Saturday, December 13, 2003

   Finals End . . . and Life Gets Complicated . . .
I'm starting to think my life is becoming very manga-ish . . . . . ya know, just after one arc gets resolved, another one takes its place and stuff . . . . .

Alright, so the other night, I was chatting with people being that I was finally free from school. It was now time to start planning for Return of the King. I'm running down the list, making some calls and confirmations . . . looking good, looking good . . . . .

And then stuff happened . . . . .

So, you all remember "The Girl", right? Alright. Now, this one might be a little harder to remember, but do you remember why she didn't come to see The Two Towers with us? Don't worry, I won't make you guess; she has this other friend who she had promised to see it with that year. Well . . . . . seems this friend would REALLY like to still see it with her . . .

Now I've got "The Girl" coming, no questions asked. It's been confirmed for over a year, and even mean people wouldn't break that! So, obvious solution would be that this friend come with us, right? Okay!

She has work to get to at 6pm. Uh . . . hmm . . . alright, let's see . . . . .

Now we go to my buddy. He's my LotR geek buddy who reads the books, plays the tabletop game, and does all this planning with me. So we were planning to watch it in the early evening or something. I bring up this factor to him . . .

He says, "alright, just as long as it's after 2pm." Hmm . . . wait, hold on . . . . .

The guy, though he should be off from work by before then, says the owner of the store is visiting on Thursday, so the store has to be all perfect and stuff (he's a manager).

So, essentially we have to pray that my friend will not have to work, so we can get a 2:00pm showing or earlier. Then all will be good . . . . .

There's a little more to the story that I could add to the extended DVD, but I'll save that for later in the day, maybe . . .

The THINGS I do for these things!!!!! GAH!!!!!
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Friday, December 12, 2003

   My Overnight Exam Adventure: What I Learned
Facial Hair: Day 14 . . . it has grown to a length of 3 millimeters (you do the conversion).

Hey kids, ya miss me? Well, I'm back now . . . and definitely am not going anywhere - I finally be done! I don't know how well I'm done, but I'm done in many ways, in any case. Done in that I'm finished exams and thus the semester, done in that I've been beaten to an inch of my life . . . anyhoo, here's a quick list of things I learned over the past 48 hours or so . . . . .

-When you have about 10 hours to study before an exam, you NEVER use all 10 hours to study.

-Disposable wooden chopsticks, when broken perfectly evenly, can be looked upon as a good omen for future events.

-It's official: it's NEVER a good idea to take a course on a dare!

-You'd be surprised how many times you can run through a single verse and chorus pairing from a song through your head and still not get sick of it.

-You'd be equally surprised at how little you care when you feel you've probably failed an exam at about 9:30pm at night.

-All my friends seem to think my pseudo-beard is cool.

-It doesn't matter how clean a bed is; if it's not yours, it takes a while to fall asleep on it (I think it's the smell).

-Once you can finally fall asleep, any bed becomes a very comfortable bed (though the unfamiliar smell stays).

-Residential towers on campus have awesome views if you're on the 14th floor.

-My natural eye colour is brown iris with pink whites.

-Some of the coffee will ALWAYS find its way outside of the cup and your mouth and find your clothes.

-Bodily functions are a joke played on us by God just for stress-intense occasions like this.

-Slightly stuffy nose + small lecture room with no windows = extreme fear of hyperventilation.

-When it's all said and done, wanting to get a beer before 11am doesn't seem like such a weird idea after all.

-No places on campus sell beer before 11am.

-Which really works out, since drinking alone is silly.

-Plus, I would have had to drive my parents to the airport later in the day and hey, why risk it?

-For some reason, it seems to be easier to fall asleep on a moving bus than it is to fall asleep in a strange bed.

-If left unchecked, I'll automatically start playing Final Fantasy music through my head.

-When school's not on my mind, Return of the King is . . . . . IT NEEDS TO BE WENDESDAY RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yeah. I'm done. I'm a very happy man now.
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Wednesday, December 10, 2003

   Just hand me the blindfold . . . . .
December, 2003 . . . 12 days since my last shave . . .

Time to face the music, I guess. Tonight I write my Computer Science final, and tomorrow morning I write my History exam. It's gonna suck royal. A lot. A whole lot. An incalculable lot. So yeah, tomorrow I'm gonna be at school all day and all night . . . luckily, I've got a nice friend who lives on residence.

You see, tonight the CS exam will be at 7:00pm. This will take me about 2-3 hours to write.
The next morning, I write my History exam at 8:30am.

Now to add depth to time, it takes me about an hour to get from home to school or vice versa . . .

So what I'm gonna do is crash at my buddy's dorm, sleep there, and wake up groggy and stinky for my next thing (I don't think showering will be much of a priority in this case [but that's just me, so . . .]). Actually, it's kinda funny, isn't it? I mean, I've got the 12 days of facial hair AND I will not have bathed in the conventional sense! Ha hah! I'm gonna be such a barbarian for the next while! So yes, Not comin' home tonight.

That said, I probably won't be postin' tomorrow and will be away from the site 'til I get back on Thursday (unless the exams kill me first). So, since I hate leavin' ya guys with nothin' when I can't be here, I shall leave you with this:

http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/someguy/

This is my proof that I wasn't always an old man like I am now. This is a link to my old, old, OLD homepage from back that I started when I was still in high school. It has a slew of things I wrote back in the day, including my very long saga about my high school life and how I survived it. Maybe you might like it? Cause let me tell ya, I'm pretty embarrassed of it now - not that I wrote it, but that I can write so much better now and it pains me to see how I used to write . . . but, in any case, enjoy, as I need to study now. Farewell, in case I never come back . . .

[Steps out to stake near wall in front of firing squad, gets tied to it, gets blindfold, gets last cigarette . . . coughs hard (doesn't smoke) . . . . .]
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Tuesday, December 9, 2003

   (Grumble grumble grumble . . . . .)
It's not past 9 yet, so this won't register as next day, but I think I need to tell of all these funny little incidentals that happened just now while I'm still grumbling about them . . .

So, I slept in because I couldn't get up this morning, and thus was not able to go to a 2-hour class question session with my CS prof. That said, I'm probably more so screwed because of that.

Then, I wasted a couple hours looking up stupid things on the internet instead of studying. My fault, really . . .

In any case, I finally got to writing out some History notes at around 3. I got about half a page done when I had to leave to pick up my mom from work. Once I got her, she needed to make a quick errand, so I drove her to that place and waited in the car for her.

Then it all went to hell . . . . .

Well, there were some HUGE problems in the store involving line-ups and frustrating customers and stuff (I'm sure many of you can relate to that), so my mom took much longer than we had hoped . . . I actually noticed the sky grew dark during this time.

So now I'm driving home, after being in this car for almost an hour now . . . train tracks, train coming . . . what are the odds?

Get through some more rush hour traffic and stuff, just tired of being in this car . . . one last turn to get to my alley, my mother tells me, "you know, you're not going to be able to pass your final road test if you drive like this . . ." She then went on about how I need some of the elder males in my house to drive with me some time . . . well, I explained that I was not exactly in the most "driving-est" mood at that moment, having sat in a car for over an hour with finals to study for . . .

Well, her entire mood became somewhat apologetic towards me, noticing that I was visibly "grumbly" by this point. I also noticed that since I had been wearing hiking boots for an hour, my previously dry and cozy socks were now cold and damp. Grumble . . .

Got back to studying for a while, getting strides in notes down. Mother tells me it's time for dinner. Shortly afterwards I got up and noticed my kleenex box was almost empty. So I came out of my room, went downstairs . . . kleenex boxes not where they used to be . . . searched up and down for a couple minutes, checking different possible spots. Nothing. Grumble . . . I ask the elders, they point me in the right direction.

So I'm finally eating now. There's a small plate of lasagna for me to work on while the rest of my dinner reheats . . . . . BIG hunk of lasagna comes off my plate, onto my pants. Grumble grumble . . . . . get new pants on, finish dinner . . . and now I'm here.

I really hafta tell ya, when this week is over with, I will be a very happy man who will probably not be grumbling anymore . . . heh . . . ya know, if something else happens to me tonight, I just might go all out and say "bah humbug"! THAT is how grumbly I am right now!

'Ta.
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   2 down, 2 to go . . .
December, 2003 . . . 11 days since my last shave . . .

Well, the English exam seemed okay enough. My writing started going to hell by the end of it, but that's normal enough. I do feel pretty lucky, though: one guy in the room left about half an hour into it (always gotta feel sad for those people . . .).

In case I didn't mention it, not only did I stop shaving, but I also didn't get my hair cut this month. I'm getting pretty shaggy and barbarous. Kinda neat. I don't think I've ever had my hair this long before - my hair can actually reach my eyes if I try hard enough! And for a guy who usually gets cut once a month, that's pretty intense, let me tell ya!

As for the facial hair? If I reach my upper lip over my lower lip, I can get prickled. Again, pretty intense stuff for one who doesn't do this often.

So here I am, typing this, watching my hair grow . . . . . all the while I STILL have CS and History for Wednesday and Thursday respectively . . . but that's a story for another day. Glad you all enjoyed the cute flash games. I shall chats withs yous laters, peeps!
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Monday, December 8, 2003

   Greete peynes, fate brynges me . . .
I played Civ3 for a very long period of time today/yesterday (depending on how you count time). My ass is sore, my eyes are blurred, and my studying was wrecked a little bit. Oh, and tomorrow/today (depends on how you count time) will be my Chaucer exam. Should be fun, ne?

So yeah, thanks for all the support. I'll try not to let anyone of ya down.

So . . . . . . since I won't be here to entertain too much later, um . . . . . uh . . . . . oh! I know!

INSANELY CUTE FLASH GAMES!!!!!
http://ferryhalim.com/orisinal/
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Sunday, December 7, 2003

   Facial Hair: Day 9
The hairs on me chin have gotten long enough for me to discern what directions they're growing in. And let me tell ya, they ain't team-players . . . they all be goin' every which way! Complete follicle anarchy, I tells ya! The madnesses! The madnesses, I tells ya!

Erm . . . okay, brutish English aside, I've started writing out a couple notes. I stress on the miniscularity of these notes (and yes, I made up a word, do enjoy it now). Turns out, when the younger brother got himself a notebook for whatever reason, he also got "Civilization 3" as a time-killer game.

So if I'm not wasting time at the computer or in front of the TV, it's sitting on the couch next to this dude with his laptop that's sitting on a TV tray thingy, playing this game. It's not even that I'm playing, it's that I can't stop watching him play!

Seems over the break not only will I have to get Call of Duty AND Final Fantasy X-2 . . . I'm also gonna hafta get Civ 3! Blast!!!

On the plus side, I think my bro might be getting me Call of Duty for Christmas. Earlier today I said, "I think I'm gonna buy that game right after my last final." He then went, "Why do you ALWAYS do this?!" (You see, around my birthday he was gonna get me .hack//INFECTION, which I bought. He then changed his plan to getting me .hack//MUTATION . . . which I also bought before my birthday. So, instead, I got a plastic electronic LotR Sting. Funny how that works out, huh?).

So yes. Finals. Not looking good. Christmas break? Starting to look VERY good . . . . . . . yeah, I be sunk again. Cheers!
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Friday, December 5, 2003

   Heehee . . . . .
Okay, something quick to pass the time:


Everybody knows about the search engine Google, right?

Okay, so there's the "I'm feeling Lucky" button that sends you to the very first web page the search finds . . .

That said, I want you to type in "miserable failure" and tell me what happens when you feel lucky?
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   Facial Hair: Day 7
The stuff under my chin is getting to the point where it's not even prickly anymore. Likewise, every time I look in the mirror, I am continually convinced that I just do not look good with facial hair . . . meh. Maybe I'll give up on the "cool Aragorn stubble" and trim it to a Pirates of the Caribbean sorta look? Who knows . . . . .

So yeah, I bought that the other day. Enjoying my Pirates DVD very much, I am. Oh! Funny story! When I was at Future Shop to buy it, just as I was leaving the store, the door alarm went off. When it finally registered to me what was going on, there was a guy in the little "airlock" thing between the outer doors and the inner doors, a Godfather DVD set falling out of his hands, and 3 guys - 2 of which were Future Shop employees - holding him back in as best a swarm as they could. Now, you know me, I rather enjoy doing the right thing and all, but ya know, this shoplifter ALREADY had an arm around his neck (his head was entirely purple!), and more Future Shop guys were still coming out to help. In any case, I just hung back, just inside the store, watching this guy get taken down. The Future Shop guys eventually took him down just after the guy had forced his way to the sidewalk before they all fell on him, they pinned him in an INCREDIBLY uncomfortable-looking manner, and called security. The guy eventually gave up and they escorted him back inside to wait for security; I didn't stick around for that, but hey, it was interesting.

And let that be a lesson to alluvya: though retailers may only be selling electronics, or software, or whatnot, they can STILL kick some ass! So don't start thieving now, savvy?!

At the same time I'm still sleeping in very late. On top of that, I'm STILL doing very little in terms of real studying . . . I cracked open a book today, but then a plumber came to the house to check out a slow-flowing drain in the tub. Yeah, plumbing snakes in the pipes aren't the quietest things one can hope for . . . . .

To be fair, though, that one's probably one of my better excuses as of late.

Just checkin' in, fillin' in on some news, ya know. With that dentist story there, I got pushed back a bit and stuff. And now, I shall return to my pretend-studying, watching my so-called moustache and beard grow . . . . . I kinda have an Errol Flynn thing going on, and it'd be neat if not for the fact that it just doesn't look good on me at all, actually.
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Thursday, December 4, 2003

   For Rusty': A Tale of Torn-out Teeth, Part 2 . . .

Again, be warned, this could get juicy . . . . . anyone vomits, I'm sorry . . .


So the sewn-over gum bits from my uppers were pretty much completely healed. There was new gum where there was not gum before, seeing as they had to stitch the old bits together to close up the lost space. Well, in any case, it was time to get the bottoms out, which were WAY down in the jaw! Time to get out the oral surgeon!

I remember the consultation I had with the oral surgeon weeks prior. He kept talking about simple things like school, life in general . . . he was trying to set up a comfort between us, since we didn't meet regularly like with my dentist. In any case, the point to this part of the story was that he glossed over how he wanted to use local anaasthesia (ie. freezing). I asked about that, so he answered, "oh, you want to be put to sleep?" I said, "well, what's easier?" He said, "local's easier and cheaper. Plus, you get to tell your friends you were awake for all of it!"

. . . I went, "okay, we'll do local!" (Yes, you can all say it: I am indeed a sick, sick man.)

So, the day came, I was put in the chair, they gave me a little anaesthetic tablet to dissolve under my tongue. I remember that it tasted like hell and I didn't even really feel it affect me at all . . . oh well . . . needle-time!

Again, the familiar feeling of those pinchy little needles going into the gums and other soft parts of my mouth, then I felt it all go numb . . . and then it was time to rock and roll!

The oral surgeon had a few more tools compared to the dentist. He actually had little things to hold the gum open after he cut through it (again, the WEIRDEST feeling ever). It was then when he said, "yeah, we're gonna have to take the tooth out in pieces . . ."

I'm awake this whole time, mind you . . . . . tee hee . . .

So I can't really see what they're pulling out, but in any case, it made a whirring sound and buzzed my jaw a bit . . . guess they were drilling fracture lines or something? Well, after they did that, I saw him sort of grab what I can best describe as an all-metal instrument that had a slurpee scoop at the end of it. So he puts this thing where I assume he had just drilled points, started the twisting . . . twist twist twist . . . nothing . . . . . he puts the "flat scoop" down, and grabs a new one . . .

This one had a handle like a screwdriver! Just a thick, thick handle, designed for leverage! So again, this thing goes into my mouth, into the drilled bit in my impacted wisdom tooth . . . twist, twist, twist . . . twist . . . . . . KRRRAAAACKKK!!! Maybe it was just because it was in my head so I could hear it through the vibrations and all (you know how that is, right? Like humming quietly and you can hear it perfectly?), but in any case, that was a definite, audible crack that just resounded in my mouth! Again, I raised my fist slightly in triumph . . .

So out comes the shovel, in goes the tweezers . . . I think that one came out in about 5 or 6 pieces . . . from what I saw, they were all almost perfect cubes too!

So yeah, again, stitch stitch stitch, close that up so I don't bleed to death and make that poor sucker-thing work overtime . . . on to the other side! Ya know, more of the same, cut, drill, KKRRAAAAACK!!! . . . all in good fun, I'm sure . . .

Right after I got my bottoms pulled out and my cheeks were packed full of gauze again, I was sent to the little "resting/wake-up/puking room" in the office, and I just sorta sat there, waiting. Didn't really feel dizzy or anything. When my ride came, I went to the pharmacy, bought the Tylenol 3's for whatever pain might come up . . . and I went home to kill a few hours (and let me tell ya, you'd be surprised how well one can STILL talk when one's mouth is full of cottony things and one's jaw is held closed the entire time!).

So yeah, my mouth was pretty sore for the next few days or so. I was gargling the salt water, I was taking the antibiotics, I was eating the soft foods (but to a lesser extent than before, I think), and all the while I was esentially just thinking, "wow, my jaw kinda hurts . . ." But ya know what? It just never seemed to hurt that much!

I kid you not! I don't know what it was; either the doctors had a really easy time with my particular case or I just have a really high tolerance for pain. In any case, I never used a single one of those Tylenol 3's. Not one! It just never really hurt enough . . . . .


So yeah, I think I got off easy or something. I've yet to hear of a similar type of ordeal with wisdom teeth or anything else like that. This is my story, I had fun telling it . . . and Rusty, buddy, I do hope you're feeling a bit better . . . . . cause eventually it will, believe me!
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