from the average before the collision of Venus and Mercury.
As I look at my computer I see that the temperature outside is 160 degrees and the government has put a ban on excursions outside. On average we only have about 15 minutes of cool weather when the location one lives turns away from the Sun. It may seem implausible, but during those 15 minutes every evening, the temperature drops to negative 23 degrees. It is either feast or famine for us now, but boy do we remember the past. Every day when I wake up and attempt to look outside, I remember being too busy to stop and enjoy the reasonable warmth of the sunshine, the available cool water or a gentle softness of a spring breeze. We have no breezes now, only burning winds which whip through the streets and tear down trees and lampposts. Even if the temperature was not barbeque hot, the winds would discourage, ne deny anyone from stepping outside.
I haven’t been out of my front door in three years. Food is delivered to us each Tuesday and we must keep windows and doors barred at all times to keep out the heat and the wind. I sit at my breakfast table eating my fiber cereal – there’s no reason that just because the world coming to an end, I should stop being regular – and read the news online. Another couple hundred thousand people have died of hunger or heatstroke. People have been dropping more and more each day as the temperature rises and supplies run short.
My eye catches a story about another shuttle launching Wednesday from Minnesota carrying more fortunate refugees from Earth to vast stations on the other side of the galaxy. I sigh and know that it is only a matter of time before those people will need to find themselves someplace else to live. Subsequent to the events of “The Collision” as people have come to call it, the government has tried to colonize other planets such as Mars, Neptune, and even Pluto to no avail. I was surprised to hear about that last one as Pluto was deemed too distant from our home, but I guess it turns out that the leaders of the most affluent countries – the United States, China, Great Britain and other European nations, and Australia – have known about the possibility of the end of Earth for a rather long time and have advanced in space exploration and travel but have failed to inform the rest of the population prior to the incident. It costs several million dollars to charter a seat on one of the spacecrafts and that’s far more than any of the general population has to spare, especially since the banks and stock market have been rendered irrelevant. Like me, most of the public are doomed to live out our sad lives here on our soon-to-be grave.
But I have resigned myself to the fact that I can’t do anything about anything so I live in peace here in my apartment, alone. Most of my family has passed on. I have some relatives in Oregon but it is too extreme outside to venture anywhere. I’ve been alone for the past two and half years, not even a pet or neighbor to speak to. Two and half years of solitaire, TV dinners, Lifetime reruns, and a rather large stockpile of liquor. I finish my bowl of cereal and check my email, ready to see nothing but advertisements for a chance at a long and happy life in space – our new “Heavenly Home” – and sigh as I read just what I expect. About to close my email account, I notice a little exclamation point – an urgent message symbol – next to an email from the May-Flower Project, one of the better, more successful re-colonization projects. I lose my breath as I click on the email and a message pops open – “You’ve Been Selected!”
Because of this catastrophe, our home planet has slowly begun to, well not too slowly, travel towards the sun. We’ve now cut the distance between Earth and Sun by about one percent; this means that experts expect us to collide with the large star in roughly three hundred years. Of course by then, it won’t matter to us because all life on Earth will be extinct. In fact, government officials have estimated that by then end of 2027, just six years from now, the surface of the planet will no longer be suitable for any life as temperatures will have risen 5,000 degrees. Not only will all of the ice on the planet have melted, it will effectively have evaporated for eternity. The surface of the earth, they say will be intolerable to walk upon in less than 6 months. Already the temperature outside is up 40 degrees from the average before the collision of Venus and Mercury.
As I look at my computer I see that the temperature outside is 160 degrees and the government has put a ban on excursions outside. On average we only have about 15 minutes of cool weather when the location one lives turns away from the Sun. It may seem implausible, but during those 15 minutes every evening, the temperature drops to negative 23 degrees. It is either feast or famine for us now, but boy do we remember the past. Every day when I wake up and attempt to look outside, I remember being too busy to stop and enjoy the reasonable warmth of the sunshine, the available cool water or a gentle softness of a spring breeze. We have no breezes now, only burning winds which whip through the streets and tear down trees and lampposts. Even if the temperature was not barbeque hot, the winds would discourage, ne deny anyone from stepping outside.
I haven’t been out of my front door in three years. Food is delivered to us each Tuesday and we must keep windows and doors barred at all times to keep out the heat and the wind. I sit at my breakfast table eating my fiber cereal – there’s no reason that just because the world coming to an end, I should stop being regular – and read the news online. Another couple hundred thousand people have died of hunger or heatstroke. People have been dropping more and more each day as the temperature rises and supplies run short.
My eye catches a story about another shuttle launching Wednesday from Minnesota carrying more fortunate refugees from Earth to vast stations on the other side of the galaxy. I sigh and know that it is only a matter of time before those people will need to find themselves someplace else to live. Subsequent to the events of “The Collision” as people have come to call it, the government has tried to colonize other planets such as Mars, Neptune, and even Pluto to no avail. I was surprised to hear about that last one as Pluto was deemed too distant from our home, but I guess it turns out that the leaders of the most affluent countries – the United States, China, Great Britain and other European nations, and Australia – have known about the possibility of the end of Earth for a rather long time and have advanced in space exploration and travel but have failed to inform the rest of the population prior to the incident. It costs several million dollars to charter a seat on one of the spacecrafts and that’s far more than any of the general population has to spare, especially since the banks and stock market have been rendered irrelevant. Like me, most of the public are doomed to live out our sad lives here on our soon-to-be grave.
But I have resigned myself to the fact that I can’t do anything about anything so I live in peace here in my apartment, alone. Most of my family has passed on. I have some relatives in Oregon but it is too extreme outside to venture anywhere. I’ve been alone for the past two and half years, not even a pet or neighbor to speak to. Two and half years of solitaire, TV dinners, Lifetime reruns, and a rather large stockpile of liquor. I finish my bowl of cereal and check my email, ready to see nothing but advertisements for a chance at a long and happy life in space – our new “Heavenly Home” – and sigh as I read just what I expect. About to close my email account, I notice a little exclamation point – an urgent message symbol – next to an email from the May-Flower Project, one of the better, more successful re-colonization projects. I lose my breath as I click on the email and a message pops open – “You’ve Been Selected!”
Monday, November 9, 2009
I Got Very Sick Today
I think I might have the flu. I am up now because I slept since 6pm when I came home to see my Registered Nurse mother. I am going to be so pissed if I have the flu. I bet I contracted it from this beautiful weather. So irritating. I was supposed to go to a rockin' jazz festival in the city at the Chopin but I almost passed out at work so I eighty-sixed that idea. I'm starting to feel better so hopefully I will be well tomorrow. While I was up I decided to purchase my domain name and create a website. It is definitely still under construction but if you have a chance, please visit. I'm going to try to continue my blog from that site once this class is finished. I like the idea of a blog, let's just see if I can keep it up now that I'm back on track. The last few posts have been short, but just wait until my next one. I'm posting my apocalypse narrative - and it's sequel, the post-apocalypse narrative!!! Check back soon!
Come visit:
mariomazzetti.com
Come visit:
mariomazzetti.com
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Car Wash
Got my car washed today. First time in three months. It was disgusting - the car, not the carwash. Hopefully it won't rain within the next week or so. I'll be pissed since I only have a two-day guarantee on the wash. I'm torn between whether or not I want the weather to stay this way or change to winter. I think that I could go for another couple weeks of nice warm weather but I definitely want a white Christmas. I love winter. It's my favorite season. I already like to stay indoors but winter gives me the perfect excuse. And it looks so beautiful, doesn't it?
Saturday, November 7, 2009
What Crazy Weather We've Had
Today was the first day in a long time I've actually taken time to take note of the weather and boy was it a perfect day to do so. Twice today I was blessed to feel the warmth of the 70 degree Indian summer. I knew we'd have one this year since the real summer was so shifty. I don't remember such a fickle season and know we are feeling the effects of it. Both times I enjoyed the weather today were brief but delightful, just passing through outside, determined to complete my business. But, oh, joy when I felt the heat and disrobed - just my coat - to take in the sunshine. I don't know how long it will last, but while it's here, I am going to try to make the most of it. Maybe this week, if it's not too cold, I finally make that journey to the beach I keep putting off.
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