Working in the cafeteria COMPLETELY pays off

Sometimes. Like tonight. They baked a bunch of cookies and gave an entire tray of them to the dishroom to eat. The cookies are so good when they are just baked. I can still feel them in my stomach and my stomach is glad that they are there. Also I signed up for another shift in the cafeteria. I am now working Tuesday nights from 4:45-8:30-ish. Serving hell of food to students. Also today is pay day. Yessssss. At the rate I am going, it will take me 12-15 weeks before I am able to execute the financial plan I would like to follow (it involves opening up a more-expensive bank account). Wooo! Also I am going to hold off on being a captain. I'd rather do it when I am completely awesome at work.

My blog's new look

Google updated Blogger to make it more convenient I guess. Anyway, I decided that as simplistic as my old layout was, it was kinda ugly. So I made a more spruced up layout with more colours and such. If anybody just hates the hell out of it, tell me, and I'll see if I feel like accommodating your concern.

The CCRB was kinda disappointing. I didn't really like it. I don't really want to ever go there. Bummer. We'll see what happens with this.

I would be going to a Buddhist Seminary meeting tonight, but in my effort to create a bat-shit crazy work schedule for myself, I completely forgot about it and I have work tonight until like 8:30 and tomorrow I think at 10. Basically meaning that if I did go to the meeting, I would not be there for most of it and I would miss the actual meeting.

People at work are trying to get me to become a captain, and I don't even know if I want to. It's like, I definitely do, but right now? I'm not real experienced and being a captain implies hella responsibility, and I am not sure if I want that. I mean, it is also an awesome job (or seems like it) and it pays more, but again, I don't really want to do it if I am not ready, you know? I'll have to ask someone how difficult the learning curve really is. I guess I will.

To be honest, I kind of want to be a captain, just because I've watched them and thought, "dang, I want to be that." But I've also thought, "dang, they have been working here for a really long time and you can tell by the way they do stuff." With me it is like, I have not been here a really long time. I want to be a captain, but I probably shouldn't. I'm going to go do some homework

I don't want to live for a long time

Continuing my argument for having fun while sick, what is the idea behind babying your body as you get older? Well, the idea is that you will live longer. That way, we can live to be old and broken to the point where we get a bruise from knocking on a door. Why live that long? Seriously. You could just shorten your life expectancy by taxing your system all the time. In fact, that will probably make you live longer. Only one way to find out, eh?

Anyway, I am looking into free running. It looks like a really awesome thing to do. So I am going to start going to the gym I guess. Maybe lift weights. Maybe run a lot. Maybe learn the basic free running stuff really well. Then when winter is over I might start actually doing it. I think it would just be a really cool way to keep in shape. Right now the only working out I do is occasional runs in the morning, and pull ups in my room. You know what? I'm gonna head over to the CCRB right now. Check it out. Maybe see what it is like.

Yeah, working out is always a good idea. Also does anybody know what you can do with a repetitive motion injury? I have this hella painful muscle around my right shoulder-blade that I think is caused by loading dishes into the machine at work. I think that because as soon as I finish loading dishes into the machine, it is suddenly like OH GOD THE PAIN. This is my first repetitive motion injury, and the only thing people have told me to do is take aspirin because that makes the pain stop and the muscle relax. And I am like no I am not going to take aspirin. I have never taken that kind of thing before, and I am not going to break my drug virginity with aspirin for a repetitive motion injury.

I will break my drug injury maybe when I have broken all of my bones in three different places and there is more dirt in my body than there is blood. Then I will take pain drugs. But seriously. Repetitive motion injury? Aspirin? Come on.

Anybody know anything else about them? I guess I can ask the internet.

FUCK the INTERNET.

Just kidding. Not really. I'm not actually kidding. Useful as the internet is, all I can see is how it basically sucks.

Just occurred to me, and I wish I had a person to talk to rather than a blog to write in

Why do I care about humans so much? I think I am completely a materialist at this point, all believing that humans evolved just like the rest of animals. I mean, it makes sense. In the past few thousand years, humans have developed remarkably, but we are after all just a race of animals in a meaningless universe. Why do I feel the need to help them out?

Seriously, I'm not going to go on about how bad humans are, because if we are all animals, what are we bad compared to? We just have a lot of power, and we aren't good at wielding it. What's so wrong with that? Nothing. But what makes them worth "saving" or helping? Nothing. If it's all meaningless, why do I care?

I guess it's because I am a part of the human race. I am a human, therefore it is my responsibility to further my race as best I can. As far as what is best for the universe, I don't think there is such a thing as good or bad, as it is all relative. What if we destroy Earth and ourselves and all life on Earth? So what? Is it a shame? What if we are the only life in the universe and we destroy ourselves? If a tree falls in a forest with no one to hear or see it, who cares? I am a human, so I will do what I will.

Also, what is real? I mean, we have our five senses, but does anybody ever feel that they are lacking? I do. On other occasions, I will feel other people's presence in a more "real" way. But what is real other than what we perceive? Each of us has our own perception of the world. We aren't right or wrong, we're just permanently subjective. How can we be objective when we only know what we can see, smell, hear, taste, touch, and think?

To answer all of my questions, we cannot be objective, we do not matter in any "big scheme of things," and there is no objective right or wrong. But we do have personal goals and visions. And they have plenty of personal meanings. And they are real.

In other news, college is disappointingly easy. I also found all the episodes of Look Around You on YouTube. I would link you to them, but they are not hard to find. Anyway, I hate how people procrastinate, and keep doing it and then when you ask if they can hang out they say no because they have all this work, but you know that they are just going to keep procrastinating, so they may as well hang out with you. Bye.

Whaaaat

Man I am getting all of these just crazy telephone calls today where a person asks me if I want to work for them and I tell them that I do not. If you are calling me and I do not know who you are, I do not want to work for you and also I have a job already. Do not call me. Also I am getting these phone calls where the phone rings and I pick it up and there is a little noise and then there is a dial tone which is weird.

Argh

You know how there is always that guy who just has to play devil's advocate no matter what, even when the point has already been made and everybody agrees on it? The guy that has to always bring up the 0.001%-of-the-time exception? The guy that was probably brought up thinking that there really is no such thing as a stupid question? I hate this guy.

Hey! Morning

Waking up at four
And my teeth are chattering
Putting on more clothes.

Bored.

The French lunch table starts in 25 minutes. I don't have any work right now (I mean, there are larger things, but they aren't really worth opening if I'm not going to spend 2-3 hours on them). I already read all the comics I usually read. I worked some on my language. I checked the websites I check. I mean, what can I do right now. I had a lot of fruits for breakfast today (2 nectarines and a banana), so I am full of fructose, and I need to do something about it.

Also we played Diplomacy yesterday, and it is my first game of Diplomacy ever where I am not being completely crushed by everybody who is surrounding me. I'd go on saying vague things about it so that you feel left out for not having been there, but I mean, that is what a dumb person does.

Well that killed 8 minutes.

Also

Also I am getting into the Shins. They seem kind of like a cross between the Barenaked Ladies and the Decemberists, but quite a bit better than both of them.

Ugh

Broke a plate in dishroom today while scraping, and got my hands and arms all scratched up (only a few actual cuts). So now it looks like I cut myself. Long sleeves!

Also I fucking HATE hummus. Seriously. Hummus is horrible. People put it all over their plates and it does not come off of the plates and I hate it and I really fucking hate hummus in fact if that plate were not covered in hummus I would not have broken it I HATE YOU HUMMUS. SCREW YOU HUMMUS, FUCK YOU!

Being sick

I mean don't get worried or anything I just have a cold and I'm on the recovery end of it now. Anyway, not liking emergen-C, being sick means you have to basically let your body heal you. What I find odd however is that everybody has advice for what I should do to get better, and I will never follow any of the advice. Even if it's good advice, which it usually is.

The advice is typically something along the lines of "drink lots of water (this I do anyway), get lots of rest, don't go outside, lay down a lot, etc." Basically, "don't have fun." Guys, if you have a bunch of fun jumping around in the cold rain outside while you are sick, all that will happen is that you will be sick for a few days longer. Seriously, would you rather be sick for 5 days of no fun, or be sick for 8 days with plenty of fun.

I mean, some sicknesses really do require you to not do anything all the time, but the common cold is not that kind of sickness. Seriously.

Logic Puzzle

This is what I have been working on for the past two hours:

There are three gods, named Truth, Lie, and Random. Truth will always tell the truth, Lie will always lie, and Random will unpredictably change back and forth between telling the truth or a lie. Also, they will (of course) only answer yes-or-no questions, and they will answer only in their own language with either "da" or "ja." You do not know which word means yes, and which means no.

You may ask any number of questions, and being gods, they are all-knowing.

Also I got the solution, and it is actually possible.

Cool

I am getting some damn fine grades in all my classes. So far, I have received the highest possible grades on absolutely every single thing I have done (and I have done every single thing I was instructed to do). Man, this is so much better than last year. Plus I have friends.

Oh man.

I just took a really good dump. Like, seriously. I feel so good right now. I love it when that happens. It happens like 1 in a couple hundred dumps, and I am just like, "YES."

6 bags for $56 is pretty tempting

I mean, like that would be 5+ pounds of Daim chocolate.

Right now I am tired and sick. I don't really like that I am tired and sick. Anyway, I'm thinking about death right now. Not about what happens after death, but death itself. I am wondering why people have to die.

I mean, think about it. Why can't we keep generating fresh tissue, like when we were born. Why do we grow old and weak. I mean, it doesn't have to be that way. The only reason it is that way is because, well, it is that way. But look, there was a time when we were just one cell that started dividing. If one cell can become a human, why can't a human stay a human? It seems like each cell could have the ability to create new cells. I know that some do, but some don't.

In case anybody is misinterpreting this, I will clarify that I think death is a good thing. For one thing, I don't really want to live forever. And for another thing, if everybody lived forever, there would be no room for new-borns. What I don't understand is why nobody has come up with a way to maintain youth forever by re-growing tissue. I guess it is just way more complicated than I think it is. But I mean, if one cell is able to become a body over a few months, why can't we look at how it does that? Or I guess we already have.

I don't know. It seems to me that it shouldn't be too hard a thing to change. I'm glad it's harder than I think it is, because, as I said, I like death. But still. Weird. Does anybody know specific reasons for this? Other than lame "tradition" explanations saying things like "biological matter is imperfect." That isn't an explanation. That's just a cop-out. Please spare me.

By the way, if you are thinking "but Matt, it is imperfect," I want you to know that I already know that. However, I don't see why it can't be perfect. I see that it isn't, but that's because we were created by evolution, not by intelligence. We now in theory have the power to evolve intelligently, whether we want to use that power or not. Therefore, why is it considered impossible for us to be perfect?

Actually, in general, I kind of have a problem with perfection. I realise that this is a complete tangent to what I was saying earlier, but I want to say it. Everybody says that nobody is perfect. And I understand that, yes indeed, nobody is perfect. But why? Why can't we be perfect. After all, is perfection anything other than constant mindfulness? I mean, if you are completely mindful of everything you do, you don't make mistakes (unless you don't know what you are doing). Maybe the reason is because no one can possibly always know what they are doing 100%. But then, why not. Everything has a limit. I think perfection is a finite, attainable thing. Just with a lot of difficulty.

Prove me wrong!

Guys, Daim.

Does anybody know where I can buy these. THEY ARE SO GOOD.

I'm serious

If someone knows a place where I can get a Daim bar, they need to tell me.

It needs to be said

William Beckett may be the sexiest man alive right now. Seriously, look at him. It is like, people should not be that attractive. Or maybe everybody should be that attractive. I don't even know. Either way, I would fuck him, and I am not even gay.

Also, the Daim chocolate bar from Norway is really fucking good.

I will also quote Nice Pete at this time.

Hello Google
Please read my words Google
Computer Computer Google
Who invented you Google
You beautiful thing

Always good to end the day with a quote

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion."
~General Schwartzkoph

Meaning of life?

Like many people, I've been thinking about the meaning of life and all that. I don't think there is any meaning of life. I don't think there is any deep purpose, or universal goal. I'm not saying this as a negative thing, and I'm not saying that makes individual purposes and goals any less special. I'm not even depressed about it. I just don't think anything matters in the big scheme of things. Humans are animals with overdeveloped brains. Blame God, blame fate, don't blame anything, whatever. I think the only thing that is real is that I am here, and you are here. The idea is that I help your life become easier, and you help mine do the same. In helping each other out, we all have better, happier lives.

Need it be more complicated than this?

Actually I just hate new iTunes

Really. I hate that it won't let me quit without immediately restarting, I hate that I can't give songs album artwork any way other than one-at-a-time, I hate that I cannot look at the program icon without crying a little.

Apple, your new iTunes has made the hate-list.

Man the new iTunes icon is really ugly.

I hate it. Get Info!

New iTunes

Apple is running out of ideas. The coolest thing about the new version of iTunes is that you can set tracks to play with no gap (such as Pink Floyd). Which is something they should have done a long time ago, and does not warrant a major release. The box on the left is hell of ugly, and the makeover is just slightly different, not better. I liked the radioactive burn button. The new ways to view music with album art are silly. They look cool, but I do not see myself ever using them. I also think the green music note looked much better than the blue one. It also looked better than the old purple one. The green music note was a good idea. All in all, I don't really care because the update was free, and the only things I miss are the burn button and the green music note, and they are worth it for the continuous play option.

My Night Memory

Before going to bed last night I made a note to myself. Here it is:

My memory is much better at night. I talked with Brian about religion.

Apparently, at night my memory is better. I guess that means I can probably remember more stuff when I'm tired, or something. Ah, irony. Also the second sentence is pretty self-explanitory.

Anyway, this was an experiment to see if writing stuff down jogged my memories. It didn't, but there is a thing similar to déjà vu or something, like when you know something, but you can't find it. Next time I stay up late, I'll make a point of writing stuff down. Also, last night we went to an asylum.

People are loud

Just in general. People should be quieter.

Martial art kind of stuff

I was doing Godai Ninpo Ninjutsu last year, but I found out recently that it is not actually very good. However there is a different Ninjutsu group called Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu. It costs about a quarter the price, meets three times a week instead of once, and is better apparently. So um, now I am doing Bujinkan. I can actually only make it once a week anyway, but it is still $100 per semester. So, um, I am doing it.

French

Want to know what French word sucks for a native English speaker to say? Réfrigérateur. It looks harmless, but keep in mind that a French "r" is roughly equivalent to a Yiddish "ch". So a better way to write it might be Chéfchigéchateuch. I hate this word.

Markers.

There is rampant marker theft going on in my hall. Most of the whiteboards at this point do not have markers (in fact, one of these has "Mark my words, the next marker will be POISONED" written on it). I, along with a couple others, have purchased a new marker and duct-taped it to the door. This solved the problem for a while, but now, guess what. There are no caps on our markers. WHAT. WHY WOULD A PERSON DO THIS. Seriously, markers could be anything, but marker caps? That is just saying "hey I am being an asshole for no reason."

Dear thief. Fuck you. You are the kind of person who should not exist. Nobody likes you, and all your friends say bad things about you when you are not around. In fact, everybody hates you. Suicide is the only way out. Remember—down the block twice, and then cross the street at your elbow. (In case you are an idiot, I am telling you to drag a razor down your arm twice, and then across. It is pretty basic information, and I normally would not clarify, but I want to make sure you understand.) Your pal, Matt.

Ch'uis très occupé maintenant.

For serious. I am dang busy right now. But I love it. It's really cool to be busy when it is because you have a lot to do and not because you have a lot to do that you should have done a week ago. C'est très cool!

An observation: I've been noticing that most of the students I see here think of themselves as high school students. They seem to think that they are in classes because they have to be, and that they are studying because they have to. This is not the case. If you hate all your classes, you should maybe think about why you took them. If you took it to fulfil a requirement, at least remember that you are paying something like $65 per hour of class, so you may as well try to find a way to enjoy it. Even if the only way is that it is a step towards graduating.

I think the development of the undecided major is in part to blame. People go in with the intention of continuing their high school experience and to take a diverse amount of interesting classes. Problem is, this is not what a university is for. Now that I actually have an idea of what I want to do "when I grow up," I can look at each of my classes and think to myself, "this class will help me with this, and that class will really help me to do this." This way, I am more like a man with goals, who is seeking the help of a university.

I don't really see many people like me in that respect. I imagine that about half the students here are here because "college is what comes after high school." I mean, that's why I went a year ago, and look where it got me. Well, it got me into a monastery, which was admittedly pretty awesome. But I should have gone to the monastery from the start, because I didn't have any idea what I wanted to do.

I dunno. I used to think of the "know your life plan" approach as boring and old-fashioned, but now that I'm taking it, I can really see its advantages. Plus, there are way too many 17-year-olds in college right now. But seriously, having a lifetime goal is the shit. I am basically inspired to do all my work all the time. Even if the work is boring, I can see my end goal, and see that it is attainable if I do the boring work, and then for that reason the work becomes interesting.

Guys, totally figure out what you want to do with your life. Your life will become completely awesome. I mean, even if what you want to do is ridiculous, don't let that be a reason to quell it. If it's what you want to do, then there ain't no one who can tell you to stop wanting to do it.

Plus you will seriously enjoy every aspect of life. I mean, my whole thing even gives me a reason to go out of my way to make a lot of friends. It's fucking awesome! Anyway I have one thousand homeworks and not a lot of time. Don't expect many updates for a while. Then again, things might let up a little. We'll see.

Yeah no more Decemberists.

Sorry everybody. I don't like The Decemberists. Do not talk to me about the Decemberists because I do not care and I do not like them.

Today has been another damn good day. I like today.

Dangit

I cut my thumb while shaving.

The Decemberists

I like their music whenever the guy is not singing. When he starts singing, a part of me wants to turn off the music. I hope I just get used to it. I guess a lot of their music is about the lyrics. I don't really listen to music for the lyrics. I like music to sound good, and I start to notice the lyrics after I've listened to a song about 10 times. The only exception I can think of is Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life. Otherwise, listening to lyrics takes way too much effort for me to want to do it. And I don't really like The Decemberists. I mean, I'll try harder to like them, but that is my current feeling. I mostly HATE how the singer inserts the sound "ay" instead of "ee" (keepayng instead of keeping, speakayng instead of speaking). That's really all I hear when I listen to it right now.

Also, while coming back to my room, I noticed a guy leaving a dorm room wearing only a towel. This is of course a common site, as guys do need to get to the shower. What I didn't realise until I was in my room was that he was coming out of a room in Cooley House, which is reserved for WISE (Women In Science & Engineering). There are no guys in WISE.

Not important or anything. I just noticed it and it made me laugh to myself, so I thought it'd be worth typing. Like the time the Ninja Hunters knocked on a door and it was answered by an angry guy in a bathrobe who was definitely in the middle of sex when we got there.

Guess who has finished ALL THE WORK

Me! I am doing so much better this semester than last semester. I mean, the first week is hardly evidence to show anything, but my attitude and everything is exactly where it should be. But yeah, I just finished all the French work due tomorrow (which I started Friday, after receiving the assignment Thursday). There was actually a lot of French work. Yesterday I finished the math homework due Wednesday. Now I can enjoy today knowing that I have NO WORK AT ALL to do. I have not had this feeling since, um, well, I think there were a couple times in high school where I bothered to finish my work ahead of time and it felt like this. Dang. Today is going to be so great.

As for the broader perspective of my life, I am doing really well. I am making friends now, for example. It is not very hard to make friends. Actually it is really easy to make friends. It just takes some effort, and then you have to visit people and stuff, and not wait for them to initiate anything. I used to always leave it to other people to initiate stuff, and I would get all depressed when no one did, thinking that everyone must hate me. In truth, people basically are too lazy, or they barely know me, or they are doing the same thing I am doing. In each circumstance, initiating stuff is the answer.

This is pretty basic stuff, and I've probably known that, but I finally started doing it. Exciting time. Also, I've realised that while I cannot directly control my emotions, it is easy to indirectly control them. Exempli gratia, I get depressed. Instead of wallowing (more on this later), I figure out why I am depressed. Say it is because I don't think people care about me. I then go hang out with someone who definitely cares with me. Actually the solution to depression is usually hanging out with someone (for me anyway), but it is typically a pretty specific type of someone. When it comes to the point where I am depressed and don't want to think about it, I go for a run. For at least 15 minutes. This ALWAYS HELPS.

My dad used to say something like, "mix up your chemicals; don't add new ones." The idea is to promote running as a "bestitute" for drugs. I think there's something to that. When I run for 15 minutes, my mind feels clearer, and more open. It certainly doesn't remove such as depression, but it gives me a better angle on what's going on, and the will to solve the problem at hand.

Anyway, my room is clean, my work is done, my previously dirty clothing is being laundered, I have friends, and today I am going to celebrate my dad's birthday. For me, my life is at the highest point it's been at in years. And it's looking like it'll keep going up for a good while. Great!

Also, I am liking Inara George more and more. I like it more as background music than as active listening music, but I really like it a lot as background music. It is really good for doing homework without being distracting. I'm like, "daaaaang!"

I'm thinking a lot about the language I'm making right now. I wish I knew a linguist. Or hell, anybody who knows the basics of language and has the free time to help me with this.

A meditation on toilet seats

For the majority of my life, I have been in the "toilet seat AND cover both go down when you are done" camp. When there is no cover, I put down the seat. I feel this is a good habit. However, now that the dorm bathroom is actually a women's bathroom that says "MEN" on the door (basically meaning there are no urinals), guys all use normal toilets for everything. Now, I am beginning to appreciate the idea of leaving the seat up. If the seat is up, it signifies that there will be no urine on it if you have to take a dump. If it is down, then you just don't know. Now, when I need to unload the day's rations, I first see if any toilets have the seat up. It is much easier than entering the stall and inspecting the seat to make sure.

I mean, or you could just sit in a puddle of some dude's pee. It's up to you.

GOD my legs hurt

Ow!

I like sandwiches!

A good time

I am eating a sandwich while reading The Great Outdoor Fight.

Today is going to be great.

I am going to jam with Tom Goss in the afternoon maybe with a bunch of people. Also, starting at 9 or 10, I am going to hunt some ninja. I went to Acme Mercantile and bought new FUTURE GOGGLES and five tiny water pistols. Also a FUTURE GUN. We will probably be hunting ninjas, because, as Anneka said, it is our first time in months, and we want people to see us and think to themselves, "daaaaang."

I mentioned Ninja Hunting to Ewan, and he said he had been told about that during orientation. Someone from East Quad was talking about group opportunities, and they finished the list with "we even have ninja hunters," and a few people were apparently very impressed by this news. I hope we do not let them down and that instead we measure up to their golden standard of what a ninja hunter should be like.

Actually I just hope they join. Eventually, our ninja hunting group will be so huge that we will be too big for East Quad and will have to spread to South Quad and West Quad. Then we will begin leeching into Hill Campus, and finally North Campus. Then we will annex other colleges with our Ninja Hunting. It is going to be so great.

Is pretty great, to not be on facebook

One of the things I thought would be a problem is that I now cannot view the contact information of a lot of people I got in touch with over facebook. What I realise is that being facebook friends with someone does not make me any more "in touch" with them. It just gives me the secure feeling that I am. Being off facebook, I have to write down the contact information of people I actually WANT to be in touch with, and if anyone wants to know anything about me, they have to meet me. Also vice versa. I can't go read someone's profile and suddenly know everything about them anymore. I now have to go back to the old fashioned method of hanging out.

It is kinda weird though. It's like, I've been on facebook for a year and a half, and suddenly it's gone. This is something like what I would imagine it would be like to quit smoking. But probably to a much lesser degree. It's like, whoa, that is not a part of my life.

On the other hand, I feel really awesome. Kind of in the same way that indie-listeners probably feel awesome. Back when I first joined facebook, I was part of a small-ish group of people who were discovering a cool network of people. While I was on it, it evolved into a disgusting but glossed-over MySpace. The whole News Feed thing was what made me consider leaving, and then I was like "but that's a little extreme," but then I was like "well actually I've kinda been looking for an excuse for a while now. This is a good one."

So the newsfeed is the scapegoat (did you know that once a year, Jews blame all their sins on a goat? Shoshana told me this. It is apparently where the word "scapegoat" came from. Learning things like this is a cool thing to do) for why I left, but really I kinda stopped liking facebook around May or so. Maybe before then. It might have been before I left. Actually I still think they should have left the walls the way they used to be. When they changed the walls, I guess a seed was planted.

Anyway, leaving facebook does not count as a full blog post really. Other information about what I am doing: I met a girl named Angela yesterday, and it turns out I have known her for more than a year and a half, from an interfaith religious conference I went to those years ago. Also I moved her into her room, and somehow we both forgot that. This actually sounds like a much less weird revelation than it was at the time. At the time we were like "SHIIIIIIT." Also she has my umbrella. It's been a while since I've been separated from my brolly for this long. I want it back. Just kidding. I mean, I do want it back, but I don't want it so urgently that italics were necessary or anything.

She said that I should read Pride and Prejudice. I guess I should. But it goes on the bottom of my list, and considering that Gödel, Escher, Bach and House Of Leaves are both on the list above it, I probably won't get around to reading it for a good couple years, if I'm quick.

I'm listening to a lot of Звери today. I probably shouldn't like them as much as I do, but I do like them exactly that much, so fuck you.

Anyway I am going to go shopping for new Ninja-Hunting / Billionaires for Bush gear. Goodbye.

-Matt

facebook

The only things keeping me on facebook are my "Let's Unite the Planet" groups. Wait, I can set up a forum on the internet. That would make SO MUCH MORE SENSE. Facebook, goodbye.

THE DECADE OF THE BRAIN

Apparently this is how one could choose to refer to the 1990's. I don't really know whose idea this was. Anyway college is pretty cool and this is my ten minute break in between 5 hours of classes. I have class in 5 minutes, so bye.

Hahaha!

This is a somewhat good one.

A letter to a girl

This is a letter to a girl who definitely reads this blog.

Dear Girl: You will be pleased to know that I have finally thrown out the futon cover that I have had for more than one year. It has been replaced completely with a new futon cover, and I assure you that there is no way that anything displeasing could have already entered into this new cover. You can now feel safe and comfortable whenever you sit on my futon. Your pal, Matt.

I guess this is also a letter to anyone who went ninja hunting with me on a certain night when we decided to barge into a certain room to see a certain futon cover that had certain actions happening on it when we came in. You know who you are. Also the girl that this letter is to is Anneka.

For the rest of my post, I am going to talk about my life at this point.

After pausing for about 1 and a half minutes, I realise that I have a lot that happened, and not a lot to say about any of it. Thank you. -Matt

Today was pretty great

I discussed my idea for taking over the world and uniting it in peace with Patrick. He pointed out where my idea was weak, and where it was strong, and we modified it a bunch. Also we made more specific plans of action and came up with a bunch of ideas that could actually work. Basically, awesome. I'll detail exactly what our plan is later, but I'll wait until we have a more developed one. But we have some great ideas for specifically how a world government would work, and all kinds of things like that. Obviously, the hard part is getting there, but I mean, that's not a reason not to do it. Just a reason to be wary and not get our hopes up. Anyway, yeah, I'll detail plans later.

AWESOME POST

THAT IS SO TRUE THAT THIS IS THE MOST AWESOME POST THAT WILL BE MADE THIS MONTH. Akshaya moved in yesterday and I saw him today, and then I saw him again, and then I gave him all his stuff and helped him pimp out his room and then we ate dinner. Also I went to help out at the Yard Sale for a few hours. There actually wasn't much to do there. Weird.

My RA put up all the name signs on the doors, and they have MONSTER TRUCKs on them. Anyway, I don't think I'm going to get a better ending line than that, so ciao, chochichuelos!

Risk!

The only expansion that I have not incorporated into my game right now is the Mars expansion. It would be cool if I could get that, and then also get a second board. That way, a completely epic game of Risk could happen, starting on Earth, and expanding into Mars. It seems to me that this could be really awesome, or really horrible. Either way, it's something to be in the mood for. I have already thought of a pretty awesome way that Mars could be incorporated, but I don't think a single person who has even played the game reads this. So I'll spare you. Goodbye.

I hate everything and everyone right now!

Not really. This post is a lie, actually.

My phone works!

That's right, chochichuelos! You can now call my phone! 565.7870. My answering machine will pick it up instead of voice mail, my voice mailbox is no longer locked, AND they are going to come by to fix my phone (the numbers 6 and 3 do not work on it). GREAT

Friend! Friend!

I guess I'm friends with my RA now? I just ate dinner with him. His name is Ryan and he is an industrial engineer. He is, well, he's the kind of a guy that I would be friends with, so he'll probably be a good RA too.

Zoombinis!

I just bought this online. I will never regret this decision.

Also the Move-in-maker meeting happened. It was basically what you would expect a mass meeting to be like. I talked to a couple people I didn't know. One of them was named Lauren, and the other was named, er, I forgot her name. I'll ask her later. I never really know how to act in this kind of situation. It's not that I don't know how to act around people I don't know. I'm actually really good at that. It's how to act around people I don't know that I am supposed to become friends with. That's the one. Peers, in other words, I guess. Yeah, when I'm in a room full of adults I don't know, it's really easy to be what everyone wants me to be. All I do is listen to everybody's story, and everybody thinks I am great. But when I'm among people that I will see again, I am expected to have things to say, and I rarely do have anything of substance.

So I either come off as quiet and boring, or loud and boring. Yet I somehow manage to make friends eventually. I just hate this part. I have to go. Bye.

Night!

My dorm room is now clean. Not "tidy," but I'll get on that tomorrow. At this point, everything is in its place, and that's good enough to go to bed. Tomorrow I will make it look neat. Night.

I am in my room right now.

I am unpacking. I do not have much more to say. I will probably go and get something to eat later. Because, I mean, come on.

grrrphhgglump

My brother is listening to a rap song that goes something like "FUCK THE WORLD AND LET THEM DIE"

Good news folks! I found my earplugs! Also I move in tomorrow.

A big hello!

A big hello to everyone who reads my blog! I hope you have a very good day!

Daaaaamn

I just found a bunch of my England friends on facebook. Also my brother ended up with a 114% in his online civics course. What a weird day!

Sandals / Tech Commander

I've taken to running in my sandals a lot, and now my feet are hardcore. I mean, not as hardcore as walking around barefoot, but the tops of my feet are also hardcore. It is a kind of middle ground where all of my feet is hardcore to a lesser extent.

Also the Tech Commander went up to $50 already, and the auction ends Saturday. Shiiiiit.

RISK!

I discovered that there were expansions made for Risk 2210 (which is a version of Risk that I like a lot). There were five expansions made in total, and none of them are, or ever were, available for purchase (they were used in tournaments hosted by the game, and given out as prizes). Two are expansions I can make easily myself, and the rest I can probably make myself but would do a bad job. Here is a list of them and my opinions of them (if you don't know how to play Risk 2210, reading this entry will only confuse you—it is pretty different from regular Risk):

First: Five new cards; one for each commander. Basically they are just good cards. However, since the game comes with blank cards, it would be easy to write the cards down on the spares. Not as pretty, but I'm not going to go planet hunting for 5 cards that look prettier.

Second: Mars. And its two moons. You do this instead of Earth. The Martian board reminds me of the Lord Of The Rings version of the game, where every territory seems to border 6-8 other territories, making paths of attack unpredictable. I don't think I would use this very much if I had it. Unless I had two sets of pieces, in which I would play with Mars instead of the Moon. Or maybe have all three moons as well. That could be awesome, if rather confusing. Point is, I'm not in a hurry to find this one.

Third: Tech Commander. I WANT THIS ONE. All it is is a sixth commander called the Tech Commander, along with his set of cards. But they are awesome cards, and, I, really want this. I found it on ebay. Right now it's at $20, but it may go up to $50-$75, looking at past auctions. However, my brother said he would chip in, so I am tempted to do this. I probably will.

Fourth: Factions. This makes the game more similar to diplomacy, in that everyone has a national, well, not national, but perhaps political identity. Also each faction has advantages and disadvantages, and start with different commanders and cards etc. This would be very easy to do myself, because the only physical thing to copy is a place-mat that everyone gets, showing what their faction does and everything. I mean, I could make them in InDesign and print them off. In fact, I'm going to do that when I finish writing this.

Fifth: Invasion of the Giant Amoebas! Aliens are attacking during the game. Basically at the beginning of every turn, the player turns over an amoeba invasion card, which can do a number of things. Usually, amoebas attack a random territory. They all roll 8-sided dice. Other cards do things like doubling the number of amoebas in every territory, etc. This is something I'd like, but it isn't something I'd use every game, like the factions and tech commander (and special cards). I want this much more than, say, Mars though.

My order of wanting these would be: Third, Fifth, Fourth, Second, First. Matt OUT.

Decemberists

As I said to Gynelle, I think I am my only friend who does not care about the Decemberists. Not that I don't like them, I've just never listened to them, and everybody is all "OMG DECEMBERISTS" and I am all "what."

Goodnight everybody!

Third post in a few hours

I decided that I am not going to buy the Optimus Keyboard when it comes out. I have a couple problems with it, and, cool as it is, it isn't worth it to me for these reasons.

First of all, it's not a very dust-proof or cleanable design. That is also one of the reasons that I dislike Apple's keyboard (I heard they fixed this problem recently?); after a while it gets disgusting. I think that for a keyboard that is this beautiful, they should ensure that it will stay beautiful.

Second, I don't like OLED technology. As far as I know, anyway. OLED is faster than e-paper, but I still would rather it use e-paper because of longevity. OLED pixels can be on for about 5000 hours, which is apparently a couple years of regular use. Some people might like getting a new keyboard every couple of years, but when I get things, I plan on having them for 5 or 10 years if possible. Electronic Paper, on the other hand, seems to last basically forever. Plus it has a memory, so it will display things even while off.

It seems like the OLED/e-paper trade-off is between animations and longevity. I can see how a lot of people would want animations, and I can see how that would be a better starting place, but I would rather hold out for the latter. I mean, if you want to market this new awesome idea, I can see that animations are the best thing ever. That way people go WOW and take out their wallets. A changing keyboard is great, but not great enough for a first idea.

I'm hoping that after the shock wears off and Optimus gets off the ground, they will come out with the improvements I named. I don't really want an animating keyboard. It would be really cool the day I got it, and would be awesome to show people, but for me the excitement would be temporary, and I'd rather the keyboard not be temporary as well. If I want animating keys, I'll buy the Mini-3.

So, Artemy Lebedev, in case you happen to read this, I will buy your product if you do those two things.

Bummer. That's a bummer.

I doubt I'm the only person this happens to, but more often than not, when I read a blog that talks about something sad that happened to the author or that the author is really depressed or some other form of bad news, I get the urge to comment with "bummer, man." The urge doesn't make me bad, I know. But would it make me bad if I followed through?

Also, I have Pennies In Heaven stuck in my head FOR NO REASON.

DHTML

The HTML I did yesterday made me want to try something. I hope it works.

Awesome

Awesome

Awesome

Awesome

Awesome

Awesome

Awesome

Awesome

Awesome

Awesome

Awesome

PS on the previous post

P.S. I just finished cutting my hair. If you see me without knowing that I cut my hair, you probably won't notice that I cut my hair. I need a mirror that I can hold in my hand, because right now I cannot see the back of my head when I cut my hair. If you haven't read the post I made a little while before this, there is a post that I made just before this, you should read it. Goodbye. -Matt

And my saga continues

Last night I got 14 hours of sleep from 10 to 12. I can only assume that my body is making up for my lack of sleep the night before (which is healthy—see my previous post on this subject). Although I apparently did get one hour of sleep the night before. That makes 15 hours of sleep in two nights. After keeping track for a while, I am pretty sure I need 7-8 hours of sleep per night, so that sounds right.

Yesterday I could not get the scanner to work and my brother needed to scan something. So I rode my bike to the fishbowl to scan it. I also went to Stadium Hardware to get a couple things I needed to fix my chair, to that market (Arbor Farms?) by Panorama to get shampoo and soap (I ran out of shampoo a couple days ago and have been using my parents'), and to Big Ten Burrito to get dinner for my brother and myself. I decided that would be a good celebration dinner and he agreed (he finished his class yesterday). Before you ask, yes, I did jump on the James bandwagon and I am now using Pine Tar shampoo and soap. It smells really nice. No, nice isn't the right word. Strong. It smells strong.

The fad right now seems to be using Vox, and particularly using some book feature incorporated within it. I am going to use the HTML knowledge incorporated in my memory to do the same thing:

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

I've been getting back into Gödel, Escher, Bach again. It has made me tempted to buy:

Bach: Die Kunst Der Fuge; Musikalisches Opfer

Whether I get it or not rather depends on an email I will receive from Anneka.

Anneka Goss: This is a link to her blog

HUGE MONITER

I am at the fishbowl doing something for my brother on a G5 with a 1920x1200 moniter. It is ridiculous, and awesome, and that is all I have to say.

Good times

I don't feel like posting but I probably should. Last night I went to stand in line for the Ditty Bops at 6:30. I expected that probably I would be standing alone for a half hour or so, but instead I was second in line, and the line formed behind me pretty quick. My asshole friends decided that they would not come to stand with me until 7:15 or so. Anneka rode her bike past me and waved a little before that though. Anyway, we got seats right up next to the stage in the centre, and it was, well, I don't need to tell you that it was really great. The opening band was the Ginn Sisters (hard 'G', by the way), and they were good. If I hadn't discovered the Ditty Bops as an opening band, I probably would have been really impressed by the Ginn Sisters. But I was already expecting them to be good, and they were.

I got my CD's signed, also a bicycle bikini calendar, and a tour poster. The tour posted is awesome. I mean, you just have to look at it.

We ate at the Fleetwood, and I ate French Toast. Then I went to Gynelle's house, ended up with Risk 2210 somehow, didn't play it, and I don't think I ever got to sleep. I hope I didn't make too much of a prat of myself.

This morning at 11:00 we saw the first showing of Snakes on a Plane. It was pretty much what the title suggests it to be. Basically there are snakes and Samuel Jackson on a plane. Time well spent, I think. I'm home now, I'm too tired to do anything, and too awake to sleep (also it is light out). I don't really want to be posting here right now. I kind of have to take a massive dump. Goodbye.

Best night of my life

I am about to walk downtown to watch the Ditty Bops / eat at the Fleetwood / spend the night at Gynelle's / watch Snakes On A Plane. BEST NIGHT EVER

Guys' Movie Night

Last night we watched Re-Animator. It is the kind of movie that could be very interesting but was instead very boring. However, it did have zombies, a naked girl, blood, and blood. We also rented Spectreman Verses The Cyborg Rat but we ended up not watching that movie. You can understand how something like this would happen.

The camera I have did not work, so instead of taking pictures, we found pictures of ourselves on the internet and made it into a pretty basic photo album on facebook. The camera started working for no reason when it was too late.

I think Kevin and I managed to spend an entire hour at bestthing.info. Otherwise, we ate chicken, played poker, listened to manly music, didn't sleep, made nachos, burnt some potatoes, and cleaned up some vomit.

Anyway, I slept from about 8:00 to 2:30. AAAAAAAAAAaA+++++++ WOULD SLEEP AGAIN

My feelings could be described by this emoticon— :|

I am pretty neutral right now. Last night Shoshana had a no-notice party and it was fun. We played games and had just the happiest time. Toward the end it got kind of stretched and I probably should have left earlier, but I actually had fun. I also lost one of my sandals, but after about 20 minutes of me looking for it, Alex Houser found it. Thank you Alex Houser. Thank you to everyone else who helped with as much success as I had. I'm like, "Daaaaang!"

Anyway, I think I now have more than 5 friends who maintain more than one blog. This upsets me. So I am going to only read one blog per person. Message to said people: If one of your multitude of blogs is "better" than the others, please tell me which it is. If you don't, I will probably be picking a random one. I mean, that is definitely what I will do. Also, while I have your ear, might I suggest that you use only one blog? I mean, this would make things easier for you, and me, and everyone who reads your blog(s). Basically everybody wins. Consider this.

I guess that was kind of a rant, but more polite. Well this is the end of today's rant. I'll probably make a post later today if I am bored. If not, I will not make a post later today.

Monster X

I hate it when I am fighting Monster X with three health and I get it down to about a centimetre of health left and then one of those green wormy missile things hits me and I die. I mean, that's only happened to me once so far, but it sucked.

Diplomacy

Well I pretty much got the same feeling I always get now. That being the feeling that I don't really have anything to say and nobody has anything to say to me. It really does take the fun out of, well, living, honestly. It's kind of like the opposite of studying for me. When it comes to studying, I am perfectly happy not doing it, and I don't really want to do it, but when I do, I like it a lot. Whereas when I hang out with any number of people, I really don't like not doing it, I really want to do it, and when I do, I hate it. I wonder if there's a solution to this problem. I mean, it'd be cool if someone had some insights or something. Obviously this is a problem with me, not with the entire world, and it's hard to see things in yourself. (By the way, if you are one of the cool people that does not give advice unless it is asked for, I am asking for it if you have any.)

To be honest, I'm definitely thinking about this too much. But then again, what am I supposed to do? Ignore it? I mean, I keep trying that. Man I really don't like this kind of depression. The kind I used to have was all right—I could wallow in it anyway. This kind is just, well, depressing. I guess I'm depressed for a reason instead of just depressed. I'd say I liked it better how I was, but I don't. I just want to, you know, have fun. I haven't done that for a really fucking long time.

Cave Story

I decided to start over with my three-life run in Cave Story. I love this game, and I really didn't like losing my place in Hell, but my skills have waned and the first two rooms of Hell are not the place to get them back. I just stopped in front of Omega in the Sand Zone. The only thing that I think will really make me regret this decision is when I have to go up against Monster X. Also the Core. And also the Undead Core. But mostly, well, the Core. I hate the Core.

The art of making nachos

There are times when a person will make some nachos, and they may think to themselves, "I wonder how I could make the perfect nachos." If you have been in this position, you are about to hear a secret that probably a lot of people know already or if you didn't know it you will look at me and say "well duh." It isn't really a secret at all. But it's rarely done.

First of all, always make your nachos in the oven. The microwave is only the kind of thing you use if you do not have any other kind of oven. Like if you're in a dorm room. If you are not allowed to have anything that is not a microwave, you can safely ignore the rest of this post. Otherwise, read on.

The big secret is to put the chips in the oven before you start making the nachos. This is a good idea for two reasons. First of all, it dries out your chips, so when you put all your toppings on, they will all get soaked up by the now-dry chips. This makes the chips tastier. Second, any fool can tell you that toasted chips taste better.

So, when making nachos, the first thing you want to do is set your oven for 400ºF. It usually takes my oven about 15-20 minutes to get to this point. I usually occupy this time by either finding all the potential ingredients, or playing with my dog.

Once your oven is at a neat 400º, it is time to put the chips in. Obviously, you want to put them on some kind of pan, and if you are smart, you will put foil (always shiny-side-down) on the pan (that way it is very easy to clean up). You want the chips to change in colour a little before you take them out again. Probably 10 minutes or something. Just keep looking. Anyway, this is the time to get your refried beans all heated up (a job for your microwave?!!). Also grate some cheese. Now, if you want these to be really good, you should put other things on, like peppers or onions (not whole—all cut up).

Another secret—before you put the beans on the chips, stir some of the grated cheese into the already-heated-up beans. For some reason, they pour easier when you do this. So when the chips are done, you pour the beans over them, and then you dump all the grated cheese on it along with anything else that you like. Put the thing back in the oven and it should be ready in 10 minutes or so. Make sure you turn the oven off when you are done. I do not want you to burn your house down or just waste a bunch of precious gas just because you don't think I was clear as to whether or not you should leave the oven on when you are done. You should never leave the oven on when you are done.

Anyway, when you are done, you should have some nachos with a great taste that you completely like.

Thoughts that are maybe worth writing down

Thought singular actually. Anyway, a few days back I was talking to a Christian fundamentalist. It is really hard to talk to people like that because we think of things so differently. I mean, we disagree even on the concept of black and white. Once I accused a fundamentalist of looking at the world as though it was black and white and he was ignoring all the shades of grey and the entire fucking rainbow, and he was like "but the world is black and white. It is simple. I throw something up and it comes back down." G-Money might remember that incident.

Back to the point, it is hard for me to have intelligent conversations because we completely do not relate even on a basic level (I never noticed that was a palindrome before!). Anyway, I told him that I think humans need to solve their problems themselves. He said that I was being too idealistic, and I would be waiting for something that could never happen. I asked what he was waiting for and he told me he was waiting for the coming of Christ. I said to myself: "And that's not idealistic." I said to him: "Okay, good luck with that," and went to find a new conversation with someone else.

However, it got me thinking. So, here is what I came up with. Take, as an axiom (I love using this word), the Christian Bible and philosophy to be true. In a literal sense. Most importantly the idea of revelations and the coming of Christ. Okay, so taking that as true, here is history according to me:

Time began with God taking completely care of us, as a parent takes care of children. He then booted us out of Eden to fend for ourselves, but with help. For the next thousand (?) years, we carried on with his intervention. Then he sent his son (representing humanity), and killed him. I take this to mean that he booted us out again, but for real. He was saying, "Okay, no more help from me. You take care of yourselves from here on out." Of course, he didn't actually say that. But he did leave us with a prophecy of the return of Christ.

And then 2000 years passed without so much as a squeak from heaven. That's quite a while for God to do nothing, eh? Don't you think he would have set revelations in motion by now? I think so. Unless he's waiting for something. Either a specific period of time, or a specific event. If it's a period of time, as Christians seem to believe, then I wonder why. I thought the idea was supposed to be that God was infinitely wise, not attached to units of time.

So I am assuming it is not a unit of time that God is waiting for, and it is indeed an event. And I think the event must depend on humans. It was the humans that he gave free-will to, and therefore we are the only things out of his control. Therefore, it seems logical to me that God wants us to do something. What? Well, I think he wants us to create Heaven on Earth. Bring time full-circle so that the humans return themselves to Eden. I think he decided we've had enough help from him, and that we're ready to figure it out on our own. That makes sense to me.

Anyway, that's what's been on my mind. Thanks for reading. If someone who knows more about Christianity has an argument against mine, I'd appreciate it. I haven't actually read revelations, actually, so I don't really know anything about it except that our physical world will end and we go to heaven. I might even be wrong at that. Let me know.

I am excited and cannot sleep even though I want to

I have a really awesome idea that I've been playing with for the past month. I just told it to someone for the first time today and my excitement about it got renewed. I'd detail it here, but it is really unlikely that what I want to happen would happen, and I don't want 7 comments saying "Matt that is a stupid idea it would not work." I know that saying that would make people not say that, but I don't really want people reading it and thinking to themselves "Matt's lost it" or whatever either.

Basically it's just not the kind of thing I want on the internet. If you ask me about it like in person, I'll tell you all the details. Otherwise, you aren't really missing out. Like I said, if it fails, which it most definitely will, it will be completely worthless.

That said, if it works, then oh man. It would be huge. That is why I'm excited.

Pi Day is a propoganda sham!!

Most of you already know this, but for those of you that don't, Pi Day (March 14) is a sham! The idea is that March 14 is 3/14 or 3.14; the first three digits of pi (3.14159265...). Many people have been happy blindly celebrating this FALSE HOLIDAY. That's right. FALSE HOLIDAY. The actual Pi Day should be on 22 July. Or 22/7. Because 22/7=3.14285714...

Pi - 3.14 = 0.00159265... while 22/7 - pi = 0.00126449...

As you can clearly see, 22/7 is closer to pi by 0.00032816...

DON'T BE A FOOL DON'T CELEBRATE PI DAY IN MARCH WITH THE OTHER DRONES!!!

Cave Story

It somehow changed from "Not saving" to "Not saving with 3 health". I died in Grasstown fighting Balfrog.

I want to live in the wilderness

For a few years. Maybe after college. I hope I do it. I'd probably either become really hardcore or I'd leave or die or something. I'm kind of tired of the life I'm living right now and I want to do something really hard.

In other news most of the people I voted for won. But Woods lost to Hieftje by a landslide. 2/3 majority anyway. Pity. Not that I was expecting a different outcome.

I just noticed that the pictures part of my website displays an error when you try to look at the apache list, so I fixed the .htaccess file and now you can look at it. Pretty intense.

I was kinda looking forward to the diplomacy thing, but it is probably going to never happen ever. Just kidding. That's just what I feel like. But there will be a very manly movie night on Friday. It will be pretty great. We'll grill a chicken and play football and watch porn. You should come! Unless you have only X chromosomes. Then you are not welcome.

I'm going to practise my violin for the first time in a long time tomorrow. It's been almost a month I think.

I'm going to stop posting, and I am too awake to go to bed, so I am going to start a new cave story game and go as far as I can without saving. I'll let you know how it goes.

HOLY SHIT

The new Ditty Bops album is SO GOOD SO GOOD SO GOOD

Eee-yup.

I am wearing my first [genuine] "I Voted" sticker. It beats my old collection of "I Tried" stickers any fucking day of the week.

Also the Ditty Bops's new album came in the mail. Exciting !

By the by, I've had a Google Calendar for a while now—it's at the bottom of that column to the right. If you want to know whether I can hang out or not, this calendar will answer that question.

Well daggumn.

I've looked through a few Summer albums of people I don't know very well on facebook, and they're usually fun to look through. But just now, I started looking through a summer album basically full of my friends (the one Molly put up earlier), but with me not there. It's really brought home the fact that I haven't really hung out with anyone at all this summer. And I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Well, that's dishonest. I know exactly how I feel about that. I feel sad. Not because I was "left out" or something, but because I chose to keep to myself when I could have been with friends. But then again, I chose to avoid friends precisely because being around them makes me sad. So what the fuck am I to do? It's kind of a lose-lose situation. One reaction is that I need to make some friends in college, but that's silly. I already have a bunch of friends. (Not to say I shouldn't make a huge bunch of college friends, just that they shouldn't replace my older friends.)

But, the only thing that makes me feel more left out than not being around my friends is being around my friends. Anyhow, I'm going to attempt joining in on a diplomacy party on Thursday I think. Back into the social swing of things. Maybe I'll like it this time, now I've had some time to be alone. Then again, I had plenty of time to be alone from January to April. Well, whatever.

A thought followed by brief excitement

After a conversation with Kate (who is very great by the way) I got to thinking about optimism. I am generally an optimistic person wherever possible, and I could imagine people telling me that I am foolish to be that way. So, I decided to ask myself if it is actually foolish. And if it isn't, why isn't it?

Well, I think it ultimately depends on how much you know. For example, if the weather forecast says "200% chance hurricane" it would be silly (not optimistic) to say "I BET IT IS SUNNY AND NICE ALL DAY." On the other hand, if you have no idea what the weather will be like, and have no way of finding out, then this is where grey area begins. Some people (me) might argue that since there is no way of knowing, you may as well assume it will be sunny. Others might argue that you should assume it will rain, so you won't be upset if it does. This paragraph assumes, of course, that you prefer sunshine to rain.

Now that was one example. But what about the world, or human beings, or something like that. What humans will do is completely unpredictable (that is to say, you can come up with several good predictions, but you have no way of actually knowing until after-the-fact). So, should you be pessimistic about them, or optimistic? Well do what you want. I've decided that it makes no difference. Whether you have high hopes or no expectations, you aren't more or less "prepared." Just like with rain. Just because you assume it will rain doesn't mean you have to not bring an umbrella.

So I have rationalised my optimism to myself with this: I would rather be disappointed when things go badly than be satisfied when things go badly.

Brief excitement: The Optimus Mini-Three starts shipping in a week, which means the Optimus Keyboard will be coming soon. Oh man oh man oh man oh man!

Hypothetical Stiuation:

What do you do if:

You have just finished getting ready for bed and are eyeing the bed you are about to sleep in because you are about to get in it. Suddenly the phone rings, and you abandon thoughts of bed and follow the ringing to the telephone. Upon answering, you hear "hey this is Anneka I am breaking into a house with Molly you should help. It's on Pontiac Trail. I am doing this because I want to look at the second floor."

There are several things a person can do in this situation. Guess what I did. Good night.

Day day day

Today I woke up, went to the temple for a couple hours, ran (wearing sandals that cut my feet in the process) a mile to the bus station, waited a half-hour for the bus, beat Erica and Simon and Ted at Risk 2210 (Basically Risk but way more awesome), teamed up with Erica against Ted and Simon to win two games of Euchre, played a few other games with the same people (also beat Ted in Cowboys and Indians—what a great game), and made this post.

Too Late

Went to bed. Don't call me.

I'm bored

Somebody call me

Google

I just realised—Google is amazing. I mean, it searches the entire internet. Quickly. Like, I type in "amazing" and it finds every occurrence of "amazing" on the internet in a few seconds. The internet is a big place. This is very magnificent.

Two (2) Things

1. On my LiveJournal account (I only have it so I can read some blogs) I am completely blatant about who I am. Every other person I know does not have their name on their blog. Sometimes, they place a fake name, other times, no name. But me, I have my name in big bold letters. Does this make me an idiot? You know, for so flamboyantly offering my name?

2. A conversation with my dad:

DAD: Walks into my room. "Hey! Your uncle and I are going for a 20-mile run in the morning! Want to come? We wake up at six o'clock!"
ME: Looks at clock (1:30 a.m.).
DAD: Looks at clock. "Six-thirty."

Cyanide and Happiness

This sounds like the title to a comic that is not funny. Well, that is only half-right. It is a comic, but it isn't not funny. Here's the first one. They update every day (not just weekdays) and have been for a year and a half. They're like a mix between super mega and rejected. The comic has at least three different artists. It's weird. Check it out.

The dickens of a chuckle

The following (most recent) achewood comic has a number of elements of note:

http://achewood.com/index.php?date=07312006

It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight, rising up to the challenge of our rival

Is so on the power mix.

Argh

When I am not on a computer I have several ideas of things that I should find on the internet, but I forget them when I am on a computer. I should write them down when I am not at a computer, but I only remember to do that when I am at the computer after forgetting the idea. You see the problem.

Post

For future reference, if I am not lying about something like my previous post, I will throw in an occasional "by the way I am being serious and not joking."

Anyway, my family reunion was a lot of fun, and I went white water rafting for the first time in my life. I fell out and it was cold, but then I got back in and I was still cold. I learned a new card game and a couple of drinking games. All in all, a good few days.

Incidentally, I am planning on maybe going to Toronto for a couple days or something. We'll see.

Tomorrow

I am leaving again. This time for good. I've had enough of America, and I am going to move to Toronto (I'll be living at the temple). I don't plan on coming back any time soon, if ever. I'll probably get on a computer at some point when I get there.

Bye.

Yesterday

I hung out with Simon and Kaitlin. AT THE SAME TIME. Just kidding. Different times (I was only kidding about the same time).

Peel peel peel

The skin on my shoulders is peeling! It's an exciting time.

Camera!

Heh, I guess it is kind of vain to make a post with only the purpose of placing a picture of yourself. But I am. I noticed a bunch of old pictures that never got removed from my camera. And I really like this picture of me. It was taken in the Toronto Botanical Garden on the day I left the monastery. I really like this picture, and I have no idea why.

WHAT AM I DOING RIGHT NOW

Not listening to the Eye of the Tiger. I am not listening to the Eye of the Tiger.

My Blog Entry For Today

I really want to write something here and I feel like there is something I should write about, but I have no idea what these somethings are. So I guess I'll settle for writing a couple of sentences, because there isn't much more to write about that I want to write about, and I can't think of a different subject that I want to write.