The Perfect Drug
...And we're back.
Well, I've finally landed some cable. Nearly a month after leaving L-Town. But better late than never, am I right? Now all my time can be sucked away from in front of this radiation box again. Huzzah! But to be fair, it's either in front of this computer or going deaf from playing guitar 9 hours a day. At least this way I have the option of splitting my useless time between the both of them. Maybe go 60-40 like I did in L-Town. But it's good to have it back. From someone who lives on the internet, going for a month without it is pretty unnerving. In my honest opinion, I compare it to some sort of drug. Seriously. I was going through the tell-tale signs of withdrawal. Sweaty palms on one occasion. Irritability on another. Self-indulgance. Hell, two weeks without it, I was having dreams about e-mail. Seriously. That's unbelievably pitiful, I know. But that said, I wasn't about to run around the city with my laptop trying to find a leaky wireless connection. I wasn't nearly that desperate. I do love getting 4 immediate IMs when I popped on AIM though. It's making my head spin, though. I feel like I have to absorb all that I've missed as fast as I can. And that's not helping the migraine I've had for the last two days.
Anyway, as if anyone's interested, here's a rundown of what's been happening:
*First off, being a big Seahawks fan, I think I should address the Super Bowl. Yes, it's disappointing to see them lose. But I had no ill-will toward the Steelers, and it's nice to see Jerome Bettis hoist the Lombardi trophy to top off his amazing career. Also, the Seahawks FAR surpassed my expectations of them this year. I was expecting an NFC West title with maybe some hope of 1 playoff win. So seeing the Hawks in the Bowl was a thrill in itself. And if they re-sign Alexander (which if they don't would be a crime punishable by death), they'll be among the NFC's best again next year.
As for how I took in the event, I migrated east to UNH to watch the game with Dan and his roomies. I sported my old school Sinclair jersey and was 1 of maybe 3 people on the campus rooting for the Seahawks. I'm used to being outnumbered though. When I got back to the house, I was razzed by my sisters whom had come to visit. My sisters, who watch 1 football game a year, and were rooting for the Steelers. I also got a call from Josh (N.) busting my chops. So even had I not watched the game, I would know the outcome.
*Like I said, my older sisters had come to visit. The Saturday before the Super Bowl, we all went skiing at Pat's Peak nearby. So nearby you can see the lights illuminating over the horizon at night. The skiing was pretty righteous. Not the best conditions, but they had a good amount of snow. Not ideal weather either. I don't really like skiing when it's 40 and sunny. I like skiing when it's perfectly gray and snowing. But anyway. Pictures of that event lie below.
*The following weekend, I proceeded from whence I came. My first return to L-Town as a non-citizen of it's wretchedness. Bopha was having a small get together to celebrate her birthday at Calista's house. Due to some faulty information and general ignorance (on my part mostly), I drove the hour+ north on Friday only to find out that it was on Saturday. D'oh. So I bitterly drove back home and did it all over again on Saturday. But it was worth it. I was told that the party threw down at 8:00. Yet again, faulty information strikes again as it didn't start until 9:00. But all was well. Laura was there as well. We watched The Island with Calista. I'd grill that movie, but this entry's going to be long enough already. Just in short, WTF. It was interesting, that's for sure. But entirely too long. Bope, Christine, and Ben showed up in the middle of it. After the movie, we watched some boring Olympic event and played Cranium for awhile. But as usual, we got about 3/4 of the way through the game when things just got insane and out of control. We watched TV and ate cake until we all passed out. It was a really bad sleep for me. I was on the smaller couch so I couldn't exactly stretch out. I passed out at about 3:30 and woke up about 4 times before I finally was awake at 7:30. We all vamoosed at about 8:45. I left just in time to get caught in a snowstorm. Good for me.
*During said trip to L-Town, my car passed the century mark. My girl rolled over 100,000 miles. I wish I had my camera on me to get a picture of her crowning achievement. I love my car. I used to have this common misconception that once a car hit 100K it was a death trap waiting to die on the side of the road. But as long as I've driven it, from the time she turn 65,000, my car has never done anything funny, died, crapped out, or anything that wasn't my fault. The only thing I can recall like that is my car randomly stalling in the middle of my driveway during December, but I shrugged that off as an effect of the mega-cold it was that night. Hell, I'd like to think that I can push her another 100K. "Found on the Road Dead" my ass.
*And how do we celebrate a car which reached it's centenial? Spontaneous roadtrip, of course. The weekend after going to L-Town, I took a spurratic trip to Cincinnati to surprise Ana with a visit on Thursday. She had no idea I was coming. Driving there was surprisingly good. I drove about 10 hours from here to there going through the fat part of New York and the smallest possible part through Pennsylvania. I was literally in Pennsylvania about 20 minutes before I see the "Welcome to Ohio" sign. So I show up at U of Cincy. Had some sort of trouble finding the correct area to park (yet nowhere near the trouble that finding the correct parking area was when we went to QU). But I found it. The campus was a lot bigger than I thought. I found the dormitory and got in using the twin guns of grace and tact (read: pretending I was on my cell phone and waited for someone else to open the door, then follow them in). She wasn't there when I showed up, but her two roommates were, so they invited me in to wait for her. And her roommates were ... MUY bien, to put it lightly. We made small talk for about 5 minutes before Ana comes in. First words: "What the hell?". We talked for awhile before getting some dinner out on the town. Then a night of "midnight bowling" ensued at the alley with us, her roommates, and two of her other friends. Midnight bowling. What an experience that was. For anyone who's as uncivilized as I, Midnight Bowling is essentially a bowling alley with blacklights and decorative lights and lasers along the alley with some loud music playing. It's like clubbin' and bowling at the same time. And I destroyed everyone at it too. I finally got my numbers up to respectable numbers again, throwing a 172. We headed back to the campus after that to get some shut eye. Friday was cool. We just hung around the campus mainly. I borrowed one of her friend's basses and we had a mini jam-session in her dorm room. We then took in the Cincinnati/Providence game. Ana was never big on basketball, but she went for me, which is righteous. I'm not even a big fan of the Bearcats (in fact, I rather dislike them even more than before, what with them being in the Big East now). I could've, and probably should've, stayed the night again, but I decided to take off at 2:30 in the morning. Drove another 10-11 hours back home. I _WISH_ I wasn't idiotic and had remembered my camera on this occasion, but alas, I did not. But it was a great visit. One I'll definitely have to make again sometime soon. And since I was out that far, I truly thought about going the distance to Purdue to visit Neal, but I wouldn't have had enough gas money to make it home.
*In further efforts to better myself (psht), I made a pact with myself to watch my caffeine intake. Stunning remark from someone who recently claimed that Mountain Dew was the meaning of life. But it's true. I can recall last year when I suffered from a moderate case of dehydration because I was sucking down caffeine like a crack head snorts coke. I went complete sans caffeine for the weeks after (doctor's orders). And it was a pretty good couple weeks. I slept better, went to sleep earlier, and even lost a couple of pounds. I haven't completely shut off my caffeine intake. I have a soda or a cup of coffee during the weekends. That not saying I indulge and go hog wild with the Dew. Complete moderation is the name of the game. But now I'm finding myself drinking water like I'm a beached whale. I mean, I drank a lot of water even when I was drinking soda. But now, I drink nearly 11 glasses a day. I went through an entire 30 pack of Poland Spring waters in 2 days. Not that that's a bad thing.
*People seem to forget this, but I did enroll for one class at Concord Tech. It will put me slightly behind schedule, but that's something I'm willing to do. Advanced Creative Writing. I don't know exactly how creativity can be advanced, but it's a good class. It's a twice a week 2 hour class. The teacher is great. Our very first class, he had us write for 5 minutes, then critique and decipher each other's styles. It was really cool. And it just made me love writing even more. I've been a lightning rod while continuing my fantasy fiction as well as writing some not-for-class prose. The one I recently finished, "I Dated a Mime", I'm looking to rewrite into a song. Maybe I'll share the prose, and perhaps the song if I ever get around to it, later on.
*I'm sure everyone's just enthralled to hear about my new whereabouts [note the sarcasm]. I live in a small-ass town called Contoocook. It's as redneck as the name sounds. I tried to think of some nickname for it, similar to the entymology of L-Town comparative to Littleton. Somehow "C-Cook" doesn't sound that great. So far, the best thing I could think of was The CTC based on the main consanant sounds. Something better will come by, I'm sure. But anyway, there's shit to do in town. But Concord is only 10 minutes to the east. Life this last month has been utterly mundane aside from the three previous excellent weekend experiences. No job, one class, no one I can hang out with. Well, that last one's not so true. Dan is 45 minutes east at UNH, and I'm about 15 minutes away from Buckley and Holly at NEC. But still. I've been asked a couple times "So, what do you do all day?". Be bored. That's what I do all day. I usually don't wake up until noon. From there, I take a shower and head up the stairs to play any given instrument for the next 3 to 4 hours. The next 3 to 4 hours after that was dedicated to watching 3 or 4 movies and some Futurama episodes. And from there, up until recently, I played about 4 games in my Madden '00 season on N64 until I fall asleep. This was the precedent for the first 2 and a half weeks. And then, my doings began to dwindle. And by that, I mean ... I broke my A-string on my guitar, my memory card shit the bed and erased my entire Madden season, and I began to run out of movies. At one point last week, I had no reason to really get out of bed. So I slept until 3:30 in the afternoon. That was a good day. But I was sent a completely new set of strings from Ana when she heard of my predicament (you rule, by the way). And I started a new season on MLB '00. And now I have cable, so my life can resume it's meaning.
*Of course, during this time frame, finding a job was top priority. And I sit before you still jobless. I went through the Steeplegate mall asking around, as well as some nearby restaurants. But everyone now has their application process completely online now. And me without the net could not apply. It was a pain. I needed money to get the internet, but I needed a job to get money, and I needed the internet to get a job. Vicious cycle, I'm telling you. But thanks to closing out my bank account up north I was able to field the first month. So hopefully I can wrangle up a job before the second payment is due. Otherwise this'll be a short online time for me. Heh. But I'm sure I'll find something. Some hot prospects right now: a dietary aid position at Concord Hospital. Huzzah, a job that I just walked away from. Regal Movie Theaters. Actually, I already put an application in there and had an interview. But the manager gave me reference check sheets for me to give to my previous employers. Isn't that the manager's job? Whatever. I sent them away, but haven't received either of them back yet. So I'm thinking that job's toast. Of course, the restaurants are available: Applebee's, 99, Ruby Tuesday. I saw Taco Bell was hiring, but decided well against that. Old Navy was hiring awhile back, but I don't know if I can degrade myself enough to work for them. Something will come up, I'm sure.
Well, that's about all I have to say. And just so you don't have to stare at annoying text anymore, here are some pretty pictures...
Me on the ski lift (anyone who laughs at what numbered ski lift I'm on gets two to the chest)
My sisters on the lift.
I ski good.
My sisters don't.
Not a smart idea to take a picture of your skis while your skiing, but hey... good shot.
Looks good for her age.
Ben is the Silent Wind of Doom ... WOOSH!
Christine's in a picture of a photograph
Bope and a pretty picture...
Naptime for Ben.
So. What'd I miss?
Well, I've finally landed some cable. Nearly a month after leaving L-Town. But better late than never, am I right? Now all my time can be sucked away from in front of this radiation box again. Huzzah! But to be fair, it's either in front of this computer or going deaf from playing guitar 9 hours a day. At least this way I have the option of splitting my useless time between the both of them. Maybe go 60-40 like I did in L-Town. But it's good to have it back. From someone who lives on the internet, going for a month without it is pretty unnerving. In my honest opinion, I compare it to some sort of drug. Seriously. I was going through the tell-tale signs of withdrawal. Sweaty palms on one occasion. Irritability on another. Self-indulgance. Hell, two weeks without it, I was having dreams about e-mail. Seriously. That's unbelievably pitiful, I know. But that said, I wasn't about to run around the city with my laptop trying to find a leaky wireless connection. I wasn't nearly that desperate. I do love getting 4 immediate IMs when I popped on AIM though. It's making my head spin, though. I feel like I have to absorb all that I've missed as fast as I can. And that's not helping the migraine I've had for the last two days.
Anyway, as if anyone's interested, here's a rundown of what's been happening:
*First off, being a big Seahawks fan, I think I should address the Super Bowl. Yes, it's disappointing to see them lose. But I had no ill-will toward the Steelers, and it's nice to see Jerome Bettis hoist the Lombardi trophy to top off his amazing career. Also, the Seahawks FAR surpassed my expectations of them this year. I was expecting an NFC West title with maybe some hope of 1 playoff win. So seeing the Hawks in the Bowl was a thrill in itself. And if they re-sign Alexander (which if they don't would be a crime punishable by death), they'll be among the NFC's best again next year.
As for how I took in the event, I migrated east to UNH to watch the game with Dan and his roomies. I sported my old school Sinclair jersey and was 1 of maybe 3 people on the campus rooting for the Seahawks. I'm used to being outnumbered though. When I got back to the house, I was razzed by my sisters whom had come to visit. My sisters, who watch 1 football game a year, and were rooting for the Steelers. I also got a call from Josh (N.) busting my chops. So even had I not watched the game, I would know the outcome.
*Like I said, my older sisters had come to visit. The Saturday before the Super Bowl, we all went skiing at Pat's Peak nearby. So nearby you can see the lights illuminating over the horizon at night. The skiing was pretty righteous. Not the best conditions, but they had a good amount of snow. Not ideal weather either. I don't really like skiing when it's 40 and sunny. I like skiing when it's perfectly gray and snowing. But anyway. Pictures of that event lie below.
*The following weekend, I proceeded from whence I came. My first return to L-Town as a non-citizen of it's wretchedness. Bopha was having a small get together to celebrate her birthday at Calista's house. Due to some faulty information and general ignorance (on my part mostly), I drove the hour+ north on Friday only to find out that it was on Saturday. D'oh. So I bitterly drove back home and did it all over again on Saturday. But it was worth it. I was told that the party threw down at 8:00. Yet again, faulty information strikes again as it didn't start until 9:00. But all was well. Laura was there as well. We watched The Island with Calista. I'd grill that movie, but this entry's going to be long enough already. Just in short, WTF. It was interesting, that's for sure. But entirely too long. Bope, Christine, and Ben showed up in the middle of it. After the movie, we watched some boring Olympic event and played Cranium for awhile. But as usual, we got about 3/4 of the way through the game when things just got insane and out of control. We watched TV and ate cake until we all passed out. It was a really bad sleep for me. I was on the smaller couch so I couldn't exactly stretch out. I passed out at about 3:30 and woke up about 4 times before I finally was awake at 7:30. We all vamoosed at about 8:45. I left just in time to get caught in a snowstorm. Good for me.
*During said trip to L-Town, my car passed the century mark. My girl rolled over 100,000 miles. I wish I had my camera on me to get a picture of her crowning achievement. I love my car. I used to have this common misconception that once a car hit 100K it was a death trap waiting to die on the side of the road. But as long as I've driven it, from the time she turn 65,000, my car has never done anything funny, died, crapped out, or anything that wasn't my fault. The only thing I can recall like that is my car randomly stalling in the middle of my driveway during December, but I shrugged that off as an effect of the mega-cold it was that night. Hell, I'd like to think that I can push her another 100K. "Found on the Road Dead" my ass.
*And how do we celebrate a car which reached it's centenial? Spontaneous roadtrip, of course. The weekend after going to L-Town, I took a spurratic trip to Cincinnati to surprise Ana with a visit on Thursday. She had no idea I was coming. Driving there was surprisingly good. I drove about 10 hours from here to there going through the fat part of New York and the smallest possible part through Pennsylvania. I was literally in Pennsylvania about 20 minutes before I see the "Welcome to Ohio" sign. So I show up at U of Cincy. Had some sort of trouble finding the correct area to park (yet nowhere near the trouble that finding the correct parking area was when we went to QU). But I found it. The campus was a lot bigger than I thought. I found the dormitory and got in using the twin guns of grace and tact (read: pretending I was on my cell phone and waited for someone else to open the door, then follow them in). She wasn't there when I showed up, but her two roommates were, so they invited me in to wait for her. And her roommates were ... MUY bien, to put it lightly. We made small talk for about 5 minutes before Ana comes in. First words: "What the hell?". We talked for awhile before getting some dinner out on the town. Then a night of "midnight bowling" ensued at the alley with us, her roommates, and two of her other friends. Midnight bowling. What an experience that was. For anyone who's as uncivilized as I, Midnight Bowling is essentially a bowling alley with blacklights and decorative lights and lasers along the alley with some loud music playing. It's like clubbin' and bowling at the same time. And I destroyed everyone at it too. I finally got my numbers up to respectable numbers again, throwing a 172. We headed back to the campus after that to get some shut eye. Friday was cool. We just hung around the campus mainly. I borrowed one of her friend's basses and we had a mini jam-session in her dorm room. We then took in the Cincinnati/Providence game. Ana was never big on basketball, but she went for me, which is righteous. I'm not even a big fan of the Bearcats (in fact, I rather dislike them even more than before, what with them being in the Big East now). I could've, and probably should've, stayed the night again, but I decided to take off at 2:30 in the morning. Drove another 10-11 hours back home. I _WISH_ I wasn't idiotic and had remembered my camera on this occasion, but alas, I did not. But it was a great visit. One I'll definitely have to make again sometime soon. And since I was out that far, I truly thought about going the distance to Purdue to visit Neal, but I wouldn't have had enough gas money to make it home.
*In further efforts to better myself (psht), I made a pact with myself to watch my caffeine intake. Stunning remark from someone who recently claimed that Mountain Dew was the meaning of life. But it's true. I can recall last year when I suffered from a moderate case of dehydration because I was sucking down caffeine like a crack head snorts coke. I went complete sans caffeine for the weeks after (doctor's orders). And it was a pretty good couple weeks. I slept better, went to sleep earlier, and even lost a couple of pounds. I haven't completely shut off my caffeine intake. I have a soda or a cup of coffee during the weekends. That not saying I indulge and go hog wild with the Dew. Complete moderation is the name of the game. But now I'm finding myself drinking water like I'm a beached whale. I mean, I drank a lot of water even when I was drinking soda. But now, I drink nearly 11 glasses a day. I went through an entire 30 pack of Poland Spring waters in 2 days. Not that that's a bad thing.
*People seem to forget this, but I did enroll for one class at Concord Tech. It will put me slightly behind schedule, but that's something I'm willing to do. Advanced Creative Writing. I don't know exactly how creativity can be advanced, but it's a good class. It's a twice a week 2 hour class. The teacher is great. Our very first class, he had us write for 5 minutes, then critique and decipher each other's styles. It was really cool. And it just made me love writing even more. I've been a lightning rod while continuing my fantasy fiction as well as writing some not-for-class prose. The one I recently finished, "I Dated a Mime", I'm looking to rewrite into a song. Maybe I'll share the prose, and perhaps the song if I ever get around to it, later on.
*I'm sure everyone's just enthralled to hear about my new whereabouts [note the sarcasm]. I live in a small-ass town called Contoocook. It's as redneck as the name sounds. I tried to think of some nickname for it, similar to the entymology of L-Town comparative to Littleton. Somehow "C-Cook" doesn't sound that great. So far, the best thing I could think of was The CTC based on the main consanant sounds. Something better will come by, I'm sure. But anyway, there's shit to do in town. But Concord is only 10 minutes to the east. Life this last month has been utterly mundane aside from the three previous excellent weekend experiences. No job, one class, no one I can hang out with. Well, that last one's not so true. Dan is 45 minutes east at UNH, and I'm about 15 minutes away from Buckley and Holly at NEC. But still. I've been asked a couple times "So, what do you do all day?". Be bored. That's what I do all day. I usually don't wake up until noon. From there, I take a shower and head up the stairs to play any given instrument for the next 3 to 4 hours. The next 3 to 4 hours after that was dedicated to watching 3 or 4 movies and some Futurama episodes. And from there, up until recently, I played about 4 games in my Madden '00 season on N64 until I fall asleep. This was the precedent for the first 2 and a half weeks. And then, my doings began to dwindle. And by that, I mean ... I broke my A-string on my guitar, my memory card shit the bed and erased my entire Madden season, and I began to run out of movies. At one point last week, I had no reason to really get out of bed. So I slept until 3:30 in the afternoon. That was a good day. But I was sent a completely new set of strings from Ana when she heard of my predicament (you rule, by the way). And I started a new season on MLB '00. And now I have cable, so my life can resume it's meaning.
*Of course, during this time frame, finding a job was top priority. And I sit before you still jobless. I went through the Steeplegate mall asking around, as well as some nearby restaurants. But everyone now has their application process completely online now. And me without the net could not apply. It was a pain. I needed money to get the internet, but I needed a job to get money, and I needed the internet to get a job. Vicious cycle, I'm telling you. But thanks to closing out my bank account up north I was able to field the first month. So hopefully I can wrangle up a job before the second payment is due. Otherwise this'll be a short online time for me. Heh. But I'm sure I'll find something. Some hot prospects right now: a dietary aid position at Concord Hospital. Huzzah, a job that I just walked away from. Regal Movie Theaters. Actually, I already put an application in there and had an interview. But the manager gave me reference check sheets for me to give to my previous employers. Isn't that the manager's job? Whatever. I sent them away, but haven't received either of them back yet. So I'm thinking that job's toast. Of course, the restaurants are available: Applebee's, 99, Ruby Tuesday. I saw Taco Bell was hiring, but decided well against that. Old Navy was hiring awhile back, but I don't know if I can degrade myself enough to work for them. Something will come up, I'm sure.
Well, that's about all I have to say. And just so you don't have to stare at annoying text anymore, here are some pretty pictures...
Me on the ski lift (anyone who laughs at what numbered ski lift I'm on gets two to the chest)
My sisters on the lift.
I ski good.
My sisters don't.
Not a smart idea to take a picture of your skis while your skiing, but hey... good shot.
Looks good for her age.
Ben is the Silent Wind of Doom ... WOOSH!
Christine's in a picture of a photograph
Bope and a pretty picture...
Naptime for Ben.
So. What'd I miss?