Now there’s a stupid photo site. It’s not done but, man, it took forever.

Institute is in a week. I’m panicking in earnest now. Oh god I’m not smart enough.

I saw Donnie Darko last night, with Jason and a bunch of other people that showed up at my house bearing chocolate. I enjoyed Donnie Darko, even though I didn’t understand it and had to ask Google. The official site is sort of helpful. It’s aesthetic and sinister and provides a handy mythology in the form of The Philosophy of Time Travel to explain the function of most of the characters. I don’t think Donnie Darko really comes together at all, though. Lea says that it is “well-executed nonsense,” and this is true. A good movie.

I have lots of chocolate in my life right now.

Curiously frustrated right now. Strange, because I just painted my toes and am more or less fit for high society. Arman points out that toenails are vestigial. I am making Dreamweaver bend to my whims and mostly getting bored and going to Notepad instead. I don’t care what anyone says, Notepad is the only program for me.

This early morning (12.30) Lea called and told me come out to go to Kerbey Lane. There was queso and good people, so it was all very wonderful. My mom even let me out, which was remarkable. Of course, it didn’t last: today she isn’t letting me go to 360 bridge at midnight, in deference to some imaginary schedule that I am screwing up. God forbid that I sleep until noon.

I bought (I was bought) this book entitled Dictionary of Theories by Jennifer Bothamley. Einstein is on the cover, scrawling something on a blackboard. God, that man is so cute. Anyway, it’s a cool book. On page 375: “newtsex model: (20th century) Biology Also called Newtsex MK IV, this is the most useful of the four newtsex models developed by Houston. THis is a complex, computer-generated model that accurately predicts the courtship behavior of newts.” Details follow.. buy the book.

The days are just tripping by. It’s completely terrifying. I intend to see Farenheit 9/11 soon, to indulge my inner rabid liberal. The trailer has gotten me all excited. Bush: “Blah blah blah terrorism blah blah homeland. Now watch this drive!” Michael Moore makes a good acerbic documentary-maker. He is a terrible coverboy for the left, though — too appallingly unattractive for one thing — but they’ve got Rush Limbaugh (and O’Reilly) so we’re pretty much even. Pity we don’t have anyone like Ann Coulter, though. Seriously — that woman is hot when shooting at terrorists.

My mom told me I was shallow today. This is true: I am completely, horrifyingly shallow. Also, I bought ridiculous orange pants today. I like them.

So Reagan died. When I went to get my head drilled some days ago the TVs were all set to FOX news, and so I was exposed to a lot of the lamentations. Lying there, I could see (beyond the paunchy, intelligent face of the dentist, various blood-flecked steel instruments, and something that looked exactly like a power drill but actually ) various concerned-looking people waxing grandiose about Reagan the magnificent. THe camera skimmed somberly over large heaps of roses and bits of paper. One insider deadpanned for a while about Reagan singlehandedly ending the Cold War by “refusing to raise the white flag to the Russians.” Hm. I was sorry to hear about Reagan’s Alzheimer’s, but I wish his death was met with sober regret rather than delusive histrionics.

Anybody want a Gmail invite? I’ve got three, so email me (anush at amorphism) if you want one. Gmail is in beta mode right now, so you need an invite in order to sign up, but it will probably go public pretty soon. Still, it’s exciting: a gig of space, plus the sexiness of Google! When my cousin sent me the invite for my own account (anushka at gmail) I promised him eternal love and hugged him a lot, but now that the value of invites has depreciated (they used to go for about $10 on eBay, and now you’d be lucky to get $1) I expect less in return.

The last episode of 24’s third season nearly made me cry. Jack Bauer OMG.

Life is still very good. Summertime, etc. I’m being pressured to work, but that is okay because there is a lot of time and I can generally take evasive action.

Irritating: Outlook keeps crashing when I stop paying attention to it. I also have a guilty itch to go upstairs and dig out my mom’s acoustic guitar. It’s Bilal’s fault: he’s incorrigible about prodding me to be creative. Winamp counterpoints by playing “Don’t Just Do Something” by Spiritualized (don’t just do something / sit around instead).

I’ve suddenly run out of things to do, and I haven’t caught my second wind and gone on to all of those things I ought to get done by July. Summer allows for these plateaus, though.

I’m being dragged out of the house a lot lately, which is probably good for me. I was massively reclusive in February and April and and just about all the time, actually, and maybe this is the cure.

I start all of my paragraphs with boring subject-verb sentences, usually I-something. The alternative, I’ve found, involves a lot of thinking about syntax and generally results in my deciding that I didn’t really want to say anything, anyway.

Life of Brian is good but not spectacular. My favorite bit is when Jesus gets crucified accidentally.

Up late, Fastball (really excellent) yesterday, Yo La Tengo the day before (also good, many colors), recently went to 360 Bridge and lay down on the middle concrete thing — great idea. Sky. Also sat on car with cowboy hat, was driven around a little. Did not die. Discovered bunch of guys playing weird ball game at 2AM, deeply impressed. Gave James some chocolate milk. Now, tea for me. Tomorrow dentists drill my head.

Summer is glorious. The weather is despicable, of course, and my mom’s Soviet sensibilities clash with my desire for proper air conditioning, and I can’t find a job, but otherwise it’s completely excellent. My computer’s back in my room, and so all I’ve been doing is alternating between it and SAT practice and Ayn Rand’s The Virtue of Selfishness. Mostly SAT practice, actually. But the perceived freedom is lovely.

Last night Jason and I did sushi and Star Wars (the original), and also fell asleep. Those movies are great, though. Completely campy, but so ingrained in the collective unconscious that lines like “I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced” make me really happy. Still, the special effects are pathetic. Really makes you appreciate this century: the Matrix! iPods! the Internet! Capitalism! Hooray!

I like how completely unhelpful Dictionary.com’s synonyms for great (definition: excellent) are:

able, absolute, aces, adept, admirable, adroit, bad, best, brutal, cold, complete, consummate, crack, downright, dynamite, egregious, exceptional, expert, fab, fantastic, fine, first-rate, good, heavy, hellacious, marvelous, masterly, mostest, number one, out-and-out, perfect, positive, proficient, skilled, skillful, super dupe, surpassing, terrific, total, tough, transcendent, tremendous, unmitigated, unqualified, utter, wonderful, zero cool.