Chistmas and Other things

First off, I would like to say to anyone (emphasis on 1) reading this to checkout this blog, featuring her adorable daughter.



Next, pictures from my past week.

This dramatic series is me listening to music while my webcam silently snaps a picture every second til i saw the blue light and turned it off. Thats right, I am posting pictures that could be potential blackmail. I just thought they were way too funny (and embarassing) to not be posted.

These are from Xmas in NC with family.

My Cousin London. Shes a pisser (look at the hair). Hilarious though, and really smart.

Ginger kids have no soul.

That will be trouble in 2 years. They are already mischevious and can't even walk

My Stepbrother and Sister (from the NY trip) beating each other up on XMas Eve.

*She was drunk, in her defense, and picked a fight with him*

My Precious!!! Boss's daughter.

I Should Be Writing This From Jail

... oy vey, but an interesting weekend. So Saturday night was the setup. Sunday night after work, I drove down to Va Beach and met up with two of my friends from high school because everyone is off on winter break. Having just finished our exams (which I bent over, and didn't call the next day) we were ready for some stress relief. We had a couple of drinks at the bar, but I took it easy because I had to drive everyone. Well we drop Jesus off, and then Johnny-Boy and I head to Wendys for food, and then 7-11 for ice. We had decided to continue our evening at the warehouse, with a bottle of bourbon I had in my trunk. All right, that is somewhat of a lie. Johnny-boys 'rents were giving him hell back home so he didn't want to go home. I needed to get to sleep, but I obliged. We ran into an old friend (and Jesus' ex) who is now working at said 7-11. Neither of us were surpised, I might add. We hung out, I took him home around 3:30, and got back up at 8 for work.

Yesterday I worked from 8 am to midnight with a short break to eat. We are trying to introduce some new products to the DoD, and they have to be submitted and approved. Some guy was breaking our balls about a price increase we had submitted along with the new products, so I spent the better part of the day finding comparable products, breaking down their prices into unit cost, and comparing to ours. Guy wanted at least a 100 products compared. So I said fuck you, merry christmas, I hope you get stuck verifying this on christmas eve, and I did our entire product line. I finished at midnight, but it turned out very well. It also needed to be done a long time ago for sales purposes.

Jesus and Johnny are basically waiting on me to finish so we can go out because they can't drive. We get to our usual watering hole, and each order a pitcher. Johnny ordered me a second pitcher, which was probably the worst idea we've ever had collectively, seeing as how I was the driver. I finished said pitchers in the hour between us getting there and last call. I didn't feel too bad off, so I dropped Jesus and Johnny off, and felt like I was able to drive back to the warehouse to finally get some sleep. I pulled out of Johnny's neighborhood and realized there was no way in hell I could possibly make this drive. It hit me fast, and I should have seen it coming. I drove across the street because I had to piss like to other, and needed to figure out what exactly I was going to do with myself in this condition. I got out, pissed, got back in, and somewhere in there I lost my glasses. I am blind. 20/400 blind. Now I am fucked.

Apparently, a cop saw me take the restroom break in the bushes, and drove over to investigate. I drove past him further into the parking lot (which is probably why I am writing this) and thankfully not into the street. He pulled me over for suspicion of public urination, and also because I was driving erratically at 10 miles / hour because I couldn't see a damned thing. I couldn't even figure out where I was in the parking lot relative to the road because I am so blind. You are probably thinking, OMG you could have killed somebody, but I only made it about 20 feet before he pulled me and I was already about to stop and just say f it, here is where I stay.

A DUI typically will cost you anywhere between 7 and 10,000$ before its all said and done with, according to last years statistics. I thought I was about to be $10K poorer in 15 minutes. The officer asked me if I had been drinking, and being brutally honest when intoxicated, I told him that yes, I had had entirely too much to be driving in fact. He ran my plates and license, and I think because my record is perfect, he offered to let me call someone to come pick me up. Unfortunately, I would have already done this if my phone weren't dead. He offered to make a call for me, but of course, I can't remember anyones phone number. Next he asked me if I had a place to stay nearby, and I said yes. Johnny only lived across the street in the next neighborhood. Mind you, I am trying to give this officer directions when I can't see anything outside, so he thinks I am also retarded. I get there, and his parents wake up in the process. They spoke to the officer, and I ended up not getting even a warning or citation. I went to sleep probably the most embarassed I have ever been in my life, though. Having to have your best friends dad talk to a cop for you at 21 is degrading, just a little. I am very fortunate, though, and will not be partaking in such adventures in the near future. Lesson learned. And I had to be back at work in the morning... And I worked today until 9 PM, though at a much more leisurely pace. .... So my boss for this company lives 2 doors down from Johnny, he actually introduced us. I was at his house setting up his wifes new iPhone and G3 (thats his new name, btw) comes in "I've got a story for you Elffie (his wifes new name, btw)!" "I just talked to Johhny's mom, and she told me a crazy story about why our IT guy was late this morning!".... wonderfuckingful.

But I owe that officer a great deal, and am thankful a million times over. I must have a guardian angel or something. No one gets out of a DUI in Virginia Beach.

Except this guy. Im driving home to Richmond for what will hopefully be the last time for business. I move in next Monday. O and G, the girl from the weekend, has been texting/calling me yesterday and today. We have a date on Tuesday. Yahtzee. Except I cleared my text log last night apparently and have no record of what I actually said to her, so thats always a little nerveracking. I just know we have a date on Tuesday, lol.

The Setup

So in my recent bout of Singleness, my buddy and his girlfriend have been teasing me with the idea of bringing one of her friends up her to play with. That sounds horrible I know, but that is exactly how they presented it. I won't turn something like that down, but I am definitly not the kind of guy to 'close a deal' overnight. Not wanting to ruin their fun, I continue to let them play with this idea, and eventually convinced myself it was indeed a wonderful plan.

So 17 (his g/f, and no she's not 17) texts me to make sure I'm free this weekend because her friend is coming up. Not only is her friend coming up, but shes coming up to get away from her d-bag of a boyfriend, apparently. So I asked some questions about this girl to see how much this experiment could fail. Turns out, its alot. I basically have no set type, although I have three qualifications: Attractive, Intelligent, and Emotionally Stable.
These are the answers to the questions I asked, more or less:

Is she attractive: 17: Shes not ugly at all. CT: I'd put a coupla holes in her, probably.
Conclusion.... alcohol will be necessary.

Is she intelligent: 17: Shes not dumb, no. CT: She's no engineer.... well I wouldn't say she really has book smarts.
Conclusion: Great, shes fucking retarded.

Is she a mess? 17: No, she's one of my better friends. CT: Looking at 17 quizically, "didn't you guys talk about drugs in the car last week?"
Conclusion: Awesome! Shoot me now.

So my overall impression is that if I get really drunk, I will be able to tolerate conversation with this girl in small doses, and sexual attraction might be a side-effect. Either way, the bar tab I will sustain in this endeavour will not justify whatever good could possibly come from this.

So I finish work and head over to 17's flat, expecting a miserable evening. I was only half right.

So I walk in and theres this cute girl in a hoodie, and I am introduced. We will call her G. G is for gangster. I'll explain later. So, G is neither unattractive nor does she give off the bimbo impression. Mind you, I was not expecting anything to write home about, so I haven't shaved, and am generally unprepared for the evening. Now I am embarassed, and shy. Wonderful way to meet somebody. Her first of impression of me was this: Boy looks at me casually, mouth drops slightly, says hello as he turns away... what is his deal? Actual thoughts of boy: o this must be her - o god. - turn away to talk to CT before you blush. Avoid Eye Contact. Go go go!

We talk a little, but I have basically had the stool pulled out from underneath me on this one. I thought it would be an easy charity case, not an actual viable female lol. Mentally regrouping... so we go to the club, which by the way is the worst place possible to get to know somebody if you are clumsy white boy such as maself.

My ex girlfriend was a dance minor, and was actually on VCU's dance team. So you would think I would have learned something. Not so much.. it really just emphasized that I have no place on a dance floor. So as luck might have it, this particular girl is also taking dance classes - hip hop classes. Wonderful. So that was embarassing. Liquid courage to the rescue. Didn't help. I dont think I could ever afford to get drunk enough to think I can dance at a club. It would have to be premeditated. But dear lord... club outfits... my god. So I mentioned earlier that she was cute, but wearing a hoodie and all. Well, I was setup on every count. Turns out, this girl is gorgeous. Long, beautiful hair, very cute face. Something about her eyes, too. They aren't like big doey seduce-me-please eyes, but something about them hinted at a deeper understanding. So on first impression, I can tick off Attractive and Intelligent (the eyes give it away). When we got back we stayed up til 4:30 talking, but I don't think she is interested. We shall see how this goes. The good news is that she lives relatively close to where I am moving next week. Her phone had died that night, so I felt foolish asking for her number, but I did leave her with mine. Not too hopeful, but we shall see.

Moral of the story, plan for the worst, hope for the best. And yes, worst case scenario was what happened. A blind date but not actually a date with an attractive girl whom you are totally unprepared for is worst-case.

Pictures

The Incredible Hulk

What a disaster of a movie. Edward Norton and Liv Tyler (gorgeous... mmm) put on great performances, but every other actor in that movie screws up except for the old Italian Restaurant Owner. Everyone else... just sucked. Haha not exactly a deep analysis, but what do you expect with lines like "Reload. Reload. Reload." ... "We're building a team." "Who?"

And to think I used to enjoy such things....

So yes, that is how I spent my Friday night. Some girl from some college who is a friend of a friend's girlfriend who is.... no wait thats the end. Anyways she is down for the weekend and I was supposed to hang out with said friend, friend's g/f, and friend's g/f's friend tonight, but something came up and here I am watching the Incredible Hulk. It could be worse though... Canada is supposed to be here but her mom doesn't trust her to drive.

Which brings me to the subject of this post: How much should a parent push their children to succeed, and how much should a parent protect the only thing in this world that is truly a piece of them?

I just erased about two pages.... i went off on some wild tangent about defining the elite of America. It was too jumbled to form an intelligent thought, and I will tackle that regurgitation of the mind at a later date.

Basically I am faced with this dilemma, when (or if) I do breed, and create little Me-and-my-Plus-1's , how do I present the world to them?

I would like nothing more than to create a legacy for my family. I was reading an article about Kennedy wanting Hilary's Senate seat, and it made a valid point. America has created its own dynasties. I feel like I need to take what my parents provided, and rise above that. I would have the same expectation of my son or daughter, because I would have worked very hard to give them a better opportunity than I was provided, because I am able to. I can't imagine there being anything more satisfying in life than to see your own children become someone greater than you yourself. It also stresses the importance of finding (and waiting for) the right person. You only get one shot at childrearing, theres no takebacks or erasies (legally).

So I dedicate my life to providing for my children, to being a role model to them, in the hopes of instilling in them the same drive and... will that my own father instilled in me, both through his actions and his chromosomes. I dedicate my life to developing their mental abilities and enriching their thoughts, as my mother did. They leave my care with all the tools and knowledge I could give (hopefully its more then than I currently possess). Now things get interesting.

I have two cousins whom I consider the closest thing living related to me by blood to be a success of the system, if you will. My Aunt had much the same dreams as I do. She worked a 2nd job to put both her daughters through college. Both have degrees from prestigious universities, both graduated from the International Baccalaureate program in High School. One just finished her internship at a beauty salon doing hair, and the other is finishing her masters in International Politics.

How would I feel if my child chose the salon route? I couldn't help but be disappointed. At the same time, I could encourage my child and hope that they turn it into something more. Said cousin could easily run a chain of salons, and is fluent in 3 languages. I hope that she quickly climbs in her career. But what if she doesn't? What is she is complacent coloring hair and perming old women? Can you really look down on someone who does what they love?

Simply, the answer is no. At the end of the day, the only thing you can be disappointed in is if you give your child everything they need to succeed, and they still end up stuck doing something which adds misery to their lives. The path to success is long and varied, just look at me :) If they are able to live a fulfilling life, what more can you have possibly provided?

If I had someone there watching every step for me, I would be a much different person. For better or for worse, I would be different. So I guess the only thing we can reasonably do is arm them with a quality mind, train them to apply it, and cross your fingers and toes as you say goodbye. Watching a child grow up as an adult is merely an extension of sending them on their very first schoolbus ride. And then you have to be there when they inevitably punch the girl who called them a name, skip class to go to the beach, sleep through that final exam, or take those 21 shots.

That is one thing I can say my stepmom has always done, thankfully. While I sometimes wished she pushed me harder, or was more protective, I can never say she has turned away at my missteps.

REBEL!! REBEL! Down with the Rents!!!... I can hear my little brother shouting.

The image of a grumbling Canada sitting at home because her mom is worried is still kinda cute, though. ;)



Haha and was that heavily edited. Man feareth 3 things: death, taxes, and the blue +

Family

My little brother just stopped by, and I hadn't seen him since he moved out last week. He had left all of his toiletries, which is why he came back, and hadn't shaved / brushed his teeth since then. It really hurts me to see him like that. He could (and we all could, I know) be so much more than he wants. I have to let him develop his own person though, however/wherever that takes him. I gave him everything he needed to succeed when he dropped out last Spring and moved in with me.

He made the decision to not take advantage of the break I cut him. I know that you can lead a horse to water, but you cant make him drink and all that, but it doesn't change the fact that he is still my little brother and I want to see him succeed.

I asked him if I might need him to deliver something for me about an hour away tomorrow did he have any plans and he said give me $10 so I can get a new license, and its a deal. I feel like a mafioso or something.... so I gave him the $10 so he can go get it now. He is as I type this walking to the nearest DMV. I wanted badly to let him take my car, you know I'm sitting here at work not using it today. But I didn't, because for one I told him he would never drive it again so help me after the cigarette burns I found, and two if I keep letting him piggyback off of the things I have, he'll never have/want anything of his own.

We must all want to succeed, if forced upon us it is only temporary. I wish him luck in this life.

Across the Universe

Turn off your speakers, or hit the pause button... otherwise enjoy the new playlist.

Bourbon, and Cigars

Every Tuesday has become a sort of ritual at my house. A good friend of mine recently returned from Iraq, albeit slightly damaged. He was never sane to begin with, but it certainly didn't help. He is starting to sleep more now, which is good. I was a little worried when he first got back. The best part about... oh a good name for him would be CT, about CT is that he appreciates many the things I do. It was he who introduced me to good bourbon when I was a younger lad. Twas he who forced me to consume my first Carbomb the night before a chemistry test, as well. I owe him many thanks. CT was actually my PI way back when I was pledging. He got his orders shortly after I was initiated. We have been making up for lost time, though.

Back to Tuesday nights, CT and I have begun taking turns bringing a bottle of whiskey and he usually brings the cigars. Tonight though, was a special affair. With me leaving in a couple of weeks and break coming, I figured I'd splurge this time. I also needed to give him a reason to leave his g/f for a night lol. Jefferson's Reserve was the trick. I had never heard of Jefferson's Reserve until Bluegrass Brewing Company made a delicious concoction in its honor. The BBC Jefferson's Reserve Imperial Bourbon Barrel Stout is one of the best beers I have ever tasted. It is aged in the same casks as it's namesake bourbon for 6 months, picking up a strong hint of bourbon, and the smoothness oak barrels bring. It will also knock your socks off at 10.6% and not a lick of alcohol in its taste. Definitely not a session beer for you English types. So, I wanted to meet the maker, if you will.

I was not disappointed by any means, either. There is something about sitting on your porch, sipping on a small batch bourbon that simply can't be beat by the party scene. There is no sense of urgency, there is no need to "pregame" or "beat happy hour." I drank one of the best bourbons I have ever had, and I still have the better part of a bottle, and spent less than a nights bar tab. And you don't wake up feeling like a train hit you, and you don't go to sleep feeling like your missing out on the party that's still going on.

We sit on the porch, smoke a cigar (I can handle cigars, barely) and enjoy the evening. Also fun is making fun of the drunk kids walking back from parties or the lame kids wandering aimlessly trying to 'find the party.' Either way, we were once just like them and it is amusing. The best is the dumb girls though... aye. Girls: "Are you guys Frat Boys!?!?!?!?" .some would call us that, yes. "OOoOOoOoHhHh Which Ooone?" .Theta Tau. "Theta Tau.... is that like Theta Chi?" .not quite... we're a professional, engineering fraternity. "No... its an Engineering... Oh. So do guys like party?" .do you drink whiskey?. "Eewww gross. I know a guy in Theta Chi!" ... They're mostly harmless, and there's always one girl whose eyes light up when we say engineering. There are two reasons for this: 1. Her mother is smart and told her to find an engineering boy to marry. 2. She would enjoy a talking to us about such things, but can't admit it because her friends would be lost in seconds.
I used to not believe the second one, until one girl said she did First! Robotics in high school. Our organization ran the First! tournament for several years so most of the participants know at least one Brother, if they are not aware of the organization itself. AfroNinja, my roommate and Big Brother, was really big in First! in high school and still mentored its team when he had time, so they started talking about robot stuff. The other two girls just kinda rolled their eyes and looked silly until they got bored and dragged her away... But we were not on the porch to hit on young girls, so when they do stop by its more of a spectacle than anything else.

It is nights like last night that I will miss the most leaving Richmond. They were much more prevalent in years past, but I still cherish them. Like the night Billy and Old Man and I sat on the porch talking about the future til 6 am. They had assigned a cop to watch us or something because we got a 'roll by' 18 times in 4 hours. Or running from the dirt-bike mounted Police on Bell Isle (an island which had both exits blocked by more police) for 3 hours one night. Thank the lord for the 4 am shift change. So many of my best memories here were with OT.
Nothing Golden Lasts Forever.

Really GMail.. really?

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I don't even know what to say about this.

Come together. Right now. Over me.

So the other night I watched Across the Universe. Amazing movie. All aspects of it were amazing. And the Beatles are amazing as well, of course. So today was a good day.

During last week's financial aid snafus, 2 Final Exams, and work, I fell really far behind with my biggest client. I thought that I was going to loose the account any day, and the owner sent me a message basically asking for references of who else could do the work that I do because I obviously couldn't handle it anymore.

I basically responded that I agreed, I was stretched too thin, and that I could find someone to maintain the website but for all the stuff I do for them, they would need to hire a part-time IT Admin or something along those lines. Which is true. Today, we had a meeting of sorts, and I gave a presentation of my plans to overhaul the companies communications structure over the winter break and integrating everyone into google apps. There is only 4 people, but its a huge mess and they are trying to grow and things are slipping through the various email addresses, voicemailboxes, etc. Needless to say he was very impressed and tonight I am catching up on the work I fell behind on after spending all day getting that comm thing together. Whew... I was kinda nervous there for a minute.

I really dont have time, I am basically devoting my only day off to this company, but I was looking at the cost of a Z4 lol and realized that 7 days is what I need to be working if I'm ever going to have a good enough job to play with one. I say play because a car like that is just a toy lol. That and I calculated out how much I will probably make off of the account, not to mention the experience I gain because everything they face is common to most if not all small businesses. Most of what I know I have learned working with them since I was like 17. The first time I ever setup a wireless network was theirs. Oh how far I have come.

Back to work... I am the Walrus. Koo Koo Cajoo.

My Driving Test

Reading about Jaime's test has inspired me lol. Ya'll should enjoy this one.

Now let me set the scene. I was (and still am) one of the cockiest geeks you'll ever meet in highschool. I was captain of the JV Soccer team, and was now on the Varsity squad, and had a cool non-16-year-old job for a computer company as a technician and salesman, and all the cute little girls in the Health Science Academy had a crush on either me or my friend, Johnny-boy. (Yes from thanksgiving) We were both on the soccer team, both in all AP courses and both cocky lil things. O and we had our high school administration wrapped around our fingers. So I guess we had reason to be cocky, but not that cocky. Cocky starts sounding funny after you say it 15 times, fyi.

So... here in VA we have Behind-the-Wheel. Its through the school and during lunch. I was in the car with 2 other girls, Ashlei Wo-Skeet-Skeet and some random ghetto girl. It was Bayside... if you went there, you understand what I'm talking about. Actually WoSkeetSkeet ended up marrying my boss from Sonic and I was to be among the Groomsmen at the wedding. Small world..

So, its not that hard, its just driving, and the instructor is nice enough. Except everything she made the girls do, she found a way to make it harder for me. We would each take turns driving for 15 minutes at a time. She had WoSkeetSkeet drive down into some neighborhood that was had really windy roads on the beach. It was very hilly and had pine trees EVERYWHERE. she instructs her to turn down this onelane road and drives like a 1/4 mile down it. Dead end. I'm thinking, O SHIT! finally a girl has to do somehting hard. Like a 4 point 180. Right? Right?

Not so much. She tells Ashliei to get out, and that I am up. So I am like.... turn around, big deal, i get lost all the time. Nothing new.

"Backup, and don't hit any mailboxes or you fail."

*Mouth is now hanging on floor*

But I did it. And all was well. Except... on the way back.

So she had Ghetto drive down Shore Drive to get us home. Mistake.

Ghetto can't drive. At All. She veeers off the road, onto the rumblestrips going 60 on the most deadly road in Va Beach. The Instructor tries to pull the wheel, but to no avail. We are careening off the road and Ghetto is shrieking and digging her 4" nails into the wheel, and her arms are locked tense. Instructor finally overcomes the power of ignorance and pulls wheel towards road. O M G. I almost became another cross on the side of Shore Dr.

Then the next week I am in the middle of a week with 2 soccer games, I am working the days we dont have games after practice. and to top it all off, its like the end of the 3rd quarter. Oh and I had just started a new allergy medicine, which apparently makes me drowsy.

Needless to say I fell asleep behind the wheel and hit a trashcan lol. Yea... muy mal. It was a plastic trashcan, and I was already stopping because I couldn't keep my eyes open, but yea. She was not happy.

Next week, our driving test.
Summary: WoSkeetSkeet passes with flying colors.
Ghetto passed, but barely and i quote from the instrutor, "You didn't mess up enough to fail, but for your safety and your insurance companies, don't PARK NEAR CARS."

Me... Light at Va Beach Blvd and Witchduck turned yellow on me. I gunned it... i thought I made it... She disagreed. I failed.

Shame. Embarassment.... hiding under the floor tiles.

Next week I did fine but I to this day have a fear of yellow lights. I have stopped in the middle of intersections because the light turned yellow... its like a phobia thing.

And that kids, is my story of Behind the Wheel. According to my mom, who might be a bit racist: Black women are statistically the worst category of drivers by race and sex.

Dunno how true it is.. but omg i can believe it.

Eh... history.

Financial Aid. Pain in my ass. Apparently ODU doesn't accept my step mom as my mother on my FAFSA and rejected my claim unless I do one of two things: get my biological mother's tax info, or appeal for independence. Easier said than done. I had to prove that I hadn't had any contact with her. Which is hard to do when I don't really have contact with anyone tha actually knows her. So... some weeks later I have everything I need for this appeal except the court papers. I had my mom fedex my dads death certificate, because apparently they wanted to verify my story... bullshit in my opinion. Here I am dragging all these things up for what ended up being only 3 grand. Not worth it IMO. So Monday morning I spent the entire day in the various courts of Va. Beach. BTW, I now remember why I cut off contact with my maternal family. Bunch of screwups. Every courts waiting lobby is just filled with the screwups and wastes of space we call the lower class. Coming from this class, I can say that lol. I spent many a day as a child waiting in line at the Social Security office. F that S. So I started with Juvenile and Domestic relations. There I get the change of custody papers giving my stepmom custody with my father... not quite what I was looking for to prove I hadn't seen my mother since 2000. Chica at the window tells me that that is the most recent thing in the file. I tell her to just give me the entire thing, I'll figure it out. College advisors and court clerks... can't trust em for anything. So there it is, WHAM! A single sheet of paper with 4 lines of actual non-header bs text.

"Debrah Jean Patterson is hereby denied visitation."
"Admitted to the court use of cocaine and marijuana."
"In regards to yadda yadda 3 kids."

No one has ever been that excited to find such a report lol. I was really nervous I was wasting my time because nothing had officially gotten to a judge. That was basically all I needed but it was from 2000 and alot can happen in 8 years, and ODU was being particularly assinine in my case.

Onward to civil court...
Divorce papers... 9 pages worth. Nothing really interesting there. Which dissappointed me. I was hoping for a good read about why they actually got divorced... alas.

Criminal court...
This one was kind of a stab in the dark because I had heard mention of my mom getting in legal trouble after I cut off contact. Well I hit gold again. The clerk told me there were 15 counts and it was $2 each count to get a copy... but that it was all available online. So I went home and found 8 of the counts, the rest went to a higher court and would require considerable searching. The eight were all i needed though. Eight guilty pleas to felonies ranging from check fraud to money laundering. I was like goddam.... and those genes are in me... :(

So Tuesday morning, I wake up to an email saying my request for financial aid had been denied because I waited too long. I called that office in a second. They were like sorry, better luck next time. I told her to put some paper in her fax machine. I sent over a 30 page packet I dont think they were ready for. She called me back in an hour and was like, your appeal has been approved. Financial aid hit my account today.

Point, me.

But the trip realy enforced who I do and do not want to be in this life, and how easy it is to fall into that self-pitying cycle of destitution and food stamps. And ignorance... the things I heard in that courtroom. Defense lawyers are scum, as a general rule fyi. Enjoy Ally.

A Long Week (or 2)

So much has happened since my last post... thank goodness lol I was in a pretty sour state. I guess I have to start from the beginning... and by beginning I think that's thanksgiving.

I started my first week out of training and had a very positive/wild experience. I was given Thanksgiving Day off, and I went to Va Beach to be back home Wednesday night. It has become a tradition with my core high school friends to all get together the night before thanksgiving and pretty much catch up and get smashed. It started our Freshman year, when I had only taken my first drink of alcohol a week earlier. Needless to say it didn't end as well as last week's.

If I recall correctly that was the night Johnny-boy almost died on my floor. He has really bad knees and has been on heavy doses of pain meds and what not since I can remember. We played soccer together in high school and I always remember him popping a handful of tylenol before practice. I can only assume his liver is making him pay for it eventually. We all have our issues though... I have like a 7 degree scoliosis going on that makes one of my hips lower than the other. It was never a problem (and continues to not be) until I found myself running/sprinting (mostly sprinting thank you coach..) 4 miles a day. Personally, I don't like pain meds in the least but I digress once again. Oh yea so the point of that tangent was that he misread the bottle on his antiinflammatory and took like 4x what he should have and then split a bottle of rum with me. ... mother was not pleased when she got home. (She is a recovered alchoholic... I know I know, on all counts, guilty)

The group has changed a little, and too my liking. So this is my 4th Thanksgiving away from home, and the 5th without my father. My mom has stopped cooking except for that year, and even then it wasn't right. Sophomore year a girl I was dating invited me to her house. (I broke my ankle in an... incident with a pledge the week before and couldn't have driven home if I had a car) This pledge just so happened to be like a 2-time national junior karate champion and decided he wanted to wrestle his pledge instructor. Guess how it went for me. Last year I want to say that I went to my mom's in SC. This year Johnny-boys family had me over. So night before, (I know I talk too much and get distracted easily, but we are back in recent-present-tense) Johnny-boy, Jesus, Chubby Cheeks and one of johnny's boys from a soccer team. CC and I had went out for dinner beforehand and had a great time.

Although one thing stuck out, we were talking about relationships, etc. (I dated two of her friends seriously in High School) and she started talking about her new boo. It seams CC has fallen for a hard working country boy. Unfortunately he plays the part a little too well. Lol her biggest complaint is that he doesn't text. I think I just have higher standards because I got her to admit that they didn't ever really talk like me and her do. I couldn't date someone that I couldn't connect with on an intellectual level. Not that hes dumb at all, I have tried to date people that were very simple (not in a derogatory way either) and it just feels like something is missing. Point in case would be Ms. May. Not matter how hard I try to stand this girl, she can't hold the other side of a decent conversation to save her life. The only time we ever actually had an ebb and flow resembling a conversation was when she brought up Sarah Palin. I say resembling because she started off by praising her intelligence, so I wasn't exactly candid in my feelings. Great woman, couldn't do all she does, don't want her anywhere near a national office.

Anyways so I ended up leaving my little brother in Richmond because he was being a pain in the ass about everything. He said he would rather stay, so I left without him. He had nowhere to go, so it kind of made sense. I felt bad for him, so I arranged a bus ticket for him and picked him up at 6am from the Greyhound station, with no idea where I was gonna take him for Thanksgiving. I just knew that I couldn't let him sit at home cold and alone over the break. He was mostly against it but somehow I convinced him to follow my directions. Six AM came WAY too fast after the night I had.


We had left my car at the bar and CC gave us a ride home to Jesus' house. There is nothing more sobering than a 2 mile walk in sub-freezing temperatures in a hoodie and jeans. I promise. Ended up taking him with me to Johnny's and enlisted his back in helping us split wood. I figured they were having me over for dinner (and now most likely my little brother as I still had no plans) so I figured it was the least I could do. We spent the entire day splitting wood. I think the 3 of us split a cord and a half by 4 pm. ... "O he is a lumberjack and hes ok..."

My brother kind of wigged out just before dinner (he really didn't know any of Johhnys family and it was practically a second family to me, so I gave him my keys and made some arrangements with my ex who lived down the street's sister, as they were good friends in highschool and hadn't seen each other in a while.) and they were slightly offended but I handled it pretty well I think. Thanksgiving was AMAZING... its nice having real food every once in a while. Although... scallops were on sale today and I had this for dinner. Quite delicious, though I wish I had more vegetables.
But yes, so Thanksgiving went really great. Then came Black Friday. I didn't realize what Black Friday really was until last week. All weekend was basically OT overload so I was trying to get a slice of that pie. I put in a 16 hour-day on Friday, and barely put a dent in what needed to be done. At one point I was working on 4 systems at one time. Exhilarating at the same time though. I really think I am going to like this job. Oh and my schedule is perfect. I got everything with ODU squared away, and I have a full course load registered and everything is gonna work out great. I talked to my soon-to-be new roommates the other day and everything is set there too. I've lived here for three years almost to the day.... I'm gonna miss this hell-hole of a house. At the same time, it's about time to move into a house with a dishwasher.

It's finals week, and I think I'm going to make out fairly well this year. Although for better or worse, my second test in Finance was apparently lost so my final is now half my grade. I'm pretty sure I failed that test so again I have to say someone is looking out for me up there, but still.. no pressure lol. My paycheck hit from all that overtime, which was nice. Since quitting my old job my bank account has hovered at $15 and I wiped out my savings, so having income is good again. I was a week away from financial disaster. Oh and another bonus about my job, on wednesday morning I was dead tired from not sleeping and had to be at work at 8 am. We don't get busy until 11 usually and this morning felt particularly slow... I put my headset on, turned up my speakers, and went to sleep until I got dinged. 2 hours later, I got dinged. Sleep acquired. Yahtzee. Abnormal, but most convenient.

Next semester is all Finance, Accounting, and Management classes with one Programming in C++ course. Yippee! C++ should be a breeze. Well im off to sleep. O and Ben Kweller, he sounds like the lead singer from weezer, only he is still trying. Im a fan.