Which South Park kid am I?

Was there ever any doubt?

Which South Park kid are you most like? Cartman You are just plain evil and heartless. Though you're sly, and you come up with brilliant schemes, you're pretty dumb and close minded. Other people hate you... screw them!

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Trained Jedi Ninja Couch Potato...

Ok, so the title of this post comes from a conversation that I was having with Kim last week. It went something like this:

Kim: Did you know that Charmed has 8 seasons?
Me: Yeah I knew that, this is supposed to be the last season.
Kim: That's alot of episodes, 178 wow! That's...[uses calculator] 124.6 hours of Charmed.
Me: Yeah that's alot of TV watching.
Kim: That's...[uses calculator again] 5.19 days of TV. We could do it in one sitting!
Me: There is no way that you could sit there long enough to watch all that.
Kim: Yes I could!
Me: No you cant, you can barely sit through 1 disc of Angel, let alone 8 seasons. I can do it because I am a Trained Jedi Ninja Couch Potato!
Kim: I am t...[at this point she just stares at me for a few seconds and then starts cracking up laughing]
Me: What?
Kim: I was about to say "I am too" to your comment, but that was just so random it was funny.

So, yeah that was our conversation as we contemplated watching Charmed.

Ok, now on to my next topic. Last night my Intramural soccer team had a tournament game. I played my best game of the season. I got a hat trick (for the uninitiated that means I scored 3 goals). But the rest of my team was not playing so great so we still lost 5-3. Its pretty sad when I am the only one to score any goals. I just thought I would share my lament about the whole situation because I'm still bitter that the rest of my team was playing like crap when I was playing great. Oh well, after the loss we were eliminated from the tournament so we are done for this season.

Ok, so another conversation for you people. This one was pretty funny too. I was on the phone with Ryan, one of my friends from High School who still lives in DC. Anyway, we were talking about World of Warcraft and he was trying to convert me to pay a priest. He was describing his encounter with some guys in Warsong Gulch as he ran back to his base with the flag. Ryan has a funny way of talking when he starts telling stories and Ive done my best to capture his speech pattern here in this story. (Ryan is a white guy by the way)

Ryan: Dude, you have to at least try out playing a priest.
Me: I don't know man, Ive been wanting to try out a fighter.
Ryan: Pssst, Nigga please! Fighters got nothing on my Priest. Check this out. I was in WSG and I had the flag and I'm running back to my base. Three dudes jump on me and I'm all like "AoE FEAR" and so they start running away. Then they come back for more a little while later and Im like, "Silence" on the mage, and "FEAR" on the fighter and rogue. I keep running then they get up on me one last time and I'm like "Silence" on the mage again, then "FEAR" on the fighter, but I missed the rogue so I was like "MIND FLAY" on that dude a couple of times and he was done; man, face-melting those fools never gets old. Then I just ran into my base. DING!
Me: Damn! That's pretty tight!

Yeah, so he went on to talk about how much he loves playing his Priest character in regular combat too (not against other players). He almost convinced me but we'll see what happens.

One last thing, I watched King Kong last night (the new Peter Jackson one) and I wanted to mention something about the movie here. If you have not seen it stop reading because I am going to include SPOILERS!

So there is this part where the people get back on the ship and are unloading everything trying to get the ship light enough to come unstuck. At the same time this one native guy is like pole vaulting his way over to the ship to steal the Ann chick to sacrifice to the KONG.

Anyway, all I could think of while watching this was, "Holy $#!+ its a freeking Native Aborigine Ninja!" Did anyone else think the same thing? Just wondering.

************************************

Ok, I have put up a new quote, its slightly vulgar so don't read it if you don't like that kind of stuff. However it was easily one of the funniest moments in a movie I watched recently so I had to put it up. Kudos to anyone who gets the quote right. Oh, and the last quote was from a movie called "Ronin." That movie has some of the best car chase scenes ever filmed.

Jedi Knight Sales Ninja

The title of this post comes from the title of a job I found on eRecruiting. It made me laugh so hard I just had to check it out.

Turns out the job is a sales leader job for a company called FundingUniverse.com. Ive never heard of that company but with a Sales Leader job with a name like that, its gotta be awesome. Haha.

So, Im having a serious urge to play World of Warcraft. I let my subscription lapse so that I could focus on Finals, but Im having troubles because I want to sign back on. I know it sounds dumb, but I cant help it. I will stay strong though and NOT play. But one week from today I will be done with all my finals except 1 and then I will log back in and play. Yeah, thats gonna be freekin sweet.

Anyway, good luck to all you out there in Finals-Land. I know the feeling believe me...

Back by popular demand...

Thanks to a good friend of mine, I have been persuaded to update my blog. (Thanks Brad).

Its funny because I was sure no one cared about my freekin blog but then Brad started ragging on me about not updating it and it made me feel good that someone actually cares. Happy day!

So anyway, my life is pretty much the same as far as school goes: I hate it and it hates me, nuff said.

Soccer is starting to pick up more lately and that has been good. My intermural scocer team is still in the tournament and we have a game in the IPF on friday night at 8pm (please come watch me play, you will have fun I promise). If we win that game then we play again on Saturday morning at 9am, again in the IPF. Its kinda sucky that way but at least the games are not like 2 hours apart (Ive had that happen before).

So, nothing really funny has happened in my life lately. Nope, there has been a decided lack of Funny-ness in my life. Probably because just surviving business school (or B-School to the initiated) has been occupying all my time and it is not a laughing matter. I might be laughing after my last final though. Either that, or crying; I cant decide which.

This summer it looks like I will be here in Provo for a good portion of it. So that should be good. I might even get a chance to go to Anime Expo as things stand right now. Sweet!

Well, thats it for now.

I woke up to Flashbacks...

I woke up this morning and I felt like I was back in my mission. As soon as I opened my eyes I felt tired (just like every day of my mission after the first 6 months). I rushed to take a shower because I have so much to do today that I wanted to get an early start (just like most days of my mission). The shower was not cold per se, but it was not warm at all either. The water was just on that side of cold that if you had a choice you would choose NOT to take a shower (just like the mornings in my mission). That was exactly how the water was every single day in Panama. Now, you might be saying to yourself, "It was over 90 degrees in the morning when you shower so you should be happy." Well, that thought is all wrong. When you sleep in Panama your body cools down along with the weather (to a cool 85 degrees and 100% humidity as opposed to 98 degrees and over 100% humidity) and when you wake up it takes a while for your body to get warmed up and so showering first thing with mildly cold water feels just uncomfortable enough to be upsetting. Now, dont get me wrong by reading this. Even though the weather and your body cool down during the night you still sweat at every single moment all the time. I am sure I sweated even in the shower, but I just couldnt see it for all the water. It goes without saying that you sweated all day every day too.

It was for these reasons that about 8 months into my mission I switched to showering at night instead. I mean, I would still wake up after sweating during the night, but at least I did not have to look forward to feeling cold first thing in the morning. Call me nasty, but you were not there and if you were you would have done the same (like 90% of the american missionaries did).

I've been writing (and remembering) about my mission alot lately. Yesterday marked 4 years adn 2 months to the day that I have been home. Why should I think so much about my mission now all of a sudden? I have no idea. Has anyone who is reading this been home for that long or more? Did you go through something similar? I wonder.

**********************************

The quote up is from a movie called "The Wedding Crashers" I dont have time to change it right now so I will do that later. The quote is great, I think, because it embodies the way I feel about so many things in life: School, Work, Sports, Relationships, etc. I feel that too many people whine and excuse themelves for making honest mistakes when they should just ask forgiveness and move on. So this quote kinda emobides all that. Ill keep the quote up a little longer to let you mull over what I've said.

Pac-Man Nastalgia

Yesterday I entered a tournament, I was tested in various combat situtions where I was required to shoot my weapons at fellow combatants and fight to the death. I emerged victorious and was assigned a team to lead into the second part of the tournament. There were various games that my team was required to win to stand victorious, capture the flag, bombing run, assault were the games that my team and I competed in against other teams. We destroyed, literally, every single person on every other team that got in our way. After all the blood and violence, we finally emerged the victors. Then I got up from my computer and went and made a sandwich.

The game I just described is called, UnReal Tournament 2004 (or UT2K4 to the initiated). The game, contrary to its title, is VERY real. When you kill in the game, you can see the blood fly. The environments look very real as well, with physics effects and lighting effects mirroring the real world. The in game controls required me to hit over 20 different buttons to do distinct things. My ability to play this type of game came from very humble beginings.

There was a time, and Im probably dating myself by saying this, when video game controllers only had one button and a joystick. The games were seriously complex though. I mean, in one semi-popular game, you had to run across busy streets with your frog, the main character, while dodging cars. Once you got across the street, you had to cross a lake by jumping on fast moving lily pads without falling in the water (because, of course, water kills frogs as easily as cars). That was the entire premise of the game. It was an age of wonder, let me tell those of you who do not remember. The graphics were simplistic at best or what kids today would consider barbaric at worst.

Like all things temporal, it changed. A few years later, a new video game system was released and it had FOUR buttons plus a directional pad. Our minds were nearly blown! The graphics too changed dramatically. This new system carried an 8-bit graphics chip. To tell you the truth, we did not even know what that meant but we DID know that the graphics were just AMAZING! The main characters were actually human shaped and had different colored clothes and you could tell that Mario had a mustache. Never mind that the main character was a plumber, of all things, that grows to three times his size when he eats a mushroom (what?) and fights against a giant evil turtle named Bowser to save the Princess of the Toadstools. Hmm, what is a toadstool anyway?

This was just the tip of the iceberg though. After 8-bit graphics came 16-bit graphics. Along with that we got controllers with EIGHT buttons plus the directional pad. Sega entered the market to compete with Nintendo and we were split. I remember having heated discussions in the middle school lunch room debating over which was better: Super Nintendo or the Genesis? The battle lines were drawn and if you were a fence sitter you had no friends.

In retrospect, that was probably a dumb thing to be debating in light of the times (the Gulf War was brewing, and the world debated their response) but we dealt with what we knew, and we knew video games.

The great companies on the other side of the pond, Nintendo, Sega, and Sony by then, decided to skip 32-bit graphics altogether and move on to 64-bit. Thus entered the Nintendo 64, Sony Playstation, and the Sega Dreamcast. All three offered revolutionary (at the time) graphics and gameplay. The directional pad was joined by a joystick (or 2) and TEN buttons. The games made anything we had previously played seem like what the cavemen would play.

This pattern, doubling the graphics output of the console systmes every couple of years, has continued with the 128-bit generation (the PlayStation 2, Gamecube, and Xbox). The games have gotten better and the graphics more realistic. The video games today make the older games seem dumb. I would argue, however, that the games of yore were better in many respects.

The games that came before super realistic graphics required the gameplay and story to be all encompassing to mitigate the fact that the graphics were cheesy. Thats why those games are classic and will always hold a soft spot in the hearts of many a gamer. Today's games lean on their superior graphics like a crippled man leans on a crutch. Many of these new and "better" games have weak gameplay and weak storylines (not all, but lots). That just did not happen 15 years ago because the games that were weak in gamplay and storyline were games that were rejected before being produced or rejected by buyers.

Today graphics are so good and so few people read reviews of games before buying that terrible games (with good graphics) make huge amounts of sales. Its a terrible tragedy of the video game industry.

In the days of 8-bit things were different, simpler and I liked it that way. I love today's graphics, but I hate that I have to search around more to find the games with good graphics AND good gameplay. The industry has lost its way and I wish it would find a way to bring back the quality of days gone by.

I lived in a dream...

I just got an email from my mission's website. One of my friends just updated his profile and I got to see a big goofy picture of him. He was my district leader for a time.

After checking out his profile I just started surfing around on the site, looking at profiles from some of my other friends from the mission and Panamanians that I knew. I saw pictures that made me laugh and by the end I felt like crying. I miss Panama, I miss that time in my life so much. Things were so much simpler.

I can never truly describe what I feel like right now. I know that most of the ex-missionaries who read this will understand, especially if you served in a far away place that is hard to return to (because of money/distance). Panama was the HOTTEST place I have ever visted, it had bugs, and dirt, and trash...but I loved it all because of the people I served. I look at all those pictures and I just feel...I dont know, I guess the best word to describe it would be "Homesick" even though I wasnt born there I miss it like it was my home.

I think I've said enough, anyone who reads this and has ever missed anyone or anyplace before will understand how I am feeling right now. I think I just need to cheer up or something.

Heres a picture of Panama city (the biggest city in the country). Look at that sky!

New Quote

I put up a new quote for the peoples. The last quote was "Is that all you jackasses can dig?!" from the Movie "Holes." A particularly good funny kids-type movie. I really like Shea LeBouf.

Anyway, check out the new quote and see what you got. Its a from a funny movie.

Behold, I am the Crying Freeman...

Or at least I have cried for days. Raise your hand if you have cried for three days straight before? No takers? I thought not. You see, for the last three days my left eye has been tearing (that tear as in cry not tear as in ripping paper) up constantly. I walk around with a tear rolling down my cheek non stop. My eye doesnt hurt at all, but after rubbing my eye to get rid of the tears all day my eye starts to feel "rubbed" and irritated. So I just stop botherting with the eye and wait until the tear is halfway down my cheek to mess with it.

From this experience I can infer that I must have some type of eye infection. The type that does not hurt and only infects one eye and makes you cry non stop for days. Tonight at my D&D group is going to think that I am sad the entire time.

Seriously though, I have no idea why my eye is doing this and frankly I just wish it would stop.

I have not updated this blog in too long and I feel bad about it. Unfortunately, thats the situation of my life right now. I have so much to do that I can barely get it all done. I mean right this moment I am stiing in class typeing this on my laptop computer. Luckily it is my Business Ethics class and we don't have tests in here just papers and projects. Im kinda tired of projects though. I mean I used to live in the projects back in D.C. and I got tired of that, now I have to constantly work on projects and I am most definately tired of that.

Please do not think that I am tired of school. I really do like school, but I just get burnt out easily I think.

Anyway, I better get back to listening here in class. I wish you all well and I hope to see some comments from you on here.

P.S. I will put up a new quote soon.

What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve...

This one is for you Nate...its a really good Evangelion Music Video. I think you will like it, I havnt even seen most of Eva and I still liked it alot.

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Ok, so I changed the movie quote. The last one was from the movie S.W.A.T. It is a really cool urban warfare type movie that you should check out if you like that kind of stuff. Oh and for the ladies, it has Colin Farrell and LL Cool J in it. Anyway, see if you can get the new quote. ~D

BD Mafia Session 1

This is the first part of a longer story that I'm writing. I post it here just to see if you like it. If I get a positive response Ill post more in the future. If not, then oh well...

Silvara looked over at Sol thoughtfully for a moment. The Dark Elf glanced back at her and smirked.

“Having second thoughts about this mission?” He asked.

“No, I know we’ll get the job done. I was just wondering if that wizard….Tim, I think his name was, will hold up his end of the bargain; or are we going to have to beat his ass and take what we want?” She smiled.

“It wouldn’t be the first time we were double-crossed and I doubt it would be the last time either”, he paused and smiled, “but either way we always come up ahead right?”

“Damn straight we do!” She almost laughed, but then remembered where they were and stopped herself.

The group, the self proclaimed “BD Mafia” (whatever that meant), had been hired by Tim to retrieve the mummified eye of a long dead lich. Not the most pleasant work, by any stretch of the imagination, but he promised to pay well and provided magic bags up front to support his claim. Silvara fingered the strap of the magic bag that she carried on her back. Pretty useful, she admitted to herself. She had been able to put most of her tools and gear, all but the necessities, inside and her load was considerably lighter.

Still she had her doubts about this mission and this wizard “Tim” by name. If that’s even his real name, she thought as she walked ahead. It all smelled off. She was suspicious by nature, for sure, but she doubted that just natural paranoia was the reason for her current feeling. She had mentioned it to Sol more than once, but he just assured her that everything would be O.K.

She shook her head as she thought about the Drow. She and Sol had been companions for more than two years now, and he had never let her down. They had been in some dangerous situations before; situations where Sol could have easily turned his back and left Silvara to take the heat, but he had not. Instead, Sol had stuck with her throughout all of her crazy schemes and ideas, a few had succeeded while many others had brought on more trouble than gold. Still, through all this Sol had been a loyal friend and adventuring companion. She supposed she could go along with his idea for once. It had been his idea to hook up with the other two members of their group: Aten, a Human; and Ramisa, an Aasimar.

She hadn’t liked the idea of adding anyone to their little organization much less some self righteous Aasimar and his Human lackey. But again, the Drow had proven right in his judgment. Silvara had gotten to know Ramisaa, and found a kindred sprit, if not in occupation, in ideology. Ramisaa had a way about him that made Silvara nod in appreciation. It was rare in life to find a person who agreed with you, and Ramisaa agreed with Silvara. Much to her surprise over time Ramisaa had developed the ability to communicate with her telepathically. At first Silvara had been put off, thinking that he could read her thoughts, but she quickly realized that he could only send messages and then wait for the response, if she chose to send nothing, then he heard nothing. It hadn’t taken Silvara long to put this little talent to good use.

Silvara glanced at her companions. Sol was a Drow, he stood five and a half feet tall with black skin, silvery white hair, and silver eyes. Hair just above his shoulder, he was built like a warrior. The armor he wore and the way he walked only accented this look. He glanced back at her again and smiled. Ramisaa, was an Aasimar, bronze skin with blonde hair and dark eyes. He had the look of someone who has spent too much time in the sun. He was tall, slightly over six feet, and heavy. His armor bore the symbol of Torm, marking him as a cleric of that faith. Ramisaa noted her inspection and waved while sending the mental message, Hi there! Silvara just smiled and said nothing. Aten, the last of her companions, was a Human. This fact, and his company, made him seem the most exotic of the group. He was as tall as Ramissa, with similar build, but his white skin and midnight black hair made him seem much different than his traveling companions. He wore a breastplate and a sword that marked him as a warrior, but his eyes showed intelligence not common among warriors. Aten didn’t notice her covert inspection so focused was he on their present path.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the door. The group had been traveling underground for some time in search of the tomb that supposedly held this mummified eyeball.

“What’s this then?” Aten asked. The door appeared to be made of iron and looked heavy.

“It’s a door dumbass!” Ramisaa chided. Aten looked nonplussed by the jab.

“Well let’s see what we can do about this….” Silvara said, as she shoved past them in the hallway and approached the door.

Upon inspection she found that the door was unlocked and would open with a strong push. She said as much to the others. Aten and Ramisaa promptly moved forward and pushed the door open.

The room beyond was dark to Aten’s eyes, but the rest of the group could see as well in the dark as in the light and they saw that this was a Mausoleum with a raised dais at its center, the far wall was too far away for even their eyesight to make out.

“Silvara, I think you should go scout ahead. We will cover you from here.” Sol suggested.

“Fine, I’ll return shortly.”

Silvara moved ahead using as much stealth as she knew how. She tried to stay low while still moving toward the dais. She reached the dais without incident and made an inspection of the area. The walls were covered in alcoves, presumably for “dearly departed” and the far wall, across from their entrance had another double wide iron door. The room was roughly 150 feet across and was square. She waved the rest of the group over to her. She still hadn’t placed foot on the dais.

After stumbling three or four times on his way over Aten cursed and said, “Forget this darkness I need some light.” After which he promptly used some small amount of his magic to make his greatsword shine to light the area around him. Sol winced and looked none too happy about the light source, which he shied away from, moving to take up a position flanking Silvara, away from the light.

“I suggest we spread out and search the area.” Sol said. Silvara wondered if he was eager to move on or just eager to get away from Aten and his light. Inwardly she smiled. Silvara was glad that Tieflings were not affected by light like Drow were, or she would have gone crazy by now.

The search was completed in short order and they all met up back at the dais. The search had yielded nothing of interest, so Aten suggested they move to inspect the far door.

This door was the same as the last one, except that it had a mosaic inlaid into it. The picture showed a Dragon-like creature on top of a pile of corpses. The Dragon thing was in the process of devouring the corpses.

“Im not much for art, but as far as it goes I would say that’s a pretty disgusting picture.” Silvara noted, her face was scrunched up in a show of obvious distaste. After making this proclamation she advanced on the door and began to inspect it. Sol turned around and began scanning the darkness behind them for possible dangers. That was one of the things Silvara liked about Sol, he was always ready for anything.

Silvara made the inspection quick and thoroughly, but no lock to pick presented itself. As far as she was concerned, this door had a seam in the middle but no lock. She made this known to the group in general and Aten and Ramisaa began to push the door open. This was as far as they got, because the door would not budge an inch. After much straining and struggling, they finally decided that there must be some other way to open it.

Looking around for an explanation, Silvara suggested it might have something to do with the dais in the center of the room. She explained that old tombs sometimes had complex traps and secrets.

“The problem is,” she noted, “distinguishing which is which.”

“Well, I don’t see any other distinguishing feature in this room.” Ramisaa said.

So the group moved back to the dais, and Silvara inspected it; finding no traps and nothing unusual. Aten moved forward stepping up onto the dais as he did.

“I don’t see the….” He began, but just then the dais started to lower and he started. Aten jumped down off the dais and began looking around frantically. Of course, with the little light that his sword shed he couldn’t make out anything more than the group and the dais.

The sound of stone grating on stone increased sharply shortly after the dais started to lower. Sol noticed that parts of the walls were sliding up to create doors, where before there had only been alcoves. He glanced around and noticed that this same thing was happening on the opposite end of the room as well, but not on the walls with the doors.

“Doors are opening up around us, spread out and get ready!” Having said this he moved toward one wall while drawing his greatsword. The rest of the group did as he said, and took up positions at the four corners of the dais.

Soon the sound of stone grating against stone stopped and a new sound issued forth from the new doorways. The clanking of bones and a low, dull moaning could be heard all around.

Soon after, the source of the sounds became apparent. Zombies and skeleton warriors began to shuffle out of the doorways. Silvara could not tell how many were assaulting them, but she did not wait around to take a head count. Instead, she charged at the nearest one, drawing her daggers and putting them to good use against an unfortunate zombie.

All around her the sounds of battle filled the tomb. The stone muffled the sound, making the tomb seem to vibrate with it. Yet, still more undead were pouring into the tomb. Silvara saw their route ahead about to be cut off and she sent a telepathic message to Ramisaa and a vocal one to the others, "We need to get to the dragon door! We can use it to guard our backs." Having said this, she dispatched the zombie nearest her, cut between two others, and headed toward the door...

Movie Review: Hotel Rwanda

In my International Politics class we read a book about Rwanda, it was called "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families." by Philip Gourevitch. It was a sad story about the genocide that took place in Rwanda, a small african country. The story that Gourevitch told was not nearly as personal as the one told in the Movie Hotel Rwanda. In the book, he recounts stories that he was told and things he read. The movie tells the story of Paul Rusesabagina, the house manager at a prestigious hotel in the capitol city of Kigali, during the events of 1994. Paul used his position as Hotel Manager to save 1200 Tutsi and Hutu refugees from being slaughtered at the hands of the Hutu militias. The power of his personal story (he consulted on the movie) made me wanna cry. Paul showed that even amid ruthless hatred shown by terrible people, the power of human charity is not lost. Most people would not have risked everything to save even few, but Paul did everything in his power to save 1200 souls. What a powerful example to us all.

The movie was well made even beyond it being a great story. Don Cheadle leads a wonderful cast, and gives a powerful performance. The world looked on with a blind third eye as nearly a million people died in that small country, and it makes me feel ashamed for the world. During World War II no one knew what Hitler was doing with all the Jews until after. During Rwanda, the worlds leaders knew exactly what was going on, people had called and written letters telling of the horror, but no one cared. The sad truth was that the leaders of the free world, supposed good men and women, stood by and did nothing while Evil prevailed. Eventually the Tutsis were able to stop the killing themselves and push the Hutus out of the country, but what a price they paid...1 million people, 1 million of their brothers and sisters; 1 million of their husbands and wives. No country should have to pay that kind of price for something that could have been stopped easily. Freedom has a high price, but they paid too much because we stood by and watched.

I was 14 years old when this happened. During that time, I got sick and nearly died, I was in the hospital for 4 days and then in recovery for months. I did not hear anything about Rwanda until I got into College and read about it. But I still ask myself the question that everyone should be asking themselves: "If I did know about it, or if it happens again, what will I do?" Will you do the right thing this time? Will you learn from others' mistakes? I hope so, or the world truly is lost.

Stupid is as Stupid does...

Ok, this was entirely too funny for me NOT to post it here. For all of you dog lovers out there, well...I'm sorry. But for the rest of us, this is hilarious!

Check it out:

Finish him! Fatality Noob Saibot!

So, have any of you ever heard of "Mortal Kombat"? Either the movie or the video game? Anyway, if you have (or if you are just in the mood for something funny) then I think you will love this video. So check it out:


If you like it, leave me a comment and I might post any more funny ones I come across in the future. I just about fell out of my chair laughing during the part of the song where they say all the names of the characters in the game...yeah, watch the video and you will see. Peace.

Oh, and for those of you who never thought about it before, Rap and Anime do go together:

Whats in a Name? (Or a Slogan for that matter...)

David Stays Sharp 'til The Bottom of the Glass.

Ok this is a way to sloganize your name. Its pretty freekin funny. The above is my random sloganized name. Go check it out and post your slogans in my comments please.


http://www.thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi

Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat heartily…for tonight we dine in hell!”

The title of this blog is a quote from King Leonidas, the leader of Sparta, Greece a long time ago. Supposedly he said this as he lead his 300 Spartan warriors against thousands of Middle Eastern warriors that had come to conquer Greece.

Anyway, I say this about the title because Finals week is comeing up next week. Its going to be a war, and I may just lose a battle or two. We'll have to see.

Today is a wonderful day though, as it marks the last day of the last week of classes. This semester had been a rollercoaster ride of joy and pain. It seems that every good moment I've had has been outside of school. I have great support from many people in my life, and for that I am very grateful, but sometimes things are still difficult.

I wish you all the best this coming week as you ready yourselves for the battles to come during Finals week.

Experience and Cyberspace, my bread and butter...

I’ve had a lot of “rant” type thoughts lately, maybe because I haven’t been updating my blog lately. In part this is because I didn’t have internet for the entire Thanksgiving break; oh man did that suck!! I forget how much I depend on the internet. I use it to get my news, my email, keep in touch with some of my friends via IM, shop for stuff, get basically any information I need, and to download fun stuff (mostly using eMule, if you don’t have it, get it). Yeah, so my dependence on Cyberspace is somewhat disturbing, but after carefully considering it I recognize that I don’t really care though.

Let me talk about the weather for a moment. I recently visited Arizona, for Thanksgiving, and the weather there varied between 60-80 degrees with a stiff breeze most of the time. The sun was ungodly bright and the sky was always clear blue with a few clouds. It was nice, but a bit hot at times. Now, this morning I walked out of my house and it was overcast, grey and gloomy. However, the temperature hovered somewhere in the low 50s. I felt wonderful because it was perfect. It was not too cold or too hot; it was perfect. I wish I had an outside thermometer so I could have checked the temperature this morning because I would really like to know what my exact perfect temperature would be. Anyone know what the temperature was at 7:55 this morning in Provo?

Last night I was thinking about how we depend on each other so much in life. I was laying there in my bed and I couldn’t sleep (no surprise there) and I was just thinking. I thought about how much we depend on each other for so many things in life. I think that this can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the situation. I still think that I personally need to be more independent, but I always think that. What do you guys think? Which is better and/or how much of each is good/bad? Do you feel that there is a point where you are too dependant/independent? I always thought that if you could be perfectly independent then you are too independent. I feel that one of the main goals in life is to learn to work together with your “brothers and sisters.” I think that when you learn to serve someone else and in turn be served without pride, then you are on a higher path that leads somewhere better.

One last semi-random thought before I quit for today. I like to write and I feel that I have had many different and varied experiences that I can use in my writing. I think that the best writers have had many types of experiences, both mundane and different, and they can take both of those types of experiences and incorporate them into good writing. So, whenever I have a new experience I like to think about how it is different than previous experiences (i.e. is it totally different or is it just a recurrence of a long forgotten one) and how it will affect my writing. As an example of this phenomenon, yesterday I was sitting in the MBA lounge working on a video I was making for a presentation when I had this terrible feeling that I was going to vomit. Now, let me describe this properly: I was sitting there one moment and then at the next moment I had an immediate, urgent need to puke my guts out. I stood up and immediately ran toward the bathroom. I wasn’t going to make it to the bathroom; I was sure of that, so I stopped at the water fountain to try and drink up some water and keep the bile down. It worked for a moment but I still had to run to the bathroom and stand over the sink. Then I just willed myself to stop feeling like I wanted to vomit, and that worked in a sense. I did not throw up however, I still felt really woozy and not at all stable. There was nothing for it though so I went back out and drank some more water.

This experience was probably a recurrence of an old experience, however I have never felt it as an adult, so it seemed new to me. I’m sure I can use that in my writing at some point, so that is good. However, at the time if you would have told me that the experience was good I would have stared at you balefully.

That’s it for today.

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Jill is the winner, she got the last quote from Harry Potter even though that quote appears in more than one movie. Good job Jill, you got an ambiguous quote and you even got the movie right. Good deal. Ive chagned the quote to something a tad more difficult, but its a funny one, so good luck and I hope you like it.

The Ego Mafia is in the house...

So, I subscribe to my sister’s blog and every now and again I get an email with her new posts. The things I read there leave me disturbed and discouraged. You see, I live far away from her and she is growing up and I’m not there to help her along the way. It’s sad because I had help when I was her age, and I think I should pass along that kindness in turn. I mean, I’m here in Utah and she is back in D.C. and what difference can I really make? It seems too little too far.

Any suggestions?

Folks, I wanted to let you all know that I appreciate your friendship and support. I love it that I actually get a few blog readers out there in cyberspace. I hope that you all have a great Thanksgiving, remember to be thankful for your blessings, as I know I am. Also, be nice to your families if you get to see them, because they are there to help you and they miss you.

Remember also, that even though Im super busy I miss you guys too. I would hang out with you more if I could. Just remember that. Also, for those of you who are struggling this semester (I know I am) get excited because we only have 3 weeks of school left after Thanksgiving. That alone is cause for celebration. I know Nate is celebrating.

Next semester Im going to try and update my blog not only more often, but I also intend to try to chronicle the D&D campaign that I will be running. I am super excited about that campaign, because I have all these ideas for great adventures. My only real problem right now is that I still have to decide on where I want to set my campaign. I am tempted to fall back on old habits and run a campaign in the Planes like I did for 10 years. However, I am thinking that I might want to branch out and run a campaign in a different land. I need to figure this out by next Monday so I can tell my players. They need to make their characters with this in mind. I hate being indecisive, it makes me pissed off.

Anyway, I think that’s it for this entry. Until next time, same bat time, same bat URL.

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So Kris got the quote for last week. Good job Kris. The quote is from the movie "JarHead" a really good movie about the Gulf War. Maybe I will do a movie review sometime on that one. The new quote is an easy one, because I like it when you guys can get the quote. I might put up another one after someone gets this one.

Stupid is as Stupid does...

So, on the way to school you are bound to encounter the odd pedestrian. Now, having been a pedestrian on more than one occasion I do not have anything in particular against them. However, some pedestrians give the rest of us who wear the title a bad name.

You see, the other morning as I was riding to school with Kim (she was driving) a pedestrian was walking across the street right at a turn, so they were walking diagonally across a T street. When Kim went to turn, slowing down to wait for the person, the Pedestrian gave her this Evil Eye look as if to say, "What the hell is wrong with you?! Can't you see I'm jay walking here?!!"

I love people you see, but stupid people I cannot abide. I mean, what kind of people are dumb enough to walk across a T intersection and then be pissed off at the cars that almost run them over. There was no cross walk where the person was walking, just plain old asphalt.

Sorry for the rant, but I just had to get that one out there.

I dont really have much to say right now, which is kinda sad. I mean, I have been super busy wirting a PRD paper for my Corporate Marketing class. Its really a boring subject so I wont spend much time talking about it. Let me just say, its about a game our group had to come up with and design. Its probably the longest amount of time I've ever spent to write only 3 pages. I write quite a bit in my blog, but every paragraph I write here does not require 2 or 3 hours of research. Instead, I just look up and think for a few seconds then let my fingers do the talking.

Lets talk about my TableTop RPG games right now. I am the GM (Game Master) for a Star Wars RPG Campaign. I love it and I love my players. Right now Nate, Ben, Kim, and Steph are playing. Steph is new, and I think she likes it (at least I hope she does). The game revolves around the adventures of a couple of Jedi and their friends. Right now the galaxy is at war with an army led by a group of Dark Force users called the "Dark Hand" or just "The Hand" for short. Yes, there have been a few jokes about the "Hand" being parallel to the "Foot" from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show, I didnt plan it that way, but thats how things happen sometimes and its ok.

Anyway, the "Hand" have taken over most of the outer rim and some mid-rim planets. They attacked Coruscant and failed, but it was just a diversion to open up some mid-rim planets that the Hand wanted to blockade. Their leader, Darth Ravage, is a vicious bastard who likes to play mind games with the heroes. He has a big ego but its tempered with patience and cunning. The one time they had the chance to fight him so far, he thoroughly whipped up on the party. Yeah, they werent ready for him at that point.

Our Star Wars game has only 2 sessions left before we finish it for good, and I know how I want to finish it, but I dont know if its gonna happen the way I want. We'll see though. We are switching over to play D&D next semester instead of Star Wars, so I want to end the game right; a nice climactic end to the game. Ill update this later to let you know how it goes.

The other game I play in is a D&D game that I am a PC in instead of the GM. My PC is a really fun one to play. He is a Half-Dragon/Half-Goliath named Stormrider. He has wings and stands 7 feet 11 inches tall. He wields a Huge Greatsword (almost 8 feet long; think Cloud Strife type sword) and wears Mithril Full Plate. He charges into battle without hesitation, and fights until the enemies are dead or he is dead. I love playing him.

One last thing, yesterday I got my case of Underdark Packs that I ordered. I pulled some really great rares out of there, and I got all the common and uncommon's in the set. Ive decided that Im going to buy a box every time they release a new set so that I dont have to go hunting around for the mini's that I want after the fact (which is more expensive that way too). Anyway, it was pretty exciting to get all those miniature figures of creatures that I know and love from the game.

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Ok, no one got the quote that is up. It is a quote from Kill Bill Vol. 1. Its the part when Hattori Hanzou has just finished making the Bride a sword. He swore he wouldn't make any more swords a long time ago. Yeah, its a good moment in the movie. Ill post another quote here shortly.

Insomnia, the Mother of all Insanity...

At 3:34 AM, when you have been laying in bed for over two hours unable to sleep, its strange how you're only true thoughts revolve around killing. Killing time, killing people, killing yourself...its all the same when insomnia brings along a friend (anger).

Interesting how the sweetest things in life can become the most bitter. I love to sleep. Not excessive amounts mind you, but enough to make my face look like my own in the morning and not some horror movie make-up artist's version of my face. I love to stay up late, but only of my own volition. When I am trying to sleep, that is EXACTLY what I want to happen...SLEEP!

Other random thoughts that run through your head at that time: Why does my pillow smell like my girlfriend? Who the hell decided to turn the heat up so high? My friends on the east coast are probably getting up for work soon. I bet Ill be as tired as I am awake right now in the morning, and yet I still can't sleep. I wonder if its because of the D&D game I just finished playing four hours ago. Naw, that cant be right, by all accounts I should be tired after that. I wonder if I will get all my stuff done tomorrow as I run on lowered energy levels. How the hell am I supposed to go work out tomorrow afternoon after getting so little sleep? I wonder if I'll even wake up when my alarm goes off.

Now, when my alarm finally does go off, it sounds like I am in orbit and it is sounding from my house in D.C. I however still manage to drag my psyche from some deep place and get up. Only to set my alarm for 15 minutes more and then lay back down. The dream I have during that 15 minutes involves me being late for all my meetins/classes today and not caring one bit. Ahh, sweet dreams why could you not claim me sooner?

I do however drag what feels more like my carcass than my living body out of bed to the tune of the "Its a Brand new day" song from Gantz. An utterly scary song, as anyone would know if they have seen the Anime Gantz. (An Aside: If you have not seen Gantz, and you are a Trailblazer like me, then you need to see it. It ranks in my Top 5 Anime Series of all time. I have most of the series, volume 9 doesnt come out for 10 days and Volume 10 comes out January 16th 2006, and you can borrow them from me if you like.) Scary thoughts are never the best wake up music.

As I write this, I am wide awake. This state of lucidness may or may not last. If experience is a good teacher (and generally it is) then by 3pm I will feel like I am dragging my @$$ all over the place. I could probably be a nerd at this point and plot you an exponential function of how much energy it takes, over time, to stay awake and keep active after 3 hours of sleep. It would probably look something like the x cubed fuction. Thats just sad...on so many levels.

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No one has gotten the quote yet, I dont think, but I dont have time to change it right now. So, Ill let it sit for a while and then change it when I get the chance.