Friday Five 30 January 2004

Yes, this is a day late. I forgot to do it.

You have just won one million dollars:

1. Who do you call first?

I'd definitely call my parents first. Probably not a good idea, but I'd do it anyways.

2. What is the first thing you buy for yourself?

Independence from my bloody academic loans, that's what!

3. What is the first thing you buy for someone else?

Er, I'd buy the restoration of my father's old 1960s muscle car.

4. Do you give any away? If yes, to whom?

Ten percent to my Methodist church of choice, for use in the local programs where I will have control in the disbursement of the money. I'll not have my money wasted on left-wing social experiments at the hands of the national Methodist establishment.

I'd also try to find someone who I could trust to administer another ten percent in donation to local charitable organizations.

I'd also endow a scholarship at my alma mater, along with putting the cross-country team on a strong financial footing. Perhaps an annuity?

5. Do you invest any? If so, how?

Buy stock in the Norfolk Southern Railway (NYSE: NSC) along with CSX Transportation (NYSE: CSX), and put some money in Lockheed-Martin (NYSE: LMT) & Boeing (NYSE: BA).

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The Difference Between Liberals, Conservatives, and Southerners

Recently, from Right Wing News: The Difference Between Liberals, Conservatives, and Southerners.

I disagree distinctly with the stereotype of Southerners in terms of grammar and speech, but I'm still laughing at the rest of the content.

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Friday Five 16 January 2004

1. What does it say in the signature line of your emails?

Nothing, unfortunately.

2. Did you have a senior quote in your high school yearbook? What was it? If you haven't graduated yet, what would you like your quote to be?

My high school was too cheap to give us senior quotes. I'd hate to have to try and think back through a fog of bad memories and multiple years---gah, coming up on too many---to figure out my mindset as of the time and come up with one.

3. If you had vanity plates on your car, what would they read? If you already have them, what do they say?

At one point in time, I was going to try and figure out some variant of "Liz Phair", just for the heck of it. There was a time when Miz Liz was my favorite singer/song-writer. Heck, I'm still quite fond of her.

The real answer to this is, I'm afraid, not for publication.

4. Have you received any gifts with messages engraved upon them? What did the inscription say?

Yes, it was from an uncle of mine. I had to throw the bloody thing in the fire, and it said, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them...

Just kidding. I can't recall any engraved gifts like that.

5. What would you like your epitaph to be?

Virginian.

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Robert Fisk Goes to a Ranch

Earlier on, your humble correspondent swore a vow to refrain from the discussion of two large things making their way around the World Wide Web from celebrity culture. One involved someone's recorded romp, and another the continuing legal saga of a celebrity whose name will not be mentioned. This policy remains in effect, and it will not be revisited or reconsidered. Unlike Roe v. Wade, it is settled law. (Take that, Patrick Leahy!)

That being said, your correspondent also sees much merit in Comrade Commissar's suggestions for the blogosphere, excerpted in relevant part below:

Commissar does not mean to reject a comrade's request. Suppose you get email from Comrade, "Hey I wrote interesting post." He wants you to link to it. Here's rule: You link to it.

Comrade Commissar, in his infinite benevolence, has offered me an opportunity to comply with his dictum, and now we do, much belated.

Fisk Does никогда-land is the post, and if you've got past those happy Christmas feelings and want to hear about some nasty-side effects to a nasty British journalist, from a sarcastic viewpoint, visit it.

(Journalistic integrity requires me to note that the real story is here, and basic human decency requires me to say that I'm glad nobody was killed. At the same time, one has to note the oddity of Mr. Fisk's response in that he understood the actions taken against him. That may be the kind of man who, when confronted with a criminal, wants to know what he did wrong and how he can be of assistance to the poor unloved criminal. That is, of course, the wrong response. Ideally, one would reply as Anavel Gato does in one of the closing episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory to something like this: "DIE!")

NOTE: This post is yet another continuing victim of me forgetting to change the 'Draft' radio button to 'Publish'. I'm too picky to go and change the default setting, because I usually keep a post or two in the hopper and prefer them to be floating about without publishing. This is common at TCP, and I trust all will work around it.

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Friday Five 02 January 2004

OK, so I forgot to do the first Friday Five of 2004 entirely on time. I plead the defense of being enslaved to storing Christmas ornaments, and also goings on at Blogs for Bush as having distracted me. Look for my quasi-mordant commentary in several threads there, eh.

Here goes:

What one thing are you most looking forward to . . .

1. ...today?

Since I'm writing this at the end of the day on Saturday, I suppose I'm looking most forward to going to church tomorrow, because a good friend of mine is almost always in the pew behind me, and we always have pleasant conversations about (primarily) railroads.

2. ...over the next week?

I'm most looking forward to the completion of an academic project and the fun parts of my return to law school for the final semester. What those fun parts will be, I don't know.

3. ...this year?

The period that comes after the successful completion of law school and successful passage of the Virginia bar. That'll be a reason for considerable celebration and thanksgiving, rejoicing, and other things related to it.

4. ...over the next five years?

A successful transition to being a small town Southern lawyer. That involves procurement of a Mrs. Country Pundit, but the outlook on that isn't good at the moment. Felgercarb.

5. ...for the rest of your life?

Hrrm. Success, power, and wealth. That's flippant and sarcastic, but I don't quite have the Fifty-Year Plan laid out yet. I suppose the answer is, "I'm looking forward to a life lived in such a way so that when I have to answer to higher authorities at the end of said life, their evaluation will read 'acceptable' and I'll get the cheery welcome into Heaven, instead of a first-class one-way ticket on the Express Elevator to Hell."

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