Hello all,

My birthday was last Monday, and I had an amazing time!  We celebrated my birthday and Greg Yeldezian’s birthday together, because his was over Spring Break when everyone was gone. After doing a round at Trudys, we headed off to Chuys for some delicious Mexican food and margaritas.  Around 9:00 we went back to my apartment, where we hung out drinking until around 11:00.  A few of my DSC friends then accompanied Greg and I downtown for the rest of the night.  Since it was a rainy Monday, 6th street was completely empty.  It was actually pretty fun having bars entirely to yourself, and getting free drinks from bored bartenders.  One of the highlights of the night was seeing David Arquette downtown promoting a new movie he directed.  Another was the amazing flaming Dr. Pepper that we had at Chuggin’ Monkey!

This week I had to lobby for some ethics legislation at the Capitol, which was intimidating but fun.  It was really just another reason to wear a suit, which I enjoyed.

Entourage and the Sopranos come back this weekend!  Thanks, Jesus!  I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that talked about how HBO was coming to the end of an era with the departure of the Sopranos.  All of their huge powerhouse shows (Sex and the City, Six Feet Under, Sopranos) will be over before summer, and they will begin a huge new campaign to find their next big hits.  However, this time Showtime is right on their heels.  Over the past two years they have been able to compete with HBO for the first time, producing quality shows such as Dead Like Me, Weeds and Huff.  I’ll be interested to see what they come up with, because, while Showtime may be catching up, my heart will always belong to HBO.

Today I went to my first class, realized how beautiful it was outside, and took the rest of the afternoon off to play golf with Greg.  We’ve started playing at least once a week, which is great.  Also, since my Monday class has started the group presentation portion of the schedule I now only have class Tuesday-Thursday!  It feels like I never do anything, except work occasionally.

TV recap: BSG finale was pretty great, especially the last half; I forgot Veronica Mars still has six episodes left, and I think that says a lot about the season in general; FNL keeps getting better and better; with the cancellation of Black Donnellys I really hope they learn from their mistake and bring back Studio 60!; I don’t care what other people think, Scrubs has been consistently entertaining this season; I’m watching Boomtown on DVD and it’s awesome…I definitely recommend checking it out if you get a chance!

Have you guys seen this video from the set of I Heart Huckabees?  As much as I enjoy David O. Russell’s movies (especially Three Kings), he seems like a total dick!  Anyone who insults Lily Tomlin shouldn’t expect any sympathy from me…

I think if I ever had my own country, I would refuse to abide by the current man-made rules of time.  This would begin with a refusal to recognize Daylight Savings Time, and would probably culminate in the development of my own calendar.

So what did everyone dress up as this weekend?  I didn’t get dressed up because I couldn’t find a way to effectively translate my pretentiousness into a costume.  Early ideas included: Hume’s single-sentence refutation of Descartes’ 3rd Meditation, George Edward Moore’s “Here is a hand” argument, and predicate logic.  I was going to show up to the Haunted Housewarming as “Post” Modernism, with ‘Modern” spelled out on Post-It notes, but it was so clever that I decided to stay home and study.

Pretentious 17th century French joke of the day: (Summarized from Moliere’s La Malade Imaginaire)
First doctor: Most esteemed bachelor, why does opium have a sleep inducing quality?
Argan: Because it has a virtus dormitiva that stupefies the senses.

Hopefully everyone has seen Brandon’s Pluto Memorial pumpkin; it’s one of the best things he’s ever done.  I’m convinced that there is a market out there for Pluto grief counseling.  You could start up some support groups, sell them Pluto-themed merchandise and make a fortune.

My name is Ryan Ward and I endorse this site.

SNL was pretty good this week.  I enjoyed Hugh Laurie (maybe I’ll actually watch House now), and thought Beck was great.  However, they announced that they will be showing a Best of Darrell Hammond episode soon, which seems a little premature.  Best of episodes should only occur after a cast member has left the show.  Maybe this is SNL’s way of telling Darrell Hammond that he is about 20 years too old for their program.  He’s on track to double the record for longest tenure, and probably won’t leave without a fight.

We should go out to a fancy dinner, where we have to get dressed up and make reservations.  Okay?  Good, just call me.

Compassionate moment of the week: Leahanne has to take 20 hours next semester in order to graduate.  I sincerely feel sorry for her, and hope that it doesn’t drive her to a mental breakdown.  She should seriously consider spreading it out a bit, and graduating at the end of the summer.  Regardless, I don’t think I’ll be seeing much of her for the next year.

Scrubs reruns on NBC are better than any of the new shows they are airing.  That said I am loving 30 Rock. Tracey Morgan is surprisingly funny, and Alec Baldwin can seriously do no wrong.  His Hannibal Lecter was one of the best things I’ve seen on network TV in years.

Richard Dreyfuss is coming to give a lecture this week, which should be interesting.  He doesn’t have the mass appeal that some of our past speakers have had, but it’ll still be cool to meet him.

Pictures later…maybe.

I have no idea where this week has gone.  I have done almost nothing of any merit, unless reading books out in the sun qualifies.  I just wanted to update to say that the server Kistenmacher used to host the sites sucks and they deleted everything, but he has risen to the occasion and fixed everything for us!  He’s easily the best web slave a person could ask for.  We don’t even have to provide him with shelter or food.  (Update: what the fuck is up with those banners? If I’m whoring my site out to someone it’s going to be Google Ads or nothing at all)  Anyway, I’ve been busy enjoying the gifts that my amazing aunt randomly decided to get for me and Taylor.  She got a bunch of DVDs, some chocolates and a few books, and I got:

1.  Finding Serenity: the collection of essays about the greatest sci-fi show ever made.  I got to read part of the book on the road trip to California, and it’s amazing.  The perfect assortment of philosophy, fanfare and speculation.  It’s a must have for fans of the show!

2. Rent by Jonathan Larson: the huge hardcover book about the original Broadway cast of my favorite musical.  The photographs are worth the price alone, but the stories of how Rent evolved and the overall presentation make this one of the best theatre books I’ve ever seen.

3. Citizen Kane: the DVD of my favorite film by Orson Welles.  I’ve been growing more and more obsessed with him this summer, and I can’t wait to hear the audio commentaries of both Roger Ebert and Peter Bogdanovich.

4. The Complete Mr. Arkadin: a massive DVD set chronicling every possible aspect of the Arkadin legend.  This include a novel, radio plays, three versions of the movie and an audio commentary, among other things.  I can’t wait to start watching the special features on this!  By the end of the year I’ll probably own every Orson Welles film out on DVD.  I just wish Criterion would release them all, because the other DVDs are seriously lacking in the transfer and special features.

All in all, she’s way up on my heroes list right now.  There’s nothing like relatives who like to spoil you with gifts.  By the way, thea, I keep my Amazon list updated frequently and take things off when I get them…everything on there now is current.  I’ll try to find some other things to put on there (that aren’t Frank Lloyd Wright books or DVDs that aren’t even out yet).

So I’m still here, just in a near vegetative state.  I get up every once in a while to go make a gyro, but that’s really the extent of my daily exercise.  Tivo really is the greatest invention since the Internet.

My obsession with Firefly has been reignited over the past week. It seems like my obsessions just cycle, with one taking over while another takes the backseat for a while. For example, when I stopped listening to Rent five times a day I began rewatching Firefly with Matt. This was then replaced by Orson Welles movies and documentaries. Last week was Rent-tastic, and now I’m back to Firefly. I just love the show so much that it actually makes me want to hurt Katie for not sharing in the love. I wish there was a way fans could contribute money to continue the series. Sure, there are DVD sales, etc. but I’m talking about something completely different. I want something where fans can donate to an account that would only be used if the second season or movie was greenlighted. This would prove to executives how much support they have and it would be backed up with hard cash instead of unreliable internet polls. This all came about from a Fireflyfans.net poll about how much you would be willing to contribute to continuing the show. Needless to say, I checked the $100 or more per season box. I’ve thought about it before, and the amount of money I would seriously give is borderline irrational.

In a geeky fit of joy, I pre-ordered the Firefly documentary DVD “Done the Impossible” this week. It’s basically a labor of love by hardcore Browncoats, complete with an 80 minute documentary about how it went from a show to a movie, and hours and hours of special features. Almost all of the cast helped with the DVD through interviews and narration.

I’ve also begun watching Battlestar Galactica season 2. Now it’s a great show, and I’m glad it’s getting recognition but I can’t help but feel some spite. The show basically uses the formula that made Firefly great, but to greater acclaim that Firefly ever saw during its run. They stole the shaky cam zooms, the empowered female heroes, the lack of hope, the realistic portrayal of space as a soundless vacuum (with music always playing over the space scenes). The storyline is undoubtedly different (and much more religious) but a great debt is owed to Joss Whedon.

“Why Can’t I Be You” is my new guilty pleasure of summer. The episodes are short, and focus on building self-esteem so it is not quite as brainless as other crap (like Laguna Beach, the Hills or whatever else Brandon is watching this week). My favorite episode is the one where the gay model helps the pizza boy realize how fabulous he really is. The only problem with the show is the host, Nick Zano. To quote from my IMDb board post, “I think the host is a total tool. He condescends to all of the people on the show, as if they should be honored by his talentless presence. The guy makes situations more awkward than they need to be, and makes geeky kids feel like there is something wrong with them because they don’t look like him…MTV, please find a better host who doesn’t make the participants feel like *beep* They’re the ones taking a risk and putting themselves out there…don’t let this jerk knock them back down.” This was met with a badass response from bitchy_br: “You take it too seriosly, how does he make them feel like *beep* He just asks them about themselves and what they want to change and if they did.” Normally I would just have “bitchy” shot for sticking up for Zano and misspelling seriously, but I thought I might instead offer some examples of his degradation. Most of these are obvious to ANYONE who has ever seen five seconds of the show, but some retards can’t pick up on the obvious. Zano always makes inappropriate sexual inuendos, slapping asses, proding people about their sexuality and staring the girls up and down. These are not that bad, however, because they don’t directly take away from these kids’ self-esteem. Zano constantly pokes fun at people’s weaknesses in front of their faces, as if they weren’t standing right next to him. They’re left to stand there foolishly while Zano just smiles and makes another ridiculous joke. He is also far too honest in telling people how much better they look as the “new” them. His comments make the person feel as if there really was something wrong with them before, which is a terrible message to give any of the contestants. For a show about self-esteem, MTV has chosen a cocky, arrogant host who ultimately hurts the show. May he burn in F-list hell.

Are we ever going to have an Unseen Movie Marathon? I still think we should, even if it’s just Brandon, Merbitch and me. It’s already gotten out that my movie is going to be Battle Royale, but I was also thinking about showing A Bronx Tale. This week I realized that the kid who plays ‘C’ at age 9 is Francis Capra, from Veronica Mars! He’s actually amazing in the movie, and I can’t believe I didn’t put the two together earlier. Funny side story; Lillo Brancato, who plays ‘C’ when he’s older is currently in jail facing murder charges for killing an off duty police officer. The kid was plucked off the streets and given the opportunity of a lifetime (by Robert DeNiro, no less!) and he just ends up becoming a drug addicted hack.

No matter how many movies I have to watch or TV shows I have downloaded, I keep putting them aside to watch and re-watch episodes of Scrubs. I also spent most of yesterday watching disc 1 of Arrested Development season one. This brings me to my next topic: I have ranked my top five favorite television shows of all time. This list was made in about ten minutes, and I’m sure it will change a lot over time, but all five shows are incredible. Let’s begin.

5. The Sopranos
This show probably has the best acting of any show on the list. James Gandolfini turns in one of the most nuanced and quietly brutal performances ever seen on television. Many critics have compared his powerful performance to those of Marlon Brando, which is pretty much the best compliment you can give an actor as far as I’m concerned. The storylines for the first five seasons are possibly the best dramatic writing in the history of television. The sixth season was hit or miss, but still better than almost everything put out. Of course, I love anything to do with the mafia, but the show can appeal to almost anybody (*Hint hint* people who claim to be my friends need to start watching this).

4. Seinfeld
This show about nothing that was so much more than that. I purchased the first six seasons on DVD and think it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. The episodes, while occasionally dated, continue to work incredibly well. The laugh track is occasionally annoying, but the show is so good that I’m usually laughing along with it and don’t notice. I’m sure that I will own ever season of this show eventually. I can’t say that for any other show with nine seasons. No other show with nine seasons is worth it, nor are they as consistently good.

3. Arrested Development
Probably the most quotable show on the list. This is Brandon’s favorite TV show and undoubtedly the best thing I have started watching this year. I saw the first episode of the show three years ago with Emily Driskill and thought it was amazing, but never took the initiative to watch the rest until Brandon encouraged everyone. I really had no idea what I was missing. Almost everything about the show is perfect, from the completely immoral characters to the outrageous plotlines. This will probably go down as the most underappreciated show of the 2000s.

2. Firefly
Joss Whedon’s gift to the world. I have an irrational love of Firefly. Actually, it’s completely rational and well-thought out, but the emotion I attach to these 14 episodes is overwhelming. I love everything about the show, and would do just about anything to continue seeing the stories put on screen, in whatever format. I have always said that if I had millions to spare, it would all go towards producing more Firefly. Unfortunately, as time goes on, it looks less and less likely that we will ever see these characters on film again. I can’t believe I’ve only known about this show for seven months! Regardless, I believe Firefly will remain the most influential sci-fi show of our generation. “Out of Gas” is an incredible accomplishment in every way.

1. Scrubs
This is a completely personal choice. This show probably doesn’t have the consistent greatness of Firefly or AD, but it is undoubtedly my favorite. I could watch Scrubs on repeat for the rest of my life and never get bored. The characters are all so rich with detail and the actors really bring them to the next level. I absolutely love every major character, which is rare for a sitcom. Bill Lawrence set out to make a live-action version of the Simpsons in a hospital, and he ended up with something far greater. It is the perfect blend of humor and tragedy, with enough quirkiness to last a lifetime. “My Screwup” is possibly the best 30 minutes of television ever filmed.
Hopefully this will be posted sometime in the next month, but it’s very likely that everything I wrote will be outdated by the time you are reading this.

I’ve spent parts of the last week updating my movies page.  It now has a new format, and an “Annual Favorites” section that I stole from Brandon.  I’ve also had some time to start watching movies again.  Actually, I haven’t had the time, but I’ve done it anyway.  I’ve realized that if I check out DVDs from the UGL I can watch them in between classes in the computer lab instead of surfing the internet or doing school work.  It works out pretty well.  In the past week I have seen: The New World, Psycho, Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Paths of Glory.  I’m not quite at the “Brandon” level of movie-watching, but it’s been a fairly productive week.  It amazes (and saddens me) that I watch probably 1/4 the amount of movies that Brandon does, yet I’m still far ahead of him in the total number of movies I’ve seen.

Speaking of Brandon, happy belated half-Birthday.  My gift to you was watching Psycho.  You gave me two movies on my birthday, so I figured one was adequate for your half-Birthday.  Also, a shout out to Mrs. Nowalk and Mr. Hansen.  Was this a kick-ass March Madness or what?  Unfortunately we will all have to suffer through the hell that is April before the amazing month of May in which we finish school and celebrate Katherine’s birthday…and with any luck, we’ll all get asked to Prom again.  It’s been two years since I’ve gone and I’m itching to get back.  Someone should take my sister!  I can take Teresa.  She already dreams about me so I’m practically there, I’ll just have to get rid of this Chris kid.

Also, I’ll post my Pictures of the Day sometime this week.  I haven’t taken any of them off of my camera for awhile, and have been extremely lazy.  Speaking of lazy, on Tuesday I woke up to the sound of thunder and looked outside to see Campus Estates flooded.  Instead of fighting the rain to make it to my classes, I decided to stay home and did absolutely nothing all day.  I read for about an hour, but aside from that just slept a lot and watched television.  It was extremely unproductive and exactly what I needed.  If you feel stressed and don’t have any tests coming up, I definitely recommend it.

I’ve seen Rent three times this week, and listened to the soundtrack at least once every day.  I can’t believe I haven’t gotten sick of it yet.  I’ve probably seen the movie more than any other movie from the past five years, and it’s only been out on DVD for six weeks.  And it’s not like the movie is phenomenal, it’s just the music and the story that are so amazing I continue to watch it.  I would give just about anything to have seen the original cast perform ten years ago.  I’ve also decided that sometime within the next year I am going to take a weekend trip to NYC and go see the show.  I can stay with my aunt in the Village, and that will actually make the trip pretty affordable.

Brandon, where’s the update you’ve been promising all week?  Veronica, thanks for letting me know about Katie.  It’s weird, and I’m repulsed by her image, but it’s nice to know where things stand.  Lea-what’s-her-bitch, I can’t believe you actually updated.  Here are the things I’ve learned this week:

• Leahanne is no longer non-existent, but instead just very lazy.

• Michael Douglas looks EXACTLY like his father.

• Stanley Kubrick is insane, but also a genius.

• Sons and Daughters is an enjoyable, fast-paced show, but will never replace AD.

• Scrubs cannot produce a bad episode.  It just can’t be done.

• Flight tickets to Peru at $700 round trip.

• I would be perfectly happy running a small, old-fashioned movie theatre for the rest of my life.

• If you leave your wallet in your pants when you wash your clothes, it will leave a stain on the pants.

• I haven’t seen nearly 1/5 of IMDBs top 100.

• I will occasionally give in and actually do something Leahanne recommends.

Okay, it’s time to shower, and then dinner.  Tonight I expect to either a) watch Arrested Development and  cry to myself or b) watch The King of Comedy and see if Martin Scorsese can actually get Jerry Lewis to act.  Either way, hopefully I’ll have a relaxing evening.

I’ll have to keep this short because I have class in a few hours, but I had to write something to introduce the Pictures of the Day segment of my website.  I’ll (hopefully) be updating these pictures every few days, but let me know if you don’t like the format.  I can change it four different ways, so the possibilities are endless.
I hope that some of the nonagon have wandered over to re-check out the site.  There are some pictures from the trip in the Pictures of the Day sections.  You guys should download Hello, though.  It’s a program by Google that allows people to send pictures really easily and I think it’s the easiest way for us to swap pictures.  Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the site (look at the “Facebook” – bottom left of the menu -  to put faces to names if something doesn’t make sense).  I expect some turf wars to commence between the Belgians and the Texans.  Which group does Ryan really like better?  Who knows Ryan more intimately?  Let the trash-talking begin.

Bob Loblaw: “Actually, I was going to stay in my office tonight and work on my law blog.”
Tobias: “Of course – the ‘Bob Loblaw Law Blog.’ Wow. You, sir, are a mouthful.”
Arrested Development and Scrubs are the funniest things to come along in years.  Download/buy/steal/watch them now.

Vince Young is leaving us!  Why, Vince, why???  Didn’t we treat you well?  You’ll be a God if you just come back for one more year.  I can’t believe he’s gone.  I can’t believe he’s going.  I can’t believe our amazing team must die.  Vince Young helped us believe in love.  I can’t believe you disagree.  I can’t believe this is…goodbye.  We were long overdue for a Rent reference, people.

Speaking of long overdue, why has nobody been updating recently?  Brandon hasn’t updated in a month.  Yes, the same Brandon that once updated with computer-crashing 4000 word stories daily for our reading pleasure.  I hear he’s updating tonight, but that really all depends on how bored he gets / what movies  finish downloading.  Leahanne, I left a message for you on your forum days ago and still no update.  Veronica, I expected more from you.  Ho-anna, when you admit that you should be writing more but are too lazy, you’re right.  You should, and must write more.  I don’t comment on half entries.  Katie, I gave up hope long ago.  Surprise me.  I need my juice, people.  I’m a freaking continent away and every time I try to talk to someone they’re on their way out the door.  Even Leahanne blew me off to go cook food at five o’clock today!  You haven’t seen me in two weeks!  Look at me, look at me!  Joanna gets 40 Damn-Damns for emailing me an update of what’s going on in her life.  She even got the juicy gossip about my trip first.  See what happens when you fuel my ego…

Back to me.  My trip here is coming to an end, which is sad.  I’m looking forward to spending a few days in the Wood, though.  Friendswood, by the way, is the real wood.  I’m so sure of this fact that I don’t even need to put quotation marks around it, like Joanna does with the Woodlands.  The honor of being called the Wood is not something that you earn simply by having more trees.  To argue that this was the case would be rediculous.  Being the Wood is so much more.  It’s about the spirit of a community, and the adventures that occur within it.  For further illustration, I recommend picking up The Wood seasons 1-6 and it’s follow up The Wood: The Next Generation when they hit shelves in 10-12 years.  Besides, saying that the Woodlands is the Wood just doesn’t make sense…it’s just like stopping midway.  The wood in Friendswood comes at the end, which is where it should be found if you want to use it as a name.  It’s the Station, not the College.

I made the best playlist ever for the train ride last week.  It’s my slow, folk-heavy playlist that is perfect for winter, or all year round if you’re soul-less like me. (Katherine maintains that I have a soul, I just lost it.  One day I’m gonna open up a DVD – which I believe will be When Harry Met Sally… - and find it again.)  The playlist kicks off with my newest obsession, Joshua Radin, before leading in to some Colin Hay, Imogen Heap and my all-time favorite, Ryan Adams.  It then touches on anything from Dylan to Postal Service to Elton John.  It’s the playlist I’ve been trying to make for the last two years.  The songs all capture the perfect mood that is relaxing and fitting to more than one emotional state.  If you’re lucky I might just let you listen to all five hours of it some day.  Anyway, I made the playlist for my trip to London and listened to it while we crossed the Channel to visit my friend Geoff (G to the eoff, to me).

London was magnificent.  It’s my second favorite city in the world.  After meeting up with Geoff we headed back to his house, which is owned by singer Richard Ashcroft.  It’s hilarious, because his house is basically four stories with a huge garden, and it is surrounded by little one story cottages with fifty square feet of yard space.  It was over 300 years old, and had the historic feel that you can only find in Europe.  After spending the first night there telling scary stories and having a ridiculously long conversation about serial killers, we went into the city the following morning.  When we got off the tube at Leicester Square, the buildings all around us looked fake.  It looked exactly like it did in the movies, and the sky was (for once) beautiful.  After walking around the Square, we had fish and chips at a local bar, made fun of the Asian restaurant next door that was named Poons, and bought tickets to see Les Miserables that night.  After that we went shopping somewhere.  By “we” I of course mean “the girls”.  I went to Borders, bought the 200th Empire, and met Davide and Geoff at a pub.  Brandon, the issue is awesome, and they have an amazing ILM montage on one of the pages.  the 201 greatest movies are coming on the next issue, which should be awesome too!  Anyway, that night we saw the show which was phenomenal.  I was very excited when I heard the first notes of “On My Own”, though.  I nearly kicked the guy in front of me as I turned to Alexia and said (in a voice far too loud for the theatre), “I know this song from Dawson’s Creek! Joey sings it!!”  Thankfully, she too knew of the glorious episode in which Joey competes in the beauty pageant.  After the show, we went out to eat for Alexia and Davide’s birthday at Little Italy, a restaurant near Leicester Square.  We then caught the last train to to Richmond (Geoff’s town) and began playing drinking games to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.  We drank whenever Austin said “yeah, baby!”, whenever Dr. Evil put his pinky to his mouth and whenever a penis or ass joke was made.  Unfortunately, most people went to bed before anything really stupid happened.

We woke up the next day at 14:00 (2 PM for you un-international readers) amazed that we had wasted half of the day.  After sitting around for hours, trying to decide whether or not we were going to go into the city (I was very adamently in favor of going – to the point of annoying everybody else), we headed to Leicester Square again to look at ticket prices.  Half of the group (Lauren, Patricia and Geoff) decided to go see the limited screening of Brokeback Mountain, while the rest of us (Rachel, Alexia, Davide and I) went to see The Producers: The Musical.  I saw the show on Broadway back in December 2002, and it was just as great the second time around.  Seeing two West End shows in two nights was great, and I’m really glad we were able to work it out so that I could waste all of my money doing it!  That night we went back to Geoff’s house and proceeded to recount the olden days of high school, while slowly getting more and more drunk.  By the end of the night lots of bizarre information had been shared, people had gone to the bathroom far too many times, Geoff punched his computer screen as hard as he could in a moment of drunken stupidity and the girls depressed everyone by putting on The Notebook.  Later that night, when I went to brush my teeth, I heard noises coming from Rachel and Alexia’s room (they had “gone to sleep” an hour before), so I went in there and we ended up talking for awhile before everyone else slowly made their way into the room.  By 4 AM we had six people on a small bed, all laughing so loud that we actually woke Geoff’s mom up.  In the morning we all got packed, headed down to the train station and barely made our train (I had to keep the door from closing twice), didn’t have time to give Geoff a proper goodbye, and then  barely made the Eurostar back to Brussels (we were on the LAST car, all the way at the end of the platform).

It was great seeing Geoff again, and seeing that absolutely nothing has changed with him.  I really missed being together with all of my friends, and the three days we spent in London are really precious to me.  I don’t know when we’ll all be together again, but knowing that we can be gone this long without anything changing is really refreshing.  Change is one of the hardest things to deal with in the transition from high school to college to professional life, and little things like this make it much easier.

The last few days have been really lazy.  Davide and I have just been hanging out at his house, watching Scrubs and hoping that some act of God suspends time so that we never have to go back.  He leaves in about two hours, and I’m gonna miss the hell out of him.  I didn’t realize how long it had been, or how much I missed him until this trip, but that’s probably a good thing.  I still think of him as if we’ve been apart for a month and not eighteen.  When I lose that, it’ll be bad.  You’ll all know, though, because I’ll spend all of my time looking at pictures and watching old tapes of Pippin from high school.  Anyway, Davide, if you’re reading this, I had an amazing time and I’m gonna do everything in my power to make sure we see each other again this summer.

So that’s what been going on since my last update.  Just your usual…I downloaded the first two episodes from the newest Scrubs season.  The first episode was painfully mediocre and I didn’t really like the whole intern camera thing / the whole intern thing.  Plus, having Elliot at another hospital was a bad mistake.  BAD.  You need to keep them all in the same hospital.  I don’t care how unrealistic it actually is.  Anyway, I thought the “MAN” cards were great and the second episode helped return the show to it’s usual level.  I just hope that Elliot goes back to Sacred Heart and the writers realize how retarded it was to ever change something that worked as well as Scrubs did.  Also, I can’t wait until spring when they release the third season and, more importantly, “My Screw Up”, the greatest episode of the show.

Ok, well it’s now 5:47 and I have to wake up to say goodbye to Davide in an hour.  I’ll probably still be up adding pictures when he awakes, but I’m just trying to begin to wrap up my entry (Note: when I finished it was exactly 6:47 – weird).  For those of you that matter, I get in to Houston around 2:00 on Wednesday (1/12).  Since neither of my parents seem to care, they’re sending a driver to pick me up.  When I was talking to my mom on the phone yesterday I thought she was kidding.  I responded with  a “yeah, is that where all our money is going, woman?  Why don’t you and dad just save money by picking me up in the Navi’ and buy me a Lexus?”  She proceeded to say, “she’ll have a placard with you name and just call my cell phone when you get home to let me know you arrived alright.”  She was for real.  It makes a bit more sense when I explain that neither of them are going to be in Houston at the time, and that she is charging it to her company, but still.  All that matters is that I’ll be cruising to the Wood in style as the perfect ending to my European vacation.  God, I love being pretentious. 

Speaking of pretentious, Katherine and I decided that the Perfects’ new hobby is going to be sailing, so I’ll learn and teach everyone else (with the help of Veronica, hopefully).  In the meantime we can just spend time on Veronica’s yacht talking about sailing.  As Katherine said earlier today, “how can you have a wealthy, pseudo-intellectual group of crime-fighting philanthropists who do not know how to sail?”  Well that’s all for now.  I hope everyone’s vacations are going well and I’ll update sometime before school starts.

WHY VINCE, WHY?!!!

This is for Katherine:

Wardryan: koozies are just funny
Katherine: and pointless
Katherine: but that’s just my opinion
Wardryan: yeah, I agree
Wardryan: just hold the damn drink
Katherine: if you can’t handle it
Katherine: you don’t deserve to drink it

It looks like this Christmas won’t be as amazing and white as last year, but it’s still been fun.  I have barely left home and enjoyed just being lazy for days at a time.  My aunt and uncle arrived yesterday with my new cousin Nikita Ethan Ward.  He just goes by Ethan…
I’ve been able to see a lot of people over the break that I haven’t seen in a while, which is good.  I can’t wait for Tuesday, when I’ll be headed back to Belgium for the first time in a year and a half.  It’s such an unbelievable feeling…I’ve never  looked forward to a trip so much in my life.  Before that, though, we have the joys of both Jesus’ birth and, more importantly, Chrismukkah.  You know what that means?  Chocolate fountain.

Most importantly, however, I received a package yesterday…Gandalf the White is finally back after two tedious months of Best Buy fucking up everything.  I had to reload all of my music on him, but he has the newer 4G software which is pretty cool.  They also cleaned him, which was nice.  I look forward to testing out his battery life on the plane ride to Belgium.

We look good.
Happy Jesusmas eve, bitches.

P.S.  It’s Christmas now, and I my  parents surprised me with new clothes that I was already wearing and a trip to Belgium.  It came out of no where!  I also got Indecision 2004, Scrubs Season 1 and Scene It, along with assorted gifts (including a Godfather framed picture that is pretty sweet).

P.P.S.  I miss everybody.  I haven’t seen anyone from the core in over two days!

P.P.P.S.  I can’t pull this off as well as Brandon.

I forgot to mention last entry that my website is now officially two years old.  In honor of this accomplishment, I am having a Ryan’s Website bash tentatively scheduled for December 20.  The party will be in Friendswood, so everyone who can come should pick their favorite entry to read.  Additionally, there will be website trivia, lots of food and movies from my top 100.  Happy 25 months, website!

In an attempt to join in on the quiz madness, I offer this one question.  Name the two Belgian cities I have lived in.  (Hint: the first one is easy and if you don’t get it then I hate you).  I don’t expect anyone to get the second city, but if you do (you can even go online and look at maps if you’d like) I will give you 1000 Damn-Damns.  Speaking of Belgium, I’m so excited about going back for the break!  I’ve been talking to all of my friends online recently, and it looks like we’re going to take a short trip to London after the New Year.  We’ll get to see a show on the West End…either the Producers, the new Joseph Fiennes play or A Christmas Carol staring Jean-Luc Picard himself.  Either way I’m really excited!  It’s pretty much the only thing I’ve been looking forward to all semester.

I really want to go buy a Christmas tree and decorations.  I’ll be in Austin for most of December and need to create a nice holiday atmosphere before I go home for Christmas.  We should all go shopping this weekend and then decorate.  Speaking of Christmas decorations, last weekend the core got together (sans Katie and Steph) and “politically corrected” some baby Jesuses.  Some may say our actions were sacrilegious, but I think we were actually honoring Christ by representing him accurately.  “You can laugh but I’m the one attempting to do some good.  Or do you really want a neighborhood where people still believe Jesus was white?  Bethlehem, Bethlehem’s a place where the Arabs lived.  This is Friendswood, Texas.  Jesus was not a WASP!”  So the ending doesn’t exactly rhyme, but I think it works.

In honor of Prozac’s death, I’d like to place a curse on Leahanne Lockard (I think I saw her name in the dictionary under “annoyance”) for naming her pet after a depression medication.  Talk about being a cruel parent…then again, her parent’s did name her Leah Anne.  In all seriousness, though, I’d just like to say that Atari was much more badass in the face of death.  Instead of hanging on until the bitter end, he decided to be a total hoss and jump out of his bowl to get it over with.  It’s the human equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest and then jumping off the side that is a sheer cliff, just for the hell of it.  That, or bailing out of the space station when it reaches the upper stratosphere.  Or staying behind on an asteroid to press the detonation switch just in time to save the world.  Man, Armageddon is an awesome movie.

Today’s picture of the day is of Cliff, the idiot preacher who set up shop on the West Mall today between 12-2.  He brought a group of students, two cameras and enough close-mindedness to feed Texas for years.  Whenever someone would challenge his ideas he would start yelling “BALONEY!” and then make a final statement before cutting the person off and discontinuing the conversation.  He also demonstrated a considerable lack of intelligence by only examining atheism from the moral relativist perspective, which most atheists adamantly reject in favor of objectivism.  The guy actually went as far as saying that anyone without Jesus in their lives had no morals and saw no difference between Mother Theresa and Hitler.  (That’s begging the question, but I don’t think Cliff would actually understand what that meant.)  That is one of the most absurd claims I’ve ever heard.  Simply not accepting Christ (or even God, for that matter) into your life does not mean that you cannot have an absolute moral code.  That is just wrong, or should I say, “BALONEY!”

He looks just like John Kerry!
Since Brandon is starting a new segment where he talks about what things are overrated, I thought I would start a segment on things that are underrated.  I think it goes without saying that the most underrated thing in existence is Ryan Ward, so I’ll just skip to something a little less agreed upon…Scrubs.  Seriously, what was NBC thinking by delaying the best show on television for an entire semester?  Scrubs is the most critically loved and brilliantly written sitcoms since the classics of the early 90s (Seinfeld, Friends and Walker Texas Ranger).  Even when Scrubs is bad, it is better than almost anything on television.  It’s been over a year since I’ve seen all of the episodes and I think a Scrubs/Dawson’s Creek marathon is in order.  Speaking of Dawson’s Creek, can you say underrated?  Discuss.

Finally, I’d like to leave you all with some facts about the greatest human being to ever walk the planet.  Chuck “I will roundhouse kick you out of existence” Norris.

• Chuck Norris was the fifth Beatle, the tenth member of the Fellowship of the Ring, and wrote the Bible. Of course we don’t know this because Chuck Norris, being the humble soul he is, roundhouse kicked all knowledge of this out of existence.

• Chuck Norris once leaned against a tower in Pisa, Italy.

• And on the seventh day, god said “Let there be Chuck Norris.” And all rejoiced. Except those that received the roundhouse kick shortly thereafter.

• Chuck Norris punched God.