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This page stores my blog entries from January 2003.  The entries are dated January 6, January 8, January 12, January 19, January 21, January 23, January 25, January 29, and January 30. Back to the Blog Archive Introduction: For people who might be reading this and don't know me, you can read a bit about me on my About... Page.  I'll try to write to this as often as I can, detailing things that happen to me or thoughts that come to mind that seem interesting for some reason or another. Thought Storm on People's Issues Monday, January 6, 2003 A friend of mine had noted that it seems like everyone has some sort of major or serious problem to overcome.  Some have been raped, molested, or abused in some other fashion.  Others have unfortunate personality problems that create conflicts and are things that don't seem very healthy.  Although I don't know how "normal" or common this really is, it would seem like these things would be just something that a person would have to overcome in life.  A former co-worker once said that people between the ages of 21 and 30 go through a lot of changes, so maybe that's what we're experiencing with people as well. On the "obstacle to overcome" side, it would seem "normal" for everyone to struggle with something in their life.  Whether it be poverty, racism, abuse, or some other malady, I think everyone should have something that they have to fight against for the sake of personal growth and sense of life accomplishment.  For some people it's a fight to understand how the world really is and to find the best way to deal with things.  For others, it might be the best path to take to achieve what they want, despite the social obstacles that might be in the way (e.g. women breaking the "glass barrier"; minorities (including people who are not heterosexual) earning posts that have never been held by a minority). I'm not sure what to think about the "many changes between 21 and 30", though I can see how it'd take some people that long to truly understand life and their own path to happiness.  I know that, for myself, that path has been long and is nowhere near an end as of yet.  Thankfully, I am en route to finding what truly makes me happy and doing what I can to bring happy things and people into my life. Back to the Top Crap Drivers/A Little More on Me/Candles and A Person Dear to Me Wednesday, January 8, 2003 I don't understand drivers these days.  Recently, I had someone who made maximal use of what little space was between me and the car ahead of me.  Naturally, I honked at him, upset for him putting me in a bad spot.  So what does he do?  He slams on his brakes, obviously trying to get me to hit him!  I really don't know why drivers are this way.  Granted, I was doing my best to keep anyone from cutting in front of me, but this doesn't excuse people to just bull their way through things.  Normally, if I see someone with their turn signal on, I'll give them room to come over; traffic is awful enough as it is that it's just not worth it to force people out.  What made it different with this person was that I didn't see him come, and he raced up in front of me without signaling.  What I find funny about the whole situation is that we both probably firmly believe that it was the other's fault and not our own. There's this really cool candle place in town that has all sorts of cool candles, incense, bath soaps, oils, and other cool stuff like that.  I put myself on their mailing list, from which I had an invite to their Open House this past December.  Well, I received another postcard from them saying that they will be closing and having a major sale to get rid of the current merchandise.  Granted, I haven't spent too much money there, but I really enjoyed seeing what they had there.  The people who work there were really cool, so it'll be sad to see that place go. There's a friend of mine who lives in southern California, and we've managed to keep a good friendship going despite never meeting in person.  We've talked on the phone many times for hours on end, so it's not like we don't have much of an idea who the other is or anything like that.  We had talked about getting together at her place near the end of this month, but that doesn't seem to be a good time for her.  I know we'll get together eventually; it's certainly something we both want.  And, if she happens to see this: Hang in there, my dear! Back to the Top Concert Overview: Dr. Know/Stalag-13 Sunday, January 12, 2003 I went to a great concert last night.  My friends' band, Broken Society, was playing at a bar in Roseville with Chick Pack, World of Lies, Stalag-13, and the headliner Dr. Know. The bar, Shady Brady's, was an interesting little bar with assorted (replica?) concert posters set around the bar.  It was a two-level bar, with the bar on the lower level/entrance and a good-sized sitting area in the upper level/back area.  There was an inset room decorated like a vampiric stage, making me expecting the Damned to perform instead.  This inset room was where the bands would set up their gear, and it worked wonderfully.  There wasn't too much open room in front of the "stage", but that's probably just as well since the owners didn't want any moshing going on (yeah, like that'll be prevented). World of Lies was a death-metal band, which seemed a little out of place for the line-up.  I thought they were ok, though their best moments where when they did a couple of covers (one of Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy"; the other was an At the Gates song, I think).  BS took the stage next to a rather small crowd.  They sounded great, and their new-ish bassist (new to me, at least) allowed Gregg (their lead singer) to take up a second guitar.  They really needed that second guitar to give them a fuller sound.  (Great set, guys!)  Chick Pack took the stage next, and they gained the strong interest of the male segment of the crowd (I certainly hope they were very drunk; wasn't too much to see in this band).  CP was ok, but their songs didn't really click with me. Then there was the headliners, starting with Stalag-13.  Now, I had an impression that they were rather old to be a touring punk band, and then they mentioned that they were on tour to support their album re-release on Dr. Strange Records.  These old-schoolers started playing in the early '80s!  They were really cool, packing a lot of energy into their set.  If you're into skate-ish punk, pick up their re-release. Last, but certainly not least, was Dr. Know.  I joked with Gregg about heckling Brandon Cruz by chanting "Jello" (referring to Brandon taking the Dead Kennedys' lead singing duties with DK's musicians), but we decided it wasn't a good idea with all the Dr. Know fans around.  I'm not sure what "nardcore" is supposed to be, but Dr. Know surprised me with how good they were.  It sounded like simple, straight-forward punk rock, but Brandon's vocals ripped through all of us.  He half-apologized for his raspy voice, but I thought the raspiness made it better. Brandon displayed a great sense of humor and got along well with the crowd.  At one point, a fan yelled out a Dr. Know song name.  Brandon said that they didn't know the song.  When prodded that they did, he said, "prove it."  When the dude couldn't, he said, "uh huh."  He dedicated one of the songs to the vegetarians in the crowd (the song was called "Piece of Meat").  Brandon also made some comments in between songs that sounded very political and made me see, besides his singing abilities, why the ex-DKs got him for the singing duties. Some of the people there got a bit crass (appropriate for a punk concert, eh?).  A couple of incidents caught my attention that night, and the second one confused me for a bit until I caught on.  I had my eye on this cute woman there, but I never had a chance to talk with her.  Well, during one band's set, she and another girl got into a bit of a fight that, according to my friends, had been brewing for some time.  Unfortunately, it was nothing like the fight I saw at the Def Leppard concert, but it was fun to watch.  The second incident occurred during Dr. Know's set.  The bar allowed their pub glasses to be anywhere in the crowd during the concert; a definite mistake for any bar owner who values their glassware.  Before Dr. Know started one of their songs, a person in the middle of the "pit" placed his glass down, open-side up, in the middle of the room.  Not too long after the band started the song, I saw the dude kick the glass towards a wall, shattering near the stage.  I'm not certain if that really surprised me or not; it's the kind of stuff that some punkers would do, though I know most wouldn't. Back to the Top Birthday Week Recap Sunday, January 19, 2003 Well, my birthday was this past Friday.  What a weekend!  On Friday, I spent most of the day with my Grandfather.  We went to lunch at Shandiz, a Persian restaurant that serves a really good lunch buffet.  From there, we went over to CompUSA and worked out what he needed for his computer needs.  Ignoring the fact that he ended up buying nothing during our stop, we still had fun. My birthday dinner consisted of pork steaks, mashed potatoes, and butternut squash.  My dad also baked me a mocha cake with mocha/cognac frosting.  Very, very delicious. Yesterday was a "birthday/anniversary" gathering with our local family members.  That dinner consisted of prime rib (I think), rolls, applesauce, and salad.  The meal included a nice merlot (Colli Euganei 2001) and carrot cake and death by chocolate ice cream.  We sat around and enjoyed each other's company that night. Overall, I received some money, Def Leppard's "Pyromania" CD, and a renewal of my USA Today's Sports Weekly.  Earlier this week, I bought myself a new leather wallet from the Sunrise Leather Co. in Arden Faire Mall. As if that wasn't enough, I got a hold of Andy from Broken Society and acquired an old bass drum from him.  I felt like a little kid again!  It was in pieces, but he found enough so that I had one functioning bass drum with pedal and a frame for a high-hat.  A few pieces closer to a full drum set! Back to the Top Stress in Three Flavors Tuesday, January 21, 2003 This whole life is getting weird on me.  I just found out yesterday that the Dance Club (for which I update and maintain their web site and e-mail list) doesn't seem to have a board of officers.  Our last president, Curtis, says he's not going to serve this semester.  It's almost a week from the beginning of the Spring Semester at CSUS (probably two from our normal start week), and, from what little I do know, we do not have room reservations or a schedule.  And I'm getting inquiries (from club members and professors at the university) about when the schedule will be available.  I'm not mad at Curtis (yet) since I know so little about what's going on; ironic for someone who is supposed to be the head of Online Communications, eh? An old friend, Andrea, called for me last night while I was out.  Without going into any detail, we were friends for a long time, but things did not go well for us over the last two or so years.  I finally took my space and, recently, had no desire to have her back in my life.  I think her calling has softened that stance somewhat, but I don't know where she'll be coming from in all this.  I think we would have a lot to work on, and I don't know if she'll understand things well enough for any talking to do any good.  If it comes to such talking, I'll be open to working things through. I think this marks week 2 of my job hunt.  I'm not finding a whole lot out there, so I'm going to turn my search towards agencies and towards applying to companies rather than positions.  I'll still search the Help Wanted ads, but I'm not holding out for much luck through those. Back to the Top First Candle Haul Thursday, January 23, 2003 Yesterday, I visited one of my favorite candle shops, Diverse City, and took advantage of their going-out-of-business sale.  It was really sad to hear and see that it was closing.  They had 50% off everything in the store, so I went over and got some nice stuff.  My haul included: a 6 3/4" (17cm) diameter glass platform on which to burn candles; a 4" x 4" x 6.5" mottled orange candle with a black Japanese character on it and a silver band that says, "Happiness" in big letters (with "Nirvana Candles" in a smaller script underneath); a set of 13" black tapers with white icing; a set of 9" green marble formal candles; and a set of 12" blue-green tapers (actually, they're probably formal candles again; maybe semi-formal?).  The mottled orange candle with black glass base looks wonderful together, and they go great between my replica samurai helmets.  The only thing I didn't get but will next time (when it goes up to 75% off) are some drip candles to use on my blue wine bottles. My job search has taken me towards looking for some employment agencies.  I spent the last day and a half looking through about 20 different sites.  There are so many things on those sites, and some of them started to look the same.  In fact, two of them were exactly the same with certain features. I have a lunch date with a friend, Lily, tomorrow.  That will certainly be fun, since assorted things have gotten in the way of us getting together for the past couple of months or so.  I think I'm going to push for Chipotle; I like that place, and I haven't had anything there in a few months myself. Back to the Top Friday Fun Recap/Second Candle Haul/Super Bowl Saturday, January 25, 2003 Friday was a cool day.  I had my list of employment agencies all set.  This Monday, I'll give each a call and set up appointments as necessary for interviews with them.  I'm nervous about this, since I'm still rather unsure as to what realm I want to work in, but I think this will work out well. I got together with a friend, Lily, for lunch and general wanderings.  We ended up eating lunch at the Thai Palace.  We both had some Thai tea, and I had a pork and noodle dish (I don't remember what she had; sorry Lily!).  I enjoyed the pork/noodle dish; the Thai tea was good in small sips, but seemed a little overwhelming on the tea end for me if I took too large a drink.  It was very good, the service was good, and Lily made an excellent choice. From there, we visited Diverse City, a place I once tried to show her but ended up having her be called away.  It was rather picked over because of the sale (see "First Candle Haul", above).  After a good browse, we headed back to her car to prevent it from being ticketed or towed by the parking enforcement and went off to stroll around Old Sac.  It was fun to meander with no aims.  We found this one spot at 120 J St. that didn't have anything there.  It seemed like an empty lot with ruins from something that might have been there before.  There were a few (metal?) columns in two rows, but they weren't at the same height at the top of the capitals.  There was a "fallen" column near the stairs, and other stone and metal remnants scattered around.  There was something that resembled a headstone, and some stone pieces that seemed to indicate possible entrances to who-knows-what.  Lily believed people held weddings there, where I thought it'd make an awesome location for a Halloween party. Lily and I hung out at a coffee place and chatted away.  Once we were through with our coffee, chocolate cake, and in-depth conversation about relationships, we headed off for our cars: mine under Macy's and her's in front of my house.  It was a fun day and I had a great time with her. One of the other great things about Friday included the raising of my desk chair.  Ok, maybe that doesn't seem like such a cool thing, but it was nice for me.  I've had this old desk chair since 1997, and back then it was destined to be thrown away.  Since I needed a desk chair of some sort, I snagged it.  The problem lately is that I had just realized that it's entirely too short for my desk (one that's a family piece and not something I've been using for long) and determined that the discrepancy of heights was in part the cause for the pain in my right wrist.  This chair does not have any levers or such to raise it at all.  I asked my dad about it, and he said that this type of chair had a segment that, when turned, would raise the chair up.  So, now my chair is much higher than it used to be, and hopefully that'll create some better angles for me to hold my wrist when typing and using my mouse. Thursday marked the unveiling of my new and current site design, but Friday marked the first full day.  I really like this design much better than any other one I've created.  No red text on black background like I had at first, and no bland color scheme with excessive use of tables like I had before this one.  My friend, Gabe Anderson, said he'd critique my site when he has the time to really give things a good look-over.  I'm looking forward to see what he thinks! I made a second stop at Diverse City today and picked up some drip candles.  The mother of a high school friend had started a drip candle bottle at her house, and I got very interested in doing that myself.  Now, some five years later, I'll be able to do that.  I saved these two dark blue wine bottles for just this thing.  I bought one of each of the eight colors Diverse City had: black, medium blue, lemon yellow, orange, neon blue, neon yellow, neon pink, and neon orange.  It's possible that the neon colors are blacklight-sensitive; since I don't have a blacklight, that's probably not very important to me right now.  My initial thought was to use half of each candle on each bottle, but I may pick out a couple of different color combinations and see how each bottle turns out.  Whatever I choose, I know I'll have fun! The Super Bowl is tomorrow.  It feels weird to have it come only a week after the conference finals, but it's cool.  Despite living in Northern California, I'm rooting for the Buccaneers.  For anyone placing friendly monetary bets, put it on the Raiders.  For, I think, the past three games, the team I rooted for ended up losing.  Just a heads-up for the betting segment of my readers. Back to the Top The Dawn Before Disaster/Job Hunting Wednesday, January 29, 2003 Will the end of the CSUS Ballroom Dance Club be near, or will it somehow survive this rather pathetic time?  Tonight's meeting at Andy's apartment should determine the fate of the club.  I'm not totally sure who will actually show to try to work things out.  I know Andy and I will be there, and it seems that Curtis, our president last semester, will be there as well.  I've had one club member say he'll be there and another who said she'd still be interested in being an officer.  Everything else has been either a "maybe" or a non-answer.  I know that there are plans being made by someone to create a different, "more hip" club, and I've told that person that this meeting would be the best time to bring up and discuss this opportunity.  We'll see what transpires. My job hunt seems to be picking up, but I have yet to receive any response to anything I've sent out.  Five or six of the eight possibilities from this past Sunday have been sent out to the employers yesterday, so we'll see what happens with those.  I need to visit Adecco tomorrow morning (since my ink tank died while trying to print out a resume) and visit UC Davis' career center library to research possibilities. Back to the Top Success!/The Job Hunt/Boredom? Thursday, January 30, 2003 Well, the Dance Club meeting last night was a lot more fruitful than any of us would have thought it would be.  One of the university's professors, Robin, brought two or three people with her, and, outside of two people from the Dance Company (Shane and Curtis), two or three other people showed up.  I believe we have a full board of officers now, and there is a plan on what to do about this semester.  Unless some outside force or unknown obstacle comes into play, the club may be saved for most of this semester. Now, you may wonder, what my part was during this meeting.  Well ... Andy's computer.  I arrived early so I could take a look as to why his printer and CD burner weren't working.  I got so caught up in it, that I didn't get all the details as to what was going on. (I do know that they have a schedule idea, officer placements, and know that we're willing to help them figure things out.)  The answers to Andy's computer problems: Lotus and Andy needing to know how to use the CD burner software.  I uninstalled and reinstalled the printer drivers and made sure the device was activated, but when I tried to print anything from Lotus WordPro, it would just hang.  Even when I tried to remove the print job from the queue, it wouldn't go away.  Any print inquiries from Notepad or Wordpad printed or were removed from the queue without a problem.  For the burner, Andy followed me as I showed him how to use the burner software (some odd program I had never heard of before; we will teach him the coolness of Nero someday). *** *** *** *** *** *** I got back from Adecco earlier today.  This was the last day this week that they did the interviewing and training/testing.  So where were the associates/interviewers today?  Training.  I found that rather ironic, though it's good to know that Adecco's people are (re)trained on occasion.  While driving back, I wondered why they would have their training on a day when they would normally be training someone.  It could have been because of whoever is training them; they might have only had time slots open during the same time they would train people.  Anyway, I should hear from them tomorrow, or I'll just hop on by on Monday.  Hopefully I can get myself established with them before next Wednesday. *** *** *** *** *** *** While letting my mind be set adrift, I thought about boredom.  Specifically, I was thinking of an ex-boyfriend of a friend of mine who would tell her that people would think he's boring.  Before writing this entry in my blog, I had wondered whether what I wrote would be boring.  After thinking that thought, I realized that I didn't care. <grins>  I know that my friends (old, new, and as-of-yet undiscovered) will read it anyway to see what's up and possibly get an idea of how I'm doing (I won't put too much personal stuff in here; there are family members reading this, too). 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