Coed Sleepovers!
Well, at least the ability will be there, as I'm finally gonna be pickin up a futon tomorrow and essentially tripling the comfortable sleeping space in my room. :) Spent the day running errands, pickin up a new headset mic since I'd stepped on the old one too many times... Then I headed over to KMart and snagged a tape measure because I got bored of asking to borrow a ruler (something happened to mine), and took it around to various futon places browsing and measuring... Finally ended up making somewhat of a decision, I'm gonna head back tomorrow to double check some stuff and actually make the purchase, and then tackle the task of trying to fit it in the van to transport it back here. Hm, even better will be trying to get it from the car into the room... Luckily I'm bringing along a friend, although I might need more than one. :P
Also met up with some buddies to see Red Dragon, the latest film in the series surrounding the character of Hannibal Lecter. Chronologically it's actually the first, but there's the usual innuendos and so forth that hint to things from the second and third that make it useful to have seen the others first. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Anthony Hopkins is an amazing actor. When you combine his talent with that of Edward Norton, who is also phenomenal, the movie could be about paint drying and I'd probably still think it was great. Gonna go with 5 M's out of 7 here, there are a few interesting twists in there that keep you guessing. I do recommend seeing Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal first however, there's a lot more character buildup around Hopkins, and Jodie Foster's performance in the former helped bring that film the Best Picture nod at the Oscars.
Feelin a little under the weather today, but still managed to get out and run this morning, apparently gonna be playin some racquetball at some point tomorrow so I'll probably sleep in and save the exercise for later. Also gotta give a big BOOYAH to one of my hometown baseball teams (well technically) the Angels, for kicking some tail in the ALCS. Anyone wanna get me tickets to the World Series if they get that far? :) I haven't been to a baseball game since like 1st grade... That would be so sweet!
Friday, October 11, 2002
Thursdays are Nice.
Well so are Tuesdays, but when it's Thursday the next day is Friday, so that makes it even better. Took my time getting up this morning and eventually got my multi-tasking hat on and dumped in a load of laundry before going for a morning run. Since the beginning of this month I've been on a 2 day on 1 day off running schedule, which I guess is decent enough as a start. I did increase from 2 miles to 3 between the first week and the second, and am now able to cover that distance pretty comfortably. I did feel some soreness today in various areas of my legs, so I'll probably skip tomorrow and do the next two days. I figure as long as I build up slowly and just take days off when I sense any kind of pain, I should be able to avoid getting injured. Running on the wet sand is a really good strategy too, it lessens most of the impact and is a lot better on the legs.
Last week I finally decided to break down and install an RPG, which is something I'd avoided for several years now. I've just never been into the "neverending" types of games where there are always cooler items to find or bigger bad guys to fight, and in which "experience" is the most important aspect. Most games of this sort allow you to "gain a level" very quickly early on, with Levels 1 to 10 coming all within the first day of playing most likely. However the time it takes to gain a level grows exponentially, so to get from level 40 to 41 might take over a week. I managed to never get sucked into that kind of game, those are the kinds you always read about people losing their lives to. Everquest or "Evercrack" as it has become known as, is the best example. The role playing game of choice is Morrowind, which is actually the third in a series of games of which I hadn't played any. The pluses to it, it's single player rather than multiplayer, so the story does have a beginning and an end. The leveling isn't exponential, you'll eventually get to the highest level of everything. The negatives, the world is just gigantic. This is where people waste their lives away, methodically exploring the entire world would be a lot like trying to explore all of the United States on a bike. Although the main quest is apparently only about 80 hours in length (around four months of playing at five hours a week, which is all I tend to play), there are umpteenmillion side quests and things to do, so you could technically waste away an uncountable amount of time trying to beat the game "completely." Luckily I have no interest in that. After playing on and off for a week I've actually already grown pretty bored with it. As RPGs go, I've heard it's one of the best (I don't have a lot of experience with them myself) but you really have to be the kind of person who wants to get lost in a fantasy world for hours on end. The world is so huge that when tasks require you crossing back and forth, it gets pretty repetitive and boring. It's not a very difficult game, it's just very time consuming. I'll probably come back to it every once in a while, but it just didn't hold my attention like most games do. One game I'd like to snag and install is the third installment of the Myst series, Exile. The first Myst is considered the best selling PC game of all time, and I don't know too many people who missed out on it. It's the type of game where the point of the game is to find out the point of the game, and that's what makes it very different from others. You can spend days or weeks "stuck" someplace, trying to figure out what to do. It's sequel "Riven" was unfortunately so difficult, that I'd estimate about 95% of all players required a walkthrough or "hint" book in order to make it through the storyline. Some of the puzzles required linking concepts from multiple islands, deciphering codes, or making connections between seemingly pointless items. I've heard Exile is in between the two, difficult enough to keep you busy with your noggin for a while, but not so difficult that you're running for a strategy guide before you've gone ten feet.
I have been getting back into Q3F as of late, the mod for Quake 3 that I used to play quite religiously. I've joined up at least temporarily with another group of guys who play regularly, including a few I've known online for literally years now. It's great fun to talk about the good ol days, bust out quotes from years ago, and talk about the best (and worst) matches of the past. Also quite spooky for my visitors to come in and hear voices coming from my computer, following which the sound of someone with a heavy midwest accent saying "Hi SoandSo" (having been informed of the person's name through a chat window of course). I then generally pretend that the person can also see my visitor through a webcam, after which they usually run out of the room. Of course my webcam isn't set up, but it's fun to play with people's minds. :)
Okay you can wake up now, I'm done talking about computer games. :) No poker game tonight, apparently one of the guys had a CS assignment due or something. Ah, the life of hammering away at code at 2 in the morning, how I miss it. OH WAIT, NO I DON'T! ;)
Well so are Tuesdays, but when it's Thursday the next day is Friday, so that makes it even better. Took my time getting up this morning and eventually got my multi-tasking hat on and dumped in a load of laundry before going for a morning run. Since the beginning of this month I've been on a 2 day on 1 day off running schedule, which I guess is decent enough as a start. I did increase from 2 miles to 3 between the first week and the second, and am now able to cover that distance pretty comfortably. I did feel some soreness today in various areas of my legs, so I'll probably skip tomorrow and do the next two days. I figure as long as I build up slowly and just take days off when I sense any kind of pain, I should be able to avoid getting injured. Running on the wet sand is a really good strategy too, it lessens most of the impact and is a lot better on the legs.
Last week I finally decided to break down and install an RPG, which is something I'd avoided for several years now. I've just never been into the "neverending" types of games where there are always cooler items to find or bigger bad guys to fight, and in which "experience" is the most important aspect. Most games of this sort allow you to "gain a level" very quickly early on, with Levels 1 to 10 coming all within the first day of playing most likely. However the time it takes to gain a level grows exponentially, so to get from level 40 to 41 might take over a week. I managed to never get sucked into that kind of game, those are the kinds you always read about people losing their lives to. Everquest or "Evercrack" as it has become known as, is the best example. The role playing game of choice is Morrowind, which is actually the third in a series of games of which I hadn't played any. The pluses to it, it's single player rather than multiplayer, so the story does have a beginning and an end. The leveling isn't exponential, you'll eventually get to the highest level of everything. The negatives, the world is just gigantic. This is where people waste their lives away, methodically exploring the entire world would be a lot like trying to explore all of the United States on a bike. Although the main quest is apparently only about 80 hours in length (around four months of playing at five hours a week, which is all I tend to play), there are umpteenmillion side quests and things to do, so you could technically waste away an uncountable amount of time trying to beat the game "completely." Luckily I have no interest in that. After playing on and off for a week I've actually already grown pretty bored with it. As RPGs go, I've heard it's one of the best (I don't have a lot of experience with them myself) but you really have to be the kind of person who wants to get lost in a fantasy world for hours on end. The world is so huge that when tasks require you crossing back and forth, it gets pretty repetitive and boring. It's not a very difficult game, it's just very time consuming. I'll probably come back to it every once in a while, but it just didn't hold my attention like most games do. One game I'd like to snag and install is the third installment of the Myst series, Exile. The first Myst is considered the best selling PC game of all time, and I don't know too many people who missed out on it. It's the type of game where the point of the game is to find out the point of the game, and that's what makes it very different from others. You can spend days or weeks "stuck" someplace, trying to figure out what to do. It's sequel "Riven" was unfortunately so difficult, that I'd estimate about 95% of all players required a walkthrough or "hint" book in order to make it through the storyline. Some of the puzzles required linking concepts from multiple islands, deciphering codes, or making connections between seemingly pointless items. I've heard Exile is in between the two, difficult enough to keep you busy with your noggin for a while, but not so difficult that you're running for a strategy guide before you've gone ten feet.
I have been getting back into Q3F as of late, the mod for Quake 3 that I used to play quite religiously. I've joined up at least temporarily with another group of guys who play regularly, including a few I've known online for literally years now. It's great fun to talk about the good ol days, bust out quotes from years ago, and talk about the best (and worst) matches of the past. Also quite spooky for my visitors to come in and hear voices coming from my computer, following which the sound of someone with a heavy midwest accent saying "Hi SoandSo" (having been informed of the person's name through a chat window of course). I then generally pretend that the person can also see my visitor through a webcam, after which they usually run out of the room. Of course my webcam isn't set up, but it's fun to play with people's minds. :)
Okay you can wake up now, I'm done talking about computer games. :) No poker game tonight, apparently one of the guys had a CS assignment due or something. Ah, the life of hammering away at code at 2 in the morning, how I miss it. OH WAIT, NO I DON'T! ;)
Wednesday, October 09, 2002
Writing On A Desk.
If you happen to sit in the very back row of Girvetz 1006, on the right side, this is what you'll see.
Power Puff Girls kick ass.
Ninjas are sorry.
I hate boredom.
I hate love.
Do some coke.
You are wasting your youth.
Jesus was just in my taco.
Ah, the creative minds of UCSB's youth.
If you happen to sit in the very back row of Girvetz 1006, on the right side, this is what you'll see.
Power Puff Girls kick ass.
Ninjas are sorry.
I hate boredom.
I hate love.
Do some coke.
You are wasting your youth.
Jesus was just in my taco.
Ah, the creative minds of UCSB's youth.
Tuesday, October 08, 2002
They Still Fit!
Happened to see one of the guys in my house kickin a soccer ball around out in the quad, so I busted out the old cleats and went to join him. He lives up on the third floor, and is apparently quite the player, trying to get in shape to make it onto the club team here. Was quite fun to be thumpin away at the ball again, hadn't done that since intramurals last year. He's trying to get on a Mens B team for Outdoor, which might have some extra slots, so I might end up tagging along. The quad's really nicely set up for soccer though, and since all the buildings look out onto it I'm sure we'll be able to get a game going now and again. Managing to keep from taking out any windows, now that's the challenging aspect. :)
Had your typical interesting conversation with the guy in the single down the hall, I was in there showing how the sharing on the network worked, and he was sharing his triumphant story of sleeping with three different chicks over the last three nights, a feat he's never before accomplished in college. I remember responding with "impressive" in the most sarcastic tone I have (which is really sarcastic) knowing he wouldn't pick up on it. "Yeah I know, cool huh" was all he said. He then launched into a story about how being an Abercrombie model for 5 years got you stuff that "comes with the territory." I eventually made my escape once my room was done being vacuumed.
My first sorority house experience ended up pretty low key, although it was pretty impossible for me to not be stereotypically thinking when everything around me was your classic example of what you'd expect. The new business plan idea is a 24 hour convenience store in Milan, apparently Italy is lacking those in general for the most part according to those group members who had been there. It's really a structured project, so it should be relatively easy. I volunteered for the Market Analysis portion, knowing that's just a bunch of online research and charts and whatnot, and a lot easier than the actual Marketing plan, or the Implemention or Financial sections. Don't seem to have any real deadbeats in the group, which is logical since we're all 3rd or 4th year and most of the deadbeats are pumping gas by then.
Busiest day tomorrow, including an Econ quiz I guess I'll be studying for at some point tonight, finishing up a couple more chapters worth of reading and workbook work. Took the day off from running after a longer than average day yesterday when I made it all the way down the beach past West Campus to the other point way past the end of DP down there near the Snowy Plover reserve, I'd never even been there before. I figure since I have no problem running on weekends I'll just do a 3 days on 1 day off kind of scenario so there aren't any huge gaps. Alas, the dinner bell is ringing in my head, and I'm starving, having not eaten lunch or breakfast because I was naughty and chowed on Freebirds late last night... I know, shame on me but dang those tacos are good. :)
Happened to see one of the guys in my house kickin a soccer ball around out in the quad, so I busted out the old cleats and went to join him. He lives up on the third floor, and is apparently quite the player, trying to get in shape to make it onto the club team here. Was quite fun to be thumpin away at the ball again, hadn't done that since intramurals last year. He's trying to get on a Mens B team for Outdoor, which might have some extra slots, so I might end up tagging along. The quad's really nicely set up for soccer though, and since all the buildings look out onto it I'm sure we'll be able to get a game going now and again. Managing to keep from taking out any windows, now that's the challenging aspect. :)
Had your typical interesting conversation with the guy in the single down the hall, I was in there showing how the sharing on the network worked, and he was sharing his triumphant story of sleeping with three different chicks over the last three nights, a feat he's never before accomplished in college. I remember responding with "impressive" in the most sarcastic tone I have (which is really sarcastic) knowing he wouldn't pick up on it. "Yeah I know, cool huh" was all he said. He then launched into a story about how being an Abercrombie model for 5 years got you stuff that "comes with the territory." I eventually made my escape once my room was done being vacuumed.
My first sorority house experience ended up pretty low key, although it was pretty impossible for me to not be stereotypically thinking when everything around me was your classic example of what you'd expect. The new business plan idea is a 24 hour convenience store in Milan, apparently Italy is lacking those in general for the most part according to those group members who had been there. It's really a structured project, so it should be relatively easy. I volunteered for the Market Analysis portion, knowing that's just a bunch of online research and charts and whatnot, and a lot easier than the actual Marketing plan, or the Implemention or Financial sections. Don't seem to have any real deadbeats in the group, which is logical since we're all 3rd or 4th year and most of the deadbeats are pumping gas by then.
Busiest day tomorrow, including an Econ quiz I guess I'll be studying for at some point tonight, finishing up a couple more chapters worth of reading and workbook work. Took the day off from running after a longer than average day yesterday when I made it all the way down the beach past West Campus to the other point way past the end of DP down there near the Snowy Plover reserve, I'd never even been there before. I figure since I have no problem running on weekends I'll just do a 3 days on 1 day off kind of scenario so there aren't any huge gaps. Alas, the dinner bell is ringing in my head, and I'm starving, having not eaten lunch or breakfast because I was naughty and chowed on Freebirds late last night... I know, shame on me but dang those tacos are good. :)
Sunday, October 06, 2002
Another Weekend Fades Away...
Seems like it had barely faded in before it was gone, funny how weekdays plod and weekends zoom. Pretty productive day, got off my ass and managed to run all the way down to Goleta Beach (now a slighter more difficult task than last year since I'm way over on this side of campus) and made it back without any major issues. Then I was off to help a friend move all her furniture from one apartment to another. All sorts of exciting heavy lifting of couches and box springs and desks and fun stuff like that. She ended up being kind enough to treat me to Carrows though, so I can't complain. Not really sure where the middle of the day went, did some more researching online into the WSO track, oh and I forgot I then took like a three hour nap... Dinner was more entertaining than usual as I met up with some friends from two years ago who live across the quad, it's funny how even though you live closer to people you see them less often... I guess we all have lives now. Well, not all of us. ;) Hauled them over to get groceries, and managed to get free McConnell's out of that, the Coldstone's look alike over in Storke Plaza, which is always good. I'm a big french vanilla with white chocolate chip mix in fan, mmmm good. This whole providing chauffeur service for free food thing could work out quite nicely, I have a couple people who owe me Freebirds for various pain in the butt trips involving too many calories being burned. ;)
Heard from my officer recruiter again, turns out my package did in fact get sent off to the October Board, which meets on the 15th-18th. Apparently in order to get the Flight Physical you must have been accepted already, and even the MEPS aspect of the physical doesn't have to be completed and is actually a separate thing. So, supposedly on November 8th, I'll get the good or bad news and find out if my new direction in life is a closer to permanent thing. No stress involved, or anything.
Speaking of stress, had a somewhat heated conversation with a friend of mine tonight, which we'd sort of put off having for a while since a particularly bad day that managed to piss us both off for various reasons... I think I made progress in explaining the true motives behind the things that had pissed her off, but even though she says she understands where I'm coming from regarding the things that made me angry, I still feel like there's something holding her back from truly rusting me, which is quality I hold most important among my close friends. It's interesting, there are times in the past when I've felt we've been really close, I remember even last year telling someone at home she was the best friend I had here, but this year things just seem different. I don't know whether it's my change in priorities, or maybe hers, or just the fact that we're very different people. Before it never was a problem that we had different tastes in music, or different opinions about which "Trading Spaces" episodes had the best looking rooms or whatnot, but now it seems like a gap is widening. Last year, she was the one I went to whenever I needed anything from a friend, and there were a few times I felt like she was doing the same, this year it just seems like that connection has faded away. It might have been my imagination that it was ever there to begin with, when it comes to interpreting the emotions of the opposite gender, I tend to strike out on a regular basis.
As much as I'd like to stew over depressing topics, I'm actually intending to get some Econ reading and workbook pages done tonight and tomorrow morning before class (even though it's optional; I know, I don't know what's wrong with me) and going to sleep early enough to get in another decent length run. So, I believe it's 33 days and counting!
Seems like it had barely faded in before it was gone, funny how weekdays plod and weekends zoom. Pretty productive day, got off my ass and managed to run all the way down to Goleta Beach (now a slighter more difficult task than last year since I'm way over on this side of campus) and made it back without any major issues. Then I was off to help a friend move all her furniture from one apartment to another. All sorts of exciting heavy lifting of couches and box springs and desks and fun stuff like that. She ended up being kind enough to treat me to Carrows though, so I can't complain. Not really sure where the middle of the day went, did some more researching online into the WSO track, oh and I forgot I then took like a three hour nap... Dinner was more entertaining than usual as I met up with some friends from two years ago who live across the quad, it's funny how even though you live closer to people you see them less often... I guess we all have lives now. Well, not all of us. ;) Hauled them over to get groceries, and managed to get free McConnell's out of that, the Coldstone's look alike over in Storke Plaza, which is always good. I'm a big french vanilla with white chocolate chip mix in fan, mmmm good. This whole providing chauffeur service for free food thing could work out quite nicely, I have a couple people who owe me Freebirds for various pain in the butt trips involving too many calories being burned. ;)
Heard from my officer recruiter again, turns out my package did in fact get sent off to the October Board, which meets on the 15th-18th. Apparently in order to get the Flight Physical you must have been accepted already, and even the MEPS aspect of the physical doesn't have to be completed and is actually a separate thing. So, supposedly on November 8th, I'll get the good or bad news and find out if my new direction in life is a closer to permanent thing. No stress involved, or anything.
Speaking of stress, had a somewhat heated conversation with a friend of mine tonight, which we'd sort of put off having for a while since a particularly bad day that managed to piss us both off for various reasons... I think I made progress in explaining the true motives behind the things that had pissed her off, but even though she says she understands where I'm coming from regarding the things that made me angry, I still feel like there's something holding her back from truly rusting me, which is quality I hold most important among my close friends. It's interesting, there are times in the past when I've felt we've been really close, I remember even last year telling someone at home she was the best friend I had here, but this year things just seem different. I don't know whether it's my change in priorities, or maybe hers, or just the fact that we're very different people. Before it never was a problem that we had different tastes in music, or different opinions about which "Trading Spaces" episodes had the best looking rooms or whatnot, but now it seems like a gap is widening. Last year, she was the one I went to whenever I needed anything from a friend, and there were a few times I felt like she was doing the same, this year it just seems like that connection has faded away. It might have been my imagination that it was ever there to begin with, when it comes to interpreting the emotions of the opposite gender, I tend to strike out on a regular basis.
As much as I'd like to stew over depressing topics, I'm actually intending to get some Econ reading and workbook pages done tonight and tomorrow morning before class (even though it's optional; I know, I don't know what's wrong with me) and going to sleep early enough to get in another decent length run. So, I believe it's 33 days and counting!
