tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-113459582011-11-16T07:27:07.287-05:00A writer who spends his days covering the beverage industry and his free time writing about people that don't exist chronicles his meager accomplishments.Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.comBlogger621100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-72933918779873072972009-06-25T12:53:00.003-05:002009-06-25T12:59:51.805-05:00

At the BevNET LIVE conference last month, I had the unusual task of running around to our presenters with a cameraman at my back. I've done radio before, but never video - though it's arguable that I still haven't really done video. Out of all the clips, I barely appear for more than a few seconds, and, at that, it's only a sliver of my face.That's very intentional on my part. One of our design

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-28866166191348440132009-06-25T12:17:00.003-05:002009-06-25T12:23:53.187-05:00

Budding anthology "Six Guns and Shootouts" has announced my short story, "Faking it to Omaha" as part of its inaugural issue. The story follows two out of work actors in the old west who decide to supplement their (flagging) acting careers by stealing a stage coach. It's a bad idea to start with, but gets worse when the actors unwittingly cross a real (and real mean) outlaw by the name of The Old

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1145476388259724162006-04-19T14:46:00.000-05:002006-04-19T14:53:55.463-05:00

Last semester I had stories every week. I talked to this person. I covered this story. This happened. All interesting things. The most interesting thing I can report lately is that I went to a concert on Friday. The concert was amazing--Bob Schneider is a tremendous performer and doesn't fail to surprise, but everyone goes to concerts. They're frequently good. I can't even tell you something

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1144774880175389702006-04-11T11:59:00.000-05:002006-04-11T12:01:20.206-05:00

This woman has three tickets open, just from today. I think she must be retired. All I really know is that she thinks "turning on her computer" means connecting it to the internet, and error messages scare the hell out of her.Here's the bad thing. She remembers my name. I'm screwed.

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1144329241218859092006-04-06T08:02:00.000-05:002006-04-06T08:14:01.250-05:00

In the airport, on the way to Clemson South Carolina for the Club Nationals fencing tournament, we got a treat from a team mate. After we crossed through the gate, my team mates went to get breakfast. Kevin, a male sabreur like myself, went to McDonalds.He came back with two hash browns and an ice cream. While spooning it into his mouth, he periodically stopped to stare straight ahead and say,

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1144171544292838802006-04-04T11:18:00.000-05:002006-04-04T12:25:44.326-05:00

We won the gold Medal for men's sabre squad. I could say more about it, but I'm tired. I didn't get back to my room until 4:30 this morning.

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1143733606094054612006-03-30T10:32:00.000-05:002006-03-30T10:46:46.113-05:00

After three months, she's been released. If you're not familiar with the story, read it here.While I'm sure lots of people are breathing a sigh of relief across the country, it's unusually intense for me and those in my major. Jill attended UMass Amherst, where I'll graduate from this year. She had the same professors and sat in the same classrooms, though a few years apart.When I first heard

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1143667513728540572006-03-29T16:05:00.000-05:002006-03-29T16:25:13.743-05:00

Mapquest told me my recent trip would take ten and a half hours. I'm more fidgity than the average person. I get bored very easily, and boredom leads to feeling restless and being unpleasant. Listening to random pop-stations for ten hours wouldn't have helped me, and you can't always find an NPR station. Add to this the complication that I don't have a car radio, (someone thought it would be

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1143558231770666602006-03-28T09:55:00.000-05:002006-03-28T10:03:51.783-05:00

While on the 1000+ mile trip I took over spring break, I found myself dining alone in restaurants. This is something that I've rarely if ever done, and certainly something I'm not very comfortable with. When I eat alone at the cafeteria on campus, I do so with a newspaper which I can easily acquire at the door. Not so with these places.I found myself sitting uncomfortably at my table either

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1143487766412533642006-03-27T14:21:00.000-05:002006-03-27T15:14:58.543-05:00

If you talked to me last week, I would have told you all about how I was planning to move to Ohio, work for the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, and rent a two bedroom apartment on my own so I could have an office.This week it's different.I visited the Chronicle-Telegram over spring break, and discovered it's not where I want to end up. Hell, it's not even where I want to start. Instead of finding a

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1134588605970066192005-12-14T14:24:00.000-05:002005-12-14T14:30:05.986-05:00

And I'm bored.I have the rest of today (a scant 30 minutes) and five hours on Friday left at my internship at the Daily Hampshire Gazette. And what do I have left to do? Not a lot. I had three stories when I came in today. Two are finished and awaiting the ritualized editorial beating. I'm waiting for three quick facts on the other.Trust me, that's not five and half hours of work. Tops, that's

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1133879363733934192005-12-06T09:23:00.000-05:002005-12-06T09:29:23.743-05:00

The AP reported that an Iranian military plane crashed into a building this morning. The collision killed all 94 passengers, and 25 people in the ten story apartment complex. The Iranian government is calling it an accident. They say the plane had technical difficulties and was attempting an emergency landing at a nearby airport.All of this sounds like it's on the up-and-up so far, but this

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1133201281173984272005-11-28T12:59:00.000-05:002005-11-28T13:29:59.526-05:00

It' an interesting question, and here's how it worked out in my head this morning.Say a man in his fifties is dying from an incurable disease. This is some time in the future, so cloning is doable. He has his brain carved out of his body and plopped into a clone body that's 30 years younger.Is he still human? Probably, right?Okay, so this same man, fifty years later, is dying again. He's still

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1132202419041452762005-11-16T23:35:00.000-05:002005-11-16T23:40:19.043-05:00

Not sure if many of you heard about this, but there was a bomb scare in a Northampton Starbucks today.Well, when I say scare, I mean six people were injured. Two of them critically.Not really. You'd hear about that.The box turned out to be office supplies and throwaway cameras. Now, why someone would leave this in a metal box, inside a cardboard box, addressed to a female employee in the store

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1132202090935624492005-11-16T23:33:00.000-05:002005-11-16T23:34:50.950-05:00

Yup. Still pretty bored. Also, cold. Also, rain sucks.That is all.

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1130606332053106072005-10-29T12:06:00.000-05:002005-10-29T12:18:52.076-05:00

This has been in my head for a few days, so I thought I'd toss it up here.I've spent time in four newsrooms now, and each one has had a different layout.At the Gazette, you walk in the front door and see the advertising department on your left and the news department on your right. The whole place is designed with low standing cubicles, giving the space a very open feel.The Collegian has a

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1130383483701777472005-10-26T22:23:00.000-05:002005-10-26T22:24:43.720-05:00

No, seriously. I'm painfully bored at the learning commons. My shift ends at midnight. I have nothing to do, so I thought I'ld drop a pointless blurb about it here.Cheerio.

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1130047612123132202005-10-23T01:02:00.000-05:002005-10-23T01:06:52.130-05:00

I just saw his profile on facebook, and I think it finally hit me that he's dead.How weird is that? The guy's been gone for months now, and he still has a profile up. He still has groups and classes listed. He still has favorite movies and a screen name, but their not attached to anything now.I didn't know Alex all that well. I had class with him, and I ate a few meals with him. I never hung out

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1130013763050452892005-10-22T15:42:00.000-05:002005-10-22T15:59:45.576-05:00

I'm not sure who broke up with who, but it was my idea. We had been fighting a lot--pretty much all the time we had together, so the relationship was acting as just another stress influence for me, instead of the weekly period of release that I needed.That seems pretty cut and dry, right? I'm a very busy person. I writing a book, writing for a newspaper, working a part-time job, rounding out the

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1128610594898012702005-10-06T09:55:00.000-05:002005-10-06T09:56:39.236-05:00

So, yeah, I'm interning at the Gazette and things are good except I'm starting to fuck up, which I suppose should only be expected considering the pressure I'm putting on myself.*shrug*

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1127412601387040952005-09-22T12:55:00.000-05:002005-09-22T13:10:01.396-05:00

I considered making an entry about how everything was going well. I had a front page story, Thuglit bought a piece of my fiction (for a T-Shirt, but still...) my professor respected me, and the edito at the Gazette that I'm working with decided I know my stuff well enough to put me on progressively harder projects.So there was lots of good stuff... then I noticed my truck's making funny noises.

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1126835189656340122005-09-15T20:37:00.000-05:002005-09-15T20:46:29.663-05:00

I saw Sarah today. Now, some of you know who that is. For those that don't here's a refresher.I dated Sarah for two and a half years and things got pretty serious. Then I hit this campus that I call home, and I suddenly didn't want to think in terms of years in the future. Hell, I didn't want to think more than a couple weeks into the future.Things started to fall apart because I was no longer

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1126558839720145382005-09-12T15:58:00.000-05:002005-09-12T16:00:39.726-05:00

What's with all this dust? Oh... right... I haven't used this in a while, and my interest in it will probably evaporate again in a couple days. In any event, I recieved yet another rejection letter today. Apex magazine rejected Soldiers and Monsters. Ironically, the editor told me that he liked Dela (the point of view character) but not the others. Dela's flat. Everyone has said that up until now

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1119923850171504262005-06-27T20:56:00.000-05:002005-06-27T20:57:30.186-05:00

“Fine,” Mr. Dalton says. He looks at another one of the tan shirts. “Give the man his chips,” *** 20 hands in, Eddie's playing strange. I bottom deal him a full house, a nut hand, and he plays it too fast. He knows I'm going to toss him a winner on the river, and he still raises $100 at the turn. Everyone folds. What could have been a $2-300 pot turns into $50. “Must have had something

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1119552449120065932005-06-23T13:47:00.000-05:002005-06-23T13:47:29.210-05:00

Even with the trench coat he dug out of a dumpster, Miles didn't look like he belonged in The Rusty Razor. He was too narrow, too skiddish, and not scarred enough, but he was there anyway, and he saw who he was looking for. The guy Miles was looking for did look like he belong at The Rusty Razor. Frank Dillon, Big Steak to most, had half a dozen empty shot glasses and a burnt out cigarette in

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1116136835147623852005-05-15T01:00:00.000-05:002005-05-15T01:05:32.346-05:00

I saw a friend tonight, for probably the last time. Yes, he's graduating. We all graduate, or leave, eventually, but he's different. He's joining the military. He's gone. Gone gone gone.In two years, I'll be writing at a newspaper. Maybe a good one, maybe a bad one. Maybe I'll be writing a newsletter for some giant corporation. Maybe I'll be doing telephone customer service.Travis might be

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1115751303265819862005-05-10T13:45:00.000-05:002005-05-10T13:55:03.296-05:00

I'm goal oriented, and I dazed out in class today and listed goals for the summer.-Finish two more drafts of "A Hairy Murder"-Read at least 15 books, including The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Master and Margarita, Pulp Masters, The Maltese Falcon, Slaughterhouse Five, and something by Raymond Carver.-Form a writers' group-Write three new short stories-Get a short story published-Log 100

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1115649398121825662005-05-09T09:04:00.000-05:002005-05-09T09:36:38.180-05:00

There's a lot to say here, and most of it's for my own benefit, so this may be a long one.I'd been thinking about this party coming up for a while. Well, I hadn't been thinking about the party so much, as the girl who invited me to the party, but I'll put that on hold for a moment.The party itself was very cool, and almost to classy to be at a college. The Stepford Wives theme left the women in

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1115647431906035512005-05-09T08:18:00.000-05:002005-05-09T09:03:51.956-05:00

I didn't qualify to division three. I missed it by one spot. I needed to rank fifth or higher, and I came in sixth.This sucks on its own, but listen to how it happened.I swept pools, winning all four of my bouts, (yes, that's a small pool) but didn't win by the margins I could have, so I still managed to seed third. No luck there.For my first DE, I fenced a guy that had been fencing for three

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1115610894739396312005-05-08T22:27:00.000-05:002005-05-08T22:54:54.783-05:00

I wrote an article for American Fencer a month or so back, and it just got mailed to people a week ago. In the past week, I've gotten a half-dozen or so comments of "I liked the article."This is weird.I don't know how many of you have had to deal with this, but I'm a bit weirded out when I'm confronted with the reality that people are reading my stuff. Yes, I often inflict my writing on friends.

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1115217601735353652005-05-04T09:07:00.000-05:002005-05-04T09:40:01.813-05:00

Yes, I know I haven't posted in two weeks. Sue me.This is a theory that only geek could come up with, and it's an odd way to look at relationships.Think of any potentially sexual relationship as an entity on a ten level scale. When the relationship is on the first level, you've just met a person. They have two legs, two arms, two eyes, and enough similarity to you that you're interested in them

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1114089145535840432005-04-21T08:06:00.000-05:002005-04-21T08:12:25.536-05:00

I went to play poker last night with some friends. I hadn't played in a while, so I thought it would be fun to push some chips around again. Yeah, I had a paper to do, but who needs to pass classes?Anyway, we played for about two hours. There were four of us at the start. When we stopped it was me and one other person. I had the tall stack, and could have drawn out the contest until I killed my

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1114088765319695802005-04-21T07:39:00.000-05:002005-04-21T08:06:05.320-05:00

I'm officially openning the doors to suggestions on what to try to fool these Google ads with. Post ideas in the comments section, and I'll start dropping them in entries.Spark plug, air hammer, farming equipment, computer monitor, motherboard, lab mice.

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1114060299030522392005-04-21T00:03:00.000-05:002005-04-21T00:11:39.030-05:00

This is just a quick one. Jenny's pictures from the banquet are out, and some of them are bribe bait. I figure I'll beat other people to it with this one. .If you want to see more, you can go to Jenny's homepage.By the way, golf cart, golf club, apples, Pontiac Firebird, 18 inch wheels, chrome.

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1114018420741425332005-04-20T12:33:00.000-05:002005-04-20T12:40:59.986-05:00

Have you noticed them?This isn't a request for you to click on them. I don't really care if you do, because I added them mostly so that I could track how many hits I got each day. However, a funny thing happened.When I first put them up, there was one consistent ad that had something to do with fencing. The other four spots alternated between ads for blogs and women's clothing. I understood the

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1113948886610361912005-04-19T17:10:00.000-05:002005-04-20T11:17:38.100-05:00

Yes, you read that right. I'm a nice guy and all, and have a lot of respect for women, but spring seems to do funny things to my head. That is, it relocates my thought process further south.I'm a fairly horny individual anyway but the clothing, or lack of, that the women on the campus are wearing today is driving me nuts. Or my nuts are driving me.That's probably more accurate.I have seen no

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1113880923837705232005-04-18T22:18:00.000-05:002005-04-18T22:22:03.840-05:00

If you're a fencer, just skip this one.If you've read this far, you don't know how the system works. The United States Fencing Association grants ratings according to a fencer's performance. These ratings go from E to A. E is the lowest, A the highest. Fencers that have not earned a rating yet have a U for unranked. Fencers earn ratings by finishing in top spots at tournaments, and the level of

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1113880550238578282005-04-18T22:07:00.000-05:002005-04-18T22:15:50.240-05:00

I came back to my room around 3:00 am after celebrating my newly earned rating and found an interesting display in my room. First, packing tape spanned my door, sticky-side out. I ducked it and stepped in, where I found a mobile constructed out of my clothes hangers. It was a good four feet high.Then, I sat at my desk, and something jammed in my back. I checked it, and it turned out to be a sabre

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1113877095355511812005-04-17T20:48:00.000-05:002005-04-18T21:18:15.356-05:00

I overshot my goal today and earned a new rating. I didn't expect it. I wasn't even looking for it. I had given myself the goal of earning my D by September.Eighteen people showed up, including two Bs, and two Cs. This made it a B tournament. I ranked 7th out of pools, and got a first round bye while the bottom four spots fought to get into the round of 16.In my first bout, I scored the first

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1113875207262963722005-04-16T14:19:00.000-05:002005-04-19T17:17:44.356-05:00

"Last year, this guy sucked. I beat on him every practice. This year, he beat on me every practice."--Mike Romanowski--my favorite words from the banquetSo this year I stayed for the whole thing. I chatted. I danced (with my coach at one point. Yes, he is male. I'm waiting for those pictures to get out.) I received awards, and even participated in a roundtable discussion on the team's future.I

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1113571196702932462005-04-15T08:00:00.000-05:002005-04-15T08:19:56.703-05:00

In addition to looking like a fool on the dance floor last night, I discovered something that raises the hair on the back of my neck--sketchy dudes.I was previously unaware of my reaction to this type of guy. I never encountered a situation where I would have to worry about this. Then, last night while I was flopping my arms around and shuffling my feet to a beat I couldn't find, I saw the dude

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1113570001384816792005-04-15T07:52:00.000-05:002005-04-15T08:00:01.386-05:00

I wound up at an event called "Unity Dance" last night, where three things quickly became obvious. First, I'm white... so very white. Second, I can't dance. Third, I have no shame.My roommate fixated on these last two. He shares the first two traits: being so very white and an inability to dance, but probably has more shame than he needs. I spent the event flailing about on the dance floor. I'm

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1113507457980212562005-04-14T14:33:00.000-05:002005-04-14T14:38:38.296-05:00

I read a story for class the other day. Well, it was more of an essay than a story, but it spanned eight pages, and spoke almost entirely about blow jobs. Yes. Blow jobs.The piece didn't have a point, it didn't have a plot, and it didn't have more than one character, but it was still worth reading. Why? Because it made you think about something that you normally don't talk about.I'm willing to

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1113430736051648072005-04-13T17:12:00.000-05:002005-04-13T17:18:56.053-05:00

Sometimes, people just stick.I took a class called Games Thinkers Play last year, and it was cool. Professor Gallo told us on the first day, that this was the class that said all the other English major classes were full of shit. The course work consisted of taking published articles, and tying them up with their own loose threads.Anyway, the way the class was structured, we brought in an essay

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1113340796092763052005-04-12T15:55:00.000-05:002005-04-12T16:19:56.093-05:00

I criticize fiction harshly, whether amateur or professional. However, I rarely attach the title "worst" to anything, but a classmate in my advanced writing class managed to garner just that title last night.Her story, entitled "Young Patriots," rambled right wing ideals for six pages in a prose style that might have garnered a passing grade in elementary school. Might.The characters, if you want

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1113274315304675042005-04-11T21:39:00.000-05:002005-04-11T22:53:01.640-05:00

For the past three years, right around this time I've hit a funk, a minor depression. The first year I was here, it came with a calamitous breakup. I thought that was the cause, and maybe it was, but there was no reason for it last year, and none this year.I suddenly feel down about my life. I have no girlfriend. I can't seem to get paid for anything I write. I got turned down for my internship

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1113234482531152742005-04-11T10:38:00.000-05:002005-04-11T10:48:02.533-05:00

I lost my voice this weekend. This, in itself, isn't remarkable. Thousands of people lose their voices every day. However, this was a first for me, and it made me realize how reliant I am on speaking.A large portion of my personality rests on the idea of communication, whether it's writing, speaking, or typing instant messages to other people bound to their keyboards. I can live without instant

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1112974802328575412005-04-08T10:19:00.000-05:002005-04-08T13:07:34.923-05:00

So here's a first for me. Fencing requires these obnoxious people called directors. They're the ones that stand on the side of the strip and rob you of points you rightfully earned. They're all imcompetent, and I'm joining their ranks.I got hired to work at Junior Sectionals this weekend. They're paying me $100 a day, feeding me, and setting me up with a hotel room. All I have to do is wear a

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1112840425945047982005-04-06T21:19:00.000-05:002005-04-08T13:10:21.546-05:00

So now I'm writing for a women's magazine. I'd say I don't know how this happened, but that would be a lie. A classmate of mine started yourstrulymag.com and was under the impression that I could write. I'm not sure where she got that thought.So she sent me an email asking if I wanted to put together a rebuttal to an article on the site. Why not? I've been printing stuff for free lately anyway,

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1112752024192750072005-04-05T20:28:00.000-05:002005-04-05T20:47:04.193-05:00

A classmate of mine wrote a story that we workshoped today. While the writing showed strength and style, my classmate cluttered the story with asides and parentheticals. I found most of these amusing, but only because they were about the process of writing. I pointed out that this jokes would be lost on the average reader. Only writers would get them.My professor said that was alright. Why?

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1112672940491500262005-04-04T22:29:00.000-05:002005-04-04T22:49:00.493-05:00

My fencing team went to its national competition this weekend, and I, of course, went along. For us and the 28 other schools present, this is what we practice for every year. Yes, the team did well, and yes, I did well, but I don't feel like going on a self-congratulation spree. While we fought hard, the weekend had too much personality to be boiled down to final standings, and too many stories

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1112667530993267952005-04-04T18:18:00.000-05:002005-04-04T21:18:50.993-05:00

When I started this, I thought it was going to be an excersize in masturbation. I thought the words would hit cyberspace, rest on a server, and eventually dissapear with the eventual corruption of the html file. Before long, I got bored. I write, but never for myself at this point. I write with the expectation that someone else will read it, maybe not immediately, but sometime. So when it finally

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1111552367888002542005-03-22T23:22:00.000-05:002005-03-22T23:32:47.890-05:00

I'm an atheist, so The Bible has never meant much to me. Granted, I've had fun reading it, especially the book of Leviticus, but it never moved me. Today, I spoke to my class about a short list of books and said three of them made it to my list of holy books.The books? 1984, Animal Farm, and Fahrenheit 451These three books have shaped how I see the world. Granted, they've made me a little

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1111414905812465582005-03-21T08:58:00.000-05:002005-03-21T09:21:45.813-05:00

Over spring break, I finished writing a rough draft of my novel. You'd think that finishing a project of that length would grant you a sense of accomplishment. Well, it did, for thirty seconds or so. Then I immediately realised I had all that writing to edit. So, the sense of accomplishment failed to last. Maybe it will stand up longer when I've finished editing. Or when I've published it.

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1111379578314388052005-03-20T23:14:00.000-05:002005-03-20T23:32:58.316-05:00

So I finished second at a fencing tournament today. Second. Not first, second. This annoys me, because I wanted the rating that would come with finishing first, and I crushed the guy who beat me earlier in the week. If only I could have done it today in the finals.But, bah. What am I going to do about it? Well, currently I'm complaining on a digital forum that I have no evidence anyone reads.

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1111294188157527142005-03-19T23:38:00.000-05:002005-03-19T23:49:48.156-05:00

I hadn't talked to him since last semester. He called yesterday.Let's see if I can break this down in a paragraph. My father bailed at my birth and tried to deny his part in my lineage. When I was seven he decided to start visiting me. He made an agreement with my mother that he would cover the cost of college when I was twelve, and has been doing everything he could to back out of it since.

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1110765747020385172005-03-13T21:01:00.000-05:002005-03-13T21:02:27.020-05:00

As mentioned in the previous post, I'm home on spring break. This translates to: I don't have an internet connection on my computer. When I can come by one, I'll post. So they will be intermittant. Not like anyone other than me is reading this anyway.

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1110765663698432002005-03-13T20:56:00.000-05:002005-03-13T21:01:03.700-05:00

I'm home on spring break this week, and I thought I'd use the week off to finish up some work I've been meaning to do for a while. Namely, I thought I'd use this time to finish my novel.I was making pretty good progress with it too. I Set up my computer Friday night, got five pages done, then got another four done Saturday. Now, this was less than the quota I had set for myself (seven pages a day

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1110562572009090452005-03-11T10:33:00.000-05:002005-03-11T12:36:12.010-05:00

My boss keeps a fish tank in the office. This is a point of pride for him. He takes a certain pleasure in feeding them and topping off their tank each day.Well, recently they started dying. In pairs. Apparently, fish death works on the buddy system.Today, my boss tried to clean the tank, thinking that an untidy home might be leading to the fish death. He cracked the bottom of the tank. Within an

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1110490426841163532005-03-10T16:27:00.000-05:002005-03-10T16:33:46.843-05:00

So I'm probably behind the times on this. I'm no artist, so I typically don't dabble with stuff like this, but I just downloaded The Gimp 2.2 for fun. I got involved with playing around, and decided, as the title of this post declares, that The Gimp is cool, and free. I made this with it:

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1110418743225186792005-03-09T20:33:00.000-05:002005-03-09T20:39:03.226-05:00

I've been working on a novel for a while now. It's just about done, another thirty pages and the rough draft will be ready to get brutalised. This, on its own, is not terribly interesting. Lots of people have almost finished novels, and most of those will never see completion.Alright, the interesting bit. I had an assignment in my fiction writing class where I had to start at the end of a story,

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11345958.post-1110417676704254782005-03-09T20:16:00.000-05:002005-03-11T12:42:26.956-05:00

I should be graduating in May, but instead I'm attending this fine university for a fifth year. Did I fail? No, I just took on two extra majors, an honors college, and a double degree. In any event, you would think by the time your fifth year rolls around, you would be able to salvage a closet-sized single from the campus housing system. Not so. Tonight we had room selection. Two singles opened

Matt Caseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03337492823526994292noreply@blogger.com0