in every captain there's a Kidd now, in every chaplain there's an id now

When I was leaving Japanese Film (this week, Rashomon) today, a guy in my class mentioned offhand that he felt like starting a riot. It's not that he was mad about anything in particular, but in his words, "sometimes you just want to throw a chair through a window." I know the feeling. It has less to do with destruction and more to do with just DOING something. Something that has a physical impact on the world around you, even if it's a negative one. Something that can irrevocably change the course of the rest of your life.

I find myself thinking about that kind of thing every now and then. Here's a short list:

• stealing a car
  
• covering a big blank wall with graffiti
• setting off an M80 in a trash can
• punching a cop
• smashing a TV with a sledgehammer
  

The last one's my favorite. There are pretty big (40" or 42") flat-screens on the walls everywhere on campus, and they are offensively useless. Half the time, they're off. When they're on, they display information no one needs. It's one thing to build a $300 million stadium with my tuition money, that's at least pleasantly wasteful, but to drop at least $30k to outfit the University with banal bulletin boards in HD? Smashy, smashy!

oh, and here's my new roommate, Lisa's kitten (who, as I'm typing this, is purring contentedly on my lap).



He likes to hide under the stairs and attack my pants when I come down to the kitchen. Playing with a kitten after a long day of classes or work is definitely the best stress relief ever.