Welcome back to Oswego!

I'm finally back in Oswego.

It feels like I've finally come home, really.

Anthony and I drove up on Wednesday and got here pretty early, so I had time to unpack and get situated before dinner. Dan and the lovely Rita wandered around during the day, and it was nice to see them.

Thursday marked the start of classes. I have a class every day this semester at 9:00 in the morning. It's nice to have a lot of time in the afternoon, but I wouldn't mind sleeping a little bit more.

I haven't really gotten a feel for my classes, really, but here are a few comments:

- Astronomy is alright. The material seems interesting and I'm hoping to not have to open the book. The professor looks a bit like a turtle and even worse sounds like a turtle from Sly Cooper
and that makes me giggle.

- Western Civilization isn't bad at all. I think I'm going to like it. The teacher is pretty engaging even if the material isn't, and the readings are incredibly short.

- Middle East Politics will be a lot of rewarding, interesting work. I'm going to like this.

- Comparitive Politics will be boring and uninteresting. The professor is very boring and I can't listen to her for too long before my brain turns to jello.

- Public Policy and Administration is going to be boring, too. Hey, lets learn how to make paperwork for public projects. Fucking awesome!

Thankfully, other things are distracting me. I'm getting my shit done, but I went to a party on Friday in Rita's suite that was fun. On Saturday, we want on a date to see Hoodwinked and then to Canalis. Somehow I managed to splatter pasta sauce all over my face (and on the head of the guy behind me), but she just rolled with it and laughed and was awesome. Saturday night was filled with homework, surprisingly.

On Sunday, Zach, Dan and I went to see Social Burn/Nonpoint/Sevendust back home, and drove for six or so hours for it. All in all, it was worth it. Some drunk guy wanted to fight me during Nonpoints set. He was moshing and grinding his girlfriend all at the same time and kept pushing into us, so Zach punched him in the fucking kidney and he turned and pushed me for it. I pushed him back and told him to keep his balls of my ass and he got pissed. I can't believe I pushed him back, he was jacked. He could have destroyed all of us. Thankfully his girlfriend pulled him off.

All in all, it's shaping up to be an exciting semester. I'm very happy.

Fun, fun, and possibly even more fun...

So, I spent this last weekend at RIT with Rita and her friends.

I was supposed to leave on Thursday night, but Rita took absolutely forever to leave her house, and we both decided that it would be easier for me to come on Friday morning. So I woke up on Friday and I went to the car shop and had them change my belt on my car (it squeels no more!) and then I left for RIT. It's a really long drive, let me tell you what. It's like driving to Oswego, and then adding an hour and a half to it. I didn't get lost at all though, which made me quite happy. Well, I got lost on the campus, which is amazingly huge, but that doesn't really count since I didn't even know who I was seeing, let alone where they lived.

I was a little nervous to meet Rita's friends, but they were all cool and I got along with them well. Friday night we went to an Asian Culture Society Fashion Show that one of her friends was in and it was really, really funny. The hosts knew absolutely nothing about fashion, so during the few fashion sketches they just made comments like "She's wearing a yellow...dress" and the like. I thought it was funny, but if I had gone for fashion commentary I probably would have been a bit disappointed. The show was filled with skits that made fun of a lot of Asian stereotypes and it was really fun. We went to an after party afterwards and Rita and I danced for a while and had a good time. There was no alcohol for us, but eh, oh well. I asked her out during the party and now we're officially dating (we even have it listed on our facebooks, so you know it's for real). I was quite pleased.

On Saturday, we really didn't do too many exciting things, but I still had fun. We all slept late and ate lunch around two, and I've realized that I don't have that much of an appetite now that I've been home and I don't eat so regularly. They have a bunch of cool little places to eat that don't feel like dining halls, and I liked that a lot. The RIT campus is a lot bigger than the Oswego one and I was really surprised by how much stuff they had. After that, we hung out in their room for a while and Rita worked on some stuff and I read some of her stuff and we all just relaxed. It was nice. Eventually they all got bored of working, so after ordering some Chinese food, I watched Rita play Command and Conquer Generals for two games. She didn't win, but she was a hell of a lot better than some of the other people there. After that, I was tired as hell and encouraged sleeping.

The next day, Rita and I woke up later than we wanted to and then went to Krispy Kreme to get donuts for her friends that were so kind to let us sleep over. After that, we left for Oswego, and she barely made it in time to go to her orientation for the LifeStyles center. Oh well. I just hung out in Rita and Krystal's room for a while and moved heavy things and the like for when they got back. They came back periodically and we all hung out. I left for Walmart and Dunkin Donuts eventually, and on the way back to campus I got pulled over for going 45 in a 30. I didn't even mean to go that fast, I got distracted by my food and wasn't paying attention. I even realized I was going too fast and tried to slow down, telling myself "well, at least schools out and there probably aren't cops around," and then I looked in my rearview mirror and saw the flashing lights.

That was pretty lame, but I had a good time for the rest of the night and I hardly thought about it. Krystal and Rita are very entertaining people to watch. We spent the whole night unpacking and moving things around and telling stories and laughing about stupid crap. We tried to lower Rita's lofted bed down two notches and realized halfway through that none of us had any idea what we were doing, and it took like, an hour just to remove the metal pieces from the bed. We're pretty lame at taking things apart, but we had fun doing it. At some point, I stumbled across this weird purple stick thing and was fiddling around with it because I didn't know what it was. Krystal and Rita came back, so I held it up and said "What's this?" to which Krystal screamed "OH MY GOD, PUT THAT DOWN! IT's MACE!" which made me laugh for hours. I almost maced my eyes out, but I couldn't figure out the child lock, thank God.

I was going to leave at about 10 today, but we all overslept again, and they were late to their training (I don't think they were on time at all) so I just hung out until they got a break. Then Rita and I went to the library to return books and print out our schedules so we could go to the bookstore. I bought all of my books. They were 300 dollars, which wasn't bad at all. I was pleased. The lady at the counter was mean though. Those people need to relax. After saying goodbye, I left. It was a fun weekend all around. I'm really glad I went to RIT. I thought about not going because I thought it would be awkward or something, but it was a great weekend. And now I'm home for 1 1/2 days, and then I'm back in Oswego.

I can't wait.

"Won't keep holding back my conscience, realize there's a choice to not end up like you..."

So....

I've started really, really liking Chevelle. I don't know, it's different than A Perfect Circle and a lot of the other stuff I listen too. It's got a bit more energy, or something. It's good though. I'm obsessed with several songs. I just listen to them over and over and get really PUMPED. It's cool.

So, Friday nightI hung out with Zach and we watched Cannibal! The Musical. It was good. I thought Orgazmo was a little better, but it was still pretty funny and unexpected. It was a good surprise. Then I came home and ended up talking online until past six in the morning. I didn't know when I had to work the next day, so I set my alarm for 11 and figured I would call, find out when, and go back to bed.

Turns out I had to work at 11:30. There was no going back to bed.

I went to work and they stuck me on the concession stand. It wasn't too bad. I actually kind of enjoyed it, really. It was different, and it was nice to talk to people. It's an easy job.

I had one customer that didn't seem pleased with my sunny disposition and carefree attitude.

He came up with his wife and asked for a small popcorn and a soda. So I got him the popcorn and asked him if he wanted butter, and he said yes. So I put a reasonable, healthyish amount on it and he said "No. More. I want a heart attack from this." After that, I put a disgusting amount on there.

One of the things I'm paid to do at the theater is to get people to buy more. So, if you order a popcorn and a soda, I'm supposed to ask if you want candy. In this case, I asked him if he wanted candy, but I wanted to be clever about it. I ask him "Would you like some candy with this, maybe a little diabetes to go along with your heart attack?"

He looked at me, very sternly and said "She just found out she's diabetic, actually." The charisma he had before was gone. He was not pleased. I apologized and just rang them out and didn't say anything more. Oh well. He made a heart attack joke, that's just as inappropriate.

I came home from work and Anthony and I hung out for a while and played Need for Speed Most Wanted and got really bored of it. After a while I brought him home and came online and talked for a while and got confused and then went to bed.

I slept until 11 and my dad called me to come upstairs and help fix the hood of my car. By the time I got upstairs he was done with it though. So I stood around while we poked at the new belts and he decided that they're the cause of my squeeling, so I have to take the car in again to get worked on. Pretty lame, but I'd like a car that doesn't make a high-pitched noise every time it moves, so I'll do it.

I went back to bed after that and slept until about 4:30. I didn't really sleep well the first time, but I slept a lot better after that. I woke up and wandered around the house and then I called up Anthony to watch Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior, and that movie was awesome. No CG or stuntmen, just crazy Thai people getting KICKED IN THE FACE. It was pretty cool.

Along the way, my car stereo decided it didn't want to work. At all. So I drove in total silence. And that was weird. I didn't like it. It's depressing to ride in silence, and it's even worse to ride with a high-pitched squeeling noise, so it was pretty terrible. After it warmed up for a while it finally worked, so I took off the face of it and I'm going to keep it inside. I think it was just too cold.

Tomorrow I'm babysitting, and Tuesday I'm skiing. Good stuff. I'm looking forward to the cash and then completely destroying myself at Gore. I want to go all out. Crashing won't matter. I just want to go really fast. My cousin gets really hardcore into jumps and stuff and it makes me excited and I get really pumped. It helps me forget my fears of hurting things.

Nothing too major...

Well, nothings really been happening lately.

I hung out with Zach a few days ago over at Jon's house, and we watched wrestling. Then the next night I kind of just bummed out by myself and watched X-Men 2, then the next night I went to Jon's for a while, but his mom was angry and threw us out because we were loud. Sorry, Jon. I don't really think I was being loud, and no one yelled at me to shut up, so I don't think I was guilty, but oh well, I'm sure I contributed. I came home and watched X-Men 1, since I watched the second one the night before. Yesterday, Anthony came over and we played King Kong for the Xbox 360 for a really long time and it made me tired. I went to bed early last night.

This morning, I looked through Thunderbolt, the greatest video gaming website ever, and figured out which reviews I'd written in 2005, and came up with a sort of "year in review" for myself, and now you. I wrote a lot of articles in 2005...40...here's to more in 2006...

Act of War (PC)
Area 51 (PC)
Blitz: The League (Xbox)
Burnout Legends (PSP)
Call of Duty 2 (PC)
Coded Arms (PSP)
Condemned: Criminal Origins (Xbox 360)
Dead Man's Hand (PC)
Dead to Rights: Reckoning (PSP)
Devastation (PC)
Doom III: Resurrection of Evil (PC)
Doom III: Resurrection of Evil (Xbox)
F.E.A.R (PC)
GUN (Xbox)
Hoyle Poker Online (PC)
Infected (PSP)
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault (PC)
Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition (PSP)
Midway Arcade Treasures 3 (Xbox)
No One Lives Forever (PC)
Obscure (Xbox)
Perfect Dark Zero (Xbox 360)
Phantom Dust (Xbox)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (DS)
Quake 4 (PC)
Red Faction (PC)
Red Faction 2 (PC)
Rengoku: Tower of Purgatory (PSP)
Ridge Racer (PSP)
Serious Sam II (PC)
Shadow of Rome (PS2)
Shattered Union (PC)
Sid Meier's Civilization IV (PC)
Spiderman 2 (PSP)
The Suffering: Ties that Bind (PS2)
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (Xbox)
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix (PSP)
Trackmania Sunrise (PC)
Untold Legends (PSP)
Vampire Night (PS2)

Some exciting things going on soon...maybe some long car rides to far away destinations...

It's a caffeine thing...

I woke up yesterday bright and early for skiing. I asked my dad to take me to get a bagel, and I got one at Bruggers. And I got a nice big caffeinated soda to go along with it. During lunch, I ate some chicken, and a nice cup of caffeine washed it all down. Then, at Zach's house last night, I finished off a 20 oz. bottle of Pepsi.

I don't want caffeine, I really, really don't. Because I go without drinking it for a few days, then I drink too much, and then the next day, I feel all "I haven't had any caffeine" and all I want to do is sleep. It's not healthy to become dependent on something like that for energy, even though I slept for about 10 hours (not very well, but for 10 hours none the less). I'm not nearly as bad as I used to be, but I still don't like the fact that I so easily feel the need for caffeine.

I've been struggling not to drink caffeine since 11th grade. I stopped for months and months, but then got hooked again because of Barq's Rootbeer, which I never realized had caffeine in it because I generally none of the other rootbeers have caffeine in them. Apparently, that's the bite in the Barq's that they always go on about. Then I stopped drinking even that, and moved on to other beverages, but at that point I just didn't care anymore and continued drinking it.

It got bad again this semester when I started drinking Pepsi again. Pepsi is a cruel, cruel drink. It tastes great and it's very refreshing, but it gets me really nuts for caffeine every time I do. And then I drink too much. And then I want more the next day. Like now.

Why don't I want it? Health, mostly. I'm not overly concerned about my health usually, and don't go out of my way to really try to keep myself in shape, but I just don't like the idea of being exhausted because I didn't drink something. It freaks me out. It's not normal. My dad seriously drinks like, 4-6 cups of coffee a day. And they aren't little cups, either; these are large cups of coffee. And without it, he's cranky and miserable. I don't want to be like that.

So, I just tried to ignore caffeine all day. And it's worked, so far.

I woke up later than I wanted to, read some of the usual stuff I read online and did all that, and then started to feel a need to be productive. My room has been a mess since I got my teeth out, so my first accomplishment of the day was cleaning up all the clutter that has accumulated in here since then. Then I threw in some laundry, because that was getting out of hand, too.

I sat myself down and started writing a review, then completely obliterated it and started all over again, and I think the end results were a little better than they were headed. I was pleased with it.

After all that, I decided to actually leave the house. After showering, I went to Mobil and got gas, and then headed down to South Glens Falls and got my hair cut, because it was getting LONG. After that, I went to Angelina's for pizza and came home and watched TV and ate it. It was a good reward, and it made me happy because yesterday I really wanted some pizza and never got any.

Now, I'm off to Zach's, and then maybe Jon's house, and that would be nice because I haven't seen him since...last Wednesday? Or Tuesday?

Hell, I don't even know what day of the week it is half of the time anyhow. I haven't seen him in a while, and that's all I know.

Exercising, HARD.

I went skiing at Gore Mountain with my dad and cousin today, plus a couple of guys they work with at Boston Scientific. I had a blast. Amazingly, I was the only one in the group that didn't fall, but when presented with the prospects of going down Lies (a double-diamond), I chickened out, and that's the only place my dad and his friends fell. I would have done it, but they had all the snow machines blasting out fresh snow on it and you couldn't see where the hell you were going through it, plus it was foggy for most of the morning anyway. I went down a diamond run while they were making snow and it scared the crap out of me. All in all, I had a blast, and I can't wait to go back again. I have to go at least once more before school starts.

Speaking of school, only...17 or so days until classes start again. I realized today that I'm going to have to eat school food again, and that thought makes me sad. It's nice to eat on a schedule, but man, there's so much that I won't eat there anymore that it's hard to come up with a lunch or dinner sometimes.

I could NOT sleep last night. It was awful. I didn't fall asleep until almost three...and my dad woke me up at six...so I was pretty tired. I handled it like a man, but I'm pretty exhausted now. I need to get on a normal sleep pattern before Oswego gets at me. I can't start my first day of classes all sleepy.

I could really, really go for some pizza right now. The food at Gore was ridiculously overpriced and NOT satisfying, at all. $10.70 for three SMALL chicken fingers, some cold fries that did not hit the spot, and a large Barqs that was admittedly delightful. Next time I'll bring my own bagged lunch and carry it in my coat. That way, I can eat it on the lift and not have to stop.

I realized today that I really like skiing because I don't think about ANYTHING while skiing. I just ski, and ski HARD. I focus on the feel of the skis underneath me, the terrain ahead of me, and not stuff going on in my life. It's nice. My minds clear. I sing to myself if I'm on an easy run, but most of the time it's very quiet in my head, and I like that.

I told my dad that I would go mountain biking with him this summer. I'm actually kind of looking forward to it. It's going to be hard as hell, but I think I can really get something out of it. I'll never do that road biking that he does, but I think I could enjoy mountain biking a little. Plus, it'll keep me in shape during the summer, which is another plus.

I think I'm going to get a gym membership at Oswego, too. I need to get in some shape. While I'm perfectly satisfied with the way I look, I'd like to have a little more upper body strength, and maybe get a little fat off my stomach. I don't really care about the shape of my legs, but I'd like to get a little stronger. I don't think my parents will mind paying for that, either, just as long as I use it. I'm sure Anthony will work out with me, and I think Zach's thinking about getting one too, so there'll be someone around to go with.

Alright, so that's the end of this entry. I never know what to say at the end of entries, and I just kind of ramble on a good bye speech.

Like now.

Good day.

Google is EVERYWHERE

I just realized as I was signing up for this site that Google owns it. Google owns everything now. At least on the Internet. On the news the other day, I heard they were launching a rival video/music service to compete with iTunes. Those Google guys are really getting at the Internet. Pretty soon, even my precious Thunderbolt will be a part of the Google Empire.

So, I was pretty bored tonight and decided to start this up. I figured it would give me something to do, because I'm been incredibly, incredibly bored for most of my break. I want to go back to Oswego, HARD. Having privacy and being able to shower without sandals on my feet and boogers on the walls is awesome, but I haven't been really working and haven't wanted to play any games, so I'm really not doing anything here that I couldn't do there. I've mostly been hanging out with Zach and Anthony, which isn't a bad thing, but it's much easier to do at school since they live a few doors down, not to mention wanting to see everyone else that I enjoy being around, such as Dan, Liz, Katie and Rita.

Home has had its moments. I've gone skiing three times and have had a great time. I got my wisdom teeth out, which wasn't nearly as bad as I had predicted/imagined. I woke up a few times during the operation and started freaking out, and I got sick on the doctor during it, but besides those moments I seem to be healing rather well. Vicodin dreams are entertaining, too. Then there was New Years Eve at Anthony's house, which was one of the best I've ever had. Dan, Sean, Liz, Rita, and Olga all coming to party with Anthony, Zach, Jon, me, and a few other boss people? It makes for a good party. Cuddling? That makes for an even better party. Esspecially when you cuddle with a member of the opposite sex. Zach cuddled with Sean and I don't think he enjoyed himself as much as I did.

The few shifts I have worked at Regal and EB have been a little awkward and uncomfortable. I don't really know anyone at the theatre, and I don't really want to know any of the new people either, so I tend to just stay to myself when I'm there. I like projection though, and it came right back to me, and that made me pretty happy all around. EB is kind of the same, but there aren't really new people. Instead, I feel like the new guy, which is a weird feeling because this is the fifth winter I've worked there now. I'm just not one of the EB guys anymore, I guess. Not that I was really like some of them to begin with, but I didn't feel as out of place and unneeded as I do now.

I'm probably going to try to find another job this summer. I need the cash at school, HARD. It's pretty helpful for buying things. People just don't respond to wrappers and lint when you try to buy things. Apparently they do not understand the value of wrappers and lint. I'm thinking about going back to Boston Scientific and putting shit together again, but that job ruined my mind. It's easy, but it's so mind-numbingly boring that I thought Bill Cosbey was going to come around the corner and call my brain Jello and start eating it. That'd be something, for sure.

School will be fun. I'm usually disappointed when I look forward to things, but I think it's going to live up to my high expectations. Besides my classes, which I'm actually excited about, I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Anthony and I are going to buy a big 24 pack of some sort of girly, flavored drink and get drunk off that when we get back to kick the new semester off right, and besides that, there's a Nonpoint concert on the 29th of January that Zach and I are going to (I'm driving, he's buying the tickets), and I've never seen them live, so I'm excited. Hopefully it won't result in my loss of hearing, like when I went to Shinedown. That was pretty gay, to say the least. And of course, I'm looking forward to another person too...I won't name names...Rita....

As for my courses specifically, here's what I'm taking:

Political Science 337: Middle East Politics - I'm really looking forward to this class. I hate having discussions with people about the Middle East because I really don't know that much about it. Hopefully, taking this class will help me understand the political landscape in the Middle East and help me get past some of the stereotypes that I've probably picked up about the area from living in America. The teacher of this class is my advisor and I know I'm going to get a lot out of it.

Political Science 207: Comparative Politics - Not really sure about this one, I just need to take it for my major. I have the teacher for Political Science 369: Terrorism and Political Violence and I can tell that she's really smart, just terrible with people. I hope that she gets more comfortable and familiar with me.

Political Science 211: Public Policy and Administration - Another required course for my major. I guess the teacher is really good, but I really don't know much about this class.

Introduction to Astronomy - I need to take some science courses and I'm terrible at Chemistry, Physics, and Biology, so I wasn't given many options here. Thankfully, Zach and apparently Jim are also taking this one with me, so if I get confused I can just ask them. I used to love telescopes and planets and stars when I was younger, so maybe my passion will be rekindled.

History 102: The West and the World 1500-1900 - I was lucky to get all of my American History requirements taken care of in High School, but I still needed to take a Western Civilization course here. Ancient History made me so bored in High School, but when it got closer to modern times I actually did really well. So here's hoping I dominate this one too.

So what am I going to do with this blog? Probably not a whole lot. Sorry. I have a Xanga somewhere, but that site's layout bugs the crap out of me. This service seems cleaner, more organized, and less High Schoolish, so that excites me. You know what doesn't excite me? The right speaker on my laptop being lame and going in and out.

Alright, so this has helped me waste a lot of time, which is what I wanted it to do. I guess it's already serving its purpose.