Wednesday, March 23, 2005

day 2...

I had reached the saturation point. The whole ab reduction experiment had taken its toll on my psyche. I was having trouble keeping up with my ametuerish off-the-cuff plan to reduce my waistline to a more managable level. Yes, I was really starting to lose interest in the whole thing. I couldn't seem to keep up with my situps and crunches, and I needed a change in scenario to rescue me from my fall into apathetic oblivion... The plan originally was to try to keep doing situps/crunches daily, but it immediately deteriorated into a consistent every-other-day plan. Unfortunately in the last few weeks I had experience a further loss of interest - I was doing the situps/crunches about every 3 or four days. Worse still, I had lost interest in even doing them at all, since the only tangeable gain from it in the 3 months or so was the loss of a couple of pounds. As fate would have it, I mentioned the whole 'abs of steel' experiment to a friend of mine, and she was kind enough to lend me a book detailing a more legitamate ab strengthening program.

Now it's day 2 of the new program... and I am possessed with a newfound fervor lacking in my previous endevour. My body aches from the trials I had put myself through in the past two days, but I like it. Supposedly I'll have abs of steel in about 3 months - we shall see. But in the meantime I have found a new motivation to continue, which I am thankful for.

But it's odd... Lately, I've noticed that I have been going through a few lifestyle changes. I've been a fairly normal TV watcher throughout my life, but lately my TV watching has dwindled to near nothingness (not that that's bothering me), and I haven't even thought of videogaming. I've been studying harder (sort of), and working more. I've been sleeping less (shocking since I love sleep) and partying more. I've been watching what I eat lately (less red meat, more vegatables and fruit). I've even been considering (gasp) jogging to improve my cardiovalscular. What's going on with me?

Saturday, March 19, 2005

12345687910

I've noticed that I have a tendency to treat 7's as 8's and 8's as 7's. Would this be considered a loophole? Do you happen to know what I'm talking about? Probably not - and I think I would prefer it that way. Use art to mystify and science to explain...

1 + 1 = 3
2 + 2 = 5
Is this from 1984, or is it just relationship math?

Spring break is here, finally! Woo hoo! Unfortunately I still have to go to work. Darn...

Friday, March 18, 2005

The Phantom of the Opera


The Phantom & Christine
Originally uploaded by Palinchron.



I finally went to see The Phantom of the Opera. The movie basically sticked precisely to the play. Emmy Rossum, who played Christine, was very good in the movie. The guy who played the phantom was okay - decent, but nothing special. At first glance, Minnie Driver seemed miscast playing Carlotta, but she was actually very good too. Overall, I liked the movie, perhaps mainly because I liked the play.

One thing that I realized after seeing the movie was that it was only the second time that I have seen it. I was able to follow the story much better this time, because the first time that I saw it (the play), I had the off-broadway equivalent of nosebleed seats - everyone looked like tiny figurines. It just seems weird that I've seen it so few times. I guess the reason I felt so familiarized with the play was because the one year I was in a choir (yes, I was in a choir - in 4th grade) we sang nearly all of the songs from the play. Hmm, I wonder if there are any Phantom quizzes out there?

phantom
You are the Phantom!

What Phantom of the Opera Character are you? *Movie Version*
brought to you by Quizilla


one
Congratulations! You could give the Phantom a run
for his money in the obsession department! You
are over the top obsessed knowing all there is
to know!! Be proud of your obsession. After
all, obsession is just flattery to the extreme!
So show off your phantom loving status, cause
your impressive obsession makes you a true
phantom Phan!!!

How Phantom of the Opera obsessed are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


HASH(0x8df6478)
You are the Phantom. He has great passion for
music. Maybe you do too. It isn't a crime to
love music, just don't get too far into it.

Which Phantom of The Opera Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Monday, March 14, 2005

B-Day Blues

Normally I make no mention of it. I don't care for cake or surprise parties. For some reason, though, I've been looking forward to this one - more so than usual.

The weather has turned cold all of a sudden. I don't know, but I've been told that I was born in the early morning pre-dawn hours during a heavy thunderstorm...

How annoying that my birthday lies on Monday. There's nobody around to celebrate it with me. I have the choice of a number of fast food joints for lunch. I treat myself to a nice big roast beef sandwich, which tastes better when you have been limiting your red meat consumption like I have. I listen to some music, do my homework, and prep for my fantasy baseball draft. Now I'm at school. I haven't had a whole lot of time lately. Seems like I've been doing homework and going to work all of the time. My current lab is terribly difficult - it's an incomprehensible word problem. I can't make any sense of it. I'm going to have to ask for some help - but I always hate having to ask for help. Blah. Time for class...

Thursday, March 10, 2005

It's all in the mind

Yesterday I had to go to work, then go to school, try (and fail) to make up a lab, go to class, try (and succeed) in making up my lab, do my post-lab report which was due the next morning, and finally go home and eat dinner four hours later than I normally do. I should mention that I was also sleep deprived through the day, found out that some of my transfer credits couldn't tranfer (it was physics - my MAJOR was physics; I got an A and a B, yet they couldn't transfer due to technicalities, it's aggrivating to me), and was almost rear-ended by some psycho driver. The whole lab thing really pissed me off, because the reason I had to make it up was due to the fact that they totally mismanaged last weeks lab.

But... I should keep things in perspective. I mean, I didn't get injured in any way, didn't get fired, nothing was stolen, and I wasn't traumatized by anything (that I know of). I met my responsibilities and deadlines. Nothing horrendously bad happened or anything, so I shouldn't complain too much about it.

Still, nothing particularly good happened either. When the daily grind gets especially grindy, it can wear you down mentally. Unfortunately, I'm still seriously sleep deprived, and the Red Bull and 7 Diet Cokes I had today (not all at once) is starting to wear off. Doing those crunches yesterday had the negative effect of making me a little hyper, so I didn't get much sleep. Well, I better wrap up before I pass out or something... Bye.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Today really sucked

It's a long story, and I have to get up early again, so I'll explain later.

I've also noticed that, for the first time since my resolution, I've gone 3 days in a row without doing a situp or crunch. I'd better get on it... in fact, I think I'll do them right now!

(cue the inspirational music)

Because I'm on a quest to get rid of my gut! It's only been a couple months (what!? that's it?! Arghh!) but I have to perservere! Looks like I will be sleep deprived one more day! I'll have to rely once again on my new friend, Mr. Red Bull! Maybe it's just my delirium, but I kind of wish somebody would put me out of my misery!

I'm so going to sleep-in on Friday...

Sunday, March 06, 2005

When 216 isn't enough

Usually, if I bowl over 200 I'm pleased. It's my 'goal' so to speak. Bowling a 150 is too easy for me, just hit your spares. Spares are easy (if they're not splits). Getting a 200 requires more than hitting easy spares. It requires strikes, or more specifically, strings of strikes. This time however, I was a little disappointed.

I was experimenting a little. Normally I throw a 'full-roller' hook. Don't worry what that means, but just know that it is the least sophisticated type of hook (and probably the easiest to control). However, the full-roller has a slight problem. Although it is very effective when I happen to throw Brooklyn (left pocket) instead of the pocket I aim at (the 1-3 right pocket), I don't aim Brooklyn. I always aim at the right; but sometimes my full-roller doesn't hit it with enough energy to get a lot of strikes. So it's also the least effective type of hook when it comes to mixing the pins for strikes.

To further develop my game, I was trying out the semi-roller (which is a full roller with a little spin in it). In the first game, I was all over the place, and finished with an okay 160. By the 4th frame of the 2nd game, I found my line. I was hot, and I could do no wrong. I was dead on accurate at hitting my mark, and the pins melted before my new and improved hook. It didn't even matter that I was lofting it ten feet in the air (I did correct that with my rosin bag - my thumb was sticking), the pins had no chance. I had two strikes in a row in the 6th, and I just knew that I had a good chance of striking out (strikes the rest of the game). I was already projecting out my score - maybe 240 to 250. I was that locked in... or so I thought. Then I throw a duck. It wasn't that bad. I just threw it wrong, and missed my mark to the left. The ball went right down the middle, and if I got a lucky strike it wouldn't have mattered, but I left two pins. Then I get two more (very nice looking) strikes, and then get robbed (though my ball hit the pocket a little heavy - not enough speed) and left two pins again. Nah, 216 wasn't bad. It's just that I was so grooved in, I knew I could have done better.

Sorry for imposing a bowling story onto you, but I needed to get that out.

I've got the creeps

I'm not very superstitious. I don't really believe in ghosts or apparitions or vengeful spirits and such.

However, I had one of those 'experiences'. I was working late; and I turned off all the lights, etc. and prepared to go home. But then I decided to stay and work on my homework. Well it was very dark except for the desk light, and then there were these whooshing noises all through the walls. Then there these creaking noises. It was probably the ventilation, I told myself. Unfortunately, I started to have flashbacks to 'The Grudge' and... I expediously vacated the area. Blasted Japanese horror movies. Seriously, that movie was scary. I'm not going to see the Ring 2 or Dark Water. I'm staying away from anything that even looks like a Japanese horror film...

Friday, March 04, 2005

Things you can learn at the movies

I went to see Constantine the other night. I thought it was pretty good. Keanu... well, at least he didn't screw up the movie. Rachel Weisz was very good, as usual. The movie was educational, too. There were two specific things I learned:

Apparently, suicide is the worst kind of sin for a Catholic. Also, no matter what you do, it doesn't even matter if you've murdered somebody, you can always regain forgiveness if you repent (and really mean it) if you are a Catholic. Actually, I knew about the second thing, but now I see the connection with suicide. If you successfully commit suicide, then you won't be around to repent, thus making suicide the worst sin. Interesting... and a little screwy.

I was filling out a form...

Address? Street? Where do I live again? All of a sudden, a bunch of old addresses float in my head. Ohana Nui Circle... 1206 Fox... Brushy Point... I guess I've lived in too many places.

Okay, I think I remember now...

My Geographical Range:
NorthMount Rushmore
EastWashington, D.C.
South & WestWaka...something

I forgot the name of the city. It was some city at the southern end of North New Zealand. I went there, quite a long time ago, to see the geysers. Hmm, was it Wakawaka?

Calamity
Serendipity
What use is it all?

If you believe in fate
Make no mistake
You're heading for a fall...

Unloading some baggage

I've have a rough couple of days. Forgive me if I seems to be randomly blogging stuff. I just need to vent a little.

bad palm tree


bad palm tree
Originally uploaded by Palinchron.

Proof that I can't draw. It looks more like a weed, or a hairy insect...