Fear the Crab

I’ve found that doing the homework assignments immediately after covering the material in class greatly helps my understanding of it. Of course, that’s probably a given to many studious types. Still, it bodes well for my hopes of passing the class. Right now I am .02 points below 50, and according to the professor, anything below 50 means I’m in trouble. Hopefully I will do well in my assignments and have some modicum of success with my exams. The material we are covering now seems a bit more straightforward than previously encountered, so I don’t know if that’s the only reason why it seems I’m doing okay.

Tomorrow is the big interview with the City. According to some inside sources, the interview part will likely consist of questions pertaining to the office’s function of property assessment, such as tax rates and basic exemptions due to age, disability and low income. I understand all of that for the most part, though technical aspects (like the exact amounts) are unknown to me at this time. The written test may possibly involve some basic math and blueprint sketches. The math I’m not too worried about, since it deals primarily with geometry and areas. I know how to read blueprints, though if you were to ask me about details I wouldn’t know oak from redwood and the differences between a house built tongue-in-groove versus otherwise. Aside from the test and office knowledge, the rest is pretty much up to me and what I answer. So long as I give the impression that I’m a hard worker, easily trainable, and willing to learn and work well with others, I have a shot at getting this job.

My dad says they may also ask me which softball team I want to play in. I’m shooting for team A, because I already know a lot of the guys there, and my dad says they’re pretty cool when it comes to playing badly (ie they laugh at you instead of yelling).

The Kikaida DVD is set for release on Oct 15. It will have episodes 1 through 5, and if I get it from Costco I can look to spend about $20 for each. The 15th is a Tuesday, which means I can pick up the DVD after school. I’ll likely buy three if I can get away with it; one for George, one for my brother, and one for me. This also means that I no longer have to worry about taping the darn episodes and missing any, but it also means that my brother will likely have to wait longer for the entire collection. I’m sure he can handle it, though.

Went over to Maile’s house to hang out and spend some time with her. We went shopping for an office chair for her room, but the only one we liked was sold out. Instead we had to settle for some ink cartridges for her printer, and overall it was a disappointing venture. The reason we need a new chair is because the old one is, well, old, and we wanted a chair that was lower than the desk itself, so we could sit more comfortably. Right now the armrests on the old chair get in the way of the keyboard panel, which slides out but hits the top of the armrests.

We watched a bit of Moulin Rouge because it was playing on HBO, but we missed the beginning. It was pretty good, though after watching it I got a headache because I was staring at the television for so long. We ate dinner at Ricado’s; both of us having the chicken piccata and I had a glass of red wine. I forget the name of the brand, but it began with Bolla.

While we were out, it seems Keoni was using Maile’s computer, even though he’s been told countless times to not do that. We can tell he’s been using it because he doesn’t turn off the computer, and before we left I had shut down everything. He only turns off the monitor, thinking that nobody would notice. If there’s one bright spot in that bit of news, it’s that he doesn’t just push the power button to shut off the computer. Doing that is a big no-no amongst users, because it doesn’t allow the OS to properly close. I mean, you can do it, but it’s preferred you not.

I’m really afraid that he’ll not only break Maile’s computer, but he’ll download or open up some virus that will cause havoc later on down the road. Given his stupid lack of sense, he wouldn’t think twice about opening unknown applications or visiting porno sites and getting the hard drive infected. We could use a password to start the computer, but that really complicates things and doesn’t solve the primary issue of him just not using it when he’s not supposed to. I think the only viable solution here would be to duct tape him to his bed and close the door.

All in all, besides that one dark and dreary moment, the day was a good day.

Bought more socks today. Same size and type as before, those lightweight hiking socks that seemed to only come in women’s sizes. They’re very comfortable, though.

Bought the End of Evangelion DVD. Haven’t watched it yet, mostly because I’ve already seen it and bought it just to complete my collection.

Bought dinner at Jurison’s Inn in Waikele. They have some good mochiko chicken, with a sauce that they make themselves. It’s a bit of a sweet sauce, and seems to go well with the chicken.

Bought some Listermint and a couple of packs of cigarettes. The Listermint because it’s better than Listerine, according to lab tests conducted by Maile at LCC. It kills more germs, and it tastes better. Not to mention, you don’t get that burning feeling when using it. The cigarettes I got because I’ll only be smoking at home, so I left them in the freezer to stall the staleness from sinking in.

I bought a lot of stuff today. Thank goodness tomorrow’s payday.

Took my two exams today. I think I bombed my math exam. At least, a good half of the answers I either started guessing, or don’t feel as comfortable with. Each question was worth a different amount of points, but I never took the time needed to figure out if those questionable questions were heavy weights or not.

As far as the programming exam, I feel a bit better. I knew a lot of the material, and it’s just a matter of whether or not I got some of the technical aspects down. I had the concepts in my head and had a cheat-sheet full of the methods to use, and I think I organized them into an effective program, but only time will tell if I was absolutely correct.

Spent the rest of the day bored. There were probably a million things to do, but I felt lazy and didn’t do anything. That, of course, means I have no excuse to be bored, but some days you just don’t feel like doing crap. I did watch Reservoir Dogs, finally, and must say it was quite an interesting movie. A good question for anyone who has seen it is, “Did Mr White shoot at the end?” One could argue it both ways.

I must remember to do the laundry tomorrow. Otherwise I won’t have any shirts to wear to work.

I almost forgot to post today. I spent most of my time trying to study for my math exam, but since I was at work it was tough to concentrate. I did manage to make some progress towards further, if not better, understanding of the material, though I’m still a long way from claiming omnipotent knowledge.

One of the watch bay doors fell and cracked the mirrored glass. It broke so hard that the lock came off. It is my suspicion that the sales clerk just wasn’t paying attention to the door and let it drop down to hit against the drawers. Either that or she misjudged the weight of it (which isn’t very heavy). This isn’t the first time it’s happened.

I went over to Maile’s house after work for some dinner. Instead of studying, we watched some Rurouni Kenshin and a bit of the special features on the Monsters Inc DVD.

When I pulled into her driveway, I noticed that her mom’s car was gone. Maile’s mom had gone to Vegas eariler in the week, so I thought that she had come home already and was either out or hadn’t returned from work. However, I found out that Keoni had taken the car. It seems that the mom gave Keoni permission to use the car only during specific conditions. First, he could use it if he had an appointment such as for the doctor, or a job interview (yeah right). Second, the grandmother had to accompany him. I thought these were more than reasonable terms for some bastard who’s about as trustworthy as the DFS vice president. Yet it seems the grandmother did not accompany Keoni, and he did not have any such appointments scheduled. Though he denies it, we highly suspect he went over to Josephine’s house (the “first woman”) because he came home with a gigantic hickey on the side of his neck. Maile was, understandably, annoyed and angry, but I think that will pale in comparison to how the mom will feel when she finds out.

Came home and watched some of the UH football game on delayed broadcast. During that time I worked on my coding assignment and made rather significant progress. There are stilll a few bugs, and in my current state of mind I can’t seem to comprehend what it is I’m doing wrong. Perhaps tomorrow will hold greater success in my endeavors, but if that fails, I can always email the professor or TAs.

I went on a DVD buying spree today, which I shouldn’t have done really, since I have that truck coming in. However, I can justify these purchases by thinking that these are things I would watch over and over again. What did I get?

Forrest Gump
Joy Luck Club, The
Monsters, Inc.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Rurouni Kenshin: Soulless Knights
Rurouni Kenshin: A Shinobi’s Love
Tenchi the Movie 2

Actually, Pulp Fiction and Soulless Knights I bought a couple days ago, but I thought to put them in here since it’s still so new and all.

I must remember to also buy The End of Evangelion, the so-called “sad” ending of the series. Death and Rebirth is merely an elaborated end in the series, sort of like a drawn-out and detailed rendition of what was shown on TV. End of Evangelion is supposed to be released on the 24th, so I’ll be waiting for that eagerly.

Tonight’s an early night; gotta wake up and get to school, where I’ll no doubt fuzzy my brain with gobble

Nothing much happened today. I bought The Transformers: The Movie DVD, and justified the purchase by observing that the video I have is grainy and the color contrast is less than acceptable.

Turns out my desktop computer is still acting slow. The defrag and cleanup/scan seemed to have helped some, but the desktop is otherwise affected by some unknown factor. This only goads me towards buying a new computer. I need to wait until after I pay for my tuition though, and it looks like this semester’s costs will run me a little over a thousand dollars, not including books. I’m only going to take two classes, too. If it seems like an unreasonable amount of money, you’re right. The university, however, considers me a post-baccalaureate student, which is a level that is between undergrad and graduate. I also register last, and am ineligible for financial aid. This is the price of pursuing a second degree, but there are some benefits that counteract the high cost. For example, I only have to take those courses that I am interested in and that count towards my final goal of an ICS degree. I don’t have to fulfill any cores or accumulate a specific amount of credits. It may seem difficult, but hopefully the end result will open up new paths for me in life.

Today was a lazy day. Didn’t do any work, didn’t do any chores, and I also didn’t waste my time doing anything recreational. About all I did do was watch Lord of the Rings on DVD. It was very difficult to separate the movie and the book, from my perspective. The fight scenes were very nice, and I can certainly see why the movie won four Academy Awards (Cinematography, Make-up, Music, and Visual Effects). However, I can also see why it didn’t win Best Picture or Best Actor/Actress. All-in-all, I’d say the movie is okay to watch, but I’m not going to buy it for keeps.

I also watched Kung-Pao at George’s house. I had no idea prior to this that they used an original kung-fu movie and spliced in new scenes. The movie is good for a few one-time laughs and inane silliness, but as with LotR, it’s not something I’ll own.

I ate a Quizno’s sub for dinner, but I couldn’t finish it. That’s what happens when you’ve imbibed 2 cans of soda 2 hours prior. Needless to say, all that junk food has made me even more lazy. I’ll probably turn in early tonight.

I was sitting in some sort of cafe, only instead of being there to drink coffee and eat food I was there to take some sort of math class. There weren’t enough seats for people to use, so many were sitting on the floor. I don’t know what kind of math it was, for there were strange symbols like (0 0) + -0/-0, which I think stood for a weird twist on boolean logic; true and true + minus true over minus true. We had some kind of test to take, but sitting behind me was a girl who was supposed to be smart, but she never seemed to cut a break from the professor. She would ask me to look over her work to see if anything was wrong, because the professor would just jump all over her case if there was even the slightest mistake. This was strange, because the professor only treated her this way. Finally the test we were taking was over, and to my horror I realized that while helping this girl, I had neglected to fill in my own results. Thankfully the prof didn’t approach me for my answers, rather he went straight to the girl and confronted her. She spoke an answer that was correct to everyone’s opinion, but the prof wouldn’t accept it. There was some trivial detail that was wrong, like she hadn’t written in one of the ( signs in the right place, and so he flunked her completely. This time the girl got fed up and ran out of the classroom crying, which at this point had transformed into a giant bus. Going against my better judgment, I decided to go after the girl, taking with me my girlfriend. Except we couldn’t catch up, because I was driving her car, which wasn’t the car she has now, but rather an older model used years ago. I was having trouble driving because, as I said in my dream, “The gas and brake pedals are right next to each other, not separate on other sides of the drive shaft like my car.” Every time I wanted to press the brake, my foot would reach over and hit empty air, causing the two of us to momentarily panic before resuming a normal state.

So we got lost in a parking lot, and all the while my girlfriend is shaking her head and sighing at my ineptitude. Finally we get out, and we’re at this big college party. We step onto this wooden deck where three guys are playing basketball, only they’re not playing it with a hoop and net but rather giant fruit and a giant vending machine. Don’t ask me how that game worked, in my dream it felt like it was commonplace. My girlfriend and I asked around for the girl that ran out of the math class, and everyone seemed to have their own idea of where she went.

Then to my horror one of the guys at the party starting to make the moves on my girlfriend. He looked.. well, right now I can say he looked like Booger from Revenge of the Nerds. At this point in my dream, I started to treat it like a rewind/fast forward videotape. I first went up to the Booger impersonator and punched him in the left eye, hard enough to shatter his sunglasses. Then it seemed like the dream rewound itself back to the moment I caught the guy trying to kiss my girlfriend. Perhaps I was doing something wrong, and my dream was giving me a second chance to do the right thing. So I ran over and started yelling and doing the macho bump-your-chest thing. Then I grabbed him and THEN punched him, this time in the stomach, and pushed him down the stairs that were magically placed next to us. The dream fast forwarded to a weird scene where I’m standing on the sidewalk of a two lane road in the middle of the night, watching cars edge slowly forward in rush hour traffic. The only significant thing I remember from that is a taxi parked on the side of the road suddenly pulling out into the lane and nearly getting T-boned by a limousine.