Wow, I Was Weird.

Decided to spend the evening getting my room organized, going through a TON of old stuff and basically filling up several large trash bags. Man, was I obsessed with Disney for a while. I kept just about every newspaper article there was about Disneyland for a few years there, and just about anything else I could get my hands on too. Also found a few of my old touring plans and artwork, course I was a bit younger then, but I still don't see how I could have possibly thought my drawing of Mickey actually looked anything like Mickey. :)

Just gonna leave this open as I go through stuff, I keep cracking up to myself even though no one is here, so I figured I'll share. :/

The fun part was taking literally a two foot high stack of paperwork from school and dumping it, doesn't make much sense to keep work from CS, Physics, or Math, given I don't have any intention of taking those subjects ever again. Well maybe CS, if its a fun elective someplace. :)

Also tracked down a bunch of cool pictures I'd managed to lose in the shuffle somewhere, including some great ones of my friends, so my photo wall next year should be much more impressive.

Just found a folder with spatial engineering major information in it, with a note on the front that two good schools for it are the University of Alaska at Anchorage, and the University of Maine. I used to be enthralled with the idea of living in the middle of nowhere. I still think it would be interesting, for a while. Don't think being a hermit for my entire life would be too cool though. Who would I blab to all the time?

Okay, I've filled three full large garbage bags and I can actually see the floor, guess it's time to take a break. Next up is taking all the boxes one at a time out of the van and figuring out what needs to be tossed, what needs to stay in boxes to be taken back, and what I actually need for the summer. Hoi. This is what weekends are for, right?

Oh, and the trial I'm a juror on should be over by Monday. Who knows, maybe even by lunch. Anyone need a lunch date? :P

Ack, Poor Blog's Been Neglected...

Okay so since finals ended I've been a bit iffy on daily updating. Alas I've been just sort of easing back into life at home, not having to do much of anything in the lull between school and work. Going to try to catch up this weekend, both with this and unpacking/organizing/cleaning. Half my boxes are still in the car, even.

I never did really talk about the "year in review" so to speak when it came to life at UCSB. I guess I should start with the last night I was there, because it was basically one of the most fun nights of the entire year. Many of the irritating or annoying people had gone home already, and only about half the hall was left, with basically everyone having completed all their finals. One more wild night lay ahead. I'm not going to go into exact details here, but needless to say our R/A wasn't too concerned about disciplining anyone on their last night in the dorms, and basically let the fun roll on, even joining in at times. All sorts of crazy things took place, and I'm glad to say I spent the large portion of the night with some of the best friends I made here this year.

It's funny, some of the people I ran into during the night were surprised to see me, as if they didn't think I ever actually have any fun. Kinda sad when you think about it. People don't seem to understand that just because I'm not the one tippin back a beer or tappin the keg, doesn't mean I'm utterly incapable of enjoying myself around people who do. I've grown to be more open minded over the last few years, mainly due to the fact that I haven't had much of a choice, living in the situation that I have been. As long as I know the people I'm with have brains in their heads, and can make the right decisions about how much is too much, its just more live entertainment for me.

The one major highlight of the night was when a bunch of us were randomly in the hallway at one point, and all of a sudden someone who was a few apples short of a bushel announced that everyone must immediately come together and join hands in a circle. Given everyone's mental state it was unknown what made it such a good idea, but within seconds we were all standing in a circle, with our arms crossed, our left hand holding the right hand of the person to our right, and our right hand holding the left hand of the person to our left. Confusing? Well, it was pretty hard for some of them to figure out, too. Anyway, it was then decided everyone should take turns saying something, with the something being anything. This led to quite random exclamations, questions, statements about life, and general comments about how fun a year it had been.

Now comes the best part. A CSO (Community Service Officer) who happens to be making his rounds of the building at just that time comes out of the stairway during our little circle. He stares, and we all think "oh shit who's he going to bust" as eyes dart around at the various bottles, pipes, and other paraphenalia either lying on the ground or sticking out of people's pockets. He looks at us, we look at him, he walks over, and joins the circle. That's right, reaches out his hands and fills in a gap between myself and my friend next to me. Most hilarious thing I'd ever seen. Maybe you had to be there. But anyway, he spent the next several minutes with us just sort of having a big life powwow, and then shared his thoughts on how he wished his hall was this "tight" when he was in the dorms. Then off he went, much to the chagrin of his newest and greatest fans. Eventually the circle collapsed, as some people finally went to sleep, others went to barf, and still others just sort of lay down in the middle of the hallway and started snoring. On came the role of making sure everyone was okay, the whole big brother factor that consists of walking people down the stairs so they don't eat it, smiling and nodding when they're speaking total gibberish, and eventually passing out myself in the very wee hours of the morning. Actually I take it back, I stayed up to watch the first half of the USA vs Poland World Cup game, and that didn't even start til 4:30am. Needless to say I would have gladly slept all day Friday, except for the fact I had to check out the next morning which involved debunking my bed, packing everything up that I hadn't already, and going through the lengthy process of carting my whole life down to the car.

So, great fun was had by all, and it left me with many more fond memories of the year behind me. I don't see any need to name names, those people who affected me personally and helped me grow as a person know who they are. Looking back, I think I opened up to different kinds of people and personalities more this year than any other. It's hard though, coming back to a living situation where everyone still thinks you're the same way you were in high school, closed off to many things, stubborn in many opinions. Some people just don't seem to think its possible for someone to change over time. Go figure.

To all those who helped me smile this year, thanks. Hope you all have great summers, feel free to come back and visit anytime next year. :)

Couple Quick Notes...

I'm on jury duty as was mentioned previously, but today I actually got called in, and managed to get selected for an actual trial. Luckily will only last until Monday or Tuesday. Unfortunately I can't give all the gory details while its in progress, federal offense, yadda yadda yadda, so will update on that afterward.

Now for the most important news of the day.

By a whopping THREE HUNDREDTHS OF A GPA POINT, I have gained entrance into the full major of Business Economics at UCSB. Thus, no need for summer school, no need to take an extra quarter, and it would appear I'm actually going to graduate in June, at the end of my 4th year, even after switching majors in the middle of my 3rd. And they said it couldn't be done.

This is a HUGE load off my shoulders, its just been a really good day. :):):)

More tomorrow, I'm dead tired and going to bed early before something ruins it. :P

What Is It About Home...

That always makes me feel like ASSSSSSS. I don't think I've ever managed to come home after spending time at school without being sick for the first couple days. Always massive sneezing going on, due to allergies, or something or other, and the whole stuffyhead feeling where you don't want to do anything but sleep. Luckily i'm 2 for 2 on not having to go in for jury duty so far this week.

Caught a couple flicks today, hooray for at least twilight movie prices being cheap. Four fifty is a lot better deal than the 9.25 some places charge for regular adults. First one I saw was Windtalkers which I'll give 5 M's out of 7. Your classic war movie, very comparable to We Were Soldiers cept Nicolas Cage was in the starring role instead of Mel Gibson. I enjoy them both, and the effects of the war scenes were top notch as usual. I think the fact that John Woo directed it helped push it further than the norm. Obviously not a real picker-upper if you know people in the military, but then again this is the 21st century not WW2, the time period the movie was set in.

After that I hopped across the hallway to The Sum of All Fears, the one based on the Clancy novel of the same name. I never really got into Clancy, I've found that you can skip his first fifty pages and his last fifty pages, and not actually miss anything. I've always been more of a Chricton fan. The movie was good though, your classic "oh my gawd here comes the end of the world and one man has the power to stop it" drama. This time its Ben Affleck in the role of Jack Ryan, rather than Harrison Ford as was the case in a few previous Clancy novels turned films. This one was about on par with the rest of them, again 5 Ms out of 7.

While I'm at it, I happened to flip to a couple excellent movies while TV surfing last night, if you've never seen True Lies or Die Hard: With a Vengance then I highly recommend giving them a look-see, both have incredible action scenes, and some great dialogue thrown in between. Whether you're a Willis or Schwareaskdjflaskdfjger fan (not even going to try spelling it), or maybe even a fan of Tom Arnold, I give them both 6 Ms out of 7.

I'd love to get my exercise routine going, but that requires being able to breath through my nose. Gr.

Owwwoooooooooo My Back...

If you recognize the reference above, then I'm going to be really freaked out, because that was my opening line in the musical I last starred in, and that was quite some time ago. :)

Putting together the ol comp is still fun, although it gets prettttttttttty boring after three years of moving it four times a year. Quite gratifying to lie back in the chair having pushed the power button, and soon after hear mp3s booming with everything working perfectly. Speaking of which, Josh Groban is probably someone you've never heard of, or maybe like me just discovered him recently. His new single "Where You Are" off his self titled CD is quite powerful, he's very talented. Also picked up a song from a friend called "I've Never Seen Blue Like That Before," forget who it's by, but its another pretty one.

Also got my Cirque Du Soleil soundtracks to Mystere and O, which are just as entertaining as I thought they'd be. I'm now looking around trying to find cheap DVDs of the show I haven't seen, I've become quite a fan. Apparently my younger brother has got himself a job at Hollywood Video for the summer, during which he can have 3 DVDs out at any one time. I plan to put this to PLENTY of good use, soon as I test out a few new ripping methods that have come out since last summer when I did the 19.99 deal for 30 DVDs in 30 days at Blockbuster, and converted them to DivX. He says their collection is bigger than Blockbuster's, I'll have to investigate.

Checked out Behind Enemy Lines last night, which I'm only gonna be able to give 3 out of 7 M's to. The camera work was quite annoying at times, and the acting was definitely less than impressive. Some neat effects, good action at times, but I was able to quite easily chat and surf the net while watching without really missing anything. This goes against the grain, as I tend to enjoy war type movies. Alas I guess this goes to show even a good concept can be screwed up if they try hard enough.

Think I'm gonna go hit up the theaters tomorrow, couple movies out I'd like to check out. Then comes jury duty for a week, at some point during which I'll probably find out my grades. [gulp]

Home Old Home...

After a retarded three and a half hour drive thanks to Friday rush hour traffic, and an even more retarded four hour packing process, I'm back home.

More later once I've recuperated.

Three Down... Floor.

Well, as expected, the third one kicked my ass. I actually thought I had my shit together for this one, and apparently that just wasn't the case. Basically it focused a lot of time and problems on concepts that he'd acted like weren't important during the last few weeks of class, and spent basically no time on the stuff he'd actually told us to study.

So the theory is he screwed everyone over, and everyone got like a C or a D, so maybe the curve will be huge. I'll need it to be, that's for sure. Not even going to do grade predictions for this quarter, because its such a crap shoot for the most part. It's now just a waiting game, about ten days and I'll figure out whether or not I broke 2.55 in those two classes, whether or not that gives me a 2.7 in my pre major classes, whether or not that allows me into the full major for the fall, and whether or not I'll be able to graduate in four years. If I screwed this class up then it'll be the only thing I can really take next quarter, unless I make it up during summer school, or something. Sigh, let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Sorry, in quite the irritated mood. Going to spend tomorrow carting people and their luggage around for no real reason other than to be nice. I guess I don't have anything better to do, other than sulk.

I'd be asleep right now, if down the hall they weren't screaming at the top of their lungs across to the other building. The great thing for the freshmen about the school year being over is they can basically get away with murder these last few days, and no one really cares. They're having quite the shouting match, referring to their respective moms, girlfriends, and whatever other "hilarious" insults they can come up with. Oh this is good, now someone has some sort of porn playing full blast on their computer. They're like ten doors down with their door closed, as well as mine, and yet I can still hear it clearly. Wonderful. They sure showed them. Alas they seem to have called it quits at least temporarily, time to attempt to sleep. I must say after four years of living with children I'll be quite pleased to be living alone, or at least with people older and more importantly more mature than me.

"It's just one of those daaaaaaaays.... when you wanna be aaaaaaaaaalone... It's just one of those daaaaaaaaays.... when ya gotta be aaaaaaaaalone."

Tomorrow will be better?

Two Down...

One to go. Classics went pretty well, bout the same as the midterm. Not expecting anything horrible grade wise in that class.

Started pondering yesterday about my room setup for next year, furniture wise. The way I've got it now is pretty ideal, space is relatively maximized. The only real possible change would be to... well I guess it won't make sense unless you know what my room looks like now.

It's about 8 feet wide, and 12 feet long (yes, SMALL). I'd have to go with about 8 or 9 feet high. The door is on the small width of the room, on the left side. Immdiately upon entering on the right wall is the closet, facing outward into the room. Its about 2.5 feet deep and 3.5 feet wide, and stretches floor to ceiling. The window is on the back wall, left side, stretching from ceiling to a couple feet off the floor.

Now currently, the furniture setup is as follows. The bed is bunked against the back wall, to a height that puts the mattress within about a foot of the ceiling. It takes up almost the entire width of the room, but there is a large space under it, the supports between the bedframe are on the backside. The desk and dresser are the same height and are lined up on the right wall, streching from the back wall almost to the closet, with the desk on the left side, and the space underneath on the far left of it, so as I sit here I'm right next to the window, able to stare out of it whenever I feel the need. So basically the bed and the desk and dresser if looked on from above make a big L shape when facing downward and towards the door.

If you managed to picture all that I applaud you. So anyway now that you're thoroughly confused, on to what I'm thinking of doing. The only other real possibility is to rotate the bed so that instead of being on the back wall it is on the right wall, above the desk and dresser. This is the way the room was designed to be for the most part, I'd say that setup is used in at least 2/3 of the doubles on campus. For them if they each have their furniture on one wall like that, it maximizes the space in between. Basically by doing this it will free up the space behind me currently occupied by the bed frame, and allow me to move over the small set of shelves I have just to the left of that into that space. In turn that will free up the space the shelves occupied, and thus allow me to move over the beanbag chair (most important piece of furniture to visitors) into that space. This will leave a dcently large gap between it and the door, space enough for more seating, such as a small couch.

This setup would obviously make the room relatively lopsided, with all the furniture on one side of the room. However with my monitor where movies get watched and TV both on this side, when we get more than 3 people in here it tends to be a bit crowded in the current setup, and the new setup would give me seating for 5 or 6, and space in between for a few more if necessary. In other words, party in Matt's room. [wink]

I think my plan is to rotate it around while I'm packing and debunking in the next couple of days, and see what it looks like and whether I like it. Ah, all the thinking involved in keeping the friendlies happy. ;)

Just wait til 7pm tomorrow, I'll be able to relax at last...

One Down...

Two more to go. Kicked some decent butt on the Econ 2 Final, just about positive the final scenario in that class will be somewhere in the B+/A- range.

Going to be sparse posting over the next few days, basically nothing going on other than helping out with major rearranging of people's rooms, debunking beds, etc etc. Oh, and other than that the studying that tends to be involved concurrently with Finals week taking place. The big one is Wednesday, between that and Econ 2 the math says I need to average a 2.55 GPA. Sounds pretty easy, and although a B and C won't do it, my worst case scenario predictions are B+/C at this point. More likely I'll get an A- and somewhere around a B-.

Anyway, basically I need to just do well on the Econ 3B final, and therefore get like a B in that class, and not even have to worry about anything. We'll see how it goes.

Two Hundred Pages...

And counting. I feel sorry for anyone who finds this and starts reading it from the beginning... What a chore.

Tonight we got together as a hall and had our end of year get together down in the formal lounge... Was quite fun, strange seeing everyone in one room, seemed like there were so many more of us than I thought. Our R/A had put together this video from events and random filming throughout the year, and clipped it together into a montage complete with music, sound effects, and slow motion and reverse playing during hilarious parts. Neat reminiscing, seeing how much some of those guys and gals have changed just in the last year, from hairstyles to personalities. I personally think I'm exactly the same. ;)

Turned in my final paper for Black Studies 5 today, so that class is done with. Next up we have Econ 2 Final on Saturday at noon, followed by Classics 40 on Tuesday at 8am (whee) and Econ 3B Wednesday at 4pm. Turns out I'll probably be packing all day Thursday whenever I get around to it then checking out Friday morning somewhere around 11 or noonish. Then alas it is away with me back to the place of my birth.

More and more packages showing up for me at home, that's one plus for going home for the summer. :)

Not That Anyone Cares...

After all this IS the United States, where "futbol" as the rest of the world refers to it as has always taken a back seat to the NBA finals and Stanley Cup, but I have to get out there and give a big ol BOOYAH to the U.S. National Soccer team for taking down european power Portugal in the first round of the FIFA World Cup 3-2. Was quite rewarded for staying up for the match, we scored three goals in the first half and managed to stave them off for the remainder. The whole eight hour time difference concept is going to make it pretty difficult to follow the games, but we'll see what happens. Next up before the wrecking ball are the Koreans, who had never won a World Cup match until this weeks also surprise victory over Poland. If we beat them, we're assured of getting into the 2nd round.

Surprised was me when I wandered down to the vending machines at halftime in a deserted building at 3am to find like thirty people crowded into the rec room watching the big screen. Apparently at least SOME people are aware what the world's most popular sport is. :)

It's Been A Month Already? Lame!

So yesterday I restarted the Herculean task of getting back in shape, made it over to the track for a fast mile and half mile, and sadly was a ways off what I was running even a month ago after running for a couple weeks. That was actually promising though, since apparently I was making progress even though it didn't feel like it. Didn't feel like it had been a month, but since the Vegas trip and my car exploding sort of threw things off, apparently it had been. So I'm having to start over basically, but it feels good to be getting up early again and chowin down on some breakfast at Ortega while watchin CNN headline news finding out what's going on in the world.

Two days down, umpteenquazillion to go. :)

June Already?

Bummer, I hadn't really realized that this is the beginning of dead week, and thus this is my last real free weekend before I go home. Sniffle. Then comes my final summer of freedom before I am locked into a path in the Real World (tm). And what is that path? That question has been looming more and more lately, being asked repeatedly from various different directions.

Frankly, I'm in no more of a hurry to work 8 to 5 behind a desk now than I was when I started here three plus years ago. I just don't see myself being happy in a job where nothing ever really changes. I've gotten plenty of experience with corporate America over the last few summers doing temporary work, and I really haven't enjoyed any of it, or even seen a particular job that I could see myself waking up for on a daily basis.

My options are still entirely open, I'm basically taking everything into consideration. Not sure if I mentioned this before, they're showing a new series on VH1 called Military Diaries I think, in which they sent cameras out to various members of the military in various places around the world, and had them film their experiences. One was an F-18 pilot flying missions over Afghanistan, one was a communications officer on an aircraft carrier in the Arabian sea. Various other people were included as well, from all types of positions in all of the branches, and in other locations such as Kuwait and the Persian Gulf. I found it quite interesting, just people talking to a camera by themselves, telling it like it is, showing the world what its really like, nothing buttered up, nothing hidden. Been finding journals such as this one from a couple members of the Air Force online, which is quite interesting reading. I wish I could find more, so that I could get all the information that's out there as I consider my options.

That's another question that keeps cropping up randomly... "Are you still thinking about that Air Force thing?" is something I've been getting from friends pretty regularly, as if they're waiting for me to pop out of that phase, and say I want to be a character at Disneyland the next day. Well, Disneyland IS the neatest place on Earth I've found so far, and I suppose there's always the possibility of working there in some form or another, even if I'm not wearing a large Goofy head. :)

Basically my plan is to win the Lottery, so money isn't an issue. They say money doesn't buy happiness, but I'm of the opinion money makes it a lot easier to be happy.

My What We're Teaching Our Children These Days...

Installed Grand Theft Auto 3 today, the latest in a series of games seemingly designed to make car thiefs out of the youth of the world. Its quite wrong the way the game rewards you for working for the mob, which consists of "offing" certain individuals, blowing up certain vehicles, or doing the different mob bosses different favors. Even worse is the way you can go careening around the streets of the city, running over people left and right, spinning out cop cars, flipping off overpasses, and basically creating havoc wherever you go.

Sure as hell is fun though. ;)

Turned in basically my last assignment of the year today... Well I lie actually have a paper due Thursday as well as an econ assignment, and oh darn there's a quick paper for that due Tuesday too, but nothing that requries too much actual thinking. Then finals start for me on the 8th, then I have two more, on the 11th and 12th. Not sure what my whole strategy is for packing up and moving home, since my final is Wednesday night I'll probably spend all of Thursday getting everything together, and then pack up the car and leave either Thursday night or Friday morning. Who knows, might stick around until later on Friday if I feel the need, or more likely if I don't feel like debunking my bed and doing all those chore like activities yet. Man will I be glad when I have my own place, somewhere, and don't have to keep packing up my life and moving twice a year (technically four times, given how much I have to take home during Winter break for that month).

Been sending out various checks for things, and while I was at it decided to write a few letters to people, so far though its been like a week and no response from those people that they even got the letters, hmmmm... Maybe I screwed up the address or something. That would be lame. :/

Oh, and the Lakers rule. Well at least they forced a Game 7. So I hope you all are in front of your TVs rootin for them on Sunday night, since they're playing in loser Sacramento. GO LA!

Moooooore Poooooooower

Hm, seem to be falling into an every other day pattern. Need to snap on out of that.

Today I finally received the hard drive space I've been so desperately needing in the form of a new Western Digital hundred gigger, and had the usual fun taking things apart and shifting things around in order to get it installed. My new IDE card allows up to 4 more drives to be installed on top of the original four, so after the hundred gig and a thirteen gig I installed just for the purpose of storing the backups of the other drive I still have two more available slots for future expansion. This brings the grand total of storage space up to 273 gigs. And about 120 of them are free space at the moment, even. Plenty of breathing room for a while, thank goodness. Burning gets old sooooooo fast.

Headed over to my friend's place tonight for some homemade sushi, wasn't exactly restaurant quality, but still very edible. :) This was followed by a lengthy DDR session (no white men can't dance but its funny watching us try...) in which much fun skidding around was had by all. This was followed by a headstand session, in which I discovered that believe it or not, I can actually do one if I try. I always thought it was impossible for me, but apparently my shape has changed such that I have a center of gravity now. Go figure. I then tried valiantly to elevate from a headstand into a handstand, but even with someone holding my feet to keep me steady, I could only get my head like two inches off the ground before collapsing. I'm convinced however that it was because I was tired from all the other stuff we were doing, like one handed pushups, clap pushups, all that fun stuff. They were quite convinced I would never be able to do it, so the gauntlet has been thrown down!

Snagged an extremely good quality dvdrip of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring today, and the DVD doesn't even come out until August, probably the most advance I've ever snagged a movie. So anyone dying to watch it, lemme know... Three hours is an awful long time, I'll probably save a second watching until next year right before the second one comes out.

Ran across a livejournal (similar to a blog) by someone in Singapore tonight, tossed an e-mail out there, we'll see if a response appears. My attempts to randomly meet people from different parts of the world tend to only be successful 50% of the time or so. What can I say, I can't rely on my good looks over an e-mail. HAHA.

Who are You and What did you do With Matt?

Okay I did something wayyyy outside my usual way of doing things tonight... I actually ORDERED an audio cd.

That's right, paid for it, fair and square, out of my very own account.

Why the reason for this madness? Well, it suddenly occurred to me as I was thinking today, that since the Cirque Du Soleil shows I saw in Las Vegas have left such a lasting impression on me, that part of that was because of the music, and that I could easily snag a copy of that music for myself in order to relive the show whenever I please. Soundtracks are basically the only audio CDs I've ever bought, largely because they're the one type of CD with which I tend to enjoy ALL of the music. CDs put out by most artists or bands tend to have a couple good songs, and a lot of space fillers (in my opinion anyway). Rare is the CD where I like everything, but when it comes to musical soundtracks or instrumental pieces such as those found on the CDs I bought, that tends to be the case. Nothing like a good piece of instrumental music when you're studying, writing a paper, doing homework, or just basically sitting around thinking about things.

So yeah, instead of trying to download all the individual mp3s to both soundtracks, I just went ahead and ordered them, one for 15.97 after shipping at Amazon, another from a reseller on eBay for 13.99 after shipping. Not too bad, I doubt I would have been able to find them in stores, especially the Live version of the Mystere soundtrack, and this way I don't have to move! ;) The guy I bought from on eBay had like 4,000 positive feedback and only 6 negative, no idea how that can happen, usually like 1% at least have to be negative due to idiots who retract their bids because they don't want to buy it anymore and then leave a negative feedback for the seller as if it was their fault. They also had like 500 auctions in progress, quite impressive. So in a few days I should be chillin to both soundtracks quite happily.

Ah yes, and I did end up at Six Flags again yesterday... Had the usual blast, even though lines were probably the biggest I've seen, due to Memorial Day crowds. We got there a bit later than planned and into the park even later unfortunately. Post 9/11 security has been stepped up everywhere, including amusement parks. The parking toll booth, ticket window, metal detector, and finally the gate lines were all pretty long, and we had waited probably an hour in lines before actually getting into the park. By the time we got over to X the newest ride it was already a four hour wait. We discovered later it was because they were only running one train the entire day, meaning that the train would go through the ride, stop, be unloaded, move forward, be loaded, and go through the ride again. The whole process took about 5 minutes per cycle at least, and given the train only holds 28 people, when you have several hundred people in line, you're talking about a REALLY long wait. We heard from others throughout the day that they had waited SIX hours even though they'd gotten in line at about noon. Unbelievable, that's like half the day gone just for one ride. We decided to skip it and ended up using a pretty good strategy that allowed us to get on basically all of the big roller coasters. This was a good thing, since the person I was with hadn't been on any of them. She tried to talk me out of Freefall, but other than that was pretty good about not chickening out of things, other than being a bit reluctant at times. We had a blast, and even took home some stuffed animals from the carnival games. I tried to win a Gameboy Advance at the basketball one, which requires you to make three shots in a row from about a free throw distance. Nothing but net on the first one, but slightly off to the right on the second due to rushing it, and after getting flustered missed the third in about the same spot. Alas, I could have won a scooby doo flower covered basketball for making two. Darn.

Set a new personal record for amount of time waited in one line for one ride at an amusement park... We got in line for X right as the park closed, using the strategy where you wait on the park's time rather than your own since they only close off the end of the lines at closing time and guarantee everyone in the line will get on the ride eventually. It was at about the same spot it was the last time I came, so I was thinking about an hour and forty five minute wait. Then we found out they were still only running one train. So, three hours and thirty minutes later, we walked out of the ride in agreement that it's the most fun ride in the park. It was pretty friggin cold while we were waiting later on and especially going up the lift hill, and the adrenaline had me shaking pretty much uncontrollably. The lame part was I kept getting cramps in my thighs and the seating has you basically halfway spreadeagled so you can't really straighten your legs. This made it possible to un tighten them, and the fact I closed the butterfly harness down one too many clicks making it nearly impossible to breath didn't help things either. Hands were up the whole time though, and its still an experience I'd love to have on a regular basis.

Every time I think about awesome experiences though, my mind drifts back to Vegas, and the incredible amount I had there. I know its not my last trip, but man is it a wonderful place. I guess its sort of an old-people's Disneyland. Not that I've grown out of Disneyland, I'll see you there on New Years, as usual. ;)

Putt Putt Putt...

No news is good news as they say... Blogging material has been lacking in general lately... :/

Headed down to Ventura yesterday to play some minigolf for my friend's birthday... I always did enjoy playing golf, from minigolf to a little pitch and putt course by my house, and there's nothing like a driving range to relieve stress. Never did play on a "real" course though, I'd probably suck. Last night though I was the self proclaimed winner, not that anyone else was keeping score. Afterwards we were hanging out in the arcade and I found some old school games I hadn't seen in FOREVER. Among these was Tempest, a computer game I used to devote HOURS to, as well as Missle Command, and this huge X-Men machine that allowed for SIX players to play at once. A lot of arcades these days are spending too much on huge dollar or five dollar machines instead of bringing back the popular ones from the past, but I guess its kind of pathetic if you get nostalgic about a video game. :)

For the computer its even worse, just mentioning the words Doom II brings a tear to my eye... Luckily the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) that is held yearly in LA debuted a new movie previewing Doom III, to be released next year I believe. Had me drooling, for sure.

Been taking advantage of the fact just about everyone is getting out of school, and therefore spending the last week or two abusing their .edu connection as much as possible, by turning off upload caps and basically letting anyone leech whatever they want. I set a new personal record for downloading by snagging all thirteen seasons of The Simpsons episodes (totalling 275+), a series I've mostly missed out on over the years. My, isn't this summer going to be busy.

Hate to blog and run, but alas it's time for yet another trip over to Six Flags, everyone's favorite place to scream. This time should be even more fun, going with someone from Hawaii who's never been on a "real" roller coaster. Muhahahah she's in for it...

Left vs Right

I am so Left brained its pathetic. Here I am with the world's simplest essay of all time, to basically make up a description of how the universe was created. Just describe where human's came from, who was in charge of creation if anyone, and make up some whack story of how things came to be the way they are. Yet I've been staring at this blank page for like an hour.

Creative juices never really flow through me. They don't really flow at all. When it comes to making something up from scratch, improv, randomness, this kind of thing, I just suck. Unfortunately neither of my siblings are available at this late hour, because I'm sure both of them could instantly go rambling off for pages about something of this sort. I even IM'd some friends who had no trouble, the funniest of which involved "toilet goblins." I have some funny friends.

I consider it to be one of my faults, the fact that I basically suck at being creative. I occasionally dabble in creating levels and mapping for various first person shooter computer games, and when it comes to coming up with an original idea, I just hit a dry well every time. I can recreate someone else's idea from another level or game perfectly, I can take an idea someone has begun with and develop it and take it to a whole other level, but I just can't start anything myself.

I suppose if someone said to me that I could be creative if I was willing to give up something else I was good at, I'd probably be unwilling to make the trade. Unless they said something like wiggling my ears. Yes, I'm a world class ear wiggler. Stop giggling, damnit. :/

One Door Closes, Another Door Opens?

Just got off the phone, and it was a bit stuffy in here, so I pulled back the curtain to reveal more of the open window and allow some breeze in. There framed in the upper portion was the moon, the only visible light in the sky tonight. It's not full or anything, but strangely directly in the center of my window, which is weird given I barely ever even see it when looking out my window at night.

About an hour ago I had a typical pointless conversation with my most recent ex, which covered just about everything, and as usual was a clash of ideologies. It ended abruptly as usual, the same way someone would walk out and slam the door if it was a face to face meeting. I stared at the ceiling for a while afterwards, actually more towards my new dolphin poster that's quite a peaceful thing to stare at. I've finally come to the conclusion tonight that I've been putting all this energy into maintaining a friendship that just isn't maintainable. It occurs to me that when it comes to people around here who have taken the path that she has and done the types of things that she does who I'm friends with, we tend to just drift apart, stop hanging out, basically not associate with each other, other than the random hi how are you's in the hallways. This is the normal path between friends who end up becoming totally different people, with totally different beliefs and ideologies. For some reason I've been blind to the fact that this is what has been going on between her and I. Based on the good times we shared together before she changed dramatically, and all the times I'd confided in her and trusted her, I felt like a friendship could be based on those things, on the past. This just isn't the case. The other main problem is that I've yet to replace her with someone, in every sense of the word. I don't have any really close friends who know anything and everything about me here, since I'm surrounded mostly with kids about a gazillion maturity levels below me, at different times in their lives. They just got here, they're all about having fun, don't think twice about the future, or anything else.

Unfortunately due to this living circumstance I'm not exposed to very many people who are at the same stage in their life as I am. She and I used to be in the same place, but now it seems like I've moved on, whereas she feels she can be happy right where she is. Some of the things she does these days, and the way that she rationalizes them, just totally clashes with my ideas of what people should and should not do. Everyone has a right to live their life the way that they choose, but just as they say birds of a feather flock together, we've joined different flocks. I think if I'd found someone since then to fill that void as "best friend" and someone who knows all about me and is always there, I'd have grown apart from her much faster. I've just been in a rut, and the months have turned to years.

I guess it's time to stop being belligerent, and open my eyes to the fact that we're not best friends anymore. We're different people living different lives, and that's not going to change in the near future. It's just really sad. It's like the girl I knew died tonight, officially.

Then there's the future. That doorway is now open even more than ever for someone to pop in and say hello. Who knows whether in the short time I have left here that will happen. I guess there isn't really any hurry. Next year I'll be pretty focused on the whole graduation concept, and then following that will either come a stint in the military where having dependents wouldn't be ideal anyway or a stint trying to get a job and get on my feet independently. Either way I guess there's plenty of time to fill the space. Just feels lonely in here tonight, more than any other. But if there wasn't loneliness, would we ever appreciate friendship?

Go Yoda Go Yoda Go!

For those who haven't seen Episode II: Attack of the Clones stop lollygaggin around and get to it! You've had like a week to claim everyone who has seen it is a geek, was born a Wookie, and runs around with plastic light sabers all day, now it's time to swallow your pride and go witness the spectacle for yourself. Gonna go with 6 M's out of 7 for this one, largely because of the atmosphere I saw it in. Nothing like seeing the 12:01am showing of a Star Wars movie, with all the kooky lookies and whackos that have been standing in the cold for like 3 days waiting in line. Wish I had a decibel meter or something during the beginning of the movie, I know my hearing will never be the same. There were like six previews, all of which were met with a resounding chorus of boos, until finally up popped the 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilms symbols, which brought out loud cheers. Then there was a whole lot of shhhhhhing as the famous in a galaxy far far away line faded into the screen, until the theater was utterly silent. This all changed seconds later when the orchestra slammed into that initial note, and the Star Wars logo appeared gigantic and dead center. I couldn't even hear the rest of the song, as the standing ovation and thunderous applause drowned it out. The movie itself was quite entertaining, some very cool scenes that all little boys would like, from the CGI to the saber battles, all exciting. The part many Star Wars fans had been waiting for for about twenty years now came later, but I won't ruin it for those who have been under a rock for a week and haven't seen it yet.

Ended up paying for the fun, I unfortunately had to drive to Camarillo to see the movie because the Arlington theater here was sold out, and on the way back my car basically exploded. Well, not exactly a ball of fire or anything, but it ended up being its final hurrah. Hung out in a Jack in the Box parking lot after managing to coast there from the fast lane on the freeway mostly thanks to the downhill offramp and the lack of traffic at 3 in the morning... Eventually around 4 after getting lost the tow truck showed up, and carted me over to a repair place that didn't open til 8, so I got to sit around in the car for four hours, weeee.

To make a long story short, if anyone wants a basically thrashed 86 Celica, I recommend going to 51-57 Victoria Avenue in Ventura, its sitting in the parking lot. Basically stripped it of everything useful, from the license plate "Fourth Generation Californian" thingy to my registration sticker. I stopped short of taking the spare tire, although my family might go pick it up at some point.

So, after getting a ride back to school with a wonderful fabulous friend who was nice enough to come get me in Ventura, and then a ride home to LA with another wonderful fabulous friend (well she was headed that way anyway, but still gets brownie points ;) ) I picked up the family's old minivan, which I'll be carting myself around in until probably the end of the school year at least. So beware of Mad Matt's in Minivans, coming to a street (or sidewalk) near you. I've only run over like eight curbs in the first few days, and parked diagonally a few times, other than that I'm all over it.