On the radio yesterday, they were talking about how the impending writers strike in Hollywood may leave us with nothing to watch but "reality" shows. And maybe "Friends". So now is my big chance to be a "scab" writer for TV. Would anyone notice the difference?

The warm weather starts to creep back into the Midwest. I hope the little cold snap didn't kill off the flowers or stunt the budding of the trees. You have to be impressed by the power of nature to regenerate, though. I have this one nightmare where the seasons get screwed up, and the trees are bare all summer long. And people get depressed from the lack of green, and the suicide rate goes up, and the air quality slips from the lack of cleansing done to the air by the trees. Every day is an ozone action day; people are asked to not drive, but they do, because they just want to get away from the sad-looking trees; get somewhere else. Children climb the trees and and cover them with green paper, trying to make them look right. Out of frustration, a man starts running around with a chainsaw in his neighborhood, hacking at the trees and anything else that gets in his way. He dies when he miscalculates and one of the attacked trees collapses on top of him.

Well, haven't I just been lousy at this lately.

What's bugging me today? Hmmm. Funny that a guy named Bush is so intent on selling off the environment. My god, if he lasts 8 years, there won't be anything green left to save, except for the cash lining his pockets. And he'll make sure the students in this country are too dumb to realize how badly the nation is screwed up. I see his evil plan; make us stupid, make us a nation of cows to be herded in cattle rancher style, mooing, mooing, as we are slaughtered in our own backyards.

Dorothy Alagna: b. 2/4/1930, d. 2/19/2001. I still have some mints left over from xmas, grandma. And I have plenty of memories. Thank you.

Napster is dead. Long live Napster!

Cold, ice-rainy day here. Suits my mood perfectly

So I'm lousy at doing this. Anyone with a gripe against me can get in line. Zen is perhaps the art of not letting the rest of the world get to you. I'd try to meditate but absolute silence bothers me. I wonder why?

I said I wasn't going to do it. That I had too much other stuff to do to get involved. That I wasn't going to bloat my hard drive with mp3's. But I have finally succumbed to the napster experience. One more strike against my social life. Sigh.

Saw "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Decent, though not always spirited acting. The fight scenes were prone to going overboard in their fantastic choreography. Overall, a classic tragedy, which, even though it ends as it perhaps should, is not wholly satisfying. Worth seeing, if only for the atmosphere and scenery.

So the mayor of my little town got a DUI last night. I blame Bush. Damn Republican trendsetters.