Not one of you

Not a single freakin one of you has updated your blog in the past 24 hours. You should all be ashamed. I now have absolutely nothing to read at this ungodly hour of the morning in which I have finally finished homework/meetings/classes that have been going since 11:00 straight.

You all suck.

Just to show you how I felt upon seeing this disaster:


EDIT: Upon posting this, I look and whadda know, the kraze posted something new about 3 hours prior. My bad bra. I'm still leaving this up though, mainly to showcase The Office

Minesweeper: A Conceit

All I really need to know I learned in Minesweeper:

* It always starts with a blank slate.
* At first, nobody understands it. "It's too confusing" ... "What do all the numbers mean" ... "Eff you happy face" ... "I need help" etc.
* The first few steps decide the rest.
* Some games are given a lot from the start, other times I need to work my ass off to even get the slightest glimer of hope.
* The times I have to work my ass off are always the more satisfying.
* Any click could be my last.
* Risks must be taken to survive.
* Everyone takes too many risks.
* Time is my enemy.
* After every mistake, I learn a little more.
* I constantly forget what you learn.
* Things can, and will, get frustrating as hell.
* The last steps are usually the hardest.
* Victory is sweet.
* In the end, this combination of work, frustration, and risk fits together to create one seamless tapestry.

You have no idea how long it took me to get this screen capture. The time wasn't even good. Hurl.

mini-Jolts

Sit down and think for a second. Think about everything you have ever learned. All the way from birth to now, at this exact moment, sitting in front of your computer. I'm going to make a safe bet that if anyone reading my blog really really thought about it, the amount of stuff would be staggering. Shit, think of how much stuff you have probably forgotten even. Now of all that stuff, how much of these morsels of wisdom were discovered in your lifetime. I know for me that accounts for easily less than 5%.

In that little thought occured my "mini-Jolt" as I have come to call them. That is my term for those little thoughts (that for some reason I'm having a lot of lately) that make you go wow, we really are specks in time. We live 60, 70, 80 years for the fortunate ones. 100 is a miracle. There could even be a strong argument made that the first 19 years of my life (25% of it if I'm fortunate) have essentially been lived for me by the institutions that be. Not that I'm complaining, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to figure out how to read or write on my own. And oh the things I have already learned (and forgotten). What I'm trying to get to here is, holy crap the train has been moving to that big brick wall for 19 years and I haven't ever given it a serious thought. Scary stuff.

Or exciting stuff. I was browsing the good-ole Sundance on Demand tonight and came across a great philosophy of the massively interesting broski Deepak Chopra," I start my day by saying to myself 'I hope today is even more uncertain than yesterday.'" Hear hear.

I have been in the state of mind that for the next month-ish I can in theory do whatever the hell I want. So far that has consisted of sleeping until 12, saving virtual worlds and winning virtual national championships, and surfing the 'tube. Pretty fun but rapidly losing excitement. That WILL change from here on out. Everyday I'm going to do something I didn't plan on doing waking up that morning (which, by the way, will be much, much earlier than 12). In the short term, that sounds like a great goal.

Long term though (since that is essentially what this post is about) what will this all mean? My best guess right now is that I will have beaten the system. Being a member of the rebellion at heart (had to get a Star Wars reference on meetnewschool eventually) beating systems is what I live for. I want to live more of a life than what my little speck was meant to live. I wonder if Mother Theresa, or Robin Williams, or even Hitler ever had this same thought. I wonder if Patches ever had this thought.

Early New Year Resolutions (cause its 365 days, why not have more than one friggin goal?)

1. Never plan a day sunrise to sunset.
2. Actually see a few sunrises.
3. Do.
4. Are you satisfied? You better not be.

Proclaiming my Nerd-ness on the mountains

Situation: I just finished a solid 10-hour calculus studying binge. It's 3AM, I wish I could sleep but dreaming about integrals and sums to infinity sucks big ones, so I turn to addictinggames for some lighthearted fun.

I fail miserably.

If you haven't played any tower defense type games then consider yourself lucky. Avoid them like the plauge. They redefine addictive. On this night I speak of I decide to play a little Shock Defense. Nothing special really stands out about this version of tower D. Some you completely create a path, while others are clearly geared towards a specific audience. Anyways, instead of being able to relax I proceed to open Excel and start a spreadsheet "analysis" of a game. A freaking mindless game.

My strategy basically is to only buy the land cannons and air towers and upgrade them to the max as soon as I get them (which, by the way, costs $51 and $62, respectively). If you are at all remotely intelligent as to where they are placed, and always purchase the income tribute, it is possible to get by without losing even one life. Oh, and after level 30 just sell all the air towers and max out on land canons because, well, you know what I'll just show you.

Behold, I am more obsessive compulsive than you:

Dinner bell is ringing!

Behold, my complete ineptness at the art of the microwave meal:

If that doesn't get your stomach a rumblin...

Back to paper (if you can even call it that...)