Talking with the Turtle

[LaughingTurtle]

I've wanted to start up this thread again for a while now. After the prototype Reflection's massive success it was only a matter of time. But life just seems like one giant conspiracy set against you no matter what you're trying to do. Lately it's been crappy dial up and no phone service for some unknown reason for a few hours each day that have kept my online activities to a minimum. Thus only the more important things get done before I have to log off. It’s not too bad but it's still a major inconvenience and annoying.

I'm happy though in that I've been able to make good use of myself offline while I've been home (barring the week of pain due to the wisdom teeth) Organizing, cleaning, and painting have been among the list of miscellaneous stuff I've been doing to keep busy. It's too bad that I couldn't get a job this summer but hopefully I'll get one in the fall when they do massive on campus hiring at the bookstores for the fall textbook buying rush. Stupid bad economy and it’s shrinking job market. Not exactly the best time to be a college student and in need of employment.

Parent’s head off for their anniversary vacation to Canada for helo-hiking in a week. Dunno what I’m gonna do while their gone. Though when they get back I’ll be heading back down to the apt and the god send that is cable internet.

Back to the conspiracy thing…can’t remember if I posted it else where or at the old reflections – no matter since that’s going away soon, the root of all evil that has been causing the worlds problems are, yes you guess it – THE PENGUINS! These crafty flightless birds are the ones cooking up all the devious schemes and insidious plots that have led to everything that is wrong with the world now. If you can think up a conspiracy, there undoubtedly was a penguin behind it somewhere. I have yet to gain sufficient evidence on these slippery birds to go public but soon…oh so soon I shall have my revenge for everything they have done to me. I shall keep this thread up to date with my findings and data. Though I do have to be careful, they have somehow caught wind of my careful investigations and have set out forces to stop me. I can only hope that I stay one step ahead of them before disaster strikes.

LT OUT

[LaughingTurtle]

I am so weak and I'm so tired
It's hard for me to
Find enough strength to feed the fires
That fuel my ego
And consequently all my pride has all but died
Which leaves me
Down on my knees
Back to the place I
Should have started from

Been beat up
Been broken down
Nowhere but up
When you're facedown
On the ground
I'm in last place
If I place at all
But there's hope for this underdog !

Audio Adrenaline
Underdog

[LaughingTurtle]

argh stupid internet messenger tag...almost as bad as phone tag...you never seem to be around when I'm here yet you're around when I'm not...driving me crazy I tells yah.

[LaughingTurtle]

Yeah...been away from the board for the past few days. Longer still since I last posted here on my reflections thread...don't really know why, kind of felt stupid airing out my dirty laundry of trivial problems for all to see I guess. Yet it's therapeutic in a way so here I go again...

As to why I haven't been around recently....I lost my job at the bookstore on Friday so the weekend wasn't all that cheerful. Though it wasn't a surprise really, the job had begun as a temporary position but I like it so much and its hours were really flexible in regards to my class schedule so I had applied for a permanent position. Sadly so did many other temp people and so I ended up getting the short end of the stick. Sucks, but nothing I can do about it.

Still feel out of it, don't really know why. I want to head back home and visit my friends but circumstances - school - prevent me from doing so. Just need a pick-me-up…

*sigh*

[LaughingTurtle]

Well I'm starting to break this bummyness that's been biting me thx to many a hug and kind word :)

~also me baking a chocolate cake for myself and fellow roommates doesn't hurt either ;) ~

~looks at timer~

17min left....

curses!

~wills cake to cook faster~

[LaughingTurtle]

For Arch....

[LaughingTurtle]

*sigh* don't know what it is with Car accidents and people these days...


Well today I got ran into by a truck leaving school...feel ok, but my brand new civic isn't doing as well. Front on hit, but it was pretty slow. Having to do shitload of insurance crap and talking with parents. Only bright side is the guy admitted to full responsibility. Don't see why the victim's insurance has to go up as well....total BS if you ask me.


What a way to start the weekend. damn :furious: :(

[LaughingTurtle]

For Quirky :cool:

[LaughingTurtle]

Where to begin…well I’m too tired from driving to make up something nifty or cool so I guess I’ll just start at the beginning…

If memory serves me right, that was about a couple weeks ago, the 19th of December to be exact. Had taken my last few finals the day before, so I packed up the car and headed off back home. Spent a day there chilling, finally saw Return of the King, and found out that the very next day I’d be on the road for a family road trip. Started in Virginia, went north to Michigan, spent 2 days on grandmother’s farm, and then headed east to New York to see Grandfather on Long Island. Twas loads of fun as it took an hour and a half just to get over the George Washington Bridge. Had the family get together on Christmas and the next day the relatives and cousins took us into the city, Times Square mostly. Tired yet satisfied we journeyed back home to Virginia.

In all, 39 hours on the road. But good times were had and many memories made. Though, the fun didn’t stop there. During the past week spent at the ‘rents house I went to the newly opened Smithsonian Air and Space museum in Chantilly, VA. They have the space shuttle Enterprise, the SR-71, the Concord, and the Enola Gay just to name a few. Then on New Years had a party at long time friends place, and made merry with holiday “spirits” ;)

And now I find myself back here at the apartment once again. Miss my friends back home already but at least I knew I had some waiting for me here. I have two weeks til the next semester starts up again so I plan to catch up on avatar wars, the War, WTP and anything else that I put by the wayside for my absence.

Oh yeah, I have many pictures from my trip…though the majority of them are showing me so I won’t post them here, but IM or message me bout em. :cool:

[LaughingTurtle]

Moods have been up and down a lot for the past few weeks. I’ve been very – for lack of a better term – reflective as of late. After mentally beating myself up and talking with friends I’ve come to the decision that I need a change. Change of direction, perspective, whatever one wants to call it, things can no longer stay the same if I want to end this vicious cycle.

Have been thinking about the past too much as well; past decisions, choices, and paths. Doubting and second guessing stuff that I should just leave well enough alone as there’s nothing I can do about it. And as much as I wish some things weren’t so, they are facts of life that I’m just going to have to get used to.

I keep on being told that I’m young yet, with a whole life ahead of me, plenty of time for decisions; this and that – and while my brain understands this my heart can’t comprehend it. Certain opportunities loom ahead and time seems to be pressing against me, no matter what they say.

I don’t know if I have it in me to do what is necessary for the change, if not I’ll just have to continue on as before and learn to live with it, but then again as they say a journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step…I’ll just have to take it one thing at a time.

Sorry for the sob story, after reading it myself it seems pretty whiny but then, I guess if I put it down somewhere it will give me that much more incentive to take that first step, and continue onward after that.

[LaughingTurtle]

Fah, I can’t seem to win these days. I got a call last night round 10:30pm from a guy affiliated with my university and summer internship programs. He told me that through various sources my name had come up as a possible candidate for their company’s financial summer internship at Southwestern Company and requested that I meet the next day with him to learn about details and possible hiring’s.

Well naturally, me being unemployed and looking for just this thing…a summer internship in a field related to business – that even paid handsomely, was like opportunity bashing down my front door. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth I accepted with my hopes held high of a possible employment.

I went to the two hour meeting with 4 other possible candidates only to learn (to my horror) that the particular financial internship (if one could even call it that) was no more than a door to door textbook salesmen. Yeah sure you could make $8000 a summer (you just have to work 80 hour weeks) Yes you gain valuable work experience (if you consider getting rejected 27 times out of 30 valuable experience). And you even get to travel…ah yes, they mentioned at the end that we wouldn’t be working in and around our area…hell not even in the same state; no we would be shipped out to the mid-west and have to pay out of pocket to live with some family while we sold the books. Yeeeah.

Needless to say I politely declined and sucked up my lost 2 hours of life that I shall never gain back again and went to my next class sorely depressed at the cruelty of false advertising.

*sigh* what a long day. And I’m still sick :grumbles:

[LaughingTurtle]

Hrm...well still have many a trouble and problem laying around but this past weekend I was determined to put them all aside for at least a little while and have a grand old time. How might you ask did I accomplish this task? Why with lots of snow, a tube, and a big ass hill.

I went with the roommates to a skiing/winter resort called Winterplace in West Virginia. Took only a few hours to get there and spent $18 for a pass 5-10pm and had a hell of a time. Now, you might say - "tubing? That’s for little kids who can't snowboard or ski” You couldn't be any more wrong. Not only is this the winter activity for those on a budget *cough*collegestudents*cough* (ski rental/equipment/lift pass = $50+) it requires no effort (more on that later) and no skill! So there’s no having to go through boring instructions or lessons....or hassles with equipment rental. No sir, this is the Sport of Slackers(TM)!

You buy your pass, get in line, and then when a tube is available, you grab that sucker and go over to the "lift" (pic 2) This ingenious device is the thing which all school children yearn for on those blissful snow canceled school days where the only hindrance to one’s happiness is having to climb back up the hill after sledding down. You hook your tube to the pulley and in second’s your whisked to the top with nary a finger lifted (though due to the power of the pulley you may at times have to hold on ;) )

There you’re confronted with not 1, not 2, but more than a dozen of possible channels to ride screaming down. Now…a word to the wise, as time went on, the tubes got increasingly faster and faster. This was due to the tracks getting worn down to the ice underneath in spots from all the traffic and also with the temperatures dropping. Needless to say, I learned this lesson the hard way as I was going down the track backwards (on purpose mind you) and didn’t know exactly when the end of the track was approaching so when I did finally see it, I was already past it and flew off the track, off the walkway at the end of the runs and into a gigantic net set up for just such occurrences. Said net prevents runaway tubes from continuing down the mountains slope which would be a very nasty thing. Not exactly the most dignified of acts but it was great fun as the net was quite bouncy and the whole airborne experience was quite thrilling – but one I don’t relish repeating.

Anywho, got some pics so enjoy.

Pic 1 (from the parking lot)
Pic 2 (Lift / pully machine)
Pic 3 (Track)
Pic 4 (More track)

[LaughingTurtle]

Pictures from Mouse hunt in Rant Thread

02 - In hallway looking at 2nd blockcade to my rooms entrance
03 - Looking other way down hallway into living room
01 - Helm's Deep Wall in my room that leads to the locked furnace door
04 - More into living room, NOTE: pool table has been that mess for a week, due to some renovations of apt, not mouse hunt

[LaughingTurtle]

Mouse Hunt Pictures Con't

05 – In living room, note one couch with all cushins taken off, that’s the one that had the mouse in it
06 – In roommate’s room, the one mattress in the corner is where we had the mouse cornered the first time
07 – The cardboard box / ducktape wall
08 – Other side of mattress

[LaughingTurtle]

Last of Mouse Hunt Pictures

09 – Looking other way at mouse pen, he was hiding under the desk
10 – Mouse in box, note crudely drawn cheese next to “Owned”
11 – Close up of Squeaky
12 – Me releasing Squeaky, dunno why the crazy smoke appeared, there was none that we saw…(in another pic that we took that I’m not putting up you can seen the “ghosts” better)

[LaughingTurtle]

Well it’s been sorta hectic this past week. What with three exams and a project going on in school and being sick. You know, that’s one of the evil aspects of school, not the work and studying (which in their own rights are evil enough) but the ease in which a school’s atmosphere facilitates the spread of sickness. Everyone’s been through it and knows what I’m talking about. It starts with flu or cold season and one or two people will inadvertently catch it. Slowly but surely by just being in close proximity to them it will spread like wildfire throughout the class, the dorms, eventually the entire university.

Like it or not you’re going to get sick at some point in time, to some degree. For those with strong immune systems it may be just a stuffy nose or a strong need for more sleep than usual. But then the poor souls who, living the collage lifestyle and getting around 3-4 hours a sleep a night will get reamed by the dastardly germs who wreck havoc on the badly treated immune system. For me, it was pretty mild until Friday night when the full blown headache, coughing, stuffy nose reared their ugly heads.

Yet last night was a special night. Special in the fact that me and the roommates were going out to the local steakhouse for some DE-licious hearty cut sirloin, something which on a college budget comes once in a blue moon. This particular blue moon came about due to my brother having to fast for the rest of the weekend and take some horrible chemicals that would in effect – clean him out. So he was determined to savor his last meal. The reason behind this is he has to go to the hospital on Monday to take some tests involving having a camera stuck down his throat. Nothing serious as of yet, just some odd chest pains that earlier testing had come up inconclusive.

So anyway, no aliment was going to keep me from being with em, enjoying the juicy, mouth-watering delicacy. One of the funnier aspects of the night was when my one roommate ordered himself an express ticket to margaritavile. He asked for one of those 18oz. watermelon margaritas and man was it big. Anyway, the rim of the glass was coated with sugar and for some odd reason the boy could not keep himself from licking the sugar. He had turned into an alcoholic hummingbird. Eventually when the sugar on the sides had been all used up, he reached for the packets of sugar and sweetener on the table and poured some in. He then made some comments to the effect of wanting steak to come in margarita form but thankfully he eventually dropped that.

But yeah, fast forward to today…been cleaning up the apt cause parents are dropping by tomorrow cause of the whole hospital thing. Was so nice out even finally got the chance to wash the o’ so dirty cars.

Well spring break comes up in one week, can’t wait for that. Dunno exactly what I’m going to do, but have plenty of time to come up with something before then…

[LaughingTurtle]

Well survived visit from the ‘rents, good to see em as usual even with the occasional nagging on getting a job and various other to do’s. Dunno what the test results for my bro’s hospital visit yet. Well, I did my taxes while they were here as mom is all knowledgeable on said topic. Boy did I get the shaft this year though. I only worked at a temporary job at the bookstore when they hired extra help. Well I definitely didn’t make enough to get into a tax bracket high enough to have to pay anything…buuuut I had to cash in a lot of savings bonds to get money for rent/tuition/etc and it was enough that I had to pay bucko taxes on that (well bucko by my standards of poverty) Fah I say, my money, I needs it, my preciousss! Anyway that was federal…on state I got a massive refund of a whole $2!! I can now go out to 7-11 and buy the largest size slurpee with change to spare :dozey:

Bah…relationships with friends back home are getting rough as I feel I’m losing touch with them. It’s sad really. People I’ve known for over eight years are drifting apart because of distance. At least I will be able to see them again during spring break hopefully. But who knows the next time will be after that. One will be just entering Marine boot camp, and another one is a Lance Corporal who will be gone during the summer for more training somewhere else. Fah three of my really good friends so far are in the marines, hopefully the disease isn’t spreading….


EDIT: oh yeah will be declaring my major tomorrow hopefully from Business undecided to Business Management.....hope it will be good....*sigh*

[LaughingTurtle]

Thought it high time to update the ‘ol thread and since I’m in transition from doing school stuff to quasi relaxing might as well do it now.

Well for the past week and a half I’ve been living under the evil influence of the sinister black box known as playstation, religiously killing monsters and leveling my wacky warriors in Final Fantasy X. Now this isn’t my first time playing an RPG but it’s the first time I’ve played any FF game. I wanted to start with VII but the roommate lost it somewhere and can’t find it…yet. During the course of my gaming, I’ve thought many a time about the ways in which I would hurt the one who thought up 0 seconds for chocobo racing or dodging 200 lightning strikes. Anywho, as Mes can attest even with the cheating blitzball or the maddening mini-games its allure is irresistible and thus I’ve found myself returning to the living room time after time, flicking the switch, grasping the controller, and then magically loosing untold hours of my life to the vile black box.

Sadly it’s come back to bite me in the ass. Had to study my ass off in preparation for an exam today. Also had to finish a project for tomorrow and now have to study for another exam that is likewise tomorrow. Yet the attraction still tugs at me, yearning to be released.

I’m sort of looking towards Friday and then sort of not. I have a four hour wilderness firefighting lab where we’re going to have to go out and create fire lines = digging/scrapping/clearing god knows how much ground with pulaski’s, fire rakes, shovels, etc and do other drills. That’s the bad part. The good part is (if) the weather permit’s we’ll get to set the fire for a controlled burn and then play with the fire engine. The professor regretted that due to budget cuts he couldn’t convince the governor to let us get a chopper out for an air water drop, though we’re still going to have to practice air drop drills. bah

Hrm, also this past weekend we discovered yet another mouse. But this time we found out his secret batcave entrance into the apt. The furnace door room through which he initially gained entry is still ducktaped at the bottom. ;) After spotting him in the kitchen we pulled out the stove and low and behold there’s not an outlet behind (electric stove) but a mouse sized hole with a power cord snaking through. Busing out some metal, a nail gun, and more ducktape I made sure the only thing getting through now is the cord, and that just barely. Hopefully this will be the last we see of Mr. Mouse and his extended family but I know it’s a futile wish.

On a last more somber note, I just recently learned that the friend I’ve known longer than any other who joined the marines will most likely have to go to Iraq soon. He originally was scheduled to only continue his training this summer but they have now put him on an accelerated pace to where he will still train and then ship out at in Sept. To make matters worst was learning this not from him but from another friend. I haven’t asked him about it at the request of the other friend but it bothers me why he hasn’t said anything. Fah

[LaughingTurtle]

God, I ache in places I didn’t even know I had. Had my wilderness firefighting prescribed burn lab today. We went out at 1pm, checked out hard hats, readied gear and then drove out to a pretty isolated group of hilltops. Once there in the boonies we were split up into squads with different assigned tasks and got briefed on conditions. Now these hilltops comprise of little over an acre and are covered in three feet tall grasses and lots…and lots…and lots of thorn bushes, briars. Our ultimate goal was to create fire lines – at least 2 feet of bare dirt perimeter around said hilltops. Using fire rakes, pulaski’s and a chain saw we did the arduous task of making about 80 chains (chain = fire line 66 feet long)

With a total of slightly over fifty people it took until 4 o’clock to get it finished. Bah, worst part of the job. But then…oh yes, then we got to light it. Using drip torches (cans of a diesel and gasoline mixture with a burning wick) we set the fire in lines. Three people went across the field in a staggered step so as to not trap someone between your flames and the main fire. It was so much fun walking alone with twenty foot flames on my right, carrying the drip torch, and another person dripping to my left. Well, fun until I had to jump through a briar patch. They rotated who was using the drip torches because they only had so many, and the other people were set along the fire line to watch the green – part on the side opposite to the fire to make sure that there are no fire spotting from carried embers. Well, this got pretty crazy for as the fire passed your position, the entire world went gray for about 2 minutes from the smoke, your eyes teared, you could barely breath, and you could feel the searing heat on your back.

Once all the burning was done we then had to do the dirty job of mop up til 6:30. Putting out smoldering piles and raking around the ash. Some of the highest flame lengths got to around 40 feet and all the smoke at points blotted out the sun over us. I would do this again in a heartbeat, though I’d prolly want to get in better shape as I’m tired now.

I can say this though…best school lab ever. :D

[LaughingTurtle]

Hrm, deicded to add some color to my post, so here are some examples of what I was talking about (note: These pics are just examples, not taken by me or of today's events)

Pic 1 - Fire line...yup everyone in a line digging, cutting, etc, sorta like a chain gang :D Easy in this pic cause it's sandy, was much harder for us in dirt and soil.

Pic 2 - Dude with a pulaski (half ax, half hoe)

Pic 3 - Drip Torch (lots of fun :) )

[LaughingTurtle]

Woo, had first BBQ of the year! There's just something about slapping some hamburgers and hotdogs over charcoal that screams of spring and of the impending summer. What was great was we did it over near the duckpond at our apt complex, which meant some great scenery to enjoy whilst we ate and played.

The roommates, a couple of other friends and I all celebrated this momentous time of the year with some good old fashion traditions. After consuming copious amounts of food and drink – though I don’t know if we could rightfully call the veggie burgers one of em brought as food, but I digress…we went over and fed some leftover buns to the wacky ducks. I don’t know why but ducks are just so crazy. It’s hard to explain, something more you have to see to understand esp with that waddle and all.

With the watching of the ducks over we grabbed a Frisbee and lacross sticks and played around til past dark. Later, back at the apt we played some pool, watched some Chappelle show and then sadly had to retire to the drudgery of getting ready for school tomorrow, mine being study for an oh so fun finance exam (and of course checking the quill).

One of those days that you wish was the summer so that you could repeat it over and over again and yet merely a tease for hopefully what’s in store for the future.

[LaughingTurtle]

Seems there are two kinds of reflection posting people…those who are the Brains - with all their ponderings and musings on thinky stuff and then there’re the Pinky’s who talk about silly stuff and plain old day to day activities.

I’m definitely a Pinky. I like to tell it how it is, and if possible make it funny or interesting. Now it may not lead to taking over the world anytime in the near future but then, that’s what the Brain’s are for...riding on their coattails whilst providing comedy relief! Now I don’t go Narf, I prolly could but then Fah or meh suffices just as nice :D

Well anywho, had my job interview today. It’s for a managerial internship with Wal-Mart – now before you go all crazy with the Wal-Mart hating, hear me out. True, it’s gotten a bad rep in the past with censorship and certain shady employment practices but then it’s the world’s largest retailer, so that paints a pretty big target – no reference or affiliation to Target brand stores ;) - on it. The Mart is the college student’s best friend…open 24/7, has practically everything you need and best of all, it’s cheap.

Back to the interview, it went pretty well, I’m hopeful. The internship would net good pay, and gives priceless job experience. That and if I don’t want to have to visit home without a job…one of those “or else” bits with the 'rents. It’s not too hard to get a job for just the money, waiter or lifeguard type thing, but I’m trying to get something that will help my future career goals into management and the like which is a tad bit more difficult.

I found out for sure from my one friend in the marines on his leaving for more training directly after school ends. After that at the end of summer he’s headed for Iraq. Luckily there’s one weekend from when finals end to when he ships out so all things permitting we’re going to have one massive party to end all party’s. :cool:

Well back to the grind….

[LaughingTurtle]

Ok...so I'm bored, finished with whatever crap I have to do at the moment and my one roommate starts talking to me about this online game he and a bunch of people from our university have been playing. Well for those of you who played NukeZone with me, it's sorta like that. Text based, you get turns and money every so often, you build up armies and then you go around burning and pillaging other people’s armies. Anyway, since I know a bunch of the people who's in his clan and I had nothing better to do I thought "hey what the hell, why not" I'll join the cause!

Problem is, I learned it's slightly different from Nukezone in that it is one of those where you need people to click on a certain link to gain stuff. Normally I hate those kind of games...I downright abhor them with a passion that runs all the way to the very marrow in the bones of my body. Though I have to admit it was mostly because stupid people would try to trick people into clinking on them. Yet for some odd reason I found myself giving in to the peer pressure of wanting to help my friends crush anyone and everyone in this virtual universe. I mean it was like a frigg'n "I Want YOU to be in my army" poster hanging right before me, how could I say? So with one last thought to my once high moral standards I signed up.

With my newfound dwarven army consisting of a mighty 2 warriors I knew that I would be very little help to my friends. Thus, with a heavy heart I shall post my link here. At least I can console myself that I am not trying to trick anyone into clicking it nor randomly posting it on some main thread in a message board, merely my little cozy corner.

So if you want to help my vertically challenged, drunken, axe wielding warriors smite their enemies, please click on this link. http://www.kingsofchaos.com/recruit.php?uniqid=8683fk9m
Just read the number that’s spelt out and click on the corresponding numbered button. That’s all. I feel dirty already.

EDIT: I know I'm pushing my luck but if you're bored too and want to actually do more than just click a link and actually join in on the fun, PM and I'll let you know what you need to do to join up with our clan

[LaughingTurtle]

Hrm, got some interesting replies from my before-my-last-reflections post, as in the pinkie and the brain one. Heh, for the person who asked…you’re definitely a pinkie, though once in a while you do display brainish tendencies, but definitely a pinkie ;)

I’m happy with the increase in days with good weather. I have myself down with a nice little activity schedule, biking/hiking every other day and free weights in between. The weekend went nicely with being treated for steak dinner in payback for a favor by one of my roommates, then going out to see Kill Bill 2 on Friday. Once again I promise to make a post in the movie review thread on it and Hellboy, yet see it getting put on the back burner ~sheepish look~ Saved the Punisher for next week. Then on Sat, BBQ on campus at the duckpond. Saw numerous turtles, even one that got knocked off his sunning rock in the middle of the pond by an ornery female duck fah :p

Still addicted to FF X-2 ~shakes fist at Mes~

No feedback on interview as of yet *sigh* ~the job search goes on…~

[LaughingTurtle]

Was ok the night before....but woke up today and wammo felt so bad, I just rolled over and went back to sleep. Got up a little later for lunch, though I wasn't really hungry. Took some medicine and been drinking a crap load of water which makes me have to commune with nature every five minutes it seems. Yet I still felt so miserable. Slept some more. Been in sort of a dazed icky feeling state all day.

Just now I watched a pretty neat, new anime movie called "Wonderful Days" to take my mind off my pounding head and stuffy nose. While the story is in typical anime fashion of being weird, not too well explained, and in the end sorta crazy - the animation and visuals on the other hand were pure cinematic gold. Rather than stick to a single style of drawn, or computer generated anime, they meshed the two together. I know other animes have attempted this before, but it usually results in a chunky, mix match that jars the eye. Wonderful Days on the other hand is seamless and manages to pull off the effect quite well.

Here’s to feeling better tomorrow…

[LaughingTurtle]

Well good news and bad news…

Bad news, I’ve given up on my search to get an internship or higher level job type thing for the summer.

The good news, I just got hired at a regular Joe Smoe job. Starting round May 17th, I’ll be pimping out the electronics department at Wal-Mart. Pays meh, but it’ll be full time so I should hopefully rake in some decent dough by the time NO’s comes round, along with money for rent/school/food, etc in the coming semester.

Not exactly what I wanted, but I’ll take it, as money’s money, and I needs my money!

[LaughingTurtle]

What a day, what a day. Started out as another typical crap session, moving around TV’s getting bitched at by customers, up until 4 when one of my co-worker’s mother had a stroke so they had to leave. I totally understand that, but even so it left us short handed. So we were down to three people in the department, which soon turned into two when one of us had to go cover sporting goods. Yet we usually get yelled at by the management for only having 2 people in the dept, even though they continue to take people from us. So it ended up with just me and another guy not being able to take our last breaks because we didn’t want to leave just one of us with it being so busy.

Then there was the guy who called in wanting one of our 51” HDTV’s, said he was going to be there soon to buy it. So naturally we went to the back to grab it to be ready for him because it takes a while. This is because the genius who runs things made it so that all the big screen TV’s are on the highest rack, 30’ up, so you have to get a forklift to get em down. Problem is they were unloading a truck at the time so the back is packed with freight. A big effort was made to move stuff around so we could get a lift to where the TV was. We brought it out and waited…and waited…and waited. The bastard never did come.

Then there was the retarded thief. Guy grabbed our display model of one of our dvd players. He also had a box of the same model in his cart and some pillows. (He was going to put the display model in the box and the try to return it for some ‘easy money’) I ask him if he needs any help. He mumbles about some new movie release, I then inquire about the display model in his cart and how we don’t sell em. He bullshits some and then grabs the pillows and leaves for the checkouts saying he just wants to buy those. I quickly bring back the box and model to my dept and then grab a manager. Turns out that there was just some extension cords in the box. I search for the dumbass and find him at the other end of the story. Heh, I tell him that we found another model of the DVD play that he wanted so if he would just come back to electronics we’d give it to him. I radio back to my dept to get a manager. They come and proceed to chew the guy out and tell him to get the hell out of the store and never come back. End result…I save the company a hundred bucks and get a “good job” pin in return, bah.

Then there was the moron lady who comes at 10:30pm – photolab closes at 10 and bitches when we can’t find her pictures that she “oh so needs” for 5ish the next morning. We working in electronics only know one place where the photolab people put the finished pictures. If yours aren’t there, we can’t help you beyond that. We try to explain this to her but she’s making a scene so we try to get the overnight manager to come explain this – only have one at night but he’s nowhere to be found. Said customer leaves in a huff. (later see as I’m leaving for the night a police car come racing, lights flashing to the front of the store…most likely why manager couldn’t be reached)

Well at least my day wasn’t boring…

[LaughingTurtle]

Yeah haven’t posted too much lately it seems. Either I’m too tired or just not enough time. Not really too much going on though besides work. I did finally get my Red Card in the mail. Fully certified now so that if I so wished I could go out and become a wilderness forest fighter. Heh, two bad days at Walmart…just gimmie two bad days and I’m gone baby ;) Head out west, fight fires, meet some Cali quillers…not a bad idea hehe.

So….today on my lovely, luxurious, oh so wonderful day off I got to do the laundry, clean the apartment and balancing my checkbook – Waves to diminishing paycheck from rent payments.

At last I got Final Fantasy VII for the PC to see what an awesome game it is that everyone still gets so hyped about and all it does is crash after a few minutes. Apparently there’s some conflict with it running on XP. Not a single used game store carries it for PS2 (who would return such a good game?) and it won’t work on my computer, even with patches, curses. That and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic won’t work on my computer because the video card is too OLD. I can’t win with technology. :(

Still need to work on avatar wars and get a war post around……eventually…

[LaughingTurtle]

Hrm, have not posted here in a good long considering my threads about to be bumped off the first page. Time then now for some recent events, thoughts, musings…

I had my very first speech in my public speaking course today. Can’t remember the last time my hands shook so much or felt so nervous, jeez. I have been dreading this stupid course ever since I discovered I had to take it as a requirement for graduation. ~shakes fist at school of business~ But I think I did really well and will find out the official results next class on Friday. Luckily since this was the first one they were grading more on effort than from the rubric, which I might add is quite scary in itself. If you’re really feeling masochistic (satan ;) ) or just bored I’ll post up the speech or PM it to yah. In addition, all the other speeches are going to be videotaped for quality control issues (grade disputes or ability to point out places to improve)

Hehe, who knows I’ll probably have a few speeches on the tape by the time NO’s rolls around so we can all get liquored up and laugh at my silliness. Speaking of which I need to come up with a topic for my next three speeches…fah!

Excerpty goodness from speech

I soon learned though, that customers were but one of many hurdles that I was to surmount in my quest to earn a simple buck over the summer. In a scene straight out of the movie Office Space I found myself wearing little pieces of flair – stupid little buttons and pins, and having to work under multiple incompetent managers.

Then of course one of my best friends has been in Iraq for about a week now. Sorta puts a new spin on this when someone you know is over there and it’s not all just faceless numbers. At least he says they’ve only received sparse mortar fire and nothing heavy. He’s been mostly just getting used to the weather and time difference. Well I wish him the best of luck.

Hrm…can’t really think of any musings. Well I have wanted to add another smilie ever since the success of the monocle one I got. Hrmm, well let’s just say James will like it ;) To promote it don't be surprised to get rep with it in the near future. If it's not received well I'll just take it back down as stealthily...

[LaughingTurtle]

Hrm well this is what I did today - PAINTBALL! Loads of fun can't wait to do it again. Killed a few people, got killed a few times (with the welts to prove it :broken: ) Was about twenty or so people. Here's a few pics for the hell of it.

Me in my gear

Paintball cannon, it was the objective of the last match. It was placed in the middle with both teams trying to reach it. Whoever fired it at the opposing teams fort and hit it, won. Heh thing shots more than 50 paintballs at once, so you do not want to be on the receiving end.

Blue Team. I’m the one with his gun in the air. The one to my left in the same camo is my bro King Albert. The structure we’re next to is our fort.

A shot of part of the playing field. The structure on the far left behind the running person is the other fort.

Shot of me and KA inside our fort reloading.

(pics taken before and after matches)

[LaughingTurtle]

Ugh, it hasn’t really been a pleasant few weeks. I haven’t written much here in a long time but I thought it best to put up why I haven’t been around the site much and been sort of behind in my er…duties. The duties being getting the war restarted, avatar wars, arch's play post deal and whatnot.

For starters, I’m still quite sick from two Sunday’s ago, and the parents think it’s walking pneumonia - joy. I would make a doctor’s appointment if I had the luxury of time. Just this week I have an accounting project due, my final speech to write and give and a twenty minute marketing presentation. I may be a slacker but even I wouldn’t put off doing all this in one week. In their infinite wisdom my professors believed that students are living in world where only their single class exists and as such assigned all this fun work at the beginning of this week thinking we’ll have plenty of time to finish it all.

But the fun doesn’t stop there; it being the end of the semester starting next week are final exams. So not only do I have assigned work but studying as well. Add to that my brothers graduation in about two weeks. But hey that’s not so bad, once finals are over it’s not like I won’t have to find new roommates for next semester and next year…oh wait I will, gah.

Needless to say things are quite stressful at the moment. Though I shall still endeavor to get in what quillage I can...

[LaughingTurtle]

Man, my memories of last night are pretty hazy. I got the drunkest I have ever been in my entire life. It all started out innocent enough, well relatively speaking. Once the game ended people started pouring out of their apartments and began partying. Some people set off fireworks (did a few myself) and then there was a big bonfire right in the middle of someone’s yard. Students were just grabbing any nearby wood (including engineering projects heh), pulling branches off of the trees and tossing it in. Cars driving by did burn outs and it was all around crazy. Police and firemen soon showed up, even the news truck did as well. But then an hour or so after it was broken up and the authorities gone, people came back out and started it up again heh.

Well needless to say after that little fun me and the roommates and some other friends drove out for supplies, namely the ABC store ;) After having a delicious breakfast for dinner meal the drinking began and the memories start to get shaky. All I can say for sure is that the pimp hat was involved; there were flaming ping pong balls, lots of drinking games and lastly some bowing to the wastebasket gods.

Worry not, where memories fail, technology comes in to save the day. My non drinking brother made sure to document said fun with his new digital camera so there shall be pictures and videos soon. Some highlights will be people fleeing the bonfire when the cops show up, girls attacking other girls with a fire extinguisher, me posing as Captain Morgan! complete with umbrella sword (wish I had grabbed a towel or something for a cape) and whatever other stuff he got during the party that I was unaware of.. :broken:

[LaughingTurtle]

Greetings and salutations my readers, you are all in for a real “treat” as I shall now once again regale you of a less than quasi entertaining tale involving delving into the depths of my inner psyche. Delighted you are no doubt, but you did click the link so you might as well read on and not entirely waste the effort it took to press down on your mouse button.

I have come to the rather epiphanic realization that not only can I make up neat sounding words but also that I have a somewhat love-hate relationship with holidays. Naturally I will be speaking in regards to our most recent of holidays, Christmas, so to those of you who don’t celebrate it, Merry Chrismahanika or whatever the hell that annoying abomination of a commercial spouted. Irregardless, I digress. I reached this conclusion whilst I was in the midst of my shower. As you would expect, all the best thinking is done in the bathroom and I am no exception. It was merely two days past Christmas and I was experiencing the hallow sensation of the holiday slump. That period following the festivities in which all the candied ham had long since been eaten, the scraps of wrapping paper banished to the realms trash cans, and yet the various holiday decorations still lingered to silently mock me throughout the house.

The sweet anticipation of “the” day that had so recently gripped me, the incessant playing of carols, the cliché of holiday cheer; they were all just…gone. You find yourself going “Well shoot, only 364 more days til Christmas.” But then, I guess that’s what makes it all so special, so treasured. Sure to some it has become a mere faux holiday due to an overabundance of commercialization and merchandizing but that’s just an overall cynical view to me. Rather I don’t overvalue the material side of it all, though I cannot deny that I do enjoy that part, instead it’s the sense of stability. Out of all the craziness and unexpected turns in life I can always count on the Holiday season. People will put up Christmas trees, carols will be sung and I will enjoy it all with my family. In an attempt at not sounding too cheesy being with those I love is what is best about Christmas. So here and now almost two weeks after it all I’ve left home once again, back to the hallowed halls of learning and eventually the grind of the “real world” but thankfully I always know there will be Christmas.

…

Well enough babbling, if all that didn’t cause you to question your reasons for reading up to this point, the next part will either bore you to death with the actual “how was my vacation bit” or get you stalker/voyeuristic biddies to break out the popcorn. As usual meeting up with the family was all good and whatnot. My brother had his graduation from the prestigious Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, better known Virginia Tech. My grand day in a black gown and tassels, barring any strip club visits, shall be in yet another year.

T’was largely uneventful after that up until Christmas to tell the truth. I mean I could go on and on about the misadventures of me and Vincent Fox and my fight with the Walrus, coo-coo-ka-choo, but then you’d think I’m crazy. The X day came and went, I bagged some clothing (yay socks and underwear woo), a book, some various odds and ends and then my toy. Now, I don’t care who you are or how old one gets, you must always get a toy on Christmas…or it’s just not Christmas. I mean some people say the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys but in this case I’m talking about a bona fide toy toy.

He stands at around a regal foot and a half feet tall, is comprised mostly of metal, and is fully articulated. I am speaking of the one and only 20th anniversary Optimus Prime. Call me a sentimental sucker for nostalgia inducing memorabilia but hey, what can I say, Prime is badass. Not to even mention all his nifty accessories that would put Barbie to shame.

Hrm this got longer that I thought it would. Well, in the interest of keeping it under the post limit and my waning attention span I shall wrap it up here and may continue later.

[LaughingTurtle]

Nothing special tonight, just posting a great pic my roommate took when we were out wandering in the falling snow, round midnight...

[LaughingTurtle]

I'm sick and it sucks, especially with a big party lined up this weekend. Apartment all cleaned up (see first pic below), supplies stocked (see second pic below) and even got a hair cut (sorry no pic, yet :p )

Yes we did finally get rid of all our pizza boxes that we had been stockpiling for the past year and a half for no particular reason. Just would have loved to see the garbage peoples faces.

*cough* *sputter* *wheeze* *dies*

[LaughingTurtle]

Gah going crazy cause there’s a big job internship/Co-op fair on Tuesday and there’s a lot of pressure for me to get a job…or else. One that is paid being most ideal (read necessary) considering my bank account is umm almost all empty. :(

On the brighter side I have finally found two pretty good prospects for new roommates. One is contingent on me being able to have 3 total people so the rent is manageable and the other I’m going to meet with tomorrow. Just need to get this finalized before the end of March and I’m golden. :)

Lastly, been playing around in photoshop with vector tracing. Which is nothing more than utilizing the pen tool and path selection a lot to make crappy source images look better. Here is my current project (along with the original) that has taken about a week, though only because I can only work a few minutes at a time being constantly sidetracked with anything and everything hehe. Having trouble with the beard, meh. Oh well…

Edit: Yeah I know it's anime but it's a very good medium to practice with. If it turns out well I'll take submissions of any pics though might take a while hehe.

[LaughingTurtle]

Heh for the hell of it I went and made an animation of my progess on how I made the image. Enjoy!

[LaughingTurtle]

Well this is shaping up to be a craptacular week. Possible roommate who I was suppose to meet with yesterday never showed up :mad: Went to a career fair today and found out I’m unemployable. Out of the 110 or so employers that came, I had only a list of 15 or so hiring in my major and half of those didn’t even want management majors it turns out. Damn it all, if you’re not going to hire business management majors don’t put that down in your info sections you asses. So much wasted time.

Then for the ones that were hiring in my major some of them I wasn’t good enough for (Shitty catch 22, how am I suppose to have experience on my resume if I can’t GET experience as an intern) Others didn’t even have any openings currently…gee thanks for coming. So out of all those employers I found a maybe…a maybe…as in “Email me during spring break (when I’m back home where they have more offices) and we’ll get the ball rolling then, here’s my card.”

Did I pick the wrong major? Have I wasted my time at college? There’s no way I’m going back to Wal-Mart, yet the bills may force me otherwise, gah. I know, I know, cheer up, keep at it, you’ll find something bullshit. It just galls me when both my current roommates are perfect success stories, both getting top dollar big jobs during college. Being constantly reminded that you’re a failure really sucks.

All I need now is for someone to kick me in the balls and all my week shall be complete. :(

[LaughingTurtle]

First off, thanks to those of you who sent me much needed encouragement and sympathies, even if they largely did consist of ball kicking. :p

Persistence pays off they say and as such I’m just going to have to keep at it and hope for the best. I guess my fear isn’t so much that I won’t get a job, the past already shows I can, rather the kind of job is what I’m afraid of, which could dictate my future career path. There is just so much pressure to fall into a certain niche in society and when you don’t know what yours is you feel all crazy. Meh, fear of the unknown is nothing new though that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

On the brighter silver lining side of things I’ve noticed a nice trend lately in people who have responded to my ads for roommates. So far there have been three female requests and two male. Figures that only one of the guys is good for it yet…though have yet another appointment with one of the girls, where hopefully I won’t be stood up again like last time. Spring break is also a mere week away. I don’t know what I’ll do yet but a week of no school is still a positive thing no matter how you swing it heh.

Sort of amusing…we cooked a turkey tonight for dinner and it wasn’t until we started carving it, finding it vastly difficult to cut through (turned out to be rib cage), when we discovered that we had put it in upside down. Surprisingly this unexpected turn of events actually worked out in our favor since the meatiest parts had been submerged in the highly flavorful juices the entire time rather than drying out on top. Thus the recipe for upside-down turkey was born…and it was good. :)

[LaughingTurtle]

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one,
The little one stops to suck his thumb
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

[LaughingTurtle]

Well since people seem to enjoy me posting up pics here are some from two weeks ago when we got a big snowstorm. Drove up to mountain lake to do some offroading in the foot of snow and look at the stars 4000ft up :cool:

Pics 1-3 are long exposured pics of driving up the mountain (hence the blur of the road yet clear car hood as it was stationary in the picture)

Pic 4 is of the sky, you can clearly see Orion (see his belt)

Pic 5 is of my roommates car, the Subaru WRX STI :D

[LaughingTurtle]

(continued)

Pic 6 is another long exposure so you can see the lights but no car (doing doughnuts hehe)

Pic 7 is on the mountain trail

Pic 8 is what it looks like from the inside

Pic 9 is looking at the lights of towns on the hills across the valley


Soon...pics of me and friends Frisbee Golfing! ;)

[LaughingTurtle]

Hrm forgot all about having these. Well better late than never hehe. Pics of me and my roommate doing frisbee golf at Golden Hills in Christiansburg, VA

[LaughingTurtle]

Continued...

[LaughingTurtle]

Gah busy, busy, busy. Course selection for fall semester, exams, presentations and still no luck with the whole roommate situation, I’m currently waiting on two offers, have two meetings set up with other people, and too many people to count who haven’t replied or refused. Time is running out and I really hope I don’t have to move into a single bedroom place cause the cost skyrockets from having roommates, which with my financial situation would not be possible.

I have a job fair to go to tomorrow. Considering the last one I’m not overly optimistic like I was but I have to do it. I feel like I’m caught between a rock and a hard place. I need a job to get money for bills and to go to quillfest but if I get a job with the date of quillfest it would be right smack dab in the middle of the employment which would make it impossible to go the whole week. Which then means I couldn’t drive with the NY crew, which means flying up which means even less time being there for the dough being put out. I need a job yet I need Quillfest heh. One step at a time I guess.

I need to win the lottery, forever.

[LaughingTurtle]

Might have new roommates on a lease by the end of the week...hopefully. :)

Coming down with sickness though :(

Have exams tomorrow and wed :(

But get new class ring tomorrow :)

Got bill for twice normal amount :(

Sleep soon :)

[LaughingTurtle]

I had this real long depressing post all thought out but decided against writing it. Felt too angst ridden even just in my mind and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone to have to read it. Needless to say times are tough and aren’t looking too good on the horizon. But I hold out some hope that I’ll eventually catch a break…eventually…

Though on an unrelated note, I am seriously contemplating, maybe, prolly, sorta shaving. As in the entire face, mustache and beard included. Has not been done, other than trimming, in years and I’m curious what it will look like. Will have to post pics of the result if I ever get around to it.

[LaughingTurtle]

Finally some good news to offset all the bad. Played tonight with my team in the University’s Ultimate Frisbee Tournament and we won our game! Better yet, I caught the game winning toss at the very end. :D So now the next game is on Thursday which is the playoffs. Side note, our team name is the Placemats which has to do with our a song by our captain’s band which I can’t post the lyrics here for certain reasons ;)

Also after the game went to a friends place for drinks and fun and he had a Chinchilla! If you don’t know what that is, ask mes and be prepared to get an earful on how great they are. Oh and I did shave...so yeah people keep on doing double takes and wondering if I really am who I am.

So just blissfully ignoring glaring bad problems for now and shall go to sleep happy :)

[LaughingTurtle]

Hrm time for an update. We made it to the semi-finals in the University’s Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. Though the team we lost to went on to win the championship, go figure :dozey: The only reason we lost was the stupid weather, playing into the wind is very, very bad with Frisbee – once we switched sides we scored 7 points. Heh one play a guy on our team was about thirty feet down the field, flung the Frisbee out and it soared way up and then backwards right in front of our goal line :cry:

Have been sending out resumes and filling out applications, yet no luck so far. Grr stupid job hunt. Cashed in all my CD’s (no not musical ones :p ) so shall have rent money for a few more months. Also still sick ~shakes fist at pollen~ Bah last bit of bad news, finals week is here along with papers to write :(

I really wish I could write better reflections posts. Things that sound cool and are all umm thinky like. Apoc is downright cryptic in his and I have to copy paste his stuff just to be able to read it; James is all over the place; and Lyle…Lyle makes my head hurt cause he’s like a combination of the two styles, so I smile and nod and vow to never go down that dark alley again even though I know I will later. I guess there is something to telling it how it is though at times it feels a tad bit dry. High fives Anita and NF for as the Master Ali G put’s it “Keep’n it real.” Mayhaps I should look up big words and astound people with my newfound incredible vernacular, which by the way is so incredible I don’t even think I phrased that right…

You know I don’t think Blockbuster really thought out their promotions all that well. Yah see my roommate picked up the unlimited rentals speal (two out at a time) for $15 a month and well it’s the 28th and I’d estimate that we’ve watched well over 20 movies hehe. So we have way over $100 of savings. Plus due to the fact that many times a lot of the more “popular” titles are checked out it has forced us to choose some more obscure/older titles which have led to a few gems. Ones like Rolling Kansas, Dazed and Confused, Ali G Indahouse, Where dah party at? just to name the first few to come to mind.

I liked my avatar but thought it could use some color, though I don’t know if it turned out well because it lost some of the detail in the process. Meh.

Lastly I shall leave you with another Ali G quote “A man more eviler than Skeletor.”

[LaughingTurtle]

Ok yeah, almost forgot to write about this. Sunday night, me and nine other amigos decided on a whim to go play ghosts in the graveyard at midnight. For those of you not familiar with the game it’s basically tag in the dark, sorta. Well cutting to the chase we got through about two games when a car pulled up to the parking lot and busted out it’s spotlight thus identifying it as none other than the police. Being the intelligent college students that we were, did we stick around to calmly explain ourselves? Hell naw, everyone split like the devil himself was at their heels. Apparently we weren’t suppose to be in the park after dark and could theoretically been charged with trespassing.

We all laid low for a few minutes but then once again like the scholars of stupidity that we were we went back to the game. The police naturally only circled around and came from the opposite parking lot and playing the spotlight game once again. There sure is no feeling like having the police chase you to get the adrenalin pumping. In my defense though they never identified themselves or gave any commands to halt. Stupid nonetheless, but ended up with no one getting arresting and now having a somewhat amusing story to tell.

Finals have started and I have one last paper to write. Filled out a few more applications and dropped off more résumés. Yet still nothing in reply, yet I remain diligent. An empty wallet is a very good motivator. I feel I need something a bit more insightful to go here but well tough luck.

Oh free cookie if you recognize this commercial saying “The COLORS”

Hint: arch should know it…

[LaughingTurtle]

So yeah, a big change occurred over the past few days; my brother moved out. The parents came down for the weekend and helped as we packed him all up. Now he’s living back at home while he works for the government in the area. I can’t really explain it all that well but I had gotten used to living with him for so long that now that he is gone it feels weird. There is this void. Sure we’ve had our ups and downs together but I’d consider our relationship to be a very close one. Sort of the ying to my yang, I looked up to him as a role model even when sometimes he made me go crazy.

It gets even worse as my other roommate is also moving out after graduation in a week so then I shall be all by my lonesome. Though luckily I do believe a few people I know will be staying in the area for the summer so it won’t be a total wash…hopefully. Sucks how my birthday falls only two weeks after school ends so most everyone is gone.

Two more finals for the semester still left to go, it’s crunch time. But then on Tuesday, looks to be the mother of all shindigs, the last hurrah before everyone parts ways, the coup de grace of the year! Then again, knowing these people on one hand its massive beer pong tournament party or on the other end of the spectrum could all just end up playing a rousing game of Cranium. (Though it is the turbo edition and drunken charades-like entertainment is quite amusing…)

No new info on any jobs, surprise, surprise there. Wish I had something more entertaining to write about but as for now, must get back to studying – or at least look like I am studying, heh.

[LaughingTurtle]

You know, I think it’s high time I got around to writing one of those thought provoking introspective reflection posts rather than my customary ‘dear diary’ laundry list of recent events. Yet some exposition is required to get the proper setting so please bear with me.

Here I am, sitting at my desk trying to organize the various odds and ends that I have been taking off the wall in preparation for my move. Move you might be wondering? Yes, my grand journey of less than two feet to the next bedroom over which was freshly vacated by my brother no more than a few days ago as detailed in my previous post. It so happens that being the older brother he inhabited the “master” bedroom, thus not only bigger but complete with a half bath and walk-in closet; putting my current abode to shame.

Though, it is a temporary stay at best. Once the summer is over I shall be leaving the entire apartment for good to start life with my new roommates a few blocks down the way. So really these packing/sorting/arrangements are merely to get ready for a larger move in the near future. At this point some of you are probably wondering when I’m actually going to be getting to the whole thought provoking bit, but fear not its arrival is just at hand. Now, I don’t claim to know what you all put up on your bedroom walls (well except for those people who I stalk ;) ), posters, pictures, flatscreen TV’s heh…but for me besides a few posters and pictures (sadly no flatscreen TV :( ) I have been collecting and creating a collage of my exploits and important events throughout my collegiate years.

Starting with simple football ticket stubs from all the games I’ve attended to newspapers clippings I’ve been apart of (sample headlines “Students raucous after Hokie football win” ;) and “Thousands protest university budge cuts”). It was quite a humbling experience to see how the past three years of my life which took in retrospect so long to accomplish could be boiled down and dismantled in mere minutes.

In today’s fast pace lifestyle where seconds are the yardstick to which millions measure the difference between success and failure it’s hard to just stop without feeling like the world is passing you by. This past semester I joined a local service organization called the Hometown Corps. They’re basically a catchall organization whose aid ranges from big stuff like building homes with Habitat for Humanity folks to small things like moving furniture for battered women or elderly people.

One experience that relates to all my jibber jabber about time and its increased swiftness through which the grains of sand are falling is when we had a project in this little town called Paint Bank.

One could traverse the county back and forth hundreds of times and still never behold the wonders and greatness that is the little town known as Paint Bank, Virginia. Tucked away in the mountains of southern Virginia, this former rail stop during the extensive mining operations back in the 1900’s has since taken a turn for the worse. When the mining stopped, the loss of jobs and capital took a major toll on the town’s fragile economy and the local residents descended into poverty. Today there is hope though, for recently entrepreneurs have started investing the in the small town. They have bought up large portions of land in and around the town and have begun developing the area by refurbishing old and building new lodges, general stores, and numerous other historic landmarks. This isn’t to mean that they are developing it with Wal-Marts and the like, rather the town is being reinvigorated while still preserving the same small town atmosphere. The Hometown Corps offered a helping hand in this case by landscaping and beatifying the downtown area.

Personally, I think the greatest experience was getting to see what real small town life was like. I never would have visited much less known about a place like Paint Bank in my normal life yet it had so much to offer. It is one of the few places left in the east coast of the United States that raises true Buffalo and Highlander and sells their meat at a local restaurant. In fact the majority of all the foods and goods down there were locally grown and raised. In addition, everyone we met there during the project had the old fashion southern hospitality air about them. It really made me wonder why such good people as these deserved the hand that fate had dealt them. But the bright spot was that things were improving albeit slowly.

Interestingly enough, our main contact for the project at Paint Bank turned out to be more than just the simple owner of the general store and lodge. She used to live in the city, was a successful businesswoman, and lived the fast paced life that the majority of people today are used to. Yet after discovering the quaint little town her entire outlook on life changed drastically. She gave up her vastly successful job, comfortable salary included, big house, and all the perks that went along with her old life for her new more grounded one. Since living there she has only eaten local foods, given up cell phones, deadlines, and as a result has lived a stress free life so far. She told us that her quality of life had improved one hundred percent. She even brought up the story of an elderly woman who had been living the so called normal life in suburbia yet suffered from a variety of health problems common to those of her age. Doctors didn’t think she was had many years left to live. Though as soon as she had begun living in Paint Bank for a while her cholesterol dropped, her arthritis disappeared, and her health improved to levels that even astounded her doctors. In today’s society of rushing around, combating time itself in order to get more things done in even less time we sometimes lose sight of the consequences this lifestyle has on our body’s and our minds. She really opened my eyes to a different way of life.

To those interested they do have a website now at www.thedepotlodge.com One last neat observation was at the lodge they even have a restored train caboose which you can stay in. I could go on and on but I think that’s quite enough for now heh

[LaughingTurtle]

*sight* Shakespeare sure knew what he was talking about. Why do partings always have to be such sweet sorrow? Had the last party/get together of the year; for some sadly to probably never see again, for others only once in a blue moon. Great friendships, good times, never to be the same.

Tomorrow I shall wake up to see off my other roommate and one whose friendship I have come to really cherish. I’d have to say that without him I most likely would not have met half the people I did during my time in this area. Words fail to express the true extent of his generosity and kindness.

One’s collegiate experience is not suppose to climax with a year still left to go yet I have the ominous feeling that things can only go down from here. Though, who knows nothing is written in stone. I just wish I didn’t feel like I was trying to put on a good face and deluding myself whenever I say that.

Gah I’m sick of writing about this, only makes it more depressing so time for sleep.

[LaughingTurtle]

Well I finally caught a break, I landed a job today! Though nothing glamorous it’s working in a hotel. Yet the pay starting is more than all my other previous retail jobs. I don’t mind doing menial cleaning work and whatnot, especially when compared to dealing with the customers themselves and other scary jobs that I could think of.

The added bonus is that I start tomorrow so it means the sooner I get money, which I so sorely am in need of heh.

Also baked Ziti for dinner tonight, so tasty I think I shall go back for seconds…

[LaughingTurtle]

So yeah doing the whole job thang. It has its ups and downs and already accrued a few interesting stories which I’ll no doubt share eventually. I do enjoy the whole personal boss aspect; as in I don’t have to deal with many people and no one bothers me as long as I get my assigned rooms done, quite unlike my previous jobs. Silly evil customers hehe. Though it’s a fluid work schedule so when the hotel is busy, work is hell and back breaking but when things are slow it’s more laid back. Which also means I can’t plan anything in advance or even know when my days off are cause they don’t know how busy things will be.

Which leads me to the rather undesirable duty of a certain message I’m soon going to have to write :(

The hotel is located on the campus of my university and it’s very upscale. All the rich Alumni and visiting businesses stay there which is good and bad. On one hand a nice perk is getting free lunches from really good chefs. Tips are hit and miss, and I’ve managed a nice collection of free magazines people have left behind hehe :D On the other hand, they’re very rigid on decorum and quality. I’ve learned to hate hair with a passion, especially long ones yuk.

I can’t wait until the brand new hotel is finished which we’ll be moving to in the beginning of July. The place is huge and shall be all fancy. Check it out here: http://www.innatvirginiatech.com/index.html

One problem I’ve noticed is that I’ve started cleaning more at home, it’s becoming ingrained in me and I’m scared!

[LaughingTurtle]

Once again I feel bad about neglecting this thread and thus feel compelled to post here again lest it acquire too much dust. I hardly know where to begin though with so much having occured since my last post so I guess I'll just touch upon whatever hits my fancy.

Today marks my first day off after seven grueling ten hour days. God damn I hate this hotel so much now. Hell, anyone would hate anything after having to work the hours and do the things we have had to do. What bugs people the most is the mismanagement which has led to such screwups. Instead of letting each department do their own thing which would have been the intelligent thing to do because they have the most experience and knowledge in their own respective areas; they go and merge certain tasks, leave others out and create massive communication failures. Bah I could go on and on about all the things wrong with how the hotel is being set up but I'm just a lowly wage earner, what do I know...

I've even heard disturbing rumors that our next day off won't be until the 15th, oy. Then again, there have been so many rumors that they run the entire gambit of pay increases to the entire management team getting replaced. On the upside, I will be getting a nice chunk of overtime for this and a new position/quasi promotion when the hotel opens. I believe the official title is Houseman and I'll be responsible for ensuring that all of the hotel side of the place (there is also a restaurant, bar and conference center) is up to par. Though I will be moving to the afternoon/night shift but that is more due to classes starting in a month...yet another fun thing to look forward to, along with having to move to a new apartment at the end of this month oy.

So if you haven't noticed it already by reading this no, to my great disappointment I will not be attending quillfest and yes those who needed to know were informed long ago. Then again I never was sure I was going to be able to go in the first place and my responses in the quillfest threads illustrated this. I was always on the fence and sadly this year I can't make a mad dash road trip to the frozen north like I did last year to NOLA, as much as I'd want to. My financial situation is too dire to be able to be able to give up my job and due to it's current transition stage I cannot get off; hell we threatened to just leave if they didn't give us the 4th off. So apologies to all who may had thought I was going, I didn't mean to mislead you, at this stage in my life I barely know my own plans until the moment they begin. I wish you all the best and only wish I could be there enjoying it all with you.

[LaughingTurtle]

So yeah thus ends a second full seven day week of nonstop 10 hour days. :fred: Though tomorrow I finally have the day off (not that I have time to rest :rolleyes: ) as my mother is in town for two days to visit and help me pack/clean the apartment to get it ready so that I can move in a week or so to my new place. Though on the topic of work, I've been switched to the afternoon/night shift of 3-11pm due to my new position. I don't really know whether it's a good or bad change as I've grown used to the old 8am-4:30pm speal, but at my last job I did a 2-11pm shift so it's nothing new. Thank god the hotel is finally all set up and opens tomorrow. I don't know if I could take another long day filled with cleaning, inspecting and setting up everything. Now it's going to be the same thing just not as long (hopefully) heh.

So many things to do yet and I feel burned out bah. Hope all is well in the great north, don't have too much fun now you hear ;)

[LaughingTurtle]

So yeah, what a day, I think my body finally took over and told my brain that I can’t work nonstop anymore. Thus explaining how I was able to sleep through all my alarm clocks this morning causing me to miss work. Thankfully (or is it) I won’t be fired, as they just switched my day off from tomorrow to today. My first day off in ten days and how do I spend it…catching up on all the “To Do” crap that has been piling up.

Gah I hate moving, there always seems like a million things to do and whenever you do actually accomplish something, another thing pops up. Though that’s just life in a nutshell anyway so I shouldn’t really be surprised.

Stupid annoying stuff aside a few side notes to those interested…

* The pimp’n beard is back, for how long though is anyone’s guess. New profile pic prolly will go up soon…

* Yes my avatar is huge, just deal with it cause you can’t deny the awesomeness that is Optimus Pimp and anything smaller simply wouldn’t do.

* This is just here to look like I have more content than I actually do.

[LaughingTurtle]

Whew… finally all moved in. I bid a tearfully fond farewell to my old friendly abode and embarked upon the threshold of my new domain. As I expected everything feels really weird and uncomfortable entering into a foreign place but I’m slowly turning it into a familiar space. The pimp hat is in place thus I am confident that with that keystone all the rest shall fall into place..eventually.

Had the day off from work and the parents had come in from out of town to help with the move. Though once we had everything transferred we decided to treat ourselves and went driving on the Blue Ridge parkway in the beautiful mountains to Château Morrisette Winery (http://www.chateaumorrisette.com/) for some tasting and buying heh.

Sorta short update when so much has been going on but there are so many things left to do that this will have to do for now.

[LaughingTurtle]

Greetings and salutations loyal readers, surprising as it may seem I am actually posting in my reflections thread. Shocking in that I am posting at all I know but please try to at least act like you had noticed my absence for the sake my ego. Think of the children. Yet beyond merely welcoming you all back to my rather neglected little humble corner of the site I bear tidings of both recent events and musings upon the future.

I realize that my presence as of late has been somewhat lacking but that has been due largely to factors out of my control. Embarking upon the final year in my illustrious education I have come to the realization that I was fed lies, damn dirty lies. No I’m not talking about the quality of my education, which a whole other story, rather the expectations on senior year being the home stretch, the easy stuff i.e. underwater basket weaving 101 or sandbox 103 (both of which I’d of gladly taken if my university had offered…) But no, my past semester has been filled with writing two 60 page reports, developing a workable business plan for a new start up venture, a 45 minute presentation on everything I’ve learned over the semester, visiting a local company and interviewing them on their management tools and quality certifications, and creating a developmental portfolio to name a few choice projects. Needless to say, not the cake walk I was expecting.

Couple this with working part time 11 hours each day of the weekend and career searching for after graduation leaves me with precious little time for anything else. Now as much as I’d like this not to come off as some whiny rant, ‘oh woe is me’ ditty, I do feel pretty damn good about juggling it all at once and accomplishing everything so far so some amount of boasting was in order. Yes I do realize everyone has their own lives which involve lots of hard at work and busy schedules as well so please remember I speak purely from my own perspective on my diminutive soapbox not to diminish what everyone does, but to explain my absence.

Though this has does little to help my situation until now. Currently I am on Thanksgiving break until Sunday, a small week respite from the daily grind, my first such break since May. I head back for another three weeks of exams and final projects leading to the conclusion of this semester and a nice month off for winter vacation until resuming my final semester in January. Normally this would not be so with my job but as of last week I am no longer employed. Seeing as how I was going to be leaving in one more semester anyway after graduating, I decided to quit a tad early so as to be able to enjoy the holidays and concentrate more on my real “job” search which after numerous interviews, job fairs, information sessions and applications has thus far proven quite fruitless.

So yes, now I finally have time to catch up on current events. Briefing scanning the forums for a minute or two in the past few months has does little to capture the essence of what the site is truly meant for, interaction and community. New faces I see, and unfamiliar names I read. Whom now shall I turn to, to take up the reigns of my four horsemen now that the apocalypse is gone, replaced by some ‘upstart’ with a foreign name? Seeds of Oz are just now being planted, filling me with such great enthusiasm, tempered only by my wariness of forecasting too far into the future as is my nature.

I guess what I am trying to say is I have so missed this place and the friends who inhabit it. Some of whom I sadly have drifted apart from in the past few months and lost contact with. I plan on sticking around more now, not necessarily on par with my previous plethora of posting but enough.

Fin

[LaughingTurtle]

I have been trying to keep a positive mindset but it truly is disheartening when someone you love dies during the holidays. It is such a shock to go from all the happiness and cheer to sadness in a short amount of time. I take solace in the fact that by it being the holidays he was able to be with a lot of the family the day before on Thanksgiving. Even though I was unable to actually be there with the gathering being far away I was able to talk on the phone to him on that day. If I had a choice I’d rather go out quickly suffering a massive heart attack than fade slowly and painfully with cancer as my other grandfather did.

To add to it all, the funeral is Tuesday in New York which means in all likelihood I will be unable to attend it due to the distance and timeframe involved. A small part of me doesn’t want to go even if I could. No one likes to go to funerals, and rather than give closure they only seem to make me feel worse. Personally I’d like to remember the last time seeing him was when he was alive and happy and make my peace with him on my own terms.

Rest in Peace Grandpa.

[LaughingTurtle]

I’d like to thank everyone who gave their kind words, it was much appreciated. My parents are still up in New York dealing with all the legal issues and sorting out all the stuff that needs to be taken care of. The thing is it’s not just the event when it happens which is bad enough but having to deal with all the aftermath as well. I’m just blessed to be in a family where people are on good terms with one another and while there are always going to be issues that come up, nothing so big that divides people against each other.

Now to change the subject from such Macabre matters to more seasonal topics. So perusing the reflections forum a bit I am reminded of how rapidly the holidays are approaching. I’ve done a little shopping but have to agree with lexi on how I feel about it. It’s not that I’m a Grinch, rather that I want my gifts to be appreciated and really what the receiver wants, not just some paltry excuse that “I got you something so there” deal, which makes finding that right gift so hard.

Often times I fall back on the old ‘home made’ work but that doesn’t always suffice for everyone, not to mention it’s hard to make something for more than just a few people when you put a lot of effort into it. The second problem comes in when the person you’re gifting is not very communicative. You know sorta what they like in general but beyond that no luck.

Riding on this train of thought brought me to Anita’s post about generosity in general. While hitting upon an interesting point, I don’t believe society as a whole is as negative as the picture she has painted. True, there are a lot of people out there who have a materialistic greed in them who yearn for this season without a thought to the reason behind it all or why, and yes there are those out there who need an actual physical reminder to communicate or be generous. But the flip side to that is there are just as many who are the opposite.

With the great advances in technology our generation has to enjoy, so to must we realize the implications of our instantaneous communication, all access media, and 24/7 reporting. People say we’re heading towards an apathetic culture but to that I say we’re no different than 100 years ago. Just because the means and opportunity for communication have increased for the better doesn’t mean the motivation has. Those who talk on their phones to their friends and family all the time now would in most cases have been the same people who wrote letters or telegrams back in the day.

There are always going to be those who are vocal and those who are not, and likewise those who do kind and generous acts and those who commit crimes and selfish acts. The problem comes in with the media I touched on earlier. It’s a business just like any other and that means they are profit driven, fueled by ratings. Generous acts occur all throughout the year but they don’t demand the same attention that a tragedy does which means they are pushed to the backburner until some human interest story comes along or in our current topics case, the seasonality brings it back to the forefront. So these negative news stories are thrust into every household, broadcasted live, and repeated and rehashed ad nauseum through our cable TV’s, and websites until it starts to wear on you and make you think that things are in fact worse off than they really appear. When all you get is bad news, it leads people to think there is no good news…

So what it all boils down to for me is that yeah, we may be slipping a bit now and again on the ol morality meter, but overall not much has changed on the inside over the years. I'd like to believe in a little hope for mankind heh, ~rings bell~ :broken:

[LaughingTurtle]

An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded.

[LaughingTurtle]

Seems like all the cool kids are name dropping or as the uber hipsters like to call it “shout out to mah homies” in their reflections posts so naturally one of my stature could not be left behind. Some may try to defend themselves against being labeled so, saying they were merely referencing other’s posts in order to make a point but I see through your lies. I can read between the lines man, which I sadly cannot say the same for the lot of you who deem it unfit for your consumption to reply my new thread. For shame, the endless possibilities brought forth because of my own uncanny wit are astounding. To let such an opportunity drift away should be a crime. In fact I shall now make it a crime. Anyone not seen either expressing their own wittiness or at the very least acknowledging my own shall be found in contempt. Contempt not of court but of me. The punishment shall be shunning to the third degree followed by no soup for three days. I hope for all your sakes that you avoid these harsh measures, and I pity the witless.

Getting back on track I shall proceed to drop it like it’s hot for my homies back in the hood so that they too can bask in the greatness that is acknowledgment. (or find this post when you inevitably search for posts containing your username, don’t tell me you’ve never done it before, I know these things) Alexia the lexi of the Aa, Arianna the brewer of beans, Lyle of the afro’d aura borealis, Anita Blake of James of Bob, destroyer of all worlds, Cassander formerly known as apoc, formerly known as a symbol, formerly known as prince. Viewing the dregs in the glass as half empty, and I would say more but alas time for an exam.

I keeps it real

[LaughingTurtle]

I’ve got 99 problems and a bitch ain’t one. Then again, not even having a bitch to have a problem with could be considered a problem. Oh Jay Z where is your supposed sage advice now?

Two tiny turtles’ tip-toe the tremulous tripwire that traverses the treacherous table thereby teaching them the theory titled “Tenacity Triumphs Trepidation.”

[LaughingTurtle]

U.S. OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 3/27/2006

WASHINGTON SERVICES BRANCH

OPM

1900 E STREET NW

ROOM 2469

WASHINGTON DC 20415

Dear <personal info>

<specific job info>

Agency: DHS Customs and Border Protection

Duty Location: WASHINGTON, DC

We have reviewed your application and found you qualified for the position listed above. However, you were

not among the most highly qualified candidates. Therefore, your name will not be referred to the employing

agency at this time. If we receive a request from the agency for additional candidates, or another agency

requests a list of eligibles for a very similar position within the next 90 days, your application will again be

reviewed for possible referral.

*sigh* :( Not the first, nor the forseeable last...I hate job hunting.

[LaughingTurtle]

Well I have decidedly more cheerful news to report compared to my previous post. I’ve passed the first stage interviews for another company only this time around they’ve invited me to fly out to Chicago for the 24th through the 26th for an all expenses paid trip to their facility there to conduct on site interviews and more assessments. While I’m nervous as all hell about doing it, never having been to Chicago or flown for that matter in years, not to mention the assessment part, I figure I have nothing to loose but time as it’s all on their dime.

If nothing else it should prove to be an interesting experience. Gah I hate butterflies, of the gastro-intestinal kind, not the flittery fluttery kind. :sick:

[LaughingTurtle]

Well I’m back from Chicago, so at the very least I can say I survived. The fun started with a 40 min weather delay in Philly (thanks Arch :mad: ) causing me to almost miss my connection flight. I was forced to run the entire length of the terminal, after taking the slow ass bus, even with them holding the door for 5 min. After finally arriving in Chicago I had the pleasure of mingling with the executive bigwigs for over 3 hours with their dinner deal. Definitely not my idea of fun but at least there was an open bar.

The assessment center part started 8am the next morning and lasted until 5 pm. Talk about grueling, there were three major parts, each in front of two of the executives. First was a role-playing exercise where you’re given a timed situation and you are actually the one asking them questions. They evaluate your thought process on what questions you ask, what questions you don’t ask and your final recommendation based on your findings. I actually enjoyed this section the most as it was different from the usual.

The second part was a traditional canned interview that continued from the first stage. Probably the worst part of the assessment as if you’ve done one, you’ve done a hundred all the same stories and whatnot.

The last part actually lasted the entire day. In the morning we were given a case brief with background information and financial data. We had the entire day, in between the other two interviews and lunch to create a presentation about our recommendation backed by our findings and data. Not that bad, but neither was it enjoyable, esp concerning the fact one of the executives interviewing me was the Vice President of Finance.

Ah but finally it was over and the fun was to begin. The majority of the people were catching flights out that night but two other people were actually on the same flight as me and we didn’t leave until the next day. So we decided to catch the train and hit up the city. My what a beautiful city it was. The only other major cities I’ve been to (downtown), to compare it against are New York, DC, and New Orleans. Each and every one was great in their own way and I could prolly write multiple posts comparing and contrasting each one.

Anyway, we got off the train in Washington and walked around site-seeing for a few miles until we got to Old Town District. There we grabbed dinner at a fancy place called O’Brian’s, you know it’s fancy when they charge over $6 for a Guinness. Chatting with the barkeep we learned a Cub’s game was playing that night so we had to head over to Wriggly Field and the bars/clubs over there.

The most impressive thing was the train stop at Wriggly Field actually dumped you out right next to the Stadium. You could see right into the field from the platform. Well the game was already halfway in progress but we couldn’t believe it when this guy and his daughter came out and had two extra tickets they weren’t using and gave them to us. We scalped a third ticket for $8 and all of us went in.

A small side note the day we had flown in the weather was a comfortable 75 and I had packed only a carryon with my business clothes and one set of casuals. The problem was the next day it rained in the morning and the weather plummeted and the winds rose. So here I was trekking in downtown Chicago in my T-shirt in 50ish degree (with wind chill) weather. Drinking only warms you so much, and one of my friends was in the same boat so before hitting our seats we bought souvenir sweatshirts.

The Cubs eventually won 3-1 vs Florida and the place went mad. We followed the mass of humanity to the corner bar across the street and waited out the crowds at the train station drinking and mingling. We met a fellow who was quite funny, an international business man who had numerous stories mostly comprised of visiting Asian titty bars, and drinking.

Caught the midnight train back to my hotel, stole a few zzz’s and flew out back home at 9am. Good times.

[LaughingTurtle]

Well I’m finally back at home, home. I had a long and crazy weekend full of graduation ceremonies, and moving. I’ve just now finished rehooking my computer back together so it may be awhile until I get around to flushing out the tales of all my quirky adventures, such as videos of volleyball action during the ceremony, cap and gown pics on top of a mountain, and packing my stuff into a pickup in a hail storm, all laid out in detail as well as an updated profile pic to reflect all the many graduation pictures that were taken.

On the job front, the third stage has begun. I’ve been contacted by the facility in Greensborough, NC (the location that I’d be hired at) to fly out and have interviews with the managers there on the 22nd of this month. Hopefully after this I shall either have an offer or not.

Tis godly to be able to sleep in my full queen sized bed again.

Wish me luck. :)

[LaughingTurtle]

So yeah, yesterday I had a day trip down to Greensboro, NC for on site interviews. The flights weren’t bad, though security checks were annoying as usual. I received a full plant tour which was very interesting and then had the oh so fun privilege of interviewing with the vice president/general manager, the operations manager, the financial controller, and the Quality manager of the facility. They seemed like a good bunch of people, but nonetheless interviews are always a nerve racking process.

I think it went well, though only time will tell which at the earliest will be mid-June as they have two other applicants to schedule. But at long last it will be the final yes or no on the position so in that regard I’m happy. In the meantime, it’s back to basics with filling out applications and submitting resumes. Such a fun pastime, ranking just above watching paint dry. :dozey:

[LaughingTurtle]

Ok, lots of updates from a busy extended weekend. First off, on Friday I received confirmation about the job I had pursuing in that I had been accepted and was in fact offered the position if I want it. So as if it wasn’t crazy before it becomes even more so now. The starting date isn’t set in stone yet but it’s tentatively mid July. So I have about a month and change to find a place down in Greensboro, North Carolina, repack my stuff, move down there, do all the stuff to become a resident of NC (change car tags, new license, find new bank, etc), take any ‘fun’ trips *cough*mecca*cough* and do any ‘fun’ activities before starting life in the real world.

A little more specifics on the actual position, it’s a Graduate Management Trainee program. One of those rotational deals where I’ll work in all the different departments of the company learning each aspect so that I’ll eventually be able to choose which one suits me (or the company) best in a managerial capacity. Seeing as how it’s a global company and is actually owned in the UK, there is a possibility for training overseas. I’m excited and scared out of mind all at the same time weeee!

The other major event this weekend was my birthday. Coinciding with my recent college graduation, and job prospect, I gifted myself with a brand new lovely pistol. My accursed brother has once again corrupted me into another fun hobby, this time into the world of shooting. So I went out and bought a CZ-75 BD. I expect most of you have no idea what the hell that is so I’ll provide many lovely pics at the end. It’s a 9mm combat pistol of steel construction that’s highly accurate and very durable. For those of you shaking your head wondering if I’ve become another gun nut, stop now before you become just another person stereotyping something based on fear or lack of knowledge.

The reason many people are afraid of firearms is the media plain and simple. All the horror stories of bandits, armed robberies, and school shootings played up 24/7 on the news is to drum up ratings. If one considers the number of lawfully abiding citizens who own guns that don’t participate in illegal activities compared to those who do you’d realize that the latter is in the minority.

The activity itself is very positive in that not only does it provide adrenaline pumping thrills but also serves as a stress reliever. Sorry for the little rant but people get all crazy when guns are concerned and it’s the few bad apples that can ruin the fun for everyone.

On to the pictures! The one is naturally of a close up of the pistol, and the other is my awesome interpretation of a secret service / 24 Jack Bauer "Where's the bomb?!" I have a few more, James Bond esque ones if you want to see em.

[LaughingTurtle]

Well a little impromptu traveling was in order this past week. I headed down to Greensboro, North Carolina for three days to scout out the area more, search for a place to live, and get my physical and drug screen done. Lovely area, reminded me of where I currently live only about ten years ago; a sizable population with a big boom in it’s very near future with all the construction and urbanizing occurring.

I love the relative cheapness in prices compared to the north with gas being 30 cents cheaper and comparably sized apartments going for half to a third of the price than what it is here. Though it was noticeably warmer and the people who laid out the streets and signage apparently suffered from dementia. After securing a new home for the next 12 months (contingent to a credit check) I had a little fun heading out to Richard Childress’s winery. For those of you who are into Motorsports you know who he is as well as know that pretty much all of North Carolina is the heartland of NASCAR so when in Rome… ;)

All in all I’m quite satisfied with my current situation if a little overwhelmed with everything that needs to be taken care in a relatively short amount of time. I would have liked to have made it up to NY this weekend but my presence was required to help with matters at home. The entire house is currently undergoing changes with new wood flooring being put in and new carpeting as well as my moving out so literally everything is being packaged and moved around. No rest for the weary heh.

Attached is a pic of Richard Childress’s winery, it was oppressively hot out but the place was beautiful, and the wine was refreshing.

[LaughingTurtle]

My my, what a busy week it has been, well two weeks you could say. The first week was spent packing, moving, and unpacking in good ol North Carolina and this past week was my first full week at the new job/career. The place is crazy hectic, naturally being in the manufacturing sector thus guaranteeing tight deadlines and continuous operation. After orientation which swamped me in paperwork, my first stint is in Quality Assurance division, learning and doing everything that the Quality Technicians do.

I wouldn’t want to bore you all but I will give a brief insight into what this is like. First you have to calibrate every machine in your area (there are three major sections in the factory, which is about the size of a football field and a half) After calibration you will periodically receive samples of the product from each pallet ready for shipping to test to ensure certain parameters are met before they go to the customer. You then tag, log, and enter the gathered data into the computer. Rinse and repeat for a large part until you run into something that fails its quality test and then there’s a lengthy process that I won’t get into detail about but therein lies the true “fun” of QA.

Next week my schedule shows me working in the lab doing various chemical and product quality testing and procedures. Then it’s off to Quality engineering and lastly in QA is Quality Management where I’ll be off doing customer site visits, dealing with complaints, and processing management reviews.

This is all just in Quality Assurance and only for the first three weeks, after that I still have no clue where I’ll be working in next.

Though I do have pretty interesting news, from Aug 20 to Aug 28th I’ll be hopping the pond to jolly ol England for more training there with our overseas divisions. It should prove to be loads of fun as I’ve never been to England. Though I must say getting everything set up with passports, payments, itineraries, etc is a real pain in the ass.

I would like to be posting more but with the way everything has been going its been interesting just finding time to sit down heh.

[LaughingTurtle]

Ok slight change of plans, major problem in materials so now I have been reassigned to inventory control. I have a list of what I’m going to be doing but don’t really have much of an idea as to how I’m actually going to be accomplishing said duties. To top it off the boss is off to another facility Monday and Tuesday so it’s going to be an interesting start to the week. Passport finally came in the mail so I’m travel ready, at least I think I am heh.

In other news, installed a new recoil buffer in my pistol and it didn’t blow up. There was a slightly noticeable difference at the range in terms of the snappiness of the recoil. I also got a spring kit with some new recoil springs of varying weights but have yet to try them out as I wanted to see how the buffer worked first. Lastly I picked up three additional magazines for additional fun. I have been debating about whether or not to take a CCW course or not one of these upcoming weekends. Not that I’d carry concealed, rather the fact that more instruction, technique improvements, tips, etc is always welcome. The extra freedoms accorded to transportation are just a bonus.

Hrm yeah that’s all for now. Work and guns, my what a healthy combination heh. Fear not for exploration is in the near future, as I am pretty settled in as of now so checking out my new home state and what wonders it has to offer is definitely on the to do list.

[LaughingTurtle]

Well I’m not in England as I thought I would be. Lovely company waited until last wed to inform me that the early travel itinerary dates were posted to expedite the passport process and that I wasn’t actually leaving until early October, thanks :rolleyes:. I’ve been training to do my supervisor’s job this past week as he will be leaving for two weeks in the start of September and I feel fully qualified to step in and take over his complex position. :dozey:

Should be fun though, I hope heh. Probably will be heading back to VA for the Labor Day weekend.

So yeah, not much else going on, short and sweet update.

[LaughingTurtle]

This is for you Cass

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/mimille2/pcloadletter.wav

Enjoy :p

[LaughingTurtle]

Tis high time I went back and revisited my ol reflections page for a few updates on life…

Now I’ve told you all that I’ve done a stint in Quality Assurance, Inventory Management but right when I was being assigned to become the Mentek Process Engineer (thus being reassigned to a 6:00 PM to 2:00 AM shift :fred: oy) one of the managers leaves for another position with a different company.

Thus with my unusually incredible “luck” I was promoted to Quality Engineer Manager. With (the exiting employing) only having his two weeks put in to train me to do his position that he’s done for the past 11 years I was understandable nervous. Yet for the past two weeks I persevered and managed to assimilate the major portions of the position. Admining the people in the quality department, creating our products bill of materials, and other quality associated issues.

Though the one part that I wasn’t able to take on…yet, was being in charge of the ISO 9001:2000, and 14001 stuff. If you don’t know what that all means, count yourself lucky. I’m not certified to do the work but I have a sinking feeling I’ll end up having to do it anyway.

Lastly, all systems are go on my trip to the UK. Funny, even though I have a permanent position within the company now, I’m still apart of the graduate program, meaning I still get paid that salary amount and do the old work in addition to my new responsibilities, joy!

I really should shoot the company's travel agent though. Leaving this Saturday, and coming back on the 9th of October, yet not only do I have a 12 hour layover in Brussels going but a 14 hour one heading back. Though they did book a hotel for the return trip layover, but I’m hoping to be able to get a sooner flight heading over, jeez. The things yah do in business…

[LaughingTurtle]

Mmmk back from 9 day stint in the UK, will update later after food, laundry, work, cleaning, etc on how my trip went including pictures!

[LaughingTurtle]

Where to begin…

This was the first time I had traveled overseas and it certainly was an enlightening experience. I could have done without the actual traveling part though. Three flight connections, one of which being nine hours and a twelve hour layover in Brussels wasn’t exactly the best way to start off the trip. I had left home around 8 AM on Saturday and arrived around 10 PM on Sunday in East Midlands. Factoring in the five hour time difference, it was a long weekend.

Leaving the airport I’ll never forget the feeling of riding in the taxi, at night, going around 70 mph, on the wrong side of the road. I couldn’t shake the whole wrongness sensation permeating inside my head as we whipped in and out of on-coming traffic on these little two lane roads. All the while the driver, in his heavily northern accent, would merrily point out the locations of the speed cameras and how to avoid getting caught.

But once there I soon fell in love with the program. We had a merry fellowship, five Americans, four Brits and a German. During the day we’d work and go to classes for eight hours. Then there was a special dinner each night. I never had so many different varieties of food in my life. One night I had a smorgasbord of Spanish tapas, another night a fancy French restaurant with chicken liver parfait, and yet another night with spicy Indian curry dishes. The food was incredible and I’m just glad I didn’t have to pay for it heh.

After that we would hit the city hard. I do believe I drank more tea and beer in those nine days than I have the entirety of this year if not years. Not to mention the different types of tea (Earl Gray, Morning tea, Green, etc) and beer (Grolsch, Magner, Peroni, Cobra, Tiger, etc) I’m also not ashamed to admit to going to a karaoke bar and belting out a few tunes. Of note, I even had the chance to visit the “supposedly” oldest inn/pub in England. Parts of it are actually built into the rock of the castle.

Considering the location of our program was in Nottingham I naturally had to visit Robin Hood and the castle itself as well as do some site seeing. I’ve attached some pics I took.

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/mimille2/Castle.jpg
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/mimille2/Cityscape1.jpg
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/mimille2/Downtown.jpg
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/mimille2/Knight.jpg
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/mimille2/OldestPub.jpg
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/mimille2/OnTop.jpg
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/mimille2/RobinHood.jpg
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/mimille2/StPeters.jpg

Seeing as how I spent two weekends over there, I missed a lot of American Football but I made up for it with the amount of cricket and rugby I watched. I have to admit I rather enjoyed the rugby immensely, while the cricket reminded me too much of baseball and would put me to sleep.

Heading back, once again the traveling portion was rather abysmal with three more connecting flights and a 14 hour layover back in Brussels. At least this time I had a hotel and I did manage to pick up some delicious Belgium chocolates ;)

All in all a grand ol time, and I’ll get to do it again next year, only in Oxford, with a proposed detour in London for a bit. Though my next trip is a short hop to Richmond, VA for a week in January, then a week in May in Boston.

[LaughingTurtle]

Ok placeholder to remind myself to update the thread, to quote a nacht of noirness, not dead yet, just been busy, busy, busy...

[LaughingTurtle]

Ok yeah I reminded myself to do this so I better up and do it before I forget or it gets pushed to the back burner again.

It’s been quite the hectic past month for me, starting with yet another business trip, this time to Kingsport, Tennessee for a week to visit a suppler for my company. The funny thing is the company is basically Kingsport, TN as they employ over 7,000 residents (with 5,000 more commuting from out of town) in their plant which is the size of a small city. The place has its own fast food joints, movie theater, bank, and the Marriott hotel which I was staying at was pretty much built for them as well to accommodate all the business travelers visiting them.

All in all a good trip, learned a lot, got to play on some machines, and travel not on your own dime is always a nice thing. So I come back home, work’s even crazier with new programs being implemented on the computer systems to replace the old ones and having to retrain all the employees and adapt our current process to coincide with it all.

Then of course came Thanksgiving which was a very nice respite. I went on a little family reunion down in Orlando, Florida for the week. Visited the Mouse while staying at one of their lovely vacation resorts and had quite the memorable time. Barring the actual travel portion that is what with the numerous flight delays and running around terminals. Just wish I didn’t have to come back heh.

Been back to the grind and I’m wishing that Christmas break would get here already. Though that will entail yet even more travel, though not quite as far to more family. Probably forgetting stuff but I got’s to be off.

Tis the season…

[LaughingTurtle]

*Le sigh* sometimes it just seems like whenever I want to post more life gets in the way and I’m too busy and yet when I do have time I don’t feel like posting anymore. The paradoxical relationship I share with the quill as of late I guess.

Though I fear it shall only grow worse as the holiday season reaches it’s zenith with a nice stretch of well earned vacation time. I will retain some internet connectivity but for the most part I shall remain lurking in the shadows.

A picture of wisdom before I go that works oh so well in the corporate world, some of you may have seen it already but I figure it never hurts to refresh one’s memory.

[LaughingTurtle]

Posting whilst back in Virginia with all the family. Receiving much needed rest and relaxation. Recently picked up a “present” of the ‘from self’ to ‘self’ variety. What can I say, who better knows what I want this season than well, me? Then again, the nature of this particular gift was one that you normally don’t get for Christmas per say heh.

I hope everyone is having as good a time this year as I am with all the festivities. Tis only a pity I can’t partake in the holiday fun with some of you all.

[LaughingTurtle]

Hrm back from a week’s business trip to Richmond, VA. Work’n hard, party’n hard…sometimes.


More checking in than anything else really, wouldn’t be proper to not be seen round the birthday of the quill and all.

[LaughingTurtle]

Checking in.

Back from yet another week long business trip, this time to Boston. Nice city from what I saw during the short time I was there. Then again I’ve yet to visit a place I haven’t really liked. Brussels notwithstanding as that was the airport’s fault not the city.

Sadly I seem to have been punished for leaving, even though I didn’t have a choice in the matter for when I returned I found out I had been “volunteered” to lead a team during the third shift. A rather major customer complaint has forced the company to reevaluate all of its current stock which means 24/5 testing for the next month. So now my days and nights have been turned upside down and yet it wouldn’t be that bad if only the project were actually being supported by the person supposedly in charge of it all. Oh well, I should know better than to assume people know what they are doing.

Still unresolved on the certainty of my future career at my current place of employment, not necessarily on their part as with certain restructuring they sort of need me now but on my end as I’ve since lost all faith in them. I’ve come to terms with the harsh realities of the corporate world filled with office politics and behind the scenes backstabbing. The overly optimistic and naïve notions I held coming fresh out of college have since been torn asunder.

At least things within my home life have been ok. I’m determined to have a good birthday weekend. My brother is coming to visit and not even a messed up body clock will spoil the activities planned…

[LaughingTurtle]

I thankfully finished my project on the third shift. No more 10pm to 6am for a long time if I can help it. Capped off the event with a wonderful birthday weekend with my brother where we managed to do activities involving rollercoaster’s, pirates and guns though not all at once…or was it.

Sadly it was over all too soon and naturally I had to come down from such a great high to yet another big low. My boss told me today that they’ve started up the “relocation” process again for me. Meaning, I submit my resume and they try to find a spot at another facility in a sister company to honor their end of my contract and barring that let me go. Yeah I’m not holding my breath, and the only real factor that makes me angry is the hassle it is to change. I just renewed my lease for another year to boot.

So yeah it may be even longer until things settle enough to have time for the Quill again, sadly. I miss you guys and who knows, may even find a way to drop in on the drinking game in chat…

[LaughingTurtle]

You know you have writers block when you can’t even write a reflections post about what’s been going on in your life. Then again not posting for almost two months might mean it’s more than just that. It’s odd I can visit the site almost every day, check the latest posts but I have no real desire to reply to anything or say anything new. Though I must admit my interest was peaked with talk of a new war novel project.

There is not much to update concerning the work “relocation” process. I interviewed at another location but while the interview went well, they were looking more towards someone with R&D background and skills. It doesn’t help that my head HR contact is away on travel dealing with yet another facility that’s have labor union issues. My contract may expire before they even get around to finding something for me, which depending on how you look at it could be both good and bad.

On the horizon I have another trip to England coming up in September for work. This time I’ll be staying at an old college that is part of Oxford University. The guy in charge of the program is even planning on showing us around London before work starts for the week.

[LaughingTurtle]

Trying to bring my presence on the quill back to “normal” levels…

Work is still in upheaval but nothing new about that. At least I still have Labor Day vacation and the week long England trip to look forward to.

I was actually able to visit home two weeks ago for the weekend. Met up with one of my best friends I’ve known from all the way back in grade school that joined the Marines. He’d recently come back from his second tour in Iraq so I naturally hadn’t seen him in quite a while. Good times were had which reminded me of simpler days. Maybe not quite the good ol days per say, I’d have to reach mid life crisis stage to be eligible to say something like that, but I sure remember them as seeming easier. Then again learning calculus and reading the Illiad being the sole characterizations of “hard work” is a hell of a difference when compared with paying the bills, dealing with the boss, the boss’s boss, problematic projects, deadlines, adult life in general heh.

Maybe my Marine friend had the right idea. Currently he could graduate from college this fall; being two years behind me (due to deployment) thus extending the paradise that is known as college life. He could be a real life Van Wilder, extending out the university experience for even another year or two if he so chose (going for a double major or minor). One only has to ask themselves is all that worth the hassle of being shot at.

Boss…insurgents…boss…insurgents, insurgents…boss…some days they feel like one and the same. ;)

[LaughingTurtle]

Finally back from an extended week in Oxford, UK. Should have some pictures of my travels uploaded soon once I get it all organized. One to tide yah over (view from my room)

Also will have the details posted sometime as well, including tails of lost luggage, wacky British food, and drunken punting. :D

[LaughingTurtle]

I've got the UK trip pictures organized, just been too lazy to upload em :broken:

Though I'll be taking even more pictures as I have yet another business trip to go on, this time a week in Monterrey, Mexico. Leaving Sunday and coming back Saturday, hopefully. I've never been south of the border so it should prove to be... interesting. ;)

Don't know how I feel about the whole blog thing yet. I'm too used to a forum style layout, meh. May try it out in the future, who knows. May use it to detail the other notable recent events I've encountered...such as the Panthers game I was at a couple weeks ago - they lost :( or visiting the Richard Petty Museum - more race cars, guns, knives, belt buckles and trophies than you can shake a stick at, or the NC Zoo - haven't been to a zoo in forever, brought back fond memories. Lions, Tigers, and Bears oh my...or rather turtles, meerkats and Rhinos oh my.

We'll see.

[LaughingTurtle]

Still in Meh-he-co, waiting for lunch to arrive and then back to work. So yeah I finally got around to uploading a few of my pictures from my trip to London and Oxford.

Wednesday night was rather interesting. That evening we went to San Pedro Garza Garcia. It's to the south of Monterrey and is in the beginnings of the La Loma Larga mountains. It is often regarded as Latin America's most affluent suburb. With a population of 121,977 (city) and 122,009 (municipality) at the 2005 census, it is the seventh-largest city and eighth-largest municipality in Nuevo León. (I googled it afterward ha!)

After riding through Monterrey you drive through the mountain and emerge in what feels like another country. You see office depot, Applebee’s and even Starbucks. People are driving Mercedes Benz and Ferraris. Quite the opposite of where the plant is located in Apodaca.

We had dinner at a very nice Mexican restaurant called El Granero Grill. I ate Arrachera which is a very tender slim beef fillet not found in the US. I even tried cactus and it wasn't too bad, if a little too chewy for my tastes. Culturally is was amusing in that people were still arriving at 10:30pm when we were leaving. As much fun as I’ve had here it will be nice to get home.

Still haven’t tired out the blog yet…maybe later.

[LaughingTurtle]

Hrm I don't know what's worse...the fact that in the time since I last posted I've been to Mexico a second time or that I've been to Mexico for a second time. I kid, I kid, Mexico is great, even if it was for business. Alas the true sadness is forsaking the Quill for so long. Yet as much as I love keeping up to date on the general ramblings and madness that is our community my desire to leave my own mark is rather lacking.

Pfft enough gloominess who am I Malcor? ;) - I kid, I kid I'll make it up to you by posting more...

But wait no longer as here it is, bask in it's glory, soak in the enormity, revel in the party that is my digitized words upon this cyber canvas.

Pfft such pomposity who am I Lyle? ;) - I ki- no wait I think I meant that one...

All is as it is in the world of me. Neither fame and fortune nor dull and destitute. I ride the waves of the mediocrity upon the surfboard of life.

Pfft, if only my thoughts were as profound as the prose of Amos - I kid, mostly because I don't think I would understand my own thoughts then.

I leave with a picture of Monterrey, MX and the beautiful Cerro de la Silla mountains as seen from my hotel. Now if I could just merge the photos better my photography might be as good as Jennifer's ;)



Why these names you ask? Well they were the latest names in the "new posts" for me...besides Lyle of course but who could pass up a chance to add him in?

[LaughingTurtle]

In response to Malcor's Ramblings (http://www.enchantedquill.net/forum/showpost.php?p=95512&postcount=282) I asked my own questions so now I open the floor to my own questioning. Ask away...

[LaughingTurtle]

News as of late…

Business has been slow, people being let go, yet I’m busier than ever. Had a farewell lunch with a coworker who was a good friend that was one of the ones who is being let go. You can’t trust anyone these days. A company can be so careless with its money, blissfully ignorant in good times but hit a bump in the road and they wonder why everything is coming crashing down.

My credit card number was stolen and I discovered I was owner of a trip worth over $2,200 with some Greek travel agency…as in actually based in Greece. Don’t recall ever having been… The worst part is I don’t know how it happened. The card was never lost, so was it a virus on my computer, someone sifting through my trash (apartment living joy!), or was it skimmed at any one of the hundreds of terminals I’ve used my credit card at. Check your accounts often.

I’ve never smoked but I’ve always had a lighter for the longest time for use when I’d go camping or just to have in emergencies. (Doesn’t hurt when you’re visiting companies like RJReynolds or Philip Morris either) It finally broke, old age most likely. So I picked up a zippo. I don’t know why but now it’s become one of those subconscious habits, opening/closing it, flipping it between my fingers. I’ve even started learning those cheesy lighter tricks. No reason other than to have something to play around with when I’m on the computer.

Yeah that wasn’t really much news. Hrm, oh well.

[LaughingTurtle]

Apologies to all for yet another one of my regrettable hiatuses from this wonderful site. At least I have a serviceable excuse this time. The previous week was spent in Stratford upon Avon, the lovely Shakespearean countryside filled with tea, theatre, and tourists. Alas, while I was able to enjoy some of what Stratford had to offer culture wise, the majority of my time was spent preparing for a board presentation to the CEO of my company.

Learning from my last trip to England (namely losing my luggage) I avoided British Air like the plague and was duly rewarded with the luxurious travel accouterments afforded those who fly with Virgin Atlantic. Mr. Branson can rest at ease knowing his company’s reputation is well earned.

Arriving a few days early I was able to sample some of the local cultural buffet with a visit to Warwick Castle and catching a showing of a Midsummer’s Night Dream at the Courtyard Theatre. A simple thing really but it is nice to actually hear Shakespeare with a British accent.

The remainder of the week was a furious amalgamation of practice runs, presentation rewrites, and praying. This was to be the capstone project of the entire previous two years worth of work, culminating in a proposal of future development for the company. Seeing as how I am writing this and I did not have a heart attack means that the proposal was well received. Well more than just well received, it was interesting to see the CEO start queuing the managing directors on timelines and deliverables based on the project.

Of course this also means my contract with the company is pretty much, almost, just about, “officially” over, I have been reassured with such current successes that I shall continue within my current capacity, maintaining the status quo. Actually knowing the business world, I’m keeping my fingers crossed and my resume up to date.

In the meantime I try to recover from jet lag and post up some good pictures I took.

birdofprey - fancy finding a bald eagle in England
royal - The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, sadly still under construction
Shakespeare - Hotel I stayed at
Trebuchet - Which they actually fired
Warwick - View from top of the castle