Vengeful Cynic

Away for the Weekend...

I Got Away From School

I'm up at home in Ohio to witness my brother Geoff's graduation. I haven't mentioned it up until this point because it was a suprise to all up here. I don't know if anyone from home reads this, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I'm about to head out to party, but I'll give more update info later...

Screwy link of the day: *ON VACATION*

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: *ON VACATION*
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: *ON VACATION*
Days Until Summer is Over: 83

Smack a Happy Person

Apparently the fire alarm went off at 1 AM. News to me. I'm headed out in an hour or so. If you see a Happy Person*, smack him/her for me.

Screwy link of the day: Extreme Ironing

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 0
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 25
Days Until Summer is Over: 84

On Cynicism and Happy People...

Since it would appear that there are a number of ignorant Happy People* out there who are developing misinformed and foolish notions and spreading them, I guess it comes time to do a little work on defining semantics and clarifying things.

cynic: noun
a faultfinding captious critic; especially : one who believes that human conduct is motivated wholly by self-interest

cynical: adjective
having or showing the attitude or temper of a cynic; especially: contemptuously distrustful of human nature and motives

Now that I've got the definition of those words cleared up...

I've heard the accusation that cynicism is counterproductive and destructive. From a Christian perspective I see no other alternative. Humanity is fallen, period, end of story. Anyone want to argue on that one?

So if we can pretty much assume that people are depraved and sinful, why should we trust their motives or believe that they act from altruism?

Now that we've got that out of the way, we have to address the issue of Happy People*. Simply put, Happy People* are those who have decided that their perspective has no correlation with circumstances. In short, their method of coping with life is, "so what if life sucks? It's not bothering me... let's all be happy." Happiness is not an outlook, lest you be fooled, it is an emotion. Some of you might be referencing joy, but that's a completely different thing, especially from a Christian mindset. Long story short, if you can be happy while people are suffering and being treated horribly, you've got some issues. Either that, or you chose to ignore the plight of yourself and those around you in an attempt to remain happy*, and then you are among the most despicable of individuals because you care for nothing but your own delusions. You are the reason for my cynicism.

*note: Happy People and Happy are to be pronounced with every bit of disdain possible.

No More Bill... Please

Here's something I'm praying will never happen. Just think, another 8 years of Bill Clinton.

More Frigging Alarms...

Wow.... I didn't get around to posting yesterday. Since it's not 11 AM yet, I'll put up the countdown statistics from yesterday. Incidentally, I suspect I remember hearing the fire alarm going off as I was going to sleep last night but it's all kinda blurry. Any confirmations?

Screwy link of the day: http://www.philscasket.com/Lords_Supperx.html

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 11
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 24
Days Until Summer is Over: 85

One of Those Days

Ever had one of those days? Today wasn't one of them for me, hopefully it wasn't one for you either.

Tired of School and Work

Ugh! Every day that I work, I develop a little bit more hatred for my job. Maybe it's just that any of that "new job appeal" that I had has finally run out. Or maybe it's just that I've gotten all of the work aspects and haven't quite figured out all of the slacking yet.

Oh, and I officially am also tired of Linear Algebra. I just can't wait until the weekend at this point. Supposedly I'm going to see Bruce Almighty tonight. If I do, I'll review it later.

Screwy link of the day: Icy Hot Stuntaz

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 10
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 23
Days Until Summer is Over: 86

Tests are Evil!

I've been out looking for screwy links so that I can have some more for tomorrow. In the process I found something special: a site dedicated to the ruining of Britney Spears posters. Check it out.

In other news, apparently Florida minorities feel that if they fail a test at a disproportionate percentage, said test is evil. I don't buy it... but then again, I apparently have no heart in such matters.

Feminists Will Love This...

It may be photoshopped... but I don't care.

French Canada Sucks

THE HOT WATER IS BACK ON!!!

About the picture, I know a few good people from Canada and I suspect that there are more. But I also know French Canadians and their idiocy. The liberal bastion of the north and the cause of a lot of idiotic b.s. that perpetuates across the northern border, I know I wouldn't miss the place.

I just realized that it's been almost 4 weeks since I ate at Saga. Mmmm... real food. No wonder I haven't been sick from food lately.

Incidentally, I'm running low on screwy links. If you find one, send it to me.

Screwy link of the day: Porn King Saddam?

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 9
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 22
Days Until Summer is Over: 87

Would You?

I wouldn't.

Still no warm water!

Still no warm water. I ought to go stab someone for this. In other news, everyone is out of town or elsewhere. I guess that gives me a lot of time to myself... but I guess I'm just not as good at that as I used to be. But long story short, now I'm hungry and am liable to kill someone if I am not fed. Later...

Screwy link of the day: http://www.thoraxcorp.com/

Days Without Warm Water: 3
Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 8
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 21
Days Until Summer is Over: 88

American History 101

Found this at expectnothing.com and it amused me:

American History 101

It was the first day of school and a new student, Suzuki, son of a Japanese businessman, entered the fourth grade class. The teacher said, "Let`s begin by reviewing some American history.

"Who said, `Give me Liberty or give me Death` ?" She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Suzuki`s

"Patrick Henry 1775," he said.

"Very good! Who said `...government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth`?"

Again, no response, except from Suzuki. "Abraham Lincoln, 1863."

The teacher snapped, "Class, you should be ashamed. Suzuki, who is new to our country, knows more about its history than you do."

She heard a loud whisper, "Screw the Japs."

"Who said that?" she demanded.

Suzuki raised his hand: "Lee Iacocca, 1982."

At that point a student said, "I`m gonna puke." The teacher glared and asked, "All right! Who said that?"

Suzuki says, "George Bush to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991."

Furious, another student yells, "Oh yeah? Suck this!"

Suzuki jumps up waving his hand and shouts, "Bill Clinton, to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!"

With near mob hysteria, someone screams, "You little shit. If you say anything else, I`ll kill you."

Suzuki yells, "Gary Condit to Chandra Levy, 2001."

At this, the teacher fainted. The class gathered around her.

One of the kids says, "Oh shit, we`re in BIG trouble!"

Suzuki says, "Arthur Andersen, 2002."

Cold Showers Suck...

New thing to complain about: no hot water in the John. This is twice in one year that I've had to deal with a cold shower. Luckily, the first time was in Tyler... so I just walked over to Tyler West and took a shower over there. Sadly, this time there was no alternative to the cold shower of doom... TWO DAYS IN A ROW

If I have to increment that warm water counter tomorrow, there WILL be hell to pay.

Screwy link of the day: http://www.i-mockery.com/visionary/shaving.asp

Days Without Warm Water: 2
Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 7
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 20
Days Until Summer is Over: 89

D&D Comic!

Every now and again, Something Positive has a poignant comic on D&D. Here's another good one.

Sleeping In...

I love sleeping in until after noon. It gives me this wonderful fuzzy feeling that I've missed since starting my job. At least I get a 3-day weekend this one and the joy that goes along with not having to work or go to class on Monday. Mmmm.... it feels good.

In other news, Gecko should be back for good as of Monday-ish which is a good thing. After his laser eye surgery, he's been on the mend and staying with his mom so she can take care of him. He should be back to good and helping cause trouble soon. People need to be around and available on the weekends or else things get boring. Regardless, I'm clearing stuff off of my hard drive and going to install a Linux partition again. It's been too long since I futzed around with that...

If anyone has any interesting ideas for plans this weekend, let me know.

Screwy link of the day:

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 6
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 19
Days Until Summer is Over: 90

I Don't Like Catfish...

Work is always fun when you don't do much of any on a particular day. Oh, and catfish is decidedly not my thing... I guess I'm just not southern.

Screwy link of the day: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,58914,00.html

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 5
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 18
Days Until Summer is Over: 91

"Things I Want A Beating For"

The Infamous "Things Want A Beating For Doing" List... reposted to the top of the blog

I will be updating the list here from now on... at least until it moves to the bottom of the page and needs to be dragged back up again.

1) Become a vegetarian.
2) Start worshipping animals.
3) Eat a tofu burger.
4) Go out with a girl that a good friend of mine is interested in behind his back.
5) Hit a girl when (when my life isn't being theatened by said girl.)
6) Buy an Apple computer.
7) Change how I look for a wench.
8) Sell out my morals for a wench.
9) Stop referring to wenches as wenches.
10) Refer to a Business Major as a "tough degree"
11) Stop being cynical.
12) Start espousing feminism.
13) Refer to the MRS degree (the other EE) as anything other than MRS
14) Stay at LU as long/longer than Lurch.
15) Turn into a "Happy Person"
16) Hand a weapon over to a wench.
17) Commit to do an undisclosed favor ("Can you do me a favor?")
18) Commit to something I don't know anything about.
19) Become a member of another worthless committee or organization.
20) Run from the cops when I get pulled over.
21) Join the Peace Corps
22) Ask for advice and then ignore it
23) Break up with someone in a letter
24) Tell a friend goodbye in a letter/email/phone call
25) Arm a wench (militarily or otherwise)
26) Give obnoxious morning greetings
27) Sing in Saga (a la Didlake)
28) Work as an Admissions Nazi
29) Become Themelios
30) Treat people under me as inferior
31) Become an ignoramus who abuses people to further my ego.
32) Turn into Dr. Batts
33) Stop asking anyone for advice except those whom I know will agree with me
34) Join a cult
35) Stop being a Chauvinist
36) Stop being a 2nd amendment activist
37) Join Green Peace
38) Start a labor union
39) Neglect my parents when they get old
40) Rat out a friend to the authorities
41) Give even a dime to the NOW

more to come as I remember them or they come to me...

Skipping Class in Summer...

Skipping class for the second time today. After that little Sadistic trip by Roden yesterday on my Linear Algebra exam, I really don't feel like another kick to the head.

Screwy link of the day: http://rent-a-negro.com/ (note: read the site, you should realize that it's a joke)

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 4
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 17
Days Until Summer is Over: 92

Pop Music is Hard to Write?

"Anyone can sit down and write some boring artistic song. Pop music is the hardest shit to write." - Britney Spears in 5/9/2003 issue of Entertainment Weekly

I really wish I was making this up...

Bachelor Party

Some interesting things are coming down the pipe related to housing from a variety of sources. If you know anything or have heard any interesting rumors, let me know.

Screwy link of the day: Bachelor Party

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 3
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 16
Days Until Summer is Over: 93

Skipping Work...

Here's an interesting article on The Hill. If you skipped this much class, most teachers would fail you outright. Good stuff.

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 2
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 15
Days Until Summer is Over: 94

Holy Jihad Upon Gadzooks

The Cynic Declares Holy Jihad Upon Gadzooks

Editor's Note: Sadly, I never had the good sense to copy down the inflammatory pictures Gadzooks was using in their advertising campaign and now the pictures are no longer available.

Apparently Gadzooks has decided that the trick to good marketing is discrimination against men. It's a damned shame that if any men's wear store tried this they'd get blacklisted and sued by all of the goddamned feminists out there.

Official Painter

I'm now officially painting for physical plant. I miss not working.

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 1
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 14
Days Until Summer is Over: 95

Tired of Abuse?

Tired of getting abused by LU? Have a sneaking suspicion that your rights are being trampled by Doug and Bud? Want to do something about it?

Go order the FIRE Guides and read up on your rights and what you can do about LeTourneau's abuse of them.

Go Find My Friends For Me!

Why is it that the people who get on my nerves the most are also the ones who will never go away and the people I enjoy having around are never around enough?

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 0
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 13
Days Until Summer is Over: 96

1 AM Fire Alarms...

The Cynic Will Exact Vengeance Upon: Starting the Day Off With a 1 AM Fire Alarm

That's right folks, 3 John Thomas Hall Fire Alarms in the past 12 hours. 4:30 PM , 10:30 PM and 1:30 AM. Someone's gonna die for this...

I Hate This Place

The Cynic Will Exact Vengeance Upon: Two Fire Alarms in One Day

I hate this building.

Saturday Breakfast Club...

Dragged myself out of bed at the bright and early hour of 10 to go over to the girls' house and have breakfast. Tom cooked and we all had a pretty good time sitting around and chatting. Worm crashed here last night and came along and several others like Kass and Rachel are still in town and came over. I really miss all of the people that leave. At least some of them still come back for now... wonder what it'll be like in 2 or 3 years when I graduated.

I've pretty much decided that I'm not going to move off the floor. With the exception of Tom, nobody who does that comes back much at all. Dunny's been half-decent about stopping by, but everyone else leaves the floor and then you never see them again. I think we saw Groody on the floor maybe 6 or 8 times all of last year. Then again, he did have a fiancee in town, but that's hardly an excuse. It's days like this that convince me that one of the worst things about life that will be resolved in heaven is that there isn't enough time to spend with your friends and you lose touch with some really awesome people.

Update: Apparently fire alarm went off at 4:30ish... counter resets to 0...

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 0
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 12
Days Until Summer is Over: 97

Tips for a Slacker Pro

Incidentally, the Wall Street Journal is now giving tips on how to be a slacker if you're not as good at it as some of us professionals.

Morning Effort Sucks

The Cynic Will Exact Vengeance Upon: People Making Me Do Effort in the Morning

I'm happy to note that I'm awake and it wasn't due to a fire alarm. Not that I'm particularly happy about getting up this early, but stuff needs to get done and I don't see anyone else going to do it. I am starting to get REALLY sick of this University running off good people to other schools and leaving us to deal with the aftermath.

Here's to Groody!

The Cynic Will Have a Drink* For: Jordan Groody

Big guy is getting married this very evening. I'm proud to be his friend and glad to be able to attend such a momentous event. It's great to see good things happening to good guys.

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 1
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 11
Days Until Summer is Over: 98

*clearly a drink of non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice

6.45 AM Fire Alarm

Well... the fire alarm went off again at 6:45 or so this morning. At least, I think I heard it go off. And by the time that we fastidiously hurried to get our clothes on and rush out of the building like good LeTourneau students, lo and behold the fire alarm had turned off. It was amazing.

Alright, so even by the time we had thought about doing all of that, the fire alarm had turned off. So maybe we just rolled over and went back to sleep... so what?

Oh, and for those of you keeping count, that brings the total up to 3 this summer.

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 0
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 10
Days Until Summer is Over: 99

Summertime and Friends Are In...

I've been looking at some other blogs and back at mine and I can feel a redesign coming. The background is iffy, the text needs redoing, and the orange is really starting to grate on me. Tell me what you think as I could use the suggestions of some of the more artistic among you.

As far as everything else goes, Tom, Kass and Rachel are back in town with others soon to follow. It feels good to have a lot of the members of the old crowd back around and in town. I'm looking forward to seeing Jordan get married and become a respectable citizen. It should be amusing...

I cut my first class of the summer today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now all I need is a crackhead to skip class with.

Reloaded Seems to Be Going Somewhere...

Well... I went and I saw and now I'm back. I really can't say it was as well-done a plot as I'd hoped, but I think it followed the Star Wars 4,5,6 generic setup rather closely. Namely the first movie is self-contained and leaves a few threads to attach a sequel to and a lot of spots you can expand, the second does a lot of expanding, twisting and stretching the plot in ways that you (or anyone else) hadn't really considered and makes you realize that there really was some stuff there that you hadn't thought about. The second movie also does a bit of deeper character development, brings in a new character or two, and creates conflicts between existing characters. A lot of people hate second movies because they don't really tie up any strings and for every loose end they tie up they create 3 more.

I personally thought that Matrix 2 was fairly good. There were some things I could have done without and a few apparent contradictions with the first movie, but it made me happy. I think I might be one of the few people who can say this: but I saw the motive behind about 98% of what they put in there and I agree with why they did it and enjoyed it for that. Some of it was a bit overdone, but all and all I was very impressed and left satisfied. And let me tell you this, part of it is DEFINITELY fishing for an Oscar. To get more than that, go read a spoiler or see it for yourself. I think I might go again tomorrow... we'll see.

War Upon the NOW!

I have found a group whose political and sociological idealogy cannot be resolved with mine. Not only will I destroy them, but I will exact Holy Vengeance upon them.

Feminists are Hypocrites!

The Cynic Will Exact Vengeance Upon: Double Standards.

Apparently some people are getting fed up with the whole political correctness of male-bashing. This article on FoxNews was interesting. I can't say it really bugs me except that it's a double-standard. Why is it that it's ok to bash on white men and actually discriminate against us? Affirmative action, can you say discrimination that everyone says is ok?

Can you imagine what would happen to a political activist if he started telling jokes about stupid women? But yet, the NOW and other such groups manage to get away with male-bashing and funneling money away from anything male-related on a daily basis. How come nobody gives a shit if there are female-only schools and work-out clubs and political dinners but yet Augusta National is now being
boycotted and protested against by feminists. Foolish feminists and their double-standards. And shame on anyone for actually believing that it's okay to treat one group of people differently than the others and hold them to some other standard.

"But white men have been discriminating against everyone else for years," some will cry. Does this make discriminating against them right? Will it somehow fix anything?

Personally, I think in the end the system will rectify itself given the oppurtunity. Reinstate libertarian capitalism and forget socialistic policies like welfare and social security. Social Darwinianism will take its course and eventually things will come out right.

Idiocy Under Scrutiny

Well, it would appear that it's come time to start declaring war on the many ignorant and foolish groups that exist in the world. Today's target of choice is the NOW. Stay tuned for more idiotic and ignorant groups to declare war on...

Going to see Matrix tonight and Tom gets in tonight. Should be an interesting day...

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 4
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 9
Days Until Summer is Over: 100

Plans to See Reloaded

Alright, here's the deal... I think we're going to try and find someone to go buy tickets. They go on sale at 3:30 tomorrow. Sadly, I'll be in class along with Wisher (one of my roommates) while Gecko is still out of town and Dunny is going to go see Matrix Reloaded in Dallas when he goes to pick Tom up. I'm still not sure who all wants to go with us and all of those happy details, but said details would be nice to have. If you're interested in coming with us, leave a message on my blog, call me, or talk to me in person. If you are available at 3:30 on Wednesday to go get tickets, that would be nice too.

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 3
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 8
Days Until Summer is Over: 101

Don't Trust Them...

You know, there are some days when I wish I could be intellectually satisfied with being a Happy Person... it would make life so much easier. Instead, I got stuck with this working bit of pulp between my ears and the damnedest inclination to keep using the fool thing. What's worse, problems keep following me... problems which would go away with maddening ease if I just decided, "I'm going to be happy, screw what I see around me. Just happy, all the time, la-la-la!"

Sometimes I envy the ignorant happy people and their false sense of security. They think that the kung fu they learned in 3rd grade will save them from their problems and that false sense of security makes life ok.

But then I watch them as life's realities bring their bubbles crashing down and they don't know how to cope. I may have a lot of things wrong, but at least I know just how fucked up this world really is. My cynicism is based on the undeniable fact that people are fallen and depraved beings with no redemptive value to themselves. The only time my cynicism fails is when Christ intercedes. And you know what? I can deal with that. Because it happens only in that rare Christian or two amongst the teeming sea of reprobate jackasses. Here at LU, the only sure thing is that you can't trust that "Christian" label to make it all good. There are some legit people around here, but there are a whole lot of imitators and even the real Christians stumble.

So try and follow Jesus' lead, but don't expect it from anyone else. Expect them to act like the fallen sinners that they are, and when someone acts differently you'll be pleasantly suprised. That kind of suprise beats the sinking feeling in your stomach that goes along with that sharp burning sensation as the blade slips between the ribs and into your back.

Sam = Anti-Christ?

Oh... and here's another good one on Sam:

"I think Sam Daimwood's the Anti-Christ. I think he's on a secret mission to pass through a Christian University demon-possessed." - Patrick Murphy, Sam's Ex-Roommate

Note: This is the same Patrick Murphy who got kicked out of KZX for drinking.

Fun Weekend Ahead

Interesting things to do this week: Tom Elliot gets in on Wednesday and Matrix Reloaded opens Thursday (Wednesday night.) Is there a group already organized to go? Are there people already with tickets? Does anyone have any more information than I do (basically, that being the time and place: 10PM Carmike)? If so, drop a comment. I'd like to get a group organized or get in on whatever's already organizing to go see the movie.

Update: Tickets at Carmike go on sale at 3:30 PM on Wednesday. Oh, and it would appear that you can't buy tickets online to the Carmike.

Damn, Jordan's getting married this week. I can feel the temperature in hell dropping already...

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 3
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 8
Days Until Summer is Over: 101

Shem Shuts Up!

Let it be known that on this day, 11 May 2003, Shem officially tried to abstain from talking and actually succeeded. There's a first...

'Net Filtering Hates Me

The Cynic Will Exact Vengeance Upon: Internet Filtering

Wilson has informed me that my blog is blocked by whatever internet filtering service his ISP uses. He hasn't gotten back to me on which service that is, but it disturbs me nonetheless. Sure, I'm inclined to use strong language upon occasion, but that's been about as far as I've ever gone. And somehow Shem's isn't blocked. Mr. Strong Language himself isn't blocked but I am. Go figure...

I Went to Church!

I went to church today at St. Mike's and I have to say that I was impressed. My background is decidedly Evangelical Free and as such I can't say as I've had any contact at all with Anglicans. In fact, robes and ceremony have always been something that gave me the heeby-jeebies in the past. But today, I went to St. Mike's and was really moved by the liturgy and the service. Dr. Watson preached and his sermon was great and I was really impressed by the service taken from the Book of Common Prayer. I think I'm gonna go back. I guarantee though, it feels a lot better than the whole sleep in Sunday until 2 or 3 pm routine.

Oh, and still no sign of a fire alarm all weekend long... *knocks on wood*

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 2
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 7
Days Until Summer is Over: 102

First Summer Weekend

Working on my first of what promises to be many uneventful weekends here at LU in the summer. Just rolled out of bed about 10 minutes ago after spending an amusing evening down at Q3 watching a movie, playing poker, and eating steak and pizza. Good fun had by all. It's gonna suck when Caleb and Stan go home for the summer. At least then I'll get the Gecko back.

I've heard from a couple of friends since the beginning of the summer and most of them seem to be trying to find jobs or waiting for said jobs to start. Funny, all I have to do is go get mine... I just don't want to yet. Maybe next week.

Incidentally, can anyone think of anything interesting this summer that's going to be happening in or near Longview besides Jordan's wedding?

Days Since Last Fire Alarm: 1
Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 6
Days Until Summer is Over: 103

Early-Morning Death Crickets

The Cynic Will Exact Vengeance Upon: Early-Morning Fire Alarms

I disobeyed the advice of the wise man yesterday and said that things could have been worse. More specifically, "At least it wasn't 4 am or something..." I should know better than to ignore the wise man's advice. This morning the fire alarm went of at 6:30. God only knows what's in store from here. But I don't think I'm getting out of bed next time. Half of the other guys didn't. That part at least was quite amusing. I heard one girl remark, "There are more girls than guys out here." Considering that 2 floors are guys and only 1 is girls, that takes some solid male talent to sleep through annoying alarms. But I think Dunny had a point this morning when he noted that if the building was really burning, the sprinklers would come on and those would definitely wake us up.

Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 5
Days Until Summer is Over: 104

Leaving and Taking the Furniture With Me

In the vein of trying to impose some uniform standard on this counter, as of right now I am counting Monday, May 5 at 11 AM (CST) as the beginning of Day 1 of living in the John Thomas Hall and am counting Thursday, August 21 at 11 AM as the end of summer. At some point in the future I will be given a new move-out date from this hell-hole and at that point I will update accordingly.

I would also like to note for Randy among others that my frame of reference for residence halls is Tyler East. The rooms here are the same size and of more fragile construction than Tyler East. That means there's LOTS more space than a Trinity room or a Quad room with a bathroom somewhere between the two. The furniture moves and the layout lends itself to interesting configurations. That said, the walls ARE sheet-rock and feel like they're going to crack if I bellow "WEED" too loudly. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the ID cards are annoying as hell. But all in all, if I was a Trinity or a Quad person, I would seriously consider moving over here if I could find some way to get around the water pressure issue. As far as Tyler goes though, this shitty, cut-rate hotel building can go to hell. I want my dorm back. And as for the furniture, we're taking the damned couches with us at the end of the summer. 41 and the John 1 floors can come over and fight combined Tyler for them...

Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 4
Days Until Summer is Over: 105

Ah, The Written Word...

Ah, the dangers of the written word. What you write is indelibly preserved in a forum which is infinitely harder to revoke or alter than what you say. And the danger of being removed from the audience of that word is immense and lends itself to the tendancy towards superlative.

Do I think that the Yellow Jacket sucked last year? Definitely. Was it the worst writing that I'd ever seen? Probabaly not. Did I spout off a bit too much at it? Possibly. And are those words now perserved in an electronic format for anyone to see and be hurt by? That's the danger of writing right
there.

Did I mean what I said? Hell yes. Could I have said it more tactfully? Probably. But right now I'm not sure if I care. Should I? Probably. Therein lies the joy of having a two-inch piece of blackened string comprise your soul...

Fire Alarm #1

Well... it took a grand total of 4 days of summer occupation in the John before the fire alarm went off. While Tyler has the record securely holding at like 1 hour or something, it's still not a good feeling. But as long as we can avoid the quasi-hourly alarms that started off the Fall 2001 in Tyler, I guess I'll be ok. At least it wasn't 4 am or something...

Days of Living in a Shitty Dorm: 4
Days Until Summer is Over: 105

Here's a Sentimental Drink..

It's funny how at the end of a school year, everyone gets all sad and sentimental. If you read around the various student blogs, the same theme comes across: losing friends sucks. It's even worse when you know they're not coming back. Hopefully most of mine are. And if any of them go eloping or any ridiculous shit like that, I'm going to get my swords.

Here's a drink for those who are no longer of this earth, because they're in a better place.
Here's a drink for those who are with us but aren't because of circumstances that separate.
Here's to those who are only away for a while and will be back before too long
and to those who we may not see again this side of eternity.
And thank God for those He lets us keep with us if only for a while longer.
Because dammnit, we need someone to help us along and support us.

There, that's out of my system... now time for bed.

Doing Nothing and Loving It!

I'm back in from a long day of doing nothing and I have to say that I enjoyed it. This every day open dorms is kinda nice, albeit the 2 hours bit is annoying. Hey, it's a start though. A long day of doing nothing ahead of me tomorrow, though I suspect I'll be putting an end to the trend sometime next week with a job. Damn, I really don't want to do that.

Gecko is out...

Gecko is now out the door and wandering the wide, wide world known as Texas. He sent me a vague IM that he might even be back mid-May, so that would be cool. I miss having my fellow Bandits around and it's nice to have one or two still here. Come to think of it, a whole lot of people are gone who I miss. And then there's that few that I wish would go the hell back home and are still here. Regardless, class has started and shouldn't be too bad and the job is forthcoming. Should be an interesting summer... just one without a lot of people who I wish were here.

Res Life Policy Sucks

The Cynic Will Exact Vengeance Upon: Summer Res Life Policy

I live in the John Thomass Hall now, and it sucks. We're not allowed to hang anything on the walls at all even though we're going to be here for an effective entire semester. Oh yeah, and I have to scan the damned ID card to get anywhere. Did I mention that while there is no food service, we have 1 oven to go around for everyone? And there's that bit about the showers sucking, or to put it in the words of an RD, "It feels like someone's peeing on you."

I miss my Tyler bathroom, my Tyler loft, my Tyler walls with posters on them, and the fact that I didn't have to clean up after myself. After all, that's what we pay all of that money for room and board for. And now we don't even get food out of the deal.

*Crawls Out From Rubble*

Incidentally,

[Crawls out from under the pile of crap in his room where he's been buried for the past week]

I think all of my responsibilities are done until Monday... and if anyone wants to get ahold of me, I'll be in my normal room in Tyler East until Monday and at the normal phone number. After that I'll be somewhere in the John. Can't remember room number or phone number, but the email and AIM haven't changed.

Policy Sucks, Steve and Toad Don't

The Cynic Will Exact Vengeance Upon: Moving Out Policies

Alright, let me get this straight: I have to be checked out of my room on Saturday but I can't move into my new room until Monday? How the hell does that work? And I'm supposed to live out of boxes for the two days that I'm in here but technically not living here. That should be fun.

On a positive note, I'd like to thank Toad and Stephen for not being jackasses and letting us check out nicely and being pretty cool about things. Stephen will even admit that the policy sucks. It's a shame nobody lets the RD with a clue do anything about the rampant retardedness running around here. I'm convinced that Tyler is the place to live because our RD is cooler and easier to live with than any of the others. And he's not Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde like Sandra and Dean or Mr. Clueless and Spineless. And in that vein...

The Cynic Will Bestow Blessing Upon: Stephen Pasiciel and Toad - Res-Life's Finest