It's too hot before 6:00
June 27, 10:53 PM
Today I was very busy.
When I woke up I asked Allison what the chores for the day were. She said the bathrooms needed to be cleaned. I cleaned my parent's and the downstairs bathroom, and also vacuumed around the basement a little bit. I also collected the dirty laundry and started washing it. Then I got in the car and got the funnel cakes my pap bought for me and Allison, got the mail, and set up an appointment to have my car fixed. It will be July 11th. Next, I came home and did more laundry, then I called my dad and asked if any grass needed cut. Some did so I went out and did it. After that, another round of laundry went through the machines, and I did the dishes too. Around that time prince pooped himself and had to be cleaned out.
By the time all of that was done, dinner was ready. I had rice, potatoes, and two sandwiches. After dinner I jumped in the pool for an hour or so, then came back in to play Diablo for a bit. Then, I consolidated my student loans (totalling $20,000 so far) to "lock in" a lower interest rate. I think the AES people are full of shit because once you start borrowing money from them, they own you.
Now it's time to piss the night away on comedy central and video games.
I love you so much hun, can't wait for college
Game on.
Seethe Pox the Undead
June 26, 9:17 PM
Friday.
On Friday my parents, Allison, and Mandie all piled into the Altima and went out to Penn State. When we got there we saw where Mandie will be learning her craft, in the new Architecture building. It wasn't finished yet, but from what I saw it is a top-class building. the 2nd anf 4th floors are wide open spaces where there will be lots of room for classes and studios. The third floor is a mezzanene from which you can see the other two floors. It's a massive and impressive building, and Mandie seemed quite impressed. My dad reminded her a couple times of just how lucky she is to have such a massive building dedicated to her major right next to her dorm. We also went to see a 110 year old map of Pennsylvania, on which many of the towns I know today didn't exist yet. My town also had a totally different name back then, and noone really knows why.
After all of that we went to the creamery to get some ice cream which I didn't finish. Then I showed everyone where one of my classes will be held in the Life Sciences building. Its an auditorium type room with a huge screen up front and an outlet for each person seated.
When we were done touring Penn State we stopped at the Student Bookstore to get some PSU gear and then went to Comic Swap where I got some X-Men comics. I showed Mandie some of the D&D things they had on sale there, including the jars and jars of dice. She didn't get anything though.
On the way home we stopped at her house so she could get her swim suit and go for an evening swim in the pool. The water wasn't cold enough though so I got out. I ended the day on some Diablo 2.
Saturday.
This day was the day of my dad's now famous church auction. Mandie agreed to help out with it so I picked her up and headed for the church. We got there around 4:30 to help get ready for the action. I got some coke while we waited, but Mandie was in a "food is disgusting" mood so she didn't get anything.
3 hours of auctioning later, It was time to go. The auction was deemed successful by my dad, and mandie and I went home to watch a TV show about meteors, then one about gangs in Hell's Kitchen. I finished off the night with some Diablo 2, again.
Sunday.
Today was church day, but noone was in church. My dad was lector, server, and usher all at once, since all the servers decided to skip church. After Mass we took a ride down the new road that was built in Vintondale. It's paved with Sandstone and doesn't have a name yet, but it breaks off the trail near the creek and runs around the perimeter of the new park they built on the flats. It's nice the area was reclaimed so nicely, since before that it was basically a flat wasteland covered with coal dust and bony, and the occasional mutant tree. Before that it was the site of Vintondale's industrial sector, where over 100 coke ovens burned all day and all night.
After the park trip we found a yard sale and checked it out. There I found a box of 29 Intellivision games in excellent condition going for $10. Need I say more? In case you didn't know, Intellivision was a game console popular in the early 80s. It was made by Mattel.
Then we made our weekly Sheetz run, and when I was done with my lunch it was time to get the garden pipes out. My dad uses these pipes to channel water from our spring into his garden when it gets dry. Our spring hasn't run dry in over 150 years so I don't think he'll have a problem. When I was done helping my dad I went down to the building to paint the walls some more. I was down there for probably 3 hours when I decided it was too hot and came home to swim in the pool. Then I was cooled off so I played a round of Total Annihilation. It was a very fun round that had me pretty entertained.
Thats it for now, see you later loyal fans.
My love for you grows with every passing day...
Viva Nintendo.
Oh, I see how it is
June 23, 1:20 AM
Tuesday.
Oddly I remember nothing about this day. Must have been a great day.
Wednesday.
Today I woke up around 11. After asking my sister what the day's chores were, and hearing that there were none, I went downstairs to play some diablo. My Sorceress is getting up there in power and I am having no problem finding cool items. Just today some very generous player gave me one of his armors.
After Diablo I came outside and washed the cavalier. First I applied some vinyl protectant to the surfaces inside the car, and also swept it out. Then I got some hot soapy water and washed the outside from top to bottom. Finally I sprayed some tire dressing on the tires, to give them the wet look. All in all I'd say it looks pretty nice. After getting the car cleaned up, Mandie called me and said she was ready to go. I picked her up and we spent some time in the nice warm pool before getting out and watching some TV. I also played a little bit of Diablo to show Mandie my emerging super powerful character. By the end of the Daily Show Mandie seemed very tired (she was up since 5 am) so I took her home a little bit early. When I got home I found Leo trying to run out the door. Now I'm sitting here deciding if I should play Diablo, Total Annihilation, or just go to bed. I don't know yet.
I love you very much, see you soon cupcake
Now you're playing with power.
And now, your moment of Zen
June 20, 11:40 PM
So much has been going on, I'll try to keep it chronological.
I got my rejection letter from Sheetz. "We have many good applicants and your application will stay on file for 30 days." Thanks a lot Sheetz. My mother is now boycotting the gasoline restaurant, but it doesn't really bother me that much.
I applied to Krispy Kream in Belsano, they are looking for workers (apparently), and I still haven't heard anything from them. Mandie tells me the Niner Diner is looking for dishwashers and waiters, "and there's always those telemarketer jobs." I think I'll pass on that one, babe.
We ot the pool uncovered and I have been enjoying it thoroughly. Mandie was able to partake in the DiHydrogen Oxide festivities too.
I've been painting the building too, thats coming right along. I think painting is probably one of the more frustrating things I've ever done, but not quite as frustrating as computer programming.
Lately I've been working on my mom's office's website. The thing was kind of a mess and I've been cleaning it up. We also called good old Nittany Pointe about my security deposit, from which they took 130 dollars for some reason.
And now LINKAGE.
World Meters.
Hold the button forever.
YEEargh what is going on here?
I love you cupcake, see you soon
The games are calling me...
I would like a nice frosty cup of water
June 9, 10:35 PM
The 8th.
I got a call at 9:30 in the morning from my grandma, a sheetz worker. "Brenda told me to tell you that she'll take you at 10:30, alright?" Wha...did they call here or something? "No, she just told me to give you the message."
After being somewhat shocked by that brilliant display of professionalism on this Brenda's part, I shaved and changed into some good clothes for the interview. I got to the place 15 minutes early, like you're suppossed to, and was told that Brenda would be with me in a few minutes. I waited around the register for a bit, and saw my uncle Joe there. He told me he goes there every single day for coffee. Bleh. A few minutes became about 15 minutes when I was told "Yes, she really will see you in a few minutes." After a little more waiting I was admitted into the "office," basically a hallway with computers on either side. I found Brenda and learned she was one of the managers. After taking a 50 question math/psychology test, I was given a few more questions from the interviewer. They were the usual Why do you think you'd be good at this job, what makes you so special, etc., and one Sheetz specific question dealing with sub sandwiches. Despite my previous experience with Smokey Joes and McDonalds, along with being in college (and on the dean's list), Brenda did not seem impressed with me. She told me that Sheetz would be far too fast paced and difficult for somebody like me, not in those words, but that was the gist of it. If they would rather have a bunch of old ladies make the subs and run the registers, thats their call.
After sheetz I came home and ran the vacuum in the basement. When I was done, Mandie called, but I still had grass to cut. And boy did I have grass to cut. It hadn't been done in two weeks and needed it badly. When I was done I had to jump in the shower immediately and get ready for Mandie. I got her home and we had chicken stir fry for dinner, one of my favorites. After dinner we went to Wal-Mart for a little bit, then came back home for a while before I had to take Mandie back. I studied for my stat test that was the next day, then went to sleep.
The 9th, today.
Woke up at 9:20 and bolted out the door. I got to stat class a little early, which was good. We had a 1 hour lecture on how to use Minitab, a statistics computer program, then the test. It was pretty easy. Afer that I got home and had the leftover stir fry, and pretty much gamed until now. It's too hot to do anything else. I overheard the weatherman say that we are in a "Mid-July weather pattern." A wild departure from the February weather patterns we were having in May.
Tomorrow we might actually get the pool cover off. We shall see.
Oh Mandie, your pressence is as refreshing as a spring breeze
I play violent video games. I could snap at any moment!
The Google Grid
June 7, 1:28 PM
First I have some Daily Columbian news. I'm switching to a two month per page format because...well...yeah.
Anyways, it's been two weeks since I updated the good old Blog. Heres why.
The last week of May was spent getting ready for Allison's graduation and subsequent party, and also on my English papers. Getting ready included finishing the patio, cleaning the house up, and making space for my cousins who came over for a couple days.
The graduation was at St. Francis, since I guess the auditorium at BC isn't big enough. My graduation was there too. Buba was there, along with my parents, grandparents, and my uncle's family. Allison got her diploma, we took a bunch of pictures, and we went home.
That weekend was the party. Mandie came over to see it along with a sizable chunk of my family, both sides. We ate lots of food and had a good time discussing old slang terms with Buba.
The first week of June opened up with Mandie's graduation on the 1st. I sat with her parents and sister in the audience, and we somehow all missed her walking down to the stage (You must have crawled down, cupcake). (Note to Mandie SARCASM BEGIN, GO!) Mandie's superintendant talked about drugs and alcohol, just to make sure the grads heard all about it one last time before they left the school system for good, making it what I'm sure must have been the 34183rd time. She also picked out certain students by name and explained how they built their reading skills using accelerated reader. I stopped and thought WTF. Yeah, I want to be the class retard that gets picked out and praised about HOW I CAN READ NOW at GRADUATION.
I would have been mortified. Later the class salutorian told us all about how the class excelled "academinicly". I think she needed some accelerated reading classes too. Then the Valedictorian told us to "have fun but stay alive." Sage advice that even the parents couldn't help giggling at. I can't make this shit up, people. Finally we saw Mandie when her senior picture was projected on two different spots in the auditorium, and she walked across the stage to get her diploma. I liked the picture idea, but some of those people had no business having an image of themselves projected on a wall. Ick. After the ceremony, which surprisingly only lasted an hour, everyone in there ran out of the place like bats out of hell. It was probably as hot as Hell in there since the A/C was broken, and poor Mandie had to keep all that graduation stuff on through it. Finally we escaped, but not before the gown demon stole Mandie's cap and gown. (Note to Mandie SARCASM END, STOP!) I got to keep my cap and gown from high school. I gave Mandie her presents in the car, which she enjoyed very much, then we went out to Penn Gables for pizza. It was good, and I realized that was the first time I ate a meal with Mandie's whole family. It was an interesting experience, especailly with Becki's artworks.
On the 3rd (or was it the 4th, can't remember) I painted some of a hallway in my dad's appartment building. I still have some more to go.
On the 5th I went to Mandie's house for the party. I showed up early in case she needed some help setting up, which she did. We taped some pictures up, and a lot of her friends showed up shortly afterwards. After eating dinner, I got two of her friends to play me in volleyball, both of them vs. me. We played for a while and I got thouroghly sweaty, so I stopped for a while. Then it was time for cake. I ate a slice, then found some hula hoops to play with. I tried for a while but couldn't get it to work, so Mandie showed everyone how its done by getting 4 of them going simultaneously. After that we played smashmitten. Its like badmitten but you hit it hard enough for it to get stuck in the racket. It was fun. Then I played Frisbee with Kelli and Andre. After getting over the shock that I got Kelli to play something, I learned how to throw a frisbee a bit better. Then Mandie joined in. Seeing that Mandie was being very playful that day, we played catch with a wiffle ball for a while after that. Then the fire was lit and we made mountain pies. After I told one of Mandie's friends that I hated her she made me a smore. Aren't women strange? We stayed out telling jokes and stories until close to 11 PM, when we went inside to watch some TV. I ended up leaving around 1:15 in the morning.
Yesterday and today I went to stat. I found out that I got a 135 out of 140 on my test, and the stuff we are doing today wasn't hard. I also found out I got As on my english papers. Now I'm waiting for a call from Sheetz. Mwahaha, job.
I love you babe, see you later!
Never stop gaming.
Monsters
May 23, 4:18 PM
On Sunday I helped build up the patio a little more, then went to Mandie's for a while. We watched TV until it was time to eat dinner, which I understand her mom actually made which is out of the ordinary. I think I was suppossed to put the meatballs inside of the roll and eat it like a sandwich but I decided to go against the norm and ate them separately. There were also brownies which I enjoyed, but I want to try Mandie's stromboli before I pass final judgement on the food of the orange brick house. While I was eating, Becky told the stoy of how she throws up when she takes her medicine. I am glad that talking about vomit usually doesn't bother me while I'm eating. After dinner we watched more TV and got online for a few minutes, but by then it was already 10:45 and it was time for me to go. After getting home I only stayed up for a little bit and went to bed.
Today started off rather well for a Monday. My mom's blood pressure of the morning was only at Medium, on a scale of low, medium, and volcanic. After I had ate breakfast she calmed down a bit and gave me some lunch money. I stopped by my pap's for about 20 minutes before leaving, and got to school with plenty of time to spare. I got my second stat test back and saw that I scored a 100%. These classes aren't worth the money. After stat I went to the mall to check prices on Dungeons and Dragons books, and the cheapest one I saw looked to not even be 100 pages and was 20 bucks. The new edition of the Monsterous Manual comes in three volumes which are 30 dollars each. I'd rather save my money for better things. Now I'm waiting to go to English which I'm sure will be stupid as usual.
I love you hun, see you soon!
Keep on gamin'.
Extra Survivial
May 21, 10:40 PM
Nice week.
On Tuesday and Wednesday I went to class and hung out on campus. I had english quizzes and a stat test on which I got As.
On Thursday I went to Stat but not English. I came home and took a break by playing Medieval. I continued my Byzantine campaign, right after the Polish reappeared, took 7 provinces and aquired an unstoppable army, which I stopped after it took about 6 of my other provinces.
On Friday I picked Mandie up from school. I showed her my D&D book so she could see where I got the fairy information. That monster book is really interesting, theres a lot of crap in it but I don't think they even sell it anymore. There is a new version but I'm sure its expensive as hell. I also introduced her to Leo. Leo really liked jumping on her and reminded me of how her her dog Jonah acts with her. In fact it reminded me of Jonah so much I actually called Leo Jonah when I kicked him out. Afterwards we had macaroni and tuna for dinner, then went 45 rounds in Soul Calibur. We had lots of fun, and I think Mandie likes Kilik for her character. Last time she used Talim but she seems better with the stick wielding Kilik. I showed her some of the more advanced parts of the game, such as wall jumping and guard impacting. She seemed to really enjoy it, but before long it was time to leave. Final score was 30 to 15. I got her home by 12, then I came home and continued the campaign. I mopped up what was left of the Polish, English, Italians, French, and the Papacy.
Today I had a lot of work to do. I woke up around 11, ate breakfast, then went outside to help my mom with the patio. After about 3 hours of shoveling, digging, and hauling I was ready for lunch. After lunch I went outside again and cut grass till about 5. By then I was sweaty, tired, and smelled worse than Prince. I showered and continued the Byzantine campaign. After cleaning out the polish I was untouchable. I utterly destroyed the Russians, Irish, Sweedes, Norse, and Danes. Then it was on to Africa to eliminate the Arabs with my army of thousands. By the end of my big push I owned the entire map exept for three provinces, 2 owned by the Spanish and one owned by the Aragoneese (the faction I played as last time). Wiping them out was nothing, and I won a 100% total domination victory for the first time on Normal. Then Buba came back with my mom and we got her moved back in. Leo seems to like her.
I love you babe
Later gamers.
Editorial Shingles
May 16, 1:07 AM
Some things to go over.
On Wednesday I started packing up my appartment to go home. I made sure all my lights were shut off and the doors were locked before I left, and took some stuff home. I got home and unloaded, relaxed, and slept until Thursday.
On Thursday I went to school and got there in plenty of time. Stat was fast paced but easy too, and when I got back up to the appartment I noticed something strange. My kitchen light was on. I know that thing was off when I left. I went up to the office and filed a report. The manager wasn't there at the time, but I was told I would get a call from her when she got back. Then, on my way back down to my room, it hit me. I knew my mom was at work today, so why don't I give her a call and ask to help me move the rest of the way out of the appartment? I did so, and we got the rest of my stuff loaded into the cavalier and altima. We also cleaned my room, the bathroom, and some of the kitchen. Then I turned in my keys, spoke with the manager, and left Nitany Pointe for the last time. I got home Thursday night and unloaded my stuff. By that night I was pretty tired from everything that happened that day, and fell asleep early.
Friday was Allison's birthday. Now shes 18 years old. We had a little party at home, and took her out for dinner at red lobster. It was very good, but we generally order more food than we can ever hope to eat in one sitting so we took a lot home to eat later. We also stopped at Wal-Mart where I saw Kelli doing something with her prom pictures (getting them recentered or enlarged or something). That night nothing else really happened, but I had fun being out.
Saturday was work day as usual. I got up around 11 and went straight outside to help my mom put in our new patio for the next 5 hours or so. Around 4:15 it started raining so we went inside. I showered and got ready for me and Mandie's date that night. We got to the movies early, which ended up being a mistake because they wouldn't even let us into the damn theater until 5 minutes before the movie started. The movie was Kingdom of Heaven. It was better than Alexander but not quite as good as Lord of the Rings. Its about the Crusades, and what I found interesting about the movie was that they were careful not to show either side as the "bad guy". There were clearly good and evil people on each religion's side. Mandie also found the movie very enjoyable, and we stayed at my house for a couple hours before I took her home.
Sunday was also nice. After church we had breakfast in the church hall, then we all went up to Eagle Rock to enjoy the cool, damp woods and see the many rock formations up around there. We took Leo with us but he ended up being a pain because hes not really big enough to walk in the woods yet. After that I went with my dad to a body shop to get an estimate on repairing the rust damage on my car. The guy told us he would call with a dollar amount. Dinner was home made chicken soup of which I had 4 bowls. Then it was back to video gaming as usual.
Today promises to be boring. We shall see.
I love you more than anything or anyone, cupcake
Grab life by the Meatballs
May 10, 1:07 PM
My English class last night only lasted 45 minutes. We got the sylabus and the course packet, which will act as our textbook. The whole point of the course is to pick someone in the arts industry, could be an artist, musician, director, writer, etc., and write papers about them. Also right at the end we need to write a resume. Shouldn't be a bad class either.
So last night was my first night alone in the appartment. It was a very strange experience. The place feels very empty, but very clean too. I did find out that someone had clogged my toilet while I was gone and didn't bother to unclog it. I fixed it by jamming the toilet brush as far into the hole as I could repeatedly. I was also dissapointed that Port Sky is closed for the summer, so I'll have to bring my own lunch or eat at sheetz after my lease expires. I am NOT eating at McGreasy's every day.
There was a guy in my stat class today that said he will graduate two years ahead of shedule, from taking as many classes as he could possibly handle year round. Must be nice to have $9,000 to spend each summer.
Now I'm figuring out how and when I'm going to move out. I'd like to be totally checked out and done with this place by Saturday. I figure I have about two Cavalier loads of stuff here, which isn't bad. Speaking of the Cavvy I'm going to get an estimate for the rust damage this week. My dad told me he would help with the bill, which is very generous of him. Haha.
Back to reading stat, see you around, loyal fans.
I Must Burn that Image into my Head
May 9, 1:25 PM
Long time no post.
Finals week wasn't bad at all. On the 29th I had my psych 243 final which was easy, then I spent saturday, sunday, monday, and tuesday studying. The carpet cleaner came on Monday (after 3 delays) and did a good job. He ended up breaking Aaron's bed in the process however.
Wednesday was the day that was responsible for my roommates and their friends calling me crazy. I had 4 finals on that day. First was Psych 213 at 8 AM. Easy. Next was history 011 at 1 PM. There were 4 essay questions, of which we could pick 2 to do, plus a bunch of political maps to fill out. Also easy. Next was Comm 100 at 6 PM. This was the hardest final. 80-some multiple choice plus 5 essay questions. That class was always harder than it should have been. Finally was the Phil 10 final at 8 PM. Easy. In all, an easy but long day. Wednesday night I said goodbye to everyone, and played some people at mario kart. I got to sleep around 2 AM and didn't wake up till 2:15 in the afternoon. I went home, and acted basically like a slug until Saturday morning.
Saturday was prom day. I woke up around 10 to go to the flower shop with my dad to get Mandie's flowers. Of course they screwed them up but we got them fixed. Then around 2 I started getting ready. By 3:15 I was finished getting my pictures taken at my house and left for Mandie's. I got there around 3:30 and got lots of pictures taken with her and her relatives. Then 4:30 was grand march time. We went to that then left for the Ramada Inn where the dance would take place. When we got there we were able to get our pictures taken quickly, and then ate. It was better than last year. Next it was time to dance. We danced a little bit and had fun, but before we knew it the last prom was over. After that we went to Eat n Park with Andre, Kelli, Shane, and Elyssa. I got some stir fry and Mandie got cheese sticks. Then we went bowling for a while, it was a lot of fun too and I think we both improved our game. We left bowling, and stopped at the appartment for a little bit before leaving for Mandie's house. I got her there at about 3:30 in the morning, then left for home, getting to sleep around 4:30. It was a great day and I'm glad we went, cupcake.
Sunday was mother's day. Allison's and my gift was a coupon for one week free of housework. My dad found a decorative end table for my mom. We also went for a walk on the trail as a family with Leo, our new dog. He's a German Shepherd/Huskie mix, and I think he'll be a good dog.
Monday, today, began the summer semester. I got here around 10 after 10, and went down to Stat 200. So far, today alone, we did all of chapter one plus a lot of chapter two. Even though we are pounding through these chapters, the class seems easy so far so I ain't sweatin. I still have English 202A to go to tonight. I stopped at the bookstore to get my books. I needed one textbook (for stat) and two notebooks, costing me $89. I knew that tax refund would come in handy.
See you next time, gamers.
I love you so much