Philosofikletastic!

Oh boy, I'm trying to write an essay for PHIL 100. I'm obviously not enjoying it too much if I'm here posting about. It's kinda hard - with your average essay, like on I did for MACS 110 last week, you can play around with the wording to stretch it out a bit. But not for philosophy, I'm having a hard time expanding the basic ideas into a full paragraph. Heck, I'm having a hard time re-wording it so it isn't exactly from the textbook/class notes. Oh well.

I've analyzed my gas mileage for the car. If I'm doing it right, I'm getting about ~36MPG. I was afraid it'd be drastically lower, but I guess I've been driving so much it's actually necessary to fill up 2-3 times a week. $60/week for gas still sucks though. I have to find a way to cut it down a bit, but I'm doing a lot of driving to and from school on my own. Oh, and I need an oil change. I've put on about 6000km since I got the car in July...

I've been playing a good chunk of Team Fortress 2 since it came out. I preordered it and everything. It kinda sucked that I spent most of Monday twiddling my thumbs for it to be released, but I spent ~5hrs the next day in fragging heaven. Good times, the classes are each unique (and hilarious), the art is superb, and the game play... Is a complete twitch-fest. In a fun way. I'm quite enjoying it. Alas, when Oct. 9th rolls around, I'll be going for some of that sexy, sexy Episode 2 goodness. I've been rather vigilant in staying spoiler-free, so I should get extra enjoyment out of the game. I hope. Oh well, if nothing else, I enjoy getting excited for a big game release.

Speaking of which... What's so special about Halo 3? All the reviews generally say that it's more of the same, and yet award 100% scores. Bah. I have to admit, I'm incredibly bias because I'm a PC gamer. I played (and beat) the first Halo, and found it to be wonderfully underwhelming and mediocre. Essentially, it was the first time an FPS was done kind of well on a console in a long time. Apparently something that had been standard with PC's since Half-Life all of the sudden became a big deal when it was on the XBox.

Anyways, if all goes well I'll be able to get all my homework done on Thursday/Friday so salvage some of the weekend for more TF2. I have to tackle some Illustrator assignments yet. Boy, am I not enjoying that class. Well, more specifically the professor. I'll try to post the pics when I get them done. In the meantime... Hooray for being redikerusly busy.
-Cril

I think it turned ten o'clock but I don't really know
And I can't remember caring for an hour or so
Started crying and I couldn't stop myself
I started running but there's no where to run to

I sat down on the street, took a look at myself
Said where you going man, you know the world is headed for hell?
Say your goodbyes if you've got someone you can say goodbye to

I believe the world is burning to the ground
Oh well, I guess we're gonna find out
Let's see how far we've come (right now)
Let's see how far we've come
Well I, believe it all is coming to an end
Oh well, I guess we're gonna pretend
Let's see how far we've come (oh yeah)
Let's see how far we've come

Matchbox Twenty - How Far We've Come

Illustrator? This is MADDNESS!

Ok, so one of the classes I've started this fall is an intro to Adobe Illustrator. Great, I'm familiar with vectors in Corel Draw, have been using Photoshop for a while now and am interested in learning it's "sister" program.

It's like an unholy cross between the functionality of Corel, the interface of Photoshop, no advantages of either, and a few steps of retard thrown in for good measure. Now, I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I can generally figure out a program on my own without too much problems. But Illustrator... I can get results, but they frustrating to achieve. Either this program is completely dumb, or the developers made sure there was no trace of intuitive mixed in anywhere. It's not a pleasure to use. Mind you, this verdict only comes after two weeks and maybe ~15 total hours of use. But I'm still learning, so will see if some of this issues I'm having get ironed out. But one thing is for sure - the interface is just different enough from Photoshop to drive me mad. Yes, it looks familiar I you *kind of* know where to look for things, but there are some parts that don't match up. Anyhoo, below is what I've accomplished for this week's class assignment.







All of those came from ref, of course. I have to find more like the Blue Lady... I think there was a URL on the image I used.

And in other news, my headset broke. Less than 24 hours away from the Team Fortress 2 release, of course. Ain't life grand?
-Cril

Hey you, you say the race is much too fast
It's okay, with me I'm keeping pace
It's my game, the music is inside my head
For every one on top there's one who can't retrace

You realize now
You should have tried now, oooh ooh
The music's gone now, you'll find out
You lost it somehow
Hey you, sha lalala
Hey you, sha lalala
Wooo, sha la la la
Wooo, sha la la la

Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Hey You

Peggle EXTREME!

So, I totally pre-ordered the Orange Box. I mean, why not? PEGGLE EXTREME, that's why. Not just any Peggle, but Peggle extreme. Need I say more? Well, the price is good with 10% off and you get into the early Team Fortress Beta. I'm excited!

In other news, I've finished my first week of school. Looks like everything is coming along nicely... I have an Illustrator assignment due today and a song review for next week. Oh, and reading. Lots of reading. Like, 30+ pages per course. It kinda sucks.

I've been driving back and forth a lot. Like, I filled up on Friday and I just did it again. I'm probably averaging 2hrs a day for weekdays. At least I'm getting some of the gas money back, but I still wish I didn't have to put so much strain on my car.

Speaking of which, the speakers in my car are crackling a bit. Apparently I need a deck that does 60-100 watts x 4 channels, but I can't seem to find anything that goes higher than 52. I really, really hope my speakers aren't blown. I mean, I've only had them for a few months and I don't think I've really played them too loud. Best case scenario, though, it'd be my iPod transmitter. I think it's not the problem, but I'll burn a CD with some of the more problematic tracks and see if it does any better right from the deck. If that's the case, I'll get a new deck with Aux In. If not... I really gotta see if my speakers are blown. If that's the case I sure hope the 90 days since purchase are up. They probably are...

Sigh, a lot of jumbled thoughts for today. Guess I've been all over the place since school started. Driving so much is doing funny things to my brain.
-Cril

You might throw your rock, hide your head
Work in the dark with your fellow men
Sure as God made you rich and poor
You're gonna reap just what you sow

Go tell that lonesome liar
Go tell that midnight rider
Tell the gamblin', ramblin' backslider
Tell them God Almighty gonna cut 'em down

Moby - Run On

Every day you learn something new

First day of school! Ah, it brings back all those wonderful feelings of being nervous and stressed. You know what else school has? Lots of attractive ladies. Not that it matters, I'm pretty sure I have enough guts to do anything about it anyways. But it leads me to my main point:

I discovered today that I have a different personal dynamic in a large classroom setting than in a small, personal group. It's somewhat odd, I made a few jokes and ask questions and comment alright in class discussion. To be honest I'm slightly surprised I'm that... "outgoing"/confident as is. But when it came down to spend time in a group of 4/5 people for an assignment, I shut right up. Didn't say a word unless someone addressed me. How odd is that? I wonder why that is.
-Cril

Something has to make you run
I don't know why I didn't come
I feel as empty as a drum
I don't know why I didn't come
I don't know why I didn't come
I don't know why I didn't come

Norah Jones - Don't Know Why

Seepage of my brain and wallet.

Okay, so I've been watching the Dick Van Dyke Show recently. We got a few season DVD sets out from the library, and my bro usually sets it up to play some episodes while he's surfing the web or whatever. First off, that show is pretty darn funny. Dick Van Dyke is (er, was) a really funny guy. The writing is also great. I guess it might be a bit cheesy at points, but for a show that was made in the early sixties it's still pretty funny and, dare I say, fresh. Great original humour.

And secondly, Mary Tyler Moore was pretty darn attractive back then. I can't say she's aged too well though. Well, I'm not sure if she's aged at all, or if it's just the newer chemicals and wonderful plastic compounds that remain. Regardless, it makes you wonder - What would all these once truly attractive people look as they age had they not turned to plastic surgery to prevent the inevitable? Because honestly, the way the look now is a bajillion times worse than what they could have possibly been when they opted for the quick-fix surgery.

And in other news, I got the vinyls put on my car. Well, that was a while ago and since then I had to wait for decent weather and an opportunity to use the family camera. All in all, it looks pretty slick. There's small bubbles on a few of them, but it isn't that noticeable unless you look close enough. Anyhoo, chekkit oot:









It turns out I have a bit of a leak with the sunroof. It isn't too bad - I place a little scrap of cloth by the clasp and it pretty much keeps it from dripping or spreading around. It also leaks at the front, but that's when I open the sunroof right after rain or whatever.

School starts Tuesday. I haven't made my mind up about how I feel about it yet. Nervous? Excited? Maybe semi-depressed, what with how all my money seems to be going out the door so quickly. Bah.

Speaking of monies, I wasn't planning on spending any of my $50 entertainment budget for August, and then I ran into a discounted pair of rollerblades in the mall that fit just-right. I'll take them out for a quick spin tonight... It's a shame, my other pair (which is now too small) was pretty good and I didn't want to spend the entertainment budget at all. $50 a month does add up... I think the only money I'll spend between now is on the Half-Life Orange Box and maybe on Gears of War PC. And maybe a Wii for Christmas, but no guarantees on that. Bah, even those items still seem like a lot. I gotta cut down on my spending... Even though I don't think I'm really spending that much. I guess there's nothing I can do about it. No matter how tightly you hold your cupped hands, wanter still seeps out, doesn't it?
-Cril

She said I think I'll go to Boston
I think I'll start a new life
I think I'll start it over, where no one knows my name
I'll get out of California, I'm tired of the weather
I think I'll get a lover and fly him out to Spain, oh yeah
I think I'll go to Boston
I think that I'm just tired
I think I need a new town, to leave this all behind
I think I need a sunrise, I'm tired of the sunset
I hear it's nice in the Summer, some snow would be nice

Augustana - Boston