Friday, March 30, 2007

hm, it's been some time, lets make some updates:

I'm going to University of Utah, Penn shot me down, which was mildly suprising, MIT did as well, which was not at all suprising, BU is way too expensive, as is BC, although i haven't heard from them yet, and Byu, i dunno, i just don't think that's my type of place. I'm sure i'd have fun there, but i dunno. Anyway, the U will be essentially free, which is a big plus. Anyway, i know where i'm going to college now. How bizarre.

Also, i'm going to prom, albeit stag. There is still some technical possibility of me manning up and asking somebody, but it's a slim one, and would require said somebody to not have a ticket, and still want to go to prom. Anyway, we'll see how that turns out, but don't hold your breath.

Lets see, in other news, my stats grade will go up, that's exciting. Also i turned in an application for a sweet restaurant in fondren that i want to work in and think i have a good chance. I really need a job. The impending doom of Prom is a little scary on top of my already unreasonable debt. It's true it's only like 30 dollars or so, but the fact that i have no income, and that i've almost never been in debt to anyone, is no fun.

Um, that's about all. I'm tired. MMTA tomorrow. Cami comes in next week, prom the week after that, 2 weeks, ap exams, 2 weeks of nothing, graduation. Madness

Sunday, March 25, 2007

I just got my acceptance letter from BU, which is pretty rockin. I also checked my financial aid status there, and between loans and grants and scholerships and stuff i'll get $39,000 given to me. The problem is that that still requires me to come up with around $8,000, most for housing, not to mention the fact that around 5 or 6 thousand of the 39 are loans, so i'll have to pay those back eventually.

Hard decisions. I hear from Penn thursday. I'm hoping i'll get in there and have a healthy scholership. I'm really not sure whether i'd rather go to Penn or the U, especially if Penn will cost me more money. Oh well.

Otherwise, life has been going pretty regularly. Prom is coming up, that means more decisions and, more ominously, lots and lots of money. I think i can probably get money for tickets from my savings account, allthough i'm not exactly supposed to do that, i'll have to convince the parentals that my senior prom is worth going into a little bit of debt to myself. I'm applying for jobs next week, so hopefully i'll be able to work a week or two before prom so that i'll have enough money to rent a tux. If worst comes to worst i can wear that weird one i got from mrs. polanski. But hopefully it won't come to that. On top of prom, i'm already in debt $30 to my parents, as well as various little mini debts here and there, plus some christmas/birthday presents i need to buy. Then i need to buy a Wii and some other things, so having a job is pretty important right now. I couldn't go to TMNT yesterday because i really didn't have any money. That was no fun.

In other news, Cami should be coming in soon. I wish i could buy a Wii by then, but it's not going to happen, due to prom. Fun will still be had though. I think that's about all that's going on here. I need to review The Hudsucker Proxy, but i'll do that later tonight i guess.

Monday, March 19, 2007

One door closes and all that i guess

So today i got home from school to find two happy letters from the university of Utah. One of them said i was accepted, which wasn't especially unexpected, but still a relief, because i didn't like BYU being the only school i'd be able to fall back on. The other letter was even cooler, and said that i had been selected to receive a full out of state tuition scholarship, plus a 2000 something dollar housing stipend. So i think that's pretty awesome, and depending on what i get from Penn, U of U is a pretty serious option. I also got a letter saying that i'm going to need to complete a foreign language in my first 30 semester hours, because it says i've only completed 1, this is odd, since in truth i've already completed 2 and am about to complete a third. I'm going to guess Murrah's second-to-none counselors botched my transcript. I see about that.

Otherwise, i feel pretty smart, because i can now consistently solve a rubik's cube, i only need to memorize two little algorithms, or technically 4, but they're in two pairs, one that only have a single move difference, and the other that is basically a reflection of the other one. So yeah, i'm thinking rubik's cube for talent show and general showing off is going to be pretty sweet. If i actually get a real rubik's cube, by the time the family reunion rolls around maybe i'll be able to do it in 20 seconds blindfolded while underwater in a shark infested tank, while upside down and hungry. Anyways, should be fun stuff.

I hope i continue to pick up cool little talents like this as i get older. A few years ago one summer i decided i wanted to learn how to juggle. Now its rubik's cube. Maybe i'll learn some sweet magic tricks, or something like that. Then if i'm ever strapped for cash in college i can do street performances to pay for food. Good stuff.

Lesse, i had some other news i think...nah, i got nothing.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

I was solving a virtual rubik's cube online, i had one thing left to do, and i closed the window. How wack is that? I've decided i'm going to learn to solve a rubik's cube for the talent show this year, and for just general awesomeness. It's really not that hard, so that's kinda cool, it's just a few things to memorize.

Other news, i got shot down by MIT, which wasn't exactly unexpected, i never got an interview, and my SAT-II math scores were sub-par, but still, it's no fun. I'll live though. If i get into both BU and PENN it's going to be a hard decision.

I feel generally weird, and i can't quite figure out why. It a very familiar feeling, although i don't know from where. Anyway, i need to do some house work and then have some fun, so yeah, that's all.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Movies Review 8-10

I've watched three movies in the past two days, so here goes, i'm going to rate these out of 10, because i feel like it.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
One of my favorite plays that we've read for english, Ros and Guil has a really great plot and a really fun set up. The movie version is not quite as good as the play i don't think, but i shouldn't compare. It was a really good movie, Gary Oldman was great. So were richard dreyfuss and tim roth, but i liked Rosencrantz a lot more. The dialogue was great, and the word tennis was really cool. All in all a really good movie, i figure a 8 is good.

A Prairie Home Companion
I'd seen this movie before, but i think it gets better the second time. Garrison Keiller is amazing as always, i think i could listen to him talk for days. Kevin Kline is terribly funny as Guy Noir, and Dusty and Lefty are great as well. The plot for this movie seems just a tad lacking, but it's a nice final movie for Robert Altman. The part of the Dangerous Woman seems just a little superfluous, but i really like her character, and she is portrayed really well. The only thing that keeps this movie from being perfect is Lindsey Lohan. I dunno whether i don't like her, or whether i don't like or character, but she was just unnecessery and annoying. She can't sing that well, and her final song was kinda lame. If it wasn't for her this movie could be much greater, but she really robs it of the smooth, calm, witty humor of A Prairie Home Companion. Anyway, 9/10 for this one to.

Raising Arizona
This movie was really great. I'm a big Nicholas Cage fan, and i really liked the very slapstick comedy. I also really likes some of the references, or rather the places that were referenced in later movies. Dapper dan wound up in O Brother, Where art thou? and even though i can't find anyone mentioning this online, i'm pretty positive that the scene where the biker guy is riding up is a reference to Ghost Rider, a favorite comic of Cage, and was later referenced in Ghost Rider, where the little lizard bursts into flames. So yeah, i thought that was cool. All in all it was just a very funny movie and fun to watch. I'll give it 10, although it definitely wasn't my favorite movie, i really liked it.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Cooking, Colleges, and Camping

I just got a couple emails from MIT and Penn. The MIT one told me that i can find out saturday, the penn one told me i need to send an additional little essay thing about my interest in engineering. Makes sense. I'm really kinda nervous. I really want to get into MIT or Penn.

I just tried, and failed, to make pancakes. I think it's partly the pancake mix's fault, there's no way 3/4 cup water was enough. But also i made the pancakes way to big so i ended up with pancakes with doughy goo in the center. Also, for some reason, there's the inexplicable flavor of vanilla. But i'm full now, and i'm still bored, though i have a magazine and a family newsletter i'm midway through reading, i think i'll update on camping now.

So we met at my house at around 10:30 on sunday night. I pushed for leaving at 4 after sleeping a bit, but that didn't happen, so after gathering up all the stuff, packing bags, and choosing cars, we went off, but we had to stop at walmart first. Anyway, at about midnight we actually started heading towards North Carolina. Once we got on I-20 i worked on going to sleep, and i managed to sleep up until somewhere in alabama. After that i switched with emmett and he slept quite a bit. We drove through Atlanta, and the other guys got lost and were heading out towards the Atlantic, instead of back in towards the Smokeys. They were way too far off, so we decided to keep driving and meet up with them eventually. Somewhere past Atlanta the sun started coming up, and emmett woke up. We stopped at a little gas station, and i bought the first best doughnuts ever. We drove on, staying mostly on track. At some point we started getting into the smokey mountains, where, it turns out, it is very cold in the mornings. We stopped at a walmart and got some really cheap sweater things for emmett to stay warm. Then we kept driving. We stopped at the Fun Factory, which i think is easily the coolest place like that i've ever been to. It had every arcade game imaginable, mini golf, laser tag, bumper cars, i think it had bowling too, and it was all very nice. It was kinda like The Park, but much bigger, and way better maintained. We got some free tickets on some machines, and then got some souvenirs. Fun stuff.

After Fun Factory we kept driving mostly straight until Cherokee, where we waited for johnny since we didn't no how to get to the campgrounds from there. We skipped rocks, and hung out in this really sweet bamboo forest thing. Eventually Johnny and gang came, Emmett and Chris got in a rather tense fight for reasons unclear to me, and them, and we eventually kept going, stopping at subway for some food. We finally got the campground at around 1 or 2. After much ado and some last minute packing and eating, and a little talk with the park ranger, we headed out.

The first half or so of the hike was really easy, and we took breaks to mess around in the water and have fun since the trail itself was pretty boring. With about a mile left the trail suddenly got really difficult and interesting, so that was nice. Finally, just a bit before the sun went down we got into the campground, happily we were the only ones there. We set up a fire and started making some dinner. I got tired of waiting for the fire to get going to i used my campstove to cook some sweet pasta with cream sauce stuff. Twas quite good. Then we hung out for a while around the campfire talking and such, and eventually went to our respective tents.

I fell asleep eventually, but then woke up really early because i was freezing cold. After adjusting my sleeping bag and covering my head i got back to sleep eventually, but then woke up again to people being outside and making a fire. I really had to pee, so i had to get up and ended up staying up and seeing the sun rise, very slowly with the mountains. We, me chris and paul, ate breakfest and drank hot chocolate and had a generally fun time. Eventually other people got up, by then there was no hot chocolate, which was too bad. We went down to the river and built a bridge and hiked up the mountain, not really finding too much interesting. We came back and ate some lunchy food, and then hiked up the river a ways and messed around. The water was very cold, but it was fun. Chris jumped in the water, for five dollars from john, trying to find a fish john thought he had seen. After that we went back and hung around for a bit. We tried to start a bonfire, but because of poor planning, and a strong lack of wood and lighter fluid, it never really became anything. After the died off we moved our camp over to the other side, because the other campsite was way better. Josh was asleep so we left him in the tent, and built a little trap for him, but then he slept too long and we had to wake him up, which kinda made the whole thing less fun. After finally getting everything set up we ate dinner (ramen, it was delicious) and hung for a while and talked and such. That night i slept much better, although at some point i had to wake up to get back on my little pad, because the little bed of leaves that johnny and emmett had made under the tent got crushed.

On wednesday we slept in until about noon. Then we got up, made pancakes, which was an adventure not unlike today's, and then went up the river again. This time we went a lot farther, and i found a place where i could dive in, which was very satisfying. I tried to swim around a bit, but when i put my chest in the water i couldn't breath at all. So yeah. But it was really fun. We went up a little further, but i got kinda bored of the river and ready to go back. A few of the guys built a little fire which we sat around for a while, and then me and emmett stayed there while everybody else kept going. At some point Andrew came back, and so we all headed back down to our campsite. A little while after we got there the other guys got there, they had apparently found an airplane engine, which is pretty cool. I ate my little lunch of half a thing of ritz and a can o' chicken that i had brough to i'd have something to eat. Josh ate one of the dinners that i'd made for josh and me, and wouldn't let me have any because i had my half a role of ritz, which was super weak, but whatever.

While dinner was still going, people decided that they wanted to go home that night. It was getting kinda dark, so we had to hurry and get all our stuff ready fast so we wouldn't get caught in the dark. I didn't want to leave a pile of slightly burnt trash in the campsite, because it looked really bad. By then everybody had left, but josh, who very nobley stayed to help me finish getting rid of the ugly pile of crap and pack up the tent which Paul had nicely left for us to put together and carry out. By the time we finished with everything it was almost dark, and we didn't have a flashlight. We booked it out of the camp, and managed to finish the first mile right as it was getting too dark to see. Right as we came down Emmett got there, having realized we'd gotten left with no flashlight, and come back, in a brilliant, and very lucky, display of friendship. If he hadn't come back we would have been thoroughly screwed. The three of us hiked back as quick as we could, making it back to the car at around 10 or so. The other guys had driven off by then. Originally we'd planned to get pizza and hang out and do fun stuff on thursday and friday, but people decided they'd rather just drive home. They came back and gave us some of the gas money and left. Josh lost his keys, which was almost terrible, but then we found an extra engine key.

The drive back was farely eventful. First we got a bit lost and ended up in bryson. We stopped at a gas station to get directions, a map, and i bought what is definitely the best doughnut i've ever eaten. Andrew told us to head back to where we'd gotten lost and get on 441, but the guy that lived in bryson told us to head out to 28 and take that down to 441. We got to 28, which, as it turns out, is the scariest road in the world. I think if it'd been day time i would have really enjoyed the drive, it was one of those mountain roads that curves a lot and has sheer drops on the side of the road. As it was though it was a dark, dangerous road in the middle of nowhere with scary houses and cars all around. Eventually we got out of the mountains, and franklin turned out to be a nice place. We got lost again and had to get gas and directions in franklin, which got us on the right path. We finally started heading home, and josh was pretty ready to get home, so there was some adventageous speeding. At some point outside Atlanta some cop took issue with us going 90 in a 55, and so josh got what will probably be a pretty sucky ticket. After that we went more or less the speed limit, which made the next half of the drive a good deal longer than the first half, and a good deal less exciting. A little ways out of Atlanta i woke up Emmett (who'd been asleep since we got on 441) and switched with him, since i was having a lot of trouble staying awake. I slept mostly through to some gas station in alabama, where some rather shade cop asked us where we'd gotten emmett. He seemed rather rascist, and he probably was, but i imagine he was mostly doing his job, and being rascist on the side. Either way, it was kinda scary. I guess no camping trip is complete without some crazy back country rascists threatening Emmett. After that i slept up until tinseltown, when josh woke me up. We got to my house and i took a shower, and went to sleep in isaac's bed, since mine is still covered in clothes.

I woke up feeling rather rested and have meandered around a bit for the day so far. All in all i guess camping was fun, there were a lot of annoying happenings with people, and i'm not entirely sure if i'd want to do it again. But whatever.

That was a really really long entry. This morning i was a little impressed by how green my front yard looked, it'd just rained and it was all very warm looking. I wish i had my netflix but i don't, so i'm probably going to read some and then i dunno. We'll see. That's all.
i'm back from camping, a little early. My parents aren't back yet, i'm out of money, and i'm not sure who's in town, so i dunno what the next couple of days is going to be like, but i should get most of my homework done, and be productive, and maybe even work out.

I'm afraid to check my email and livejournal because it's going to take nearly an hour to catch up with all that. I think i'm going to go eat breakfast, although we're out of milk, and eggs. I was going to eat pancakes but the pancake mix i had got locked in josh's trunk. I'm going to go figure something out.

There will be a more full update later today probably, once i'm bored again, but no longer hungry.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Movie Review V?

the big V, or something, i can never keep track of how many of these i've done. Today movie is Princess Mononoke, from the Hayao Miyazaki collection.

I'd seen this before, and i liked it a lot the first time, and i liked it again. I think it loses quite a bit with the english voice acting, since the voices just don't match what the characters should sound like. Otherwise though visually it was a great movie. Anime was made for ninja like movement. The music was kinda weak, but only the music with singing. The plot was good, rather original and very interesting, with a touch of moral to it. All in all it gets 4 stars, it would get 5, but i don't like those americans but i forgot to put it in Japanese with captions

firefox's spell check tries to correct japenese with ripenesses

EDIT: apparently this is number 7, go figure.

I'm just a poor boy and my story's seldom told

today has been a day of lots of good driving, that promises to have some more in the future. So i woke up at around 11, which was great, and went and picked up roberta and spencer from the school. On the way up there, i had the windows down, and this great jazz music was playing, and i felt like i was in a movie or something. It was nice.

My dad looked old today, he looked like his dad. He was wearing a blue denim shirt and a dirty old hat and was working outside. Twas brillig.

Later on today i was driving home from madison, and my parents were driving the other car. It's hard to drive behind your parents. I really wanted to pass them, because i don't like following people, but i would have had to go like 85, because they were speeding. Eventually i passed them. Sometime later he drove by me, crazy drivers. I went on lakeland and they went on woodrow, we hit howard at the exact same time. Stupid right of way.

I just drove out to IHOP to say hey to johnny for about a second and then leave, i did beat paul out of the ihop parking lot though, so that was something. Now i'm sitting at home wondering what i aught to do.

I aught to eat some food.

Ah poo, i think my speaker is breaking. That's quite unfortunate, it's all static-ee and crap.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

"Come, let's get to work! In an instant all will vanish and we'll be alone once more"

"Let us not waste our time in idle discourse! Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. Not indeed that we personally are needed. Others would meet the case equally well, if not better. To all mankind they were addressed, those cries for help still ringing in our ears! But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late! Let us represent worthily for once the foul brood to which a cruel fate consigned us! What do you say? It is true that when with folded arms we weigh the pros and cons we are no less a credit to our species. The tiger bounds to the help of his congeners without the least reflection, or else he slinks away into the depths of the thickets. But that is not the question. What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come—"

I just love that quote, the way it rises into an inspirational call to arms and then crashes back into the actionless stupor is great. I really like Waiting for Godot.

So anyway it's 5am and i haven't really slept all that much. I got a nice 2-3 hour nap, which has held me over quite well. Aim mysteriously died, so i can't ask spencer about the merits of my bibliographic entry. I'm pondering whether to just go to sleep, and work on a poetry response after Seminary. I think i'll do that, i'll clear up any bibliographical format errors with mrs. Williams before school.

Camping is going to be rockin, i need a job.

Sunday, March 4, 2007

sick

man, time flies when you sleep all day long for a solid week. I can't believe spring break is next week. Camping is going to be killa-fun. I have a ton of work to do this week though, hopefully i'll finish all that.

Friday and saturday were academic decathlon, which was ok. i felt like tons of crap, so that wasn't very enjoyable, but i got two shiny medals and a $500 scholarship, which is good, i can buy books or food or something. We got second after Madison, which is unfortunate, but not unexpected, since we really never studied like we should have. Such is life. I feel like i should have a lot to say, but i haven't really done anything in the past week.

I hardly ever get sick, and i gotta say, not fun at all. I'll make another one of these next time something worth talking about happens.