M is for Mayhem

This One Goes Out to the Little Guy...

2007-01-06T22:39:00.000-06:00

In this post-season college football week of BCS madness, I watched only two of the BCS games that have been on so far. (My Irish didn't do so hot in their post-season, but let's not talk about that.) Unfortunately, out of those two - neither happened to be the Boise State vs. Oklahoma game, which from what I've heard (and seen on the highlight reel, happens to be one of the greatest and most symbolic bowl games in college football history. Here we have Boise Stat, some pissant college team from Idaho of all places, winning a national bowl game and going undefeated throughout their entire season. It's quite the Cinderella story and you can definitely take something from that win - fight for what you want, it might not come easy, but if you fight, you will succeed. That's exactly what the Broncos did, congrats.

Here's the highlight reel from Sportscenter. Wish I would have seen it. If anyone has seen a youtube clip of the entire game or a torrent that I can download the footage on, let me know.

2006: "Between Love & Hate"

2007-01-01T23:59:00.000-06:00

2006 was a year of many achievements, failures, and plenty noteworthy events. I could write for pages about how it's remarkable that the UN actually has accomplished (positive) things this year, though in the proverbial eleventh hour. I could explicate on how Sudan allowing UN peacekeepers into Darfur is amazing, or how the sanctions on Iran are entirely uncharacteristic for an organization so wound up in bureaucracy and national sovereignty hoopla, but that would be uninteresting and would probably end up sounding contrived, like every other "year in a review" piece. If you're that curious, I would suggest watching the latest JibJab video.

I'm hear to talk about my year. The latter half of my Junior year, summer, and Fall of my Senior year in high school. The excitements, the upsets, the whole shebang. Curiously enough, the title of this post, a Strokes song, is somewhat apropos in describing the year.

My New Year's Resolution: To meet and discover new people, and be open to change in relationships with friends. Be more positive and take more chances in terms of meeting girls and new people to be friends with. Try to reestablish the friendships that broke off in late-2005 and if they don't work out then drop them, hard. Don't need to bring any excess baggage into this hard year (think about it - 1st semester finals, 2nd semester/finals2, summer before senior year, first semester senior year, ACT/SAT, college apps.)

That was my proverbial "New Year's Resolution" for 2006. This particular ideology came out of being completely blown off by the people who I called "my friends" last year on New Year's Eve. No one was home in my house, I basically sat around (alone) and, for lack of anything better to do, watched the Twilight Zone marathon on SciFi. Not exactly my idea of a good time.

I returned to school, hellbent on dealing with the situation and I did -- the people involved, I refused to really hang out with them at all before an apology was reached and it was not for the time being, so such is life. Taking a break from that line of craziness, I spent second semester last year really making sure I got all of my ACTs dealt with, my grades decently set up, and whatever else.

My 'extracurriculars' definitely changed as I did over this semester; Model UN was a crazy time this semester as well, with exec board members quitting, strife on the board, and general mayhem, it was at times hectic. The MUNI conference ended up being a great deal of fun, surprisingly enough, and it was definitely a conference to remember. Drops of Ink came into its own with me, as Brendon joined the group, and I became better friends with some of the seniors on staff. And of course, Debate, with my 0 debates and despite my placing 44th/46 at state, it was a fantastic time.

For a certain change of pace, that semester, I visited my friend at BU during my spring break. I have already gone into it, but that really opened me up to new opinions about things and triggered a lasting love for that particular school and enough goodness to get me through the end of the year.

I found a new passion that semester, which manifested itself in Mock Trial, which virtually dominated every waking hour of my life (outside of homework) from late January to March when we went to state. Through this team, and I'm "serious as a heart attack" when I say this; I met some great people - Dan Porter, Sean Clement, etc - and had an amazing time portraying witnesses for both the defense and prosecution. A guy that would never "throw you under a bus," Mr. Duffy was also a solid addition the repertoire of people in my life. This even went so far as to convincing me in going to a camp over the summer called "Mock Trial Academy" in which I was able to meet several people from across the country that I hope to see again in the future, giving me great hope for college, as this was somewhat of a college-esque atmosphere.

And lest I forget, prior to the Mock Trial camp, I received a fateful phone call from one of my former friends, Blake, apologizing for the "New Year's Eve fuck up" and pleading for forgiveness so that our group of friends can reunite once again for a final hoo-rah senior year. Of course, I believed this line of bullshit, and against my better judgment, decided "hey, I'll give it one last shot."

The summer was filled with interesting times, to be brief; the words "Innocence Faded" just about sums up my summer, both figuratively and literally, between the actual filming of the movie to the behind the scenes drama. The failed camping trip, the drinking tickets (not mine, sorry, I'm not retarded enough to get trashed at concerts), the late night Taco-Hut runs -- quite the experience.

Interjecting in the production of Innocence Faded though, was my cross-country trip to Pitt, BC, Tufts, and BU. I enjoyed the luxuries of wireless Internet through the generosity (ha!) of Paslode and was able to see the schools that I needed to. Once I was able to establish that Tufts was way too damn small, and BC was way too filled with preppy rich kids (okay, yeah, but the people at BU at least aren't blatant tools), I moved on to spending time with my lifelong friend Andrew, his roommates, and his girlfriend. The days that I spent with them at BU in the twilight of my summer are days that I won't soon forget, between the beach party with the Komaromi family, to chilling in the launch boat, to SoaP, and of course, the ragers.

After this trip, I returned home to find my re-established friendships in shambles, and once again looked back to my New Year's resolution for guidance. I realized the mistake I had made in trusting that any of it would work out after hearing the "enlightened" words of Ryan Wallace "[blake] just doesn't [like you] nemore really no reason... i guess its been kind of accumulating throughout the summer... ppl are just loosing there fondness of you" [sic].

With that in hand, and the awkwardness of having one of those individuals in probably half of my classes, I went about my life, senior year. What was senior year supposed to be about anyways? Raging drunk parties? Tailgating? Sex? Not so much, apparently, because between that shenanigans and the AP classes I was taking, life was less than satisfactory in the fun department.

Struggling with the grips of where I wanted my life to go (and college apps) for the first couple months, I had much time to think about these things, but I chose not to. I chose not to think about the people I spent my entire summer with, who - to paraphrase Duffy - threw me under a proverbial bus.

Able to once again separate myself from the bullshit, I picked up the pieces and dealt with things as they came - the DISEC fiasco, Mock Trial leadership issues, and questionable grades, to name a few. A trip to University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!) occupied one of the latter weekends in October, and I must say, it was a good time. Similar to my BU trip junior year, I met many people there (mostly members of the AXO sorority) that were extremely nice and it was a welcome break from harsh reality of high school.

Fast forwarding a bit, "Holiday" Break 2006-07; in the last 72 hours, I've spent 24 of it chilling with people, better people than the ones I was friends with before. Between the hours of Guitar Hero at Tomayo's house and listening to Dark Side of the Moon at 5:15 AM at Ali's, it has been a great time. I would even go out on a limb and say the New Year's Eve celebrations that I just had were the best that I experienced in my life.

I think about my New Year's resolution from last year, and I realize now that it has truly come full circle. I definitely was open to change this year, and change I did. Not thinking about the events that happened at the beginning of the year was the right choice. I have moved on to bigger and (certainly) better things and with this, I can go on to pick a college, and keep heading in the right direction as a person.

I look to 2007 with hope, rather than pessimism. Life has its ups and downs, people change, innocence fades. Which of these mantras is the truest is irrelevant, life is a journey. This year will be an integral part of that journey and a year to remember. Senior year part deux, college, a serious change in venue whether it be back to the Northeast, to the South, or to another Midwestern state. Rock on.

I'm Not At Home, Where I Live

2006-12-28T18:11:00.000-06:00

This is an old post that I wrote on June 29th, 2006. Obviously in 6 months time much has happened, and this is slightly out of date, so I'll try to make a few corrections and edits in italics.

This has been a very eventful year for me, in terms of all of the aspects of my life. Since the literal new year, I have given my group of friends a proverbial F*** you and didn't hang out with them at all, joined a new team - that being Mock Trial, attempted valiantly to run Model UN in my term as a member of the exec board despite inner-club problems, gone to visit Boston University, taken my first AP test, gone to Prom, regained my group of friends for whatever reason, lost that group of friends over after my second BU trip, over completely asinine excuses for reasons -- the laundry list goes on. Through all of this, I think I've remained grounded in my beliefs and values, at least to some extent.

The longer I am in high school, the more I grow to resent it. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be the other way around, leaving senior year missing the school and the people, and then wanting to visit. That's the polar opposite of what I'm feeling. Through all of the craziness of last year, and all of the fun and no so fun experiences, one thing has remained constant; the rocky relationship I have with people around here.

I don't think I'm a social recluse, and I certainly don't confine myself inside to study all of the time, but many of the people in my life are almost not worth it. I'm not saying that I hate everyone and want to go die or something, but I've come to realize that bit after being in a totally different environment, multiple times now this year. And at the moment, it's not like I deal with the people that I "resent," but rather, I just don't hang out with people. For whatever reason, it's school, clubs, and nothing else this year. Even over break, I've been home since Tuesday and haven't seen anyone yet.

The first of those environments is my visit to Boston University. Not only did I get to see once again a long time friend, but I got to see a different kind of people. There was drama, but it wasn't as ridiculously stupid as things are in Libertyville. I met many really cool people there, and just loved the place. Or did I really love Boston University as much as I loved the experience of being away from Libertyville in the college setting?

The second of these is MUNI. I was always grounded to people that I knew and may or may not have liked from high school, but my committee consisted of mostly people that were not people I knew, and the one I did know, I didn't talk to hardly at all. Through this, I met three really cool people that I kept in contact with long after the conference. And I was only with them for around 3 days of committee.

The third of these environments is Mock Trial Academy. In this experience, it was a 11 full days away from the angst and stupidity of Libertyville. Granted, I talked to people in Libertyville, but briefly. I met an insane amount of people that I wish I could see on a weekly, if not daily basis, from all around the country in this semi-college-esque setting. I also became almost a different person on some levels. I played Ultimate Frisbee, almost daily, which is something that I would never dream of doing at home, had I not done this at camp. Prior to camp, Ultimate was just a good way to get out of running in gym. Now, it's probably something I consider to be one of the most entertaining physical activities out there. Not only that, I found girls much easier to talk to and to connect with on some level. Back "home" this is a near impossibility. Everyone has their impressions of people and stereotypes and it's very rare for me to be able to break those and develop a good friendship or a relationship beyond that.

I came back home under the impression that, yes, I would miss camp and the people I met there, but I would have plenty to do with my friends, since they were ranting and raving about "doing stuff when I get back" when they called me at camp.

Now, I just feel like everything is way too difficult to deal with around here. Friends are impossible to motivate to do anything, and there aren't enough options of people to hang out with, because they're all uniform in their apathy and laziness. I don't connect on the same level with them that I do with my friends from Mock Trial, Model UN, and other past friendships I have. I can't rely on them for advice about things, I don't sit up talking to them until 4:15 in the morning. And in fact, the bullshit escalated to the point where they basically told me to go "fuck off" RIGHT before school started -- haven't hung out with or talked to (outside of a strictly professional basis) any of the bastards since then.

Instead of being home, I couldn't feel farther from home right now. All I can think about is how pointless it is to actually even bother calling people, because they are too busy with the shit that they do - combine that with their apathy - to hang out. Next year is going to be a rough year, with 3-4 time consuming clubs, being a school newspaper editor again, and just having to get through 4 AP classes and probably 6 AP tests, I don't think that I'll be doing much hanging out in the little time away from school and clubs that I'l have... Quite depressing to think about. Oh well, college is only a year off. . . (8 months actually, only 5 of which are school).

Wildcat Football; An L-Ville Institution

2006-12-23T11:50:00.000-06:00

For lack of something better to post; I wrote this 1.5 years ago as an interview peice for DOI. It was just a mock-up article to practice writing, but it's pretty funny.. I interviewed an imaginary football player who was acted out by Perry.

Every Friday, walking through the halls of Libertyville High School, one sees the recognizable cheerleaders and football players, both clad in their orange and black uniforms. The familiar battle cry of “Wildcat Football, YEAH!” can be heard, prior to each game night. Glancing at the stands during the games, one can see the body-painted, masses of orange. They are die-hard supporters. These people bleed black and orange.
Wildcat Football, an institution in Libertyville. The players know it. The coaches know it. The community knows it. The 2004 class 7A champs are back for more this year with their current record of 5-0.
Recently, the Wildcats were given a new field to play on, and star quarterback, Don Billingsly comments, “There’s not much you can do to make us better but it [the new field] makes us look even better!” This is Billingsly’s fourth year on the team, and he has received a full-ride football scholarship to Notre Dame next fall.
The community support for the football program is quite extent. Going to the games is not just an activity popular with the student body. Local shops close their doors early so they can make the 7:30 football games; it’s almost like Texas high school football. Some students even sacrifice their time in class to practice football. When Billingsly was questioned about his opinions on school, he replied, “There is only one school subject, and that’s Wildcat Football. Who needs education when you have football. I don’t go to class…”
Of course, there’s always a down side to every good thing, and that’s the alleged rampant steroid usage in the football program. In reply to questions of steroid use, Billingsly does not confirm or deny by his response, “Anything to get the edge.” He also comments about the safety of these banned substances, “If it doesn’t turn your piss blue, it’s okay.”
The Wildcats next game is against the great rival, the Stevenson Patriots, at 7:30 on Friday the 2nd of October.

Apple: the Ultimate Hype Machine

2006-09-12T18:12:00.000-05:00

What can one say about Apple Computer? Successful company? Sure. Best mp3 player, that has gone unchallenged by a legitimate competitor since its creation? Of course. Better than Microsoft? Well... for sure not in sales or market share, but in quality of products? Here's where it gets a little sketchy for Apple.

Apple has always been a part of my life in some way, that's not to say I'm an Apple advocate or fan, but naturally, since I'm curious about technology, this has been the case. In elementary school, the Mac OS's since practically the original one were thrust upon me, the reason given being that "it's easier to manage them since all of the parts, software, and operating system come from one company." I always thought that was a cop-out, personally, but that's another story for another time.

Naturally, as I used these OS's, I saw the so-called "progression" of them from one to another, and also curiously noted that they all have looked the same. The defunct GUI of Macs (up to OSX) is unbelievably bad. I can't understand why people would tolerate this Windows 3.1-esque crapola. "Because they're stable, reliable computers." Uh, yeah, bullshit. (Watch this; http://www.drjack.com/macs_suck/)

That brings me to the first component of the Apple Hype Machine; the users. I have never met a more fanboyist group of people (other than maybe Nintendo fans) in my life compared to Mac users. These people will stand until the death debating why Macs are better than PCs, which is really admirable, until you actually use a Mac and realize that this "geat user interface" only serves to limit one's ability to operate on it beyond basic functions. The Mac operating system is very, very limited in what you can do to edit the settings of the computer and when you do succeed in finding the setting you need to edit (they hide them to idiot proof the machine), it doesn't work most of the time.

I see it this way; yes, Windows sucks. Windows whatever is probably a security risk because people actually use it, but at least the level of compatibility is high. (Take for example, the following situation. I was given a task at work to make a networked printer work with a series of PCs. My boss had already set up the stuff properly with the Windows PCs on the network, because it was a simple question of plugging the printer into the place where the previous printer sat, and installing the drivers. The Linux printer was kind of tricky, but nothing terrible. I went to the printer website, downloaded the Linux drivers, and installed it with the CUPS printer function in Linux within 5 minutes of tinkering. The iBook laptop that I needed to install it on was another story. First of all, it took me about 3 minutes just to find the printer setup location, because it's not really put in an intuitive place, then it took me quite a while to figure out how to install the driver, because it kept giving me a cryptic error message that made little sense to me. Long story short, it took about 2+ hours to install the printer on that laptop.)

The next part of the hype machine is the whole "Windows is bad" aspect of things. Apple themselves have been using this in recent marketing techniques, and I pretty much covered it four months ago in my post "iSuck: Debunking the Latest Mac Craze."

An additional segment of the Apple Hype Machine is the whole naming scheme that they use. "iThis", "iThat," what does it all mean? No one really knows. Except that now they have the consumers thinking... "O0o0oh! It has the 'i' prefix. It must be good," because consumers can't think for themselves and are driven by ridiculous marketing techniques.

Which brings me to the final component of the Apple Hype Machine, that being Apple's marketing techniques. Unlike a normal company, Apple does not announce new products prior to their final conception and release. You can buy a 4th generation iPod the day it is announced, unlike say, Windows Vista... which, still is not out, but was announced years ago. Not only is this a bit sketch on Apple's part, it creates this gigantic hype and speculation machine in the (prepare for word to be used that's featured in Maddox article; "If These Words Were People, I Would Embrace Their Genocide") blogosphere and world of Internet forums. People wonder "OMG, like, is this going to be the iPod that can transport me to the moon?! Dude, totally. It has to be, because the press conference invitation mentioned something about free refreshments. And cheese is a refreshment. And the moon is like, totally made of cheese. Yeah, so it has to be right." People draw these completely asinine conclusions and then when the actual press conference happens, it's like, "oh, fakeout, actually, it's about a new MacBook release. Because the first one had major problems. Like the exploding batteries and, oh yeah, the whole 120+ degrees thing under the processor. (I smell a few law suits coming, and their smell is reminiscent of burning flesh.)

This is not to discount the quality products that Apple makes, because like I said, the iPod is unchallenged. I own an iPod, it works great, except for the shitty battery. I think that it is unfair for Apple to put their Hype Machine in full swing for stupid things like having overpriced movies and games on iTunes. I dunno about you, but I definitely want to spend $12.99 on movies that I can only watch on my iPod and computer that are filled with DRM crap, as well as $4.99 games that I can only play on my iPod, with a clickwheel, no less, especially when I can buy a movie legitimately from Best Buy for the same price, copy it to my computer and iPod, and still have a hard copy in case my computer crashes.

Fuck Apple and their hype. Tell me when they develop something that's actually innovative, but does not require 3 re-releases and recalls in order for it not to injure me/kill me/fall apart on me. (Oh, and just as another jab, maybe Windows requires a lot of patches to fix problems, but at least the hardware that I use doesn't require me to buy new versions for it to work without damaging itself.)

Do me a favor, no, do yourself a favor; don't buy this re-release of the iPod, wait until their new shit comes out, because they will no doubt release an updated iPod within the next 3-4 months. And also, boycott those damn movies on iTunes, $12.99 is too much for something made for a 2.5" screen that you don't have full access to.

Fragged for Life

2006-07-24T02:00:00.000-05:00

Gaming. It's a way of life... or so I thought until I entered the eve of my senior year in high school. It was during this time that I grew to dislike a former passion in my life, something that I poured thousands of dollars into over the past 9 years of my existence. Between the days of Gameboy Pocket and the many dollars spent on AAA batteries for that monochrome, grayscale LCD screen to the wasted dollars on XBox Live service that went largely unused, gaming has been huge for me.

I remember the days, long ago, when I was first introduced to consoles at my friends' houses. An old Nintendo system here and there, some Mario All-Stars, Duck Hunting, and what have you. But I specifically remember my friend asking me one time, "Hey, do you want to play some Playstation?" And it's all downhill from there. (Speaking of which, the game he had was some street luge, bike racing, skateboarding, and roller blading game.) The same kid introduced me to Doom, probably the first FPS that I've *ever* played. And all at the ripe old age of no older than eight years old. (Yes folks, I started blowing the heads off of monsters at a young age, but did I shoot up any schools in my life? No, didn't think so, so take your democrat propaganda bullshit elsewhere.)

Gaming on the PC started right around this time, when we bought a computer in about 1996 with Windows 95 on it. I believe it was a Gateway 2000 with Pentium 133, 32mb of ram, and 2.5 gigs of hard drive space. That sucker ran like a champ too. And to think, those were the days of like, DirectX version 2 and 3, with such games as Sega Bug, Myst and Rocket Jockey (just the demo though, not the actual game, of course.) I remember some of the good old days of multiplayer gaming as I moved to Illinois in around 1999. The days of Red Faction, No One Lives Forever, and Rogue Spear have certainly not escaped me. Those were some of my first online multiplayer games that I played with friends.

Over the years I acquired initially a Super NES, but my parents returned it and bought a Playstation, the first of *many* upgrades to my console life. Ah, the days of Need for Speed 3: Hot Pursuit. Good times with that game, started my days of traffic violations early in life. From then, we fast forward to about 2001 when I dropped over $300 on a brand spankin' new Playstation 2. More next-gen consoles appeared and more money was spent on this fetish of gaming. I can think of the days before PS2, with Nintendo 64 and Goldeneye, Super Smash Bros., and Mario Kart. The start of real social gaming in my life.

Then there was also the time I read about a thing called a "LAN Party" in a PC Gamer, or some magazine of the sort. It described this multi-day extravaganza of gaming, involving people just being scummified in a room for over 24 hours while fragging away, while such classic movies as The Matrix and Tomb Raider play in the background. Could it be? Yes, I was sick enough to want to emulate this party of nerdy proportions. I dropped over $70 on a 16 port 10/100 switch for this party and spent probably close to that on cat-5 cables, and it took place late in freshman year, actually, during the PSAE testing.

And that takes us to a few years ago, actually, in December of 2004, my sophomore year in high school, when I fatefully purchased an Xbox, accompanied by a copy of Halo 2. For my birthday party, I had a Halo Party, and it was just a mass of 10+ people playing Xbox -- Halo 2 and Crimson Skies, specifically, but it started a viral chain of events in my life. Halo parties were now the thing to do on weekends with friends, and this even continued into the summer.

The same year, I built a computer for Christmas, a computer well-equiped for gaming (and still is). Yet another source of my gaming funds over the years. Barring a few good months with games on that computer, gaming started going downhill after Halo parties jumped the shark, so to speak. I started getting disenchanted with this activity as I started to realize more and more that the people who played these games online were just douche bags. They were way too hardcore about it, and I wasn't.. like them. I wasn't spending hours pounding away in the battlefields of Mashtuur to get a Combat Service Ribbon, I wasn't wasting away in front of the 57" TV trying to up my level in Halo from 25 to 26, and I certainly wasn't staying up all night trying to perfect my create-a-team in Madden 2000-Whatever-the-Hell.

The nail in the coffin for my gaming experience was when a friend named Bar stopped playing BF2 online due to a trade of his PC for a Powerbook laptop. After this happened, it all fell apart. I had a LAN party after this that ended up being a major joke-ass situation that wasn't worth the $46 spent on food for the night. I went to Mock Trial Academy, and the gaming dropped off even more. I came back no longer addicted to Worms Armageddon, but almost repulsed by it. I just wanted to spend time with real people, not virtual entities of nothingness. I wanted to
experience life and play Ultimate Frisbee, not compete for the most frags in some unreal world.

I spent some time today playing Worms Armageddon online, just to simply pass the time with a friend I can't see in person without taking 3 trains over a 12 hour period. It turned out to be this giant clusterfuck of stupidity and it was the official nail in the coffin for me. Apparently I broke some arbitrary rule, so they broke rules and killed me, but not only that, they yelled at me because I broke this rule I didn't know about. I was treated in a condescending fashion, over a nonexistant rule not even programmed into the game. It was at this point when I realized, "you know, I could spend my whole life dealing with middle-aged losers playing video games, fanboy faggots, and 10 year old uber 1337 people who swear like sailors, or I could spend my time doing things actually enjoyable and not completely high stress. I could take my expensive computer and do productive things, like use it to further my knowledge of technology, film and edit machinima, write, photo editing, or anything practically."

Hello, my name is T. O'Brien, and I'm not addicted to gaming. I don't spend hours of my life dedicated to leveling up arbitrary beings in virtual worlds. I don't neglect relationships with my family or friends to spend it gaming. And social gaming is no longer of interest to me, it's essentially dead to me. The only gaming that I really do at this point is that of the occasional single player first person shooter from yesteryear, or perhaps Guitar Hero (because it's badass, and for Sony's Playstation 2, one of the only worthwhile consoles.)

What is Reality?

2006-07-11T02:17:00.000-05:00

Reality bites. Or so the expression goes... I was thinking the other day about this very topic.. or rather, not so much that reality bites, but more so about reality itself. (We can all thank the Matrix for involving us in these thought provoking mental discussions.) All jokes aside, it's something legitimate to think about, because I mean, we all day dream, night dream, imagine things, fantasize about a better life, and watch movies or read books that seem to immerse us in a totally different universe.

Princeton University defines reality as 1. "world: all of your experiences that determine how things appear to you; 'his world was shattered,' we live in different worlds,' 'for them deamons were as much a part of reality as trees were.' By that definition, there's a really broad interpretation of what it actually is. If you think about that, I mean, all of this stuff about nature vs nurture comes into play. What if a child was brainwashing into thinking that people of a certain ethnicity are actually Satanic beings in disguise, for example? So, they went on to believe for the rest of their life that those people were indeed evil and connected to Satan. Obviously this isn't reality, or can we definitively make this statement, because for that peerson, obviously their experiences determine what their reality is.

Princeton also defines reality as; 2. "the state of being actual or real; 'the reality of his situation dawned on him.' By this definition, reality itself is something real, or somethign with verified existence. Verified existence... Well, for me that would mean something that I can confirm with my senses or logic. But then how come dreams allow me to both see, feel, hear, and maybe even smell and taste things that aren't supposed to be there? Maybe this assumption that dreams are not "real" is bullshit, and indeed, we're just sleeping all the time and when we "wake up" after a really weird dream, we just go to another layer of sleeping. Why do we have routine? Good question, maybe it's just some Groundhog Day phenomenon within one massive dream that we're either having naturally, or induced into (think Matrix). I mean, how do you really know that you're awake?

The reason why I think and discuss this at the moment is because I woke up Sunday morning around 8:00. Between 8:00 and 8:41, I was brushing my teeth in my bathroom, next to a fairly attractive girl who was most certainly not my sister nor anyone that would legitimately be in my house at 8 in the morning on Sunday, whom I brushed past on the way out of the bathroom. I could feel the warmth of that person's skin when I walked out of the bathroom and it was not only kind of a weird experience all in all, it was seemingly very real. However, I woke up at 8:41 that morning, unshowered, teeth not brushed. I don't sleep walk or anything like that. So I had to be dreaming, didn't I?

I've always thought it interesting to think about things like the whole giant-dream concept, which also brings up a lot of other interesting points about what is life but a transition from one place to another, be it earth to Heaven/Hell, or from one dream to another. Kind of makes you think, was that deja vu, or was that a symptom of some dreamlike state?

I mean, what honestly can you say about a dream? Is it our ID living out its innermost desires and pleasures. A drunken house-party in your mind, if you will, or are they possibly something more real than that, maybe a past life, or alternate reality.

To end on a geeky note, consider this comment made in a Mythbuster's episode. It was a joke, but no less thought provoking than something serious;

"I reject your reality, and substitute my own!" - Adam Savage

Filter Freak: Ringtone from Hell

2006-06-30T01:00:00.000-05:00

So this is the infamous "Filter Freak" posted online for the world to relish in its horrible nature. Imagine waking up to this. Yeah, I know, it makes you feel like you got hit by a bus. Twice.

(See 'A Tribute to Mock Trial Academy' for more details about this.)

A Tribute to Mock Trial Academy

2006-06-25T11:07:00.000-05:00

So as many of you may or may not know, I've been at Mock Trial Academy for the past 11 days, working tirelessly on the former college Mock Trial case Tyler Perry v. State of Midlands. Haha, yeaah, not so much. But for my own edification and purposes of goodness, I'm going to write a few things about that experience. (In bullet point format just for the hell of it, despite it being crappy writing style.)

- First of all, as my third(?) "college visit," I'm thinking BU is a better choice than North Central College... lol. Despite being a semi-nice campus, the whole college, just for many reasons was crapola.

- I don't think I've ever eaten that many consecutive meals of what was essentially crap. Hooray for sucky buffet style cafeteria food. Good thing I don't eat cafeteria food during the school year...

- I've never played more Ultimate Frisbee in my life than I did while I was at MTA. We probably played for an aggregate total of 10-15 hours throughout the course of the week. And I dominated... err, rather, I made several lucky catches when Porter would huck it across the field perfectly.

- Text Twist. Two words, holy shit. This was the official game of MTA. You will never be able to match the intensity at coming up with the six letter word that Porter, Ryan, and Liz (a TA) had.

- The TA's (teaching assistants or counselors) were great, all of them were really chill. The two I got to know the most; Christine, was an awesome team leader, and Liz was a motherfucking awesome person and TA.

- Frank. If there is one person that will take over the free world (especially Gaum and Ireland) it will be this man.

- Chloroandromine. Watch out for this shit man, especially 3,5 oxy-chloroandromine, it's scary. You could be date-raped by it... haha..

- Criminal Profiling. So let me briefly explain that during the case, I had to play a witness of this douche tool-bag guy named Jordan Nathanson. He was an "expert" witness for the defense, and basically his expertise was in the field of "investigative audits" and "criminal profiles." Let me say that this field is the most bogus crap ever, so playing this witness not only sucked, but anyone who does this crap in real life is a tool.

- Sketchy. Word of the week. And sketch. It can mean anything from questionable to slutty. (haha Josette...). A girl from Colorado and myself have caused this word to be implemented in vernacular from California all the way to North Carolina.

- Tay Tay. That was my official nickname. All the TA's called me that (yes, even the male TA's) and eventually I got used to the lameness of it. And it has been proven that only one self-respecting man can pull off calling me that and not sound gay. And that man, is Brendan.

- The Pops. So Liz deemed it necessary to come up with a name for the three Advanced Trial Advocacy girls who knew each other from last year, because they hung out together and stuff. She wanted to use the name of the girls in Mean Girls (the plastics), however, someone didn't know what the hell they were talking about, and said it was "pops" (as in, short for popular). Anyways, they were really chill the more and more I talked to them.

- I get the class award for being the whole man studly enough to pull off wearing a blue blazer when everyone else was wearing black ones or black suits. Yes, it was badass, and I love that blazer.

- The "Confirmed Recreational User" Award goes to Joe.

- Hungry Howie's Pizza dominates all others, the buttered garlic crust is amazing. Nothing more needs to be said.

- The Al Gore Song - you can't experience life to the fullest unless you hear this elegant peice of democrat propaganda/political humor.

Alright, well, I can't think of anything else that's really interesting enough to write (and I forget), but the last 11 days were some of the most fun and worthwhile days that I've spent during any summer in probably my entire life. MTA was a great learning experience and immersion into college Mock Trial, but it was so much more. I met really cool people from Phoenix, AZ; Evergreen, CO; Orange County, CA; Ladue, MO; and many many other places. Well, time to um, talk to my parents, because they don't know I got home yet, and I've been home for an hour.

***Updated***

- the Alarm Clock "Situation" - So Dan just reminded me of the alarm clock snafu we had in our room. Both Porter and I were using cell phone alarm clocks, and one night I played this song called Filter Freak, just a random ringtone, it sounded cool so we set it as the alarm. Come 7:15 AM, and holy crap I feel like I just got hit by a bus, I mean.. really, it was unbearable. You really have to hear it to feel the full horrible'ness of it. Basically what it sounds like, is this; there are three beats at the beginning, and then it just kicks up to this techno jazz'ish thing that just freaking makes you want to kill babies. (Actually, I got this posted onto the blog, it might be in a later post tho, but yeah, listen to it, and imagine waking up to that.)

Praise Satan, It's 6-6-06! (Just Kidding!)

2006-06-06T00:21:00.000-05:00

Wow, so... it's only 18 minutes into this lovely day of 6-6-06, and I've probably heard about 9 hundred trillion times that this could be the day of Satanic fun, riotious behavior, and God-knows-what.

Yeah, well, either way... I have to take a Physics final. Annnd that blows, so screw 666 and whatever.

But in a little celebratory fashion, I will honor this one of a kind day (there won't be another one for 100 years, 6-6-2106) by posting lyrics to, the Number of the Beast, by Iron Maiden.

"Woe to you, Oh Earth and Sea, for the Devil sends the
beast with wrath, because he knows the time is short...
Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the
beast for it is a human number, its number is Six hundred and
sixty six."

I left alone my mind was blank
I needed time to think to get the memories from my mind

What did I see can I believe that what I saw
that night was real and not just fantasy

Just what I saw in my old dreams were they
reflections of my warped mind staring back at me

'Cos in my dream it's always there the evil face that twists my mind
and brings me to despair

The night was black was no use holding back
'Cos I just had to see was someone watching me
In the mist dark figures move and twist
Was this all for real or some kind of hell
666 the number of the beast
Hell and fire was spawned to be released

Torches blazed and sacred chants were praised
As they start to cry hands held to the sky
In the night the fires burning bright
The ritual has begun Satan's work is done
666 the number of the beast
Sacrifice is going on tonight

This can't go on I must inform the law
Can this still be real or just some crazy dream
But I feel drawn towards the evil chanting hordes
They seem to mesmerise me ... can't avoid their eyes
666 the number of the beast
666 the one for you and me

I'm coming back I will return
And I'll possess your body and I'll make you burn
I have the fire I have the force
I have the power to make my evil take it's course"

Oh, and by the way, I'll be posting something related to that Myspace Scuffle V2.0 after finals end. Either way, fight the man, do well on finals, and don't become a Jesus-freak because it's 666 day. Just stay chill, it'll be okay. If the world ends, you can blame me.

College Search: The Acronym Hunt

2006-05-15T18:08:00.000-05:00

In a recent instant message conversation, I made a passing comment about college stuff and I discovered something. The college search/application process is basically nothing more than a clusterf### of acronym'ed words. Let's analyze this problem in a little scenario I like to call a "hypothetical situation."

When looking for a college, so one doesn't end up at CLC, the student involved must maintain a high GPA, score solidly on the PLAN, PSAT, ACT, SAT, SAT II, and even AP tests. Not only that, one must take into account carefully schools' acronyms so they do not become confused. For example U of I is actually UIUC and some acronym'ed schools are just ridiculously vague that no one would know them, such as UNM. University of New Mexico? Maybe... if New Mexico even has universities, that is. Not only do you have to figure out what college you want to attend, when applying, you must consider NCAA regulations, as well as, if you are a URM (underrepresented minority, no, I kid you not, that's legit.) If you want to go to a LAC or a different type of college you need to figure that out... not only that, you need to figure out ED or EA if you want to.

Basically, the proverbial college search can go take a flying F because if i read another post on collegeconfidential.com I'm going to reach through the computer and strangle some parents and eat their babies. Amen.

iSuck: Debunking the Latest Mac Craze

2006-05-10T17:50:00.000-05:00

Apple. Apple. Apple. That's all I hear nowadays. Between the court case between Apple Records and Apple Computer, between the ever present news of upgrades to iBooks and iPods, and even the stupid ads on TV about why "you'll love a Mac," I don't know where it will stop.

I know the debate between Mac and PC has been a long time running and it's old and tired. Once and for all, this needs to be stopped, and that's what I intend to do.

First of all, let me further discuss the Mac craze;

Steve Jobs and his crew of funny men are always concocting cute new commercials to coerce people into buying Mac product. First it was the Apple Switch ads, then it was the iPod ads, now it's these idiotic Mac>PC ads. This and this are my response to the Apple Switch crap. WTF is the response to the iPod ads. All I can say about Mac>PC ads is, why am I seeing the dude from "Ed" on my TV, and how much spin can you put on a commercial? Mac is clearly unrivaled in that regard.

Apple states on their website,
1. It just works.
So do PC's, unless you're an idiot and do stupid things to them like spill coffee all over the keyboard, or download virus-ridden files from questionable websites.

2. You can make amazing stuff.
Last time I checked, things like Photoshop, Flash MX, and Audacity worked on Windows XP. You can make some pretty damn cool, even "amazing" stuff with those programs and the thousands of other ones.

3. Design that turns heads.
Yeah, and PC's can be stylized in a cool way as well. Not only can you buy amazing looking PCs, but you can build your own PCs with custom cases and you can mod your own cases. With Mac, you can't exactly build them with custom cases, and I bet if you took apart a Mac it would cease to function. By the way, Falcon Northwest, Alienware, Velocity, and Dell XPS are some of the top gaming PC Manufacturers, and they create "designs that turn heads."

4. 114,000 Viruses? Not on a Mac.
Three words; AVG Free Antivirus. It's a trade off. If I knew how to make viruses, I would make them for Mac. Just to piss people off.

5. Next year's OS today.
Blah blah blah. Mac makes Widgets. They suck away your RAM and virtual memory like none other, kind of like having 30 quickstart programs on the toolbar next to your clock in Windows.

6. The latest Intel chips.
Intel? On Mac? Oh wait, fakeout. That's right... Intel's latest chips are on PCs too, first. And AMD, which is much less expensive, and 64 bit compatible and dual core compatible just like Intel.

7. Instant video chats.
How many of my friends have webcams? Oh right, none! And even if they did, how many people do I know have Macs. Like one, two tops, so this feature would be stupid.

8. More fun with photos.
Photoshop? What? And yeah, Picasa (free!) allows you to organize, print, edit, and share photos, very easily. All you need to download is Google Pack and you're legit.

9. One-click websites.
Great! Let's clutter the internet with more crapola on meaningless blogs and idiotic simplistic websites. Perfect.

10. Amazing podcasts.
Podcasting. Synonamous with crapping out audible words, almost as bad as myspace. All this is, is an outlet for uninlligent celebrities to share their innermost pathetic thoughts. Oh wait, this is available through iTunes, which happens to be on PCs as well.

11. Rock star tunemaking.
12. Hollywood-style movies.
I'll give Mac these two, Apple computers are good for editing music and movies. And that's.. about... it.

13. No hunting for drivers.
Plug 'n Play? What?

14. Awesome out of the box.
Weaksauce.

Let me just say that this issue of Mac Boot Camp on Pentium Duo computers allowing dual-booting into Windows XP is stupid. If I wanted a Mac, I would buy a Mac, I wouldn't buy a freaking Mac so I could run Windows. Not only that, games run on Windows. What could I do with a Mac anyways? What could anyone do with a Mac? The average person just uses a computer to upload their digital pictures, go on an instant messenger (such as Yahoo or AIM), browse the internet, word process, and listen to music. These things can be accomplished much easier on a PC, mainly because people are familiar witht he Windows interface, Yahoo/AIM are more compatible with Windows, and PC's are less restrictive in customization.

Whatever. Stupid Macs.

Late Night TV is the Shit

2006-05-06T23:39:00.000-05:00

Ever watch a DVD until like 12:15-1:00ish and just... not really feel like going to sleep, but too tired to go online or something? Well, then you're in store for a real treat... flip that DVD player off, don't worry, it's worth the energy of picking up the remote, and tune in to your cable TV channels. Now, my friends, let me take you on a journey of late-night TV, and the top reasons why it is absolutely better than any of that primetime crap they feed you day in and day out.

1. Commercials. The bane of my existance. During regular hours of television, one might watch a prime time show such as Desperate Housewives which markets itself as "an hour long," however, with these dastardly commercials, it is a lot closer to 45 minutes. That is a quarter of an hour where you are being fed advertisements for shit you don't need, often repeatedly. Fifteen minutes or more of commercials during your TV watching experience just for that one show - that's a solid minute of commercials for every three minutes of TV. Ever wonder why it seems like there are so many damn commercials during Prime Time shows? Because there are. This can be especially pesky during movies on TV, but on late night TV, however, there are a lot less commercials, especially if you're watching a movie on one of those channels like TNT or TBS.

2. Late Night FCC Regs. Well, I attempted to do some research on this, but the Man (the FCC in this case) was trying to keep me down apparently, and thus I was unable to find anything in terms of proof on this one. Anyways - on late night TV, the regulations on content are significantly less than regular times during the day. Now, this is extremely good for movies, because many good R-rated movies just aren't the same without the language, violence, and the other "less than savory" aspects of them. I can't exactly confirm this, but I watched a movie last night and not only did I see a certain scene with nudity in it (on TV, mind you, it was shocking) but also I heard a few F-bombs that were dropped. I would hope that's proof enough, so use this to your advantage next time you see a classic R-rated film on late night TV... don't worry, it will be complete with all of the violent, expletive glory.

3. Damn good movies. The movies on late-night are pretty satisfying when you've just previously watched a movie, but aren't quite tired. Granted, they aren't going to win any Oscars, but they aren't so bad. Often times, these fall into the category of cult classic or "so bad they're good/entertaining/funny." Unless you're a hardcore film snob, you can sit back in this vegetative sleep-deprived state, stare at the TV with your glazed over eyes, and appreciate these for what they are; entertainment.

4. Infomercials. Because who doesn't want something that slices, dices, and is 17 tools in one? These little wonders are interesting to watch, especially if you're an insomniac. Usually they feature something ridiculously fascinating, until common sense kicks in and you realize that yes, this is a cheap plastic, worthless peice of shit. (It's wise to hide your credit cards before you indulge in such a thing as this... If you're a compulsive-buyer, that is.) The best part is when they have really terrible actors or washed up celebrities that are endorsing the product. (Or if the before/after shots are clearly different people - they thought they could fool innocent insomniacs with their scheming tactics...

5. more... later.

Flying Ted

2006-03-28T18:08:00.000-06:00

A few nights ago (and the night I wrote this) I had the wonderful experience of "flying Ted" to get to my destination of Logan Airport in Boston, MA. Let me tell you, the reader, a few illustrious things about this wonderful, wonderful experience of flying commercially in this article.

"Flying Ted" is like no other form of transportation. It's better than AmTrak, Greyhound, American, Delta Song, or even Toyota. Wait, no, it's not. Not at all, in fact. I suppose I should enlighten you lucky ladies and gents that have never had the privelege of experiencing this to what Ted actually is.

Ted is United Airlines' discount airline -- the tickets are cheaper, the planes are cheaper, and the terminal is cheaper. To put it bluntly, flying Ted is like flying in a dimly lit coffin filled with disgruntled passengers and cell-phone talking businesspeople.

Now, I bought this Thursday night ticket for close to $100, so I knew it was going to be a cheap-ass flight. I even joked once or twice about having to sit in a toilet for the plane ride. Well, my expectations came true - not only did that plane freaking suck, so do the people. I sat in what Tyler Durden would call "a cesspool of infectious human waste." The lady next to me did not speak a single word to me, she's just been reading some damn book nonstop. The guy across from me was seemingly negotiating a nuclear weapons treaty or something, as his tone of voice and attitude were far angrier than any businessman should ever be. Oh and did I mention that my seat makes me feel obese because I can barely fit in it, and I'm a pretty small guy.

Flying on commercial airliners flat fucking blows, to be completely honest. As the flight attendant instructed the viewing audience to get out the safety instructions card for this Boeing 757, I can't help but laugh and think of Fight Club. I really want to make the comment that the card shows a water landing at 700mph and the people's faces are as calm as Hindu cows. And then comment on the fact that Oxygen gets you high - in a panic situation, you take deep breaths, thus becoming euphoric and accepting one's fate without protest or panic. I, on the other hand, do not have the grapefruit-sized cajones of Tyler Durden and do not think my single-serving friends would appreciate the humor as Ed Norton did.

Regardless, that was my experience flying Ted. I should buy a Gulfstream or something ridiculous like that when I become wealthy. Private jets are sweet, or maybe I just won't fly Ted.

What About All of the Good Things Hitler Did?

2006-03-13T21:24:00.000-06:00

So, I was having a conversation with someone today, and I realized something. There are lot of freaking idiots out there with many different f**ked up ideologies. Now, I'm not here to say that your beliefs in whatever religious doctrine are wrong (well.. maybe I am, we'll save that for later) but I mean, as the title of this article implies, clearly, this is among those stupid ideologies. Instead of my normal, typical entry, I will make another attempt at satire as the one I did for English Lit Honors was apparently a total failure. And with that;

Freaking Idiots, You Can't Live With Them, You Can't (Legally) Kill Them

Everyone has encountered a person that can be deemed a "freaking idiot" at least once or twice in their life, if they're lucky. If they're unlucky, then they encounter these people maybe once or twice a week, or if they are ultra-lucky, once or twice a day.

What is a "freaking idiot," exactly? Well, glad the question was posed. This type of person is usually of the know-it-all status, meaning, they claim to know every bit of information in the world, even on topics they don't even begin to comprehend. These people can be of all ages, and arrogance plays a huge factor into this, but usually they are of high school age, in the teenage years. At times, they try to flex their intellectual muscle by offering up seemingly intelligent bits of information, strung together in a looseleaf packet of facts, but often times there is a line of very bad logic behind these tidbits. Often this logic can lead to an ideology that they claim to believe in because it seems smart from their perspective.

In my experience, this logic can range from anything like "Stalin was a great guy, believe me" to "No, believe me, Area 51 does really house alien spacecraft, I saw it on Google Earth." Regardless, these people do not belong in our society, they need to be dealt with efficiently and expediently.

I propose that we ship these people off to some planet 100s of light years away in a long-term cryogenic hibernation tank, in a different galaxy even. This would serve to do a few different things. First and foremost, it would get these Godforsaken life forms that do not deserve to be called human beings off of the planet, away from everyone else, to prevent cross-breeding between them and normal people, and preventy corruption of the souls of the children of the future.

Not only that, it would put to use that lovely thing in America that we call the NASA program, because God-knows, sending rovers to Mars is extremely productive, but I think we can put that aside for a more noble cause; this one. In addition to this, being hundreds of light years away, our generation, nor our kids generation will have to deal with any issues, because they will be asleep the entire time. An added benefit to this, most current cryo tech does not work, so with any luck, these people will all die before they reach Planet R (R, for Retarded).

On the off chance that anyone does survive, or at least a male and female couple, due to charted chemical and biological reactions, any mating done between these parties will yield a child completely unaffected by this ailment of stupidity. Research shows that because the "freaking idiot" genes appear on both the X and Y chromosomes from the female and male, the traits will ultimately cancel each out, producing a potentially intellectual life form. In this case, the planet will be populated by an intelligent sentient race of human beings (yes, the production of two "freaking idiots" mating, leads to the reacquiring of the term "human beings") and the process of interstellar imperialism has successfully begun.

A Tale of Two Mountains

2006-03-10T10:46:00.000-06:00

Well, this website is long overdue for an update. Two weeks is far too long, but I've had a lot of stuff in between the 24th and now - Mock Trial, for one. Good times..

In regards to my title, it would be a grave injustice to call Alpine a "mountain" so I guess I amend my title to "A Tale of a Mountain Range and a Landfill." But anyways, I'm here to tell you a story of my trip to Alpine Ski "Resort." I headed up to Alpine on the 26th (yay, post-Turnabout day! oh wait. F*** that.) On this particular trip, I was accompanied by my dad, and the ensuing story is sprinkled with his comments during the day.

First of all, let me say that Alpine falls quite short of being a "resort" and the name is one heck of a misnomer. It's more like a glorified land-fill with fake, icy snow on it. And the board park is nothing to smile about, I went sideways off a jump at one point to discover the true icyness of the ground alongside of it. To quote myself, "this isn't a mountain, this is a travesty."

The particular day I went, it was like, freaking Polish day or something. There were so many eastern europeans there, it was unbelievable. In the words of Mike, "This is like the eastern bloc." (Which was, of course, repeated many times.)

I'm a snowboarder and a skier, so I know both sides of the story. You know- 'snowboarders are evil, they cut off skiers, and blah blah.' Well, that may be true in the Rockies. But, however, in the hallowed hills if Wisconsin, it's the inexperienced jackass skiers that cause the problems. I was snowboarding, minding my own business, and was cut off about 7 times throughout the course of the day. Not one of these people were snowboarders. They were all sucky, horrible skiers.

That brings me to another thing. People who suck at skiing are FUNNY. Wow, I saw more yardsales (for those of you, not in the know, it means when you fall less than gracefully and lose your skis/poles/etc) than I've ever seen before. Quite classic, actually. Oh yeah, and the people who SUCK at getting on and off the chairlift. COME ON PEOPLE, it's REALLY not that hard, I managed to do it successfully without falling or f***ing up 17 times, and I haven't snowboarded in 3 years! If people sucked that much in Colorado, they'd be shot.

I really miss the mountains and skiing. Maybe one of these years I'll go back for spring break, or for Christmas. I can hope, I guess. I'll just envy those who do until that day arrives. And maybe take a few more trips up to the proverbial "eastern bloc" with all the people who can't ski.

Slave to the System

2006-02-24T09:24:00.000-06:00

You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

I wake up between 6:15 and 6:35 every week day, without fail. I take a shower, get dressed, and scarf down a bowl of cereal before I am driven to school, arriving between 7:10 and 7:25 AM, every week day, without fail. I go to my eight classes throughout the day, knowing exactly where I'll be going next each period, and expecting lunch not at a particular time, but at a particular point during my schedule. Usually I eat at 10:45 and am not "hungry" until about 10:00--the last few minutes of my third period class. Even today, a day in which the schedule is shifted due to an assembly, I became hungry in the last few minutes of my third period class, and despite it being 9:45, feel that it's time to eat, right now. I know that I'm going to probably go to whatever club I have each day afterschool, then proceed home and do homework. I know that I'll probably have to do homework until 11 or 12 each night because I watch an hour or two of TV depending what's on, and talk on AIM or some such thing like that before/during I do homework.

Does that sound monotonous? Well, it is.

I'm not posting this for the sake of posting meaningless drivel about my life like someone would write on Xanga, most blogs, or their diary, I'm merely providing a real example of what society does to a person. We're all scheduled and perfect, especially in high school. It really turns into a Pavlov's Dog type situation to the MAX when a given person has had the same schedule for a semester or even a full year.

Being a slave to the system doesn't just entail near-perfection in scheduling of your immediate life, it includes other things such as a certain set of goals or beliefs. I know that pretty much everyone in my high school has a goal to go to college and then get a job after college. (Whether their parents are pressing that issue or if it is their own accord, it is no matter.) A majority of people will just end up majoring in something idiotic, then becoming a member of School Monotony 2.0 = Low-Level Corporate America. Not to stray too far, but, whatever happened to "Daddy, I want to be an astronaught when I grow up!"?

Looking around the hallways of high school, I see fellow slaves to the system. The typical student is an upper middle class, white kid with an element of preppiness to his character or apparel. (Not to say that African-Americans or Asians don't experience this as well.) This typical kid has a working level of insomnia and probably gets no more than 7 hours of sleep per night on average.

And look at the typical businessperson (political correctness is for shit, by the way), a middle to upper middle class person, who works to buy shit they don't need, and gets maybe 7-9 hours of sleep per night, just because there is nothign to do other than work and "relax after work." Potential similarity there? Just maybe.

I guess this is a plea for people who have the strength to break the chains of slavery, please do it. Become an astronaught, become a school administrator and change the rules so schedules fluctuate (just don't be a tool), or whatever. Just don't fall into the trend of working to consume. Working to consume. We are human beings, not animals. The sole purpose of our life is not to grow older, breed, nurture our young, and then die. There is a more to it than that and people who try to simplify life into terms like that are doing nothing but destructing humanity and turning us into the monkeys we watch in the zoo.

Bode Miller, a TRUE American Hero

2006-02-20T22:44:00.000-06:00

I saw a commercial on TV the other day, it was sort of a public service announcement. The curious part? Bode Miller was on it. (Yeah, that same jackass from the US Olympic alpine ski team who is currently blowing every medal opportunity he has in the games.) Anyways, I sat earnestly watching this PSA, wondering what this guy had to say about life, reading, eating your vegetables, or whatever.

The specific message I don't remember, so I'll extrapolate it; "Nowadays, when kids are playing sports and they realize that they can't win, they just quit. They don't want to participate because they feel they aren't good enough. The grown-ups of this society have created this 'must be a winner' mentality, and it needs to be stopped. I'm Bode Miller, and I want to put an end to this." and then "joinbode.com" flashes on the screen.

Hmmm.. Let's think about this. What kind of role model is Bode? Well... he's being a laissez-faire dick about the Olympics, clearly not taking one of the greatest honors of athleticism and skiing seriously at all. He's super out of shape (yeah, watch the Super-G Slalom and tell me he's not, the poor bastard almost had a heart attack after his run down the hill - which eventually led him to sucky like 5th or 6th place).

The guy is living in an RV at the Olympics, not Olympics Village - a freaking RV. Oh, and in case you hadn't heard - he has drank before a race -- probably more than once. I have a public service announcement for you Bode - Skiing downhill at 90 mph after drinking can be dangerous to your health. Oh yeah, and don't say to the 60 Minutes interviewer "if you ever try to ski when you're wasted, it's not easy" if your intent is NOT to get caught up in media hype.

Yeah, and there's that tidbit about him being a total jackass. Case in point? He said, in regard to not winning (yes, 4/5 races run, and he's yet to podium, despite his pre-Olympics predictions and #2 World Cup ranking), "well, at least I don't have to drive my RV 25 miles down to the medal ceremony..." What kind of role models do we have for our children nowadays, really?

So, that being said, prior to writing this, I was intrigued by how this loser proposed to change the world, and the problems athat plague society, so I took a magical journey to his www.joinbode.com website. Boy, was it enlightening! First of all, the description on Google was the following:

Do you want to join Bode Miller? Do you want to join the brazen, the
unintimidated? ... Join Bode, but first, joining Bode Miller and experiencing the ...

Wow, that's not arrogant at all! What a totally awesome guy, I wish I could be as amazing as him. I fatefully clicked the link in Google and was greeted by a sexy black and white picture of Bode, looking profoundly up at the sky, as if to greet God's gaze down upon humanity, or maybe he's just a little hungover from last night and he's doing a poor job of hiding it.

I did a little searching around the website and I found two movies that constituted his “MANIFESTO.” Upon watching these-

- Sorry, I had to break for a bit to clean the chunks of vomit off my keyboard that resulted from me puking all over the computer during the process of watching these Bode videos. Yes, they are that bad.

Among the videos, one he talks about the topic of “Validation” and how it affects him. He comments that, “Yeah I have a lot of friends who are professional athletes or top level athletes who despite how great they are on the field- they still look for confirmation from other people – they still, after a successful performance, they need that feedback, they need it from other people. And I think that one of my strengths the thing that sets me apart, is that I don’t need that. When I believe I’ve done great by my own standards, I believe I’ve done great and I don’t care what anyone else thinks.”

My personal favorite from his Manifesto was the one about training. He starts it off in a skintight suit leaning on a large barbell, probably to show his cut and bulging muscles. “The way that I approach my training is I exercise my right to decide my life for myself. It’s really a microcosm for the rest of my life. I address the issues I feel are important to me and I customize what I feel is the best way to address those issues, and then I do it. And then I allow myself to push myself 100%. I don’t want to rely on anyone else because I feed off the pride that I get from doing it myself and doing it right.”

I also clicked on the random barn on the flash page, upon which a snowmobile rides up behind it, you hear a crash, and then the rider-less snowmobile comes out the front of the barn. I can only assume that this is a representation of Bode when he tries to snowmobile after having a few (dozen) cold ones.

Inside the barn I found a motley of solid advice, such as “I think it’s ironic that in society these days, it’s accepted to be who you are sexually, or your occupation, or whatever. Nobody wants to judge anyone else too harshly. And in sports, it’s still all about winning – it’s not about participation. No one wants to let anyone define what makes them happy or how they do things in athletics. It’s all about winning, and uh.. Zero flexibility. I think it’s ironic and depressing and I’m determined to change it.”

Pretty much, you could have a Bodeism a day, because there are enough tidbits of bullshit on that website to last you for a lifetime. I’m fairly convinced that all Bode does all day is drink and think of new things to provide insights on for his crappy website. Must be why he sucks so badly at the Olympics.

You know, as badly as it sounds and as much as it goes against my Olympics-driven nationalistic fervor, I would prefer other countries to win (even Russia or something) in Alpine Skiing than I would Bode Miller. In fact, maybe for everyone’s sake he can just fade off the face of humanity, as opposed to creating bad media-hype and drawing the press away from the real athletes who actually perform well – like the entire US snowboarding team. (Hey, that kind of sounds like what Michelle Kwan did – took attention away from the men’s half pipe gold/silver win because she decided to quit, but that’s another story for another time. Or if you’re lucky, maybe never.)

Don't Try to Intimidate Me, I'm Not a Sesquipedalophobic

2006-02-16T18:34:00.000-06:00

Two weeks without writing is really sucky. But if you're a true fan, read the DOI articles - namely the one about stupid questions (which is fairly similar writing style to what I write here). I've been kind of busy with those three articles, MUNUC, and okay, I'll stop bitching now, and continue.

Well, for the unintellectuals out there, Sesquipedalophobia is the fear of long words.

Have you ever been in a situation where you're listening to a teacher/friend/arch nemesis talking and you're following the train of logic (or lack thereof) and then you just hit a gigantic roadblock in their speech? This roadblock I speak of would consist of anything along the lines of an extremely uncommon, obsolete, or overly intellectual word that you may or may not have heard before.

I have news for you, if the answer is no, then you're one of these people that do this. These people basically read the dictionary, study the SAT word lists (despite them being too young or old to necessitate taking it), and subscribe to about 12 different "Word of the Day" e-mail lists. There's no other way that one would know words such as sevillitude, quintret, cynoside, descraw, and other crap that serves as nothing more than diarrhea of the mouth. These are just not used in vernacular, no matter how hard you try, they just aren't.

When teachers do this, it's really a distraction. Honestly, does this add to the general knowledge of the class? No, of course not. Most times in a regular classes kids will just yell out "Durrr UH, what is such and such a word?!?!" or in honors/AP classes students will turn to the person next to them and mutter something along the lines of "um.. WTH does that word mean?" In either situation, the message is lost due to the extremely ridiculous word choice. It's even worse when you ask "Uh.. What does lugubrious mean?" and the teacher says something to the effect of, "oh, that just means sad." Why didn't you just use the word sad or a more common derivation, jackass?

Honors students do this all the time too, especially when they think they are smarter than someone else or they are trying to be a smartass. It's a train of thought that goes something like this "Heh heh, maybe if I use the word persiflage (basically means meaningless banter) to describe the last 5 minutes of Johnny's presentation he'll feel like an idiot. Heh heh. Because he won't know what it means! Yeah, good idea!" If you haven't taken the hint, this is a common trend among intellectual asshole-types.

Frankly, there is no purpose when people do this other than to flex their weak intellectual muscle on unsuspecting victims. I'd have to say that this technique of bombarding people with archaic and uncommon words is a fairly common method of compensating for not knowing what the hell one is talking about, in which case it functions as a scare tactic or a "make them feel like an idiot so they lose their train of thought"-tactic.

(And by the way, for all of the people who read this who are the archaic-word using type, save yourself 30 seconds and don't look up the words I mentioned so you can use them on your friends, they're all made up.)

The Plague that has Consumed Us: MySpace

2006-02-02T10:28:00.000-06:00

One fine morning about a week ago, I had the lovely kick in the nuts that is most easily described as the last words that I heard Johnny B (from WLUP 97.9 radio) speak before I left my car. Those fateful words, words that lead me to discover a fact that made me sick to my stomach;

I have a question for all of you teens out there - what is the attraction to the myspace website? It was listed as the 2nd fastest growing website by Google and has over 47 million visitors.

Now, I walked into school after those words and refused to believe them. It must only have 4.7 million visitors, after all... with only 300 million people in the US, there's no way that A. this website could have as much popularity overseas and in other countries, and B. that that many frickin people were consumed by this disease. But no. I checked the facts and was very disturbed. First of all, in this article on MacObserver, I discovered that in terms of "the fastest growing Web brands... MySpace came in at number two with 752 percent growth. Its visitors for November 2004 came in at 2.87 million, and 24.49 million in November 2005." Also some disturbing things I found include a USA Today Article with more disturbing facts and figures. But perhaps the most disturbing is this;

Edwards is so into MySpace that he and fellow high school senior Joyce Pace, 18, recorded an ode to MySpace — rewritten lyrics to the Black Eyed Peas' song My Humps— and posted it on the site.
"Whatchu gonna do with all them friends, all them friends that's on your page," the song begins. "I'm m-m-m-m-make them comment, make them comment on MySpace, MySpace ... OMG (Oh My God) its MySpace, MySpace."

Yeaah. Fitting, I suppose. A shitty song for a shitty website.

It's not just the fact that it's popular that makes me hate it (Yes, I have a myspace that someone made for me because they have nothing better to do evidently. I don't use it and only "sign in" when I'm curious to see who the annoying friend requests are from when they appear in my Gmail inbox.), it's the fact that myspace.com is such a broken website. The whole thing flat out sucks in terms of ease to use and quite frankly, it's a place for underage Internet prostitution rings and a location for pedophiles to hone in on their next target. ..shudder..

Girls use myspace to prostitute themselves by dressing like whores and taking "naughty" pictures of themselves. Yeah, I guess if you want to become a porn star, good start. Otherwise, you're a freaking 14 year old, that's disgusting. Just stop, please. Some people use myspace to "meet" others and start relationships... ookay. That's borderline creepy stalkerish.

People across the world; don't be coerced into a world of scumminess and despair. Don't use myspace. Do something else with your time. Even conversing with people in AOL Instant Messenger is more worthwhile than that...

Attention: Mass-Tort Law Suit Against John Grisham

2006-01-23T23:23:00.000-06:00

Attention, to the blogging community. This is a message to all readers out there - if you happened to read a semi-recent book of John Grisham called King of Torts, you may be in danger. Your life has officially gone down a few notches in the suck-factor. If you are an unfortunate victime of this, please call 1-800-PISS-OFF.

Now, normally I wouldn't review a book, simply because no one reads books anymore, sadly enough. However, when society is dumbing down as much as it is and then a renouned author publishes something this crappy, I feel the need to step in and declare the shittiness to the community as to prevent further dismay in the reading community.

Before I begin, let me explain what a tort-lawyer does. You know those TV-lawyers who say stuff like "if you are afflicted with this disease and you took X-drug, you might be eligible for compensation. This drug is very dangerous and has very harmful side effects, etc."? Well, that's basically what they do - run massive TV-ads and get thousands of clients and then use incriminating evidence to go up against drug-companies and get large settlements. These settlements, however, usually they rake 30-45% off the top, so they make hundreds of millions of dollars on these cases.

First of all, let me give a brief summary of this peice of absolute trash before I get any further. Well, the book is simply about a man named Clay Carter who works at the Office of the Public Defender who leads a very low-wage life and has a girlfriend who's parents are rich a-holes and they think he's trash because he makes low-wages. He gets an opportunity to represent a drug company under the table who made a major mistake and because of this, becomes a multimillionaire overnight. Then with his newly started law-firm, he delves into the world of mass-torts and ambulance chasing lawyership.

Let me say that first of all, lawyers that do mass-torts are assholes. That's not really helping anyone other than themselves and all their doing is putting a pock-mark on the entire profession - just asking people to label lawyers as "money-hungry jackasses."

Just for additional background - Clay Carter, when he originally delved into this world, was a nice man who did not wish to become a jet-owning millionaire because he didn't believe in this lifestyle. So what does he do 100 pages later? He buys a damned 30 million dollar jet. What a fricking sellout. I definitely do not empathize with this F-head when his life goes down the tubes at the end of the book.

Oh yes, and let me tell you that the ending is so shitty that I will spoil it without regret. Clay gets into this situation where he has about.. 30,000 clients for this one drug-case and he needs this individual laywer to win before he can get a settlement. The individual lawyer is taking names and kicking ass, not to mention destroying every witness the drug company brings up to the stand. And then guess what? The jury comes back and rules in favor of, FAKEOUT, the drug company. Therefore, Clay is f***ed in the A and he loses all of his money and declares bankruptcy. In case you're not getting this? The ending is a load of crap. There's no plausible way that this would happen and even if there was, this is not what you call a "twist-ending," this is what you call a "cop-out" ending. Come on Grisham, you can do better than that man..

The problem with this book is that when I was about halfway through it, there was no real conflict, it was just chronicalling Clay Carter's life of excess. If I wanted to hear something about shmucks spending millions of dollars on planes and squandering their fortunes (that were gained by insider trading), I would turn on the news and hear about insider trading there and Martha Stewart. But oh wait, I don't.

I have a message for Grisham and all the other "renouned" authors out there - please don't pump out shitty books. Appeal to the masses and write something actually worth reading. I know you have it in you. You can and should do it. Thank you.

Under the Knife

2006-01-21T12:30:00.000-06:00

Quite the hellacious week, from the lovely incident on day one of finals to the wonderful surgery that I had to have on a tooth the Friday after finals.

I sit here.. oh.. probably 24 hours after the surgery is done, with a gaping wound in my mouth where a tooth used to be and oh yes, did I mention that part of the Novocaine hasn't worn off yet? So half of my lower jaw region is numb to pain. I can literally stick a pin into around where my lip is to around where my chin is and not feel it.

Basically, what I'm saying is.. $360 for IV anesthesia and they can't even put the correct dosage in? Or maybe I can only hope that my face is permanently Botox-paralyzed so I can sue this people and make some money... perhaps I can actually afford college if I do that.. lol. But really, healthcare in this country blows. You have to get a $1500 orthodontic surgery on your mouth and insurance doesn't even cover part of it. What the hell is that? Would they prefer to pay for like some tooth/gum-cancer years down the road when I leave it in there and it gets a tumor on it and then I need some crazy-ass surgery to remove half my face? Yeah that's right, good call people, good call.

Anyways... Lit Final anyone? It kind of reminded me of that scene in Pulp Fiction where they bent the guy over the pipe and... well, you get the idea. 250 questions of pure unadulterated Hell. And the Advanced Math final was pretty fun as well... especially when I went 30 minutes past the time limit (good thing I er... couldn't make it to first period and had to make it up 9th, or I would have been screwed.)

Well, that about does it for this entry. Maybe next time I'll write something that actually has a bit of focus to it.

Words of Inspiration

2006-01-16T15:53:00.000-06:00

Now that finals are rolling into town, full swing. I figured I would interrupt my studying habits with a break to write a little somethin' somethin'.

School is pretty much just society's way of getting you down. It seem to be a microcosm for high society's elitist interpretation of social classes - I'm only talking about grades though, other options will most likely be explored later.

Those who get straight A's (in school - not on finals) are elite. They're in a new social order in which college is the forefront of thoughts and getting in is not very difficult - it depends on how high into this 1337 world they want to travel into.

For those who get A's and B's, it's like upper middle class. You're almost there, but not quite - you could be a threat though, so watch out. If only you had worked a little harder, neglected the family a little more, slept a little less, then you would have gotten the raise and higher paycheck - the A.

For B's or B's and C's... high society says to you, "Good luck and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out." In terms of what it's similar to in society - this is bordering into blue collar, but still in the mid to low white collar range of jobs right here. You're not really in the 6-figure range, therefore are not worthy in their eyes.

For straight C's.. well.. society says to you "congratulations, you're mediocre" through their false smiles. They really just want to laugh about you with their other elitist friends.

Anything lower than that... unfortunately you're the people who proverbially cook their meals, haul their rash, connect their calls, drive their ambulances, and gaurd them while they sleep.

In terms of finals. Finals are just another way of sticking it to you. If you happen to be on the borderline to move up or down into one of those classes, they really want you to screw up. They hate people on the fringes... and therefore, that A you need on the final in Honors Literature - they don't want it to happen.

Stick it to 'em. Get that A that they don't want you to get.

Parting Words

2006-01-13T11:48:00.000-06:00

Well, I sit here in study hall of my last 5th period lunch, reflecting on the long semester that I've had, but mostly the fact that I have to switch my lunch period because of weight training.

This isn't really too big of a deal, I suppose... but maybe it is. I came into 5th lunch with extremely low expectations - other classes were filled with people I know and wanted to eat with, but lunch was the exception. There was not a single person that I wanted to eat with in this lunch period when I walked in the first day. I kind of supposed I would have to eat with John and the kids he was going to sit with (A-Well, Loesch, etc.) and have an absolutely miserable time, all year looking for some excuse to switch a class and end up in a different lunch period.

Low and behold, I was online the first day of school when Chelsea IM'ed me, complaining about the lack of people in 5th period lunch, asking if I knew anyone in it. She said she knew like one other person but that's it. The next day I sat with her and Katie and then a few days later some "assorted underclassmen" joined our table (who knew the other two from swimming).

And now I look back on this semester, filled with many laughs, heated debates about how the Giants suck (all I hafta say is "Playoff game? What?"), discussions about the swim team politics (I mostly just listened to these while pretending to know what they were talking about), and of course, the LHS Pool. These people who I vaguely knew from previous classes or not at all have become highly valued in my mind because it's always interesting to get a different perspective on life or school - and they're seperate from the absolute crap that I've had to deal with in terms of my friends and immediate social life.

So I guess what I'm saying is... give people a chance and things will surprise you in the way they turn out.

(Oh and btw, anyone from my table who reads this; good times.. and my parting words, keep fighting the man with anti-establishment beliefs, don't go to Starbucks, and don't buy North Face fleece jackets. And the Bears do not make people emo kids... lol)

Harry Potter Fans

2006-01-06T11:47:00.000-06:00

Listen up folks, I have a little enlightening story to tell...

We've all read the various Harry Potter books, seen the movies, or at the very least seen the books at the top of the New York Times Bestseller lists for months on end. These seemingly harmless tales of wizardry and the fantastic adventures of the "boy who lived," are actually much more harmful than they appear to be at first glance.

Now, I'm not some Christian radical that thinks they are the cause of devil worship and are a bad example on children. No, it's worse than that. Now before I say these potentially shocking words, I will take you on a journey of observations.

Many past years there have been innumerable book signings, Harry Potter themed events, and even all-night sessions waiting for the book to be released at 12:01AM on the release date. I'm not taking about your standard person who reads the books for fun... We've all seen it, we all know of the crazy Harry Potter fans out there - these are not your average people, they practically worship these books, movies, and hell- even the Harry Potter Lego creations. It's beyond ridiculous; they even wear wizard clothes on days that aren't Halloween.

Anyways. The shocking words; the Harry Potter Fan-dom is a cult. There is no other legitimate explanation other than that. It turns out that J.K. Rowling's rags to riches story is a total fabrication. It's a cover-up... a Middle Eastern terrorist group contracted her to write brainwashing literature to distribute in the West. Basically, we're just sitting on a ticking time bomb here.

When Harry Potter dies in the 7th book (oh come on people, you know it's inevitable), every Harry Potter fan will commit suicide because they will be unable to live without the presence of this wizard in their life. They might even take out a few innocent bystanders while they're at it. We're just waiting for another Wako here. Watch out. It's going to happen.

Newsflash: North Face Fleece Jackets are a Friggin Waste of $

2006-01-05T17:09:00.000-06:00

This one goes out to all of you trendy North Face kids out there.

In case you don't live in the Midwest, or the proverbial tsunami of evil hasn't hit your town/city/school/area yet, here's a little background on this rich kid phenomenon. The North Face is a company who sells extremely overpriced jackets and assorted other winter products such as hats, gloves, coats, and whatever else. This brand has become extremely popular around the US. On their website, they say;

Now, 38 years after its start in the outdoor industry, The North Face provides an extensive line of performance apparel, equipment and footwear. Offering the most technically advanced products on the market, The North Face is the choice of the world's most accomplished climbers, mountaineers, extreme skiers, snowboarders and explorers. The North Face is committed to pushing the limits of design, so that you can push your limits outdoors -- never stop exploring.

I'm sorry, I think you guys said extensive, I think you mean "overly expensive." Yeah. (Haha, I know that was a good one, wasn't it?) Let's think about this - it's the choice of the most accomplished skiers, snowboarders, etc. Most accomplished - that means that they're professional athletes. Or rich. So basically what they're telling us, is that it's the choice of people that they choose to sponsor. Ah ha, there we have it folks.

The North Face is a brand perpetuated by "trendy" rich kids who want to flaunt their money (or their parents are just that cool that they buy these trendy but ridiculously priced pieces of merch for their kids). These people can range in age from being a super cool fifth grader with a cellular phone to a college kid flaunting their swank $90 Abercrombie and Fitch Ezra Fitch Premium Solid Shirt.

I did a little online window shopping before I decided to write this - and discovered the lowest priced North Face Denali 05 fleece (the most popular style) I could find, and discovered quite the bargain. Yes, indeed, folks. At the Mountain Sports online store, I came upon a (drumroll please) $150 North Face fleece. WOW! I almost wet my pants when I realized how much of a bargain that is! Fifteen whole dollars off of the original price?! Holy crap!

Now, I also looked up fleece jackets from Columbia Sportsware - a very reputable company in this industry. What looked to be a similar type of jacket was the Columbia Six Glacier Sweater - I was able to find this retailed at about $80.00 at Sports Authority. Wait, fakeout, I actually found it on sale for a mere $39.97 online. North Face kids, be aware, (even forgetting about the sale price) you're paying over 2 times what any normal fleece (hell, Columbia is a damn good brand, and it's not exactly bargain basement either) costs. Good call people, good call.

Let's also look at the plain, simple fact that. I live among a suburb of Chicago and observe this viral phenomena of North Face fleece purchasing. Key word there being Chicago. (In case you didn't know, it's colder than hell here.) People who want to use this as their winter coat must purchase an additional "shell" for the coat, bringing the price up to roughly... $400. For a coat, mind you. I just bought a new winter coat for snowboarding on sale and I spent a mere $100. (It cost around $200 to begin with - and this is a nice coat with a zip-out lining that I can wear seperately as a fleece jacket.) Hahahah suckers...

Actually, since North Face has infiltrated society so much, it's almost a non-issue (but feel free to laugh at and make fun of those kids, and flaunt your $40 fleeces), but all too often, the North Face kids are also Hollister kids. And, well... this is the most deadly combination ever...

A note of safety to my readers: If you see a Hollister and North Face kid do not try to observe this beast and do not make any sudden movements. Slowly back away until you are out direct harm, then run hastily toward the nearest Goodwill/Salvation Army/Resell-It store (they would never be caught dead in such a place.)

Live From the Scene of the Crime

2006-01-01T03:02:00.000-06:00

Note: definitely had to repost this about a half of a dozen times, due to it incorrectly showing that I posted this before the NY Eve sucks post, which would obviously be wrong.. and wouldn't make chronological sense (or just my mood in writing).

3:00 AM first day of 2006 WOO~!!.Actually ended the night (or started the day) whichever you want to call it, on a positive note. I got the line on a party that I should have gone to, unfortunately it wasn't the people I called who told me, and it was just a wee bit too late, but oh well. Props to Tomayo on that one...

My New Year's Resolution: To meet and discover new people, and be open to change in relationships with friends. Be more positive and take more chances in terms of meeting girls and new people to be friends with. Try to reestablish the friendships that broke off in late-2005 and if they don't work out then drop them, hard. Don't need to bring any excess baggage into this hard year (think about it - 1st semester finals, 2nd semester/finals2, summer before senior year, first semester senior year, ACT/SAT, college apps.)

Starting the year on a positive note - Signing off...

New Year's Eve: the Most Overrated Holiday of the Year

2005-12-31T21:37:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!

I might respond to that with a cheerfully sarcastic, "what's so happy about it?" But nonetheless, that's not really the point. The point is, this holiday is the most overblown, overrated thing of the year.

In all honesty, let's look at it. We celebrate watching the clock move one second from 11:59:59 to 12:00:00. Hooray!

This proclaimed "holiday" is just an excuse to go out party and get totally drunk. It seems to me kind of pointless, maybe that's because I don't drink. Who knows.

If you look beyond the sheer logistics of this holiday, it's the celebration of a passing year which, I guess I can go for. Granted, it doesn't really feel like a passing year. It's actually kind of a pain in the balls during January, the month in which probably 1 of 4 checks, homework assignments, and letters are written with the previous year's date on it because people haven't gotten used to writing 2006 etc.

It doesn't feel like a new year for me. (Or, it won't, at least... when the clock strikes 12.) Even when I go back to school... With finals after break, it's not really a new beginning, it's a half-assed attempt at re-learning what I learned in the months prior to being let out for break, and cramming this knowledge in my mind so I can perform well on a test that basically determines my grade for the semester. Kind of sucks.

Call me pessimistic if you want, but this is what happens when you stay home on New Year's Eve. You tend to realize how trivial it all is... maybe I am being a pessimistic jerk. I'll end on a positive note, however, maybe in college New Year's Eve will be more significant. More people to party with perhaps, and more of a significance in terms of finals being BEFORE break, and weeks after the holiday to finish work, as opposed to one day.

Sports: A General Overview 12.28.05

2005-12-28T12:37:00.000-06:00

Since I'm not a *huge* sports fan, I'll just lump all of the various things I want to talk about into this post. Randing from multiple Bears wins, to the anticipation of the Fiesta Bowl on January 2, Holiday Break has been an exciting time for Midwest sports fans.

Bear Down, Chicago Bears
Da Bears and their clutch defense have been through much in the past weeks. They won against the Atlanta Falcons in negative degree weather on the 18th of December with the help of Rex. See- that's what it's about; if someone isn't scoring the points, they need to be reconsidered. On that note, Kyle Orton has had a hell of a decent rookie season, but with that in consideration - the defense probably scored more points than he has on offense.
When I heard the announcer say "and after the half, we'll see Rex Grossman for the first time in regulation play this season," I was blown away. Looking back, it was undoubtedly strategy on part of the higher-ups like Jerry Angelo, Lovie Smith, and the other coaches.
Grossman came back and within the first few plays everyone agreed that it was the right choice. He lead them to a victory over the Falcons, which was frickin *huge!*

Da Cheese
The Packers game was very solid football and held my entertainment until the final seconds. For a game like that on Christmas day, definitely lived up to the hype and the rivalry juices flowed. Too keep it breif - the final minutes of the game exemplified the whole game and relationship between the Bears and Packers; a valiant effort by Brett Favre, only to be shut down and shoved down his throat in a nitty gritty final few minutes. The deliverance of a solid ass-kicking, so to speak. (Yeah, somewhere in between the 2 consecutive sacks and the interception.)

The Fightin' Irish
All I have to say is;
January 2 - First BCS Bowl of the year - Fiesta Bowl
Notre Dame vs. Ohio State
It's gonna be huge.

Fick Family Party Wrap-Up

2005-12-27T19:24:00.000-06:00

Apathy. Rage. Passion. Drama. All common themes at the Fick Family Holiday Party.

Okay. Definitely not... but it was entertaining to a point.

Yeah, so the precursor to this was a lot of BS, no one really wanted to deal with it from our family, and everyone was bitching and such. My family went out in the morning to Best Buy and this other random store and I got this sweet velvet-looking blazer (and the new Sin City DVD).

We got back to the house and my grandpa was putting up a ridiculous amount of no parking signs everywhere so the street wouldn't be blocked in, (oh, and btw, his house looks like Chevy Chase' house in Christmas Vacation, with about 10,000 lights.) So yeah, to cut to the chase, this thing starts up. All the proverbial old people start coming over, and these two sisters who I'm somehow related to who are about.. Late 20s'ish. My dad starts having a discussion with them about Vodka. Classic Mike O'Brien move. He's recommending all of these various vodka's and one of them is like "yeah I get all my alcohol for free - I have a friend who's a biochemist and whenever I want to try out a new brand of Vodka or something, I tell him, and his company goes out and buys it and he tries to emulate the flavor with all of these chemicals, then when he's finished he gives me a few bottles of the stuff." Classic.

Yeah, then later, I went and talked to these two kids with PSPs who were sitting outside (it's definitely like 50-70 degrees in STL btw, not 15 degrees or whatever). They were also bored out of their freaking minds, and didn't want to be there either. Maybe one day I'll appreciate these family reunion-esque things, that day will probably come when I'm past the age of 21. Not that I'm a huge advocate of drinking, but I could see how that would make a difference, seeing as most of the adults were thoroughly trashed.

Oh yes, and I can't go without mentioning what I have so aptly named the "Fick Family Clique," which consists of a sect of the family that is a bunch of locals who live near each other, and they chill with each other a lot. (That's the intel my mom gave me afterward.) I encountered this clique all sitting in a circle in the living room, having a seemingly exclusive conversation. I didn't want to go near them, it was kind of creepy. Freaked me out a bit.

And the final fun thing of the night, Ashley (cousin), my sister, and I became bored and hungry... SO, we decided it would be a good idea to roast marshmallows in the fireplace (inside). So we naturally looked for skewers (like for shish-kabobs), but were unable to find any. Then, we stole a hanger from the closet and used that. Very very tasty marshmallows... mmm.

All in all, not a bad event, I suppose. Funny seeing all the drunk people tho...

Top Five Worst Christmas Gifts 2005

2005-12-26T19:02:00.000-06:00

1. XXX: State of the Union or a similarly crappy DVD (like maybe "The Fog") - This just sucks. Honestly, who comes up with this crap? I saw the Fog earlier this year... if I was unfortunate enough to get the DVD version of this, I would probably go ahead and slash my wrists and let it bleed all over the DVD packaging. Yeah, and you really can't take them back either, because the cheap SOB who bought it for you probably got it in a $10 bin at Blockbuster. Yippee-Kai-Yay MuthaF**ker!

2. Undergarments - Not only is this awkward, but it blows. If I need to buy boxers, I would just go freaking buy some cheap ones from Target or something. I don't need American Eagle boxers - totally unnecessary. As a general rule; unless it's from the "Very Sexy" collection at Victoria Secret (and for your female significant other), it's probably a no-go.

3. iTunes Gift Card - Here's an idea. Give someone a CD with Limewire downloaded onto it. Provide postage-paid envelopes as well. They can download music from there and then go ahead and send the artists a buck a song. Then the artist doesn't get screwed, you're not supporting a record company, and Apple's profit-share doesn't go up more than it needs to. After all, they make enough money as it is selling iPods and crap like that.

4. Starbucks Anything - Go buy a mocha-frappachino in a bottle! Not. Starbucks is soo lame. So is the whole teenage coffee generation. Why are people wasting their hard earned money from their $5.50/hr fast food jobs in coffee shops where a so-called "Double Cappachino" costs like $3.75. (The coffee beans for that cost about 21 cents.) And another thing about Starbucks. WTF is up with the ridiculous amount of coffee choices. Sometimes enough is enough. When you can choose your coffee by the individual f#cking village it came from, that's a bit too crazy, what if you just want to buy some regular coffee? Why all the bullsh##?

5. Hollister Clothes from some random relative - This is probably the worst gift ever. See this article (See December 21, 2005) for more information on Hollister kids. Not only do all of these clothes make you look like a stupid preppy little whore, if you want to return then, you have to delve into the atmosphere of a poorly lit, crappy music, jackass-employee Hell. They describe themselves as; "the newest southern Cali lifestyle retailer geared towards energetic and outgoing guys and girls." (Read: geared towards lameasses and crackwhores.) What the hell kind of place sells jeans for $69.50? Holy crap...

What didn't make the list:
- Monogrammed crap that you didn't ask for. Especially when they screw up your initials TJO? wtf happened to the capital B in "O'Brien?"

- Crappy regifts with the price tags still partially on. We're talking blatant regifts here, like a picture frame pillow, with the sticky price tag half ripped off, and ugly fabric.

- Anything that looks like it was free = scummy. Way to tell someone you care, buy them something that you got for free in the mail. (Or out of a cereal/crackerjack box.) Very classy.

NOTE: Contrary to popular belief, I did not recieve any of these gifts (with the exception of an Abercrombie shirt a few years ago, which is kind of like Hollister on the caliber of stupidity). These are gifts that I came up with or was helped to come up with by observing gifts others received and by asking relatives what their worst gifts were.

First Post

2005-12-25T23:59:00.000-06:00

First post. Woo. Had to get off Xanga, it was driving me nuts. I hated the format and n00bish quality of it. Anyways, more to come. 1:20 AM and time to take a rest.