Stuck....stuck stuck STUCK STUUUUUCK!

Last night I went out into the cold, cold air to check up on the snowfall (which, quite honestly, sucked for what the news said this storm would bring) and was greeted at the back gate by our dear [young] Sassy-dog. It was dark, so at first I thought it was Spooky, and also wondered why she was so energetic. Then she started licking my hand as I pet her from over the gate...definitely Sassy.

And then I had a thought.... What if I moved my hand next to the metal gate as she was licking it, and she slapped her slobbery tongue onto the cold metal? Would it stick?

I didn't do it (you cruel thinker, you!), but I chuckled and went back inside.

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FYI: I'm sitting home, spending a lot of time on the computer, eating Christmas candy, and just enjoying all this pure nothing-to-do. That pretty much sums it up for a "needed" blog update.
When school starts up again I'll have interesting events and more stuff to post...

Lasso rhymes with "Yeah, so?"

My headset became terminally ill today. Actually, it was last night. At first, I thought the people I was talking to online were turning their head away from their microphones mid-sentence, creating a kind of Doppler effect.

(Could I just have invented Pseudo-Voice Inflection Blogging? PseuVIB? P-VIB? Maybe. Huh. It could work. The real question is, do you get what it is I'm doing with this? Maybe not. Something that great inherently takes too long to do, so will never work, except for the Awesome among us. I'm an Awesome.)

It was just a short in the side that the input wires went into. When it comes to shorted wires, there are usually quick-fixes -- like moving it around until it works fully again, and taping it in that position..... and re-taping it with another layer (or 5) because it still doesn't work.... Yeah, it's workable.

However, I, being the conceited genius that I am, pried the earpiece off and started gutting the thing.

It is now no longer working at all. Go figure. It's not even quick-fixable.

I couldn't throw it into a corner and save it for a rainy day just yet, though. My separate microphone was still taped to the un-working all-of-it, and the cords were twisted around each other with a dire need (as dire as a dead piece of electronics stuck to a still-alive piece of electronics can have) to be free from one another.

First I went at it by just untwisting them by hand. It was slow and awkward to do while sitting in a banana chair with a keyboard on my lap.

Next, I stood up and let gravity take a turn while I pulled on the two wires to make it spin (you've all done something like that, right?). It didn't work, either. It made a mess of things, actually.

I now had a single wire in hand, and another coiled around it about halfway down. My next logical step was to swing one wire around my head in the air like a lasso. I promptly stopped because the open door was to my back, and anyone walking by would wonder what the heck I was doing.

That's when I decided to blog about this embarrassing moment that no one to *this* moment knows about [yet]. Just like the title says--why be shamed in more proof that I am stranger than you? Yeah. That's what I thought.

Resurrection of the blog after finals: Success

See ya, with a mustache. (How that is interpreted is up to you.)

--Stoker  :{D

Too much to do.

It's a busy week. Forgive me for just saying "Hi" and "Bye" today.

Maybe later tonight.

--Justin

Today I'm posting just to post. I already posted somethin' yesterday, so that makes up for this one's weakness.

However.... I'll just make it a list of a few random things and call it good.

• I'm thankful for too much to say. I know that's lame to say, but when you're content with life, you don't get nit picky and pick everything out. That's what I like to call "thinking too much". I will say, though, that everything in my life, including you in general, is something I can't help but be glad for. You're not not-thought-about. Thanks.
• Steak for Thanksgiving would totally snuff turkey--unless the turkey wasn't boring and dry, and smothered in some kind of marinade. THAT will be MY family tradition when I'm married...
• I've decided to not shave until Monday.
• Call of Duty: Black Ops is a very fun game, but the CoD money system makes it a bit too much to do. I liked just worrying about an experience bar and some challenges to unlock stuff, like in MW2. All-in-all, I shall play it much this weekend.
• Major worries for next week and school are as follows: bands, with jazz scales to have memorized (haven't even tried yet...) and a symphonic concert on Wednesday; Interpersonal Communication, with either a big research paper or 8 hours of service, plus a presentation; intro to art, with a group project presentation on Wednesday which also requires an essay of sorts--we've got two days to pull it together (....); aaaaand my college room is a mess. Pshaw.

That's all for today. I keep having strange thoughts (like yesterday's light switch memory) that I want to share with y'all, so I'll be back much...

--Justin

Light switch memory

I just had a thought.
For a moment, consider your "light switch memory". How many rooms can you walk into and reach for the light switch without the slightest thought, apart from, "Hey, it's dark in here!"?
A lot of rooms have switches that are further inside or closer to the door, or high up or low down. Wherever it is, our hands find it fairly quickly, even in a room we haven't visited in a while (but had frequently turned the light on before).

For example, in my first apartment in college, the bathroom light was on the outside of the tiny room with the toilet and shower. It became habit to seek it out before going in, and I pretty much conditioned myself to do it in that particular room of that particular house. I'd bet that I could go back there and my hand would automatically drift back to that switch with barely a thought.

I wonder what would happen if you moved some light switches around, like from the inside of a room to the outside, or to the opposite side of a doorway. You could really mess people up doing that. At least, until they figured it out and reteach themselves.

Then you could switch it back. :)

Home again, with meaning

Home is home. What more can I say? It's not like I haven't been here every now and then, though. It's just nice that I don't have to worry about things for a few days. Plus it's Thanksgiving. Usually it's a family time, but this year my aunts and uncles aren't gonna be down here. That's okay, though. It was snowing, so better they don't risk it. But without lots of people to cook for, there's not going to be as much food. Still, why bother? And anyway, food is just the tradition. A friend of mine mentioned that Thanksgiving is for gratitude, and tradition should just take a backseat. I guess that's what this year will be about, here.
(end of mindless ramblings)
(P.S. You can't print anything with those triangular brackets--like /\ only turned on its side--on Blogger. Y'know, the Shift + , and Shift + . ones? Yeah, it thinks I'm doing html code...whatever, Blogger.)


Yesterday, the president of Snow came into my biology class at around 11:00 and told us that the rest of the classes were cancelled for the day so everyone could beat the storm home. I wasn't worried about anything. The storm was expected to hit the hardest in the north, anyway. I joked and thought it would be funny if the storm pretty much died out and the south wouldn't get any of it.

We really didn't. I was disappointed, honestly. It was just a bunch of wind and a, "Oh, hey, look, it's snowing." How do you spell "ripped off"? (That's rhetoric, folks; I know, so save the trouble don't say it.)
The only thing gained from it, though, is an orange sky--a staple of winter, if you ask me. Have a gander:

It's pretty much the best. The perfect night includes that, no wind, and lots of snow. (and maybe a snowman and a sword.....yeah, some nights are better like that... Sadly, no visual aids of this could be found online at the time of this posting. I think it's up to me to change that. Keep an eye out...)

It also means Christmas is getting closer. I love the feeling of Christmas. It's just cheery. Surely you all know, right? I'm not talking about the feeling of, "Woohoo, I get some free stuff from my parents and people who love me!" Definitely not that. I can't support that, especially after I nearly condemned holiday tradition at the beginning of today's post.
Who knows, though, that feeling I have about Christmas might be the memories I'm tapping into from my childhood back when I did value the presents-tradition over the ideas. In either case, who cares? I look at Christmas now as a family time. That is true tradition: family.

I'll leave it at that.

--Justin

An Alt Space twist (literally)

**Note: I used "literally" the correct way. Most people mix up the ideas of "literally" and "figuratively". Hehe, I am a giddy goat!**

(xkcd comic #725)

Snap....I forgot about a post for Monday, but this one'll have to do (and if it counts, I DID have one that I tried to post with my phone [Alltel fail], so...I'm still consistent with my MWF plan!). It'll be more elaborate from a computer, anyway, 'specially without a texting character limit.


So there was a new Alt Space that opened up today that blew me away. It was such a crazy, awesome, random idea that seemed so simple, yet totally caught me pleasantly by surprise.

Takin' it easy.

Extreme wall-sitters

Behold:  the truth.

I think it's pretty cool. It reminds me of when I wanted to walk on the walls and ceiling when I was a kid...*cue dream-like music, wavy video effect, and reminiscent look into a top corner of the room*

One time, someone had a birthday party at my grandparents' house, and another someone-- it might have been one uncle or another--cut out foot-shaped pieces of paper and stuck them to the walls and ceiling. I was thoroughly convinced that someone had walked on the walls in order to get them to stick on there. Doing just that has been a dream of mine ever since.

I took those pictures with my phone, which explains the crappy quality, so I'll wander down there with my digi-camera and edit 'em into this post.
That's the gist of it... For those of you at Snow, go check it out. I'm pretty sure it'll still be up all next week, too, considering this week's only two days long.
Some interesting things about it, as were written in the comment book:

• Everything solid-/heavy-looking is made out of cardboard (couch, end table, fireplace...)
• Gullible is written on the "ceiling" above you. 
• The heaviest thing on the wall is the rug (according to a co-creator that was there when I was takin' a gander.

Huh. That's all I can remember. Impressive feat, creators.

Once again, thanks to all who come here to read this, even at a glance. :)

--Justin

(Note to self....crap, I had an idea for a cool post, but--oh, wait, now I remember:  "The Cove!" - the comedy blog that never came to be!  I'll write about what a couple of the episodes would have been about, possibly with illustrations!)

Shifty eyes

I'm finished with all my classes today, so I'm here in the Dungeon of the new library tinkering around on the computers.

I just witnessed a strange event, though... Whenever one person speaks a little over the typical noise level, a lot of people look around to see who it was. Thing is, they look, but look carefully, [so no one sees them looking]..
It's a shifty-eye kind of thing -- nosy, but still minding businesses.

I'm almost tempted to be loud, now, and see who looks. I'm pretty sure it would be a near-taboo reaction. At first, people would look around incredulously and think, "What is that loser doing!? Too loud! Shut up!" Then they would realize the quiet floor is a few levels up, then act as if they didn't  hear anything at all.

....but still maintain shifty eyes....

This one's for those who don't like cats...(Sarah)

Should I start making cat noises? Possibly. Seeing as everyone has only a nose-up view of my head, I very well could get away with it... Reminds me of when I "brought a cat" to the third floor of the old library and essentially got cussed out for it. All-in-all, making cat noises is a skill not many people have, and it definitely makes for interesting times.



Well, I'm in the midst of Extreme Minecraft Makeover: WoT-Interpretation Edition, so..... bye.

Again, I like my blog, so I'll write here often. It's relieving.
 じゃーね.

--Justin

As fast as you can!

I have five minutes to write some stuff to post today! I think I'll make it a scheduled event--every Monday/Wednesday/Friday or something? We can try that..

I just got a book called "Eats, Shoots & Leaves". I think it will be my best friend for the next few days.
It's "The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation", meaning the author, Lynne Truss (she's British), makes fun of a lot of crappy writing, and hones in on each form of punctuation, like commas, semicolons, apostrophes, etc., with explanations of them all.
My life will be mostly/kind of complete with reading this ode to what my life has been about for the past few years.

Now it's class time. Cheers. :)

--Justin

My past is history

Do you remember the days of Windows Live Spaces? It was a free blog for anyone using Hotmail or MSN. If you look at earlier posts of mine (Archives, Vol. I and Archives, Vol. II), you'll see I decided to re-post a couple of the entries, and do more later.

Last night I decided to read through my old, old posts, but when I logged into Hotmail and went to the place where Spaces used to be.......they were deleted. MSN started using an external site for its blogging stuff, so my blogging history is gone from around 2003 to 2007ish.  It's too bad, really.  I'm not too worried, though, because a lot of those posts were full of old, strange teenager stuff--way before myself now--back when I was a puffball (yeah, I was chubby, hahaha) of naïveté. What can you do?


Anyway, I've gotta hit up the store for some pasta......tomorrow after church means Alfredo and possibly garlic chicken or something, too. As my uncle, Ray, would say: "Delicious." (You have to know him to understand why that's funny :þ )


Au revoir,
--Justin

[EDIT: Woohoo! I added a picture! So begins the better blog!]

(a title for another day)

Being bored to the point of just wanting to go to sleep isn't much fun.  I could read my book, but it's been boring lately. (They need to find that darn weather-changing bowl, already!!) Ahem...
No Snow Ball, no roommates around, no fun-time invites from friends that I'm too lazy to talk to first myself....meh; it's a boring night as of a few hours ago. It also doesn't help that the only thing on my mind right now is essentially out of reach, and "for now" or "forever" is pretty much unclear as of yet. Times change, dang it. Sometimes you have to wish they didn't, right? Oh well...

Ya know what I need to do, though? I need to throw in some witty writing and comical....something. And maybe some pictures. I hear-tell that pictures are what a blog are. Maybe? Maybe. Perhaps when I find my digital camera's memory card somewhere in my room I'll throw some up here. It is lacking in the visual department.

Part one of Harry Potter 7 is coming out next weekend, so, after the jazz concert on Tuesday, that's the next big event coming up.

I need a laugh or two!

A day of who-knows-what -> just a freewrite/update

Today has been pretty decent. Nothing extraordinary, but nothing boring. I guess it can be described as well-balanced. So far... With at least 8 more hours of waking time, who knows what else could happen and tip the scales one way or another?

My Art 1010 test that I got back today was satisfactory. Apparently everyone but a few people bombed it (by her definition of 'bombed', I guess you could say I did, too). Even then, she added a good 10 points to everyone's score, so I pulled through with a 93 (strange, though, seeing as an 85 was written on my test itself...), so how can I complain? Ultimately, my final grade right now is a 99.something -- A+ according to the curve -- so a petty 93 didn't hurt anything at all. I'll pull through that class just fine.
Fine, at least, supposing that the group project will snap together. It's tough coordinating it all. I can pick out things I want to say, but I can't take a huge leap of leadership and say, "Okay, guys, you just read this and this and this...." They've gotta pull their own weight! One of us four hasn't even met with us yet. Jokes all around today that we ought to fire him... We have 25 days.

Horn choir is kicking trash, in a good way. Today we practiced on the stage for the big night on Thursday (yes, that means you need to come and listen, if you can.....). Madrigal is sounding great, with just mild "Don't rush!" sections and spots of iffy intonation. It's a killer (still in a good way!). That single high G in Panis Angelicus is beating me over the head, but in comparison to how it was at first...("A high G from a low G octave jump!? I'll never make it sound good enough!")...it sounds good enough. As a side note, it's proven itself once again that practicing really does make a difference! Go figure... To think I made it by in high school without so much as playing anywhere outside of the band room in a not-a-concert situation. Makes me wonder how much better I could be.

Next up.... Interpersonal communication and Interpersonal Communication, aka COMM 2110; both varieties kicked in when I came back from horn choir.
One, I encountered a situation where I wished I were better at a certain type of communication, and in certain situations -- a sort of thing that is pure motivation to take a class on it, ya know? Well, sure enough, I'm in the class, so I sat in the hammock for a half hour just thinking about...stuff. Anything and nothing, and then some. It just kind of sucks that the class was canceled, but even then, here I am now, reading and writing the Blogosphere. It's therapeutic and stress-relieving.

Tonight, I'll take what comes and roll with it, whatever it may be. Typically, one would hope for a good thing to make a glance back toward making it a good day, but I think I'd be content with some down moments. It just means tomorrow will be better, right?

Nevertheless, a tomorrow always has the potential to be better than its yesterday.
Tomorrow might mean a trip to Richfield and a box of punch bags, anyway...

--Justin

A long-awaited update....finally!

I've been editing the crap out of my blog since about 8:00. Two and a half hours, anyone? Anyone...? Bueller?
Yeah, it took a long time. Yeah, it's still not exactly how I want it. Yeah, my brain hurts.

(Bear with me -- this here is a complaint post!)

I'm too tired to say much more than this, so I believe the weekend is the time to throw up an update post.

By the way, to those of you who I *hope* saw the link I posted on Facebook and came here for a visit, I *hope* you decide to be a follower. A blog that actually has a few readers is nice, you know?

Thanks.
--Justin