When We Collide

I'm going insane.

Between my mad rush to get my final papers in and my co workers at work, I think that I'm going to be insane by the end of the year. If you see a babbling idiot in the corner, that'll be me.

My final exam for Gothic lit was pushed back a day, which was nice, because I got some extra time to polish it up a little and get some things done with the assignments. I did have a scare when I went to print off my Reading Journal - turns out the copy that I was saving was somewhere else, while the one that I printed off was somewhere else. Arg. However, it gave me some extra time to slack a bit and I essentially lost a day to study for History and work on my remaining English project for American Short Stories. I'll be doing that tonight, and probably pretty early in the morning, before I go off to work.

And I have nothing against my co-workers. They're nice people, but just too damn hyper. And immature at times. It's just... arg. Too much stress to think about.

It'll all be over soon, when exams are finished on Sunday, which will be a huge relief for me. I'm more than ready for this semester to be over.

New Galactica tomorrow night, then a break. I was just reading an article on what'll be happening in the next part of the season. There's supposed to be a major death - something that'll shake up the entire season. I'm betting it'll be Starbuck, because... I have my reasons. I'm just guessing that'll be her that'll bite it. Which'll suck, because I like her, if it does happen like I think it will, and for the reasons that I suspect it'll happen.

In other news, Gateworld just announced that there's a third Stargate series in the works! Good timing too, because SG-1 is going off the air after ten seasons. AND, Jewel Straite, best known for her work as Kaylee from Firefly, will be a regular in Stargate Atlantis!

Bliss!

MY PAPER AND READING JOURNAL DEADLINE WAS EXTENDED! WOOHOO!

Panic

So, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's probably a bad idea to completely change the focus of my 10 page research paper the night before it's due.

At least I'm getting more results for my new topic and can reasonably write about it. It's just frustrating to go back after already doing some of the research. The new topic is Gothic influences on films, and I'm going to write about Alien, The Jacket, Nightwatch and The Matrix as case examples. I've actually found info on a couple of these, so here's to hoping that I'll have more luck with this topic.

Feelin' the Same Way All Over Again

My desk is clean. My room is clean. My bookshelves have been dusted off, random books have been put back in their slots, the bed is made, closet straightened, school work is being done and I can see the flat surfaces in my room once again.
Okay, so I was avoiding homework for a little while, but I've gotten some things done, like my reading journal, starting research for my final in Gothic Lit and will be getting other bits of work done shortly. Even if I had to skip history to get into a good work ethic. Why do my productive habits kick in now?
I'm also going to go rock climbing for the first time in months. Between work, school and other random things, I haven't had a chance to get out to the rock gym since Camp. I guess nobody else has been either, because they've called a meeting to gauge interest in the club, and hopefully there will be something next semester, and hopefully, I'll have more time later on.
After that, I'm going to be sitting on my second honour committee. Hopefully that won't be too bad.

Nostalgia

I'm almost done with the entire first series of Life On Mars, and it's making me horribly nostalgic for my time back in London.

It's not just the big things about London, or just being there in England, but mostly the very small details and things that I miss. There's the King's Arms just down the street from my flat, sitting on the bus, the announcer coming on at the end of a television episode, the white street signs, red telephone boxes, the accents, food, the sun coming over the buildings, so much.
I've pulled out my journal entries that I kept while I was over there, looked over my photographs and have talked to several people that I met while I was over there. I wonder if I'll ever return there, and it hurts so much to see it in my memories, but not my eyes.

Life on Mars

No, this isn't in regards to the recent news of possible evidence that there's water on the planet Mars, this is for a new TV show that I found - Life on Mars.
It's from the UK, which gives it a bit of good press right there, but it's a very tightly scripted detective drama mixed with a bit of time travel. Here's the blurb from Amazon.co.uk:

Life On Mars is the smash-hit cop show starring John Simm as a detective who is involved in a car accident and wakes to find himself transported back to 1973 – a world dominated by Ford Cortina’s, sheep-skin jackets and very hard coppers.

It's got a fantastic look and feel to it - the look of the episodes look like the 1970s, if that makes any sense. I love it.

Trilobites!

I would be remiss not to talk about these guys for a while. Trilobites are fossils, my absolute favorites, ever since I was a little kid. They're essentially what got me interested in geology in the first place, and fossil collecting in general. I've got a number of them in my collection of fossils, some bought, some found around Vermont. They're cool little critters.

Basically, Trilobites first appeared in the fossil record during the Cambrian (about 530 million years ago) period before vanishing during the Permian, (250 million years ago). While on the planet, they represented one of the most prevalent and extensive species in earth's history, with over 15,000 species identified to date. They were fairly complex creatures, with delicate eye structures and legs. They could curl up into a small roll to avoid predators, and it is suspected that they were mainly bottom feeders, although some might have been carnivorous.

Look at my name, JediTrilobite, for this blog, and you can probably tell that I like these guys. So it was a huge delight that I found a band called Trilobite. They're a bluegrass group out of New Mexico, with an album up on iTunes already, and a couple music blogs saying that these guys are to be looked after. I'll certainly be doing that.

Two of their songs:
Trilobite - "Pumpkin Farmer" (MP3)
Trilobite - "Hunky Kentuckian" (MP3)

Their myspace page is: http://myspace.com/trilobite, where they have a couple of other songs up to listen to. Wee!

Finish the Fight

Oh my gods. I'm a fan of Halo, and while I don't play that often, I've been very dazzled by the new trailers that've come out for the upcoming third installment, due sometime next year.
Last night, Bungie released a short trailer for the third game, here it is:

I'm glad that there was nobody around me to hear me just yell as the Chief runs and jumps into the group of elites. The coloring of the trailer, the camera angle and oh man.

Hell with Universal and Fox, Bungie, make a movie like that. Just like that.

Love! And Snow!

Anyone here a fan of the Beatles? Who isn't? Recently, they've released yet another album - this one entitled Love, which is the soundtrack to a Las Vegas show. Sounds very tacky, but with the former Beatles producer at the helm, and with the blessing of the two remaining Beatles, this is a simply amazing listen.

What they did is take 26 tracks from the album and went back to the original outtakes, as well as mixed in a number of other elements from other songs. There's something like 48 of their songs wrapped up here in this album, whether it's a drum beat or something.
The result is phenomenal - this is the Beatles as you've never heard them, and the sound is great. It's fast, deep, rich and created with quite a bit of care. Unlike their Beatles 1 album, this is a better spectrum of their works, and the album flows from song to song almost effortlessly. I've asked my sister for this for christmas, and plan on getting this for a couple of other people. If you haven't listened to it, do so. It's really, really good.

And I woke up to one of the best things that I can think of- the ground is covered in an inch or so of fresh snow. It's quite something to wake up and see the landscape an entirely different color. And you can't go wrong with snow.

Just a couple more weeks of school, and the semester will be over. It's going by fast.

And the Light Shines on, While we all Ride On

The viewing/funeral was depressing. There was probably over a hundred people there, packed into the house. Sam looked different, like plastic, which was hard to see. Looked like Sam though, with snowboarding goggles, a Flogging Molly shirt, headphones and a couple cans of Red Bull. Good for him. I saw a couple of other guys from camp, and Sam's brother Gabe, who's been either in my cabin or village for the past four years. He looked good, as did his dad. They're opening up a scholarship for kids to go to camp in his name.I broke down in the car on the way back. This shouldn't happen.

I've had a little to divert me though. I called Sarah, which always seems to help. Watched Daybreak and got pissed off at the recent Veronica Mars news*, ate dinner. It's been a crappy day.

* Turns out that they're going to be abandoning the Season-long mystery thing after the second arc this season, and going with standalone episodes. They'll also be doing some overarcing romance things with the show, which is just plain annoying. Hopefully the show'll still be good after that.

Made a Note of it, did you Write it on your Hand?

I have one more semester left, and in the past month or so, I've done a lot of reflecting on what really interests me and what I want to continue with. I came up with a list about a foot long of possible career options, going all over the place. I have a lot of interests in tons of fields.
I'm currently majoring in history, which worries my parents somewhat, I'm guessing because I don't have a nice clear path to a high paying job afterwards. I'm okay with that, because history interests me a lot.
A while ago, I read and reviewed a book called Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book. Like the title suggests, it's about the history of comics. What it doesn't necessarily suggest is the implications that the comic book really had, such as it's birth, how it related to immigration, what it meant for media censorship and dignity laws, and all that.
That's the type of history that really interests me now - cultural/popular cultural history. What I'd love to do is find work in that sort of field - I talked to one of my professors, and learned that I probably have around three or four options - Museum work, writing, teaching, consulting. Those may overlap as well, but I'd need to obtain a Master's Degree at the bare minimum, and preferably a Doctor's as well. While the thought of schooling for the next several years isn't the most appealing, it would be in a dedicated subject that I like a lot.
I think that's what I want to do. Possibly get something for inbetween Norwich and whatever I might be going to, but that is something that I can see myself doing for a while. Definently not working in retail and probably not summer camp/youth help for much longer, as much as I hate to say that.
It's coming up fast, the end of college, and it scares the hell out of me.

Alone in the Flatland 'tween the Dream and the Real

Things have been ranging between calm to panicky to depressing to happy over the past couple of days. My lax work ethic over the break is catching up to me now, with papers due on Monday, today, Thursday and things to start working on over the next week. Not to mention reading, and other studying that I should be doing.
As of right now, I'm halfway through my five page book review for History, on the book Franklin and Winston, by Jon Meacham, a fantastic history on Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt during World War II. I was 90% done with the paper this afternoon, but when I went back over it, I decided that it wasn't worth the risk handing that particular semi-incomprehensible draft in, so two days down the drain and I'm slowly working to bring this paper from the current three pages up to the required five to seven. I think that I should make it, things are starting to fall into place.
I've taken far too many breaks, but they've been for semi-good reasons. House was on tonight, with an okay episode, then Veronica Mars with the mid season finale and conclusion to the rape case with a very typical Veronica Mars ending. The rapists are found, but to lead into the next mystery, Dean O'Dell is found with a bullet in his head. Yay for the mid season breaks to start kicking in! Veronica MarsPrison Break is off the air until January, as is LOST, Jericho will be off after this week and Heroes will be off after next week and Battlestar will be off shortly as well. Just in time for vacation, when I'll actually have the time to watch things.
And the Decemberists were on The Late Show, which was far too short. If you're going to get a musical guest on for the night, you might as well have them on for more than one song. At least talk to them a little. They're a good band, although it took me a bit longer than a year for them to grow on me - I have Sarah to thank for that. But their newer stuff sounds (at least to me) much better than some of the older stuff. They did sound good though.
And despite the work and things, I've been getting to bed earlier than usual, getting up earlier, an arrangement I'm not terribly thrilled with, but it's livable. Lonelier though.
Now, to finish up this report, get another 500 word thing pounded out and we should be shiny.

Gap in the Circle

We've lost another camper. Earlier last week, Sam Cohn, age 14, died due to injuries suffered from a traffic accident. Sam was a camper at Abnaki, and I had his brother in my village. They were great kids, and while I didn't know Sam paticularly well, news of his passing hit me hard.

Obituary

I... I don't know what to say or think. 14 years old is far too young, especially for someone with what would have been a promising future. I cannot imagine what the family must be going through right now, especially during this time of year.

Just... fuck. This shouldn't happen.

Grr... Arg...

So while the evil Black Friday wasn't too bad, I actually found a parking space and got to work about 20 minutes early, and didn't have non-stop customers all evening. We also didn't need to have the store open until 10. But we didn't get to leave until 10:40 because the guy in the kiosk messed up his cash/check pull not once, not twice, but three times while I went out and helped him, and ended up having to recount his entire drawer and several hundred dollar pull. I felt bad for him, because he hadn't done a closing in a while, while I've been stuck with it for, well, pretty much every single time that I work. I could tell that he was frustrated. At least we got another 20-30 minutes that we got paid for. And I'm bushed. Later this morning, I'm going to pick up my roommate from the airport.

Clean your visor, jackass!

I got Halo to work on my computer again. And it's not lagging. Actually, none of my programs are lagging like they were.

Just when I thought that I'd have some free time.

"Listen up! Usually the Good Lord works in mysterious ways, but not today! This here is 66 tons of straight up, HE-spewing dee-vine intervention. If God is love, then you can call me Cupid!" - Sgt. Johnson, Halo 2

And now, I'm off to a) stop at the bank, b) find a parking space in a mall on black friday and c) try and remain alive during the shopping rush.
Let's see if I survive.

And, Happy Birthday to Blackwell, one of the Geek Squad members from Camp.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope that everyone had a good thanksgiving (yesterday now). I had dinner with the family in the afternoon, where we were expecting to have something like 13 people, but that went down to 8, which meant that some of us weren't banished to the garage. It was a good dinner. Me, my parents, brother and sister, Uncle and his girlfriend and my grandmother were all there. It was fun, and the food was fantastic, as my mother is a great cook. I contributed bread, which people seemed to like. Lots of talking and fun, which was good.
After that, me and my sister went to go visit my friend Sam and Miranda up in Burlington, which was fun, I haven't seen them since this summer. Keelia and Miranda watched Veronica Mars while Sam and I visited my friend Blackwell in his new house. He was surprised to see us, and we hung out for a little while, played with the dog that they were dogsitting and generally caught up.
It was a good night.

Hope that everyone else had an equally as good Thanksgiving.

Throw it all Away

So, it's Vacation. Number of days in: 5. Things accomplished: Minimal. I should really get going on the school work.
Did a little work yesterday, picked up my sister at school to bring her to Physical Therapy. Before I did that, I walked around my old high school, running into an old friend whom I haven't seen in years, as well as a number of teachers and people that I knew there. It was weird being back there, and I don't go to visit very often. Teachers are the same, but there's different kids all over the place. My old TA, Ginny, was thrilled to see me, and was horribly surprised that it's been four years since graduation. Another teacher, whom I'd started with at grade 7 was also surprised that it's been a decade. God, I've never thought of it like that.
Dropped Keelia off, and met up with my friend Sarah, who's back from New Zealand for the winter, spent a couple hours catching up on various things. I've also known her for ten years now. It was good to see her. Picked Keelia up afterwards, dropped by Smalldog electronics, where I got my iPod, to get them to check it out, and while waiting, played with the small puppy that was bouncing around the store. (It's called Smalldog for a reason). Keelia practically squealed when she saw him, and he was very cute, although he kept wanting to nibble on my hand.
Yeah, rest of the day was uneventful. Tried to do some more work, got some reading done, my brother came over, watched House and Veronica Mars, both good episodes.
Today's proving to be just as uneventful, as I'm finishing up some bread and random cleaning of the place, and I've got work in a couple hours. I'm going to make a serious effort to get some more work done.

Can you help me occupy my brain?

You know what is beginning to bug me? The fact that every single Fox show seems to carry the disclaimer that goes like this:

This program is unsuited for minors/Viewer Discretion is Advised.

I think one of two things:
1: That Fox is either trying to really cover their asses from possible law suits by showing shows like Prison Break, Standoff and House, which is somewhat acceptable. These shows have some disturbing content here and there, but nothing more than what you'd see in a PG-13 or so movie, and they're aired at 9-10, which is getting into the time when you can do things like that. But Family Guy showed an episode where Lois teaches students about safe sex, and that had the warning. Are they worried that some religious group is going to sue them for something like that?
2: It's a warning, and what to people think when they see warnings, like don't push the red button or something like that? Of course you're going to be interested in what's on the television if it says something like that. It's a way to say 'Hey! Look at us and how radical we're being by pushing the envelope a bit!'

While it's nice that they're thinking that they're being dangerous or something like that, it's kinda irritaing when they put up the warning and do things that nobody would blink an eye at. Granted, Prison Break showed us a slew of people dying and T-Bag getting his hand chopped off, House shows us some morally/ethically weird things, but for some episodes, I'm just beginning to wonder if they're just sticking the warnings up to make everyone think that they're being responsible by warning kids away. There's not really anything that's wrong with the episodes or really anything that warrents a warning. To me, it just seems like an advertising gimmick.

You only get what you give

Mundane day today, with an evening filled with many interesting things that will be listed. I puttered. I changed out all of the lightbulbs in my house with energy savers, finished out a couple more loaves of bread and fullfilled my obligations for Thanksgiving dinner, watched some more of Veronica Mars, did a little reading and yeah. No major progress on my reports or other readings, but that'll be coming soon. Hopefully.

Interesting / Noteworthy things:

• Prison Break, Heroes and Studio 60 were on. Prison Break was decent, but Heroes and Studio 60 were brilliant.
  
• Studio 60 made fun of Jessica Simpson and FOX and really dug at the network for product placement.
  
• Veronica Mars has been picked up for a full season, or twenty episodes.
  
• Steven Spielburg told people today that he'll be working on a Tintin miniseries and a new WWII one.
  
• The trailer for Harry Potter 5 came out, and it actually looks good.
  

Bad things:

• Peter Jackson isn't going to be directing or working on the upcoming Hobbit movie. Between financial things between his studio, Wingnut Films and New Line Cinema, over the gains from LOTR, they're not being asked back. Between that and the Halo movie, he's not having a good fall.

Also, I'm jointly posting on this blog and the livejournal that I've sorta, kinda, not really kept up for about the same amount of time.

Does Anyone Know What Time It Is?

It's Vacation. Finally! A relaxing frantic week of where I have nine separate things to for three different classes, seven books to read, four days of work, which will more thank likely be extremely busy as the holiday shopping season ramps up into full gear. It'll be nice to actually have people buy things than just poking around. Brought Kyle to the airport, he's home for the first time in a year, pretty excited about that.
I've also been subcontracted out to help cook part of our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday - I learned to cook bread from scratch. It's an absurdly simple recipe, although it takes over 12 hours to finish, to give it time to rise and everything. I started the prep work on it last night and had it done by three this afternoon, whereupon I brought it home. My brother's reaction:

"You made that? It looks professional."

Cue the laughter from my sister and mother. It turned out great, and everyone seemed to like it well enough, so I've started work on some more loaves. Unfortunently, I can only make one at a time, but the time to let it sit is long enough that I'll be able to start it and leave it again later on. Tasted fantastic too. Made me happy.

I am looking forwards to sleeping in over the next couple days. That and seeing people I haven't seen in a while. And you know, the whole not going to class part.