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Midnight showing of Spider-Man 3 on Thursday night? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

If so, tickets need to be purchased soon - like, tomorrow!

Let me know if you need a ticket (and will pay me back!) and I'll make a run tomorrow evening.




EDIT: I've only heard from ONE person so far, and I KNOW that can't be right. Are your internets broken? It's Spider-Man!

EDIT #2: Wow. Who knew that people weren't up for midnight showings of awesome movies anymore? Regardless! Those of us going will have a blast! The rest of you will be jealous!

Labels: movies

14 comments

Anyone from the Career Class who happened to miss Steven's party last night might want to click here.

My only regret is that I don't have video of Titus getting knocked tail over teakettle by a Dave-thrown football.

Good times.

Labels: career class, video

4 comments

Waking up around this time seems to have become a regular deal. Normally I just do the same sorts of things everyone else does when they wake up in the middle of the night (take care of business, check their email, etc.), but this time I thought I'd document it by blogging it.

That's all. Back to bed for another couple of hours for me.

Labels: sleeping

7 comments

I'm not what you'd call a "clothes horse." I dress for comfort. I feel best in jeans and T-shirts. I realize this does not make a person "hot" or "desirable," but I'm okay with that. I prefer the comfort, thank you very much.

Circumstances conspired against me, however, and I needed to get a suit. I have a couple of suits (proof), but they no longer fit me because they have shrunk. *cough* So tonight, with the help of my friend Lee, I went suit shopping.

For those unaware, I offer this bit of knowledge: suits are expensive. I had no idea. Lee tried to prepare me for it, but I was sure he was talking "really expensive" suits. Nope. He was talking about your basic good quality suit.

Men's Wearhouse happened to have this 2-for-1 deal, so really, I shouldn't complain. It was strange for me, though, to walk out of there with nothing to show for my payment except a receipt. They're tailoring the suits for me, so I need to go back and get them.

So now I need your help picking out a tie. I spent enough on the suits that I didn't feel I could spend any extra on a tie right now. Maybe later. We'll see how this goes. So here is a picture of the best of my bad lot of ties:



Hopefully you can see the colors well enough. I don't have a picture of the suits, but for now imagine a charcoal gray as you're making your choice.


I thank you in advance for your help, as this sort of thing is way beyond my sphere of comfort.

Thanks for your help, Lee.

-----

EDIT: Someone hated all my tie choices so much that they PayPaled me some money and said "Get yourself a new tie." That, my friends, tells you volumes about my taste in clothes - it engenders such strong feelings in others that they have to help fix it.

(Thanks, anonymous donator. I'll try not to let you down!)

Labels: help, poll

14 comments

I realize I'm about 15 years late in making the following statement, but... I like dc Talk.

Expected responses to that statement include "Who?", "Oh my word," and eye rolls a-plenty. There will also be a few horrified looks and at least one or two bemused shakings of the head.

See, dc Talk was a Christian rap group. Near as I can tell, they had their heyday in the 90s, a time when I would have fallen into either the "horrified" or "bemused" reactions myself, depending on who was telling me about them. The words "Christian" and "rap" don't belong together, right? I'm not going to get into a whole debate on that topic, as there's no way to answer it satisfactorily for people on either side of the debate (so please don't focus on this aspect of it in the comments!). Those who've been reading for a long time, though, will know I have an affinity for certain types of rap, and there have been a few people here and there who've seen me "perform" such things as "White & Nerdy," "All About the Pentiums," "Vice," and "Nightmare on My Street." I don't get into "gangsta" even a little, and have no interest in cuss- and deragatory word-filled music.

But I'm getting off-topic. My point is that I've picked up a couple of dc Talk albums recently and have been enjoying them. In fact, the ringtone for my "Church people" caller group is the opening bars to "Jesus Freak," which, incidentally, makes me giggle.

This weekend I found a used copy of "Free At Last," their third album. And while titles like "word 2 the Father" and "Jesus is just alright" activate my Skeptic's Eyebrow, I still find some good stuff here and there. For instance:

Pullin out my big black book
Cause when I need a word defined thats where I look
So I move to the L's quick, fast, in a hurry
Threw on my specs, thought my vision was blurry
I looked again but to my dismay
It was black and white with no room for grey
Ya see, a big V stood beyond my word
And yo thats when it hit me, that luv is a verb

Say what you want about "Christian hip-hop," but this is an important for anyone to remember, church-goer or not: "love" isn't just a verb, it's an action verb. If I love you (as a friend, family member, or whatever else), I'll show you that I love you, I won't just say it. That's not just me doing things for you, that's me reacting correctly to you, me wanting the best things for you across the board, and me making things less about "me" and more about you.

I've been back at church for a few months now after being "away" for a few years, and I'm finding that my perspective's changed. I have the privilege of attending a church that stresses "real world Christianity," and I'm learning that it's what I do, not what I don't do that makes the difference. And the thing that I need to do the most is love others.

Jesus said it this way: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." (John 13:34, NIV)

dc Talk says it this way:

Back in the day there was a Man
Who stepped out of heaven and He walked the land
He delivered to the people an eternal choice
With a heart full of luv and the truth in His voice
Gave up His life so that we may live
How much more luv could the Son of God give?
Here is the example that we oughtta be matchin
Cause luv is a word that requires some action

There's pretty much only one response I can have to that:

Word.

Labels: love, music

10 comments

At long last I've found an egg salad sandwich in town. This has been an ongoing search for several years now, so finally finding it is the realization of a dream. For a while, Aunt Orva's Deli fit the bill, but they went out of business rather suddenly. Truth be told, Aunt Orva's egg salad was good, but it still wasn't perfect. Today's find, though, was exactly how I like my egg salad - no extra junk (onions, celery, relish, etc.), and smooth and creamy. The winner: Shellie's Cafe. I'm sure I'll be having many an egg salad sandwich there. Kat was even impressed, and she'll be veering from her normal Reuben to get an egg salad next time, too.

The game Gyruss was released on Xbox Live Arcade this week, and after playing the demo for about two minutes, I bought and downloaded the full version. I'm not so good at shooters, but Gyruss is a game I used to play in the gas station a block from church when I was a kid. Though the games changed every so often, this is one I remember, along with Tutankham. I doubt they'll ever release Tutankham on XBLA, but Gyruss is bringing back some pleasant memories.

I haven't been sleeping well lately. I've had some things weighing heavily on my mind and I think that's had an effect on me. A positive side effect is that I've gotten up earlier most days, been on time to work, and even treadmilled a bit here and there, so that's good. The bad thing is that I haven't felt rested all week, and I've had headaches. It all balances out, right?

I've been watching this new sitcom that's all about pregnancy and babies and stuff. I'm not sure why. It's humorous, but not hilarious. I sometimes think it might be nice to have a kid, though those thoughts are usually immediately followed by the "I'd make a lousy parent" thoughts, so, again: balance.

Oh, I sorta mentioned it up a paragraph or so ago, but I've started treadmilling a bit. I'm a long way off from being regular with it or anything, but it's a start.

I went to The Cheesecake Factory for the first time last week. It was for Jeannie's birthday and the food was good. Oddly enough, I didn't actually have any cheesecake while there. Seems wrong some how. Of course, it also seems wrong that the restaurant didn't actually look like any sort of factory. I wanted to see robots putting cheesecakes together.

I went to a fancy art showing with Kat on Thursday. It was at Westwood, which is where the president of Purdue lives. There were a few neat things about this particular art show. For one, Kat had a piece in it, and it was for sale... and it sold! To the Jischke's daughter, even! For another, the president and his wife were there, and we ended up talking to Patty for quite some time. She's a delightful person. For another thing, there were random fancy-dressed people wandering around handing out fancy finger foods. It was just like the movies, only I wasn't wearing a tux. Also, I'm no good at hobnobbing. There are some pictures from the event on my Flickr page.

The last day of school is May 30. It's funny to see how antsy the kids get, but the teachers also change around this time, too. I don't hear as many reports of problems around this time, and I don't think it's because there are fewer problems. I'm pretty sure it's because teachers don't want to bother with it and just want to get through the end of the year.

My living room's all crazy right now. I moved the futon downstairs to make room for the treadmill in my computer room, so now the couch and the futon are facing each other. It's not ideal, but I want to get rid of the futon, so this is only temporary until it's gone.

I've been thinking about buying a handheld vacuum cleaner - do people still call them "Dustbusters"? - and also maybe a house. I wish I could get them both at Target.

The cats are fine and they both say hi. Hope you're doing well.

Labels: apropos of nothing

4 comments

I love writing that makes its point by stressing the opposite. It can be tricky to walk that line, because some people won't catch it and end up being hurt or offended, but I think the payoff is generally good.

I was going through the Rhymes With Orange archives and found "The Rhymes With Orange Checklist to Feeling Pathetic," and thought I'd share it with you. It's in comic form originally, of course, but I present it to you here in bullet points:

• Choose someone and compare yourself unfavorably to them.
• Examine your face closely in the mirror. Note all flaws.
• Relive embarrassing/awful moments that occured years ago.
• Make a mental note of all the people you regularly disappoint.
• Disregard all compliments, especially from people who (supposedly) love you.
• Resign yourself to believing that from now on, this is how you will always feel.

I don't know about you, but I can check many of those off on many days.

I should probably knock that off.

Labels: life

3 comments

A while back (1 year, 6 months, and 7 days ago) I wrote an entry entitled "Advice From Chocolate." It was a scientific study of the sayings on the insides of the wrappers to Dove Dark Chocolate Promises. I went through a bag of the chocolates and kept careful track of what each saying was, what order I pulled each saying out, and how many of each saying there were. The short version for those with no desire to wade through the rather lengthy previous entry is that there were 41 chocolates in the bag and 19 different sayings represented.

Earlier this week I was in a mood for chocolate (hey, guys have comfort foods, too!), so I bought a bag. While I love dark chocolate, I've been on a milk chocolate kick lately, so I bought a bag of Dove Milk Chocolate Promises this time around. The first saying was very familiar, and my low-level OCD kicked in again. I didn't keep track of the order this time, just the frequency of the sayings. I've listed them below with my thoughts, and have starred the ones that appeared in the previously tested bag of chocolates. The number in parenthesis is how many times the saying showed up in this bag.

1. Be fearless (2) - Forget bungie jumping - eat a bag of chocolate and don't worry about your arteries!
2. Sing along with the elevator music (3) - Okay, but only if it's "My Heart Will Go On," because I don't know the words to "The Girl from Ipanema." Wait - did I just reveal I know the words to "My Heart Will Go On"? Carp. Disregard that.
3. *Remember your first everything (2) - I will never forget the first time I nearly bit my tongue off nor the first time I put a rusty nail through the side of my foot. This is my promise to you, Dove Chocolate!
4. Get your feet massaged (5) - Ewww. No. Nor will I have them bitten. Nor encased in ice. Just - no. Stay away from my feet.
5. *Go to your special place (3) - I suppose I could go to another Cowboys game this year...
6. Listen to your heartbeat and dance (3) - But... dancing would increase my heart rate, which would then increase my dancing rate, which... Dude! I just ate a bag of chocolate! Are you trying to kill me??
7. Buy yourself flowers (1) - Alternatively, poke yourself in the eye with a sharp stick. Or provoke a skunk. Or get a cat that bites you constantly. These are all about equal.
8. *Make your eyes twinkle (5) - If the Borg can do it, so can you.
9. *Send a love letter this week (1) - "Dear Winona, You've stolen my heart..."
10. *Smile. People will wonder what you've been up to. (2) - OH MY WORD CAN WE RETIRE THIS PHRASE FROM THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ALREADY? ARGH!
11. Smile before bed. You'll sleep better. (1) - It will also make the bedbugs wonder what you've been up to.
12. Sometimes one smile means more than a dozen roses (1) - And sometimes one restraining order means more than a dozen cans of pepper spray.
13. When two hearts race, both win (2) - Unless they're racing to the finish. Then both lose.

Those keeping track will notice there were fewer sayings this time around (13 vs. 19), and fewer chocolates in this bag: 34 now vs. 41 a year and a half ago. Further, those same people will notice the above list only totals 31. This is because I gave three chocolates away and did not want to explain why I wished to have the wrappers back. Regardless, this trend of 7 fewer chocolates per bag every year and a half is not one I endorse.

Also, observant readers will notice that "earlier this week" wasn't that long ago and will surmise that I ate 31 chocolates in the space of at most 4 days. In reality, it was more like 2 days.

What can I say? I needed a lot of comfort this week, I guess.

Labels: OCD

8 comments

Either funny things don't happen to me anymore or I'm just not enjoying life like I used to. Whichever it is (and I suspect it's the latter), I've done a lot of serious and pseudo-serious posts lately, so I thought I'd take a little break and share this with y'all.

At the end of our improv shows when the score's been tallied and the winning team announced, the players get called off one by one. There are a few different ways that happens. One is "Chariots of Fire," where the theme song is played and we attack each other in slow motion until our name is called. Another one is "Rapid-Fire Joke Cavalcade" (or some variant on that name), where as our name is called, we step up and tell a quick joke before leaving the stage.

It's funny to see everyone scrambling for a joke to tell once we've been told we're ending with that. Really, how many "one-liners" does a person know? Not that many, as it turns out. And it's gotta be quick - no sloth jokes here, thank you. Groaners are allowed, too, and some of us specifically aim for that. Aside from the Norman Bates joke I told a while back, I tend to stick to one theme for my ending jokes:

Cannibals.

Sure, cannibalism in real life is no laughing matter. Frankly, I think it's because it's so not funny that jokes about it are funny. I'm sure you'll disagree and be disgusted by these, but this is the pool of cannibal jokes I draw from, depending on how I feel that particular day. "1C" means "First cannibal," and so forth.

1C (arriving at the feast): Am I late?
2C: Yes, everyone's eaten.

-----

1C: Your wife makes a good roast.
2C: Yes. I'll miss her.

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1C: I hate my mother-in-law.
2C: Well, try the potatoes.

-----

Q: Why don't cannibals eat clowns?
A: They taste funny

There you go - my favorite cannibal jokes. Remember, kids: cannibalism is bad. Don't do it!

Labels: improv, joke

4 comments

It was one of those "so stupid it's funny someone would even do it" things. We were in the computer lab and Jack B. started typing on two different keyboards, one per hand.

Jack: Eh? Eh?
Me: Uh...
Jack: Stereotyping!
Me: *groan ... into laughter*

That was in college, years and years ago. Still, though, whenever someone says the word "stereotyping," that's the image I get.

People like to deal in stereotypes - it helps them have some sort of handle on whoever they're dealing with: "I know this person and everything about him because he's very obviously a biker." We compartmentalize and assume, based largely on appearance or actions. It works in reverse, too. If I say "socialite" or "skateboarder," you immediately form a picture in your mind and have an idea of what that kind of person fits in that group.

Some of us even try to fit into a particular sterotypical box. You see this a lot in teenager groups (goths, jocks, nerds, etc.). I myself have gone to great lengths to put forth the image that I'm a "geek," the game playing, the pasty white skin from avoiding the outdoors, the love of computers, the pile of worthless trivia, and all the rest.

Thing is, just like typing on two different keyboards at the same time, stereotyping people is ultimately pointless. Rarely does anyone fit the complete stereotype, so the stereotype doesn't paint a complete picture - it's more like a caricature, emphasizing some parts and diminishing others. The label doesn't allow for change or growth. Since I don't like to go outside, any idea that I might do so at some point in the future is laughable. Since I don't like to drive, the idea that I might take a weekend trip should be looked at skeptically.

It's my own fault. I've worked hard at fitting the stereotype, so it shouldn't surprise me that people look at me through that lens. But what about others who've been assigned a label, maybe even one they don't want? There's not a whole lot a person can do except live outside the stereotype.

Do it long enough and people might eventually figure it out.

Labels: life

3 comments

It's been a little over eight years since I was last on a ski hill. At the time, I was in charge of organizing student activities, which included one ski trip a year to Cascade Mountain. The activity was always well-attended, and I went along - ostensibly to oversee, but more because it got me out of the office.

I've long been fascinated with snowboarding, and my second time going on the trip I gave it a try. I had moments of actual boarding, but I mostly fell down a lot. It was when the back edge of the board got caught and slammed my head into the well-packed snow cover that I called it quits for the night.

My third time on the trip, I boarded a little bit, but then traded in the board for skis, as there were lessons available. I remember being laughed at by the friend who was with me, but I did pick up skiing a little better than I had boarding. Granted, I was snowplowing most of the way down the beginner hill (higher and longer than the bunny hill), but I did do some actual skiing, and I actually enjoyed myself.

What I remember the most, though, is the lift back to the top of the hill. It was nervewracking to have to maneuver myself into place rather quickly to let the lift grab me and pull me along, as I wasn't very good at getting around on the snowboard or the skis. Getting off was tricky, too, but I don't think they ever had to stop the lift to get me out of the way.

There was something about that ride, though...

I'm not a good judge of height, but there were times when I was 25-30 feet above the ground. Normally I'm not too good with heights, but there on that lift, with the black sky, the lights on the hill, and the cold air... it was so beautiful. The beginner hill was set apart from the major hills where most people were, so it was quieter already, but the height of the ski lift made it even quieter, and I never rode up the lift with anyone - "I'm not too good at this, so it's not a good idea," I'd say.


All alone, floating above the cold, white earth, with the infinitely black sky above is the most peaceful I've ever felt.

Labels: life

3 comments

It’s common to hear phrases like “mind-numbing” or “rot your brain” when people talk about how bad videogames are for people. I see them differently, and feel there’s a lot people can learn from games:

1. Persistence – Many times there are puzzles in games that require a certain set of actions to be done in a certain order, and it can be difficult to accomplish the actions on the first try. Sometimes it can be difficult to accomplish these things on the 7th, 13th, or 20th try! Fast mechanical actions are the biggest challenge for me, and sticking with it to get it done is a good reminder to me.
2. Problem solving – Sure, most things that need to be solved in a videogame don’t have much bearing in real life – I mean, it’s not often that you need to find a red gem from an ancient statue so that you can open a box that has the magic feather you need to open the door to your kitchen, after all. But the idea that problems have solutions is a solid one. Issues can be worked out.
3. Creativity – as technology has advanced, so has the ability for games to offer multiple solutions to a given problem. “Sandbox games” (defined as “games that let you interact with the whole game world rather than limit you to specific areas at a time”) are very popular, and YouTube is full of videos of
   people doing crazy things in-game that the gamemakers never intended. See that building way off in the distance that looks unreachable? Let’s find a way to get to it! Sure, the creativity is still limited to the confines of the game, but it’s still an important skill to cultivate.
4. Learning to work in a system – Have a job? There are specific ways you have to do things, right? TPS Reports must have a cover sheet, taxes have to be filed, and procedures must be followed. While “thinking outside the box” is encouraged and better solutions are generally welcome, there will always be rules a person needs to follow. A videogame gives the player specific abilities and a specific world where those abilities can be used, and it’s up to the player to determine how best to use those abilities in the confines of the game world.
5. Team-building & Organization – As I’ve already mentioned, working on a solution to a presented problem with someone else can make all the difference. I might only see the ledge and a switch, but someone else might notice that the animal carcass is movable and can be placed on the switch. Guild leaders in games like World of Warcraft spend hours organizing people from all over the country to accomplish tasks that sometimes require 40 people – imagine trying to do that! Granted, I’m not interested in doing organization on a scale as grand as that, but making plans of attack for two-player games can still teach planning and organization.

Labels: life, videogames

16 comments