Ohhhh bajeebers. What am I to do?

So I'm sitting here in my bed.
Like I have been for the past week or so.
What am I going to do in this town?
The suburbs are so restrictive. You have to drive to go anywhere. If I was back in Chambana I could walk down to Noodles, or walk to get a haircut (I need to do that), or walk down to Green Street and try one of the 7 Asian restaurants within the length of one block (it really exists).

Ohhhh bajeebers. Look at the time.

I haven't been really paying attention to the time. All I know is that I need it to pass. I'd much rather be away from this place.

Ohhhh bajeebers. I need to get out more.

But every day so far with the exception of today, I was unable to go out because it was either a holiday or snowing like mad. I think Mother Nature has been forgetting to take her meds lately. On the day after Christmas, it started to warm up. The day after that, it was 55 degrees with a big rainstorm that dumped about an inch of rain. Mind you, this is December we're talking about. Then, it turned 30 degrees colder.
A week ago, it snowed like mad, and it snowed before that, too. So that's three storm systems in a little over a week.


Today I walked the dogs and worked a bit on the Club 10 game.

Wtf is that?

My friends on the 10th floor in my dorm building (which is basically a tower: 10 floors, and only 6 rooms on each floor) decided to make a club called "Club 10," sort of jokingly. We got our other friends on the top half of the "tower" in on it too. So a bunch of us got together one night and stayed up until 3 AM laughing our asses of trying to come up with phrases and events in the game, like "Bill uses disguise. Dave asks Bill if he's seen Bill," and "Meagan uses preposterone. Meagan grows beard. Enemy is now confused." There were a ton of other ones based on inside jokes that you all wouldn't understand. But believe me, I hadn't laughed so much in such a long time. Probably since we saw the performance of the Second City comedy troupe in September (this was December).

Thoughts. People should have them.

Paul: NOOOO! Care about things! Don't stop caring about things!
Zexi: Lmao.

So for Christmas I got a new phone, a watch with a built-in flash drive (that's weird, right? In a good way.), and a bunch of clothes that I specifically mentioned I didn't want. It all had some branding of the University of Illinois on it. I'm extremely individualist and I don't like to identify myself as part of a group.

Why am I still awake?

I'M DONE BITCHES!!! F**K YEAH!!!
And now, some continua that people lie on.
Hard working, lazy
Searching for purpose, wasting time.
Self-indulgent, Self-restraining.
Thoughtful, focusing on instinct
Open, closed
Shy, outgoing

I shouldn't.
Ahhhh....but I should.
What's up guys. I just can't keep up with this regular youtube stuff. I've just now finished my homework for tomorrow, just in time for the new opportunity to say I had finished it for today. In other words, it's right around midnight. But this is what I get for putting it all off over Thanksgiving break, over which I did next to nothing. I am really glad I got to see a lot of my friends from high school then, though! Hoorayayayayayayayayazns.
I really enjoy people who have things going for them and actually have the drive to achieve in life, unlike the Hedonists in this world. There's more to life than self-pleasure. There is also serving a purpose.
I just don't understand how some people can be satisfied without contributing to the good of all society. And it may sound like I'm talking about stuff that a superhero would do. But I'm not.
People all contribute a small bit to the mix. You don't have to be a celebrity. But everyone does something! It's just a good thing to continually think about what it is you are contributing- how are you being productive.
My bed here is so much more comfortable than the one at home. The one at home has an older, harder, mattress.

This is Day 4 of being sick. Son of a bitch.

Blogging is such a great way to get your thoughts together, especially if you're like me in that you don't think very verbally. It takes more mental effort for me to make my thoughts into words that I can express than it does for most people. Blogging helps me do this. So if someone asks me a common colloquial question like, "hey, Paul, how's college?" or "why are you wearing a Pikachu shirt?" I can tell that person with more ease and confidence because I had already made it into words once before.

On this blog is where I will be posting the material for my youtube series, "Paul's Weekly Random Thoughts." Starting soon, I will be making a short video of about 1 minute or less every day, and releasing a compilation of all of them at the end of each week. That's seven little parts per video. What's more, each day of the week will have a theme. It looks like this is what the list of themes is going to be:

Serious Sundays-- Where I share relatively less light-hearted monologue about life, philosophy, and life in general. I will try to confine the serious ideas to this day (and possibly Thursday...But that's it).
Mondays-- I don't know what to do with Mondays. Maybe a puzzle, game, or question to get the viewers to interact. I might also make this "musical Mondays."
Random-ass Tuesdays-- A completely random idea, straight from the cage of crazed rabid hamsters that is my brain.
One-liner Wednesdays (subject to change)-- One line or quote that is very brief...it can be a serious quote or a random statement.
Thought-provoking Thursdays-- where I share an idea, quote, or all-out puzzle to get the ol' noodle rollin'. That actually sounds gross out of context...
Fucked-up Fridays-- where I share something that is just totally stupid or wrong
Saluting Saturdays-- where I pimp out or recognize someone who does great things, whether a celebrity, a youtuber, or just someone in my everyday life.

I would start the series now but I feel like SHIT...actually I just realized that my sore throat is going away! HALLELUJAH!! Speaking of Hallelujah I'm teaching myself how to play that on the piano. It is one of THE most beautiful songs ever written. It's the version from the movie Shrek. But for now, time for dinner. My mom said she's making cheese tortellini XD.

I wrote this in my notebook on the bus home, then transcribed it

I have never wanted a starman more in my life. We're stucking fuck. There must have been an accident, here between Paxton and Buckley. A 3-hour bus ride is quite possibly the last thing in my life I'd want to prolong. Usually, I do enjoy life on the road...but usually, when I'm on the road, I have the freedom of driving wherever I want.
I have gum in my mouth. I'm contemplating swallowing.
It's going to be awesome not having classes all week, next week. And seeing my dogs, and my mom. Having been at college for three months now, I'm a bit confused regarding what "home" is to me right now. It'll be a strange feeling going back to what I considered home undisputedly for the fifth through eighteenth years of my life.
Because I was bored, the first thing I thought of to do was to draw a map of the section of Illinois I would traverse during this bus ride home. Champaign, Rantoul, Paxton, Buckley, Onarga, Gilman, Ashkum, Clifton, Chebanse, Kankakee, Manteno, I-80. Oh my God, we're only now at Onarga. This bus isn't going to get to Woodridge until at least 9:15 at this rate (it's 7:30 now).
I really don't have much to do now, other than write in this notebook--oh, now we're at Gilman and US24. Oh damnit, he's hitting the brakes again....Phew, it wasn't for long.
Here's the reason why I bought my Pikachu t-shirt. It helps me discern the strong people from the weak people; the awesome people from the lemmings. (Now passing Ashkum.) If someone makes a snotty remark about the shirt, I know I'm dealing with a lemming who just follows what the crowd says is right. Yes, it is a little different. But why can't it be like a shirt with Looney Tunes, a Nickelodeon television show from the 90's, or some other pop-culture reference we remember from when we were kids? Did people seriously never get over the "Pokemon is gay" phase most people went through when they got through junior high?
These are exactly the people I refer to when I use the term "lemming"-- people who, because they are men, have to be "manly"-- people who, because they are in college, have to party and get wasted-- people who, because they are black, have to listen to hip-hop--people who, because they are retarded, have to listen to Souljaboy...okay, that last one was just a theory I made up...because I can't explain why ANYONE would listen to that!
Awesome, Kankakee now.
If you haven't noticed, these statements of what people "have to do" are all STEREOTYPES! These people, the ones I refer to as lemmings, are living their lives by stereotypes, preconceived notions of what they are "supposed to be". How weak is that? They're living their lives by other people's standards as opposed to the standards they create themselves! It's pathetic, and yet, there are so many people who are like this. They don't think for themselves and construct their own opinions; they live by others' thoughts and conceptions. These people also tend to be religious, too, because they can't construct their own collection of beliefs. They instead rely on a set of religious beliefs and a series of stereotypes. Here's what strength is: renouncing that. Renouncing being a lemming. And when people start talking about my Pikachu shirt in a non-negative fashion, I know I have a strong person. Someone who has their own opinions of what's right and what's wrong. Not some beliefs they picked up in junior high that "Pokemon is gay."

What a day.
Chem quiz. I got owned.
Econ exam went okay.
Sketching quiz...I always do well on those.
I really want to finish off that song I wrote in my last entry.
Where's Dave when you need him.
Dave is my friend that I've jammed with. I hope to make it a lot more than a one-time thing.

Song I'm writing

I've been in a few of these old houses in this old neighborhood
But only until then was when my outlooks on my days were good
My loss of faith confines me to the quarters where I feel I should
Remain, but boredom shoos me out the door

I give into its demands for fear of hearing reprimand
I feel the harshness of the cold upon my face and hands
My pessimism gives a silent "told you so" but then I stop and stand
I start to feel something more

As I'm walking down the street
I suddenly am struck; I meet
A house with pretty frames and open doors
I'm guided to the walkway
By a warm wind and a light ray
With a force from the spirit that is yours

You give me a window to look through so then I peer inside
I try to make sure what I'm doing won't be future suicide
My optimism tries to make me thing that it is on my side
When it has failed so many times before

Before, it's led me into darkened halls with marks and damage on the walls
Of memories and spirits chilling bones and making tantric calls
Dying to be removed from the scarred and damaged rooms and halls
But they are trapped within the haunted doors

But this house looks defying
Of the theory I've been trying
To dispose of, that there really is no use
I look around in gratitude
For this nice, newfound attitude
For you to thank for setting me loose

In fascination I begin to wander in the house to find
The spirit letting me inside, that's you, because you were so kind
I want to thank you for all that you've done to keep me from being confined
To where monotony rules all

As I walk among these halls I notice that I can't find any
Marks, visible damages, ghouls, or imprisoned memories
The beauty of the inside's even better than what I could see
It motivates me more to search these halls

I still cannot find you
But there's no way I'll decide to
Turn around and find my way outside the door

I'm relieved to have found
A spirit who's around
Who really bothers to become something more

These walls are damage-free and it provokes a thought to me
I wonder how this house could be so perfect and I think I see
Some people let the world muck up their lives and cut them like a tree
But some will choose to fix what's done them harm

Still searching for your spirit I trudge through doors up and down the stairs
In awe at how the inside's architecture doesn't seem to scare

More later!

I am OLD.
Know how I can tell?
My birthday was just another day.
Go to school, no one gets you much (except my mom sent me some noodles gift cards and a shitload of cookies, thanks!!), and it's just a normal day. The only difference is having a lot of people write "happy birthday" on your facebook profile.
A shitload of people.
My favorite number in the world of people.
Thirty-seven.
Makes me feel like I have friends. HAHA. shya right.
Nothing's really been happening. Get up. Be tired. Go to school and be tired. Get back. Be tired. Procrastinate. Try to make self study. Go to bed. Repeat.

It's just like shampoo. Lather, rinse, repeat. Except instead of applying shampoo, you are applying stress.

Life is like a giant ass, because all you get out of it is shit.

I'm hungry. I think I'll use some of the FIFTY DOLLARS worth of gift cards my mom got me. Geez. I'm going to have to go there at least 6-7 times to use up all of that.

I like the place...but maybe not THAT much.

I might do a live broadcast for shiggles tonight.

My newest thing is going onto blogtv.com and broadcasting. I sort-of get to learn about people from all over the place. I'm talking to people from Ontario, England, California, Manitoba, Florida, and other places. I've developed some regulars- a number of them that I can count on my hands, but I hope I can get some more people to come out. And that's not limited to people I don't already know- you should come out too..

Fuck, am I lucky.
I got up at 10:10 this morning. I slept through math on purpose, but I had chem discussion at 10 that I wanted to go to...mainly because of the quiz. That was an "OH SHIT" moment, to say the least. I jumped out of bed, put clothes on, and got my ass out the door. I hauled ass to the chem class to find the class without the TA. She was late. I got to class at 10:22 and we hadn't even started the quiz. I knew that she always does the quiz during the last part of class, and that the quizzes last 20 to 30 minutes. So I took the quiz once she passed it out at 10:30. And I finished in 15 minutes anyway. So I pwned the quiz, but I almost missed my chance to take it!
The reason is because I set my clock for 9PM instead of AM. I did that before and slept through a math quiz because of it. It's too fucking hard to tell if it's AM or PM on my clock. I think I'll just set it to army time from now on.
That's not all of the luck and stupidity that happened today, though. I forgot to bring my homework to my drafting/modeling class to turn in. I could easily have fixed that, though; I just had to turn it in into his mailbox before tomorrow morning. So I took care of that. But shit, man. What happened to me today?
I'm starting to make some friends at the elementary school. There's this one third grader that I'm always helping out. I talk to him and we say hi in the hallways.
The kindergarten class is so much more innocent and friendly. Most of the kids in the fifth grade class have a shitty attitude. It makes sense because they'll be in junior high the following year, and everyone's an idiot douchebag in junior high.
I went on blogtv today. The turnout was terrible, but a bunch of my RL friends came up to help me broadcast...? Steve, Tiernan, Dave, Bill, and Harshith all came in at some point. It was insane. I wish more people would find my show. I need more regulars.
I found some old videos of the hypnotist show senior year at IMSA. It was hilarious. I also found some other videos of living in the quad, like when Chris got high off of helium and exclaimed, "Holy Fuck!"

Going to bed now. I'm so glad I don't have chem lab tomorrow.

Hmm.
So Winnie has posted a little somthing on her xanga about missing IMSA.
I don't know if I miss it all that much.
I missed some on the people a LOT. Actually, most of the missing I did was in May and early June, when it hit me that I wouldn't be seeing these people together again. Ever. This community. I knew exactly what I would have said as graduation speaker, but I wasn't nominated. Look back into late May and June in this blog. That will prove it.
(Side note: Typing is really annoying when your "V" key has broken off.)
I am more observant than most people. I know this. And because of this, I realized that the IMSA community would dissolve earlier than most people. And I started to miss the community, even before the dissolution: Graduation 2008. I loved the small community feeling. Not this big-ass city feeling of the University of Illinois with its 40,000 people. I have to walk for 10 to 15 minutes to get to my classes now. Hell, it's enough that there are MULTIPLE BUILDINGS which hold classes.
I'm not even that well in touch with the people I knew from IMSA. In this busy world, all we can really do is be friends with the people around you, in your immediate situation, for the most part. That is, except for on weekends.
All I can do is make my OWN small community. And I'm developing one, here on the higher floors of Hendrick House. We've got a group of *counts* 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 rooms that are mostly intertwined. At least there are about 15-20 other people that I hang out with on the top floors here. And there are still many more that I talk to. Outside of Hendrick House, I don't have many friends, though-- besides my high school friends, of course. I talk to a few people who live in the Champaign residence halls (6-pack), and that's it.
Since I've done most of the missing of IMSA people in May and June, I'm actually pretty okay with being tens to thousands of miles from IMSA people. And with my new webcam, I can chat with some of them. I've talked to Macy via webcam at least 4 times by now, and he's in Florida. He's pretty much my best friend from IMSA. He's definitely my best friend who's in a different state.
It's rainy and windy. I can hear the wind whistling.
I've been REALLY fucking tired. I don't know what it is. I've been getting 9 to 10 hours of sleep every night since Saturday night. *shrugs*
I just have to accept that I'm going to have only breaks to see my friends from far away.
I'll go see my IMSA friends. But first I have to study calculus.
I've consistently had one mid-term EVERY week since September 18. Isn't that insane how evenly it's been spread out? It holds true until this week. I don't know if I have any tests next week.
Lately, I've been working on learning Viva la Vida (thanks Coldplay for making a song title with lots of V's in it when my V key is broken!) on the piano. I've been really successful doing so- that's going on youtube.
My grandma died on September 21. I never was close to any of my extended family, my mom's side having been mostly dead since I was born and my dad's side being just plain strange. So it wasn't as big of a deal as it could have been. Still, I've decided to go to the service, and it's this weekend. The thing is, it's in Michigan-- the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. So I have to be driven three hours north to home, and then another 7 hours north to the service...and then back again. I've been in a bit of a road trip-withdrawal, so that's good.
The guys next door are douchetacular. And by guys, I mean just one guy. The other one just seems like a douche, but he's actually a good guy on the inside. He just puts on heirs like he's a douche because he thinks it's...cool? He isn't himself, and I don't like it. But I like himself...just not him so much.
I didn't think that alcohol would be so omnipotent here at college. But it is. The douche next door has been vomiting in our toilet at least twice. I don't understand how you would willingly get drunk enough to poison yourself.
I see drinking and doing drugs as cheating at life. If you can't get pleasure in any way other than altering your reality, you aren't doing it right. The words "failing at life" come to mind.
I've got to study for that calculus exam Friday. I have a chem lab that day, too. Chem labs are so tedious. Fuuuuuuck.
And Jones soda ROCKS!
Pure cane sugar KEEPS ME GOING!
FUCK HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!
THE RIZZLE DIZZLE Y'ALL!
(I am not a sellout.)

Paul needs some ideas...he wants to make better youtube videos. Ones that require more work...which inherently means that I would take more time to come out with new videos, but hey, you know. Quality is better than quantity.

FUCK YEAH
sorry about that.

Actually yesterday was a total shit day. My grandma died.

...
Yeah.

*deep breath*
That's not even all of it.
The first thing that happened was that I got on the 20 red to go to the Meijer in Urbana to get some food. In the middle of the route, the bus driver turned around and started heading back toward the University. What a waste of time that was. I was talking to some somewhat-ghetto dude on the bus, telling me about how he found out some "bad news" about someone he was "dating." WOW.
Then I ended up in the EWS for three and a half hours trying to figure out how to do something in AutoCAD that I conceive to be ridiculously simple but requires a crapload of steps: Cutting holes into solid objects. Mother fuck.
This is in addition to the two hours I spent in class trying to finish the assignment.
Yesterday could have been the shittiest day since at least the first week of April. That's five months.
Off to listen to a chem lecture I don't want to hear.

Look at my youtube favorites for my current personal fads!
Especially:
-Business Time by Flight of the Conchords
-United States of WHATEVA

With regard to the new video...

Hurricane Gustav manages to dump 2 inches of rain...on ILLINOIS?

McCain has a new running mate...who HAS A VAGINA.

Watch the video to learn more and try to endeavor to explain what got into McCain's head when he chose Sarah Palin for VP candidate.

Video #2

So now that I'm settled in at college pretty well, I can move back to talking about pertinent stuff other than this new college situation.

So the Krannert Center parking garage is the BEST place to play capture the flag EVER. Not even the best video game designers can come up with an environment this good.
I'm saying this because a bunch of people from Hendrick House all got together to play capture the flag there and it was AWESOME...except for the fact that there were so many people on the other team puppy-guarding that we couldn't get anywhere, but hey, that still leaves 99% awesomeness.

What the fuck was McCain thinking? Sarah Palin? I think we all know that the only reason she was picked is because she has a vagina, so McCain can "make history." Is THAT what's really important though? What about the welfare of our nation? Does he care at all?

His picking Palin for VP candidate is SOLID proof that he wants to get elected more than he wants someone qualified to help lead this country. Greedy much? I was more like 70% in favor for Obama before...now it's definitely somewhere in the nineties.

My next video is going to feature this, and the basic idea of that is, who tf is Palin, and why tf is politics heading straight for the shitter?

Hendrick House's dinner hours end at 6 on weekends...and I found this out the hard way today.
Are you fucking kidding. Most people don't even BEGIN to eat dinner until after 6.
Who came up with these?
I'm starting to go to the HH government meetings. I've already found three things that need to change, the dinner hours being the first.
The second is the fucking construction that goes on at 6AM. I thought that this place was supposed to have a strict noise policy?
And the third is the music room. I can never get in there.
Another gripe I have are about the staff in general. They're all lemmings. They do what they are told and nothing else, and that bugs the hell out of me. The one dude wouldn't let me in the music room because he didn't know if he was supposed to, when there was no apparent reason why he wouldn't be able to. I arrived at dinner at 5:58 when it closes at 6:00, and the door was closed and the girl wouldn't let me in. I was one of about seven people at the door trying to get in.
And then, she said it.
The phrase that pisses me off SO much.
"I don't make the rules, I just enforce them."
That means that she was incapable of deviating from what she was told to do, even if what she was doing was wrong. If she was a German in 1939, she probably would have agreed to go along with the Nazis.
She could have said instead, "I'm not the boss, I'm just a lackey."
An incompetent lackey, too. She closed the door 5 minutes early. I wasn't the only one telling her, either.

There are two ways to go about this. Either you follow policies with no exceptions, or you use your brain to find a possible solution.
I guess some don't have a lot of brain activity.

Today I played rollercoaster tycoon and jammed with Harshith, my roommate. It was pretty cool. The jamming, not the gaming. The gaming hurt my eyes. Damn, that game is addicting.

I need to rest my eyes. And the rest of my body, for that matter. I have a sore throat and my nose is producing snot bombs. My nose is fine, now. But every hour or two, an amount of stuff with the volume of a small grape comes out. Ew, enough of that!

Good night!

Click here

WTF? I'M HOME? DID I BAIL OUT OF COLLEGE ALREADY?

Naw, haha. I don't even want to leave college for a weekend. But I promised my mommy that I would come home, so here I am.

The Labor Dabor is today. Whoopdeedoo. Who really cares about anything about Labor Day other than getting off of work?

The big surprise is coming...it'll be here by Wednesday. It really isn't that big of a deal.

I need sleep now, though. As Skitz says, payce.

KATRINA: ROUND TWO??

In case you don't watch the Weather Channel (like most people don't), there's another hurricane out there. It's headed straight for Louisiana. And it's a high Category 4, which is fucking STRONG already...and it's projected to strengthen. Katrina was a Category 3, and look what it did.
They just started rebuilding after Katrina, which was devastating. But there's a pretty good probability that Gustav will be just like Katrina, but STRONGER. Yeah...if you live in coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, or southeast Texas, you need to get the hell out of there.
I wonder if this is Mother Nature's way of saying, "this is what you dumbasses get for building a city BELOW sea level."
This really isn't fair, though. Two major hurricanes within four years? What the fuck?
Katrina hit Louisiana on August 25th, 2005. Gustav is expected to make landfall on Monday, during the early afternoon. That's September 1st, one week after August 25. Sources put the point of landfall about 80 miles southwest of New Orleans. Hurricanes are storms that cover a large amount of area, though. New Orleans will face at LEAST minimal hurricane-force winds, probably at least the winds of a direct-hit Category 2-3 storm.
What is it with Louisiana, Mother Nature?
Geez.

Oswego to UIUC:

IL71 W to IL47 S to I-74 E to Lincoln Ave S

Plainfield Rd S to Woolley Rd E to Stewart Rd S to Scotch Rd/111th St/Hassert Blvd E to Weber Rd S to I-55 NE to I-355 S to I-80 E to I-57 S to I-74 E to Lincoln Ave S

East-west highways crossed that make for nice checkpoints:
I-80
IL17
IL116
US24
IL9
US136

Effective swearing

The surprise is coming soon.


I have to say, I have quite a lot of appreciation for Obama's "I am not a douchebag" campaign
Though I also have to say that people seem to have mixed feelings about choosing Biden as a running mate
Because Biden....might actually add some douchebaggery to the mix
Already I'm seeing ads from the McCain campaign denigrating Barack Obama
Why can't elections be races where each candidate tries to do the best he can and not shit on the other guy?
People are saying that Biden might show aggression toward McCain when Obama's lack of aggression might be a major thing that is pushing him forward
If you've been following Philip DeFranco's show...
you know, SXE Phil?
you might have noticed that for some reason the latest video, which includes the question about when two girls kiss, has disappeared
I managed to find it but I've found that it has been made private
I don't know what happened, maybe he got a lot of shitty feedback from it
It's possible, I guess, but hey I really liked it- that was a good question because I find it questionable myself
I don't really appeal to girls who are so big of attention whores that they would be willing to do that
If they were lesbians, I would understand it....or pornstars...or real-life women who wanted to achieve the same effect that pornstars do...I think the technical term for that is SLUTS
I'd just like to say that phil's show is the bomb; if you haven't seen it, do so because he reports the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And that's the truth. truth, truth..
The stories are interesting, and he's not afraid to put it into a real context
It seems to me that more people are turning to sources like Phil, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert because it's MORE ENTERTAINING and it's NOT JAM-PACKED WITH BULLSHIT
Well, it is jam packed with bullshit but it's the RIGHT KIND OF BULLSHIT
it's the kind of bullshit that knows it's bullshit, and that's a compliment all-around because they make jokes about it and talk about the ridiculous stuff as IF it is actually ridiculous
They know what's fucked up about the world and they report it in a manner such that everyone knows it's fucked up.
Mainstream media tends not to report the fucked-up stuff
But America needs to know the good AND the bad about the world
Censorship is, might I say, TOTAL SHIT
Well I mean I don't support 4-year olds yelling FUCK everywhere
Then again, I don't support 12-year olds doing it either
And BELIEVE me the kids who just start middle school are ALWAYS saying cuss words just so they can assert the fact
They will yell "Dildo dildo" just as a two year old might yell "cookie cookie" now that it learned a new word, and I am not making this up it REALLY HAPPENS
It's OKAY to swear in the right situations.
If you are pissed, frustrated, or in pain then SWEAR, goddamnit! It's pissing ME off to see all the people who will just say things like "ohhhh, poopy."
Because it SEEMS that nothing bad ever happens to these people
Either that or they have no emotions
That is your fact of like #7- It's okay to swear in the right situations
And there are guidelines for these situations
1. It has to be an informal situation. You don't yell fuck if you're in a job interview
2. If you are a guy, you can do it when you talk to other guys...unless they are pansies but if you are talking to a girl, it's not a good idea. If you are a girl, you either think I'm a douche for even TALKING about this and you might as well stop watching this NOW or you're one of those girls who doesn't care and I personally think is awesome, and you can follow the guy directions. When you're talking to the softer people, though, don't swear unless your emotions are in a crappy state, unless you are talking to someone with such a low level of sophistication that he had might as well ride a Harley-Davidson
Did I say that out loud?
3. Don't do it all the time. Cuss words draw attention to the subject of which you are speaking, and there won't be any added severity if you use one of the words in every sentence. It's like the Boy who Cried Wolf....or the Boy who Yelled Fuck all the Time. The truth is that swear words are used to draw attention to whatever struggle or problem you're having that would lead you to swear in the first place...and if you're always drawing attention then people won't give you anymore attention AND they won't care.
I mean think about it.
If your friend has NEVER heard you swear, and then something REALLY bad happens and you yell "SHIT" that would scare the shit out of that person!
I like to be like that, but not to that much of an extreme. There's no shock to swearing if you do it all the time.

Paul goes to college

I haven't written about college yet! And I've been here for like five days! WTF?

I'll tell you wtf. It's a surprise. I'll tell everyone soon.
Keep posted.

dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun
STAY TUNED FOR ALL OF THE ACTION-PACKED COVERAGE DURING OUR SPECIAL SEGMENT:
PAUL GOES TO COLLEGE.
GET ALL OF THE INFORMATION YOU NEED FOR THE KICKOFF OF THE 08-09 SCHOOL YEAR.
ONLY ON CHANNEL PAUL NEWS.
AMERICA'S ONLY NEWS STATION COVERING THE LIFE OF THAT ONE TALL WHITE KID.
STAY TUNED!

Packing for College

Today I'm just packing for college and running last-minute errands because I'm moving in tomorrow. I really can't picture myself living there right now. But I'm sure that will clear up in the weeks to come.
It'll be nice to go to school, if my classes aren't as excruciating and time-consuming as I dread they might be.
Yesterday, I went to Chicago with Zexi, Steven, Joey, and Jake. Wei was there for dinner too. We went to this fancy Brazilian steakhouse where these waiter dudes walked around with cuts of meat. There was a little chip at everyone's seat; one side said "Yes, please" and the other said "no thank you." If you left the "yes" side facing up, the waiters would come to your seat and offer to slice you off a chunk of meat. They had sirloin, pork, garlic steak, brazilian beef, pineapple, and filet mignon wrapped in bacon. The bacon kind of annihilated any flavor that the filet had, so I took the bacon off of the filet so I could eat them separately. I ate so much that I was full for the rest of the day and them some. All I've had to eat since then was a few cookies.
After the steakhouse (it cost about $25 but I ate so much that it was worth it), we walked to Navy Pier and rented a quadricycle. It was like a bicycle, but there were two rows of seats and two sets of pedals for each row. Wei had left (he kind of just oddly disappeared) and it was the five of us. Steven was in the middle. I plan on making a youtube video of the experience because I was taking video for much of the time. There's definitely reason to make a video out of it, too, because it was a BLAST!

Then I went to IMSA and visited some of the suckers who had to start school already. I might want one of those webcams, Chris. Just putting it out there.
I'm not going to miss that place at all. We'll see if college turns out to be a better story =].

Here are my plans:

Monday: Go shopping for clothes, a fridge, and a t-shirt kit. I think that making shirts would be a cool thing to do at college. I could maybe meet some people too!

Tuesday: Go back to IMSA and visit my Junior/now Senior friends!

Wednesday: Pack.

Thursday: Move into U of I! This is the day when the shit hits the fan.

Friday: Meet some people. I have to decide whether or not I want to be in band or not, because auditions are on this day. I think I might lay off on band until Sophomore year. I don't want to overload myself.

Once again, I'd like to reiterate that horror movies are FUCKING STUPID!
Whenever any of my friends asks me to watch a horror film, I refuse. If I get sucked into doing so anyway, I ruin it for them, therefore getting my vengeance in doing so. The plot is usually devoid of any originality or overall appeal, and the movie just tries to make its viewers jump all the time. And in order to make us jump all the time, the main characters find themselves in situations that will scare us. In order for these people to get into these tragic situations, they have to be DUMB ENOUGH TO GET THEMSELVES INTO THE SITUATION IN THE FIRST PLACE. People will see a dead person hanging from the ceiling and think, "oh well that's kind of gross." But they KEEP WALKING. If you see a dead person, you TURN AND RUN. I usually end up rooting for the ANtagonist in these movies because the PROtagonists are too stupid to deserve to live and should be euthanized. NOBODY is that stupid. If I am to be scared by a horror film, I have to believe that the events which take place in the movie have at least somewhat of a possibility of occurring in real life. If the main characters are unrealistically stupid, then I will not be scared because it's not realistic!
What's more, don't really like to see dead parts of any animal, vertebrate or invertebrate. I wouldn't pay money to see anything like that, either. That doesn't do it for me. And the sound effects in horror movies are just retarded. Those sounds don't occur in real life. They aren't that loud. They'll have the sound of a dripping faucet in there, but it'll be super loud. Faucets do not come with megaphones. They are not super loud in reality. This takes away from the realism, therefore putting me in disbelief about the whole situation and preventing me from being scared by the possibility of the situation happening to me in real life. There will be screeching violins, too. That doesn't happen in real life, unless you're at an elementary school talent show or something. I don't recall ever seeing a horror movie taking place at an elementary school talent show; if the idea was ever proposed, the NFC WOULD HAVE TAKEN CARE OF IT IN A HEARTBEAT. If I hear screeching sounds in horror movies that I would never hear in real life, this takes away from the realism, therefore putting me in disbelief about the whole situation and preventing me from being scared by the possibility of the situation happening to me in real life.
People in real life do not say, "Hey, a dead person! And the blood is fresh! I think I'll run over there!" They get the fuck away. There's a REASON why Mother Nature made dead carcasses smell like shit. You are supposed to get away. People in real life do not walk into a serial killer's house and think it's okay to get naked and take a shower. People in real life aren't stupid enough to get into the situations presented in horror films. Because of that, I find the situations unbelievable, and I'm not scared. I can't be scared of something that can't possibly exist!

I'm going to college in 5 days. I'm getting more used to the idea of leaving home for a long time. I'm also thinking about coming home for Labor Day weekend. That's only a week and a half past the day I move in. After Labor Day, I have no days off until Thanksgiving. I should start thinking about what to do for Halloween. I want to pull off a kick-ass idea this year.

I'm about done with my shopping. My mom and I went to Office Max and Wal-Mart yesterday. I found a $42 microwave there!! I couldn't pass it up! I still need to buy a midgerator (midget refrigerator). Hmm...which do you think is better: midgerator ot fridget? I think I like fridget better.

Leave me a comment so that I know that all of this writing isn't going to waste and someone is actually reading my ideas.

I think I want to become a wannabe youtuber...wannabe.

I've always taken to the idea of sharing my ideas with other people through videos. In communicating with people verbally, you can write stuff and tell them stuff. But you can communicate so much more if you go beyond words, and use gestures, inflection, etc. Words only make up about 7% of what we communicate. The rest comes from things like gestures, motions, tone of voice, articulation, and volume.

Plus, I can improve my charisma. I think I lack that at LEAST a little bit. Probably more.

I'm getting a haircut tomorrow whether anyone likes it or not. I've been wanting to for 2 weeks.

I emailed my future college roommate. He's Indian but he grew up in Oman! (gmts) What are the odds of meeting someone from that small country? His English is just fine in his emails, so that's a relief. I was kind of afraid that he wouldn't be good at English when I found out where he was from. He seems like a cool guy. I'm not so afraid that things could turn out bad. He also says he's bringing 2 guitars, and he also plays the piano and drums. Dang. I wish I could play drums...but not that much. I kind of gave up on that.

I have an old script for an animation about a royal knight who works for a king who lies around and plays strip poker all day. I need to find it. It would be cool to make a live video for it instead of an animation. Though I don't know how I could get anyone to make a giant killer bunny rabbit. I'll need to work on that.

Six days. This is just like The Ring. What a stupid movie that was, though. The sequel sets the record for the worst movie I have ever seen. Giant mechanical deer attacking a car. Wtf. I threw the remote at the DVD player when it was over.

I tend to bash and laugh at any horror movie you put in front of me. If you want to take a trip to the peanut gallery, I can hook you up.

I went shopping some more today. We're almost done.
I really want a t-shirt making kit. I think it would be a cool way to meet people in college. Making custom t-shirt designs would be a great way for me to express myself too.

I stayed up until 1:45 last night. I don't want to make the same mistake two nights in a row, so bye!

Geocaching is pretty cool.

Today, I hung out with Tyler and we went geocaching. What you do when you go geocaching is look on the website geocaching.com for coordinate pairs (latitude and longitude) of geocaching sites, go to those coordinates, and search for a container that serves as the official "cache." Inside the container, you should find some form of a logbook, on which you can sign your name. What people tend to do is write the date of their finding the site, and signing their username for geocaching.com. Tyler and I made our name paulandtyler. We weren't in it for making a creative username, I guess.
It turns out that there are a lot of sites around our town. Tyler searched for some, and he came up with seven results, all of which were within the limits of Oswego. So Tyler wrote down the coordinates of 7 places and we were off! To our disappointment, we only found 2 of the 7 caches, both of which were in trees. A couple others were in overgrown places...my legs still itch a little from wading through those damn weeds... aagh

I used a crappy little gps system I've had lying around for 3 or 4 years. I got it for Christmas from my mom. I was insulted.

Basically, Tyler and I searched for 2 in downtown Oswego and found nothing. After that, we made our way to the park with the skatepark and we found one! Then, we went to Panda Express for a late I-woke-up-late-so-I-ate-breakfast-late-meaning- there's-no-reason-to-eat-lunch-at-the-appropriate-time-but-I-still-get-hungry-before- dinner-so-let's-have-a-small-bite-to-eat lunch. *gasps for breath*
After that, we looked for 4 more and only found one. Apparently, other people have just recently found at least 2 of the 5 that we didn't see. I guess we hadn't looked hard enough. But hey, we're new at this.

I haven't written any music in a while. That's because I feel like I'm always being judged. I don't like that feeling, and I can't compose when it's imminent.

I've been drawing maps, though. I have a 14×17 inch drawing pad. (It rocks!) I used 4 pages of it to draw out a city that I cut into quarters. The northwest quarter is on one page, the northeast quarter on another, etc.

I also started drawing things other than maps. I drew a bunch of things whose words have the word "own" in them, and annotating them with words with pwn in them instead. If pwn can be pronounced as "pown," then why can't the word "cone" be spelled "cwn"?
Other words on there include bwn, microphwn, pwny, stwnhenge, macarwni, colwn, acetwn, and Sylvester Stallwn.

I think that started off as an inside joke with Julian.

College is going to suck balls. At first.
IMSA has taught me that to every new living situation, there is an adjustment period. Mine lasted about 6 weeks until it wasn't so bad anymore. It was still weird for about 3 months, but at least it was comfortable after a few weeks. After that, it should be nice. =) But it's going to be shitty for the first 6 weeks. I wish I can go there and instantly have been there for 6 weeks. XP but that's not going to happen...

v_v L_L <_< ^_^ >_>

I should start going to bed early......
...
...
...
...
NAAH!

Pre-college

I'm excited to make some new and awesome friends in college.
I'm dreading being overly busy with schoolwork, and having to sit through lectures I don't care about.
I hope my roommate doesn't turn out to be a douchebag.
I'm eager to be on my own again.
I'm unsure about living 3 hours away from home.

Some combination of these ideas (and still more) is what I'm feeling right now about college.
As August 21st creeps closer, I dread college, eagerly await it, and grow to accept that it's going to happen. All I can do is sit here strapped to the railroad tracks and hope that nothing bad happens.

Post-vacation spam session

Fuck, college! I have to go to college!
10 days away- I don't know what to DO! HOLY SHIT!
I think I'll just lie around and do nothing.
Hyeah. That sounds nice.
*stretches*
Soooooo YUP! I'm back from vacation. It was the best of times. Way shiggity.
Sunday we drove and drove. The Dopps (Minus Randy) followed us to Niagara Falls but they drove home on Tuesday as we drove further on.
It was my first time entering Canada, or any foreign country. Canada really isn't much different from the States. Their speed signs are in kilometers per hour, they have different brands of candy bars, and everything is written in English and in French. That's about it. Oh, and there's a lot more foreigners. I think that if this country weren't so full of belligerent intolerant douchebags, that could be true for us too.
We ate lunch at a Steak n' Shake in Battle Creek, Michigan, the cereal capital of the world. We didn't eat any cereal, though.
So we stayed overnight in this Hampton Inn, a little away from the main drag. We saw the actual falls the next day...for a while. There is no way in hell I'm going back to the tourist district, though. It's the biggest tourist-trap I've ever seen in my life. It even outshits the Wisconsin Dells. The falls were beautiful, though. I admire what nature has made for us to appreciate...but not what mankind has done to the place. The Clifton Hill tourist district is littered with haunted houses, a launched freefall ride (RCT2 anyone?), a Hollywood wax museum (wtf!?), restaurants, gift shops, gift shops, gift shops, gift shops, gift shops, gift shops, and more gift shops. Tyler said for me to send him a postcard. So I got one. But I forgot to give it to Teresa to send it for me. Shshshshshit.
Monday consisted of viewing the falls, boarding the Maid of the Mist, and dawdling around in the tourist district waiting for the women to browse the various gift shops (which is frustrating for me, personally). And after that, we ate at this ridiculously overpriced restaurant that had an overlook of the falls and giapped us to no end.
Ride the Maid of the Mist. It's fucking awesome. Just avoid the tourist district ^_^.

Ok, so I've already gone over that stuff. Moving on...
Tuesday. Another sweet day. The Dopps left for home as we drove northwest to near Cambridge, Ontario, for the lion safari. I took shitloads of pictures as we drove through the 6 or 7 large enclosures where the animals could roam free (sort of). The first enclosure was the lions, their namesake. They were all lounging around on a rock structure. Lazy kitties. Then we moved on to the cheetahs. If there's one thing that I've learned on this day of the trip, it's that cheetahs are REALLY REALLY CUTE! I wanted to pet one really badly. I wonder how it would have reacted.
The third enclosure was one of the best. It was full of baboons. CRAZY FUCKING BABOONS. There was a bus in front of us, and the baboons were CLIMBING ON TOP OF IT!! There was another minivan with about 4 climbing on it too. My mom wanted them to climb on our car. I could tell that my dad was shitting bricks ruminating on the possibility of them climbing on top of his car. They didn't, though. One of the baboons on the bus in front of us was playing with the antenna, watching it sway back and forth as he let go of it. He eventually BROKE THE ANTENNA OFF OF THE FRONT OF THE VEHICLE. So THAT'S why they warned us of potential vehicle damage! The fourth enclosure was also one of the best. It featured the herbivores of the African savanna, namely ostriches, zebras, antelope, wildebeests, giraffes, rhinos, and these large goat-like dudes. An ostrich walked up to our car! He was opening his mouth and shutting it in quick succession like he wanted us to feed him. At least that's what I thought he was trying to communicate. If you were a bird with no arms, how would you communicate that you wanted food? We got really close to a few zebras, too. There was a parent giraffe holding a branch in its mouth as a baby giraffe bit some plant matter off of it. It was cute. The next enclosure was full of Eurasian animals, and the last was full of American herd animals like elk and bison. And that was all. It was SO COOL.
Hah, I guess it came to exactly 6 enclosures. Now I know.
After that, we ate lunch. And after THAT, we waited to get in line for the safari boat cruise with the intention to see more animals. But then it started sprinkling, and we heard some thunder once. Ah, no big deal. Then, the girl running the boat cruise got a radio call and shut the boat down. For just a few sprinkles? Our optimism told us that it wouldn't get any worse!
But then our optimism was crushed, and it got worse. A hell of a lot worse. It started all-out pouring. All-out fucking poring. And it didn't stop for a whole HALF HOUR! The weatherpeople we saw on the news later reported totals of 50 to 60 millimeters of rain. My dad was like "MILLIMETERS?" in a wtf-y sort of fashion. 50 to 60 millimeters is 5 to 6 centimeters, which is about 2 to 2.3 inches. It rained twice later in the day. Thanks a lot, mother nature.
Garrett called during that first rainstorm, and we made arrangements to meet in Greek town around 5 pm. Around 4:15 we got in the car, because we figured that Toronto would be about 45 minutes away. It stopped pouring around that time, too. Well, we thought it did. When the rain started to let up, we walked out toward the car. Halfway to the car, it started pouring again. Fucking wonderful. And then, about 2 minutes later, it stopped for good. Thanks again.
We drove along 401 toward Toronto. It turned out that it was more like an hour to central Toronto with normal traffic. But it was just before 5pm. That meant one thing: RUSH HOUR. Whoops. And we found out later that because the city of Toronto has almost NO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM, nearly EVERYONE uses the roads. This was no ordinary city's rush hour. This was driving on a road that has 7 to 9 lanes moving in each direction at all times and STILL not getting anywhere. I have never seen a road with 7 to 9 lanes moving in each direction in my LIFE. I-290 in Chicago has 5 lanes at the most moving in each direction. This expressway was fucking HUGE and it STILL wasn't enough. (Don't worry, there weren't 7 lanes adjacent to each other; they were split into local and express lanes, each section having typically 3 or 4 lanes.) Plus, Greek town was on the east side of town, and we were coming from the west. So we had to go past the central part of town, adding more time to the equation. It was almost 6:30 when we got to Greek town. But we found Garrett okay. Hallelujah.
The story with Garrett is basically this: Go to Marines, hate it, desert, flee to Canada. He tells me that he could spend 18 months in the brig if he comes back to the states. This is the kid that I had been great friends all the way back from second grade, up to eighth grade. Then he kind of diverted and did some things that I didn't approve of, so I kept away. But he came out of it and we hung out a few times within the past couple of years. Then, he decided to go join the Marines. That was a smack in the face. This was the kid who didn't care when the numbskulled faculty at Traughber Jr. High school gave him a detention. He wouldn't bear it if he was under someone else's authority, especially if that authoritative figure was a moron. And he wanted to join the MARINES? Where it was inevitable that he would have to be subject to the authority of brutal and often unintelligent people? I knew this would be kaput. My mom knew it would be kaput. We told him that it would be kaput. But he went. And it ended up going kaput. So it goes.
Now he's in Canada and he can't come back. Or he doesn't want to, for fear of the consequences. So it goes.
No one's gone up to visit him, and he's been up there since April. Not even his parents. I think maybe he needs some guidance?
Nah. He's doing great up there. I think the fact that no one's visited him proves that he should have run away in the first place. Doesn't anyone care?
His little sister definitely cares. As soon as Jason posted the picture that was taken of me and Garrett, she posted a comment about her jealousy.
His girlfriend misses him, too. I'm sure of that.
I think Tyler does too.
All friends.
No parents.
Odd.
Or is it?

We ate at the Friendly Greek Souvlaki Place. Garrett told us that the ethnic areas in Toronto are really, really, ethnic. I noticed that even the street signs in Greek town were alternately written in Greek. Intriguing.
We talked there for about 3 hours. We got to the hotel, on the other side of Toronto, fairly late (it was after 10). We ate at Perkins in the morning and drove northeast on 401 around Lake Ontario.

Then, we were back in America. We crossed on a road that became Interstate 81 (gmts). Then we drove on a bunch of back roads to reach our cabin/motel/whatever in Indian Lake, New York, in the heart of Adirondack Park. I used to think New York was all about the city life. I'll never think that again, after seeing the beautiful wilderness of the "North woods," as my dad calls it.

On Thursday, we just hung around and did wilderness-type stuff. We went hiking toward Rock Lake and found a bunch of interesting wild mushrooms. Yellow ones, brown ones, red ones. It was only about 70°F there. Even so we went to a beach and swam in a nice, clean lake. It was cold, but not as cold as you might imagine with the air temperature barely breaking seventy.
My mom and I went to the quaint grocery store and picked up some items for breakfast the next morning. Then I went outside the store and took the picture you can see on the front of the 3rd album of pictures I uploaded of the trip onto facebook. I still have no idea what the shape of the state highway signs is supposed to resemble.
Thursday was full of what I love about traveling. Living away from home, getting along on your own, going out and having a fun time, and flying by the seat of your pants, all while being able to sleep at night, of course.

Friday was Vermont day. This day had too much driving in it.
We drove north to Saranac Lake and Lake Placid to see what it was like. No big whoop. Lake Placid is another tourist trap with gift shops and stupid shit. We didn't stop there.
We drove on the road up to Whiteface Mountain with the intention to see the view. It turns out there's a toll booth on that road that wants $6 per passenger. The toll booth wasn't on the map or any information we had. When the woman asked for the money, my dad replied, "screw you!" Then he made a U-turn. I found it amusing.
Then we drove to a ferry across Lake Champlain. When we reached the other side, we were in Vermont, the second least populous state in the Union. In spite of that fact, we ended up in THREE traffic jams within two hours of entering the state. What the fuck? Since we were low on time, we decided to screw Montpelier and turn around to go to the Ben & Jerry's factory. That was ...pretty cool. It used to be awesome. Now it's just another corporate basket of bureaucratic bullshit. The ice cream was good, though. I got to buy Tyler some Vermont maple syrup, too. Vermont is a BEAUTIFUL state: just don't drive through it. The roads are TERRIBLE. They aren't striped properly, and hey, I got into THREE traffic jams, and there isn't even a lot of people living there. Enough said.
I drove back to the cabin from B&J's. I took Vermont Route 17. Don't make that mistake. The road had more twists and sharp turns than you could imagine. We had to climb up and down a mountain along that road--that's why. My mom was shitting bricks in the back seat. She was seriously moaning, "oh god, we're going to die." My brother made fun of her for it from then on until we crossed back into New York. By the time we did, it was dark. At one point, when we got to the summit of the mountain, the road made a sharp turn from upward to downward, and just before we reached the tip, all you could see was the sky. It was amazing. Well, I thought it was amazing. My mom thought it was terrifying.

Saturday and Sunday were nothing special. Just a shitload of driving. This is excepting one very special occasion: I visited Michelle in Cleveland Saturday night. We ate out at a Chinese restaurant and watched the Olympics on TV. Nothing's really new with her I guess, because she's been working all summer.

I've decided to start a new collection. I'm collecting a picture of one state highway sign from every state in the U.S.A. It's always been my dream to visit every state in the Union, so why not adapt my sign collection idea to fit with that? I think it makes more sense than what I'm doing now, actually.

So I've added Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York, and Vermont to what I'd had before, which consists of Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and North Carolina. I decided to add an Ontario provincial highway sign in there, too. So that makes 10 states and one Canadian province covered. I don't have Indiana at this point, but at U of I, I'll be less than 1 hour from Indiana. So that shouldn't be hard.
Now I just need to conquer America! In a not-Dr. Evil sort of way.

It feels weird to be home.
But it feels good.
Pressing enter after every line
can make things look poetic
But if you aren't really a poet
Then it can look pathetic

Holy shit that rhymed.

I'm back in the states again. New York is a state.
There's a lot to write about.
But I'm REALLY fuckin tired.
Maybe I'll write more tomorrow.

So here I am in my hotel room at Niagara Falls again.
Today had about 3 hours of awesomeness and the rest was languishing. It was worth it though.
First hour of awesomeness: The Maid of the Mist. An extreme experience. DO THIS. Pay the 14 dollars, wait in line, and crowd yourself on a boat with 600 other people as it embarks to get an up-close and personal experience of the Falls. It rocks. You have to enter from the Ontario side, but so what? If you want to see the falls, you pretty much have to go to Ontario. The Falls face the Ontario side--i.e. the view from the New York side is nothing compared to the view on the Ontario side.
Second hour of awesomeness: Eating the food at the Keg restaurant. But that's the only thing about the restaurant that was awesome. The service could have been better, but we got totally gipped. The menu stated that the prime rib that my dad ordered was $30.95, but it appeared at $35.95 on the bill. Bullshit! And then the 12 oz. steak I ordered with the meal I got apparently jacked the price up $10; nobody notified me of this. I got steak and shrimp. For appetizers we got chips with this crab and spinach dip with lemon, and this flatbread with cheese, tomatoes, and what tasted like...teriyaki sauce!? But it was good. And the bread....it was so soft and flavorful. I want to learn to make bread like that and eat it with every meal I cook...once I learn to cook, if THAT ever happens >_>.
Third hour of awesomeness: Messing around with Jason and Shelby in the pool. Yes, I know that I can do this anywhere in any hotel. But that was more fun than wandering around looking at thousands upon thousands of useless trinkets with the words "Niagara Falls" printed on them.
The rest sucked because we just wandered around staring at stupid stuff. Like magnets, coffee mugs, keychains, plushies, and hats. I came to see the falls, damnit! Not all this touristy shit!
That shit is everywhere. It's been built up into a tourist trap of mind-blowing proportions. It's like the Wisconsin Dells. But WORSE.
At least the falls were cool. Here, nature provides us with something spectacular, and then people come and make it all commercial. All for stupid money.
I need to start thinking about decorations to get for college. Idk what to get though.
I'm off to bed. I'm tired of standing and walking and following older women look at trinkets.

Here I am sitting in my hotel room in Niagara Falls, Ontario. That's right. The Canada side. Helllllllz yeah. ^^
I got back from going to the pool with Jason and Shelby.
We ordered pizza and chicken wings. It was awesome.
And now it's late and I'm tired of sitting in a car until my ass feels like a deflated whoopee cushion made of steel- hard and pressed in. Time to sleep.
Night y'all.

P.S. I'm in CANADA!!!

I prefer not to speak of the "chicken or the egg." I would rather speak of "religion or the death of curiosity."
'

fffffffffffffffffffuck. It's August already.
Time sure flies when you're doing nothing yet still occupied with things to do.
There are certain activities that I do which I classify as "nothing." Those are the things that I do everyday when I have no commitments to take care of. Like drawing maps, facebooking, and video games.

Speaking of facebook, the "new" facebook just came out yesterday. This might be my inner Republicanness speaking, but I'm not sure if I like it. I really appreciate how facebook is trying to quell the annoyance of having 37 application boxes on someone's profile, though.
I think there might be an easy way to determine a facebooker who belongs on myspace. Count the profile boxes. If there are 25 or more, that person should go spend time on myspace instead.
Keep it simple, stupid.
People tell me that they don't have a facebook because it's too complicated.
That is fucking stupid.
It's stupid because all of the operations that you'll want to do are divided into separate applications. It makes it really easy to customize what's on your page. Sure, you can't change the appearance of it, but you can easily customize which functions go on your page. Facebook is meant to be a networking DEVICE...Myspace seems to be meant more for self-expression.
I'm excited to add four more states, not to mention a Canadian province, to my list of places I've visited. And yes, they are called "provinces." Not "providences." There's only one "providence." It's in Rhode Island.
Actually, there's probably more than one. There's at least ten Springfields. I know of one in Massachusetts, Illinois, and Missouri...and I'm sure there's more. There are a lot of Bloomingtons too. There's one in Illinois, Minnesota, and Indiana.
I find my brother's whiny white-boy music so ridiculous that I started writing a parody song of it. Tyler came up with the idea when we went on our road trip to Pontiac and Bloomington. HAH! Bloomington. What a coincidence.
Apparently, there's a youtube gathering in Toronto on August 8th. I'm going to be there on August 5th. Sofaking close.
Also in the Toronto area is this thing called the African Lion Safari. Apparently, you can just drive through this big area where all sorts of exotic animals roam freely (not just lions).
I only have 93 friends from IMSA listed on my facebook. I try to be honest.
I'm a bit apprehensive about college. I hope this feeling goes away before I go away. One thing I've learned from IMSA is that everything sucks about school, except the feeling of a job well done, and except for your friends. So once I meet some cool people, things will all be good.

Positive things about college:
-Friends and socializing

Negative things about college:
-It costs a lot
-You're far away
-It's hard work
-The food sucks
-You don't get sleep
-Rooming can be a pain in the ass
-You don't have much time to hang out or relax

Somehow things should even out. I hope they do. Keyword: hope

I've been running across certain youtube users' videos. Like this cool Russian juggler/comedian girl. She seems really cool to meet.

And by the by, I finally played Portal today. It's a really interesting video game. If you don't know about it, you should. Google that shit. Google it real good =)
I beat the friggin game too. It's not a long game at all, but still. My eyes are pretty tired.

I feel empowered to finally be able to type on my laptop's built-in keyboard. It's something I haven't been able to do in 2 1/2 years. I can hear the keys as I type them more clearly; it makes me feel like I'm a good typer. Which is bullshit. You should see the way I type. It's kinda-sorta-fairly fast, but it's in no way the proper way to do it. I wonder how many people really do type properly, using the correct hand positions and what-not, the way they would teach us in our tech class in middle/high school.

I sincerely hope that Portal isn't an attempt at subliminal messaging that condemns stem-cell research.

I don't like seeing your underwear. I don't care who you are.

I'm pretty tired of love songs. Neyo is not the only one. Can't someone sing about soccer, or pineapples, or something? It's getting really fucking old. Really. Fucking. Old. Try something else, seriously. EVERY SONG relates to love or relationships or sex or something. There's so much more to life than that. If all you think about is significant-members-of-the-opposite-sex, then you'll end up with a significant other that will become your entire world. Then, when that significant other becomes your "ex", your world will be destroyed and you won't know what to do with yourself. Don't just bank on one little thing.

This brings up the "dating is like poker" thing below.

I wrote a song about the ideas in that paragraph above. Or at least I started to. I don't know if I'll ever finish it. That's how it is with all of my songs. I'll start it, but I'll put an amount of effort into finishing it that accords to my approval of the idea...and most of my ideas aren't gems. Thus, I end up finishing few of the songs I begin to write.

I saw a video of Tay Zonday singing a version of "Pork & Beans" along with a dude from Weezer who could not contain his laughter as he played the acoustic guitar. Haha.

I need to go to sleep. Go watch Yugioh the Abridged Series or something.

Dating is like a game of poker

Dating is like poker.
In the beginning, you take a little chance and put in a little bit of chips when you really haven't found out much. But as you learn more, you either put in more chips if the situation gets better or back out if the game isn't right for you.
In the end, you can either win big or lose. But if you're wise at the start, you won't lose much. On the other hand, if you keep going more and more in when the game is really not in your favor, you end up losing a lot.

Awh maian.
I'm going to go on vacation next week, adding 4 new states to my count. I'm going to VERMONT! That's easily going to be the smallest state I've ever been to. I think the smallest state I've been to so far is Indiana, which isn't small at all O_o.
I'm going to Niagara Falls, Toronto, Adirondack Park (northern New York) and Vermont. I talked on the phone with Jimmy for like 2 hours O_o...lots of catching up and meaningful conversation.
I like meaningful conversation. It reminds me that there really are some people out there who have thoughts, and that there are even better people who are willing to share their thoughts. Because if you have a thought and you don't share it, no one else can use it. Isn't that a bit selfish?
That's what this blog is for, mostly.

Worst things ever:

-Religious fanaticism
-AIDS
-Cicadas
-Drowning
-The Westboro Baptist Church
-Addictions
-Blind loyalty
-People who don't question their beliefs and actions

Best things ever:
-The legalization of abortion
-Cruise control
-Creativity
-Road Trips
-Independent people
-Thinkers
-Youtube

I
just thought
of an awesome
idea.

Some of your best thinking is done in the shower right?
How about a waterproof drawing pad made especially for the shower?
That should be my first invention.
I should come up with others too.

Also I'd like to add that I got my computer fixed. THE KEYBOARD ACTUALLY WORKS NOW! It's just not the same having the laptop keyboard working again. It's like a retarded child suddenly being cured. It's kind of a miracle.

I am writing here to confirm that I am still living.
And I am glad to have experienced one of the few frontiers of this state that I hadn't before. Lemmetellyaz all about my trip.
Monday: I pick up Ashwin in Woodridge around 1:30. Then we drive south toward Macy's. I took the new I-355 extension south all the way to I-80, and lemmetellyaz it was smooth sailing the whole time. It wasn't being used all that much, actually. We stopped in Rantoul for gas and for Arby's. Yay, roast beef sandwiches from Arby's. Makes my mouth water and my stomach cringe.
We got to Macy's around 6 I think. His parents are so nice, especially his mom.
Tuesday: Pack up and gtfo. We left in the late morning and drove south. We ate lunch at the Steak n' Shake in Mt. Vernon. We continued to Sparta where we took pictures in front of the sign that says "Welcome to Sparta" on the east side of town. After that we went to Chester and saw the statue Popeye. Also, I got gas. We passed by a lumber store with a sign that read "free wood" next to a pile of wood scraps. We took some and used it for our campfire that night.
Some of the most beautiful turf we saw was in southwestern Illinois along Illinois Route 151 and Route 3. That area of Randolph County is NICE (gmts).
We got food at Tom's in Murphysboro and the gas station canopy thing had "Our food gives you gas" on it. Har dee har har. We camped at Giant City State Park, which was miserable. Camping can be fun, but I feared for my life in a small way. This was because of harmless little cicadas.

Cicadas -> noise -> inability to sleep -> no sleep -> inability to drive alert -> crash -> injury or death

I should have figured out that I could have let Macy do the driving if I was unable to. Meh.

Wednesday: I probably ended up with 3 to 4 hours of sleep, tops. I woke up probably 10 - 15 times during the night because of the noise. The campsite was NICE though, outside of the damn cicadas. I was surprised to be decently alert despite them. IMSA had taught me to stockpile on sleep when I could (i.e. get more than I need to when I can so I can afford to get less sleep on worse days). We left Giant City to head south toward Anna and Jonesboro. We drove across the bridge spanning the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The road to that bridge was surrounded by flooded farm fields that were completely underwater. We were appreciative of the road having been built about 10 feet higher in elevation than the surrounding land. It was like driving on a causeway. We drove south to Cairo just to say we've been to the southern tip of Illinois, but we were disappointed to see that Cairo is a horrendous dump of a town. It's dilapidated and trashy now; I don't know what happened. After that was Metropolis, where we saw the Superman statue. (In case you are wondering, the name "Metropolis" came before the comics, so the people there said "Hey, we're the only city in the USA named Metropolis!" And THEN they made the statue). I drove across the border into Kentucky and got gas in Paducah. And we ate at Steak n' Shake AGAIN...and Macy got a banana shake AGAIN...
We went swimming at Lake Glendale Recreation Area in the Shawnee National Forest for a few hours. There were these 15-ish year old girls there calling each other sluts and swearing a lot. I liked how we could venture out to where we couldn't stand in the water and actually swim.
Finally, we drove to Cave-in-Rock State Park. About 5 miles away, at the southwest corner of IL1 and IL146, I dropped my cell phone on the gravel and lost it. I started freaking out looking for it about 45 mins. later. I went back to look for it. That street corner was the last place I was going to look before I planned on giving up. I drove up to the gravel patch, and looked out the window. Even though no one else was in the car, I bleated out, "OHHH MY GOD." I was totally amazed that I found it.

Thursday: Ashwin woke up late this day, so it took a while for us to get moving. But when we did, we went to the cave after which Cave-in-Rock State Park is named. It was cool, but there was too much graffiti. We climbed around in there for a good hour or so. We found sandstone-in-the-making, broke the layers apart and skipped the rocks on the Ohio River. The cave opening faces the river itself.
Then we drove to the Garden of the Gods, which was easily the most amazing part of the trip. Look at the pictures on facebook. Famazing. Big cliffs, rock formations, lots of climbing around, and other stuff.
Then we ate at NOT-STEAK-N-SHAKE...and by that I mean "Sonic." You know, one of thems drive-in places that you see commercials for but never see. They don't have them in northern Illinois, but they sure do in southern Illinois. The one we went to was in Harrisburg. We drove to Old Shawneetown, a sort-of-ghost-town on the Ohio River. That was kind of a letdown, because it just looked like a relatively crappy small town. There was a town called Equality, and there was an old phone booth there; I took a picture of it. We went to Olney, a town in southeastern Illinois which is proud to be the home of white squirrels. We parked the car in the park that people tell me is the place to find them. So I got out of the car and looked around, and I was lucky enough to find one within a minute or so. It was probably 200 feet away or so, running up a tree. So the three of us walked toward the tree to find it. I saw it on a branch which pointed directly away from the direction we were coming from. But I found it, just sitting on that branch. He was still just sitting there as I took 2 pictures of it, one or both of which are on facebook.
Then we drove straight to Macy's to spend the last night. I got gas in Albion, and they sold individual bottles of Jones sodas there for only $1.19. I'll have to remember that!
Friday: Drove home. Nothing special. I-57 to Kankakee, IL102 to Wilmington, I-55 to Plainfield. Woohoo. Got gas in Bourbonnais. Woohoo.

My sign collection has exploded because of this trip. I'll never have to go south of I-64 for anything ever again, except for three little spots (Monroe County, Franklin/Williamson Counties, and White County). But my original collection of just the highway shields is 91% complete. I only need Illinois Routes 35, 73, 98, 135, 155, 156, 164, 138, 109, 255, 267, 336, and 394; and Interstates 172, 180, 280, and 474.

I actually have two different collections. One is of the different numbers (a sign for Route 1, a sign for Route 2, etc.). The other collection is of pictures for my website--this consists of the signs you see at intersections (i.e. Route 127 <- Route 149 ->). You can look at the website to see how far I've come with those.

As for now, I'm just chillin' at home. We're going on vacation next week, so that means I have a week now between trips. And after that, it's less than 2 weeks til college. I don't fucking want to go to college. I like not doing bullshit work. I like doing the kind of work I like to do.

But I know that you don't just live life to smell the flowers. You have to PLANT SOME YOURSELF!!

Holy shit. I'm gonna die. In a good way. I think? aghhhh, start over.
<
Holy shit. I'm gonna die. But it'll be fun. And I'm not actually going to die.
Wait. I'm gonna die, but I'm not going to die? First of all, one is "gonna", and then in the other I actually bothered to write out the whole thing. But more importantly, that's a ridiculous contradiction. OK. ANYWAY.

I'm going to go on a big ol' camping trip. I'ma drivin down da Macy's and then to southern Illinois. And no, you Chicago tards, I'm not going to Peoria, Bloomington, or Rockford or any other place you consider 'southern Illinois'. You should get that checked out, seriously. Come on. Rockford is actually further NORTH than Chicago! I'm talking about Carbondale, Chester, Cave-in-Rock, Cairo, and places like that. Ones that are south of I-64 (gmts).

For future reference, "gmts" stands for "Google Map that shit." I've typed it before, and I talk about obscure locations a lot so I thought I would make it more convenient for future use. Also, it has a cuss word in it, and they tend to make phrases with cuss words in them into abbreviations like that (wtf, stfu, lmao, etc. (that last one isn't an abbreviation--I'm actually using that the way it's intended to be used)). Google Maps is the best. Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg knew what they were talking about (PLEASE tell me somebody gets that reference).

I'm going to stay the night at Macy's in Charleston tomorrow night, go camping for 2 nights, sleep at Macy's Thursday night, and come home Friday. And I'm bringing Ashwin with me! (And Macy, of course.)

We're going to go to:

Chester
SPARTA!!!! That's right. Sparta. Just so we can say that three-word line we all know and love (the males tend to anyway)...
Johnson Creek Recreation Area (plus I need to add Route 151 to my collection (gmts))
Giant City State Park
Metropolis (Superman that ho)
Cairo (the southern tip of Illinois, just for shiggles) (It's supposed to be 100°F there Tuesday; good thing we're going Wednesday!)
Garden of the Gods (probably the highlight of the trip)
Cave-in-Rock
Olney (a town full of albino squirrels)

It's going to be awesome. Except for the fact that it's going to be 90°F and humid during the day. Make that low-mid 90's on Wednesday, but at Johnson Creek we're going to go swimming. So it's not THAT bad...except when we have to camp. At night. I hope we don't have to go to sleep when it feels like you're wading in a bowl of fucking chicken noodle soup outside.

Oh, and I get to add a SHITload of signs to my collection when we do this =)

Going to bed so I can leave tomorrow! I should get an oil change for my dad's car tomorrow...and I leave at 12:30. Bye y'all! (except maceface and the lil guy)

I have a HUGE amount of respect of people who keep it real and are bluntly honest, but Katy Perry annoys me. She has a disposition of being "BAD" (does the quotes, Dr. Evil-style). Her image is stupid like any counterculture is stupid--because if you really didn't bear traditional values, you wouldn't feel the need to GO AGAINST THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE! What I mean is that whenever these "rebels" (yes, Dr. Evil-style again) say they hate a certain set of values over and over and over, they are merely showing that they cannot imagine living life under any other set of values in the first place. Let's say that some teenager is raised a Christian all of his life and then he decides to get into dark stuff, like wearing an armband with a pentagram in it, going all "goth" and satanic worship. I would see stuff like this in high school and sigh, because all I would see is someone who wants to show how he is different from everyone else, but what he's actually showing is that he can't break away from the very set of values he is claiming to condemn. If you want to be different, then don't do the opposite. Do something different! Not something...opposite!
That's the first thing that gets on my nerves about Katy. I find it hilarious that before her current "bad" (Dr. Evil) side, she was a Christian pop star. Fucking.hilarious.
The other thing is that she's very open about being a naughty, raunchy person in her songs. I've heard that she's actually not a raunchy, blunt person off-set (I'm guessing just a good Christian girl), but her music is just bad and without regret.
HAVE REGRETS. If you make a mistake and you don't regret it, you don't feel bad about it. If you don't feel bad about something then you don't pick up the notion that you might well have done something wrong. If you don't have an inkling that you might have done something wrong, you won't figure out that you made a mistake. And since we learn from our mistakes, you don't learn anything if you don't notice your mistake. If you don't learn anything, you end up being stupid all your life, and the truth is that in the end, PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO REGRETS ARE STUPID.
But if you have regrets, don't dwell on them. Learn your lesson, and get over them. If you dwell on your regrets, you become depressed. If you become depressed, you won't want to go out and experience the world. If you don't experience the world, you won't gain any experience and you won't make mistakes and have triumphs from which you can learn about life. If you don't learn anything, you end up being stupid all your life, and the truth is that in the end, PEOPLE WHO DWELL ON THEIR REGRETS ARE STUPID.
DON'T BE STUPID!

I'm tired of all this bipolarity. During school, I work my ass off, and at home, I do nothing. Why can't I do a more moderate amount of work for a longer period of time?

The plans for the camping trip are slowly falling apart, dissolving like a tablet of alka-seltzer. I guess Macy and I will figure something out to do this weekend. I REALLY WANT TO FINISH MY SIGN COLLECTION! And all I really need to do is go to Jersey County, southern Illinois (all over the area south of I-64), Goodenow, East Dubuque, Quincy, and North Pekin. Most of the signs are in southern Illinois, and those are the hardest to get too. I really hope I can go down there for a couple of days.

I think the next time I post, I'll put up a collection of other dumb stuff?
I need to get more important people to this page.
You know what- screw the collection of dumb stuff.
Life is too easy and issue-free now for me to have important things to talk about. That's just how summer works.
This blog is made for me to talk about myself. But what about you? I want to know what you have to say too. Tell me some of your ideas. It's constructive and it's fun to learn what other people have to say.

Today's feature...STUPID YOUTUBE CRAP!

That's right fellas! I'm talking about stupid youtube crap today! I'm going to share with you all the dumb crap on that site for all of you to enjoy.

I think we've all seen this first one at some point. It's the annoying commercial for the Flea Market in Montgomery, Alabama, with that creepy black dude with the scary, googly eyes.
I've got a funny story about this, actually. I looked for this place on google maps just for shiggles (knowing me, right?), and I found the place! I also found reviews of it. In one of the reviews a shopper reviewed the commercial "catchy" (I'm guessing she was referring to this one). Catchy? Maybe in a hypnotic sort of way, because he repeats the SAME SHIT OVER AND OVER for two minutes. I know the Backstreet Boys and a lot of other late 90's pop artists used hypnosis in their music. Take something catchy, repeat it more than 3 times, and then it's stuck in your head. Why bother buying the CD if you're going to be listening to it in your mind for the week after you hear the song in the first place? I think they should stop worrying about losing money to people pirating their music using the internet--that's probably the REAL reason they didn't make as much money! Actually, if they wrote something that wasn't as goddamn repetitive, people like me would appreciate it more and be even more inclined to purchase it.

ANYWAYS...the second piece of youtube CRAP is this old commercial from a Baltimore car dealer. Zexi showed me it and I cracked up. Ah, the wonders of swearing in different contexts.

This next one is actually a fad. It's the dramatic chipmunk fad. I don't get it. What is so wonderful about a chipmunk turning around with its eyes wide open? I see squirrels who do this in front of my car every week! (No animals were harmed in the making of this ...statement? I guess? =P) Here's a video that puts a lot of versions of the dramatic chipmunk video...Would you even call it a video? Let's call it a clip...it's only like 5 seconds long.

Number four is stupid but hilarious. It's really hilarious. I found this a long time ago. It's time for POTTER PUPPET PALS! It makes me want to laugh and beat myself over the head at the same time. Have at it.

THIS ONE TAKES THE CAKE. THIS IS THE DUMBEST THING ON YOUTUBE. AND IT GOES ON FOR A FUCKING HALF-HOUR!
The demented cartoon movie. Clip after clip after stupid crappity-crap-crap. Watch the whole thing just to say that you did and so you can complain to the whole world that you forced yourself to do it and so people can think "wow, you're complaining about it but you were still stupid enough to keep watching it as painful as it was."... orrrr don't.

That's it for now!

And now for an addition to the top-ten list of the best things ever:

Japanese gummi candy.
It tastes like real fruit because it's made from real fruit.
It comes in 11 flavors.
And every flavor is oh-so good.
Go to the Asia supermarket on Naper Blvd. just north of US34, or H-mart, or Chinatown.
IT ROCKS!!

This is a summary of all of the virtual land I own on the web:

Well, there's this...
And my website with all of my road signs
My facebook
My myspace...which I pay just about NO attention to

I had a livejournal back in the day, that's around somewhere.
That's all the stuff I can think of!

Well, how's this for neglecting to write? Three and a half friggin weeks. And in summer. I should take a post-it note and write LAME on it in really big letters and stick it to my forehead.
But if I did that now, I wouldn't be able to see what I'm typing...and I might make a really bad typo like forgetting the "R" in shirt...because I've done that before...wow, maybe I should make another post-it note with "SIR RAMBLES-A-LOT" on it since that's what I'm doing...

ANYWAY

The big news is that my IMSA friend count is up to twenty-seven! I've been keeping track of how many friends from IMSA I've seen this summer. I've even seen Valerie, Macy, and Colin, all of which live 4 or more hours from my house! *FF7 victory blurb plays*
I've actually never played FF7 but I think all of us who play/have played copious amounts of video games know that sound blurb.

Let's see that list of IMSA friends I've seen:

My graduation party, June 1, 2008:
Zexi, Macy, Ashwin, Erika, Chris, and Aya (6)

Macy stayed at my house until June 7

Macy and I hung out with Dean on the 7th (7)

Went to Janelle's on the 8th (8)

Went to Kirk's graduation party on the 15th (I think?), saw Connor too (10)

Martin's graduation party, June 16th:
Martin, Ju, Adam, Phoebe, Asya, (15)

Went to Zexi's apartment in Evanston on the 20th/21st (I think?)
Macy, Steven, Jake, C-Li and Martin (18)

Went to Connor's house in Rock Island for his grad party, June 28-29:
Connor, Dani, Neelam, Colin, Rachel, Ritchie, and Julie (24)

Valerie came up and visited July 1 and we went to the Taste of Chicago (25)

I visited Sulochana last week, and the next day Luke and I visited Chris, so I saw Luke (27)

And no, I didn't count anyone twice. -_-

I was thinking of starting a videolog/blog/whatever-thingy, except every entry has to be in a different state. The Illinois one would be the first, serving as an introductory video. I plan on being in New York and Vermont this summer (and ONTARIO!)...which means driving through Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. I've never been to New York, Vermont, Ohio, or Pennsylvania before (not to mention ANYWHERE in Canada) so this should be exciting.
I still don't know what's up with the big-ass camping trip next week. Tyler and I need to work this out.

In listing out the friends I've seen this summer, I've pretty much gone through all the cool stuff I've done this summer. Because it's not the things you do that make it cool. It's the people you do it with.

(That's like a fortune cookie...haha)

((If you didn't get the fortune cookie thing, I'll spell it out for you: add 'in bed' to the end.))

I've finished writing 4 of my 12 pieces into the computer and summer's already half over...better get cracking =D

My third song is stuck in my head...isn't that weird?

I'm really incoherent and stuff. You can tell that by how I jump from idea to idea, and by counting how many times I switch paragraphs. Like this:

I'm working on a nice map now. I think I'll take a picture of it and post it.

When I was contemplating the awesomeness of the internet, I was thinking of how amazing the internet is for making it easy to access information. But I never thought of how the internet makes is easy to share who we are with our friends and with the rest of the world.

And Chris showed me the SCARIEST YOUTUBE VIDEO ON EARTH. It's a video of Ronald McDonald. Ever heard the phrase, "can't sleep; clowns will eat me"? It's like that.
You can watch it, but you've been warned. It's here.

Leave me a comment so I know that there's somebody alive out there =)

Geez. I've been to Joy Yee's three times this month.
I haven't really been up to a lot of things that are special...I've been working with my dad a bunch. He owes me for nine jobs now--I'm counting, because I'm sure neither of my parents are.
My IMSA friend count is up to 16-and by Tuesday, I expect that number to have soared, for two reasons. The first is that I'm going to the quad cities the 29th-30th to visit Connor (and I hope Jacque?)...and the second is that I'm going to the Taste of Chicago on the 1st. PLUS, I'm going to visit Zexi on the 28th. That makes 4 days in a row of chillin' with IMSA peeps.

I'm really hoping to lock in plans for this 6-day camping road trip of pure awesomeness on July 20th-25th. It goes around the rim of Illinois. I made a google map of it: click here to see it.

I'm hungry. Maybe I'll boil some of those pot stickers =]

So I've divided my poison ivy into 8 regions. 4 are on my right leg, 3 are on my left leg, and one is on my right arm. And now I think I'm developing a ninth spot to the right of my belly button. Isn't two weeks enough time for it to stop spreading? Son of a bitch!

I'm going to look for what I can do about this shit online. Hopefully I can get some help.

What I've done this summer.

Hmm...Well there was my picnic the day after graduation. I saw 7 IMSA friends that day, and the count has just increased from there (to 10...which isn't that much more). So far I've seen Macy, Zexi, Ashwin, Chris, Erika, Aya, Kirk, Connor, Janelle, and Dean (I thought there was another one too...ah well). Macy stayed at my house for the entire first week of summer, which is awesome, because he lives the farthest away out of all my close friends. I went to Chinatown with Aya and Macy, I went to visit Ashwin and Zexi once with Macy (completing the quad a second time!), I saw Ashwin another time with Macy, I went go-karting and mini golfing with Macy and Dean, I went to Lincoln Park Zoo with Aya, Tyler, Colin, and the Dopps, and I went to Kirk's graduation picnic and saw Connor there. Oh, and I slept over at Janelle's house in the middle of nowhere (don't worry, no hanky-panky XD). And I went to PrairieFest with Tyler once and saw Rachel, my friend from freshman year. I hope I can chill with her more this summer. And Maggie came home! She was a good friend all the way back in 7th grade. So we walked around and stuff. I was happy to see her.
So that pretty much sums up everything cool that I've done. I've visited Tyler at work once too...no, twice. I've got a receipt from Meijer up on my bulletin board that reads, "Your fast and friendly checkout was provided by TYLER." haha

I'm off to go see Martin at his party today. That'll be the next person to add to my count.

Fuck the plague--poison ivy is killing me, and it's spreading everywhere. A week ago, it was just at the bottom of my right shin, near my ankle. Now it reaches from my right knee to where it started, and it's on my left leg, too, in pretty much the same region. And it's on my right arm, AND it's on my left ear. And there's one more spot- a particularly annoying location in the crotchal region...not going any further.

IMSA has taught me a lot of things that it didn't intend to in the first place. First of all, I'm glad that I've finally gotten the FUCK out of there. Problem-based learning DOES work, but IMSA, for the most part, doesn't actually advocate it. What it tends to advocate is leaving you to do the problems without fucking telling you remotely how to even start going in the right direction. We can't SOLVE the problems if we don't have any background, you dumbass teachers. We actually have to have some information in order to figure them out! Oh, and one of the problems shouldn't be "figure out what the homework is YOURSELF because I'M NOT GOING TO CLEARLY STATE WHAT IT IS AND WHEN IT'S DUE!" THAT is not what they mean by "PROBLEM." They meant "problem" as in "MATH problem," not "problem" as in a conflict you go through in your life, like not knowing when to fucking turn in your final paper! THAT does not encourage learning. That encourages stress!
The lifestyle was ridiculous. The days of most students can be broken down into five categories: going to school, after-school activities, homework, socializing, and sleeping. Going to school pretty much takes up the first part of every day, so let's forget about that one when determining how to organize one's day, because that's a given.
So, most people's days go in one of the following ways:
1) The lifestyle IMSA seems to encourage: after-school activities, homework, sleeping, with limited socializing.
2) What most IMSA kids end up doing: after-school activities, socializing, homework, then limited sleeping
3) What I tended to do: Little or no after-school activities, socializing, homework, then time for sleeping

There was so much stress and homework that it seemed there was little time for anything other than homework. So if you wanted to sleep, you had to give up socializing, or vice versa.
Fuck that. Seriously.
I wanted to go hang out with people but they were always busy! I wanted to get to know people better but I couldn't.
Well, that was half of it. I wasn't proactive enough, and I regret it.
And I judged people. I found out at the end of the year that there were some really cool people I never really got to know. I thought they wouldn't be nice people but I was wrong. Oh well.
So now I know that I need to be more proactive in getting to meet new people and to get to know those whom I've met. And I know that I shouldn't assume things about people as much as I did. And I know that "problem-based learning" is largely an excuse for teachers to sit on their asses and watch kids learn things themselves without doing their jobs themselves. I've also learned that teachers who know a lot and are highly respected tend to not really give a shit about what grades they give to the kids. Teachers whom you think are the coolest as people might be really bad at teaching--there are some which are really awesome people but are crappy teachers. Yeah, there's integration by parts and oxidation-reduction reactions and eukaryotic cells--but I think that stuff is more important to learn than all that science and math stuff.