Today was a hot day. It felt hotter sinceI was helping TJ move, but it wasn't that bad. Just walking up and down. Everything fit pretty much into one truckload. Both of us got a load of big gulps (that sounds nasty doesn't it?) at the gas station. I almost died because the Mug rootbeer went down the wrong tube and TJ explained because it was because of the bad root beer brand.

I found a cool job that might be, well, cool if I got it. It's a recreation maintenance worker for the Parks and Rec division in Laramie. I would be cool with that job...combine what I liked about working at the golf course with my recreation degree. And the cool part is that it pays $25K-$35K a year...FUCK THAT'S A LOT!!! Haha. I would be content, though, really. I wouldn't know what to do with $35K a year. That's like almost $3K a month...I survive on wayyyy less than that right now. Shit, I'd be rich. Back when I had the steady job and going to school, I was getting, oh $750 a month. Imagine, 4 times as much money coming in.

Which brings me to the issue that people I know are "broke" when they're getting paid upwards of 6 figures. I know I can't put myself in that situation and all the expenses, but come on, say with $100,000 flat per year, that's plenty to do absolutely anything. I guess it's not though for some. I don't know get...they must be bad with money or something.

I'm about to sleep soon. I'm tired and another week of work is starting. Though I don't see much of it, I'm going to see a deposit in my checking account on Friday. w00t! By the way, if you're bored, head to http://www.woot.com for some interesting things. Yeah, small paycheck, but a paycheck nonetheless. Something I haven't seen in 2 months I guess.

I'm gonna do a few more internet stuff and I'm off to bed. Later gator.

P.S. Laura gets up here on Wednesday and staying until she moves up on Sunday. I guess we are helping, but yeah, I can't believe the Summer is coming to a close. It wasn't a bad Summer I guess. I've had worse. This P.S. is becoming like another mini blog! Yeah, Friday we are hoping to get a camp site where my boss goes every now and then. Apparently it's right by the lake and it's a great place, so. If we can get a reservation at a good or fairly good spot, we'll go camping. I might get some wood from TJ's place, though. I was sitting there thinking about it for the longest time today. Now I want it. But I'm sure when I'm there, I probably won't. Oh well. Ok, now I'm really done.

So I finally called the dentist to see what was up with my tooth. They were gone for the day...apparently they leave earlier on Fridays. Hopefully they call me back with a good answer.

I was looking in the pantry for something to snack on (yes, I look there even though I KNOW there's nothing there) and I found this little white bag...what was it? It was the coffee flavored chocolates that Laura brought up last Thursday. At that moment, among many moments of course, I got that feeling that I am lucky to have Laura with me in my life and how she does these little things that I notice. This is a precursor to what I may discuss soon, but the simple fact that it REALLY is the "little things that matter" in life. It's the small talk between friends, the silly things between friends (yup, both smart and dumb!), and just knowing the fact that some friends will really always be there when you need them, or even if you don't need them. Big things in life for me? H.S. graduation. Big deal. College graduation? Couldn't have done it myself obviously. I don't know...I just don't seem to remember the big things.

At the same time, everyday things, though they are a little, don't mean a lot either. It's gotta be a small thing, but out of the ordinar enough that I remember them. I won't write examples, but that's what life is.

At this point, I like to use the rocks in the jar analogy.

The jar is life. You fill the jar with big rocks, signifying big events in life...life isn't full yet. You then add smaller rocks, smaller, yet still significant events in life. Shake up the jar and you get a little fuller life. However, with these you can never fill the jar. Finally, you take sand, tiny pebbles in the big scheme of things, but in the end, these are what fill yours jar and your life. Without them, you can't live life to its fullest.

I'm a dork, but that's just a great analogy!

So strangely, my teeth is starting to get sort of sore again...I'm not sure if I should be worried about it or not...I'll wait a couple of days and if it doesn't go away, I might say something the next time I'm at the dentist doing my final crown procedure.

I'm so broke right now...I have $45 on the credit card LEFT. That's right. LEFT. I get paid in 2 weeks, but that's gonna go toward some stuff first. Hopefully I can pay down my credit card a bit before then.

TJ's gonna be leaving for the islands in a couple of weeks. Time flies! I sort of remember when he first came down to the Sumac house with the camp gang. That was what, 3 years ago? That's crazy. A lot has certainly happened during that time.

Um, not really much to say...I had another full 8-hour day at work today with no lunch break. I was working on this programming thing and JUST COULDN'T FIGURE IT OUT. I got pissed. I'm working with one of my co-workers on this and she's great help, but man, I can't stand it. I hope they don't find this blog of mine!

I'm gonna eat something and then head to bed...the routine is sort of back. 7:30 to 3:30...be tired, go to sleep at 10 or 11...wake up at 6:30, start the coffee maker (to make hot water), get in the shower, get out, get ready, make some hot chocolate, head to work right at 7:12 from my house and I get there around 7:30, plus or minus a couple of minutes.

Laters.

Haven't written in a while, so I thought I do. Laura is in the living room watching Star Wars right now. I had a long day of work today...got there at 7:30, lunch with Laura from 1:30 to 2:30 and then until 5 or so. I was actually into what I was doing too, maybe that's why time went by fast.

This past weekend, TJ, Laura and I went camping at RMNP at Morraine Park. It was fun. Kids camping next to us were loud in the morning, but other than that, it was fun. We then went to see Bear Lake to see how it was, since it was my first time seeing it. It wasn't so bad, but yeah, the bad part was that we got locked out of my car in the parking lot...with the car running. I didn't hear my turbo timer and yeah, so, we called AAA and Laura had a free tow on their family account, so thanks to that, it was open and all that within 40 minutes or so and free. Thanks Laura and company.

I am calculating my budget right now...not looking good, but it ain't all that bad I guess...I won't have any spending money, and say good bye to my new computer, but oh well. Life moves on in ways you don't want sometimes.

Anyway, I've got some stuff let to do...then I'm gonna hang out with Laura tonight.

See ya laters.

#327.

I'm writing this from my laptop at my old house in Niwot, listening to some anime music...okay, that sounds dorky, but this one's awesome, right up there with climactic (climatic?) scores found in LOTR and Star Wars and stuff.

Nothing of big news to note. Laura gets back tomorrow, so I can't wait for that. I'm still not sure if she'll be up Thursday or Friday. I've actually worked 8-hours shifts at work the last 3 days (or the first 3 days if you want to look at it). Tomorrow is another story. I'll be working from probably 12 or 1 to 4 or 5. We'll see which comes first. Friday is my first end of the week timesheet time. I should get it signed and stuff Friday. It's going to be, what, 35-36 hours? That's so much! lol. My next paycheck is going to be AWESOME. I haven't had that much money in a while.

So, I am assuming that Aramark isn't going to pay me the 3 training days that I was there. The thing is, I'm probably not going to call since it's like sticking it up their ass asking to get paid when I quit, but who cares? I sure as hell don't. I SHOULD have gotten paid $120 or something after room and board and taxes are taken away, but I probably won't see that.

Gosh, it's 9:38pm and I'm not tired, but it's too early to sleep! I might head upstairs and see what I can scrounge up to eat, but anyway, I might have some great news tomorrow night.

Stay tuned.

New facelift for my website: http://www.csuconnection.com

I sort of have a loyal following back...in the tens, lol. Hopefully I can get it back to what I had it at a few months ago.

Went to Jim's Wings today. TJ called to see if I wanted to go, but I opted out first since I really have no money (i.e. $80 for the next 3 weeks for everything I need)...but then he offered to pay. I felt bad, but I went and got 5 wings. Thanks goes to him.

I still don't know when Laura's coming back, but tomorrow I'm not heading to RMNP. This weekend will be fun. I had an argument with Laura about the price of a U-Haul truck, one-way, renting from here in Fort Collins and dropping it off in Laramie...she said she called and the guy said almost $200...I call BS, but Laura doesn't believe me and says what the guys says is true. I say it can't be that much. So I hop online and run a quote...one-way from FoCO. How much? $96 and that includes 91 free miles. Bam, I win!

Anyway, gonna get Pizza Hut with TJ tomorrow. I will also see my old supervisor as well. Hope he's well. I'm gonna head to bed soon. I was TIRED today. I went to sleep around 12, got up around 6:20 or so. I'm almost getting in the hang of it.

Well my first day of work went ok...pretty much what it was before I left, but that's ok. It seems though that my boss is going to really try and make this "internship" worth while, so that's good. On Wednesday I'm going up to RMNP to do some volunteer work planting plants/trees and pulling weeds and the sort. Should be fun. I actually get paid so it's not volunteering, but yeah.

I also want to get a part-time job, another one (I think I already wrote that), either that or volunteer at the parks and recreation for the city. It would be fun to coach little kids or do stuff with them.

It's weird because it's days like these that I feel good about life and stuff, like I wrote before, even though things are sort of rough in terms of money right now. Days will go by, I guess. My credit card is at like $1720 of $1800...$80 left and I don't get paid until probably the 3rd Friday from now....THAT SUCKS! We'll see what happens. I'll chronicle my "living with no money" here in the blog.

Laura went to a Cardinals game and she text messaged me saying she met Ozzie Smith. lol. She'll be here Friday! Also, I was going to head to Bandimere on Wednesday, but I won't be because I am going to be in RMNP. Oh well.

I'm listening to a new, good single from Lifehouse right now (actually, it's weird how I say new since it's on there latest CD). I'll copy and paste the lyrics for you, Laura. :)

-------------------------------------------------------------------
"You And Me"

What day is it? And in what month?
This clock never seemed so alive
I can't keep up and I can't back down
I've been losing so much time

Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do
Nothing to lose
And it's you and me and all of the people
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you

All of the things that I want to say just aren't coming out right
I'm tripping on words
You've got my head spinning
I don't know where to go from here

Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do
Nothing to prove
And it's you and me and all of the people
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you

There's something about you now
I can't quite figure out
Everything she does is beautiful
Everything she does is right

Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do
Nothing to lose
And it's you and me and all of the people
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you
and me and all of the people with nothing to do
Nothing to prove
And it's you and me and all of the people
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you

What day is it?
And in what month?
This clock never seemed so alive
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, that took up a lot of space without spending much time. Today's going to be a song ripping day. I'll write again soon!

Okay, the long post.

Anyway, do you ever sometimes get the feeling that all is going to be all right, even if they aren't going to be? Well, yeah, I sort of felt that today. Like my teeth. It's gonna get fixed, yeah, but it costs a buttload...but I don't give a damn! That thought was really hard to write out...so don't even bother trying to decipher what I was trying to write.

My laptop is for the most part done tweaking. Just need to add a few more programs, Word, Dreamweaver, and Photoshop and it's done. Writing and using this laptop reminds me of when Laura and I were at the Sumac house. Yup.

What else. Nothing really, even though I said I would write a big blog.

Here is my proposed routine for the internship time period (if I get the schedule I want)

1. Wake up at 5:30am
2. Take a shower. Get the coffee going before the shower.
3. Out of shower at 5:50am.
4. Read up on news, e-mail, etc.
5. Leave for work around 6:00am.
6. Arrive at 6:15am.
7. Leave at 2:15pm.

I want to maybe get a second job, like afternoon/late afternoon. Heck, even right after my job would be ok. I would love to do newspaper routes, since it's like $400 or so a month, but I can't seem to readily find them like I did back in like 2001/2002.

Well, I just lost the urge to keep writing. See ya laters.

This is my first post from my SCREAMING new (old) computer that I traded with my Mom today. Screaming as in not fast, but that because the fan is always on now since it's not an Intel Centrino processor. Oh well. She seemed to like the new laptop, so that's good.

What's been going on? Nothing much. Tomorrow I start work, almost exactly 2 months to the day that I quit. Seems like just yesterday. I'm not going to make this a long one, but I'm going to write a longer one tonight, but I just wanted to test everything out on this laptop, since it's going to be Laura's in a couple of months.

Laters.

So, what to do tonight? I don't feel like going cruisin', but that could change. I make decisions on the fly and if anybody knows best, Laura knows that I can change minds AT THE VERY LAST MINUTE, literally. Like one time, we said, let's go to Olive Garden. We were driving, as we were pulling into the parking lot, I saw that it was sort of crowded. Bam, I lost my interest to go there...and we didn't end up going there...I forget what we did...come home? Anyway, I just want to thank Laura for putting up with some of the stupid things I do sometimes.

Went to McDonald's with TJ today. We were talking a bit about the movie last night but nothing too important. We were trying to figure out what kind of restaurant was next to McDonald's. Turns out it was Mediterranean (or however you spell it). Looked good though. I love Greek good but I don't even know if Greek should be capitalized in this sentence. But yeah, like Renzios in the mall? It's awesome. The gyros are great and the fries are the best I've had in this city.

But yeah, after seeing that movie last night, I sort of want to go visit California again. I don't know if I ever want to live there again, due to a lot of different reasons, I would definitely like to visit. And I should because if I ask my brother, he'll get me a ticket with his miles for sure since he's been wanting me to come out for months and months. Since he lives sooo close to Beverly Hills, it's interesting when we head out to town to eat or go watch a movie and then get burgers at this small little burger joint that sits in like a median sort of thing. It's like, they pack so much stuff, people, restaurants, and yeah, porn stores in that city. There are more adult dance clubs per street than anywhere else I swear...well, that I've been to.

I would like to visit Little Tokyo again and see some ollllld friends...come to think of it, I wonder if they're even alive? Like the dessert restaurant that we are good friends with. The owners were pretty old when I was a kid. Makes you wonder if they left the estalishment to their kids or something.

I sometimes wonder what my past is doing, if that makes any sense. Like, I wrote before, I sent like 7 letters to my old middle school friends. No answer. One came back returned. But the rest? Either they didn't care to write back (which would make them a bitch, really) or some crazy freak received it, opened the envelope, and is now hunting me down.

One last thing before I go do nothing. The last couple of days I've been trying to keep my cell phone off...it's sort of a weird, calm, relaxing feeling. Everyone should try it sometime if you have a cell phone. I mean, it's amazing how much the cell phone is tangled into our lives. Just to not hear a ringing sometimes can make you very relaxed. I'm sure there are studies or something done where people are conditioned to get in a bad mood at the sound of a ringing phone, or something.

Well, that's it. And yeah, I just read TJ's blog and yes, the people next to him were fucking loud. I was about to kill them and their relatives...really.

Well that didn't last long!

I would write a movie review on Crash, that I just watched, but I want Laura to go see it too, so. I'll hold off on it.

Great movie though.

Unfortunately, this blog is probably going to be my last one until Sunday at least (well, probably not, but hey) since I am pretty much done with reformatting this laptop with a fresh new install of Windows and pretty much factory fresh as it will be traded with my Mom's old (my old) laptop. I'll miss this one for sure, since it's probably a bit faster than my old one and the fact that my old one isn't widescreen and the CPU runs hotter than this, meaning the fan is always on. But yeah, it'll work out.

The good news??!!?!?!! I start my old job on Monday. Hell yeah. Finally. There are some things, though, like they were only able to secure me 370 hours of the 400 hours as pay, but hell, that's ok with me. That's 370 hours that I wouldn't have had. They are paying me my old hourly wage at $11.00/hour, so about $9.50 real money.

I just realized, I wonder if this is going to go into the PERA account? I don't think so, since I'm a student at CSU. I thought I could make millions, haha.

Tomorrow TJ and I are getting Pizza Hut, I think. I don't have MSN installed on this machine, but I'm gonna just use the web messenger. Pretty handy for those that don't want to install it completely. I'm getting this laptop ready for my Mom's use, so there's no high-tech stuff on it. Just a good ol' internet surfin' laptop, although this setup is way too overkill for just that. She'll watch movies and stuff though and the fact that I can hook a TV up to this will be good, although I've yet to test that out. I'm doing that tonight.

What else. Today was and is still damn hot, but it seems like it's going to rain like a mother fucker. It's Thursday isn't it? TJ has his soccer thing tonight. I wonder if they'll play in the rain? It looks like it'll rain in a couple of hours. A chance of cancellation isn't out of the question.

My tooth is bothering me more these days. Like, not bothering like hurting, but just annoying and I can feel that something's wrong in that area, if you know what I mean.

I need to budget out my paychecks REALLY well if I want to avoid this no job thing again. I'm gonna start looking for a job way before the end of this thing. I hope that I can get a good grade on this 5-credit course...A 5-credit A would help me a lot, but since I had one stupid B last semester, my GPA will be like 2.99 or something ridiculous...I should apply for more credits, but oh well. I think I did good enough to raise it that much from a 1.3!!

I'm gonna go watch another movie now. I just watched parts of Cast Away.

Laters.

I'm gonna head to bed, but man, this blogger thing is getting to the point where it's like an addiction when you have nothing to do. Damn! I think I'm on record pace to write more than I've written in 3 years in 1 year.

Anyway, I just wanted to say music is awesome. I thank all those who write and sing songs and make music because they love what they do...not those sell outs who do it just for the money...you know who you are. There are so many great bands on free download sites such as music.download.com that I can't believe it. I know Laura knows what I'm talking about because I made a CD with mostly these guys. They're just as good and most of the time they're better than the mainstream. Damn media gets a hold of them and it just becomes a money making opportunity for the studios.

Oh well, that's how the world runs I guess.

I'll talk to ya later.

If you're ever bored, check out www.engrish.com...it's the funniest place.

Like this image that is attached...so funny.

I just had a personal thought. I think I rely too much on opinions and reviews and ratings and stuff. Like for things like laptops, desktops, movies, restaurants, pretty much anything that it's new I'm trying.

I think it's important to consider that the product or service that you're getting doesn't have to be perfect, but if it's perfect for you (lol, sort of a line from Good Will Hunting). Like, for example, my web hosting is Powweb.com. SOOO many people say they suck and what not. I've been with them for over 2 years now and it's been great. It's just weird that a lot of people take others' opinions and stuff, like, not like it 's bad, since it's a way to get a taste of what's coming, but you know what I mean. I think I'm going to start taking more leaps in terms of buying and experiencing things even though I heard bad reviews or something.

I guess it really does goes to show that whatever the topic, it's different for everyone.

I'm just killing some time until my car video download is finishing up. About 10 minutes, which is just enough time for a good blog.

Went to A&W and to Starbucks tonight with TJ and talked for a couple of hours. It was good. Just stuff about what's going on, what's been going on, and what's going to happen. The usual. Haha.

Laura is leaving tomorrow to go to St. Louis for a bit over a week. And then she comes up here for a couple of days. I can't wait for that. I miss her a lot! I think we were planning something like going to Estes Park or something and getting a place to stay or even camp since we're broke, but yeah, that should be fun. I haven't been with her alone for a while. This Summer has slowly crept along, although it doesn't feel like it to me. I mean, what, 2 months ago already I was in Alaska. Now it's mid July. Crazy.

No word from my boss YET. I need it quick man...if this happens to fall through for whatever reason, I have to dip into my tuition money to pay for a month or so of rent. At least to get me by. I mean, man. I don't even want to think about it!

And then I was thinking about the rest of my life and how Laura and I want to travel. I don't think we even need a house, well, okay, maybe a small house to come back to every once and a while, but we want to travel a lot. Some of the places that we want to visit are Tibet, the Great Wall of China, Easter Island, Oak Island, Madagascar, Moorea, Stonehenge, Alaska/Denali, and Egypt. There are other places I'm sure, but those are the top ones for sure. That would be so fun. I love going to places that have meaning, mysterious or otherwise...like, take the US...it really doesn't have a place with big meaning, you know? I mean, yeah, it does, but you know what I mean. Pyramids, the Moai, there isn't a "mysterious" place in the US, aside from Area 51 and stuff. The US is such a young country that it doesn't have the great history that we like, like Rome and Paris. Their history is sooo much cooler than ours. Japan too.

90% done with the download. It was a huge file too. But anyway, I wish Laura a safe and fun trip and I can't wait to see ya when you get back and hopefully I'll be working by then so I can buy something for you. Haha.

Laters.

I'm bored again. My boss is contacting CSU about what they can do for me in terms of hiring me back...I guess that's a start.

I'm trying out Picasa from Google. http://picasa.google.com/

This thing is amazing if you like to deal with photos and stuff and organizing them on your computer. Right now it's searching my entire computer for pictures and organizing them for me. It's pretty sweet if you have a lot of pictures and sometimes it'll find pictures that you never thought you had!

Google is awesome once again.

1. My old junior high school

2. Recreation/pool center - used to swim there and took field trips there

3. Elementary school where I and a few others used to volunteer

4. Best friend's house

5. My house

6. My elementary school

7. My brother's best friend's house, went to school with his little brother

The circled building in the middle image was where my sister worked for a bit and our family were great friends with the owners. We got a lot of desserts there and even a few years ago when we visited, they remembered us, naturally, but yeah...well, IRONICALLY, 2 stores down to the right in that same building was where my Dad worked, a golf/tennis shop. I hung out there a few times too and that's where I got my first clubs. Weird how everything is occuring in a small radius.

The last picture is my japanese school (the big building with the parking lot, duh). Had the festivals in the parking lot and had garage sales in that little front grass area.

I was just watching the trailer for The Talented Mr. Ripley since I've always wanted to see it. I always remember that line where he says:

"I've always thought it would be better if I was a fake somebody than a real nobody."

How true do you think that is? Interesting little quote huh?

I just thought I'd post a picture that I took when Laura and Ellen and I went to Horsetooth reservoir. :)

Recently, like the last 2 days, I've been messaging Amanda, Chris' old gf on www.hi5.com since she is on there. You should check to see if you have any friends that are on there. I found out that I have a few that I didn't even know about! Just like www.classmates.com I guess.

Anyway, she lives really close to Laura's sister's place and I guess she used to deliver pizza around the area too. She's even thinking about moving near there! It's crazy.

Do you ever wonder if your friends are interconnected indefinitely? Like no matter what happens, in the end they are pulled toward each other? Maybe, I don't think it's true, I just thought it would be a cool theory to write here. Haha.