On a certain Madame of mine

On a certain Madame of mine

She tastes of the color Red,

tender, tangy, supple, smooth.

She smells of sunset, of dusk,

of the mysteries which lie

along the border

between light and dark,

within the thick line

between day and night.

In holding her within my arms,

the world skips a beat,

pausing for a moment

granting us breath.

Daily worries & ponderous pressures

are lifted, forgotten, & freed.

Life’s weights and stresses

shared and shouldered

between us together,

for together no load shall overwhelm us.

For together,

our love is freed.

Blargh

Minor update: Working in Python has kind of been put on hold. Java is the language of the day in my Comp Sci sequence, and blargh.

Debate-wise, I'm heading to the Phi Rho Pi forensics nationals in Portland here in a couple weeks. College forensics still seems very surreal, but hopefully things will be more developed next year.

Worlds

Just had my first tournament of the term last Saturday. It was up at OSU. I ended up doing Worlds debate for the first time, which was interesting. It's a panel debate of 4 teams of 2. We found out the rules about 10 minutes before the first round, but by the end of the night we were crushing our foes. It's a rather fun event, but it precluded doing anything else at this tournament, so I'm a little wary of doing it again.
Speaking of other tournaments, I really should be doing more towards preparing a memorized event. I feel almost guilty for not doing so, but the bar for college debate feels so low. At least I'm creating my own social group in it next term.

Muahahaha. That is all.

What If?

Dreams of worlds which never were,

Idle fantasies which never are,

Bright new futures yet to be,

Haunting shades of memory.

Suspended pale droplet

Focusing attention

quickening breath.

From a silken mane

glistening, shining,

fanned out in an earthen halo

To soft peaks

gently directing the world,

framing the jewel for all to see.

A milky droplet rolls lazily

down sweeping curves,

Framed in gold

Frozen in time

An emblem of passion

A reminder of trust.

Moonlight Love

Do not call it ‘love’, my dear,

for we know it is not so.

Passion it may always be,

but passion comes and goes.

I care for you,

and you for me,

for that is who we are.

But do not call it love my dear,

for that goes much too far.

So take this gift,

and think of me,

so when we sleep tonight;

the love we made

shall never fade

in the soft moonlight.

Hope

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace."

"For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do."

"The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works."

Pride's a funny thing, innit?

Still Alive

Huge success... Eh, not really, but the song is still catchy. I'm not dead yet, nor have I entered the ranks of the undead. I will be returning from Winter Break tomorrow, and from there back into the world of debate and coding. Not much has happened on the Python front, as I am still stuck with learning Java for now, but I am going to try returning to it soon. Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. I wrote a "Fortunes" script in Python over break. It can stand alone, but I combine it with Samurize to display the current quote selection on screen. For your convenience: the script. The zip file contains the script, as well as a custom Fortunes file that I've been building over time. If I could figure out how to have a special format for code, I'd display it so that I could dissect it and show how it works. Here is the Samurize script as well. It has a todo list, an attractive date and time display, as well as the Fortunes display. You'll have to edit it some to point to the proper files, but besides that it should be pretty self-sufficient.

On the forensics front, not much is brewing. I've learned about IPDA debate, which is new to the Oregon college circuit, and I've been to my first tournament. IPDA is pretty much Lincoln-Douglass debate with public-style topics. Anyways, for ye few readers, keep on reading. I should be posting much more often here soon.