New Year's Day

Happy 2008, everybody. This New Year's Day has been a pretty okay one. Florida lost its bowl game against Michigan, 41-35. When you care about sports, things like that are kind of a disappointment. It was a little bit of a disappointment, especially since the game was pretty close and because I invested about four hours of my afternoon watching it.

Actually, for part of the time I was filling out my FAFSA for 2008-2009. It's something of a New Year's Day tradition for American college students who fill out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) as early as possible so they'll be eligible for federal scholarships and loans. Or something like that. The bulk of the information deals with your income and your parents' income.

This evening my family went to have dinner at my friend Mark's house. His mom had the whole buffet-style feast and everything, and there were quite a few other people invited. It was a good way to spend the evening, I think, until I was asked to dish out some leftovers to take home. Italian stuff with tomato sauce. Do you see where this is going? I ended up wearing quite a bit. Some lady whose name I'm supposed to know said, "Jordon, Jordon, Jordon. Jordon, Jordon, Jordon." Just like that. That made me feel loads better. Happy New Year!

One hundred years ago today, the New York World asked its readers to predict what New York would be like in 2008. Now, the New York Times has asked experts (and non-experts) what they think life will be like in New York in 2108. Does anyone care to stick around for a hundred years and see if they're right?

It's a blog, but it hasn't been updated for a while. It's still funny, though: New and Improved Stereotypes.

Here's a psychological optical illusion; your perception of the image is supposed to vary depending on the culture in which you were brought up. The following paragraph contains a spoiler for the optical illusion, so check it out before you continue.

It's totally a window. It looks all wrong for a box. That's ridiculous.