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2:34 pm - Sunday, Aug. 14, 2005 Sun 8/14/05 (11:30 a.m.) On and off for the past couple weeks, I�ve been thinking about politics, and the world outside �Jimlandia� in general. A fellow online journaler has suggested, more than once, that he finds my journal of limited interest because of its almost-entirely-personal content. And getting past my basic narcissism��You mean the minutiae of my personal life is not endlessly fascinating? How can this be?��I�ve thought a lot about exactly why I don�t write more about �the world outside Jimlandia� in here. It�s a combination of things�Yes, I�m more interested, by and large, in the �wonder of me� than in commenting on events in the middle east, or ripping on President Dumb-ass, or what-have-you, but even when I do find something in the news interesting (ex. The export of high-paying tech jobs to other countries, the ongoing quagmire that is Iraq, the rise of crystal meth as the �drug du jour�, the teaching of �intelligent design theory� in high school science classes, etc), I don�t feel like I understand the ins-and-outs of most situations well enough to write intelligently about themt. And I can�t see why you�d want to get my half-assed take on current events anyway, when you can get actual, better-informed opinions from any number of news outlets. There�s only one �news outlet� for news about me, however... The other thing I was thinking about, regarding politics, is that I�ve got a really simple-minded, almost childlike take on things�My political views, such as they are, basically boil down to who seems �mean� and who seems �nice� in a given situation. I rarely if ever feel like I�m following all the twists and turns of a given political story in the news (In part because I�m lazy, and only read the stuff that�s spoon-fed to me in the mainstream media, when I read at all), but instead, I basically respond, gut-level, to what �feels� right or wrong. It�s �Everything I Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten� stuff, basically. And I don�t know how to make that sound like insightful political commentary. But all that said, I do want to find other things to write about beyond the bookstore, what is or isn�t happening in my acting career, etc.,because I think I�m more than that. Being out of instant coffee, I finally broke out the grinder and coffeemaker Mark and Jane bought me for my birthday back in May. It didn�t really work out�When all was said and done, the resulting cup of coffee tasted like crap (Very strong, with a bitter, unpleasant aftertaste)�and I don�t know what exactly went wrong. �Operator error� somehow? Old beans? Never having made honest-to-goodness coffee in my home before, I don�t know how long coffee beans stay �fresh�. In any case, I guess more experimentation is in order; the next time Mark and Jane come to visit, I�d like to be able to offer them a decent cup of coffee. I wanted to throw this out to any younger readers: What the hell is a �holla back girl�? Any help? Okay, now here�s where a lot of you would probably prefer I wrote about �me� instead of �what�s in the news�... About a week or so ago, I read (In the �Savage Love� column in The Onion) about the Seattle man who died after having sex with a horse. Or to be more horrifyingly accurate, the Seattle man who died after letting a horse have sex with him. In a word--�YIKES!� (Or maybe �OUCH!�) I wouldn�t say I�m obsessing over this story, but I would say I�m �thinking about it a lot�. Not because it�s �sick� or �disgusting� or whatever you want to call it (After all, it�s not like I don�t have a few sexual �kinks� myself. Though a desire for �hot horsie action� isn�t amongst them). And I don�t have a big stake in the �Is this or is this not �animal abuse�?� question (In this particular case, I don�t think it is. The horse wasn�t hurt, after all; it was just doing what horses do. I read a comment online that referred to the horse in question as having been �humiliated�, but that seems more than a tad anthropomorphic). The issue that sticks with me is how someone could risk their life just get their rocks off. And not just �risk their life�; If you die having sex with a horse, your whole life is basically negated�You�re not �Devoted Family Man� or �Successful Entrepeneur� or anything else; you�re just this freak who died having sex with a horse. It may sound odd but I think my interest in this story, why my mind won�t let it go, is that I don�t understand. And as an actor, I feel like I have to be able to understand anything people do. I mean, what if I end up having to play this guy in a movie someday...?
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