Thank You Tuesday

On a non-sarcastic note (you're surprised, I know) I'm thankful for my dad. He went out of his way to take me to work this morning since the snow effectively fucked me out of transportation.

On a sarcastic note, I'm thankful for snow. That stupid, slippery shit. I'm sick of the cold, of not having a car, of work. Etc.

Enough bitching. Today I took three pages of notes over 10 pages of my Microeconomics textbook, only to have a lecture tomorrow on which I will likely take [at least] three pages of notes.

I'm really trying to start this semester off right. It's really, really difficult on account of my procrastination. However, I did buy a dry erase board. I think that may help me stay organized. Maybe not.

I'm also thankful for textbooks. I'm glad someone had the time and patience to sit down and pour knowledge into hundreds of pages so that I can retain enough to get some fancy letter grade in order to, in the long run, get a nice "I get to make more money" piece of paper. Long story short, college is tedious and seemingly slow moving. I think I'll enjoy it better once I get into my actual major-specific classes. For example, I truly am enjoying my Microeconomics lecture and reading. I think Marketing will be fun, as will Accounting (I know, I'm weird).

What I really dislike is all the liberal learning, well-rounded education crap. I don't really have the energy to pour it all out now.

I'm completely spent today. Sorry folks. This one's short.

Truly,

David

Miscellaneous Monday

It's true, today is Miscellaneous Monday. Time to open a small portion of my brain and let just a little bit of the random shitstorm out.

Miscellaneous Things:

• Today, I had a really good idea for a new invention. I'm not going to go into detail, but I'll tell you how this story ends: I realized it had already been invented. It's called a paper clip.
• Today, I learned I had ordered the wrong book for my EN106 course. FML.
• I'm very tired.
• Not having a car sucks.
• I keep thinking that there's no way I could possibly eat any more pretzels. Then I eat one more and I remember how good they taste with Dr. Pepper.
• I'm thinking that maybe tonight I'll be able to lay my head down comfortably without my gauges hurting.

Tomorrow looks to be a pretty "bleh" day. No classes, but I have work at 8 in the morning. Moreover, my dad has to come pick me up from my dorm on his way to work and take me to Barnes & Noble. Not an exciting day. If anyone wants to give up a car, I'd be more than willing to accept. I just need four tires, an engine, and a steering wheel. That's basically it. Anything? No?

Okay.

I'm about done for tonight. School wears me out. Not really the classes, it's mostly the hiking across the hills and staircases that make up my university campus.

Goodnight, friends.

Truly,

David

Another New Beginning

Sorry for the gap in posts, friends. Unfortunately, I have had some events transpire recently that have taken a great toll on my stress level and have thus dissuaded e from blogging. However, I finally now have the time, patience, and will to explain it all.

I have officially moved into my dorm! Moved BACK into, that is. At 8 am I have my first class of 2010. 8 am sucks. The class is CS140: Intro to Computers. I'll likely die of boredom daily.

In another sense, I find a new beginning in my lack of having a car. On Thursday night, I had a wonderful incident in the snow. Upon sliding slightly to the left, easing on the break and attempting to correct to the right, this happened: http://bit.ly/6ey8VF

My left forward tire decided NOT to turn right, instead staying pointed to the left. In doing so, my left-pointing wheel ripped the axle from the transmission. Essentially, the axle which connects my left forward wheel to a) the half-shaft and transmission (makes the car go vroom) and b) the axle which does the same for the right forward wheel) became disconnected.

This was not a happy experience for me, nor for my buddy Bryce, who was in the car with me. After a two hour wait for a tow truck (in -3 degree weather with a -17 degree wind chill), I was finally able to head home and "relax."

The next day, the car was given a repairs estimate at Sears Auto Center. The total cost of parts and labor would be about $650, but most likely more. There are two issues with this. First, I do not have $650 to throw on my car. Second, the car is maybe worth $500 tops. So, we called U-Pick-It, and they gave me a $220 check to take the car away.

Life, college, and work without my own personal transportation presents a large number of challenges. I just need to remember to be calm, prioritize, and let everything work out.

On another, happier note, I began stretching my ear piercings! This morning I was able to finish sliding in my 12 gauge u-rings. I think they look pretty rad. I don't have a picture and am, unfortunately, too lazy to take one.

I anticipated this post being much longer, whereas the past few days that I've not blogged have been quite eventful, but alas, here I am with nothing to say.

I almost forgot: I need a theme for Sundays! I have a good one. "Suck It Sunday." For Suck It Sunday, I'm going to have a shout-out to a person or group of people, (or any noun or group of nouns, really) that I think can suck it.

Today, I say to the Phelps family from Westboro Baptist Church: SUCK IT!

Proposition 8 was debated today in front of a U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The case is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The main premise here is that Proposition 8 (which, in California bans same-sex marriage) violates the 14th Amendment to equal protection under the law and due process. This is a large milestone in which I am pleased. Should this case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger make it to the Supreme Court, it is possible that the Supreme Court may rule that laws banning same-sex marriage (by states) are unconstitutional, and therein allowing same sex marriage nationwide!

Therefore, SUCK IT, Phelps family, you right-winged, brainwashed crackpots.

Also, I want to keep up with my etymology. Today's word is prioritize.

prioritize

v. to arrange or do in order of priority.

Interestingly enough, the use of the word prioritize was first documented in the 1972 Nixon-McGovern election. To look at the etymology, we must look at the stem: priority.

priority

n. the state or quality of being earlier in time or importance

from Middle Latin prioritas - fact or condition of being prior.

prior

adj. preceding in time or in order

from Latin pri - before.

That wasn't quite as interesting as I thought it'd be, but it was still fun. Etymology ftw!!1!

I'm done nerding out now. Goodnight.

Truly,

David

Arctic Missouri

So yeah, it's cold. On a positive note, I got my hair cut. It looks kind of exactly like this:

Cute, right? Not really.

Today was an interesting day. By interesting, I mean cold as shit. This is certainly a cold winter, and I tire of it. I long for spring!

Other than cold, today is Tuesday. Tuesday = Thank You Tuesday.

Today, I'm thankful for indoor heating and plumbing. Dear ancestors/forefathers, I respect you for your bravery in excreting outside in the cold.

I'm also thankful for Asians. Yes, you heard me, Asians. Today I had Chicken Pad Thai for lunch, and it was fantastical. Then, for dinner, I ate at a wonderful Japanese steakhouse in downtown KC: Gojo's.

At dinner, there was a man at our table/grill/eating area who downed two beers and three sakes before our chef had even arrived. It was impressive. I mean, really. I can only hope that when I'm in my late twenties I have the courage and will power to start being as blasted as possible at 7:45 PM on a Tuesday evening.

I'm very aware of the fact that my sense of humor relies heavily on a dry, sarcastic tone, which is difficult to convey via typed word. I need to think up a way in which I can express my sarcasm to you, my semi-faithful readers.

Eh, I'll think of one later.

Sorry to rip you off, Rawrquelita, but I absolutely love your idea of day-themed blogs. I'll probably compile my own list of themes for each day of the week.

... some other time.

I'm a procrastinator. It happens.

Tomorrow, I work a short, four hour shift. Hopefully, that will allow me a bit more to blog/complain about.

Until then...

Truly,

David

Christmas Time is Here

So in less than a week, Christmas will be here. It's weird that this year has gone by so quickly. Anyone agree?

Christmas shopping is always a blast, isn't it? I've never seen so many stressed out, rushed and annoyed people gather in a mall or shopping center for so long. Working in retail/food service/coffee, not only do I have the opportunity to see a good majority of these people, I also have the pleasure of giving each and every tired, pissy, caffeine-deficient, impatient bundle of joy their venti heart attack.

If I've learned one thing from working in a coffeeshop, it's that Europeans are awesome. Well, I guess I already knew that. But oh well. I learned it more. Somehow.

No one needs 20 ounces of coffee, sugar, milk, or any combination of those. Especially a venti cappuccino. No. You simply don't need it. It doesn't even make sense.

Europeans, especially Italians, know this. They know coffee. They know what it is, what they want, and how they want it. They may seem prude, but it's for a different reason than Americans. First of all, if someone looks or sounds like they're from Europe, I know that I don't need to explain what a cappuccino is. They understand. Cappuccino = espresso with equal parts steamed milk and foam.

A cappuccino is NOT the vanilla, sugary liquid one finds on tap at Quik Trip. I sometimes detest what Americans have done with coffee. To Italians, coffee is precise and beautiful. One ounce of espresso with six ounces of steamed milk and light foam. Perfect coffee.

Not for us Americans though. We prefer 20 ounces of heart attack. To break this down, it's mainly comprised of steamed soy milk, mocha syrup, caramel syrup, vanilla syrup, whipped cream, caramel sauce drizzle, and a little espresso.

My other favorite order to bear through goes something like this:

After perusing the menu for WAY too long, a large, hick-ish man with disgusting facial hair, a camouflage hat and a hunter's orange vest in the MIDDLE of a bookstore (and really, what the hell are you hunting? Dress like a normal person.) walks up to the counter and says:

"Do you just have COFFEE?"

"Well yes, we have a variety of lattes and flavors, but we also have--"

"--No, just some regular old coffee. None of that pansy-ass girly shit."

"Just drip coffee? Sure. What size?"

"Uh, just regular. I don't know."

"Well, we have a tall, grande and venti, which are small, med--"

"--Just whatever. A big one, I guess."

"Okay, and do you like room for cream?"
"No, just black."

I have to tell you something. Being a prude about only wanting 20 ounces of black coffee doesn't make you seem better. It doesn't make you any more of a hardass or any cooler, or anything. Personally, I prefer the Europeans who prefer the precision of a latte. Granted, Starbucks is not, by any means, the epitome* of espresso, nor is it the best. But it'll do.

So anyway, I think of the fact that Christmas is soon, and ALL of that runs through my mind.

In other Christmas-y news, I watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey today. That movie is awesome. I remember loving it as a ten-year-old, or however old I was when it came out, but I absolutely LOVED watching it again and catching all sorts of innuendos and adult-level jokes! It was rad.

My closing thoughts for tonight/this morning must look to how the American economy is "tied to Santa's ass" (Lewis Black). Ol' Lewis Black is absolutely right, though. Every year, retailers, consumers, and news reporters are solely concerned with making sure enough goods are purchased to a) reach goals and maintain a "stable" (yeah right) economy and b) give to loved ones just so they can use it once or twice, then hock it 2-6 weeks later either i) because it's lame, or ii) the gift recipient would truly rather have the money the gift is worth, new or used.

I'm sorry that was a bit of a run on sentence; I know it had way too many clauses. If I was a bit more talented with HTML, I would have made that last bit into a flow chart.

Anyway. Lots of things really get on my nerves. It's kind of sad that as an 18-year-old, I would actually prefer sitting down, eating a nice meal, and relaxing with my girlfriend, family, and friends rather than receiving a single gift. I just want a day off without the stress of work or school: a day to be calm and enjoy the company of others who are always either too stressed or have too much to do to calm down on any other day.

I guess if there's a theme to take away from this post, it's something like the following: don't let Christmas stress you out. Be chill, and just be happy you get a day off.

However, since I'm almost positive that there's no way I accurately articulated any decent message in a way that anyone reading this will learn anything, I offer you this:

*epitome

n. a representative or perfect example of a class or type.

Originally, an epitome was an abstract, describing the main points of a writing.

Etymology:

Greek epitemnein (epi ["into"] + temnein ["to cut"]) > Latin epitome ["abridgement"]

I found, in looking at the etymology of epitome, it wasn't as fun as I had hoped. Oh well. Disappointment. Just like when you find out Santa doesn't exist, and that creepy old man dressed in red who let you sit on his lap was either a) a drunken liar who took $100 bucks to wear a fake beard at a mall all day and listen to kids talk or b) a pedophile communist with uncontrollable facial hair. The different situations simply depend upon whether this even took place in a mall or a dark alleyway behind it, respectively.

Truly,

David