Being a nerd, which is to say going too far and caring too much about a subject, is the best way to make friends I know.

- Sarah Vowell

In all seriousness, this is a pretty cool real life recreation of Portal - I just wish the music was a bit better:

"I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations - one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it - you will regret both."

-- Soren Kierkegaard

(Reprinted from my previous blog)

God damn it.

I hate myself. I mean, I always hate myself. But now I have a specific reason to truly hate myself.

That was my chance, wasn't it? My chance to do what I know is Right...and I just couldn't.

I can think of a billion ways to rationalize my actions. I was polite. I was doing the capital "G" Good thing. I took the high road. I'm not a man prone to violence. But any way you slice it, I failed. I failed you all...and that moment will haunt me for the rest of my days.

God damn it.

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Today's word of the day is "imminent" -

Imminent

1. likely to occur at any moment; impending: Her death is imminent.
2. projecting or leaning forward; overhanging.

I enjoy "Lost."  True, I haven't always - looking at you Season 2! - but ever since the writers & producers have gotten together and fixed an endpoint to the series, I've felt like it's been on track and mostly an excellent and addictive show.  Good character work, interesting (nerdy) plot elements including time travel, alternate universes and possibly some supernatural aspects.

However, I can see why some people wouldn't like it.  It's serialized storytelling exhibiting the biggest clichés of that style - exaggerated cliff-hangers, constant evasion of directly answering questions, lots of back story and characters to keep track of in addition to a very intimidating mythology that permeates every episode.

And then there's the rabid fanbase, which can turn anyone off.  In this "letter" to rabid "Losties" - which I guess are the agreed upon sobriquet for devoted fans of "Lost" - this website decides to draw a line in the sand and calls out fans for their behavior.

However, I disagree!

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I peaked in sixth grade.  More precisely, I peaked athletically in the summer following sixth grade.  Well, perhaps peaked is the wrong word, as it implies that there was a steady improvement in my skill set.  Let’s just say that my athletic skills inexplicably spiked in the summer following sixth grade.

As previously mentioned, sports are not my strong suit.  My asthma put the kibosh on most running activities, relegating me to the role of embarrassed spectator in many a gym class.  My coordination wasn’t really evident—appearing less like a controlled movement of an athlete than the controlled spasms of an epileptic whenever any ball came my way. 

That's not even close to me...I never wore glasses! (From The Decemberists' album, "Picaresque)

My skills were non-existent and I was immediately branded as an outsider to the majority of my fellow male classmates.  I became an “indoor kid,” the kind that gets cheered for just finishing the race in a way that was meant to boost self esteem but really just highlighted my pathetic nature to the predators in my class.

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