these five words in my head

i dont know what got me thinking about this, but i really just want to express my intense dislike for that nickelback song "this is how you remind me". that song suuuucks. does anyone out there actually like this song? i honestly cant imagine someone genuinely feeling good when they hear that song. who are the people that are not only going to leave it on when it comes on the radio (though listening to a station that might play it is questionable in itself) but would turn it up and start singing along to it? does such a person exist?

i was thinking about this while i was walking down the street today and trying to imagine a party situation where this song is played. everyone is having a great time, drinking their beer from plastic solo cups or whatever and "this is how you remind me" comes on. everyone is freaking out now because "yes! nickelback!" is the only thought going through people's heads. everyone starts chanting the lyrics together "this is how...you remind me OF WHO I REALLY AM!!" and when they get to the part: "these five worrrds in my head scream ARE WE HAVIN FUN YEEET!?? YEAH! YEAH!" and then of course everyone is so enthused and exchanging high-fives because, yes, they ARE having fun yet. nickelback is rocking out. beer is flowing. good times are had. people are thinking "omg this song is sooo good. those nickelback folk really hit the nail on the head with that one". has this EVER happened? its just unbelieveable to me how bad that song is. it has absolutely no redeeming qualities. the lyrics are so fucking lame and the music is boring at best.

also, why do people have to whistle out loud when they are walking around near me? that could be the most irritating thing in the world. i really do not want to hear some asshole whistling when i'm out in public. seriously. stop the whistling.

guitar solo in heaven

i've never been a huge fan, i've actually been something of a hater of guitar solos through my music listening career. i have a pretty substantial collection of mp3s nowadays and a lot of them are top 40 hits from my formative years or adolescence(~1987-1994). since i recently organized my entire music collection into one folder of mp3s, listening to music for me lately means loading all of them into one big winamp playlist and pressing random. its like a having a large ipod thats just really big and heavy so you cant take it anywhere. which is fine because i really dont have much interest in listening to music anywhere but at home. unless i'm at a party (it could happen?) or something else that requires tunes but then i guess i'm probably counting on someone to supply them.

anyway one of songs that came on today was "heaven" by warrant. its that song that starts out saying "I've got a picture of your house, with you standing by the dooOOoor..." and then goes into "Heaven isnt too far away! Closer to it ever-y day! No matter what your friends might say!" Hhaha. its from their 1989 release Dirty Filthy Rotten Stinking Rich, if youre interested. i just wanted to say that the guitar solo in that song is totally the best part. usually i dont care about guitar solos. i used to genuinely believe they were without a doubt the WORST part of any song. its just great to me that that song has this guitar solo that i like. i bet the guitarist in the band was pissed because he had to play on some bullshit radio ballad when all he really wanted to do was rock. i mean, thats why he was in Warrant in the first place right?

the future of food

i just got back from watching this movie called The Future of Food about the evils of genetic engineering. its sort of a lot for me to digest (no pun intended) right now to explain in a way i'm happy with but its a really important subject for...the future of food. if i wasn't at war with my own diet before, i most certainly am now. its been really nice using (and even cleaning) my juicer once or twice a day for almost a full week now. i've got a pile of organic apples and oranges on my counter and it looks absolutely great.

here is an example of the sick minds behind genetic engineering and it comes from a spam comment on my very own blog. basically what happens is this huge corporation buys seeds, genetically alters them, and then patents them so that they are the only ones who can legally sell or grow these crops. honestly, it is nothing short of a plan to OWN the worlds food supply. and this is spreading to anything that grows. specifically, the spam comment in that link above talks about genetically modified trees and some company having the exclusive rights to market them. and of course since i'm a huge fucking idiot it makes perfect sense to me to invest in this because i never consider the consequences of what i do and i only live to make money so i can enjoy my life of being cowardly and lazy. oh wait, thats not me. thankfully.

i HIGHLY recommend watching The Future of Food if you can find it. and i also HIGHLY recommend going out of your way to find it. i'm not able to do the issue justice on my blog here but the movie is very informative.

Icebergs 

juice update

ok so i havent exactly stuck to my promises to update every day or even, indeed, to make this week strictly a juice diet week. but i havent failed completely. i'm still drinking at least two fresh juices a day but i have had one meal per day in addition to that. this doesnt sound so bad but i'm pretty sure that meal has been pizza every single time. still, i'm feeling good. its actually surprisingly hard not to feel good when you pump your body full of nutrients like this on a daily basis. depression is completely out of the picture. normally i would constantly be berating myself for having failed to keep my promises to myself and telling myself that i'm never going to healthy or employed. hahaha. but that is what someone tells himself who consistently stuffs himself full of pizza and cookies and little else. hahaha.

right now, i'm drinking my latest juicing experiment which i'm creatively calling Tomato/Mushroom juice. no, its not the tastiest thing i've ever had but whatever. according to this book i have mushrooms are a good source of vitamin B12, iron, potassium, and even protein. so why not, right? not everything can taste like Apple/Lemon/Ginger juice. as luck would have it, my apartment building is also home to a little juice bar called The Energy Bar so if i don't feel like juicing stuff myself at 8 in the morning i can fork out $4.50 for 16oz ALG. My own home-made ALG, of course, is a lot better but you can't beat the convenience of The Energy Bar.

i just got back from whole foods. last time i was there i got this huge bag of like 14 oranges for $2.99. so i still have about half of that bag, i've got a bunch of apples, a lemon, some ginger, two things of celery, two things of kale and two cucumbers to cover me for the next few days. this TM juice probably cost a little over $5 for 4 tomatoes and 8 decent sized button mushrooms.

in a couple hours i'm going to go watch this movie at Cinema 21 called The Future of Food. i guess its about genetically modified food. hopefully buying my produce at whole foods/new seasons/wild oats and local farmers market helps me avoid this issue in my own diet but i'm going to find out.

the juices

i'll keep editing this post as i come up with different juices to drink but this will just be a list of the juices i'm drinking and their abbreviations in the rest of my posts.

1. KCC (Kale/Cucumber/Celery)
2. ALG (Apple/Lemon/Ginger)
3. OJ (Orange Juice)
4. TM (Tomato/Mushroom)

oktoberfast day 1

ok i went to the farmers market this morning and got some vegetable and i'm drinking my first juice now. i still havent eatn the garlic bread but i will finish that off a little later on today. i figure i can eat the first day one thing of garlic bread and sort of ease myself in. so i'm going to use this blog to keep track of a few things so i can have a record for any later fasts i do and so i can record any effects on my life that this fast has.

1. monetary: i will make a note of exactly how much i spend on everything because i want to know if a fast really is expensive or not.

2. dietary: i will make a note of everything single thing i drink.

3. quality of life: last but not least i will determine whether i feel less depressed, more creative, more productive, etc. i have homework assignments to complete that ive had a hard time finding the motivation to do. i expect that to improve this week. we'll see what happens. so lets begin.

SATURDAY FARMERS MARKET
$2.00 - celery (enough for 2*24oz KCC)
$3.50 - kale (enough for 2*24oz KCC)
$1.00 - cucumber (2)

12:00pm = 24oz KCC

juice fast day 0

its been a pretty long time since i posted something here but i still dont have any minutes on my cell phone. i had a dream the other night that i was eating a huge cheeseburger. it was a lot like a wendy's cheeseburger i think. i can still remember the texture and how it felt on my teeth and tongue and how it tasted. fuckin nasty. i cant believe this is all i have for a blog anymore. its seriously bad. i used to have some interesting things to say i think. or at least it was kind of entertaining. that was probably over a year ago though. now its just really meaningless and trivial. i think its school. having a pointless job is bad but at least you dont have to take it home with you. ok maybe the job really is worse. maybe its actually the challenge of school thats the problem. anyway i need to be on the lookout for interesting things that happen in my life so i can record them on this website. maybe i can do a juice fast for a week. if i publish this blog then i will have gone public with it (in theory) so there is no backing down. however i did buy some garlic bread tonight so i'll have to eat that first. but after that, starting tomorrow night i guess, juice fast. for a week. and i'll keep track of it here. i have no excuse not to do it. i have enough money. i have enough time. i have enough access to fruit and vegetables. ok, starting after the garlic bread then.

why am i not reading your blog?

everyone should have a blog and i should be reading it. what better way is there to know random details about peoples lives than a blog? all you people out there that i know: if you dont have a blog, its time to get one. they are free, easy to use, and even pleasant to look here on blogger. thats blogger.com. and then the blog is super easy to find too. but i havent really told too many people about this blog. i should be returning the favor i guess. even though i havent been updating a whole lot. maybe that will change. i'm not making any promises but i'm feeling good about it tonight.

i dont have any minutes left on my cell phone until october 9th. so dont call me. but do get a google account. if you need to be invited to be gmail i can hook you up because i have 100 that i dont know what to do with. plus as soon as i give one out its guaranteed that in the next few days i will get more. you should get a google/gmail account because then i can talk to you for free using google talk. talk.google.com. my cell phone is mostly just good for telling me what time is when i'm in class or somewhere else away from the computer. so please friends, more of you should be writing blogs. this is not the twentieth century anymore. especially those of you that are traveling. why keep a journal when you can have a blog? ok hopefully my email is working now. i hope to see this blog again soon. this isnt a good blog to keep at the top for long.

bats in the earth cave

i was playing a little bit of final fantasy today. actually i had taken a pretty long break from it but i just set up my tv at my new apartment so i thought "why not?" and i was leading my team through the Earth Cave trying to destroy the evil vampire that lurks within and bring the ruby back out so the Titan would let me pass, but i seriously had to sit there saring for nearly ten minutes because two BATS were in my way and i could not pass them until they moved out of the passageway. you can see from the picture that if i were to force the bast to the right they would block the doorway so i had to move back and let them move back and forth, right and left until finally they moved out of my way. then and only then could i pass by and destroy the vampire just beyond that door.

i destroyed the game a couple weeks ago with my 3 black belt/1 white mage party. it was almost too easy. black belts have got to be, by far, the best class in the game. this time i'm using a 3 red mage/1 black mage team. so its all about attack magic. but the red mages are pretty handy with their silver swords as well. i've never actually used a red mage far enough into the game to have a red wizard. i dont even know what they look like once they reach that level. i really like the idea of 3 of one class and 1 of another. actually 4 different classes is the onyl combination i really dont like at all. oh, and 2 fighters sucks too. i wonder tho, maybe next time i will use 1 fighter and 3 white mages. that might be fun. so many possibilities and its only 8-bit!

camry advertisement

does anyone want to buy a nice dark green toyota camry from 1995 with some slight body damage but in excellent mechanical shape for about $2850? it only has ~134000 miles on it. it has plenty of life left in it. if i have any love in me for cars it all goes to this one. it has been nothing short of fantastic for me and it will not disappoint you, its proud new owner. what do you think? now is the time to buy. act now before its too late and there isnt any gasoline left to buy. by the way, NOT why i'm selling the car. i just cant park it downtown. it gets great gas mileage even now. is there anything wrong with the car, you ask? well like i said there is some slight body damage but you dont care about that. a minor dent or two made me look cool and it will make you look cool too. if only i could put this ad in the paper verbatim i would sell this thing immediately. as is i'm counting on some random portlander to stumble upon this blog and realize theyve hit the jackpot. at least until the camry hits craigslist next week.

jury duty and relativity

yesterday i was a true american and hung out at the multnomah county courthouse all day serving jury duty. it was really easy because all i did from 8am to about 415pm was sit in the jury assembly room and wait for my name to be called. but my name was never called. i didn't have to do a single thing. i considered bringing a book but then i had the crazy thought that i might actually be occupied while i was there so i didnt. i realized that i made a mistake after i was sitting around all morning so on the lunch break i walked home and got a book.

before i had the book i read through the handouts they gave us about the juror selection process and what happens during a trial and all that. and then i heard people talking to each other and asking questions that were covered explicitly in the handouts but i didnt say anything. also the lady who was in charge of calling our names told us there were books and magazines in the back if we were interested. so i went back to look at the books thinking that with a whole bookshelf full of books there would be something at least marginally interesting to read. but i realized that when she said books what she really meant were romance and other pop novels like James Patterson's The Lake House. and i'll read almost anything but i wasnt that desperate. so instead i sat in my chair and practiced not thinking and just listening to my environment. i really like doing that lately. i think its incredibly relaxing.

so when i got my book i started reading The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene which I have had since last year and just finally got around to starting. i'm really glad i did too because it is really informative and well-written so far and is a perfect follow-up to my summer physics curriculum which ended last friday. and while i was reading about it I realized that another good practice (in addition to the not thinking) is to constantly remind myself that I and everything around me are in constant motion even though we appear to be stationary. its good to remember these things that we all know to be true yet our second nature seems to contradict them. this concept is the basic idea behind relativity i think. and by the way the book said that Einstein published his paper on special relativity in june of 1905 which makes this summer the 100 year anniversary of the world's offical introduction to it. and since the idea that the measurement of something or someones speed will be different depending on the relative motion of whoever is measuring that speed is not so relevant to our daily lives (since for the tiny tiny tiny difference to be noticed in speeds common to our everyday experience the tools used to measure would have to be impossibly accurate), even after 100 years it is still not second nature to us. if it was maybe i could explain it in a way that would be incredibly clear to anyone reading it. i'll just have to keep reminding myself daily so that eventually it IS built in to my personal subconscious and so i understand the way the world really works as opposed to the way that everyone thinks it does.

Semi-charmed kinda life

So here's something I would never admit to my 18 year old self. Actually its ok I probably would admit it since I'm much cooler now than I was then anyway. But since I've had this recent pop rediscovery, I find that I really like that third eye blind song. semi-charmed life. yeah. its so enthusiastic!! i think yesterday mustve just been a bad day because I was down on curb your enthusiasm. still a good show. and i started playing final fantasy again and now that my black belts have reached level 10 and beyond they are kicking some serious ass. nothing can really stop me now. its a steep climb in the early levels but it was worth it. i'm going to waste this fucking game. so i'll tell you a little bit about my team since they might be the greatest in the history of final fantasy for nes. They use no black magic, only bracelets for armor, and no weapons!! Ok the white mage is using a silver hammer right now. but thats hardly a powerful weapon. it IS a sweet weapon, but not too powerful. Anyway the three black belts are called JOHN, MARK, and LUKE (you only get four letters per name). The white mage is called GOD. GOD has not died yet and he isn't going to. consequently he is further ahead of the others in experience. The only attack magic that GOD can use is HARM which only works on undead creatures. makes sense. basically we rely completely on some quick fists and a silver hammer here and there. taking out giants, ogres, wolves, arachnids...you name it. plus the sweetest part is that GOD just gained 5th level magic so now he can resurrect his fallen black belts using the LIFE spell should they take one too many hits. and i think i've barely even stratched the surface of the game. ok thats enough talk about this.

Sunday is so lame

I need to blog on days that I actually do something but it seems like its just Sunday that gets the special treatment. I just spent an hour watching curb your enthusiasm. It was really funny the first time i saw the episodes but unfortunately after a few times it seems more contrived and therefore less funny. I prefer the office. Ummmm... for all you partiers out there, youre going to be jealous when I tell you what i did last night. I was on the soulseek p2p looking for i dont remember what and i found a user who was sharing mp3s of the top 100 billboard from the 1940s to 2004. so i spent a really long time downloading the ones i wanted to hear and listening to them. it was great actually. most of the songs i got were from the early 90s. my favorite one i think is "I Got a Man" by Positive K. That song is so good. You have to hear it again if its been awhile. Anyway while I was doing this I also found this article online Playing God with Whatever: The 90s Pop Culture Box and I think it probably the best piece of music writing i've read in a long time. And apparently the guy who wrote it is 19. So he was 4 when the 90s started but I guess i'll ignore that. His article is not pretentious like all other music writing. So i appreciate that. Plus it helped me remember a bunch of songs I wanted to hear again. Its a good thing to read if youre bored and you like 90s pop music.

I havent played final fantasy since I wrote about it last week. I feel like my physics class exists in another world and its only at around 6 tomorrow morning that reality will come back and i'll realize I still do go to school. Its weird starting a new term on a friday. We had one class and then a weekend. The breeze feels really good coming in from my window. My stroke of genius this weekend was buying a lemon and slicing it up and keeping it in tupperware in my fridge so I could have a lemon slice in each glass of water I had. There really arent too many better things in life than a glass of water with lemon in it.

Three black belts and white mage

What a sunday. Ok I spent a lot of time playing final fantasy. More than I'm going to admit, not all day but ok I would say if I had any idea how long. i'm talking about the original final fantasy for Nes. I have quite the bachelor pad now that my roommates moved out and I have the entire house to myself for a month. So I hooked up the nintendo and most games wouldnt draw me in for long periods of time but this one can. I was playing it for awhile today with a fairly basic team of the fighter, black belt, red mage, white mage. But I thought it was too boring and I wanted a team that was totally different from anything I played as a kid. And so I started over and now I'm using three black belts and a white mage. Its pretty hard so far because I dont have any attack magic at all and my black belts are using their hands to fight. I'm going to be pushing the A button a LOT and keep fighting sharks and wolves to boost up my levels. I just considered that my behavior is slightly pathetic but I'm not going to worry about it. I never do. On the other hand there are far better things to do with my time that I used to enjoy, like reading, but now I cant do it without thinking about my black belts!! Its like that harry potter book number six. I couldnt stop reading it for like three days any spare moment I had I was sucked in until I finished it. Oh well thats my life. Back to school tomorrow thankfully. I need a good project to become obsessed with. The closest thing I have is my one note sheet front and back of physics equations to use for my test on thursday. Its kind of like killing sharks and wolves but its harder because you have to think and not just press the A button to pick "fight" a bunch of times.

This weekend

Right now i'm one of the few people in my mom's extended family not in Wisconsin for a weekend of extended family gathering. Instead I'm at my desk writing a blog that has no point at all. But if I'm going to blog regularly its going to have to be about nothing. The only plans I have for friday night (ie tonight) are to go to the grocery store, buy a bunch of hopefully ripe mangoes, and juice them. I'll also probably read about magnetic fields but there is no guarantee on that. Only I'd say about a 75-80% chance. The mangoes are guaranteed. The ripeness of the mangoes is not guaranteed which means that the juice is not really guaranteed. The grocery store, then, is really the only part of my night that is guaranteed. Although, regardless of whether or not the mangoes are ripe, I am going to buy them anyway and they will either have to sit in my kitchen for a few days or they won't. If the mangoes at the store are not ripe, I think I should buy some backup fruit or vegetable to juice. Ok, after thinking for a few minutes I've come up with cantaloupe as a backup. Both mangoes and cantaloupes sound like very good things to drink tonight. My blog about nothing really did turn out to be about something. And it was pretty useful. I cant wait for my trip to the grocery store.

I love google but I need a new computer

As much as I think the hipster-favorite weekly Portland Mercury is not worth reading because every article is written by one of the same sarcastic, obnoxious 20-somethings with nothing useful or productive to say, I actually found something I can use in it today. Well I can almost use it. I would need a new computer. We have multiple copies of the Mercury lying around our house right now because my roommate is using them to pack things in boxes since she is moving out soon. Actually we all are but thats not the story I'm interested in telling. I was cooking some dinner (in other words throwing a frozen pizza in the oven) and I decided while I was waiting for it I would flip through one of the Mercurys lying on the floor. I found a little blurb about "Google Earth" and how cool it is and I decided I had to check it out. I really like maps and Google Earth is basically the ultimate map. You might notice that I have a link to Google Maps to the side of this blog but really, compared to Google Earth, Google Maps is nothing.

Honestly though, I dont really even feel like talking about Google Earth now because I've spent so much of my blog energy leading up to it. Basically it is software that you download and run from your PC that uses satellite imagery and 3D rendering to give you the most kickass 3D maps of anywhere in the world. I can see myself spending a LOT of time using Google Earth to fly myself all over the world from the comfort and safety of my desk. But, alas, my computer is not powerful enough to run it. I have neither a 3D capable graphics card nor a processor that is faster than 500 mHz. These are not incredibly demanding or rare features on computers these days but mine is over five years old. Oh well. Plus, maybe by the time I actually get around to buying a new computer they'll have a version of Google Earth that runs on Linux so I wouldn't have to re-boot to Windows every time I want to use it.

Until then I'll have to keep taking my own pictures and putting them on my blog. And settling for Google Maps. At least it isn't Yahoo...

earth.google.com

The good that I'm talking about

I found an article today about how this non-profit based out of Portland called Green Empowerment helped design a solar power structure and train the community of Candelaria, Nicaragua to maintain it. The panels that the community installed give power to a water pump allowing clean water to flow into the village instead of having the women and children walk for hours three times a day to find it while the men are away working picking coffee. I totally stole these pictures straight from the magazine article because they are so inspiring to me. Using simple transportation methods like the donkey to carry the new solar panels requires no fuel but care for that living creature. The power of the community coming together to solve a problem, start a committee to keep the solution functional and economically feasible is awesome to me. Just like the awesome power provided by the sun and channelled through the solar panels to operate their water pump.



The villagers pay the equivalent of $2 per household per month to maintain their pump. The success of the project has inspired the community to keep making progress by building latrines and learning about proper hygeine now that they have clean water. This is the future, where communities come together for a common cause and create jobs in an environmentally responsible way. Our cities filled with disenchanted intellectuals discussing political philosophy over the coffee the Nicaraguans provide are the past and not only because they will need to work in coffee fields less and less as more and more communities start improving themselves with help from organizations like Green Empowerment. This is the good in the world that I'm talking about focusing on. It just takes a little effort to find because it isn't on the surface that all of us see in our day to day lives. It is little wonder that so many of us aren't happy with our lives and opt to get that small sliver of satisfaction from mocking those around us who seem to be not as cool as we are. I'm not saying we should feel guilty and bad about ourselves. We already do. I'm saying we should be happy that changes like these are taking place and then we can start effecting small change is our larger communities. The theme for the day is that disillusionment is immature and counterproductive. And that solar power is fucking badass. I'm not studying electrical engineering to build bigger and faster cell phones and computers, I'm doing it to take advantage of the education I can get in the United States and help transition to this future that I apparently am not the only one envisioning. Thats really good for me to know.

www.greenempowerment.org
Images copyright 2005 Elsevier Ltd. taken from ReFocus magazine

On the other hand...

I just wanted to point out that the blog I wrote right before this (under this) is incredibly hypocritical. I'm talking about how its uncool to complain about the stupidity of other people but thats exactly what I'm doing by writing that blog. I'm saying that I will focus on the good but I'm focusing on exactly the opposite. So whatever, there is truth in both blogs for today and I'm not going to get too worried about it. Maybe what I really should be focusing on is whats immediately relevant to my life like homework or updating my resume. Blog on, bloggers. But, yeah, mine is still better than yours.

Popular blogs

I've just spent a little time reading some blogs (which I'm not going to name) written by people in New York that are apparently insanely popular. I really don't like New York. I swear it must be filled with people who think they are better looking, more important, and smarter than everyone else especially those who don't also live in New York. Don't get me wrong, I also think I'm better looking and smarter than a lot of people but at least I don't hate myself at the same time. These people who write blogs are just like me when I'm drunk. I, at least, don't constantly use big words in an effort to appear brilliant while mocking the rest of the world that they think is so beneath them. Sure you're probably smart and sure you're probably even hot. And, yes, bored people that also hate themselves will read your blog and share your sneering laugh for a few minutes because they aren't happy with their lives and they need someone to laugh at. I promise not to make my blog a boring, overdone criticism on how stupid the other people around me are. And if, for whatever reason, I start some pathetic self-loathing charade, I promise to remind myself that I'm not living in New York and I don't need to keep up appearances of disgust and condemnation of my surroundings. From here on out I'm going to focus on whats good about the world and myself and everyone else. Then after about a year or so of doing that maybe I'll find something good to say about New York too.

My hideous handsome face

Yep. My poor face. I banged it up again, this time by riding my bike like a dumbass, tipping over and landing pretty much directly on the left side of it. Like I said, its not the first time something like this has happened. Its not my first bike wreck but this is the first time a bike wreck has affected my pretty face. Let's see though, I think the last black eye I had was given to me by asshole frat boys after I made obnoxious comments about their "crotch rockets" right in front of their house on my way home from a bar a couple years ago. They invited me to "come in and see their house" and like the drunken idiot I was I thought it sounded like a great idea. When I got inside they proceeded to get me on the stairs and start punching the shit out of me. Luckily the guy I was walking with realized something was not right so he came into the house after me and dragged me out. Don't worry though, even as he was dragging me away from the house and the frat guys were chasing after us still punching me when they could, I had both my middle fingers up in the air, yelling obsenities at them and laughing at how much cooler I thought I was then them even though I had just had my ass kicked. But that time I really just got a black eye and a few miscellaneous scrapes (mostly from the street as I was being dragged away). My face has looked really similar to this before though. I dont remember exactly how it happened but I'm pretty sure I just walked straight into some hard metal object walking home from a party. I remember coming home, just like last night, with blood dripping from my face, so numb from alcohol that my overwhelming emotions were really just that of frustration and annoyance. But I cleaned up with some gracious help from roommates and just like that time, this will heal. I'll be good-looking again. Really that is my primary concern. But I'll be sure to enjoy all the pity and attention I get from everyone until then. I'll even enjoy the disgusted reactions of those who just think its my own damn fault and feel I got what was coming to me. Obviously for all of these injuries there is one recurring theme of excessive drunkenness. Its really not as cool as I'm trying to make it out to be. I'm glad the drunkenness is extremely rare these days and getting rarer by the year until eventually it will be extinct. My personality when I'm drunk is about as attractive as the left side of my face right now. Super arrogant, extremely proud, and very willing to make funny but evil comments about whoever or whatever crosses my path. I was just thinking yesterday afternoon about being drunk and how if I actually had to talk to myself when I'm drunk with eyes glazed over and swaying back and forth how much less appealing I would be to myself as a person. Anyway the real moral of this story is not to ride your bike when you're wasted beyond belief. And as I was taking a nap today I was dreaming and I think I figured out that I was actually swerving back and forth along the road last night as I rode. And then I leaned the bike too far to the left and BAM. I remember just being like "Fuck." as I laid there with my bike on top of me, face pressed up against the concrete definitely feeling like a huge idiot. And there is no question that crashing your bike because you're riding stupidly and drunk is an idiot move. Maybe this time I'll learn my lesson.

Wtf is qalephd?

This is the letter Aleph. It is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Something that I like to do in my spare time is read the Bible. Not because I want to tell people how to live their lives, but because whatever your opinion is of the book itself, it is undeniable that it has had a tremendous effect on the mass mind of humanity for the last two thousand or whatever years. My opinion is that most people don't have any idea what the Bible is really about at its deepest level and one of my goals is to figure it out.

Anyway, the Old Testament, or approximately the first 75% of the Bible was originally written in Hebrew. "Aleph" means Ox, as in the animal used to draw plows and whatnot in the old days. Aside from meanings associated directly with this animal, the English spelling of "Ox" has its own relevance to me tied to Aleph in the following way. I AM making this up from the way I see it but "O" looks a lot like the number 0 which stands for "nothing" or the unknown. "x" is also used more often than not to represent the unknown in mathematical equations. So Aleph, or the "Ox" is the ultimate unknown power in the universe that you may or may not like to think of as God. And I'm not saying that by using it in my little web pseudonym that I somehow equate myself with that power, I'm just saying I'd like to associate myself with it. If you want to do the same, be my guest. If not, I have no problem with that either.

As far as the "q" and "d" go, imagine these characters spinning vertically around a horizontal axis (how else would they spin vertically?) through the middle of their hoop-like sections. Then think of them as orbiting (I see it as a counter clock wise rotation but whatever) around the word Aleph tracing the path of an ellipse just like the earth around the Sun. This is also the "0" that I was just talking about. The q and the d are really one body orbiting the "sun" of Aleph and those are its positions directly to the left and right of it. So thats my fairly complete explanation of "Qalephd". I realize that using a capital Q changes the word as I've just explained it but maybe we can think about what THAT means later. In fact, none of this really has to MEAN anything but people have asked me what qalephd is and this is my answer.

Lastly, maybe you're wondering about "kalephd", my aim screen name, so I'm going to call that the slightly confused cousin to qalephd. It means the same thing but its hidden better. If you want, it can also mean that I like to eat or drink kale so much that you might call me the "Kale PhD". But thats also kind of like saying that Adam and Eve were real people created by some really powerful personified God along with the rest of our world in a few literal days. Its doesn't make a whole lot of sense (a PhD in kale?). But I guess thats one more reason the name works so well in reference to the Bible. There you have it.

Three and a half weeks of physics

I just finished taking my final exam for my first Physics course since high school. We covered about 12 chapters of a standard introductory physics text in only three and a half weeks. Its a compressed summer course. But now I dont know what to do with myself for the rest of the day because I don't have any homework. Actually, the next course in the sequence begins tomorrow and continues essentially from the point where we left off so I could read the next chapter and start off on the right foot that way. We'll see, there is still plenty of day left.

I'm aware that this probably isn't very interesting to random internet readers. I can't imagine giving a shit about someone else's musings about what they should do after taking a final exam. But that reminds me of something I saw on the wall at one of my school toilets yesterday. I thought it was very insightful. Maybe you've seen it on a toilet near you?

Most of the talk on the stall wall were comments back and forth about whether it is really conservatives or liberals who are insane/can spell/should be allowed to live. These arguments were written alongside other comments about animal liberation, starting revolutions and riots...you've seen it all before. But thats where the master of toilet wisdom steps in and says "Hey! I'm here to take a shit, not give a shit." True THAT!

Blogger random questions

Ok, the question blogger asked my profile was "What is the best kind of tape to use for making a sculpture?". But then it changed the question so my answer to that question was under a totally unrelated question. PLus it only lets you have 150 characters for a reply. I'm not a 150 characters kind of person.

I've never created a sculpture so I'm not sure. As far as I'm concerned a sculpture has no practical value to my life and so I have no reason to create one. But I love the fact that blogger is asking random questions. I said on my myspace profile that this should be done and little did I know people were already doing it in cooler places. The only tape I ever use is scotch tape to paste things in notebooks or duct tape sometimes. I prefer superglue.

There is no more beer

I wanted to have some beer in our "kegerator" for when Mary and Chas come visit tomorrow but the keg is dry. We get our beer from this guy who brews his beer at home and then charges us a few dollars to take one of his kegs every so often and put it in our living room in a refrigerator with a tap on it that he is loaning us while we patronize him. Its great beer too. I don't really like to think a lot when I came up with adjectives to describe things. Many things are "good" or "great" to me. I bet you are excited to continue reading my blog now that you know it will be filled with such colorful descriptions.

Google maps

I want to see how the blog associated with google is because myspace blog is getting old.