Not So Comfortably Numb

Two Part Post

2008-12-03T23:52:00.000-08:00

This weekend, as I was observing my grandparents, I was inspired to write a post. However, I just went to go eat dinner (or get a midnight snack... depending on how you want to look at it) when something happened to me that needs to be blogged about as well. A part of me doesn't want to make the first part of this post because I fear that it may distract attention away from the second (and more important) part. But, since I think I'll be too distracted to write part two without first commenting on part one, I've decided that I'm going to write about it anyways.

Part 1
As I was about to decide to go to bed, the urge to actually eat something overpowered my drowsiness, so I decided to put off sleeping and go fill my belly with nutrients (not that Taco Bell is really nutritious).

Before I go any further, I believe a bit of background is necessary for full understanding of this situation.

For a really long time I have had "crazy" people randomly come up to me and either tell me their life problems, or request some favor of me. For example, I once had a manager at a CiCi's pizza place tell me of his marital problems... how he can't stand his wife, how he wants to leave her, and other such things. Another example would be the time some random woman at a Wal-Mart asked me for a ride home. I told her that I wasn't leaving any time soon... assuming that she'd give up on me and ask other people. However, she waited 45 minutes for me, then followed me on my way out. At this point, I decided to be nice (surprise surprise) so I agreed to take her home. However, instead of giving me directions to her house she had me drive all over the town, making random stops for a phone call here, or to ask someone for money there. After this went on for a few minutes I realized that the woman was waiting for her drug dealer to get back to his apartment so she could make her purchase. Since he was unreachable to her, she then asked me to take her back to Wal-Mart so she could get something. (It's been so long now that I don't fully remember what she needed back at Wal-Mart.) She did request that I wait for her... I did not. Once she got out of my car I left.

Anyways, I could go on and on about that stuff, but there's no need. I just mention this kind of stuff so you can get a better feel for what happened to me tonight.

After getting my food from Toxic Hell... I mean Taco Bell and eating almost all of it, some guy who works there (off the clock at this point) came and sat down at my table with me. From the smell of his breath I could tell that he had been drinking, so rather than asking him to leave and possibly starting a scene, I decided to just finish my last few bites and be on my way.

When will I learn?

This guy starts telling me about an issue he just had with his roommate, about how his roommate always goes into defensive mode no matter what he says to him, bla bla bla. He then tells me that he's looking for some drugs to get his mind off the situation "at home." *sigh* Then he tells me about how he's queer (his words) and that it seems to be a problem for his roommate.

By this point my food's gone, and I'm ready to leave to get back to my apartment.

Then, out of nowhere, this dude tells me that I'm hot. Totally took me off guard. I had to ask him to repeat himself because I was sure I heard incorrectly. Unfortunately, I did not.

So now that I was extremely uncomfortable I started looking a way out of the place. He continued to talk to me about other stuff, and just before I get up to leave he then stated again that I'm "really hot." Then he offers to get me more food if I was still hungry. I passed. He then said that he was going to go talk to the table of girls sitting behind him. I took that moment to tell him I had to go so I could get some sleep. He then pleaded with me to stay.

I left.

I swear, I don't understand why this kind of stuff always happens to me. First off, why won't people just leave me alone? When I'm sitting by myself, looking at nothing in particular, I don't think I'm giving off a vibe that says "come talk to me." In fact, 99% of the time I'd prefer to just be left alone. And second off, if by chance someone did decide to come and strike up a conversation with me, why can't it just be a normal conversation? Why does it always have to be a conversation about all the things that are going wrong in their life? Or some something that I'm not interested in at all? I just don't get it.

On a positive note, since crazies constantly seek me out, I guess it's a good thing that I'm planning on being a psychologist. I'll never run out of clients.

Anyways, moving on...

Part 2

Last week my grandmother fell and broke her femur. After getting out of the hospital, we had her move into a nursing home since they had the 24 hour care that she needs at the moment. (Thankfully she seems to be doing rather well.)

Well, my grandfather's not able to move into the home with her (at the moment anyways). So, my parents have been taking my grandpa back and forth from the nursing home to their house.

I feel really bad for my grandpa. He and my grandma have been married for 67 years now, and it's tearing him up not being with her. Any time he's not at the nursing home with my grandma, he's asking someone to take him up to see her, or he'll flat out state that he wants to go see "mama."

One night my dad walked downstairs because he heard my grandpa talking. He thought his dad was just talking to himself, but then realized that he was praying. My grandpa was telling God about how much he misses my grandma, and how he hopes she'll heal quickly, and asking to be reunited with her.

This desire of his is what inspired my thoughts on this issue, and is the reason for making this post.

I have mentioned before that I do not understand love. To some degree I do... for instance, I love my family and I'd do anything for them that I could if/when needed. That I can understand. However, it's the romantic love that I don't get. I'm not really sure how to explain my thoughts here... perhaps this love is something you must experience before you can actually comprehend what it is. I don't feel like I'm actually expressing what I'm meaning to say on this so I'm just going to move on.

This love and desire of union brought my thoughts to a question. As I mentioned, my grandparents have been married for 67 years now. In today's time, that's extremely rare. It seems like most marriages now days only last a few years... if even that long.

Years from now, when those in my generation reach the age of my grandfather, it seems most will not have this type of love or desire to be with a particular person. Whereas my grandfather will sit and tell anyone who will listen that all he wants to do is be in the same room with my grandmother, will those of my generation be sitting around telling anyone who will listen that we have all made a huge mistake? Will it take 50 years for us to come to our senses, and to realize that we have no one to share our last years of life with?

I hope and pray that if I do ever find someone to love, and she and I make the commitment of marriage, that we will stick with it... for better or worse... 'til death do us part. When I'm old, I'd rather have the desire to be with the one I love than wishing I hadn't given up on a relationship that could've been rescued had she and I only been willing to put forth the effort to keep it alive.

Calls from Vietnam

2008-10-23T00:21:00.000-07:00

I don't get it...

A while back I would regularly receive phone calls from Vietnam... always from the same number.

First I wasn't sure where the call was coming from since I'm not used to seeing a phone number that looks like "+123456789123." I knew that since it had 12 digits it was more than likely an international call. But that's not the only reason I didn't answer it.

First off, I'm not sure how international calls work. I don't know if they're like text messages... meaning I'm not sure if I'll be charged for the call even though I didn't make it much like those without a text messaging plan will be charged for received text messages. Second off, I rarely ever answer my phone when it's from a number I don't recognize.

The odd thing about this was that they were leaving voice mail messages. None of the messages were understandable to me. They all sounded like my number had been dialed by accident in a purse or a pocket. The voice was mumbled and there was a little bit of static.

After the first message I figured that it was a random, accidental call. However, this person kept calling back... and kept leaving messages... and the later messages weren't muffled nor did they contain any static. The lady sounded to be a little grandma lady or something... so then I figured she must not get many calls and must have accidentally hit the redial button.

But then, several weeks after that, I received another call from this person. I figured by this point that this wasn't an accident... but I was (and still am) completely baffled as to why this person continues to call me. My voicemail message is in English... this woman apparently does not speak a word of English but decides that I must be the person she's trying to contact and leaves messages anyways.

I think so far I've received at least 10 - 15 calls from this person.

Well...

It has been several months (maybe almost a year now) since I have heard from my Vietnamese Idiot. But tonight during my class my phone rang. I looked down and noticed that I was receiving an international call. But I was glad when I felt the vibration inform me that I had a voicemail message.

Since it has been so long since I have received an international call I had completely forgotten about this whole ordeal. So when I got back to my apartment I decided I'd try to figure out where this call was coming from.

I did a basic search of international calling codes and realized that this was a call from Vietnam. I'm not 100% sure that it's the same number as before, but what are the odds of two people in Vietnam randomly calling my number?

This time I went a bit further in my research and found that this call is coming from Hanoi. Not a huge help to me, but, whatever.

With all that being said, the phone number I receive is +841698534579

I'm not exactly sure how one would call this number (since I've never actually made an international call) but if what I've read online is correct the number that would need to be dialed (from the states) is: 011 84 98534579

If that is correct, I'm not sure what the "16" is for in the number I have. I know 84 is the country code... and Hanoi has 8 digit phone numbers (which I read were the last 8 digits)... but I am having a hard time figuring out what the 2 digits after the country code are for.

Anyways, if you want to, please feel free to call this person regularly and leave them long, pointless messages that you are sure they will not be able to understand. (i.e. leave the message in Pig Latin or Gibberish)

Cash4Gold

2008-10-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

If you watch tv at all you have probably seen this commercial. If not, now's your chance.

Anyways, the point of this post isn't to point out how annoying (and overplayed) it is... but rather two things that are said in the commercial and the thoughts that go through my head every time I see it.

Before I make these comments, first let me clarify that they may be made with the cynicism I have towards relationships. (Especially those with superficial and materialistic women.)

So here goes.

Around 16 seconds an old lady says "I had no idea my gold jewelry was worth so much money."

Really? No idea that gold costs a lot? Well maybe now you won't pitch a fit and put your husband in the "dog house" next time he doesn't spend a fortune when buying you a present. Not only is gold expensive, but so are the gems that you ladies like so much.

With that being said... next time your husband decides to spend thousands of dollars on his bills rather than on buying a pretty little trinket for your finger (or neck) be happy that he's paid the bills so you can have a place to live and food to eat.

The second thing in the commercial I'd like to talk about...

Around 35 seconds a lady says "I sent in my diamond wedding band from my first marriage and got more money than I could have ever imagined."

Yeah, that means your ex spent three months salary on a gift to show his love for you and you decided to leave him because times got hard. Instead of trying to actually work through your problems you decided to take the easy way out. Too bad your ex didn't buy a fake gold and zirconium ring for you instead.

And before I receive hate-comments about this... yes, I realize that not all women are evil and that there are many reasons people divorce. I just wanted to point out the thoughts I have every time I see this ridiculous commercial.

That Time of Year

2008-10-07T00:32:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. The time for my college to get together for our homecoming game.

Yay.

As you all know, I'm a huge fan of sports, so going to any game, especially one of this importance is number one on my priority list.

Ok, so I'm being a bit of a smartass. I hate sports, and I will be doing anything else other than going to this game.

Anyways, the point of this post isn't to declare my loathing of sports, but rather a response to an email I received from the school.

In the email, I was informed that the voting ballot for Homecoming King and Queen will be open from X date to Y date.

What I don't understand is, how am I supposed to vote for these people? I don't know any of them. I've never even met any of them. Furthermore, I highly doubt that I have even crossed paths with them on my way to my next class. So, if I don't have a clue who these people are, nor know anything about them, how am I supposed to cast a vote?

Now, as far as the females are concerned, I could just cast my vote according to who I find the most attractive, but then that goes against all of my views on matters such as these. I would rather vote for a hideous beast who actually deserved such a title rather than vote for the super hot daddy's girl who would only get an unnecessary ego boost from such an honor. But, this brings me back to the point that I don't know who is deserving of such an award and who isn't. Maybe the hottie is actually the best gal for the job. Who knows?

And to take this a bit further...

This is the same type of situation I'm in during the time of electing the next student body government. Last year I was bombarded with people in the quad asking for my vote. To each of them I simply said "I don't know any of the candidates nor do I know anything about them, so I don't feel as if I'm in any position to cast a vote." None of them were pleased or amused.

So, in conclusion, how exactly are any of the students expected to vote on things such as these? Now, I understand that Homecoming King / Queen or Student Body President isn't even close to the importance of voting for the next president of our country, but let me make a comparison anyways.

Imagine if the media said "Here's a list of presidential candidates. Voting opens on X day and closes on Y day. Be sure to go out and cast your vote." There's no mention of a place to view anything about any of the candidates. No way of knowing anything about their views, beliefs, ideas, etc. How, then, could we vote responsibly?

So, my opinion on this matter is that the school needs to offer at least some personal information on candidates that they want us to vote for... whether they be for homecoming or student government.

A little something

2008-09-23T16:08:00.001-07:00

Well, I have a post I'd like to make, but it's in response to a giant work of crap so that'll take me a few days to finish before I can actually post it.

In the meantime, for those of you who like music, but can't stand the radio because of the repetitiveness of the songs and the commercials, then I'd suggest checking out Pandora Radio. This is an online "radio" station that allows you to search for a specific song/artist/genre then it finds music that either fits in that category or that is similar to the artist/song you searched for. Best thing is, if you don't like a song you can tell it to never play it again. If you find that a certain song is being played too frequently you can just tell it not to play that song for a month.

Well, I hope you guys can utilize this site. I like it.

Only down side is, you have to create an account. However, I haven't seen anything negative come from doing so. I just find that kind of stuff annoying. (Although I can understand why it would be necessary for a site like this... since it remembers your likes and dislikes.)

9/11 Fact Sheet

2008-09-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

When walking from one class to another I often times pass by an area of campus I like to call "Propaganda Ally." This is an area of campus that allows for people to exercise their right to free speech. Walking down this path can often be entertaining, and other times it can just be annoying.

Today, as I was walking to the student center from my first class, I was handed a pamphlet. It reads as follows: (Under each of the points I will be posting my comments in italics)

The Independent Thinkers
9/11 FACT SHEET
What occurred on September 11th, 2001 is a matter of facts, physics and unprecedented violations of national protocol by American officials themselves. Here are 10 points to consider. There are hundreds more.

1. No steel-framed building before or since 9/11 has ever collapsed due to fire.

Have any steel-framed buildings before or after 9/11 ever collapsed due to a freaking airplane crashing into it? I was under the impression that the planes crashing into the buildings was the cause of the collapse. After all, the two planes that crashed into the building weighed around 300,000 pounds. Do these "thinkers" really believe that an extra 300,000 pounds of weight crashing into a building at speeds around 466mph isn't going to affect the buildings' frames?

2. No official agency (FAA, FBI, or the airlines) has ever released a list of the 9/11 passengers. But within hours, the FBI released a list of the hijackers.

Isn't this the case in ALL incidents like this? I mean, I don't know who all was killed in the Columbine shootings. I can find the names of the shooters though. Furthermore, I'm glad the names of the victims are kept private, and I believe that they should remain private. If anyone of my family were to be killed in such a tragic manner, the last thing I'd want is some complete stranger from across the country tracking down my telephone number to tell me how sorry (or happy) he is about my loss.

3. On September 11th, 2001 the FAA successfully grounded all aircraft--an unprecedented operation. Yet it could not successfully scramble any jet fighters that day--a normal procedure occurring over 100 times a year.

I’m pretty much not going to comment on this one because I don’t really get what point it is that they’re trying to make.

4. Building 7, a 47-story skyscraper and part of the World Trade Center complex, was not struck by a plane but collapsed in 6.5 seconds at 5:20 p.m. on September 11th, in the exact manner of a controlled demolition.

From my understanding, Building 7 was across the street from the twin towers. Building 7 took on severe damage from debris that fell from the towers. So, you’re telling me that if a building were to take on gashes in the walls that went from the 8th to 18th floor (that’s 10 stories of damage) that there’s no possible way that it would collapse? True, this building wasn’t hit by a plane, but it did take on its fair share of damage.

5. There was no visible airplane debris where flight 93 supposedly crashed in Pennsylvania--only a smoking hole in the ground, much like a bomb crater.

Supposedly? Only a smoking hole? Hmm… that’s odd. If there was “only a smoking hole in the ground” then what was it exactly that Somerset County Coroner Wally Miller identified at the crash site to be the bodies of the passengers? I guess he just supposedly found the passengers' bodies. Oh, and I guess some aliens teleported the flight data recorder 25 feet below the crater. Since there was no airplane debris… alien interference seems to be the only logical explanation as to how that got there.

6. Office fires burn at low temperatures of 600-800 dF. Steel melts at 2750 dF. Jet fuel is an ordinary hydrocarbon; its maximal burning temperature is 1200dF in open air. Neither jet fuel nor the burning contents of the buildings could have caused the towers' steel structure to buckle or fail.

Hmm… I wonder if the 300,000 pounds of exploding metal slamming into the building at 466 mph could have weakened the steel structure and caused the buildings to collapse. Then again, I’m sure the engineers and architects that worked on the towers worked that kind of weight and force into their schematics, so the plane crashing into the buildings probably had nothing to do with the collapse.

7. Tests have shown that cell-phone calls cannot be made at altitudes over 4000 to 8000 feet, as cell towers are located on the ground. Commercial airplanes fly at 30,000 feet and above. No passenger could have successfully placed a call for help by cell phone from an airborne plane on 9/11, as reported.

Dang, I didn’t realize the towers were 30,000 feet tall. And I thought the towers were 1,368 feet and 1,362 feet tall. But I must be wrong, because 1,368 and 1,362 are both less than 4000-8000. And if you can’t get what I’m hinting at here… if it’s true that cell phones won’t work at altitudes over 4000-8000 feet, and the towers were 1362-1368 feet, and the plane had to drop its altitude all the way down to the 1,300s then I’m confused with how it would be impossible for someone to make a call.

8. 9/11 was immediately declared an "act of war" by President Bush. The rubble from Ground Zero was carted away and the steel sold off without examination.

Umm… if we were to blow up some buildings of equal value/importance in another country… wouldn’t it be an act of war? Who wouldn’t have viewed it as an act of war? What, it was an accident? It wasn’t an actual attack?
Furthermore, what exactly needed to be examined? Also, did these people want the government to put police tape around the entire crash site until a full investigation was complete? Yeah, that’s practical. However, I would love to have seen the results of the investigation… “Well Sarge, it appears a giant flying device crashed into both towers.”

9. Enormous profits were made by insiders of plummeting stock prices of the two airlines involved in 9/11--American and United. Federal law protects their identities.

Hell yeah, and it should. Imagine what would happen if the entire population of America new the names of those who profited from the crashes. I don’t understand why this type of information should be made public. Someone is always going to profit from something bad. That doesn’t make the profiters evil people. They just had the better luck.

10. Accepting victims' compensation barred 9/11 families from further discovery through litigation.

And I’m leaving this alone because, again, I don’t understand what they’re trying to say here.

After going through this pamphlet, I find it humorous that this group calls themselves “thinkers.” It’s a lack of thought that produces this kind of nonsense.

You Should Quit Smoking

2008-09-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

After my first class of the day I decided to go to the 7-11 to buy a pack of cigarettes since I smoked the last one I had last night.

After buying the pack I decided to go next door to Toxic Hell... I mean Taco Bell to eat something for lunch. Once I finished consuming my meal I walked over to the trash can to throw away my debris. (One thing I left out at this point, I had pulled out my pack of cigarettes and was holding it in my left hand.)

At that point this lady behind me said "You should throw away that pack of cigarettes while you're at it."

I suppressed a laugh while I responded with "It's a brand new pack. I'm not throwing it away."

This woman then proceeded with telling me that she was serious, and that I really should throw the pack away. She went on to tell me how if I continue smoking then I'll get wrinkles and by the time I'm 50 I'll look like I'm 65.

At this point I'm slightly annoyed... as I always am every time some anti-smoker informs me of information I'm very well aware of.

The woman then said "Besides, if you don't quit smoking then you won't be able to run a marathon with me."

???

With that comment I laughed and said "I won't be running any marathon whether I smoke or not."

She inquired as to why. I then told her that I can't run because of a genetic disorder that gives me arthritic type symptoms so runing a marathon would be the equivalent to torture.

She then asked if smoking helped my condition. I laughed and told her "No" as I continued on walking. She continued saying something but I didn't hear her, nor do I really care what she was saying.

That was the end of that interaction.

Ok...

For any non-smoker who may be reading this... Don't annoy smokers by telling them that smoking's bad for them.

I mean seriously, do people think that we (smokers) think cigarettes are packed full of vitamins and minerals? Do they think we believe tobacco smoke contains some sort of ancient magic that will protect us from all harm?

I just don't get it. I wouldn't go to a bar and tell everyone within that they shouldn't drive home after their night of fun. Everyone in that bar is well aware that driving drunk is not only illegal, but potentially fatal for them and everyone they pass on the road. What purpose would it serve for me to stick my nose in their business to inform them of information they already know about?

With all that being said, I have decided to attempt to form a student organization on campus for smokers. I've got to figure out a name (I'm thinking Smokers United... but am definitely not set on that), get an adviser (a staff member), and a certain number of members. So, I guess I'm going to be putting fliers up on campus for people to contact me if they'd be interested in this group. We'll see what happens.

Yeah... so...

2008-09-02T15:18:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone who may happen to randomly check this in the next few days. I'm debating whether or not I should attempt to revive this blog... or if I should just make a new one and start over.

I don't really like the idea of starting over, but since this one seems to have died I'm thinking it would be a good idea.

Let me know what you think.

I'm thinking of actually continuing to blog (whether on this current one or on a new one) because I have time between classes to make posts.

I let this one die for a few reasons.
1) I became a WoW addict and have spent way too much time on that.
2) I became tired of coming up with new things to say
3) I kind of went into a "blah" type of mood for a while and didn't feel like writing about the various things taking place in my life
4) I felt as if my life became very boring and didn't think anyone would want to read anything about what was going on.

I think I'm now ready to start anew. A lot has happened in the past few months. Some of which I am not going to blog about (although I would really like to) because of who may accidentally run across this page. (You never know who's going to Google your name.)

One thing that I will mention is that I have been working at a BBQ joint. That has been an experience. I started at the beginning of summer and my last day will be the 12th of this month. That's about all the detail I'm going to go into on that in public.

Ok, so I'll stop rambling now. I would like to assure everyone (or anyone who might actually still check here) that my future posts will not be as boring and non-descriptive as what I just wrote above.

Hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to writing again.

More to come...

Is it just me?

2008-03-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

I've seen this sign (or one extremely similar to it) in various cities. I'm not sure if I should even make this post because every time you see the sign I think you'll start thinking about it as I do.

I know that it's asking:
"Are you pregnant? Do you need someone to talk to?"

but every time I see this sign I read it as:
"Are you pregnant? Want help getting that way?"
In other words, I've always looked at it as someone asking you to call in if you want help getting impregnated. I can just imagine some greasy, bald-headed, middle-aged man with thick glasses eagerly awaiting a phone call so he can rush to the young lady's house to give his best efforts of getting her pregnant.

I don't know... is it just me? Or do others of you read it the same way?

Wow...

2008-03-03T22:31:00.000-08:00

So I just ran across this article on CNN.com

I can't believe people are actually sick enough to do something like this... but then again... I guess I shouldn't really be surprised at what our human nature is capable of.

Here's a bit from the article:
Feb. 26th, 2008
"Two teenagers hid overnight in a house and spent more than six hours torturing a disabled woman after her mother left in the morning, authorities said.

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said the teenage boy and girl tied up the 18-year-old woman, clubbed her, kicked her, shaved her head and soaked her with water before making her walk barefoot outside in the snow.

They also ignored pleas from the woman, who had undergone brain surgery, not to hit her in the head, investigators said."

The article said that they haven't yet decided whether or not the "children" will be tried as adults. I honestly can't see why they shouldn't be tried as adults. They knew perfectly well what they were doing.

And apparently, one of them was already in trouble with the law for something... which is why they wanted to steal the woman's car in the first place.

Yet again... another example of why we need harsher punishments. Had this little prick been issued a harsher punishment in the first place, he/she (didn't say which one was the previous offender) would have probably thought twice before doing something like this and this whole situation could've been avoided.

I don't even know what else to say on this matter. I just hope these "children" get what they deserve.

On second thought... this is another example of why I believe the definition to "cruel and unusual punishment" needs to be changed to "no more cruel or unusual than the crime committed."

In this case, the "children" should both be tied to a chair, be tortured for 6 - 8 hours, have their heads shaved, water thrown over them, then forced to walk around barefoot in the snow for a while.

Ok, this story has me all sorts of pissed. I'm out. Hopefully I'll have another update soon.

Yes, I'm still alive...

2008-02-05T06:11:00.000-08:00

Ok... ok...

So it's been a little over 3 months since my last update. Sorry.

There are several reasons for this... reasons I'm not really going to go into much detail on. Suffice it to say that I really just haven't felt like saying anything. I sat down several times over the last 3 months to post something... but once I got about halfway through it I closed my internet(s) browser and never published it.

Anyways... I might try to make a comeback... so long as I find stuff to post about.

Since I'm making a post now, that means that I've actually got something to say.

So here goes...

As many (or most, or even all) of you may know, the Super Bowl was this past Sunday. Any of you who know me know that I abhor all sports. I find sporting events to be the most boring, torturous activity on the planet. Therefore, it should be easily assumed that I did not watch the game.

All of this leads up to the point I'm going to attempt. Seeing as how I didn't watch the game, it logically follows that I didn't see any of the commercials aired during the game. However, I did happen to catch this ad as I was logging into MySpace.

The words in the ad is what I found to be both ironically true and hilarious... and I wonder if Victoria's Secret did this on purpose.

"Let the real games begin. Happy Valentine's Day."

Seeing as how this is a lingerie ad, I'm assuming that the meaning of "real games" is sex.

Maybe it's because I'm a cynic when it comes to romance/love... but this commercial couldn't be any more true for me. I couldn't tell you how many stories I've heard where no matter what the guy does for his girlfriend/wife it's just not good enough and the poor guy gets stuck in the "dog house" because he's just not "sensitive" enough... or he "just doesn't care."

To me, the "real games" are the ridiculous games women play in relationships. A guy can spend a fortune on her, try his best to treat her as she ought to be treated, and she walks all over him for doing so... and then somehow manipulates him into thinking he's some terrible creature that was better off in the underworld and never should have surfaced.

So yes... I laughed at the commercial (despite how gorgeous Adrian Lima is).

Anyways... I don't want this to be an Anit-V-Day post (even though I have always found Valentine's Day to be an absurd "holiday" for as long as I can remember).

Therefore, I'll give a bit of an update as to the things currently in my life.

Here's the classes I'm taking:
Intro to Criminal Justice: I have my first test tomorrow and am hoping I can remember all of the vocabulary... because that seems like what the majority of the test will be over. I hate memorizing stuff.

Forensic Evidence: This class has some interesting material. I have a hard time concentrating in class because the fan is so freaking loud it's extremely difficult to hear what the professor is saying. It's early (early for me anyways) and I'd much rather still be in bed. I'm worried about the tests... there's only 2... the midterm and the final. I'd much rather have more tests since if you bomb one you can still make it up. With only 2 tests, if you bomb one you're screwed.

Social Psychology: Intersting so far. So far it seems to be a bit of a repeat of info covered in previous psych classes I've taken... which is a good thing since I have my first test this afternoon. I stayed up late studying... and by the time I was finished it was late enough that if I were to have gone to sleep I wouldn't have woken up... so... I've pulled another all nighter. Yay! No sleep! (So if this post doesn't make any sense... I blame it on that.)

And lastly

Forensic Psychology: I'm taking this with the best professor I've ever had. I would gladly take every class this man offers simply because I think he's amazing at relaying the information and he presents it in such a way that it's somewhat easy to remember.

And that's that. Nothing really too interesting has happened. I guess that's a good thing. I'd rather life be somewhat bland than have it full of crap going wrong every time I turn around. (Been there, done that, didn't like it.)

If you've made it through this whole post, congrats and thanks. Hopefully I'll have more to add soon.

Is it just me...

2007-10-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

or does this not look right to you either?

(click the small pictures to see the larger ones... duh)

One of the gifts for WoW's Hallow's End celebration is the broom that you see my Priest riding in the above pictures. The broom handle just really doesn't sit right with me... it looks a bit like... well... you get my drift. I think the graphics designer should've made that look a bit more like someone riding a broom instead of a broom popping out of someone.

Spring Semester

2007-10-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

I registered for my classes today and it went a lot smoother this time than it did for this current semester. Here's the classes I'll be taking in the Spring:

* Social Psychology
* Forensic Psychology
* Introduction to Criminal Justice
* Forensic Evidence

Good news is, I'll be taking another class with my favorite professor.

In other news, I'm thinking of going to England for the Summer II session. As for now, this is just wishful thinking. Unless I can get a scholarship... or a spare $3500 I'll be staying here. The fee covers classes, food, a place to sleep, a little spending money, and a tour of a couple of places. Also, I can earn up to 7 hours worth of psychology credits. I would really like to do this... so hopefully God will give me a way to do this. We'll see.

YAY! Two posts in two days. Hopefully I'll get back into updating this thing regularly.

Another Overdue Update

2007-10-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

Ok, so my niece and nephew will be one year old in just 2 days. We celebrated their birthday yesterday... which is where this post's picture came from. (If you want to see the rest of the pictures just check out my MySpace profile [which is linked further down on the left-hand side of my blog])

In school related news... this semester has probably been the most stressful one I've had yet. I'm not sure if it's just the classes that are making it stressful, or if it's that I've been out of school for a year (excluding this past summer). Maybe it's a mixture of both.

Tomorrow at noon I can register for my Spring classes. I've narrowed the list down to the following:
* Social Psychology
* Industrial Psychology
* Introduction to Statistics
* Experimental and Research Methods
* Forensic Psychology
* Introduction to Criminal Justice
* Forensic Evidence
* Crime Theory and Victimization

I'm hoping that the Spring semester will be much less stressful. I'm also hoping that I can get at least one class with my favorite professor.

Oh! I almost forgot. I went to see a play (The Metamorphoses) this afternoon for my Mythology class. If you don't know anything about this particular play... the whole thing takes place around a pool. (Click Here for a preview... oh, and this isn't the same production I saw.) So anyways, as you can imagine, where there's a pool, there's usually soaked people. Well... the costumes were all made out of white material. Now... when white material mixes with water... you can imagine what happens. Ok, so there was this one part of the play where one of the actors comes out wearing nothing but a small piece of fabric draped over his shoulder and tied around the inside of one of his thighs. As he walked out I thought... surely... that he wasn't actually naked. However, when he laid down in the pool... exposing his bare ass to the world... I realized that the man was in fact naked. Thankfully there was a shadow blocking his family jewels from my vision. Other than that, the play was actually interesting.

Well, I think I'm going to start getting ready for bed. I actually want to go to bed early tonight... which is odd.

In need of an update

2007-10-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

Panda text messaged me earlier asking the name of my apartment complex. I told her, then asked why. She then called me to tell me this story:
Click here to read.

This apparently happened in my apartment complex today. Craziness.

I really need to keep up with updating. I'm just having difficulties finding the motivation to do so at the moment.

sigh

2007-09-21T01:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, well, I don't feel like giving an update on my life just yet... therefore, I'm going to be ranting about something I've ranted about in the past.

As I've walked around campus I've noticed something that I really don't like. Now, I'm not one to bash people for what they wear... but I find these to be absolutely hideous:

I mean, it looks like someone attached two semi-transparent dinner plates to some plastic and passed them off as sunglasses. Surely, the person who invented these intended for them to be a humorous gag gift... right? I mean...

Come on! I remember these when I was a little kid... way before Paris and other celebrities decided to wear these atrocities (which somehow made these popular).

Girls all over campus are wearing these. The bigger they are they better they think they look. I just don't get it. I honestly don't see how a female could look in the mirror with these things on and think they look good. I think I remember women my grandma's age wearing giant sunglasses like these back when I was little. And since when has a teen/young woman ever wanted to look like an 80 year old woman?

I don't know... maybe I'm just missing something here.

Battleship

2007-07-31T11:05:00.001-07:00

Ah... the good ol' game of Battleship. I'm sure we all remember this game.

Here we see an old box for the popular game. It's nice to see father and son sitting down to enjoy some quality time with each other whilst having fun playing a game.

But wait...

What's that in the background?

Mom is spending some quality time with her daughter whilst having fun washing dishes.

I wonder why the box changed over the years...

Wow... where to start

2007-07-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

I guess I should probably update this thing before everyone assumes I gave up the blog.

Ok... let's see what all I can say since I last updated.

I finished Defensive Driving and got all of that stuff turned into the court so I didn't have a warrant out for my arrest.

I also finished my abnormal psych class. I'm happy to say I made an "A."

Classes for the fall start in about a month. I'll be taking:

Mythology - The study of myths in ancient cultures, mythic patterns in modern literature, and Hollywood as mythmaker.

History of Philosophy Since 1600 - Modern philosophical thought through the 19th century.

Lifespan Development - Survey of the psychology of human development from the pre-natal period through adulthood. Emphasis placed on cognitive, motivational, and physiological processes of development in childhood and adolescence.

Personality Psychology - A comprehensive introduction to research, theory, and application in the field of personality. Individual differences and situation influences are examined concerning authoritarianism, achievement motivation, anxiety, intelligence, self concept, interpersonal attraction, aggression, sexuality, and altruism.

This upcoming semester looks like it may be really interesting. I'm looking forward to taking classes again. I took Summer Session II off since I didn't have the money to go back at the time.

Let's see...

Oh, I tried another welding job. When hired, the boss told me that if at any point I didn't feel confident enough to do the job, then to say something... and he'd say something to me if didn't think I was capable of doing what needed to be done.
Well, after working on a simple project (which took me much longer than it should have) and noticing the quality of my work... and after seeing the other guys' work... I decided that I have lost all professional welding skills. I knew that it would take me several months to get to the point that I needed to be if I was going to do a decent job. So I ended up telling the boss that I didn't think it was fair of me to ask him to keep me on while I practice to get to where I needed to be.

Shortly after coming to this conclusion, but before I said anything, I was grinding on that project. Whilst grinding I felt the tiny flake of metal hit my cheek, knew it bounced off the inside of my safety glasses, because I then felt it hit my eye. My eye watered up a bit, I blinked a few times, then I didn't feel the flake any more. I assumed that I got it out so I didn't worry about it. Well, the following morning I woke up with my eye pouring out water, it felt like a hot piece of sand was in there, so I went to the bathroom to see if I could get the irritation to stop. As I flipped on the light and looked in the mirror I noticed that my eye was a bit swollen, and extremely bloodshot. I held my eyelid open as I looked in the mirror to see if I could see the metal that I knew was irritating my eye. There it was... right under the pupil... about halfway down the iris. I tried to pick it out with a small piece of rolled up toilet paper. (This works for just about anything that gets in your eyes) Unfortunately, the flake of metal wouldn't budge. So I then decided to try to get it out with water. I cupped my hand and placed my eye into the small puddle. Bad idea. That felt as if I dunked my eye into gasoline and lit it on fire. At this point I decided I'd call in and let them know that I needed to go to the doctor.

It took me from 6:30 in the a.m. until 9:30 in the a.m. to find a place that could see me. The appointment was set up for 10:30. Great. So I waited at my apartment (after driving around for 3 hours trying to find a clinic that was open) until my dad showed up. Thankfully he drove in because it was rather difficult to drive... and even more so after I got the metal out... but I'll get to that.

As I waited for the eye doctor one of his assistants put some numbing drops in my eye. That was such a great relief. However, after about 15 minutes the drops power begun to fade. The assistant came back in to check on me. She said, "So, how's your eye feel..." then she looked at me and said "Oh! That's a stupid question." and rushed to put more numbing drops in my eye... because when she actually looked up at me I had water pouring out of my eye and I think my knuckles were white from my grip on the armrests.

The eye doctor finally came into the room I was in about 11:30. He then numbed my eye again... then sat down with a needle and some tweezers. He began to dig in my eye with the tweezers. Let me tell you... I about puked every time my vision blurred due to him tweezing that eye. Plus... I could hear the clicking of my eye-flesh each time the tweezers let go of it. I then saw him put the tweezers down and pick up the needle. I asked if that was in fact a needle... he chuckled then said "Don't worry, you won't feel it." And he was right. I don't know if he injected something in my eye... or if he was just using it to pick. 30 minutes later, the doctor finished.

So... why did a flake of metal take half an hour to dig out of my eye? Well... the flake took only seconds to get out... but I was informed that the tiny flake had rusted overnight... so the doctor was digging out smaller flakes of rust. He said there was still one little piece he couldn't get out, but he said it should flush itself out naturally. I think it did... because it's not bothering me any more.

Oh... but I learned something from the eye drops he gave me. I didn't know this... but you can actually taste things that you put in your eye. I thought I was going crazy. I'd put the antibiotic eye drops in, then about 2 minutes later I could taste it in the back of my throat. I asked a nurse at the hospital if this was normal... and after a call to the pharmacist she informed me that it was actually normal. Who knew?

So... what was I doing at a hospital? Well, my grandma's in there at the moment. She went in for a "simple" surgical procedure over a month ago... but there were several complications after the surgery. A large section of her colon died, so they had to remove most of her colon. Now they're saying that her liver and... I don't remember what... is dying but my grandma refuses to have any more surgeries (which I don't blame her). Anyways, it's been a very slow recovery. She seems to be making some progress... but she's still got a way to go.

I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I really enjoyed the book... but I'm a bit sad because now there won't be any more books. Oh well. Now I need to go back and read all 7 back-to-back.

And that's about all that's been going on (that I can remember at the moment). Not much to update about... my life's a bit boring at the moment.

Anyways... thanks for reading. I'll hopefully update this more frequently than I have been.

Internet

2007-06-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow... at some time between 8 in the a.m. and 12 in the noon I will have an internet connection to call my very own.

No more having to wait to get to school to check email/myspace/etc...

An internet connection also means more World of Warcraft! Woohoo!

So watch out World Wide Web... here I come. Er... tomorrow.

Past Due Update

2007-06-10T23:08:00.000-07:00

A lot has gone on since my last post.

First, I must admit that I finally got around to buying World of Warcraft. I have not found a more addicting video game since I got my Nintendo Entertainment System back in the 80's. Hopefully I'll be able to exercise enough self control to actually do things of importance before playing the game.

I'm now having to use my laptop as my primary computer since my PC decided to just stop working. I'm not sure what's going on with that thing. It started rebooting randomly... and then the reboots started occurring more and more frequently. Then one day the screen went black but the computer's fans continued to spin. I then turned off the computer and then it wouldn't come back on at all. I left it alone for a few days then powered it back up just to see if it would magically start working just as it magically had stopped. It didn't work. The computer at least powered up... but the screen remained blank. I know it's not the monitor because I use a TV for as my screen and the TV is able to still function properly. I'm hoping it's just the video card and not the motherboard. Either way, I can't afford to get it fixed at the moment so it's just going to be an expensive paperweight for the moment.

I started school back up... finally. I've been out of school for almost a year now and feels great to be back in. I was amazed at 4 year college’s tuition. For 1 summer class I paid the same amount I paid for 4 class and books at Blinn. This summer I'm taking an Abnormal Psych class. My professor is absolutely hilarious. But more importantly, his teaching method actually has me retaining what he says without much effort. Well... it's either his teaching skills or I just managed to get a whole lot smarted over the past year. I've only been in school for a week now and I've already turned in my first paper. I managed a 46 out of 50... or a 92 depending on how you want to look at it. Either way, I made an "A" and I'm super psyched about that. I was afraid I was barely going to get a passing grade since I really didn't know what to write about nor how to relate it to the class' themes. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw my grade. Hopefully the rest of this summer session will follow this path (except I would like ot feel a lot more confident in my future papers).

I’m also toying with the idea of getting a dual degree. The psych department required a minor; however, if I get a second degree (which is only about 2 semesters of extra work) then I can graduate with 2 different degrees. I’m thinking of getting a BS in Psychology and a BA in Philosophy. I’m really hoping that it’s possible to get a BA in both because I really don’t want to have to take that many science classes. Then again, this is only an idea that I’m playing with in my mind at the moment.

I'm finally moved into my apartment. I had to drive from Austin every day this past week so I'm really glad that I no longer have to do that. My apartment is close enough to campus that I can ride a bike... so now I no longer have to schedule my day around when the busses come and go (except when it rains). I'm really happy with my apartment (except for the cost of rent). It's extremely close to everything I really need. There's a liquor store and a tobacco store practically across the street. But seriously, there's an H.E.B., Target, Blockbuster, various food places, a police station, a hospital, and a pet store all within about 2 miles from here. I still have a lot of unpacking to do… but at least all the furniture is in the right rooms along with all the boxes. Now all I have to do is empty boxes and I’ll be done.

I will have my own internet connection this Thursday. I was glad to find out that the cable companies finally provide an internet connection without charging for basic cable. I rarely watch T.V. and didn't want to have to pay for a service that I'd rarely use.

I'm not sitting in my apartment and am remembering how lonely living by yourself can be. Don't get me wrong, I love having my own space and my own things and the ability to do whatever I want whenever I want in my own place... it's just nice to have someone to talk to every now and again. I (obviously) haven’t lived here long enough to make any new friends so hopefully I will find a good beer drinking buddy in the near future.

I'm also in need of a job. The cost of living here is much more expensive than I'm used to. In College Station I had my own apartment and it only cost me $380 a month. The 1 bedroom apartments here cost almost double that. I'm hoping that this job I'm thinking of will be available at the hospital here that I know is available in Austin's hospitals. It's not exactly "permanent"... it's very similar to substituting in that you call in to see what times/days are available. It'd be the perfect job for a student. I'll be contacting the hospital sometime this week.

I need to take a defensive driving course sometime this week so that I can provide all the info to the Pflugerville courthouse so that a warrant for my arrest won't be issued. I have until July 3rd to get all that taken to the courthouse. Oh, the defensive driving course is because of the wreck I was in back in April. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure if I made a blog post about that. In case I didn't, I was in a wreck one day in April as I was leaving from work. Yes, it was my fault. I went to turn and didn't see the person driving in the turn lane due to a semi blocking my view of the lane. I should've just exited at the light like I did most days. Oh well. At lease my car was fixed so I didn't have to spend any extra money buying a new car.

Let's see... I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting... but since I can't think of it and since I can't really play WoW right now I'm going to end this post and go to bed.

Thanks for reading... if you made it this far.

Bridge to Terabithia

2007-05-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

This is another children's book turned movie. Several months ago, when I saw the previews for this movie, I thought it looked really good and wanted to see it.

However, before seeing movies based on books, I prefer to have read the book(s) first. So I went and bought this book a few months ago... and it met the same fate so many of my other books have met before it. In other words, the book sat on my bookshelf, unopened, for quite some time.

I was semi-tired last night (read: this morning) but not enough to actually go to sleep, so I decided that I'd read the book. It's really short (around 160 pages) so I figured I'd read it all the way through.

This book is amazing! (It's no Harry Potter, but still...) It is absolutely nothing like I thought it would be. I thought it was going to be more Narnia-ish... but it turned out to be more like Pan's Labyrinth.

The only negative thing I have to say about the story is the author's take on a certain (major) theological issue. I'd say more about it... but I don't want to spoil the book for those who haven't read it. I believe that small section of the book could've been taken away and the story would've still been amazing.

All in all I would definitely recommend reading this book. You can get a copy of it for around $7 (maybe cheaper if you buy online). It's definitely worth it.

Now I need to wait for the movie to come out to Blockbuster.

A Little Mother's Day Help

2007-05-11T16:23:00.000-07:00

Since Mother's Day is just around the corner I decided to help my readers out by offering some last minute Mother's Day gift ideas.

Vacuum Cleaner:
No mother should be without one of these. If the carpet in your mom's house is looking a bit dirty, then it's pretty obvious that she's been slacking on her motherly duties. Giving the gift of suction power is a good way of giving the hint to your mom to getup off that couch, stop watching soap operas and start fulfilling her duties.

Iron:
This is another item no mother should be without. A good indication to whether or not this will be the right gift this Mother's Day is to look at your dad. Does his shirts have more wrinkles than grandma? If the answer is "yes" then you know that this gift will not go unappreciated .

Various Cleaning Chemicles:
Are the counter tops a bit dirty? Has mom been slacking? If so, that may be because she's out of cleaning chemicals. Check under the kitchen and/or bathroom sink(s). If the supply of chemicals are low, mom would love nothing more than to be restocked on her special day.

Other Cleaning Supplies:
Does mom have a full supply of cleaning chemicals but the house is still a mess? If so, you may want to check the condition of her sponges, mop, broom, toilet brush, etc... If any of these are in poor condition then you know exactly what will make mom happy on the 13th.

Laundry Detergent:
This is a very important item that a mom could never get too much of. If she's washing the laundry as often as she's supposed to then she'll need as much of this stuff as she can get.

Cooking Utensils:
Mom's cooking lacking in flavor? You may want to get her a new cookbook. And don't forget, no mother could ever have too many wooden spoons or spatulas. As far as cooking supplies go, as long as it can be found in the kitchen department at any store, then it will most likely be a great idea for a Mother's Day gift.

My last (and best) idea for a Mother's Day gift is a combination of all the previous ideas. This will be what I call the Mother's Day Smörgåsbord. This will, no doubt, be the favorite thing your mom receives all year.

I hope I have been a help to all of you. May your mom's house be spotless, all of your clothes clean and ironed, and may all of your bellies be filled by mom's good cooking this Mother's Day.

My Poor Tummy

2007-04-22T21:33:00.000-07:00

I don't know what the deal is here. I felt fine all last week... but then on Friday, we left for Dallas, and stopped to eat at Long John Silvers. Ever since then my stomach has had a dull ache. At first I thought it was the food, but seeing as how that meal has long since left my body... I don't think it's the food that caused it.

I haven't had any of the normal "friends" that like to keep stomach-aches company, just the dull aching. It's really weird. It's not like any other stomach ache I've ever had.

I went ahead and cancelled the job I had for tomorrow because I don't think I will be able to stand in a classroom all day. I didn't really want to cancel the job because I like money... but I really don't think it would be a good idea to go.

Anyways, hopefully I'll be feeling better tomorrow because I really would like to work the rest of the week.

The New Short Titanic Script

2007-04-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

One of my friends posted this on MySpace. It made me laugh, so I decided to post it here to share with others.

Enjoy:

(Scene 1)
KATE WINSLET: My, this is a fancy boat, isn't it?

KATE'S WEASELLY FIANCE: Yes, it certainly is. Here is the art you asked for. It is by an artist named "Picasso." I am certain he will amount to nothing.

KATE: Ha ha ha. That is very funny to our 90's audience, because they know these priceless paintings will sink with the boat.

LEONARDO DiCAPRIO: Hello, I'm Leonardo DiCaprio. Perhaps you have seen the many Internet sites dedicated to the worship of me. You are very pretty.

KATE: Thank you. So are you.

LEONARDO: I know. Prettier than you, in fact. I am going to put on my "brooding" face now, to ensure that women will keep coming back again and again to see this movie. Later, my white shirt will be soaking wet. Women will find this very attractive, even though I have the body of a 12 year old.

KATE: While you're doing that, I will concentrate on standing here and looking pretty, to keep the men in the audience interested until the boat sinks and people start dying.

WEASELLY FIANCE: Excuse me. I do not like you, Leonardo, even though you saved my fiance's life. I am going to sneer at you and treat you like dirt because you're poor, and then I'll probably be physically abusive to my fiance, and then, just to make sure the audience really hates me,and to make sure my character is entirely one-dimensional, perhaps I'll throw a small child into the water.

AUDIENCE: Boo! We hate you! Even though all real people have at least a few admirable qualities, we have not been shown any of yours, and plus, you're trying to come between Leonardo and Kate, and so therefore we hate you! Boo! (Even though technically it is Leonardo who is coming between you and Kate. But Leonardo is handsomer than you, even though he is only 12, so we are on his side. Boo!)

(Scene 2)

LEONARDO: I'm glad we snuck away like this so that you could cheat on your fiance.

KATE: So am I. Even though I am engaged to him and have made a commitment to marry him, that is no reason why you and I cannot climb into the back seat of a car (probably his) and steam up the windows together. The fact that I am the heroine of the movie will no doubt help the cattle-like audience forgive me of this, though they would probably be VERY angry indeed if my fiance were to do the same thing to me.

AUDIENCE: Damn straight we would ! Moo! We mean, Boo!

LEONARDO: I agree. First, I would like to draw you, though, so of course you have to take off all your clothes.

KATE: All right, then. (sound of clothes hitting the floor)

(Scene 3)

FIRST MATE: Captain, we're about to hit an iceberg!

CAPTAIN: Great, I could use some ice for my drink. (sound of drinking)

ICEBERG: (hits boat)

FIRST MATE: That can't be good.

CAPTAIN: Bottoms up!

AUDIENCE: Huh?

FIRST MATE: That was irony, you fools.

AUDIENCE: Baa! Moo! Where's Leonardo?

(Scene 4)

LEONARDO: I have been informed that this boat is sinking.

KATE: That is terrible. And I am the only passenger that has noticed that there are not enough lifeboats! Everybody else took New Math in school.

LEONARDO: Would you like to engage in some more immoral-but-justified-because-we're-pretty behavior?

KATE: Certainly. (kisses him)

WEASELLY FIANCE: I'm getting the raw end of the deal here: (to Leonardo) Listen, Leonardo, to cement my morally-dubious-yet-somehow-less-annoying-than-you personality, I am going to falsely accuse you of a crime, then handcuff you to this pipe here in a room that will soon be filling with water, due to the fact that we are sinking, which I believe has been mentioned previously.

LEONARDO: Why don't you just shoot me?

WEASELLY FIANCE: Because then you wouldn't be able to escape and save Kate from me. Also, all of the women in the audience would get up and leave. Of course, you're going to die anyway.

AUDIENCE: Don't
spoil it for us! Booooooo!!

LEONARDO: He's right, though. I am doomed. It's in the script.

AUDIENCE: Aww, look how cute he is when he's doomed!

WEASELLY FIANCE: I really hate you people.

(Scene 5)

150-YEAR-OLD-KATE: And that's when Leonardo rescued me from my evil fiance and helped me float on a board in the water. Of course, if it hadn't been for having to rescue HIM, I could have gotten on an actual lifeboat to begin with, and not nearly frozen my butt off. Anyway, he's pretty much dead now, and I'm well over a thousand years old, and who's making my supper? I need another Depends. Turn down that Enya music,
it's making my ears hurt. You kids today, with your loud music. Why, in my day - hey!
Don't you walk away from me, Mr. Snooty-Patootie Oceanologist! I'd turn you over my knee, if I could bend it. I'll beat you in the head with this huge extremely rare blue diamond! Hey, come back here!

(FADE TO BLACK; roll credits; play annoying Celine Dion song again.)

THE END

Sanjaya Malakar

2007-04-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, Sanjaya was finally booted off of American Idol. I am so extremely happy about this.

I honestly don't understand how he made it as far in the competition as he did. I mean, I've heard drunks at karaoke bars sing better than this "no-talent ass clown."

This season, after Hollywood week, I honestly thought Sanjaya would be the first to go. But, alas, he stayed on the show. The following week I was just sure that he would be kicked off... but I was once again disappointed. It finally got to the point to where I didn't think he would get kicked off. So instead of trying to guess that he would be the one to go home, I started guessing that the second worse singer would be the one to go home.

Finally... tonight... he was told to go home. I cheered loudly and clapped my hands. Now, all of the singers can actually have a fair competition.

is happy

2007-04-04T23:34:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I have been waiting for over a month for Texas State to receive my transcripts Blinn. I was given a link that I could check the status of my application... and for quite some time now every time I checked it the message was the same:

We are still awaiting your transcripts from Blinn College.

I checked it again about a week ago and I was happy to see a new message:

All information has been received. You application is currently being reviewed.

This was great news.

Now, I was just about to turn off my monitor and go to bed when I saw the paper with the link on it again. For sh!ts and giggles I decided to check it again. I was pleasantly surprised to read the following:

Congratulations! You have been accepted to Texas State University-San Marcos for Summer I 2007.

This is the best news I've heard in a while. I was afraid they were going to reject my application... which would cause me to be out of school yet one more semester.

So I guess this means that I am now a Bobcat.

2006 Ford Focus

2007-03-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

(Reason for this post: This is the kind of car I'm renting while mine's in the shop)

I have decided that the 2006 Ford Focus really sucks.

First off, the car sits at an angle. The rear end is way too high. When I look out of the rearview mirror, all I see is my back seat... with the tiny sliver of space that the Ford company seems to think is big enough to be considered a window.

Next, when I look over my shoulders all I can see is the inside side of the car. Like I said, the car sits at a downward slope with the rear being higher than the front. I think this may be the reason that it's next to impossible to see out of the side windows.

Furthermore, there's an armrest in the front that is almost as tall as a large building. It gets in the way of my arm... so much so that it's not really an armrest because if you were to rest your arm upon it, it would look as if you've elevated your elbow to keep blood from rushing to it.

Also, it gets crappy gas mileage. In my Toyota, 1/4 of a tank will easily last me 4 days (going to work and coming back home). The Ford Focus has managed to guzzle down a 1/4 of a tank in a matter of 2 days.

Lastly, the windshield wiper settings were difficult to figure out... and once they come on, for some reason they will not go back off even when pushed into the "off" position.

The only positive thing I have to say about this car is that it does turn nicely.

And this part doesn't really have to do with the Ford Focus, but rather all automatics. I've been driving a standard for... what... 7 years now? Switching over to an automatic is just weird. Whenever I do purchase a new car it will definitely be a standard.

Anyways, just sharing my thoughts.

Car Rental

2007-03-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

I tried to find a car rental place that was open on a Sunday. I needed a car before Monday so I would be able to drive to work. After about 30 minutes of looking in the Yellow Pages and making several phone calls, I finally found one that was open (and wasn't located at the airport).

The name of the place is Longhorn Car & Truck Rental.

My insurance company told me that they will pay a rental place $20 a day... up to $600 dollars. As I walked into the rental place, I told the guy I needed a car since mine was in a wreck. He told me that it would cost just shy of $40 a day.

This didn't appear to be good news, because that meant that I'd be out however much money until my car was fixed (or until I get a new one). The guy then asked if I had already arranged something with the insurance agency. I told him that I had not. So he got on the phone and got all the information he would need from my insurance people.

After all the paperwork was signed he handed me a receipt. I looked at it and noticed something that said "$15". I asked him if this was what I would be paying per day since my insurance company only pays $20 a day. They guy then told me that I wouldn't be paying anything. He said that their company likes insurance rentals so whatever the insurance is willing to pay, that's all they charge.

So, anyone in the Austin area who has been in a wreck and needs to rent a car, I would definitely recommend the Longhorn Car & Truck Rental company. The staff was real nice, and they got me into a car within 10 minutes.

I'm looking forward to hearing from my claims adjuster. I would like to know how much the repairs are going to cost, or if the car is totaled.

However, I have decided that if it is totaled I'm going to buy a new Toyota Yaris (liftback). It gets 40 miles per gallon... and I think it looks cool. :)

In case you're wondering what it looks like... here's a picture:

If my car is not totaled... then I'll keep it for now and just buy a Yaris later. Unless, of course, I find a car I like better down the road.

Oops

2007-03-24T11:33:00.000-07:00

At the end of the day on Thursday (March 22nd)I was walking into the office so I could sign out for the day. One of the teachers stopped me and said something like "I know the classes that you're subbing in right now can be quite stressful at time, yet you always have a smile on your face." I decided to have fun with my response. I said something like "It's the end of the day... It's all up hill from here... I hope."

This was a bit ironic since... well... about ten minutes later I was in a wreck.

I went out to my car (which was parked in the student lot since the staff parking lot was full) and instead of going through the light (which I've done every time I leave that parking lot) I went down to a little driveway. Traffic going North was stopped for the light. The cars in front of this driveway I was at decided to stop to let me go. I looked to the right. The coast was clear. I then proceeded to make my left turn... but didn't see the female driver in the chicken lane. So we crashed.

Oh well. I now must wait to see what my insurance company says.

On a good note, no one was injured.

I guess I should've posted this earlier... but I had other things on my mind. :)

Spring Break/Canoe Trip

2007-03-21T21:21:00.000-07:00

Well, this is obviously a bit late… but I guess that’s ok. At least I have something to write as an update.

March 9th:
The school bell rang at 3:45 in the p.m. My students left the classroom to enjoy 10 days of no school… as did I. I took care of the few things I needed to take care of before I could sign out and leave the school. By 4 in the p.m. I was in my car and on my way to Mississippi. Everything seemed to be going well until I was about 20 miles away from Temple. I decided to go to I-20 (rather than I-10) because I was hoping to make it into Dallas in time to eat dinner with my sister and my brother-in-law as well as with Andy an Laura. Well, it sounded like a good idea… but traffic was pretty much stopped. What’s that? Oh yeah, I completely forgot about Spring Break traffic, rush-hour work traffic, as well as normal weekend traffic. What this translates to is me managing to go about 25 miles in 5 hours. Around 10 in the p.m. I decided to just pull over, take a nap, and hope that traffic would clear up by the time I woke up. Thankfully, it did. I woke up then continued with my drive. I made it to Dallas around midnight.

March 10th:
I was still driving to Mississippi. Needless to say, I skipped dinner with Ashley, Mike, Andy and Laura. It turned out, Ashley and Mike were on their way to California and wouldn’t have been able to eat dinner with me anyways… and Andy and Laura were in Wisconsin and were also unavailable for dinner. So it all worked out in the end. I ended up at Mike’s house (not Mike my brother-in-law). Mike and I ended up sleeping until about 11:45 in the a.m. We were planning on waking up around 9 in the a.m. to make all of our last minute purchases so we could be out on the Red Creek around 3 in the p.m. Obviously, this wasn’t going to happen. Anyways, Mike and I rushed to the store to purchase food (and beer) for the next 4 days. Once all the food was bought we went back to his parents’ house to put it all in the cooler and get everything that we needed into Mike’s truck. After that, we stopped at a sporting goods store so Mike could buy a bit of equipment that he needed to replace. At this point, I realized that I left my hiking/camping boots at my house… in Austin. So, I got to buy a new pair of boots while we were at this store. Now we were ready to get to the river. How far away was it? 3 hours away… in the middle of nowhere (which is good, we were going to do some real camping). We managed to get out on the river sometime around 9 in the p.m. Since it was pitch black we didn’t manage to go very far downstream. However, we did get far enough away from the bridge that we weren’t able to hear any cars that may have driven by. Mike and I set up camp for the night, talked, smoked, and drank a bit, then went to sleep.

March 11th:
I’m not sure what time I woke up, but I woke up sometime in the middle of the night because I was freezing. We were sleeping on sand… which seemed to be like sleeping on a sheet of ice. Guess what sleeping bag I brought. My super-thin fleece sleeping bag. I got the fire back to a comfortable temperature, warmed my feet and body up a bit, then went back to sleep. I woke up again (and again, I’m not sure how long I had been asleep) because I was freezing again. I got out of my pathetic “sleeping bag” and sat as close to the warm coals as I could. I didn’t want to get up to get more fire wood because when we walked on the sand it make this weird noise and I didn’t want to wake Mike up. But after awhile I couldn’t take the cold any more. I got up as quietly as I could and managed to find enough fire wood to last for a few more hours. Once I started stacking the wood over the coals, Mike woke up. He and I talked for a few minutes, then he gave me his foam pad to put between me and the sand. He said he didn’t need it since his sleeping bag was designed to keep you warm in colder temperatures. This pad is only about a quarter of an inch thick, but it was enough insulation that it helped keep me warm for the remainder of the night.

Mike and I woke up sometime that morning and enjoyed some sausage and fried eggs. Once we packed all of our gear back into the canoe we officially began our canoe trip. Our goal was to paddle for a total of 56 miles over the course of the next 4 days.

So we paddled for several hours then stopped to eat lunch. Once we finished eating we continued on downstream. The river had a bit of debris left over from hurricane Katrina. This made maneuvering the canoe a tad tricky. But we managed. We stopped a few hours later to set up camp.

Mike and I dug a ditch into the sandbar that we chose for our campsite. We also dug a place on the side of our ditch to keep the fire. We then placed a tarp over the top of our hole. Once the shelter was completed, Mike and I gathered up enough firewood for the night. We had another amazing meal as well as great conversation. The shelter did an amazing job of holding the fire’s heat in as we slept that night.

March 12th:
Mike and I awoke and had oatmeal for breakfast. We then packed up our gear once again and canoed for the next several hours. By this point, I started getting a headache. Mike’s shoulder wasn’t doing so hot either. So this day we didn’t make it very far down the river. We stopped a short while after eating lunch and decided we could go no further for the day. By this time my head was pounding. I apologized to Mike because I knew I was going to be of no help with the shelter or the collection of wood until this headache went away. I laid down on the sand, tied my bandana over my eyes, and fell asleep. I woke up several hours later because it started getting cold again. Now my head was pounding even harder than before. I looked around and noticed that the shelter had already been dug, the wood had already been gathered, and Mike was just moments away from having dinner finished. I got up off the sandbar and walked into the shelter. I don’t remember much of the night after that. I remember eating dinner. I remember trying not to puke the dinner up because my head was aching so badly. I remember taking 3 extra strength Tylenols. And I remember waking up after dark to a sound in the woods behind us. Mike looked at me. I looked at Mike. We then whispered “What the hell is that?” It was something… or someone walking in the woods. We sat quietly and listened the best we could. My head was still pounding. The footsteps seemed to get closer. Then stop. Get closer. Then stop. Mike then got out of the shelter, K-Bar in hand. (For those who may not know, a K-Bar is a giant knife that the Marines carry when out in the field.) He then said that I should come out there with him. So I too went outside with my K-Bar and stood next to Mike. After a few minutes the footsteps stopped. Mike and I went back into the shelter, and that’s all I remember until I woke up the next morning.

March 13th:
My headache was gone! While Mike was getting breakfast ready, we realized something. Our steaks and our bacon weren’t in the cooler. Neither of us remembered actually seeing the meat after leaving the grocery store a few days prior. This meant that the only way we would have enough food for the rest of the trip was if we were careful with our consumption of the remaining food.

After we ate breakfast we got back on the river and canoed for another several hours.

We came across the bridge that was 15 miles from where we were dropped off on the first night of the trip. As you can tell, we were way behind schedule. There was no way we would make another 45 miles in only 2 days. We pulled in under the bridge and tied the canoe to a nearby bush. We then walked about a mile down the road to a gas station. I have no idea how anyone would know this is a gas station… because there was no sign on the small building. However, there were two ancient gas pumps out front. Mike and I went inside. They served sandwiches and hamburgers! Woohoo! If we ate here, we would still have plenty of food for the rest of the trip. Also, this gas station sold bacon and various canned goods. Mike and I ate one of the most amazing sandwiches I have ever eaten, and we bought a bit of extra food. Another reason we needed to make it to this gas station was so that we could use a phone and let Mike’s parents know that we were going to need to be picked up at the next bridge rather than the second upcoming bridge. We would’ve just made the call from Mike’s cell phone, but like I mentioned earlier, we were in the middle of nowhere and there was not a single bar of reception.

Once we were finished, we walked back down the road to our canoe, then paddled on for another couple of hours. We stopped and made camp for the night.

March 14th:
We ran into a few troubles once we got back on the river. The biggest problem was the river split. This wasn’t too big of a deal because Mike and his brother had previously canoed down this river before and he knew that going to the right would be the easier of the two paths. Well… I guess it used to be easier. To the left was a few fallen trees that made a perfect dam. To the right… it looked to be clear. We went to the right, but then realized that there were so many fallen trees and debris that it was practically impossible to get through. So we paddled upstream until we were in shallow enough water that Mike was able to get out and pull the canoe back to the tree-dam. We then pulled a few of the heavy items out of the canoe and set them up on the fallen trees. We then used every bit of strength we had to lift the canoe up and over the dam. After getting the heavy supplies back into the canoe, we were off again.

We made our last shelter of the trip seeing as how this was our last night. I noticed that in just a few days that not only did the quality of our shelters improve, but we were also able to dig the hole and get the shelters set up faster.

We had a fun-filled night of talking and fishing until we decided to go to bed.

March 15th:
We woke up, ate breakfast, gathered our things, and got back out on the river. We had to paddle like madmen since we weren’t exactly sure how much further we had until we’d reach our new pickup point.

A few hours went by then Mike said to stop rowing and help him with the tarp. I was a bit confused at the comment but then I felt what Mike felt. It was starting to sprinkle. Once we positioned the tarp over our gear we continued on with our rowing.

The rain picked up, but that was ok. The rain just enhanced the beauty of the scenery as well and giving us that clean air scent that only comes during and just after a rain.

After about an hour of rowing in the rain I saw a very interesting thing. I saw a momma duck and about 7 ducklings following behind her. This wasn’t the first duck that we had seen on the trip, but it was the first duck we saw that had ducklings. Now, when we came too close to the other ducks they would just fly away. Momma duck, however, did not. She did fly away, but she flew away with her feet slapping the water while making as much noise as she possibly could. I found this fascinating. I wasn’t really sure why she did this at first, but then it clicked. This was a defense mechanism for her babies. Oddly enough, it worked. We were distracted long enough that when we looked back towards the ducklings, we couldn’t find them. We decided to go a bit closer to the ducklings to see how momma duck would react. She came flying back around behind us and began slapping her feet in the water and making all kinds of noise as she flew back past us. After we decided that momma duck was probably freaked out enough we continued on down river.

We made it to the bridge around 2:30 in the p.m. Instead of going straight to the bridge, we stopped on another sandbar to have lunch. We weren’t in any big hurry because we weren’t supposed to be picked up until 5 in the p.m. Around 4:15 in the p.m. we decided to get over to the bridge in case Mike’s mom showed up early.

After waiting for about an hour (5:30) Mike’s mom arrived with Mike’s truck. She apologized for being an hour and a half late. Mike and I thought she was going crazy because she was only 30 minutes late… which wasn’t a big deal at all. She then looked at us like we were crazy and informed us that it was in fact 6:30 in the p.m.

Oh yeah… daylight savings time. ;)

We made it back to Mike’s place a few hours after we had dinner. We then slept.

March 16th:
After packing my things back into my car, and after hanging out for a bit, I began my drive back to Texas. I made it into Dallas around 9 in the p.m. and met up with brother-in-law Mike, Ashley, and Andy (Laura was out with a friend for the moment). After dinner, I decided to just stay the night with Andy and Laura. We had a great time just hanging, drinking, smoking, and talking.

March 17th:
I woke up and met Ashley for breakfast (lunch, actually) at IHOP. Once we finished eating and talking I continued on back to Austin.

That night, JJ and Sam came over to hang out. Again, we all had a good time of hanging out, drinking, smoking, and talking.

March 18th:
Sunday night is a blog-post in itself, so I may save that for a later time. :)

Anyways, that was my Spring Break. I had a blast. The river and its surroundings were absolutely beautiful. It’s always great to get out in the middle of God’s creation and just enjoy the “simple” things in life.

First and last day...

2007-03-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned a post or two back, I have been substituting for a local school district. I have spent all of my time doing high school... except for one day.

That one day is what gave me the idea for this post's title. The other day I had my first and last day at a middle school.

The experience was beyond horrid. I was going to make this post the day it took place, but I was so angry that I just didn't want to think about it any more.

First off, I was supposed to be at the school by 8 in the a.m. Just as I'm about 5 minutes from the school, the substitute's computer system called me and informed me that my job for the day was cancelled. So, I turned around to go home. I decided that since I was already awake and dressed for class that I would call the high school to see if they needed my help for the day. The high school's phone lines were down, so I decided I'd go home and enjoy a day off. I got home, changed my clothes, sat down, then my phone rang again. I answered it. It was the middle school asking if I was coming in today. Needless to say, I was a bit confused since the job had been cancelled. I told the secretary that the job was cancelled. She said something like "Oh, that job was cancelled, but I went ahead and put you in for a different one." This was the cause for the confusion. At the high school, if the job is cancelled, the secretary just keeps the original job number on the books just sends us to a different classroom. (or at least that's what I'm assuming she does since I've had jobs switched on me before and I never received a cancellation notice before)

So I got dressed again and headed off to the middle school. The office was completely unorganized. I walked in and had no clue where I was supposed to sign in. No one was paying any attention to the guy (me) that just walked in. So I tried to figure out exactly where I'm supposed to go... so I just decided to walk around the office until someone asked if they could help me. It worked. I was told where to sign in, and was instructed to go to room "x". So I went in. There was another teacher in the classroom. She told me she couldn't find a lesson plan... so just pass out these handouts and have the class work on them. Ok.

1st period ended. The teacher I was subbing for didn't have a second period class, so I went to the office to see if I was needed elsewhere. They sent me to a math class. I went to the math class. Again... no lesson plans. I looked on the desk, on the table, everywhere I could think of and couldn't find a lesson plan. So I asked the students what they've been doing. As I'm sure you can guess, the answer was a resounding "Nothing." Since I didn't believe that I asked what they did the day before. They told me that they had a quiz... then one student said that they were supposed to have a test that day. Ah ha! Something they're supposed to do. I looked around again and found a stack of tests under some other papers. I told the class that they were going to take a test. I told them that if they talked or if I saw them cheating that I'd take up their test and explain to their teacher why I didn't let them finish it. That worked. The class was completely quiet until the last test was turned in.

Then 3rd period I went back to my original classroom. Again, no lesson plan... so I just passed out the same assignment that 1st period was given... even though this was a class of 7th graders and 1st period was 6th graders. 3rd period went fine until one of the boys decided to call one of the girls a "bitch" and a "hoe". Needless to say, this upset the girl and her friends... so they retaliated by giving him a note that said "Do you wear a bra? If not, you need to." and other such things. So of course, the boy got upset and came to me. I could tell he was upset, but I had no clue as to why since I was completely unaware of the situation at this time. He asked if he could go to the office. Well, seeing as how I figured I could handle whatever the situation was, I had him explain to me why he was upset first. He calmed down a bit and sat back down in his seat. I then asked the girls which one of them wrote the note. None of them answered. So I told the group that I'd give all of them a detention unless the guilty party admitted to writing the note. That worked. I got a confession. The girls then started explaining why the note was written... but they didn't get to finish because the story they were telling angered the boy again. This started a yelling match between the boy and the girls. At this point in time another teacher came in to help me out. She resolved the matter and the day went on.

Next was home room. Now, I remember that home room was supposed to be a time for the kids to work on homework and other such things... so it was ok that there wasn't a lesson plan. However, an attendance sheet would've been helpful. Since I didn't have one, I just passed out a sheet of paper and had the kids write their name on it. I also had to remind them to put their real names on it so they wouldn't be counted absent. The class was crazy. No one would stay in their seats and be quiet. Thankfully, their teacher came back to class about 15 minutes before class was over. I explained to her what took place during 3rd period. She thanked me for the information then told me that I was needed in the office.

I went to the office. They told me to go take care of another math class down in room "z". I went there. The classroom was empty. I looked around... couldn't find a lesson plan... then rummaged through the papers on the desk and found what I was supposed to have the rest of the classes do.

Thankfully, 4th period was this teacher's conference period. Instead of going to the office to see if they needed my help anywhere else, I decided to take a break since the day was already more stressful than any of my days at the high school.

Another home room class was next. The teacher instructed me to have the class read silently. I told the class this... but they didn't seem to want to listen. So I then had the students who were talking move to seats far away from their friends. That worked. Once everyone was split up, everyone sat quietly and read.

5th period... I was instructed to let the class do a warm-up for 5 to 10 minutes. I told the class that if they talked during the warm-up that I'd give them 5 minutes to work on it. If they didn't talk I'd give them the full 10 minutes. Needless to say, they only got 5 minutes. Over all, the class was ok. I did have one kid who gave me a bit of attitude a few times. Of course, that student's name was put into the report that I was going to leave for the teacher.

6th period. *deep, calming breath* 6th period was a nightmare. I can usually tell how well the class will behave by how roll-call goes. After attendance was taken, I could tell that this was going to be a very very bad period. I told this class the same that I told the last class. If they talk during the warm-up, I'd only give them 5 minutes to work on it. If they didn't, they'd get 10 minutes.

Before I continue, I must say that there was one girl in particular that during roll-call I knew she would be my biggest trouble-maker. And I was right. She started off talking rather than doing the warm-up. I asked her to move seats. She looked at me and stated "I'm not moving seats!" At this point, I was ready to walk over to her desk, grab her around the neck, and drag her to another seat. But since I couldn't legally do that, I just told her again to move seats. And again, she stated that she wasn't going to move. I then gave her a choice. I said "You can either move seats or you can have a detention." At this point, she just glared at me. I stood there staring right back at her. Finally she got up. She slowly gathered her things and slowly walked over to another seat.

By this time, not only was the class talking, but I noticed that only about 4 of the students were actually working on the warm-up. I instructed the class numerous times to work on the assignment. After repeating myself for the thousandth time I decided to turn off the overhead. Warm-up was finished. I told everyone to turn in what they've completed. Uh oh... this didn't make the class happy. Now their teacher would know that barely any of them were doing what they were supposed to do.

My trouble-maker started up with her attitude again. "We don't turn them in to you, we turn them into our folders!" I looked at her, then said, "That may be true, but today you're going to turn them into me. That way your teacher can see the progress you made on it." And again... more attitude.

I reminded the class that I have to leave a report for the teacher as to how the class went. My trouble-maker then said "Yes, we know! We've had substitutes before!"

Ok... let me just say... by this point, I seriously wanted to harm this child. I have never in my life (and this includes my time in the Marine Corps) had to exercise as much self-control as I had to at this point. I wanted to grab this girl by the hair, drag her down to the closest bathroom, and drown her in the toilet. I wanted to stick tooth picks under her toenails and then force her to kick the wall. I wanted to throw a desk at her. I wanted to throw a chair at her. I wanted to slam her down on the ground. I wanted to torture her for hours. But... again... since none of that is legal... I instead informed her that the report I was leaving for their teacher was going to have a large section just for her.

This didn't make her very happy. So she asked if she could go to the office to do her work. WOOHOO! Needless to say, I gladly sent her ass off to the office. The rest of the class was still talking, but they were at least doing some of there work here and there.

The class period went on... then all of the girls were called to the office for some screening by the nurse. Once all the girls left, all the guys pretty much stopped talking and actually began doing their work. Hmm... no girls in the classroom and the guys stop trying to impress them and do there work. There's got to be something up with that.

Anyways, about 15 minutes before class was over, all the girls returned... including the trouble-maker. Dang it. For about 5 minutes everything seemed to be going ok. But then I noticed her walking towards the door. I told her that she needed to stay in the classroom. She just ignored me and walked out. I went out in the hallway and told her to get back in the classroom. She came back to the door, but then stood next to the door. She would not get in the classroom. I told her over and over again to get back in... raising my voice with every time I had to repeat myself. The belligerent little twit would not obey. She then tells me to "get out of [her] face!" even though I'm a far cry from being "in her face". She then decided to just walk off. And since I couldn't legally grab her and throw her back into the classroom, all I could do was let her meander down the hallway. By this point, my left eye was twitching, my heart was beating about ten thousand times a minutes, and I was beyond pissed.

Once the class was dismissed, I went back into the office to put the report in the teacher's box. The lady in the office then asked me how the day went. I told her about how I have never come so close to beating a child... and not caring about the consequences. She apologized and said "Well, I hope you can come back for us sometime." I looked at her and said "Honestly, for the safety of the children, and for my own well-being, I don't think that's such a good idea."

So... that was my first and last day to ever work at a middle school. I'll stick with high school.

Happy Balumtimes Day

2007-02-13T19:52:00.000-08:00

Singly guys, about a month leading to Valentines Day is one of the times throughout the year you should refrain from finding a "special" someone. In case you missed it before, check out my old post about the times to avoid starting a relationship.

"Tomorrow" means 10 days...

2007-02-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

Ok... so I lied. Obviously I didn't make an update like I said I would. :)

Anyways, I didn't end up having the ISS class room. However, my first Friday was insane. It started off alright... but ended with me wanting to jump out of a window.

1st and 2nd period I was working with the special ed kids. Well, they're called "resource" kids. I'm not sure if it's the same thing. Anyways, those kids behaved very well.

3rd and 4th period I was placed in a math class. These kids were horrid. They would not stay in their seats. They would not take their notes. They would not do any of their work. They, instead, decided to talk (very loudly) throughout the entire class.

5th period I was moved over to the tutoring class room. This went well... because I think maybe 1 student came in during that entire period.

6th period I was told that I could go home... but just as I was about to turn and walk out of the office, someone came in and asked who was supposed to be with the class that was over there sitting in the hallway. As you can guess... I was sent over there to take over that class until the sub that was supposed to be with them decided to show up. That took about 10 or 20 minutes. Once the other sub showed up, I was free to go.

So... Monday I was ready for another day of kids misbehaving and acting a fool. But... I was placed with the special ed kids again. It was a very easy day. Time flew. The kids did what was expected of them, and they did so quietly.

Tuesday I had another special ed class, and again, they were fairly well behaved and actually did their work.

Wednesday I didn't go to work because my parents needed me to be at their house while the tile guys installed our new floor. (Oh, I forgot to mention that we had to get a new floor because the plumbing screwed up and destroyed our wood floor.)

Thursday I went back to work. I had a zero hour class... but there was a mistake made in the office and I was sent to the wrong class room. I worked with that zero hour class up until about 20 minutes to the bell. The new sub told me I was needed back in the office. So I went to the office and found out where I was really supposed to be. It was an Freshman AP English class. "Great" I thought. The juniors and seniors I had last Friday were horrid... I can just imagine that freshman would be worse. So... as soon as the bell rang for 1st period, I actually raised my voice and told the class to take their seats and be quiet. I took attendance, then told them what they had to do that day. And... to my surprise... they actually kept their mouths shut and did their work. Just before they left, I thanked the class for their behavior and told them that they were better behaved than the juniors and seniors I had the other day. I had 2nd off. 3rd period went the just as well. I had 4th period off. 5th period went ok... but there was one girl in particular that I really wanted to throw out the window. If only it were allowed for me to speak my minds to the students. I think that would've thrown her for a loop. The day ended with 6th period. They were just as well behaved as the 1st two classes. Over all, it was a great day.

Friday went rather well also. I had zero hour Senior AP English. I was instructed to allow them to work in groups and to take up their worksheets at the end of the day. They did their work, and all was good. 1st period was a Junior AP English class, and they also sat quietly while working on their assignment. Then, I had 2nd through 5th period off... so I went down to the office and asked if there was anywhere else they could put me until 6th period. They were thrilled that I offered and therefore put me in the tutoring room again. I got to walk around that class room while the students took tests. It wasn't bad at all.

So... over all, I'm really liking this job. I don't think I'd ever want to be a teacher long term, but temporarily working as a sub is kind of fun. I really like the fact that if I don't want to (or can't) work on a given day... I just ignore the phone calls or tell the lady in the office that I'm unavailable.

I guess the only downside about it is... I am now having to wake up at the time I'm used to going to bed. :)

I Forgot...

2007-02-01T20:35:00.000-08:00

Oops, I forgot to mention this on here.

I'm not sure if many of you are aware of this, but I applied to be a substitute teacher about a week ago. I went to the orientation class this past Wednesday, and tomorrow will be my first time in the classroom.

What class will I be subbing for?

ISS

That's right. In School Suspension. :)

Thankfully I will not be by myself. I will be considered an assistant, so I will be in the classroom with an actual teacher. Or... at least that's how the person at the orientation made it out to sound. We'll see. :)

So... this could either be a great experience... or it could be total nightmare. I'm hoping for the great experience. :)

I'll let ya'll know how it goes tomorrow.

Pan's Labyrinth

2007-01-24T23:12:00.000-08:00

I have seen many movies over the past several months, and I have been disappointed by about 95% of those.

Pan's Labyrinth was a refreshing change of movie style. This movie is like none other that I have seen before. It's only playing in select theatres, but if you can find one close to your home that's showing this film, I definitely reccomend seeing it.

The only negative thing I have to say about this movie is that the entire thing's in Spanish. And that's not really anything negative, seeing as how I don't think it was produced by America.

The soundtrack is absolutely beautiful. I will be purchasing it as soon as possible.

So anyways, go watch this. It's definitely worth the money.

My Car Was On The News!

2007-01-17T21:57:00.000-08:00

Woo Hoo! My car was on KXAN News tonight (Jan. 17, 2007) at about 10:10 in the p.m.

Here's the story (since the news only showed one of the photos and didn't say anything about it really):

It started off yesterday afternoon. I went outside to see what Christopher and Panda were doing to my car. Upon seeing what they were doing... I laughed and joined in. Then today we finished off the art work.

I'll put them in order of events as best I can.
*In case you've never interacted with a web site, just click a little picture to see a bigger picture

Double Post

2007-01-17T00:33:00.000-08:00

POST #1

I can't wait until he dies. This cold is driving me crazy. On the up side, everyone's been home, so the days haven't been boring for me. Although it's quite humorous to watch my dog gingerly walk on the ice-covered grass... I'm ready for God to turn the heater back on. ;)

Since the ice has caused everything to shut down, I haven't been able to apply for this job that I'm really wanting. As soon as the place opens back up, I can drop off the necessary paperwork. Had Blinn got my transcripts to my house sooner, this wouldn't be an issue. Oh well. It'll all work out.

POST #2

In other news, Svetlana called me last night. It appears that everything is going to work out here. Her dad ended up having a heart attack moments before her first customer... so she never had to go through with the whole becoming a prostitute thing. That's good.

So, we talked for quite some time. It turns out that she still needs that $3000 to come over to the U.S. though. I'm going to do my best to raise enough money to get her over here so we can get married. It'll be cool... there's only 2 Russian people I've ever really talked to. One was a foreign exchange student back in high school. The other was my Geology professor. I just hope she buffs up her English skills. She's still difficult to understand.

But love hath no language. Besides... she doesn't really need to speak much. She can read English just fine and that's all that really matters... because that means she'll be able to read recipes.

I guess that's all for now. If you want to donate some money to the Bring Svetlana to America Fund just shoot me an email. I'll give you all the necessary information and we'll get my bride here ASAP.

Women, know your limits!

2007-01-11T00:44:00.000-08:00

It's funny because it's true. :)

A Warning To All Single Men

2007-01-08T01:23:00.000-08:00

I was going to make this post closer to Valentines Day, but I decided I would go ahead and make it now and reference it closer to V-Day since I have an idea for a post on February 14th.

This post is meant to be a warning for all the single men out there who may happen across my blog.

Guys... there are three times during the course of a year in which you should never begin a relationship. These times of year are around the female's birthday, Valentines Day, and Christmas.

Reason being... a lot (not all*) of women are extremely shallow and will begin seeking a relationship during these times of year for one main reason... and then various smaller reasons.

The main reason a woman will start a relationship around these times of year (Valentines Day especially) is so they won't be alone for the upcoming event. Beware of this, for shortly after the day has passed and you have served your purpose... she's going to dump you. I know... it's sad. There are actually women who would be willing to play with your emotions simply so they can temporarily curb their loneliness.

Other reasons for this type of maltreatment are so they can get gifts and feel special. That's right. She'll lead you on simply so she can get a present for her birthday or Christmas. Of course, Valentines Day is the day all you single men need to keep your eyes open for. A single woman won't think twice about screwing you over simply so she will feel loved/wanted/special on this day. After all... she doesn't want to be the only woman at the office that doesn't receive flowers... and that's much more important than your emotions.

Men... beware of this shallow beast. She doesn't care if she crushes you so long as she gets to feel special during the times of year she's "supposed" to feel special.

You have been warned.

#@#@#@#@#EDIT#@#@#@#@#
Just as I was about to publish this post I remembered another time during the year in which it is crucial not to start a relationship. That time is... when you meet a girl at a wedding. She will have just seen one of her friends get married... then her crazy, psycho emotions will kick into overdrive and she too will want to get married. Well, not really. But she wants to be happy like her friend. So, she'll be willing to go after the first guy who shows interest at the wedding. She'll toy with you for as long as it takes for her wedding-day-fantasy to expire. Then... once you have served your purpose and she realizes that she doesn't really want to get married yet... you're history.

*Again, I repeat that this does not pertain to all females.

Poor Mr. Tiddlewinks' Final Flight

2007-01-06T17:52:00.000-08:00

One evening Mr. Tiddlewinks was starting to get a bit tired. His stomach was full after pigging out in the feeder behind Old Mrs. Hagsworth's house. He decided that he should get back to his nest so he could get a good night's sleep so he wouldn't be too tired for tomorrow's adventure of gorging himself and pooping on cars.

On his way back to the nest, Mr. Tiddlewinks realized that it was about to rain. So he pushed himself to go a wee bit faster.

The darkness of both the night and the storm became thicker with each passing moment.

Mr. Tiddlewinks pressed on...

The rain started pouring down upon poor Mr. Tiddlewinks.

Faster and faster he went...

Then...

all went black.

A few days later Nathan took his dog, Dübeee, out in the back yard so she could "take care of business." Nathan talked with Dübeee as he so often did. But then something out of the corner of his eyes caught Nathan's attention. He looked up to the balcony. "What is that?" he thought. He then got a closer look...

It was poor Mr. Tiddlewinks lying upon his back.

"I wonder how he died..." Nathan said out loud.

As Nathan surveyed Mr. Tiddlewinks' surroundings he noticed something. Poor Mr. Tiddlewinks' death was caused by...

nothing more than what was once a clean window.

The rain, mixed with the darkness, mixed with Mr. Tiddlewinks' strong desire to get back home... made it impossible for him to see the window.

Once Nathan realized what had happened, he fell over laughing.

He then climbed upon the ladder and snatched up the corpse of poor Mr. Tiddlewinks'.

He then held it up for the world to see...

then cooked him and had a wonderful dinner.

The End

I was thinking...

2006-12-28T13:47:00.000-08:00

Last night I watch Runaway Jury again. (By the way, Rachel Weisz is a hottie.) Anyways, I like this movie. The only problem I had with the film was that they made the gun company and their lawyers out to be the evil people while the families of gun violence out to be the innocent, perfectly moral people.

I understand that in the movie the woman was suing the gun company because they made it too easy for anyone on the street to get a hold of one of their semi-automatic assault weapons. I have no problem with making a gun company keep from giving criminals assault weapons.

The problem I have is when people want to sue all gun companies for the gun violence that our country has. It's not the gun companies' fault that Crazy Joe Postman went into his Post Office and slaughtered his fellow employees because he was tired of not getting a piece of cake at the office parties. It's not K-mart's fault that the bullets used came from their store. The only person that should be held responsible is the person pulling the trigger.

I mean... if you were to put a fully loaded gun on a stool... sit there and watch it... it would never shoot any one. Put that same gun in the hands of someone who's going to use the gun properly and there won't be any accidents. Now, put the gun in the hand of someone who wants to kill and he'll kill. The gun isn't responsible. The gun company isn't responsible. The person pulling the trigger is the only one responsible.

Furthermore, if we can sue a gun company for accidental deaths caused by their products... are we going to go sue swimming pool companies for the accidental drownings? I wish I could find the statistics, but I remember reading somewhere that a swimming pool is 14 times more likely to kill a child than a vehicle is. I also read that swimming pools take more lives each year than guns do. So... why pick and choose who's responsible when, in fact, each person should be responsible for themselves (or their children)?

When a drunk driver hits and kills someone on the road, we don't blame the alcohol... we don't blame the car dealership that sold the drunk his car... we don't blame the car company for making the car... and we don't sue the banks for making it so easy for just anyone to get a hold of a car... so why should we hold the gun companies responsible when someone uses their product in an incorrect manor?

This also relates to the lawsuits against McDonalds... McDonalds isn't responsible for your child being a fat ass. You, the parent, is responsible. How does that child get to McDonalds every day? It's not like McDonalds drives around kidnapping kids and force-feeding them their hamburgers. No... you... the parent... drags your kid there each day and allows him to shovel the hamburgers and fries in his mouth.

Smokers... if you get cancer... it's not the tobacco company's fault. You know that smoking isn't exactly pumping your body full of vitamins. Everyone (even kindergarteners) knows that smoking can be harmful and that it can cause cancer. If you choose to use the product anyways... it's your own fault if you develop cancer. It's not like you weren't warned.

And all of this rant boils down to taking responsibility for your actions. If you do "X" knowing that "Y" is going to be the result of "X"'s action... then you are the only one to blame. You are the one that needs to man up and say "This is my fault."

America's mentality of "Nothing's my fault, everything is the big corporation's fault" drives me insane.

Merry Effing Christmas

2006-12-23T16:54:00.000-08:00

Ho... ho... ho.

Bring the heat back!

It's Funny Because It's True

2006-12-19T11:21:00.000-08:00

Instead...

2006-12-09T02:00:00.000-08:00

Well…

I was going to make a post about a commercial I saw today. It was a commercial where a woman was looking for her missing shoe while her husband stands in the bathroom. The husband is an older man, wearing his underwear and white undershirt (which was tight enough to compliment his beer gut).

The woman finally decides to look under the bed for her shoe… and what does she find along with her missing shoe? A diamond necklace (or maybe it was a bracelet… I don’t remember for sure which one). The moment she opens the jewelry box she envisions her husband as a sexy, muscle-bound stud.

See… I was going to make a post about how women will see their husbands as attractive only after he spends 3 months pay on her.

However…

I cannot make the full, lengthy post that I was going to because I was sidetracked.

By what, you ask?

Well… I was distracted by…

The Armor of God PJ’s.

Yes… you heard me correctly. The Armor of God PJ’s. For parents who want the entire school to mock their child for the rest of his/her days.

But that’s not all… soon, they’ll have the Armor of God PJ Dolls.

You know… the second this website loaded… I had to suppress the biggest laugh ever as to not wake up my parents. These are just horrid.

The website says:
“The whole Armor of God Pajama set will help your children to depend on God to protect them from their fears, doubts, and uncertainties at night so their sleep can be restful and peaceful.”

I wonder how, exactly, will a pair of PJ’s help children depend on God. Are they magical PJ’s?

Let’s just hope that the parents who would torture their poor children by making them wear this will never see that website.

Your Appearance

2006-12-07T02:18:00.000-08:00

Tonight my grandma made a comment about how she wants to take tweezers to my facial hair. It wasn’t a shock; she makes a comment on facial hair just about anytime she sees it on anyone’s face. However, it gave me the idea to write a blog post on the issue of appearances.

The way you dress is extremely important. After all, the way you dress shows the world who you are. It allows the world to know what kind of person you are, how kind or rude you are, how intelligent you are as well as your religious beliefs. In fact, your clothes are so important that one look at your clothing and the world will have a detailed knowledge of your life philosophy.

Ok… now’s the time to raise the flag:

First off, don’t get me wrong... at work you should wear the clothes that meet your work’s dress code. And, when you go in for an interview you should dress to impress. (I don’t fully agree with that… but it’s what you must do if you want the job) I’m not arguing that there aren’t times in which one would need to wear nice clothing. My argument is based on day-to-day life… away from work… on your free time.

Seeing as how the clothes I like aren’t considered “normal” by most people… I have the privilege of listening to unwanted comments about my attire quite often. What I don’t understand is “why?” What difference does it make if I like to wear black shirts? What difference does it make that I always wear jeans? What difference does it make that I like “weird” clothes? What difference does it make if I wear boots all the time rather than tennis shoes, dress shoes, flip-flops, or sandals? Is it really that big of a deal that I like the clothes I like? Does my attire really alter who I am as a person? Does a new personality come with a new style?

And the really funny thing about all of this is… 99% of the comments made about my choice in clothing have been by females. This brings me to another issue I have about this topic:

If a man were to make these same kinds of comments about the way a woman looks… he’d be in the dog-house for the rest of his life. Seriously… imagine with me, if you will…
The husband is waiting downstairs for his wife to finish getting ready so they can have a night out on the town. The wife comes down the stairs… but doesn’t ask “how do I look” because before she gets a chance to ask… the husband blurts out with “You’re not going out in that are you?”

Yeah… I’m sure that would go over really well.

Or… imagine… the man continuously telling his wife that she needs to change her style. “Sweetie, you know, you should wear more makeup.” Or “Sweetie, you need to stop wearing that necklace. You always wear that necklace… you need to go get some new jewelry.”

Oh yeah… I can see the onslaught of marital problems arising just from the thought of some guy doing this.

So my question is… why do women act as if it’s ok to constantly tell their husbands/boyfriends/dads/brothers/male-friends how they should dress? Why can’t women just do like guys do… and if you don’t like the way someone looks in certain clothing… just keep it to yourself? Just about every guy has learned (from observing their parents or dealing with this situation in their own relationships) that when a woman asks “What do you think about this?” that the correct answer is “You look amazing” even if he doesn’t particularly like the way the outfit looks.

There’s a problem with that. Why do guys have to lie to women about their looks (and remember… she’s asking for his opinion)… but women can just blurt out their dislike about the way a man looks whenever she wants? (and remember… usually the guy hasn’t asked for any sort of an opinion)

Ladies… if you feel the need (for whatever unknown reason) to give your honest (and often times unasked for) opinion about the way someone looks… then others should be able to give you their opinion of the way you look without you getting upset.

I just don’t understand what the need is to tell someone you don’t like something that they’re wearing. I mean… no one’s forcing you to wear it. In fact, the person wearing it is most likely wearing it because they like it. And if you can’t stand to look at whatever the article of clothing is… then stop talking with the person.

(Oh wait, you can’t do that… because then you’d look shallow… so instead you’ll just nag them to fix “the problem.”… even though it’s you that has the problem.)

I could go on and on about this topic… but I’ll spare my readers by just stopping here.

I hate Fry's Electronics

2006-12-03T17:26:00.001-08:00

The fan in the power supply for my computer has been making some weird noises lately. I remember that last time my fan started making noises it ended up dying... but I continued to use the computer anyways. Needless to say, the computer overheated and I lost everything on my computer.

Therefore, this time I decided that I would go ahead and replace the power supply before the fan could crap out on me. So... unfortunately... I went to Fry's.

I go in, get the power supply, go back home, take out the old power supply, put in the new power supply, hit the "power" button, then..........

Absolutely nothing.

I look in the back and make sure that I turned on the power button in the back... and I had flipped it on.
I look back on the inside of my computer... everything was hooked up where it was supposed to go.
Then came to the conclusion that, once again, Fry's has sold me a piece of crap that doesn't work.

It is not possible to go to Fry's and make a purchase, go home, put everything together, and be done. No... you have to make your purchase, figure out which item is broken, return it, get a new one, go back home and put everything back together, realize that another part is broken, return it, replace it, come back home and put everything back together, then realize that one final item is broken... but this time, when you go to return it, the store's closed.

I hate Fry's.

Me, my brother, and Luke have returned several items that we purchased from Fry's. Off the top of my head I remember:
- A motherboard or three
- A computer case
- A power supply or two
- A processor or five
as well as many other things that I can't think of this instant.

You would think that I would've learned my lesson by now and stopped shopping there.

Oh... so I drove over to Best Buy afterwards... found a power supply... bought it... came home and installed it... hit the "power" button... and everything worked just fine.

So once again I'll say:
I hate Fry's.

Music

2006-11-30T22:15:00.000-08:00

I'm constantly looking for new music that I enjoy. Over the years I've found that if I like a band... most people haven't ever heard of them. Therefore, I've decided that every now and again I'm going to post some songs by a band that I really enjoy in hopes that I will introduce some good music to people who are looking for new stuff to listen to.

I'm sure some of you have heard of this band... they had a few top 40 hits back in the 90's.
Days of the New: Shelf in the Room

I was only able to find these two other videos:
Enemy
and
Touch, Peel & Stand

The band also has a MySpace page... which I would link to except that their page doesn't always work for some reason. (I'm assuming it's because it's MySpace)

They have 3 albums:
Orange
Green
Red

Sleep...

2006-11-22T02:43:00.000-08:00

Ever since 10th or 11th grade I've had a habit of staying up late. As the years have gone by I've started going to bed later and later. It's not unusual for me to still be awake around 5 in the a.m.

As you can imagine, my sleeping patterns have raised questions in others' minds... and often times people will ask me those questions. "Why do you stay up so late?" "Why don't you go to bed earlier?" And so on.

Well, here's one answer to the question.

Yesterday, I got about maybe 2 hours of sleep. Therefore, I was quite tired last night so I ended up falling asleep somewhere around 11 in the p.m. Five hours later and I'm wide awake. Yeah... I woke up around 3:50 in the a.m. and can't fall back asleep. This always seems to happen when I go to bed when most people go to bed. Even though I was exhausted and didn't get very much sleep the day before I still managed to wake up way too soon.

So... now that I'm up, I think I'm going to continue reading a book and maybe I will be able to fall back asleep.

We'll see.

The Husband Store

2006-11-19T01:19:00.000-08:00

A store that sells husbands has just opened where a woman may go to choose a husband from among many men. The store is composed of 6 floors, and the men increase in positive attributes as the shopper ascends the flights.

There is, however, a catch. As you open the door to any floor you may choose a man from that floor, but if you go up a floor, you cannot go back down except to exit the building.

So a woman goes to the shopping center to find a husband.
On the first floor the sign on the door reads:

Floor 1 - These men have jobs.

The woman reads the sign and says to herself, "Well, that's better than my last boyfriend, but I wonder what's further up?"

So up she goes.

The second floor sign reads:
Floor 2 - These men have jobs and love kids.

The woman remarks to herself, "That's great, but I wonder what's further up?" And up she goes again.

The third floor sign reads:
Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love kids and are extremely good looking.

"Hmm, better" she says. "But I wonder what's upstairs?"

The fourth floor sign reads:
Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love kids, are extremely good looking and help with the housework.

"Wow!" exclaims the woman, "very tempting. BUT, there must be more further up!" And again she heads up another flight.

The fifth floor sign reads:
Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love kids, are extremely good looking, help with the housework and have a strong romantic streak.

"Oh, mercy me! But just think... what must be awaiting me further on?" So up to the sixth floor she goes.

The sixth floor sign reads:
Floor 6 - You a re visitor 3,456,789,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at The Husband Store and have a nice day.

I Don't Get It

2006-11-05T21:55:00.000-08:00

There are certain articles of female fashion that I will never understand (turtle necks being among them) but the one thing that women wear that I can't stand the most are those giant, clown-glasses that they all seem to think looks good.

Ladies... just because Paris says "they're hot" does not mean that they are.

Seriously. Go put those monster glasses on and then take a gander at your reflection in a mirror. You look like an old lady from the 80's. Take them off and get a pair of sunglasses that allows people to see your face.

Think for yourself... stop letting magazines and celebrities tell you what to wear. I don't care how many people tell you that those ginormous glasses look cute. They're wrong. They're hideous.

Diapers

2006-10-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

As I've spent the past week with my new niece and nephew I received a brilliant idea. I don't know why I have never thought about this before.

Diapers.

I'm going to start wearing them. Seriously. How many times have you been driving down the road, grabbing your crotch and thinking to yourself "Where's the closest gas station!?!?!? I'm about to pee myself!!!"

See... if you're wearing a diaper... problem solved.

Or... even worse... have you ever been driving... you release some pressure in your "gas tank" only to realize that if you don't stop at a toilet ASAP you're going to have green-apple-splatters in your pants? Well... again... if you're wearing a diaper you can just "let loose" and no worries.

Hmm... now I'll just have to find someone who'd be willing to change the diaper for me...

I'm an Uncle

2006-10-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

Today, around 10 in the a.m., I became Uncle Nathan. For those who don't know, my sister-in-law gave birth to twins. A boy (Samuel) and a girl (Kaylee). They are the cutests babies in the world.

They're both healthy, and Wanda's doing fine. My dad and I are going to go back up to the hospital later today.

Now I just need to wait a bit longer... I'm hoping Samuel's first word will be "nigga" and Kaylee's first word will be "pwease"... that way I can get Samuel to say his first and Kaylee after him... to get the full "nigga pwease". It will be awesome.

Alright, that's all for now.

I'm not an effing Eskimo!

2006-10-20T06:39:00.000-07:00

This weather sucks.

I hate it.

Seriously... I did not move back to Texas so I could freeze to death. If I wanted to freeze off my... unmentionables... I would've stayed up north. This cold needs to find its way up to Yankee land where it belongs.

This arctic air cuts straight to the marrow. It attacks my joints like sharp, pointy knives. It's miserable. There is no other way to describe it.

I'm not sure which I dislike more... the cold, or this time of year. I don't know why... but each year, for the past... I don't remember how long... this time of year leaves me with a weight in my chest that doesn't leave until the sun brings forth its delightful heat once more. I don't really know how to explain the feeling I receive starting around mid September. I just know that I don't like it.

On to a completely different subject...
I have been doing much thinking... and I have come to a conclusion.
As you know, I have been thinking of pursuing a job with the US Postal Service. It would pay great... and it would provide me with excellent benefits... however, if I were to take a job (no matter what the job was) that paid well and offered good benefits... I would feel completely trapped. Let me explain.

If I had a wife, I would have no problems with taking a job with the USPS. It would still be possible for me to attain a degree, if I so desired... but the process would take years to complete. And... if I were to be tied down, then I wouldn't care about not having a degree.

The problem lies in the fact that I'm not tied down. If I were to get a job that paid really really really well I would have a hard time ever doing anything else. Like I said a moment ago... I'd feel trapped. True... each year I'd gain an additional $50,000 (more or less)... which would be really nice. This would cause me not to consider quitting... since I'd already have the job secured in my grasp.

Now, if I don't get a job with the USPS... and I start going back to school and get my degree in psychology... then get a Masters (and/or PhD) in Criminal Psychology or Abnormal Psychology... then several years down the road I would have a job that I would enjoy much more than driving a mail truck around all day... every day... day after day after day... and... I'd have the potential to make twice what I'd be making at the post office. Plus... Dr. Harbison has a nice ring to it.

So... I have decided to try and get into Texas State in the spring. If, however, I do not get accepted, then I will attempt the job with the post office.

This means that in a few months, I may be moving to (or near) San Marcos. I know that I could live at home and go to school... but the fact is... I'm 25 (soon to be 26). And living at home at the age of 25 after living away from home for the past 7 (almost 8) years is... well... it's weird.

I hope that all made sense. If not... to bad. It made sense in my head.

Are you ready???

2006-10-15T00:47:00.000-07:00

HAHAHAHAHA...
I just thought that was funny.

You know what the two biggest problems I found with it though?
1) The raptured people's clothes should've been neatly folded after they were raptured.
2) There was no rapture-hatch installed... so they all should've been stuck to the ceiling.

Awesome...

2006-10-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an interesting day.

It started off... well... seeing as how I never went to bed the night before, yesterday started at midnight.

Anyways, yesterday, around 8:30 in the a.m. I decided to get my 1 1/2 days worth of a paycheck that I could've (should've) picked up over a month ago. So I called the place that holds the paychecks and ask for directions. I'd been there before but that was a year or two ago. The woman gives me directions and I get in my car...

I do like the woman says... I went down 35, took the Taylor/Hutto exit, took a u-turn at the light... took a left at the next light... then never saw a Sonic or YMCA...

So I pull over and call my dad to see if he can help me with directions. He wasn't at a computer so I called my brother. However, at the time he was also no where near a computer. So I decided to try and find something to eat and then wait for Christopher to call me back with directions.

So I turn around and head back the direction I came... took a right back onto the access road... and took a right at that light instead of taking a u-turn. Once I made it to the next stoplight I realized where I was. So I took a left... saw the Sonic and the YMCA and then the place I was looking for on my left.

So... I'm guessing the woman said at the light "you turn"... however, I swear the woman said u-turn at the light. Whatever. I got my check and went home. (after eating at Sonic)

By 10 in the a.m. I start mowing the yard. 5 hours later I finally finished both the front and back yard, trimming the tree in the front, edging the lawn, and pulling an entire basket full of sticker plants out of the back yard. Why did it take so long? Because the grass in the back was higher than my knees and my dad likes the yard to be mowed using the catch-bag. Which meant that every few passes I had to take the bag off and empty it into one of those large lawn bags.

Once I finish I decide to take a bath since I'm covered in cut grass, dirt, and sweat. I went upstairs and took my shirt off... my shoulders looked exceptionally dirty... once I finished bathing I looked at my shoulders... yeah... they're sunburned. They weren't dark due to dirt. Well... they were dirty... but the burn's pretty dark. :) However, the burn actually doesn't hurt all too badly. And I'm thankful for that.

The End.

Just Call Me Scrooge

2006-10-09T00:04:00.000-07:00

I realize that I'm probably in a very small minority on this... but what they hay... I'll post it anyway.

This is something I think about all the time... but today I was really annoyed by it. My mom, my sister, and I went to Cracker Barrel to eat dinner tonight. And for those of you who have ever been to a Cracker Barrel know that they have a sort of old fashioned General Store in front of the restaurant. Year round, the merchandise changes with the holiday seasons.

So... today the place was decked out in both Halloween and Christmas stuff to buy. Now, the point of this post is to state the fact that I hate holiday decorations. Not just Christmas or Halloween decorations... I'm talking about all of the holiday decorations. I can't stand it. I'm not really sure why... I just don't.

Every year I see people's houses or places of business filled with Valentine, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc... decorations... and... I just want to tear it down.

Of course... I would never do that... since it's not mine.

But when I had my own apartment, it was never decorated. It would drive my mom insane that I didn't want a Christmas tree at Christmas or a Thanksgiving welcome mat for the month of November.

I don't know... maybe it's because 99% of the decorations have nothing to do with the purpose of the holiday. Either way... I'd be much happier if there were no holiday decorations. I know what the day is without needing to be reminded by my surroundings.

Unfortunately... if I get married... my wife will most likely deck the walls with that crap. Well... I need not worry about that for now.

I don't really know why I felt like posting this... but... whatever. :)

ESCAPED SHNORKLICKLE!

2006-10-02T00:54:00.000-07:00

I thought I should advise everyone that just a few moments ago a Shnorklickle escaped from a testing facility in the Austin area.

The Shnorklickle is a very dangerous beast. Its diet is comprised of clothing and rubber. This causes a problem because this foul beast will stop at nothing to get at your clothing. It will injure (and most likely kill) anyone wearing clothes. Scientists say that the only way to prevent the Shnorklickle from killing you to get at your clothes is to do your daily activities in the buff.

So, be sure to run around in your birthday suit until this monster can be recaptured.

I happened to see this little demon just a few minutes ago. It was attacking one of the trouble-makers that roam our neighborhood in the wee hours of the morning. Thankfully I was butt-ass naked at the time... otherwise I would've been the beast's next victim.

Why was I naked? Well... you see... what happened was... I had a few drinks... and I stepped in an ant bed. I noticed the ants all over me the moment they started to sting me. So... I stripped down. And not a moment too soon! It pains me to think that I could've been the escaped Shnorklickle's next meal.

Be careful where you go and what you do tomorrow... and be sure to run around naked. It's the only way to be safe.

Spam Mail

2006-09-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

Ok... we all hate spam mail. I understand that some of it is scams, and others are actually trying to sell you something (which most likely isn't worth it).

Even though I understand these message I still hate them.

However... lately I've been noticing some rather odd spam messages that I do not understand the purpose of. For instance, here is one of the ones I received earlier today:

"Maurice Alvin paycheck inside a satellite goes to sleep, and .a CEO has a change of heart about .a support group beyond a hydrogen atom. The? imaginative ski lodge Most people believe that the defendant. shares a shower with the hockey player, but they. need to remember how seldom a crane toward. a reactor procrastinates. Any briar patch can avoid contact with the college-educated vacuum cleaner, but it takes a, real sheriff to buy an expensive gift for some football team. An industrial. complex is boiled. Most people believe, that some judge eats a canyon defined by. the crane, but they need to remember how .accurately a reactor procrastinates. The wedge behind the .razor blade throws a statesmanlike defendant at an? accidentally hairy turn signal. A secretly nearest canyon Some. jersey cow toward a scooby snack avoids contact with. the tornado around an insurance agent. Indeed, a.
wedge toward a fundraiser non-chalantly seeks a purple .bowling ball. When the dreamlike tomato hides, a .lover procrastinates. Conclusions A satellite, an earring, and? a dust bunny are what made America great! The. deficit makes love to the oil filter. A senator. from the squid wisely learns a hard lesson. from a skyscraper related to the reactor. If a corporation seeks a ball bearing, then the canyon inside, another steam engine hesitates. Indeed, a revered sandwich figures out the polygon. Introduction. The hockey player toward the pine, cone borrows money from another class action suit.
over a bartender. Now and then, a power .drill around the hydrogen atom brainwashes a bohemian .abstraction. Most people believe that the false satellite? seldom conquers the mastadon, but they need to remember. how thoroughly a cough syrup around the grain of. sand wakes up. A short order cook related.

to an ocean bestows great honor upon a .blood clot. A short order cook gives secret .financial aid to the feline razor blade. A? ravishing industrial complex When the cowboy inside some dolphin. ruminates, the corporation meditates. Furthermore, the blotched corporation leaves,. and a false garbage can barely tries to. seduce a parking lot. A tomato is nuclear. The steam engine defined by a tabloid If some ocean, around some football team accurately competes with a chestnut inside an inferiority complex,. then a sheriff behind some tornado, nharbison"

I mean... the closest thing to a true sentence in all of that is "Any briar patch can avoid contact with the college-educated vacuum cleaner, but it takes a, real sheriff to buy an expensive gift for some football team." WTF is the point of sending out emails like this? It's not a scam... they're not trying to sell anything... they're not even communicating anything... so what purpose do they serve other than getting on my nerves and wasting storage space?

Anyways... I'm at a loss for words on this.

Close Call

2006-09-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

So... I had to return a movie (Grandma's Boy) to Blockbuster tonight. I parked in the HEB parking lot since I needed to buy some more deodorant... and walked over to Blockbuster... then slipped the movie into the return slot.

I then meandered my way over to HEB. As I approached the doors I decided to buy some beer. I looked at the clock on my cell phone... it showed that I had 5 minutes to get the beer and purchase before they stopped selling it. However, I decided to ask one of the cashiers what time the clock on the register said. She looked at it... looked back at me and said "11:57... you have 3 minutes... you better run."

So... I took off to the beer aisle. I spotted the beer I wanted to buy (Boddingtons Pub Ale)... grabbed it... then ran back to the registers.

Crap! There was a line.

I sat the beer on the conveyor belt... then looked at the register's clock. To my horror I read "11:59". I had less than one minute to purchase the beer!!!

The lady in front of me (who I'm assuming worked there since she was wearing an HEB uniform) looked at my beer... looked at the register... grabbed her items... then said to me "Oh. Here. Go ahead of me." To this I was extremely grateful and told her "thank you" over and over again.

The cashier then scanned my beer... I paid... and all is right within the universe.

So... I have my beer. Mmm....

(Oh... and Christopher... since I wasn't able to buy you a beer on your birthday... I'm saving one or two of these for you next time you're over.)

shakes head

2006-09-20T20:47:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard of Jesus Camp (a documentary coming out on Sept. 22) you should check out these links:

Link 1
Link 2

I'm interested in watching this film.

Sadly, though, this looks like the typical emotion-driven service that gets kids "fired up" for God. Then... of course... once camp's over the "fire" is mysteriously extinguished and the kids are left to think that they must have lost their salvation... or that God doesn't want anything to do with them... or that they're not good enough... etc.

And... this kind of stuff gives Christians a bad name. The outsiders looking in will of course think (if they don't already) that all Christians are like this.

Anyways... enough on that. Enjoy the video clips. ;)

Thought this was funny...

2006-09-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a good night...

2006-09-17T00:49:00.000-07:00

Tonight I got to spend time with a friend who I have not seen since she left for England a little over a year ago.

We met up at a pub called Sherlocks at 7 in the p.m. and started talking and drinking some beers. We finally decided to order food around 10:15... and continued to talk. We then ordered one last drink and were finally kicked out of the place at 2:15 in the a.m. I hope our waitress wasn't pissed at us for taking up one of the seats in her section for 7 hours. We didn't even realize how fast time was flying by.

I had a beer tonight that I had never had before... and it was pretty good. It's called Boddingtons.

Once I got back to the house, I checked my email... and to my surprise I saw an email from Andy informing me that he found my mp3 player at his house. I'm super thrilled about that... because now I don't have to go buy another one.

And now that it's almost 3 in the a.m. I should go to bed so I can wake up for church in the morning.

My first hunting experience...

2006-09-09T21:51:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I went hunting today for the first time in my life. Here's how the day went:

We woke up at 5:45 in the a.m., got dressed, and made our way out to the hunting grounds. We sat around for a while... and didn't see any doves. I'm assuming that's because it was a bit too early for them to be out. So we waited.

And waited.

A few hours into it my brother and my cousin both shot at a dove. They winged it, but it didn't die. And if it did die, then it died elsewhere and couldn't be retrieved.

About an hour later, a dove flew over my head. I didn't see it until it was almost too late. I took aim... and missed. It turned out that by the time I fired it was out of range.

We waited around a bit longer... then decided to walk the tree line. I managed to see one perched in a tree. Instead of trying to walk a bit closer I decided to take the shot. I was far enough away (and seeing as how I hadn't ever fired a shotgun before I didn't realize that I needed to aim just slightly higher than normal) that I missed. It flew off to another tree. So I decided to walk to the tree and try to find it again. After a few minutes of staring at the tree... I decided that it must have flown off. So I threw a rock at the tree... and then the dove flew off. Yeah... it was there... I just didn't see it. Oh well.

We waited around a little while longer... then decided to shake up some hot cans of Bud Light and fired at them (from a farely close range). The cans exploded. We all laughed. And... seeing as how it was Bud Light (thus undrinkable) "wasting" it like this was not considered alcohol abuse.

At the point we decided to leave to get something to eat... then we were going to return for a few more hours. On our way of the land, we noticed 4 or 5 doves perched in a tree. Our cousin stopped his car... we loaded two of the shotguns... however, there were two other guys close enough to the tree (and I think they were already going after the birds) we couldn't shoot at them. The birds flew off... then we hear the other two guys fire a few shots... then walked back to our truck carrying 4 or 5 freshly killed doves. We chatted for a minute... then our cousin saw a dove fly into the field... so he went to try to shoot it. But... it either flew off when no one was looking... or it just hid very well... because we never saw it again.

We all get back in the truck and start to leave. Our cousin then noticed that his truck was stuck in 4 wheel drive/low... and was trying to get it out... but... seeing as how it was a Ford (Fixed Or Repaired Daily) he couldn't get it out of 4 wheel drive. So he tried driving around the field for a little longer in hopes of it un-sticking. As he was driving I told him to stop the truck. I noticed 3 doves perched in a tree. I grabbed the shotgun I'd been using... loaded it... took aim... then I realized that I forgot to put the shell in the chamber. I cocked the gun... took aim... and... realized the safety was on. I turned off the safety... took aim... the birds started to fly away... I knew it was now or never... I took the shot... and... I nailed one of the doves. But... it was stuck in the tree. The dove was either barely alive or its nerves were causing his body to twitch... but thankfully this caused it to fall out of the tree and land on the ground. My cousin picked it up and threw it in the back of the truck.

We left to get food, then hurried back to the hunting grounds.

On the way to get food... we saw about 100 doves... but we couldn't shoot at them because they weren't on "our" property. On the way back... again... we saw tons of doves. But... once we got out to actually shoot at them... the doves magicaly disappeared. So we didn't manage to get any more.

Now that we're back home... I'm not feeling all that great. My nose is running like crazy... I took some alergy medicine... that didn't work... so I just took some cold medicine... and that's helped my nose clear up. I'm hoping I feel well enough to go to church in the morning. I'll just have to be sure to get someone to break the bread for me since I'm sure I'll be using tissues all throughout the service.

Anyways... even though I was only able to shoot one dove... I still had loads of fun. I think we're going to do this again in a week or two.

Crazy Pez Collectors...

2006-09-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

This PEZ dispencer was sold almost two weeks ago... for $32,205.
It was sold on eBay... if you want to see the page, click here.

Here's an article about the dispencer. This purchase seems to have broken the world's record on most money spent on a single dispencer. (The previous record was $6000)

Now... I know that none of the pez in my collection will sell for that much (seeing as how I only have one rare one) but it would be nice if one day my collection would be worth some crazy money. Although... I'm not so sure I'd sell it. I'd probably hold on to it and let it gain value... then give it to my kids (if I have any) and let them worry about selling it.

In other news... I'm going dove hunting on Saturday... I hope I can shoot one at point blank range... I would laugh rather hard. :)

Why I quit...

2006-08-24T00:12:00.000-07:00

Before I receive any more congrats on the job, I should let everyone know that I quit that job. I know... I know... it looks pathetic to quit after only working two days... but I had to do so.

Deep down I knew I shouldn't have taken the job... but I was desperate so I took it anyways. Shortly after accepting the job I already felt trapped. I worked the first day... and that wasn't too bad. I was a little sore... and really tired. After the second day I was extremely tired and extremely sore. My right shoulder felt as if I had broken my collar bone... every joint in my arms were killing me... I had a headache due to the two days of inhaling metal dust... and my knees were killing me.

The welding wasn't what was causing this (seeing as how I wasn't actually welding yet... all I was using the welding torch for was to tack pieces of the booms together)... but it was caused by moving the booms across a giant table... manually. These booms weighed anywhere from 800 to 2500 lbs... and I was having to roll them across the table by myself.

The next day I went to church... which didn't really do me any good since I slept through the entire service. I knew that if I kept the job my joints were only going to hurt worse... I was only going to become more exhausted... and I was only going to become more stressed.

I know that it would seem wise for me to just stick with the job and continue to search for a new one... then once I had another job lined up then quit this one. However, that wasn't exactly possible. I wasn't going to get home until 5 or 5:30 in the p.m. I wouldn't have been able to schedule an interview unless I took a few hours off during the middle of my shift.

So... I'm now continuing my search for a job.

I talked with a lady from the post office today. I should be receiving a package from the post office in about a week or so. This packet has information that I will need to study and some practice tests to complete. Once I'm ready I will then schedule a time to take the actual test. The lady informed me that those who actually prepare for the test usually make about 25 points higher than those who don't. On top of that... since I'm considered a disabled vet I will automatically receive an additional 5 to 10 points. She also told me that the post office prefers to hire former military.

The cool thing about this is... she said that I would start at a minimum of $20/hr. Based on my test scores it could be higher. She then said that the majority of the postal workers make at least $57,000 a year.

So... I'll be studying my @$$ off for this test.

Ok... well that's the update for now.
Have a great day.

I GOT THE JOB!!! :)

2006-08-17T12:43:00.000-07:00

First... the above picture is the sunburn I received yesterday after welding for maybe 30 seconds. The picture's not all the great... it's a bit blurry... and it shows exactly how white I am. (not that me being super-white was ever a big secret)

Anyways... as you can tell from the title of this post... I got the job. I start tomorrow, bright and early, at 6 in the a.m. That means I'll need to leave my house by 5:30 in the a.m.... which means I'll have to wake up around 4:45 - 5 in the a.m. yay.

So... I guess tomorrow I'll have yet another update as to how the first day of work went.

Until then... have a great day. :)

Job Interview Today!

2006-08-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

So... I had an interview at Manitex today. I walked in... sat in the office for about 15 - 20 minutes... then the welding supervisor came in and got me. He walked me back to the welding shop... showed me around... then said all he needed to see was how I well I can weld.

So the guy gave me two pieces of 3/4" thick steel. I placed the one piece flat on the table, then balanced the other piece on top of it making an upside-down "T".

He told me to weld half of the front... stop... then start back up and finish that side. He then told me that he mainly wanted there to be no undercut. (Undercut is when you move too slow or let the work area get too hot... which creates a small indention on the top and bottom of the weld bead)

Well... I haven't welding in about 5 or so years... so I was a bit freaked out because I was expecting my beads to look terrible. But... I took a deep breath... tried to relax... pulled the trigger and began welding.

I got half way finished and stopped. I pulled up my welding hood... and surprise surprise... it didn't look that bad. I noticed that I moved a little too fast... so on the other half of the run I forced myself to slow down a bit.

I finished with the front side. The supervisor rotated the test plates and then told me to run a bead from start to finish on the back side.

Again, I took a deep breath... tried to relax a bit more... and began to weld. I remembered to move slowly... and the back turned out even better than the front.

The supervisor looked at it and said it was good.

Before I left the testing station... I noticed another test piece... which I'm assuming was done by the interviewee before me. It.was.terrible. Seriously. There was deep undercut along the entire test piece.

The supervisor then told me that he had one more guy coming in for an interview tomorrow... and then he'd call me up and let me know if I got the job or not. I'm hoping the next guy doesn't weld better than me... because I really want a job.

Then... once I finished with the interview... I got in the car to leave. After driving for about five minutes I began to notice that my left arm was stinging a bit. I looked down... then I busted out laughing. Ok... so I welded for a total of maybe 30 seconds... and I have a very noticeable sunburn from where my sleeve ended all the way to the bend of my elbow. I completely forgot how much UV rays those machines kick out. Thankfully... if I get the job... the company will provide me with some leather sleeves to wear. That will definitely prevent me from getting a crazy farmer's tan like I had in the Marine Corps. (yes... we welded in t-shirts just about all the time)

Anyways... if ya'll could keep me in your prayers that would be awesome. I would really enjoy having a welding job... so if I don't get this job, please pray that I can find another welding job.

Oh... and one good thing about this company... they don't work on Sundays! :)

My Head Asplode

2006-08-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

So... I'm back in Austin for good. I'm extremely excited about that... but I'm also a bit saddened by that.

I finished my math final this past Wednesday. I emailed my professor to find out how I did... to which she responded with: "...Great job in the class and on the final! You made an A..." Which means I should receive my associate's degree in the mail in a week or so. Hopefully that will help me find a job... and soon.

Today it hit me that I am back home. I won't ever have to drive back to College Station unless I feel the need to visit. This also means that now I must find a job. This has me absolutely terrified. I've been looking for a job for the past few months... and I haven't really found anything that I qualify for. Another welding position opened in Austin (well... Round Rock) last week. I'm going to send in a resume. The problem is... I haven't welded in about five years. Which means... the only way I'll get hired on is if they're in desperate need of a welder. I know that if I get the job I'd need a crash course to refresh my memory on how to set up the machine and the various techniques for the various styles of welds (overhead, flat, vertical, and horizontal). I'm afraid that because of the need for a refresher course, I'm not going to get a welding job.

Also... I'm 25... and I'm going to be living with my parents again. I don't particuarly like this idea. I mean... ever since I was 18 I haven't really lived at my house. I mean... I did for a few months until I started school... and then I lived here again for a semester when I ran out of money. So... for the last 7 years I've basically lived independantly... and now... again... I'm relying on my parents to give me a place to stay. I could go and get a place of my own... but then I wouldn't really be able to save up money.

Furthermore... since I've lived on my own (basically) for the last seven years... I've accumulated a lot of stuff. The problem with that is... there's really not any place for any of my stuff. I've already found a home for one of my TV's... and some of my other stuff will be put in my brother's storage unit... but the rest of it is going to be crammed in my room and/or thrown out in the garage.

I really hate the fact that I don't have a job... because that means for the next -however-long-it-takes-to-find-a-job- I'll be bored out of my mind. Of course... the days will be spent searching for jobs... but... I don't know. My mind hurts. I can't really think straight at the moment.

I think I'm about to go drink another beer then go to bed.

Tomorrow, after church, I need to talk with someone to find out what all I'll need to do to transfer my membership from Westminster over to Redeemer.

Hopefully I'll get a job soon. Very soon. That would be awesome.

The Best WAZUUUUP Video Ever

2006-08-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

Ok ok... an update!

2006-08-02T01:20:00.000-07:00

So... I've decided to finally update this thing... since I've been harassed by everyone to do so. ;)

Today... well... yesterday, rather... (my today)... didn't go how I intended it to go.

The day started off with me waking up due to some rather weird dreams. Let's just say I was in a secret compartment under a slide at a water park... with a caged lion... later I was with my mom and brother... chasing a car full of people who stole my brother's license plates (not his car... just the plates)... then I ran down some stairs with Dubeee... who must have magically appeared... and anyways... yeah... it was a weird dream.

Once I'm fully awake I decide to go check the mail. As I'm coming back inside, Andrew returns from class. He then asks me "Hey, do you know you're tire's flat?"

*sigh*

No... I didn't know it was flat. It was filled with air last night. Anyways... I then took my car to Discount Tires where I purchased 4 new tires. I figured I'd might as well since one of the back tires was completely flat (and had the wires showing) and the other back tire was in just as poor of condition except that it still held air. The two front ones could've lasted a little longer... but I would've had to replace them in a short amount of time... so I just decided to get all 4 new. So... now I'm $240 poorer.

I then returned back to the house... where I continued packing the things in my room. (I'm almost done). I then went to class to take my test.

The test was... odd. It was one of those tests where I think I did ok... but at the same time I had a really weird feeling that I did piss-poor. Well... I shall see tomorrow (er... today).

Saturday's going to be fun. I'll be playing hockey for the second time in my life. I must remember to go to Academy and buy... umm... protection. I don't want a repeat of last time. ;)

And... well... that's all ya'll get for now. Ya'll are lucky ya'll got that much. ;)

Another 1st Day of Shool

2006-07-07T02:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, I realize that I left the "c" out of "school". That's because on Mike's calendar he has written down "Shool Begins". And... his wasn't on purpose. ;)

Anyways...

Today was the first day of my Math class. Finally... after 3 other math classes I'm finally in a math course that will actually count as a college-level class.

So... this professor... yeah... she's about 100 billionty eleventy-seventeen times better than my last professor.

1st, she's funny.
2nd, she actually explains what she's teaching. In a matter of 2 hours she managed to teach me what my last professor failed to do over the course of a week.
3rd, her teaching style is exactly what I prefer.
4th, she's only giving us 2 tests and a final. (so I guess that's really 3 tests)
5th, the homework is optional... and if you do decide to do it... you only have about 20 problems each night... not 1,000,000.
6th, she doesn't dress like a clown.
7th, she doesn't wear a damn flower on her head.
and... the list could go on and on... but seeing as how I should have been in bed about 6 hours ago... I'm going to just stop there.

This afternoon was loads of fun.
I woke up early, then I took Jess, Heather, and their mom lunch. Then Jess and I watched a movie. So yeah... this afternoon was great. :)

Then... unfortunately I had to drive to College Station to go to class... then I had to drive back to Austin so I could leave for Dallas in the morning. Yeah... I could have just gone to Dallas from College Station... but then I would've still had to drive to Austin afterwards so I can see Jess on her 21st birthday. (which is Sunday... so everyone needs to go buy her 21 gifts. I'm cereal. Super cereal.)

And... dat's all I gots fo' now.

I thought it was funny...

2006-07-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

While most of my family was gone to Schlitterbahn I decided to use the day to do nothing. I haven't really had a day where I could do that in quite some time... and... it was just as awesome as I remember it being.

I woke up, played Guild Wars for a while, then decided that since Pirates of the Caribbean 2 is coming out soon I should probably taked the time to watch the first one. And... I did just that... Dubeee and I.

After the movie was over I realized that I had a killer headache. So... I didn't want to move. Instead I just flipped through the channels. I watched Seinfeld, then King of Queens. Near the end of King of Queens I hear a knock on the door. Dubeee has a spaz attack because she loves seeing people.

I cracked the door and placed my foot in a way that Dubeee couldn't come running out to greet this new visitor. The young lady at the door proceeds to introduce herself and tell me that she's trying to get signatures for something. Of course... my mind shut off before she even introduced herself because I saw the clipboard in her hand.

Anyways... I don't really remember anything that she said except for "We're trying to take power back from the corrupt Republicans in the..." at which point I smiled really big and said, "Oh. Everyone in this house is a Republican." She stopped talking, gave a bit of a nervous giggle and said "Oh, well I'll write that down so we'll be sure not to come back and bother you."

I don't know why I thought that was funny... but I did.

Anyways... I'm going to be making a post later on tonight or tomorrow... so keep an eye out. ;)

I'm Almost Done!

2006-06-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well...
I took my math final. And guess what? I was 20 minutes late to my Tech Writing final because of that.

I don't know what is wrong with that professor... but I'm glad to know that I'll never have to take her again. She acts as if her class is the only class anyone takes during the summer. I'm sorry... but some of us are taking two classes... and we don't have time to put up with your crap.

During the final... she decides to have a conversation with me about how I need to bring her my tests back. I'm kind of confused... why does she need them? She's already recorded the grade. I inform her that the tests are at my house. She then tells me that I'll need to bring them to her after class. I then inform her that I am taking another final as soon as I'm done with hers. She then says that I'll need to slide them under the door of her office after I'm finished with my next final.

So... now that I've wasted 5 minutes talking to her about this... I have now lost 5 minutes in which I could have been... oh... that's right... taking my final.

Once I finsih and turn in my test, she asks me if I'll be taking classes during the next summer session. I confirmed that I was. She then says to just bring the tests back to her once the next session starts.

In the famous words of Luke "..."

Umm... once my grade is in the computers... I'm not going to come bring you my old tests.

Anyways... my Tech Writing final went... well? I'm not sure how it went. It didn't seem very difficult... which makes me wonder if I royally screwed it up. ;)

Now I'm waiting for everyone else to finish so I can give my oral presentation. I have done absolutely nothing to prepare for that... so... I'm going to just draw on the board as I talk. I mean... it's about welding basics... I think I'll do alright. :)

Anyways... I should get back up to the class room. I think the speeches are about to start soon.

No Title

2006-06-25T23:28:00.000-07:00

It was made evident to me tonight that God wants me to be alive.

On my way back to College Station I noticed that there was a wreck about 5 cars in front of me. Traffic came to a complete stop for a little over half an hour...

But... this was an accident like I've never seen before. There was about 20 police car/ambulances. I wasn't able to see the wreck at this point... but I figured it had to be bad for there to be that many flashing lights.

Of course, half of the people in the traffic had to get out of their cars and walk up to the accident to see what happened. (I never understood why people do this... just stay in your car and let the medics do their job. I promise... they don't need your help.)

Traffic began to move again... then I passed by the car(s?)
This wreck took place about 100 yards from where I had been stopped in traffic.
The car... it was bad. The only way the people in the car survived was if God hand his hands surrounding them during the crash.

The car (or it could've been cars) was in such bad shape that I could barely tell it was a car. Had it not been for the wheels/tires it would've just looked like a brick of scrap metal.

I then realized that had I left my house 30 - 60 seconds before I did... that could have been me. That could have been my loved ones who received a call informing them that I died.

So... God has a reason for me to be alive. I'm not sure what that reason is but I'm thankful that He's given me yet another day to live on this earth.

I pray for the people and the families of the people involved in the crash.

Must get back to homework...

All Mixed Up

2006-06-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

Well... what to say?

I guess I should first mention that I have cleaned my room. I decided to do so after opening my fridge and smelling one of the worst smells I have ever experienced.

So... I cleaned my room so I would be able to open my fridge all the way.

What did I find in the fridge? Umm... some milk that expired over a month ago... some extremely old spinach that had turned to mush... some old yogurt that expired over a month ago... some month old sandwich meat... some food I brought home from some resteraunt who knows how long ago... and a bag of celery in the bottom tray of the fridge.

You know what I learned through all this?
If you leave celery in the fridge for a really long time... it leaves a pool of brownish-green liquid underneath it.

Yeah... it smelled awful! :)

So I now have a clean room... and a clean fridge. :)

Well... a more-clean room. ;)

School is driving me insane. As of right now I have a 78 in my math class. This is due to not completing all of the homework (mainly because the assignments are so confusing that I don't know what's due and when it's due... so I miss things)... and I made a 67 on my second test. But... I made a 94 on the first test and a 96 on the third test. I don't know what happened on the 2nd test...

Tech writing isn't too bad. However, it's got me a bit discouraged at the moment. One of our assignments is to find a job listing that we qualify for... then write our resume for the job. So why is this discouraging? Well... because I realized how little I am qualified to do. I mean... I've got 3 years of welding experience... but that was over 4 years ago... and a welding company would much prefer someone with a little more current experience. Other than that... I've got nothing.
Seriously... I worked at Albertsons for 3 months back when I was 16... then I worked at HEB for a little over two years as a cashier/bagger... then I've got my Marine Corps experience... a job with Home Depot as a cashier that lasted for 2 months... then a catering job that lasted for about 5 months... then a job at Home Depot for another 4 or 5 months... and finally... a temp. job pulling files off a shelf.
Oh yeah... I can see a business jumping at the opportunity to hire someone of my expertise.

Sorry... I'm a bit cynical at the moment. I really want to find a job as soon as I get home that pays well and has good benefits... but I'm not qualified for anything other than a stupid cashiering job.

Seriously... I've searched the city of Austin's job site... monster.com... craigslist.com... and various other job search sites. What have I found that I'm qualified to do? Absolutely nothing.

And it's not that I'm incapable of keeping a job... and I hate job-hopping... I do have valid reasons for why I've had so many jobs for such a short period of time. My parents wanted me to quit the job at Albertsons because the management sucked... then I had to quit at HEB because I left for boot camp... then I was discharged from the Marines because I screwed my knees/body up... then I quit the job at Home Depot because I moved to College Station... then I quit the catering job because I continued to get scheduled for 60-80 hours a week (as a part-time employee) and I couldn't do that and go to school... then I quit at Home Depot because I moved back to Austin... and the temp. job... well... it was a temp. job.

I really just want to scream. I need to take some time and go out to my thinking spot one night soon. That always helps. I'll see if I can do that at some point this weekend. (but I'll have to remember the insect repellant)

I don't know...

I'm trying not to let this get me down because I know that God will give me a job when it's time for me to have a job.

Furthermore... I just want to go home. I'm sick of school. I'm sick of being away from home. I know I've only got about 6 or 7 weeks left here... but I really just don't want to be here.

And this reminds me... the psychology degree is pretty much out of the question now. I've been doing a lot of thinking on it... and I don't think it's something I should persue. Mainly because a psychology degree isn't all that great without a master's or PhD... and I really don't want to take another 4-6 years of school. I'm tired of school. I've only got about 2 years left before I'll have my Bachelor's Degree... and after that... I don't want to go back to school.

However... now I have no idea what I want to major in. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out a degree that would land me a job that I'd be extremely happy in... and I can't really think of anything. Well... I've had a few passing thoughts... but... I just don't know. I need summer school to hurry and end so I can think straight again.

So yeah... I've got a mixture of emotions right now... and I'm ready for them to stabilize.

Have you seen my mind? I think I've lost it...

2006-06-13T21:32:00.000-07:00

There are many reasons why I want this summer session to be over with.

One of those reasons is because I can't stand my math class.

I made a 67 on my last test. This is the first time since I started taking math classes in college that I made anything less than a 90. I'm not so much upset with the grade as I am with why I got the 67.

Our professor is supposed to talk for the first 30 minutes of class... then she's supposed to give us the last 1 1/2 hours to take the test. Well... she decided to talk for 45 minutes which means we had 15 less minutes to work. I needed those 15 minutes... because I'm usually the last one to finish my tests, but I also usually work right up until the class is over. So... I had to rush through the last 5 problems.

Also... my professor doesn't give partial credit on the answers. I've never heard of a math professor not giving partial credit. When looking over the test I noticed that my answers would have been correct had I not made a simple mistake near the end of the problem.

Furthermore, she assigns 4 (+) hours of homework a night. I understand that homework is a part of college... but 4 hours worth each night? I sit in a classes for four hours each day... by the time I get back to the house... the last thing I want to do is look at a math book for the next four hours... then look at an English text book (or write papers) for the following hour or two.

I don't know... I feel like this is pointless complaining... because... well... it's college... and working on school work is a part of it.

It's just that I wish there were more hours in the day... or that there wasn't so much that I had to do each day. I'm afraid that if this summer session doesn't hurry up and end that my brain is seriuosly going to explode.

Furthermore, I don't want to be here. I want to go home. I'm sick of school and definitely ready for a break. It's funny how God works sometimes. :) I didn't get accepted into A&M... and I think one reason for that is because... well... I really need a break from school.

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I'm going to do once I move back home. I'm really hoping to find a welding job or a job with the post office. However, I've been looking on the USPS website and there aren't any jobs currently available... and I've been watching the city of Austin's job opportunity pages and I haven't seen any job openings that I qualify for.

I'm trying not to worry about it... because I know that God will give me a job when He's ready for me to have one. I find it odd that I know God's in control yet I still worry about the future at times.

I should cut this post short... I've still got about 2 hours of math left... and I have a paper due tomorrow. Then tomorrow I have 4 (+) hours of math... and another paper to write that is due the following day. (Why did I sign up for 2 classes this summer session? Oh yeah... I had to if I wanted my AA degree by the end of the summer.)

WOO HOO!!!

2006-06-10T23:01:00.000-07:00

Wow... it's been forever since my blog has been updated.

However, there is a reason for that. :)

I'm super happy right now... but I'll get to that later. :) :) :)

I have been extremely busy ever since the spring semester ended. I went to Florida, then was in Austin for a few days, then I went to Wichita Falls... then I had to go back to College Station to start summer school. Joy.

Speaking of summer school... it sucks. I've taken summer school before... and it wasn't exactly what I'd call fun... but they were classes that only made sense to take in the summer. I took both of my History classes and a government class. These go really well in the summer because it's easy to see the progression of things when presented extremely quickly.

However, this summer session is not like that at all. See... to have my associate's degree by the end of the summer, I've got to complete three classes. Two of those classes I'm taking this summer session. And they are not classes that should be taken over the summer. The first class is Intermediate Algebra.

I used to hate math, but since I started back at the very beginning... and I now understand why and how the formulas work... it's actually much more enjoyable. But... since this is a 5 week course... it sucks. I pick up on the information quickly... but it's just really frustrating trying to figure out what I'm doing at this super fast rate. My professor isn't really a big help either... but I won't go into that. :)

The other class I'm taking this semester is a Technical Writing class. This one isn't so bad to take over the summer... it's just a lot of writing with very little time to plan out what needs to go in the paper. However, I do like this English class much more than any other English class I've taken in college (Freshman and Sophomore English and Children's Lit)... mainly because it's straight to the point. There's not analyzing what the author might have been implying in his/her writings. It's awesome. All you have to do is say as much as possible with the fewest words possible.

In other news... that's still related to college... our VA rep was either fired, or she quit. Either way... Blinn does not have a VA rep at the moment. The reason this isn't good is because the VA rep is the one who handles the GI Bill information. So... I filled out the paper work for this semester... and I gave it to the financial aide office to submit. This was two weeks ago. Usually... it only takes a week for me to receive my check... and I have yet to receive any of my money for the summer. So... I need to check with the office on Monday and see why I haven't gotten paid.

Ok... so the reason I'm super happy...
I'm no longer single!!! :)

As most of my readers know, I've been communicating with Jess' dad ever since the week after Spring Break. After three months of communication, Jess' dad gave the two of us permission to start dating today. :)

I talked with him yesterday and he told me the good news, and then today he talked to both Jess and I. Jess was cooking dinner (which was super amazing, by the way) while I was talking with her dad. We finished talking just about the time dinner was ready. Oh! AND Jess baked an apple pie for dessert! I love apple pie... and hers was freaking amazing. :) Did I mention that dinner was really good? After dinner we played a game... it was fun. :) I lost... but it was fun anyways. :)

Then today I went with Mr. Linnemeyer, Donny and Gary to a lady's house to work on some sheet rock, some electrical stuff, and then some more sheet rock stuff. It was fun. I wasn't really that big of a help... well... mainly because I've never done that stuff before and didn't have a clue what I was doing. So I pretty much stood around making fun of Donny, Jess' dad, Gary, and my brother. (Yes Christopher... we make fun of you behind your back. Mainly because it's so easy to do. ;) ) Well... I didn't just stand around making fun of people... I also handed Jess' dad tools while he worked on the electrical stuff.

Then I went back to Jess' house where I lost 1/2 of my masculinity. You see... the bathroom that Jess decorated... well... I think only women can use the bathroom comfortably. :)
Now... I didn't say the decorations are bad... it's just that... well... it's definitely a girl's bathroom. ;)

Once I showered and changed, I went out to the kitchen and talked with Jess' mom for a while. Then Jess came home and we left for my parent's house.

We were a little late because Jess didn't pick up the movie like she said she was going to... so we had to stop by Blockbuster. Well... ok... she didn't really say anything about picking up a movie. I made that part up.

So we ate dinner with my parents, then we watched The Ringer which was really funny. After the movie Jess went to go to her friend's graduation celebration thingy.

And now... I'm updating my blog... and I'm about to do a myspace survey or two... then I'm going to bed.

By the way... I'm super happy!!!

Yay

2006-05-22T15:56:00.000-07:00

So... my dad just came upstairs and told me a bit of interesting information.

Apparently, someone stole a file from a VA employee.

So... what's the file? Oh... not much. Just 26.5 million former military personnel's SSNs, DOBs, and any other piece of information needed to steal someone's identity.

If you want to read more about this go here

I'm back

2006-05-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

Ok... after 14 hours of non-stop driving I am definitely ready for a nap. My brain is officially mush at the moment... but that's ok. :)

Florida was awesome.

Ok... bed time. I'll update more later. (probably tomorrow... I'm too tired at the moment)

Next stop... Florida!

2006-05-13T23:19:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow... I'm loading up my car... and we are headed off to Florida.
You won't hear from me for a week.

See ya when I get back home.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

2006-05-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well... yesterday was an awesome day. I won't go into specifics... but yeah... it was great. :)

Well... my grades were posted on Blinn's website today. I'm happy with all the grades... but I'm a bit shocked by one of them:

English---------C
Ethics----------C
Math-----------A
Phil. of Rel.---B
Speech---------A

I'm extremely happy that I made a "C" in English. That was really the only class that had me concerned.
Now... the one that shocked me was Ethics. I made a "B" on all of my tests... so I'm not really sure how I managed to get a "C".

Oh well... I don't care. A "C" is passing... and with a "C" I'll still be able to get my degree.

I'm super excited about summer conference. I haven't been in two years.

And tonight... I get to go to the Linnemeyer's bible study! YAY!

Ok... now I'm starving... I'm going to go see if my grandma wants to eat lunch.

4/5 Done!

2006-05-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

The countdown is almost over.

I have one final left. Tomorrow... at 12:45.
I'm a bit irritated... I was supposed to get a phone call from a guy in our class. There was supposed to be a group of us getting together to study tonight... but seeing as how it's almost 11 in the p.m. I highly doubt that I'll be receiving a phone call.
Oh well.

I think I'll do fine if I study by myself. I mean... I've studied alone for all of my other tests and I've still managed to make a "B" on all of them.

In other news... I received a "C-" on my research paper... which means I've made a "C" on all of my papers for my English class... which means as long as I made a "C" on my final... I'll have made a "C" in this English class... which means I will never again have to take this class! YAY!

I should be able to know what I've made in all of my classes by Friday. So before I leave for Florida, I'll know my grades... which will be nice.

In about two or three months I'll be moving back to Austin! I'm really looking forward to that.

In some ways I want to stay here... but in others I really want to move back.

Oh yeah...
I almost missed my English final today. After my Ethics final... I decided to sit out in front of my English classroom to study. My final didn't start for another 3 hours or so. I studied for a little while... maybe 30 minutes... then I started to get really tired... so I decided to take a nap in the hallway. I set my alarm for 3:30 in the p.m. because I thought my final was at 3:45 in the p.m. However... at 3:15 in the p.m. a guy from my class came up to me and tapped my foot to wake me up. He said "Hey, our final's starting." To which I replied "Oh $h!t!" and went into the class room. I read the first question about 5 times before I understood what it was asking... then I read the second question about 5 times before I understood what it was asking. Shortly after that I woke all the way up and was able to only read the question once. :) Yay for being sleepy.

Now I've got to get ready for tomorrow... I've got to make sure I get all of my stuff in my car... that way as soon as my final is over with, I can come back to the house, get Dubeee, then start driving home.

Once I get home I need to clean out my car... especially if I'm going to be driving others to summer conference. That means I'll be cleaning out the trunk of my car for the 1st time in years. :)
I also need to vacuum it out so that whoever sits up front doesn't get out of the car with a pound of Dubeee hair attached to their pants/shirt.

I love that dog. :) She played with my arm/shirt for about half an hour earlier. :)

Ok... I need to go study and get ready for tomorrow.

Lightninging

2006-05-06T02:01:00.000-07:00

I love storms.

I noticed that it was raining... and thundering... and lightning...ing, so I decided to go stand on the porch for a bit to enjoy a bit of God's artwork.

I was just staring out into the open... and this was the first time I noticed this. I guess I was looking in the right place at the right time. When the lightning flashed I was able to see thousands of rain drops all light up at the same time. It was beautiful. Words can do no justice in explaining the sight I saw.

Furthermore, I stood in awe at how awesome God's creation truly is. It's quite easy to forget at times... seeing as how the world around us is a daily part of our lives... so I'm thankful that God gave me the opportunity to enjoy his work early this morning.

Also, while I was standing out on the porch, a decent sized spider decided to hitch a ride on my pant leg. Once I returned to my room, I noticed a black thing on my leg. I figured it was just some of Dubeee's hair... but no... once I pinched it and threw it in the floor I realized that it was not hair... because hair isn't crunchy... or juicy. :) So I examined it a bit further and then realized that it was indeed a spider. I then laughed to myself and thought of what would happen if Christopher would have done that. :)

In other news, I have now completed 2/5 of my finals.
Math and Speech are out of the way.
All that's left is Ethics, English, and Philosophy of Religion.
Tomorrow I hope to spend most of my day in the library studying... because I have to make a "C" in my English class if I'm going to acquire my associate's degree by the end of the summer.
So... I have to make sure that I understand Othello well enough to write a short essay answering some questions.
Oh joy. Shakespeare.

I should probably go to bed soon... actually... I should've gone to bed a long time ago. It's now 4:10 in the a.m. :)

Oh... and I watched a movie tonight. It's called "Lord of War". I'm not too sure if I liked it or not. I mean... it wasn't bad... but... I'm not sure if I liked it.

I'm super excited about going to Florida! In four days I will be returning to Austin. FOUR DAYS! I can't wait. :) Well... I can... because I have to. :)
Then Florida!

Then more school... but I won't think about that at the moment.

This weather isn't really making my joints feel all that great. But I love storms. I was seriously tempted to go stand out in the street... but then I decided against because I didn't want to come inside super soaked.

Ok... it's now bed time. :)

It's over! (Well, almost)

2006-05-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

Well... the end of the semester is finally here.

Tomorrow is my last day of class... then I get to start taking my finals.

Here's what that's going to look like:

Thursday, May 4
Math @ 12:45

Friday, May 5th
Speech @ 12:45

Monday May 8
Ethics @ 10:15
and
Monday May 8
English @ 3:15

Tuesday, May 9
Philosophy of Religion @ 12:45

Then I will be finished with school until the summer session starts.

In other news...
My week started off with a huge surprise.

Sunday, after lunch, I came home and sat down to play some video games for a while. I set my sweet tea (liquid crack) from Chicken Express on my foot locker. Then I went over to the mini-fridge to get something and I grabbed a cup from atop the fridge. I put put the straw in my mouth... and no sooner than the month-old Dr. Pepper hit my tongue it was back out in the floor... all over various notes from class.
I said a few choice words as I ran to the bathroom to wash out my mouth.
The worst part about it was... the month-old Dr. Pepper had chunks in it.

Once my mouth was clean (and tasting better with an Altoid) I decided that I really should clean my room. So... that's what I did. Instead of playing video games I cleaned my room.

Then on Monday, I had to give my last speech (which is considered a test grade)... however, for some reason I forgot to save the outline onto my flash drive... so when I got to campus to print it off... I realized that I didn't have it. So... I couldn't give my speech. So... tomorrow I've got to give my speech... if there's time. If there's no time left at the end of class... I'm screwed.
But... I have an "A" in the class... so if I don't get a chance to present it, I should still end up with a "C". (I hope)

Today went rather well. I had my first two reviews for my finals. I'm not worried about my math one at all. (I did end up getting a 104 on the last test)
A few people from my Philosophy of Religion class are going to get together Monday night to study for the final. That should be good... and very beneficial.

Tomorrow I'll have my last 3 reviews. I'm not really all that worried. This semester I seem to have a much better understanding of the material than I have in some of my previous classes.

The only final (well... class) that I'm worried about is my English class. I have to make a "C" in it. If I don't... then I will be dropped from my Tech. Writing class that I have to have to get my associate's degree.

As for working out... I'm finally to the point where I can work my upper body without the pain in my arms being extremely bad. In other words, I can start working out my upper body on an every-other-day basis now.
Now I've just got to get to that same point with my legs. However, I lost my workout plan for my legs... so when I see my trainer on Thursday I'm going to have to get her to write another one up for me.

Well... I've got to go and finish my last take-home-test for Ethics. It's due tomorrow @ 10 in the a.m.

Untitled

2006-04-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

Ok... I swear... my trainer is trying to kill me.

First... she had me lifting weights until my arms felt as if they were going to fall off.

Today... she had me doing stuff on my legs. Once I was finished... I was walking like I had two gimp legs.

But seriously... this is cool. I'm so glad that I'm actually able to start getting back into shape.

My trainer said that if I continue to strengthen the muscles in my legs that she has me working on... I should be able to run again.

So... this is good news.

In other news, I took my last math test (excluding the final) today. I think I got a 104... but I won't be sure until I get the test back on either Tue. or Thur. of next week.
Near the end of the test, someone asked if he was going to give a curve. He said he'd see how everyone did. I really hope I didn't just destroy the curve for everyone... that would be bad.

I know I got the bonus question correct... because I asked the professor about it as I turned it in.

So... if I got the rest of the right... I'll have a 104. That would be cool... because it would take my 94 and bump it up to a 98.

Anyways... I've got to go eat something. And I've got to start keeping track of what I eat and when I eat it... otherwise my trainer's going to get mad at me again. :) (Ok... so she wasn't really mad at me.)

BEWARE! Supernatural-Evil Birds!

2006-04-25T22:19:00.000-07:00

WARNING!

There have been sightings of a Supernatural-Evil Bird!

Oh sure, at first glance this little bird may look cute... but this wretched creature has spawned from the depths of Hell! It has been reported that this bird can open doors, peck holes in doors, fly into doors so hard that it cracks them, and he can easily slide underneath the crack at the bottom of the door.

This bird is so evil that if you get to close to him, he may peck a hole in your hand. If this happens, you will then mutate into one of his evil minions.

If you see this bird, do not attempt to capture it... for there are no mortal tools that can be used to apprehend this formidable foe.

However, this Supernatural-Evil Bird is known to have one weakness.

Its weakness is none other than an ordinary household broom.

Therefore, if you are unfortunate enough to come across this bird, grab the nearest broom and slowly move it back and forth. This will hypnotize the bird. Once hypnotized, you can then use the broom like a hockey stick and sling the bird across the room. This should knock him out. At this point all you need to do is sweep him outside and close the door. He should then be too terrified to re-enter your humble abode.

Beware! And be safe!
Keep your eyes open and a broom close by.

2006-04-24T23:06:00.000-07:00

YAY!!!

My research paper is complete!

You know what this means?

It means no more Edgar Allan Poe!!!

Well... not only that, but it means my stress level just dropped drastically.
Now I've only got to worry about 2 more speeches, 3 more tests, then finals.

I cannot express how desperately I want this semester to hurry and come to an end. However, I know that no matter how badly I want it to hurry... it's going to go by at God's pace. Therefore, I'll continue to live life one day at a time.

In other news...
I went to the gym again today. I swear... my trainer's trying to kill me. I couldn't complete everything that I was supposed to do because my muscles started giving out. You know what that means? It means that tomorrow... my arms/shoulders/back/legs/etc... are going to hate me. And they'll let me know just how much they hate me.
Oh well... that's what water's for.

I'm really excited about getting back into shape. I'm tired of not being able to do some of the things I used to be able to do. So... I must be sure to continue going to the gym on a daily basis... even if I'm unable to complete everything I'm supposed to do... I can at least do my cardio work. That's better than nothing.
Maybe... just maybe... one day I'll be able to run again. I'm not so sure that my knee is up to that challenge any time soon... but I'm patient. Hopefully these leg muscle exercises will strengthen the muscles surrounding my knees so that I can run again. I really miss doing that... as strange as that sounds. I used to hate running... but... when you're physically incapable of doing something that you used to have no problems doing... it makes you want to be able to do it again.

Anyways... I need to read and write a short paper that's due tomorrow.

Yay! More papers. :)

At least this one won't be bad. I actually like writing papers... so long as it's not a literature analysis.

Thanks for reading.

I Hate Drugs...

2006-04-23T02:25:00.000-07:00

Bob Saget!

Why did I take the Vicodin? Why don't drugs work on my like they're supposed to?

My body was in much pain throughout most of the day... so several hours ago I thought I'd take 1 1/2 of my Extra Strength Vicodins to ease the pain of my muscles/joints.

However, when I took these, I wasn't thinking about what these pills do to me.

Yes, they took away a little bit of the pain... I mean... I'm actually able to move my arms a lot better than I could before hand... but a lot of the pain is still here.

Furthermore, these pills do not allow me to sleep.

Oh yeah... and someone's been steeling my pills. I had about 10 left the last time I went to take one. Then I looked in the bottle again to see how many I had left... which was about 7... then tonight when I opened the bottle, I had 5 left. And I know I haven't taken any of these in a while. I have an idea of who took them... but I'm not 100% sure. I'm going to confront him about it tomorrow.

I'm extremely tired... but I am unable to fall asleep.

It is now 4:45 in the a.m. Which means that once I do fall asleep, I will not be able to wake up in time for church. And if I do wake up, I will not be able to stay awake throughout the service... which means either way I'm going to miss the service tomorrow. This upsets me... I hate missing church.

Also, this means that I will most likely sleep away most of my day... which is not good. I really need to spend most of the day tomorrow finishing up my research paper. It's due Monday.

I will be so thankful once this semester is over.

On that note... I've been thinking a lot about moving back to Austin. Each day that passes I'm more and more ready to move back home. For many reasons.

I'm definitely looking forward to taking a short break from school. Furthermore, I'm looking forward to taking a break from College Station. Many things have changed over the past years here... and I'm not really liking most of the changes. I love my friends here... and I'm going to be a bit sad about leaving them... but... I don't know. There's a mixture of things that are drawing me away from here.

I have a feeling that God is working a lot in my life right now. I mean... He's always working in my life... but I feel like there's a whole ton of new lessons on their way. This excites me... but frightens me at the same time. Most of the lessons I've learned have come at a pretty high price, and I'm not so sure I'm ready to learn any more lessons at the moment. Then again... I'm totally wrong on that. If God's teaching me... or about to start teaching me something... then I am ready. Otherwise He would not have me learn anything until I was/am ready.

Ahh! I wish I was better at expressing what's going on in my head. Sometimes I do a decent job of doing so... other times... I can't seem to get out what's going on up there. And I think this is one of those times. I'm not so sure any of this post is making any sense.

Anyways, I'm going to try to make myself tired... well... tired enough to actually go to sleep.

It's late... and I'm tired

2006-04-19T00:58:00.000-07:00

I have almost completed my speech. I have to present it tomorrow at 1:25 in the p.m. It's on Smoking Bans and how I disagree with them. It should spark some good conversation. I just wanted to take another break to give an update.

Well, I realized that I completely forgot to make any mention of this past weekend.
It was awesome. :)
I won't go into much detail... I just wanted to let everyone know that it was great. :)

And I also want to thank those of you who have been praying for me. God sent me someone whom I was able to talk to tonight. He was having some issues of his own... so we talked about them for a while. Then he asked about what was going on in my life... and he listened. It was great. No un-needed words... he just listened and was supportive.

Of course, I would be grateful if you would keep me in your prayers while I try and figure out the next step (or few steps) of my life. I have many important things on my mind that I must figure out... and figure out soon. So, pray that God will give me wisdom in my future actions/decisions and for a peace of mind so I can think straight. Also, please pray that God will send me a job that I can start as soon as I move back to Austin.

In other news, I'm definitely ready to see this semester come to an end. 5 classes in one semester is almost too much for my brain to handle.

Actually... this is one of the many reasons I'm looking forward to moving back to Austin. I need a break from school. Don't get me wrong... I definitely want to finish getting my degree... I just need a break. At first I was upset that my education was being put on the backburners once again... but now... it's not that big of a deal. At least not at the moment.

Ok... now I must go and wrap up my speech.

Better

2006-04-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm feeling much better now than I was earlier today.

I think the fact that I was able to sleep from 4:30 in the p.m. until ten after 9 in the p.m. helped out a lot. Plus the fact that it does actually look like I'll be getting my associate's degree at the end of the summer helps out as well.

The latter is nice because that's one less thing I have to "worry" about.
And the sleep was nice... I'm about to go back to bed. I woke up only to eat... and I got to eat with Alan and Ed... so that was good. We had IHOP... which none of us had eaten at in quite some time.

And now... I'm going back to bed because I have a ton of research that must be completed by tomorrow night. (well... technically tomorrow by 1:25 in the p.m.)

Life...

2006-04-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry if this post makes me sound like a Negative Nancy...

Well... as most everyone knows by now I was not accepted into A&M. Therefore I will be living in Austin again after the summer.

During the summer I'm intending on taking the last 3 classes I need to get my associate's degree. However, this is proving to be a bit problematic.
You see... we were supposed to be able to register at midnight this morning. As you'll see in a moment... that was almost enough frustration to get me to crack.

From midnight up until about 3 in the a.m. I was attempting to register. The problem was/is... so is everyone else. Therefore, the server was overloaded... and still is.

This little bit of frustration... compacted with all the other various things on my mind almost had me in tears. However, I'm not going to get into all of that... because... well... I don't want to talk about it.

Another problem is... there's many things I need to talk about... but the people I try to talk to about these issues are not supportive of me at all. It's extremely difficult to feel the need to talk about something and having almost no one willing to listen. Right now... the things my friends are telling me is not helpful. I don't mean that they're telling me things I don't want to hear... because that's definitely not the case. What they're telling me are things that are not beneficial to me in the least. Actually... I wish a lot of the people I talk to about these things would just be quiet and let me talk rather than tell me I'm an idiot and things of the like. And again... I'm not going into that any further.

Sorry if this post sounds like I'm in a bad mood... that's not the case. I'm freaking tired. I haven't slept yet. As soon as I find out if I'm able to register or not I'm going to take a nap. My next class starts in a little over two hours... so I'm going to sleep in the hallway again. Once I get home... I'll probably go back to sleep... although I really shouldn't. I've got so much school work to do... but... I'm so tired that I think my brain is beginning to turn to mush. So... I can't really work with a shut-down brain.

I wish life had a pause button. That way I could just hit pause... sleep... figure out all the things I need to figure out... then resume life. That would be awesome... however... there is no pause button on life... so there's really no need to think on such things.

For anyone who reads this... I would like to ask you to pray that God will give me peace so I can think properly. Also that God will give me wisdom in the decisions I'm going to be making in the near future. And that God will send someone with whom I can talk to about these things I want to get off my chest who won't be condescending and who will actually give me good advice. (I don't mean to say that those of you who have given me advice have been doing a bad job... it's just I haven't talked to 99.9% of ya'll about some of these things. )

I hate to admit this... but I'm actually a bit freaked out about some of these decisions. I had this great and wonderful plan as to what I was going to be doing for the next few years of my life. However... God has a much better plan and is now showing me that my plan isn't going to be working the way I was intending it to.
The reason I'm freaked is because I had built a comfortable bubble and that bubble has just been popped. There's so many new ideas and possibilities that have all presented themselves all at the same time. I have no idea how to deal with a lot of these... and to be honest... a lot of these are a bit scary. In a way I'd like to go back to my bubble... but... that's not an option... nor do I really want to go back to the bubble. I've been sitting there for much to long and it's about time I get out.

Ok... now class starts in exaclty 2 hours. Must... get... sleep.

But not yet. I'm still waiting to find out if this is going to let me register or not.
Plus... I'm sure there's still more I want to say.

Problem is... I'm just rambling because I don't know exactly what I want to say. I know I want to say stuff... I just either don't know what or don't know how to do so.

Way off topic here... after submitting messages on Myspace... I'm getting really tired of those stupid ads with the girls in their slut-suits... oops... typo. I mean "bathing suits".

Anyways... it looks like I'm going to be able to register soon. I've gotten further on the process that I have all night. I'm actually able to search for classes now. Thankfully I've only got to find 2 for this first summer session.

I really wish my sister was in town. I miss her. I could really go for another all night conversation with her. Poor girl... back in high school I used to keep her awake all night... and once she'd start to doze off... I'd wake her up so we could continue talking. :) That's ok though... she liked it.

Wednesday's going to be a long day. I have class at 10 in the a.m. Then I'm meeting with my trainer at the gym at 12 in the p.m. Then I have to give a speech at 1:25 in the p.m. Then class at 2:50 in the p.m. Then I'm talking with my pastor around 4 in the p.m. I'm not sure how long that's going to last... hopefully a while. Then I have RUF at 7 in the p.m. Then I've got more homework.

Ok... it looks like the English class I needed for the summer isn't available... at least not during the 1st summer session. I don't know about the 2nd. I'll have to go ask later. As for now... I'm going to have to register for an English class that's much more difficult than the one I wanted to take. *sigh* Such is life.
Oh wait! This might be good. The technical writing course's professor... I've had him before for another English class and I really liked him. Hopefully he'll be just as good teaching this subject as he was at the other.
Ok... one class is registered for... now we'll try for the next.
Class starts in 1.5 hours.

Ok... this post is getting long. :)

I guess I'll stop typing until I am finished registering... unless something hits me that I must write down.

Ok... I got the math class.

So... summer session 1 is:
Math - Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, and every other Friday @ 11:40 in the a.m. until 1:35 in the p.m.
and
Tech. Writing - Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, and every other Friday @ 1:45 in the p.m. until 3:40 in the p.m.
That's a grande total of just under $500! Yay for tuition! (and yes... I know that this is much lower than a 4 year college's tuition)

YAY!!! NAP TIME!!! 1 hour! (hey... it's better than nothing, right?)

Weird...

2006-04-13T22:46:00.000-07:00

First off... I must say that today turned out to be a great day. :)

Also, when I returned home, Dubeee was so happy to see me. :) I've missed her.

Ok... now to the reason for this post.... this is really really weird.

Last night I had a dream that I had to go back to boot camp. However, this time my friend Jared was with me and so was someone else I know, but I can't remember who it was.

Anyways... while talking to Jared in my dream I mentioned something and then I immediately awoke.

At this point I had an entire load of memories flooding through my mind. The problem is... I don't think these memories are true memories. What's really weird about this... is that I actually think that they might be true.

For instance, one of these memories was that about a year before I was discharged from the Marine Corps I was sent home. Then I remember being home for about a week or so when my GySgt called me up and told me to come back. And from there I stayed for another year or so. I really doubt this ever happened... but I can remember it so vividly that I have a hard time believing that this never happened.
Also, I remember driving down several roads in Austin... that don't exist.
Now... these memories weren't part of the dream I had last night. Maybe they're past dreams or something... but they just feel so real.

So... tomorrow I'm going to ask my parents about this... because if they remember it happening, then I'll know it really did happen.

Problem is... if this memory is real... then how in the world did I forget about it until this morning?

Furthermore, a few weeks ago... just before I fell asleep... I had a quick vision of various things. I have no idea what the vision was... but it felt as if I had a quick flash of memories that I have completely forgotten about.

So now I'm asking myself if someone messed with my mind (like in the movie "Conspiracy Theory").

Anyways... I hope I can figure all of this out... because it's kind of weirding me out. :)

Ahh... the mind. It's such a mysterious place.

Homework / Rant

2006-04-12T01:28:00.000-07:00

Alas.

I am sitting here in the computer lab continuing my work for one of my research projects due Wednesday (the 19th).

I am so sick and tired of this semester. Actually... I'm just sick and tired of this English class. My other classes do not vex me so.

I am writing a paper on the portrayal of guilt seen in some of Poe's writings through the first person narrative. What fun.

I really like Poe... but... once this paper is finished... I don't think I'll be reading any of his stuff for quite some time.

I really dislike analyzing literature. I do not see what purpose it serves... nor do I understand how it will benefit me later in life.
Seriously... when I read a book... I either like it or I don't. I'm not going to sit down with pen, paper, and a highlighter to try and figure out the "deeper meaning" of the story. If an author isn't good enough to get his/her point across without the writing needing to be analyzed... then, in my opinion, they're a piss-poor author.

Anyways... I've been here in the lab since about 11 or so in the p.m. ... maybe earlier. It's now 3:30 in the a.m. and it looks like I'll be here until about 6 in the a.m. Oh joy!

*sigh*

Have I mentioned that I'm ready for this semester to end?

In other news...
This summer I'll be taking 2 math classes and a creative writing course. (so long as these are offered over the summer... if they're not... I'm not sure what I'll do.)
1st summer session will be the more basic of the math courses and the creative writing course. 2nd summer session will consist of the more advanced of the math courses.
Once these three courses are complete... I will have my associate’s degree in philosophy. I'm really hoping that this degree (even though it's not a bachelor degree) will help me find a job once I move back home.

My mind has been all over the place for a while now. I've prayed many times for God to remind me that He's in control over everything... which helps me not to worry about the unknown. The funny thing is... I'm not typically a worrier. However, as of late I've been noticing myself worrying about various things. I think this is because there are more things in motion (or will be soon) than I am used to dealing with all at once.
I thank God for giving me the gift of patience. If I were not a patient person, I do not know how I would be handling all of these things right now. I think my mind would probably explode.

Ok... I've got a bit off my mind. I must now go and hopefully finish my work soon... because bed is starting to sound really good right about now.

Well.... shit.

2006-04-08T00:07:00.000-07:00

I made my kill...

However... my new target got word that I was hanging out at my house with some friends. He came in through the back door about an hour after I shot Gabe... so... now... I'm dead.

Game over for me.

I let my guard down.

He was on his way to Houston... but once he received the call that I shot Gabe, he turned around and got me.

It was fun while it lasted.

I should've known better. I should've followed my instincts and just went back over to Mike's house. But no... I decided to stay and visit with some of the people I haven't seen in so long. And because of that... I'm dead.

Well... now that I'm done with Assassins... I shall update this info for those of you who have not heard yet.

I received a letter from A&M the other day. I did not get accepted.

So... my plans for now is to move back to Austin and find a job... at least for the fall. I will re-apply to A&M... however, this time I will also apply to UT and to SWT (I mean Texas State). I'm not really disappointed by this. One thing I've learned over the years is that God puts us in different situations for different reasons. So... I could've been here in College Station to learn something... or to teach something... or to help someone through something. However, it appears that my time here in College Station is complete for the time being. I'm now continuing my journey in life to the next place God leads me.

I'm not sure why I'm being led back to Austin... but... as always... God knows what He's doing.

I'm actually quite glad I'll be back in Austin... but... yeah.

Anyways... I'm going to go finish talking with my friends before they go back to where they came from.

I hope all of you had a good night.

I got my kill!

2006-04-07T22:27:00.000-07:00

I just killed my first target.

Gabe was sitting in his living room playing games with some girls. Unfortunately for him, he left all of his windows open. So... I squirted him through the screen. :)

I have one more week now to make my next kill.

I really hope I win this game.

How Deep The Father's Love...

2006-04-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

Every time I try to sing this song I get choked up.
Especially at this part:

"Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished"

God is so amazing. I do not deserve salvation... much less the love of our Creator. However, God, through His grace and mercy has shown me love and through Christ's blood I am made new.

Praise be to God!

The game is still going...

2006-04-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

Ok... so the game started Monday at 7 in the a.m.
As of right now, there has been 6 kills... all which have been made by girls.
Needless to say... the guys need to start playing. However... if the other guys are playing like I am... they're strateegerizing. I have a good idea of when I'm going to go after my target... but of course... I'm not going to post that on here in case someone who's playing reads this.

I've found out all kinds of cool stuff... where my target lives... my target's schedule... where my target works... and some routine habbits. I just have to be sure to make my kill before Monday at 7 in the a.m. otherwise I'll be disqualified.

Not having the internet has sucked. Oh well... I got to do what I got to do.

Ok... time to do some other stuff.

I'll keep you guys updated as often as possible.

I've decided....

2006-04-01T00:30:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking seriously about this for a while... however I haven't really said anything about it to most of you. As soon as this semester is over I'm going to move to Kenya for at least 6 months.

One of my really good Marine Corps buddies called me up a few months ago and informed me of a great business opportunity. Well... it's not really a business... however... we should get some really good money from this.

The cool thing is, my buddy is paying for the plane ride over to Kenya. From there we will go to our destination and begin working. I'm really excited for many reasons.

First, I haven't seen this guy in over 4 years. He is a guy who I trust my life with.
Second, if what he says is in fact true... I may not ever have to worry about money issues ever again.
Third, I will finally be temporarily leaving this country... which is something I've been wanting to do for quite some time now.

I wish I could go into more detail about this... but since my friend asked me not to reveal too much I shall refrain from doing so.
However... we should be in the news for our find sooner or later. I'll email everyone and let them know the time and date to watch the news.

AHH!!! I'm so excited about this.

Ok... sleep.

Assassins

2006-03-29T23:32:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. A&M RUF is once again playing assassins.

For those of you who have no idea how this game is played, I will give a brief explanation.

The game is played with water guns. Each player will, at all times, have a target (“the person you are after”) and a hunter (“the person after you”). You are informed of the identity of your target, but you will not be informed of the identity of your hunter (although you may figure it out by various means). At any given point in the game, the only two people you can kill are your target and your hunter. You have one week to make a kill. If you do not make a kill within the week then you are disqualified. There are a few times and places in which you cannot shoot anyone... so plan wisely. The game is over when there is only one person living.

I love this game.

I'm not sure how focused I'll be this year... seeing as how I do not live alone. This leaves me a bit vulnerable since it's easy for the other people in the house to forget to lock the door(s) and windows at all time.

I'll be picking up my water "cannon" from my parents' house this weekend. This gun if freaking huge... holds about 2 gallons of water... and can shoot a ton of water extremely far. This will be the gun I'll use when out on a hunt. When I am walking to and from class and various other places I may need to go I will be carrying an old-school Super Soaker. (The ones that if pumped enough can cut flesh... which means it's got some good distance on it as well).

Since I will not be staying at my house throughout this game... I will not have much internet access. I will update ya'll on how the game progresses as often as possible.

The only problem I'm going to have is that I don't know who a lot of the players are... nor do I know where any of them live. This is where I'll need a little help from my friends. I've talked to a few people who aren't going to be playing who will inform me of what certain people look like and where they live.

I haven't yet decided if I'm going to form an alliance with anyone. I may... but I think it would be more bad @$$ to do it without one.

Anyways... I'm super psyched about this. Hopefully I won't get shot early on in the game. That would be highly disappointing.

A little about me:

2006-03-26T23:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a long survery I found and figured I'd post on here. I hope it brings about a little insight as to who I is.

Here we go:

1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE?
Out in the middle of nowhere… on a huge piece of land… with lots of trees and hills… and possibly a creek… oh… and a pond.

2. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING
My black, leather trench-coat. I love it.

3. FAVORITE PHYSICAL FEATURE OF THE OPPOSITE SEX?
The face… and eyes. Nothing else really matters.

4. WHAT'S THE LAST CD THAT YOU BOUGHT?
Porcupine Tree: (Stars Die)

5. WHERE'S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO BE?
That all depends.
If I want to be by myself, I like to be out in the woods/forest… away from everyone and anything man-made.
If I want to be with friends/family… then I don’t care where we are… because it will be fun.

6. WHERE'S YOUR LEAST FAVORITE PLACE TO BE?
Hospitals. I hate them. There is to much sadness behind those walls… so much sadness that I can feel it as I walk around. I don’t like seeing people sad… or in pain… so… I hate hospitals. I’d rather be anywhere else.

7. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO BE MASSAGED
My shoulders… and lower back. Speaking of that… I need to go to a masseuse. I’ve always wanted to get a professional massage… but… they’re way to expensive.

8. WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT, STRONG IN MIND OR STRONG IN BODY?
Strong in mind. No doubt about it. I’ve seen the strong in body fail over and over again. The strong in mind can do anything they want so long as they put their mind to it.

9. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE IN THE MORNING
Depends on the day:
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I wake up around 8:45 and 9 in the a.m.
Tuesdays and Thursdays I usually wake up around noon.
Saturdays I wake up whenever I wake up.
And Sundays I wake up around 9 and 9:30 in the a.m.

10. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE?
The woman.
Ok… just kidding. It would be the dishwasher. I absolutely hate doing the dishes. I’d rather clean all the bathrooms than do dishes.

11. WHAT MAKES YOU REALLY ANGRY?
Being lied to, being accused of something I didn’t do, being called a liar, and being taken advantage of.

12. IF YOU COULD PLAY ANY INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE
Well… I already know how to play the saxophone… the next instrument I want to learn is the piano. I absolutely love listening to solo piano music.

13. FAVORITE COLOR?
Black… and silver. But mostly black.

14. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR SUV?
Sports cars. Hands down.

15. DO YOU BELIEVE IN AFTERLIFE?
Does Rosie O’donnell like ice cream?
Of course I do.

16. FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOK?
Hmm… probably Alice in Wonderland.

17. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?
Summer. Heat is good. (unless I can’t turn on the a/c… in which case I like either Spring or Fall)

18. WHAT'S YOUR LEAST FAVORITE HOUSEHOLD CHORE?
Dishes! I will do any chore so long as I don’t have to do the dishes. In fact… I would do all the household chores in exchange for doing the dishes.

19. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
The ability to teleport anywhere I wanted to. That would be… super hero cool.

20. IF YOU WANT A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT?
Well… I already have two of them. I would like to make my first one bigger… but I have no idea what I want to add around it to make it bigger.

21. CAN YOU JUGGLE?
I sure can. I learned how by glancing through a book.

22. The one person you wish you could go back in time and talk to?
My grandpa. I miss him. He was such a funny and interesting man.

23. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DAY?
Any of the good ones.
I’m not a big fan of the bad days.

24. WHAT'S IN THE TRUNK OF YOUR CAR?
Oh… to answer that is to answer the mysteries of life. I have no idea.

25. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SUSHI OR HAMBURGER?
Hamburger. Raw fish and seaweed just doesn’t seem too appealing.

26. FROM THE PEOPLE YOU WILL EMAIL THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Well… since I’m not emailing this to anyone… I’d have to say… no one.

27. WHO'S LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Same as above.

28. Would you rather be stranded on a deserted, small, island thousands of miles away from the nearest civilization; lost in a very large jungle with danger lurking around every corner; or lost in the middle of a very, very big desert with no water with you?
The jungle. That would be awesome! Mainly because I would be the most dangerous thing on the island. ;)

29. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My stomach. That’s the only thing I’m really not happy with. But… I’m about to begin working on that… starting first thing next month.

30. Is your job your passion?
Seeing as how I’m not working at the moment… I’ll have to say no. However… whatever my future job is… I hope I enjoy it enough for it to be considered a passion.

31. Do you believe "Everything happens for a reason."
Everything. Every single little thing.

32. Do you think that people mistake your kindness as a weakness?
Many times they have… but that’s because it is a weakness. Well… it can be a weakness.

33. If you could be born 50 years earlier or later which would you choose?
50 years earlier. People seemed to be a little more moral back then. Plus… there wasn’t as many distractions as there are now.

34. What is the most important thing you can teach your child?
Knowledge about God…
and how to potty by themselves.

36. If you were granted one wish what would it be?
To make everyone around me happy.

37. If you could meet a famous person who would you like to meet?
Hmm… I don’t really know. They’re just people… but… I guess I would like to meet Bruce Willis. Although… I don’t really know what we would talk about.

38. Where have you traveled to?
All over the U.S. I’ve yet to leave the country… but I will one day.

39. Do you take a shower before you go to bed or when you get up in the morning?
Either.
Depending on how nasty I feel.

40. Would you rather have $10,000 or perfect hair everyday for the rest of your life?
Oh wow… I wish I was given that option. I’d take the 10 grand.
I’d even shave my head for the rest of my life in exchange for 10 grand. :)

Full name: Nathan Andrew Harbison.

Nicknames: I used to be called Sparky and Tex.
Sparky – because I was a welder… and that’s what Charlie Company called me whilst I helped them build the KSPANS.
Tex – in North Carolina by the guys in my welding shop… because I’m from Texas.

Future last name: I’m pretty sure it will still be Harbison.

Location: Texas.

Birthday: February 24, 1981

Birthplace: Texas.

Age: 25… for now.

Age you wish you were: I’d like to be 18 again… but… whatever. I’m not really unhappy with my current age.

Sex: Male

Astro sign: Pisces

Siblings: One older brother and one younger sister.

Pets: Dübeee. :)

Hair color: Brown

Eye color: They change… but are usually a bluish-greenish color… but… I’m partially color blind… so I could easily be wrong.

Do you have a b/f or g/f?: Not at the moment.

If so, what is his or her name?:

Do you luv them?: 1!k3 OMG!!! 1 1u\/ 3\/3ry 0n3!!!
(do 13 year olds make up these questions?)

If you don't have a b/f or g/f, do you have a crush? I plead the 5th.

If so, what's their name? Ditto.

How long have you known your b/f -g/f-or crush? Ditto.

What do you look for in a guy or girl: She has to love Christ above all. She has to have a great personality, make me laugh, laugh at me (my jokes and oh-so-witty comments… not me as in my person), kind, loving, etc…

Who do you luv?: 1!k3 OMG!!! 1 1u\/ 3\/3ry 0n3!!!

Fav. color: Black… and silver. Isn’t this a bit redundant? They asked this back on #13.

Fav. game: Computer: Guild Wars
In person: Assassins.

Fav. word: Flabbergasted (I don’t know… it was the first word that came to mind)

Fav. number: Lucky number 13.

Fav. animal: My dog, Dübeee

Fav. food: As long as it’s good… I’m happy.

Fav. ice cream flavor: Pea-can (hehe) Pralines and Cream… made by BlueBell.

Fav. movie: I love movies too much to choose a favorite.

Fav. actor: As long as they do an awesome job with their part… I don’t care.

Fav. actress: Same as above.

Fav. t.v. show: South Park, Prison Break, Smallville, and Babylon 5.

Fav. person on t.v.: I don’t know. I don’t really watch that much t.v.

Fav. t.v. station: Comedy Central. I love to laugh.

Fav. band/singer: I like so many that it’s not possible to choose.

Fav. song: Same as above.

Fav. c.d.: Same as above.

Fav. school subject: So far it’s been philosophy. I like classes that make me go “hmm…”

Fav. girl name: Rasputin

Fav. guy name: Rasputin

Fav. website: CGR… it’s pretty much the only one I check out on a regular basis.

Hottest celebrity: I don’t really care.

Kewlest celebrity: 1!k3… th3r3 @11 k3w3ll!!! OMG!!!

Funniest celebrity: I don’t know… no one really comes to mind at the moment.

Celebrity with the best hair: I haven't a clue… I’ve never touched any celebrity’s hair.

Celebrity with the best eyes: I don’t know… I’d have to see them up close and in person.

What are you obsessed with?: I’m not obsessed with anything. At least… not that I can think of.

What college or university do you wish to attend?: I don’t care… so long as they can give me a legit degree… I’d go just about anywhere. An education is an education.

What do you want your very first job to be?: Well… I’ve already kind of messed that one up. My first job was a bagger at Albertsons. I hate Albertsons by the way.

Do you have anything pierced?: Nope. I’ve thought about getting my ears pierced… but I doubt that will ever happen.

If so, what?:

Do u have a tattoo?: Two of them.

If not, do you want one?:

What would you rather be doing right now?:
Hanging out with friends or family… but… they’re all in bed right now.

Dream vacay:
Vacay? I’m assuming that’s vacation… but the creator of this thing was too lazy to hit the 4 extra buttons to spell it out.
So… dream vacation… honestly… so long as I have a wife and she’s with me… I’d happily go anywhere.

How many different states have you been to?
Umm… 10… I think. But I’ve driven through a lot more.

Are your nails painted?: Not at the moment. Every once in a while I’ll paint them black or a metallic color.

What color?:

Do you do drugs: Nope. That’s not my thing.

Have you done drugs: I’ve smoked weed before. I didn’t really like it. And… I really don’t understand why people do like it.

Name some things that are on your bedroom wall:
Actually, I can name all the things that are on my bedroom wall:
3 picture frames… complete with pictures.
An incense burner
An oil burner
And some candles.

Who is your best friend?:
Besides family…
Right now it would probably be Mike. He and I can talk about anything… and he’s extremely trustworthy… and he lives about 3 minutes down the road.

What kind of shampoo do you use?:
VO5… or whatever’s cheapest.

Do you have any scars?:
A few.
I have 3 from surgery
One on my elbow from wiping out on my bike
One on my knee where I cut it on a bed spring
One on my arm where I accidentally stabbed myself.
And various other small scars that I can’t remember at the moment.

What sports do you like?:
I’m not really a big fan of any sport. Well… with a little coaxing I think I could get into hockey. It was fun to play.

How much money is in your wallet right now?:
$4… which is odd… because I rarely ever carry any cash.

What are you afraid of?:
My biggest fear is to get married only to be left/divorced sometime down the road. I don’t think I could deal with that… and nothing scares me more.

What are you listening to right now?:
David Gray.

Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?:
My brother.

Who was the last person you talked to online?:
My friend Jared.

Do you want to get married?:
Very much so.

Where?:
On Mars.
But really, I don’t care. So long as I get married… I don’t care where she chooses to do so.

Do you want kids?:
Eventually. Not at the moment, but yes, I would love to be a father.

How many?:
How ever many God blesses me with.

Where do you want to live when you grow up?:
Where ever. I really like Texas… but… I’ll move where ever God takes me.

What's your dream car?:
One that runs. I don’t really care what it looks like.

How many languages can you speak?:
Does pig-latin count? If not… then… one.

What are you looking forward to?:
I’m looking forward to going to Austin again.

What song is over-played:
I couldn’t tell you. I stopped listening to the radio several years ago… because songs are over played.

What song will you never get tired of?:
Well… I could get tired of any song… depending on how frequently I had to listen to it.

If you could go back in time, what year would you visit?:
A few years back… to keep myself from making the biggest mistake of my life.

Have you ever

Hit someone?:
Does my brother and sister count? If not… then no.

Had surgery?:
3 of them.
My first surgery was in 3rd grade. I had a hernia that needed fixin’.
Second was on my foot to fix my retarded toe.
Third was to get my wisdom teeth removed.

Tried to kill yourself?:
Never tried. Thought about it many years ago... but was never serious enough to attempt it.

Called 911?:
Just once. There was some people fighting outside my apartment… and it was loud… so… I called the cops on them.

Broke the law?:
Many times. But nothing serious enough to get me in jail or anything.

Ran from the cops?:
It might have been the cops. We blew up some fireworks a short distance from the house. As we were about to leave the woods we noticed some flashlights searching in our direction. So… we ran. It was a fun night.

Dyed, temp. dyed, or spray painted your hair a funky color?:
I dyed it blonde and attempted to put blue streaks in it. The blue didn’t turn out right.

Gone skinny dipping?:
Nope.

Been to the Pacific ocean?:
Yes… and the Atlantic ocean.

Pulled an all nighter?:
Hahaha… many times. My record is 70 something hours. Something that I hope to never beat.

Been on t.v.?:
When I was little. I was in a commercial that aired once. I was in the background.

Laughed so hard you wet your pants?:
I just did. Except… I wasn’t laughing.
Oh wait. No… I’ve never laughed that hard.

T.P.ed someone's house?:
Many many many times. I love doing it.

Made a prank phone call?:
A few. None that were any good though.

Met a famous person?:
I’ve met George Bush Sr., Bill Nye the Science Guy, and the Queen of Qatar.

Been to a concert?:
A few. But I’d rather listen to the cd. Concerts are full of too many people… and they’re too loud.

Had a black eye?:
Once. I ran into the door knob when I was little. :)

Jumped off a 20 foot, or higher, cliff?:
Nope. Nor do I see myself doing so.

Broken any bones?:
Just my left arm… in 4th grade… when I fell from trying to slide down the stair rail… head first.

Been out of the country?:
Not yet.

Would you ever sky dive?:
Maybe.

Go bungee jumping?:
Maybe.

Do something stupid for a million dollars?:
Depends on how stupid. But… there’s not a whole lot I wouldn’t do for a million dollars.

If you had three wishes, what would they be?:
To make everyone around me happy.
To have a never ending cash flow.
To be able to teleport myself anywhere.

Do you believe in love at first site?:
No. Love is not an emotion. It is a decision. And it’s a decision that can’t be made “at first sight.”

Do you believe in God?:
Very much so.

Where were you most of the day, today?:
At the Thomasson's house. Some of the college students ate lunch there after church.

Paper or plastic:
Plastic. For 2 reasons.
1) Since I used to bag groceries… I understand the frustration of putting purchases in paper bags.
2) I can carry in about 15-20 plastic bags inside at once. Paper bags… I can carry 2 in at a time.

Pepsi or coke:
Out of those two… Cokes.

Peanut butter or jelly:
Depends on what I’m eating it with… but… I guess I’d pick Jelly.

Adam Sandler or Ben Stiller:
Ben Stiller. After Punch Drunk Love... I kind of lost my respect for Adam Sandler.

Gold or silver:
Silver. I do not like wearing gold.

Scary movies or funny movies:
Depends on my mood. I love to laugh… but I also enjoy freaking myself out. Only problem is… most “scary” movies are anything but scary.

N'Sync or BSB:
Neither.

ADIDAS or Nike:
I don’t really care.

In person or over the phone:
In person. The phone is alright… but nothing beats in person.

Were you ever a fan of NKOTB?:
I don’t even know what NKOTB is.
Oh. Well… according to my roommate… that’s New Kids on the Block. So no. I was never a fan of theirs.

Are you happy right now?:
I’m usually always happy. It takes something big to bring me down.

What time is it right now?:
1:05 in the a.m.

Why in the world did you just fill this whole thing out?:
Because I wanted to. And I didn’t really have anything else to update my blog with. And I was/am procrastinating once again. :)