Shirts for Rollers

Look! Official T-shirts for Katamari Damacy. They're pretty cool, too. If only I wore t-shirts on more than one day out of the week.

No tree?

I think this strip from Player vs Player explains why we don't have a Christmas tree. I can just see Tricksy thinking this.

Gifts

Thanksgiving went well for us here in MN. The turkey turned out well, the fixings were enjoyed and the cleaning was as mountainous as one would expect. Hopefully next year, Emily and I will be in better positions to prepare for the festivities sometime before hand, instead of running around the days before trying to keep up with our schedules. Then we'll get to spend a little more time with family and a little less time in the kitchen.

With Thanksgiving over, that can only mean that Christmas is on it's way. I hope none of you are expecting large gifts from Em and me, as much as we would love to give them. But, f you're looking for some ideas, I can make a few suggestions. I'm not sure about Emily, but I have a few wish lists out there, my favorite (and thus most updated) being this one. Honestly, we'd appreciate money (to pay bills) if nothing else. While you're at it, go ahead and pick up a gift for Child's Play as well.

A little out of tune

I know it's been a while since Sarah nudged my nectarines, but better late than never right?

Here's the deal: List ten songs you currently are obsessing over -- any genre, any format, etc. If you have a blog, do it there; if you don't, do it here. Then tag five people or so. Here are my songs, in no particular order:

Gorillaz: Feel Good Inc.
Beck: Girl
Foo Fighters: Best of You
Weezer: Hash Pipe
Kaiser Chiefs: Oh My God
The Pietasters: Maggie Mae
XTC: Dear God
Strong Bad: The System is Down
Black Eyed Peas: My Humps
Spiderbait: Black Betty

I'll tag Gen, Blake, Emily (oh, double tag), Clint Page, and Erica Ness. What the heck, I'll tag Chris Clark and Carrie too while I'm at it.

Would you like to play a game?

Looking for a little diversion? You could go play some of Orbitz's advertisement games or you could try the new Grow game. Then there's always the addictive yet slightly theraputic games over at Orisinal. Just thought I'd let you in on a little variety, if you're getting tired of Popcap and Yahoo.

JT vs. PA

I don’t know if you’ve been following this, but it’s hilarious. After a few modders and small game developers went through on Jack’s proposal, Jack deemed the proposition as satire and being as such he’s not obligated to come up with the $10,000 charity donation. The creators of Penny Arcade thought that this was a pretty shitty thing to do to a charity, and so made the donation themselves on behalf of Jack Thompson. He took this as an attack on his character (which it was, but not an undeserving one) and is now trying (rather unsuccessfully) to get them arrested. He should just stop before he makes it any worse. He’s not helping his cause, at least not from my vantage point. The gamers are being calm-headed and giving. Jack’s acting like a madman on a vendetta. Which do you see as being more aggressive?

See Jack's hypocrisy

This article is too funny. It appears that Jack Thompson is losing what little support he insinuated he had. This is the guy who’s so upset with the “violent” video game industry that he proposed that he’ll donate $10,000 to charity if someone makes, markets, and sells a game about a father so distraught over the death of his son that he goes on a massive killing spree, taking out anything and anyone related to video games. I guess this is the sort of game Jack thinks should be made, not one that promotes cooperation, understanding, and non-violent means of problem solving, but ironic gore-fests.

So many comics, so little time (and money)

The list is complete. IGN Comics has been working on The Ultimate Bookshelf [of graphic novels] for the past few weeks. They’ve gone through all the books that are out there (and some that aren’t yet or aren’t anymore) and listed in alphabetical order which books they would love to have sitting on their bookshelf. I was excited to know that not only have I heard of quite a few of them, but I own some of them, too. The list spans all eras of comics as well as all genres. I thought it was great a list and introduced me to some interesting books I never heard of, as well as explained a few I had seen/heard of but knew nothing about. If you like comics, you should definitely peruse what they have. And if you like me, then you’ll send me a book or 2 from the list.

Wooooooo*2

Wow, what an awesome couple of days it’s been. Sunday we went to the Foo Fighters – Weezer concert and last night we went and saw Serenity. I don’t think it gets any better than that.

The concert was amazing. The opening band was the Kaiser Chiefs, not exactly a sad start to things. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re like a mix of punk/alternative UK bands (Sex Pistols, Bowie, The Who, etc.). Their big single right now is “Oh My God,” you’d probably recognize it if you heard it. They gave a good performance and kicked the night off to a great start. Afterwards Weezer played, who rocked the house like they always do. I have to admit that I wasn’t such a big fan of their new stuff, until I heard it at the concert. They are definitely concert songs that lose a little something when not being sung by a throng of enthusiastic concert-goers. Some of the highlights from the Weezer portion include: the playing of a short portion of Song 2 by Blur, the lit-up Weezer W, the playing of a Foo Fighters song, the selection of a random concert-goer to get up on stage and play guitar with the band (he wasn’t great but at least it looked like he had played the guitar a few times before) after which they let him keep the guitar, the Weezer confetti, and of course Rivers’ mocking of Cherish (she screamed “Wooooo” in a quiet auditorium, to which he replied “wooooo, that was good.” Rumor has it that her life is validated now). After a small break, it was time for the Foo Fighters to take the stage. These guys are the physical manifestation of rock. They just started playing and hardly ever let up. The amount of energy and excitement they create is unbelievable. I was blown away. They are definitely one of the best concerts I’ve been to. Some highlights from their portion: the highflying crowd surfers, Grohl’s run through the crowd and subsequent thanks for not being molested, the switch between Grohl and Hawkins so Hawkins was the lead singer and Grohl the drummer, the color palette choices and lighting effects for most of the songs, and the shout-out to Cannon Falls. Oh, and the thing that made the concert just that much better: it was free. Cherish won tickets for box seating from her work and so gave us the tickets she had bought beforehand. How awesome is that?

Speaking of awesome, go see Serenity. I’m serious. Go now, stop reading and just go to the next showing. This has to be one of my all time favorite movies. I’ll even go so far as to say that it’s my favorite movie. This movie is just incredible. I don’t know if it’s because there’s been a recent lack of decent movies out there or what, but it just stands out in my mind. Let me try to explain how much I like this movie. After we went and saw it last night I was actually reaching for my wallet to buy another ticket before I realized that we had just seen the last showing for that night. I’ll admit that I have on occasion seen a movie more than once at a movie theater, but usually it’s because it’s due more to social causes than anything else (i.e. with friends who haven’t seen it yet). I’ve never understood the people who plan a whole day around seeing a single movie (i.e. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc.) over and over again. But this movie, I’m dying to see again. It’s like watching it only increased my desire to see it. Joss is amazing at creating wonderful worlds with believable characters, how can you not help but follow him. I’m not the only one who thinks this movie is great, if you need a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh opinion (the first one by Orson Scott Card basically says everything I want to say in the way I want to say it). If nothing else just go so I’ll stop nagging.

Who's Bad?

The next villains (yes, that’s plural) to star in Spiderman 3, according to a slip of the tongue by Kirsten Dunce, are Sandman and Venom. Don’t get me wrong, I love both of these villains, but do we really need 2? Didn’t we learn anything from the Batman franchise? Two villains means two origin back stories crammed into one film, which gives less time for exposition, character development, and conflict. Maybe they’ll devise some story that combines the creation of the two, which doesn’t really do justice to either of them. Speaking of which, I know they won’t do the real origin of Venom but most probably some variation on the Ultimate Spiderman explanation. That’s understandable, but Venom himself would make a great movie, I think adding Sandman into the mix will just make it too “busy.” It’s not like they’re running out of time (if the want to keep using Tobey Maguire then I guess they are). There are talks of a deal to do 3 more movies after this one, THREE. Do they really need to pack in the villains?

Oh, and for those of you wondering, she also leaked who would be taking on the roles as well. Thomas Haden Church (of Ned and Stacey) will be playing Sandman. I have no problem with this. I think he will do a good job with the role. He has a knack for playing characters seriously with a light hearted touch. Plus he already has the looks for the part. Venom will be played by none other than Topher Grace. That’s right; Foreman from That 70’s Show will become that strong, slobbering, spleen-eating psychopath we’ve come to love. I just don’t see. It’s going to take some massive costuming and special effects just to make him look Venom, but that’s not going to help with his acting. I like Topher, ok let’s be honest, I don’t mind Topher, but I really don’t think he has it in him to become Venom. I just don’t see him being sinister or maniacal, maybe he’ll prove me wrong. The movies have been good so far, I’ll just have to trust that Raimi knows what he’s doing.

While we’re on the subject of comic book/movie villains, there are rumors that the next Batman villain will be none other than the Clown Prince of Crime. And while I do enjoy Burton’s take on Batman, Nicholson’s Joker just never really satisfied me. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the Joker. I think they’ll do a good job. Oh, Lachy Hulme, Paul Bettany, and Sean Penn are rumored to be up for the part. Honestly, I think Bettany has the best chance, if they are actually seriously considering any of these people.

You say you want a Revolution . . .

The news has been broken, and I’m sure most gamers have already read about it from any number of sources. I’m very excited about what I’ve read. I know some might have misgivings about it, but I think it’s just uncertainity about new things. I’m going to agree with Nintendo on this one. I think this will be a revolution (of sorts). At the very least, it will certainly cause people to rethink the way controllers function. Nintendo did it before with the D-pad when they introduced their Game and Watch product line. Before then people had to use joysticks. If you want a more recent example, there’s the Gameboy DS with its touchpad (among many other controller innovations). It took a while, but now you’re starting to see some decent games that take advantage of these. This new controller though, it’s just going to make game playing more intuitive. How many times have you seen someone (especially young kids and noobs) jerk their controller up and over when trying to get their character to jump. Now it’ll actually help. People are already wired to use a controller this way, Nintendo just decided to change the controller instead of forcing the people to change. That’s what good design is all about.

It’s going to open up the gaming market even more. Back in the 80’s, it wasn’t uncommon to see parents playing videogames with their kids, that was due in part to how simple and fairly intuitive games were back then (that and more available free time, but that’s another topic). Now controllers have a D-pad, 2 analog sticks, 4 to 6 face buttons, 2 to 4 shoulder buttons, and up to 2 triggers as well. And each button has some sort of function assigned to it. It’s no wonder the casual gamer gets confused. Hell, it’ll take me a while before I can get the hang of most games. Pick-up and play was almost a thing of the past. I just don’t see how you can’t be excited for the industry with this coming. Way to go Nintendo!

Oh no she didn't

So, I'm at work and a co-worker of mine comes by and asks me, "Do you think Mary's a dyke?" I respond that it wouldn't surprise me. She has short, doesn't dress overly girly, frequents gentleman clubs and kind of gives off that vibe . Honestly, it doesn't really affect me either way and I could care less. Here's the part that really threw me for a loop though. My co-worker then comments, "I'd just like to know ahead of time, in case there's a blackout." What the hell? What is that supposed to mean? She basically implied that if the lights went out she'd be groped by her co-worker. I responded,
"Why? In case you need her to change the light bulb?"
"No. I'm just concerned."
"You're surrounded by all of these hetereo males and you're not concerned about them?"
"No, the guys don't worry me."
Again, what the hell? Maybe I'm just niave (in many cases I probably am), but most of the stories/cases/anecdotes I've heard involving inappropiate touching involve guys, and of the straight persuasion. But oh no, she's not worried about them. I'm just always so surprised at how ignorant people can be.

Stupid email

I dont' know if you've read this before or not, but I got this at work (this is actually the 2nd time I've received it so far) and it sparked a rant. Here's the email:

WOULDN'T IT BE GREAT TO TURN ON THE TV AND HEAR ANY U.S. PRESIDENT, DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN GIVE THE FOLLOWING SPEECH?

My Fellow Americans: As you all know, the defeat of Iraq regime has been completed.

Since congress does not want to spend any more money on this war, our mission in Iraq is complete.

This morning I gave the order for a complete removal of all American forces from Iraq. This action will be complete within 30 days. It is now to begin the reckoning.

Before me, I have two lists. One list contains the names of countries which have stood by our side during the Iraq conflict. This list is short. The United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria, Australia, and Poland are some of the countries listed there.

The other list contains everyone not on the first list. Most of the world's nations are on that list. My press secretary will be distributing copies of both lists later this evening.

Let me start by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those nations on List 2 ceases immediately and indefinitely. The money saved during the first year alone will pretty much pay for the costs of the Iraqi war.

The American people are no longer going to pour money into third world Hell-holes and watch those government leaders grow fat on corruption.

Need help with a famine? Wrestling with an epidemic? Call France.

In the future, together with Congress, I will work to redirect this money toward solving the vexing social problems we still have at home. On that note, a word to
terrorist organizations. Screw with us and we will hunt you down and eliminate you and all your friends from the face of the earth.

Thirsting for a gutsy country to terrorize? Try France, or maybe China.

I am ordering the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with France, Germany, and Russia. Thanks for all your help, comrades. We are retiring from NATO as well. Bon chance, mes amis.

I have instructed the Mayor of New York City to begin towing the many UN diplomatic vehicles located in Manhattan with more than two unpaid parking tickets to sites where those vehicles will be stripped, shredded and crushed. I don't care about whatever treaty pertains to this. You creeps have tens of thousands of unpaid tickets. Pay those tickets tomorrow or watch your precious Benzes, Beamers and limos be turned over to some of the finest chop shops in the world!

I love New York.

A special note to our neighbors. Canada is on List 2. Since we are likely to be seeing a lot more of each other, you folks might want to try not pissing us off for a change.

Mexico is also on List 2. President Fox and his entire corrupt government really need an attitude adjustment. I will have a couple extra tank and infantry divisions sitting around. Guess where I am going to put em? Yep, border security. So start doing something with your oil.

Oh, by the way, the United States is abrogating the NAFTA treaty - starting now.

We are tired of the one-way highway. Immediately, we'll be drilling for oil in Alaska - which will take care of this country's oil needs for decades to come. If you're an environmentalist who opposes this decision, I refer you to List 2 above: pick a country and move there. They care.

It is time for America to focus on its own welfare and its own citizens. Some will accuse us of isolationism. I answer them by saying, "darn tootin."

Nearly a century of trying to help folks live a decent life around the world has only earned us the undying enmity of just about everyone on the planet. It is time to eliminate hunger in America. It is time to eliminate homelessness in America. It is time to eliminate World Cup Soccer from America. To the nations on List 1, a final thought. Thanks guys. We owe you and we won't forget.

To the nations on List 2, a final thought: You might want to learn to speak Arabic.

God bless America. Thank you and good night.

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading it in English, thank a soldier.

My answer to this is, No, it would not be great to hear this. In fact, this speech represents all that is wrong with America and to hear this speech come from a President would be a nightmare. Bush isn't even dumb enough to give this speech, or at least his advisors are smart enough to prevent him. Lord knows he probably wants to give this speech. God people, grow some intelligence. Do you really think we could survive if the only countries we dealt with were the UK, Spain, Australia and Poland ("Don't forget Poland"). Where are you going to get your cars, your clothes, your TVs, your computers, hell your energy. Yes there's oil in Alaska, but there's not enough oil in the world to keep us going for decades at the rate we're using it. Oh, and this whole world-hating of the US is a fairly recent thing. After 9/11 we had the most support we've ever experienced; now we barely have any. I wonder why? *cough*Bush*cough* Some days I just can't stand Americans.

Oh, and stop sending this crap to me at work.

Oh wow

Ok, so it's been a while since I posted, but I've been really busy. So has Emily. See, I got another job. So that's a total of 3 for me. Ok, maybe more like 2.5 or maybe just 2 if you added up all of the hours. Anyways I got the assistant manager job at the local movie theater. I'm all in charge of people and money and keys, very scary/exciting. Emily also has 2-3 jobs as well. She's the lead cashier at the local coop, she's helping out at the ArtOrg with children's classes, and doing the occasional babysitting gig. So it looks like a financial situation is starting to turn around. YEA!

Speaking of yea, check out this internet radio station. It freaking rocks. I love most of the songs they play, and just like all the others. Plus they've got cool little movie/TV clips that they play every once in a while as well. Oh, and you can vote on the songs they play, so that after a while all the good songs get played more and all the crappy ones just slowly disappear. And they're listener supported, so if you like donate. (But you probably knew all this already if you listen to them).

Oh, also, Firefox is cool and so is BitTorrent. Again, I'm sure some of you already know. But I'm just spouting off here. Oh, and I've been using Wikipedia a lot more recently and have grown to appreciate it the more I use it.

What else, oh, 2 of my favorite webcomic sites have started up rival guilds on a particular server on World of Warcraft. Now, I've wanted to play this for a while now. It seems to be a really good game. All the webcomics I read rave about it and it's still going strong even after almost a year of being around, which is really good for a MMORPG. The comics are popular enough that basically the whole server is full of fans, which is cool. This is how a MMORPG is supposed to be played. Sure there are a bunch of different guilds, but they are all united under one alliance and work together to some degree. Plus, the chances of running into unhelpful bastard player is drastically reduce. If it weren't for the money and the time (especially the time) I would go out and buy the game just to play on that server. That is, if there was still room on the server/world. (These two are notorious for crashing websites just by placing a link on their posts. Man, can you imagine having that much influence? It's gotta be kinda weird.)

Ah, before I go. I found these t-shirts and thought they were pretty cool. Oh, and if any of them have it, then yes, I do have a wishlist there. I have wishlists all over the internet.

A Few Things

• I saw Batman Begins on the IMAX a few weeks ago. What an awesome movie. Christian Bale is the best Batman by far. Actually, just about everybody in it was awesome: Gary Oldman does a top-notch Gordon, Michael Caine with a superb Alfred, and Liam Neeson was just marvelous. (Katie Holmes did well enough to at least not harm the film, which I feel is the most you can ask of her right now.) But what makes the movie so good is that the movie doesn’t gloss over Bruce Wayne. It’s not just Batman and the guy who dresses up as Batman. They're actually interested in the man behind the mask. Plus, the villains were well fleshed out and not just crazy caricatures of over-the-top evil doers. The color palate used for Gotham was also a nice touch, dark and dirty but realistic. I think the movie made Batman into a more believable character. I hope they continue on with this.
  
• If you haven't checked out this video of the most realistic zombie game yet, then do so now.
  
• It looks like I’ll be working at the small movie theater in town here as Assistant Manager. It doesn’t pay much and I will only be working like 3 days/nights a week, but every little bit helps. Plus free popcorn, soda, movie tickets, and video rentals. Oh, and it’s a pretty easy low-key job, so very little stress.
  
• I read the article Emily mentioned. Really, I have mixed feelings about it. I fully support the drive to make stores more accountable in regards to selling mature games to kids. I have nothing against the $5,000 fine. I do have a few misgivings though. This is all built upon a mod for the game. In otherwords, some people got together and decided to create a new feature for the game, without Rockstar’s permission. It’s really hard to argue for the fine when you’re basing it on a feature that isn’t even included on the game, and was never intended. Also, why is it that it takes a “sex” mod on GTA to spark all this? Were the nude models for The Sims not graphic enough? I mean, if people want to add nudity and/or sex to their games, they don’t have to start with an M-rated game. I’m also concerned that this will just spark a huge debate (and by debate I mean the screaming contests that our news programs seems to thrive off of) that will just get people pissed off at games/gamers (and gamers pissed off right back at them) and not really accomplishing anything. I guess we’ll just have to see how this goes.
  
• I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not, but science seems to be melding with religion and magic lately.
  

Not Again

I can't believe this is still an issue. I came across an article while surfing the web about violence in video games. They talking about one in particular, 25 to Life, which is an urban game about gangsters versus cops. The article laments how violent the game is and how you go around shooting cops. Of course, it never mentions that you can also play as the cops, who go around shooting gangsters. Here are few of my favorite parts of the article:

"It's outrageous that a company like this would try to desensitize our children," Lynch said.

I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure their goal is to sell games and make money, not desensitize our children. Which brings up another feature I enjoyed about this article.

"It's like ghetto-ish, I like that," said Bronx seventh-grader Jesus Martinez, 13.
Brooklyn seventh-grader Nashalie Ledesma said she would try the game "just for the fun of it, to see how it is, explore the violence."
"It's just a game," said Ledesma, 12. "It's not like I'm gonna do it in real life. I don't have the guts to do it."

I really don't think the opinions of some preteens needs to be added to this article. They just really don't matter. They don't even matter in the calculation of how many games get sold, at least they shouldn't. This game is rated M for mature, which means it's the equivalent of an R rating. Would you ask a 12 year-old if he thought Apocalypse Now is worth seeing? I hope not.

Also, can we get past the whole shock value thing here. Just because it's pushing the bundaries of decency, doesn't make it a good game (ditto for movies). There are a lot of FPS (first person shooter) games out there, but there's only one Half-Life 2.

On a more positive side: I came across this article. It's all about how scientists have study the effects of gaming on the brain and have discovered that it's actually beneficial.

Gee's studies show that players learn pattern recognition from puzzles and enemies or bosses; they learn system thinking, i.e. they learn how a game is structured, or how an enemy is attacking, or how to solve logic or physical puzzles. They even learn patience.

See, so go let your kids play videogames, just be mindful of what they're playing.

From the Mouths of Jesters

I was reading through my webcomics the other day and came across this one. Now, I'm sure some of you already know about what the comic was talking about, but I didn't. I had to learn about it from a comic strip. How sad is that? You'd think that it would be newsworthy material.

Save Big Bird

For those of you who haven't yet, go here. I guess congress feels that it's not worthwhile to fund public broadcasting anymore. Congress is thinking about cutting funding to NPR and PBS. I guess they can't stand that there are some media outlets out there that they don't have under their control. Oh, and the best part about all of this is that they plan on starting the cuts with commercial-free children's programs. I guess they can't stand that there are some kids out there watching educational shows and not half-hour commercials.
Don't these cuts go against the right to free speech?

Sweetness!!

Ok, I know I'm a dork, and this shouldn't excite so much, but I just got inserted a links section on my blog. Yea! I don't have too much there yet, but I will add some of my favorite sites later. Look over there and check it out.
<-----------------------------------------------------------

Still recovering

I haven’t blogged in a while, I know, but here’s an update now, so that’s something right? Now I can relate more to those web-comic authors who sometimes post late or have “dead artist” days or whatever. Although, most of the really good ones have nothing else to do but work on their comic. And some of them don’t even have posts scheduled everyday. But, I know their whole life isn’t devoted to creating entertainment just for me, they have lives as well. Hell, I don’t even read all of them everyday, if I can’t keep current with just read them, what right do I have to criticize their creation process.

Anyways, a quick note. I was reading a blogpost of sorts and came across this really neat article . It’s about a processing chip that can reconfigure its hardware depending on the particular program that’s running on it. How cool is that?

Last weekend was crazy. My sister graduated from Winston-Salem Academy and there was B-fest (formerly called Blake-fest but I think B-fest would work better considering where it’s headed). The graduation was nice, not too long or drawn out. I think that’s because they kind of break it up and spread it out over Friday and Saturday. There were award ceremonies, art shows, concerts, senior parties and of course the graduation ceremony. It’s a little weird thinking about how old my “little” sister is now. She’s a high school graduate, on her way to college.

B-fest, for those who don’t know, is a gathering of a bunch of my college friends. The first one was done last year because Blake’s father had recently died and he was getting a little depressed. Everyone (ok not everyone, but all those who could) flew/drove/hitchhiked over to Blake’s and hung-out and cheered him up. The first one went over so well that it seems to have been deemed a tradition now. This year it was held in MN, since a few of us live up here (or have family that does). The weekend was filled with drinks, games, dinners, drinks, laughter, games, conversation, and sleepless nights. All-in-all, a great success. It’s good to be reminded that you have some friend’s out there. I know Emily enjoyed it as well. Plus, she was able to cross off many people on her people-I-used-to-be-friends-with-but-now-hate-me” list, which is always a joyous occasion.

I really hate this whole not-having-enough-money problem. I just wish I knew of a way to fix it. I’ve tried consolidating my debt, but I’m so far behind on so many bills that no one wants to touch me, or they say, “Sorry but you have too much debt” or my favorite “We can’t help you, you don’t make enough to cover your debt payments.” Yeah I know, that why I was asking for help. The big problem is that my coping mechanism for problems is to run away and ignore it; unfortunately that only seems to make things worse in this case. But every time I do work on it I feel hopeless and frustrated and depressed. It’s a vicious cycle it is. Lately I’ve been thinking of becoming anorexic, so I can save money by not buying food. Dumb idea huh?

Anyways, I think this problem is going to be taken care of one way or another in the coming months. I’m either going to start making more, or we’ll find a way to work past it, or we’ll file for bankruptcy. I actually found out about it today. It’s not as scary as I originally thought, at least, not until October 17, when the new laws about bankruptcy come into place.

Another inadvertant comic about me

I think this comic displays the recent growth I have gone through. I'd be the blond in the green shirt (only for this particular posting, for those of you who read S*P).

So true

I think the strip sums it all up for me.

Crazy Busy

Man, my days have been busy. It’s crazy. Right now I have a full time job, a part time business, night classes, and a TV show editing project. That doesn’t even include any outings with friends or family, household chores, or trying to help plan for the wedding. Now do you see what I mean when I say I’m busy? I think this is just to make up for all that time I spent goofing off while growing up. Actually, I’m very thankful for having gone to Carleton, because it helped me learn about dealing with having to do so much. That’s one thing I noticed about Carleton: most people are very busy, and not with just classes. Those do take up a lot of time, but people have other obligations as well: jobs, clubs, parties, sports, etc. So while I do wish I was able to get more done, I don’t usually feel too frustrated or stressed out. Actually, I think the fact that I’m actually doing things and that our situation is improving has helped in that regard.

So Emily starting working at this little motel in Northfield. She got paid, like yesterday. It wasn’t much but it’s a HUGE help. She can’t understand the people she works for though. We could totally run that place better. If we had the money we would have loved to buy the place off of them and fix it up and get it working right. We’d fix up the front, repair some of their repairs, and replace the Laundromat with a decent pizza place. Actually, we have a lot of plans of things we would do or fix up in Northfield. It’s just right now we don’t really have the means to do such things. We will someday, just not right now.

At Agriliance, my full-time job, my boss, Nancy, seems to really like me and is thinking of hiring me. She’s left some not so subtle hints. It’s actually kind of exciting. I’d be paid more, get some benefits, and work in an environment I don’t despise. Cool, huh?

Oh, here’s something that’ll surprise a bunch of you. I cancelled our TV cable. I can no longer watch TV shows, unless I rent them. How crazy is that? Did you ever think that a day would come when I would give up TV? I bet you didn’t. Honestly, I don’t miss it too much. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it would be nice to sit back and watch some shows, especially the Inferno, and Good Eats. But most of the time I’m not even home long enough to really watch anything before going to bed. Although, sometimes I would like to be a little less busy, so I could relax a little more and spend more time with Emily. I figure this crazy busy-ness is only temporary though, so I’m not too worried.

Fire it up!

How could you not want to see this? I think I'm going to see it, like, at least twice. It just exudes awesome and kick-ass. Man, I can't wait.

I've Been thinking

At work, there's this guy I hang out and joke around with. His name is Kegan. He is currently going to school to develop his film skills. He has an Uncle out in LA who is in a production company. They do commercials and music videos and such. In fact, Kegan's heading down there this weekend to help film some American Idol spots/music videos. I get along with Kegan pretty well, and have helped him some on his school projects. Just today I was reading over a film proposal of his that he had to write for a class. It wasn't too bad, but it came off a little campy and heavy-handed. I brought up some points about how to make it more subtle that he seemed to like. The thing is, when I was reading over it and making suggestions, I was kinda excited. I've been really thinking that maybe I should think about moving into such a field. It's something I enjoy doing and that I'm good at (or at least that's what I've started thinking). Personally, I think I would be a great sounding board. Someone you could go to to bounce ideas off of and help solidify your ideas. I think I'm really good at taking an idea or theme or something and building upon it and growing it and developing it. The creating it part I'm not so sure about. But once there's something there, whoa baby. Really, I'm torn. I get really excited when I think about helping families and all that I can accomplish in Primerica. But I also get really excited when I think about working on a film and helping and doing that process. I mean, what do I do? I'm so conflicted. Is it even possible to do both? . . . . . . . I think so; I could get something going with Primerica. Build up a business there and then sell my agent number and live off my investments. Then I could start a career in film. But I always think it's ridiculous, the people who build up their base shop and then leave, just when they're really starting to reap their hard earned benefits. I mean, for investment accounts, you get paid on those for as long as the account is active. How could you give that up?

Food for Thought

I haven’t posted in a while, so I’ll try and post something today. Not sure what exactly I’ll post, but it’ll be something. Hmmmm. . . . . .well, my back has gotten better. It still feels a little sore achy, but all in all not that bad.

I saw Super Size Me last night. It wasn’t that bad. It certainly confirmed my belief that highly processed food and fast food restaurants are horrible for you. The funny thing was before he started he was in excellent health and got a check-up from 3 different doctors and asked them what they thought would happen to him if he went on this McDonald’s binge. They all said that he’d gain some weight and his fat count would go up some. Near the end there, they were like, “you’ve got to stop. You’re killing yourself.” It was crazy.

He also brought up how the poor diets are infiltrating the schools. He went to this one elementary (maybe it was middle) school where the kids get to pick and choose their lunch. A bunch of kids would just buy fries or potato chips. One kid bought like three bags of chips, a Gatorade, and a candy bar. The worker there was defending the company saying “Most of these kids bring there lunch and just buy the chips or fries to supplement their meals.” (Ok, I’m pretty sure that I added ‘supplement’ but whatever). He then checked out the cafeteria and found the girl you bought all the chips. The “lunch” she brought from home was a can of soda. How sad is that.

Oh, and after it was all over, they calculated that he had consumed about 30 lbs of sugar. 30 LBS!! That’s over 1 lb a day. No wonder you would gain weight. They had this one guy who was getting a gastric by-pass who drank like 2 gallons of soda everyday. That’s just not right. If I drank that much I’d be parked on the can.

One of my favorite parts was an add-on for the DVD. They took some of the sandwiches and fries from McDonalds and placed them in glass jars. They did the same with a real burger and fries. (Everything had their own jar). And just checked on them from time to time. The real food got moldy and gross within the first week; a few of the McDonald’s sandwiches looked no different. They kept showing the changes over the next few weeks. The grossest thing was that after 10 weeks, all the sandwiches were moldy and gooey and nasty. The McDonald’s fries however looked like they were a few days old. There was no mold, no gooeyness, nothing. They just looked a little stale and dried out. The fries got thrown by accident after that, so we’ll never know how long it would take before they started breaking down on their own. That’s just not natural. Whatever those fries are made of, it’s not food, that’s for sure.

Ouch!

Last Sunday I injured my back. It was not fun. I mean I knew it wasn’t fun before, just by watching what Emily goes through. She has hurt her back on a few occasions now. But yeah, not fun. It hurts to move, like at all. Like you roll a little bit and pain shoots through you. I’ve gotten better since then, or maybe have become more accustomed to the pain. No, I think I have gotten some what better at least. You’re probably wondering how I hurt it. Well, we’ve been letting Tricksy outside from time to time lately. She seems to really like it. We just do yard work or talk while we keep an eye on her. Sometimes we use a leash. Lately we’ve been thinking of getting a zip line or a long extendo leash for her (she likes to sprint across the yard. Hmmm, maybe we could just get an invisible fence. Anyways, it was time to go in and she didn’t want to go in so I had to chase under trees and around the yard. When I finally caught her, I picked her up and stood up and my back went all wonky. But I hear it doesn’t take much to hurt a back.

I spent the rest of Sunday on my back as well as Monday. I went back into work feeling better on Tuesday. It is now Wednesday and it still hurts. I’m a little worried because it hurts a little more than it did on Tuesday, probably due to the fact that I didn’t really give it any rest yesterday. I went to work and then went to a Primerica training meeting on variable annuities. Am I going to live the rest of my life with this problem? I hope not but it seems like probably.

I’m not supposed to have back problems. I’m 23 for crying out loud. I’ve barely even had my quarter-life crisis yet. What the hell? Ok, so fine, maybe I have been a bit stressed out lately, and I haven’t been exercising at all, and my diet has only recently started getting better, and I’ve been crazy busy. But that shouldn’t have mattered right?

So. . .How's it going?

Ok, so today I learned/re-learned that it actually helps to work on your problems. See, I've been practicing the "run and hide" technique of dealing with problems. This hasn't worked out so well. In fact, I'm starting to think that it has actually made things worse. Crazy, huh? But now I sort of came to realize that not only does facing and dealing with your problems help to overcome them, but it can also make you feel better as well. I mean, the problems are still there, and I still worry and freak-out about them, but for some reason it doesn't seem as bad as before.

Emily and I were at Target tonight looking for a sweatshirt (hoodies if you must know). Oddly enough, there weren't that many there. There were like 3, and they were on the clearance rack. Since when did the sweatshirt season end? I mean spring is just starting here, and it still gets damn cold at night here. Hell, it almost always gets cold at night here in Minnesota. We used to go to Jacobsen's here in town (before they closed) and they always had sweatshirts available. I guess we were spoiled.

For those curious, work is going good (at Agriliance, the order-taking-for-farmers job). I seem to be impressing my supervisor, like every day. I guess they just don't know what a great catch they have. And the funny thing is, I can tell I'm becoming more responsible at work. I know that may seem hard to believe, but I used to just want to goof off all the time at work. Now, not so much. I still joke around with my colleagues and don't take it too seriously, but I actually attempt to get my work done as well. We got this new guy (Kevin) at work who was supposed to be taking over my area, but on Tuesday Kegan (a cool co-worker of mine) lost his voice and couldn't come into work, so I had to take over his area as well as mine (Kevin was just starting his training). I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself. After that they decided to have Kevin take over Kegan's area and to let me continuing handling my area. I think this is great. I didn't want to give up my area anyways. I'm just started getting the hang of the area and I've built some report with managers I order for. Between you and me, part of me hopes the new guy doesn't do so well and they just hire me on full-time. Actually, I just hope they hire me on full-time regardless of who remains. I mean, I'm awesome, why wouldn't they want to hire me?

Ruminations

I figured out at work today that I’ve been alive for 9,037 days already. I’ve been alive for close to a quarter of my life already. That’s a scary concept. It’s crazy how the time flies. The days can go by so slowly but the years fly by so fast. If you want to do something, or make something, or be something, you really have to start now. Those are 9,037 days I won’t ever get back. I’ll never get a chance to redo them. What’s done is done. Wow.

It’s weird because part of me feels, “Be young, this is the only chance you’ll get.” But another part of me is all, “Get to work. It’ll all be over before you know and it’s better to start early then try to catch up.” What a conflicting mindset. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to satisfy both sides. It’s not like they’re directly opposing viewpoints.

Oh, so in case any of you were wondering, we got the cats some de-worming medicine and we were able to get it down their gullets. It seems to be helping. They’re all getting a little fatter, especially Tricksy. They’re even behaving a little better, in fact, the other day I saw Tricksy finish her food and just sit and wait for the other cats to finish, instead of smacking them out of the way. I was so proud; I gave her a little extra bit of food. So I’m very happy about that. Although, I did catch Oscar trying to go into the cabinets to get at some cookies the other day. Oh well, I guess we take our victories where we can.

Calling all guests

Many of you know that Emily and I are getting married (if not, well, now you do). We don't exactly have the best address book, in fact it's kind of old and pieced together. So if you would like to get an invitation to our wedding in the summer, or know someone who might, please send me your/their name and address. Now, this isn't a guarantee that an invite will be sent, but if we have your address on record it certainly makes it easier for us to send one. If nothing else, I'll add you to the Christmas/holiday card list. Thanks.

Ewwww, Gross

One of our cats has tapeworms. We’re not sure which, but we think it’s Tricksie, since always desperate for food. We know one of our cats has tapeworms because one of them puked a tapeworm up on the windowsill in the office. We just saw it laying there yesterday. And yes, we’re sure it’s a tapeworm, Emily did extensive research into the problem. Here’s the thing though, after doing such extensive research, Emily’s hypochondria is kicking in and she’s freaking out that she might have worms as well. I really doubt that she does, but she told me that she had worms once before when she was a kid, so she has more real-life experience to draw upon than I do. Unfortunately, she’s got me a little paranoid now too. My stomach grumbles and I think “Is that because I have worms?” even though I know it’s like 20 minutes before lunch. Hopefully when the cats are cured they won’t be so desperate for food. That’d be nice.

Let's get it started in here

So, the other day I got a George hit from Williston, ND, which happens to be where a service center that I order for is located. How crazy is that?

Speaking of work, I finally got a badge along with email and log-ins for all the programs I need. I guess they figured, “He’s shown up for the past few weeks, I guess he’s going to stick around for the season.”

I’ve been reading a few books lately, and have gotten into a goal-setting craze as of late. It’s actually kinda cool. Even now, in the little time that I’ve spent setting and planning, I’ve already seen a major difference. I’ve become more motivated, more responsible; heck, I’ve even started to see some small progress being made towards my goals. Man, this stuff is cool. It helps keep me going with my hectic schedule of a full-time job, a part-time job, and going to school. In fact, lately I’ve become restless when watching TV, especially when I haven’t done anything. Another thing helping me out with all this are the Primerica CDs I’ve been listening to in the car during the commute.

Oh, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it, but Emily and I have started planning a wedding. It’s going to be fairly modest, and we would appreciate any donations to help fund it. We’ve set a loose date for the summer, probably July or August. We’re going to set the actual date once we’ve figured out where we’re going to have it, which we will have done by the end of this month. So keep an eye out for that.

Ah, also, I got a new email address. It’s through gmail, the new email server through google. It’s pretty cool. It tracks emails as conversations for the massive replying back and forth conversations that occur, it lets you google search your emails, and the best part, it gives you like a gig of storage. It’s not open directly to the public yet, but if you look hard enough you can find an invite.

Well, Let's See Here. . .

So the other day the cats figured out how to open the fridge. How crazy is that? They opened the door on their own. They opened the freezer later as well. So now I've resorted to tying the doors together with an old towel. I mean really, what more can I do? I just don't understand why they act like this. I know they get fed enough. They're healthy, overly active, heck I've even increased the amount of food I give them since we started their diet. They're just so frustrating. I think part of it has to do with the fact that we're tackling the dishes now and there aren't any dirty dishes around for them to lick.

Now it seems we actually need a new fridge. Before we just wanted a new one because the one we have is small and cramp and we end stuffing food into the back where it's forgotten until it turns moldy. Really there's just no good way of arrange things in that space. Also, we really like the idea of the freezer being on the bottom, since we don't use it all that much and it'd be easier on Emily's back if she didn't always have to bend down to reach food.

Speaking of which, Emily's back pain flared up again this week. The past week she's been bed-ridden because of it. For a while she would take it easy and heal for a day then feel better and go out and be active, then be in so much pain the next day she couldn't move again. She followed this process for almost week. Now she's decided to not try to rush it and take it much slower. So she's been confined to the couch the past couple of days, surrounded by cats and pillows. I wish there was something I could do to help her, but there really isn't. We don't have any medical insurance and even if we did, we have no money.

I mean dead broke, paycheck is all used up to pay at least a few of our overdue bills. Don't get me wrong, I do have a job, which makes the situation tons better. And there are a few prospective jobs in Northfield for Emily (provide her back will allow her to work), so we could be worse. I'm just so tired of living like this. It's so stressful and disconcerting. At least it's helped me get over my shopping-to-feel-better complex, even if it is only by the fact that I have no way of buying things.

Actually, that's one of the reasons Emily thinks I should get counseling/therapy. Most of the time I agree with her, but then it just brings up the money problem again. Where could I go to get free therapy? So it's just another thing sent to "once we're doing better financially" land.

Oh, the other day I cut my toe. (Technically the connecting part between my pinkie toe and the next toe). We're guessing I stepped on a piece of glass that wasn't cleaned up from when one of the cats knocked one of our glasses of a table. This morning I stabbed my finger while putting some receipts on our receipt spike. What a doofus, huh?

Kinda Lame, but . . .

So, Emily post some pics of our cats:
Sketch (Sketchy) - She's kind of the queen cat around the house.
Oscar - Not only is he the only male cat, but he also happens to be the cutest, and the most likely to run away.
Tricksy - The cat you love and hate. The most annoying out of all of them, but also the most lovey (especially when she curls up in the crook of you arm). Oh, Emily has told me stories about her jumping into her arms on command now. (All together now, aaawwwww).
Sophia (Sophie) - The pointy grey cat. She's very affectionate but only plays with humans, luckily we've toned down her viciousness some. She doesn't get along with our other cats, probably because she's not black and white. Also, she was rescued off the streets, so that might have something to do it.

Shhhhh!

I'm at work right but everyone else is in a meeting or on a conference call, so I have nothing to do now. Hence the blogging. I dont think I mentioned it before but Emily recently started her own blog, (some actually know that this is her like second blog, the previous one was secret). This one she's showing to the public, or more to the point, the public that knows her or of her.
I'm actually starting to get the hang of the fundamentals of my job here. I could grow comfortable working here.

AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!

GOD DAMN THOSE CATS!!!!! Ok, here's the deal, the cats have been getting on my nerves lately, more than they've been calming them. Ever since we got Sophie, the little grey one, they have been annoying. She doesn't get along with, well, any of them really. Probably from that year of living on the streets. She especially doesn't get along with Tricksy. These two will cross a room just to start a fight, but not always. Plus, and here's what's been getting at me lately, Tricksy is always scrounging around for food and knock stuff down. What's the worst about it is that she's gotten Oscar involved as well. They're always jumping up on our counters and licking dirty dishes or counters. Tricksy will even lick a clean plate in the hopes that she finds some small morsel. I just don't get it. We feed her plenty, she's not starving. We squirt them when they're caught doing bad things, we've even resorted to putting them in time-out (which seems to have more affect on Oscar since he doesn't like being left alone or locked away anywhere). They continue to misbehave though. At least Tricksy runs away now when she knows you've caught her. It's small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Ranting and Raving

So, today I started work at a long-term position today. It's with Agriliance (like you know who they are). Anyways, my job is basically going to be taking orders from warehouses and retail stores and placing the purchase orders into the system. Really, in my opinion, it all seems like a needless position and one that could be handled by computers. Of course the ordering process is muddled and confusing that only a human could keep most of it straight. Well, it's work. It doesn't really pay nearly enough, but it pays something. Plus the people there are pretty cool and it's fairly easy-going as well.
Emily and I are a little down lately, not just do to money though. We kinda were hoping to have a wedding, but it really doesn't seem like we'll be able to afford one. Of course by the time we could, few would care anymore because we would have been living together for so long. Just one of those things I guess.
Life's not all bad though. I'm doing well in school, and every time I go to class I'm reminded of how smart I actually am. It's one of the down sides of going to Carleton, being surround by so many smart people, you start to feel like you're not that smart. Which also has it good points, being you don't get an inflated head.
Oh, have you checked out the EBay contest going on? It's kinda like a scavenger hunt with clues and all. It won't be around much longer, like until the 23rd, but if you read this in time check it out.
I've got a Econ presentation about the European Union to give tomorrow, so I'm going to catch some sleep now.

Living in the Land of Hardship

Yeah, so all of our saving have been depleted. Emily is still looking for a job, and I still have no full-time employment. Lots of fun. But wait, it gets better, I did some calculations and I figured that to live the lifestyle we have been (which is not extravagant in the least) I would need to have a job that pays $31.25/hr. This figures seems unattainable. If we both had jobs we would only need jobs that pay like$15/hr or so, more realistically for me but not so much for Emily. Honestly, I'm not sure about this being possible either. This would bring in enough money to pay all our credit card bills, utilities, housing, food, etc. Of course if we wanted to get ahead, we'd have to make more. The not so bad news is that if I combine possible earnings from Primerica, then I wouldn't have to earn as much (tax reasons). Plus on Monday I'm meeting with a possible client, which could lead to doing some business and getting referrals and moving my business forward. So the future seems very bleak, but not without any light, so far anyways.

On the world front I've come across some crazy stories. One was about a Casino implementing rules where waitress or bartenders who gain more than 7% of their body weight could be fired. How ridiculous is that? On a scarier note, Bush passed legislation stating that any class action lawsuit seeking more than $5 million will be tried in the federal courts, which are less friendly towards such cases. The item not mentioned in this article but was mentioned in MPR, is that in the federal courts, when they try these cases for plaintiffs in multiple states, and the state laws don't match up in regards to the severity of the "crime," the case just gets thrown out. Think about that. This gives large corporations the chance to do whatever they want to their products or services with little legal recourse for the consumer. And I always thought that government was supposed to protect the consumer from big business, not the other way around. Go figure.

Coming Attractions

So I was procrastinating some today and checking out trailers. I found some and thought I'd share them with you.
Old Boy: Looks like a cool drama out of Japan. Definitely something I would want to see. This guy has been locked away for like 15 years for no reason and then he's freed. Now he's trying to find out why he was locked away, and exact his revenge on those who did it to him. Cool!
Batman Begins: The story of Batman's beginning starring Christian Bale. I've been stoked about this one for years now. Ever since I first heard about it. After watching the trailers, I'm only more excited about it. I mean come on, it's going to have Ra's Al Ghul and the Scarecrow, how awesome is that?
Fantastic Four: There's been talk about this movie, about how it hasn't been produced as well as it deserves, which is probably true. The studios know they could give a half-hearted effort on this one and still make a bundle, but if they want sequels then they need to make worth our while to come back. I mean I don't think the Spiderman movies would have done so well if they weren't made so well.
Sin City: Another comic book movie, but of a comic book few know about it. The comic is by a master, Frank Miller, who is also involved in the movie. The movie itself looks worth going to for it's style alone, very comic noir.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: A remake by Tim Burton, who I love. It looks to add that bit of zany creepiness to the story that is inherent in most of Roald Dahl stories. If you've ever read them as an adult you'll know what I'm talking about. And Johnny Depp looks to pull off another fabulous bit of acting as usual.
Corpse Bride: Speaking of Tim Burton, looks like he has plans for a love story like only he could dream up. This stars, surprise surprise, Johnny Depp, and is shot in the style of Nightmare Before Christmas, one of my most absolute favorite Christmas movies. So of course I'm going to checking this one out.
Steamboy: This is another animated film I found. It takes place during the first World Expo, the one where Jules Verne and H. G. Wells met up, and it's sort of a steam powered future of sorts. Very cool. Also it's directed by the same director of Akira, a phenomenal anime.
The Pink Panther: Another of Hollywood's remakes, this one starring Steve Martin. It looks funny, and is throw back for Martin to his early years of prat-falls crazy humor.
Mindhunters: A Hollywood suspense movie, inline with Along Came a Spider and movies of that caliber. It stars some interesting actors though: Val Kilmer, LL Cool J, and Christian Slater.
Kingdom of Heaven: Here's a movie I have a problem with. It seems to be romanticizing the Crusades. It's directed by Ridley Scott so we can get an idea of what kid of film this'll be. Honestly, I'm not too keen on it myself.
Imaginary Heroes: A family drama of sorts. This seemed to me like a Igby Goes Down but with the middle class instead of high society. Also starring some high class actors. Definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Uncle Nino: Another family drama, but this one is aimed to bring America's corporate sensibilities more in line with Europe's ease going caring style. A feeling good movie with message we could all benefit from hearing.
Kung Fu Hustle: An over-the-top kung-fu musical. How can movie like that not be good? If you like Shoalin Soccer (at least part of you had to have) then you'll want to check this one out, because it's by the same director.
Colour Me Kubrick: A movie based on a real life event where a man posed as the actual director during the production of Eyes Wide Shut. It stars John Malkovich, so it's got that going for it. Certainly an interesting story.
Mail Order Wife: A mockumentary about a fat doorman who purchases a mail order bride and the documentary shot about it. As the film goes on the director of this "documentary" ends up getting more and more entangle with his subjects' lives.
Naked Fame: An actual documentary about an adult gay porn star, Colton Ford, who is attempting to break into the dance music industry. It looked like a very well put together movie.

That's all I have now, I think I've done enough procrastinating for today.

Howard in the House!!!

w00t! So, to no real surprise, Howard Dean is the new DNC chair. This is a good thing. We need someone in there that'll stir things up and light a fire under this party. This is so awesome!!!

Oh, and on a related note, I helped pass the by-laws for DFM. It was actually a good meeting. Some of these DFM organizational-planning meeting can be a little droll and tedious. This is usually because it attracts self-important long winded speakers. Oddly enough, they didn't show up to this meeting (They were all involved in creating the by-laws). I guess they figured the important work was done. Fine by me. Really I prefer the meet-ups, but Emily and I haven't gotten around to starting one in Northfield (It's mostly an Emily project but I'm definitely going to help). We have plans for one in March though. We'll see how that goes.

Interesting Reading

So I was reading Wired and I came across a few interesting things I thought I'd share.
1. Transfer Tubes - Bush's euphemism for body bags. How messed up is that?
2. SmarterChild - A neat little conversation bot you talk to through IM. I find him fairly informative and occasionally funny.
That's really all I have so far. I haven't finished reading it all the way through. I'm sure I'll find other cool things in it as I read.

On a lighter note, I was lying down on the couch this evening when Sketchy crawled up on top of me. (She's been way more affectionate lately for some reason). She stayed there for like 2 1/2 hours. At one point Tricksy climbed up and hunkered down in my other arm. Very cute, but kinda tiring on the arms. Of course, it was at this point that my allergy flaired up some and my eye itched like crazy. I couldn't do anything about though since I had 2 cats hold my arms down. The itchiness went away after a long blink-fest.

Funny stuff

I got caught up on some of my webcomics. Something Positive has to be my favorite. I just love the characters; they're so witty and cynical. (Warning, comic includes graphic language and adult situations.) Although Penny Arcade is also pretty good, but in a more gamer sort of way. (Also the occasional adult language). Those are definitely my top 2. Reading those certainly helps get the mind off of other things.

Craziness

So, as usual, I've been freaking out about money. I'm currently working on temp assignments while I try to get my business going. (Ok let me be honest, started). I currently don't have another assignment (and it's a customer service one at that, BLAH) until like 2 weeks from now and money's tight as it is. Well, in the mail, not only did I get my paycheck, but I also got a check from school. I guess I overpaid for the last term or something. Let me tell you, that was a huge relief. Crazy how that works out, huh? Now I have at least another week covered. Of course I'm still freaking out about the following weeks, but every little bit helps right?

Anyways, Emily's freaking out as well and we're each trying to convince the other that we were the ones who screwed everything up. Which doesn't help our problems really, just helps to make us both depressed. Someday we'll crawl out of this hole we've dug ourselves into. I just hope it's soon.

Overwhelmed

Well, I got myself a blog now. I figured it would be a good way of keeping people informed about my going ons and such. That is of course assuming that they would want something like that. But I think there's at least a few out there who would, so this for them. And me as well. So I can put my 2 cents out in the world. Ok, well I think that's a good start for now.