Thanks to whoever modded me up in Leons' journal.

To celebrate my 21st on the 12th, I'm getting smashed tonight at a party. Well, I was going to do that anyway.

It's been a long year, and one of personal growth. I have blinder and sol to thank for a lot of that, without them writing their experiences down, I might not have been able to see what needed changing in my own life.

Didn't the sparc processor line die out this year as well? I think I should have taken that as an omen, my kitten, Sparc, had to be put down two days ago due to some obscure virus.

Making dinner tonight, no idea what to call it since I don't use a recipe, just make what tases good. Pasta that I'm flavoring with garlic& herb, topped with a white sauce of mushroom, 4 kinds of cheese, green and red bell peppers, onions, and then making chicken and putting that on top. Chicken will be cooked in oil and water in a pan with the veggies and such. Can't stand baked or grilled chicken, too dry.

So, whatever that's called is what I'm making. Never had a recipe, never wrote down what I do or put in it, just kinda make it. Seems to work out well, everybody that eats the food I cook enjoys it (at least while I'm in the room).

Have a happy new year everybody, and let's hope the next one is better than the previous, no matter how good the previous was.

UPDATE(01/01/2005): Happy new year. Aught 5 is here, let's make this one to remember.

Why am I posting instead of being drunk? Both parties I had planned on going to were cancelled. The last group that I could have gone with were going to an over-21-only party where they were checking ID at the door. So close, yet still 12 days away. Damn being born 14 days late!

My friend, Kellan. He's.. interesting. Bored at best. Anyway, in an effort to help him waste time, I showed him slashdot and gave him an essential list of people to friend. I figure he'll get the rest from there.

Give him a warm welcome.

I walked by today, and saw her in there. As she looked up, I smiled, but continued walking, and turned my vision to the path ahead.

I wanted to go in and say I'm sorry, I wanted to go in and say anything.

But I think it's better this way.

I turned my vision to the path ahead of me, instead of the pain behind.

That was fast.

<innocent>I'm not a power gamer.</innocent>

What are you all looking at?

I said stop staring!

That's it, I'm telling mom!

Sol! Tell them to stop staring at me!

But seriously, I just finished hl2. Would have been done a lot faster if it weren't for that damn job and those damn friends and that damn girl calling and saying "Come over to my house and we can have dinner" all pouty like.

If anybody else has finished it and is completely confused by the ending like I am, find me on AIM, my name there is synaestheticlife. Also find me there if you want game tips, spoilers, or just want to talk to some weirdo. Chances are, I'll be at the cyber cafe or a lan and there will be plenty weirdos to go around.

valve content server 27.

Yes, that's right, you now need to have an internet connection, install a special platform (and subsequently update said platform), register your product, and download the updates for a game that was late by OVER A YEAR in order to play it. In single player. Locally.

Oh, and we can't forget that we also had to update our video card drivers before being able to play.

I'm not bitter. I'm just on dialup. Someday I might actually get to play hl2. Someday.

Note: In the time it took me to write this rant, the rest of the content finished updating. Imma go play hl2 now.

just picked up my copy. i'm up for a multiplayer game whenever. gonna go grab my comp from home and bring it to the cyber cafe so i have a useable connection to update steam with.

Website: Skoorba
Artists: Avery Brooks, Natale Hull
Style: Downbeat, kinda blues-y, but still techno
Songs to check out: Burn, Beautiful Darkness, Streets.

Those are somewhat low quality sound files, mainly because they're flash resources, and you're not supposed to know about them :-O

I've been a fan of Avery Brooks for several years, and was checking up on his site when I found the link to that. I'm definitely liking this new style, anybody know of anything else with a sound like it?

I started one of my new jobs today. Working as a tech/counter guy for the local cyber cafe. Yes, I am now officially the simpsons comic book nerd, sans obesity.

Later this week, I will start another job as a delivery guy for the local cheese steak joint, and next week I will be doing delivery for the local deli as well.

Feels kinda odd, going from well over a year of no cell phone or job to having a cell phone again and starting three jobs within two weeks. At least I'll have income to buy toys again, instead of deciding whether to buy gas or food for a day :)

tomorrow. until sunday. will be in williamsburg area, visiting busch gardens. should be interesting, never been there before.

if anybody's in the area and wants to meet up while I'm there, reply to this JE. if I get the message, I'll email ya my cell number (got it yesterday, w00t. kinda. except that now people can call me again)

For those who wish to peer into my mind, here's my current winamp playlist, only including the songs I want to hear this week.

1. Dave Matthews Band - When The World Ends (Oakenfold (5:26)
2. Barenaked Ladies - I'll Be That Girl (3:33)
3. Skunk Anansie - Lately (3:53)
4. Powerman 5000 - The End Of Everything (3:09)
5. Puddle of Mudd - Blurry (5:03)
6. Puddle Of Mudd - Drift and Die (3:37)
7. Radiohead - Creep (3:56)
8. Rob Zombie - Never Gonna Stop (3:09)
9. Rufus Wainwright - Hallelujah (4:08)
10. Saliva - Always (3:49)
11. Seether - Fine Again (4:04)
12. Semisonic - Closing Time (4:32)
13. Showoff - Falling Star (3:59)
14. Showoff - Someone (3:09)
15. Showoff - Unspoken Words (2:28)
16. Smash Mouth - Fallen Horses (4:05)
17. Smash Mouth - Walking On The Sun (3:18)
18. Smash Mouth - Waste (3:27)
19. Limp Bizkit - Staind With Fred Durst - Outside (Bonus Track) (5:41)
20. They Might Be Giants - Experimental Film (2:56)
21. Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life.mp3 (4:28)
22. The Beatles - A Day In The Life (5:33)
23. Beatles - Eleanor Rigby (2:07)
24. Bloodhound Gang - I Hope You Die (3:39)
25. Blue Man Group - Sing Along (Feat Dave Matthews (3:25)
26. Counting Crows - Accidentally in Love (3:08)
27. Edie Brickell - Good Times (3:09)
28. Everlast - Put Your Lights On (4:44)
29. Five Pointe O - The Infinity (4:26)
30. Fuel - Shimmer (3:34)
31. GooGooDolls - Acoustic Number 3 (1:56)
32. GooGooDolls - Black Balloon (4:09)
33. Green Day - Misery (5:05)
34. Hed P.E. - Bad Dream (3:51)
35. Hed P.E. - Carnivale (4:01)
36. Hed P.E. - Get Away (3:24)
37. Hed P.E. - Half The Man (4:44)
38. Hed P.E. - Other Side (3:37)
39. Hed P.E. - The Meadow (4:32)
40. Hed P.E. - Tired of Sleep (4:02)
41. Jurassic 5 - Thin Line feat Nelly Furtado (4:46)
42. Limp Bizkit - Behind Blue Eyes (4:28)
43. Linken Park - Carousel (3:01)
44. Linkin Park - Cure for the Itch (2:37)
45. Linkin Park - Faint (2:42)
46. Linkin Park - Forgotten (3:14)
47. Linkin Park - High Voltage (2:45)
48. Linkin Park - My December (4:17)
49. Linkin Park - Part of Me (2:28)
50. Linkin Park - A Place for my Head (3:04)
51. Linkin Park - Pushing Me Away (3:11)
52. Linkin Park - Run Away (3:03)
53. Lit - Miserable (4:16)
54. Lost Prophets - Last Train Home (4:23)
55. Matchbox 20 - Bent (4:02)
56. Moby - Porcelain (4:01)
57. Mono - Life In Mono (3:45)
58. Nickelback - Hero(3:21)
59. Nickelback - How You Remind Me Of Someday (3:09)
60. Sky Flying Bye - A Simple Restart (5:39)

in about 10 min. just found out about it while channel surfing. didn't go into town today, had laundry to do instead.

so there's no drinking games for this one? bah, the one i'm seeing too. time to go make a nice big bowl of ramen and grab some yeungling.

in case anybody does think of something, i'll keep checking /. for updates, mainly because my computer and tv are less than 4 feet apart, and all i have to do is swivel my chair. damn small room.

UPDATE: out of yeungling! damnit. stuck with mike's hard melonade instead.

As I looked at my system tray after getting home tonight, I saw that memturbo was reporting 666MB of free ram. Then it hit me: I am the anti-TL.

Lemme get through explaining my skewed sense of reality here before you start with the comments from the peanut gallery..

Every night of the week I spend with at least one girl. Mind you, not with with, just spending time with.

I seem to spend the most time with Grace, what with picking her up from work and spending time alone with her, walking all over town.

But then again, I also spend a lot of time with Soleil, what with helping her take care of her puppy, and spending a large portion of the night sitting at a secluded bench talking with her about whatever comes up.

Other nights, like tonight, I spend with Sarah, doing, well, whatever seems to fit the moment. Tonight it consisted of sitting at her place and watching Chasing Amy until 3am.

Then I get emails from Alyssa, who has been trying to get together with me for several months now, but due to difficulty in communications (for a while there, neither of us had a permanent address or phone number), we haven't arranged a meeting since around April.

And quite often I find myself in conversations with Lisa, giving her moral support when she needs it and other assorted talks.

What sets me so far apart from TL? None of them have been in my hot tub, and although other friends point out the way they look at me sometimes, I still do nothing with them. Not because I don't want to, but because I don't want to chance losing an important friendship.

I take too long with these things, and become friends with the girls I like, and before long I get scared of losing a friend if I try to go farther. So I end up with a bunch of female friends, whom I spend all of my time with, but don't get anywhere.

Some of them have boyfriends (Alyssa, Sarah), but would rather spend their (night)time with me. Some of them have a new crush each week (Grace, Soleil), but talk to me about finding the right guy, and that he wouldn't be one to just jump into a relationship, it would take time. Others still (Lisa) have admitted to having a crush on me, to me, but never wanted to do anything with it, and brought up a bunch of reasons why it wouldn't work anyway.

Bah. I need to grow a spine. They're all hot, especially Grace, Soleil, and Sarah (the three I spend the most time with). They're also all short, ranging from 4'10" to around 5'4" (compared to me being 5'9.5"). Being short adds hot points, dunno why.

So I thought I'd play the part of the anti-TL and start writing about what I do with all my girls, but it'd get pretty boring pretty quick.

This JE brought to you by a really tired Tom who thinks way too far into things.

So I want to get an iPod, but I don't have the extra cash at the moment. So I found this tonight, and decided to share.

Really nothing more than somebody's get rich quick scheme, but if 5 people sign up for some crap offer there I get a free iPod.

If you're a fan of memes and help me get an iPod, I'll promise to join in on them. If you're not a fan of memes and help me get an iPod, I'll promise to not join in on them*. If you don't help, well, fine then. I don't need you anyway** :p

*I reserve the right to cross my fingers in the event of more than one person helping and each having different promise requirements, causing a conflict.

**Yes I do.

I have a technocrat account, although I don't intend to ever use it.

<insert same complaints about technocrat as everybody else here>

going to the warped tour today.

musikfest tomorrow and sunday.

you?