A Long-Due Update!
Wow, It certainly has been quite some time since my last major update! In fact, the last time I posted an update was *checks* July 25, since the August 1 post was not a true update! Anyhow, that aside, quite a bit has happened since then!
If you've been keeping up with my posts, I spent the summer working for the Navy in Gulfport, MS, employed by their Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) Department, working at the Youth Activities Center, both with their After School Program (in May and August) and with their Summer Program. It was a very fun and rewarding program. The staff was excellent to work with and diverse. Though most of them were female (only a couple of us there were male), the age range was anywhere from 18 to 34, and there were a few C.I.T.s (counselors-in-training) that were aged 13 to 17. During the afterschool program we prepared for the daily activities in the morning and once the children got there they had an afternoon snack, we helped them with homework, and then we ran activities with them. During the summer, there was a fully planned schedule of activities from 7:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon, but there was a before-care starting at 6:00 and an aftercare ending at 5:30. We also had trips once a week, going to the New Orleans Zoo and Aquarium (and IMAX), the Mobile Explorium and Imax, to Flint Creek Water Town, two visits to Gulf Islands Water Park (where I worked last summer), roller skating, to the movies, and even to see a local theater's production of Snow White. I worked until August 11, at which time I prepared to return to Mississippi State.
On August 13 (a Sunday), I moved back onto Campus for what will be my last semester as an undergraduate here at Mississippi State, as I will be receiving my Bachelor's Degree in History on December 9, 2006. As such, I am packing in 18 hours this semester, which is exactly what I need to fulfill my degree requirements...My schedule is:
MONDAY/WEDNESDAY/FRIDAY:
10:00-10:50 : "Intro. to Archaeology" (AN1543) - Janet Rafferty
TUESDAY/THURSDAY :
8:00-9:15 : "People's Republic of China" (HI 4990) - Shu Wu
9:30-10:45 : "History of England" (HI 3973) - William Hay
11:00-12:15 : "Colonial America" (HI 4103) - Peter Messer
12:30-1:45 : "Evolution of the International System, 1760-1989" (HI 4990) - William Hay
2:00-3:15 : "Intro. to Sociology" - (SO 1003) - James Unnever
With a T/R centered schedule, it will be like last semester and much easier to handle, since I have 5 days a week to get most of my work done.
Anyway, my roommate and one of my best friends, Brett, now lives off-campus with another good friend of ours, Cody, so this semester I have my own room on campus. In a way it's pretty cool because there is extra storage space and freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want, but I still miss having him around, but I can always go and visit them and they can come and see me and Laura whenever they want, so I suppose in the end it's alright.
August 20, 2006 marked Laura and my 3-year anniversary together, since we first met and started going out back on August 20, 2003. Wow, seems like a long time ago, doesn't it? We were going to celebrate it that weekend, but since her brother William was in town, we pushed it back to the following weekend. Still, we had fun when he was in town because we went to the Pearl River Resort and went to Geyser Falls Water Park and then went to the Casino for a bit (but no one had any real luck), although the park was a blast! However, the following weekend Laura and I went to Alabama Adventure, which used to be Visionland, and went to both the water park and the amusement park...We had a wonderful time!
Aside from all that, I recently purchased to rarities on eBay...Right before school started I managed to purchase a "Demo" copy of Super Mario All-Stars for the Super Nintendo. These games are hard to come by as these are the demonstration cartridges that are issued to manufacturers and retailers before the games are distributed for sale, and thus have the official Nintendo ownership sticker on the back which says "For Demonstration Purposes Only- Not for Resale! Property of Nintendo." In this game's case, it was issued to Sear's, is evident from the back of the cart.
Then, just the other night, I managed to come across a copy of Super Mario Bros. 4 on eBay. The cartridge is obviously, from the images provided, a Famicom cartridge (the Japanese version of the NES, released in 1983), and the game comes with a Famicom-to-NES converter. The lingering question is whether this game is one of the notorious Chinese pirate cartridges that were released in the 1980s, 1990s, and are still made today? However, I checked the numerous pirate databases, such as at www.nesworld.com and could not come up with the cartridge that this is, so it is unclear, and I won't know until it comes in (most likely next week since I had it shipped with first-class mail) and can play it on one of my two NES units.
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Well, aside from that, Laura and I went to see The Wicker Man last night, and I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but it is reminiscent of The Village, but they did a much better job with it, in my opinion!
Well, that's about it for now!
Adieu until next time!
If you've been keeping up with my posts, I spent the summer working for the Navy in Gulfport, MS, employed by their Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) Department, working at the Youth Activities Center, both with their After School Program (in May and August) and with their Summer Program. It was a very fun and rewarding program. The staff was excellent to work with and diverse. Though most of them were female (only a couple of us there were male), the age range was anywhere from 18 to 34, and there were a few C.I.T.s (counselors-in-training) that were aged 13 to 17. During the afterschool program we prepared for the daily activities in the morning and once the children got there they had an afternoon snack, we helped them with homework, and then we ran activities with them. During the summer, there was a fully planned schedule of activities from 7:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon, but there was a before-care starting at 6:00 and an aftercare ending at 5:30. We also had trips once a week, going to the New Orleans Zoo and Aquarium (and IMAX), the Mobile Explorium and Imax, to Flint Creek Water Town, two visits to Gulf Islands Water Park (where I worked last summer), roller skating, to the movies, and even to see a local theater's production of Snow White. I worked until August 11, at which time I prepared to return to Mississippi State.
On August 13 (a Sunday), I moved back onto Campus for what will be my last semester as an undergraduate here at Mississippi State, as I will be receiving my Bachelor's Degree in History on December 9, 2006. As such, I am packing in 18 hours this semester, which is exactly what I need to fulfill my degree requirements...My schedule is:
MONDAY/WEDNESDAY/FRIDAY:
10:00-10:50 : "Intro. to Archaeology" (AN1543) - Janet Rafferty
TUESDAY/THURSDAY :
8:00-9:15 : "People's Republic of China" (HI 4990) - Shu Wu
9:30-10:45 : "History of England" (HI 3973) - William Hay
11:00-12:15 : "Colonial America" (HI 4103) - Peter Messer
12:30-1:45 : "Evolution of the International System, 1760-1989" (HI 4990) - William Hay
2:00-3:15 : "Intro. to Sociology" - (SO 1003) - James Unnever
With a T/R centered schedule, it will be like last semester and much easier to handle, since I have 5 days a week to get most of my work done.
Anyway, my roommate and one of my best friends, Brett, now lives off-campus with another good friend of ours, Cody, so this semester I have my own room on campus. In a way it's pretty cool because there is extra storage space and freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want, but I still miss having him around, but I can always go and visit them and they can come and see me and Laura whenever they want, so I suppose in the end it's alright.
August 20, 2006 marked Laura and my 3-year anniversary together, since we first met and started going out back on August 20, 2003. Wow, seems like a long time ago, doesn't it? We were going to celebrate it that weekend, but since her brother William was in town, we pushed it back to the following weekend. Still, we had fun when he was in town because we went to the Pearl River Resort and went to Geyser Falls Water Park and then went to the Casino for a bit (but no one had any real luck), although the park was a blast! However, the following weekend Laura and I went to Alabama Adventure, which used to be Visionland, and went to both the water park and the amusement park...We had a wonderful time!
Aside from all that, I recently purchased to rarities on eBay...Right before school started I managed to purchase a "Demo" copy of Super Mario All-Stars for the Super Nintendo. These games are hard to come by as these are the demonstration cartridges that are issued to manufacturers and retailers before the games are distributed for sale, and thus have the official Nintendo ownership sticker on the back which says "For Demonstration Purposes Only- Not for Resale! Property of Nintendo." In this game's case, it was issued to Sear's, is evident from the back of the cart.
Then, just the other night, I managed to come across a copy of Super Mario Bros. 4 on eBay. The cartridge is obviously, from the images provided, a Famicom cartridge (the Japanese version of the NES, released in 1983), and the game comes with a Famicom-to-NES converter. The lingering question is whether this game is one of the notorious Chinese pirate cartridges that were released in the 1980s, 1990s, and are still made today? However, I checked the numerous pirate databases, such as at www.nesworld.com and could not come up with the cartridge that this is, so it is unclear, and I won't know until it comes in (most likely next week since I had it shipped with first-class mail) and can play it on one of my two NES units.
Well, aside from that, Laura and I went to see The Wicker Man last night, and I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but it is reminiscent of The Village, but they did a much better job with it, in my opinion!
Well, that's about it for now!
Adieu until next time!