And now, a moment of WTF...

I woke up this morning and noticed that somebody had called my cell phone. I looked at the number, at first I didn't recognize it, then I noticed something very odd about it. Take a look and see if you can figure it out...

This is going to be long one...

Disclaimer: Anyone who has a problem with warm fuzzy feelings, epiphanies, electronics, job hunting, or just doesn't give a crap may want to avoid reading this. You have been advised. Thank You.

Well, this has certainly been an interesting week for me. Let's start with last week. I caught up with my high school chorus teacher, Mr. Dibenedetto last Wednesday. We caught up on old times, and he told me that the chorus was holding their spring concert and invited me. I was able to make it, and I'm glad I did. All of Brooklyn Tech's choruses were there. Brooklyn Tech has 4 choruses: Girls' Chorus, Freshman Chorus, Mixed Chorus and Chamber Chorus (Chamber is the more advanced chorus). There was also a chorus from Berlin, Connecticut there. They were an upstart chorus that worked with Tech's music department all year. They did a great job. The Chamber Chorus performed Bach's Magnificat, which was beautiful, along with the accompaniment of Tech's Orchestra.

One thing that topped off the night was that I saw my Jazz Band teacher, Mrs. Ashley. The most fun I've had in high school was playing in Jazz Band. Between all the interesting characters in that band, Mrs. Ashley's abstract musical sense, and my wanting to nail the other guitarist because she had one of the nicest asses on a white girl I've ever seen, it was a blast. It was also the time I was at my musical peak. After Jazz Band, things haven't been the same between me and my guitar. I miss those times, and I missed Mrs. Ashley. She was so shocked to see me. It took her a second to recognize me, but when she did, she jumped back in shock. We caught up on old times. Apparently this year's band was much smaller than the one I was in. There were no guitarists and no bassist. The keyboardist had to play the bass notes. Apparently they turned out pretty good (probably not as good as our band). It was really good seeing her, I'm definitely going to have to stop by the school and visit her one day.

And now on to Monday. My cousin Luther aka Champ called me up and told me that he may have some work for me helping him with some accounting business. I stopped by his restaurant to see what was up. I ended up being his indentured servant for the day. I helped him pick up supplies for his store, and then I had to haul all of them into the basement. One thing that he talked to me about when I ran into him last week was the importance of being fit and me trying to lose weight. They way he explained it to me, he was brutally honest about it, which was alright, the first time. But for the whole day he basically drilled into my head how out of shape I was and how I really need to do something about it before it's too late. At first I thought he just liked to hear himself talk, but as the day progressed and I started falling apart, I began to realize that he does care about my well-being, granted he didn't need to point out everytime I ran out of breath. One thing I also didn't need was the fact that he pointed out the fact that i've been growing my nails long. I've explained this before, I have nails on my right hand for acoustic guitar fingerpicking, and I tried to explain it to this fool but something didn't click in his head and he gave me shit about it all day. These nails aren't going away, if he doesn't like it, tough shit. All things aside, I really do need to get in shape. Losing weight would be good, but I need to build my cardiovascular system up first of all. The weight will come off along the way. I'll have something to motivate me to go to the gym during school. This is something I'm going to have to be serious about, I don't want to be dumpy and out of shape forever. Champ, thank you. And fuck you too.

Oh, yeah, I still haven't been able to start on this "job" of his because he's been so frickin' busy. Feh.

Moving on, I GOT A DIGITAL CAMERA!!!!!!!!11one

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z10, 3.2 MPixels, 8X Zoom, craploads of manual features and other good stuff. I heart this camera so much. It came on Wednesday along with my internal USB Card Reader. I didn't feel like fumbling around with camera software because I have Photoshop, and also I don't feel like hooking my camera up to my computer whenever I want to upload pictures, so I bought the card reader, so when I want to load up my pictures, I just take the memory card out of the camera and stick it into the reader, and my computer recognizes the card as a disk drive. Very convenient, and hella fast too. I decided to take my camera for a test try today, I decided to go bike riding since today was a beautiful day. I'll put up the pictures in my gallery. They came out hella good! I mean hella HELLA good! Not bad for a $174 camera. W007 what a steal!

I took a long bike riding trip today. I rode around Brooklyn, Prospect Park, and then I made my way to Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge. I stopped at the South Street Seaport and ate. Funny story, I was up at the food court, and I'm being hounded by free samples of chinese food. One counter I took a sample, and then they hounded me to buy food from them like I owed it to them. She had the plate and spoon in her hand waiting for me to say yes, but before I could say anything, she was like "Yeah you want it" and started scooping Chow Fun into the plate for me. I decided to take it, mainly because I really like Chow Fun. It was a good thing I ate because it gave me enough energy to ride back home from Manhattan.

That's about it, not much else happened besides me looking for work, not very interesting. Oh yeah, I also bought a cap for my big head. It has the Knicks emblem on it in black and white. it looks really nice. Alright, I need to go to bed, I'm really tired from bike riding today. G'nite!

Jus' Pokin' Around...

[Listening to: Wes Montgomery - No Blues from the album "Verve Jazz Masters 14"]

So, I've been home for a week now. Feels good to be home. I've had enough time to get over my extreme emosadness from saying goodbye to all my friends. I still miss everybody though. My dad came and picked me up on Wednesday. I had a whole lot of stuff to pack and I wasn't ready when he got there, so I just stuffed crap into bags and hoped that it would all fit in his truck. It all fit, but it was a tight squeeze. My dad decided to put a bunch of my other stuff into storage. I would come to find out later that I left a lot of important stuff behind, and I'll have to take a trip up and retrieve some stuff. Anyway, stuff packed, hung out with my aunt and her family for a few hours and then went home.

Been trying to keep myself busy these days. Saturday my mother got digital cable, so now we have a crapload of awesome channels and On Demand stuff. One channel that I've grown infatuated with is the G4 Network. G4 is the gamer/computer geek network. It's awesome for me because I'm both!! It's been especially good to me this week because of E3: The Electronics Entertainment Expo. This is the event that all gamers look forward to since so this is where all the game companies show off their new games and ideas for games. This year is even more awesome because Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all unvieled their next-generation game consoles. Sony came out hardcore with the Playstation 3. Friggin' Cell processor man! 3.2 GHz IBM PowerPC processor with 8 cores!! That's basically 8 processors in one! I heard about the Cell early on, so I was pretty sure that Microsoft wouldn't be able to come up with a processor that powerful. I was right, but Microsoft has a good thing going with the new Xbox 360. Its the same #.2 GHz PPC processor as PS3 but with only 3 cores. That's still pretty fucking impressive in my book. One thing that Xbox 360 is trying to push is an internet community with Xbox Live. They're going to have a stipped down Xbox Live service in every console. It will have video and audio content, video game demos, chat, and a bunch of other stuff, except for online play. Online play you have to pay for. I have no problem with that because I already have Live. On great thing about Xbox 360 is that my current live service will work seamlessly with the 360.

As you can probably tell, I'm really stoked about the 360. I'm definitely going to buy one. I'm also very excited about PS3. It has really impressed me to the point that I've ditched my grudge against Sony. I've had a grudge against Playstation ever since PS2 started coming along for two reasons: 1. Playstation 2 fanboys are the most asinine, inbred, retarded, one-sided group of fucktard cumstains I've ever seen, and 2. They singlehandedly killed off the Sega Dreamcast, a system that I just short of worshipped. But a new beginning has come along, and even though I still stand by Reason 1, I'm going to let it slide and accept the PS3 with open arms.

Well enough about game talk. I'm sure whoever has read this, their head had eploded by now. This week I went looking for a summer job. I'm trying out New York's Summer Youth Employment Program, maybe I can get something through that program. I also tried Target and the Brooklyn Public Library. I went to the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Burlington Coat Factory, Circuit City and Old Navy. Old Navy I have to fill out the application and give that back, the rest I have to apply for a job online. I think that's total horse crap, but I'll do it. Hopefully I'll be able to get a job somewhere. Whatever happens, I'm going to try to find ways to get out of the house and/or excercise. By "or" I mean using my DDR pads and excercise on those.

Well, everyone's up to speed, I'm going to bed. G'nite!

...And the Update Comes in the NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!

[Listening to: John Scofield - Hottentot from the album "A Go Go"]

5 points to whoever can figure out where I took my title from (other than Josh and Jen.)

Anyway, pretty productive week this week. I pulled an all-nighter Sunday finishing up journal entries for my English class and writing my final essay for History. I handed in my English papers then ran back to my room and finished the paper. After getting them all done, I went to eat, then took a well deserved nap. Knowing that my body probably would not respond to my alarm (either that or I'd turn it off unconsciously), so I asked CJ to throw something at me if I didn't wake up. I had my alarm set for 3:00. I ended up waking up a half hour later, but I woke up before my math class. When I woke up, CJ said "finally awake I see." I figured that I turned off the alarm, but CJ said that after I turned off the alarm, I got back in my bed, and that was when he threw the ball at me. Apparently all I did was give him a really dirty look then went back to sleep.

Wednesday I took my Digital Systems Logic final. I did horrible on the test before the final, but I was told that if I did good on the final, that test would most likely be disregarded. Well, in short, I have no friggin' idea how I did on that final. I may have passed, I'm not really sure. All I can do is hope for the best and that he will show some mercy on my final grade. After the final, I hung out with Josh and Jen and played Mario Kart Double Dash. Good times.

Thursday was a very good day. CJ was taking some of his stuff home and he invited me to come along. We trekked out at around 9:30 and got to New Canaan at 11:00 on the dot. We were greeted by CJ's grandmother and his hyperactive dog Zoe. Such a cute hyperactive dog! I can't count the number of times she jumped on me! After settling in for a few minutes, CJ's grandmother took us out to a diner called Blind Charlie's in Pound Ridge (Pound Ridge isn't too far away from CJ's even though Pound Ridge is in NY and New Canaan is in CT. That area is weird and confusing so I'm not going to dwell on it for too much more.) The sandwiches there are delicious. It was so good that I forgot the name of it. Oh well, it was good.

After dropping off CJ's stuff, we left his house to hang out in town and kill six hours before we went to his church to sit in at the youth group meeting. We spent time at the various large open area parks with paths to nowhere. I think Waveny Park was my favorite. Parks are so much fun to just relax and chill. We picked the perfect day to come down because it was a really beautiful day. We hoofed around the park, the Nature Preserve, and we also took a trip to CJ's old high school. I got to meet some of his teachers and counselors. They seem like good people. We decided to take a trip into Stamford to Barnes and Noble. We hung out there and browsed through various magazines and books. I gravitated towards the computer book section as usual. I ended up buying a guitar lessons magazine because it had some interesting songs and lessons from really good guitarists, like Joe Pass, Tom Morello and John Scofield. After Barnes and Noble we went to Gamestop and wandered around there for a little while. I found Def Jam: Fight for New York there for $20. It was a price I couldn't pass up, so I bought it.

We managed to kill enough time, so we went to CJ's church and joined the meeting. I must say, if my church youth group was this open and inviting and had more of a sense of family more than a business, I would have stayed with them. Such a nice group of kids and leaders. The pastor of the church, Skip, officiates the meetings. Now I understand why CJ says nothing but good things about them and tries to join them on trips. After the meeting, Skip took us all out for ice cream! Apparently it's become a tradition to go get ice cream after the meetings, even during the winter. After the meeting, CJ and I headed back to school.

Friday. Stuff happened on Friday. Oh yeah. Friday was Alyssa's birthday so the usual suspects decided to surprise her by crashing her print lab and throwing her a small party with a cake and everything. It was a good time. I got a chance to toy around with the iMacs in the lab, and it made me realize how much I still don't like Macs. I could go on about why I hate Apple in general, but that's for another rant. After we left, I headed to the bank because I had a $300 check that was burning a hole in my pocket. Dave, Doug, Lauren, Xtina, Xian, and Ron decided to watch Star Wars Episode II in the 2s. I caught up with them after I went to the bank. It wasn't a bad movie, but for about 20 minutes, we were distracted by a dumpster fire right outside the window. I don't know why dumpster fires are so intriguing or why we crowd around just staring at them like moths to a flame, but it entertained us for a good while. Maybe that's something we have in common with moths, except for the fact that we know to stay away from the fire. After the dumpster fire was put out, we went back to the movie, then we left to go to the market. I decided to catch up with everybody later and see what Josh was doing. I saw Josh, Jen, and Josh's friend from home, Jay. They were all trying to catch up with a friend in Regents. We open the door to see if the friend was there, but all we see is a few people watching lesbian porn. Apparently the friend left the day before.

After that, I decided to head back to my room and we what everyone was doing. Everyone was playing Def Jam: Fight for New York because we came to the realization earlier that day of what a freakin' awesome game it is. We all took turns playing and kicking each other's ass. Lauren wanted to play, so she joined in. She said she never played this game before and that she rarely plays video games, but after the ass kicking she put on me and everyone else, I have reason to believe that she's either really good, of lying to us. Either way, it was a lot of fun.

Today, Assembly Language final. Not as hard as I imagined it to be. I think I did good on it. The fact that i got a 10/12 on the last quiz gave me a bit of confidence. Well, I'm glad that's out of the way. All I have to look forward to now is Math. Fuck....

Spring Fling '05, Part 2

[Listening to: Doron (From The Smyrk) & Matt Zigs - Cold Enough to Kill (Remix) from the album "Matt Zigs Presents: Superheroes and Villains Vol. 1"]

Before I begin, Happy May, biznotches!!!

Alright, so shortly after finishing off my last jornal entry, I headed off to the Village lawn to wait for Cypress Hill to begin their set. It started a half hour late, as expected, and it rained like hell, but it didn't dampen anyone's spirits. The flashers were out showing their goods for everyone. There were very little complaints from anybody there, with the exception of a few females saying "I don't want to see tits." Whoever got prompted to show their tits and didn't got hit with beer cans and other random stuff. Kyle's friend Rev decided to join in the revelry and showed his tits too. It was hilarious. Eventually Cypress Hill came out and put on a hell of a show. There were plenty of moshers out there and crowd surfers. I felt really sorry for the crowd surfers that got dropped and landed like head or neck first on the ground. It was a good thing that the ground was nice and muddy. Cypress Hill played a lot of old and new stuff, but there were two songs that had everyone going. The first was Hits From the Bong. Everyone started lighting up whatever they had and smoked it, even B-Real! I'm surprised that I didn't get a contact high from all that. The other song that got everyone hype was when they played Rock Superstar as their last song. Everyone went crazy! Even I had to join in the craziness. One notable point in the concert was when Sen Dog took off his Raiders jersey and threw it in the crowd. So many people were trying to fight over it and it got really heated. People pushing each other back and forth, and all the trampling, it was madness. Eventually it finally died down. Barring all the craziness, it was a great show.

During the concert, everyone's clothes got extremely muddy and dirty, so after the show we went back to our rooms and changed our clothes. For the rest of the night, we hung out in our dorm, walked around the Village and hung out with random friends we'd encounter. I found my friend Matt who performed on stage earlier that day. I talked to him for a few minutes, and I decided to support him and bought his solo CD. I'm not disappointed at all. It's a great CD. A few minutes after we parted with Matt, we saw Sean, Zack and Alice. We talked with them for a while and also got a nice group picture with them. At one point when we were walking back towards the Ones, Lauren wanted Xian to give her a piggyback ride back to our room. Xian couldn't carry her up the hill, so I offered to. Xian likes to boast his upper-body strength, but people fail to realize that I'm like a human pack-mule. I carried her up the hill all the way back to our room.

Dave found out that some friends from home had come down and hang out for Spring Fling. Their names were Jeff, Deann and Andrea. Andrea goes to UConn. so we hung out with them for a while, and ended up babysitting Andrea because she was terribly drunk and almost sick. She had a 40 oz of Asahi beer, had she drank it she would have been sicker, so they saved some for her and gave the rest to me because I was the only one that liked it. I don't understand what they didn't like about it. It tasted like an ale to me. Oh well, it was good. Andrea was kinda pissed that I was drinking her beer, but she wasn't going to drink it, and I didn't want it to go to waste.

We ended the night hanging out in our dorm. Ron and Andrea hung out on the couch, while the rest of us sat and chatted in the kitchen. Dave and I were talking about the song (http://music.ccwii.net/The_Hott_Lixxx_-_The_Ballad_of_Skeeter.mp3) that we made, and we decided to perform it live for Xian, Xtina and Lauren. They enjoyed it a lot. We made a pretty decent song. After the song, Dave decided to free-verse while I accompanied him. At one point Dave made up a song about how Emo Xian is. Xian took it very well. Around 3am or so we decided to call it a night. A decent end to a fun weekend. And now to finish up all this friggin' work.