Jen and I just got done watching a movie together. We watched "The Truth About Cats and Dogs". Then we spent the next few hours just talking about stuff. Jen is so much fun to talk to. There are very few people in this world who I feel I can tell anything. Jen is one of those people. That's why she's special.
I just finished my paper for my Romantic Literature class. It was only allowed to be two pages. Have you any idea how difficult it is for me to say anything in two pages or less?
Sony has officially annouced the PlayStation2, set to debut in 2000. It will be totally backward compatible, and I will buy one the first day it comes to North America. It's going to use DVD as its storage medium, but Sony has made no official announce on whether or not it will be able to play DVD movies. I don't see any reason why Sony wouldn't allow this feature. It would only increase the money they would make. I can hardly wait for this new console.
I just got done doing an utterly mindless but humorous paper for my sociology class. This paper is only worth a meager five percent of my final grade. I laugh at it. Of couse, I could pretty much accomplish the same thing by just not turning in a paper, but it's so much more fun this way.
I just found a copy of "Donkey Kong" for the Nintendo. I've been on a quest to find it for my nephew for weeks now. Rhino Video Games over on Archer Road finally got a copy. It set me back by ten dollars, but it will make my nephew oh so happy.
Today at work, I was offered full-time hours for the summer. I accepted immediately. This way I get to stay in Gainesville and make money without having to take classes. I also got my network signon at work today, but they still have to set me up to access the network drives. Work is going well.
Jen and Allyson just came downstairs and watch "Ghostbusters" with me. They both fell asleep - Jen on my bed and Allyson on Eric's bed. They finally woke up when the VCR made the loud "I've-stopped-rewinding-now" noise. Girls make me laugh.
I just looked at myself in the mirror and actually thought that I was cute. The pupils in my eyes, being ready for nighttime, have dilated a bit, making them somewhat more open and friendly. My hair is in a nice balance between gelled and natural, falling around the edges of my face but still quite dark. The color of my hair is complementing the green in my eyes. The proto-goatee that I've been growing of late adds some shadow to round out my face. There are some scars and blemishes on my face. It's not like I don't see the flaws; it's just that they all smooth and fade into the rest in the nighttime lighting, making me seem real somehow. My clothes just seem to work with the whole scene - faded denim jeans...black Final Fantasy 7 t-shirt...socked feet...I kind of wish I could meet a girl tonight. Just so she could see that I can be cute. Or maybe I'm just seeing now what other people have seen in the past. This may seem totally stupid, but I'm kind of afraid to change into my pajama gear. It's almost like I don't want to break the spell or something. I want this to stay with me.
The strangest thing just happened to me. I was walking back from the Area Office where I had gone to pick up my mail after work. As I was walking toward my dorm, I saw Lisa running in my general direction. My first thought was "Is Lisa running to be athletic or something?" Then, I noticed that she was wearing jeans, making the athletic possibility highly unlikely. In the next second after that, I realized that Lisa wasn't just running in my direction. She was running toward me. She hugged me and wished me a happy Spring Break. It was really sweet. I also got to meet her brother for the first time.
I just got back from being out and having fun. Allyson was still here tonight. It seems that her ride home for Spring Break was delayed until tomorrow, leaving her here for the evening. As I was chatting with her, she started to get really upset and down. It made me so sad to see her like that so I told her that she and I were going to go do something fun. I took her to Rafferty's with her friend Kelly and bought her dinner. Then we went over to Kelly's place and played rummy for a few hours. (Kelly won.) It was quite fun.
This evening, I beat the two weapons that were added to the American version of "Final Fantasy 7". Actually, I didn't just beat them. I destroyed them. I set up Vincent with a set of materia that included the following: a Master Summon materia linked with HP Absorb, a Knights of the Round materia linked with MP Absorb, a W-Summon materia, a Counter Command materia linked with Mime, and finally a Final Attack materia linked with Revive just in case they got in a lucky attack. Those of you familiar with FF7 will realize that I could cast Knights of the Round an unlimited number of times thanks to the Master Summon materia and, everytime I did, I would go back to full magic points and life. Also, everytime Vincent got hit he would mime his last attack. I started both battles with two summons of Knights of the Round and just mimed from there. If (such as was the case in the battle against Emerald Weapon) one of the other characters messed up the chain of miming by counter attacking, then I just cast the spell again. To eliminate this problem and ensure the utter destruction of Ruby Weapon, I had Vincent kill off the other two party members and just take on Ruby by himself. I feel quite powerful right now. (I apologize to those of you who don't like video games. That update was probably very boring to you.)
This afternoon, I got a used N64 and a copy of "Castlevania". I got the system for $89.99, saving me about forty dollars when compared with the price of a new system. As soon as I clean my room up a bit, I'm going to hook up my new video game console and play some "Castlevania".
Only thirty minutes into the game, "Castlevania" had me yelling at the television/N64 in frustration. This is a great game and a worthy heir to the Castlevania series. You know what just occured to me? The first game that I bought for the Playstation was "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night". I started off both of my next generation consoles with Castlevania games.
I just got to talk to Jen for a few minutes on AOL IM. It was really nice to hear from her.
I just thoroughly confused myself by putting my pen in my left pocket. Usually, I keep my pen in my right pocket with my keys. I just spent about ten or fifteen minutes looking for my pen - only to discover it in my other pocket. I feel like an idiot.
I just got off the phone with Allyson. She broke up with Eric. She called me from her home to tell me. I had already gone to bed when she called. I had to get up and find the phone in the dark. I actually missed her first call. She called back though, and I'm so glad that she did. She and I had been talking about things a lot lately. I've really been praying for her. If the thoughts in this update aren't quite connecting, it's because I'm blown so completely off-center. I talked to her for about an hour. I should have called her back so she didn't have all the long-distance on her phone bill. I so absolutely adore Allyson. I guess I admire her even more because once she realized that her relationship with Eric wasn't ever going anywhere she had the strength to call it off. There are like a thousand thoughts running through my brain right now, and I'm not quite sure what to write. I hope that somewhere along the line Allyson finds a guy who makes her feel as special as she is. I just hope that things aren't too weird now. I don't want to lose Allyson just because she and Eric aren't seeing each other anymore. She means a lot to me. She's a truly amazing girl.
I just got done chatting with Eric on AOL IM. He's still kind of in shock, but he also realizes that things are working out for the better. I really need to get to bed now. I've got work at 8:00.
I just got back from Taco Bell. I had intended to use Star 69 to get Allyson's number so I could call her and see how she was holding up when I got back. Unfortunately, someone had called while I was gone, eliminating my ability to procure her home phone number. I like to say that it's the thought that counts, but somehow thinking about calling and actually calling are two very different things.
This has been a very lonely evening. I think I should just go to bed now. I'm tired of being awake and alone.
I did nothing today. I worked, came home, chatted with Eric, ate pasta salad, played "Castlevania", talked to Richard, and now I'm going to bed. Truly a swinging Spring Break, no?
Richard and I ate at Taco Bell tonight, and then I hung out over at the apartment for a while. He programmed in C++ while I played my Castlevania game on George's N64. Then, I convinced Richard to give Pokemon a try. I spent the next hour or so watching him play. Then I came home. Isn't my life exciting?
Today at work, we found out that my supervisor who had taken maternity leave has decided to quit work to be a stay-at-home mommy. I think that's really sweet. Also, my housing form finally came in the mail today. Now Eric, Jason, Randy, and I begin our quest to get in to the Apartment Residence Facility for next year. I hope it won't be too difficult.
My N64 controller just decided to do a very naughty thing. I had been playing "Castlevania" since I got in from work. I kept trying to go through this garden maze where three invincible enemies were chasing me while I was trying to protect a small boy. I finally made it through that part, but then I had to backtrack through the maze again to save my game and continue my quest. Unfortunately, on my way back through the maze, the controller decided that I should always move down and to the right. If I moved the stick up and to the left, my character just stood still. If I didn't hold the analog stick at all, then he would always move down and to the right, making him run in a little circle. As a result of this, I died.
I just added two new images to the Images Archive - a South Park version of me and a picture of what an evil version of me might look like.
I just had dinner with my parents and my nephew at Boston Market. They came to Gainesville just to have dinner with me.
I just scored a copy of the original Castlevania game for the NES for the paltry sum of two dollars. I was quite pleased with myself.
I just added and edited a few items to the Me At a Glance page.
It's a beautiful grey and rainy day. It has been thundering all morning, and the sun just isn't shining. I love rainy days. Eric made his way back to Gainesville at either two or three in the morning. I heard him come in, and I looked at him (as I always do when someone opens the door while I'm sleeping). I just couldn't convince my brain to wake up enough to say something to him.
After going to Taco Bell to eat tacos, Eric and I stopped at CD Warehouse. I got Primus' Rhinoplasty and Tool's Opiate. Those are the first CDs I've bought in a while.
It has been a good evening. It's great to have everyone back after that somewhat lonely Spring Break.
I had a presentation to do today in my Contemporary American Literature course. It was on Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. I talked about Morrison's re-naming of people/places/objects from a Levinasian perspective. I had a lot of questions and class discussion after my presentation. If I ever doubt that I want to teach, all I have to do is get in front of a class and just do it. Then, I know that I'm on the right track. Even if somehow all my plans were called into question and grad school became iffy, I think I'd still have to get my teaching certification and just teach in high school. When I'm standing up there, I just know that it's right.
My former supervisor brought her new baby in to work today. When she brought her over to my desk, the baby started just smiling and laughing at me. It was so cute. I, of course, proceeded to make a total idiot of myself for the baby's amusement, making faces and talking to her in a high-pitched voice. Only a couple months old and she's already a flirt...
Tonight, I went upstairs to Jen and April's room to watch "Interview with the Vampire". Sadly, neither Allyson nor Lisa was able to watch the movie with us because they had too much homework. I really love that movie, though. In other news, I'm going to go see Everclear in Jacksonville this weekend with Jen, Allyson, and Lisa. I think that sounds like a lot of fun, and I can hardly wait. I'm not really a huge Everclear fan or anything, but I just think that the evening will be a really enjoyable event.
I just went over to the ARF office with Eric, Allyson, and Lisa to get a number for sign-up tomorrow. While we were over there, Lisa struck up a conversation with some guy that she had just met the night before. Allyson and I just sat around laughing at her. I swear that Lisa doesn't meet any strangers.
Well, we all went and signed up for ARF today. We are in room 302 of Building 5. The girls are on the first floor of Building 4. All of the girls have signed up now, but Jason still hasn't signed up for our apartment. That's because he won't be able to sign up until Tuesday. I hope that no one takes the fourth slot. We have his name penciled in. If someone is jerkish enough to take the fourth slot of a room of four people, then they totally suck. If someone does that, I guarantee you that I will make his life Living Hell. After room signup, Jen and I went to Checkers to have lunch. We sat there talking for about an hour after we finished eating. I feel certain we would have spent the entire afternoon talking just like that, but Jen decided to be a good girl and go to class.
Tonight, I got a new pair of over-sized pajamas and Vittorio the Vampire, the newest Vampire Chronicle. My pajamas are striped, and I believe that they are dark green. (Actually, it confuses my color blind eyes. I suppose it could be brown, but somehow dark green would make more sense.) In other news, it seems that Jason is mad at me about the Everclear concert. You see, he asked me a few days before if I wanted to go, but I told him that I didn't—primarily because I felt out of the loop with the whole thing. I didn't find out about it until it was kind of an afterthought. Or at least that's how I perceived it. I was probably wrong. Then, Jen asked me to go with her, Allyson, and Lisa. I accepted—not because I'm a huge Everclear fan or anything...I just thought it sounded like fun when Jen asked me. So anyway, I hadn't heard from Jason in a couple days, and I was concerned. I e-mailed him and asked him if he was upset with me. I heard nothing. So then I was talking to Richard and he told me that Jason was upset about the Everclear concert. I immediately wrote Jason an e-mail apologizing. I guess I was kind of a jerk. I just don't like it when people that matter are upset with me. I've known Jason since my first year here at UF. Hopefully, he'll e-mail me back or something.
I just got done sending truly apologetic e-mails to both Jason and George. I've been crying. I so hate it when I hurt one of my friends. I mean, I'm not an easy person to get to know. Those people who I do allow to get to know me are really important to me. While I was writing these e-mails, Jen got into something like a fight with Chris (her boyfriend) and got really upset. So here I was trying to write responses to Jason and George, crying, and trying to console Jen through a chat window. To top it all off, I've been on kind of an emotional roller coaster lately. (I told Jen that I think I have PMS.) Thankfully, Allyson came back online and chatted with me. She just listened to me, and that helped more than you can imagine. Now I think I should head off to dream land. Hopefully, I'll have some happy ones.
I just now realized as I was re-reading the e-mail that I sent Jason that at one point I said, "Eric breaking up with Allyson" instead of the other way around. I'm an idiot. I guess crap like that happens when you're tired and emotional. When I got up, I had a response from George in my inbox. I was happy about that.
The update page has become too unweildy to be contained in a single file. Expect it to be archived to separate files this weekend. Every HTML editing program that I've opened it in just kind of throws up its hands and says, "This file is too big!" The design of the page will probably stay the same. Unless it doesn't. Nevertheless, you can always expect the same personal quality and spirit of openness.
We just got back from Jacksonville. We decided to spend the night at Jen's brother Josh's room there on campus at the University of North Florida. That campus is so beautiful. The concert was great. The first band was called Sonichrome, and they just totally sucked. I laughed at them the whole time. The next band was Jimmy's Chicken Shack, and actually they were pretty good. They were almost metal yet not. Everclear was amazing (and I'm not even a big Everclear fan). Art (lead singer/guitarist dude) really interacted well with the crowd. After the concert, we returned to Josh's room and sat around for the longest time. Allyson was so extremely tired. We all finally fell asleep while watching "Police Academy" at like three this morning. I never really did quite get to sleep because I just couldn't get comfortable on the floor. I got up at around seven and cleaned myself up and read some more of Vittorio the Vampire. Allyson woke up at about eight, and we sat around whispering to each other until we decided to take a walk around the campus. We ended up over on this little pier that overlooked a lake. We stood there talking to each other for like three hours. It was so much fun. It totally made up for the fact that I had only had about eight hours of fitful sleep in the past two days. I tried calling Jason when I got in, but he doesn't seem to be around anywhere. I hope he's not still mad/mad again. I'm not sure I could handle that so soon.
Last night just continued the positive trend that it had started with. I went to Rafferty's with Jason, Richard, and Eric. After eating a wonderful meal, we went to Publix for coffee stuff and dessert (Boston Cream Cake). We played a game of Uno. (I lost, but it didn't matter. My day was just going so well, and I was still having fun.) After a short N64 break during which George came home early from work, we decided to play another game of Uno. This time, I won. I rarely win at any sort of competitive game. I kept saying that when I got home I expected to have won the Nobel Prize and probably also a sweepstakes of some sort. Of course, that didn't happen; but, when I sat in front of my computer, I had Lisa chatting with my away message on AOL IM and three e-mails—one from Allyson, one from Jen, and one from Lisa. (On a more serious note, gang, I want to mention that Lisa's e-mail was about her Swedish grampa who is sick. He's not doing so well right now, and she asked me if I'd pray for her. I decided that I would also mention it on the update page so that those of you with a religious inclination could also pray for him. I've never met the guy, but everything Lisa says about him makes him sound like a really cool old dude. The ladies upstairs have all met him, and they have nothing but good things to say.) I chatted with Lisa for a while as I replied to Allyson's e-mail, and then I went to bed. I fell asleep within like five minutes of hitting the bed. That never happens to me. Of course, I was exhausted.
I've been coloring in my Precious Moments coloring book with my 64 Box of Crayola Crayons. Coloring is always so soothing to me. It relaxes my mind. It's also a rather interesting experience because I'm color blind. I try combinations of colors that I think will work together. Sometimes they do. Often they don't. For example, tonight I colored a little boy's shirt Wild Strawberry and his pants Olive Green. I don't think that worked so well together.
Jen, Allyson, and Lisa just came downstairs to color and take a break from homework. It was really cool having them all over. Allyson colored a picture of Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robbins all the wrong colors. Then when she finished that she started sketching my N64 controller, a pencil, and part of a hanger. Lisa was coloring a Precious Moments picture to send to her friend Chrissy. Jen colored one of the pictures in one of my Halloween coloring books.
I went a couple of places tonight. First, I went to Baskin Robbins with Allyson and Jen. I had a mocha blast, leaving me wired for the next few hours. Then I went over to ARF with Jason to pick up a number. He is the first guy to go tomorrow—number three. (One and two were girls he let go ahead of him.) He is guaranteed a spot. We just hope that no one has taken his specific spot. I've been really emotional tonight, but it has been emotional in a very positive way. I think I should go to bed now. I going to ARF with Jason tomorrow, and then we're going out for breakfast. I'm already going to be really tired.
Someone took Jason's spot in ARF. Jason was, however, lucky enough to get a room in ARF. On check-in day, Hell awaits. This guy will wish that his mother and father had never conceived him. He will move out.
I just spent the past three and a half hours chatting with Allyson on AOL IM. I have laughed more than any normal person should ever hope to deserve.
I just shaved off my goatee. It's so weird to look in the mirror and have no hair on my chin. I'm not really sure why I shaved it off. It was getting kind of furry so I guess I would have had to get one of those beard trimmer thingies. Besides, everytime I looked at it, I thought about how every girl I've ever talked to has had a negative opinion about kissing someone with facial hair. I want to be simply kissable.
Ladies and Gentlemen, today is just the greatest day. I got out of bed today, took a shower, and put in my new Everclear CD. I'm just sitting here listening to music and thinking about how great everything is. Even when I make mistakes, everything is still flowing together to something better than I could ever imagine. I have never been this positive in my life. I feel like dancing (even though I can't dance). It's just that sort of day.
I was involved in a car accident last night. Eric and I had gone to Taco Bell for dinner, and we were heading back to the dorm. We got to the stop sign where you turn onto Archer Road, and there was a lady in front of me. She was really reluctant to go. Eventually, she started pulling out. I started pulling forward toward the stop sign. The lady suddenly hit the brakes for reasons that I don't understand. I thought to myself that I was going to hit her, and I decided that I should try to avoid that. I swerved left. I almost made it around her, but my car caught the edge of her bumper. There wasn't much damage to her car. Part of her bumper chipped off. That was about it. My car, however, is a slightly different story. The front passenger wheel well is what connected with her bumper. That part bent such that the front passenger door refuses to open more than a few inches right now. The police officer that came to the scene turned out to be none other than Coach Anderson, my high school economic/law studies teacher. The end result of all this is that I wasn't issued any sort of citation. The accident would have been considered my fault whether it actually was or not. We decided to settle it amongst ourselves, which means that I'll have to pay for the damage to her car as well as mine. There goes my full-time paycheck. Later in the evening, I went to see "The Mod Squad" with Allyson, Jen, Lisa, April, and April's boyfriend Dan. It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the movie a lot even though it was such a cliche. When we got back, Jen, Allyson, and I decided to watch "Romeo and Juliet". They both fell asleep during it. I finally came back downstairs after four, and I didn't actually make it to bed until after four-thirty.
For reasons I don't fully understand, I got the J. Crew catalog in the mail. To my knowledge, I've never given them my address. For reasons just as unfathomable, last night I was possessed by an urge to have a pair of work boots. I went to Shoe City and got a pair of black leather work boots. I'm strange, no?
I've been up most of the night studying for a sociology test. Right now, I want nothing more than to curl up in my bed and go back to sleep. Actually, that's a lie. I can easily think of things I'd want more than to go back to bed. Yesterday was a really fun day. Eric and I went to lunch at Maui Teryaki with Allyson, Jen, Lisa, and Josh. Then, last night, I went upstairs to watch "There's Something About Mary" with that same group of folks (sans Eric). After the movie was over, we just kind of laid around and watched the South Park re-run that came on Comedy Central. After the show, I decided that I had best come downstairs to learn sociology. This was after midnight. I'm tired. Really tired.
I just registered for my fall classes. I'm taking Beginning Japanese, Tudor/Stuart Drama, C Programming, and Intro to Computer Information Sciences. Other than that, I'm just studying for my Microeconomics test that I have to take tonight. After that's over, life becomes "normal" again.
I just got back from Maude's with the guys. It was a nice way to purge myself of the residual economics test nastiness.