I found
this story online a few minutes ago. I guess after awhile, you find yourself desensitized to a lot of the violence that takes place. But this was pretty shocking to me. Sometimes you wonder what the world is coming to; but then you realize it's always been this way in some form or another.

It's interesting when I'm around people of my parents or grandparents generation and they are talking about the days when things were safer, or better for people to live in as far as violence is concerned. I'm not sure if such assumptions have a lot of veracity to them. I wonder sometimes if a heightened perception of violence is just more apparent given the increased proliferation of media sources (especially electronic and visual).

My grandparents generation, for example, is one in which millions upon millions of people died from genocide- between Hitler and Stalin. My parents generation were witness to the horrors of what went on in places like Cambodia, where a government carried out systemic violence and cultural extermination against its own people. While life in 2005 can be terrible in that people are exposed through the media to violence; it always gives the potential of making us more aware of what is going on in the world (at least in theory).

Some links and articles I found lately that I thought were kind of cool:

Free Punk Mp3's

superheros

(Article on myth and literature in videogames)

I've really gotten into the Sabres lately! Which is a little strange, because up until this season, I knew nothing about hockey. I guess I just find it exciting that we made it this far and might possibly make it to the Stanley Cup. I hope we win the next game in North Carolina!
(I should actually try to find a way to watch the games, but I find it more fun to call up a friend of mine and get the details from him. He's very colorful in his descriptions!). He was telling me about all the stuff that people have actually done with the "Stanley Cup" itself over the years... the stories are pretty crazy.

Another thing Tom was telling me about... there's actually a man out there named "Stanley Cup" who loves hockey. Everytime he goes into a bar, all the bartenders will give everyone there a free round because Mr. Cup came.

It's been awhile. I wish I could have made it to the e-strip party, but thanks to Paul for emailing me.

I'm back in Jamestown for the summer. I'm saving money by living with my folks until I need to be back for classes in the fall. It's definitely nice being with my family and friends, but to be honest, Jamestown is not exactly the most thrilling of places. Our big excitement is the fact that they just built a "Super Wal-Mart".

Fortunately, I get to go back up to Buffalo quite a bit because I'm doing some museum work, and I'm also taking a class to start working on my thesis. So it's all good.

You know what's kind of strange? It's when you're at a concert or something, and a guy is standing really closely next to you, or behind you... and then he'll keep smiling at you while he looks you up and down with his eyes. And he won't actually talk to you either, but he'll stand in exactly the same position. You'll turn a bit, then he'll turn a bit and so forth. Its creepy.

Do you ever get picked up in really atypical places? One for me that has always surprised me is the library. You would not think that it would be a magnet for romance. I've always wondered why I seem to meet guys in libraries like this. Plus, there's always the people who try to ask you out at bus stops or bus stations. Usually they ask you if you want to go some place where they could use their senior citizen discount or something! I mean, I'm sure we can all find true love on Greyhound, but still....

I was wondering... would anyone on here be interested in meeting up sometime for coffee or perhaps a drink? I've really enjoyed reading a lot of the entries of people on here and think it would be cool to meet some of you.

I grew up in a small town. Most of the people I grew up with are married and have children now. This probably sounds terrible to say, but anymore it seems that I feel awkward around most of my old friends. Because I can't relate to most of their experiences. I don't have children. I'm not married or engaged. The relationship that I had been in for a year and a half ended soon after I moved to Buffalo this past fall. I don't have a car. I live in a one room place. I'm this chick in grad school with a serious illness, trying to scrape by on a minimalistic income and medicaid. Maybe it doesn't make sense, but I just feel like a failure compared to them. That I've fallen behind somehow.

The truth is that most of the time, I feel like I am content with my life. I am involved with things that matter to me, and I continue to meet a lot of amazing people. I just wish I wouldn't compare my life to others this way. I want to be someone who can just be happy for them. I really do.

Recently, one of my grad classes were discussing the plans to build a new hotel on Elmwood- near Forest Avenue. Its supposed to be located where several businesses are. I believe these businesses include Mondo Video, Home of the Hits, and some other stores. Everyone in my class that participated in our discussion seems to think that building a hotel there would be a great idea, but I have to say that I definitely have mixed feelings about it.

On the one hand, I agree that it would be nice to have a hotel in the Elmwood neighborhood. It definitely would be helpful to the many museums and galleries that are located in the area. If a blockbuster show came to the Knox as they do several times a year, people could stay at a hotel right near the museum. They would probably go to some of the restaurants in the neighborhood and such. It's always great to support the economy around Buffalo. And, as some mentioned, some of the buildings that are currently the site are suffering from disrepair and have structural problems.

From a different perspective, though, I have to say that I am sad at the prospect of the tearing down of those buildings. I love the way those house-style stores are mixed together inside the neighborhood. And I feel bad that those stores would be forced to move, potentially not on Elmwood anymore. I think a lot of people would miss not having them around here. I have not been a part of the meeting process and can't make an informed comment on how the tenants of those buildings have been treated... but I have read from many of the news sources that some of them feel that they weren't given much of a voice during this process to have their concerns addressed. Of course, I could admittedly be fallacious in my assumptions on this.

There's also the issue of the possibility that the hotel might fail. Sometimes its hard to predict whether a hotel will succeed in any given area. What will happen to the surrounding neighborhood if that hotel goes out of business and just becomes some abandoned space?

So I certainly am interested in following what the outcome of this will be, and how it will affect the neighborhood in which I live.

It scares me sometimes just how much I like the 80's sitcom "Night Court". I truly find it amusing, and I have no idea why. I like the crazy bald baliff.

Oh, and the new "Real World" is at Lake Superior, Michigan. How come they haven't done a Real World Buffalo? C'mon, aren't we more exciting?

(The last time I actually watched MTV was when I still thought it was cool... you know, when Green Day first came out. I feel old now).

For my fellow procrastinators:
Bubble Wrap:

Yes, its true... I'm one of the many denizens of that place commonly referred to as "livejournal". Yet, I think this site is any interesting concept... it definitely has more of a collective community feel. I look forward to reading some of the posts here soon.

I moved to Buffalo this past September. I really like it so far. It has a very funky, warm feel to it as a city. It has its problems, but I definitely think it has more than its fair share of strengths, too. There's a surprising amount of culture and art to be found in it.

I shall have to post more soon...