[08-27-02] 11:05 PM  Listening to: "More Than a Feeling" by Boston, "Everybody Look What's Going Down" by Buffalo Springfield, the theme from Futurama, "Jammin'" by Bob Marley, and "Secret ~ Dareka no Mesiseeji" by Akira Ishida (Xelloss from Slayers NEXT.) Today's lesson: Didn't I tell you before not to listen to the ultimatums of this webmaster? Five days. Couldn't stay off for five days. Oh well. Strange how things crop up which brings you back to something you've finally intended to let go. This time being, career options again. I've recently discovered something -- I've picked the wrong major again. Last time, it was mathematics. This time, Electrical Engineering. I need something which will utilize my skill for minute details and near-anal-retentive attention to every aspect of an object's presentation. A job which will pander to my mathematics and logistics mentality without requiring a 100% focus on that half of the brain. Something that will stay fresh and new, that might require additional learning, and will incorporate artistic aspects -- anything dealing with drawing, sketching, and 3D modeling would be gravy. That's why I've decided I'd do better to be in Graphic Design than Electrical Engineering. It's not that the work load is hard; far from it. It's just so incredibly boring. While I can understand perfectly the physical processes required in suspending a load, charging a circuit, and maintaining a series of on/off switches, none of these subjects actually interests me. I was so damn bored in the Digital Logic lab this afternoon, the first lab of many. Circuits or not, I just couldn't derive much interest in the subject matter. I was more inclined to head home, putter around on the internet for some music, work on two new sketches I started in Economics this afternoon, and muse about another fanfic idea. Well, I know for a fact that I can't really be a creative writer for a living. This is more of a hobby than anything. Hell, Ling complains about her writing all the damn time, but she's really good at it (though she'll attempt to convince you otherwise.) I could picture her being a writer for a living. I could picture my sister being a writer for a living. For me, it's a pastime, not something that I could do all the time. Music and art, though, are really big in my life. I'm a sound and picture kind of guy. I love movies and music, much more than books. I'm very visual. Makes me wonder why the hell I'm bothering with a bland series of wiring and circuitry. Problem is, I don't think I have enough experience with 3D graphics and art programs for me to get into Graphical Design. I need to take a preliminary class next semester just so I'll see what all would be involved. If I really get into it, I'll probably change my major again (to the chagrin of my current academic advisor. As much as I love Mrs. Buford, I dunno if I can put up with Engineering as a career option anymore. Thus, I find myself in the same situation as a lot of times ago. I'm again lost. But at least I have something of a direction. I'm gonna stick with this course schedule for this semester, just to make sure if this is or not what I want to do with my life. I can't cut it off just because the first week was boring. I might gain an interest once we get past the baby classes. Well, that's about all I have to prattle on about. Got some circuits homework to finish. Damn vectors... I feel I've been working with these things forever. When I learned them in Calculus four years ago, they were awesome. I mean, a numerical value with a direction. And you could express them in terms of i, j, and k. And use these nifty equations to multiply and combine them. Now I'm thinking, "So what? Give me a new problem to work with, one I haven't been solving for the past three years." Guess I'll get back to sketching instead. Heh. Always liked that better than messing with electronics anyway... Ja ne! - JR

[08-22-02] 3:50 PM  Listening to: various stuff. (Who really cares?) Today's lesson: Class dismissed. I've recently come to realize something. As much fun as I had detailing my trip to Project A-kon 13, and all the problematic stuff I ran across during the end of my last semester, I really don't like to blog a whole lot. Let's face it -- I lead a relatively normal life. I don't have any girlfriends, don't have a great number of friends in the first place, haven't had a family crisis, never ran across a girl who either flashed me her breasts or mentioned anything to the effect of even remotely liking me or completely craving my body, manage to pass most classes with an above average with minimal effort, can attend classes and have actually caught up despite losing nearly a year of study in Fayetteville not to mention thousands of dollars in free money, can still collect anime and merchandise despite working for my college tuition, and spend more time in a week either in class, at work, or in my room than I spend in a year at any sort of social event with individuals who could qualify as being my peers. It's not that I'm not social; it's mostly that a good portion of the populace is idiotic, does not understand my absolute interest in all things anime and most things Japanese, and is unfortunately below my current level of intelligence. I'm a hermit, and a damn boring one at that. At least, unless you know me in person. That having been said, I'd like to add that I probably won't be updating this page often at all anymore. This next semester is going to blossom into a bigger workload than before; I'm currently enrolled in three Engineering classes (Statics will probably be the most difficult and work-intensive), an Economics class (which will be easy, but at least the instructor is entertaining), and the first semester of Beginning Japanese (which will be a work-load from hell learning the hiragana, katakana, and kanji; the speaking will be easy, since the phonetics is relatively straight-forward. It'll be the writing that I'll struggle the most with. And we're supposed to be through hiragana and katakana by the third week, when we start learning the kanji. Good lord, help me.) Also, I'm trying to actually get myself into shape now. They have an olympic sized pool on campus that's free for enrolled student use. Just in the next room is my brother's set of dumbbells. Over the next couple months, I'll be alternating between swimming with my mother and lifting weights with my youngest brother. When I'm not studying or writing strange symbols on my papers. And when I'm not working. What's more, I have more than a large number of possible projects lying in the wings, most of which I've wanted to complete at some point in time or another. A sketch here, a fanfic there, another unwatched anime series over there (at a new friend's house; thanks to merely one day in Beginning Japanese, I've already hooked up with the local anime crowd, and the guy has at least 80 more DVDs than ME. Yatta!) I really want to see many of these projects to completion, or at least enough advancement that I could justifiably state that I gained some artistic, writing, or another talent from my work. Which would thus be used on an even bigger project. Being a jack-of-all-trades is interesting, but managing time between your interests becomes insanely difficult. So, let's cover the bases then. First, I'm an incredibly boring guy with nothing to tell in the first place. Second, I will be very busy with school and assignments such that I might not have any time to update. Third, even more of my time will be devoted to finally attaining the heart-rate I've always wanted and the figure which might actually manage to eventually turn some poor/lucky girl on. Lastly, I have a number of addition projects involving my attention which will take free time away from prattling to one lonely soul about how ordinary my day went. (Sorry Adam, but this means you. None of my other friends care enough to check this page regularly, and you're taking the brunt of the consequences of their disinterest.) Besides which, there are COUNTLESS other blog and diary entries on the internet, no doubt much more interesting than mine. If you feel the need to keep in touch with my life, then you're probably playing a bigger role already, and you needn't trouble yourself over this page in the first place. And there you have it. If you want to talk (and damn how I honestly enjoy actually talking and not posting words to an empty void), you can contact me via email ([email protected]), ICQ (#54274281), or MSN Messenger. If you're interested, get in touch and I'll add you to my contact list. If not, then don't worry about it. It's been kinda fun, I guess, but I just don't have enough time or effort anymore to do this when there's so little return. Until next time, whenever that may be. Ja ne. - JR

[08-13-02] 1:45 PM  Listening to: "Theme of Read or Die," "Chronopolis" from the Chrono Cross OST, "One Winged Angel (Orchestrated)" from the FF7 Reunion OST, "Rainbow Cruise" from the Super Smash Bros Melee OST, "X-Mas de Chocobo" (origins unknown), "To Far Away Times" arranged by MOA, "Machine Graveyard" from a Gradius arranged album, "Terran Theme #3" from Starcraft, "Bonds of Sea and Fire" and "Deijiru" City of Burning Sands" from the Xenogears OST, "Termina - Another World," "Swamp of Hidora," and "Dreamwatch of Time" all from the Chrono Cross OST, "Outskirts of Time" from the Chrono Trigger Brink of Time OST, "Mamboleo" by Elissa, and "Miracle Started by a Kiss" (Steel Angel Kurumi opening theme.) Today's lesson: Too much sleep really sucks. Alright. I get the picture. It's depressing, but I understand anyway. Received one email after my latest post. I'll accept a little leeway in that many people might be somewhat busy at this time of year preparing for classes and all... but only one email? (Thanks Adam, by the way.) Bah, what am I worried about? Carlson's coming down (again) tomorrow, and we'll undoubtedly squander away another day chatting about nothing, sketching, or watching more anime or another Kevin Smith production. Hmm... yeah, college is starting in a few days. One week from tomorrow, for me at least. I've got most of my books already ($350 for four classes... sheesh.) The only ones I'm missing are for Japanese, and those are supposed to arrive within a week or so. I'm actually anticipating it. I won't be bored as often, considering I'll have something to do other than fritter around online and whine about no one talking to me. Plus, I'm really looking forward to Statics ('cause of the teacher) and Japanese ('cause of the subject.) Anyway, my vacation last week. My family, my cousin Rebecca, and my sister's friend Eric all piled into two cars (a green '00 Caravan and a green '95 Cutlass, the latter of which is mine to use as of right now ^-^) and headed out at probably a quarter past six in the morning. For the first thirty minutes, I had to hold our family dog (10.5-year old Peek-a-Poo) and she nearly went into convulsions during the first portion of the ride. I swear, she absolutely hates going to the vet anymore (which is why my mom started clipping her at home.) Anyway, we made a pitstop to visit our relatives in Clarksville and so we could drop off the dog while we were on vacation. Sadie seemed glad to be on sturdy ground again and in a home environment once again. After bidding our grandparents and dog farewell, we climbed back into the cars and headed out for Branson, Missouri. The drive was long and fairly uneventful, so thankfully I had a Y-splitter and a number of anime CDs (I don't have my own portable CD player, so I had to mooch off my brother, who luckily enjoyed listening to anime and videogame themes as well.) After about two hours, we took a break in Harrison for breakfast at Hardee's, and my dad and I were greatly impressed by the quality of the restaurant (as opposed to the two crappy locales in our hometown.) We all stuffed ourselves full, then drove the remaining 45 minutes to Branson. Since we couldn't get into our condo until after three in the afternoon, and it was still before ten in the morning, my mom had decided that we'd go ahead and spend our first morning/afternoon in Branson at Silver Dollar City. So, we followed the long procession of vehicles through the downtown district which eventually led to the theme park. Now, for those of you who don't know, Silver Doller City is a theme park in lower Missouri, but not one like Six Flags. SDC places more emphasis on various hand-made crafts and shows than rides, and a great deal of the park is covered with small shops and crafts displays meant to entertain. For instance, one of the first crafts one might encounter while wandering through the theme part would be the metal-working shop, featuring an outdoor smithy just next door. Passerbys can, at various times of the day, stand outside the smithy and watch as a gentleman works a piece of misshapen metal into a decorative piece for the household. Further down the same path, there is also a candy making shop (free fudge samples!), a wood carving shop, and a glass blowing furnace. You could almost spend an entire day looking through the arts and crafts and never ride a single ride. It's wonderfully entertaining and incredible. I admire someone who has that kind of talent to create something beautiful from unworked raw materials. The first day, however, we spent more time on the rides than the crafts. Our first stop was a mine train roller coaster called Thunderation. Not incredibly long or extreme (not a lot of G-forces), but fun regardless. And you also had the option to sit facing backwards in certain train cars. That was pretty cool. Afterwards, we continued trekking into the park until we reached the small water park in the corner, Geyser Gulch. If you wanted to get soaked, this was probably the place to do it. Various fortresses and platforms stood above a small lake, with numerous water cannons spaced intermittedly along the edges. Individuals could either take aim and fire at various targets present on large constructs in the middle of the lake (which might incite water cannons on the constructs to fire back), or take aim at each other in a criss cross of water cannon fire located in a small open fort in the back corner. Every twenty minutes or so, a gigantic plume of water would erupt from a tower situated in the middle of the lake, and while this downpour was situated too far away from the platforms for anyone to get drenched, it was an interesting diversion regardless. After spending about 30-40 minutes in the park getting soaked with my siblings, relatives, and my sister's friend, we all decided to head back towards the center of the park and some more rides. Next on the platter was an indoor boat ride/target practice. Five individuals would load up on a boat on a track in the water and ride through a series of tunnels, trying hard to blast the targets with the laser rifles provided. The whole crew went through, and as expected, my sister and youngest brother ended up with bum rifles that reset every so often (the guns could keep track of your individual score.) Overall, my other brother won with some 23,000 points, and I came in second with about 18,000. Following that, us kids decided to ride another water ride, one of those river rapids rides in which a number of people climb into a circular raft and tumble through a series of rapids and waterfalls. This was one of the highlights of the trip, and not necessarily because of the ride itself. All six of us (me, my siblings, Rebecca, and Eric) could completely fill one raft, and we managed to score the leading position of all the rafts being sent out. After buckling in, we all decided unanimously that we would practically scream the entire time, regardless of the level of excitement we all were currently experiencing. Which explains why, during our launch as our raft scooted forwards and made a short and slow dive into the water, all six of us started yelling and screaming at the top of our lungs. Just like a bunch of loonies. ^-^ I dunno what everyone waiting in line thought, but I didn't really care. I was there to have fun, and if we needed to create our own excitement... then so be it! We yelled and screamed the entire ride, wooting and hollering after every short slide, splash of water, and collision with the side. Rebecca seemed to pick the "magical spot," the one seat that manages to get drenched while most of the others remain fairly dry. Overall, we all got quite wet (again) due to the sheer amount of rapids and churning water. As we passed a large turn (again screaming), we noted the path which meandered about twenty or thirty feet away. Standing at a viewing deck were our parents, and we all hollered some more and waved excitedly. Again, I have no idea what anyone else wandering down the path thought of us. Here we are, a group of six teenagers riding down a somewhat exciting rapids, shouting their lungs out as if experiencing the most incredible rush any of them had ever felt. Moreover, NO OTHER GROUP heading down the rapids showed even CLOSE to as much enthusiasm as we did. In fact, we couldn't even hear anybody else ('course, we were probably screaming too loudly.) Anyway, by the end of the jaunt, half of us were losing our voices already, but that didn't stop my brother from yelling out (loudly, I might add) after we were back inside the loading/unlading bay, "This is the best ride ever!!!" Oh man, we all choked up laughing again, and started clapping enthusiasticly. Moments later a number of individuals in the room also started clapping as well! Yay! I love instigating things! And as the assistant reached down to help us out of the raft, he quirked a smile and asked, "So, did ya have fun?" Hell yeah! Another lesson: If you believe you're having fun, oftentimes, you will have fun. You just have to let your inner self go wild. We most noted the difference when we met up with our parents. The groups travelling down the rapids after us hardly uttered a peep. After asking about our activity, my mom laughed and mentioned that she could hear us coming long before she could even see us. Apparently, we were quite loud. Well, that made us all happy. We had a blast screaming like crazy, and I'll bet a few passerbys had a laugh at our expense (though we couldn't have cared less about it.) That's the great thing about acting weird around strangers; you feel good, and while others might be feeling good by laughing at you, you don't know anyone, so you couldn't care less. Anyway, after getting wet again, I think we all decided on a snack. Food was quite expensive, as with most theme parks, and we had previously decided to leave around three and catch lunch back in the condo rather than spend an arm and a leg in the park. So, after procuring a couple of drinks and taking a spin on the Wildfire (a kick ass, but unfortunately too short, roller coaster), we all decided to head back to the room. There, we napped for about an hour (while Jason "accidently" started a fire in the fireplace; honestly, hand a guy a remote with any number of buttons on it, and he'll feel compelled to mash them all down.) Afterwards, we suited up and headed out to White Water, the local water park. There, we splashed around and vented even more energy for another couple hours. During that time, us kids spotted a woodchuck wandering about the premises while we were waiting in line for one of the water slides. (I of course couldn't see it very well; all things are blobs when you don't have your glasses on.) However, I could still tell when something brown and fuzzy wandered out of the water, around a corner, panicked seeing lots of people, turned, and scurried into a hole in the synthetic rocks. I mean, seeing this out in the grass might have been one thing, but the critter crawled out of the water rapids ride, right onto the walkway not ten feet away from our line! It was pretty cool, even if I couldn't tell what the hell it was at first. Next thing to note, I don't think I knew my brother had such a bad fear of heights. One of the slides was a very high full body slide. The line for this ride snaked up a square platform which supported the tops of the slides. The platform itself was quite open, and gave you a spectacular view of the surrounding lands (not to mention the ground.) My brother started complaining not a third of the way up, and I admit I couldn't help but tease him and shake him around a little, just to see him panic. I mean, he spends an awful lot of time sending barbed remarks at the rest of the family, and picking on our youngest brother (in good humor), so I felt a little payback was in order. ;) Anyway, after it started getting dark around 8pm or so, we decided we'd soaked enough and climbed out of the wave pool. We stopped at a Wendy's on our way out, got dinner, and headed back to the condo. Food was consumed shortly thereafter, and everyone changed into regular clothes and began watching TV. Well, except for my dad and I. We needed to pick up some milk and orange juice for breakfast in the morning, and since there was a gas station about three blocks over, we decided to walk over and pick some up. I pause here to reiterate that I'm very happy I live in a small town. While I might not have access to the merchandise and services available in, say, Houston, at least I don't have to worry about the traffic, or the crowds, or the crazy bandana wearing hooligans who hang around outside the mini golf courses and inquire as to whether or not you've got some smokes on ya. Geez, crazy people in big cities. After my dad declined the offer (twice, I might add; after the first negative response, the guy asked my dad if he were sure he didn't have any cigarettes. Buncha crazies...) We made it back safely, though, and gradually shifted off to bed after that. The second day saw more of the same activity. Theme park in the morning, this time hanging around more craft shops than rides, though we did ride the log flume, Buzzsaw Falls (a log flume/roller coaster), and Wildfire again. We caught a gent blowing glass that morning, and watched as he formed a beautiful multi-colored bowl. We also got more free samples in the Candy shop. Yay! After staying in the park for a few hours, we all left, rested up in the condo, and returned to White Water for some more water and wave fun. After more of the same, we all left at around 7:30pm or so, ate dinner back at the condo, and then changed back into day clothes for the last bit of excitement on the second day -- go karts and laser tag. Woot! The track which caught our eye as being probably the most enjoyable of the bunch (and there were a lot of go kart places on the strip) was this multi-level wooden track called the Lumberjack. The racers would spiral upwards about three times, turn about and drive over a bump in the track (still way above ground), and then spiral back down on the other side. Drivers would have upwards of 8 to 10 minutes to drive, and with an average of 28 karts on the track each time, the line could move rather quickly at times. Our group went through twice, and myself (ever the statistician) had to keep track of the starting and finishing places for our group. The two races panned out like this...   Race one: I started in front, and finished first. What superior driving skill. Jack started second and finished fourth. Poor guy got edged out by some other racers. Rebecca started third and finished last. She initially wanted to ride passenger, so I suppose she wasn't as into driving as the rest of us. Jana started fourth and finished third. Snuck by Jack on a turn. Eric started fifth and finished second. Good cornering and a souped up engine. Almost caught me, too. And Jason started last and finished fifth. Got edged out from passing up a few times.   Race two: I again started in front, and again finished first. Almost lapped Jana, too! Jason started second and finished fourth. "Due to a crappy engine," he says. Jack started third and finished third. Broke even. Jana started fourth and finished last. Fun explanation for that coming right up. And Eric started last and finished second. Good driving, again.   Alright. The reason I almost lapped Jana the second time around was because, at the top of the first hill, Eric tried to pass Jana and ended up nudging the back of her kart. She spun out of control and flipped around, facing the wrong way. One of the personel came up and held onto her kart, preventing her from going anywhere until all the other racers had passed. Only then did he turn her back around the right way again. The poor girl got cheated out of a lap that all the other racers got, and it was due to her "friend." We all had a good laugh, and she huffed for a while and shunned Eric for a few minutes, but everything was forgiven in the end. After that, we wandered over to a laser tag shop and played two rounds. I decided to sit out this time, since the arena didn't look particularly large enough for a good crowd. I was right. They had a viewing room where you could watch the players running around and zapping each other during the game, and my parents and I decided to watch as the other five blasted each other to death. Unfortunately, Jason got the bum deal this time. For the first game, his laser wouldn't fire, so he had to be pulled out and refunded for the lost money. Since he'd been the largest advocate for laser tag, I thought this was hilarious. But mom took pity on him and let anyone who wanted to go for another round so Jason could at least use up his free pass (c'mon, we wouldn't be coming back for a while anyway.) Jack decided to sit out the second time too, and I nabbed an ice cream cone from the McDonald's Express nearby while we waited for the games to finish (I might hate their burgers, but the ice cream was pretty good.)   Round one: Jana ranked first of ten with 1337 points and 64 kills. Rebecca ranked second of ten with 1301 points and 63 kills. Eric ranked fourth of ten with 1049 points and 52 kills. Jack ranked sixth of ten with 372 points and 22 kills. Jana and Rebecca were stalking the poor boy. And Jason ranked eleven of ten with 0 points and 0 kills. *snicker*   Round two: Eric ranked first of ten with 1766 points and 85 kills. Jason ranked second of ten with 1545 points and 73 kills. Jana ranked third of ten with 1385 points and 67 kills. And Rebecca ranked tenth of ten with 238 points and 16 kills. I think she kept getting targeted that time.   After that, we went back to the room and slept again. Third day, after packing and loading up all our stuff, we signed out of the condo and returned to the theme park once more. We had a three day pass to both SDC and White Water, and we were determined to use 'em. This time, my mom rode Wildfire with the rest of us. Twice. We then had lunch, some pretty good burgers that were relatively inexpensive, and then went our separate ways to spend the rest of our souvenir money. Jana and Eric got a caricature done of themselves (looks excellent!), Jason mused about the leather shop, the parental units cruised the shops again, and Jack and I checked out the glass shop one last time. We all met up at the front at four in the afternoon, and afterwards, we all climbed into the cars and headed for home. We took another pit stop back in Clarksville around 7:30pm for some dinner (mmm... Pizza Hut pizza...), and then played a few rounds of Family Feud before heading back home. And that's the whole story. Well, I need to take my brother to band practice, eat a very late lunch, and then get off to work, so I'll chat with y'all later (if anyone in fact reads this occasionally. Shush, I know you do, Adam.) Ja ne! - JR

[08-09-02] 11:13 PM  Listening to: absolutely nothing. I'm back! ...absolute silence... And nobody cares but me. Heck, email me if you care. Address is [email protected]. I get enough fucking junk mail that I only check my messages out of pure reflex anymore. Anyway, it's late, it was a busy three days, and I'm too tired to wrap up the trip. What's more, I work tomorrow and Sunday, so I won't be able to run down the trip until Sunday night or Monday (unless I get up early enough tomorrow morning, a probability of about one in eight hundred billion.) Anyway, I've got some online scouting to do before I turn in, so I'll post some other time. Remember, if ya read this regularly (read: you've come back at least once), go ahead and email me. Even if school's about to start, I'm dying for someone to chat with. Ja ne. - JR

[08-07-02] 12:05 AM  Listening to: absolutely nothing. Today's lesson: Class dismissed until further notice. Short post, I swear. Can't stay up any later, since I've gotta rise and "shine" before 5:30 tomorrow morning. Thus, I'll be brief. This past Sunday, my cousin (female, 13, goes by the moniker Rebecca which happens to be her actual name) flew in from some city in Virginia that I can't remember at this time. She'll be spending the week with our family, and thus far, things are looking pretty good. Monday was a blast of lots of game-play (mainly mine; she seemed content to lose in Mario Kart 64 and watch me pulverize my youngest brother Jack in Pok�mon Puzzle League) and later in the evening, my mom foot the bill allowing the three of us to catch the early showing of Men in Black II. Overall verdict: the movie achieved all I'd intended it to -- draw me into another reality for about 90 minutes while keeping me entertained with footage that, while it might have appeared elsewhere in the history of film (what hasn't, nowadays?), kept me laughing and awake throughout the movie. An average success, the film kinda remained on par with the first in my book, which speaks something good about the movie (considering that a lot of sequels suck.) Short post? Bah. Screw it. Yesterday (today -- whatever), I had to pull a morning shift for someone who quit last week -- the department head of Electronics at K-Mart. Well, I dunno what the head dogs might be thinkin', but I ain't in a hurry to jump into the hot seat. Sure, it might be extra pay, but it's a damn lotta extra work that I don't wanna worry about. Anyway, I had to work that morning, and it was nice and busy for a Tuesday morning. I had a lot of extra freight to work out (mostly new music and videos -- Tuesday's big new movie: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings which I managed to pick up for $19 before leaving that afternoon.) Plus, I got to "steal" the 5' tall cardboard display for Lord of the Rings which stood just aside my desk back in Electronics. Woot! Now I've got it sitting in the corner, adding another bit of weirdness/coolness to my already kick ass room. Riding home with that in the back seat was... fun, let me tell ya... ^^;; Also learned something great! I don't think I mentioned this (or if I have, too bad for the three people who show up, read this, and don't know anything about what happens in my life), but my parents were originally planning to allow my brother to take my car, the '90 blue Lumina, to Fayetteville (about 1.5 hours away) so he can have a car at college. That would have left me with his old heap -- a '88 white Caravan, which at the time, didn't have air conditioning and was majorly sucking in the "cool and operational vehicle" department. Well, I learned this evening over dinner that the plans had changed slightly. My brother was still gonna get my Lumina, but I would get my dad's '95 green Cutlass! Woot! Something with a tape deck inside! Now I'll need to actually get a portable CD player with the tape deck adapter, but I'll be able to listen to my anime on the way to class/work! Yay! Oh, and in case you're wondering, my mom's getting the old junker. Isn't she the greatest?!? I love you, Marmie! ^-^ Then after dinner, went shopping, got very tired (working a full and busy shift on three hours of sleep isn't very intelligent...), came home, and crashed before the TV for an hour of "Whose Line is it Anyway?" And then I had to pack. Which brings me to my last point. I won't be back until late Friday evening, so if you expect to hear from me again (yeah right. No one emails me, and no one cared that my page wasn't updated for a month. Bah. Talking to myself again. At least Ling has visitors... who don't/didn't live in the same state as her during some point in her life...) Anyway, so if you expect to hear from me again, you'll need to grit your teeth and await my illustrious return. I'll probably update about the trip anyway. Well, like I said, need sleep. Gotta get up at 5:30. That makes for 5 hours of sleep. A little bit better than yesterday... Sayonara! - JR

[08-03-02] 10:41 PM  Listening to: "Dude Looks Like a Lady" by Aerosmith, "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton, the "FF7 Theme (Orchestrated)" by Nobuo Uematsu, "Shooting Star" (the Onegai Teacher opening theme), "Istanbul" by They Might Be Giants, "The Rain, So Far Away" by Mifuyu Hiiragi (Slayers Next Image song), "Only a Northern Song" by the Beatles, "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith, "Don't Fear the Reaper" by the Blue Oyster Cult, the "Theme Song" from Futurama, and "Mamboleo (Remixed)" by Elissa. Today's lesson: Sometimes, there's just no reason to chatter. Well, that was a little vacation there, ne? Almost a month and no updates. Well, considering that I didn't receive any email about the matter, I suppose I won't worry about updating umpteen-bazillion times a month (like another person I know... ^^;; ...not saying who...) Anyway, there's not a lot that truly needed updating upon, so the majority of this post will be a rundown of the past month, seeing as I have nothing to rant about anyway. Well, nothing that really needs to be vented from my system. Alright. In the past month, I've actually gotten together with my friends from all across the state at least twice (three times if you consider the other Jon who has nothing to do this summer -- the bastard -- and is uber-bored most of the time, and also since I'm only a 1.5 hour drive away.) Anyway, in between those weeks of anime watching (buzzed through the following series this past month: all of Onegai Teacher, Hand Maid May, and what's been released of Steel Angel Kurumi, oh yeah, on top of what I mentioned in the last update -- which was Read or Die, plus the old Dirty Pair episodes, the first three of Hanaukyo Maid Tai, and all of All Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku. Wai! Busy month.) Also acquired the second manga volume of Chobits (Kawaii Chii-chan!), the third season of Ranma on DVD (which might likely have to be returned, thanks to the language coding bug on episodes 22 and 23), and the first two Kurumi DVDs (I'll say it again, ADV does excellent work.) 'Course, I also paid my fall semester bill at ATU. *cha-ching* *sigh* There goes my fund for a new computer chair and a PC upgrade. I really need to work out some sort of scholarship. Or else, find a better job. I can't keep purchasing anime and hope to stay in college. Currently working on a number of small projects, but I won't say about what. I don't feel like it right now. I will say that I've begun practicing some piano versions of various anime BGM pieces. I've already got about 65% of the piano portion of "Rei I" from the Evangelion OST 1 down. Let me tell ya; playing that piece makes you feel just a little bit edgy. Next I'll be continuing work on "Johnny C. Bad" from the Final Fantasy VI Piano Collections, and starting in on the following: "Ritsuko's Theme" from Evangelion OST 1, "Piano Bar" from the Cowboy Bebop Vitaminless Mini Album, "Kagato's Organ Recital" from Tenchi Muyo Ryo-Ohki Hi-Ho-Kan Disc 3 OST, "Pure Snow" from the Himiko-Den soundtrack (never seen it, but I like the theme), "Back Image Music" from the Onegai Teacher Image Album, and "Tsutaetai Koto ga Arun da" from the Onegai Teacher OST. Of course, all these pieces are arranged by various individuals and thus not the original copies (had I the money, I'd buy any piano sheet music I could for the above series.) Anyway, next time my friends decide to show up, I'll WOW 'em with m4 m4d pi3n0 skillz. Heh, thank God the piano got fixed a couple weeks ago. That thing was SO out of tune... Hmm... I rearranged my room. Put the bed in the corner. Now I've got lots of floor space. Yay! Problem is, I actually have to schedule time to get friends down here. Phooey. Oh well, they generally have better setups for anime/whatever gettogethers anyway. I won't complain since they won't be messin' up my room (no offense, Jon, Matt, Adam. ^-^) Well, aside from anime gettogethers, I've been sleeping and working. Very interesting. Yeah right. Hell, the coolest thing that happened in the last month was probably the fact that my friends and I stumbled onto an anime fan back by the manga volumes in a Waldenbooks in the McCain Mall in North Little Rock. Better yet, a girl! And better yet, the following hour and a half long conversation started with her mentioning to my good buddy Matt that she really liked Chobits too, since he happened to be flipping through the second volume at that time. Woot! Another anime fan! And a girl, to boot! Too bad she already had a boyfriend... ^^;; Eh, she might not have been my type anyway, but still. Back in Arkansas, simply running across another anime fan is something of a fluke. At least, an anime fan who isn't solely into the edited crap on Cartoon Network (note: this does not affect my interest in the series presented... Cowboy Bebop and Tenchi Muyo kick ass, 'cept for Shin Tenchi Muyo... and Dragonball Z can go to hell.) Anyway, that rocked and we all had a good day all around simply because of that conversation. Jury duty actually panned out without me every having to sit on a trial. Seven of the eight cases were solved before trial, and I wasn't randomly selected from the group to sit on the jury for the last. Yay! I got $15 for driving down to the courthouse, reading a book for an hour and fifteen minutes, and driving home. Easy pay, that's what I live for. ^-^ Get yer head outta the gutter. Not that kinda "easy." This body wouldn't sell anyway. >P ~Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet emoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooootion!!!!" Heh. Well, I work tomorrow morning again, which means I won't be able to travel to Little Rock and pick up my cousin who's flying in from the East coast to spend the week with us. We see her about twice a year, at best, which is really a shame. I do have most of the week off, considering that we have a family vacation planned for Wednesday through Friday and I already requested the time off. Yay! Water parks rule! It's going to be a lot of fun regardless... ...mmm, I smell popcorn... Uh, anyway... that's the skinny of the goings on. Before I part, I'll toss out a couple of links for y'all. Um... maybe. I had something in mind before I started working on this blog, and now it's slipped down beneath the folds in brain tissue. Hrm... oh screw it. Just forget about the link thing, alright? Go pester Ling for a while, eh? She's always got something to chatter about, be it Harry Potter Slashfics, bras, Asian drama series, or how much her writing sucks. (Tell her otherwise; she's a very good writer. While you're at it, tell her to finish up the third chapter of Fragments, too.) It's late, thoughts are fragmenting themselves, so I must get offline lest I write down something mildly incriminating and forget to delete it before updating. Ja ne! - JR

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