Sub-Zero!

On my way to the computer lab today, I saw a really hot "emo" chick. I don't like using that word for many reasons, but its the best way to describe it without going into a lot of detail.

This weekend went by WAY to quick. It felt like a sprint. We had a list of things to do for Saturday which we did not complete and some of the events we half-assed. Saturday was the busiest day so I am going to Tarintino it chop up my weekend. Saturday started out with church like usual. After church, Mitch, Dean and I made plans to go down to the U and do some apartment searching. The only stop we made was Melrose. We had plans to visit Marcy Park but as we were driving to Marcy Park we realized that the walk from Marcy to the campus was to great. At Melrose we took at tour and got all the paper work. After we did out little apartment thing, we went back to Jon's to grab Deal or No Deal. Which was a complete waste of time. I wish we could have saved the hour we played Deal or No Deal and used it for Melee or 28 Days Later. Dean pressured everyone into playing that game. I've to come to realize that Dean isn't very economical with time. Oh, somewhere between there we also set off our Nagasaki bombs in "The Forest." They were pretty sweet. We needed better bottles but it was the first time many had seen the Nagasaki bombs so it was alright. We then rolled out to catch Jon and Nick's hockey games. Jon's game was first and it was easily the most entertaining game we had been to so far. It even beat out Hockey Mom. The game was vs. Centennial. Early in the first period a Centennial player got kicked out starting a fight after one of our players (D-Rock!) made a very hard and clean hit. Of course when something like this happens we get a little fired up, but we maintained our "clean campaign" approach. As the game went on, Centennial players kept getting kicked out one at a time. Now even the Osseo parents had enough and they got into it. For some reason the Centennial kids started firing gestures at us as if we were the ones they were playing. When this happens, everything is pretty much fair game. We cheered as each one of their players got kicked out. The good thing was that we had one of the refs on our side because he thought we were hilarious. I think it got to a point where Cent. only had 4 people on their bench. The kids that got kicked out came and stood by the stands and tried to out cheer us. Their coach must have been disappointed in their team because he waived those kids away. I just loved the fact that we were in their heads and when ever they scored or did something mildly entertaining they would come over to us. It just shows how stupid they are. We have no part in the outcome of the game, yet the felt that they had to show us up. Their aggressive play got them into trouble because a couple of times. A couple of kids charged Jon strait on and this is not a wise idea for such pussies. Jon murdered, and I mean MURDERED two kids on Saturday. The game eventually got called because the game had taken to long and there was another game slated after this one. As their goalie was skating off the ice, one of the Osseo coaches went over to shake his hand. The stubborn bitch refused to shake the coaches hand and cussed the coach out. Showed how classy Cent really was. Jon told us a funny story after he got out of the locker room. As he was skating off the ice he saw a Cent Mother taunting the Osseo kids and Jon couldn't hold back and had to make funny faces at her haha. After we ran over to Nick's arena to watch his game. On the way, the most comical event to ever happen in my life went down. Mitch tried to open a door with his face. We were running out of the arena and for some reason we paused for a second. When we continued Mitch accelerated into a window thinking it was a door. Writing about it doesn't do its justice. You had to see it. I never thought I would see something like that happen live. I thought I would only see stuff like that on Americas Funniest Home Videos. We get to Nick's game but we continued to talk about Mitch (Who was okay after the collision) and Jon's game. It was hard to pay attention to Nick's game since there was so much excitement in Jon's. The cool thing about Nick's game was there was an empty booth that we moved into and acted like sports broadcasters. I sounded more like a Chicago mobster. After Nick's game we all trucked it to Applebees cause we were starving. This time we actually went to Applebees to eat and not just for the atmosphere. The conversations were pretty dry and this might have been because we wanted to eat more. We only touched a few topics and talked about Melee which made us want to go home and play Melee. So thats what we did. We got to Jon's, watched the "Unforgivable" videos quick and played some Melee. I believe it was passed 12 already and lots of people were pretty tired.

I thought about what Applebees so comforting and fun for me and I think I now know why. Its the conversations with friends, duh, but I think its the way I approach conversations. In the past I have always been conscience about the consequences about my words. I always thought about if my words might offend someone. I was always careful about not giving my self any sort of praise (even when deserved) because being humble is such an important part of my makeup. I was always concerned with being a fucking boyscout pretty much and being "politically correct" in a sense. But when we talk at Applebees, I let my defense down, and I just let words come out with out thinking about what they mean and what kind of consequences might follow. People always say you should be able to tell your best friend anything, and this is true. But I also look at the other side. You should be more respectful toward a loved. I don't know why I can't just be like this everywhere, it sounds stupid to me too. But I can't just change the type of person I am. I think somewhere inside of me, I think that I slowly built this understanding with everyone that when we are in Applebees, anything goes. They can't hate me for the things I say, I can't hate on them for the things they say. Its become a second world for me.

Friday I started the day by going out to eat with my Mom. We had a little lunch and then she dropped me off at school. Peter picked Dean and Me up from the Plymoutch TC and we went strait to the Unique Thrift store to see if they had any new goodies. The store was pretty dry that day. After that we went home and met up with the rest of the peoples. Nick had a hockey game that night. We went to place we had never been there before. I think the biggest thing at this game was the two chicks that sat in the seats next to ours. One was an Ivanka Trump look alike and the other was just your regular skinny brunette. They were pretty good looking fine young thangs. I am taking career exploration class and I read a chapter where it explained that we must challenge ourselves to grow. A sweet quote by Marcus Allen stated, "Death can kill you once, but fear can kill you over and over and over if you let it." Very true. There was another quote that talked about how we grow the most when we experience embarrassment. So lately I've been trying to do things maybe I normally wouldn't do. I just tell myself the book told me to do it and it isn't as embarrassing. I'm getting somewhere with this if you haven't put it together yet. Our group of ALL guys has a serious lack of female interaction. Its kind of shameful. I know I've never been good with girls, and it appears that every person in our good just sucks when it comes to girls. So I thought I would take a chance and be the first one to try something new. Maybe it'll instill some courage in the rest of our base camp. So I talked with them a little bit. I would never do this if it was just for me. I would never act like a dummy if I was trying to impress a girl, but I thought if I grabed their attention maybe they would talk to some of the other guys. Well I'm pretty sure we had their attention, you can't be that loud, annoying and obnoxious and not get noticed. But I thought I'd plant a seed an let them know its okay to talk to us. 2 of the guys later mentioned that I got the cold shoulder, and I might have, but I thought they bashfully denied my invitation. I guess you could look at it both ways, but I didn't notice them giving me dirty faces and the "Ohh My Gawd!" treatment. Anywho, nothing came out of it and I saw fuck bitches. I'm going to take the John Ameichi approach haha. After the game I think we played Melee.

Sunday was a very important day. Sunday Dean and I signed our souls away to Melrose. It is official that we are living together next year during school. It should be an amazing growing experience. I remember hearing horror roommate stories. I always heard that rooming with best friends always ends sour. I hope this isn't the case. There are so many things I am looking forward to. If money wasn't a factor, this would have been an easy choice. Other then that, I didn't do shit on Sunday. Just filled out Melrose papers, dropped them off, signed my life away, did homework and went to bed at 10 pm.

Zombie Dream (I need a working title)

This whole blog is going to be dedicated to the Zombie Dream I had maybe two years ago now. I went through a huge zombie and horror phase, I guess I still am, and I am still feeling the ripples of that part of my life. When I have dreams, I remember the dream clearly right when I wake up but the dream slowly decays away as my morning grogginess wears off. I think this is the case for everyone. But when I woke from this dream, I was so amazed and blown away that I kept reciting the dream to myself. In the shower, when making my breakfast, when brushing my teeth, etc. I wanted to remember this dream. I have most of the major events memorized, but a lot of the little details have faded. I think I first told this dream to Jon and a couple of others over a fire in Jon's backyard. Then later at Dean's house during a spring break North Dakota trip. I told a shortened version at Applebees once since A-Christ wanted to hear it. During that sitting, Mitch claimed I had some facts were flipped around since the North Dakota telling. This could be true, this could be false. I like to think it is false because no one else made these claims and I know Mitch isn't a fan of the dream because he feels it isn't a real depiction of his personality or military approach. Whatever! Hopefully I will have my facts strait when I write this out because now it will be documented and solidified. I will try me best to write the story in chronological order. When I told the bare-bones version at Applebees I shuffled the order around to speed the story up cause I didn't think Jon and some other wanted to hear it for a third time. If I miss some points, I will just insert them from where I am in the story cause I don't plan to do any proof reading or editing. Its just a fucking blog of some weak ass (or tight ass) dream I had. Also, I will be saving the blog as a draft and picking up the story in between classes so I can pass the time. This may hurt the cohesiveness of the story but oh well. Suck a big one.

The dream starts off in my basement bedroom on a normal sunny summer day. Something makes me believe it was August (Maybe the smell and feel of summer vacation in its prime). I close the blinds in my room tighter because the rays of the sun are sneaking in between the cracks. I start the day off like any other day by hopping on the computer. Load up Internet Explorer and pops up my Yahoo Fantasy Sports homepage. Check my fantasy baseball team(I was most likely beating Dean haha) and then transition to the main yahoo page to read the headlines. The top story was about some weird killings that occurred earlier that morning some place in Wisconsin. The bloody pictures of the story grab my attention and I skip my MySpace run. I read into the story and it sounded like something out of the beginning of Dawn of Dead 2004. Strange gory deaths have been happening in Wisconsin since the early part of the morning that have sent towns there into chaos. As I am reading this my cell phone blares and I kind of jump out of my seat. At this time, I had my old Samsung Sprint phone where I had dedicated ring tones for all my friends. Dawsons hip-hop theme looped a couple of times before I got back to my room. I pick it up and the conversation starts out like any Dawson and Min talk with a "Hello?" "Whuddup dude?" and "Nothing, you?" Then Dawson tells me to turn on the news where Dawson claims helicopters were covering some explosions that happened in Wisconsin. To lazy to walk up stairs I ask him to explain what is going to me. He puts the strange murder stories and the chaos stories together and explains that this could be the rise of Zombies in an almost excited tone. This has already crossed my mind but in a skeptical voice I play along. Dawson oblivious of my doubting that Zombies could really exist continues to elaborate on the Wisconsin situation which leads to him asking me to implement my Zombie survival plan. The request kind of punches me in the chest unexpectedly and I could only respond with an, "Uhh...okay, I'll call you back." After I get off the phone with Dawson, I had to take a moment and think to myself how stupid can this guy really be? But deep down inside, something told me to take this more seriously. I then play the whole telling people that Zombies are attacking humans scenario out in my head. I would tell everyone, they would tell their parents, we would get laughed at, later we would find out that the violence has just been a wild riot and the explosions are due to extreme summer heat or something. But I still thought this could be a very serious threat, so I found a way to avoid the embarrassment and still get the information across. I would act as if it were a joke and tell all my friends (great defensive mechanism). I would start by asking them what they had planned for the day and all of them replied nothing, which is the exact response I was looking for. I told them that we were going shopping today and getting ready for the day that Zombies attack. I told them it was something to do. On the car ride to Cub Foods I planted the seed that maybe Zombies had indeed risen in Wisconsin. Of course I presented the information in a humorous tone, and now everyones imagination started waking up and now everyone was talking. They all of course talked about it in a humorous manner. "I am going to blow the head off of a Zombie." "Dude, if a Zombie is after us, I am going to trip you." This is when Dawson interrupts their party and informs them that this is a real threat. That he saw Zombies on CNN and across the news stations. Everyone begins to doubt Dawson's words but Dawson was determined to drill it into their heads that this is the real deal. Dawson eventually becomes furious with everyones stubbornness and begins to yell at them. He says after we buy some supplies we can go back to my house and search for some information on the internet. We get to my place and Dawson manages to pull up some very convincing information about what has been going on in Wisconsin this morning. Convincing enough to make me further believe in the situation. This whole time I just stood there and let Dawson do all the work. My approach would have been half-assed and having Dawson represent the both of us made my job a lot easier. Dawson even manages to pull up a recently uploaded pixelated helicopter video that zooms in on a bloody man running across the street at above normal speeds to tackle a terrified man into an alley. The camera pans out and the angle is cut off by a buildings corner but you can still see the legs of the scared man kicking for help. The video then cuts out. Dawson spins around in the rotating desk chair and looks into a sea of pale paces. Everyone now is 99.9% convinced. They ask him if he is joking and if that video was a joke and Dawson with a strait face tells them no. Our little group was all in and now on the same page. Now it was just a problem of getting everyones parents to jump on. Understanding now that everyone was on the same page, I brought up the fact that all of our parents will not believe us. We tried Dawson's and Jon's parents first. Went over to Jon's and found Connie and Jim sitting in the living room watching the news. Dawson and a few went downstairs so Dawson could call his parents. Jon puts on an act that nothing is wrong and playfully asks his parents what they are doing. They don't answer and continue to stare at the T.V. Jon moves in closer and cuts off their view and asks them agian. They respond this time but in an aggravated voice. By this time I caught on to what they were watching. They were watching the same footage that Dawson pulled up. The news was still sending the message that it was just a bunch of riots. Jon catches on and asks his parents what they thought and although they didn't just come out and say what we were thinking, you could hear in their voice that they thought it was something much deeper then riots. I walked downstairs to check up on Dawson and left Jon to talk to his parents. As I get downstairs I see that everyone is sitting around watching the news. Dawson is in the back still on the phone with his Mom who also has the same channel on. Jon runs downstairs and starts talking to the others. My mind is racing and the sounds around me are starting to blur out. I can only hear Jon's voice in the distance and Dawsons mummble next to me. I come back to my senses when Dawson yells my name. I don't know how much time has passed. Dawson and Jon let me know that their parents also feel that something is very wrong. I didn't really think we would get their approval and didn't really have the next step planned out, but I figured The next task was getting the approval of Mitch's and my parents and the collecting supplies. After everyone understood the situation we all met at Jon's house to plan out with type of supplies we would need. Everyone had their own list of priorities and we tried to come up with a systematic way of organizing everyones needs. The general consensus was that defense was the top priorty, followed by food and making our surroundings as comfortable as we can. Defense meant guns. Lots of them. I personally didn't have any connections but the other people had a few. The only person I knew that would have the hook up was Jon's uncle Larry and Jon's friend Tony. We had Jon contact Tony and Jim contact Larry. Everything worked out and the people we called were on board. We then set out to pick up more supplies. We had a basic defense but wanted to improve and we wanted to stock up on other essentials. We loaded all of our valuables and I made sure everyone was on the same page. We then double checked everything, prayed and set out. Our journy for survival was about to begin.

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.