29.9.05

350th Anniversary Story!

Long ago, in a land now lost to the sands of time and memory, there lived a poor cobbler named Aziib. Though he did not have much money, he was rich inside, because he was married to the most beautiful lady in the kingdom, a woman named Jiraba. They lived together in a modest house, managing to barely make a living, but they were happy.

One day, while walking through the market, when guards from the palace arrived. They were headed straight for Aziib and Jiraba. Two burly guards grabbed Jiraba's arms, and a smaller, more official man pulled out a scroll and read, "By order of the Sultan, this woman is hereby arrested for theft from the royal vault. She will be executed at sun-up tomorrow."

The cobbler had heard stories of people being executed for crimes they had not committed. The sultan had for years been attempting to appear tough on criminals, but refused to allow unsolved crimes. The guards were told that if they were unable to find a perpetrator, the punishment would be handed to one of their ranks. But Aziib never expected to find himself or his wife on the wrong end of the guards wrath.

Aziib was flabbergast. "This is preposterous," he shouted at the official. "My wife has been with me, and we have never been inside the palace walls, much less in the-" He was cut off shout by the prick of a guards sword against his neck.

"If you'd like," offered the official, once he had Aziib's attention, "you could join your lady on the chopping block." Aziib looked to Jiraba, and saw her briefly her shake her head. He fell silent, resigned to letting his wife be taken away for a crime she didn't commit. He stood silent in the market for a long time after the guards left. What else should he have done? What else could he have done, for that matter?

Eventually, the sun set. Aziib was still standing in the now empty market place. As tears filled his eyes, he looked up and saw the bright full moon. All the frustration built up inside of him, not just from the days events but from being a near penniless cobbler all his life, and countless other tiny frustrations. He looked at the moon, took a deep breath, and let out a long, mournful howl that echoed out across the desert for miles.

As he howled, a Wind Djinn came riding the eastern winds over the mountain and heard the howl. The Djinn could feel the emotion of Aziib's cry, and followed the echo back to Aziib. When he saw the man standing there and crying, he knew he had to help. The Djinn appeared befor Aziib as a beggar, so as not to frighten him. "Tell me, friend, what is troubling that you would let out such a powerful howl?"

Aziib looked at the beggar, and tried to smile. He wiped his tears away and said, "The sultan's guards have taken my wife away. She is to be executed at sun-up for a crime she did't commit, and there is nothing I can do."

"Do not worry so, good sir. Your cry has moved me deeply, and I shall save your wife, and bless your household with fortune for generations to come."

"Oh really," asked Aziib, a little incredulous at what this old man can do for Jiraba. "How can a simple beggar hope to rescue someone from the sultan?"

"Friend, I am no simple beggar," the Djinn winked. "I am the Wind Djinn, and will take care of everything. Return to your home and sleep, and when you wake in the morning, you will find your wife in your arms. I will ask my price of you then."

Aziib didn't believe that the beggar in front of him was really a djinn, but he knew that the advice was still good. There was nothing he could do. Aziib thanked the beggar for his time and left for his home.

That morning, just before sunrise, Jiraba was brought out to the execution platform by the guards. As the first morning's lights appeared over the horizon, a heavy fog was blown by the wind that surrounded the execution party. The Djinn quickly went to work freeing Jiraba, whispering into her ears "Fear not, I will deliver you to your husband." When she heard the Djinn's heavenly voice, she fainted, and the Djinn carried her away. When the fog finally listed, the guards were shocked to find the sultan's daughter strapped to the chopping block instead of Jiraba.

Aziib, asleep in his bed, was stirred by a cool breeze coming through his window. When he opened his eyes, he saw his beautiful wife smiling back at him. "Jiraba! My darling wife!" He held her close in an embrace he wished would never end. Suddenly, a knock came at the door. Aziib an Jiraba went to open the door and found the Djinn, dressed as a beggar again.

"I have come to accept my payment for rescuing your wife," he said.

Aziib was about to turn the beggar away, but Jiraba spoke up first. "Aziib! This beggar is the Djinn who rescued me! You must give him whatever he asks of you."

The cobbler was shocked. "Of... of course, Djinn." Both he and his wife dropped to their knees before the Djinn. "What can I do to repay your favor?"

The Djinn said simply, "Your howl." Before the cobbler knew what was happening, a light breeze swept through his lungs and stole a breath from him, transwering his fierce howl into the Djinn. "Your howl will live on through me forever, and for your gift, I shall bless you and your family for just as long."

Aziib and Jiraba both happily thanked the Djinn, and with a whisp of cloud, the wind djinn blew off, howling as he passed between the buildings. From that day on, the cobbler recieved great fortune through his business, and his children and children's children recieved the same blessing.

And to this day, the wind howls with joy wherever it goes.

You Know You're Jealous

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That's a link to the site, btw.
Now I really aughta get to doing my work. Yup.

Edit: I'm even more amazing than I thought:

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The Faith of a Child

When I was a kid, I believed that there was a fat red man who would come into kid's houses and give them stuff for no apparent reason. All the kids seemed to love him. He had his face on all sorts of things. Even sugary drinks!

But alas, there is no Kool-Ade Man. u_u

Oh Yeah!

About my clue... From reading The Storyteller's Daughter and The Hero with A Thousand Faces, I've gained an interest in reading myths, and, especially with the recent events in the Middle East, I'd like to read the 1001 Arabian Nights, Shahrazad's tales of fantasy and fortune, which she told to be spared by her captives for, apparently, 1001 nights. That and I watched Aladdin's two sequels last weekend, and so now I'm off to download that song.

Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place
Where the caravan camels roam
Where they cut off your ear
If they don't like your face
It's barbaric, but hey, it's home

When the wind's from the east
And the sun's from the west
And the sand in the glass is right
Come on down
Stop on by
Hop a carpet and fly
To another Arabian night

Arabian nights
Like Arabian days
More often than not
Are hotter than hot
In a lot of good ways

Arabian nights
'Neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
Could fall and fall hard
Out there on the dunes
*Sighs.* I wouldn't last an hour in their world. But it IS fun to read about it.

I've Gotta Fever...

...And the only prescription is more cowbell! Holy crap I am very glad I've found this. I have completed my life.

For some reason, my chemistry professor has been flakey lately. Last night I had my first chemistry test. So I got there at just about the right time, sat in the auditorium style room (my old Calculus 1 room, actually) and waited for the test to start. I managed to use a few of my own improvised meditation techniques (for some reason I carry a lot of tension in the back of my head, and it feels good to concentrate a litttle and relax that a bit) and was able to ignore the roar of the other students, and to some extent not mind the tedium of sitting in that room for 15 minutes for no reason. And yeah, it turned out that there was no test to take. After about 10 minutes past the hour, a student who's grasp of English, while indeed laughable, was no doubt better than mine on his native language, wrote the following up on the board:
In 10 min.
if he not here
we go home.
That got a laugh from the room, but it didn't come to that. After another 5 minutes, students started coming in from outside with reports of botched copies and a bicycle accident of some kind. The details were fuzzy, but we got the message: Go home.

I was overjoyed, cuz I got to run over to Mad Hatter's, the games store that Wizards' site says will be running a release tournament for Ravnica. Of course, what should happen other than I get there and, as I really should have known before. I live across the street from the place, I've passed it a half dozen times already. It's closed. It's been closed. Outta business. Completely empty. So... I'll check out Black Dog again. They did the Unhinged one I enjoyed last year, maybe they'll do it again. Otherwise, I'll just buy a fat pack and a theme deck from them or something.

Anyway, so the chemistry thing was a big mystery. I was expecting to hear about what happened last night. So I sat down. And did my meditation, and after 10 minutes, there was no Professor Blake. So, I came home, and now I am here, writing my blog.

And watching the West Wing. Speaking of, this needed quoting:
"I get drunk when I drink too much." - Leo McGarrity.
See?

Sigh, I'm bored now. I may lie down for the next episode of West Wing. I'm cold. Someone gimme a blanket. ._.

28.9.05

It's A Clue

Jinkies

Details in due time.

...

I always did wonder how you spelled that.

"Why Is It Always Monkeys!?"

"Why can't I be attacked by crazed supermodels?!"

Crazy day. Been too busy to do a proper blog, and that makes me sad. I'll have one up between Chemistry and XL. Promise.

ANOTHER QUIZ!!!

Why do I keep doing these?
Take my quiz or ill cry
Do you love me?As much as any other living thing (exceptions made for Jackie and family).
Do you love kitties?Indeed
Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter?Meh, when it comes to fantasy, I'm looking for the 1001 Arabian Nights. But I guess LOTR beats Potter. I read most of it.
Ever have a friend(s) stab you in the back?Nope, I have good friends.
if so, do you wish to slay them?N/A
Ill slay with you if you want.No thanks, though the enthusiasm is appriciated.
Favorite store in the mall?Gotta be DSC Collectables at Lakeline. Best Magic tournaments this side of 360.
Wendy's, Burger King, or McDonalds?BK RULES!
Do you like the smell of PlayDough?I can't smell, and you know that. ;_;
Finish this Sentence. I love ___________Jackie.
Favorite Sex Position? ^_-Hrmm... On bottom, actually. I dunno. I need more practice.
If you could marry someone of the same sex, who would it be?I don't know enough eligible bachelors around my age, though I am looking.
Can i spank you?Why?
Favorite type of Ice Cream?Vanilla, with almonds.
Isnt my kitty cute? ^^Not as cute as mine.
How many people are on your buddy list?143, though 31 of them are from the "Recent Buddies" category.
Am i one of them?Probably.
Would you like a cookie?Probably.
Does god have feet?Probably.
Ever Shopplifted?Nope.
I know I havent....That's good to hear.
Ever have sex with your bus driver?No. I made it a point to keep as far away from my bus as possible.
Doesnt that make you laugh and gag at the same time?No, just confused.
Arent you afraid of old people?Nope.
Wanna come over and play video games?Sure, why not?
Favorite super hero?That's a toughy. Beast Boy's a cool cat though.
Favorite old school Nicolodien show?Invader Zim
Biggest Fear?Heights, falling from.
Wasnt this quiz fun!!!??Meh, I've seen worse.

Okay, that's done with. Still worried about James. He cheated and switched up his blog on me. I'm very confused. You think he did it cuz of what I wrote? *Sigh.*

27.9.05

Ultimatum'ed

Agh! The paradox continues. You know the one, where arguing is wrong, and if I try to argue that arguing is right, then I'm wrong by default, no matter how valid my point. Or, in other words, whoever states their opinion first. x_x

I wanted to help. He had a problem. I offered a possible solution to his problem. Is that negative? I think it's negative to be all down and out about a situation. The positive and pro-active thing to do is to look at what is wrong and try to fix it, which I have done. Lets look over what we each said, here. I saw he had a problem, in that he wasn't being treated the way he wanted. Solution: Learn to live with it unless you know a way to work with the system to change it. It's not fair, and I said that, but seriously, what are you gonna do, other than wallow in self pity? What else was I supposed to do, other than join you in being emo?
"Oh, yeah, life sucks.... It sucks. It sucks. The end."
That's just stupid.

Avoiding problems is not an acceptable solution. At least, not to me. Problems exist to be solved. That's my motto. If you can't solve your problems, outsource, but get it solved. "Not everyone can resolve a problem as soon as it occurs; sometimes they just need time to themselves." See, to me, that's wrong, at least for this situation. Bad feelings left unresolved for too long compound on themselves, and since I have to deal with James when I go to visit my dad, and, for the most part, he's the only one I could get along with while I was there, I put salvaging that relationship down as a high priority. I guess I pushed too hard, but he pulled away even harder.

*Sigh.*

And so now I've been challenged by. Leave no comments on the post I linked.. I won't, I guess. I still don't know how to respond to his earlier "Watch, Greg's gonna post something argumentative..." comment. *Shrugs.* But, who knows. Maybe you guys out there will love me enough to comment in my defense! Or not. Either way, I'm keeping my text off there for a week, at least. But yeah, come to my aid. I've been hearing all of you tell me, "Yes, Greg, you are right, James is being stupid," but I feel like I'm in my own little war with James. It's lonely. So, yea, put in a few comments for me, if you wanna. Post as anonymous, I won't make you get a screen name of your own. Oh well.

Also, I shouldn't be online as much for the next few days,as I have things that need doing. I'll still be on more than I should, but not as much as I have been. Kay?

...

Kay.

Edit: He changed it. Now I'm confused. Did you do this?

26.9.05

Prying

I just can't keep my face outta James' business. First off, how does he know it's me? I'm anonymous! I'm refusing to respond on there and prove that it is in fact me, but I'll bet he's reading this as much as I'm reading his. But the second is this:
Once again, Greg could only respond in an argumentative/negative way. I bet he's gonna do it again now. Just watch...
Now, aside from staying quiet, whick I'm gonna try though it goes against my very nature, how do I respond to that without being argumentative? If I agree with him, then yup, I'm argumentative, case closed. If I argue with him about how I'm not argumentative, well, there you are. Anyway, it hurts my head. Ahem.

"JAMES! STOP THIS CRAZY THING!"

Being Softly Killed

Methods Other Than Song by Which One Can Be Killed Softly. In case you'd ever wondered.

I had a few issues with my computer earlier today. First, this morning, I couldn't get my downloaded episodes of Scrubs to play sound. Matt gave me the codec I needed, but not until after I'd upgraded DivX, which, it turns out, was bad. It screwed up some .DLL file, which it turns out, I needed. Badly. I got this stupid error that wouldn't go away. U_U Anyway, a system restore fixed that.

In other news, I passed my math test last Friday, so that's good, right? And I think I did good on my Comp Sci test this morning, so yay me. ^_^

"FAIL ME AGAIN, AND I'LL HAVE YOU SENT TO YOUR DOOM!!!"

25.9.05

Testing.

Well, James left some pages not friends only. Nothing important on them, just a few polls. I felt like I hadda do something, so I did the polls myself. First one:

MO'S SUPER FUN QUIZ!
Hey ^^ What's up?Not enough
Whats Better: Breakfast or Dinner?Dinner
Pizza: Hot or Cold?Hot
Tea or Coffee?Tea
Pepsi or Coca~Cola?Coke
Diet or Regular?Regular
Italian or Asian?Italian
Have you ever had duck, dog, gator, rabbit, or somthing else exotic?Duck, and I think Ostrich or something cool like htat
The best fast food place?SUBWAY (if that counts)
Would You Like fries with that?Nah
Type in that annoying emote you use alot online^_^
You are most often dressed like?recently, undressed o_o!
What are your totem animals?Hrmm... Not sure
Dose BDSM scare you?A little, but that's part of the fun
Whats your favorite symbol?The Red Mana Symbol? I dunno
Elves or Orcs?Elves!
Prefer a Mercenary or a Tactician? Mercenary, like Han Solo. "Your friend is quite a mercenary. I wonder if he really cares about anything, or anyone."
Do you collect hentai of anything special/specific?No Comment. o_o
To get off, enjoy emotionally, to giggle, or just becasue?little of each
Watch tv or go read a book?Book, it should be
Watch the new shows on FOX/NBC/ABC or find somthing better?There's gotta be something better.
Is that a picture of your boy/girlfriend on your desk?No, but theres a few in rotation for my desktop.
Ever go to church/temple willingly on your own?Sometimes, but then I got kicked out for being hellspawn.
Do you have a practicing religion or no?I dunno, more of a good idea.
If a friend came to your door randomly, would you get angry?Nah, more confused
How about if one of your exes did?Again, confused
In the pool (girls)one-peice or two-peice? (guys)Shirt or with no shirt?I'm a guy, and I don't wear a shirt (girls - nothing ^_^)
How often do you excercise?Not Enough
You're bored: Immerse yourself in somthing or call up a friend?Immersion, prolly
You're depressed: Eat somthing or You're somhow not hungry at all?I rarely get depressed, but I usually don't change eating habits.
Do you have more than 3 pictures of somone/thing in your room?hrmm, not any one thing in particular
Are they collectables or just clipping from a magazine or net?Confusion (o_o?)
Can you see them while you lie in bed?I don't have things
Are any of those things in or part of your bed?I DON'T HAVE THINGS!
Wanna have a sleepover?hrmmm, depends who with
Truth or Dare?Truth, way more entertaining.
Dessert: Cake or Fruit?Cake.
I lean toward you and smirk: Shy away and step back or smile back and greet me?Smile back, but don't do much else.
They charged you an extra two dollers: complain or pay and walk away?Depends on what for. $3 for a $1 product gets a complaint. $202 for a $200 thing doesn't bug me.
Do you like spray cheese?Not particularly
Fortune Cookie: eat it for the fortune or the cookie?Both ^_^
Own a bobble~head?Not yet
Want to get a tatoo someday?No thanks
How do you feel about snakes?They're cool
How about spiders?Them too
Do you really believe that the path to hell is in New Jersey?I wouldn't be surprised if it runs through.
Do you think ghosts are real?Some, sure.
If so, do you wish you could be a medium? (communicate with and/or see them? Maybe.
How about communicate with a god? which one?I do, I just don't make a big deal out of it.
Evolution or the Creation theory?Intelligent design, though that leap from evolution ins a personal decision. Kids should be taught mechanics in Science, and philosophy elsewhere.
Do fearies exist?Fearies? No. Faeries? Maybe.
Snag a succubuss as a pet maybe?No thanks
Wish for a catgirl or catboy? One of each? Maybe 3?
Make it eat in a bowl or off a plate?Depends on how well she behaves
Play Scrabble or Pictonary?Scrabble
Gamecube, PS2, or XBOX?PS2, or maybe GBA
Intellevision or Attari?ATARI! ONE T FOOL!
Do you know what Intellivision is? XDYeah, vaguely
Oldschool or is the recent stuff just too good?Each generation has its own highs and lows.
Ever play a pure japaneese game?Nope
How about watching a raw, unsubbed anime?Not for long.
Ever buy somthing you downloaded already?Yeah, I still believe in capitolism
MIRC and D or plain Kazaa and Bit Torrent?Bit Torrent.
Ever get a virus from downloading off a webpage or an email?Not recently
Do you use anti-spyware and/or anti-virus software?Duh
What kind of computer do you have anyway, and is it a laptop or standard?HP Lappy, but I need a new one
Is your hardrive often full?Nah, but I'm not as dilligent as my roommate.
Is your room cluttered?Not really.... well, yeah.
Done eating!: wash the plate right away or let it sit till you feel like doing it? Wait and run a load all at once.
Is the glass half empty or half full?Not full enough!
Live to eat or eat to live?Live to eat
Is there currently an animal nearby?Nope
Are you one of those people who put cute, little sweaters on their dogs?Nope, thats cruel
Talk out your problems or threten to break their nose?Talk em out
Would you fight back or let them hit you and then get them in legal trouble for it?Fight back, but claim self defence when the law got involved.
Ever been in legal trouble?A little...
It's Mischeif Night!: Go out or just go to sleep?Sleep.
What's you favorite holiday?Xmas
Ever carve a turnip?Uh, No
Mustard or Ketchup?Ketchup. Mustard == Yuch
What music do you prefer?Pretty much anything
Ever seriously consider suicide?No, I'm not stupid.
Since it's illegal to commint suicide, should one go to jail if they attempted? and would they ever get a death sentance for it?Not jail, but counciling and whatever is neccessary to protect them from themself
Where do you want to go on vacation?Everywhere
have you ever dreamed on Genie?Ummm... Wha?
Do you actually know anyone who had breast cancer?Nope.
Do you support the troops?Yeah, but not their mission.
How often do you sleep?Too much, probably.

CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!


And then the 2nd got lost. U_U.

Wow, that code looks ugly. Anyway, I dunno, nothing much else to report. Still been pretty sick lately. And I have a test tomorrow morning. X_X. Oh well. Later for now.

24.9.05

Innapropriate Sexuality

Matt left for the weekend. Accordingly, I'm spending the weekend in the buff till he comes back. No one is affected by this. Have a nice day.

I just watched a scene of Enterprise in which two characters had a heated discussion. It was really important about what was going on and all, I suppose, but the thing is that it was between the vulcan chick and the southern engineer guy (names are unimportant for this), while they were being decontaminated from an away mission. Aparently, being decontaminated at this early pre-Kirk stage of space flight involves rubbing oily gel over your body. And of course, no one can rub their own back, so you gotta get the other guy (or girl) to rub you down, while you're both in your undies. It makes for an entirely tittilating scene for no apparent reason. Stupid UPN Star Trek. OH! AND A STROBE LIGHT BATTLE! HOW HIGH TECH!

Sigh. It's been a bad week/weekend so far. I've got a pretty resiliant cold. I need to be drinking fluids and chicken soup. Where can I get some chicken soup on campus? And why isn't my Sin City DVD working anymore? U_U

23.9.05

Inconsistantancies

Hurricane Rita is about to hit. For those of you who may be worried about me, don't be. I'm in north Texas. The coast is at least a day's drive from here. From what I hear, people as far as Austin may get winds up to 70mph. My mom, who grew up in Amarillo, calls that "a slight gust", so they should be fine too. So don't worry about me, or anything. I'm hurricane proof, unless one forms in Tulsa. O_O

Lessee... Big day today. I've got a calculus test in about 15 minutes. Wish me luck. Then I gotta get to work on a C++ assignment. Shouldn't be too hard, now that I've actually downloaded the right compiler. *Sigh.* I hate Microsoft's compilers. I learned on a Borland C++ compiler. Lemme use one of those.

If that isn't enough, I have an exam in C++ on Monday, and a major programming assignment due soon, too. This wouldn't be so bad, but he's given us a lot of our notes in the form of downloaded PowerPoint files. Whee. I get to study from my desk at home. Problem is, I don't have PowerPoint at home. I'm using OpenOffice, not Microsoft Office. Damn Microsoft and their incompatibility. They continue to smite me and my open source devotion.

Okay, 10 minutes to the test. I guess I'd better head that way. Later folks.

22.9.05

OMG ITS TEH PLAGUE!

Look! The Britts have news!

But yeah, holy shit. This is hilarious. The traveling plague going across the world. Azeroth is infected. Is Vana'diel next? O_o! Perhaps it will be carried by an insect of some sort.

Without bothering to write another post, I had to point out that the release dates for Kingdom Hearts 2 stateside seem to have been grossly overestimated. Rawr.

Changing Gears

Wow. I think this situation would be simply surreal. Cool though. And also creepy.

Sigh, I can't get James outta my head. Maybe I AM some kinda creepy stalker. What's my problem? Seriously, why can't I just ignore this situation? I don't want to spend all day focusing on him. I have real work to do. And it's not getting me anywhere anyway, he just went back into full ignore mode again. Anway, I have real work to do.

Oh yeah, I think this belt looks cute.



One more thing: Microwaved foil Magic cards spark and smoke. It's cool!

James: Epilogue

I have too many friends in common with James to ignore him. I tried ignoring him, and not leaving posts on his blog or what have you, giving him time to chill out about it. No good. James is very good at being sedintary. He's almost as stubborn as I am. Almost.

I left a reply to him on Kaylee's Journal, which I wish I hadn't, in retrospect. I almost thought I was making progress. Oh, and just for completion, the deleted comments James left are available here and here only, thanks to Gmail. The first one, in responce to my "What do you expect me to say?" post actually got two replies, first looking like this:
You see? You can never agree with anyone on anything. Everyone else who comments on my journal is supportive, that's really the reason why I keep my journal, and also one of the reasons you were banned. You don't have to say you will change things for me, just agree like a normal person would when someone talks about something thats stressing them. It's called lying, Greg. Sometimes it's good to lie if it makes someone feel better. Sometimes it's better to say "sorry to hear that" or "I know how you feel" instead of "too bad" or "its not my problem".

I don't want to see another argumentative post from you on my journal or on any threads I make. You need to learn to be nice.
. Then, he deleted that and replaced it with this:
You see? You can never agree with anyone on anything. Everyone else who comments on my journal is supportive, that's really the reason why I keep my journal, and also one of the reasons you were banned. You don't have to say you will change things for me, just agree like a normal person would when someone talks about something thats stressing them. It's called lying, Greg. Sometimes it's good to lie if it makes someone feel better. Sometimes it's better to say "sorry to hear that" or "I know how you feel" instead of "too bad" or "its not my problem".

A debate happens when both people agree to have one. If I don't want to debate, then you're starting a fight. You want to fight? Let's fuckin fight greg. Let's see where that goes. Why do I seem more prepared for life than you do? I may not be able to handle a lot of stress but at least I know when to shut my fuckin mouth.

I don't want to see another argumentative post from you on my journal or on any threads I make. You need to learn to be nice. That means the answer is "okay" and "I'm sorry". You started a fight by being completely insensative, and now I expect an apology. You don't want to accept you're wrong? Fine. Defend every mistake you make to you death, and know that not once in your life did a positive sentence come out of your mouth.
*Sighs*. The last thing he sent is just depressing. I know it's bullshit, but if I call him on it, it'll just make him angry. Ah well, I'll make him angry. He's angry half the time anyway, through no fault of my own. And I know I'm right here. He always tells me I never admit when I was wrong. That's not true. I'll admit it when you prove me wrong, but James, you've yet to prove me wrong.

21.9.05

Rediculous

A while back, I mentioned on here that I was saying the word "rediculous" a lot. I like it. Its nifty. The funny thing is, though, I never specified that I was using a word that was not "ridiculous". Notice the difference? Rediculous is now my word. I claim it, retroactively, if possible. Ridiculous is something that is able to be ridiculed. Something rediculous is just awesome, like Bill Brasky. Why, just look at what this man has accompished with his life:
"Bill Brasky is a son of a bitch!"

"Bill Brasky is the father of every kid in this town!"

"Bill Brasky once showed me a video of him making love to my wife, and it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw!"

"One time I was with Brasky in the back of a pickup truck, along with a live deer. Brasky goes up to the deer and says, 'I'm Bill Brasky! SAY IT!' Then he manipulates the deer's lips in such a way as to make it say, 'Billbrasky'... It wasn't exactly like it, but it was pretty good for a deer!'"

"He'd eat a homeless person if you dared him!"

"His poop is used as currency in Argentina."

"He sweats Gatorade"

"He once breast fed a flamingo back to health."

"He hated Mexicans! And he was half Mexican! .......And he hated irony!"

"I once saw him scissor kick Angela Landsbury."

"He sheds his skin once a year."

"He did 3 tours in 'Nam...... I was in Corpus Christi on business a month ago. I had this eight foot tall Asian waiter, which made me curious. I asked him his name. Sure enough it's Ho Tran Brasky!"

"I once saw him eat a whole live chicken."

"His favorite movie is 'One on One' with Robby Benson."

"He sleeps eight hours a night! ........ well, he was pretty normal when it came to that."

"Bill Brasky was a two ton man-mountain who could palm a medicine ball!"

"Did I ever tell you about the time Brasky took me out to go get a drink with him? We go off looking for a bar and we can't find one. Finally Brasky takes me to a vacant lot and says, 'Here we are.' We sat there for a year and a half and, sure enough, someone constructs a bar around us. The day they opened we ordered a shot, drank it, and then burned the place to the ground. Brasky yelled over the roar of the flames, 'Always leave things the way you found 'em!'"

"Bill Brasky had a four day heart attack...a day for each chamber. At the autopsy, they said his heart looked like a basketball filled with ricotta cheese."

"He once punched a hole in a cow just to see who was coming up the road."

"He taught me how to make love to a woman, and how to scold a child."

"They found $60 in change in his stomach."

"He did all the makeup on The Planet of the Apes movie."

"He grew a 3rd arm and kept it in a vault."

"Brasky drank a full glass of liquid LSD with his eggs. Then he slept for 8 months straight. When he woke he rubbed his eyes and said, 'All in all, I prefer gin.'"

"They say Gene Roddenbery got the idea for Star Trek from listening to Brasky talk in his sleep."

"He date raped David Bowie."

"He once inhaled a seagull."

"The Pope told him it was ok to have a mistress."

"It was the sight of Brasky's naked body that drove Brian Wilson insane."

"He once had sex with a cigarette machine."

"He killed Wolfman Jack with a trident."

"He uses the Shroud of Turin as a golf towel."

"He once ate the Bible while water skiing."

"He drives an ice cream truck covered in human skulls."

"He sired a baseball team.. an orchestra if you count the bastards!"

"You know, he would shoot whiskey into his neck with a syringe!"

"He has dandruff the size of mice!"

"He jogged with a fridge on his back!"

"Bill Brasky was a 10 foot monster who slept with all our wives! And punched us all in the face! And we loved him for it!"

"His first name is Bill! ....... I'm drunk."

"He's a ten foot tall beastman who showers in vodka and feeds his baby shrimp scampi."

"He orchestrated the merger between Unicef and Smith & Wesson."

"He went public with his own buttocks and made $7 million."

"Did I ever tell you about the time Brasky went hunting? Brasky decides he's going to hunt down all four of the Banana Splits. He stalks and kills every one of them with a machete. They all begged for their lives...except Fleagle."

"We once had a bachelor party for Brasky. He ate the entire cake before we could tell him there was a stripper in it."

"Brasky once hosted the Grammys and gave every award to Corey Hart."

"He has a toenail on the end of his penis."

"Brasky once got his wife pregnant and gave birth to a delicious 16 ounce steak. The after birth was sauteed mushrooms."

"Brasky's family crest is a picture of a baracuda eating Neil Armstrong."

"Brasky ranked 18th in the AP College Football Poll."

"Did I ever tell you about the time Brasky was in a production of The King and I? On opening night, Brasky chloroforms the entire cast and slowly eats them in front of the audience for two hours. The production got pretty good reviews."

"He breastfeeds John Madden."

"Brasky named the group Sha Na Na. They did NOT want to be called that."

"If you drop a phonograph needle on Brasky's nipple, it plays the Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds.'"

"They use Brasky's foreskin as a tarp when it rains at Yankee Stadium."

"Brasky directed that commercial where the women play basketball in high heels."

"All the Yes album covers are Brasky family photos."

"He wears a live rattlesnake as a condom."

"Did I ever tell you about the time he taught his son how to drive? He did it by entering him in the Indy 500. The kid wrecked and died. Brasky said it would've happened sometime."

"Brasky's semen can form into a liquid human - like the guy from Terminator 2"

"Brasky still believes in Santa Claus, and he wants to put him in porno films."

"He thinks that Iron Man is gay."

"He framed Roger Rabbit."

"The character of Johnny Appleseed was based on Brasky - except for the apple tree planting and not raping men."

"He gave a handjob to a manta ray."

"He uses Old Spice aftershave as nasal spray."

"He fashions graven images from frozen seawater."

"He brushes his teeth with a meat cleaver and rock salt."

"This one time, Brasky burned a CD with nothing but the sounds of his bowel movements and the screams of his manservants. It went triple platinum within the month."

"He owns the PAX network."

"He thought The Princess Diaries was both charming and sweet depiction of one girl's emergence from youth into womanhood."

"He made Styx BITE IT!"

"They say he bleeds peppermint vodka."

"Did I ever tell ya about the time that Brasky and I took a hot air balloon trip over Los Angeles? Brasky brings an atomic bomb and drops it on the city! Then, he looks at me and says, "It would have happened sooner or later."

"The movie Deliverance was based on Brasky's experiences as a kindergarden teacher."

"His memoirs are tattooed on Ruth Buzzi."

"He's producing Battlefield Earth 2"

"He recieves radio messages from Mars on his scrotum."

"His big toe is holding up Australia."

"He took The Blair Witch to his senior prom."

"He makes N'Sync keep Chris."

"He invented the Cleveland Steamer."

"Most people don't know this, but Bill Brasky has children! This one time, he was banging a hooker and wouldn't ya know it, his semen shoots straight through her tailbone, up through the ceiling and into the sky where it hit a plane! Nine months later, every woman on that plane had Brasky's children! When they tried to get child support... he paid it every month."

"His pubic hair was woven into the Sri Lankan flag."

"His favorite actor is Greg Kinnear."

"His middle name is Julian."

"He uses live elk for toilet paper."

"His cover version of Limp Bizkit's My Way appeared on the soundtrack for Titanic. The pope himself thought the song crackled with energy but he didn't like the sound of burning preschoolers in the background."

"Did I ever tell you boys about the time that Bill Brasky wanted a World Series ring? Wouldn't ya know it, but Brasky kills the entire starting lineup of the 1998 New York Yankees! All except Clay Bellinger. They beat the Atlanta Braves in four games. Brasky was the MVP."

"He pisses farm fresh orange juice."

"He makes his grandchildren call him "The Anal Astrologist"."

"His favorite contestant on Survivor is Teresa."
You cannot ridicule those accomplishments. They are not ridiculous. But they are REDICULOUS.

And thus, Rediculous is not a typo, it is a word that means hilariously awesome, and it is my word. You can continue to use ridiculous to point out things in need of ridicule, though.

My Genius Knows No Bounds.

I've been talking to my mom lately:
Greg: ive gone to all my XL classes
Greg: it turns out I use my left and right brains about equally
Mom : I knew that already
Mom : its a sign of genius
Greg: oh cool
Mom : you just have to be willing to put in the work
Mom : so other people know your a genius too
Yay, my mommy thinks I'm a genius.

Speaking of, I showed you all my essay, version 1.2, cuz I thought it was good, but even I never guessed it was THIS good:
Comment:

Not only do you write a brilliant essay here with one of the most engaging personal written-voices I've read, but you do so largely within the limitations the criteria for the essay sets, which is a very difficult thing to do sometimes.

As far as criteria is concerned, the narration of your personal experience ties in well to the question you ask in the essay. In fact, it is the the kid-at-the-fountain's statement, the validity of his voice itself as either a cultural statement about a lack of barriers or the wishful thinking of a bully, which becomes your question of whether and to what extent social barriers exist and acts as the ghost of the narration echoing on throughout your reflections. Again, criteria aside, this is brilliant.

Reflecting on criteria again, the significant question you ask is "Can I be a superhero?" By the time you ask this question, you have already explained how the question is significant to children and parents living in our social system, and the reader already has a clear sense, intuitively, that the question you are asking is one of barriers. However, instead of asking this question directly in the stale way which is almost required, you again refer to the echo of the child's voice and write the same thing except with the substituting metaphor of 'superhero' for 'astronaut' or 'dictator.'

Your thesis statement for this draft seems to be "Through no fault of the anyone, barriers are in place to keep children from reaching any goal they dream of." With respect to criteria, this is effective for 1.2, but for 1.3 you will need to make sure that the statement summarizes your entire essay (ie, both viewpoints. For instance you might begin it with "Although there are great liberties and toned down barriers in our country, but..." in order to reconcile both viewpoints).

Also, and alas we are back at criteria, be sure to include more sources. Here you do include several relevant sources of a nonconventional nature such as a television commercial (in the citation you should give the commercial name and date), a Halloween costume (give the store and serial code I guess??) and a Batman reference (DC^tm), but for 1.3 you will need to research opinions in books and articles as well.

Therefore, although there are two minor lapses in criteria, it is my belief that your writing style and what you have written largely makes up for them, and so, although although grades do not always reflect excellent writing, I am going to give you a high one and hope that the second reader agrees. If not, then you only have my thanks for this essay and an essay you can be proud of regardless.
And I got a 95% on that. ^_^

On the same vein, here's a snippet from my writing review, where I respond to such critiques.
This is the first time I've gotten a paper back with a list of grammar errors, which is helpful. The other ones told me “1-3 grammar errors.” To which I thought... “Where?” Having them all listed out gives me an idea on what to work on. Interestingly, it seems the only way to learn how to fix my punctuation errors is to make more of them. Do I get extra credit for pointing out irony within the English program?
And then a snippet from the critique for that essay:
Your writing review has only 1 - 3 errors, typos, or instances of careless editing in the text.
O_o?

Also, just to not let the edit I made because I messed HTML up go to waste: Matt didn't know what a tarp was, then balked when I couldn't describe one off the top of my head. How do you describe a tarp? Its just... A tarp!

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See?

20.9.05

My Chemistry Class Is Retarded

I know that when you get a lot of people in the same room, half are automatically below average intelligence, but you'd expect that average to still be pretty high in a university class. Of course, it is "Intro to Chemistry." My chem teacher just sent this out to the class:
Hello class,

You might find this amusing or it might make you slightly ill. Since I spent the last hour playing with the clicker registration file, I felt obliged to share my experience with you.

I think I emphasized in lecture, on the syllabus and by mass e-mailings that clicker registration was to include your PERSONAL TEST NUMBER that you get by LOGGING IN TO TECHSIS. If you still do not know your PERSONAL TEST NUMBER, please get it and learn it.

In the spot for personal test numbers, we had the following types of entries.

Social security numbers: 23 students

Names or nicknames: 13 students

15 digit ID card numbers: 19 students

Other/blank 5 students

There were also 4 people who entered their last name for their first name and visa/versa.

I think we have a lot of room for improvement. Let’s keep working hard at following directions so by the end of the term you will be third degree black belt direction followers. I’d appreciate it.

Thanks,

Dr. Blake
Now, I'm pretty sure I got this all right, but I think I'll stop in during office hours or something this week and doublecheck my stuff. o_o

GROW CUBE!!!!

Behold the puzzle which took me thirty minutes. It's so awesome! *Nods.*

Alphabetics

Okay, I just got back from English class, and for once I'm enjoying it. I'm getting my papers in on time, I have an A in the class (89.6 at last check), and the class itself is somewhat enjoyable. I get to contribute a lot, which I like. I can't contribute in the sciences, but thats okay because I understand those, and get them easily. The only class I don't like is history and social studies, because they leave very little room for discussion. Things happened that way. There's no alternatives to consider, really. Just learn the dates and names. X_X I hate dates and names.

But back to English. Today was fun. The teacher asked the class for ideas on how to organize our paper's paragraphs. Thematically and by source were suggested, and he continued to ask for more. When no one else had any suggestions, I thought, well, this isn't a good way, but I'll suggest it anyway. "Chronologically." We went through a long discussion about the good and bad points of chronologically organizing your paper could be. And he asked for still more. No responce from the class, so I decided to go with an even worse method. "Alphabetically." That got a good laugh from the class, but the teacher discounted it. "Argumentatively" was what he wanted. I was close, I got the first and last letters right.

Anyway, I'm going to organize my paper Alphabetically. Just to spite the teacher. He's probably not going to grade it, but I'll print it out, just to show him. HAHAHA.

No, I'm not going out of my way to base each paragraph on a letter of the alphabet, but I'll try and make every paragraph begin with the next letter of the alphabet. You'll see what I mean. *Nods.* You'll all see!!!

19.9.05

I'm A Terrible Person

I've seen this too many times to not link it.

Anyway, I went to Subway for my semi-regular sandwich. First off, today was not Tuesday (yet), so I couldn't get the two-for-Tueday special, but I was hungry and in a hurry to get back and talk to Jackie before Matt got in. As luck would have it, Matt just got in. But yeah, I got my cold cut combo, not double-meat though (I'm trying to cut back and budget somewhat). While I was there, I noticed that the girl who was running the register was NOT the one who made my sandwich. Out of pure evilness, I decided to see if I could fool her into thinking my sandwich was the cheapest one on the menu.

"I don't suppose you'd believe that this is a 6" veggie delight, would you?"

She gave me an incredulous look, and I told her, no, its really a foot-long cold cut combo. I think she only heard the foot long part though, and rang up a 12" veggie sandwich. Thats when the evil sandwich-maker caught me. I feel bad.

Also, I added a few items to my todo list.

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That's right, I will conquer Earth. Btw, that last one is a joke, but I really do need to set up an appointment with a pediatrician. I'll leave why up to your imagination, though. ^_^

I'm a terrible person.

Learning Is Fun

I found an article about the Three Laws of Robotics on Wikipedia. If you've never seen this, you really should. Not just the laws, though they are interesting, and contain the following quote:
"Three Laws of Rowboatics":

1. A Rowboat may not immerse a human being or, through lack of flotation, allow a human to come to harm.
2. A Rowboat must obey all commands and steering input given by its human Rower, except where such input would conflict with the First Law.
3. A Rowboat must preserve its own flotation as long as such preservation does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
No, I wanna get you guys hooked on Wikipedia. It is quite possibly the most useful thing on the Internet. Seriously, people always ask me to look things up for them. I can always give them a semi-quick answer thanks to Wikipedia. It's all part of my mind-enriching new diet.

Seriously, I just found 111 rules for Wedding Crashing (from the movie). This is one of the best online resources ever. Between this, dictionary.com, and good old Google and it's little add-ons, there is no fact I cannot find. I'm only waiting till bandwidth and storage allow me access to any television clip I need. Then I can be like Wade from Kim Possible. I would rock at that job.

Speaking of jobs: I've been told by the same person that I would be good as both a clown and a priest. First off, I'm not a clown, I'm a fool. Secondly, I'm not religious. You'd need to give me a LOT of alter boys to convince me to take up the cloth. [/Joking] But yeah, I dunno, I like being a fool. I enjoy making other people happy. I'm good at it. I'm not good at being religious though. I know just enough about God to be dangerous, then damned to Hell for all eternity. I like the fool carreer path better, thank you very much.

A couple of other entries I was looking at today:
List of Portmanteaus
RoboCop

I saw that movie the other night (RoboCop, not Portmanteaus - though when that comes out, I wanna be first in line). It's so awesomely cheesy and everything. If it was a novel, it would be required reading for all K-12 students, simply out of awesomeness. Or if movies were assigned instead of books. Something like that. It's great if only for the cheesyness.

Speaking of great things we should force all schoolchildren to read - The Hitchhikkers Guide To The Galaxy. I found out one of my friends loved the movie but had made no moves to read any of the books. This is inexcusable. Every American, nay, every English speaker on the planet, and any of those other languages it's been translated into, needs to read these books. At least the first one, I guess. But yeah. Read it. H2G2. Now.

And remember: "Rule #21 - Definitely make sure she's 18."

Old Glory Robot Insurance

Because they're made of metal, and robots are strong. You needa watch this. Or else.

In other news, I've begun writing out the survivors story I've been sitting on for a while. Nothing worth publishing yet, but I'll let you know.

Nothing else to report. Oh well. I suppose sooner or later I'll make some more Magic cards for ya. ^_^

18.9.05

Keeping Busy

It's been a long boring weekend. X_X. Good news is I found a nifty way to occupy me. I found a Magic card editor. Believe it or not, I enjoy designing random Magic cards. Of course, I'm not creative enough to design a whole set for myself. What I've ended up doing, instead, is taking the pictures I have, and designing cards around them. It creates an interesting challenge, because most of my pictures center around people, and less on actions. Therefore, I end up with a lot more creatures and artifacts than others. Anyway, I thought I'd find a good selection of my cards to show you what I was up to. Enjoy:

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Yup. It turns all your creatures into Nazi's. And if it leaves play, well, you get slapped with a war crimes trial. It's a pretty basic example of a card drawn from its illustration.

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This is your example of the white race, as it were. Most of my pictures are of women, but I had enough cute boys running around to be worth their own army. I mean, who wouldn't be scared of an army of adorable halfnaked boys? (I think I've said too much.)

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Blue got a new ablity recently - the ability to take creatures power away. It's basically all blue has in terms of combat tricks. I took that a little further and gave blue this. It's the ability to turn any creature into a wall. And I decided, what better way to make a creature into a stationary, non-aggressive being? Give it huge tits. Voila.

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Blue always has really good utility creautres, but they suck at actual combat, so I decided to fix that. The blue race in my set, or whatever it is, takes captives. I'm only hoping that the discarding cost mechanic is made up for by blues superior card drawing.

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Mass removal for black. Reusable. Black gets a race of Witches, pretty much. A lot of utility creatures, but that actually do things.

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That's why I gave them a few vampires, too. Nothing too amazing, but they needed something on the beefy end.

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Look! A LEGEND! When I come across a picture of someone who is really unique (and recognizable as such) I make them into a Legend. Sooner or later I'll make her hammer, too.

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I'm making a cycle of these guys. I couldn't decide whether to make them equipment or enchantments, so I decided to do neither. Or both. Or something. But yeah, so far I have this one and a blue one, but I'll bet I can find one for the other colors too.

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IT'S A KITTY! He needed a card. *Nods.* Green also has a race of "elves" though I don't really have any pictures of elves. Just take my word for it, yeah?

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I hadda do something with this carrot. It's nifty. Though why a cat would like a carrot, or a beast or an elemental, I'm not sure. But yeah, the gist is that since all "civilized" races (and goblins - no, there are no goblins in my set) have two types, species and class, the ones with just one type are dumb animals.

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The thing tells me that gold cards come before artifacts, so here's one. I basically decided to make a cycle of each of the 5 enemy pairing, which are supposed to be basically traitors. They all have some ability or another that makes them switch controllers.

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BOOBIES! Yeah, gues what, a lot of my pictures are "NSFW." This one is one of the safer ones, actually. But yeah, another case where the picture and the mechanics converged.

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It's Chi. Or Chii. I dunno. I call her Chi. I suppse both mean the same thing. But yeah, this version difers from an older version I did of her, where she could only be played from the graveyard, and was able to kill other persocoms, trying to replicate her weird security measures, like how she took out all the other PCs that tried to scan her (which didn't help, cuz I never really made any others). This one focuses on her wanting to be the one and only for you. "Dakishimetainoni" means "I want to hold only you." She's jealous.

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This one, the last one, leads me into another find point. I'll do Magic card commissions. If you know about the game, or don't even but think these things were neat, send me a picture, and any idea on what you wanted (color, ability, p/t) and I'll churn out a card. This one I was just given the picture by Mike, but I think it turned out rather well. I like the idea of a 'tarp trap.'

So yeah, I'm accepting commissions. Once I've finished with the entirity of my collection, I'll move on to development, I guess, and start balancing out the set. I'm also hoping to change the names. I have a lot of cards that say "Averan Something" or "Rendarian Whatever." I think that gets kinda boring after a while. Anyway, that's for my future. Laters folks.

16.9.05

2/365 tomorrows

Just the thing to take your mind off of feeling crummy - deep scifi writing.

Deo’s Hole
This World's Not Built For Lovers

Of course, I encourage you to look through the whole archives yourself, but those two jumped out at me. And I'm gonna nap now.

Sleepyness

I don't know why I'm writing this. My brain is screaming at me to go to sleep. Or at least get in bed and close my eyes and see what comes of it. I'm probably going to shortly, but I just had to get this feeling off my chest. I'm so utterly tired, you can't even know it. And I have been for a while now. I've been going to all my classes, and I feel really awesome for it, because I have litterally sat through classes where I felt so bad I couldn't look at the chalkboard without my head feeling ready to pop. X_X It seems to come and go. I'll feel really good one moment, and then just UGH the next. I need to get more sleep, I guess, and that's all there is too it. Here goes!

IT'S A MAGIC WAND!!!!

Bibbity bobbity boo. Or Boo.
Or something. Anyway, Nintendo's new controller is going to be able to tell where it is and how you're holding it and such. Largo, among other people, may have trouble with this system.

Seriously, I think I linked to an article I read a while back about this kinda thing, but I'm not sure, and I'm not linking it now in either case. The gist of the article was that Nintendo's attempts at "revolutionizing" the games industry only serve to make 3rd party developers frustrated by having to adapt to a radically different control scheme. For instance, there's an upcoming Transformers movie, which I'm sure I've mentioned. It's going to be marketed in the same way that other superhero movies have been. Batman, Spiderman, Superman, etc, they all had merchandizing up the wazoo.
Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs-the T-shirt, Spaceballs-the Coloring Book, Spaceballs-the Lunch box, Spaceballs-the Breakfast Cereal, Spaceballs-the Flame Thrower.
Anyway, my point is that the Transformers video game for PS3 will be basically the same as the X-Box360 and the PSP. Even the DS will probably have something that simply overlays a map on the extra screen and sticks to simply the main control buttons. But the Revolution? How do you use a little midair joystick to control a Giant Fighting Robot? If you were a developer and had designed a game that works great with the other standard control interfaces, would you really want to have to start entirely from scratch on the Revolution port? I wouldn't.

Of course, I'm still leaning heavily towards getting a DS, but the Revolution has just de-sold itself to me. Unless I can get it for $150, in which case I will simply use it to play the old Gamecube Pokemon games. I gotta catch them all!!!

Written and Spoken Words

THIS IS AWESOME!!!!! I clicked their advertising link off of Megatokyo and was pleasantly surprised. I've subscribed to their feed, even though so far I've only read two: "Nexus" and "The Nine Billion Faces of God". They're both good, and I expect the same high quality from the rest of them.

Wow. My computer just droze up. Now its running slowly. As I typed this sentence, it finished the word "running". Sigh. Okay, there it goes.

Anyway, I've been running my computer probably too hard today. I'm getting WMP to scan my external again from scratch in the hope that it will clean up the file information on some more of my music and video files. It prolly won't, but eh, why not? I decided to go through and delete all the files iTunes realized were duplicates. Or rather, half. Or more, some were quadruplicates. Anyway, now as far as iTunes is concerned, I only have one of each file. Yay.

Let's see, it's the weekend. I want to go buy stuff, but I moreso want to wait till October when I buy my Ravnica stuff, and then go from there. Some manga is sitting out there, but I'll get it all eventually, and honestly, I still have a lot to read. I've got "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" sitting around, and a few other manga and comic titles I need to get through.

I really want to prioritize though. I'll get all this stuff done after get my homework finished. Speaking of priorities, though, I think I should leave WMP running, and I'll dig into "the Hero" while it does. Talk to you later.

15.9.05

I Am A Sellout

Yeah, scroll down. No, further, I'll wait. Didja see it? No? Look, just keep scrolling till you see something new, then come back here. I'll wait.

...

Done? Yeah, I got Google Ads. I expect to get about $3 a year off of this thing, max, but it's free, and I'm not LOSING anything from it, right? Besides, it's down so far that I doubt anyone will notice them. I will try and keep my blogging habits up to where they have been, though, so for those of you who only read once a week, I guess you will scroll down past the adds and such.

Adult Swim is on now. They're all re-runs as usual, but some of the ads, ironically enough, are worth watching.

I like the Axe Bodywash spot. Any chance to see chicks poledancing is worth 30 seconds of my time.

They're gonna start airing new episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist. I like that show, so I'll probably be watching the new ones. Scratch that, definitely.

The Magic Ravnica spots are nifty. Aside from showing us new card arts (MTGSalvation.com already has the whole spoiler there), it's just cool to see Magic ads on TV.

I think I'm done. *Passes out.*

*Gets up.* No wait. Tomorrow's Friday. That means weekend. I really wanna check out Hastings, though I'm not... sure... why.... X_X I may also check out the local manga store. I know I wanna get a box of Ravnica (probably off eBay) as well as a theme deck and a Fatpack. I needs those dice. Of course, that's not till next month. Sigh... So many things to buy, so little time. It would rock if I got enough money from my ad's to pay for all the stuff I want. Seriously, not having to work, and instead I just blog. Total awesome. Of course, that's a pipe dream. No one reads this crap. X_X

Aww, I made me sad. I'm going to bed.

Minor Quibbles

As usual, the obligatory news posting. The Pledge of Allegiance is wrong. I agree with that. Why though? That's where I differ from a lot of people. This judge seems to think that "Under God" are the two worst words in the pledge, or at least that they don't belong in there. On one level, yes, the government shouldn't be supporting one religion over any other, and clearly that's whats happening. But the only religion that's really outcast here is atheists, near as I can tell. Just about every other religion (that is, all that come to my mind when I think about it) worship some sort of diety, so those kids can just say "god" with a lowercase g, and everything's alright. However, the atheists have a valid point, in that they shouldn't be forced to recognize the presence of a diety if they don't believe in.

However, there is a much broader issue out here, which is that the very concept of forcing children to recite a Pledge of Allegience to anything is wrong. Catholics have to spend years in classes going through comfirmation classes before they can make their pledge of allegience to the Catholic Church, and the same for Jews and their Bar- and Bat-Mitzvahs. But to say the American pledge, all you have to do is remember a few words and say them in a sing-songy rhythm? That's not right. How many elementary schoolers do you think actually know what the pledge means? Indivisible? What the fuck is that? You can keep "under God," just take out all the big words people don't know.

Really, though, I don't think any kid ever pays attention to the words they are saying. They get swept up in keeping the rhythm, so it's like a poem:I pledge allegience
To the flag
Of the United States
Of America
And to the republic
And so on. Did you know I thought there was a period after America for the longest time? I couldn't figure out what was being done to the republic, whatever that was.

It's merely a recitation with no meaning behind it. That's wrong to expect from children. I say that, no matter what form they keep it in, they should make this pledge of allegience optional for all students. The school can still play it over speakers, but not every student has to recite it with them. That should keep everyone happy.

It was also brought up that the phrase "under God" was added in as a jab at the godless communists during the Red Scare of the 50's. What should we do now, confronted by a group of people who then believe in their god so much they are willing to die for his will?

Anyway, in personal news, Matt and I are kicking around the idea of doing a show about our lives. He showed me an Internet show called The Scene, about movie pirates (not the Johnny Depp type, the kind who gave you that copy of Batman Begins off the Internet). For a while I was convinced that it was an actual documentary, which would have been awesome. Turns out that no, its a work of fiction, but it's still a really good show I'd recomend for everyone to watch in their spare time. So far they have 12 twenty minute episodes, and it's starting to get pretty intense.

But yeah, back when I thought it was a documentary (and by the way, I would watch a video blog or documentary like that), I thought Matt and I could make a much better 20 minute show once a month. I'm sure we produce at least 20 minutes worth of awesome material a month. It's time for the rest of the world to enjoy it.

Lessee... other tidbits - I got a muffin for knowing something in chemistry! YAY ME!

Oh yeah, I decided to check out a few of the iTunes Podcast things. If anyone has any suggestions? Currently my collection includes a Transformers podcast, cuz I'm a nerd, and the Al Franken Show, cuz he's funny. Anyone else got any suggestions?

14.9.05

I Am So Glad I Didn't Hear About This On TV

...Though I'm sure the Daily Show will say something about this. I mean, it's too easy to make fun of.

This is why I like following the news. You get funny stories like this to talk about in your blog. I'm honestly surprise by this. Obviously, it was implemented by the school board, because no actual school, let alone a catholic school, would suggest something like this. And I can't blame them. I'm not sure I'd pay to get them to keep it off the air, though I did routinely end up with gads of pocket change before I switched to using my meal plan and debit card over physical moneys, and I might have donated that. Honestly, I'm not sure I'd be able to learn with that song stuck in my head. I've already got the song stuck in my head and I haven't heard it in God knows how long, though it obviously hasn't been long enough.

Being Smart

I haven't gotten my C++ program's to compile, but that's because my compiler sucks, not me. I'll have that settled by the end of the week. And I still got decent grades on that homework all things considered. Other than that though, I think I'm really in the swing of this school year. Good grades, been to all of my classes (more on this later), turning in all the work when it's due. ^_^

I'm sure you all've enjoyed reading my english essay, and if not, too bad. I put them up there because I think they are interesting reads, and more often than not, I enjoyed writing them. Seriously, one of these days I'll get around to one of my personal projects. I will. Just as soon as.... Well, honestly, I don't have anything keeping me from working on them. Maybe you'll get something this weekend. And that's a stong maybe.

But yeah, I've been sorta sick lately. Not like life-threateningly ill, just sick enough that I wish I was sicker. I came back from CS today and crawled into bed, and I could have sworn I heard my something in my head snap. It hurt. I later realized it was the click that my computer gives when it shuts its screen off (I don't know why it does that) but at the time I was kinda worried, and also half tired, so I didn't really know what was going on. It seemed like a semi-plausible excuse to just skip math though. I didn't. I went to class. I am going for perfect attendance this semester. If I have one through Thanksgiving, I'll treat myself by bringing my PS2 up here so I'll be able to beat Kingdom Hearts on hard before I get the sequel. Speaking of, I have to decide if I want to start it here on the tiny screen, or go home and view what is sure to be a kick ass opening on the kick ass 6' screen. Hrmm... These are the issues that keep me up at night. And cause my head to snap.

Speaking of which, people always tell me that when the finally figure something out, it clicks. It's not that way for me. To me, it more like 'gels'.

13.9.05

Draft 1.2 - Director's Cut

The assignment was to expand somewhat on the previous work. However, I was limited to 800 words, +/- 50 wiggle room words. The essay I submitted was 848 words long according to OpenOffice's word count, but I'd to put up here the original version, including the 100+ words that were omitted.
My dad owns a beach house near the New Jersey coast. As a kid, I used to spend many summers there with my family, swimming in the surf and playing in the sand. One year, I believe it was between the 6th and 7th grades, I went for a walk along the beach with my brothers and a few friends. We had gotten bored, hot, and thirsty, so we were looking for a water fountain. For some reason, the city planners had decided that no one would ever want running water when sitting out in the sun on a bed of dry sand in front of an ocean of salt water, and had placed the fountains much too far apart, in our minds. Eventually, we came across one, about two blocks from our towel where we had started, only to find a small boy putting his lips to the spout. “Hey, you can't do that,” we told him. “That's gross.” His reaction sounded almost rehearsed, and with a stilted voice, he told us cheerily “I can do whatever I want.” We told him that, no, he couldn't do that, and he got upset and ran to get his dad. My party decided that his dad might have been mad, so we left rather than find out.

It was a seemingly innocuous event in the grand scheme of things, but for some reason, that kid's voice has always stuck with me. Most people might see the above scenario as a basic example of the conflict between overlapping freedoms (his to put his lips to the fountain versus ours to not drink from a gross water fountain). When I heard the kids voice though, and whenever I relive the event in my head, I hear a childish version of the echoes of a thousand parents telling their children that they have unlimited potential, and can do anything if they set their minds to it. Through my own experience, however, I have come to realize that, in fact, children do not have limitless potential. Through no fault of the anyone, barriers are in place to keep children from reaching any goal they dream of.

What sort of barriers are there for children, though? Certainly, leaps and bounds have been made in child raising and education, so that any children has the capability to know enough or have the skills to be an astronaut, or the president, a famous athlete, or whatever their heart may desire. Discrimination, though unfortunately still existent, has diminished significantly and is rarely a realistic barrier to any opportunity. But not every child can be an astronaut, or president, or a professional athlete. For instance, my youngest cousin Clara is a very smart and charismatic little girl. Granted, she's only two, but my aunt would be the first to tell you that she could be president some day. Unfortunately, though she's now as much a red blooded Texan as her parents, Clara was born in China and adopted at the age of one. She can't be president, no matter how well qualified she is, simply because of a little matter of chance. I often wonder at the ideas we fill our children with. We tell them early and often that they can reach any goal they put their minds to, and to always live the dream. We don't like to think about the things they cannot do, and often try our best to ignore these barriers. I'd like to make it clear that most of these barriers are not some sort of limits on personal freedoms. I am glad to live in a country where governmental restrictions are extremely low, and cherish these freedoms greatly. However, there are issues that cannot be legislated.

For instance, I have my own “I can do whatever I want” story. I love flying. I play flight simulators whenever I can, and even today fantasize about being able to soar in the sky and beyond. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a child, or at the very least a pilot. Unfortunately, I was also born with a congenital heart defect. The details of it are largely irrelevant, and today I can live out a normal life. But I cannot fly. Simply having this heart defect is a guarantee that no company, private or public, will allow me to operate an airplane, let alone a spacecraft of any sort. Due to simple chance and happenstance, I am barred from reaching the childhood dreams which I was told by all my early teachers I could achieve no matter what. How many other children are in similar situations?

I've put a good deal of thought into this. I'm often caught by little things, like a recent TV commercial for an investment form that claims it will help your children reach their dreams, including one little boy who asks “Can I be a superhero?” The voice-over answers “Yes,” which is clearly false. No amount of financing, Wayne fortune or not, can turn a kid into a superhero. Of course, my mom will tell you that it's good to encourage a child's dreams, and I'd definitely agree with that. At least, I know that telling a boy “No, you can't be an astronaut, play with your Play-Doh McDonald's instead” would be a damaging thing. My friends however, also agree that it may not be the best thing to let a child believe he is capable of absolutely anything. There is a very sad reason why Superman Halloween costumes are stitched with the phrase “will not make you fly”: at least one child thought it would.
Now here's a challenge. Try and guess what I had to pull to make it fit? Btw, I'll prolly get marked off for a poor closing paragraph, but I simply had no room for anything more. Stupid limits. X_X

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