Sometimes I amaze myself with my nerdiness.

It seems innocent enough and I totally though it was. However it was an impetus for all that was to come. What happened next was completely unexpected. My brother’s ex commented thusly:

…we are all amazed by it! XO ***** takes after you so much. You have no idea how much!!

I replied that yes I did teach that person a lot about how to be a nerd to which she responded:

Yes you did…you really did. She LOVEs you with all of her perfect heart. I have HUNDREDS of cards, drawings, paintings, and many many more things she has made with such care for her Uncle *****. It will be so much fun going through all that some day. Let us know next time your in town, we would love to take you nerds to dinnner.

Dinner with his ex?

Sure why wouldn’t I go to dinner with her and ****?

hmmmm.. I wonder! I guess your brother doesn’t mean very much to you.

Haha well I guess it’s a good thing I have you around to tell me what I feel, btw nice try with the guilt trip.

I guess I know now what kind of person you REALLY are!

I just thought that your brother meant something to you. Obviously you don’t remember all the things that happened. I can see why **** feels like he doesn’t have a family except for the girls and me. That’s too bad. My brother recently got divorced for the same reasons and I would never in a million years have a relationship with her. I see my niece and nephew through my brother, not his ex. It is just messed up.

 

Omg dramatic much. Don’t even pretend to tell me how I feel about my brother or my family because you are clueless to that fact. And I didn’t realize I had to get my contact list approved by both of you. If you have a problem with me talking to her tough shit. If matt has a problem with it he can talk to me. Otherwise I’m just not going to allow you to dictate who I talk to or how I “supposedly” feel about ****. And on last thing ***** don’t you ever fucking presume you know what type of person I am because you have no idea.

Okay, first of all, I am pretty sure I know exactly the type of person you are. Secondly, I am not trying to DICTATE to you who you can and can not talk to. There is a code on how you should treat your family members. The way **** is being treated by you and your family is ridiculous and it shows how you view **** as a brother. **** always told me stories about the loyalty that you guys as a family had, and I absolutely do not see it AT ALL! Family doesn’t treat family this way. I am not pretending to know how you feel about your brother, from this point of view it sure as hell looks like you don’t think much of him. I hope this is not true and I hope you and him remain close. I just think maybe you should look at it from another persons point of view, or are you too good to do that?

Well don’t act like you’re the only one that cares about ****. I do too but I also live my life how I choose and I don’t need anyone to look down their nose at me and the choices I make.

 

Well, that’s fine, but you may loose family over choices. There are consequences for the way you treat someone. So, I guess if you having a relationship with your brother’s ex wife is more important, that is your choice to make and I can’t say or do anything about it. But it is also my choice not to have people like that in my life. As far as I go, I would rather not talk to you. **** on the other had, I don’t know how he feels, he can make his own choices.

 

Wow it’s amazing how it went from me being civil to someone to now I’m having a relationship with her. I had no idea it was that serious between us. How about you quit acting like a child and judging everyone? If you don’t want to talk to me over something so trivial that’s fine. I don’t need such petty childish people in my life. And I still haven’t heard anything from my brother so I wonder why the fuck you are instigating and trying to drive a wedge between us? Do you get off on creating soap opera like drama? Maybe you should find a more productive and life affirming hobby.

 

Whatever. You just keep convincing yourself of your perfectness. **** will make his own decision and I speak up for what I believe in.

 

Wow I can’t believe you unfriended me that’s really lame but whatever. Look I don’t know why everything has to be black and white for you. Just because I’m civil to her does not mean I’m disloyal to my brother it just means that I don’t feel like carrying a grudge agaisnt her for my whole entire life, and here you are creating even more problems by making a big deal out of the fact that I’m nice to her. I don’t know what your deal is and why you feel that you have to push people away because of that. It probably has more to do with your own insecurities than anything else. I will always love my brother and will always be loyal to him but I’m not going to spend my whole life being bitter about something that happened a long time ago, and quite frankly it’s between them and not me. So here we are now with you acting all immature about this and trying to drive a wedge between ****and me. We are left with a few choices either you grow up and we all move on, you pretend this never happened and we go our seperate ways, or you talk to **** about this and ge gets in touch with me. Unless he has recently been struck deaf, dumb, blind, and mute I expect to hear from him on this. I’m done arguing with you over something so inane via email. I hope for all the best for you all but I won’t be responding to anymore of your emails. Like I said if **** has a problem with this I should hear it from him and not you.

Hey, if I overstepped my bounds, I am sorry. I just care so deeply about **** and I really hate seeing him get hurt, it kills me. 

 SO I’m not sure what the whole point of this exercise has been except for hoping that one of my 3 readers may have some insight to help me out or maybe tell me how I could’ve proceeded differently. Who knows at this point if I will ever talk to my brother again considering that the succubus now controls or has access to all modes of communication with him. All I know is I’m drinking a lot this weekend.

1. DC has the worst subway system ever (well maybe not the worst but it still kind of blows).  I think it was designed by a bunch of people who had no idea how to design a subway, and didn’t believe in the need to design with an eye towards future needs (more on this later though in an upcoming pet peeves post).

2. Holy shit it’s humid as fuck here and this is a mild (MILD they said hah!) summer.

3.  The transition from student to working stiff has been painless and (gasp!) I actually like my job and look forward to going to work (double gasp!).  For the last four plus years I have done nothing but go to school, drink, do homework, drink, and at times sleep.  It’s was rough but work (or the real world as some people call it) is so much easier.  I work my shift then I’m off to do whatever I want (drink) without worrying about some paper I have to write.  It’s fantastic.  For the first time in years my free time is actually my free time.

4.  The Natinals stink.

5. My new neighborhood (Capitol Hill) is one of the coolest neighborhoods I have ever lived in.  There are a shit ton of bars, restaurants, and I’m close to everything.  There’s 4 parks nearby and the neighborhoods are gorgeous and everything is within walking distance.  The only thing that could make this neighborhood better is if it was in NY or Mr. Burns built his little sun blocking thing-a-majig here–because it’s hot as fuck here.

6. Just like people in NY, people in DC liberally sprinkle the word “literally” throughout their conversations constantly even though it’s not needed.  Example: “I went to the grocery store and there were literally dozens of different kinds of cereal on the shelves.”  Because if you just told me there were dozens of different kinds of cereal at the grocery store I totally wouldn’t believe you unless you added in literally.

7. People are very courteous here.  The first time I rode the subway I was flabbergasted that people actually waited for other people to exit the subway cars before they entered. WTF I am so not used to that.  I am used to fighting my way onto a train whilst others are fighting their way off, and then being punked by a spunky latin mom and her stroller.  Now whilst the courtesy thing looks orderly and seems nice I don’t think it is more effective than everyone just scrambling in and out like roaches when the lights come on.

8. Living a mile away from the Capitol and two miles from the White House is not as cool as it sounds.

9. I have a lot of work ahead of me.  So far I have noticed that there are not a whole lot of Coors Light drinkers here in DC.  That means it time for me to get my hands dirty preaching the good work and converting all these lost sheep roaming the hills of the Capitol.  I’ve done it before and as Pete Coors is my witness I will do it again.

10. This city is growing on me like a fungus.  I am really starting to like it here, but I still miss NY.  And I think I always will because it was the only place I have ever lived that I didn’t want to leave and, since I was a little chitlin living at home, it was the only place that has felt like home to me in a long, long time.

So that’s just a quick summary of a few things that I have learned (or in the case of the Natinals has been brutally reinforced) since I have moved to DC.  New posts should be coming along fairly regularly now since I have started settling and the worst part of moving is now over.  Look forward to random posts, nerdy posts, and drunken posts in the not too distant future.

Anyways I have been trolling the app store looking for good apps and wanted to promote one of my favorite apps so far.  The app is from BeamItDown Software and it is a collection of 150 Great Books (and counting).  Usually I feel the same way about digital books as I do about new technology, I really don’t like it.   There’s really nothing that can beat reading a real book, as opposed to the digital incarnation, but the price was right so I figured what the hell I’ll give it a try.  Up until this point I have only really read research papers and the like in digital form, and those usually don’t exceed fifty pages or so, but even those few pages are taxing on my eyes.  Now with all my complaining and griping about digital books you might be asking “well I thought you liked this app?”  I do but I just had to get some minor complaints out of the way first.

Lately I have been packing–in preparation for my imminent move to somewhere, don’t know where just yet–and I filled up two twenty gallon plastic storage containers with my books.  And when I went to move them into the other room I almost gave myself a hernia.  Seriously books are fucking heavy and annoying to move.  I had forgotten about that.  So until the time comes where I settle down and have a room dedicated as my library I think I am going to calm down on buying books.  Secondly, I went to do my laundry the other day and usually along with my colossal bag of dirty laundry, detergent, softener, and bounce sheets, I usually take my phone, iPod, and a book to read.  Now instead I just grabbed my bag of laundry and my iPhone and I was off listening to my music during the long trek to the laundromat, and once there I dove into A Tale of Two Cities, which is a book I have been meaning to read for years.  Despite my aversion to digital books I really enjoyed it and so far I haven’t really felt that I am missing that much by reading it off of my phone.  Actually it’s pretty damn great, and bonus because there are so many choices of books to read I will never be without a book.  And besides it’s much better than carrying my satchel (it’s not a man purse it’s a satchel) into the city filled with books and what not.

By the way the app is now 50% off and is only $4.99–which when added to the price of a new iPhone is cheaper than the Kindle, and the Kindle doesn’t play music or make phone calls (suck on that amazon). That $4.99 price tag is also  cheaper than buying even one of the books on the list.  Speaking of the list here are some of the highlights of what books are included on the app: a collection of Dickens, Twain, Doyle, Dumas, Hardy, London, Poe, and Wells.  Oh but wait there’s more it also includes political tracts from Hamilton, Locke, Marx, Milton, Paine, and Plato.  And there is a ton of other stuff including Epic Poetry, regular poetry, and fables.  There is really a grip of worthwhile books on the list just begging to be read, and hey did I mention it’s really a phenomenal deal.  The app itself works smoothly and saves where you left off in every book that you are reading.  Instead of simulating a book and page turns this app works like a “teleprompter” which makes it easier to read.  You can set it to move automatically so that you don’t have to touch the screen and can just keep reading.  Personally I hate the mode because I either feel that I am being rushed or that it’s moving too slow–I haven’t found the “just right” speed yet–and besides I like to read well written passages over and over again so I can fully appreciate them.  So I’d rather move the script on my own, but the option is there which is nice.

However, there are a couple add-ons I would like to see.  One is a way to highlight, mark, or dog-ear certain passages.  I have the tendency to write notes and bracket particularly good passages, but the ability to write notes is probably asking for a bit much so I would settle for a way to just highlight passages for reference later on.  Secondly, I would like some kind of page reference that lets me know the approximate page number that I am currently reading.  One of the benefits of reading books is noting the progress you make each time you sit down and read for a few hours, and that is really lost on this format.  Other than those minor gripes the app is the tops and well worth the money.  I don’t think I’ll ever go completely digital but being able to have so many good books on hand at all times is priceless (cliche I know, but also true).

Thanks to crunchgear for the pic.

The Beatles Rock Band–even though I generally suck at Rock Band I will think about getting this game just because it looks great and I love The Beatles.  Besides how cool would it be to play Drive My Car in Shea Stadium in front of 50,000 screaming fans?

Modern Warfare 2–the first Modern Warfare was awesome and I didn’t even explore the multi-player features, a mistake I won’t make again.  It looks like Infinity Ward upped the ante on this version and the level displayed at E3 looked great–especially when you get to drive and fight on a snowmobile, which had a Bond feel to it.  The 360 version will also have two exclusive map packs.

Halo: ODST–Bungie is one of those developers that I will pretty much buy anything they make because they are one of the best out there.  The fact that this is a new Halo game, which plays differently than previous incarnations, and you can count me hyped and excited to play this game.  Also Bungie teased a prequel to the Halo series entitled Halo: Reach.

Splinter Cell: Conviction–I have been anticipating this game for a long time now, and am glad to see that it is finally about to be released.  Ubisoft revamped the whole game in order to add in features that were used in Assassins Creed.  The game play looks fantastic and it looks like Sam Fisher will be able to move and interact with the environment at a level unheard of in previous Splinter Cell incarnations.

Alan Wake–this game has been in development for what seems like 10 years, but it is finally set to be released and it looks like it will be worth the wait.

Left 4 Dead 2–The first L4D was zombie killing at its finest and I expect the second version to be even better.  Valve is a publisher that is in the same category as Bungie, Rockstar, and Epic.  They know how to make good games, and I will buy pretty much anything they make.  Besides there is nothing better than killing zombies with a group of friends, and the inclusion of a chainsaw makes L4D2 a must have.

Well those are the games that I am looking forward to playing this fall, but there are plenty of other games that are coming this fall: Tony Hawk: Ride with a skateboard controller, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, Final Fantasy XIII, Forza 3, and Crackdown 2.  For Microsoft to get the MGS and FF franchises on the XBOX is a huge blow to Sony and just continues the trend of developers moving from Sony to Microsoft.

The last hour of the press conference dealt with the XBOX Live.  Coming soon is Last.fm streaming (free for XBL Gold Members), which I am looking forward to since I use my 360 to play music since I don’t own a radio.  This will make it easier for me to listen to music without dealing with the problems of compatibility that I keep running into with music that I buy off of iTunes.  That is one of the most frustrating aspects that I have encountered as of late.  I hate buying  music on iTunes and then having to pirate the same music because it won’t play on my XBOX.  Hopefully this alleviates that problem.  Also coming is immediate 1080p streaming of movies and tv shows and live parties, so friends can watch said movies and tv shows together over the net.  Hopefully this will mean that NetFlix streaming will be ramped up to include HD support.  It seems like Microsoft has ceded Blu-Ray to Sony and instead is content to prepare for the future by staking their claim on digital content.

Microsoft is also teaming up with Facebook and Twitter, and will be integrating both social networking sites into XBL, as if I needed another way to check my Facebook account.  Microsoft will also be offering live TV via the Sky news for people in the UK.  Hopefully eventually Microsoft will find a way to allow people to subscribe to cable via their XBOX.  I’m tired of the Time Warners, Coxes, and Cablevisions of the world.  If they find a way to add tv to the XBOX it will add a much needed competitor to the cable world.

The last big feature that Microsoft unveiled was their Natal software.  Natal is Microsofts attempt to free the gamer of those pesky controllers.  (Unfortunately no controllers means I will have to find something else to take out my rage on when I die for the umpteenth time.  Maybe I’ll invest in a bunch of N64 controllers that I can hulk out on when the situation calls for it.)  The footage was reminiscent of Minority Report, and if Microsoft can pull this off on the level they want to it will be amazing.  The problem will be integrating this technology into games in real-time without it coming off as being a gimmick.  Unlike the Wii there will be no pre-programmed motions, and Natal should be able to recognize all movements of the players and translate it in real-time into the game.  It will be interesting to see if they can pull this off, and if they do, what developers like Rockstar, Bungie, Epic, and Valve will be able to do with this technology.

It is an exciting time to be a gamer and these next few years will undoubtedly increase my love affair with my XBOX.

*Thanks to neverbesocial for the term Holy Smackers which I completely stole from him.

The game is about some dude who washes dishes–amazingly I don’t think he is Mexican haha–who dies or something and somehow lives and wants revenge.  Someone also kidnaps his sister and he needs to save her.  The cut scenes are done as comic strips and the whole style of the game is very comic booky.  The game does a very good job of feeling like a comic book come to life.  Each level feels like individual frames of a comic book that you are slowly progressing through.  Obviously this is all part of the design, but the fact that it comes through so clearly, and works so well, speaks highly of the designer not dropping the ball on his vision.  The actual gameplay though is kick ass and the closest approximation for it is Ninja Gaiden.  If you like Ninja Gaiden you’re going to like this game.  If you like the action of Ninja Gaiden, but your fingers aren’t nimble enough to hit the combos (coughneverbesocialcough), you will most likely enjoy this game.  It has all the cool action without the mind-numbing and finger contorting combos of Ninja Gaiden (although if you play for long enough your hands will cramp up like the caretakers).  Oh yah by the way did I mention that there are zombie in the game?  No?  Well there are, so bonus points for the zombie slayage, and you even get a chainsaw in the game to slash those zombies back to hell.  Also of note there are sweet executions that you can perform to finish off your enemies.  One of my favs is when the Dishwasher grabs the psuedo-FBI agents gun and uses it to splatter said agents brains onto the wall.

There are a ton of cool elements in this game and I’m not even half-way through it yet.  The katana that allows you to teleport a la Nightcrawler (it even looks like Nightcrawler when you teleport) is genious, and it adds a whole new element of strategy when you’re fighting.  So far the game has some well designed levels, and one of the most creative levels I’ve played, is where the Dishwasher is sliding down a ramp and he is being attacked by some robot dudes with jetpacks.  Needless to say it’s a very creative level that mostly takes place in the air as you are sliding downwards.  It’s very kinetic and loads of fun.  Besides the story mode there is an arcade mode which is also insanely fun.  Each level in the arcade mode has a set amount of monsters that you need to kill, but the cool part is that each level switches up which weapons combo you can use and they change some of the game presets.  For instance in some levels you life is slowly draining away, in others the damage is increased, and in others the monsters move at half speed.  Another game mode is the Dish Challenge where you try to complete a level with as large of a combo as possible, and then you can upload your score online.  My current best is a pathetic 55 million whilst the top score is somewhere around 735 million.  It’s still a lot of fun though, and with three different modes plus online coop this game has huge replay value.  For me this is this years Castle Crashers.  Amazingly there are still things about this game that I haven’t talked about like guitar solos and the ability to use your Guitar Hero or Rockstar guitars in the game.  I’m sure I have forgotten even more, but the important thing is that you should go buy this game.  It’s well worth the $10 and it goes to support a good independent game designer.  So boot up your 360 and buy it already.  But whilst you are waiting for it to finish downloading check out the trailer and some screenshots to whet your appetite for blood and guts.

]]>So I have been hard at work on my paper this entire weekend. Actually, I was supposed to be working on this paper all weekend.  However, instead of doing actual work I have been procrastinating, well, like it’s my job.  So Sunday I turned on my XBOX 360 so I could listen to some music [...]http://www.perpetualmemoryloss.com/?feed=rss2&p=10926http://www.perpetualmemoryloss.com/?p=1092http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PerpetualMemoryLoss/~3/WAiY7Xl4luI/InternetLifeNewsU.S. Marine CorpsUS MarinesperpetualmemorylossMon, 30 Mar 2009 20:59:17 PDThttp://www.perpetualmemoryloss.com/?p=1084Today I had a nice surprise waiting for me on my front porch.  It was a wrinkled, rain warped manila envelope, inside of which was my official Honorable Discharge certificate from the Marines.  I’d like to especially thank the postal service for doing everything in their power to make sure that I got this envelope in terrible condition.  So thanks guys you really earned your pay.

Port St. Loosey-Goosey, Fl.–Today was the last day of Spring Training for the World Champion Gotham Rats.  Tomorrow they will begin the move north and start preparing for their Opening Day series against the Good Griefs.  The atmosphere here this spring was drastically different from last year when they were considered the league under-dogs by many of the best baseball minds.  That won’t happen twice, however, as most analysts have jumped on the bandwagon and are predicting that the Rats will be strong contenders for the title this year.

Starting third basemen Evan Longoria noticed the change also, “You know, last year we just wanted to be competitive and show people that we can play ball, but this year we have a bit of a chip on our shoulders.  We know we can play and we plan on defending out title.”  His sentiments were mirrored by the trio of sluggers Howard, Teixeira, and Fielder.

“Ryan Howard likes the way this team looks.  Ryan Howard thinks that there are some real good players on this team, we will have good chemistry,” boasted Ryan Howard. When asked about his propensity to strikeout he replied, “Shit son, when Ryan Howard hits 45 homers and drives in 130 RBI’s every year, it doesn’t matter how many strikeouts Ryan Howard has.  Ryan Howard is a force to be reckoned with, like a tornado or something.”

“I’m just here to contribute to the team in anyway that I can,” droned Teixeira in one of his cliched statements.

Newcomer Prince Fielder was in good spirits today and remarked, “I think I’ll do much better this year.  New York has plenty of vegetarian restaurants so it won’t be so hard for me to find a tofu burger.  It was damn near impossible for me to find that shit in Milwaukee.  Every time I asked for one some joker would give me a Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger.  Man that shit was whack!”  Prince then meandered off to the outfield apparently looking for some food.

Meanwhile the Manager, Pablo Rodriguez, summed up his team stating, “Well all I can say is that this is a top notch organization from the top to the bottom.  Our ownership puts us in a position to compete every year, and we picked up some good youngsters in the draft.  Once we bring up David Price, and add him to the already formidable Shields, Lester, and Liriano, well our pitching is going to be tits.  Offensively we are even better than last year with the additions of Dunn, Prince, and Tulo.  Honestly, we have a strong team that is well-balanced offensively and defensively.  We have some good vets and some promising youngsters, and I expect great things from all of them.”

One of the most upbeat players in camp was Ubaldo Jimenez who stated “Main, bodee bop fastball boodoop doop err good main, badop pop, yah you know, pa toop whoop.”  No one ever knows what Ulbaldo is saying but you can’t argue with his upside so most players have just learned to encourage him with lots of nodding and high-fives.

The Rats are chomping at the bit to get this season started and Opening Day seems more like a year away rather than just one week.  Regardless, this team does look formidable and unlike last year they have confidence in themselves.  That should help them get over the hump and back into the playoffs.  Rats fans are in for a treat this year as this team should hit the ground running firing on all cylinders from the get go.  When asked about expectations for the year Carl Crawford bluntly boasted, “To win it all again!”

Team Moves

The Rats sent P David Price down to Triple-A McKracken where he will sit around and play Xbox 360 for a month while the Rats try to squeeze another year of eligibility out of him.

Also Marco Scutaro will potentially be sent back to the Dominican Republic for a box of Puerto Rican rum, but negotiations are stuck because the Dominicans don’t think he is worth 5 bottles of Don Q.

Shep Sheperton is the beat reporter for the Gotham Rats, and when not begging for a quote can be found crying in the women’s bathroom because the whole entire organization hates him.

Ugly Baby Exhibit A

By the time I got home around 5pm I was bristling with anger, and I told neverbesocial that if there was a baby in front of me I would punch it in the throat.  (I have to clarify that statement, however, as most babies would probably melt my heart–like the sap I am–but I would have seriously thought about punching an ugly baby in the throat.)  Be that as it may I kept getting more angry because I couldn’t figure out why I was so angry all day long.  Then I took a look at my calendar and saw what day it was.  Today is March 19th and it is–along with the 20th–the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.  I quickly realized that that was why I was pissed all day, even though I didn’t realize the significance of the day until after about 9 hours of being a real grinch.  I guess my body is just on its own program.

Like I said everything started to make sense after that, but I ended up getting more pissed off because I was thinking about how I hate these wars and how I can’t wait for them to be over and for the troops to come home.  I also was pissed at myself for being such a whiny complaining bitch because someone had the audacity to ask me to do my job, whilst there are other people over in Iraq and Afghanistan separated from their families performing a thankless arduous job.  I decided that it was time to hit the gym and go for a run to burn off all of my anger.  I went to the gym and really killed myself.  Running whilst angry is great; anger is one of the best motivators out there.  After a good two hours at the gym I was feeling really good and as I was walking home and just as I was getting ready to cross the street I noticed that there was like 3 cars at each stop sign waiting for me.  I figured I’d be a nice guy and jog across the street so that these people could get on their way quicker.  Bad idea.  This is the first time something like this has ever happened to me.  I took two steps and both legs cramped up and locked themselves in a bent position.  I came crashing down in the middle of the street in absolute anguish.  I managed to get up and hop to the sidewalk where I laid on the ground writhing for the next 5 minutes as cars drove by staring at me like I was a circus freak.  To make matters worse some people on the other side of the street were walking by and had seen the whole thing and were laughing their asses off.  Salt in the wound.

At that point I felt the anger rising up in me and I managed to limp my way back home and the whole time all I was thinking about was how nice a long, hot shower was going to feel.  But when it rains it pours and when I got home my fucking slag of a roommate was already in the shower, and she stayed in there for the next half hour.  By the time she got out and I got in all the hot water was gone and I had to take a cold shower.  (God I hate this girl.  She is a terrible roommate and I just despise her.  I hate her so much that I fucking despise the oxygen molecules that sustain her life.)  By the time I got out of the shower I had a fucking knot in both my calves the size of a grapefruit and if it wasn’t for the crazy antics of Michael Scott and Liz Lemon I may have lost my cool.

As I sit here I am thinking about how I am only half way through this anniversary and hopefully tomorrow is not as shitty as today was.  The funny thing is that two years ago I would have been knee deep in a bottle of Jim Beam by 10am and would have continued drinking all the way until the 21st.  Some people may say that I’ve grown as a person and that I’m better off not looking for solutions at the bottom of a bottle of whiskey.  After today I’m not sure I agree and I think tomorrow beer-thirty will come much earlier than usual. The moral of the story here is that I hate these two wars immensely and I can’t wait until they are both over.  The second moral is that in the last four years I have become a soft, whiny, complaining pussy.  Thank god for days like this that put things in perspective for me by delivering me a swift kick to my nuts.  That being said beer-thirty can’t come quick enough.

My next plan was to spend this next week holed up in my hovel working on homework in an attempt to get ahead on my semesters workload–I have three research essays that I don’t have topics for never mind the books.  Novel idea for me since I always procrastinate and end up slammed at the end of the semester and well that is starting to get really old.  Besides along with my regular workload I have extra research work to do for teachers, I have to find a job, and a new place to live.  So it would definitely be a good idea to take this break to get ahead on everything so I’m not living in a box in a few months.  Well as luck would have it JetBlue was having some kind of blow out on tickets to Vegas.  I found a round trip ticket for $225 (how crazy cheap is that?) and decided to take advantage of it.  So there goes my plan of not procrastinating and putting my nose to the grindstone and getting some much needed work done.  Now I guess I can look forward to a long stressful last couple months of this semester.  I’m sure this will be an epic week in Vegas, and it’s a break that I do need, but keep your fingers crossed that it all works out and you don’t see me teaming up with a midget and dancing to Thriller in the subway.