One of those weeks...

When nothing goes right, nothing goes right, right?

I'm sorry, I don't know what that means. What I meant to say is that this week at work has been one of the worst weeks in who knows how long, and my vehicle is out of commission (and they can't service it until Monday), and I can't seem to stay awake during the day (today was fine, though), and...there was something else. Oh, right. I can't win any Halo matches. Granted, that's not very important in the whole scheme of things, but it's still frustrating as heck.

Yesterday was awful, though. I honestly haven't really had a bad day in a while, but between my ride not working, being late for work, and a co-worker making me want to pull my hair out, it was terrible. I was flat out angry all day yesterday. If the pastor's fruit of the Spirit sermons continue their orderly trend, Sunday should be "patience," which is something I often desperately lack. I tend to have a short fuse.

But today was fine, and tomorrow will be better.

I was looking though some stuff this afternoon and came across a story (of sorts) that I started but never finished, due to the fact that it became too difficult. I had attempted to write a narrative consisting only of single-syllable words, with no words repeated, and exactly 100 words long. For fun. Yes, I am abnormal. I think it's sitting at 57 words right now, and I'm considering an attempt to complete it. If it happens, I'll share it here.

I suddenly got the strangest urge to play Dance Dance Revolution.

And...I'm off!

Konpyuta wa baka desu.

I've mentioned before how much I hate falling asleep in the middle of the day, but there was absolutely no preventing it this afternoon. I actually dozed off while watching ESPN and playing my guitar :P

We had a short day at work today, so I was able to come home and catch up on a few things that I've been meaning to catch up on. Of course, if I hadn't fallen asleep, I could have done quite a bit more...

I haven't been updating this thing like I should; I meant to do it last night, but didn't have a computer. Then I realized that I can actually use my computer. That statement sounds like it needs an explanation. For some bizarre reason, I cannot get into a number of websites on my personal computer. These include Google, Marvel.com, Facebook, my Hello!Online blog, any of my email accounts, IGN.com, and other random sites. About a year-and-a-half ago, my computer got sick (viral) and freaked out on me. As a last ditch effort to save its life, I ended up installing my sister's Vista, which actually worked, and saved my machine from a complete meltdown. However, the computer gods don't seem to like the fact that I am using a previously-registered operating system, and a lot of things don't seem to work properly any more, which is not a huge deal. Most of the problems are really just minor annoyances. But ever since then, I've not been able to access those sites. Sometimes I forget that I actually can get on this blog from my machine. I need a new one, and I'd kind of like to get a laptop, but we'll see. I'm still thinking about checking out where my Target discount gets me on Dell.com.

Quickie-updates from the last few days:

*Ohio State beat Illinois 30-0. Our defense is unbelievably good this year.

*Tampa Bay was shut out by the Giants. Leftwich is now the backup to the backup.

*Good sermon Sunday. The PEACE!!!

*ZONE is (was) a really cool band; and am I finally giving in to Berryz?

*I still suck at Halo.

All right, that's good for now.

Autumn

The Pillar of Autumn was (will be?) a UNSC Navy Cruiser under the command of Captain Jacob Keyes that, following the battle for Reach, discovered Installation 04. She landed there, the Marines fought the Covenant and the Flood, and Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 detonated the Autumn's fusion reactors and destroyed the installation. Hooray!

Crap, I did it again. I really must stop thinking of nothing but Halo.

The "Autumn" that I meant to refer to is the season, and the fact that it feels like it's approaching, as the mornings have been rather cool these last few days. Afternoon-time is still kinda hot (and apparently we have 90s in the forecast), but fall is almost here, which makes me happy.

I failed to mention the other day that I finally got around to reading issue 600 of "Amazing Spider-Man," which came out in July. Yes, I'm that far behind. But the book was spectacular, and it's incredible to think that it has been in production as one long, continuous saga of one character for 47 years! A couple of years ago, after Marvel made some rather...drastic decisions regarding the past and future of the Spider-Man character, I was upset and swore I would stop reading it. I stuck with it, however, and finally had to admit that the new direction turned out to be rather good, and some amazing stories have been created since then. I still don't agree with the means by which Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada brought the changes about, but the results have been exceptionally better than anyone expected. Which is why I'm going to reserve judgement on the Disney sell-out until I see what comes of it.

I actually had to work today, which felt really strange on a Friday, but no complaints. Happy, happy paycheck for me. I had to reset the scrapbooking aisle today, which consists of what seems like thousands upon thousands of packs of stickers. And by reset, I mean COMPLETELY reset, as in it looks nothing like it used to; but I managed it in about seven hours, well short of the given eleven hours, so it wasn't really a problem.

Gotta go work on some non-Halo stuff.

Out of New Mombasa

The ODST campaign is done. Finally. Yesterday evening, I was at the end of the third-to-last level when my Xbox Live connection was lost, which was no big deal because I was playing solo. But like a doofus, I decided to hit my guide button and reconnect, which threw my game back to the title screen. I thought I could restart the level where I was disconnected (a frustrating but minor inconvenience), and continue on from there. But no. As it turns out, the last two levels cannot be accessed until one has completed every other mission in one game. So, while I could start back where I left off, I actually ended up having to go back and re-do every previous mission. Grr...

I really enjoyed the game, though. The way the story played out was nice, and the characters were fun. A worthy addition to the franchise, even without a mere mention of Sierra 117 (or Halo, for that matter). Plus, I loved the fact that three of the troopers were voiced by Firefly alums, and Nathan Fillion's character was actually made to look like him. And Alan Tudyk's character is a pilot. Hmm...

Oh, by the way, I went and signed my Air Force job contract today.

But back to Halo. It's going to be interesting to see how the game works when played cooperatively, as it's very much designed as a single player experience. Luckily, I have Halo-playing friends that can help me figure that out. And I'm really looking forward to checking out Firefight (probably) tomorrow. We'll see. I do need to get some actual real-life stuff done, as I've been out of commission for two (should have only been one) days, so I may resist the Xbox urge tomorrow. Plus, I'm honestly a little Halo-ed out right now.

ODST Tomorrow!

I tried to get some stuff done today, but between trying not to fall asleep (unsuccessfully for about a half-hour) and my computer not wanting to cooperate (it's okay now), I ended up just being frustrated all afternoon. I did, however, get a hold of a couple of music videos that have been absent from my rather vast collection, and that I have greatly desired for quite some time; all thanks to a friend and his ability to know where to look ^_^ So that kinda made my day.

I ran by Sgt. Kim-Mata's office this morning and picked up my job description (though I failed to ask about my exact ship date), only to find that it is not in English. At least, I don't think it is, as I have absolutely no idea what the description is describing. Why does everything in the military have to be an acronym? But I still think that "Cyber Systems Operations" sounds cool.

"So, Mike, what do you do for a living?"

Last four years: "I work at Target."

Starting next year: "I'm in Cyber Systems Operations in the United States Air Force." :D

Much better.

I hovered around the receiving area at work today, waiting for the UPS guy to show up so I could intercept the box containing Halo 3: ODST. I am proud to say that my mission was a success. I got to touch it first. Hah! Obviously, I will be playing it all day tomorrow, so if I don't get on here and post, that's why.

:P

Okay, fine, I'll do it...

I wasn't going to post anything today, because today was rather uneventful; but my mother insisted, so...

I went to church and played my viola and heard a good sermon.

I ate pizza.

I finished Gears of War 2 with Thomas.

I'm going to bed.

^_^

Four Months

Basic training is in January.

JANUARY!

I don't know the exact date because I kinda zoned out after Sgt. Kim-Mata said "January." I really wasn't expecting it to be such a long time, but it's okay. I no longer feel so rushed; I feel that I can relax a bit. Plus, I'll have more time to get into good basic training shape; with four months to prepare, hopefully next January and February will be relatively smooth sailing.

I am happy with my AFSC, though. 3D032: Cyber Systems Operations; a fancy way to say that I'll be working with computers ^_^

On Monday, I'm going to stop by the recruiting station to pick up some details, so I'll post more when I know more.

In other news, the Ohio State game was wonderfully boring today; a 38-0 wallop over Toledo. Illinois next week. Hey! I'm going to get to see the entire football season! Woo-hoo!

In more other news, this morning it was announced that Koharu Kusumi will be graduating from Hello!Project in December. And since nobody here cares, I'm going to head over to Hello!Online to talk about it ;D

But it's not even October yet...

A long day at work plus a trip to the comic book store meant that I didn't get home until 3:00 today, which stinks. But tomorrow promises to be a quick and easy day, which is nice, because these last two days (finishing the Halloween set) have been rough. Of course, as I was putting the final touches on Halloween, I happened to walk a few aisles over only to discover that a cow-orker was putting the first of the Christmas stuff out. Oh dear.

"Kimagure Princess," the new Morning Musume single, was heard for the first time today, and is very cool. But since I have a Musume-specific blog, I'll detail my thoughts there rather than here. Deal?

Also cool is the fact that artist Mike Mayhew is back to doing what he does best, which is (artisting?) drawing comic book covers. I was very happy to see that he did the latest Amazing Spider-Man cover, as I am a huge fan of his work. I haven't seen a lot of him lately, so I'm glad he's back, and I hope he sticks around.

27

'Tis my birhday. Twenty-seven. A good number. A cube, in fact. Unless one lives to 125, a person only experiences three cube ages in a lifetime. Scratch that - four cube ages. I forgot 1*1*1. :P

I'm finally back on my regular schedule. The last couple of days, I've been sleeping when I'm usually awake, and awake when I'm usually asleep. I spent the better part of today merely trying to force myself to stay awake so I could get back to "normal," and I was quite literally falling asleep at work early this morning. But I managed.

I bought the DS game "Scribblenauts" today, which is conceptually the most fascinating game I've ever seen. There are a few control issues that hinder the experience slightly, but not too drastically, and the game pretty much delivers what it promises. Basically, you have to solve puzzles by any means you can dream up, simply by writing, and thus summoning, any object. If you write it, it appears in the game. There are literally tens of thousands of possible items. It seems impossible, but the developers managed to pull it off. At one point, I had myself riding on the back of a top-hat-wearing gorilla whilst wielding a bazooka and being chased by a T-Rex on a skateboard. Endless possibilities. :D

With my birthday gift Target gift-cards, I now have enough that I needn't pay a single shiny red cent for ODST next week. Huzzah!

Bed time. Gotta go.

Birthdays

A rather uneventful day today, as I pretty much slept all afternoon. I also had to watch some Takahashi-centric Morning Musume stuff, as today was her 23rd birthday.























And tomorrow is my 27th birthday.



















Also, one week until ODST drops!

:D

Also, I had a really bad football weekend.

:(

No Comment

...

I'm Back

Between my twelve-hour Halo marathon Thursday evening into Friday morning and the fact that I've been doing non-computer related things, I really haven't been online for the last couple of days.

Still no word from my recruiter concerning my AFSC/ship date, but according to what she told me last month, I should definitely hear something next week.

Today I need to get my comic books organized, which is something that I've been dreading. It would have been bad a month ago, so I kept putting it off, but now I have a giant unsorted stack that I need to take care of. :\

And, of course, tonight is the USC game. Go Buckeyes!

My Feet

Hurt.

It's pitiful that that's all I can think of to post today, but it's true. At work, I never get to sit, except for my 30-minute lunch and 15-minute break; I'm always on the move. It's been especially bad this week with the Halloween stuff. Then, of course, yesterday I had to go run, so...feet...ouch. On the bright side, at least I'm used to a lot of walking and the pain that goes with it, so I suppose that aspect of basic training won't be too much of a shock to the system. I should however, get used to running.

Today was a bit uneventful. I got off work late, played Halo with Thomas on Legendary with all skulls activated (we got further than we ever dreamed we would), and checked out The Beatles: Rock Band, which is amazing. It's the type of game where you can tell that a whole lot of time and care and attention went into it; where it ends up feeling more like an experience than a mere game. And I haven't even gotten to the really good stuff yet.

PT

I had my first Air Force physical fitness test today, just to see where I am in relation to where I need to be. No real complaints, but I'd like to be able to post a better 1.5 mile time before basic, so I really need to start running a bit.

Today was a bad day to have to do all that, as I had a rather intense on-my-feet-all-day day at work, building the shelf units and displays for our Halloween set. So my feet are killing me.

They don't hurt so much, though, that I won't be able to be Ringo Starr tomorrow. The Beatles: Rock Band is finally being released and it looks amazing, so I pretty much know what I'm going to be doing for much of tomorrow. Maybe. I actually have an appointment to play Halo on Thursday (no, I'm not kidding), and don't really want to spend two days doing nothing but gaming. Too much of that last week.

Last but not least, I simply cannot go another day without posting this. It's a Czech music video and is quite possibly one of the most amazingly bizarre things I've ever seen:


o_O

MY...BRAIN...HURTS!

Okay, not so much my brain as my head. And not so much hurts as itches. And not so much itches as I only think it itches because I'm thinking about it. Today is Labor Day, which will always be remembered to me as the day I split my head open with the ladder four years ago. I will never forget the feeling of staples digging into the back of my head.

o_O!!

No incidents today, though there were potential incidents by having to crawl around in the black widow infested storage trailer...Target is hazardous to my health.

I failed to post a new post yesterday for the first time since I started this thing. Last week was just a weird week. My sleep schedule and my normal daily routine were thrown for a loop for some reason. I feel like I'm back to normal now, though. I still have a few things that I need to catch up on, but no big deal.

Tomorrow afternoon I have to attend a Commander's Call, which ought to be all kinds of fun. I just wish they'd hurry up and let me know the details concerning my job and ship date. I hate waiting.

Navy

Despite a few worrysome moments, Ohio State managed to get the win, 31 to 27. Of course, since it was a close game, everybody's going to talking about how Ohio State doesn't stand a chance against USC next week. Bull. Crap. Remember - Navy has led the COUNTRY in rushing the last couple of years; they're not a cupcake team, and that kind of run game is hard to prepare for and hard to stop. USC will have a much more traditional and predictable offense with a mediocre high school quarterback. If they can stop McKnight and play a smart and disciplined game, they should be fine. And you can't look past the fact that it's at night and in The Shoe.

Oklahoma looks like they could be in trouble against BYU, plus Bradford's out. I'm gonna go watch the rest of that one.

Football

Tomorrow.

'Nuff said.

(But I need to find my Ohio State socks...)

Not Quite

I thought I would work five days and forty hours this week, but I was wrong. I'm off tomorrow, but did end up with a respectable thirty-five-ish hours. It really doesn't seem like that long ago that I would practically throw a fit over ending up with thirty-nine hours in a week; my how things have changed. The good thing is that it won't be long until I have an actual respectable salary; no more punching the time clock or hoping to squeeze more hours into the work-week. Soon.

Since I'm off tomorrow, it's a good opportunity to catch up with a few things that I've been meaning to do. I've been distracted by my Xbox the last couple of days, as a friend of mine with whom I used to play online has returned to the gaming world after a hiatus of over a year. So we're trying to make up for lost time :D

And I can't not post this. I heard about this band from a co-worker who heard about this band from a co-worker, and I decided to check them out. All I know is that the band is called "The Gazette," and this song is incredible:

Crazy Week

Okay, so maybe I don't hate Disney; I just don't like them all that much. And that was even before they bought Marvel. This, being my blog, seems like an ideal place to discuss exactly what I think about the disastrous buy-out, but I won't do that. I'm going to reserve judgement on the deal and wait to see what comes of it. All I really worry about is the books; Disney can have the movies and video games and all the licensed products and everything else as far as I'm concerned. But I hope they allow the books to continue as they have. Does it bother me that Captain America is now under the same banner as Snow White? Yes. Does it bother me that I may be seeing a Disney symbol on the comics? Yes. But I can overlook these gripes and long as the creative process is not tampered with.

And I could go on for paragraphs, but I'm done.

It's been a crazy week; first Oasis splits, and now this whole Disney thing happens. Yeesh.

Anyway, it looks like I'm actually going to end up working a forty-hour week this week, which is just about how many hours I've been getting every two weeks. Can't complain about that.

Attn: Disney

I hate you.

That is all.

Sincerely,

Mike