Fear the Crab

“School Song” from Matilda the Musical, scored by one of my favorite artists, Tim Minchin. Clever and witty!

Continued ~

I meant to write this on Christmas Day, but I had battled a cold that kept me out of sorts for most of the week leading up to the holiday. That’s the one thing being sick does to you; it makes you miss out on all the festivities. I had to forgo attendance at many Christmas dinner parties and content myself with cold leftovers and hot tea.

Continued ~

In a recent conversation with The Galbraith, we waxed poetic about the philosophies and inter-relations of Weight Watchers, miniatures gaming, window shopping, and Star Wars.  In a wave of nostalgia, I was reminded of my childhood fascination with a particular vinyl album, hidden amongst the remnants of my parents’ music library of John Denver and other artists of the time, that I would listen to repeatedly for hours at a time. This record album was full of Star Wars music.

The record album contained John Williams’ signature Star Wars pieces, such as the intro and ubiquitous cantina song.  It filled me with great excitement each time I dropped that needle into the first groove and cranked up the hi-fi.  With each song, I could relive the space opera experience scene by scene in my mind’s imagination.

I don’t remember what year it was produced, but it was after the explosive introduction of the Star Wars phenomenon, so definitely after 1977.  I had absorbed the initial movie with fervor, I built X-Wings out of Tinkertoys (I had the wooden version), I collected action figures (and promptly tore them out of the packaging, much to my 20/20 hindsight’s chagrin).  I wanted anything and everything related to Star Wars and I wanted it every day.

Apparently, I wasn’t very discerning about what I got.  This is the album of which I speak:

Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk, by Meco.

Here’s a sample.  There are probably other samples out there, but that link is among the first few a casual web search returned.

I was naive, and had no idea was a “tribute album” was, much less the practice of DJs remixing and repackaging material for funky beats. I conveniently ignored the wacky cover and focused on the name, “Star Wars.” I heard the familiar tunes and thought nothing out-of-place with the disco rhythms. I dare say that I was frickin’ PROUD to own that album!

So much so, that I brought it in to show-and-tell one day and forced the whole class to listen to it.  I remember standing up there in front of the room holding the album cover, ramming that visual down everybody’s throat, as the gyratory music-ations blared over the teacher’s record player (yes, I think record players were standard teaching material back then).

What I don’t remember is how everyone reacted to it.  I think I might be suppressing that memory, but I have a pretty good idea what the teacher must have been thinking.

And you know what?  I think I may still have that record.  Somewhere.

I broke down and bought useless crap again. It is amazing how one month of shopping abstinence can disappear in a flash of credit card craziness. In one day I spent approximately $130.00 on music, books, and movies. Let’s check out the list:

• “Cossette no Shouzou” soundtrack
• “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” complete soundtrack
• “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” complete soundtrack
• “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” book
• “Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There” book
• “Watership Down” book
• “Saving Private Ryan” movie

I also happen to come into ownership of “Time Bandits” and “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” because it was my birthday and those DVDs were gifts.

Today my wrists and arms are sore and achy. It’s only been 4 hours of work and it feels like I just want to drop my hands to my sides and stare.

So I’m thinking of cutting out some parts of my wedding guest list. With the buffet at $47 a head, and with the list close to 175 people, the prices were starting to look a little steep.

Trouble is, I didn’t have many people on my list in the first place. I cut out my personal friends on the continent, plus some old friends from the old workplace that I haven’t spoken to in years, and I only got the list down to 160. It’s hard because these are the people who’ve contributed to what I am today, and they are the first of my friends whom I would have liked to be in attendance. Some of them know Maile, too.

EDIT: Actually, the list is back up to 164. I forgot to add myself and Maile (because we have to eat, too!), as well as two more people from The Lab.

Still, less people on the list means less of a body count in the buffet line, which would substantially decrease the overall cost of food and beverage. Plus, we don’t need to make as many invitations, which can mean a significant reduction of about $100.

In other areas, I might have to push for recorded entertainment. The hotel will let me hook up my iPod to their sound system for $40, which is 10x less than the cheapest live DJ. I can fill up a playlist with the songs I want and let it run on shuffle, and when it comes time to actually play a specific song, I could delegate some volunteer to be in charge of that (since the iPod still plays as you’re searching for the song).

I also think I will have to reduce the time the bar remains open. I looked at the cost for 4 hours of operation (1730-2130), and I could save over $1k if I cut it down to 3 (so it ends at 2030 instead). It’s a Sunday buffet, so I don’t think many people will want to drink as late anyway. Of course, I could go even cheaper and require everyone to buy their own alcohol…

What worries me, though, is the fact that we still haven’t accounted for other costs, like flowers, hair & makeup for the bride, and even the wedding bands. The three-thousand dollars I “saved” may just go back in, though I admit it would still be slightly better.

I think we might seriously have to take out a loan. The thing is, I don’t want to get a loan and then start “upgrading” the wedding just because we suddenly have an influx of funds. I don’t want to get into the mindset that now I can afford to bring in my elementary school classmates, or the nice principal from Tuba City High. I don’t want to think that I could get a comedy team to perform at the reception, or a 10-piece big band with award-winning crooner.

I would rather make the wedding as minimal as possible whilst retaining some manner of elegance (because it’s for her), even if it means those in attendance don’t get what they’re used to getting (like a live band), or the invitations don’t have a map or directions.

There are other costs looming on the horizon; I can see them, and they think I’m pretty enough to eat.

There’s a new EP out. Listen and learn! And buy. You dare not trifle with the divine retribution of the bunny!

http://www.coincidencetheory.com/

There’s a link to where you can purchase the EP online through CDBaby. Read the stellar review about this debut album and wonder at the wonderfully wistfully writing skills.

The subject is a tad misleading. I’m here, but I haven’t been here here, if you know what I mean. My last post was almost a year ago, and that was during football season (UH won 7 games and went to the Hawai’i Bowl, btw).

Nowadays I’ve been continually working at The Office and The Lab. I am still taking courses in ICS.

Where to start?

My project at The Office has gone beta. We conducted a loadtest on the server, and ended up overworking the poor database. Thankfully the problem wasn’t caused by what I had done, but what someone else did a long time ago. We went from 9 student employees to 3, including myself. That means there are other miscellaneous tasks to be shared by everyone.

The Lab is The Lab. Usual politics, usual work. At least the parties are cool, and the snack area is filled with the delectable bounty of fattening goodness.

School is nearing the end of its stint. I can expect to graduate in March of 2006, provided I don’t turn into a Senior and neglect my work. This summer I’m taking a software engineering class that doesn’t seem to be engineering software. I’m also enrolled in a rather interesting class, Information Technology/Culture, which looks at our lives as it is integrated with technology, be it computers or cell phones. We’ve discussed the rise of computers and networks, the virtual communities created by multiplayer games and MUDs and things like Xanga, mySpace and LiveJournal. We’re going over the Panopticon right now.

Oh, I got me an iPod. It is musical.

Since Marissa has been reading my LiveJournal, it has occured to me that I haven’t been that diligent in maintaining it. I’m sure many of you really don’t care, but it says something about persistence and dedication if I can at least write something once a month.

I’m no longer driving for The Lab, except on Saturdays. They’ve hired two new guys, who both work all week, so instead I’m grinding contacts. Not lenses, but the areas where the crowns touch other teeth. It’s good work, because I get to use the small handheld rotary tools and really screw up my tasks. I get to sit down at a small desk with magnifying goggles around my eyes. But the best part is that I can listen to CDs while working.

Granted, I’ve always listened to CDs while working, even when I was driving, because the lab car has a CD player. Nowadays I’m listening to what other people call dance goth. I have no idea what makes goth dancable, but I don’t really care. I like it. Today I’ve been listening to Switchblade Symphony, a band I recently found out had broken up in 1999. Too bad.

At the Office, I’ve finally starting coding the identity management tool for the University. It’s in PHP with a lot of HTML involved, and it makes me realize just how much I actually know. For those of you who don’t understand, don’t worry, because I don’t, either.

Next semester I will take ICS 321 and 331. Or something like that. I actually wanted to start taking some of my 400 level courses, but there’s a new rule that 400 level courses are first reserved for seniors who are going to graduate. I understand why that rule is in place, because seniors who can’t take their required courses can’t graduate. It still puts me in a bind, though, because those classes fill up so fast that I’m forced to take classes that, while I need them, I don’t want to take them just yet.

Maile and I are going to start an exercise program. We’re also going to try and quit smoking. Starting the healthy life, yo.

Since Marissa has been reading my thoughts, it seems that perhaps I should tone down the content. Yet that sort of defeats the purpose of having a journal. However, it’s online and therefore public and open to scrutiny. A compromise must be found.

Still, Marissa has her own journal-type thing and her handle is dis-be-yo-pimpette, so who am I to judge?

I’d better get back to work.

Well, I actually haven’t gone anywhere, but work and school have kept me sufficiently occupied to force livejournal into the messy back seat of life. I’ve been so busy, in fact, that Animal Crossing has become literally non-existant. I haven’t played that game since the 25th of July.News news.. lessee. I’m still working at The Office and The Lab, though these early rising mornings have certainly taken their toll on me. Work at the Office is normal, I’ve been given several projects in the past months, though they were all minor, usually involving a fix or two to current code. Up next I will be expected to coordinate several meetings to help design a new web page for the students and staff that work in the Help Desk. The first round of meetings is set for this Thursday, mostly to come up with “problem scenarios” in which we determine what areas of the current design need improvement. Once that’s done, we’ll move on to “activity scenarios” where we propose solutions to those problems. It’s going to be a long process, I gather, since this kind of stuff just doesn’t complete itself overnight.

Work at the Lab is becoming tedious. I think I’ve been allowing the stress of driving and meeting deadlines to overwhelm me, as I’ve been a bit.. well, snappy, as Maile would put it. It’s not like working at the Office, where I really enjoy what I do. I hate driving in traffic, and I hate having to ferry teeth from one dentist to another in the span of a few minutes. Recently I’ve been getting more deliveries that have to be completed by 0800 and the locations are all over the place. Add to that the frequent “update calls” I get, where I have to change my route to accommodate some dentist who waited until the last minute to announce his pickup. I especially hate it when I’ve already left that area.

I’ve gained weight, thanks to a significant lack of exercise.

School has been going fairly well. This fall semester I’m taking ICS 311, which is simplistically titled Algorithms. But it’s theory, and I’ve never been a very good theorist. I guess I’m handling myself okay, though, as I’m not failing. What helps is that I can work with a partner to complete assignments and programming projects, and it just so happens that my classmate is also my co-worker at the Office. So when we’re not working on anything, we’re working on the 311 stuff. I’m also taking Spanish 101, and that class is really cool. The professor is muy interesante, y muy paciente con sus estudiantes. Despues, yo voy a asistir la clase de Espanol 102, con el profesor mismo.

I don’t know if I said that right.

Anyway, in musical notes I’ve taken to listening to a lot more goth and metal. Lately I bought a few albums from My Ruin, and I really like their stuff. I also bought a couple of cheap-ass Goth CDs, and those put me in a really good mood.

And a lot of people are probably wondering how the little prince is doing. All I can say is, it’s cool. Drives like a Ferrarri.

Hm. I can’t recall if there’s anything I’ve left out, as far as what’s been going on the past several months. But fear not, as I can always mention them next time.

Maile, George, Chanelle, and Jason were sleeping over at my house. Strangely enough, we were in my living room, on a piece of furniture that looked like a large-scale model of a station wagon. Maile and I were sleeping in the trunk of the station wagon, George was lying on the back seat, Chanelle was on the front bench seat, and Jason was lying in the footwells.

We all woke up and were trying to figure out what we were going to do. I was feeling very lazy, when all these strangers started showing up at my house. Normally I wouldn’t have allowed them in, but everyone else seemed okay with them and started to hang out. I was a tad upset by this (considering it was my house), and declined to join in the fun. Maile and I got into a brief argument over it, where I explained my feeling about the whole matter, but for some reason I kept getting the sensation that it was ME who was overreacting and being anti-social (even though it was my house and these were strangers coming in). I hopped into the shower, upon which a Smashing Pumpkins song kept playing in my head, and visions of long-haired grunge bands entertaining professional wrestlers jumbled in with a classical dose of Handel. Instead of sliding glass doors I had shower curtains, and these curtains kept blowing open in an unfelt breeze. The water pressure suddenly dropped to near-zero levels. Needless to say, I have no idea what SP song it was.