I think things are getting a lot better, all around. I’m somehow managing to keep my apartment AND put food in my belly! Granted, my main diet has consisted of peanut butter and sometimes jelly sandwiches, tuna salad sandwiches, and ramen (with ingredients, like peas and carrots and potatos and cheap sausages/hot dogs; so I’m still getting important stuffs and not wasting away on terrible food), but I figure a budget of $40-$50 a month for food for a poor college kid is NOT a bad deal.
Sold the Lumina. Somehow we got $1500 for it instead of like $200. That’s how I’m gonna survive the rest of the summer, and then excess money from student loans plus work study should help me out quite well each semester.
Why things are getting better, I think:
I apologize that this summer isn’t nearly as post-heavy as last summer. I believe there are reasons for that, though (mostly lack of generally interesting stuff to talk about that hasn’t been outlined above and lack of boredom at work. Boredom at home leads to me dicking around on the web. Boredom at work led to me writing because I couldn’t dick around on the web. Well, led to. Since I don’t have work this summer.). I think it’s also due to a lack of.. doing things. If I’m in a doing things mood I tend to think about updating the site more often.
Things with Sarah are going pretty damn well, I’d say. We had a couple of misunderstandings or little fight-type things near the beginning of the summer, but definitely nothing too serious. I’m more excited for her to come back than I am for the ferrets to come with her, than I am for everyone else to get back in the city, than I am for James to move out, than I am for.. a lot of things. I try not to let my mind think about.. much beyond the next couple of days, but sometimes it’s hard (nothing more than like.. a season or two… I’m having thoughts of us just cuddling up on the couch under a blanket drinking hot drinks and just hanging out in the winter, for example.. perhaps after ice skating or something (I can’t ice skate, by the way, Sarah.. It could make for hilarious times)). It’s a mental defense I’ve set up thanks to previous relationship failures. And, really, why think too much about the future? Obviously one has to have goals and stuff for school, work, general life things; but one does not live in the future, one lives in the present, they’re living NOW. I try to focus on what’s going on now and make the most of it. No point in worrying about the future or lamenting the past (as much as things tend to pop up and try to distract you, it’s just something one has to deal with).
It’s been really nice to get out of my apartment for hours at a time last week and this. I am going to be kind of sad when the kids leave and I really won’t have a need to leave my apartment…
Anyway, four fourty-eight is kind of a late time to finish up a post and go to bed.. My sleep schedule was good for like.. a total of two weeks this summer.. not even consecutive weeks at that…
I dunno, ever since the car sold I’ve just felt really good about things. That lifted a huge burdon from my mind and now I’m looking around realizing that I have quite a few good things going on. I am immensely happy I asked her out. It almost didn’t happen, but I forced myself to NOT think about it and just see what would happen. It was a twofold decision, really… On the one hand, it was kind of like an experiment.. in that whole “can I actually get a date with someone that I barely know? (as opposed to having been a friend for some time)” way, and on the other it was a necessary step forward, to move on. It seems like kind of a weird way to look at it, but that’s how I’ve rationalized it out in the time since. And I’ve had a lot of time to think about it (four months worth, to be almost exact :razz: ).
Gah, five oh-six. I really need to get to bed.
…I mean it.
I posted this in my status on Facebook, but crossposting yields wider audiences. Amber conscripted me to build a simple submission and voting script for an upcoming Doctor Who fanvideo contest. I think I’m mostly done with it, which means that there’s a ton of bugs to be fixed, naturally. I’ve already gotten the obvious SQL injection one (look at one of the submissions on the vote page, it has a drop table statement in it that should’ve cleared all the submissions) and Richard already helped me fix one that came up if the page was open in two different tabs or browsers (just a simple check fixed it; a stupid one, but simple), but I want people to keep trying to break it. Amber doesn’t need it until the end of April or so, so I’ve got plenty of time to beef it up if anything is found.
So, go for it. Try all your stupid little user tricks, things I would never have thought of as the programmer (such as the multiple tab thing Richard showed me).
This project was really fun. I got to learn some more php, expand upon my sql, learn how to use sql within php, and probably most fun of all: learn how to use ajax. Since voters are to vote on multiple categories, I did not want to have to reload the page every time they voted in one category, that would be a waste of the voter’s time. Especially when the page gets to be pretty long with a ton of submissions (I’m assuming it will get long (there’s twenty-nine categories after all), and that there will be a ton of submissions). So, instead, when they vote on a category, it’ll just collapse the form in that category into a “Thank you for voting!” message and the voter can go on unabated. I like it, it’s really cool :razz:
The thing logs based on IP address, so of course if you go to another computer and try to vote again, you’ll succeed. And of course if you use a proxy, etc. etc.
–A dude just walked past my window and freaked me the hell out. Looks like he was checking something on the outside of the buildings.–
Amber said that the people who will be participating are unlikely to go about vote stuffing in this manner since… well, they’re generally fourteen year old fangirls who know shit about computers (though they can kick my ass at video editing, that’s for sure).
But yeah, try anything, everything. And if you break it or find something that you think might be broken, just leave a comment on this post.
Also, yes. It is intentionally ugly (this is Corey’s big issue for some reason, and yet his IPRO site looks like it was made in frontpage). I plan to just php include() them into Amber’s site later on and CSS the hell out of them.
I watched A Dog’s Breakfast before going to bed last night. It was surprisingly good. It stars David Hewlett (Rodney McKay, Stargate: Atlantis), his sister Kate Hewlett (Jeannie Miller, Mckay’s sister, Stargate: Atlantis), and Paul McGillion (Dr. Carson Beckett, Stargate: Atlantis; Young Dr. Ernest Littlefield, Stargate: SG-1 “The Torment of Tantalus”). The Hewletts again play siblings, with McGillion as Kate’s actor fiancé. It started out a little.. slowish for me, but then just took a turn for the awesome. Especially the cameo by Christopher Judge (Teal’c, Stargate: SG-1). Holy hell. He plays such a serious character on SG-1, and while I knew he was a funny guy, I didn’t realize just how awesome he could be. He really needs more comedy jobs. It’s a small cast, and it’s basically all Stargate regulars, but it’s so refreshing to see them all outside of the Sci-Fi genre doing some good ol’ comedy.
I recommend the movie, even if you aren’t a fan of Stargate. David Hewlett’s performance is top-notch and his chemistry with Kate is perfect (which probably has something to do with the fact that, you know, they’re siblings and all). McGillion is great too (one of my all time favorite actors on Atlantis).
The Prometheus ship set/stage also makes an appearance, as McGillion’s character is an actor on a really bad Sci-Fi show (where Rachel Lutrell, also of Atlantis fame, makes a cameo) that seemingly takes place aboard an advanced space ship.
…at what I had typed before stupidity hit.
That last post wasn’t actually me, guys. Paul complained…
I feel like shit right now. I don’t know why. I think it’s school related. I did nothing productive this weekend. I don’t want to fail at this, I really don’t. This is really bothering me, hence the interjection.
Paul (who, by the way, got accepted into Wayne State’s pharmaceutical program, so please refer to him as Dr. Paul S. Douchebag from now on), complained that I hadn’t updated in some time (nearly a month by now), and, as a joke, I suggested he write something under the guise of me. Far too many of you bought it. I read it over and thought that the writing style was completely different from mine, and thus found it pretty funny that nobody caught on. Most of it’s out of date, but the skittles vodka thing that Ryan did is actually recent (I had talked about it with Paul) and on my list of things to try.
School has been.. actually pretty decent, relatively (I slacked this weekend, yeah… but overall… I’m not too bad off?). My semester consists of a web design class, Project Management, advanced Java, and the holy-crap-you-guys-suck-too-much-to-be-in-school-but-we’ll-give-you-another-chance-because-we’re-nice-like-that,-don’t-fuck-it-up class. Web design so far has mostly been stuff I know, and what I don’t know I can damn well pick up easily enough. Project Management shouldn’t be too bad, it’s mostly simple math and common sense. We’ve had a little bit of group work and the first assignment was due… today.. :/ The you-suck class is so easy and pointless it’s stupid. Java has actually turned out to be REALLY easy. The book and the professor are mostly useless, but a little time with Google and I can finish these coding assignments up in no time (and not in the CTRL+C CTRL+V way). I am really ashamed of myself for not doing this class right the first time. I could have easily managed this class, the other class I took, work, and the other side job no problem during the summer with plenty of time to spare for Mass Effect. But no, I was dumb. It was a learning experience. A learning experience that I will take to heart this summer when I don’t take any classes. I really, really should take some classes to catch/keep up, but…
I’m going to be living in an apartment with Nicole over the summer. That’s going to cost money. If I work a normal job (preferably the same one I had last summer? I’m gonna shoot an email to Jon sometime near the end of the semester and see if a position would be open for me again.), as well as an on-campus job that Nicole could get me, I should be able to save up enough money for rent to last a while. Law Bulletin paid me $10/hr, and school would pay me $7.75/hr; together it would be amazing. Hell, even if I only got the on-campus job I could still cover normal two person rent (assuming I were able to keep the job during the school year and get a similar amount of hours, we’ll see how well that works… this is why I plan on working double during the summer and saving saving saving). During the summer, Nicole’s boyfriend James will be staying with us and thus rent will be split three ways, which allows for even more money saving.
The apartment is at 34th and Loews in the Bridgeport area. It’s about $995/month and the place looks and feels a hell of a lot better than what we originally thought it would be. I’d say that the bedroom alone is about.. three-fourths the size of my MSV room? The room I share with Tim. There’s two bedrooms in the apartment. There’s a kitchen. A really nice main room. A back porch, and a small backyard. The place comes with a fridge AND a stove/oven. I like that, food is good. I’m more excited about the whole washer and dryer being included, though! Holy hell, I don’t have to pay for laundry beyond detergent anymore!! It’s pretty safe to say that Nicole and I are pretty much in love with the place. It was recently redone, with the windows still needing replacement (they will be replaced when the weather is nicer, though). The lady we’re getting the apartment from is one of the higher ups in the IPRO program here at school. She was apparently talking to Linda one day (Linda knows everyone) and happened to mention that she was looking to get rid of her apartment (she’s moving in with her boyfriend), and Linda knew Nicole and I were looking, and so we were pointed in each other’s directions. We had planned on looking at this place… maybe looking at a few other places… but this place was just.. amazing. I’ll definitely take pictures when we move in (Nicole had a few requests to take pictures when we visited the first time, but that’d've been a weird invasion of privacy for Ms. Kleppinger).
I really think this will work out well. Hell, I want it to work out and will work to making it work out. Monetarily comes to mind first, but I also mean more of the… social? aspect of it. In the past two and a half years I’ve found something… weird: Freshmen year, I roomed with a random roommate, Jeremy (not current-Jeremy), and it was really great. We got along well, never really stepped on each other, things were great. Sophomore year, I roomed with Corey, who I had been good friends with for some time and… after a while we started grating on each other. Hell, near the beginning of the year there was almost violence regarding a stupid as hell discussion we were having. We’re great friends again, now, though. This year I’m rooming with another random roommate and it’s pretty nice. We don’t talk… like ever. At least with Jeremy we had some over lapping tastes and talked a bit, but with Tim it’s mostly silence. Which is fine. He leaves nearly every weekend, I get the room to myself and thus usually host loud and obnoxious gaming nights with Corey and Phil and Richard or Jeremy or a couple of the girls. It’s really a lot of fun. I will miss that, the “hey, let’s go walk down the hall and see who’s up to what” nature of the dorms. At least in the apartment, the bedrooms are seperate, and if Nicole and I start grating on each other we can at least hide for a bit. That’s not a bad deal. But I hope that won’t happen. She was one of my closest friends last year before we dated. It.. was kind of weird afterwards, but I’m pretty sure we’ve both talked it out and that there is nothing weird anymore.
She’s definitetly one of my best friends again. She really helped a lot with the Jacki thing. She and Jeremy (current-Jeremy). This is why I think living with her will either be really bad or really good. I was (and still am, mind you) good friends with Corey and then we roomed and it sucked (I don’t think it helped that I a) was far too sick to take care of myself at one point and stunk to high hell, and b) tried to throw humor into him coming out to me… I still feel REALLY bad for that… That can NOT have helped the situation at ALL. I mean, things are cool now.. we all joke about it, he does most of all… but… damn. That was insensitive of me.). The current order of close friends goes something like this: Nicole at the top. Jeremy very, very slightly below her. Phil and Corey together below them. These are the most important friends in my life right now. These are the people I go to in order to talk about things or take my mind off things. If living with Nicole makes things sour between us (because we’ll see so much of each other), I don’t know what I’ll do. I am very worried about this.
Best part, the apartment is cheaper than staying in MSV for the summer and Fall/Spring. They raised the normal prices, so it’s safe to say that they raised the summer prices. Currently, for next school year, MSV is about.. $5,200? Last summer it cost about $2,X00 to stay in the dorms. It’s about $6,000 (rounding up to $1000, not including utilities.. :/), for me, for a full year in the apartment. Assuming James stays for three months, that comes down to $5,500 for the whole year. This should be manageable. I plan to take out as much money as I have been for these past three years of schooling (including room and board) and just receive a massive refund check that I can then apply to living in the apartment. Right now, the money that I owe later in life is not an issue. The issue is staying in school and doing well and living semi-comfortably. If that means I owe a ton of money later on, so be it. Student loans are common, people often pay them off for a long time after they get out of school. I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about doing well enough in school to get a job that will let me pay them off. I’m worried about living right now and learning how to live on my own so that it’s not a shock when I enter the real world later on. College is not a time to learn just academics, it’s a time to learn life. Making this apartment work is just another course in living. I really want this to work. I should go finish the previous paragraph before I forget what I was going to say.
I originally told Mom that I would be taking at least one class this summer. I really don’t think I should. I really think that I need to just work my butt off this summer and save up some money. I will soon have a place to pay for. It will no longer be one lump sum of money that I never see paying for housing and food. I will now actually have to earn the money and see it leave my bank/pocket. I will now have to be fiscally responsible. It’s time to grow up a little.
I am really excited for this. This was the next big thing on my to-do list. The last was “get a real job.” Granted, I couldn’t hold it due to school, but working at Law Bulletin last summer was really nice and allowed me to prove to myself that I WAS capable of landing a real job in a real work place doing real work. I know I can do that again; the tech sector hasn’t been hit as hard as other industries with this recession thing.
I had “The or” typed here when my music went all wonky and by the time I got back to it I have no idea what word I was going to type that beings with “or.”
Oh.
The original post that got eaten mentioned that I had nothing to write about, really… Well, you know how that goes. Current word count is 1900.
I am learning to mouse left handed because of pain in my right hand/arm/shoulder from these desks and the height of my chair in regards (they’re far too low to the ground, I prefer to tower above the desk and rest my arm on the table instead of propping it up on the table). My mouse is not made for left-handed/universal mousing
Went over to SSV to drop off Wind Waker and hang out with Jeremy (which consisted of watching him play and perusing Youtube for Songsmith creations) around 2am, left around 4:30am and chatted with Sarah at the front desk until she got off around 6, then walked back to MSV with her. It was pretty neat. She’s apparently related to pirates, a nerd in the computer-sense, and pretty cool all around. Why did I not talk to her sooner?
I ended up falling asleep after daybreak and got up around 6:40pm or so. No matter, I had no classes today anyway.
I need to find time before the weekend, ideally, to get a haircut. I’m thinking of getting like two inches taken off? This will be the first time any sharp objects have been near my hair (that I know of) since June 2007. Hopefully it’ll look a lot more.. tame. It’s been really all over the place lately. I just hope it turns out well :/ I hate haircuts. I have never ever gotten a haircut that I thought looked even remotely decent.
I really don’t want to go to Project Management or Java tomorrow. Such dry classes.
Here’s the basics: Stephanie and Christina thought Nathan liked Christina. Nathan likes Stephanie. He revealed this to them last night. Felt bad about Christina. This morning he tells me. I let it slip that I kinda liked Stephanie too.
I was kind of disappointed when he told me what had happened and that he liked her, but at this point I am used to huge, huge disappointments. I mean, really huge. I was fine with stepping aside (she basically told me I had no chance compared to him anyway, and that’s fine with me). The whole me-possibly-pursuing-Stephanie thing was brought about one night when talking to Nicole. She said something to the effect of “now that Stephanie girl, SHE’S a good pick.” I entertained the thought a bit. Stephanie broke up with her boyfriend and I thought I’d give it a shot after some time had passed. I wasn’t invested in this idea, I didn’t have my heart set on it, so it was easy to let things work out for everyone else. Besides, I have this stupid habit of putting other people before me. It just so happens that this situation was one of the easier moments for this.
So, all is well. I sincerely hope Nathan doesn’t feel bad. I’ll just move on to my next plan. Yeah, perhaps I lied on my Facebook status when I said I only wanted one plan and that now I had none :razz: