September was the start of my senior year at CSUN, so I haven't had that much time to update the site as often as I would like to. What with class and work, I've had a hard time keeping up with my website
updates. This update is a day late, but hopefully not a penny short. And now on to the short list of updates.
Vista Drive gets its usual first of the month update with new photographs added (Color: 33 and B&W: 32). It's a rather small update as updates have gone lately. Again, I haven't had the time to go out and take pictures. It's sad, I know, but I don't have much choice in the matter.
The Bliss sections of Fashion Patrol and Can't Park continue to grow. Go check out the added fashion disasters. I might be able to update Bliss Magazine this week, but maybe not. I'm considering just not updating it seeing as no one reads it and I don’t have the time to devote to it anyway.
Afterthoughts : Club 33
Saturday September 30th I had the privileged to go to the member’s only club at Disneyland known as Club 33. The majority of Disneyland's visitors never get a chance to enter the club situated above the Pirates of the Caribbean. In all my life I didn't think I would be one of those lucky few that visit the club. But now I can say that I visited Club 33, and it was one of the best nights of my life.
Firstly, the club is for dining. The decor is much like the rest of New Orleans Square. It's incredible to be in a calm and relaxing suite while throngs of people scurry about from one attraction to another. While up on one of the balconies I thought to myself how wonderful the moment was. I was looking down on New Orleans Square as someone else looked up, probably wondering what I was doing up in the balcony, taking in as much of the atmosphere as I could. I wanted that moment to just be soaked into my very being. I bathed in that moment and thought to myself just how lucky I have been throughout my entire life.
Aside from the knowledge that I was privileged to enter a place where few had the chance of every visiting, I thought about how this is a once in a lifetime event for someone like me. I don't have the
riches or the connections it takes to be a member of Club 33. Someday that might chance, but for now I have to consider this visit the only one I might ever make to Club 33. With that knowledge I felt I needed to breathe in all that I could, experience every moment to its fullest degree, and just remember.
I don't want to forget talking about the dinner that I was served. It was great from start to finish, but especially the finish. It started off with a salad, which wasn't over the top, just some greens and nuts. The nuts had a sweet taste to them. This was followed by a salmon on a bed of spinach with some kind of sauce, and pieces of sausage on the side. Salmon is not my favorite, but this was some good fish. This was followed by the main course, a New York Steak with
fruit stuffing. The steak was good, but not spectacular. However, as soon as I tried some of the sauce on it the steak came alive with flavors. The stuffing was great as well, a new favorite of
mine. The next course was the cheese course. I had three really great cheeses, one of them made out of goat's milk. I mention this because I usually don't like those kinds of cheeses. This one was subtle and tasted quite good. There was another cheese that I can't remember that
was my favorite of the cheeses. The final course was dessert, an incredible cheesecake with a watermelon sorbet, and strawberries. It was by far the best cheesecake I've ever had.
My enjoyment at Club 33 was truly one that included all my senses, especially my senses of sight and taste. I won't ever forget this moment.
Editorial : The Truth is Hard to Find
The current administration can spin the news about Iraq until they corkscrew their way into the ground, but reality is something that has a way of emphatically, and eventually, showing its head.
In a recent 60 Minutes piece Bob Woodward talked about how the administration has been lying, and continues to lie, about the situation in Iraq. This in a week that saw the leak of secret documents showing that the war in Iraq has only served to anger Muslims around the world. And, worse yet, that the war has served to create more terrorists around the world. So even while President Bush talks about how the Iraq war is making this country safer, the truth is it's not making us any safer. The opposite is true, but the administration is either unwilling to face that fact, or is simply a pack of liars. I am of the opinion that they are a pack of liars.
It is sad that I have to pin my hopes on history being told from those who often have something to gain from twisting it to favor them. I wonder how much this war will be twisted by those who need it to be a victory rather than an unmitigated failure.
History will hopefully remember this administration as the pack of liars that they are. This administration has, from day one, manipulated the political process to steer this country into a reprise of the Gulf War. Sadly what they have is not a reprise of that war but rather one that is looking a lot like Vietnam. Ten years from now, when this war is still being fought, because spreading democracy does take time dontcha know, the current administration will be gone, but not the war they started.
Etcetera : Greatest Fight EVER!
The "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns fight might go down in history as having the single greatest round in boxing history, if not as the best fight ever, despite it only lasting three rounds. The first round of this fight had as much action as some entire fights. From what I've heard over the years Hagler came in thinking that Hearns had a questionable chin. Hagler's strategy was to make the fight more of a street brawl than a boxing match. Hearns was a very good fighter, but there were questions about whether he could take a punch. Hagler figured that his best chance was to take away Hearns' advantages in reach and boxing skills. By brawling and not letting Hearns box, Hagler figured that he would eventually hurt Hearns. As you watch the fight you will hear that Hagler had been cut around his nose. The cut bleed to the point that it became a concern. The ref, at one point, called time in order to have the fight doctor check on Hagler's cut. Hagler, later said that the ref asked him, "Can you see him?" To wit Hagler answered, "I'm hitting him, ain’t I?" True enough, Hagler's strategy eventually felled Hearns in the third round, but not before treating the world of boxing with three of the greatest minutes in boxing history.
