Decisions

Another year and another semester of school are drawing to a close once more. You may recall that at the end of last semester I was at something of an impasse concerning what I wanted to pursue at college. This semester I took and anthropology course because I'm interested in it and because I've had a fairly good experience with a anthropology class in the past. I also re-took calculus because I'm probably going to need it as a basic requirement for just about any class here. Having made it through the semester in both classes, I think that I am prepared to make a decision about my future at U of M and also my future career. Ready? I have decided to continue with engineering. I realized that my frustration with engineering stemmed from my failure in calculus last semester, not with engineering classes or with the College of Engineering. Though, that Aerospace adviser is a jerk. Anyway, I've had a sort of change of heart about calculus and with the exception of a mid-semester hiccup I've been doing pretty well. Next semester I'll be taking more calculus, some physics, and some more computer programming. Perhaps in the spring I'll take another calculus class so that I can start getting caught up with engineering classes, but we'll see what next semester brings before I jump ahead with my grandiose plan for the future.

What's happening in other news? Well, I started doing parkour this fall and broke my wrist in the process. For those of you unfamiliar with parkour, I suggest looking it up on YouTube. I'll see about posting a video of myself doing some freerunning/parkour later on, probably in the spring when I'm out of this damn cast and back up to speed. The group of people here at U of M are fun to be around. They're sort of becoming for me what my Cross Country team was in high school, because I run into them everywhere it seems. We've been going to a gym lately so the more experienced members can teach the rest of us how to do some of the more acrobatic movements such as front and back flips. Tomorrow will be the first time that I've gone to a workout since early November, when I still had an unwieldy splint on. I guess I'll see how that goes.

A Return to the Old Writing Block

A great project has been set into motion this year, one that will result in either catastrophic failure or overwhelming success. This project is so important that God Himself has given it His Blessing, as it portrays His Avatar upon the mortal plane. Failure in such an endeavor can only result in Eternal Damnation in the furthest Pits of Hell, with lots of Brimstone, Hellfire, and Capitalized Nouns. In short, this is the most important project of all Time. It is called simply Indiana Jones 4.

Jesus, of course, looks exactly like Indiana Jones, or vice versa. Except Jesus is generally shinier and more awesome, difficult as that may be to imagine. This is a generally accepted fact, go ask the Pope if you don't believe me. Actually, part of Jesus' message was that fedoras are the most awesome hats in the world, greater even than driving hats, and that one should fear and hate snakes beyond all reason because they are the most evil creatures in existence next to Nazis. It is a little known fact that when Jesus and the Disciples posed for the painting of the Last Supper that they were all wearing fedoras, pistols, and bullwhips, but that the artist was forced to paint over them by the Illuminati, a well known anti-Christian movement within the Catholic Church, which makes little to no sense.

But I digress.

There are several things wrong with this new film chronicling the adventures of the Son of God. Two of them are unavoidable facts: Marcus Brody is dead, and Sean Connery doesn't act anymore. Except when he makes appearances on SNL, which doesn't really count as acting anyway. The other thing is the inclusion of an actor in the cast who I am loathe to even mention. You might know him as the worst part of TRANS-FORMERS. That's right, Shia LeBoeuf, or however his stupid French name is spelled.

From what I can tell of the plot based on the little bits on IMDb including cast members and search words seems to imply that Indy has a son - probably LeBoef - and that Marion Ravenwood is back. Cast pictures include an older Harrison Ford in his Indiana Jones garb, Karen Allen looking like something more of an archaeologist than a barkeep, and LeBoeuf dressed in jeans and black leathers, which implies to me that he's a biker jerk ala John Travolta in Grease. Hopefully Indy will beat the shit out of him at some point by way of discipline.

Anyway, I must now go spend my football free afternoon doing something. Possibly perusing books or the like, maybe spending some time with Miss K if I can get ahold of her.

EDIT: Originally I had said that Indiana Jones looked like God, and then I remembered that it's Dirty Harry who looks like God, and that Indiana Jones looks like Jesus. My mistake.

Wherein Some Things Are Revealed

Now that I've written that title I'm kind of reconsidering revealing anything. Not that anyone reads this anymore. Hello? Anybody out there? See? Nobody reads this. Makes me wonder why I even bother to remember the password. No matter, it's a place to record my rather odd thoughts and observations for future consideration. Take the Crazy Irish Girl entry for instance: that actual occurrence was really strange and uncomfortable when it was happening, but now it's downright hilarious. Of course, that feeling was somewhat tempered when I thought I saw Crazy Irish Girl at the mall a few weeks ago. I really hate malls. I can rarely find what I'm looking for, unless that something is a cigar or video game, and I end up spending money because I don't want the trip to be a total waste.

Now let's see...revelations...um, well I ended up getting that job for the County and I've been happily working with the survey crew for over two months. Most of the time I don't do any actual surveying because there's a lot of drafting work to be done to get all the various jobs prepped and completed. Even at the lowest levels of engineering in our office (meaning me and the four surveyors) I see how engineering principles are used. I've never really liked the thought of working with buildings and bridges so I kind of wrote off civil engineering as a career, but now that I've had a chance to see what it can be about I'm a little more interested in the field.

What elks? Hmm... didja catch that awesome typo? Yeah, I know. Elks are so cool. Anyway. Ahem. I went to a showing of a local production of "Kiss Me Kate".
You have to promise never to tell anyone, but I love musicals. Except for West Side Story. That's a tale for another day though. Anyway, I love musicals. Especially "Spamalot". I saw it in Chicago with my esteemed cousin Mikie, he who is graced with lower than average social skills. The whole point of going to see "Kiss Me Kate" is that Miss Taylor asked me, or rather told me, to see it because she was a member of the chorus. Miss Taylor is somewhat of an enigma to me, but I think that issue can wait until another post. In the mean time, my bed calls to me. And it's long distance, so the bloody call is getting expensive.

ROLLOUT!

I saw "Transformers: The Movie" on the Fourth. No, seriously. It was good. Shut up. Yes I'm a major dork, dweeb, nerd, geek, etcetera. I really liked it. Of course it wasn't true to the cartoon that I watched when I was about six, but I can barely remember that anyway. The way it was presented made it appealing for anybody who watched it; of course there were the in jokes that referenced the original show such as the "More Than Meets the Eye", and the Volkswagen Beetle sitting next to Bumblebee in the used car lot. Things my movie going companions Mr. Smith, Miss Thomas, and Miss Taylor probably missed, but which drew a small chorus of chuckles from the devotees of the Church of Optimus scattered around the theater.

Optimus Prime is going to kick your ass for not watching the
original TRANSFORMERS when you were a kid, but he will do so
with compassion because you were just a kid then and didn't
understand.

As my cousin Ed(pwninginthehood.net) said,"It was either going to rock or suck, and it rocked my socks off." I agree with that sentiment entirely. I was prepared for disappointment and for my favorite childhood show to be forever ruined, but luckily it did rock. It's not all that often that I'm willing to give such an enthusiastic endorsement to a film, especially one that was adapted from something that I love.

I'm actually glad that they changed a few things. Megatron for example. He was a Walther P-38 handgun in the cartoon and he couldn't even fire himself when he was in his gun mode. Starscream had to carry him around and fire him which wasn't all that great since Starscream was always plotting against Megatron. They did maintain his frickin' giant gun albeit in a different way.

Bumblebee probably wouldn't have done very well against Barricade as a Volkswagen so it was a smart move to have him be something larger and more appealing since he was to have such a big part in the film. Originally, Bumblebee was just a scout and messenger and didn't do much fighting.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. If I were Colonel Tigh, I would give it five shots of scotch out of five.

Unemployed

Well, this is the end of my third week home and I'm still unemployed. A good friend of mine, Mr. R, had a job lined up for me with his construction crew, though that ended up falling through by no fault of his. The other job I've been waiting to hear back from has had me on edge for the past week; waiting with baited breath and pricked ears for a phone call telling me that I've got the job because I'm far more qualified than the other applicant, because he's a wet-behind-the-ears high school kid who won't be able to start full time for almost another month, even though he's willing to work for less than I am.

Argh.

I can honestly say that sometimes I dislike being qualified for a specific job and thus being over qualified for most other jobs. The fact that there are next to no jobs in Michigan right now doesn't help matters. I shouldn't say that exactly; farm labor is always called for, though most Michigan youths are too high-and-mighty to spend the summer working in a field. They'd rather let the migrants and illegal immigrants do the work because they're willing to do that sort of hard labor for little pay. I guess that I might seem to be supporting a double standard, ridiculing those who won't do the work while giving the impression that I won't do it either. Truth is, I have worked in the fields. One summer I picked peaches, and that's hot, hard work. Honest work though. When I get right down to it, I would be willing to pick fruit or asparagus this summer.

I'll find something. Hopefully I'll hear something back by tomorrow.

Dear My Disco,

I had a very enjoyable afternoon and evening today.

After completing my final exam, I got rid of my books and came into a small amount of money as a result. I wandered a bit, trying to locate a driving cap which I have decided will be my hat of choice. Not being able to locate suitable headgear, I journeyed to North Campus and had lunch at the Chinese place one last time before going home. Then I wandered a bit more, trying to find a Spider-Man related birthday present for my little brother Charlie. No success with that unfortunately. Late in the afternoon my pretty lady friend(see earlier post; go find it yourself, I'm lazy) and I got together to finally watch Memento.

This where things started getting fun.

We elected to wander about Ann Arbor instead, having decided that it would be a damn shame to waste such a gorgeous afternoon indoors. We met up with one of her friends after our romp about town and then went to an improv jam and dance session. I just watched, but it was still one of the coolest things I have ever seen. The music was great too, and I think that I will sharpen my improv abilities with my trumpet this summer in hopes of possibly contributing in the fall. After that we went to a local bar and music venue, The Blind Pig, for an EP release party of a local band, My Dear Disco. It was some really cool music. Even my curious lack of rhythm was not hampered by the sheer greatness of the music. We did make it to the party eventually after the show, just in time for it to end.

I had more fun than I thought possible in this sometimes Godforsaken town. The one thing I regret more than classes are the missed opportunities.

Fin!

I know it's little pretentious to use the French version of end, but it's somewhat fitting.

After having my exams worry at me all week, nay all semester, I am finished. The University of Michigan has no hold on me until the fall, when I must return to continue my struggle to overcome that villain, Higher Learning. Tomorrow afternoon, my father will be arriving to help me transport my belongings back to our home in the middle of nowhere. Tonight though, there is a party; my coworkers are gathering for some sort of hullabaloo this evening to celebrate the end of term.

Another update on the state of my studies is forthcoming; stay tuned.

Master and Commander

It is September of 1803 and that vile French dog, Bounaparte, has our forces on the retreat in the Iberian peninsula. Our generals thought to destroy Bounaparte's only stable ally while his forces were engaged against our own allies. The Redcoats and Cavalry are awaiting reinforcement by the elite Lifeguard units, but I fear that they may not last long enough to be supported. The Royal Navy maintains undisputed mastery of the North Atlantic and the Straits of Gibraltar, keeping the French and their Spanish allies in their ports for fear of our gun-crews, but this means little when the French forces need not take to the sea. The situation on the mainland is most discouraging. Our allies have sued for peace with France one after another, and soon it will be only his Majesty's sailors and marines who will be able to stand against Bounaparte.

I'd be scared of the Royal Navy if Russell Crowe were really a captain. He might hit me with a phone or something.

I'm playing the Napoleonic Campaign of CivIII and I'm finding that the French gain this strange advantage when fighting against enemy forces. You see, whenever a military unit attacks them, they gain an amazing +10 billion defense, and whenever they attack another countrie's unit they gain the same amount of attack bonus as defense. This is a very serious concern when attack and defense is normally measured in single digits. Mikie has beaten the campaign as Das Vaterland already, but I am not as ambitious, instead trying my skill with the naval might of Great Britain. I feel the need; the need to read.

Excuse me, I seem to have lost my life...

Would you mind sharing yours with me?

Oh man, that has potential. Sort of a take on the ol' "I've lost my phone number, could I have yours?", but more serious. Hm. Maybe too Emo-ish with the whole death image...

Anyway, a lot of things goin' on right now. Well, not right now. Right now I am wasting my time. Hey, it's not like there's anything better to do at this time of night. But I digress.

Well, it's the end of the last week before Finals, and I'm going to be on pretty shaky ground in most of my classes. German should be fine; I'm enjoying it still, and I'm fairly good at Deutsch sprechen, aber ich bin ein bisschen nervous. Chemistry will require a little studying, but again I'm not terribly worried. Calculus and Programming are different matters entirely. In both I'm confused, and right now I am seriously considering telling my engineering adviser to shove it. Archaeology and Anthropology are looking very nice again, and I really think that I could live with being an archaeologist, even if it never amounts to much.

I'll be moving back home next weekend, back to my comfortable dungeon room(with a view) in the countryside. Oh God, how I miss the country. Dirt roads, trees, corn fields, orchards, fresh air, the stars at night...

Also, a pretty lady friend of mine who I thought was evading my invitation to watch a film together asked me when we were going to watch said film. The only part of this that I find frustrating, other than working with two very different schedules, is that it took until the second to last week of school. Oh well, such is life.

What else is happening? Oh yeah, I'm making a short film for my German class, and making rather heavy use of extras since there's only two people in my group, one of them being me. This is happening tomorrow and also on Saturday. What a weekend it will be.

Until next time, dear friends.

I Am Depressed

Recently I have not been doing very well in my classes. I've been trying to understand my C++ programming class and calculus, but it seems to no avail. This stems from several things:

1. I am a lazy student. Learning has always come very easily; I practically read textbooks by osmosis, but that doesn't always mean that I'm going to understand what I absorb. Because of this, I have never put much effort into practicing things outside of class, rather I refer to examples or wait for the instructor to explain something.

2. I do not ask for help. I am a proud and admittedly somewhat arrogant person, and asking for help would be akin to admitting that I'm wrong, and if you know me, you know that I am never wrong.

3. The University of Michigan has really hard classes. I'm not saying this to scare any of you from later attending "The U", as we fondly call it, I'm merely submitting an observation.

These things considered, I am mad at myself. I'm smarter than this. I am a pretty damn smart person. This has been my failure, and no one else's, and I do not accept failure. I will persevere. The worst part for me, is that I have been complaining to everyone I can and they all seem to have an unshakable faith in me that I obviously do not have in myself. I know why I'm doing; I want pity. I want someone to agree and say, "Yes, you've screwed up." I am making myself sick, both physically with stress and worry, and in the sense that what I'm doing is revolting to me. I don't want your pity.

I don't know what I should do. Yes I do. I should man up and get it over with. If I fail, then I will try again. There's nothing else I can do.

There Was A Drunk Girl In My Bed This Morning

So my friend Rose from high school came to visit my roommate and me for the weekend. Things have been weird. I'm not entirely clear on everything that happened so I'll sum things up and see if I can break it down from there.

First item: There was a really big party in my room consisting of drinking games and general drunkenness. Second: I was being hit on all night by a drunken girl with a pseudo-Irish accent in front of her boyfriend, also drunk. Third: I panicked. Fourth: I kicked ass in Halo. Fifth: drunk girl somehow ended up in my bed halfway through the night, after the party. Sixth: I'm confused. Seventh: I was the only sober person in the room.

Rose and Mike(my roommate) went out on Saturday afternoon after I got back from karate so I bummed around playing video games. Brian from down the hall came down and asked if he could hang around until his friend got back, because his friend had his room key. We decided to play some Halo while we waited and when Brian's friend came down we invited him and his girlfriend to play. There was ownage aplenty, and I emerged victorious by wide margins. When Mike and Rose returned I gave my controller to Rose and just observed. Mike left to visit with his family in Detroit for a few hours. After Halo we played Risk and watched the Ohio State basketball game, and after the game we dispersed.

Now, this is where I think that things started getting weird. Of course, this is where the drinking started too.

Risk and the basketball game took a while of course, so it after 8pm by the time both were over, and Mike was back shortly after that. About that time the Girlfriend, as I shall refer to her, came back down and started chatting with Rose. As I said, this is where the drinking began and the Girlfriend seemed to be more than a little more animated than before and started talking to me and was most definitely flirting. With me, not Rose. While this was an awkward situation in itself, Brian's friend, the Boyfriend(a really nice guy), was in close proximity. The night wore on and the location of the party settled in our room. Girlfriend continued flirting, and I continued being uncomfortable. Boyfriend went back to Brian's room to pass out, and Girlfriend continued to get louder, and more drunk, so I escaped. I got outside, under the pretense of needing to smoke a cigar, and wandered around the park that is a short way from my dorm building. Mike, Rose, Brian and my various other friends from the hall continued playing games, and Mike and Rose more or less covered for me when Girlfriend inquired as to where I had gone.

I came back in after gathering what advice I could, and planted myself in front of my computer. Then I moved to my bed to read; I was more of an observer to the party than an actual participant anyway. Though this move seemed to make sense, it backfired somehow. Apparently drunken Irish girls can climb. So the party started to wind down and we finally got everyone out at about 3am. Mike, Rose and I were all but tucked away into our various accommodations when Girlfriend came back and asked if she could sleep in our room rather than share a bed with her passed out Boyfriend. Being rather gentlemanly fellows, Mike and agreed to let her after trying to convince her that she should go back down to Brian's room, though we didn't have anywhere she could sleep. I offered her my own bed, since I have mad chair sleeping skillz and happened to have a chair handy. She declined, instead wanting to sleep on the floor. My sense of chivalry shut itself off at that point in favor of sleep. However, at some point Girlfriend again proved that inebriated Irish girls can in fact climb and managed to climb into my bunk. I woke up later, apprised the situation and relocated briefly to my chair, and then to the edge of the futon that Rose was sleeping on, figuring that it was better to share a bed with a girl who I have known for years, and who would understand the situation.

Well, in the morning Girlfriend and her Boyfriend left, and Rose left several hours later after we talked about the whole crazy weekend for a while. Not something that I want to repeat.

My most excellent friend Greta, fearing that I would be the subject of stalking, called Girlfriend posing as my girlfriend and attempted to thwart any future stalking. I love her. Greta, I mean. She's such a great person. Even her name is an anagram for great.

Anyway, at the very least I got a humorous story out of everything.

Adjective Noun for a Stronger America!

I was preparing for my engineering lecture this afternoon, looking at the area around my feet to avoid setting my bag down in something distasteful, when I noticed a newspaper that someone had cast down to the floor. The reason that it had taken up residence on the floor, to be trodden under my booted heels, was because on the front cover was an article covering the 2008 presidential campaign. Yes, 2008. It is currently, let me see, March of 2007, and we're preparing to cover yet another episode of political travesty a year in advance.

The picture above this article showed two students: one male student wearing a Barack Obama t-shirt, and a female student sporting a Hilary Clinton sticker. While I didn't read the whole article the gist is that it was about the students in the picture, who were starting groups in support of the aforementioned Democratic contenders for the Presidency. Needless to say, there was politicking aplenty.

Now, here's something that I don't really understand about American politics: we have individual elections within our political parties to decide which figurehead is most appealing to the supporters of the party, thereby alienating the members of the party who the candidate doesn't appeal to. Some of these alienated voters move to another party, or just they just don't vote. It has been documented in our political past that when the different candidates cause enough of a split in voters, the party will fracture; Abraham Lincoln was elected because his opposition had split into several mini parties, none of which could control enough votes.

Our major political parties, the Republicans and and the Democrats, have been the powerhouses in American politics for years. None of the small parties can gain enough support to have a serious effect on the two main parties. The main parties are not truly conservative or liberal anymore instead, we have two parties of moderates with vaguely liberal and conservative leanings who want basically the same thing: control over the American people.

Which leads me to the point of this rather long winded post: I am going to start a new party.

I know that I said that small parties have little to no effect on the elections, but that's because they appeal to special interests, and not many people vote for special interest groups. So, we need to follow the proven formula of the Republicans and Democrats and remain fairly moderate on all issues, until we get into office when we can reveal our true agenda! "But Joey," you're saying, "when did 'I' become 'we'?". Um. Good question. I just kind of, you know, assumed that since you read my blog that you might be interested in, you know, helping me get elected so I can, sort of, overthrow the government and take over the world.
Please? I'll give you a good job, a nice office, and a small country....

Remember, vote Imperialist! For war, against needless spending! Global Domination for a Stronger America!

Also, Greta says "Hi".

The British Are Coming!!

So I was playing Dawn of War this weekend because I didn't any major St. Patrick's Day plans. Well, I did, but they fell through, and that's another story. Anyway, I was playing along, directing my forces against the Forces of Chaos in the name of the Immortal Emperor, when I made an observation: Space Marines have British accents, as do Chaos Marines, Orks, and Eldar. And the goddamn Imperial Guard. Then I got to thinking about what kinds of accents science fiction empires usually have...And you know what? They're almost all British!! Which other science fiction empire has British accents you ask? The Imperials for one!!! Sith always have British accents. All of the Imperial officers have more or less British accents. Hell, even most of the Rebels have British accents! Why is it that fictional empires have British accents? Even the Spartans in "300" had more than a hint of a British accent. And they're not even fictional!! More or less.

This begs the question: Is there some elaborate scheme to make British-English the language of the future, and space by extension? Are we being warned by a resistance movement that the British are plotting against the rest of us? It's entirely possible, and I'm paranoid enough to believe it. I advise you to stay on your guard against these forces of tyranny, oppression, and curry.

Stay tuned for more exciting, and possibly more coherent, posts later this week!

FOR TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL!!!

Okay, so perhaps this isn't the most original topic to post about, seeing as the movie came out last week and everything, but it's all I've got.

Mike, Brian, and I decided to brave the elements(such as they are) and we went to one of the local theaters. One that happens to have an I-Max screen. Oh, it was glorious.

I must confess that I haven't read the graphic novel that corresponds to the film, but I fully intend to make it my next purchase at Borders. Frank Miller has produced some amazing comics, and the movie adaptations have been great so far. I've always enjoyed Greek history, and seeing the Battle of Thermopalyae adapted in this way was pretty cool. The visual style was very much like that of Sin City, with the film being described in shades more than in colors. My compatriots were also very impressed with the movie, though more for the number of nude women and vengeful killings than for style elements and interpretations. The recurring theme of freedom not being free speaks very deeply to me; I believe that we should be willing to fight for what we have. However, to prevent this from becoming my personal political soap box, I'm going to avoid that topic.

All in all, I think it was very well done, and I would gladly go see it again. I would probably give a rating of 4.5 out of 5 ninja stars.

Hey, you know what's cool? This is the first time I've said "300" in this whole post. Damn, I wish I was a better writer.

This parrot is no more!

Well, I have a blog now. So what shall I write about?

I guess I could tell you about myself a little, even though the only people reading this will probably be my friends.

I'm a 19 year old freshman at the University of Michigan in the College of Engineering. When I'm not in class feeling vastly intellectually inferior to my peers, I enjoy reading, gaming, walking, good movies, and talking to my friends. At my home in the countryside of southwest Michigan I enjoy many of the same activities, and in addition I like to work on my dad's classic cars, and spend time with my younger brother. I am a First degree black belt in Sanchin-Ryu karate and I frequently refer to myself as a ninja. I am very pessimistic and cynical, and more than a little prone to procrastination. My social life is slowly dying as a result of atrophy, and I have never had a meaningful relationship with the fairer sex, which sometimes serves as fuel for short bouts of depression. Generally though, I am fairly easy going and easy to get along with.

Well, I'll try to work out a good topic for a post later this week.