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Sunday, October 4th, 2009
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Leave me a comment saying "Contagious, Yoda's grammar is". I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better. Update your journal with the answers to the questions. Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ahina_gold asked:
1. Who is your second-favorite superhero and why do you like them?
To know this you have to know that my favorite superhero is Iron Man. He's everything I wish I could be; rich, a genius technologist, and a playboy, but with a conscience. My second favorite superhero is Superman. Why? Because I think that our personalities are much more similar than any other superhero character I've read. Although every writer has put his or her own touches on the character I recently read an interesting novelization called It's Superman! by Tom De Haven that really captures the character's personality from a human perspective. For instance; he's not super-intelligent, but a B- student. He has some trouble adapting to the life of a career journalist, he loves his family very much but understands that he must leave them to grow up, and most importantly; he makes mistakes. Superman may feel like an alien, but he's more human than many of the folks whose lives he's saved.
2. If you were a plant, what kind would you be?
An oak tree. Not always the prettiest, but tough and long lasting.
3. Say you're captured by cannibals and about to be cut up and roasted for their dinner. What sauce(s) do you recommend they use?
It's interesting that you ask this, as just last week I found an article on how to prepare a human carcass for eating (supposedly for survival purposes). It sounded remarkably similar to how one slaughters a hog, and I'm betting that human meat is of a similar toughness and consistency. To me, roasted pork (or in this case, me) begs for a light brown gravy sauce. With the right seasonings a gravy sauce can provide a smooth body to accompany the...uh, well...body. Also, it would depend on where the get their cuts of meat, I would suggest the glutes, as I've been working those out more lately.
4. Which public figure would you most like to go diaf?
Kanye West. The funny thing is, I probably would've still said that before the whole VMA thing.
5. Which apocalyptic scenario would you prefer to live through?
Ooooo...this one I had to think about for a bit. There are a lot of disaster scenarios out there, and some of them are easier to live through than others. Gigantic flood? Nah, I'm no good with boats. Nuclear war? Nobody would live long enough after that mess. Nah, I'm gonna have to go the easy way out...Zombies. Yes, I know it's a bit of a bandwagon these days, but dammit am I prepared for a Zombie apocalypse. I would have absolutely no problem shooting a bunch of mindless, bloodthirsty-looking human beings as long as I had a few guns and plenty of ammo. My trusty crowbar would make a good melee weapon, and of course there's plenty of room for improvisation there. All I can hope is that there are plenty of viable females around to help, um...repopulate the species.
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Thursday, March 12th, 2009
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All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
I like watching the puddles gather rain
And all I can do is just pour some tea for two
And speak my point of view but it's not sane, its not sane
I just want someone to say to me
I'll always be there when you wake
Ya know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today
So stay with me and I'll have it made
And I don't understand why I sleep all day
And I start to complain that there's no rain
And all I can do is read a book to stay awake
It rips my life away but its a great escape...escape...escape
All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
You don't like my point of view
Ya think that I'm insane
Its not sane... its not sane
I just want someone to say to me
I'll always be there when you wake
Ya know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today
So stay with me and I'll have it made
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Thursday, February 19th, 2009
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I get up in the evening
and I ain't got nothing to say
I come home in the morning
I go to bed feeling the same way
I ain't nothing but tired
Man I'm just tired and bored with myself
Hey there baby, I could use just a little help
You can't start a fire
You can't start a fire without a spark
This gun's for hire
even if we're just dancing in the dark
Message keeps getting clearer
radio's on and I'm moving 'round the place
I check my look in the mirror
I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face
Man I ain't getting nowhere
I'm just living in a dump like this
There's something happening somewhere
baby I just know that there is
You can't start a fire
you can't start a fire without a spark
This gun's for hire
even if we're just dancing in the dark
You sit around getting older
there's a joke here somewhere and it's on me
I'll shake this world off my shoulders
come on baby this laugh's on me
Stay on the streets of this town
and they'll be carving you up alright
They say you gotta stay hungry
hey baby I'm just about starving tonight
I'm dying for some action
I'm sick of sitting 'round here trying to write this book
I need a love reaction
come on now baby gimme just one look
You can't start a fire sitting 'round crying over a broken heart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
You can't start a fire worrying about your little world falling apart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Hey baby...
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Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
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| Time: | 2:40 pm. |
| Mood: | Trigger Happy. | | Music: | "From the Earth to the Moon" theme song. |
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Totally stole this meme from Audrey. Here it goes.
Birthday Meme: Look up your birthday in Wikipedia. Pick 4 events, 3 births, 2 deaths, and 1 holiday.
Events:
-1913 - Death Valley, California hits 134 °F (~56.7 °C), which is the highest temperature recorded in the United States.
-1925 - Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called "Monkey Trial" begins with John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher, is accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
-1958 - Alaska, highest tsunami wave ever recorded at Lituya Bay, at 524 m high.
-1997 - London, scientists report their DNA analysis findings from a Neandertal skeleton which support the out of Africa theory of human evolution placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.
Births:
-1856 - Nikola Tesla, Serb-American inventor (d. 1943)
-1871 - Marcel Proust, French writer (d. 1922)
-1947 - Arlo Guthrie, American musician
Deaths:
-1920 - Jackie Fisher, British admiral (b. 1841)
-1989 - Mel Blanc, American voice actor (b. 1908)
Holiday:
-Bahamas - Independence Day.
************
I bought a pistol. It's a Walther P22. I'm rather pleased with it so far, but I need to get out to a range sometime soon and put about 1000 rounds through it to break it in. But it fits my hand well, it's light and I got a really good deal on it. Heck yeah.
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Thursday, August 7th, 2008
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Things do not look promising for a future in the Air Force. The recruiter at the office on West Broad Street is only in TWO DAYS out of the week, both days I have work and school no less. I'll have to find another AF recruiter closer to my apartment, one who's actually there some of the time. Oh, and apparently you have to have a 3.8 GPA to become an officer now? When did that happen? It may or may not be true, all I know is that I didn't have to have a 3.8 in ROTC. But OCS could be different. Hopefully find out soon.
I did get to see a list of jobs that I was "qualified" for in the Army. The ones that are shipping out soon, anyway. Most of the jobs I qualified for were silly technical ones that really didn't appeal to me, they all sounded like I should have a degree in Electrical Engineering to qualify. I did qualify for Special Forces, which I thought was interesting.
I also qualified for Diver - I didn't even know the Army had divers. I asked to know more about them, and one of the guys sitting behind me asked; "Do you have a girlfriend?" When I answered "no" he said "You'll have plenty of them if you become a diver." Sgt. Thatcher - the guy showing me the jobs - said he'd been there 4 1/2 years and had only seen 2 other people qualify for Diver. Then he asked me if I was a strong swimmer, and any hope I had for multiple girlfriends vanished. One of the guys who had qualified, and went for it, was on his school's swimteam but didn't make it through training.
And PsyOps isn't an entry level active duty position. In the reserves, maybe. I might just do reserves so I can get into PsyOps, it just seems like the right fit for me. Before I can do anything, Sgt. Thatcher said I needed to get a letter from the school stating that I will be graduating in December with a degree in Linguistics. He said if I could get him that letter, he could get me a job in the Intel field. So if I go reserves, I can probably get PsyOps. I go active duty, I can get Intel.
But before that, I have to decide if I want to go right after school ends or wait 9 more months and then sign up. Different jobs will be available a year from now, maybe some good one and maybe not, there's no real way to tell. I guess I gotta lay out the pros and cons of leaving right after I graduate.
PROS:
-All my school loans will be TOTALLY paid off
-Guaranteed job of my picking now (not necessarily in a year)
-I could retire when I'm 41, as opposed to 42
-Get to attend basic in January, miss out on another Ohio winter
-Leave my job sooner than expected
CONS:
-Miss the classes I was planning to take after graduation
-Less time to prepare myself for basic
-Maybe miss out on a few other things, like my friends graduating (i'll be in training for a LONG time, if I'm a Cryptolinguist)
-Miss out on some local spring activities, like the Marathon and Thunder
-Leave my job sooner than expected (both a good and bad thing)
-Lessen chance of getting into a Ling grad school? (I'm not sure about this one, could be true)
And then of course, there's always the possibility that the military won't work out at all. In Which case I'll stick around here for a while, then figure something else out. I think I'm going to talk to my advisor and see what she thinks. I know what she'll say about joining in the first place, but she likes to be practical as well. I just dunno.
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Thursday, July 10th, 2008
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Three more days, and I will be a fully "legal" adult. That is, I will be legally able to buy and consumer alcoholic beverages. Aside from the fact that I think this particular law is bullshit since I could legally brew and give away beer at 18 (not to mention the whole requirement of singing up for military conscription, of course) but I'm slightly urked because I will not be able to fully exercise my new freedom for at least a couple of weeks, and I'm not sure that I'll want to.
After a few achy chest pains, my doctor put me on these beta blockers that are supposed to help with hypertension. I'm not hypertensive (my blood pressure if 122/84, perfectly normal for my age/height/weight) but the doc said it might help with my symptoms, so he started me on a trial. I don't really like these things very much. The first couple of days I was very woozy and fatigued. I wanted to start an exercise regiment yesterday, but I was so tired I stayed in bed most of the day. I did get to watch the IRL race at Watkins Glen though, that was good.
But anyway, if alcohol is imbibed while on beta blockers, it can fuck your shit up. Beta blockers lower BP, but of course alcohol can shoot it right back up again. This fluctuation could cause problems, so I'm going to have to take it easy. I might not even smoke a cigar like I planned to, which sucks because I found this terrific cigar shop only a few blocks from my apartment.
Regardless, I'm not going to be able to celebrate much anyway because of the Linguistics conference. I've looked over the schedule of events, and I think it's going to be pretty good. Some of the speaking topics are pretty cool, and it'll be interesting to meet some real-life linguists outside of the department. Might even be a good networking opportunity...
There are other benefits of turning 21 as well. I will now legally be able to buy a handgun, a right which I fully intend to exercise. I want to get my concealed carry permit, but I'm not sure which caliber or gun is right for me. I want to take the CCW permit course as soon as possible, then get a little range time before I make a decision. The caliber discussion on the internet it crazy. I've heard some people say they won't carry anything less than a .380 ACP, while others say the caliber doesn't matter nearly as much as accuracy does.
I can certainly agree with that last part, but at the same time I don't think a .22 is going to be nearly as effective as a 9mm or .45 might, regardless of where you shoot. A .22 will hurt - and can certainly kill - but the simple fact of it being lighter means the physics works against it. Most of the weapons i've seen that conceal well (i.e., can we worn with a t-shirt and shorts) are no bigger than a .380. I'll never carry a .25, I'll tell you that right now. Still, a .22 has economic advantages, since the price of ammo has shot up along with everything else these days. Then again, I'm not buying a personal defense weapon to be economical, am I?
Like I said, no decisions until I get out there and shoot stuff. I wasn't even sure how well I could ride a motorcycle until I took the class. As it turned out the only guys really better than me were the ones who had been riding for a few years already. Maybe I'll surprise myself and be able to handle a .45 or something. You never know.
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I just had the most uncool thing in the world happen to me.
Seriously, I'm...I'm fucking speechless here. This is seriously THE most UNCOOL thing EVER.
Thank god Kyle isn't going to be here over the summer, or I would make his life a living hell.
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It is my personal belief that everyone in the world should learn to ride a motorcycle. Here are the reasons:
1. It teaches you to be a better driver
Riding a motorcycle takes much more skill and effort than driving a car does. You have to be very obsevant of others on the road, in tune with your machine, and you have to be able to react very quickly to dangerous situations. The thing is, all of these requirements will not only make you a good motorcyclist, they will make you a much better driver. Most people on the road today have little to no idea what the fuck they are doing, so it would be very beneficial to learn these skills.
2. Riding a bike it more economical
The motorcycle I bought gets 60 miles per gallon. The one I rode for the MSF class gets 70 MPG. Suck on that, you Prius driving douchebags! Most bikes get at least 50 MPG or more, which is more than I can say for the majority of cars (i.e., SUV's) on the road. Plus, maintenance on a motorcycle, while more involving than a car, is also much cheaper. They have smaller engines, so they require less oil, fewer oil changes, and in many cases don't use liquid coolant so there's no antifreeze to fill up!
3. It's fucking AWESOME.
You will never know another thrill like riding a motorcycle. The wind swirling around you, the hum (and occasional roar) of the engine as you shift through the gears, the excitement that fills you as you lean the bike left to right, right to left, is unlike any other feeling you can get from any other experience. It instills a real feeling of "Jinba Ittai", which in Japanese means "Rider and Horse as one." It's difficult for me to describe it any further, you can't really understand unless you've been on a bike.
So, needless to say the MSF class was pretty awesome. I went Thursday night for the video/informational class, then Saturday and Sunday mornings for the riding lessons. I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be on the first day, and learning to ride wasn't really that difficult. I passed my skills test with just 8 missed points, 5 of which were kind of bogus.
The first part of the test invovled doing a figure 8 in a really small box at really slow speed, it was insanely difficult at first. But after a bit of practice I nailed it and didn't once go out of the box or put a foot down. Right after the box you had to accelerate to about 15mph then swerve hard to the right like you were avoiding an obstacle. Nailed that without even trying.
The next two parts of the test were where I screwed up. The quick stop has you accelerate to about 15-20mph, shifting to second gear, then stopping in less than 20ft. They give you points based on how far it took you to stop between the time you passed the braking cones to the time you stopped. I stopped in 18ft, when I should have been able to stop in 16. Something I'll have to work on.
The final test involved cornering. A sharp 90 deg curve followed my acceleration and then a 135 deg curve to the right. The 90 deg curve was no problem, and I thought I did alright on the last curve, but when I got my test back it had points marked off for going too slow (it took me 3 seconds to go through the curve, should've taken 2.5...whatever, it was only 1 point off) but they said I decelrated in the curve, which I definitely didn't. My bike was hesitating all day, one of the instructors even said so when she hopped on my bike to demonstrate one of the exercises for the class. Ah, whatever, the extra points certainly didn't hurt me that much. I passed, and I now have my motorcycle endorsement.
My bike still isn't in riding conditon unfortunately, and I still don't have a car. I've looked at a couple, but nothing great has come about. I'm starting to get a little desparate.
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I am car-less for the first time in my adult life. I sold the 86 last night. Got what I payed for it, too (or at least the value of the Subie I traded for it). It was kind of difficult to say no when I saw the crispy hundred-dollar bills come out of the guy's wallet. You know what they say; cash talks. I took all my stuff out of the car and bid her adieu. Now she belongs to some guy named Brandon from Cincinnati. Hope he treats her well.
It's a bit depressing not having a car. I mean, I can walk to nearly every place I have to go (not including the grocery store, but I'm pretty well stocked for a while), but if I want to go somewhere well beyond the campus area I have to either get a ride or borrow someone's car. Luckily, Kyle is a around for at least a little while so I can borrow his car. I looked at an old Nissan Sentra today. Aside from an unhealthy amount of frame rust, a little engine sputter, some saggy door hinges and a 45mph vibration from the left front wheel it wasn't too bad, at least for the asking price. I could easily fix most of that stuff, and as long as there aren't any catastrophic failures it will probably make a decent commuter car.
But why trade away my nicely equipped (if old and rusty) lightweight, RWD Japanese rice rocket for a humdrum gas-sipping sedan?
For this:
This, ladies and gents, is a 1981 Suzuki GN400. It is a single-cylinder, air cooled kick-start only motorcycle from days gone by. And it is MINE for the measly sum of $300. Alright, so it needs a battery, a new set of gauges and a front tire. But I can probably get all that for another $300, maybe less. I've already got a helmet, jacket and gloves. I'm signed up to take the Motorcycle Safety Foundations class this Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. So long as I pass everything, I get my endorsement for a motorcycle license.
So long as everything goes smoothly, I think this is going to be AWESOME. I don't really have anywhere to put it, but Kyle has graciously agreed to let me use his parent's garage until I move into my apartment in the fall (where I'll have my OWN garage!) I'm looking very forward to getting on this thing. And the running costs will be far less than any car, thanks to cheap parts and 60MPG fuel consumption :)
CAN. NOT. WAIT!
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I'm listening to a song right now titled "Cool Guitars" by Jimmy Thackery, here's the main chorus for your consideration...
I'm gonna sell the bitch's car
and buy myself a cool guitar
The song is full of great twangs on a background of solid chords. I really like it. It's being played on Wild West Radio, isn't Winamp a wonderful thing? Hell, there's even a station that has recordings of the first six Harry Potter novels on a constant loop. Sometimes I leave it in the background while I'm doing nothing in particular. Tonight, I'm listening to some Western music.
NOT Country. Western. Is it such a strange thing that I hate Country music but love Western? And Folk? And Bluegrass? There are some (okay, most) people who would lump all of those musical genres into one and call it "Country," but not me. Am I one of the few people who can truly make the distinctions? Are most people just really dumb or really lazy when it comes to music preference?
Oh lord, they're playing a live version of Steve Earle singing "Copperhead Road" right now. I love it. I started writing down the names of some of the bands and artists just so I can reference them later. I guess since Nickel Creek is split up and Chris Thile's last album kinda left a bad taste in my mouth I've been searching for something else to fill the gap. Classic Rock has always been my staple, but isn't it everyone's? There's a limit to how much Classic Rock is in the world, since no one makes music like it anymore. Not even The Eagles, bless 'em they're just too old.
Iron Man was awesome. I just realized I hadn't posted about it at all. I've seen it twice since last week. I need to see it again. I want to see Speed Racer tomorrow, but it just looks too cartoonish and strange. I might just see Iron Man again. Never too much of a good thing, and there are a few easter eggs I want to look for. The next few years are going to be great for Marvel comic book films. They have their own studio now, so they own all their characters. That means sticking to the stories in the books. That means crossovers. That means a fucking AVENGERS MOVIE. Me = ecstatic.
A song just came on that exemplifies how I feel sometimes, when there's nothing left to do and I feel somewhat...lonely. It's by David Bromberg. For your consideration...
I finally figured out just what my problem is:
I need to get loaded and laid.
I love this station.
P.S. - Some Interesting Links:
www.jalopnik.com
www.io9.com
www.hobostripper.com
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Thursday, April 24th, 2008
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Living next to a gas station connects me to the world. I've had to walk by it every single day for the past seven months, watching the price slowly rising. Hearing the lamentations and debate from various news outlets and the classroom bring it all together. It's at moments like that when I try to think long and hard about my place in the world. When I was younger I felt like I could grow up to do something great and change the world. I'm pretty sure we've all felt this way at one point or another.
But at the same time I think about my personal aspirations and desires, and how those really matter to the world as a whole. I'm always planning for the future, more so lately because I'll be graduating before the end of this year. I have to make some real decisions about my life. Where I'm going to live, what I'm going to do, who I'm going to be. Even NOT making a decision about any of these will have a significant impact on my life. I can't stay in Columbus and be a dispatcher forever. What's more, I really, REALLY don't want to. Living in Columbus has made me appreciate Louisville more and more. Aside from being more familiar with it, Louisville has better streets, better schools and a much nicer atmosphere than Columbus.
But it's not like I could get a Job anywhere in Louisville or Columbus. Unsurprisingly, a BA in Linguistics has very limited job prospects. I still plan on at least attempting to sing up for the Air Force. It's something I've always wanted to do and I enjoyed ROTC enough that I wish I hadn't quit. But my health lately has been a concern to me. It's probably just some extended after-effects of the mono (some people can experience symptoms 6 months or more after diagnosis...yippie), but the fact is that in the past 4-5 months I've lost more weight than ever, yet have had more health problems than ever. But since I don't expect to sing up until next summer, I'll have plenty of time to explore other options.
Those options are limited, however. My biggest prospect that doesn't involve military service is teaching English as a second language in a foreign country. Probably France, maybe Japan. The money is EXCELLENT. Seriously, 900 Euros a month for 12 hours a week of teaching. Hell, I could even get a second 10-hour-a-week job for some kind of supplemental income. Could be making $25k a year PART-TIME. Start paying off those damn student loans. But I would HATE being away from home for so long. And there's no way I could afford a car. Hell, I'd probably just get a motorcycle or a scooter. Plus, there's the whole not knowing anybody. I'm terrible at making friends. It's almost 11:30 on a Thursday, and I've got no one I can call and talk to, no one I can hang out with or plan something with tomorrow. I've been here almost 3 years and I don't have any real friends. How fucking sad is that?
So, About 6 1/2 months until I graduate, so long as everything goes according to plan. I just registered for my fall classes. I register for the summer in a few days. I'll probably be taking German and some Psychology or Sociology class that'll carry over as a GEC. And in the fall, I will be taking two Linguistic courses to round out my major classes, Linguistics 500 and Linguistics 600.01 (Phonetics and Phonetic Theory, respectively). The last 10 hours I filled in with what I think will be "fun" classes; Music 252 (The History of Rock 'n Roll) and English 578 (Special Film Topic). I have no idea what the film topic will be, but I e-mailed the professor to ask him what he had in mind.
But really, all of those classes are just a means to an end. And what end? Whether I join the military or not, I'm probably going to get my Masters, but where or in what subject I have no idea. But is it all for my benefit, or the benefit of the world? I'm believing more and more that it it every individual's responsibility and decisions that make this a world worth living. And most people are too fucking selfish or lazy to care. And that's really fucking sad. The saddest part? I have no idea to which group I belong. No fucking clue.
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Saturday, April 5th, 2008
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Tuesday, December 4th, 2007
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I've heard of people pulling "all nighters" before, and although I've stayed up pretty late studying before myself, I never experienced one myself until last night.
I was lucky this quarter due to the fact that my Syntax final was a take-home, and my other two classes were not going to be that challenging. So my all-nighter began shortly after the "Heros" finale last night. I made an entire pot of my favorite Italian Roast coffee, I even bought a fresh bottle of vanilla caramel creamer for the occasion. I started in on my Syntax final, taking breaks every now and then. That thing took me damn near 7 hours just to get 3/4 of the way through it. There were only 12 questions, but most of them had various parts within that had to be extrapolated and such. I did like the final question though, in which I had to explain in "concise detail" how Yoda's syntax differed from standard English. A tough question, that one was.
My Geography 120 final was at 7:30 in the morning, at this point I had about an hour and a half until then. I had consumed pretty much the entire pot of coffee by then, so I was wide awake. I reviewed my lecture notes for a few minutes, then packed up my stuff and headed out the door. If the pot of coffee hadn't woken me up, the cold sure did. My gods, I thought my balls were going to retract up into my pelvis. I got to the building, sat down in the lecture hall and pulled out my notes again. My stomach was churning a little, but I get that way when I drink a lot of coffee and I knew it would pass in a little bit. The rest of the class began to file in, and the TA's got there with a few minutes to spare. They began handing out the scantron sheets and that's when everything went to hell.
I felt a sudden sense of sickness. My stomach churned harder than ever, and I began to feel quite nauseas. Knowing that I wasn't going to blow chunks in the middle of the class, I got out of there dammed quick. I found the nearest trash can and tried to bring up the bile and get the mess over with. No dice. Now I felt like I might shit my pants too. It was as if my digestive system couldn't make up it's mind as to which way it would get rid of the poison that I'd ingested. The classroom was in the basement, so I climbed the stairs in an effort to reach the first floor bathroom. I hobbled across the lobby in the classic hunched over posture of the soon-to-be-sick, and as I was deciding how I was going to shit and vomit at the same time, something unprecedented happened.
About three or four feet from the bathroom door my hands began to tingle. The tingle quickly spread to my arms, torso and straight through my legs. My vision blurred to the point of incoherence, and before I knew it everything went black.
The next thing I know, I'm spread eagle right next to the bathroom door, and a girl is hovering over me saying, "Oh my god! Are you all right?"
The best I could manage was a heavily mumbled, "Ugh...I dunno..."
Another girl showed up, "Do you want me to call an ambulance?"
At this point I knew I had passed out cold, but for how long I did not know. I sat up, and it felt as though my head had split with the force of a thousand suns. "No...no, I think I'm okay. Oh...fuck me this hurts..."
First girl: "Are you in this final right now? Psychology?"
Me: "No. Geography 120. Downstairs."
Second girl: "I'm in that one. Do you want me to tell the professor?"
Me: "Yes, please if you would. Fuck, my head hurts..."
The girls left, and after a minute or so I felt like I could stand again. I had no idea what the fuck had happened to me, other than the fact that I had passed out for maybe a minute, and I had a damn final to take. I headed back downstairs, one of the TA's already had a scantron and a test sheet ready for me. It was a hell of a time, lemme tell ya. I later discovered that I made a C+ on the test. No shit, the whole fucking time I was thinking about what the fuck was wrong with me, sorry if I can't remember the fucking cyclogensis stages of a low pressure system. Assholes. I passed the class alright though.
I turned in my take-home final, and while I was in the Linguistics department I saw one of my classmates who was turning in her take-home final as well. I told her about what had happened, and apparently she thought I was pretty hardcore for still taking my final. Damn straight, I thought.
The next place I went was the Student Health Center. I eventually got an appointment with a very nice guy named Dr. Hanson, who explored my patient history and determined that what I experienced was called Vasovagal Syncope. Basically, all the coffee I drank dehydrated the fuck out of me, that plus the caffeine and the stress from exams and such caused my blood pressure to drop dangerously low. When I got up and rushed to the bathroom all that blood flowed down from my brain very quickly, and my brain basically said "HOLD ON A MINUTE THERE, SIR!" It laid my ass out so I could get enough blood flow. Dr. Hanson got me an ECG anyway just to check out my heart, but he said everything looked pretty good and that this was just a fluke.
So I'm not dying, and that's good. I have one more final tomorrow. I'm not sure I care how it goes, but I'm gonna study anyway. No coffee for me, thanks.
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Friday, November 30th, 2007
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| Time: | 9:34 pm. |
| Mood: |  bored. |
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Oh my god...I just had the funniest moment. I'm here at work, doing nothing, listening to the police radio when a message comes on about a patient at the Neuropsychological building who "left early." The dispatcher at PD was relaying information about the patient, when I heard them say this:
"First name Leroy..."
So my natural response was...
"LEROOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYY JENKIIIINNNNNNNNNNSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!"
"Actually it's Leroy MCarther"
"Damn."
Then I laughed for a solid 5 minutes. Mind you I didn't actually speak to the PD dispatcher like that, I was just talking aloud to the radio traffic. But it was still funny as hell.
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Thursday, November 29th, 2007
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It's been a while since I've listened to The Eagles...I mean really listened. And although I've heard this song numerous times before, tonight it struck a chord like I've not felt in a very long time.
"Take It To The Limit"
All alone at the end of the of the evening
And the bright lights have faded to blue
I was thinking 'bout a woman who might have
Loved me and I never knew
You know I've always been a dreamer
(spent my life running 'round)
And it's so hard to change
(Can't seem to settle down)
But the dreams I've seen lately
Keep on turning out and burning out
And turning out the same
So put me on a highway
And show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time
You can spend all your time making money
You can spend all your love making time
If it all fell to pieces tomorrow
Would you still be mine?
And when you're looking for your freedom
(Nobody seems to care)
And you can't find the door
(Can't find it anywhere)
When there's nothing to believe in
Still you're coming back, you're running back
You're coming back for more
So put me on a highway
And show me a sign
And take it to the limit one more time
Take it to the limit
Take it to the limit
Take it to the limit one more time
I think I may venture to a Wal-mart this weekend and pick up their new album, "Long Road out of Eden." From what I've heard it's damn good. If it's anything like they've made before, I already know I'll love it.
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Monday, November 12th, 2007
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BAH! I'm ready to go home.
That is, I'm ready for a visit home. I won't have to wait very long. I'll probably leave next Wednesday after my shift...should I be working a shift that day. That means I leave Columbus at 11:00 and arrive home at maybe...2-2:30 in the morning. That'll be nice.
While we're on the subject of numbers, how about we think of some more?
23 months...since feminine attention
8 months...since feminine "contact"
5 weeks...since I've seen my parents or any of my friends
I've been sustaining myself on entertaining class discussions, movies, books, and music. But none are a good substitute for human contact.
So I guess it's a good thing I'm not 21, otherwise I might be an alcoholic by now. I do like my job though, so maybe I'll just become a workaholic instead. I'm very close to being "released", that is being left alone in the control room to run it by myself. I've done it before, but I was always able to call someone for help. But next month I'll be starting to do shifts all by my lonesome. Lucky me, I always have time to do my homework should I wish to do so.
And of course...there's a girl that's driving me nuts. I haven't really been this attracted to a girl in a while. Thank god I'm not acting like a total dumbass around her...yet. I've managed to play the whole cocky-funny routine up a bit. Made her laugh, that's a good start I reckon. But I only see her twice a week in my Syntax class. Not a lot of opportunity to chat her up. She's not even a Ling major but she's taking Syntax. Dammit, why do smart girls have to be so SEXY? It's infuriating. I best do something before the end of the quarter, or else I'll never see her again. That's happened far too many times for me to count.
But I'm definitely ready to go home again. Just four more days left this week...dammit I just remembered I have my Geography midterm on Wednesday. Okay, okay...four days left this week plus a big midterm, then the Michigan game on Saturday (Lord, I hope we win or I'm going to have a busy night...), then just a few more days and I'll be home. Yeah. Good stuff.
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Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
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So, I had my first meeting with my major adviser today. I know, I know...stupid, right? I'm already almost 2 months into my Junior year, and just NOW I'm declaring my major and seeing my adviser. However, I'm very, very glad that I did. Because I learned a couple of very interesting things.
1. I am only three quarters away from having accumulated the credits to graduate (not five, like I thought). This is if I take a couple of courses over the summer at a community college downtown. It doesn't matter what I take, because I just need the filler hours. I only need to take two classes, and since I'll be here in Columbus working full-time anyway...I figured what the hell. If I can graduate in a year, I sure as hell fucking WILL.
2. I could be getting money from the school for working here. I have a job of course, but I'm still listed as a student worker. If I were to go full time next quarter, I could receive up to $5000 for tuition. I would be limited to taking 10 hours per quarter as a part time student, so I wouldn't finish until next spring...like I had originally planned anyway. While getting paid to go to school.
However, doing that might cause me to not graduate on time really, and I could lose my scholarship if I go part time. That would mean more than the maximum $5000 tuition money that my job would give me, I'd end up paying $2k a quarter for being a part time student. I'd probably end up paying the same as if I graduated next fall anyway.
But still...I'm going to be saving a boatload of money. This is a very good thing. I'll probably go full time as a dispatcher after I graduate, make a little money to start paying back loans before I decide what I want to do...Air Force or something else. Still not sure.
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Saturday, October 20th, 2007
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I got to work at 7 this morning after getting off after 11 last night, and not getting home till shortly after midnight.
And I'm still fucking HERE.
Ah, I don't mind as much as it seems really. I'm getting paid well, and if this continues I'll have accumulated between 35-40 hours this weeek (depending on when my boss let's me go home.). I was going to see a movie today but that's definitely not going to happen now.
I haven't had a call or an actual alarm in almost 3 1/2 hours. I'm fucking BORED. I've surfed the web for ever and ever, I've got the radio on and I keep checking the cameras every few minutes just to have something to fucking DO. I can't leave beause I'm the only one in the control station. One of our alarm systems went down yesterday and we had to move one dispatcher per shift to a separate station on the other side of campus.
Still, the fact that I've only been on four shifts and they're leaving me in the control room all by myself makes me feel pretty confident. I've already done some radio and they tell me I'm a natural. I've answered phones all freaking day today like nobody's business. I've responded to alarms mostly on my own. When we got a series alarm the expereienced guy over at the other station would dispatch whoever needed to go out. But I'm pretty sure I've still phoned in most of the stuff today. Dang.
Everybody is really nice around here though. I really like it here, more than any job I've ever had before. It's pretty sweet.
Here's hoping the game ends early enough I might be able to go home and order a pizza or some chicken fingers. I love me some Cluck U Chicken.
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dorky.
frustrated.
sad.
confused.
thoughtful.
chipper.
working.
thankful.
excited.
tired.