Hm, Site Busted?

Can't seem to access my site through the web, but I can still post to it through Blogger. Strange.

Yeah not much happening around here, been actually studying some, working out some more, sticking to everything as I should be.

Sore All Over...

Found a new training regiment online, and began it yesterday. It's actually based off of what Navy SEALs do to prepare for their training. It's eighteen weeks long, but the last nine become pretty ridiculously difficult, so I'll probably just use the first nine. Basically each week adds on more sets or reps of pushups and situps, along with eventually adding more distance to the running and length of time to the swimming. By the end of nine weeks I should have no problem whatsoever with the minimums for the pushups and situps, and might even be able to get closer to maxing those categories. Maxing the 1.5 mile requires something like a 7:30, and I wasn't even able to run that in high school, so I'm definitely not expecting that. Ten minutes flat would be a nice long term goal, although the requirement is only twelve.

Monday night at Chumash brought home happy faces yet again... To make a long story short regarding my participation in the tournament, I was basically as sure a thing as you can get, having 20 against a dealer 10 and being all in, with the only other competitive person having over half her chips in with 15. Had she hit and busted, I would have won. Had she stayed and the dealer beat her (he had 17) I would have won. Had she hit and the dealer still beat her, I would have won. As it turned out, she doubled down on 15. Basically her only chance, and it required a miracle. She got a 6, and won the table, sending me packing. All was not lost however, my friend who had never made it to the final table before finally did, and took a respectable 3rd, pocketing $300. His girlfriend also did well on the night, getting a nice four of a kind on a machine, and then later they both got flushes at Let It Ride. I was up and down a bit overall, occasionally going on winning streaks, but nothing to write home about. Eventually I left up a whopping $10, with the other two up a combined $390. The fourth in our party was the lone downer, but even that number wasn't significant. So great fun in the car on the way home was had by all, as well as a simply hilarious dinner conversation involving a lot of straw wrapper launching at each other. Always nice to be back in 5th grade again. :)

They seem to have mumblings about road tripping for Spring Break and needed a location, I mentioned Yellowstone and they seemed jazzed, we'll have to see how that ends up working out.

Now I must go study for the midterm I have in a few hours. Yes of course there is a method to my madness.

AYYYYYYYYAHHHHHHHHHH!

Okay that isn't anywhere close, but I was trying to get a sound that was at least as loud as the Tarzan yell. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhayayahhhhhhhhhhh is probably closer but that looks like laughter. Anyway you get the idea. Went on a very awesome hike today up on the Red Rock trail off of Paradise Road on the other side of the mountains, and had loads of fun. Unfortunately I wasn't exactly informed as to what type of trail it was, so I went in my usual jeans and comfortable air max's. Turns out that balance was the name of the game, as at least 1/3 of the trail involved scrambling or bouncing between rocks. This was largely because you ended up crossing the river the trail ran along countless times along the way. The trail eventually leads to various swimming holes, and this especially cool rope swing thing thtat zips you way out over an especially deep one. Had I been wearing a bathing suit I would have been in heaven. As it was, due to the recent rainfall, one of the river crossings ended up much deeper than it looked. Like, much deeper, with no alternate route to be found after searching around nearby. So initially rolling the jeans up to the thigh is working out along with carrying both my shoes and socks, then both large rocks I'm standing on about halfway across give way, and given I'm barefoot and all the other rocks are as slippery as they come, after a gallant stumbling and balancing act I manage to stay mostly upright, and immediately learn that Nike's float when you drop them in rivers. After one more slightly less traumatic skidding session I make it to the other side, with my jeans soaked from the thigh down, and a big toe bleeding slightly. Man was it fun though.

For future reference, after rainfall, this could be an even more fun hike. I recommend a bathing suit first of all. Second of all I recommend socks and shoes for the majority of the hike, but also sandals for the treks through the water, goes much easier through the sharp stuff. A backpack obviously helps for carrying everyone's extra equipment. Also don't forget your camera, as we got some really nice shots of each of us slinging ourselves out over the lake on the rope swing and posing as if we were about to fly off. There were some close shaves, but nothing to write home about. The whole excursion reminded me of a trip my family and I made to Dinkey Creek, which was so long ago I don't even have any recollection of where it is. The water up here though was actually a decent temperature though. Not exactly Reccen heated pool, but far from freezing ocean as well. I'm sure I'll be making a return trek at some point.

We also have a movie review tonight, as I managed to get in two social events in a single day, amazing as it sounds. The Recruit walks away with 4.5 M's. This was actually a very entertaining movie, but it gets kept out of the 5 star range due to predictability. There were some twists, but the entire ending is somewhat obvious as it progresses. Huge bonus points though for making me laugh out loud at various random occasions, including the line "metaphysically wrinkle-free." You really had to be there. Huge negative tick marks however counterbalance the previous, due to a chase scene that involved a VW Bug and a pickup truck. I mean, cmon. Not exactly Bond, James Bond. Didn't check the indiglo once though, probably because this fell into the less than two hour category rather than the ever increasingly popular over two and a half hour category. Not a diehard Pacino fan, prefer De Niro myself, but Farrell performed well. Oh, and the female lead wasn't blond. All in all some pros and some cons, and I've heard mixed reviews from other people. I really don't think I could ever take a job where you can't trust anyone. I think I could easily handle working with classified information and not being able to tell anyone, but not being able to trust the people you work with, or even loved ones, because they might be bad guys, is just kind of hard to fathom. Although now that I think about it, if anyone is working for the KGB, it's my brother. He's got that "pretend to be stupid" thing down pat.

Wow longest movie review in a while. Must be in a talking mood.

Merry Being Single Awareness Day....

Another big V-Day, another lonely night. It's actually not causing the usual case of felling sorry for myself this year, only because I'm aware that if I did have someone special currently, I'd soon be saying good bye to them for quite a lengthy period of time. Some would argue it's better to have the goods and deal with the bads, but for now I'm satisfied with hanging out in mediocrity.

Ran for quite a decent amount of time today, and then amazed even myself by actually going out and getting a watch. My previous one had slowly been disentegrating over the past weeks, so I went out and snagged a similar version but a newer model. Quite spiff, trimmed in navy blue, will match my uniform quite well. ;) Hm, just noticed it's trying to tell me it's Sunday, forgot to set the day. Whatadork.

So, a three day weekend and nowhere to go. Anyone want a random visitor? Just toss up an invite! Hm then again I might just show up somewhere. I've been known to do such things.

A Couple Days Later, Reflection.

So a few days have passed, and the pure euphoric feeling has lessened at least enough that I can start blogging again. It has been a pretty amazing couple of days. After getting off the phone with the computer and writing that first blog, I immediately called all my immediate family members to let them know. I'm pretty sure they were glad I finally found out one way or another, as they were getting pretty bored of hearing me whine. As I'm sure everyone was. It's a feeling of relief like no other.

Throughout the last couple days I've been sharing the news with everyone who would listen, although most didn't actually know what OTS was, or how long I'd been making myself crazy over the wait. It's actually quite interesting, I keep hearing about people I know of my parent's generation who actually attempted to join the Air Force as a pilot or navigator or so forth, and were "shot down" due to medical problems, eyesight deficiencies, and various other disqualifying aspects. I consider myself very lucky that I've managed to fit the mold they're looking for, and am going to have the opportunity to have the job that a whole lot of people would die to do.

Many people have asked "so what happens now" so I'll briefly outline the future. Potential graduation (hey I don't take anything as a sure thing but it would require great negative effort on my part for this not to happen) is on June 15th. After I complete a bit more red tape, about a month or so down the road I should get a class letter stating when I go to OTS. By all predictions my class should be the one named 03-08, the last of the military fiscal year 03, which starts July 1. This means somewhere a couple days before that date I'll be packing up my new car (which will have been purchased shortly prior) and driving out to Montgomery, Alabama for the 10 weeks of OTS training. Gradutation from OTS is scheduled for September 19th, although there are some different activities involving the bar pinning ceremony and whatnot the day before. Upon successful graduation there is a lull between that and the start of my JSUNT class as they call it, which is Joint Specialized Undergraduate Navigator Training. If I get the track I'm shooting for, I'll be heading to train for Fighters in Pensacola, Florida. Pensacola is actually in the panhandle of Florida, so it's almost due South from Montgomery, not exactly Miami or anything, but I can live. After the different phases of training there, which take a little over a year total, I'll receive my wings and head off to wherever I'm ordered, my first actual AFB and missions and so forth. I saw on a sheet somewhere that the three bases that focus on F-15's are in North Carolina, Idaho, and Alaska. For all I know that sheet was way out of date though, but I can't say I'm really going to mind living anywhere. No matter where you go you'll be surrounded with people in similar situations to yourself, and obviously people living the same lifestyle, so making friends and meeting people shouldn't be too difficult.

So in a nutshell, that's the plan. Graduate at 22, graduate OTS later that year, receive my wings at 23, start serving my 8 year required period, reach the decision point at 31, either head out into the civilian world or as case may be, continue on in the military, potentially retiring after 20 years at age 43, and pocket half my salary for the rest of my life, possibly while even getting a second paycheck somewhere else. Or I could even stay in longer and pocket all the bonuses you get for agreeing to add years. Who knows. I don't pretend to know what I'm going to do in 20 years. :)

For now, I'll just stay focused on the goal. Had a good run this morning, it managed to basically stop raining completely for the period I was out. Had a quick breakfast and bolted off to class, which was of course upwind from my dorm, and with 30mph gusts that was pretty interesting. Got there just in time to see a bunch of people coming out, as someone had noticed a sign on the door saying class was cancelled today and Friday. Funny how he didn't know to tell us on Monday, yet was able to figure it out in time to post the sign so that we could see it after sloshing through the rain at 8am. No worries for me though, it's good to be up early regularly.

I should have much more to talk about from now on, now that I'm not sitting here staring at the clock and the phone intermittently.

The Wait Is Over.

The young man sits in his dorm room, multitasking as usual. Well not really multitasking, more like entertaining himself in multiple ways at the same time. The TV is on in the background, music videos and headline news occasionally filter through his head. Outside students shuffle past, late for midterms, late for class, late for breakfast. Winamp shuffles to the next song. The familiar guitar riff of the Top Gun Anthem plays. Meanwhile, the young man is engrossed in Soldier of Fortune 2, a game he's beaten before, and will beat again. Harder skill level this time, more challenging. Gunshots fill the air, machinegun fire alternates with the cries of enemies. It's a true cornucopia of sound eminating from his room.

Suddenly, the young man becomes aware of a different, much more important sound. The motions he goes through next are like clockwork. Take off headset. Mute speakers. Pick up remote. Mute television. Wait for second ring, make sure first wasn't a hallucination. Pick up phone. Is it the father, checking up on him again? Is it the mother, curious as to how he's holding up? Is it a friend, wanting to know if the news has come?

"Hello?"

"May I speak to Matt?"

"That's me."

"Is this Matthew Perry Wilson, Officer Trainee, future Second Lieutenant of the United States Air Force?"

"Yes. Yes it is."

The results are in, and so am I. You heard it here, first. Now to make some phone calls. :)

Zero, Except Not.

Sigh, the world continues to rotate, and yet my world continues to have a looming unanswered question.

The good news is people across the U.S. are finding out their fate left and right. Therefore my turn should be soon, probably Monday. Even if I don't receive a phone call, the list of names should be up on the internet. Either way, the end is coming. The end of the wait, that is.

Stay positive. Try to think positive.

One.

Theoretically, tomorrow is the day.

Will the news come on time? It remains to be seen.

Three.

Well, at least the traditional Monday night Chumash excursion was a great distraction from what's going on.

This time headed up with a couple of the usuals, with plans for a fourth to meet us there later on sometime during or after the tournament. Started off slow, then things started moving, and ended up somewhere around $120 up entering the tournament. The three of us made sure to get different tables, but we were all at the same time, so we were able to sort of eye each other stacks during the round. By some miracle of luck, ALL of us ended up winning our table in the first round and moving on. This is especially strange given we all use completely different betting strategies, with me being the never changes his bet pansy until the final hand or two, one of them being the risks at least half of it every chance he gets, and the other being somewhere in between. Our table was late starting, so I ended up finding out they'd both won during our final hand, which took a great deal of time. With three of us left, the dealer button was at seat 1, with me being in the ideal position of furthest away. He had the most chips leading me slightly, but took a great deal of time trying to decide what to do. General strategy in my books says he should leave out my exact chip count, and bet the rest, forcing me to bet at least the minimum, and causing him to win if we both lose, which odds say is the most common outcome. He would also win if I lose and he doesn't, and between those two possibilities that's over 50% of the possible hands. For some bizarre reason after thinking about it for a good 5 minutes and with a crowd gathering around, he decides to go all in. This forces an all in bet from the middle seat, although he has less chips so is hoping for a blackjack or a situation where he wins and we don't. Being in the ideal position of betting last, I go all in other than the minimum chip amount. Therefore if everyone loses, I win. The hands dealt were all going to require hits, but the perfect ending ended up occuring, with the dealer getting blackjack and beating everyone. I've never been that ecstatic to see the dealer get blackjack before. So with a whopping single green chip of the smallest quantity, I advance from the table of seven to the semifinals, and everyone else goes home.

In the semis the table has five people, and they take two from it to go to the finals. I was quite worried towards the start, as we had someone go all in on the first hand and win. The bizarreness of it came as he went all in AGAIN on the second hand. Yet he still won. We figured he'd immediately lower his bet to the minimum and sit on his huge lead in first place for the remainder, but he went all in a third time. He pushed, still alive. At this point, anyone in their right mind would have gone to the minimum bet. He didn't, he lost, he was done. Suddenly there were only four of us, only a couple minutes into the shoe. On the fourth hand one of the players decided to go after the guy who was leading I guess, and bet half his money, and lost. He bet the other half on the next hand, and lost that too. Wham, there are three players left with at least 3/4 of the cards remaining. Unfortunately we were all using similar strategies involving very small bets. It was quite uneventful throughout the round, with the last hand eventually coming up. As luck would have it again, I would bet last. We all had around 1k in chips, the button decides to bet all but 500. Rationally, the player next to me bets all but 525. Also rationally, I bet all but 550. Unfortunately, as the cards came out, my position became very much in danger. Cheering for everyone (or at least both of them) to lose, I had a 15 versus their 20 and 21, with the dealer's 10 showing. Although the odds say hit, I was forced to stay, because a bust by me combined with a dealer bust would spell certain death. Although I'd been in the better position during the betting, I was now relying on the dealer . Normal thinking suggests a dealer 10 will give him 20 underneath. Unfortunately for me, that would cause me to lose. Unfortunately still, given I'd left the most out to hope for a loss by everyone, if the dealer busted I would still lose. My only hope was that the dealer would make, and beat at least 1 of them. Given one player had 21 and the other 20, this required a dealer 21. Bottom card flipped up, it's a 4. Dealer with 14, odds of him busting just skyrocketed, I'm in trouble. Here comes the hit, it's a 7. Simple math gives you 21, one player pushes, the other two of us lose, with me beating him in chip count 550 to 500 (not real money by the way). I come in second, and I'm now into the final round, where everyone wins money. During the hand however, even more shocking news came through. BOTH of my friends had also come in second at their tables, and were going to the finals. With only eight players in the final table, and a $2000 pot to be divied up between them, things were looking awesome.

Heh, I'll never go into this much detail again because if you don't know blackjack I'm sure it's pretty boring, but this happened to me quite the irregular tournament. So a short time later we're all at the final table, with our fourth finally showing up to watch the remaining festivities. It appears the pansy betting strategy was working that night, because in the final table that's really all you saw. There's also the fact that you're not really playing for first as much as playing to beat as many people as possible. People going out early is a godsend. Unfortunately only one person was that stupid, leaving seven of us going into the final hand. I was fourth to bet, losing my ideal position of the previous rounds. One of my friends had been losing consistently and ended up with only 300 at the end, which betting second he put all in. The chip leader bet just before me, putting in the minimum. The first bet had already kept out 1k, which was my exact chip amount. Knowing I couldn't overcut him, and the only way I was going to beat the chip leader was putting in just about everything, I decided to leave out the minimum of 25 and put the rest in. This in effect put me above my friend in the odds race, with three betters to come. Expectedly, one left out 75, and the next (my other friend) left out 500, putting 300 on the table. Can't remember what the last better did, she ended up not being important in the grand scheme of things. I end up with 15 versus a dealer 10 again, sad as it was. I hit, and manage an 18. A few people end up busting, leaving them with little or no chips. My friend snags a 21 (although not a blackjack) likely putting her chip total to about 1200. The chip leader already has about 1400 though and with a minimum bet isn't going anywhere. I personally had 975 on the table, a victory would take me to 1950 and the championship. A dealer 20, again, would kill me and put me way down in the rankings with merely 25 in chips left. Dealer flips the down card. It's an 8. We push. In a way this was good, I keep my 1000 in chips which pushed me far ahead of some people. In a way it was sad, a dealer bust or a 17 and I win the whole shebang. As it turns out, I take 4th. $250 more comes in a large tray of chips, the real kind this time. The friend of mine who only had 300 going into the final hand had busted, putting him, in last of the 7 remaining giving him 7th place and $100. My other friend though with the nice 21 at the end bounced all the way up into 2nd, taking a cool $400, not too far off the $500 prize for the table winner. So all in all, the three of us taking 2nd, 4th, and 7th, pocketed $750 of the available $2000 at the final table. Not bad, not bad at all. I spent quite a while telling the "big fish" story about how close I was to winning the top prize, but all in all I'd have to say I played well. I managed to get to the final round, and had a decent shot at winning in the last hand. As long as I have at least a shot at the $500, I can't complain. Not that $250 is a horrible deal either. Especially when you tack on the $50 from winning the initial table. That put me all the way up to $375 up on the night, with us as a group being up over $1000 thanks to the 7th place finisher's healthy machine play from earlier.

Following the tournament, we were all on a pretty huge high, with the fourth member of our group being the only slightly depressed one in that he missed out on the bank. We played just about everything for a while, all the stuff that you never get to play because the odds are poor but is fun, and can still pay thousands if you "hit the big one." We did mediocre here and there, even played a decent dose of Let It Ride, the one that gives you the possibility of $15,000 on any given $5 hand. Eventually the time grew later, our lungs gave us the signal, and we made our escape. Two of us finished up $300 and $400 respectively, which happened to be our takings in the tournament. The third who was up somewhere in the $400 or $500 range earlier, ended up with a mere $180, due to a largely unprofitable spree of playing high stakes machines during the remaining hour or two we were there. As he always says though, "you have to bet big to win big." And that "any one of those 20's" could have become hundreds or even thousands of dollars. I personally am generally satisfied with my blackjack winnings, and keep machines to a minimum during each trip, knowing that is how they build multibillion dollar hotels.

So, it was my 2nd most profitable trip ever, behind a fluke trip two years ago when I managed a $625 jackpot on one machine and then managed to win a whole lot more too, and left a whopping $760 up. Final tally from last night, three Benjamins. These soon joined the two I'd won in mid January, which puts me at a tally of up $500 in 2003 after four trips, having never left down. This is where everyone can now say "well, you're due then." Hey, they said that tonight too. Frankly though, given I don't throw around money like a jackass, I'll never lose as much as I win on big nights. It would take a gigantic losing streak of trips consistently for me to even approach losing that much money. So let that assuage your fears. I know what I'm doing, really. :) Even if I do end up losing the next time we go, I still have a blast every time I go, from the trip up through the mountains with my buds who I basically never see because they live downtown, to the chatting with the dealers, to the feeling you get every time you get a blackjack (only 11 last night by the way, the 22 from the previous week will probably stand for a long time), to the euphoric feeling of doing well in the tournament. Out of 140 players, I took fourth, with all three of us finishing in the top seven. That just rocks. Benjamins for everybody. Want to be a part of the $880 bank the group as a whole took home? Gimme a call next Monday ;)

In other news back in the doldrums of everyday life, still no news, and the rumors of there being a delay and the results not actually appearing on Friday are starting to show up. I've yet to see any forum postings by someone with actual connections say that though, and the people who call their recruiters are getting a "call back on Friday" response, so we shall see.

Five.

Wow. This is the most boring blog ever. In other news, there's still no news. Luckily my friend decided to come keep me entertained for the weekend, so it's not as bad as it could be.

Seriously though, soon as I do something interesting you'll hear about it.

Seven.

Days. And that's all I have to say about that.

Not going snowboarding this Saturday after all as it got delayed (the weather wasn't all that hot anyway), so I'll be around.

Black and Silver, Oh How You've Failed Me.

Luckily I didn't have any major bets riding on this years game. Would have been even more painful. Was happy to see they made it interesting at least, when it was a whole lot to 3 early in the second half I was having to entertain myself with the food. Commercials are still lacking from their glory years of the 90s, although there were a few highlights. My personal favorite was the brawl over the last slice of pizza, with the football player clotheslining office workers a close second. Honorable mention goes to the "zebra" ad, although only about a third of the people in the room actually got the joke. Limited target audience to those who watch a lot of football I guess. Quite a creative spot though. Soft drinks really need to get back into things, the Pepsi ads of old were some of my favorites.

New record at Chumash this week, with twenty two Blackjacks in a single trip. Strangely enough I only ended up above even by a couple bucks by the end of the night. That does mean I'm continuing the streak of not ever losing money though. It was relatively uneventful on the monetary side of things, I never was up more down more than about $80, and spent the majority of the night around even. I'm actually having almost as fun just on the way there and back with people, and chattin it up at the tables, as I am playing the actual games. If only it wasn't for the smell of smoke. As a group we were up, so all in all good times were had between pigging out during the big game and flinging money around afterwards.

What else to talk about. Oh that's right. Ten days.

Hard to Blog...

When your life is sort of hanging in the balance. Twelve days now.

I did receive some comic relief from a friend as she tried to guess my e-mail address.

"Is it BigDorkWithBadHair@hotmail.com?"

I pretended to be offended and hurt, until I couldn't help laughing out loud. I have funny friends.

More when there's more.

Doesn't It Feel Good?

Just returned from the Reccen after a vigorous game of racquetball, which was actually even more fun than usual. I randomly IM'd a friend having just gotten home from an IM game (more on that later) and she spontaneously said sure, which is always the coolest thing ever. We actually ended up playing doubles due to a lack of courts, she managed to get us a game with her ex-boyfriend and one of his roommates I guess, who were both pretty good. Ended up playing two and a half games, with us taking the first and them taking the second and leading the third. I had more unforced errors than usual, but had a few incredble shots (modesty shines through) that involved diving horizontally body outstretched or skidding around doing my best to remove some skin. No major incidents though, other than her clocking her ex boyfriend at one point. Not sure whether there was motivation there or what, there was an instant claim of it being an accident. :) Hopefully will be able to get over there more often, it's a great way to work out.

Prior to that I managed to make it over to the Intramural Co-ed Basketball game in the THUNDERDome, which I'd never actually been in. Sad I know, I really need to go watch a real game or something one of these nights when I'm bored. We ended up getting trounced 64-16, but it was still quite fun. I hadn't touched a basketball in a few years outside of a pickup game in Death Valley with my family, so I had my share of ugly looking shots. I need snag plenty of rebounds though, and managed to reject one of the opposing guys quite handily, so I was pleased. It's helping me get to know some of the people in my building I never actually see much of, so that works. Telling myself that next quarter I'm going to play multiple sports, even if I just have to go to the managers meeting and look for teams that are short people. What better way to meet new folks I guess. I'd forgotten who cool athletic people of the opposite gender are. Some of the girls we played against were pretty amazing, just sprintin up and down the court continuously while the rest of us slogged around and participating in the great strategy of cherry picking. Wonder where that phrase came from, I started using it in elementary school or so. Hm. But yeah, seeing people who are in good shape was refreshing, reminded me of hanging out with the girl's sports teams in high school like cross country, soccer, and track. When you're friends with active people, you become active yourself, and that's always a good thing. It's one thing to go to the rec cen a few times a week along with all the other people who see something wrong with their body, but girls who are actually into PLAYING sports, now that's neat. I do admire those who understand what's going on during the Super Bowl without lengthy explanations, but to actually get out there and knock people flat themselves, that's a step above.

I've actually been much more proactive lately with meeting people, which is quite good. At the Neighborhood Council meeting last night I was chatting it up with someone I'd never really talked to before, she's quite the cheerful gung-ho type. Last night turned out to be lengthier than expected, as I left for a Carrows run around midnight, and didn't actually return until 2pm today. Yeah I did sleep somewhere in there at least for a while. I just like being able to help out friends when they need someone to be there. I know how much I appreciate the same. It's really great to have close friends who you can be utterly comfortable with, who will always play a part in your life.

Think I've blabbed enough this evening.

Another Good Monday...

Well since I felt bad about getting my friend injured in the racquetball game the other day, I decided to entertain him by inviting him on another Chumash trip since he can't do much else other than sit at a Blackjack table. Lame enough excuse for ya? I thought so. Anyway, we both got ousted from the tournament early, but neither of us cared much, as it was already becoming quite the profitable evening. When all was said and done, let's just say we both started with Andrews, and left with multiple Benjamins. There were all sorts of "wahoos" and yeehaws" out the window on the way back. And man, one of the dealers is like, wow.

So anyway Platoon was the fare this morning, as my hiking buddy flaked and I ended up just going back to sleep afterwards. Found it difficult to pay attention to this one, there was an entire scene dedicated to marijuana, and another one where a gang rape is broken up, it's amazing how standards and movie ratings have changed over the years. It was still decent, but not anything overly impressive. The best part actually was the theme, which was Barber's "Adagio for Strings," which I studied extensively in high school for AcaDec. Was a blast from the past hearing it again.

Two midterms tomorrow, doh!

Well, I Gotta Do Something With The Time...

Actually did get off my butt and hit the reccen this morning, so I have an excuse. Unfortunately my racquetball partner went down with a back injury a few minutes in, and after lying down for a while decided it would be best to just head home. Luckily from an exercise perspective one of my female friends showed up shortly afterward and was glad to take his place. We had some fun for a while, then eventually I hit the pool and she the weight room and machines. Hadn't seen her for a while, so it was good to catch up and see how she was doing. She's the one gettin both a C.S. degree and finishing the Pre-Med program by the end of her 4th year, so I figure just hanging around her might be increasing my intelligence level. :)

After eating lunch with her I came home and crashed, having gotten up a bit early. I then decdied to knock another movie off my haven't seen list, and chose Full Metal Jacket. Given my current career choice, I figure I should spend some of my time watching the movies that have been made, and reading the books that have been written, about the concepts of war and the military and its way of life. Although this one was made back in 87, its rawness puts it up there with all the more modern war movies. The actor who played the recruit nicknamed Gomur Pile had some unbelievable scenes, I would have run like hell if he ever gave me one of those animalistic looks. The scenery is up to par, and the firefights appear as real as they can be. This one earns 5 M's.

There's a few other war movies I've missed out on over the years which I hear are quite good, may continue the pattern later in this three day weekend.

Hmm... I don't seem to have a lot to talk about lately other than movies. Well. What can I say. Approximately 19 more days.

But Wait, There's More...

Two more movies watched today, both in a different genre than usual, that being comedy. The first was Just Married, which showed promise initially. The opening thirty seconds are hilarious. It tapers off though, with some good laughs here and there. Only a couple real laugh out loud moments. We'll say 3.5 M's, it gets knocked for having more mushy stuff than I was in the mood for. :/

Tonight I found myself sitting around doing nothing to start a three day weekend, so rather than spending too long considering the fact that the reason for my lonliness was the fact that everyone was with their respective significant others, I decdied to watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which I had been yet to see but had heard good things about. I have to disagree with those who said they were rolling on the floor the entire time, it had its moments, but I think this one suffers from the curse of me hearing too many good things beforehand, and thus having expectations that were too high. Or maybe I'm just not a big a fan of comedies. Anyway we'll go with 3.5 M's here too, only because after thinking about it for a minute, I can't even really pick a clear victor in the competition of best entertainment.

Tomorrow I'm finally getting some good racquetball in, as my frequent playing partner from first year is finally taking more classes here and thus can get in free again to the Reccen. Man it would be great to find someone closer who's willing to play on a more regular basis. It's the best kind of exercise, the fun kind.

Although Delayed, Here They Are.

Okay weeks later after seeing the movies I'm finally getting around to posting my opinion. First we have Ghost World. Never heard of it? Neither had I. I'll go with 3 M's out of 7 here, solely because I got a kick out of how much one of the characters was similar to myself. Other than that, it's pretty high on the random scale. No real plot or ending, just a series of scenes basically. I can't think of a whole lot to say about it, it just wasn't that good.

However, the one I saw immediately following, Legends of the Fall was a huge improvement. Most people probably saw this one years ago, but I hadn't, so sue me. I'm glad I finally got around to it though. Anthony Hopkins plays a role, which is always a good thing. It's not a very cheerful movie, but it's that heart tugging aspect that gives this one 5.5 M's. There's some mushy stuff and apparently gorgeous actors for one gender, and some raw masculinity and action for the other. Overall very dramatic stuff.

Lastly a couple days ago I was over at a friend of a friend's place and ended up on the couch watching Run Lola Run, a German film from a few years ago. It was subbed which as usual forced you to pay attention, but I found it would have kept my attention regardless. The plot is one of those really different ones, such as Memento, which do things normal movies don't. It's basically a comment on fate, and how very simple changes in the way you do things, can have gigantic consequences in the future. Obviously in Lola's case it's even more gigantic than usual, but it didn't cross the line of being unrealistic. Until she bet on Black 20 twice in a row on Roulette and won both. Odds of that are so ridiculous it's not even funny. I guess you never know. The best part about this movie was it was an action packed 90 minutes or so, so you didn't have time to start checking your watch or get bored. It came, it went, it was cool. Very well filmed, as you get to see things from different angles every time. 5 M's.

Managed to run a bit further than Monday today, so far so good. Have an intramural co-ed basketball game tonight, that should be entertaining. I won't make the mistake of trying to shoot though. :)

Coasting, An Art Form.

Returning from an excursion tonight, I saw my minivan come as close to running out of gas as it ever has. Luckily a large portion of it was downhill towards the end, so I was able to basically coast along while it beeped at me every five seconds. I even had a friend follow me with a cell phone to make sure I didn't get stuck, I was so sure I was going to run out. What can I say, a little risk makes life more interesting. Speaking of risk, more on that later.

To give you an idea of how really empty it was, I was under the impression my tank was 16 gallons, and when I'm brought it VERY close to E before I'd been able to fill up to 15.6 or 15.7 gallons. This time it filled up to 16.184. Hm....... Must have gotten there on fumes.

I'm slackin on the posts, I got a couple movie reviews and a good story from tonight to tell, gonna try to get back on the ball here.

A Beginning for the 238497234th Time...

That's right, as frequent readers will note, this is not the first time, but I'm getting back into running again. I haven't had any pain in my legs in forever, so I'm hoping all has healed in the months I took off. Gonna take it obscenely easy for the first few weeks and see how it goes. I'd like to get to at least 5 days a week and eventually 6, but going to have to start with 3 until I'm sure there won't be a relapse.

Made my 8am again, and it's kind of strange, I'm more awake for that class than any of my evening ones. Maybe I'll get more morning ones next quarter, I think I actually prefer them. Scary thought. Unfortunately with upper division classes you don't really have a choice, there's only one lecture, and it's only at one time, so that's what you get.

Forgot to blog about a worrysome incident that occurred a couple days ago... On the way back from watching a movie (which I'll review in my next post) I was riding with one of my friends on the freeway... I'm somewhat of a stickler about not driving, I tend to prefer to drive myself just about everywhere unless it can't be avoided, but there are a few people who I trust enough to have faith in their driving abilities. Anyway, basically a large pickup in front of us had large empty oil barrels of some kind rolling around in the back that weren't tied down, and before I'd even noticed the truck one managed to launch up over the tailgate and fall directly into our path. Luckily there was no car next to us, and we were able to swerve out of the way in time. Eventually someone two cars back managed to hit it pretty good, as I turned around to see if it made it off the road. It was metallic, probably would have left a pretty decent dent. In this case, I'm quite glad my friend had the presence of mind to react without thinking. With a lot of people, that could have been a much bigger problem. Happen to be looking at the radio, your passenger, or a car passing by, instead of focusing on the road, and whammo. Goes to show my confidence in some of my friend's driving is well merited.