rejuvinate

sp?

i'm gonna start posting to my other two blogs more...stay tuned.

beef jerky and SCOTCH

so i have this problem. my parents for some odd reason collected like 3 bottles of horrible scotch. of course a scotch drinker might think they're not horrible but the i only like scotch when it starts costing about $40 a bottle, and god knows i can't afford that (i drink jack daniels for christsake).

BUT

i've discovered that beef jerky taste DAMN good with beef muthafuckin' JERKY.

in case you haven't noticed i'm drunk...but there's still jerky. so i can keep drinking the scotch.

so i was thinking, next time i get a chance to throw a party i'm throwing a scotch slash beef jerky slash red wine (for the ladies) party.

how great would that be?



spectacular.

housing woes

sooooo we finally took that first step and set up a few appointments to see some houses. to refresh, me and three friends (two high school friends, moani and vicki, and vicki's fiancee, eric) are lookin' to rent a place for the next long while starting around january sometime. i'm psyched, 'cause that means i get to live with good friends that i like spending time with instead of random strangers. grad housing isn't exactly a priority to most schools it seems, and especially not UH, so most grad students end up renting a room in a shared house around UH. i'm going back to school, eric's in school, and moani and vicki are graduating this semester...and all three of them work (parttime) at PBS...across the street from school. so it is in our best interests to get as close as we can to school. it cost me about $55 to fill up my tank these days :) shit.

either way, we booked 3 appointments for yesterday afternoon, the first one was a hell no. beautiful...big...spacious...but fuckin' NO parking. well, there were two parking spots (one could only barely fit raimi) and NO street parking. we have three cars. and we will have parties. boot that one.

next one...cool place, BIG backyard with a HUGE patio area, lotsa storage space, lotsa parking...but there's a downstairs tenant and of course, the palolo projects across the street as WELL as an elementary school...so fuckin' kids screaming at some afterschool program and a lotta people just...hangin' out. it was cheap, though *shrugs* we're keeping it in the back of uor minds but we have LOTS of time.

next was just a driveby of this place on kahala ave. (ritzy area) in a "gated complex"...it was weird. looked like about six houses in a complex called "kahala villas"...looked like ample parking in a big driveway/patio carport type thing...lots trees so some semblance of privacy between units i suppose...and oh, yeah, a private driveway and path to a cute little secluded beach where there were actually decent looking waves breaking on an outside reef. goddamn. unfortunately really expensive...i don't think we're gonna call back.

aaaan dthe last appointment....the gem...the beauty...the house we dreamed of that we probably can't get. we're starting to look about a month before we're looking to move. it's available now for a ridiculously low price for the quality of this place...so it'll go fast, but we'll put in an application anyway. maybe he really really liked us, haha.

and the hunt continues. listings come out on sunday and wednesday, today didn't have a whole lot so we decided to relax a little and wait 'till next sunday to try a few more. this is a pain in the ass.

transitions bite.

fuckin' electronix

and this is fun to me....

so tam's camera went kaput (sp?) and it wouldn't turn off and allow the lens to close (one'a those sliding cover types). i figured it was a simple problem with the switch not functioning properly...mechanically. and i was right. this little plastic gear in the rickety (SP?) sliding door mechanism had broken into two and jammed itself inbetween the switch and the thing that was supposed to trip the switch, so it wouldn't turn off and the lens was stuck out.

get the gear out, sliding door works alright without it, switch works perfectly and everything's in order. so i take out the batter and proceed to put it back together. a dozen miniature screws later and i pop the battery back in, open the sliding door....and nothing. somehow the ENTIRE CAMERA IS DEAD!!! fuck. i open it up to make sure the battery's givin' the board juice, it is...no juice to the motor. USB connection doesn't turn on review mode (it should automatically)...NOTHING. fuck. i was so psyched that i'd fixed it! and then it turns out i've made it worse. sorry tam! (she said she's gonna take it in)

and then...today (that was all yesterday) i decide to FINALLY fix raimi's right blinker. something wasn't connecting right so it would just stay on instead of blink (usually that's how your car tells you a light's broken). so i take it apart, look around for anything fried or corroded, don't find anything, decide to test something with a metal plate i found not connected to anything (thinking it's a ground i was gonna patch it in directly)...and yeah...suddenly the thing works without my having done anything but poke around with a screwdriver.

i love electronix. but more like a diseased parakeet. secretly you want it to die but in the meantime you love him.


RIP jack.

prep0

math: 770
verbal: 580

totally decent. fuckin' DONE.


i found the dark pheonix saga in a box...nice.


jazz and blues today

prep2

i'd forgotten to mention that i was supposed to have taken the GRE about 2 weeks ago. at least that's the amount of time i'd asked the graduate chair for to prepare for it. he responded with "that's fine, just get me your scores when you have them." i took that to mean, "yeah, whatever." is that wrong? haha. they still don't seem to care.

either way, i got one'a those dandy GRE prep books from the princeton review complete with CD and online capabilities...started on the "4 week study program" and promptly gave up after a week and a half when i started my first set of vocab words. and let it sit for two more weeks after that :) of course, in my weak attempt to study i proceeed to put my dandy prep book in my bag everytime i went somewhere i might have some downtime to study.

what did that accomplish? nothing.

in fact, less than nothing. at some point in my travels, i seem to have smashed the CD. it's still in one piece...but cracked completely through from edge to center along one line. interseting how that happened...but the point is it doesn't work. i taped it together and tried it anyway and it froze my computer a bit...haha. at least there was an online test i could take. and they said i could take it multiple times because being a "computer adaptive test" it should change. sooo i just sat down (it's 11pm) to practice second round and the first three questions are the same. so i'm giving up, haha. i'll take some of the written questions tomorrow morning and in i go.

wish me luck.


good intentions

prep

sooooo i have my GRE tomorrow. i took a practice test and got a 710 on math and 570 verbal...the math's pretty much what my SAT's were i think, the math, however, HAHA. dumb mistakes. ended up actually being rushed at the end 'cause i got pissed off at one question i couldn't figure out by algebra but found an answer plugging and chugging...and spent two minutes on it trying to make the algebra work....oops. the whole "can't go back" thing...meh. now i know. a day before the test :)

i'm debating how much i actually want to read about taking the essay part...that's the one part i haven't hit yet. prolly take one more practice test and get a good night's sleep.

either way, looked up scores and even the ones i got on that first one weren't far from most averages i found. above most of the averages i found. and oh, yeah, nobody at UH seems to give a shit WHAT my scores are. gotta love how Columbia University speaks for itself, no? I used to wonder if i would've been better off saving myself and my parents the money and attended a cheaper school...i know now that going to columbia and working hard IS paying off now, though. that's a lotta cheese but hey, it's true. i got my old job almost exclusively based on my B+ average at columbia, and no doubt got most of my job interviews based on that as well. my work experience at that point wasn't exactly impressive...

i guess i'll have something to teach my kids someday.


scribble

REMEMBER THE DISCTHONG.

 

this is the schloup....a kind of trophy for the winner of any large-scale ultimate party. of course to start any party the schloup gets ho'd out. that shot glass there is glued to this nightstand (stands maybe waist high) and it is considered godly to shoot the schloup with one hand...which i apparently did an exemplary job of. i made the front page of the "hammer examiner"....a league newspaper of sorts that was run by a secret staff every week of league. basically a heckling forum for a small group of writers....good fun!
 

Fun with lavarocks....this was in a lavafield near the ocean on the big island when i was working out there. i had no friends, i had lots of time...so i took pictures of myself, go figure...
 

ETS can kiss my ass

so i FINALLY registered for the goddamn GRE's. i love this. i'm not accepted to UH yet because i haven't taken the GRE (last piece of app.) but because they knew i was GOING to take it eventually (on my word) they considered me anyway for the Spring semester i was hoping for.

and i already have a professor interested in working with me in his research team and he's ALREADY found a TA position for me (tuition and salary!)...begs the question, why the fuck do i have to take this dumb test? oh well. so i'm taking it next tuesday. decided fuck it. i'm gonna give up on vocab. go through the rest of the test taking tips and fuck vocab. i did TRY to learn the vocab, even printed out flash cards...got through about half of the first list and just stopped studying altogether for about two weeks, haha. i hate vocab with a passion. especially when they're words that i've never seen and, after learning (okay reading) the definition, i have no desire to ever use.

i understand that certain words have very specific meanings...but at some point words are invented just to put fucking flowers and bowties on shitty ideas. too bad i have neither interesting words to use nor interesting ideas; you're just stuck here reading all the bullshit that comes pouring out of my mind :) i suppose i try to sound intersting...but of course i have to admit that i don't understand why i care so much about some of the shit i write anyway. i just do. lucky you. want some poo?

so yeah, looks like my life is coming together. all i nee dnow is a place to call home (for beau and i) and i'm on my way to avoiding any big decisions in my life for a good long while again :) i like the thought of that.

i need more time to consider the milk and cookies in front of me, after all.


creature comforts