Okay, here we go with part two of the previous post. A few things to note before I get into my list. First off, I take my New Year’s Resolutions very seriously, unlike some people. Last year I had 3 major Resolutions: (i had to sort through some old emails to find the third one..)

1. Completely give up drinking soda (with exceptions made for when I was eating pizza, or when it is the only beverage available)
2. Be completely open and honest (this was fairly quickly changed to “Be completely honest when questioned about anything, and never intentionally mislead others”)
3. Live a Keen-free© year.

And how’d they turn out? The no pop one went really, really well for a long time (I think my co-workers could attest to that), until Vanilla Coke came out. I had already loved the Fridays vanilla cokes, so I had to try it, and it was great, and I was hooked. But now it is pretty much the only pop that I’ll drink. It’s not that I’m being snobby about it, I just don’t want to ever drink as much pop as I did in college. Then again, my alcohol consumption seems to have risen inversely proportinal to my pop consumption. Odd how that works. So long as work keeps the grape juice handy, I’m all set. (Speaking of which, there’s been no grape juice for over a month, and apple juice just isn’t doing it for me.

The open and honest thing served its purpose. I said the things I wanted to say but felt unable to for one reason or another… then proceeded to say a whole lot more that I didn’t intend. All in all, complete honesty is dumb, I think, unless you’re in a situation where it can actually work mutually. Otherwise it just leaves you feeling empty and exposed. So that resolution might have been a little short-sighted, but like I said, it served its purpose.

The Keen-free© year started out so strong, until he showed up. I guess it was to be expected, as I lived with him and all. But by mid-year he was out (after many an adventure… sigh. Good times. The only thing better than having a crappy roommate is having a crappy roommate that keeps bringing over your ex-girlfriend so they can lay all over each other in your living room.), and the rest of the year has been Keen-free© And there was much rejoicing. Sure, it meant a few less adventures, and no more fun stories about him for the Pickwick, but oh well, I’m retarded, so I’m bound to have something else stupid to talk about.

So on the whole, last year’s (well, this year, technically) resolutions went pretty well. This year in my Sunday School class I taught a lesson on perseverance, and one of the key things there seemed to be the idea that if you set specific achievable goals, it would be a lot easier to stay on target and make progress. (e.g. If you just say you’re going to practice your flute more this year, that’s kinda vague, and while you might practice a bit more, there’s nothing really keeping you to it. If you say “I’m going to practice at least an hour each day.” then you’ve got a specific goal to measure up against, and the goal of practicing more becomes more achievable). SO this year I’m setting specific goals, and specific steps on how to get there. Enough intro.. On with the show.

My New Year’s Resolutions

1. I will gain 20 pounds in 6 months.
   1. I will eat 3 meals a day, at least 5 days a week. The following will no longer constitute a “meal”:
      • Vanilla Coke
      • Raw Cookie Dough
      • MandMs
      • Wilhelmina Peppermints
      • Cheese
      • Frosting
   2. I will work out 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), and get an exercise bike to use while watching TV (During Friends from 7-8). (this is more just to keep in shape during the winter, but if I put it here, I can justify the expense to myself a bit more easily)
2. I will adhere to a strict budget.
   1. Lunches at work will be brought from home at least 4 times a week.
   2. Strict spending limits will be drawn up, and held to.
3. In conjunction with the previous 2, I will learn how to cook.
4. I will accept and believe that happiness can be a reality, and that dreams and desires can be achieved, no matter how difficult it might be, or how long it might take.

So there we have it. I kinda shot the moon with the last one there, but I dare say that those that really know me know I’m a hopeless optimist that just spouts the ideals of the pessimist because they’re funnier. So what do ya think? Got any to add? You’ve got less than 12 hours…

Well, I’m back. Friday sucked. It happens. Ironically, I was talking (online) to Tuuk about this very thing: When I’m alone, (unintentionally), I get depressed. I’m fine with being alone, so long as I choose to be alone. It’s when I want to be with other people, or am supposed to be with other people, and yet am stuck by myself with nothing my stupid brain to talk to, things go downhill fast. The unfortunate reality, then, is that oftentimes the only time I’m really free enough to write here is when I’m too tired too be coherent, or because I’m alone, and lonely, and thus, depressed and/or pissed off. Fortunately, the 4 people that actually read this site know me already, and already knew that too, so they can continue to just skim on by and wait for the part where I:

1. Mention their name.
2. Reveal embarrassing facts about myself.
3. Give the latest Ed update.

So here’s what’s happened since I last wrote something of substance: Tuesday was Christmas Eve (or X-mas eve, if you’re Adam). So Kristin came on over around 10, and after a little while, we were set to go. First to DandW to get some wine for my Dad. Then a quick run to Best Buy for some last minute presents, and we were on our way. The ride to my parents place was the typical Ron and Kristin deal: We talked for a while, then she busted out the Celine Dion, and there was some singing involved, and yada yada yada, the trip went by quickly. Showed up, and the rest of my family was already there. After getting all our stuff in, yada yada, Jeff and I started doing these Mensa trivia/puzzle cards. Stuff like “4 couples, Mr. and Mrs. A, Mr. and Mrs. B, Mr. and Mrs. C, and Mr. and Mrs. D, are at a dinner party. Each couple is sitting by each other, except one. This couple is not sitting across from each other. Mrs. A is sitting directly to the left of a man who is sitting directly across from Mr. D. Mrs. C is sitting directly to the left of a man who is sitting directly across from Mr. B. Which couple isn’t sitting next to each other?” Yeah… don’t try to figure that one out, cause I think I missed parts, and got parts wrong. That, and that one was stupid. Here’s the one I liked:

Here are the rules. You can move the numbers around as you’d like. You have to make a true equation (i.e. keep the equals sign, and move the numbers, and make it true.) This one I thought was pretty kewl. Then again, I’m the one that blew at least a half an hour trying to figure out the probability of getting dealt at least one jack when you deal 12 cards from a pile made up of 3 full decks of shuffled cards. I blame my parents for making me so messed up.

After some time, Jeff and I headed out with Steven for a little car trip (ATM stuff), and I finally got a chance to talk to him for a while about Life, the Universe, and Everything, which was very nice. We got back, and hung around watching TV for a while. Then the annual fastest dinner ever. (Fastest Dinner Ever –> The meal before we open presents. Rarely an elaborate meal, and 2nd helpings are frowned upon…and usually result in numerous fork stab wounds.) So then it was opening presents time.. That’s all documented fairly well in the pictures section. Afterwards we played Trivial Pursuit, as we usually do, then we all drifted off to sleep. I ended up watching 3rd Rock from the Sun, which I used to be quite fond of, until they took it out of the rerun lineup. Heaven forbid I get to sleep at a normal hour.

Christmas morning was church. One of the best things about Christmas is at the end of the Christmas service at Bethel, the choir is up there, and they invite anyone from the congregation who wants to join them, and they sing the Hallelujah Chorus. Honestly, one of the most beautiful things to witness. It’s just one of those things where for a moment everything is right and good, and you wished they’d just keep singing forever.

After the service, we headed off to my Dad’s office, and he showed me a few problems he’s been running into on The Bible Gateway. Most of them magically corrected themselves before I had a chance to see them, much the way a car manages to repair itself long enough to start fine and dandy when it’s at the mechanic, but dies the instant you’re back home. Then it was on home for a giant turkey dinner. It was wonderful. (Actually, I’m eating some of the leftovers as I type this.) Then I started playing Double Dominoes 15 with my parents. After a short time I realized that my competitive nature comes straight from my Dad. (Competitive Nature –> Win at all costs, but better still, win and completely crush your competitors in vicious and humiliating ways… and if winning is impossible, at least destroy any chances of winning for those around you who would certainly win were it not for your constant attacks.) It’s kinda sad how much joy I took in finding him to be so vicious, and how good he was at it. So we pretty much destroyed each other, then once Kristin joined in, we combined our powers to see to it that she didn’t win. Grand. After a few hours of that Kris and I headed off for home. Got back late, and Kristin took my car (I needed an oil change, and she works at Saturn of G.R.), and I got in and cleaned for a while, then fell asleep.

Thursday was work from home day, and I managed to get a ton done the first 6 hours or so, then in the next 2 hours I managed to undo all the work I had done. It was all database schema related, and the changes were all for the better, and we’re making real progress, so I’m jazzed.

Thursday night I headed out with Steve and Julie to go furniture shopping. I’ve been in need of a new couch or something to replace the hideous beast of a couch that has been in my room. So we went out looking at a number of furniture places, eventually ending up Art Van, where we found a nice, but kinda expensive, black couch. We also saw a few really nice futons, and I started thinking they were the way to go. Some pushy saleswoman gave me her card though, and was convinced I’d be back. We wandered around for a while, and Steve and I found this heated massage chair. It violated me, but I didn’t mind. Finally, we left, headed back to Steve’s place, and played cards for a while… Mindy came over, and we got some pizza, and played euchre. Then off to home, where I proceeded to not sleep. Finally, around 3 I just started playing Zelda, cause I was sick of trying to sleep. I think I must have nodded off around 4:30 or so.

Friday was work. Friday was pointless. It was just Jay, Nathan, BDF, Dave, Ed, and Myself at the office. For all you old ulabbers out there, you’ll be pleased to hear that Tanks made a brief but triumphant return. All run in fear of the might BAFTA. I did some talking to Tuuk for a while, which did me some good, as I was feeling quite disconnected (thanks, Tuuk). Friday night I headed home, tried to get that monitor and failed, found out my hopes of heading out to A2 would likely not be realized, headed out and bought some nice shelves, made one of them, then cleaned my room for a while. I ended up just kinda falling asleep on the floor, and in the middle of the night woke up, and then got into bed. That used to be a more common occurrence, kinda glad it’s not as common now, cause waking up on the floor is always a bit disorienting. Everything looks different when you’re lying on the floor.

Saturday I got up early : 9a.m.( 9 is early. Shut up. ) I headed off with Steve and Julie and picked up my futon. We headed on back to my place, and Steve and I put the thing together. Then we had to ditch the couch. We took it out my front door (I’m on the 3rd floor), and then just tossed it off the balcony. It was grand. It’s hard to describe the sound it made. It landed on it’s side right on the sidewalk, and made a sharp thud, then it sounded like change hitting concrete as the springs began popping and snapping. So that was a little slice of joy in the middle of the day. After bringing Steve off to some place he was ordered by his wife to go, I headed off to a few other Best Buys to see if they had my monitor. They did not… so I swung by Circuit City on my way home and picked up two more Zelda games: Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons. Then I headed back and made the 2nd shelf unit, and then began setting up/rearranging my room. It’s starting to look a lot better. I still need to replace on desk, and do something better with the TV table. Eventually all my furniture will be black, and that will be grand… it’ll match my heart. I was still fixing and rearranging my room when Josh showed up, then Mindy, then Mandace. Once we were all assembled, Matt, Mandace, Robb, Josh, Mindy, and I all headed off to Max and Ermas. Now Saturday was Robb’s Birthday, so we’d finally have the honor of forcing all the servers to come and sing for him. We ended up having to wait for a fair amount of time, as they were quite busy, and we were informed that Tressa didn’t have any seating for 6 in her section, but when we finally got seated we were indeed served by Tressa, as she had pulled a few strings and switched tables with someone. It’s the little things that make a day good. A number of fun things while we were there:

• Robb’s less than subtle attempts to get Tressa to remember/acknowledge that it was his birthday. Priceless.
• Josh, a school teacher at Unity Christian High School, refusing to acknowledge 2 of his students sitting a few tables away, and our repeated (and apparently successful) attempts to embarass him.
• Half the staff of Max and Ermas lining up to sing to Robb for his birthday song.

Afterwards we headed back to the house, Robb received his birthday beating, and we played Scattergories. It didn’t take long before the 3 of us roommates (if not everyone) were plotting against each other, hellbent on either proving an entry invalid or just plain asinine (for the record “Pot for sale” is not something that is yelled, but a “Tow Truck Transmission is something made of metal, despite what people may say.) Soon Cathy showed up, and joined in on the fun. After hours of that, people had to get going, and I finished up fixing up my room. I then finally got a chance to start playing Metroid Prime. It is fan-freaking-tastic. I spent the entire first level with my heat beating rapidly, scared to turn around any corner. Andy and I had this discussion a few months back where we noted the real fear power a game can wield when you never know where the next enemy is going to come from, rather than a game just throwing endless hoards of enemies at you. Entering each room becomes this frightening ordeal approached with caution and patience, rather than the usual charge headlong with guns blazing. Now I have little doubt that once I get more familiar with the game and the controls I’ll slide into that “kill everything on the screen” mode, but for now, it’s fun to creep around corners and jump whenever a suddenly feel shots coming from behind. So yeah.. I have high hopes for this game.

Today was Sunday, so off to church, then I stayed around talking to Christy for a long while (Pickwick Crew: She was the “She’s a good girl for you, Ron…. She’s a good girl for you, Ron… She’s a good..” girl.). So she and I are meeting for dinner Thursday. That ought to be fun. Then it was off to the Veldhof’s for lunch. Always a good time. We did those word puzzle things, like:

eggs

easy

That would be “Eggs over easy”. My favorite one was this:

ptemrohea

After dessert, Gwen and I headed off to a few stores. At Circuit City Gwen managed to convince the sales guy that I was going to spend $2400 on a really nice TV, and the sales guy then almost convinced me of this fact… until I ran away screaming that Gwen was the devil. After a swing through Bestbuy, Meijer, Circuit City, and an adventure in the mall, we headed back to my place. The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. I took a nice nap, then woke up and started watching You’ve Got Mail and writing this here post.

So that brings you up to the present. There’s two more sections to this post that I haven’t written yet… but I think that continuing to add to this one would be a mistake, so I’ll just go ahead and finish here.

It’s Friday night. More and more I’m finding that I hate Friday night. The only thing Friday night has to offer me is the fact that tomorrow I don’t have to wake up… but in all fairness that could be any night if I owned a handgun. Tonight’s big social activity: I built a black bookcase. I’ve got one more to build, which will get filled with VHS tapes of television shows I obsess over. I went off to Best Buy to buy that monitor, cause I decided I deserved it, and so of course they were sold out, would not be getting any new shipments anytime soon, and would be raising the price by $150 starting Sunday. To say I am cursed would be a lie, I guess, but to say I get dicked over repeatedly by just about everything would be hitting the nail on the head. It just seems to happen too much. It happened again this evening. Nobody’s fault I guess, but the one thing I was really looking forward to this whole Christmas break/season thingy, and it manages not to happen. It’s these little things that keep stacking up, and they’re really starting to drive me crazy. So here’s my questions, and if you have an answer, please let me know:

Is it too much to ask for just one thing that I’m actually looking forward to/excited about to actually happen, rather than fall apart at the last minute, get completely altered to the point where it’s not recognizable and certainly not what I wanted, or get cast aside because other people’s desires are so much more important than mine?
1. Does there come a point in life when you should just give up on the things you really want, and just take what you can get? If so, when, and what’s the point to wanting anything then?
2. Why must I focus on the 10% that’s not right, when there’s the 90% that’s going so very well for me? And why is the thing you really want that seems so unattainable, while the things you are indifferent to see to come so naturally?

This post has taken a negative spin that I don’t think I can salvage, so I’m just going to stop. I’ll try again later. I did want to thank Andy for his really nice post. Andy always has such good things to say…

New Christmas Pictures have been added. New post later.

Sunday night, and Adult Swim is on, but currently it’s quite uninteresting, so I thought I’d let my brain ooze out into this textbox. I guess a recap of the last few days is a decent way to start. I last wrote late Thursday night, so I’ll start with Friday. I did not sleep Thursday night. I wanted to, but didn’t. It happens on occasion. It started back in around 3rd or 4th grade, actually. Every once in a while I’d get a thought or two in my head (a dangerous thing) and despite my best efforts, I just couldn’t shake them, and I’d be left awake all night spiraling out of control with these thoughts pounding. The topic varies wildly… I can remember staying up all night back in Cleveland trying to get my head wrapped around the idea that space never ends. It still makes no sense to me, and when I think about it at length I’m forced to believe that our existence is impossible, and none of this is real. I can deal with space being really, really big, but if it’s infinite, then how does that work? Is it like minus one world from Super Mario Brothers where it’s just the same basic thing over and over again and repeated so that you have the illusion of infinity, but really it’s just and endless repetition? (before you go on, click on that stupid minus one world link, cause I looked all over online for an image of it and couldn’t find it, so I had to load up the ROM, and get to the stupid minus one world and take a snapshot, so you’re going to look at it, and you’re going to enjoy it, you hear me? Thank you.) So yeah, endless space has kept me up at night. Women have kept me up all night, only not in the good way (Yeah, for a brief second that felt really good to type, then reality came crashing down like a shot to the back of the head). There’s just too much I don’t understand, and too many things I’ve realized too late. I think if I got to do everything a second time, I’d actually fair quite well. It’s just those random little breaks that never seem to slide my way. No matter how much you try to tilt the playing field in your favor, there’s always some random thing that screws it up. More often than not, that random thing is the fact that I am not, in fact, the last man on earth, and near as I can tell, hell hasn’t frozen over. Once I’ve got those two things taken care of, I’ll have it made in the shade. I seem to have gotten off subject.

Friday morning I finally just got out of bed, and I wasn’t that tired. I headed on into work, and spent much of the morning figuring out architecture things for the next iteration of The Bible Gateway, which I hope to start hacking away at very soon. If it all comes together the way I have it on paper, this thing is going to be very, very slick, and I’ve been anxious to actually write code on it for a while now. I think Prof. Vander Linden would be proud of the good Software Engineering approach we’ve taken, with Requirements Docs, User input, Prototypes, Mock-ups, Architecture Docs, Database ERDs, etc… We’ll see if such things really do work in the real world. Thus far they seem to have. Anyway, after that was more or less done (at least the draft that I wanted to get feedback on), the day dddrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaagggggggeeeeddddd… horribly. When it was finally near 5, I rejoiced, and Dave and I left (Joel had already left to head off to California). When I got to my car at the meeting point, I started it up, then hopped out to scrape off the ice, as it had been raining/snowing off and on all day. I hopped back into my car and tried to back out. Nothing.. So I looked forward to see all the dashboard lights on. I was not pleased. So I tried to start up the car.. Nothing again. Not pleased. After much creative problem solving attempts to get the car started, or get the key out, and much profanity, I realized that the shifter was in reverse, and that I have severe brain damage. Popped it into park and started it up. This is just one of the many every day examples of why it’s so hard to be me.

I had promised my cousin, Mindy, that I’d go with her to some party that was going to have a number of girls that went to my High School. So I got home, showered, shaved, and got myself looking pretty. I grabbed Cranium then headed off to Mindy’s place… It had started snowing earlier, as I had mentioned, so there was a nice layer of snow covering a hidden layer of ice. So the drive to Mindy’s place was an adventure. I slid right though 2 lights when trying to turn left. Snow sucks. Finally got to Mindy’s, and we headed off… only she wasn’t all that sure where it was, and I had no clue. Did I mention it was snowing, and that snow sucks? So after driving slowly around for an hour or 2, we decided to just screw it (we weren’t super keen on going anyway). So we headed off to the mall. I reserved my copy of Zelda, and thus destroyed any possibility of fulfilling a wonderful yet altogether horribly unlikely dream that I had a while back. I then got a ton of my Christmas shopping done, which was very good, and got some new jeans to replace the pair I destroyed a few weeks ago during the marathon football game. Then we headed off to Max and Ermas, (you were wondering how long it would take before I mentioned my 2nd home, weren’t you?) and talked for quite some time. Then we headed off to her place, I wrapped up a number of the gifts I bought, and then headed on home.

I woke up Saturday morning determined to get something accomplished. I had had trouble sleeping again, a more and more common occurrence lately, so I figured if my mind was going to be spinning, I may as well get some good accomplished in the meantime. So I decided to clean the house. A serious, thorough cleaning this time. I made it through my room rather quickly, as I had cleaned it a few days earlier during a bout of sleeplessness. I then moved on to the dining room, then the kitchen… The oven alone took me a few hours.). I finally made it to the living room, and solved a looming DVD shelf space shortage problem. By now I had been cleaning for about 6 hours, and was starting to lose my enthusiasm for getting things accomplished, so I called up Steve and Julie to see what they were up to. They headed over a little while later, and we all headed out to Best Buy, where I found the flat-panel monitor I want. But Julie and I both flipped Tails, so I didn’t buy it (Steve’s flip of Heads was the cause of great inner conflict.. shoulda gone best 3 of 5). After some Christmas shopping there at Best Buy, we headed off to Max and Ermas, as I hadn’t eaten yet, and I knew Tressa was working Saturday. I enjoyed one of the finest tasting beers I’ve had in quite some time. We then headed off to Value City, because I’m looking for a new couch for my room. When they kicked us out, we headed to Meijer to do some grocery shopping (my life is sounding more and more exciting to you, isn’t it… Well, it’s one thing to do these things, and another to read about someone else doing it.. Yeah, I’ve got nothing.). Afterwards, it was back to Steve and Julie’s for some 3 Person Euchre, then it was off to home, to find that my roommate Matt rules:

(If you didn’t know, I’m a big fan of penguins.). I then proceeded to finally startup a one player game of Zelda, and ended up playing for a few hours.

Today was uneventful. I played Zelda for a little while, and got the Master Sword I finished my laundry. I wrapped the last of my presents (well, I wrapped them until I ran out of paper, the rest are just going unwrapped. And that was about it. I did a lot of sitting around and thinking.

A confession: I listen to Celine Dion. I blame my sister, Kristin. Anyway, I listen to her, and there are a few songs I actually really like. They’re just so sickeningly optimistic and dedicated to this idea that love is real and happiness is possible that I can’t help but hope that it’s true:

When life is empty with no tomorrow
And loneliness starts to call
Baby, don’t worry, forget your sorrow
‘Cause love’s gonna conquer it all, all

When you want it the most there’s no easy way out
When you’re ready to go and your heart’s left in doubt
Don’t give up on your faith
Love comes to those who believe it
And that’s the way it is

You better believe I’m going to be taking some shit for this one at work…

I finally got a hold of my good friend, Christa, the other day. Christa is one of my best friends, despite the fact that I’ve never met her, and never heard her voice. I met her online during my junior year of high school. She made a casual reference to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and I proceeded to talk to her for hours and hours, and we quickly became good friends. She kept me from killing myself through high school. (I’ll leave it to you to decide how hyperbolic that sentence was.) She has been a constant source of support during the very darkest of times, and the fact that I’ve allowed myself to get so busy lately is maddening. Anyway, I got a hold of her finally, and I now we’re just like peas and carrots again, and there was much rejoicing.

Matt just convinced me to watch The Emperor’s New Groove, even though it’s 2 a.m. I’m stupid.

[Addendum: It's 3:30, and the movie was very good. I'm trying to now decide if I should sleep, or just play Zelda until it's time to work.]

Hrm. At the moment I’m pissed. I’ve been writing for about an hour, and my computer froze, and I lost it all. So if this post comes across as overly bitter or angry, just remember: 1) I am an angry and bitter man. 2.) See #1.

Nah, I’m just playing, I’m fine. It’s been a [select random from ('good','normal','long','tiring','stressful';] week so far. At the very least, I’ve been linked to quite a bit this week, Peter pointed out my proficiency for self-loathing, Alan kindly pointed out that I am not (and will likely never be) having sex, and Andy and Alan both mentioned my presence at The Two Towers 12:15 showing.

So you want my take on The Two Towers? No? well too bad, cause here it comes: It should come as little surprise that I completely loved the movie. But it took two full viewings for me to realize it. If you don’t like spoilers, then you should stop using the internet, cause here they come:

Things that I really liked

• Gollum was amazing. Amazing. His conversation with himself midway through completely made the character, and made the movie for me. A full CG character can kill a movie or completely make one. Gollum was wonderful: funny, believable, evil, yet pitiable. A grand job done with his character. I was worried he’d suck, but he was perfect.
• Legolas is amazing. I want to be him. Him mounting a horse at full gallop made me want to kill myself with joy and awe. Did I mention he’s amazing. I’m heterosexual.
• Gimli is very funny, and not in an annoying way.
• The Battle of Helm’s Deep was spectacular, when they finally started fighting.
• The Ent’s battle at Isengard was a site to behold.
• Ring Wraiths on Wings. ‘Nuff Said

Things that I really did not like

• Faramir. What the hell happened here? It was like going to see a Harry Potter movie, and half way through you find out that Hagrid is a complete jerk who is trying to kill Harry. No sir, I didn’t like it. And to top it off, I really can’t see any reason why they did this. So there’s no redemption for Boromir, and there’s one less likeable character. I really don’t understand it, and it really upset me the first time watching it. The second time through, I was prepared for it, but I still didn’t care for it.
• I’m not a fan of closing speeches near the end of movies that are supposed to inspire, or explain what the entire movie to this point was supposed to mean. It just seems to me, that more often than not, they just sound forced (with a few notable exceptions). So I didn’t care much for Sam’s speech at the end. I guess they were looking for some sort of resolution or cap to the movie, but I didn’t care for it.
• Why was King Theoden a coward the entire time? He wasn’t like that in the book. I didn’t realize it was possible to retreat like 8 times in the same battle, but he pulled it off… And finally he needed Aragorn to explain that if they swung their swords at the enemy, they might just actually hurt one or two of them. He was a disappointment

All that having been said, and being initially disappointed the first run through, I have to say I just loved it the second time through. (This seems to be the trend among those that have seen it twice, I’ve noticed.)

On to other things. We had our work Christmas Party today. I received a dark, hooded sweatshirt. They know me so well, it’s excellent. I ate much food, and I enjoyed annoying the entire room with ringing crystal, until I was told to stop forever upon pain of death.

Kudos to Klaas, who managed to completely butcher the spelling of Deedre’s name, despite it being clearly written a few inches above.

Some new video clips of the new Legend of Zelda have been released, and they are breathtaking. And it got me thinking… A fair amount of my time is spent anticipating or enjoying video games, movies, and TV. And a fair chunk of that time, I’ve got no problem with that. But sometimes I get to thinking that that makes me pathetic. But when I try to anticipate or focus on the other areas of my life, I just end up grinding in circles, and get no sleep. So what’s a better idea? Stay shallow, focus on the things that I can purchase or acquire, or drive myself quickly insane? The lesser of two evils appears to be not making a decision at all.

The new Ed was good. Molly finally said Dennis sucked. Good for her.

I’ve started on my New Year’s Resolutions. I’ll post them when I’m done, then it’s up to you to hold me to them.. til I get sick of them and decide they’re stupid.

addendum: Sven, Julie, Mindy, and I talked a bit last night about how similar Legolas looks to Link from Zelda:

Nice eh? Further more, Galadrial looks just like Princess Zelda. All the more reason to like the films.

In theory this one ought to stay short, cause I’m tired and will not be getting much sleep the next few days. In theory, communism works. In theory. Okay, so I went and saw Star Trek Nemesis with Mindy this evening, and as everyone else seems to be doing a review, I’ll do a quick one:

Obviously, I liked the film, and would put it up there with one of the best (Joel and Andy: 8, 10, 6, 2, 9, 4, 7, 3, 1, 5). You’ll find that I’m basically just going to agree with just about everything Andy said, so you may as well read his entry instead. The final space battle was amazing to see, and very reminiscent of an old time sea battle with giant lumbering ships exchanging attack runs. The ships all looked amazing as well. Patrick Stewart is excellent, as always, and really makes a number of scenes, especially his one on one conversations with Shinzon. And I did indeed feel a real tug at the end when you knew you were saying goodbye for the last time. Good stuff.

In the off chance that I haven’t linked to him enough yet, a big welcome, Andy, to the world of blogs.

Joel wants me to tell about him zinging me, and as he nailed me again today, I guess I will:

I consider myself fairly skilled at database design and planning. By that I mean I can set up efficient and non-redundant table structures that are both easy to use and in a high level of normal form. So Joel came to my cube one day and wanted to see if I could be of some assistance (though in retrospect I suspect he was simply trying to set me up for my ultimate fall, having plotted and schemed this trickery for weeks ahead of time). He began asking questions about the pseudo-ERD (It’s pronounced EE-Are-Dee, Brian, not “urd”). Eventually we got onto the topic of showing table relationships using standard notation, and he wanted to know if I could do that. I responded that I could. He then repeated, “So you’re good at relationships then?”. I quickly responded, “Yea, I’m really good at rela–”. By now Joel was sporting a large grin, and I was already slamming my desk with my fist. I offered my two weeks notice, and hid under my desk the rest of the day. In retrospect, this entire story can be filed under “I guess you had to be there“. He got me again today when after I, without any cash, was forced to turn away a little girl who was going cube to cube selling candy, he noted how similar this was to one of my typical dates: A girl leaving disappointed and likely in tears, and me with an empty wallet. (Shut up, Joel).

So I’ve been getting some complaints (Klaas) from some people (Klaas) that some of my recent posts (Klaas) have been a bit cryptic (Klaas). So I’ll try to explain some things from recent posts:

I’m not one for blaming my behavior or shortcomings on other people, typically, but if I could go back in time and completely wipe certain people out of my life, and all ill effects they had on my life could just disappear, I know who I’d get rid of.

This quote was about a girl I was with, off and on for some 3 years, Sarah. She seemed to have warped my vision of reality in a number of ways, mostly dealing with the opposite sex. Examples: Compliments were rewarded with biting attacks (the stinging words kind, not the teeth kind), and thus for quite some time I was fearful of complimenting a girl at all. Phone calls were always a sign that something was wrong (or pissing her off) and thus always met with great fear and trepidation. And whenever any sort of commitment seemed to be growing, or significant amount of time together had been reached, she would ditch me for a while. So basically I learned to say little, fear everything, and get used to getting dicked over on a somewhat regular basis. And while I’d like to think (and to a fair degree now know) that I’ve gotten much better, there are still times when I hear something like “I have to talk to you, I’ll call you later on” that I revert back to that old self-loathing, world fearing self. But like I said, I’m not for blaming my problems on others, and I’m the retard that stuck with her for so long, so me whining is kinda pointless.

The Mr. Destiny comment was inspired by a daydream I was having at the time. My friends that knew me since 8th grade have heard me complain on many an occasion about me getting cut from the 8th Grade basketball team. (A complete sham, by the way. According to the stats taken, I came in 7th on the drills, and I won all of my one on one games. By that logic I should have been at the very least been the 6th person chosen. But I was cut. If you’ve seen The Emperor’s Club, I think it was a situation similar to that… well, that, and I got totally screwed over. And YES I’m still bitter!) Anyway, I now know looking back that it was probably a good thing I got cut, cause I ended up getting a job instead, and meeting some great people that I’ve remained close friends with to this day. But there’s still a part of me that wants to know what could have been. Now if I had been cut from the baseball team, I would have burned the school down… There are plenty of little “what if’s” that I daydream about from time to time, and I think I’m no different from most everybody else in that respect. But most of the time I just need to remind myself of what I’ve got, and the wondering seems to fade.

And finally, as Deedre commented in the previous post, a good majority of the vague references have to do with her. A majority of the time it’s me doing or saying something completely asinine in a desperate attempt not to say or do something completely asinine. So, Klaas, does that clear things up for you? I hope so, because I’m now going to describe my day using Explodingdog pictures:

Well, first off, a round of applause for Joel for burning me better than I’ve ever been burned before, in my opinion. Not only was it funny, it was a burning personal dig, and he managed to get me to actually say the punchline. I will not be repeating it here.

Well, that was Friday at work. Afterwards, I headed off to Max and Ermas for dinner with Sven and Julie. We got free beer. Membership has its privileges. Then we headed to Best Buy. I’ve likely explained this before, but it’s nonetheless true: When I’m in a “mood” I spend lots of money, usually on electronics equipment. (Mood –> Oftentimes referring to being depressed, but may also include just plain sad, very pissed off, angry, mad, or rejected. 98% of the time this feeling is woman related. The other 2% are due to calculating errors.) The summer after my sophomore year of High School I bought my entire entertainment setup in a matter of weeks. And thus started the never-ending quest to fill giant holes in my soul with unfulfilling but nevertheless expensive purchases. Anyway, my cousin Steve is well aware of this, and is constantly on the lookout for when will be the right time to get me to buy The TV. He’s come close a few times. So we gave it a visit, and I gazed longingly at some flat-panel monitors and Metroid Prime. Thankfully, soon it was time to jet, and we headed off to see Star Trek Nemesis. I thought it was quite, quite good. We also got our Lord of the Rings: Two Towers tickets, so we’re good to go. Afterwards it was off to Fridays, for more beer and wings. I believe the quote “I know a Baggins.. Frrrrrrodo Baggins!” was said at least 1000 times during that hour or two we were there. Julie seemed less than pleased. A call from Deedre towards the end of the evening capped off the good day, though I still managed to screw myself over in typical Ron fashion before drifting off to sleep.

Saturday I woke up late, searching for reasons to get out of bed (and finding few that didn’t involve me magically transforming into someone else (or a giant machine in search of Energon cubes.) I was finally given a good reason to wake up, and then spent the next hour or so experiencing a massive yet altogether unnecesary pulmonary embolism that ended with the sound of the phone. I’m not one for blaming my behavior or shortcomings on other people, typically, but if I could go back in time and completely wipe certain people out of my life, and all ill effects they had on my life could just disappear, I know who I’d get rid of. I spent much of the day (and that evening) reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Then I headed off to my brother, Jeff’s house. The plan was to watch the Expanded edition of The Fellowship of the Ring. I got there and Jeff had some Trivia questions for me (My family is huge into trivia… well Jeff, my Dad, and I are, anyway) So I took his little test…

*Attention all poor souls that have been forced to endure a class with (Prof.) Jeff Veenstra* Your suspicions are now proven true. He plays favorites big time, and his scoring system is shady at best. For those of you that have seen Being John Malkovich, remember the scene when John Cusack is trying to guess the name of that girl, and he just slurs out sounds until she basically gives it away? Yeah.. there was definitely some shadiness.

I just had the most awkward conversation. Words don’t do it justice.

Today was my church’s sunday school program. I was a Rabbi, a Sick man, and a Roman Soldier. It went well. The downside: today one of my sunday school kids called me Mr. Veenstra, and I instantly aged 30 years. Time to get myself a python and a scary house on the corner, so the neighborhood kids can run past screaming “look out for the crazy old man with a snake!”

I got my Max and Ermas Christmas card the other day. It had a note from the new manager thanking me for being such a good customer. After some research I found that I was the only one to get said greeting. There’s a comment there about the patheticness of one’s most fulfilling relationship being with an eatery, but I’ve chosen not to make it.

You know.. some people surprise you in a good way, and some people surprise you in a bad way… then there are the people that constantly do one or the other. In a completely related note, I desire magical powers.

Okay, I’ll start off with a quick “what I’ve been up to” and make my way into the ranting. Sound good? When last we spoke, I was an angry and bitter man. I blame the lack of violence on television. So Wednesday was good. I managed to coerce my workmates into heading off to KFC, where these two high school girls seemed awfully proud of the fact that they “had pants”. (Don’t bother asking, cause it makes no sense. One girl just kept saying “We’ve got pants”.) Then during lunch, Joel and I experienced the wonders of Zelda: 4 Swords. Seriously, multiplayer Zelda is amazing. (Mark, you reading this?). So that brought me great joy. And because Dave rules, he agreed to drive my car back from work, so Joel and I could continue playing.

Wednesday night was a new Ed. Mindy, Jodi, Sven, and Julie came on over to watch, so we got some pizza, and played cards for a while. Good stuff. And then of course I stayed up too late doing nothing, finally falling asleep because I forgot what it was I was doing.

This morning I had a meeting at Kava House at 9am with Brian, Dave, and Alan. I showed up late, because I was having some “car trouble”. (Car trouble –> I did not get into my car until 9:05 am. I then drove very quickly.) The meeting was quite good, and I drank coffee out of a glass. It felt very Star Trek-esque. Speaking of which, Nemesis comes out tomorrow, and it’s going to rule.

I played some Unreal Tournament 2003 at lunch today, and I’ve been playing at 5 most days this week, and I’ve finally been doing well against the throng of online players. So it’s time for another LAN party, so I can wipe the floor with yall. Lemme know who all wants in, and when works, and we’ll get it going.

I’ve been able to talk to Deedre quite a bit lately, which has been grand. There aren’t all that many people out there that you can have a conversation with about anything under the sun and not feel awkward. Fewer still that are the opposite sex and gorgeous.

I discovered that Friends is on a 10pm as well, so that’s 4 episodes in one day. I need professional help.

It would appear that Good Morning, Miami took my advice and got rid of the crazy nun. Now she’s just the normal old weather girl. Good for them. They’ve also taken the plunge and finally fully introduced what is lovingly referred to as “the love triangle”. (Love Triangle –> The mainstay of at least 95% of all sitcoms, the love triangle takes the common sitcom premise: Guy appears perfect for girl, but for one reason or another can not be with her, and adds a new person who becomes romantically interested/involved with one of the two parties. Examples: Sam, Diane, and Frasier in Cheers, Ed, Carol, and Dennis (or Nick, or Bonnie, or Jen) on Ed, or Ross, Rachel, and Julie (and a laundry list of others) on Friends). On Good Morning, Miami, it’s Jake, Dylan, and Penny. As they are the only characters worth watching, it’s a good thing.

Anyone ever seen Mr. Destiny? Actually a pretty fine movie, I thought. I just think it’d be helpful to have some sort of angel type person show me just how much worse I could have screwed up my life, so I can look at what I got with a bit more appreciation.

The Joe Boxer guy must stop dancing now.

It’s very cold at my work. At least I think It’s very cold. (Cold –> Anything that isn’t “nice and warm”. My body is unable to produce it’s own heat, and incapable of storing any heat it may have been able to absorb. As it is, I sleep on a hot rock and must lay in the sun for a few hours each morning or I’ll die. So pretty much, everything is cold.) So work is cold, and so I have a thick, hooded sweatshirt I leave at work that I wear every day. Along with that I’m usually wearing another sweatshirt of some sort, a few t-shirts, and I’m still cold. All this leads to this: most of the time while I’m at work I’ve got my hood on, and I’m facing away from the “door” to my cube, so all anyone can see when looking in is this hooded figure, and possibly the reflection of my eyes in my rearview mirror. I’ve been told by more than one person that I remind them of either Emperor Palpatine or Ring Wraith from Lord of the Rings. So Max drew up this picture of me the other day, and I think it’s grand.

At the Pickwick today, Tuuk and I decided that I’m an angry and bitter man, with a heart full of hate.

It’s moments like this that I realize I have nothing worthwhile to say, and most of those things that I think are really thoughtful other people probably think are stupid.