Las Vegas, Day One.

The following is a description of the exploits of a certain twenty one year old individual during his hiatus from his university during which he made the trek to Las Vegas, Nevada for a period of three days in which he had one of the most enjoyable weekends of his life. Friday’s description follows, the next two installments will come later.

Disclaimer: There is the possibility that certain aspects of the trip will not be brought to light here, for reasons that will not be disclosed. For the most part, it's just to allow the reader to wonder about what aspects those might be, and why they will not be disclosed. I have no doubt that due to length the majority of the people who read this will be skimming for interesting portions, but I’m doing this more for myself so years down the road I can look back and read about how much fun I had. :)

Literally feels like two weeks ago that I was driving down Highway 1 last Thursday night on my way home for the trip, I vaguely remember singing very loudly to whatever was on the radio or the various tapes in my car from the 80s… (I have no cd player, and the last time cassette tapes were around was basically the 80s) That section of the trip was relatively uneventful, ended up going to bed early and getting up early, sailing over to the airport in basically no traffic and discovering the lines for security and whatnot were actually not as long as expected, and ending up with an hour or so to kill before boarding. The one hangup was when I discovered I’d forgotten to take my swiss army knife off my keychain, this poses a problem given the level of security and the fact that anything even resembling a sharp object cannot be carried on. I only had my one duffle, and although it wasn’t dinky I was carrying it on, so I figured if they caught me I’d just have it checked, no biggy. I was pretty sure they’d noticed the knife when they pulled my bag off the conveyor belt and held everything up while they sent it through again, and had my speech about “Oops I forgot” all ready, but eventually they said “You’re clear Sir” and waved me on. Go figure, you can’t take box cutters or portable drill sets on board planes, but a large bladed knife can be taken on by any Joe Schmoe. I was sure I had it made until I got to the gate and noticed that they now have a section set aside to random security checks as you hand them your ticket, the whole “Terrorist for a Day” process in which they go through every nook and cranny of your bag, checking cameras, pagers, and cell phones for function, and doing basically everything short of a strip search to try to find something bad. For some reason, although the people in front and behind me got “lucky” and were chosen for a search, I got waved right onto the plane. Works for me.

The flight over was also relatively uneventful, I had a window seat as usual and spent most of the time either staring out of it or flipping through the SkyMall magazine gasping at how expensive the most retarded items were… Anyone for a seven hundred dollar ear hair trimmer? :/ Upon disembarking I was welcomed by the sight of the first slot machines I’d ever seen in an airport, it makes sense though, what else are you supposed to do if your flight gets delayed. Popped in a buck, on the last hand got a four card straight flush dealt, didn’t come through though. :/ The shuttle trip to the Stratosphere where I was staying consisted mostly of me staring out the window at the huge hotels, signs, and everything that is the Strip in Vegas. Now I’m a city boy, spending most of my life in Los Angeles, so the thought of big buildings isn’t a strange one, but I felt like a kid in a candy store, a country boy who had never been to the big city before, clawing the window, eager to get out and enjoy the scenery. Eventually I made it over to the Stratosphere, which happened to be the last stop for the shuttle out of about ten hotels. I didn’t mind too much, got to learn my way around and see a lot of the places I’d be visiting and how to get to them, and the driver was friendly. That’s one thing that was very enjoyable about the trip, nothing but very friendly drivers when it came to taxis and so forth. I heard one horn honked the entire trip, and that was because some car with Virginia plates blatantly cut off the taxi I was in and almost caused an accident. Other than that, it was nothing like L.A. or NYC, everyone seemed cheerful, letting each other into and out of the right turn only lane, waving their thanks, and going on their way. Going to be using a lot of “anyways” due to the fact I foresee myself interrupting myself very often to tell side stories. It happens in real life too, it really sucks when I can’t remember what I was originally talking about.

ANYWAY.

So I arrive at the hotel and try to check in, only to find out the computer is down. Its about noon, and they tell me to try back in an hour or so, so I check my bags and ponder what to do with my time. Well I didn’t really ponder too long, given I was standing in the middle of a casino. I won’t go into detail about all my gambling experiences, basically had absolutely loads of fun, and ended up close to even on the trip, quite a feat given the fact that I was in Vegas for three days, and they’re notorious for robbing people blind. Played just about anything and everything at some point on the trip, the majority going into my favorite types of big money machines, and another large portion to tables, be it Blackjack or Let it Ride, along with some other random stuff here and there. I was keeping track on paper all the money that was going into machines and onto tables, and everything that was coming out, so I always knew where I stood, and what was paying and what wasn’t. The big winner machine wise was one called Razzle Dazzle, a really fun but rather expensive one that seemed to pay much more often than not. It’s a quarter slot and to make the big money you have to play all five lines, so at $1.25 a pop its not for your typical nickel player. It seems to pay at least your money back at least 50% of the time, and thus lasts a lot longer than your typical slot. However if you get the word Spin anywhere on the third reel, not JUST on the payline like the majority of your money yoinking slots, it spins a second wheel and pops out a number from ten to fifty, multiplying that by your bet (most likely five) and spitting out that many credits. There’s also a Razzle Dazzle symbol on that wheel, which if you manage to hit pays eight hundred times your bet, which for those math whizzes is four thousand credits, or a cool grand. I never hit it, but I got the 50x a few times, and ended up making almost two hundred bucks on that machine overall. So for those of you gambling phenoms out there, I recommend it.

It was actually quite strange, whenever I was going to be in the casino for a while and was trying to win so my money would last longer, I’d usually lose. Whenever I had like an 11:30pm dinner reservation and absolutely HAD to be at the taxis in like five minutes, and just randomly put a five or ten in a Razzle Dazzle machine on the way out, I win like seventy bucks and have to go cash it, then find another one and do it again, and end up almost late for whatever I was going to, although with much heavier pockets. The “Hurry Up And Win” strategy ended up making me more money than anything else, go figure. The one frustrating thing about Vegas when compared to the Indian casino here is that nothing is computerized and prints tickets, they all just pop out buckets and buckets of nickels or quarters you have to collect. Thus every time you win you have to go stand in the line to get bills again since you can’t carry more than one bucket without leaving one someplace accidentally or getting it jacked. It’s much easier to just collect tickets and bring them all at once to exchange for bills, without ever having to worry about dropping a random nickel and ending up with $19.95 or some lame total. Anyway rant over.

So eventually I get checked in, was a bit disappointed to be facing the downtown area of Vegas rather than the Strip, but I got over it since I was on the 23rd floor out of 25 or so, and thus could see quite the beautiful view out the window. The room wasn’t extravagant or anything, but I’m not too picky when it comes to such things, if it serves my purposes then it does fine in my book. Eventually I got spiffed up in my nice clothes and headed toward the south end of the strip, itinerary in hand. Yes I’m obsessed about these types of things, I like doing the maximum amount of stuff in the minimum amount of time. I’m not a tightwad though, well I am at times, but I’m also capable of going to a theme park with someone who isn’t quite so gung ho, and just wandering around doing whatever. When given the choice though, I’d rather have the most fun possible. :) The first thing on my list was picking up tickets for the show I was seeing that night at the New York New York, and then checking out the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay, which was quite cool. I’d never seen a golden alligator before (there’s only like twenty in the world or something), and at one point you’re in a glass tunnel with gigantic sharks swimming above, below, and all around you. The windows were floor to ceiling in many sections, and at times the sharks would swim right up to them, to the point you could see every row of teeth when they party opened their mouths to grin at you. I was glad there was glass there, anyway. At $14.95 it was quite expensive though, there were cheaper exhibits at other hotels of different kinds of animals and wildlife that were just as good.

I’m going to be including prices along with my personal opinions on the different attractions and stuff I did, just so those planning trips themselves can decide whether its worth it or not and make decisions about what to see and what not to. Its going to seem like I spent a truckload of money, and basically I did, but this was literally a once in a lifetime experience for my 21st birthday, and to me worth every penny.

After the Mandalay Bay I took the tram over to the Luxor, the pyramid shaped casino with the huge spotlight shining over the top each night visible from miles away. The tram station led right out under the huge Sphinx, was a pretty neat effect. One thing I didn’t do during my trip was take any pictures, I figured since I was by myself there wasn’t really any point, and the different sights would live on better in my memory. If I ever go back with family or friends I’ll be sure to be hammering away at the shutter button though. :) My plan was to see Beauty and the Beast at the IMAX theater there, but it turned out the last showing of it had been the day before, and had been replaced with a different film. I was bummed, that was one of the only Disney movies we didn’t have on VHS back in the day, so I’d only seen it once or twice, and I’d never been to an IMAX theater and wanted to see what forty thousand watts of sound or what not sounded like. :) It turned out okay though, I ended up spending some of the extra time hitting up the casino downstairs, and finding a machine called Little Green Men much like the ones at the Chumash casino here, but with notable positive differences such as the bonus lines working right to left as well as left to right, and payment amounts being higher. Mobbed those machines of fifty bucks or so, and the Luxor was where I first discovered the Razzle Dazzle machine, taking fifty bucks off it too on the way out over to the New York New York.

It was there that I’d managed to snag front row seats to Lord of the Dance at 9pm, a show just about everyone has heard of as being Michael Flatley’s personal spinoff of Riverdance, the wildly successful Broadway show that originated in Ireland, and is based on traditional Irish dancing, most notably their style of tap. Now I’ll admit this type of show isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve always been amazed by that type of dancing, where their feet move at a mile a minute and the clicking seems almost continuous at times. The performance was similar to the original one starring Flatley in Ireland, but of course had different performers in the starring roles, all of which were just as talented if not even more so. There were also some different scenes and variations on the theme, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. The two fiddlers were very cool, they came down off the stage and were chatting with the front row, smiling away as their bows moved like the wind. The sound system in there seemed incredible, possibly because I was close to the speakers, but whenever the bass boomed you could literally feel your seat vibrating, and your heart vibrating in your chest. Was almost like that one scene in Jurassic Park where they realize the T-Rex is coming from a distance. My favorite part of the show as most people would agree was when the entire cast lined up at the end and hammered away right on the front of the stage, speeding up continuously until the ending crescendo. The audience went crazy, and enough people were yelling encore that they redid the final sequence one more time, with the audience on their feet clapping along in time. The energy in the room was great, I ended up whistling the main theme for the rest of the night.

I walked next door to the Monte Carlo and this is where the “Hurry Up and Win” strategy became most apparent, as I needed to catch a taxi to my 11:30pm dinner reservation and see if “the one” was waiting there for me. It was about 10:45 when I walked in, and what can I say, every time I tried to pop one more bill in and leave it multiplied, reproduced, had grandkids, and continued to make me rich. It was unfortunate, as there were about ten Razzle Dazzle machines there, and I only managed to rob four or so for mad cash before I literally HAD to jog towards the lobby. That was the most of those machines at any casino, so if you’re wanting the big bucks, head there. :) Eventually I did make it to the taxi though, and he took the freeway route and got me to the Stratosphere with five minutes to spare. Its quite a walk from the lower casino to the tower elevators, as you have to walk through this meandering path of about a hundred shops and tourist traps, as they try to weasel as much money out of you as possible while you’re there.

The service I received during the entire dining experience while at the Top of the World rotating restaurant atop the Stratosphere absolutely astounding. There’s a private podium downstairs where they check you in, and once your name matches a reservation you’re whisked up an escalator to a private elevator. The elevators in the Stratosphere tower are double decker, with television monitors in them showing you the interior of the one immediately above and below you. It was just myself and the worker in mine, while the one heading for the observation deck below us was crammed with like fifteen people. I giggled. At the top I made a quick stop in the restroom to make sure I was as spiff as could be, and made my way out to the area to make my appearance known. After fielding the “Um, is anyone else going to be dining with you?” question, and realizing that alas, my call to the world had gone unanswered, the young woman led me to my table. It was during this walk that I must have looked like an absolute idiot, due to the fact that as I came around the corner I finally noticed the view, and stopped in mid stride with my mouth gaping open. The height of the restaurant is about a thousand feet off the strip, and you can see just about all of Vegas from up there. The colorful hotels and signs of the strip lit up like a Christmas tree, and it was quite clear how the restaurant coined its name. Eventually I recovered enough to chase down the woman and arrive at my table, which luckily was right on the edge of the room, literally a foot from the window and the thousand foot gap to the ground outside. The entire area the tables are on rotates completely around about once an hour, so its almost unnoticeable unless you stare at one spot enough. The inner area where you entered and where the kitchen is at remains stationary as does the outer windows, but during the course of the meal you end up getting to see Las Vegas in every conceivable direction, at a height high enough you can basically see the curvature of the earth at the horizon. My waiter was possibly the most ideal waiter you could possibly ask for, I’ve never felt more like royalty than I did during the meal. I knew it was going to be quite the experience when he asked me if “regular” water would be okay for the evening. I was starving having not eaten much of anything all day, knowing I was going to have possibly the most exquisite meal ever that night. I’m grateful I was, because I ended up stuffing myself to the brim. The foods all had really long names and are really hard to describe, the kind that the presentation is almost as important as the taste, and you don’t even want to eat them because they look so pretty. :) The appetizer was jumbo shrimp scampi in like a cream sauce, with these weird triangle shaped pastry things sandwiching them, by far the best shrimp I’ve ever had. For the main entrée I ended up enjoying a type of sea bass which is basically indescribable, it was in this delicious sauce and garnished with yummy spices. Okay this is lame, I can’t think of good enough adjectives to describe the food. I feel like I’ve used the word amazing like eight hundred times. I guess I’ll just say the taste of the dinner as a whole was utterly FABULOUS. Dessert was this ice cream apple tart creamy pastry thing that was not only huge, but utterly beautiful. Yet another time a camera would have been great, because the creation ended up way, way, down in the bottom of my stomach. Well actually the top, since the rest of the meal had filled up the rest. I ended up sticking around a while even after I was done eating, just to stare at the view and daydream. The nice thing about the restaurant is they let you ride the elevator up to the indoor and outdoor observation decks free of charge, when the general public pays eight bucks or so. It was pretty deserted up there, as it was around 1am and very windy. I circled the outdoor deck at least three times, enjoying the feeling of being on top of the world staring out at a gigantic city of lights. There are only a few views that I feel can compare to that one, including the one from the top of Mt. Whitney, and the view that could formerly be seen from the top of the World Trade Center. The feeling of the wind in your face, your shirt flapping away, as you stretch your arms out and pretend to fly, is something any little kid (and some big ones) will always enjoy.

Eventually I reluctantly stepped back into the elevator for the return trip, and after a quick stint at the tables, padded off to bed after the most satisfying evening in quite some time. Alas, this was only the end of the first day however, and I had two more to go.

I'm Back.

And I'm alive. I'm not dead. (repeated in two formats to make sure there's no confusion)

Hi. The trip was amazing. I'm tired. The description will start tomorrow. It'll take a while. I have a lot to say. :)

VEGAS BABY VEGAS! YEAH BABY YEAAAAAHHHHH!

Okay so I should probably be asleep by now, but I'm just a tad excited. That and me the idiot forgot to bring home my itinerary for the weekend, so I had to redo it. Luckily I'd planned on making changes anyway, and this one is much more relaxed and better planned. Luckily I do have the sheet with all my reservation numbers for show tickets and flight numbers and so forth. If my head wasn't attached... well you know the joke.

So the theory is heading to the airport tomorrow morning (eh like five hours from now, but I got twelve hours of sleep last night so who really cares) and showing up in Vegas at 11:30am local time. Yeah I know they're in the same timezone we are, it just sounds more official that way. Then comes three days and two nights of fun in the sun and wining and dining (well, at least dining) and eventually trapzing back here on a flight that leaves at 6:30pm Sunday, and leaving here around 9 and making my way back to UCSB around 11 or midnight. Then comes the collapsing for three days aspect, unfortunately it will be interrupted due to various classes Monday.

Feel free to scroll down to read about my dinner plans for tonight, they're pretty elaborate and with under twenty four hours to go, fate has plenty of time to work its magic.

Looked into internet cafes and so forth in Vegas, and they all charge a pretty penny, so I'll see what I can do blog wise, but most likely there will be a complete recap whenever I get back to normal sometime early next week. :) Have an awesome weekend all, because I know I will. Twenty one has its privledges.

VEGAS BABY VEGAS! YEAH BABY YEAH! WOOHOOOOOOOO!

The Five Minute High...

For those looking for a quick fix, try going to a section to find out your paper grade worth 25% of your grade in a class was an A, an immediately following going to get a midterm for another class worth 20% and finding out it wasn't. Luckily plenty of room for improvement in that class that happens to be financial economics, but pretty sure we're going to be steering clear of the nitty gritty aspect of the subject in the future. Not sure where that means we'll be going job wise, but still plenty of time for that. The best part of today is now that its over, I'm going home tomorrow! Well, today now even! Who knows what time I'll leave, probably whenever I get bored and actually get packed.

The other good news is I have two more midterms to get back, both of which should be cheerer uppers. Oh, and the word of the day is wheelbarrow. Inside joke.

Fire Alarms and Rental Cars...

So it turns out I won't be able to rent a car as planned due to the fact I'm lacking a credit card... This caused much rearranging in the Vegas itinerary to allow for easy transportation between destinations, but didn't cause too much trouble. Only two days or so til I'm on the plane, woohoo.

This morning we had a cheerful fire alarm around 8am thanks to someone on the 5th floor burning the sausage they were cooking... Actually I've been counting my blessings in that department, we've only had two this year total when last year we averaged about two a month, generally at the worst possible times.

Just have to get through tomorrows trilogy of sections with random stuff due and midterms coming back, then its basically kick back til the weekend with the next major thing not until next Thursday. Doubt I'll be updating when in Vegas unless I find a cool internet cafe thingy for free, which would actually be nice because telling the stories in sections rather than all at once would be much easier on the fingers and the readers. :)

I've been spending a bit more time than usual lately seeking out and reading blogs by people much like myself from around the world... Quite cool how much you can totally understand what someone is talking about even if you've never met them, or aren't fully aware of the whole situation. Some people just amaze me, the number of hats that they wear, the number of things they're able to accomplish. Some people's lives make your own feel so insignificant, or make you feel like you can do so much more. I've been reading about one young woman from British Columbia who's going to Uruguay through a Youth Exchange program, that's pretty amazing to me. I'm pretty sure I'd drown if I was in a country in which I didn't speak the language. I'm sure I'd learn an incredible amount of things about that culture and what its like to live somewhere other than here, but I don't think I'd ever actually have the willpower to go through with it. More power to those people who can, I admire them.

Hmm...

Suppose I should say Happy Birthday to the older one. Now she's even older. Like, hella old. Man, hope she's invested in a good pair of spectacles. And like, a walker. I'm sure the next time I see her in the supermarket she'll be exclaiming "WOOHOO! TWO FOR ONE SPECIAL ON DEPENDS!" much to the dismay of those in her party. Turning 21 is pretty neat, after that there just isn't a whole lot of joy in saying YAY ANOTHER YEAR OLDER. Not looking forward to it. :) Least no one I know is getting married off yet. That would be irksome.

We Now Return You To Your Regularly Scheduled Life.

Well, at least temporarily anyway. All the fun screeched to a halt tonight as I crammed in a few hours of studying for my Greek Mythology midterm tomorrow at 9am. Had a blast of a weekend anyway...

Got around to seeing Spiderman today, after hearing nothing but praise from everyone around me... I guess my problem is I was never really into the comic book scene, so I wasn't as jazzed about the movie as most. Basically it was very "comic-book-ish" in terms of not at all realistic and more computer generated effects than not, but I hear it stayed very true to the comic book itself. Gonna go with 4 M's out of 7 on this, pretty good action, some very good effects when it comes to wall walking and swingin around and so forth, pretty cheesy dialogue especially between the main character and his damsel in distress, but it gets points for being one of those movies boys can say "wouldn't it be cool if" about when walking out. Pretty sure I'm going to like many of the movies I saw in the previews as well as others upcoming in early summer more however.

After the movie had a bite at McConnells, which is either a direct rip off of Coldstone's or is owned by the same company. Basically the exact same layout and offerings, you pick a hand made flavor, and they "mix-in" a topping that can be chosen from just about every kind of candy bar as well as many of your other typical topping fares. VERY yummy, and it had been an at least a few hours since I had some equally yummy sushi for dinner, so I had created some room through digestion. Needless to say between that and the enormous amount of chocolate and food I've received due to the whole birthday concept I'm definitely going to be hitting the running trail and the pool tomorrow.

Finally got the roll of film developed that I'd been working on since about September... Always a treat as I find pictures I didn't even remember taking, and some that turn out really amazingly. I've been pondering purchasing a digital camera to further my dabbling in photography, and so I don't have to be quite so stingy about not taking a picture unless its perfect. Also have some finalists for the first picture to appear on this page, one of these days they'll pop up. :)

21 For Fun...

The sand crumbles beneath the young man's toes as he walks towards the water, gazing out towards the islands on this early Saturday morning. He says hello to the waves, as they lap up against the shore, as they have for the last twenty one years and millions more prior. He notices a particularly clear area of the wet sand, and decides to create. He digs his heel into the sand, and drags it along the shore, the sand parting for his foot as he moves. He curves around, starts another line, checks his work, goes back to clean up the rough edges. He circles the entire creation with a large oval, and stands back to admire his work. Satisfied, he goes to sit on the sandals he's left nearby, and listen to the ocean. A small boy comes bounding across the sand, being trailed by his mother, who is holding a small girl's hand. He stands before the area, and appears to be thinking very hard as he surveys the scene. "MOMMY MOMMY! There's a 21 in the dirt!" "Yes dear, please walk around it" the mother replies, glancing at the young man as she passes. Waves continue to break, and an elderly man approaches along the shore from the other direction. He's hunched over his cane, taking very small steps, as if each one is an effort. He reaches the spot where the young man is sitting, and gingerly pauses to catch his breath, resting both his arms on his cane as his gaze as well passes over the young man's creation. He looks up at the young man, and with a big grin, says "Happy Birthday." The young man chuckles and responds with a cheerful smile "Thank you Sir." As the elderly man continues on, the young but slightly older now man turns to return to his campsite, leaving his creation to be washed away with the tides. He wonders where he'll be twenty one years from now, what life will be like. If its anything like the twenty one years prior, he has a lot to look forward to.

Only a third or so of the day is gone, and its already been a great one. The camping trip was pretty awesome, got down there around noon yesterday and had a grand ol time all night long, enjoying the fire and scenery, and all the friends from the hall that also made the trip down to Carpinteria. Had a somewhat eerie experience on the way down there, was plowing down Storke doing around 40mph when I suddenly noticed a large bird that looked much like a raven flying alongside my car just outside the passenger window. The strange thing it was matching my trajectory and velocity exactly, other than the flapping of its wings, it appeared like the bird was suspended from a mobile, it was moving neither up or down, nor side to side as far as I could tell. This continued for about a hundred yards, before it peeled off and shot up into the sky out of sight. I could have been seeing things, but I could have sworn it glanced over at me as it flew, peering into my window while it flew alongside. Very strange.

Highlight of the night was during the Taboo game, as I randomly happened to glance behind me towards my car, and notices several people hunched over what appeared to be an open flame on my trunk. "What in the hell are they doing to my car?" was the exclamation that resulted, and "I'm sure they're trying to light it on fire" was the witty response from the guy next to me. I then clued in to the whole candles aspect of what was going on, and the fact that they were about to bring over the surprise cakes for both myself and the other girl who came along who shared the same birthday. Oops.

So, I'm older now, but wiser? Well, there's still time for that.

Midterms and Tents...

It would appear the internet is back to normal, you wouldn't believe how pathetic I end up without it... A whole lot of TV/movie watching, working out, eating, and that's about it...

Took my Econ 2 midterm today, pretty sure I did very well, but with that class its more of a competition to try to get an A rather than an A-, rather than the usual B instead of a C. Also went through and planned out a schedule for the Fall quarter, the wonderful thing about upper division classes is they're small enough that you don't have to enroll in a section, which means less class time per week. It turns out my Mondays and Wednesdays will be somewhat back, but I'll only have one class on Friday like this quarter (which rules) and NONE on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which has never happened before. Crazy...

T-minus two days until someone around here gets a little older... Crap, gonna have to edit the little mini description of this page, won't be accurate anymore. :) Looks like I'm gonna spend most of the day down in Carpenteria tomorrow, camping overnight and then coming back sometime relatively early Saturday, which should leave plenty of time for celebrating the rest of the day. Actually don't have anything planned, but that will probably be part of the fun.

Wow, now this is sad, I just noticed on the F and J keys there are little raised bumps, so that when you put your fingers down randomly you can tell whether your index fingers are in the proper position or not... I've only been typing for like 3/4 of my life, and I just now figured that out...

[shakes his head]

Internet Issues...

The internet in my tower has been down for the last twelve hours or so, I'm only able to connect due to a workaround through another gateway, will update later once things get fixed up.

Room With A View...

Finished off basically the last of my Vegas reservations today, everything set for an amazing weekend in less than two weeks now. If anyone wants to know where I am on Friday, May 10th, at 11:30pm, let it be known I'll be at the Stratosphere's Top of the World restaurant, rotating once an hour looking out at a view of the entire area from a hundred stories up. I made the reservation for two, one because I didn't want to look like an utter and complete loser, and two because I'm quite convinced the girl of my dreams is going to float down out of the sky and appear across from me. :) [watches the reader smile and nod and reach for the phone and the number for the asylum] No really! It's too bad I had to delay it a week, otherwise I would have ticked over to my 21st bday while on top of the world, pretty cool. :) I'll have to just pretend its my bday when I'm there, maybe you get a free dessert! Actually given its probably that kind of place where dessert is another ten bucks, probably not.

So yeah, Girl Of My Dreams Who Is Reading This, now you know where to find me! :) I suppose this could be inviting some whacko stalker prison inmate from Nebraska to come freak me out, but I'll take my chances. ;)

The Phantom Menace...

No I'm not talking about Star Wars, I'm referring to a run in I had this morning with a ghost twig. At least, I assume it was a ghost, because I never saw it coming, and even after tripping hard over it and having to go down on two hands to maintain my upright position and stumbling several feet, and jogging back to see what it was, I never did find it. Don't you love those? I swear someone with the power of invisibility just wanders around tripping people just to get a kick out of it. Found out I'm pretty consistent, my time from last week on the pier run was within one second of this week. Guess it'll be a few weeks before progress appears. Think I'll go run the steps at Harder Stadium tomorrow, although I'll have to see if I can make it all the way out there first. ;)

Today I really should have been called M.P. Clumsy W. actually, while walking past Pulse the copy store here I was looking inside and turned basically right into this large indoor plant, much to the appreciation of the people eating lunch nearby who were desperate for entertainment. Then in Ortega I did basically the same thing when heading out, they have these tall plants in there that lean out into the pathways and just snag people as they go by, someone really needs to take a weedwhacker to 'em. I'm not bitter or anything.

Blog Issues...

Lately its strange, I've been having to hit the post and publish button, then edit the post, then hit the post and publish button again, and repeat this process 2 or 3 times in order for the post to actually appear on the page. I changed the archive settings to monthly, this ends up leave some pretty giant pages, but at least the archive list doesn't take up quite so much space in the right column, we'll see if this fixes the problem. Darn, it didn't, guess I'll have to deal. :/ Anyone have this problem or know a solution?

Monday Blunday...

Can you believe it! Up again at 7 even though I was up til like 2! Go me! Note to self though, don't stay up until 2, makes it a big tougher, oi. Think I'm gonna make Monday distance day. Well, the distances at this point are somewhat laughable, but ya gotta start somewhere. Then I'll do hilly/sand/workout routines like the lagoon and the steps at Harder Stadium on Tues/Thurs, with a medium distance on Wed, and some time trials on Fri to check my progress. Okay, on three on three, BREAK!

Forging New Trails...

Headed out into the wild blue yonder again today for another hiking trip... Ended up off of Hot Springs road north of downtown at a pretty awesome trail... We originally missed the one we were shooting for and ending up climbing steeply up a ridge and popping out at a paved road up on the other side, somewhat anticlimactic to hike for an hour or two steeply up a hill and then finding out you could have driven to that same point. :) To make up for it we did a little off roading up a drainage chute that was basically solid pebbles, made it real interesting both going up and sliding down, mostly on our asses. On top though was a pretty awesome view, not only of the Santa Barbara area, but also the Montecito and areas further South, I'd never hiked a trail that far east so that was all new to me.

Eventually we did find the intended trail on the way down, which let along a creek and involved a lot of rock climbing and balancing acts, was quite fun. :) The goal on this one was the large waterfall at the top, which was really quite peaceful. All along the way there were the sounds of nature and running water, a sound I'm a real fan of. Highlight was me chucking rocks into one of the pools, gradually choosing larger ones, until I managed to dump in this rather large boulder which splashed in such a manner that it shot a stream of water out to the side, nailing the friend I went with pretty good. Almost had me rollin on the ground giggling, not quite. :) Ended up getting a decent amount of exercise, the first trail was pretty steep, and the off trail work and then the second one kept my hands busy, its more fun that way though.

Nothing planned for the remainder of the weekend, cept for some food, man I'm hungry. :/

Today's Sign That the Apocalypse Is Upon Us...

Man, I'm glad I was awake early to go running this morning, because they're running a gigantic vacuum outside to clean up all the broken glass, and it sounds like a freight train. Sucks to be those who were sleeping before that thing started, sounds louder and more annoying than the fire alarm.

Quick note before I head off about today's world news... In Germany this morning a student that had been expelled returned to his former school with two handguns and killed fourteen teachers, a policeman, and two young girls, before killing himself later. This is the type of tragedy that continues to flood the headlines month after month, another child with access to a gun, another school shooting. I'm thankful that it wasn't in our country, but I wonder world-wide what its going to take in order to open people's eyes to the need for better control. I'm not anti-guns, there's never been one in my house other than an old relic of my father's that isn't functional, but even that we were always taught never to touch, and we never did. However I do support gun control, it really isn't that big a deal for those who know how to use one to take a few extra steps in order to acquire one or posses one, rather than them being able to fall into hands they shouldn't. For heaven's sake, its not like teachers are overpaid as it is, they really don't deserve to have to live in fear of former or disgruntled students on a daily basis. This isn't the military, they shouldn't be paid "job risk" bonuses, but they should be able to have some sort of protection against these kinds of monsters.

Anyway, my morning beef, now off to breakfast.

Could You Be Any More STUPID?

Okay so I thought I was going to bed about an hour ago, until I walked outside on the way to the restroom to brush my teeth and witnessed a bizarre scene. Tape was stretched completely across the hallway blocking it at two locations between my room and the bathroom, and a CSO officer was standing between them, looking quite irritated. It was only after I asked what was going on when I noticed the very large amount of glass scattered around the floor. What in the hell...

I wander into a nearby room where I wasn't surprised a conversation about the incident was going on. For those who want background information on the idiot responsible, see Monday, March 4th, for a description of one of my personal run-ins with him. So, the eventual story I get is apparently while I was downstairs working out, (no wait, couldn't have been or I would have seen it when I came up, must have been while I was on the phone...) a couple of the guys on the floor including the aforementioned were having somewhat friendly wrestling matches in the lounge. They were drunk on a Thursday night for some reason, and this ended up causing the aftermath. The matches degenerated into "your mom" jokes in retaliation when someone would lose, and moves such as choke holds were prevalent throughout. I wasn't there so I can't explain exactly when or how, but apparently at some point the idiot decides to punch the window of the lounge door with all his might. Its an inch thick or so, and reinforced, but hit it hard enough and it'll shatter, and shatter it did, outwards into the hallway. Apparently during the punch and as he pulled his hand back through the hole, he severely cut himself on the glass, to the point that blood is now smeared around the hall floor and bathroom. 911 was called, and he was carted off to the hospital. I'd love to say I feel remorseful, but I'm going to have to take the asshole route and say he had it coming to him. The best part about it is that not only does he get charged for the door ($500) and the hospital, but the basically assured result is that he will be removed from the dorms completely and have his contract cancelled, due to this and many previous incidents. It really couldn't have happened any better, no one had to take the fall getting involved with him in order for him to make that final stupid move, he did it completely himself, to himself. Talk about throwing away a lot of money, if he's removed from the dorms there's always the possibility of his financial aid (somewhere in the vicinity of ten grand a year) being cancelled as well.I personally, and just about all the other residents here, will not be sorry to see him go. I'm generally not the hateful type, but when someone is so immature as to do his best to lower the quality of life for everyone on the hall on a regular basis, I feel he should be appropriately disciplined. Good riddance, idiot.

Good night, after this short delay I still must be up with the sun. :)

A Cheesy Story.

So I lumber into Ortega tonight for some dinner after what for some reason was a grueling three hours of classes, even though the first half all I was doing was watching the movie version of Othello. Anyway, I'm glad to see that Alfredo is the sauce of the day, and after snagging a tray out of the reach of the outstretched fingers of the guy in front of me I move with all due haste towards the pasta area. The type of pasta is not my favorite, its that very large very wide very flat sort of tube noodle, no idea what its called. But with Alfredo anything's good. I lop on a decent amount (not too much, just because it tastes good doesn't mean its healthy) and follow my usual path towards the parmesan cheese. I've got my dining habits down to an art form, you can almost predict what I'm doing next if you've seen me walk around enough times. The next step is casually picking up the tongs thingamajig, snaring a healthy amount of parmesan cheese in its grasp, and sprinkling about 1/3 of it around the pasta in an even layer. So today I move in that exact manner, except for some reason as I go to sprinkle, I have some sort of muscle spasm that causes my grip to loosen. Down goes this truckload of parmesan into a humongous pile in the center of my noodles. Well, shit.

Luckily I've passed out of another one of my EVERYTHING irritates me phases, and I just chuckled on my way over to the juices, getting strange looks from people as they stared at my pasta bowl. This woulda been a good third person thing, but comedy doesn't fit as well with that I don't think.

The good news is I turned in a somewhat decent paper, on time even, was done even early enough for an hour long nap before class. Go figure, new leaf hasn't cracked yet. Big test tomorrow though, to see if I can not only go running for the third day in a row, but even go to my only class on Friday, the Classics lecture I tend to blow off because the lectures just regurgitate the reading, so you can do one or the other. Actually I'll sort of be cheating, I have to for sure make up a quiz at an alternate section at 11, so getting to my 9 lecture might as well happen too. Its all good. :)

Skeptics Abound...

I see my guestbook has been tagged by one of the family skeptics... Doesn't bother me too much, I've had people laughing in my face when I tell them about it on multiple occasions. Ended up getting in a good swim yesterday as planned, definitely could tell I've been away from that for a while too, felt like my arms were going to fall off at times. Had to pay another five bucks for towel rental for the quarter too, lame. Think I'm going to look into buying a pair of running shoes, I have a pair of Air Max's but they're more for cross training and stuff like racquetball, I think an actual pair of running shoes would make it easier.

Day 2, up with the tide again, off to run the lagoon. Today will be more interesting in respect to whether I can stick to the schedule as I have an essay due at 2pm, and tomorrow I only have my 9am Classics lecture, which previously was pretty hard to get up for, but with the "new me," shouldn't be a problem! :)

Day 1, Later.

[grunts, moans, groans, and collapses]

Okay that was far. These legs aint exactly what they used to be. Started up a little file thingy I'm going to use just to keep track of my daily times, not trying to push it or anything, but wanting to see if my jogging pace improves any over time. Gotta get some proof that progress is being made in order to stay focused. Coulda sworn I saw people walking their dogs passing me at times though. :/

Now for the other important aspect of the day, food! Well after I do a bunch of ab work. [grunts, moans, groans, and collapses again]

What A Man Was Overheard Saying Having Jumped Off A Building As He Passed Each Floor On the Way To the Ground...

So far, so good...

The plan's workin, I'm up! Who bet me I wouldn't be up at 7, I'm sure someone did, so nyah nyah! Time to exursize.

A New Leaf...

I feel like a broken record, I've probably talked about getting into a new exercise routine like fifty times in this journal, but this time I swear, I'm serious! :) Spent some free time today planning out a daily schedule that I'm going to follow during the week, which includes time for running in the morning, swimming in the evening, as well as pushup and ab work time following both workouts. I even fit in BREAKFAST of all things, something I haven't seen here in quite some time. Obviously I'm going to be getting up a bit earlier than usual on a daily basis, but frankly this afternoon sun when you wakeup thing is getting old. Starting on a Wednesday is going to be a little weird but we'll see how it goes. Part of the plan is up at 7am every morning, which will require going to bed around 11, latest midnight on a nightly basis. Stop laughing. Okay I mean it. Seriously knock it off. Damn you! :/

The overall goal here is to become more physically active, get back to a stage when I'm not horribly worried about jumping into an indoor soccer game without dying after 10 minutes. Yeah losing that twenty or so pounds I talked about before New Years would be nice too. We'll see how it goes. Man, I'm starting to sound like a girl.

It Starts...

First midterm of the quarter tomorrow, followed by a paper due Thursday, and your typical once or twice a week grade making or breaking events through the rest of the quarter. The good news is I actually have full weekends planned upcoming, got a hike scheduled for this weekend the 27th, May 3rd and 4th will be spent camping with the hall down at Carpenteria Beach, 10th through 12th being in Vegas, 15th the hall trip to Magic Mountain, and 17th and 18th camping up at Lake Cachuma at a reunion of the hall from last year. Luckily going to be missing basically no class, and have plans to study and get the reading done around things so that it doesn't pose a problem down the stretch run.

Trying to get out of this going to bed at 3am funk, my plan is to wake up at 10 tomorrow in plenty of time for my 12:30, and then 8 the next day for my 9, and then get on a new schedule where I wake up at a relatively early hour every day to take care of things like exercise before my first class. We'll see how this pans out...

A Journey With A View...

Headed out earlier today for a bout with nature (today being Sunday, time is earlier due to a test post being replaced from last night), ended up on West Camino Cielo road up above Highway 154, basically just to "see where this one goes." In the past I've taken a few journeys of that kind, among them the infamous one all the way over Refugio road from Highway 246 to the 101. This one ended up not quite as impressive, after a distance the road became impassable for anything but a large offroad vehicle. Course that then involved a wonderful 46 point turn (or so) on a steeply banked uphill curve to get back where we came from, which in my car can get somewhat interesting. If you drive up the road to shortly before the gun range however (up to that point its still paved), you'll see one of the more impressive views around here of the airport, UCSB, IV, and the greater Santa Barbara area. One of these days I'll try out some of the other roads around here that lead up into the mountains and see where they take me. :)

Ooooh, the Flames...

People were bored tonight, so we headed out to the beaches west of here for a big ol bonfire get together... Was about ten of us, and after various excursions to beaches that were closed or didn't have available parking close enough to the pits, we eventually ended up at El Capitan, a really pretty beach, the same one I watched the meteor shower at a few months ago. S'mores were enjoyed by all, and even though it was a bit windy it still worked out pretty well.

The stars were as usual amazing, I taught one of my friends how to find the Big Dipper and via that the North Star, which is useful in case you're ever lost in the wilderness. She's from the same part of LA as I, so seeing all the stars is a somewhat unusual experience for us, having grown up in the smog.

The night before I was out on Campus Point enjoying the scenery, it was the first time I'd been down there in quite a while, its really nice to take some time to enjoy nature every once in a while, take some deep breathes away from the hustle bustle of school.

Tomorrow, er, today now, is the infamous 4/20, which means I'll spend most of the day asleep, possibly making an appearance later to inhale some food at the DC.

Taking Risks Part 1.

So I'm in the Arbor and I'm like "crap, they're all out of Powerades cept for this weird green looking one. Oh well better than nothing." Basically the worst $1.05 I've spent in a long time. If anyone wants to find out what cough syrup tastes like without the medicine, try "Aleutian Stream" flavored Powerade LIGHT. Light being the key word, apparently they have diet sports drinks now, a third of the calories of most sports drinks, or something. I guess that means less sugar, because it just makes it taste like ass. It kept me awake during class, one swig every several minutes and I'd be dry heaving for quite some time.

People wonder why I always order the same smoothie at Jamba, or get the same food at a restaurant, and this is why. Every time you take that risk and try something new, sure you might find a new thing, but you might end up kicking yourself in the ass for it later. Sometimes I get in the mood for trying new things, and go for it, occasionally striking gold, occasionally striking the foul end of a cow.

I'm not bitter or anything.

That Was a Day?

I had stuff to write about earlier. I have forgotten. I am tired. Guess I'll fill this in later.

Down The Rabbit Hole...

Seems to be a running theme lately of me taking back things I've said previously, going to have to continue with regard to American McGee's Alice. This game started slow, and I ended up getting bored and leaving it alone for a month, but I had some free time this weekend and ended up pushing on, and reaching some of the most amazing and graphically impressive levels later in the game. The Quake3 engine has been revamped to do some pretty amazing things, and I hear a movie is going to be based on the game's plot, which should be quite interesting to see. The game seemed like a combination of a first person shooter like Max Payne and Myst, there was a lot of problem solving and logic puzzles throughout that were part of the game, with the main character interacting with the environment. Its a few years old now which in computer speak is quite a long time, but I highly recommend it for those looking for a different variation on the first person shooter theme.

Got a haircut today for free thanks to those buy eight get one free cards, pretty sad given the first haircut on the card was dated in November 2000... I guess I end up getting a lot of cuts while at home, tend to average like every five weeks or so, or whenever I can't see my ears anymore.

Oh, and we have a new "most hilarious" search engine query that got someone to my page. "Pictures of cute boys gagged."

Bwahaha. One of these days I'm going to bust out a picture of something in the sidebar or something, but that's a big step, don't need to rush it. ;)

OH MY GEEZ...

Okay so somewhere down below I review X, the newest roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain. After today's trip, I'm going to have to slightly alter that due to a few factors. The first trip I rode during the daytime, and sat in the very front. This time we ended up in the very back, and rode it at night. The difference was literally day and night. Instead of gently dipping over the top of the lift hill and gradually shifting over to your stomach before beginning to fall down the vertical first drop, you come HURLING over the top and are FLUNG onto your stomach before PLUMMETING towards earth at what seems like a BERJILLION miles an hour until just in the nick of time you're sommersaulted forward just missing the ground and spinning up into a raven turn. It was cold, and every time we flipped or dove the wind blew into our faces, I couldn't stop screamin YEAH BABY YEAH and WAHOOOOOOOO for the entire ride.

I think part of the reason the experience was so awesome this time was that I managed to properly tighten the headrest and shoulder harness so that it was perfectly snug all around, so I didn't feel a head rattle or shift at all during the ride, and my arms and legs were free to wave and pump and windmill the whole way around. We ended up waiting OVER two hours for the ride and ended up there over an hour after the park closed, but it was worth every minute. The loading situation is pretty retarded, those of you who end up going make sure to ask for the right fork at the area where the attendant shuttles people forward in groups onto the ramps, because the left one not only is much longer, but more larger and more congested, and that's where ALL the disabled people and their entire groups go, and given they always sit in the back row, if you're waiting for this you basically doubled the amount of time you'll have to wait by choosing that side. The line in general is slow, unfortunatley we got there late and so it was two+ hours for most of the day, riding it very first thing and then last thing hopping in line as the park closes is the best bet.

The other review I have is for Deja Vu, the looping reverse boomerang suspended coaster that is also new this year at Six Flags. This was a totally new sensation much like X, it is similar to the ride Invertigo at Paramount's Great America up north, except that the towers are completely vertical instead of diagonal, and the ride is about double the height and size. The sensation of being held completely vertical is a new one for me on this type of ride, and having gravity sling you down through a gigantic loop and boomerang was pretty incredible too. My favorite part was actually after you've gone up the second tower and fall to do the whole thing backwards, backwards loops just seem much more comfortable and relaxing, if that's possible. This is yet another amazing ride, and although not on the same caliber as X, is the best of its genre I've ridden, easily wiping the floor with Invertigo and such non-suspended types as Boomerang at Knott's Berry Farm, among other places.

All in all we managed to get on every single big ride during a day when the lines averaged a bit less than an hour, I was quite happy. And to think I have a season pass and will be riding X again multiple times before the end of the year, lookin forward to it already. :) For the moment at least, its catapulted itself into the top of the "Most Fun" rankings of the roller coasters I've experienced. We'll see how long it lasts, the engineers are hard at work. :)

A Friday at UCSB. Unfortunatley More Typical Than Not.

The young man arrives in his building's lobby having just given a friend's friend a ride home from the Greyhound station. It's something he's happy to do, he was on the receiving end of the ride at times in the past as well. As he ambles by the formal lounge, he spots a chess game going on, and tiptoes in to have a look-see. The young man is engrossed in what he thinks the next best move is, when he hears the wailing from the lobby. A girl has just come out of the elevator and is frantic, a complete jumble of words and sounds not all of which are intelligible, but both the young man and the young woman at the front desk can pick up the girl's room number, and the words "roommate" and "alcohol poisoning." Better safe than sorry, the front desk worker calls the campus emergency number. Literally before she's finished describing the situation over the phone, a CSO officer arrives via bike at the front door. By this time the young man is out in the lobby curious as to what's going on, and if he can do anything to help. He unlocks the door for the officer who hurriedly moves towards the East tower where the victim is located. Minutes later, paramedics arrive with a stretcher. The young man's eyes glaze over as he watches the stretcher rolled across the floor in front of him. His mind flashes back to the number of times in his short three year experience with this school that he's seen this situation before. He realizes he'll probably see this situation again. A different stretcher, a different person, a different reason, but all because of the same mistake.

Think that basically says it all. It's amazing how the mood around here can go from "bouncy happy cheerful excited let's party" to "slumping sad tearful depressed what have I done", in a mere few hours. I feel like I should be giving some sort of advice here, but do I really need to spell it out?

We All Do Stupid Things.

So when I rearranged my room a month or two ago I suddenly realized after everything was set back up that I was getting no sound from my rear speakers. I'd left them plugged in during the move, so after various testing and unplugging and plugging and discovering they worked when connected to one of the other slots, and software checks and different tests and such I figured the amp was fried at the rear connections. So I've been surfing ebay looking for cheap cool systems among other things, and while I was sitting here about a month later I suddenly noticed that one of the volume knobs on the amp was at the minimum. Sure enough, its the surround one. [looks sheepish]

They call me Mr. Fix It, yep they do.

Chuckle of the Day...

Gonna get crazy and try a link here, because I found it so funny. Go ahead and check this out.

Some poor soul DEFINITELY didn't find what he was looking for, as this page managed to end up at the top of the list in a search at some whack site for "whale of a girl."

Comfy Places for Cozy People

Or maybe that's Cozy places for Comfy people. Hm. Well anyway, I've been on a vendetta to find comfy spots around campus to spend my time when I'm bored between classes, or need to get my reading done, or whatever. I shall now reveal a couple to the select few bored enough to be looking for some as well. Second floor of the HSSB building, on the curved wing, about halfway down there's some nice comfy chairs in an air conditioned room with a vending machine. Very reclusive and quiet. First floor of the Chemistry building, just after you walk in there's some chairs to your left, including a bonus double one that you can basically stretch out on or do what people like me do, get bored and shift your weight or change your position every five minutes between chapters. Sure the library's nice and all, but sometimes you just gotta branch out and forge into new territory.

Finished basically the entire planning aspect of my Vegas trip today, and made almost all of the necessary phone calls and reservations. My account has dwindled as such, but its shaping up to be the most amazing trip of my life in quite some time. Ran into a few snags along the way but it looks like I've got everything all worked out. Oh, forgot to mention due to a few different issues it got backed up a week, so those looking to invade the place should do so from May 10th to the 12th. ;)

Unfortunately it looks like due to lack of funding on my real birthday I'll now be eating the free food in the dining commons. Its all good, its worth it. :)

My, The Freshmen Look Small This Year

It's too bad, too bad
Too late, so wrong
So looooooong.
It's too bad, we had
No time to rewind
Let's walk, let's talk.

Random lyrics from Nickelback's "Too Bad", not particularly interesting, catchy song though, and the one my Winamp chose to randomly shuffle to and stick in my head this morning.

There have been a lot of tours wandering around lately, and with Spring Insight this weekend there should be thousands more shuffling around campus their eyes and big as their melons, while their parents go through the age old exchange "Is this dorm where a lot of the parties are? Really? Okay Jimmy let's go back to that ugly looking one on the other side..." Its weird, I still remember walking up the middle of campus for the first time, and I remember what it looked like seeing all the buildings and so forth for the first time. I personally thought it was awesome, and to this day I can't think of a better place to spend four years with regards to weather and atmosphere. I'm sure I'll be helping many of said freshmen move in on that fateful day next year, who knows, maybe they won't be as idiotic as the recent sets (mine included). One can only hope. :)

Wednesday's my busy section day, three in a row from 2 to 5, so I better get studyin for some quizzes.

He's Makin a List, and Checkin It Twice...

Updated the word doc I'm using to back up this blog, we're up to 150+ pages now. Wonder how long it would take me to type that in one sitting. Long. Very long.

Spent a few hours today planning my Vegas trip slated for early next month, getting all the specifics down, scheduling out the three days and two nights involved, and surfing around looking for the best deals. I figure might as wel see as much as possible while I'm there, who knows when I'll have the money to go back. :) The only reason I have it this time is because its the only thing I asked for on my 21st birthday, which I'll end up celebrating that Saturday, most likely with a full day of entertainment and fun. Compared with my siblings, I've been somewhat shortchanged in the past on a number of issues involving money, so I figure I'm due.

Now for those of you thinking I'm going to go bankrupt losing all my money in the casinos, I can only tell you that's utterly not the reason I'm going. If I felt like gambling, I could take money off the hands of the freshmen on the hall, or drive a half hour north for some random weekend fun. I'm going for the shows, the entertainment, the attractions, and basically the atmosphere. The feeling of wandering around for two days living the life of the rich and famous (well, on a budget) and living it up in the most glamorous city in the world. Sure, I'll end up tossing a random dollar bill in a machine when I'm wandering through the Bellagio between the Fountains and the Cirque Du Soleil show, but I have utterly no interest in spending hours on end in a single casino. Trying to see an entire city in two days requries a lot of planning and a tight schedule, no time to be making millions along the way.

Not that I would mind if one of those random dollar bills happened to reproduce into enough to pay off the whole trip... :) There's a possibility there will be extra room in the room I'm staying in for that Friday and Saturday night (May 3rd and 4th) for those who happen to be in the area needing a place to crash. No guarantees though, check with me first. Going to be finalizing the plans this week it would appear, making the necessary reservations, and all the busywork. Ended up making a huge list of everything I wanted to see and do along with timing and prices for all of it, and then having to go through an agonizing cut off period where I had to eliminate many of the more expensive or more time consuming

My brother and sister have been utterly lazy in updating their blogs, so I've begun using the time searching for new, exciting and interesting people around the world. If you're one of them, and reading this, sign my guestbook with your blog site already, so I can be aware of your existence! ;)

A To-Do List For Life...

This is an idea I've been milling over for quite a long time now and finally decided to sit down and begin. A list as you've probably seen in many other places by many other people, of the things that I personally would like to do during this lifetime.

I've let a relatively sheltered and spoiled existence, and I'm quite aware of such. One just needs to read one of those posters that talk about "If the World had only 100 people" and then gives you the breakdown of how many would be at poverty level or below (60 as I recall) and how many are illiterate in order to realize how "good" most of us (if not all) have it. I surfed around the net taking a look at various other people's list, and travel seems to be quite popular, and that makes sense, why be ready to leave this world if you haven't seen all of it yet. One thing that seems to be different with mine is that I'm lacking materialistic items. People have things like "earn a million a year " or "live in a million dollar loft in New York" or "own a luxury car." For me when I really get down to the nitty gritty what I want to accomplish in life, money seems like a means of getting to certain things, but certainly not the end result. If I could accomplish all the things on my list without any, I wouldn't feel the need to make more than the average Joe. I think I'll be adding to the list continuously, and I don't think I'll ever accomplish everything on it. A lot of the things I've added already are ongoing, such as seeing the Olympic torch whenever it visits the United States, riding the world's fastest roller coaster at any given time (I've actually ridden three of the top five at the moment including #1), and visiting the world's highest observation deck (currently the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada). I'll probably end up categorizing the list to make it easier, because it looks like its going to be quite lengthy. Some physical personal items are running a five minute mile (I came close in high school, but never hit it) and bench pressing my weight. Then you've got the typical travel items, and "crazy" things like skydiving or bungee jumping. Other items are more random, such as publishing a book and an article in a magazine, designing my own house, and giving a performance on stage people paid to see in a musical or show of some sort. Still others are of the far-fetched variety, such as going on a spacewalk, or seeing the earth from space. Who knows though, civilian space travel might not be as far away as we think. Then we have learning sign language, and being a voice in an animated movie..

Well as you can see, the list goes on, and on. I've only mentioned a small portion of the lengthy version I've got so far, and I've still only just begun. Lofty goals sure, getting to do everything on the list would be as close to impossible as they come, but aren't we all allowed to dream?

Was hanging out with a friend at Carrow's tonight and she mentioned that experiencing "true love" was on her list. Frankly yes, I guess finding "the one" will be on mine, but whenever I think about it I always find myself settling for "well, maybe "a" one, or maybe even "anyone"." It's just not an extremely high priority at this time in my life. Through my friends and family I basically fill all the social needs I have, and although I wouldn't mind a singular person to share experiences with on a closer level, I'm not tripping over myself trying desperately to find someone to fit the mold.

Rereading that something tells me if I look back through this journal I'll find contradictory views and wants in other places. I probably change back and forth about how important finding love is to me from week to week, month to month. I guess that's where the title of this comes from, who really knows what I'm searching for?

Typical College, well, UCSB Life...

Nothing like returning home late at night and having to climb over several lifeless bodies strewn about the hallway in order to get to one's door. Even better is going to use the restroom before bed and finding not one, not two, but all three stalls full of stationary subjects in either the bent over "I'm barfing" position or the collapsed "i'm passed out in a bathroom stall" position.

Stranger still is finding a few very large dents in the wall down the hall, and hearing about how the trash can in the restroom was set on fire earlier. That's slightly more dangerous than the usual "let's teepee the bathroom" that involves wasting all the rolls of toilet paper in the bathroom making some sort of strange canopy of garbage.

I had a good night tonight, and apparently its a good thing I wasn't around to deal with all the crap that went on here.

Daylight savings it would appear, spring ahead fall back and all that, another hour gone from the day when I didn't even do anything. Alas.

To the Ends of the Earth...

At some point last year one night a friend of mine and I wandered down to the Goleta pier and out to the end, a good quarter mile out into the ocean or so. Out there, its amazing how quiet it is. When the ocean is still, you literally can't hear anything at all, just total silence other than your own movements. More impressive is that you're far enough out that if you look straight out off the end, you can't see a single light, piece of land, or anything other than total darkness. It's literally like you're standing at the End of the World, and looking down.

Decided to see if I could manage to run all the way down there and out to the end and back yesterday and made it, I figure it to be over two miles, maybe three. Hey, stop that snickering, I'm workin on it! :) One of these trips when an awesome sunset is happening I'm gonna take a camera, looking across towards UCSB's peninsula is pretty incredible from out on the end of the pier, its as if the land is just floating on the water, almost as if its a long strip of island. That, the ocean, the cliffs, and the sky filled with the radiant colors of an awesome sunset, should make a great panorama shot. :)

Another Random Encounter...

Guess its time to give third person storytelling another shot.

The young man pauses outside the fitness room door, suddenly becoming aware of the sounds within. Knowing that there's merely exercise equipment and a radio inside, he is at first confused. Extremely loud pounding is rattling the room, as if a wildebeest stampede was migrating through the room, crashing into all the equipment as it went. The young man then remembers a punching bag is one of the items that's been placed inside for recreational use, and assumes someone much more powerful than he is showing it who's boss. He knocks gingerly, but the sound from within continues. He eventually hammers on the door, and the walls stop shaking. The time it takes for the door to swing open can be measured in milliseconds. His eyes were focused on a height slightly above his own, and he realizes he's staring at nothing but the ceiling. His gazes drifts downward, and rests upon a girl no less than ten inches shorter than he, who appears to be slightly over a hundred pounds. "Thanks," he stammers, feeling sheepish, embarrassed for something only knew.

First week is over, could have been better, could have been worse. Glad I only have a 9am on Friday, gets me up but leaves the whole day ahead going into basically a three day weekend. Looks like a friend and I are going hiking Sunday, something I'm hoping to do a lot more of.

Ho Hum Dum Dee Dum

Had my last three sections today, so I've officially been to all my classes at least once. Unfortunately my Econ 2 TA speaks very poor english. I'm not one to make fun of someone due to a language barrier, I personally admire the type of person who even attempts to converse with a large group of people in a language that they are not fluent in, but it just really makes learning difficult at times, and minimizes the amount of help they can provide. My Black Studies TA seems pretty neat though, that looks like it will be an interesting class.

Turns out the friends I got the Bush tickets for over break had an awesome time in LA at the concert tonight, and I've been upgraded to a "10+++" on their scale... Course it was my fault that I screwed up getting them the tickets in the first place to the point that I had to buy some at auction on the last possible day that they could still be shipped in time... I guess they ended up being the best seats possible and one of the girls, dare I quote "got to shake the lead singer's hand and almost had an orgasm." Allllllrighty then. They even got me a lotto ticket out of appreciation, what more could a guy ask for. ;)

Finally figured out my issues with capturing TV shows to my computer, and am able to do that again with excellent results. If anyone misses a show of a popular series they're watching that doesn't repeat (I.E. 24, Amazing Race, Survivor) just let me know, and I'm sure I'll be able to download it and pass it along, if not capture it myself. What better way to watch TV than commercial free, pausable, whenever you want?

Repeated Post...

Gr, blogger has been really iffy lately, accidentally repeated a post while I was hammering away at the publish button waiting for a response.

Two Down, Forty Eight to Go.

I had the rest of my "first day" lectures today, which weren't as interesting as I thought they'd be, but hey. Why is it whenever you have a blocked together group of classes, the first or middle one will let you out way early and make you sit around waiting for the next, but the last one in the block will always keep you til the very end of class? :/ Guess I'll have more time to do the reading between classes while I sit on my duff.

My Econ classes look pretty dry, but that's kind of the point I guess. Nothing horribly exciting there, typical homework, midterm, final, etc etc. My Black Studies class however seems much more interesting. The prof used the F word at least three times during the period, waking the rest of us up whenever it happened, not something you usually hear from a traditional professor. He seems like a really cool guy though, and actually knows what he's talking about. Also doesn't believe in midterms or finals, instead assigning three papers worth 75% of the grade throughout the quarter, but they're basically on topics that we choose as long as they're related to the reading. Thus far appears to be the most interesting professor I've had thus far at UCSB, and that's pretty sad. He's now added to the "coolest people ever" list.

Disclaimer: Addition to the list is generally only temporary, and removal from the list can be swift and merciless at any time.

Got myself down to the fitness room for a pretty tough workout tonight, going to try a Tue/Thur/Sat weights and Mon/Wed/Fri Reccen racquetball/swimming routine and see where that goes. When I go over there tomorrow going to find out about intramurals too, racquetball was fun but looks like they have both indoor and outdoor soccer this quarter too, which is a much harder workout. Maybe I'll do all three, and really die. ;)

One Fiftieth of the Quarter Over...

Doesn't seem like that much if you just think of it as 10 weeks of 5 days each...

Only had one lecture today, managed to schedule 3 lectures in a row from 12:30-5 on Tuesdays and Thursdays this quarter, so those will be crowded. Gives me pretty light bookends to the week though, so I guess its worth it. Had to spend over $300 on books this quarter, and I'm still not done. Managed to pick two GEs that required like 8 texts each, should be fun reading. I guess I'll have plenty of time though between classes and during those 5 hour periods.

Big night of poker on the hall tonight, first time in at least a few months, no worries for everyone so we had a typical grand ol time throwin down some nickels and times. Had one of the bigger nights in my personal history though, which is always good to put someone in a better mood than usual.

Alas I guess I'll turn in, going to try to get back into the exercise routine now that I'm back at school, been doin pretty well for a while.

Think my goal for tomorrow is going to be talk to someone new in each of my three classes. Gotta find some way to stay awake... :)

I Got A Date!

April Fools. Har. Harhar.

Back at school, enjoying the general quietness brought about by the replacement case fans that booted the old turbines I had in there... Also having fun with the new monstrous mousepad that makes my life a whole lot easier than the dirty warped crusty tiny old one...

Stopped by Magic Mountain and even though I never actually ran into my friend (he apparently got lost on the way and never even made it to the park) still had a blast. I ended up getting a season pass since the coupon I had made the price of the season pass only about ten bucks over a regular day's admission... Now I'll be able to pop over whenever I please, lasts all year. Pretty nice deal.

One word to describe X, the newest world class roller coaster at the park, would have to be unique. It is utterly unlike anything I've ever ridden before. I only got on it once due to the fact that the line was 2+ hours all day long, but I rode in the very front, and it was just unbelievable. The face first drop at the beginning is much like if you were standing on a window sill with your back to the opening, and then just leaped backwards and outward, spread eagling your body to try to have as much of your surface area faceplant the ground as possible. Luckily it flips you over and spins you out of the way before that actually happens, but falling 200 feet in that position is quite a unique feeling. It broke down repeatedly and the line is VERY slow moving due to the complicated loading and unloading procedure, but I'd say its worth it depending on the number of hours involved.

Everywhere else the lines were basically none existant, walked onto Goliath twice in a row, even for the very front row, and the same was true for Batman and the other incredible rides there. Magic Mountain is just head and shoulders above the other thrill ride based parks I've been to, they literally have like 10 world class coasters you would ride again and again, there's always something else you haven't done. Missed out on Deja Vu the other most recent new one, but mainly because I decided to come back early around 3:00 before I got too tired, knowing I'd be able to head back over there any weekend I please for free. That's another really slow moving line, although I hear the ride is quite impressive as well. Don't think anything can touch X though. So any of you locals need a ride out there? Just pick a weekend, I'm game. ;)

The Matt Attack Is Goin Back Jack

That would go better if my name was Mack. Actually that would give a whole new meaning to it I suppose. Alas.

Two tips of the day for the computer savvy to make our lives a little easier... The first I yoinked off a friend's site. Yoinked, isn't that the coolest word ever? Jacked is good, but wears out its welcome eventually. Yoinked is new and different, gonna have to stick with it for a while. Anyway, the tip... If you type a word in Internet Explorer in the address bar for example blogger, and then hit ctrl and enter, it will automatically put in the http://www. and the .com for you! Just a bit of a time saver.

The second I figured out by accident, for a while now I've been using ctrl and 1 2 or 3 to do the first few smilies in AIM, but I'm not sure whether I just never noticed or its a new thing with the latest version, if you use ctrl and the numbers 1-8, or ctrl + shift and the numbers 1-8, you can actually do all 16 of the smilies without straying your hands from the keyboard. This is helpful for those of us who use the ctrl shift 5 sideways face an obscene amount, and before had to put up with incessant clicking to get to it.

So my dream monitor is for some reason at only 2 grand in an auction. Still a horribly high amount unfortunately, but quite a bit less than the 3.5 grand it goes for retail. So for all those of you people out in the world with millions of dollars to throw away, its still on my wish list... :)

Turns out I actually am making the trek out to Magic Mountain tomorrow, found a friend from school to go with, and since its sort of "on the way" back to UCSB and I'm not in any particular hurry to get back there and do nothing (classes don't start until Monday) might as well live it up another day. Will have to buy books on Monday I guess, but only have two classes that day anyway other than the one I'm trying to crash. Taking the last two GE classes of my life next quarter, another Classics this time Greek Mythology, and a Black Studies course that cleans out the last of my requirements. Between those and two Econ classes that are just the next in the series I took this quarter, grades should be good. Here's hopin. :)

Weather looks good for tomorrow, which is in a way a shame, the most fun I ever had at an amusement park was when I went to Magic Mountain and it just poured all day long. It was deserted, we went on all the rides like ten times, and had an absolute BLAST. Nothing like hurtling two hundred feet down a steep hill while being pummelled by thirty mile an hour winds driving horizontal rain into your face like thousands of tiny needles. :) Guess ya kinda gotta be in the mood. Park closes at 8, but we'll probably employ the "get in line for the ride with the longest wait right as it closes so they close off the line behind you and you get to stay that amount of time later than park closing to ride that last ride" strategy. I remember for Batman when it first opened we did that and even though it closed at 10pm we didn't actually leave the park until after midnight... Being able to drive home without falling asleep is always helpful though, we'll see how it goes. :)

Slightly Overestimated...

So the predictions were B's in everything cept a B+ in Econ 1.

Well, I got two B-'s and a C in the B predictions, but an A- in the B+ prediction. Overall I was off by .23 grade points. :/

Classics and Pstat were the B-'s, pretty close to what I predicted, Econ 3A was the unfortunate C, was really hoping for better than that there. Probably missed some nit picky things on the final or something, that was the lower end of the expected possible range. So I ended up not hitting the predicted 3.0, and there's plenty more room for improvement this quarter. I figure I have 4 more quarters here, and I wouldn't mind increasing my quarterly GPA for each one capping it with a 4.0 during my final quarter here. Well, wouldn't mind a 4.0 every quarter, but you gotta start somewhere. :)

Most recent search engine query that brought someone to my page was "ex-girlfriend awesome pics." Heh. Again, pretty sure they didn't find what they were looking for.

Trying to decide what to do with the full day tomorrow, might end up at a theme park, or someplace else fun, nothing really planned, that usually means spontaneity. Will be back at UCSB sometime around 1pm when the dorms open on Sunday, probably leave here at 11.

Non-Stop Entertainment...

I've been told by various friends that watching the Wilson family interact is a lot like a comedy television series in that there's always something to be laughing about. For some reason or another the five active members were informed of a "family dinner" last night scheduled for 6pm. At times this means someone got a raise or bonus and money is going to be "trickled down" to the masses, but last night we were warned in advance that was not the case. I still managed to squeeze in some time between running out of a movie and zipping off to Universal City to head over to the South Bay Grill fashionably late. The three children of the family were given the gift of humor, although depending on which of my friends you talk to there might be some disagreement there. Regardless, anyone one of them by themselves in a room is generally entertaining, but having all three firing off rounds at once is just non stop hilarity. Its a good thing they put us way back in the corner of the restaurant, because at times we can be pretty obnoxious. Highlights were the various comments about my brother's new earring (don't ask) and random digs towards my parents degenerative hearing. Come to think of it I'm pretty sure an outside onlooker wouldn't understand half the humor. We sure have a grand ol time during these rare entire family get togethers though.

Later that night I ended up heading out to the Universal City Hilton, where I hung out with a friend who had been put up there by a company she had an all day job interview with the next day. Pretty nice place, still never been to Universal Studios, going to have to get on that one of these days. It was just like old times, ended up jabberin away well into the morning even though she had to be up at 6. I think things are finally to the point that I can stop saying "most recent ex" and start saying "friend", like I do with everyone else. Its a good feeling, after the years we spent together she still knows more about me than anyone, and its nice to have her be a phone call away if I ever need someone who knows. I think vice versa is also true, its going to be quite a while before she can say she's had a longer relationship than ours. I've always said that a man and a woman can only be truly platonic if there is no physical attraction whatsoever, or if there is they've already tried things out and found out it didn't work. Everyone else is just pretending the feelings aren't there, and that might come out to bite them at some point. So I'd say Project "Regain a Friend" is now over, up next is Project "Find The One." Think the timing on that one is gonna be a bit more lengthy. :)

Was watching tennis just now (hey, its past midnight, what else is on) and checking out the new computerized "ShotSpot" as they call it. Its basically a computer recreation of the shot that just happened, showing exactly where the ball hit on the court including the complete skid mark caused by the compression of the ball, and where it falls in relation to the line. They say its accurate to less than a millimeter. Yet they still have several line judges making the calls. Its just another example of a computer that will eventually replace a biped when it comes to a specific task or job. In the long run I guess it will be better to be positive that the correct call was made every time, but isn't half the fun blaming the ref for your mistake? :)

Three's A Crowd...

So I'm behind on movie reviews, watched two last night and another tonight, alas this is what I busy myself with while at home most of the time.

Tuesday night I went down to the AMC 20 and amazingly enough they let me use one of my free movie passes I got through my Moviewatcher card back in 7/99 which had been sitting in my wallet ever since then... The trick with those is the movie has to have been out at least two weeks and I never see stuff that late, but finally I went to go see A Beautiful Mind which had been out for much longer than that. I don't know if I would vote it Best Picture of the year, but it was pretty good. Better I think if you don't know the story behind the real person going in, otherwise you're sort of cheating when it comes to certain plot elements. We'll go 4 M's out of 7.

I then theater hopped over to Ice Age since getting one movie for free just isn't enough... As expected the little furball guy from the preview was the funniest part, although he had a pretty minor part in the movie. There were some pretty funny sections, but nothing that had me rolling on the ground or anything. Typical animation fare, although not as good as some. We'll go 4 M's here too.

Then tonight I met up with a couple friends from the high school days and after major miscommunication regarding times, well not really just the fact that everyone was late, we ended up seeing Showtime, the new comedy with Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy. This I found quite funny, with some cool shoot em up scenes and car chases to boot, boosting this one up into the 5 M range. They even had the bloopers during the credits, but they weren't as funny as some movies such as Exit Wounds or A Bug's Life. Overall pretty decent movies and judging from the previews its going to be a busy spring and summer.

More later I was out late tonight and am thus tired.

DONT TELL ME! Too late.

Since I got home later Sunday evening, I had my mom tape the Oscars for me. I figured I'd be able to watch them the next day without risking finding out who won. Well, I was stupid enough to check my e-mail and see the major award winners of the front page... Then while toasting myself up some waffles I glanced the wrong way and saw the front page of the Calendar section my mom had left out... Then just in case I had managed to block it out of my mind, while walking by Starbucks later my "always wanting to read something" eyes spied even more results in the newspaper on the table to my left as I passed by. I was the kid who read about pyrodoxine hydrochloride on the cereal box during breakfasts, but man does that get annoying sometimes.

I eventually watched the ceremony, although knowing the end results always makes it somewhat anti climactic. If there's one guy I think is pure genius, its John Williams. That guy has done just everything. I can't imagine what it must take to create a powerful and unforgettable theme to a movie such as Jaws, Star Wars, or E.T., from thin air. I read later he's been nominated for an Oscar forty times. FORTY. Geez. Amazing.

I thought the show overall was pretty good, its length drastically reduced by fast forwarding through commercials. Don't think they really needed to squeeze in Halle Berry thanking her lawyer, but John Williams is too nice a guy to cut anyone off, that was obvious throughout.

The other abnormal event from yesterday was getting an invitation from the latest ex now friend to go out to lunch and run some errands... Ordinarily this wouldn't be very significant except for the fact I hadn't seen her at all since oh, a year ago or so... Actually not counting a quick run in up north at that time, I hadn't seen her since the break about a year and a half ago... So yeah, the weirdness level at first was kind of like, well, high.

I did my best to act normal, and I'm pretty sure that's the way it came off. Just same ol same ol, wandering around, cracking jokes, exchanging barbs, ripping on each other's other significant others. Other three times in four words looks a bit strange. It did seem more like a uh, business meeting than a couple of friends hanging out at times, but just the fact that she was willing to take the initial step was huge for her, I think. I think the fact that she's locked up in trying to get over and avoid the latest ex is helping her take baby steps in learning to communicate with me again.

I don't have anything to gain from pushing the envelope, so I've been letting her move at her own speed. My only goal with her is to regain the level of friendship we once had, nothing more than that. It's slow going, but I think in the long run things will work out.

Cruise Control, A Blessing...

I must say, whoever invented cruise is now on my "world's coolest people" list, as it made the journey across most of California and back much easier on the body and the brain this weekend.

The trip up was relatively uneventful, except me realizing how beautiful it can be just to be driving through the Central Valley, with mountain ranges far in the distance in both directions, and endless land all around you. I guess I've always lived near the mountains and the ocean, so being completely inland, seeing nothing but the greens and yellows of the land, is quite a new experience. I actually later saw a scene out my window that looked exactly like the default Windows XP background, with the beautiful green hill, the blue sky and clouds, the mountains in the background. By the time I grabbed a camera it was gone though. One of those fleeting moments that lasts only in memory. Rereading that it sounds pretty pathetic that a random hill would excite me that much.

So I eventually made it up to witness the California State Academic Decathlon in Modesto in which my alumnus was competing. That was a blast, I got to not only see some old faces I hadn't run into since high school including one of my teammates, but continue to cheer on and get to know this year's team, including one of the members who is probably attending UCSB next year. Always cool to find out people headed in my direction, enjoy showin the newbies the ropes. They ended up doing well in the competition, including the star of the team who took home multiple medals including a bronze for the 3rd highest score in the entire state. As usual she seemed like she was glad to do well but had visions and dreams of doing better. Striving for perfection, always. Sometimes people just have to take a look back and realize what they've accomplished, and be proud of it. Went out to lunch with the team after the awards banquet, I always have a blast at long tables with groups of a variety of personalities, and great comedians. Just saw a commercial that said "Here's to growing up, but still wanting to be at the kid's table." That's pretty appropriate, even though I've got four years on most of the decathletes this year, I still feel like we share a bond, and since they're much more mature than your typical 17 or 18 year olds, I tend to forget about the whole age thing when in a conversation.

Ended up not really having plans for where to spend Saturday night, and I figured out once up there that most of my friends going to school in the Bay Area were all at home for break... Luckily got a hold of a friend of mine so we hung out for a while, I got to meet her parents who seemed really great, and see her house, which was really cool. Ended up falling asleep on the couch after the really long day, and cleverly locking my car keys in her house when I left early the next morning when they were all asleep. Eventually got that figured out after a few hours and got back to Modesto in time for the awards ceremony. The trip back was pretty boring, as trips back tend to be, luckily I eventually caught up to the caravan of cars from my high school after getting gas and stuck with them the rest of the way, nothing like trying to keep multiple cars in a line on major freeways to keep one paying attention and awake. :)

I ended up surviving the driving though, which is testament than an eight hour shift between here and Texas should be tough, but not horribly impossible. :) More later, been an interesting day since then as well.

The Matt Attack Is Back Jack.

A thousand miles later, I've arrived back at home. Managed to see much of the Bay Area and Central California while I was gone over the last 36 hours, and I'm pretty beat. Stories later. However, must say thanks to the friend of mine who put me up for the night on a moment's notice, these deeds do get remembered in the great book of "people Matt owes."

Home Ugly Home...

So I got bored of hanging around and decided to clean up the pigsty I live in at school and head on home. Managed to get stuck behind three trains for a total of about an hour, including the same train TWICE while in Oxnard (I know, I counted the cars both times) due to it making a stop in between the two times I crossed it and therefore allowing me to catch up and wait... Also managed to pick the most congested way home, or so I thought, until I heard on the radio the amount of accidents and SUV flippings that took place on the alternate routes. Ended up taking me over 3 hours when a quick trip is less than 2. Gr.

There are rumors of me heading up north tomorrow for the weekend, but there are some issues that need to be worked out there so who really knows. Had a lot of mail when I came home which was nice, always fun to feel popular, even if 90% of it is junk. :)

Happy to see familiar faces and some not so familiar popping up in the guestbook, neat to not have to tap the mic saying "Is this thing on?" and wonder if anyone is listening. Although even if I knew no one was, I'd still do this. Helps me somehow, haven't quite figured it out, but it does.

Update...

They threw up the key to the Stat Final, and according to my calculations I managed a slightly better percentage than my second midterm, although not by much. Could have been better, could have been much worse. So it ends up replacing it for the final score, and after doing all the calculations it appears that I was right on the nose with my prediction of a B in that class. Its funny how they tend to surprise you though somehow... At least I'll know to go complain if I end up with something lower than that. So, after one grade I have a 3.0 GPA! Woo! For those who aren't impressed you must realize that a different statistics course was one of the ones I took on three separate occasions trying to raise my grade during my previous life on the CS path... Nothing like being done with Statistics, FOREVER, and get a not so bad grade in it too! Too bad I'll have to wait like 10 days for the other grades. :/

DUN, DUN DUN DUNT, DUN, DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNN...

Anyone watch Square One when they were kids? How about 3-2-1 Contact? I think they were on KCET. Mathnet was a segment of one of them, Square One I think, and the above is an attempt at the riff they play at the end of each episode... Yeah, guess you have to know what I'm talking about to get it. :/

So, eeeets all ooooova ladies and gents. There were a couple hiccups during the Econ test, one of which was when I decided I hadn't the foggiest idea what I was talking about as I was writing the essay, so I switched to the second prompt, and it went muuuuch smoother. Basically out of the 30 questions I was positive on a bunch, pretty durned sure on a bunch more, and then there were the "well yeah, this must be right.... right?" ones where you never really know. Unfortunately there's a huge difference between a 20/30 and a 29/30 when it comes to percentages, so we'll have to see where this takes us. A little luck is always nice. Actually compared to my other classes, this one was my highest "going into the final" grade, so worst comes to worst it still should be pretty good.

So, its time for the ever fun GRADE PREDICTIONS:

Classics 102: A lot changed today, and after an A on the paper and what appeared to be a good grade on the final, I'm going to have to go with a B in the class. Higher than that would be pleasantly surprising, but since this one doesn't count towards the major or anything important, that's just for overall GPA help.

Econ 3A: I knew more going into the final of this one than most of the others since it was only worth 20% of the final grade. My range of possibilities uncurved was somewhere between about a 75 (50% on the final) and 85 (do good) percent overall in the class. Given how I felt I did on the final, I'm going to go with a B here too. A curve here would be most helpful though, and its quite possible there will be one (the final wasn't easy), which could bump that up a notch or two.

Pstat 5E: Aced the first midterm here, but scored lower on the second. Catch there being that if you do better on the final than one of the midterms, it replaces that score as well as counting for the final itself. So a whole lot of movement possible there depending on final results. As with my others, I felt pretty good, but the downside to multiple choice is you miss a couple here and there and it adds up. However there's curve possibilities there as well. Possible ranges in there are about the same as Econ 3A uncurved. Guess I'll go with a B.

Econ 1: Well, here I actually had a B+/A- going into the final, but its really a wild card. Just to continue the conservative theme with every grade, I'll go with a B+ here.

I guess those are pretty much middle of the road numbers. Some of them are pretty much guaranteed that good IE Classics, and some have it more in the middle of their range. However, given my GPA performance over the last four quarters before the major change, just about anything even remotely close to these grades will significantly and positively affect my GPA. Ya gotta start somewhere, and possibly more than doubling my GPA from one of the quarters last year would be a pretty impressive place to start the upward swing.

Okay just for kicks, the best case scenario. We'll say A in Classics if he for some reason decides to ignore the Midterm given excellent performance on the paper and the final. We'll say A- in Econ 3A if I managed to rule the final and there's any sort of curve. We'll say A in Pstat too, again if the final gods enjoyed my worship and the focus is placed on the latter parts of the class. Actually if I aced the final there then that cancels out the second midterm giving me basically 100% in the class. Obviously the final score will be key, and that's the one I'll get to see within a day or two. Econ 1 there's definitely A possibilities with an excellent score on the final. So looking at it that way, there's the possibility of an outright fabulous GPA this quarter. I won't wory about the "worst case" because there's always possibilities that the Scantron machine will eat my test. [knocks on wood]

Anyway, grades are posted online sometime late next week or early the following one.

Meanwhile, its SPRING BREAK BABY! Now the question is, what in the heck to do with myself? :)

High, High Into The Sky...

Nope, didn't have my first experience with marijuana.

I did however just get out of a Classics final, which I now feel MUCH better about. Going in I was pretty worried about my grade in the class, having absolutely eaten it hard on the midterm, and written a relatively crappy paper, and having gotten neither back yet with the only other grade being the final. Turns out after a marathon reading session last night and finding some awesome online classics study sources with summarys, analysis, quizzes to test yourself, and character evaluations, I managed to know a huge portion of the multiple choice section, and actually knew what I was talking about in the essay, with a full on thesis with three main points, body paragraphs, conclusion, witty ending, the whole bit.

So I turn in all the paperwork and Scantron thinking well, hopefully the final was worth a large percentage... Then I notice he has the stack of essays to pass back... I walk out of the class thinking, well shit, hope this doesn't totally ruin my high, hoping to see maybe a B- if he was in the right mood...

Basically clocked this guy as I bounced out around the corner pumping my fist having seen that I got an A. If I knew how to make that letter bigger I would. BOOYAH! No idea how it happened, but no reason to complain. I think it was my witty ending. "As far as I know, I was actually born the Prince of Wales."

...

Okay I'm a dork. But I guess you have to read the whole paragraph to understand. Yeah, that's it.

So anyway, we've gone from man it would be nice to get some kind of a C to not totally kill my GPA, to holy junk I might actually get something higher than a B! Phew. One more to go, and I've studied more for this next one than any test in my college career strangely enough. Only thirty multiple choice on it though as well as the essay, so a few booboos and your grade falls in a hurry. Nice thing is the essay is scored either a 1 or a 0 and multiplied by the multiple choice percentage, so as long as you pretend to know what kind of concentrated stuff you're smoking while you write it you'll get the 1 with no problem. Pretty sure if I get an A on that final I'll get an A in the class. In fact given the only other two grades were the midterm I got a 13/15 on and quizzes and I got an even higher percentage, my grade on the final will probably be my grade in the class unless its horrible.

I vote I not screw up this high, and go kick butt on Econ too! Yeahhhh! More later, we'll see what the aftermath looks like.

Halfway Home...

Oh how I love multiple choice exams. Oh how I love them Sam I am. There's nothing like having absolutely NO CLUE what the correct answer would be, but since the next question is based off the answer to the previous, figuring it out from there, or working backwards with each of the choices, or guess and checking, and eventually getting it right. Luckily there was only a few of those on the Stat final that I was boggled about, other than that it went pretty well. They let us keep the test and they're going to post the key online, so I should know within a day or two what my final grade is and be able to work out my grade in the class, something most classes usually don't allow you to do. Always nice to know ahead of time what you're getting before the two week period before the grades actually show up on your transcript.

Two more chapters of Econ as well as the review and four plays to read by tomorrow for Classics, those are from 12-3 and 4-7, and then, I'm free!

(ignore the time on this, its actually 6:30pm I'm just using a post I accidentally duplicated earlier, oopsie)

Cheerful, For Some Reason or Another.

This one goes out to all my friends, especially the ones who've made me smile in times when in seemed impossible.

"Thought I'd seen everything
There was to see in this world
Now I'm not so sure
I've really seen anything at all.
I thought life could show me no surprises
And then you came and showed me I was wrong.

I have seen the bluest skies
Ranibows that would make you cry.
I have seen miracles
That moved my soul
Days that changed my life.
I have seen the brightest stars
Shine like diamonds in the dark.
Seen all the wonders of the world
But I've never seen a smile as beautiful as yours..

I thought I'd been everywhere.
I'd climbed the mountains so high
Sailed the sea, crossed the sky
And still I was nowhere at all.
Until that day
You came to my senses
And you smiled and made sense out of it all.

I have seen the bluest skies
Rainbows that would make you cry.
I have seen miracles that moved my soul
Days that changed my life.
I have seen the brightest stars
Shine like diamonds in the dark.
Seen all the wonders of the world
But I've never seen a smile as beautiful as yours.

Things so beautiful comes one time in a lifetime
A smile this beautiful I never dreamed I'd ever see.

I have seen the bluest sies
Rainbows that would make you cry.
I have seen miracles that moved my soul
and days that changed my life.
I have seen the brightest stars
Shine like diamonds in the dark.
I've seen all the wonders of this world
But I've never seen a smile as beautiful as yours."

Awwww wat a pwetty song.

Its All A Haze...

Okay so I tried putting the alarm clock down on the desk instead of up where I can reach it for the first time last night. My theory was I'd have to get down to turn it off, and its so much work to get all the way back up there I'd stay up, important given I had a final at 8am.

I vaguely remember trying to reach down to turn off the alarm even though it was all the way down on the desk (bout a four foot drop) and eventually getting it, after sliding out of bed and crashing onto the floor, hand still on the clock. Interesting thing being I was so tired I managed to climb back into bed and fall asleep without the thought of the final occurring to me at any time. Even more bizarre is the fact that I managed to wake up unaided at 7:46, and even managed to avoid faceplanting the ceiling as I leaned forward with the classic "OHMYGAWD PLEASE SAY ITS NOT PAST 8." Eh, I always manage to make things interesting.

Good news is I nailed the final pretty good (I always think that) and should have locked down a decent grade in that class (I always predict that too). Bad news is somehow I managed to slice across my middle and pinky fingers last night, just a paper cut style wound across the tips, while the finger between them was untouched. Weird. Very weird.

Anyway, tomorrow's is at 4pm, should be able to wake up easier for that one. ;)