Man, I had a weird dream last night. I was standing on some sidewalk in downtown Pittsburgh. Next to me was a minivan of some sort. My parents were there too. Suddenly, we saw Tobey Maguire and some other guy heading toward us.

Now, as far as I can remember, I don't think Tobey was himself, but rather it was him playing some sort of psycho villain. The only explanation I have for him being there is I had that "Hero" song from the Spider-Man soundtrack stuck in my head as I fell asleep.

Anyway, we saw the two men heading for us, so we leaped into the van, only no one got into the driver's seat. I was right behind it, so I reached over and grabbed the wheel. Apparently this van could sense when someone wanted it to go cause it took off like a bat out of Hell.

So I was guiding this van through the streets of Pittsburgh from the back seat. Eventually we came to some random building and stopped. We all got out and ran inside. So we were standing in this lobby when Tobey and his friend started heading toward us again. I decided to head him off, so I jumped him, and he pulled out a knife. We struggled for a bit and then he dropped the knife.

Immediately, he said something to the effect of "If I can't kill you then we all die" and pulled up his shirt to reveal a bomb strapped to him. It was at this point that I woke up.

Yeah... thankfully I had a soothing face to look at when I woke up.

Yeah, so remember that last entry? Forget it.

I realize now that I was just in a funk when I wrote that. I'm actually very happy with the way my life's going right now. I have a new girlfriend, who, before we started dating and shortly after watching "Labyrinth" nicknamed me "David Bowie's Crotch" or "DBC" or just "The Crotch" for short. After this naming (she didn't tell me at the time) she would talk to me about this guy she liked whose code name was "DBC." It was really odd when I started to realize that it was me she was talking about. I was really happy to find that she was interested in me, as I was in her. I think this nickname thing bodes well for the future of our relationship.

As for me, I'm starting to get a bit behind in my schoolwork, but I'm confident I can catch up before the damage gets bad. Things are in full hecticness again, and I have a feeling it's going to be a wild ride.

Well here I am. Back at school, single again, after almost 3 years of near-constant dating. What am I doing on a Friday night? That's right, reading Slashdot and posting a journal.

As far as dating goes, I have no real prospects. The only girl I actually have any real interest in is pretty far away, and has not shown any signs she returns my feelings. Other than a few smiles from girls I help at work (computer lab) I've seen nothing.

My roomates, all of whom last year seemed to always be around, suddenly gone. Two of them have girlfriends to occupy their time, and the other always seems to be gone.

When I was a freshman, I had a girlfriend and yet I had no problem with the thought of spending my weekends in my dorm with the computer. Now it seems the past years have left me with an addiction. That addiction is having something --ANYTHING-- to do.

Going to parties isn't really an option because I don't generally enjoy the company of those who think drinking is a worthwhile activity in and of itself. Nothing personal, just not my cup of tea.

Last year, Friday night would mean a gathering of just about all my friends on campus. We would all sit on broken-down couches in the main lounge of the dorm and watch movies on a tv much too small for the room. Now, we have a nice living room but alas, nobody comes. Everyone's got their own thing going.

I don't know. I guess I just feel left out of everything. I just want something to do.

Ordered a new computer yesterday from IDOT. Got the basic system there, AMD Athlon XP 2100+, 512MB Ram, and other measurements as well. I intend to use my sister's Best Buy discount heavily to get the extra bells and whistles for it, like a second hd, etc. I think I'll be pretty happy with it. Gonna dual boot Gentoo Linux and Win2k (IMHO a very solid and stable OS, well, as solid and stable as you can expect from MS).

The only thing that sucks is I don't get to keep my laptop, as I've promised it to my sister for her schoolin'. She's gonna make me put WinXP on it, then come crying when something crashes. Oh well...

Last year, a friend of mine introduced me to the Ender's Game series of novels by Orson Scott Card. Immediately upon reading them (So far I've read Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and I'm most of the way through Shadow of the Hegemon. I've found each of these books incredibly enjoyable to read, and I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the rest of the novels. For those of you not familiar with the series, it concerns a group of children recruited to lead Earth's military in a war against an invading alien fleet.

While all this time enjoyed these books so much, I also find myself saddened somewhat. I read about all these children doing so much and I can't help but think back to when I was their age. Everyone around me told me I had so much potential. I was convinced I could do things as great as what these children were doing, even though I hadn't yet read about them. However, I failed to realize this potential. All through my schooling it seems I've gotten dumber. I remember as a kid being sharp and on the ball. I pissed off my kindergarten teacher just because I could read before I got there. This continued for a couple of years, but then as I got older it just seemed to leave me. It's not that the subject matter got harder, I think it's more that I was so sure I'd make something of myself that I didn't bother putting forth any effort. I just cruised on by. I didn't exercise my intellect and it atrophied. Now, I find myself just a mediocre student. I keep telling myself, "Next semester it'll be better." Every semester it's the same thing. I spent so long not putting effort into studying that I've forgotten how to do it right. I am making progress, but it's a little too slow.

Man, I keep sitting down to do this thinking I'll have something happy to say. My life really doesn't suck. I suppose I just have to get the gripes out before I get to the stuff I like.

Well, it's been 4 months since my last post. I'm a little older, a little wiser, and still pissed off, but for different reasons.

My girlfriend told me that bitching about the government is useless if you're not going to do anything about it. But after browsing the comments on this site for the last few months, I figure, what the hell is /. for if not bitching?

My girlfriend also told me that I shouldn't bash the whole country for the mistakes of the government, which I suppose is true. I realize that there are a lot of good points. It just makes me angry when government officials make so many blatantly self-serving laws. I know in my heart that these mistakes will be rectified, but it pains me that it will probably take years to do so.

So uh...

Last nite I heard my dad say the "F" word for the first time. The word itself did not strike me as odd. I live on a college campus and hear it more often than the word "the." What caught my attention was the fact that it was my father who said it. My parents have always made a conscious effort to keep their mouths clean in front of myself and my sister, even into our late teens. My father didn't say that word as a random expletive; he said it in a context that was fitting and such that he was able to convey his exact meaning to me. He said "Bush is really fucking up alot of lives." We were in the car discussing the impending war with Iraq and such, and when that phrase escaped his lips I realized something about my dad. He's not as isolated from humanity as I thought he was. From my previous dealings with him I always thought of him as a stubborn Catholic father with no sense of what life was like outside of Oakdale. Now I realize he does know what's going on, and I understand him a little better... I suppose that means that all this pointless shit Bush is doing actually has had at least one positive outcome. Way to go Governer Bush!!

After we got home I turned on the TV and... look who was giving a press conference about Operation Finish-What-Daddy-Started... He pretty much said that North "We Have A Nuke" Korea can wait while we deal with Saddam "Intellegence That No One But Bush And Powell Can See Says I Have Nasty Missles" Hussein.

I had a few philosophical problems with the things that were said in that conference:
1. Governer Bush said he would not tolerate nations that would "impose their will" throughout the world.... *ahem* what exactly does that make us?
2. To almost every question he was asked, Bush responded "My job is to protect the American people..." This is a valid answer to the question "What is your job?" Trouble is, nobody asked him that. The questions were largely along the lines of (paraphrased) "Why are diplomatic solutions being sought for N. Korea while you are calling for the use of force with Iraq?" or "Have you considered the costs of this war, including dollars and human life?" I don't know about you, but I have trouble fitting his response in there anywhere.
3. Bush said that he had been sharing "intellegence" with other nations in the UN Security Council (insert Bush-intellegence joke here), but when asked why these other countries didn't agree with his policy on Iraq he stumbled right along to the next question.

OK, enough of that.. Now that I've already offended my loyal Republican readers, I have no qualms about going right ahead and mentioning something else called to my attention yesterday... State Representative John Pippy.

John Pippy is the representative in the Pennsylvania State House for my district. He is a Republican, and he is also a Captain in the Army Reserves.

Mr. Pippy wants to run for State Senate in a special election they're holding this coming Tuesday. Trouble is, he's on active duty right now and there is a Defense Dept. directive that bars Reserve members from running for political office while on duty. You may be wondering why I'm upset about this... Let me tell you: He's going to get to run. That's right, a letter handed down from God Almighty and signed by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was sent to the Army that waived that particular rule in this particular case. OK, I may have exaggerated the letter's origins, but the current administration in the White House wouldn't say any different. For details, I direct you to http://www.post-gazette.com/election/20030306pippyrp4.asp

That's all the ranting I have for now, so until next time remember: You can't spell "World War" without "W", and if you're "W" you probably can't spell it regardless.

...yeah...