This semester's been kicking my ass!

Finally!  I made the initiative, and took the night to ventilate how out-there this semester has been!

Let's talk about the work load.  I feel like I'm busier than ever before.  My four core classes are more hardcore than any I've taken before, and that's not including my online courses past.  Across the semester, I have to do five papers for world civ, map quizes, human biology lab quizes each week, and a book report for History of East Asia!  That's alot!  And it sucks.

What's interesting is that two out of the three mentioned are 101 level classes.  But they feel like they may as well be 300, like East Asia is.  The quizes themselves are harder too, no longer the simple multiple choice variety.  And writing five papers in a row (or so) has proven more difficult than I thought.  The book is really subtle, and in a show of ineptitude befitting a college slacker, puts me to sleep (or is that my fault?) 

History of East Asia notwithstanding, the professor of that class is not the best i've  ever had.  She comes from south China, so her English dialect is not the best.  I have a hard time following lectures, because I can't tell what she's saying.  This is also the semester of professors (some) who go on tangets before getting to the point, like the above professor.  And not in a way to engage us, either.

Is there some sort of conspiracy going on, where the department heads decided that these classes needed to give out more work, to step up their gasme?

And furthermore, why don't more lecutre classes engage the students in discussion?  My world civ professor does a good job at this, as does the lady behind Human Bio's lecture portion.  This is the preferred method, with its traces of Stoicism keeping you thinking and learning better.  Instead of listening and getting tripped up in your own notes.

And I have to get up each week day at 7.  At least I've done a really good job at doing so.

Post Note on the news

I don't blog enough these days, what with being busier than ever with school.  But I came in tonight to offer perspective on some big news that's happened.

Remember what happened this morning?  Those animals that what escaped from an Ohio preserve?  No, not that!  That happened yesterday.  But it's still out there on my radar.  We're talkiing about escaped lions and bears and so forth!  The law enforcement's handling of the situation is rather poor, killing the animals instead of tranquilizing them.  Last I heard, there were 20 down out of 43.  PETA will surely have a field day with getting justice for the fallen. 
In my view, there was no reason to kill them point blank.  Just because they're exotic doesn't mean it's certain they'll seek to kill civilians.  Too, it's only in a small region of eastern Ohio.  It's not like they're gonna get far, like across the border north.

The real news today was the pronouncement of Mummar Gadhafi's death.  I wasn't surprised by this, unlike back in May and the killing of Osama.  I had known since the invasion of rebels in Tripoli back in August that his time was running out.  So it was good closure to recieve the news today.  Good riddance to bad lizards.

As a post note, can you imagine if he had merely been captured, as was initially reported?  It'd be 2003 all over again, when Saddam was found in a spider hole.  And put on trial that lasted across three years...  And then a hanging in a cold, disgusting underground room.  At least Gadhafi won't be dragging out any more injustice in Lybia.  It's been a good year to wipe out evil doers!

I can't believe it!

Yea, I did skate out of blogging for the last week.  But hey, it was a busy one, and a sad one.

First, I'll just get this out there.  It's kinda disturbing.  I experienced a break-up heartbreak a few days ago.  From the very woman I fell in love with at Ottowa last year.  Balls.

I kinda saw the signs of trouble while I was there, however.  It went so well that first night, where I bought her dinner and we went to a screener.  But things slowly began to unravel at that night's party, where her school friends were.  I had a Midnight in Paris moment where I was being drowned out by the people way more important to her, and felt astray in the sea of partygoers way cooler than me.  Way for me to be esoteric! 

I was under the false impression that I'd be spending the whole weekend with her.  So, I made the classic mistake of being "clingy".  Wanting to attach myself to her heel, becuase I see couples doing this all the freaking time.  Why am I not entitled to it?

It's hard to keep a girl for me, isn't it?  This report lasted about a year.  That's pathetic, in continuation with my bad track record.

But, that's not all there is to college, is it?  Being social and having friends matters more.  When you are a confidant, others will believe in you.  It was so much easier when I first came to Edinboro, however.  You can't easily recreate that confidence when so many people are howling for your blood.

In other big news, I've been crammed with school work, yah.  Think about this: I have four tests or quizes in the next two weeks.  That's insane, and not in a funny way.  And I have to get on the ball about both a book report and a write-up for World Civ.  In fact, I have to do five of these write-ups across the semester.  As for storyboarding class, I was in an unfortunate position to cram in a reset work flow on Tuesday.

I have only one studio this semester, but I feel like I'm less busy, and yet more busy than ever.  Thanks, high level classes.  I have little free time now.  And most of it is used to sleep. 

Even work is busied up.  At least this weekend.  From Friday to Sunday, I have no less than four different shifts to cover.  Two of them, I'm subbing for friends, as a fqvor.  I'm too nice, but these extra hours will come in handy.

The current stream of tests will end on the 13'th, right before my birthday.  The last thing I want to do is get older.  So, I don't give a bloody f*ck about it.  I'll say what I've said every year since turning 20: I'd rather be dead than get older.  That's one hell of a paradox.

On that note, Happy October!

What I did for my summer vacation

In honor of the end of summer season, and today's start of the fall season, I'm projecting thoughts on my summer in long-overdue fashion.

Camp Carefree counsoling:

Camp Carefree horse camp:

The move:  After living in the same house for 16 years, a long-anticipated move to a new house finally began.  It's a nice house, too.  Sadly, it's the biggest house I've ever lived in: at three stories, including a basement.  I imagine the move went pretty good.  It gave me the chance to give up so much old crap, and start over in house care. 
Location wise, it's a few miles away from the old house, once again off of a busy road.  It also came with a kitchen we ended up remodeling anyway.  It took til the last week I was at home to get wi-fi.  Way to be on the ball.  This also brought forth the first time I've ever lived in a home with DVR and cool cable.  That's pretty sad.
My mother caused me great grief with badgering and busy work.  Lots of donations to the Salvation Army.  That wasn't bad in itself, but for many chores, this required lots of trips to various places in town.  Lots of miles, and lots of gas spent.  Being bossed around for these didn't help.  I just had to find ways to get away from it all.  That's what horse camp and Panera work were for.

lacklustre work hours:

And those are really the big guns.  Sadly, I didn't get to travel nowheres as last year's trip to Medford.  Money was low, and stressors were high.  My people skills improved marginally through interpersonal care for others.  This tells me that, next summer, I'll get a real job.

Here's something: Ottowa Animation Festival

Yep, I'm attending for the third year in a row.  It's been great so far.  Will post other things soon.

5 Years of the historic first job: Walt Disney World Resort!!

It's a day to rember somber times.  But for me, it's also become a day to remember a momentous time in my life, post-lol high school.  But yeah, I began my Career Start journey this day back iiiiin 2006.

Ready to be bored by an old man's stories?  You are! 

Me and my parent, prepped for a move in my brand new Ford Focus, by compliments of my father...  It took a 12 hour drive the day before we got to Orlando, FL.  I was super psyched!  Why not, for crying out loud?  This marked the first time I got to be independent, on my own. 

And you know why I chose to do this job, right?  I 'dood' it to stall going to Piedmont CC for a semester.  Brilliant!


I was set up at the ol' Visty Way that morning the 11'th.  This living situation is unique in that it was the only time I had actual roomates (including one in my bedroom).  Five in all, for the price of one computer between us!

It also helped that I was more optimistic about my future.  That people seemed so much more friendly didn't hurt, yes?  Of course, this segueways into talk about my actual roomates. 

Remembering 9/11

First up on my road to recovery, memories about ten years ago. 

Where was I the day that America was attacked? 

I was in 8'th grade science class, thank you.  Kiser Middle School, I remeber it was...  The day was looking to be like any other day.  Then, around (near) 9-ish(?), a secretary (maybe) was running down the hallway, and made it to our room.  She told us that something had happened, and we were prompted to turn to the news.  What we saw was utterly confusing and shocking: the north tower of the WTC was in smoke.

That's when the panic began for us students, as I recall.  We still went through the rest of class, I think.  If my memory's fuzzy, it sure isn't for the next class.  We went into English and saw (I think) the south tower getting hit.  And then we were admonished, and the tele was turned off by the ol' stick teacher (no professors in middle school!)

At lunch, shit hit the fan.  All of us were scared that we were next!  That was founded on Greensboro's oil reserves just out of town.  Unlike my sister and her high school manations at the time, we at Kiser did not get to go home early.  So all we could do was continue class with our minds elsewhere.

To be fair though, we did see a good chunk of news thereafter.  And I think that included the towers falling, and imagry of the Pentagon aflame.  It was horrible.  None of us had ever seen anything like this, nor could comprehend how it could happen to us (the country).

And we didn't find out fully that it was the act of terrorists until afternoon.  After school, I remember going to my cousin's house, with much of the nearby family there.  And it was all about following further developments of the 9/11 fiasco.

I will say, we did have a relative living in New York at the time.  Our cousin Will Blythe, to be exact.  It was to our relief that he was okay.  But I fully knew that so many had lost their lives that day.  It was unthinkable.

The other thing I remember that day was watching George W.'s adress to the nation that evening.  It was a stirring speech, I'll say.  But little did we know what was to come.

So, what came of 9/11?  Our nation found a renewed sense of patriotism, most immediently.  But there are obvious lasting effects as well.  The media was purged of WTC references and terrorism-esque content was backed off from.  Airports would be tightened like never before, made more restrictive for passengers and their relations that could no longer enter the gate.

I also remember 9/11 as marking the beginning of the slide of the economy.  Remember the record decline week just after the attacks, and the market opened back up for trade (whew)?  Well, in years since, gas prices have risen to record average highs, and the confidence of Wall Street was never the same after the financially-driven WTC fell.  I don't think it was a coincidence.

Politically, that's where the real deal began for the US.  We had the anthrax scares, and the horribly racist Patriot Act.  We saw the rise and controversy of Guantanamo Bay (see: 2004's photo contro).  America created a War on Terror, first as a drive to take out Saddam Hussein (apparantly, we pinned this on him), and Osama bin Laden (who years later took responsibility for the attacks).  And, most importantly, there was the start of the most controversial war since Vietnam back in the 70s.

And hey, my father was one of thousands who went to Iraq (and Baghdad, too).  Luckily, he was fine, going strictly for lawyering stuff (sic).  The controversy lies with how the war felt so pointless at times.  And how many lives were spent because of it.  We're searching for what now?  Weapons of mass destruction?  The real destruction was the mass of terrorists who suicide bomed themselves and blew innocents to kingdom come. 

I don't know what God they're praying to for strength.  But it sure ain't the right one.

In the last few years, we've been seeing retribution for what came of us.  Saddam was brought to justice (not that 9/11-related, but it was all good).  We got a better, Democratic President.  And he's been withdrawing troops from Iraq to the point of few if none at all.  We helped Iraq create a Democratic government (small steps at a time, right?)  And, just this past May, we snuffed out the most hunted man of the last 10 years: Osama himself.  And the news came to us in a surprise announcement I didn't believe at first.

Bottom line is, the world was changed forever by the attacks of Sept. 11'th, 2001.  My heart will always go out to those affected by the terrible day, and its lingering effects.