Anew Predicament

Just when I thought everything was all worked out and we had a place to live, my future roommate finally got around to talking to a girl in one of his Econ classes who resides where we're about to move. She told him that the apartments have (gasp) ROACHES! Among a bunch of other problems. Now this could be viewed two different ways, that we're very lucky to find out about this before the final lease signing or its just our dumb luck, that we would be moving into a filthy building. To me the roach predicament isn't a deal breaker, they can be easily controlled, but for my roommate its a deal breaker. Now before I jumped to conclusions about the place I decided to do some research of my own, which prompted me to look for apartment reviews, which I never even thought of before. I wish I had done this before because the ones I found on our place weren't to promising. Now granted there were only three reviews, but still they began to sued my opinion of the place.

So my roommate decide to jump back on the grenade he wasn't content living in a "Hell Hole" but what do you expect to get when your paying less then $700 a month for a 2 bedroom 2 bath. Now the thought of living with roaches seemed to light a fire under his ass, because all of the sudden he was renewed in questing for a place to live. He then came across the Lincolnshire West Apartments. A nice little place and $20 cheaper then the place we were originally going to stay, it even got great reviews! Unfortunately though I'm not employed now, well I will be in a few days but the place wanted to see that you make three times the months rent, a month; apartments have such strange request. So what do they need from me, a cosigner. This is all very, rush rush, I was told we had to take care of all this business today if we wanted the place or another gentleman would be coming by to scoop the place tomorrow. I was dropped a hot potato in my lap and now I had to figure out what to do. Since I didn't make the required amount of money the place wanted a cosigner from me, I dropped the bomb on my parents, who intern told me they wanted no such part, because "what if I defaulted and they had to pay, they weren't working and couldn't afford to do it." Now I have never proven myself irresponsible when it comes to paying my bills, I have never defaulted on a payment of any sort, so its ridiculous for them to even think I would. Then granted I am almost 25 so its ridiculous that I would need a cosigner or even be expected to find one, and I can understand my parents worries, but still. So I told my roommate of the predicament and he was quick to volunteer his mom without asking her first.

All I can do now is sit back, its out of my hands. If we get the new place we get it, if we don't then its back to the o'l "roach motel!" Either way I could care less, but as my funds begin to dwindle and I don't have a job to hang onto, as of yet, I grow more annoyed with myself. I am after all, responsible for not making the required income to get the dreamiest Dekalb appartment. Life just keeps throwing me more curve balls, so I'm just going to wait for the dust to settle and see where we are tomorrow, hopefully with a nicer place, but roaches will do.

Thanksgiving

Well I must say I had a bit of entrepidation about going into this Thanksgiving, based on past Thanksgiving experiences. The whole event went off without a hitch. Surprisingly there were no meltdowns and all the food came out really well. I was impressed how calm my mother stayed, although she was a bit annoyed that my oldest brother and his wife were late coming over. My father even managed to hold his composer and not turn into a drunktard. Nobody even complained for the most part, except for my brother Jon when he questioned my skills when it came to opening a bottle of wine. It was a good dinner and little strange having my Grandpa and Great Aunt over. I cant remember the last time we had them over for a dinner, but I think they enjoyed the quaint gathering as opposed to the lavish parties my aunt and uncle have.

Now it wouldn't be Thanksgiving if we all didn't give thanks. So what am thankful for this Thanksgiving? I am thankful for the fact that I got into school, I got my apartment, I got my health, I got my family (issues aside), I got a job, I got a car, I got some really good friends, and I had some really great experiences this year.

Battlefield 2 Special Forces

I haven't written about videogames in a long time, and the only reason I am writing about this is to express my disgust and frustration with EA. Twice they have burned the Battlefield community. First when they shipped Battlefield back in June, it could hardly be called a finished game. It was still full of bugs that caused constant crashes back to desktop, horrid collision detection and varied balancing issues. Ok no big deal they release a patch to fix it. Well the first patch caused more problems then it fixed. Then EA sent out a mass apology saying they were sorry and the issues were unacceptable. Apology excepted just make sure it doesn't happen again. Well, EA you did it again. You shipped a half finished expansion pack to your number one selling game. After I installed it, it didn't work? No message to tell me why, I would have to go to the boards to see what was a miss. A quick search and I would need to install a 280 MB patch just to be able to play. To download this patch if you went through EA.com would take THREE HOURS! I went over to file planet and managed to get it in about 45 minutes. Alright I was ready to play......well not quite. Do to the patch limited servers were updated. Upon gaining access to a server, it was like I was having deja vu, my game kept crashing back to desktop! I tried several times to play with varying and strange effects in the game. It was more frustration then fun trying to get it to run stable. GRRRRR upon returning to the boards to see what this was all about, there was already word that another patch was on the way!

Its just so frustrating. How can a major game publisher like EA release a product that's not finished. I paid good money for this game and you have me jumping through hoops trying to play it. I mean its insane to have a patch waiting the day the game is made available. I'll tell you why they can get away with it, they realize there audience is addicted to there product like crack and they'll do anything to play it! Still I am fed up with this, so if you'll excuse me, I have to go and see If I can get this game to work properly.

Good Bye Beard

God Speed Beard

you will be missed

It was a real shame, but it had to be done. I didn't want to, some times I become obsessed over things like this. There was this one time where I wanted to see how long I could grow my big toe nail. I know its gross, but unlike my beard I had to cut it because it was starting to rub in my shoes causing me pain and it cut my socks open. Point being I still wonder how long that toe nail could have gotten had I left it? Much like my beard, how long could it have gotten? I also think keeping it was an excuse to keep me from the anxiety of looking for work. So with the beard gone I have no excuse not to go out now.

Wheres the Red Barron When You Need Him

Yeah, I'm a barnstorming fool. Jon thought the cigarette in my mouth would make me look tough, but what we really needed was the butt end of a cigar.

Taking Care of Business

I went to the Dr today to take care of a persistent, but non serious problem that I have been putting off for quite some time. Now don't get any wrong idea's, no it wasn't a VD or STD (is that redundant?) just a minor nuisance. I've been putting it off because I don't have any insurance, and was being cheap about the whole thing. Since I've been back from my trip, I have been trying to do more things that are beneficial to my well being. It's a bit hard to feel like you got your moneys worth after visiting the Dr when all he did, was came in and say "hello, lets have a look, ahuh- yep, now take two of these twice a day and come back and see me in six weeks." The whole thing took three minutes and cost $154.

I finally had enough of the crappy mattress I try to sleep on. The other night I was stressing about stuff, which led to tossing and turning and a sleepless night. I got so frustrated over not being able to fall asleep that I decided to get up and take one of my sleep aids, when a chunk of spring came through the bed and stabbed me! I should have bought a new mattress years ago, but it was one of those things I have been putting off because I was to cheep. Its interesting how now, when I can't really afford to pay for these things that I find myself wanting to do them. I decided as long as I was going to buy a new mattress I might as well make it a good one. so I went all out and bought a Sealy Posturepedic with the pillow top. I think I owe it to myself after sleeping in some very awkward and uncomfortable positions over the past three months, that I finally get a decent surface to lay upon. I was scolded by my brother for only buying a twin size instead of a full, for the sole reason of, in case I meet some nice ladys at college that want to have a slumber party. What he fails to see is, I am a gentleman and would gladly give up my comfortable bed for the floor.

Well I could be irresponsible and go around spending all this money willy-nilly, but I am compelled to finally go out and find a place to work for the next 30 days until I move to DeKalb. This unfortunately, for what I am willing to work for, means I needed to clean up my quasi hippie looking self. Against better judgment I decided to go to the Super Cuts and let them go to town on my head.

Now only one task remains, the shaving of my mighty beard! I love this beard. I have never experienced the joys of beard-hood before. Oh well I guess I can always grow another in......50 years or if I ever decide to become a lumberjack. Still, I'll miss it. Its a shame too, because it just started to get real cold around here and the beards performance in the 15 degree chill was amazing. My face stayed warm wile the rest of me froze. See, they're good for more then just aesthetics.

Apartment Hunting

Oh the wonderful joys of apartment hunting, or lack there of. My god what a stressful day I had. First off for those of you that don't know, I have this irrational phobia of calling people and places I don't know. I don't know what it is, but I have had it since early childhood. Many a phone calls to places of business (mostly videogame and movie stores) were pawned off to my little bro. I remember he always used to say to me "what are you going to do when were older and you have to call these places on your own?" Well first I would try to see if I could find someone else to do it for me, then I guess I would bite the bullet and do it.

Well I had to bite the bullet on this one, seeing how my future roommate is making this whole ordeal more difficult, leading me to wonder about his commitment. Still this is one giant learning experience and let me say I have been learning a lot in this painful process. I started my search for the perfect place to live around DeKalb on the internet. Which as helpful as it is, isn't really helpful. Most of the sites that I came across don't list prices or availability and they want' you to call. Calling places is my Kryptonite, it weekend me and makes me want to put things off. I did manage to work past this and call several places, to which I learned a tentative late December early January move in would be very difficult to find. With just a few leads and numbers on a peace of paper, I managed to work out a date to get my lazy apartment seeking friend, to come with me to DeKalb, (where he already attends school so it would be much easier for him to check whats available then me, but thats only my oppinion) to look for places.

At first I thought he was going to pull his usual ditch me routine, or play sick, but to my relief he didn't. When we made our way to DeKalb and investigated my leads, two of which I determined were way to far away from school to be living, the other wouldn't be available in our time frame, and the last was out of our price range. We then took up randomly driving around the campus area looking for signs the read "for rent." This actually proved to be the most effective way of canvasing the area because several of the apartments we looked at didn't have web sites disclosing them. Yes I know, what kind of cheap place doesn't have a web site? A very cheap place is the answer. This approach also gave us an exact feel of where we were in relationship to the campus.

We did manage to narrow down our search to two places. The first place is off of Normal Road just south of Ridge road. Its a little bit aways from the main campus, about a mile, but it has a bus stop right by it, and the strait shoot down Normal Rd to school would make a great bike ride to my classes. The place was rather spacious at about 800sqft with two bathrooms. Now the place was by no means nice, in fact it was kind of run down. The carpet in the hallways was coming up, the outer door locks were broken, Which the lady who showed us the place pointed out, " theres no crime here the only reason we don't fix em is the college kids just keep breaking them." All the utilities are included except for electricity for ony $670 a month. Another bonus it allows pets, well I don't have a pet but my buddy has a cat.

The second place is a bit different, its located at the corner of Annie Glidden Road and Lincoln Highway. Its a tall apartment building about 12 stories, and its built like a box. the place gave me a very claustrophobic feal. As soon as you enter, your in a small living room type space and then directly to the left and right of that are the bedrooms. No hallways, everything is on top of each other. There is only one bathroom and the Kitchen is incredibly tiny. I would compare it to a dorm suite. The location is ideal, its within a five minutes walk from Dusauble Hall where all my classes are at, and its across the street from Molly's bar. Not that I care but that seemed to be a big plus to my roommate. All the utilities are included with the exception of electricity. ON the down side, its isolated from all thats happening. Its out where nothing is going on, unless you frequent the bar. We also have to move in right away, no waiting till end of December, its a first come first serve basis. The biggest downside is the place wants an unGodly $1800 down, first and last months rent, plus a months rent deposit. I geuss thats meant to keep the poor and riff raff out.

So now to decide which we want, I'm leaning toward the crappier place, in the not so nice area, not that the area is bad, it just isn't nice. Also its bigger layout, gives the feeling of a place where you would be able to get away from an aggravated roommate. However I liked the other place but it was just to small for me. and at only a $25 difference in rent, I am more likely to go for the bigger place.

Freshman Year

I was going through some of my old stuff yesterday when I came across my old High school ID. Its hard for me to even see the resemblance in myself. I was about 4'5, a 115lb Ziggy Piggy, with long luscious wavy locks of hair. I was mistaken for a little girl on a regular basis, which is what lead me to finally cutting my hair. I wonder what I was thinking back then, or the lack their of? The past ten years, were probably and will always be the worse part of my life. Don't get me wrong their were some good times, but then it was tainted with a lot of downs, poor decisions, and an overall lack of guidance, not that I would have taken it. Now I look forward to adulthood, moving out and of course going to University. If I can recall, I want to say that guy in the ID never wanted to go beyond high school. He thought it was cool to hang out with hoodlums, smoke, drink, and party all the time. I was a smart kid too, at least I want to say I was, I just got corrupted and fell in with the wrong crowd (I guess I wasn't very smart after all), but I hold myself responsible for that. Still its interesting to think about how far I've come in bettering my situation and life since then. Although, some would say I really haven't done much, but to them I say the gears are in motion and soon I will start to see results. Everyday it just keeps getting better, although sometimes I want to give up, I still manage pull it together and hold my head high looking forward to a bright and better future.

Math Anyone?

This is one of the most unique bloggs that I have come across in a wile, in which the blogger only post a series of math problems? I thought it was at least worth a mention, so any of you with some spare time and have an urge to strain your brain or show off your math proles I suggest you go and try and answer a few.

To Much To Do

I have way to much on my plate rite now. I have been hitting the keyboard at a fevered pace! Not only am I writing in this Blog, I am also writing in my other trieing to catch up on the many storys from my journey. On top of that I am also involved in NaNoWriMo ! I have had almost forgotten about this little gem of inspiration. I wanted to participate in it last year, but I found out about it to late. Not this year, I am on top of it and have already begun my way to novel status, so I can finnaly say that I am a.....novelist? Good thing I don't have a job getting in the way of all this writing. Now I could have submited my storys from the road, but I figured this would give me an opportunity to finaly write my Sci-Fi story I've been kicking around in my head for the past year. I call it .50 Cal! Heres the synopsis, its about this guy/kid named none other then Cal and his gun (guess what kind?) and this alien invasion that he and his friend manage to thwart. Its more of a comedy with Sci-fi elements with a large dose of insider videogame and anime references for jokes. Well like they say, write what you know.

I've also been hard at work repairing and redesigning the Optimus costume into a giant stand alone statue. So I got my hands full in all my creative fields, taking advantage of all this down time wile it last.

What's Your Major?

Tuesday was my orientation day for transferring into college. Its hard for me to believe, but I am enrolled and all set to go to at Northern Illinois University. Its a pretty big deal for me, I never really thought I would ever be going to a "real college," I know I got the skills for it, my GPA from COD (College of Dupage, the second largest community college in the United States) was a 3.6 at my graduation. I know what your saying "oh its just a community college not that great." From what I've been told it was a hell of a lot harder then Northern, but then again I'll find out soon enough. Its all just a little intimidating, I guess I hold college up to these really high standards like it should be a really intense academic thing and only the cream of the crop in intelligence are capable of doing it. I know this is far from the truth because some of the biggest retards I know have degrees from Universities, so it can't be that hard. I guess its like anything, you put time and practice into it, and you will master it. I really look forward to January and moving on with my life and taking it to the next level.

The orientation thing was kind of dumb, just a lot of mumbo jumbo about how to register, and for a group of people that have already been to college in some form somewhere, you would swear they were talking to us all like we had never registered for classes before. Then we were all sectioned off into our respected fields of study, and broken off into smaller groups by our majors. I happen to be a Comms Major, with my emphasis in Corporate Organization, what ever the fuck that means! I have no clue, but it sounded like something that could land me a job at a company of some sort later on in life. Then I had to talk to this admissions adviser who had the worse cataracts I ever seen. He said a lot of bla bla bla about how I already had an AA and was in like flin and sent me on my way to visit with a Comms advisers. My Comms adviser was this woman who had a mustache thicker then mine. As she spoke to me about my future I became mesmerized by it and all she said went in one ear and out the other. The next thing I knew she had me registered for a bunch of classes that I don't know what the hell I'm taking except she said "If you drop these you'll never get back into them, so don't!" That intimidated me a bit, and I was a little disheartened to find I would be going to classes five days a week. Then I had to go and visit with my Journalism adviser for my minor. Communications and Journalism go together like pees and carrots. The Journalism adviser had this club foot and was a real ass. I think he was pissed because all the transfer students were making him do work. He just threw me a piece of paper and was like "ah pick some classes from that list."

The day ended with me getting my student ID! I think I should have shaved first because now I'm stuck with this beard for the next two years. Is it me or do I look more like a professor at the school then a student. Like my uncle Ben always used to say "with a great beard comes great responsibility."

My Bike

When I was out west I met a Yogi of sorts who told me all about the Zen of bike riding. I was inspired and determined upon my return home to purchase a classic cruising machine similar to his, and I found the perfect bike at the local thrift store, along with some cool vintage T-shirts. I picked up this beauty for only $29, but she needed some work. So my brother Jon and I went out and bought some new tires, inner tubes and some chrome polish to restore her. I couldn't be more happy with this bike. The weather around these parts has already made the change to the gloomy season, but I caught a break today because the grey skys broke and temperature was on the rise, making for perfect riding conditions. She handled better then expected, the ride was smooth although the seats a little big for me. To my surprise the gear shifter still works like new, and made me wonder if anyone had ever ridden this bike before. Jon even surprised me the other day, when I came home I found a giant honking bell affixed to my handlebars. Its makes an obnoxiously loud noise when you ring it. All that's missing now is some rocket style reflectors, a mirror, and some tassels.

Happy Halloween

I opted out of the traditional pumpkin carving and went balls to the wall with something a bit more extravagant. I carved (for those of you that can't tell) Mario into my pumpkin! I got the idea for it off some website that was holding a video game pumpkin carving contest. Damn thing took me forever, because I didn't cut out the glowing holes, I slowly and painstakingly scraped pumpkin mater from the face in order to obtain the effect.

Its not quite as impressive with the lights on, but still I think my pumpkin looks like Mario!Between my Mario pumpkin and My Optimus Prime Halloween costume........I am the coolest guy on the block! OK, maybe the biggest dork.