And then sometimes life squirts you in the eye with lemon juice.

People leave. People leave, oftentimes for reasons you can't understand. You take them for granted and then they're gone.

You've watched friendships dissolve over distance, over time. You tell yourself that this time it might be different; you're so close to them.

You know perfectly well there's nothing you can do to stop it happening, so you run down the list of who's to blame. No matter how you slice it, it feels like abandonment.

You withdraw from society, shunning all social interaction for fear of friendship's inevitable decay. You become a hermit. With a high-speed internet connection.

(There. I'm all biled out. I feel a little better now)

Harry Potter Update Pt. 2

Half-Blood Prince pages consumed, day two: 350.

Just finished it. I can come out of my internet-cocoon now, unafraid of spoilers.

I don't have much to say, other than that I feel really badly for kids who are still reading the series. Cripes.

Harry Potter Update

Half-Blood Prince pages consumed, day one: 302.

Consensus so far: awww yeah...

Glengarry Glen Ross

David Mamet is a force to be reckoned with.

I think at some point in my life I decided that I would probably never be entertained by movies about real estate. However, as Roger Ebert says, "a movie is not about what it is about, but about how it is about it." This film is about it in a cool way. Four real estate salesmen at a failing branch of a larger company are set against one another in a sales competition to keep their jobs (also, a Cadillac). Meanwhile, they're expected to sell with ages-old leads: people who simply aren't interested. The new leads, the good leads, are locked in the manager's office. How do you win? Do you play by the rules? Do you try to steal the leads? Buy them? Cool.

Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin (about as much awesome packed into a cameo as is possible), Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin. Those are six good reasons right there. Al Pacino's monologue in the bar is priceless.

The one thing I don't get about Mamet's writing is that he writes some of the most convincing dialogue for long stretches, but when someone gets mad and starts swearing, the strangest combinations of words come out. Actually, they don't even have to be swearing sometimes.

For other Mamet I've enjoyed, see: Spartan and Ronin.

I've seen others, but I don't remember them well enough to recommend them.

So you want a post?

I've been a tad lax in blogging recently, but that's only because I'm busy hanging on every word of Peter's tropical adventures, being amused in a gamerly way, eagerly awaiting, and re-reading.

While people tell me I need to post, I am left hanging on Seth's discovery of the nexus of dad strength. I am also left clueless why we haven't seen a lovesick post from Jordan upon resumption of Sam.

Basically, not much is happening. Stay classy, North Central Illinois. (And Costa Rica)

Sometimes I love the internet.

Internet Anagram Server.

I could waste hours being amused by this thing. Some samples:

Seth Deming yields these amusing results:

HEDGE MINTS
NEEDS MIGHT
MIDGET HENS
NED GETS HIM
TED MESHING
DIGS THE MEN (!)

Brian Jones gets:

BANJO RINSE
JABS RONNIE
NO SANER JIB
SOBER NINJA
BAN JOINERS

Of course, we must see what it thinks of Jordan Gladden:

A GLAND ON DR JED
DAD JANGLED RON
GRAND NODAL JED
LAD AND NERD JOG
DARN ODD JANGLE

I'm going to stop before I go insane. I've learned some things I must investigate:

Brian's ninja skills are something of a surprise, and I have no clue what he's got against Ronnie. Jordan is apparently one of Dr. Jed's appendages and is participating in a nerd jog (how appropriate). I don't even know what to say about Seth. Ted Meshing would be a cool spy name though.