Why I should rule the world OR My lunatic rantings

Posting from my Wii.

2006-12-25T19:45:00.000-08:00

I love this thing. I downloaded the Nintendo's browser from the Wii shopping channel and I'm having a blast with it. Though it's like typing with one finger, I've gotten pretty good at it. The auto-complete helps too. Though I downloaded it mainly to watch homestarrunner on my t.v. It`s just a beta version. Full thing isn't out until March.
Had lots of fun playing volleyball. Though I did get the winning point, it came at the expense of displaying my crack to my entire team as I fell. So I apologise for that.

I did hear something awesome the other day. My brother was visiting his wife's old hall and was talking to a brother there. The brother plays guitar and started a band. When my brother says "oh my brother is in a band", the guy says "oh, high five for justice?"

It's so awesome that we've been heard of even though we haven't even had a single performance yet. I think we can quit now. That made our weekend.

Wildely innapropriate.

2006-10-03T21:46:00.000-07:00

I actually finished the Picture of Dorian Gray. It wasn't actually that bad after I got through the copious amounts of gay subtext in the first chapters. Lord Henry's a jerk but he has the best quips ever. I've never really been a big fan of allegory, at least not in stories. But I must say that I found it thoroughly interesting. Though I'm not saying I liked it (if you got that joke, huzzah! you read the book. And you're a nerd!).

Well, I'm packing for west virginia. I love unnasigned territory, but I've found that I hate packing. I love driving long distances, but it's horrible not doing the actual driving. I'll probably study a lot, maybe play some DS with Tim. Poke him a whole lot. Anything to pass the time. Oh, how I do love the mountains! Majestic, alluring, breath-taking. I miss them. What am I doing in Florida? That Nicholas Sparks book that Libby's bringing for me better rock. If any of you get a chance to read Dogs of Babel, you won't regret it; though it is a tad on the depressing side. I'm in a very "stream of consciousness" mood tonight. Perhaps it's because I dont' want to pack? What ever happened to those times when your mom would do all the packing for you? Adulthood is overrated.

I am officially taking suggestions on books to read. I will read pretty much anything you suggest. Honestly. There doesn't even need to be an explosion or anything like it. So make it good. Though I leave tomorrow and won't be back until the 15th or 16th.

If any of you have the G4 channel (channel 150 for you Brighthouse subscribers), there is an awesome show called Ninja Warrior. It's like a cross between MXC and American Gladiator. On crack. Only two people out of 50 made it through the first round. Good times, I promise.

Tempus Fugit

2006-06-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

I am starting to understand why David never posts. Absolutely no time. So much to do. Though I'm glad that I got a chance to go and work on the Rockledge kingdomhall. I got to see my sister Mandy, seeing as how it's her kingdom hall. That was awesome. They were in desperate need of renovation. Though it felt weird getting back so soon. I got an opportunity to use the sheet rock gun. I love that work. And apperantly there is some more roofing work to be done next month. I'm looking forward to that. Steven wants Eric and I to play a song at his gratuation party sunday. Though eric and I have quite a bit of practicing to do so if either one of us doesn't feel like we've practiced enough then we won't do it. Though I probably will do it, it all depends on eric. Speaking of which, I stopped in at his job wednesday to eat lunch. Shortly after sitting, eric went on break and we hanged out for a bit. Then as I'm talking, eric mentions that Tim just pulled up. So we all have lunch together. All the members of H54J that are in the country. Though I'm sure Daniel was there in spirit. No seriously. Something kept flicking me in the ear.

Does anyone know about hyrdaulics or compressed air?
I'm looking into turning my truck's horn into a loud wheezing noise.

My new favorite toy.

2006-05-18T06:32:00.000-07:00

Until this passed sunday, I had never used a nail gun the entire day. I usually take over for someone while they were on break and then they would want it back afterwards. Now I know why. When I was young,I would often get a new toy and play with it until I was sick of it. Such was not the case with the nail gun. It only got more fun. Can't wait for the next roofing job. I'm so going to hog it next time as well.

The thing I love about my job is the oddities you come across at each house. I was doing the annual service for this one house. They had the cutest baby I've ever seen. I thought the house would be average. But as I start working a dog of demonic proportions walked into the room. It's back was almost at my waist. It's not like he was a mean dog. It was one of those dogs that are too friendly for it's size. Any attempt to play with you would knock you over. But as I'm in a corner opening a switch plate, I look down and cerberus (I'm sure his name was marley, but I thought cerberus would be more appropriate) is just looking at me. The stealthiest dog ever. Just so creepy. So I proceed upstairs to finish my work and as I walk into a room and passed the pool table and bar I stumble across a rocket launcher. You read correctly, a rocket launcher. Not a fake or a toy. The owner is in the marines, but that hardly explains it. How do you get a rocket launcher, even being in the military?

I'm off to enlist.

Two words that should never go together.

2006-05-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

Proper Operation. Just try saying that without sounding retarded. Just try it, I'll wait. Yup, just like I thought. You sounded like homestarrunner while saying it. So, I'm finding myself with absolutely nothing to post about. It's 2:24 am and I just finished watching Stargate SG1 and King of Queens. I'm really only posting because Nina and Daniel were complaining about my lack in that department as of late. You know what sucks...watching 5 minutes of a moving and having to go home...yeah that sucks. It was a promising 5 minutes though. Can't wait to see how the other 121 minutes of the movie are. I wouldn't mind going to the movie on my own. I already eat at resteraunts by myself. I was reading a book by one of the monty python members (too late to remember his name) and he was recounting how John Cleese would often ask for his own table at resteraunts. Now, I'm not the type to ditch the group I'm with to eat on my own, but since I work alone, I thought I'd try it out. This is what I discovered: People suck. I got so many pathetic looks by the other patrons who probably thought I got stood up by a date. But other than the stares, it's actually a very interesting experience...as long as the resteraunt is sufficiently lacking in people. So now when I go to that italian place next to hair cuttery or the pizza place on seminola (why all italian places?) I bring study material. Well, I'm going to go take my contacts out. And gargle with hemlock. 'night.

A nut by any other name would smell like feet.

2006-04-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, we are now officially out of a band name. Eric thought of a couple others. They are both decent, but I'm not really feeling them. So now the quest is on to find a new one. We seriously need to settle on some songs to work on. There's "Just like heaven" by the cure, which I find curious that Daniel is taking all the credit for the idea when he had never heard the song until I suggest to him that he would like the lyrics. I'm still not liking the idea of remaking it to punk or whatever since 311 already remade The love song for 50 first dates. But I guess I'll see how it goes before putting my foot down on that. If we keep remaking songs we're going to be the Bublé (pronounced bubble, he can't fool me) of reggae-rock. Eric and I are working on an instrumental song. It's going to rock...possibly roll. If only we knew someone who played violin and/or viola.

Reason number 32000032 why microsoft is evil.

2006-03-22T21:48:00.000-08:00

This is seriously freaky. A tad cool though. Short post but it's worth it. You have to click on the link on the left that says something about a birds eye view. Then click next to the encircled number 1 a few times until it zooms all the way in. Warning, takes a long time to load on slow computers.

No one can save me and you know I don't want the attention.

2006-02-24T15:08:00.000-08:00

After all the ridicule I gave Daniel for going vegetarian, I decided to join him in it for the first week in march. Ugh, I've been acting alot like him recently (hence the song-lyric title that has nothing to do with my post). But I digress. With the exception of a steak this past friday at chili's, I've been eating healthier and cutting out soda for the most part. I want to see what the "hype" is about. So, I've been eating healthier. Doing exercise. What's next, dressing better? Ha, not a chance. I'll save that for later. Maybe I'll work on getting my room looking less like nuclear winter hit and more like a good christian should have his room. But we'll see about that. My mom always said that when I start straightening up, then she'll know I'm in love. Well....am I????!!! Maybe, maybe not, maybe.....No, no I'm not. Sorry. Guess my mom was just wrong. Ha, in your face! A little overboard? Yeah probably. Am I sounding a little retarded? Yeah probably. Will I change subjects with out warning? Yeah, prob..ah crap.

I wanted to start another blog to review a variety of things. Music. Games. Movies. Books. Art. Whatever you feel like. Though I would really not want to do it all on my own. So if you have an idea of something or some genre of entertainment you wanted to review, let me know. I'm going to set up the blog with special layouts for every one who does reviews. I will have more details once I think of a blog name. You can add a review to someone elses review. But I will limit extra reviews to just one.

I was thinking about songs that seem to define me. There's not too many. But Jay-Z's "99 problems" quickly comes to mind. What about songs that define you? please enlighten me. If i think of a better one, I will let you know.

Edit

Breaking the Habit - Linkin Park

Memories consume
Like opening the wound
I'm picking me apart again
You all assume
I'm safe here in my room
[unless I try to start again]
I don't want to be the one
The battles always choose
Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way
I know it's not alright
So I'm
Breaking the habit
Tonight
I'll paint it on the walls
Cause I'm the one at fault
I'll never fight again
And this is how it ends
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
But now I have some clarity
To show you what I mean
I don't know how I got this way
I'll never be alright
So I'm
Breaking the habit
Breaking the habit
Tonight

Creeping Quarters and Evil Squirrels

2006-01-19T22:02:00.000-08:00

Quite a funny week so far. Two good stories for you.

I don't really mind being the odd man out while in the door-to-door work. It's fun sometimes to go to the door on my own. No one there to notice the horrible job I'm doing or stumbling over my words when a pretty girl answers the door (pathetic, I know. Leave me alone). But last friday we decided to do the typical three-man rotation. You know the one I mean, Person A talks and person B goes with them. Then person B talks and person C goes with them. Then the same with C and A. So brother parker and daniel thompson are at the door and I'm standing in the shade by a tree. Don't ask me why, it wasn't warm out. But as I'm standing there, an acorn falls near my head and then hits the ground. A few seconds later two more fall behind me loudly on the ground and a fourth nut hits me on the back. I look up in the tree and there's a squirrel staring right at me with a nut in his hands. It has to have been the most awkward moment of my life. It apperantly knew I was on to it and just scurried away. I have previously claimed to have wanted a pet flying squirrel (a large house-cat sized squirrel to frighten annoying children), now I'm not so sure. They seem to have it out for me.

In my line of work, I run into a lot of nasty things. A lot of them actually have nothing to do with insects or arachnids but people and certain things seen around the house, though that's a subject I won't delve any deeper into. So wednesday or tuesday, can't remember, I feel something moving down my back. And it's inside my shirt. Now, I don't get disturbed by bugs until they're actually touching me. So you can imagine the possibilities of what it can be that are running through my mind. Oh yes, I'm currently driving and have a semi-thick coat on with a shirt and undershirt on beneath it. Fortunately there's a red light ahead of me. So I stop and put the break on and try to get through the seemingly immense layers of clothing between me and "it". After what seemed like an eternaty of fumbling I reached it.

How on earth I managed to get a quarter down the back of my shirt, I will never know. It had to have been the funniest thing to happen to me (besides the demon squirrel) in quite a long time. So I laughed loud until the light turned green and the man behind me honked for me to go. It's funny how.......funny life can be sometimes. Both times I was not in a pleasant mood. As David would say...good times.

Forced my hand.

2006-01-02T02:44:00.000-08:00

I'm obligated to moderate comments again. Too much worldly influence. Certain people who like to talk about other people and Daniel's retarded cousin just make reading comments too much to put up with. I don't like people talking about others in a negative way for no good reason and I don't like Daniel's cousin. This way I don't even have to read their comments; I can just delete them. And that's enough of that stupidity.

I went bowling today and I have to admit that I had alot of fun. I actually won the first round. That completely took me by surprise. Though I did get spanked in pool by Aaron and Candice. That was just pathetic. David couldn't stay with us the whole night which sucked, but what are you going to do about it? Walked around City Walk ® for quite a bit and got to learn some more about people. It's always interesting to find out more about your friends and what makes them the way they are. And before I get too corny, I will leave. I'm sick of sitting on the computer and their are books to be read.

Flaking out and spazzing out.

2005-12-29T10:18:00.000-08:00

For reasons unbeknownst to me, I'm still in Panama City. And I'm not entirely sure that's how you spell enbeknownst but I'm sticking with it. Don't get me wrong, the people are nice. It's been fun. Daniel and I played what is possibly the coolest arcade game I've ever seen. But I feel like it's time to go back. I have to be up and gone by 2:30 am on saturday so I would like to be back early enough on friday to get some rest.

Lizzy didn't come to hang out with us again like she said she would. Said she had to get ready for her assembly this weekend (a likely story). Just messing with you. I was also wondering how she was going to make a two hour drive hang out for a little bit and then drive two hours back and still do grocery shopping. I just felt bad that when she called to say she couldn't make it, I was half asleep and might have sounded angry. So this is my formal apology if I did. And if I didn't seem that way, than this is just another rambling of mine.

My ever-effeminate fellow vactioner has given me some really great ideas for my short story. That's going to be fun. ny. Well, this getting to be a little boring. So, I'ma gonna go place.

Might as well be in georgia...

2005-12-25T18:59:00.000-08:00

For some odd reason, I decided to go with the Thompsons on their vacation to panama city. But when I already made the plans is when I got a whole bunch of invitations to other things. Which sucked but I'm still having a good time anyway. The people I am staying with are awesome. The food has been really good and they are real funny. Well, they laugh at my jokes so that makes them cool in my opinion. The trip up here was a little....dificult but we won't get into that. I didn't realize until we were already on the road that we were going to stop in tally, so Daniel and I got to hang out with Lizzy and go to the movies with her. That was a lot of fun, haven't seen her in a while. She's cool. We frolicked, and I won't give any more details.

I'll give a better post when I don't feel weird being on someone elses computer whom I barely know.

It's late and I've misplaced my reason.

2005-12-12T20:01:00.000-08:00

If you haven't been reading it, the Dans and I have all posted new short stories. Or as I like to call them, shtories. I haven't gotten a chance to read The Forest Kingdom by "Adam Ferrier" (obviously we're using psuedonyms) yet. But it looks promising, though entirely too long for 11 p.m.

I'm glad that the Dans have decided to join me in my creative writing project. It was very unfulfilling writing on my own (potential hero!). It's much better to have other people sharing in writing shtories. Sasuke and Isaak are planning to start a story together. They'll have a basic premise that's going to be followed but how it develops is going to be up to how they decide to take the storay line. It should be hard working off each other but should be interesting.

If you read them, they're the three most recent posts. But to give due warning, the first two are extremely long. Pace your selves.

Entropy in motion.

2005-11-11T13:52:00.000-08:00

Why nothing will ever go smoothly. Chaos grows exponentially faster than order in any environment. A jigsaw puzzle has one set order (completed), yet many forms of chaos, or many ways it can not be in order (just shake it). Consider a cup sitting on a table. There is order when it is on the table, sitting upright. It can be knocked over. It can spill its contents. It can fall off the table and break, either partially (lose it's handle, or chip), or completely (shatter). You can glue it back together, but it will never be exactly the same, it will remain fragile. True order is not maintained. Add another one, the order doubles and the chaos multiplies even more.

Perfect example, sitting at meeting. You're sitting in the hall paying attention is order. Everything you see or hear is the environment. The more people sitting in front of you, the more order you have. They are all listening as well. But the more order (people paying attention) in your environment (everything you see or hear), the more chances for chaos (distractions). The more people in front of you, the more chances for distractions. The more people going from order(paying attention) to chaos(standing up, talking loud, falling asleep, allowing babies to be a distraction), the more you're in chaos (not being able to pay attention). There's a simple solution to all this. Sit as close to the front as possible, and kill all the babies in your hall. It goes along with Murphy's law quite well. The more that can go wrong, the more will go wrong. Take care of the babies and lessen the chaos. Which brings me to my next point.

When it comes to the organization, entropy gets out of wack. One environment,one order, one chaos. Knowing God's law (environment), following them and making it into the new system(order), not following them and not making it into the new system (take a guess).

So much simpler.

No clever title tonight.

2005-10-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well, I officially hate work. I'm sick of it. It's the same monotonous pattern at every house. But who isn't sick of their work? But I continue to get customers that are funkier and funkier. I worked at a the house of a Colombian family today who had one of the most cluttered homes I've ever seen. Crumbs every where, and they wondered why they have bugs. Then there's this family in longwood who are supposedly multimillionaires, yet they haven't done anything to there house since the 70's. I wish I was kidding. The only new stuff they have is food and electronics. Even some of that was questionable. But enough of that.

Goals are a good thing to have. The society has always said that, we've always been told that at meetings. Well, I can tell you it's true regardless if they're short or long term goals. Your life has more of a purpose, you don't feel so much like you're wandering aimlessly. Because you're not anymore.

I'm lazy after doing so much typing tonight. Short rant tonight. Updated my short-stories blog. By updated, I mean posted for the first time. Waiting for the Daniels to post something on there as well.

And I'm done for the night.

Revenge is sweet and messy like cheese spread over too much cantaloupe.

2005-10-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it is. See, my family is planning on going camping this december, from the 23rd all the way through christmas and new years. I'm kind of happy about it since I have a big four-person tent all to my self. The last time we went camping, apart from other things that transpired, my brother and a friend of ours thought it would be hilarious if they pulled the pins and support out of my tent whilst I slept.

And it was. I remember it like it was yesterday. I woke up to the sound of the light breeze blowing through the trees, the sound of what appeared to be pterodactyls screeching in the air and the smell of the morning dew on my face. Ah, 'twas a spectacular december morning. As I slowly come to, I fought off the morning groggines and a brief bought of claustrophobia as I tried to get out of my tent. I found the zipper and then opened one on the rain guard. I assumed the same geniuses whose prank woke me up wet and grumpy at 6 in the morning had also left a small bike in front of my tent door. I don't know whose attempts they were trying to thwart with that seeing as how it was infront of the rain guard door, not the one on my tent inside. Besides, it was a child's bike, while I am a fairly small giant. I don't know who they were trying to annoy with that pathetic obstacle. With that being said, it took me almost 10 minutes to get out. I exited to find that a modestly large branch had fallen not far from where my head was.

So with that being said, I'm trying to think of a good way to get my brother back. Peeing on his tent? Lighting a small fire around his tent? Spraying his clothes with deer pheremones? Who knows what cruel and wicked plans my demented mind will hatch? I do. Just not yet.

But remember this, his comeupance has arrived.

p.s. For those of you who were wanting me to start another writing project (the both of you) I've created a blog for short storie. I've got some ideas already on there. If you want to add any, let me know and I'll add you name so you can access the blog and add stories when you want. Remember, they are to be short stories. You can have multiple posts with the same characters, but every story must be able to stand on its own.

Greetings from the backwards state.

2005-10-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

Well, this is...different. I've done unassigned territory before but this is far more fun than the last time. The trip up here sucked. I've so far spent more money on video games for my Nintendo DS than on food or other much needed supplies. I've had enough of cracker barrel and there's only so much of my family I can stand during 48 hours. Which is why I slept through most of the trip up here. I'm talking....typing...to you you from an internat café about 15 minutes from the houses we're staying at. Which are very nice by the way. Daniel Thompson is a weird, yet some how decent room mate. He cleans well, which is surprising if you've seen his room. Though watching him tweeze his eye brows in the morning is somewhat disconcerting. And very nauseating. When I get back I will have the full detail postings of our trip. And with better grammar than right now. Third Chronicles - an apocryphal book. It will be up and running when I get back. And hopefully have some picture if I can find my camera.

No one likes getting the jibblies.

2005-08-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

Just a little taste of what I have to go through at work.

There's the occasional house that has grass tall enough to hold deer ticks the size of small watermelons. That's always fun to trek through, hoping I have all my shots up to date. Whilst spraying pesticide on a tree stump, I kicked it. There's few words to describe the disgust at the amount of carpenter ants spewing forth from the dead tree. Or the averaqe tool shed that holds enough roaches to carry away someone as large as me, or say Jeremy even, back to their nest to feed on. But the Coup de Grace is the house that's in my hall's territory.

I walk in the house and it's pitch black. There's junk every where. Clothes, school supplies, books, magazines. I walk into the kitchen and there's a tray of lasagna that has formed some thick viscous substance on top that can not can be from this planet. The house is just a mess, which is probably why they don't have many...any lights on. The native american man that is showing me through the disaster area...I mean house...takes me to a room at least twice the size of an average back room in a kingdom hall. It is filled over six feet into the air, and over every inch of ground, with objects that people have donated to "charity".

He proceeds to take me into his daughters room, she can't be more than eight years old. He complains that they've found brown recluse spiders in there. Let me take you through the process of a brown recluse bite. First off, there's the immeasurable pain. You'll see a brown line going through your veins in the effected region. After a bit, you develop necrotising fascitis. That essentially means your flesh dies in the spot of the bite. Decays as if you were dead. Did I mention the immense pain? Yeah, that returns.

So, I obviously treat that room for spiders. He next takes me to some other room that has a bowl of spaghetti that has had only a bite taken from it and hardened. Ontop of the bowl, another bowl. Full and with a spoon in it. Who eats spaghettie with a spoon? By this time the miasma that is wafting through the house is really getting to me. So he takes me to the last room.

I pass a wall that had some hurricane damage. I spray it. I walk into the next room. There's a lady sitting on a mattress. I can only assume it's called sitting. She is morbidly obeise. She is wearing a night gown that is large enough to hold a circus side show. The smell is the most pungent, nostril-stinging, putrid odor that has ever cursed my nasal passages with its pressence. To top it all off, she had a web cam pointed right at her bed. She runs an obeise-porn website. I couldn't even see her legs. I hate to be so calloused and this big of a jerk, but the name Jaba crossed my mind.

If you ever go out in service with me, and we go to ardillita court, feel free to stay in the car.

Huge wad of cash != drug dealer.

2005-08-24T19:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry, != means "not equal to". I'll explain that in a second. Or an hour, that all depends on how long it takes you to read this entry.

Yes, it was that time of year again. "What time of year was it?" you may ask. It was time to drive the golf carts at the FWCI, Florida Workers Compensation In.....incongruous..... I have no idea what the "i" stands for. Around this time of year, that business convention comes to town and a company that a brother in my hall works for has us drive people back and forth between the convention center and the parking garage. The parking garage and the hotel lobby. The convention center and the time-shares. Well, you get the point. It is quite possibly the coolest job in existance.

So we get there at a little past 8, and wouldn't you know it, the cart I go for has a dead battery. So I made Daniel Thompson take turns driving his cart with me. We were really tired and goofy, so we decided to talk to the people we picked up as if we were Stong Bad and Homestar Runner. It was pretty sad, no one even called us on the weird voices or even acted like they noticed. I was going to try to pull off Homsar's voice, but I didn't think any one would believe it. The first day went pretty well. Good tips. Good times. David whomped us with tips though. There's only so much flirting you can do with old ladies to get tips before you start looking weird. Maybe he'll remember that next year.

The second day started of ssslllllooooowwwwww. Slow. I picked up no one for almost an hour and a half. Uneventful would fall short of describing that day. Afterwards, I went to the mall and bought a game with the tips I received. So as I get to the register to pay, I pull out this huge wad of cash. The guy on the other side of the counter was eyeing my money with a puzzled, if not frightened look on his face. I assured him that it was not from selling drugs. As it was all "ones" and just one "twenty". He left to do something else and mentioned that it could be from stripping. I asked him to take a look at my physique and say that again, just as a girl came to take my money for the game. She had heard the word "stripping" and had a puzzled look on her face. No doubt she had taken a look at my physique after he had said that and knew it not to be true. So I spent the next two minutes during the transaction explaining that I was neither a stripper nor a drug dealer. But the latter was closer due to my birthplace. Ok, I didn't say that but I thought it loudly.

The third day (just a half day) was great. Made more in tips in that short time than in the previous days. One of the guys that directs traffic, we see him every year, was asking where that girl that worked with me last year was. I assumed he was talking about Nina, since David is not quite feminine enough to be confused for a girl. I was debating whether not to explain that she was in Thailand when I organized who was going to work the convention this year, when the ginormous 18-wheeler coming down the road at me changed my mind. I was already backed into by someone driving an avalanche. I wasn't looking to continue the trend with a mack truck.

Like I said, best job ever.

Grout cleaners and writing projects.

2005-08-09T23:57:00.000-07:00

If I had not met someone in service that turned into a good RV, it would have been a bad day. After said call, I left to do some return visits with a brother when he got a call that a car group had gotten stuck in the dirt. Long story short, we sat there for over two hours as a brother left work and came to help us get out. Piece of advice, if you get stuck in soft dirt, don't floor it. You'll only get stuck much, much worse. So I finally get back and I spend the better part of the afternoon cleaning grout at the kingdom hall. Daniel Greene and I ran out of cleaning solution before we could clean the sisters bathroom. So we spent another 20 minutes hanging out on the couch talking with another brother in the nursery in the womens restroom. I was going to complain about not having one in the mens room, but I realised that if we did no one would want to use it.

So, I needed something creative to do. I don't have a guitar right now, so I had to settle for a creative writing project. Someone of you might have noticed a link to a blog I have in my link list. Some guy wrote a journal as if he was Darth Vader. It's actually well written.

So I decided to do one in the same manner. Though being the dork I am, I chose a video game. The Legend of Zelda, more specifically the latest version: The wind waker. The project is going to be a long one, as I have to go through the game again and turn it into story form. And here's the hard part, make it interesting. Especially for those who don't know the story already. Which, I think it is safe to say, is most of you.

Yeah, I'm a nerd I know but I am comfortable enough with myself to accept it and roll with it. Don't know if you'll like it, but I'm constantly correcting wording and phrasing. So something you don't like might be changed.

Over 1000 channels and only 300 have something good on.

2005-08-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

So, I've been going through the different tv channels and I've come to one conclusion: I'm exhausted. At first glance, I have a little over 1300 channels. Like I said, exhausting. I know what you're thinking, "Don't pretend you don't like that Kelly." Well, I do. I like that I have over 200 chanels that have a satic screen and just play different styles of music ranging from contemporary to adult contemporary (wish I knew what the difference was). I like the fact that I have the choice from not one, two, or three spanish chanels, but 20. Honestly, it wouldn't so bad if they actually gave news from spanish countries. But they report on things that happen around the area that it's being broadcast in. All of them somewhere in florida, and they only occasionally report on important things.

Then, there's the 14 HBO stations... because 15 would be ostentatious. I still don't have a clue what's so amazing about HBO zone. Most of the time, they have the same shows on at least two or three of the hbo clone channels.

The real outrage of this all, is the fact that there's only one 24 hour cartoon channel. And they only show anime at about midnight. Fortunately I have a DVR, so I can record the good ones. Samurai Champloo and Full Metal Alchemist are pretty good, though FMA is rediculously sad. Never had a cartoon bring me to the brink of tears before. Don't look at me like that, I said brink of tears. Though I hear cartoon network is in the midst of creating an all anime network. There supposedly is one already from another company, but we don't get it.

There's 30 sports channels. Those of you who know me best, or at all, know I don't care much for that. 3 are soccer channels and one of them is in spanish. 16 news channels, most of them showing stock market read outs. Again, not something I care for. Though for some odd reason, I have the weird habit of reading those tickers that move at the bottom of the screen. I'm probably suckered in by the pretty graphics. Only one sci-fi channel, one comedy channel, pleanty of cooking channels (the host of "everyday italian" is pretty cute) and learning channels. That is a plus side to the mind numbing amount of channels I have. And there is a technology and gaming channel. That will provide hours upon hours of glee and merriment to a nerd like me.

Well, it's late and I'm tired. I was going to go watch a little bit of tv before I went to bed, but as I turned the set on there was a kids bop commercial followed by a video of Hilary Duff "singing". The subsequent damage from the brick I soon after threw at the screen has made any viewing impossible.

I'll still probably watch it, just to see what's on.

So I bombed my talk last night.

2005-07-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

Well, not particularly. I'm still getting used to using an outline. Last talk I gave with an outline was only three and half minutes. Sad, I know. When I have just ideas to go off of and not a manuscript, I like to just get to the point. I'm trying to be a little bit more extemporaneous, elaborate on the point a bit more without going too far. I had just enough information in my outline to get the point across with out putting in too much. I started off well enough. But then I... I don't want to say I zoned out, because I knew the information and was just lucid enough to get it out. But honestly, someone could have shot a cannon ball into the kingdom hall and it could have landed on a baby (hopefully the crying ones) and i would have just gone on with my talk. This is all just how I felt on stage. I don't know if that's how I actually came across. Apperantly I did good, at least this is what I was told.

I really can't look at my family whilst I am on stage. My mom looked bored and my sister had an expression on her face that was somewhere between constipation and a dear trapped in the headlights...of a speeding train....speeding bullet train....while eating a toblerone. Ok, I'm just being stupid now. But apperantly that's her he's-doing-a-good-job face. I'll have to remember that. Her he's-really-stinking-up-there face is, well it's the top of her head because she's probably playing tetris on her phone. Or drawing funny pictures of me getting run over by a tank. My family's weird like that.

I'm not really complaining here. I just think I need to get better at elaborating on points.

Now, it's time to go deposit my check and complain about warehouse fees.

When celebrities imitate peacocks OR When you know your career is over.

2005-07-18T18:53:00.000-07:00

So, I had to go to the airport to pick up my sister who was coming back from Texas. As I walk up to meet her at the baggage claim, she pulls me aside and points to a man in a red polo shirt and the asks me if that's Jordan Knight from the 80's boy-band New Kids on the Block. I remembered seeing him on TV not too long ago and it looked exactly like him. I didn't really care, so I was waiting for my sisters luggage. As I look up, he's doing random stuff like walking between baggage claims and stretching, but in a flamboyant way . Trying to make himself as noticeable as possible, like many animals do (though I think they do it to try to attract a mate, he appeared to be stroking his ego).No one talked to him. It was very sad actually, to see him come to the realization that his career is over. He can always do "The surreal life" again.

edit:I use HTML alot in my posts. I always justify the text because I like margins on both sides of the paragraph. But often times I forget the "closing tags". I.E. <div align="justfy"> random text </div> It kind of screwed up my blog for a bit. If you see my "links" and "recent posts" boxes under my entries, let me know.

If I can't speak english properly, should I learn japanese?

2005-07-09T23:09:00.000-07:00

English is a weird language. It started out as a derivitive of Old Germanic. It sounds much like german when read, with distinct differences here and there.

Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.

I can pronounce that, but don't ask me what it says. It's an exerpt from beowulf (good book). Then, over the course of just a thousand years (give or take a couple of centuries), it mixed with what latin was still used and the languages that came from it, mainly french and a bit of Castellano/Castillian (old spanish, still spoken in Spain). Becoming what was used up 'til shakespearean times. Then somehow to what it is today. It still steals words from other languages. Such as garage and tsunami or typhoon. So it's screwed up.

Janapese in comparison is alot simpler, in most respects. Although you do have to conjugate verbs (unlike those fortunate Thai speakers from what I hear), it's much easier when it comes to subject verb agreement. What is that, I ate, they ate, he/she/it ate. In japanese, as long as the subject is understood - either by stating the persons name, pointing at them or from earlier in the conversation - it's all one word.

I go / ikimasu
you go / ikimasu
he:she:it goes / ikimasu

Though what gets really confusing is the fact that japanese has a plain and polite way of saying something. "Why not just learn the polite way and play it safe" you may ask? Because if there's two verbs in the sentence, the main verb is polite and the other one's plain.

After dinner, I watched t.v.
Ban gohan o tabeta ato, terebi o mimashita.

tabeta = plain past tense of "to eat" - taberu
mimashita = polite past tense of "to see/watch" - miru. As apposed to the plain mita

One nice thing is for the the plain present tense, you don't conjugate at all. The plain "To eat" (taberu) is also the plain version of "I eat".

Sentence structure is a completely differnt subject altogether, that I won't get into. I bought a awesome little moleskin notebook to take notes on japanese(supposedly hemingway used to write with this kind of notebook, that sold me on it for some odd reason). Studies have shown that if you write something down, you're more likely to remember it. It's sort of worked. Only thing is, when write 6 pages worth of notes, you don't remember all of what you wrote down. Guess my eyes were too big for my stomach. I'll just take it easier next time.

I'm pretty sure the only people who will read this entire post are either Jeremy or Johnathan Thorne.

Your appendix exploding is the best diet ever!

2005-06-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

It's so very true. Well, it's not. Consuming nutrients through an I.V. tube for over a week is a good diet. I lost over 20 lbs! Your appendix exploding is more of a way to teach men the pain women go through during child birth, though shorter in duration. Or so I here. Here's the low-down with out getting too descriptive. I ate a chicken salad sandwhich and it didn't agree with me, or so I thought. I thought it was food poisoning, but as I found out three days later my appendix had exploded. BlaBlah blah blah. I go to the hospital (the same one that they found the dead body at) and go through some series of tests. I had to get a CAT scan. One of the most miserable experiences ever. They give something to drink that consists of crystal light and chalk. Or something with a comparable texture (though one of the techs told me that if you get in through an I.V. it feels like you wet yourself. Fun huh?). Blah blah blah.

Just for clarification, the appendix is, as of current knowledge, completely useless. Just a little extension of the intestines that sits there and does nothing. Truns out something got lodged in it and my appendix died. It then turned gangrenous. It then exploded. So I have toxic chemicals all through my insides. I forget the name of the disease, started with a p, but apperantly I could have very easily died. I was very fortunate to have gotten one of the top 50 rated doctors in the state of Florida. Most doctors have an ego and feel that they have to take care of everything. But he said "The body is an amazing thing if we get out of the way and let it take care of itself." So I felt very comfortable with him. All the nurses had very high opinions of him. I was also happy to hear that he had never heard of an appendectomy requiring a blood transfusion. Apperantly, you can have 10 different people in a room with appendicitis and they will have 10 different reasons for having it. I'd personally like to thank those of you who stopped by or called me or those who prayed for me. You really have no idea how much you are loved until something like this happens.

I'm charging five bucks a pop to see the wound.

Boredom

2005-06-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

I was really bored. The changes are really subtle. See if you can pick it out.

What's really sad is that I went to painstaking detail to cut out the windows and not cut out any of the door, and vice versa.

...the best laid plans of mice and men....I'm probably misquoting.

2005-06-03T22:58:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about my goals/plans I've had or the actions of taken in my life. Regardless if they're secular or spiritual. And doing this with the attention span of a snowflake that I have, tends to get me thinking of things that are barely related. Though they're usually other plans, they are barely towards the same goal as the previous one. Call it fluidity of thought or ADD, it's annoying. It's put me in one of those reflective moods. I hate examining myself. Denial is bliss. Don't take me too seriously. But as negative as I am with myself, I'm always thinking Why did I do that? or For what reason did I go about it that way? or Why did I even bother? and my personal favorit ugh, I'm such a 'tard

One of the more miner...er...minor cases is this stupid cartoon. I made such a big fuss about it and it's been almost 2 years yet I've barely got the character designs down. I have the programs the equipment and the ability to make it I just lack the motivation. We have so many good ideas and it's going to waste. I can't even remember most of them. And I never remember to write them down. Though that's just a small mental-tangent I went on. I won't boar..ugh...bore you with the rest of them. You know you're too lazy when you can't even be bothered to delete your spelling and grammatical mistakes. Instead I type my sighs and groanings and correct it afterwards. How sad is that?

This goal I have to go to Japan won't be like that. I will go on my own, though it woul be much better to go with someone else (don't make me beg). I wonder if Jeremy-sama would like to go? I'm going next june with some friends for vacation and we need a fourth person to even out the use of the time-share (if we get it). But I've never been more determined to do anything else in my life. You know, other than serve Jehovah. Though that should go without saying. I welcome your comments, advice, viewpoint, criticism - constructive or destructive. Though the latter will be returned with a some-what "opinion duelly noted and ignored" attitude.

Well, it's late. Oyasuminasai.

Not myself.

2005-05-31T22:07:00.000-07:00

It's kind of funny to think that we're using a web log or journal. No one really would put on here what they would put in a real journal. Though the whole lack of anonymity is a good reason for that. You'd scare a few people or seem whiney (you can see evidence of that last one by looking at my first...most of my posts). This is more of a glorified chatroom or not-so-instant messenger.

Ok, I have been trying to get a good goal to focus on for awhile now. I finally have it. I'm going to Japan in about a year (Next June). I've got connections so it's going to be cheap, the traveling and stay there at least. BTW, it's stil tentative if we're going at that time. David can't go anymore, at least not then, so I'm talking to the other guys who are going and I'm going to see if they want to postpone it again, or just go then and find someone else to go with us. So I'm looking for someone else who wants to go then. We're also getting (hopefully, if it's available) a time-share through a brother in my hall. Just let me know if you want to go.

Anywho, the point of my post is this: I want to live in Japan. I know that in lots of countries, to teach english you don't exactly need the ability to speak the vernacular. Though I'm sure it'll help to learn it. More to the point, you should learn it while you're there and as much before. But Japan doesn't require you to have a degree to teach there. So I'm doing it. Sometime after I actually go there. It's been a dream of mine to live there for as long as I can remember. What I'd like you all to do whenever you see me or talk to me, is to bug the crap out of me about it. It'll be motivation. I don't care if I go on my own or not. I AM doing this!

Incoherent.

2005-05-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

So my father and sister both got stand by tickets to Colombia. And they got bumped up to first class to atlanta and to bogota. I know what you're thinking. Atlanta and South America lie in two different directions from orlando. It didn't make sense to me either. And on the way down there, there were 2 air marshalls deporting 5 colombians. And they didn't send my sisters luggage from atlanta. So it's been a fun trip for them so far.

My friends graduation party was this past saturday. It was pretty cool. Solitdue played there. They did awesome. John Calhoun tried to embarass me and get me to dance all by my self since no one else was dancing. Kind of hard to swing dance on your own. I mean, with ska I can at least do a jig or something (My own patended jig). Not with swing though. It was fun though. I felt bad because no one was dancing at first. I think it was because they completely underestimated daniels ability to organize a party. He did the dance from napolean dynomite. He only knew half of it, so he just repeated the first half over again and ran out of the building when the song ended. That was priceless. He got some awesome gifts. Kind of makes me mad that I never had a party. I filmed alice doing karaoke, but my stupid camera, I was chagrined to find out, doesn't record sound. How retarded is that?

During this weeks bookstudy, I remembered something from one of those science books I read. Someone brought up the scripture about man not being fit to direct his own step. I remembered in the book (we learned this in science class as well) it was talking about how the farthest spot in the observed universe we see as it was 13.5 billion years ago because that's how long it took the light to get to earth. It also alluded to the fact that everything we see, we see how it was in the past. Even as I'm typing this, or as you're falling asleep reading this, the monitor you're looking at is a miniscule fraction of a second behind in time. Light goes into an object and comes out of it, and that's how we see colored and textured objects (i.e. almost everything). To summ it all up, the farther away the object you are looking at is, the farther in that objects past you are currently seeing it. Even when you look at the sun, you see it as it was 8 minutes before. We're basically designed to look in the past. It's like we're progressing forward down a long dangerous path while walking backwards. I was going to make a comment about this but I realised how boring it was going to sound, so I decided to bore you all with it instead. I just found it interesting. And also how the bible states things so easily for the time it was written. Such as that and the earth being hung upon nothing, the circle of the earth, or the stretching of the heavens out over the empty place. After reading those science books I have an idea about the meaning of satan and the demons being cast down to the "vicinity of the earth". Though I'm probably going to sound like a moron for saying it. Or bore you to tears, so I'm going to stop now. Just ignore my ramblings.

If anyone feels like seeing the video of alice singing karaoke with out sound, I'll put it online.

The mother land

2005-05-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

So, my dad and sister are going to Colombia in a couple of weeks to get some dental work done because it's cheaper and just as good. Less red tape with the insurance and all that crap. I was thinking about going. I don't know if I should or not. It's not really dangerous in the city. It's the extreme rural areas that you have to watch out for guerrillas. If the society is sending in missionaries again, it can't be that bad. Or rather, it can't be as bad as it was before. I don't remember any of it, only being nine months old and all when I left. I've seen pictures and it looks beautiful. You know, the parts that don't look like they're in a third-world country. It would be for a week only. Not even that. Probaly just 5 days or so. It's coming up soon and I should make up my mind quick. I'm fortunate that I have a friend that works in the airline industry. Don't have to buy the tickets until the day before I leave. I have dual-citizenship. Only thing is, I lost my American passport after I got back from Spain. If I go, do I use my Colombian passport or do I get an American passport again and have it expedited so it'll be here in two weeks? Eh, I'll figure something out. If I go, I can some ideas for my project I've been putting off for some time now. My colombian version of monopoly. I call it Colopoly. Though I fear the joke would wear thin about 5 minutes into the game. And there's only so many jokes you can make about coke mules and cartels and Pablo Escovar before you start thinking that taking bath with a toaster would be a better way of spending your time.

So a friend of mine is really depressed for reasons that I won't elaborate on. You'd think that my being in a similar situation before would make me a good candidate to offer some encouraging words. And you'd've thought wrong. I guess all I can do is be there for him. Not much else I can do. I'm not the most eloquent with words in times like this. And that's why I'm in such a delicate conundrum (if you laughed at/got that joke, huzzah, you're a dork).

Some guy is writing a blog as if he's Darth Vader. It's pretty cool. So I leave you with these immortal words of Socrates "I drank what?"

Chattin it up in spanish.

2005-05-03T16:59:00.000-07:00

Saw alot of people I know today. Saw Sarah Jo (forgive me if you spell your name some different way) driving down Rinehart, but mostly from the congregations in my hall.

Three sisters from my congregation (Beverly and Denise Parker, Verneé Pittman) are going to ecuador for three months. Because that's apperantly where all the cool kids go. My brother has been having them over after the bookstudies on monday for spanish lessons. Which is entertaining to say the least. Well, I could have said less, but that's besides the point. Though I understand spanish, I've been sitting in because everytime I go to speak the language, it all escapes me. I did remember alot, though, when I visited my family in Spain. Though the spanish there is old and every one speaks with a lisp. Hypocritical of me you say? I know, but I don't do it on purpose. But today I was in longwood for work. The last house I did before heading home was a spanish family. The father was elderly and was following me around while I opened the switch plates and electrical outlets. Then as I put chemicals inside them. Then as I closed them. Then as I treated the outside of the house. And wouldn't let me leave. So I got to practice my spanish there alot. I've just been really motivated to use it alot more frequently. I try translating random thoughts I have or signs I read into spanish. That was ...different.

So. I'm excited about our trip to Japan. Aiming for next February. It's great to have a friend working for delta. 400 dollar tickets. And my mom works at marriot, so the hotels there are half off. Just got to figure out where to stay. When I can get the discounted rooms. Where exactly Delta flies into and then which of the three marriots in Japan are closest to the Bethel branch. I looked in the watchtower and it said Ebina city. Couldn't find that on the map. It said Kanagawa district. All I could find was Kanazawa. Don't know if it's the same or not. I don't know that much japanese. That is to say, only a few words. Eh, lots of planning to do still. I'll talk to the elders and find out where exactly the bethel branch is if I can.

His dreams are like commercials
but her dreams are picture perfect.
Our dreams are so related
though there oftren underestimated.
-jack johnson

good song. Stuck in my head for some reason.

Well, I've been reading way too many blogs on here. Everyones to be precise. From Kevins to Violettes. Wasting far too much time on this computer. Have to finish my part for wednesday. Have the announcements. Almost done preparing it. Hard to get everyone excited for the next brochure. I'll probably make mention that we'll be done it alot sooner than the books and they won't have to wait as long for the next goodie-night that we have at the beginning of every study material. Or not.

I really need to post more.

2005-05-01T23:26:00.000-07:00

I don't need to post all the time. Just enough to make it worthwhile.

Here are some of the pictures from Johnathon Cravens wedding. Lyron informed me that the other site they were on didn't work. I for some reason set it up so that only my IP address would be able to access it. Don't know why. Even if I had menat to do that, my "static" IP address will change every month or so. So that was pretty stupid.

So, this past friday was awesome. I dont think we've had that many people at the watchtower study in a while. Johnathon did pretty good at not going off topic so much this time. I'd call them tangents, but they are usually related to the main point. His ramblings aren't. Though it does make for a more interesting discussion. Especially when he starts relating Linkin Park to a scripture.....don't ask. Though I think he only did good because we had a deadline to finish. I'm seriously surprised that something I organized had that good of a turn out. Of course I don't plan events that often.

So we went to see The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. I have mixed feelings about it. I liked it. It was funny. Though I completey understand some people not liking it. If I hadn't read the books, then I wouldn't have understood the movie either. The books were hilarious. Very british, and ~~somewhat~~ blatantly, atheistic humor in it.

So, ever do things that make you feel like a complete tool? No, yeah, no, I do. All the time. Like today we had a whole bunch of people over playing games. My brother has absolutely reasoning ability or tact and my sister has no inner monolouge, so she blurts things out all the time. Which kind of ruins the game when you know the answers. But my brother was getting entirely too loud and upset at my sister. I was trying to get him to calm down and as it turns out, I looked like the jerk. I've realised that when I get anxious and I start taling loud and to others I sound like I'm mad when in actuallity I'm just excited or slightly annoyed. So afterwards my mom , sister and I have a long talk about it all. About our bad habits and such. Though these can get a little heated at times, they are good for you. It forces us to sit back and look at our own faults. Not just have them pointed out and complained about, but how you can work on it. You know, aside from tons of praying. We all have things that we need to work on. I try to work on mine. Though it's really hard to notice some of your own faults. Even the ones staring you in the face. That's why I've always loved having a family that doesn't sugar-coat the truth. Even if they do tend to poke at your wounds some....most of the time. Any friend that won't tell you that you're a jerk is not a friend at all. That is of course unless you're not a jerk. In that case your friend's a jerk. And um....I've forgotten my point.

I wholeheartedly encourage any of you to bring it to my attention if I do something that offends you or annoys or anything to that effect. Or affect. I really don't remember my grammar class. So don't point that out to me. I'm painfully aware of it.
Oh and to Tom or anyone who might have been at the mall on Friday evening, if you saw me getting mad, I was a little frustrated with a couple of people that were there. So if I seemed like a punk, please excuse me.

Been awhile.

2005-04-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

So...what's new? I went to Georgia to visit my uncle and grandparents in. Though my grandfather had anothe stroke after I got back, so I'm really worried about that. I should really call him more. I heard that alot of people got together at John Cravens house when I was in Georgia. Which I would really have liked to have been at. I love my family and all, but there's only so much I can take of them before I start wondering if popping my eyeballs out with a spoon would be a better way of spending my time. Though I got to see my cousin Andrea whom I haven't seen in years. Plus my aunt Sherrie was visiting from Spain so I got to talk to her about David, Tommy, Daniel and I visiting sometime by the end of this year. That oughta be fun. We went to Atlanta and walked around alot. Ate lunch at the CNN building. Wanted to go to the Cartoon Network building but it was two exits before the one we wanted and no one would go.

While we were eating lunch there, we happened to notice some guy picking his nose. Seriously, this guys was digging away like he was going to win a prize or something. I was getting grossed out, so I decided to go look through the book store. Pondered buying the Iliad and decided against it. It was at this time that I went back to the table and that guy who was digging like his life depended on it, was still at it. Let me tell you, he found a winner. We then proceeded to leave. My mom, being the person she is, goes up behind him and screams "Stop that, their're people trying to eat here!" This guys jumps like he had no idea anyone was even watching him. Come off it. This place is twice the size of any normal food court that you see in a mall at least. He's surrounded by people on all sides. How do you not know that people are watching? Just sick. I wish him well on his further gold-digging adventures.

But all in all, I got to hang out with family I haven't seen in awhile, so that was cool. My uncle told me something that I never really thought about. Of all the male grandchildren in our family, I'm the first to be appointed ministerial servant. I thought that was cool that they were proud of me. It still hasn't really sunk in yet. I just had the announcements for the first time, and it still hasn't sunk it. I have them again May 2nd and they have questions to ask, so maybe it will then.

I was at the watchtower study last sunday, sitting in the sound booth. I had been trying to work out a whole bunch of problems with the mixing board. We're not supposed to mess with the knobs on the board, and ours are actually covered. But there're two sliders on the right that aren't covered. I don't think one does much. But the other one enlarges the receiving cone of he microphone. That is basically the range you can be standing off to the side of the microphone and still be picked up. Only problem with that is, not only does it pick up your voice coming from you but it also picks up your voice coming from the speakers in the ceiling. So blah blah blah. In my attempt to fix this all, I hadn't opened my watchtower to the page it was supposed to be on. Instead it was on an article about a pioneer brother on the Island of Saba. Ok, I know I should have been paying attention to the meeting, but it really caught my attention. I skimmed through it and decided that I want to go there. ~~I want to go there like you wouldn't believe.~~ Scratch that. I will go there. I know Daniel Thompson will go with me. It'd be cool if someone else would go too. But I don't know anyone who's willing to go. I want to go for about a month. Give or take. The picture on the front of the article just looked so beautiful. I am saving up money for it as we speak....er type...whatever. I just have to find out how much money I would need for a given amount of time. So, I'm praying that goes through. I'm being very frugal with my money now. I figure even if it falls through (God forbid) I will have some money saved up. Which is something I should be working on anyway. Just have to leave this all in Jehovahs hands.

I remember my grandfather telling me how he noticed that when he was younger and prayed for something, he almost always had to wait awhile for Jehovah to answer him. As he grew older, his prayers were answered quicker and quicker. It goes for pretty much every body. I guess it's Gods way of teaching us patience and to get us to rely on him and to wait on his decisions. Save for putting away money, that's all I can do right now. So with all this, and a situation with a certain girl I met in Omaha, I've decided I could do with a little more patience and relying on him. Whatever I do, I don't want to stop pioneering. It's been the best thing I've ever done with my life. And....for the most part.....the only thing. Something Caleb said to me has stayed with me. It was after the last Distrect Convention and we were all at P.F. Changs. I mentioned the only reasons I'd stop pioneering and before I even got them out he screamed "If you ever stop pioneering I'll kill you"! Not that I find him to be particularly threatening, it just kind of struck a chord with me.

So, all in all.....my life doesn't suck.

May this day come again.

2005-03-23T13:22:00.000-08:00

I shiver as I fight off the chill of this dark night.
It is late, and I've grown accustomed to the emptiness.
So much so, that I wish for it to never end.
Not being able to remember anything else.
It's all I know, it's where I'm comfortable.

But things change, and I must welcome the dawn.
I strain as my eyes try to adjust to the light.
As my sight returns, I feel the dew that comes with the hour.
A splendor I've not known. Taken aback by the mist and
the golden luminescence, I gasp for air.
The beauty of what I see now is foreign to me.
Though It seems more natural than anything that I can recall.

The Sun soon becomes more visible, slowly rizing above the horizon.
Basking in Its warmth, I begin to appreciate it.
I soon realize, that This is what I was missing.
The emptiness of the night is soon forgotten.
Replaced by a radiant new presence.
This is what I longed for in the void.
I see this clearly now, as I see the blue of the sky
contrast with the black of what time left behind.
As the Sun reaches Its zentih, I crave It like my next breath.
I let this be known as I sprawl out beneath Its warm embrace.

The day wares on and a cool wind informs me that
the Sun retreats behind a veil of white.
I wonder if I've done something to offend.
Given It some reason to not show Itself.
To hide Its face from me.
As I continue to ponder this, the sky turns an ominous grey.

Revealing the Sun only for a short while.
Before vanishing as quickly as It appeared.
As the dark mass begins to dissipate,
I learn that what I long for will soon be gone.
I wait for Sunset. It seems to come on hurried feet.
Soon, I am robbed of my happiness.
Replaced by the emptiness I know all too well.
The emptiness I loathe. The emptiness that is me.

I fall into old habits, and I try to fight the break of day.
I digress, trying to avoid Its return. Knowing this is a feat
I can not accomplish, I accept my fate.
Finding solace in that the rising of the Sun
brings with It no ill will.
When It returns, It will greet me as an old friend.
And though the new Day may not be the same as the one I knew,
I pray that it is just as memorable.

Faulty hoses and near death experiences make for a crappy week.

2005-03-23T12:37:00.000-08:00

It's not even over with yet and it's already one of the worst weeks I've had in awhile. I know I said I wasn't going to complain as much, but I really have to.

Day One

I started off with a termite job on monday that should only have taken me a few hours to do. The stucco was cut before I got there, all I had to do was clean it up and pump chemical in the holes that were drilled into the foundation. After cleaning up all the stucco, I start pumping. Or at least I tried. Turned out a lizard got in the pump and is clogging a hose. So after 3 and half hours of trying to figure out the problem and then fix it, I realize that I have to come back with a different truck. When I come back with the other truck, both the hose on this truck, and the slab injector (for getting the chemical beneath the foundation) have male connecters. So it doesn't work, and it's almost 5 o'clock. I had to get back to the house and have everything ready for the bookstudy and, more importantly, study. So I told the customer that I'd be back tomorrow. I go to get the connectors fixed and I go home.

Day Two

I get to the customers house and start applying the chemical. Turns out, inside the femal connector at the end of the hose, their's supposed to be what's called an "o-ring". It makes it air tight so as to keep the pressure and avoid leaking out the sides. It wasn't there. But I figured since the stuff worked good anyway, I'd go with it and just wash the chemical off my hands every once in awhile. I finish the house, and realize that part of the house that was supposed to have been finished already, wasn't. More piles of cut stucco to pick up. I hve nothing to carry it in. The lady of the house is getting mad asking why I don't bring with me what I need to do the job. What I needed at that moment to do my job was a taser. Old bat wouldn't leave me alone. Her husband was nice, he even helped me pick up the stucco and put it into an old WWII ammunition box that he had (Sure he could have gotten some money for it). I was finally done. So I go home to get more work orders and get to my next house with the rest of my work day planned. Get to the next house and the pump does't work. Turns out more garbage was floating inside the tank and clogged up the gasket filter. It was at this point that I considered taking a bath with my toaster.

Later on I had to help a friend in my hall (Nancy McMillan), who's moving to Washington, move a couch to her studys house. Turns out the couch is a fold out bed. Anyone who's moved one of those knows the pain it causes, mentally and physically. Especially when you're on the third floor. Took us an hour and a half to get that thing down (45 minutes between floors 3 and 2). Many cuts and bruises. But hey, it was to help a fellow christian, so it was worth it. I felt bad because the guy helping me hadn't eaten all day long, so he had absolutely no energy. I'm still sore today from moving that beast of a couch.

Day Three

Alright. I'm sick of typing, so this is gonna be short. I have to take the work truck down to apopka to get worked on since the local place stopped working on pest control tanks. The jerks. 45 minute drive at least. Both ways. Turns out, after cleaning it out, all I needed was the o-ring. 4 dollars only. Driving back, the cart dies at a light. Insticntively I turn on my hazard lights. I, being the smartacus that I am, don't remember that those particular lights require the battery to be working for their operation. I push the car over to the turning lane. And wait for what I thought was a gap in the on-coming cars to appear, so that I may push the car to a parking lot. The size of the gap in on-coming traffic was not as big as first thought. I see 2 cars a truck and a cop (that's right, people meant to protect and to serve coming right at me). But I manage to get it across with barely enough time.

My dad shows up and give me a jump start. It runs fine, so we go to have lunch. Which is cool becuase I haven't had lunch with my dad in a long time. It was silly and oriental buffets are good. I get back to the car and I require another jump. So I go home to get mre work orders again (I'm seeing a pattern that needs correction here). I come back out and the cars dead again. Because I have the gift of forsight, but lack the ability to use it. Had the other worker come to jump me, and it wouldn't start at all. So I decided to get on here and bore you all with tales of a horrible week filled with clogged hoses and faulty car batteries and chinese cuisine (sorta).

Guess what? I'm not whining or complaining this time.

2005-03-21T19:28:00.000-08:00

I know it'a a miracle. I reread my last post and I felt like a complete tool.

Anyway. I just remembered something really funny that happened. I was out at Chilis one night after our meeting. I ordered a long island iced tea and since it wasn't top shelf, it was two-for-one. I was text messaging this girl I know from California and made mention of that. So when I got home, I was working on the computer for my dad when she gave me a call to check up on me to see if I made it home alright. I thought that was very sweet of her, but I had to finish what I was doing pretty quickly, so I told her I'd call her back in a couple of seconds. 15 minutes later I call her back. She picks up the phone and all I hear is a loud piercing static on the phone. So I hang up and see that my lamp is sparking badly. I unplug it and call her back. As I'm talking to her with my back to the wall, I wonder why there's light coming from my unplugged lamp. I turn around to see it engulfed in flames. I again tell her I will call her back. I grab the only part of the lamp shade that is not on fire, though it was very hot. I run in under the sink. As I turn the knob, realize my error. Hot glass and cold water do not mix well. It exploded. Fortunatly I have no shrapnel scars or anything of that sort. Gina was wondering how I managed to sound so calm on the phone saying "Can I call you right back?" Then two minutes later call her again and say "Yeah, my lamp just exploded." Good times, good times.

I was wondering why it is so much more gratifying to make some smile than laugh. And I mean genuinely smile. Because they appreciate you or something you did. I like to consider myself a funny guy. I make no claim to be the funniest person in the world, or even among my friends. But I do get my fare share of laughs (at me or with me). But I get so much more satisfaction out of seeing a warm smile on someones face because of something I did or some attempt at being thoughtful because of giving a gift or for any reason really. I can think of one instance that happened to me. I remember being so happy to see that that person really appreciated the effort I made. I remember feeling good about there pleasant response for about 3 weeks after that. Which raises another question. Am I selfish for getting so much pleasure out of the fact that I made someone else happy. Does it negate the fact that I did something that I'd like to consider selfless for someone, if I get some sort of pleasure out of it. Do I make what I did, or even myself, an (oxy)moron for getting self-satisfaction our of a so-called selfless deed? I took an inkblot test and it told me that my subconscious mind is driven by kindness. Which is funny for someone as sarcastic as I am. But I can kind of see that. Anyway, I don't think this counts as whining. I just genuinely want to know if I'm wrong for getting so much satisfaction out of making someones day or showing some sort of thought.

And I just thought I'd share something cool with you guys. All two of you that posted on my blog so far.

I realized that two online projects are too much. Daniel and I have this cartoon we've been planning for about a year or so. You wouldn't believe how much prep work goes into this, and I mean just to get the basic premise and cast down. We've revised the character designs, the amount of characters, the personality of the characters, the plot (if any) so many times that it barely resembles what we first had. I've done no computer work on it to this day either. Just preliminary drawings/ideas. And if that wasn't enough work, Daniel and I are also working on an online role playing game. The cartoon has barely any coding at all. I think the most code I'll use on a regular basis is for the preloader (that's that screen that tells you how much of the show has loaded so the cartoon won't start with out it all loaded. Saves it from jumping and getting all laggy). That will take all of 15 seconds to write the code for. But this game is rediculously taxing. Since I'm no programmer, a kid in our hall who practically lives for this stuff is doing it. This is a kid who made countless hacks for this one online game we play, and the owner was so peeved because there's barely anyway to track the stuff he did. This game is Daniel and my pet project. There's the 9 different races to choose from. The statistics for each one (i.e. strength, inteligence, dexterity etc). Then there's the different weapons for each race. The level requirements for each. Classes among the races. The algorythms for moving, attacking, dodging, defending, attack speed, determining which part of the body you get hit on and how frequently. Oh, and there's the long gruelling process of the backstory which I'm currently agonizing over. The different quests in game. The making of levels for people to hunt in. And let's not forget the autobanners for the countless numbers of ways to hack, cheeze, dupe or basically mooch experience points, money, or items from people/monsters. If our math teachers from school realized exactly how much math we've done/had to learn to make this game, they would shed a tear. And don't forget my having to take Daniels wild ideas and make them somehow feasible and ways to cut down on the code. Then there's the music. Don't get me started on the music. We've had to steal files from old games until I can get all the music needed. Do you know how hard it is to come up with fitting music for riding on a boat, or a raft, or hot air balloon or tank. Not to mention the mood setting music for towns, overworld, save points and hunting levels. All this work and it's not even going to be 3D.

Ask me if I care?

2005-03-19T22:18:00.001-08:00

I went to Clairmont today. Fabiola had a party at her house. Her parties are always fun. Except when it's all girls and the only other guy doesn't talk very much. Then they start complaining about guys. That's ....fun....I guess. Just to let all girls know, I don't know why guys do the things they do. I'm not every guy. I can't tell you there reason for the way they act. I can only tell you what I know and maybe why someone I know does something. Then they made mention about that article in the awake about sisters telling brothers that they like them, or asking them out. Then came the myriads of jokes about how brothers aren't doing something correctly and that the society is trying to tell us something. Which I find funny because it's been in the Bible all this time that it's ok but the sisters never payed attention to the fact that Ruth more or less asked out Boaz and Jehovah did not disaprove of it. So, if you ask me the society was saying that women weren't paying attention to that fact and letting society and culture mold there way of thinking in that respect. If that wasn't bad enough, she whipped out the follow-up article entitled "What if he says no?". Again, not a fun topic. Especially if you knew my situation with someone that was there...sitting one seat over from me.

But anyway, this time was fun. Nothing that bad happened. Though she did make fun of me for not showing up to her last party that I had no idea about. When I got back, I was talking with a friend about dating and relationships in general (incase you don't know, I'm a complete sap). But lately i've been a little jaded when it comes to women, which is something I hate. I wonder why women read into the smallest little thing that guys do. I was complimenting a sister on a recent accomplishment. I was really proud of her, so I was smiling pretty big. I made a few compiments and a few comments. After the last one (I don't remember, what I said. But I remember thinking that there could be no way she could misinterpret what I said) she gave me this really weird look, like I was hitting on her and it wasn't welcome. I'me a pretty decent judge of body language, and this was just blatantly obvious what she was thinking. So as to cause no further question in her mind, I did what I felt was best for the situation. I left without any warning or good-bye. I figured flagrant indifference would get my point across. And I'm the only male pioneer in my kingdom hall out of 17 pioneers, so I know every complaint girls have against guys (as well as more about menopause then any 22 year old male should). I also know that if you have any complaint about women, it's best to keep them to yourself. All I'm going to say more about this topic, is that Hitch was a great movie.

In conclusion, lighten up girls. I don't give out hints on purpose or make any subtle moves. For that matter, I don't make any moves in this point in my life. If they're welcome or not. More than likely not. Not anymore at least. One failure is enough for my ego right now. And if girls have any probelm with what I said, read the title to this post.

P.S. I promise to bring cheese with my whine next post.

So tired of it.

2005-03-18T21:40:00.000-08:00

You know, even (especially) the best of friends have a way of getting you really mad. Not so much mad as just severely depressed or upset. I have one that is constantly telling me about this one "problem". It's in quotes because it's not really a big problem, but they blow it up to be something more than it actually is. If it is a problem, it's definitely a problem I would like to have. It's basically that some girls are liking him and people are starting to talk about it. Even though he's not intersted and wants to wait. I mean, who wouldn't want that problem....other than Kevin Murphy of course. It's not that he's bragging that he has girls liking him. That's not something he'd do. But he doesn't seem to realize that it really bothers me because.....well it's a problem I've never had. Though this is a friend who's sat outside of his house until almost 2 in the morning talking with me when I've been on the verge of breaking into tears.....or past that point. So I don't say anything to him. Because he could have told me that he was tired those nights and let me go home depressed. He's basically been "a brother born for when there is distress". So I'm trying my best "to go on putting up with one another". Dont ask me what scriptures those are. I make notes in the back of my bible because I can never remember where they are. Lord knows I'm not the easiest person to put up with either, so I just shut my mouth and take it. No matter how heart-wrenching it is. And that's that. But just incase you didn't know or figure out by now:

I'm
a
big,
fat,
whiney,
emo
guy

The act of pulling, like time, is relative.

2005-03-16T20:26:00.000-08:00

I was just reading a book on quantum physics and cosmology (that's study of the cosmos, not beauty school). The book was written by Michio Kaku. He was described as having the mind of a scientist but the tounge of a poet. He makes things so easy to understand. He was explaining how gravity, it was recently discovered, does not actually pull us down on to earth. But gravity actually effects space-time so that space actually pushes us down. Clear as mud huh?

Picture, if you will, the earth rotating around the sun. Mr. Kaku related it to a bowling ball sitting on a bed, while someone flicks a marble towards it. Imagine that bowling ball represents the sun. The marble represnts the earth. The mattress represents space(and time as well) while the dip in the mattress represents the warping that gravity has on space. If you flick the marble next to the bowling ball (near enough to the dip), the marble will move towards the bowling ball. The bowling ball doesn't have any effect directly on the marble, but it has an effect on the mattress. Which, in turn, has an effect on the barble. Simply put: "Gravity doesn't pull, space pushes". Which cracks me up, because I rememebred an old episode of friends where Ross was talking about evolution and Phoebe said she didn't believe in it. Ross quipped stupidly that evolution was just as factual as gravity. Phoebe said: "Eh, gravity. Don't even get me started!" To which Ross replied "You don't believe in gravity?" "I don't feel" said Phoebe "that I'm being pulled down, so much as pushed down". I think they would crack up if they knew that.

Which brings me to the point brought out in the title of this entry. Why is pulling, like time, relative? We know that time is relative because of a couple of reasons. Planets farther away from the sun have a longer orbit, and are bigger so they have a longer rotation. Second, since gravity has a warping effect on space and time, time passes differently elsewhere in the universe. So, time is relative to where you are in the universe. Two identical clocks set to the same exact time sent to two different spots in space, would not stay set exactly the same.

So, to the point now. How is pulling relative? Well you need to explain pushing first scientificly since that's all that there is left. Pushing involves a source of the energy (you). The energy and where it acts through (your arms). And what it acts on (a box for instance). If you push a box, there's you, then infront of you the energy (or your arms), then what it's affecting. Or the box.

If you try to "pull" something, all your doing is switching the way you see that process. Say you try to grab a box and "pull" it towards you. You are squeazing your hands on the side and "pulling" towards yourself. The only problem is, is that you're actually pushing, but viewing it from the other side of the box. So, you can't actually pull anything. Just push it with a different view.

What actually cracked me up, is that along time ago, the first person to realise why we don't see all white in the night sky, if the universe is endless and contains countless numbers of stars is because the light from them still has not reached us over the 13.7 billion years since creation was Edgar Allen Poe.

That's right the poet. Turns out one of his hobbies before he died face-down in a gutter drowned in his own vomit, other than depressing/scaring the crap out of people with his poetry and short stories, was science. Physics to be exact.

This is one of my hobbies. First thing I'm doing in the new order, outside of preaching to the resurected and helping build houses and such, is figuring out the theory of everything. Sounds like a generalization or a broad topic. But it's an actual scientific term. It's what Einstein spent the last 30 years of his life trying to figure out. It's a fabled formula, supposedly very simple, that will relate how the large bodies in the universe (planets stars etc) and the smallest things, like strings (strings of energy so small, that if an atom were the size of our galaxy, the string would be the size of an average tree). His theory of relativity and E=mc² were astounding because of how simple they were. That forumula is only about an inch long. If a man of that caliber couldn't figure it out, it's bound to be amazing.

I know what you're thinking. "Man he sure does ramble on for hours about nothing." Well, I spent 2 hours at borders reading because I had nothing else to do. I have no friends. Or life. Or....I'm going to go to bed now.

Dear Diar......journal!

2005-03-16T13:47:00.000-08:00

It's my first post in this blog. I have one on LiveJournal as well, but that's a different story. Though this one is starting off with the same intentions as the last one. For me to rant like a lunatic . Hence the title. I like the name blog better than live journal or e journal or online journal because journals are supposed to be your thoughts and usually private. Usually something you don't feel like talking to other people about. Just yourself. Which would make you look funny if you did out loud. Dear lord, I just realised how pathetic I am. This is actually my third blog. I have one on MSN as well. Has a whole bunch of pictures from John Cravens wedding in Omaha. That was fun.
Photo Album

I just rememberd that pretty much no one knows I have this blog yet. Time to go post on other peoples blogs....you know....'cause calling them to tell them would be stupid.