Today's Sign That the Apocalypse Is Upon Us...
Man, I'm glad I was awake early to go running this morning, because they're running a gigantic vacuum outside to clean up all the broken glass, and it sounds like a freight train. Sucks to be those who were sleeping before that thing started, sounds louder and more annoying than the fire alarm.
Quick note before I head off about today's world news... In Germany this morning a student that had been expelled returned to his former school with two handguns and killed fourteen teachers, a policeman, and two young girls, before killing himself later. This is the type of tragedy that continues to flood the headlines month after month, another child with access to a gun, another school shooting. I'm thankful that it wasn't in our country, but I wonder world-wide what its going to take in order to open people's eyes to the need for better control. I'm not anti-guns, there's never been one in my house other than an old relic of my father's that isn't functional, but even that we were always taught never to touch, and we never did. However I do support gun control, it really isn't that big a deal for those who know how to use one to take a few extra steps in order to acquire one or posses one, rather than them being able to fall into hands they shouldn't. For heaven's sake, its not like teachers are overpaid as it is, they really don't deserve to have to live in fear of former or disgruntled students on a daily basis. This isn't the military, they shouldn't be paid "job risk" bonuses, but they should be able to have some sort of protection against these kinds of monsters.
Anyway, my morning beef, now off to breakfast.
Friday, April 26, 2002
Could You Be Any More STUPID?
Okay so I thought I was going to bed about an hour ago, until I walked outside on the way to the restroom to brush my teeth and witnessed a bizarre scene. Tape was stretched completely across the hallway blocking it at two locations between my room and the bathroom, and a CSO officer was standing between them, looking quite irritated. It was only after I asked what was going on when I noticed the very large amount of glass scattered around the floor. What in the hell...
I wander into a nearby room where I wasn't surprised a conversation about the incident was going on. For those who want background information on the idiot responsible, see Monday, March 4th, for a description of one of my personal run-ins with him. So, the eventual story I get is apparently while I was downstairs working out, (no wait, couldn't have been or I would have seen it when I came up, must have been while I was on the phone...) a couple of the guys on the floor including the aforementioned were having somewhat friendly wrestling matches in the lounge. They were drunk on a Thursday night for some reason, and this ended up causing the aftermath. The matches degenerated into "your mom" jokes in retaliation when someone would lose, and moves such as choke holds were prevalent throughout. I wasn't there so I can't explain exactly when or how, but apparently at some point the idiot decides to punch the window of the lounge door with all his might. Its an inch thick or so, and reinforced, but hit it hard enough and it'll shatter, and shatter it did, outwards into the hallway. Apparently during the punch and as he pulled his hand back through the hole, he severely cut himself on the glass, to the point that blood is now smeared around the hall floor and bathroom. 911 was called, and he was carted off to the hospital. I'd love to say I feel remorseful, but I'm going to have to take the asshole route and say he had it coming to him. The best part about it is that not only does he get charged for the door ($500) and the hospital, but the basically assured result is that he will be removed from the dorms completely and have his contract cancelled, due to this and many previous incidents. It really couldn't have happened any better, no one had to take the fall getting involved with him in order for him to make that final stupid move, he did it completely himself, to himself. Talk about throwing away a lot of money, if he's removed from the dorms there's always the possibility of his financial aid (somewhere in the vicinity of ten grand a year) being cancelled as well.I personally, and just about all the other residents here, will not be sorry to see him go. I'm generally not the hateful type, but when someone is so immature as to do his best to lower the quality of life for everyone on the hall on a regular basis, I feel he should be appropriately disciplined. Good riddance, idiot.
Good night, after this short delay I still must be up with the sun. :)
Okay so I thought I was going to bed about an hour ago, until I walked outside on the way to the restroom to brush my teeth and witnessed a bizarre scene. Tape was stretched completely across the hallway blocking it at two locations between my room and the bathroom, and a CSO officer was standing between them, looking quite irritated. It was only after I asked what was going on when I noticed the very large amount of glass scattered around the floor. What in the hell...
I wander into a nearby room where I wasn't surprised a conversation about the incident was going on. For those who want background information on the idiot responsible, see Monday, March 4th, for a description of one of my personal run-ins with him. So, the eventual story I get is apparently while I was downstairs working out, (no wait, couldn't have been or I would have seen it when I came up, must have been while I was on the phone...) a couple of the guys on the floor including the aforementioned were having somewhat friendly wrestling matches in the lounge. They were drunk on a Thursday night for some reason, and this ended up causing the aftermath. The matches degenerated into "your mom" jokes in retaliation when someone would lose, and moves such as choke holds were prevalent throughout. I wasn't there so I can't explain exactly when or how, but apparently at some point the idiot decides to punch the window of the lounge door with all his might. Its an inch thick or so, and reinforced, but hit it hard enough and it'll shatter, and shatter it did, outwards into the hallway. Apparently during the punch and as he pulled his hand back through the hole, he severely cut himself on the glass, to the point that blood is now smeared around the hall floor and bathroom. 911 was called, and he was carted off to the hospital. I'd love to say I feel remorseful, but I'm going to have to take the asshole route and say he had it coming to him. The best part about it is that not only does he get charged for the door ($500) and the hospital, but the basically assured result is that he will be removed from the dorms completely and have his contract cancelled, due to this and many previous incidents. It really couldn't have happened any better, no one had to take the fall getting involved with him in order for him to make that final stupid move, he did it completely himself, to himself. Talk about throwing away a lot of money, if he's removed from the dorms there's always the possibility of his financial aid (somewhere in the vicinity of ten grand a year) being cancelled as well.I personally, and just about all the other residents here, will not be sorry to see him go. I'm generally not the hateful type, but when someone is so immature as to do his best to lower the quality of life for everyone on the hall on a regular basis, I feel he should be appropriately disciplined. Good riddance, idiot.
Good night, after this short delay I still must be up with the sun. :)
Thursday, April 25, 2002
A Cheesy Story.
So I lumber into Ortega tonight for some dinner after what for some reason was a grueling three hours of classes, even though the first half all I was doing was watching the movie version of Othello. Anyway, I'm glad to see that Alfredo is the sauce of the day, and after snagging a tray out of the reach of the outstretched fingers of the guy in front of me I move with all due haste towards the pasta area. The type of pasta is not my favorite, its that very large very wide very flat sort of tube noodle, no idea what its called. But with Alfredo anything's good. I lop on a decent amount (not too much, just because it tastes good doesn't mean its healthy) and follow my usual path towards the parmesan cheese. I've got my dining habits down to an art form, you can almost predict what I'm doing next if you've seen me walk around enough times. The next step is casually picking up the tongs thingamajig, snaring a healthy amount of parmesan cheese in its grasp, and sprinkling about 1/3 of it around the pasta in an even layer. So today I move in that exact manner, except for some reason as I go to sprinkle, I have some sort of muscle spasm that causes my grip to loosen. Down goes this truckload of parmesan into a humongous pile in the center of my noodles. Well, shit.
Luckily I've passed out of another one of my EVERYTHING irritates me phases, and I just chuckled on my way over to the juices, getting strange looks from people as they stared at my pasta bowl. This woulda been a good third person thing, but comedy doesn't fit as well with that I don't think.
The good news is I turned in a somewhat decent paper, on time even, was done even early enough for an hour long nap before class. Go figure, new leaf hasn't cracked yet. Big test tomorrow though, to see if I can not only go running for the third day in a row, but even go to my only class on Friday, the Classics lecture I tend to blow off because the lectures just regurgitate the reading, so you can do one or the other. Actually I'll sort of be cheating, I have to for sure make up a quiz at an alternate section at 11, so getting to my 9 lecture might as well happen too. Its all good. :)
So I lumber into Ortega tonight for some dinner after what for some reason was a grueling three hours of classes, even though the first half all I was doing was watching the movie version of Othello. Anyway, I'm glad to see that Alfredo is the sauce of the day, and after snagging a tray out of the reach of the outstretched fingers of the guy in front of me I move with all due haste towards the pasta area. The type of pasta is not my favorite, its that very large very wide very flat sort of tube noodle, no idea what its called. But with Alfredo anything's good. I lop on a decent amount (not too much, just because it tastes good doesn't mean its healthy) and follow my usual path towards the parmesan cheese. I've got my dining habits down to an art form, you can almost predict what I'm doing next if you've seen me walk around enough times. The next step is casually picking up the tongs thingamajig, snaring a healthy amount of parmesan cheese in its grasp, and sprinkling about 1/3 of it around the pasta in an even layer. So today I move in that exact manner, except for some reason as I go to sprinkle, I have some sort of muscle spasm that causes my grip to loosen. Down goes this truckload of parmesan into a humongous pile in the center of my noodles. Well, shit.
Luckily I've passed out of another one of my EVERYTHING irritates me phases, and I just chuckled on my way over to the juices, getting strange looks from people as they stared at my pasta bowl. This woulda been a good third person thing, but comedy doesn't fit as well with that I don't think.
The good news is I turned in a somewhat decent paper, on time even, was done even early enough for an hour long nap before class. Go figure, new leaf hasn't cracked yet. Big test tomorrow though, to see if I can not only go running for the third day in a row, but even go to my only class on Friday, the Classics lecture I tend to blow off because the lectures just regurgitate the reading, so you can do one or the other. Actually I'll sort of be cheating, I have to for sure make up a quiz at an alternate section at 11, so getting to my 9 lecture might as well happen too. Its all good. :)
Skeptics Abound...
I see my guestbook has been tagged by one of the family skeptics... Doesn't bother me too much, I've had people laughing in my face when I tell them about it on multiple occasions. Ended up getting in a good swim yesterday as planned, definitely could tell I've been away from that for a while too, felt like my arms were going to fall off at times. Had to pay another five bucks for towel rental for the quarter too, lame. Think I'm going to look into buying a pair of running shoes, I have a pair of Air Max's but they're more for cross training and stuff like racquetball, I think an actual pair of running shoes would make it easier.
Day 2, up with the tide again, off to run the lagoon. Today will be more interesting in respect to whether I can stick to the schedule as I have an essay due at 2pm, and tomorrow I only have my 9am Classics lecture, which previously was pretty hard to get up for, but with the "new me," shouldn't be a problem! :)
I see my guestbook has been tagged by one of the family skeptics... Doesn't bother me too much, I've had people laughing in my face when I tell them about it on multiple occasions. Ended up getting in a good swim yesterday as planned, definitely could tell I've been away from that for a while too, felt like my arms were going to fall off at times. Had to pay another five bucks for towel rental for the quarter too, lame. Think I'm going to look into buying a pair of running shoes, I have a pair of Air Max's but they're more for cross training and stuff like racquetball, I think an actual pair of running shoes would make it easier.
Day 2, up with the tide again, off to run the lagoon. Today will be more interesting in respect to whether I can stick to the schedule as I have an essay due at 2pm, and tomorrow I only have my 9am Classics lecture, which previously was pretty hard to get up for, but with the "new me," shouldn't be a problem! :)
Wednesday, April 24, 2002
Day 1, Later.
[grunts, moans, groans, and collapses]
Okay that was far. These legs aint exactly what they used to be. Started up a little file thingy I'm going to use just to keep track of my daily times, not trying to push it or anything, but wanting to see if my jogging pace improves any over time. Gotta get some proof that progress is being made in order to stay focused. Coulda sworn I saw people walking their dogs passing me at times though. :/
Now for the other important aspect of the day, food! Well after I do a bunch of ab work. [grunts, moans, groans, and collapses again]
[grunts, moans, groans, and collapses]
Okay that was far. These legs aint exactly what they used to be. Started up a little file thingy I'm going to use just to keep track of my daily times, not trying to push it or anything, but wanting to see if my jogging pace improves any over time. Gotta get some proof that progress is being made in order to stay focused. Coulda sworn I saw people walking their dogs passing me at times though. :/
Now for the other important aspect of the day, food! Well after I do a bunch of ab work. [grunts, moans, groans, and collapses again]
Tuesday, April 23, 2002
A New Leaf...
I feel like a broken record, I've probably talked about getting into a new exercise routine like fifty times in this journal, but this time I swear, I'm serious! :) Spent some free time today planning out a daily schedule that I'm going to follow during the week, which includes time for running in the morning, swimming in the evening, as well as pushup and ab work time following both workouts. I even fit in BREAKFAST of all things, something I haven't seen here in quite some time. Obviously I'm going to be getting up a bit earlier than usual on a daily basis, but frankly this afternoon sun when you wakeup thing is getting old. Starting on a Wednesday is going to be a little weird but we'll see how it goes. Part of the plan is up at 7am every morning, which will require going to bed around 11, latest midnight on a nightly basis. Stop laughing. Okay I mean it. Seriously knock it off. Damn you! :/
The overall goal here is to become more physically active, get back to a stage when I'm not horribly worried about jumping into an indoor soccer game without dying after 10 minutes. Yeah losing that twenty or so pounds I talked about before New Years would be nice too. We'll see how it goes. Man, I'm starting to sound like a girl.
I feel like a broken record, I've probably talked about getting into a new exercise routine like fifty times in this journal, but this time I swear, I'm serious! :) Spent some free time today planning out a daily schedule that I'm going to follow during the week, which includes time for running in the morning, swimming in the evening, as well as pushup and ab work time following both workouts. I even fit in BREAKFAST of all things, something I haven't seen here in quite some time. Obviously I'm going to be getting up a bit earlier than usual on a daily basis, but frankly this afternoon sun when you wakeup thing is getting old. Starting on a Wednesday is going to be a little weird but we'll see how it goes. Part of the plan is up at 7am every morning, which will require going to bed around 11, latest midnight on a nightly basis. Stop laughing. Okay I mean it. Seriously knock it off. Damn you! :/
The overall goal here is to become more physically active, get back to a stage when I'm not horribly worried about jumping into an indoor soccer game without dying after 10 minutes. Yeah losing that twenty or so pounds I talked about before New Years would be nice too. We'll see how it goes. Man, I'm starting to sound like a girl.
It Starts...
First midterm of the quarter tomorrow, followed by a paper due Thursday, and your typical once or twice a week grade making or breaking events through the rest of the quarter. The good news is I actually have full weekends planned upcoming, got a hike scheduled for this weekend the 27th, May 3rd and 4th will be spent camping with the hall down at Carpenteria Beach, 10th through 12th being in Vegas, 15th the hall trip to Magic Mountain, and 17th and 18th camping up at Lake Cachuma at a reunion of the hall from last year. Luckily going to be missing basically no class, and have plans to study and get the reading done around things so that it doesn't pose a problem down the stretch run.
Trying to get out of this going to bed at 3am funk, my plan is to wake up at 10 tomorrow in plenty of time for my 12:30, and then 8 the next day for my 9, and then get on a new schedule where I wake up at a relatively early hour every day to take care of things like exercise before my first class. We'll see how this pans out...
First midterm of the quarter tomorrow, followed by a paper due Thursday, and your typical once or twice a week grade making or breaking events through the rest of the quarter. The good news is I actually have full weekends planned upcoming, got a hike scheduled for this weekend the 27th, May 3rd and 4th will be spent camping with the hall down at Carpenteria Beach, 10th through 12th being in Vegas, 15th the hall trip to Magic Mountain, and 17th and 18th camping up at Lake Cachuma at a reunion of the hall from last year. Luckily going to be missing basically no class, and have plans to study and get the reading done around things so that it doesn't pose a problem down the stretch run.
Trying to get out of this going to bed at 3am funk, my plan is to wake up at 10 tomorrow in plenty of time for my 12:30, and then 8 the next day for my 9, and then get on a new schedule where I wake up at a relatively early hour every day to take care of things like exercise before my first class. We'll see how this pans out...
Sunday, April 21, 2002
A Journey With A View...
Headed out earlier today for a bout with nature (today being Sunday, time is earlier due to a test post being replaced from last night), ended up on West Camino Cielo road up above Highway 154, basically just to "see where this one goes." In the past I've taken a few journeys of that kind, among them the infamous one all the way over Refugio road from Highway 246 to the 101. This one ended up not quite as impressive, after a distance the road became impassable for anything but a large offroad vehicle. Course that then involved a wonderful 46 point turn (or so) on a steeply banked uphill curve to get back where we came from, which in my car can get somewhat interesting. If you drive up the road to shortly before the gun range however (up to that point its still paved), you'll see one of the more impressive views around here of the airport, UCSB, IV, and the greater Santa Barbara area. One of these days I'll try out some of the other roads around here that lead up into the mountains and see where they take me. :)
Headed out earlier today for a bout with nature (today being Sunday, time is earlier due to a test post being replaced from last night), ended up on West Camino Cielo road up above Highway 154, basically just to "see where this one goes." In the past I've taken a few journeys of that kind, among them the infamous one all the way over Refugio road from Highway 246 to the 101. This one ended up not quite as impressive, after a distance the road became impassable for anything but a large offroad vehicle. Course that then involved a wonderful 46 point turn (or so) on a steeply banked uphill curve to get back where we came from, which in my car can get somewhat interesting. If you drive up the road to shortly before the gun range however (up to that point its still paved), you'll see one of the more impressive views around here of the airport, UCSB, IV, and the greater Santa Barbara area. One of these days I'll try out some of the other roads around here that lead up into the mountains and see where they take me. :)
