Another week, another Monday
Ugh, Mondays. They're not usually overly exciting. This Monday isn't really an exception. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep over the weekend, so I'm still a bit out of it. Just need to... stay awake...

So Friday turned out cool. Kung fu, I worked with Justin a bit. Massaged my jammed fingers here and there, and worked over part of my new form (another sparring set). It was good, though. From there I went to Pepper's to see a band a friend of mine recommended. They're all fairly young guys, but they're quite good. My friend (Andrea) told me I had to see them because the guitarist plays "that song" I play. She was referring to Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee. A moderately difficult song to play, if I do say so myself. So that intrigued me enough that I had to go check them out. And they're good! Do a large variety of covers, and have a few songs of their own. They did a very nice version of the Police's Message In A Bottle. I talked to a few of the members, found out some interesting things. The guitarist hasn't been playing too long, but he is very good, loves what he does. The drummer is a character, and as it turns out, has a bit of kung fu experience. In addition to several other martial arts. Fourteen years of experience, turns out. Learned from a monk who visited a family he was staying with. So his kung fu is quite good; we sparred briefly outside after their second set. He's definitely got the rhythm to know his experience is substantial. I may have to stay in contact with him. Oh, and the band's name is Left on Harvard. EDIT: One thing I forgot - the song Andrea thought was Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee was actually Thunderstruck by AC/DC. He doesn't play Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee, as far as I know. Although now I need to learn how to play Thunderstruck. EDIT SOME MORE (5:47 PM): I learned how to play Thunderstruck.

Yeah, so from there it was time to go home and sleep. Since I had to get up for a workshop in the morning! A three-hour workshop. Chin na. It was very good. The guy giving the workshop, a Dr. Yang, definitely knew his stuff, and he gave us basically four techniques in the three hours we had. There was a variety of people there, and it was interesting to see. Justin and I teamed up, naturally, and proceeded to inflict massive pain upon each other for a couple of hours. I enjoyed it immensely. Even though my jammed fingers didn't help the pain factor. We'll have to practice on - erm - show the other students a few of the techniques. There were two other workshops, but me still being in the "poor" position, couldn't afford any more. I'll just have to do it next time he's in town.

After that, it was lunchtime! So I had some cookies. Good cookies, Embrey! And then Fred and Carlos came by for some martial arts movie madness. Although Fred's movie was imported from Japan, and apparently, the region it was set to was not one that was valid for ANY of my three DVD players. So we'll have to finish it at a later date at Fred's place. Instead, we watched Kung Pow (since I never finished watching it in the first place). It was a pretty lazy day. We ordered Chinese food, too! Chinese food and martial arts mix well.

Then Sandra made a surprise visit, so we hung out for a while, finished the Three Amigos. Only took about two weeks! What a pleasant surprise! It was a lot of fun, though. Although I probably should have gone to sleep earlier (don't be taking that as any sort of implication). And Sunday - I ended up visiting the homestead for a little bit, and then going to help my parents' neighbor with computer stuff. Mainly setting up a wireless system for them and revising all their anti-spyware software, which I'd set up before. That, and some mischevious person had reinstalled Kazaa, so there were several hundred new pieces of spyware. Bleah. It's okay, I had everything taken care of (setting up the network, software, removal of spyware) in about 90 minutes. Oh yeah, good stuff.

Then church - although I really didn't enough sleep the night before, so I was exhausted all through mass. And I didn't have time for dinner after the computer repair work, so I was malnourished, as well. Ugh. My voice was off (WAY off on a few points), and I was just feeling woozy in general. Everyone has to have a bad day from time to time, I guess.

And that leaves it until now. Where I'm back to work, starting my week again. Learning new programming languages and software. Good stuff! Although I'll need a nap, since I didn't fully recover last night. I did figure out how to get AIM working, through a proxy and a blocked url list. Woo! That was last week. Today I'm getting into Perl. Perl is good. So! Now it's time for a random link. I'll just leave you with a related bit of instruction. For those who are curious enough to learn.

- posted by Pootenheimer @ 1:09 PM | 1 comments

 
Ooh cool stuff happens occasionally
Yes, it's true. COOL stuff can happen, from time to time. And it's time. I'll get to that, though. First off - choir practice on Wednesday. It was a little upsetting. Mainly because I was FIRST to show up there, had my guitar tuned, and ready to go, and then STEVE doesn't show up. Megan shows up and says that apparently he talked to her and said he wouldn't be there, but she's in charge. I'm a little upset at Steve. I don't mind so much that Megan was in charge (although some sort of divided leadership would have been nicer), it's that Steve didn't tell me about any of it. Grr. I helped lead the choir all through the summer (and I daresay I didn't do too bad of a job), as well as leading some of them through a wedding. I just somehow feel unappreciated when I'm left out of the loop for the first major practice of the year. And we had something like SEVEN new members. Mostly freshman. I think there's potential for a very good choir this semester. Megan and I had our standard conflicts, although it's getting a little more lighthearted (which is good), even though she DID make fun of me outright. I think part of my frustration was that I wanted to help lead the new students, teach them harmonies, working them through the melody, but I felt very restrained because Steve put Megan in charge, so it was really out of my hands. Bleah. Hopefully it'll be better next time.

Ah, and the first coolness happened that night. I think - it might have been yesterday, but I'm fairly sure it was Wednesday. Okay, so I have a guitar peripheral made by Line 6 called the PODxt. Well, Line 6 just updated EVERYTHING for the PODxt. The firmware's updated, they changed settings, so forth. And it's awesome. Before, there were 4 user spots, where you could create your own custom settings to get the sound you wanted. They bumped that up a little. To 64 user spots. A total of 128 patches. The sound itself is better, too. Makes me want to start recording again. As a matter of fact, I DID record a bit, just to play. I might post that later. There's more improvements, but I won't get into them here. I'll just say, it's almost on the same level as their crazy Vetta II amplifier. And it's FREE. There are a few extra model packs that DO cost money, and I might upgrade to those, in time, but for now, I'm enjoying the PODxt all over again.

Yesterday was more work, and then kung fu. Class was pretty good. My friend Christina (see comments - she makes some) came to see about possibly signing up. I sparred with the same guy I did last time, named Truman. He's quite aggressive. Every time he keeps the aggression level there, I'm going to start pushing back. I bumped it up a notch yesterday, although I ended up jamming two fingers on my right hand. GRRR. First time in a while. They're swollen nicely, and I can't make a full fist, but hopefully they'll get better fast. Then Justin and I worked through techniques after class, which is always fun. The moves we had discovered last week are still very effective. He said he tried it out four times sparring that night, and it worked every time. Woo! I'll have to try it myself, against some of the other students.

And my friend Embrey leaves for school today, so I got to see her really quickly last night. She made me cookies! I like cookies. They're quite good, too. I think a lot of the Tulsa people are going to miss her. She'll visit, though, I'm sure. She's not TOO far off.

Oh - the other cool thing! I managed to get a spot on the WoW Stress Test Beta. Yay! Sadly, it's only seven days long, and I still don't know when it starts, but I've got a spot reserved. So I'll get to try it out! Best MMORPG EVER. It will be, at least. You'll see.

Okay. It's Friday, but I should do SOMETHING at work. Been doing scripting, trying to optimize a few data processing things. It's cool. Scripts are good. Doing a lot of stuff in one line - that's the way I like to do it. So now I'll have to leave you with your random link. This one isn't so random; you know my love for the guy.

- posted by Pootenheimer @ 1:17 PM | 4 comments

 
Lunchtime again
And I have eaten the leftovers from my leftovers. Not a full meal, really, but in conjunction with my peanut M&Ms and a Pepsi I'm good. Hopefully today will be a little more active. This week has been a little slow, so far, but it was mainly because a large number of the people I work with went to a conference. Something about Active Directory, I think. Learning all about forests and domain controllers and other fun stuff. I gave a talk about it with a group in one of my classes last fall. Hey, there might even be a blog talking about it. Hmm.

It's been a slow week, but I got more sleep last night, finally. Monday was slow, but kung fu was interesting. Sifu had a potential student come in. He was very interested, and Sifu wanted to help him, except for one minor detail. He spoke nothing but Spanish. So of course, he calls me in, and I come right before class, to end up talking to him. He's interested, but I don't know if he'll sign up for sure. I still need to practice my Spanish more, it's rusty. He said I sounded fine, that he didn't really think I was bad at it, even if I did. But something happened with someone in Sifu's family, so he had to run off. Hopefully things will turn out okay, but I think it's rough. I'm trying to think good thoughts for him. And since Sifu left, that left ME in charge of class. Something like seven or eight students, which is more than normal for a Monday class. But I took charge! Left one of the senior students in charge of warmups while I talked to the visiting guy, and then took everyone through the first form, then made several corrections where necessary. And then it was time for practice. I managed to get around to almost every student, which I thought was pretty impressive, considering that it was just me. I think I missed two - one of which was a student who's close to my level (although several years my senior and ahead by a bit), the other which I just didn't get a chance to work with. I helped a lot of people, and it made me feel accomplished. Productive work gives satisfaction.

Tuesday was slow. Again. But I've been working more, learning about various things in the office. I got a free lunch at Newman, which is good stuff. I talked to a few people there, met a couple others, and saw my friend Keri who just found out she's pregnant. Congratulations, Keri! Then it was time to grab a quite bite to eat and go to kung fu. Sifu still wasn't back, so Justin was in charge. Class was extremely light, but we had a new student start. He hadn't even visited a class, but just joined up. I was impressed. His stances were better than average, although he was hurting by the time we finished reviewing them. For some reason, watching new students aching severely after learning the stances makes me smile. Kung fu is hard! He did well, though, and I'm looking forward to watching his progress.

After class ended Justin and I continued our efforts at breaking a board. What? You're wondering, "They can't break A board?" Don't worry, it's not what you might be thinking. Breaking one normal board, when it's set up on some sort of stand (two rock pedestals or something) - is quite easy. You can accidentally lean on it and break it. Breaking a board when somebody's holding it with two hands is a little bit harder, but not too much. Breaking a board when someone's holding it with ONE hand is a bit more difficult, as is breaking a board when nobody's touching it (after it's been dropped, that type of thing). The difference there is that you have Newtonian physics assisting when someone's holding it securely. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, all that. Which basically means that if you try breaking a board that is not secured, it's TWICE as hard as breaking one that someone's holding, force-wise, as well as having the speed necessary to break the board before it leaves your hand. So hitting it and snapping it, as opposed to knocking it away. All right. Now take one of those, break it in half, and then try speed breaking (breaking while holding with one hand, or dropping it) THAT. It's rather hard. And that's what Justin and I have been doing. We've managed to put a large number of substantial dents in the wood, but it still hasn't broken. We'll keep going, though. Eventually the wood will rot enough that it'll be EASY. So all we have to do is keep working on it for ten years.

I went by Blockbuster afterwards, to pick up Kung Pow, since I've never seen it. And some women were there playing some of the demo games. One of them was rather impatient, and somewhat violent. She would throw the controller after being unsuccessful at one attempt or another. It made me sad. That, and she complained that the game she was playing before was almost impossible to do right. That game? DDRMAX, on the PS2. With a dance pad. So I stepped in to show her the PROPER way to do it. She picked the song, which was a fairly difficult one. Since the TV was placed high, I had to look up and couldn't keep track of exactly where all the arrows on the floor were, but I still managed to get a "B" score on the song. I think she got flustered that I couldn't be made upset by the difficulty of the song which had hurt her pride. Maybe it was made easier by the fact that I own DDRMAX2 and a dance pad, but that might be my imagination...

I got to bed a little earlier after unsuccessfully attempting to view Kung Pow (I was sleepy, and it didn't quite keep me on my toes with excitement). As bad as the movie is, apparently it was good enough to merit a sequel. So I'm more awake today. And I should go back to using that.

Oh! But about the comments. Silly people, not commenting. Click on the "comments" link, it'll open up any listed comments (on the SAME PAGE), and give you the link to make a comment. Hint hint. Yeah, you can't have your name listed "officially" unless you're logged in, but you CAN make an anonymous comment and still put your name at the end of the comment. It's easy!

Time to stop commenting, and time to start working. Some more. Random link! There are professional organizations out there. Some are better than others. I belong to what I think is a decent one, and I try to choose wisely.

- posted by Pootenheimer @ 12:24 PM | 4 comments

 
ROWR! Changes!
I'm blogging from work. Yes, it's naughty. But it's okay. Because I'm on lunch break! Yay! I'm eating my leftover sandwich from Bill and Ruth's. Good sandwiches, they have there. I recommend it.

So my last update was Thursday night, I think. Which means Friday is next on my "what's been happening" list. Friday is a good day of the week, I must say. It was spent primarily at work, of course. Although a very light day at work. Seems like Fridays are like that. So I did the work thing, learning more here and there about crazy things like Crystal Reports. And from there, leaving a little bit earlier than I have been, although I was still one of the last to leave. To go home and finish an article for the kung fu newsletter, burn it to disc, then take it with me to the Friday class. It was pretty cool, mainly just talking to Justin. I did get to learn a little bit more of my newest form, another sparring set.

And then it was time to hang with Sandra, back for a bit before moving more stuff with her up to Arkansas. We watched part of Three Amigos! Quality movie. Sadly, note I said "part of" because she's still having trouble with the whole "I'm so comfortable" sensation followed closely by the "I'm so asleep" sensation. Yes, we've tried TWICE, knocking away about twenty-five minutes at a time. At this rate, we'll finish the movie in about three weeks. But it's all good.

So sleep leads to Saturday. Saturday was cool, because it was time for Justin's kung fu graduation party! Cake, and ice cream, and soda pop (as Sifu calls it, which cracks me up). AND a big honkin' 14 karat gold ring for Justin. It's got the school's logo on it, and it's quite sweet. He got it during the graduation, and he gave a nice little speech, thanking Sifu and the school. And he even said a thank you to ME, of all people, for just being the guy to train with him regularly. It made me happy. So we did all that, then went to Bill and Ruth's afterwards (which provided the lunch I'm eating now). It was cool.

Sunday was helping Sandra finish packing, as well as some final computer assistance details. For some odd reason, people seem to think I'm knowledgeable about computers, and ask for my help. But for some OTHER odd reason, I seem to like it. (I like it even MORE if I help and have a little more cash money afterwards, but that's a different story.) So she was off to school, to start her classes Monday. Today. But we're not there yet, in my tale of progression through it all.

And the first mass of the school year. New students came from all over the lands, to participate in the church celebration. A LOT of people came. And we had about three new choir members, too! The choir sounded better than it has in a while - having those extra people really helps. I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes through the semester.

And then I stayed up WAY too late hanging out with friends. But that's always worthwhile, I think. Maybe naptime later today. Today it's just been getting back to the grind, all that. Hopefully I'll get some real sleep tonight, then be fresh tomorrow. HOPEfully.

Hey! Did you notice? I've changed something fairly big with my blog. A comments section! Yeah, I should have put it in a LONG time ago, but oh well. It's here now! Comment away, if you will. Hopefully comments of a polite nature. You can comment on some sort of fascinating tale I had to tell, or maybe about something you'd like to see me talk about, or so forth. Yes! It'd be good. Oh! And to post a comment, click on the time link under the post. If you think I should let my comments be viewable on the main blog page, you can leave a comment to let me know. Just a comment. Oh wait! This is an edit. My l337 h4x0r skillz have allowed me to make the comments linked at the bottom. JavaScript and everything. So it's dynamic! You can click it to see any comments posted, or to post a comment. Yay!

And since my lunch break is now ending, I should probably also end my blog time. But not before I give you a random link! This was something a co-worker pointed me to, in reference to what good web design looks like.

- posted by Pootenheimer @ 12:53 PM | 2 comments

 
I'm tired
I'm quite tired. Maybe it's all this WORK I've been doing. Crazy nine hour days. So yesterday was meet everyone day. A co-worker I'm supposed to study with (to take over his position, basically) took me to meet a lot of his contacts. A rather large set of contacts. Spent more than half the day running around downtown visiting different buildings, meeting people. It was pretty cool, though. It's good to make contacts. So for a second day, it was pretty productive. That, and I got to see Libby at lunch at Baxter's, where she works. So that was a bonus. The guy I'm working with is pretty cool. He's a crazy character. I think he'll be fun.

Then it was relax a teensy bit, then kung fu. Kung fu was good. I got to spar someone. He's been going for a few months, but in the day classes, so I never sparred him before. He's very aggressive, so my "go light on the new guy" approach got me smacked a few times. A few times in the FACE. But it's okay, I'm used to it. I popped him a few times as payback. Solid thrusting heel into the stomach, and flying jump punch to the HEAD. Plus a few others. Then it was time for some "educational" sparring with Justin. The good stuff, where we go slowly and use traditional kung fu to learn a bit more. We got some sweet moves from it, I'll have to definitely remember them.

Then today, it was time for some crazy Microsoft Training Seminar Thingie. All day long! Which meant four different rooms, with a different session in each room. Four times throughout the day, different sessions each time. So a grand total of sixteen to choose four from, although one was repeated. Different "themes" for each room. Like management, development, security, so forth. (The so forth means I don't remember the fourth one.) I stuck with the security room. It was pretty good stuff. Learned all about XP Service Pack 2, and the modifications and benefits. It seems like MS is actually getting with it, I was impressed. There was a Linux cost comparison session, too, which was fun. The guy asked everyone who had used and/or liked Linux, and four people answered in the affirmative, including me. I gave him some trouble about some of the stuff he brought up. Such as the number of critical errors reported for each OS, and how Windows has a fraction of the number Red Hat does. I calmly commented that just because Windows has reported less doesn't mean it HAS less. It was fun, though. At the end of the whole thing there was a drawing for prizes! But I didn't win. Aww. The grand prize was an X-Box! But I have one already. Although winning a new one would be cool! 'Cause my current one is RETARDED. Oh well. I did get a free lunch! Mmm. Banana. I also found out the one of my co-workers is a fairly hardcore gamer. We talked up Doom and Far Cry. I need to purchase Far Cry. And a new video card. After paying my bills, naturally.

Then it was choir practice! Which was fairly sparse. Just instrumentalists, and one vocalist who hasn't been with choir for several months. So I was the primary vocal sound, even though Carlos and the other vocalist (Marni, my sister's old roomie) were singing. (I still think they need to be louder, even if Megan thinks that's mean.) Our songs sounded okay, though, I think.

And Sandra's leaving in the morning. Yes, for school, to the great beyond. They great beyond of ARKANSAS. It makes me a little sad, but she'll be back occasionally. So I'll still get to say hey every now and then, even in person.

And now I think I should go to sleep, so I can get some reasonable sleep. Maybe I'll actually get to leave at 4:30 instead of after 5 tomorrow. Since I've been showing up at 7:30. Bleah. It's making me POOPED. Poopedenheimer is what I am. Random link! Since Halo 2 is coming out pretty soon, maybe you should go back for some of its background. WAY back.

- posted by Pootenheimer @ 11:59 PM | 1 comments

 
Yeah, a lot's happened
And I sadly haven't been updating. Isn't it sad? I'm sad that I don't update more often. Because it means I have to update a TON more at a time. I'll have to fix that.

So a bit has happened. I think Thursday's where I left off. Thursday was kung fu, with some decent sparring. I sparred with the tallest student (about a foot taller than me), and I made the mistake of trying to hit him in the face. As I have learned, when you have to punch almost straight up, if the opponent simply leans away it means you'll hit them in the eye. So yeah, I hit him in the eye, but he's learning still. I need to be careful. AGAIN.

And then it was crazy cooking time! Sandra and I made the bold choice of attempting to make... LASAGNA. Duhn-duhn-duhn! Yes, it was scary. The full tale is too epic to tell here, but I'll give you the Cliffs Notes version. We overcooked the sauce. When it said "bring to a boil", we neglected to realize that it didn't mean for you to LEAVE it there. So we had more meat than sauce in the meat sauce. But that's okay! So I added the sauce to the first layer of the meal, then added the second layer, then realized we still hadn't finished adding the ingredients to the sauce. Whoops. So I, with my plentiful chef mastery, disassembled the lasagna! Yes, and removed the sauce. And put in the rest of the ingredients. And then mixed it and made it. Oh, and my rectangular pan was too large for our recipe, so we had to make round lasagna. It was interesting. And in the end, it was edible. Which is all that REALLY matters. We won't even speak of the garlic bread.

So. Let's go back to Friday. Friday was my last day OFF. So I slept in crazy-like, then got up, prepared for the final practice for our wedding music. And we practiced! It was pretty good. Got to see what our setup would be like, went through the music, no big deal. It was okay, because next was...

Saturday! The wedding! Most of the day was gearing up for that. I got pretty nervous, but as it was I didn't need to worry TOO much. Apparently it turned out moderately well. In the words of the groom, the music "was perfect". I could be wrong, but I think that's a good thing. We got some complements, and it all went well. The choir did an awesome job. It was very rewarding, to feel like we helped out at such an important event. Good stuff.

And how do you follow up a holy ceremony such as matrimony? By watching Alien vs. Predator, of course! We took a good group to view the movie. It's a fun movie. A couple of very nice scenes showing the battle between the big guys from the movie title. The human characters lacked development, but who needs development when your character really isn't going to last long? I mean, why get attached when you're just going to be alien fodder? But I enjoyed it. Good stuff. A decent number of subtle nuances in the movie for those who are observant and have seen the previous movies for each of the main characters.

Then it was sleep in time again! And get up to go visit the family, and then go do another computer job. This time the computer was beyond repair. That's saying a LOT for me. Well, not beyond repair. But realistically, beyond reasonable repair, which means it's cheaper to just buy a new computer. Which I told the client. So I just fixed his CD-ROM drive (it was stuck halfway in, halfway out), even though it didn't function after physically fixing it. Not to mention that there were TWO drives being recognized by the OS, even though there was only one physically present. And neither of the drives worked in the OS. It was a rather old machine. So I may end up going back to install the hard drives into the new machine. So that's something.

Then church, where I could play without worrying so much. And it helped, I think. I hit a harmony higher than I have in a very long time, and fairly cleanly, too. I was happy about that. I also managed to mess up worse than I have in a while, but it was about time. Mistakes have to happen every now and then, and this was just my night for it. An instrumental section where I suddenly decided to take the progression at half-speed. Thankfully, the piano did NOT, so we kept on track, even if it sounded quite strange for a few moments. But it all was pretty good.

And today! My first day of work. Yay! I got to meet people, it was pretty slowish. But not too bad. I've got a cube (sigh - I was hoping for an office, but they didn't have any open) in the corner. A rather large one, so it's not so bad. I got a decent machine. I have to say, I'm impressed by the level of technology the City has kept up with (at least with IT in the Public Works department). I have a P4 with over half a gig of RAM, and a very decent UPS. I'll be learning some Crystal Reports tomorrow I think.

Which means I need to go to sleep, since I'm going to get into work at 7:30 in the morning. Bleah. I'll have some naptime I'll have to find sometime. That, and actually going to bed in the PM for the first time in a LONG time. Sadly, not tonight. So it's random link time! I think I may have come across the worst movie ever. Just check the reader opinions. I still haven't managed to find it, although I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to watch it if I did.

- posted by Pootenheimer @ 12:48 AM | 0 comments

 
Are you reading my blog AGAIN?
Why do you keep coming back? Is it because I'm so witty? Or perhaps because the peripheral vision of the grotesquities of life is dimmed as you focus upon my illustrious observations on this and that. Like how I put "this and that" at the end of a sentence chock full of multi-syllable words? I do. I found it quite amusing. And satisfying. Yes.

Lately I've been watching out for all the stuff coming this fall. Yes, I've fallen victim to the mad advertising campaigns for those materialistic objects that catch my attention. Like video games. Whee! Ah, it's okay. I like video games. I really feel that they improve a few things. Mental capacities, for one (if you play GOOD games - don't be playing any Olsen twins games now). And of course, hand-eye coordination. My kung fu is mighty after mastering Ninja Gaiden! Anyway, I've been looking forward to a few things. One of which is Fable. Ooh Fable! It's going to be so good! Really, one of the games that I think will hold up to the hype. That, Half-Life 2, and Halo 2. Naturally. All of these, coming soon!

Okay, that's my advertising section (I didn't get paid a whole lot). Now it's time for my kung fu section! I've been twice this week. I was vicious on Monday. Sifu was busy, so I took charge, and put everybody through the first form rather vigorously. Making corrections here and there. Shoving people (gently, of course) when their stances were off, to make a point. That, and by the end of class, everyone had stopped to watch me instruct another student on the intricacies of our first sparring set. With Sifu's help, of course. It was interesting.

Tuesday was sparring! And my friend Christina showed up to check out what real sparring looks like (as opposed to that silly point sparring stuff other martial artists seem to be fond of). I didn't actually spar Justin that night, sadly. Maybe I should have, for her. But both he and I sparred with Louis. He's getting better, considering how little time he's been training. I usually go lightly with him, but he landed a few strong shots (and one that popped me slightly in the nose), so I unloaded a little on him. Got one quite satisfying backfist followed by a slap with the same hand, on either side of the head. A good night, though. Followed by cleaning of the kwoon! Ah, it's like a family at the kwoon.

Today I sat on the porch and played a bit of guitar. It was a beautiful day. So then Sandra came by and we went to pick up her mom's NEW CAR! Well, used, but it was new to her. And then choir practice. Without our valiant choir director! But it turned out okay. We learned some new harmonies, they sounded cool when they were working. Yay! But we have the wedding coming up this weekend. I'm a little nervous, but excited, too. I hope it goes well! We'll see.

Then hanging out with Fred. We saw Way of the Gun. An interesting film. Although Juliette Lewis freaks me out. But he loaned me Shaolin Soccer! And I'm too excited to not watch it, so I may have to do a post-blog viewing of this excellent film. Yay!

Yes, I need to see it. After finishing reading up on my Fable article (linked above), only published today. Well, yesterday. (An edit: I read the rest of it. OmiGOODness I can't wait for this.

I mean just look at it!) And busy day tomorrow, so I need to get on things. Which means it's time for your random link! This one's a little weird. It's on topic with video gaming. Sort of. I think some people worry a little too much about gaming and it's influence. And some people worry about cartoons. Some people a bit differently than others.

- posted by Pootenheimer @ 1:27 AM | 0 comments

 
Kung Fu, Doom 3, So Forth
I'm being bad again at blogging regularly. Things have gotten a little... different. I guess mainly since the focus of my life is no longer on finding a job, since I've found one (Yay!), but moving on to other things. Changing gears, if you want to call it that.

I've finally gotten back into kung fu. I got to spar with Louis (the new guy, transferred from the other kung fu place) for the first time. He's got a ways to go, but he definitely has the motivation to move forward. I think he'll do well. And the rest of it was primarily Justin sparring, of course. He managed to sweep me yet again. And I landed on my NECK. It's almost back to normal, but it didn't really feel good. I'm giving him some good practice, though. And he had a big tournament in Dallas over the weekend (weekend before this last one). Apparently, there was a ruckus about judgement calls for forms. I guess Justin and Nick both were in competition, and Nick got an 8.4 and Justin an 8.5. They thought the ranking was from 8 to 9, but it turns out it was actually from 8.5 to 9.5. Which means they both got the shaft. I don't know how Nick's form really was, but I know Justin's was probably better than most of his competitors (perhaps not all, but I'm confident in saying "most"). There's no real reason for why they were ranked so badly. Apparently everyone else did their forms very fast, and there was a 1:30 time limit for form competition. I think that's silly, because it takes at least 2:30 to properly do Gung Gee. Eh. At any rate, continuous sparring was the next day, and I think Justin got his vengeance that day. He got first. Yay! He made it sound like most of them didn't know how to handle a lot of his techniques. His backfist, for one. I guess even if your forms are especially pretty, we now know who knows REAL kung fu - muahahahahahaaa! He said I probably would have ranked third or even second, after him. I'm glad that I have the option to train with him - the best way to improve is to train with people better than you.

And I also have been playing a bit of Doom. It's a well-done game. Dark and scary. VERY dark. Intentionally. So you're wandering around, can't see too much, just what your flashlight illuminates. And after stumbling across an enemy, you have to put it away to pull out a weapon to defend yourself. Which can be a pain sometimes, but I believe the struggles with defending yourself in dark environments were intended by id. Best with surround sound, at night, by yourself. Woo! Scary stuff.

And I've been watching too many movies lately. Still have my crazy unlimited Blockbuster madness, so I'm renting frequently. Saw Friday the 13th part 2 for the first time. It's pretty scary, not too bad. I think the first three were the ones that were actually decent before it started going downhill. Downhill and WEIRD. Yeah, saw that, and a movie called Scanners. Sci-fi horror. Actually, not too much horror, just a couple of extraordinarily violent scenes that puts it into that category. It wasn't too bad, a few interesting ideas. Until they started bringing computers into it. Yeah - people talking about technology when the producers/writers don't actually know anything about the technology is not always a good idea. I think they may be re-releasing it sometime soon, though. Just a guess.

I also saw Collateral yesterday, with a few guys. Boys' night out, baby! Yeah. It was actually really good. Tom Cruise plays a bit more of a bad guy in this movie, and does an excellent job. I think most of us thought the best word to describe his character was "professional". A few moments in the movie were impressive enough that I may watch it again, just to see them. Good stuff.

And I'm blogging today, during the day, because for some reason I keep falling asleep early. Probably good, considering I'll need to sleep earlier and get up earlier for work on Monday. Yay! I'm excited! I don't even know what all my benefits are, but everyone says very good things about City jobs. So we'll see. I'm pretty pumped, though. This week, it'll be cleaning time, reorganizing the apartment a bit. Should be good. Maybe even take pictures once I get it to where I want it. Woo!

So now it's time to go, and you must have this random link I found. Not much to say about it. I'll just say it's more on the fun side of things.

- posted by Pootenheimer @ 2:58 PM | 0 comments

 
Too long, too long
I'm talking about the amount of time it's been since I last updated. Naturally. Speaking of - hold onto your butts, because this one's going to be too long. This BLOG, I mean. What are you thinking of?

I'll start at the beginning. It was just like it was last week... oh wait, it WAS last week. My friend Bret came in town. We hung out, and it was loads of fun. I haven't seen him in about half a year. He's a crazy guy. I finally got to take a picture of his nifty car. It's a Volvo! You wouldn't think a Volvo would be nifty, would you? Well, what if it was an old one?

Yeah, that's his car. And him! We re-visited Taco Bueno (there aren't any out west, where he's going back to, and there aren't any in Italy, where he's been).

Ah, and I went and saw The Village with my friend Carlos. Midnight showing, baby. It's actually a really good movie! I recommend it. Just keep in mind, with Shyamalan, you can't go in expecting anything specific. So just watch and let him unfold everything FOR you. Then you'll enjoy it, I think. I may go see it again.

Yeah, so Friday rolls around. I was supposed to hear from the City about the job, but they hadn't contacted me. So four thirty, I say "Screw it" and call them. He apologized for not calling, but they had one more person to interview, so I had to wait until the next week to find out. But I was still on the list, so that was a good sign. Ugh! The tension ever-building.

And from there, it was a mad rush to pack and get off to TEC 8. Yay! TEC is a Catholic retreat, one I've been attending since the third one. I'm usually the guitar guy there, it turns out nicely. This one turned out to be one of the better ones I've remembered. It was very cool. Lots of people I knew attended, which also was cool. And the one big surprise, the one nobody expected who signed up at the LAST MINUTE - Carlos. He ended up attending. And he enjoyed it a lot! He told me he got a lot out of it, and I'm really happy about that. It was three days of fun and introspective speculation. And some new friends. We returned Monday night. Then Carlos and Embrey came over to join me and Sandra for insane movie night. Insane? Yes, because we all were running on way too little sleep. Sandra promptly fell asleep. I think the rest of us faded in and out. We saw How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days. I was the only one who hadn't seen it. For a chick flick, it was pretty good.

Tuesday! I have to say Tuesday's one of the best days I've had in a very long time. I'm awakened about 9:30 by a phone call. It's the City of Tulsa. Calling to tell me that they finally made a decision about the position. And I've got the job! Yaaaaay! Utter relief. And I have to wait until later that day or the next for them to finish sorting through the salary negotiations. But that's okay. I am now employed. After about three months of stress, working fervently to locate open positions that are appropriate for a Master's degree, and struggling with paying the bills (now almost all of which are overdue), I have finally found some peace. And I am grateful. So they called the next day to tell me the salary. And I won't say it here. But I will say it's enough to cover my bills, which is all that I really cared about.

And from there I get up and get ready, then off to GameStop. To get Doom 3! It's in. But I don't have money. So I take credit from Half-Life 2 (which seems like it's never coming out), dump it over, and then reserve two other games with it (Fable and Burnout 3, both excellent games). And I have money left over! Yay! That, and I got a Fable disc with videos of all sorts of things about Fable. AND I got to play a demo disc they had there of Burnout 3. It's going to be a sweet, sweet game. So I installed Doom 3, and while my computer is now outdated enough that it barely plays, it still plays. And it's pretty scary. Good stuff.

And from there I go to Carlos's, we watch the Fable stuff, then go off to Theology on Tap. A nice gathering where a priest gives a talk, then opens up for question and answer. This time it was Father Teddy, who I must say is one of the cooler priests I know. He's very intelligent, and has more answers that make sense to me than most people, about Catholicism. His talk was excellent.

Ah, and from there, it was time to hang with Sandra, since we hadn't in forever (by ourselves). She claimed ownership for the night, since Carlos has kind of taken a lot of my time previously. And it was all good. From there, it was bedtime, and we say our goodnights.

Oh, but it wasn't over quite yet! I go to meet up again with Carlos at IHOP, but he's just had an allergic reaction, which is bad. So we have to take off so he can take care of that. And then it's just relaxing a bit, watching some Strong Bad stuff, and then it's bedtime for me. So I go home and crash.

Wednesday. Duhn duhn! Seems like I needed a Law and Order moment there. Even though I've never really watched it. I talk to the City again, and I find out I'll need the drug test, so they'll have to schedule it, then I can begin work. I still don't even know what my benefits are, or anything. So it's all good surprises from here on out. Wednesday is time for Friday's. Doesn't make sense, I know. Just headed out to eat with a bunch of friends, good times. And from there it's off to choir practice! We actually had a lot of people show up this time. Which is good. And the music is cool - we did one of the songs we're going to do for the wedding. Which is sounding better every time we do it. That, and Steve (the choir director) REALLY liked a song we did at TEC (he was there, too), so we practice that. A few times. And it's also sounding better, especially since we figured out a few chords we didn't have right previously. Considering the previous set of chords we had we pulled purely from a thirty-second chunk of the song, it wasn't too bad. But now it's all good.

And today! Today isn't over yet, so I don't know what it holds for me yet. But I think I'm going to play a bit. Get some food, and then go to kung fu for the first time in a week. Strange, to have a large blog entry with no kung fu. Oh well, there'll be more in the future, I'm sure. I've got my drug test to do next Monday, and after that I start work. Yay! So until then I get some free time. Which is good.

And THAT is my massive blog recovery operation. Which means now it's time for random links. Yes, two of them. To make up for lost time. I have one which is just cool. I'll leave it at that. And another one which is one of the cooler commercials I've ever seen.

- posted by Pootenheimer @ 12:35 PM | 0 comments