If this be... Hiatus???

Hello and welcome to Hoopla!

As the title of this week's column suggests, Hoopla! is going to take a vacation, due to circumstances that are at least 84% beyond my control.

The good news is, this will be a relatively short hiatus. I'm going to be out of town from July 3 - July 9 and so I'm hoping that I can get this thing going again shortly after I return. In fact, I'm gonna go ahead and say July 15 will be the deadline for the all-new, all-mezany Hoopla!

Reasons why Hoopla! cannot be there for you during the first half of July:

1. Dissertation.

Yes, it's an old excuse, but still a good one, I think. I'm supposed to have my final draft of my field statement (a precursor to the dissertation) finished by July 15. It's not going to happen, but yet it must.

Paradoxical, no?

2. My silly jobs.

Since I'm going to be away for a week, I can either take a week off from work stuff and give up that week's pay or I can work my butt off trying to squeeze in an extra week's worth of work so that I can claim the hours.

Logic dictates that I just accept the fact that I don't have the time right now to do that.

The landlord, however, feels differently.

Logic vs. Landlord... who wins???

That's right.

Landlord wins.

3. Dating Mie again.

I am. It's true.

[See? Those dating tips from a couple of weeks ago really paid off!]

And it's actually quite lovely.

[And no, I'm not saying that to score points with her... she doesn't even read this thing. So, don't you be so darn cynical, okay?]

One of the things about dating Mie, though, is that it necessitates occasionally spending time with her.

Ridiculous, but true.

4. Vacation. Quasi-, that is...

As mentioned previously, I'm going away for a week. It's a family reunion / vacation kind of thing. I'm expecting it to be somewhat painful, but maybe I'll get some entertaining photos from it to share with all of you.

Then again, maybe I won't.

5. Um... I don't think there's a fifth reason.

Anyway, to help you be strong while I'm away, I now present you with the following...

The above is from Azumanga Daioh, one of the animes I mentioned last week. Azumanga Daioh is my current obsession.

And who could blame me, really?

And this next thing here... this is a sneak preview of the upcoming Review of Republican Presidential Candidate column...

For those of you who don't follow these things, that guy standing with the red dog is Tancredo, and he is not a very nice man.

He doesn't like immigrants, he doesn't like Spanish, and he sure as hell doesn't like you.

[He told me so.]

[Really.]

Anyway, I suggest you use this Hoopla!-less time to clean your room, call on old friends, and maybe put in some extra hours at work.

And remember, this isn't goodbye.

It's "until we meet again..."

[sob!]

- Paul Weissburg, sentimental old fool with a blog