The Merc248

Everyone should try out Facade. The AI is probably the best I've seen (although still very flawed); you're basically a mediator for a couple on the virge of splitting up. You type in messages in order to have a conversation with both of them in order to either cause chaos, keep the marriage together through peaceful conversation, etc. It SHOULD run on basically any computer out there; the graphics aren't intensive by any means.

It's around 800 megabytes big though, so it WILL take a while to download even for someone with a DSL/cable connection.

GUESS WHO IS MAKING A COMEBACK!!!



AUGUST 2ND. HOLY SHIT

I was considering buying this Darth Vader mask that came with a voice modifier while my brother was browsing the Star Wars action figures.

But I didn't have enough cash.

...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo

Okay, so there's this guy in both of my math classes this quarter. I noticed today that he wasn't in the earlier math class; however, I ran into him in the building for the second math class. Usual thing happens:

Me: "Hey man."
Him: "Hey."

Then... this happens.

Me: "Hey, how come you weren't in multivar. calculus today?"

...

Him: "HEY, FUCK YOU, IT'S NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS, CAN I HAVE THE SIMPLE FUCKING COURTESY OF NOT TELLING YOU WHAT I DO BEFORE CLASS, FUCK!!"
Me: "Whoa... man, sorr-"
Him: "DO I ASK YOU WHAT YOU DO BEFORE CLASS, NO!!"

He then walks toward the door for the next class and holds it for me, with his middle finger on the hand holding the door obviously sticking out.

---

This concludes my "holy fuck" moment of the day.

Actually, I should say this is a "what the fuck" moment. I mean, seriously, what the fuck? Didn't know that was such an offensive question at all...

Well, he did yell at this little 17 year old Asian kid (probably like 5'4", shy as hell; the other dude is like 6'0", like maybe 300 lbs) for somewhat touching his notebook. "Holy fuck" indeed.

65daysofstatic is the most brilliant band I've ever had the pleasure of listening to, surpassing even Radiohead.

Because Amazon in the United States doesn't even have this album in their listings, I'll go ahead and leech off of the EU this time around.



Yep. There's the almighty album cover. Just listen to their samples available on their website under "Music." Do it. Do it.

Holy shit.

http://www.officeguns.com/gunadv_super_maul.html

Hahahah. Jesus Christ, that thing can kill a cat easily

Doh. Well, I did good in my multivar. calculus exam: 19/20. However, my linear algebra exam is a whole different story altogether. 68/100. BURNED.

I'm not all too concerned though; I'll probably just skim over the material again and try to understand the concepts a little better, and then hope that I do good on both my final and my project. :p If I get at least a 2.5 GPA in that class, then I'll be good. Homework weighs at around 20% though, and I've been consistently getting 10/20's on those. Shite. :x

--

I've been getting a bit better at playing the guitar. I can finally play "Yankee Doodle" with good accuracy and tempo. ;p Strumming and switching chords, however, is hard shit. But yeah, in no time, I'll be serenading the ladies with great efficiency. :D

--

I still can't find a job, by the way. Shittastic, this is. My brother, however, told me that there might be a job opening in the IT department at the place he works at. But, there is a retarded rule saying that family members may not work at that same place, so I'm not sure if that's even a plausible job opening.

And dammit, there's a job recruitment hold placed I think globally on all IT departments in the UW, separate from the CAC. I can't get a job anywhere in the greater UW campus (the main UW campus is out of the question); that means areas like the Health Sciences Building won't be able to take me on. Argh.

But hey, I could always flip burgers at a nearby McDonalds. Man, I'd be getting paid the same wages anyway as quite a few of the IT position wages that I've been seeing so far.

Yays. :D Got a guitar now... well, not mine per say, but I'm practicing like crazy on it so far. ;p Seagull S series, something like that. I suck, though. ;\ But yeah, I love it so far.

I also picked up a beginner's guidebook and a Coldplay tablature book. Jesus Christ, it will take me forever to move up to Coldplay.

I think I'm going to go insane.

Seattle University told me I have to sign EVEN MORE forms in order to get the damn financial aid from them, plus I have to travel over there to get everything all signed, printed out, etc. etc. Jesus Christ. I can't wait to transfer and have this UW <-> SU financial aid crap end.

This will come completely off of my head without much deliberation, like most of my other posts, except I will attempt to write an entire fabricated story at 4:45 AM with absolutely no cohesive thought between anything. Hell, I'll even randomly pick a title and go from there.

Here it goes.

White Orbit

It was a sunny afternoon. There was a white object in the sky, possibly one of those damned orbits that keep circling around like they always do. I went back to play more Xbox, until one of the orbits crashed right into my Xbox. Like any sane man, I got out a boomerang and threw it at the orbit until I felt good about myself again. I then got out a synthesizer and started composing emo songs.

THE END

Yet another financial aid rant.

This is such a hassle; I signed yet another form with Seattle University I think two weeks ago so that I can receive private financial aid for my summer classes, and now, Seattle University says that I can't have the funds that they now have in possession, because the financial aid office doesn't have that sort of power to give me the money. God dammit. And now, I have a academic hold placed on my grades and all sorts of other crap at the University of Washington, since I didn't have the tuition paid in time.

Man. Oh well. At least I'm learning more than just math this quarter. ;p

One thing that did make me happy about academic administrative stuff is a letter from Seattle University stating that I made it to the Dean's List. :D yay

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeet

Well, I've got a few other things on my mind other than the impeding linear algebra homework breathing down my back, as well as the two midterms I need to study for. So yeah, I'm just going to type whatever to delay time just a bit more.

Guitar Action

I might be getting a guitar sometime this weekend, probably a decent el cheapo acoustic guitar; something decent that I can learn on. I looked at various guitars over at the local music shop a week ago as well as a quick primer on guitar playing. Only spent like a minute or two on trying it out, though. Here's hoping that I can play something worthwhile like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" within the next two months. ;p

Gorillaz - YES

Awesome group. Del The Funkee Homosapien is awesome in "Clint Eastwood."

Massive Attack - EVEN MORE YES

These guys are great also.

Ultima 7

This game is awesome. Can't believe I haven't tried this out back in the day... my friend just told me about it along with a slew of a bunch of other old DOS games (ie: 80's-early 90's era.) I've always known of the series, but yeah, this is my first real foray into Ultima. Let me tell you, Ultima 7 is the best introduction for me into the series; decent graphics, good storyline, good amount of side quests, realistic NPC schedules (ie: they sleep at night, they have specific store hours, etc.,) and some other stuff. If you are itching to check it out, look no further:

Abandonware-France (Ultima 7 is located here)
Exult Ultima 7 Open Source Engine

You'll definitely want to play this game with Exult; it's much better than trying to get Ultima 7 working in a DOS window inside Windows XP.

Procrastination

Okay, end of procrastination.

http://matureasskickers.net/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=9716


If World War Two had been an RTS game, it would have gone a little something like this....

*Hitler[AoE] has joined the game.*
*Eisenhower has joined the game.*
*paTTon has joined the game.*
*Churchill has joined the game.*
*benny-tow has joined the game.*
*T0J0 has joined the game.*
*Roosevelt has joined the game.*
*Stalin has joined the game.*
*deGaulle has joined the game.*
Roosevelt: hey sup
T0J0: y0
Stalin: hi
Churchill: hi
Hitler[AoE]: cool, i start with panzer tanks!
paTTon: lol more like panzy tanks
T0JO: lol
Roosevelt: o this fockin sucks i got a depression!
benny-tow: haha america sux
Stalin: hey hitler you dont fight me i dont fight u, cool?
Hitler[AoE]; sure whatever
Stalin: cool
deGaulle: **** Hitler rushed some1 help
Hitler[AoE]: lol byebye frenchy
Roosevelt: i dont got **** to help, sry
Churchill: wtf the luftwaffle is attacking me
Roosevelt: get antiair guns
Churchill: i cant afford them
benny-tow: u n00bs know what team talk is?
paTTon: stfu
Roosevelt: o yah hit the navajo button guys
deGaulle: eisenhower ur worthless come help me quick
Eisenhower: i cant do **** til rosevelt gives me an army
paTTon: yah hurry the fock up
Churchill: d00d im gettin pounded
deGaulle: this is fockin weak u guys suck
*deGaulle has left the game.*
Roosevelt: im gonna attack the axis k?
benny-tow: with what? ur wheelchair?
benny-tow: lol did u mess up ur legs AND ur head?
Hitler[AoE]: ROFLMAO
T0J0: lol o no america im comin 4 u
Roosevelt: wtf! thats bullsh1t u fags im gunna kick ur asses
T0JO: not without ur harbors u wont! lol
Roosevelt: u little biotch ill get u
Hitler[AoE]: wtf
Hitler[AoE]: america hax, u had depression and now u got a huge fockin army
Hitler[AoE]: thats bullsh1t u hacker
Churchill: lol no more france for u hitler
Hitler[AoE]: tojo help me!
T0J0: wtf u want me to do, im on the other side of the world retard
Hitler[AoE]: fine ill clear you a path
Stalin: WTF u arsshoel! WE HAD A FoCKIN TRUCE
Hitler[AoE]: i changed my mind lol
benny-tow: haha
benny-tow: hey ur losing ur guys in africa im gonna need help in italy soon sum1
T0J0: o **** i cant help u i got my hands full
Hitler[AoE]: im 2 busy 2 help
Roosevelt: yah thats right ***** im comin for ya
Stalin: church help me
Churchill: like u helped me before? sure ill just sit here
Stalin: dont be an arss
Churchill: dont be a commie. oops too late
Eisenhower: LOL
benny-tow: hahahh oh sh1t help
Hitler: o man ur focked
paTTon: oh what now biotch
Roosevelt: whos the cripple now lol
*benny-tow has been eliminated.*
benny-tow: lame
Roosevelt: gj patton
paTTon: thnx
Hitler[AoE]: WTF eisenhower hax hes killing all my sh1t
Hitler[AoE]: quit u hacker so u dont ruin my record
Eisenhower: Nuts!
benny~tow: wtf that mean?
Eisenhower: meant to say nutsack lol finger slipped
paTTon: coming to get u hitler u paper hanging hun cocksocker
Stalin: rofl
T0J0: HAHAHHAA
Hitler[AoE]: u guys are fockin gay
Hitler[AoE]: ur never getting in my city
*Hitler[AoE] has been eliminated.*
benny~tow: OMG u noob you killed yourself
Eisenhower: ROFLOLOLOL
Stalin: OMG LMAO!
Hitler[AoE]: WTF i didnt click there omg this game blows
*Hitler[AoE] has left the game*
paTTon: hahahhah
T0J0: WTF my teammates are n00bs
benny~tow: shut up noob
Roosevelt: haha wut a moron
paTTon: wtf am i gunna do now?
Eisenhower: yah me too
T0J0: why dont u attack me o thats right u dont got no ships lololol
Eisenhower: fock u
paTTon: lemme go thru ur base commie
Stalin: go to hell lol
paTTon: fock this sh1t im goin afk
Eisenhower: yah this is gay
*Roosevelt has left the game.*
Hitler[AoE]: wtf?
Eisenhower: sh1t now we need some1 to join
*tru_m4n has joined the game.*
tru_m4n: hi all
T0J0: hey
Stalin: sup
Churchill: hi
tru_m4n: OMG OMG OMG i got all his stuff!
tru_m4n: NUKES! HOLY **** I GOT NUKES
Stalin: d00d gimmie some plz
tru_m4n: no way i only got like a couple
Stalin: omg dont be gay gimmie nuculer secrets
T0J0: wtf is nukes?
T0J0: holy ****holy****hoyl****!
*T0J0 has been eliminated.*
*The Allied team has won the game!*
Eisenhower: awesome!
Churchill: gg noobs no re
T0J0: thats bull**** u fockin suck
*T0J0 has left the game.*
*Eisenhower has left the game.*
Stalin: next game im not going to be on ur team, u guys didnt help me for ****
Churchill: wutever, we didnt need ur help neway dumbarss
tru_m4n: l8r all
benny~tow: bye
Churchill: l8r
Stalin: fock u all
tru_m4n: shut up commie lol
*tru_m4n has left the game.*
benny~tow: lololol u commie
Churchill: ROFL
Churchill: bye commie
*Churchill has left the game.*
*benny~tow has left the game.*
Stalin: i hate u all fags
*Stalin has left the game.*
paTTon: lol no1 is left
paTTon: weeeee i got a jeep
*paTTon has been eliminated.*
paTTon: o sh1t!
*paTTon has left the game.*

Ever knew someone who brags about the amount of money they have, yet makes everyone else pay for food?

Yeah. I hate that too.

So, I've been hopping between quite a few distributions over this past week. I had Ubuntu 5.04 Hoary Hedgehog for a couple of months on one of my other hard drives, which was a pretty solid distribution. I'd recommend that for an average home user over Fedora Core any day (which most people bill as one of the more user friendly distributions.) I've also tried out various different Linux distros over the years, starting with Red Hat 7.3. The list isn't limited to: SuSE, Red Hat, Fedora Core, Mandriva/Mandrake, Gentoo, Debian, and Ubuntu. However, just out of curiosity, I decided to download a few more distributions and explore a bit more.

First, I tried out Slackware 10.1, which I actually had laying around for two weeks prior to my recent Linux distro hopping. I noticed that the installation routine was a lot more involved compared to a lot of the other distros I've tried; instead of being guided with a text based installation GUI or even a graphical Anaconda installer, I was thrown right into a command prompt in order to manually partition a disk with either fdisk or cfdisk, and then went along with the installation by executing a command on the CD. I decided to install the entire 3 GB worth of data from the two disc set.

After the installation was done, I rebooted and was then again thrown into a command prompt versus the already semi-configured X server. All I needed to do was configure /etc/inittab and bam, a GUI pops up automatically after each reboot. Oh yeah, I also ended up installing Dropline GNOME; it provides an updated X.org server plus GNOME 2.10 for Slackware, which is a very nice desktop environment for *nix based operating systems.

Everything was very speedy; it felt like an optimized Gentoo computer, without the hassle of compiling so much stuff for a week before being able to do anything on the computer. However, here comes the real hassle: there is no real package management built into Slackware by default. There IS installpkg, but it does not handle dependencies by any means. A user will have to rely on third party programs such as swaret and slapt-get in order to get such functionality, but really, the default configuration takes away a lot of the nice package management features that are in other distributions such as Debian or Gentoo.

Frustrated with this prospect, I ended up trying Vector Linux 5, which is another distribution based on Slackware. It was a bit better getting everything setup, and as far as I know, it didn't have the same sort of unfriendly installation routine as Slackware. It was a bit nicer, although it still had the same tedious stuff as in Slackware; package management sucked (although they DID include slapt-get by default,) and there were a few quirks that made me switch yet again. I still have this distro on my laptop however, and it seems to work great with Dropline GNOME.

I ended up switching to Arch Linux 0.7. I DID download Foresight Linux 0.8.1, but I found out that the package manager is SLOW (although supposedly a very good concept), booting up from cold boot is slow, etc. Arch Linux still has the same sort of unfriendly installation routine common in Slackware, plus the post-installation setup is unfriendly to most users as well; however, the package manager I'd say trumps Debian's APT package management system, plus the overall speed of the system is faster than Slackware. Reason why it's faster is mostly due to the minimalistic approach to the distribution; enable only what is needed by the user, have everything else disabled by default. Everything is left on their pure default settings as well; no special patches, no special menu images, etc. This leaves a lot to desire on the default desktop, but it's great building up such a desktop from scratch. Everything is optimized for i686 processors as well; this makes everything extremely speedy, as mentioned before.

I think I'm going to stick with Arch Linux for a while... probably until Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy Badger comes out, but even then, I really like the speed on this distro without all the headaches of Gentoo and with all of the speed enhancements of Slackware.

However, for someone who hasn't had their cherry popped by the awesomeness that is Linux (no, I'm not going to say Linux > Micro$oft because it's cool to have a dollar and a greater than sign,) you should probably check out Ubuntu. Very easy to maintain, even easier to install programs. The desktop environment is probably more intuitive than Windows, too.

So... after taking classes for a few weeks at the UW for a while, I think I have a good idea of what the pros and cons are for both universities.

Seattle University:

+ Campus isn't overly huge
+ The faculty are great. Being able to talk to your faculty after class about pretty much anything is something that you can't find in most other universities
+ The commuter collegiums are nice
- There's a steep incline throughout most of the campus that is a bit hellish to climb if you only had four hours of sleep
- Capitol Hill
- There's really no incentive to stay on campus. The library sucks, the on campus food sucks, there's really no good areas to study, etc.
- Clubs almost always meet at 8:00 PM on a weekday, which is shitty for a commuter
- I personally haven't met anyone who is poor like me

University Of Washington:

+ The campus is great. It's always nice to walk casually through the campus while getting to your next class
+ Loads of study areas
+ Good food in the lower floor of the Husky Undergrad Building
+ The Ave
+ Libraries are probably the best in Washington; can find nearly everything in any of the libraries, including loads of math texts, obscure literature, etc.
+ Everyone seems extremely down to earth and easy to talk to
+ At least in my two smaller math classes, the faculty are easy to talk to
- Campus is way too large; I get lost way too often
- By George isn't open during the summer
- Metro route 44 from my house to the UW (and vice versa) smells like piss almost all the time
- Clubs? What clubs?
- The faculty teaching my classes haven't completed grad school yet; not really a "con" though
- Bureaucracy. It's hard to get ANY administrative stuff done, like financial aid, etc.

In a nutshell, I REALLY want to transfer to the UW. I can tolerate all of those cons in favor for a way better campus, easier commute, and better off campus offerings (ie: something not Capitol Hill.)

This is something that is going to be coming right off the top of my head. If it seems like there's no real continuity and strong thesis to be had in the following rant, it's because I don't intend to write an essay, although I'm sure this rant will be essay-sized. ;p

A number of things have happened in the last few days that have somewhat solidified my stance on religion and various moral codes. Just two days ago, I was approached by a group of three young teenagers that asked me if I could recite the Ten Commandments, which ones I've broken, and how I could save myself from those broken Commandments, etc. It was a bit funny, actually; I told them I was Catholic, yet they kept going on about how I should be saved by Jesus. Well, it didn't exactly help that I told them that I haven't attended church for a while, but yeah, it seemed extremely condescending for them to tell me that I'm basically unsaved.

Personally, I believe in what is common among almost all religions and different sorts of philosophies out there. I do say I am Catholic, but that is because I was basically broken in to be one. I somewhat distance myself from religion, because it seems that all that it does is institutionalizes and politicizes belief systems. For example, a lot of people from both the Catholicism and Protestant camps pick apart each others ceremonies and practices, as well as various issues such as the Tent Cities and priest molestations. These arguments are all fallacious and further prove how such institutionalization can ruin even moral codes (refer back to the consistent rejection of hosting a Tent City due to general unacceptance of those who MIGHT have had a criminal record.)

This goes on to my next point: atonement. Now, I'm not referring to a specific ritual that one might have to go through in a specific religion in order to atone for their wrongdoings, but rather a societal atonement, one that does not entirely "atone" for a past wrongdoing but instead lingers around within someone, driving him to do good deeds for the rest of his life. Referring back to the Tent City topic, I would say that the rejection of these "criminals," that is, if there were any in the Tent City population, is a highly hypocritical action for organizations that rally behind acceptance and forgiveness. Looking at this at a purely sociological point of view, it doesn't seem plausible that any sort of criminal would commit any wrongdoing in return for such a selfless act. Such a criminal would have an action linger around in his head for a long time.

Splitting off from the prior topic, I'd also like to mention a news item that is very disheartening.

Priest is barred from ministry

He was a priest at St. Alphonsus when I still went there regularly. He was a very good man, and you couldn't tell that he did any such actions such as molest children and whatnot. I just can't believe that someone who has benefitted society in such a great manner by having facilities built in various churches, promoting various values, etc. can be struck down for something that has happened many decades ago.

Societal atonement... I believe that if he did indeed molest a child, then he was driven to do great things after such an incident. I personally cannot judge anyone over what they have done in the past, much less something they have done 30-40 years ago.

I don't know how to wrap this up, so I'll just say... eat chocolate cake and have fun.

Game development project is falling apart due to a team member completely backstabbing the project by stealing the idea; there are absolutely no job openings at the UW (except for the C&C, which doesn't accept non-matriculated students); and my friend's girlfriend is being passive aggressive with her accusations that she's not accepted due to me leaving, etc. etc.

First, I want to say that even if my friend and his girlfriend don't read this, I'll just say that it isn't the girlfriend that pissed me off. It's my friend. There, I said it. I'd hate to be the bearer of news that is of garden asshole variety, but I find it very idiotic to invite friends to hang out with whoever and their girlfriend (even if the aforementioned friends know that that person will spend most of their time with the girlfriend), and then telling them to pretty much "fuck off" and go spend time somewhere else away from them. And yet, they wonder why I left after they said that. Jesus. Then I went to go play pool that night with one of my other friends who was with us.

Next, there's the game development project. One of my trusted team members on this project was developing nearly the same exact game behind my back with a random person who wasn't on the team, except they completely mangled the entire game that I envisioned creating. Basically, with a poorly executed passive aggressive bind, that team member was trying to force me to either relinquish my entire game premise to them, or to split off and create unneeded competition (which then my game will lose no matter if it is the original or not, due to it having less done than them.) As you can see, I'm very pissed about this crap as well. I'm basically forced to either needlessly compete against this bastardized version of my own idea, or completely dump the idea that I developed for around six months (which I also tried to bring to fruition while being enrolled full time in college,) and go back to the drawing board.

I've yet to decide what course to take, but at the moment, I'm trying to develop the modification on its current track. I have a feeling that this will inevitably fail due to the other team being farther along in development, so I'll end up creating a new premise. I learned a valuable lesson: don't trust anyone in game development; deal out NDAs like Viagra.

Thirdly, I need to find another avenue for job hunting. Obviously, the UW is completely filled up with absolutely no student openings, so I'll need to look in retail stores, possibly local computer stores, etc. I NEARLY had that job at Computing & Communications, but since I'm not a matriculated student, I can't get that job. Nuts.

Before I dive face first into a fat sumo wrestler, I'm going to go finish up my math homework. Later.

Movies.

I got The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eighth Dimension last Saturday. Haven't watched it yet; I might watch it with my friend if he comes over this week, though. Classic movie, I heard.

Oh yeah, I also watched Crash last Saturday over at Pacific Place. Good movie, if only a bit forceful and contrived with its message. Actually, yeah, it force feeds a superficial message down the viewer's throats with manipulative scenes throughout the movie. You'll see what I'm talking about when you watch the movie. It's not like I disagree with the message it's trying to portray, though; the only problem is that it seems wildly accusatory and "fake" with the way they portrayed it. However, it's still a very good movie and I recommend everyone to watch it.

Games.

I've been getting back into Guild Wars and Fallout 2 lately. Guild Wars is getting addicting again, and Fallout 2 is still great with its open endedness and nostalgic value.

Sleep.

Self explanatory. G'night.

Hahah. This made my day.

Source

---

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Hundreds of sheep followed their leader off a cliff in eastern Turkey, plunging to their deaths this week while shepherds looked on in dismay.
ADVERTISEMENT

Four hundred sheep fell 15 meters (yards) to their deaths in a ravine in Van province near
Iran but broke the fall of another 1,100 animals who survived, newspaper reports said on Friday.

Shepherds from Ikizler village neglected the flock while eating breakfast, leaving the sheep to roam free, the Radikal daily said.

The loss to local farmers was estimated at 100,000 new lira ($74,000). ($1=1.3440 new lira)

---

Corny title, I know.

Anyway, Fantastic Four was fucking atrocious. I mean, well, it was ALRIGHT, but you could tell that they fit way too much story in two hours, plus they focused too much on Johnny Storm's jokes. Everything about it was very shallow. Bleh, maybe I'm too spoiled by Batman Begins, which is the best superhero comic movie adaptation, ever.

Job interview this Monday, by the way. Can't wait. :D

I think I'm finally going to get a job at Computing & Communications over at the UW. :D I'm going to go in for an interview hopefully tomorrow or some time next week. Only bad thing: starting pay is around $7 per hour for that job, compared to $12 per hour at my previous summer job. However, that previous job isn't available, and getting an IT job is way better than working at McDonalds. ;p I'm not complaining at all though; I need money, period.

Played some pool with one of my friends today, and then we hit the arcades in the room next to where the pool tables were. That was great... helped relieve some stress from what happened earlier today, which I won't go into detail at all; it was fucked up, though. But yeah, it was great hanging out at the UW for a while with my friend.

By the way, stop dividing by zeros, infidels

UGH.



WARNING: Potentially disturbing image above.

Advice: When you get a girlfriend, don't leave for the clouds. Especially when you drag your friends along and are still up in the clouds. It tends to piss those friends off quite a bit.

Yay. Now Sallie Mae can't loan me any money for the University of Washington, which I just found out today, one day before the $250 late fee hits. That's because I'm a non-matriculated student who hasn't obtained a degree yet. Assholes. I can't afford $1075 out of my pockets either; neither can my parents.

So yeah, hopefully I'm not SOL.

But hey, at least I got "Big Trouble In Little China," finally. ;p AWESOME MOVIE. I love all of the exaggerated kung fu in the movie (which obviously makes fun of older kung fu movies), as well as the dialog, especially from Kurt Russell.

Jack Burton: You know what ol' Jack Burton says at a time like this?
Thunder: Who?
Jack Burton: Jack Burton... ME!

And...

Jack Burton: All I know is that this Lo Pan character comes out of thin air in the middle of a goddamn alley while his buddies are flying around on wires cutting everybody to shreds while he just STANDS there waiting for me to drive my truck straight through him with LIGHT coming out of his mouth!

I love this movie.

I don't love Sallie Mae. ;p

Mathematics, And The Origin Of The Headache

Again, I committed the same mistake of saving my homework until the very last day before it's due. Dammit. It's almost bad enough for me to switch majors, due to the sheer frustration one can get when dealing with a more complicated calculus problem. So far, I'm absolutely fine with Linear Algebra; I like the abstract concepts presented so far, as well as the computational techniques that it relies on. However, with multivariable calculus, I'm pulling my hair out when trying to figure out how to set up the problem. I'll have to talk to my professor tomorrow to see if he can present more example problems on the more recent topics that we've covered so far.

By the way, mathematics is the origin of my headache. For now, at least.

Prompt Resolutions

I think there are things I need to convince myself to realize and act upon before I go to sleep tonight:

1. I should stop thinking about stuff so much; stuff as in anything aside from academics. It's not doing me any good, anyhow.

2. Academics isn't my life. Gaming isn't my life. I need to go outside more. Yes, this means less Xanga, less Myspace, less Blogger, less of everything else but outside. ;p I'm starting to do this more anyhow, so I think I'm partially solving the problem.

3. I need to keep the bridges open. Burning them is overkill.

4. I need to keep myself in shape. ;p

5. Last but not least, I need to stop thinking so much about potential relationships. I really don't think I'm ever going to get a serious relationship, and I really don't think anyone would consider one with me anyway. 0% chance of success, 100% happiness.

With that said, I'm going to head to bed and see if anything changes.

There is absolutely nothing that can describe Arthur Ganson's Machines. I suppose it's a mix between Victoria era machinery and modern art. It's absolutely amazing. Even the machine behind the art oriented end result is art in itself.

Oh man. I've been watching a few of the video clips on WingKong.net, and man, it brings back memories of the expanding Chinese demi god and the other guys. Hahah... this is seriously the best movie, ever.

Dad's birthday was yesterday. We ended up eating out at "The Ram" over at U-Village; 'twas good, although I'd say that Kobe beef burgers are overrated. They taste exactly the same as any other beef, except... it puts a larger dent in your wallet. Doh.

I ended up hooking up a second monitor to my computer as well. Another 19" monitor to go along with my existing 19"; had it laying around in the garage for a while, I might as well put it to good use. ;p I love this setup, although I must say, it further proved how shitty ATI is in writing their drivers. I had a hell of a time getting a hacked dual screen setup up and running on my Linux installation (you can't drag a window between the two monitors like you can in Windows in one mode; in another mode, you have the desktop stretched between two screens, but maximized windows end up spanning the two screens as well), plus the Windows implementation seems really fucked up as well.

Thus, my dilemma: I need to get an NVidia card sometime soon, but alas, I have no money. :x No money = I need a job, fast.

Okay, with that out of the way, I've got to pick up development for the game modification that I'm currently leading. I need to get the team members motivated somehow... how I will do that, I don't know yet. I suppose that's a bad sign, as well. ;x