My life and the things that go with it

Fun with names

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 17:54:56 GMT

1. YOUR REAL NAME:

Jason

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle.)

Jasizzle

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (fav color and fav animal)

Red Labrador

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, and current street)

Ryan Frankford (oooh I like that one!)

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name)

Stajaden

6. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink)

Black SoCo

7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, any letter of your middle name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden name, 3rd letter of you dads middle name, 1st letter of a siblings first name, last letter of your moms middle name)

AANERKH

8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (siblings middle name and fathers middle name)

Ray Kerry

9. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one your pets)

Black Muffin (Not very threatening I must say. Almost perky)

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 18:30:43 GMT

Ok,

It is official Jason is stressed :) We're not talking like pulling hair out and line up the tequila shots kind of stressed. More like "ok my plate is full. I want to go sit down and eat through what I have before I come back for more. Besides the gravy is running off the turkey and is going to make my roll soggy unless I save it quickly. Hmmmmm Gravy (homer simpson drool sound)"

I have way too much going on at work and I can't get ahead of the rolling boulder.
I am so far behind on balancing my personal accounts. I have a general feeling that I am ok but I don't know that for sure. Last night I got caught up through March 10. Now I am only a month behind on figuring out my financial status.

I move in eleven days. How many boxes do I have packed? Zero zilch nada

Plus I need to do laundry and get an oil change on my car this week since I didnt get those done yesterday.

On the plus side I sorted through my blankets and reduced my stack down to 6. 6 blankets and I have only one bed. After typing that last sentence I realized how silly that is. I guess I will go through some more.

I also tossed some VHS tapes. I could go through and figure out what is on them but I don't have the time. For a while there I was having Mom and Dad record some TV shows for me since I don't have cable. Things like Robot Chicken, Venture Brothers, Teen Titans, Heroes. I now watch Heroes online and that is about the only show I keep up with. Maybe tonight I can box up some of my DVDs.

I also need to do some serious shredding. I found a file folder last night filled with credit card statements from 2003. Obviously don't need those now. Don't need to move them either. Time to run em through my little shredder.

Brian has offered to help me out a night this week. I may put him on bagging comics duty. That way I can shove them in a box so they can be moved.

I need to check and see if I still have that Civilization board game. I was talking with Sara and Meg this weekend and the game came up. My first thought was, uggh. If that's my first thought about the game then I don't need to keep it.

Anyways my lunch break is almost over and I feel a little better now. Now time to finish my margarita and get back to my spreadsheets.

money stuff

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 17:49:09 GMT

Hmph,

Money problems suck. I've been looking at my accounts and realizing that Jason had forgotten about two outstanding checks that finally cleared. Not good. I haven't bounced a check or anything but that combined with two weekends of car problems in three weeks have put a serious dent in the fun money. Probably going to be acting poor for a while.

Upcoming expenses
Moving (although rent and bills will be less afterwards, including gas!)
Tax payment
Rent
Car Repairs

In May
Plane ticket
Gym Membership (switching from a month to month to a 3year prepaid, will still come out ahead even charging it on a credit card and paying interest on it)

In June
A-Kon

On the sucky side I will have to tell Jennifer that I can't afford to go with the girls to Arkansas in April. The alternator really sucked up all that money.

Hmm office work is depressing today

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:34:45 GMT

Ok, so they are painting the offices at work this month and over the weekend the painting goblins came and painted half the walls in the bean counter department. Gone are the bright blue walls to be replaced with dark gray walls. I mean dark gray walls. Like thundercloud gray. Like tornado sky gray. Combined with the real clouds I see out the window, not good. Doesn't feel uplifting.

The morning got better when I got a big ole hug from Pam, a wonderful smiley CSR (Customer Service Rep) with lovely gazungas. I may be gay but I'm still a man :)

Apparently Ford Focus parts are grown in a mythical forest glade, harvested only by maidens of the purest virtue riding unicorns, and finally soaked in nectar and ambrosia for a full moon. This is my only explanation for why parts are so rare and expensive for it. My alternator was 250 dollars (labor was an extra 300). I could have purchased a Wii for that much money (of course installing it in my focus would have cost more than 300 bucks) It would make the commute easier and more enjoyable with some Wii Sports Tennis action.

This weekend my brakes went out in my Focus. Took it to Pep Boys where they determined that a brake line on one of my wheels was ruined. Only problem is tracking down a 2005 Focus break line for them to replace it with. Apparently the maidens and the unicorns haven't gotten around to harvesting those yet.

On the plus side I am driving Dad's Sportstrac right now. It is nice to be higher on the road. I can look down at the other smaller weaker cars and feel superior. Generally in my Focus I can only do that to Mini Coopers. That feeling quickly evaporates whenever I try to park the damn thing however. Its a five point operation, with lots of backing up and screaming warnings at pedestrians and nearby buildings.

I need to put in my vacation request for the Montanna trip. It will be good to see some of the family. It will be good that I am drinking age when it comes to the other family members.

Jason found a unicorn!

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 18:52:45 GMT

I had a fantastic weekend. So many things went well or reflected surprising good news. I'm seeing this really great guy. A couple of weeks ago after the deflating of the paramedic relationship (it really didn't break up, just deflated over time in a very undramatic and boring way) I made up a list of the things I was looking for in a relationship.

1. A guy. Since I'm gay this is important. But more importantly a masculine guy. I'm not into swishy guys or princesses.

2. An athletic guy. Not only does this keep them in good shape (yay) but I enjoy working out and doing things. Would be nice if they did it too.

3. Has to like physical contact, I like cuddling, holding hands blah blah. Previous boyfriends haven't been so big on this.

4. Can't smoke or do drugs. I hate the smell of the stuff and don't want the drama.

5. Has to have a career plan. I don't care where on the plan they are but they need to be making progress on it.

6. Has to want to spend time with me and not just whenever it is convenient for him. (I'm looking at the paramedic here)

7. Would be great if they enjoy the same things I do (comics, computer games, roleplaying games, all that nerdy junk) Because the things I like aren't "cool" I sometimes feel really uncomfortable talking about my interests. This was a problem with the paramedic as I never felt like I could be myself.

I began talking to this really neat guy online a couple of weeks ago. He fit every one of the above criteria (along with being tall, dark haired and really handsome)except the only problem was he was only 20. That's a five year age difference. At first I put him in the friends category based on that. But the more we talked the more it seemed like a silly arbitrary division.

I am so glad I am taking this chance. The last few weeks have been so great. I have been smiling all day at work.

I keep joking with him that he's a unicorn, as in a mythical creature that doesn't exist in the real world.

So anyways this weekend he takes me to a german deli. It was small and cozy and the food was good. There was a group dressed up for the Scottish festival that was taking place that day. There was an accordian player who led us in sing alongs. It sounds stupid but I had a great time. I just felt realy comfortable.

After that we went to a comic book store with my best friends. Then we went home and cuddled on the couch and watched Futurama.

Man things are going great right now.

video I truly enjoyed

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 06:29:14 GMT

Ok, first off, link to a funny 12 days of 2006 video done with Barbies. Enjoy!

http://wow.wowtv.tv/episodes/12-days-of-wow

Other than that merry X-mas!

First, poll results

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 06:25:48 GMT

center>

You are a
Social Liberal
(71% permissive)

and an...
Economic Conservative
(70% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Libertarian

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

</center>

hmmm

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 03:31:40 GMT

My Personality


Neuroticism	16
Extraversion	70
Openness To Experience	80
Agreeableness	54
Conscientiousness	1

Test Yourself Compare Yourself View Full Report

Bebo, Discount Ugg Boots and MySpace Codes by Pulseware Survey Software

Well I'm apparently not dedicated as you can tell if you look at my laundry hamper.

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 03:18:57 GMT

Stolen from The Iceman!
Supposedly if you've seen over 100 movies, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen.

There are 171 movies on this list.
Put your score in header and repost:

( ) Nacho Libre
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the caribbean 2
( ) Orange County
(x) The Green Mile
(x) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (new)
(x) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory(old)
(x) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
( ) Red Eye
( ) Stick It
( ) Shes the Man
(x) 8 Mile
Total = 10

(x) The Princess Bride
( ) SNL's The Best of Adam sandler
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Fun With Dick and Jane
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total = 13

(x) Scream
(x) Scream 2
(x) Scream 3
( ) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
Total = 18

(x) Harry Potter
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil I
( ) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
( ) Cinderella Man
(x) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
Total = 25

(x) Finding Nemo
(x) Finding Neverland
( ) Signs
(x) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
(x) Robots
Total = 31

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
( ) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
( ) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
(xx) KING KONG (old or new)
Total = 35

( ) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
(x) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
(x) Flubber
(x) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
(x) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
Total = 43

( ) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) 10 Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
Total= 45

( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Sleven
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
( ) Identity
(x) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) Superstar
(x) Ice Age
( ) Ice age 2 The Meltdown
Total= 49

(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Boss' Daughter
( ) Maid in Manhattan
(x) Monsters Inc.
( ) War of the Worlds-old one or new one
( ) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
Total = 52

( ) Best Bet
( ) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She's All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
(x) Event Horizon
( ) Ever After
( ) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x ) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
Total = 56

(x) X-Men
(x) X-Men 2
(x) X-Men 3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
(x) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
( ) The Others
(x) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
(x) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total = 67

( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle
( ) Old School
( ) K-Pax
(x) Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Boogeyman
(x) The 40-Year-Old Virgin
( ) The Hills Have Eyes
(x) Moulin Rouge

Total - 72

Ok. So apparently I am not as big of a loser as I thought! There's still hope for me yet!

I love pineapple upside down cake!

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 05:39:15 GMT

Olivia,

I am going to marry your mother. I don't care if she's seeing someone or whatever. Those distractions can be dealt with. That cake of hers was really good. As long as I have my cake we can get past the whole gay thing and the age difference. Sound good?

I hate my job!

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 05:05:05 GMT

Ah yes, time for the most hackneyed cliched livejournal post topic "I HATE MY JOB!" I should feel ashamed at my lack of originality in topics, but my sense of decency withered long ago like a marshmallow peep stranded in the middle of an Arizona Wal-Mart parking lot in July.

I despise my job for the following reasons:

1) keeping track of my hours during the day. All day long I have to charge my time to various assignments. These assignmanets have budgets attached to them so at the end of the day all 8 hours has been charged to some assignment. This week is timecard week where I have to look at my timecard and fill in any holes in the time card with random assignemnts. Fun stuff. I am tired of keeping track of my time like a lawyer.

2) No music or iPods at work. Since I come in later, I stay later in the evening than anyone else. The office is very very quiet in the afternoons. Too quiet! Some music would make the day go by so much quicker.

3) The pressure to finish a shitload of assignments in the next week because..........

I start a new job on the 31st!!!!!!

And I feeeeeeel great!

By the way, I love Mary Tyler Moore! That is all.

I'm a muppet!

Sat, 17 Jun 2006 05:09:20 GMT

You Are Scooter

Brainy and knowledgable, you are the perfect sidekick.
You're always willing to lend a helping hand.
In any big event or party, you're the one who keeps things going.
"15 seconds to showtime!"

The Muppet Personality Test

What's funny is that I have a vintage Scooter Doll from the 80's in good condition at my parents house in my old bedroom. It's fate!

How much do you care?

Mon, 01 May 2006 05:05:56 GMT

I saw this and laughed for days. Does this reflect on me? No. It reflects on how society has failed me. Or it means I need more Rum and Coke. Hmmm Deep Thoughts

Group Dynamics, Mountain Dew and Orcs

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 04:42:54 GMT

For the last 8 months, I have been running a Dungeons and Dragons game with a group of fun interesting people. Some of them I've known for years, others I met through this group. There's always a challenge when you try to get 7 people together to play a game. People have different reasons for being there, they enjoy different aspects of the game.

Case in point, We have one player whose biggest thrill comes from "tweaking" the rules and looking for combinations in the game. He approaches the game as a puzzle. It's fascinating (and sometimes scary when I am trying to run the game) to see what he can come up with. He doesn't have the greatest social skills in the world. He's enthusiastic about coming up with ideas which frequently contain a good idea in them, it just takes some polishing. He does have a heart of gold and would never try to hurt anyones feelings. He's a good guy and he drives an hour each way each Saturday for the game because he enjoys our company and the game. He could just as easily stay at home and play World of Warcraft and get on a certain level some of the same joys ("breaking" the game), just not the social ones.

We have another player who thrives on the social interactions in the game. If there was a game where nobody ever drew a weapon I sometimes think she might die of happiness, a literal immolation of roleplaying pleasure. Her character is designed to be charismatic and diplomatic and well read. She is the "face" for the group. Sometimes she tends to forget that while her character is the spokesperson for the characters, she isn't necessarily the spokesperson for the players as well. She's extremely busy but still makes the time for the game. She cares about the storyline and pays attention to the plot (I really do have one guys)

Which one of these players is playing D&D the right way? They both are. Roleplaying games, unlike say Monopoly, can draw a wide variety of people into them. They are drawn to the different aspects of it, and soem of the challenge is balancing these roles. If by some glorious alignment of the stars you manage to join a group where everyone is in it for the same goals, handcuff those people to the table and never let them leave. For me it's a balance of making sure each game night has some social non combat stuff for some of the players. I could easily just make alternating nights fight/plot nights but that would just make some people really happy then really sad the next week.

It is fun seeing when the players expand outside their normal boundries however, such as when the "face" of the group was stuck on one side of a barricade facing a group of badguys while the parties "muscle" was trapped on the other side. Suddenly the "face" had to fight. At the same token I have introduced individual plot lines for the characters with varying degrees of success in an effort to help personalize each charcter. Our powergamer didn't want to help craft a backstory (parents dead, they trained me, I'm an orphan with nobody in the world etc) so I made one for him. At first it might be thought of as unfair but I think he has risen to the challenge quite admirably with some fun roleplaying twists.

This is definitly the best D&D group I have ever played with. I would have never imagined in my wildest dreams that we would still be playing the same characters 8 months later. I love you guys!

First week of 2006

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 16:45:35 GMT

How did the first week of 2006 go for Jason?

Hmmmm. Well I'm close to finishing the damn audit that has been hanging around me since 9/17/05.

I found a theater in Plano that plays second run movies for $1 before 6 and $1.50 after 6. Plus on Tuesdays they do 50 cent tickets! The theater is nicer than the one in Commerce and I have a feeling I will try to go there at least twice a month after work. (By the way, I saw Wallace and Grommet, curse of the were rabbit. Damn funny movie, first it has a short cartoon with the penguins from madagascar. I love them! so cute, but soooooo capable {like me!}There are so many little things hidden in the corners of the movie, like a record that Grommet plays for his prize watermelon is "The Plant Suite" with a picture of vegetable planets drifting through a solar system. The greengrocer, Harvey's, in town has its name printed on a giant carrot. Of course I got a kick out of that since I have seen Jimmy Stewart's "Harvey". Fun little movie! Plus the little rabbits are so cute!

I am still slogging through the Return of the King at the gym. If I hadn't already seen the movies I doubt I would be able to make it through this. (Which is ironic because LotR inspired D&D!)

I received World of Warcraft for Christmas and am enjoying playing that. This is my first online game. The good news is a bunch of my other friends are online too. They are of course tremendously more powerful than I am, but they are amused by my newb responses such as "I saw my first orc!" and "I died for the first time!" It's neat though when I am getting my ass handed to me by a monster and then out of nowhere another person runs by and hits ot for me.

Got the Christmas tree and ornaments and decorations down and put away. Also spent my day off on Monday cleaning the apartment and while it's not finished it is so much better! (Jason desperately needs furniture but he doesn't have any money for it yet. He starts socking away some money each month this month for furniture. I will get a mattress set first, a queen size one!)

Well I have to go get ready for the game tonight. One week down, 51 left!

Sneaking a post at work

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 18:54:07 GMT

How is today going? Hmm. Well Its exactly 252 minutes till I get to leave. Does that say anything to you?

After work tonight I have a class at the gym, then I need to find a haircut. The last place I went to was in the Plano mall. They did a good job and were fairly cheap (Mastercuts, not one of the stuck up salons) I'm not sure if I want to brave the mall on a Friday night for a haircut.

Things to do
Workout
Haircut
Finish D&D quest thingy for Saturday
Wrap Presents
Buy Narnia Tickets for tonight
clean the bathtub
fold clothes
find my Gameboy charger so I can keep playing Final Fantasy Tactics

People need to update their Amazon Wish Lists!

Mon, 21 Nov 2005 23:07:00 GMT

OK people, it's Christmas time!

I need my friends to compile some Amazon wishlists for me. They make things a heck of a lot easier for everyone you know!

I'm specifically looking at gallery dancer and kick and admiral hawthorne.

Jason finally looked at his calendar today. I have been freaking out about Christmas and how I was going to afford it. I finally realized that hey, I have one of those "extra" paychecks coming up that happen when you are paid biweekly instead of bimonthly.

Christmas is back on!

It was seriously looking like it was going to be a crayon and construction paper year again.

Behold my centralism!!!!!

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 04:22:07 GMT

You are a
Social Moderate
(56% permissive)

and an...
Economic Moderate
(56% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Centrist

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating

This was a fun test :)

on a barely related note, I came across two things that were hilarious, if you read Harry Potter that is.

http://piratemonkeysinc.com/ms1.htm
This is probably only going to make sense to those of you who have stumbled across "mary sue" fan fics before. If you are asking yourself "Mary what?" be grateful!

This one is a funny stick figure comic taken from the books. Enjoy! http://piratemonkeysinc.com/wsdm.htm

Mon, 08 Aug 2005 15:53:28 GMT

hmmmmm?

Job news and stuff

Tue, 02 Aug 2005 20:11:47 GMT

Well I finally got an email with all sorts of attachments from my future employers. It was a relief to get that kind of stuff because it gave info that I was sorely missing, such as where the office I would be working at is! Kind of important to know! It also came with a drug testing notification. Drat, no more snorting cocaine off underage asian prostitutes. What will I do with my Tuesday evenings?

My job will be in North Richardson right off Highway 75. The good news is that my commute will be relatively direct and that the job is in North Richardson. This is good because while I was apartment shopping (and signing leases) in McKinney (which is north of Richardson) I had the awful thought that the job would be located in SouthEastern Richardson, thus making an even longer commute. The bad news is that my direct route is down Highway 75 which is the road everyone takes! My 18 mile commute will probably take 40 minutes. Yay! (insert Kermit the Frog crazy handwave of excitement and or frustration)

I also recieved an application for my offcial VISA travel card which I will use to charge my work related travel expenses. I am not sure how much traveling and to where I will be going. I was told it wouldn't be too much. I hope so. That kind of stuff gets old quick.

Dungeons and Dragons Nerd Alert!!!!!!!!
I did the second game of my current campaign on Saturday. I had a fun time screwing with the players. They were sent to pick up a package. In order to not appear to suspicious the large group of seven split into teams to sneak to the bar. Along the way one team got jumped, and called for help. Backup arrived shortly except for the point man who didn't hear the call. He was held up by a parade of animals and tumblers and couldn't hear the call. He instead got attacked by an evil clown.

My brother pulled some nice jump checks and went all Batman over this one dude who was trying to escape. My brother did a running jump across the roof and jumped through the open balcony door, and proceeded to stab the poor bastard a couple of times. (hehe) Jeff, one of my friends who drove two hours to play in the game, went sailing off the roof after he tried to tackle one of the assasins. My brother then proceede to bum rush the assassin off the roof after Jeff. Jeff had just stood up and brushed himself off, when the assasin crashes into the space he had just left. He proceeds to calmly stab the bad guy. Very cinematic fight!

They are a really fun group and I am having a lot of fun!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Sun, 31 Jul 2005 20:06:30 GMT

Alone! Blissfully wonderfully alone!

Tue, 26 Jul 2005 22:01:57 GMT

Boyfriend is out of town for the last two days on training. In the meantime, I have gotten to putter around an apartment all to myself for the last two days. It has been really enjoyable. Being able to sit down and read (finished the Harry Potter book) and watch junk has TV has been nice. Was able to lounge on the couch in my jammies and read comics. Took a long bath where I made good progress on another book. (Hmm not the most exciting way to spend my time alone I know)

This in no way suggests that I dislike spending time with my friends or anything like that, its just that I haven't had alone time in a while (I do not count driving in the car and eating lunch to be alone time)

Yesterday I applied for an apartment in McKinney. I think I will probably get it. Its a nicer complex, I was looking in the 600 to 700 dollar range. For McKinney that means a nice one bedroom around 800 sq ft, dishwasher, washer dryer hookups and central heat and air. Complex usually came with a pool and a fitness center. The one I am probably going to get has built in shelving and desks and a big ole garden tub. Very nice :) It is on the second floor though, so no DDR for me :)

Started thinking about cars again after my current car wouldn't start quickly for me this weekend. Started running the numbers through my financial calculator (being a finance major paid off)and quickly discovered that I will be unable to afford very much car. It was disappointing not because I wanted an escalade or any such thing but I did want a car in the high 20s. Oh well. I will get a cheap one and probably trade it in five years down the road or something.

Anyways, I need to get out of here.

Independence Day

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 03:17:03 GMT

Well today is Independence Day.

I have had an interesting day today. This weekend I discovered that my computer's hard drive was screwed up by the smoke that came from our neighbours fire. In a related note the smoke damage to the walls was worse than we originally thought, when I was taking down my He-Man action figures (still in the original packaging of course) there were these perfect little squares of white surrounded by off white wall. After the move, my hard drive would not wake up. Upon examination, the oily smoke had combined with the dust in my machine to make a tar like substance. Groovy, my computer has emphysema. Well my dad was helping me look at options, and at the end he just looked at me and said, it's your money you decide. What's interesting about this, is that probably up until this month, he would have paid for the replacement, but since I'm almost done with school, it's up to me now. It was an interesting experience. Not quite sure how I feel about it yet. I do know I am kicking myself for not backing up all my digital photos. All the pictures from Hawaii, the Caribbean Cruise, the snowstorm in commerce, graduations and banquets all gone. I will definitely do it in the future but man what a tough way to learn this lesson.

My grandma on my moms side got into a bad accident the other day. She possibly blacked out on the highway and totaled her van and received a compound fracture. For those that don't keep up with ER, that's when the bone is outside the body instead of being inside. naughty bone. They fixed her ankle "adequately", the doctors exact words, and were keeping her for observation. The ER doctors were concerned about her mix of meds. During the night her spleen ruptured and was filling her body cavity with blood. They took her into surgery this afternoon and it took two surgeons three hours to fix it. Complications from previous intestinal surgeries were the fault. She is out of surgery but is being kept sedated (in a drug induced coma) for three days to allow her time to heal. Mom was receiving phone calls all afternoon from different family members telling her to make plane reservations to fly to Montana because" this is it" and then twenty minutes later would receive a different story. She was pretty upset by this to say the least. Now some of you may be wondering why I am telling all this. Here's the deal: I am worried that my mom may be heading down the same path. She isn't in the greatest of health and I am worried about her. She needs to lose some weight and I want her to be around for a long time. She's neat. She was my study buddy in high school and is my bingo partner. Now in the interest of full disclosure I need to lose weight also. (There, fair and balanced reporting :)

Good thing that happened: got to go out to breakfast with the parents and gallerydancer this morning. We had a great time.

Bad thing that happened: family illness and buying a new hard drive.

He's hypnotized! How can you tell? He has swirley eyes!

Fri, 20 May 2005 15:55:27 GMT

Last night I went to a comedy club with my friends Lydia and Jackie. I haven't gotten a chance to hang out with just the two of them in a while. Because of my trip to Montanna tomorrow (and all of next week) we had to go last night to see this comedic hypnotist Flip Orley that Jackie had seen on TV.

He opened the show with a comedy routine, then asked for volunteers. 15 of the 50some people in the audience came onstage, me included. He then began putting us under using his deep calming voice and relaxation techniques. He was very clear that only about half of us would be affected. Apparently it affects me very well! Perhaps it was the strawberry daquiri or the lack of sleep from Wednesday night, but I went out like a light onstage. Thats actually not accurate. I remember everything being said around me and I remember the audience laughing when I didnt come out of it for the first test. I just didn't care, I was very relaxed. I finally came up for the next test, (and the audience laughed at that). Over the next hour we had all sorts of fun "tricks" played on us. Some of us were supposed to be "goosed" when ever Flip touched his head, we were supposed to smell bad smells whenever the word red was said.

One of the skits involved the comedians clothes supposedly falling off whenever he said ladies and gentlemen. Whats wierd, is that I didnt "see" his clothes falling off, but I did feel very embarrased.

Apparently I was quite the little star last night. My answers were apparently very funny and after watching the short video Jackie took on her camera, I agree. At one point we were supposed to be a panel reviewing Gilligans Island. Half of us were fans and half of us hated it. When I was asked for my opinion, I replied "I like pineapples." Later on when questioned why the castaways weren't getting it on, I replied "It's like the Garden of Eden" When asked why the guest stars were always able to get off the island but the castaways couldn't, my brilliant answer was "they weren't pure." Apparently the audience loved that. The comedian then put us back under and was commenting on our answers. When he said the words "they weren't pure" I proceeded to place my head on the chest of the lady sitting next to me. The audience died at that. Later in the evening we were Disney park employees at a "character support meeting" after being arrested for a disagreement with kids. I proceeded to explain my job as Captain Hook and how this little brat stole my hook and ran through Frontierland and described all the rides he ran by and through. I then described being dragged to jail in my costume (the words butt pirate came out of my mouth at some point). I expressed my indignation at being forced to pay 58 dollars for the missing hook when it was just a cheap piece of plastic painted by the chained up immigrants in the basement.
For the finale, he "told" us that the words ladies and gentlemen were extremely offensive to us and that were highly upset that he was saying these things to the audience. One of us were told to use baseball signs to encourage the audience to leave. Another was told to laugh at the words (oh boy did she laugh) and yet another was told to hum loudly to cover up the words. What did I get to do? My right hand got to rise up and begin arguing with me about whether it was offensive or not. Yes I was on stage arguing with my hand. The audience really enjoyed that. Some highlights of the conversation include "Flippy, fix this" "I can't afford two DART tickets for the ride home" "He's saying mean things about your mother" and then I finally just took my hat off and covered up the offending appendage.
After this he brought us out of it. What was strange was I remember everything that was said and the audience laughing. It just didnt embarrass me or make me uncomfortable to do it. Afterwaards though I was so freaking embarrassed. It didn't make things easier when people kept coming up to me to shake my hand and congratulate me. I could have gotten a few free drinks out of it. The table next to us came over and posed for pictures with me. Amanda, the girl whose boobs i used as a pillow, came up and hugged me and told me she had fun.
Looking back on it it was fun, but

I am gradjumacated!!!!

Tue, 17 May 2005 14:52:16 GMT

Well I have a bachelors degree. Graduation was fun because it was quick. Less than an hour, in and out. Helps that my college was only graduating 83 students. I graduated cum laude and got a little medal. To be honest the only reason I did got it was because of the good grades I made my freshman and sophomore years. I remember my second semester getting my first B and seriously considered retaking the class. My friends quickly slapped me around on that one. As I hit the harder classes, especially accounting, my GPA kept slipping and slipping. I at least have a degree and I am glad about that.

Went out to eat with the family and some friends at Red Lobster. Then went home and took a nap. Mmmm nap! Then went over to Adm Hawthornes and Kicks swinging pad for some food and fellowship! I am very lucky to have such good friends in my life!