19 Rubber Duckies Down, 1 to Go

So I've been learning a bunch in Russian. In fact, I could say that in Russian. That's probably better than what I could do in Spanish right now. That's 6 months of Russian vs. 5 years of Spanish. Public school is at a severe loss compared to direct government education. I really hate the ads on myspace, and the webcam girls, and the idiots who add them as friends because, and I quote, "Daaaaaaaamn biatch! Ya the hotest shiat up in dis bizzzzzitch Holla bak atcha boi! and chek out these RINGTONES!!!!!" The existence of myspace is proof that God exists and that He HATES US WITH A FIREY PASSION! I'm pretty sure Benjamin Franklin said that... or something like it.

Next item on the list: Work. It's going alright again. I'm learning, and applying my knowledge, and all that. It's awesome. I'm beginning to understand why I ever felt smart in the first place. This is probably one of those good things, because you don't want unsure idiots programming your spaceships. Speaking of spaceships, this makes me sad. This is mostly because I didn't find the Battlestar Galactica on it, and complained about it to a friend. This was before she pointed out that it was there, which actually made me feel a little relieved. That is how you know I am a nerd.

I've got a couple of friends who have just gone live with their website, AnswerPond.com. You ask questions and can offer up a reward for a thorough answer. At the same time, you can earn money by answering questions. You should check it out. I already earned some cashola myself, and am going to be lobbing some easy ones out there to try to get some action going on the site. While you're at it, check out those GoogleAds on the side. Click if you find something even mildly interesting.

Finally, you might want to know that I was nowhere near any shootings at JSC. I was about 6 miles away at my office building. As it was a Friday, I wasn't even going to go there for my Russian class. I do know a guy who works in the same building, but he was off in another building running an errand.

What was kind of eerie about the whole incident is that up until the Monday after this happened, there was a sign up on the fence next to each of the entrances onto JSC. The sign said something along the lines of, "Are you being safe? April is a high injury month at JSC. Please be careful." That wasn't the exact wording, but it was definitely close. Also, they had to change out the 'days without a time lost injury' numbers too. Those won't even start to be updated again until next week.

The culture here is weird about it too. I don't know anyone who knew any of the people directly involved. The people that I do know were all at least semi-sensitive about it, because nobody knows whom anybody else knows. This was also the last day of work for a few hundred people at my site for the company. Layoffs. The managers were all going through a sort of nervous laughter stage about the incident, which we were initially told was a 'domestic dispute'. None of these managers wanted to fire anyone, but they had to. My boss had to let his friend and coworker of several years go. At least everyone in my team had somewhere to go this time.

To return to the original point, the people were weird about it. One of my friends/colleagues ranted about the news coverage of the event, like CNN was being particularly unfair to NASA. They were, if you view NASA as a company. They weren't when you view them as a gigantic, lumbering government pork barrel project. Nancy Grace made wild claims that NASA burns trillions of dollars. This isn't true. NASA is granted less than one percent of the national discretionary budget annually. That's about $0.37 to you and me.

Again, I steer from the main point. People here seem to forget that two people died, and something went terribly wrong, long before anyone picked up a gun. There's something broken here when we start seeing people as cogs in the machine and not for what they really are: people. Living, breathing, feeling, fearing, joyful, real people. I am afraid for us.

What to do tomorrow?

I've got it! I'm going to go North! and East! I'm gonna go hang out in Philadelphia and New Jersey and New York City. Why? Because I hate my fucking job. and I need a change of scenery. and I've never been there before. (With all these I's it would seem this writer is very selfish.)

The only reason I kept doing it was to make money. I have now made enough to finance this trek. When I get bored, I will come back. Maybe. If I can find a way. Chances are that if I am bored it means that I am broke. That will make it hard to fly. or drive. or do much more than breathe in this day and age, pardon my colloquialism. (This writer obviously loves his little colloquialisms. Do they keep him warm at night when the cold air of loneliness is upon him?)

One problem with my plan is that I have work. and homework. and class. and people who will worry about me quite a bit more than is truly necessary. (This writer is an obvious narcissist.)

I will take pictures, and probably post them. sometime. somewhere. (The vanity and self-love is deep in here.)

Thank you. and goodnight. (Afterthoughts. my. ass.)

The lover and dreamer. (The psychoanalyst and spell checker.)

Inspiration and Imagination

I have utterly thorough inspiration for this post... and I lost it. Therefore, I must imagine myself an emotional roller coaster for my intellectually famished audience. Thus, I will tell you about a dream I had this morning just before waking, as it appears that is how all dreams happen.

I awake, in my bed, here in Houston, hearing the college radio station I left the radio on upon going to bed. I realize I need to go. This is one of the stupidest dreams I have ever had.

Maybe it's because my mother is in the hospital right now after having surgery. I talked to her today, whilst inquiring what room she was in so I could send flowers. I would be in town right now, had she not told me this just Sunday, 2 minutes before ending the telephone conversation. She said she is doing fine, and that she will be strong like her son. I told her she ought to be, for only the strongest women can give birth to sons of my caliber(of which I meant actual size. I was huge.) She chuckled, and I only wish that she had seen 300, so that I could tell her that she must be a Spartan woman, so that she could understand what my pop-culture-movie-quoting-lame-ass is talking about. I may be strong, but original... that's for the ages to decide.

Speaking of 300, it was good. It's awesome for guys, because there's lots of awesome fighting action of awesomeness! It's great for girls, because as my friend(Amanda) and her sister(Stephanie) giggled about throughout the movie, "Could they have amassed a hotter army?" I have to admit that, no, they probably could not have. Those dudes made me so ridiculously jealous that I've been hitting the gym again, eating salads, and even foregoing the dressing. Stephanie informed us ahead of the movie that she would most likely be covering her face three-quarters of the time in squeemishness for all the blood this film was rumored to fling about. In the end, she admitted to only doing this for a grand total of two minutes. The bloody mess part was well done with silhouetting and computer graphics, showcasing the blood as simple circles of dark red ejecting artistically from the fallen. If you are adamantly aghast of beheadings, you might want to leave this one alone though.

That is all the imagination I have for tonight. Good night, Shelbyville! There will be no encore!

How to Live Life

Drunk. I'm pretty sure that's how I should be living it. When I have had one, or two, or maybe a few more, I can deal with just about anything. I can pay attention to my boring-ass lecture. I understand where my parents are coming from with their need to claim me as a dependent and why it is financially better for everyone. I stop caring about things, and start caring about people, and music, and art, and just think more about how we interact. I don't think I need as much money as I make. I don't like this idea of saving up for a house that I'm not sure I'm ever going to buy. I'm too unsure of where I'm going to be in a year to think about buying a house. Would I want to live in a house by myself? No. Living alone in anything larger than say, 500 square feet, seems ridiculous to me. Granted, I do that now. I believe I began renting here because I honestly believed someone would be joining me here within a year. I was very foolish. Now, I just don't want to have to move. Perhaps I could simply rent out the dining room to a very small & new restaurant, just starting out. That would be best, I think. Any takers? I know I would probably dine there at least a few times a week. I feel like I need a better breakfast than dry cereal with milk, and yet, I do nothing about this because of... well, I don't know why, but I'm sure there's a perfectly logical reason. I do know this though. Cranberry juice and vodka is the best way to go if I want to be happy. It is also delightfully uncomplicated and inexpensive.

Pros:
Fruit intake goes up.
Alcohol is pure energy.
Easy & cheap to make.

Cons:
None found as of yet.

GAAAAHHH!

I am twitchy! I haven't had any mountain dew for over a month, and I had some tonight to stay awake through my 3 hour Systems Engineering lecture online. I am having problems slowing my blinking! I <3 Mtn. Dew, as many of you know, but this stuff is probably going to kill me eventually.

This class is sooo boring. Each week, the prof. reviews the goals of the class and the syllabus that he passed out a month ago for the first hour. Then, he went into questions that people had asked during the week that he had answered. We were given the file that held them all earlier today, so I'd already looked through them. At the point that we started with new material, we'd been going for over an hour and a half. I'm slightly disappointed. At least the class seems to be easy. I'm not looking forward to the "academically challenging" homework that the prof keeps refering to during class.

Oh yeah, and one of the other things causing my general malaise right now: MORE LAYOFFS! w00t! They already trimmed the fat. Now they're cutting away the meat. The only reason this would be good for me is because I would end up gaining a nice sized lump sum out of it from $ they owe me over the next few years. If I stay for 3 years, I get to keep that stuff. If I leave on my own, I don't get it. If they lay me off... CASH MONEY, M*F*K*R's! I think I would move back to Nebraska and lie about for a bit in the snow. Then my Dad would come out and kick me until I went and got a job. Thanks, Dad, for all the positive encouragement you've given me throughout the years. I might just stay here and apply at NASA, or another company a friend of mine is talking about. I do still have the lease going here at my apartment anyway. But anyway, this may be why I don't make any plans to travel for a while. We should find out from management on 16 February at the latest. The good part about the company is that after they let you know, you're still employed for 60 days. It's actually just a notice, and there is a possibility that someone else leaving could give you back your spot. The last day is, get this, 20 April, and yes, the end of the day would have to be around 4:20 that day. That carries too many different meanings for one link.

As of that day though, I will, or will not, be buying a plane ticket to Philadelphia(& back) for the end of March sometime. One of my friends here offered to put me up for a few days while she visits family in New Jersey, and I can explore the countryside. This is awesome, because in about a day, I could visit 3 states that I haven't gotten to yet. I just hope my employer sees fit to keep me around and allow me to afford that trip.

I went to the opera Saturday to see Faust, which my friend was actually in, albeit as a supernumary. It was pretty cool, but also... well let's say I'm not that in to opera. Sunday I watched the Super Bowl, as is required by my American Male Red Blood. I was going for the Not-Bears because I knew too many bandwagon fans.

Finally, to answer the generally third-most-burning-question asked of me, No, I am still unattached. No woman I have found interesting enough to have a twenty minute conversation/staring contest with has burrowed her way into my heart. Which reminds me, what are you doing for Valentine's Day, Beautiful?