Slave of the Show
You're going to talk to me. It's just a matter of how much it's gonna hurt.
A few days ago, I resolved to write when I was bored. I am bored, and while there is little content to discuss, you can be damned sure that you're going to get words.
The following takes place between 11:00a.m. and 12:00p.m.
Albert's birthday was February 4th. His rich grandmother in Taiwan offered to get him basically anything possible. I'm assuming that this is the typical "rich grandparent" routine. Hell if I know, all my grandparents are dead. Anyway, with some help from outside sources, Albert determined that the best course of action was to demand multiple DVDs of 24. He got season 3 almost immediately, and he's getting seasons 1 and 2 a few days down the line.
Since Albert getting the DVD set, I've planned on watching season 3... by force, if necessary. Fortunately, Albert is more cooperative than most terrorists, so he complied with the demands. We set out the plan for sometime this week - February vacation week - a marathon of 24. Each episode lasts around 40 minutes with the commercials cut out, and there are 24 episodes in season 3. That's around 16 hours of pure watching... by some stroke of brilliance (or lack thereof on my part), Albert suggested that we watch it overnight, preferably at my house, since his DVDs are Chinese and won't run on an American DVD player.
11:23:09... 11:23:10... 11:23:11...
... I was just distracted for twenty minutes. Now back to what I was saying.
Albert and I decided that it would be an overnight affair and invited some people to come. Amazingly enough, Robert was not available at all, but others were. The plan was Wednesday, at Anandh's house. The Asians said maybe. I changed the day and location of it first to Wednesday chez moi, and finally to Tuesday at my house, because thanks to the wonders of the automobile, none of my friends had car-transportation on Wednesday. The Asians were compliant. Actual [abdriged] phone conversation with my dad, while everyone was eating.
"Were you trying to reach my mom? She left her cell phone at home."
"Oh, never mind."
"By the way, I'm having my friends over today, not tomorrow. They're here."
"What? Does your mom know?"
"Yes."
"What about dinner!?"
"We're having it now."
...
"Okay then, I'll see you in half an hour."
Of course only 24 hours later he wants me to go get my learner's permit, but bleh to that.
This thing is becoming very narcisstic, I find, so I'll cut short and just say that watching 24 on the big screen with friends was amazing. The surround sound is key in the atmosphere, and it's such a damn good show. Of course, it would have been around six times better without Indian saying "Lijian, stop talking" every twenty seconds. But I'm not going to complain. Let Indian be.
11:47:45... 11:47:46... 11:47:47...
On a not completely unrelated note, I've been thinking about enlisting in the U.S. Armed Forces at some point in time. No, this is a not a joke. No, I didn't think this up because of 24. But I'm posting this on the same page as the 24 thing, (1) because this would be really short without it and (2) because this is related to 24, even if not intentionally.
The Armed Forces have come to my school many times since freshman year, recruiting people to join the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force. I disregarded them, taking them mostly as a joke. I once took around ten pencils from the Air Force promoter for speaking Chinese to the guy and, on a later occasion, took a poster from the Marines to my Calculus class for doing pushups. Basically, their vists were fun.
My outlook on this changed in September or October '05, when Akshaya told me that he had been part of the Air Force. I assuemd it was a joke, and I asked him exactly what he meant. He told me that he had done it parttime during after-school hours, weekly or a few times per week, but that he had recently quit. I interrogated him for a few minutes, though I can't remember exactly what he told me. But this was interesting: You could be in school and part of the Armed Forces.
Later, perhaps in the last month or so, we talked about the GI Bill of 1944 and FDR. I'm an uncultured bastard, so this was the first time that I really understood veterans' benefits... the government paid pensions, housing, and education for college. Congress has since renewed and edited the bill many times, so it's still essentially in effect. I've since seen commercials on TV for the Navy, Army, and Marines, and I watched them less critically than I did before.
Yesterday I finished the third season of 24 alone, and then I checked my Spam. In it was an e-mail from the Navy - one of the first I'd seen in a long time. I actually examined it with interest, though it looked like it was a full-time commitment. It's something of note, no doubt.
Then, of course, I become more ambitious and silly in my musings, but bear with me here. In more than one recent article from accredited sources, math and science majors are in high, high demand for the future. Apparently, math majors are most desirable at the NSA, which is part of the federal government. Perhaps uncharacteristically, I've thought a bit before about what I wanted as my major, and math is probably my strongest subject in school. And if a math major could get me a job like those at CTU have, that would be kickass. The NSA's website is encouraging.
The costs of being in the Armed Forces are obvious: Having no time, having to cut your hair, having to live with others, having to obey orders, having to negotiate with Asians about education, getting killed.
I'm considering, more importantly, the plus side of this - from my totally inexperienced eyes, at least. Being in the Armed Forces means fitness, prestige, personal pride, experience, patriotism in serving the United States, and significant educational and economic benefits. And while I don't know anything about "the system", I can't imagine that having experience in the Air Force or Marines would be hurt your resume in applying for a job... especially with the U.S. government. I might be playing into the clutches of rightwing propaganda, but if the rightwing propaganda involves something like 24, how can I speak against it?
I won't enlist during the school year, but I think that I might talk about it with the Asians come summertime... Let me know your opinion on it.
11:59:58... 11:59:59... 12:00:00.
SD
Feb. 23, '06
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