生物学とか学と数学と日本語クラスがとても大きらいですよ。ハハハ。

After much speculation and pondering, I now give you my estimate of who will win the 2008 US election and why, merely 24 (12?) hours before we cast our ballots. Perhaps this will also cast a little insight into the odd notion that there is some evil and powerful force that decides the results of the election. I wasn’t procrastinating, really!

First off I’m not basing any of my predictions off of any polls, because I believe that almost all polls are complete bullshit. I would recommend that you guys never listen to the media or any other typical source (especially Fox, oh God) about who is “leading” the race until they are officially released during election night, or at least take them with eight million grains of salt. Meaning hopefully your vote is never controlled or influenced by poll numbers. In fact, a few minutes ago I saw a lady outside of my dorm spamming information for the Obama campaign. There are oversees ballots, hospital ballots, just basically a shitload of different ballots that they have to count until they can even be sure of one state, and that will take until around midnight at least.

I will grudgingly admit that polls are somewhat useful to sort of represent a skewed popularity analysis among the general population, but I often see people either jubilant or completely downtrodden at the fact that McCain is up a few points in one poll, or Obama is down in another. Polls also don’t usefully represent the younger, newly voting population either, because a growing number of them use cell phones, and it is increasingly harder to get adequate and precise data from that certain demographic.

They say that depending on horse race polls too much fucked west American voters in the past few elections, who are a few time zones behind: people in the west would get off work, watch the news, and think that their state has already been “won” by a candidate and not bother voting. Truth is we don’t get real results until the polls in the west close at the end of the night, and all of that horse race crap is just reporters standing outside of some polling areas and reporting on who people SAID they voted for to the headquarters in New York. Apparently this was a significant enough amount of people to cause an outrage with the Democratic Party. I’ll go ahead and negate myself and say that Five Thirty Eight seems to be a good speculation site, with somewhat unbiased and accurate data, but I could just be saying that because it tells me everything I want to hear.

States Gore should have won but didn’t: West Virginia. Up until 2000, West Virginia had notoriously been a blue state. Apparently he made the mistake of campaigning for gun control there and Bush won that year. Har har. If he were able to win his home state Tennessee, as well as Clinton’s, Alabama, both of which Clinton had won in the previous election, he would have won 296 electoral votes to Bush’s 241. See, no Florida needed! Virginia and Ohio are key states for Obama, and while Obama seems to have a grip on Virginia, Ohio will forever remain a perilous swing state. There are other key states of course, but you guys can just google that.

As most of you (hopefully) know, there is more than just the red or blue voter type, meaning that people might actually have logical reasons to be a democrat or republican, other than being a “tree hugging queer” or “incestuous bible thumping hick”. There are also widely varying degrees of political ideologies that seem to correlate demographically, meaning that hating one type of voter doesn’t necessarily mean you are the opposite (cough flamers). Please go to People-press.org if you would like to know more about the varying voter typologies.

If you look at any normal Electoral Map of the United States you’ll see that population-wise, the democrats are already slated to win. Unfortunately much of the democratic population is younger or elderly voters, and they can’t be damned to bother voting. Republicans have the saying, “Let’s hope it rains on Election Day. It’s one more reason for a democrat not to vote.” Over the years, there has been more and more hype about actually going out to vote. Campaigners are renting buses for old people and the voter turnout, especially for young voters has been higher than ever before. This, along with the fact that the public as well the world is massively unsatisfied with the party in current office are why I think Obama will win this election. Let’s not forget the African American voting demographic. Though they are notoriously high anyway, and usually already apart of the Democratic Party, political scientists estimate that they are higher than ever before. This might be enough to win Ohio and a few other swing states.

Face it “real” America. McCain is at the end of his rope. He has a medical record longer than Zero’s e-penis. It’s his time to go to a better place. I can just imagine Palin laughing delicately as she surreptitiously lifts up her skirt and ambiguously talks about “working together” to the world’s superpowers. On the other hand, many of Obama’s supporters see him as the messiah. I can only hope that he will live up to their morbidly high expectations. I don’t blame them for putting that much faith in a candidate though. This leads me to the thought that presidents have way too much power in America, but I will save that for another editorial.

Well, those are my thoughts, though I could be eating them come tomorrow. Either way I will stay up excitedly to discover who our next president will be. What do you guys think?

Editorial Link

Monstrous. The power she has over these people. Is she really a mere belly dancer? Propped on the table in her high heels, swaying her sensuous hips to the slowly pulsing drumbeat, arms winding, bathed in the Jasmine smoke exhaled by my business associates. Disgusting. I look to my left and Irk’s face is mesmerized by her mysterious force. The tension is tangible. I can taste it. I resist the urge to wave my hand in front of his face but instead turn away to stare at her silhouette, surreal and exaggerated against the dimly candlelit wall. A moment of weakness convinced me to agree to come to this place. This is an important celebration and I’ll not ruin it by my misgivings.

But her guise. It’s mind bending. Her small stature fills the entire room. She is everywhere, superimposed but her motion is fluid, exact, seductive, calm. It’s as if the world is no longer governed by the natural laws of physics, but by her whim. Right angles aren’t 90 degrees anymore. The universe is bent, slightly, to her will. I can’t look at her. Because when I do I am small, insignificant. And so I look away. No one should have that much power.

My lungs shiver. Uncontrollable.  My heart beats faster, tinged with electricity. I feel it in my blood, in my belly. What is this feeling, is it hate, jealousy, disgust? Confusion makes me unfocused, tired. This catches her attention. She smiles, misinterpreting. She leans forward and a wisp of black hair falls out of a clamp and onto my cheek. I hear Irk’s breath intake, sharp and painstakingly aware. Under the heavy scent of Jasmine there is Myrrh. I know that I will hate that scent for the rest of my life. I can’t lean back, or push forward. I’m immobile. She’s not looking at me anymore, but at him. It’s a show. For the effect. Only a show. She turns towards him, smiling.

My hand shoots out. Half way there I amend the action and touch her shoulder jolting her attention back towards me. What was I going for, the throat? Come on Sugar, you have faster reflexes than that. Control yourself. Think. I don’t dare force myself to smile. I merely stare; intense, forcing myself to reveal no weaknesses.  Her facial change is subtle, but I read it like an open book. She thinks she has me, she thinks I’m hers. That she’s won. A wave of rage washes over me and dissipates without a trace. She feels it. I remove my hand, and lightly massage it to stop it from shaking. Irk pats my leg, amused, interested. Wrong feeling. Try concern.

More later.

Spoilers.

I was in the Romance section of the nearest Barnes and Noble with Miri when I saw it. “Faefever!” I screamed in delight. “It’s finally out!” Another girl happened to be standing there, and she had also read the novel, “Nothing much happens. It’s a good book. Scary at some points”. I ignored all that and got to the good stuff. “Does Jericho admit  that he doesn’t hate Mac yet?” I asked. “Nope.” she answered. SHIT, I thought. I guess nothing really does happen. After a few days, I proceeded to read the book anyway.

Faefever is the third novel of Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series. I’ve been a Moning fan for years, my first book being the Highlander’s kiss. I am a diehard Moning fan, even though I haven’t read her first two books or her short story collection thingy yet. I was enraptured with the novel in the first little poem part, like I always am with a Moning novel. I read the entire novel in one sitting. Really, I don’t even think I got up. Thoughts? This is perhaps the third best and fifth worst book I have read all year. (First best being The Host, second being The Demon Outlaw Wails… oh wait, did I read Unwind and Everlost this year? Okay, scratch that ranking.) It would have definitely been the best book if not for the heartwrenching, gutpounding, hairpullingly suspenseful cliffhanger ending. It’s been approximately 9 hours since I have finished the novel and I am still crying over it. Perhaps I should back up a bit.

Highlander Series

1. Beyond the Highland Mist (1999)
2. To Tame a Highland Warrior (1999)
3. The Highlander’s Touch (2000)
4. Kiss of the Highlander (2001)
5. The Dark Highlander (2002)
6. The Immortal Highlander (2004)
7. Spell of the Highlander (2005)
8. Into the Dreaming (2006)

Fever Series

1. Darkfever (Oct. 2006)
2. Bloodfever (Oct. 2007)
3. Faefever (Sep. 2008)
4. Dreamfever (Coming Soon) ( Oct. 2009?!!?)
5. Shadowfever (Coming Soon) (2010??!)

Karen’s Fever series is basically from a girl named Mac’s point of view. Her sister gets murdered and she decides to go to Ireland to find out who did it. She then discovers that she can see Fae, and is subsesquently hurdled into deeper shit than Principal Skinner at his mom’s house. (Bad analogy, I know) Anyway, along the way, she meets Jericho Barrons, the most badass male character ever created and her supposed love interest. I say supposed because Jericho is pretty much a total jackass to Mac most of the time, which is extremely different from the main men in Karen’s previous novels. He manipulates her, exposes her to ancient evil artifacts to see if she gets sick, and is generally emotionless, unless of course he is innundating her with sexual innuendo to make her uncomfortable, or being angry over something Mac did. Occaisionally he smiles. There’s also V’lane, a random death-by-sex Seelie prince who wants what only Mac can give him. No, not sex, he can get that from anyone. Access to the Sinshar Dubh, the most anciently evil book out there.  Fortunately, this book has all of the answers. Unfortunately, Mac gets sick every time she goes near it, and the book has the ability to turn into some weird creature thing that possesses people and makes them mass serial killers, while transferring from person to person. No one knows where the hell it is right now.

Anyway, the book ends with Mac being led to some building thinking she is finally seeing V’lane after a riot where hundreds if not thousands of the people of Dublin have been killed, or harvested rather by the Unseelie. Turns out that it is actually a few of the most powerful Unseelie out there, the four Unseelie princes who have just been let out of their eternal hell. Presumably she is raped. She is then left writhing on the ground in ecstasy and need. There is LM’s voice in the background, “She will do what I say now.” Then the book ends.

WHAT?

I fully expected the novel to continue. In fact, my eyes even continued to move down the page expecting more, but to no avail. Noooooooo!! I have not been dissapointed this much since I read Breaking Dawn. This book was damn good, but none of our questions have really been answered. I agree with the girl at the bookstore when she said that nothing much really happened.

Unanswered Questions:

Jericho - No one knows who or what the hell he is. According to V’lane, his magic is different from Seelie and Unseelie magic. Developments: He can hold the spear (1/2 of the weapons that can kill Fae), which apparently Unseelie aren’t allowed to do. I can only imagine Jericho avoiding the spear because it made him uncomfortable, and rightly so. Fellow Amazon-ians think he is Aedan from another short story. However, this is not true, because Karen stated on her forums that Into the Dreaming has nothing to do with the Fever series. (Different publisher)

–Dead woman Jericho was carrying. Let’s not forget about that.

–Fiona. Why isn’t that old croak dead yet? No doubt she has some half assed scheme to kill Mac becuase she stole his stoic boyfriend4lyfe Jericho. It’s hard to imagine Jericho hooking up with anyone, let alone that old skank.

Aoibheal (Queen of Seelie)- Where has she been for the last 6 books? I think we last saw her in some epilogue, hopping around time trying to fix the mistakes of the past. But apparently she is in hiding regaining her strength or something? I’m confused.

LM -  Guy who allegedly murdered Mac’s sister, recently (assisted?) gang-raped Mac, and was cast out of Seelie for something I don’t recall. Could LM be the Unseelie King?

Mackelters - Or ANYONE from the first six books or so. I don’t really mind if they don’t show up for awhile, but it seems like they had lots of opportunities to. I’m excited to see the dialogue between Jericho and some of these people. Should be hilarious.

Dani - Superfast sidth-seer. I don’t really have any questions, just a comment that she’s pretty cool. I wouldn’t mind seeing a story about her in a few years. (It would be weird if she hooked up with Christan Mackelter though. Just sayin’.)

Dublin - Soooo, how is the rest of the world going to react to Dublin’s recent massacre? Hopefully something near apocalyptical happens. I hope Mac is imprisoned for awhile. I love it when main characters are imprisoned.

Mac - So she’s a pri-ya (addicted to sex with Fae) now eh? That sucks.

–Her parents. Who are they?

So many questions! So little answers. Oh well, we will find out in a year. Maybe.

Overall I give this novel a 4.85. Would have been a 5, but the ending is too painful. The suspense, character psychology interaction, and general Urban Fantasyness make this a well worthy read. If you don’t like cliffhangers, wait until the next book comes out and read them subsequently. (What I should have done)

EDIT: Dreamfever is going to be from Jericho’s point of view. WOWOWOWOWOOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWO

My lovely and bestest friend Miri has posted an article on the trials of MIT tests. Here is my reply.

Agreed. Had I not taken Physics C, Calculus, and AP Chem I would be completely screwed in Honors Chem right now. And you Miri, know more than anyone how much I dragged through high school on my belly doing the bare minimum to maintain my GPA, even though I took the hardest course load possible. I know why this happened though. There is no way in hell I could have handled being in any normal classes, always thinking that there was something important and life motivating to be learned in an AP class. As the days went by I knew this wasn’t true.  In every single one of my classes, especially the upper level ones, there were large blocks of time in which we did absolutely nothing. Perhaps the first thirty minutes of class a teacher would take attendance, or another teachcer would finish a lecture an hour early and give students time to mingle and talk. It seemed to me the biggest waste of time known to man. If we have so much free time, why not spend it doing something that I thought was a valuable attribute to my life?

I spent a large portion of my high school life uninspired, unchallenged, unmotivated. With zeal, I invested my energies in many other projects, paying little attention to class; seldom finding moments of excitement in my academic life when I was cramming for this, or struggle to learn that in small pockets of time.

With some stroke of fate I enrolled into NYU. With another stroke of luck I passed the placement test to qualify me into the Honors Chemistry program. I can truly say that this is one of the greatest experiences of my life. There is not a day where I don’t reevaluate my choices in high school, however. If I had spent those extra patches of time studying ahead, instead of being bored off my ass, my grades definitely would have been better. If I had taken more advantage of the teachers who sat there and babied us through each and every Calculus problem, how much easier would Chemistry be for me now? Should I have taken more math courses over the summer instead of Japanese and SAT prep (which was useless), so I could be up to par with my higher level classmates?

Wait, nevermind, my classmates have already taken Linear Algebra and Multivariable Calculus.

The geniuses at my college shock me. When you are surrounded by scientific savants, the reality of your own mediocre intelligence really is a bitch slap in the face.

Me: How long did it take you to do your homework? I finished it in 5 hours yaay!
Friend: Oh, about two hours. How are you even in Honors Chemistry?
Me: ….Shit. I got a 88 on it.
Friend: How?! I got a 97.

I suppose there is also a social trade off. But who needs that when you want to be a genius?

Me: Do de do de do. I’m in an elevator. Hey, you’re in my Chemistry class right? How are you? How did you do on the last homework?
Classmate: Uhh, I don’t know!!!!
Me: Oh.. okay.. haha. What’s your name?
Classmate: I don’t know! I don’t have one! I don’t have a name! AWKWARDDD.

Later on I found out that he is quite uptight, and he won’t tell anyone his name for some reason. He goes by Fung, or some variation of that. Oh good, it’s not just me.

My various Chemistry study groups really are my saving grace, however. They are full of people who are in the same boat as me, or worse, and some geniuses. We spend a lot of time trying to figure out how the hell to answer the question, and the rest attempting to answer it, if that makes sense. It really is a great experience for me, and what I’ve been looking for for years. If I didn’t have them I’d be screwed in 8 different ways by now. Thanks to them, I am only screwed in 5. Thanks guys!

A lot people in my Chemistry class have admitted to breaking down in tears. I have not done this. Yet. I am, however, stocking up on electrolytes for when I get my midterm grade back. I will study my ass off until then. I am so thankful to be in Honors Chemistry. It really does motivate me to learn more about how things work, even though I disagree with most of the theories (Schrodinger’s is bullshit!).

One day me, Charlie, and Ash are going to derive every equation that’s ever existed. This equation is not derivable?! Peh! We will find it’s wave function… Oh God, I’m disentigrating into late night inside-joke-hallucinating-babble again. Everything really is funny at 5 AM.