In this paper I hope to point out several advantages to my taking driving lessons, and possibly persuade you (my parents) to, if not allow me, at least take note of the points made herein and my dedication and initiative with regard to the attainment of this goal.


One: Easing of responsibilities on your part.
1) By being able to drive, I would be able to transport myself to various locations and events, allowing you to stay at home and not have to ferry me around.
2) I would also be able to run various errands, such as to the grocery store and ferrying Pippa (my sister) to and from choir, allowing you to continue whatever you may be doing (work, nap, etc.)
3) On long driving excursions, (vacations, road trips, etc.) I would be able to take shifts at the wheel, thus providing a break for the two of you, and easing the workload.

Two: Parental involvement in the learning process.
1) By my learning how to drive now, you would have much more say and control in the learning process, and be able to temper my lessons with your own advice and experience.
2)You would be able to monitor my progress more directly if I learned sooner, and adjust my driving privileges respectively.

Three: Safety.
1) By being able to drive, I would be able to provide somewhat safer rides than some of the people with whom I currently carpool.
2) In case of emergency when both parents are out of the house, I would be able to rapidly transport myself or Pippa to the hospital.


I hope that your reading this has, if not convinced you to allow me to take Driver's Ed, at least made you stop to consider my arguments, and demonstrated some of the means I will go to to try and achieve this end.

-P.S. I wanted to put up a poll to see how effective this is in general, but I don't have the know-how to set it up. But if you want to give me feedback, dop me a line at spaceguy@mac.com

Tunes: "Don't Toss Us Away", Lone Justice; "Volvo-Driving Soccer Mom", Everclear; "Life in a Northern Town", Dream Academy; "Message in a Bottle", The Police.

Dang Sunday night was a trip. I didn't know squat about either team (I decided to root for Tampa Bay cause I used to live there), I was the only one in my family who a) could make it to Tripp's party, and b) knew and/or cared about the game. All went well, and I won the pool, which raised a few problems on its own, seeing as I'm not really supposed to gamble, and Tripp unwittingly informed my dad of the "good" news rather directly. All turned out OK, though, and the amount of support I got from seminarians was quite touching. By 6:00 the following night I'd received two emails from people who hadn't even been there making sure I wasn't grounded or the like.

Tunes: "The Joy of Your World", MC Paul Barman; "Truly Madly Deeply", Savage Garden; "Baby I Love Your Way", UB40.

Tonight I went to a fellow parishoner's place to see a slideshow he had compiled from a cruise of certain islands in the southern Indian ocean, down south near Antarctica. There were beautiful landscapes, lots and lots and lots of cute penguins, several not-as-cute elephant seals, and bizarre vegetation. all in all it was a nice evening, I suppose, but I was a bit preoccupied as my beloved iPod has taken ill and needs a replacement battery, and I am running short on time before the warranty runs out. :-( But life is generally good so I'm just gonna bum around and have a good time like normal.

Tunes: "Swing, Swing", All-American Rejects.

I had a match But she had a lighter
I had a flame But she had a fire
I was bright But she was much brighter
I was high But she was the sky
Oh baby I was bound for Mexico
Oh baby I was bound to let you go
I don't know much about Cinco de Mayo
I'm never sure what it's all about
But I say I want you And you don't believe me
You say you want me But I've got my doubts
Oh baby I was bound for Mexico
Oh baby I was bound to let you go
I had a match But she had a lighter
I had a flame But she had a fire
I was bright But she was much brighter
I was high But she was the sky
Oh baby I was bound for Mexico
Oh baby I was bound to let you go

"Bound for Mexico", Cake

I watched Hackers last night! Boy, what a crappy movie! The plot, premise, characters, script, effects... It all stank!!! The only thrills I got were from a) counting the actors I recognized (3), and b) laughing at the ridiculous interfaces and technical specs they gave their equipment. In 1995, a Pentium 6 processor in an Apple Powerbook??? Give me a break! And the visual effects portraying "hacking" were extremely lame. This is a movie I laugh at, not with.

Tunes: "We're Gonna Be Friends", White Stripes; "You're So Damn Hot", OK Go.

Halley's recent posts on Alpha Maledom have stirred mixed feelings in me. First, the exposure of trade secrets is somewhat unsettling; second, I have a deep-seated urge to find, hunt down and kill the informers; and third, I NEED to direct about half of my friends to read this stuff so they can stop pestering ME. Now if Halley can get up some posts about Alpha Females to take care of the other half...

Tunes: "Skokiaan", Louis Armstrong.

Having recently read certain of the works of Corey Doctorow (at the behest/insistence/demand of Dad), and I was extremely impressed. The science fiction and conspiracy theory-ism of Down and Out and 0wnz0red really struck a nerve, and I distanced myself for a short while afterwards, trying to come to grips with the plot twists and realities of the technology described to me. The first rational response I came up with was "Wow". The second, "I gotta get me some of that". In a Whuffie-based system I'd be much better off, not to mention the self-reparatory systems of 0wnz0red which I really want at th emoment as I have a sinus infection or something close. And should you read this, Corey, I'd be more than glad to try and draft you a screenplay for 0wnz0red. ^_^

Tunes: "Steve McQueen", Sheryl Crow; "Cruel to be Kind", Nick Lowe; "Mad Season", Matchbox 20.

OK I'm really sorry for dropping off the face of the planet like that. I'm sure I let down my faithful 15 or so daily readers, and I'm gonna put forth some effort into making sure it doesn't happen again. As a sort of recompense, and also because I'm sleep-deprived and a little buzzed for some reason, I feel like being reckless and so I'm going to break news here that is exclusive. I haven't even talked to my parents about it yet, mainly because they're asleep, like I should be at this ungodly hour, but there's no way I'm getting back to sleep now. Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. The important theme of to(night? day?)'s blog can be summed up in four words: I met this girl. Reality check time. I didn't physically meet her, a somewhat pushy mutual friend tried to set us up over Instant Messenger, and had I been coherent when she started I probably would have told her to not even bother. You're a dear, Aurora, but your judgement is sometimes foggy in these matters. However, after a little sugar and some death threats on Aurora's part, this girl Rachel and I started talking and the rest, as they say, is history. (I actually don't like that expression for some reason but I just can't help myself.) Now, all that really happened was we got to know each other and we had a nice long talk into the wee hours of the night, and I'm probably going to have to have a long talk with my parents, but I'm confident that I'm on top of the situation. If it develops, that's fabulous; if not, I'll have another friend and I'm no worse off than before.

There will most likely be more on this subject later on. I'd like to apologize again for my absence, and promise that I'm going to try very hard to get in at LEAST two or three postings a week.

It's good to be home. ^_^

Tunes: "Then I Met You", The Proclaimers; "Lifetime", Maxwell; "One Wild Night", Bon Jovi.