Leveling Up...
Well, if the title isn't much of a hint, lemme spell it out for you. I passed my belt test! I'm now a certified yellow belt. Maybe not the most impressive of things in the eyes of you experienced people, or to those of you hard-to-please folks, but I find it a huge accomplishment. It's just the first step of many in my quest to attain an extensive mastery of this art. What's more, I'm about a third of the way into what I feel is my biggest obstacle to orange belt. I think it's very possible, and also tangible; that just leaves the techniques, and it should be a reasonable cinch...probably, heh. All I need to remember is that, when the obstacle presents itself, I will have the tools necessary to overcome it. With that having been said, I got nailed in the head, in the ribs, and stepped on the weapons rack today in group class. Amazingly, my foot's the only one that still hurts, but that's not what I'm here to talk to you about.
As you all know, it's now December, which means Thanksgiving happened. Essentially, it's the only time of year I'll willingly get up at 8am for Alice's Restaurant. Outside of this masterful tradition, I basically cleaned the car out, ran a few errands, and had an acceptable dinner. It wasn't really anything overly-special, drawn out, or over the top. It was good and bad at the same time, but I don't feel like going into the "why" of it. Anyone who's paid attention from last year will know what I'm talking about. The next step is Xmas, but not before school winds down to a close. We've already gotten our classes reluctantly picked out; we just gotta pay for 'em. I say reluctantly because I can't help but get the feeling that we took all of the "fun" classes this semester. Then again, the rate of fun depends largely on the syllabus and the instructors.
There's also the matter of work to take care of. I'm pretty damn glad I actually get paid this week because I get the startling feeling that my money is going out faster than I'm taking it in. That means either one of two things: either I'm a spend-aholic, which isn't likely, or; I'm not getting enough money for the job I do. I'm leaning towards the latter for obvious reasons, but in a meager attempt to offset that, I actually made myself available on Black Friday. I realize that's akin to running around naked in a bear exhibit at the zoo with a steak hiding my package, but I did it to hopefully get myself back up over a thousand dollars. I dunno how the fuck it is I keep losing money, but that's gotta be stoppin'. A new job or a raise can't come fast enough, but only time will reveal that one. For now, I'm just trying to get to the end of the semester and finally have a fucking vacation.
Which brings me to my next point; school is finally starting to die down. Biology has just presentations left (mine is probably the best one of the lot, currently), and I'm finding myself making some closer friends in Theatre through our final evaluation project, that being the creation of a staged scene from a play of our choosing and reading. You'd be surprised how much this costs when you see an amazing stage build of a house. In light of that, we're fuckin' determined to make the best forest scene EVER. The only downside is that I've paid for everything so far. Sure I'll get reimbursed, but it kinda aids to the whole "feeling broke" thing. It'll be worth it in the end. As for Public Speaking...well, my persuasive speech is basically gonna be my Bio presentation re-tooled and revamped to look like and act like a persuasive speech. Normally, I'd of thought this was a dickhead thing to do, but it's apparently okay. So...w00t!
Aside from this, there's not much else I can really touch upon. I stay doin' my karate, living, working, going to school. However, I do know that in a week exactly, I'm eligible for a new phone upgrade. Not sure which one I'm gonna go with, but I'm heading up to Verizon on Wednesday to try and get a feel for what my options are. I'm thinking either the EnV2, the Dare, or maybe the new BlackBerry Storm. Atop that, I might lose my fucking mind and be a total hypocrite by getting the text package. That'd only be to unlock the IN package where I can talk to my homies on the network for free. Everyone else, fuck off; you can't text me, so hit me up on AIM or MSN like normal! Or...you could convert...it doesn't hurt. Well, that's my shameless plug for the night.
Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, and that you're damn thankful for something. Lord knows a lot of folks only are when it's too late. Hope y'all have been behaving yourselves. On a final note, now would be a good time to get your Xmas shopping started, or maybe even finished - what a concept. Not that I hate my friends, but they're probably getting gift cards like last year. Shipping's a bitch, and I just don't have the mental capacity to think outside of my house. If I were living back east, it'd probably a different story altogether. Anyway, see you folks next week!
"I feel about APA formatting the way Hitler felt about the Jews."
Ken
As you all know, it's now December, which means Thanksgiving happened. Essentially, it's the only time of year I'll willingly get up at 8am for Alice's Restaurant. Outside of this masterful tradition, I basically cleaned the car out, ran a few errands, and had an acceptable dinner. It wasn't really anything overly-special, drawn out, or over the top. It was good and bad at the same time, but I don't feel like going into the "why" of it. Anyone who's paid attention from last year will know what I'm talking about. The next step is Xmas, but not before school winds down to a close. We've already gotten our classes reluctantly picked out; we just gotta pay for 'em. I say reluctantly because I can't help but get the feeling that we took all of the "fun" classes this semester. Then again, the rate of fun depends largely on the syllabus and the instructors.
There's also the matter of work to take care of. I'm pretty damn glad I actually get paid this week because I get the startling feeling that my money is going out faster than I'm taking it in. That means either one of two things: either I'm a spend-aholic, which isn't likely, or; I'm not getting enough money for the job I do. I'm leaning towards the latter for obvious reasons, but in a meager attempt to offset that, I actually made myself available on Black Friday. I realize that's akin to running around naked in a bear exhibit at the zoo with a steak hiding my package, but I did it to hopefully get myself back up over a thousand dollars. I dunno how the fuck it is I keep losing money, but that's gotta be stoppin'. A new job or a raise can't come fast enough, but only time will reveal that one. For now, I'm just trying to get to the end of the semester and finally have a fucking vacation.
Which brings me to my next point; school is finally starting to die down. Biology has just presentations left (mine is probably the best one of the lot, currently), and I'm finding myself making some closer friends in Theatre through our final evaluation project, that being the creation of a staged scene from a play of our choosing and reading. You'd be surprised how much this costs when you see an amazing stage build of a house. In light of that, we're fuckin' determined to make the best forest scene EVER. The only downside is that I've paid for everything so far. Sure I'll get reimbursed, but it kinda aids to the whole "feeling broke" thing. It'll be worth it in the end. As for Public Speaking...well, my persuasive speech is basically gonna be my Bio presentation re-tooled and revamped to look like and act like a persuasive speech. Normally, I'd of thought this was a dickhead thing to do, but it's apparently okay. So...w00t!
Aside from this, there's not much else I can really touch upon. I stay doin' my karate, living, working, going to school. However, I do know that in a week exactly, I'm eligible for a new phone upgrade. Not sure which one I'm gonna go with, but I'm heading up to Verizon on Wednesday to try and get a feel for what my options are. I'm thinking either the EnV2, the Dare, or maybe the new BlackBerry Storm. Atop that, I might lose my fucking mind and be a total hypocrite by getting the text package. That'd only be to unlock the IN package where I can talk to my homies on the network for free. Everyone else, fuck off; you can't text me, so hit me up on AIM or MSN like normal! Or...you could convert...it doesn't hurt. Well, that's my shameless plug for the night.
Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, and that you're damn thankful for something. Lord knows a lot of folks only are when it's too late. Hope y'all have been behaving yourselves. On a final note, now would be a good time to get your Xmas shopping started, or maybe even finished - what a concept. Not that I hate my friends, but they're probably getting gift cards like last year. Shipping's a bitch, and I just don't have the mental capacity to think outside of my house. If I were living back east, it'd probably a different story altogether. Anyway, see you folks next week!
"I feel about APA formatting the way Hitler felt about the Jews."
Ken