Glowering Dubiously

Samus is getting bored of my lack of posting so I'm going to fix it. This will be a short update, because I have some sort of bizarre plague that's making me inexplicably nauseous and headachey.

I got the 20.1" widecreen LCD of doom last week. This week, it's on sale for $100 less. I was going to return it, but after re-shipping and taxes I'd only get $65 back. Regardless, the monitor kicks ass.

Anthony and I have been playing EverQuest II with his brother and a friend. I still play WoW to raid, though. It's still kind of neat to see the "world" I wasted many months of my life in, 500 years later.

I get to join Phi Theta Kappa tomorrow, which is the National Honor Society for 2-year college students. Hello, resume padding! School-wise, I'm doing pretty well. Getting a little confused in the database class, though.

I bought a domain and hosting again, but I haven't started the actual coding yet. Still working on the layout. I also decided that I'm not going to host a blog there. I'm just going to keep using this one, and make the site more portfolio-ish. By portfolio I don't particularly mean art, because I pretty much suck at being artistic these days. I'll probably put up Flash examples, code, written stuff, and the like.

My chakras are all screwed up.

Root: under-active (-94%)
Sacral: open (0%)
Navel: under-active (-69%)
Heart: under-active (-63%)
Throat: open (13%)
Third Eye: open (38%)
Crown: under-active (-13%)

Quarters

I'm officially old. I turned 25 on Monday. And now: a fairly random collection of thoughts from the past month or so!

The Fall semester begins tomorrow. I'm nervous and excited. Even though the majority of my classes are online, I feel antsy - but I'm definitely looking forward to doing most of my schoolwork while sitting around in pajamas. Another school update: after studying for something like 14+ hours, I got a 96% on my PreCalc final and an A for the course. Current GPA: 3.96! And yes, I'm trying to get that even higher.

I feel deeply disturbed by the whole New Orleans situation. I truly can't fathom the magnitude of human suffering that's going on. It's such a deeply helpless feeling, to see so many destroyed lives, hopes, and dreams. I'm frightened at the notion of some sort of disaster taking place in my area - would we receive the help we needed in time? How do you protect yourself and the ones you love? Most people have the attitude of "I'll worry when it applies to me", which I think is severely flawed. Maybe by the time "it" applies to you, nobody will be around to support you when you need it. Blech, rambling.

Six Feet Under has ended. I feel like a part of me is now permanently gone - it's amazing that an HBO series could affect a TV-hater such as myself in such profound ways. The character I most identified with was Claire, especially towards the end - the lost artist trying to find her way, questioning herself at every step. I guess one fundamental difference would be that I opted for a total career path change into something more "practical" while waiting for something that may never come back to me, instead of taking a chance and seeing what the world had to say about it. Anyway, if you haven't seen this series yet, do it. If you enjoyed the warped dark humor/irony of American Beauty, you'll dig SFU.

Anthony and I are getting along really well. We see each other pretty much every weekend, and do interesting stuff when we can. I think the things we enjoy the most involve food. Or I'm just typing this while I'm hungry. Sometimes we'll drag either my sister or his brother along, which is fun. We're supposed to try and go to Six Flags at some point, but we have yet to find a weekend that's going to work. This weekend was spent playing old video games, and celebrating my birthday.

I have a job interview tomorrow, for a small workstudy position at my school. It sounds like a pretty basic computer lab job (i.e. sitting on AIM most of the time), and the hours are short enough that it wouldn't interfere with my highly obsessive study habits. I definitely need some cash flowing in, because my credit card debt is starting to feel overwhelming.

Wound Filler

Dry spell, indeed. It's not that my life has been boring - I just have little desire to talk about anything lately.

Anthony and I are finally together, which just plain feels right. He's a great guy (dare I say the best?), and has been incredibly supportive of me and my various quirks. We've known each other and talked on and off for years (since New Year's, 2002 to be exact). I guess good things sometimes take awhile to develop. I'm certainly a good bit happier than I have been for quite some time. He somehow manages to satiate my Virgoan desire to over-communicate, and I think we learn more about ourselves and each other by doing so (not to mention appreciate each other more and more). :)

I'm quite pleased, saddened, and shocked with how the 5th season of Six Feet Under has been turning out (all at the same time). I don't want to spoil anything, but the season felt as though it was heading for a somewhat anti-climactic ending, then suddenly it exploded right in everyone's face. I can't wait for next week.

My left-top wisdom tooth has been coming out in chunks. I'm still procrastinating on calling the dentist to have it ripped out.

I'm about halfway through a summer Pre-Calculus course. The course is an entire semester compressed into about a month, so to say it's moving "quickly" would be a gross understatement. Either way, it's going to be a great help in catching up - I should be able to start Calculus 1 in Winter '06 at this rate (and maybe even be able to get degree #1 by Fall '06). In other news, I have an exam tomorrow and have been partially doing homework, studying, and playing Master of Magic.

I'm still playing WoW (60 Undead Warlock on Bleeding Hollow), but I feel as though I'm in a slump. I don't feel overly excited about logging in or raiding lately. We'll see if it's just a phase, or if I'm getting close to being done with the game.

Saving is for Suckers

I think I've lost 99.9% of all desire to blog. I'm not sure why. Maybe because the last time I had a nice page-long post written I'd accidentally hit the [x] and it ruined the mood. Sort of like the accidental hard-drive wiping catastrophe I dealt with last month (that's what the post would have been about). It's not that things don't happen. Even when I do feel like writing, divine intervention (read: idiocy) prevents it from ever seeing the light of the eternal internet-day. Or I really don't feel like writing. Except I sort of feel like writing today. Uh-huh.

Lost the unemployment hearing decision. It was great seeing my old manager completely unable to look me in the eye and tell flat out lies while sitting across from me. I may re-appeal just to waste some more of her time. On a slightly related note, I really need to find a job soon.

WoW-wise, I've pretty much given up playing on Hyjal. I started a character on Blackhand with Anthony (Grm/Meergo/GrimDeath), because my best friend Joleen plays there with John, her fiance. I also have a mid-40s Warlock on Bleeding Hollow (PvP). I haven't been putting much time in lately because of school, though. Most days I don't log in at all.

I picked up the bizarre habit of reading again. I read "The Secret Garden" because I felt like it (and I'd bought a neat little hardcover at B&N awhile back). The wonderful Sarah has suggested "Green Grass Grace", and Digo suggested "The Contortionist's Handbook", which the same Sarah once suggested to him. I'll probably be checking both of them out soon. I still haven't finished "Stiff: Curious Lives of Human Cadavers", but it's definitely not the most uplifting reading material I can think of.. so maybe that isn't a bad thing.

The final week of the semester is upon me, and I've managed to pull over a 100 average in Java, close to 100 in Algebra, and A's in the Flash classes. We shall see what happens with Lit. I'm almost done with the final paper there.

Speaking of Flash, here's a bunch of new projects I've done:
William Blake - A Poison Tree
Headbanging Aliens Listening to μ-ziq
Bounty Hunter Job Application
Simple Drawing Board

Random: Why am I using proper capitalization and punctuation?

leave the rotten parts

i feel somewhat like all the creativity has been leeched directly out of my brain, and placed into a potent mojo-cocktail hidden somewhere far from my grasp. or maybe it's gone forever. blargh. i need to start looking for a job, so i'll really have something to complain about again.

semester is over in about 2.5 weeks. yay.

anyway, i did a few flash assignments:
flag thing
yin yang thing
menu thing
(note usage of ancient artwork that i should stop trying to pretend i'm still capable of doing)

thought processes

i had a fairly long conversation with a friend today. it was about the positive psychological impact of painting one's bedroom. call me paranoid, but sometimes it feels as though wall paint is a million semi-glossy eyeballs and ears that see and hear every filthy secret, conversation, and night's sleep that has ever taken place within its confines. for people who have a hard time letting go of the past (or are a bit nutty in general), blinding all those little eyes and plugging all those little ears is downright therapeutic. granted, they're just being plugged with more eyes and ears.. but it's so you can let go, start over, have a clear mind, and maybe mute a few of those horribly loud voices in one's head. then, you can repeat the process in a few years when you feel like the walls have seen and heard too much again. on that note, i'm ending this paragraph now.

random factoid: i haven't painted my walls for approximately 8 years. is it any coincidence that i'm LOSING MY MIND? i think not.

i'm pleased that my mini-vacation has started today. so far, i've spent it doing absolutely nothing, while sitting at the computer in my penguin-covered pajama pants. also on my agenda is: doing even more nothing while sitting at the computer in my penguin-covered pajama pants.

q) why would someone so interested in mindbuggery and artistic stuff go for a potential computer engineering major?

a) art degrees would make more people successful if they were $5 scratch tickets
b) because she can
c) sick desire to overachieve in all possible facets of life instead of focusing on just one
d) all of the above

fast food and alchemy

i've somehow managed to get 100 on every algebra test for the past 2 months, including the midterm. school is still going well (duh), and i have a little mini-vacation this week. i just finished my lit paper, doing review/watching a movie in classes this week, then i get monday off. feels nice not having anything major due.. just some flash work, which i enjoy doing anyway.

i ate burger king again. it gets me sick every time i eat it, but i still do it every so often. i wonder when i'll learn.. maybe when i find a finger or rat tail in the sweet sauce.

i've been watching full metal alchemist, which i've been enjoying quite a bit. i haven't really watched much anime in the past year or so.. guess i've been overdue. anyway, grm is sending me all the episodes, so i can watch them from the squishy blankety comfort of my computer chair.

digitally assimilated

holy crap, google is taking over my life. it's been my homepage for like 7+ years, my primary email is gmail, and they also own blogger and the hello/picasa thing i just signed up for. all i really have to say is: the price is right. i have no complaints, because for some reason most of the free services i use have been more reliable than the stuff i've paid for.

anyhow, not much else to say. this is my new self-indulgent home in a sea of unique people just like me. please remove your shoes before coming in or i'll take them off myself and toss them out the billion-story window of my little internet penthouse.

yeah

it feels like moving back into a tiny apartment after having a nice big house you could run around naked in all day.