The Iraq From 2013 Essay

Dear Blake Ellison,

I am delighted to inform you that you are the winner of the only
second prize we are giving this year. Both judges gave your paper
very high marks. To claim the $500 prize, please send Jennifer
Scalora your paper as an attachment, so that she can post it on the
web.

Congratulations!

--
Paul Woodruff
Director, Plan II Honors Program

Yay winter!

So this time change came out of friggin' nowhere. And it was suddenly 55 degrees outside instead of 85. It became winter here overnight. It's really a pretty welcome change, though I can totally imagine I'll get sick of it pretty fast. But hey, I feel like 10 times more comfy here now that I'm wearing sweaters and moccasins everywhere I go.

Oh, and you'll notice that Chinese food has been taken off the dislike list. Gotta love having like 20 Chinese places nearby. And we get good fortunes in the fortune cookies here, too.

A new link!

So over on the Friends bar, Andie has appeared.

We actually met from FaceTheJury, because I'm a shallow bastard who thought she was hot. So we got to talking, and she was hot and awesome. So then she actually had the nerve to agree to my silly request to meet up in person. And she was still hot and awesome and her improv comedy troupe was a riot. We've managed to keep in touch online for a long time, and she's definitely one of the most complex people (that's a good thing, ladies!) I've ever met. So go read her stuff - you might learn something cool.

Why Scotty Crowe Owns Me

Scotty Crowe is the guy who gets paid to follow John Mayer around and write up his Road Journal on www.johnmayer.com. Here was the most recent entry, written from Canada:

Bigger Than My Body was a give-him-the-stick-don't-give-him-the-stick-esque way to open the show. �John sang quite a bit of Last Night during the break in My Stupid Mouth. �Come Back To Bed was killer. �Finally, the Tracing segue into Daughters was a nice catch, blanco nino...but too bad your ass got saaaaaaaaaaacked. �Tracing graces another continent but remains yet to appear in any nation-state hosting a Shea's Rebellion. �It's really cool to do club shows here and there - it's just a great atmosphere with everyone standing with everyone and the walls of a little room shaking from all the noise. �

Canada - you were great, we'll see you in a few weeks. �Now to New York, Radiohead, Kill Bill, and any other bits of US culture we've missed out over the past 3 days. �

Don't look at me when I'm talking to you.