Justice, I guess

It's not as good as accidentally outing yourself in a men's room, but this is satisfying: My "sworn nemeses", the Westboro Baptist "Church" have been successfully sued for $11 million for one funeral protest too many. They certainly don't have that kind of dough. There's no doubt that money, not exactly buying love, affects emotions. The question is, is $11 million enough to alleviate the suffering of thousands made worse? My answer: that depends. Based on the "church"'s history of suing others to fund their hatred, then yes, they should lose money. But, if it was merely the hatred without the money, then no, money's no good. That's not to say that this isn't a decent punishment, but it's not decent enough to balance out what they have done. What is decent? That's up to you. All of you. I remain rooting for accidental-outing-in-a-men's-room, but I know what others may want.

Happy Halloween, by the way. As usual, there's the shortage of trick-or-treaters that come up this way. So far, no one's come at all.

Will's wedding

On Friday, I went with my parents to South Carolina for my cousin Will's wedding. While I was there, I saw a lot of my family. Will's brother Drew, a.k.a. Andrew, has not worked on any more movies as a foley artist, saying his hours were too long, but has gone into producing music. He and his girlfriend Pam live in LA. My younger cousin Ben was there, always interesting to talk to. I also got to see my Aunt Teresa and Uncle Pete's house. When I first went to their house in Pawleys Island in 2004, it wasn't finished, but the carriage house was. It's a really nice, big house, with a yard that faces the Intracoastal Waterway. They held the wedding in that yard. Will married Rachel, his friend since childhood. They left for The Bahamas this morning. Also, while I was there, my parents and I ate at Applewood House Of Pancakes in Pawleys Island. That was a really good place, but the Hampton Inn in Georgetown, where we stayed, was not so good.

So, now we're back in Clayton. There's no review for this week, but get ready for next week's Treehouse of Horror XVIII.

No review this week

At least not for the Simpsons rerun that I have already declared the worst of season 18. So, here's a rundown of the past week for me:

First, intermittent clicking noises in my car that made it nearly intolerable to drive made me take it back to the dealer on Tuesday. They had to keep it until Thursday, so I had to ride some kind of bus from West Durham to Downtown Raleigh on Tuesday afternoon, and ride home with my Mom. On Wednesday, I rode into Raleigh with my Dad and got on the Wake Tech shuttle to go to class, and rode it back afterwards. Same deal on Thursday, but that afternoon, I had to ride on from Raleigh back to Durham to get the car back, easier to drive than before. I'm glad I got that fixed. When I say nearly intolerable to drive, I mean you darn well better fix it before I go nuts.

Second, the State Fair was in Raleigh, and my friend DJ wanted me to go with him, so I did Friday night. He, his sister Cassie, her boyfriend Matt, and I all went. Though I never rode any rides with anyone else, I did ride a few rides. I had forgotten how those rides can screw with your mind. I was unable to speak for a while after one of them.

Third, my Dad has had two interviews with Our State, one of North Carolina's most popular magazines. He has one more interview before he gets a job offer, but anything's possible. The thing is, Our State is based in Greensboro, which is too far to commute for the average person. So, if he gets that job and if Mom keeps her job in Raleigh, we would have to move to West Durham or even North Chapel Hill, the latter of which is uncharted territory for me. I don't particularly love Clayton, but I've lived here for about 11 of the past 12 years. I spent a little more than half that time in Fuquay-Varina and I was okay with moving then, but this makes me a little nervous. Nothing's for sure now, but I tend to speculate a lot.

Don't worry about me, though. Not all weeks are this rough. Next week should be interesting, though. Stand by.

I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

About as entertaining as the Taco Bell commercial that came on at about 8:21, what really bugged me about this episode was how not-so-funny gags dragged on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and you're probably getting annoyed by now, so you know what I mean. Aside from that, I did like Krusty's line about dangerous toys, because there was another one this week, thus a sense of not-missing-a-beat-ness usually seen only on late night talk shows and SNL. But believe me, that's a serious issue. We should threaten to boycott next year's Olympics unless China cleans up their act. Anyway, where was I, Oh yeah, Itchy and Scratchy was funny too, but they used nearly the same steroids joke in The Simpsons Hit & Run.

And thus, I'm back on track.

Midnight Towboy

I think I really am losing my knack for these reviews. My opinion on tonight's episode is split in opposite directions. I really can't come to a consensus. Sorry, whoever reads this.

I had a dream two or three nights ago about me enrolling in a military school. It was a big ol' tower on Glenwood Ave in North Raleigh, and I was getting the tour. I wasn't having any emotions in the dream, but now, just thinking about the dream makes me all nervous. Add to that the fact that my parents have gone to the mountains for a few days to celebrate their 20th anniversary on Wednesday, and I'm feeling a little nauseated.