To Those Who Live East of Here

Lately I've been focusing on Strange Future so this blog has fallen by the wayside...

I've been on Summer Break for the last two weeks, I'll be leaving for Job Corps tomorrow. The college is closed for the next few weeks so both blogs may suffer a little.

There's not too much to do at home, but I managed to acquire a couple seasons of some shows I like... for the next few months I have six seasons of Smallville to watch, a season of Lost, Stargate Atlantis, and a few new games. I'll also hopefully have a job and Fall term to keep me busy. I don't think I'll be bored for awhile.

Before leaving Job Corps I started trying out different teas. I actually got a couple of different people in the Dorm interested in experimenting with me. We tried a horrible concoction of Wormwood, Mugwort, and some other random herbs. Ended up just making most of us sick. We also tried some Kava, it's pretty weird stuff... nothing like drinking a tea that makes you feel like you've just left the dentist's office...

Looking forward to making some more brews when I get back to school

If you haven't done so already, please check out my new blog, Strange Future.

I've already had two finals this week and the rest are next week.
Then I go home for two weeks, Hurrah :D

I can't wait to see my family again : ]

Along with this blog I have decided to start another blog. It will feature links to other websites and plenty of philosophical, scientific, and interesting blog posts. I will speak my mind with wild abandon [there could be some swearing in future posts]. It's not for the faint of heart or the faint of mind but if you feel like reading some bizarre news or concepts head on over to Strange Future.

I haven't updated in a long time.

I kinda forgot about this.

Summer term quite a bit different from most terms so I'm not in town nearly as much which means I'm also online a lot less.
I got a job working at place outside of Seaside called the Family Funpark. They have Go-Karts, minigolf, Bumper Boats, and a helicopter ride. I guess the new owners are millionaires and want to slowly turn the place into a sort of theme park.
Maybe I'll stick around...

I had an awesome fourth of july. I short a mortar at my room mate's car on accident. Luckily it didn't do any damage.
But my room mate did the best light show of the night when he used the box of mortars to hold up the mortar launcher. He set one off and we all looked to the sky to watch it explode then someone yelled "RUN". Apparently some spark from the mortar landed in the box of  12 large mortars and the whole thing erupted in a large red burst of fire and plasma. No one was hurt. Badly. A few of my arm hairs got singed and I was deaf for awhile. My old room mate was there and somehow ended up bleeding in a few spots on his arm.

 I ate some spicy hot dogs but my room mate couldn't handle them and threw them up.

Today I was a hero. I stopped in at a café to get a drink and update my blog and the girl running the café was freaking out because the sink was plugged and the faucet wouldn't stop running so it was overflowing. Using my totally nonexistent knowledge of how sinks work I crawled underneath and turned off the water. I think I must have tapped into some global manly consciousness that helped me fix the sink.

I got an apple smoothie. It tastes like drinking frozen apple sauce.

I've been so busy lately, I haven't even thought about posting.
It's the week before finals and it's time to crank out projects. I can't believe it's Thursday already. I have a project due today, and two tomorrow.
I'm so not ready...

I feel nervous, sick, emotional. I can't wait to go home and get a break for awhile.

I've been feeling so exhausted lately. Physically, emotionally, spiritually (if there is anything left spiritually). Nothing seems to help.

The new Center Director at Job Corps is changing everything around and it seems like he has no mind for giving people a heads-up or implementation. He reduced summer break from 2 weeks to 1 without warning us it may happen. I'm losing a lot of patience and will to stay here.

It always seems like nothing ever goes perfectly right without a hitch in life. I could say 'nothing ever goes right for me!' but I'm sure it's true for everyone else, just some people view it differently. Some people take changes with ease and others let every change effect them. I think my tolerance for change fluctuates depending on my mood.

2007 was a good year for me. I left on a wild adventure and set out on my own. I made a lot of friends, I was happy, I got an education. My blog is a year old. Maybe sometime I'll go back and read everything I've posted through 2007. It was a very good year in retrospect.

So far this year has sucked. With each week I feel more like I don't like the way things are going. It's time for a break or a change of scenery soon.

Just a quick update. I got my webcam working with Linux so I decided to take a few pictures of my room.


There's a picture of my bed. To the left is my 'board', to the right is the window, and below it is a little nightstand thing.

Here is a picture of the 'entertainment center'... a total mess as always. I blame my room-mate.

This is the view from my bed. You can see my room-mate's bed and his closet. Behind his (obscured) is mine.

So now you all know where I live :)

I set Monday as my day to be 'officially over it'. I have classes with her and stuff I need to get done and I can't let her or my feelings get in the way.

It's gone okay. I'm able to talk to her now without getting emotional in one way or another and I'm able to carry on conversations with her and work with her in my classes no problem.
I'm trying so hard to stay positive and keep on my happy mask but as I've learned at Job Corps (from every single person telling me), I'm a really bad liar.

It's very easy for me to just not think about it, fill my mind up with other things to think about, and get on my day just fine. But every once in awhile when someone asks how I'm doing and I say "I'm fine." and they reply "you don't look fine" I suddenly feel like I've been slapped in the face. My teachers say I look disappointed with the class or like something is wrong.

But today I got attacked by the Job Corps psychology student that also happens to be some sort of freak psychoanalyst-telepath mutant. It seems like every time I talk to her, even when it's just small talk, she's somehow raped my mind and figured out what I'm feeling and what I've done the past week and probably what I had for breakfast.
The first time I ever talked to her she showed off her absurd x-men powers by telling me she could tell I was the only boy in my family, with probably multiple sisters and a stay at home mom. She also said I was homeschooled most of my life, enjoyed reading, and usually get along better with people older than me.
Apparently the way I dressed and talked gave it all away.

So today while waiting for the bus she smiled and asked how I was doing. I said "I'm alright, how are you?" and immediately she attacked my brain like a starving dog on an abandoned helpless animal. "You say you're fine but subconsciously you're definitely not."
I laughed.
She continued, "You're not doing well, I know. That's the way life is, just one hurdle after another. Just gotta keep going."
She doesn't even talk to most of the other college Job Corps students and my girlfriend and I haven't really told anyone that we broke up.

Luckily for me the bus came and I didn't have to say anything else. Which was good because I felt like I was going to cry. It's not like she said anything profound worth quoting. I bet she used some sort of mental mind attack that somehow left me defenseless and unable to keep my emotions bottled up.

Damn Psycho-mutants.

In other, better news my classes were cancelled today and I bought a giant jug of Tapatio hot sauce. You don't realize how amazing that hot sauce is until someone brings a bottle into the cafeteria and it gets passed around. It's like your taste-buds awaken after months of slumber to a beautiful summer day in Mexico.
Most likely it's because my taste-buds have been asleep for several months because Job Corps food is terrible terrible tasteless food that should only be served to victims of tongue mutilations.

My girlfriend broke up with me the other day. Couldn't have had better timing. I don't really feel like doing anything anymore.

My room mate plays video games all day long and because of where our entertainment-center is I can't sleep or do any homework.

I feel like hibernating.

PS to the Grandparents: Yes, my address is the same. So is my e-mail.

blah blah blah.
Been one of those weeks.
My room mate is gone... get a new one today.
I threw up in the college cafeteria yesterday.
Me and my girlfriend are fighting a lot.
I've got a cold.
And depression is back.

And why don't people comment anymore? That always reminds me that I have a blog that needs updating.

I've been at home for the past week. There were some people (mostly a certain two grandparents) that I would have liked to spend more time with over break but the week goes by fast when it's Thursday and you still have a week's worth of things you would like to get done. Summer break is just 3 months away though right?
Something like that.
I played a lot of Mario Party with my sister too. I would have liked to play more with her but she got sick halfway through my stay and the partying came to a halt. We got a lot accomplished on the game though, and I left all of my games and the Gamecube behind so maybe when I come home my sister will have dived into some of the other games (Resident Evil 4? :) ). My playstation is in my closet too, she can play any of those games as well.
I think the two most important things I accomplished while home though were getting new pants, and applying the ol' eye patch and searching for booty. That is, getting my hook hand around a few TV shows I like through completely questionable and entirely legal means. None of which were piracy ;)

I'm glad to be on my way back home though. That is, my wet home away from home in the land east of my real home. I'll be eager to start new classes and new things and get back on a schedule. It's nice to sleep in for awhile but eventually I just start to feel lazy and I get anxious to start being productive. I'm sure my room mate missed me a lot. It can get pretty quiet and boring when you have the entire room to yourself, never have to worry about interruptions, and get to use your room mate's bed as a shelf. On an unrelated note my room mate should be moving out in a few weeks :)


I also can't wait to see my girlfriend again ;)

This has been a pretty busy week so far...

Finals are right around the corner and I've got so many assignments due that I'm starting to panic. Nothing like realizing you have 3 essays due yesterday and finding out that today you have a presentation due. As panicked and tired as I am, I love being back in college. I feel like I'm actually getting things done and getting an education.

I feel like I'm not getting enough done though, and I often find myself really wishing I had a job. It's getting to the point that I feel like I would take any job, just give me something to do and a paycheck! I am thinking pretty seriously about getting a part-time job somewhere. I would really like to get one on campus, but I know there are always places hiring in town...

The 'no-dating' thing did not work out so well, I have had a crush on a girl in one of my classes for awhile now and I guess it was obvious so now we're dating. She's really smart, smarter than I am, and very beautiful. I have no regrets.

:)

I haven't updated in awhile!
I've been busy and forgetful but I realized I haven't been paying attention to the blogosphere.

I reinstalled my Operating System a few weeks back but I forgot to save my firefox bookmarks so that's one major reason why I haven't updated. My computer is running very smoothly now though, maybe when I visit family during spring break I can show it off ;)

I went on a 'date' a few weeks back after being pressured since day one to get in on the 'job corps dating scene'. It only helped me realize I really don't want to date anyone at Job Corps. One thing any new comer to job corps should realize before they think it's a good place to hook up, is to think about why they're here.

In lighter news, I'm moving to a different room next week. I'm pretty excited, I'll be moving in with one of my good friends and I'll have twice the space that I have now. I'm really looking forward to the change of scenery... even though it will only be a few rooms down from the one I'm currently at.

Gotta go for now, but I promise the updates will be more steady!

This last week went by fairly fast. Ended up not having as much homework during the week as I had thought there would be and that really helped move things along fast. I actually got to hang out with friends and play games a bit more than usual. Back to the grind next week though...

It's definitely winter in Astoria now. We've had a bit of snow here and there, some freezing rain, 'slushy' rain, blistering cold winds, and a chill that really gets you down to the bone. As much as I like the cold and the rain, I prefer to be warm and dry. Nothing quite like being freezing cold and wet and waiting outside in the wind for the bus to arrive just so you can go home and try to dry off. The boilers in my dorm burst a few days ago, there must be two though because the heaters in our room still work but the rest of the dorm is fairly cold. Not sure when they're going to get that fixed.

The new cafeteria FINALLY opens this weekend. I remember when I first got to job corps they said it would be opening in a 'month or two'. They were finalizing a few things inside and starting on landscaping around it. Then troubles in its architecture were discovered, it failed its building code inspection, and they had to tear apart some of it and rebuild some. Then the floors turned out to not be level and it failed another building code inspection, then electrical problems, then lighting problems, and finally water damage from the storm. It had another inspection a few days ago and as usual rumours spread about something terrible happening "I heard the floors will have to be removed" "I heard one of the instructors say they're going to have to bulldoze the whole thing and start over" "I think it got vandalized the day before the inspection".

Finally we've been told 'go to the new cafeteria for breakfast on Sunday."
It's about time we got to enjoy the 5 million dollar project. That's right, your tax dollars bought our cafeteria's $50,000 windows. At some point during construction some guy was probably thinking "Why buy regular windows when I could buy these awesome pressurized dual-pane atmosphere-regulating anti-fog temperature-controlled heating windows for only $1,500 each?" Because as cool as they are, not many students are going to sit at the window and ogle at the fact that they're warm, breathe, and if the entire cafeteria suddenly plunged underwater it would be the doors, not the windows, that would cave in and let the water send all the students to a frigid wet grave.
They also put in special reclining chairs at each table. I don't know why they didn't just stick with the ones that they already have. It would have been cheaper, less expensive, free, and wouldn't have cost $100 per seat. I only know one person who wants to recline as he eats and he claims it's because 'thats what they did before someone invented chairs'. Sure it'll be nice that once you're done scarfing down food before the cafeteria closes, you can literally kick back and relax while you talk to your friends, but I can also see a tragedy in the future.
Imagine you're trying to balance your now-mandatory lunch tray in your hands. You've got like 3 or 4 cups full of every flavor from the juice machine because you, like every other job corps student, are both dehydrated, indecisive, and like hazards. Then, just as you're nearing your table, a bozo reclines. This wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that the new cafeteria is only half the size of the old one, and is now full of the same amount of students all reclining. This unexpected attack of the reclining student sends your drinks flying in every direction. Luckily you can take pleasure knowing that because hats are now banned in the cafeteria, the bozo who reclined on you should now have a head covered in cranberry juice.


That was fun!
Now I gotta go figure out how to register to vote.

:)

I had a nice long weekend full of procrastinating homework finally got a bit of it done today and I'll have a lot to finish tonight during the time that I'd rather be sleeping. I kind of fought the procrastination through the weekend but by sunday afternoon I has resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to do it until the last minute. It actually has so far worked out alright.

It's already almost mid-terms and I'm starting to feel a bit panicked - I've got four essays due in two weeks! I haven't had to write essays like that in awhile!

I miss my family a lot more lately. I think I've been in more contact with everyone after winter break so I know more about what I'm missing out on. I think I'll try to start commenting more on my blog (replying to people's questions) instead of just thinking the answer in my head when I read them. I'm getting more eager to finish school, get a job and grow up. I've been thinking a lot about what jobs I wouldn't mind doing, what jobs I'd love to do (that are reasonable), what kind of apartments I could live in, which ones I would tolerate, living in Portland hanging out with my sisters and brothers. I definitely wouldn't mind planning a visit to Portland some weekend when the weather gets nicer and I have less homework - and other people are free as well ;)

In the college library helping a lady from my math class fill out a bunch of scholarship stuff online. Woo! :O

Had a very busy week, traveled around the coast to get to a Fred Meyer, got in a (verbal) fight with a guy on my hall (he apologized later), lots of tests going on, bleagh! Glad it's the weekend. Didn't get nearly as much homework as I had planned to get done by today but I think I can still get a bunch done tomorrow I think! :S

I miss my friends and family, I'll provide a better update on Monday I promise!

wow it sure has been a long week... so glad it's Friday.

2 students died Sunday night. I only knew one of them, she used to say "Hi" to me every day when I was in Finance & Business. It's impacted everyone on center in some way or another. One guy on my hall loved her, one guy was her "input brother" (they came to Job Corps the same day), she worked in the cafeteria with my room-mate, she was good friends with so many people on center.

And the day before that a staff member died. She was in charge of 'clothing trips', was well known for being very very short and had a good sense of humor. I only met her a few times, it's a shame - but she did go peacefully in her sleep.

And on that note, school drags on with very little sleep. I've finally resolved to taking power-naps whenever I can squeeze them in. It's not my favorite way of sleeping but it keeps me from losing focus in class or having my eyes just go berserk on me.

I did a bit of shopping today and got stocked up on Ramen and Cup of Noodles.

Gotta head out though, there are a lot of seagulls in the sky right now and according to sailor superstition, that means a storm is coming. ;)

BTW: Check out this website and learn how many "Earths" you would consume if the whole earth was made up of 6 billion of you. Puts a lot into perspective http://sustainability.publicradio.org/consumerconsequences/

I missed the bus back to Job Corps, but I decided to take the time to update my blog.

School is going well. Finding less and less time to do stuff that I want to do, but I guess that's a good thing. I've realized that even though I have my 'gaming computer' with me at Job Corps, the only time I really have to play games is Saturday or Sunday (depending on which day I decide to do laundry and other chores). But that also makes playing games and the weekend a bit more of a treat for me.

Sleep is also much more amazing. After going the entire week with only about 4 hours of sleep a day, I am literally quivering with excitement (or exhaustion?) at the thought of catching a few extra hours over the weekend. If only I could convince my room-mate that going to bed early even on the weekends was a good idea. He seems to think that if we get to sleep in until 10:00, then we should stay up until 3 or 4. I usually bark at him to turn off the light, put on some headphones and let me be.

It's also officially the beginning of the seasonal "Thinning of the Students". It was recently decided that anyone that comes on to center with an blood alcohol level over 0.08%, they go directly to CRB (Where it is decided whether or not they stay at Job Corps), rather than getting an NOC, referred to alcoholism classes, and get placed on restriction. We've also had the drug dogs search our rooms once a week since we got back instead of the usual once every month or so. So many people are leaving.
Usually our hall has an opening once every 3 months or so, but over the past 2 weeks we've had over six openings. 5 of those openings being from terminated students, and only one being from a student graduating. It really makes me feel my 'Jobbie Age' the more you realize you've been there longer than two thirds of the population. I sometimes feel like being accepted into college was like being accepted into some sort of longevity program... I'm going to see almost 2 full generations go through Job Corps (with 90% of Job Corps students graduating in a year or less). I almost lost it yesterday when two guys on my hall almost got terminated, it really hit me because both I'd kind of mentored and helped out a lot when they were new students. Luckily both were given a second chance.

I also had some sort of 24/hour flu on Wednesday and I've had a terrible cold ever since. I've been drinking lots of Orange Juice and vitamin C drinks so mom doesn't have to worry :)

Also, my quilt really adds an extra layer of warmth to my bed. Honestly it makes all the difference at night. Thank you Hannah and Liz!

I officially started classes this week.
My first two classes are pretty boring, College Survival, and Math 60. College Survival is 80% and 20% textbook reading. So far all the professor does it talk about the book, about her life, and about what life is like in college. Fun.
Math 60 looks like it's all review, I guess they decided I should take it as a refresher course but after skimming through the entire book it looks like there's only one or two things I don't know how to do.
I have two pretty fun classes so far though, Intro to Business and MicroEconomics. Very neat learning about how our and other countries' economies work. We're also learning about Communism, Socialism, and Free Markets. One thing we get drilled into us is that Socialism and Communism are NOT political ideas, they are economic ideas. Communism is a market 100% regulated by the government and a Free Market has absolutely no government intervention. Socialism is in between, with a lot of regulation, but also a lot of free market. Capitalism is in between Socialism and a Free Market (America is not a Free Market, we are Capitalist).

One thing that I found interesting is that a lot of people boycott certain countries, calling them Communist and saying they're anti-democracy. In reality, most of these countries are actually Socialist, and some communist countries are actually democratic. China is a sort of Technocratic socialist country. Everything is heavily regulated by the government, but there is a heavy dose of free trade as well. They don't elect leaders, but instead the most qualified for certain positions are chosen. So if you're the top of your field in Construction and the most knowledgeable, you might be eligible to become the director of construction.
Then there are a few shocking Socialist countries - Japan and Israel! Both are democratic, and both are very socialist. They're also both very powerful nations (Israel being powerful more politically, and Japan being more powerful economically). Maybe a bit more government regulation can be a good thing?

There has been a lot less sleep lately though, getting up earlier to get to classes, falling asleep later because of homework, a lot more walking around to classes, a lot more hiking to get anywhere in Astoria. It's starting to get to me, but I'm only learning to love cheap coffee even more.

A many thanks to everyone at home supporting me! I miss you all very much and I can't wait to see you all again!

I only had two days of school... Thursday and Friday. It feels good to be back and working on stuff again. I am a bit overwhelmed with all of the stuff I have to get done though. There isn't going to be much relaxing the next few days so I decided to pretty much have an awesome day on Saturday :)

My room mate ditched me last night to go out on a date with a girl (one that never talks and is basically just a warm body). We were going to watch 300 together but he chose to violate the sacred rule of "Bros before Hoes". I haven't decided on appropriate payback yet but it will happen. I started with waking him up pretty early this morning after he had stayed up until 3 AM. He wasn't too happy, but it's just the beginning >:D

Or maybe I'll just make fun of him a lot for dating the school mannequin.

Me and my friends went into town today to hang out at the cybercafe (the one I usually hang out at, The Godfather). The owner realized I always get lime flavored italian sodas and she asked if I liked lime and I exclaimed "I love limes!" so she gave me and all my friends some free key-lime pie.
Then later we went to radio shack so I could buy a cheap surge protector and one of my friends started messing around on one of their computers that was running linux. A few of the guys working there got excited that there was a "penguin guy" there and asked my friend for some technical support. Then they gave us a $4 discount for the help.

It's been a pretty awesome day so far and it's been decided that The Godfather is my new favorite hangout.

I wish I could have spent more time with everyone at home, but spring break is coming up (in a few months).
Thank you everyone for your continued help and support! It really does mean a lot to me!

Well I've been home for a few days now, basically just been too lazy to update.

A big storm swept through Astoria last Sunday. 125 MPH sustained winds, lots of rain, the columbia had some fun-looking swells.
Unfortunately it blew some trees over, ripped roofs off, knocked out the power for 4 days, and destroyed the Rec Hall. School was evacuated on the fifth day because for some students there are no classes, and also because the governor declared it a Disaster Zone. So everyone packed their bags and went home.

Edit: I found an article online that really sums up everything that happened quite well: http://www.dailyastorian.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=47241&SectionID=2&SubSectionID=398&S=1

I've been mostly kicking back and enjoying being back home where I can just hang out on the internet, eat chocolate covered pretzels, and do the occasional load of laundry. Gonna have to start getting my butt in gear though, I don't want to go back to Job Corps with an extra 20 pounds and a knack for sleeping in.
Hopefully I'll have something to go back to. I was heading into the college program but had a few weeks left of class - but the problem is at the moment I don't have a class to go back to!

If anyone back home wants to hang out, feel free to drop me a line at 541-420-5188 and we'll see if we can latch up!

PS: One of my friends made a song and put it online, it's pretty good classical music: http://mwitkowski.net/stuff/amazing.mp3