superfluous fixation

Facebook has been tagged as the medium that will revolutionize the internet and bridge the gap between social networking sites and professional networking sites. Its also been found to be useful for keeping in touch with old friends, distant relatives, and for finding out every time those people-you-will-probably-never-speak-to-ever-again-and-basically-never-spoke-to-at-all-in-high-school-but-for-some-reason-requested-you-as-a-friend-on-Facebook-and-you-didn't-want-to-be-mean-so-you-added-them sneezes.

Regardless, I recently found a feature on Facebook that puts all the other to rest. Facebook Scrabble. There was a previous form known as Scrabulous, but Hasbro sued for copyright infringement, settled the case, and proceeded to make an official-but-crappier Facebook version of its game.

Now, fun fact about myself: I like boardgames - alot. I also like competing and winning, but I mainly just like boardgames. And puzzles. And Scrabble happens to be a really good mix of both. So because of that, I have been really happy to be able to play Scrabble on Facebook against friends from all over the world. Having been playing Scrabble about non-stop for about 9 hours yesterday, one realizes how quickly things like going to the gym, eating healthy, and leaving your room become irrelevant in comparison with how to utilize the remaining triple word spot with the letters RCJPSUA in your hand [jars, caps, pars, cars, carp, cups, spar].

I think I may be entering a whole new level of dork. o.O

chaotic regurgitation

Randomness I have found in the past few weeks and felt like sharing:


Oops...

Proposition 8: The Musical

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

An amusing take on a very serious issue.

I personally do not recall the 'Wassup' beer commercial, but apparently it was a big hit.


Wassup has been updated. Here is 'Wassup 2008'


I find that if I do not have anything specific to accomplish [like attending class or leaving my dorm], I spend hours on end reading and/or browsing the internet via 'StumbleUpon'. I think I may end up messing with my blog layout again; we'll see...

unnatural deselection

Being exam week, I have found myself with an unnatural urge to study more than normal. By more than normal, I mean that I find myself actually studying for the first time this all semester. [<-- that is an exaggeration. I distinctly remember looking at the pretty pictures in my Bio book one Monday during my Cprogramming class =D]

Regardless, I have determined that I do better on tests and quizzes, and therefore feel better about myself, when I have studied and actually know what I am doing. So I shall be doing more of that in the near future.

This, along with running 3 times a week, is my goal for the coming break/semester. We'll see how long it lasts... :)

smoke alarms and 6am rage

This week is that dreaded time of the semester when the average [and even the above-average] college student says a big "oh %$*@" [a word that, depending on the person, could rhyme with trap, bell, duck, or meh] and gets down to business of learning that we all [I hope] are here at college for: exam week.

This week has also been known throughout time as hell, stress overload, the most important week of my life (this semester), and that time when no sleep is meant to be had.

Taking this concept of no sleep to the extremes, I woke up at the pleasant hour of 5:47am this morning - to the sounds of screeching fire alarms. [NOTE: NEVER a pleasant thing to wake up to, much less at 6 in the morning the day before exams.] Stumbling out of my room, grabbing my laptop, cell phone and wallet, I made my way down to the Tower courtyard where I joined the mass of confused and angry college students, wondering what was going on.Temperature conditions of our 6am sojourn outside: 45 degrees - and the sprinklers all came on, in deference of the invisible flames.

After about 10 minutes, it became apparent that no one, including the RAs knew what was going on and after about 15 minutes, we were allowed back inside. Grumbling about how this would ruin our college careers and plans to lodge formal complaints, we made our way back into the Tower to our respective abodes. Time now is 6:12am. Fully awake with no possibility of going back to sleep - since I'd have to wake up in about an hour anyway, I decide to blog about this annoying event - because that's what fully functioning people of society do nowadays. As I am whittling away at the loom that is my blog, the fire alarm goes off again. Time now is 6:34am. That means about 20 minutes since we got back, more than enough time for a tired college child to fall asleep if they felt the need.

Wary of being sent back out into the cold again, the majority of my hallmates, my roommates and I included, waited in our doorways to see if an RA in shining armor would walk through with a "please excuse this alarm" message emblazoned on his/her/its chain mail - we were not so lucky. So for the SECOND time in a 30 MINUTE PERIOD, we were sent outside into the 45 degree freezebox known as our courtyard; I had brought my laptop so I could continue updating this post - and so that it wouldn't melt if there really were a fire this time around. We were allowed back inside within 6 minutes this time.

Turns out that there was some faulty fire alarm sensor being set off in the Starbucks located in the Barnes and Noble connected to our tower; even the best caffeine fix isn't worth waking up at 5:47am the night before exams.
Vive le sommeil.

mega electron volts

I am SO ready.

p.s. - the title has nothing to do with the post.

college paper how-to

I recently (a few minutes ago) stumbled upon a webpage detailing how to write a college paper. It quickly becomes clear that these instructions were definitely written after 1971 (when Starbucks was founded) but before 2004 (when Facebook was launched), I've decided to create an updated version.

How To Write a Paper in College/University - 2008 Edition

1) Sit in a well lit area
2) Lay out all necessary books/materials
3) Open all relevant websites in tabs in your web browser of choice
4) Open a new browser window and check your email.
5) Check your Facebook to make sure no new messages/tags/pokes/wall posts/comments were received
6) Read your assignment guidelines
7) Go scavenging for a snack
8) Check and see what your roommates/any nearby people are up to
9) Read your assignment guidelines again, possibly start thinking about what you may do for it
10) Check your email; respond accordingly
11) Check your Facebook
12) Google/Wikipedia any random words/topics that you come across
13) Go say hi to your next door neighbors and tell them to watch the Victoria's Secret fashion show
14) Go have dinner with your next door neighbors, having in-depth conversations about movies, loopholes, and illicit schemes
15) Write the first paragraph of the paper
16) Attempt to solve the Rubik's cube you haven't managed to solve in over 2 years
17) Acquire a soda and/or coffee for the caffeine
18) Check your Facebook
19) Write another sentence in your paper
20) Watch the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
21) Realize that it is now 11pm and that the assignment is due online in less than 59 minutes
22) Check your Facebook
23) Proceed to finish writing your paper in 55 minutes
24) Submit your paper with minutes to spare, due to everyone in your class submitting at the same last second, therefore slowing down system
25) Stay up until all hours of the morning playing video games/reading [for fun]/watching movies/etc
26) Pass out in your earliest class the following morning

Of course, these rules do not hold true for everybody; some people find the need to check their Facebook more often or enlist the use of Facebook chat/AIM to actively keep themselves busy. Or some update their blogs with posts that prove to be highly prophetic. Regardless, I have a programming assignment due at midnight, but first there are some Angels that need seeing to.

tryptophan and road trips

This is a recap of my Thanksgiving weekend.

Tuesday: My weekend actually started last Tuesday at 10:15am, partly because I only had one non-relevant class scheduled on Wednesday, but mainly because I wanted it to. Left UCF around 11:30, got home around 2:30, hung out with the Mom,took Jennifer (my little sister) to her dance practice, went to say hi to Jennifer (hmm, how to describe Jen...friend just doesn't cover it, lol), and went to The Walk with Jen.

Wednesday: Woke up at my normal time (there is no such thing as 'sleeping in' for me...), went to a dentist appointment, then picked up Jen and went to visit my high school. At some point in the past 1.5 years since I graduated from CGHS, the school has morphed into a prison, except worse, since vistors are not allowed at all. Treating it as such, Jen and myself used a very high-tech and elaborate scheme to gain entrance to the school [aka walking in a side door during class change] and proceeded to carry out various evil and nefarious deeds [aka hugging and catching up with our old fave teachers and faking smiles for our old not-so-fave teachers]. No worries, we were not the only ones doing this, as one teacher said she had lost count at about 40 former students stopping in to say hi =D Then I went to the mall with Jen and Nanki, where we bought awesome goodies and took photo booth pics [fun fact: I love photo booths]. Met up with Alice and went to visit my good friend Corbin, who was down from Darthmouth for the break.

Thursday: Thanksgiving! Started re-reading 'New Moon' during the morning then went to Grandma's for Thanksgiving dinner. Sanctioned gluttony ensued. Afterwards, I kept up with my post-Thanksgiving dinner tradition and went to Corbin's house where an assortment of friends had gathered to take part in video games and revelry. Then I went home and hung out with the family.




Friday: Began my psuedo-impromptu road trip around the state [yay google maps!]. Departed bright and early for New Port Richey [North of Tampa/St. Pete] to get Jen. It was my first time driving on Alligator Alley and while it wasn't anything special or anything, I can see why it has the notorious reputation it does: miles of straight highway; not very crowded, even at its busiest [excluding hurricanes]; NO streetlights, not a one for miles on end. Basically, no driving on Alligator Alley at night o.O Got Jen, headed to Ocala to visit our friend Alex. NOTE: Ocala is literally in the middle of nowhere, as in there is NO cell phone reception, ever-encroaching darkness from a lack of streetlights and non-observant drivers who rear-end drivers when you are that far down the rabbit hole [yes, I got rear-ended (!), but my car (once-again) proved its amazing robustness and didn't even have a scratch]. Then it was off to UF [Gainesville], where we spent Friday night.

Saturday: Left for FSU [Tallahassee, henceforth Tally] around 11, got and hung out with Meagan, who could not go home for Thanksgiving [Jen and I thought we would cheer her up/visit her for fun, and hence the purpose of the trip]. As it was a football game day - and an in-state rivalry at that [FSU vs. UF - UF won, of course] - Tally was extremely crowded, with 70% of the population wearing either orange/blue or garnet/gold. We went to the mall, hung out in Meagan's dorm, had dinner, more dorm time, then went clubbing at Tally's Club Rayn [and yes, people were there in orange/blue, lol].

Sunday: Left FSU around 11. It was raining when we woke up and it was STILL raining 3.5 hours (note: a normally 2 hour drive) later when we arrived in Gainesville. Traffic sucked in general due to many factors but mainly the deluge of bad weather and the post-Thanksgiving travel. After having lunch, I left UF at 4:30 and headed back to UCF, getting back in 3 hours [another normally 2 hour drive], concluding a 922 mile journey [excluding the initial drive home].

All in all, it was a good weekend, enjoyed in a way that I saw fit ^.^

versified glorification

I came across another interesting crossword clue the other day: versified glorification. The answer was 'ode', and I thought it was funny that such a long phrase was a description for such a small word. Regardless, I got it correct :)

This Week I Recommend:

>Twilight: Speaking of odes... NO, I am NOT going to regale you with all the reasons I personally like the Twilight novels and I'm not going to deny that they have their flaws and plot holes. However I will say that I was wary about how the movie [released last Friday] would turn out, based on previous experiences with the book-to-movie transition, and that I honestly enjoyed the Twilight movie. They changed things up [of course] but they kept the story intact enough to please fans and still create a complete story for someone who had never heard of it before.

The second book, New Moon, has now been confirmed to be made into a movie and it will be interesting to see how it turns out, seeing as it will require much more special effects, a trip to Italy, and a more in-depth look at characters other than Bella and Edward.

I would now like to take a brief moment to mourn the moving of the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince [HP 6] from November 21 [last week! Friday] to August 21, 2009 [a freaking long time from now!]. It was originally moved to July sometime, but then WB realized that they truly hated the fans of their most profitable film series ever [the combined Harry Potter films still beat The Dark Knight...] and would make them suffer an extra month. Thanks WB for truly alienating the fans of The-Boy-Who-Went-Naked-On-Broadway-But-Still-Flies-Around-On-Broomsticks-And-Stuff.

No worries, I have AccioCon, right here in Orlando(!), to tide me over until then ^.^ AccioCon is a Harry Potter and Twilight theme convention taking place in April; yes, uber-dorky, but that's nothing new with me =D

This Week I Don't Recommend:

>Obnoxious Movie-Goers: question - why would you pay money to see a movie you don't like or want to see? Another question - why would you stay in the theater VERBALLY ridiculing and mocking it instead of just getting up and walking out if you loathed it that much? These are the questions I considered asking these two stupid, unattractive females [I decided not to vent how I really felt about them here] sitting across the aisle from my friends and I when we watched Twilight yesterday evening. The entire movie, they were making rude comments, talking on their cell phones, texting, making snorting sounds and overall acting extremely disgusting in general, much less in a theater. I had no idea what to do about it though: how do you get someone kicked out of a theater? Nothing I can do about it now, but still...

No Frisbee this week, so no Frisbee Wisdom... though if your bored, you can check out our women's team website. Its still in development though, so don't judge it yet...

Frisbee Wisdom 22

Frisbee Wisdom 21

Frisbee Wisdom 20

Frisbee Wisdom 19

somnambulist

(n) sleepwalker, (somnambulist, noctambulist) someone who walks about in their sleep.

Cool word, though I would personally hate to be a somnambulist...

This Week I Recommend:

>Homecoming Week: In high school, Homecoming was a dance that took place around October/November that wasn't as formal as prom, but more dressy than everyday school wear; it had a popularity competition known as a King/Queen campaign and a game that had to be won or it was the end of the world. Homecoming in college is not that different, except a lot more fun and more worth your time. The King/Queen campaign is still a popularity competition, basically to see which Greek organization can get the most of their members to vote for a candidate; the football game should still be won, though since there are actually rankings and conferences and such in college football, its not always a guaranteed win; there isn't a dance, but there are lots of other things going on, like Movie Knight [<-- the knight/night puns never end], Comedy Knight with Kyle Cease and two other not-so-funny guys [John Pinette, LaVell Crawford], Skit Knight [Honors won 2nd place small organization skit!], Concert Knight [Panic! At The Disco, Dashboard Confessional, Plain White T's and The Cab], Spirit Splash on Friday, and Homecoming Parade/Game on Saturday.

Basically Homecoming Week in college is a good distraction from the norm for a week, allowing people to attend events, boost school spirit, and enjoy awesome free stuff.

This Week I Don't Recommend:

>Homecoming Week: As awesome as Homecoming is, it is the most exhausting time of the year, even more so than the exam weeks. Between going to events daily and still running one's full normal schedule, it can get exhausting pretty fast. Of course, one could always just not go to the events or even to some of them - but come on. It is just one week after all... Other things were going on this week that contributed to the chaos: Election Day was Tuesday, ans that was an ordeal in and of itself [yay for absentee ballots!]. I went to see Anberlin at the House of Blues on Friday [yes, the day after the Homecoming concert] and it was a very good concert; very happy I went. We lost our football game which [sadly] has become an expected outcome this season >.> Now after my fall-asleep-while-taking-off-my-socks and 9 hours of sleep Saturday night, I'm feeling better. But...it may take me about a year to get ready to do it again.

Frisbee Wisdom 18

Tina and I got tired of being the only girls at UCF's Club Frisbee practices so we held a meeting and recruited a good number [around 14!] of girls to come join us! Hopefully I'll soon be telling you news about UCF Women's Club Frisbee =)

remember

Here we are, once again, at the Fifth of November. As "V for Vendetta" is one of my favorite movies ever, I always try to remember this significant day. However, this year's fifth of November [or technically the fourth, I guess] will be remembered for far more than a rhyming poem stated in a movie, for it is/was the day that history was changed forever with the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. Love him or hate him, no one can deny that this day will go down in history...

Frisbee Wisdom 17

regimented

My Google Calendar for this week:



yeah...

ready

This Week I Recommend:

>Costumes: Halloween was this past Friday and, like always, it was filled with lots of candy, memorable moments, and [my fave part] interesting costumes. Some of my faves this year include Sweeney Todd, Alex DeLarge from "A Clockwork Orange," Carl from "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," and Tony Stark [aka Iron Man]. I dressed up as Foxy Cleopatra from Austin Powers: Goldmember; def. one of my more interesting costumes to date... =D

>Blue Man Group: Went for the first time on Saturday with my friend MarkM [there are multiple Marks mentioned in this post, lol]. I highly recommend it; definitely a good time.

This Week I Don't Recommend:

>Pushy Volunteers Who Forget That They Are Just Volunteers And Let Stuff Go To Their Heads: Earlier today, my friend MarkL and I volunteered with UCF's Knights for Change for the local Barack Obama campaign office [yay for helping out...]. Basically, they had us calling people to find out if they had voted and if they hadn't, to let them know that today was the last day to early vote and where the nearest poll to them was, etc. It wasn't very interesting but it wasn't bad. However, a group of the volunteers were going to go door-to-door canvassing of various areas around UCF, knocking on doors to find out if people had voted and to take them to the polls, if they wanted to be taken and such. They went around the office gathering volunteers and got quite a group together. Then they got to me.

Now, I was already uncomfortable enough calling people and invading their peaceful Sunday with questions; there was no was no way I was going door-to-door to do it [plus it was raining]. So I said that I didn't want to do it, simple as that. Then three of the people [note: these are also college student volunteers, not paid professionals or anything] started getting in my face about how this is how votes are won and how it needs to be done - and one of them literally grabbed the papers I had in my hands away from me and threw them on the table. So then I started getting annoyed and MarkL was pissed and stated quite succintly that we were volunteers and don't have to do anything if we didn't want to. The trio backed off and we went back to our calls. The guy who grabbed the papers came back and apologized a little bit later.

Long story short, I'm glad I volunteered today and contributed my part to a cause I support. I just wish that certain people would remember the reason why their doing something in the first place instead of making things awkward for those around them when they think they're more important than they are...

>Broken Cell Phones: My cell phone's screen stopped working on Wednesday and its driving me nuts because the only thing worse than not getting text messages is getting text messages and not being able to read them o.O Thankfully, I know the layout of my phone and the menus and such, so I can still make calls [sort of] by typing in my contact's names, but believe me when I say that my Firefox's refresh button has not been hit as many times as it has this weekend for the shipment tracking page of the replacement phone...

>Losing Time: So I definitely did not realize that Daylight Savings Time ended today. Imagine my surprise when I find out I could have slept in an extra hour and still been perfectly on time... Oh well. ^.^

UCF's Homecoming Week activities start tomorrow; time to get ready for one of the most hectic-yet-worthwhile weeks of the year...

awake

yay insomnia
wandering around your head
seeking the shutdown.

Happy Halloween 2008!

Frisbee Wisdom 16

I made UCF's Club Frisbee B Team! =D

Frisbee Wisdom 15

combustication

I did not make up the word combustication; it happens to be in the song "Pardon Me" by Incubus, which happens to be one of my all-time favorite songs ever.

I said, "I can relate,"
cause lately I've been thinking of combustication
as a welcome vacation from
the burdens of
the planet Earth.
like gravity, hypocrisy,
and the perils of being in 3-D...
but thinking so much differently.


This Week I Recommend:

>Small Doses: My mom and 3 siblings came to visit me on Thursday evening to Friday afternoon [they didn't have school; oh, how I miss public school early release/teacher planning days...]. I was really happy to see them and I realized how much I missed them once they were gone again. Having to go back to living at home on a daily basis would drive me insane, but, in this case, small doses make life awesome.

>Sleep: I may have recommended this before, but like my un-recommendation for procrastination, it is one of those things that will always be recommended. Thursday my family came, leaving Friday around 1pm. By 4pm, I was on my way to USF for the Tempest 'N Tampa [TNT] off-season robotics competition where I was volunteering as field reset. Being a lock-in event in the UCF Sun Dome, there were activities -guitar hero, halo, human OverDrive (a human version of the robotics competition)- going on all through the night, which resulted in a grand total of about 3 hours of sleep on the volunteer room floor. Then came a 10-hour day of insane competition, which was just as fun as always (pics can be found at my team's blog). Left Tampa around 6, got back to UCF around 8, sat on my bed to put something down and woke up the next morning to a phone call at 7:45 am. Sunday was then spent interchanging sleeping and reading, playing Rock Band 2, having a homework-session-in-which-no-homework-was-done-but-my-iTunes-library-was-nicely-organized and playing volleyball. I haven't slept that much in a long time, but it was awesome.

This Week I Don't Recommend:

>Injuring yourself: I'm a wimp [as I mentioned in a previous post] in regards to getting scared and to getting injured, an aspect of myself that does not help since I also like trying new things and semi-extreme sports. Anyway, this past Thursday, my left foot started hurting me during frisbee tryouts and I had to go to the athletic trainer, who proceeded to inform me that I had sprained my foot and that it should be okay within 24 hours with icing. Fast forward to today [Monday] and my foot is still hurting; its kind of annoying actually, since I'm doing this weird-limping-but-not-wanting-to-limp-so-I-just-look-dumb-in-general thing. I guess it also doesn't help that I am determined to keep up my sports playing and played volleyball on it yesterday [<--yeah, I'm stupid...]. The following comic seems to express my current feelings aptly.

Frisbee Wisdom 14

optically offensive

As a lover of [epically failing at] crossword puzzles, I come across some very creative clues for words and phrases. One that made me literally laugh out loud in my computer programming class was the clue 'optically offensive' for the word 'ugly'. I think the people around are still trying to figure out what's so funny about C void functions...

Anyway, I stumbled upon this interesting site the other day. Its called Garfield Minus Garfield, and basically what these people did was remove Garfield the cat from the comic strip to reveal the existential angst and depression of Mr. John Arbuckle, Garfield's owner. I think its brilliant and will probably be posting random faves from it in this blog periodically.

Frisbee Wisdom 13

UCF's Club Ultimate team tryouts start today; wish me luck!

erasification

That's right, I just made up a word. Fun fact about myself: when I was younger, I used to think that everything that was written and erased on a chalkboard was stored somewhere; where? I don't know, though the old-school Nickelodeon cartoon "Chalk Zone" definitely gave us one possibility...

This Week I Recommend:

>Growing Up: Sunday was my roommate Megan's 20th Birthday. The weekend was spent in fervent celebration of this occasion, including dinner at Chili's on Saturday [23 people in our party; our waitress was awesome] and Halloween Horror Nights yesterday [see below]. While out and about on Saturday, I saw these awesome birthday candles that reminded me of the occasion.

Happy Birthday Megan! <3

>Thinking Before You Speak: I am SO glad I did, because some things are just not meant to be said...

This week I Don't Recommend:

>Being Scared: I do not like being scared. Never have, never will. I don't even watch scary movies or anything that seems like it could be nightmare-inducing. [Remember the bats-in-the-cave scene from the new Batman Begins when Bruce Wayne was a child? Freaked me out. There was also a scene in the beginning of Jumper when the guy falls through the ice of a frozen lake and is dragged under by the current; I couldn't watch that scene.] I'm a wimp; sue me. So why did I go to Halloween Horror Nights yesterday? Because it was for Megan's birthday and because now I can say I've gone. Did I have fun for the few hours I could stand being there? Yes, except for when I was in the houses and there were arm-width passages and people behind EVERY corner and people sticking disembodied feet in my face. Will I ever go again? To be determined...

Frisbee Wisdom 12

clear

I stumbled upon this Flickr slideshow the other day and thought I'd share. According to the descriptions, they are all actual background images, not Photoshop effects. Definitely one of the cooler background effects I've seen recently. More found here.

Frisbee Wisdom 11

tolerable

This Week I Recommend:

>Slip 'n Slide Frisbee: For those of you in the Central Florida area, you may recall a thunderstorm of massive proportions that came through last Thursday. Streets were flooded, grassy areas became lakes, and lightning about drowned [ha] out the moon in terms of light sources. So of course we played frisbee =D Or rather, slid around UCF's Memory Mall under the guise of playing frisbee. It was sliptastic.

>Concerts: Particularly good ones with bands you like and people you like being around. I went to see The Rocket Summer/Phantom Planet/A Secret Handshake/The Morning Light at the House of Blues Orlando last Friday and I had a great time - and realized how much I love concerts, which is why I will be attending at least 3 more in the upcoming month =D [I say yay!, my wallet... not so much] Its going to be great

>Surfing: I went surfing on Saturday in Cocoa Beach through an Honors trip that I ran [we had gone in spring and people liked it, so it happened again]. I'm still not good at it, but I did manage to stand up completely 2 times, which is 2 more than I've ever done before, so that made me happy. It really is an enjoyable activity, if a bit tiring...

>Partial All-Nighters: Partial because I did not actually stay up for more than 24 hours. My weekend went like this: [friday] Class until 11:30, work until 5, Rocket Summer concert at House of Blues, movie/mythbusters marathon until 2am, sleep until 7am, [saturday] surf trip to cocoa beach until 1pm, sleep until 5pm, nothing (gasp!) until 8pm, movie conundrum [go watch Primer, it can only be described as a conundrum] until 10:30pm, TD's bar with a bunch of frisbee people until 1:30am, more movies (Billy Madison) until 3am, sleep until 4am, [sunday] volunteering at Disney's 'Race for the Taste' 10K from 5am-9am, sleep from 10am-3pm, studying until 8pm, frisbee until 10pm, volleyball to 1am, sleep. And now its Monday. Would I have changed any of it? NO! - though I do regret being uber-grumpy en route to volunteering for the 10K [sorry Kristy!]

This Week I Don't Recommend:

>Physics II: I. Hate. That. Class.

Someone described me as the 'tolerable' friend the other day - I managed to cheer myself up by saying that its better than being the 'intolerable' friend =P

Frisbee Wisdom 10

bright side

So I have recently discovered that there is something I may actually be worse at than ultimate frisbee: volleyball. Its really fascinating watching people who know what their doing rally back and forth, spike the ball, and kill each other, volleyball-wise.

Then I start to play and it actually brings a tear to the eye that has nothing to do with the constant sand in the face. Determined [or stubborn/dumb] as ever, I don't plan on giving it up. Unless I do actually kill someone attempting to spike a ball. Then I may have to stop...



However, always remember to put things in perspective. As bad as your day may or may not be going, be happy you didn't wake up to that.

I know its not winter yet, but this photo couldn't wait... =P

flux

Ok, so I'm in the process of trying to make a new layout for this blog; I got tired of the other one. I'll settle on one eventually, but in the meantime, bear with me as the blog remains in a constant state of flux.

I love using words I learn in science classes in completely unrelated situations.

Frisbee Wisdom 9

fickle

This Week I Recommend:

>Cleaning your Room: I did and I found a missing button, all of my socks, some desperately needed dry-erase markers, and my floor. Oh, and a puzzle piece, though all my completed puzzles [and I have quite a few] are whole...

>Primal Fear: No, not an inate anxiety about something. The movie, starring Richard Gere and Edward Norton. I watched it for the first time this weekend and basically its an excellent example of a very good movie, in my opinion at least. Go make your own decision and let me know what you think!

This Week I Don't Recommend:

>Heading a Frisbee: Whether intentional or not, stopping a frisbee with your head [specifically your face, in the nose region, while wearing glasses] is not a fun time. Side effects may include acute pain to the head, chronic bad language, and severe self-loathing.

Remember, as I try to remember myself, to take each day one at a time...

Frisbee Wisdom 8

SOS formation

So, in the light of the recent epic fail of our nation's financial system, one may find the need for something lighthearted and funny. Well, being the kind person I am, I shall help you in your time of need. I do what I can ^.^ Check these out for a few laughs:

>How to Tick off People: My personal favorite is number 11, in accordance to prophesy

>An answer to the question of the existence of Santa, according to an engineer: Basically because we engineers [I will always be an engineer] have nothing better to do with our time...

>Making Music w/ John Mayer: funny...or die.

>Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates "New Family" Experiment: This made me like both of these guys exponentially more.

Frisbee Wisdom 7

cold genius

This Week I recommend:

>reconnecting: That is with past passions. Lucky for me, my main one is/was robotics and I'll never have to give it up because there is always something that can be done involving it. This revelation was brought into focus this past weekend when I volunteered at an off-season FIRST robotics competition. Seeing as I've been involved some form of robotics since 6th grade and intend to stay involved for the rest of my life, it was enlightening to be brought back into it after a relatively long break and see that it will always be as thrilling as it was back in middle school. We should never forget what we loved doing when we were younger in our old [ha] age.

>cold fronts: For most people, these indicate extreme cold spells, a need for floor length coats and possibly utilizing basic chemistry principles to defrost a driveway. For us Floridians, it means we get a taste of autumn weather for a few days - autumn weather meaning less water in the air than in the nearby canals for once, a breeze strong enough to mess up a game of ultimate frisbee, and possibly wearing a shirt over the usual tank top of choice. It may be temporary, but I'll take it :)

>iTunes Genius: At the risk of sounding like a sales pitch, this new feature of iTunes is really good at connecting songs in your library to each other. Think Pandora, but without the rating/elimination feature and with songs you already own. It doesn't have stuff for everything yet [how could it not have anything for 'Pardon Me' by Incubus?!] but you can update your Genius information and it will do its best. There's also a sidebar you can open and it will show you songs in the iTunes store you can buy for 'perfect' playlists, but those aren't free, so don't worry about it. =P

This week I don't recommend:
>procrastination: especially in important things like homework, studying, laundry, and cleaning your room. I meant to write more about this but...

Hmm, I can't think of anything else I don't recommend at the moment. Looks like it was a good week.

Frisbee Wisdom 6

Frisbee Wisdom 5

cooperativity

This week I Recommend:

> Volunteering - Its fun, it makes you feel good about yourself, and sometimes you get awesome balloon art and free pizza [see below]...
> Paying Attention in Class - which I am CLEARLY not doing at the moment [though its Intro to C Programming, so it doesn't count], but I hear it helps with one's grade, so I recommend it =)

This week I don't Recommend:

> Getting Sick - Being sick is no fun, but at least you know your sick. Being in that limbo beforehand where you-could-be-getting-sick-but-if-your-fast-enough-you-could-save-yourself-but-your-a-poor-college-kid-who-can't-afford-drugs-so-you-probably-won't-be-able-to is even less fun. Also, run-on sentences. And random statements that make no sense.
> Pizza Overload - Pizza is good, pizza is great, Domino's pizza 4 days in a row will make you gain fat. [Rhyming is for pansies - just kidding ^.^]

Funny Teacher Quote of the Moment: "Its a beautiful piece of code." - Prof. Lobo, Intro to C Programming

avast

Argh, mateys. Today be Talk Like a Pirate Day. Best be talkin' the talk, or ye may just take a good ol' trip off the plank. [The previous statement is supposed to be in pirate speak - I swear I knows English! =P]

Anyway, September 19 is the annual Talk Like a Pirate Day. I have no idea when it started and what its supposed to commemorate, but its definitely alot of fun. Here is a pic of my all time favorite pirate.



Ahh, any reason to post a picture of Captain Jack Sparrow is a good enough reason for me. He's followed closely by Calico Jack and Napster.

Even Google got in on it.



Arggh, back to me station - aka my non-pirate centered life.

Frisbee Wisdom 4

Frisbee Wisdom 3

count

This week I Recommend:
> Rock Band 2: its just like Rock Band 1, but it has new [awesome] music and is lots of fun to play with friends until 6am in the morning =D

>The Count Censored. Seriously, I almost passed out laughing when I watched this. This was actually aired with the actual G-rated word used, but you know some scriptwriter somewhere had a lot of fun writing this segment =P

This Week I Don't Recommend:
> Smoking: its never a good idea, so I still wonder why people even start...

> Tests: particularly 3 in one week, 3 days in a row... never a good time.

Frisbee Wisdom 2

Frisbee Wisdom 1

Ok, so while I was at ultimate frisbee practice last week, I noticed that all of the official UCF frisbees had quotes on the back of them. Anyone who knows me well - or is observant, since I also have them in this blog and such - knows how much I love great quotes. So [of course] I took pics of all of them [on my phone's camera] and will be sharing them through this blog on Tuesdays and Thursdays [aka, the days I have frisbee] until I run out of quotes ^.^

wisefoolery

I have always wondered how the word "tomfoolery" came into existence. I can only assume is has something to do with the saying 'don't be a foolish Tom,' but I could be wrong. However, can you imagine the foolishness said Tom must have done to be forever known as Foolish Tom and to spawn his own insult? It must have been epic...

Anyway, I am now starting week 3 of my sophomore year of college. The word "sophomore" is Latin and literally translates to 'wise fool' - one of those oxymoronic statements that makes me chuckle. I never understood why this particular word was chosen to represent someone in their second year of study/play/employment, but if I figure it out this year, I'll be sure to share...

So far this semester:

>Classes have been classes. I'm taking Bio1, Chem2, Physics2, and Intro to CProgramming. Their going to pick up and its going to suck, but their okay at the moment...

>Football! We played SC State two weeks ago [won 17-0] and USF this past Saturday [it was a realllly good game, though we ended up losing in overtime 24-31]. Tailgated for the first time for the USF game and had a great time, despite losing my camera [*if only there were an emoticon to represent extreme sadness...*] during the game, most likely to Zombie Nation [its a Knight thing...]

>Ultimate Frisbee?! So, I somehow managed to join the newly formed Women's Ultimate Frisbee team? I'm not very good, but I can only get better, right? Right?

So yeah. New semester, new classes, new people, new room [but same awesome roommates/coolest people ever], and new outlook on life? TBD...

laughable

I was going through old blog posts the other day and found an entry in which I had linked to a video where everyday Americans were asked who we should invade next in the War on Terror - hilarity [and utter sadness at the state of stupidity some people wander around in] ensued.

I stumbled upon this page with stories from travel agents with actual stories from their job. Caution: do not read this somewhere where your supposed to be doing somthing else [like at work or in class], as you may find the need to literally laugh out loud at points.

revolutionary

The Word revolution has many definitions:

1) a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving; "the industrial revolution was also a cultural revolution"
2) the overthrow of a government by those who are governed
3) rotation: a single complete turn (axial or orbital); "the plane made three rotations before it crashed"; "the revolution of the earth about the sun takes one year"

All of these definitions apply, figuratively and literally, to recent occurrences in my ever-eventful [that's sarcastic] life. Let's see. This past Thursday marked the end of my summer session classes; it also marked the end of my first year in college. [Note: Some people will consider the summer session as the beginning of year two, but since I started college in the fall, not the summer, I consider the next fall the starting of the new year.] This is where definition 3 takes shape - the literal passing of one of Earth's journeys around the sun and my transition from 'freshman' [aka newbie/baby/freshmeat] into 'sophomore' [literally 'wise fool'].

My outlook on life has changed a lot during the past year as well, allowing definition 1 to have its spot. I don't really feel like detailing everything that I've thought or changed my thoughts on in the past year, but basically alot was learned about myself and others, and its just the beginning.

Definition 2 of the word revolution is realized in the fact that I went to one of my favorite and most memorable concerts last Friday: Projekt Revolution with Linkin Park [my all-time fave band ever], Chris Cornell [rock legend and my new hero], The Bravery, Atreyu [their performance was really good], Ashes Divide, and a few other acts. Being my first outdoor concert [it was at Cruzan Amphitheater in West Palm Beach], it was quite a long day, spending 9 hours in alternating 90+ degree SoFla heat and pouring rain, but all in all, it was well worth it. ProjRev isn't an overthrowing of government, but its definitely an overthrowing of daily life and rules for the enjoyment of good music.

Other noteworthy things: 'Breaking Dawn' [Twilight Series book 4 - and conclusion] came out midnight Friday night. Most people who know me know how I can obsess over things I enjoy alot and that can tend to limit my descriptions to awesome/amazing/a similar synonym, but the book was truly a good conclusion to the series and well worth the hype.

That's all for now; off to read some more :)

anticipation

[From Merriam Webster] Anticipation- A: a prior action that takes into account or forestalls a later action; B: the act of looking forward; especially : pleasurable expectation
[From Urban Dictionary] Anticipation- The feeling you feel when you feel you're going to feel a feeling you've never felt before.

For me, anticipation is one element of life that makes everything that much more enjoyable. Popular sayings state that the journey is just as important as the destination, that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and so on. However, these sayings can only be made true because during that journey or absence, one anticipates the end result/reward, and this makes the journey or absence that much more bearable.

Its because of this that the build up before high school graduation is so euphoric; why the moment before a first kiss seems to last; why your heart starts racing with excitement when the lights dim in the theater at the start of a long-awaited movie. Even if the end result is not up-to-par or slightly different than expected, this feeling of looking forward to it makes it that much more interesting in the long run.

Anyway, I just returned from seeing Batman: The Dark Knight at its midnight release, and while I will say that I greatly enjoyed the movie and will no doubt be seeing it a few more times before it leaves theaters, I think everyone should go see it and gather their own impressions of the most anticipated movie of 2008. You may never look at a joker card or a bat the same way again, but the anticipation of finding out why will make the impressions that much more lasting.

violations

Picture this scenario: A friend and yourself are sitting at a stoplight waiting for it to turn green. A cop pulls up next to you and stops past the line that indicates the crosswalk. You make a quick comment to your friend about the cop breaking the line and the two of you chuckle at the irony. Then, as you guys are watching, the cop turns on the police car lights, crosses the red light, turns them off, and speeds off to break some more laws.

Now, I know this a common occurrence and since there were no lives endangered by this officer using the police car's handy-dandy flashing lights to get where ever s/he was going faster, it still doesn't seem right. Who is there to ticket a cop for speeding without reason or for stopping too far past the line at a stoplight?

It reminds me of the upcoming movie called Lakeview Terrace, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, and Kerry Washington. Its basically about this couple that moves into this neighborhood, their next-door neighbor being a cop [Jackson] who does not like them and proceeds to do whatever he can to make them move - these persuasive tactics verging on the point of illegality. However, as the tagline of the movie goes, "who do you call for help when you can't call the police?" It looks like it is going to be a really interesting movie; I'm definitely looking forward to it. Trailer

So yeah. Think about that...

misspelling 'misspell'

I have discovered a new irony that made me chuckle: you can very easily misspell the word misspell. In fact, I did just that yesterday [I spelled it mispell >.<] when I was [ironically] correcting someone else's misspelling [ha] of the word 'awe.'

I thought it was funny. I have referred to ironies that amused me in previous entries and will be sure to continue to share any others that come to my notice ^.^

Independence Day weekend was fun; went to Jacksonville with the roommates and slept in [which equals staying in bed until like 9 for me...], spent a great amount of time shooting archery, saw fireworks from the beach, went ice skating [it was my 3rd time and I only fell once, due to a high impact collision with a 7 year old], saw The Sound of Music at the Alhambra Dinner Theater [it was really well done, had a great time], watched Nadal and Federer's epic Wimbledon finale and basically had a great time overall. Nowwww, back to the previously scheduled [and extremely boring] programming known as the summer session school week.

This Week I Recommend:
>Irony: It definitely makes life all that more interesting :)

This Week I Don't Recommend:
>Spelling Errors: Seriously, you don't want to have to explain why the mispelling of a word left you in aw.

quixotic

Quixotic - what an awesome word. It means, "Possessing or acting with the desire to do noble and romantic deeds, without thought of realism and practicality; Impulsive; Like Don Quixote; romantic to extravagance; absurdly chivalric; apt to be deluded."

I just think it looks/sounds cool.

Okay, so the movie marathon is nearing an end. [NOTE: This marathon spanned a few days, with breaks for sleeping, eating, class, etc. I was NOT watching movies this whole time, lol] I just have to watch Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs and then the current 'need to see' list can be crossed out. So grades for the movies seen so far, and other assorted movies I've seen recently:

Semi-Pro: D
American Psycho: B+
Snatch: A+
Lucky Number Slevin: A+++
Sin City: A
True Romance: D
American History X: A-
Layer Cake: C
Hancock: B

I reallllly want to go see Wall-E - I've been hearing way too much good about it to not see it in theaters...

Random realization: have you ever noticed how it is ALWAYS a full moon at night time in movies? Think about it: random protagonist is out at night doing whatever and the camera cuts to the sky - and its a full moon. Its like the other 3 weeks of a month don't have anything going on...

marathons

Gotta love weekends with nothing going on. Why? Because you get a lot of random things you normally don't have time for done. For instance, I have

> read two complete novels [Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (highly recommend, if you like random, in-your-face humor) and The Notebook (I got it 4 years ago this July and am JUST now reading it...)],
> watched two movies [American Psycho (Christian Bale is a crazzzzy guy - need I say more?) and Snatch (hahahaha, hands down one of the best movies I have ever seen; Go watch it now!)],
> gotten 3/4 done with a 1000 piece Disney Photomosaics puzzle I started in April [will post a pic upon completion],
> cooked lots of awesome food in a cooking frenzy Saturday night
> and watched old Family Guy episodes for the first time in forever [forever being...3 months, which is actually a long time when you figure that we used to have Family Guy playing in our apartment on a more than daily basis],

all since Thursday afternoon. Quite an interesting weekend for not going home, all in all. Now off to watch more movies! And teach myself Calculus II! o.O

This week I recommend:
>Snatch: seriously, go watch that movie. Its pretty freaking awesome.

This week I don't recommend:
>Calculus II: especially when its being taught by a new teacher who likes to drop words in sentences and skip straight to quizzes with no actual teaching >.>

Song Obsession of the Moment: "In My Place" by Coldplay

New Fave Quote: "You should never underestimate the predictability of stupidity." -Snatch [film]

distractions

So, I have come to the conclusion that I need to distract myself. Why? Well, with the onset of Summer B and as a result more free time, I find myself with huge lengths of time with nothing to do. [Note: Summer B started yesterday, so you can see how quickly I am reacting to this occurrence.]

Me + nothing to do = BAD

When I have nothing to do, I tend to start over-analyzing things going on in my life, worrying about things that need not be worried about, annoying everyone around me and basically falling into a state of depression that I can't stand. Therefore, I have come up with a list of distractions to occupy my free time this summer. Possible distractions are:

> Tennis - when the weather is nice [aka not raining or oven-like], playing more tennis will [should] help me get better at it
> Guitar - there's one sitting in our living room, why not learn it?
> Spanish - Latin is awesome, but I can't speak it...
> Chronicles of Narnia - I can finally read them!
> Pool - One can only get better at pool by playing it alot, sooo I think I should play it more
> Rock Climbing - Intersperse this with tennis and kickboxing classes at the gym and I will have my exercise down pat ^.^

Ok, so I've already made myself promise myself not to try to do all of these, as that would turn these good distractions into bad distractions and I also wouldn't get really good at anything, which would defeat the point. But yeah, distracting myself back to normal - that's one for the books =D

except

Gotta love xkcd ^.^

set it off

I finally got around to making a new layout! I'm going to keep tweaking with it, but for now I'm happy with it. Been home for the past two weekends and they were fun: I've seen Iron Man twice [awesome, awesome movie], The Happening [I liked it - and I'm happy my friend Jordan convinced me to see it, as I never would have had the guts to see a M. Night Shyamalan film otherwise], and The Incredible Hulk [Edward Norton. Enough said.] There are a few other movies coming out this summer that look really good, so that's exciting. Hmm, summer A is done! That means no more Western Civ - I liked it, it was an interesting class, but I don't mind not having to do work for it anymore; grades comes out Thursday, so we'll see if Western Civ liked me back.

Ok, so I saw this is another blog and thought it was cool so I'll start doing it here:

This Week I Recommend:
>Coldplay's new album Viva la Vida: its really good; my fave songs at the moment happen to be the two released singles: Violet Hill and Viva la Vida
>Gold Bond: *deep commercial voice* "the every itch anti-itch cream", though in this case its for mosquito bites, which I have wayyyy too many of. Lesson to be learned: never wear shorts and a tanktop to the beach at night after it had been raining for hours on end - it is NOT a good idea.

This week I Don't Recommend:
>Mosquitos: [see above]
>Skankwhore Freshmen: Honestly, they act and dress like full-fledged skankwhores, but exude the lost aura that follows summer A freshmen like a bad grade - its doesn't help their case that their everywhere... o.O

peace :)

Wanted

I thought it was funny :) [For those of you who have no idea what this is about, click the picture or this link to check out this wikipedia page about Schroedinger's Cat]

new

It has been wayyy too long since I've updated this blog... I'm thinking I may change up the layout sometime soon - time for something new. Speaking of new, yay for getting a new laptop! Seeing as my former desktop has papers on it from about 8th grade, I think its about time for an upgrade =D

Hmm...interesting things of late: Started summer semester and classes are going well - I never thought I would understand Calculus II [and even, *gasp* enjoy it >.<] until I got a teacher who made it understandable... Western Civilization I is easy and Engineering Statics is so far, so good. Went to the Pennywise concert at the House of Blues last weekend, which was fun - who doesn't enjoy a good mosh every now and then ^.^ I recently read The Host by Stephenie Meyer and I highly recommend it to everyone - it has action and aliens and a love story and all the trappings that make for a good book. Going to start reading In the Wake of the Plague by Norman Cantor for Western Civ. Hopefully its good...

But yeah, that's that for now. Oh yeah: www.twitter.com is this site where you can update people to what you are doing - that's it. Its really minimalistic, but its really cool how you can "update" what your up to in 140 characters or less and add it to blogs and such, like this one. If you join Twitter, be sure to find me [mabsmith]!

Song Obsession of the Moment: "Sick Sad Little World" by Incubus

no more nomophobia?

Nomophobia: n. The fear of being out of mobile phone contact.

Luckily, I don't suffer from it, as I am currently without my cell phone as it participates in a increasingly losing duel with a couple dragons. Why would my phone be dueling with a few dragons? Well, it all started when I went to the UCF SGA sponsored trip to Islands of Adventure last Friday dubbed "Universal Knights" [oh, the knight/night puns never get old :P]. I had a great time, despite boarding the 'Fire' rollercoaster with a phone and departing it without one. Oh well, hopefully the valiant park workers can manage to rescue it.

Anywho. Other interesting things that have happened of late include:

>The Knights for the Arts event, which was fun. I definitely plan on doing it again if I they have it again. The pieces I submitted were Tranquility and Entropy.

>Going to see SAY ANYTHING at the Disney House of Blues two weekends ago, as well as Weatherbox [if you can call what they did music], Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Love [they were okay], and Manchester Orchestra [I didn't like them]. Say Anything was awesome and since HOB allows moshing [Hard Rock doesn't], everyone was going crazy :P It was fun.

>My friends and I taught ourselves [from rewatching YouTube quality video] an abbreviated version of the 'El Tango de Roxanne' from Moulin Rouge as our group demo in our ballroom dancing class. It was kind of amazing, if I do say so myself. Check it out for yourself!

>The EGN1007 [Engineering Properties and Methods] Great Navel Orange Race was help last Friday, where the 500 UCF engineering freshman students raced their boat/submarine devices around the Reflection Pond while carrying an orange - and not using remote control. It was very... entertaining, to say the least. The winning boat completed the course in a rumored 16 seconds [actual time pending] - which basically means it flew around the fountain. Yay for engineering.

>Honors Congress had a volunteer trip to Habitat for Humanity on Saturday and I went. I had a great time - especially cutting wood planks with a circular saw. =D I'm definitely planning on doing that again.

So yeah, I think this has been a long enough entry. yay for having 14 days [including weekends and finals] left in this semester!

stuck on gorilla glue

Hello. Have you ever used the wonderful adhesive known to the world as Gorilla Glue? It uses a special combination of chemicals and magic to hold even your toughest pieces of wood or body parts together. Be careful though: the bottle warns you not to get it on your clothes or your skin - and its right. My fingers are currently an exhibit of the bad side of Gorilla Glue.

Why would I be using Gorilla Glue, one may ask. Well, other than the fact that it makes a perfect dipping sauce for all your dipping needs, it is being used for the construction of my engineering group's Great Navel Orange Race boat, which will be racing at UCF's Reflection Pond next Friday. Check back to see what happens :) Other things that have gone on recently include:

- Going to see PARAMORE/Phantom Planet/Meese/Conditions at the Hard Rock Live last Thursday!!! It was an amazing concert and I love Phantom Planet and Paramore infinitely more now that I've seen how awesome they are live.
- Learning to surf at the Ron Jon Surf School in Cocoa Beach last Saturday! It was an Academic event I planned for Honors Congress and it was fantastic. My friends and I are planning to go surfing weekly during the summer and I cannot wait.
- I will be participating in the "Knights for the Arts" event tonight, displaying two of my photographs. I think I'll be getting back into doing my art once I have more free time over the summer. Its definitely something to look forward to ^.^

So yeah. The moral of today's entry? Gorilla Glue: good if ingested, lethal on your hands.

going nowhere

I've been listening to Norah Jones a lot recently. I've also been in a really mellow state of mind these past few days. I'm sure one of them caused the other, but I don't really care. I feel like everything around me has become a minefield and I'm tiptoe-ing through my daily life, afraid of setting off a looming chain reaction of chaos. Where is this sprouting from? I have no idea. But then, I have no idea about a lot of things recently, so I guess that's nothing new.

But yeah - back to Norah Jones. She makes amazing music and has a magnificent voice and listening to her makes putting off studying a little more enjoyable. At the moment, my fave song of hers is 'Carnival Town.' Listen to it sometime. Ok, off to do physics.

Carnival Town
Norah Jones

Round 'n' round
Carousel
Has got you under it's spell
Moving so fast... but
Going nowhere

Up 'n' down
Ferris wheel
Tell me how does it feel
To be so high...
Looking down here

Is it lonely?
Lonely
Lonely
Lonely

Did the clown
Make you smile
He was only your fool for a while
Now he's gone back home
And left you wandering there

Is it lonely?
Lonely
Lonely
Lonely

fastpassing through life

This semester is going by really fast. Somehow time is flying - both when I'm having fun and when I'm not having so much fun.

Life since last entry has included:

>days blurring together in the pattern that has become this semester;
>dropping Calc II and deciding to take it over the summer;
>every college student's oasis in the middle of an arid spring semester in the form of spring break coming and going, and over the course of it I went home, came back to UCF, went to Tampa for two days, came back to UCF, attended the FIRST Robotics Florida Regional (and helped my team earn another regional win, as well as the GM Industrial Design Award), and became single again.

It is now hitting me that we have about 4 weeks left in the semester and then I will have finished year 1 of college. Weird... >.> In the words of someone wise I know -and the song 'Wish You Were Here' by Incubus, life is basically one big roller coaster and it seems that this fact has been thrown into sharper focus recently. Lalala, whatever - life goes on, right?

Ok, back to life in the fastpass lane...

yonder

peculiar

(1:59:20 PM) msmabsmith: hola
(1:59:33 PM) melissa3872: wassup?
(2:00:03 PM) msmabsmith: not much, just chilling at work, talking to myself
(2:00:10 PM) melissa3872: ah, fun, fun
(2:00:23 PM) msmabsmith: yep yep
(2:00:38 PM) melissa3872: ok, i think its time you go get a life
(2:00:54 PM) msmabsmith: funny, i had the same thought...
(2:02:54 PM) melissa3872: :)

2008 Fave Suberbowl Commercials

Ok, so here are my favorite Super Bowl commercials. I know its almost been a week since the Super Bowl, but I've been busy...

The Diet Pepsi Nod Commercial



Honestly, I could not stop laughing once I figured out what was going on.

Wanted



This movie looks amazing - can't wait to see it.

FedEx Carrier Pigeons



lol, I thought it was funny.

NFL Super Story: Mr. Oboe



Stories like these just make me feel all warm and fuzzy :)

PepsiStuff.com ft. Justin Timberlake



This one speaks for itself. :D

Doritos Mouse Trap



lmfao, i'm still laughing from when I first saw this one.

Talking Baby Part 1



"Whoa."

Bud Light Jackie Moon



Who can resist Will Farrell? I know I can't :P

Video overload! What can I say? There were quite a few really good ads this year, not to mention a very interesting outcome in the game itself. Yay for American past times!

1K

Apparently, this blog has gotten 1000+ views in the 10 months the counter has been counting. That makes me feel like this: ^.^



Honestly though, I think that's pretty... nifty. :D

robot vs. puppy

Personally, I'd declare a rematch :)

January 28

January 28 is a very significant day.

Today is the 22nd Anniversary of the Challenger Shuttle Disaster.



May the seven astronauts rest in peace.

On a lighter note, today is also the 50th Anniversary of the Lego Brick, one of the coolest inventions EVER, in my humble opinion.



So yeah. Always remember to keep January 28 in mind.

e is for eighteen

Wow, what a busybusybusy week and a half. Ok, let's see what's happened:

Wednesday, January 16 was the Honors College Connect Four Challenge Boardgame Night - aka the first event run by myself as head of academic affairs. It went well, if I do say so myself, and will hopefully become a semi-annual academic event. Then a bunch of us went to the free screening of Across the Universe at the Student Union, which was fun.

Thursday, January 17 was the Foo Fighters concert at the Amway Arena, which I attended with Kristy, Concert Buddy Robert, and Michelle. Against Me and Jimmy Eat World also played and it was an awesome concert, especially since an acoustic stage lowered from the ceiling right in front of where we were sitting :)

Last weekend was Martin Luther King weekend [aka a 3 day weekend] - and included an eclectic mix of everything from rockclimbing to a quasi-toga party to 2AM encounters with drunkfolk to lots of chilling at Starbucks to Rock Band parties to 40 degree weather camping trips to sleeping in to becoming a girlfriend to being very happy :) Very, very busy weekend.

Tuesday was equivalent to the Monday of a normal week and henceforth existed, but that's about it. Though we learned basic tango in ballroom dancing which was amazing ^.^

Wednesday I turned eighteen. It hasn't set in yet, but then again, I have yet to do anything that I can now do that I could not at seventeen, so yeah. My roommates and friends surprised me by taking me to the Kobe Japanese Hibachi Restaurant for dinner, then by having cake/ice cream/cookie cake/ice cream sandwiches/gifts at 11:30 pm. It was awesomely planned and they were quite convincing with their intent to "celebrate on the weekend" and "being too tired to do anything that night" and the sudden need to go to Publix =). I will never forget my 18th birthday <3

Yesterday was a day - hmmm, there's something about these Tuesday/Thursdays...

Today is going well so far, and I am really looking forward to the weekend. Basically, life is great :D

WikiHow Goodness

So, I have long been a fan of Wikipedia, so the fact that I am starting to greatly enjoy WikiHow.com should be no surprise to me. If you are ever bored - and had enough of freerice.com, stop by Wiki How and learn how to do things like:

>Be a Good Dude
>Avoid Hell
>Make a Lego Dog
>Freak people out
>Dip - and not the dancing variety...now you know you want to know what I'm talking about :D

and my all time favorite:

>Document a Lake Monster

I think I may now be able to track down the Lake Claire Monster, now that WikiHow has shown me the way! *super excited face, complete with thumbs up*

yeah, yeah, i'm going to bed. :)

not dead yet

This is by far one of the best - and most effective - ads I have seen on television in a long time. Note, there is no sound at all, so when your watching TV and all of a sudden this come on, it definitely gets your attention.



I think I may just go get myself some new sneakers now :)

rambling

I like sitting in the first row in class - or as close to it as possible.
I like compliments - giving and receiving them.
I overuse the words cool, awesome, amazing, and weird.
I like planning things - parties, trips, anything detail-oriented.
I like robots and anything robotics related.
I love my friends - probably more than they'll ever realize - and would do anything, except eat pickles, for them.
I love music and finding new music is always a good thing.
I smile and laugh a lot.
I like stupid jokes and life's little ironies.
I love giving and getting notes/letters/random surprises.
I like treasure/treasure hunts/scavenger hunts/clues/prizes. :)
I like using sideways smileys. :)
I like dressing up - whether in business attire or costume, it's all good.
I like photographs, especially black and white ones.
I take a lot of pictures and usually have my camera with me.
I like learning new things and am easily fascinated.
I always fear not being good enough - and that the people I care about will realize they don't want me around anymore and leave me alone.
I like decorating my walls and can rarely walk away from a poster sale without something.
I like random acts of kindness and doing things 'just because.'
I like when people tell me the truth and not what they think I want to hear.
I try to live with no regrets.
I like sarcastic humor - unless I'm trying to be serious. Then it just pisses me off.
I like to cook.
I believe everything happens for a reason.
I like writing on my hands - a notepad I can never lose!
I believe in karma - and Newton's 3rd law :D
I need to go to bed - now. <3

lisp has an s

My iGoogle 'Things to Ponder' module currently contains the statement, "Whose cruel idea was it for the word lisp to have an s in it? " I laugh at the irony. This and the fact that abbreviation is such a long word has always been chuckle-worthy to me.

Anyway, spring semester 2008 officially started today. I guess I can't really say much about classes until I've completed the week, but I do like [for the moment at least] being back in class. I guess there's nothing really to talk about right now - or rather, that I want to talk about right now. Other than the fact that the new Foo Fighters album [Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace] is amazing. Besides the obvious fave The Pretender, I really like Let It Die, Stranger Things Have Happened and Erase/Replace. Go listen to it now :)

Dear Melissa

You suck.

Love,
    Melissa :)

diving in headfirst

Winter break is almost over :( That is never a good feeling, no matter how old one gets. Christmas was enjoyable and spending time with the family is always an experience.

The road trip to Memphis for the Liberty Bowl with my friends was amazing; even though we lost the game [it was tied 3-3 until the last 1:57 minutes, when Mississippi State scored a touchdown >.>], it was an amazing experience, that could only possibly be beat by another road trip :) Oh yeah, want to see how amazing my friends are? Go to this link and check out picture #8 - Robert, Joe, and Andrew did this for most of the game - in mid-30 degree weather. Love you guys!

New Year's was fun. I was at UCF with the friends and we just had a chill night at the dorm. After spending a day in West Palm with said friends, I am now home - and wide awake at 3 am. yay for 2 hour naps in the afternoon that mess up your already precarious sleep schedule!

Classes resume next Monday. I've been trying to push it to the back of my head, but it's getting to the point where to do so would be stupid. Hence, I am ready to jump back into business. This semester is going to be very busy: 17 credit hours, Honors Congress officer position, IM soccer, work, and socializing to not go insane. Oh well, I like it best that way, so cheers to that.

Another year has come and gone; this year is bound to be...interesting.