Blog of Billy

The Heart was fun. I felt a little alone for the first couple of days without my standard debate crew (Avery, Nick, CB, Denise, etc.) to keep me company while waiting for pairings, but Andy Casey, Laura, Auntie Jan, and various others helped keep me sane. My spirits rose tremendously on Sunday evening, after Jason Stone praised me far more than I'm sure was necessary on my 2NR. KU hosted a swinging little get-together at a house in Lawrence, and Kate and Conor were nice enough to let me mooch off of their popularity and get through the door. I drank just a little bit, and chatted with Jennings, and regained my sense of social self-worth. The highlight of the next day was a round that Blake and Conor won on a politics disad of all things, while Conor was still nursing the hangover. This paragraph has lots of names in it.

Steenson?

Valentine's passed with but little pomp and almost no circumstance, though I must say I'm enjoying my truffles immensely.

My brother is 18 now. That makes me about...28. Scary.

I'm in the process of trying to decide if I want to save eligibility, not debate at CEDA nationals, but have 3 full topics left (and vacation time this year), or try and make some scruffy arguments and have some fun in Dallas. Thoughts?

Waffles and love.

I've had a good and relaxing weekend, the first in a very long time. Now that I'm feeling more rested, witty, and tactful, I think it's about time to return to the land of the living. I got at least a small amount of responsible things like homework and debate work done over my little break, but mostly I spent time with my kitty, watching bittorrented TV episodes, and overeating. I'm much more sane now.

I completely missed the Super Bowl. Just forgot it took place. Probably for the best.

Heart this weekend will be interesting from a debating standpoint, and hopefully fun. If Scarah comes along to keep Nick company, maybe he won't even want to go home early.

Pi is not infinite. It stops when Chuck Norris tells it to.

So this is what the volume knob's for.

The worst kinds of drama can only happen when time is not a plentiful commodity. This is another of the now 43 reasons I'm taking myself out of the world for a bit.

A couple of weekends ago, OU's debate team hosted the first annual David L Boren Invitational Tournament for the high schoolers of this state and various others. The order of the day was giving back the land, questions of diversity in our little activity, and the occasional discussion of unwarranted searches in public housing. I was really proud of the tournament for encouraging that kind of though-intensive debating, and especially for promoting meaningful diversity in rounds and awards. Congrats to all.

If only someone else could be so successful with his debate prep. Perhaps then the State of the Union would have been a bit more exciting. I got really bored listening to the same old spiel from the same old slow-talking mouth. Didn't you think that Bush looked tired?

Even worse is the news that the other president is officially retiring at the end of this year.

In the last week or so, I learned two very important lessons about my social life. First, I discovered that partying is the same at 30 as at 20, just with more married people and slightly less lameness. Secondly, for being a heterosexual male, I spend a rather large portion of my "going out" time at the gay clubs.

Classes are going well. I have one easy class involving communicative practices of the inter-personal nature, and one real class learning how I can convince computers to solve ridiculously long equations. I've already gotten to use the best programming language ever to do one of the homework problems, so I'm pretty happy. Hopefully the rest of the semester will go as well.

If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied,
illuminate the NO's on their vacancy signs,
if there's no one beside you when your soul embarks,
then I'll follow you into the dark.

Too much tactless conversation has come from my mouth. For this reason (and exactly 40 others), I'm going to go invisible for a while. I still love you all, but I need to not talk to anyone for a couple of weeks. I'll finish the post that I started a couple of days ago, and hopefully will have more time to keep the bloggy updated.

How many gods does it take
to screw in the likes of me?
You'd think that one day I might learn.

Momentum was probably the most impressive, expansive, and genuinely positive artistic experience I've ever had in Oklahoma. Even more prevalent than the paintings on/in the walls and the more performative examples of right-brained thinking were happy, chatting people. I recognized and was recognized by scores of some of the best folks from around OKC. I had no idea that so many of the more casual of my acquaintances were so very artistic. It makes me wish I didn't have the flaw I do.

Also positive: chocolate covered espresso beans.

Stay entertained.