人生のスパイス - Spice of Life

Too Long, yet Fun!

I hate not posting regularly, but I guess when life gets busy, one has to make sacrifices in certain areas.� So I apologize in advance (or in hindsight) for the lack of news.� Where to start? Where to start?� Life is going pretty good.� This is the last week of classes. In my Introduction to Literature class, we’ve been studying ‘Hamlet’ by William Shakespeare.� As well as reading the play in our text, we’ve been watching the Kenneth Branagh film version.� It’s actually quite well done.� And I would definitely suggest to anyone who likes Shakespearian plays, Hamlet in particular, to watch this version.
Speaking of which, I knew the actor who played Fortinbras looked familiar, he starred as the lead actor in Dark City.� However, we also did presentations and a paper on “The Interpreter of Maladies” by J. Lahiri, which is actually in my Now Reading catagory on the side.� I would definitely recommend the book to anyone who likes short stories that aren’t always happy while the characters show their raw, human sides. (I guess what I mean by that is that they aren’t caricatures and their flaws are not overblown as to overshadow the rest of the story)

In my Introduction to the Visual Arts class, we’ve been studying African, Muslim, Asian and art in the 19th and 20th centuries.� I also recieved an 103 on the last test, so I’m pretty pleased with how things are going so far in that class.� Not much to really say about the class other than the teacher can be somewhat boring at times, as well as she doesn’t let us have breaks, so sometimes we are in class for almost four hours straight and I tell you what, I get very antsy fast.

In more fun news, I actually broke down and bought a Nintendo DS Lite.� It’s pretty cool, although I don’t have any DS games for it, yet.� Although I did buy Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for it on Ebay, and I plan on getting Ouendan next paycheck.� If anyone has some good suggestions of games to get, I’m all ears.� (I’m also considering getting my DS flashed, although I’m not sure about that yet.� Might wait a few months just to mess around with it before I make the commitment.)

Speaking of fun, my friend and co-worker Thomas and I decided to head over to the gym and play a couple games of basketball.� I had a great time, other than the fact that the gym was swelteringly hot and being active and sweating just made it feel even hotter.� I think he and I are going to try and get into a weekly exercise regimen.� Finally getting myself motivated to work out and feel better about myself.

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What an Evening!

Holy crap. I’m still in utter awe and amazement of last night. It was just one of the best evenings out I have ever had in my entire life. I know that the following post, to some, may not seem like a big thing to you, but it was for me, so just bear with me. I am generally a very shy and na�ve person, so I don’t “do” concerts. However when one of my friends told me that the Nine Inch Nails and Bauhaus were coming to the Hampton Roads area, I decided that it was something that I couldn’t pass up. “What better way to work on becoming less shy than going to a huge concert?”, I thought to myself.

Well, little did I know what the hell I was getting myself into. A friend of mine and her husband were going to the concert as well, so we decided that it would just be more fun to go all together. So, after being a bit of a spaz, I went over to her house, met her husband for… the second time, I think. I also met Shermie, their forty year old van that had a lot of character as was just an experience all upon itself. On the way there, my friend and her husband were telling me all about Shermie and Bauhaus. Didn’t wear a seat belt! I’m such a rebel! Well, we had to turn back because my friend had to print off the tickets, since they were e-tickets and she had accidently forgotten to do so, so back we went. And then we were off to the concert and we still made it there with plenty of time to spare. I’m honestly not sure what songs Bauhaus and the Nine Inch Nails played. Especially since I am unfamiliar with Bauhaus. However, it was just amazing. I totally had a blast, although my ears were aching and I was utterly tired when we got back to Shermie. Definitely a great experience. (Early birthday present to myself.)

I’m sorry for not going into more detail, but for me, it was just so much all at once for me to handle, my senses were definitely overwhelmed.

So bored!

I swear to God, this had to be the most boring evening at work ever.� Since I sat down at the computer, I answered the phone once.� So what did I do while I was here?� I read a book, perused a few threads on http://www.somethingawful.com/, and decided to take a nifty snapshot of my site�as of June 5th.�I used this site. http://www.aharef.info/static/htmlgraph/

What do the colors mean?
blue: for links (the A tag)
red: for tables (TABLE, TR and TD tags)
green: for the DIV tag
violet: for images (the IMG tag)
yellow: for forms (FORM, INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT and OPTION tags)
orange: for linebreaks and blockquotes (BR, P, and BLOCKQUOTE tags)
black: the HTML tag, the root node
gray: all other tags

On a more fun note (well, more fun than sitting bored as hell at work), I’ve been grading more papers still.� I think I’m half way done, and I need to be done by Monday.� I spent eight hours working on these papers and it is quite annoying to see that they don’t staple both assignments together or they don’t follow the instructions even though they were crystal clear. You know, I honestly can’t wait for Sunday.� It’s just going to be the best day ever.

New Assignments.

Well, I’ve been working on a new batch of papers that I have to grade, almost, if not one hundred of them.� Insane, I tell you.� Thankfully, I only have to grade ten problems out of each assignment, and they are quite easy to notice of they have done the work or not.� However, some peoples’ assignments are atrocious with either not doing the work, or not following the instructions, so I have these three that I have barely touched that I need to ask�the professor about.

On a more fun note, I have been playing this great game on Roleplay Online�with my friends Matt and Mike.� It is based on the Whitewolf’s Exalted system.� It’s similar to to Dungeons and Dragons, but it has more of an eastern flair with some craziness in there too. My chararcter, Mordred, is a solider-for-hire.� So far, its been mostly talking and no “action”, but the game will pick up eventually and even though it isn’t very fast paced right now, I’m still enjoying it.

A man who lives by the way of his weapon.� Easy to ire at times.� Always in search of new assignments, either from his mentor or from others, if the price is right.� � �Stands out in the crowd due to the scar on his cheek.� Friends glimpse a compassionate side, while enemies only see his blade.

Also, I’ve been reading more of “Foundation” by Issac Asimov.� I have about ninty pages left, and honestly, I am totally engrossed in the book.� It is seriously one of my favorite science fiction novels of all time.� I’ve probably read it ten times at least.

I’ve also been working on my resume to post it on here.� And I’ve been using my friend Michael’s as a guide, although it severely bogs down Wordpress, so I’ll need to talk to him about what exactly I’m doing wrong.� It looks like that I’m not closing my < font > tags properly, but I’m not particularly sure.� So it is staying offline for a while until I fix it.

Yaya!

Yaya! Just in a great mood today.� Got the “Now-Reading” plugin/widget working last night on the website, plus I’m plodding through old playlists and posting them up.� I have another packet of papers I need to pick up to grade sometime today, probably will pick them up after I get off of work at five.� Then off to class to find out what I got on my latest art test.� More that I think about it, the more I’m pleased with where my life is.� That’s not to say that it couldn’t be better, that would just be deluding myself, but my life is finally at a place where I am happy.

By the way, I’m always up for some suggestions for new books to read.� Nothing Harlequin-esque please.�

Editor’s note: [via Time] Too bad the kid is using a Mac! (or a Mac-esque computer)

Test time!

Well, this morning I had my first midterm of the semester. It was for my ENG 112 class, Introduction to Literature. Pretty much, we had to define a bunch of literary terms as well as write out an answer for these short answer questions, interpreting short stories or poems. We also had to give a definition of poetry. My definition of poetry was something along these lines:

“Poetry is a collection of dense words used by the poet to convey a deeper meaning than just the words that were written. To understand it, one must look outside the box and delve deep into what subtile messages may be hidden.”

In other words, my definition was complete bullshit. Anyways, after I finished my test, I had to call the Department of Parking of the City of Norfolk, because I had a parking ticket a while back which I had paid for, or at least I thought I had. When I paid it on the first of June, my bank held the money until it passed authorization until the third. Well, when the third came and went, and the money went straight back into my bank account. Well then! I checked online at the Dept. of Parking’s webpage to make sure that it went through, and lo and behold, it did! Well, after that, I got a bit aprehensive and worried that something messed up. So I called them up, and asked them what the deal was. (After going through loops to actually talk to a representitive.) Turns out everything shows that I paid for the ticket. Guess I got a refund or something? Anyways, after that, I walked over to the Financial Aid office and straightened out all the loans and grants that I was going to accept for next year.
After that, I came home and decided to have some cereal while I watched #akaradio go by when someone said this.

Lenne said:
I want to be a game designer, a big one. Even greater than Shingero Miyamoto

Obviously this person had a problem with their ego being too big, and then there was this huge argument with led up to them cussing out Drehiel and Phaedra, which was totally hilarious, and got them kick banned. After that, I got a call from my friend Kari, and we went out to eat at another Thai restaurant that is just a hop, skip and a jump away from my appartment. Had a blast, as always.

On a further note, turns out that the Dept. of Parking did take the money out of my account, but it looks like after the fact that I called them. Maybe I shouldn’t have called them?

Copyright © 2006 人生のスパイス - Spice of Life. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact legal@www.darksol.net so we can take legal action immediately.
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Grading

I know I have this bad habit of not updating my blog as often as I like, but I’m going to try and get better at it for the sake for whomever does read it.� This week was tiring, but went very well.� I started helping out one of my professors, Dr. Hsiung, out with grading assignments for his EET 320 (Microprocessors and Microcontrollers) class, which I had taken last semester.� From start to finish, it took me about eighteen hours to grade all of the papers and then have them shipped off to the correct sites.� What is really funny is that when I signed up to help out, Dr. Hsiung said that I would probably average around seven hours each week.� I almost tripled that on the first week.� However, when I told him this, he didn’t seem suprised at all, considering that there are sixty-nine students in the class.� While I was grading, I felt like I was being really harsh and mean, however I feel that if you�can’t read the instructions properly, you deserve the bad grade, I guess.

Yesterday, after I turned in the papers because I was having a few problems with where to send certain papers to,�my friend Thomas and I decided to take the bus downtown to MacArthur Center.� I hadn’t been on a bus since my senior year in high school. Plus, I had no idea how reliable the bus system is.� Unfortunately, it really isn’t as reliable as they tout themselves to be.� The bus was around thirty-five minutes late, but it was kind of fun to not have to spend money on gas and then parking to go down to the mall and back.

Thomas said he needed to buy a pair of jeans and a new shirt because his fiancee Julia wanted to try jeans out since he had never owned a pair before.� While we were in Dillard’s, I actually found a great pair of black Levi’s that fit great.� I also got this yellow button down Oxford that went well with the jeans.� I actually shocked Deb when I came into work with that.� I also bought a copy of “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson.� I’ve been meaning to grab it for a while, but I have always forgotten the title or the author.� It looks to be a great book.

Week In Review

Actually, last week was a great week. I’m kind of pissed off at myself for not posting about what happened right after it happened… SO, a recap is in order. Last week, I started up my summer classes. I’m actually really enjoying my Introduction to Literature class. The professor actually makes the class rather relaxed so it doesn’t feel like like a normal lecture. Plus, he strives, although doesn’t always succeed, to get the class involved a lot, but it ends up usually being about three of us answering while everyone else is quiet.However, my Introduction to the Visual Arts class, is a bit more of a drag. It’s because it is for four hours straight. Plus, I have that literature class at eight in the morning, then I have work in the afternoon, and then at six in the evening, I have my art class. I’m pretty much drained by the time class starts. No naptime for me! Thankfully this class is only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Speaking of work, I’m not all particularly pleased with a few things. I’m not sure exactly who reads my blog, so I don’t know if I should honestly go into more detail or not. Suffice it to say, the TSCAs (technical support center assistants) are exactly that, assistants. We are hired to supplement the help desk people, not take over their jobs.

Ok! On to fun stuff. Last Wednesday, my friend and co-worker Thomas, his brother (and fellow co-worker as well) Eric and I went to the local gun rangeto just do some target shooting. I rented a Glock 15, while they rented a rifle. I had a really good time. I hadn’t done any target practice since I was in boot camp, back in 2002. According to Thomas, who is very good with the rifle, I didn’t do too bad, although I really think I didn’t do so hot.

This weekend, I decided to go home. I hadn’t been home since March so I was sorely in need of a respite from school, work and Norfolk. However, before I went home on Friday, Kari and I went to the Greek Festival here in Norfolk. They had very yummy food, although it was very heavy on the butter. I bought Mom some pastries for a late Mother’s Day gift since I knew I was going up there and that she loved Greek desserts. So after that, I packed up my stuff and headed home. I seriously have never been in so many traffic jams before on the interstate.� On Saturday, Mike and Matt came over for a game of Exalted and for BBQ.� I have to say, that the BBQ is becoming more and more of a summer tradition (although I think next year, I’m going to be asking for a few donations.)� We started playing Exalted around 8 PM and didn’t finish until around 1 in the morning.� I honestly can say that that was one of the better gaming sessions.� Coming back to Norfolk on Sunday was a nightmare.� Once again, traffic jams gallore and then I almost ran out of gas before getting to the tunnel.� I went to Wendy’s for dinner, I never get tired of their food.� Personally, I think the spicy chicken filet sandwich is much better than anything McDonalds serves.

DarkSol’s One Year Anniversary Extravaganza!

Well, it’s been a whole year (or at least close enough) that I’ve been on the air with AKARadio. I’ve had my ups and downs with the radio station. However, thanks to a lot of the DJs there, I’ve managed to stick through it all and have a great time. I’ve constantly progressed talent-wise on the air. (And thanks to Michael, I was finally after a whole fricking year of trying to figure out my microphone and talking over the music, I got it to work right)

Michael also recorded the show, so if you want to hear it, and me being a retard, just give me a holler, I’ll figure out a way to send it to you.

Also, thanks to Cinco and Phaedra for welcoming me into the channel when they first arrived, MKendora for definitely always figuring out a way to make me laugh and remind me that I’m definitely not sane by the least bit, and to everyone else who constantly tells me I turn out good shows, even though sometimes I don’t feel like I do. (and last, but certainly not least, everyone at #gamemusic who recommend album after album after album of good stuff to play and choose from for the shows)

P-MODEL - 2D OR NOT 2D (3:17)
BUCK-TICK - ICONOCLASM (3:53)
L’Arc~En~Ciel - Ready Steady Go (3:49)
YMCK - Does John Coltrane Dream of a Merry-go-round? (4:52)
Towa Tei vs Sweet Robots Against The Machine - Photography ? Serigraphy ? (2:21)
Orange Range - Shanghai Honey (2:55)
Caustic Window - AFX 114 (1:21)
Benassi Bros. - Feel Alive (4:48)
Ken Ishii vs FLR - Space Invaders 2003 (5:01)
Morning Musume - Koi no Dance Site (4:29)
Robin Beanland, Graeme Norgate - Oh Yeah (3:23)
Saitama Saishuu Heiki - SaGa Battle Medley [Romancing SaGa 1,2,3 - SaGa Frontier] (12:00)
Aphex Twin - Meltphace 6 (6:24)
Venetian Snares - Einstein-Rosen Bridge (3:36)
Venetian Snares - Marty’s Tardis (9:17)
YMCK - Tetrominon - From Russia with Blocks (3:23)
Ulfuls - Guts Da Ze!! (3:43)
virt - Hot in Herre (3:50)
Daft Punk - Musique (6:51)
Saitama Saishuu Heiki - Big Blue [F Zero] (4:06)
EL-KT vs The Perfect Futurist - Invade Yourself (3:39)
Kishidan - One Night Carnival (4:59)
BUCK-TICK - Aku no hana (4:16)
Hyakutaro Tsukumo - COSMO BABYLON (Arrangement version) (5:09)
Saitama Saishuu Heiki - Johnny C. Bad [Final Fantasy 6] (5:49)
Caustic Window - On The Romance Tip (5:04)

Good Times!

Today was a great day.� I had work this morning, which wasn’t too bad. We did have a big problem with the AO server though.� They were trying to do profile migrations and somewhere, somehow, the server hiccuped and almost everyone was having this or that problem with their profiles on their computers.� I’m not really too sure if that got resolved or not by the time I left work.� However, after I was officially off the clock, I found out that I was 10 minutes late for the UPS guy who was supposed to deliver my cable modem, so I have to wait til they decide to redeliver it around ten in the morning to two in the afternoon.

Although I dont mind waiting, personally, it just means that I have to eat lunch here.� Anyways, after I played X-Com for a little bit, my buddy Luke who also works in the same office as me, calls up and says that he needs to be let into one of the buildings that my key works for.� I decided to tag along because I had actually never been on a trouble call before because I do desk work.� After he came to the quick conclusion that indeed the gentleman’s phone was actually dead, I showed him my new place and we cleaned out the filter to my AC, works beautifully now.� After that, I decided I was going to head back over to the office with him since he needed help moving stuff from the old ResNet office to the TSC office.� Following that, I went on another call with him to some girl’s dorm room because her monitor was shot.� Again, yet another quick fix…� indeed her monitor was dead. Big surprise.� After I got home, turns out the wifi came back on! YAY!

After allllll that, I went over to Ben’s house for a party that he was having since he is deploying on Tuesday.� So I met some of his other friends, which were all very cool and I had a great time.� We dined on gazpatcho, hummus and crackers, some salsa-guacamole hybrid one of his friends brought over and some pizza.� I had a couple drinks which were really good, and we had great conversation too.� It was just one of the best evenings I had had in a long time.