Sorry about the lack of real updates lately but, as usual, school and work are kicking my ass. Indeed I've suffered a few near-meltdowns in the past week. Even my trip to Santa Cruz last week didn't help to alleviate the stress. It was fun, of course, but I really need a week off at home so I can catch up on stuff around there.
Today as I was getting ready for work - and feeling a bit freaked out by the fact that even after I finish this semester I will still have at least two more years of school - I decided to break it down into months. So, if each semester is roughly four months long than my entire graduate school experience can be boiled down to 20 months. I'm two months into this semester so that means I only have 18 months left.
Hmmm. I still don't feel much better. In fact, I have a raging headache right now.....

The whole sniper thing isn't helping matters much. Not that I'm particularly afraid of something like that happening to me but the media coverage is really starting to bug me. On one hand I'm very interested in the case and how they will eventually find this person(s). On the other hand I'm sick of the television stations and magazines trying to explore every oddball angle and / or put some sort of stamp on it. Newsweek went as far to call the sniper the "Tarot Card Killer" because one freaking tarot card was found at the scene. Authorities aren't even 100 percent positive that the tarot card wasn't planted by some dumb fuck thrillseeker but I guess "Tarot Card Killer" has more zing than just the plain old "sniper killer".

On a similar note it also pissed me off that so much space was devoted to discussing how "sniper enthusiasts" - those people that shoot things at long-range distances just for fun - are peeved because they feel it's not fair to give this guy the sniper moniker. According to the enthusiasts this guy is not good enough to be a sniper because he often shoots in the chest or other parts of the body whereas a real sniper aims for -and hits - the head.
Great people - like we don't have enough to worry about. This person(s) is killing people at random - isn't that enough for you? Now you want to bicker over semantics?

Oh ...and speaking of being pissed off. Hillary Clinton can officially kiss her Christmas card from me goodbye. After I read this piece in the Village Voice about how she's now backing Bush's war in Iraq I wondered what happened to the strong, independent-minded senator we (we of course not being me since I don't actually live in NYC - but still) were promised during the election.

I don't feel so bad now that, according to a recent poll, 69 percent of Americans don't think Clinton should pursue a presidential run.

Grrrr. I need more coffee - I don't think I'm sufficiently pissed off enough yet. There's still so much more to get fired up about.....