December 2002 Journal
12-31-02 - New year's eve. Worked until 3 and lifted at 4. Went to Aaron's place at 6:30 for the big party. It was another sausage fest, but I guess I shouldn't care since I'm getting married. Party was ok. For some reason I couldn't much alcohol into me. I only drank 4 beers over 6 hours. I think I'm dying. Maybe my liver was enjoying this break and just didn't want to get going again. Don't worry little one, I'll be putting you to work soon enough. Watched the Central time zone countdown on Conan. Immediately afterwards I fell asleep. Apparently the party really began after I fell asleep. Booty was drinking too much because we kept feeding it to him. He was getting loud and bashed someone's parents. At that point he was booted from the house and went storming around town. I woke up long enough to see him come back and slam a few doors and leave again. He ended up walking down the blacktop from Hospers to Sioux Center. I don't know how far he made it, but he was gone a while. Luckily, (or maybe not luckily), Nemo found him on the road. He must have been too cold to finish his walk. Anyway, I ended up sleeping at the house until 11:30 on Saturday.
12-30-02 - Work again. I was going to lift afterwards, but ended up watching the "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" DVD. So overall, a good night.
12-29-02 - No church today. Football all afternoon. Kim got back from Wisconsin and came to visit at night time. She went home and I went to bed. Also, her grandparents got me a Yahtzee game for Christmas. Now I know what I'll be doing for the next couple months.
12-28-02 - It's saturday and it's time for me to start my research project. The science building was all locked up so I needed Dr. Vander Zee to let me in. I finally got out to my site at 1:00 and started sampling. Pretty boring. Only got 3 of my 18 samples taken. Afterwards, I came back to Dordt, preserved my organisms, and spent the rest of the night watching TV.
12-27-02 - Nothing happened all day. Me and Shaft and Aaron went to OC to watch "Catch Me if You Can". It was good, even for a Leonardo movie. The big news of the night was when I got up to leave the theater and realized that my big popcorn bag had pissed butter all over my pants. Huge butter stains all over the crotch. Not good.
12-26-02 - Back to work already. I want a longer break. I hate working. Anyway, after work I went to Dordt to lift some weights. After that I went to Jerry's room and played video games. It was at this point that I decided to call in sick to work in the morning. So I spent a few hours playing wrestling on playstation 2 with Shaft, Thomas, and Marcus. Me and Shaft were on a tag team against them most of the team and we got our asses handed to us repeatedly. At about 2am I went to bed in SV403.
12-25-02 - So this is Christmas. I woke up at 12:15pm. Ahhhh, sleeping in. Went to Kevin and Michelle's (uncle and aunt) for the Boer Christmas Spectacular. Here I opened my hockey bag for a present. We ate as well and talked about things such as whether we could wiggle one butt-cheek without wiggling the other. Deep discussions always arise from Boer get togethers, but that's what makes them my favorite family things. After the party, I went home, showered, and went to Kim's house for the Kooiker family party. I am beginning to hate Christmas by this point. This is the fifth party I've been to. It was okay at first, but this is just too much. All I want to do is sit at home and play computer games and watch TV. This is Christmas break, but all I do is work and attend family things. Oh well, it's all over after tonight. I got a couple of sweaters from Kim's grandma. They are both the same but one has deer and it and the other has geese. I don't think I'll be wearing them any time soon.....
12-24-02 - Christmas Eve. I have to work today!! I love RMT. Worked until 3:00pm. Came home and took a nap. Went to Kim's at 6:30pm and watched the Free Grace Church's Christmas program at 7:00. Lots of little kids singing and being stupid. Pretty fun. After church we opened presents at Kim's house. We got a 27" TV. Who-ahH!!! Played a little PS2 (which the kids got for a present) and then went home. TV, computer, and bed.
12-23-02 - Back to RMT!!! I love it. The old saying that RMT stands for "Retards Making Things" is soooo true. And I'm getting sick and tired of getting up at 5:30am to go to work. This is awful. I'm in college and should not be subject to this kind of abuse. The earliest I ever woke up at school was 7:30am. 5:30 is whole 2 HOURS EARLIER!!! 2 HOURS!!! How am I even still alive. Anyway, after work (which was completely uneventful) I went to lift weights and run at the Rec Center at Dordt. Things went well. I also visited Marcus's room to steal a couple games from him. I got GTA3 and James Bond Nightfire. I can't get GTA3 to work. Hmph.
12-22-02 - Church at Immanuel today. Oh how I've missed you, home church. I saw the new preacher preach for the first time. He isn't too bad. Slept at home after church. Kim came by around 3:00 for our family's present opening festivities. Kim and I got a DVD player and a crock pot. Afterwards I made her open one of the presents I got her, which was an "America's Sweethearts" DVD so we could watch it. We've both seen it before, but it isn't a half bad movie for being a chick-flick. After the movie Kim went home and I watched TV.
12-21-02 - Saturday. Today was the big Kats Christmas party at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Went there around 12:30pm after picking up Kim. Ate and then opened presents. I opened my optical mouse as my present. After the party, Kim and I went to Sioux Center and rented a movie. It was called "13 Conversations About One Thing". I don't know if it was good or bad because I slept through pretty much the whole thing. Went home after the movie and screwed around doing nothing.
12-20-02 - Friday is here. Worked until 11:30am. Took a nap and then went to Sioux Falls to buy Christmas presents for myself and Kim. It was blowing about a million miles an hour today, but the SuperTaurus made it just fine. I bought myself a big hockey gear bag to haul all my hockey gear that I never use. I also bought- myself a new optical mouse to replace my old mouse which I kind of broke when I slammed in on the desk in frustration. I bought Kim some stuff too. I hope she likes the presents. Went to visit sick Kim at her house. Was there for about an hour and then went home.
12-19-02 - Up at 5:30am, work until 5:30pm. I hate working, especially at RMT. I did notice that I have now worked in my department longer than anyone other than the supervisor. Longer in the sense that I was hired before all of them, not that I've actually worked more days than them. But anyway, I'm an old pro. I dominate the RMT world. After work I went to Sioux Center to lift some weights and run. That was so much fun.
12-18-02 - Looking back through my last few journal entries, I've discovered that I've drank A LOT lately. But that's okay. Don't worry about me. Now that break is here, my liver will get it's much deserved rest. Now on to my day. Econ exam at 10:30. Woke up at 9:30 to study for the first time. Thought it was only a chapter test, so I only studied the last three chapters and did so in 15 minutes. "Now I'm prepared", I thought. Went to take the exam and noticed that the prof was handing out a lot of paper to write on. Thought, "Wow, that sure is a lot of paper to write on." Turns out the exam was cumulative. Oops. I think I did ok on it anyway. In case you've forgotten, business majors are pretty much retarded so the test was easy. Took a nap after the exam and packed and cleaned afterwards. Went home at about 8pm. Work starts tomorrow at RMT.
12-17-02 - Cell Bio exam was HARD. I hope I didn't mess it up too bad. Hopefully I'll keep a B. After the exam I took a little nap and pretty much sacked it all day again. Played a little ball at 7pm. After Ball, me and Stefan walked to Mandy's (Tim's fiance) to do a little drinking in celebration of Tim's last night at Dordt. There was a lot of beer there and it was all free, mmmmmmmmm. We played some board game most of the night. It was okay. Came back at 1:30am. Took a few pictures, look at them.
12-16-02 - Monday. No exams today, but have a big Cell Bio test tomorrow morning. Spent most of the afternoon/evening studying for it. Nothing much else happened today.
12-15-02 - Slept until 11am. Was going to play hockey but didn't feel so well (check last entry). Sat around watching football all day. Watched Culpepper explode for 45 fantasy points. At 6pm was my little brother's Christmas program at church in Sheldon. Me and Kim went there to watch. It was pretty funny. Went to my house afterwards and watched some TV. Back to Dordt at about 10:30pm. Lots more TV followed.
12-14-02 - Took my Ab Psych exam at 10:30am. It was pretty easy. I didn't need to get a good grade on it anyway. Slept until 3pm after the exam. Played basketball from 4:00 until 5:30pm. Came back and did some stuff. At 7pm I went to visit Kim who was working at MJ's until midnight. I was there about half an hour or so and then came back to Dordt. This was when the big party started. We were celebrating Tim's last weekend at Dordt. Even Colin came out with us. Me, Tim, Scott, Colin, Stefan, and Rachel P. all piled into her Volvo to go to VIPs. At the bar, we drank and drank and drank and drank and drank. At about midnight, Valerie and Becky showed up after hearing the messages we had left them on their answering machine. At 12:30am Kim stopped in. It was quite the party. Towards the end of our time at VIPs things were getting a little rowdy. Timmy was drinking out of the pitcher and spilling beer all over the table. Stefan dumped a glass of water all over the floor. The waitress came by and told us to settle down. That's not the point of drinking, dumbass. Anyway, we left there at about 1:15 or so and went to Doc's. We stayed there until 2am and then came home. What happened when we got back is a little foggy. I do know we made pizza and spilled crumbs all over the living room. I also remember the Swede hitting on Val and Becky. Fun times. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so no pictures were taken at the bar. I did take some after we got back though. They're up here. Went to bed at 3:00am.
12-13-02 - Slept in again. Was planning on studying for Ab Psych and Cell Bio all day. As you might guess, that didn't happen. Played basketball and lifted weights from 3:30 to 6pm. Watched a little tv. Then starting studying. At about 8pm I called Mahaffy at his house and told him I didn't want to take the Cell Bio exam tomorrow, so now I'm taking it on Tuesday! I love Dr. James Francis Mahaffy. I wish I was tight with all my profs. Finished studying and watched a bunch of tv.
12-12-02 - Last day of classes. I skipped GEN300, the only class of the day. Oops. Day was filled with a lot of sackin' it. At 9pm came the big IM Bowling Championship. As you have read in the past entries, I had little to no faith that we had any chance in the championship. In game 1 I bowled a 183 and we took a 38 pin lead. At this point, I was amazed, but still sure we would lose. The next game didn't go as well as the previous one, but luckily the other team sucked it up too. WE WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP BY 19 PINS!!!! I GOT MY T-SHIRT!!!!!!!! Our team was so happy. It was amazing. Some pictures are here. After the game, I went with Huisken, Thomas, and Dorhout to Buck's in Hudson. We met the rest of the people there. It was a big group. For some reason, everyone took their camera. It was ridiculous. I couldn't drink much beer because I was always taking pictures for someone. Got home at about 2am.
12-11-02 - Last Mon-Wed-Fri classes of the semester. Skipped Abnormal Psych cause I was in the middle of taking a nap. Dominated the last HPER floor hockey games of the season. Lifted weights in the afternoon and visited Kim in the Campus Center where she was giving her poster presentation for Experimental Psych. She didn't get any good data from her study. Boohoo. But she looked really good in her business suit. Took a nap after eating and then went to play some playoff bowling. I broke out of my slump with a 193 in the first game. Of course I followed that up with a 133 in the second. But never fear, we won the game after putting up a whopping 1067. Tomorrow at 9pm is the championship. This may be my best shot ever at winning a shirt. However, I have this strange feeling that we're going to get our bowling asses handed to us. After bowling I watched more TV and passed an enormous amount of gas. I don't know what I ate, but it was smelly. Kim also got to enjoy my lovely fragrance. That brings us up to now, 2:03am. Bed time.
12-10-02 - Found out that we don't have a GEN300 exam if we are happy with our grade. I'm happy. Now I only have 3 exams, well 2 really, because ECON202 doesn't really count as a class. Unfortunately both of my "hard" exams are on Saturday. Tonight we had the big Biology department senior research presentation crap-o-thon. Basically, 5 people talk about their proposals (I was one of these) and how awesome their study is going to be. Then 8 people talk about their completed research projects and about how much research sucks and how you never get any results that matter but you end up working your ass off to get those results that don't matter. The point of the whole senior directed research requirement is to promote "research", yet I think it seems to be backfiring. Why? Because doing research is really time consuming and not very fun..... unless for some reason you like that sort of thing. Research=Frustration=Bad=Sin=Evil=SATAN! I don't thing Dordt should be supporting Satan and his army of darkness by making us do research projects. Anyway, we had the first round of bowling playoffs tonight. We dominated as usual. Although there was an alarming development in the game. I bowled a 123 and a 114. Ouch. Both of those beat my worst score of the year by at least 20 pins. I was having serious problems. But never fear, Valerie came through with huge scores.
12-9-02 - Monday. Booo. Today I realized that there are less than two weeks until the shortest day of the year. Our slow descent into the pit of hell is nearly over. Soon we will back on our way to glory. Heat and humidity for all!! Classes were typical today. Got a 110% on my Econ 202 test. Made a powerpoint presentation of my research proposal. At 7:30pm we practiced our proposals with Mahaffy. Pretty worthless, but I got some pointers. After that I played IM co-ed volleyball. It's the playoffs!!! True to form, we lost. There goes one more shot at champion t-shirts. But I still have bowling left....
12-8-02 - Church at 10pm. Ate afterwards and took a little nap in front of the TV. Stated working on my Cell Bio paper at about 2:30. At 10pm I had it finished. It's not very long. It's so frustrating writing papers about complicated cellular processes because they severely limits my bullshitting abilities. Anyway, it's done now. Watched a little TV after the work was done.
12-7-02 - Awoke at 9:30 and went to work at TransOva. Lots of stuff to do. Didn't get done until 5:30pm. Came back here, at some food and started to research for my Cell Bio paper. Mahaffy said in the syllabus "You should have all research done by EARLY November". Well, I hadn't even started researching until tonight. Tomorrow I will write the paper. I'm sure it will be some of my best work.
12-6-02 - Shake your ass, it's Friday!! Felt pretty crappy this morning. Went to Cell Bio, skipped Abnormal Psych. Napped pretty much all morning. Lifted weights at 4pm with Stefan. He had a big hole in the crotch of his tights. After lifting, me and Kim went to Sioux Falls to do some shopping. I bought some little racecars for my little brother. I'm sure he'll hate them. Kim found 5 X-files videos at Last Stop and she bought them all. We came back home after that and watch a couple episodes. Pretty fun night.
12-5-02 - Good GEN300 class today. We talked about chivalry and stuff. Met with Mahaffy to go over my research proposal. He was pleased, which made me pleased as well. We had an intramural bowling game at 8pm. The other team didn't show. We bowled pretty well. At 10pm I went to VIP's with some people to do you know what. We drank there for a while and then went to Doc's to drink some more. Came home feeling good at 12:45.
12-4-02 - Yet another exciting day in the life of John. I got my Cell Bio test back this morning and got an 89 which is really, really good. I thought I did piss poor on it. Lifted weights for the first time in while too. Weighed in at 198.4 which means I managed to lose weight over the Thanksgiving week. I'm a little surprised. Worked on my research proposal thing for a few hours tonight. I'm pretty much done with it, the first draft at least. We had an IM co-ed volleyball game tonight. The last one of the regular season, and guess what?? We lost. Our first loss all year. It doesn't matter though because we're in the playoffs anyway. Woohoo. I also remembered one thing I forgot to mention yesterday. While we were driving back I heard this commercial on the radio that I found interesting. It's the story of this dumbass loser high school kid who does everything wrong, but today when he comes to school there is something "different" about him. Hmmmm, what could it be I wondered??? Finally we are told........he has a new cell phone. I swear that the world should end right now to put us out of our misery. He has a new cell phone?? This commercial didn't mention a single feature of the cell phone, it just talked about how your image would change if you owned one. What a bunch of shit. I hate advertisers. The sad thing is that they hit the nail on the head. I'm still convinced that 99% of people buy those things to look cool. Sheep to the slaughter. No body needs one, yet everyone has one. Guess what? You're not that important! You're not "on call" for some important job. You're just a pretentious asshole..
12-03-02 - Woke up at 6:00am. Ate bad continental breakfast. Drove home. Now I want to list some things I learned on the trip:
1. For some reason, people in Indiana (and Illinois) talk like they're from the deep south. I don't understand this. Last time I checked Indiana was a long way from Alabama, but I guess it's not far enough.
2. Every other song we heard on the radio was from one of those new teen grrrrrrrrrl rockers, Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch, or Vanessa Carlton. They all really suck. Really, really, really hard. Sk8r Boi? What the hell is that? Not only does the song suck ass, but she has to spell it like a retard. We have a written language for a reason.
3. I love listening to old farmers talk to each other. We were at a gas station and overheard one farmer telling the other a story. It went like this: *spoken in a southern drawl, of course* "Well I sold this somethin' or other to ol' Bill down the road and not ten minutes later he was dead. Yep. The ink wasn't even dry on the check yet. Yup, one of those trucker boys down the road, what's their name?? oh yeah, the Conner boys', one of them was drivin' his truck and crossed the center line and hit ol' Bill head on. Came home later night and saw the glass all over the road, but didn't think nuthin' of it. Didn't here nuthin' 'bout it 'till the next day. Twas a day just like today. Nice and sunny, on level pavement too....blah, blah, blah." It was awesome.
4. After the Thanksgiving Day traffic, I've started to hate minivans almost as much as SUV's. Not so much for the gas-mileage issue, but for the fact that when one of them is in front of you, you can't see a damn thing. I think that everyone who owned one of those things was out driving the family around on Sunday. Not only that, but they were ALL ON I-80!
Anyway, after I got home, I worked some more on my research project. After that we were supposed to have an IM volleyball game but the other team didn't show so we won by forfeit. Yea.
12-02-02 - It's interview day today. Woke up at 11:30, got ready, and
headed out. We got to the school at about 12:30pm. The day started
at 1:00pm with a little propaganda session about how great the school is.
After that I had my interview with a cool optometrist teacher guy with neon shoe
laces. The interview was really laid back and only took about 20
minutes. After the interview came the building tour with a student.
Didn't see much. Next was the campus tour. It was pretty cool.
The campus is spectacular. Lots of trees and green spaces. After
being at the concrete heaven that is Dordt College, I didn't know what to
think. After the little tour, our day was done. Me and the Kimster
drove around Bloomington for a while afterwards. We ate a place called
Buffa-louie's. It was mmmmm-gooood. They had lots of Indiana Hoosier
basketball crap everywhere. We went back to the hotel after eating and
watched TV and went to bed.
12-01-02 - Welcome to December everyone, the third worst month of the year. Woke up at 5:30am to get ready for the big trip to the Indiana School of Optometry for another interview. Me and the Kimmy left at 6:15am. We took I-80 across Iowa and it was f'n packed with people. Most of the time I was okay with it, but there were some real assholes out there. We made our way across this great country and finally got to the Econolodge in Bloomington, IN at about 7:00pm. The SuperTaurus made it a-okay. I was so proud.