This Is The Life.

Every time I get bored or am just sort of blah about life in general, I just go for a walk. Tonight I was greeted with a very close to full moon as I wandered the paths around the outer edges of this housing complex. I eventually made my way down to the cliffs overlooking the beach, and was taken aback. The moon was very high in the sky, so the only strong reflection of the moon was on the curve of the waves as they curled and broke near the shore. It was a really awesome effect, something I'd never seen before. The sound of water has always been soothing to me, and I ended up enjoying it for several minutes before the cold began to set in and I made my way back indoors.

I'm truly lucky that all I have to do is walk outside my living space, take a few steps, and am immediately surrounded by beautiful scenery. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, got various assignments due early next week and a quiz Monday as well as a multitude of meetings over the next few days as usual.

Oh and two big thumbs down to the Angels and the Air Force Academy for losing their respective important games today. Lame! :(

Twenty Point Nine...

The official numbers are in, and they're not too shabby at all. I went to go sit in the egg yesterday, which was quite a strange experience. It's basically this little capsule thingy somewhat like the cars in Minority Report that zipped along on the sides of the buildings, except much smaller. You sit on the seat in there sort of hunched over, and then shut the door which sounds much like an airlock. It then makes all sorts of air hissing and suction sounds, as if you're going to run out of oxygen any second. Definitely not something I recommend to the claustrophobic. Was fun for me though, it'll be somewhat what a cockpit is like I figure. It ended up saying of my 190.5 pounds, 20.9% is body fat. According to their little chart thingy, under 20 is healthy. So basically, even at the beginning of my weight training schedule, without much effort at all, I'm already at the boundary of not only what's healthy but what will be required. Once I get further into training and the fat to muscle conversion is in full swing, I'm sure I'll have no problem bringing that number down further.

Hit the weight room for the first time today and discovered a very cool machine... Pull-ups were a huge problem for me growing up as I basically had no arms, and even in college after I did gain a pair of shoulders at some point I was never able to do more than a few, and it always felt like my arms were ripping off. They have this machine in there that allows you to stand on a bar that's at a certain resistance and do pull-ups, so if you put it at a comfortable weight not only can you do a set of 10, but you can do them properly. You can maintain the level of exertion at a constant rate both going up and going down, without the constant jerkiness trying to do pull-ups unassisted brings. I really recommend it to those who can't do a smooth pull-up by themselves, it will make it really easy to build up that muscle and slowly reduce the weight assisting the legs over time, rather than trying to lift 190 pounds with my back and triceps on day 1. Took it real easy for the first day, just figuring out the comfort levels of the different exercise I'll be working, deciding what weight level to start at and so forth. Going to stick with one long set for the first few workouts then add a set later.

So, promising numbers to start with, as my weight is officially a good 6 pounds under the max, and my body fat is only slightly above as I begin weight training.

Frustration...

So yesterday I just did a couple miles around the lagoon island, which involved a bunch of hills. The problem is never running up the hills, it's always running down. The most efficient way to do it is just to let yourself go, basically windmilling your legs as gravity throws you downward. Unfortunately, this seems to be the fastest way to aggravate my legs. The pounding on the pavement especially when running downhill is what always brings back the pain. It's quite frustrating, seems that no matter how long I'm into the running routine, the first day I actually run some hills, or run at a somewhat fast pace, I end up having to stop halfway through due to the pain.

I guess my new strategy is just to focus on other types of exercise. The elliptical trainers at the RecCen, and the pool, are going to end up being the main focus. Interestingly enough, I stumbled upon a set of physical requirements in the Air Force track I'm headed into that I wasn't aware of before. In order to be a part of a fighter aircrew, I'll have to perform F.A.C.T.. on a regular basis, which stands for the Fighter Aircrew Conditioning Test. Unlike the tests I'll have to pass at OTS, this one solely involves weight training. It's based on a percentage of your weight, so just to overestimate things and make sure I'm in the green area I'll probably end up training as if I was trying to reach the amounts needed if I was 200 lbs. That wouldn't happen since the max in the Air Force is in the 190s, and I plan to be around 180, but better safe than sorry. That means I'll have to lift the following amounts of weight:

Bench Press: 160 lbs
Arm Curl: 70 lbs.
Lat Pulldowns: 140 lbs.
Leg Curls: 100 lbs
Leg Press: 320 lbs.

Those numbers don't look insanely impossible, but apparently its not just maxing at that weight, you must actually perform TEN reps of each exercise in one set. For example I wouldn't have a problem benching 160 lbs, but given the length of time since I was actually weight training, something tells me ten reps might be a problem.

I think the first thing I'm going to do is go pay the 6 bucks or whatever it is to go into that new machine on campus that tells you like a berzillion things about your body composition, including your body fat percentage. That will be quite helpful in determining what the best course of action is for my training routine. The problem with switching over to weight training and make sure I'm in the zones needed in that area, is I'll probably build up muscle and thus gain weight, which could put me too close to the max weight.

Might as well explain the whole deal so the numbers make sense when I talk aboutit in the future. The way they do it at the yearly physical is they initially weigh you to see if you're over the maximum allowable weight for your height. I'm technically 5' 10 1/2' at my shortest during the day, so the max weight for me is 196.5. The "desirable weight" for that height is 175. I'd be satisfied with a muscular 180. I'm currently just over 190 at last check. If you end up over the maximum weight, they do a body fat percentage check. This is so that the very muscular officers who are possibly quite a bit over the maximum weight due to muscle mass aren't affected. The maximum body fat percentage for those under 29 years of age is 20%. If you fail both of the tests (>196.5 lbs and >20% body fat) then basically bad things happen. If that was the case at my initial physical I'd be disqualified completely, if it happens when you're already in you go through various stages of reprimands and eventually demotions and a possible discharge. Basically bad news. The last time I checked my body fat percentage was like 7th grade, and I've changed a bit on both the muscle weight and chunk weight since then.

So theoretically if I find out my body fat is a decent amount under 20%, then I can just focus on keeping in shape on a muscular and cardiovascular level, and not worry so much if I gain muscle and it puts me over the max weight. It's much easier to see progress when it comes to muscular work, and ab work, so motivation wouldn't be an issue, although if I do eventually get in, knowing I'm going to have to do it or go home will be motivation enough. So now you know everything about what I'm trying to do physically. Oh one more thing. GETTING A HAWT BOD FER DA WOMENS WOULDN'T BE TOO SHABBY.

Heh.

Oomph

For those who couldn't translate, that's the sound of plopping down into an amazingly soft and comfy mattress, in this case, one placed on a futon. Finally snagged one on Sunday, and am quite pleased with the purchase. The wood seems like it's very good quality, and the mechanism to shift from a sofa to a bed seems to work very well. I decided to go with a green cover, sort of a darker forest green type, and that seems to complement the wood very nicely. It ended up being a good inch smaller than the gap under my bed, so it basically fits perfectly, while still having a few inch gap on either side of my head and feet when lying down lengthwise. I don't thrash around too much vertically, so that shouldn't be a problem. Best part about it is that it folds out to a full bed rather than a twin, which will certainly please overnight guests. So yeah, any of you friends of mine from far away pleases who want to come see the beautiful place I live in, feel free to drop on by. :)

Feeling much better tonight than last night, gonna give running a shot tomorrow, although it won't be at 7am since the last few days has screwed up my sleeping schedule as I've tried to sleep off the cold. Finally did get a haircut though, so with a lighter head running should be no problem. ;)

Been having to be a lot more organized this year, got a full on calendar goin in my notebook, having to schedule meetings for Neighborhood Council, meetings with my R/A, meetings with my Econ 109EC group, and various other things. Kind of annoying to have to actually check my calendar when someone asks me to fix their computer or invites me to a movie, but I guess it shows I'm actually getting things accomplished with my time rather than just sitting around.

Had my first smoothie of the year after missing out on dinner thanks to the first NC meeting where they were supposedly gonna have mass food but I actually ended up getting only a slice and a half of pizza... Apparently Jamba isn't open as late as I thought, but Blenders out in IV came through for us. I'm not very particular when it comes to smoothies, anything with strawberry and banana in it I'll probably dig. I'd actually be perfectly satisfied with a smoothie as my breakfast, but then I'd be wasting money left and right and that just doesn't work. Hm there's an idea, blenders for the dining commons... They already have the fruit and ice and whatnot, wouldn't be all that difficult to provide blenders... Although I guess washing them would have to be done every time, so you'd actually have to have someone making the smoothies for the students... Hm, maybe I'll bring that up at some point. Gah more later, way past my bedtime.

I Get To Learn A New Word...

Listen up children, today's word is "Fiance." Now before you all faint, let me be a little less vague and inform you that it is not me but is actually my sister who will be using the word the most. She's become engaged to her boyfriend of more than a few years. I haven't gotten a whole lot of details as I was only the first in a long string of people to inform (at least I was first outside the parents, being the eldest sibling does have its advantages...) so I'm sure I'll have much more on this subject later.

Unfortunately not feeling any better today health wise, possibly even on the worse side tonight, so will have get back to this later and hit the sack.

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!

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! ;)

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.

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. :)

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!

Why Fire Truck Drivers Aren't Paid That Much.

Good thing I was up late last night, because if I wasn't I would have been joyfully awakened by a loud siren, and eventually a big crash and the sound of dragging metal. Turns out that I guess the fire people hadn't quite worked out which route to use to bring fire engines into this new dorm area yet, so they tried to fit a truck in between the light post and the flower/rockbed right outside my window, and discovered it didn't fit. They ended up trampling most of the bed, and finally running over a water main and dragging it with them for about twenty yards before coming to a halt right in the middle of the three quads, lights flashing siren blaring. Quite an interesting thing to see when you randomly look out your window. The trail of dirt and huge ditch the wheels dug is still there a day later, it'll be a lot of fun trying to clean that up I bet.

Hasn't been a whole lot to blog about, I got up on time the last few days and am getting into the exercise schedule I'm shooting for, and thus far no trace of the injury from the summer, although I'm taking it a bit easier to start out. Decided to really focus on how much I eat at meals, you can still get all the great tastes by only having a very small portion of each thing they have. The main problem used to be the eggs/potatoes/sausage etc etc etc I used to cram in for breakfast, and then still have a decent sized lunch and dinner. The breakfast/dinner schedule is what I'll be sticking to, with granola cereal/canteloupe/banana/OJ and milk being the start to the day, and generally the meat of the day over rice and a random side dish being the dinner. The pounds are starting to drop off again, and now that I'm back at school and have multiple choices when it comes to exercise, even if running is eliminated as an option again, I should be able to reach a happier level.

Thursday night was the inaugural poker game, with some of the old school players participating. I ended up the big winner, but there was a lot more luck than skill involved. You don't have to worry about bluffing or betting when you know you have the best possible hand, for example. Quite a nice feeling to have. They decided to go in for $10 a piece instead of the usual $5, so who knows maybe that will become the standard. A few other people who saw my away messages are wanting to get in on the action next week, so that might become a Thursday night thing or something. As long as I'm winning, the frequency of the matches doesn't really bother me. :)

Had a friend visit who I hadn't seen in quite some time, she'd spent the summer galavanding around the globe to various countries, apparently having a ball of a time. We had our usual good time as she called me stupid and I made fun of the way she says certain words, including my name. The need for a futon in here became even more evident as she ended up deciding to crash here instead of troop all the way back to her off campus house around 3am. Apparently my Mom is now heavily researching the idea, basically to prevent me from going out and buying the first thing I see. I don't particularly care, but it would be nice if it would be sturdy enough to last through the year and then into the future, as I begin to move around. Sure is easier than moving a full bed and couch around, especially if you can take it apart. Funny thing about the night was she left my playlist on shuffle when she went to sleep (I'd apparently dozed off earlier) because she enjoys background music while she sleeps. Well an elephant stampede could have gone through the room while she was asleep, because after random Metallica and Creed and whatever else had woken me up like six times, she hadn't moved a muscle. I'd gotten a ton of sleep the night before, and ended up getting up at like 7 anyway, so it was no big deal. Always nice to hang out with long-time friends with whom you can completely be yourself, with no worries as to how it will appear to them. Some people are inherently laid back, and regardless of what you say, it'll never be taken the wrong way. Those people make life so much more relaxing.

Other than that not much to report, halfway through a weekend, with a whole list of stuff to take care of tomorrow and especially Monday, so we'll see how that goes.

Oops

Been being a good boy, busy as a bee, will update later today.

Thought I'd Never See The Day...

Well I said I was going to go all out on the whole open minded thing this year, and so far I've kept to it... Got assigned a group for my Business Plan project in Writing 109EC, seems like a pretty electic group, apparently the meeting we're having outside of class to start setting things up is going to be at one of the group member's sorority where she lives, apparently they have a nice big living room they use for a lot of group projects or something. That'll be a new experience, four years later I've never been in a fraternity or sorority. First time for everything. I actually managed to listen to her talk without really stereotyping her immediately, so I think I'm improving.

In other news I turned in my app thingy for House Co-Chair or what-not, that should be interesting. I figure might as well start taking on leadership roles where I have to deal with morons, practice for the future. I'll probably take the reins and be the group organizer for this Business Plan project too, least that way I can be sure of a decent grade. The awesome news is that I don't have a final on the very last day like I thought I did, turns out it's taking place late the prior week. So I'll probably be heading home that weekend instead of having to wait til the Monday. Good deal. Er wait a second, why am I in a hurry to get home again? :/

Are You In Group 1 Or Group 2?

Six weeks behind the times at least, finally joined the crowd in going to see Signs. I'd actually heard a lot of mixed reviews, so it ended up being better than I expected. Not really in your face booyah launch you out of your seat scary, just pretty suspenseful throughout. Logistically, it didn't make much sense at all, but the concept of aliens wandering around isn't exactly realistic in today's day and age either. We'll go with 4 M's, it was creepy enough to make me be glad I don't live in the middle of nowhere. The acting by the children was pretty amazing, really helped set the mood. Not exactly at the caliber of a Hayley Joel Osment, but not too shabby in their own right. Also turned on Panic Room at what appeared to be about a half hour in last night on the RHA channel where they basically just show nonstop movies, which was decent. Only so much you can do with the concept though, there wasn't much depth to it. This one gets 3 M's, although I generally give higher ratings to Jodie Foster's performances, this one fell pretty flat. Some intense slow motion scenes that magnified the height of the action, but it got pretty repetitive.

Third day of classes today, which is my second longest day of the week. Monday Wednesday and Friday start off with a morning Econ 100A Microeconomics lecture, which so far is just regurgitating stuff I already knew, so I'll probably spend the time reading the book and working on the workbook during lectures, paying more attention if he actually covers something I haven't already learned 3 times in Acadec, Micro/Macro AP, and the Econ 1 and 2 courses. There are pop quizzes in that class though, as well as about scheduled ones every few weeks that end up being 75% of the grade, so you can be sure I'll stay on top of things. Hoping to stick with a 7am wakeup then workout concept, getting me back here around 8:15 in time to shower eat a decent breakfast and get over across campus. My second class of the day is at 2pm, which is my Econ 119 United States Business History lecture. So far looks like it'll be pretty much memorization, more of a history course with lots of reading and so forth than an econ course. That one is 50% Final and 50% exam papers, these two take home little 4 pagers where you get 6 questions and choose to answer one or something. Doesn't look like it'll be too rough either. On Mondays and Wednesdays I then have a two hour lecture from 3 to 5 for my Econ 138A Income Tax class... Yeah, it might be painful, but I figure of all the things that might be useful later in life, knowing how to save yourself money sounds like a pretty good deal. It's actually a two quarter class, think I'm taking 138B in the Spring. Today will be my first day of it since it doesn't meet Fridays, more on that later. Then on Wednesdays I have ANOTHER class, a Econ 100A section from 5 to 6, so that makes 4 straight hours of class on Wednesdays. Will definitly be the least favorite day. The good news is just one class Tuesday and Thursday and two short lectures on Friday, so I should be able to deal.

Gah, now I have to just avoid taking a nap during my 10-2 gap every other day after waking up at 7, haven't missed a class yet, no need to start now. :)

Rain On A Saturday?

I thought there was some sort of unwritten rule about that being an impossible occurence in Santa Barbara. Alas, we are apparently not immune. Today's song plug goes to Sheryl Crow, and the song she performed both at the 9/21/01 Tribute to America concert, and this year's MTV VMA's. It's called "Safe and Sound" and it's been on repetition in my playlist for a while. I tend to put the latest 6 or so songs I've downloaded into the bottom of the playlist, and repeat them til I get bored, by which time I've usually downloaded something new and can bump out the oldest one. This one really displays her vocal talent, quite fun to pretend like I'm capable of singing along. :)

Also have a movie review, last night I finally watched Memento. Luckily even though various plot elements had been blown for me in advance, it ended up not being as detrimental as I thought originally. The plot was carefully contrived, and the way the movie plays out is unlike any other I've seen. Going to go with 5 M's out of 7 here, only because of the amount of thinking that's required. You have to really be paying attention, and remembering how things went earlier in the movie, in order to understand the entire plot as a whole as it all comes together towards the end. The idea of having no short term memory seems to me a worse sentence than being deaf or blind. I would rather be either of the latter, than be incapable of remembering the people who are close to me.

Might actually FINALLY see Signs over the next couple of days, it's playing downtown still and I don't have any real plans.

The First Friday...

You can probably guess what that means around here. Having fun, in just aboute very sense of the word. Unfortunately, being stupid is also synonomous when it comes to most of the freshmen here. There's only really one aspect I dislike about the beginning of each year. I love meeting people, love moving in, love arranging the room, and all this. The only annoying thing is the way you have to basically start from square one when it comes to telling people about yourself. Barely anyone actually knows you, and even when it's people you knew before, that can sometimes cause problems.

Case in point, the infamous "alcohol" topic. It doesn't require a brain surgeon to figure out my opinion on the subject. However in this type of atmosphere, I tend to really be low key about it. Last night the guy in the single down the hall comes in and offers me a drink, and I say something along the lines of "no thanks, early class in the morning" or "I'm more of a weekend kind of guy." Not lying, telling the truth, but out of context. That's sort of the way it's been for the last few years, I never really feel the need to be vocal about my distaste for the beverage. And generally, people offer, I decline, and it goes from there. Then there's unfortunately the situations where that's not the end of it. There's prodding, pressuring, questioning, and eventually I have to be more terse about my opinions on the subject, to prevent that kind of embarrassment from happening again. Sadly, this isn't always a good thing. The most annoying aspect of it is actually when I'm with friends who are aware of my opinion, mixed with friends or acquaintances who are not. At times, the friends I've confided in on the subject feel the need to answer the question of whether or not I'll be drinking for me, and it generally comes off as condescending or ridiculing. This is why I tend to try to avoid such situations by not being so vocal about it. Just because I have a certain opinion, doesn't mean I'm going to force it down everyone else's throat. But when a friend of mine makes a big deal out of it, that's basically what it comes off as. People see me in a negative light, because I'm "raining on their parade" so to speak, even though I didn't personally say anything.

It really doesn't matter how often you tell your friends that your reasons are personal and that you'd rather they keep them to themselves, they'll still leap at the chance to answer the question before you do, pleased that they already know the answer. For some reason they're generally clueless as to the discomfort they cause. I consider myself a grown adult, perfectly capable of handling the usual alcohol related situations on my own terms. It really ticks me off when the scale gets tilted further against me by friends of mine who think they're being helpful and clever, when really they're just making me wish they hadn't been told, either.

Eventually word gets around. Luckily it's generally not when I'm present. Kind of like me and the typical explosion that happens the first time someone brings a lit cigarette into my room, and gets ousted in the most rude manner possible. Word travels, people get the idea, life is more relaxed the rest of the year.

I'm just whining, I'll deal with this type of stuff every time I move in the future, it's just one of the negative aspects I'd rather do without.

Reason Number 673 Why It Sucks To Be A Freshman...

As I sit here checking my e-mail before I head off to the reccen, I hear in the distance a really annoying fire alarm from the freshmen quad. There's one thing I won't miss about being in the freshman dorms. That's twice in three days for them. Luckily this year they're all on a separate thingy, so just because the freshmen are stupid doesn't mean I'll get woken up. Hooray.

Mah First Day of Skew.

Classes today officially started at 3:30, and were done by 5... Yep, only one class Tuesday and Thursday. The excellent thing about the Writing 109EC class I'm taking is I appear to have randomly selected the one section where the only required textbook is 19.95, when all the others combined multiple textbooks that cost up to $100 and beyond. Also the prof seems very cool, will probably make his way into the top five of my favorite profs overall list. Who knows though, it's still early. Apparently the main project in that class will be a "Business Plan" which I probably don't need to explain. Luckily it's in groups of five, so everything is split up and it shouldn't be that gigantic a task. The groups are going to be arbitrarily chosen on Tuesday, so my usual strategy of sitting next to someone who looks smart probably won't work. :) Also since that's the main assignment that means there's no final, which means I won't have one on the last Saturday as was scheduled. Unfortunately, I still probably have a final in my Income Tax class on the Monday following, which is the very last day for finals. Nothing like staying longer than EVERYONE and still not being done while everyone else parties that weekend. Gr. Maybe the prof will move it up, they sometimes do.

Taught yet another friend how to play racquetball tonight, that probably puts me over the dozen mark. She was actually better than most, caught onto the rules very easily and made contact most of the time. Believe me, I've taught some pretty uncoordinated people how to play. Not like I'm giving them horribly difficult shots to hit, but they seem to have more fun laughing at themselves when they miss than anything else. :) Between that and teaching various people how to swim over the last few years, I figure I've done my part to further humanity at UCSB athletically. ;)

Was actually having a really good day coming out of Writing having found out it will be a pretty cool class, and then I came upon my bike on which the front tire had entirely deflated. Found out later after walking it all the way to the A.S. Bike Shop from Phelps that the tube had blown, so that costs me four bucks, a pair of greasy hands, and fifteen minutes or so of grunt work. Luckily it had happened to me once before, so I have the process down pat now. Anyone need tube repairs, I'm your guy!

Now to bed, trying to stick closer to the 11pm to 7am sleeping schedule, although I'm sure the 11pm concept will slide now and then. I know I know, I'm a loser, I should be out partying, etc etc etc. Alas, no pain, no gain.

Back On Schedule...

Hopped on out of bed around 7am this mornin, started into a routine... Hit up the RecCen for some non contact elliptical trainer action thanks to my shin splints which I'll probably have to stick with for the first month, then did some pool work, and amazingly enough even beforehand wasn't as heavy as I thought I might be after these first few days of sitting around. The plan is even though I don't have early classes Tuesday or Thursday to have exercised and eaten breakfast every day as if I had class at 9, which I acutally do Monday Wednesday and Friday. Tomorrow though it's just a Writing class at 3:30, so won't feel like school has really started til the end of Friday most likely. Even then maybe not, since my longest class is two hours on Mondays and Wednesdays, so I'll still have yet to see how that one goes.

It would appear I'm going totally against the grain of my personality and am actually volunteering for a leadership position in the house... My new buddy who lives above me asked me to run with her for co-pres and I figure what the hey, it's about time I got some resume material in the leadership column. I figure I can handle a couple of meetings a week, and being more important than usual when it comes to the house hierarchy. Now is when everyone I know should be pointing out that the only reason they think I'm volunteering is because there are females involved. Not like denying it will change your minds anyway. Hmph.

Life In Paradise...

Has been relatively boring, actually... Hasn't been a whole lot to blog about, so I haven't been. Just a whole lot of shaking hands, whole lot of "Hi I'm Matt," whole lot of "So where you from?" and all the usual first week of school business. Met some interesting people so far, along with some more people from my building, and everything seems to be smooth sailing. Got my parking permit squared away, so my car's in its rightful place in B2. Also finally picked up my verification of graduation from the Registrar's office, planning to fax that over to the recruiter's office tomorrow at some point, and finally be done with my package. In the meanwhile been pondering how to improve my room, already appears I'll be able to temporarily borrow someone's nice big fridge for the year, which probably won't see tons of use, but at least get some. Trying to decide the best thing to put under my bed, the coolest idea by far is the concept of a futon, but those are pretty expensive. It would be able to be used once I'm in my own place though, so might be a good long term investment.

For those hoping to hear stories about me finding someone "important," all I can say is I've been introduced to just as many girls as I have their boyfriends. Strangely haven't even had anyone catch my eye, even though my window looks out on the main thoroughfare on the way to campus and the dining commons. Ah well, a long year ahead. Besides, barely anyone knows about my movie collection yet! ;)

As I Collapse Into My Comfy Chair...

Ended up staying up until two Friday night getting everything fully unpacked and organized, which made waking up at 7 pretty rough. That and the fact that I hadn't practiced getting down from my bed, and since my obnoxiously loud alarm was going off I was in a bit more of a hurry than I should have been, and that caused some problems. Alas, you live, you learn. Interesting thing about mornings, my window faces east now instead of West, so the sun comes streaming in bright and early. I prefer that actually, I should be up anyway, and that helps. Besides which, as I sit here right next to the window I can literally get a tan without leaving my room. Very cool. I even started working on my bullentin board, so I have actual pictures up, which generally doesn't happen until like 6 months into the year when I finally decide to get my act together.

Had our house meeting last night, with just about everyone in attendance, which was interesting. Turns out there's a total of 8 people on my floor, that's it. Three doubles, and one other single besides myself. On the 2nd and 3rd floors they have 12, and on the 4th only 8. This totals up to 40, which is interesting since last year just on my floor and the one below it we had 50. Seems like it's going to be a much more optimal setup. I've met 5 of the other 7 guys on my floor so far, and don't forsee any potential problems. Turns out even though the house is almost entirely juniors and seniors, only 3 of us are 21. Two of them being in singles. I'm sure that'll be interesting. My R/A seems cool, first female one I've had, previous 3 years were all male. She's on the first floor as well, but on the other side of the lobby, which requires going through two different interior doors. I'm also nowhere near either staircase and as far away as possible from the elevator, so I figure even though I'm on the first floor I'm not going to see much traffic. The one negative aspect of it is security, if my window is open I can see someone finding it quite easy to get inside if I'm not here. That and even a prank like a water balloon chucked into the screen would nail my monitor and everything else on my desk pretty good. I'm sure in that case there would be consequences for the moron responsible, but to be safe I'll probably keep my window closed and the fan on instead most of the time.

Today the other half of the dorms move in, but all of Manzanita moved in yesterday, so I'm not working or anything. Snagged most of the books I need for school minus one class, which cost a lovely 324 even though it was only like 5 thin books. Gotta love the two $100 ones that look like they were made for 50 cents. Still no bike, but I'll finally be able to move my car once my permit gets here either tomorrow or the next day, since they of course had to mail it to my permanent address after 5 working days, and given we were only allowed to request it 4 days before I came, that didn't work out all that well.

It's really cool that just about everyone I know on campus is in this Quad now, so we're all a hop skip and a jump away from visiting each other. Should be quite the cool year.

Partially Moved In To The Coolest Place Ever...

And that's basically all I really have time to say... Finally got all the wiring done, and now trying to unpack everything else... Have to be up at 7am to work my shift on the move-in crew and I probably won't get this squared away until around 1 or 2... Lots of stories to tell, basically all great news, the more I learn about the way this year is going to be the more I look forward to it. More when time allows.

Back in SB, Sort Of...

Well, I got bored with the whole waiting game, so I decided to just get off my ass, get packed, and come up a day early. Of course, I can't move in until sometime tomorrow, but I figured I could hang out here with my friends rather than hang out at home alone. Busy abusing their internet connection, since it's here.

Ride up was pretty uneventful, other than almost getting screwed when traffic went from 80 to 0mph north of the airport even faster than usual, and the gigantic Ryder truck behind me had to swerve onto the shoulder since it couldn't brake fast enough. Ended up basically next to my car, pretty nerve racking. Had my usual cold cut trio at Subway on monterey cheddar, mmmm mmmm good. Pink lemonade to wash it down, and I was a happy camper for the rest of the way. Subs are good one handed driving food, and the one I always go to is just about right at the halfway point, so it works out well.

So, my entire life is basically in the back of my van, waiting to get moved into my new home. And oh what a home it is. I had to go up to campus to take care of a form for the Air Force through the Registrar's office, and decided to go see if I could peek in at what the new dorm looks like. Apparently construction is still not quite done, although the insides of the buildings look squeaky clean, they're still working on some of the terrain and walkways outside. The greatest thing about the fact that there were still hundreds of people workin away was that all the buildings were unlocked. I headed into mine and found my room, and proceeded to analyze its layout in the hall and try to visually gauge how big it was. Turns out since I'm on an interior corner I have a hallway on two sides, a bathroom on the third, and a window out to an open grass area and pathway. Therefore, no possibility of someone loud on the other side of the wall. Very cool. After wanding around and finding an open room it suddenly occurred to me that mine might be unlocked. I went back and tried the handle, and upon looking in, was quite astonished.

I'd heard they were bigger, but this was still shocking. You could fit two of my old rooms in this one. Actually a little more. It's a little deeper, but at least twice as wide. If that wasn't enough, there's then an alcove in the back left where an entire extra long bed fits lengthwise front to back of the room. So not only do I have twice the floorspace, if I bunk the bed I even have the room under there. I could literally fit like 100 people in my room if they all got cozy. Apparently I'm going to need more furniture. I'm literally overjoyed at the way things turned out. Better than expectations by far.

Tomorrow is the fun part, moving everything in and finding out just how cool I can make it. Going to be pretty busy over the next couple days, will update when the opportunity presents itself.

A Special Kind Of Person...

The ride home is always a particularly pensive time for me. Whether it's a commute home from work, a short distance from a friend's place after dropping them off, or coming back to LA from SB, I always tend to spend the majority of the time deep in thought. Tonight was no different, except it was happier than usual, in a way. It's amazing how a simple compliment, or a gesture of caring, can affect me. It generally just takes a minor statement from an important source to keep me smiling all the way home. In other instances like tonight, it's just a hug, that ends up making me feel inherently warm for the whole ride home. During times of lonliness, a hug from a special kind of person can do more than words ever could. I really can't say enough about the friend I was out with tonight. She's one of the few people in the world I feel utterly connected with, as if we're at the same point in our lives, the same maturity level, the same situation. When we hang out, it's nothing but smiles, I feel as comfortable with her as I would my own family. Unfortunately, I don't see her very often. There's not much I can do about that though, and it just makes the rare occurences even more memorable. I can tell that someone means a lot to me when during the ride home from time shared with them, I'm already missing them and their company, and looking forward to the next time we see each other.

I guess I sound pretty gushy. No, nothing's going on. Yes, she's the coolest thing since sliced bread. No, nothing's going on. Seriously. People talk about the concept of a soul mate, generally in reference to "the one" or their eternal love, somewhere out there in the world waiting to be found. I think of it differently, in terms of the idea that you can feel that someone is so important to you, that you couldn't live your life without them. I don't feel that there's only one singular soul mate for every person in the world, but I do feel I've found one of mine. She's someone I hope I keep in touch with, as the years go by. Sometimes to erase a year's worth of sadness, all you need is one smile, one kind word, or one loving hug.

I suppose there's the chance she might end up reading this at some point in the future, so I guess I'll just say thank you, for being you, an amazing person in general, and for being a part of my life.

Hopefully, Never Again...

After a immensely horrendous day, I called up my temp agency and left a message saying I was unable to work tomorrow and the next day, effectively going inactive. I'm basically just fed up with working. Today's job was just as bad as any of the others from this summer, and it's just not worth it to me. I'd rather get through the year with less money than suffer through more of that kind of thing. I look forward to just about everything about UCSB at this point. Waking up early, going for a morning jog, then hitting the reccen for a refreshing swim. Heading off to my "ready whenever I get there" breakfast and enjoying the morning paper. I'm even looking forward to class. Actual learning, rather than wasting my time completely just to make money. Even homework. Getting stuff done, moving on to other stuff, getting that done too. Heading to an intramural soccer game or friendly racquetball excursion that night. And the best part, knowing that if I open my door and walk down the hall or wander across a floor or two, there's always dozens of people around. Call me crazy, but I love dorm life. Everyone going through basically the same stuff, whether its a 2am fire alarm, or staying up until 4am to watch the US play in the World Cup. Late night Freebirds runs, or cramming for finals, there's always people. Depressing thing is that it's my last year. Going to do everything I can to make sure this one is by far the most enjoyable. You only live life once, as far as I know.

Going to through out some tunes that have recently invaded my playlist, from "the other side" of Kid Rock we have "Only God Knows Why" and "Lonely Road of Faith," both of which have been sung along to many a time in the hallways as people walked past my door. Also an oldie but goodie, "There is Love" by Gordon Lightfoot, which your parents have probably heard if you haven't.

Actually, when I look back at my four years of college life, I think those will be the best memories. The spontaneous moments. Groups of guys in the hallway, belting out the tune reverberating through the walls in whatever key they've random chose, creating a cornucopia of sound unique to that group, at that moment in time. The road trips, sun roof and windows down, belting out "Livin on a Prayer" or an equal outburst of a song. The walks along the peninsula in the moonlight, the personal conversations, the emotions shared.

I actually have a whole lot to say there, but I don't think this is the right time to go into it. Besides, after this year I'll have a lot to add. Check back in June, and something tells me I'll have an awesome remembrance on display.

Another Weekend Trods By, But It's The Last One!

Did inventory on all the boxes I had sitting out in the garage, going through my checklist to figure out what I have to go shopping for... Time will be of the essence assuming i actually work Mon Tue and Wed this week, Thur will be the only day to pull everything together. I'd put it at about 50/50 that I'll actually work all 3 days though. The commute will probably be like 2 hours each way, and with 10-6:30 being the hours that's like 13 hours out of the house. I'll probably call the agency up tomorrow midday sometime and say sorry, find someone else to work the next two days, if it sucks that bad. They aren't even paying for parking, and they didn't even tell me what I was being paid, I guess I should have asked. It's never very tactful though. I guess I don't really care after this I'll hopefully never temp again. No need to burn bridges, but they really need to find people closer to these jobs to fill them with anyway. I'd be quite glad to use the remaining days burning cds and getting organized for school, I don't really need any more money. Managed to burn 18 movies today, but I have another 18 or so to go. That's not even counting all the other stuff I need to burn. The goal is to clear up massive amounts of space each year to start the school year, so at least for a while I can abuse the connection there for all its worth without having to worry about lack of space slowing me down.

While I burned I finally watched Casino which is pretty old but ended up being worth my time. I'l go with about 4.5 M's on this, definitely entertaining, De Niro is always fun to watch, and hadn't seen Joe Pesci in much since his Home Alone fame. Hard to be intimidated by a supposed mobster muscle man who's that tiny, though.

Guess I'll turn in early, going to probably leave at like 8:30, and I'll still probably end up late. Like I said, I'll take the money if they give it to me, but if it crosses the line to where its not worth it to me anymore, I'll probably end up bailing after the first day. I'm not usually so apathetic, but after four summers of temping, this one has been by far the worst, and has just given me even greater motivation to avoid ever being involved with corporate America again.

On a brighter note, I got a really kind e-mail from a friend last night, and that kind of thing really makes my day. I was wrong about a decision I'd made a few weeks ago, and I apologized. Those who know me or anyone else in my family for that matter know that earning apologies is generally like pulling teeth. I felt one was merited in this situation however. Glad to see they decided to accept it, and make me feel better at the same time. In the words of my pal Pumbaa "You've got to put your behind, in your past, Urrrr, Uhhh..." :)

Friday The 13th, Good Thing I Wasn't Doing Anything Important.

Felt amazingly good sleeping in today. I even woke up at like 6 by myself, then like 8 by myself, but purposely kept falling back to sleep until like 10. Then eventually had to get up for a dentist appointment. Found out that apparently I'll be working next week Monday Tuesday and Wednesday, up in Westwood. So instead of sitting on the 110, I'll be sitting on the 405. Change of scenery anyway. Finally, one week until I'll be back at school. Counting the days. The minutes even. 1080, give or take.

Headed over to see the West High football game tonight, and support the ol alma mater. We ended up taking a huge lead by halftime, and wiped the floor with South by a score of 56 or so to something smaller. The numbers got big, I lost count. Speaking of smaller, high school students seem to be headed that way. Couldn't possibly be me getting older. Some interesting fashion statements seem to be "in" as well. A few of the so called "cool" guys that walked by wearing the latest duds literally almost had me rolling. Utterly ridiculous. Whatever keeps them in the "in crowd" I guess. Also ran into the little sister of a friend of mine, who's not so little anymore. She recognized me even though I hadn't seen her in 5 years or so, I figure that's a good sign, I haven't changed as much as I thought maybe? It was her older sister I went to Magic Mountain and had a blast with a few weeks ago. Also ran into a few of my buddies who I've known through various things who are still in high school. That and was forced to make small talk with various sets of parents who apparently recognized me as well. It's rough being famous. Heh, well maybe in my head.

Changed my AIM profile for the first time in a long while, it needed it. I'd like to think I'm no longer searching for anything and the title of this page is now irrelevant as well, but subconsciously that'll never be the case.

September 11th, Plus One Year.

The young man steps out from the doorway of the parking structure, into the chorus of taxi's horns and roaring engines. The sunlight streams between two of the skyscrapers, blinding him temporarily. He walks towards the corner, past a shady niche in a nearby building where an elderly homeless man has taken up refuge from the sun. Squinting upwards, he faintly mouths the words "Good for you, sonny" as the young man passes by. He arrives at the crosswalk, and waits for the signal to change. It does, and he and the rest of the wave of men and women step forth into the street. Another wave approaches from the other side, and he happens to meet the gaze of a middle-aged African-American man in an expensive business suit. He smiles and gives a thumbs up sign as their paths cross. As the young man approaches the building at which he'll begin his day of work, he greets the door-opener as he has each day, for many days prior. "Way to represent, Sir" is the reply he receives as he enters the building. He pushes the elevator button, and while he waits for the car that will expediate his journey to the 29th floor, he notices a young woman approach, wearing a bright red dress, with a blue blouse. "I like that" she says with a grin, indicating his clothing. "Thanks" he says, grinning back, as the bell dings and they both step into the elevator. As he doors close, the metallic surface shows a crystal clear reflection of the young man staring back at him. Glancing down, he acknowledges with pride the bold American flag emblazoned across the chest of his t-shirt with three huge letters. U. S. A.

December 7th. June 6th. November 22nd. Jaunary 28th. And now, September 11. Every generation has its Day of Days. You may not know the significance of all the above dates. That's probably because you weren't alive, then. For those who were, these dates probably mean more than most when they write them on a check, a homework assignment, or any other document. An entire nation was affected, on each of these tragic days. People say that this is the first time the United States has ever been downright attacked on our own soil. Clearly, they've forgotten 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. They say that this will be the most daring War the United States has ever been involved in, and the most necessary. Cleary, they've forgotten the most famous Day of Days of them all, D-Day 1944. They say it's the first time the nation as a whole has grieved. Yet everyone knows where they were in 1963, when Kennedy was shot. They even say the reason it's so painful is the fact it was so shocking, so unexpected, and that it's more saddening because the people involved had no idea it was coming. Although I was too young to fully understand, I remember watching the video of the Challenger explosion in 1986, which unexpectedly took the lives of those much too young to lose them. Unfortunately, there is now another tragic date that will be remembered, year after year. I wonder where I'll be in fifty years, and how many of these days I'll have lived through, only to have them haunt my memories.

When considering what I would write tonight, I was at a loss. Just about everyone in the world has said something about that day, what it meant, what it will lead to, how it affected them. The truth is, the latter is where I differ from the majority. I was lucky enough to not know a single human being personally that perished that day. The emotional and psychological loss that thousands of people across America have felt for the past year, is foreign to me. I know only the numbers involved, but can't imagine the faces, or the people, behind the 3,025 dead. I've read more about September 11th than any other day in my lifetime. The magazines, the newspapers, the media in all its forms, have helped me learn more about what happened that day, and helped me understand what my fellow Americans are feeling.

September 11th for me, was simple. I woke up at 11am or so, Pacific time. It was all over. I saw nothing live, witnessed nothing as it happened. As people died instantly when the planes hit the towers, I slept. As thousands of others died in the aftermath, I slept. I know not what I dreamt of that night, but I certainly had no idea that devestation was taking place on the other side of my own country. Reading my blogs from that day, and the next, and later that week, it only took me a few days to get back to business as usual. Same old jokes, same old stories, same old visible me. Invisibly, I was different. I remember thinking it would be a long time before I could really vocalize what I was feeling. I've always been somewhat articulate, but the situations in which I need to be most desperately, I'm always at a loss. There are many images from that day that are burned in my memory, but one more painfully affects me the most. The image of one of the thousands of people who had lost a loved one, holding up a picture to the camera, their husband most likely, with the words "Missing from Disaster" across the top. The look on their face on the surface is one of hope. Look closer though, and you can see that fear and a deeper sadness are taking over, even as we watch.

I can't even imagine what it must have been like to be there. To be the firefighters rushing toward the building after the first plane hit, thinking only of their job, and how to get it done, having no premonition that there might be a second plane, or that either building might actually collapse. To be the people in the street, staring upwards at flames a thousand feet above their heads. To be the people in the tower itself, feeling the initial explosion, confused, wondering, what would happen next.

As I sit here I'm watching the CBS special 9/11, for the second time. It's truly unbelievable. People from all over the world in the streets, afraid. I read a fact today, that people from 91 countries lost their lives. That number is staggering. This was not an attack on one nation's people. This was an attack that did not spare women, did not spare children, did not just kill U.S. citizens, and instead killed mankind indiscriminantly.

When asked why I've made the decision to join the military, one answer is easy. To defend this country to the best of my ability, and prevent this kind of terror from ever happening again. My generation was innocent to this point, living their lives as if they would never have to lift a finger in order to defend the freedom this country stands for. These attacks have shown that nothing comes free. I don't see myself ever being happy with a job where I merely reap the benefits of this country and its freedoms, without ever making any sacrifices to preserve them. Sitting in a cubicle somewhere, completely unaware that all over the planet, people are fighting to protect this bubble of a world we're living in. Maybe aware from a history book that sometime long ago, countless people died to create this country, and preserve its values. That oblivious kind of life is not one I will ever choose to lead.

Whether or not I spend my life following orders in the skies, or end up serving the country and its people in another form, such as firefighting, paramedics, or law enforcement, that's the only way I'll avoid having an empty feeling inside, an empty soul. This is not a perfect world. We can only try to pretend. We can only try to make it a better place for those that come after us. We can only try to prevent terrible things from happening to those we love. We can only try.

I feel like I have no right to be saying any of this. My life continues. Basically unaffected, on the surface.

To all those negatively affected by the greatest tragedy I've lived to see:

As time passes, all wounds heal. Scars remain. They serve as reminders of the past, so that we'll never forget.
You learn, you change, you remember, you live. Most importantly, you live. So many people lost the chance to do so, unwillingly. Too young, too soon. Never take for granted a day that you spend alive. Remember the terrible cost of freedom. Remember the terrible price of peace. Remember those who lost their lives, and those who were responsible.

Remember September 11th. May nothing like it ever come again.

The Day's Eve.

On this day at this time a year ago, I was in the dining room tinkering with new computer hardware, trying to get my computer working again.

It was a night like any other night. Unfortunately the next day would be different.

Unfortunately I'm working tomorrow, but will be writing on the subject tomorrow night.

Isn't It Time To Go Back Yet?

Another dull day at work, although less dull than usual. Spent most of the day downstairs in the Kaplan center in the mall running tests, which involves putting a scantron form through the machine and then waiting for it to print out an 8 page results form thingy... Over the past few days I've had to do about 400, and I have at least 300 more to go. Luckily since I'm down in the mall I'm not under any kind of supervision, so I have a good time chatting up a storm with the friendly people who man the front desk down there. That and lunch is closer, no wasted time in the elevator. I got my hours switched to 9:30 to 5:30, since this whole staying til 6 and not getting home until 7 thing is getting real old. I even got a dinner date for tomorrow! Well sort of. Anyway.

Finally got around to finishing Band of Brothers the other day, which I now consider pretty much required viewing for anyone pondering the military track through life. Even if you're not, it's quite powerful and educational viewing, I learned a lot about the second World War that I had never been taught previously. Going to have to get around to watching a lot of the war movies I've missed out on over the years, including a few of the classics. The miniseries though was very well done, which didn't surprise me given it was directed by Tom Hanks and produced by Steven Spielberg.

Under two weeks to go I guess, can't wait to see how huge my new room is.

The Theme Song Ends...

Luck was a lady... this morning...

Turned out the last table I played at ended up the best, as I walked away with loads of twenties after an excellent stint of blackjack on the way to the car. Was just using a 7 for 5 coupon thing, ended up getting up to forty bucks, then decided to throw the rest all up for the last hand since the father was in a hurry, and low and behold got blackjack and walked away with a fat wallet. Always nice to end your tirp on a high note. That put me just about even on the trip, and given the room was free, and the father was picking up the food and gas bills, so everything worked out quite well.

Also headed out on Saturday to visit the grandparents, which became interesting since we took my grandfather's old rifles, shotguns, and various other weapons out to the shooting range in the middle of the desert (he lives in Boulder City, near Lake Mead and Hoover Dam about a half hour out of Vegas) and blew some stuff around. I'd never fired a gun in my life prior, so it took me a bit to get the hang of things, but it was surprisingly easier than I expected. The crowning moment was when we set a 7up can I'd just finished drinking about twenty five yards out and braced it with a rock, and I backed off a ways and fired off the first 7 shots of an 8 shot magazine, and managed to put them all clean through the can, incluidng one right through the middle of the red dot. :) The 7th shot knocked it over, so the silver bottom was facing me, so I managed to put the final shot through the bottom of it slightly off center, tearing a hole clean down the side of the can. The .22 I was firing for that clip ended up being my favorite, was quite fun. Also got a chance to blast a 12 gauge, and figure out the definition of the term "recoil." I avoided the 16 gauge after that, especially once the .22 pistol we had brought as well blew out my hearing for a good couple of minutes. That thing was LOUD. Hearing protection is always an intelligent thing to bring. So needless to say I got pretty comfortable with the concept of knowing how to shoot a gun, should the situation ever require it.

Interesting thing about driving around with my Dad in Vegas, is he's one of those ppl who just refuses to read signs or follow directions. There was not a SINGLE parking structure in which we didn't go the wrong way down an aisle, through a Do Not Enter sign, or end up having to back up a great distance to fix a mistake. That and of course the first available spot close to the elevator is never the one we take, as there's always supposedly a "closer one," which we spend several minutes circling trying to find. Then there's the freeway exploits, swerving around trying to find the "best lane." Nothing like a little extra stress on vacation. The concept of utter relaxation is lost on many people I guess.

Who knows, maybe one of these months they'll send me another thing for free rooms, and I'll get to go back. It's a very long drive from school though, would have to have an entourage along with me to keep it interesting. :) Believe it or not I have a friend or two who have never been there, boy are they in for a treat.

Alas, I go back to work tomorrow, it was a three day weekend for me, and it passed so quick. Luckily squeezed in a haircut today, it was gettin pretty ridiculous. I'm quite cheerful at the moment, hope working doesn't downgrade the mood.

The Theme Song Starts to Play...

Luck be a lady...
Luck be a lady...
LUCK BE A LAAAAADYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY, TONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!

I'm off all, back Sunday a richer/poorer man.

Bubble Here, Bubble There.

You know how when you take the SAT you have to go through like a whole page of bubbling your first name, last name, birthdate, gender, school address, etc etc etc? How it's really boring and teacher spends like an hour explaining how to do it? Well it's officially, about 10% of you are complete morons. My job for yesterday and today has been to go through a stack of about 600 of these scantron forms, and fix all the mistakes. There's people who choose to do every other column, randomly on either the pink or white alternating columns generally depending on their gender. There are people who write it and don't bubble in at all, or people who bubble without writing. There are even people who bubble in all the letters of their name in the SAME column, making it impossible to tell what their name really is if they didn't write it in. My fun doesn't stop there though, I then get to write in and bubble in a four digit test code on every single sheet, luckily it's always the same. No such luck for the ten digit student ID however. After alphabetizing the entire stack of 600, I then give the first student the number 0000000001, the second 0000000002, and so on until 0000000600. That's right, I have to bubble in all ten bubbles for each of those. So fourteen bubbles per page, and yesterday I finished about 200 students, so roughly 2800 bubbles. Not including the fixing the names fiasco. My hand felt like it was going to fall off, being ambidextrous would have been nice. And I still have the largest stack to go. Then I get to go downstairs and run them all one at a time through the feeder to score them. I hear I'll get to do some of that this morning before I go back to bubbling.

The good news is, I was sent a thingy in the mail that gave me two free nights at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas on Friday and Saturday night. So I said I was "unavailable" for work tomorrow. I suppose the $150 I make over these couple days will be nice in the long run. I'll probably even go back on Monday just because I don't have anything better to do. This weekend though, I'm gonna relax and live the good life. Even with the concept of free, didn't find anyone interested, mainly due to the short notice and people having other plans. So it looks like myself and the father will be trooping out there, which is nice because then I don't have to drive, and can get some quality book reading in.

Lastly, I'd like to give a booyah to Kelly Clarkson for taking home the American Idol crown last night... I haven't been a diehard fan, just started watching in the last couple weeks, but still witnessed some pretty amazing performances. Downloaded both her upcoming single "A Moment Like This" and her version of Mariah Carey's "Without You", the latter of which is my favorite performance from the entire show. Also going to plug a song I've been trying to remember to download forever and finally got around to snagging. Live's "Lightning Crashes" is one of those songs where the melody is so simple, and yet you can't help but sway along with your eyes closed, envelopd by the music. It gets louder later, but my favorite part is those opening riffs.

Now it's off to work, all the live long day.

A Welcome Change.

Got my housing packet info thingy in the mail yesterday, and received quite a surprise when I opened it. Back in the Spring when I applied I put down Manzanita Village, the brand new still being built at the time dorm area as my first choice, and San Miguel, the dorm I'd been in for three years running, as my second choice. When I got the initial acceptance of my contract, it showed me as getting a single again in San Miguel. I spent the next few months talking myself out of Manzanita, for reasons such as the possibility construction wouldn't be finished, major utilities or the internet might not be working, and reasons such as a greater distance from most classes, and the 217 freeway, as well as proximity to IV. Well, it turns out something got bumped along the way, and I ended up getting into Manzanita. There actually are a lot of pros to go with the cons, the largest of which is that of the 800 or so slots available in that dorm, only 400 will be given to freshmen, so there will be a lot more upper classmen there. I've dealt with freshmen for a while, and I'm pretty bored of them. Another plus is that everything will be brand new, assuming it's all done and working. I'll be eating at Carrillo instead of Ortega, which is the brand new dining commons that's been under construction for over a year since it was previously an eatery for those living in San Rafael. The description seems to say on a daily basis things will be "cooked to your order" so to speak, including stations like Mongolian Barbeque. My building is the closest one to the food, which should be nice. :)

So, for all your stalking needs, I recommend checking out the Las Encinas Quad in Manzanita Village at UCSB, and I'll even narrow it down to Arguello House. To be even more discrete, I'll complain about how I did end up on the first floor. The good news is my building is four stories instead of three like most of them, but of the 17 buildings in the Village, mine has the smallest number of people. That means 40 people in the building divied up over 4 floors. In comparison, just on my floor back in San Miguel, there was 25 residents, with 50 total being on my "unit hall" of my floor and the female floor below us. Seems like there will be a lot less traffic, with only 10 people or so living on each floor. I'm wondering how the exterior door keys will work, if it will be the same one for only Arguello House, or all of Las Encinas Quad, or all of Manzanita Village. Needing a different key for each building would be pretty lame. You'd think they'd at least allow you into the buildings in your quad. More good news from the phone usage front, they've gotten rid of the old stupid way of hitting flash then dialing *01 to answer call waiting, now only the flash key is needed. That was really annoying, because no one ever did it right. So starting September 19th you can start mailing me at my new address at school.

PO Box 15324, UCSB
Santa Barbara, CA 93107

And the countdown begins. I'm up early because I'm working back downtown at the place I was for today, I figure more spending money isn't a terrible thing since I didn't have plans today anyway.

Bigger, Better, Beautiful.

That's right, I'm talking about my new monitor! AHAHAHA yes I'm sure at least half the people who read that sentence immediately moved on to another one of their bookmarks. Assuming I was bookmarked in the first place, hah! Anyway, after like years of mumbling about it, and countless hours surfing the web looking for the best deal, and a few times coming tantalizingly close to winning an auction and then losing, I've finally ended up with a flat panel monitor. Aesthetically, it's actually better looking than I thought it would be. It's the Dell2000FP, that's 20.1 inches viewable. The final kicker was the price, when the Dell site decided to cut the prices of all monitors by 25% for a short period of time, that placed the monitor only slightly more expensive than most 18 or 19 inch viewable panels. The main reason 20 is such a good size is that its native resolution is 1600 x 1200, which is a size you basically can't use on any smaller sized monitors, due to text and everything else being so tiny. I ended up gaining two inches on my old monitor, as well as losing the two feet of depth I used to have to deal with. It's lighter, will give me a ton more room, and its already very clear how much easier on the eyes it will be. Even after a few hours straight of gaming or staring at it, there's no noticable effects like the typical headaches or whatnot one would normally experience. And hey, it even draws like 90% less power or something, so when I start having to care about electric bills (i.e. when I'm paying them) it'll help! :)

So all those who come over to watch movies this year will be much more pleased with the new addition. Cost a pretty penny, but I consider it a very good investment, since I paid several hundred less than it sells for retail, and I'm planning to have it for quite some time, as I move around from place to place over the next few years. My eyes sure will be thanking me.

My physical got delayed, as my recruiter figured out I needed the full on flight physical and not the general one all the non-rated applicants go through, which is going to put it sometime in October. Which means a trip down to LA at some point, probably on a weekday when I'll be forced to miss class. Oh well, as long as I know in advance I can probably make arrangements to counteract any possible problems.

That was strange. A very loud airplane just passed over my house. I live very close to LAX, but I'm not in the flight path, so that's not a normal thing. Sounded like a very large jet. It's a different world we're living in, when the first thing that crosses my mind when I hear an unexpected sound of a plane in close proximity, is whether or not its headed for me.

Three Hundred Sixty Five Days of a Lifetime, in Words.

Believe it or not, I've been writing in this Blog for a year. Doesn't really seem like it. Reading the first entry, much of it would be identical if I was writing it as we speak. If you've actually made it through the whole thing I salute you, you've covered approximately 229 pages single spaced, and 529,000 plus characters. You're one of 3,400 plus people who've visited the page for one random reason or another, just short of 10 a day or so. Many of you probably happened upon this page from a random search engine query, such as one of the many hilarious one's I've reposted. Others might be friends of mine, or family. The truth is, although I do check the counter info on a regular basis, if that was all I was interested in, this blog wouldn't be here. I'd be filling it up with words I knew would generate hits from search engines, along with links, popups, and the other lame things sites do to gain hits. Instead, these pages are filled with words of my own, that I just felt like saying at the time. I often go back and read entries from a month prior, a few months prior, a year prior. The funny thing is, I input these things so fast, that even a few days later, reading the words makes me feel like I'm reading someone else's novel. I literally laugh at my own jokes. It's quite pathetic when you think about it.

Have I succeeded in what I set out to do? I think so. This has been a journal that could never be replaced by pen and paper. The amount of time saved that's allowed me to be as articulate or convoluted as I wish without straining my hands is uncountable. I have this backed up to two different hard drives, so even if something happens to the Blogger server or one of my drives, I'll still have this journal to look back on, to see what life was like during my junior year in college. That's over now, it's now the month of September, in a short twenty days I'm headed back to school. I have a new career goal, a new path to follow, a new life to lead. There will be new people to meet, old faces to recognize, plenty of work to do.

Looking back, it's been a pretty good year, as have all of my years of college. No personal tragedies, no horrific injuries or illnesses, and although there was both physical and emotional pain of various kinds, there was always a rainbow through the storm at some point. Sometimes a new day, sometimes a friend to help, sometimes just a sentence uttered by someone, that cheered me up like nothing else could.

September 1st, 2001, was ten days before the event that shook the foundation of this country. In that respect, the world is a very different place than it was when I started this Blog. Then again, I feel I've also changed as a person as a result. In a good way.

Here's to you, the Reader, for sharing this last year with me. Believe me, you aint seen nothing yet.

I mean really, one of these days/months/years I'll be filling this with pages and pages about an actual DATE! :)

Yes Sir Captain Sir.

Whole lot of firsts for me on Thursday. First time meeting a Captain in the AF, first time on an actual AFB, first time on the LA AFB, even though it's only like 10 minutes north of me. The day started with me travelling up to SaMo to finish filling out a lot of the holes in my paperwork, and finish squaring away my package for the Board. Got to answer all sorts of interesting questions like I had on many forms, more along the lines of "have you ever done anything bad, ever?" but also some new one's such as "are you opposed to being responsible for discharging a nuclear weapon on an enemy?" Much of it was psychological, questions about whether you're anti-war being the most important I'm sure. They had the big word for pacifist on there, treating it as a religion, asking if I was a member of that group. I have friends who are, but I have always felt the price of the lifestyle that we live and the peace that we live in, is war. Not all the time, not continuously, but at times it is necessary. Squared away all the physical paperwork, just have to call back on Monday since I never actually found out where to go for it next Thursday.

We then caravaned down to the Base since I wasn't entirely sure where I was going, which ended up being more interesting that usual because I had to cut someone off to stay behind the recruiter who had just dived down a random exit ramp, and then he proceeded to get cut off pretty horribly at least 3 times during the remaining journey. Ahhh L.A. drivers, they keep you on your toes. I was thinking it was going to be with an O-5 or 6 (Lieutenant Colonel or Colonel) but it ended up being with an O-3 (Captain). The ranks in the Air Force when it comes to officers go from O-1 (2nd Lieutenant) which you start out as immediately out of training, all the way up to O-10, with O-7 through O-10 reserved for the four levels of generals. I'm sure I would have been intimidated regardless of his rank. It kind of sucks to be a civilian, while your enlisted recruiter is going through his reporting statements and salutes and so forth, and you're standing there with your thumb up your nose wondering what you should be doing. He really made his best effort to make me feel comfortable though, and as a result I ended up not using the word Sir as much as I'd been planning to. Alas its not like I have any experience with the concept growing up, but I'm sure I'll learn it in a hurry when it becomes necessary. It really felt like an AcaDec interview all over again, except for the fact that it was about an hour instead of a timed seven minutes. Covered just about everything about me that could be said in that amount of time, focusing on my past performance in life, basically. I really feel it couldn't have gone any better, although I stumbled over trying to find the right word at times, my typical ability to blab up a storm about everything in a very articulate way with a multitude of sweeping hand gestures reigned supreme. He seemed genuinely interested in everything I said, and had clearly done many of these types of interviews before, it was clear his questions followed a predetermined path. Made me all giddy inside when he said out of the dozens of interviews that he'd personally handled and officers that he knew on a personal basis, my AFOQT scores were by far the best he'd ever seen or heard of.

So, I might as well explain how the selection process works. As previously mentioned mid October the Board meets (it's made up of O-6's) and rates all the applicants on three categorys. Multiple officers rate each person, and the scores are averaged. In each of the three categories, ratings are given that range from 2 to 3.3 in .1 increments (weird I know). Thus, the worst possible score is 6, and the best score being 9.9. The three categories are:

Education/Aptitude: This consists of Academic discipline, AFOQT scores, GPA, and Transcripts
Experience: This consists of Military Experience/Performance if prior, Letters of Recommendation, Demonstrated Leadership, Community/Base involvement, Athletics, and Skills/Hobbies.
Potential/Adaptability: Finally this consists of Evalutation of Interviewing Officer, Letters of Recommendation again, Work Experience, Communication Skills, and Law Violations.

One thing you have to remember though, is you're only competing against people in your category. So although the Non-Tech selection percentage in the last few boards had been between 15 and 30%, the Navigator selection percentage has remained steady at about 80 to 90%. With those numbers in mind, I find it hard to believe that I'll be in the lower 10 to 20% in any of the categories, and thus feel pretty good about my chances. You can now begin talking about counting my chickens before they hatch any time now.

November 7th is the day my life will now revolve around, although there might be delays. More later, this post is getting lengthy.

Progression

So, I can now move both arms individually without any kind of major pain. Haven't blogged for a few days because well, there was nothing to blog about. Just a lot of sitting around, taking a cool bath once or twice a day, unable to really do anything.

Last night I rewatched the first two episodes of Band of Brothers, the only two I'd seen previously. My plan is over the next few days to finish watching the series. Kind of sad I haven't gotten around to it sooner than this, given all the good things I've heard. Given my new career choice however, I'm going to make a point of watching these kinds of things, and although it will never tell me what it's really going to be like, I can at least see what it was like for the people who helped give me the way of life I currently lead.

Speaking of which, I received a phone call from my officer recruiter today, letting me know that someone had been forced to cancel their interview appointment for tomorrow at 1pm, and thus there was an available slot. I of course jumped at the chance, knowing this could really speed things up. So it appears I'm to be up at his office in Santa Monica tomorrow morning at 11am, in order to fill out a bunch more paperwork and finalize my package, then we'll drive over to LA AFB for the interview. I'm sure I'll be nervous, but no more nervous that I was during AcaDec interviews, when I knew I was being graded from the moment I stepped into the room until the moment I stepped out. With the amount of training I've had, it shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure I'll be practicing answers at some point today though. :) I also found out to my surprise that my physical has also been scheduled, for next Thursday Sept 5th. This is both good and bad news, good because it's sooner than I thought, bad because there's the possibility that the sunburn might still be around. Other than having to explain what happened, I don't see how that can affect me negatively though. It's just all the what ifs, that get you. I'm four pounds under the max weight, even with clothes on I'm a few under, and with a week to go I'm sure I can drop even further into the safe zone. Who knows, having not had a physical for about 5 years, there's always a chance they'll find something wrong I didn't even know about. The good news is that just about everything is waiverable, if you have the time and patience.

So it turns out that I will in fact have everything done before the deadline for the October Board. According to the schedule, that Board actually meets from October 15th-18th, and the estimated release date for the results is November 8th. Bit earlier than expected, but welcome just the same. It's the first Board of the Fiscal Year 2003 for the military, so that could work to my advantage, as there will be plenty of slots to fill. The last few boards have been somewhat selective in many of the fields, that should be less true with the new FY. Of course, the release dates for the least few boards have been delayed quite a bit, with the July release coming out around 2 or 3 weeks late and the August release so far 1 or 2 weeks late itself. "Hurry up and wait."

All in all though, I'll still know by mid November at the latest what the deal is. Worst comes to worst, I'll be rejected the first time and automatically go to the second Board which meets in November, and releases the results in December. If you get rejected twice you have to wait at least six months I think it is, so that'll be it at that point until I graduate at least. Although I haven't been completely ignoring the fact I might have to consider other options, this has been my main focus for a while. Will just be nice to finish up these last few steps and be done with it, so I can get back to doing other things.

I do believe it's time for that 3rd BoB ep. Haha BoB. That looks funny.

Blisters Hurt

Never had an experience with sunburn blistering until today. I'm in more pain than I have been in oh, about five years.

Didn't help that I was having to meet and greet people which involved hugging and shoulder slapping extensively at the party. That probably screwed it over actually. I'm proud though, I didn't complain once to anyone outside my family who were smart enough to not do those kinds of things.

It's my own fault, I guess. More later on how cool the party was, when I'm able to do things like type blogs without flinching from the searing pain through my shoulder.