Mood: Nuah?

First day back to class. Guess what? I had an exam.

Biology Lab exam. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'm not sure if that's good or not, though. You know ... maybe I only thought it was easy, when in fact, it was very hard. And then I only get a 3% correct. And then I flunk out of college. And then I am forced to flip hamburgers at McDonald's. And I start living in a refridgerator box because I can't afford a house. And then I get evicted, because I can't even pay rent on that. Then, without food, I'm forced to eat my shoes. Then I can't even go to work, because they have that rule about No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service.

Oh, my life is doomed!

Thanksgiving was ... great. Lots of food! Woo! But things did get boring at various points. Yet I did get to see my family and enjoy various things. All in all though, nothing worth reporting happened at all.

Two weeks of school left. Then I'm out for a month. And I go skiing!

"Mm, sloppy joes! Just like the mad scientist who created me used to make!" - Cyborg ~ Teen Titans

Mood: Ready for Break!

All my classes tomorrow are officially cancelled. Rejoice! This means that I have no classes until Monday. Then I have Math and an exam for my Biology Lab. Boo!

Regardless, I will have several days to kick back and relax. Which, by the way, I've not had at all this school year. Most of my friends have had a couple days here, couples days there, Fall Break, Labor Day, extended Thanksgiving ... whatever. Unfortunately, I've not had a single day off ... ... but now I finally do. My parents are coming to pick me up at the Uni and drive me off to my Aunt's and Uncle's. The entire Barton Clan, my whole darn family, is headed that way. It's like a migration or something. I'll be feasting mightily for a good three or so days. You just have to relish that.

However, I am sad that I will not see my friends. I mean, I haven't seen some of them since May or early June. I miss them, yet I won't see them for a while. Kinda makes me sad. I'll definitely hook up with them in December, over Christmas break.

This is the year marker for something I'm quite fond of. One year ago, the day before Thanksgiving, I arrived at Amber's house for the first time. I stayed there until the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which was, coincidentally, Amber's birthday. So during this time that I'm relaxing, letting my brain recover from school, I will also be remembering some of the happiest days of my life. Aah, reflection, nostalgia.

Hey! I purchased a new poster! Megatokyo, one of my most favorite webcomics, came out with this poster entitled "Sad Kimiko in Snow." Kimiko is, of course, one of the main characters. Here's the link: http://www.megagear.com/megagear_site/detail.aspx?ID=63 ... isn't it GREAT!?

"Yeah, a green mongoose is gonna blend right in." - Raven ~ Teen Titans

Mood: Bored. To tears.

I'm under strict orders to state that today is Amber's niece's first birthday. Thank you, and goodnight.

"Valentine's Days coming? Oh, crap. I forgot to get a girlfriend again." - Fry ~ Futurama

Mood: Quiet

I had a math exam today. I have been kind of anxious about this for the past week or so, and my stress increased exponentially for the past 12 or 18 hours. I really need to do well on this exam, because I fumbled the ball really badly on the previous two. I calmed down as it started, and I feel good about it now, I think. But I felt good about the other two as well.

We'll see. That' s really all we can do, now.

I heard a song on the radio ... "Welcome to My Life," by Simple Plan. It's a good song. It doesn't really pertain to my life -now- so much as it did during the first couple years of high school. It's on the sad side, but it's really brilliant. It reminds me of how I felt back then, and it's sort of liberating. It reminds me of how much I have grown, and it also lets me know that I wasn't the only person who felt like that. Somehow, it helps to know that other people have the same problems as you, even when you haven't had those problems for over a year.

Empathy can be a powerful thing.

At Texas A&M, there used to be a tradition called the "Bonfire." Aggies used to build literally giant stacks of wood and would light it afire, making a bonfire before the game with their rivals, University of Texas. The tallest bonfire was 109 feet tall, but most of the time, they average out around 90 feet tall. That is a -lot- of wood. Unfortunately, a few years ago, there was a terrible accident where the support beam broke, and the bonfire collapsed during its construction. Several students were killed, and many were injured.

Tomorrow is the dedication of the Bonfire Memorial. I will be going ... the dedication starts at around 2:30 PM. It should prove to be a very ... deep ... ceremony.

On that note, Read or Die is an excellent anime series. Both the OAV and the tv series are brilliant. I demand ... Watch or Die! I will hunt you down if you don't watch Read or Die!!

"Yes, no, and screw it, I'm resigning!" - Peter ~ Family Guy

Mood: Tired!

Yeah, gotta love math class. It's like having various numbers doing battle inside your skull. How horrendous is that, eh?

Well, I hate it!

I've looked over some possible class schedules and whatnot as graduation plans. I figure if I allot my electives carefully, I could probably pull off a major in psychology and a double minor in English and History. Of course, this means I would have to do a lot of fenagling in various things and whatnot.

So far, it looks like my schedule next semester is shaping up to be Japanese 101, Psychology 203, and History 106. Psychology 203 is subtitled "Statistics in Psychology," so it's basically a math class. History 106 is Post-Civil War American History. Which would be my blow-off class. I'm going to be taking English next semester, but I'm not sure if I got my English 104 credit or not through AP testing in high school. If not, I'll be taking that course. But if I did, then I will start up on my 200-level classes for English.

I am very unhappy with the Advanced Placement people, by the by. Every time someone brings them up (even if it's me!), I'm forced to rant mercilessly about their ill-treatment towards me. I took about 7 AP tests in high school, and they lost my essays for them! And wherever they put my essays for the first couple of tests was where they continued to put them ... but the right hand never knew what the left hand was doing ... and next thing you know, they couldn't find them! They had effectively destroyed my scores on the tests and butchered the classes I tested out of in college. So instead of getting out of History 105 and 106, English 104 and 204, History 103 and 104, Pols 204, and Econ 101 ... I have to take them now. WE HATES THEM! NASTY HOBBITSES!

Perhaps tomorrow I'll have something actually substantial to say ... regardless ... here I end.

"You! Bring me the Wall Street Journal! You two! Fight to the death!" - Stewie ~ Family Guy

Mood: Ever-so-slightly Tired

I felt like updating three days in a row. So I am! Mwah!

My best friend, Chris, is over at the moment. We're watching Adult Swim on Cartoon Network and, frankly, being more than slightly disappointed with the new Space Ghost tv show. Then again, we were disappointed with -all- the Space Ghost tv shows.

Of course, I do approve of the new line-up for Adult Swim ... I hated Sea Lab like I hated ... you know, being decapitated. They -finally- got rid of it! I thank thee o' stars!

Psychology. We talked about some disorders and whatnot. There was this guy who had a phobia. He was a bull wrangler. His job was gathering bulls, seeing exactly how angry and evil and stampeding and whatnot they could be, and shipping them off to rodeos. He encountered snakes, spiders, savage bulls, and many, many deadly things every day. What was his phobia?

Cats.

He was freakin' -paranoid- of cats. Someone showed him a GREETING CARD with a cat on the cover, and the man flipped out. He backed away over 15 feet, bright red, face breaking out, breathing problems ... It was really weird to see.

Chris tells me I should blog more about how retarded that Space Ghost show was. Ah, well, c'est la vie. I'm now testing the waters of Full Metal Alchemist. I've never seen the show, but it needs testing. Hoowah.

"I will be the God of Death once more! ... but right now, I need a little sleep." - Duo Maxwell ~ Gundam Wing

Mood: Introspective

Hoowah. I'm posting two days in a row!

New part added to the blog! You'll see the very first line I posted this time? It reads "Mood: Introspective" ... every time, I'll begin the blog with a line saying what my mood is. That way you can better understand how I'm feeling that day, and that moment that I'm blogging in particular. That way you guys don't misinterperet what I say or whatnot.

I managed to re-hang my wallscroll just now. Man, what a fight that was. Like wrestling alligators. I think I lost my right hand.

I purchased a big giant whiteboard which I plan to hang and basically utilize to death. Scheduling, to-do list, random writing, everything ... Should make things a lot easier in my life, I think. Free up some desk space and hard drive space on my computer. I am yet, however, to figure out where to hang it. Tossing around a few different ideas, trying to figure out which would be easiest to reach, to see, blah blah.

One thing I wanted to add yesterday on my politicking rant. I don't think everyone should vote. I keep seeing people push voting. "Vote. Vote. Voto Latino. 20 Million Loud. If you don't vote, then the person you want is automatically disqualified from office. If you don't vote, we will eat your firstborn child." Personally, I think maximizing the elecorate leads to non-issue voters. People who vote because of how Al Gore kissed his wife. People voting for Bush because his daughters are hot. People just generally being retarded. I think that the potential electorate should expand, while the active electorate is actually a smaller percentage of that. People who don't care who is elected shouldn't vote. Don't pressure them to.

Australia has approximately 94% of their electorate actively voting, last time I looked. The United States is barely above 50%. How, then, does Australia have such high voter turnouts? There is a simple explanation. Australia charges a non-poll tax. If you vote, you are exempt from certain taxes. You save money if you vote. In my opinion, this is a bad idea. It prevents people from abstaining from the election. They are almost forced to cast a vote. Next thing you know, policemen will be kicking in doors, pointing assault rifles at your head, and demanding you punch that election card. And leave no hanging chad.

Don't tell me to vote. I will choose on my own.

Math, by the way, is retarded. Don't take math. At all. But at least math is better than biology. Don't take biology at all. In fact, if you can, take a negative amount of biology courses. Biology is like a kick in the face.

I plugged "College Roomies From Hell" yesterday. A good webcomic. I must say, though, that there are others deserving of attention. Wapsi Square (http://www.wapsisquare.com updates on MTWThF) is good, as is The Lounge (http://www.italyishida.com updates MTWThF). I also read MegaTokyo (http://www.megatokyo.com updates MWF), Antihero For Hire (http://www.antiheroforhire.com updates MWF), RPG World (http://www.rpgworldcomic.com updates WF), Loserz (http://loserz.scribblekid.org updates MWF), and VG Cats (http://www.vgcats.com updates once per week). StarSomething (http://starsomething.keenspace.com updates Mondays) is made by the creators of RPG World and Antihero For Hire. I just think that since I plugged CRFH, I should plug these others, too. I've left out a couple, and I'll probably add them in over the next couple of days.

Never underestimate the power or skill of an amateur. You would be surprised how good they truly are.

"When Angels are forced out of heaven they become devils." - Vicious ~ Cowboy Bebop

I play the busy card again.

I have barely gotten a chance to sit down today. Stupid freaking Wal-Mart.

When I rule the world, remind me to kill Wal-Mart. Follow it to Hell. Then kill it again.

I've been reading a new web comic recently. "College Roomies from Hell." http://www.crfh.net Just for the sake of linking. It's really funny, but it seems to get a little dark recently. A good read, though. I recommend it!

Election Brouhaha:

Okay. I promised this. Kinda. Look, I hate it all as much as you do. Except for the people of you who don't hate it. I love it just as much as you. And whatnot.

The thing is, I do find funny little statistics in history amusing. No president has been up for reelection and lost during wartime. George W. Bush would have been the first if he did, but he actually managed to squeeze by with the majority of the electoral votes AND the majority of the popular vote. This is the first time for this to happen since his father, George H. W. Bush. Clinton and Younger Bush's first term both received a majority of the electoral vote, but not the majority of the popular vote. Actually, Clinton did have the plurality of the popular, but since Nader ran and the vote was split three ways, he had the most popular votes, just not over 50%. So this freakishly close election actually was not that close. If you want to look at it in that light.

More freaky retarded little statistics in history: George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush are the second father/son thing to achieve the presidency. The first was John Adams (second president) and his son, John Quincy Adams (sixth president). Both John and JQ only served one term. The elder Bush only served one term. Of these four, Dubya was the first to get reelected. Also, notice how the fathers had the same names as their sons. Interesting, eh?

Do I support Bush? Do I wish Kerry was elected instead? It's not my place to force my beliefs on you. So I'll just tell you what I think and be done with it. If you agree, so be it. If you don't, so be it. I'm very laissez-faire, laid-back about this whole thing. Which, coincidentally speaking, is my general political belief. I have faith in the individual. I don't like conglomerations of society. I think that government is, by and large, a huge dastardly necessary evil. I think it should be kept as small as possible while still maintaining its general function. I think that it has grown far too large under both Democratic and Republican control.

Yep, I'm a Libertarian. Crazy me. I'll never get a president. I've come to grips with that fact. BUT ... that means I have to look selectively at both candidates at election time and decide which one I believes will be best for the job.

Personally, I think Bush will do the best for the next four years. There's a reason why a president has never lost reelection in wartime. It's because he generally knows what is going on, and knows how to handle what has been happening, whether he got us into it or if someone else pulled us in. They have the background experience necessary in leading us through with as little harm or foul as possible.

Sometimes, I wonder what would have happened if Al Gore was elected President instead of W four years ago. How would he have reacted to the terrosit attacks on September 11th, 2001? And would he have retaliated in Afghanistan against the Taliban? Would Osama Bin Laden be found already? Would he have acted on evidently fraudulent information about Iraq making weapons of mass destruction? Would he have invaded Iraq?

Yay for what-ifs.

I promise. More light stuff next time. Daily angst rather than strange, introverted reflection.

"No, I started it, years ago, in a moment of passion. And I'm going to end it the same way, right now!" - Dr. Venture ~ Venture Bros.

Believe me, I'm still updating.

I just have been really busy/sick recently.

Excuses. No one believes them. But I honestly, really, really have.

I got X-Men Legends last week. I've been playing that a bit, which is another reason why I haven't updated. It's a cool game. Yay for mutant powers. I wish I had some. I could teleport or fly or whatever. Yeah, would be cool ...

Screw Halloween. I realize I should do some wonderful insightful and whatever else-ful post about it. But I won't. I'm just too tired and too not-feeling-well.

The presidential election was yesterday. And sort of today, too. I'm honestly not feeling up to some long post right now, but I swear I -will- write about the election. I don't think it pays to be evangelical, and I don't believe in forcing my ideology (of any kind!) on other people, but I do think that this is something noteworthy enough to give some significant mention in here. Especially after the fact, when it can't "influence" people and whatnot.

Anyway. Not feeling good. Eating. Sleeping. Recovering.

"Ah yes... the good little boy who loves dangerous toys! How could I forget?" - Dr. Chang ~ Teen Titans