Radioactive Matt and His Adventures

See you later LiveJournal. You've been my home since September of 2002. So much has happened since then.

www.zorronation.com ---> GO THERE!

Trust me, you'll like it better than this!

Yeah, some more time has gone by.

Andy and I have been settled in our subletted place for a few weeks now. It's really a great a place. I almost wish we could all rent this place in the fall, but it would be too expensive. The only reason I can afford it now is because I'm sharing a room with Andy. We've been looking at a few places for the fall, and hopefully we'll find a place soon. It will be good to get this squared away.

My LSAT prep classes came and went. Overall, it was pretty helpful. However, the best help comes from actually taking the tests themselves. I definitely feel more confident about taking the test. I hope that with the adrenaline of test day and with the skills I've learned from practice, that I can score 160. I can't wait to finally get the test over with, and go on with my life.

My internship in Senator Kerry's office starts next Monday. I'm extremely excited. I hope it will be a good experience, and I hope to meet some cool people as well.

Boston in the summertime has been really fun, even with the straight two weeks of rain.

Other things:

Cinco de Andrew: It definitely was a good party. For me, the best part was hanging out with Devin, Afton, and Jess. In the case of Devin and Afton, I hadn't seen them much since High School ended, and I don't see Jess that often. Of course, it was a blast with the rest of the regulars there, and Andy came up a couple days before move-in to hang out.

Move in day was interesting. I have a slightly amusing anecdote. We get almost all the way there. We get on Park Drive. We're heading north. Then we see a squad car telling us that we can't go any further. I thought, "that's weird." I decide to try and go around via Kenmore Square. That's when Andy and I noticed that there was some kind of walk going on Commonwealth, through Kenmore Square, and then on Beacon Street. The new place was just 200 feet north of Beacon Street, and we couldn't cross it. We went back to the squad car we first saw. Andy talked to him, and he summarized that there was a walk for hunger going on, and that we'd have to go around. The cop seemed a little unfamiliar with the area, but suggested going around everything by taking Storrow Drive. We took his advice. We went west on Storrow, and headed out pretty much to Allston before we could get off. Then we found Brighton ave, and finally able to get on Commonwealth Ave. north of Beacon Street. We found the apartment, and after that 50 minute detour, finally able to move in. But that was only the start of the day. There was a trip to Ikea, putting things together, a trip to NEU to pick up Andy's stuff, then a trip back home for me, which Melissa was kind enough to accompany me on, and then I was finally dropped off by my parents. But, I still had to put my bed together and had an awful time sleeping. Yeah...it was a long day.

Pete and I saw Alice In Chains last week. I feel so mixed about it. Yes, they are one of my favorite bands of all time. But, I just couldn't help but be disappointed in the setlist. They didn't play anything from their softer/acoustic albums. Maybe that wouldn't have upset me if I didn't pay scalper's prices for the tickets, but oh well.

Memorial Day Weekend was mixed too. I had a great time hanging out with everyone from home. We got to do the normal "guy" summer stuff, like baseball and BBQ. It was even better because Andy and Dan came down to chill with the RI crew for the day. I'm also glad I got to keep Andrea company after her surgery. The only downside was that I was kind of sick. It wasn't debilitating, I didn't have to stay in bed or anything, but it was an effort to do the things I wanted to do. I actually had to go to the doctor and get meds. I haven't been prescribed antibiotics in years (I think before college). I'm almost back to normal, more than a week later. I still have a slight cough, and I suppose that will be gone in a few days.

Needless to say, May was kind of a tough month for me. Very mixed. However, I'm very happy to be here, and I am amazed that everything that needed to come together for me to stay here actually happened. There is no doubt in my mind that this will be an extremely positive experience.

It is not that I don't have the time to write anything, but I have found other outlets instead of writing here. I started working on the "Best of the Left" Podcast, which I advise everyone of you to check out. These issues are important, and your support is needed. If you would only take 5 minutes and write a review for the show on iTunes, that would help us a lot right there. If you don't want to listen to it, and if you know someone who is, go ahead and tell them about it.

Middler (Junior) year is now over! Needless to say, I came up on top. I kicked ass in my writing with an A-. Stats and and Courts were both good, but I ended up with a C+ in my Victims class. So, it is officially summertime as of last Friday.

But what are my summer plans? I think all of you who read this probably know that I will be in Boston this summer. This all originated from one thing. My mom and I were discussing LSAT prep classes. The class that we decided on was only offered at Suffolk University. I decided that I would forever regret not spending a summer in Boston, so I should probably do it now in case I don't get to stay there for law school. I made the decision, and then came the next step: Getting clearance from S&S. They'll keep me on for the summer. The next step was finding a place. Andy and I found a place on Park Drive. The place is right off Beacon Street and about a quarter mile northwest of Fenway Park. The last step was finding an internship. I applied to a trio of places. I applied at the Attorney General of the Commonwealth, Senator Kerry's Office, and the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office. I interviewed with the Attorney General about 2 weeks ago, and I interviewed with Senator Kerry's Office yesterday. I thought I tanked the AG's interview, but I felt really good about Senator Kerry's. Low and behold, this morning, I got a call from Senator Kerry's Office this morning, and they offered me the job. Needless to say, I accepted. It was definitely my first pick, and I'm really excited to be working on issues that I care about.

I'll be taking the rest of this week to get ready for the move on Sunday. Tomorrow: IKEA!

So, President Bush...he's a winner.

President Bush said Tuesday that American forces will remain in
Iraq for years and it will be up to a future president to decide when to bring them all home. But defying critics and plunging polls, he declared, "I'm optimistic we'll succeed. If not, I'd pull our troops out."

-Associated Press

I've refrained from specifically bashing President Bush because it seems so trite. Most of the time I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and blame his constituents, the Republicans, or the fanatical, (and often unreasonable), extremely religious right. But, this statement...it floored me. I don't think it can be any clearer that we have an incompetent leader. He made the mess, and he's waiting it out to let someone else clean it up. At least his father had the foresight to end the Gulf War after accomplishing it's main objective in Kuwait. He knew that if they went into Baghdad and toppled the government, something like this may happen.

I am genuinely concerned that this war will destroy our country. Without some serious change in direction, I find it hard to believe that we can ever be credible again.

Heh, "Kill the President" by the Offspring just started playing on my iPod while on shuffle.

There has to be a better way of "fighting terror" than what we are doing now. How do you change a man's belief? You can drag him to water, but you can't make him drink. The water we're asking the world to drink isn't nearly as clean and pure as we want them to believe. If we do not hold ourselves to the standards we preach, we cannot beat them.

Anyway, I decided to separete today's entries becaue they are going to be so different.

I finally got video on my Ipod. I took the plunge and bought my first video on Itunes because I couldn't resist. It was that Pixar short right before the Incredibles. The jack-a-lope, and the sheep, and you know? You don't? I'll have to show you. Other Ipod things, I figured out how to convert some movies on my computer to the Ipod format, so I have Equilibrium on there, that's kind of cool. But here is something I'm really getting into. I don't know how many of you with Ipods have heard of Podcasts, but I went looking and found some really good ones. I got Senator Barrack Obama's podcast, and I am now thoroughly convicned he should run for President. He had an awesome little conversation why energy dependence = national security. I got a few others, mostly Liberal radio...Another is called the Best of the Left, which highlights the day's liberal new programs. One of them had an excerpt from a piece by JFK. I was very impressed by that, I'll paste it here.

"What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "Liberal?" If by "Liberal" they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal." But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."

"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves.

"I believe also in the United States of America, in the promise that it contains and has contained throughout our history of producing a society so abundant and creative and so free and responsible that it cannot only fulfill the aspirations of its citizens, but serve equally well as a beacon for all mankind. I do not believe in a superstate. I see no magic in tax dollars which are sent to Washington and then returned. I abhor the waste and incompetence of large-scale federal bureaucracies in this administration as well as in others. I do not favor state compulsion when voluntary individual effort can do the job and do it well. But I believe in a government which acts, which exercises its full powers and full responsibilities. Government is an art and a precious obligation; and when it has a job to do, I believe it should do it. And this requires not only great ends but that we propose concrete means of achieving them.

"Our responsibility is not discharged by announcement of virtuous ends. Our responsibility is to achieve these objectives with social invention, with political skill, and executive vigor. I believe for these reasons that liberalism is our best and only hope in the world today. For the liberal society is a free society, and it is at the same time and for that reason a strong society. Its strength is drawn from the will of free people committed to great ends and peacefully striving to meet them. Only liberalism, in short, can repair our national power, restore our national purpose, and liberate our national energies. And the only basic issue in the 1960 campaign is whether our government will fall in a conservative rut and die there, or whether we will move ahead in the liberal spirit of daring, of breaking new ground, of doing in our generation what Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman and Adlai Stevenson did in their time of influence and responsibility.

"Our liberalism has its roots in our diverse origins. Most of us are descended from that segment of the American population which was once called an immigrant minority. Today, along with our children and grandchildren, we do not feel minor. We feel proud of our origins and we are not second to any group in our sense of national purpose. For many years New York represented the new frontier to all those who came from the ends of the earth to find new opportunity and new freedom, generations of men and women who fled from the despotism of the czars, the horrors of the Nazis, the tyranny of hunger, who came here to the new frontier in the State of New York. These men and women, a living cross section of American history, indeed, a cross section of the entire world's history of pain and hope, made of this city not only a new world of opportunity, but a new world of the spirit as well."

I never knew that Kennedy made a speech like that.

I've been awfully busy lately, and I haven't thought about writing in a while. I doubt many of you would find my writing papers very interesting. Believe me, if you didn't read my papers for my law class for last semester, these are even worse. But! Good news! On my first major paper, I got an A-. I've been working extremely hard in that class, and it's nice that I was finally able to beat the B+. Initially, a few of my paragraphs were worse (D, C's and B's). My smaller papers were better though, B+'s.

I have a feeling I'll get around to something soon. Last weekend at my grandparent's house was more than enough to get the fuel going again...

Et tu, Brute?

Today is March 15, it's been a little while.

First and foremost, Spring Break was a blast! For those of you who do not know, we have been planning this spring break road trip since around Christmas. Actually, I think Andy and I first talked about it in November, after coming back from a visit to Long Island. Looking back, I'm a little surprised that a plan was made and we actually followed through on it. But, a road trip is only as complicated as you want to make it. That is exactly what we did at first. I jkust have to say thanks to Dan's dad (hey Burt!) for telling us not to go see Queen in Washington D.C. It just sucks that I'm out a few dollars still, but it saved a lot of aggravation.

Day 1
So anyway, last Friday, Andy, Dan, Mellisa and I (Pete was along for the RI portion) set off on our trip. We went to Wright's Farm in RI for dinner. Afterwards, we chilled out a bit and hit up some "cake" at Greg'. There, we met up with Andrew, Pat, and Andrea. We headed back to my house and hit the hay.

Day 2
The next day, we hung around a bit, grabbed breakfast and the like, and decided to head out to see a movie. Yes, we saw Ultraviolet, and it was awful. We walked around the Providence Place Mall a bit, then headed back to my house for dinner. Dinner was funny, because the NU Crew got to meet my grandparents. A little later, Andrew and Susan met up with us, then we headed out to URI with Mr. Patrick Kelly. Pat was a wonderful host, providing us with food and the like. We hit up a lame party, then decided to play frisbee at the beach. The sand was kind of frozen, but I guess that was good, because, well, no sand in your shoes.

Day 3
Finally, Sunday morning came. We said goodbye to URI, bade Pete farewell and thanked him for his company, and off we went to New York. The trip was pretty uneventful, except for Melissa's coffee cravings. We did eventually find a Starbuck's in Fairfield. I drove the whole way, I've done it a few times now, and I like the drive. Once we got to LI, we had to go to the one and only, Burgers and Such (not the real name of the place). I actually didn't get any burgers, I decided to give up burgers for Lent, but the hot dogs were decent. We also met up with Lisa, and spent some time hanging out at her place. Later, we hit up some record stores, went around LI a bit more, found a Steve and Barrie's ($8 dollar store!) and grabbed some dinner at Fridays. It's so awesome ordering beer at dinner. The rest of the night, we chilled and watched the Oscars. My opinion of Jon Stewart, B+.

Day 4
No groaning about Mondays here. We were off to Manhattan. We got to Penn Station around 12ish. From there, we just walked around, we never really did anything in particular. We did walk by the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center, but that wasn't really a big deal. Melissa wanted to go to the Gugenheim museum, so we took a cab uptown. Andy and Melissa went to the museum, and Dan and I went to Central Park to look around. We got a call from them a little while after walking around. It turned out Melissa left her wallet in the cab! Whoops...So we meet back up with them, and she says there isn't any hope of getting it back. We walk around a bit more, grab some lunch. Here is where things get strange. Melissa said she wanted to get flowers for Lisa for allowing her to stay at the apartment. Ok, not so weird. By now, we're used to Melissa's coffee addiction, and she's pleading with us to find one close by. Dan and I want to start heading back towards Penn Station. Melissa keeps on insisting on staying close by, and breaks down on the sidewalk laughing/pleading for coffee. Ok, kind of weird. Finally, she confesses that someone found her wallet in the cab, and we can't leave the area because they live close by. Ohhhh, that makes more sense. Andy and Melissa thought it would be funny to keep it a secret. We walked to the wallet finders apartment. They were really nice people, I almost wanted to take their name and number down so we could meet up with them again. Alright, now we're on our way back home. We get coffees, and we're in the cab. Right before we stop, the cabbie jams his foot on the gas and my coffee goes flying...! Damn, I really wanted that coffee. We're back at Penns Station in time for the train and in time for 2 hours of 24! So sad, Edgar...but not nearly as sad as this Monday's episode. I'm still distraught.

Day 5
It is now Tuesday, and it is on to our final destination. We leave fairly early, around 930, and head off to Maryland. I just have to say, once we got out of New York, it was a great drive. The NJ turnpike is just a breeze. We stop once in NJ to relieve ourselves and get a caffeine fix. At around 1, we make it to Delaware. I told Meghan that I would come visit her, and it was awesome that I was able to meet up with her. We had lunch, and she showed us a bit of UDel and her skating rink. Then we hit the road again. We were on the road only for about 45 minutes when we made it to Towsen. Dan had a friend there, and we chilled at his apartment for a little while. Evan was at home and he met up with us briefly. Finally, we headed to Andy's hosue. I have to say, I do like the Maryland area, I may consider looking at law schools in that area. At Andy's place, his dad cooked us up some mean steaks and veggies, it was delicious. We started watching the movie Hero, but we didn't get to finish it. Andy showed us around Annapolis a bit and we met up with a bunch of his friends. Annapolis was cool. They all headed to a coffee shop, and I got a drink at the bar next door. There were Navy Cadets everywhere because the Academy is so close by. In the bar I was at, some Cadets were playing some cover tunes as a 3 piece. It sounded cool outside, but inside, they weren't that great. An electric, an acoustic, a vocalist, but no bass and drums? SUCKS! They covered Two Princes, and the vocalist totally left out that scat part in the beginning, I was disappointed. I went over to the coffee shop after my gin and tonic and then we headed out to a diner. It seems like everyone outside of New Englad are obsessed with diners. They're alright, I guess, good breakfast, but nothing spectacular. We made one more stop after the diner, Andy wanted to visit his friend who just came back from Basic Training for the Marine Corps. He had a few interesting stories. We finally headed back. It was real late and we were all exhausted. I drove all the way to Delaware, and Andy drove everywhere after that.

Day 6
Today was Washington D.C. We all slept a bit later, got breakfast at Donuts and Such (not name of the real place), and headed off to the metro station to visit our nation's capital. It was gorgeous day, and I got a ton of pictures. We hit the big monuments and memorials, and the Smithsonian Modern Art Museum. I really didn't care for the museum, but it had an awesome (but expensive) cafeteria. But being on top of the Washington Monument and seeing the Vietnam Memorial were the real highlights. The other highight was going out to Arlington National Cemetary. I can't really find the right words to describe it, I would normally say "cool", but I feel that's disrespectful. I highly reccomend anyone who has a chance to visit to do so. Melissa's grandparents are buried there, so we located where they were. On the way, we were stopped momentarily because there was a service going on. We saw a 21 gun salute and heard Taps being played. Very sad, but touching. After that we headed off to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and JFK's grave. All in all, it was just incredible. We left fairly late, hit up the Lincoln Memorial, WWII moneument, and headed back. That night, we headed back to Annapolis and went out to eat with Andy's friends. We went to this crab place. We were planning to buy a ton of crabs, but they were extremely expensive, so we didn't. Afterwards, we decided to head back earliy, because we were leaving very early the next morning. Out the door by 7 was the plan.

By the way, today is the day Melissa decided to quit drinking coffee. Rules for next road trip: No one detoxes off of any substances!

Day 7
We actually got up and out of the house by 645! It was quite a feat. A quick stop for breakfast, a small detour into Pennsylvania (ANDY!), and we were actually back at Dan's at 11. Melissa and Dan splits those segments. We dropped Dan, then I took over from NY through half of CT. We were still making teriffic time, and Andy drove us back Johnston by 200. After a quick lunch, I had to drive the other to Norwood, which is around Boston. After the long day of driving, the road trip concluded for me at 4 in the afternoon.

But there was still more spring break to go. I hung out with Andrew that night, and watched Walk the Line, which was better the 2nd time around for me, because I knew even more of the songs than when I saw it the first. I went to bed early and pretty much did nothing all of Friday. On Friday night, we met up with the guys and Andrew's lady friend, Susan, and her friends. We ended up seeing the Libtertine, which has knocked Event Horizon off as the most awful movie I've ever seen. Seriously, Ultraviolet then the Libertine, the next movie I see better be phenomenal. On Saturday, Pete and I went to my grandparent's hosue for lunch, then back up to Boston for an awful Bruin's game, but at least we had good seats.

That about concludes the trip. I had to write about it in detail just because it was so much fun, and I know I'm going to want to remember these details somewhere down the road. Now it's time to start planning Spring Break '07!

If I let it, this writing class is going to get the best of me. Yesterday (Tuesday), it was really stressing me out. I felt a little better about it today, until I couldn't think of anything to write. Luckily, after a little while, it started to go again. I don't know why it's been such a battle. I guess I've been trying to do too much in the last week. I almost burnt myself out. Ever since Monday night, I feel like I've been in a fog of some kind, but it's breaking a bit. Sometimes, I feel unstoppable. The sky's the limit. I take myself on that offer, and then, for a day or two, I can't do much. I spent it all. I guess you can only be allotted so much. Last weekend, I didn't rest to get any of it back, and I kind of paid for it. I'm really hoping that this long weekend will do me good, and spring break is right around the corner (but I still haven't unloaded those Queen tickets, any takers?). That's really all I have to say for now.

Last weekend was such a blur, but a lot of fun. As I mentioned earlier, I took a practice LSAT on Saturday morning. I got the results this morning, and I'm a little surprised. I thought I did much worse. I eneded up with a 155. Slightly above average, and with a lot of room for imporovement. But, now I'm not totally discouraged...that score would get me into some of the lower tier law schools alone. Of course, I'm trying to aim a little higher. My mom and I have been talking about law schools in general. I am almost positive now that I want to stay in Boston. So, I have about 6 options here. Harvard, of course, will be the reach, but I'm not 100% sure I'd go if I got accepted. I think BC or BU would probably be the overall best realistic choices. I think I'd prefer BC over BU. I think Northeastern would be a solid 4th choice. Rounding out the bottom, Suffolk, then N.E. School of Law. Out of the 2 though, I'm not sure whether NEU or Suffolk is a better school.

Its kind of weird to have to go through this whole process again. I vividly remember applying to college in what seemed like only a short time ago, and come June, I'd be out of high school 3 years. It's also decidedly odd that lately I've been talking to and seeing a lot of people from high school. On Friday, Meghan came into town for a skating competition, I haven't seen her in a year and half. The night before, I was at Punter's pub and saw someone else I knew from high school. Last of all, it seems that Rob might want to get in touch with us again. I almost have to wonder, who else is next? So far, 2006 has gotten off to an odd start. From what I feel right now, I think that "odd" will be the best term to characterize the whole year. But, as usual, I may be getting ahead of myself.

I forgot to mention this earlier. I got another interesting piece of mail today. Some of you have probably heard of the company, KAPLAN. They offer a host of services for college related things. No, this is not an advertisement. In any case, normally I throw these things out right away, but this I could not pass up. They are offering a few LSAT practice test next Saturday Feb. 11th. I signed up. I think this could be pretty interesting. I guess this means that I'm not spending a(n) [extremely] late night at the bar on Friday.

I bet there is a catch though, I'll probably have to pay to get the results. Ha ha, nothing's free!

It seems like I have done everything in my power to avoid finally finishing this paper for writing. I think I'm intimidated by it. But, I've been working on it everyday, so I hope today is the day. I did say that yesterday, but it was too nice out, I had to go for that bike ride! The rest of the weekend has been awesome...

I got a little notice in the mail, I only have about two weeks to decide what I want to do this summer. Should I stay or should I go now? The Clash say that I should probably go back home. But, I have yet to spend a summer in Boston, and if I don't get to stay here for law school, I think I would really regret that. I just hope I'm not eating these words come July.

Pros
+ Pete is here this summer
+ Many of my friends are here this summer
+ I get to continue to be on my own
+ A chance at a new internship
+ Maybe I could actually do that Honors Junior/Senior Project

Cons
- The guys from home
- Playing baseball with the guys from home (however, Pete is stuck in Boston, that would make it hard)
- Not seeing Mom and Dad, and the rest of the family
- I dislike the Boston S&S and would miss working at the one at home (if everyone is still there)
- It could be in my best interest to continue at the RI Public Defener's Office

I know I'd miss home, but four months is a VERY long time.

I think I'll know soon enough.

Last night, Andrea and I had another movie night. We were having a heated debtae whether to watch Equilibrium, Face/Off, or 24. We decided on Equilibrium, but not without mentioning the greatness of the Cage Thrillogy (The Rock, Con Air, and Face/Off), and Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland).

In any case, naturally, I start dreaming about being in Stop and Shop (what a surprise). I don't know why, but in a carriage, there are some of those glass balls with VX poison gas from the "The Rock". Maybe I was there to use it (after all, my love for Stop and Shop is about zero), or to save everybody inside (a la 24). But, I broke one somehow trying to remove or defuse it. I yelled out for everyone to evacuate the store while holding my breath as not to inhale. I scream out of there, because, I've seen The Rock, I know what VX does! Unfortuantely, many people in Stop and Shop weren't so lucky. I'm outside looking through the window and see everyone there fall down and start to spasm. Luckily, I didn't have to see their faces melt off. I started feeling this twinge in my back and briefly convulsed, but I was OK. Anyway, the gas disapates. About 50 people are dead. The police are looking for me. I am in the store and run into a friend, and she says, "This is terrible, do you know who did this?" Of course, I reply "I have no idea."

I run out to the parking lot, and I'm in a panic. 50 people are dead. I start to drive away, praying that it all was a dream. Luckily, that's when I sprang out of my bed and saw that it was 7:00 AM. I still had another hour before I had to get ready to go to work for real. Back to sleep...

Last night, I saw a theatrical adaptation of Dead Man Walking. For those of you who don't know, it is about a death row inmate named Matthew Poncelet who helped murder a couple and raped the woman. A nun befriends Matthew, in an attempt to help him commute his sentence to life in prison, and offer some form of reconciliation through God and the Bible as his spiritual advisor.

I'm stil against the death penalty, and I think there was a very important subtle point made in the play that I think a lot of people missed. One of the victim's parents expressed their anger at the DA for not returning their calls, and how their feelings were never taken into consideration. I'm taking a class this semester called Victims and Crime. In colonial times, and pretty much through all of history until then, the victim had an active part in the justice system. They were able vent their grievances, collect restitution, and leave feeling at least somewhat satisfied that justice has been done. When the Constitution was written, crime no longer happened to the victim, it became an affront to the state. For most of US history, the victim was only treated as a witness to the crime. Justice became centered around the offender instead. In good news, we have started to move away from this to become somewhat sensitive to a victim's needs, but work is far from done.

Getting back to what I was saying, have we ignored the victim so long that the only justice that families of homicide victims deem acceptable is the death penalty? They have no other way to feel better except to dehumanize those who have wronged them. Do I blame them? Of course not, they don't have any other outlet. If we move towards a victim centered justice, restorative justice, it may be possible to bring more satisfaction to victims and/or their families without degrading offenders (still human beings) to a point where they are deemed to have no intrinsic value.

I think we're at a crossroads with the death penalty in this country. In case you haven't noticed, there are several Constitutional challenges that have been granted under the 8th amendment that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. I'm pretty surprised that our new Justice, Samuel Alito, sided with the majority granting a stay. I'm not surprised that Thomas, Scalia, and Roberts didn't. I only hope that Justice Alito can be a moderate on the bench. In any case, with so much evidence that the death penalty has racial disparity in it's administration, and so many inmates exonerated, or commuted because of certain doubts, I think now would be a better time than ever to join the western world and finally declare the use of the death penalty unconstitutional.

There is only one reservation I have about revoking the death penalty. That is for those already incarcerated for life. What is to stop those sentenced to life from killing another inmate? They can't serve any more time. I suppose we could send them to solitary confinement for years, but isn't that cruel and unusual? I would almost think the death penalty would be more humane in that instance. That's something I'll have to think about a little while longer.

Within hours of my last post about the Sox getting it all together, the deal for Coco Crisp almost fell through. Being a Sox fan (well, not for a long time, but being the brother of probably the most hardcore Sox fan, and Bruins fan, etc.), I definitely know never to speak so soon. But, it all came together, they are no longer without a center fielder.

In more news about the Red Sox, between Pete and myself, we spent all day yesterday waiting around the computer in the virtual waiting room. We got tickets for six games. We're going to see them play the Rangers and Nationals in June, both standing room, the Royals in July, awesome seats right field loge, the Tigers in August, pretty good grandstand seats, an Orioles game in August, standing room, and a September game against the Twins, kind of crappy right field seats. I'm excited though, I don't mind the standing room, normally you'll find a seat eventually, unless it's a good game, then I really don't care because you were there for it!

I've been keeping busy lately, it's been tough to sit down and right with so much going on. Turning 21 has definitely opened up some new "venues" and the like, so I've been enjoying that. I also have that middler writing class this semester, it kind of saps a lot of the creative energy I have. After I write boring papers about different types of legal genres, I don't really have much left to write about anything else. Plus, I've definitely had to play catch up after my birthday weekend. Not having to entertain the RI crew does leave me a little extra time for homework and writing, so that's a plus (well, if you can call it that).

January has been cruising right by. So far, everything seems to be going alright, I just feel guilty because I feel like I'm one of a few who can say that. For everyone else, 2006 hasn't started off the best. I wish the best for everyone, and I really hope it turns around.

We had our first broomball game of the season almost two weeks ago, they were a rookie team, we won! So we're 1-0 and at the top of the division (a first!). If we play hard tomorrow, I think we can stay there.

Word of advice: Don't buy seasons of 24 on DVD, you won't be doing anything else.

I never doubted them, did you?

Yeah, that's a lie, but I'm now confident we will finish ahead of the Orioles and D-Rays...probably the Jays too.

I just wanted to write down here a big thank you to everyone who made my birthday weekend just awesome. ALso, thank you to everyone who took the time to call, facebook message, text message or any other way. Really, everyone, thank you, I'll never forget it.

Yeah, I turn 21 tomorrow. Sweet.

It is nice to have some good weather in January. It reminds of this time when I was a kid, right around my birthday. In the dead middle of January, it was a beautiful 60-70 degree day. I remember my dad got the grill going and we had a bbq (I think). This was when we lived in Warwick, and I remember riding my bike in the culd de sac across the street, so I'm going to place this around 91 to 93. Days like this, I wish I was off campus, because I would call Pete and ask him to come over and we'd grill. He'd be so stoked. While it's not as warm as it was that memorable day, I still decided to take my bike out and go for a little ride this morning before class.

I had a pretty cool dream the other night. I should have wrote it yesterday, because I would have remembered more details, but I think i can still describe some of the images and feelings fairly accurately.

I was walking up some hill. I don't remember why. It wasn't particularly long. I made it to the top, only now it was like a cliff. There was this forest of these purple spruce trees. The next thing I know, the cliff disappeared, or I jumped and I fall slowly to the ground through them. I just remember thinking that these trees were really beautiful and feeling at peace. At the bottom, there was a river, and a net to cross it. After taking a little bit of time, I crossed over. I remember the net was slightly challenging to cross. I don't know what was on the other side, I think I may have woken up.

If you wanted to search for a meaning, the only idea I had was that I can only spend so long in one place before I move on to the next challenge. However, I have to remember to take a look around, and not rush through. I guess that sounds legitimate, I have to live by my brother's words. Live for the present. Maybe I'm too future oriented.

Winter break is coming to a close. Needless to say, it has been anything but normal. Although I enjoyed it, it has been rather tumultuous, to say the least. It has been hard to write anything lately. Too much of that emotional energy and motivation has been silently sucked away by all these weird happenings. I am looking forward to everything getting back on track.

I still haven't a lot to say. Too much of what's on my mind is just too sensitive to write about fully. Maybe I can summarize it quickly using pronouns and vague references.

1. Did they really?
2. Didn't know that.
3. I suspected that.
4. Whoa! Definite bombshell.
5. I'm sorry.
6. A sign.
7. Stop, nobody likes it when you do that.

A little while ago, I just got back from 500 mile plus adventure. I went to Dan's last night, slept over, put all his stuff in the car, then drove out to Boston. I chilled there for a while, and then I drove back to RI. I enjoyed it. I don't get to drive too often when I'm in Boston, and now it's out of my system.

The final countdown is on. Less than a fortnight until I'm 21. Happy happy, joy joy.

:-(