Constant change is the way of the world, the
way of this page.
(above) The flag of Eire &, well, a duck. For a discussion of my "real"
name, head for the bottom of the page. Tell me this duck doesn't look
peaceful. That is one peaceful pond, my friends.
(commentary) Are there safe bets? I'm not convinced that it matters. There
are grudges & people who hold them for whatever reason, or claim to act
without reason. & then there are the people who care &, as a direct
result, matter. Which side of the fence you fall on is your call. If
you choose the side that doesn't mean talking to me, I'll probably just laugh
anyway. But I'll laugh even harder if you think you have me figured out,
cause the odds of that are one in a quadrillion.
(quote) I love Hootie & the Blowfish & recently attended a concert of
theirs. "Yeah I'm tangled up in blue, I only wanna be with you..."
(pictures) Suddenly, this page has all kinds of crazy colors on it, depicting
all sorts of crazier people. For Fish's interpretation of Eire Duck himself,
click here. Click the "back" button
quickly to run away!
Storey for Senate!
Looking for information about my Senator at Large
campaign for the Brandeis Student Senate? Look no further.
A Brief Manifesto
This is a work in progress. Most recently updated on 8 November 2000.
As I have been fond of saying (don't comment, Fish!), "Rome was not built in
a day, but it was not sacked in a day either." A whole new world for a
whole new millennium. Whatever that means, really.
Not only does this mean that time & patience are required of the
visitor
to this page, but a little sympathy, considering I am not a "CoSi"
person. However,
I took CoSi last year... & promptly dropped it by mid-term.
But Brandeis afforded me this opportunity to have my own piece of the
ethereal
pie, so who am I to blow against the wind?
Send your comments, questions, gripes, requests
for advice,
& anything else to eireduck@hotmail.com -- I won't add the
link here,
because I bet you want to mail me from your own source & not from
Netscape!
To help you all identify exactly what's "new"
'round here, all updated pages carry the following flashy "new" sign!
All such things are new as of 8 June 2000 or later - basically the changes
you'll find if you stopped visiting over the summer.
Not so much new as not new is an idea I've ripped off
from Lisha. But it's a good idea & it's spreading like wildfire in
Los Alamos (insert canned poor-taste laughter here), so... Here's a soliloquial
perspective (updated daily!) on my current existence. (The "new" logo is there
because this page is always being updated.)
This page wouldn't exist without Mike Topper (who is
a CoSi person). He was the first person to work on it & get me inspired.
Write him an eloquent & gracious e-mail thanking him for all this
at mtopper@brandeis.edu. For more on Topper, you can occasionally
check out this dubious place. Check out the URL
on that baby! Much to my chagrin, this kid decided to leave the 'Deis
for good, mostly to take a job that pays better than anything I'll likely ever
be doing. So he went.
The link colors on this were changed via persistent suggestion.
You too can employ this method to change something you'd like to change
on this page, so drop me a line...
Looking for a more tangible Pond
of Peace? Before you start thinking there were any just wars, you
might want to check this
out.
Who Am I,
Anyway?
It seems that most people devote a lot of the top of their page(s) to an introduction
of themselves. After an ugly incident with a "visitor" to this
page who most undoubtedly didn't know the first thing about me, I'm a little
skeptical of opening up too much to those who are here without knowing me. At
the same time, it can be nice to just lose onself in this crazy e-world &
end up learning much about those one may never meet or has no natural connection
to. So. I guess I can best be defined by what I believe in, the
people in my life, my endless chain of over-thought, other things I do with
my time, & the pursuit of enlightenment (Though not the Buddhist kind, which
is all anihilatory of emotions & thoughts & judgments. I'm into
those things, except when I'm especially bitter. I think enlightenment,
in the true sense, requires a focus on such things, rather than a limitation.).
Most of this will flesh itself out over the course of this page. If
you're not into detective work, here's the preliminary basics:
I'm a pacifist & a vegetarian. I believe in God, but not in organized
religion. I want to write, & do so often, but far less than I should.
Words are everything to me, both spoken & written. I can most
easily be identified by my long hair & my Mariners jacket. Not necessarily
in that order. Oh yeah, & I'm male. But don't go throwing stereotypes
on that, because most of them don't hold for me in that department. Though
I am "straight". But I wouldn't label that as a "stereotype".
People should like who they want to.
There's also the lame stuff... like the fact that I'm two decades old &
over halfway through college. Somehow that doesn't seem relevant.
Would you believe that
people have visited this place since 8 February 1999?
Can you BELIEVE it? We've nailed over FOUR-THOUSAND HITS! Man alive,
that's crazy. So now it's 4k in 2k, which means we've seriously been picking
up the pace & are way ahead of ourselves. This might just become the
next traffic jam on the info superhighway. It's a good thing it won't be
the next jellybean on said highway, or else we might rack up 80,000-factorial
hits! Take THAT, math people!
Our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY was back in February. We're averaging about 4 hits
a day, as of 8 February 2000, but the pace appears to be picking up. Not
too shabby, if we do say so ourselves....
Places to Go & Things to
See
I've always considered
myself a writer. A preliminary list of my Collected Works
is my effort to help prove that. Feel free to judge for yourself.
Check out the Scheffres 2nd Risk Page!
Here you can see what my college friends & I spent way too much time
doing on Scheffres 2nd, our hall we shared last year here at Brandeis.
I'm a debater. You think debate ended with high school? I did too
for a while... about a week. Think again... There's also a Brandeis team site which
I, of all people, am now Webmaster of. In the words of Bob Dylan, "Wowie...
pretty scary."
My mumsy didn't come to college with me, against her apparent wishes.
She works here!
My friends & I have wasted way too much time on this little hobby... So it goes.
I'm an on-&-off "groupie" of this on-campus a capella group. They sound cool.
Plus one of my best friends at Brandeis, Ariela, (seen here with the rest
of the group... I can't keep up with how often this picture changes) is a part
of them.
I love this radio station. They
are much like the one I listen to at home
but they don't have that annoying woman who does all the station identifications!
But I was on the radio myself last year, co-hosting a show on this
station with Nivey-Nive, a crazy
person I know here in Waltham.
I've never been one to do the assigned reading. I'm too busy reading
what I want to. Here's a list of my 100 favorite
books, as of just pre-college. It's got cool graphics, too!
Fish got me hooked on the dark side & now there's no saving me. Here's
where you used to be able to find a basic list of my
MP3's.
My music tastes extend far beyond
my delving into the dark side of MP3's. Here's a full
evaluation of my favorite music & the state of good music in general.
Neat graphics here too! This page is finally where I wanted it to
be, & now has even more info on my favorite albums & such!
I actually have another homepage... technically. It's just standard fare
for ICQ users & I doubt anyone actually
goes there.
I used to work at a (real) newspaper, writing articles
for them & taking photos & all that. It was fun, even if some
of the people I worked with weren't the most amazing journalists to grace the
planet.
Sometimes people say things that restate the obvious.
They make exciting & unbelievable revelations which have been common
knowledge for centuries. For situations like this, the No-Crud Bureau
has been open for ages, & now has an online branch to fill your needs.
Two institutions of fine dining have gone above &
beyond the call of duty to provide us with what can only be described as the
perfect eating experience. Click on the Frontier Restaurant (above left)
or the logo for Waffle House (above right) to see what 24 hours of openness
can do for you!
Even I admit that I spend way too much time following my favorite modern band. Clearly, so
do some other people. In the words of another
songwriter who is not part of said band, "guess I'm not alone in being
alone"...
Check out the best team in basketball.
I know, it's basketball, but still... These boys are the only ones
in the world who can challenge the Lakers & then concede a 15-point 4th quarter
lead rather than actually GO to the NBA Finals! I think I could've played
better ball in the last 10 minutes of that Game 7.
If I could draw, which I absolutely
cannot, I'd be aspiring to write cartoons like this.
Not only does this satire consistently agree with my politics, but it's
funny as all heck.
I found out about the above mostly
by reading Albuquerque's funky alternative fishwrap.
It's not perfect & has an opinion columnist specifically designed to
make people angry, but hey, it's always free at the Frontier. Stacking
said paper's restaurant poll with votes for the Frontier is always a favored
passtime of mine.
Perhaps THE all-time favored passtime, Diplomacy, has gotten out of hand in
its five-year occupation of the lives of my friends & I. Our online
game is on hold while we try to determine a winner, or whether the campaign's
worth sustaining into next semester.
For information on campaigns not worth sustaining from last semester, read
this diatribe.
Whether it's worth it or not, I spend
loads of time heading to Yahoo's fantasy
sports site to tweak my fantasy baseball club. This is all Zimmy's
fault.
Bob
Dylan is nobody's fault. He's amazing. I've seen him live in
concert thrice & it's not nearly enough. He's inspiration enough for
everyone else in the music industry.
To see everyone else in the music
industry, where they're playing, & when, head for one
of the most comprehensive sites on the entire web. They even list
Simon & Garfunkel as an active band! There's always hope, right?
Speaking of people who are not really
in active bands, Cat Stevens is one
of the greatest songwriters of all-time. His large fan base still has
an active website, even if he's changed his name & gone underground, then
back above ground to dispell ugly rumors about him & talk to David Kunkel.
David Kunkel
doesn't like the Green Party. But for those of you who are tempted to
vote for Nader, I wrote another little political diatribe.
Basically, I was sick of hearing sellouts favor Al Gore over the beloved
Nader. I think Phil Ochs would approve.
Phil Ochs would also
probably approve of this place. They
do utilize capitalist methods to help undermine the greatest result of capitalism,
world hunger. Judge for yourself, but put in your cup & a half while
you're at it. It's easy as a mouse-click.
Websites of Friends
David Gray
doesn't want you to know this site exists. But it's pretty groovy anyway. Jake Quicksall
was doing CoSi homework too. Check it out...it's described by most (including
me) as "frickin' hilarious". Jake Quicksall also has this
NEW site. Same Jake Quicksall. But with a whole new look, including
GIANT pics! Kate Myers
is back at this site. In purple. Her breakfast plans remain unclear. Alisha Creel has revamped
this page more often than I like to think about. She now encourages you
to "stop living in the past". Stina Robison isn't
a CoSi person either. But she's got some cool stuff on this page; very
befitting of her personality. G. E. Mesco promises us
an update. She just might deliver. But odds are against it. Steve Rabin has graduated
this crazy school, but he lingers on in its website! Roxanne Jensen took
note of her previous absence from being linked to this page. The Gro-Beast
must be hungry.
Kevin House (1980-2000)
In August, Kevin House, one of my best friends from my time in Oregon, was
killed in an auto accident. He was 20 years old. One of the most
tragic elements of this for me has been the fact that Kevin & I had allowed
ourselves to grow apart a bit in the more recent years. We were still
in some contact, but the proximity had lessened & we let our lives get in
the way. Now he's gone & I hope I've learned something from that loss.
I'm dedicating the coming year of accomplishments, whatever they may be,
especially in debate, to Kevin's memory. I hope I can do something to
live up to what Kevin did for me in his time on the planet.
Where My Friends Live...
& How to Recognize Them!!
So, we used to be able to see all my beautiful friends here on the front page
Pond. But some people had to go & complain about how
long it took the page to load under these conditions. Just to please you,
I've moved it to its own back page. Kinda like
Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages", except I really was younger then. I
think.
Look... Even More Pictures!
This summer was a great source of
memories, & what better way of displaying them than with more new pictures?
That's a rhetorical question... Either way, hiking was just
Grand in July, though it sometimes left us cursing
the sun & thinking everything was a tad bit dubious.
Before Arizona's biggest hole was even a twinkle in my mind, I was about
to ride a train through that state, leaving La La Land
behind. Why did I cross Arizona? To get to the lush
life of Nuevo Mexico. But you never know who you'll run
into along the way!
Before this summer, some pictures
were taken too! Check it out... my friends & I have a backup plan in case college & careers don't work out...
Meanwhile, in Boston, there's sadly no Frontier or Waffle House to be found.
But Waltham does offer a decent third choice, for which thanks must be given. Thanks
must always be given for the beloved West coast &
for the inland corners of the Southwest. So,
what's YOUR move?
Okay, so now that you can see everybody, the novelty of the pictures
section below has worn off a little bit. But isn't it still much better
to see people together than separated? If you think so, then two summers
ago, 4 of my closest
friends & I took a trip to Carlsbad Caverns. Earlier that summer,
8 friends of
mine & I had a graduation party at Fish's place, which we affectionately
call "the Tank". In May before that summer, there was a national
debate tournament in Detroit, where I hung out with some of my friends who I've
never lived within a thousand miles of, in a Detroit hotel room. Yes,
that previous sentence had terrible wording, but I fear it may never be fixed.
When summer was over & I came to college, things changed. For
example, I realized that some of the most stimulating conversations can be between
hands (no, it's
not what you think, sicko!). &, previously unbeknownst to me, I discovered
that, in my spare time, I can double as
an Asian lantern! College certainly has been one of those "learning
experiences", I s'pose...
The Fam
Yes, family are friends, too, but they seemed worthy of their
own little section. Some people have really large families. I have
a relatively small immediate family, consisting of my beloved mumsy & daddy.
They're family enough, though; I have no complaints... I actually miss
them very much. I also deeply miss my recently departed grandmother.
Medieval Madness
Pelta-Heller, Ariela, Anna, & myself were hoping to get a suite
in The Castle sophomore
year. Here's a picture of the 4
of us from Ariela's 18th birthday party (15 February 1999) trying to look
cool. Well, it turns out that Pelta-Heller & I ended up in the abovementioned
Castle after all... in a
spot right above the Cholmondoley's Coffee House! And, to boot, Anna was
back that year after all. So I guess Pelta-Heller feels pretty silly that
in a recent issue of the Justice (our local
fishwrap here at Brandeis), he was honored with the famed Quote of the Week...
when asked about the housing lottery, he said "Housing shmousing."
Why Did I Ever Start This?
A while back, a contest was held to determine the "Biggest
Flack-Giver of Storey's Past Six Years". Many of my friends love
to give me a hard time & thus it was considered a huge honor to be nominated.
This highly acclaimed award brought substantial campaigning from the five
nominees & others who supported them. In the end, however, there was
only one logical choice. The winner is Matthew McFeeley. No other
person had the extensive or consistent credentials that he could put up, &
no one challenged him for the greatest single instances of flack-giving. Send
him a congratulatory e-mail at realbigphish@hotmail.com. Now that
he's won the award, maybe he'll ease up a little! Honorable mention goes
to David Gray, who did have moments of monumental flack, but was never quite
a challenge to the winner of this award.
Look ma (& Verardo), no ads!! Of
course, you better read the fine print...
I've known for some time that my actual
name appears nowhere on this homepage. That was pretty clever of me, huh?
Actually, it's probably pretty silly. After all, not everyone knows
me as "Eire Duck", do they? Well, so it goes. In case
you haven't figured it out, this is the homepage of Storey Clayton,
(C) copyright 1999-2000. But you knew that already, I'm sure. Sharp
as a tack.
All such things are new as of 8 June 2000 or later - basically the changes
you'll find if you stopped visiting over the summer.
