Lord Sed
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| Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 | | 4:35 am |
With the bad comes the good!
So I've had one of those moments I just HAD to post about. It's no secret that I hate my job for a variety of reasons, but it has it's moments. A team of EMT's brought us a new patient. When they came in down the hall from where I generally am posted, one of them waved to me. I couldn't recognize him from where I was sitting, though. After the patient got settled, he came to say hi, and it turns out (with no small amount of irony) that he had been one of our patients when I had just started on this gig. He was one of my most memorable, too, because he reminded me a heck of a lot of myself at that age. He was a good kid trying to make it through a tough school. He was generally a bully target, and he had a hard time dealing with it. My heart went out to the kid, because I had been through the same thing. So there he was, past all of that and successful. It was an absolute joy to see. It was a full circle kind of a thing, and one of those small reminders that as monotonous and hellish as my job can seem, we are doing a modicum of good out there. Moments like these are why I got into this field in the first place. I just wish moments like this weren't so rare, but it makes them all the more of a treasure when they do happen. | | Sunday, September 6th, 2009 | | 12:52 am |
Rant Du' Jour
This one comes from reading the paper today (why I bother is beyond me, but I love the comics). Healthcare Insurance debate! And here's why Healthcare is broken: Free market capitalism. In the end of all things (almost literally), Healthcare institutions are out there to make a profit. Other companies (supply companies, scam artists...I mean insurance companies, medical equipment companies) exist on their periphary to make a profit. All of these combined capitalize on the simple fact of life that each person, or someone close to them, will more than likely get sick or hurt someday, and most of us will definitely get old and die. Healthcare is a perfect little business opportunity to cash in on those wee little fact of life, and of course the money makers of the industry don't want to let that go. It's a hell of a lot more blatant when you work inside the system, too (Twelve fucking bucks for a chapstick tube? I shit you not). I understand the premise of the free market in America and the right for businesses to make a profit. Where do you set a limit, though? How can you define that freedom ethically around an industry that literally affects life and death? Where do you say "Enough is enough!" and give people the right to seek the means to better health without having to worry about being buried under the cost? I think these are the unasked questions, rather than how can government interventions affect the insurance costs of it all. What needs to be done is cost reduction for healthcare as a whole, not just the insurance. How that can be done? I'm not entirely too sure, but a good step would be to come down on the profit moguls. If someone did that, though, I'm pretty sure that the great American business institution would bury them in a heartbeat. Insurance seems little more than a scam to me. Here's a business that is in the business of paying your costs while ghosting more numbers onto it, in order to get their own slice. The sick part is that within Healthcare, the insurance decisions superceed that of any care giver or physician (I've seen it far too much where a patient in genuine need is denied care due to insurance, but then we get the absurd little asshole for a few days while his parents flee to Flordia for the weekend, and all involved pretty much ignore the treatment options). The American economy is built upon these debts and numbers, too, which scares me. So as in a lot of things in Healthcare, I think people are only looking to treat the symptoms and not the disease. Here's to it, though! I just hope it doesn't become further broken. ...and if one more motherfucker brings up Abortion in regards to it... Pure and simple. People should have a right to their own bodies, ergo the right to an abortion. Personally, I don't like the all of the moral implications involved and I would genuinely fear that if made legal, Abortion would be abused as just another form of birth control, but alas, if people want to choose that, so be it. Since doctors who have taken the hippocratic oath technically can't peform an abortion (they've sworn to save lives, even unborn ones (This has come up several times at my hospital (catholic run factor aside. Lots of non-catholics here)), train un-oathed specialists. I'd rather see sanctioned clinics than chop shops (too many horror stories, there). As for who has say so, it's the mother's body. Swimmers are only on loan, fellas. Anyways, rant complete. On happier notes, it was a good Friday of drinking and merriment, and the weekend isn't even over yet. | | Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 | | 3:43 am |
Random post that went BOOM. Dunno why
Just felt like posting. Nothing new to report, really. Work is still work (still working is a good thing, too), the job hunt still sucks, still have been lazy as Hell, and I haven't bought a snake or a pacman frog yet (I did drop some serious cash on my turtle for a better setup, though. Little bugger already seems more healthy and perky). Bernice is still quite awesome, and I find myself growing ever more into her family. *RANT ALERT* ...my fingers took control for a bit, and KABLOOEY. I guess that the following needed out, and I hadn't intended for this to be a big post, just a small update! Warning: This is a really long one, and I'm too lazy atm to figure out how to squeeze it into a link, so read at your own peril. This week, I'm tired of idealists who try and fail to hide a heart full of hatred and intolerance, especially if they claim the opposite. Then again, our society is built to piss people off, stuff them full of pride (I.E. "You're more special/deserving than everyone else because of *insert reason/twisted value here*, or you're more intelligent X than because of Y"), and then shove them off in a corner. The danger therin is that some of these little cornered types then grow up to be angry fanatics who would do little else than claim open-mindedness while their only real grasp on being 'open-minded' is having others think just like them. Lets not forget that they seem to have to go about making attacks on big institutions or generalized social groups (the proverbial masses, really, which no one is every truly brave enough to admit that they're a part of), complete with what I'm sure are well thought out and researched facts gleaned from the infallable and completely verified Internet. It's funny to watch them fail, too, because then all the fun little condemning comes out (everything from the proverbial "You're going to Hell!" or the "You're not one of me, how can you understand?") The ideal itself doesn't matter, either. These folks are everywhere, in every creed, color, lifestyle, and social group, and they serve nothing more than to both keep people separated through vanity and hatred, and then set horrible examples for whatever ideal they represent. I could really keep going with this rant (how people twist ideals to meet their own ends, how they will play stereotypes into condeming others, it goes on and there's a good few thousand years (how long have we really been around?) worth of history on it), but I choose not too atm. To these folks I say thank you for further ruining any chance at honest open-mindedness and thank you for further separating us as people. Please, go die in a fire. For those who have to force ideals on others using force, congratulations on your weakness, and you're doomed to fall in the same way someday. Here's the other kicker. America has tons of flaws, as anyone can see. I could get into a ton of shit I hate about this country, but here is what I like about it: We're free to keep our own ideals. We're free to congregate with others who share the same views. We're free to be as zealous or as laid back, as smart or as ignorant as we choose to be, and for me, that's something that you can't put a price tag on. Don't like someone else's view? You may walk away. Don't like a church? The door is on the left, and there's another down the street. Don't like the way a politician is doing something? We can write and bitch and do all sorts of things. We may not be able to change the polotics, but we can at least speak out without fear of immediate reprisal, like a bullet, a bomb, or jail time. We even can use mediums like this to post rants like this, about damn near anything we want! The downside here, though, is that the fanatics can form bigger groups, and stupid people in numbers are capable of quite a variety of things. That could entail another rant about personal responsibility and people thinking for themselves, but people really hate the first one, and the second one is slightly more common than common sense. The underlying issue sparking the rant here is people forcing ideals on others. Economics is another deal when it comes to freedom, but that's someone else's game, and a different rant. I don't have the energy for that one. As for what open-mindeness is? For me, it's finding one's own way, being happy for others who seek their own way, and freely exchanging ideas (debate doesn't count here, because technically, debate is competition. Free exchange is more along the lines of simple presentation). I don't believe that someone can truly be wrong (even the idiot who blows himself up because the cleric down the street told him too is right in his own mind), and everyone is entitled to their own opinions. If I don't like someone's opinion, I simply don't have to deal with it (Sadly, that's not the case for everyone. Some of the afformentioned fanatics managed to gain power and either turn their ideals into law or found other creative ways to force ideals onto others. It's not just old, white, WASP farts in America, either). If they try to force it on me, I will retort (or run, depending on what they're armed with). I believe that people betray the concept of open-mindedness when they begin condeming others, or being forceful. That's something I have little to no stomach for. People can be open-minded and keep their own beliefs at the same time. Going back to those friendly little fanatics, I don't think that many of them truly believe that. You HAVE to think like them, or concede to them that they're more correct than you are, or else. This all being said, I try to surround myself with people whom I believe are truly open-minded. I have friends all over the social board, and if anything, it makes life fun, interesting, and all the more enriching. As for folks who I can't stand or those who hold ideals that I wouldn't like, I exercise that whole "Walk away" freedom. In the end, you can't change a person unless they choose to change, and as for our country? Well, time will tell, but I'm here, I love the bits of freedom that I do have, and until something better (hopefully not worse) comes along, it's what we have. So yeah, that bugger needed out. Wow. I need a cigarette now or something. | | Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 | | 1:32 am |
The Big Crapple
So lotsa updates, I 'spose. Went to Renn Faire with Bernice, the kids, Gypsy, her hubby, and a pile of other folks. For the most part, we split up and did our own things, but everyone had a BLAST (I may try to get pics on here). The kids were psyched, we got Bernice into a low cut dress, and I managed not to spend the usual, retarded amount of money that I usually do. The kids already want to go again. The rest of the week was bliss. I had much time off work, and I spent most of it doing nothing or hanging out with Bernice. And Jimu, if you are reading this, I need to add an addendum to your letter to the creators of heroine and crack in regards to Sims 3. You were right. You were absolutely right. Now, to explain the header. My week ended with a blitzkreig trip to Long Island, New York, in order to go to my cousin Jason's wedding. I don't talk to the guy enough, but he is one of my favorite cousins, so I couldn't miss it. The flight was nice, but the weather sucked, the driving sucked, there were small bits of family drama, mostly concerning my Aunt and her brother, which sucked, and then I was a luggage bitch/wheelchair man (do NOT get me started there)/driver, which sucked. It was good to see old family again, but for the most part, it sucked. On brighter notes, I got to see the ocean, and holy shit those people out there can party. About that party, at Jason's wedding reception, I don't think I've ever seen that much food. It started off with a cocktail hour in a gigantic room with ordeurves. By ordeurves, I mean a room that had buffet tables on three sides, two bars, and a round buffet table in the middle. There was EVERYTHING. All kinds of meats, cheeses, seafood (whole boiled lobsters. As an ordeurve. I shit you not), pasta, bread, fruit, veggies, shishkebabs, pierogi, you name it. I had to remind myself that this wasn't even the wedding meal yet. It was also the first and last time that I tried oysters. After that, it was into the main reception hall for more food, and hour of dancing, then salads, then dancing, then another appetizer, then dancing, then the main dish, then traditional wedding stuff and dancing. Did I mention I was drinking this whole time (I even taught the bartender how to make Irish Funerals), but given the amount of grub around, I was hardly phased? Then came desert time, and everyone thought "Oh okay, coffee and wedding cake!". Nooooooooo. They wheeled out two gigantic tables, one which had damn near every kind of desert you can think of, from ice cream, to cakes, to creme brule (my favorite), to candied bananas, and then another table which had all sorts of stuff that you could dip in a 3 foot high chocolate fondue fountain. All of the kids that were present went apeshit. They also had a popcorn machine and a cotton candy machine. All I could say was "Holy shit". Even the next morning, my cousin arranged with our hotel that all wedding guests staying there got a free breakfast buffet (I only had a slice of cantelope. Was all I could fit!). I think I had a food hangover. Several other people had regular hangovers. But holy shit, it was a party. Other than that, it's business as usual. Batman Arkham Asylum kicks ass, and is further impeding my job and certification efforts (using efforts as of late as a very loose term). | | Saturday, August 15th, 2009 | | 3:46 am |
Giggedy giggedy sword!
We go to Rennaisance Faire in Bristol, Wisconsin on Sunday. Been looking forward to it damn near all year. I'm dragging Bernice and the kids, too. They shall see me in full dork glory! I'd say I will post pictures here, but I tend to get lazy about that kind of thing. We'll see :) | | Thursday, August 6th, 2009 | | 2:10 am |
Tempus fugit
Yep. 30. As of August 3rd. Spent most of the day in a medicated haze. Told work (politely and not in the exact words) to fuck off for a night, went and saw my doctor, then tried to cure a raging sinus infection with steak and good company. Both of the latter were quite awesome (thank you again, Alizgarn, if you still are poking about LJ), but didn't cure the sinus infection. Bernice found the action figure for The Chamberlain from the Dark Crystal, which was friggin' full of awesome (I am a Dark Crystal freak, mind you). Had cake and a beer, but didn't finish it because there was an actual piece of hops milling around in it. Other than that, I just slept. A lot. Good birthday by any account, really, minus sinus pain. | | Friday, July 31st, 2009 | | 5:39 am |
More Human Than Human?
So, work lately has been one of two things. It has either been nonexistant because of hours cuts (day off = yay, but the induced poverty = not so yay), or the flip side of the coin, dealing with some of the worst psychotics that I have ever seen. Rant 1: What do we do with these hardcore psychotics? We're talking about someone who is barely recognizable as human in a human body. No control over thoughts, actions, or even basic biological functions. Seriously. One example (there have been several at work lately) had to remain restrained for 20+ hours. That's a record. Now, contemporary society calls for some moral, humanistic approach. Whatever the creedence is "Oh, they're human! Poor thing! Be nice to them! Cure them!". A quote comes to mind, from a one Dr. Hannibal Lecter, commenting on his own condition: "A rational society would have found some use for me or destroyed me." (Can't remember if that one was from Red Dragon or Silence of the Lambs). People seem to intrinsically demand some kind of humanistic approach to everything these days, when in earlier eras, people like those afformentioned psychotics would have probably been put to the sword in some form or another, or die in the wilds due to their inability to support themselves. Today, they become afterthoughts of state budgeting in order to simply contain them or test out some pharmacudical market on. To those around them, they become a black hole of time, energy, emotion, and often, money while at the same time being an icon of some semblance of moral piety. Call me cynnical, burned out, or anything else and you're probably right, but I've seen far too many cases of people being reduced to something less than human, whatever the cause. All we do is simply contain them. Is that even living? Sure, some of them make breakthroughs and clear up, comparitively, but the instant they come off a buffet of chemicals, they revert. Mind you, when not contained, these people are out among you :) But these are the same creatures that shoot up schools, or rape someone, or crap on a sidewalk. Call me darkened even, but why do we not just simply destroy them? That's how I bloody feel this week. I guess I'm just tired of being on the frontlines for people like this, and even a bit frightened when I see one let back into the world. I hate hanging out in some parts of Indiana for fear of running into old patients. It's happened at least once to all of us (in my two cases, one was a passing nod, the other was the parent of a patient at my favorite bloody bar, whom I managed to dodge). I ran out of steam for another rant, but that needed out. I may rethink it later, and go back to some of my more moral roots, but yeah. I'm freaking burned out at my job, bottom line. | | 5:22 am |
Updates n such
Just reporting in. Not a whole lot to say, really. Bernice is still wonderful, and I'm growing into a big part of her family. Her Mom thinks I'm moving in (not yet, but perhaps someday), my Aunt thinks I'm moving out, and I'm on hugging basis with both kids now. They're still kind of getting used to me, B told me, because unlike many of the adult males in their life, I don't yell at them. Kinda sad. They do know when I mean business, though. I get sharp with them, but I've never yelled. They're good kids though. Still job searching. The market is bone dry for IT, though, at least for the lowly entry level person such as myself. I've been damned lazy about getting my certs, which doesn't help. Soldering on there, though. Obama needs to save the country faster (j/k. Poor mook is busy as is.) I fucking hate my job, but that is a rant for a completely different post, which will be a seething, firey rant about human stupidity, the dichotomy of humanitarianism, and maybe even a middle finger at certain morals. More on that later. Been lazy as hell and playing too many video games, then spending money on stupid shit all summer. I figure, it's the summer of my 30th birthday, which I will spend working. Fuck it. | | Monday, June 15th, 2009 | | 1:29 am |
Yada yada yada
Felt like posting. This post was almost going to be a seething rant about the usual human stupidity, if anything because I was silly enough to buy and read a newspaper today, but I simply don't have the energy. In short, humans are stupid, but most especially are the ones that think they're not. Moving on... The birthday season on Bernice's side has come and gone, and with great success. I got Liam a huge book on Dinosaurs (It was huge in both content and stature. Damn thing was nearly half as tall as he was), nerf gun ammo (the kid has an arsenal), and a little dinosaur dig thingy. Bernice I embarrased with balloons when our shift went out to breakfast, then got her a movie, a T-shirt, and lots of Steve. No, she couldn't return the latter. With Eva, I got lucky. Even Bernice said that she can be tough to buy things for, but in the last minute, she developed a huge liking for the Fantastic Four. It made my life Hella easier, so I simply got her both of the movies, and then a mini-lava lamp. As a treat for everybody, I dragged them all to Medieval Times, which is more or less a jousting dinner show. There's a nifty story, lights, action, sparks, fighting, and the food was pretty good. The kids absolutely loved it, although our knight (you get 'assigned' a knight via the color of the section that you're seated in) got his ass kicked. Was an ugly dent to the wallet, but worth every cent. Also, the way I see it, is this is cross training for Renn Faire, which I intend to drag them to as well (Me, Gypsy, and Gypsy's hubby are on a mission to get Bernice into a corset. Bernice is...*aherm*...gifted). Been failing on a ton of other birthdays, though, mostly due to a wonky work schedule. That, however, is only going to get more wonky. My boss is cutting hours at work, and ridiculously so. I'll admit, I've been lazy as Hell when it comes to searching, AND my certification testing. I really need to put down the video games and take this as a spur to get off my ass and get hunting. The market is scary to say the least, but persistence helps. I just need to persist in the persistence and I'm too busy procrastinating. Other than that, it's going to be an interesting week. Lots of peeps from WoW are coming up here for the semi-annual get together ('BOUT TIME!), though the struggling economy is keeping several of them at home. Kinda depressing there, but it still promises to be a good time, albeit a spagetti bowl of a scheduling smatter. Lots of folks want to see bits of the city, too. We shall see. There might even be a celebrity guest appearance by my morbidly obese cat, whom I should bathe at some point this week (I shoulda stolen some armor from one of the Medieval Times guys). Asides from a touch of local drama (got a person with a worsening, shitty attitude that has been crunching tons of toes lately. Film at 11 if I ever feel like elaborating), a messy house, and really, just the usual, life isn't too shabby. | | Sunday, May 31st, 2009 | | 1:53 am |
Damn fascinating...
So kids, there are 20 psychiatrists out there tasked with evaluating the DSM - IV (For those who don't know, it's the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders), rehashing it, and deciding what will be put into the DSM - V. The DSM is more or less the holy bible of psychiatry. It defines, outlines, and gives diagnostic tips about all of the 'known' mental disorders out there. Anyspew, one thing that came up for inclusion in the next edition (due to release in 2012) was bitterness as a mental disorder. The DSM revision is something that's been gossiped about, but here's an article that addresses bitterness: http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-bitterness25-2009may25,0,4544029.storyAlmost hate to say it, but I know a shit ton of people like this. Would I personally go as far as to say that it's a mental disorder? Well, in some cases, maybe. If it impedes someone from functioning at certain levels, then yes (this also opens a whole new can of worms when it comes to sociality and functionality, but I'm pretty sure that the textbook cases here would say that everyone else is doing it wrong). I'm not so sure about the going postal aspect of the article, but I have seen plenty of the attitude that everyone else is wrong/dumber/meaner/whatever, and that the world needs to either repay some slight or raise to some lofty standard to appease the sufferer. The PTSD angle makes a little sense, once you've seen a broad spectrum of that disorder (opens up yet another can of worms that goes along the lines of stressors, percieved stressors, and triggering events). I've always found Psychology to be fascinating because it's part science, part philosophy (ergo shitloads of speculation). On one hand, it disgusts me that there are a bunch of dusty scientists flouncing about, deciding the fate of several others based on such a speculation (and whatever the pharmacudical companies are paying out that week), but on the other hand, I love the explorations into human nature (you silly little humans can be so damn amusing), and some of this shit is actually helpful once in awhile. | | Thursday, May 28th, 2009 | | 5:15 am |
Epic failure
I sometimes wonder how the psych deparment in my hospital survives, but then, we're one of the few that exists in this area. Many of you who hang out with me regularly have probably heard me describe my job as one of those "Ya know how people say it's better to be pissed off than to be pissed on? Well, I've had both!". It's fitting, though one particular patient always comes to mind when I mention that, as he would sometimes greet people by peeing wherever he happened to be at the time. Well, we got him back. Now enter the epic fail. We're really not equipped to handle this kid. He's a full blown schitzophrenic (fuck spelling atm), and really needs intensive care. Well, we have an intensive care unit on the adult side of things, and so he was sent there. The epic fail was not quite that they abused him, but whoever had that shift, they royally dropped the ball. They treated him more like a troublesome kindergardener than a psych patient (fine line at times, but there's theraputic value to be considered), and behaved more like a grumpy med unit than a psych unit. The doctor about flipped out, as he should have, and sent the patient right back to us. Puts us in a fix with him, but we were taking better care of him. This was a monumental fail on the adult unit's part, and if it was who I thought it was on that shift, someone damn well better be fired. Now, we'll get stuck with this kid until either the meds clear him up (unlikely) or another facility takes him, which means about a good month of paperwork and other beaurocratic hoop-jumping. This whole scenario is one of the many reasons why I hate my job, and have more or less burned out on the field. Embryos, idiots, and the great American beaurocracy, a rusty old system of checks, no balances, middlemen who serve no purpose, and all in the name of some off-humanitarian system that is anything but human. These kids are in place for the system, rather than the system being in place for them, and it's still more fumbling with the age-old question of just what to do with the insane and mentally disabled. Then again, for every three kids we get who have genuine issues, we get about fifteen idiots who will keep on coming back here until they're old enough to go to jail, or until a substance abuse finally kills them in one form or another. Well, time to kill this rant, but it's another one that needed out. | | Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 | | 6:36 am |
GAAAAAH
You know, here was another thing about today. Everything went the bloody opposite of what I hoped for. Wanted to see Terminator today. Had to wait for a repair guy to come to the house for the dryer. Didn't want to deal with dumb hours at work. Got called in early. Wanted a peaceful night at work. We ended up soft restraining a patient about an hour into my shift. Hoped that the morning wouldn't get any noiser. Epic fail on account of chatty phlebotomists waking up chatty patients, and a cleaning woman who loved to slam shit around. So, all of that being said, I am NOT going to win the Lottery today. *note to self, buy ticket* | | 6:26 am |
| | 5:22 am |
Why the "Destroy the World!" button isn't in my hands...
It's just one of those days. I've typed and deleted two gigantic and very seething rants so far. I'm going to attempt to sum up. I hate people. So many that I've come across in both work and life have been little more than selfish, arrogant little spots that are too lazy to either embrace something higher than themselves or transcend from what is obviously a self-sabotaging lifestyle. Many of these are miserable little piles of excuses or ignorance, and were more than likely created by a person just like them. I keep the ones that I think are exceptions (or have a decent potential) around. Mostly, I see this at work all the time, and it adds a higher level of stress to a job that already has most of the American gothic in place (dumb bosses, dumb hours, pay rates, greedy corporations, like I said, the usual). I got into the field thinking that I could make a difference, but it's like trying to hold back a tsunamic with a sandbox pail. Things seem to want to remain broken, because if they're fixed, it means that the arrogant people were wrong about everyone else being worse than they were, and greedy people can no longer capitalize on that. I gotta kill this rant. But yeah, just one of those days. | | Saturday, May 16th, 2009 | | 1:00 am |
Yada yada yada
I can never think of good headers for these damn things. Anyways, DeVry is DONE. DONE DONE DONE. Now, the great job hunt begins. The DeVry Career Services FINALLY came through. Apparantly they don't like you much until you graduate. Still, they're on the asist, and I just need to be on the attack. I'm scared shitless of the job market, but I'm gonna soldier on. My first week of academic freedom was met with much laziness, though. I bloody worked every other day, and given that it was 3rd shift on and off, it has been Hell on my system. Still, got a career fair on Tuesday, and I need a new suit. No interesting leads, thus far, though. One of my "in" people got laid off, and the other, his company is on a hiring freeze. DeVry was anything if not one of the most poorly timed ventures of my life, but still, I intend to make the most of it. Bernice and the kids are still great, though got a ton of birthdays coming up now. All three of them are within a month of each other. The boy likes dinosaurs and destructive things, so that's easy enough. B likes old bands and other ... stuff, so that's easy enough. I just need to figure out what Eva likes. So far, she seems like a future goth chick in the making (NOT emo. Goth. She's pretty damn smart, isn't afraid to tell the status quo to go do lewd things to itself, and she has a dark sense of humor for an 8 year old. Creative patricide jokes and skeletons get her every time), so if I go with anything Tim Burtonesque, I should be okay. Susan is FINALLY getting off her ass and seeking further medical attention. She's still a lump of frustration to deal with, but we're working on getting her more of her old independence back. I think that will help matters of sanity GREATLY. The rest is just video games and attempting to excercise more. Those don't always go well together, but the former allows me to at least make contact with the career MMO players I know. | | Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 | | 1:09 am |
The Dark Lord INTOXICATES thee!!
I got my batch of Dark Lord, and it is good. I also got an awesome hoodie, though in retrospect, 'shoulda gone with a T-shirt, given that better weather just might be heading into the area. Already down five bottles, though, and mostly from sharing. The others will be guarded lethally. Went to Orious' party then Bernice's house for the rest of the weekend. I still wonder how I managed to remain standing. Not sleeping for nearly two days straight, then doing lots of stuff != wise, but then it tends to be one of my usual MOs. I love 5 Hour Energy. Still, had good beer, good company, and God willing, even managed to catch a largemouth bass and look like quite the fishing hero in front of the kids on Sunday. Don't worry, they'll learn. That was probably my one fish for the year. | | Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 | | 3:32 am |
Doh!
So in closing (I'm at work not-so-calmly awaiting my very last final exam on my very last day as a wrung-out student at DeVry), DeVry sucks ass. It sucks so much ass that it warrants a cheesy nickname that the kids will love, like Dust Donkey, or He-haw Hoover, or Great Big Vacuum Cleaner That Sucks on Ass. Damn near every point they sold me on was chalked full of failure, and the quality of education that they spit out now is trifling at best. Did I mention they're jacking up the tuition, too? I returned to (one of) my old schools, South Suburban College, and found out that they offered certification courses that didn't get you an official degree, but shunted you straight to the major IT certifications. I also learned that several of these major IT certifications have more market value than the bachellor's degree that DeVry offered. Did I mention that SSC offered such at a third of the price of DeVry, too? So, to quote one of my favorite Robot Chicken episodes, "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK oh FUCK!!" ~ Mummra as Mrs. Mumbletipeg. Ah well. DeVry wasn't a complete loss. I have yet another piece of paper that may or may not help me find another dead end job, and I am more than cert ready. I just hope that's enough, but as far as continuing my education with DeVry? Yeah fuck that. Unless I get lucky enough to work within a company that will send me there on their dime, fuck DeVry. As for now, the great job hunt begins. I'll need a bazooka... On brighter notes, I scrapped the snake idea (for now) and bought myself an LCD TV as a graduation present. It has done little to stall my currently growing X-Box addiction (I can actually read text in several games that I couldn't before!), and graphically, it makes the 360 sing. Sorry, Gypsy, I just don't have the room for that beast of a CRT that you guys are trying to get rid of. Good deeds do sometimes have a way of getting back to you, a belief that I've actually had difficulty keeping at times. There's this beer called Dark Lord, and it's some PHENOMENAL shit. It's made by a local brewery called Three Floyds, and it has won national and international titles, the latter being an honor for an American microbrewery. They only release the stuff to the public once a year (this coming Saturday), and the demand has been colossal. Last year, they sold out pretty damn fast. This year, they implemented a ticket system, in which you had to buy a gimmicky golden ticket, just for the right to buy the beer itself. Yes, a little cheesy, but this crap is worth it, for a beer hound. Anyways, the good deed part came in when one of my oldest friends, whom I occasionally home brew with, missed his chance to get tickets by a half hour (all of the tickets had sold out by about 7:00am the day of their release). I landed two of them, the max per buyer, and it felt wrong to have my old friend miss it, so I gave him one of mine. Anyways, later on, one of the ladies and fellow beer hounds that I work with had a spare ticket that she no longer intended to use, so Bernice snagged it for me. I still retain my two tickets, and my friend will still get his shot, too. What went around came back around and instead of biting me in the ass, it's going to bite me in the liver. Dunno. Just thought that was a positive tidbit to share :) Other than that, the Aunt situation remains unchanged, Bernice is still the epitome of awesome, and once school is done, I will definitely be needing some world class beer. | | Sunday, April 19th, 2009 | | 3:35 am |
| | Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | | 4:37 am |
Gettin' Lucky in Kentucky
So. Vacation was AWESOME!!! I had one of those "Didn't know how empty my cup was until it was filled" moments. Holy shit I needed the escape. Didn't really know how badly until I had it. Being with Bernice and the kids all week was great! My usual standoffishness didn't kick in, either, though I got a crash course in what six-year olds can be like (and if memory serves, as it rarely does, I was quite the little shit myself back in those days). They're great kids, really, asides from a touch of sibling rivalry. Bernice was awesome, as always (and not just because of the title of this posting =P She really is a GREAT lady with a heart that's bigger than...well...something really huge). Carter Caves resort was beautiful. Kentucky really is a beautiful state, and while our lodgings were pretty modern (seriously. The 'cabin' we were in was a miniature house, with full hotel services and everything but its own laundry, pretty much. Anything rustic or with a camping feeling was out, but in all honesty, I didn't care :) ), the area we were in seemed a bit removed from time, and was chalk full of natural beauty. The weather sucked for the first day, but we went into a cave, and pretty much just hung around the resort, mostly. Liam, B's son, got to abuse the TV that day. Eva, B's daughter, and I were completely anti TV. That's not what you go on vacation for! I didn't even care that I was away from computers for a week, asides from one jaunt on the laptop to keep up with my class. As many of you 'prolly know, kids keep you busy! We saw other caves with hybernating bats, we did manage to go fishing (didn't catch a darn thing, but we went for the experience!), went to a kids museum and a candy factory in Lexington, and more. On the way home, we stopped in Louisville, and we got to go to the Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat factory. THAT was awesome. We got to see the factory, rifle through the personal bat stashes of the likes of Ken Griffey Jr. and Paul Konerko, and even try different bats that were modeled for specific players in batting cages (I HAD to try the Babe Ruth model, but it was made after the old hickory bats, which are heavy as Hell. Ruth had to be one strong mofo to hit like he did). So, all in all, it was my first extended stay with the family, and I loved every second of it. The kids had a way of melting any aggrivation away with their antics. It was wonderful to be with Bernice for all that time. (Yeah yeah, any more sappy and I'll be a maple tree, but I'll just throw squirrels at you then). As for pictures, still working on that bit. I'll have 'em up eventually. I can't wait to do this again! Haven't really slept well since I got home, because as soon as I hit that door it was back to needy aunts, holidays, and friggin jury duty. I think I shall sleep on Wednesday. Still, was worth every second. | | 4:35 am |
What Big Cat Are You?
| You Are a Jaguar |  You have a knack for reforming, balancing, and even healing people.
You see the good in everyone, and you help bad people learn to be better.
Even though you connect to people, you can't help but feel separate from everyone else.
You often feel like you are on the outside looking in, even with your closest family members and friends. |
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