There is Life, then there is Melee

Super Smash Brothers Melee!
Probably THE best came created for the Nintendo Gamecube. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I was going to write a whole blog dedicated to Melee. Andy I did some statistical analysis that I will post on this blog. Also, we tested everyones performance in a robin style battle. During the round robin, I had a pen and pad out and I jotted peoples strengths and weaknesses like a psychiatrist. I will also list the notes that I took from that.

Stats:
I've never explored how to manipulate the structure of blogs and I still don't care much to. But if I did, I would make this into a more graph like setup, but I think we will all be smart enough to understand what is going on.

At first we calculated some stats according to minutes played, but we then changed it to matches played because we felt that this would be a more accurate representation of people stats. The stats we selected were Knockouts (KOs or Kills), Falls (Deaths), Win pecentage, Loss percentage, and the amount of damage (%DMG) you cause during an entire match. Our matches are usually set up for 3 lives per match.

Min:
2428 matches-
KOs - 2.88 kills per match (1) (The number in the parenthesis represents your placement out of 9 people. So this means out of the 9 people, I earn the most kills per match)
Falls - 1.67 falls per match (1)
Win % - 64.8% (1) (You only earn a win if you get first place. 2nd and 3rds don't earn you anything)
Losing % - 5.9% (1) (You only earn a lost when you place 4th)
DMG % - 376% (1)

Jon:
1958 matches-
KOs - 2.43 (3)
Falls - 2.07 (2)
Win% - 40% (2)
Lose% - 18% (2)
DMG% - 359% (2)

Dick:
2017-
KO - 1.9 (5)
Falls - 2.47 (6)
Win% - 8% (6)
Lose% - 45.8% (6)
DMG% - 233% (4)

Daws:
827-
KO - 2.66 (2)
Falls - 2.62 (9)
Win% - 9% (5)
Lose% - 36% (5)
DMG% - 234% (3)

Benny (Mitch):
1205-
KO - 1.37 (7)
Falls - 2.58 (8)
Win - 4% (8)
Lose - 50% (7)
DMG% - 149% (9)

Dean:
445-
KO - 1.96 (4)
Falls - 2.47 (6)
Wins - 11% (4)
Lose - 30% (4)
DMG% - 226% (5)

Andy:
425-
KO - 1.52 (6)
Falls - 2.44 (4)
Win - 13% (3)
Lose - 29% (3)
DMG% - 217% (6)

Peter:
178-
KO - 1.1 (9)
Falls - 2.42 (3)
Win - 5% (7)
Lose - 53% (8)
DMG% - 190% (7)

Nick:
118-
KO - 1.14 (8)
Falls - 2.52 (7)
Win - 3% (9)
Lose - 56% (9)
DMG% - 171% (8)

Then we had two extra profiles that we didn't calculate yet because they didn't have enough matches under their belt. But keep your eye out for Red and Ving (Vince).

We then ranked each player. We added the ranking numbers and who ever had the lowest number was the best. For example, Nick ranked 8th in Kills, 7th in Falls, 9th in wins, 9th in losts, and 8th in damage. So his score would be 8+7+9+9+8=41.

Here is the list of statistical rankings:
1. Min (4)
2. Jon (11)
3. Andy (22)
4. Dean (23)
5. Dawson (24)
6. Dick (27)
7. Peter (34)
8. Mitch (39)
9. Nick (41)

?. Ving, Red.

Being that I not a numbers guy, I just don't think numbers explain how good or bad someone is, I wanted to rank everyone on performance. We set up a round robin like testing system where the statistically lower people we put up against each other and would fight to advance to the next round. I had a scoring system but I do not wish to write about it. The lowest scorer would drop out, and then the next statistically ranked person would hop in. Heres how we ranked.

1, 2, 3, 4: Min, Andy, Jon, Dean. There was no one to keep track after I got on the controller. We were the last four. I believe Jon and I split most of the matches. Dean may have won a couple and I'm fairly confident when I saw he won Final Destination.
5. Mitch
6. Nick
7. Red
8. Peter

It was interesting to see where Red would place since we couldn't rank him statistically. And it was nice to see there was a difference in performance and stats when Nick and Mitch climbed the ladder. Proves my point about numbers just a little.

Now I will list some of the notes I jotted down as I watched people play. There aren't any notes on me since I was the one writing them down. I will list some things about myself though. Who would know me better then myself? I do have information about everyone listed, but there is more written about the lower level players that advanced since I got to watch them more. Again, this is just what I saw. It may be true, it may not be true. Who is to say that my way of approaching Melee is the best way. These comments are my views and my views only.

Nick "Nickoli" Almberg:
Nicks main character is Samus although his claim on Samus hasn't solidified (We have a rule where if someone is known to use one character and has shown his loyalty to the character, no one can use that character. Only a few characters have been claimed). Altough Nick hasn't had much Melee experience, his style of play is slightly more mature than your average rookie. He molds his game nicely to fit Samus' style. He can often be found on the outskirts of the level or on the bubble of battles charging his charge up shot. This is effective for him because he hits a very high percentage of his charge up shots. I don't know why, but its really difficult to dodge his charge up shot. Its almost as if he shoots it off beat. It could also be because peope play Nick off since he is a rookie. Either way, he is uses the move well. Another thing I notcied that Nick does well is something I did when I used Samus in the original Smash game. When ever he shoots the charge up blast, he retreats and charges another one up immediately. He always has a charge up blast on stand by and that is key with Samus because she doesn't have a lot of finishing moves. The fact that he uses Samus a majority of the time should help his growth. Its important to know a characters weaknesses and strengths and learn the sensativity. Feel is very important in this game. I saw a couple of weaknesses in Nicks game, but most of them are to due his lack of experience and knowledge for the game. It will be easier to gauge what are really his weaknesses as he plays some more. For now, some general things I saw when he was playing is that he is a very stubborn fighter. There are some battles you want to fight, and some battles you should run away from, re-group and then go back. A couple of times I saw Nick getting stomped pretty bad but he kept trying to attack. Also the battles he picks sometimes aren't the smartest. Sometimes you need to weigh risk and reward. Pay close attention to players percentages, where they are on the map, and what the other players are doing. Another weakness is that he doesn't see thrown objects that come from a distance. He can see short term objects that are thrown from someone he is focusing on, but you've got to know there are two other players on the map and they like it when you aren't paying attention to them. But for a rookie, he is very composed and most of the time stays calm. He uses smash attacks at the right times. Some people don't understand that a quick attack is needed sometimes to set someone up for a smash attack. I forgot to mention that his close quarters combat and 1 on 1 fighting is the sharpest. Only time will tell us where Nick can go.

Peter Leisen:
Peter has a lot more experience with Melee then the others do because he got to play with Weum, but that is a seperate network and I'd like to think our network is more skilled and competetive. I only have a few notes on Pete since he was the first to be elminated. I noticed he is a very defensive player and because of this, his offense takes a blow. This is good and bad. Good because it makes it so he will be alive later in the match, but bad because he needs to get more practice attacking. I don't think fighting Weum is the same as fighting Jon. I look at it like this, even if you are alive at the end after Jon kills anyone, if you aren't sharpening and honing on your fighting technique and can't even touch Jon, there is no use to being alive in that position anyways. This hurts because you aren't fighting the lower level players either then. Lets think of it in DBZ terms (we all went through a big DBZ phase in junior high so its the best parallel I can use right now), if you are Yamcha lets say, you wouldn't let Krillin and Tien fight Cell all alone. You would all gang up on him cause it would be the best chance that you all live. Peter also suffers from the Risk and Reward choices, which seems to be a trend in our lower level players. Makes risky choices that have low rewards and passes on high reward risks. Also I would say that Peter is one of the more panicky players. Along with the panic, I sometimes see that fustration sets in earlier with him then in other players. Playing with a clear and calm mind can be seen on screen. I would suggest that he should pay attention to players that are further away from him as well. He tends to get hit by a lot of projectiles and that have to travel some distance. Peter claims to have a lot of prior melee experience so I don't know how much room there is to grow. The tough thing is he doesn't have a permanent character to grow into.

Mitch "Benny" Hauschildt: I got to study Mitch a lot more since he was the longest lasting lower level player. Mitch is a very offensive minded player and doesn't plan to dodge much. I also saw that he doesn't use objects well. He doesn't look to projectiles and when he does pick them up, he throws them right away. Many of the lower level players do this. It is okay to hold an item as long as you aren't being attacked. Use the item when the time presents it self, don't force it. Also he isn't very aware of the environment, another lower level tendency. The environment can be your best from for retreat and setting up an oppenent. The best example I can think of corners and gernades in Halo, but only Jon and Ben would understand me here. For those of you people fighting Mitch, all you would need to do is learn how to dodge. I would say 75% of Mitches physical attacks are smash attacks. Smash attacks are power, but they are slow. Mitch doesn't believe in setting an opponent up with some quick attacks, but no lower level player really does. Stretched out combos come when you know the game and your character. Again, weigh in the risk and reward factor. Along with Peter, Mitch is one of the most panicky players. He also needs to work on his projectile defense. Vision is key in this game. Don't focus on just one player cause other people will be throwing items at you. Mitches offensive minded approach works very well against other lower end players (as we saw in the testing. He made it into the higher level pool by advancing) but against the higher level players, it just doesn't work. His moves are to obvious to higher level players and he continues to attack dead ends. His struggles in one on one situations with high end players. I've also noticed that he excels at certain levels and struggles in others. This is a weakness because you need to be ready for everything. It can also be viewed as a strength, because it can give him confidence when he knows he will be getting a home feild advantage. It also seems like he falls asleep on defense sometimes gets hit by obvious moves. I noticed one time, Dean was charging up Jiggyfucks spin attack and Mitch continued to walk strait toward him. Mitch lost a life shortly after. Mitch is starting to become a everyday Falco user and that should help. If he will stay will Falco or not is unsure. He tends to be a long term switcher where he plays with someone and gets a slight feel for them and then switches. Mitches matches are getting up there and he should be entering his prime soon. Mitch might be a case of take a step back to take two steps forward. His attacking style isn't versatile enough to keep up with the high level players. He may need to demolish then reconstruct his technique. He also needs to work on his composure. Passion and intensity is good as long as you know how to focus it. The last thing I am going to mention about Mitch is that he lets wins get to his head. After he harvests a couple of wins vs lower end players, he tends to brag and lets his guard down. He then becomes tender meats for smarter players.

Red: I've only seen Red play maybe twice now. To young to discribe his game. He will learn and mature as his melee knowledge grows. From what I can see, Red has natural gaming talent. When playing well, his dodges were crisp and attacks timely. A lot of potential to be harnessed in this camp.

Ving: I think I've seen Vince play melee once now. He is in the same camp with Red. Has shown flashes of greatness, but ultimately the lack of sharpness and knowledge catches up. Lots of potential to dig into. It is very exciting to think there could be two atleast middle level players joining our crew. With the proper nourishment, I am hoping these two can grow into something beautful.

Dean "Den" Kong:
Dean is still a fairly young player even though he has the game for the longest. I don't think games against little David count and training. Dean has played only a third of the matches Mitch has played. I can't quite place Dean in the higher level or middle level. Sometimes he has shown flashes where he has fustrated Jon and I, but sometimes he looks like a Jigglypuff. Time will sort this one out. Dean is a player that has enough brains to point out his own strenghts and downfalls. With a little more study of the game, he should be able to evolve by himself. Very composed, and you need to be when usuing Jigglypuff because you don't want to attack to soon with it. Also you need to know when you attack with its knockout attack. And I think Dean does understand this. He seems to plan out his moves ahead of time and uses a great balance of offense and defense. Also mixes quick attacks and smash attacks very elegantly. Dean pretty much has a lockdown on Jigglypuff. If he hadn't tested and goofed off with other characters I would say he would have his claim, but in a short time he will have his character. Dean understands items much better then lower level fighters but it sometimes seems that he isn't willing to fight for them. He weighs in risk and reward nicely here, but sometimes you have to take a chance and try to take away a green shell or a star rod here and there. Projectiles make it really tough for Jigglypuff since it floats when it jumps. A projectile cuts off many of its paths. I also mentioned to him that he needs to expand his vision a little. He seems to know when attacks are coming, but objects and the environment matters to. I saw he is begining to understand because he pointed out a couple of times when I saw something first and then he caught on. Dean has very valuable one on one skills. He has a way of minipulating lower level players with his float or puff as we call it. He has a very good feel for his puff and knows when to attack. Is a very smart striker in the sense that he lets to other person attack him first and attacks openings. I also think in team battles, Dean would be a valuable partner. Dean only has a few minor weaknesses but I believe in time, those weaknesses will wash out.

Andy Christenson:
A very solid middle level player and has the potential to move on up with Dean. Again, a very young player even though he has had the game for a while. I think playing with Jon and I takes you to a different level of play. Once a great original smash player and should be able to move up the melee ladder. Andy has natural video game quickness and he uses speed very well. I would also consider him one of the smarter players and uses strategy to his advantage. He understands items and jumps to claim them quickly. He also understands the concept of clearing out space to get those items. Is more offensive of minded, but is always defensively aware. He understands outside players positions. Like dean, uses a good balance of attacks and knows when to attack. With a more thoughtful mind like Dean, he would also make a strong team player. The only other player then myself to point out that there are times it would be better to work together a little bit. With experience, he should able to polish himself into a higher end player. He is smart enough and understands elements where he can teach himself where other players may need more guidance. An obvious weakness is that he doesn't use the same character. He has no feel for the sensativiy of a character. Although he stays composed, I believe it is able to get under his skin a little.

Jon Franklin (Zelda/Sheik):
Not many weaknesses come to mind when you think of Jon. I think he is easily the most talented Melee player. The most ultimate edge defender we have. You do not want to get into a cliff hanging ballet with Jon. If I had to put a number on it, I would say he kills at least half of his edge victims. He is by far the sharpest player. He is a combo master and has the ability to juggle lower end and some middle level players. Often he doesn't allow them to touch the ground. The second quickest to items and understands the concept of clearing room. The good thing about Jon is that he uses one character and has pretty much used Zelda since the begining of time. Jon connects about 40% of all his attacks which is pretty high in our Melee world (I think I am second around 35%). Its pretty impressive with all the darts that he throws. A minor weakness with Jon is that he is open to medium/short projectile attacks. I think once he gets to a certain reach, he has a kill mode where he doesn't stop for anything in his way. I also think Shiek is a low traction player and can't stop on the dime. All of Jons skills are painfully obvious. The only major weakness Jon has is he isn't a thinker (in a previous blog, I wrote that Melee is an extension of our personalities and this fits perfectly. Even on the football feild, Jon is the most talented, but maybe not the best player). The only thing that can beat Jon is a brain. Even in other games, Jon picks brute characters (which is weird since Shiek is such a sleek character). His favorite weapon is the shotgun in Halo2. He plays off instincts and in most situations, his instincts are good enough to get him where he wants to be. But somewhere, there has to be more high end players with brains that will give him a fit.

Richard "Dick" Lee:
The unknown one. Do not let his statistics fool you. For easliy more then half his matches he had to play 3 person matches with Jon and Me. Because of this, all his stats suffer, but I've played with him long enough to understand his ability. If we were to cross him with DBZ, he would easily be the Gohan of the group. Full of skill when he wants to play. Dick gets teased the most for switching his character often, but I think the only players that can really tease him for that are Dean, Jon, Dawson and Me. Lately he has been usuing Marth and he has been growing. Dick is in Jon's ship where he doesn't play with much thought and just plays off instincts. Unfortunately for him, his instincts aren't as sharp as Jon's (usually). He has at times given Jon and Me trouble. It is to hard to gauge what his skills are. He has played enough games, but his inconsistency is worse then Minnesota Timberwolves basketball. He still easily falls into the Middle Level.

Andy "Daw" Dawson (Roy):
The killer should be his nickname. Known for his powerful swing of the sword. Roy is his character of choice and pretty much was since the beginning. Dawson is known for his high kill rate. He is also known for his high death rate. Again, this fits perfectlly with my idea of how your personality is infused into your style of play. Dawson has always been the head first, act now; think later, Kamikaze, rambo style player. His stengths and weaknesses are quite obvious because of this ying and yang style. He would fall into the middle level class because he gives lower level players a fit. He disposes of lower level players with one swing. His favorite level is flat zone, but he also has the ability to adapt. Even though statistically he is the worse defender, his defense is underrated. He has some dodging abilities that he doesn't always get credit for.

Min Lee (Dr. Mario):
Hard to talk about myself so I'll make this short. I think I have the biggest view of the entire map and I use my mind to fight. Sometimes my mind plans so far ahead, its a weakness. I should learn to stick to the basics when fighting lower level players. A couple of times, I'm so ahead of the lower level players, I actually dodge into their attacks. I see a chance for someone to attack me and I dodge in advance, but the lower level player reacts to slow and doesnt attack. Well, when he doesnt attack, this leaves me open because I have to recover from the dodge, but he doesnt attack me while I'm recovering from the dodge either so I dodge again right into the first position. I though I stay composed most of the time, some trash talking does get under my skin because I think being humble is so important. There is a lot of things I keep to myself and I think its unfair when people praise them selves. I probably understand items the most.

Scorpion!

I haven't blogged for a minute and it fucking sucks. Minute meaning for a long time for those out of the Hip-Hop loop.

This week has gone by so fast. It feels like yesterday and a half ago (feels like it was a little longer then just yesterday) I was in Jon's basement watching the Mitch slap little kids (haha), confused with Peter over weird texts, watching dudes kiss over a snickers bar, and watching the Colts win a Super Bowl. Then I slept over at Dean's dorm twice, went and played basketball with Dean at the rec center, and wrote two papers. I've barely had time to eat. But it hasn't been very stressful.

Friday I had lunch with my Mom at a Korean restaurant before she dropped me off for my rock history discussion. In my rock discussion out T.A tosses out plastic zombies (to bad they aren't real zombies) when we say semi-intelligent things about the topic. Well, wanting a fucking zombie, I had some input about a song and a cappella that Dean and I thought was zombie worthy. Our T.A didn't give me a zombie and said it was because I didn't mention that there were no instruments in the song we were discussing. What the fuck does a cappella mean then!? Later Dean and I hopped on the 625 headed home. Nick picked us up from Ridgedale. We got home and I think we played a little Melee (duh). I don't remember if we went to Nick or Jon's hockey game and I can't remember how many hockey games we attended over the weekend and thats pretty sad. But anywho, we went to one and there was an unexpected crowd of students there (Must of been Nick's game cause no group of highschool students watches a Jr. Gold B game). After the game we made a Hot Spot run. Hot Spot has never let me down, but this night I was a little disappointed in Hot Spot. They had increased the price on the Boneless Buffalo wings! Probably because of us too! Where is the love!? Now I have to pay 50 cents more for each trip I make to Hot Spot. We had a larger group then usual so we were placed at an unusual table that wasn't very conversation friendly. But we still got the eating and still got some good talking in. Even thought the table wasn't the best setup, I've noticed that the people in our Hot Spot group isn't the best story telling or group discussion people. I usually enjoy an organized talk where everyone has input and everyone listens, but for this to work only one person can speak (most of the time). I thought it was pretty much human understanding on how this works, but I've noticed that people just don't have any patience and have to get their say in no matter what. This usually ends up with me trying to listen to 4 different opinions and thoughts at the same time. And its tough because I really want to hear what people want to say but it is impossible for me to listen to 4 people. I don't think any of the blame should fall Dean or Andy because they seem to be more reserved and know appropriate times to have input. I also hate it when people drag me off to the side to have a separate conversation. I think it is much more entertaining when the whole group is in on the topic. Another thing I noticed is people suck at telling stories. Telling the story and a good pace mostly, but a lot of other things. When someone tells a story at a slow pace, it fucks up the whole momentum of a conversation. It sounds like I don't enjoy my time at Applebees, but trust me, I love it! Good food, good people, good times! What more is there in life? (Women, sports, and Melee). We didn't have any deep conversations this time, we touched on old topics, Peter tried to share his zombie story, and then we shared a lot of humorous personal stories. I shared a couple stories where I made poor choices with the opposite sex. I wouldn't consider my self smooth with the ladies at all. I wouldn't even consider my self bad with the ladies. I would say I pretty much have no game at all haha. I shared a couple of examples. Like the time in 7th grade when Shorty A offered me a phone number, but I kindly declined. WHY?! This amazingly hot chick just offered your lousy ass her phone number and you shoved it back at her. I look back, and I just don't understand what I was thinking. Then in 9th grade, Shorty A again, offers to help me look for something. I think I walked into class a little late that day and we needed to get our portfolios or something and I couldn't find mine. She was sitting next to me while I was searching and she offered to help. I of course rejected her offer. Why, I don't know. I had no idea where my folder was, but I told her, "Oh, I think I know where it is." Another awkward moment was sometime in high school Andy and I visited Shorty B at her school. After we chatted it was time for Andy and Me to leave. Well, she extends her self for a hug, and I extend my hand for a handshake not knowing she was going to offer a hug. I felt as though I couldn't offer a hug now cause it would just make me seem like a perv. No hand shake, no hug, cya later. I'm cool.

Anyone been outside lately? It is fucking cold. Do your boogers freeze like mine do? And then you flare you nose to break what ever is frozen in there? Or is that just me? Either way, it is COLD! Coldest spot in the World according the NASA and the Nintendo Wii's weather channel.

Saturday started off with a little surprise. I woke up and was about to hop into the shower to get ready for church when my Pops informed me that the church wasn't meeting and praising the Lord this week. I was pretty confused, cause I don't think I've missed church in well over a year. I wish I would have known this ahead of time cause an open Saturday could have been used in soo many ways. I was later informed that Ka-Tee had a hat trick at her soccer game. Her games are usually played at noon which is right in the middle of church so most likely I will never be able to attend a game. Would have been nice to go to that game! I did use my extra time wisely by doing some homework. I got some homework out of the way so I could relax when Super Bowl Sunday hit us. Dean and I were hoping to get some apartment visiting done, but Mitchell was whipped into working a few extra hours so we shoved the plans back another week. Which sucked cause the prices on one of the apartments we are interested in just went up. Later we all got together and I think we started off with some Melee. Later I believe we went to Jon's hockey game (So there was two hockey games this weekend...I think...). Maple Grove and Osseo played at Osseo East so the parking lot was very crowded. Andy had to park in the junior high lot and we had to Metal Gear it through the snow. My boogers froze. Not to sound like a creep, but there were a lot of prospects at the game. Jon's team lost their game, like usual. I am starting to think I shouldn't go to these games anymore cause it is to depressing to watch teams I'm rooting for lose. I am a long time loyal fan of the Minnesota Timberwolves and thats painful enough. After the game we trucked it over to Jon's and had a little dinner while trying to watch a bunch of YouTube stuff on his Wii. Except for wireless internet sucks and non of the videos would load. Its still pretty cool to think that back in the day (Wed) of 56k, we needed a telephone wire to connect and now we can transmit a wireless signal stronger then 56K. After dinner and watching loading screens on YouTube, we got Melee fired up. A couple of weeks ago, Andy and I calculated all the Melee history stats and statistically ranked players. I say statistically ranked because I hate it when people quantify ever aspect of something. There is more to something then just numbers. I hate it when we talk about sports and people bring up numbers or comparisons that deal with numbers. Mitch must do a lot of research cause he brings up numbers always. I always believed that the things that don't get you on the stat sheet are more important. Maybe I am bias cause I've never been extremely talented at a sport and I've always been a hustle player. But I really do think elements like dedication, intensity and hustle are a bigger factor then how fast you can run or how high jump. The day Mitch or anyone finds a way to quantify those categories is the day I believe in numbers. Math sucks anyways, who the fuck wants to deal with numbers. Anywho, back to Melee. Andy and I thought it would be fun to calculate all the stats that we have piled up. I will write a whole separate Melee blog later. This Melee testing took us early into the morning.

Super bowl Sunday started out with a lot of homework. Had to write a paper and get a bunch of the things out of the way because I didn't have time to do it later. Super Bowl then I went to sleep over at Dean's cause I don't have rides to school on Monday mornings. Mitchell and I brought potato salad over to the party. We get downstairs to see that CBS was on one tube and we set up the Gamecube on the other. The Super Bowl started off with a bang as Devin Hester of the Bears ran the opening kickoff for a touchdown. I believe Peyton threw a interception on the Colts opening drive as well. Things looked grim for the Colts, but a Tony Dungy team is never out of a game. It was far to early. In the end Dungy's Colts were Super Bowl champs. The first half was very entertaining. Full of fumbles and interceptions and madness. I think there was a time where there was two fumbles in two plays. The second half was more conservative and just slower paced. A funny moment came when Mitch was bragging about Cedric Benson, a Texas Longhorns product I believe, and the next time Benson touched the ball he fumbles and gets hurt on the next play. He didn't hear the end of it. Mitchell tends to get blasted a lot when it comes to sports because he sometimes makes outrageous claims because of some numbers. Like the time he stated Dante Culpepper was one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time because he threw for at a 70% completion rate. Yes, that number is really good, but I watched the games and you could just tell he wasn't that good. I hate to say it, but look at him now. Injuries are nice excuses. An awkward moment came when Mitch slapped a young kid with a foam missile. Those little bitches were pretty annoying, but that is no excuse to physically touch a kid. I didn't see the strike and I don't want to give off the impression that Mitch hit him on purpose. I assume it was a reaction where he tried to motion the kid away, and the missile got to close to the child's face. The moment was reminiscent to the time we had a water gun fight in junior high. A group water gun fight somehow turned into a neighborhood friendly. Someone had a shit load or bubble solution or something cause there were clumps of bubbles everywhere so we started throwing bubbles at each other. We were older then the rest of the kids so we had a little kids vs. big kids battle. Of course when you play with little kids you have a find a balance of winning and losing. Well, it was Mitch's turn to bubble a kid. He grabs a handful of bubbles and gains momentum towards his victim. He must of had a little to much momentum or something cause he didn't gently float the bubbles at the kid, he slapped the bubbles against the kids face. The little kid of course goes running into his house. Everyone seeing and hearing a crying kid run into his house begins to panic. For some reason pressure situations really haven't had a heavy affect on me. In the middle of the panic, being the elected leader of the group, I ordered everyone to go run and hide. I don't know what made me think that but I guess I figured we didn't need 10 panic struck junior high kids fumbling words and make excuses to explain what happened to the anger father. From what I was told, the slappees family was kind of weird. Its hard to explain, but lets just say they are alternative. I could see the angry Father storm out his front door yelling "What the hell happened!" or something to that nature. I walk up to him and apologized on Mitch's behalf. He wasn't having it. Not much I could say except for sorry because obviously we did something wrong. The fun part was walking around the neighborhood trying to find my friends. In the panic, they had all scattered in different directions. It seemed like one would pop out of a bush, and then another one from a tree.

Before I end this blog and move onto my Super Smash Bros. Melee blog, I must write about one more thing. When you think back on how you figured different bands or artists out, was it always one song that hooked you to a band? For me, I can still think and name song that hooked me to a band and pulled me onto their boat. After that, I continued to explore the group and if they were good, I fell in love with them. Is this how it works for everyone?

30 Seconds to Mars' "Attack"
Acceptance's "Take Cover"
Anberlin's "Ready Fuel"
Armor for Sleep's "Car Underwater"
Bleed The Dream's "Broken Wings"
Bond's "Explosion"
Brand New's "Mixtape"
Bullet for My Valentine's "Tears Don't Fall"
Chiodos' "The Words "Best Friend" Become Redefined"
Meg and Dia's "Monster"
The Early Novembers "I Want to Hear You Sad"
Underoaths "Sun Still Sleeps"
Emery's "Walls"
The Formats "The First Single"
Hawthorne Heights "Ohio is for Lovers"
HIM's "Razorblade Romance"
Saosin's "Seven Years"
This Day and Age's "Second Place Victory"

Also, if you read the blogs, please comment. I like to hear what people have to say. It always says I had 100 views or whatever but Peter and Sat are the only two to ever comment. Unless Peter and Sat love my blogs so much they view it 50 times in a week. Sorry if I sound like I want attention like a MySpace whore, but I just want to know what people are thinking. I don't think many people read these expect for my close friends, but those comments mean more to me. But I guess I can't expect a lot from them. Mitchell barely knows how to use MySpace and Jon doesn't seem like he reads much. A lot of times I leave comments on peoples pages and I never hear back from them. Whats even more sad is, sometimes I leave a question on peoples pages and I don't hear back from them. I don't know, but conversations seem to work better when they go two ways. Even if you just say word to everything like Nick does, it at least lets me know that you got my message.

Word, Word, Word, The End.

Finish Her!

Korean was not fun haha.
Now I'm back in the MLK lab burning some time since I got off at 2:30 and Barnett gets off at 5:30. I brought a lot of reading with that I need to catch up on, but I thought about it and I know I won't read for 3 hours strait. So I'm going to kill some time before I dig myself into the library.

I need to finish my casino story. I don't know where to pick up from, all my momentum has gone. I guess I was talking about self discipline. No one is perfect and there must be something out there that no one can fight. Gambling isn't my kryptonite, but I want to find out what is.(Gasp!) Maybe I'm perfect!? Heee! (Blush). NOT! I know I'm not, thats why I want to know. So that when I have to face a weakness, I am aware of it. At one point Jon put in 5 dollars into a poker machine and just cashed out without playing a hand. That means he put in a 5 dollar bill and got 5 dollars worth of quarters in return. Maybe he likes quarters or something, but I would rather have a $5 bill. Which reminds me, I read recently that we might be getting rid of the penny. Since the price of copper is on the rise and pennies are barely worth anything. I heard if we do get rid of the penny, we will be able to trade in a penny for a nickel. I'm not the smartest when it come to math, but if I carried my twos right, thats like 5 times the amount. That'd be sweet! Alright, so Nick and Jon go broke, Mitch and Andy cash out and we dip. Back into the fucking cold! The ride home was quiet. I'm pretty sure everyone was exhausted (4 am). I have a casino mission I want to complete maybe within 2-3 years. I want to bring around $2 worth of quarters and make about $50. I'd be sticking it to the man...I think. I also want to go to a live table, none of this video crap and watch Dean or Jon or anyone do their thing. Would we get in trouble for having cheerleaders?

Anyone (males) ever go into a shitter and there is piss all over the seat? Who the fuck is so bad at pissing that they manage to get the WHOLE seat wet. Its not like they nicked one side of it either. There is piss all around. Did they miss and while attempting to recover go to far? I thought I had this whole thing figured out. This one time I walked into a bathroom and I saw an old man walk out of a shitter. I just needed to pee so I took it. What I saw was fucked up. Liquids, everywhere. So I thought to myself, maybe its been old men who have been pissing on these seats all this time. Maybe they stand there pushing and when the pee actually comes out of their decaying cocks it surprises them and pushes it self in different directions like a uncontrolled fire hose would. I thought I had it all figured out, but the other day, I walked into a shitter to take a piss and a young dude came out. His mess wasn't as violent as the old guys, but he still managed to do his best hurricane Katrina imitation. To everyone, please, don't miss.
Speaking of old guys, I've been thinking about the health of my friends and I. Counting out Andy, it seems like all my friends and I are getting fatter and fatter and more out of shape. I look at pictures of Mitch and Dawson and I can't believe how fat they are now. Andy has taken meat out of his diet, and although I'm not concerned enough about my fatness to diet that extremely, I keep my shit in check. I don't snack, don't drink pop and try to limit myself to 3 medium meals a day. I just wish I could excercise more. Thinking about it, our bodies are done growing and maturing. From here on out, we are rotting bodies. Its sad. I don't want to look like Dawson in 6 months. Its scary to think that pretty soon, we are going to deal with fading and graying hair. I think this again leads to self control. Mitch said he was going to diet and only eat white meat. The very next day, he couldn't resist a McDonald's double cheeseburger. If I dieted, I don't think self discipline would be a problem. I think its awesome that Andy converted himself into a vegetarian cold turkey (or should I saw cold fake turkey). It shows something about his personality when he can stop gambling like he did and change his diet the way he did.
Anyone notice that when you are staring at a hot chick, she always knows you're looking at her and catches you staring? This past week, I've caught a lot of people staring at me. I am NOT saying I am hot haha, HELLLLLLLLLZ NO! I think people like staring at ugly people too, to make them selves feel better. Think about it, when a handicap or a retard walks into the room, you look. I just like peoples reaction when they get caught. I think before school started up again, some of tried to force ourselves to keep staring when caught. It is hard cause you have to react so quickly and you are used to pulling yourself out. Try it.

The other day Dean and I went to the rec center to play basketball. There was this bitch there who that she was all good. First, you're a girl, you must suck at basketball. That sounds sexist, and I'm not sexist, but I am very skeptical about female athletes. If you made me play Lisa Leslie 1 on 1, she would dominate me. Shes black! But when I was being raised, the women around me were even skeptical about female athletes. They told me, girls will never be as good as boys when it comes to sports. And for the most part, its true. Don't come up with a stupid ass example like, me and Lisa Leslie. She is a professional WNBA player. Make her play a professional male player and she wouldn't stand a chance. I respect female athletes, I think its great thing. But my Mom once told me, if she had the choice of watching a girls Wimbledon match, for example, or a male match, it wouldn't even be a question. And thats the truth. I offer you and ticket to a Wolves game or Linx game, but you can only take one. What would you pick? Ya, I thought so. But again, I am not ragging on girls playing sports. I am writing this cause this bitch at the rec center did not represent girls sports well. She would yell and direct people like she knew everything about basketball. Let me tell you, she knew close to nothing. And if I remember correctly, and I'm pretty sure I am, she didn't catch one pass. Even the easiest pass she had bounce off her hands. And she would always put blame on other people. I hate people like that. When I lose, even though I know it may have not been my fault, I still put it on myself. Like in football, even though I know I'm the only that gave 100% effort, I still put the lost on me. It eats at me that my teammates didn't play as hard as me, and it eats at me that the other team didn't play their hardest and still won, but it is wrong to point fingers. I put it on myself to play at 200% next time. Oh, when we were introducing ourselves before the game, she had to put in that her high school team won state. Wasn't because of you whore.

Last night I bought tickets for the Anberlin, Bayside, Meg&Dia and Jonezetta concert on March 3rd. The tickets were suppose to be really cheap, but the special offer sold out and I was forced to buy through Ticketmaster. I wanted to buy them earlier, but I had to wait for a couple of people to get back to me on if they wanted to go. Stupid Amish friends. Buying them from ticketmaster also made it so we didn't get the Meet N Greet special backstage passes which is pretty gay. I don't really get star struck, and I've never cared for backstage passes and autographs, but a closer look at Meg and Dia would'a been nice haha, ya feel me? It'll still be sweet because the purchasing of those tickets marks what might be the greatest weekend EVER! March 3rd thru the 4th equals a weekend full of friends and music. Is there anything else in life? (Sports). I hope I die that weekend so you all can put, "Died a Happy Man" on my gravestone. The weekend is going to blow me away. Double Header, March 3rd thru the 4th. If anyone else wants to come with, please do! I would love it. I'm going to be such a happy person. The Anberlin/Meg&Dia concert is on the 3rd (Sat) and costs about $22 (Through ticketmaster). The Underoath/Armor/Taking Back is a little more spendy ($36). Do it!

Before I go to the library and catch up on my U.S history post civil war, I must hit on one more topic. Bad breath. I hate it. Sometimes I get scared I have bad breath and I just don't know it and the people around me are just being nice. I wonder how people don't know they have bad breath!? PLEASE, if my breath is kicking, let me KNOW! I want to know when my breath is stink so I start working on the times my breath isn't so fresh. Like, I would think people could smell that something is stink right under their nose, but people really seem stupid about it. Many times, people just carry on like nothing is wrong. Thats what makes me think that sometimes my breath is stinky and I don't know about it, since everyone is doing it. Wouldn't it make sense if the person knew their breath is stink, they would fix it? It confuses me.

Well, I must go read Teddy Roosevelt's bullshit now.

Please Don't Fuck Me Google

Google is all fucked up right now and I guess EBlogger or Blogspot or whatever it is I use is a Google service. Now I am forced to write a blog on MySpace and then copy and paste it to Blogspot. The scary thing about that is, MySpace doesn't back up drafts as you write the blog and I've been fucked by that many of times. Pray for me.

So everyday Tuesday I have a Career and Major Exploration class. This weeks reading was all about finding yourself, you passions, your skills and talents. It gave tips on how you could do some soul searching and they had a whole half chapter explaining that keeping a journal will really help. Blogs anyone? Word.

This past Sunday was Nick's birthday and we didn't have anything planed for Sunday, but we had a lot of crap ready for Saturday. I got home from church and trucked it over to Jon's in the blistering cold. When I got there Jon was just leaving. Nick and Dean were in the basement playing the old Super Smash Bros. They offered me a spot, but I refused because I was afraid that if I played that, it would throw off my sensitivity for Melee (Maybe this is why I looked better in Melee over the weekend? And maybe actually didn't get better). We called up Andy and asked him if he wanted to join us and he did. After that, we just had to wait for Mitch's punk ass to get over so we could dip out. We got a little lost finding the place. We got off on a couple of wrong exits and did some loop-de-loops, but we managed to find it. When we got there, the first period was about the end with Jon's team up 1 to 0. The game went back and forth and I believe Jon's team went into the 3rd period down by one. Dean and Mitch purchased a "chuck a puck" which they got to use in between the 2nd and 3rd period to try and win a prize. They lost. In the end, Jon's team lost by one. After hockey we got home and played some Melee I believe. After that we went over to the hot spot a.k.a Applebees! Applebees was full of rich conversations and probably one of the most serious ones since the religion talk we had during winter break. We touched on many topics. I brought up history of the U.S and how it affected the whole world and that branched off to many things. Basically, I feel like we are all fucked and that we are all slaves. To who? I don't know. Andy said the rich white man and I guess thats the best way to explain it for now. Maybe I'm to picky and I should appreciate the things I have more. Another topic we talked about that I really liked was Time (But before I get into that, this Britney Spears song, "Breath on Me" that is playing right now is fuggin tight. It should be in a Lexus commercial). Prince, or the artist formerly known as, was brought up cause he doesn't believe in time. It was a weird topic and I can't really explain it, but it was interesting. I also brought up intuition. Why it seems like some people have a "smarter" intuition that leads them to better things and some people are a weaker intuition that leads them to bad ideas and makes them look dumb. Intuition led us to talk about love at first sight, which most of the people don't believe in. But lately, I've been thinking about it, and sometimes I feels like I have the "smart" intuition. And what if I really could just feel that I love someone on first sight? Andy also asked if we thought there was only one real perfect match for us in the world. I never thought of that. It kind of ate at me that I didn't have an opinion on that. I just didn't and still don't know how I feel about that. Oh, on the way to Applebees, we drove in two separate cars and we tried to use my iTrip on both cars. I guess it worked.
After the Hot Spot, we dropped Dickoli off and went to the Casino. We got to Mystic Lake and parked in the garage and it was COLD AS FUCK! I wanted to burn myself alive just so I could feel warmth one more time before I died, cause I was going to freeze anyways. We got there and we all had to flash our I.D's to the security lady, who I think was half retarded. Not sure. Anywho, she tells Nick that he can't go in jokingly. Dean ran down the stairs and I ran down the escalator and I beat him. He is slow. Well it was the first time I had been to casino and now I was like what now? Mitch sounded like he had the most casino experience and I thought he was going to show us the ropes. I guess I was kind of naive to think that Mitch would actually be a good "tour guide." We just wandered around for the first 10 minutes and then Jon manned up and put a dollar in a slot and pulled it. I don't remember if he won on his first pull, or his second pull. I do remember he won fairly early and its not like he won a lot, he put in one dollar and out came two but the rest of the guys cheered so loud that everyone must have assumed he won a jackpot. This cheering happened a couple of more times there and each time people would all look at where the money pours out. I haven't been to the casino enough to fully understand, but it seems like there is this tension in the air, where if someone wins, everyone has to know and know how much. Its kind of a team oriented tension, but at the same time, its a very jealous tension. Before I forget, I must write that SMOKING SUCKS! A white man should make a casino and should follow Minnesota law where there is no indoors smoking. They even have a person walking around selling cigs. Made my clothes all stinky to. I am going to dress like a slob next time I go to the casino because smoking is for slobby people haha! After that, we walked over to the video poker. Andy sits down, puts in a dollar and starts playing. Shortly after Mitch joins him. Next thing I know, Andy is done and I ask him, "How much did you lose?" He actually came up $12 in a matter of like 3 minutes. He called it a night. Smart man. Mitch went up and down, but at the end of that video poker trip, he came out with a $22 voucher. We walked around and hit up a few more spots. We found a little drinking station and we all got some pop. I've been avoiding pop unless I have to drink it and I couldn't find the water so I had me a Sprite. Which was dumb, cause the water tab was right under the pink lemonade. Oh well, I figure I put 50 cents worth of my money into their money sucking machines, I might as well get a pop out of it. I lost 50 cents to video poker and I think Dean lost a dollar in there somewhere. I really like Andy's and Dean's discipline. Mitch, Jon and Nick couldn't stop. I like to think that I have good self discipline and it was weird to see how my friends couldn't stop. They couldn't control them selves. It made me wonder, is there something out there that would do that to me? Something that I want so much, or think is so amazing that I wouldn't be able to control myself it was in front of me. Its scary to think about, I hope I am strong enough to fight anything thrown my way. Maybe I will bring it up at the Hot Spot one of these times. It would be great to talk about and see if people know their weaknesses. Dean wanted to do the Chris Tucker scene from Rush Hour 2 and yell "This one is for Mandella."

There was a few more things about the casino I wanted to talk about, but my Korean class is about to start so now I must dip. Hopefully I remember them for next time.

Word to Your Mother

Starting a blog and coming up with a title for a blog is kind of awkward. I guess it is kind of like starting a snow ball, I think...
Out of all the snow you are standing in, what clump of snow do you feel is the best to start your project. It all looks the same, but after you get going, all you got to do is roll and push and things just start coming together. Ya feel me? I thought you might.

Tuesdays and Thursdays I have like a two hour gap between my first class and last few classes so this is when I write my blog. Tuesday gives me an opportunity to reflect on anything that happened Friday and after of the past week, and this past weekend was pretty eventful.
Thursday I slept over at Dean's dorm. We sat around, watched some NBA, got some food and then we watched The Quiet. A pretty shitty, slow paced, independent movie. It had its moments, like Elisha Cuthbert standing around in her bra with her boobies about to bust out and awkward sexual dialogue. We also had the tube on and in the middle of the we had to stop and watch the Kevin Garnett interview on TNT. They showed an old clip from a past interview that had KG crying because he was so frustrated with losing. They of course didn't cut strait to the video but built toward it and the frustration and heartbreak that KG showed got me a little choked up. I had a little knot in my throat for sure. I don't think a lot of people respect the way he goes about things and how hard he really plays and it makes me sad. I've officially declared that KG is the greatest basketball player I will ever see in my life. It doesn't matter what the future has to offer, I already know there will never be another KG. I know there are going to be a lot of critics to what I just stated and I don't really care. I try to be a reasonable person but this is something I'm going to be stubborn about. Think about what BASKETBALL really means, then get back to me. It sure doesn't mean crossovers, gansta ass headbands and sleeves and 360 dunks. I also feel like people won't understand me because people don't know KG's "makeup." Makeup is the word KG used and I never thought of expressing the attitude and the way someone goes about something as the "makeup" of someones personality. It was a cool way to put it. But I think I understand KG's makeup better then other people. I am not saying I am Kevin Garnett. That would just be stupid. I am not black and gifted haha. But what I'm trying to say is that I understand how he goes about things better then other people. The way he presents himself, the way he is a quiet leader and leads by example, the loyalty he he showed even when others haven't done the same for him, his fire and passion, how he is so humble, honorable, proud ("Kevin Garentt is a proudful man" -Reggie Miller). Its how I go about most things in life. I must sound like a cock giving myself all those great qualities, but sometimes I do feel like I go about things with more passion and loyalty then others do. And like KG I feel that being humble is one of the most important things, and therefore I would never put my self on a pedestal (Haha! "Pussy on a pedestal" but I bet even when he goes home, in his journal, he must jot down how other people are "weaker" than he is. And this is my fucking blog, its my way of expressing myself so fuck you haters haha. Its for me to read two years later and see if I feel the same way about myself and to see if I have grown as a person. As for now, thats how I feel. I mean I don't think anyone else can take a friendly backyard football game as seriously as I. When I lose those games I just want to burn myself alive. It makes me want to sharpen my skills to an NFL level. I remember when we played basketball religiously, I think I played off emotion even more then. I think I've learned to focus my emotions a little better. I also think my passion and my drive made the people around me better basketball and football players. I remember the first time I played basketball with Dean and Jon. Not only basketball, but with any sports. I would have rather eaten horse shit then played on their team. They were horrible. They played with no killer instinct, no knowledge and just unpolished potential. But now, they are respectable athletes and I pray that they are on my team. I know for sure Jon, but can't say for Dean, wouldn't be the athlete he is now without me. I love watching Jon play basketball because that has been my project. He played hockey and baseball before me, but I don't think he played much basketball. When he does well, I feel like I did something good. Last summer we would meet these strangers at the park once or twice a week and play them in a 3 on 3 game. Jon really came into his own towards the end of summer. He resembled a more physical Dirk Nowitski. But Jon still plays without a killers mentality and thats something you just can't teach someone. I'm not trying to say everyone should play sports the way KG does, but what if we applied his mentality to everything we do? We would get a lot farther I think. Sports is just a good way to explain how I feel. Who else could take a friendly teen rated Nintendo game in Super Smash Bros. Melee to such a competitive level. Even little friendly things like that I get fiery about. Oh well, enough making me sound like a fucking prick.
But while I mentioned Melee, I might as well talk about it. He he! It is a fucking good ass game and I think I talk about it each time I write a blog now. I think what appeals to me so much about it is that it feels like its an extension of your personality. How you go about things and think of strategy reflects in the game. Lets face it, I have some stupid ass friends, and some smarter friends and when you play, you can really feel who actually thinks out there moves and who doesn't. Jon is a really good player, but I don't think he thinks out his moves fully but plays of instincts and thats how he kind of is in life. Even on the basketball court and football field. Another thing I love about the game is that its a free for all. I don't mean its everyone for them selves royal rumble style, but I mean there aren't many restrictions to what you can do. It feels like a lot of games filter and handicap bad players so its fun for everyone. In this game, if you're good, you're good, and if you're band, that sucks for you. Go work at it and sharpen your skills. The growth from the first Super Smash to Melee was a huge jump and I'm almost scared to see what Brawl is going to bring us, but excited at the same time because then its a fresh start and I can build myself all over again.
Speaking of football so god damn much, we should all play soon. I know its a 100 below right now, but maybe when it hits about 30 degrees, we should get a game planned. I know I'll be aching to play and "express" (haha, I took a shot at myself) myself after the Super Bowl. Its tough to plan when Jon and Nick have hockey cause obviously their league games take priority over backyard football. Hopefully soon though.

Well, there were a few more things I wanted to touch on but I have to study a little before my Korean test. I wanted to write about our casino trip for Nickoli's birthday while its still fresh in my mind, but it'll have to wait. I can't fuck up another semester.
Late!

...Really Finishing

This computer in downstairs in the Wilson Library is so much better then those crappy ones in the MLK computer lab. These keys feel like heaven compared to the sticky-dirty keyboards they have at the MLK lab. I guess if your in the MLK program, you just don't get all the benefits, I wonder why? Haha, IT kids have it made down here.

I went to Coffman after my Korean class to waste a few minutes and to eat my penut butter and jelly sandwich. I go on these PB&J binges during the semester since they are so easy to make and considering the amount of effort that goes into them, they are rather delicious. Sometimes I'll throw in a Turkey sandwich when I feel brave. Lately I've been killing a lot of trail mix. Anywho, back to Coffman. I went downstairs to find a place to sit. I walked around to look for an empty table. Sitting next to someone when they are already there is a little to awkward for me and I wanted to have my own table so I could eat and do some reading. I find this nice little table that no one is using and about 20 seconds after I sit down this Asian dude sits at my table. Doesn't bother to ask me, just sits, busts out his laptop and takes up about half the fucking table. All that walking around looking for a vacant just to have my table sucked up by this stupid Asian dude. Probably Laos or something very third world, they tend to be very foreign. Thats not the end of the story though, some of his friends come to join him and invade the table next to mine. Anyone remeber those loud African girls back at highschool? Well this is the Laos version. I could feel the looks of the people around us as I ate my little sandwich and they probably assumed I was with them, I am Asian to ya know. I try my best not to get grouped into the "Really Fucking Asian" category. I failed.

When you're home, does anyone notice that they will start doing chores and other shit that they normally wouldn't do just to avoid homework? I catch my self doing that a lot. The other day I had this sweet ass dream! Think back to when you started thinking about girls in a sexual way. Every since you hit puberty, there was probably a fly little thang that you couldn't keep your eyes off of at school. Right? Think about what would happen if all those girls accumualted into your house and wanted to get on you? If you can imagine this, you can imagine my dream. Do I sound like a fucking horn-ball? Yes I do. Am I ashamed of it? Ya, a little haha. But god damnit, it was great. My sheets stayed clean. This is kind of personal and I don't think people want to hear about it, but I don't give a fuck. We brought it up one day at 3 AM Perkins conversation. We talked about wet dreams. I personally don't think I have ever had one. So we talked about our wet dream experiences over omelets. I'm still not on the board boys.

Lately I've been writing blogs just to keep like a diary going (Journal I guess, but Diary sounds so much cuter). I stated in a previous blog that reaching back and reading blogs I wrote 2 years ago blew me away. I want to keep that up and reading old documents in my history class makes me want to work even harder at writing good blogs. Powerful words never die even after you leave. Thats kind of crazy to think about. I just read a document today written by an Indian girl around 1880. Thats crazy. That bitch has been dead for over 100 years and we are still reading her shit. I've thought about it before, but I don't think I ever appreciated how powerful words can be. Probably more powerful then anything. If you know how to use powerful words, you can trick, persuade, and/or excite people and do many other things to them.

Nice, all done. Fridays always seem a little easier so its basically the weekend for me now. I have a lot of little notes and reminders on my phone for this weekend. Hopefully I don't get lazy and get them done. Ah, I am doing house/apartment searching around the U. If anyone knows how to go about doing this, please help. I am just looking for the most cheap and comfortable place.

...Finish Updates

I forgot where I left off on my last blog so I will try and make this more of independent blog.

However,I do need to touch on some things I forgot to mention about the last blog. I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard scientifically the female voice is more pleasing to the human ear. Anyone know if that is actually true?

Last Saturday we hit up the mall and then went home since Jon had a hockey game to play. When we got there one of the parents kindly handed me a laminated sheet with all the players names, their numbers and the name of their parents. With that information I thought it would be cool if I did the starting lineups for a Junior Gold B game haha. I also used the information to congratulate the player and their parents after every goal. I got to congratulate 8 different players that night haha. Thats not even the cool part though, the best part of the night was the angry Mom from the opposing team. Sometime towards the end of the first or beginning the second she leaves her seat to yell at us for "disrespecting" her team and child. Bitch please, I, myself never said anything bad about your team. I can't speak for the rest of my cheering crew. I run a clean campaign at Junior Gold B games after I got choked by a parent 2 years ago. I only get dirty if players on the ice point me out and start fights with Jon's team. OR if parents start yelling at me. I understand Junior Gold B parents are to fucking dumb to know their kid sucks and therefore couldn't make the high school team. I only wish they could feel a varsity high school game so they could understand the "teasing" that goes on at one of those events. She drops the "F" bomb in her first sentence. Real fucking mature lady. Don't come here to disrespect me and my friends, ask us nicely first and there won't be any hate between us. I think we are all reasonable and polite kids, ask is nicely and I don't see there being a problem. The fact that she yelled at us first kind of got me heated. Jon's Mom, Connie, tried to calm her but the lady wasn't having it. After Connie left I could hear the lady swearing about us and Connie under her breath. Look, if you want to bad talk us for making fun of your shitty son and team, cool, but leave Connie out. A few moments later her son got kicked out of the game. Real cool fucking family. I wish there was a mini-holocaust for her family. During the intermission we talked to the parents since they were curious about what happened. One of Jon's coaches told us that this games already over and that we shouldn't start anything in the 3rd perioud (He said it much nicer then I have written). The funny part is that the coach from the other team went up to the angry Mom and explained to her that the ass beating their kids are getting was not the be blamed on the fans. Jon's coaches told them not to score intentionally in the third period. Jon also had the hardest hit of the night and writing about it wouldn't do justice. During the third period we we louder then the first two cause we wanted to drill it to her in a clean campaign kind of way. They parents also had our back and they cheered loud to rub it in her face. Stupid bitch.

Saturday I was lucky to meet two new dudes, Vince and Red. Vince hit up the mall with us and helped make cheering much for interesting. After the game, Jon's teammate Red joined us back at Jon's place. Two very cool dudes. Sunday of course was a day for football. I did some homework early and then enjoyed football for the rest of the day. Later that night we played some Melee since I need to train for the mystery champ. Melee is very frustrating. I don't feel like I am playing my very best and I want to be sharp when I play this guy. I don't think I am playing as patiently as I used to. I've noticed my kill count is very high lately, but I've been paying the price for being so aggressive. I think I may need to take a step back to take two steps forward. My reflexes still don't seem sharp and I don't know how to work on those except play with a clearer mind. Sometimes I think I get frustrated because the people I play with like to make a big deal of "big plays" they create. The frustrating thing about that is, "under the radar" Jon and I consistently create those plays. I tend to play more quietly. Jon tends to voice his feelings more. I will keep my K.G composure and still play the game in a humble manner. Oh, my SuperBowl prediction! Colts over the Bears. I love both the coaches, but not the teams so much. I like Urlacher though. I just feel as though Tony Dungy right now is more deserving of some public awards. So next Sunday I will be rooting for Tony Dungy. The Colts have a very strong chance I think as long as they can stop the Bears run. I've always been a believer in "Defense wins championships" but I think the Colts still have enough fire power on offense to at least balance out the injured Bears defense. Who knows what Rex will show up in such a pressure packed game, but I dont think he matters. If the Colts can stop the run, they can adjust to Rex as the game goes along.

Well I had a few more things I wanted to touch on, but its time for Beginning Korean2 again. Have a good weekend everyone!

Updates

Still trying to figure out my school schedule and how I'm going to get to school and back has left me little time to keep up with my blogging. I figure I can make little notes of what I had on my mind as the week goes by and maybe blog about twice a week during these big gaps between classes. I think I have the whole getting home part figured out but I still need draw up a plan for getting to school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. There probably is going to be some major sleeping over, but I feel like I'm using people when I do so.

Now to update my blog about things that have happened to me recently. Thursday to Friday I crashed at Dean's dorm since I had no way of getting to school on Friday. It was okay except for their futon has a bar going across my back and some of his roommates wanted to play "fortress" so I was left with nothing to keep me warm during the night. I figured I can't really complain since they are giving me a place to stay, but I thought keeping someone warm is a little more important then the pleasure of playing fort. I did a lot of HUB "shopping" Thursday night. I was lucky and came across the Meg and Dia CD. I've been killing that CD so much lately. I was skeptical and somewhat critical about it at first but come to realize that its actually a really good CD and they have some really cool ideas. I posted a video of Meg performing my favorite song (Rebecca) off the CD on my MySpace that you should all check out (Its the very last video). The studio version and the live version have their own qualities. Lately I have found the female voice and their music to be of interest. Sparked by my discovery of Meg and Dia and Celine Dion occasionally making it into the lineup when I put my iPod on shuffle makes me want to explore the area of female tunes more. Meg&Dia, Celine, I've recently checked out a Tegan and Sara song which wasn't my style, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake have all fueled my interest of the female voice. I plan on checking out Bjork, Tori Amos, and Jewel when I get the chance. And add Sarah McLachlan back onto my iPod.

Now for the hopeless romantic column of Min's blog. Friday when Dean and I were trying to figure out how we were going to bus home I met this gal who was also waiting for her bus. I asked her couple of questions about the busing system. Really I picked her only because she was really really attractive and plus, she was right next to me. It would'a been more stalkerish if I would have trucked across the bus station to ask someone, trust me. It was a win, win situation. We got the talking and it just happened they she had one of the brightest and most kind personalities. I figured, hot chick is going equal bitch. This was not that case, well, at least first impressions cause I don't really know her. And well, of course I don't ask for her name or anything and her bus arrives and she has to leave. This is the funny part. As she leaves she turns around and gives me this shy "bye" and I thank her for her help never to see her again (hopefully I'm wrong). It just reminded to much of one of those corny World War 2 train scenes where a loved one is going off to war on a train and you have the person run along the train until they run out of real estate. Ya, I'm real smooth. Not really...oh well.

So Dean and I managed to find our way to Ridgedale where surprisingly Nick and Jon were already waiting for us. I didn't give him a heads up. Meant a lot to me that they were thinking of helping a brother out when I needed to be helped. Kind hearts they have. We mingled in Ridgedale for a little while and mostly in the Apple store. We pretty much rape the laptops "Photo Booth" feature and create music on Garage Band. That Garage Band really sparked my interest. If anyone knows a lot about MIDI connections you should teach me a thing or two. I am really interested in picking up a keyboard and a Garage Band type program. I also want to know how to hook up a guitar to a computer. And if anyone has Garage Band or other sweet ass programs, please, hooks a brother up. After Ridgedale we hit up Rainbow quick and then just sat around for a little while. We had to make an Applebees run that night since it had been about a week. Damn I miss that place. Saturday after church we all went over to the Mall of America. We spent most of our time at the M.O.A in a store called The Vaase. They sold swords, knives and other oriental influenced items. Jon couldn't resist and had to buy a dagger thingy which his parents did not approve of haha. Nick short on funds couldn't purchase anything at the time but wanted to. The two little boys eyes lit up as they walked up and down the small aisles. They did have some really sweet items. Everything to cure your itch to become a samurai or ninja. We also bought some ingredients to build a Nagasaki bomb at the dollar store. Friggin $3 bomb! haha. "For Allah!" We had some Taco Bell and then we dipped home since Jon had a hockey game that night.

Well I'm all out of time and I need to get to my Korean class so I will finish blogging about my weekend at a later time.

Burning Time Again

It is about 3:18 and I'm at the MLK computer lab again burning time until Dean gets done with his classes. I was actually going to do some reading for my rock and roll class but all the reading, except for the novel we need to read, is done online and I couldn't find the articles. At least Busta Rhymes and DMX is playing on my iPod right now (Where my doggs at?). I got some Korean homework and a couple of career surveys I need to fill out. I am saving those for when the computer lab closes. (Jay-Z is also featured on this song. What a star filled song!) I still need to go buy my US History books. The syllabus for that class says we are required to have 4 books but when you search online it lists 3. One of the books is called "Negros With Guns." Surprise! I feel like I am wasting so much time right now. I don't have enough homework to keep me busy, and I'm stuck on campus with nothing to do. I have been reading ahead in our Rock History novel but I don't want to get to far ahead because I heard that we are suppose to start reading during week 4 because we will discuss and write a paper about it later. Also the book is on the final and if I finish it soon, I'll just have to read it again because I'll forget everything come week 8 and during finals. Its a pretty good book so far though. The book is called Less Than Zero and is set in L.A and the suburbs around it. The run-down on the back of the book says that its about the after-dark L.A life. So far the main character (Clay, a 20 year oldish male) has had sex with a guy and done multiple lines of cocaine. I believe I'm 40 pages in haha. The other day while my iPod was on shuffle, this Britney Spears song I never heard came on. Its called "Outrageous" and its awesome.

When I am walking from class to class, I just walk around listening to music and think to myself. What else is there really to do?! Last semester I forgot my iPod at home. The only time during my soon to be 2 year career at the U that I spent a day without my iPod. (Celine Dion is playing right now and she just held this crazy note for like a minute. Crazy Canadian bitch.) Anywho, the day I didn't have my iPod was the worse day of my life (Not really, but you actually says it was kind of a bad day). I couldn't think while walking from class to class. The city noises seemed to force their way into my ears and into my head. The honking of horns and the sound of tires slurping through the snow. The constant chatter of people on their cell phones. The drilling and dumping of the construction workers. Kind of drove me mad for a little while. I felt like Xavier (I think thats the dudes name) from X-men (Isn't that what happens to him when he doesn't have that metal helmet?). It sucked. I don't plan I forgetting my iPod ever again. And hopefully I can finish pimping my iPod here soon.

One more thing to note before I sign off and go to the library as I wait for Dean to finish. Over break we filmed what is tentatively named Saw1.5. It was the first movie where we used a bunch of special effects. Blood and gore was the main focus of our special effects. I've edited about 2.5 minutes of the 7 minutes we filmed and so far, everything is looking splendid. The movie is probably going to end up being 3 minutes. The end gets a little choppy cause we couldn't sit around and plan out the next move since Dean was freezing his little Chinese ass off. But Dawson's garage really was cold that day. We all had behind the camera jackets on but Dean only had the clothes he had on and corn syrup was being poured all over him. I hope to finish the short little video soon. Hopefully I can show it over the weekend.

My wrists had knuckles hurt really bad since these MLK keyboards suck big balls.

Bored and Random

The first few days of school have been painless as far as school work goes. Just got a little reading and some surveys I need to fill out. The only hard part has been finding ways to get to school and back. I am in a very tough situation this semester. I feel like I am going to have to live like a nomad, or a bum, just finding and making up transportation and spots to live as it the semester comes at me. I am sleeping over at Dean's dorm tonight since I have no means of getting to school on Friday. I'm lucky to have a friend like him giving me a place to stay. I talked to Dan since he has a room at Melrose and he told me I could crash there when ever I wanted. I just would feel bad if I stayed their so often it seemed like I was living there. And for free! I think I will spending a lot of nights at Dean's and Dan's this semester and I plan on buying some food for their rooms to make up for having me. Only way I can think of paying them back. I'm not exactly filthy rich. Yesterday I had tough time getting home but I was lucky enough to run into Sat. I thought he was still living at Middlebrook but he informed me that he was commuting this year. I asked him how he plans to get to school and back home. It seems like he has a very nice plan laid out. I thought I would try his route out and see where it takes me. Maybe it would work out for me to. When we got off, I had no idea where we were. Sat dropped me off. I was and still am very very thankful because it made such a difference in my life. When you feel stranded, a friendly and familiar face who reaches out to help just seems like he/she is giving you the world. So I got tonight and tomorrow all planned out but I still have no way of getting to school on Monday. And with all this sleeping over, it makes it very tough to find food. Sure there are tons of eateries on the campus, but I can't afford to buy food everyday. I'm convinced that I will need to find an apartment next year. That means I might need to work during school which I really don't want to do. I worry that I won't have time to study, work and make time for friends and family. I think of it as, if I'm not sharing time with friends and family, then I'm not really living. But I guess school and work to take priority. If I can find an cheap apartment soon here, I think I will work during this semester and do nothing but work over the summer so I can have enough money saved up for next year. I plan on doing some apartment searching this weekend. I also need to try and figure out something for this semester. Although this life style is very stressful, its kind of exciting at the same time. Its a challenge and I really enjoy being challenged. Its just going to suck if it decays my grades.

I am looking forward to the weekend. There is some major chilling that needs to be done. Recently, I have received news that there is mystery Super Smash Bros. Melee player who claims to be undefeated. Although I am nervous to play him since I haven't played many people outside my network, I am still confident at the same time. I'm sure he hasn't played anyone with the skills that Jon and I posses. We played a person who claimed to have won a Melee tournament once. To say the least, it felt like I was playing a crash test dummy. I think he managed to land a few punches on me and thats about it. Of course excuses were made after the ass whooping. I need to keep my skills sharp for this self-proclaimed god of Melee.

I'm at the computer center in the MLK office again hoping to burn some time before my next class. I have a two and a half hour gap between my first and last class today. I think I am going to go do some studying quick. That is why I am going to Col...

Ah ha! Writing that last sentence reminded me of something I really wanted to write about. I don't know if I blogged about it before or if I just discussed it, but last semester I asked a lot of people around the U about the pressures of needing to pick a major and a career soon. A couple of times, the response I got was, "This point in your college life you are learning how to learn." Isn't that the same bullshit I heard when people asked, "Why do we need to learn this!" in high school?? Made me a little heated when I would hear that shitty excuse. I am paying $10,000 a year to earn the same education I learned during high school eh? Thank you fucking University of Minnesota. Self-proclaimed one of the finest research institutes in the world. Research deez nuts. Can I please learn how to live and make a living please?

Alrighty, study time.

Begins Agian

First day of second semester is today. Not looking forward to it, but I don't think this semester should be that bad. Taking some what seems to be easy history and writing classes. But for me, compared to Science and Math, history and writing is always easy. Waking up was pretty easy. I set my alarm 15 minutes early so I could snooze for a little while. My body woke up by it self 14 minutes into the snooze so there was no struggle to get out of bed. I went to my history discussion at 10:10 only to find out that class didn't meet since it was a discussion and there hasn't been any lectures yet. They couldn't give us any notice because our e-mails hadn't been entered into their data base yet. So we all showed up for nothing. I don't give a shit though, I was going to be on campus at that time no matter what so it gave me a place to be. There was a pretty decent looking chick in that class to so thats cool. We will see though. I've noticed after long break at home chilling with a bunch of guys for long periods of time you start forgetting what a female is and anything looks attractive. Then when you get back to school it all comes back to you at once. As the semester drags along, you see that the girls you once thought were hot slowly start to decay in hotness. So now I'm in the Martin Luther King community computer lab burning 3 hours worth of time since my next class (Korean2) is at 1:25. How fitting that I am in the MLK lab being that it was his day yesterday. I hope everyone had a splendid MLK day.

God damn, I already miss winter break. I could be at home editing my Saw1.5 video which is turning out great by the way. I've edited about 2 minutes of the video and the beginning credits are awesome haha. Then around 2 or 3 some Mo Fos would call me up and we would struggle the rest of the day trying to find something to do. Melee would be played of course. That reminds me! On the car ride here today Joey informed me that the launch date for Mario Party 8 is set for sometime in March. Fantastic! Even though it may have been a dull winter break it was much needed and I enjoyed it. Anytime you can just sit around and spend time with people you love and respect is time well spent. Isn't that why we go to work and school? To make the time we spend with people more pleasant? Money isn't the most important thing, but with it, it gives you a lot more choices. I've been really critical about my friends as of late and I think I learned over break, that I really do have some of the best friends anyone would ask for. I think what happened is at some point, I've been around these guys and their "Greatness" lets call it for so long that I get used to it. Like anything else you get used to and take for granted. I lost my bar of standards. I don't know what happened but somehow I took a step back and I saw again how lucky I really am. I don't know if all that makes sense, but simply, I can't keep raising the "bar" and expect people to reach to impossible. I've also learned that my friends are far more understanding then I've given them credit to be. I've noticed I can bring up a topic with other people and they kind of are lost but with my friends I can bring something up and the conversation will click right away. Its a great feeling.

Lately everything I see just seems so much brighter. Maybe its because today is a very fucking bright day. I seem to value things again, music sounds louder, makes sense again and I can listen to a lot more genres again, and I feel determined to do well at school again. The 10 minutes I was in my history class I met two classmates and talked to my T.A. I participated in class to, which is not like me cause I tend to sit back in the corner of class and soak things in. People who participate in class are gay haha.

I need to look into a living situation for next year. If everything pans out, the best case would be Joe, Dean, Mitch and I at Melrose. Jon was suppose to be in the mix but unfortunately he didn't get accepted into the U. Which really sucks cause distance is a bitch for maintaining strong relationships. They turn into "relationshits" quick. Ha, thanks Dane. I just had to use it cause I've been force fed a lot Dane Cook the past week. I also need to look for a job. I need a car or I need to pay for the apartment next year. Either way, income is needed. Sucks cause I do not want to work during school. There was some other things I planned on listing that I needed to do but I forgot. Oh well.

For now, everyone go look at Dean Kong's MySpace profile and look at the picture comments Nick left him. The concoction Jon made for him at Applebees over the weekend was fucked up. I am looking froward to the weekend already. How sad.

Living the Life

What a finish to our winter break. I wish I could write more when there is a bunch of stuff going on, but when there is a bunch of things going on, there is no time to write. This weekend, I think I had a streak where I didnt go to bed for about 32-34 hours. Then I went strait to Jons and Nicks hockey games. I haven't been home much either cause before the weekend we slept over at Dawsons. I was home Friday to night to sleep and then went to church. School starts tommorrow and that sucks. Sucks bad. I dont have a car and Joey is planning on only going down there Tuesdays and Thursdays so that leaves me in an awful bind. I have no means of getting down there Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I'm pretty much fucked.

I'm going to jot down a couple of things that we did over these last few days. We slept over at Dawsons one of the nights cause we wanted to film something in his garage the day after. That night the gnomes showed me mercy and returned my iTrip. Thank you gnomes. We also watched Sleepover Camp2 before we went to bed. If you like shitty horror flicks, please check this one out. I've heard that 3 is alot better. And if anyone has 1, hook a brother up. I also watched House of Wax agian making that 2 times in a week. That is 1.5 to many times watching that movie. It was pretty bad, but agian, shitty horror movies are so fantastic. After all that jazz, we filmed Saw 1.5. I am looking foward to editing the footage and posting it on YouTube. It didnt turn out 100% the way I wanted it to, but it still should be pretty good. There is a few ideas I missed out on cause we wanted to film it fast since Dean was freezing his ass off. This will the first movie I made where there is a special effect for blood. Corn syrup and food coloring works wonders. I dont even remember what else we did. Its only been like 3-4 days but when you awake for most of the time it seems like a week went by. We went to applebees a couple of times, went to some hockey games, played a shit load of melee. Whats really cool is that when you play Melee, you dont get tired. Andy, Dean and I played Melee from maybe 12:00 a.m to about 5:30 a.m and during that span I was not tired. Ben and I wrote our Aurthur the Ant Eater song which needs to be finished still. We went to the thrift store alot. Dean picked up some sweet shit when we went. I managed to pick up two D.A.R.E shirts on two different occasions.

Pretty messy blog, but I wanted to jot down some things we did. Sorry if I missed you call or text over that period, I was all "meshuganucked."

If the people I spent this amazing period of time read this...please fill in some blanks! I cant remember anything and if you comment and I read this blog 2 years later, I can still read your comments.

I hope everyone everyone is excited that school is about to start up agian...cause I'm not.

2006-2007

I made a little video with the footage I recorded on New Years Eve then on New Years Day. Its nothing special and it actually really poorly made but its kind of cute so I thought I'd share. This is what you make when you are bored.

A Well Spent Night

I had another blog all written out before this one introducing a little video I put together but YouTube is down right now for maintenance so I can't get the code for my video. Stupid Google. So for now I will just write my blog about what I did today, what I'm looking foward to and what I am thinking.

I woke up today and did my usual morning rutine. Then I continued my iPod project. I just got to where I was hoping I would get to by the end of the day. I reached Fall Out Boy which means I just hit the F's. Speaking of Fall Out Boy, anyone hear about Peter Wentz? How he beat up a secutiry gaurd because the gaurd "threatened" his friend I guess would be the best way to put it. It was all caught on tape and its pretty funny/sweet. Anyways, I got all cleaned up and went out to lunch with my Mommy agian today since after the break is over we won't be able to go out to get a bite and chit-chat anymore. After, I went home and sat around for a little while then Jon came over after school. Peter joined us soon after and we all played some melee. It appears I am shaking some of the rust off and getting back to my old dominant self. Lately my reactions have been really slow and it seems like my execution can't keep up with my strategy. I always have an escape/attack or whatever planned out, but when I press the buttons nothing registers or is late. I can still see all the movements and I know what to do since its pretty much second nature now but the response it slow. It is quite frustrating. We played Melee for a good chunk of time and then Jon dipped home. I thought we might go out after Jon left and I suggested a couple of spots we could hit up to Mitch and Peter but I kind of got ignored so we sat around for a little while. I can suggest something but the choice is ultimately theirs to make since they are the ones with cars. I just figure going out and running around is alot more fun then sitting around watching Richard play Gears of War or Phantasy Star Universe. Right now, sitting around doesn't sound appealing to me since I've been doing it the whole break and when school starts up I know thats what I'm going desire. Right now is the best time to be out and active cause when school starts, I'll be doing something all the time and just sitting around with pals watching the tube is going to be very sexy. We can sit around on our asses then! So I sat on my laptop for a while then Mitch and Peter finally got bored so we went out to a couple of spots I needed to hit up. We went to Platos Closet in search for my plain black layering t-shirt. We found something that would work, but it wasn't perfect. Tonight I finally said fuck it and I wont search for that layering long sleeve anymore, but I will still buy it if it falls on my lap. After Platos Closet we went to Blockbuster so I could drop off a movie then we went to Ridgedale so I could return the "Double True" shirt Jon for my for my birthday. Its a sweet shirt but Jon got it for me in a 2XL. I know I'm fat but god damn! Jon gave me the receipt for it so that I could return it. The problem was that he used his Mastercard so they gave me store credit and I had to buy something right away. Got me a sweet ass Underoath poster that will look loverly in between my Armor for Sleep poster and Kevin Garnett poster haha! We picked up some Taco Bell then went home and enjoyed some more Melee. I dropped off a copy of the old "The Hood: Preview of Things to Come" video at Brians house since he has been requesting it. Then Benny and I went to the cheap theater to watch Deja Vu with Seeman and group. It was the first time in about two years I saw Graff, Knapp, Swan, Wes, Chrissy, Domaas and Seeman. Stella was there too but we go to the same school so I see her like once or twice if a semester haha. I go to the fucking U of M, give me a break. I saw Mo Fo to and that was the first time probably since junior high. I'm sure I ran into him at Nelsons or something prior to tonight and after junior high but I cant remember. To my surprise Deja Vu was very good. I'm just sick of Denzel Washington flicks since its the same thing each time but this was a nice little change up. Everyone there also suggested watching the Prestige which I also have my doubts about but I may have to check it out since I only hear good things about it. Cheap theater also put in Apacolypto so I may end up checking that out as well. It was really nice seeing those guys agian and I almost forgot how much fun it was hanging out with them when they are sober. For a while there I didn't really care if I never saw them agian but it was really nice joking around with them. Its a shame it had to happen so late into the break since they are all going up to Duluth this weekend to snowboard and then school starts. Sometimes you just cant save every relationship. I've come to learn that recently. Its better to let go and try to make the close bonds you have with people in your life now stronger. Tommorrow Ben is coming over his eye appointment and we are going to create some tunes. I hope we can fit in about two more songs. At this phase in my immature life, writing music with Ben is so relaxing and it excellent therapy to me. I can't explain it but it feels like I am actually doing something important. I dont think we are good, but as long as the end product is something I'm proud of and something I can listen to, I am happy with it. I dont really give a fuck if other people like it, but it would be that much cooler if people did like it. Only a few people have listened to our latest song and it seems like the cringe when they listen to it but are to nice to tell us that it sucks haha. I understand its not good but I am actually really proud of the song. After that, I am planning on going to Applebees with everyone. I have to remember to give A-Chirst and Chrissy a heads up on my plans. Chrissy leaves for England pretty soon and I want to talk to her about that. Recently I thought it would be an amazing experience to study in a different culture. Last semester I started heard people talk about other culutres and I started thinking to my self, "Damn, what if the American culture isn't you?" The fast paced American life almost seems like to much. I think it would me awesome to soak in a different life style. Unfortunately, I'm to much of a pussy to do it all on my own and I get home sick way to easily. I want to ask her what motivated her to do this, and what her plans are. How long are you planning to stay there? What will you be looking for? So many things. I think its crazy that she has the courage to do something like this. That came out kind of wrong, I dont mean I think Chrissy is a wuss and I cant believe she is doing something like this, rather I mean that I can't believe anyone would do something like this cause I just cant picture myself leaving everything I love here to do something like that. Way to fucking scary. Today was a real steady day and I hope tommorrow also turns out this way. On Friday Peter and I plan on hitting up the thrift store. Which is fucking awesome since I am like the only one on our little group that loves the fucking thrift store. I hope my "Navy" coat motivates everyone to fall in love with the thrift store. Sounded like Peter is pretty interested and the other day Jon expressed some interest. I still want to make a "movie" video while we still have time. I might not have alot of time to edit it but as long as we record it, I will have it on tape. Lately all I do is splice documentary style footage and put some music over it and smoothen the transitions. Ya, thats fun and cool, but I like to mix it up. I even bought my corn startch so I could try and make fake blood. I like to challenge myself a little more each time I make a more focused video. This time I'll try some special effects and I really want to work on lighting. Hopefully we still have some time. Dean comes back "home" tommorrow night so that gives me another really good actor to use. But I havent meade a video with Dean for a long time and Deans personality isn't as bright as it used to be when we were younger so it should be interesting. I notified Ross Petterson I might need some help for him since I've enjoyed working with him in the past. I think my favorite "actors" to work with are Paul Graff, Josh Miller and Jake Pernula. They always keep a strait face, think quick and always understand what I'm asking for.
Anywho (I've noticed I say that alot when my blogs sidetrack and I need to re-focus. How come no one else uses that word? haha), I need to go check if my iPod project has gotten any further. Such a fucking pain converting the files and then putting the songs on my iPod using USB1 software. I hope to get my edited footage (not even worthy of being called video) online soon.

Chin-Chillin

Today was full of nothing. I woke up, did my usual morning rutine. My Mom asked me if I wanted to go out and get some lunch with her and of course I agreed. We went to Applebees for lunch (the baddest mother fucking restaurant ever). I had this brand spanking new BLT melt or something. It was shitty as fuck. Never ever get it unless you want toast with lettace with this weak has peice of bacon in it. I dont even like bacon, I dont know why I got it. Actually I do. Because I was going to try something new and the hostess suggested it. Our server was shitty too. But dont let my anger fool you, Applebees is still the BMFRE. I think I want to go there tommorrow night for some wings. I'll suggest it. After we finished our food we hiked our asses over to the Unique Thrift Store. I picked up some new shoes ($5) a D.A.R.E shirt ($2) and a fucking sweet ass Navy like coat ($3). Some major scorage. I cant wait to bust out the coat. After I got home from hanging out with my Moms, I just sat around for a while. Continued my iPod project and edited some random ass videos. I'll be posting those random, half-assed videos online soon. Later Jon and I went to Nicks hockey game at the Osseo arena. It was a good but dissapointing game. Nicks team fell behind 3-0 early but climbed back in and eventually took the lead. The last period was closing with the score 4-3 in Nicks advantage but Edina scored with about 40 secs left and the game ended in a tie. A fucking waste of a win. It was a really good game though. Nick had some mean hits and he managed to score a goal. The drive there and back Jon and I tried to find some Cannibal Corpse songs that we might recognize on my iPod. Non yet. I managed to get all the way to Dane Cook today. Hopefully I can get F tommorrow. I plan to wake up earlier tommorrow. Otherwise no plans yet agian. I need to go to Hot Topic and return a shirt Jon got me for my birthday. I need to go to Blockbuster and return Monster House which we watched over the weekend during our Youth Group party. I need to go to Platos Closet and try and find me a plain black long sleeve layering t-shirt. I want to go to the movie theater before breaks end. I havent gone for a while. I also want to get one more football game in before break ends. Ben is coming over Thursday and we are planning to write some sweet ass songs, hopefully haha. Dean comes "Home" that night as well. Might be a good night for another Applebees run...maybe I shouldnt go to Bees tommorrow, but we could just go twice. Its just that sweet. We hung out with Brian May over the weekend and he requested a copy of the old The Hood video. I got that running upstairs. I will get that to him tommorrow and if he has time I want to sit down and watch that him. Look back at what we found funny 4 years ago. God damn its going to be weird. I am so glad I find video editing so fun. When you get to look back on old videos, it sends so many feelings and emotions through your body. Its pretty amazing.

Random Blurbs

God damn my last week of break feels unorthodox. It also seems liek it is going so fast and is actually very stressful. It feels like I am having to remember stuff to do and just a shit load of little things. I cant explain the feeling. It feels like there is always something hovering over my head and I cant get rid of it. Its the feeling you get when you have something on the tip of your tongue but cant get it fully out. I dont know, I'm just living my final week to fast.

I have a list of shit to do. I need to finish my "Pimp My iPod" project and I'm just getting through the C's. I need to clean my laptop out. I want to make a movie while I can. The other day while we were at Cub Foods I bought some corn startch so that I could try and make some fake blood. I needed to buy some red food coloring but those son bitches are expensive. I figured I dont even know if this is going to work so I would test the corn stratch and see if I can make the formula and then add some sort of coloring. I still need to find me a plain black long sleeve layering t-shirt. On top of all that I need to just chill, have fun and relax. I also want to write my song before breaks end and for that to happen I need Ben to have time. On top of all this, I just lost my fucking brand new iTrip that Ben bought me for my birthday. I didnt even have that thing for a week. The last time I remember seeing it is at Dawsons house when I took it off to put more songs on my iPod since the new iTrip goes into the bottom USB port. I remember taking it off, but I cant seem to find in anywhere, hence it is lost. I need to search Dawsons house a little more and my house. It would sure be nice to have a fucking iTrip agian. And I am to broke right now to drop $25 dollars for a new employee bought iTrip. FUCK!

Otherwise I've been sitting around doing the same old shit. We put it the Dane Cook Tourgasm documentary DVD for a little while at Dawsons this morning and I've come to realize I am fascinated by the tour life. I think it would be the ultimate experience. I love road trips, and when I'm chilling with friends I am sitting on my ass doing nothing but video games and dvds anywho. Then I lead myself to think, if I did it 4 months like many entertainers do, would I go crazy and just be sick of it? Still, it sounds like an amazing experience.

Lately, some of my friends have been so annoying. They aren't doing extremely gay shit or anything, but some of the hypocritical, ignorant and just stupid ass shit they say eats away at me. Probably about 3 of my friends just fall into the same group. The three of them have to exact same "focky" (Thats fucking cocky) personality. They always have to be right and they always have to be better then the next person when they are actually some of the least talented people I have ever come across. And they are so ignorant that they just yell shit all the time to put people down. I just wish they could take a step back and see them selves. I highly doubt this would ever happen because they are some of the most self centered people you will ever come across. Maybe self centered isn't the right word, but fuck it. Half my brain is trying to find my iTrip still. I wish I could list specific examples that occurred recently but I cant/wont in fear that it will offend some people. Maybe I will do it tommorrow morning or something. I fear that I am actually blind as they are and cant see myself doing the same thing. That would be the worst to find that out. I pride myself on being able to see the whole picture and make rational and reasonable judgements. The weirdest thing, and I feel horrible that I participate, is that the three rip on each other all the time. And they rest of the group joins in on the bashing cause everything they say of each other is true. But what they dont understand is what they are saying applies to them as well. No one has the heart to tell them because of the way they are. They would just reject the fact that they could maybe be wrong and reverse the criticism to the teller. They need to understand that the world might not revolve around them and god hasnt blessed them with the talent to do everything. Actually, god probably hasnt blessed them with any talent except for be blind. This sounds like the most D-Bag thing I can say, and it makes me sound like a huge hypocrit, but know that I am saying this knowing I come off that way and know that I dont mean it like that, but I probably am better at pretty much every single thing. There has to be a few exceptions, but still. Forgive me if my last statement is unforgivable, I dont mean it in a bashing manner but rather in an informative manner. But dont get me wrong, they are still pretty good people at heart. Actually one of the dudes probably has one of the kindest, yet tempered, hearts you will ever come across. They are good people and for the most part I am very greatful that I have crossed paths with them in life, but sometimes it just burns to be around them and their "Frocky," ignorant, and blind personalities. God damn I am a mean person haha. But my blogs are here for me to vent.

Let me ask you this. Do you think it is better to lead someone to think they are right to make them feel good or tell them the truth and ruin their whole world? Do you think it is okay to talk trash behind someones back because you cant confront someone of their wrongs? You need to vent when something is bothering you. I always believed in doing the "right" thing. Always tell the truth because in the end its much better. Well I still believe in that, but it is fucking hard. How can you just take down the support beams to what someone has believed in for so long? Its tough.

Been Busy

I havent been able to blog cause my daily schedule has been out of rhythem and alot of cool stuff has happened over that time that I should note. But I really dont remember alot of the things in detail anymore and there were some topics I was going to touch on that didnt involve experince and rather just stuff I thought about. I cant really write about them now and that sucks. So I am going to copy and paste Peters MySpace blog so I can atleast have the memories of some of the events that went down. Its the next best thing. I'll post it after a little blurb of my own.

Last night Andy and I watched the Dallas vs. Seattle game and it was a fucking sweet game! Tony Romo fumbled the feild goal and Dallas couldnt go up. They got the ball back for one more hail mary but wasnt able to convert it. The rest of the day prior to playoff watching was dedicated to the church Youth Group. We have pizza and movie night. It actually turned out to be alot of fun.

Peters Blog:

We went to Spin last Thursday and did the whole "club" scene but it felt like a concert with how much pushing there was and the total lack of space to dance in. I felt like elbowing people (Bow-nessa) just to get a little space. Wasn't one of the better nights, but the people were great (as always) and Perkins after was amazing (random assortment of people but all good). My ears are still ringing slightly from the bass.


Today was very random to say the least. I woke up much too late to enjoy a proper lunch (or any lunch at all) since Nick and I were meeting up at 3 to go and buy Min's birthday present plus I needed to pay for part of my tuition at NHCC and it was payday at work and I was very broke. So I got tuition out of the way first then I met up with Nick and we drove up to Warner's Stellian (We Work Harder To Earn Your Business!) and I picked up my check and then Nick and I went to my bank to cash it in. After all that we finally made it Ridgedale and worked our way to Spencer's Gifts where we proceeded to TRY and buy this four player game where you hold onto this handle thing and then you have to push the button attached to it before the others do when the music stops or it shocks the last 3. Pretty sweet game. Regardless, we get there and we don't see any left so we ask the guy if there's anymore and he said that he literally just sold the last one and we're like "Fuck!" since we had another idea but that was our best one. After a few minutes of standing there pissed off, we decide to look around Ridgedale since I bought a new belt buckle at Spencer's and I wanted a tacky, white belt to go with it. While we were walking around, Nick said, "Wouldn't it be weird if Jon bought that last game?" to which I replied, "That wouldn't happen. Jon wouldn't spend that much money on a present." We both agreed and I bought a belt at Zumiez and then we rolled back to Grove/Plymouth.

We picked up Nick's hot ride and then went to Min's house and met up with Min, Dick, Leah, Ben and Ben's g/f Shar. We walked inside and on the bar counter in Min's basement sat, lo and behold, the stupid shocking game! Nick and I had nothing to say but, "Did Jon buy that?..." to which Min responded, "Yeah! It's fuggin' sweet!" After that, Nick and I lost it! How sweet was it that Nick called that shit back at RD, but how fucking lame is it that we were out of a gift idea. While it was a win/ lose situation, we were both pretty pissed since we figured Jon was going to get Min something different. The lucky bastard has a hockey tourny this weekend so we can't kill him 'til he gets back. Regardless, we played the game (I can still feel the shock...) and Catchphrase with everyone. Ben and Shar went back to B-Town which left Min, Nick, Dick, and I without anything to do before or tri-weekly run to Applebees. We went to World Market to buy some cool snacks, but everything is way too expensive so we said F that noise and went to Plato's Closet to find Min a long sleeve black shirt. When we barely made it in the store the employees told us they were closing so we promptly left in an even worse mood and walked over to D in The V. Nick bought some stink bombs and I almost bought a poster, but I was burning through my paycheck much too fast so I stopped myself. We went to Cub next and Nick and I bought some Munchies to hold us over until Applebees. We went back to Min's house and watched Dick play GAW until A-Christ got off work.

Finally, we made it to Applebees and it was real busy, but since we had a smaller group, we got in pretty quick. We sat down and the plan was to:

A) Scope out a hot server.
B) Ask for her to be our server.
C) Request her weekly to build a "relationship" so that...
D) We could get stuff for "On The House."

A, B, and C didn't happen, but strangely enough, D did. They took forever to get Andy his fries so me, Nick, and Andy got ours for "On The House" which is always a good thing thanks to Andy's quick wit. Most nights we sit and bitch about something or talk sports, but tonight we actually had a solid convo. Min was complaining about "religion" and how he felt is was organized robbery of the mass populous of the world. And while religion is supposed to be the source of peace, it seems to be the greatest instigator for war. Andy is a history major so he had a lot of the history down and he covered that end while I spat out knowledge of the Lutheran faith and The Bible and all that jive. It was a great convo that lasted for at least an hour and it was nothing but un-interrupted talk which was nice for a change. I like going to A-Bees with Jon and the other guys, but it was nice to have a deep convo with guys that were genuinely into the topic. I don't know where Jon, Dean, or Mitch stand with their faith, but I have a much better understanding of where Min, Nick and Andy are. And I found some stuff out about myself too. Which brings me to my next topic...

Nick said that he was going to read The Bible and figure more out about what it says and where his faith lies, to which Andy and Min responded in kind that they would do it too. And when I got home tonight, I decided I was going to get deeper into my faith and really dig around and see what it's about. I've been a pretty un-Godly person as of late, and I'm sure it shows. But it's a new year and I'd like to try my best to be a better all around person and the one way I can truly achieve that is by being a better person in Christ. And while I'll slip up and falter, I will try my very best at this because it will only better my life. God has a strange way of sneaking back into your life, but I'm glad he chose tonight. My iTunes was on shuffle and the song that came up when I started writing this was "Best of You" by the Foo Fighters. It made me think about who was getting the best of me, and sadly, I can say that no one is truly getting the best of me. And this is another reason why I need to change my life around. I've been a terrible friend, a terrible son, a terrible student, and a terrible person for far too long. Now is the time to make a change. I have a new year, a new age (20) and a new outlook on life. I'm armed with the right tool and the right drive, and I know that I can do it. Any help that you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated since it's not going to be easy for me.

But back to the night. We got home around 12ish and we went over to B-May's house since he was having people over. It was nice to see him again and some of the guys from high school too. Me, Andy, and Min don't drink so we just kinda sat around and talked nerd for an hour and a half, taking small breaks to talk to Brian and the various random drunks there. It was a nice way to end the night, just chill and mull things over. I would call today a big success and I'm glad that I got to share it with some of my really good friends. If you're still around, I'd love to see you before you leave for school. I hope everyone is having a great semester/ break/ or whatever you're on right now. Right now I'm going to bed so I can catch some football before I start my day. I hope everyone is good, and I'll see you when fate decides to throw us together again.
-Pete

I'll try a little harder to keep back on track. I had some really good things to say about this past weekend. What a waste!