NO! MY FORCES CRUSHED!!!!

so macs have this app called photobooth. Fun!

Pictures

I'm thinking about using Picasa's online gallery for my pictures... so teh link is something like this. I might not use it since it appears to automatically add any photos that you post to your blog...we will have to see.

Ma Dorm

My desk area...it's changed since this photo (first day moving in). I dont' have a camera but I'll try and get some better stuff up here.










Awesome decorations that John made for the dorm.
































Another shot of my place. Space is not super tight but we dont' have a lot of room either (some of the rooms around here are HUGE!)










That's Travis.

I can't figure out what's going on with the spacing here...

Midterms already?

So it's been a while since my last post. I have been super busy. My schedule is on Google calendars for those who have it, and for those who don't, I am busy, on average, from 11 to 5 each day. I have symphonic/marching band, (6 hrs/week), piano lessons (.5 hr/week), Jazz band (3 hrs/week), Sophomore music theory (4 hrs/week), jazz combo (2 hrs/week), classics lecture (2 hrs/week), and classics colloquium (2 hrs/week), where we write papers based on the previous lecture and get peer review. The music building is 10-12 minutes away (by foot), so when Alex brought my bike from home last week it was a true boon (there is no helmet law here, so it was kind of weird at first to see everyone riding around without a helmet...I still feel a little scared of it because I don't know the terrain very well).
I am now falling into a somewhat regular routine (it has been interrupted by hasty last-minute studying the past few days)--I never have class before 11, so I get up around 8:30, showered & eaten by 9:10, then I have about two hours to practice piano, because it's really hard to get around to it later in the day. I am averaging about 2 hours nowadays, sometimes more for last-minute band prep. I am hoping to get up to three hours eventually, but right now I'm still figuring everything out.

I am making a habit of going to the gym at 10 every night and riding the bike/running for about 30-45 minutes, because if I didn't then I really wouldn't be getting any exercise. I wanted to join karate or biking club, but I just don't have time right now. Every night I am busy busy with homework, and I generally have no time for VGs on school nights. My theory class is pretty hard--that takes up the most time. I also have to write an essay about every other week for my classics colloq, and I am constantly reading 3-4 chapters per week of whatever book we're on (currently The Iliad).

Generally there are lots of fun things going on at my dorm; all the people are really cool and they organize movie nights, ice cream trips, and other fun stuff. We are going to play Quidditch next weekend. Also we have started playing Dungeons and Dragons on Sunday. We are creating new character this weekend and completely switching to Fourth Edition--and for the record, I am a complete supporter. It makes everything a lot simpler and easier and MORE FUN; most of the complexity that was nerfed was unnecessary in the first place. Friday nights are now reserved for Diablo 2, because my RA has ISOs and can DL pretty much anything. Diablo 2 is one of those games of mediocre quality that has really fun drop-in multiplayer (like UA), and also the most incredible item system I have ever seen...it takes drops to a whole new level.

Now for some of my friends:

Travis: My roommate. He has (and he wanted me to say this), the biggest dick ever. He isn't one, but he uses his quite a lot. This man attracts women like flies to rotting meat. We have rules about visitors and sex though so I think it'll be okay (basically, don't cum on the keyboard). He's really a pretty awesome guy, and pretty funny. He has "never read more than three books in my life" and is baffled by common conventions of spelling, grammar, and semantics--so this year will be a lot of fun for me. Pretty close to the perfect roommate, actually.

John: My RA. Almost reminds me of Orion, if you replace science with philosophy and religious studies. He is pr0--he is a total gamer and the DM for DnD. We have lots of fun talking about and doing nerdy stuff with Owen who lives in the corner. When I came to college I was afraid that I would lose this type of friend when I left you guys...but I was wrong.

Owen: Lives in the corner (I live really close to the back of the door, so he is only 2 doors away, really). He is really cool and hails from Pullman, home of WSU. In the summer he works on a farm, and he is totally into VGs and DnD and everything that's nerdy so we have a lot of fun. He will also eat or steal or do anything to anyone so that's always a hoot.

Justine: The Community Planner for our community (Honors College), so she comes up with most of the programs, movie nights, and the like. She has the common sense of humor that we have and that I have with Owen and John so we have lots of fun together.

Stephen: lives right next door. He is another piano major and has an awesome computer/surround/sound/keyboard setup (2 keyboards, thousands of effects, recording capabilities, you name it). He is also really into VGs and stuff so between that and piano we have a lot of fun. He is a procrastinator, though--and I am not (mostly).

That's about enough for now. I hope no one else reads this because I like them all but I have had enough of posting detailed descriptions of people that I live with.
Well, I think that that's a pretty good summary of what has been going on lately.
I hope everyone is doing okay--I'm going to talk to Jack pretty soon here so I'm excited about that. Don't know if I'll ever have time for SC though.

I'll try and get some pics up here soon too.

Interlude: WTF

All right, I have two items to show you, when, taken together, produce a very big wtf. Observe this screenshot. On the left is Mr. Stearns' facebook photo. On the right is a picture of a costume I got while searching "funny costumes" one day. Coincidence? I think not.

College

All right. I shall now make a detailed, informative, and fun post about Central Washington University and my experience there.
I have been here for a week tomorrow.

Friday the 19th: Stayed up late packing the car. Up at like 8, out of the house around 10. We stopped by Shorewood during STAR so that Charlie could get some pictures of Meredith and me and my mom and other such combinations. After that we were on the road hardcore. I fell asleep like half of the time. Finally we got there and had a good lunch at the local Dairy Queen. After we got our car moved into the right spot, I was treated to the experience of moving all my stuff in while my mom and dad helped...argh. At least they made my bed. I brought my keyboard and we finally positioned it and the furniture just right. After we were all set up, we got to meet my roommate Travis. He is really cool and I will talk about him later. After that, we headed over to the dining hall for a barbeque--which turned out to be nothing special. There was a huge session thing about being at CWU...it was kind of like a rally but it had a really great speaker, this dating doctor guy who had lots of good stuff to say. We stayed up late talking with people in our hall and met lots of people. We went to bed really late--of course. Aaaaand I just said that twice. Yay for me.

Saturday: There were soccer, football, and volleyball games, in that order. I skipped soccer and went to a "trailer party" (read: free hot dogs) before the football game and then headed over to it. I stayed for one quarter because that was all I could take. I hate football. After that more chilling, and then later there was a festival thingy in the SURC, kind of like our SAC here. For this one, Travis got to be in the Wellington Wildcat suit, so I high fived him a lot and stuff. We played human foosball (big inflatable thing where you are tied on a fixed position, like soccer plus BDSM) and I also played laser tag with my friend Tessa, who is like a best friend to me. I will talk about my friends later in another post maybe. Anyway, that was cool and after: more chilling with cool people in my dorm! Yay!

Sunday: Today there was a sex talk by some dude. He was really funny and made jokes about coming. And he did some things that were slightly creepy. His humor was Mr. Guthrie-esque but with more tact. In fact now that I think about it his mannerisms and speech patterns were very much like Mr. Guthrie. After that we had some rotational sessions in different buildings on many different topics (like choose 3 from this list, etc). Those were mostly boring but I actually learned from some of them. That was it for the day; we reveled in the freedom to eat with our friends and hang out all the time.

Monday: MORE ROTATIONAL SESSIONS!!!1! THIS TIME REALLY LONG AND BORING ONES!1!!! This mght have been the day with the sex talk; in fact, it almost certainly was...so there was something less noteworthy on the other morning. Meh. After that we had a time slot for lunch and then finally we were done. I skipped marching band rehearsal today because I had just switched into choir, which I later learned did not count for replacing band, so the next day I changed back and went to practice on Tuesday. More chilling and at like 8 we went for $1 scoops of ice cream at a place not far from campus (we being the cool people of my honors dorm).

Tuesday: The first and only day of orientation not filled to the brim with activities. The upperclassmen had come on Monday so we were starting to assimilate into regular college life. I just saw my friends a lot and it was really cool. Also there was marching band practice which was not very cool, in fact not cool AT ALL!!
Later that night the local Fred Meyer hosted a "back to school night" where you could get lots of things at reduced prices, along with free food and raffles and prizes. I didn't go; everyone who did said it was a madhouse. I just stayed up late and mentally prepped myself for the first day of school.

Wednesday: TEH FIRST DAY!1@1! Today I had jazz band auditions at 12, which was too bad since I also had second-year theory at 12. I ended up skipping theory (after talking to my Russian teacher) and I went to the tryouts. I did alright, so that was good. After those I had my Intro to Music class, which is not terrible. I have to attend a set number of concerts and performances and write about them...but so far the lectures have been overly simplistic, designed for someone who has been playing for perhaps a year or two. After that there was marching band, which started to get a little better. Love not having to practice [very much XD]. After marching band we had our honors college colloquium class. Basically, for every class someone signs up to present an essay on what we read and talked about last time in our [technically separate but really just an extension of the colloquium] Honors College lecture class (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Signing up definitely didn't take the allotted two hours so we finished and then went for DINAR!!!!!

Thursday: Jazz band auditions at 12 was my first class today. I did alright mostly but then pwned up some noobs on a Basie solo that I had to play. That was cool. More MUS 104 (that's my intro to music), which was boring. I'll make a post about individual classes later but that class has a lot of people who talk way too much and act like we're still in high school...so dumb [Steven-esque shaking of the head]. Marching band again (balls) and then our first DHC (that's honors college) lecture class. The professor is a really funny old guy, but not as funny as the music department chair, whom I will talk about later (remind me). He thinks that Homer is not one person and he seems like a very cool and interesting guy anyway.

Friday: Clarinet audition at 10:48. I had to audition for placement in Symphonic Band, which I was forced to take in the first place because of how they screw piano majors. So I really did not want to practice for it, but I did get in a few (or maybe just one) hour[s] over the first couple of days. Apparently, it went pretty well; they seemed pleased overall with my performance, which I would have described as subpar. Then again, they've never heard my Toccata Marziale or Armenian Dances, so they wouldn't know. After that, I went to my 12:00 theory for the first time ever because I had talked with Mr. Bruya (the jazz guy) and told him that I really didn't want to miss any more class; on that note, I ended up making Jazz Band II (out of three) so I guess I did pretty well for myself. Theory was in a keyboard lab, where every station has a keyboard and a computer. We played scales so it was pretty chill except I was a little nervous when I had to play B phrygian (because who plays B phyrgian), even though scale modes are easy because of my piano skillz. After that, more marching band, and then there was a sweet jam session of jass peoples. I got to play and watch and it was really fun. I also signed up for the Central Jazz Organization and got a T-shirt of the NBA logo with a trumpeter that says CWU where it usually says NBA.

Now I need to go to breakfast so I will be back with more detailed info about my classes, friends, etc. later. I will also post my schedule so you can all see the chronological rapage that I have to endure.

All right, okay, you win

All right, here I am making a new post, finally. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW!!>!?!

Note: Teh New York post has been finished, so you may read it in its entirety. It is actually an interesting account of our pwnage trip to New York for the Essentially Ellington competition, so yeah.

Another note: For PAX 2008 information, please see David's blog post. Scroll to September 5.
When we were on the bus back from the last day of PAX (Sunday), two Korean guys (later revealed by Ben to be Japanese guys) got really excited when they saw my Link costume. When we got off, they asked to take a picture with me and of course I let them. I got 41 pictures taken throughout the whole show--I only wore my costume on the second and third day so who knows how many I missed out on during the first day--but no matter. The Japanese guys were super excited, smiling and exclaiming things like "most famous Nintendo CHARACTER!!!!" the whole time. It really made their day--and what's better, it wasn't explained to them why I was wearing the costume. So they must have had really great stories to tell their friends.

So, my summer has sucked a lot more than other summers before it. Since June 26 I have been employed at SEARS Aurora 15711. It is a horrifically boring job with minimum wage pay (don't get me started on the pay). But, it is (wow I almost said 'teaching me skills' there--I supposed somewhat, but not enough to justify the time commitment) giving me firsthand knowledge of retail corporations that I so hate. They mistreat their workers and take away all their time, have unreasonable expectations, pay minimum wage even to middle-aged workers who have worked there for a long time, and commit countless environmental atrocities (you know those display units they have, marked NOT FOR SALE? Those are thrown away at the end of the quarter and new ones are put up to be thrown away next quarter). Basically, this job reaffirms what I have always believed about corporations being evil. But!!! I have a job. And even though the pay is terrible and the work less stimulating than reading American Girl novels, I have learned some things and earned some money, even if came at a high cost of time vs money.

Mostly that is what I have been doing all summer. Also I have been practicing the piano, sometimes for several hours a day, and playing video games, also sometimes for several times a day. I have gotten through four or five novels and I have also made a lot of money doing physical labor (cutting lawns, building decks, odd jobs) at very efficient pay rates. I have made time to see my friends before they left for college, and some others that I would not see normally (like Nicole Kim, which is a shame because she is a BADASSS GANGSTA@). Tracy left on the 22nd of August and Orion left two days later on the 24th. The days in between Orion's return from China (August 14th) and his departure for New York (24th) were action-packed. We hung out, got late-night Taco Bell, beat Ultimate Alliance, watched 11 straight hours of Pokemon, played poker, and generally banged around (by which I mean meandered, not masturbated). It was great and it's a shame that it had to end. But EVERYTHING MUST CEASE-- am I right?

Now I await the beginning of college life at Central Washington university. I enrolled as a music major so I will play in the symphonic ensemble, marching band (both clarinet), jazz band and jazz combo, hopefully, (piano), and take piano lessons. I will have a lot of free time, hopefully not all of which is consumed be practicing, that I may have lots of time to play pingpong, ride bikes, learn French and Japanese, and learn martial arts. My roommate is an education major with a PS2 who is very laid back so that will be fun. I look forward to meeting other musicians and joining (or starting) the campus videogame cover band.

I have to pack up my whole room because Meredith will move into it after I am gone. This involved cleaning up and organizing 14 years' worth of junk so it is no small task. I boxed up the important things first (gameboy & N64, Magic & Pokemon & YuGiOh cards, GCN to come) but there is still a whole lot left to do. It's kind of neat to experience all the nostalgia associated with all of my things but it makes me sad that I have to destroy me Sanctuary of a decade and a half. But EVERYTHING MUST CEASE--am I right?

Something that probably will not cease is Starcraft for me--I won't be bringing my 'Cube to college, at least not initially, and I have recently gotten back into watching pro matches...so I will try to play a little (or a lot, I guess) more than I have been recently or at all.

I hope this has been enough for you. It has certainly been enough for me, at least until something more interesting happens (move to college, hot fling, death in the family, that sort of thing).