June 28, 2009

Did Law School Kill the Realm?

It is hard to know what has suffered more in the (school) year just past, my personal life or this blog. Needless to say, however, both have suffered dramatically. And while my personal life was never much to write home about—and therefore its faltering nothing to lament—the same cannot be said of the (formerly) illustrious Realm. Once a glimmering bastion of douchebaggery and misanthropy, all that remains today is a fetid cesspool of occasional despair and compulsory self-loathing. It is, in short, a shadow of its former self.

What villainous scoundrel vanquished this most worthless of Internet havens that so poignantly failed to display the utter pointlessness of human existence? Certainly law school would be a worthy contender for this dishonor. Between soul-crushing journal work and lunatic decisions to take four to five substantive courses per quarter, the past year rarely left me with time to pontificate on the meaninglessness of existence. There just was not enough time to appreciate my own material worthlessness. But, I submit to you dear readers, a most dreadful proposition—one that is far worse than the aforementioned. It is with a heavy heart that I must admit that, at least in part, I have failed to write this past year not only for a mere lack of time but also for a loss of inspiration.

Read more.

May 19, 2009

Congress Hates Me (and the Poor)

Damn. It has been a long time since I last posted. This has been a rough nine months (more on this later) for this blog, but as the school year winds down, I thought I would ease back into writing, with the goal of resuming my normal productivity levels soon. While the meaninglessness of life is certainly a topic to which I will return, I thought that today I would focus on something a little less cerebral: credit-card legislation making its way through Congress this month.

March 27, 2009

Go Big or Go Home

Greetings from Ocean Springs, Miss., where I am wrapping up a week of Spring Break of Service, working for the Mississippi Center for Justice. I will have more to say about this trip in a future post, but I thought I would take this entry to address my extended absence.

February 14, 2009

Doom and Gloom: The Existential, the Principal, and the Asinine

The length of time that has elapsed since I last posted an entry might have led some of you to fear (or rejoice?) that this blog had met its earthly demise with a whimper of disaffection, disinterest, and apathy (much as its owner will soon meet his own mortal demise, no doubt). But fear (or rejoice) not, naysayers and haters, for it is not death but dormancy that encumbers the Realm in these dark, despondent days of wintry cold and ever accelerating economic decline. The subject which rouses me from my somnolence, moreover, is not likely to provide any solace to those among the downtrodden or defeated, for today is St. Valentine's Day, and I see it as my duty in life to neutralize the misplaced feelings of love or happiness that are likely today to pervade (and pollute!) a world decidedly lacking in neither.

Considering, however, that I have made it a habit of posting biennially on this most critical of holidays (for more, see entries from 2005 and 2007), I do not concern myself today with dead plants or (the inevitable failure of) relationships. Indeed, my purpose in this post is greater than both the worthless assholes wallowing in self-pity over Single's Awareness Day and this worthless asshole (yours truly) perennially wallowing in existential angst (and, of course, cheap beer and perfume).

The doom and gloom of the past few months has started to wear on me, as I suspect it has for many, and in ways different than those I have known in the past. What explains this difference? The key, I think, is the distinction between the existential, the principal, and the asinine, and I explore each in turn below.

December 25, 2008

In Defense of “Unfriending”: Asset Liquidation on Social Networks

Yesterday's Journal had an interesting page one article (subscription required) on a subject that, I suspect, will hit a little too close to home for far too many otherwise self-assured twenty-somethings: getting unfriended on social networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn (or, I suppose, MySpace, if it was frequented by anyone but degenerates and pedophiles). The article, as its title suggests, takes the position that an unfriending¹ is (or ought to be) perceived as some sort of personal affront or rejection, perhaps even rising to the level of getting dumped by a significant other. I, however, am not convinced. Though I too have experienced unfriending in the past, certainly not each instance invoked the same level of emotion—nor should it have. Considering the wide variety of individuals, ranging from value-added to deadweight, that compose one's relationship portfolio these days, a reasonably well-connected individual cannot be expected to react equally to her vague acquaintance and her boyfriend of five years dumping her on Facebook on the same day. How, then, might we go about understanding this very real phenomenon and the emotion, great or little, that it evokes? Recent events in the financial world, I believe, provide a nice parallel from which we may derive some lessons.

December 22, 2008

Year in Review, 2008

Another year has come and gone, and no doubt neither you nor I have anything to show for it. Such is always the case in this necessarily futile enterprise we sometimes call life. And with the economy in the tank, the blind materialism that usually serves us so well cannot even be of much solace. At a time like this, holiday cheer is hardly called for, and that is precisely why I have issued another holiday card—my fourth.

Those for whom I have a valid e-mail address should have already received a link. Those who did not may find a non-exclusive list of possibly reasons why not here. In any case, see the card here. I hope the new year for you is one of less failure and misery than the one that has past. Happy holidays!

December 21, 2008

Death and Taxes

The deafening silence on this blog over the last month has been most unbearable, and for this reprehensible failure—one of many over the past month, rest assured—I sincerely apologize. Rather than dwell on the past, however, in this entry I look to the (equally dismal) future. In doing so, I hope to move closer to resolving a central paradox that has haunted this blog for much of its six-plus year existence, namely the simultaneous assertions that love is futile and marriage is a value-maximizing transaction. How can this be?

November 18, 2008

Too Elite Is Plebeian

To those even marginally familiar with the unholy marriage of irrational vitriol and consummate self-loathing that is the Realm, the notion that the author of this most futile of sites is often branded an elitist ought to be tautological. Indeed, as I myself wrote a few years back, Rohit's Realm was formed on the steadfast pillars of anger, cynicism, bitterness, and elitism, and to change that would be to deny the very essence of my being; I am nothing if not angry, cynical, bitter, and elitist. And while this sentiment rings as true today as it did three years back—the only thing I continue to hate more than the dirty, unwashed masses is myself—a recent thought has left me in a most tremulous of dispositions. Is there such a thing as too elitist? (Perish the thought!) And, if so, is not that state just as plebeian as not being elitist at all? (No! It cannot be!)

November 04, 2008

On a Serious Note

For those who have grown weary of my incessant inanity (blah, blah, I hate myself, blah), there may be light at the end of the tunnel. Well, actually, not really, so long as you continue to subscribe to this blog, but for something more substantive (read: boring), check out my first contribution to The University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog. I have been assigned to cover the Crime and Punishment Workshop, so you can expect biweekly posts on the Faculty Blog on this subject in addition to the usual pursuit of nothingness for which the Realm is well known.

November 04, 2008

Electoral Efficiency

Election Day 2008 is finally upon us, and after forty-five frustrating minutes waiting in line at my polling place, from 6:30–7:15 a.m., I can now attest to having fulfilled my civic duty. Since it is almost a near certainty that my vote will not matter in the least,¹ I thought I might post on something other than my political persuasion (as I have in years past). Thus, rather than ranting about stupidity of the despicable masses, I will instead discuss the grossly inefficient process we like to follow to gather the worthless opinion of said masses, and how we might improve our—and their—sorry lot. And for those cynical readers out there, I will have you know that disenfranchising large swaths of the population is only part of my brilliant solution.