Getting Up to Speed

Texas

Nothing useful came from Texas,
all their exports as beneficial
as the tumbleweed blown north
and into the path of the Lincoln Navigator.

Swerving made as much sense
as protesting innocence
to a white jury
who knew a cop had been killed
who knew they had caught someone
who knew enough.

And as the Navigator tumbled
and stood still eventually
still shouting directions
"in 100 feet, turn yourself rightside-up
and a mile after that,
pretend nothing happened at all"

Poem:
I still can't believe the stuff in the movie "A Thin Blue Line" actually happened. The way everyone went about that case was disgraceful. So I wrote a poem that is sort of about that. but is mostly about the fact that it's really late and I want to go to sleep, and that's something easy to write about. Sorry for the cop-out. I'll be back at it again soon.

Observation:
I think I have something to continue talking about. Oh yup. Miranda Rights. You know, those things that are yelled at the bad people as they're being arrested. I don't know what I found most interesting about our discussion. I thought it was interesting that the Miranda case freed Miranda and the other cases currently being considered at the time, but didn't have any effect on cases which had already been decided. This was because it is assumed by the courts that had any previous cases fallen under the same category, they would have been the ones to appear before the supreme court and set precedent. So since Miranda was the first case to consider these rights, it must have been the first case during which they were violated. Obviously that is probably incorrect, but it makes sense as a way of justifying not having to reconsider every previous case ever. After all, if their rights had been violated that badly, they would have brought it to the attention of the court and the Miranda case would have fallen into their category.
Another interesting thing about the Miranda case is that it was stressed that the reading of rights might not be necessary if everyone weren't so ignorant of the law. But it does make sense that people who otherwise might be smart enough not to self-incriminate could panic when placed in a jail cell and told to confess or things would get bad for them real fast. In fact, when presented with the evidence that would be brought against them in court, even an innocent man might think it in his best interest to plead guilty to something to receive a shorter sentence. So it makes sense to tell them they can ask for a lawyer whenever, and to stop questioning them until one is present.



Exercise:
It's spring. Your character is walking out of doors and sees the burgeoning trees and flowers, hears the birdsong. But the character's reaction to all this newness and freshness is not what you would expect...

Stupid birds. Loud, noisy, and stupid. Also, loud. They sounded alright for the first five or ten minutes, sure, but after Franz had spent a half hour on his doctor-recommended walk, he was ready to learn how to shoot a gun. He briefly wondered how much a shotgun cost. He liked the branches better when they were bare. At least then you could see what the tree was really up to. All the leaves turned individual trees with character into a solid green mass, indistinguishable from their brethren, and all just waiting for a couple of months before littering their refuse all over his lawn. He could already imagine himself raking. And the worst part was, he only had one measly tree on his property. But that didn't stop the leaves from showing up in full force. His maple dropped quite a few leaves, certainly, but sometimes he'd rake for minutes and not see a single maple leaf. Ridiculous.
Franz wondered how high a wall would be required to effectively prevent unauthorized leaves from gaining entrance. He guessed it might require a dome.

Me:
Up to speed in fragments: rode the windiest time trial ever, played handball in Des Moines (won bet for people betting on me), built a sweet computer, built a less-than-sweet computer, played handball in Ames, exuded pride for girlfriend's athletic accomplishments (team #1 seed in region), declared independence from my parents (at least as far as taxes are concerned) while preparing to move back home to avoid vagrancy, filled out a million rebates, yelled at the rain while secretly not minding so much, rode bike short and hard, attended nostalgia-prompting meeting about moving out of apartment.
In more detail: The past few days have been full of success stories as far as food is concerned. It all began with my usual stop at Tasty Tacos after playing handball in Des Moines on Sunday. The tacos, needless to say, were tasty. The next morning my mom said she was out of the muffin mix she wanted to make and was considering trying to make bran muffins. I fondly recalled the deliciously-glazed bran muffins of my freshman and sophomore years (oh the days of student meal plans), and looked up a recipe for some glaze. An hour later I was supposed to be playing handball, but was having almost no success due to the fact that I was too full to move around the court. I would sort of waddle my way over to one side and hit, then waddle the other direction and hope for the best. And to top it off, it turned out the bran we used in the muffins was almost as old as I am. Delicious. Later that day I made a pizza (okay, put a pizza together, since nothing was made from scratch). I topped the dough with sauce, a solid layer of pizza-blend cheese, an even more solid layer of pepperoni, and then sprinkled that with black olives, green pepper, onions, and sunflower seeds, all followed by another solid layer of mozzarella cheese. While impossible to pick up and eat, the result was quite tasty. And then today I tried my hand for the first time at cooking burgers. I took a pound of ground beef, an egg, onions, green peppers, and (again) sunflower seeds, combined it all, and hoped for the best. If I weren't so shy of meat I could have done a much better job forming the patties, but it all turned out okay in the end. In case you noticed a trend, if you ever eat food that I've made and wonder if I have a secret ingredient, chances are pretty good it's sunflower seeds. So good. On everything. And tomorrow (Tuesday) I can go on campus and get a free breakfast because I'm graduating. We'll see if I'm awake.