I've recently discovered that I'm sketchy.

I'm leaving for Syria on October 11th. My laptop was shipped out today. I'm almost done with all my paperwork. It's like...my world is coming together. It feels kinda like a horizontal moving escalator thing.

Cat turned 23 this weekend (happy birthday, Cat!). She had her birthday at her friends' lakehouse. She warned me: "These are my sketchy friends. Is it okay that there will be sketchy friends?" And I was like, "I know half of these people. No worries about sketchiness." So we drove, like, half an hour to get out into the boonies of Coventry, then marched through a pitch-black foresty place lit by nothing but the light of our cell phones, then saw a beacon of light ahead of us: this giant industrial flashlight, held by one of the kids at the party. We followed it to this crooked lakehouse with Batman and porn on the walls, and the owners told us: "This is the last year for this lakehouse. Apparently it's too far out on the lake, so it has to be destroyed." Indeed, we went out onto the porch by the lake, and the porch pretty much sagged INTO the lake. "Don't go to the edge," we were told. "You'll end up in the lake. See those beer bottles out there? Those are mine from last night. See that sunken canoe out there? It's called the Mighty Penis. We're going to make a better one, and sink it at a better party."

So we all spent a while talking and eating, the other kids drank, and then Becca and Jay and I went home after an hour or two (since I needed to be home at a decent hour). In retrospect, I did know most of the kids at the party, and they were as friendly and cool as they've always been. But...the whole thing was really sketchy. It was fun, and I'm glad I went, but I think I may be sketchy by association. I'm thinking of growing a goatee to celebrate.

Becca and I have been watching "Lost" for the past week or two. It displeases us with its crappy characters and complete lack of little payoffs. No, you can't just be "mysterious" for every single episode and never explain anything. That isn't mysterious, that's lame and cheap and pretentious. We're also displeased because we were told my many, many sources that "Lost" is the best thing ever. It is by no means the best thing ever, despite any positive qualities it may have. Sources of particular distaste: all-American hero Jack, Mr. and Miss O.C., the crazy French lady, and unbelievable, crowbarred-in love stories that serve no purpose other than to show how politically correct the creators can be by showing multi-racial couples. If you're so damn politically correct, why is the only Asian guy in the show a domineering misogynist? Like that stereotype isn't pervasive enough in our society. Sources of particular pleasure: the oldest character kicking the most ass, and a hobbit strung out on heroin. Also of note was a boar peeing on the stupid racist Southerner. Oh, and that guy's not exactly breaking out of our country's stereotypes, either. Why is it always okay to assume Southerners are uneducated, small-minded hicks?

Anyway, I'm done. Sorry. Perhaps I should watch fewer DVDs.