I baked cupcakes tonight.
Natalie laughed at me.....
"What's with your baking kick, lately?"
"What?"
"You never bake."
"EXACTLY. That's why I'm baking!"

Is there anything wrong with that?
Baking is cheap, easy, and delicious.
At least, it is if you're a Betty Crocker fan.....

Hey, I bet there's a Betty Crocker group I could join on Facebook.
I went back and listened to those drums, they're horrible.
They are way overengineered...
I tried to "master" in what really should be "mixed" during play.

Eh.
High BPMs are very tricky to work with, you can do more in the ~150BPM range.

Let's see, cupcakes, cookies, music...
Let's not talk about school... it's really, really boring.
Unless people wanna hear about automata.

What other stuff?
Oh, I beat GTA Chinatown wars.
That game really leaves you feeling kinda empty when you beat it.

Also, I'm not digging the latest trend from game developers.
Beat the end of the game boss, show credits, and then go straight
back to the game.. and you can continue on just like nothing.
I guess I'm a fan of big cinematics, etc.

So, my computer died.
For a while I've been having this problem where my screen goes
black and my computer becomes unusable.....

Yesterday, my computer wouldn't turn on... it would just beep.
No bios, no post, just long beeps.....
For most people, that's the end of the line.

For me, I say "Wait, the beeps mean something."
When a computer beeps instead of turning on, usually
it beeps out diagnostic/fault codes.

You know, Xbox 360s do it, too.
They flash red rings when they're broken.
Different flashing patterns mean different things...
..... Speaking of which, I need to fix my little brother's xbox360 at some point.

Anyway, I looked it up, and apparently I have some memory problem.
I was really hoping that I hadn't had busted ram sitting in my computer.

So, I took it out back and shot it. cleaned it.
A ton of dust was in there... nasty, disgusting and giant clumps stuck in there.
So, I just compressed-aired it out... and I took out the ram, cleaned it, reseated it.

More than anything, I cleaned the heatsink and fan for the CPU.
So, now, my fan doesn't whir all stupid crazy all the time.
I'm posting from my computer, so it's obviously not broken anymore.

But, to have a computer diagnostic codes, and now having working?
It's actually a really big deal for me, because I was prepared to have to buy new RAM.
Or even worse... having to buy a new computer if my mobo died on me.
Essentially, imagine having a busted engine in your car, and fixing it with a car wash?
That's pretty much what I did........

Anyway, Mushihimesama Futari comes out this week.
I'm saving my last DVD+R DL for it... whoo, I will have some shopping to do this weekend.
Best of all, there's this rumor going on at work that they're going to dole out checks
this Wednesday, instead of doing it on Black Friday.....

But yeah, life is good.
Oh, and I make some pretty good cupcakes, apparently.

Here's some garbage.
I spent some time tonight engineering some kick drums.
Here's what I got so far.....
It's like 85% of what I really wanted...
..... But it's good enough for me to continue with the song.

Chances are that I'll fix it later as I start adding the rest of the percussion,
then eventually the "melodic" parts as well..... anyway.....
Make your ears bleed

Tell me if this sounds gay.
Iced Soy Mocha Latte

Basically, it's a latte made with soy milk.
I have this big bag of super premium dark chocolates,
I sincerely believe that they complement the taste of this medium-roast coffee.
At least, it's better than that syrup crap they use at Starbuck's.

Anyway, soy milk, boiled to almost a steam in a closed lid.
I use Silk brand soymilk, that stuff is a mile and away from the next best thing.
It's as close as I can get to making a cappuccino... it's seriously steaming, rolling boil.

Afterwards, I dump in the coffee and strain it through.
I toss in just a couple of small squares of my belgian chocolates.
They're very dark chocolates, so they don't just melt in immediately.
I have to stir them around a bit.

I've finally mastered the amount of ice necessary for this.
Seriously, the milk - coffee - ice ratio has taken forever.
But... I've finally done it.

For most people I make coffee for (my mom, my dad)
I often make it "too strong." But that's because both of my parents
have the coffee palette more akin to a sweet tooth.

But this... it's perfect...
The amount of sugar in it is significantly less than those coffees.
The medium roast is complemented with dark chocolate.
The soymilk gives a body not given by water alone.
I don't add creamer... the milk by itself is creamy enough.

I'm like a mad, coffee scientist.
This time, I've actually written down my "recipe."
Best of all, my ultra-premium coffee is cheap to make.

I used a Starbucks gift card to get a mocha latte today.
I will admit that the flavor is slightly better, but that's because it's really sugary.
My coffee ranks somewhere way above the McDonald's coffee,
and only slightly below your basic Starbuck's mocha latte.

I will say mine is superior, though.
Why? As I become increasingly lactose intolerant... this drink is beautiful.
About an hour after my starbuck's today, I was pooting my way through my break.

That drink had a slightly smoother flavor, mostly because it WASN'T an iced drink.
But also because the amount of sugar I put in it, to make it palettable, was a bit much.

Lemme just say this:
This coffee is 100% safe for lactose intolerant people (Natalie.)
It's also safe for those who prefer their drinks sweet.
And now that I've finally figured out how much ice to put in it...
... It's great for a quick chug, and is now also summer appropriate.

I don't know if you can tell by my bragging, but I feel like a fucking genius.
=================================

Deep inside, I'm a wannabe food and beverage guy.
Oh, I'm also a hidden musician.....

Hahaha, I might actually work on this hardcore track I've been making.
It's going to be the first one I'm actually going to finish.

Wait, me finish a song?
No.
Not at all.

So, I baked cookies tonight.
I'dnever baked cookies before, and it was one big experiment for me.

I think I finally understand people who can't cook (Faith).
It's fun to think "Oh hey, I made that, everyone better say it was good because I fucken made it!"

Of course, it's actually better when it tastes good.
And, my cookies are uh, well they're decent.

Peanut butter cookies, per my little brother Carlos' request.
I don't think I'll be making those again.
Next time, I'll be making something exotic.

I'd like to make something with blueberries.
Eh.....

Natalie and I had a pretty badass time today amidst crap.

The Hard Rock fucked up my check.....
Because I worked during the daylight savings shift, they screwed me out of an hour's pay.
I decided not to throw a hissy fit, but I still pouted for a bit.
During that pay period, that was the only show I worked.

Whatever.
Natalie and I went out for some fun stuff.
We decided to go to the Circus Circus for some happy funtimes.

They finally put back some arcade machines where Blaster's used to be.
They've absorbed some of the machines that the Luxor got rid of when they demolished their arcade.
Among them was the TMNT, Pump it Up, DDR Extreme, and In The Groove 2 machines.
Others as well, but I definitely noticed the machines they had.

It made me kinda happy... I was totally prepared to be crushed to find
an empty space where IIDX used to be... but it doesn't feel so bad now.
I think maybe on my own, I'll go back and play a few games.

We went on to the Midway and caught most of a magic show in their arena.
The magic act was interesting... the gimmick was that there were two people.
Basically, the guy and the chick had an act where their clothes kept changing.

Especially impressive was the woman... her dresses kept changing.
Sometimes longer, shorter, sleeved, strapless...
The guy had a good one too... she tied him up,
and he was able to change his outfit instantly while still being tied up.
The interesting one was the last one...
He threw a ton of confetti over her, and as it fell over her, her dress changed.

I showed off to Natalie after that.
She watched me play through 2/3 of Silent Scope 2 on a single credit.
Most of it was no-scoped, too... :: sigh :: She neither knows nor truly cares
how many hours I put into that game to get that good...

We went off to our new hot spot...
It's a secret place that's just fucking amazing.

Arizona Charlie's on Boulder Highway.
I was able to get a fat, bone-in ham, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns and toast for $3.29.
I got Natalie some pretty decent Chicken Parmesan/Spaghetti, too.
With my 10% discount for having a player's card (which I got the first time we went there,
it literally took me 4 minutes to get one when I went over there).....
In the end, the bill was literally $11 for the both of us.
I've actually spent more at In'n'Out for less food, and worse food.
The service was fantastic, and the atmosphere was clean as far as casino cafes go.

Here's the thing I like about it, though. Really like about it.
The food is actually really decent, better than most casino cafes.
However, the prices are absolutely brilliant... and the portions are massive.

There's only one other restaurant in town which compares...
The Black Bear Grill on Tropicana.....
I'll be taking Natalie there next week... but, uh, don't tell her that.
I kinda wanna keep it a surpise.

The Black Bear Grill is pure comfort food, at awesome prices,
with options for reduced portions and fucking badass prices.
The atmosphere is great, there's no smoking, and the service is spot-on.

Nowadays, I don't have a lot of money.
But I really do wanna treat myself and Natalie to nice things.
I swear, once I have a nice job, I'm gonna spoil the hell outta her.

Think about all the badass shit we can already find on my limited budget.
I know sooooo many other things we can do, and places we can go,
if we're willing to spend $20 or more per outing than we are now.

Afterwards, we were stuffed and happy...
Natalie settled down on the couch, and watched me play Bayonetta.
Best of all, she didn't hate it...

...... Oh man, that fuckin game...
I think it's so great...
The Bayonetta character is so amusing...
She's a gunslinger, wrestler, exotic dancer, and ... mother?
She's this ridiculous mix of cool and sexy... and waaaaay over-the-top.
I really enjoy it.

Bayonetta is a game that is entirely unapologetic about being campy.
The gameplay is smooth. The game is visually amazing..
..... and the storytelling is so cinematic.....

I put her down in a food-induced coma....
She was happy, and I'm glad she's happy...

Why do I spoil her?
Because she makes me happy when I need her.
When I truly, truly need her, she's there for me.....
I've never had a girlfriend like that.... and I'll never find another one like her.

Most other girls can only be bothered when it's convenient for them.
But I know I can count on her... she takes me seriously.
She understands that if I truly need her for anything,
she almost takes it like her duty to make sure I'm okay.

So, yeah, I love her!

Anyway, I'm done for tonight.
I had a great time, and my next week of work starts on a great note.
I'm waiting for my call from Bally Tech, I'll be working on the stuff I gotta do,
I know Nat's gonna be happy and not-so-bored because I fixed her laptop.
There's a ton of cool stuff for me to do alone in my free time...
.... and well, life is generally nice.

I've been looking out for myself quite a bit more nowadays.
A lot of my thinking goes along the lines of:
"What do I need to do, and how can I do it."

"Absolute" is a term I've been using for myself quite a bit.
I understand quite a few things are absolute... as in I must do them.
It's one of those "there ain't no rest for the wicked" deals.

It certainly helps with my discipline problem.
Hahaha... I think most people have a discipline problem.
Everyone gets tired sometimes, and if you absolutely don't have to do something,
you probably won't.. even when you DO need to, you may not necessarily have to.

Okay, maybe not you but you probably know someone really irresponsible like that.
All right, who am I kidding... you know you're irresponsible, I know you're irresponsible.
Why are we trying to kid ourselves?

The other thing I've been thinking of lot of is "standards."
Meaning, a lot of people have very low standards...
..... People's behavior nowadays is pretty ridiculous.

Tourists nowadays here in Vegas are really trashy.
They come in only because they can get a cheap room deal.
They don't eat in the restaurants, and they don't come in and gamble.
They bring a giant cooler, go to the local Wal-Marts, and stock up.
They haul around homemade sandwiches and fast food bags.

At the same time, they clog up free attractions, and they're trashing the town.
They come in hoping to get comps, and have completely lost the art of tipping.
At the same time, they're demanding unprecedented levels of service, and shitting on the workers.

In essence, cheapskates have taken over.
And they're slowly trashing Las Vegas.

I hope that Steve Wynn lives through the recession.
I know that as soon as the high rollers start flocking back to Vegas,
he will hand the cheapskates their asses... prices will explode back up.
When people start coming back, prices start going up.
When prices start going up, less cheapskates can afford to stay.
Eventually, the cheapskates go away, and the classier people who
are willing to spend will be filling our pockets with money.

I don't mind giving service, but goddammit do I ever hate the cheapskates.
When I go out and I get good service, I tip like 30%.
I tip for everything that needs tipping...
For me... even if I'm feeling cheap, I know I need to reward good service.
I would rather not have service, than get it and not tip.

Same thing with traffic, crowds, lines...
People's interaction with other people is fucking appalling, nowadays.
It's fine.. I deal with it.. but goddammit...

Another thing I've been doing is:
"If everyone else doesn't hold up to certain standards, why should I?"

It's kind of disgusting, but it's how I excuse myself when I'm a hypocrite.
I know that one day, I'll just say, "I'll hold myself and everyone else to my own standards."
But not right now.

Is that a fucked up thing to do?
Think less of people because they don't hold up to a standard, that I chose.
Yeah, it's pretty fucking arrogant.

But to be honest, I think people should be fucking decent.
Why is that shit so goddamn hard?

Like, a lot of people KNOW they're being assholes.
And a lot of people are careless towards the safety of themselves and others.
Shouldn't that be part of everyone's standard of "shit not to do?"

Apparently not.
Especially here in Vegas where people think they can trash the city
because it doesn't fucking matter the instant that they leave.

Whatever.
For now, the hustle is part of my life.
I have to... I really do...

I need to do all of this if I want to make it out.
I have a feeling that we're in a downward spiral here in the US.
No, I'm not talking Obama... I believe that we've been in a downward spiral
that's been slowly getting worse since the late 1980s, about the time I was born.

I blame the baby boomers...
And now the baby boomers are retiring...
At the same time, baby boomers aren't fucking dying.
They're going to live a long, long time...

We'll have people who will spend something like 1/3 of their life on social security.
So, for me, I know I'm not going to have it, and I know my parents won't either.
I'll need to be rich enough to take care of MYSELF, Natalie, my children, and my parents.
To a smaller extent, I'll need to be prepared to help my brothers as well.
To an equal extent, I'll need to make sure Natalie's brother and father are taken care of.

For me, it starts now.
While I still can, I make all the strides I can.
I do everything I can to strike while the iron is hot.

Then I get set, and I'm ready to go.
That's the rest of my life.

Who knows, if I do it right, I might be able to do more.
I'm able to get more done than a lot of people...
.. who knows, one day I may do something truly grand.

But it doesn't matter, not so long as I prepare to take on the world.
And for me, after everything I've seen... I don't mind a world where
everyone is fucking poor... just so long as I'm not one of them.

That's what I'm working for.
A standard for me, a standard that works no matter how bad shit gets.
Watch me, this is how real men take care of their shit.

So, I finally have some time to talk, and boy do I have some stories.
Okay, let's break Remys life into sectors:
- Work
- Natalie
- My Health
- School
- Black Friday
- Stories involving Remy in a car
- Video Games
- Weird projects

Seriously, those are the swimlanes my life can be broken into.
I'll go sequentially...
============================

- So, The Hard Rock Hotel has started another Santana run.
For me, that means money... the last show was pretty badass.

I'll say this, there are $50 balcony seats...
And the balcony seats are better than the majority of the floor seats.
In fact, given the option, I'd pick ANY balcony seat over pretty much any other floor seat.
Hell, only the VIP suites have a better view, but of course, they're VIP seats.

That job's pretty neat, I get to meet a bunch of weirdos.
..... and uh, well, I guess I get to see concerts, too.
Seriously, I don't pay much attention, I'm busy working.
However, if I really, truly want to steal away and watch the show.... I can.
I know I certainly took a pretty long break to catch "Earth Wind & Fire."

In other news, I applied for a transfer not too long ago.
I put in for a door position over at the HRH's new night club.
I've been trying to get a nightclub job here in Vegas for a while.

I was starting to get antsy because I wasn't sure if they were ever going to call or email.
I got a call today regarding my interview... they turned me down.

I'm a little miffed about it, but it's really, truly fine.
There were only ten positions open, and hundreds of applicants.
I figured that between the internal people who were more qualified than me,
and the hundreds of people who showed up to open casting, I wasn't going to get it.

Well, whatever. I've still got my job at The Joint.
Actually, the official name (because of a merger) is "The Rogue Joint."
But no one's going to call it that... ever.

Seriously, Rogue's a crappy brand.
Sorry guys, your clothes are douchey and overpriced, and your movies suck.
Really..... Fighting was a horrible, horrible movie.
I will masturbate to Channing Tatum's impeccable physique long before I'll admit he's a good actor.
... I wish I had his abs. And arms, and back..... and ass...
.... and... well, I need to kidnap the guy, kill him, and put my head on his body.
Does any of that sound really gay? Eh, whatever.

Next bit of news:
Although Natalie couldn't score the job she wanted with the Health Division of Nevada,
there's no reason at least some of my readers couldn't.....
They'll fucking hire anyone with a psych degree (sigh).
Anyway, I invite everyone who's looking for a job and wants to come to Vegas,
to look through these job openings.

The last bit of news, and really exciting news.
So, I put in quite a bit of time with UNLV's Technical Panel and their Fall Marketplace.
It looks like it's paying off, I'm currently in talks with Bally Tech about a job with them.

Yes, I'm expecting a call from them tomorrow or early next week about an interview.
I have a really good feeling about this.....
I'm a little in cahoots with their HR Megaboss.
I've already been in talks with their hiring people...
And well, I think that they're gonna pick me up.
It's an interning position with their software engineering people.

To work for Bally, I'd fucking shine boots if I needed to.
I'd buy coffee for the guys... I'd suck a dick here or there... man, I gotta stop with the gay jokes.
I get my computer science degree, and it's only a matter of time before a software engineering job opens up.
Those jobs average $60K a year... senior positions get between $80K~$100K

For that kind of money, I could probably score some serious tail.
Hell, I'll bet I could probably get every single one of my exes to come crawling back for that shit.
Hey Dana, what kind of funky shit would you do for me if I made beau coup bank?
I'm sure I'd be good enough to be your boyfriend then, huh?
Hahahaha, as if.

I'm pretty fucking dedicated to my main squeeze, Natalie.
As soon as I can, I will treat that woman like a queen. A goddess on Earth.
She thinks I already do a lot for her, and I do...
I do more stuff for her than most men do for their women.... or other men.
But imagine how fucking stupid-crazy I'll be able to spoil her once I pick up a serious job.
I swear to god, I'm gonna deck that girl out ASAP!

But seriously, Natalie's career path is also pretty nice.
Jobs in her field score between $40K~$50K a year.
She's only about a year away from certification.

One thing I like about her, and something no other girl I've been with has ever understood,
is her appreciation of money. We're the kind of people who understand what it means to work menial jobs.
We understand what can be bought with a dollar, how to stretch it, and how to make things work.
I seriously can't stress that last one enough, we truly can work it out...

There are really only two things that bug me about Nat.
- Sometimes she can't relax when she really should be.
- Sometimes I wish I had a girl I could have ice cream with :P

We've been spending some time together, and it's been nice.
She's been really good to me as of late, like even better than usual.

I think it has something to do with my health.
It looks like my poor health is finally beginning to taper off.
In june, my weight hit 235 pounds...
Today, I weighed in under 190 pounds.

Yep, I haven't been this thin, and this good-looking since I was 18.
She can't stop squeezing me..... I'm glad she thinks I'm hot.

But then again, lately I occasionally spot someone checking me out.
It's actually incredibly badass... it happens like once a week,
but man, having a complete stranger give me the once-down?
Hahahaha, it's sooooo flattering!

I guess year's of being fat make me appreciate it.
I'm still not all that good looking... I've got quite a bit of working out to do.

We'll see where all of this goes.
I've stopped eating potato chips, french fries, and soda.
I've been eating on a schedule, and been eating relatively decently.
My metabolism has recently mega-picked up. Which is nice.

Next topic: school.
Why did I mention school? I'm due to graduate soon.
What more can I say? The truth is that right now, I'm looking for jobs.
God... I'm biting my nails over this Bally Tech thing.

So, let's talk about something everyone likes! Shopping! ..... Sooo gay..
This year is going to bring some pretty badass deals, and I get my check on Black Friday.
I've actually already bought some of Natalie's gifts... but after searching
through leaked Black Friday ads, I may end up getting her a little something-something.
Maybe sparkly, shiny... the kind of thing you get a girl you've been with for
almost 4 years to show her you're committed to her.... or not.

Like I said, I've got my whole life to spoil her stupid-rotten.
I'm not exactly in the position to do that now, though.
Oh well, I know she understands.
=======================================

Natalie put me through a rhetorical situation after watching an episode of the George Lopez show.
"What would you do if your hormonal, teenage daughter wanted to move her boyfriend into the house."

I gave it some thought and said something that made her laugh pretty hard.
I laid down on the bed and got into a "sleep" position.....
Then I started making some quick "bed-thumping-against-wall" sounds.
"HEY! Don't be so rough, you'll bruise her thighs!"

She was shocked... is that really what I would say to my teenage daughter fucking?
No, to be honest, if it were me, and my teenage daughter was doing the deed?
This is what I'd probably yell...
"YOU BETTER NOT START SMOKING IN THERE AFTER YOU FINISH!"
Seriously, guys. Sex = Fun. Smoking = Cancer. So, eat Swedish Fish or something else afterwards.
(((( I've actually been wanting to smoke at least once for a while now,
but dammit, I'm too scared and too cheap to do so..... $5 is better spent on a meal)))

We came up with a few other ones to yell at your kids when they're fucking in the other room:
"Don't ride him so hard, you might fall off and split your vag."
"Careful in there, you might slip out and break your dick."
============================

Ahhh... meals and people driving poorly in Las Vegas.
I was pulling into a Wendy's drivethrough, and at the same time,
some chick in an SUV was tearing through a parking lot to get to the same entrance.
I kind of assumed she was just trying to get out onto the road.

So, rather than crash into her, I stop, and turn on my blinker.
I'm letting her know that I intend to pull into the drivethrough.

What does she do? She tears into the drivethrough, cheap tacky rims and all.
I was like kinda pissed off about it.
What was she tearing ass for? 10 Chicken Nuggets.

I lowered my windows, put in some earplugs..
(Yes, I carry earplugs in my car, mostly so I don't go deaf at Hard Rock concerts...
... Seriously, those damn things are so easy to forget... I just keep them in the car.)
I said "Hmm, looks like it's time for some of my favorite music."
And I threw in some m1dy... I turned it up, LOUD.
How loud? Well, I would have been in pain without earplugs.

They took forever to get to her...
So, for about a minute and a half, I tortured her to this.
It was so bad, she actually had to open her door, and slightly get out of her car to make an order.
The instant she had completed her order and started pulling forward. I just turned it off.
She seemed pretty pissed off about it.
But hey, she had it coming.
===============================================

All right, time for shit no one wants to read about: Videogames.
So, I've been playing my modded, Japanese Xbox 360 for a good bit.
It's going to be getting some play this weekend.

I picked up Bayonetta, and lemme say this: that game is fucking awesome.
Ridiculously overstyled, over-fan-servicing, and entirely tongue-in-cheek.
That game is all kinds of over-the-top badassery.

I received my package from china...
I finally got replacement parts for my PSP.

I replaced all of the conducive pads, removed the shunts I installed in their place,
Replaced every single stripped screw, tightened them all correctly.
And I was even able to install some new button-caps.

On the internals, I did 5 incremental firmware updates to it.
So, I've picked up quite a few kickass games along with it.

Most notably of all is the incredibly cute LittleBigPlanet.
But then again, being able to play shmups again on my PSP is great.
I know I'll definitely be enjoying it this weekend.

I'd like to make a YouTube video of SOMETHING this weekend.
Maybe I will...
=============================

Besides videos, and my still-unfinished unfunnyharbl youtube account.
(That's right, I'm working on some very, very offensive videos for youtube.)

I've also been writing music lately, here at home...
I want to make something of an electro-punk album.
If anything, a punk album that puts off people who like punk.
Anti-punk.

Yeah, too punk for punk... that's what I want to make.
I've already got two in the works...
One song called "I'm not your boyfriend" another called "I Wrote a Guitar Song."

Funny thing about the guitar song dealy is that I still haven't learned to play
guitar.. but I never intended to learn, just enough to do the few chords I've written.
After learning about some basic guitar tablature, it turns out that learning to play the guitar
is really, really fucking easy... any retard can play chords on a guitar.
That's what inspired me... that I can sing in the alto range, I can be a "sensitive" guy,
and I can play easy chords to make a really basic song on a guitar.....
Where's my army of girls who are clawing to get at my balls?

"I'm not your boyfriend" is a song I should have written YEARS AGO!
God, some girls are so goddamn fucking abusive.
I'm writing it for every guy who's done too much for a girl who wasn't their girlfriend.
And, I guess in my case, for guys who've done too much for crappy girlfriends.

Now, I certainly don't mind doing a favor for a friend.
But you know when girls take advantage of guys, and ask them
to do too much goofy shit for them? They feel bad about it, but
really don't care because someone's doing shit for them.

Yeah, that song.
All I can say about my music besides the fact that it's mostly anti-music,
is that it's also a very fast, harsh, and abrasive BPM.

I'm actually working on creating screechy, grinding noises for it.
We'll see where it goes.
It'll probably fizzle out, and I'll never actually finish them.
I've written lyrics, but haven't finished anything,
and haven't gotten out my mixing board for recording vocals/guitar/etc.

For me, the process itself is interesting.
The technical stuff is what I love.

All right, that's it.
That's my life so far.

Now that I've finished my midterms...
Besides my job interview, it's alllll games.

I am a typical American:
I have strong opinions about things I know nothing about.
Can I be on Fox News to yell for 15 minutes now?
=====================================

How about a list of things that make me excited:
By the way, I'm going to be talking about diet sodas.

Coca-Cola finally makes a zero-calorie that doesn't taste like butt:
So, have I talked about how Coke Zero tastes a lot like actual Coke.
In fact, I'd say that the entire Zero line is just plain awesome.

It doesn't taste quite as good as regular sodas,
but they quench/satisfy just as much and don't have that metallic aftertaste of other sodas.

It started with their Diet-Rite brand.
They started experimenting with a new formula to replace sugar.
They hit gold with Diet-Rite Cola.
Apparently, the formula to replace 40 grams of sugar (10 teaspoons)
is apparently 85mg~100mg of aspartame (yuck) and 35mg~45mg of acesulfame potassium (yum).

Acesulfame Potassium (Ace-K) is this megabadass sweetener.
Lemme tell you why Ace-k is badass:
1.) It's sweeter than aspartame (Splenda), and doesn't leave a metallic aftertaste.
2.) It masks said metallic aftertaste in sodas.
3.) Aspartame pretty much falls apart at about 85 degrees.
In other words, your body at 98 degrees breaks it apart fast.....
It breaks into some pretty funky stuff...
Ace-k is stable at baking temperatures.
4.) Unlike aspartame which is processed by your body,
ace-k is quickly absorbed by your body, and quickly passes through you.
In other words, if you have a soda with ace-k, the next time you hit the bathroom, it'll come out.
5.) Did I mention it tastes decent?

So, Coke figures out how to do it right. Diet-rite... eh, eh? Okay, bad pun.
From then on, Coke Zero, then Sprite Zero, and eventually Vault zero.
It took them something like 25 years to go from icky Diet Coke to awesome Coke Zero.
Anyway, I got a pretty badass deal.
I picked up a 12-pack of Diet-Rite Tangerine (the only diet orange soda that
doesn't taste like a cheap, metal spoon) and Vault Zero.

I drink my sodas with a ton of ice, and I don't sip.
So, for people like me, these sodas are just fucking great.
For people who drink sodas at like 50 degrees, and sip them.
These sodas will STILL taste pretty crappy.

Oh, and amateur food scientists/health nuts will warn about the dangers of diet sodas.
First, zero calorie sodas probably DON'T have zero calories, they just have no sugar.
There may still be 1.5 or less calories per serving.
So, for me, if I drink 2 cans in a tall cup of ice, I may consume a whole 3 calories.
I burned off like 20 times that when I jerked off today.
On a more exatraordinary note, I'll actually burn those calories off just because I added ice.
Seriously, my body has to work to heat up the drink in order to digest it.
Also, it's fucking 3 calories. Who frets over 3 calories?

Secondly, "food experts" often say something like "many food experts"
when talking about how bad aspartame is for you......
I imagine that these "food experts" quoting "many food experts"
are actually just quoting other fellow "food experts."

In other words, crazy people with no scientific knowledge of the shit
they're talking about, but yet they're claiming that aspartame causes cancer.
I'm not even going to bother refuting these damn retards.

When I do my OWN research, and have Natalie help me...
... seeing as she actually fucking understands basic anatomy, basic human functions,
she understands chemistry... cuz, you know, she's actually a scientist and all?
She actually has a 4-year degree involving this stuff?
She worked in a genetics lab for 9 months?
Come on, if people with a high school diploma and an internet connection
are qualified to tell me what causes cancer and what doesn't...
.... Then I imagine my girlfriend, the biologist, is possibly JUST as certified.

Not only that, but reading science papers isn't beyond me either.
Unlike her, where she can understand all of the mechanics,
I'm smart enough to read abstracts, intros and conclusions.
And that's actually better than most people... whose literacy stops at "Harry Potter" and "Twilight."

So, is my pseudo-scientific research better than health nuts?
Yeah, yeah it is. I don't get my info from "health experts."
I get my information from, oh, I don't know, science papers.

That shit's almost as ridiculous as those idiots who talk about
"They're going to put rfid chips in everyone!! Don't get the swine flu vaccine!"
I only need to say ONE thing to refute the big, bad scary government plot.
Human-implantable RFID devices have a range of... well, like 2 centimeters.
Also, they can ONLY be powered by an external source...
They're not constantly "on" and transmitting... in fact,
they're not near a powering antenna, they're pretty much useless.
There's no way the government could "track" you using such a device.

The only way someone could read info from a device like this on you..
... is say, you have a bracelet with an RFID chip in it that has some medical info on it.
It would have to touch a powering antenna, and someone would have to download the info from it.
You get in a car crash and are knocked unconscious, you're badly hurt and you're OUT COLD.
Then you know what happens? The hostpital they take you to has an RFID reader specific to your device.
They then learn you're allergic to certain anasthetics, and they don't
use them on you when they perform a surgery that saves your life.
Where does the government come into tracking you in this?
It doesn't. Not one bit.

You wanna know a better way for the government to track you?
In fact, the way that the IRS ALREADY tracks you if you don't pay your taxes?
Your credit card purchases, and in some cases, your bank statements.

So, dear hillbillies, time to stop using credit cards.
Start growing your own hemp, making your own clothes, and growing your own food.
Also, don't use electricity, and stop living in a city.
Finally, since you're already going through this, make sure to pick up a stack
of bibles and a crate of ammo on your way out......

ANYWAYS!
But yeah, like I said, for me, badass deals.
I picked up Diet-Rite Tangerine sodas for 25 cents a can, and Vault Zeros for 29 cents a can.
I've got my beverages set up for the next week or so.

All I really need is to pick up that Diet-Rite Raspberry and some Vodka.
I swear I've got the next best drink ever: Vodka Vault Zero.

Yeah, this is what I think about in my downtime.
I'm a loser, I know, I don't care.
=======================================

The other thing that makes me happy: downloading xbox games.
Man, oh man have I ever fallen behind on this.
PSP games, too.. I've been waiting for my replacement parts.....

I recently beat Borderlands.
The game where the FPS and RPG made a baby.

Games that are out NOW that I need to get:
Tekken 6 - massive character roster, smooth gameplay.
GTA Episodes from Liberty City - It's region-free GTA
COD Modern Warfare 2: OH YES!
Import Tuner Challenge : Finally re-released, finally region-free.
Bayonetta: So happy I have a Japanese xbox.

Don't even get me started on all the PSP and DS games I've missed out on.
Blegh.

I really should use this time to fix Nat's laptop.

If anyone's wondered what my homework looks like this semester.
I had to do some stuff regarding the pumping lemma not too long ago.

This page shows exactly the kind of problems I was doing last week.

I was reading through it, and then I realized that it probably looks
really, really scary to regular people who don't do the crap I do.
Anyway, I had to do exactly what's on that page on my automata midterm.

A retired woman living in a quiet community is in shock.
She runs a small business through eBay to supplement her fixed income.
I don't know what she does, but it requires her mailing packages.

She has a nice relationship with the mailman.
She buys those flatrate shipping boxes in bulk,
and when she needs to have a package delivered,
her post guy is nice enough to take it directly from her front porch.

So, her supplies are delivered direct to her door,
and her outgoing packages are also picked up directly at the door.
In other words, she leaves huge packages directly on her front porch
for the mailman to pick up.... it's a wonderful system, isn't it?

Well, something shocking happened.
Who could have ever thought there were bad people out there?
Apparently, someone got the nefarious idea to swipe her
gigantic, obvious, and unattended packages off her front door.
What a criminal mastermind.

Some people say it's due to the bad economy.
But really, COME ON!

She was complaining on TV about how she's shocked,
and how she feels violated, and her whole worldview has changed.
I thought old age brought about wisdom.....
It actually proves my point that most people who ARE dumb STAY dumb.

No one stole her shit because they had it in for her.
No one is stalking her, tracing her every move.
The honest fucking truth is that you can see giant packages
on her front step directly from the street....

No one robbed her because they have it in for her.
They're stealing her shit because it's EASY!

You know what the worst part about it is?
They gave her first and last name on TV.
I wish I had written it down....
With just her full name, I could have given the whole world her address,
how big her house is, how much it's worth, if she owns other properties,
her eBay business details, and even a shot of the porch where she leaves her shit.

Not only that, but my readers could have gotten a nice vote of confidence,
that an old, dumb woman lives by herself at this address...

I'm tired of this stupidass "Back in the old days" shit that comes with people
who wantonly abandon any thoughts to securing their goddamn properties.

There are more security devices, and more ways to protect yourself now than ever.
People who believe that these days are more dangerous are fucking retards.
The truth is that nationwide, crimes have actually been going down.
In other words, back in the old days, not only did more crimes happen,
but there were less ways to protect yourself and criminals were harder to catch.

I'm not saying everyone should have a laser-grid home defense.
But for fuck's sake, some goddamn common sense!

This lady did her porch shit because she worked out a deal with the mailman.
She did it so she could avoid a drive to the post office.

Here in Las Vegas, the world capital of tipping,
couldn't she have just paid a mailman off to come to her front stoop every week or so?
Or some kind of system where she doesn't leave her shit outside?
Idiot, complete idiot.
This dumbass old lady had it coming.

I told my dad about this and he just rolled his eyes.
I said to him, "Dad, I don't want to be a computer scientist anymore."
"Oh, what do you wanna do instead?"
"I wanna be a criminal, that shit's just too fuckin easy."
He laughed.
=============================

Here's another one:
Unemployed people are now joining the ranks of unskilled
laborers in front of Star Nursery and Home Depot.

I imagine I'm the only one who thinks this is a terrible idea.
It's only a matter of time before dumb white people come to a head
with poor day laborers who were squatting these grounds in the first place.

Lemme give a list of white people reasons why this is a bad idea:
1.) I am an American citizen, I am worth more than these people.
2.) I am going to speak up for these people and scare away "bad" contractors.
3.) Even if I lack laboring experience, I make up for it by being white and speaking English.
4.) Oh, this won't be so bad.

Lemme just say this:
There is nothing in this that benefits the poor laborers who were there first.
It will only take ONE white person getting hurt, for whatever reason,
before people go on the typical racist tirade of "we gotta get em outta hurrr."

It's a timebomb.
Dumb, abrasive and desperate white people vs. desperate, uncomfortable "strangers."
It's only a matter of time before we have some racially-motivated violence.

Shit's already happened here in Vegas.
There's more to come.
============================

One final blow for Mexcan-American relations here in Vegas.
A few woman are being held on half a dozen counts of child negligence.
3 kids fell out of a PT Cruiser holding 10 people during a sharp turn.
The driver was drunk, on a suspended license and no one was wearing a seatbelt.

When Natalie finished telling me the details, I said,
"For the love of god, please tell me these people were some dumb white hicks,
or some irresponsible black people, or even asian... please please please.. don't.."
"Nope, the driver was named Lopez. The other lady, Ramirez"
"Nooooooooooooooooo!!!"

It was kinda funny.... I hope this story doesn't get out.
It's only going to enforce the stereotype that Mexican people drive around clown-car style....

Oh well, even I can enjoy some dark humor.
Dark racist humor no less.
====================

I haven't been journaling much.
I'm sick, and I've got midterms an' shit.
Sorry guys, I have nothing more entertaining to say for now.

I'm not good-looking enough to be gay.
Yep, looks like I'm stuck with women.

Also, today is going to massively suck.
1PM today is going to be a fucking battlefield.

I'll explain later, but basically....
If things go from bad to worse, I'll end up at the dean of engineering's office today.

So, I've been pretty sick...
I've actually been really messed up...
I'm on the path to being better, though.

Because of midterms, I don't have much time to blog about funny things.
What's there to blog about, things that made me angry?

I think I should journal about something horrible, and very embarassing.
Why? Because it's funny.....

So, I don't know if anyone remembers.. or read past this entry,
but I made a comment about how I was going to hell recently.
That girl who supposedly got dystonia because of a flu shot? Yeah? Yeah? No.
Karma came back and raped me today...

After a late night last night, I finally got to bed.
Being all wired after work made it hard to sleep.

Anyway, 10AM, the weirdest thing happens.
I'm half-awake, half-asleep...
Apparently, my legs were in a very awkward position.
I decided to turn and the weirdest thing happened...
I completely pulled my calf... I got the charlie horse from hell.
I was in so much pain... my calf has never strained itself so crazy.

The whole episode lasted an entire 8 minutes or so.
15 minutes later I got back to bed... I was tired,
and I thought I could get maybe another hour of sleep.

My mom called me around noon, she needed me to add water to a beef stew.
When I turned to pick up the phone, I pulled my other calf.
This one wasn't as bad, I'd learned from my last episode.
But I also pulled the other leg a little bit too...

I've been sore as hell the whole day.
I feel like I just powerwalked, like 4 miles.

I get out around 12:30 or so.....
I pretty much limped into the kitchen.
Each step forward incredibly painful.

Around this point, I remember the horrible comment I made about that girl.
My brother asks me, "What's wrong?"
All I had to say was, "I've got Crunk's disease."
He laughed so hard he choked on his spit.
My other brother had a laughing fit as well when he finally got it.

Either way, I've gotten the last laugh.
That's just how we do in da hood.

......
...... So, yeah, uh...
Watch this video.

I'm going to hell for this, but...
...
..
That's just how they walk in the hood.

After lawling at this photo, I started feeling kinda bad about it.
This is pretty sad.

I wear skinny jeans, button-up plaid shirts, mostly of the green and brown kind.
I wear an overwashed, or "vintage" t-shirt, and bug-eyed aviator glasses.
You can catch me outside the engineering building sitting on the sidewalk.

Because I enjoy convenience, I'm always by the doors.
God forbid I sit anywhere else, even more verboten if I sit alone.
I've never noticed that I blow smoke into the faces of entering/exiting students.
I am forever with my grey, overpriced, underpowered Apple Macbook.
Never away from Facebook, Twitter, and fuck Myspace....

A cigarette hangs from my mouth.
I might put it out in the empty Arizona Iced Tea tallboy can I have sitting next to me.
On a weekend, you might see me drinking a Starbucks,
but I avoid them because their coffee uses unfair business tactics.
Also, I'm not rich enough to buy fair-trade coffee.

I run Linux, or Mac OSX because fuck Microsoft.
I'm so much more socially aware than everyone else.
I can't get a girlfriend, and the only girl in our group is a total bitch.

Being a computer douchebag is good livin'.
I will die of rectal cancer because I am so full of ass.

My notes apparently aren't as great as I thought they were:
While studying my notes, I've come to realize that some of
what I've written down was actually wrong....

This is scary, it shows that when I initially heard it,
I "thought" I got it, but I got it wrong.

At the same time, it says that I know my old stuff so well,
that I can spot incompletion or errors weeks after.
Either way, this is all very ugly.

I like to have a kind of "breaker" for these kind of things.
For me, it's the new Beatmania IIDX 16: Empress.
For those of you who don't know what Beatmania is...
Well, it's like Guitar Hero, except that no one's ever actually died playing Guitar Hero.

Here's some secret gameplay footage from the new Beatmania.
Also, Natalie, you have got to see that video... it'll make you wanna curl up into a ball.

Let's just say this about Beatmania.
Guitar Hero and Rock Band are fun games to play casually.
They're even fun if you're into scoring, and you've got a little bit of rhythm.
Also, Guitar Hero is about to release number 5....
This is release number 16 for the Beatmania series....
Actually, November makes the series 11th anniversary.

IIDX is, well, it's a game no one on Earth should ever play.
It's intense. People have fainted just watching.
It's the only arcade game out there with a nosebleed guard over the controller.
The game requires you not blink for about 2 minutes at a time.
Top-level players have assistants who pour visine one eye at a time, every ten seconds.
Because of the giant subwoofer players stand on during play,
several people have actually gone sterile after years of play.
Addiction to this game has cost many missed school days,
lost job promotions, and broken up many marriages in Japan.
During competitions and marathon-play, EMTs are typically waiting
inside the event arenas in the case that a competitior collapse from exhaustion.
Konami has settled out of court with several families of players who have been
severely hurt, or have died during competitions, and during extended play.

On a serious note, just about every player I've met has broken a nail
while playing this game or has at least jammed their finger on a missed note.
I'm included in both of those categories.
Actually, now that I think about it, Natalie's jammed a finger playing this game, too.
THIS GAME IS DANGEROUS!

Anyway, this game is banned in the US.
The FDA has labeled it harmful to the average american pig cow.
It's simply too cool, too hardcore, and too awesome for our market.
Actually.. the only US release of this game, one of the big complaints
was the difficulty.... I guess video game reviewers are crybabies, too.

Well, I'm done making ridiculous claims regarding this game.

So, I couldn't sleep... and I didn't wanna wake up, Nat.
A startling thought came up recently....

I suspected that my problems may have been something related to prediabetic symptoms.
When I looked it up some more, while some things fit, other major things DIDN'T fit.

The one weird thing I've been having lately...
Is this constant dry mouth.. and also the fact that I'm drinking HUGE quantities of stuff.
For a while I was drinking massive quantities of soda.

I think my body may have had some kind of crash over the last few weeks.
With my constant eating, my constant soda drinking...
But also, my weight loss, which didn't at all make sense.

Definitely seemed prediabetic, but not quite right.

I looked up dehydration because I wanted to learn more.
I wanted to figure out why Gatorade made me feel more hydrated...

Anyway, I have a medical-show type conclusion now.
Well, months of crazy eating and drinking may have been spurred on by stress.
Well, I know that I definitely dealt with stress by eating or with soda.

So, my body crashes, and I suddenly get sick.
They may or may not be related.

Anyway, I cut out soda from my diet.
Sure, maybe I have a little here and there.
But I no longer go out and buy a liter or more to consume in a few hours.
That's kind of a big deal for me.

But another weird thing arises.
I've still been thirsty as hell.

And that's when I looked up dehydration and other related stuff.
I wanted to make sure I wasn't having some water intoxication,
or weird dehydration, or some kind of problem that leads to my symptoms.

I may be suffering from primary polydipsia... which is apparently something related to schizophrenics.
However, apparently it also pops up in people who are having anxiety problems,
or suffering from a ton of stress... not only that, but people who suffer
from this condition also develop symptoms which appear like diabetes.

So, timeline goes like this:
Comfort eating + massive amounts of soda over the last year.
I relieve stress and anxiety MOST by drinking soda.
Recently, I've discovered that I like anything that is either cold and sweet, or cold and carbonated.
Apparently, if it's all three I really like it.

This last week, I've dropped the junk food and soda routine.
But I'm still suffering from the symptoms, I've replaced it with club soda and ice water.
Really, for me, everything is better if it's iced.

What spurred me on to realize "There might be something water related wrong with me."
Was when I couldn't sleep because I was stressing over something school-related.
Then I was stressing over disappointing Natalie tomorrow...
And that led me to stress over "Oh my god, I'm never gonna get better because of
all the shit I have to do, or all the time I've promised to everyone else."

I have to help my cheapass, gay uncle figure out how to connect to wireless internet.
I'm supposed to take Natalie to a company picnic tomorrow.
I need to give both of my brothers violin lessons.
I need to start reading through research material for a project worth 40% of my grade by Sunday.
I need to prepare for a midterm (worth 25% of my grade) on Tuesday.
I need to buy some stuff to fix my brother's 360, oh and fix his 360.
I need to stalk this lady, and figure out where she works for my dad.
So, if she bails on him with a back-owed rent, we can garnish her wages...
And then when I'm done with all of that, I start preparing for a midterm 10 days from now.

Most of this stuff I need to do in the next three days.
With the exception of the uncle/dad stuff. Those I'll be doing on Friday.
Unfortunately for me, I work Saturday and Sunday, so I'll need to do my other midterm stuff
either mostly next monday, or during the days.... god, I hope I'm not sick by then.

Anyway, I guess I should say this is typical.
I know I've always said, "Don't sweat it, just do it." But I still sweat it.
And... iced drinks have always been that for me.
You know how some sick people can't stand being alone?
Well, I realized that I'm rarely alone WITHOUT a drink in my hand.

I couldn't sleep tonight, so I decided to hook up my big tankstick,
and play some TGM. That didn't work, so I decided to throw in on some shmups.

I realized "Man, this just isn't making me happy or excited."
The last game I threw in was a favorite, Batrider.

I decided to throw in the boss rush, and that's when it hit me.
Every time I died, or every time I had a game over:
"Man, I really, really need a cold drink."

I've drunk somewhere in the field of a liter of gatorade, and a half-liter of water.... in the last 4 hours.
There's no fucking way I should be thirsty, considering all I've done is watched cartoons, and played games.
On top of that, there's a fan on me, keeping me a very temperate 75 degrees or so.

That's when I realized "Holy shit, why am I thirsty? What's wrong with me."

Anyway, long story short, I may have a constant dry mouth because I'm
going crazy. Going crazy may have led my body to going through a complete crash.
Complete crash led to nasty skin dryness and sinus infection.

So, what's my course of action?
Well, it's not like I can just say, "Well, I won't do anymore stressful stuff."
What I have to do is just do everything I need to do... and not be stressed.

I guess I'll continue stopping the soda, but I'll watch the intake.
The thing that seems to really be killing me is salty food.
Salty foods seem to trigger an insane water-drinking reaction.

I had one of those delicious, cheap "party pizza" by Totino's.
I checked the back, and it had something like 1300mg of sodium.
I really, really wish I had looked at that before I ate it.

This is like my 3rd lapse like this.
Now I definitely know:
For know, eat like a person suffering from high blood pressure.
STRESS ALSO CAUSES HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, REMY!

So, I need to chill out... I guess.
I really need to figure it out, because I'm fucking losing it.
The last time I was this bad was back before I met Natalie.

I was stressed, but a different kind of stressed.
I suffered from a bout of depression that left me skinny,
completely nerve-wracked, and my hair was starting to fall out.

Now, all of my stress, and all of my worries are pretty much killing me again.
At least it's none of that broken-heart bullshit.
At least this time I definitely feel like I can do something about it.
I'm pretty hopeful now that I've had time to meditate on it.
Oh, I didn't mention that, did I? Well, I did.

I think a lot of people get messed up and simply don't stop.
For me, I'm going to do something most people simply can't do: chill out.
I'm going to do for myself, by myself, what some people have to go to
therapists for months at a time to do.... just fucking stop hurting myself.

I'm simply going to do all of the shit I normally do.
But I'm not at all going to be stressed about anything.
Even when everyone else is worried, or even when people
are expecting me to show some kind of urgency over any specific thing.

I'm very simply NOT going to be stressed over anything. At all. Period.
Some people may think that's a goofy goal, or maybe even impossible.
But you know what? So fucking what?
If I said I can control myself, I can control myself. I'm not "most people."

The truth is that I've already figured out how to deal with my biggest problem with all of this.
The biggest problem is not "how do you not feel screwed up when stress just happens?"
That one's actually very easy: any situation where I might feel stressed, I simply won't stress.
It's really that simple.

The real problem is : "How do you deal with people's bad reactions when it looks like you don't care?"
I won't. I'll either ignore it or laugh at it.

I think for the next week, people are going to feel VERY weird around me.
The biggest victims are going to be my mom, and Natalie.
I think when I explain it to Nat... she'll get it, like eventually.
She'll SAY she gets it immediately, but she's going to be really uncomfortable with it for a while.
But my mom's simply not going to get it, so, she'll just think something's horribly wrong with me.
Meh, whatever.

To tell you the truth, for me to not worry about, I'm going to have to laugh at a lot of it.
Phew, that shit's gonna be goofy.

They'll be glad to know that this is only temporary.
Once my body fixes itself, I'll go back to being normal.
Except, when I go back it'll be without the soda and junkfood.

The other thing I have to do in this next week is...
... man, this is going to sound really weird....
I'll have to go through a round of self-hypnosis to tell myself that I'm not actually thirsty.
At least, I have to do this until the water/salt/electrolyte levels in my body stabilize.

Sleeping well will help.
Welp, time for me to get myself a good 7.5 hours of sleep.
Then I'll call Natalie tomorrow and we'll go to my company picnic.
They're having a raffle, and who knows, I may even win something.

So, I decided to put in some time and actually listen to the "Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs."
They've been getting a lot of attention lately because they did the soundtrack
to the upcoming movie "Where the Wild Things Are."

I wanted to know if I should be irritated by their music,
become ambivalent, or possibly, maybe even LIKE them.
Yeah, me liking music? Haaaaa!

If you only know that the damn movie is based
on a fucking literary masterpiece of epic proportions,
then you should probably download the book.

It's a heavy read... deep, and well-thought.
Either that, or it's just 10 sentences and 35 pages of drawings.

So, I decided to spend some time listening to them.
I finally realized what the appeal is for this group.

Where it seems that the soundtrack for the movie is... kind of annoying.
Apparently, the music is palatable to many.

I've heard quite a few bands that are similar in sound.
A lot of yelling, no rhyming, no singing, instrumental riffs.
They do a lot of that, I guess.

But what gives them a uniqueness is this Joan Jett-type attitude in songwriting.
I'll just ignore the douchebaggery around them,
and the snobby fanbase that seems to surround them.

Basically, I'm becoming ambivalent.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Pros:
- Instrumental
- Some sing-songy elements.
- A Joan Jett-type air around their songwriting

Cons:
- Annoying moaning at times.
- The annoying fans.
- The annoying music videos.
- Generally snobby vibe.

Yeah, it seems a bit superficial of me, doesn't it?
Well, so fucking what?!

Most people go their whole lives hardly evaluating anything they do.
When it comes to music or the arts in general, most people can't even
tell you WHY they like or don't like something....
At best they can only list elements they don't like, but no reason why.

Did I list reasons? No.
I don't need to.

Sometimes, even people like me can give COMPLETELY BASELESS OPINIONS.
I'm pretty sure the majority of people do this on any given day.
Hell, all you have to do is type "political blog" in google,
and you'll see millions and millions of people who have strong opinions,
but really don't have a fucking clue about what they're talking about.

Hell, you don't even have to do that.
Just turn on the TV. Tune to Fox News or CNN during primetime.
You'll see a lot of people spewing vicious and angry opinions...
The hosts... who are SUPPOSED to be moderators, don't really moderate.
They don't really lead a discussion, instead they egg on argument.
Then when it's time for commercials, they cut everyone off.
I mean, that's good, discussion that will leave your audience enlightened, right?

So, yeah, if a lot of people can make dumb opinions, so can I.
My dumb opinion? The "Yeah Yeah Yeahs" are kind of annoying,
but got some pretty neat riffs in their songs.
Their music is definitely "guilty pleasure" material.

You can decide for yourself:
Here's the link to their official YouTube videos page.

So, a faraway friend, Lil... Made me think...
I can't always be angry, can I?
Yeesh...

That last post that is now GONE was embarassing.
How the hell did I fly off on such a tangent?
The idea is pretty simple:
"Even while drunk, reruns can get soooo boring, that watching
a panel discussion on ardipithecus actually becomes interesting."

I have to stop all this douchey, big-guy, puffing up my chest shit.
I need to really learn to relax.

I'm just as frustrated as anyone else, I figure.
Actually, Natalie's probably more frustrated than I am right now.

A calm, collected Remy should be a much better-operating Remy.
Either way, it doesn't help my situation.
Welp, I guess I should just leave it at that.

So, local news story in Vegas.
Home sales and home prices are going up after a slump in August.
Yay!

Actually, when you read the numbers, and go back and investigate the facts.
... Seriously, you have to because Channel 3 news... which is SUPPOSED
to be a legitimate news source, neither quotes their sources exactly,
nor do they even print their damn names on the articles.

So, who's responsible for errors? I have to talk to the writer's boss,
and not the writer himself... and of course, they don't have to respond
to my concerns... why? Because they don't fucking need to.

News doesn't have to be held accountable for ANYTHING.
Even my local news has failed me....

All of the major news sources are in the middle of shit-flinging.
Apparently, everyone's accusing everyone of airing paid advertisements as actual news.
Yep, that's pretty much the end of journalism.

Between that and the thing that local Fox news did to me last week...
Oh wait, I didn't talk about it, did I?

Well, I was interviewed by the news for a little under 10 minutes.
They were asking me a ton of questions about the fair,
and mostly how I felt about it....
I told them that I felt pretty damn hopeful about my prospects.

When I went home, I checked the website to find out
what the name of the news story was, and when it was going to air.
Apparently, the headline was "Are Students Optimistic About Job Search?"
They aired the story for about 30 seconds...
you saw no shots of students dressed nice and in suits networking with employees,
instead you see the cutie blondes wearing jeans just walking around in their fucking lunchtime...
not a single interview with students, not a shot of me (which pissed me off cuz they had me going)
Most of all, they announced the results of a poll they had online.....
"Not a single student said they feel optimistic about their prospects."
This is the poll, look a whopping 13 votes.

This is pretty pathetic when you realize that for any radio station giveaways,
the phone lines are tied the instant they open a contest...
And these places are usually wired for 125 phones... that's the standard here in Vegas.
So, people don't give a shit about the job fair...
... But Fox can ignore fucking everything, just to back up their story.

Here's the funny thing, they had the headline and sob story set up BEFORE
they even shot footage. The story was online before they even came down to UNLV.
Pathetic.

Anyway, the first bit of actual good news... even if overblown..
Still manages to bring out people who represent Las Vegas.

I present to my audience: Perry!

perry -
this coming from GLVAR every1 should accept this more loan are to reset in 2010 and 2011
instead of interest only going to principle and interest. and who going to afford those payment
with job market falling. more constructing layoff at city center. there going to no high rise going
up in 3 to 4 years or more. there going to be no good paying union in the future tell how are
those houses goin to get paid for when loan are going to get reset.

This guy has unwittingly brought up something:
I'm an out of work construction worker who's whining about bad unions.

My question is this: I'm a guy who busts his hump.
I'm a guy who wastes a lot of time thinking about making things better.
I plan things for myself carefully, and I work pretty damn hard to make my plans work right.

Should I give a shit that some goddamn neanderthal can't get a "good paying" job?
No, fuck that guy.

FUCK THAT GUY.
I'm going to continue working hard, and I'm gonna fuckin crush that guy.
So, yeah, enough of that.

I have a job to do:
Figuring out how to manage my fat stacks.
CHYEEAH BOYIEEE!!!