Josh Sklar's Live Journal

My sister now sells Vintage clothes. She has become cool :).

-Josh

So, after combating an annoying bout of depression and enjoying traveling through Okanagan valley, Canadian wine country I'm back in school. Silly as it sounds this is the first time of my college career where I'm not starting off with plans to travel back and forth between two locations on weekends. A member of the ACM asked me today if I was free this weekend and I actually got to say 'yes'. (Though it took me far too long to come to that conclusion).

Anyways, I'm still pursuing my plan to avoid graduation through indecision. Sadly the advisor forced me to outline my 'plan for graduation' which goes in opposition to my stated goal. Still if I go for a double major with Computer Science and Economics I should be able to drag an extra year out of this :). Otherwise I have to choose one to major in and accept the other as my minor and what fun would that be?

It would be more fun then having to work for PSU's Campus Crusade for Christ, that's what. This years recruitment slogan? "Come get free stuff and free yourself!" Do 10 cent pens help you find Christ?

-Josh

1280 NetNewsWire posts, 520 emails, 37 voice-mails, 12 letters...

Isn't coming back from isolation fun? I'm already to run back across the border to the wine and sun. :P

-Josh

P.S. Since T-mobile has no service in Canada I ran into no way to actually check any messages while on the trip. I'm sorry and I'll be getting back before the sun sets tomorrow.

I'm not going millions of miles away. However I am going on vacation for the next two weeks. I'm heading up to the sunshine coast (see map below) to participate in biking, camping and tourist-ing. The scary thing is that I'm actually leaving my computer at home, which means I'll be offline for the longest single period since... um... a really long time ago. So don't expect me to answer any emails, reply to LJ comments, yada yada yada. If you actually want to talk to me I am bringing my cell with me. The number is (503) 473-7541.

If anyone wants anything from Seattle/British Columbia just give me a ring. :). Hope all the other oregon students enjoy summer's end and everyone else is having fun with that school thing :)

-Josh

This last week for my sister's birthday I was down in Ashland and got to see The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus written by Christopher Marlowe back in the 16th century. The story of Faustus is the tale of a man who offers his soul to Mephistopheles in exchange for the servitude of Mephistopheles for four and twenty years. I assumed that Marlowe's interpretation would involve all sorts of sinning and a lot of Faustus angst over signing away his soul. What I actually discovered is that according to Marlowe, Faustus is a nerd.

The Tragic Nerding of Doctor Faustus

Allow me to present my case. When Faustus summons Mephistopheles so that he could sell his soul he does what I think any soul seller would do. He makes a rand speech of all the cool stuff he's going to do.

Had I as many souls as there be stars,
I'd give them all for Mephistophilis.
By him I'll be great Emperor of the world,
And make a bridge through the moving air,
To pass the Ocean with a band of men;
I'll join the hills that bind the Afric shore,
And make that land continent to Spain,
And both contributory to my crown.
The Emperor shall not live but by my leave,
Nor any Potentate of Germany.

But when Faustus actually has this demonic power what does he do? He rides around in a dragon chariot so he can look at the stars, asks Mephistopheles inane science questions concerning planet rotation and, in a most grand gesture, messes with the pope by stealing his food. This sounds more like something this guy might have done as a grown up then a person who gave the speech above.

Other incriminating nerd behavior includes his ability to read people. His hired help is abominable. Not only do they insult his guests, but they rat on him, steal his books, and bugle around summoning minor demons so they can steal mugs from the local bar. You'd think after summoning the devil for his every need Faustus would realize he could get actual help. Yet instead he not only tolerates Bevis and Butthead, the 15th century help but he leaves them all his stuff in the end when he gets taken to hell.

The only place I waffle over calling Faustus a super nerd is his track record with women. On the one hand there's this scene where he is lusting for matrimony and his solution is to conjure green grapes in the middle of winter for pregnant women. On the other hand he does choose to sleep with Helen of Troy and, in the process, condemn a pure virginal christian girl to being torn apart by demons. That kind of virgin condemning slutty behavior gets him at least a couple of points off his nerd score.

However it's not enough to save Marlowe's Faustus from receiving Josh's nerd rating 'The offspring of a star wars fanatic and an unwashed trekkie'. I shiver to think what this play would be like modernized. Faustus makes a dragon powered linear accelerator and chooses to sleep with Diana Troy instead of the pure hearted band dork. *shiver*. At least OSF made lucifer a 70's drag queen with a codpiece the size of my head...

So, my mother gutted my old room at their house in order to turn it into an office. During the final 'stuff tossing' in order to ready the place for paint I came across the following: A 33 point list of predictions about the future. Some of these are priceless so I'll include it all bellow. Based on the face that Xia and Cathy interjected comments on the pages I'm hunching this was put during a Hon. Physics class during Freshman year. Everything that follows is exactly how it was written with notes in italic.

Josh's Predictions (with assistance)

1. I will have forgotten (With help from meeee *Cathy's writing*) everything I have predicted.
2. Xia thinks that basketball team could win state in the next four years. (I doubt it)
3. The food quality will get bad enough Cathy won't even eat lettuce in the cafeteria.
4. Cathy Walitzki will never be a better fencer then me again (You wish! *Cathy's writing*).
5. OES track will never again win districts while I'm at OES
6. my Cum Laude Nominations:
1. Kate
2. Makely
3. Andrew
4. Michael
5. Tommy
6. Kent
7. Eli
8. Peter
9. Mirriam
7. Lewis will become the trivia master
8. The year our student council has a president from our class the prom will be awesome (but we won't expect it).
9. Mariel Zagunis will go to the olympics and Patrick will not
10. Adam Ertur will eventually become a better fencer then me.
11. Someday Cathy will go to a school dance with me.
12. Tina Wong will keep dating Myron and eventually marry him saving Truc and I from having to worry about accidentally being the first SB to marry.
13. OES will come so close to getting state in Lacrosse when Dalton is a senior it'll hurt
14. I will never flunk an OES class
15. My hand writing will get so bad, paper will run in fear from my pen.
16. Our class with end up with more money then any in OES history.
17. (I, Cathy will co-opt the ceiling of the new science building in the name of art and paint a mural on it.) *Cathy again*
18. Dalton will end up being nice.
19. Blofish will continue to get worse and eventually collapse under it own weight.
20. Peter Farago will convince me to buy a mac someday.
21. When Trevor Hancey comes to OES next year he'll join fencing without me mentioning it.
22. Adam Ertur will always kick my ass in video games.
23. Randy and Andrew will try dating each other.
24. The Red Sox will never win the Pennant.

So when I was heading to class this morning one of the busses I walked by had one of those new ads Kaiser Permenente has been running. The ad's visual is a long line of red shopping carts running from one end of the bus to the other. The caption for the picture is "You are what you eat. Who do you want to be to today?". My reading on first pass, "You are who you eat. Who do you want to be today?". Brings a new meaning to full service health care.

-Josh

A bit out of character for me to post poetry but after reading this one I felt I needed to stick it up. ( Love at First Sight )

To end my ten day post drought I'm going to expose the coolness that is the edged pen. This is my pen:

This pen is called the Phileas and it's an inexpensive pen produced by the French pen company Waterman. In the end of April I purchased it from the online site, Pendemonium along with two bottles of ink. Now, why did Josh, the boy with handwriting so bad his high-school AP US history teacher let him type his essays purchase an implement that tends to make bad handwriting even worse?

Because I actually re-learned handwriting over the last three months. I used this book Write Now as a guide and it took me from chicken scratch to a person who was volunteered to do the group notes... *still shocked by the way*.

So several reasons I've decided that an edged pen is much better then the rolling balls I used to worship. First, you get to choose your own ink color! For example I have two at the moment, Nightshade and an Ottoman Azure and they're shades that just don't show up any other way then bottled ink. Second, if you have a good nib shape your handwriting instantly takes on a level of sophistication. The thick line to thin line transitions are so awesome and totally unattainable without an edged pen. Third, no one ever asks to borrow your pen in class :P.

So if you're around Portland I'd suggest visiting the pen shop down in Pioneer Square. The proprietors are a bit grumpy and elitist but if you ask them to help you try out pens they're glad to help. You also get bonus points if you mention that you think online commerce ruins the buying experience. They really don't like the encroaching quality of online sales into their niche.

-Josh

A most excellent night of bridge with dessert items and tea

I've got too many bridge players for one game but not enough for two. I'm in a bridge teaching mood and company sounds very nice. You interested? The deal:
The time: 8:00 PM
The day:Tuesday the 19th
The game:Party Bridge
The food:Something Tasty</br> If you're interested in learning some bridge or renewing your skills RSVP at (503) 473-7541. Or drop me a line through a comment.

-Josh

So, I decided to apply for a job today. I wrote in my journal last month that the only reason I'd apply for another wage job in the near future would be if the job sounded truly awesome. This job is truly awesome. Now I only hope they like me! I mean, I bake a mean batch of cookies so what isn't there to like?

Anyways, I still think that applying for a job is one of the hardest things to do. You really get to find out if you're actually worth something. Its also one of those 'learn to let go' situations since once one sends off the resume and the cover letter its out of your control.

Now to avoid stressing about it, I'm off to lay in the sun and try and get some more color on my legs.

Jobness and Peachiness

Every time I go down the "Mood" Selection menu in Xjournal I'm always checking to see if my current mood is 'chipper'. I think of a chipper mood as one which is alive and upbeat with a sort of forward traveling vector. I think today is the first day in quite a while that chipper is dominant as opposed to an emotion higher up the peak of intensity. In fact, I think life is pretty peachy in that exciting sort of way.

Work goes well with the exception of one project. However it's the only project without a firm deadline so I'm trying not to spaz out too much. I have to laugh a bit as my usual problem is overloading myself academically. This time its totally reversed with me only taking two classes but having five outside of class projects. That said, I certainly find it easier to overload for money rather then some letter on a piece of paper :P.

Excluding the whole being a Jew and therefore not having a hell to go to, does the following statement mean I'm going to hell?

As an OES graduate does enjoying a business class mean that I'm going to hell? I had this horrid nightmare where Chris Harris and Mary Quade stuck me in the same cage as their duck as punishment for "abusing the education I received from them". They then informed me that their duck, a study of classics, was going to take my place and go to Smith to Study Latin and Greek. Aside from raising interesting questions concerning my Freudian ego, it made me wonder if any other OES graduates have a entrenched feeling of revulsion at taking a business class?

The Love Bit

I needed to purge my mind of analogies for economics and the best way of purging a mind of thought is love.

I have great hopes that we shall love
each other all our lives as much as if we
had never married at all.
~ Lord Byron (who I will deny quoting :P)

Death cannot stop true love; it can only delay it for a little while!"
~Everyone should know!

Reread the book the following quote comes from. Having tried doing it otherwise I think this quote is more true to me then the first time I read it.

I don't understand how someone can MAKE love without BEING in love.
~Tereza

-Josh

Does This Mean I Should Get a "Real" Toolbox?

Every time I go into the Sears hardware section I feel my manhood sapping away. I always feel that I 'ought' to know where things are and what tool I need to purchase for a given project. In reality I find it easier to shop for Lingerie and I blush less asking for things at Spartacus then I do by the wrench/screw-driver section.

The Sears check-out counters are always staffed by non-threatening women who, I am certain, know more about hardware then I ever will. The two times I've asked questions of them I was answered respectfully, without any condemnation. Still, I secretly think they giggle inside when I admit ignorance of the difference between a Philips head 000 and a 00. (I guess the 00 is bigger but it doesn't really look that way...)

Anyways, today I braved Sears to buy a tool so I could upgrade my powerbooks memory. Thankfully, having my powerbook with me meant I could flip it over out of site and test the different sizes of screw driver without getting any 'can I help you?' looks from the counter girls. However, I'm unable to convince myself however that the girl who rung me up hadn't been using her hardware store x-ray vision to discover me franticly trying smaller and smaller Philips heads until I finally found one that worked.

Still it's my first post-highschool hardware purchase and my powerbook is substantially happier for it. Now I just need to buy a hammer so I'm not a total failure as a male :P

-Josh

Stupid class. I love my group members but I hate that group process takes so long. I was all set to run back and wake up my Kat but people wouldn't stop talking and I couldn't muscle my way out the door :(. Bahhhhhhh.

-Josh

I just rewired my broken blender and it worked!

-Josh

Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced --
even a proverb is no proverb to you till your life has illustrated it.
-John Keats

I really want several of these. If it weren't sacrilege to do surgery to a Totoro I'd look into embedding them in my Totoro family so they could waddle around when you patted them on the ears. Wouldn't it be cute to have walking Totoro's! Then I need to have an ongoing sound clip going 'Totoro, Totoro, Totoro' as the waddle around the apartment. The cuteness overwhelms.

-Josh

I'm still not entirely certain how I got into playing Bridge with Kat. Kat says that she and my father were one-upping each other about something and this led to my father to a suggestion of three handed bridge. It also could have had something to do with practicing bridge for the Sklar family reunion. This doesn't matter however.

What matters is that I've fallen for bridge much like I have for ballroom dancing and fountain pens; hard and fast. I realized this when I recently had a hand that was a 'five diamond pre-emptive bid". This means that out of 13 cards, 9 were diamonds and I had a general lack of face cards in my hand. The visceral pleasure I received from both Kat and my opponents when I opened this hand was the kind that essentially insures that I'll keep playing bridge until I'm cold in the ground.

Playing with Kat is as a partner is particularly fun. She takes games seriously enough to be good but not so much that she gets viciously grumpy about them. A rare combination certainly. Only fear I have is that I am really not as good at keeping my emotions out of games :P.

On a similar note I was wondering if anyone else would be interested in learning to play bridge? I want to play with Brandon but we need a fourth at the least. It's a fairly fast game (not like chess) so its not like you're signing up to learn some sort of all day kind of thing.

At the least bridge has already introduced one novel question for me. Is it a good or a bad thing to meet to meet your girlfriend's Grandmother by beating her in several games of bridge?

This is why living in Portland can be so pretty!

-Josh