It was Mr. Plum, In The Dining Commons, With the Fork.
Not sure what I ate tonight, but it was something baaaaaaad. Probably the sausage calzone. Felt a lot better after it came up than I did while it was stuck after going down. Always a colorful thought. Posts over the next couple days will probably be really random, Finals start Tuesday so I'll be having study sessions of decent length, sleeping at weird hours, the typical finals week fare.
Friday, March 15, 2002
Six Months Later, Feels Like Six Days
Downloaded the CBS documentary 9|11 That aired six months after that horrific day, and watched it for the first time this afternoon. It was a two hour commercial free special, consisting of edited footage from the events of the day, mostly as seen through one firehouse's eyes. I'd never before seen footage from inside the towers as it happened, or witnessed the amazing acts of courage and bravery that took place all around the World Trade Center that day.
Everyone deals with things in different ways, for some the best way to heal is attempt to forget, as impossible as it may seem. For those others though who want to learn more about what happened, and how it happened, and pay tribute to those involved, I highly recommend watching this film. I'm sure there will be more like it, for years to come, as this event goes down in history as the worst terrorist attack this country has ever seen to this day.
My feelings while watching the destruction were much as they were that morning, as I awoke to a world that was no longer innocent. Some sadness, mostly disbelief, complete and utter amazement, dumbfounded that something like this actually happened. Some scenes were as powerful as they come, striking a chord in I'm sure everyone who witnessed them. One specific one affected me personally the most, as the clean up process began during the days and weeks following. All the rescue workers still had hope of finding people alive, as hundreds, probably thousands of them converged on the scene to do anything they possibly could to help. The digging through the rubble was non-stop, the sound of heavy machinery and iron workers, fireman radios and loud communication filled the air. Every once in a while though, the shout for silence would come across the pile, and be passed along to everyone present. Suddenly, all the sound would stop. Other than a rare distant siren or a random two-way radio, silence. Everyone listening, waiting, hoping. The camera panned across the rubble, and the emotions of the people were clearly written on their faces. Eventually, everyone going back to work, even as they realized the task was becoming more and more fruitless. Only a few people ended up being pulled from the rubble after the first day, but still the work continues.
I've heard that one of the plans for a memorial at the site is to have several extremely powerful spotlights put in the place the towers once stood, and have them shine directly upwards into the sky, such that it would give the impression the towers were still there, strong as ever. Who knows what will actually end up in their place, or how long the clean up process will continue, but I think we all agree that something should be done to help us remember what happened.
A few summers ago I stood on the World Trade Center's Tower 2, looking out over all of New York. The view was one I won't forget.
Downloaded the CBS documentary 9|11 That aired six months after that horrific day, and watched it for the first time this afternoon. It was a two hour commercial free special, consisting of edited footage from the events of the day, mostly as seen through one firehouse's eyes. I'd never before seen footage from inside the towers as it happened, or witnessed the amazing acts of courage and bravery that took place all around the World Trade Center that day.
Everyone deals with things in different ways, for some the best way to heal is attempt to forget, as impossible as it may seem. For those others though who want to learn more about what happened, and how it happened, and pay tribute to those involved, I highly recommend watching this film. I'm sure there will be more like it, for years to come, as this event goes down in history as the worst terrorist attack this country has ever seen to this day.
My feelings while watching the destruction were much as they were that morning, as I awoke to a world that was no longer innocent. Some sadness, mostly disbelief, complete and utter amazement, dumbfounded that something like this actually happened. Some scenes were as powerful as they come, striking a chord in I'm sure everyone who witnessed them. One specific one affected me personally the most, as the clean up process began during the days and weeks following. All the rescue workers still had hope of finding people alive, as hundreds, probably thousands of them converged on the scene to do anything they possibly could to help. The digging through the rubble was non-stop, the sound of heavy machinery and iron workers, fireman radios and loud communication filled the air. Every once in a while though, the shout for silence would come across the pile, and be passed along to everyone present. Suddenly, all the sound would stop. Other than a rare distant siren or a random two-way radio, silence. Everyone listening, waiting, hoping. The camera panned across the rubble, and the emotions of the people were clearly written on their faces. Eventually, everyone going back to work, even as they realized the task was becoming more and more fruitless. Only a few people ended up being pulled from the rubble after the first day, but still the work continues.
I've heard that one of the plans for a memorial at the site is to have several extremely powerful spotlights put in the place the towers once stood, and have them shine directly upwards into the sky, such that it would give the impression the towers were still there, strong as ever. Who knows what will actually end up in their place, or how long the clean up process will continue, but I think we all agree that something should be done to help us remember what happened.
A few summers ago I stood on the World Trade Center's Tower 2, looking out over all of New York. The view was one I won't forget.
Thursday, March 14, 2002
March Madness...
The College Basketball tournament opened tonight with some amazing upsets, including an "almost" upset in which UCSB (mah school) took a lead into the half even as a double digit underdog, eventually losing a close one in the final seconds. The lady Gauchos play tomorrow night, good luck to them against Virginia Tech, and thumbs up to the men for putting up a great effort.
Couple guys who lived on this hall last year stopped by to say hi and snag a movie, we spent some time reminiscing about past excursions and escapades, always hilarious. In terms of variety of personalities, I think last year's hall has this one beat pretty handily, but this one has certainly earned its share of writeups, and then some.
Picked up my Krispy Kremes today, yummiest things ever. Probably not the healthiest but hey, I did my workout for the day. Managed to keep to this running one day arm workout the next strategy for lets see, three days now, so we'll see where that takes us. :)
Caught up on some episode downloading and snagged a few more movies, I'd been stuck on 420 for a while after a massive burning spree, time to get some new stuff. Gonna make an effort this summer to watch a large chunk of the ones I haven't seen, one per day or something like that. Bout four months later I'll have gotten through all of them, heh.
Getting a multitude of random IMs lately from visitors to this page whom i've never met, something I really enjoy. Keep em comin people, or feel free to sign the guestbook if you just have a quick message about something. :)
The College Basketball tournament opened tonight with some amazing upsets, including an "almost" upset in which UCSB (mah school) took a lead into the half even as a double digit underdog, eventually losing a close one in the final seconds. The lady Gauchos play tomorrow night, good luck to them against Virginia Tech, and thumbs up to the men for putting up a great effort.
Couple guys who lived on this hall last year stopped by to say hi and snag a movie, we spent some time reminiscing about past excursions and escapades, always hilarious. In terms of variety of personalities, I think last year's hall has this one beat pretty handily, but this one has certainly earned its share of writeups, and then some.
Picked up my Krispy Kremes today, yummiest things ever. Probably not the healthiest but hey, I did my workout for the day. Managed to keep to this running one day arm workout the next strategy for lets see, three days now, so we'll see where that takes us. :)
Caught up on some episode downloading and snagged a few more movies, I'd been stuck on 420 for a while after a massive burning spree, time to get some new stuff. Gonna make an effort this summer to watch a large chunk of the ones I haven't seen, one per day or something like that. Bout four months later I'll have gotten through all of them, heh.
Getting a multitude of random IMs lately from visitors to this page whom i've never met, something I really enjoy. Keep em comin people, or feel free to sign the guestbook if you just have a quick message about something. :)
Wednesday, March 13, 2002
Two Miles. Two Minutes By Car, Or Not.
Managed to get off my ass long enough today to head over to the track, to see what the ol two mile time would be. I was a track star during my first couple years of high school in the distance events, but in college I haven't done much of anything by way of running. Turns out track practice was hoggin the place, so I set up some cones I found over by Rob Field at the Reccen into a 100yd by 100yd square, so I could do some somewhat accurate laps. Actually had a much lower time than I expected, possibly because the laps weren't as accurate as I thought, but then again maybe I'm just not as out of shape as I expected. :) That's not to say I didn't feel like I was gonna die, though.
Watched the new season of Amazing Race tonight, I thoroughly enjoyed the first and so far this is no different. I've always been into reality series, probably because I enjoy analyzing other people. Of all of them though I think that one would be the neatest one to be on personally, since they get to see amazing places all around the world and do incredible things the general publics just won't get a chance to do.
Apparently the Marines called my house over the weekend, about "amazing opportunities." Interestingly enough I never got to hear the message, I was informed later that the message was deleted before I even knew about it. That kind of irritated me, even if its a solicitor, I like getting messages on my tape, makes me feel special. :) Anyway, so that combined with all the military in the news lately got me thinkin and I did some research online into the different branches and what they have to offer, just because I'd never even really considered it as an option before. There are some obvious negative aspects to the military, but not too many of them affect me personally. I always said if I ever got drafted or something I'd want to head into the Air Force, maybe because I'm not your textbook front line infantryman, maybe because its less risky, who knows. I guess the reason I never thought about it in high school was physically, I just wouldn't have been able to perform to the levels required to even get your foot in the door. When it came to push ups, or anything involving the upper body, I just basically, stunk. That is no longer true, and I see no reason why I shouldn't leave all options open. The two mile and the running aspect was something I was questioning, but I guess my background even after "taking a few years off" so to speak allows me to do pretty well there too, to the point I'm still under the limit for the different branches by a minute or two with no training whatsoever. So physically, there's isn't really anything that would disqualify me immediately like I used to think.
I had a few conversations about it with various people I know, and there tend to be two responses when the words Matt and Military are used in the same sentence. High school friends response: "AHAHAHA UR KIDDING RITE?" College friends response: "Yeah, that would be neat, I can see you doing that, living that lifestyle." I think its because of the ways I've changed over the past few years. I'm not exactly your takes practice SAT tests all day nerd anymore, nor your runs 40 miles a week cuz he's insane stick figure anymore. In my family the world was always high school first, then college, then job. Yeah, I took the ASVAB, and saw a bunch of other people get carted off to Boot Camp after their senior year of high school, but I basically just never even considered that as an option, because of the way I was brought up. I totally agree with my parents though when it comes to putting a college degree first. It turns out that by doing so and then deciding to spent some time in the military, you can enter directly into an Officer's position, whereas if you'd enlisted out of high school it will probably take much longer than four years to attain that level of promotion. Once you've served your four or six or whatever amount of years as an Officer depending on the position, you can always return to the civilian world once you've fulfullied your duties.
I don't think my family thinks negatively of the Military, I have cousins who have gone into various branches who have been looked upon with respect, and I had a conversation with my father about my grandpa , who served many years in the Navy. I've always instantly had a level of respect for someone with a ranking before their name, especially after watching various documentaries and movies about what some of them have to go through.
Just food for thought, not like anything will be different regardless of what goes on afterward until I get my degree.
Managed to get off my ass long enough today to head over to the track, to see what the ol two mile time would be. I was a track star during my first couple years of high school in the distance events, but in college I haven't done much of anything by way of running. Turns out track practice was hoggin the place, so I set up some cones I found over by Rob Field at the Reccen into a 100yd by 100yd square, so I could do some somewhat accurate laps. Actually had a much lower time than I expected, possibly because the laps weren't as accurate as I thought, but then again maybe I'm just not as out of shape as I expected. :) That's not to say I didn't feel like I was gonna die, though.
Watched the new season of Amazing Race tonight, I thoroughly enjoyed the first and so far this is no different. I've always been into reality series, probably because I enjoy analyzing other people. Of all of them though I think that one would be the neatest one to be on personally, since they get to see amazing places all around the world and do incredible things the general publics just won't get a chance to do.
Apparently the Marines called my house over the weekend, about "amazing opportunities." Interestingly enough I never got to hear the message, I was informed later that the message was deleted before I even knew about it. That kind of irritated me, even if its a solicitor, I like getting messages on my tape, makes me feel special. :) Anyway, so that combined with all the military in the news lately got me thinkin and I did some research online into the different branches and what they have to offer, just because I'd never even really considered it as an option before. There are some obvious negative aspects to the military, but not too many of them affect me personally. I always said if I ever got drafted or something I'd want to head into the Air Force, maybe because I'm not your textbook front line infantryman, maybe because its less risky, who knows. I guess the reason I never thought about it in high school was physically, I just wouldn't have been able to perform to the levels required to even get your foot in the door. When it came to push ups, or anything involving the upper body, I just basically, stunk. That is no longer true, and I see no reason why I shouldn't leave all options open. The two mile and the running aspect was something I was questioning, but I guess my background even after "taking a few years off" so to speak allows me to do pretty well there too, to the point I'm still under the limit for the different branches by a minute or two with no training whatsoever. So physically, there's isn't really anything that would disqualify me immediately like I used to think.
I had a few conversations about it with various people I know, and there tend to be two responses when the words Matt and Military are used in the same sentence. High school friends response: "AHAHAHA UR KIDDING RITE?" College friends response: "Yeah, that would be neat, I can see you doing that, living that lifestyle." I think its because of the ways I've changed over the past few years. I'm not exactly your takes practice SAT tests all day nerd anymore, nor your runs 40 miles a week cuz he's insane stick figure anymore. In my family the world was always high school first, then college, then job. Yeah, I took the ASVAB, and saw a bunch of other people get carted off to Boot Camp after their senior year of high school, but I basically just never even considered that as an option, because of the way I was brought up. I totally agree with my parents though when it comes to putting a college degree first. It turns out that by doing so and then deciding to spent some time in the military, you can enter directly into an Officer's position, whereas if you'd enlisted out of high school it will probably take much longer than four years to attain that level of promotion. Once you've served your four or six or whatever amount of years as an Officer depending on the position, you can always return to the civilian world once you've fulfullied your duties.
I don't think my family thinks negatively of the Military, I have cousins who have gone into various branches who have been looked upon with respect, and I had a conversation with my father about my grandpa , who served many years in the Navy. I've always instantly had a level of respect for someone with a ranking before their name, especially after watching various documentaries and movies about what some of them have to go through.
Just food for thought, not like anything will be different regardless of what goes on afterward until I get my degree.
Tuesday, March 12, 2002
Ew
Some fun facts you probably didn't know:
"In the course of an average lifetime you will, while sleeping, eat 70 assorted insects and 10 spiders."
"23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their buttocks."
"In average, a human being will have sex more than 3,000 times and spend two weeks kissing in their lifetime."
That last one seems most impressive to me. Not necessarily the two weeks, that doesn't seem like that long given the amount of time people spend mackin away in high school, but three THOUSAND? Ya gotta figure some of us are a bit behind. Maybe married life is more interesting than once thought.
So I had my racquetball playoff game tonight, and managed to lose. Not that it was surprising, I was playing like a complete jackass, the two weeks between games was part of the problem, the fact that I've been working on my arms and am stronger than I was two weeks ago was the rest of it. Just couldn't really find the rhythmn, kept overpowering shots instead of using finesse. Still managed to drag it out to the third game before I lost that one 11-9. Sigh. Quite irritating, but only because I hate to lose, especially when I know I was supposed to win.
Found an interesting site called the High IQ Society or something or other, the IQ tests they have posted are basically impossibly hard. Supposedly they help weed out the 130s and 140s from the 150s and 160s, or something. Took me quite some time, but I get my kicks from doing that kind of thing, so go figure.
Got one week til finals start, going to start scheduling my studying time since once they start they're pretty rapid fire until they're done. Still not sure of my plans for Spring Break, I'd like to go North for various reasons, but not sure how the transportation issues will work out, or whether I should just drive, or whatnot.
Got a haircut today. Wish I could get a haircut without everyone and their puppy saying something about it, but alas. Generally its not bad, but the "HOLY JUNK MATT WHERE'D ALL THE HAIR GO" gets old. I think I'm just irritated because I lost. Gr.
Some fun facts you probably didn't know:
"In the course of an average lifetime you will, while sleeping, eat 70 assorted insects and 10 spiders."
"23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their buttocks."
"In average, a human being will have sex more than 3,000 times and spend two weeks kissing in their lifetime."
That last one seems most impressive to me. Not necessarily the two weeks, that doesn't seem like that long given the amount of time people spend mackin away in high school, but three THOUSAND? Ya gotta figure some of us are a bit behind. Maybe married life is more interesting than once thought.
So I had my racquetball playoff game tonight, and managed to lose. Not that it was surprising, I was playing like a complete jackass, the two weeks between games was part of the problem, the fact that I've been working on my arms and am stronger than I was two weeks ago was the rest of it. Just couldn't really find the rhythmn, kept overpowering shots instead of using finesse. Still managed to drag it out to the third game before I lost that one 11-9. Sigh. Quite irritating, but only because I hate to lose, especially when I know I was supposed to win.
Found an interesting site called the High IQ Society or something or other, the IQ tests they have posted are basically impossibly hard. Supposedly they help weed out the 130s and 140s from the 150s and 160s, or something. Took me quite some time, but I get my kicks from doing that kind of thing, so go figure.
Got one week til finals start, going to start scheduling my studying time since once they start they're pretty rapid fire until they're done. Still not sure of my plans for Spring Break, I'd like to go North for various reasons, but not sure how the transportation issues will work out, or whether I should just drive, or whatnot.
Got a haircut today. Wish I could get a haircut without everyone and their puppy saying something about it, but alas. Generally its not bad, but the "HOLY JUNK MATT WHERE'D ALL THE HAIR GO" gets old. I think I'm just irritated because I lost. Gr.
Sunday, March 10, 2002
Rocks, Rocks, Whoops, and More Rocks
Got off my arse and headed out into the mountains with the hall yesterday for a hiking trip... Just finished watching the video with everyone in the lounge. Headed up the Seven Falls trail north of Santa Barbara mission, had a blast. I'd forgotten how fun hiking is, it had been a while. Think I'm gonna go for many more excursions during upcoming weekends to see what there is to see around here. Passing by the mission was actually more interesting than most would think due to the fact that the last time I'd seen it I was in 4th grade... Obviously seemed WAY smaller than previous, going to have to stop by and take another look around there sometime too. Kind of sad how little of this area I've seen given I've lived here for three years.
So anyway, about twenty of us ended up gettin up to Inspiration Point, with a view of all of Santa Barbara, Goleta, and UCSB. Was quite worth the hike in my mind. On the way back we tried hiking up this creek bed on this supposed trail, which ended up causing various bouts with cliff faces and helping people climb them, and some occasional interesting scenarios with ppl slipping into pools or sliding down rocks. I managed the lengthiest fall of the day after climbing up a 60 degree or so pebble water runoff kind of trail thing to see if it would gain us any ground, and on the way down slipping and sliding about sixty feet before coming to a stop near the bottom. Got some decent skin taken off my side but alas, its part of the fun. Did manage to get one incident caught on camera when I was balanced on the side of one of the faces laughing at the antics of someone else, and leaned back a little bit too far and almost managed to end up in the rocky pool ten feet or so below. That got the legs a shakin for a while and I made strong attempts to not do anything else stupid for the remainder of the trip. :) Another classic shot was the ten of us lined up at this dam type thing and on the count of three seeing who could explactorate furthest. Heh.
Overall a fun bonding experience, especially with some of the 3rd floor people I don't see much, enjoyed it thoroughly.
Got off my arse and headed out into the mountains with the hall yesterday for a hiking trip... Just finished watching the video with everyone in the lounge. Headed up the Seven Falls trail north of Santa Barbara mission, had a blast. I'd forgotten how fun hiking is, it had been a while. Think I'm gonna go for many more excursions during upcoming weekends to see what there is to see around here. Passing by the mission was actually more interesting than most would think due to the fact that the last time I'd seen it I was in 4th grade... Obviously seemed WAY smaller than previous, going to have to stop by and take another look around there sometime too. Kind of sad how little of this area I've seen given I've lived here for three years.
So anyway, about twenty of us ended up gettin up to Inspiration Point, with a view of all of Santa Barbara, Goleta, and UCSB. Was quite worth the hike in my mind. On the way back we tried hiking up this creek bed on this supposed trail, which ended up causing various bouts with cliff faces and helping people climb them, and some occasional interesting scenarios with ppl slipping into pools or sliding down rocks. I managed the lengthiest fall of the day after climbing up a 60 degree or so pebble water runoff kind of trail thing to see if it would gain us any ground, and on the way down slipping and sliding about sixty feet before coming to a stop near the bottom. Got some decent skin taken off my side but alas, its part of the fun. Did manage to get one incident caught on camera when I was balanced on the side of one of the faces laughing at the antics of someone else, and leaned back a little bit too far and almost managed to end up in the rocky pool ten feet or so below. That got the legs a shakin for a while and I made strong attempts to not do anything else stupid for the remainder of the trip. :) Another classic shot was the ten of us lined up at this dam type thing and on the count of three seeing who could explactorate furthest. Heh.
Overall a fun bonding experience, especially with some of the 3rd floor people I don't see much, enjoyed it thoroughly.
