It seems you've stumbled upon the October 2002 Rant Archives. Now that you're here, I'm afriad I can't let you leave until you've read all of my ramblings for the month. October was a big month of spending for me, so much so that I had to swear off spending money until Thanksgiving break. With so many new games coming out for the Holiday season, this will prove difficult to do, but I have confidence in myself. October also marked the release of Ace of Base's fourth album, my obsession with Go, and the discovery that for college girls, Halloween costums are pretty much just variations on the same theme: naked. By the by, if you'd like to peruse another month, amble on back to the archives.

Well, my Go board came in today, which is pretty cool, since I only placed the order on Sunday night. Jon and I played a few small games today (on 13x13 and 9x9 boards), and discovered, much to our dismay, that we suck. I apparently suck worse than Jon though, at least on the 13x13 game we played. We're currently working through the first of the Go books I have, called "Learn to Play Go." While this book teaches you how to play, it doesn't quite teach you how to not suck. I'm sure I'll get better with practice, but it would be nice if I had a few more opponents. Hint... hint.

I went to the library to work on some Math 467 homework today, but gave up after two hours, because it was freaking impossible. I was working with two people from my class, and between the three of us, we were only able to get the two easiest problems, out of six. I'm going to head to the professor's office hours tomorrow, but I've never been quite this clueless before, and I'm afraid he's just going to kick me out of his office and tell me to at least give the problems a try before I come to him. It would be a whole lot better if I didn't work on Thursday nights, because that’s when most of the class works on it. I'm doing pretty well in that class though, so I can probably afford to take a fall on this one. I am meeting my friend Jonathan (not my roommate) Friday morning for some last minute attempts, but I'm not really counting on that to help much.

Currently Listening to:Cranberries - Just My Imagination

It's been too long since I last became obsessed with something, so I decided to correct the situation by falling in love with Go. Thanks in no small part to Hikaru No Go, a new anime I've been watching, I've been faced with a huge desire to play the game. My dad has a set at home, but it's designed to be a "bookshelf game", with a cheap plastic board and inferior stones. After a little browsing online, I was able to find a reputable site to acquire a Go set. The board ran me $30, and then it was $20 for the stones, and another $5 for the bowls to hold the stones in. Finally, I spent $40 on a set of three Go instructional books that they had as a special. So for just over $100 (after shipping), I have enough to fuel my Go obsession for some time. I've already extracted promises from most of my friends to at least play one game with me, so that should be fun. I'm even thinking of starting a Go club on campus if I don't end up hating the game or something.

Work was interesting today. They had me thoroughly checking the area I was in today, which means that instead of focusing on checking doors, I was focusing on looking for burned out light bulbs and missing screens. I ended up finding ten burned out light bulbs, but not much else of interest. There were a few intriguing things that I wasn't assigned to search for though. One of the smut-loving residents of East halls was displaying his love of explicit sex for all to hear. At first the moaning could have been mistaken for some actual people consummating their one-night stand very vocally, but the porn music in the background gave it away. Besides that, I saw two guys sitting on a ledge, smoking a hookah. I wasn't in the mood to call the real cops in for marijuana possession, so I just pretended they were smoking tobacco in it, and looked the other way.

Currently Listening to: REM - Feeling Gravity's Pull

It's been a long time since I used monkeys as a superlative, but monkeys is the only way to describe the weather today. Unlike Avi, I adore the cold, but it was a little much for a seven hour shift. I like my cold weather in short, Trenchie-aided doses. I mean, the winter jacket they give us for work is nice, but I haven't named it yet, so it's not the same. Suggestions are welcome, by the way. And if you're in the mood, you can also name my black cossack. I'm thinking Boris for the hat, since they're Russian, but again, the field is open for suggestions.

Anyway, while roving today, I had the added job of checking for unregistered bikes. When I found one, I was supposed to stick a little cardboard tag on it, reminding the owner to register their bike. I never realized it before, but there are a lot of freaking bikes on this campus, and I'd say that a good third of them are unregistered. It's not that hard, people! Just head to the parking office one day, and you're good for two years. It doesn't even cost any money! Anyway, I ran out of tags after about 10 minutes, so I headed back to the office to get more. I grabbed maybe four times as much, and ran out of those an hour later. I had to check 17 buildings today, and I only checked the bikes at 8 of them. There was no way I was going to go back to the station a second time. If I ever see another bike again, it will be too soon. And since I can't drive and hate bikes, it looks like I'll be a pedestrian for life. Fine by me.

The moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived. Three weeks ago, Ace of Base released their fourth album in select European countries. I downloaded it as soon as I heard about it, and I've actually already sent away for the import CD. Unfortunately, Arista dropped them when their Greatest Hits CD flopped over here, so an American release is unlikely. Never mind that it was totally Arista's fault that the Greatest Hits CD barely sold any copies. The European versions of that CD were way better, and actually did well. But enough ranting. The new CD is called Da Capo, which is some musical term that Scott tried to explain to me, with little success. It's got something to do with going back to the beginning, I think. Maybe it will be prophetic, and Ace of Base will go back to the success of their first album. I can only hope.

Currently Listening to: Ace of Base - Beautiful Morning

I officially restored my faith in my programming abilities Sunday night, which is nice, because I was really starting to doubt them. It all started a few weeks ago, when I gave up about halfway through my 411 programming assignment. I had already implemented enough to get a passing grade, and I just wasn't able to do any more. I ended up getting a 37/50, which was slightly above the average. Anyway, at about 6:00 Sunday, after spending four hours programming without much progress, my level of despair was high. So I went back to my room for a quick meal and some light-hearted web surfing. Just as I was about to return to Pond Lab, my friend Mark signs on, and I arrange to meet him in another lab on campus, where he works as a lab assistant. He was able to help me with my debugging, and three hours later, I was good to go. I might actually get a good grade on this one, which will be a nice change.

Well, I beat Kingdom Hearts yesterday, and I must tell you, it's a wonderful game. I played on the hardest difficulty level right off, which is a habit I picked up from my brother Jason. Back in the day, I'd start on the normal difficulty level and work my way up, but then I was always sick of the game before I got to the more challenging difficulties. I needed a little bit of help finding all of the secret equipment and defeating the secret bosses, but other than that, I managed to do it all under my own steam. I might actually be getting good at real time games, though I'm not giving up turn based games any time soon. Anyway, I started playing Final Fantasy II and Warcraft III again, to fill the void left by Kingdom Hearts. I've got some Batman game coming in the mail for the PS2 this week too, so I'll probably start playing that as well. So many games... so little time.

I worked the football game on Saturday, and it was pretty enjoyable, thanks mostly to the fact that we absolutely slaughtered Northwestern, 49-0. I don't think we could have done better if we were playing LVC. From 9:00 until about halfway through the first quarter, they had me guarding this alumni place called The Mount Nittany Club, which is Penn State's newest way to leech money from their former students. A seat in the Nittany Club will run you $1200 for 10 years, plus the costs of tickets. And on top of that, you have to make a donation of some kind. What do they call the $12,000 you pay for the seat? After forking over that kind of dough, no donation should be necessary. And would it kill them to include tickets with the seat? Anyway, when I was done guarding the MNC, I had a quick meal with the rest of the security people, and then moved on to guard the Home Gate during halftime. After that I guarded the corner of the field, so that no crazy fans tried to jump down and harass the players. And finally, I got to guard the boxes of KFC sitting outside of the Northwestern locker room. I don't know which side paid for that fried chicken, but I was sorely tempted to eat it. We had to stick around the locker room until the team headed back to whatever state they came from, making it an eight hour day, all told. It actually went pretty fast though, and was much, much better than roving.

Currently Listening to: Abba - Dancing Queen

Well, I still have a gigantic bruise on my left arm from the plasma fiasco last Friday, but I can donate again with my right. It's only a matter of time before gogamer.com has a sale on a game that I want, so I need to have some funds available. I've been downloading a lot lately, as usual, but this time it's not just anime. I mean, sure, I'm still downloading Magic Knights Rayearth and Hikaru No Go, but I'm also getting some Home Movies and Gilmore Girls. For those of you not in the know, Home Movies is a hilarious show that Cartoon Network shows during Adult Swim on Sunday nights. The first season was animated in Squigglevision (ala Dr. Katz), but the rest of the episodes are animated in Flash (which I assume has nothing to so with the Macromedia program).

I work the football game tomorrow, which would be fine, except that I have to punch in at 8:24 in the morning. The game doesn't start until 12:10, which makes me wonder what I'll be doing for almost four hours. I guess the gates open around 10 though. In any event, I'll find out, and if it totally sucks, you'll hear about it. My MATH 467 professor was disappointed in our exam grades, so he's offering a make-up exam next week. Unfortunately, our new exam grade will be the average of the two tests, so there's a chance I'll end up with a worse grade than before. Of course, I'll be studying a lot to prevent that scenario, and hopefully I'll be able to turn my C into a B+... or at least a B. Also, I got a 83% on my CSE 411 exam, which was about six points above the average. Fine by me.

Currently Listening to: Aphex Twin - On

There really haven't been enough of these in the last few days. Lately, it seems that every time I walk out the door, it's raining on me. This title is of course, also the name of Enya'a most recent album, which you should really listen to if you haven't already. As of now, Mari is the only one of my friends who truly appreciates Enya's greatness. I bring up Enya, becuase I was listening to her music while writing a paper for Black Lit in the computer lab. The bruise on my left arm from trying to donate plasma on Friday is getting really big and funky now. It's scaring me.

Hrm. I just got a bag of cookies tossed at me by Avi, which I suspect originally came from Meliss. I talked to her a little bit last week, and she mentioned cookies. I just ate a sugar cookie shaped like a ghost, and it was quite yummy. I am so going to gain back the weight I lost while walking the beat. Between the cookies and my trip to Wegmans on Sunday, I've got tons of food in the room. Well, as long as I keep the snacking to a minimum, it probably won't be a problem. Only time will tell though.

Zooey was hilarious on Frasier tonight, but of course, so was everybody else. Frasier is all about the verbal humor and quick wit, and I like it for many of the same reasons that I like Gilmore Girls. I'll have to start watching Frasier on a regular basis, which shouldn't be too hard, since it's on right after Gilmore Girls anyway.

Currently Listening to: Hack Sign Soundtrack - Silent Life.

Well, fall break ends tomorrow, and I've gotten absolutely nothing done. And I'm not just talking about homework. Kingdom Hearts was the only game I played since Friday, and I still haven't beaten it yet. I only watched two movies the whole time, and I've only watched like 5 episodes of anime. If you're wondering, the Movies were Big Trouble and Vanilla Sky and the anime was, of course .hack//sign. Tom and I had a pretty good time while he was up here, though he did end up getting really pissed off at my Nintendo emulator. Although the vintage Microsoft Sidewinder I have is the best game controller money can buy, it's difficult to press down without accidently pressing left or right. And in Contra, that can be fatal. And by vintage, I mean around four years old, before they changed the model. The new Sidewinders suck, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

I've been fueling my obcession with Zooey Deschanel lately. She first caught my eye in The New Guy, where she played one of the main character's best friends. Since then I've seen her in Almost Famous and Big Trouble. I'll be seeing her in The Good Girl next month, and Tom assures me that she's hilarious in that movie. After that I just have to see Mumford, Manic, and as of next week, Abandon, and I'll have watched her entire film library. Zooey was also on Leno tonight, and though it might be due to nervousness, she is really wierd. When she came on, she started offering Lemonheads to Leno and the other guest. She had just been to Italy, and when Leno asked her what the strangest place she'd ever been to was, she said Miami. Anyway, despite being a little on the strange side, Zooey was very entertaining, and cute as always. And as if Leno weren't enough, she'll be guest starring on Frasier tomorrow night.

Currently Listening to: Styx - Domo Arigato Mr. Robato

I worked a seven hour shift last night, and naturally, it was raining the whole time. This marks the third Thursday in a row that it's been raining, and today is the second time the rain has carried over to Friday. I could have gone back to the station and gotten one of those giant orange coats if I had wanted to, but it was too warm for that. I had to choose between being cool and being dry, and I chose to stay cool. It actually wasn't that bad... being soaking wet distracted me from the pain in my feet. I'm just hoping that I'll get used to it in the next few weeks.

I got my exam back in MATH 467 today. I scored a 64, which was only slightly below the average of 67. The test was a little unfair though, because there was a single multiple choice question worth 15 points. Had I gotten that right, I would have gotten a 79, which is a C+ before a curve. Guess I'll just have to work more on the homework and study better for the next test. I'm expecting to get a B in that class, and baring an impossible final, I shouldn't have too much trouble.

I ran into some trouble giving plasma today. I usually donate from my right arm, but I couldn't today, because I have a small bruise there from last week. Apparently I put too much stress on my arm when the bandage was on. Anyway, since they weren't able to use my right arm, they had to use my left. None of my veins are very pronounced, and the ones on my left arm are especially bad. About two minutes after Dave got the needle in, he had to take it out agian, because he had collapsed my vein. They had to send me home without donating, but luckily I still got paid. I'll never be able to donate with my left arm, and hopefully the bruise on my right will have healed by next Friday, when I plan to head over there again.

My friend Tom's coming over tomorrow afternoon to keep me company during fall break. We'll probably just play games and watch movies, just like I do when I'm alone. We might play some pool or go to the arcade though, just to keep things interesting.

Currently Listening to: Mystic Spiral - Freakin' Friends

I've somewhat gotten used to the hypercommercialization that is modern society. I'm used to seeing billboards, advertisements in newspapers, and commercials during the Gilmore Girls. I always figured that breakfast was the one time I could forget about buying things. Well, not anymore. I go to peel my banana this morning, when lo and behold... there's an advertisement for Jello Pudding on the little sticker. Apparently banannas + pudding = yum. I'm suprised they didn't throw a spot for Nila wafers on there too. Now, I have nothing against pudding, or Nila wafers. In fact, I love them both, especially combined, with bananas. And since the dining commons was serving neither Nila wafers nor vanilla pudding for breakfast today, it was also a tease.

My test this morning was better than I expected, which doesn't say much, because I was expecting a disaster on par with Armageddon or my computer breaking down. Unfortunatley, it was also worse than I was hoping for. I'm expecting to get around a C, which isn't too bad, considering my homework grades are good. I don't have any exams for over two weeks, which will be a nice break from this week.

Work was interesting today. As you may or not know, when we start our shift, they give us a special card that can open any door on campus. Naturally, they keep very close tabs on where we swipe these cards, so we can't run amok or anything fun like that. Anyway, about one hour into my shift, I drop my card on the ground. This sort of thing happens all the time, and wouldn't have been a big deal, except in this case, the ground happened to be a sewer grate. Rather than desperately try to rescue it, ala Now and Then, I simply called the office and explained my stupidity. They issued me a new card, and probably won't be charging me for the one I lost. I'm sure I'll get hell if it happesn again though.

Currently Listening to: Eagle Eye Cherry - Save Tonight

I took my CSE 411 exam today and it turns out that I'm an idiot. I went to class, read the book, took the practice exam, and looked over the notes. And I was still pretty clueless on a good half of the problems. Fortunately, I didn't leave anything blank, but since most of what I put down was utter drivel, I'm not too hopeful. At this point, I'm just praying for a good curve. I think I shall begin partaking in the professor's office hours, since I cannot afford to have a bad grade in this class. I still have one exam left this week, and rest assured that you'll hear about it when I'm done with that one.

My friend Tom is coming up for most of fall break, which means I'll mostly be doing the same stuff I do right now, but with company. The campus should be pretty dead, since most people go home for the break, which is fine by me. Tom will probably be a little upset though, since the hordes of drunks yelling "We Are... Penn State" never cease to amuse him. He's coming up Saturday afternoon, which leaves me alone on Friday night. Looks like Bingo followed (or preceded by) Lilo and Stitch. Even though Hawaii-Land doesn't appear in Kingdom Hearts, I'm still in the mood for some Disney Magic, Stitch-style. Maybe I'll even be a fan of Elvis by the time the movie lets out... though I doubt that.

Currently Listening to: Nine Days - Absolutely (Story of a Girl)
I've decided to move the daily paragraphs inspired by the currently playing song to a different page. Just click on the words "Currently Listening to" and there you are. There's also a link on my menu, just for kicks.

Hatred of tests is a univeral feeling shared by students across the globe, but every once in a while you are bombarded with tests in such a way that you feel the urge to make a post about it. You see, I've got this CSE 411 exam tomorrow, which I'm not looking forward to. I spent a few hours today studying, which is a big deal for me, but falls sadly short of what will be required. I'll probably invest a few more hours tomorrow before the test before casting my fate to the winds. And as soon as that test is over, I have to start studying for my CSE/MATH 467 exam, which will also suck. I'd be in good shape if that test was all programming, but there's sure to be some proofs, which are bad any way you look at them.

Five of the six Cowboy Bebop DVDs I ordered came in last week, so Jon and I celebrated by watching the first two eposides today. The dubbed version uses a lot of the same voice actors as Outlaw Star, which is cool, because they're pretty talented. A lot of fans out there will swear by subtitles, and consider it a travesty to watch anime in anything but Japanese, but those people are lame. Actually, when it comes to subtitles, I can go either way, but I do like the way Japanese sounds. We watched the dubbed version out of respect for Jon, who greatly perfers languages he can actually understand. I have a few observations from my second time watching the series. Ein is the coolest dog around, and almost makes me want to abandon my apathy towards dogs and get a Welsh Corgi. Spike fights like nobody's business, and is apparently deliciously attractive (according to Mari and friends). Faye "Fanservice" Valentine likes to be half-naked, and Jet just rules. Naturally, Ed rules as well, but she hasn't appeared on the scene yet.

Currently Listening to: Enrique Inglesias - Be With You
Sure, I despise the Latin Explosion as much as the rest of you, but I've got a soft spot for Enrique. Ricky Martin and Marc Anthony can sleep with the fishes for all I care, but Enrique is up there with Desi Arnez in my book.

Thanks to the website of some random college student I met on a message board, I've been exposed to a new anime every week or so. It's because of this site that I discovered .hack//sign and Hikaru no Go, two anime that I've been downloading as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, because of Penn State's download restriction, I can only get around seven episodes each week without getting in trouble. Hack Sign is pretty cool, since it's only 26 episodes long, and is supposed to be commercially released in America by February. Hikaru no Go, on the other hand will be almost impossible to own, even if it comes out in America, because of the sheer number of eposides. It's based on a manga that's been around for years, and so far, they're already made at least 50 episodes of the TV show. It looks like Hikaru no Go will be added to the list of anime I'll buy when I'm independently wealthy... along with Card Captor Sakura. I figure that since my love of anime will get me ridiculed anyway, I might as well watch anime meant for children.

Work was pretty good today, because for the first time since I started, something interesting happened. There were a few missing screens in this one building, so people could just waltz right in, if they knew about it, and were capable of waltzing through a small window. I got to chill out for about 25 minutes while the problem was being taken care of, which was a nice change of pace. After about three more weeks of work they'll start training me how to be a CRT, which basically means I sit in the office and surf the internet. A CRT has come computer-related responsibilties, and he has to answer radio calls from the people working, but it's generally a pretty laid back position. I'd look forward to being a CRT even if it sucked though, because anything is a nice change of pace from walking around.

Currently Listening to: Enya - Portrait
I downloaded Enya's entire music library a few weeks ago, and I've been listening to it pretty steadily ever since. This song is from her third album, called The Celts. That's a little misleading though, because The Celts is basically a rehashing of an earlier CD she released before Watermark, called simply Enya. Watermark was her first big album, so Enya doesn't really count, as far as I'm concerned.

If any of you out there know me personally, you know I'm a huge fan of catch phrases, especially ones that I made up myself. From saying "six or twelve" to mean an indefinite quantity, to using monkeys as an all-purpose swear word, to the luducriously vulgar "Why don't you fuck your fucking self?" If there's a strange phrase, I've probably said it, at least for a few days. My new favorite thing to say when my feet hurt is "My Dogs are Barking," which generally amuses people, at least the first time I say it. And since my job is walking around campus for hours at a time, my dogs bark a lot. Other than that, the job is going pretty well. It gives me lots of time to think, and it's a good source of exercise. I give plasma twice a week now, for spending money, and besides getting a free AIDS test, they weigh me every time I visit. I've lost 5 pounds since starting my job, though I don't notice any difference. I have no desire to be buff, which is why I avoid working out, but I would like to be a little less on the chunky side. Then again, who doesn't?

Interesting story about working last night. I was taking a short break in Warnock commons, when these three girls walk buy. I'm assuming they were friends because they were all dressed similarly (read slutty), as if they were on the way to a party. You wouldn't know it from their conversation though, becuase they were all on their cell phones having individual dicussions. Sadly, I couldn't pick out the individual conversations from the cacophony, or I'd have even more reasons to detest party people. I later chanced upon a much more interesting trio of girls, one of whom was singing Robin Williams songs from Mrs. Doubtfire. "I'm a raptor, doin' what I can, gonna eat everything till the appearance of man. Below the soil, I'll be back, but I'm comin' as oil." I didn't know that off the top of my head, but with a little help from google, I managed to find a website with a transcript from the movie. It's horribly formatted, but the content is there, in case you're interested.

I've also discovered that I hate umbrellas. I bought one a few weeks ago, because I was at Target with Jon, and it was raining. I've only used it once since then, and as a method for staying dry, umbrellas fall sadly short. I'd complain a bit more about them, but Lore Sjoberg, over at Brunching Shuttlecocks has already done that for me. Everybody knows that trenchcoats and fedoras are the fashionable way to stay dry. That or not going outside when it's raining, which is my usual solution.

Currently Listening to: Aqua - My Oh My

I check the mail on Tuesday, and I was very pleased to learn that my newest game had arrived. Kingdom Hearts is a collaboration between Disney and Squaresoft, and while that may seem like blasphemy to diehard RPG fans, I assure you that it's a wonderful game. Of course, being Disney, it's rated E for Everyone, so there's no swearing beyond Donald saying phooey, and no sexual undertones, besides Sora having a crush on Kairi. The spells in the game are straight from Final Fantasy, though many of the characters and worlds are from Disney movies. The main villians however hail from neither domain, and are called The Heartless. They're basically black beings of pure evil, occsaionally wearing clothing or armor of some kind. The combat is in real time, in the style of Secret of Mana, though there's no pausing to cast magic, so bosses are are a bit harder in this game. Anyway, until I beat this game, don't expect too many updates. And speaking of Secret of Mana, I recently discovered Mana Theater. The author makes flash movies using sprites and screen captures from the game, and if you've played it even once, you'll find it quite amusing. If you've never played Secret of Mana, most of the humor will be lost on you, I'm afraid.

Currently Listening to: Hack Sign Soundtrack - Yasashii Yoake