Shagadelic Baby, Yeah...
So I got a phone call today from a friend of mine saying a group of high school peeps were getting together for dinner and a movie, all I really needed to hear was that the dinner was to be at The Olive Garden and I was mooooovin. I tried the pizza this time, usually I'm a fan of many of their pastas, almost any entree there is something I'd scrape off the plate to the last noodle. Was pleasantly surprised it was quite good, the crust tastes exactly like those yummy bread roll thingy bobbers they bring before the meal, mmmmmmm good.
Following the meal and a slight fiasco of getting to the theater on time (everyone was late, I got there at 7 to make sure our name was down in time, by the time enough people were there to be seated it was 8:15 or so, with us eventually getting seated around 8:45 after we'd had to get skipped twice, grrr) we settled in for the 10:00 showing of Austin Powers 3 : Goldmember. Now I must warn you due to one less seat being saved than we had people, and we were the last three to come in, we had to fit three people into two seats, so I was basically sitting with an armrest digging into my back throughout, and now have it permanently imprinted there. That said, I found the opening five minutes absolutely hilarious. At times during the rest, I actually laughed out loud, which doesn't happen too often. I suppose I'll have to go with 4 M's on this one, solely in reference to entertainment value. Clearly you don't go see this for the plot, and you'll have to sit through some pretty gross bathroom humor at times, which sometimes goes above and beyond what's necessary. Not even close to as horrific a display as Not Another Teen Movie or Scary Movie 2 however. Those as I recall were down much further in the rankings. One thing I will give Britney Spears and Beyonce Knowles, they clearly have been working harder than most on their abs, or there was some sort of graphic enhanced simulation going on. Believe me I'm not one to ever care about what the classic "Bond girls" look like, nor drool over the latest pair of melons, but if you see this movie you'll know what I mean. It's like half of it is an hourlong AbTronic commercial. If they look like that unaided, more power to em.
It was good seeing some of the high schol buddies I hadn't seen in a while, it's funny how the questions change from "where are you going to college" to "what are you majoring in" to "so are you graduating next year" to "what are you going to do to make a living" as the years go by and we keep growing on up. One of the people there who I hadn't seen in a long time was the friend of mine who I've basically known longest, given we were in the same 1st grade class, Mrs. Moffet as I recall. She was the one who competed with me to see who could learn the Alphabet backwards in the shortest amount of time. Silly her for challenging me I suppose. ;)
Friday, July 26, 2002
BOOYAH!
This just in. They finally got around to releasing my AFOQT scores.
Verbal: 87
Quantitative: 99
Academic Aptitude (V & Q Combined): 96
Pilot: 98
Navigator: 99
Absolutely awesome. Better than I expected. The Quantitative I was pretty sure of, but the Pilot and Navigator composites are just beautiful. This will do wonders to help my chances. Couldn't have asked for much better. Yeah, go ahead, be like the rest of my family and point out that the 87 isn't as high as a 99. Hey, being better than 87% of the competition isn't bad either OKAY? :)
Someone quick, pop my head please. Pop it now, it's becoming astronomically large. Next time you see me pretend to care, even if you don't know what the AFOQT is. ;)
We now return you to your regularly scheduled senior year in college.
This just in. They finally got around to releasing my AFOQT scores.
Verbal: 87
Quantitative: 99
Academic Aptitude (V & Q Combined): 96
Pilot: 98
Navigator: 99
Absolutely awesome. Better than I expected. The Quantitative I was pretty sure of, but the Pilot and Navigator composites are just beautiful. This will do wonders to help my chances. Couldn't have asked for much better. Yeah, go ahead, be like the rest of my family and point out that the 87 isn't as high as a 99. Hey, being better than 87% of the competition isn't bad either OKAY? :)
Someone quick, pop my head please. Pop it now, it's becoming astronomically large. Next time you see me pretend to care, even if you don't know what the AFOQT is. ;)
We now return you to your regularly scheduled senior year in college.
Thursday, July 25, 2002
Well, I've Seen 2/3 Of Them...
New official count, I have 159 movies I haven't seen. Some of them I've heard great things about too, really going to have to knock some of them out this summer. Tonight I headed out to the theater again though, to check out a couple dramas.
First up was Road to Perdition, Tom Hanks' latest flick. Liked this one a lot, I love it when movies go all out in bringing back the era of the early 19th century with the whack cars and complicated fashions. Nothing like three piece suits and suspenders every day to work. There's a reason it's rated R though, it is a mob type movie, and people do get axed. I've yet to see a Hanks movie I didn't enjoy though. 5 M's.
Next I hopped on over to K-19 the movie about the greatest Russian submarine ever built, and the incident that almost sent the world to nuclear war. It's interesting, I would have thought that a movie with basically no action because it was based around an actual event in which the unthinkable was avoided would have trouble holding my attention. I enjoyed this one as well though, I thought it was better than U-571, even without all the cool explosions and special effects. I had heard mixed reviews about it, but I also enjoy Harrison Ford's work, so I might be partial. 5 M's here too.
There are a few select actors such as Anthony Hopkins who generally turn any movie into something I'm impressed by. From the rarely heard of Remains of the Day to Silence of the Lambs, he is one actor who always has my complete attention. I think the gap between 5 and 6 M's depends on whether or not I even once have to pop on the indiglo on my watch to check how far through the movie I am.
Was pondering hopping to a 3rd such as Reign of Fire, but figured that one is probably a better renter/downloader. So, about 100 of the 159 are movies I'd like to get around to seeing, guess I might as well start tomorrow. :)
New official count, I have 159 movies I haven't seen. Some of them I've heard great things about too, really going to have to knock some of them out this summer. Tonight I headed out to the theater again though, to check out a couple dramas.
First up was Road to Perdition, Tom Hanks' latest flick. Liked this one a lot, I love it when movies go all out in bringing back the era of the early 19th century with the whack cars and complicated fashions. Nothing like three piece suits and suspenders every day to work. There's a reason it's rated R though, it is a mob type movie, and people do get axed. I've yet to see a Hanks movie I didn't enjoy though. 5 M's.
Next I hopped on over to K-19 the movie about the greatest Russian submarine ever built, and the incident that almost sent the world to nuclear war. It's interesting, I would have thought that a movie with basically no action because it was based around an actual event in which the unthinkable was avoided would have trouble holding my attention. I enjoyed this one as well though, I thought it was better than U-571, even without all the cool explosions and special effects. I had heard mixed reviews about it, but I also enjoy Harrison Ford's work, so I might be partial. 5 M's here too.
There are a few select actors such as Anthony Hopkins who generally turn any movie into something I'm impressed by. From the rarely heard of Remains of the Day to Silence of the Lambs, he is one actor who always has my complete attention. I think the gap between 5 and 6 M's depends on whether or not I even once have to pop on the indiglo on my watch to check how far through the movie I am.
Was pondering hopping to a 3rd such as Reign of Fire, but figured that one is probably a better renter/downloader. So, about 100 of the 159 are movies I'd like to get around to seeing, guess I might as well start tomorrow. :)
Wednesday, July 24, 2002
One Plus One Plus One Is Three.
Theoretically, that's how many marriages will take place among the Wilson children. However in a moment of jest, my father pointed out that since the elder two aren't making any progress, "the younger one might be responsible for all three." I suppose you had to be there, but I found it to be quite clever.
Whole lot of nothing going on around here the last couple days, other than recuperating from the hike, getting into a bike riding theme as opposed to running while my shins heal, and catchin up on some movie watchin. Yesterday I finally caught Amelie which was nice because I've only seen 2 cd rips of it out so I was able to make a good 1 cd one. Even better was the fact that in a rip the subs appear in the lower part of the picture instead of in the black area below, which you'd think would be annoying because it blocks small portions of the frame, but to me requires much less concentration to watch because your eyes don't have to travel as far to watch the scene and read the dialogue if you don't speak the language of the foreign film. So anyway, yeah it's in French, but came highly recommended from a few of my female friends. Unfortunately going to have to place it in the chick flick category, but I do that with basically all romantic comedies, so don't let that deter you. I'll give it 4 M's out of 7, it was entertaining for the most part, and somewhat outside the box, but at 130 minutes it had me checking my watch at times, and the real bummer with foreign films is you can't really look away, or you miss dialogue, since your sense of hearing does you no help with the translation. Stops in the kitchen to make a sandwich and so forth require pausing, such an inconvenience! ;)
Today I got around to watching The Majestic the infamous Jim Carrey in a dramatic role movie. I actually liked this one a lot, even though it took a while for me to get used to the idea of him not cracking a joke every 2.3 seconds. I just thought it was really cute at times, and I guess was in the mood for some of the general hokeyness that accompanies a small town atmosphere where everyone knows everyone and everyone is in everyone else's business. So 5 M's for that one. REALLY need to start burning movies. My recent rips have left me with basically jack squat by way of space.
Maybe I'll hike someplace else this weekend. That was fun.
Theoretically, that's how many marriages will take place among the Wilson children. However in a moment of jest, my father pointed out that since the elder two aren't making any progress, "the younger one might be responsible for all three." I suppose you had to be there, but I found it to be quite clever.
Whole lot of nothing going on around here the last couple days, other than recuperating from the hike, getting into a bike riding theme as opposed to running while my shins heal, and catchin up on some movie watchin. Yesterday I finally caught Amelie which was nice because I've only seen 2 cd rips of it out so I was able to make a good 1 cd one. Even better was the fact that in a rip the subs appear in the lower part of the picture instead of in the black area below, which you'd think would be annoying because it blocks small portions of the frame, but to me requires much less concentration to watch because your eyes don't have to travel as far to watch the scene and read the dialogue if you don't speak the language of the foreign film. So anyway, yeah it's in French, but came highly recommended from a few of my female friends. Unfortunately going to have to place it in the chick flick category, but I do that with basically all romantic comedies, so don't let that deter you. I'll give it 4 M's out of 7, it was entertaining for the most part, and somewhat outside the box, but at 130 minutes it had me checking my watch at times, and the real bummer with foreign films is you can't really look away, or you miss dialogue, since your sense of hearing does you no help with the translation. Stops in the kitchen to make a sandwich and so forth require pausing, such an inconvenience! ;)
Today I got around to watching The Majestic the infamous Jim Carrey in a dramatic role movie. I actually liked this one a lot, even though it took a while for me to get used to the idea of him not cracking a joke every 2.3 seconds. I just thought it was really cute at times, and I guess was in the mood for some of the general hokeyness that accompanies a small town atmosphere where everyone knows everyone and everyone is in everyone else's business. So 5 M's for that one. REALLY need to start burning movies. My recent rips have left me with basically jack squat by way of space.
Maybe I'll hike someplace else this weekend. That was fun.
Monday, July 22, 2002
A Decade.
Long time, said the young man to the slightly older man. And so it goes. Managed to finagle one of my friends into heading out to the mountains yesterday for a trek to the top of the tallest mountain in L.A. County at 10,064 feet, Mt. San Antonio, known to locals as Mt. Baldy. On a clear day it's visible from my house, it used to be the one aspect of nature other than the ocean that would remind me there was more to the world than the big city. A little less than a decade ago I ventured out to the area, as part of a series of prepatory hikes leading up to the assault on Mt. Whitney that was planned for sometime in the future. Whitney has become somewhat of a symbol of strength in my family, and it was my goal at the time to eventually conquer the continental U.S's highest peak. If you really want to hear that story, ask someone to recite my AcaDec speech on the subject, many of the people around me know it by heart after hearing me give it COUNTLESS times over the two years I was competing with the team.
Anyway, that one's 14,494 feet, this one is just peanuts at 10k. :) Unfortunately as I would find out, the thing that makes the Ski Hut trail to the summit from Manker Flats somewhat difficult, is that the elevation gain is 4,000 feet over a period of 4 miles, and even experienced hikers know that 1k feet a mile means you're in for some serious steepness. The other error in judgement was based on the fact that the first time around so long ago it was the trail we used to get down, but since we never came up it, I had no recollection of how difficult a trail it was.
So yeah, not for the faint of heart. As we eventually discovered. Interestingly enough the altitude is what killed me the first time, with the last 500 feet or so to the summit taking like an hour, due to me keeling over and feeling like I was about to vomit every other step. This time it felt like I was gaining energy as we went rather than losing, at least once we got up towards the top. It's probably due to the pace, which was very relaxed compared with the kind I used in the past. It was a new thing for me to be stopping often enough to admire the view. So many times I get locked onto the final goal, I forget about the journey. My climbing partner wasn't too impressed with the trail as compared to other things we've done in Santa Barbara, given the lack of vegetation for the most part, other than your typical pine trees, brush, and oh so much sun. Basically shady spot to shady spot was the hiking strategy, as we tackled switchback after switchback. I got burned pretty good, your classic redneck circle and around the face a bit. Eventually we made it to the Ski Hut, which serves as about the halfway point. The view from there was quite nice, you're deep in a valley in an area they call the Mt. Baldy Bowl, with high ridges on three sides and just a sweeping expanse below you. We pondered the situation for a while, as it had taken us three hours to get to that point and after a late start, darkness was becoming somewhat of an issue. She eventually volunteered to give the next switchback section a shot and see how it went, and take it from there.
At that point, I really wasn't expecting to get to the top. I was having a good time as always, with the usual hiking games like the ever popular alphabet of insults, followed by the alphabet of compliments to make up for the previous abuse. She seemed pretty drained quite early on, and I'd mentioned that the Ski Hut would be a good turnaround point if necessary. I'm unsure of whether it was her own drive or whether it was guilt that made her continue, I hope it wasn't because of my typical male testosterone driven goal based way of looking at things. Regardless, I know she enjoys hiking because of nature, and the relaxing aspect of it, and definitely didn't expect to be pushed to the limit her first time out this summer, before she'd gotten into any kind of shape. A few switchbacks up I had worked out the wording of my "the mountain isn't going anywhere I can come back anytime and climb it" speech, and started into it, but that's when out popped the "oh no, we're GETTING to the TOP" attitude that would be prevalent for the remainder of the ascent. I was glad she'd decided to conquer it, but I felt guilty knowing that if she knew what it entailed beforehand she probably would have avoided it like the plague.
Eventually, on top we stood. The last bit took quite a while, as it was one of the steepest sections, and that's when you start finding it harder to breath, and the wind becomes loud in your ears, and the temperature drops in a hurry. The most hilarious aspect of the trip came as I was standing a couple switchbacks from the summit as she was four or five below me, and I stood up on a rock to do a cheer. There I was screaming out the letters of her name and "what's that spell?!~?!?" with a few wahoos involved, and as I turn around to get down off the rock, I see a pair of people walk past me, having just come over the ridge from the summit to walk down the trail. So yeah, I thought my audience was 1/3 the size of what it apparently was, as they went chuckling by. That gave my friend a good giggle anyway.
So the infamous picture eventually got taken, which was one of the things I'd been wanting to do. I have a picture in the collection that I put on the wall wherever I am that shows me as a young boy of 11 or 12, leaning against a trail marker sign on top of Mt. Baldy, with the wide expansive view all around me. I'm probably about four and a half feet tall in the picture and somewhat of a silhouette, so I figured it would be cool to get a picture in the same spot now, a whole lot older. This led to a lengthy discussion of where the picture taker should be placed to get the identical shot, with wide sweeping gestures pointing at mountains and landmarks in the background and elevated voices discussing the finer points of photography. Eventually we compromised and took a picture from both recommended locations, so we could "see whose turned out better." Isn't life always a competition with me. :/
I didn't expect it to be the undertaking it ended up as, not exactly pop up in a couple hours and hoof it back down in time for a late lunch. Darkness approached as we made it back to the car, luckily the fullness of the moon illuminated things quite well, and actually made the last half mile or so one of the prettiest I've hiked. Nothing spectacular about the area in the daytime, but the moonlight lit up the trees in a way that you just dont' see in the land of neon lighting.
Recommend the trail to others as definitely the best view you'll get in L.A. County, but allow for about six hours up and three hours down, and believe me when I say "steep." To my friend, thank you for sharing the journey even if it wasn't a very popular concept at the time. I hope you thought it was worth it afterward. Even when the level of my jokes degraded to the level of "absolutely retarded."
Something tells me I'm not going to see her for a while. Too much Matt in too little time tends to be a bit of overkill. Ask my family, they'll tell ya. ;)
We'll see where I am at 31, who knows how I might have changed by then.
Long time, said the young man to the slightly older man. And so it goes. Managed to finagle one of my friends into heading out to the mountains yesterday for a trek to the top of the tallest mountain in L.A. County at 10,064 feet, Mt. San Antonio, known to locals as Mt. Baldy. On a clear day it's visible from my house, it used to be the one aspect of nature other than the ocean that would remind me there was more to the world than the big city. A little less than a decade ago I ventured out to the area, as part of a series of prepatory hikes leading up to the assault on Mt. Whitney that was planned for sometime in the future. Whitney has become somewhat of a symbol of strength in my family, and it was my goal at the time to eventually conquer the continental U.S's highest peak. If you really want to hear that story, ask someone to recite my AcaDec speech on the subject, many of the people around me know it by heart after hearing me give it COUNTLESS times over the two years I was competing with the team.
Anyway, that one's 14,494 feet, this one is just peanuts at 10k. :) Unfortunately as I would find out, the thing that makes the Ski Hut trail to the summit from Manker Flats somewhat difficult, is that the elevation gain is 4,000 feet over a period of 4 miles, and even experienced hikers know that 1k feet a mile means you're in for some serious steepness. The other error in judgement was based on the fact that the first time around so long ago it was the trail we used to get down, but since we never came up it, I had no recollection of how difficult a trail it was.
So yeah, not for the faint of heart. As we eventually discovered. Interestingly enough the altitude is what killed me the first time, with the last 500 feet or so to the summit taking like an hour, due to me keeling over and feeling like I was about to vomit every other step. This time it felt like I was gaining energy as we went rather than losing, at least once we got up towards the top. It's probably due to the pace, which was very relaxed compared with the kind I used in the past. It was a new thing for me to be stopping often enough to admire the view. So many times I get locked onto the final goal, I forget about the journey. My climbing partner wasn't too impressed with the trail as compared to other things we've done in Santa Barbara, given the lack of vegetation for the most part, other than your typical pine trees, brush, and oh so much sun. Basically shady spot to shady spot was the hiking strategy, as we tackled switchback after switchback. I got burned pretty good, your classic redneck circle and around the face a bit. Eventually we made it to the Ski Hut, which serves as about the halfway point. The view from there was quite nice, you're deep in a valley in an area they call the Mt. Baldy Bowl, with high ridges on three sides and just a sweeping expanse below you. We pondered the situation for a while, as it had taken us three hours to get to that point and after a late start, darkness was becoming somewhat of an issue. She eventually volunteered to give the next switchback section a shot and see how it went, and take it from there.
At that point, I really wasn't expecting to get to the top. I was having a good time as always, with the usual hiking games like the ever popular alphabet of insults, followed by the alphabet of compliments to make up for the previous abuse. She seemed pretty drained quite early on, and I'd mentioned that the Ski Hut would be a good turnaround point if necessary. I'm unsure of whether it was her own drive or whether it was guilt that made her continue, I hope it wasn't because of my typical male testosterone driven goal based way of looking at things. Regardless, I know she enjoys hiking because of nature, and the relaxing aspect of it, and definitely didn't expect to be pushed to the limit her first time out this summer, before she'd gotten into any kind of shape. A few switchbacks up I had worked out the wording of my "the mountain isn't going anywhere I can come back anytime and climb it" speech, and started into it, but that's when out popped the "oh no, we're GETTING to the TOP" attitude that would be prevalent for the remainder of the ascent. I was glad she'd decided to conquer it, but I felt guilty knowing that if she knew what it entailed beforehand she probably would have avoided it like the plague.
Eventually, on top we stood. The last bit took quite a while, as it was one of the steepest sections, and that's when you start finding it harder to breath, and the wind becomes loud in your ears, and the temperature drops in a hurry. The most hilarious aspect of the trip came as I was standing a couple switchbacks from the summit as she was four or five below me, and I stood up on a rock to do a cheer. There I was screaming out the letters of her name and "what's that spell?!~?!?" with a few wahoos involved, and as I turn around to get down off the rock, I see a pair of people walk past me, having just come over the ridge from the summit to walk down the trail. So yeah, I thought my audience was 1/3 the size of what it apparently was, as they went chuckling by. That gave my friend a good giggle anyway.
So the infamous picture eventually got taken, which was one of the things I'd been wanting to do. I have a picture in the collection that I put on the wall wherever I am that shows me as a young boy of 11 or 12, leaning against a trail marker sign on top of Mt. Baldy, with the wide expansive view all around me. I'm probably about four and a half feet tall in the picture and somewhat of a silhouette, so I figured it would be cool to get a picture in the same spot now, a whole lot older. This led to a lengthy discussion of where the picture taker should be placed to get the identical shot, with wide sweeping gestures pointing at mountains and landmarks in the background and elevated voices discussing the finer points of photography. Eventually we compromised and took a picture from both recommended locations, so we could "see whose turned out better." Isn't life always a competition with me. :/
I didn't expect it to be the undertaking it ended up as, not exactly pop up in a couple hours and hoof it back down in time for a late lunch. Darkness approached as we made it back to the car, luckily the fullness of the moon illuminated things quite well, and actually made the last half mile or so one of the prettiest I've hiked. Nothing spectacular about the area in the daytime, but the moonlight lit up the trees in a way that you just dont' see in the land of neon lighting.
Recommend the trail to others as definitely the best view you'll get in L.A. County, but allow for about six hours up and three hours down, and believe me when I say "steep." To my friend, thank you for sharing the journey even if it wasn't a very popular concept at the time. I hope you thought it was worth it afterward. Even when the level of my jokes degraded to the level of "absolutely retarded."
Something tells me I'm not going to see her for a while. Too much Matt in too little time tends to be a bit of overkill. Ask my family, they'll tell ya. ;)
We'll see where I am at 31, who knows how I might have changed by then.
