Ice, Ice, Baby!

In Arizona, we have four seasons: Summer, post-summer, snowbird season, and pre-summer. Ice is the weird stuff that comes out of your fridge and instantly turns into steam. Snow? Not even in the dictionary. Cold is 60 degrees. Yeah, brrrr....

So imagine just how stoked I was to learn of a massive, freakish cold front moving in Wednesday night? VERY stoked. I was like, stoking out. A lot. Because the high is in the 30's, and the low is in the 20's. This is going to ROCK! I'm watching my internet thermometer right now, just watching the temperature drop, listening to the rain outside, and desperately praying everything is covered in ice tomorrow.

Because, not only would that be cool (no pun intended), it would mean that school would be closed! Which would mean NO PRECAL! And yes, Kristen, I said precal, not precalc. Because I love you. Speaking of Kristen... today was our two-month aniversary, and I'm still falling in love with her! (By the way, Kristen, we need a new picture. I love the one we have now, but we need one taken by someone else of us being not so dorky!)

So, to recap, I love Kristen, I have to catch up on a lot of apparent missing programming assignments, I'm failing precal but getting tutored, and am seriously going to have fun tomorrow!

A Smack in the Face

Well, what did I get on my wonderful return from Arizona? You know, what was supposed to be a heavenly week of being with my friends in Texas and getting back to having a goold ol' time?

Oh, well, let's see, suddenly, I'm carless, virtually moneyless, gradeless, baseless, trustless, and utterly incapable of success... according to my parents. Yeah, thanks, I leave the home and you people still manage to make me miserable. What the hell?

So I'm reevaluating my future, now. I WAS planning on working for my dad's company over the summer to make some spending money for next year, but I really really hate Arizona. I still desperately need financial help from my family, but I just can't stand being with them. I'd really like to get a nice job here (perhaps with Data Doctors) and rent out an apartment. Then, I could bring my car down here for next year (when I actually own a car) and I'll have an apartment, and then I can just jump into college without being in the dorms...

But then I'll need a roommate, starting in the summertime. Any takers*?




Because, seriously, walls are closing in on me and I'm doing all I can to be able to breathe. That means I can't go to any more movies, I'm seriously cutting back on how much I eat out, no more buying random crap for my dorm (in fact, I have two nerf guns for sale now) and that bike is looking a whole lot less expensive than car rides everywhere.

But I love it here. The weather is perfect, there are trees and grass and squirrels, I have very good friends, and I've had a lot of good times. I love UTA, and above all else, I have Kristen, whom I love very much, and she's always there for me.
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ROOMMATE APPLICATION

1. Name
2. Age
3. Occupation/Means of helping pay rent - REQUIRED
4. Transportation
5. Basic domestic maintenance skills REQUIRED
6. Smoker? If you are, don't even think about it
7. Drinker? If you are, keep it to yourself
8. Can you put up with my antics?
9. Can you live without heat?
10. Since we're likely to live in a cheap piece of crap in a piece of crap neighborhood, do you know any defensive tactics such as rapid martial arts or knife handling or sharpshooting in able to survive in what will essentially be an urban warzone?
11. Are you capable of cleaning up after yourself without burning down the apartment?

Fill this out so I can start considering my options.

To Return

One of my favorite artists is Chevelle, here are the lyrics to their song, "To Return."

To return to the cold
It isn't much fun
To touch the trees no one has known
Go rest your head
Cause you can't miss this
Poor boy became
A slave to use
Now despair moves in so close
Too many years free at last
He didn't know so learned to speak
He clears his throat
Cause you can't miss this
[Chorus]
Poor boy became
A slave to use
Rebuild what's left
Of this child, so weak
Sorry, changes, trample the plan
Death, stores, victims
Once more
Keep on burnin' through the noose
To return, to the cold
It isn't much, but I'm free at last

It is one of my favorite songs from that album, but that's besides the point. The point is the last two lines of the song. I'll be touching down at DFW at 8:00pm Sunday night, and, dear God, it can't come soon enough. My family has totally driven me off the edge, and the very idea of Arizona makes me angry, and I am not an angry person. I miss the moisture, the grass, the trees, the privacy, the people (even the people that think they're cool rappers at 4 in the morning and would like to let the whole world know), especially my friends, and above all else, I miss Kristen so much.

But I've got plenty of music and stuff to keep me busy on what will be the LONGEST airplane ride of my life.


But what did I accomplish in Arizona? Well, spent a little time with my family (they say not enough, I say way too much.) I saw some movies, hung out with friends, did some laser tag, and royally pissed off my parents when I asked for the billionth time to take my car with me over winter break. They pulled the whole "If you do it, we stop helping you pay for college" card.

"Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny" was a very, very strange movie. I didn't really care for it much, but it had its moments. It was an odd combination of my kind of humor, mixed with a very profane, perverse, and otherwise MORONIC kind of humor. But it was like the good ol' days -- seeing the latest movie (which always happens to be the stupidest) with all my friends.

"Flushed Away" was amazing! It was so funny -- to little children, to kids, to teens, to people like me, and even to my parents! I would highly reccommend this one. And I know I butchered that word.



Yeah, so, I just can't wait to be back in Arlington, where I'm pretty sure I belong. Either that or San Diego. But San Diego doesn't have Kristen. Although... it DOES have some pretty tasty churros. Mmm... churros... Oh! Sorry, got distracted there for a second. Wait, it's a blog, how do I get distracted in my own blog? Oh my God, I'm babbling. Here we go, picture! Then... publish!

Thanksgiving in Arizona

Okey dokey... I just got up and realized I haven't blogged about this yet. And what is "this," exactly? Why, it's just the fact that at 2pm today (Wednesday) I will be on my way to Tucson, Arizona to celebrate Thanksgiving. I shall return to UTA Sunday night. But worry not, I'm bringing my faithful Lappy, and I get to relax for a few days before I start worrying about all the homework I could have been catching up on.

Hannah's birthday was yesterday, so we pulled a college shenanigan to celebrate: After visiting with her, Erik pretended to leave the room (assisted by Stephen), while Erik actually hid in the shower area. Stephen left, taping Hannah's door so it wouldn't lock when she closed it on her way out. Hannah then left for work. Erik and Stephen got back in the room with 320 balloons, and began inflating. Shortly thereafter, I came in to assist with the balloons. Eventually, the entire room was filled with about four or five feet of balloons -- it was so cool! Then we hid, and waited.
Hannah returned to a dark room full of balloons. There was confusion at first, and then we (all 10 of us in the room, I believe) all jumped out and yelled things like "Agh!" and "Unh!" and "Aaaaayyy!" and "Surprise" and "Happy Birthday" and "Wooo!" We spent the next ten minutes playing with the balloons, and then after destroying them all (sounded like gunshots with them big balloons), we headed on over to TGIF Friday's for dessert. Yummy.

So, you just have fun doing whatever, and I will be in touch electronically, and with my cell phone. Unless you feel like making long-distance calls to Arizona.

Camping, Fever, and Explorers

Howdy, y'all! Guess what time it is? Nope, you're wrong, as usual. The correct answer was: Brian's Blogs Time! You may now cheer uncontrollably.

So, let me tell you how that camping trip went, following one of the worst tests I've ever been given. Seriously, every 2-5 minutes they had a professor running into the room saying "There's been a typo on the test!" And so we'd have to go back and do it all again. We kind of wanted to take medieval battle axes and pillage the college after that. Luckily we didn't, because it was a tad cold.
Oh, but that didn't stop the camping. Basically, we sat there eating junk food around the fire, inhaling the smoke. It just got colder and colder. So we went to bed at midnight; all of us huddled together in our individual sleeping bags or matresses in one big tent. However, Jeff left to go sleep in his car partway through because it was "warmer than the freaking tent."


And then I heard voices that roused me from the sleep. I could make out flickering flames through the fabric of the tent. And low, muttering voices that I couldn't recognize. I rolled over to Erik, who had woken up, too. "Erik," I said. "Listen. Those guys out there are using our campfire!"
"Yeah," Erik responded nonchalantly.
"Some random guys just jacked our campfire, dude!"
"They're not random."
"You mean they're from the campsite next door?"
"No, it's the rest of OUR group."
"...oh. They better have breakfast ready."

Breakfast was hotdogs we had to roast ourselves. Mmmm, it was actually pretty good!
"Waffle House sounds pretty good right now," Jeff suggested.
"Funny," I replied.
"Yeah, let's go to Waffle House!" the rest of the group chanted.
"You can't just go to Waffle House for breakfast on a camping trip!" I argued.
"Shut up, what do YOU know about camping, noob?" They retorted.
So we went to Waffle House. It sucked. Then we went fishing. We rented a pontoon and got some live bait. The stupid little guppies just swam around in the bag we had to cart everywhere. The boat was pretty fun, but, OH YEAH! Nobody had any real skill with fishing!

No problem. We had two hours with a boat. So we drove around, peeing in the water and singing sea chanties. I love being a guy. It was kinda cold, but, personally, it felt REALLY REALLY good to be back on the water again. It's not the same as California, but the salt spray and the waves.... ah! So good!

So I get soaked in the cold.

And when I stick my pants in the fire to dry them, it doesn't really work. Just makes them smell like smoke.

But we launched a few water balloons, tossed the bag of guppies into the lake because we only used two of the 30 that were swimming around in there. Then we drove home, and I took a nap, and then I got to see my Kristen! So the trip wasn't a total loss. I was so happy to see her; I wasn't allowed to call her the entire trip. I almost stabbed Jeff on the way home because he was making too much noise while I was trying to call her.

I woke up Monday feeling kinda sick. By the end, I had a nice fever going. So I was popping ibuprofen and sudafeds all day, and guzzling orange juice, and Kristen came over and napped with me. I've never known a more peaceful moment in my life. I skipped all my classes Tuesday, just stayed in popping pills and guzzling orange juice. I went to the Cafe for lunch, and once I got some food in me, I felt great! And so we went to Explorers...

And we got to do Building Searches. SCORE!
And they put Kristen and I together as a team. SUPER SCORE!
And we got our new Class A uniforms. ANOTHER SCORE!

My mom was worried I was getting pneumonia. I'm worried that if my body doesn't quit acting up, my grades are going to get pneumonia. But I think I did very well on the major part of the programming exam, and I KNOW I rocked the history exam. Next week, I'll play catch up, and somewhere in there I'll have to register for Spring 2007... stupid advisors always complicating things and delaying my progress.

I love Kristen.
I'm going to bed.
Sweet dreams, Kristen.

Gargh!

I hope I haven't used that title before, but I've been making that noise a lot. This whole college thing is finally becoming painful. I've never studied harder in my life. Ironically enough, I've never failed harder in my life, either. What worries me is that I don't understand why. I was doing so well... and then I (along with the rest of my class) gets slapped in the face with a big, fat F on our second precalc midterm. So I'm officially hurting.

However, I am having a great time OUTSIDE of the tests. And I've collected some of my favorite pictures to show off, so as to lighten the dark mood. Oh, and another thing I keep forgetting to mention: Me, Alex, Jeff, Stephen, Erik, and probably two other random guys that I can never remember are going camping up at Cedar Hill State Park from Friday night to Saturday morning. We're going to eat junkfood, go fishing, and play with water balloons, all without electronics. I will probably spend the night curled in the fetal position in my tent, crying about the lack of my connections to Kristen. Whom I love. But if you don't know that by now, you're a total idiot and you should slam your toe in the door. So, now that I'm back from my tangent, enjoy the pictures:

This picture right here is indeed me, trying on a pink princess dress in 4th or 5th grade. Fun.

I'd probably be lost and confused and definitely very lonely and sad without Kristen. Love ya, baby!

The Long-Awaited Update on My Life

I haven't blogged in a while. That will change. But here's a quick recap of my life since last blog:

1 - Struggling in my classes. However, I am slowly crawling back up to the top. I let things get out of hang, and now I'm taking back control.

2 - Dropped my Education class. That class was horrible, I felt like I was in kindergarden again.

3 - I am the luckiest guy in the world. Thank you, God, for letting me meet Kristen.

4 - See number 3.

5 - Later today I have my PT test with the Arlington Police Explorers. I'm stoked about this because we never really did PT in Oro Valley. We'd do pushups every now and then if we were REALLY bad, but that's nothing compared to what the APE's do. I just now realized that Arlington Police Explorers becomes APE when you acronymize it. And I just invented the term "acronymize." I'm on a roll today with my genius. Anyways, there are team tactics (still not quite sure what that is) and an obstacle course and then the usual pushups, situps, and running. I want to blow them away in order to gain a better nickname than "Arizona."

UPDATE for Item Number 5: I was the only one who "passed" the test. They still call me Arizona. But I don't consider it a success because a team is only as fast as its slowest member. Therefore, I won't accept it until the whole team is passing.

6 - I love Kristen.

7 - The smoothies at the new smoothie place in the UC Plaza suck. Absolutely craptastic. What's more, they taste bad and are way too expensive.

8 - Saw "The Prestige" with Kristen. I highly reccommend that movie. It has a lot of twists and turns that you don't really expect. However, you have to be paying attention and watching closely. It was very nicely done.

9 - I do not like Wednesdays or Thursdays. I can already hear you asking "why?", and I'll tell you why. On Wednesdays I have my programming lab. I love programming. I just wish it wasn't centered around my lunchtime. Thursdays... I just have a bunch of classes. Blech! Well, at least CSI is on Thursday. CSI absolutely rocks.


I'm sure I will update my blog more frequently. Thank you for your undying patience.