systematic failure
Ok, so a continual dedication to this journal thing just isn't working out. I have too much stuff to do to set aside time to blog my life. It's about time for me to catch up. I went camping recently. I had time to reflect on my friends and the time spent with them. See, I was talking to my friend Sam about going camping randomly. He said he was in, and asked who else was coming. At the time I didn't have anyone else. Out of the blue, I decided to head to Starkeville to hang out with Christopher. Christopher is bad as hell. He's number 3 in the Ivancic progeny. Number 1 is Dr. Ivancic, pediatrician and all-around awesome dude. He once told me about histamine which made my skin red after being stung by a jellyfish. He scratched my arm to show that my body would react by creating a red mark. This immediately turned my body into a chalkboard. Oh, and by the way, the jellyfish was killed, and I got the 10XP for it. Number 2 on the Ivancic male list is Justin Ivancic. He has been my best friend since college. We did about everything together from getting dudes kicked out of college to making fun of certain chicks with a post frat-party retrospective t-shirt explaining our disdain. Movies were watched, video game tournaments were held, and concerts were rocked with the both of us at the forefront. Lately, though, I've been spending much more time with Ivancics Number 3 and Number 4 which brings me to the next dude. Number 3 is Christopher Ivancic. He's the reason I went off on this tangent in the first place. We love tangents in stories. Proper stories rarely get finished, but that's because we have tons of other stuff to break off into tangents. He's big into being awesome. Number 4 is my protege of the group. Philip has the greatest potential of them all. I have high hopes for this dude.
Where was I? Oh, yes. I was heading down to Starkeville to hang out with Christopher. Turns out, he was in Tupelo at the time. That was cool because I could swing by and hang with Philip for a bit. While I was partying in Tupelo, I remembered I had to return a book to Stan. Stan is a charter member of the iDudes. I'll go into that later. Stan wouldn't answer his phone which meant he was either asleep or at work. I decided to gamble for the latter and hunt him down at work. Sure enough, the dude was there, almost wanting some dude to come in and brighten his day with his own book. I did just that. He asked if I would be in town much longer for hanging out reasons. I told him I'd stick around for that very reason. Hanging out with Stan is nothing short of a blessing. He always has something cool to talk about. We differ in opinion about a lot of stuff, so I always enjoy hearing his views on whatever we start discussing.
So I was getting ready to hang out with Stan when I got a brilliant notion. I invited him to come down to Starkeville and chill with Christopher and me. He was ready and willing once he got off work. I called Christopher to tell him to prepare an additional place to sleep because company was coming. This is where the complications step in. Christopher told me that he had room for only 1 friend at a time. This wasn't looking good. I needed another place to crash, and I needed it fast. Who else lived down there any more? I called upon the services of Ace Bad. If he had the space, he'd be willing to share it. This guy once won a Dreamcast from me by watching multiple TV series faster than another dude. The other dude's bet was that every time a DVD releases a better edition, he has to buy that better edition and mail Ace Bad the buddy edition. That's a pretty sweet deal if you ask me.
Ace Bad was willing and able to accommodate at least 2 dudes with the possibilities of more. We had our destination prepared. There was one hitch. He wasn't in Starkeville at the moment. Instead he was visiting people in Tupelo! The irony of circumstances still amazes me. I told him we needed to meet up and that Stan would be joining us if we did so. He told me to meet him at this coffee shop called Uptown Coffee. It sounded like a solid plan if I ever heard one. The day was getting better and better. I don't get to hang out with any of these dudes much less multiple dudes at the same times. What a blessing this turned out to be!
Uptown Coffee was a quaint establishment with an easygoing atmosphere. Strangers were talking in the distance about nothing in particular. I love my share of smalltalk, especially when it turns to epic proportions with tangents and sub-tangents. I found a comfy chair and started playing my Nintendo DS whilst waiting for the arrival of Joe (Ace Bad). I didn't like the DS when it first came out because the touch-screen feature seemed too much like a gimmick doomed to failure than an advantageous benefit. For the most part, I still hold to that. Some games designed specifically for the DS, though, really make that touch-screen shine. I still don't like the fact that no matter how hard I try, I will eventually scratch and mar my beautiful screen. I love the dual screen aspect; don't get me wrong, I just can't stand the touch-screen.
After a short wait, I was surprised by none other than Ben Smith, once referred to as "The Lion." You never know where you'll end up bumping into this guy. A few weeks ago, if you had been in Chicago, you would have bumped into him at some random local coffee shop. That was then, and times always change. I told Ben that Stan, Joe, and I were about to congregate at this very coffee shop. Joe popped his head in to confirm his presence. Forces of nature must have been at work because the next words out of his mouth were beyond coincidental. He told me that some of the guys were planning a camping trip that very next week, and they would love to have me along if I could make it on such short notice. This is the point where you scroll up to the top of the blog and realize I've finally made a connection to the original topic in this mish-mash of random events. There was no way I was going to miss this opportunity. I had less than a week to prepare myself for the first real camping trip I've ever taken. I went when I was little, but that doesn't really count. This was my first trip without parental supervision. This would be the first time I'd ever "roughed it" with a group of friends. I'd say "roughing it" is a little ironic in itself being that very little was rough in our trip. That's a story for another day, though.
Tune in next time for my next great installment: Camping Trip
Where was I? Oh, yes. I was heading down to Starkeville to hang out with Christopher. Turns out, he was in Tupelo at the time. That was cool because I could swing by and hang with Philip for a bit. While I was partying in Tupelo, I remembered I had to return a book to Stan. Stan is a charter member of the iDudes. I'll go into that later. Stan wouldn't answer his phone which meant he was either asleep or at work. I decided to gamble for the latter and hunt him down at work. Sure enough, the dude was there, almost wanting some dude to come in and brighten his day with his own book. I did just that. He asked if I would be in town much longer for hanging out reasons. I told him I'd stick around for that very reason. Hanging out with Stan is nothing short of a blessing. He always has something cool to talk about. We differ in opinion about a lot of stuff, so I always enjoy hearing his views on whatever we start discussing.
So I was getting ready to hang out with Stan when I got a brilliant notion. I invited him to come down to Starkeville and chill with Christopher and me. He was ready and willing once he got off work. I called Christopher to tell him to prepare an additional place to sleep because company was coming. This is where the complications step in. Christopher told me that he had room for only 1 friend at a time. This wasn't looking good. I needed another place to crash, and I needed it fast. Who else lived down there any more? I called upon the services of Ace Bad. If he had the space, he'd be willing to share it. This guy once won a Dreamcast from me by watching multiple TV series faster than another dude. The other dude's bet was that every time a DVD releases a better edition, he has to buy that better edition and mail Ace Bad the buddy edition. That's a pretty sweet deal if you ask me.
Ace Bad was willing and able to accommodate at least 2 dudes with the possibilities of more. We had our destination prepared. There was one hitch. He wasn't in Starkeville at the moment. Instead he was visiting people in Tupelo! The irony of circumstances still amazes me. I told him we needed to meet up and that Stan would be joining us if we did so. He told me to meet him at this coffee shop called Uptown Coffee. It sounded like a solid plan if I ever heard one. The day was getting better and better. I don't get to hang out with any of these dudes much less multiple dudes at the same times. What a blessing this turned out to be!
Uptown Coffee was a quaint establishment with an easygoing atmosphere. Strangers were talking in the distance about nothing in particular. I love my share of smalltalk, especially when it turns to epic proportions with tangents and sub-tangents. I found a comfy chair and started playing my Nintendo DS whilst waiting for the arrival of Joe (Ace Bad). I didn't like the DS when it first came out because the touch-screen feature seemed too much like a gimmick doomed to failure than an advantageous benefit. For the most part, I still hold to that. Some games designed specifically for the DS, though, really make that touch-screen shine. I still don't like the fact that no matter how hard I try, I will eventually scratch and mar my beautiful screen. I love the dual screen aspect; don't get me wrong, I just can't stand the touch-screen.
After a short wait, I was surprised by none other than Ben Smith, once referred to as "The Lion." You never know where you'll end up bumping into this guy. A few weeks ago, if you had been in Chicago, you would have bumped into him at some random local coffee shop. That was then, and times always change. I told Ben that Stan, Joe, and I were about to congregate at this very coffee shop. Joe popped his head in to confirm his presence. Forces of nature must have been at work because the next words out of his mouth were beyond coincidental. He told me that some of the guys were planning a camping trip that very next week, and they would love to have me along if I could make it on such short notice. This is the point where you scroll up to the top of the blog and realize I've finally made a connection to the original topic in this mish-mash of random events. There was no way I was going to miss this opportunity. I had less than a week to prepare myself for the first real camping trip I've ever taken. I went when I was little, but that doesn't really count. This was my first trip without parental supervision. This would be the first time I'd ever "roughed it" with a group of friends. I'd say "roughing it" is a little ironic in itself being that very little was rough in our trip. That's a story for another day, though.
Tune in next time for my next great installment: Camping Trip