It looks like this month is going to be a big rollercoaster, which I guess sounds fun, but still. Work schedule got rearranged, my time with Allie is changing a little bit, and then changing again, Iím going to my sisters wedding in NJ. Ah well, nothing ever stays normal.

Tick tock, Clarice, tick tock. My birthday is only a couple of days away, and then I stop talking about it for another year. Itís like a mangy, toothless dinosaur that hibernates. A lot.

Been reading the ìSeries of Unfortunate Eventsî books, and they are hysterical. Well worth reading, and you can burn through them in an afternoon, so itís good that there are ten out so far.

I havenít said anything about the whole ìThe rape case against Kobe Bryant being droppedî thing. Now I will. Clearly, my views on this are tainted, as he is a Laker, and they are the Devil, but letís think about this rationally. When the case was dropped (because the young woman who was allegedly assaulted decided not to cooperate with the prosecutors), Kobe issued a statement talking about how horrible this whole thing is, and how he now realized that what he thought was consensual she did not, and that is bad. In a weird bit of legal maneuvering, this statement canít be used against him in the civil trial, because I guess her layers said they wouldnít. Good luck finding a jury that hasnít heard it, meaning this thing will probably just be settled and will just go away, in perhaps one of the most anti-climactic cases ever.

Iíve said from the start that weíll never know what happened in that room in the 15 minutes she was there. The timeframe alone (which I had just heard about when the story about the case being dropped first broke) seems weird. It seems like the worst kind of misunderstanding, the more I think about it. She goes up there, they fool around, have sex, and then she leaves. Heís all ìHey, that was cool,î and sheís all ìOh my god, he had sex with me, I was just there to make out/whatever.î Iím sure a lot of guys have imagined that kind of nightmare, doomsday scenario, sleeping with a girl and having her go ìOh, that wasnít what I wanted, youíre in trouble.î Is the guy wrong? Well, yeah, of course, but the girl has to say something, do something to show lack of consent, even if itís ìjustî saying ìNo.î A case where a guy is going along doing his thing and the woman doesnít want it but doesnít say or do a single thing is almost too close to call. When it comes right down to it, if you run over someone with your car by accident, you still ran someone over and killed them, even if it was an accident. Itís still a problem, and you still end up going to jail.

The lesson here? Always get a verbal ìYes,î and donít fool around with people that are impaired (drunk, high, stupid).

Oooh, I can feel the arguments crackling out there as I go back over what I just wrote. Let me be clear here: Rape is bad. Donít be raping. And yes, the car analogy is a bad one, but itís the best one I can think of, even though some people donít look and just dart out across the street and get hit, and that has yet to happen in a rape case. Iím not trying to be all Bill Maher reactionary or anything, just a respectfully terrified guy.

On a lighter note, thereís a new show on Trio called ìPilot Seasonî thatís absolutely hysterical. It stars Sarah Silverman, who is as cute as she is vulgar and Jewish, and itís a mockumentary about the Hollywood system during the 120 days between January and April where agents and studios try to cast new shows, which is calledÖwhich is calledÖwell, itís called something. Perhaps something to do with the title of the show. Maybe. Itís hysterical and skewering and there is a mind-numbingly gorgeous redhead on it.

Iím thinking of getting a haircut. Something drastic. A Mohawk? HmmmmmÖwho knows!!!?!?!

Oh, and happy birthday Felicity. She’s older now, about a year or so.

Mysterious, terrified, unfortunate, I remainÖ

LAST MINUTE UPDATE
Let me tell you why ìOut for Justiceî is such a great movie. Because Steven Segal goes *out* for justice. He doesnít just stay home and wait for justice to call him, or stop buy and see if he wants to hang out. Heís not calling going, ìHey, can I get some justiceÖwait, whatís that? If my justice isnít here in twenty minutes itís free? Awesome! Can I get some breadsticks and a diet Faygo with that?î Heís *out* there, looking for justice. People that see him on the street donít go ìHey, I bet that guy is out running errands, maybe going to go get a pedicure.î No, they know that greasy, ponytailed, hard-assed motherfucker is out for justice. Heís out there pounding the pavement for that bastard, and if he finds it, if he finds justice, oh sweet Christ in his heaven, heís going to do some serious shit, like grab it by its pinky and flip it into a mailbox or some other seriously deadly, yet highly improbable, shit. That, my friends, is a beautiful thingÖ

And another thing is that he takes care of a puppy, and that’s just fucking adorable.