Blog descriptions are for the weak. I will crush you all.
I will be away for a while, everyone. I don't know how long it will be before I get a chance to really sit down and post up a storm for you. Suffice to say, I need some time. I'll be at my house for a while, so give me a call (503) 669-2244 or drop on by and hang out. I need all the friends I can get...
So, I saw a bootlegged copy of "Hero" (Chinese version with English subtitles) and it was fucking awesome. I never actually saw "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" because I was told it involved a good deal of romance- which everyone knows Charles does not care for in his movies- but others told me that the fighting was very reminicent of that Chinese style of filming where the fighters fly around at each other. Quite frankly, I really enjoyed it, the artistry, the history, the dignity of the characters, and the tragedy of the love between Broken Sword and Flying Snow was awesome. Personally, my favorite fighter was Sky because he used a spear. I hear that it's coming out in the US, and I encourage everyone to catch it if they can.
Right now, my life is balancing on the precipice of oppurtunity, but too much effort in either direction will send me careening. I'm really looking forward to three months off from school...
Virtual Knee Surgery. I'll let this link speak for itself. I encourage you all to play all the way through, because it is both informative and enjoyable... I think...
So... tired... I was awake for almost 48 hours straight, except for a one hour break when Brie, Adnan, and I had a "let's go back to bed party." I really don't have anything post-wise to say, other than I don't have anything to say.
Here's a topic: the radical reconstruction of the south following the civil war was neither radical or a reconstruction. Discuss.
My roommate for next year, Adnan, will like this. Apparently, he's been more busy than I previously thought.
In other news, no I don't get to go see Kill Bill vol. 2 today because I forgot about my fucking evening class, which I cannot miss anymore. It sucks ass, but I wasn't that excited about the special screening or the movie itself for that matter, I just wanted to go have fun with my friends. Oh well... It seems fun isn't something I am entitled to much anymore.
I am better now. Norwalk ripped through my body in a couple of days, and I've been recovering. I haven't posted because I don't really have anything else to talk about. I saw a bootlegged copy of Kill Bill Volume One a few days ago. It was... I can't really determine whether I liked it for not, but my friends managed to get into a special screening of volume two, and they're taking me with them. We're going to see it on wednesday (tomorrow, as of this post) and I think I'll have more fun going out with my friends than actually seeing the movie, but oh well.
I'm really getting into this idea of playing SpyCraft. Brad's been bugging us about it for years, so I think he deserves a little bit of slack here. Those of you who are interested, contact Brad, Andy, and/or I and figure out a good time to get together for some character generation. Plus, it would be fun to hang out together for a few hours anyway.
If you understand the title, then all I have to say is "protect my balls"
I got sick. Really, really sick. Norwalk virus, which has been ravaging the Lewis and Clark population, hit me really hard at about 3:45 AM. I vomited about six times in three or four hours, to the point where I puked blood up all over the place. It was really gross. Fortunately, my Residence Assistant shoved me into a Taxicab and sent me to the OHSU emergancy ward. I spent about five hours there while they used an IV to put two liters of water right into my bloodstream. It felt really weird, because the water comes in at room temperature.
I would like to point out that the emergancy ward of a hospital is really frightening. I spent almost the whole time in a darkened room behind a curtain, but I could hear all the people talking and crying and rushing around. It's really disturbing to hear someone say, "Sir, I need you to stay here. If you don't get immediate attention, I don't think you'll survive two steps out of that door." And then to hear the old guy actually leave after the nurses pleaded with him to stay. I don't know what happened to him.
Everyone who enjoys science fiction should read this story, "The Last Question," by Isaac Asimov. I know that Andy and Brad have their own preferences, but Asimov is definitely my favorite author. This is one of his better short stories, which came out of one of his better books, Nine Tomorrows. It's only about eight pages long, so check it out. I am going to give a twenty minute presentation on the story, basically outlining how I believe that the format of the story chronicles the aging of a single character (in this case, mankind itself) and I think I can support that by pointing out some basic elements of fiction that lend themselves to a sort of, "coming of age story" for humanity. Let me know what you think about that if/when you read it.
So the Multnomah State Health people have taken over our Bon, effectively. Last Friday, about sixty people got terrible stomach flu/food poisoning symptoms all at once. Fortunately, the whole disease part seems to have blown over. Unfortunately, Bon Appetit has turned into a Nazi cafeteria of "no-touchy." All of the Bon workers where gloves, even the person who swipes your card, and we are given lemon-scented moist toilettes- which we are highly encouraged to use- when we enter. ALL food is served for you, except for drinks (which come out of the machine anyway) and you have to ask for silverware when you get your food because it is now located behind the counters. The already annoying lines have swollen because of the incredibly slow-going nature of the new safety precautions, making dinner a real chore. My friends have taken to acquiring a line buddy when you go to get pizza so you at least have someone to talk to for ten minutes. I hope this blows over soon, because I'm sick of going through so much inconvenience to get crappy food.
I don't know...
Yesterday was my roommates birthday. So we got together about eight of our friends and made a pilgrimage to Chinatown to eat at a seafood Dim Sum restaurant. That was my second time eating Dim Sum, and I think I can now actually identify a few of the dishes, but I still don't know any of the names. We all ate until we could barely move (as is appropriate at such places) and we began to migrate around Portland like a flock of well-fed pigeons. Eventually, the group began to splinter as members had "other plans" and "homework." These endeavors confused me, because I am not accustomed to such things.
Adnan decided for us, however, that we should go see Hellboy. Adnan, of course, being the only person there who actually read the comics, was the only one of us who didn't enjoy the movie. Go figure. I thought it was really fun, and I immediately recognized the "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" factor that Andy mentioned. The end blew hard, because it was really lame and anti-climactic, but the rest of the movie was awesome and I enjoyed the whole thing.
In the end, we made our way to Long Island Pizza, which is a pizza/Lebanese cuisine restaurant (an interesting combination, to be sure) where Brendon and Autumn took pictures of Adnan and I sharing a coke while gazing into each others eyes longingly. I dread to see it when it is developed.
I've been playing Dungeon Keeper 2 a shitload lately, and I would highly recommend the game to all of you out there in blogger/gamer land. You can pick it out of a bargain bin for like five bucks, and I guarantee you will get more than your money's worth. Check it out.
I love SHODAN.
More than any other villain I've ever seen in a movie, video game, or read in a book, SHODAN encompasses all that is badass. System Shock 2 is, hands down, the best game ever; better than Deus Ex, Halo, Thief 2, Morrowind, StarCraft, or any other great games that come to my mind.
And it won't work on my fucking computer. It worked on that ailing piece of crap that my family owned for years and years, but it won't work on Dell's "high end computer" model. Even with the Windows XP bug fix, it still crashes. I believe this to be the work of ninjas.
By the way, if you didn't believe Gabe and Tycho, Ninja Gaiden is really hard. My roommate has it burned onto his Xbox, and... It strikes you speechless to watch him play. It's disgusting how difficult the game is. (Hah! Ended a sentance in a preposition, and you can't stop me!) I think I'm going to pick it up this weekend...
Any of you guys want to come hang out some time? We'll be gearing up for the Lewis and Clark gaming olympics soon, and I know some of my friends will be getting their game on sooner or later.
At first, I thought it was a mean-spirited April Fool's joke. I mean, to get people's hopes up about having 1000 megabytes of storage space on a free web mail server, and google no less. But it must be true, because Google is on the verge of going public and why would they lie to the NY Times, Reuters, CNN, and the Associated Press? Such a ridiculous hijink could kill their stock on the open market, but if they are really serious about Gmail, then they are set to make a killing. Check out the various linked reports yourself.
I signed up for a Writer's Workshop in the Japanese gardens in a little over a week's time. It should be interesting; I'm supposed to bring writing materials and a small object that signifies my connection to nature. The workshop goes from nine to four, so we'll see if anything cool happens. Call (503) 223-1321 if you're interested in signing up.
Today I will research and write my Thesis prospectus (bleh, I hate prospectuses) and write my fourth and final essay on an element of short story writing. As of yet, I have no idea what the hell that paper will be about, but I'll figure something out. Then I get to start researching for another paper in my Modern European History class. Hooray! Research!
I will point out to certain individuals who do not use short paragraphs for their posts (you know who you are) how easy to read and organized my post appears. Notice the easily defined points I intended to make and how you can skip things you don't care about. Please follow suit, so that Andy and I can keep our eyesight, because not all of us where glasses... yet.
Death once asked me, "Would you do away with regret or disappointment?" My answer was self-doubt.
