I just got back the paper I wrote on "Frame of Mind". Even though I didn't start writing it until nearly midnight and didn't come up with the topic until I had watched a "Star Trek: The Next Generation" video I just bought, I made an A. Papers like this convince me that I really am in the right field of study. I didn't try at all. I procrastinated beyond the realm of human comprehension. I was sleep-deprived while writing it and yet somehow I still produced a well-written, college-level paper.
I just got Final Fantasy 3 (US) for the Super Nintendo. The humor here is that I don't own a Super Nintendo. I've been looking for this game for over a year. Tonight, I found it at Rhino Video Games. Furthermore, it's still in the box with the manual and map. Someday, I suppose I'll get around to getting a Super Nintendo.
I just got back from All You Can Eat Pork Night at Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q. Right now, my heart is screaming for mercy. Oink.
I don't think I could ever be the guy of anyone's dreams. The most I can hope for is that someday a young woman will say to herself of me, "Well, he seems really sincere. And he makes me laugh..."
I just used the proceeds from selling back my speech textbook to finance the purchase of a Super Nintendo. I got a new Super Nintendo with a Tetris game for $49.98 at Toys R Us. That's only ten dollars more than what it would have cost me to buy a used SNES with no game. Even funnier, at Toys R Us, I had the option of either buying the Super Nintendo set with no game for $49.99 or buying the set I got for a penny less. It was a hard decision.
I just had quite a conversation with Lisa. It was one of the most honest conversations we've ever had. I enjoyed it immensely. I feel totally at peace with my life right now, and I think I'll go to bed on that note. Lisa is a truly remarkable person, and I really don't deserve the honor of calling someone as special as her my friend.
Chef Rusty is at it again. Today, I made a London Broil roast. I added some jumbo portabello mushrooms and fresh eggplant. I let the whole thing roast slowly in the oven for about two hours. These wonderful juices had cooked out of the meat, covering the mushrooms and eggplant. Everything was all nice and tender. I love cooking, and sometimes I amaze myself.
I went Christmas shopping today. It was a lot of fun. I found Eric and Jen's presents very quickly. I knew of two things that I wanted to get Lisa. One of them I had to search around for. I wanted to find just the right thing. Allyson was kind of hard to buy for. I had to wander around until I came up with an idea, and then I had to actually find the present I thought of. I just spent the past couple of hours getting Lisa's other present ready. I have been creative.
I just got done chatting with Misty, a young woman who stumbled onto my web site. I truly enjoyed the conversation.
I am currently in the midst of Paper Hell. I have to have twelve pages of writing done by tomorrow, followed by another five to seven pages due on Thursday. The good news, however, is that I'm running ahead of schedule. I'm almost certainly going to finish my papers on time now. Plus, if the other papers I have to write tonight go as well as the other one did, then I might actually get to go to sleep.
Paper number two is complete. I only need two more pages from paper number three to meet my quota.
I finally finished the first salvo of end-of-semester papers. I handed in my cultural studies paper by 10:00 in the morning yesterday and spent the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing that could be considered academic. Now, I've got the entire weekend for pleasure. The new Star Trek movie comes out today, and I am psyched. (I even wore my Next Generation tie to work today.) I'm going to go see it at 1:00, the first available showing.
I was involved with a non-accident today. As I was pulling out of my parking space at Barnes and Noble, a getleman pulled right in behind me. I didn't stop. Our cars collided while traveling at a very low speed. I pulled back into the space and took a look at the cars. Neither car had any damage done to them. The other driver got out. He was a foreign fellow with an Eastern European accent. He seemed to fervently believe that there was something dented or scratched or something. There wasn't. He went into the grocery store there in the shopping plaza and got his wife. She didn't see any damage either. He wanted to call the police. After about the tenth time he said that I told him that if he wanted to call the police, he should go ahead and do that because they would just tell him that there was no damage to the cars and that there was nothing they could do. His wife thought calling the police was a bit extreme. I gave them my name, phone number, and tag number. She said that they were going to talk to a mechanic and see if there was anything wrong. I said that I understood. She asked, "If we call you up, will you deny that this happened?" I told her that I wouldn't deny that I hit their car while backing out of a space. "But," I said, "I will deny vehemently that there is any damage." Other than that, I got all of my presents wrapped today for the Christmas mini-party in Lisa and Allyson's room. I also baked a cake (chocolate cake with chocolate icing) for everyone's enjoyment.
I just got back from the Christmas party upstairs. Everyone ate my cake. I had none left. Lisa made me a Christmas ornament. It's a little gator thingy. It's really cool. She also gave me a YakBack that has her saying, "Shut up, Rusty. You're the coolest," in case I ever start feeling down on myself. Allyson got me a set of crayons that came with a Crayola CD-ROM. I just stopped myself from playing with that. It has a really nifty trivia game, and the questions are actually hard. It also came with a screen saver which I immediately installed. Jen got me a Precious Moments coloring book to go with my crayons. I love those little Precious Moments children. They totally freak me out. She also got me this book of blank paper with Precious Moments stuff on it. It's kind of funny because I was discussing right before we opened presents how I was looking for stationary to write on instead of Christmas cards. I got a cup full of various chocolate candies from April. I like chocolate. I think the best part of the entire party was when Lisa saw her jar of Lucky Charms marshmallows that I hand-separated. (She eats all of the cereal pieces out of Lucky Charms because she likes the marshmallows too much. She wants to save them. And she does...until they turn stale.) Right behind that was when Allyson got her squirrel stuffed animal that I had gotten her. She doesn't like squirrels. She calls them "rats with bushy tails" and wants to kick them. I had made a little sign for the squirrel to hold that said, "kick me". She screeched when she took it out of the gift bag. To round things up, I'll say that I got Eric the new South Park album and Jen her very own copy of "Billy Madison". (She borrows my copy all the time.) I really had fun. It's nice to have friends.
This morning I had to admit to myself that a pair of jeans that i own are no longer fit to wear. You see, they no longer have a crotch. If I continued wearing them, I would have to start coordinating my boxers with the rest of my clothing, and that would just be weird. This exclusion throws off my delicate jeans balance, and that means I must go buy a new pair of jeans. Furthermore, I really should do this today. I hate shopping for jeans.
I just had a rather interesting conversation with Misty. She's a girl who found my web site not so long ago and e-mailed me about it. Since that time, I have talked to her using AOL IM, and she has e-mailed me. (One of those little things that just kind of slips right below the notice of the update page.) Today, while we were chatting, she told me, "I like the person I know through the words I'm reading." That's the kind of thing that just kind of blows you off-center. She had to go to work, ending our conversation shortly after that. However, we have agreed to chat again tomorrow.
When I went to work this morning, I found out that most of the state offices are shutting down in honor of our state governor Lawton Chiles' funeral. The registrar's office where I work will be running on a skeleton crew. I will also be there for two hours since my position as an OPS student assistant is unaffected by the regulation.
I just received very good news. Because of the official day of mourning over the governor, my religion final is due a day later than it would have been, freeing me from my computer for the evening. I hope to do one of the questions tonight before I go to sleep so I won't have to work so hard tomorrow, but that's is not definite at all. I also got my grade on my last paper for my cultural studies class. I made an A on it and also for the entire course even though I was nearly comatose when I wrote my paper. My instructor said of my paper, "I like this final paper very much. It's an excellent, and supportive reading of de Certeau's position, which very appropriately compares his point to the work of Levinas." I was quite happy. I also took my Public Speaking final tonight. After getting the grade to my last speech, I realized that there's absolutely no way I could make an A in that course. It's kind of a question of B+ or B now.
My life just got even better. My religion professor just gave us the option to not do the final and just take our current grade. He has me down for an A. My response to him was "Call me crazy, Dr. Mueller, but I think I'll take the A for the course and put away my textbooks. May I also be among the first to bless your name. Hallowed be the name of Jim Mueller."
Misty called me last night at about 1:00. We talked for about an hour. It was an interesting conversation. Things would roll along rather swifty for minutes a time, and then they would suddenly come to a screeching halt. It took me about fifteen minutes to actually get off the phone and start getting ready for bed. I'm kind of tired today.
Well, I just found out about intersession housing here on campus during Christmas break, and I made the decision to go home and commute the 75 miles to work. You see, I would be paying forty dollars to live in a lounge with two other people. No phone...No locks...No. That means I'll be getting up some time around five in the morning to get dressed and make it here by eight o'clock. Not exactly a fun prospect, but I'm sure I and my credit card company will be pleased with my full-time paychecks. Plus, I just like my job.
I just had the honor of making a mushroom omelette for Lisa and Jen. I personally don't think it was much of an omelette because most of the ingreedients were frozen. However, they said they enjoyed it. They did the dishes afterwards which made me feel like a total bum. They kept saying, "But you cooked!" That frying pan was really bad, though. It had eggs stuck to it all over the place. I was, however, very happy to feel useful.
In appreciation for making them food earlier in the day, Lisa and Jen had me upstairs for dinner. It was really neat. Lisa made keilbasa again, and Jen made corn with lots of butter. April added some crescent rolls to the meal. It was so nice. They even had me say the blessing before the meal. It felt so great—like a family. I feel so lucky to have friends like that.
I just got in from work, and there was no one online. This saddened me. I don't know who I expected to be at their computer. I guess it was just the foolish hope that maybe the girl of my dreams was sitting at her computer just waiting for me to come online so she could say, "Hi, Rusty! Would you like to go have dinner tonight?"
Misty and I just had a conversation in which we both decided that we should take things slowly and learn to be friends before we worry about romance.
Well, I made it back to Jasper. I got here at about 11:00 this morning. I won't be online any time soon, but I will be checking e-mail about one per day if you want to contact me. This evening I went to see my sister perform in a church Christmas play over in Keystone Heights. I didn't get back until after eleven o'clock. I'm really tired now. I've been on the road for about about four-and-a-half hours today when you total everything up. I'm going to bed just as soon as I can get something to drink.
Well, I'm up before the sun today to get ready for my long commute to work. Last night, our church had the Christmas program. My nephew Stephen was an unhappy shepherd. He didn't like the turban on his head. One of the angels was just the cutest. She was probably about three, and she was one of the happiest children I've ever seen. Anytime there was music, she was dancing. She also had some of the cutest facial expressions. In my opinion, she really stole the show.
The other night, Misty came up with a really cute idea. We could both watch the Jacksonville Jaguars/Minnesota Vikings game, and that way we would kind of be doing something "together" even though we're half a country apart. For some reason, though, I thought that it was the Monday Night game this week. I missed it. It was a cute idea, though.
I just got in from work not so long ago. The major bummer about working in Gainesville and living in Jasper is the really long drive to and from work - about seventy-five miles. I'm learning all sorts of neat things at work, though. This week, I've been trained on fielding phone calls and processing offline transcript requests. If I keep this up, I'll become an expert in registrar procedures. Today was our office Christmas party. I brought a chocolate cream pie that I bought at the grocery store because between commuting to and from Gainesville and e-mailing Misty every evening I didn't really have time to practice my culinary skills. I did most of my Christmas shopping yesterday, finishing it this evening before I left Gainesville. While shopping for my nephew at Rhino Video Games, I saw a Sega Dreamcast on display. It looked sweet. Imagine playing a video game with the visual quality as a full-motion video on the Playstation. My only beef about the system is that the controller is just too big. I also found myself a present at Rhino - a copy of "Castlevania 2" still in the original box for a mere three dollars.
Well, Christmas came to the Haskell home. I got some really cool stuff. My parents got me a turtle lamp with a tiffany lamp shade shell. The shell is mostly blue and purple. I love it. They also got me a Star Trek watch. Instead of a second hand, it has a little Enterprise that orbits the watch face. I can also make it play the original series theme song with the press of a button. My mom also found a cream-colored cardigan for me. My Granny gave me a tin of cookies. I've already been eating more of them than I should. My six-year-old nephew gave me a cherry scented candle and a candle holder to go with it. He picked it out himself. My sister Renda couldn't figure out what to get me so she gave me a Wal-Mart gift card with ten dollars on it. My brother and sister-in-law gave me a pair of warm socks and a little bit of money to spend as I please. I think the best part about Christmas, though, was seeing my nephew open up his present. I gave him "Super Mario Brothers 2" and "Super Mario Brothers 3" for his Nintendo. When he opened them, he exclaimed, "MARIO GAMES!!! NEW MARIO GAMES!!! THANK YOU, RUSTY!" Then, he ran up to me and hugged my legs. It was really cute.
Jessi came by today and gave me a Christmas present. It was a really cute little bookmark and an MC Escher postcard. I was so grateful that she remembered me. I also felt incredibly guilty that I haven't gotten her anything as of yet. It was hard to look at Jessi without remembering last Christmas when I had to finally realize that Jessi was never going to love me no matter how much I loved her. It's also hard to look at her without regretting all the things that I never told her. Of course, the whole thing with Lisa showed me that saying how you feel can leave you with just as many regrets. I honestly don't think I can win.
Today, I discovered some fun video game rumors while perusing my various Internet sources. Enix is rumoured to be discussing the release of "Dragon Quest 7" on the Playstation. (That series is better known as Dragon Warrior in the US.) The original "Dragon Warrior" for Nintendo is still one of my favorite games ever. I also read that "Final Fantasy 5" should be released on Playstation in either fall or winter of 1999. As usual, I don't know how much stock to put in these rumors, but they bring some excitement to me anyway. In other non-related news, I used my Christmas money to buy my very own copy of "Sleepless in Seattle", which is arguably the best romantic comedy ever and certainly the best Meg Ryan movie ever made.
I just got done writing a very detailed e-mail to Misty about my views on kissing. She shocked me the other day by writing on her web page "the next man I kiss will be my husband". That sounded really extreme to me and totally foreign to my thinking. I asked for clarification and got it. In my response tonight, I said that a kiss is "a way to say, 'I love you,' without the need for words"; but, of course, it can't be that simple. I don't think anything can be more earth-shaking than someone telling you, "I love you."
I got the Rammstein CD today. I got the version without the English tracks because I wanted to be sure and get their cover of "Stripped" which is a hidden track on the CD I bought. I think the thought of a grown man growling in German really terrifies me somehow and that's why I like the album so much.
In case you haven't realized, I've had problems accessing my FTP server the past few days. The updates for the appropriate days have been saved on my hard drive as I wrote them, and today I was finally able to post.
Tell me you wouldn't saw off your right arm to be Christian Slater. Go ahead.
I neglected to mention that I might be on national television. CNN wants to tape a segment on ISIS, the Internet registration system at the University of Florida. They wanted to find a couple of students who had extensive experience using ISIS, and one of the department heads in our area thought I would make a fine representative. The other day, a guy from public relations at the University called me and asked me a few questions. Right now, the plan is to film the segment sometime on the afternoon of January the 6th. When I told the gentleman from public relations that I lived in the dorm and used my own personal computer to access ISIS, he asked if it would be possible to film part of the segment in my dorm room. I didn't figure Eric would have any problems with that so I agreed to it. Of course, we're not really sure exactly how CNN wants to do the segment so the whole thing is still kind of up in the air. In other unrelated news, Misty is going to be calling me in about forty-five minutes to ring in the new year over the phone. I just hope I can keep my eyes open. After all, I did get up at five o'clock this morning.