Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but I'm blogging during an ETAN Executive Committee conference call. It's been over a week since my last post, so I figured I'd combine something I've been meaning to do (blog) with something I'm not always thrilled about (conference call), especially after a exhausting day of mental wrestling with teenagers. (TPCQ: "Don't feel bad. I wouldn't be much of a match for you in mental gymnastics.")

Anyway, here's a nice long post to make up for all the lack of blog.

Progress of the Call

It's early, and we're waiting for everyone to show up. Now Pam's telling me about the gangs in Watsonville. (I lost my bowling ball there, you know.)

Hungary Watch

Regular readers of The 'Napse know that I'm deeply concerned with the recent events in Hungary. Indeed, that country recently exploded in riot and protest after the Prime Minister recently admitted that massive lies were used about the state of the economy for the past two years. As the EU Observer noted:

The protests started Monday night outside the Hungarian parliament and moved on to the offices of the state television, MTV, later that night.

Hey, check it out -- Hungary State Television is run by MTV! That's why they have "Pimp My Hajdu-Bihar" and "CribZ" at Peter Esterhazy's Pad.

Progress of the Call

Aw geez! Why did I agree to facilitate this call? Now I have to pay attention and coordinate timekeeping. Remember, kids: the #1 rule of conference calling is that you never ever volunteer for stuff. Don't forget: The other people can't see you avoiding eye contact as you hide from responsibility.

New Stuff

Been buying lots of music lately. The Perceptionists are doing well in bringing conscious hip hop back to the system; the Paris/PE project Rebirth of a Nation is also in a regular rotation. I got Norm MacDonald's comedy sketch album Ridiculous: Meh. Some funny stuff, lotsa dumb junk. Don't bother. However, the great Luke Ski turned out a few good tracks on an album I got recently for free at Mad City Music X-Change. I'll throw some of these together for a SynCast one of these days.

Progress of the Call

John's giving us a rundown of the recent work he's been doing on justice for East Timor. There's also an audit of ETAN he's been preparing for. Now we're discussing an article I wrote about the meeting we had in DC over the summer. Now we're talking about how to clean out the ETAN DC office. (Isn't this fun? It's like reading the minutes from the call, only without the important details!)

School

The year has started, and of course I'm totally exhausted now. I had a wicked head cold over the weekend, and I'm only just now coming out of it. (Hey kids -- if you're sick, stay home!) I was volunteered to go at the end of the week to a conference on inclusion in the schools; so I'm going to miss two days of school, which is always a pain. (I hate facing stacks of papers when I return.)

But the classes and the kids are, as always, lots of fun. The Creative Writing blogs will be up at the start of October, so be sure to check GotClass then.

Progress of the Call

People are reluctantly volunteering for things. Now we're reviewing what we agreed to do at the DC meeting. I've actually done a lot of what I volunteered for! Howzabout that?

End of call, end of post.

TimeWaster™

Check out the Weird Al video "White & Nerdy".. Weird Al's actually got a bit of a flow!

Today I'm listening to: Cool Calm Pete!