Limp Bizkit: "Wish You Were Here" with Johnny Rzeznik
and Dispatch: "Out Loud"

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday (its late Wednesday night but it'll come up Thursday, so bear with me people) and it was a mixed day. I woke up at one, which was against my plan and didn't go to my classes again. But I decided to avoid feeling doubly guilty by missing ashes like I have the last I don't know how many years. I am Catholic (obviously) and went to nine years of Catholic school and I am ashamed to not know the slightest thing about my faith. I joke, I mock, but it really upsets me that I was not taught what I was supposed to learn at a Catholic school. Around 4th grade there was some kind of curriculum shakeup and we stopped going to church every Wednesday. We never discussed the Bible readings in Religion class, but I do remember learning about the damn Beatitudes every year. My parents never enforced church; my mom always said that she was perfectly able to speak and listen to God on her own in her way. And it got me out of going to church as a kid. To this day, I tend not to listen to the gospel; I glaze over what is going on and being said by habit. But today was a good day. I don't feel "born-again" or anything, but it was a good mass, in latin mainly, and it just made me think of what I liked about church in the first place. When I was a kid, I could recite every line the priest said in mass... the Catholic school boy trait. Now its all I can do to muster up an "and also with you" in the right place. I still mix up what is said before the first reading and before the gospel, and I never knew the Apostle's Creed. But Catholic, I am.

Matthew Good Band: "Middle Class Gangsters"

On a different note, supposedly George Walker Bush (as Don King says) went to bed Wednesday night to make his final decision by morning re: war in Iraq. So I guess that means it starts tomorrow. I've been reading a lot lately about this topic, in the Trib, Newsweek, US News, the Post, the Times, the Journal, all over, the Economist, National Review, the New Yorker, etc., etc., and what has struck me the most is that every source seems to support the war. Now, I've been for it almost since day one, but what surprises me is somewhat liberal newspapers and magazines are now onboard. Obviously it has become not a choice of go to war or not, but we're definitely going to war and are you on the side of freedom? Now, everyone is for peace and no one is for Saddam, but it has gotten to a certain point where our dicks are on the line and if we back down and leave Saddam in power, he wins and will take that as far as he can. He must be taken out now, and the only option is to invade. Now its about whether we do it alone, which would be horrible, or if other countries can wise up and join in, with manpower and money. The UN is proving useless, for while it was the best course of action at the time, the UN is in fact crumbling and if it doesn't stand up to Saddam like it threatened, it should collapse. Inspections are not working; you inspection supporters are blinded by the major victories in very minor areas. The al-Samoud missiles, while its good Saddam is disarming them, are simply the tip of the iceberg. He is playing the inspectors and the UN and the French and the Russians and the Chinese are letting him walk all over them. Bottom line: he must go, for hundreds of reasons, and it seems that popular concensus is coming around to that end. I just hope we dont go it alone, for that would be Walker's lowest point... we need the world's support on this. But if they're unwilling to sign on (I'm referring to Old Europe), we have to do what we have to do. It is a pressure cooker and time is running out, unfortunately. We can't fight in the Iraqi summer so the time is now. Pass the duct tape...DEVELOPING.

Ryan Adams: "Nuclear"

One more UN note. I am flummoxed at this. Flabbergasted. Libya (LIBYA!!!) is now the head of the UN Human Rights Commission. Are you fucking kidding me? Has Annan checked his Freedom House rankings lately? Or in the last 20 years? This is the result of a technicality in the system. The chairmanship rotates continent by continent and this year it's Africa's turn and they gave it to Qaddafi. They must be out of their minds. I know he's been acting better in America's interests so we'll lift the sanctions (which the UN did last year, though ours are still rightfully in place) but c'mon. My opinion, until the man who blew up Pan Am 103, amond many other atrocities) is out of power, Libya will never change, no matter what it looks like. The Human Rights Commission????? Wow.

Counting Crows: "Round Here"

Yesterday I took the Rorschach Test online and I failed. Granted the one I took was all in black and white and theyre normally in colors which makes it much easier to identify the interpretive shapes, but I would stare and stare and not get *anything* supposedly in there. I'd be like: "it looks like nothing" or "butterfly" for nearly every one. I know that psychiatrists laugh at the Rorschach Test these days, but it makes me sad that I couldn't even get one.

I watching Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight (yes, with the great Sarah Silverman as cohost) and he brought out a drug store Easter Basket, like at Walgreens for $4.99 or something and I'm not kidding, it had army men, candy, and a big giant fake gun. What kind of Easter Basket is that? I'm sure Jesus would approve. I mean the holiday is so commercial already, what with that damn Cadburry bunny (sidenote: I can't wait for those commercials again and those great treats, as well as the Reese's PB eggs... damn I love Easter candy) but c'mon... a gun in an Easter basket? Enough.

Night.