VERKA SERDUCHKA!

i mean, COME ON, it has a reference to golden showers.

this year my FAVE FAVE FAVE was the ukraine's entry verka serduchka who is also a character that a guy plays on character. the character basically represents an older ukrainian woman from the country who has gone urban and made it big. way over the top. but? the song "dancing lasha tumbai" rules my world right now. SO MANIC! i want to bounce off the walls.

things i hate: scary take-home statistics finals that i have no idea where to start or how to complete.

but? it's the last thing i have to do and then SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER. :::cue the rock and the roll BIATCH:::

okay, chirac slipped through last time because none of you turned out to vote, but SARKO over SEGO?

i have been so enamoured with the thought of segolene royal being presidente de la republic, and you let me down! I hope she continues to play a large national role. i just find it so ironic that the country who despises bush so much elects someone strikingly similar.

i love you segolene!

so! check out erin's blog. especially tidbits like this that make me glad that i get to read her commentary:

"If I have to hear one more person describe this VA Tech shooter as "a shy kid who snapped" I'm going to scream. This psycho had a well-established pattern of violent, sexist behavior but all of the variety that is tolerated in our society.

I sincerely hope every cop, employer, lazy-complacent fuck who has told a woman "well, we really can't do anything about this person who's threatening/harassing you until he, yanno, comes back and shoots 32 people... SORRY!" is having a very difficult time sleeping this week."

I have listened to your show for years. I have played bits and pieces of your stories of Lake Wobegon for people of my generation who had never heard it before, and they too began to love it. You reminded me of all the best things about my grandparents, and on top of that, based upon some well-placed opinion articles you wrote, you appeared to be quite progressive-minded. I looked up to you.

I don't take kindly to insult, however.

I really can't imagine what you were thinking publishing this paragraph in your recent salon article:
"The country has come to accept stereotypical gay men -- sardonic fellows with fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofa and a small weird dog and who worship campy performers and go in for flamboyance now and then themselves. If they want to be accepted as couples and daddies, however, the flamboyance may have to be brought under control. Parents are supposed to stand in back and not wear chartreuse pants and black polka-dot shirts. That's for the kids. It's their show."

I mean, you're so obviously NOT stupid. i relish your "writer's almanac" piece on NPR, and the careful way you select all of your words. why, then, did you choose to be so utterly offensive to a segment of the population that no doubt included many other fans who, like me, are gay men.
Do you want to know a secret? Just because you include the word "stereotypical" before stating some outdated notion to which you so obviously still cling doesn't mean you're not a pathetic, homophobic asshole. Further, if you opened your eyes and actually experienced the world and its inhabitants as you claim to do in your prose, you might actually see that gays and lesbians encompass the entire spectrum of human experience. Sure, some are flamboyant, but so are some of the heterosexual people you meet each day. Many go about their daily lives in the same manner as your parents did. Shame on you for continuing to perpetuate a stereotype that continues to makes people like me a target for hate and ridicule.

I am hurt by this article, if only because I thought you were one of the good guys who would continue to use your smarts and folksy sense of humor to push this country away from all of the hate and negativity that I and so many others have to endure each day. I will, from this point on, turn off the radio when you come on rather than turn the volume up, and encourage all others to do the same, until you issue some semblance of an apology and explanation. I won't hold my breath.

Sincerely,
Zach

i am in the middle of a "72-hour policy analysis," wherein we get 72 hours over a weekend (Friday 9AM-Monday 9AM) to be assigned a randomly selected question to analyze in a small amount of space. very frustrating. i have amassed a great deal of information to comb through, but have not done a lot of said combing yet as of saturday night. bad me.

in other news, work has improved. that's all to be said about that. we'll see where it takes me.

also, to the myriad of people who i haven't seen or spoken with in a long time: married life is basically the same as before--which is to say, good. additionally, i am sorry if i haven't been very good at keeping in touch--my head is fast approaching the "full" mark.

so, how are you?

in other news, my friend rio has installed herself here in northampton and has already gotten a job at my work (though in an outside program, thus avoiding the current nastiness). it's nice nice nice to have her here, though i wish i was in a better frame of mind.

ANNNNNNNND! did someone say eurotrash and scantily clad women doing gymnastic routines? hotcha!

things to come this new year:

1. my newly returned from the peace corps pal will be moving to northampton on january 27th! yes, i convinced her how awesome the area is, and she's making the move--soon to be followed by her new hubby.

2. work has been less than inspiring recently, and i am trying to rectify the situation.

3. money remains a worry.

4. exercise and the disappearance of my gut is priority this year (now that i've finally got the smoking kicked)!

additionally, a big fuck you to all those senators and representatives that fucked over all of their gay and lesbian constituents throughout massachusetts on january second by voting to send the anti-gay marriage amendment forward to the next session. on that same note: a big sigh of relief for our new hot and very capable governor.

also, a shout-out to my economics professor who put lots of different things on our final quiz that we NEVER covered in class. that rocks. grad school can be lame.

(thanks to erin for the link)

last week of classes has arrived! yippee! i still have about 15 pages to write, and one economics test to take, but nevertheless i feel relieved. i fear future semesters won't be as forgiving-but at least one fourth of my masters is no complete!

finally: we're all getting old.