Dup E Dup E Doopie Doop Doop Doop
Cmon, you gotta admit that's the best Dance Dance Revolution song. Well its my favorite anyway. :) Spent a few hours over at a friends house tonight working up a decent sweat skidding around on the pads, was loads of fun. If only I'd get addicted to exercising like that, I'd be one fit little boy. :P
So the math midterm went very well, I'm pretty sure about everything except the extra credit problem, which is of course, extra credit, so who really cares. Also got my cs40 midterm back, and ended up with a 81 out of 93, which with the class average being 61 ended up being about 5th highest in the class. Missed an easy five point problem too, should have had the highest grade overall. :/
So it looks like operation Keep Me In School is in full effect, with of course nothing really meaning anything until finals week. Ooh goodie.
Worked out pretty hard tonight, found out to my dismay they actually DO have an inverted bench with pads for inclined situps in the fitness room, so I don't really have an excuse to let my tummy grow any wider. Darn. I think I can actually motivate myself to head downstairs pretty often though, so we'll see if at least I can gain some muscle, even if I'm not losing any weight.
I'm feeling better about the way friendships are building this year, at first it seemed like I wouldn't find anyone to have close ones with like previous years, but I've met a few people out of nowhere who have become really good friends of mine. These last few days two of my friends have given me random hugs, which really made me happy. :) If there's one thing I miss about a relationship, its having a hug whenever you need one.
Had a whole big ol discussion with someone about male/female friendships, and whether they can ever truly be platonic, etc etc. I've always been of the opinion that if there is no physical attraction it is easily possible, although there seem to be a lot of people who disagree. I've never worried about any of my friends finding me attractive (self-pity I know, but its true) so I think nothing of random hugs, or even sleeping in the same room or on the same bed if that's what's most logical at the time to prevent anyone from being extremely uncomfortable on the floor or whatever. For a lot of people that's taboo though, which must stink if you're the one who ends up on the floor. :/ One of my friends made the claim that there is always a sexual tension between a guy and a girl, even if they're just friends, and even if they're not physically attracted to each other. Maybe its because I'm not all that interested in the physical aspect of relationships, that causes me to be immune or most likely oblivious to the "tension." I just get along better with girls, that's all. I'm not into getting drunk, laid, or wrestling, so I tend to have more in common with the opposite sex than my own. I don't think its a bad thing, it just works out that way.
Anyway, three cheers for hugs, and those who share them.
Thursday, November 01, 2001
Hump Day.
I know, I know, its been a while. Let me start by rattling out a few excuses, such as the fact I had midterms Tuesday and another one techinically today (Thursday morning as I write this, test not til 3:30pm), both of which I have to nail. I'm basically three quarters of the way through acing midterms, with one still to come. Thus far I've been quite proud of my performance, and the next one should prove no difficulty either.
So, the CalTech story. My friend is giving me a tour of the campus and we see a large group of about thirty "Techies" (as they call themselves) running around making strange noises, climbing the olive trees, shaking them, even throwing brooms or shovels at them. As we come closer we notice that several are carrying around cd's, and there appear to be more in the trees. We pull one of them aside and discover that the theme of the day is "lumberjacks." They've been enlisted by their group leader to "cut down" all the trees, and thus first have to save all the "owls" from their natural habitat, the one collecting the most wins. This is the kicker, the "owls" are the AOL cds. At first I had no clue, until the girl explained it like three times... (Owl, AAA-OL, get it?) And I thought my friend was wierd. These people make her look as normal as they come. This was just one of many strange practices I heard about while there, such as their interesting eating procedure... First the president of the school gets up and rings a gong at the designated time, and gives a speech, with pauses to allow all the students to pound on the tables to show their approval. Then comes the meal, which is brought to them by waiters. If they want another helping they just raise their glass or plate. In addition, if they ask the waiter for permission, they're allowed to throw their bread, or bread bowl (I'm not entirely sure which it was, maybe both) at someone else. However if they hit a waiter, or knock over someone's water glass, they get "floated." Being floated is apparently very common among freshman due to various offenses, and involves dumping a large bucket of ice water on the unlucky person's head.
Needless to say, its quite a strange place.
Tonight was Halloween, which at UCSB is the biggest party of the year. They expected twenty thousand people in IV tonight, most of which coming in costume, of some sort. I saw some incredibly creative ideas walking around the hall, and then of course the incredibly bizarre. Biggest eye popper on this floor went to the girl who had just painted a large hand over each of her breasts, and gone topless other than the body paint. That had some of the guys up here pretty googly. Some were really elaborate though, from a maid, to a chicken, to some random superhero, and enough guys in thongs to last me a lifetime. Unfortunately I'm not the gung ho lets go get wasted type, or I would have gone to join in the fun laughing at the antics on DP. I tend to enjoy the IVTV episode focusing on the weekend however, and get my fill of the antics of DP without ever having to actually go get groped by some guy myself.
I'm actually quite glad the math midterm is tomorrow, I'm going to get about ten hours of sleep, whereas most of the class probably will sleep through the test, and in the land of the curve, my good score will become perfect. :)
Watched the rest of Almost Famous today, it was okay, but not exactly the desperately wonderful movie everyone had made it out to be. I think that's my problem, I rely too much on other people's opinions, and by the time I finally get around to watching a movie six months later its just anticlimactic, not the fabulous movie I was expecting. Also downloaded Swordfish in great quality, still one of the coolest explosions to open a movie that I've seen. My list is growing more and more popular, just about everyone on the floor has come to borrow a movie at some point or another. I've had to cut a few people off though, I hate it when people abuse the privledge, and just start copying mass quantities of the movies, without making any effort to contribute to the collection in any way. Die freeloaders!
Wish me luck on the math midterm, I'll try to be a good boy and update daily now that all those are over. At least this post was long to make up for it. :)
I know, I know, its been a while. Let me start by rattling out a few excuses, such as the fact I had midterms Tuesday and another one techinically today (Thursday morning as I write this, test not til 3:30pm), both of which I have to nail. I'm basically three quarters of the way through acing midterms, with one still to come. Thus far I've been quite proud of my performance, and the next one should prove no difficulty either.
So, the CalTech story. My friend is giving me a tour of the campus and we see a large group of about thirty "Techies" (as they call themselves) running around making strange noises, climbing the olive trees, shaking them, even throwing brooms or shovels at them. As we come closer we notice that several are carrying around cd's, and there appear to be more in the trees. We pull one of them aside and discover that the theme of the day is "lumberjacks." They've been enlisted by their group leader to "cut down" all the trees, and thus first have to save all the "owls" from their natural habitat, the one collecting the most wins. This is the kicker, the "owls" are the AOL cds. At first I had no clue, until the girl explained it like three times... (Owl, AAA-OL, get it?) And I thought my friend was wierd. These people make her look as normal as they come. This was just one of many strange practices I heard about while there, such as their interesting eating procedure... First the president of the school gets up and rings a gong at the designated time, and gives a speech, with pauses to allow all the students to pound on the tables to show their approval. Then comes the meal, which is brought to them by waiters. If they want another helping they just raise their glass or plate. In addition, if they ask the waiter for permission, they're allowed to throw their bread, or bread bowl (I'm not entirely sure which it was, maybe both) at someone else. However if they hit a waiter, or knock over someone's water glass, they get "floated." Being floated is apparently very common among freshman due to various offenses, and involves dumping a large bucket of ice water on the unlucky person's head.
Needless to say, its quite a strange place.
Tonight was Halloween, which at UCSB is the biggest party of the year. They expected twenty thousand people in IV tonight, most of which coming in costume, of some sort. I saw some incredibly creative ideas walking around the hall, and then of course the incredibly bizarre. Biggest eye popper on this floor went to the girl who had just painted a large hand over each of her breasts, and gone topless other than the body paint. That had some of the guys up here pretty googly. Some were really elaborate though, from a maid, to a chicken, to some random superhero, and enough guys in thongs to last me a lifetime. Unfortunately I'm not the gung ho lets go get wasted type, or I would have gone to join in the fun laughing at the antics on DP. I tend to enjoy the IVTV episode focusing on the weekend however, and get my fill of the antics of DP without ever having to actually go get groped by some guy myself.
I'm actually quite glad the math midterm is tomorrow, I'm going to get about ten hours of sleep, whereas most of the class probably will sleep through the test, and in the land of the curve, my good score will become perfect. :)
Watched the rest of Almost Famous today, it was okay, but not exactly the desperately wonderful movie everyone had made it out to be. I think that's my problem, I rely too much on other people's opinions, and by the time I finally get around to watching a movie six months later its just anticlimactic, not the fabulous movie I was expecting. Also downloaded Swordfish in great quality, still one of the coolest explosions to open a movie that I've seen. My list is growing more and more popular, just about everyone on the floor has come to borrow a movie at some point or another. I've had to cut a few people off though, I hate it when people abuse the privledge, and just start copying mass quantities of the movies, without making any effort to contribute to the collection in any way. Die freeloaders!
Wish me luck on the math midterm, I'll try to be a good boy and update daily now that all those are over. At least this post was long to make up for it. :)
Monday, October 29, 2001
A Revelation.
So I'm sitting in lunch today, and absolutely randomly have a revelation, that the smoothie girl worked on the Move-In crew with me, helping people move into the dorm, and that's where I'd met her. I'd never seen her before that, and hadn't seen her since, hence my lack of intelligent thought on the manner. Stranger still is that she managed to remember who i was. Chalk it up to randomness i suppose..
So Caltech was fun, although driving kind of sucks. The way there was worse off because the people i was with were asleep the whole time, leaving me to fend for myself... On the way back the one girl I gave a ride to was very talkative about how her weekend went, so we exchanged stories and had a good time. More details on what CalTech is really like later (believe me, its not what you think, if you're thinking anything at all and haven't been there).
MJ's new album is out tomorrow, I'm quite interested to see how well it does, and if I personally think its any good. Should be worth the download to see, anyway.
Jeez, i've done that like twenty times. You'd be amazed how easy it is to fit a finger in the gap between the top of a drawer and the desk surface above, and how painful and hard it is to get it out.
...
Anyway...
So I'm sitting in lunch today, and absolutely randomly have a revelation, that the smoothie girl worked on the Move-In crew with me, helping people move into the dorm, and that's where I'd met her. I'd never seen her before that, and hadn't seen her since, hence my lack of intelligent thought on the manner. Stranger still is that she managed to remember who i was. Chalk it up to randomness i suppose..
So Caltech was fun, although driving kind of sucks. The way there was worse off because the people i was with were asleep the whole time, leaving me to fend for myself... On the way back the one girl I gave a ride to was very talkative about how her weekend went, so we exchanged stories and had a good time. More details on what CalTech is really like later (believe me, its not what you think, if you're thinking anything at all and haven't been there).
MJ's new album is out tomorrow, I'm quite interested to see how well it does, and if I personally think its any good. Should be worth the download to see, anyway.
Jeez, i've done that like twenty times. You'd be amazed how easy it is to fit a finger in the gap between the top of a drawer and the desk surface above, and how painful and hard it is to get it out.
...
Anyway...
Saturday, October 27, 2001
Friday, October 26, 2001
They're Cooky and They're Spooky.
Somebody pointed out today that whenever I use a random number in a sentence, its always eighty-seven. Its weird how other people notice these things. Last year someone noticed/complained about the way I used to say "hellllooooooo" when I met people in a cheerful way, and overused the word lame in the tone "lay hay hay hay meeeeeee." So now I've basically cut both of those words out of my vocabulary, just to avoid the peer pounding that resulted from repeated usage. It's strange how much other people can affect us.
So tonight is Friday night of Halloween weekend, which means a lot of glugglugging will be goin on. Thus me being probably one of a dozen or so people left in the dorm. Being by the elevator however I did get to see a parade of people in costume headed out to "sow their oats" as one of them referred to it as... There were some pretty impressive costumes, someone walked by with a wig the size of my door, in a disco 70's style getup, made me roll around on the floor for a while...
Today's obsession song is "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch. She's pretty young, but very talented. I'm always impressed by female musicians who don't need a studio to blow me away.
Looks like I'm headed south to L.A. to visit a friend tomorrow, luckily managed to convince another friend to ride a long, so chances are there won't be an update tomorrow, don't miss me too much. :)
Somebody pointed out today that whenever I use a random number in a sentence, its always eighty-seven. Its weird how other people notice these things. Last year someone noticed/complained about the way I used to say "hellllooooooo" when I met people in a cheerful way, and overused the word lame in the tone "lay hay hay hay meeeeeee." So now I've basically cut both of those words out of my vocabulary, just to avoid the peer pounding that resulted from repeated usage. It's strange how much other people can affect us.
So tonight is Friday night of Halloween weekend, which means a lot of glugglugging will be goin on. Thus me being probably one of a dozen or so people left in the dorm. Being by the elevator however I did get to see a parade of people in costume headed out to "sow their oats" as one of them referred to it as... There were some pretty impressive costumes, someone walked by with a wig the size of my door, in a disco 70's style getup, made me roll around on the floor for a while...
Today's obsession song is "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch. She's pretty young, but very talented. I'm always impressed by female musicians who don't need a studio to blow me away.
Looks like I'm headed south to L.A. to visit a friend tomorrow, luckily managed to convince another friend to ride a long, so chances are there won't be an update tomorrow, don't miss me too much. :)
Thursday, October 25, 2001
When it Goes, it Goes...
The above title is apparenly in reference to my memory...
So I get up this morning before my alarm goes off even, go figure. Decide since I'm up an hour earlier than usual I'll treat myself with a smoothie from Jamba Juice at the Ucen on the way to class. My friend's girlfriend works at the one on State Street, and she had like a million of those buy three get one free coupons thingies already stamped out, and I was given like 10. (SCHWEEEEEEEET, btw) So anyway, I wander in and the girl working the register goes "heyyyy what's up!" and I look up and see a very familiar face. Unfortunately the name, or where i know the face from, is just totally gone. So after the initial confused stare, her commenting "you don't remember me do you" and me saying "oh yeah, yeah I do, how are you what's been up" I am just at a total loss as to where I know her from.
The real kicker was what happened next though. She takes my order, and instead of asking, says "it's Matt, right?"
...
I was basically floored, usually girls can't remember my name five minutes later, much less at least six months (I'm pretty sure I know her from last year sometime). So I follow that up with "wow, I'm impressed" immediately realizing as I say that, that she might ask me what her name is. Luckily at that precise moment I happened to see her nametag on her hat. Turns out she didn't ask me anyway, and we didn't say anything else. But damn, was I stunned. It was like someone had randomly told me I was the coolest guy on earth. I guess that's when you know you've reached a new level of desperation. When someone remembering your name is life-altering.
Haven't the foggiest idea what I know her from. :( And boy, wouldn't I feel retarded asking.
The above title is apparenly in reference to my memory...
So I get up this morning before my alarm goes off even, go figure. Decide since I'm up an hour earlier than usual I'll treat myself with a smoothie from Jamba Juice at the Ucen on the way to class. My friend's girlfriend works at the one on State Street, and she had like a million of those buy three get one free coupons thingies already stamped out, and I was given like 10. (SCHWEEEEEEEET, btw) So anyway, I wander in and the girl working the register goes "heyyyy what's up!" and I look up and see a very familiar face. Unfortunately the name, or where i know the face from, is just totally gone. So after the initial confused stare, her commenting "you don't remember me do you" and me saying "oh yeah, yeah I do, how are you what's been up" I am just at a total loss as to where I know her from.
The real kicker was what happened next though. She takes my order, and instead of asking, says "it's Matt, right?"
...
I was basically floored, usually girls can't remember my name five minutes later, much less at least six months (I'm pretty sure I know her from last year sometime). So I follow that up with "wow, I'm impressed" immediately realizing as I say that, that she might ask me what her name is. Luckily at that precise moment I happened to see her nametag on her hat. Turns out she didn't ask me anyway, and we didn't say anything else. But damn, was I stunned. It was like someone had randomly told me I was the coolest guy on earth. I guess that's when you know you've reached a new level of desperation. When someone remembering your name is life-altering.
Haven't the foggiest idea what I know her from. :( And boy, wouldn't I feel retarded asking.
Wednesday, October 24, 2001
Warning, Unpleasant Visual Ahead.
So I'm playing indoor soccer tonight, as I do every Wednesday night in the Mens A league with some guys that I know. The ball heads into the corner and a guy chases me into it, so I try to do a really cool blast off the wall so it richochets off and flies towards the center of the court to a teammate.
It was one of the harder kicks I've hit in the last few years.
I took it full on in the face off the wall.
Just finished showering, there was this interesting yellow/orange juice from my eye mixing with the reddish blue blood from the nose, it was almost like an artist's pallete. The right side of my face is numbed to the point it feels like I just had novacaine put in for a cavity drilling.
My nose feels crooked. I don't think it is. It doesn't look crooked. Just half of it feels like someone else's nose. Sort of.
More in a while, that wasn't even the most shocking thing that happened today. :/
So I'm playing indoor soccer tonight, as I do every Wednesday night in the Mens A league with some guys that I know. The ball heads into the corner and a guy chases me into it, so I try to do a really cool blast off the wall so it richochets off and flies towards the center of the court to a teammate.
It was one of the harder kicks I've hit in the last few years.
I took it full on in the face off the wall.
Just finished showering, there was this interesting yellow/orange juice from my eye mixing with the reddish blue blood from the nose, it was almost like an artist's pallete. The right side of my face is numbed to the point it feels like I just had novacaine put in for a cavity drilling.
My nose feels crooked. I don't think it is. It doesn't look crooked. Just half of it feels like someone else's nose. Sort of.
More in a while, that wasn't even the most shocking thing that happened today. :/
Tuesday, October 23, 2001
What?
Such a non-day. Woke up at like 5am, couldn't get back to sleep, got up for a while, went back to bed at 7am stupidly thinking I could wake up again for class, missed class, decided screw it then I might as well keep sleeping, got up at 1pm, did laundry, went racquetballing, ate dinner, twiddled around for a few hours, and here I am. These non-days are quite frustrating. I need to eliminate these in order to get the grades I need to get this quarter. Gr.
Oh. I forgot the best part. I retardedly drove to the reccen, forgetting that even though i usually go at night, in order to go during the day you have to put money in the meter, because its only after 5pm that it's free. Thirty buck parking ticket. Whoopee.
I think one negative side of keeping this log is I find it hard to motivate myself to e-mail people I keep up with regularly. Its like, I just told my life story for the day once, and I'd just be repeating myself in an e-mail to the person. Most of them read this anyway. Maybe that's just me being impersonal. I haven't given 'go read the log' as a response to a friend's question in the real world as of yet. That would be pretty lame.
I think it's healthy though. This whole talking to one's self thing. They say your dreams are the way your mind regurgitates the information gathered during the day. I guess this is kind of like that.
Wow, this post sucked. I apologize.
Such a non-day. Woke up at like 5am, couldn't get back to sleep, got up for a while, went back to bed at 7am stupidly thinking I could wake up again for class, missed class, decided screw it then I might as well keep sleeping, got up at 1pm, did laundry, went racquetballing, ate dinner, twiddled around for a few hours, and here I am. These non-days are quite frustrating. I need to eliminate these in order to get the grades I need to get this quarter. Gr.
Oh. I forgot the best part. I retardedly drove to the reccen, forgetting that even though i usually go at night, in order to go during the day you have to put money in the meter, because its only after 5pm that it's free. Thirty buck parking ticket. Whoopee.
I think one negative side of keeping this log is I find it hard to motivate myself to e-mail people I keep up with regularly. Its like, I just told my life story for the day once, and I'd just be repeating myself in an e-mail to the person. Most of them read this anyway. Maybe that's just me being impersonal. I haven't given 'go read the log' as a response to a friend's question in the real world as of yet. That would be pretty lame.
I think it's healthy though. This whole talking to one's self thing. They say your dreams are the way your mind regurgitates the information gathered during the day. I guess this is kind of like that.
Wow, this post sucked. I apologize.
Monday, October 22, 2001
Phew.
Relief.
It's a wonderful thing.
Heard from my most recent ex-girlfriend tonight, for the first time in quite some time. Turns out she had been ignoring/avoiding me due to a misconecption, part of which was my fault.
We had a really good conversation. What's funny is that when I tell people that they immediately ask "so you're getting back together?" Heh. No. Its been over a year, and that is definitely not in the books. For some reason I'm different than most people, my few relationships have always ended in friendships, I don't just get the "screw you, well screw you too" type of results that cause people to hold grudges and be uncomfortable.
For a while I was worried about this most recent one though, it seemed like she wasn't at all interested in maintaining any kind of friendship at all. This was quite depressing, given she was the best friend I ever had. There were things I shared with her that no one else knew, including my family and other close friends. Two and a half years is a long time to spend with someone, and by the end of that time even if you find out you're not perfectly compatible, you still have a bond that will always be there.
The conversation started off with us basically strangers, with a smiley eventually breaking its way in, and three hours later, progress I'm extremely happy with. I found out all about the new beau in her life, who truly seems like a perfect fit for her. We talked about anything and everything, just like old times. Maybe I'm exaggerating. It's a start though.
I hope it continues. She's a fun person.
Relief.
It's a wonderful thing.
Heard from my most recent ex-girlfriend tonight, for the first time in quite some time. Turns out she had been ignoring/avoiding me due to a misconecption, part of which was my fault.
We had a really good conversation. What's funny is that when I tell people that they immediately ask "so you're getting back together?" Heh. No. Its been over a year, and that is definitely not in the books. For some reason I'm different than most people, my few relationships have always ended in friendships, I don't just get the "screw you, well screw you too" type of results that cause people to hold grudges and be uncomfortable.
For a while I was worried about this most recent one though, it seemed like she wasn't at all interested in maintaining any kind of friendship at all. This was quite depressing, given she was the best friend I ever had. There were things I shared with her that no one else knew, including my family and other close friends. Two and a half years is a long time to spend with someone, and by the end of that time even if you find out you're not perfectly compatible, you still have a bond that will always be there.
The conversation started off with us basically strangers, with a smiley eventually breaking its way in, and three hours later, progress I'm extremely happy with. I found out all about the new beau in her life, who truly seems like a perfect fit for her. We talked about anything and everything, just like old times. Maybe I'm exaggerating. It's a start though.
I hope it continues. She's a fun person.
Sunday, October 21, 2001
NummyYummyNummy
Went over to a friend's house tonight, her two roommates had gone home for the weekend to attend a funeral, so she had the place to herself. Was in the mood to cook, so I helped out with whatever I could (open that can please, pass me that dish please). :) Ended up quite the scrumptious meal, some green bean caserrole (wonder if that has two r's), a rice and noodle concoction, and some teriyaki chicken. We then were forced to zip over to the store because she was in the mood for an ice cream sandwich, but I didn't mind snaggin an ice cream snickers bar and one of those things with two big chocolate chip cookies and ice cream between them while we were there. :)
When we got back we took in The Great Train Robbery directed by Michael Chricton, based on his novel of the same name which I thought was excellent. Pretty cool movie too, although as is usually the case they left out a lot of stuff from the book. Sean Connery is in it, but its from 1979, so he's still in his James Bondish looking era. That was just one of a long list of movies I'm "getting around to seeing" since I have them sitting around. Printed out my complete list and stuck it on the back of my door, basically because I got bored of watching people flipping through one of the huge binders full of movies that I have trying to decide what to watch. I have this whole system on my door now, a list where people put their name phone and room number, what movie, and when they checked it out/checked it back in... Says the Human Blockbuster at the top, since that's basically what I've become... Just gives me a bit more control over what is where and how long its been there. Those reading this must think I'm a Nazi now. :/
Suffering from a cold these last couple days, strangely immediately following getting an "Immuno Boost" with my Jamba Juice smoothie... (its all about Strawberries Wild, by the way). Apparently the 1200% Vitamin C or whatever it was of my daily value ended up achieving the opposite effect... Then again I probably caught it a week ago and its just been in hibernation. Who knows.
Managed to find some Wonder Years episodes online, man that series ruled. That is totally one that i would watch as a marathon someday, I don't think I ever saw all the episodes as a whole, just bits and pieces from time to time. Will have to make an effort to add that to my collection of downloads. :)
SNIFFLING SUCKS!
Went over to a friend's house tonight, her two roommates had gone home for the weekend to attend a funeral, so she had the place to herself. Was in the mood to cook, so I helped out with whatever I could (open that can please, pass me that dish please). :) Ended up quite the scrumptious meal, some green bean caserrole (wonder if that has two r's), a rice and noodle concoction, and some teriyaki chicken. We then were forced to zip over to the store because she was in the mood for an ice cream sandwich, but I didn't mind snaggin an ice cream snickers bar and one of those things with two big chocolate chip cookies and ice cream between them while we were there. :)
When we got back we took in The Great Train Robbery directed by Michael Chricton, based on his novel of the same name which I thought was excellent. Pretty cool movie too, although as is usually the case they left out a lot of stuff from the book. Sean Connery is in it, but its from 1979, so he's still in his James Bondish looking era. That was just one of a long list of movies I'm "getting around to seeing" since I have them sitting around. Printed out my complete list and stuck it on the back of my door, basically because I got bored of watching people flipping through one of the huge binders full of movies that I have trying to decide what to watch. I have this whole system on my door now, a list where people put their name phone and room number, what movie, and when they checked it out/checked it back in... Says the Human Blockbuster at the top, since that's basically what I've become... Just gives me a bit more control over what is where and how long its been there. Those reading this must think I'm a Nazi now. :/
Suffering from a cold these last couple days, strangely immediately following getting an "Immuno Boost" with my Jamba Juice smoothie... (its all about Strawberries Wild, by the way). Apparently the 1200% Vitamin C or whatever it was of my daily value ended up achieving the opposite effect... Then again I probably caught it a week ago and its just been in hibernation. Who knows.
Managed to find some Wonder Years episodes online, man that series ruled. That is totally one that i would watch as a marathon someday, I don't think I ever saw all the episodes as a whole, just bits and pieces from time to time. Will have to make an effort to add that to my collection of downloads. :)
SNIFFLING SUCKS!
Saturday, October 20, 2001
A Bright Idea...
Decided I'm going to write posts in another proggy and paste them in only when ready to put them up, to avoid such frustrations in the future. Oig.
Finally got around to watching the first episode of Enterprise tonight... (waits for the boos hoots jeers and insults) Go ahead and rip on me, I was a Lt. Data fan, and man Levar Burton with that visor thing, I wanted to be like him when I grew up... The new series appears quite entertaining, has a cool opening sequence with a remix of Rod Stewart's "Faith in the Heart" on it that makes ya want to go and build a science project or something...
My problem with TV shows is I'm never around/available to watch them regularly, and I always end up missing stuff and getting annoyed that I'm out of the loop... Thank goodness for the internet... I've gotten into download TV episodes and even full series lately, the quality is about the same as a VHS tape, and if you have the space or the CDs you can even store your favorites. :) Course the best reason is the people who capture them always edit out the commercials and rifraf, so you can watch the usual half hour sitcom in just over fifteen minutes, or an hour's worth in forty. Makes it easy to watch them back to back to back too, and you don't have to wait a whole week each time. :)
Been stacking up all the episodes of Band of Brothers, the miniseries on HBO produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks about World War II, I've heard nothing but great things about it. I figure it'll be a Saving Private Ryan type great movie, except much more in depth. Each episode runs about seventy five minutes without commercials, and I'm pretty sure there's going to be at least ten, possibly twelve! I'll probably end up watching three or so at a time, dedicate a weekend to it or something.
The people across the hall are having WAY too much fun now that they've discovered hotornot.com, I've been hearing them screaming ratings for like an hour now... You'd be amazed what can hold the attention of certain kinds of people. :)
Haircut today, its been a bit over a month, I figure I'll stick to getting one around the 15th each month, that way I won't let it get too overgrown or waste money getting it cut too soon. Wonder how much money I would save if I just bought the tools and did it myself. A hundred fifty a year, probably. Hm...
Decided I'm going to write posts in another proggy and paste them in only when ready to put them up, to avoid such frustrations in the future. Oig.
Finally got around to watching the first episode of Enterprise tonight... (waits for the boos hoots jeers and insults) Go ahead and rip on me, I was a Lt. Data fan, and man Levar Burton with that visor thing, I wanted to be like him when I grew up... The new series appears quite entertaining, has a cool opening sequence with a remix of Rod Stewart's "Faith in the Heart" on it that makes ya want to go and build a science project or something...
My problem with TV shows is I'm never around/available to watch them regularly, and I always end up missing stuff and getting annoyed that I'm out of the loop... Thank goodness for the internet... I've gotten into download TV episodes and even full series lately, the quality is about the same as a VHS tape, and if you have the space or the CDs you can even store your favorites. :) Course the best reason is the people who capture them always edit out the commercials and rifraf, so you can watch the usual half hour sitcom in just over fifteen minutes, or an hour's worth in forty. Makes it easy to watch them back to back to back too, and you don't have to wait a whole week each time. :)
Been stacking up all the episodes of Band of Brothers, the miniseries on HBO produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks about World War II, I've heard nothing but great things about it. I figure it'll be a Saving Private Ryan type great movie, except much more in depth. Each episode runs about seventy five minutes without commercials, and I'm pretty sure there's going to be at least ten, possibly twelve! I'll probably end up watching three or so at a time, dedicate a weekend to it or something.
The people across the hall are having WAY too much fun now that they've discovered hotornot.com, I've been hearing them screaming ratings for like an hour now... You'd be amazed what can hold the attention of certain kinds of people. :)
Haircut today, its been a bit over a month, I figure I'll stick to getting one around the 15th each month, that way I won't let it get too overgrown or waste money getting it cut too soon. Wonder how much money I would save if I just bought the tools and did it myself. A hundred fifty a year, probably. Hm...
Friday, October 19, 2001
Wednesday, October 17, 2001
Ew, Midterms.
Sheesh, back to back this morning, the best part being that I woke up three minutes before the scheduled start of the first... Needless to say I was wearing the same clothes I was yesterday, and a hat to hide the "HOLY CRAP DID YOU LOSE A FIGHT WITH A WEEDWHACKER" hairstyle I'm always sporting shortly after waking up. Need to stop lying down to rest in the middle of the day, I always end up napping and then waking up more tired than when I lay down... Hm. Laid down? Lay down? Lie down? Hm.
Discovered I have another regular reader the other day, must fit in a hello to them somewhere...
Hello.
Now that I handled that... I need to find more regular blogs to read, I only keep up with two or three at the moment, must find more interesting people...
Not sure what is it about reading about people's everyday life that's so interesting. I guess its the fact I usually learn something, if not something about them something about the world around me. Its kind of like having an intelligent discussion about a random issue with someone, except you're talking at different times. Guess that makes no sense. GAH MIDTERMS MAKE THE MIND GO MUDDY. :(
Sheesh, back to back this morning, the best part being that I woke up three minutes before the scheduled start of the first... Needless to say I was wearing the same clothes I was yesterday, and a hat to hide the "HOLY CRAP DID YOU LOSE A FIGHT WITH A WEEDWHACKER" hairstyle I'm always sporting shortly after waking up. Need to stop lying down to rest in the middle of the day, I always end up napping and then waking up more tired than when I lay down... Hm. Laid down? Lay down? Lie down? Hm.
Discovered I have another regular reader the other day, must fit in a hello to them somewhere...
Hello.
Now that I handled that... I need to find more regular blogs to read, I only keep up with two or three at the moment, must find more interesting people...
Not sure what is it about reading about people's everyday life that's so interesting. I guess its the fact I usually learn something, if not something about them something about the world around me. Its kind of like having an intelligent discussion about a random issue with someone, except you're talking at different times. Guess that makes no sense. GAH MIDTERMS MAKE THE MIND GO MUDDY. :(
Monday, October 15, 2001
Study Study Bo Buddy Banana Fanna Fo Fuddy...
Went to a review session for CS40 tonight, that's one of two midterms I have on Wednesday... There are multiple midterms in both the classes which is good, acing them both would give me quite the bargaining chip when it comes to final grades which are oh so important this quarter...
Also attended a little workshop meeting thingy in the formal lounge today with the coroner... Was a very informative discussion and slide show regarding alcohol, drugs, and the real life results... Some very graphic pictures were shown, and I could tell it was affecting some of the people in the room as they witnessed what could end up happening when they head to IV on a Friday night. He was giving us numbers like 18 alcohol overdose deaths so far this year, a number that seems huge, one he said you won't read in the papers due to respect for the families involved. Amazing to me that people can make those kinds of decisions about their life.
Had a pretty horrible dream last night, managed to remember it while talking to a friend, although its really one I would have rather not. I'm stacking them all up, I promise I'll get to them at some point when I'm bored. Believe me, it'll happen. :)
Went to a review session for CS40 tonight, that's one of two midterms I have on Wednesday... There are multiple midterms in both the classes which is good, acing them both would give me quite the bargaining chip when it comes to final grades which are oh so important this quarter...
Also attended a little workshop meeting thingy in the formal lounge today with the coroner... Was a very informative discussion and slide show regarding alcohol, drugs, and the real life results... Some very graphic pictures were shown, and I could tell it was affecting some of the people in the room as they witnessed what could end up happening when they head to IV on a Friday night. He was giving us numbers like 18 alcohol overdose deaths so far this year, a number that seems huge, one he said you won't read in the papers due to respect for the families involved. Amazing to me that people can make those kinds of decisions about their life.
Had a pretty horrible dream last night, managed to remember it while talking to a friend, although its really one I would have rather not. I'm stacking them all up, I promise I'll get to them at some point when I'm bored. Believe me, it'll happen. :)
Sunday, October 14, 2001
Wind, Wind, and More
Its been an interesting weekend thus far...
Last night we had the usual poker game which was pretty uneventful, other than me betting the living crap out of someone on a hand that I thought was a straight, which turned out to not be. Basically pure retardation cost me a couple bucks. :/ It happens... Ended up heading out to IV for some eats afterwards, which is significant because in the last couple years here I've never ventured into IV on a Friday or Saturday night... Strangely enough ran into literally everyone I knew while out there... Couldn't walk ten feet without someone calling me over or waving hi, was pretty neat. :) Intended to eat at Freebird's but ended up at Woodstock's, the usual pizza place. Pretty yummy wild bread and cinnabread, still have some of that left over.
Tonight was another trip up to Chumash... The night started off as good as it can, sat down and plunked some money in SpinIt Poker, four aces, boom sixty bucks in the black right off the bat. Unfortunately was pretty downhill from there... Although I did play back at the Seven Card Stud and Hold 'Em tables for the first time, turns out they aren't only for high rollers as I once suspected... Ended up next to a guy going to SBCC who was actually a dealer thirty hours a week... He helped me out a great deal, I ended up pretty even there. It also takes quite a long time to lose (and unfortunately in turn, win) anything. I guess that's a good thing just as much as it is bad, you can spend the usual few hours without suddenly being down a hundred or two... Still haven't gotten that last paycheck from summer in the mail yet, so tonight wasn't so bad. :)
The best part was actually the trip up... We went in my friend's girlfriend's little SUV Jeep type thing by Suzuki, and they took the top back thingy off so that it was basically a convertible back there. I was just livin the good life in the back, enjoying the wind in my hair, the sun in my face, the deafness in my ears... Had a grand ol time belting out "Livin on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi at the top of my lungs. Had their greatest hits CD on most of the way up, they're a really great band for hanging-head-out-the-window-screaming type road trips, their tours are always very audience oriented. I was feeling "Wanted, Dead or Alive" and "Lay Your Hands on Me" rumble through the speakers plenty as well... Speaking of which downloaded another pretty song called "The Dream Within" by Lara Fabian after hearing it on the Final Fantasy movie credits...
Got my webcam working again, so at times the workings of my room are being broadcast all over the world... Kind of a scary feeling at times, at first I was worried about picking my nose or whatever... But then I figured what's the worst that can happen, besides humiliating myself to someone who if they are that important would probably have seen much worse from me already. :) I guess that's why I don't have any problem airing my dirty laundry in this journal of sorts... If the person is going to be the one, shouldn't they know everything beforehand?
Its been an interesting weekend thus far...
Last night we had the usual poker game which was pretty uneventful, other than me betting the living crap out of someone on a hand that I thought was a straight, which turned out to not be. Basically pure retardation cost me a couple bucks. :/ It happens... Ended up heading out to IV for some eats afterwards, which is significant because in the last couple years here I've never ventured into IV on a Friday or Saturday night... Strangely enough ran into literally everyone I knew while out there... Couldn't walk ten feet without someone calling me over or waving hi, was pretty neat. :) Intended to eat at Freebird's but ended up at Woodstock's, the usual pizza place. Pretty yummy wild bread and cinnabread, still have some of that left over.
Tonight was another trip up to Chumash... The night started off as good as it can, sat down and plunked some money in SpinIt Poker, four aces, boom sixty bucks in the black right off the bat. Unfortunately was pretty downhill from there... Although I did play back at the Seven Card Stud and Hold 'Em tables for the first time, turns out they aren't only for high rollers as I once suspected... Ended up next to a guy going to SBCC who was actually a dealer thirty hours a week... He helped me out a great deal, I ended up pretty even there. It also takes quite a long time to lose (and unfortunately in turn, win) anything. I guess that's a good thing just as much as it is bad, you can spend the usual few hours without suddenly being down a hundred or two... Still haven't gotten that last paycheck from summer in the mail yet, so tonight wasn't so bad. :)
The best part was actually the trip up... We went in my friend's girlfriend's little SUV Jeep type thing by Suzuki, and they took the top back thingy off so that it was basically a convertible back there. I was just livin the good life in the back, enjoying the wind in my hair, the sun in my face, the deafness in my ears... Had a grand ol time belting out "Livin on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi at the top of my lungs. Had their greatest hits CD on most of the way up, they're a really great band for hanging-head-out-the-window-screaming type road trips, their tours are always very audience oriented. I was feeling "Wanted, Dead or Alive" and "Lay Your Hands on Me" rumble through the speakers plenty as well... Speaking of which downloaded another pretty song called "The Dream Within" by Lara Fabian after hearing it on the Final Fantasy movie credits...
Got my webcam working again, so at times the workings of my room are being broadcast all over the world... Kind of a scary feeling at times, at first I was worried about picking my nose or whatever... But then I figured what's the worst that can happen, besides humiliating myself to someone who if they are that important would probably have seen much worse from me already. :) I guess that's why I don't have any problem airing my dirty laundry in this journal of sorts... If the person is going to be the one, shouldn't they know everything beforehand?
Thursday, October 11, 2001
The Power of Silence
Saw something today that I found quite amazing... Was waiting outside the central walkway thouroughfare through campus outside the library and I noticed a group of approximately thirty people all standing motionless facing west, as if their attention was focused on an invisible point of light. Looking closer I saw a small sign next to them stating "Join Us In A Silent Vigil for Peace." Unfortunately I agree with the tactics my country is using as a retaliatory measure against the cause of the September 11th attacks, but I was still impressed by the demonstration. I was there about a half hour, and I swear some of the people didn't move a muscle in that entire time. It drew a lot of stares from passers by, the message was obviously being heard, even though no words were spoken. As is usually the case however, the positive argument was negatively affected by one skateboarder who came up in order to shout "Yeah, I'm so sure they're going to stop the bombing now that you're wasting your time standing there." I felt bad, even though I knew he was right. I guess its kind of like calling someone fat. Even if you think its true, knocking them down really doesn't gain you anything.
Played my first intramural (I wonder if its spelled intermural, I don't think so) indoor soccer game tonight, which was also my first indoor soccer game of any kind. Had a lot of fun, and realized how out of shape I really am. About ten minutes into the first half and I felt pretty much like my lungs were going to fall out of my chest. Its sad, my muscles are pretty much in shape, my leg muscles haven't really changed since high school, its just my lungs that are way behind. Enjoyed a stint as goalkeeper for a while, mainly because it involved less movement and was basically a break. Did pretty decent I think, besides letting in a really lame goal off my hands at the end. Score ended up 4-8 in favor of the other team, but we were at a severe disadvantage. Besides being mostly club players, they also had about fifteen players handy, whereas we only had the required six. So while we were dying, they were busy line changing three players every five minutes. I think it could have been much worse, and its a good starting point.
Gonna save those dream descriptions for a boring day, seems I've actually had stuff to talk about for the last couple. :)
Saw something today that I found quite amazing... Was waiting outside the central walkway thouroughfare through campus outside the library and I noticed a group of approximately thirty people all standing motionless facing west, as if their attention was focused on an invisible point of light. Looking closer I saw a small sign next to them stating "Join Us In A Silent Vigil for Peace." Unfortunately I agree with the tactics my country is using as a retaliatory measure against the cause of the September 11th attacks, but I was still impressed by the demonstration. I was there about a half hour, and I swear some of the people didn't move a muscle in that entire time. It drew a lot of stares from passers by, the message was obviously being heard, even though no words were spoken. As is usually the case however, the positive argument was negatively affected by one skateboarder who came up in order to shout "Yeah, I'm so sure they're going to stop the bombing now that you're wasting your time standing there." I felt bad, even though I knew he was right. I guess its kind of like calling someone fat. Even if you think its true, knocking them down really doesn't gain you anything.
Played my first intramural (I wonder if its spelled intermural, I don't think so) indoor soccer game tonight, which was also my first indoor soccer game of any kind. Had a lot of fun, and realized how out of shape I really am. About ten minutes into the first half and I felt pretty much like my lungs were going to fall out of my chest. Its sad, my muscles are pretty much in shape, my leg muscles haven't really changed since high school, its just my lungs that are way behind. Enjoyed a stint as goalkeeper for a while, mainly because it involved less movement and was basically a break. Did pretty decent I think, besides letting in a really lame goal off my hands at the end. Score ended up 4-8 in favor of the other team, but we were at a severe disadvantage. Besides being mostly club players, they also had about fifteen players handy, whereas we only had the required six. So while we were dying, they were busy line changing three players every five minutes. I think it could have been much worse, and its a good starting point.
Gonna save those dream descriptions for a boring day, seems I've actually had stuff to talk about for the last couple. :)
Wednesday, October 10, 2001
Luck Be A Lady, Who's Bad
Frank Sinatra is a cool guy, I have several of his songs. To better address the title however...
Yesterday morning I was woken up for the 2nd time in three days... The real problem with it was the fact that I had stayed up until like 2am the night before knowing I wouldn't have to get up until like noon the next day. Unfortunately I ended up getting my ass up at 8:30am to help out a friend... She had crashed her car a few days prior and was having to get rides to school with her roommate at 8am even though she didn't have class until later... Anyway on this particular day she had forgotten her lab that she was planning to work on that morning, so she needed a ride home to pick it up. So to make a long story short it turned out it had been in her backpack the whole time, and she didn't even need to go home... Course this was only discovered was we had gotten all the way over there... I did end up getting a smoothie out of it, which was technically free since I had one of those buy nine smoothies get one free cards... So anyway I'm pulling out of her house and go over one of those bump then dip things, that looked really tiny, and hear this huge crunch as I KERTHUNK out of it... Then all of a sudden we get this gross smell coming from the general area of the engine...
Anyway, with my retarded reasoning I figure leaving it over there in my lot for a couple days will fix the problem... Then again I still haven't fixed the license plate light that burned out that got me stopped by a cop...
Been having some really elaborate and realistic dreams lately, a couple of them really quite fearsome, I'll be sure to tell you about them tonight. :) Its wierd what triggers a dream memory, might be a friend saying somethin, a newspaper article, something I see in someone's room, its all quite random. Sort of a deja-vu feeling, then the whole dream comes flooding back to me...
Frank Sinatra is a cool guy, I have several of his songs. To better address the title however...
Yesterday morning I was woken up for the 2nd time in three days... The real problem with it was the fact that I had stayed up until like 2am the night before knowing I wouldn't have to get up until like noon the next day. Unfortunately I ended up getting my ass up at 8:30am to help out a friend... She had crashed her car a few days prior and was having to get rides to school with her roommate at 8am even though she didn't have class until later... Anyway on this particular day she had forgotten her lab that she was planning to work on that morning, so she needed a ride home to pick it up. So to make a long story short it turned out it had been in her backpack the whole time, and she didn't even need to go home... Course this was only discovered was we had gotten all the way over there... I did end up getting a smoothie out of it, which was technically free since I had one of those buy nine smoothies get one free cards... So anyway I'm pulling out of her house and go over one of those bump then dip things, that looked really tiny, and hear this huge crunch as I KERTHUNK out of it... Then all of a sudden we get this gross smell coming from the general area of the engine...
Anyway, with my retarded reasoning I figure leaving it over there in my lot for a couple days will fix the problem... Then again I still haven't fixed the license plate light that burned out that got me stopped by a cop...
Been having some really elaborate and realistic dreams lately, a couple of them really quite fearsome, I'll be sure to tell you about them tonight. :) Its wierd what triggers a dream memory, might be a friend saying somethin, a newspaper article, something I see in someone's room, its all quite random. Sort of a deja-vu feeling, then the whole dream comes flooding back to me...
Monday, October 08, 2001
Fo Dollah! Fo Dollah!
Doh, another day slides by, ah well those weekends tend to be action packed. (gag, choke) Went to the bike auction on Saturday, ended up devoting most of the day to it, given I'm as cheap as they come at times. Ended up getting a very decent bike for a grand total of four bucks, which is pretty obscene giving some were being bid up to a hundred seventy five earlier in the auction... Anyway, I'm now wailin around on the "Red Baron" as it appears to be called on the side... It's a bit small, but it'll go from point A to point B, so much like my car, it'll do.
I finally relented and allowed Counterstrike to be installed on my computer, a game I've always loathed... Not enough action, you play for an hour you might be lucky enough to get around thirty kills, whereas I'm used to games that create ten times that amount in the same amount of timeUnfortunately it is the popular game in the dorms at the moment, so until the little boys grow out of it and move on to more skill oriented games, I'll be reduced to becoming a master at this one as well. :) Someone once told me I was conceited. I don't know what they were smoking. :)
Worked on someone else's CS 20 homework for a couple hours last night... It was frustrating at times, but the time kind of flew, it further clarified the fact that I enjoy the debugging part of the process, but absolutely despise the "creative thinking" and "starting point" sections.
This chair is really comfortable. Like, REALLY comfortable. Just thought I'd reiterate that. Had a poker night over at Anacapa the other night with a bunch of the guys from last year, ended up breaking even, had fun reminiscing about some of the old running jokes or hilarious experiences of the previous year. Still prefer the multi-story towers over the two story long hall versions of dorms, its just much easier to meet everyone in your floor in a short amount of time, and branch out to other floors just as quickly.
Hasn't been a lucky couple of days with my friends and cars... One ran a red light and is going to have to eat a $180 ticket, another managed to rear end someone with hers and is gonna have to take it in to the repair shop later today. Now that I think about it I was supposed to be giving her a ride back, but she hasn't called, so hm...
Bad thing about Mondays is its hard to get up, good thing about Mondays is I'm done at noon...
Doh, another day slides by, ah well those weekends tend to be action packed. (gag, choke) Went to the bike auction on Saturday, ended up devoting most of the day to it, given I'm as cheap as they come at times. Ended up getting a very decent bike for a grand total of four bucks, which is pretty obscene giving some were being bid up to a hundred seventy five earlier in the auction... Anyway, I'm now wailin around on the "Red Baron" as it appears to be called on the side... It's a bit small, but it'll go from point A to point B, so much like my car, it'll do.
I finally relented and allowed Counterstrike to be installed on my computer, a game I've always loathed... Not enough action, you play for an hour you might be lucky enough to get around thirty kills, whereas I'm used to games that create ten times that amount in the same amount of timeUnfortunately it is the popular game in the dorms at the moment, so until the little boys grow out of it and move on to more skill oriented games, I'll be reduced to becoming a master at this one as well. :) Someone once told me I was conceited. I don't know what they were smoking. :)
Worked on someone else's CS 20 homework for a couple hours last night... It was frustrating at times, but the time kind of flew, it further clarified the fact that I enjoy the debugging part of the process, but absolutely despise the "creative thinking" and "starting point" sections.
This chair is really comfortable. Like, REALLY comfortable. Just thought I'd reiterate that. Had a poker night over at Anacapa the other night with a bunch of the guys from last year, ended up breaking even, had fun reminiscing about some of the old running jokes or hilarious experiences of the previous year. Still prefer the multi-story towers over the two story long hall versions of dorms, its just much easier to meet everyone in your floor in a short amount of time, and branch out to other floors just as quickly.
Hasn't been a lucky couple of days with my friends and cars... One ran a red light and is going to have to eat a $180 ticket, another managed to rear end someone with hers and is gonna have to take it in to the repair shop later today. Now that I think about it I was supposed to be giving her a ride back, but she hasn't called, so hm...
Bad thing about Mondays is its hard to get up, good thing about Mondays is I'm done at noon...
