Welcome to my realm. Please feel free to read my blog and leave comments. Friend requests are more than welcome; we all need as many friends as we can get in these cold times.

If you are a fan of Edgar Allen Poe's disturbing and depressing writings, this may just be the place for you to make yourself at home. I'm sorry to say that I rarely have good news of any relevance to real life whatsoever . . . well, this is usually true, at least. My luck seems to be rapidly fluctuating at the moment; one second I'm riding a moonbeam, the next I've crashed into a brick wall and can't seem to put the pieces back together. As good luck counters bad and vice versa, my life enters a whirlwind of possibilities . . . all I need now is a nice, big, decrepit, vine-covered house with a giant crack down the side and a blood-red moon behind it.

Please PM me if you play The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Pokémon Diamond or Pearl (I have Diamond), Final Fantasy III, or Animal Crossing: Wild World. I'm always looking for new Wi-Fi companions and rivals.

• 4Sep 07

  First day of classes. *snicker*

  So, I arrived at the Michigan Technological University campus at about 10:00am on the 25 of August. Wow, is it nice here. Our dorm is far bigger than both my roommate--who, from here on out, is Cory--and I expected, and we immediately got out all our geek gear (he had far more than I did) and turned our room into a technological haven. I have my laptop, my stereo, my DS, and all of my games (I had to leave the PS2 behind; I really need to buy a new one); Cory has his custom-built computer, the monitor for which doubles as a TV, his custom-built laptop, his stereo (mine's better; I win there), his really fancy cell-phone, and whatever else that he has that I don't know about. He brought a phone and a wireless router (both for our computers and for Nintendo WFC--which I finally have 24-hour access to!), I brought a car...Imay be getting the weaker end of that deal, although the phone and the router are used FAR more often than the car--dorm on one end of campus, parking lot on the other. What's a guy to do? Anyhow, I'm very pleased with how our dorm is now, the campus is beautiful and not too big to walk across, and the cafeterias are pretty good. My only complaint is all of the accursed calls and e-mails from my family. Can't they trust me to live on my own for even two days straight?

  First day of classes today. Riiiiight. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining in the least. You see, by the time it was my Orientation Group's turn to register, all of the good unrequired classes had been taken, so I just took what I absolutely had to. The result: a twelve credit hour semester. To those of you who don't know what that means, it's basically a really lenient schedule. What's more, none of my classes start any earlier than noon (four days out of five, the first class is actually at two), and none of them end later than five, so I have a really nice schedule, leaving plenty of time to study, relax, and sleep in. This is going to be a very enjoyable semester, especially since I recently restarted my ACWW game and made a whole bunch of Wi-Fi friends all over the world, and have found a few people around campus to battle in Diamond and Pearl. Good stuff.

  I'm really missing my friends back home, especially Terranica. I'll be able to visit them all pretty soon, though; Autumn Recess begins at 10:00pm November 16, and classes resume on November 26, so I have all of that time to take a trip down and visit with them. Unfortunately, this means visiting my family, too...this will probably spawn a whole new wave of e-mails and phone calls. I almost feel bad about not missing them. Almost. Perhaps someday I really will, but right now I don't.

  So, I took an advanced placement test for computer science (CS), and passed, much to my surprise, with flying colours. Thus have I landed myself in an accelerated CS class. It's pretty nice. What isn't nice is that I'm also taking calculus...but let's ignore this fact. The CS classesare great, the computer labs are state-of-the-art complete with real supercomputers (not that we get to use them or anything, but still), and since my entire Orientation Group was comprised of CS majors (namely Software Engineers, but SE isn't as fun to say as CS), I've already met many of my classmates. College isn't going to be so bad. Even our literature class is pretty fun--with books like "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and "Accelerando," even the usually painful reading classes aren't going to be so bad.

  College has finally begun, and it's a blast. I hope you all enjoy your first few weeks of it as much as I am!

  Eternally thine,

  .:Syluvan:.

  • Posted Sep 4, 2007 9:17 pm GMT
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• 20Aug 07

  One day of work remaining. Wait, haven't I already gone through four days...?

  The answer is "yes." I've worked for four days already, which is the number of days of work I said I had left. It actually, in fact, was the number of days I had left...until my manager forgot--for the second time this month!--that I had told her that the nineteenth would be my last day. Consequently, she went and scheduled me in...for the entire week. I'm not actually going to have to work the entire week; once she realized her mistake, she apologized (and wow, was she sheepish), but then apologetically added that on Monday there were two trainees closing, and that without an experienced crew member (meaning me), they would be completely helpless and never get done on time. What's a guy to do? So, it turns out, I'm working another day. At least I'll get another forty bucks or so; that's always nice. I really don't feel it's worth the sleep, time, and energy that I'll be sacrificing to go to work tomorrow (I was going to start readjusting my sleep patterns to be more suitable for college; so much for that).

  That's about all I have for now. Really. No longwinded speech this time. I can't think of anything going on, I'm too tired to write a long epic anyhow, and I'm too ticked to care (seriously, how forgetful can you be...?).

  Eternally thine,

  .:Mike:.

  • Posted Aug 20, 2007 1:43 am GMT
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• 16Aug 07

  Eight days until I leave for college. Can you say "tempus fugit?"

  Four days of work remaining. Seven days to complete my summer reading project (heh; I could finish it in mere hours if I had a mind to). Eight days 'til my four-hundred-mile drive north. Sixteen days until the start of college. Wow.

  It's amazing how quickly time passes when you think about it. I mean, think about it.

  Everything is relative. When you're five, everything seems huge. Adults tower above you. That tiny little slide in your back yard lets you see everything...except for things blocked by your house. Your house must have been built by giants.

  Five dollars is a lot to you. You can buy a whole gallon of ice cream with that! That's at least ten bowls! Ten dollars means twenty bowls of ice cream...or a toy! Fifty dollars...you could buy one hundred bowls of ice cream, or ten toys, or a video game (they sure did cost a lot back then)! One hundred dollars...oh, wow! Kings have that much money! You could even buy a puppy with that! (Or a kitten, in my case. Cats forever!) A thousand dollars!? You'd be set for life!

  An hour to play with a friend? You can play four games of Trouble in that time if you hurry! How about two hours? Enough time for three different board games! Five hours? You can travel all the way to China and back, and have four and a half hours to play there (because China's only through the center of the Earth; fifteen minutes either way in the land of make-believe)! An entire day with a friend? A sleepover? That's forever--literally! You can do everything you ever wanted to and have time to spare! Let's go on a larger scale: Summer vacation! You have three whole months to play all day! The world is yours to do as you wish!

  Ah, to be a child again (I'd never take that path; I'm far happier where--or, I suppose, when--I am today). The days when there was no end to Art Klass (apparently I'm not allowed to say c-l-a-s-s, so I'll just spell it wrong)--except for when it was time for Gym Klass-and all the toys you wanted could be gotten through a mere one hundred dollars. I'm not five anymore. I'm eighteen now.

  Eighteen. What lasts that long? Dogs are lucky to be alive by now. Cats are probably breathing their last sacred breaths. Many plants die after a single year. Stones wear away. Rivers carve new paths. Professional athletes lose their jobs because they're "just too old"(and I laugh at them). Don't even try to compare the lifespan of the "latest fashions"--your mind will melt.

  In the past eighteen years, we've gone from weak, tinny speakers the size of pickup trucks to powerful, accurate, realistic-sounding, neodymium transducer magnet-operated ones that fit into your ear. Loud, squarish, clanking automobiles have transformed into the sleek, aerodynamic, (relatively) fuel-efficient, speeding vehicles. Sixteen-bit graphics have turned into marvelous three-dimensional works of art. Music? Sousa marches degenerated all the way to tuneless, pointless screams and shouts and "rhymes"of sex and blood and beer...bit of a difference there, huh? (Thank fate for the living of some great, traditional composers, and bands/orchestras/ensembles that are still good, properly evolved relative--there it is again--to the works of real musicians like Mozart and Handel, and/or wholesome--Acoustic Alchemy, Mythos, Nobuo Uematsu...) Times have changed, and everything else along with them. They've changed far more in the past decade than ever before in our history. It's about time we faced that fact (no pun intended whatsoever).

  Compare three months of your life--the approximate length of the eternally loved summer vacation--to your theoretical five years. That's only one twentieth of your entire lifespan. One-twentieth isn't all that large a value, but now compare that same three months to the eighteen-point-one-six-six-six-six-six-six-six...*ahem* years of mine. The value's ever so slightly lower, isn't it? Rounding my life to the nearest quarter, that same three months is now only one seventy-third of my life. Yep. Just slightly lower. Okay, enough sarcasm: X delta Y (where X equals the ratio .25:5 or 1:20 and Y equals the ratio .25:18.25 or 1:73) is huge relative to the actual values (See? Relativity again.).

  This applies to the aforementioned comparisons as well. Your room that was so huge? Where did all the space go? You just don't have enough anymore. That hundred dollars? Well, we never get tired of toys--let's be honest--but the toys get bigger...and more expensive. That hundred dollars that bought you so much then...how much cell phone service will that pay for? Two months at best (assuming you like all the bells and whistles--ringtones, internet, games, etc.)? How much of a laptop will that buy? How about a car? You get the picture: The older, bigger, and more mature you become, the smaller everything appears to you--in everything from a spacial to a temporal sense.

  When I was five, the same week that I'm facing would be forever. There's nothing to worry about--why are my parents rushing so much? They must be crazy; we have forever! Now, though...that week is nowhere near long enough. That's only eight days--the merest iota of time--in which to finish the demolition of my room (my youngest brother is going to be receiving it...*sob*...), eight days to try to retrieve my copy of Brain Age from that "friend" who "borrowed" it, eight days to conclude any unfinished business among friends that I need to sort out...an infinitesimally short eight days to try to see my girlfriend (who will be referred to as Terranica from here on out, including future entries) one last time before the long separation that college will cause. Ouch.

  Sure, there are things that are very nice about the eight days being so very short--that's eight days until I have broadband and Wi-Fi (all players of ACWW, FFIII, and Diamond/Pearl: this is where you pause your reading momentarily to frantically send me your FC), eight days until I no longer have to put up with my parents and compoundingly obnoxious Slinkys (Is that how the plural is spelled? Wait...did I say that aloud?) *ahem* I mean brothers, eight short days until I have an entire week to enjoy all of the pleasures of college life for an equally short (though still nice) week without any of the klasswork (I call a toast to orientation--with sparkling cider, of course, you wannabe-alcoholic underagers).

  The shortest period of time that seems even vaguely long to me at this point is a year, and even that isn't all that long--it's one-eighteenth of my life after all, and although the three months in comparison to five years seemed like forever (and it had a lower ratio), that was when I was young and stupid and too lackwitted to think it all through. However, that same short year seems so very long in perspective when I think about all that I'll be dying to return to--my promised annual visit to Ohio, the Cherry Festival (which I refuse to miss next year) during the summer...most importantly and most awaited, the chance to see Terranica again.

  I will end my partial analysis of time (to put all of my thoughts about it would take far too long, especially at this time of morning)--and my rant concerning it--with a credit and a wish: A credit to Einstein, who was the first human to appropriately put all of the aspects of relativity into the form of a well-worded thesis, and a wish that Dialga existed, so that I could stop and speed up time at will (can you blame me?).

  ~*~*~

  In actual news, life has been very uneventful. Thanks to a tip-off from my future college roommate, I located a collector's edition package of Age of Empires I and II plus their expansions for a simple $10.00 (it may not be much money, but every so often we can still find a good use for such a diminutive amount), as you've probably noticed in my Now Playing box by this time. Like I said, I'm demolishing my room bit-by-bit, which isn't exactly fun. I have to mow the lawn tomorrow as punishment for not having my closet cleaned "on time"--dang my parents are freaking out these days. Work has been going about as usual, save that my performance level has taken a quantum leap--right before I have to leave the job. That's irony at its finest. Ah, yes, and astronomical phenomena have been at an all-time high for my lifespan and knowledgeability.

  There was a meteor shower this past Sunday, which I was fortunate enough to learn of from (once again) my future college roommate, and even more fortunate in that I was able to watch part of it with Terranica. I can mark it without doubt as the best night of my life; I was happy for hours even after she left. It simply doesn't get any better than that. Later this month (the twenty-seventh, I'm told by ViolentRaenbow--who will be referred to as Rae from this point on, once again including future entries), Mars will pass so close to the Earth that it will almost appear to be a second moon. Of course, I'll be out at night watching this as well. It's a shame that I can't be with Terranica for this experience also, but I hope she'll be watching it too; it will be comforting to me simply to be doing the same activity at the same time. "There are many worlds, but they all share the same sky--one sky, one destiny."

  Sunday being my last day at work, the four days afterward are going to be insanely busy. Sunday, before I'm even done with work, my parents are inviting some of my friends from church along with their families for a sort of "belated-graduation-slash-punctual-farewell" barbecue. Monday, I'm sure I'll have plenty of work to do. Tuesday, my family is out of the house for pretty much the entire day, so there's a chance that I may have that day completely empty (and therefore boring), although I would much prefer to spend it with some of--or one of--my friends...especially one in particular (You get one guess, and I shoot you if you're wrong. This is rhetorical, by the way. You knew? Okay, just checking....). Wednesday, my friends are holding a party. Well, a get-together, at least--Rae and Terranica will be there;I don't know if anyone else will, but the two of them are enough. It'll be good to see them one last time for now. Thursday will be packing galore. Anything not torn down by Tuesday will be completely and utterly decimated today. Everything that I want for college will be taken; everything else will be divided between storage and some unknown fate--which perhaps, for my sake, should remain unknown. Friday, I begin my sojourn to the Last Frontier--a.k.a. Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the terrain Michigan gained upon the loss of the Toledo Strip, Yooperland, etcetera.

  Besides all "necessary" preparation, I have some pre-travel projects of my own to complete. Having found that Windows Vista finally gives me a convenient way to do so, I'm compiling a contacts list, from which I will send out friendly messages, mail, and the newsletter (which will probably range from biweekly to monthly)that I plan on writing while at MTU: Tales of Yooperland (play on "Tales Of _____" series title fully intentional). Most of the information in said periodical will also be posted in this blog, so far more frequent entries can be expected...or if not more frequent, at least more regular.

  I'm having a hard time ending this entry. I have so much I want to say, but I don't know how to say a lot of it. Also, the caffeine from my tea still hasn't worn off, it's almost 6:00am here, and I've been awake since 11:00am yesterday and plan on waking at the same time today. That taken into account, I'm going to leave you with the information that you've been given (I've probably rambled on long enough anyhow; one of my friends recently made a semi-joking remark about how longwinded I've been of late, and I daresay I have to agree--and it doesn't bother me--or them--in the least).

  Goodnight...err...morning? Whatever. That's another good thing that I can look forward to in an even more minuscule four days: a proper sleep schedule.

  Eternally thine,

  .:Mike:.

  Oh, yeah: for any of you who didn't know, "tempus fugit" is "time flies" in Latin.

  • Posted Aug 16, 2007 3:07 am GMT
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