i'm literally having chills of withdrawal from not making newspapers. i'm missing the company rather than the whole newspaper-making routine, of course -- my lab is full of social eunichs that don't know how to hold real conversations about anything other than physics research.

...

ever try to wash duck fat off of plastic? near impossibility.

...

i just wrote unicef a cheque for $100.

it's supposedly for a campaign to provide children with clean water, but i'm not sure if any of the donations are specifically earmarked.

i'd given to their iraqi children campaign last year and when i got the donation request yesterday, i found myself thinking about the $900 i owe in taxes and became a bit tempted to throw out the envelope and pass on giving this time around.

i opened the envelope, though.

clean water, huh? that's pretty fucking fundamental. i'd be pretty hypocritical if i didn't contribute to that.

my concern, though, is how exactly they were planning on bringing clean water to kids in zambia, cambodia and bangladesh; shipping a random boy a crate of dasani wasn't really what i had in mind. their literature says the money might be paying for water containers, purification tablets, contaminant-testing, sanitation education in schools, handpumps...but i'm just hoping i'm providing more than a temporary fix.

see, this is why i'd like get out there and do it for myself. too bad i'm too comfortable here in my insulated home typing on my laptop and sipping tropicana. i'd like to think that i'd take the opportunity to do humanitarian work in the field, but ultimately, i'm probably too spoiled. it takes quite a bit more courage than i have to up and leave for a strange country to offer assistance to a bunch of people i've never met. i rationalize by saying that it's presumptuous to offer help where none was requested but that's pretty much just a rank crock of horseshit.

i've just given unicef $100. why the fuck do i feel so guilty?