Time management

Feeling: intrigued
What's on: "It's a Curse"- Wolf Parade

My goal of being more productive has been failing thus far. Even though I have more free hours now that Robotic is over, I've been using those times to catch up on sleep. The most productive thing(in my opinion) that I have done thus far was retagging my music collection over a period of 3 days, spending 5 hours or so total. Hooray.


Today's sleeping schedule sort of deviated from the "norm". I was working on calc around midnight and decided to rest for awhile, even though I figured I would fall asleep and wake up around 2, by which the time lost all motivation to continue calc and thus continue sleeping. I ended up waking up at 3, which surprised me a little. Regardless, I followed my plan and passed out again.

Band hasn't been very fun lately as we've began drilling music for contest. We had sectionals for the first half of class in which the time was spent with our section complaining and Christine braiding my hair. At some point, Keith started mocking Mr. C's Anger management problems; 10 seconds later, Mr. C walked into the room to check up on things.Everyone tried to keep a straight face as Keith saved himself by a change in topic with a "can you help us with this part?"
Much needed entertainment for that hour.

I took the bus home today for the first time in a few month. I always disliked riding it because it's always crowded, and the people are usually not very smart/idiots. Apparently, a 2nd bus was just added today, so the ride wasn't bad at all. When I got home, the weather impelled me to go for a run, which I've been meaning to do for a long time. Though the reason why I haven't been is out of sheer laziness, exhaustion overtook me this time, and I took a nap infront of my computer...

When I woke up, my first instinct was to check my watch-- 6:27. Crap, how did it get to be morning already. After taking in the situation, I double checked the time and thought about how will fail at school today: IR test, Calc homework, French homework. Great, it's looking up to be another craptastic day. Although on the brightside, I still had an hour before school and could at least finish French that's due 1st hour.

I got up and headed towards my room to change. All of a sudden, I heard my mom yelling for my name from downstairs. This really threw me off, since she never gets up this early. Even though she did start work this week I was still confused as to why she's up or knew that I was up too. I answered, and she yelled for me to come and eat. I guess she made me breakfast really early in the morning?
I sat back down in front of my computer, and it hit me: I'm retarded. As I had double checked the time when I woke up, it clearly displayed 6:27 PM on the monitor, yet my brain was obviously not functioning when I concluded my computer was wrong, and I was right.
I walked downstairs and ate dinner.

In my defense, I lack the sense of time when I wake up, and it looked like dusk outside; although it is sad that it took me 10 mins to realize it's actually dawn.
This is the first time that I confused day with night. I have to say that I'm pretty proud of this feat.

Friday to look forward to

Feeling: content
What's on: "Superman"-Stereophonics

I almost forgot that it is Friday. When I looked in my docket during 2nd hour, I realized today was not Thursday; and it made me feel relieved. This week has gone by fairly quick, as the usual robotic business and sleep deprivation kept me busy every night.

I made the mistake of passing out on weds. right after I got home from robotics. I figured I could manage my take home test from comp sci and homeworks in school the next day, so I didn't bother opening my backpack and headed straight for bed...

Wendsay was one of the worst days I've had in awhile.
For one, I didn't manage to finish that test in class, and ended up getting around 60% for it.(...at least I still have an A in the class) I went home during lunch to pick up a financial aid letter that was due that day, but lunch ended up being my mom yelling at me. The thing was, my dad was suppose to make a photocopy of my green card, but I didn't know that he had a class that day, and I couldn't get in contact with him until he got off, which was around 6. My mom complained about how I always have to wait till the last moment to do things (ie. college apps/scholarships ), and if I would just have prepared in advance, none of these problems would have appeared. So, whatever, I stopped by the post office after school and mailed what I had.
I'm pretty sure there were other things that added to the lameness of the day, but I can't remember.

Thursday:
Ian jone's toga legacy
Recycling truck's ownage on Alex V.'s car

I don't need to say more.

------

Today has gone by fairly well. I'm still wary about the calc test,and that has been my response after the past 2. I probably should start worrying, but really, I don't feel that sense of urgency. I got out pretty lucky last semester, but it might not be the case on this one.
The tennis team callout announcement appeared out of nowhere today. Surprisingly, many new faces showed up. Actually, I delegated the task of signing up to someone else, but I walked past the lecture hall on my way out to my car and decided to drop in.
Tim is still the same, and he went over the same stuff I've heard last year...except, he's cutting people this year, and by people, I meant the Juniors and Seniors.
As the situation currently stands, I'm seeing the seniors as the ones being cut, considering there were only 4 or so Juniors on the team last year.
Now, I consider myself to be a fairly good player, at least above the average. I don't see how Tim is justifying this action. I'm pretty sure even the worse players of these 2 classes are going to be better than some of the new underclassmen. Sure they have time to grow, but still. Asian consipracy theory: Tim is racist; he is out to cut all the asians.
I guess we'll see how things go, I'll probably be abit nervous going into challenge matches starting on Spring break.

After school, I went to get gas since my parents mentioned recently that the price has gone down. Much to my surprise, it was $1.99; and not to my surprise, there was a mob of cars hungry for a pump. I decided to get in on the fun and drove around in circles until I got a station, which happened about 10 mins later. I'm pretty sure at least 2 pumps went out of service/out of gas, which is kind of sad.

Around 7:30, Connie came to take me to Vienna. Oddly, it was very much deprived of people. After watching her work on scholarship essays, we headed for the Union at 8:30. There was a beach party event going on along with Bean Cellar, so twice the fun in one night. Somehow Clif, Govind, and Ian appeared later, but just in time for the opening band that kind of sucked.(Their groupies were pretty bad at doing their job too) Sadly that went on for almost an hour. By that time, Govind, Connie, and I were the only ones left, until more random people showed up coming from the basketball game.
"No Reasons Given" were on next, and things picked up as the crowd was so much better this time---moshing soon ensued (Oh Ska kids). It's hard to describe everything that went on, but there were some good moments.
After the set ended, everything died down for awhile. We went back to our table and ate the rest of the food from the "beach party", and I lost a fish race against Connie. (though she let me have the fishes) We left when the 3rd band started playing.
It's been so long since my last Bean Cellar, so the night provided to be entertaining. =)

Now Playing: Bleeding Power-Ted Leo and the Pharmicists


The week has been alright in retrospect. School is the same, but right now, all the classes are going downhill on the fun factor.

There was no school on Wendsday, but I ended up spending most of that time at school anyways. I probably should've used the opportunity to catch up on some sleep, but I stayed up around the general 2 am bedtime again. I woke up to the sound of my alarm at 8 the next morning. Anna and I had made plans to eat breakfast at IHOP, but I was still half asleep. I dialed her up and requested to move the time to 9; she reluctantly refused. I gave in and got up-- it was for my own benefit anyways.
After some problem and confusion with her parents and the car, she picked me up around 8:45, and we got to IHOP, along with Dasha, 40 mins later.
The tech girls (Wallace, Akey, and Pluck) were already there looking awake. I ordered coffee, pancakes,eggs, and hash browns. It was the first time in awhile that I had an actual breakfast, so the meal was very fulfilling even though it left me 8 dollars poorer. After finishing, Anna dropped me off home so I can drive my car to robotics for a fun day of work.

Not that many people showed up that afternoon, but the peace was kind of nice.

to be continued...

Regret

I often find myself in this state of feeling, more than the normal or healthy level. It has hit me time after time, yet I still can't help but let it take over. I know of the problems, but my attempts to overcome it often fails.
I tell myself, "this is what you're going to do. This, and that.." the plan seems to be perfect, but the execution never seem to happen.

I can think of so many action I've regretted doing or not doing. What would my life be like if I had done this or that..? I still have clear recollection of an event in 4th grade where I regretted not answering to my truest feelings, because I was afraid. 4th grade... I honestly believe my life would be different now if I had taken the other path back then.

But in actuality, I could be regretting taking the other path, but I would never know now; It's a complex cycle.

Bazz' album 05 (part 1)

I've been meaning write this for a long time but haven't quite listened to all the albums I wanted when 05 ended. Though, I guess now is a fitting time since the Grammy's is coming up later.

Obviously, there're still many albums I've missed, and probably some good ones in the pool too. But from what I have heard and liked, here goes some.

Not really in any order, but then again, it might.

------------
Beat Me

Push the Button
The Chemical Brothers
Track Pick- "Believe feat. Kele Okereke" [guitarist/vocalist of Bloc Party]
Not their best album, but a better electronic of the year. Unlike other albums of the same genre, nothing was redundant, and I did not skip through any tracks midway. There're also some nice collab tracks, so check it out.

Lcd Soundsystem
Lcd Soundsystem
Track Pick-"Movement"

A 2 disc side project from producer James Murphey. I would say the album is more funk/rock than purely electronic, something I'm fond of. Along with Push the Button, this album is a Grammy nominee for the best dance/electronic album of the year. I have good hopes for it, but Demon Days might be sweeping the competition. :shrug: guess we'll see.


Before the Dawn Heals Us
M83
Track Pick- "Team Angst"

This album is different from the others in its genre in that it is much more mellow and almost depression, in a beautiful sense (If that even made any sense) This album became more enjoyable after a few listens as I adapted to the slow pace. (The title is also very fitting)


Kasabian
Kasabian
Track Pick- "U Boat"

A good debut album from the Brits. I debated on whether to throw this in here or under indie since it's a bit of both. The sound is not particularly unique(ie. genre defining), but nonetheless different from some other debut bands.


---------------
RockAlties
I wasn't impressed with a lot of alternative albums released last year. Sure there was the Killers, the Gorillaz, the White Stripe, Coldplay, and others, but the albums were not as good as I expected.


Frances the Mute
The Mars Volta
Track Pick-"Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus"

I've only started listening to the band some month ago, but the style is unlike much I've heard before. The album starts off with a beautiful guitar and vocal and rips to the band's progressive rock riffs that fades in and out and eventually dies after the 13 min. first track . There're a lot of style variations through out the album that keeps it fresh.

Guero
Beck
Track Pick-"Got it Alone"

Beck is back with twice the fun. Lots of great remix elements are put into the tracks. Guerolito was also released this year, a remix on this album.


Extraordinary Machine
Fiona Apple
Track pick- "Extraordinary Machine"

I love orchestrated music, and I heart artists who incorporates it with vocals and . Apple has a decent voice, but not the best I've heard. Apparently there were a lot of drama going into the production of this album, which was delayed for a long time I think. Nonetheless, an interesting album.

Oh hoy

Feeling: Weary
Now Playing:"Ready"- Peluka

Greetings from BN. Since I haven't updated in a long time, I thought about actually letting that interval be a month, but it's probably not a record I'm most enthused about setting. I meant to finish this post on Super Bowl Sunday, but I had to fulfill my standing duty as a student and finish my homework and get "proper" sleep. (Sorry to disappoint you DK, but this blog is still alive and well..maybe )

I have spent about the last hour typing out a coherent page of current thoughts and standings, but Blogger seems to hate me and deleted that entire portion, because it thought the text was in an html tag. It makes me want to cut myself...really.
I don't feel like retyping, so going on with other business and perhaps ranting about things another time.

1) Super Bowl is getting less and less exciting. I made the decision to watch the game even though I really wanted to sleep. There was a recurring theme of black people in the pre-game, but I guess it is black history month and all. But what was up with the anthem? That's probably the saddest woman-man vocal I've ever heard.(What's more sad is that it was a black man)

I was surprised to hear Bitter Sweet Symphony being played as Seattle came out of the tunnel. It's pretty ironic now since they got owned in the end.
With commercials, I wasn't very impressed. Beer commercials have always been good, and Budlight did some great ones this year. The weirdest commercial involved a robot and a Godzilla like creature falling in love while obliterating a city. The two soon had a baby, which was a red Hummer, ie. "little monster."

2) New phone is the way to be. Though I got my Walkman about 2 weeks ago, I still have to give it some glory.
I had the legitimate reason of asking for one since my old one refused to display anything. Actually, my dad offered to buy me a new phone, so I couldn't complain much. I mentioned to him vaguely that I wanted an Ericsson, and was kind of surprised that he bought it, since he had his own pick on phones.
I realized awhile back that most of my stuff happens to be Sony. Now, a new member has been admitted. I decided to compile a list and see how the numbers added up...

Updated family tree:
Ericsson Walkman
PSP
Walkman NW-HD3 (mp3 player)

House collection:
old school VAIO desktop (have been mine for 7 or so years)
TV & HDTV
Cybershot Camcorder
PSX

relocated to a better home/place:
Cybershot Camera
VAIO Laptop
PS2

Why isn't it Sony?
Casio EX600 (Digital Camera)

moral: sony dominates..for good or bad

3) School is getting more and more tiring.
4) Luckily there's Wendsday off to catch up on sleep.
5) Great things to come.
6) Conciseness=good :: Sleeping=good++
7) This post ended poorly.