G'bye for a bit...

I learned something this morning: Leaving BitComet, a P2P program, on for a few hours can be very bad if people are downloading from you a popular file and you only have a limited bandwidth.

To put it simply: I exceeded my bandwidth this morning, and I'm kicked off the internet until Sunday morning. My maximum for a week is 5GB in/out. This morning, I saw that I had 12GB.

Niiice...

I have enough going on that it isn't troubling. I have to goto McD's to finish up my orientation (even though I want to quit before I start...), Dogma playing tonight at 7:30, classes Friday from 11-1, stopping by the Salvation Army to find a cheap couch, leaving for Mecosta Friday night to Chauntel's cottage, and then camping until Monday.

Fortunately, I might be able to handle the internet deprivation this time.

Simon

Movie day...

Today:

• Went to class
• Watched half Shaun of the Dead
• Ate lunch
  
• Did laundry/homework
• Ate dinner with Dad and Ashley
• Got Debit Card working
  
• Watched the last half of Cars
• Watched first five minutes of The Departed, left
  
• Walked down the hall, stopped dead in my tracks when I heard "just a flesh wound"
• ...watched MP and the Holy Grail with complete strangers
• Left and watched The Jerk

College is bitchin'. High schoolers seriously have NO IDEA how great it is. Just wait, it's amazing.

Simon

Best Email Ever...

---
In case you were wondering the garbage is out. Also
I plan on mowing the front yard Wednesday and the
backyard Thursday. Quit smiling you little ?&^%$#@.

love dad
---

He was right. I was smiling!

One Problem...

There's only one thing that's been bugging me since I've moved in here. One thing that, whenever I notice it, drives me up the wall, into a state of insanity. Something so small and trivial...it's outrageous!

There's no lock on the bathroom door.

I'm not afraid of someone walking in. It's not an issue of shyness. The only thing I lock is the bathroom door. I don't even lock the front door of my house! Even if no one is home, it's locked. It's one of those little things that makes me wonder if I have a terrible case of OCD.

I'm looking through the wall right now where the bathroom door is...just glaring at the lockless door...

Know what I mean?

Simon

Day One...

It's over! Let's look at my classes:

Calc 2 - Professor is weird. He's very monotone and takes forever to spit out one sentence, due to frequent 5 second pauses. Makes me miss Loweke. I forgot a lot of the stuff, but it seems that the rest of the class is with me on that. I'm gonna review tonight...

Gen Bio - The professor is cooler. Tells amusing anecdotes, not boring, knows that the students in his class aren't planning on being Biology majors and won't get much out of the class......good guy. I have to read a chapter by Wednesday...

Linear Algebra Matrix Theory - The long name sounds intimidating, no? It's not. Really! I don't mean it's cake for me. It'd be cake for anyone who understands basic algebra. I really want to not go to the class, but there's no way for me to get the homework. He doesn't post it on Blackboard or anything, so I'm pretty much screwed. Did half the homework during his lecture over the lesson.

Freshman Composition - Great, an English class... The cool thing about the class is that she was late and then let us go after we went over the syllabus. 15 minutes spent in the 50 minute class...not too shabby...

I can't wait for tomorrow. It's my kickback day. I have Calc2 in the morning, an hour break, and then my Cinema class, which I'm REALLY looking forward to!

^_______^

Simon

Tomorrow...

Classes start for me at 8AM...fsck...

I bought a messenger bag to carry all of my books, but I can already tell carrying my books for just two classes, going back to my room, getting two new books, and heading back to two more classes is gonna be a pain every Monday and Wednesday.

Besides that, the college life isn't so bad. I haven't done the party thing like two of my roommates have (every single night, so far...), but that's not me, so it doesn't bother me at all. Besides Timmy, Justin, Jesse, and my roommate, Mike, I've been hanging around my other roommate's girlfriend and her roommates. They are pretty cool.

Already got locked out of my room, but I spent that time wandering into the open room next door and watching them play NCAA Football '08. I also went to a hall party, which was just dancing to different songs that come on iTunes. There were a bunch of people and we even got complaints...from residents two floors down! A lot of cheering came from that!

Well, I'm having a good time. Dad's already missing me and is coming up to see me Wednesday. Homesickness hasn't kicked in for me, though. I like it here.

Simon

Mom's Birthday...

Mom came over today and checked out my room. She liked it...except for it being messy. It's still a work in progress. Went to Qdoba (mmm...), then to JCPenneys (where Matt yelled from the car at a woman who looked perfectly fine parked in a handicapped zone (turned out she had a handicapped license plate >____>;;), and went to the casino.

Didn't end up on top, that's for sure. Mom commented about how it must suck getting struck between the legs on her birthday.

Yeah...it blows...

;_;

Simon

New home...

I'm all moved into my dorm, now. Actually, I got all moved in about 3 hours ago. Internet was a pain to set up, but it's good now, besides the fact that I have to use my CAT5 cable, which stretches across the room.

College so far isn't so bad. I have three roommates. Pat's been here a week. He seems nice, a bit hermit-like, as my other roommate called him, but what can you expect from a guy who works IT at a college and wants to go into that field? Kevin just moved here, so I don't know him. Mike is bunking with me. He's pretty cool. We hung out most of the morning, walking around campus and getting lunch.

Dad gave me a letter this morning, but told me to read it later. I was going to read it during breakfast, but I decided to wait until he left after I moved in:

---
8/22/07 11:30PM

Chris,

I needed to write this to you because I would fall apart trying to tell you.

I love you so much. You have made me so proud, ever since you were a little boy. We've always had a special relationship because of our circumstances, but it goes beyond that. Not only are you my son, but my best friend. You've always been so good to me. A lot of times, a son will want to grow up and be like his father, but, in our case, someday I hope to be as good of person as you are. You are so warm-hearted and even tempered. Just a great person. Don't ever change.

Go to CMU and become the man that you are destined to be. I'm going to miss you so much, but it's time for you to move on. You're ready. If you ever need anything, Ashley and I will always be here for you. Enjoy college, but keep making smart decisions.

Love always,
Dad
---

I'm not sure what emoticon to use: "^_^" or ";_;"

Both will do just fine.

EDIT: Things are slowing down, now. I'm really tired, so I'm not out doing much at the moment. I'm sitting here watching some of my House episodes.

Up Next: Son of Coma Guy - the very first episode I watched...at Sean's house on his TiVo. There was Nikki, Winston, Becky...and perhaps Carter.....OH! We played poker in his living room! And Donkey was there, too! It's all coming back to me!

The mental process typed out is quite amusing. To me, at least...

Simon

My very favorite...?

TOLSTOY'S "WAR AND PEACE!"

...You asked me what my favorite was...

I'm skimming my Good Doctor Script .pdf file. I love just randomly finding a line and knowing what exactly is going on at that moment. The scene, the blocking, the horrific faces of people getting blown away by a splattering sneeze...

Well, now I seem to be drifting off into other plays.

"....HOLY SHIT! I'M IN THE WRONG COSTUME!!!"

^________^

Anyways, I'm leaving tomorrow. I got everything packed in the car...besides the lappy. I'm getting up at 5, leaving at 6. Damn, I thought I stopped working at McD's to avoid THAT routine.

I can't wait to get there....nervous as hell, but I'm excited!!!

Simon

The Tale of Hawaiian Shirt Guy...

My dad and I went on vacation a last summer to Arizona to visit family outside of Phoenix. While we were there, we watched a Diamondbacks game. We got there early before the game, so we went walking around a little bit to check out the stadium.

While I was walking, I noticed a man talking to some other people. He was an older man, prolly in his 50's. He was balding, but still had a bit of gray hair around the back of his head, kinda like Colin Mochrie. He was also wearing a light blue Hawaiian shirt. He looked at me, then turned away. Just then, I had the strangest feeling.

I felt that I had seen him before.

I had no idea where I would have seen him, though. I live in Michigan, so it's not like I visit Arizona everyday. It was extremely troubling. To run into a man somewhere far away and claim to have seen him before, could it be...a coincidence? Or maybe just a simple mistake?

No...I think this goes much deeper than chance or being wrong. Government agent spying on me? Guardian angel? Alien disguise? It's a conspiracy, I tell ya!!!

In any case, a Hawaiian shirt is kinda lame...I can't believe I wore those...

Anxiety...

For the last couple of months, I felt very indifferent about leaving for college. If anyone has been emotional about all of this, it's been my grandma. She's usually the first one to get weepy about anything. Her grandchild going off to school is no different.

But seriously, it hasn't bugged me at all this summer. I figured I'd get my kicks in while the summer was open, y'know, hang out with friends as much as humanly possible. In retrospect, I've done that. I've hung out with TJ more this summer than...well...we ever have. We really have a strange friendship. We both consider each other 'best friends', but we don't really see or talk to each other all that much. We have the greatest anti-social friendship ever!

Unfortunately, the summer is coming to a close. The hourglass is draining out its last few grains of sand. I hardly noticed how short of time I had until two weeks ago, when I posted my final schedule of days coming up. Today, I said my goodbyes at work. It wasn't very hard, but knowing they will miss me made me feel a bit happy. I always figured that when I left, no one would care. I know I'm the nice guy and I'm not hated, but it does leave you feeling like you get pushed around, sometimes: Unable to say no to people; always wanting to please everyone, going out of your way to satisfy; but you soon feel that people in general are ungrateful and don't truly respect you the way they should.

It leaves you feeling a bit empty inside.

For that, I didn't really care about leaving Greenville. There would be people that'd miss me, and I'd certainly miss them, but there weren't many that I felt truly had my back 100%. Only two people outside of my family I've felt that I could say that about.

Now that it's come down to this night, I realized that...I'm going to miss those two more than anything in the world. Not living 5 minutes from either anymore, not being able to see them whenever I want anymore, being distanced an hour from one and ten from the other...it's finally dawned on me. I don't want it to end, but I fear that no matter how hard I want my two best friends in my life, the two people that mean absolutely everything to me...I can't guarantee it'll be alright in the end. For the first time this summer, I feel something about moving out and moving on with my life away from Greenville.

I'm scared out of my mind.

Simon

Did you like Knocked Up...?

Superbad was better! AMAZING, INSPIRING FILM!!! Ok, maybe not inspiring, but I laughed my ass off. Best movie of the summer. McLovin from the commercials seems stupid, but he was the best character in the entire movie!

My dad left me a present at the top of my stairs yesterday afternoon for when I go off to college: Trojans. I laughed when I saw them sitting there. I picked them up, walked over to him, and, being the smartass I am, asked if there was candy inside the wrappers. He just kinda stared at me...

LAST DAY OF WORK! I get out at 3, and I'll prolly go visit my Grandma later this evening. It's her birthday, today!

She's 65 YEARS YOUNG...I think...

I'M DONE!!! Hell yeah! No more work...well, until after Labor Day! The 9 hour final shift sucked, but it still had it's fun moments. Got farewells left and right. That was nice. I prolly won't work there again until the end of the semester. It doesn't look like after Thursday that I'll be back for quite a while. Weekend visits look scarce when I look ahead. Well, if I don't see you now, I hope to see you all the way in November during Thanksgiving!

Simon

The Boring Sunday...

The Saturday of Danish Festival Weekend is the fun day. The day after, however...

The weekend in itself is always routine, with Saturday being the day I watch the parade at my mom's parents' house, then go to a party at my stepdad's parents' house. Sunday, on the other hand, is another party at my stepdad's parents' house, only it's his family reunion.

Now, I enjoy being with family, but all of that side of the family is from Lansing, so I have no freakin' clue who anybody is. It ends up being me having middle-aged people coming up to me and talking to me about school and what I plan on doing with my life...and then feeling guilty about the fact that I can't remember ANY of their names. I know there's an Aunt Janie...and I gotta talk to her because she gave me a Sudoku puzzle to do and I find it impossible to solve without doing extremely complex 'Guess-and-Checking'.


NOPE!!! CANCELED DUE TO WEATHER!!! WOOO!!!

I plan on leaving early, though, because Dad, Ashley, and I are going to see Superbad at the movies at 4:45! WOO!!!

---
The Next Couple of Days:

Monday: Work Final Shift: 6-3 / See Grandma Coston
Tuesday: Sleep In / Buy House Season 3 / Open All Day
Wednesday: Open Up Until Evening / Dinner With Family (Last Supper?) / Packing
Thursday: Moving, Leaving Sometime Before 7AM (Damn, and I wanted to show up on a couple of doorsteps before I left. I don't think I'd be evil enough to do that, though...)

---

Simon

Busy-Ass Saturday...

I'm basically booked the entire day. I like having these hectic days every now and again. It makes things fun.

First, getting up at 4:45, checking my emails and such, jump in the shower, and go to McD's to work a 5:30-10:30. I feel a little bad for them; the lunch rush is the busiest we get all year...and I'm not going to be there...again. Last year, I casually walked in to talk to my dad. He wasn't very happy about it.

Anyways, going to watch the parade, afterwards, at my grandparents' place on Cass Street. It's convenient to have the free parking during the festival. During the parade, however, I'm stuck parking at RiteAid. A bit of a walk, but I'll manage........hopefully, unless my weak body can't handle the difficult half-mile journey...

After that, I'll go about wandering the streets, looking at knickknacks and hang out with friends...that kinda thing.

After THAT...I'll go to my OTHER grandparents' place on Woodbeck Lake for our usual Post-Festival festivities, which amounts to playing volleyball, swimming, and me kicking ass and taking names at a ferocious game of Scrabble, usually with my aunt's current foreign exchange student as one of the players.

Grandma Coston is having her birthday party in Belding that night, but I think I'm going to skip it. I told her that I'd DEFINITELY be coming to visit her on Monday, which is when her actual birthday is. I'll have to treat her out...

So, now that I have all that rambling out of the way...I'm going to sleep. It's in my best interest to not doze off and fall onto the grill. I've been out of it and leaned on it with my hand for a fraction of a second, before...not the best feeling. >_>

Simon

What irks me...

So far, the only problem I have with Blogger is the lack of a Subs list. Instead, they use RSS feeds. Right now, I'm having a tough time just trying to get it to work correctly...

GRR!!!

>_>

*shaving because he woke up late and was sent home for his break...again*

Simon

Mt. Pleasant...

Drove to Mt. Pleasant with Dad today. We took a new way up than what we usually do. Any way you go, though, you run into one problem...

THE DRIVE THERE IS FSCKING BORING!!!

I swear, driving an hour through nothing but trees and fields is like driving in Iowa or Nebraska!

Stopped at a McD's on the way there. I walked in and said I work at a McD's in Greenville and wanted to transfer...and they hired me on the spot! It was pretty crazy, really. I was expecting a tedious process of waiting...and waiting...and waiting. No, Nikki, the manager there, told me to fill out an application and I'd pretty much be hired. From the looks of things, it's kinda like our store, so it'll be a nice pace.

Went to pay my bill of $5,032. Got in and out. Wanted to go check out my hall, but there was nobody at the help desk, so we left. Went to buy my books. $318. Not too bad for 7 books.

Went to the casino. I took $100 with me to play with. Lost $60 at Roulette fairly quick. As soon as I left, the number I usually play hit, so I was mad about that. Went over to play blackjack with $20, got up to $60....then lost all of it.

Finally, with my last $20, I went to play Roulette. My luck did a complete 180. Not only did I win my $80 back, I also gained $75. Not too shabby!

Simon

Test...

Hmm...that seems to work out alright...

This may just be playing follower and creating one just because Nikki and Katie did so, but I think this may be a good thing to do. With college, I'll want to start anew. A clean slate, if you will.

Besides, Blogger is more popular than Xanga, anywho!

>_>

Simon