There's no such thing as 2 much Mass Effect

Well last week certainly dragged on and on due to the fact that I had Mass Effect 2 staring me down all week. On Friday though, I finally cracked it open and played it all night long. And we knew it was special because we waited. Anyway, last week was also busy due to poor time management, but this week looks like it shall be much better in that regard. In other news, you may have read on Steven's blog that the frisbee team for Shorewood is not happening this year due to lack of turnout at practices and lack of people actually paying. Well last night, we got an email from the captain (who hadn't even paid himself (that's how undedicated this team is)) saying that they had until Wednesday now to get their shit together so hopefully there will be a team otherwise Steven and I might have other coaching opportunities available. We'll have to see. I would really like an excuse to get out of Victoria though.

Monday:
Right after making the post, I kept going on my homework. I had left way too much for that night and I wound up having to stay up late to do it. In band, nothing much happened, but it looks like our next concert will be fairly easy for the horn section which is nice because last quarter we had some real chop busters.

Tuesday:
I skipped the lab for improv (since we only need to go to one a week) and hopped on over to Best Buy to pick up Mass Effect 2. On my way back, there was nobody there for frisbee so I went home and spent the rest of the afternoon doing just homework.

Wednesday:
We had a test in macro and I forgot my calculator so I made a lot of percentage calculations by hand (using what I knew off the top of my head to get close to what I thought the answer was). Fortunately, Tim showed up late and let me use his calculator to check my calculations. After classes, I had some free time which I used to play some Guild Wars with Steven. I spent most of the day doing homework though.

Thursday:
After the busy week I had had, I decided to skip Macro since we just had a test the previous day. I then had to skip French as well, but it was just going to be an unimportant day anyway. I showed up for Jazz Band, then went to the improv class and it was pretty fun because only a few people stuck around. After that, there was no frisbee since it was a finals day for Shorewood, so I went home and did some quick homework then hopped online and did more Guild Wars with Steven.

Friday:
Doug had something going on, so I only had one class that day. I went to French and then hurried home and played Mass Effect 2 for several hours. It's even better than the first one. I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil anything for Eric so if you want to know, you can ask me in person. At around 6, I met up with my grandpa and my aunt at her house and we went to go to my cousin's birthday party at her new house in Federal Way. It's a nice house and they(my cousin, her brother, and her boyfriend) have all been working on it themselves and they've done a very good job so far. After we got back home, I played more Mass Effect 2 until it was late.

Saturday:
I played Mass Effect 2 until Eric texted me reminding me that there was a double header I was supposed to go to. They had no subs when I got there an hour and a half late. Shortly after I got there, Jasmine dislocated her finger and had to go home so the remaining 6 of us played the next team in a 5 on 5. It was the team we played over the summer where we were a man down and I messed up my ankle when I stepped in a sprinkler hole. Steven and I had wondered if we would have beaten them if we had had a full side and maybe some subs. After playing them again, I know we definitely would have. After that, I headed straight home and spent the rest of the afternoon playing Mass Effect 2 of course. Eventually, I got kicked off the TV, so I played some Guild Wars/semi watching proleague with Steven via his livestream page. His "first recording" is pretty good because it was of us (with voices) playing a dungeon that was really ridiculously hard and it was late at night so lots of yelling and funny moments like "He's not stupid now, he's not stupid now!" and the final boss being ressurected.

Sunday:
I played Mass Effect 2 until lunch, then I ate lunch and spent the time up until the pro bowl doing homework. I have never really watched the pro bowl for the whole duration and I realized why last night. It's a huge joke. I was productive during it though, doing a lot of French homework, fully cleaning my keyboard for the first time in 8 years, and fixing my watch. We had dinner with grandpa after that and then we came home and I finished some homework and went to bed.

Today:
We had homework assigned last Thursday in Macro, but since so few people showed up today, we got extra credit which will at the very least cancel out my missed assignment so yay, I dodged a bullet there. We had a somewhat easy French test and a sectional in Jazz Band after that. Now I'm here and I will do some homework and if time allows, hopefully some Guild Wars before band. Steven found a way to make good money now that Wintersday is back for a week and since we have mostly figured out what titles to max, I now have a better idea of what kind of funding I will require and it is more than I have, so I'm looking forward to making some good bank off of this.

Until later, peace out.

Ok this was actually going to be a Things I Hate because my teacher was a noob, but I looked at my quotes and there are a lot so I figured it was better to unload them.

Steve: There goes Doug out there.
Me: I thought he left to go get dinner.
Steve: No, he just left to go masturbate
Me: Man, he’s living my dream out there.
Steve: Haha, you’re pretty quick. You’ll make a good lawyer someday.
Me: Why? Because I’m quick with masturbation jokes?
If it please the court, I’m going to pound one out really quick.
Steve: Judge, sidebar?

Doug: Why the hell are you all the way up here? There was a chair back there in the corner for a reason.
Ian: Oh, I heard you say “The rhythm section can come up” so I figured you meant move forward.
Doug: Oh, well I didn’t you can go back now.
Ian: I see how it is, go back in your corner, guitar player

Steve Kim: Jazz improv is really different from classical composition. With jazz, you’re making it up on the spot for yourself. With classical composers, you have a guy that plays “composer’s piano” which is basically really crappy piano. They then take their composition and give it to some guy that’s really good at his instrument and say “hey, here’s my bitchin’ etude” or whatever and then the guy just takes it and practices it over and over.

Doug: We gotta have everyone loud in this part like we’re in a big orchestra playing for Star Wars or something when Luke off’s one’a those cats.

me: nice
i found it the other day and i liked it
i was glad i could reuse it
O: see?
everyone loves reusing your posts, even you!
me: yeah!
i can't help it, i just write so well!
O: lol
me: especially my earliest posts
my overuse of the word "tight"
i dont remember how long its been since ive used that
in that context at least
O: did you really use the word tight a lot?
i dont remember that
me: yeah i guess so
i used it in my early posts then abruptly stopped
i dont remember saying it that much though after 8th grade but my posts cannot lie
O: link me one
me: http://dutchpride.blogspot.com/2005/05/star-wars.html
i think that was the last instance of using it
idk, i dont go back there very often
it was the boring years when i had nothing important to say
which i guess is similar to now
but now is interesting because
um
O: lol
me: it's recent
O: loll
me: you read it?
O: who was fink?
me: in it's paragraphy glory?
no idea
random person
O: those randos sure love you
me: excluding gregg, i've had 2 random ppl comments on my blog
and yeah
im just a stalker magnet
O: just think
if you get a six pack
and then post pics of it on ur blog
youll get so many stalkers
me: indeed
my female readers will finally leave comments
"fap fap fap"
that's what they'll say
ill let you take that however you want
O: haha..wait what?
i dont think thats really the sound it makes
if they're masturbating
me: it'll be "moosh moosh moosh"
O: hahaha
you gotta quote yourself on that one
me: i wonder if girls actually say that

me: wow
quote from my math book
"...is called the interquartile range. It's commonly abbreviated IQR (and pronounced "eye-cue-are." not "ikker")"
NO SHIT
this is why i took stats online
otherwise i would blurt out all the time and the teacher would hate me
but i would have a lot of funny stories i bet
O: hahahah
not "ikker"
that's great
me: does my math book think im retarded?
congrats on taking stats! good for you! you're trying to learn!
O: "u r smrt!"
me: haha

Hard to believe that was only a four day week

Well I sure had a busy week last week. Having concert related things three nights in one week really takes a toll on one's time. Anyway, this week will see fewer posts from me. Since I don't usually call the pro bowl, I won't bother this year. I will not make a football post tomorrow, but instead, I will make it next Tuesday. On Wednesday, there will be a Things I Hate if I can come up with something in the class that gives me enough rage to make a longer post on. If not, I'll unload a bunch of quotes that I've been meaning to for a while. In fact, chances are good I will do that, so some quotes will most likely come up on Wednesday unless my math teacher pisses me off somehow (which is possible). Ok well that all being said, I shall now try to recall events from the past week.

Monday:
If you recall, last Monday I was making my post and being concerned about having a ton of homework to do. Well due to efficiency and things (such as being really smart and awesome and talented and sexy), I was able to finish all my homework before 24 started! Or so I thought. Let me now take you back to the previous Friday:

There was an important Jazz Band rehearsal, so I had to leave French a few minutes early to get to Jazz Band earlier to warm up and hash some stuff out with the section right before class. I asked the teacher if I could leave 10 minutes early and she said that was okay. I considered asking her if we were going to have any homework, but I assumed we wouldn't because we already had 20 pages of workbook problems to do for Tuesday. I wound up not asking her and she said anything.

Now fast forward (yes Orion, FAST forward) to Monday. 24 had ended and as I went to shut down my computer for the night, I saw a message from my friend in the class that sits to my left (Tony). He was asking me about the homework she had assigned and indicated it was something other than the workbook stuff (which I had done already thinking it was the only French homework). After much searching and some help from Paul, I discovered she wanted us to write a brief report (2-3 paragraphs) on the history and current events of Haiti. It of course had to be in French. Now you might not think that was so bad; but in the class so far we have only just begun learning future tense and that is our only tense besides present tense. Needless to say, future tense sure as hell wasn't helping me to write that. It took a long time and I got to bed very late sadly. An unfitting end to a day where I was so productive.

Tuesday:
I had considered skipping my Macro class, but I finally figured out the downside to having two back to back classes in the same classroom (Macro and French are in the same room and French immediately follows Macro). Even if I skipped, the first professor would notice my having skipped when I walked into the room. I showed up on time and sat through the lectures and tried hard not to fall asleep. In improv, not too many people stuck around for the lab and it was pretty fun. Only Kathryn showed up to frisbee even though it was in the 50's and sunny, so I reluctantly said screw it and we left. It was probably for the best though as I had a lot of homework and spent the rest of the night doing it. That night, Grandpa called me from his place. I guess the place had hired some trumpet guy to entertain the people there. Anyway, he was calling me to ask if I wanted to come bring my trumpet and play some tunes with this guy. It was an odd request and I of course said no because I knew that wasn't how it worked and besides, I was in an online test.

Wednesday:
I had a busy day of homework related things. I managed to sneak in some time to play Guild Wars with Steven before our sound check for the prism concert that night. The check was rather boring and uneventful. We got to see samples of all the groups performing. The Jazz Band was definitely the most lively and the rest had some okay songs. There was one fourhand piano duet (not sure that's what it's called, but it's where two people sit on the same bench and play the same piano) where both of the chicks were pretty attractive.

Thursday:
I skipped the lab because of the performance that night and I took the hour before frisbee to do some homework. Sukol had gotten on everyone's cases in the team meeting the previous day, so the turnout was good. Unfortunately, the skill level was not as good. We won't do that well this season, but it will at least hopefully be fun to coach still. After that, I showered, quickly did some homework, then headed off to the prism concert. The rest of the songs everyone played were pretty lame and for our last song (which was a quicker tempo), Doug told us "Come on let's kick this thing up a notch to make it more interesting." We actually played all our songs quite well, it was nice. Since I got to stay up later, I got to play some Guild Wars with Steven.

Friday:
I got to sleep in since it was Friday and after the business of the week, I was quite happy to do that. After school, I did some homework until the prism concert. Most people played different songs this time and they were all more interesting. At one point, the Funkngroove was playing "Shake Your Groove Thing" and Steve and I were over in our section singing and dancing along. I'm sure it would have looked odd if the audience had been watching us since everyone else around us was doing what we were supposed to do, stand quietly and stand still. The two cute piano players found us entertaining, so that was cool. It turns out one of them is married and one is single and from Ukraine (very nice!). Sadly (depending on how you look at it (personally, I don't feel it's particularly good or bad), that is the closest thing I have to an amorous affair anymore since I found out the Dutch girl that sits next to me has a boyfriend). After the concert, Steven signed on, then we got our legendary guardian titles. It was pretty good. Later on, he left to go "celebrate his birthday" so I signed off and did some Assassin's Creed 2.

Saturday:
We took grandpa to lunch at Taco Del Mar because we wanted to talk to the guy that owns that store over by Costco to ask how he was doing since Taco Del Mar had filed for bankruptcy. He seemed optimistic, so that was good, I would hate to lose that place. Afterwards, I did some homework briefly, but spent most of the day gaming and waiting for either a call to go over to my aunt's house to move some stuff around or to go up to hang out with the guys from the trumpet section to practice our jazz improv stuff. Neither call came, so I was gaming most of the day. That night, Keir and I watched proleague while I vanquished. He watched the Ace vs Woonjin match since he had a player on his fantasy team in it. I watched estro vs CJ and we both filled each other in on what was happening. It was a rather entertaining way to spend the evening.

Sunday:
It was football day as well as homework day. I spent most of the day doing both of those things. I got both my picks right and I even gone one game dead on (Saints by 3 points) and I was close on another (Colts by 14 (they won by 13)). I was sad I couldn't beat my record from last year, but doing that well was sure nice. I also had to go over to my aunt's house to move some stuff around. After that, I spent the rest of the night doing homework.

Today:
I had not much going on. In French, we watched a video in which one of the guys said "Je les rape." Corrine (Dutch girl that sits next to me) and I were laughing a lot harder and much longer than we should have been, but it was really funny. Immaturity is awesome sometimes. I took grandpa to lunch and now I have some homework to do before band so I'd best be getting on with that and quickly. Until Wednesday, peace out.

Things I Hate: 11

Hello and welcome to another Things I Hate. That's right, it has returned from the dead! My math class online is run by a teacher that has the most terrible organization I have ever seen and after sharing with Orion some of the horror stories thus far in the quarter, he suggested I bring back Things I Hate, so I am. This week on Things I Hate: a total lack of organization.

Some background on this image, we had to take a quick survey and then we had to make a graph of classmates' answers to one of the questions asked. So he put the file up on blackboard and when I loaded it, I was this.

Now at the time, I had not read the assignment so the only logical thing I could think of was that he wanted us to organize this. I have no idea why he needed to make the question its own column and not the header for that column. Also, in the column before each question, there is a completely useless column that says something along the lines of "Question_ IDS." I don't know what that means, but it sure as hell didn't come in handy.

I mean seriously, if you're a STATISTICS teacher where the whole class is about charts and graphs, YOU WOULD THINK YOU WOULD AT LEAST KNOW HOW TO MAKE THOSE THINGS. It took me the whole week to do the assignment because every time I opened up this document, I would swear excessively at it before giving up and doing something else. It's not that hard to make a chart, do a column for each question and at the top, have the question and for the student answers, have the answer to the question. It's really simple and I'm questioning my teacher's ability to teach.

That's only one of the stupid parts of the assignment however. After reading the assignment, I noticed that he wanted us to make a graph of one set of data from this survey. This was no ordinary graph though, it had to be hand drawn. Now you may be thinking "David, that's not so bad, I hand draw graphs all the time." Well normally I would agree with you, BUT THIS IS AN ONLINE CLASS. WTF, WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO DRAW SOMETHING AND SCAN IT? I signed up for this class so that I could do things ONLINE or ON A COMPUTER. Microsoft Paint would have been just fine. He also wanted the graphs to be "beautiful, neat, and organized." I came extremely close to just submitting a word document that said "You first."

Ok well that's it for this week. I have to ease myself back into being able to hate things or at least to try to complain about stupid things in an entertaining manner. Until later, peace out.

Well it's official, I cannot beat my record from last year. It was another half right week for me and hopefully I can finish strong by getting the remaining 3 games right. Here are my two picks this week.

Jets vs Colts: Colts by 14:
Well Rex Ryan has been saying his team should be favored in every game this postseason and I don't have anything against him, but I dislike being proven wrong. I don't know what was up with the Chargers. That was the first game I had seen them play all season and I don't know how they got an 11 game win streak with that kind of playing. Anyway, the Colts are the best team in football right now and even though the Jets beat them once during the regular season, this time, the Colts will have their good players on the field and they will take control early and they will hold that lead for the whole game and the Chargers (a team I like) shall be avenged.

Vikings vs Saints: Saints by 3:
This is the game I'm not sure about. The teams are evenly matched and it's possible it could go either way. I pick the Saints though because as we saw last week with the Vikings, their offense consists mainly of Brett Favre and Sidney Rice. The Saints have more options for scoring and I think that their ability to adapt and to use different players will give them an edge over the Vikings who only have a few stars. The Vikings could easily win though if they are able to shut down Drew Brees like they shut down Tony Romo last week.

Well that's it for this week. Fingers are crossed hoping I get these right. We'll see how I do this Sunday.

Hopefully the weeks will become less busy soon.

Howdy everyone. First of all, I have to say I GOT INTO THE HONOR BAND!!111 That means I will be going to Reno and unless Rachel is going on some family vacation that week, I will more than likely get to stop by and hang out. I'll mention it later in the post. I will make a post tomorrow about the footballz and then on Wednesday, come back and visit for a special post OOoooOooOo. With that all out of the way, I have little time left today (before 24 starts at least) and much homework to do, so I'll jump into the week.

Monday:
In band, we got a Beatles medley that sounds extremely cheesy, but what can you do? There's a cool horn solo that two of us played because it was poorly written and we need two horns playing to play over the backgrounds.

Tuesday:
I have decided to do labs for the improv class both Tuesday and Thursday because they only really wind up lasting until about 2:10 and that leaves me enough time to get to the truck and drive over to the fields to wait. The labs are cool because we just play the head of a song then solo for a really long time. It's good practice for my chops as well as for soloing to be in there more often and as long as the other trumpet players (the other 3 guys (not including the new guy) who are my friends in the class) stick around, I'm happy to stay there as well. I went straight to the fields, but it was raining and only one girl showed up so I gave her a ride back to near her house since she apparently lives close to me. After that, I went home and tried to do some homework, but didn't get as much done as I had hoped due to some things taking more time due to terrible organization by my professor.

Wednesday:
I had missed a call by grandpa for going to lunch on Sunday, so I took him to lunch on Wednesday to make up for it. After that, we ran a bunch of errands including getting him his new handicap parking permits. We got back to his place at 4:30 and I checked out the damage to the place. I guess on the 5th floor, a fire suppresant system pipe leaked and spilled water all down the walls and they've been reconstructing that wall since then. It's unfortunate that they had to deal with that problem since they're such nice people, but bad things happen to good people I guess. At 5, they had casino night there where you got fake money to bet with. I guess the girls wanted grandpa to bring me, so he did and we played for a while. Grandpa did pretty well at blackjack, okay at roulette and then I did really awesome at craps. It must have been beginners luck, but I almost tripled my amount of chips, but I had to leave so I gave them to grandpa and I heard he spread the wealth around to some other people that were running out of chips, which was nice of him.

Thursday:
During Jazz Band, we had some downtime at one point and Ken came into the room and said "David, I have a word for you." I said "Hopefully it's a good word." It was, he was there to tell me I got into the honor band. I'm going to be going to Reno along with the flute girl that texts in class a lot (who's actually a really good player as it turns out). Chelsea and Erik are on the wait list, so they could theoretically go, but they most likely will not. I haven't told Chelsea yet and I don't really want to now becuase she also wanted to go. Ah well, maybe no threesome for David, but at least I'll probably get to hang out with Rachel a couple times. After school, there was frisbee practice (which was a nice change of pace from people not showing up). Sukol got on people's cases again and despite the rain, 6 people actually showed up. We had a quick scrimmage then called practice early. After we got back, Steven and I did some vanquishing for a bit, then I got some homework going in preparation for the coming weekend event of double EotN points.

Friday:
After class, I stuck around with the guys (the 3 from the trumpet section that I'm in improv with) and we jammed for a while until our chops were dead since Doug was working us pretty hard for our upcoming concert. After that, I left to go get Orion and we went to the UW to meet Nikki and Drew for some teriyaki. It was cool to see them again and catch up. After that, Nikki had to take her brother to the art museum, so Orion and I went to check out Drew's house which was pretty cool. Eventually, Lucy called us and since we had little time before we had to get Orion back home for his dinner, we decided to go meet up with her. Once we got into her dorm, I called her to ask where she was and it turned out she was on the other side of the doorframe from us. I must say, I enjoyed this visit to Lucy's place much more than the one last year:

then we called Lucy for some reason and found out she was in her room with
Erika, Allison, and Kayla. We decided to go see them since Orion wanted to. I
didn't really need to see Erika and I didn't particularly want to ditch Nikki,
but she had a friend there, so we went. I didn't realize how much I never talked
to them until we got there. All four of them were in bed together and they all
climbed down so say hi.......to Orion. Being quickly forced out of the circle, I
stood in the background with Lucy's roomate, who seemed pretty cool because she
was unboxing a box so that it would take up less space in the recycle bin, which
is something only cool people do. Kayla actually did say hello to me, but
awkwardly as she passed me on her way out the door. I was glad we were only
there for about 3 minutes because it was really awkward for me. After that, we
walked Lucy up to the campus so she could meet up with her religion buddies for
some bible thumping.

After talking with her and Sarah for a while, our visit ended with pants on the ground (I'll let you take that any way you want). Orion and I headed back up to the truck and then to his house where he downloaded some classic rock from me and I left him with the huge stack of cd's to rip for the next day.

Saturday:
We met grandpa for lunch and then dropped him off and came back here to watch some football. I was proven right on the first game. After that, I went to play some frisbee with UWB again and it was pretty fun. Afterwards, I got my cds back from Orion and said goodbye then came back home to watch the second game. Steven and I got some more vanquishing done and I was proven right again as the colts won.

Sunday:
I played some Assassin's Creed 2 while waiting for football to start. First, I was proven wrong when the Cowboys lost to the Vikings. After that, the Chargers lost which I didn't like because I like the Chargers. After that, I played some Assassin's Creed 2 and then watched 24.

Today:
Well today, not much is happening. I have a lot of homework to do and I'd better get started on that because it's now almost 3:00 and 24 comes on in 5 hours which should give me just enough time to finish all the crap I have to do if I hurry. Don't forget to check back on Wednesday. Until then, peace out.

Stimulating Economics Discussions:
Bob: So what if there were a correlation found between the length of girls' skirts and the overall state of the economy? Like say the shorter a girl's skirt, the better the economy is doing? Well if we find that out, what are we going to do to girls' skirts? We'll shorten them in the hopes that it will stimulate the economy.
Tim: Oh, it'll stimulate something!

French Essays:
Valerie: Ok class, tonight I want you to write an essay in French my life in 10 years.
Tony (70 year old guy that sits behind me): 10 years? Damn, I'll be dead by then!


Keir: Why should you go to bed? I'm 3 hours ahead of you and I'm filling in France pixel by fucking pixel.

Davis: u there?
me: Yes, I am here.
Davis: wow lol gud 2 now aht
me: I have no idea what you just said.
Davis: Oh, excuse me.
I rather lost myself for a moment there.
me: Quite understandable.
Davis: Shall we play some Counter-Strike?
me: We shall.
SENTENCE FRAGMENT CONSIDER REVISING
Davis: CONSIDER FUCKING YOURSELF IN THE ASS, MICROSOFT WORD

me: i dont support games in which colt mccoy doesn't play
i wish my parents had named me that
lastredcoat: if your parents had named you that youd probably be a super QB
but instead you are an ok pre law student
me: indeed
maybe someday ill be a blocker for little montana
lastredcoat: lol
me: that would be cool if that happened
then i would finally maybe somewhat come close to finally earning your respect
lastredcoat: you have my respect
youre just crap at starcraft

*I post a Facebook status "David Altena finds it funny that arizona's kicker can kick a field goal from the far 45 yard line but when it matters, he cant even kick a chip shot."*
*this takes place within a minute of my posting that*
me: have you seen both the games today?
lastredcoat: yes
me: same
the green bay game
IT WAS SO AWESOME
lastredcoat: i found it funny that arizona's kicker can kick a field goal from the far 45 yard line but when it matters
me: ah you too?
lastredcoat: he cant even kick a gosh darn chip shot
me: i see we think alike in verbatim even
its no wonder we're such a great team on iccup
lastredcoat: ahahahaha
me: on the plus side tho
i now know how i can feed you strategic advice while we play
now i know that if i want you to do something on iccup, i just make it a status update
lastredcoat: huh?
me: "David Altena wants keir to make more god damn zealots."
you read my statuses quickly
almost as quickly as you would hear it if i just told it to you via skype
lastredcoat: lol

Well I didn't do so well last week. I only got 2 right out of the four games. If I want to break my record, I have to get no more wrong pick. Unfortunately, it's not looking like that will happen based on what I saw last week making for hard calls this week. I hope I get all of them right, but you never know.

Cardinals at Saints: Saints by 3:
The Cardinals had a really good game last week and they've been good off and on this whole season, but the Saints this season have seemed to have generally squeaked by when they were really challenged. I think that if the Cardinals try hard, they can win, but I gotta go with the higher seed on this one just to be safe.

Ravens at Colts: Colts by 6:
While I would like to see the Ravens play as well as they did last week (extremely), I know that there is no way they are going to beat the Colts.

Cowboys at Vikings: Cowboys by 6:
The Vikings made it to the playoffs basically just from riding a few players' coattails. The Cowboys on the other hand have been hot recently and they're going to take down the Vikings. They could even be Super Bowl bound.

Jets at Chargers: Chargers by 10:
Rex Ryan said his team should be favored in every game. Unfortunately, they're now going to be playing probably the hottest team in the NFL right now. The Chargers are going to stomp the Jets and send them back to New York crying.

Well there you have it. Feel free to wager with me here and I hope I get them all right so I can beat my record.

I'm not sure what I was thinking this quarter.

Howdy all. If you're confused about my title, don't be any longer. It shall all be explained this post. I'm taking 21 credits right now as well as doing the Shorewood Ultimate gig 2-3 times a week. Usually I take 19 credits, which is 4 more than average, but this time I decided to 2-up that and since I didn't factor in how much time I would lose playing frisbee, I have gotten in pretty deep, but I think it will all work out once I get settled into the schedule. So for this post, I'll be going over my classes, then how each day of the week works, then notable events this week. Tomorrow, I'll make a football post. Wednesday, I'll make a quotes post. For now though, time to get into this post.

Macroeconomics (9:30-10:20 Monday-Thursday):
I'm taking this class with my professor from micro after he convinced me to do a face to face class with him. The first week was boring because it was all micro review so I knew it already. It's already getting more interesting this week though. The professor was cool online, but even cooler offline because there are more opportunities for awkward jokes. We have to subscribe to The Economist magazine for the class and he told us how to pick up chicks using the magazine to attract women that are attracted to intelligence. Tim Cheeney is in that class too as well as this guy that always seems to be in business related classes with me (even the online ones) and he's really cool so the 3 of us sit in close proximity and do some of the work together.

French 2 (10:30-11:20 Daily):
This class is about the same as the last class at least in terms of workload and such. There was a second French 1 class last quarter and the two have been combined. Whether on purpose or not, the two classes have segregated themselves and our class sits on the right half of the room and the other class sits on the left half. The seating arrangement is different now too. I sit to the right of that guy I mentioned last time still, but now the Dutch girl sits to my right. Since there are much fewer people from our class than the other one, some of us have become much tighter and I have gotten to meet the other half of the room from last quarter (the people in my class that sat on the other side of the room).

Jazz Band (11:30-12:20 Daily):
My walk from French is longer now so I get to Jazz Band having less time to warm up which is unfortunate, but I work around it. This class is the same as it's been, really fun. We got a new trumpet player (that's 6 of us now for those of you counting). He's a really good lead player which is exactly what we needed because me and Chelsea are both working towards being able to handle lead parts, but I'm quite a ways off and she's still not able to play lead for every song we get. This new guy is really cool though and with our lack of tenors, it might open up possibilities for some more jazz french horn.

Jazz Improvisation (12:30-1:20 Tuesday & Thursday and 1:30-2:20 Tuesday OR Thursday):
When I signed up for this class, I thought it would be two hours a week of mostly theory. That worked for me because I could practice on my own. Apparently, it is actually run like previous quarters where we actually play. Twice a week, we meet at 12:30 and do theory work for about an hour on songs. Then, on either Tuesday or Thursday (we get to choose which one we personally show up to), we show up to a "lab" where we get to play in a band setting. Everyone is at different skill levels, but really tolerant of the mistakes made during solos (especially by me :/) which is really nice. This is a huge nail in the coffin of my free time and it eliminates lunch on the day I show up to a lab, but I really want to get better at soloing, so it will be a class I will be glad I took. I don't think I'll do it in spring quarter though unless I decide not to take a 9:30 class.

Symphonic Band (7:00-9:30pm Mondays):
This time of year is always better because I know I'm not missing out on Monday Night Football (which was especially heartbreaking this year because of the amount of great games (Texans playing and Favre's return to Lambeau to name a couple). This quarter, we lost our strongest horn player due to job things (he is the head of the Edmonds School District music department and is trying extremely hard to save the music program so he had to take the quarter off). It may be due to his absence or it may be a coincidence, but the first horn parts are much less chop busting this quarter. They're still cool parts, so either way, I'm not complaining.

Statistics (Online):
A lot of people have asked me "how can you take a math class online?" To them I just say "Come on, it's just stats." The only problem is that this teacher has the crappiest blackboard site organization I have ever seen. His folder names are what the folder should be containing (for example, one of the folders had no contents but instead just detailed the assignment in the folder name). Furthermore, the sidebar is weird yellow (that he calls orange, but as a proud Dutchman I know it is NOT orange) and blue which he says is in honor of the NY Mets, his favorite team. I mean damn, I like the Mets too, but have some common sense man! Don't go blinding the students here! It took me forever to figure out how he organized his site (even with the help of the "How do I begin?" tab). I recently discovered he actually DOES assign problems from the book and that there are a lot so that's why I'm skipping frisbee today is to get those done and hopefully to get as far ahead as I can in that class to make it less of a drain on my free time in the coming weeks.


Ok well those are my classes, now I will go into the daily routine.


Mondays:
School - 9:30-12:20
Frisbee - 2:30-4:30
School - 6:30-9:30
I start at 9:30 and I get out at 12:20. From there, I get to have lunch, then I head back out and go to Shorewood at 2:30 to meet up with the frisbee team for a running practice. I'm not doing that today, but it will be part of my schedule. At some time between 4 and 5, I go home, do some homework, then head out at 6:30 for band.

Tuesdays:
School - 9:30-1:20(or 2:20)
Frisbee - 2:45-5:00
Tuesdays and Thursdays are my busy days. I spend a lot of time in school, then either go straight from there to frisbee (if I go to a lab) or have time to go home, grab lunch and head almost right back out (if I don't go to the lab).

Wednesdays:
School - 9:30-12:20
My mid-week oasis. It has some semblance of a normal day (normal for the past few quarters at least). I get some actual time to work on homework or play some videogames. I also need a day to go to lunch with grandpa at costco occasionally and given what I am up to now, this may be my only non-weekend day to do that.

Thursdays:
School - 9:30-1:20(or 2:20)
Frisbee - 2:45-5:00
Like Tuesdays, very busy regardless of whether I go to the lab or not.

Fridays:
School - 10:30-12:20
My little treat to myself. I get to sleep in an extra hour and after the week I go through (which will look like nothing when I get a 9-5 job), it's nice to get that extra hour off of school. After school on Fridays this quarter, I might stay late and do some trumpet duets with a couple of the guys from the section. They've been trying to get me to stay late off and on, but usually I had a conflict or they forgot to invite me. This last Friday, I had a haircut so I didn't stick around, but I will this week.


And there's my week. Now I shall regale you with some notable events of this past week.

I got a haircut finally. It had gotten really long in the front which was odd because usually it mulletifies itself by growing really long in the back.

Steven, Eric, Orion, and I all went to a pickup game at Magnuson park on Wednesday. We were really out of shape, but it was fun to play even if we got really tired and sore.

I think I saw Rosa at a bus stop and I might have offered her a ride, but I thought she was back at school and either way, I was headed the opposite direction.

Orion and I joined Eric and the UW Bothell team on Saturday for a double header. It was fun to play on a team again even if we got stomped in both games.

My parents were out of town for the weekend and it was a playoff weekend, so I moved my computer into the tv room downstairs (which I would have done for either occasion) and got to do some gaming while watching football and bachin' (bacheloring) it up.

Ok well that's about it for the week. I'll post the football stuff tomorrow, then the quotes on Wednesday. Peace out until later.

Well it's that time of year again, playoff season is upon us. While I know that only about 3 people will be interested in the contents of this post, I shall post it anyway.

Jets at Bengals: Bengals by 6:
I think the loss last week was somewhat intentional. The Bengals made the smart move though as the Texans were really hot in the last half of the season whereas the Jets were not as good. The Bengals will come out guns blazing to show everyone that they threw last week's game.

Eagles at Cowboys: Cowboys by 10:
The Cowboys were really hit and miss for most of the season, but they seem to have gotten their crap together. After last week's game against the Eagles, the Cowboys showed that they are definitely contenders in the playoffs this year and expect them to possibly go to the NFC championship if they upend the Saints (which is entirely possible as we have seen).

Ravens at Patriots: Ravens by 13:
It's odd that the one game this weekend that isn't a repeat of this last week was the easiest to call. The Patriots lost their man that gets them to the endzone (Welker). While they still have Moss, he really mostly just got TDs this year and the Ravens defense is extremely awesome so they will have no problem as they roll over the Patriots.

Packers at Cardinals: Green Bay by 6:
It's odd to see the losing Superbowl team go on to have a better season the following year (and especially odd to see the winning team fail to even make the playoffs). After last week though, we saw that Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers mean business and they will most likely beat down the Cardinals.

Ok well hopefully I can do better than last year when I got 8 out of 11 right. We shall see. Until next Monday, peace out.

We are cool.

The two parts. Sai drew the numbers because he has better handwriting.

Two layers of chocolate cake with cocoa frosting on the sides, buttercream frosting on the top. All that, under a white cake (that was crushed by) fondant and more frosting up top. Complete with fondant and frosting flames as well as dinosaurs (plastic).

Behold! D20 meteor dinosaur extinction cake!

The mega-frosto cookie.

The don't ask, don't tell soldier.

The communist star.

The token Jewish cookie.

How to frost a broken french horn cookie.

Winter Break 09-010 Part 2

Well howdy there. Welcome to the new decade. This week, lots of stuff happened and this coming week many things will happen so I'll be posting more than just my usual once this week. There will be this post today as well as pictures (which you've probably scrolled past if you're reading this), then tomorrow there will be a football post. With that being said, I think this post will be long enough without my intro (hopefully an average length post in the end) so I'll get into it.

Monday:
I spent most of the day finishing up my Mass Effect playthough that I will use for Mass Effect 2 when it comes out. After that, I played some Starcraft with Keir, then with Steven and Davis joining us.

Tuesday:
I went and got Sai at about 10:00, then we hit up the grocery store for supplies and began making our cake for Davis (pics to come). Eventually, we realized we needed some more ingredients, so we went back to the store and wound up in the same cashier's line. "Forget something?" He said with what I'm sure was amusement. We paid for the stuff and then left. Later still, we discovered yet another ingredient missing. We decided to go to the other QFC, which admittedly, is probably closer to my house ever so slightly. It took from 10am to 4pm, but we finally completed the cake and it was awesome. Also, sometime during the noon hour, we went on a hunt for dinosaur figurines and went to a bunch of dollar stores including a 99 cent store where nothing was 99 cents and where Sai got a butterfly knife. After the cake, we played a little bit of Halo, then went to Ben's house for a little bit and saw the asians there.

Wednesday:
I played some Starcraft with Sai until he had to leave to come to my house for DnD. While I waited for people to arrive, I played some ICCup with Keir. We played DnD for a while and I must say being a Druid is way more fun than I've had playing DnD yet. Also, I enjoyed that it was not me nearly dying this time. Some noteable events that happened.
-I jumped off a ledge and transformed into a tree in an attempt to crush our enemy (at Sai's suggestion) that none of us could damage. Sai tried to get out of the way, but failed and I came one point of damage away from killing him.
-Some mouth enemy ate me (while I was in velociraptor form), but while I was inside it about to be digested, I transformed into a tree and the enemy basically exploded everywhere.
So as you can see, my tree shape spell is really overpowered (probably because the creators did not anticipate someone using it as creatively as me), but it also leads to much more unpredictability and fun in the sessions.

Thursday:
I went to Costco with grandpa to get stuff for my aunt's party the following day. After that, I ran some errands with him and then finally got back home at about 5 whereupon I played SC for the rest of the night. Kathryn had some friends that night and I did not, but it was only 2 friends she had over so I was able to remain downstairs. Now I had a zen moment across new years and I will tell you about it.

The zen moment:
So back in Christmas of 1999, I got 2 games from my grandparents: Starcraft and Majesty. I have loved both of those games, but especially Starcraft. It was one of (if not, the first) game I played in the last decade and I have spent countless hours playing it (to this date, it is by far the game I have the most hours logged in (I can't prove it, but I am very positive this is true)). So when Keir messaged me at 11:20 pm, whether I wanted to play Starcraft, how could I say no? I started and ended the last decade with Starcraft. Now I said some things about it a couple posts ago to the effect that I hadn't done anything with my life, but now I'm cool with that. I realized that I really appreciate consistency and probably one of the most consistent things in my life (besides the big things like family, etc, etc) has been Starcraft and I have a deep appreciation for that game. I hope Starcraft 2 has just as big an effect on me as Starcraft did. I also hope that someday I get a girlfriend and all that stuff, but I'm not rushed to do that, I'll let things take their course. I'm trying not to fill a lot of space by not going in too deep here, but suffice it to say Starcraft (and gaming in general) is a big part of my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Oh and by the way, I think everyone that plays videogames with us can agree that the quote of the decade definitely has to go to Keir for:
"SKYPE IT UP TO THE MAX BITCH@ AND THEN AGAIN!"

Here's hoping many a bitch (don't worry ladies, I'm just calling SOT members bitches) skypes it up to the max many times this coming decade.

Friday:
I was totally raging that day (by raging, I mean going to a bunch of different parties). I started with the neighborhood party at 10am. It ended at 1pm, so I went over to my aunt's house for her party. I then had to leave at 3 to pick up Steven and Orion and Davis for some Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. It was tricky at first, but then it got pretty fun. After a little of that, we met Alex, Josh, Ben, and Oliver at Red Robin for dinner. After that, the 4 of us headed back for more MUA2 until we stopped at midnight.

Saturday:
We met grandpa for lunch at Taco Del Mar and then took him to some funeral at his church (dropped him off, did not go in). After that, I spent most of the day doing Assassin's Creed 2 and Starcraft.

Sunday:
I went to the Seahawks game with grandpa. We got a ride from the couple that sits next to us (they are from Portland and they came up and spent the night at my aunt's house because they wanted to come up while the weather was good or something). Griffey was raising the 12th man flag, so I went over and stood as close as I could and even though I didn't get to get something autographed by him, it was still awesome to see him. Some lady was talking to her friend and said he was as tall as me. It was weird to see that because I always thought he was taller than me. We lost the game, but it was at least pretty interesting. After that, the Texans were also eliminated from the playoffs due to some Cinncisucky playing. After that though, I got in some Starcraft with Steven and Keir before he left for school.

Today:
I won't go into detail of my classes yet because they are part of the next post, but today has gone well so far. We had a failed SWUF practice, but it was raining, so that was to be expected. Band is coming up now and I've got to figure out my online class here (the professor has absolutely terrible organization). I'll get those pictures up today, but until tomorrow then next week, peace out.

*In the car, I have the climate control for the driver's seat set at 70, which is somewhat hot for me, but generally comfortable*
*It is obviously too cold for mom as she turns up the heat high in the backseat and pumps it high, filling her area with hot air and sending some into my area, making me rather uncomfortably hot.*
Me: Mom, can you turn down your heat?
Mom: No way, your vent is blowing cold air at me.
Me: What? It's set at 70 up here? It's only cold air because it feels cold next to the heat you got coming out of the vent back there.
Mom: Fine, I'll turn it off. (angrily mutters) Where's the blanket back here?
Dad: You'd think there would be a middle ground, huh?
Me: Man, I've learned by now, there is no middle ground.
Dad: Haha, that's a damn good lesson to learn this early on.


lastredcoat: sc tomorrow?
me: hmm
most likely yes
lastredcoat: good.
me: though again later in the day is more certain than earlier in the day
lastredcoat: i might have to go fucking canoing tomorrow morning
so yeah
me: yuck
well be sure to exercise proper safety precautions
because i would hate to have to come all the way out there to drag your drowned ass out of the swamp for some necropheliaSC
lastredcoat: i'd still have higher apm than you
me: hahahaha
sadly
you're probably right
lastredcoat: that was an epic burn
btw

Winter Break 09-010 Part 2

Well hello there again. It is now time for the second part of my break. This might be the least interesting part of the whole break(crap, why did I start out the post by saying that?), but nonetheless, I must post it for my own future interest if for no other purpose. I'll just get right into it, it will not be too long.

Edit: I am talking to Keir as I make this post and he would like me to correct a statement I made in the last post regarding how little he and I have done with our lives. He would like me to tell everyone he is a "and how i am such a productive member of society" and would like me to make a list of ways.

-He has created the most popular English Starcraft Rap on Youtube.
-He saw Tim Tebow once.
-He is a communist and will soon change the student government at UF.
-He has had more conversations with women than I have.
-He maintains a (somewhat) higher APM than I and far better macro (for the time being O_o).
-He remains the most frequently quoted on my blog and on my facebook page.
-He did something at model UN that involved a major regime change or something.

Ok, there you have it Keir. You are a productive member of society....to some level I suppose. Regardless, you seem to have done more with yourself than I have (for the time being...). Ok, well on with the post. If any of you ever want me to correct something I said about you, you have to catch me while I'm posting.

Thursday:
It was Christmas Eve, but that didn't stop my Grandpa from taking me to Costco. I invited mom and Kathryn along because they wanted to get Kathryn some driving practice. Grandpa enjoyed the extra company. Afterwards, I took him to Fred Meyer and then back to his place where I fixed up a couple of things for him before heading off. Dad got off work early, so we went to see Up in the Air, which was a pretty good movie.

Friday:
We got up and opened presents. Dad and I got a dartboard which we will put to good use when we finish up rearranging the garage. It will be fun to play darts again once we get the board up. I also got The Saboteur, a 360 game (sandbox game, you guys might not be interested). I also got from my grandma MARVEL ULTIMATE ALLIANCE 2!!!!1 DEEP FREEZE, FANTASTIC FIRE! CURSE OF THE HAND! FERAL RAGE!!!1111111

That was certainly exciting. I also got from my cousin a happy kwanzaa gift card to best buy. He must have known my secret contempt for that strange holiday. My grandma also surprised me. Back when she asked me for things I might want for Christmas, I gave her a couple suggestions and then made up a 360 game called "Crazy Susan 4: The Search for Goat Cheese Mountain." I was hoping she would ask someone at a store about it and look silly, but she didn't so I just told her it was fake. She then surprised me by having one of her friends draw up a cover for it and giving that to me. It was pretty funny and I'll post the picture of it later. We went and had dinner at my uncle's house and then came home and watched 500 days of summer, which was okay. When we exited ondemand and got sent back to the cable, there was some movie called "Grandma got Run Over by a Reindeer." I watched the remainder of it because of it's really strange plot and plethora of wtf moments.

Saturday:
We got up early and set out for the tri-cities hoping to make it there by noon. We ran into some trouble along the way though when our tire sprung a leak. Luckily, we pulled into Les Schwab (and I capitalize that with the utmost respect) in Ellensburg and they fixed the tire in 15 minutes for free. I thought it cost money, but dad said he knew it wasn't going to. He even tried to pay them for it, but they refused. I definitely agree with our family saying of "The world would be a better place if it was run more like Les Schwab." We continued on and got to the tri-cities somewhat later than we hoped, but we met my grandma for lunch at Red Robin and then checked into the hotel and went over to my uncle's house to hang out.

-So in Kennewick, my grandpa owned a big 40-acre farm that my mom and her brothers grew up on. They eventually sold the farm and the "back 40" when I was 10, so I have memories of the place still. The new owner promptly developed the hell out of the back 40 and now it's all houses. My uncle's house is in that area and it was really strange to look around and remember it as a field and now I was about to go into a house there.-

We hung out there for several hours, seeing the whole family and eating good food. Eventually, it got late and we went back to the hotel for sleep.

Today:
We got up early for the breakfast at the hotel, then we went to see my grandpa's grave before going to see my great grandma. She is 96 now and she has alzheimers, but if you see her in the morning, she is normal for a little while before she starts going off on something (today it was how she ran into a friend of hers the other day in Auburn (Auburn, NY). After that, we went back to my uncle's house to say goodbye to everyone and then we began the drive back home. My parents insisted on letting Kathryn drive part of the way since she needs 20 drives to do this discount thing for the insurance. I hate letting her drive though because she's still n00b at it and also I just dislike not driving. She did fine though, avoiding accidents (though one guy almost hit us). I took over after we stopped for lunch in Yakima. Tonight, we had some time, so we decided to go see Sherlock Holmes. It was good. I even ran into Alec on the way there. It was good to see him back doing work and stuff after the whole drugs thing he got into there for a while during high school. I always felt bad about him because it was like the whole thing with Zack where he's one of my oldest friends (in that I've known him since preschool (even longer than Rachel)) and I probably could have done more about it when I noticed he was doing bad stuff, but I didn't and now I'll never really know. Like I said though, it was good to see him doing well though and good to just talk to him since I hadn't in a while.

Well now I am about to sign off for the night because I am rather tired and I'm feeling like I will be busy the next several days with it being the small stretch of time when both Orion and Davis are here. I'll make a quote post right after this one, but until next monday, have a good remainder of your breaks.

Winter Break 09-010 Part 1

Howdy all. Hopefully everyone is having a satisfactory break thus far, I know I have. If you're wondering about the title, there will be 3 parts to this post: The first part of break, Christmas related family happenings (post coming on Monday), and the end of break (post coming January 4th). In other news, I noticed on the way to this post that I have recieved 2,000 views of my profile. It's probably not terribly interesting to anyone else because about 1,999 of those are probably mine as I get to the blogger dashboard through my profile (yes I know there is a much easier way). Well, enough dilly dallying, how about I get into the post now?

Oh, first of all, if you haven't yet, check out the Shorewood Lip Dub Video. It's pretty cool and Kathryn is in it in the 600's on the right side of the screen.

Thursday:
I spent most of the day doing some 360 before eventually signing on and getting my Starcraft on with Davis and Steven and Keir. Well, that was the plan at least. We tried very hard but couldn't really get anything going due to Davis having a bad CD key (or some related problem, I can't really remember) and Keir's computer repeatedly crashing. It was just like the old days though, Davis had problems with simple issues, I had trouble with complex issues, Keir couldn't add anything to the conversation because his computer was crashing, and Steven was yelling at all of us for being noobs but not being heard because he didn't realize his microphone was on mute (yes this is actually how we used to be (funny how little things change huh?)). Speaking of which, I realized the one game we did get in was the first time the 4 of us had played togther since high school. Davis didn't seem too interested, but Keir and I were disappointed because unlike Davis and Steven, we realized how little we've done with our lives. After failing to get SC going for multiple games, Davis, Steven, and I went over to play some Counterstrike which was actually really fun. It had been a while since I had played and it was good to get back mainly because the people we played with weren't total assholes.

Friday:
I didn't get much done because I was trying to rest up before the big band dance. I got there right on time and we had a little bit to warm up before we went on. One of our trombone players couldn't make it, so Dave Reid himself sat in. We also had our lead sax from last year filling in for our exchange student. Considering 2 of us had never rehearsed with us and the rest of us hadn't played together in 2 weeks, we sounded pretty good. Afterwards, I delivered my SC CD to Davis and left because I did not want to join in the "clusterfuck of high school drama." (as it was so adequately put by Davis).

Saturday:
I started my last Mass Effect playthrough before the sequel comes out. I want to get the save file right so that I can have it carry over to the next game (I have to redo it because I don't know how extensively it ties over, but it's hinted that it is quite extensively (sorry about that sentence)). Later in the day, Davis called to remind me that Maddy's party was in an hour or so. We arrived at her house at the exact same time (due to excellent timing on both our parts) and walked in together, minimizing awkward loneliness (particularly for me). Most of the time, we talked to Rosa and Tracy and Sam since everyone else was too drunk/busy doing random things. We had a rather intellectual conversation that I guess offended some people at the party? Perhaps I took what I was told the wrong way, but I enjoyed the conversation nevertheless and after the gift exchange in which Davis acquired his child porn book (ask him to show you sometime!), we left with Tracy and Rosa (oh and Lucy had shown up by this point in time (sorry for almost forgetting you there :/)) and Lucy for bubble tea. Davis did not have bubble tea (shocker, I know!) so I was not so lonely in not getting any. The 5 of us sat and talked about random stuff until closing time. It was pretty cool to get to see particularly the girls because I hadn't seen them in a really long time and it was cool to see Davis and all too, but I see him way more often and I will see him quite soon as well. After that, Davis dropped me off at my house and I played some ICCup with Steven and then signed off for the night.

Sunday:
I went to the Seahawks game with grandpa. It was simply embarassing, that's all I can really say since nobody really cares about football I think. After that, we brought grandpa back for dinner at our house, then dropped him back off at his place and I picked up the truck while I was there.

Monday:
I went to lunch with grandpa at Costco, then we ran some errands. One of the errands involved going to the Comcast store to get some DTV converter boxes. As I pulled into the store, I noticed a car similar to Steven's. As I pulled closer, I recognized the license plate and I pulled up alongside it and sure enough, it was Steven. It was more exciting randomly running into him irl than the time I randomly ran into him in Guild Wars. When I came home, I got on CS with Davis for a bit since Keir mysteriously disappeared. After that, I vanquished an area in Guild Wars with Steven.

Tuesday:
We met my dad for lunch downtown. We went to the Secret Deli (Orion may remember when I referenced this, but I may have called it the Logan Deli at the time). Anyway, the lady there surprisingly was able to remember us even though we hadn't been there in 5 years at least. She commented on my facial hair of course, looking at my parents and gesturing at her chin while doing the korean SC announcer (OHHHH) sound (cool people will know that sound). It was cool that she remembered us and the food was good as always. After that, we were going to look at the gingerbread houses, but the line was too crazy so we bailed and then we headed back home.

Wednesday:
I hung around the house most of the day wrapping presents (in my own terribly done fashion) and playin Mass Effect. Later on, I did wind up singing on for some SC with Keir on ICCup. We got a Malaysian win, but not much excitement beyond that. We could have gotten an Italian win, but he didn't stay in the lobby.

Today:
Will be included in the next post. In the meantime, read my next section.

Amorous Affairs:
Well it seems to be the popular thing to do nowadays. Unfortunately, I have none. Until the next post, peace out.

Short week, short post

Above is a picture I made for the Sacred Order of Teriyaki. I like it a lot better than the other ones I have created. I figured I would update today for no particular reason other than that I am currently without something to do and I figured this would tide me over for about half an hour while I decide so here goes nothing.

Friday:
After doing some DnD stuff online with Davis, I started my Rome: Total War Marathon.

Saturday:
Too many hours to count later and well into the night, a sleep deprived David sat at his computer screen desperately throwing armies at Rome in the hopes that he could kill it before too many of his towns revolted. Fortunately, I made it and then went upstairs and got some much needed sleep. I won't play as Carthage again because they have some pretty suck units. While I was sleeping, I had a strangely vivid dream about this class that I had been skipping or something and the professor was assigning a group project and I paired up with this somewhat cute girl and we hit it off and then the dream abruptly ended when the cat jumped on me. I spent most of Saturday doing some cleaning of the garage because my grandma was coming which meant we would soon need space for 5 cars. After that, I did manage to get on ICCup with Keir and we got a win against Denmark which was cool. We only had time for two games so we talked about random Starcraft related things until he had to leave.

Sunday:
I did some quick ICCup with Keir in the morning, but then I had to go clean some more really quick before my grandma arrived. When she got there, I parked her car in the garage, the first time I have ever parked a car in our garage because it has been full of junk since before I got my license. The last time there was a car in our garage, I was in middle school and it only lasted about a week and a half before we could no longer get it in (TWSS!!!(I had to come back and add this later when I noticed it)). Later in the day, I was going to make a status update for facebook "There should be a ctrl+F for real life" because I had been looking all over the place for somethign and that thought popped into my head. When I signed onto facebook though, Rachel had already just posted a very similar status to that, so while it was odd we were thinking alike at the same time, I lost my chance to have a witty and original status update That night, I had probably a continuation of the dream from earlier in which I was on a date with the girl but it was not as vivid and was much shorter. We were having dinner and I remember hardly any details.

Monday:
Mom had to work even though it was her birthday so I did some gaming downstairs and grandma made a cake. Eventually, mom returned and took grandma shopping while I continued to game. Davis had bought CS:S the day before so I decided I would get back into it before he started so I wasn't a total noob. I managed to get on with Steven and we played for a few hours before I had to leave for mom's birthday dinner.

Tuesday:
Davis came over and we finished up my new DnD character. It looks like it will be pretty cool and I can't wait to cast TREE SHAPE OMG!!1111 After that, we played a lot of GoW, but didn't finish before he had to leave. He did get to hear the terran theme though and he seemed to like it. He said he liked it a lot more than he thought he would (darn insults in disguise!). There are the obvious edits, but he said some of the stuff I thought sounded bad sounded good. It was also nice to have my theory corrected because I don't have a very strong theory background and I don't generally know what notes are "artsy" and which are just straight up wrong. So the finale of my dream series (or is it???) came last night in which I was in the class again. I didn't notice the girl there, but perhaps I wasn't looking hard enough. Anyway the final was going on and I was preoccupied with that. I don't know what significance this had, but as far as the other two parts of the dream go, I must say hopefully dreams do come true. Girlfriend status having would be pretty pwnage.

Today:
I haven't done much today, but it looks like Shorewood Ultimate has a team this year after being uncertain about interest. It's going to be a good quarter now. I have 21 credits (15 is normal). On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'll have a class then I'll work out for an hour then go to practice and it will be pretty good. Hopefully I can get fit or perhaps even a 6pack by summer.

Ok well that's it for now, peace out until later.

Breaking for Winter

Well sorry about not posting when I said I would. After I posted that, Steven reminded me the final was actually earlier today instead of Tuesday when I thought it was. I decided I would not post anything because nobody would notice/care. Apparently I was right, so that was cool I guess, but seriously, do feel free to comment *Cough cough*. So now it's winter break, that is pretty cool. Tonight, I'm going to start my campaign in one sitting of Rome: Total War. I wanted to play it this past summer, but I thought of it too soon before school started, so I decided I would do it after the quarter ended. I'm going to play as Carthage because I'm hardcore (but not hardcore enough to win with Britannia or Gaul). So I'll be doing that probably right up until about when Davis gets here or maybe it will end the day before. Enough about all that though, time to get to the past week plus couple days.

Monday:
Band was not fun again because I had been practicing trumpet prior to going so my chops were pretty thoroughly pwned by the end of the class.

Tuesday:
It was finally December. I skipped psych as usual and used my extra hour (well not all of it) to shave off my creepy novembeard. It was much better to get rid of the itchy beard and to trim back my regular facial hair a bit. In Jazz Band, we had our last official rehearsal before the concert. I decided to play on my trumpet to not screw myself up for the concert the next day. After school, I came home and did a bunch of homework.

Wednesday:
I took my trumpet with me to French since we were meeting in the theatre right by my class. I was hoping Doug wouldn't make me get my french horn too, but he did. I met up with the girl that stands next to me when I got to the music building and we walked back together. Along the way she casually mentioned her boyfriend (but not whether he was an ex or not). I guess my refusal to wear anything other than shorts reminded her of his refusal to wear anything but converse (and he is a ski instructor so he wears them on the mountains). Actually, he sounded pretty cool, hopefully he's just a friend that is a boy. Anyway, we were the last back to the theatre and Doug then announced we couldn't play since there was a class going on outside. I considered jumping through the whole band to shake him for making me get my french horn. After that, I stuck around with Steve (section leader) and Mike (the cool guy I stood next to last year) and we sat in the pub for the remainder of the scheduled class time since Steve had class afterwards and Mike always eats lunch there and we just bullshitted about stuff for an hour. That night, we had the concert. Ballard HS was the opening band. Even though it's only been a couple of years, I still find it really strange to see a band in which nobody has facial hair. We played our set alternating songs with FunknGroove, which is a really cool band that plays good rock songs and they're fun to listen to. It turned out to be a pretty good show, so I was happy with that.

Thursday:
We had the day off in Jazz Band, so I met Grandpa at costco for lunch. After that, we ran some errands and then went back to his place where I hung a couple of pictures, then headed out since I needed to study for my 2 tests the next day.

Friday:
I actually had to go to psych which kind of sucked. I hate taking tests in that class because the two that sit on either side of me both smoke and they both come from not having a class (which they both apparently use to have a smoke break). I endure though and fortunately I finish the tests rather quickly. After that, I started studying for French and then took the final for it. It wasn't particularly hard, but it was not as easy as the last 3 had been, mostly because the other tests happened every week and this chapter had taken us a whole month, so lots of time to forget everything we had learned. After that, we had a casual rehearsal in Jazz Band. Doug gave us a folder full of Sammy Nestico tunes and asked what any of us wanted to play. I spotted "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and called it out, so we got to play it. I thought it was jazzy and cool and so did pretty much just Steve and Mike. Everyone else didn't like it and afterwards, Doug said "Geez, who the hell called this one up?" and everyone pointed at me. We played some more songs, but they were rather difficult especially for sight reading, but as always, it was good sight reading practice.

After school, we had a concert for the concert band. It was up in Arlington and I was carpooling with Darren and Erik. We were told the other band was going to play for an hour and a half and our set was 40 minutes. I was not excited to go. When we got there, we found out we played first and that the song we were supposed to play together at the end was optional. Suddenly, I was really glad we had driven instead of taking the big bus which half the band took. After our set, a bunch of us students lagged around in the warmup room while the older people and important people went in to the concert so we could all sneak off. I wouldn't have left because I wanted to earn favor with Ken, but the other 3 were leaving, so I figured the extra support was not worth it. I was right because they actually played much longer than an hour and a half. Before we left though, Kezia discovered 2 lightsabers and Erik and I had a duel. I also overheard a conversation that made me rather confused and I won't really elaborate becasuse I don't know the context of what I heard. There was a flute player there and he needed a ride back, so I gave him a ride since I had a seat leftover. On the way back, we got to stop at Wendy's because Erik was hungry and in the mood for paying for food, so that was perfectly all right with me. I only had a frosty though because I needed something I could nom quickly.

Saturday:
I spent most of the day doing some gaming on the 360 which was fine by me because it was really cold outside and I had no good reason to be out in it.

Sunday:
More of the same. I got some starcraft in with Steven and that was pretty fun although he got mad at me at one point and signed off. That night we had dinner with grandpa and watched Sunday night football, which was fun because I pulled out some good points in that game.

Monday:
The only thing I had going on was band. Before that, Steven and I played some starcraft. Band went okay and we even got out a bit early.

Tuesday:
I was thinking originally that this would be the last day of the quarter for me, but it was not. I only had the concert that night. It was pretty boring, but it was over quickly enough.

Wednesday:
I spent the day doing some gaming, then making my DnD character. About 3 hours before I was going to go to bed, I remembered I had a psych final the next day. 2 hours later, I remembered I had remembered that 2 hours ago and began to cram a bit before giving up and going to bed.

Today:
The final was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. I did it in 25 minutes (we had 2 hours) and I think the professor was a bit mad that I finished it so quickly, but I was tired and knew the answers right away so I just headed out when I was done. I got back before when I normally would have woken up on my day off. I played some 360 until about 11:30 when I went to pick up grandpa. We had lunch at Costco then ran an errand to get some pills at Bartells, then came back to his place. Amy was there and it was nice to see her again since I hadn't seen her in a pretty long time since during the quarter, I tend to show up later in the day after she has left. I hung up some more pictures and did some other maintenence, then headed out. Now I'm getting ready to start my marathon of Rome: Total War. Actually, it might be best to do it starting next morning so that I don't play through two cold nights and since I'm kind of tired now from waking up so early today for that final. I guess I'll see how I feel after Thursday night football. Until later, peace out.

Hi, I know that usually Mondays are days when I would make a post about the week, but I have 2 finals tomorrow and while I'm not particularly worried about them, I'd rather just make the post after they're done. In the meantime, here are some good quotes.


*During a break in our Jazz performance*
Chelsea: Uh oh, I kinda gotta pee. I wonder if Doug will let us go.
Steve: Yeah I gotta go too, but I don't want to ask him for permission because I know he's just going to say no.
Me: Fine, I'll ask him.
Me: Hey Doug, we got a couple here that have to tinkle, can they go?
Doug: Oh, just use your mutes or something.

*Rehearsing a song in class*
*Fire alarm sounds*
Doug: Keep playing, we're nailin' this part!

Guest Player: I actually just got back from a couple gigs in London.
Doug: Oh yeah, you mean THE London, huh? Not like London, Texas; London, France!
*Awkward looks between me and the guitarists and bassists*
Steve: Don't worry, I'm hoping he's joking.

*Dad on the phone with a guy at Little Ceasars*
Dad: What? 5 bucks? That's it? Well damn, I might as well get two.
Dad: Actually, hold on a second.
Me: What's up with it?
Dad: Well it only costs 5 bucks so we can get enough for leftovers.
Kathryn: Are we gettting a lot of pizza or something?
Dad: No, we're getting a shitload of pizza!

O: the nice thing about your 21 being last and in the summer
is that we might all be around for it
me: yeah
O: it'll be pwnage
me: indeed
O: we'll go to 21 different bars
jk there's not enuf bars for that
we'll just go to sugars and spend 21 hours there
with 21 strippers
me: yeah!

me: uh oh i see what's happening
davis is becoming a hippie
he's going to show up in tattered rags with a waterpipe
and suddenly all our DnD adventures will no longer include fighting
because that's what the man wants us to do
instead, our PCs will go to poetry readings and have jam sessions
O: you'll have to switch that perform skill to poetry
me: haha
well ill have to make it
im dead remember...
which reminds me i still need to make the new character
O: oh yeah
me: and find YET ANOTHER way to tie into you guys
O: you should get perform poetry just in case
just a couple points
me: well as it happens i was going to make my character a total hippie anyway
so sure

Davis: and I love the convo where you 2 decide whether to deride me or not
it was fucking hilarious
me: you said that yesterday but thanks again
it was good times
i posted the pic of it showing how close we were to each other
*Davis updates facebook status to "...every time I think something good is going to happen, Fortune takes me for a ride and turns it all around. I hate this so much."*
*I comment with "It'll all be ok man. Remember Jesus is with you in all that you do."*
me: i commented on your new status
Davis: oh you ass
me: hopefully adding to the quality
Davis: that was a good one
me: hahaha
Davis: I'm laughing like a morn right now
me: morn?
Davis: moron
me: ah
Davis: yeh
me: haha

Steven and I on psychology and Freud:
me: there's something intimidating about staring down 39 study questions that you have no idea what the answers are
all with the thought looming in the back of your head that you also really need to study for your french final
Steven: haha
yeah I'm seeing going to lecture would have helped
me: yeah haha
oh well
Steven: why is there a picture of chris rock in the textbook?
me: haha
because he has a personality i guess
Steven: no way!
me too
me: really?
wow i wish i had one
Steven: haha

Steven: idk why anyone believed this shit
me: well he was born when they still tried witches
Steven: good times
me: "the female...acknowledges the fact of her castration, and with it, too, the superiority of the male and her own inferiority"
maybe this freud was on to something
Steven: haha
I told Ashley she has penis-envy

me: hey what do you see in the rorschach ink blotch on page 428?
Steven: hmm
do you remember the guy from the ninja turtles?
me: which one
Steven: the bad guy
me: oh yeah kind of
Steven: ummmm
yeah that
me: haha
Steven: what was his name...head of the foot clan
shredder
that's it
me: ah yeah i guess i can see that
Steven: like top middle looks like a helmet to me
me: at first, i was all "who the shell are you talking about"
Steven: and then two arms out stretched
hahaha
with like two legs and then a giant two sided cock
me: oh so that's what that is
Steven: that kinda looks like a mushroom
me: its his ovaries
Steven: and then bladed armor up and down the sides
haha oh ok
me: so he's secondary prof as a sin?
Steven: hmm yeah I would say D/A
me: awesome
Steven: so what do you see?
me: a stormtrooper wearing bunny ears
Steven: nice
hmm
Ashley sees a demon mask
me: lllllaaammmeeee
Steven: demonic symbols are normal right?
me: yeah i think so
Steven: ok good
me: probably more well adjusted than us


Davis: oh you still need to make your druid
it shall be level 4 because I don't want to have to balance encounters strangely to accomodate 5,5,5,3
me: yes
ok thank you
Davis: lol not for you
it's for me
!!
me: well as self serving as it was
it was a mutually agreeable outcome
Davis: yes
try to let this one live at least 2 sessions, aight?
me: hahaha
no strange buildings

lastredcoat: mmmm
lady bowlers on ESPN
hello erection

lastredcoat: there is alot more homosexual subtext in Lord of the Rings than I remember

This goes with the last quote in my quotes post. We are so cool.

Fair warning, this is going to be a lot of quotes. If it gets ridiculously long, I'll cut if off and post the rest tomorrow or something. Pictures are coming eventually, I'll even get some up today hopefully. Until then, feel free to read the post below if you haven't and here are the quotes.



My uncle and I regarding the ridiculous amount of food we brought to Sunriver:

My Uncle: Happy Thanksgiving!
Me: Uh oh, my calendar must be broken. I have the day before Thanksgiving. Oh well, happy Thanksgiving to you as well!
My Uncle: Settle down. Are you all on the road?
Me: No we're waiting for mom to finish shopping
My Uncle: Right, get some butter.
Me: I think we have 3 pounds, I'll have them pick up more just to be safe.
My Uncle: Yes. Good leadership.
Perhaps 7lbs and get some pepper too.
Me: I think we also need more pizza. We only have 6. I'm concerned we might starve.
Are you guys there already?
My Uncle: In Bend. Shopping for butter. Need more pizza too - you are right. Will pick up 5-6 and 12-14 chickens. Also, we only have 3 scuba tanks and 2 sets of crutches. Will that be ok?
Me: Might need more crutches just to be safe. Bring toilet paper too, we only have about 16 rolls worth. Running low on bread too, grandma was penny pinching and only bought us 6 bags.
My Uncle: Are you by a Cinnabon? We could suplement with those. Probably 7-8 dozen would be fine. We're at petsmart getting a kitten. Should we get the yellow or the pink collar.
Me: We all agree here that the color doesn't matter. It's the flavor that's important.
My Uncle: Your collective wisdom is awe-inspiring.




me: wow
next monday
zz top concert with spike and the impalers opening for them
cant go to that
also texans on monday night football
cant watch that
damn you band!
O: ouch
me: just watch, some girl will talk to me later in this week about how much she wants to have sex with me but next monday night is the only night that works for her
but i can't skip because i have to turn in a form that will hopefully get me to reno
O: you would give up sex for that?!
me: well reno=rachel
O: true and if you really wanted to have sex, reno would be the place to make it happen
me: indeed
O: rachel + hookers
me: haha
no dude
rachel plus this other chick!
that would be so epic
i would definitely have to text you that picture if that happened
with the caption "lolololololololololol(x2!!)"
O: hahaha
you would be perma winner
of everything
me: well
except for loss of virginity
i would have lost that
but still the other stuff would make up for it and then some
O: even if you peed your pants in public, we would still hold you in high regard
me: hahahaha
don't know whether to feel good about that or to be insulted that of all the possible embarassing things that could happen to me, you chose peeing my pants
O: well i was just trying to think of something real embarrassing
me: oh
O: it's not like i actually think that that embarrassing scenario would be more likely than others
me: ok that's reassuring
O: i have faith in your bladder control
me: yeah!
you're right, im the least likely to pee my pants
so its not like i was secretly voted most likely to pee his pants
O: yeah
they actually put that on that one page in the yearbook
in invisible ink
me: oh i'll have to check that out


Davis: I forogt that you're leaving me all alone
me: i know
Davis: no david and no orion
only stashley
me: well im touched you listed me first before orion even
hopefully next year i'll be in town
cuz i hate wasting away the weekend with little to no internet
Davis: hahahaha
lolly
most ppl would say the other way around lolz
me: haha wow you're right
how backwards
of them!
Davis: lolz
and dammit
i will refer to women with alignments if I so choose
me: haha
it is actually helpful
Davis: yeah totally
me: just nerdy
Davis: it's not like I"m telling them
like by now I'm fucking honest about DnD and Pokemon and shit like that no use hiding it
me: yeah i figured u werent telling them
Davis: I don't want to waste time with a chick who doens't like that shit or can't handle it
BAM


Davis: that was awesome
me: talking to a girl?
Davis: yes
sadly
me: how was it awesome
did you play starcraft during it or something?
Davis: lol
no
she's just amazing in many ways
me: like amazing at counterstrike?
were you talking to her for the last 3 hours?
Davis: yes
me: wow
i don't know that ive ever had a conversation with a girl that long in my life
or probably with anyone
either 3 hours is a longer than normal conversation or that puts my life in a really depressing perspective
Davis: rofl
I think it's a longer than normal convo
I dont' want to talk to most ppl for 3 hours
most ppl around here, I'm good with like 5 or 10 minutes
me: haha
yeah i can relate to that
so might ye want to vanquish today?
Davis: mayhap
me: how fanciful of you


lastredcoat: micro is easy and fun
macro is hard an evilll
me: oh noes dont tell me that!
i have yet to take it and my major is economics!
its like im about to have sex with this chick and you go "oh watch out for her herpes!"
lastredcoat: its like im in the process of fucking her now too
and you have to fuck her later
because of arrainged marraiges in india
me: it doesnt sound like youre fucking her
sounds like she's fucking you
lastredcoat: oh im having sex with her
me: haha
lastredcoat: and you will have my sloppy seconds
me: haha
lastredcoat: she just kinda lies there motionless
and has herpes
me: wow
so what do i get?
lastredcoat: so its a lot of hard work
for no real gain
me: well damn
lastredcoat: i think i just ruined sex for the both of us
me: yes, yes you did
now i'm afraid of economics AND vaginas!
thanks a lot!


Talking about the "how have you changed" part of my college essay:
lastredcoat: ooo
how have you changed?
me: yep
it was an odd question to get
caught me off guard
lastredcoat: how have you changed?
me: oh i manage my time better now
a lot better
lastredcoat: only cus i dont have a computor that plays SC
me: exactly haha
lastredcoat: otherwise....
me: but my gpa is .5 higher than in high school
otherwise SNOWBALL WARS FOREVER LIKE THIS WINTER BREAK HAD BETTER HAVE
lastredcoat: "David: tumm tee tummm stressful day but now to start my homework and do asisgned reading so im prepared or class"
"Keir: HEY BITCH WERE PLAYING STARCRAFT NOW"
"david: but but but...."
"i have homeowrk"
"Keir: SHUTUP YOU LIMPDICK WE PLAY NOW"
"*during game*" "Keir: YOU HAVE ONLY 2 HATCHERIES AND TERRIBLE DRONE SATURATION! FUCK YOU IM LEAVING BURN IN HELL!"
me: haha
so true...
lastredcoat: "David: cries for the rest of the day, cannot focus on hw"
me: haha


Keir finding an old picture on his blog and me getting it on facebook for him:
lastredcoat: print screen?
me: well i could
that would not look great tho
i can track down the photo on davis' blog though
lastredcoat: lol
that would be impressive
me: i wager i could get it from his blog and up on your wall within 5 minutes
START C LOCK NOW
lastredcoat: GO
has to be on facebook in 5 min
me: its on my desktop now!
lastredcoat: IEEEE
it has not been long
me: indeed
lastredcoat: 3 min remain!
me: it is up
lastredcoat: tagged?
me: ill do itn ow
tagged
lastredcoat: now its my profile pic
congrats
me: cool i feel so accomplished
HAHA
lastredcoat: yay
me: you cut him out!
lololol
lastredcoat: im a douche
me: totally haha


Looking at old posts on Keir's old blog:
me: you posted a clan teriyaki in order of coolness on your blog
i am 3rd on the list
thank you for that
"Pro Noob: I dont hate him as much anymore"
lastredcoat: i know
me: haha
lastredcoat: he was a terrible person
me: and i love the part about chung
that fucker got both of us with his bs backstabbing
lastredcoat: yeah i remember davis and i beat you, steven, and cheung me: i bet steven used to suck

O: so i definitely was tempted to comment "gay!" on davis' facebook status tonight
but i thought that might be insensitive
me: what was it
and you should have
ok yeah totally do it
or at least do "LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMEEEE"
O: i'll do gay if you do that
me: ok
O: done
me: done consider him flamespiked
O: roflcopter! me: i screenshotted that
O: hahaha
we are so cool
me: totally
(I'll post a picture of that later)