a new post, as promised!
...aaaaaand we're back! It's been awhile since I've posted. Sorry about that -.-;;; last Wednesday Daniel (room mate) and I went to Hampton to the Air and Space Museum, to see Avatar in IMAX 3D and also check out the museum itself. we had originally planned to get there pretty early so we'd have lots of time in the museum but due to oversleeping and errands that needed running we didn't get there till around 1600, and hour before the place closes. As luck would have it, the museum was mostly a disappointment anyways, and an hour was the perfect amount of time to see all the things worth seeing in the museum. we were both disappointed by the lack of Navy planes, and also by the fact that it seems they haven't really gotten much new material recently. also the place was not in the best repair. we left the museum around 5, and realized we had quite a bit of time to kill since the movie didn't start till 19:20.
downtown hampton is pretty quaint-looking and classy with lots of clean brick buildings and plenty of restaurants, and a layout that is not terribly difficult for pedestrians to navigate. we happened upon a map of the area which had two areas labelled "shopping and dining", so we figured we'd find a place to grab a beer and some food. on the map, i noticed a street called "west queens way" which i remembered is the street Musasi's is on. (excuse the retarded romanization, it should be Musashi's dammit! ><) for those who don't know, musasi's is a fucking awesome sushi place that my friends and i normally eat at once a year, for nekocon. being in hampton near this place of so many years of awesome memories at a time of year other than early november was a bit surreal. it became even more surreal when we came up on west queens way, and musasi's was the first restaurant on the right, less than five minutes' walk from the museum.
daniel and i decided to go ahead and eat there, and we both had a decent amount of sushi. i ordered a kirin ichiban, which had a VERY light taste. normally i'm not too into beers that don't have a bit more substance but this one was rather pleasant. i also had a couple shots of sake, which i'd never had before. it's pretty interesting stuff. i can see why they call it rice schnapps in germany. (daniel told me that, i have no idea how to spell things in german so forgive me for butchering that). after dinner we decided to just walk around again, and we took a couple pics outside the restaurant to commemorate our odd timing of eating there. it felt a little like cheating haha XD
after walking around a bit, it started getting a lot colder so we ended up finding another place, some sports bar, to stop in and grab a beer while waiting for adam (room mate #2) and his gf, and our friend caleb to arrive at the museum so we could see the movie. Daniel and I each had a blue moon (one of my favorite beers :D) and some nachos.
avatar itself was a visually-amazing movie, and even though the plot was not terribly original (and UNOBTAINIUM IS THE STUPIDEST NAME FOR JUST ABOUT ANYTHING, EVER) I feel it had a poignant and important message which most people will either dismiss or fail to notice. i also think the most important parts of this message don't necessarily have anything to do with current international events, or even the environment. overall, i think it's just about respect, and compassion, and what can happen when these two things are lacking. *leaps off soapbox*
The other big news is that I'm starting school at ECPI College of Technology on January 25. I'll be majoring in network security and hope to become a network admin and/or a security consultant after graduating, which if all goes according to plan will be in 2.5 years. On Saturday I'm going to a "campus discovery day" event (assuming i can get someone to trade shifts with me at work...) to meet other prospective students and see some demonstrations, talk with faculty, etc. apparently since i'm already enrolled i'll get free pizza and a chance to meet the president. i've also heard a few employers will be there looking to hire students currently enrolled in various programs.
which brings me to my next subject, and one of the main impetuses (impeti?) for my enrolling in school now: my job. for those who don't know, i work for a major auto insurance company and while i have a lot of respect for my employer as a company, i've been working in customer service call centers for over 4 years now and it is REALLY starting to wear on me. people are such assholes, and dealing with car insurance and billing and everything else for 8 freaking hours a day is becoming beyond mind-numbing. sometimes i think i can feel myself becoming more and more misanthropic and anti-social by the day. NOT COOL. so, school is really going to be the light at the end of the tunnel for me, and will give me the strength to deal with feeling like i have to pretend to be "just another tool" for 8 hours a day from now till when i can graduate and go do some work i actually find interesting. and holy shit that's a run-on sentence! please forgive me, it's late.
i think there was more i wanted to put into this entry, but i can't really remember it at the moment. i'll probably remember tomorrow and post it tomorrow night. have a good night everyone! :D
**edit: whoops, forgot my song! Currently listening to: Agalloch - She Painted Fire Across the Skyline, Pt. 1