Oh what a night it has been!

First of all, today was the beginning of my last semester at UT. I had three classes, all of which seem like fun, so this should be a good semester. After class, I picked up two kegs for Veronica and Steph’s Birthday Bash with Aaron and Drew. We delivered the kegs, ate some Mexican food, and proceeded to spend the next hour and a half playing Lemmings for SNES. Turns out, that game is as amazing as ever.

Once 11:00 rolled around, we decided to head over to Steph’s sorority for the celebration. We were surprisingly late, and the party already had at least seventy people. Within thirty minutes the evening’s entertainment (i.e. the Skandanavian stripper, Bjorn, whom we hired to grind all over Veronica) had arrived. Of course, the second I try to capture this moment of disgusted excitement my camera dies. Granted, I hadn’t charged it in nearly a month, but it was probably the worst time/day for such an event to occur. Why, exactly? Read on, loyal Wardies (if President Bush can do it, why can’t I?).

The party continued to grow in both density and ethnicities as evening became morning. The house was unbearably hot,so Greg and I decided to settle outside in the parking lot, where we remained for at least an hour. Conversations were had, drinks were ingested or spilled, cigarettes were smoked. It was a lovely time. And the TABC ruined everything.

12:45 AM: Four police officers arrive. One is wearing a white shirt. This man is a douchebag. He works for TABC, and has chosen to pick on our little party out of all the late night events in West Campus. After chatting with a few people at the party, he proceeds to knock on the front door. By this point all minors with half a brain have retreated inside, or fled the scene. Seeing as how I was a) over 21 and b) sober, I found myself overcome with joy at being able to sit around and talk without fear of getting a ticket. After two attempts to knock on the door, some idiot actually opens the door and begins to talk to the officers. Of course they immediately accuse him of trespassing, because he “has no idea who lives in the house”. Understandably, the cops start to get agitated.

The cops ask Veronica’s brother, Michael, if he lives at the house. He answers no. The cops continue looking for the owner of the house, and Michael asks the officers what we all need to do. Mr. TABitChface responds with, “I already told you to back off.” He had not. As the officer berates him, Michael asks what he had done, and is told he is violating the direct order of a police officer. He asks why he is being told to leave the porch, and is arrested. They originally say that he is being arrested for disobeying the order of an officer, but this charge is later upgraded to interfering with a police investigation (a Class B misdemeanor). When I question one of the other officers, he tells me that it is illegal to even question a direct order from a police officer. If they tell you to do something, you are not allowed to ask questions or seek clarification. You must simply comply, or be arrested. I politely challenged the Constitutionality of this claim, and he told me that the police must look after their own interests, and never know when their lives could be in danger from a lack of obedience. He tells me that “something could happen like the riots downtown a few years ago.” You’re saying that twenty kids outside a sorority house pose an equal threat to hundreds of drunk pedestrians on Sixth street?!?

Instead of arguing, I ask the officer how to go about getting Michael out of jail, and what steps must be taken to record eye witness testimony of the events that took place. He tells me that Michael is not going to be processed for at least two hours, if not more, and that we have to go to the Travis County Jail for more information. At first he won’t let Veronica talk to him, or collect his personal belongings, but they later allow her to take his keys and cell phone. Still in utter disbelief that someone (not to mention a first year law student) was arrested for failing to immediately obey a police order, we all watched the police officers get in their cars and drive away with Michael in the back seat. A few people made shouted out gems such as “gestapo tactics”, “police state” and “what happened to the Constitution?” Then it happened. One of Veronica’s friends started the slow clap. As the West Campus police walked away, the entire congregation outside of Steph’s sorority began a cinema-worthy slow clap that even Molly Ringwald would be proud of. Looking back, it was probably the highlight of the party.

The rest of the evening was spent downing Taco C queso and waiting for time to pass until we could go get Michael. Veronica and I finally got down to the county jail at 3:30, and were informed that Michael would not see a judge until the next day. It made us feel pretty helpless, but there was nothing to do but go home and wait. It’s now 4:36, and I just hope he’s able to get out before tomorrow evening. One of the ladies sitting in the waiting room at the jail said that it typically takes 24 hours to release someone, regardless of their charge. Hopefully this will all turn out to be something we laugh about for years to come. It’s hard to look at it that way right now, but I have hope. Tomorrow Veronica is taking him to a concert, and Saturday I’m taking him to the first UT football game, so it’s still possible for him to end up looking back on this weekend with fond memories. If nothing else, I’m sure it will help motivate him to keep persuing his law degree!

Wow, I had no idea this much time has passed since my last update. Not much has been going on, aside from work and LSAT. Thankfully, a bunch of people are moving back this weekend, so things should start being fun again.

Things to look forward to this weekend:

1. Red Bull Flugtag invades Austin! Come watch people catapult themselves off a twenty foot ramp into Lake Austin! So far I’ve convinced half a dozen people to come watch this with me; tell your friends!

2. Everyone moves back for the beginning of my last semester at UT. Tear.

3. Larry Sanders Season 4. It’s the most brilliant sitcom of all time that is not called Seinfeld.

4. Sun? I have wanted to go to Barton Springs for nearly a month now, and I’m hoping it will finally happen sometime this weekend. I need to fight off the white before its too late.

Most importantly (i.e. the reason I decided to randomly update)…I have occasionally entered DVD giveaway contests through dvdmg.com for the past two years, and finally won one today! I’ve never won any free giveaway before, so this is a big deal for me! Unfortunately, the DVD set I am to receive is Roseanne Season 8!! I might just cash in and sell it online, but if its not worth my time then I’ll be getting better acquainted with John Goodman and Becky #2 over the next few months.

This is great.

Oh yeah, I think school is starting sometime soon. I’ll have to look into that when I have some free time…

No pictures, just because. Instead, I hope you enjoy the following. If you’ve ever read online forums, this should be hilarious.

Last weekend was my first baby shower, and it was a terrifying and rewarding experience.  Being a child of the Internet, I completely disregarded the paper invitation I received with the time and location of the shower.  My trustworthy friend, Facebook, told me that the shower was to start at 11 AM and he’s never lied to me before.  I guess I need to realize that Facebook is not a legitimate means of communication.  The shower had actually been moved to noon, so I was an hour early.  I awkwardly made myself useful by unloading food and hanging out with the father-to-be until an hour later when other people decided to show up.  The first guests were Kira Morris and Ashley “Morgan” Farmer, two people who I haven’t seen in over a year.  I was convinced that Kira still hated me because of an incident three years ago, but thankfully she had completely forgotten about it.  We were joined at the table by Yvette Wang, Katie, Veronica (after an hour – she wouldn’t be Veronica if she was on time) and a friend of Melissa’s from Pearland.  For the next two hours we all sat around a table and gossiped about all things Friendswood.  It was a true homecoming.  Highlights include:

1. Marriages: J. Watson, A. Campbell, L.y Leonards, A. Morgan, T. Price, and many more I can’t remember.
2. Babies: B. Bauman (due on the same day as Melissa – September 19)
3. A. Burke: Ashley Morgan had all the goods on her. Evidently her Xanga is one of the greatest things ever, with day-to-day love life updates and personal recordings of pop songs.  Throw in the modeling pics on Facebook and you have hours of entertainment.
5. Katie Jernigan is still crazy.

Overall, the baby shower was a much better experience than I thought it would be.  It was great to see Melissa again, and I’m pretty excited to see baby Cairo.  Let’s just hope that the godparents don’t have a lot of influence in her life, because the results would certainly be catastrophic. Also, I wish that Katie had to take some sort of Godmother vows, a la the scene with Michael at the end of The Godfather.

On Friday night, Brandon and I drove around Friendswood looking for something to do, and found some wicker chairs sitting on a street corner with the garbage.  Two of the chairs were broken, so they threw out the whole set.  Bored, Brandon and I decided to take two of them home in my car.  Fitting two four-foot chairs into my car took some very clever planning, and resulted in Brandon awkwardly sitting in the back seat surrounded by chair legs.  Anyway, we spent the rest of the night watching Veronica Mars and painting designs on the back of the chairs.  Look for them soon in their apartment, but don’t even think about sitting in my chair if your name rhymes with Leahanne Lockard.

TV Update:
1. Dexter  Season 1: I finally finished this series, after starting it three months ago.  I found the first season to be entertaining, but not great.  The season’s mystery killer storyline had a satisfying conclusion, but I don’t really know where the show can go from here.  I can’t really see this show going for more than another season, but there may be new character storylines to explore.  Still, Dexter remains the Michael C Hall show.  He is excellent as the titular character, a blood pattern analyst for the Miami police who moonlights as a murderous vigilante.

2. The Wire Season 3: Already better than season two, and I’ve only seen three episodes.  I can definitely see why people think this is the best show on television.  The cast is composed of no-name actors, but each character has a clear purpose and interesting backstory.  The gangs depicted are intelligent and realistic, which sets the tone for the show.  For those of you who are feeling nostalgic for the SATs: The Wire is to television police drama as The Bourne Identity is to spy movies.

3. The Larry Sanders Show Season 2: Incredible.  I really love this show, and I’ve only seen 17 episodes.  The comedy is so smart, and the talk show setting allows each episode to be unique.  Jeffrey Tambor is the highlight of the show as Hank, the sidekick who always tries too hard.  Since I have to watch this one at home, I doubt I’ll be able to finish it until after the LSAT, but it probably wont take me more than a week after that day comes.

4. Angel Season 4: I can’t get it on TV Links, so I doubt I’ll finish it until after the LSAT as well.  Then again, I have been known to put television before studying…

Does anyone else think that “Somehow I thought you, of all people, would understand that.” is one of the most overused sentences in the history of television melodrama? Maybe I’ve just seen too many episodes of Dawson’s Creek; it was used at least four times in season three, alone. I know this, because I spent the majority of last Tuesday rewatching those episodes.

Taylor is going off to college this Friday, which makes me feel old.  I’m going to drive over there to help out, and hopefully get a free meal on the Riverwalk.  I can’t believe how much nicer the facilities are at UTSA.  Taylor’s dorms are apartment style, with a private room and full kitchen.  If I had dorms that nice, I don’t think I would have ever moved out…unless the dorms were in San Antonio, and I could go to school in Austin my sophomore year.  Speaking of next year, Taylor and her friends want to inherit my apartment when our lease expires, which is awesome.  I won’t have to to move my television, or any of the furniture!

And now for a random entry I started last week that doesn’t really flow with the rest of the update…

One of the last times I saw my grandfather, he gave me his Navy ribbons. He never liked to talk about his Navy service (two years during the Korean War), but he was extremely proud of it. Anytime he was around another veteran, he always made it known that he had done his part, too. For a year, I had the ribbons pinned on my Boy Scout sash, but transferred them to the cork board surrounding my map of the world after his death. I wanted the ribbons to be somewhere I would see them regularly, but I never stopped to consider what they represented until today.

The United Nations Service Medal

Korea Service Medal

Naval Reserve Medal (Obsolete)

There are only three of them. My grandfather’s service doesn’t hold a candle to someone like Corey Morrison’s grandfather (who gave Corey his two General’s stars), but he did a hell of a lot more than I ever will. It’s weird to think about; my grandfather was only 21 when he shipped off to Pearl Harbor. I’m 21 right now and I can’t imagine what that must have been like for a preacher’s son who had never traveled more than 200 miles from home.

Look for updates to Pictures of the Day, as well as the start of a “75 Most Memorable Characters in Television” list in the next few days!

This is incredible.

Update: These two videos are possibly even better than Harry Potter in the Hood. Michael Cera is probably the greatest actor of my generation.

“Douchey” is the only way to describe this kid. His name is Alexsey Vayner, and he submitted this video, along with an 11 page resume, to various New York financial companies. Read all about him here, but first, enjoy his film.

Ladies and gentlemen, “Michael Cera of AD fame”.

Can we just agree that green Skittles need to go?  Without green, Skittles provide a serious threat to Starburst’s reign as the king of candy. I was elated to find “green slush”, a special guest flavor, replacing my least favorite Skittle in a package I bought today.  Mars already admits to their inferiority by placing fewer than ten green Skittles in each package, but I will stop at nothing less than their annihilation from the candy world. Speaking of Skittles, my favorite (regular) flavors are:

1. Strawberry
2. Grape
3. Lemon
4. Orange

5. Lime

According to UrbanDictionary.com: “Green Skittles make one horney (sic). Pop one in your mouth and smile.” Good to know.

What does everyone think about Whoopi on The View? Personally, they could put Jack Bauer on that show and I would still not watch it, but I enjoy keeping up with pop culture nonetheless. My guess is that she will cause as much controversy as Rosie, and I will love for her that. At the same time, I get the feeling that she’s just doing this for the money. When she went on Star Trek in the early ’90s it was obviously out of love for the show, but this just seems like a chance for her to say outlandish things to housewives across America. If they really wanted to boost ratings they would hire Tracy Morgan, because we all know that his Star Jones is better than the real one.

Current Things I’m into:

1. WinkFlash.com
Incase you didn’t already know, WinkFlash is having a massive 6¢ sale on 4×6 photo prints. So far, I’ve ordered 700 photos for $55! I basically went through every photo I’ve taken over the past seven years, so I should have more than enough to decorate my walls and fill a photo album or two. Anyway, I’m not sure how long the sale is going to last, so act fast!

2. Angel
I’m enjoying this TV series more than I ever imagined. Like everything in the Buffyverse, it has its share of crap, but overall I have found it pretty great. The characters aren’t as sharp as the Scoobies, but the detective/noir genre works better than the Buffy mysteries. I’m going to have to rewatch seasons 2-5 of Buffy, but so far Angel is as good if not better than that show’s best.

3. Star Wars Stamps!
Fifteen glorious stamps to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of Star Wars. I’m not usually into stamp collecting, but these were too geektastic to pass up.

4. J.K. Rowling Interviews
Now that Harry Potter is complete JK Rowling is openly talking about the series for the first time, and the resulting interviews have been fantastic. Check Mugglenet for updates.

5. Sara Bareilles, Little Voice
One of my favorite acts from the Hotel Cafe tour last year. If you like pop music, check her out. “Love Song” and “One Sweet Love” are my favorites.

6. Baseball
Following the quest for Barry Bonds’ 755th homerun, Alex Rodriguez’s 500th, and Tom Glavine’s 300th win has reignited my love of baseball. I’ve probably watched more games in the past week than I have since the Astros made it to the World Series two years ago.

7. A Century of Grace
This is the Blanton’s current exhibit of 19th Century Masterworks from the Dahesh Museum of Art. August 5th is the last day you can see it, but I highly recommend stopping by if you’re in Austin. My favorite work was “The Plays of William Shakespeare” by John Gilbert, a painting modeled after “The School of Athens” with Shakespearian characters in lieu of Greek philosophers.

8. Swing Dance Lessons
Insert joke here. Seriously though, I’ve always thought it would be fun to learn swing dancing, and I want to take advantage of the Informal Classes at the Union before I graduate! The class meets for an hour every Sunday from October 14-November 4. Any takers?

So I’m finally getting the hang of Dreamweaver, which has some really amazing features. I can tell that it is a much better program than FrontPage, but it will still take me months to realize its full potential. Look for a bunch of small updates to the site over the next two days as I restore some links and pictures.

Also, wish me good luck on my preliminary LSAT tomorrow morning!