Taeryn's Xanga

Friday, January 12, 2007

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 21:57:55 GMT

Yeah it's horrible. I know.

I got really busy over christmas. And I'm rather busy now. And there's nothing interesting to post here anyway. Those are all legitimate excuses, just pick one and shut up.

Well I did have one memorable moment recently. I got to meet Elrin and SenorOjo while they were on their super-crazy-insane-unbelievable something-or-other road trip of 2007 yadda yadda. Baja Fresh FTW. So David, I told you then, but I reiterate: You need to come up and actually spend some quality time in VA. Was good to see you guys for a couple hours, but there isn't much you can do in a short time like that.

On a completely different and possibly random, as well as thoroughly meaningless note, I am addicted to sparkling cider. Not just any, but the local stuff they make like 10 miles down the road. We have this tiny grocery store in my little town where I can buy it, and what's better, they won't report me to the ATF when I purchase as much as I can carry. So every time I run out, I'm back in there stocking up again. I sort of feel self-conscious, and I'm pretty sure one of the cashiers will ask me a pointed question sooner or later. But I don't care. I have to have my Alpenglow. Also, I might be high.

Anyway I am bored of this already. And I've a fridge full of sparkling cider to drink out behind the woodshed. Oh, and I want to play Medieval 2, which turns out is a very fun game (get your sadism and power-mongering out all in one go).

Monday, December 11, 2006

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 03:45:46 GMT

You know I really am bad at this frequent blogging thing. I mean, every once in awhile I'll go for a couple months where I update weekly, or even more often than that - but then I have months straight with nothing. I'm trying to figure out why that is.

So this is an attempt to get things back on track. I'll see how that goes.

Christmas has kind of snuck up on me this year. It feels like thanksgiving was just last week or something. And now I'm at the point where you look at your list of people to buy christmas gifts for, and realise you're pretty screwed. I prefer to do most of my shopping online, to avoid the crowded stores and it's just all around more convenient, really. But I don't think I have the time for that now, things arriving late would be bad.

Unfortunately, as much as I want to get into the whole christmas thing now, I'm really busy with work and school. Semester is finally ending, but ends of semesters mean lots of studying. And while I would have expected work to sort of tail off around the holidays (the sort of work I do tends to be a fluctuating state of busy-ness), it's been kind of hectic for the last two weeks. And I don't think this week is going to be any different, what with one particularly loathesome job needing to be done before christmas if at all possible. Nothing like a good dose of holiday stress.

And what really bothers me right now is that I haven't seen the Albert Finney Scrooge yet this year. That's like messing with tradition, and that leads to trouble.

Alright so I'm off now, it's late, and I have to work early tomorrow. And probably late as well. Sorry this wasn't a wonderfully interesting post, but on the other hand, it is actually a post. I'll do my best to update again soon.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 01:10:21 GMT

Some of the best entertainment I've discovered in the last six months:

Le Volume Courbe was just this weekend actually... got the album "I Killed My Best Friend" and it is epic. I can't really put my finger on what it is about her voice and the music that appeals to me, but it's simply fantastic.

Anyway, I went out and voted today. One nice thing about living out here is there's never any lines. For anything. So although they had a total of two people at the polling place checking people's IDs and giving them ballots, it only took me about 2 minutes to get my voting done.

On sunday, I saw The Departed with Ryan and Joel... I thought it was pretty good. I don't like Matt Damon, or Leo DiCrapio, but they both die so it's good. That was a spoiler, by the way. I guess the whole irish mafia in Boston is what made it interesting to me.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 23:03:41 GMT

It was an interesting week in football. I went 12-2 with my picks, so that is a resounding success. I was wrong on Denver and Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh and Oakland (I don't anyone saw that coming though).

Well I took my mom out last night, as it was her birthday. We went to Ben & Mary's, which was just as good for dinner. Everything was going swimmingly, and my mom was having a good time... until the car broke down on the way home. Very romantic, yes. So I ended up calling my brother and having him pick us up. Fortunately it wasn't far from home, my dad and I went back today and got the stupid thing home. I'm having really really bad luck with vehicles right now. I'm almost too scared to drive.

On the bright side, I do think my own car is finally running right again. I'm just planning on it breaking down again at the worst possible time and place. People are always calling me a pessimist and such, but you know, I just hate disappointment and unexpected surprises of the suck variety. It's a lot easier to just assume I'll get hit by a truck and become paraplegic, because then when it happens I can be smug about an excellent prediction.

So I'm supposed to drive over to Billy's on friday or something, to set up a computer for him. I'm hoping the car hasn't imploded in a ball of rust by then. Oh well, adds some excitement to life.

I went to a costume party with Ryan on saturday. The theme was "ghetto, any form", so I went vintage 30's style. Suspenders, black suit and fedora, slicked back hair (I swear that takes so much gel). It was pretty awesome. But everyone else there went for a more modern interpretation, so I was the odd man out. It was still pretty awesome though.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 23:22:30 GMT

I hate politics so much. And I really hate when it gets close to election time and every single advert on the telly or radio is political. Furthermore, if you live close to the DC/Maryland area like I do, it's enough for a democratic advert to accuse the opponent of liking Bush. No mention of why this guy is worth voting for. You just better not vote for the other guy because *gasp* he agrees with Bush on at least one issue. You guys who live near me will think of the anti-Michael Steele campaign. I know absolutely nothing about O'Malley because all his adverts have been "Michael Steele is Bush's b****". Doesn't matter anyway, I'm not a maryland resident. Thank God.

On the other hand, in Virginia we have Jim Webb saying George Allen has a jewish grandmother, which makes him not worth voting for. I didn't know Webb was a nazi.

So anyway, I like to avoid the media at this time of year. It's just depressing.

Well Nightfall comes out on friday. I have pretty much weaned myself off of Guild Wars these past few weeks, so I have a feeling I should forego buying it at least until christmas break. But at the same time, I don't want to wait. It looks pretty fun.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 21:43:42 GMT

So much for the colder weather. I walked outside early this afternoon to make a quick errand run, and I was wearing a jacket. First thing that hit was a swarm of stupid ladybugs (I don't know what it is about them at this time of year, but they are freaking everywhere... and that side of the house was bathed in sunlight), second thing was "crap, it's hot". It must have been around 70-75, which is strange for mid-october here. It's cooled down as I write this, but I really would like it to be really, down-right freezing one of these days. I've had enough of the summer-like weather. (I'm sure I won't be saying all this when I get snowed in).

Evidently this band Subaudition is rather obscure. It's really good stuff though. I've been listening to a lot of post-rock lately, and I think this may qualify as such.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 22:41:09 GMT

Hot Chocolate is amazing. It's pretty much that time of year now (though I could drink this year-round, really). I'm a bit spoiled though. I don't really like it unless made with milk.

It seems every few months I get this weird urge to play Freelancer again. So I reinstalled it the other night, and had a few hours of fun. Then I went to play it again today and it's screwing up. It won't recognize the server I'm trying to set up, even though it was fine the other day. I blame Microsoft. Clearly the only thing to do.

Youtube is pretty neat. Just the sheer number of videos on there. I actually found a Windir video, which someone bootlegged. Horrible quality, but it's Windir. There's also some Moonsorrow stuff on there.

My family wants me to start a blog for them... Not a Xanga or Blogspot or whatever, but an actual customized, time-consuming blog. Something about having a web presence now. The real reason is just that a bunch of other familys are doing it . I guess that will be a project for the (hopefully) near future.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 14:33:00 GMT

I did something to my toe on saturday. I thought for awhile it was broken, due to the immense amount of pain I was in, and the inability to move it much. Anyway so, I was actually going to go to the doctor about it, but it's not hurting anymore. Saturday it was almost unbearable - not because the pain was intense, but because it was constant. I hate injuries like that.

Personally I don't like taking drugs, but I threw my inhibitions to the wind saturday night and popped an oxycodone. I don't think I'll ever take one of those again. It seemed like a good idea to take one instead of two, seeing as it wasn't my prescription and I didn't know how strong the stuff was. Well it's pretty strong. And it did stop the pain. It also made me incredibly dizzy and sick to my stomach. So I was on the couch for a couple hours shivering, not wanting to open my eyes (the room spinning wasn't conducive to a happy stomach) and generally feeling worse than before I took the oxycodone.

The prescription was my dad's, and when he found out I took one, he threw the rest out. Apparently, when he was taking them after his knee surgery, they caused hallucinations and he couldn't fall asleep when on them. So he was worried about someone (like me?) taking a bunch and really screwing themself up. Or becoming addicted. But I'm not that sort of person, am I? Hmm.. maybe.

By the way, this injury happened while I was walking down the stairs. Thus demonstrating my peak physical condition.

Church was pretty interesting yesterday. Due to not getting any sleep whatsoever saturday night (I guess it was the drugs), I could barely stay awake through the sermon. I felt bad because I know I nodded off at least once, and I'm pretty sure the pastor saw me. Oh well, everyone already thinks I'm a heathen anyway. And I actually bothered going to church, which counts for something (one sibling in particular stayed home ostensibly to "study").

So I hobbled around and talked to people, who I think probably thought I was in a drug-induced stupor. Then I went home and took some codeine.

No really, I did. Because my toe hurt and there was some divinely available (it must have been a sign) tylenol-3 at home. Ibuprofen wasn't working, so I took one of those instead. And I'm happy to say it worked without all the death's door side effects. May have had something to do with the fact that I took the oxycodone on an empty stomach.

Anyway, that was my weekend sort of. I also hung out with Ryan for several hours saturday. Fixed his computer and watched a bunch of random tv shows for kicks.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 21:36:39 GMT

Well I haven't made a football post yet this year. I was going to ignore the sport entirely, but as usual... got kinda sucked in. Good to see the Redskins play a decent game for a change (don't think anyone expected them to beat the Jags, especially not with a great offensive showing). Ravens are 4-0 at this point, which I guess is pretty cool. I mean, it's Baltimore, so I can almost call them the AFC home team. But I've never really cared much about them. Only when the Redskins and Vikings are both horrible do they really matter.

Incidentally, the Vikings are close to horrible. So they had a tough loss to Chicago in week 3 (they actually put on a good showing there), and are 2-2 right now after a really pathetic game against Buffalo. So much for the 2-0 start. They did beat the Panthers, but I'm not sure Carolina should be considered a quality team anymore. So this week it's Detroit at Minnesota, which if the Vikings lose, marks the death knell of their season.

So I've come to the conclusion that the weakest division in football is AFC East. Miami was supposed to be good this year, but thanks to Don't-Make-a-Play Culpepper, they are what, 1-3? And lost to Houston!? Buffalo is 2-2, but lost to the Jets, who's only other win is against Tennessee. So New England is head of the division at 3-1, but two of those wins are against weak division rivals. Must be nice to be New England.

On the other hand, I think NFC East and AFC North tie for hardest divisions in football.

It may actually come down the wire between the Eagles, Cowboys, Giants and Redskins. It's a little early to tell, especially since NY and Dallas have played only three games each. Philadelphia has an amazing offense, but lost to a Giant team who were destroyed by the Seahawks the following week. When you consider what the Bears did to the Seahawks this week, it makes you wonder. Philadelphia has beat Houston (haha), San Francisco and Green Bay - all pushover games. Dallas, has beaten Washington (that sucked so hard, but I blame Clinton Portis being out) and Tennessee, but lost to Jacksonville (who Washington beat with a healthy offense). So we have Dallas at Philadelphia in week 5, which should determine who the dominant East team is. But I still think either the 'Skins or Giants could win the title if they perform like they are capable of (they get to play eachother this week, too).

In the AFC North, everyone has been talking about how good the Bengals are. But I think their fans got a reality check when Cincinatti was capital-O OWNED by the Pats on sunday. 236 yards rushing, I think it was? Laurence Maroney and Corey Dillon are good, but those are still gaudy numbers to be putting up against a supposed super bowl contender. It may be the Bengals are just young and inexperienced, but we'll see if they bounce back from that or not.

The reigning champion Steelers suck pretty hard so far this year. Roethlisberger (or however you spell it) ain't making the plays, and when your only win is against Miami, that doesn't bode well. I will admit they had two tough opponents (Jax and Cincy), and I still think they have a solid team. This was their bye week, so maybe they'll perform better coming off the extended practice. The Ravens, like I said, are 4-0, but they have had three easy games (Tampa Bay, Oakland and Cleveland) and not until they beat the Chargers did I take them seriously. They may be an amazing team again, like they were back in I think it was 2000.

Speaking of Oakland, I really think the Raiders are the worst team playing. Actually, I'm not sure they are even playing, considering the Browns come-from-behind win on sunday - giving up three straight touchdowns to lose a game they were ahead 21-3.

I laughed a lot at Seattle fans after Sunday night's game against the Bears. In particular, this one guy had posted his "power rankings" on CBS sportsline, and in them, he ranked the Bears at number 3 or so, while the Seahawks were down around 9 (this was before the game). So quite a few fans of the Seahawks got on and flamed him like there's no tomorrow, calling him an idiot and he "would see" when the Seahawks "stomp all over [his] precious Bears". Personally, I picked the Bears to win that game anyway, but it was more satisfying after reading all that. Bet those guys are still trying to get their foot back out of their mouth.

Alright well that's been enough boring football stuff for now. I just felt like rambling a bit.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 20:26:03 GMT

Looks like I'm going to be taking a short trip out to the wilds this weekend. I have a friend who moved out to the middle-of-nowhere West Virginia a couple years ago with his family. So mine is finally going to visit his, and I figured I should go along. Hopefully I'll have time to get some study in while I'm out there.

Ich studiere Deutsch dieses Semester in Universität. It's been pretty interesting, but not nearly as easy as it seems it should be. I'm not quite sure the grammar is even correct in that sentence, but oh well. It ain't like my english grammar are perfect anyhow or even close.

Well I guess it's fall now. I actually have to wear long-sleeved shirts to stay comfortable. For now, it's rather nice, but I'm not really looking forward to the butt-arse cold days in the not-so-distant future. It's kind of weird that I was just at the beach the other week, and it was hot the whole time. Maybe we still have a few warm days left this year.