Demon Spiders

I picked up the cold, a couple days ago I tried to go to work with it and I had both a cough and a sneeze. Plus the runny nose, the whole thing and as the day progressed, I realized I just wanted to go home and sleep the thing off. I told my coworkers I was sure I had Asian Bird Flu or something, because I haven't had these kinds of symptoms for a long time. They looked at me weird.

A friend of mine posted a picture of a huge spider that came from China in a warehouse box and she mentioned how she can't stand to look at it but wanted to get more information on it. I have a little entomology background on account that I used to be Preventive Medicine and I thought I would take a look at it for her.

I'm tempted to say its Lycosidae, which is a wolf spider, but I can't confirm this because all I have to go by is this picture and a few descriptions she has given. Apparently, its about the size of a fist, though I'm not sure if that includes the legs or not. However, when you do Taxonomy on arthopods, you tend to need a little more information to confirm this. Like, what kind of web does it weave, or does it even weave a web? What does its eyes look like? Can we get a better view of the pattern on its thorax and abdomen?

Entomology was one of my favorite subjects within my job as Preventive Medicine, I loved it. Unfortunately, it was one of the areas that tended to be contracted out to the civilians.

I do know a couple Entomologists, I was thinking of passing the spider along to them to see what they could find out, however I'm sure they would need more information then what is provided here too.

She thinks its disgusting. I think its kind of cool. But then that's just me.

Spring Quarter

So this quarter started off rough enough, but now I'm starting to get in the swing of things again and its not that bad. In fact, I'm actually learning something.

The first class is Intro to Business, which truthfully I've been dreading because I'm not really interested in business that much. However, this class is actually coming in handy and I'm even learning a thing or two that will probably come in handy later on down the road. This kind of stuff will actually be useful if I go into freelance work. Indeed, this could be useful!

The second class is Public Speaking, which got off on a really rough start but now I'm starting to get the hang of it. I had a couple of technical issues abound that didn't help things out either, and part of the assignment is giving a speech in front of an audience of five people and gathering five people to sit there and watch as I try to give a speech can be a little frustrating at times. I could have been a bit more prepared, but now I have to come up with an idea for an informative speech.

I'm thinking about doing one on Ferrets. :) I will post it when I finally get around to giving it.

The third class is on Digital Illustration, which is all about learning Adobe Illustrator, which I must admit, has had me scratching my head for some time. I never truly got it. But I'm picking it up pretty quick and so far am acing the class. But I've been acing all of my core classes so I'm not suprised really :) Now that I'm on top of things, hopefully the rest of this quarter will go smoothly.

I'm still debating on what I'm going to do with next quarter, whether I'll be transferring to another school or sticking with Westwood. I should know the answer to that in a couple of weeks.

On an eBay Kick

You know, eBay is kind of fun! Addictive, can get expensive, but its fun. You sit there, bidding on something, refreshing the page and you're quite certain you have the item in question when WHAM! Somebody outbids you. Out of the blue.

*laughs*

I'm on a TMNT kick, one of those people that jumps on the bandwagon when something is popular. Though there was one aspect of the fandom that I never got into before, and that's the origins of it all, the comics. And there are gobs of them.

I found some alternative methods of purchasing the items I'm looking for, which would have been helpful to know about before I started buying on eBay, but its quite a large collection and I've got a lot of gaps to fill. And if I get extras, I'll just turn around and sell them. On eBay!

In my haste, I ended up buying things I didn't need. Twice. Yep, learning how to use eBay all over again.

Endulging in my inner dork is something I do every now and again.

Voice Shot

So, my voice is coming and going, which is proving troublesome for my speech class. Nothing like having to tell the instructor that I have another issue because I can barely speak, I'm going to be late getting the work in.

I hate coming up with excuses all the time. It doesn't look good on me and eventually the teacher stops buying them. I had an issue with my webcam as well, I can't record video with it if I want sound, as I've discovered that I have a bad soundcard on my laptop. So I have to figure out another way to get the speech in.

I can't win, bleh.

Meanwhile, I've been hanging out a lot on ebay buying crap.

PS - No updates on the job, and I'm not going to speak of it anymore until I know for certain I have it or I don't.

Happy Feet and Liberal Love Fests

Happy Feet came out on DVD yesterday, and I had heard some things about it that made me wish to wait until it came out on DVD to see it. Regardless, I watched it with an open mind and had just wanted to see it.

First the good about it. This movie is beautiful, the animation is near realistic and it is stunning to see how far they have come in computer animation. The first two thirds of the movie is also actually enjoyable too, its fun with a cute story.

And now what I felt would have improved it.

1. Original Songs. Because this movie is so realistic, first thing I noticed was these penguins were all singing pop ballads. There is a penguin named Memphis singing an Elvis song, Heartbreak Hotel, and I'm thinking "How does a freakin' penguin know about hotels anyway?" The very least they could have done is found a composer to make some original music that sounds like something a penguin would sing. Penguins wouldn't know the slightest thing about pop music, and though singing seventies music in 'Ella Enchanted' worked there, becuase it was consistent and kept with the feature, it didn't work here. Disney is able to make original music for their songs, why can't Warner Bros?

2. The main dancing penguin, Mumble, is the only penguin that looks like him. When he grows up, he is a mix between a baby penguin and an adult penguin, and every other penguin that is the same age as him is looks like a regular penguin. I bought it at first, thinking "he's a late bloomer and they want to convey that" but later in the movie it is obvious that months have passed and Mumble has changed slightly, suggesting he has grown older, but he STILL LOOKS THE SAME! Maybe the baby penguins are cuter, but it wouldn't have bugged me as much if some of the other teenage penguins were also in that transition phase, not just the lead character. It's like a scream of 'Look at me! I'm different!'

3. Liberal Love fest at the end. I knew exactly what Glen Beck was talking about when he mentioned this movie on his TV show. The last third was unbearably obvious. I didn't mind the plotline to be accepted for who you were, or even a small environmental message to kids to protect your environment because people aren't the only ones living in this world. But the environmental message just became obnoxious. Mumble is in a human zoo where he dances for people, so they release him with a tracking device on his back and he goes back and tells the rest of the penguins to dance. When the humans see a bunch of penguins dancing, they start saying "wow, maybe they are trying to tell us something!" "Maybe they're telling us that we're affecting their food supply!" "We need to do something about that." Then we get a flash montage (of what appears to be real footage of people, not animation) about how a bunch of dancing penguins makes the world stop fishing the antartic.

This reminds me of "Hey Lassie, what is that? Timmy fell down a well?" Seriously, how would people get the idea of a bunch of dancing penguins would mean that they have a food shortage? By the sheer numbers of them in the movie, if I saw a bunch of dancing penguins, I would just say "cool, dancing penguins!" It wouldn't come to my attention that they might be hungry.

The last third of the movie just became rediculous. Yeah, sure, it is a kids show and kids seem to love it, but the overbearing ending just makes me want to vomit. I will not be adding to my film collection. Movies like this annoy the crap out of me. Especially since I'm an adult who still enjoys kids movies.

Cars was better, but because this is a liberal love fest, it won best Animated Feature in the Academy Awards. Cars at least had more originality in it.

And just FYI, I HAVE seen Inconveniant Truth, and it didn't make me want to vomit. Though Gore doesn't offer any real solutions, and according to him, we're all going to die in twenty years.

Life Collision

I was just realizing how busy I am going to be if I get this job. I'll have to pack all of my stuff, find a place, move 800 miles away and try to get settled in.

And I'm trying to go to school at the same time.

This quarter is off to a rough start and I'm just beginning my second week. I'm hoping to hear back today about the job but it's still a maybe. I hate waiting like this.

Meanwhile, its good to be back at work, though I'm realizing even more now then I did before I took my two week hiatus that I need a change of scenery in the workplace. I'm past working retail at a bum job, though I do like Hastings, but of course, everyone gets to a point where they need to aspire to something higher. And I long to be out of the retail biz.

If I do get the job, I think it's safe to say I'll probably drop out this quarter. I don't think I can try to move and do school at the same time.

TMNT

I don't really see a whole lot of movies in the theaters anymore. Most movies I can wait for to come out on DVD and watch in the privacy of my own home on my pretty TV. I reserve my theater going experience to movies that will wow me with special effects that I can take full advantage of with seeing on the big screen, like 300 and Pan's Labyrinth (both of which are excellent btw), or I reserve for major fandoms, like Harry Potter, and of recent, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Its good to see these guys making a comeback, tell anybody who knew me circa 1990 and they could confirm that I had a major obsession. I've kind of rediscovered them about two years ago and have been steadily collecting the DVD collections as they've come out. So anyway, when I heard that they were making a new animated feature, my first thought was "I'm so going to see this!" I've been watching both the 1987 and the 2003 series, and have a definite feel of the overall series (never got into the comic books, its probably to late for that now) and am prepared for probable campiness of what might come from a ninja turtle flick (and the orginal 1987 series was Campy!)

Yes, they had some dumb jokes (I still laughed), and the script was not oscar worthy but come on, this is a movie about four crime fighting turtles. I went in with an open mind expecting to like it and guess what? I wasn't disappointed. I wouldn't recommend it to just anybody though, really.

This is a show for kids and fans alike. I loved it because I am a fan. However, I didn't love the fact that I was watching a kid show at a prime showing with a lot of kids. My mistake. Remind me to catch the later showing if they get around to a theatrical release for TMNT #5.

Terrorist Ferrets Plotting Major Attacks

In a lengthy press conference yesterday President Bush vowed to take decisive action against terrorist ferrets who are allegedly plotting major attacks against the nation's living room carpet. "We will not rest," the President declared emphatically, "until these evil-doers are brought to justice. These little rascals could be hiding anywhere -- under the sofa, in the hamper, even in our kitchen cabinets, if Condi left them open. But know this: they are on the run."

More Here

Abby is doing her own part with being at war with my Wacom Tablet Stylus. Blaine has an agenda against any soap bars lying around.

Our carpet has long been a casualty of this threat.

Evolution of a Ninja Turtle Fan

Anybody growing up as a kid during the 80's is very familiar of the concept of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was a late bloomer into the fandom, more interested in the Disney Afternoon Cartoons like Rescue Rangers and Ducktales rather then Ninja Turtles, but about third grade they rubbed off on me. And when I finally discovered how much I liked them, I was hooked.

I think one of the appeals of the TMNT, at least for me, was that ANYTHING goes in this series. You name it, they'll find a way to make it happen, the more ludicrous the better. And as a kid, I was a total animal nut, so the fact that the main characters were a bunch of turtles mentored by a large rat was perfect for me. I wanted to find some mutagen myself and transform into some half human half animal freak of nature.

Then maybe I could learn Ninjitsu like the Ninja Turtles.

I had a large collection of Ninja Turtle collectables and one of my fondest memories as a child was saving up my money to go bike to the local Devil's Store (back then still owned and operated by Sam Walton and therefore still an ethical place to shop) and collect Ninja Turtle Action Figures. I had an impressive collection too!

It was a daily staple for me, come home from school and watch Ninja Turtles. I never missed it, even if I had seen the episode before.

However, like most kids, I did grow out of this phase. My family moved to California and as I went through Fifth Grade, I began to realize that, well, Ninja Turtles were stupid. Kids go through that phase ya know, and though I was one of those kids that didn't want to grow up, I still did and when you are going into that Tween stage, you are at this point in your life where you want to distance yourself from things that you enjoyed as a child. It slowly happened for me with Ninja Turtles, and then one day I realized I just wasn't watching it anymore. I gave my collection of Action Figures to my cousins (i look back on this and go grr. . .) and just, well, grew up.

The first clue that I might not be totally out of the fandom came when I went and saw the third movie in the theaters, and a little bit of the fandom came back. I went with my best friend Suzanne in Seventh Grade and we talked about Ninja Turtles and had a brief moment of Nastalgia. What's more, I did enjoy the movie.

Though recently, I watched the movie again and realized how gawd awful it really is *laughs*

Well, years past, other similar kids shows started to emerge, like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which I didn't get near of and only watched a few episodes mainly to point at it and laugh at its rediculousness.

Whatever the case, I went through my teenage years steering clear of most anything that had to do with kids shows. I just didn't watch them, though it didn't stop me from becoming an obsessive trekkie at one point. Heck, when Buffy the Vampire Slayer came out, I avoided it thinking that it would be incredibly stupid.

I got into Harry Potter about the time when the third book came out. I was 18 and just graduated high school, and that's when I discovered a new genre. Kids books. I got hooked on a couple of series, just for quick reads, but looking back, a couple of them could have been avoided and I would have been all the better for it.

As I went through my twenties, I went back into a childhood phase, as I realized how good I really had it as a kid. I readily admit to loving Harry Potter and will be one of those people that will be there at Midnight to pick up book seven and will probably stay up reading it all night long.

Fall of 2004, near my 24th birthday, (and consequently, the same time I got infamous with my Not Sorry pose) I rediscovered Ninja Turtles. The same time they were released on DVD.

The first five episodes of the original series had just come out on DVD, and for kicks and giggles, and a shot at Nastalgia, I bought it. At the same time, I found out that they had a brand new series out and just to compare the two, I bought a disk to it as well.

Reliving my childhood through Ninja Turtles has been great fun. Its become one of those things that I collect, having all the movies, DVD releases of the Old Series and New Series both and comparing them, throwing them on and working on something while they are on in the background and just giggle at the campiness of it sometimes.

If I was an adult in 1989, I would have likely looked at Ninja Turtles and thought 'what a stupid show!' But the unique perspective of knowing how much I loved the turtles then really makes me continue to love them now.

What has equally been fun in reliving my childhood through various animated programs is following prevailant voice actors from the eighties, and how freakin' often they pop up in different shows. Rob Paulsen (aka Raphael) has seemingly become one of my favorite voice actors to follow, as he's pretty much in EVERYTHING (and still everywhere). Gummi Bears, yep. In fact, check out pretty much any Disney Toon of that era and he's guest starred somewhere. Tiny Toons, in that too. Animaniacs? He's Freakin' Pinky for crying out loud. (Love Pinky and the Brain). I recently watched Ant Bully and one of the bugs in it made me think "Rob Paulsen?" Yep.

What am I driving at? You know, it's OK to like something as campy as the Turtles, because looking back with a new perspective as an adult, this show was just plain fun. And you can tell the people behind it were having a blast at it too. And moving on from Ninja Turtle Cartoons to the more 'adult' fanfare of the Comic Books (definitely not for the kiddies whom were raised on this stuff) you see how far reaching this series has become.

I've gone out and purchased quite a few of the comic books and have nearly completed my collection. Just for the sake of having them. Am I a geek? You bet! But I'm a happy and content geek, and I still love Turtles.

What's more, I'll even admit as much!

Jobs, Broken Feet, and Army Matters

I went to the doctor's office yesterday and they told me that there was no real change in my healing so I was sent to an orthopedic specialist today.

Great news! I AM healing! I was taken off the crutches and told to go ahead and support as much weight as I felt comfortable on my foot. I'll be in the walking boot another two weeks and then I can put on a comfortable sneaker *squee!*

I was told by my possible perspective boss that as far as they were concerned, they REALLY liked me and felt I would be a strong addition to their team, but I won't know for sure until I talk to the president, who has been very busy. I'll be interviewing with him on Monday if all goes well and so I'm hoping I will know the outcome of the job by the end of the week. Sweet!

Once I do know that, I can get in touch with my unit and see what sister units are down in that area, because I won't be drilling with my current unit once I move. I'm still going to be going to school the same time, and the job I'm looking at is aware of this and totally willing to work with me.

One of the questions they asked me was in regards to what I would do if I gave an assignment to a fellow employee and found them not working on it, how I would react. I tried to be honest with them, saying I wouldn't want to be abraisive or anything but if they really get on my nerves, being a drill sergeant candidate I might snap into that mentality and chew them out. They laughed and said they would love to see me make somebody do pushups *laughs* I don't think I'll be doing that a lot though. WHatever the case, I'm feeling really good about the job right now and am just hoping that it works out.

I think I'll have to be giving up my little furballs however :(

I will miss them if I do.

New Animated Ninja Turtles comes out today! Must endulge my inner childhood fandoms and go see it this weekend.

What's Happening in My World

Well, today I go in to see the doctor about my gimp foot. I've been taking herbal remedies and trying to stay off of it, which is hard when you hobble around the house. I don't go out much but when I do I take my crutches. I've learned quite readily what a workout crutches can be. *sighs* I just want my stupid foot healed.

I go back to work again on Friday, when I went in to check out my schedule for this week and next week, my coworkers warned me that I have to hurry up and use my hoarded credits or they might disappear. This was frustrating but if I do get that designer job I'm going to have to use them anyway. So I rented six movies and a video game. I had $32.98 or some obscene amount on my account, now apparently the policy is you can only have a maximum of $10 on the account at a given time and only for 60 days. I was saving them for a rainy day but oh well, I'm catching up on my movie watching.

By the way, a credit is a dollar amount credited back to your account if you turn a movie in the next day instead of keeping it for the full five days.

In regards to the designer job, I haven't heard anything yet, and doing the interview with no sleep didn't help me. I couldn't really help this on account of the fact I had to do the questionares they gave me and I wanted to focus my attention on that and it took me all night. Whatever the case, I think I'm going to call today and check in on the job, see if my email got misplaced or something.

I started a new quarter in school. I'm not as excited about it as I was to last quarter, but I think I'll just suck it up anyway. I'm still at Westwood, though if I get this job I think I'll be transfering to Art Institute which has a more comprehensive degree that entails more in the gaming industry, and so I'm going to go there instead. But the classes I'm taking this quarter should transfer so its still good. I'm taking a Business class, Public Speaking, and Digital Illustration, the last one I'm really looking forward too. I've never understood Adobe Illustrator all that much. Hopefully I'll be able to show of some kick butt work!

So, that's the latest of the latest. The new ninja turtle movie comes out this weekend, I think I'm going to have to go see it and see how they look in CGI.

Job Offer

Over the last few days an amazing opportunity came up for me, but I kept fairly mum on the subject for fear of getting my hopes to high in regards to whether or not this would pan out.

A friend I've had for about twenty years is married to a guy in the gaming industry, and they are looking for female designers. Although I don't have any prior experience in game design, I was offered the opportunity to apply for it based on my creative side, gaming history and writing abilities. When doing research on this field, I have discovered that this is a very unique and rare opportunity for me.

I filled out a resume and sent it in with my various job skills that fit the job and they offered me a phone interview (this job is out of town and would require me to move). Before the interview, I was also given a series of questionares in regards to the gaming industry and I had to fill them out and send them back, using this as the basis of whether or not I was a fit for the job.

The questions were. . . interesting to say the least. When I initially looked at them, my first reaction was 'huh?' Because of the highly competitive market that is the gaming industry, publishers are constantly looking for new ideas for games. As such, a designer has to be able to figure out a fun and creative game with what appears to be a really stupid or strange idea. I was warned that they can be borderline crazy at times.

Whatever the case, I was given a bunch of questions and a few premises behind some possible games and I had about twelve hours to come up with something and get it back to them. The fact that I had to stay up all night long working on this made me think that this was also part of the interview process, what kind of ideas I could come up with when under a crunch.

And I had to come up with something creative while displaying my writing skills. I think I did ok with it considering I had to pop NO-Doze and by the time the interview rolled around, I was going about 25-26 hours without sleep. Again, I suspect this was part of the interview process, but a couple of the questions they asked I fear I may have been bordering on incoherent.

I was told that they liked my stuff, but before I can get hired, I have to be interviewed by the president of the company. So I'll know sometime later this week. I'm excited, this is a very rare opportunity for me and I will be paid to actually play video games regularly. This is kind of the field I wanted to break into with my animation degree so overall the fact that this opportunity landed at my feet is amazing.

Yes, I will keep you posted.

If it does happen, I have a few cool ideas for some video games :)

No News but Old News

So, I've been home for the last couple of weeks trying to heal a foot, sleeping ten hours a night, popping herbal remedies, and watching Lost.

I'm now hooked on Lost. Save me.

My dad asked me why I haven't been blogging. Other then the first and second season of Lost (which is old news) and finishing the last quarter of school, heck I haven't done anything noteworthy in two weeks.

I guess I can hash the goat and talk about Britney Spears shaving her head, but that's old news too.

Foot not Healing

Nothing really new going on. My foot is still broken and I haven't been doing it any favors by trying to live my life and walking on it. So I have been rendered to Crutches, absolutely NO weight on my foot for three weeks. Which is hard because I can put weight on it with no pain, but its not mending so. . .

So the verdict is in, the season of snowboarding is over for me. *sighs* I will likely get a midweek pass and leave it at that for next year, I didn't use the season pass enough to make it worth my while.

I was supposed to leave for Benning in a little over a week *grumbles* but now its been delayed til end of July, as mentioned previously. And thank you all for your concern about me being in Georgia in August. I have been to Benning in August before. No it is not fun, but I'll manage to somehow survive.

Hey, I'm Preventive Medicine, despite how much I loathe my job I do know how to do it. So I'm sure I can keep an eye on the heat cat and hopefully I won't miss out on to much training because of it.

Lately I've been watching a lot of movies.

Latest 3DS Creations

I need to tweak with it a little more, but currently this is my rough draft product assignment. I decided to do a guitar.

Much frustration has overcome me in trying to produce this, but much satisfaction has been the reward so far whe I get it to render right.

The finished product will be done next week. After I get some critiques back on this thing.

Delayed Again

So the latest news on my life. . .

May is out, there are no slots. So I have to go at the end of July.

Benning Georgia, in August. . . *sighs* That messed with my plans quite a bit.

I just hope I can make it before the year is through, but with my luck, something will happen in June that will further delay everything. Here's hoping.

Kitty Sculpture

I rendered this strange abstract cat sculpture in 3DS Max. Then I made a virtual gallery and put some of my other artwork in there as well.

I'm starting to get the hang of this software! And it makes me so freakin happy!



I really need to learn to fine tune the modeling aspect itself, but I'm finally figuring it out!

For some reason I like to do cat themed sculptures.

Brief Delay in Plans

I got the results of my foot back yesterday. We went in for an X-Ray and it came back broken. Fourth Metatarsel on the right foot. I'm going in today again to see my doctor and have him give me a recommendation on what to do to get it taken care of.

One thing for sure, Drill Sergeant School is out for March. But not all is lost. I just have to flip my schedule around for a bit.

I was originally supposed to go to DSS in March and come back in May, where I was going to have to finaggle getting back into school and all that jazz. Actually, this works better. For one, I won't be missing Helena Handbasket and I might be able to finaggle Bloomsday in. And I won't get thrown off of my schooling for my degree.

I just have to keep myself from getting hurt again.

But they say I might be able to be back on it in a couple of weeks, so I'll probably still be able to negotiate the March Snowboarding Season.

Depart Already!!!

So I've got an appointment to see the Doctor at 8 this evening, because apparently they're booked up with the flu. Since I have to keep my foot on ice and elevated, and overall off of it (which leads to me relaxing on the couch with minimum activity *grumbles*) I decided since its new movie day, that I wanted to go rent a couple of movies to keep me occupied. So I sent my brother after the movies, one of them being The Departed, which I've been wanting to see for quite some time.

Despite the horrible movie review done of it in one of my classes earlier.

So I send him after the movie and while he's getting ready, he keeps trying to confirm the movie with me. "The Guardian, right?"

"No, the Departed."

Shortly thereafter, as he's getting his shoes on. "The Forgotten?"

"No, that was an awful movie! The Departed!"

A minute later, "Unforgiven?"

"Departed!!!"

So he finally leaves, I'm like trying to give him mnemonic clues just so he would get the hint, like how he needs to depart the house to get the movies. A few minutes later, he comes back, with The Unknown.

Which I've seen. . .

Maybe he'll get it this time.

Well, That Nixes That

I went to a church activity tonight where we went and played Balloon games, this is basically a singles thing where a bunch of single adults get together and have fun and socialize and hopefully pair off so that they get married and one day have kids.

The Balloon games were fun and all, and afterwards we set up a volleyball net and started playing volleyball. I used to play in High school but haven't played in probably two years or so (actually, in Kosovo I think was the last time I played).

Anyway, we were playing and I was in the front center kind of setting the ball for people when the ball came over and I tried to block while the guy on the other side tried to spike it, or something.

Well, I hit the floor and he landed on my right foot. I went down almost immediately from the sharp pain that followed.

Ouch.

Well, game over, I told them I was done for the count and had to take care of my foot. Driving proved to be doable, as long as I don't have to make a hard break, and when I got home, I looked for an Ice pack and maybe a wrap to wrap it in.

Nothing. Which left me a trip to the nearest place that would have this kind of stuff for sheer conveniance, which is Walmart, the devil's store. Walking was difficult so I found myself on a cart skating my way around, trying to keep off my hurt foot until I got to the ace bandages and ice packs and all that good stuff.

Coming home, I got the icepack ready and finally took off my shoe and assessed the damage. I can touch it fine, no real sharp pain. This is going to hurt like crazy tomorrow. Its really starting to plague me now.

I'm hoping its a bad bruise, but now that my shoe is off, I'm having trouble putting any weight on it whatsoever. Called in to work to let them know I can't come in so I can at least take the day and keep it elevated (and hope it gets better).

If it doesn't, I'm going to have to make an appointment with the doctor and see if I've got a hairline fracture or something. Either way, well, gees, I had this sneaky suspcion that something was going to happen to me before I had to go to Drill Sergeant School.

I just thought it was going to happen on account of snowboarding.

Well, no more running or snowboarding for me until I'm sure that this thing isn't going to debilitate me. And if it is bad, this might mean I have to postpone school until Summer.

Damn.

Running and the Army

Meanwhile, Drill was this last weekend and it taught me something very valuable.

I need to run more.

I have NEVER done that poorly on a run before, though I'm not exactly thrilled with our track by any means. So for the next two weeks, I've made up my mind that I'm going to run daily. I took a nice easy run today and it actually felt good despite the fact that it smoked me on Saturday. Tomorrow I'm going at it again. And the next day. And the Next. Each day getting progressively harder and longer.

Well, I have a month to scrape two minutes off my run time. This is doable, because its not like I have been running and conditioning myself and suddenly have to shave off two minutes, its that I haven't been, so if I work myself, I see this as doable.

It should be pretty easy actually. I mean, I have to do 2 miles in 18:36, which is a nine minute mile. That's seventy points on the Army Physical Fitness Test, which is where I have to be. By the end of school, I'm hoping to be up there in the seventeens, and then I want to maintain that (I still want to buy a dog) as I want to be able to put my money where my mouth is when it comes to training soldiers because if I can't, they will eat me alive I'm sure.

We were going over more modules (this is where you recite, ver batum, what Attention, the Rest Positions at the Halt, and the Hand Salute among other things is, so that you know it forward, backwards and in your sleep) and got to know the Drill Sergeant Creed.

The fourth stanza is the one I want to be able to live by.

"I will Lead By Example, never requiring a Soldier to attempt a task that I would not do myself."

That's kind of one of the reasons I joined this specific unit. I want to be up there, training troops and earning their respect.

One thing I regret though is not having the combat patch on my shoulder while I do this. Its kind of an honor issue I guess, here I am, training soldiers to go into combat which they will undoubtedly see, and I haven't been there to experience it myself.

Kosovo sure didn't count.

By next drill, I'll have my E6 Promotion Packet in. I should be pinned by the time I get back from Drill Sergeant School.

New PJs

Ok, so I mentioned I got some new pajamas and that pictures are coming.

Well, when I got them, I felt kind of weird telling somebody to take a picture of me so I can blog about the experience, so I kind of got a picture of them as an after thought.



I'm actually wearing an old BDU (that's the old camouflage) T-shirt with them, but they have a tanner colored shirt that you are actually supposed to wear with them instead. Everybody calls the new uniform (ACU, Army Combat Uniform) Pajamas because that's kind of what they look like.

I love them already. They are light and comfortable, the entire unifrom is about as heavy as the pants on the original uniform.

I leave for school in a month, I was wondering if I would get any in by the time I had to leave because I didn't want to be the reservist showing up for an active duty school in the uniform they're phasing out.

I had to go run errands before I got home, and I try not to spend to much time in public wearing the uniform because despite the fact that its supposed to conceal you with your surroundings, it screams "LOOK AT ME" when your out in public. I got thanked by about four different people this weekend while I was walking around.

It's good to hear people still care.

I Finally Got My Pajamas!

Yay!!!

Pictures to follow.

Air Time

Went Snowboardign again. Fourth time this season. Yes, I'm starting to pick up momentum now that I'm on a roll.

I went with my sister and her neighbor, who is actually a pretty good snowboarder. I prefer to go with me at my level or better because it really encourages me to get better.

We started out with my yellow board. I switched out the bindings so that they fit and I realized that I REALLY like that board.

Except for before, my bindings were to big, which doesn't give me enough support when riding. Now they are to small, which makes for a pain when you are getting on and off the lift and you can't get your foot out.



Um, no, this isn't a military issued Gortex Jacket with rank insignia that I'm not supposed to wear in civilian clothes. Why do you ask???

I had to switch boards after a couple of runs, to my smaller board that I use more with jumps and free style. I'm more confident on it becuase I have more control I think, and its not as fast.

I got a few pictures, my favorite are always the little things you don't generally capture on film, like the little nuances of snowboarding, like going along side a hill (instead of down) with no momentum. I call this the Snowboard Shuffle.



Anyway, I did get a few action shots.



I just cleared maybe a couple of inches off the ground on that one, and my sister got the tail end of the landing. The white thing you see is my pass btw.



More Air that time, and as I look at this, I realize that I could probably do a little better if my feet were further apart. I have no idea what my right arm is doing, I never said I was very graceful, I just said I'm getting air and landing it.



My favorite shot. To bad you don't see the shots immediately before and after this one, and it blurred slightly. It looks like i'm doing something pretty tight, like I'm doing toe grab or something. No, I'm just falling on my rear after completely biffing this jump. I then had to go to the lodge and recouperate for the next hour.

I'll feel this one tomorrow for sure.

Tech N9ne

Ok, my apologies as this is actually old news. . .

Three weeks ago, Tech N9ne was in town. Before I got my job back at Hastings and have lately been promoted to Music Associate for some odd reason (out of Movies, Books and Music, I know the least about Music) I really had no idea who Tech N9ne was.

Well, like I mentioned before, they came into Town and performed a few concerts, however, due to the crowded nature of concerts, or for some other reason I'm not entirely sure why, they decided to hold a signing at a Hastings Store. And they chose mine because of all four Hastings in my town, my location sells the most Rap CDs or something.

Yeah, Tech N9ne's a rapper.

We had people lined up fairly early on, and technically I wasn't working, but I came in anyway just to see the commotion. To promote the fact that he was in the store, we had an edited version of his latest CD playing overhead, but being rap, it was still pretty risque and we still got a ton of complaints afterwards.

I got to clock in for about an hour, just to peruse the store becuase we had a lot of juveniles that just got out of school and we are a high theft location. But I still got to get a CD signed.

Waiting in line, with Tech N9ne to the left.

Look, he's famous!

Actually, for a rapper, which is a genre of music I'm really picky about, I actually like his stuff and even purchased a CD and got it signed. Actually, the edited version sounded fine to me, I have a feeling the language might be a little more then I can handle.

I must be getting old.

Guitar Resumes

Add this to the resolutions.

My sister and I both have Guitars that we never really learned how to play. She stated that every year she puts 'learn to play guitar' on her list of new years resolutions and every year we fall short.

So we decided we would encourage each other to learn by learning together.

Working at a Music/Video/Book store is helpful, and I picked up a lesson book on how to teach yourself guitar. We watched the video yesterday (the beginning was a bit redundant) and got A Major, D and E chords to learn. So that is our assignment for this week. Play about twenty minutes a day, dip fingers in rubbing alcohol, and try to get those chords down. Then we need to learn to transition between them.

Nothing like saying "hey, stop the song for a bit, I need to find D."

The mountain is calling my name. Though the fog has still not lifted. Got to head back up and take advantage of the day.

Snowboarding Status

So, what have I been up to?

So far this year, despite having a season pass, I've been on the mountain a grand total of tree times, counting right now. Which means that I will never buy a season pass again because circumstances outside of my control (accidents, car rentals, weather, bad tires) somehow prevent me from going up to the mountain like I want to. I knew I should have purchased a Toyota.

Last week I came up and got all my gear together when I noticed there was something strange in my ski goggles. On closer inspection, it proved to be Ferret Vomit.

Damn Ferrets.

I have also discovered I'm not in the shape I want to be, though I have gotten better. I own Four (yes, four) snowboard, though one, which is my first, is actually a cheap snowboard that I never really liked. Its a little to short for me for one. I hang onto it in case I have somebody who's a beginner that wants to learn, like some nieces of mine.

The second board is a little longer, but still short, that isn't that good for just riding but is great for working on my airborne stunts. I'm really starting to get some air, now I have to work some nose grabs and other things into that mix and actually landing afterwards.

The third board is my dragon board, which has step in bindings that is great for riding but I always face plant on it if I try to get any air. When I ride and almost biff it on this board, I usually recover almost immediately.

THe fourth board is my latest, the yellow one, though I don't like it because the bindings don't fit. Its probably my nicest board, so when the season ending sales hit, I'll look at getting those replaced for next year.

So the ones I generally take are the second and third ones. I was riding the dragon board earlier, didn't attempt anything other then to ride switch for a while (for how long I've been riding, I honestly should be better) and a brief jump that ended disastrously on my butt, and currently I'm in the lodge hoping that the this fog will clear up so I can try a few more runs for a bit. I think I'm going to ride the other board and hit the terrain park for a few more hours and head home.

Sister's got a toyota. I've got the ski pass. We're heading up again Friday for the ski free day. I think that's the other thing keeping me off the mountain. I like riding with others.

Blogging, Myspace and the Military

Oh how nice, I'm glad to see that the entire freakin' hospital in Kosovo was doing this and they were cracking down on me for having a tradtional blog. . .

And for the same reasons too. . .

My idiot NCOIC didn't bother enforcing the blog rule with the other two soldiers in the section, who both had active myspace acccounts. But me, well, because I had a fairly well known blog (not so much now) I was the exception to the rule.

The hypocracy kills me.

I mentioned a long time ago that MySpace fell under the same jurisdiction as blogs, I even mentioned this to several people in the chain because I felt I was being unfairly singled out. Not only that, people were accessing their Myspace accounts all the time and posting pictures on them all the while doing this on government computers.

But no, I was the one singled out.

And people wonder why I came back from my deployment rather sour and grumpy.

Been home for just over a year now and I still look back on lessons learned from that experience.

Homework Status

So, I'm ending my second week of this quarter and so far everything seems to be going fairly smoothly.

So far.

My first real assignment in 3d Modeling was making a robot. This is the rough work-in-progress. I decided to do something along the lines of a dinosaur bird type thing.

View Robot HERE on Devart.

I get to fine tune it this week.

Meanwhile, in my character development and design class, I had this assignment that I ended up doing backward. Once upon a time I used to not draw humans at all. I've gotten a lot better, but now I need to learn how to color.

I took a basic character design and had to give them traits of a character type (ie Villain, hero, side kick, comic relief, etc) that you find in a story. Then you had to take that character and modify them so that they fit another role. I ended up making a girl and giving her five character roles. The last one is my favorite. I think this is obvious.

No, just because she's blonde and a chick, this is NOT me.

Character Types

It was actually fun to do, but now I have to go back and actually do the assignment properly. Which is going to have to happen tomorrow.

Faces

Look! Imbedded Videos!

Blogger is cooperating now!

I have posted a link to this before, but now you can see it in full imbedded goodness courtesy of YouTube.

This was filmed in 2000, I was just 19, and I was very fascinated with my webcam.

NOTE- THis was imbedded via the YouTube option, it is ANOTHER faces video I did later.

I will now forego the YouTube download and use their imbedding option since apparently it takes them about a day to upload. . . *grumble*

Video Blogging with a Military Humvee

These are some old videos, taken around Summer of 2003 in fact.

Since they are incriminating, I'll have you know that 1) I wasn't driving and 2) I would NEVER do this to a Humvee now.

That said, they are kind of cool.



Mud Boggin'



For further news, click the Video's tab. All of my former videos are now imbedded via YouTube! Yay!

iPods are Stupid

Let Me Explain.

I had a ton of songs on an external harddrive that went capoot right about when I got home from Yellowstone. That in itself was infuriating. However, it wasn't a complete and total loss because I had about 20 gigs of songs stored on my iPod.

And there they sat, waiting for me to figure out how to get them off of there and back onto my harddrive. I wasn't sure about how to go about this so I just kept them there.

Well, with nothing really to do, I decided to get my computers all updated and running (including my new and improved Desktop which I only use for school at the moment, and not for surfing the net as that's what my little laptop is for).

My mind went back on my music dilemma, and how I can get those 20 gigs of songs off of the iPod and onto another harddrive. So I just plugged it in to see what would happen and low and behold, iTunes came up, hooked up Fuji the iPod, and the proceeded to DELETE MY ENTIER LIBRARY OFF OF IT! Further more, it stated that my updates were complete, even though there was nothing to update onto it.

???

What is the matter with Apple? I had a couple of songs that will be impossible to replace on that thing that I was grateful I still had, when it turns out that once I plugged my iPod in, I would have lost them anyway. I don't get it? What's the point of the freakin' iPod? Why do people think these things are so awesome? I hate them! They're rediculously Expensive and they Suck! GARRR!!!!!

Well, now I have to find a way to replace my iTunes Library that I lost, and I think the best method to do this is not entirely legal.

MP3s are now officially a pain in the butt.

Ferret Update

I think I need to update on the ferrets, since I haven't posted any pictures of them recently.

They are alive and well, and continue to amuse us. If we aren't sure where the ferrets are when we let them out of the cage, it never fails to check the pajama drawer and find them curled up in a pair of my pants. Feisty littl ferrets, they have become quite enduring.


My nephew Cody loves the ferrets. He often times will get on his hands and knees and pretend to be one, including the curling up in a ball under a pile of blankets or what not. The ferrets put up with him, which is one of the reasons why I find them so loveable. You can just pester them and they go about their business without a care in the world. We have come to an understanding with the ferrets. You pick them up, pet them and cuddle them for about a minute or two and put them back on the ground where they will bound on their merry way. A few minutes later they'll be back again to see what you're up to and you can pick them up and pester them again.


This was Blaine a few weeks ago, right after I picked him up from the vet for ear plug removal. The look on my face translates to "I just spent close to $500 bailing this little furball out of the vet". Yes, I have learned the financial burdons of the ferret the hard way. It put quite a damper on my bank account. Good news is, Blaine is recovering very well.

I've had dogs and I've never spent as much money on them as I've done on this little fuzzbutt.


Abby is currently really fluffy, fat and cute. Blaine's been kind of scruffy and skinny on account of not being able to digest anything (though since he's been recovering his been catching up). I've been wanting to take them out into the snow to see what they would do, however the previous snow falls Blaine hasn't been well enough to go out and play. Since his fur has finally regrown on his belly, I thought this last snow would be ok to take them out.

I took them out one at a time, as two ferrets outside, even in harnesses is a handful. Abby didn't want to play. She hunkered next to the door shivering as if to say "let me back in!" So I didn't make her play for very long.


Blaine, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of the powdery white stuff. He immediately started bounding through it and trying to burrow in it, just checking it out and having a fun ferret time. I walked him around a bit and just observed him explore in the snow. He does a lot better in the harness then Abby does, I let him go where he wants to go for the most part, but when he starts heading in a direction where I don't like him heading, I only have to apply a little force to the lead and he'll come bounding back.


Pipe cleaner tail!

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One of the funny things about Abby is her thieving skills, right under your nose. Her favorite things to steal seem to be pens with rubber grips. For the most part, I don't mind, as she generally hides them under my dresser or in the bottom drawer of my bed. I think its a game of wills between me and her.


Specifically with my Wacom Drawing Tablet Stylus. If I think I've misplaced it, I just have to let her sniff it out and sure enough, she'll find it. To her its not an expensive tool, its another Ferret toy. And she'll try to steal it right out of my hands. This is bar none her favorite thing to steal.


I call Abby the Slinky Rat, because she actually has rat like features for a ferret. She's the more active and playful one, and she's also the one that dooks more. She tends to give ferret kisses too. She'll lick your ear, your nose, your eyebrow or whatever.


Blaine's pretty silent, he doesn't say a whole lot (but he does snore!). Blaine's the ankle biter (literally!). He will nip at your bare feet if you have them available, which is why I've learned to always wear socks when the ferret is out. He'll tunnel up my pantleg sometimes and if he reaches bare skin, he'll nip my calf. I've also had him rub up against my bare back and latch onto a piece of skin showing. It doesn't feel very good when he does that. When he does play, he likes to playbite.

He also eats earplugs. So I consider earplugs to be forbidden anywhere a ferret can get to them. I'm not going to have another one of those removed from a ferret gut if I can help it.

Cars and Snow

It Snowed. Again.

I was actually at my sister's house helping her out when it started snowing, and my concern for how my rental car would fare in it was rightfully grave. I made my way home and found out unless I go about ten miles an hour, I have zero control in turns, which was proven when I smacked into the curb while I tried to make a gradual turn and my car just kept going straight. I hope they don't notice the dent in the wheel. Or maybe I should complain that driving this car is a safety hazard. I for one, had freakin' studless snow tires on my car and those things are freakin' great! I have purposely tried to slide in them just to test them and they are awesome. I was going to hit the mountain tomorrow (er, today) but there is no way that rental will make it up the mountain.

So once I planted myself back at home, I decided to make a vow to stay there for the rest of the night. And of course, here I am.

Fortunately I don't have to work tomorrow (er, today), however it's my sister's birthday and we're going to go over there and give her a cake and sing Happy Birthday where she will be blessed with my vocal talents. And I say that with only the most blatant sarcasm. I have no singing talents.

I upgraded Internet Explorer and it seems to have downed a few notches when it comes to uploading things online. Grr. . .

Best and Worst - Movies 2006

I don't really see this as becoming a movie blog, honestly I don't, but because I work in a movie rental place, I have a tendency to see a lot of movies, especially recently, when before I was barely watching them at all.

Funny, I still haven't seen a ton of movies, so I'm going to leave it the top and bottom 5 movies I saw this year.

Top Five (in no particular order)

1) Little Miss Sunshine - I think what won me over in this film is the VW Bus, as I could totally picture my family in those circumstances. We had a car much like that, an '81 Dodge Ram Minivan we called the Blue Bomber. That aside, there is a disclaimer I meant to add to my previous review of this film is that the humor is kind of dark and its not for everybody. My parents rented this on reading my recommendation and were more then a little disturbed at the heroin snorting grandfather. This movie felt a lot like a snowball to me. I was snickering at the beginning and as the movie progressed, I found it funnier and funnier.

2) Thank You for Smoking - I don't know why, maybe its the dry humor or the Libertarian Subject Matter of 'stop letting politicians make all your decisions and learn about it yourself' mentality, this movie is excellent. And I hate smoking.

3) Fearless - I've discovered that the subtitled foreign film doesn't bother me. This was the product of a date with a guy that I think wants something more and I am more then content to remain just friends. That said, I think I enjoyed the movie more then he did. Mostly because being subtitled, you have to keep your attention on the film to understand what's going on. Which might be why I liked it so much.

4) World Trade Center - I kind of avoided the whole 9/11 themed movies when they came out, mostly because I sometimes find it all drilled into my head and I'm a bit weary of it. However, I finally did see this film despite my initial weariness of it being an Oliver Stone flick and I was impressed. He focused on two Port Authority Police Officers and you experience the towers fall from their standpoint, and the knowledge that this is a true story makes it especially poignant. I hear United 93 is excellent as well, which I haven't seen yet.

5) Hard Candy - Call me strange, demented, or disturbing, but I really liked this film. And its definitely one I wouldn't recommend to just anybody (so don't go rent it mom and dad), but then again, I really LIKE films like this. A 13 year old girl meets up with a photographer in his thirties that she met in an online chat and it is soon revealed that she's been stalking him, and goes out to teach him a lesson. Throughout the movie you're wondering who really is the bad guy in this movie, and there are more then a few twists and turns. I would call it a thriller to an extent, but I watched it after having it reviewed in my Critical Thinking class and it really does make you think.

Others worthy of consideration :
Click - the running gag with the humping dog really killed it for me, but otherwise I really liked this film. So sue me if you agree with all the people who landed it in their 'worst of 2006' list. And I like Adam Sandler flicks, they make me laugh.
V for Vendetta - I just liked it, ok?
Devil Wears Prada - I love Meryl Streep, so much that I really hate her in this movie.
Invincible - A feel good 'Rudy' flick, problem is it was over just when it was getting really good.
Cars - Pixar animated it. Enough said.
Art School Confidential - Definitely not for everybody, but as a former art student that used to have talent that was successfully killed by art school, I can say that I can understand the subtle humor in this comedy/drama/suspense type movie. And I laughed at a few scenes most non-former art students probably wouldn't get.
Over The Hedge - Best animated picture about talking animals this year (unless Ice Age 2 beat it, and for some reason I douht this. As a loyal listener of Glenn Beck, I refuse to watch Happy Feet)

Movies that may have made this list had I seen them (in other words, on my to see list): Casino Royale (not a Bond fan, but I keep hearing good things), The Departed (Lot's of buzz on this one, and the premise intrigues me), The Pursuit of Happyness (Have gotten a lot of good feedback from people on this), Stranger then Fiction (I don't know why, but I really want to see this film), Snakes on a Plane (so bad its good? Actually, from what I hear its not bad at all), For Your Consideration (Christopher Guest is God of the Mockumentary)

5 films to avoid at all costs

1) Date Movie - I was intrigued to see this film for one reason and one reason only. Alyson Hannigan. Can I say wasted talent? This was by far the worst movie I had seen all year. And further more, it's garage sale fodder because I bought the blasted thing! Fortunately, I got it on sale used so I'm not out more then I have to be. I vow to never see a "(enter word here) Movie" again. Which makes me ashamed to admit I actually laughed at the trailer for Epic Movie. Why, Willow, WHY????

2/3) Open Season & The Wild - Ok, so I lumped the two together, I've been in an Animation Bid Lately. Is it just me or was the talking animal fare out in force last year? I was unfortunate enough to actually pay to see Open Season in the theater, and it was so bad my four year old nephew begged his parents to take him home. Fresh from a summer in Yellowstone, I found the whole thing about a ranger taking in a grizzly bear a little more unbelievable then necessary, like what is a deer doing partnering up with a grizzly anyway? (oh, wait, that's right, this IS an Animated Feature) but the ending was corny and cheeky, "Even though under normal circumstances we have to eat each other to survive, can't we all join forces to stop the BIG BAD HUNTERS???" Also, anybody say the word 'stereotype?' In regards to The Wild, I found the animation to look awesome, but the story was blah and what's with the Wildebeast trying to ascend to a higher level in the food chain? I would hope for more from Disney, part of me felt like they were trying to make Lion King again. And the thing had way to many plotholes (how could those animals survive at sea without anything to eat?) For a more superior look at Animated Talking Animals, give Over the Hedge a shot instead.

4) My Super Ex-Girlfriend - We recently rented this. I cringed. It was bad. So horribly bad. And way to much sex. I don't see how that could even be enjoyable.

5) Underworld: Evolution - I would think that this movie would be the type I like, as I did like the first, but I found it to be grossly underwhelming, and confusing, and somewhat of a mess. The opening sequence was horrendously difficult to make out, it was like the cameraman was having a siezure while filming it. I guess the 'avoid it at all costs' title may be a bit misleading, but then again I have a tendency to not try to see movies I think will suck so filling this list is somewhat difficult.

Movies that would likely make this list which is why I haven't seen them: Barnyard (hermaphrodite cows creep me out), Big Momma's House 2 (the first one was bad enough), Little Man (White Chicks and made by part of the team responsible for the (adjective)- Movie franchise, 'nough said), Santa Clause 3 (honestly, I didn't like the first one when I saw it and found the second one to be retarded so why would I bother thinking they got it right the third time around? These things deplete in quality unless you're talking Lord of the Rings Trilogy)

List of All Movies that Came Out in 2006

Car's in the Shop

You would think that after a month, I could get two fender benders worked out with the respected insurance companies, right?

Wrong. I'm still finaggling with this, with one insurance company sending me a check without telling me they sent one (and I never recalled getting the first check, so they had to stop payment on it and send me another one).

But all in all, I have my car finally in the shop and they have issued me a rental. . .

It's fire engine red. And a chevy.

Actually, by all accounts its kind of a cute car. Except for being an automatic where I'm used to driving a manual transmission, I've caught myself several times trying to step on the phantom clutch, though I have tried to shift it once or twice too. Doesn't work. And I have a sneaky suspicioun that the last person (or two or three) smoked in it because it reeks. Actually, that's enough to make me want to take it back and get a different car, but I shouldn't be spending many hours in it so I think I can survive.

I might take it up a mountain perhaps. I haven't been boarding nearly as much as I've wanted to this season.

Thoughts on School

I've had a lot of thought about school and where I'm going with it. In such a way that I made a decision to really try out this course I'm in to make sure its what I want to do, and the education i'm recieving is worth it to go through the classes that I don't particularly care for. See, there are some General Ed classes that I have no desire to take but are required, and to get the degree, I have to take those.

Usually, i take 1 Core class which is essential to my Degree and two general ed classes. The core classes are seven credits and the general ed classes are usually 3. The thing is, a lot of my general ed classes transferred, but there are still some that I have to take. But for my degree, which is primarily art based, my concern is why do I have to take all of these General Education classes when I already have an AA degree and most of those should have been out of the way. By all rights I should be a Junior and focusing on my degree. The pains of being a transfer student I guess.

So I decided that this quarter, I'm going to take 2 core classes to make sure that this is even the route I want to go and that I'll get the education I need out of it. I'll hopefully know midway through this quarter if this is doable or not.

See, my further concern is the fact that I seemed to have gotten my As perhaps a little to easily. Sometimes I ran out of time and totally shammed some of my projects and still got full credit for it. This is kind of a red flag to me. I did my best in some work, but not all of it. I would like to say I'm a total genius and these assignments came easily enough to me, but I have no idea what kind of grades other people recieved. Just a bit of a cause for concern.

Meanwhile, online education is expensive. I'm thinking of other options, and maybe if I can get the education I want, I can try to negotiate through some of these other core classes. I mean, I require a certain amount of credits in Science and social sciences, but because I have those credits from another school in classes that aren't offered at this one, why can't those credits transfer as well? What's wrong with that?

I think I'll talk to my advisor about this as it will continue to be an area that will affect my further education with Westwood. I'm going to try to negotiate with it.

Anyway, I am looking forward to this particular Quarter. 3d Modeling and Animation and Character Development and Design. I'm hoping to have a lot of fun this quarter. But anyway, this quarter will be the deciding factor on whether or not I stick with this program.

New Years Resolutions 2006/2007

It's a new Year! Let's see how I did on Resolutions for 2006.

• Run Bloomsday
  Yep! Ran Bloomsday this year and am actually wearing the t-shirt I got for completing it. Unfortunately, I can't do it this year due to the conflict with Drill Sergeant School.
  
• Find a Dojo and get back into some kind of Martial Art.
  Karate Kenpo. . . however, see next resolution. . .
  -Stick with said martial art unless I get an acceptable reason to get out.
  Stuck with it all right. . . for a whole two weeks.
  
  I was actually doing very well until I slapped my chin into a tree snowboarding, and then I had to take a break. . . and with Yellowstone and life, I never went back.
  
• Buy a car (guaranteed to get this resolution done)
  I got home from the military on a Friday and bought a new car the next day.
  -Make it a dependable, economical, inexpensive car.
  2003 Mazda Protege. I think it fits the bill. . .
  
• Make a final decision with the army. Stay in? Get out? New MOS? ???
  Made a decision. Found a unit I love, a job I love and reenlisted in September. Leave for school in March.
  
• Get back into Painting.
  Grr. . . this is a repeat resolution I'll do this year, becuase I REALLY want to get back into Painting.
  
• Get Creature up and running again.
  Its up and running again, yes, but kind of in an on again off again state. . . *sighs*
  
• Go to school.
  :D
  -Make a decision on a major.
  Currently, it's animation. I'm not sure if I'm going to stick to this school or not. . . more for this year's resolutions.
  
• Look through these current prospects and make a decision if there is anything there or not.
  -If there is, explore it more.
  -If there isn't, work on new prospects.
  -Work on that dating issue altogether.
  This one was kind of hit and miss. I did pretty good at the beginning of the year, but a part of me is thinking that I'm destined to remain perpetually single. . .
  
• New Zealand/Australia. Somehow, someway. I hope.
  This was kind of a minion thing, my Minions at Silent Running were trying to get me to go down under and I really wanted to go but a few things came up.
  I didn't have anybody to go with me and I didn't want to travel to meet what are undoubtedly nice but still strangers in a strange land by myself.
  My trip to Yellowstone took care of my summer plans.
  Availability and funds didn't allow for it.
  I would love to someday make it down there, but I think I've kind of lost my Patron Goddess status (and haven't heard from Murray in a long time) and I don't have the minion force I once did. And I can't afford to make a trip down under at this time. Unless I do it work study or something, which I am considering.
  
• Pilgrimage to Utah to visit friends and family and check out famous Utah powder conditions for Snowboarding Purposes.
  Never made it. . . *sighs* Other then coming back from Kosovo and going to Yellowstone, my traveling was very negligable this year.
  
• NanoWrimo in November. Maybe.
  HAH! I do better just leaving this one off from now on. I write novels on my own time all the time. And school doesn't allow for me to do this.
  
• Website. Just, well, it needs something else. Facelift maybe? Who knows?
  It's kind of part way there. . . I need to finish it.
  -More in line of a webserver change.
  Went from Yahoo to Bluehost in February or March I think. I do like my current webserver quite a bit.
  

So, I accomplished Ten, I failed at four, and I'm kind of on the border of two. I would say that this year was pretty successful with the resolution type thingees!

And now what do I want to get done for 2007?

• Earn My Hat
  -Have all six modules down before I leave for Drill Sergeant School.
  -Better be in better shape then current over the next two and a half months.
  
• Make E6/ Staff Sergeant (I wasn't ready in 2005, I've felt ready for a while now though)
  
• Make a decision with School. (stay with current school? Find a new one?)
  
• Get Back Into Painting (repeat resolution)
  
• Pay off all current debt (car, best buy card main ones) with an exception of student loans.
  
• Roadtrip. California and Utah primary destination.
  
• Get a better sleep schedule (one where I'm not as prone to sleeping in so late.)
  
• Keep ferrets from having to go to the vet for Earplug removals and things of that nature.
  

this list is prone to being added to as I think about other resolutions I would like to accomplish this year.

2006 Year in Review

01. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
Not as much as last year, but working in Yellowstone is probably the main item of note.

02. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I did fairly well, accomplished about ten or so. Yes, I'll make more, they're just something that I like to look back on at the end of the year.

03. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not this year that I can think of really, other then a few of my cousins whom I haven't seen in a while.

04. Did anyone close to you die?
Not this year.

05. What countries did you visit?
Kosovo, Iceland and the United States. My traveling was done primarily last year.

06. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
More motivation and sleep discipline. Should get that in Drill Sergeant School.

07. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Not so many that really stand out this year. December 3rd, because I got hit by two people on the same day.

08. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I guess getting back to school was.

09. What was your biggest failure?
I regret not sticking it out in Yellowstone. But I wouldn't have had the opportunity to spend the rest of the summer at home with my sister and her family who I *never* get to see. I hadn't really got to bond with her kids before and I got quite attached to them so it's kind of a wash.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Does the headfirst crash into a tree via snowboard that required 14 stitches count?

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My car and my ferrets. :) Go a year without a means of transportation and you tell me how important a car is in America?

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
I hate this question. . .

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
A couple of people's did, one would be roommate comes to mind.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Where didn't it go? Car, TV, New Bed, Computer, a lot of things.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Yellowstone. I was so pumped for this.

16. What songs will always remind you of 2006?
A lot of songs did, though a lot of them were also throwbacks of 2005 that I hadn't heard until 2006. But I don't listen to the radio much so I can't say any particular song does. I actually followed American Idol this year, maybe one of those songs might make me think of 2006?

I work in the music department regularly and I have no idea of how to answer this question. *sigh*

17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
The whole year, happier. This time compared to last year, sadder.

ii. Thinner or fatter?
About the same, though a little thinner. I REALLY need to get into better shape and be more active.

iii. Richer or poorer?
Poorer. I came off a deployment last year where I had nothing to spend money on. Now I have bills and rent and I'm in school again.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Painted, been more active, yadda yadda yadda.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Slept less.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Very lowkey, with family. It was very nice.

22. Did you fall in love in 2006?
I don't think the word 'love' can be applied to me. I love people like my family and friends, but I don't think I'll ever get this 'love of another human being in that intimate kind of way' down.

23. How many one night stands?
*grumbles* Why does this question have to be here? It is stricken from all future surveys of this nature. 0.

24. What were your favourite TV programs?
Last year this time, I didn't watch TV. I watch it a lot more now. But rather more on DVD then actual TV. So, let's list them off, shall we?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Smallville, Avatar the Last Airbender, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Disney programs from the late 80's early 90's as well as numerous cartoons, The Glenn Beck Program. . .

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I didn't have anybody to hate this year. I did loathe a couple of people while I was at Yellowstone for a bit at first, but I got over it.

26. What was the best book you read?
I'm trying to think of anything I read this year. Which is kind of sad, because that must mean that nothing stood out in my mind so nothing I guess.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
*sighs* I guess I'm not hip enough or with it in this arena because I honestly don't have any clue what band I discovered this year that really stands out to me.

28. What did you want and get?
A new TV, Computer (had to get it for school) and Car big ones.

29. What did you want and not get?
A horse. I almost bought one a couple months ago but wisely refrained. Good job.

I also wanted to get a Wii and a new camera. Again, wisely refrained at this time. I'm using these as rewards for myself this year when I accomplish certain goals, like Drill Sergeant School.

30. What was your favourite film of this year?
Little Miss Sunshine was probably my favorite.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Lowkey, had to work and do homework first, and then I spent the next day *thanksgiving* with the family and celebrated my day as Kamacka. My birthday as well as two of my inlaws are one after another and so we have come to be known as one entity at this time of year as we celebrate all of our birthdays at the same time.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I'm not exactly sure. I was kind of mellow and low key this year. I guess if I could have gone to Drill Sergeant school earlier and gotten it out of the way.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005?
T-shirt and jeans, though I'm better this year then years past as I actually wear T-shirts that fit me now.

34. What kept you sane?
Having my own place, and my own space helps. Living under the parent's roof was a little grating at times because I didn't have my own area and I couldn't get to anything for the first part of this year. *GAARRRR!*

Yes, very frustrating.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Ok, next year, the word 'fancy' will be stricken from this particular question.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Hmm, none really. I didn't really get stirred by much of anything politically this year. Did I? *thinks* I guess the war did.

37. Who did you miss?
My grandmother. . .

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Probably some of the people I met in Yellowstone.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.
Don't dwell on the past, its done. Learn from it and move on.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
*has to think abou this, never been good with song lyrics.*

Movie Review Time

Since I'm not currently in school, and I work at a movie rental place, I've been watching a lot of movies lately. I thought I would give you a rundown of recent movies I've watched and what I thought of them.

World Trade Center - Excellent movie, very respectful and well done, especially considering this is Oliver Stone. It does make you go back to that day and what you were doing when you heard about what happened. You do ask yourself if America is ready for movies about 9/11, I say we are. Part of healing is moving on, and after five years, we should be able to do so.

Superman Returns - Typical Popcorn movie. The guy they got to play Superman fills the shoes well. But overall, I was watching it while working on other things so I got distracted pretty easy. Kate Bosworth looks like Natalie Portman when her hair is dark.

Little Miss Sunshine - Favorite Movie I've seen this year. Hilarious, I was laughing so hard. A lot of what these people go through I can relate to, and what makes it so funny is you can picture these things actually happening to people. Loved it, would recommend it to anybody who

Avatar, the Last Airbender, Season One - This is a kid's show on Nickelodeon. And it's excellent. We've gotten around to collecting Season One and now I'm looking at finding a way to see season two without having to wait to buy it on DVD. Being an animation major, I've been watching a lot of kids shows lately.

Green Street Hooligans - I heard about this through word of mouth and wanted to rent it. Its kind of along the lines of Boondock Saints and similar movies, but about Brits who follow Football as if it was the mafia.

Devil Wears Prada - Meryl Streep is awesome.

I've seen more, can't think of them all off the top of my head right now. Because I'm also lazy.

Pause for a Moment

Saddam Hussein died yesterday. Or rather, put down.

Let's have a moment of silence in remembrance.

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Ok, time to celebrate! Good riddance you psycho dictator! Bwhahahahha!

Christmas, 2006

I consider myself a practical person. And apparently, I'm very difficult to shop for on account that, well, I'm a practical person that doesn't need a lot of stuff, and if I do, I tend to buy it before somebody else can. I've been told by my family members that I'm one of the hardest people in my family to buy for.

Christmas was considerably toned down and not very commercial from Christmas's past. To help with the family, I let them know what I wanted, and more specifically, what I could REALLY use that I couldn't necessarily provide for myself, or that I can never have to much of. I asked for socks (got six pairs :) and a recipe book with some of my mother's easier to make recipes in them. I prefer not to get things that are kitschy that clutter the house, like figurines, decorations, or picture frames (which I never use) unless there is a picture in the picture frame and I can hang it on the wall. Gift certificates are always nice and save people a lot of trouble.

So what was my haul this year? It was pretty humble really. Six pairs of socks, a pair of pajamas (I'm currently wearing), a cookbook, a frame with my last name done up fancy, a gas card (SWEET!), Pajama Bottoms (seperate from the Pajamas), a CD, a breadmaker (brother/roommate's idea, and therefore combined gift), a couch quilt. . . or something?, and a few other gifts.

My big gift for me is going to be a new laptop that I'll be purchasing this week. Its kind of going to be a necessity with school, my current computer doesn't have the capability of running this software I'll need. I've also decided on a rule for it. I will only go online for official school business. Playing, surfing the internet, writing stories, whatever, will be reserved for my beat up but otherwise dependable but not to the degree I need it to be current laptop.

I'm also going snowboarding with my season pass this Thursday. YES. I'm going. And nothing short of a blizzard or me just waking up with no motivation to move will stop me.

Hope everyone had a merry christmas, and here's looking to 2007!

Still Amongst the Living, I Promise

Ok, I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth, I promise. I've just been. . . busy, that's all. Busy doing a whole lot of nothing.

Coupled with working retail during the holidays. Yep, THAT was fun.

So, a quick rundown of my life in the last three weeks.

Blaine had a un X-rayable ear plug in his stomach, which caused him to lose a half a pound in about three weeks, which is a lot for a ferret. I finally took him to see a vet again (foregoing the emergency routine and scheduling an appointment this time) and a little Boriam and Xrays confirmed that there was something in there.

Surgery was necessary to save the ferret. These are turning into some expensive pets. *sighs* Blaine is recovering well. But he's looking a bit scruffy and his shaved belly is kind of interesting. Abby, meanwhile, is really fat and fluffy now.

I am now floating around my store, working a lot in music lately, which I find interesting that I'm progressively becoming a music associate. The elusive Tech N9ne and Nickelback Cds that our system says are in our store that I cannot find do plague me however.

Christmas was nice. I'll post about it in its own post.

There has been snow on and off again, but the mountains have been open for nearly a month now. And I haven't gone snowboarding once. . .

I think I can attribute this to having nobody to go with me. *sighs again*

Blogger in Beta!

So Blogger has finally decided to add labels to posts. I think this is pretty nifty because I've been wanting labels for my posts for a while now, as it helps when one wants to go back and review them for whatever reason. However, because I do my own HTML and don't use Blogger's ready made formats for my blog posts, I don't know how to do the formatting to get it done.

Meanwhile, I'm finally done with school for this quarter. And I have an entire month before I have to go back. This is freakin' sweet! So for the next month, I can just work my butt off and go snowboarding every chance I get.

I haven't gone once this season yet, and the mountain has been open for three weeks. I don't know what's come over me.

Oh yeah, its called School and Work taking up my weekends and prime snowboarding time. I'm going for the first time this season on Thursday.

And I'm taking a break from Horseback Riding for now. Haven't had lessons in three weeks. I've gotten to this point where I need to be riding much more then I currently am to make it worth my while.

PS - the Blogger overhaul complete with Labels continues, and is a slow process, but I'm enjoying the results thus far!

Third Time

Apparently, I didn't knock hard enough.

Yes, I got smacked THREE times this last week. Twice on Sunday (within 5 hours of each other) and a third time on Wednesday, a phantom driver apparently backed into my back door. I only noticed it because my car was filthy and it was kind of hard to miss the scrapes on the door (which is dented in). And of course, the pea sized hole in the bumper which actually pushed my bumper into my car. And don't forget the dent in the fender (can't open that door all the way now).

Police report done on the fender and turned in, and estimates done on the three accidents. Of course, the back door is a phantom driver, so I think I'll find another way to get it fixed rather then call my insurance about it. Meanwhile, I'm waiting on the other two.

Sadly enough, I know the guy who ran into my front fender. He leaves for Fort Benning in three weeks.

I went out and got studless snow tires on my car yesterday. I'm not taking any more chances with my car.

Apparently it's a black hole, and other cars are drawn to smack into it. I've been on the defensive with driving for the whole week.

Vets

A couple of weeks ago I had a sick ferret. We were worried he had a blockage, so I took him to the vet.



Learning the more expensive points of pet ownership. . . but good news, no blockage!

More Randomness

Kids Scared of Santa! - my favorite one was Number 55, Kid, you SHOULD be scared of Santa!

The CG got me on this one, Building Airplanes

The Infamous Frogs, the Assassin Ferret, and two Lizards

I don't think Volkswagen appreciated this one that much.

Drill Sergeant Update

This was a Drill Weekend. Yay for Drill Weekends!

I've got two more to go before Drill Sergeant School. In Fort Benning. Being an active duty school, I have learned that there is a chance that I might be able to get online while I'm there. But no guarantees so I might suffer radio silence for 9 weeks.

Hmm. . .

Anyway, the latest with the Program is I have to memorize a lot of words. Ver Batum. See, nobody knows D&C (that's Drill and Ceremony) quite like a Drill Sergeant, and there is a reason why the Drill Sergeant knows the position of Attention backward and forward, up and down, and can correct a soldier out of the corner of his eye. Because he literally knows this position from the 45 degree angle of the soldier's equally pointed out toes to the vertical alignment of the head and neck. And now, I know it backward and forward too.

There is so many times that I've seen soldiers screw up the position of attention. Including me. I can guarantee you I'll never screw it up again, because it is engrained into my braincells now.

Furthermore, I have now routed the rest positions while at the halt into my braincells as well. I have recieved a go at stating both of these modules, using the step by step method of instruction practically ver batum. And now that they are engrained into my head for life, when I was in formation today the fact that the platoon leader didn't know what she was doing was more evident then ever.

We were called into formation with a Hospital unit (first sign) who put the unit At Ease. So we sat there looking around, wondering what was going on when the other units started putting their units at Parade Rest (for you civilians out there, a different rest position that is more formal, and more locked up.) It didn't help that we were in a formation with a naval unit in charge, which was throwing us off that much more. So the Platoon Leader calls us to Parade Rest from At Ease.

This is what has been engrained into my braincells from the module on Rest Positions at the Halt.

"Parade Rest will only be commanded from the Position of Attention."

In short, if the unit is At Ease (they can move when they're at ease), you have to call them to Attention to bring them to Parade Rest. Civilians might be looking at me and saying "why are you so anal retentative about this? Does it matter?"

In the long run, probably not. But in regards to discipline and military custom and courtesy, yes. It is a sign of discipline and respect when you perform these simple formations properly. And people who know better (like the plethera of Drill Sergeants that fell into this formation) won't look at you like you don't know what in the hell your doing and you aren't given the reputation of 'tore up'.

Meanwhile, the CG came by, and we were all commenting on the CG's aid, and being a Drill Sergeant Battallion, we were wondering if she was in regulation or not. I stated she wasn't, though some people were trying to argue that she was ok.

See, she had dark brown hair cut short with her bangs long up front. Now, her style wasn't bad, it was the blonde streak that she had in her bangs that framed her face. The one blonde streak. It looked like Rogue from the Xmen, seriously. People were stating that as long as it is a natural hair color, she can do it.

So I can put Red, Black, Brown and Blonde Streaks throughout my hair so I look like a calico cat? No, because it looks faddish and unprofessional! Besides, I think it is also supposed to blend naturally, you aren't supposed to have dark brown hair with a platinum streak through it and be a captain in the military! Gees!

At least I'm catching these things. I might make a good drill sergeant yet!

Undue Flattery

Am I heartless?

I don't get the reason to flatter somebody over a job that is subpar. Being an artist, I am a firm believer that if you see something you don't like about a piece, you tell the artist what it is (constructive criticism here). They can then use your criticism to either fix the piece, take it into heart the next time they do a piece, or tell you to go to hell and ignore what you said. I don't believe in being rude about it or anything, you can just say "hey, I really think that this color doesn't go well with this other color in the way you put them here, try a different shade, like a darker red perhaps.)

I've been getting this from my Image Editing class. There are some people who are awesome in the class, and then there are others who are still learning the software and therefore because of their experience, they are prone to having work that is not as clean as the others. Often times, I get the impression that other students in the class are catering to these students by telling them "this looks great!" when it is obvious that there is plenty of room for improvement. I won't cater to your feelings by telling you a piece looks great if it doesn't, however I will acknowledge improvement and encourage them to keep working at it. Undue flattery doesn't help anybody, and I have found that you learn greatly from your mistakes.

In fact, I learn more from my mistakes then my successes. As long as my mistakes aren't fatal, I generally only make them once because I learned from them the first time. I like to be told what I'm doing right and not have every mistake pointed out to me, granted, but please give me constructive criticism and tell me how I'm doing. Let me know if I totally messed something up or if it doesn't work. I'm a big girl, I can take it.

Bad Things come in Threes

Knock on Wood.

*does so*

Winter is here. In full force. And I experienced it today while driving around. I decided once I made it safely home, that I would park my car and not leave for the rest of the evening.

Because bad things happen in threes. And I've already had two incidents today.

And with how they are progressing, I'm predicting that if the third was to hit, my car will be totaled.

Let me start at the beginning.

I was at a roundabout about a half mile from my house at Noon today. I generally don't mind roundabouts but because its winter and conditions are icey, I don't take my chances with my accelerator and if it will catch on the ice enough for me to get out in front of the other car. And I couldn't see if the car was getting off at my exit or coming around again (I can't see their turn signal!) So I started creeping out waiting for this car to make its decision when *BAM!* Somebody rear ends me.

Grr. . .

See, he thought I was actually moving out and assumptions aren't always a good thing. Case in point. We get out, and fortunately, all he did was punch a pea size hole in my bumper with the screw on his license plate. The damage is negligable, however I take down his information anyway.

Around 4:45, we're finally given permission to leave the drill hall (safety briefing and all, which includes "Slow down on the roads, conditions are icey!") I didn't even leave the parking lot when while I was heading out, one of my battle buddies in his jeep fails to see my mazda and plows into my side. My door creeks when I open it now. He felt like crap and immediately asked "Do you want my information?" to which I reply "Yes!" The guy earlier today punched a pea size hole in my bumper, this is a massive dent on the side of my car! Poor Winston! (The name of my Mazda, btw)

As soon as that second accident happened, I hurried home (in a safe, observant and non-speeding manner) parked my car and found a large chunk of wood to knock on. I'm not normally supersticious but Hey! I'm not taking my chances! There's a thick layer of ice on the road and if it weren't for the snow, I could have breaked in time to get out of the Jeep's way. But at least neither accident was my fault.

I now have a police report on my to-do list, as well as the fact that I forgot to right license numbers of the two people at fault for smacking into my car (I knew I forgot something!)