I just went out to my car to get my flashlight and on the way I tripped on something. I cursed and looked down to see a sideview mirror on the ground. My sideview mirror. My driver's side mirror. Dammit.
In the grand scheme of things, its not that big of a deal. I'll just go get some industrial adhesive and put it back on. It didn't have any mechanics or anything to it so i really don't have to worry... its just plastic. What bothers me is that it was on the sidewalk, on the other side of the car from where it was broken off. Meaning someone purposely, or accidentally, broke it off and then put it on the sidewalk. The mirror itself wasn't even damaged... it was a pretty clean break. The least they could have done was left a note. Bloody Savages.
Well, I left it outside which is a bad idea cuz some hobo might pick it up. Time to back into the cold.
Ok, it's been a while. But I'm back, for good. And I know I say that evertime I leave for a month or more but this time I really mean it. Why? Mostly because I read that Howard Dean blogs every day. And if he can do it, sure as hell I can. Too bad he won't win though.
I've thought of what I want to do with PolyThink.info. For one it will serve as an online portfolio of my work, which is slim to nill right now... but growing. Mostly it will be from the New Media Arts class, or from photos. Also, I've been steering toward film lately. No, I'm not going to change majors again. Cal Poly doesn't even offer a film major or minor or even a concentration so I'm stuck that way. However, by the end of the quarter it will have a Film Team. We're getting chartered soon... once I finish up the bylaws. I'll keep you posted on that.
School is school, and that's cool.
So this has been a long few days. Catching up on schoolwork before thanksgiving, trying to edit the ninja bob making of, and trying to get the website online (I still have nothing good to show for that)
But that's all normal stuff and wouldn't make anyone all that bent out of shape... except, two unusual things have taken place that have dampened my spirits.
1) I haven't showered since Sunday morning. Why? Because every time i go to take a shower something gets in my way... monday morning I woke up late and didn't have time to take a shower. I got home monday evening and decided that i would wait till the next day becuase I like to take my showers in the morning. I woke up late tuesday morning too. I got home from class at 5:15 (even though class ends at 4:30) and came home to find Baran's mom cleaning our bathroom. Granted, I could have just presented my case and she probably would have stepped aside... you just don't stop someone in the middle of cleaning your bathroom.
2) My gas gauge is broken... as a result I have to go by my odometer reading and guess when I need gas... usually I'm good at it. Until the odometer gets stuck. I'm going home from the parking lot by agriculture and every time i step on the accelorator my car jumps. This has happened before so I know what it means: I'm about to run out of gas. So I'm praying that people aren't in crosswalks so that i can just roll through (but all the crosswalks had people) and I'm hoping that i can just roll through stop signs (cop, car, ped, cop) and then i get to Grand Ave and run smack into a line of cars, traffic jam because of that traffic light. I make all the way to the stop sign at the end and i start to head to the gas station at the top of Grand when it all blows up. The engine rumbles and rumbles and dies. So i shrug and coast down the hill. Unfortunately the power steering is gone so making that hard turn was no fun. I get to Mill when i realize that I'm not going to make it to the top. I turn on to Palm and stop. Luckily the gas station is about 100 feet. But here comes the best part... i get up to the register and ask for a fill up can. The guy is very nice about and runs off to get it. He gets back and asks me how much i want, I say two gallons and I reach for my wallet to pay. Empty. I was in such a ruch this morning I forgot my wallet (i actually forgot it on Monday too and couldn't buy lunch). But the story does not end in tragedy. I walk back to my car and pull out the coin tray. Cha-ching. I fill up, let the gas go to where it needs to be and drive off (to find that i can't take a shower).
So here I am, sitting on a stoop outside Ryan's house. Kinda hungry, caffeine headache, and I really want to take a shower. But ironically it's all my fault and the only one I can blame is myself. such is life.
I'm bitter. I don't know why I'm bitter but I am. Frankly I'm having trouble remembering a time when I wasn't bitter. What does being bitter entail? It's being pessimistic yes but it's also disliking those who are optimistic... and those who are pessimistic. You can't be bitter with someone else... which is probably why I'm bitter. Maybe it's just a funk... but it's a funk that persists.
I look around at my fellow humans and think: "Christ, is this what humanity is? Is it just me... am I just surrounded by ignorant, self-involved, yet seemingly happy people? It can't just be me... there must be other's out there like myself.
There are exceptions of course... what's a rule without exceptions to it. But those are few and far between... and tough to hold onto.
I've cordoned myself off into a 10 foot by 10 foot cell... only emerging to eat (even then i usually eat in my room). I don't know why I feel compelled to cut ties with those in my house who are my friends. But I do.
And so it goes... and so it goes... and so will you soon I suppose.
The right-hand side you can find a link to the details about my car. It's kinda like a little slide show... but with more dialogue and less show. Be warned that the images are rather large, but not of terribly good quality. If you would like any of the pictures or any of the others that I have just email me.
Enjoy it, I know I did.
I need to get better at judging how long things will take me. No matter what anyone tells you, you cannot paint your car in one afternoon... the prep work alone took one afternoon. Guess I should have learned my lesson when my eagle project took 3 months instead of 3 days.
Anyway. The car is done, almost. I have a few touch ups and then the bandages come off. I'll have it done just in time to head up to the Bay to meet my mom. Stupid bad timing. But the car looks fabulous so I can't complain.
Speaking of bad timing... I probably should have spend more time doing my class work and less time painting my car. No I get to play catch-up, again. Oh well, I brought this upon myself.
See you around town... I'll be the one driving the five color corolla. Oh Yeah!!
Well, school starts in a week. And now is the time when everyone starts heading back down to slo to get things in order with their houses and classes, and to have one last big blowout before they have to buckle down and get to work.
But not me... oh no. I buck the trends. I was living alone in slo for a week and I decided to drive for three hours north back home. Here I get to sit, alone, and watch two dogs for a week. In the meantime I get to continue working for my internship.
So, if you're still in the bay area. Please, for the love of all that is good, come visit. I'm in large, unsupervised house, with a huge tv, a pool/spa, and a sweeping vista of the silicon valley. So it's not all bad... I'm just tired of playing with myself.
I don't know why I procrastinate like I do. And I didn't even procrastinate a great deal for this... just a little bit through me all off course.
I've been working on these training materials for Autodesk for about half the summer. This past week has been crunch time. Technically we were supposed to go live with the materials this Friday. Haha, nope. It wasn't just my fault though.... or maybe it was. Mmmm... It probably was.
So, I had to get my Alpha materials out today (Wednesday) before the start of the work day. Sounds pretty easy. And actually looking back on it was. I just couldn't focus on it. My past few days have been like 30 minutes work, 30 minutes nap, watch a Seinfeld/Family Guy/Simpsons episode, eat something, drink coffee, 10 minute power nap, 30 minutes work... then repeat. Sometime around 3AM I realized I had to buckle down and get this stuff out. 5 hours later (with only one 10 minute break for coffee) I managed to churn the stuff and have just whisked it away to my reviewers.
So why was this worse than finals? Because if you don't do the work finals (or classes in general) who cares... its just a grade. But if you don't do the work for your intership... you're out on your ass. And I don't know about you, but surviving is better than not.
Interning at Autodesk... sorta. For the next and past week I'm doing some contract work for Autodesk, makers of the most widely used design program, AutoCad. How did I land that? It's nothing glamorous... I'm helping my dad with some of his work... but it's still for them dammit. Granted I'm like a third rung work I'm still sitting here in their corporate offices in San Raphael sucking up their sweet, sweet bandwidth from a T1 line.
If you ever happen to pick up the BusinessObjects WebIntelligence Training User Guide or Exercise Book you can thank me for formatting, editing, and some of the graphic work. Its cool stuff, if you need SQL databases...
Commute sucks... and it's a semi-real job. AHHHHH!!!
I don't know how I could have forgotten to write about this earlier but I suppose finals and that paper took up more of my cranial processor than I thought.
The weekend before finals I fled SLO and heading North to home. Why did I go home the weekend before finals?? To meet Leonard Nimoy of course!! That's right, I'm a big geek who gave up precious study time (which would have been squandered not studying) to go to a black tie event up in San Francisco at which he was speaking. Really the event was to honor George Zimmer ("I guarantee it.") for his philanthropithic work. But I wanted to see Spock, and get his autograph. Mission accomplished. I'm going to scan and post it later, along with pictures with Zimmer in the background. Just as soon as I get my act together...
I really am a shmuck. If you've ventured to this site, I emplore you... DO NOT LOOK AT THE ARCHIVES!!
They have no style and are just plain HTML text. Gah, how could I have let this happen. Well, I'll add that to my to-do list for the summer.
Oh, and thanks for coming. I was just kidding before... please browse, comment, and while you're at it... wanna buy a sub-domain. I traded my lunch money for hosting service and now I'm hungry.
Well, provided I don't get shot, I think I just went through the worst pain I have ever felt. So over the weekend I had this pain in my tailbone area... I thought nothing of it, probably just slept on it wrong. It got worse and on Monday I inspected... it was red, swollen, and gross. I drove home... in pain.
Couldn’t sleep all night, kept tossing and turning and tossing. very very bad.
This morning I went to the health center. Explained my situation and they determined it to be a cyst... more than that, it was infected and needed to be cleaned. So, I got on my back and let them get to work.
They jabbed me a couple of times. Then they pushed and pushed and pushed some more. Did I mention no anesthetics? Oh yeah... so I lay there, struggling not to cry or scream... I actually managed to laugh through most of it. I guess it was funny... though not funny haha.
Anyway, they "irrigated" it. Which consisted of running iodine and saline water over it... again, very painful.
Then it was over, I couldn't move. Eventually I got up and they cleaned me up. Blood and other stuff were still flowing so I had to wad some gauze and tape it to my arse...
Slowly I left the health center and trudged back to my car. It took me forever to get back to my car. I drove home, drew a bath and soaked for a few hours. Then I passed out on our coach for a few hours. Guess it took more out of me then I thought.
So here I am. In all my glory. I'm feeling much better now. And hey, at least it wasn't a tumor. (Who remembers Arnold Schwarzenegger from Kindergarten Cop?)
Well, its the begining of the end... my desktop died today. Luckily it was quick and I didn't have to watch for long. Just as I was unplugging my headphones it decides to shut down... no warning, no blue screen of death, it just felt it was time.
And perhaps it was time for this one. But so much will missed: nine gigs of songs, a gig or so of photos, that trojan horse virus infecting my system32 folder (I did all I could to try to remove it), and those MST3K videos I just downloaded but never got to watch. Well, it will make a good door stop.
On the serious side I think it's just napping... its been on since spring break ended and sometimes I don't think that little fan can cut it. While it's resting I'll put the Solo to the test and see how it fares... I'm doomed.
OK, everyone can rest easy now... my roots are starting to show again. Because this was not a permanent addition to my physical appearance it does fade with time.
Gone are the days of the Spanish Inquistion style questioning... of those awkward moments when people I hadn't seen in a while would just stare at me, clueless as to who this dark-haired fellow was... of "Jeez what did you do to your hair" (thanks Jasmin)... of being the guy with jet-black hair.
Because this was done at the start of the term, I get to bodly venture into a new territory of hair dying. Of being "that guy who dyes his hair", of wearing a hat until all the color fades, of profs and peers alike not recognizing me, and other harrowing tales.
Nuts to that!! I'm going to go get it dyed again.
Back in black and ready for a fresh outlook.
Hair dyed a stunning jet-black, eyebrows trimmed (yes I have two now...), hair growing out(got rid of the forest gump buzz cut). But other than that, same old me: thin, dark, slightly less brooding, ever the more cynical. Same old goodwill jeans and wal-mart shirts. OK, now that that self-bashing is done...
I'm ready to like this new major and minor... though I still don't know what I'm going to do with this. Haha, probably won't even end up using it... but it'll give me good life experience.
I think i'm going to cop out of SWE. It's just really not doing anything for me...
But I have my first meeting for editing the Moebius this Friday. Hope I can hack this.
Well, more on this later. I don't really like to talk about myself... I think i'll write some other entries.
Ok, for anyone who is out there, I apologize for my unexplained absence. SWE has been killing me. I think I finally have the kinks worked and the site looks pretty decent. But they still want more. SWE Site Classes just seem to feel like it was time to all jump on me at once too. I turn around and BAM!! IME projects, English SR's, MATE labs, MATE tests, ECON midterms, ECON stock game (by the way I really suck at the stock market...) and then the nasty business of just attending class in the first place. I also have to keep lighting a fire under Baran's ass so he'll get his appraisals done. I swear I don't know what that kid would do without me. And as far as appraisals go, mmm... better not ask, it’s a fun job, and I'm getting better but this whole three hour commute is brutal. Definitely a drag on the social scene. Oh wait, what social scene? But don't you worry; I'm slowing breaking out and going to start working less. I like the sound of that.
For those of you who don't know... that's my car's name. Anyway, she's in good health and tip top shape. Engine's clean, new wheel bearing, and new drive shaft... i was unsure about the driveshaft since they said it could break and shoot up through the floor into the car's cabin... I thought, huh, good way to get rid of Baran.
One less thing to worry about, and now i can go cruisin' without setting off car alarms.