DMV

Hi again,

Lets talk about the DMV shall we? or at least the renewal of ones drivers license. I arrived home this break to an application for drivers license renewal. Oh well knew it was coming and all. Didn't know I would have to pay $34 to get this new license. I have never used my old one, which I paid $25 for. So now I must, by law either purchase a shiny new three inch plastic card that has no real value and I will never get any use out of, or not drive. Somebody explain this. Don't I get a donor discount or something?

Also the new cards are vertical. That upsets me. I have had a horizontal one since I got my license, I want to keep it that way. I think that the new vertical ones are ugly, and an attempt to fit in because other states are doing it too. Well Wisconsin, just because Minnesota jumped off a bridge in to one of their lakes, doesn't mean we have to jump into a barrel of beer. Mainly I am pissed about this because my wallet is horizontal. I know this because their is an M on the front, thus it has a field orientation. I don't want my license to look strange in my wallet, but I have had this wallet since my temps (as can be seen from the temps sitting behind my license because I was too lazy to take it out). So I have had this wallet for over three years, it is still good and I would like to keep it, but this new vertical license is threatening to screw it all up. Blah!!

So on the application, most of my information is filled in. This includes my date of birth, sex, race, eye color, hair color, weight, height, drivers license number, and my address. Well okay, while my date of birth, sex, race, and eye color are not likely to have changed, my weight and height might have. In over two years, half of one being at college, I will of course not gained or lost any weight or grown an inch, or died my hair. These are all very uncommon things that the average American 16 to 19 year old would more than likely not do, except for the few rebellious ones and they are so crazy they shouldn't be driving anyway. The few blanks that I must fill in are my social security number (which could be gotten by knowing my license number, so why not just go ahead and fill that in?), and weather of not I want to be an organ donor (the answer is yes) and if i wish to have my name removed from the lists that they sell, and if I am a citizen of the US or not. If I was two years ago, I think I am now. I don't think, since I haven't moved, that my citizenship has run out. Also they would like to know if my operating privileges have been cancelled or disqualified. Do they really send renewal forms to people who have had their licenses taken away? And if they do why? They want to know if I have had a loss of consciousness or muscle control in the past year due to any of eight listed conditions. A) lets extend that to five years shall we? just to be on the safe side, but that's just how I roll and B) can we please have an other box because I am sure their are more than eight conditions that can cause this that would be equally hazardous to driving and C) shouldn't a yes or no be sufficient actually? and then an if yes please explain?

If you are looking for an upside to this rant here it is: I get a new picture, and this time I plan on looking good. Not that anyone really sees it, except for in an exchange of bad license photo story, but hey maybe now I can be in the good license photo story group. Oh well.

Ta Ta

A winters day with presents

Merry Christmas! (or whatever you happen to celebrate).

Today is supposed to be celebrated as a day of loving and giving. It has changed hasn't it?

Walk with me down memory lane....

When I was little I would wake up early, really early, almost ungodly early, like 4 am. I was so excited to see what I would get. My parents always set a time that my brother and I were allowed to wake them up and that was normally around 5:30. So my brother and I would get up and talk and guess as to what the presents were for an hour and a half. Then we would rush in waking up my parents and dragging them to the tree so that we could go through our stockings and open presents. We always had many more than out parents. Then my mom would make breakfast as we played with out new presents, none of which where practical. Then we would have pancakes and bacon and fresh fruit. Then we would spend all day playing and spending time with the family.

It really was nice. I know it must have been a lot of work for my parents, but it is something I look back on fondly.

It all changed as we started to get older. Now that my brother and I are both in college and we have to travel home for holidays it is harder to buy presents and let others know what you want. Let me walk you through this holiday.

I woke up around 9 and my brother woke up around 11. After finishing a movie we opened our presents. Mostly useful stuff as in a laptop bag and a cook book, I'm not complaining though. I really do appreciate that stuff. Also some sweaters. Then we went on to breakfast. I helped for a bit but mostly played sodoku. Then there was some down time where we helped set up our new computer. Then some more TV, and I straightened up my room a bit. Check my computer/email/facebook and then help make dinner. Now I am waiting for a bit to go to a movie with my mom. Oh times have changed but they are still nice.

Just thinking about it I guess so I decided to write about it.

Again Merry Christmas and if you aren't of the christian persuasion I hope you had a lovely winters day!

Ta Ta

almost there

Hello,

Well one more day left. No, strike that, I will be leaving here in 22 hours and in 26 hours I will be home! I need to be home. I only have one more final and then home. Surprisingly enough it's a writing final.

This past week has been finals week. It has been a little bit of hell. I don't mind the studying part. I just have trouble starting to study. I never seem to have the motivation. Then there is the part where I am not studying and have no homework and thus I have no life. I really have nothing to do.

Thus I have discovered games online that hold my interest until I can think of something better to do.

I don't have to do anything until about 2 tomorrow.

There are a few things left to pack though. Maybe I will pack in the morning, there are also things that I need to take down because a) a member of my family will be walking in here and b) the RAs do a walk through to check for that stuff. Though they know us so they won't look too closely.

So here is a list of stuff I have yet to pack:
-my make-up
-my perfumes and lotions
-my meds
-my iHome
-a picture that I drew that I am giving to my friend
-two books that I would enjoy reading over break
-my CDs and DVDs (many of which I have accumulated since being here)
-my ipod car stuff
-my ipod
-the gifts for people

I just want to be home.

I have a strange sense of Christmas movies. While I appreciate the ones that have a Christmas theme to them, I think of Christmas movies differently. Christmas movies to me are ones that I always watch around Christmas. They really have nothing to do with Christmas, but I really only watch them at that time.

My Christmas movies are The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music. There are normally a few other classics that I watch but really those are the two I need to see for Christmas to be near.

It doesn't feel like Christmas is anywhere near. I think it is because I am away at college and there really are no preparations for it and really the thing I have been focused on has been finals. So now I will go home and be thrust into Christmas spirit.

I think it will be a culture shock going home. I am used to one way of living now, and it is much different from the one at home. Now I must go home for a month and learn how to live there and then come back to college and readjust. Oh well I think I will be ok since I have 18 years of experience living with my family, so really it will just be slight adjustments to make and remember.

I think break will go by to fast at first and then it will be to slow. I will be happy with it, I am sure of that though. You enjoy the spirit of universal love and giving. That is the greatest part of this season.

Ta Ta

The Fat Lady and the Answer

Hi all,

Well its basically all over. Really the only thing left is for someone to call it a game and the fat lady to sing. Where did that expression come from? I just looked it up. It comes from the opera. Apparently the lead was normally played by an overweight soprano lady. Since she was the lead she normally always had the last number. Well good thing we cleared that up.

So really tomorrow I still have classes. I have biology discussion and biology lecture. In biology discussion we are just watching a video on intelligent design, and in lecture it is just a general review for the final. Nothing important, but I have this feeling that I will go anyway.

That's it. Its just that and the finals. Three total, the other class didn't have a final. I will be done on Thursday and then I will be on my way home.

I'm not nervous at all. I can't at this point get any lower than a B in all of my classes, and to escape your first semester with a 3.0 and still have some stories of some hilariously funny times, well that is a feat. But really, I want at least a 3.5. I think I will get it.

I foresee myself studying, but not being overly zealous about it. I think that my years in Academic decathlon have ruined any hope of test anxiety. Sure I will get some right before the test, but once I am in there taking the test I am in a zone, a zone just like an athlete gets into. It really is mechanical at that point. My hear beats really fast and my adrenaline is going. I love the feeling I get when I take a test. Because everything in my body is going so fast my mind is also racing. This would be a problem for most, but again like an athlete I have learned control when I am in the zone. I just read super fast, and think about the question and only the question and its possible implications fast. I answer fast, and I move on to the next question almost completely forgetting the last question. The upside is, unlike Academic Decathlon, I know most of these answers because I have at some point heard or read this stuff. Few questions can really make me faulter. I am really grateful for my years on that team because while other kids are stressing about their finals I have the advantage of the study techniques and the advantage of the ability to hold on to information for long periods of time. I don't need to study as hard. I will not be stressed about these exams. If college is a marathon just call me the guy from Kenya.

I really should be stressed, but in reality I am just relieved that it is almost over. I don't have any big plans for the break, I just really want to be at a place I know completely.

So in an unrelated topic, I just found a few books that I would like for Christmas. The problem being this: I have already sent out my Christmas lists, and my family is the type that buys your presents the day after Thanksgiving. I will call my mom and tell her that I want these books. She is my second best shot. The best shot is my brother. I have yet to email him my list of things he can afford that I want for Christmas. Come to think of it he was supposed to send me a list too. This will be a gentle reminder that I need his list right?

The books that I want are basically anything that Dorothy Parker wrote. I am becoming a huge fan of her poetry and her delightful wit. I will post my favorite poems and some awesome quotes from her as an ending, and to encourage you to look up more about her and to read her works.

Theory

Into love, and out again,
Thus I went, and thus I go.
Spare your voice and hold your pen---
Well and bitterly I know
All the songs were ever sung,
All the words were ever said;
Could it be when I was young,
Someone dropped me on my head?

Coda

There's little in taking or giving,
There's little in water or wine;
This living, this living, this living
Was never a project of mine.
Oh hard is the struggle and sparse is
The gain of the one at the top,
For art is a form of catharsis,
And love is a permanent flop,
And work is the province of cattle,
And rest's for a clam in a shell,
So I'm thinking of throwing the battle---
Would you kindly direct me to hell?

Fable

Oh, there once was a lady, and so I've been told,
Whose lover grew weary, whose lover grew cold.
"My child," he remarked, "though our episode ends,
In the manner of men, I suggest we be friends."
And the truest of friends ever after they were ---
Oh, they lied in their teeth when they told me of her!

Fighting Words

Say my love is easy had,
Say I'm bitten raw with pride,
Say I am too often sad ---
Still behold me at your side.
Say I'm neither brave nor young,
Say I woo and coddle care,
Say the devil touched my tongue ---
Still you have my heart to wear.
But say my verses do not scan,
And I get me another man!


Symptom Recital

I do not like my state of mind;
I'm bitter, querulous, unkind.
I hate my legs, I hate my hands,
I do not yearn for lovelier lands.
I dread the dawn's recurrent light;
I hate to go to bed at night.
I snoot at simple, earnest folk.
I cannot take the simplest joke.
I find no peace in paint or type.
My world is but a lot of tripe.
I'm disillusioned, empty-breasted.
For what I think, I'd be arrested.
I am not sick. I am not well.
My quondam dreams are shot to hell.
My soul is crushed, my spirit sore:
I do not like me any more.
I cavil, quarrel, grumble, grouse.
I ponder on the narrow house.
I shudder at the thought of men.
I'm due to fall in love again.

Some quotes:
(when being challenged to use the word horticulture in a sentence)
"You can drag a horticulture, but you can't make her think.”

“I wish I could drink like a lady / I can take one or two at the most / Three and I'm under the table / Four and I'm under the host”

"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.”

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy.”

"If you want to see what God thinks of money, just look at all the people He gave it to.”

"It serves me right for putting all my eggs in one bastard.”

"That would be a good thing for them to carve on my tombstone: Wherever she went, including here, it was against her better judgment”

That's it for now. Hope you had a good laugh.

Ta Ta

The End Is Near!

Hello all,

I think you should know the end is near!!!!! That's right, the semester is almost over, and I may escape with all but perfect grades.

It is getting hard for me to stay focused. What a dangerous time to stop thinking about my work. The problem is that I can see the end now, whereas before it was strictly keep your head down and endure because, while you can't see the end now, it is there and it is rumored to be worth it.

But what is so distracting at the end? This isn't so easy to answer, but I will of course try.

First there is my family. I have only seen my brother once in all of five or six months, and that was for thanksgiving, so for about a day and a half. I miss him a lot. I'm not sure if he knows but I love him and he is my hero. Plus my mom and dad. I miss them also. They really are good people, I have always known this. If I happen to have children I will want to raise them the way my parents raised me. I can't think of a greater compliment, except that they have set an example for which I try to model my life after. Really if you haven't met my parents you should. They are funny, and smart, and loving. What more can you ask for?

Then there is the fact that it is Christmas and I get to see all sides of my family.

My mom's side is crazy and fun, and when they tease you they are really saying I love you. It is a bigger side than my dad's side and I wish I had more than one evening with them. I could talk with them for days.

My dad's side is so very loving. Sitting with them is like having one of those big squishy hugs that you never want to leave. It is smaller, but that just means an abundance of quality time. I should mention my aunt (my dad's sister). She is the nicest person I have ever met. I know people say this too much, but I mean it. I have never met anyone so genuinely selfless.

I should explain that I have a third side of the family, my mom's friends from college. We see them just as much, if not more, than my actual family. They love me and I love them. They are crazy and funny and have some of the best stories. I love the example they have given me for friendship.

The second reason is of course friends. This is only a close second because they are so like family these days. I have already stated that I love them and that they mean the world to me. It has been hard being apart from them so any reunion is gladly welcomed. Being with them I feel complete. Any guy who would want to be with me would have to accept that they come with the package. Happiness is watching a movie late at night eating popcorn so close to them.

Thirdly, it's almost Christmas!!! I am not religious but I love the lights and the sense of peace and love. I love the cookies and the look that others get when you give them presents. I hate the redundant music, but oh well you must take the good with the bad.

Finally, no classes. What more could I ask for? No homework or responsibility. No need to get up at 7 on Wednesdays to make it to lab by 8. This may mean I have to go back to work for a bit, but I can deal with that.

See how it is hard to focus? How can they place finals so close to going home? It seems inhuman.

Here are some thoughts that I found in the back of some of my notebooks from throughout the semester and last year. Apparently I get distracted or disgruntled. Oh well.

What is this thing we seek? How shall you define it? By numbers or theories? By words or pictures? And who are you to judge it?
Why do we seek it? Is it to be as others are and tell us to be? Is it for the money? Is it for the love?
What a horrible concept this knowledge must be!

Am I for numbers and theories? Am I for atoms and blood? It is exciting and fun, but do I love it? live for it? Do I love words, history, and the human condition more? Life is full of choices, and I feel I am only guessing.

This has gone on too long! This call in from play, this call for shoes, this call for nice clothes, this call to order, this call for promptness. How can this cruelty be born? How can the sun shine so bright? How can we be made to sit indoors? How can that bell bare to ring? Why must I be here?

This wasn't the design 'he' had in mind. We are supposed to live! not study. We were to be fit and run, not sit and listen.

The snow is coming! Can't you smell it? Our jackets are don'd, our leaves are gone. The only thing left is to cover the world! cover it in silver and white. To wash it clean, to make it shine. The snow is coming! can't you feel it? can't you feel it in your beating heart?

Chickadee in the golden tree, jump from branch to branch. Play and laugh your chickadee laugh. Soon the leaves will quiver, break and fall, leaving you to the cruel world. But you will continue to play in the gold today. Go on without a care for soon the world will lay bare.

Ta Ta

I think the snow makes me even more random

Hello,

The snow has been falling here almost all day. Quite a bit has accumulated. I have barely gone outside, and really that was only to eat lunch and make my way less than 100 feet to the next building so I can use their study lounge. I know it is a Saturday night on a college campus, I really should be out doing drugs of getting drunk. I don't really feel like doing either. Really I am just going to study Biology so that on Monday and can do well on the exam.

There is a catch in my plan, however. I seemed to have left my notebook and my power cord for my computer in my apartment. I really don't want to go back and get it. It is cold and that is five flights of steps to just get back to my room. I should go get it shouldn't I? Do you think it will be safe just to pack up all of my stuff but just leave my bag in the corner? I shouldn't be more than three min. I just don't want anyone to take it. Oh the dilemma!!! to take a heavy backpack up five flights or to leave it and risk and expensive book and an expensive calculator, not to mention my computer! Nothing else too valuable in there.

Just to waist a few more min. here is an inventory of my backpack (besides the aforementioned objects)
-a lot of random pens (a few stolen for roommates/ classmates and a few from some on campus organizations)
- an outline for a presentation that is long past ( it was on managing finances in college. got some interesting stats that I may mention later)
- various colored highlights
- metallic sharpie that I thought was lost
-a set of headphones
- an empty box of orbit (that got my hopes up)
- what appears to be all the wrappers from my orbit gum all of them empty
- a 2G flash drive
- a half empty pack of stride :)
- two tubes of chap stick
- four rubber bands ( i don't know why, but they may come in handy at a later date)
- a planner
- a few past math assignments

That's really about it. I guess I should go back and get my notebook. Oh well.

Well I have returned safely and with two new invites to parties...that makes four for today. I have my notebook and my power cord. I was also given a cookie upon my return, but I can't say it mad it worth while. For those of you interested I took my stuff with me, I didn't want to lose my half a pack of stride and my four rubber bands. Totally not worth the risk.

I should be making flash cards and memorizing them . I should be looking over my notes and looking at the pages and figures my brilliant and funny professor (just in case she somehow reads this) has referred to.

How amazing it is that I am the only one in this study lounge (between the two buildings there is only one, this campus is amazing like that) . It is a Saturday night, but you would think that some where in these two buildings there would be another geek like me studying for a test. No of course not! They are all out getting drunk, even the geeks. It is just me who is the loser. But not even that I have been invited to parties, one of them by a guy that cheeked me out earlier today. I choose to study however.

Don't get me wrong, some weekends I will go out and party, I will even drink on occasion. I have a test on Monday, and I couldn't forgive myself if I went out and got drunk instead of studying. Oh aren't I just the goody two shoes? I need good grades, I need this all to pan out. All so I can do something that I am not sure I even want to do anymore. Sure I want to help people, and the way the body works fascinates me, but could I watch someone die? The real question is if I don't do this, what will I do? I don't know. So this is the plan until I figure it all out.

Some random facts about college students that I learned while doing the presentation:
- the average college student spends $50 on beer each month
- that adds up to $5.5 billion nationally
- we spend $3 billion nationally on movie rentals a year
- the average student spends $211 per month on discretionary items
- Nationally American students spend $11 billion on snacks and beverages

Some startling stats.

This was really random. Sorry! I am off to study some more now.

Ta Ta