A Penny For My Thoughts...

So last night I'm in the mood for talking, and luckily there's someone willing to be talked at, so we go and chow on some Carl's. Western Bacon nummyyummy. Although they got rid of my Crispy Chicken meal which was quite irksome. Then they forgot her ranch so we had to sit there for a while til they opened the window again and tried to hand us the food for the person behind us. So anyway, eventually we get to talking. Amazing the amount of stuff that we covered in a few short hours. I came out of it for some reason feeling much better about things, as if the world had become more clear for some reason.

Strangely, that's the first time in a long time that I've felt that I was talking with someone, instead of talking to someone. I mentioned a lot of things that had been bugging me, and as she said, we "covered it, fixed it, and moved on." She mentioned some things that had caused her to be "snippy" in the past, and what I could start trying to do to alleviate those concerns. Very strange to have such a rational and helpful discussion with someone. These types of things in the past always exploded into arguments that never got me anywhere with various other people. The whole who can be more stubborn type of conversation. The unique thing about this situation is we strongly disagree on an issue very important to me, which generally causes me to immediately think negatively about a person. However, I wasn't made aware of her position on it until much later, which caused me to rethink the idea of making a drastic assumption based on this one issue. My friend is helping me to try to "bridge the gap" so to speak, although so far its been really slow going. Still now, whenever it comes up I manage to turn what I'm saying into a negative connotation, and cause problems. I think its going to be a while before I can look at those kinds of people in a "whatever makes them feel good" instead of a "why are they trying to hurt themselves and especially others" kind of light. I think the whole "forgive, but don't forget" saying applies here, I'll never be able to forget the things that have happened to me or people around me in my life due to abuse of alcohol, but I'm not going to be able to stop the whole world from having fun. Maintaining my distance has always been the plan, but at times that isn't possible, and I need to learn how to handle that when it comes.

Its strange, with my best guy friend moving off campus this year, and us only talking once a week or so if that for various excursions, I've had to look elsewhere for your daily guess what happened to me this is why I'm happy this is why I'm sad type stuff. This friend has really made me think there are other people out there who care, and are interested in my life, and want me to be interested in theirs. These are the best kind of friends.

In other news all the thinking yesterday managed to spawn a dream of the best kind last night, where I managed to meet this just perfect girl. Had an absolute blast getting to know her and going places with her, til I woke up. Strangely I only remember snippets of what she looked like, although I remember everything about what we did, and what it felt like. Maybe there's hope yet, if my brain is capable of conjuring up exactly what I'm looking for, I must not be as confused as I thought.

Isn't it natural that one would desire to be desired?

I See Orion, I Win!

Managed to spank the excellent racquetball player I faced off against tonight, but apparently he'd already had a previous loss against this supposed "incredible" player that I haven't faced yet... [pops his his head with a pin as is often needed]

Rewarded myself last night by heading out after basically outright acing (or so I think) a Statistics midterm earlier that day, gotta love multiple choice exams. In my friends SUV she was busting out all these 80's cds reminding me of the good ol days, stuff I hadn't heard in a while, and am in the process of downloading. :)

Tonight marks the first new episode of 24, a series I'm qutie addicted to, and apparently the next 12 weeks will all be new episodes. Lookin forward to them.

So like, I feel like I'm basically beginning to level off on the whole meeting people plane. I have the usual several people I talk to regularly, and plenty of people outside of that I know pretty well, but I'm not exactly getting out there and meeting new people left and right. I guess first quarter its easier because no one knows anyone and everyone's out to make friends. After Christmas though the circles are set, and the only people looking to meet people are the people looking for the wrong things. I guess people always say you find the one you're looking for when you stop looking altogether. Well...

[pretends to stare at the wall]

Everybody Cut Everybody Cut Everyone CUT FOOTLOOSE

Was rockin out to the Footloose soundtrack driving back up here to UCSB, one of the handful of tapes I grabbed from my room on the way out due to my car not being blessed with a CD player... Lots of bouncy songs on there, gonna have to dl a bunch.

The Big Game was today, and was strangely more exciting than usual, given the usual two touchdown point spread. Turned out the underdogs were the victors, always a good thing to see. The Rams won one recently anyway, someone else's turn. :)

Exciting part of the transit to and from LA this weekend was noticing they FINALLY completed the road work in the Sepulveda pass and there is now a carpool lane southbound all the way through. Quite the welcome sight for the traffic hater.

Alas, this has become the mini paragraph post, mainly because I have a Stat midterm tomorrow that I need to get studyin for. :/

I'll Always Be A Warrior...

Man, tiring day. Nothing like talking and talking and talking and talking until you're actually BORED of talking. For me, that obviously takes qutie a bit of effort. Phew. Got back from another yearly day of Academic Decathlon a little while ago, and had a blast as always. Had a couple awesome interviewees, some mediocre, and some pretty terrible, always fun to see the broad spectrum of upcoming talent. I'm an alumni of the West High Warriors, and they performed well as is the tradition, looking strong going into Friday's banquet when all the results and final overall rankings will be announced. I'm cheerin especially hard for em, if they go on to the State competition (this was County) they'll travel to Modesto, and I'll have an excuse to take a weekend and head North to visit all the friendlies up there while I'm taking in the competition. :)

Actually made me feel pretty old today, those high schoolers are gettin littler and littler. :/ Scarier still is the fact it was my 5th straight year going to Carrows for the after-party given I competed for two years and it was my third year judging... What a phogie I'm becoming. Looks like I'll be hanging around here tomorrow for the Super Bowl festivities, and drive up afterwards tomorrow night at some point. Midterm the next afternoon, so will definitely be back by then. :)

Once again a big congrats to everyone on AD from West, especially the amazingly intelligent sole returner and current keeper of the perfect 10 flame. :) (don't ask)

One Down, Umpteen To Go.

Umpteen is a lot. Really. Anyway, managed to nail my first midterm today after nearly sleeping through the start of it, then having to run to the UCen to buy the blue book I forgot to bring... All's well that ends well I guess. Only about five or six more midterms to go this quarter, I think.

Pretty routine day, will be heading home tomorrow (er today I guess now) at some point and be busy all day Saturday judging the Academic Decathlon competition, and then either hang around at home to watch the Super Bowl or head back up here to watch it, who really knows for sure. Planning things before the day of all the time just gets too old. :)

*(!&@#^!*@#&^ AAAANNNTTTSSSSS!!!!!!!!

Pardon my friends, but nothing like waking up this morning, rolling out of bed onto my chair to check my e-mail, and noticing several ants crawling over my hands, and as my view focuses, literally THOUSANDS crawling all over my desk. Apparently someone had left a half eaten box of licorice on the far end of it yesterday, and overnight it became just a feeding frenzy for most of UCSB's population of ants. After completely clearing everything out, having the whole trail and various gathering places sprayed along with all their access points in the hallway, vacuuming the whole room, and rearranging everything again, I've reduced the invasion to a random explorer here and there that is readily squashed.

Ants are quite annoying.

Don't get me wrong, I like many types of animals, but I'm also a firm believer in survival of the fittest, so I have no problem eating meat or eliminating insects that create negative consequences. Like disease. Ew.

Tools of the Trade...

Was tipped off by a friend the other night about how to easily work around that annoying limit of 150 buddies on your AOL Instant Messenger list, and I invite anyone curious as to how its done to IM me personally for details. Set mine to 999, that should be fine for now. :)

My screenname is thndrMATT as always, the THUNDER is for everyone who knows me online (scary how many that is) and the MATT is well, you should know by now.

Those of you who don't know me, feel free to say hi, I'm always up for meeting new random people from around the world. Crazy thing, this internet business.

I Wish I May I Wish I Might...

So I've been browsing around the internet as I tend to do looking for el cheapo auctions for the products on my "wish list" so to speak... So for all those of you millionaires with money to blow in the vicinity of my birthday in May, I recommend the following items: Viewsonic VP230mb flat panel monitor, and Klipsch Promedia 5.1 speakers. The speakers are only 400 bucks retail, and still new enough that they're not falling anywhere below that even at auction. The behemoth of a monitor (its 23.1 inch VIEWABLE) is valued at about 4 grand at the moment, and its prices hasn't exactly been dropping through the floor either. Would be quite the awesome purchase however, my current monitor is 18.1 viewable, but it isn't PF (perfect flat) and takes up about 2 feet of depth as well, whereas the one that's 5 inches bigger would take up a foot LESS of desk space, which is at a premium these days. My current monitor was purchased soon after I came to college, so I've gotten a good 3 years or so of 24/7 usage, pretty good shelf life for a monitor. It suits my needs I suppose, but there's always something bigger and better out there. :)

While we're on the geek topic, the other reason a flat panel would much improve my lifestyle is that it would be easier to pack for the journey to Mesquite, Texas, this summer for the annual Quakecon event. 99% of the people who read this won't know what the hell Quakecon is, but its basically the largest multiplayer pc gaming event in the world, drawing thousands of participants from all over the world every year. Call it a geek convention if you like, but its a strong interest of mine, and it will be quite awesome to spend a long weekend having a blast for four straight days with no sleep with people who are like minded. The reservations have been made at the hotel connected to the convention center where it will be held, luckily because I happened across a site that leaked the dates and managed to snag one of the last rooms available even before it was officially announced yet. So if you're looking for me between Aug 14-19, I'll probably be either there, or on the road, making the twenty four hour or so non-stop journey between my home near Los Angeles and the grand state of Texas. Luckily planning to go with a few companions so as to share the rental car/gas/hotel costs, and driving shifts.

Still in the initial planning stages, but between that and my Vegas trip sometime this spring/early summer, its shaping up to be a pretty incredible year.

"How's It Goin"

The above greeting was what aroused me from my early afternoon slumber, hadn't the foggiest day who it was until she spoke again, and I figured out it was my most recent ex-girlfriend. Phone calls from her are always a random surprise, there tend to be six month or so gaps between communications, for reasons I'm not entirely sure I understand. Anyway, was good to exchange barbs and giggles with her for the first time in a while. As usual she tossed around rumors of making the trek down to Santa Barbara at some point in the future, but those tend to evaporate soon after they're mentioned.

Went to the California Pizza Kitchen tonight, or CPK as aficionados call it, and ate way too much Jambalaya, and shared a yummy Apple Crisp on top of that. Definitely gonna be hittin the workout room before this night is over. :)

Midterms start Tuesday for me, I've got about one a week for the next six weeks or something, pretty lame, but I'm sure I'll find time to schedule in fun along the way.

A Brunette That's Not Really...

Managed to wake up early enough today to head to the theater with an old friend, and discovered the only movie playing at that time was A Walk to Remember the new movie starring Mandy Moore. Seeing her as a non-blonde was an improvement at least. I actually thought it was going to be much lamer than it actually was, I'd go with about 4 M's. Quite a sweet movie for the vicinity of Valentine's Day though, I'm sure its much cuter as a date movie though than as a "wow wouldn't that be cool if" movie.

Spent some time going through old pics later, including some from waaaaay back in the day when I met her freshman year in high school, back when I was 130 lbs and could run a 5 minute mile... Man, what a stick. I had like no shoulders to speak of, just this long neck and huge looking ears, not sure what happened between them and now. I think the focal point just moved to my double chin, or something. :/

Weekends just keep getting shorter, not sure where the time goes. Sometimes its nice to just sit around and vegetate.

I'd also like to go on record saying ergonomics keyboards are quite annoying when you're not used to them. The B is on the wrong side for me, and that totally screws up my rhythm. Urg.

If I Could Fall, Into The Sky...

Gonna have to bust out a plug for Vanessa Carlton and her single A Thousand Miles, it absolutely rocks my world. Watched her play it live on MTV yesterday, and I'm always totally impressed by people who can play an instrument so incredibly well. They showed like 500 closeups of her fingers flying across the keyboard, basically blurred. Also has quite the infectious melody, and pretty cool lyrics to boot, including the one in the heading. That would be sweet, suddenly everyone on Earth launching up into space as if gravity suddenly reversed itself. Well it would be sweet until we all came crashing down anyway. :)

Spent some time up in Solvang for several hours today wandering around, its a Danish style town about a half hour north of here, with tons of shops and bakeries and little cozy nooks, basically looks like Fantasyland from Disneyland. Wandering around I discovered that its the most perfect place to go gift shopping for people at, I literally found stuff in like half the stores that would work out well. Going to have to head that direction next time I feel the need to give away random presents.

Also started playing Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, which thus far although I've only been through a few missions seems pretty incredible. Awesome AI and set pieces have caused it to be quite enjoyable, and I haven't even reached the apparent INCREDIBLE D-Day sequence that has brought oohs and ahhs from the masses. Been playin a bunch of FIFA 2002 lately as well, took over the USA in a run for the World Cup, pretty fun stuff. :)

Anyway will have plenty of time for all this during the weekend, also planning on keeping the swimming thing going since I missed today (was actually doing and better yet, TURNING IN my homework!!@!!~@~!) and who knows, maybe getting some work done.

Yeah. Uh huh.

Day to Day to Day...

Just an update for the sake of updating, pretty dullsville around here lately, just going about my regular day to day business. Did finish off Red Faction, a game that has a pretty high level for the sake of blowing stuff up, but isn't on the same level as Wolf or Ghost Recon. Planning to take on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault next, a game that's gotten rave reviews from both gaming critics and my fellow hallmates as they've been glued to their comps for a few days now hammering away at the single player campaign... I tend to wait for the weekend for such an endeavor, too busy studying and all meanwhile. :)

Crap, Valentine's Day again. Three weeks, no pressure. For a long time it was a special time of year for me, since it was a couple days after my last relationship's anniversary. After that its been largely me myself and a good book, computer game, movie, or something of the sort. Any fellow boycotters out there need a buddy? I see no shame in spreading love amongst friends, which is I suppose the overall point anyway.

A Yummy Flavor of Sky...

Hung out with a couple of my third floor buddies today and went to go check out Vanilla Sky... Going to have to give that one four M's, and about an 8 on a weirdness scale of 10. Quite a trippy movie, for a number of reasons. I did enjoy the actor's performances, and Cruz isn't too bad looking and thus makes up for Diaz, but as usual the trippy aspect of the movie caused me problems. Was interesting looking at all the upcoming movie posters though and seeing a war movie with Mel Gibson, another with Nicholas Cage, and another with Bruce Willis all featured. Obviously a genre that is touching a lot of people more than usual these days, looks like we'll be getting our fill of them shortly.

Highlight of the evening was going to KMart for the first time in a while, and witnessing technology taking over... They no longer have checkout people there, its totally self serve. This is mainly because everything is now computer based, you walk up, scan your own items, feed in the cash or card, bag them yourself, and walk away, all while under the survelliance of a camera above each station. Possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen in a convenience store, but it drew looks of horror from both my friends, both of whom hope that technology will never replace people, and were quite annoyed they couldn't have a friendly conversation while waiting in line. Just another example of computers eliminating jobs they said, fearful of what our world will be like in five years. Think I'll always be pro-technology though, can't imagine where I would be today without a pc. (sad, but true)

WooWee, 3 Day Weekend.

More busy busy as a bee stuff around here... Went a perfect 5 for 5 on swimming this week, including today when I spent a good few hours teaching an old friend how to paddle like a doggie... Actually had a great time, one of the more fun filled days in quite a while. Had the usual frustrating first day when it comes to teaching someone how to swim (she's actually my 4th or 5th pupil) where they're not really willing to do anything at all for the first hour, and still run into various problems or fears along the way after that which tend to prevent much progress. Alas these things take time, and for some reason I'm willing to dedicate myself to helping someone learn a skill which will only be useful if they fall off a cruise ship, in most cases. Well, makes me feel better anyway. :)

After that we headed to Sushi Teri on Calle Real, for some good old fashioned food that involves a lot of me going "what the hell is this CHOMP oh hey its not bad, um, its WHAT?~!@??" and fiddling around with chopsticks trying to look less white (impossible). Really yummy though, i've always been a fan of most of that stuff. Maybe because I eat it so rarely, its like a treat. Who knows. Anyway...

Decided to go catch Black Hawk Down after that. Going to give it 6 M's, when it comes to war movies, its superb. For those pondering whether its something you want to see, my friend was outright bawling for literally 2/3 of the movie, including whenever anyone died, was shot, or there was any fighting going on, which is a LARGE portion. I'd rate it below Saving Private Ryan on the gruesome scale (especially SPR's opening scene, still dominant in my mind as the scene that affected me most) but there isn't much downtime, its just a whole lot of fighting. The fact that its based on a true story, and that it was only 5 years ago, not some far off generation we're not a part of, especially strikes home with a lot of viewers. I guess you could say its a SPR with the technology of the 90s. Amazing how much some of the scenes reminded me of Ghost Recon and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, especially the former, two games I've been playing a lot lately. Just a reminder that as real as they can make it on the computer, its nowhere near what its like to be there. Again though, its not a pleasant movie for the weak of heart, I'm sure it'll take a while for some of the scenes to stop echoing through the images my mind's subconscious creates.

On a more cheerful note, I did have a whale of a day, scheduled another lesson for tomorrow, so I better get some sleep. :) Not heading anywhere out of town this weekend, will probably just do a lot of catching up on movie and tv watching, oh, and sleeping of course. :)

Strange happenings...

One thing I forgot to mention from the last several days was that I needed to give a big congratulatory BOOYAH to Michelle Kwan for capturing yet ANOTHER national figure skating title. I've had the pleasure of watching her for several years now, ever since I found out one of the US's most dominant skaters was not only my age, but from my hometown of Torrance. Something about cheering for the home team and watching them succeed that makes me feel like jumping up and yelping with joy myself, even though I have nothing to do with it. :) Looking forward to seeing her performances in the Olympics this year, here's hoping she continues to perform to the same level of greatness that she has always managed to reach. You go, girl. The internet's a strange place these days, who knows, maybe this message will find its way around the world.

In other news, apparently there's someone wandering around who "looks exactly like me, except she's a girl" according to several people on my hall and downstairs... I've yet to see this, and find it hard to believe, but who knows, maybe I have a long lost sister or cousin or something out there someplace. :)

Won big last night in racquetball, but saw a guy playing on the next court in the other game at the same who was wiping the floor with his opponent, so should get more interesting as it goes along.

Whoops Where'd the Days Go...

So for once I've been busy, stuff to do, go figure... Been actually attending class which is always good, doing homework which is even better, and both my econ classes actually interest me, which is something that hasn't been the case in quite some time when it comes to other subjects...

Started swimming in the mornings, on MWF before my 11am class, on TR after my 9:30, that's gone pretty well so far. Did the towel membership thing where for 5 bucks you get a fresh clean towel every day that you just return to them to be washed, saves me a lot of laundry anyway... Pretty handy. Also joined intramural racquetball, first game tonight. I'm playing at the intermediate level which is the lower of two, but some of the guys at the meeting I'd played before and they were quite good, so I don't think it'll be a cakewalk for me. At the end of the season there's even seedings and a playoff system single elimination tournament, looking forward to seeing how well I do. :) If nothing else it will be getting me off my ass at least a few times a week to go get my ass kicked...

Ahhhhhhhhhh, Mmmmmmmmmmm

Back Massages. Coolest things ever. Well for the moment anyway. I'm not really into the hard grind your muscles dig your fingernails into tendons kind that a lot of people seem to enjoy for some reason (both receiving AND giving) but just being able to relax and relief stiffness is just eternal bliss for me. Hint hint to everyone who knows me who feels like doing me an incredibly wonderful favor. :) I like to think I'm decent at giving them too, the jury will have to let me know about that one though.

Was out driving yesterday and went past this big open field where I saw the most gigantic fire I've ever seen in my life... It was this humongous bonfire, the base of which was at least 20 meters across, reaching almost as high... Not sure what it was all about, but it was a pretty incredible sight. Made two U-turns just to get a couple more looks. :)

Saturday night, not much to do, early in the quarter so nothing I should be doing, and didn't have anything planned... This used to be the case just about every weekend for me, but lately I've actually had somewhat of a social calendar, its made me feel better about myself socially. :)

AWWWWWW ITS SO CUUUUUUUUUUTE!

A friend stopped by today with the cutest little dog I've ever seen in my life... This little tiny chihuahua with the big black eyes that just stare at you and seem to be continuously pouting. I'm petrified of dogs for the most part, largely because of an incident when I got the stuffing chomped out of me by this huge golden retriever when I was younger... But when they're so tiny, like literally 9 inches long, its tough to be scared. :) First week of classes is officially over... I FINALLY finished unpacking all my crap, I'd been living out of bags for a while... ;) Gonna go handle some paperwork and sign up for intramurals, more later.

Children at Play...

I'm not quite sure why the entertainment value of chatting with people using someone else's screenname on their computer is so high. People love to come in here and send random erotic messages to people on my list, luckily I have quite the distinctive chatting style and so its quite obvious when its not me at the keyboard. I've also been on the other side of the situation though, like last night when one of my friends send me a peculiar message which I took to be valid after initial skepticism... To make a long story short I lost faith in someone due to their lack of concern for someone else's feelings.

Actually mine weren't all that affected, having someone tell me they want to know if we can be "more than friends" has only happened a very, very, select few times and not in at least a few years so its not something I'm expecting at any point in the near future. I like to think I'm an optimist when it comes to things like waiting in lines and such, but I tend to be a "half-empty" type on other issues such as finding "the one."

Just finished playin some DDR in the UCen, I'm up to the level I can handle the "5 feet" songs the majority of the time... Not sure why I'm bragging.. HEY STOP MAKING FUN OF ME DAMNIT :( AND MICKEY SHIRTS ARE COOL OKAY...

Hehe.

Yawn...

More of the same today, random new classes where the teacher spends the first day reading the syllabus back to you in case English isn't your first language or something, and lots of threats about how not coming to class will directly influence your grade, etc etc etc.

I forgot to mention a side trip I made on the way up here to visit one of my old teammates from Academic Decathlon... Hadn't seen her for a while, we tend to meet up randomly from time to time to catch up. She's got her own place in West LA now, and is teaching dance while attending SMCC, was really impressed by the way things are going for her, she seems really happy. Course she did feel the need to mention I'd gained weight since high school (haven't we all) and I unfortunately couldn't fire back because she's just matured and is even better looking than before. What's lame, is the people who literally have the least to worry about, do the most worrying. Its like those people who whine about A-'s to someone who just got a C+ in the same class. Its just not one of the most tactful things to do. Gr. But yeah, went to a neat little italian place and had the biggest slice of apple pie I've ever seen (whoops) and managed to keep her laughing in my face for various reasons for a good portion of the day. Was hoping my headache would go away before I headed the rest of the way to Santa Barbara but alas it was not so. Nice seeing her again though, will probably swing by on my way through to judge the yearly Decathlon competition for the third time in about a month in Covina.

Dead tired tonight, think its just the fact that I'm on the tail end of this sickness and have been doing a lot more walking than I was during break...

Down, Down, Down...

An interesting day... First day of classes for the Winter quarter, had my Classics and Pstat lectures today, both look to be easy enough. Got to deal with more paperwork regarding the whole major switching thing, there was a snag somewhere.

Sigh, I feel like I'm trying to make small talk with myself when I'm not in the mood.

So I received news a couple hours ago that one of my friends who played indoor soccer with me last quarter and lived in the next building over died this morning. "Natural causes" is the official word from the coroner at this point, I'm pretty sure there will be more info on the 11 oclock news tonight. Been a while since there has been a death around me. Not the most cheerful of scenarios. I tend to be introverted about it though, visibly there isn't really any evidence. Not really sure why. A few short weeks ago I was complimenting him on a well struck shot. Just cements my belief that live is meant to be lived in the present. You just never know.

I R Heer.

I'm back at UCSB, and alive.... barely. Feel like absolute trash, nothing like getting high beamed for two hours when you have a headache, are going into coughing spasms every 5 minutes, and sneezing hard enough to worsen your headache every 10. More details later.

Vacation in Review

Going against the general rule, I actually had more fun than I expected to during this winter vacation. Finished it up a couple days ago with a big group of friends as we headed over to The Cheesecake factory for a scrumptious meal (I'd never been there, sad I know) and then spent several hours having a huge poker session at one of my friend's houses, winner take all, can't leave til you're cleaned out, etc etc. Was 3 bucks each to play, and by 3am the host finally decided since it was his house he would be the only one to cash out on the night, leaving him with about 6 bucks worth of chips, and me with the remainder of everyone's money... (upwards of 28 bucks or so, they'd never invited me to a game at that house before, probably never will again...) [pops his head with a pin]

So overall this break I got some awesome presents, tried two things I'd never done before and learned to do them to some extent (skiing and snowboarding), and had the usual incredible New Years. Not too shabby I'd say. Makes me feel good to be able to say I'm a licensed SCUBA diver, and can ski and snowboard, as well as claim I've stood on the peak of the highest mountain in the contigious United States, and visited 39 of the 50 states. I've had it good, I know, but I'm not blind enough to the rest of the world to not be thankful for it.

OKAY OKAY, GEEZ

Enough people decided to make me feel special babbling over IM about how I hadn't told my new years story yet that I'm finally sitting down to do it. Beware, you know how wordy I get, especially when talking about myself!

So, New Years Eve, I wake up at 4:56am, amazingly just before my alarm was set to go off at 5. As always when its a big day I bounce out of bed and into the shower in a single hop, and am good to go about 5:20. Equipment check (keys/wallet/sunglasses/pager/cellphone/camera/ticket) and voom, out the door I go. The father was kind enough to loan his 96 Mustang, so I rode in style. A quick stop at McD's for the usual eat-while-driving #3, and blam, onto the 405 I went. Ended up getting there about 6:15, surprised to see the gates to the lot were open, but there wasn't a line of cars yet... Something about driving down Harbor Boulevard just makes my skin tingle... I see the Hyatt Regency where I planned for like a year 7 or 8 years ago to have this big two day two night adventure package deal wonderful thingy... I used to be obsessed, typing out 10 or 20 page "touring plans" which would detail everything about how the day would go, factoring in the length of rides, distance between them, speed of the lines per 100 people waiting, etc etc... It ended up getting me to an obscene amount of rides in a single day, but it wasn't exactly for the "relaxed" visitor. About five years later I finally abandoned the idea, given I'd done everything there anyway, might as well do what I'm in the mood for, when I'm in the mood for it. They finally got rid of the old Welcome to Disneyland that used to sit out front on the west side of the boulevard as you turned into the lot, I can remember many a family cheer as the ol minivan made its way in.

Exchanged pleasantries with the attendant, followed the cones, and amazingly enough discovered that not only was it deserted out front, but I was actually the very first car in the entire parking lot... Turned out I parked in the first spot on the first aisle, as close as possible to the entrance itself (something only someone who is obsessed would brag about). This of course ended up placing me at the very front of one of the gate lines, and I ended up being the very first person to walk into Disneyland that day (ignoring all those lame early admission hotel guests ;) ) Walking down Main Street USA is literally the happiest time in the world for me, knowing how much fun lies ahead.

By now you're probably thinking you're going to get a whole day long description, but I'll spare you most of the gory details. Strangest moment occurred when I got something stuck in my shoe for the 3rd time in an hour and found it to be suprisingly, a penny, again. I eventually figured out after a nickel appeared in my shoe a few minutes later that I had a hole in my jeans pocket, and that was allowing change to slide down my pant leg and end up in my shoe, confusing many a passers-by when I pulled it out... Yeah, I really am that retarded...

Spent a good hour playing Disney flavored DDR in the new Innoventions attraction, until one too many little kids came up and beat the pants off me at it... Also found it interesting my character was still saved in the Gauntlet Legends arcade game at the huge Starcade they have there, which I had played the previous two years as well (geeks will be impressed). Was depressed to see the Animazement show wasn't running anymore as well as the Hunchback show, both of those had amazingly talented vocalists that were quite enjoyable. Ah, forgot to mention the most depressing thing from the day, Fantasmic the show I rank just about highest all time in terms of greatness for its time, was closed until summer. :( That shot to hell my strategy of sneaking into "perfect viewing point" (tm) just after the second to last show, and getting to stay for the last showing immediately after the new year... Everything turned out okay though, I'm glad to say.

Played cell phone tag with one of my friends who was there as well with her girlfriend and her family, eventually met up with them later in the day and hung out for a while, spent the usual too much on food, but geez some of the restaurants there are gooooooood if you know where to go... (yeah, its nice to hang out with an aficianado (spelling shot in the dark (just wanted to have a third parentheses))) I wonder whether Disneyland will end up being a locale of employment after college, obviously not as your typical minimum wage worker, but geez out of that whole place there must be something I'm capable of that pays. :) Just watching a small child's face light up when they see Mickey Mouse, is enough to bring a smile to my face for hours at a time. Oh, and I DID go back to the Candy Palace to look for that girl from last year, the last girl I gave my number to whom I'd never met before in a random place... No dice there. Oh, and no, she didn't call. :/

So eventually I commandeered my spot at the top of the bridge in New Orlean's Square, next to the lightpost I'd been standing near as the clock struck 2000, and 2001. Of course it was still part of the excess line for Pirates of the Caribbean around 10pm when I got there, but I found sitting in a lump and pretending to be asleep kept most people moving along past without saying anything, other than the few who would feel the need to tap me, or talk trash about how retarded I was for sleeping through new years, thinking I was sound asleep...

Anyway, New Years at Disneyland. Personally, its indescribable. Picture 100,000 people (or more) all in the same area. Picture most of them with those glow in the dark necklaces, or glowticks they're waving, or light wands, or something. Do your best to figure out what thousands of kazoos sounds like, most of which are right in your general vicinity. Imagine the voices of countless people, united as one counting numerically backwards. Look up, and see amazing explosions and lights as the last thirty seconds of a year tick by. Listen to the screams and cries of a million HAPPY NEW YEARs from all around you. Enjoy one of the most amazing fireworks displays ever, and glance around as couples embrace, children laugh and cheer, and grandparents share yet another moment together. Close your eyes, and realize this won't be the last time you'll be in this exact spot, the Happiest Place on Earth, for this special time. I know I'll be back again and again. Want to come along next year? 361 days and counting, give or take.

[Cough, Hack, Squeak]

Strangely enough the whole hoarse thing didn't set in until two days after New Years... Those lucky enough to talk to me today got to hear something that sounded much like a mouse squeaking out words... My brother just got his wisdom teeth out too, and I'm passing my flu case around to everyone, so everyone is a real bundle of joy around here... I knew it was coming on when I woke up to go to Disneyland, and now I'm payin for it... Gonna catch some early Z's now and probably end up waking up too early in the morning, will give all the gory details then.

Oh....... My...... Goodness.........

I have no idea what its like to be hungover, but this must be pretty close. Slept about 18 hours, woke up for a few, bout to go to sleep again, will tell you the whole story once conscious again.

The Happiest Place on Earth, Sort Of...

Headed down to Irvine to Downtown Disney for the first time with some friends last night, its the new Universal City like area immediately adjacent to Disneyland and California Adventure... Pretty cool place, although it was quite trippy to be so close to my favorite place in the world without going inside... ;) Alas now it is New Years Eve Eve and I must sleep so I can get crankin at 5am tomorrow morning, whoopee! :) Ooh forgot to mention rewatched The Breakfast Club (still good) on DVD with some friends who had never seen it (a crime) and checked out The Royal Tenembaums (who knows how its spelled) in the theaters, gonna have to give that one a below average 3 M's, it just didn't tickle me much, although some other people in the theater seemed to like it, and it seems to be ripping up the IMDB ratings... Was a sort of comedy/drama, but a lot of down time, maybe it was becasue I was tired, basically falling asleep through sections that didn't interest me...

I'll probably be gone from 5am tomorrow til 5am New Years Day, so don't expect another post til I'm ready to fill you in on all the girls' number's I got! :P

Quick Blurb...

Caught Ocean's 11 last night, I thought it was quite good, 6 M's. Course the fact there were like 23948234 actors and actresses in it that I personally enjoy helped. So did the setting in a casino actually.. :) Your typical bad guys who we treat as good guys stealing from good guys who we see as bad guys type of movie ala Robin Hood... Other than that and the yummy Chic-Fil-A (wonder how that's really spelled) I had prior, a whole lot of nothing going on around here... A lot of sleeping/resting/stretching stacking up for the big day/night on Monday... Possibility of me headed out tonight too, and will probably just spend all day tomorrow watching movies or something...

Really need to get around to burning like 30 cds, anyone have any good ideas as to what can be done during the process to make it more exciting? :/

Rule #1, Don't Fall

So yeah, found myself up at the buttcrack of dawn again yesteray, same song, different verse, a little bit louder, a little bit worse..

Ended up going to bed around 9pm the night before, and getting up at 2:30am or so... Fiddle diddied around with my comp for an hour or two then got all set up and ready to go. Borrowed my sisters van (my parent's old one she inherited, the 93 Voyager not their new one the 2002 Town & Country) and headed off to pick up the six peeps that ended up going with me. That was around 4:20, but we didn't actually get on the road until 5:15 or so, had some "delays" with people forgetting stuff and taking too long and not being awake yet, etc... Made it to Big Bear without much problem, although it was like an hour just from where you get off the freeway onto the mountain road near Riverside... Some awesome views, but pretty nerve racking driving as you putz along on the edge of cliffs and around switchbacks... Had some McD's on the way, although I was a little depressed I couldn't get my Deluxe Big Breakfast while I was driving, had to settle for a #3, Sausage McMuffin with Hash Brown and a Large OJ (I drink a TON of OJ, three meals a day while eating at the DC at school).

The whole parking/buying tickets/renting equipment thing went pretty well... Little did I know my boots were at least a size too small, I would pay for that later... First time off the lift I of course ate shit like everyone always does, although I blame the person next to be generally. ;) Had some serious wobble problems at first, but eventually got the whole center of gravity balance thing down... The one plus about skiing is its easier to just be motionless talking to ppl or resting or whatnot, rather than always having to be "praying to the snow gods" as my father calls it, or sitting on your ass... I did my share of eating it, the worst of which happened on one of the easiest beginner slopes, strangely enough... I actually did the majority of falling there trying to learn how to turn and stop on the two edge as well as the heel, never really got that down, but managed to be facing the hill at one point when my heel edge just dug in and sent me flying backwards over it, eventually landing on my ass, then having my head whiplash into the ice... This was followed by a chorus of "OHHHHHH that one hurt him" from the lift overhead...

Two of my friends started off skiing, but one of them shattered his boot and ended up renting a board to have fun with us, thus there were about four of us boarding who basically sucked ass, which made it fun. :) At one point we ended up on this REALLY flat run to the point you'd get up, not move, and eventually fall again... Finally one of us would get moving, run into someone else, and we'd both go down again... Needless to say my muscles just about all over OTHER than my legs are bein pretty painful today... A couple of the other guys had no problem getting up and made fun of me, until I pointed out that lifting 130 pounds off the ground is a bit different than 200... (oops brought up my weight, yeah twenty pounds by new years isn't actually happening, but that's good, because I needed a new years resolution! ;) harder to exercise at home anyway, no pool, no reccen, no friends/exercise partners readily available :/ )

So yeah, had a great time, spent some time with some fun ppl, had some interesting convo's to/from the place during three hour or so ride... Ended up going to TGIFriday's on the way home, chowed on some pretty good chicken fettucine alfredo, had some more strange conversation about everything, managed to wake me up enough to safely get home the rest of the way.. (driving down the mountain road in pitch black dark was uh, interesting. Actually wasn't that bad, but everyone else was asleep, so I had to pay attention a bit more, and getting hi-beamed every 15 seconds wasn't so cool either...) Managed to drop everyone off and eventually make it home around 10 or 11pm, when I was reminded about the aforementioned dentist appointment...

So the jury is still out on Skiing vs Snowboarding, although both are fun enough, I'll probably end up doing whatever the majority of the people I'm with are doing each time I go. ;) Or should I say the majority of girls. Hm...

Going to be a lot of downtime until Monday when I'm up before dawn again to head to Dland, gettin excited just thinkin about it! :)

[yawn, snore, growl]

The below post was actually like 8 hours earlier, but Blogger was down, typical...

So anyway, traditional Wilson xmas with the kids... My parents were always trying to devise ways to keep us out of the living room where they'd laid out all the presents from Santa and our stockings full of candy and whatnot, and thus hopefully keep us quiet so they could sleep until a sane hour... (6am was the usual wake-up time) All the bedrooms open up into the same hallway in this house, so if they could find a way to block that they would succeed in their task... The most popular year consisted of lots and lots of newspaper, to the point they had covered they entire space between the walls ceiling with it, and placed all the scissors in the house on the other side... The kids woke up around 2am and spent the next hour or so taking a snip every 10 minutes with an old corrugated pair from my sister's sewing set... Around 3 we finally had a big enough space to crawl through and the living room was ours! Another year they tried the bells on strings approach, with all of them connected via some contraption, so that when we cut one we had to catch them all before they hit...One of their final attempts was talking trash about getting a "motion detector" for about 3 months, to the point my dad even took my brother shopping in that section a couple weeks prior at an electronics store... Turned out they had this elaborate setup with flashing lights and what looked much like a motion detector, but was really an intercom. The whole wake-up scene was always pretty elaborate on our part... A few years we'd have very loud music start playing (Lion King's Circle of Life was always good), me blasting on the trumpet, and my brother screaming or yelling or doing something else obnoxious as we kicked in the door to the parents bedroom...

Anyway, as you can see, Christmas is a quite complicated occasion at the Wilson house, starting at about 6am, ending around 10 or 11 depending on the year once all the presents have been opened, candy been stuffed in, and breakfast caserrole been finished off...

Part of my gifts to the family were candy bars to each of them with a rhyme associated to it... For example my brothers:

"I just wanted you to know I'll always think you're pure chunk;
no matter how many girls call you a:"
Then there was a large BIG HUNK candy bar attached to the paper... My father's was pretty good too:

"You did very well skiing, proving false my hunch;
that you'd go flying off the hill into a tree, and I'd hear you go:"
And of course, a large CRUNCH attached to that one.

Harhar. Me so funny. So anyway. Did pretty well on the recieving end, picked up a swiss army knife I finally clued into needing about the 80th time I was looking for scissors or a kitchen knife to open a package or whatnot this break... Also got the usual wolf shirt, (i'm a big wolf fan, their eyes are almost as cool as mine, and their personality is basically the same ;) ) although this one is the prettiest so far, and various t-shirts with clever or funny sayings that I'm infamous for wearing on a regular basis... Also picked up the latest edition of Creative's sound card, which combined with my speaker system makes mp3's, games, and movies sound pretty amazing...

A grand ol time was had by all! Next up is a description of "The Next Day" (tm) when I ended east for the mountains... Will save that one for tonight.

Chipmunk Cheeks

Nothing better than 9am dentist appointments to get cavities drilled that you forget about til the last minute. Especially when you're up late after snowboarding all day the day before and thrashing yourself into a berjillion pieces. Really. Its great.

...

So I guess while I sit here waiting for the whole numb thing to screw off so I can eat because I'm starving I can catch up on some storytelling from the last couple of days. Its been quite fun actually.

[ten minutes later]

Okay this sucks. I'll do it later. I'm going to sleep.

Not A Creature Was Stirring...

Other than a rather large male, plopped in his usual chair listening to the whirrrrrrrrr of his case fans...

[bends his ring finger back and forth gingerly, realizes it doesn't hurt, and flexes]

Teehee, looks like it won't be a problem for the snowboard trip. Now for the skiing story...

Got up there at the crack of dawn, after downing my usual Deluxe Big Breakfast that I tend to snag at McDonalds before big events that require waking up early... Hooking into all the gear for the first time was quite complicated, and once you have these six foot extensions of your legs on its quite cumbersome at first... I must say I'm proud that for the entire day I managed to never eat shit off the lift, unlike just about everyone else there... Apparently snowboarders have the most difficulty, I had quite a grand old time watching two of them faceplant about four feet off the lift, finally stand up laughing at themselves, and getting their legs taken out from under them by the next pair diving forward... :) The challenge for the skiers was to dodge the pileups at the top of the lifts that kept occurring... Strangely enough it was about a 10 to 1 snowboard to skier ratio, which suggests that the former is the easier sport, especially given some of the people who were managing to make it down the hill...

Spent the first few hours on the usual beginner hill, getting the whole turning stopping etc deal down, then went on to some lower intermediate hills, which were quite a lot of fun. The main problem I faced throughout the day was the worry that I was going to get run over by the high speed snowboarders that were blasting through the lower hills from the advanced ones at any given moment... Many a time I either caused one of them to swerve out and crashed, or did it myself.. My one major mistake was trying to get on the express lift too fast and knocking over the two people in front of me who were waiting for it... Got me a stern talking to from the guy up top, he apparently didn't realize I was a first timer and thought I was "bullying" them... So yeah anyway the view from up top was pretty amazing, was crystal clear out towards Victorville and Vegas, could see for hundreds of miles. Mountain High is only about a 90 min drive from my house, which means larger crowds, but is more convenient for a random weekend excursion.

At any rate, the top crash of the day was when I was on the hardest skill level slope I ended up trying, got going way too fast, caught an edge, skidded out, flew about four feet through the air at about a two foot height, slammed into the slope, and managed for some reason to keep both my skis on, even though they were pointing at opposite diagonals, which did in my groin pretty well... Its unknown which crash ended up spraining my finger, or whether it happened later in the day or something, just started giving me a lot of pain that night. Strangely enough I didn't end up feeling the usual soreness or pain the next day, I was feeling bouncy as ever. I'm sure snowboarding will do in the knees/ass a bit more than skiing did. I'm hoping it'll be easier, less appendages going in different directions... Not to say I suck royally at skiing, I think I did pretty well for a first day. :) My dad performs very well for a man of his age, and managed to show off a couple times going off various jumps and screaming down steep inclines, he enjoys proving he's better than me in anything he can, a rarity given he's getting old, and I'm not quite through my prime just yet... :P I did manage to avoid finding a tree with my name on it, and my dad managed to run over about five times the snowboarders that I did. ;)

Had a "family dinner" tonight for Chistmas Eve, which consists of barbs being thrown in random directions and memories from previous christmas's being brought up and laughed about... The usual high level of terrible jokes was available from the mother and father, while the sister and brother did their best to keep up with me... (head grows to obscene levels and explodes). Anyway, always entertaining when all five Wilson's are at a table together.

I actually managed to get out and snag everyone a gift this year, even though some are of the funny variety... :)

Hm, past 1, I suppose I should be getting to bed so I can be awake for the usual trumpet in the parents ear awakening around 6am... There's been a tradition in this house for ages that the parents try to keep us from getting out to the living room to see what Santa brought, using all manners of techniques of blocking the hallway and/or threats... I'll be sure to detail some of the better ones tomorrow. ;)

Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy Holidays. May the spirit of giving help all of those in need.

Another Unfortunate Excuse...

Actually this is a valid one, managed to jack up my finger at the resort yesterday, causing it to hurt like all living hell when I bend it, etc, so typing is pretty horribly slow at the moment. Plan on a big ol explanation of the injury's occurance and the other fun times I had skiing for the first time on Saturday at Mountain High as soon as the pain has toned down to a tolerable level. :/

Still planning to snowboard at Snow Summit on Wednesday, the swelling should be gone by then, one would think...

Dayam, me foine!

Ah, hadn't been conceited within these pages in a while, needed to fit that in somewhere. :) So yeah, decided on a whim last night that I was going to try snowboarding for the first time ever... Turns out some friends of mine are going next Wednesday, so I'll be hittin the slopes at the crack of dawn, and if I'm lucky, won't break any bones. :)

Of course this requires "winter clothing" of which I have none. I'm a t-shirt/shorts kinda guy, even when it drops to about 40 (the coldest southern california ever gets) so this whole "heavy jacket" concept was new to me. Ended up raiding sportmart for some pretty spiff threads if I don't say so myself. (too late) Got the whole blue/silver color coordination goin, and with the whole hood/neckwarm/facecover and shades on, I look pretty much like those guys who rob banks. I figure its always good to draw attention to yourself, especially when you're about to look like a total idiot rolling over and over and over down a mountain... :)

Should be interesting, I'll probably also go with the father sometime this week or next to do the whole skiing thing as well, get at least two days of mileage out of the new threads. Speaking of mileage, I'm at 99,996 in my car at the moment, bout to roll over to the big 100k mark. That means I've put about 20k miles on it since I picked it up three years ago, including countless SB to LA to SB and back again traverses. Not bad for a car we picked up for $2500 that's 15 years old...

Oh and one more thing...

geek>
They finally released drivers for my Win TV card for WinXP to allow me to cap both audio and video at the same time!
/geek>

That basically means I'll be able to create avi movie files on my computer of just about anything on TV, commercial free of course. I'll be collecting 24 episodes for sure, and probably capturing some other special event type things as well. If anyone has any requests for things they want forever enshrined on their computer, feel free to let me know. :) Half hour shows end up about 100 megs, and hour long ones end up about 220. So obviously, you'd have to be on broadband, or REALLY patient, to be able to get them from me.

One Ring To Bring Them All, and In The Darkness, Bind Them.

Those who don't recognize the above quote have missed out on a classic piece of literature... Don't get me wrong, I'm generally not a fan at all of the fantasy genre, but when it comes to arguably the most popular series of all time that has lasted for generations, even I have to give it a shot. I must say after giving The Hobbit a once over and busting through the initial book of the trilogy The Fellowship of the Ring today, I believe its been time well spent. Of course, I was in quite a hurry moving through the 400 pager tonight given I was planning to attend the 12:01am showing at the local theater... I always tend to leave these things to the last minute, but its just a crime to watch a movie before reading the book, so alas the task was completed.

Now for probably the first ever review by someone who saw the movie in general release... (no other moron is staying up even later to type this) I think I'm going to go with a rating system of my own, we'll say 1 to 7 M's, just to confuse the random reader. The scale will be as follows:

1 - Not even worth the 10 cent CD to burn and add to my collection.
2 - Just barely worth the 10 cents, just to be complete. Very poor for multiple reasons.
3 - Below average, not something I would pay to see. Maybe downloadable if really that bored. Possibly "weird."
4 - Average. Your typical movie. Worth the 3 bucks to rent. Maybe even a bargain matinee.
5 - Above average. Entertaining. Good in some ways, bad in others.
6 - Excellent. I would pay to see this in the theater. Anything that provokes a feeling from inside, be it joy, sadness, excitement, or despair.
7 - Top of the line. I've probably seen this multiple times. I probably left the theater a different person than when I walked in. I would probably have forked over a hundred bucks to see this if I knew how good it was. This will not be a common rating.

Now, the more important part, examples of the above ratings, so all those who don't agree with my tastes can realize I'm a bumbling idiot and ignore any movie review they come across in the future.

1 - The Last Starfighter. I don't care how cool it was in the 80s. I watched it twenty years later, and it sucked. Bad.
2 - Magnolia This one's controversial, but it leads the "weird" file. I'm not into weird movies. Other possibilities for this group would be Requiem For A Dream or Pi. I need a movie to make sense, have some sort of logical plot, or at least some sense that the elements of the movie are connected somehow. Not randomness.
3 - Bounce No beef with Ben, no beef with Gwen, it was just a poor movie. Not much to it. Could have been 20 minutes. Wasn't.
4 - Cast Away Love Tom. In a lot of things. Long movie, again, didn't need to be. Disagreed with the ending. Make out, then back into the house she goes? Lame. Sure that's the way its supposed to be, but dangling ends just wouldn't work for me in real life. I'd be obsessed I bet.
5 - Just About Any Decent Action/Drama Movie A whole lot will fit this category. Anything that the media probably hyped, looked good, I went to see it, came out pumped, jabbering about how cool the stunt sequence/car chase/fight scene/computer animation/battle footage/cinematography was. Spy Game is an easy example here, just saw it.
6 - Gonna go with an off the beaten path one here. Snow Falling on Cedars Disclaimer: I was in a white male/asian female relationship at the time. So it struck home pretty hard. Might have caused some bias. Other side of the spectrum, Saving Private Ryan. Still to date, the most powerful opening twenty five minutes I've ever seen.
7 - Time to make all the men groan out there... Titanic. Say what you will, but this movie had everything. Effects, action, romance, a score with portions that to this day make me feel energized, and portions that water my eyes. Only a handful of movies have managed to yank tears out of me in public, and I'm not worried about letting people know that. The only three hour movie during which I never even hit the indiglo to check. On a more cheerful note The Breakfast Club. Probably in my top ten of all time. I've seen it easily a dozen times, and laugh hysterically every time. The scenes where they're not even talking are some of the best. (pixi stix and captain crunch in a sandwich, classic).


Okay I know I had a point here somewhere. Ah that's right. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring comes in at 5.5 M's. It suffers from the fact I've read the book, and realize how much has been left out. Parts I was excited to see were just skipped over as the plot was changed somewhat. This happens in all book turned movies though. I do however applaud the depiction of the Dark Riders, I'll be having nightmares in my sleep for a while. Easily the most freaky point of the movie though was actually caused by Bilbo in a rather creepy state, generating quite a reaction from the packed theater. (I know I'm a spoilsport, but you won't know what I'm talking about until afterward I'm sure...) Speaking of which, I did mention I was with all the cooky hookies at the 12:01am showing. Its the second time I've attended one of those, the previous being Episode I: The Phantom Menace. (6 M's) There's something about having grown men dueling in the aisles with wanna-be light sabers during the preshow that makes the whole theater going experience more entertaining. Tonight didn't quite achieve the energy that Star Wars created, during that one as soon as the first note of the theme played and the text started scrolling, I couldn't hear much of anything for the next several minutes as the crowd hooted, hollered, cheered, whistled, stomped, threw popcorn, and celebrated in general revelry. Tonight we had the usual mass booing every time ANOTHER preview started though, and the rousing applause lasting for quite some time when it was over. The movies effects were quite impressive as expected, with the costumes and makeup superb. The acting was on the plus side, my one beef being casting the sunglasses bad guy from the Matrix as Elrond the elf. I kept thinking he was going to hiss "morpheussssssssss" at any second, his voice was just too representative of that movie for me. Besides which he didn't really look like an elf anyway. The archer Losolos or something or other was much more what I had mental picturized. Yeah that's a verb now.

So it would appear that for the next couple years I'll at least be able to rely on sequels and trilogies for entertainment, other than The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars I found out that Men In Black II will be coming out (the first one was awesome on the effects side of things and Will Smith and Tommy Lee are just too cool, 6 M's) as well as Blade II (original had plenty of action, 5 M's) and a few more Matrix and X-Men sequels, which I'm also looking forward to. Course I won't be waiting til then just yet, still have four or five movies I'm planning to see over the break. Maybe more, who knows. I get bored. :)

Looks like I'll be seeing you at the theater, everyone.

One Good, One Not So Good...

Headed out to the AMC 20 with a couple high school friends, paid to see Spy Game then theater hopped over to Not Another Teen Movie. In case you still haven't figured out the header, Spy Game was excellent, the wann-be comedy was not. It was basically an imitation Scary Movie, only not as funny and much more nauseating. That is, unless you like looking at naked male ass. Ugly, naked male ass. Back to the more pleasant subject, I thought Robert Redford and Brad Pitt both performed well in the former, quite entertaining.

Probably going to be handing out a lot of reviews this break, plenty of movies out I'd like to see. I'm sure I'll head over to the mall for a 2 or 3 movie outing at least once or twice (hey, its cheaper that way).

geek>
Been playing a lot of Empire Earth, a new game based on the likes of AOE2 and WC2, its time consuming, but that's pretty much all I can say about it to this point. I'm used to the Civ2 type progressing through time, and its much more difficult to achieve that in this game. Basically its build the biggest army and go crush the opponent, which isn't the type of strategy I generally use, so I've been getting worked over by the computer pretty good. It cheats, I swear!

Also been replaying RTCW on the most difficult skill level, still going to have to give it the best graphics/gameplay award of the holiday season. Ghost Recon is a close second, but given they're different types of games they can't really be compared. FIFA 2002 and NHL 2002 have been providing needed breaks as well, nothing like body slamming an opponent into the boards to relieve stress, especially if playing against a brother or such. Haven't yet tried Madden 2002, getting around to it. :) I think I'm looking forward to the multiplayer aspect of RTCW most, its based on the Q3 engine which I have always performed well at, should provide hours of fragfests. Of course playing in cooperative mode in games is another thing I've always thought was highly entertaining, and being able to do that with Ghost Recon against foes set to a very high difficulty level should prove to be quite challenging.

/geek>

I've always thought that the perfect woman for me would be one that was at least interested in computer gaming, if not a gamer herself. I could go on for days talking about something I'm interested in, like how far I got in a certain game or how many people I fragged that round, but if its just the "smile and nod" response I just don't feel loved. :/ I know I'm always impressed by a gamer of the female type who gives me a thorough ass whooping. Its something to admire. Ah, wouldn't it be nice if someone like that was out there. ;)

I R Here.

Everythings good to go back at home. Raided the place of all edible material. Now planning to sleep til the cows come home. (shouldn't be too long, my siblings will be arriving soon)

Seems Like This Happens Way Too Often...

Packing up the ol comp again, this time headed home for a month for Winter Break. Should be up and running later today knowing me, but might just leave it til the morning. Finally decided to get off my butt and pack, this whole only guy in the dorms thing is cool for a while, but since the deadline to get out is 10am tomorrow anyway, might as well leave tonight rather than actually wake up before noon. :) Those in the LA area, feel free to ring me up during break, I'll probably be absolutely desperate for things to do. Think you live too far away to be of use? Think again! That's what cars are for. :) Besides, I miss a lot of u ppl! :/

Guess I Owe an Explanation...

Its like this, I'd rather waste my time doing something else if I know the thing I'm going to be reading is going to be boring and pointless. So I figure other people feel the same, and if I have nothing to say, I should wait until I do before filling these pages with randomness.

The reason its been dullsville around here is that as previously mentioned I have no finals to take, but everyone else has had their head in the books. Thus, I haven't been doing much other than exercising, reading, burning cds, playing games, wasting time, eating, etc etc. Did I mention sleep? Yeah, been getting plenty of that.

So I finally met up with the girl I met over Thanksgiving online who's a freshman here, we had a grand ol time walkin over to Freebirds and chowin on some grub. Strangely, I was more nervous heading for the place we decided to meet than I thought I would be. Its not the first time I've come into contact in real life with someone I met solely through the internet, and I'm sure it won't be the last. I'm very gung ho about the whole internet thing, tend to be very trusting about various issues such as chatting with random people and purchasing products or winning auctions online.

Called up one of my exs on her birthday the other day, she said something that kind of bothered me when she called me back... "Yeah, thanks for calling, I felt bad because I remembered in May, but I just felt awkward..." It seems the popular attitude towards one's previous girlfriend is negativity and disdain, which I just don't understand. I've always tried to maintain friendships with them, just as I would any other friend. I've never dated anyone that wasn't a good friend first, so I see no reason why it shouldn't stay that way afterward. In this particular case we only see each other about once a year, but it just kind of bugged that she would say something like that. Maybe I was just in an easy to be bugged mood.

Began watching the Band of Brothers HBO miniseries that I downloaded a while ago, only two eps into it but this far its pretty amazing. I hear it only gets better, looking forward to viewing the rest. Also decided to make Pearl Harbor one of the DVDs for my Columbia House deal... For those who aren't doing it you get 4 DVDs for 49 cents each along with 1 for 10 bucks at the start, and then have to just buy 3 at regular price over the next two years (tends to be around 20 bucks). So Overall you get 8 DVDs for 72 bucks or so. I guess if you find really good 9.99 each deals in stores its about the same, but the brand new releases tend to be upward of 20 or 25 bucks. I picked up Titanic, Gladiator, Braveheart, The Patriot, and Saving Private Ryan with my initial deal, all movies that just REQUIRE 5.1 channel Dolby Digital sound. :) That's the one downside of my large collection, its all 2 channel sound, no bullets whizzing behind the head or birds fluttering across the room.

Not entirely sure when I'm going home, the dorms close on Saturday so I'll definitely be out by then, but if I find some reason to be home earlier I'll probably head out. Packing up everything is such a pain, I'm sure I'll slack until the last possible moment.

Time Flies When You're.... Doing Nothing.

Man, you'd think over the last three days something would have happened that would have been worth more than two sentences.

Nope.

Doremifasewlatidooooooo

Made an awesome decision tonight in cancelling plans with some friends in order to attend a concert I'd already said I would go to a week prior (I never remember these things)... It was the fall concert for Naked Voices, the only a capella group here at UCSB. My friend on the fifth floor was performing, as well as someone I knew from the third floor last year. The first song they did was "Earth Song" by Michael Jackson. This had been a favorite of mine from years ago, back when his HIStory cd first came out. Hearing it again was like a blast from the past, and they just performed it beautifully. I was seriously amazed, a lot of what they did was just mind blowing.

Literally made me want to go try out then and there, then came the realization I was most likely not at the talent level that they need, and might not be able to mesh with the group and such. Basically a lot of the reasons I end up not going through with a lot of things I consider. I've never thought I had very good range as a vocalist, and no one outside my mother has ever taken me seriously (guys singing = cute, but not cool). I'll probably get into something music related some day. One of those things I do on rainy days. Teach myself piano, sing, whistle, anything to make the day a little brighter.

Tried something new at Carrow's tonight, which tends to be a pretty rare thing when it comes to me and food. The southwestern crispy rolls, or something. Yummy stuff, although unhealthy as my eating buddy pointed out. Then came a petty argument about something not worth arguing about. Least to me it seemed petty. We settled it eventually though, striking a deal to not bother each other about a specific thing that we felt was important even though the other person did not. So anyway. If only all riddles and relationships were so easy to solve.

ShuffStaffel!

No idea whether I'm spelling it right, and most of you probably don't care, but some of you will recognize that as a familiar grunt from the enemies in the first person shooter (fps) computer game that started it all, Wolfenstein 3D. I must have been in about 6th grade or something when that originally came out, even before the grandaddy of them all, Doom. Made quick work of its sequel tonight, of the title Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The differences between the games are profound however. Largely due to my graphics card, some of the visuals are just breathtaking. By far some of the best World War II areas such as bombed cities and factories I've ever seen in a computer game. It was very realistic, almost like it was right out of Saving Private Ryan or Enemy at the Gates. The set pieces were incredible, they did things I've never seen done in that type of game. Of course, it was created based on the Quake 3 engine, my personal favorite, so I suppose I'm a little biased. Still working on finishing Alien vs Predator 2, which thus far has also been very impressive with some absolutely humongous level sizes, albeit a short game altogether.

Now that those of you who don't share my passion for computer games (all of you) have fallen asleep... I'll do the same. :)

Highway Run Into the Midnight Sun...

Downloaded "Faithfully" by Journey tonight, not sure why I didn't have it before. I'm an 80's fan for the most part, enjoy collecting the songs I heard so much growing up. Some melodies just stick in your head for ages, hearing them come on the radio is like hearing a familiar voice, catching a whiff of a familiar scent, or tasting a favorite food. The ones I catch myself whistling randomly even if I haven't heard them in a few years.

Had a contemplative conversation with someone I met recently tonight, interesting enough that it had us both up at 4am. If there's one person its useful to know, its the one that can give the best back massage. Had the usual conversation about my driver's license picture...

Them: HOLY JEEZ YOU WERE SKINNY
Me: Gee thx.
Them: No you're not fat now, well I mean you're fatter than you were but its not bad, I mean, well you know?
Me: ...

General consensus appears to be its nice not to be skin and bones, but I could use some improvement anyway. Guess I haven't been honest with myself updating the weight lately. After the first five pounds or so it seems to be quite stagnant. I'm sure going home will change things, since at home what you eat tends to be what you fix, and if you don't fix you don't eat.

Winamp's shuffle just managed to pick Mark Schultz's "He's My Son" out of the mix. Still one of the most heartfelt songs I've ever heard. I remember the first time I heard it, when I was on my way to work last summer. The story behind it told prior and the song itself kept me in the car an extra five minutes, causing me to be late to work and earning me a reprimand. Truth be told, I didn't care. Just a really touching song. Word of warning, its hopeful, but not cheerful.

COME ON DOWN!!!!!!

Thursday was Price is Right day. This was cool because I only found out about it the day before from a friend of mine on the 5th floor. Each two floors is considered a unit hall that meets together and such in this building, so mine is the 3rd/4th. Unfortunately (for the girls) there is a greater number of them this year, so the floor breakdown is 5 girl/3 guy. So anyway, the 5th/6th are both female floors, and they were the ones going, but needed drivers, so I was able to go. In other words there were about twenty girls, their R/A and our ARD, and me. I wasn't complaining.

Ended up having an absolute blast like I always do when we go to the Price Is Right (this is my third time, once each year). It started out kind of crummy, we left at 7:15am to a chorus of rainstorms and traffic, ended up taking WAY longer than usual to get to LA, almost got there too late, were supposed to be there at 10:30 and didn't make it til 11, luckily enough of us got there on time to hold down the fort and save our slots.

We went through the usual five hour screening process, where you get your nametags, get a short interview from the producers, and so on and so forth. Eventually got inside, got to hear the same speech by Rod Roddy (no idea on the spelling there) and eventually the show started. There's an absolute ton of energy in that room, reminds me of Disneyland at New Years. So to make a long story short, I didn't get picked again (sniffle sniffle) but our ARD did, and ended up winning a cool 13 G's in cash. I should mention that if you take a group of twenty or more people they guarantee that one of them will make it into contestants row. Rolando (the ARD) ended up making most of his money on the big wheel, spinning .35 and .65 for a grand the first time around, and then hitting the 1.00 on his bonus spin for another ten grand. Must be nice... :P

Afterward we all went to Universal Citywalk, somewhere I'd never been before (sad, given I live in LA). That place was actually really awesome, plenty of cool restaurants in there, fun shops, the whole area seeming much like an amusement park (it basically is). Wow, major abuse of parentheses in this post. We ate at the Hard Rock cafe, had some yummy burgers and such. Drive back was actually really lame, both the friends of mine that were riding with me fell asleep, and I had some major trouble trying to keep from hitting the sack myself (while driving). Ended up pulling off in Ventura to circle surface streets for a bit and shake myself back into it, where I ended up seeing a fire in progress, ambulances and fire engines and everything. That shocked me awake to the point the rest of the drive was no problem, but was still pretty boring. Then again any drive is boring after you've done it over fifty times.

More later, I'm only caught up through Thursday, and its Sunday night/Monday morning now. :)

ASDLKJASFDLKJ

Okay, I'm bad. So I'm gonna start posting in chunks since a full post on the last few days would be really, really, long.

We'll start with Wednesday. This was the day I carried out a decision I made the week prior. Well I guess I have to start there, really.

So I'm doing my math homework on Wednesday, planning to drive home much later that night. The thought occurs to me that I have no interest in the field of math I'm doing homework in. Then I come to the realization that I haven't enjoyed doing homework or going to class in quite some time. So to make a long story short I hop in the car around 3pm, fed up with what I'm doing, what I'm not doing, and life in general. Its about a three hour ride down to my house from UCSB if I take the winding Highway 1, and on a day such as the Wednesday before Thanksgiving I tend to go that way, since I'd rather enjoy a peaceful ride with a wonderful view all along the way, than sitting in the smog and horn honking wilderness that is the 405. So basically on the way home I decide I'm not going to major in computer science at UCSB. Yeah, kind of bad to come to this conclusion once already seven quarters into college. Then again, that's better than being twenty years down the road and deciding you hate what you do.

So after hours of discussion with the parents (the father was less than pleased that this last quarter has been wasted repeating classes I ended up withdrawing from) it was decided that I'd switch over to Business Economics. The theory is I got four's on both the Macroecon and Microecon AP's, and have always liked/been good at it, so I shouldn't have any problem with the major. Besides which, a Buis Econ degree will be useful in the same companies I was planning to work at preferrably, specifically something to do with the recreational technology industry.

Hm, rereading that I spelled Busi differently in two places. Turns out its Busi. That doesn't really work when tryin to say "bis econ" like most people do. Hm...

So Wednesday was spent following through with all the paperwork, in order to change college/major, and also withdraw from the current quarter and get reaccepted into the Winter one. This was basically an eight hour process, from an early morning appointment through the middle of the afternoon. One particular piece of paper (the application for withdrawal) required signatures from like eight different places around campus, which meant crisscrossing campus on my bike at least a dozen times. In particular Housing and Residential Services made my life a living hell, as they tried to tell me I would have to move out of my room for the next two weeks and give it to someone else, just so that I would move into somewhere else next quarter once a registered student again. Retarded.

So finally got all my stuff in the mail, turns out my Econ classes and such stay registered for next quarter, so I'm done with all the paperwork and mumbojumbo that was required. Basically for two weeks I can focus on other aspects of my life that have been recently ignored. Next update in a bit.

More Apologies...

Its only 9:30pm, and I'm more tired than when I hit the sack at 7am. Insanely long/tiring day today, gonna hit the sack early. However, big story about a life altering event that has been occurring over the last few days, as well as one about how fun today was (til the last hour). I promise I'll have it up tomorrow. Now I just need to sleepaseprajserakserjlkaaaafffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

A Quick Note...

Been busy filling out mounds of paperwork and tracking down tons of signatures today, too tired to tell the story just yet.

Also leaving at 7am tomorrow to appear on The Price Is Right, wish me luck! I want a new car! ;)

"I Think He's Pretty Cool."

Such a simple statement, that. Yet one would be amazed how much of an affect it can have on a person. It can take a particularly gloomy day and cut a ray of sunshine through the storm.

Was at Carrow's with a friend of mine discussing our woes when we bumped into another friend of mine and her roommate who had been there at the same time as us, randomly. At some point during the conversation my initial friend made a joke about me, and after a pause my other friend's roommate followed up with the line above. Even though I was being referred to in the third person, it still made me feel really great. I don't know the girl very well, but it still made a difference. I'm still smiling. :)

Speaking of woes, its been an interesting few days, basically life altering. Things have definitely changed for the better though, and I'm optimistic about what the future may hold. Its a long story, I'll fill you in later.

Ooooohhh Ahhhhhhh

The feel of a keyboard that doesn't sound obnoxious... The joy of an optical mouse that causes the cursor to actually move to where you tell it... The comfort of a leather chair perfectly fitted around your person... The silence whenever you want it...

These are the wonderful things about being back at school that I love so much. That and the fact there's actually a social atmosphere. Pretty uneventful day other than the driving, unpacking, relaxing... Had a wonderful drive up Highway 1, didn't see any traffic at all, and it was just a gorgeous day. This post is making me feel old, I'll cut it short. :)

The Mack Attack Is Back Jack

Er yeah, back in the dorm, phone plugged back in, and all that jazz. :)

Here's To The Night's We Felt Alive...

And unfortunately, could not sleep a wink... Another one of those wide awake mornings when its only 1:30am, strange, must be something in the water down here.

Just had another invigorating conversation with someone I've never met, I'm not sure what makes me so into those. Something neat about discussing random issues with a random someone, hearing opinions you've never heard, exchanging smilies with someone you've never seen before. I guess its all due to my physicality complex, I've always thought I was just average looking, not exactly the type of person one would meet and be like "WOW HES SO HOT." Meeting people through forums that doesn't include physical appearances always allows me to show them what's really there, escape all the premature assumptions.

Chatting with a friend as we speak, and said something close to what's above, and she seems to think girls find confidence attractive. If that's the case, I'm probably screwed. I've never had the swagger that some drunken orcs have when they stumble into a room full of women, and suddenly become chick magnets. Then again, I guess I'm not really looking for that kind of person anyway.

Strangely enough, I'm not as desperate for female companionship as it might seem. Now that I think about it, I'm perfectly satisfied with having a berjillion female friends. The only thing missing there is the deep commitment, and the physicalities. Yeah the first would be nice, but if it isn't there, why force it or kill myself looking?

Why does this feel like a pep talk.

Anyway, back to the random someone. Turns out as is sometimes the case I'll actually end up meeting her at some point, which is cool. Think I mentioned at some point my random trip to Ohio to meet one of those random people (wasn't female though, and I'd known him online for a few years through a computer game, scary thought as it is). She actually seems to be the type to do her homework, get good grades, all that academic stuff, maybe it'll rub off. :) In any case, she satisfies the three requirements I have in friends I enjoy spending time with: 1. Breathing. 2. Good decision making skills about certain issues I feel strongly about. 3. Can put together a coherent sentence with words longer than four letters not including "like". :)

Yeah, its kind of sad now that I think about that I have a selection process for friends. I guess some things are just very important to me, and I feel more at home with people who are like minded. I think we're all that way, whether we admit it or not. Subconscious assumptions, stereotypes, categorizing, etc.

This is a pathetically convoluted post. See what 3am gets you.

Anyway. Back to school I go, manana.

Sex In Space May Not Work

"Scientists who have been looking into the movement of sperm in space, with its lower gravity, believe that they have found out that sex in space may not lead to pregnancies because the lack of gravity causes a change in it. Spem, when in space, moves around a lot more than it does on the earth, but unfortunately the lack of gravity means that a enzyme that is supposed to tell it when to stop moving does not kick in, so it cannot fertilise an egg." (www.shortnews.com)

Damn. Remember how I said I would be part of that first mission to live on Mars? There's a kink in my plans.

Wait a second. They don't mean sex won't work, they mean PREGNANCY, don't they? Hm.. Maybe that's a plus, then. :)

Don't get me wrong, I love kids, its just... well dangit, never mind I'm going to go force myself to sleep more.

P.S. I'd like to thank BRUCE from the St. Louis area, someone I met online through an online gaming thing and have kept in touch with, for happening to be active on my AIM list and entertaining me for several crucial minutes on the path through boredom. You go, girl.

Tick, Tock.

Tonight was one of those nights where you go to bed relatively early (meaning 10 or 11pm) and after a nice full sleep wake up feeling fresh and ready to start the day, glance over at the usual digits, and see 1:30am. Bust. At school this would be a good thing, time to catch up on homework, movie watching, or go invade someone's room down the hall. At home for Thanksgiving, that just means internet surfing until anyone sane will log on and talk to you.

No dice so far.

I wonder if I've ever repeated a little heading thingy title. I hope not. That would be so, not creative.

So I was having fun with google (not a pet, the search engine) and dumping in random things, trying to find interesting people in my general area of the world. I think it was "friendly ucsb" that ended up bringing me to a particular female's page. It was an excellent read, neat that there are people like that out there. I then proceeded to make a retard of myself by posting a hundred something line entry in her guestbook about how cool that was, next to all the two and three liners. I guess e-mail would have been more intelligent. Sigh.

Some people get that "don't know what say" or "frog in your throat" thing when talking to new people. My problem tends to be I talk a lot, and end up saying something that just sucks. Case in point:

Scene: Airbus from Oakland Airport to BART station, window seat next to strange looking young man.
Conversation lead in: Discussing why we're both in the area, him because he's looking at Berkeley for graduate school having just come from MIT, me because I'm bored.

M: Yeah, glad that we're on vacation now, finals week was a real pain, physics just blew me away. I'm glad that there are other people crazy enough to pursue the subject, because they're saving me a life of torture. So, what are you planning to study?
New Person: Quantum and Theoretical Physics, actually... [nervous giggle]
M: [grabs his sneaker, inserts it orally, and proceeds to choke] Ah, hehe. Well, there ya go, everyone does what they like, whatever floats your boat, blows your skirt up, that kind of thing.
[the bus door opens, and the young man hurriedly escapes]

I was reminded of this because the new girl is also a physics major, something that impresses me, even if I loathe the subject myself. Real world problems are cool when its a ball bouncing, a man running around a track, cars racing, etc. Integrating the ocean moving across a region of the sand bottom in relation to the tides causing wave formations, is not cool.

Hm. There was a strange piece of hardware sitting over here next to my father's computer. I picked it up cuz it looked fun, was able to bend back in forth. Then it broke in half. Luckily, it was because there were about twenty individual parts that were fastened together, so it was easily fixable. Remind me not to touch things like that anymore. :/

[Shoulders Some People Out Of the Way To Reach The Computer]

Ah, finally some time on the ol keyboard. Least once everyone goes to sleep there's some peace and quiet around here.

My legs feel pretty well dead, like they're about to fall off.

Made the mistake of going over to play soccer/football with the brother at the ol high school stomping grounds. That's two ol's in four sentences. WAYYYY too much old people influence around here. Next I'll start exclaiming yeehaw and screaming "WHERES MY DENTURES." So anyway, found out I can punt a football 50 yards in the air, but can only kick like a 48 yard field goal. Must be the fact that when you kick its end over end, but punting spirals and if you have wind that helps, or something. Playing soccer in the dark is pretty tough. Depth perception just isn't there.

The biggest mistake came when I challenged him to run a hundred yards in less than sixteen seconds, turned out it only took him fourteen eight. This of course caused me to have to do it to see if I could still move faster than the usual couch to fridge chug, turned out I snagged thirteen six. A far cry from my twelve flat or something days of high school track (don't get my wrong that isn't fast, my events were the half and mile, but that was fast for me :) ) but its decent enough anyway. This of course led to exclaims of cheating with the watch, so we both had to go down and race at the same time. I let him get a jump start to give me something to catch (I'm insanely competitive, its what keeps me going in most sports even when it seems like there's nothing left to give) but it turned out I was gaining on him pretty much the whole first fifty yards (lengthening my lead that is) until he began to pull up with some sort of miraculous knee injury (that was fine five minutes later). So anyway, still faster than the brother. Something tells me the quads and hammys are going to be angry with me in the morning though, even though I stretched before and after.

Just to put the above in perspective in case half of you out there are ready to brag about your hundred yard times (I'm setting off my own inferiority complex with no outside help, how pathetic is that) consider the fact that I'm two hundred pounds, and my bro is two fifteen. In my track days I was at least one fifty, probably more like one thirty five.

Speaking of the whole weight thing, the scale here read 199 this morning. Course then there was Thanksgiving. Then again I did get a lot of exercise afterward. We'll have to see how the rest of the weekend goes, and what the scale I've been using regularly at school says when I get back. 195 maybe? Heh. We'll see.

Hooppee Belated Turkey Day All!

Fat People. And Lots of Them.

Yep, I'm home again. :) [waits for the boos and jeers]

Had a pretty boring 3+ hour ride instead of the usual <2... Listened to some old tapes from my childhood, found one where I recorded myself singing Richard Marx - Right Here Waiting, which was especially interesting since my voice hadn't changed and was a few octaves higher. Creating a melody with a younger version of myself, scary thought.

Highway 1 at first seemed like the intelligent move given the hour long process it took just to get out of Santa Barbara... Til I discovered there was a twenty mile detour, and later got stopped by a cop blocking the road so someone doing at least 100mph could come blasting by being chased by like six cruisers. Then there was the usual road construction and missed signals, anyway, I got here. :/

Met my new grandmother for the first time tonight, that was... interesting. My dad's mother died about five or so years ago from cancer, she was always really nice to me. My dad's father just recently remarried, so my dad's having fun struggling with the term "stepmom." Must be pretty trippy, especially fifty years into life. She smokes, so that's annoying, I'm allergic to basically the scent, or being around it for long periods of time. Its a good thing too, or I'd probably be at the casino more. :) Other than that she seems nice, other than the usual tries to fit in with the family too soon and "treat her new grandchildren like her old ones" as she said. That involves things like batting my hand randomly when I was cracking my knuckles because she disapproved. To say the least, hasn't gone so well so far. Not like I'm allowed an opinion on the topic or anything, its a done deal, and given there won't be much contact, I'll try to ignore the situation. The best I can do is be civil.

Going to be doing a lot of thinking this weekend, could be some major shakeups in the realm of my future.

Darkness.

It's kind of pathetic when the only reason I know its time for bed is when I see the sun rising outside my window, and the only time I know I should be getting up is when its getting dark. Was out late last night with an old friend at Carrows, one I hadn't heard from in quite some time. We talked about the usual anything and everything, over the usual glass of strawberry lemonade.

Watched the new episode of 24 tonight, and made my first attempt at capturing it via TV card onto my computer. The main problem is with Windows XP I can't capture the audio and video simultaneously, so I had to use someone else's computer to cap the audio, and am in the process of putting it all together as we speak.

Won't be going home for Thanksgiving until late tomorrow (Wednesday) night, due to traffic being boring, and me not exactly having a long line of hot dates waiting for me when I get there.

Pop.

Was sitting in here with a friend tonight helping her with math, with the door halfway open, when quite the unusual event occurred. There was a balloon just sitting on the other side of the hallway outside my door minding its own business, when suddenly my sentence was interrupted by the sound of a large object stomping down the hallway and to our surprise, leaping into the air trying to stomp both of his feet down onto the balloon before he landed. He of course glanced off, and basically ended up launching himself horizontally further down the hallway and slamming into the ground with a resounding thump. The whole incident took about two seconds, but it was enough to keep my friend and I gasping for breath for the next several minutes.

The guy eventually managed to pop the balloon, on about the third stomp.

THE SKY IS FALLING!

Wow. I must have said that at least a million times tonight while watching the meteor shower.

The depressing thing is I almost missed it, inhibited by the fog that was very dense over campus and the surrounding area. On a hunch I hopped in the car and drove north a ways, planning to just get some exercise somewhere along the way with a nice jog, if I couldn't escape the fog. As luck would have it, it just got denser, to the point I was having to go about 30 mph on the freeway just to stay on the road. Luckily my luck changed, as I picked an exit to get off and turn around finally, I suddenly popped out of the fog into the most fiery night I've ever seen.

They came from all directions, all shapes and sizes and colors and brightness. There was a line of cars where I ended up, and the oohs and ahhs went on for hours. Being from LA originally, seeing that many stars is a unique experience in itself, but seeing them flying all over the place in a magnificent display was just breathtaking.

They say its not going to happen to that extent again until 2099. Well, I plan to be alive to see that one too, but figured to be safe I better not miss this one. :) To all those who missed it, I feel sorry for you. :/