Yesterday I didn’t get a thought up because I managed break my computer, so I spent most of the time installing and reinstalling stuff while I was at work. Lots of fun, believe me……ok, so I lied, big deal. At least it kept me busy and gave me the opportunity to chill to my mp3 player while I worked.
After work is when the actual part of my day starts. I pretty much just consider work a part of my day that I give up and then once it’s over I can start my usual routine. So yesterday after work I got together with Julie to have dinner. We perused the mall’s food court and finally decided to go with subway. I really wanted to get some Manchu Wok, but they don’t take credit cards and I didn’t have any cash. I don’t understand why they’re the only food place in the mall that doesn’t take credit card. I would eat there every time I was in the mall if they did, but since they don’t I usually eat somewhere else.
We had a nice time just relaxing and talking. It was really good to actually have something to do in that couple of hours I always have between finishing work and going to improv on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Usually I’d just work late or hang out by the studio academy and read or sleep while I waited for practice to start, but yesterday was different! Yay!
Improv practice went ok, but we were missing some people so it seemed like an incomplete practice. Afterwards, I headed home so I could get a little bit of time in playing Baldur’s Gate with Ryan. I really do love being able to play a role playing game with two players. I think he might have withdrawal from it this weekend as I will be gone. Yep, that’s right, I’m not going to be home as I’ll be taking off for St. Cloud after work today. It’ll be the only chance for us to hang out for almost a month since both of us have things going on for the next three weekends. Anyhow, I will update you all when I get back.
Friday, May 30, 2003
Wednesday, May 28, 2003
Just Cut My Damn Hair
I have figured out what one of the most awkward situations in life is—paying for a hair cut at Great Clips (or, I suppose, any equivalent hair cutting place). Don’t think it’s awkward? Don’t have hair? Well, in either case, I’m going to let you into my world for a brief time so that you can experience this odd sensation of awkwardness.
After I got done with work yesterday I was supposed to go have supper with Julie, but the fates conspired against us and we didn’t end up getting together. First, I only had her cell number and she didn’t have her cell. I left her a message on her cell from my work phone. Why from my work phone and not from my cell? The reason for that would be that I had put my cell in the charger backwards the night before so instead of getting charged it had all the juice in it sucked out, so much so that it wouldn’t even turn on…until later at improv when I was demonstrating how it wouldn’t turn on. It then decided to turn on, but only for a moment before turning itself back off.
Anyhow, I couldn’t get a hold of Julie and she had no way of contacting me in Rochester when my cell was broken so I took the free time to get my hair cut. It was getting pretty shaggy and I was tired of wearing a mini-mop on my head so I had the hair cut lady (I don’t know what you really call them, stylists maybe? But they’re not styling my hair, they’re cutting it. Eh, whatev) take off a good amount of hair. It looked good and I was quite satisfied so it came time to pay.
I was at the register and the lady who cut my hair told me it would be $13 for the cut. That’s always been pretty expensive in my book for about 5 minutes of work (I don’t get my hair cut very complicated so it goes pretty quick). I give her my credit card and she asks me, “So that’ll only be $13 on your card?” Well, yes, of course, because that’s how much it costs. As I told her yes, she gave me a weird scowl like I was some type of thief or villain.
She handed me back my card and had me sign the receipt, but all the time glaring at me. Ahh, I know why she was looking at me so funny for now—she wanted me to tip her. Well, this may sound pretty callous, but she doesn’t need a tip from me. She’s getting paid by the hour and even if it is only $5 an hour or something small like that, I’m not taking up hardly any of her time—10 minutes tops, and what she is doing is quite easy. No shampooing, no conditioning, no coloring, no perming, no nothing except going over my head with a scissors and razor quickly. Call me a dick, but I can’t justify paying more than $13 for that. Why should she expect a tip? When I fix a computer at the prep school, they don’t tip me. When I update the web pages at Kingland, they don’t tip me. Why should it be any different for hair stylists (or waiters/waitresses, for that matter, but I’m getting off topic)? I don’t think she was going to convince me to tip her by glaring at me anyways. Oh well, I got my hair cut and was out of there in 15 minutes, so I was happy.
Yesterday I also picked up Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance for Xbox. It’s been a while since I’ve played a good role playing game and this one promised to be fun since you could play it with two players simultaneously. I got home after improv practice and fired it up. My brother, Ryan, and I decided we’re going to play through the entire game together. Really, I think all future role playing games should include this option because it’s so much more fun to play with someone else than by yourself. I know you’re going to tell me to go play some game like Everquest where there’s tons of people, but I don’t want to pay monthly fees or dedicate that much time to playing.
Anyhow, as we started one of the first characters you talk to is a barmaid who is half dressed and honestly has to have some of the most monstrous boobs ever seen in a video game. Not only are they huge, though, but they have realistic jiggling. I am pretty sure they put just as much development time into creating the physics of her boobs as they did implementing the new 3rd edition AD&D rules. I found it comical and unneeded at the same time. Really, is there any need for a gigantic breasted woman in a fantasy role playing game? I hope the rest of the game has less to do with boob physics and more to do with story and action.
After I got done with work yesterday I was supposed to go have supper with Julie, but the fates conspired against us and we didn’t end up getting together. First, I only had her cell number and she didn’t have her cell. I left her a message on her cell from my work phone. Why from my work phone and not from my cell? The reason for that would be that I had put my cell in the charger backwards the night before so instead of getting charged it had all the juice in it sucked out, so much so that it wouldn’t even turn on…until later at improv when I was demonstrating how it wouldn’t turn on. It then decided to turn on, but only for a moment before turning itself back off.
Anyhow, I couldn’t get a hold of Julie and she had no way of contacting me in Rochester when my cell was broken so I took the free time to get my hair cut. It was getting pretty shaggy and I was tired of wearing a mini-mop on my head so I had the hair cut lady (I don’t know what you really call them, stylists maybe? But they’re not styling my hair, they’re cutting it. Eh, whatev) take off a good amount of hair. It looked good and I was quite satisfied so it came time to pay.
I was at the register and the lady who cut my hair told me it would be $13 for the cut. That’s always been pretty expensive in my book for about 5 minutes of work (I don’t get my hair cut very complicated so it goes pretty quick). I give her my credit card and she asks me, “So that’ll only be $13 on your card?” Well, yes, of course, because that’s how much it costs. As I told her yes, she gave me a weird scowl like I was some type of thief or villain.
She handed me back my card and had me sign the receipt, but all the time glaring at me. Ahh, I know why she was looking at me so funny for now—she wanted me to tip her. Well, this may sound pretty callous, but she doesn’t need a tip from me. She’s getting paid by the hour and even if it is only $5 an hour or something small like that, I’m not taking up hardly any of her time—10 minutes tops, and what she is doing is quite easy. No shampooing, no conditioning, no coloring, no perming, no nothing except going over my head with a scissors and razor quickly. Call me a dick, but I can’t justify paying more than $13 for that. Why should she expect a tip? When I fix a computer at the prep school, they don’t tip me. When I update the web pages at Kingland, they don’t tip me. Why should it be any different for hair stylists (or waiters/waitresses, for that matter, but I’m getting off topic)? I don’t think she was going to convince me to tip her by glaring at me anyways. Oh well, I got my hair cut and was out of there in 15 minutes, so I was happy.
Yesterday I also picked up Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance for Xbox. It’s been a while since I’ve played a good role playing game and this one promised to be fun since you could play it with two players simultaneously. I got home after improv practice and fired it up. My brother, Ryan, and I decided we’re going to play through the entire game together. Really, I think all future role playing games should include this option because it’s so much more fun to play with someone else than by yourself. I know you’re going to tell me to go play some game like Everquest where there’s tons of people, but I don’t want to pay monthly fees or dedicate that much time to playing.
Anyhow, as we started one of the first characters you talk to is a barmaid who is half dressed and honestly has to have some of the most monstrous boobs ever seen in a video game. Not only are they huge, though, but they have realistic jiggling. I am pretty sure they put just as much development time into creating the physics of her boobs as they did implementing the new 3rd edition AD&D rules. I found it comical and unneeded at the same time. Really, is there any need for a gigantic breasted woman in a fantasy role playing game? I hope the rest of the game has less to do with boob physics and more to do with story and action.
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Memorial Day Weekend
The Memorial Weekend of 2003 is now over and past. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend as I did. I was graced by a visit from Kristin as she stayed the weekend at my place. I’m still having a hard time adjusting to only being able to talk to her via phone or IM or email instead of getting to see her pretty much whenever I would want as I did up at college. It’s kind of that way with a lot of people. I don’t really get to see that many people now during summer with my job for 8 hours a day and then improv three days a week at night. This leaves me with only Monday nights, Wednesday nights, and the weekends open. Usually during those times I just want to sit back and relax with a good book or just hang out with my family.
Speaking of family, at the cemetery after our memorial day service I got to talking with my grandpa Bill about politics again. He doesn’t think that I appreciate the military and all of the people who died for our country because I am constantly criticizing our country. The fact of the matter is, I wholeheartedly respect all of our fallen brethren because they have fought for the freedom we have now, however, I will never actually fight for this country myself. Why? There are a few reasons.
First, I would not fight for the United States right now because I detest our foreign policy. Our war with Iraq, our involvement with Israel, our blatant disdain for the UN, and many other questionable actions by our nation have made me lose faith in our foreign policy. We are sticking our noses where they don’t belong and are acting in a way that I only envisioned a playground bully acting. If things aren’t how we like them, then we’re going to go make them how we want them. I’m not saying we should back out of all of our foreign affairs, but we really need to take stock about what we are doing and what our true motivations are.
Second, I would likely fight for the United States in a war if it wasn’t 2003. If it was 1943, I would probably not have as much of a problem being drafted because back then we were fighting the good fight. Now we are fighting the “good” fight. It’s not really the good fight anymore as it is more the “good for the US” fight. We try to make our actions look altruistic, but it is so hard for our true motives to not show through when you actually look at the news from a source outside of CNN and other US sources. They sanitize the world’s views about us so that we don’t feel bad about how we act, which is a shame, but it is not unexpected.
Lastly, I am a pacifist at heart. I really don’t believe in the concept of violence being used as a problem solving technique. Needless to say, though, I have tried violence as a problem solver with my brothers, but beyond that I don’t think it should be used. It only creates more strife instead of solving conflicts. Sure, a lot of times people won’t listen to what you have to say, but that doesn’t mean that a violent recourse is the only way to then get heard. Maybe we just need to be a little more persuasive in our negations in life. Even if that does not work, I still don’t think that violence is really a good way to solve problems.
Speaking of family, at the cemetery after our memorial day service I got to talking with my grandpa Bill about politics again. He doesn’t think that I appreciate the military and all of the people who died for our country because I am constantly criticizing our country. The fact of the matter is, I wholeheartedly respect all of our fallen brethren because they have fought for the freedom we have now, however, I will never actually fight for this country myself. Why? There are a few reasons.
First, I would not fight for the United States right now because I detest our foreign policy. Our war with Iraq, our involvement with Israel, our blatant disdain for the UN, and many other questionable actions by our nation have made me lose faith in our foreign policy. We are sticking our noses where they don’t belong and are acting in a way that I only envisioned a playground bully acting. If things aren’t how we like them, then we’re going to go make them how we want them. I’m not saying we should back out of all of our foreign affairs, but we really need to take stock about what we are doing and what our true motivations are.
Second, I would likely fight for the United States in a war if it wasn’t 2003. If it was 1943, I would probably not have as much of a problem being drafted because back then we were fighting the good fight. Now we are fighting the “good” fight. It’s not really the good fight anymore as it is more the “good for the US” fight. We try to make our actions look altruistic, but it is so hard for our true motives to not show through when you actually look at the news from a source outside of CNN and other US sources. They sanitize the world’s views about us so that we don’t feel bad about how we act, which is a shame, but it is not unexpected.
Lastly, I am a pacifist at heart. I really don’t believe in the concept of violence being used as a problem solving technique. Needless to say, though, I have tried violence as a problem solver with my brothers, but beyond that I don’t think it should be used. It only creates more strife instead of solving conflicts. Sure, a lot of times people won’t listen to what you have to say, but that doesn’t mean that a violent recourse is the only way to then get heard. Maybe we just need to be a little more persuasive in our negations in life. Even if that does not work, I still don’t think that violence is really a good way to solve problems.
Friday, May 23, 2003
Let's Start the Revoking!
To follow up a little on yesterday’s thought, here is another article about the recent turning over of Iraq to the US and UK. I really don’t think that this is going to be a good situation for the US. If anything, I can see this brewing more trouble for us than help it will provide for the Iraqi people. Giving the US and UK complete control over the reshaping of Iraq is like giving me control of a comic book shop for a year. Sure, I’m going to want to make sure the comic shop does ok, but I’m sure as hell going to make sure I get my fair share of comics for free, or of little charge. Basically, Iraq is going to be a US territory (not literally, but in spirit) for the next year or more in which time we decide what happens in that country. Honestly, I think that is way too much responsibility for the US to handle.
Anyhow, I’m just fed up with our foreign policy at the moment……ok, I’ve never liked our foreign policy, but anyways. So as I was coming to work this morning I was confronted by the epitome of human stupidity. Well, maybe not the epitome, but it was pretty close. I was driving to work on highway 14 and I was getting close to Kasson. I was going to pass a semi when the truck right behind the semi pulled out in front of my to pass. I slowed way down to the speed of the truck (about 66 on a 65 mph highway). This usually pisses me off enough, getting cut off like that, but wait, it gets better.
The semi in the left lane couldn’t have been going any slower than 65 mph and the truck that was passing it was cruising along at a whopping 66 mph so you can only imagine how slow this passing process was taking. Finally, as the truck was inching in front of the semi, it decided to match speed with the semi for a good, long mile. I’m not kidding, it just kept pace with the semi right at it’s nose so I couldn’t get around and the truck couldn’t merge to the right. I was about ready to just ram the truck off of the road.
The truck, by an act of God, finally got ahead of the semi after about 4 miles and merges to the left. YES!!! Finally, I can start driving again so I speed back up to 74 (always drive no more than 9 mph over the speed limit and most cops won’t take notice). I noticed, as I was booking along, that the truck I just passed was now keeping pace with me. What the hell?!?!? I just spent 5 minutes waiting behind him passing a semi at no more than 66 mph and now he just wants to cruise along with me at 74 mph. Honestly, I think I must have been in Bizzaro World again.
Just as a side note, the driver was a very old man which only goes to prove that people over the age of 60 should never, ever, in any given circumstance, ever drive a vehicle on a major highway. As a side note, most women shouldn’t drive either because I think every stupid driver that I have come across is either A) an elderly person B) a woman or C) some dumb college aged kid trying to get himself killed via caricide. Well, that’s just my opinion, so don’t take it too seriously.
Well, only about two hours of work left and then it’s a three day weekend! It should be a nice relaxing time as Kristin is coming down to visit Saturday and Sunday. I’m looking forward to it. Until the next entry—don’t eat the purple berries, they’ll make your liver explode.
Anyhow, I’m just fed up with our foreign policy at the moment……ok, I’ve never liked our foreign policy, but anyways. So as I was coming to work this morning I was confronted by the epitome of human stupidity. Well, maybe not the epitome, but it was pretty close. I was driving to work on highway 14 and I was getting close to Kasson. I was going to pass a semi when the truck right behind the semi pulled out in front of my to pass. I slowed way down to the speed of the truck (about 66 on a 65 mph highway). This usually pisses me off enough, getting cut off like that, but wait, it gets better.
The semi in the left lane couldn’t have been going any slower than 65 mph and the truck that was passing it was cruising along at a whopping 66 mph so you can only imagine how slow this passing process was taking. Finally, as the truck was inching in front of the semi, it decided to match speed with the semi for a good, long mile. I’m not kidding, it just kept pace with the semi right at it’s nose so I couldn’t get around and the truck couldn’t merge to the right. I was about ready to just ram the truck off of the road.
The truck, by an act of God, finally got ahead of the semi after about 4 miles and merges to the left. YES!!! Finally, I can start driving again so I speed back up to 74 (always drive no more than 9 mph over the speed limit and most cops won’t take notice). I noticed, as I was booking along, that the truck I just passed was now keeping pace with me. What the hell?!?!? I just spent 5 minutes waiting behind him passing a semi at no more than 66 mph and now he just wants to cruise along with me at 74 mph. Honestly, I think I must have been in Bizzaro World again.
Just as a side note, the driver was a very old man which only goes to prove that people over the age of 60 should never, ever, in any given circumstance, ever drive a vehicle on a major highway. As a side note, most women shouldn’t drive either because I think every stupid driver that I have come across is either A) an elderly person B) a woman or C) some dumb college aged kid trying to get himself killed via caricide. Well, that’s just my opinion, so don’t take it too seriously.
Well, only about two hours of work left and then it’s a three day weekend! It should be a nice relaxing time as Kristin is coming down to visit Saturday and Sunday. I’m looking forward to it. Until the next entry—don’t eat the purple berries, they’ll make your liver explode.
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Iraq? You Mean US, Jr.?
While at work, I’ve ran across a couple of very interesting news articles. Besides being interesting, I see them as being a sign of a very dangerous future for the US. Before I go any further, the articles you should read are here and here.
According to these two articles, the US & UK will now be in charge of Iraq. We will be the ones in charge of the reconstruction and of their oil exportations. Iraq is a gold-mine of oil that is waiting to be tapped. The Iraqi oil processing facilities may not be in the greatest of shape, but I am sure that this will be one of the first things that the US addresses as it is rebuilding Iraq. Combine this with the fact that our main reason for going into Iraq (the finding and eliminating of weapons of mass destruction) has turned out to have been a wild goose chase, and we have some cause for concern.
We entered into Iraq because we thought that they possessed weapons of mass destruction and because we thought that they were connected to the terrorist organizations that were responsible for attacking our country in September of 2001. As one of the articles notes, we were not very sure about the connections being there, but we went forward anyhow. We also have not found any weapons like we said were there. These two facts raise many questions in my mind, as they should in the minds of any decent American.
Since we didn’t find what we were looking for, and our motivations for our actions were clearly misguided, shouldn’t we gracefully and apologetically leave? I would think that to be a logical course of action. We could even assist in the rebuilding of Iraq, but instead we are taking over the country with the UK for an indefinite amount of time (they will review how well we are handling Iraq in one year’s time). As I have said before, we are merely turning Iraq into our pawn. We need to start looking for our news from other sources than CNN and MSNBC, which are based in the US, because they skew the news to make it not so hard to swallow and to make it more pro-US. Read the BBC or any other country’s news and see how the US is viewed.
Okay, my political ranting is over. I’m just really questioning of the US’s motives for many of their actions. Anyhow, yesterday I started watching Children of Dune. This is the sequel to Dune that was show on the sci-fi channel a year or two ago. I was a big fan of the original and I missed this one’s run on television so yesterday I picked up the DVD. I’ve watched the first part of the three and so far I am not disappointed. It really makes me anxious to read the books, but before I get to them I have some other books on my to read list.
According to these two articles, the US & UK will now be in charge of Iraq. We will be the ones in charge of the reconstruction and of their oil exportations. Iraq is a gold-mine of oil that is waiting to be tapped. The Iraqi oil processing facilities may not be in the greatest of shape, but I am sure that this will be one of the first things that the US addresses as it is rebuilding Iraq. Combine this with the fact that our main reason for going into Iraq (the finding and eliminating of weapons of mass destruction) has turned out to have been a wild goose chase, and we have some cause for concern.
We entered into Iraq because we thought that they possessed weapons of mass destruction and because we thought that they were connected to the terrorist organizations that were responsible for attacking our country in September of 2001. As one of the articles notes, we were not very sure about the connections being there, but we went forward anyhow. We also have not found any weapons like we said were there. These two facts raise many questions in my mind, as they should in the minds of any decent American.
Since we didn’t find what we were looking for, and our motivations for our actions were clearly misguided, shouldn’t we gracefully and apologetically leave? I would think that to be a logical course of action. We could even assist in the rebuilding of Iraq, but instead we are taking over the country with the UK for an indefinite amount of time (they will review how well we are handling Iraq in one year’s time). As I have said before, we are merely turning Iraq into our pawn. We need to start looking for our news from other sources than CNN and MSNBC, which are based in the US, because they skew the news to make it not so hard to swallow and to make it more pro-US. Read the BBC or any other country’s news and see how the US is viewed.
Okay, my political ranting is over. I’m just really questioning of the US’s motives for many of their actions. Anyhow, yesterday I started watching Children of Dune. This is the sequel to Dune that was show on the sci-fi channel a year or two ago. I was a big fan of the original and I missed this one’s run on television so yesterday I picked up the DVD. I’ve watched the first part of the three and so far I am not disappointed. It really makes me anxious to read the books, but before I get to them I have some other books on my to read list.
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
And It's Over
Happy birthday Randy! I hope that today was a great day for you. Everyone who wants, please wish him a happy birthday……even though if you’re reading this, it was probably yesterday. I wish today would have been my birthday, which is an odd thought in the first place (since I hate birthdays), but mainly I just feel that way because today was just so blah and yuck.
Today was one of those days where you wake up (or get woken up) and you just know that for whatever reason, the next 24 hours are just not going to go your way. That is probably one of the oddest feelings to have. Nothing has happened yet, you have the entire day ahead of you to make yours, and you are newly refreshed, yet you just know none of that matters and the rest of your day is slowly being flushed down the pooper.
It wasn’t waking up that was too bad, although I did get woken up a tad bit early by my dad. His intentions were good. It wasn’t work because there was nothing out of the ordinary there. I did spend most of the day working out one small javascript error, however. I even put in an extra hour today because I wanted to finish up my web pages. It wasn’t my little nap I took before improv practice. I don’t think it was practice or the ride home either. I think it was just an aura of evil surrounding me throughout the day.
Ehh, I’m not really up to writing more today. I’m sorry, but this short thought will be the cap on a completely forgettable day. The end.
Today was one of those days where you wake up (or get woken up) and you just know that for whatever reason, the next 24 hours are just not going to go your way. That is probably one of the oddest feelings to have. Nothing has happened yet, you have the entire day ahead of you to make yours, and you are newly refreshed, yet you just know none of that matters and the rest of your day is slowly being flushed down the pooper.
It wasn’t waking up that was too bad, although I did get woken up a tad bit early by my dad. His intentions were good. It wasn’t work because there was nothing out of the ordinary there. I did spend most of the day working out one small javascript error, however. I even put in an extra hour today because I wanted to finish up my web pages. It wasn’t my little nap I took before improv practice. I don’t think it was practice or the ride home either. I think it was just an aura of evil surrounding me throughout the day.
Ehh, I’m not really up to writing more today. I’m sorry, but this short thought will be the cap on a completely forgettable day. The end.
Monday, May 19, 2003
Settling Back In
My first day of work for the summer is now in the past. This year’s first day was a lot different than last year’s. First, I didn’t have to go through all of the orientation that I did last year which was nice. I always feel more comfortable entering an environment where I have at least a little semblance of knowledge of how things operate. Second, I actually had work to get going on right away today as opposed to last year where it took a week or two before there was much for the interns to do.
It is a little weird being the only intern in the Rochester office, however, as it makes me feel really young. Of course everyone that is there is very welcoming and, in fact, it was nice to see a lot of the people there again, but just knowing that you are the lone intern is a little daunting. I feel like I have some high expectations to live up to since interning is basically a testing period. I really think I’d like to work for Kingland after December when I’m done with school, so because of that I feel like I have to show them a lot so that they will want to take me on as a part of their team. I’ve already admitted that I don’t know some of the tools that I will be working with, which can sometimes put you off on the wrong foot, but I believe that being completely honest about my skills would be better than getting some assignment that I was completely incapable of completing. Right now I’m doing work with Photoshop and HTML, both of which I have a decent understanding, but when I have to start with ASP and javascripting, I might have a few more problems.
I was also let known today that I have made it back into Strike Team Improv. It’s such a relief to know as I was actually a little worried about making it in this summer. It’ll be great to be working with everyone again and doing shows. Our first will be on the first Friday in June. Everyone mark your calendar! We have our first practice tomorrow, so this will be the first chance that I will have to see our new team fully assembled. With improv now added to my list of things that I’m doing this summer (besides working at Kingland and at home) I’m sure I’ll never have a free moment to get bored.
I was also graced this evening by a call from Kristin. We had to tell each other about our first days of work, of course. We probably could have talked all night long, but I had a lot of cleaning in the living room to get finished and some other cleaning to do before we have Ryan’s confirmation next week. I always hate telling people that I have to go when I’m talking to them on the phone because I don’t know if they actually believe me that I have stuff to do or if they think I’m just making up an excuse to hang up. Since they can’t actually see you, you have to rely on what they say and trust it completely. Because of this I usually try to never get offended if someone has to abruptly leave while talking on the phone. I’m sure I do that often enough and I hope that everyone I talk to will take me at my word. I’ve never been a phone fan in the first place. Anyhow, if you are ever talking to me on the phone and I have to go for something and it sounds lame, I’m sorry, but I probably actually have to do it.
It is a little weird being the only intern in the Rochester office, however, as it makes me feel really young. Of course everyone that is there is very welcoming and, in fact, it was nice to see a lot of the people there again, but just knowing that you are the lone intern is a little daunting. I feel like I have some high expectations to live up to since interning is basically a testing period. I really think I’d like to work for Kingland after December when I’m done with school, so because of that I feel like I have to show them a lot so that they will want to take me on as a part of their team. I’ve already admitted that I don’t know some of the tools that I will be working with, which can sometimes put you off on the wrong foot, but I believe that being completely honest about my skills would be better than getting some assignment that I was completely incapable of completing. Right now I’m doing work with Photoshop and HTML, both of which I have a decent understanding, but when I have to start with ASP and javascripting, I might have a few more problems.
I was also let known today that I have made it back into Strike Team Improv. It’s such a relief to know as I was actually a little worried about making it in this summer. It’ll be great to be working with everyone again and doing shows. Our first will be on the first Friday in June. Everyone mark your calendar! We have our first practice tomorrow, so this will be the first chance that I will have to see our new team fully assembled. With improv now added to my list of things that I’m doing this summer (besides working at Kingland and at home) I’m sure I’ll never have a free moment to get bored.
I was also graced this evening by a call from Kristin. We had to tell each other about our first days of work, of course. We probably could have talked all night long, but I had a lot of cleaning in the living room to get finished and some other cleaning to do before we have Ryan’s confirmation next week. I always hate telling people that I have to go when I’m talking to them on the phone because I don’t know if they actually believe me that I have stuff to do or if they think I’m just making up an excuse to hang up. Since they can’t actually see you, you have to rely on what they say and trust it completely. Because of this I usually try to never get offended if someone has to abruptly leave while talking on the phone. I’m sure I do that often enough and I hope that everyone I talk to will take me at my word. I’ve never been a phone fan in the first place. Anyhow, if you are ever talking to me on the phone and I have to go for something and it sounds lame, I’m sorry, but I probably actually have to do it.
Sunday, May 18, 2003
STI Tryouts
So I’m back from St. Cloud now. I got back yesterday night after a fun couple of days up north. The highlight of my trip up to St. Cloud was a visit to the Como Zoo in St. Paul. I had never been there so I was anxious to see what it was like. Kristin had been there many times before and was looking forward to going back and visiting her friends, the wolves. I got a few good pictures that I’ll get up soon. I really enjoyed watching the monkeys, gorillas, and tigers. They have one pair of cute little monkeys that have gigantic fu manchu moustaches. Their entire body is black but their moustache is white. It is so cute because they look like little old men. It was too dark in their area to get a picture which is too bad because they were so cute.
The rest of my time in St. Cloud I spent hanging out with Kristin before I had to come back home and our summer time apart would start. It’ll be weird not seeing each other like every day or every other day. I’m sure we’ll be fine as we are both going to be very busy with things. She’s got two jobs she’s working and she’s also going to try and start up with karate again. I’ll be working for Kingland Systems again. In fact, my first day of work it tomorrow. I still don’t think it’s sunk in quite yet that the school year is over and summer is here. Sure, the weather is sweltering and the farm is very active, but it just feels like spring break all over again. I’ll probably start to feel the onset of summer vacation as this week of works goes on.
I’m somewhat anxious to start because I have been told I’ll be doing some document writing and some work on the company website. I am afraid that some of the web work might be over my head. They use ASP pages and SQL, neither of which I have ever worked with. I actually have never even had a database course in college so I never got to touch on them. I hope it’s not too hard, or too much all at once. It’ll be nice to learn some new stuff, but not if it’s all just thrown at me at one time without and learning time. I guess we’ll see how it goes this week as I get re-accommodated to work.
Today I had try-outs for Strike Team Improv at the Studio Academy in Rochester. It was a little weird trying out again as no one was grandfathered into the group. Only Karl and Ryan are guaranteed spots since they founded the group. I find it weird that no one is grandfathered in. We all put our time in last year, were good enough when we tried out then, and have experience with each other so I thought it odd that old members could possibly get left by the wayside. I really enjoyed the group that we had last year and it would be a shame if we all didn’t get to work together again this summer. I’m hoping that everyone gets back in, but I’ll have to wait until tomorrow when they tell us who is actually in. I didn’t feel too strong about my performance today, which has me a little worried, but I’ll keep my hopes high. I only hope that they aren’t dashed.
Well, I’m going to go catch the season finales of both The Simpsons and Malcom in the Middle. I’m hoping that this episode of The Simpsons is good because for most of this season the episodes have just been terrible. I don’t know if the writers are just running out of ideas or if what they think is funny isn’t to me or what, but this season has sucked. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Well, tomorrow it’s back to work for the summer. Let’s hope that it goes well.
The rest of my time in St. Cloud I spent hanging out with Kristin before I had to come back home and our summer time apart would start. It’ll be weird not seeing each other like every day or every other day. I’m sure we’ll be fine as we are both going to be very busy with things. She’s got two jobs she’s working and she’s also going to try and start up with karate again. I’ll be working for Kingland Systems again. In fact, my first day of work it tomorrow. I still don’t think it’s sunk in quite yet that the school year is over and summer is here. Sure, the weather is sweltering and the farm is very active, but it just feels like spring break all over again. I’ll probably start to feel the onset of summer vacation as this week of works goes on.
I’m somewhat anxious to start because I have been told I’ll be doing some document writing and some work on the company website. I am afraid that some of the web work might be over my head. They use ASP pages and SQL, neither of which I have ever worked with. I actually have never even had a database course in college so I never got to touch on them. I hope it’s not too hard, or too much all at once. It’ll be nice to learn some new stuff, but not if it’s all just thrown at me at one time without and learning time. I guess we’ll see how it goes this week as I get re-accommodated to work.
Today I had try-outs for Strike Team Improv at the Studio Academy in Rochester. It was a little weird trying out again as no one was grandfathered into the group. Only Karl and Ryan are guaranteed spots since they founded the group. I find it weird that no one is grandfathered in. We all put our time in last year, were good enough when we tried out then, and have experience with each other so I thought it odd that old members could possibly get left by the wayside. I really enjoyed the group that we had last year and it would be a shame if we all didn’t get to work together again this summer. I’m hoping that everyone gets back in, but I’ll have to wait until tomorrow when they tell us who is actually in. I didn’t feel too strong about my performance today, which has me a little worried, but I’ll keep my hopes high. I only hope that they aren’t dashed.
Well, I’m going to go catch the season finales of both The Simpsons and Malcom in the Middle. I’m hoping that this episode of The Simpsons is good because for most of this season the episodes have just been terrible. I don’t know if the writers are just running out of ideas or if what they think is funny isn’t to me or what, but this season has sucked. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Well, tomorrow it’s back to work for the summer. Let’s hope that it goes well.
Friday, May 16, 2003
So I Graduated
I know, I know, it’s been a long time since I’ve last updated this site. Please do forgive me, though, as I have been quite busy. First I had graduation, then I moved home, then I had to unpack, and now I’m trying to make room for all of my stuff before I go up to St. Cloud for a couple of days (so there won’t be a new thought again for a little while—sorry). It’s been a busy few days, but it has been a lot of fun too.
Sunday was my graduation ceremonies at SJU. My family, along with Kristin and Sheryl were all there for the day. We had a nice luncheon at the Old Gym before the actual ceremonies. The school only gave each student four tickets to go to the luncheon so I would have had to have left someone home, but as luck would have it, my roommate Chen gave me another ticket so that Kristin could come with me. I’ll miss that guy next year.
After the luncheon, we went off to the actual graduation ceremonies. Getting ready for the ceremony was not quite as easy as you would have thought. We had capes to wear around our gowns, but no one could figure out how in the heck they were supposed to work. You had to flip them around and twist them and then pull them sideways after square-knotting the edges……well, maybe not that hard, but it sure was more complicated than it needed to be. The actual ceremony took over two hours to complete, and they didn’t even start handing out our degrees until over an hour into the service. For the first hour, there were a bunch of awards given out to special people in the church that had done something cool or whatever in the last year. I don’t know why they did this during our graduation ceremony since it really didn’t have anything to do with us graduating, but whatever. The rest of the day was spent cleaning up my room, packing my junk into our vehicles, and then going out to supper for Mother’s Day.
Monday morning I came home from St. Cloud and started to unpack a lot of my junk, and when I say unpack I really meant I brought the stuff in the house and let it sit. These last few days I’ve actually been putting stuff away in random intervals while at the same time spending time with Kristin since she’s been down visiting. We’ll be taking off today for St. Cloud since she has to work on Sunday and I have improv tryouts then also back here in Rochester.
I’ve had a real fun few days with Kristin down visiting. We’ve managed to be pretty lazy (besides the time we used unpacking my stuff). We’ve done a lot of reading—her with the Cheshuli (sp) chronicles and me with my comic books. I’ve recently gotten back into reading comic books hardcore. It might just be a phase I’m going through, or it might just be that I finally have access to them again since I’m at home. I’ve recently been reading Ghost Rider and Excalibur, which have both been really good reads. Ghost Rider has always been a little weak, though, since he seems to be indestructible and no matter what happens he can come back to life, but he is cool since he always manages to kick a lot of ass and in style.
Sunday was my graduation ceremonies at SJU. My family, along with Kristin and Sheryl were all there for the day. We had a nice luncheon at the Old Gym before the actual ceremonies. The school only gave each student four tickets to go to the luncheon so I would have had to have left someone home, but as luck would have it, my roommate Chen gave me another ticket so that Kristin could come with me. I’ll miss that guy next year.
After the luncheon, we went off to the actual graduation ceremonies. Getting ready for the ceremony was not quite as easy as you would have thought. We had capes to wear around our gowns, but no one could figure out how in the heck they were supposed to work. You had to flip them around and twist them and then pull them sideways after square-knotting the edges……well, maybe not that hard, but it sure was more complicated than it needed to be. The actual ceremony took over two hours to complete, and they didn’t even start handing out our degrees until over an hour into the service. For the first hour, there were a bunch of awards given out to special people in the church that had done something cool or whatever in the last year. I don’t know why they did this during our graduation ceremony since it really didn’t have anything to do with us graduating, but whatever. The rest of the day was spent cleaning up my room, packing my junk into our vehicles, and then going out to supper for Mother’s Day.
Monday morning I came home from St. Cloud and started to unpack a lot of my junk, and when I say unpack I really meant I brought the stuff in the house and let it sit. These last few days I’ve actually been putting stuff away in random intervals while at the same time spending time with Kristin since she’s been down visiting. We’ll be taking off today for St. Cloud since she has to work on Sunday and I have improv tryouts then also back here in Rochester.
I’ve had a real fun few days with Kristin down visiting. We’ve managed to be pretty lazy (besides the time we used unpacking my stuff). We’ve done a lot of reading—her with the Cheshuli (sp) chronicles and me with my comic books. I’ve recently gotten back into reading comic books hardcore. It might just be a phase I’m going through, or it might just be that I finally have access to them again since I’m at home. I’ve recently been reading Ghost Rider and Excalibur, which have both been really good reads. Ghost Rider has always been a little weak, though, since he seems to be indestructible and no matter what happens he can come back to life, but he is cool since he always manages to kick a lot of ass and in style.
Saturday, May 10, 2003
A Fake Goodbye Session
So last night was the last Friday here for the senior classes of SJU and CSB. Today the Bennies graduate and tomorrow my fellow Johnnies, along with myself, will be walking through the Abbey for our graduation ceremony. It all seems so weird and surreal—like it really isn’t happening……but it is.
Last night we had the senior dis-orientation at the Lighthouse Ballroom here in St. Joseph. All of the seniors gather there to say their last goodbyes, socialize, dance, and most importantly—get really drunk. I did a good amount of the first two, but left the last two untouched. This was the last time I’d probably see a bunch of these people so why would I want to spend that time I’m with them drunk as a skunk? I’d rather be wholly alert and focused so that everyone I talk to knows that talking to them is important to me. Eh, I’ve learned over the last four years that my views usually aren’t shared by the majority of these two campuses.
I really thought that after last night, knowing I wouldn’t see many of the people I talked with again, that I would have some really deep thoughts to write today. Instead, I’m left a blank. It almost feels like this is fake, at least for me. Since I’ll be back next semester I really don’t feel the urgency of entering the real world and leaving the confines of college life. What is even more weird is that last year felt more like my senior year of college because everyone that I had hung out with most of my first 3 years of college graduated last year. I lost the majority of the people I hang out with. The rest of the people I hang out with this year and last year are a year or two younger than me. I never really bonded with many of the people that are my year which I think also attributes to me not feeling very emotional about this turning point in all of our lives.
The few people that I do want to keep in touch with I haven’t really said good-bye to because I know where they all will be and, for the most part, I’ll still be able to visit them and hang out with them. Maybe the whole transition from college to real world will hit home around December when my actual graduation will be approaching. Honestly, though, I don’t want to enter the real world. Working doesn’t appeal to me at all when I can continue to learn more and more in school. It’s actually my goal to eventually attend graduate school for philosophy as I would really like to further my education in that direction. Being a professor of philosophy someday wouldn’t be that bad—I think I’d actually like it. The only problem I could foresee with that plan of action would be my lack of patience when trying to show/teach people things. Maybe as I get older I’ll become more patient.
Well, today I have two banquets to go to, one for all the science majors and one for the philosophy majors. I think I’ll just make a quick stop at the science banquet as I really don’t have that many computer science people I know that I want to talk with. The philosophy banquet should be a little better. It’ll be nice to talk with the faculty before I have more classes with them next year. It won’t be so much of a “thanks, prof—you were great” thing for me as it will be more of a “so what’re we covering next year in business ethics” kind of thing. Well, whatever. You probably won’t be treated to any new thoughts until probably Tuesday as I’ll be busy graduating and then my computer will be in transit home. Until then, keep it real.
Last night we had the senior dis-orientation at the Lighthouse Ballroom here in St. Joseph. All of the seniors gather there to say their last goodbyes, socialize, dance, and most importantly—get really drunk. I did a good amount of the first two, but left the last two untouched. This was the last time I’d probably see a bunch of these people so why would I want to spend that time I’m with them drunk as a skunk? I’d rather be wholly alert and focused so that everyone I talk to knows that talking to them is important to me. Eh, I’ve learned over the last four years that my views usually aren’t shared by the majority of these two campuses.
I really thought that after last night, knowing I wouldn’t see many of the people I talked with again, that I would have some really deep thoughts to write today. Instead, I’m left a blank. It almost feels like this is fake, at least for me. Since I’ll be back next semester I really don’t feel the urgency of entering the real world and leaving the confines of college life. What is even more weird is that last year felt more like my senior year of college because everyone that I had hung out with most of my first 3 years of college graduated last year. I lost the majority of the people I hang out with. The rest of the people I hang out with this year and last year are a year or two younger than me. I never really bonded with many of the people that are my year which I think also attributes to me not feeling very emotional about this turning point in all of our lives.
The few people that I do want to keep in touch with I haven’t really said good-bye to because I know where they all will be and, for the most part, I’ll still be able to visit them and hang out with them. Maybe the whole transition from college to real world will hit home around December when my actual graduation will be approaching. Honestly, though, I don’t want to enter the real world. Working doesn’t appeal to me at all when I can continue to learn more and more in school. It’s actually my goal to eventually attend graduate school for philosophy as I would really like to further my education in that direction. Being a professor of philosophy someday wouldn’t be that bad—I think I’d actually like it. The only problem I could foresee with that plan of action would be my lack of patience when trying to show/teach people things. Maybe as I get older I’ll become more patient.
Well, today I have two banquets to go to, one for all the science majors and one for the philosophy majors. I think I’ll just make a quick stop at the science banquet as I really don’t have that many computer science people I know that I want to talk with. The philosophy banquet should be a little better. It’ll be nice to talk with the faculty before I have more classes with them next year. It won’t be so much of a “thanks, prof—you were great” thing for me as it will be more of a “so what’re we covering next year in business ethics” kind of thing. Well, whatever. You probably won’t be treated to any new thoughts until probably Tuesday as I’ll be busy graduating and then my computer will be in transit home. Until then, keep it real.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)