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I have concluded my journey of this weekend, travelling a grand total of 874 miles [on the dot!] from my departure this past Friday morning until I filled up my gas tank at the Kroger station in town. This weekend went by waaay to fast for my liking. I enjoyed every second of it. It was an epicly awesome experience that I hope to have again this same time next year. I have made some new[ish] friends that are always good for a laugh. So here is a recap of this weekend, so you get an idea of what I accomplished this weekend.

I woke up Friday morning at 3 AM, showered, packed, and departed a little after 3:30. I arrived in Peoria at around 10:30 [I’m keeping this all in Eastern time to help alleviate confusion]. I spent the morning with Diana, and even sat in her Art History class with Sarah Glover for old time’s sake. And let me tell you, I remembered a lot for someone who rarely took notes. After class, I went to lunch with Diana at Two-25 and was served by the always wonderful Kristen “Nighthawk Feathers” Fuller. We were joined by Jerry and it was an awesome lunch. After that I went and spent a little time with Ricky and Lyndsey at their apartment. Upon my departure/kicking out, I returned the Bradley campus to getting a little tossing in with some old friends and the Baby BUFF members. We played a little Ultimate, which helped me get ready for the tournament. Up next was dinner with Manny, Sam, Matt, and Melissa at Flattop. The night was concluded with some NES repair and Super Talking Jeopardy with Mike and Jackie. The next day held tournament play. We played 4 games, in which we lost two hard fought games and won the other two pretty handily. I returned to the place of stay and showered for my dinner date with Laura and Emily. We ate at TGI Fridays and hung out a little at Emily’s pretty sweet place of residence. The night concluded once again of some Super Talking Jeopardy. Today [Sunday], I woke up sore, and not moving well. We played our first game in which we should have won, but handed the game away after halftime. The next team we were to play didn’t have enough that wanted to stay and play in the rain, and many [including me] had long drives ahead of us and wanted to get going early. But not after the customary team lunch afterwards. We invaded this little place that all the old people love to go to and just took over. I think the waitress loved us because we were all just in a good mood and had a great sense of humor. After the amazing stuffed French toast, I departed for home. I made the trip in less than 6 hours. No real traffic, no detours, no construction slowdowns. Just smooth sailing. And here I am now, just writing this up in the comfort of my own room once again.

I am starting something for myself. I am calling it my “Life Enhancement Program”. And it is just starting to do small simple things to make not only myself a better person, but to make my life better in general. The first thing I have been working on consistently doing is brushing my teeth every night and every morning. I know this seems too simple, but in college and high school, I had a real failure to brush my teeth consistently. This is step number one. Step number two is to make Sunday laundry day. I will now have Sundays off, so this would be the perfect day to do laundry. And if I do it every week, then it will not get out of hand. My next project within this program is my room decorating. I have asking Jayme for help so I can get some personal touches in this room. I asked her to design some 12.5”x12.5” prints for me; I have some vinyl records that I want to frame. We sell some ones at Hobby Lobby that essentially hold two vinyls; but instead of two in a frame, I am putting in one with a designed print in the other half. And I have some other ones I might frame in single vinyl record frames. I also have my Beatles poster here; I just need to hang it. But before I do any hanging, I will need to repair the holes in the wall and repaint. This way I can have a fresh start and hang artwork where I want it. I think my one wall will be my “Beatles Wall”, and I think I have that wall picked out. It is a smaller wall, but not the smallest one; and the [at least] three frames will cover the area nicely without being too cluttered. So I think that is it for now.

Oh, and I got a new phone. I am working on getting it perfect for myself, and when I do, I will be showing it off to you all!

Also, the title is my average gas mileage for my trip :D

All Smiles and Sunshine, A Perfect World On A Perfect Day

I would like to apologize for the delay of a new posting. I had been meaning to update, but have been lazy/busy. So here is the rundown of what I want to cover: The Giver, The Great Indoors, Rainmeter, Moving Forward.

The Giver:

I finished the book and I loved it. The ending is what you expect and want to happen when you are reading upto the final pages. I don't want to give away the ending, as I would recommend that you read the book. But it teaches us to not settle for the status quo. We need to challenge what we are, which is the truth, indoctrinated to think/know/believe/act. I have discussed before the need to destroy the traditional gender roles and blur the line between male and female. We need to challenge ourselves to be a better person and give other people a better life. Jonas chose to take matter into his own hands. He turned his back to this "perfect" community and left. He gained knowledge of a matter that he had always thought was a simple and sometimes joyous occasion. He finally knew the truth and decided that it wasn't something he wanted to ever be apart of again. He helped prevent the same fate from happening to an innocent boy. We all could learn many lessons from this novel and I want everyone to read it. And it is only 179 pages long. Can be read in like 4 hours.

The Great Indoors:

I am resigning from the Great Indoors. I was offered a better work situation that I must take. It will be better for me in the long run, and I am looking forward to the change.

Rainmeter:

I redesigned the rainmeter skin on my desktop. I am working on changing the wallpaper to help tie everything in together as I want it to. It will be using my current wallpaper, but edited to create something a little less distracting, and easier to read some of the text elements. I will upload a new screenshot when it is finished.

Moving Forward:

Now where do I go from here? I am just moving forward with my head held high. I purchased some new items for my bathroom. I bought a brushed nickel finish towel rod, a glass shelf with a brushed nickel finish brackets, black fabric shower curtain, a white fabric shower curtain liner, two spa rug towels [one black, one grey], and two spa hand towels [one black, one grey], and new shower curtain hangers. I will be purchasing the following in the future: a dresser from IKEA, a wall shelf from IKEA, a shower curtain rod, and frames to help complete the decoration of my room and bathroom. I am hoping that by purchasing a dresser, I will be able to get most, if not all, the clothes out of my closet and use those shelves as a storage space. This will help clear up and help keep my room clean in the long run. I will be bringing my Beatles framed poster, and reframing the one larger poster frame contents. I have a vinyl record, and some smaller graphic design pieces that Jayme made for me. I will be looking at a few varieties of frames with mutli opening mats. I will try to keep the same frame theme throughout the rest to keep everything matching. I will also be using some drywall filler to fill in the smaller holes from pre-exisiting wall shelves and magazine rack. I am hoping that this all works out and makes it a little better place for me in the long run.

I think I have covered everything I wanted to cover in this update. I will be uploading hoepfully more often in the near future as things settle down a little.

The Giver

So I was reading the Giver today while I was getting my tattoo worked on. I almost finished the book. So far, here are my thoughts on this classic novel.

1. Jonas is assigned the best job in the entire Community they live in, bar none.

2. He needs to fuck the shit out of Fiona, or at least run away and start an awesome life with her.

3. I would *die* in a world without any color.

4. My freedom of choice is what makes me, me.

5. I would loathe not being able to get my piercings and tattoos.

6. No cars and riding bikes everywhere in a place that allows adequate bike parking? I love it.

7. Being considered an adult at age 12 [although you may be younger/older] is historically correct, but still a little fucked up.

8. Having a coat that buttons on the back is even more fucked up.

9. Not knowing my birth mother would drive me insane.

10. How are the Birthmothers inpregnanted?

I will have an update when I finish the book [30 pages left] that has my complete thoughts.