Wet. Very.
It appears the first storm of the year is making its way across Southern California over the next few days... Today it came down pretty good at times, causing havoc on the roadways and giving excited students a new reason to messy up their clothes. Of course it also became a universal ditch day as it always does when it rains, which unfortunately I couldn't partake in since I had to turn in a rough draft at the one class I did have. I leave later on this coming afternoon for L.A., then I'm off the following morning to Death Valley, so the site will be blogless for a few days until I'm back from the weekend sometime on Monday most likely.
Tonight we ended up doing one of my favorite activities ever, that being playing in the rain. It was really pouring when I had the original idea, but by the time we got out there it had become more of a drizzle, so we decided to head on down to the ocean to make sure we got our money's worth. After the usual splashing of puddles making every effort to get the other members of the group soaked, I eventually decided I wasn't gonna take no for an answer and was gonna go thrash up the waves, even though the Pacific ocean in November isn't exactly balmy. Temperature outside was a decent 57, although it was a bit windy. Had a blast running around showing the waves who's boss, and making our best efforts to get pneumonia. One of my friends got pretty hammered by one of the breakers, but she popped up giggly as ever so we knew no harm was done. Nothing like getting out there and forgetting about life and its worries for a while.
When was the last time you jumped into a puddle with both feet instead of looking for the safest way around it?
Thursday, November 07, 2002
Something New Happens Every Day...
And in yesterday's case, the new experience was a campus wide power outage. I have vague recollections of something like this happening a few years ago, but it seemed like this one was much more broad. I happened to be upstairs watching someone play Halo on their XBox, when everything in the room shut off. First thing I did was turn around and look out the window, and was greeted with total darkness from all directions and vague silhouette where the other two quads used to be. This at first caused mass panic and screaming and yelling, with exclamations such as "WHO FORGOT TO PAY THE ELECTRIC BILL" and "WTF IM IN THE SHOWER!" Luckily my indiglo served me well enough to get down to my room, open the door, and track down the high powered flashlight I had there. It's funny, I had it by my bed within arm's reach for the whole year til like two days ago, when it occurred to me that with the architectural lighting keeping my room somewhat bright 24/7 along with the sun, I'd probably never actually need it, so I moved it over onto a shelf. The outage ended up lasting only a few hours, as people had fun shining their lights into each other's rooms across the quad, and using various other methods to blind the passers by. Many a firecracker was set off, and there was talk of looting, but as far as I know most of the people either trooped off to friend's houses in IV or spent the whole time talking on their cell phones.
Luckily I wasn't working on the Market Analysis section of our Business Plan that I have to turn in today, or I woulda been peeved. Yeah Word autosaves every five minutes, but if you're a quick enough typer than can still be quite the pain in the butt. Took care of a bunch of stuff yesterday, including heading over to the bank to deposit a check and withdraw money inside thanks to my check card disappearing and a new one having not arrived yet... Then headed downtown to buy a pager where I was told I had to do it by phone, but at least they had the right number so that ended up pretty painless. It would be nice if both the card and new pager was there when I arrive home on Saturday morning, but I'm guessing they'll both have to be mailed. Guess I'll go get a haircut today at some point, probably after my group meeting with the professor at 4 to turn in our drafts. Then I'm off tomorrow to head towards the general direction of L.A., making various stops and visiting various people along the way before arriving home sometime early Saturday morning, ready to depart for Death Valley with various family members at apparently 5:30am. I'll definitely be sleepin on the way up. :)
And in yesterday's case, the new experience was a campus wide power outage. I have vague recollections of something like this happening a few years ago, but it seemed like this one was much more broad. I happened to be upstairs watching someone play Halo on their XBox, when everything in the room shut off. First thing I did was turn around and look out the window, and was greeted with total darkness from all directions and vague silhouette where the other two quads used to be. This at first caused mass panic and screaming and yelling, with exclamations such as "WHO FORGOT TO PAY THE ELECTRIC BILL" and "WTF IM IN THE SHOWER!" Luckily my indiglo served me well enough to get down to my room, open the door, and track down the high powered flashlight I had there. It's funny, I had it by my bed within arm's reach for the whole year til like two days ago, when it occurred to me that with the architectural lighting keeping my room somewhat bright 24/7 along with the sun, I'd probably never actually need it, so I moved it over onto a shelf. The outage ended up lasting only a few hours, as people had fun shining their lights into each other's rooms across the quad, and using various other methods to blind the passers by. Many a firecracker was set off, and there was talk of looting, but as far as I know most of the people either trooped off to friend's houses in IV or spent the whole time talking on their cell phones.
Luckily I wasn't working on the Market Analysis section of our Business Plan that I have to turn in today, or I woulda been peeved. Yeah Word autosaves every five minutes, but if you're a quick enough typer than can still be quite the pain in the butt. Took care of a bunch of stuff yesterday, including heading over to the bank to deposit a check and withdraw money inside thanks to my check card disappearing and a new one having not arrived yet... Then headed downtown to buy a pager where I was told I had to do it by phone, but at least they had the right number so that ended up pretty painless. It would be nice if both the card and new pager was there when I arrive home on Saturday morning, but I'm guessing they'll both have to be mailed. Guess I'll go get a haircut today at some point, probably after my group meeting with the professor at 4 to turn in our drafts. Then I'm off tomorrow to head towards the general direction of L.A., making various stops and visiting various people along the way before arriving home sometime early Saturday morning, ready to depart for Death Valley with various family members at apparently 5:30am. I'll definitely be sleepin on the way up. :)
Tuesday, November 05, 2002
Another World...
For those who have seriously thought about getting a SCUBA certification, I highly recommend taking the plunge. Ohmigawd I'm so funny I forgot to laugh. Ended up waking up at 4:30 yesterday morning after getting my solid eight hours of sleep, and just hanging around taking care of stuff until 8 when we left... I picked up a guy in the UCSB class at the dorm on the other side of campus then headed down to my friend's place downtown... I took the class originally with him two years ago so we've been diving buddies on multiple occasions... The group in the car ended up 5, myself, my friend, his girlfriend, her friend, and the other guy I picked up along the way. All those people along with five tanks, regulators, B.C.s, weight belts, let's just say the car was quite loaded down. Basically any bump of any size caused the car to scrape over something. We eventually made it down to Ventura in one piece, and onto the boat. It was a much smaller boat than we took two years ago, but it had a jacuzzi, so that was a huge plus. We ended up going out to Anacapa Island instead of the much larger Santa Cruz Island we went to on the prior trip. The conditions were pretty close to perfect, current was very minimal, visibility was great. My friend brought along one of those underwater camera things, so we took some great fish. At times you'd turn around and suddenly be in a huge school of fish, unable to see anything but swarms of them, as they all turned back and forth in unison. We also saw some of those cool animalish plants that dart into their holes when you get close to them, whole rocks full of them that would end up leaving tons of little craters before slowly inching their way back out. There were some bright bright totally orange fish that I chased around for a while trying to get a decent pic of, and there were various claims of seal spottings, although I some how managed to miss every single one. Overall it was just a blast, I'm really going to have to do that more often. Maybe not in the Pacific, where you have to wear 34 pounds of solid weight to go along with your double wetsuit and heavy as all heck tank and gear, maybe a jaunt to the Caribbean or Hawaii is in order. My friend and his girlfriend drove down and flew out of LAX to Hawaii for a week this morning, real rough life they're leading. :)
My favorite part was the sunset later on, as we were on the South side of the island so the mainland wasn't even visible, and it was just really beautiful colored clouds and the sun dipping into the sea. I snapped away some pictures, gettin on towards halfway through the roll I started in like June. What can I say, I'm stingy with film. After that I just relaxed for like an hour in the jacuzzi, as those who were certified for night diving (none of us) donned their very cool looking LEDs and flashlights and went for another dip. Looking down into the water and seeing all their beams of light darting around, bluish glows in the sea of blackness, was a very neat effect. That and you're sitting in the middle of the ocean in very comfortable 100 degree water with cliffs and waves all around you, looking up at an endless expanse of stars. I was really livin the good life.
Slept most of the way back, and then we made a quick sugar run to McDonalds for some ice cream cones before making the half hour drive back to SB. Then came the endless process of rinsing all the gear at my friends place, then loading it back into the car for me to take back the next day. I got that taken care of today with the help of a few friends, after attempting unsuccessfully to sleep most of the day, due to the incessant knocking of one friend in particular who disagreed with the idea of letting me recuperate. I'm quite sore especially my wrists and lower back, but it's lessening as the day goes on. More annoying are the ends of my fingers, I ended up cutting a few of the nails a little too close the day before, that combined with them being in gloves most of the day has them a bit puffy at the edges of the nail and quite sensitive. Making it hard to type, so I'm gonna lay off.
No class tomorrow since the one class I do hvae is cancelled since we turn in our Business Plan section drafts on Thursday. Hence, I won't be waking up any time soon.
For those who have seriously thought about getting a SCUBA certification, I highly recommend taking the plunge. Ohmigawd I'm so funny I forgot to laugh. Ended up waking up at 4:30 yesterday morning after getting my solid eight hours of sleep, and just hanging around taking care of stuff until 8 when we left... I picked up a guy in the UCSB class at the dorm on the other side of campus then headed down to my friend's place downtown... I took the class originally with him two years ago so we've been diving buddies on multiple occasions... The group in the car ended up 5, myself, my friend, his girlfriend, her friend, and the other guy I picked up along the way. All those people along with five tanks, regulators, B.C.s, weight belts, let's just say the car was quite loaded down. Basically any bump of any size caused the car to scrape over something. We eventually made it down to Ventura in one piece, and onto the boat. It was a much smaller boat than we took two years ago, but it had a jacuzzi, so that was a huge plus. We ended up going out to Anacapa Island instead of the much larger Santa Cruz Island we went to on the prior trip. The conditions were pretty close to perfect, current was very minimal, visibility was great. My friend brought along one of those underwater camera things, so we took some great fish. At times you'd turn around and suddenly be in a huge school of fish, unable to see anything but swarms of them, as they all turned back and forth in unison. We also saw some of those cool animalish plants that dart into their holes when you get close to them, whole rocks full of them that would end up leaving tons of little craters before slowly inching their way back out. There were some bright bright totally orange fish that I chased around for a while trying to get a decent pic of, and there were various claims of seal spottings, although I some how managed to miss every single one. Overall it was just a blast, I'm really going to have to do that more often. Maybe not in the Pacific, where you have to wear 34 pounds of solid weight to go along with your double wetsuit and heavy as all heck tank and gear, maybe a jaunt to the Caribbean or Hawaii is in order. My friend and his girlfriend drove down and flew out of LAX to Hawaii for a week this morning, real rough life they're leading. :)
My favorite part was the sunset later on, as we were on the South side of the island so the mainland wasn't even visible, and it was just really beautiful colored clouds and the sun dipping into the sea. I snapped away some pictures, gettin on towards halfway through the roll I started in like June. What can I say, I'm stingy with film. After that I just relaxed for like an hour in the jacuzzi, as those who were certified for night diving (none of us) donned their very cool looking LEDs and flashlights and went for another dip. Looking down into the water and seeing all their beams of light darting around, bluish glows in the sea of blackness, was a very neat effect. That and you're sitting in the middle of the ocean in very comfortable 100 degree water with cliffs and waves all around you, looking up at an endless expanse of stars. I was really livin the good life.
Slept most of the way back, and then we made a quick sugar run to McDonalds for some ice cream cones before making the half hour drive back to SB. Then came the endless process of rinsing all the gear at my friends place, then loading it back into the car for me to take back the next day. I got that taken care of today with the help of a few friends, after attempting unsuccessfully to sleep most of the day, due to the incessant knocking of one friend in particular who disagreed with the idea of letting me recuperate. I'm quite sore especially my wrists and lower back, but it's lessening as the day goes on. More annoying are the ends of my fingers, I ended up cutting a few of the nails a little too close the day before, that combined with them being in gloves most of the day has them a bit puffy at the edges of the nail and quite sensitive. Making it hard to type, so I'm gonna lay off.
No class tomorrow since the one class I do hvae is cancelled since we turn in our Business Plan section drafts on Thursday. Hence, I won't be waking up any time soon.
Saturday, November 02, 2002
A Show Of Power
I'm not sure that I've ever seen a military plane in action before today. Spent part of the day up at Vandenberg AFB at the Centennial of Flight airshow, and it ended up being well worth the trip. I was under the impression it was irght off the 101 north of the tunnel, but it turns out once you get off at that Vandenberg AFB and Highway 1 exit, you have another 25 or 30 miles to go before you actually reach the base. That puts the travel time up to around 45 minutes to an hour, but still not all that gigantic a trip. They had just a ton of stuff on display, and there was always something going on in the sky overhead. My personal favorite was the demonstration of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, a jet very similar to the F-15 Eagle that I'll be shooting for. They had it do all sorts of stunts, but I was most impressed by it just buzzing the flightline at what apparently was only half its top speed of Mach 2, and making enough noise to vibrate the concrete under your feet. Earplugs were a common sight, and believe me, they were generally necessary. You see these things on TV and you don't really come to understand how loud they really are. When a jet flies over your head at 700 mph, you take notice in a hurry. I wasn't intelligent enough to bring a camera, but it was very cool to see the planes up close, they're suprisingly not much bigger or smaller than I expected. That is, unless you're talking about the B-52. That thing is just monstrous. My neck is a tad sore from staring at the sky for so long, but it was worth it, I have very few memories of airshows as a kid, and there definitely weren't any F-16s involved.
Theoretically next week is the last of the waiting game, but we'll see whether delays are involved. I'm gonna hit the sack early, I've gotta be up at 7:30 to pick some people and gear up and drive down to Ventura and move everything onto the boat for the SCUBA trip. Apparently it's staying out later than usual for a night dive, but since none of my group are night dive certified, we're gonna spend the time relaxing in the jacuzzi on board. Doesn't sound like all that bad a deal. :) Looking forward to dressing up like a black and blue penguin and taking a whole lot of pictures. ;)
I'm not sure that I've ever seen a military plane in action before today. Spent part of the day up at Vandenberg AFB at the Centennial of Flight airshow, and it ended up being well worth the trip. I was under the impression it was irght off the 101 north of the tunnel, but it turns out once you get off at that Vandenberg AFB and Highway 1 exit, you have another 25 or 30 miles to go before you actually reach the base. That puts the travel time up to around 45 minutes to an hour, but still not all that gigantic a trip. They had just a ton of stuff on display, and there was always something going on in the sky overhead. My personal favorite was the demonstration of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, a jet very similar to the F-15 Eagle that I'll be shooting for. They had it do all sorts of stunts, but I was most impressed by it just buzzing the flightline at what apparently was only half its top speed of Mach 2, and making enough noise to vibrate the concrete under your feet. Earplugs were a common sight, and believe me, they were generally necessary. You see these things on TV and you don't really come to understand how loud they really are. When a jet flies over your head at 700 mph, you take notice in a hurry. I wasn't intelligent enough to bring a camera, but it was very cool to see the planes up close, they're suprisingly not much bigger or smaller than I expected. That is, unless you're talking about the B-52. That thing is just monstrous. My neck is a tad sore from staring at the sky for so long, but it was worth it, I have very few memories of airshows as a kid, and there definitely weren't any F-16s involved.
Theoretically next week is the last of the waiting game, but we'll see whether delays are involved. I'm gonna hit the sack early, I've gotta be up at 7:30 to pick some people and gear up and drive down to Ventura and move everything onto the boat for the SCUBA trip. Apparently it's staying out later than usual for a night dive, but since none of my group are night dive certified, we're gonna spend the time relaxing in the jacuzzi on board. Doesn't sound like all that bad a deal. :) Looking forward to dressing up like a black and blue penguin and taking a whole lot of pictures. ;)
Friday, November 01, 2002
Happy Spooky Day.
Technically it's over now, but the party never stops around here. The booming music from the quad next door shut down, so that's a sign it's past midnight. I got several visits from people throughout the night, most of whom were displaying their amazing concoctions of costumes. Blue ribbon goes to a friend of mine who had on the coolest black hat ever, which I'm definitely going to steal at some point when she isn't looking. I've never been too into the whole costume concept in college, although I think if I had someplace to go I could probably come up with something pretty spiff. Unfortunately around here the occasion is synonomous with something other than fun. I was originally going to be filingl the familiar double D role of designated driver for a few of my friends, but they later called and said one of them decided to lay off for the night and I needn't make the extra trip. So I spent the evening mostly entertaining guests, and listening to louder music than usual. That's the one nice thing about these types of nights, you can be boomin away whatever you want in your room and it can't be heard three feet outside your window because someone else's is always louder.
Not surprisingly some of the fireworks last night carried over into today... The night of sleep was definitely useful in helping me gather my thoughts, and I think I was somewhat more coherent this time around when it came to speaking my mind. Unfortunately when people are pretty much set in their ways when it comes to their morals or lack thereof, it's difficult to ever gain any ground. At times it's almost like they space out while you're talking to them, and everything just goes right out the other side. Sigh. I just hope to eventually understand their reasoning, and figure out what they want from me, if anything.
Welcome to November everyone, for me it's shaping up to be the most interesting month in quite some time.
Technically it's over now, but the party never stops around here. The booming music from the quad next door shut down, so that's a sign it's past midnight. I got several visits from people throughout the night, most of whom were displaying their amazing concoctions of costumes. Blue ribbon goes to a friend of mine who had on the coolest black hat ever, which I'm definitely going to steal at some point when she isn't looking. I've never been too into the whole costume concept in college, although I think if I had someplace to go I could probably come up with something pretty spiff. Unfortunately around here the occasion is synonomous with something other than fun. I was originally going to be filingl the familiar double D role of designated driver for a few of my friends, but they later called and said one of them decided to lay off for the night and I needn't make the extra trip. So I spent the evening mostly entertaining guests, and listening to louder music than usual. That's the one nice thing about these types of nights, you can be boomin away whatever you want in your room and it can't be heard three feet outside your window because someone else's is always louder.
Not surprisingly some of the fireworks last night carried over into today... The night of sleep was definitely useful in helping me gather my thoughts, and I think I was somewhat more coherent this time around when it came to speaking my mind. Unfortunately when people are pretty much set in their ways when it comes to their morals or lack thereof, it's difficult to ever gain any ground. At times it's almost like they space out while you're talking to them, and everything just goes right out the other side. Sigh. I just hope to eventually understand their reasoning, and figure out what they want from me, if anything.
Welcome to November everyone, for me it's shaping up to be the most interesting month in quite some time.
Thursday, October 31, 2002
Arrogant. Conceited. Cocky.
Interestingly enough, the preceding terms have all been used to describe me in the last few weeks, by three different friends of mine, and even a couple total strangers. They all have different ways of saying it, different ways of approaching the topic, different ways of phrasing their words, but they all essentially end up making the same point. I don't deny the fact that at times I possess all of these traits. I'm a very competitive individual when it comes to just about everything. I don't know what it is lately though that's causing a strange influx of negative comments. Tonight the focus was the fact that it's been said that I always think I know what's right, and that I'm constantly condescending towards other people when I think I'm more knowledgable about a subject than they. Condescending is another term brought up by multiple people recently. It's strange, it's like suddenly a huge magnifying glass has been placed over my personality, and everyone is taking turns discovering what they think is a glaring problem with it. Got into a pretty decent fight with a friend of mine I'd never had more than an argument with before about a subject I've been told countless times I'm "oversensitive about" a few weeks ago. A few days ago I managed to start a war of words with someone I've never actually met after finding out something I didn't like about them regarding another such "sensitive issue". Earlier today I ended up deciding to take some time off from the online gaming group I was a part of, because I've been having continuous disagreements with one of the members of the leadership that don't look like they'll be resolved any time soon. Again, a clash of personalities and egos. Then tonight, after lambasting me about everything wrong with myself as a person, one of my newer friends whom I just met this year lets me know that the fact that we disagree on an important ethical issue is going to prevent her from being able to talk to me in general. I'd thought we'd become pretty good friends, and was genuinely interested in learning more about her as a person, and instead she walks out of the room while I'm in the middle of trying to explain where I'm coming from, with your classic "have a good weekend, since I probably won't see you before then" statement letting me know that she'll do her best to avoid me. It REALLY annoys me when people do that. The fact that people decide to avoid issues, or hide from them, just delays the inevitable. Eventually you have to deal with this stuff. The sad part is that's essentially what the ethics issue is about, eventually coming to terms with a mistake, admitting wrongdoing, and working to get past it. I know I'm a hypocrite, I as well as everyone in my family has great trouble with admitting the fact that they were wrong, or that they made a mistake. It's something I'm working on, along with apologizing more often, and I like to think I'm making progress. To just hide from the mistake though, or worse yet continue making it, or making it worse, does nothing to help solve the problem, and only pushes the solution further away. Unfortunately I can't go into detail as to what the actual disagreement was about, due to the fact that I don't like to break people's trust, even if I feel they deserve it, or even if they've broken others' trust in the past, or present. I just don't understand her plan for a solution, other than the fact that I'm aware her goal seems to be just to avoid facing the problem.
Frankly I don't expect any of this to make sense. I just pondered deleting that whole paragraph and talking about something boring. I'm just bored of censoring myself. I write to release, not to withold. If anyone has a problem with something I write, they tend to let me know, but it really sets off a chord when someone brings up a topic that has nothing to do with them that I never even brought up that they happened to read about, and then proceeds to try to give me their two cents, as if they were commenting on the latest episode of a TV series. If I want your opinion, I'll ask for it. Until then, do me a favor, and keep your thoughts to yourself. Feel free to read this journal whenever you want, find out my side of what goes on, but don't bring it up as if I told you myself. There's probably a reason it doesn't involve you. Guess that's a good example of condescending if I've ever read one.
I'm actually angry tonight, for the first time in quite a while. Maybe it's pent up energy. Maybe the fact that I find out about my future sometime soon after next Friday might be gnawing away at me. Then again, maybe I was just treated like shit, and am having more trouble than usual bouncing back. It's interesting, there are still some close friends of mine who have never referred to me as one of the above negative terms, but you have to wonder, is that because they disagree, or because they just haven't come clean yet?
Interestingly enough, the preceding terms have all been used to describe me in the last few weeks, by three different friends of mine, and even a couple total strangers. They all have different ways of saying it, different ways of approaching the topic, different ways of phrasing their words, but they all essentially end up making the same point. I don't deny the fact that at times I possess all of these traits. I'm a very competitive individual when it comes to just about everything. I don't know what it is lately though that's causing a strange influx of negative comments. Tonight the focus was the fact that it's been said that I always think I know what's right, and that I'm constantly condescending towards other people when I think I'm more knowledgable about a subject than they. Condescending is another term brought up by multiple people recently. It's strange, it's like suddenly a huge magnifying glass has been placed over my personality, and everyone is taking turns discovering what they think is a glaring problem with it. Got into a pretty decent fight with a friend of mine I'd never had more than an argument with before about a subject I've been told countless times I'm "oversensitive about" a few weeks ago. A few days ago I managed to start a war of words with someone I've never actually met after finding out something I didn't like about them regarding another such "sensitive issue". Earlier today I ended up deciding to take some time off from the online gaming group I was a part of, because I've been having continuous disagreements with one of the members of the leadership that don't look like they'll be resolved any time soon. Again, a clash of personalities and egos. Then tonight, after lambasting me about everything wrong with myself as a person, one of my newer friends whom I just met this year lets me know that the fact that we disagree on an important ethical issue is going to prevent her from being able to talk to me in general. I'd thought we'd become pretty good friends, and was genuinely interested in learning more about her as a person, and instead she walks out of the room while I'm in the middle of trying to explain where I'm coming from, with your classic "have a good weekend, since I probably won't see you before then" statement letting me know that she'll do her best to avoid me. It REALLY annoys me when people do that. The fact that people decide to avoid issues, or hide from them, just delays the inevitable. Eventually you have to deal with this stuff. The sad part is that's essentially what the ethics issue is about, eventually coming to terms with a mistake, admitting wrongdoing, and working to get past it. I know I'm a hypocrite, I as well as everyone in my family has great trouble with admitting the fact that they were wrong, or that they made a mistake. It's something I'm working on, along with apologizing more often, and I like to think I'm making progress. To just hide from the mistake though, or worse yet continue making it, or making it worse, does nothing to help solve the problem, and only pushes the solution further away. Unfortunately I can't go into detail as to what the actual disagreement was about, due to the fact that I don't like to break people's trust, even if I feel they deserve it, or even if they've broken others' trust in the past, or present. I just don't understand her plan for a solution, other than the fact that I'm aware her goal seems to be just to avoid facing the problem.
Frankly I don't expect any of this to make sense. I just pondered deleting that whole paragraph and talking about something boring. I'm just bored of censoring myself. I write to release, not to withold. If anyone has a problem with something I write, they tend to let me know, but it really sets off a chord when someone brings up a topic that has nothing to do with them that I never even brought up that they happened to read about, and then proceeds to try to give me their two cents, as if they were commenting on the latest episode of a TV series. If I want your opinion, I'll ask for it. Until then, do me a favor, and keep your thoughts to yourself. Feel free to read this journal whenever you want, find out my side of what goes on, but don't bring it up as if I told you myself. There's probably a reason it doesn't involve you. Guess that's a good example of condescending if I've ever read one.
I'm actually angry tonight, for the first time in quite a while. Maybe it's pent up energy. Maybe the fact that I find out about my future sometime soon after next Friday might be gnawing away at me. Then again, maybe I was just treated like shit, and am having more trouble than usual bouncing back. It's interesting, there are still some close friends of mine who have never referred to me as one of the above negative terms, but you have to wonder, is that because they disagree, or because they just haven't come clean yet?
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
One Shot...
Those who have turned on the radio lately will probably recognize the above reference to the initial single off the 8 Mile soundtrack called "Lose Yourself." This is right up there when it comes to my favorite song from Eminem. Quite different from any of his other works, this one is almost totally lacking when it comes to controversial material and foul language. The rhythm is infectious, it's impossible to keep from bobbing your head to the beat. The rhyming is amazing too, words that aren't even very close together end up sounding the same as the constant beat mixes them into a continuous sound. The verses tell a story, which for me at least is very difficult to do while trying to maintain a rhythm and rhyme. Poetry has never come easy for me, mainly because I prefer the kind with meter and rhyme, and finding the right word to describe an emotion or setting while still rhyming with a totally unrelated word tends to be impossible. Even if you despise Eminem, I recommend at least giving this song a listen if you haven't already. It's "outside his box" so to speak, and has been getting heavy time on my playlist.
Found out there's going to be a big airshow up at Vandenberg AFB this weekend, which sounds very cool. Tons of exhibits, demonstrations, and flybys, along with simulators you can actually partake in and tons of setups from various Space and Missle and Aviation companies from all around Southern California. I'll probably head up on Saturday, since that night and Sunday I'll be on the SCUBA trip. I haven't been to an airshow in forever, and the list of planes they'll have on site and in demonstrations includes the F-15E, the plane I'm hoping to get into a track towards, which to my recollection I've never seen in person. Should be a very neat experience, maybe I'll drag a friend or someone. :)
Those who have turned on the radio lately will probably recognize the above reference to the initial single off the 8 Mile soundtrack called "Lose Yourself." This is right up there when it comes to my favorite song from Eminem. Quite different from any of his other works, this one is almost totally lacking when it comes to controversial material and foul language. The rhythm is infectious, it's impossible to keep from bobbing your head to the beat. The rhyming is amazing too, words that aren't even very close together end up sounding the same as the constant beat mixes them into a continuous sound. The verses tell a story, which for me at least is very difficult to do while trying to maintain a rhythm and rhyme. Poetry has never come easy for me, mainly because I prefer the kind with meter and rhyme, and finding the right word to describe an emotion or setting while still rhyming with a totally unrelated word tends to be impossible. Even if you despise Eminem, I recommend at least giving this song a listen if you haven't already. It's "outside his box" so to speak, and has been getting heavy time on my playlist.
Found out there's going to be a big airshow up at Vandenberg AFB this weekend, which sounds very cool. Tons of exhibits, demonstrations, and flybys, along with simulators you can actually partake in and tons of setups from various Space and Missle and Aviation companies from all around Southern California. I'll probably head up on Saturday, since that night and Sunday I'll be on the SCUBA trip. I haven't been to an airshow in forever, and the list of planes they'll have on site and in demonstrations includes the F-15E, the plane I'm hoping to get into a track towards, which to my recollection I've never seen in person. Should be a very neat experience, maybe I'll drag a friend or someone. :)
Monday, October 28, 2002
Owned By A Wall.
So yeah I headed down to the local YMCA to play racquetball with a couple friends of mine... Unfortunately unlike the Reccen which has glass/plastic type material on the rear walls that is quite forgiving, the YMCA merely has some sort of impenetrable and unforgiving material instead. Was running full speed chasing down a tough shot and managed to make it, but instead of slamming into the wall with a resounding thud and bouncing back into play like usual, there was just sort of a crunch and I collapsed in a heap. My right elbow seems to have one more bump protuding than normal, and my right shoulder isn't feeling so hot either, but I don't think anything's broken. No pain, no gain, as they say. Between the good three or so games of racquetball and the morning weight routine, got my fair share of exercise today. Tried to open up a can of whoopass on the wall though, and failed miserably. It sure showed me who's boss.
Took a midterm today, after having a very well structured cram session between noon and three... Went over all the notes from the five chapters it was going to cover and worked through most of the application problems from the back and read through all of the detailed answers... The actual test ended up being sixty true/false and sixty multiple choice, along with some short answer. I came out of it feeling pretty good, probably got something like a B. Got my 2nd quiz grade back from the class in which the grade is 75% quizzes, and I got an identical score to the first one, which with the different curve was a B+. So far everything looking good grades wise, we'll see what my first paper (which was crap) turns out like in my third econ class, and how today's midterm actually went in reality.
Might actually be somewhat busy the next couple weekends, turns out one of my friends is finishing up the SCUBA class here, so her and her friend as well as her boyfriend and I who took the class together originally a year or two ago are gonna do the whole Channel Islands trip again. It was really sweet the first time, and looking forward to getting out there and underwater again. For all those looking for just an awesome class to take, getting certified for SCUBA and learning how to just hang out underwater with the fishies is an incredible experience. Besides which the Channel Islands are quite beautiful, and right there for exploring. Looks like we're gonna go down to the dock Saturday night and spend the night on the boat, then leave early the next morning and spend the day out there before heading back that night. My friends are then leaving Monday morning out of LAX for Hawaii, rough life they're leading. :)
The following weekend the rumor is the family is going to be headed out to Death Valley, although I'm not entirely sure if the plans for that have been finalized. So my plan of not going home til Thanksgiving might fall through, but I seem to have made plans for that Friday in LA as well, so spending the rest of the three day weekend travelling with the family wouldn't be too inconvenient. Might as well get off my butt and out of the dorm room every once in a while. :)
So yeah I headed down to the local YMCA to play racquetball with a couple friends of mine... Unfortunately unlike the Reccen which has glass/plastic type material on the rear walls that is quite forgiving, the YMCA merely has some sort of impenetrable and unforgiving material instead. Was running full speed chasing down a tough shot and managed to make it, but instead of slamming into the wall with a resounding thud and bouncing back into play like usual, there was just sort of a crunch and I collapsed in a heap. My right elbow seems to have one more bump protuding than normal, and my right shoulder isn't feeling so hot either, but I don't think anything's broken. No pain, no gain, as they say. Between the good three or so games of racquetball and the morning weight routine, got my fair share of exercise today. Tried to open up a can of whoopass on the wall though, and failed miserably. It sure showed me who's boss.
Took a midterm today, after having a very well structured cram session between noon and three... Went over all the notes from the five chapters it was going to cover and worked through most of the application problems from the back and read through all of the detailed answers... The actual test ended up being sixty true/false and sixty multiple choice, along with some short answer. I came out of it feeling pretty good, probably got something like a B. Got my 2nd quiz grade back from the class in which the grade is 75% quizzes, and I got an identical score to the first one, which with the different curve was a B+. So far everything looking good grades wise, we'll see what my first paper (which was crap) turns out like in my third econ class, and how today's midterm actually went in reality.
Might actually be somewhat busy the next couple weekends, turns out one of my friends is finishing up the SCUBA class here, so her and her friend as well as her boyfriend and I who took the class together originally a year or two ago are gonna do the whole Channel Islands trip again. It was really sweet the first time, and looking forward to getting out there and underwater again. For all those looking for just an awesome class to take, getting certified for SCUBA and learning how to just hang out underwater with the fishies is an incredible experience. Besides which the Channel Islands are quite beautiful, and right there for exploring. Looks like we're gonna go down to the dock Saturday night and spend the night on the boat, then leave early the next morning and spend the day out there before heading back that night. My friends are then leaving Monday morning out of LAX for Hawaii, rough life they're leading. :)
The following weekend the rumor is the family is going to be headed out to Death Valley, although I'm not entirely sure if the plans for that have been finalized. So my plan of not going home til Thanksgiving might fall through, but I seem to have made plans for that Friday in LA as well, so spending the rest of the three day weekend travelling with the family wouldn't be too inconvenient. Might as well get off my butt and out of the dorm room every once in a while. :)
Sunday, October 27, 2002
Mickey Wins the Series!
Who woulda thunk it, I turned Game 6 off after Barry cranked his homer to make it 4-0, but apparently even without my support they came back to win in the late innings 6-5 and capped the series off with a win tonight. Booyah for the Anaheim Angels, 2002 World Series Champs.
Actually kept somewhat busy this weekend, even though I have a midterm tomorrow which I'm about to start cramming away for. Saturday night I went over to IV Theater with some friends to watch Creature From the Black Lagoon in 3D, which was somewhat more interesting than I expected. The 3D that is. The movie was terrible, but what can you expect from a horror flick made in 1954. We'll go with 3 M's just because of the 3D factor, the coolest aspect of which was the fact that after two hours of wearing the glasses when you took them off, your right eye could see red and your left eye could only see blue, which entertained me for quite a while as I winked around tinting the world into different colors.
Today I headed up to Seven Falls to do some hikin with another friend, it was much drier than the last time I was there, so there were no real waterfalls or pools to speak of, in fact the river was pretty much totally dry. That ended up working out though, it was much easier to get to the rock climbing section than it is normally, so we were able to get further up the gorge than I'd been before. Getting down ended up being a lot more interesting, luckily I'm now capable of bench pressing most of my friends, so I was able to assist when it got tricky. Lemme just pop my head real quick...
Footloose just started on VH1, a real classic movie. At least 6 M's. Tons of songs on it that make it impossible to avoid at least tapping your feet, and that's assuming you aren't up and trashing around the room. Gah, I suppose I should actually get my act together and start studying at some point. Maybe after the movie. ;)
Who woulda thunk it, I turned Game 6 off after Barry cranked his homer to make it 4-0, but apparently even without my support they came back to win in the late innings 6-5 and capped the series off with a win tonight. Booyah for the Anaheim Angels, 2002 World Series Champs.
Actually kept somewhat busy this weekend, even though I have a midterm tomorrow which I'm about to start cramming away for. Saturday night I went over to IV Theater with some friends to watch Creature From the Black Lagoon in 3D, which was somewhat more interesting than I expected. The 3D that is. The movie was terrible, but what can you expect from a horror flick made in 1954. We'll go with 3 M's just because of the 3D factor, the coolest aspect of which was the fact that after two hours of wearing the glasses when you took them off, your right eye could see red and your left eye could only see blue, which entertained me for quite a while as I winked around tinting the world into different colors.
Today I headed up to Seven Falls to do some hikin with another friend, it was much drier than the last time I was there, so there were no real waterfalls or pools to speak of, in fact the river was pretty much totally dry. That ended up working out though, it was much easier to get to the rock climbing section than it is normally, so we were able to get further up the gorge than I'd been before. Getting down ended up being a lot more interesting, luckily I'm now capable of bench pressing most of my friends, so I was able to assist when it got tricky. Lemme just pop my head real quick...
Footloose just started on VH1, a real classic movie. At least 6 M's. Tons of songs on it that make it impossible to avoid at least tapping your feet, and that's assuming you aren't up and trashing around the room. Gah, I suppose I should actually get my act together and start studying at some point. Maybe after the movie. ;)
Friday, October 25, 2002
Mc Dees and Sleepovers...
All those looking for a good late night deal, I recommend the 99 cent menu over at McDonalds through the 24 hour drive thru. All sorts of yummy things on there (for those who aren't anti-fast food) including the yummy hot fudge sundaes I used to have when I was a kid. Hadn't had one of those in like 10 years before I went the other day. They also have great soft-serve ice cream for just 79 cents, and they pile it up on the cone. Not that any of this is healthy, but when you need a temporary sugar high I highly recommend it. It's really fun rediscovering sights, sounds, tastes, or feelings from your childhood. It's the closest we can come to being a kid again.
Slept pretty terribly last night, it felt like it was 900 degrees in here. This was probably partly due to the fact there were three of us in here, which is definitely two more than normal. The situation started when my friend from upstairs asked if she could have the futon for a night since she was having trouble sleeping upstairs due to a combination of the heat and the light outside that's supposed to be aesthetically pleasing but manages to shine right into her window. Her boyfriend has been living together with her in her single, he graduated recently and is in the grey area between that and getting a job from what I understand. So anyway, we hit the sack shortly after midnight and I'm pretty much gone when someone else comes knockin on the door... Turns out it's her boyfriend, asking if he could sleep down here too, because he can't fall asleep without her. [waits for the groans and vomiting from the peanut gallery to cease] Yeah I know but who am I to make fun, you'll all just say I'm bitter. So I don't really have a choice other than letting him in or kicking them both out, so after making it clear this was a one time thing I relented. Now I know why their room is always so hot, at least partially. I must have woken up at least twice an hour due to either the heat or someone else shifting in their sleep. I tend to prefer total darkness and silence in order to achieve a good night of sleep, and thanks to the morning sun that already gets broken up pretty early on a regular basis.
I don't mind company on a regular basis, but when it comes to being the 5th wheel in a sleeping situation, there's not a whole lot I gain from that. I mean, I can't blame the guy for not wanting his girlfriend to be sleeping alone in some guy's room. But you'd think taking her aside and telling her that before she comes down here would make more sense than joining her. Not like he has anything to worry about from me the only male species on campus choosing to be immune to the opposite gender in general. They seem happy enough, there's enough lovey dovey talk like many couples that has me wanting to vomit on an occasional basis. I personally probably wouldn't be able to handle living with someone in such close quarters on a 24/7 basis, and have no idea how they're managing, but I guess that's testament to the strength of the relationship.
All I gotta say is ever since the brother got kicked out of my room like 10 years ago, I've yet to have a roommate since then, and am in no hurry whatsoever. I guess during the 10 weeks if I do get in I'll have one, but after that it's single only for the rest of my life. Yeah I know the whole wife/girlfriend thing, but I figure they'll be perfectly fine on the futon too! ;) I knew getting more sleeping room in here would bring flocks, this just wasn't the type of flock I was looking for...
All those looking for a good late night deal, I recommend the 99 cent menu over at McDonalds through the 24 hour drive thru. All sorts of yummy things on there (for those who aren't anti-fast food) including the yummy hot fudge sundaes I used to have when I was a kid. Hadn't had one of those in like 10 years before I went the other day. They also have great soft-serve ice cream for just 79 cents, and they pile it up on the cone. Not that any of this is healthy, but when you need a temporary sugar high I highly recommend it. It's really fun rediscovering sights, sounds, tastes, or feelings from your childhood. It's the closest we can come to being a kid again.
Slept pretty terribly last night, it felt like it was 900 degrees in here. This was probably partly due to the fact there were three of us in here, which is definitely two more than normal. The situation started when my friend from upstairs asked if she could have the futon for a night since she was having trouble sleeping upstairs due to a combination of the heat and the light outside that's supposed to be aesthetically pleasing but manages to shine right into her window. Her boyfriend has been living together with her in her single, he graduated recently and is in the grey area between that and getting a job from what I understand. So anyway, we hit the sack shortly after midnight and I'm pretty much gone when someone else comes knockin on the door... Turns out it's her boyfriend, asking if he could sleep down here too, because he can't fall asleep without her. [waits for the groans and vomiting from the peanut gallery to cease] Yeah I know but who am I to make fun, you'll all just say I'm bitter. So I don't really have a choice other than letting him in or kicking them both out, so after making it clear this was a one time thing I relented. Now I know why their room is always so hot, at least partially. I must have woken up at least twice an hour due to either the heat or someone else shifting in their sleep. I tend to prefer total darkness and silence in order to achieve a good night of sleep, and thanks to the morning sun that already gets broken up pretty early on a regular basis.
I don't mind company on a regular basis, but when it comes to being the 5th wheel in a sleeping situation, there's not a whole lot I gain from that. I mean, I can't blame the guy for not wanting his girlfriend to be sleeping alone in some guy's room. But you'd think taking her aside and telling her that before she comes down here would make more sense than joining her. Not like he has anything to worry about from me the only male species on campus choosing to be immune to the opposite gender in general. They seem happy enough, there's enough lovey dovey talk like many couples that has me wanting to vomit on an occasional basis. I personally probably wouldn't be able to handle living with someone in such close quarters on a 24/7 basis, and have no idea how they're managing, but I guess that's testament to the strength of the relationship.
All I gotta say is ever since the brother got kicked out of my room like 10 years ago, I've yet to have a roommate since then, and am in no hurry whatsoever. I guess during the 10 weeks if I do get in I'll have one, but after that it's single only for the rest of my life. Yeah I know the whole wife/girlfriend thing, but I figure they'll be perfectly fine on the futon too! ;) I knew getting more sleeping room in here would bring flocks, this just wasn't the type of flock I was looking for...
Wednesday, October 23, 2002
3AM Conversations...
Have a strange way of keeping me entertained. Had no intention whatsoever of staying up late last night, I knew I was going to have to get up and write a paper the next day due at 2pm, yet I got involved in multiple conversations that were more entertaining than usual.
First I was jabberin away with a friend of mine from high school, and grovelling for forgiveness about the fact that something I'd been close minded to and given her crap for like a year ago was now something I could see her side of. We ended up having fun with Netmeeting as she showed off her webcam and new pad up at Stanford, and getting the usual giggles out of doing silly things for the camera and making strange noises in the microphones.
Somewhere in the middle of that conversation I got an IM from my brother's SN, but it was apparently one of his friends. I do tend to get random IMs from strangers somewhat often as they discover my SN through various search methods or this page. Generally the conversations don't last very long, I tend to lose interest in a hurry. I can't really explain what it is that manages to hold my attention for longer than the usual 4.5 seconds. Some people are just more interesting to chat with than others. Sadly I'm generally a busy person, and many people who might get interesting eventually are brushed aside as soon as I get bored with answering open-ended questions. This one though seemed like a halfway-intelligent person, even though she's hanging out with my brother... So I actually play along and converse with this total stranger for well over an hour while I'm multitasking, and become somewhat interested in her as a person.
Then she makes the mistake of telling me she's similar to my brother in the most negative way possible, that being she is also a smoker. Yeah, I've become open minded about many things in the last few years. When it comes to shortening one's lifespan though, I won't ever see the other side of that. Not only are these people hurting themselves, but eventually they will put a financial and emotional burden on everyone around them, hurting everyone who cares about them as well.
There's just nothing else to say about that. I gave her the abridged version, and then went to bed, not expecting to hear from her again.
Have a strange way of keeping me entertained. Had no intention whatsoever of staying up late last night, I knew I was going to have to get up and write a paper the next day due at 2pm, yet I got involved in multiple conversations that were more entertaining than usual.
First I was jabberin away with a friend of mine from high school, and grovelling for forgiveness about the fact that something I'd been close minded to and given her crap for like a year ago was now something I could see her side of. We ended up having fun with Netmeeting as she showed off her webcam and new pad up at Stanford, and getting the usual giggles out of doing silly things for the camera and making strange noises in the microphones.
Somewhere in the middle of that conversation I got an IM from my brother's SN, but it was apparently one of his friends. I do tend to get random IMs from strangers somewhat often as they discover my SN through various search methods or this page. Generally the conversations don't last very long, I tend to lose interest in a hurry. I can't really explain what it is that manages to hold my attention for longer than the usual 4.5 seconds. Some people are just more interesting to chat with than others. Sadly I'm generally a busy person, and many people who might get interesting eventually are brushed aside as soon as I get bored with answering open-ended questions. This one though seemed like a halfway-intelligent person, even though she's hanging out with my brother... So I actually play along and converse with this total stranger for well over an hour while I'm multitasking, and become somewhat interested in her as a person.
Then she makes the mistake of telling me she's similar to my brother in the most negative way possible, that being she is also a smoker. Yeah, I've become open minded about many things in the last few years. When it comes to shortening one's lifespan though, I won't ever see the other side of that. Not only are these people hurting themselves, but eventually they will put a financial and emotional burden on everyone around them, hurting everyone who cares about them as well.
There's just nothing else to say about that. I gave her the abridged version, and then went to bed, not expecting to hear from her again.
Monday, October 21, 2002
Two Beds and a Coffee Machine.
For those who have never heard the Savage Garden song with the above title, I highly recommend snagging it. A nice gentle melody, very relaxing. Today started bright and early around 6 as I got up to study for my 9am quiz... Ended up getting a B on the first one after using the same strategy, and judging from how I felt turning it in I figure I got at least the same on this one. This is the class where the quizzes make up 75% of the grade, so I'm in good shape there. Got an exam-paper due Wednesay in another class and a midterm in a third class on Monday, so it'll be a busy week or two.
Hooray to the Angels for holding on last night and guaranteeing there will be another home game in the series. Hm at least I think it's a 2-2-1-1-1 scenario in baseball. Maybe it's 2-3-2 in which case it wouldn't guarantee anything. Ah well all I know is they're gonna be in boooooo PacBell Park for the next couple games... Seeing all the rallies and stuff on T.V. makes me miss Disneyland, can't wait as usual to head back there for New Years Eve. I wonder where I'll be when the clock strikes 2004... Man, 2003 seems like it's right there, but 2004 seems like a good 5 years away.
Found out I'm already at the weight I'm supposed to be at on the leg press, with a medium amount of effort I can do the 320 or so for a few sets of 10 reps. Took it easy still on everything else, just did a couple sets of huge amounts of reps without huge amounts of weight. The pull-ups sure get harder when you lower the amount of weight that's helping you up... I'm not experiencing much soreness but that's probably a good thing, I'll gradually increase the weight over time until I reach a level that I'm getting a good workout at.
For those who have never heard the Savage Garden song with the above title, I highly recommend snagging it. A nice gentle melody, very relaxing. Today started bright and early around 6 as I got up to study for my 9am quiz... Ended up getting a B on the first one after using the same strategy, and judging from how I felt turning it in I figure I got at least the same on this one. This is the class where the quizzes make up 75% of the grade, so I'm in good shape there. Got an exam-paper due Wednesay in another class and a midterm in a third class on Monday, so it'll be a busy week or two.
Hooray to the Angels for holding on last night and guaranteeing there will be another home game in the series. Hm at least I think it's a 2-2-1-1-1 scenario in baseball. Maybe it's 2-3-2 in which case it wouldn't guarantee anything. Ah well all I know is they're gonna be in boooooo PacBell Park for the next couple games... Seeing all the rallies and stuff on T.V. makes me miss Disneyland, can't wait as usual to head back there for New Years Eve. I wonder where I'll be when the clock strikes 2004... Man, 2003 seems like it's right there, but 2004 seems like a good 5 years away.
Found out I'm already at the weight I'm supposed to be at on the leg press, with a medium amount of effort I can do the 320 or so for a few sets of 10 reps. Took it easy still on everything else, just did a couple sets of huge amounts of reps without huge amounts of weight. The pull-ups sure get harder when you lower the amount of weight that's helping you up... I'm not experiencing much soreness but that's probably a good thing, I'll gradually increase the weight over time until I reach a level that I'm getting a good workout at.
Sunday, October 20, 2002
This Is The Life.
Every time I get bored or am just sort of blah about life in general, I just go for a walk. Tonight I was greeted with a very close to full moon as I wandered the paths around the outer edges of this housing complex. I eventually made my way down to the cliffs overlooking the beach, and was taken aback. The moon was very high in the sky, so the only strong reflection of the moon was on the curve of the waves as they curled and broke near the shore. It was a really awesome effect, something I'd never seen before. The sound of water has always been soothing to me, and I ended up enjoying it for several minutes before the cold began to set in and I made my way back indoors.
I'm truly lucky that all I have to do is walk outside my living space, take a few steps, and am immediately surrounded by beautiful scenery. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, got various assignments due early next week and a quiz Monday as well as a multitude of meetings over the next few days as usual.
Oh and two big thumbs down to the Angels and the Air Force Academy for losing their respective important games today. Lame! :(
Every time I get bored or am just sort of blah about life in general, I just go for a walk. Tonight I was greeted with a very close to full moon as I wandered the paths around the outer edges of this housing complex. I eventually made my way down to the cliffs overlooking the beach, and was taken aback. The moon was very high in the sky, so the only strong reflection of the moon was on the curve of the waves as they curled and broke near the shore. It was a really awesome effect, something I'd never seen before. The sound of water has always been soothing to me, and I ended up enjoying it for several minutes before the cold began to set in and I made my way back indoors.
I'm truly lucky that all I have to do is walk outside my living space, take a few steps, and am immediately surrounded by beautiful scenery. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, got various assignments due early next week and a quiz Monday as well as a multitude of meetings over the next few days as usual.
Oh and two big thumbs down to the Angels and the Air Force Academy for losing their respective important games today. Lame! :(
Friday, October 18, 2002
Twenty Point Nine...
The official numbers are in, and they're not too shabby at all. I went to go sit in the egg yesterday, which was quite a strange experience. It's basically this little capsule thingy somewhat like the cars in Minority Report that zipped along on the sides of the buildings, except much smaller. You sit on the seat in there sort of hunched over, and then shut the door which sounds much like an airlock. It then makes all sorts of air hissing and suction sounds, as if you're going to run out of oxygen any second. Definitely not something I recommend to the claustrophobic. Was fun for me though, it'll be somewhat what a cockpit is like I figure. It ended up saying of my 190.5 pounds, 20.9% is body fat. According to their little chart thingy, under 20 is healthy. So basically, even at the beginning of my weight training schedule, without much effort at all, I'm already at the boundary of not only what's healthy but what will be required. Once I get further into training and the fat to muscle conversion is in full swing, I'm sure I'll have no problem bringing that number down further.
Hit the weight room for the first time today and discovered a very cool machine... Pull-ups were a huge problem for me growing up as I basically had no arms, and even in college after I did gain a pair of shoulders at some point I was never able to do more than a few, and it always felt like my arms were ripping off. They have this machine in there that allows you to stand on a bar that's at a certain resistance and do pull-ups, so if you put it at a comfortable weight not only can you do a set of 10, but you can do them properly. You can maintain the level of exertion at a constant rate both going up and going down, without the constant jerkiness trying to do pull-ups unassisted brings. I really recommend it to those who can't do a smooth pull-up by themselves, it will make it really easy to build up that muscle and slowly reduce the weight assisting the legs over time, rather than trying to lift 190 pounds with my back and triceps on day 1. Took it real easy for the first day, just figuring out the comfort levels of the different exercise I'll be working, deciding what weight level to start at and so forth. Going to stick with one long set for the first few workouts then add a set later.
So, promising numbers to start with, as my weight is officially a good 6 pounds under the max, and my body fat is only slightly above as I begin weight training.
The official numbers are in, and they're not too shabby at all. I went to go sit in the egg yesterday, which was quite a strange experience. It's basically this little capsule thingy somewhat like the cars in Minority Report that zipped along on the sides of the buildings, except much smaller. You sit on the seat in there sort of hunched over, and then shut the door which sounds much like an airlock. It then makes all sorts of air hissing and suction sounds, as if you're going to run out of oxygen any second. Definitely not something I recommend to the claustrophobic. Was fun for me though, it'll be somewhat what a cockpit is like I figure. It ended up saying of my 190.5 pounds, 20.9% is body fat. According to their little chart thingy, under 20 is healthy. So basically, even at the beginning of my weight training schedule, without much effort at all, I'm already at the boundary of not only what's healthy but what will be required. Once I get further into training and the fat to muscle conversion is in full swing, I'm sure I'll have no problem bringing that number down further.
Hit the weight room for the first time today and discovered a very cool machine... Pull-ups were a huge problem for me growing up as I basically had no arms, and even in college after I did gain a pair of shoulders at some point I was never able to do more than a few, and it always felt like my arms were ripping off. They have this machine in there that allows you to stand on a bar that's at a certain resistance and do pull-ups, so if you put it at a comfortable weight not only can you do a set of 10, but you can do them properly. You can maintain the level of exertion at a constant rate both going up and going down, without the constant jerkiness trying to do pull-ups unassisted brings. I really recommend it to those who can't do a smooth pull-up by themselves, it will make it really easy to build up that muscle and slowly reduce the weight assisting the legs over time, rather than trying to lift 190 pounds with my back and triceps on day 1. Took it real easy for the first day, just figuring out the comfort levels of the different exercise I'll be working, deciding what weight level to start at and so forth. Going to stick with one long set for the first few workouts then add a set later.
So, promising numbers to start with, as my weight is officially a good 6 pounds under the max, and my body fat is only slightly above as I begin weight training.
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
Frustration...
So yesterday I just did a couple miles around the lagoon island, which involved a bunch of hills. The problem is never running up the hills, it's always running down. The most efficient way to do it is just to let yourself go, basically windmilling your legs as gravity throws you downward. Unfortunately, this seems to be the fastest way to aggravate my legs. The pounding on the pavement especially when running downhill is what always brings back the pain. It's quite frustrating, seems that no matter how long I'm into the running routine, the first day I actually run some hills, or run at a somewhat fast pace, I end up having to stop halfway through due to the pain.
I guess my new strategy is just to focus on other types of exercise. The elliptical trainers at the RecCen, and the pool, are going to end up being the main focus. Interestingly enough, I stumbled upon a set of physical requirements in the Air Force track I'm headed into that I wasn't aware of before. In order to be a part of a fighter aircrew, I'll have to perform F.A.C.T.. on a regular basis, which stands for the Fighter Aircrew Conditioning Test. Unlike the tests I'll have to pass at OTS, this one solely involves weight training. It's based on a percentage of your weight, so just to overestimate things and make sure I'm in the green area I'll probably end up training as if I was trying to reach the amounts needed if I was 200 lbs. That wouldn't happen since the max in the Air Force is in the 190s, and I plan to be around 180, but better safe than sorry. That means I'll have to lift the following amounts of weight:
Bench Press: 160 lbs
Arm Curl: 70 lbs.
Lat Pulldowns: 140 lbs.
Leg Curls: 100 lbs
Leg Press: 320 lbs.
Those numbers don't look insanely impossible, but apparently its not just maxing at that weight, you must actually perform TEN reps of each exercise in one set. For example I wouldn't have a problem benching 160 lbs, but given the length of time since I was actually weight training, something tells me ten reps might be a problem.
I think the first thing I'm going to do is go pay the 6 bucks or whatever it is to go into that new machine on campus that tells you like a berzillion things about your body composition, including your body fat percentage. That will be quite helpful in determining what the best course of action is for my training routine. The problem with switching over to weight training and make sure I'm in the zones needed in that area, is I'll probably build up muscle and thus gain weight, which could put me too close to the max weight.
Might as well explain the whole deal so the numbers make sense when I talk aboutit in the future. The way they do it at the yearly physical is they initially weigh you to see if you're over the maximum allowable weight for your height. I'm technically 5' 10 1/2' at my shortest during the day, so the max weight for me is 196.5. The "desirable weight" for that height is 175. I'd be satisfied with a muscular 180. I'm currently just over 190 at last check. If you end up over the maximum weight, they do a body fat percentage check. This is so that the very muscular officers who are possibly quite a bit over the maximum weight due to muscle mass aren't affected. The maximum body fat percentage for those under 29 years of age is 20%. If you fail both of the tests (>196.5 lbs and >20% body fat) then basically bad things happen. If that was the case at my initial physical I'd be disqualified completely, if it happens when you're already in you go through various stages of reprimands and eventually demotions and a possible discharge. Basically bad news. The last time I checked my body fat percentage was like 7th grade, and I've changed a bit on both the muscle weight and chunk weight since then.
So theoretically if I find out my body fat is a decent amount under 20%, then I can just focus on keeping in shape on a muscular and cardiovascular level, and not worry so much if I gain muscle and it puts me over the max weight. It's much easier to see progress when it comes to muscular work, and ab work, so motivation wouldn't be an issue, although if I do eventually get in, knowing I'm going to have to do it or go home will be motivation enough. So now you know everything about what I'm trying to do physically. Oh one more thing. GETTING A HAWT BOD FER DA WOMENS WOULDN'T BE TOO SHABBY.
Heh.
So yesterday I just did a couple miles around the lagoon island, which involved a bunch of hills. The problem is never running up the hills, it's always running down. The most efficient way to do it is just to let yourself go, basically windmilling your legs as gravity throws you downward. Unfortunately, this seems to be the fastest way to aggravate my legs. The pounding on the pavement especially when running downhill is what always brings back the pain. It's quite frustrating, seems that no matter how long I'm into the running routine, the first day I actually run some hills, or run at a somewhat fast pace, I end up having to stop halfway through due to the pain.
I guess my new strategy is just to focus on other types of exercise. The elliptical trainers at the RecCen, and the pool, are going to end up being the main focus. Interestingly enough, I stumbled upon a set of physical requirements in the Air Force track I'm headed into that I wasn't aware of before. In order to be a part of a fighter aircrew, I'll have to perform F.A.C.T.. on a regular basis, which stands for the Fighter Aircrew Conditioning Test. Unlike the tests I'll have to pass at OTS, this one solely involves weight training. It's based on a percentage of your weight, so just to overestimate things and make sure I'm in the green area I'll probably end up training as if I was trying to reach the amounts needed if I was 200 lbs. That wouldn't happen since the max in the Air Force is in the 190s, and I plan to be around 180, but better safe than sorry. That means I'll have to lift the following amounts of weight:
Bench Press: 160 lbs
Arm Curl: 70 lbs.
Lat Pulldowns: 140 lbs.
Leg Curls: 100 lbs
Leg Press: 320 lbs.
Those numbers don't look insanely impossible, but apparently its not just maxing at that weight, you must actually perform TEN reps of each exercise in one set. For example I wouldn't have a problem benching 160 lbs, but given the length of time since I was actually weight training, something tells me ten reps might be a problem.
I think the first thing I'm going to do is go pay the 6 bucks or whatever it is to go into that new machine on campus that tells you like a berzillion things about your body composition, including your body fat percentage. That will be quite helpful in determining what the best course of action is for my training routine. The problem with switching over to weight training and make sure I'm in the zones needed in that area, is I'll probably build up muscle and thus gain weight, which could put me too close to the max weight.
Might as well explain the whole deal so the numbers make sense when I talk aboutit in the future. The way they do it at the yearly physical is they initially weigh you to see if you're over the maximum allowable weight for your height. I'm technically 5' 10 1/2' at my shortest during the day, so the max weight for me is 196.5. The "desirable weight" for that height is 175. I'd be satisfied with a muscular 180. I'm currently just over 190 at last check. If you end up over the maximum weight, they do a body fat percentage check. This is so that the very muscular officers who are possibly quite a bit over the maximum weight due to muscle mass aren't affected. The maximum body fat percentage for those under 29 years of age is 20%. If you fail both of the tests (>196.5 lbs and >20% body fat) then basically bad things happen. If that was the case at my initial physical I'd be disqualified completely, if it happens when you're already in you go through various stages of reprimands and eventually demotions and a possible discharge. Basically bad news. The last time I checked my body fat percentage was like 7th grade, and I've changed a bit on both the muscle weight and chunk weight since then.
So theoretically if I find out my body fat is a decent amount under 20%, then I can just focus on keeping in shape on a muscular and cardiovascular level, and not worry so much if I gain muscle and it puts me over the max weight. It's much easier to see progress when it comes to muscular work, and ab work, so motivation wouldn't be an issue, although if I do eventually get in, knowing I'm going to have to do it or go home will be motivation enough. So now you know everything about what I'm trying to do physically. Oh one more thing. GETTING A HAWT BOD FER DA WOMENS WOULDN'T BE TOO SHABBY.
Heh.
Tuesday, October 15, 2002
Oomph
For those who couldn't translate, that's the sound of plopping down into an amazingly soft and comfy mattress, in this case, one placed on a futon. Finally snagged one on Sunday, and am quite pleased with the purchase. The wood seems like it's very good quality, and the mechanism to shift from a sofa to a bed seems to work very well. I decided to go with a green cover, sort of a darker forest green type, and that seems to complement the wood very nicely. It ended up being a good inch smaller than the gap under my bed, so it basically fits perfectly, while still having a few inch gap on either side of my head and feet when lying down lengthwise. I don't thrash around too much vertically, so that shouldn't be a problem. Best part about it is that it folds out to a full bed rather than a twin, which will certainly please overnight guests. So yeah, any of you friends of mine from far away pleases who want to come see the beautiful place I live in, feel free to drop on by. :)
Feeling much better tonight than last night, gonna give running a shot tomorrow, although it won't be at 7am since the last few days has screwed up my sleeping schedule as I've tried to sleep off the cold. Finally did get a haircut though, so with a lighter head running should be no problem. ;)
Been having to be a lot more organized this year, got a full on calendar goin in my notebook, having to schedule meetings for Neighborhood Council, meetings with my R/A, meetings with my Econ 109EC group, and various other things. Kind of annoying to have to actually check my calendar when someone asks me to fix their computer or invites me to a movie, but I guess it shows I'm actually getting things accomplished with my time rather than just sitting around.
Had my first smoothie of the year after missing out on dinner thanks to the first NC meeting where they were supposedly gonna have mass food but I actually ended up getting only a slice and a half of pizza... Apparently Jamba isn't open as late as I thought, but Blenders out in IV came through for us. I'm not very particular when it comes to smoothies, anything with strawberry and banana in it I'll probably dig. I'd actually be perfectly satisfied with a smoothie as my breakfast, but then I'd be wasting money left and right and that just doesn't work. Hm there's an idea, blenders for the dining commons... They already have the fruit and ice and whatnot, wouldn't be all that difficult to provide blenders... Although I guess washing them would have to be done every time, so you'd actually have to have someone making the smoothies for the students... Hm, maybe I'll bring that up at some point. Gah more later, way past my bedtime.
For those who couldn't translate, that's the sound of plopping down into an amazingly soft and comfy mattress, in this case, one placed on a futon. Finally snagged one on Sunday, and am quite pleased with the purchase. The wood seems like it's very good quality, and the mechanism to shift from a sofa to a bed seems to work very well. I decided to go with a green cover, sort of a darker forest green type, and that seems to complement the wood very nicely. It ended up being a good inch smaller than the gap under my bed, so it basically fits perfectly, while still having a few inch gap on either side of my head and feet when lying down lengthwise. I don't thrash around too much vertically, so that shouldn't be a problem. Best part about it is that it folds out to a full bed rather than a twin, which will certainly please overnight guests. So yeah, any of you friends of mine from far away pleases who want to come see the beautiful place I live in, feel free to drop on by. :)
Feeling much better tonight than last night, gonna give running a shot tomorrow, although it won't be at 7am since the last few days has screwed up my sleeping schedule as I've tried to sleep off the cold. Finally did get a haircut though, so with a lighter head running should be no problem. ;)
Been having to be a lot more organized this year, got a full on calendar goin in my notebook, having to schedule meetings for Neighborhood Council, meetings with my R/A, meetings with my Econ 109EC group, and various other things. Kind of annoying to have to actually check my calendar when someone asks me to fix their computer or invites me to a movie, but I guess it shows I'm actually getting things accomplished with my time rather than just sitting around.
Had my first smoothie of the year after missing out on dinner thanks to the first NC meeting where they were supposedly gonna have mass food but I actually ended up getting only a slice and a half of pizza... Apparently Jamba isn't open as late as I thought, but Blenders out in IV came through for us. I'm not very particular when it comes to smoothies, anything with strawberry and banana in it I'll probably dig. I'd actually be perfectly satisfied with a smoothie as my breakfast, but then I'd be wasting money left and right and that just doesn't work. Hm there's an idea, blenders for the dining commons... They already have the fruit and ice and whatnot, wouldn't be all that difficult to provide blenders... Although I guess washing them would have to be done every time, so you'd actually have to have someone making the smoothies for the students... Hm, maybe I'll bring that up at some point. Gah more later, way past my bedtime.
Sunday, October 13, 2002
I Get To Learn A New Word...
Listen up children, today's word is "Fiance." Now before you all faint, let me be a little less vague and inform you that it is not me but is actually my sister who will be using the word the most. She's become engaged to her boyfriend of more than a few years. I haven't gotten a whole lot of details as I was only the first in a long string of people to inform (at least I was first outside the parents, being the eldest sibling does have its advantages...) so I'm sure I'll have much more on this subject later.
Unfortunately not feeling any better today health wise, possibly even on the worse side tonight, so will have get back to this later and hit the sack.
Listen up children, today's word is "Fiance." Now before you all faint, let me be a little less vague and inform you that it is not me but is actually my sister who will be using the word the most. She's become engaged to her boyfriend of more than a few years. I haven't gotten a whole lot of details as I was only the first in a long string of people to inform (at least I was first outside the parents, being the eldest sibling does have its advantages...) so I'm sure I'll have much more on this subject later.
Unfortunately not feeling any better today health wise, possibly even on the worse side tonight, so will have get back to this later and hit the sack.
Saturday, October 12, 2002
Coed Sleepovers!
Well, at least the ability will be there, as I'm finally gonna be pickin up a futon tomorrow and essentially tripling the comfortable sleeping space in my room. :) Spent the day running errands, pickin up a new headset mic since I'd stepped on the old one too many times... Then I headed over to KMart and snagged a tape measure because I got bored of asking to borrow a ruler (something happened to mine), and took it around to various futon places browsing and measuring... Finally ended up making somewhat of a decision, I'm gonna head back tomorrow to double check some stuff and actually make the purchase, and then tackle the task of trying to fit it in the van to transport it back here. Hm, even better will be trying to get it from the car into the room... Luckily I'm bringing along a friend, although I might need more than one. :P
Also met up with some buddies to see Red Dragon, the latest film in the series surrounding the character of Hannibal Lecter. Chronologically it's actually the first, but there's the usual innuendos and so forth that hint to things from the second and third that make it useful to have seen the others first. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Anthony Hopkins is an amazing actor. When you combine his talent with that of Edward Norton, who is also phenomenal, the movie could be about paint drying and I'd probably still think it was great. Gonna go with 5 M's out of 7 here, there are a few interesting twists in there that keep you guessing. I do recommend seeing Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal first however, there's a lot more character buildup around Hopkins, and Jodie Foster's performance in the former helped bring that film the Best Picture nod at the Oscars.
Feelin a little under the weather today, but still managed to get out and run this morning, apparently gonna be playin some racquetball at some point tomorrow so I'll probably sleep in and save the exercise for later. Also gotta give a big BOOYAH to one of my hometown baseball teams (well technically) the Angels, for kicking some tail in the ALCS. Anyone wanna get me tickets to the World Series if they get that far? :) I haven't been to a baseball game since like 1st grade... That would be so sweet!
Well, at least the ability will be there, as I'm finally gonna be pickin up a futon tomorrow and essentially tripling the comfortable sleeping space in my room. :) Spent the day running errands, pickin up a new headset mic since I'd stepped on the old one too many times... Then I headed over to KMart and snagged a tape measure because I got bored of asking to borrow a ruler (something happened to mine), and took it around to various futon places browsing and measuring... Finally ended up making somewhat of a decision, I'm gonna head back tomorrow to double check some stuff and actually make the purchase, and then tackle the task of trying to fit it in the van to transport it back here. Hm, even better will be trying to get it from the car into the room... Luckily I'm bringing along a friend, although I might need more than one. :P
Also met up with some buddies to see Red Dragon, the latest film in the series surrounding the character of Hannibal Lecter. Chronologically it's actually the first, but there's the usual innuendos and so forth that hint to things from the second and third that make it useful to have seen the others first. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Anthony Hopkins is an amazing actor. When you combine his talent with that of Edward Norton, who is also phenomenal, the movie could be about paint drying and I'd probably still think it was great. Gonna go with 5 M's out of 7 here, there are a few interesting twists in there that keep you guessing. I do recommend seeing Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal first however, there's a lot more character buildup around Hopkins, and Jodie Foster's performance in the former helped bring that film the Best Picture nod at the Oscars.
Feelin a little under the weather today, but still managed to get out and run this morning, apparently gonna be playin some racquetball at some point tomorrow so I'll probably sleep in and save the exercise for later. Also gotta give a big BOOYAH to one of my hometown baseball teams (well technically) the Angels, for kicking some tail in the ALCS. Anyone wanna get me tickets to the World Series if they get that far? :) I haven't been to a baseball game since like 1st grade... That would be so sweet!
Friday, October 11, 2002
Thursdays are Nice.
Well so are Tuesdays, but when it's Thursday the next day is Friday, so that makes it even better. Took my time getting up this morning and eventually got my multi-tasking hat on and dumped in a load of laundry before going for a morning run. Since the beginning of this month I've been on a 2 day on 1 day off running schedule, which I guess is decent enough as a start. I did increase from 2 miles to 3 between the first week and the second, and am now able to cover that distance pretty comfortably. I did feel some soreness today in various areas of my legs, so I'll probably skip tomorrow and do the next two days. I figure as long as I build up slowly and just take days off when I sense any kind of pain, I should be able to avoid getting injured. Running on the wet sand is a really good strategy too, it lessens most of the impact and is a lot better on the legs.
Last week I finally decided to break down and install an RPG, which is something I'd avoided for several years now. I've just never been into the "neverending" types of games where there are always cooler items to find or bigger bad guys to fight, and in which "experience" is the most important aspect. Most games of this sort allow you to "gain a level" very quickly early on, with Levels 1 to 10 coming all within the first day of playing most likely. However the time it takes to gain a level grows exponentially, so to get from level 40 to 41 might take over a week. I managed to never get sucked into that kind of game, those are the kinds you always read about people losing their lives to. Everquest or "Evercrack" as it has become known as, is the best example. The role playing game of choice is Morrowind, which is actually the third in a series of games of which I hadn't played any. The pluses to it, it's single player rather than multiplayer, so the story does have a beginning and an end. The leveling isn't exponential, you'll eventually get to the highest level of everything. The negatives, the world is just gigantic. This is where people waste their lives away, methodically exploring the entire world would be a lot like trying to explore all of the United States on a bike. Although the main quest is apparently only about 80 hours in length (around four months of playing at five hours a week, which is all I tend to play), there are umpteenmillion side quests and things to do, so you could technically waste away an uncountable amount of time trying to beat the game "completely." Luckily I have no interest in that. After playing on and off for a week I've actually already grown pretty bored with it. As RPGs go, I've heard it's one of the best (I don't have a lot of experience with them myself) but you really have to be the kind of person who wants to get lost in a fantasy world for hours on end. The world is so huge that when tasks require you crossing back and forth, it gets pretty repetitive and boring. It's not a very difficult game, it's just very time consuming. I'll probably come back to it every once in a while, but it just didn't hold my attention like most games do. One game I'd like to snag and install is the third installment of the Myst series, Exile. The first Myst is considered the best selling PC game of all time, and I don't know too many people who missed out on it. It's the type of game where the point of the game is to find out the point of the game, and that's what makes it very different from others. You can spend days or weeks "stuck" someplace, trying to figure out what to do. It's sequel "Riven" was unfortunately so difficult, that I'd estimate about 95% of all players required a walkthrough or "hint" book in order to make it through the storyline. Some of the puzzles required linking concepts from multiple islands, deciphering codes, or making connections between seemingly pointless items. I've heard Exile is in between the two, difficult enough to keep you busy with your noggin for a while, but not so difficult that you're running for a strategy guide before you've gone ten feet.
I have been getting back into Q3F as of late, the mod for Quake 3 that I used to play quite religiously. I've joined up at least temporarily with another group of guys who play regularly, including a few I've known online for literally years now. It's great fun to talk about the good ol days, bust out quotes from years ago, and talk about the best (and worst) matches of the past. Also quite spooky for my visitors to come in and hear voices coming from my computer, following which the sound of someone with a heavy midwest accent saying "Hi SoandSo" (having been informed of the person's name through a chat window of course). I then generally pretend that the person can also see my visitor through a webcam, after which they usually run out of the room. Of course my webcam isn't set up, but it's fun to play with people's minds. :)
Okay you can wake up now, I'm done talking about computer games. :) No poker game tonight, apparently one of the guys had a CS assignment due or something. Ah, the life of hammering away at code at 2 in the morning, how I miss it. OH WAIT, NO I DON'T! ;)
Well so are Tuesdays, but when it's Thursday the next day is Friday, so that makes it even better. Took my time getting up this morning and eventually got my multi-tasking hat on and dumped in a load of laundry before going for a morning run. Since the beginning of this month I've been on a 2 day on 1 day off running schedule, which I guess is decent enough as a start. I did increase from 2 miles to 3 between the first week and the second, and am now able to cover that distance pretty comfortably. I did feel some soreness today in various areas of my legs, so I'll probably skip tomorrow and do the next two days. I figure as long as I build up slowly and just take days off when I sense any kind of pain, I should be able to avoid getting injured. Running on the wet sand is a really good strategy too, it lessens most of the impact and is a lot better on the legs.
Last week I finally decided to break down and install an RPG, which is something I'd avoided for several years now. I've just never been into the "neverending" types of games where there are always cooler items to find or bigger bad guys to fight, and in which "experience" is the most important aspect. Most games of this sort allow you to "gain a level" very quickly early on, with Levels 1 to 10 coming all within the first day of playing most likely. However the time it takes to gain a level grows exponentially, so to get from level 40 to 41 might take over a week. I managed to never get sucked into that kind of game, those are the kinds you always read about people losing their lives to. Everquest or "Evercrack" as it has become known as, is the best example. The role playing game of choice is Morrowind, which is actually the third in a series of games of which I hadn't played any. The pluses to it, it's single player rather than multiplayer, so the story does have a beginning and an end. The leveling isn't exponential, you'll eventually get to the highest level of everything. The negatives, the world is just gigantic. This is where people waste their lives away, methodically exploring the entire world would be a lot like trying to explore all of the United States on a bike. Although the main quest is apparently only about 80 hours in length (around four months of playing at five hours a week, which is all I tend to play), there are umpteenmillion side quests and things to do, so you could technically waste away an uncountable amount of time trying to beat the game "completely." Luckily I have no interest in that. After playing on and off for a week I've actually already grown pretty bored with it. As RPGs go, I've heard it's one of the best (I don't have a lot of experience with them myself) but you really have to be the kind of person who wants to get lost in a fantasy world for hours on end. The world is so huge that when tasks require you crossing back and forth, it gets pretty repetitive and boring. It's not a very difficult game, it's just very time consuming. I'll probably come back to it every once in a while, but it just didn't hold my attention like most games do. One game I'd like to snag and install is the third installment of the Myst series, Exile. The first Myst is considered the best selling PC game of all time, and I don't know too many people who missed out on it. It's the type of game where the point of the game is to find out the point of the game, and that's what makes it very different from others. You can spend days or weeks "stuck" someplace, trying to figure out what to do. It's sequel "Riven" was unfortunately so difficult, that I'd estimate about 95% of all players required a walkthrough or "hint" book in order to make it through the storyline. Some of the puzzles required linking concepts from multiple islands, deciphering codes, or making connections between seemingly pointless items. I've heard Exile is in between the two, difficult enough to keep you busy with your noggin for a while, but not so difficult that you're running for a strategy guide before you've gone ten feet.
I have been getting back into Q3F as of late, the mod for Quake 3 that I used to play quite religiously. I've joined up at least temporarily with another group of guys who play regularly, including a few I've known online for literally years now. It's great fun to talk about the good ol days, bust out quotes from years ago, and talk about the best (and worst) matches of the past. Also quite spooky for my visitors to come in and hear voices coming from my computer, following which the sound of someone with a heavy midwest accent saying "Hi SoandSo" (having been informed of the person's name through a chat window of course). I then generally pretend that the person can also see my visitor through a webcam, after which they usually run out of the room. Of course my webcam isn't set up, but it's fun to play with people's minds. :)
Okay you can wake up now, I'm done talking about computer games. :) No poker game tonight, apparently one of the guys had a CS assignment due or something. Ah, the life of hammering away at code at 2 in the morning, how I miss it. OH WAIT, NO I DON'T! ;)
Wednesday, October 09, 2002
Writing On A Desk.
If you happen to sit in the very back row of Girvetz 1006, on the right side, this is what you'll see.
Power Puff Girls kick ass.
Ninjas are sorry.
I hate boredom.
I hate love.
Do some coke.
You are wasting your youth.
Jesus was just in my taco.
Ah, the creative minds of UCSB's youth.
If you happen to sit in the very back row of Girvetz 1006, on the right side, this is what you'll see.
Power Puff Girls kick ass.
Ninjas are sorry.
I hate boredom.
I hate love.
Do some coke.
You are wasting your youth.
Jesus was just in my taco.
Ah, the creative minds of UCSB's youth.
