Archive for July, 2005

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That’s a Load Off

Monday, July 11th, 2005

I’m feeling fancy free, and it’s not just because I’m not wearing pants.

Our chem lab reports were due tonight at midnight. I’d only managed to finish a couple of them before today - I was going to do them last night, but Casey and Dan were heading back to NC this morning so I felt my time would be better spent hanging out with them. I managed to spend a little time on them this afternoon at work while I was waiting for other things to happen, and “finished” a couple hours ago.

These reports really were the half-assed-est work I’ve EVER done in my academic career. It’s a one credit lab that I need to graduate, so I just want to pass. If I get a D, it’s effect on my GPA would be comparable to a sea gull’s effect on the trajectory of a speeding Buick.

By which I mean it will send it careening blindly into an overpass.

It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s nice not to have it hanging over my head anymore. I have one more test due for the lecture - something like 40 multiple choice questions - but I’ve got another week to do it, so I didn’t feel bad about sitting around and being a bum tonight. I feel guilty watching TV or reading a book when I know I should be doing homework (not that it stops me), so I think I’m going to spend the evening catching up on the reading I didn’t do last week.

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Old School

Monday, July 11th, 2005

I miss the good old days.

I miss having a car. I miss keeping half of my worldy posessions in it, so that anything I ever needed was as close as the parking lot. I miss the conversations that took place there - what’s said in the car, stays in the car.

I miss living in the dorms. I miss hanging out with friends until 3 in the morning, and staying up until 5 because my first class wasn’t until 2. I miss the last cigarrette of the day and being deafened by a silence that can only be found standing between buildings that hold hundreds upon hundreds of sleeping people.

I miss the seemingly endless supply of time and the opportunites it held. I miss thinking that this would go on forever, and that I could just sit back and let it happen.

I especially miss the friends that have moved away - geographically or otherwise - over the past few years, and knowing that some of them will never come back.

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Posted in Friends, Life, Memories | 4 Comments »

Brandreth

Sunday, July 10th, 2005

It was an incredible weekend. Rhubarb, Darrin, Shane and I drove out to the Adirondacks Friday night to spend the weekend at Potter’s place on Brandreth Lake. It was drizzly Friday and Saturday, but today was beautiful. We just spent the weekend swimming in the lake, sitting in the hot tub, and hanging out around the house. There was liquid nitrogen ice cream, kayaking, and butane rocket experiments (side note: this is probably why the first stop on Potter’s tour of the place was the fire extinguisher).

Potter’s brother owns 15 or 20 sets of paint ball equipment, so a bunch of us went and played today. We went to a pretty big clearing in the woods, split into five-man teams, and played three rounds of capture the flag. Potter didn’t want to bring back any ammo, so we finished with a shootout at about 40 yards, which was WAY better than sneaking around in the woods with foggy goggles. I had never played, so I’m really glad he had the equipment - left to my own devices, I probably wouldn’t have tried it for a couple years.

Now that I’m back, I’ve got a ton of laundry to do and six more chem lab reports. They’re not due till midnight tomorrow, so I think I’m just going to do a couple more tonight and get some sleep.

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Monument to American Consumerism

Friday, July 8th, 2005

I’m sitting in the Walden-Galleria mall by the Apple store (woo! free wireless!)

As of 9:30(ish) this morning, I am licensed by New York State to ride a motorcycle. I think my dad won $10 from mom on that one. I spent a couple hours riding around before heading out.

I’m off to Rochester in a minute here. I bought some riding gloves and glasses at Cycle Stop before heading home, but the glasses let too much wind in and the gloves keep sliding up on my hands, so I’m going to stop in and see if I can’t exchange them both. Then it’s off to the Adirondacks for a relaxing weekend.

See ya in a couple days!

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London, 7/7/05

Thursday, July 7th, 2005

A note to fundamentalists everywhere:

Blowing shit up will not gain sympathy for your cause.

I mean, come on guys. Attacking your enemies - the people you’re actually fighting with - is one thing. But killing innocent people on public transportation isn’t going to make you any friends.

Days like this remind me how great the Internet can be sometimes, in between the 14 year-olds trash talking each other and ridiculous Flash animation. A group has already been started on Flickr - right now, there are 279 members and 465 pictures. Even on the other side of the pond, we can see what’s happened far before the news can tell us, and offer our condolences to those directly affected.

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Weekend Preparation

Thursday, July 7th, 2005

I’m trying to make to-do lists to sort out everything I need to do for the weekend. I’ll be heading home tomorrow evening after work so I can get up first thing Friday morning and take the motorcycle road test. There’s an Apple store in the mall near home, so I’m going to stop in there and see if I can’t get my iBook fixed - there are a couple small cracks in the edge around the screen. It looks like something inside the case is pushing out, causing just enough stress to gradually split the plastic casing. It’s really a cosmetic thing, since they’re hairline cracks, but I found a second one on the opposite side of the screen tonight so I want to have it fixed before my AppleCare runs out (note to self: renew that).

I figure I’ll be back in Rochester in the early afternoon, giving me time to pack some stuff up before leaving for the Adirondacks with Rhubarb and (I think) Shane. The rest of the weekend will be spent there relaxing and trying not to think about that chem lab reports that are due on Monday.

At some point tomorrow, I want to review the Motorcycle Manual just to make sure I know everything I’m supposed to. The only thing I’m really concerned about is lane position through turns - I always ride with other people, and we mostly maintain our position in the lane. I practiced doing loops and figure-8’s when I was home last weekend, so those shouldn’t be a problem, but I know I’ll never live it down if I fail for something stupid.

It should be a decent weekend if I can just make sure I do everything that needs doing.

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Happy Fourth

Monday, July 4th, 2005

It’s been a busy week. This past Thursday and Friday were spent in the chemistry lab, doing a quarter’s worth of labs in two days. Saturday morning, I went home for my cousins’ 4th of July party that evening. Yesterday was a BBQ at my aunt and uncle’s house, then back to Rochester in the evening. Today was supposed to be Gillian’s BBQ, but I’m feeling more than a little run-down, so I’m going to stay home and be lame.

I’m really looking forward to finishing Chemistry. I’ve spent so much time over the past four weeks watching those damn lectures and, more often, putting off watching those damn lectures. It’s a five-week course, so it’ll be over next weekend, for better or worse. Unfortunately, I still have to write up lab reports sometime in the next week and a half.

I can’t wait for this crap to be over. The second half of summer will be so much more relaxing without chem hanging over my head. I’ve never dealt well with crappy classes - I always let them cause me too much stress, when I should really just get it over and done with and forget about it. Either way, I’ll be able to spend the rest of the summer getting a portfolio together so I can find a job sometime soon.

It’s the fourth. Relax, have a beer, and be thankful you’ve still got most of your freedoms.

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