Deadly zebra clams

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 14:41:00 GMT

For anyone who still checks this thing, I thought I'd give a quick update on my life. (Especially since so much has changed since you last saw me.) I'll try to make this somewhat short. When I came to campus I started working on a research project for one of my professors. It's something I've really enjoyed...a new form of learning that I've never had the opportunity to experience before. Well, during one of our meetings he asked me what my GPA is. I told him, and he said that if I haven't done it yet, I should strongly consider getting my Masters degree. I entertained the idea of staying here an extra year and a half (I'd graduate in May 2009 and I'd do an internship next summer). Then I thought, if I could get all of my tuition paid for it wouldn't be a bad idea - it's something I really think I'd enjoy. Plus, I'd still be 22 when graduating with a Masters so it's not like I'd really be behind everyone else financially. So I looked at everything I had to do on August 30, and I found out the application deadline is October 1, but they recommend everything be in by September 1. Haha...obviously that wasn't going to happen, but I still figured I could make the October 1 deadline. I signed up for the GRE (like the SAT for grad students), studied my ass off for a week, then took it this past Wednesday. I did really well - 800 (perfect) on the Quantitative section (which is what really matters) and 560 on Verbal. There's also an essay portion. I don't know what my score is on that yet, but I feel like I did really well. We'll see. I also had to get three letters of recommendation for grad school, so I figured out who I wanted to use and they are all in the process of writing them for me. I've made my mind up that if I get grad school paid for (which is very likely at this point) then I'm definitely staying. Kinda weird considering a month ago I was so ready to go out into the real world and start working. But hey, I figured what the hell, why not if it's something I enjoy?

Life other than that is really great too. I'm really happy right now and excited about a million things going on right now. Someday if things take a break for a little while I'll give y'all a call to catch up. Hope everyone's doing well!

Reflections on Summer

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:00:58 GMT

I haven't used this thing in a long time, and since a few of you have made efforts to keep the whole LJ thing alive, I might as well. This won't go into too much detail, but here goes nothing...

This summer was great - I can't imagine many ways that it could've been better. First of all, I loved my internship. I learned sooo much this summer at the refinery, and I really want to work at one after I graduate. My supervisor and mentor both said that they would gladly hire me, and if I ever need a reference to let them know. However, I made the quick decision (only 30 minutes before my final review) to try to get a job at the refinery near Chicago. I was debating whether to take a job that I know I can have in Texas City, or go a little out of my way and try to get a job at a different refinery. I'm not sure where I would rather work, but I decided on Chicago because I don't think I'll get many chances after the next few years to live in the heart of a city and have lots of fun. It'll be more expensive and I'll miss my family here, but I don't think those are necessarily worth giving up a unique opportunity at this point. Plus, this isn't a permanent decision. After 3.5 years I'll have many chances to live wherever I want. Anyways, whether I work in Chicago, Texas City, or somewhere else, I just hope I keep learning as much as I learned this past summer. I've never in my life felt as successful or excited about my future as I do now.

Now for the friends. The interns were a fun group of people. I didn't get to hang out with them as much as I would've liked because they all lived more than an hour away, but I had some great times with them. I didn't necessarily enjoy working with them all, but there were so many different types of people with different backgrounds, which always made things intereseting. I will miss a lot of those guys. Then three of my friends from U of I came down last weekend - Ben, Banjo, and Gange (Laura). I had one of the best weekends of my life (I'm not exagerrating) with them. We did all sorts of fun stuff and never really got bored...oh, and there was no drama. I'm so sick of drama - it was nice to get a weekend without it.

Now onto the future. I'm ready to go back to school. I'm excited about classes, and I'm excited to be doing some undergraduate research for one of my professors this semester. Plus I miss my college friends a lot. Seeing those three last weekend made me want to see more of them. And while Ben is a Marine now, I want to see him again before going to TBS, plus Banjo and Gange are a lot of fun too. I'm looking forward to spending lots of quality time with them this semester. That being said, I'm ready to graduate. I was worried that I would regret graduating early, but after this summer, I just want to go out and work. Ask me again in four months and I might be regretting it, but right now, I truly think this is the best thing for me.

So here's to a summer of new experiences, knowledge gained, fun times, and great friends. And here's to the future - no one knows what's in store for us, but I'm excited to find out.

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:50:52 GMT

Blah. Life is hard.

Wow...

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 18:24:39 GMT

I shaved my head yesterday. If you'd like to see a picture, check my Facebook profile. I like it, but I think it'll take a lot of getting used to for everyone else. I like the idea of not having hat hair. Anyways, I guess everyone gets to see it in person in about a week and a half.

Summer

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 22:37:40 GMT

I will officially be working at the BP refinery for the summer. That is all.

This Summer

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:45:19 GMT

Looks like I'll be in the Houston-ish area this summer. Either in Texas City (with BP) or in Greenspoint (North Houston, with Exxon Mobil). Probably Texas City. I wish I didn't have to be out of the Chicago area though... It sucks enough having to wait a couple weeks at a time to see Stephanie. Now I guess I'll get to see her once (maybe twice) over the summer. But the good news is my chance of getting a full-time position in the Chicago area greatly increases if I take the Texas City job. Good news - I've had three interviews and three offers. Bad news - none of them are in Chicago or Illinois. Good news - I'll be in Houston close to a lot of family and friends this summer. Bad news - the girlfriend won't be here.

I'm only doing this for you, Laura!

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 20:26:20 GMT

ESPN College Gameday guy: "So, Lance [Armstrong], how's the training for the New York Marathon going? You gonna win it?"
Lance: "Yeah, barefoot."
ESPN College Gameday guy: "Good. Down with the Kenyans!"
----------------------------------------------------------
I figured I'd update to keep all my fans happy.

Life's been pretty good. My classes are pretty tough and they're going to get much worse when labs start up (this week). I also have Engineering Expo Monday-Wednesday, so I'm going to try to find an internship for the summer. I really hope to get a job with Boeing, since they're now headquartered in Chicago, but we'll see.

Texas and Ohio State face off tonight. I'm pretty excited...Texas better win. Illinois got so embarrassed earlier today that I think all of my college football bad luck is gone for the day. Let's hope so anyways...

Stephanie's coming back tomorrow night. I can't wait to see her again. I know it sounds pathetic, and it's not like I'm hating life or being all depressed when she's gone...it's just much better here when she's around.

Anyways, I have to clean up my apartment for the game tonight, go shopping for a couple things, and cheer on my Longhorns!

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 14:34:22 GMT

As of last night, Stephanie and I are safely in Sugar Land. The trip went a little quicker than expected - only 15.5 hours. Just letting everyone know we're here. Today will be pretty full though between church, showing Stephanie around town a little, and going to see The Lion King, which I'm very excited about.

Quick birthday post: I had a great day. A certain girlfriend of mine was wearing something very sexy when I got back from class, and she got me some great gifts - a dish towel as a gag gift (that we saw at Target and were laughing at), a shot glass set, a wine glass set, a double picture frame with pictures of us, and best of all a Roger Clemens photo thing. It's awesome. And she made me dinner and a cake, AND we watched the Family Guy movie. It was a wonderful day.

I have great news. We're going to the Astros game on Tuesday, and last I checked, it'll be Roger Clemens vs. Mark Prior. I can't wait to go to the Juice Box again!

Hope everyone's doing well. Sorry to cut this short, but it's time to hop in the shower.

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 18:26:34 GMT

I just played NFL Blitz, set on difficult with 6 minute quarters. Here's how I did:

164-36, Cowboys over the Colts (I was Dallas)
I got 1769 total yards and 30 sacks.

That is all. I wish there was a level harder than difficult...

My Apartment

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 04:35:18 GMT

I just went around this morning and took some pictures of my apartment so those of you in Sugar Land, Virginia, or Minnesota can see where I live now.

Texas, Our Texas, all hail the mighty state!

My little bookcase, my lovely dining table which is rarely used, and most importantly, my door.

A weird view of my graduation present from my sister and the hall leading to my bedroom.

A better view of the hall, including my calendar showing some nice Texas places.

Half of my kitchen, complete with a wine bottle on top of the fridge and dirty dishes in my sink.

Here's the other half of my kitchen with bagels...mmm...

My simple, undecorated bathroom.

It even comes with a toilet!

Where all the magic happens. With Dexter Gordon always watching (though the flash blocks his face).

If you stood on top of my bed, this is what you would see.

Last but not least, my desk, which is only a place to put junk on.

I hope y'all enjoyed the tour. If you're ever in the area, I'll give you a real tour.

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:43:25 GMT

Here I am at work with nothing to do. No one's in the chat room asking questions, I graded everything I need to, I responded to all of the e-mails that I've gotten, so now I just sit and wait until 11:55. Meanwhile, I will be making 4 dollars today updating my LiveJournal. Not too shabby...

First of all, I would like to congratulate the University of Texas for their wonderful athletics. Last night, there were two ESPYs given out for best college athlete - one for men and one for women. UT captured them both. Vince Young, who deserves Reggie Bush's Heisman as well, and Cat Osterman, the star softball pitcher. That's pretty impressive that one school got both awards. Vince Young got three ESPYs last night, two more for best game and for best championship performance. VY is a hoss.

Not a whole lot is going on right now. I went with Stephanie to look for apartments in Chicago on Saturday, and I had a very productive day yesterday. Worked on homework right after church and finished by about 4:00, which left me the evening to relax and clean my apartment. Tonight, one of Stephanie's coworkers, Shannon, and her boyfriend, Dave, are coming over and I'm making chicken parmesian. Hopefully it turns out good.

I have a test on Wednesday, which shouldn't be too bad. I expect to make A's in both of my classes this summer.

For anyone interested, I plan on going out for my birthday on July 29, a Saturday. So don't make plans if you're in town, and if you want to come into town, these are your plans.

Anyways, I should get going because someone just walked in and I don't want to look like I'm not doing anything, even though there's nothing to do.

Quick Baseball Update

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 13:44:09 GMT

Astros are back up to .500.

Liriano got screwed. He deserves a spot on the All-Star team.

Why can't the Twins or Astros get any love?

Joe Mauer doesn't even get the start, even though his BA is about 100 points higher than Rodriguez's.

I did my part and voted for Liriano five times.

Seriously. This is terrible. 9-1 with a 1.99 ERA! What the hell?

Great Weekend

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 19:55:15 GMT

I just had one of the best weekends ever. I got to go up to Minnesota and North Dakota for "Durow Day" (Stephanie's mom's family reunion thingy). So this time I got to meet the extended family. We all had a good time, and I really hit it off with her family. We went to a lake and I got to play volleyball, jet ski, go tubing, ride in the pontoon boat, and eat lots of good food. And I got to play lots of cards, which always makes me happy. The 36 hours in the car (including 18 driving) over the weekend was worth it.

I'm excited to come back to Sugar Land. Our schedule is already filling up. We're gonna get in Saturday night or Sunday early afternoon, then we're supposed to go see The Lion King at 6:30 - the last day it's in town! Then Monday is baseball, Tuesday we're going to an Astros game, we're gonna spend two days at my dad's beach house, and we're leaving either on Saturday or Sunday, depending on whether we're gonna take two days to drive or not. I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of time with my family (my sister's coming into town too) so I don't know how much I'll be able to hang out with all you Sugar Landers. But I can't wait to show Stephanie around and for her to meet everyone.

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 15:52:50 GMT

I played tennis with Goetsch, Joe, and Stephanie yesterday (although I didn't personally get to play with Stephanie). I had a great time. I really hope we can do this every week. Stephanie, don't forget to get a racket this weekend. I'll try to remind you, but I've never been very good at remembering stuff like that.

Anyways, I'm watching Wimbeldon right now because Will and Grace doesn't come on for another half hour. They were talking about vollying and I remembered when I would practice vollying with my dad at First Colony Middle School while my sister was at soccer practice on Wednesdays. We would always pretend to be Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. I would usually be Andre Agassi because I liked him more. I miss those days sometimes. Sometimes I wish I lived closer to home so I could do stuff like play tennis with my dad. I guess I have Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks.

Karaoke tonight!

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 19:44:58 GMT

I lost a bet to Stephanie yesterday. We bet who would win the Astros-Twins game. I should've known that Liriano was gonna kill us, but I really wanted to believe that Roger would win his first game back. Anyways, here are the terms:
1. I can't watch any of the College World Series championship match, and
2. I can't check Fantasy Baseball until Monday. (Don't worry, I already switched my pitchers around, so it won't affect anything. I just can't see how I'm doing.)

So there ya have it. Time to go to class. Exam on Monday...

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 18:18:00 GMT

Here's an obligatory Livejournal update. Not a whole lot has been going on. I've been a little more active recently than before. I started playing tennis every week with Heather. I've been walking around every day to class and stuff. I got so out of shape those couple of weeks I had nowhere to go all day. Oh well, I'm getting better.

The Twins and Astros play on Thursday and it's being aired on ESPN. I'm excited about that. Roger Clemens is coming back, AND it's Stephanie's team vs. my team. Hopefully the outcome is better than last night's.

School's going well overall. No complaints. Work is slow, but I just sent an e-mail out to all of my students to tell them to do their assignments more quickly, so that may pick up. It wouldn't be a bad thing if that were to happen. I feel like I still have too much free time. It's nice being able to watch TV though, haha. Anyways, I hope everyone in Texas is doing well. I'm coming into town approximately the 13th-19th, so mark your calendars. (I won't be in Sugar Land the WHOLE time, but definitely for a few days.)

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 22:17:20 GMT

Okay, time to make a quick update since I've been terrible about it. In fact, I made a promise that I'd update today by 3, but I took a nap instead. So here are a couple of the highlights of my life since my last update:

-I got to go home for a couple days to gather my belongings and see as many friends/family as possible during that time. Then I drove back up to Champaign with my mom.
-I moved into my apartment. Let me just say that I LOVE it. If anyone's ever in the area (like that would happen), let me know and you can stay here. I love having an apartment. It's great being able to cook, having as much or as little privacy as possible, and now I have room for all the stuff I could never bring up to school because of space issues.
-I went to Minnesota and had a WONDERFUL time. It was beautiful (a bit hot, believe it or not), and I got to meet Stephanie's siblings and bff. Plus I got to go to a Twins game, where Lew Ford hit a walk off HR in the bottom of the 10th. I had a great time.
-Classes started this week. They shouldn't be too hard, and they actually seem kind of interesting. We'll see if that changes or not, but I think this summer will be great.

For those of you who care, I'll try to update more often.

Wed, 10 May 2006 21:58:32 GMT

I guess I have a little explaining to do about the last entry. Don't worry, I won't go into too many details, haha. Last night I took my last final exam (in Thermodynamics), and when I was done, I was exhausted. I had plans with Stephanie to go over and "hang out", spend the night, sleep in, make orange rolls, and lounge around for most of the day. I came home after the final and took a shower (because it had been a day and a half since my last one) then went over to her place. When I got there, I let myself in and went to her room. I opened the door, only to find a candle-lit room with a bottle of champagne and a certain sexy blonde sitting on her bed. She wasn't wearing much either. :) Oh yeah, and there was some soft music playing too. She came over and greeted me, asked if I wanted a glass of champagne, and told me, "Sorry I don't have any romantic music...Mariah Carey is the best I've got." I was literally speechless for about ten minutes. (If you don't believe me, ask her.) So that explains my last entry.

As for my finals, I'm glad they're over. I did alright overall, I guess, but I was kinda dissappointed in a couple of them. One I don't think I did well at all, and another one I probably would've gotten a perfect score except I apparently can't take the determinant of a 3x3 matrix. Haha, oh well, I guess everyone makes stupid mistakes every once in a while. But I'm glad this school year is complete. I am now halfway (or more if I do that 3.5 year thing) done with college. Where'd the time go?

Tonight is my church small group's final meeting. *tear* It's been a hell of a small group and I can't imagine it ever being this good again. For those of you that were wondering, it's not so much a church thing as it is a hang out with a few friends thing. Anyways, tonight we'll be playing Risk and possibly stealing a street sign (there's a street here called Goodwin). It should be a fun night.

Tomorrow - go learn how to do my job, ice cream with Jen, clean up and pack.
Friday - finish packing (hopefully), play catch with Cory, hang out with Banjo, (maybe) hang out with Ben Shea.
Saturday - Stephanie gets back in town, my dad arrives, lunch with the two of them, dinner with Stephanie's parents.
Sunday - go to Stephanie's commencement ceremony, move into my new apartment!
Monday - come back to Texas in the evening.

I've got a busy couple weeks coming up, but they should be fun. 23 more days, haha. :)

Wed, 10 May 2006 15:47:26 GMT

In case there was any debate about the issue, I have the best girlfriend in the world.

This one's for Laura Briggs

Sat, 29 Apr 2006 17:13:34 GMT

Last night was Relay for Life, and I had a great time. I'm glad I didn't stay the whole night because I'd be dead right now if I did, but while I was there I had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I didn't really make any new friends like I wanted to. In fact, I kinda ditched my group after about an hour and hung out with Lindsay the rest of the night. It sucked though because all of the people on my team that I remotely knew were seniors. What's the point in making a bunch of friends just before I never see them again? So I didn't do much with my team. I feel kinda bad, but had a good time anyways, so I also don't feel bad.

For those of you that haven't done Relay for Life before, they had this big ceremony where they had a cancer survivor go up and give a little speech. It was a college student from Nebraska this year...her mom died I think six years ago from cancer, then she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but overcame it, then her dad was diagnosed with caner and died when she went to college. Very sad. It's an amazing sight walking around the track with the stadium lights off, with all of the bags with glowsticks in them lining the track and spelling "HOPE" in the bleachers. Every bag represents a person who has died from, been diagnosed with, or overcome cancer. It made me think about how cancer has affected my life. I never got to meet one of my grandfathers, my step-grandfather passed away last semester, my step-grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer (luckily I think they caught it all). Those are just three people that didn't have a huge impact on my life, and the fact that they had cancer still affected me in great ways. Anyways, I had a great time and feel like I did a great thing last night. So I'm in a good mood. :)

Now I'll be kinda chillin' and doing homework until tonight when I get to take Stephanie out to dinner. I'm looking forward to that. :)

In one week, one hour, and twenty minutes, I will be taking my Fluids final. Eeeek...

Great Day

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 17:51:27 GMT

Yesterday was an excellent day. And it's all because I wore my lucky UT shirt to start out the day. Here's a recap of things that happened:
-Woke up and met with KB at church. She invited me to be on SET, then we continued to talk after that. (For those of you Texans, SET is our church's student leadership team.) We talked for a total of an hour and a half, which was nice because I haven't talked to her one-on-one in a long time.
-Went to Real Analysis, one of my math classes. While there my professor told us that the final was optional. 75 and above is an A, and I have a 75.4444, so I get an A in that class and don't have to take the final. And he doesn't give out plusses or minuses, so I get 4.0 for that class.
-I kinda chilled in my dorm and did a little homework, then I took a shower and hung out with people at church for a while.
-I had an informal interview for a job this summer. I went there, I thought the whole thing went very well, and in the end they told me I got the job. :) So now I have a job over the summer. And I kinda get to pick my own hours. And the pay is $9.00 an hour.
-I did homework for several hours after that, only to find it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. That's always a nice surprise.
-I went to the senoir acting barcrawl with Stephanie at about 11. We went to Legends, I got to meet a lot of her friends. I had TWO, that's right TWO, gay guys tell me I'm cute. Hahaha...yes! :) Had a couple beers, got a little buzz, got to keep my moose head glass. I need to go to Legends on Thursdays...screw weekends. I like this whole keeping your logo glasses thing.
-I got a few really nice compliments yesterday too. From several different people. And they all said similar things. So it makes me feel like it's true.
-And I got to stay the night with this hot blonde girl I know. :)

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:40:59 GMT

Here's the quick update that I've been meaning to write for a while. Let's see...what's happened to me in the past nine days? A lot I guess. I can't even remember it all right now, so I'll just say a couple things. Stephanie and I are doing really well, despite our relationship being overshadowed by a couple breakups. I'm really happy though, so I don't care. :) We had a great weekend doing all sorts of stuff, including getting fat by eating late at night, haha. For fear of sounding like a pathetic high schooler, I'm going to stop talking about my relationship now.

This weekend I'm going home with a friend, Banjo. (His real name is Scott.) It'll be nice to get away from C-U for a weekend, especially Easter weekend. As much as I love my church here, I hate their Easter service. I actually pretty much don't care for the way they do any special religious seasons/holidays, but Easter is the big one that bothers me. It's really annoying that my church sometimes tries to be so progressive that they end up being un-Christian. I mean, can you be a Christian and not believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead after three days? Last time I checked, that's what Christianity is all about. Anyways, this weekend should be fun.

I'm so sick of exams. I have two on Friday (one at 9, one at 10...), I have two next week, then one the week after. And soon after that, it'll be finals week. It wouldn't be so bad if I stopped having homework too, but these exams are just piling onto my already semi-hectic load. At least summer will be here soon. I have mixed feelings about it, but I'm mostly excited. I hope I get this job as a NetMath mentor so I can go out of town a couple times. We'll see how that goes.

I need a nap.

I usually hate these. I guess I'm just in the right mood to fill one out.

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 23:31:16 GMT

I have this lab report I'm supposed to be doing, but one of the people in my group hasn't sent me his stuff yet. I can't really work any more on my part without getting his stuff, so I'm killing time with this thing. Maybe I'll update tomorrow about how my life is going. But for now I want to mindlessly fill out this thing.

10 F A V O R I T E S
-------------------------
TV shows: South Park
Flower: I don't know many names of flowers, so I'll go with bluebonnets, but only if there's a field full of them.
Alcohol: Miller Light
Movie: Good Will Hunting
Color: Blue or Green
Sport: In this order - football, baseball, basketball, baseketball.
Phrase: "Well, thank you!" Hahaha...
Mall: I'm not a big enough fan of malls to have a favorite, though I hear I'm going to the Mall of America this summer. So ask me in a couple months and I'll probably say that.
Food: Pizza, Darlene from Soliz, Sesame Chicken
Book: Tuesdays with Morrie

1 0 F A C T S
-------------------
Height: 5'10"-5'11"
Weight: 165ish...it varies but it's always somewhere near there
Size: I'm guessing we're talking about pants...so 34.
Hair color: Dark Blonde
Hair length: A little on the longer side, but it's not in my eyes yet, so I'm happy.
Hair style: Down?
Eye color: Green
Shoe size: 10.5-11
Personality: Ummmm...odds are if you are reading this you have your own opinion about my personality, so go with that.
Job Title: Student. Or at least that's what I say instead of "None."

1 0 L I F E
-----------------
How's life?: Really, really, really great.
What's your mood right now?: Not too bad. I'm kinda getting sick of school, but other than that good.
What are you doing right now as you read this? Checking my e-mail periodically to see if that guy has sent me his part of our lab report.
What did you do over the weekend?: On Friday, I watched American Beauty, ate at Courier with Ben Shea, Goetsch, and Stephanie, then on Saturday I woke up, worked on some lab stuff, saw Stephanie's dress rehearsal for Showcase, went to a lab meeting, went to see Intimate Apparel, went to Steak 'n Shake, then on Sunday I went to Church, ate lunch at the Wades', played IM soccer (we won 3-0!), talked to David, saw Stephanie off to Chicago, took a nap, worked on homework.
What do you want to do with your life?: Be a great person. A great husband, a great father, a great friend.
Where are you right now?: Hendrick House, room 207
Are you satisfied with life?: Absolutely.
Do you regret anything? There are a couple things I wouldn't do over again, but I don't know if that counts as regret.
Change one thing about your life: Okay, I wish I didn't have to poop right now.
Are you appreciated?: I would like to think so.

1 0 L O V E L I F E
--------------------------
Have you ever been in love?: Yes.
Do you believe in love?: Definitely.
Why did your last relationship fail?: Just didn't work out. There wasn't a specific reason (as far as I know).
Have you ever had your heart broken?: Yep.
Have you ever broken someones heart?: Maybe. I don't know if I would consider it breaking someone's heart, but I've hurt someone I've cared about before.
Have you ever fallen for your best friend?: No.
Are you planning on getting married?: Yes I am.
Are you afraid of committment?: No, I don't think so. I'm not ready for marriage or anything crazy like that, but I'm not afraid of committing to a relationship.
Your definition of love?: To me, love (in this sense) is a combination of the following - honesty, respect, passion, and good times. I know that's a crappy definition, but it's a tough question.
Does love really hurt?: Love always sometimes hurts.

1 0 R A N D O M S
------------------------------
One thing next to you: My digital camera.
Do you like the color purple?: It's alright in moderation.
How many cds do you own?: A lot.
Longest phone conversation?: I don't know for sure, but if I had to guess, I'd say probably 3 or so hours.
What's your most prized posession?: I don't think I really have one.
Who's your closest relative?: Probably my mom.
If you could go anywhere?: I don't know. I guess I'll say Europe because it would probably be pretty cool. But there isn't one place in the world that I've been dying to see.
Who do you tell your secrets to?: My mom, Stephanie (both of them), Joe, and many others.
How many pairs of shoes do you own?: Seven if we're counting special sports shoes, flip flops, and slippers.
Last artistic thing you did?: Wrote a song about Lindsifer to the tune of "Piano Man".

1 0 T H I S O R T H A T S
----------------------------------
Pepsi or coke?: Pepsi
CD or Radio?: CD
Tommy boy or black sheep?: Tommy Boy if I had to choose, but I'm not a huge fan of either.
Saturday or Sunday?: Saturday
Black or white? It depends what we're talking about. People? White. The color? Black.
Phone or in person?: Definitely in person.
Hugs or kisses?: Both. Followed by a little dry humping.
Cash or credit?: Debit!
Sex or intimacy?: Intimacy.
Read or write?: Writing.

1 0 H A V E Y O U E V E R S
---------------------------------------
Have you ever been caught sneaking out?: No, but I'm not really the sneaking out type. I've done it once or twice though and didn't get caught either time.
Have you ever skinny dipped?: Yes.
Have you ever done something you regret?: Wasn't this already a question?
Have you ever bungee jumped?: I did the fake bungee jumping that they have at Six Flags.
Have you ever been on a boat?: I love fishing, so yes.
Have you ever finished an entire jaw breaker?: Not without chewing it.
Have you ever wanted someone so badly it hurt?: I've wanted people badly, but I don't think that wanting someone can literally make you hurt, so no.
Have you ever cried yourself to sleep?: Yes.
Have you ever blacked out from drinking?: No.
Have you ever lied about your age?: No.

10 A R E Y O U S
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Are you missing someone right now?: Yes. And I'm aware that it's pathetic and probably makes you want to vomit, but deal with it.
Are you in love with anyone?: No, that definitely takes some time.
Are you happy?: Yes.
Are you talking to anyone right now?: No.
Are you thirsty?: A little, but I ran out of my V8 Splash and my 7 Up Plus, so there's not much to drink other than water.
Are you bored?: Yeah, until I get the Intro to my lab report. Then I'll just be busy.
Are you German?: Partly.
Are you Irish?: I don't think so.
Are your parents still married?: Haha, no.
Are you crushing on someone?: I think the term "crushing" is really stupid. But I really like someone right now.

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 05:56:45 GMT

The truth comes out. Tornadoes scare the shit out of me. Tonight we (Stephanie, Jenny, Marcus, and I) were watching the Simpsons, and all of a sudden the tornado sirens went off. Then an announcement was made for everyone to leave their rooms immediately and go to the basement. We did that, but silly me...I forgot to close the window I had opened earlier because it was warm in our room. My laptop is right next to that window. Haha, apparently Will and Ben could hear our blinds blowing around over Skype, which is kinda funny (because nothing was damaged). I half expected to find my laptop soaked with rain when I got back in the room, but luckily it wasn't. The window that was opened a crack (it's the kind that you push out, not the kind you lift) was open comletely, but the wind was apparently blowing the other direction so no water came into our room. Phew. I'm glad everything and everyone was fine. I hate tornadoes though...

Later, Stephanie and I went on a random little walk. We just went to a couple random places and had fun...wandered around Grainger, the Quad (with a couple short stops), then Krannert. Good times.

Now I'm back in my room, writing in this journal I bought myself last Thanksgiving break. This is my third entry. But I think I'll write in it more often now. Of course I said that before. Haha, but this time I mean it.

I can't remember my life ever being this spontaneously exciting.

Deadly zebra clams

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 04:03:34 GMT

I just got an e-mail from my Fluid Mechanics lab TA regarding our design project, and the subject was "Deadly zebra clams". Even though I knew exactly what he was talking about, it made me laugh. Haha...that's my new favorite phrase. On an evening where things just don't seem to be going my way (or friends' ways), this provides a little happiness for me.

Tomorrow night, tomorrow night, tomorrow night...