Sorry for taking so long to find a reason to post something new on here. Having common sense was very necessary towards staying strong in my classes. I am happy to inform that the second set of exams went well, and the semester is now close to an end. Of course, my inner moron could not keep bottled up forever, and showed his wonderfully hideous face one night around two weeks ago.
I was ending a marginally-pleasant Thursday, turning off my computer and getting in my bed. Going with tradition, I was not able to get to sleep immediately, which actually came to my advantage for this night. Dave, my roommate, was having the same trouble, which sparked some conversation between us while we both laid in our own beds. The conversations quickly morphed to a fart-sound contest, using armpits or backs of kneecaps. Our own fatigue only made the situation only more hilarious, which made a highlight of the day.
About ten minutes had past since the fart-sounds had ceased and I still could not get to sleep, as if some inner region of my conscience was trying to grab my attention. Well it was, and it was then that I remembered about a programming project that I had due for my CSE 121 class was to be handed in online by 10:00 p.m. that night. I had forgotten to send in the project, although I had completed the project the day before. The assignment was pretty simple, and I thought I could wait until tomorrow in case I thought of anything else to include in the code. Well, I waited for a little too long, as it was now 3:24 a.m. I sprung out of bed, yelling a melange of "shit"s and "fuck"s, and ran to my computer. I turned it on and hoped the program could still be accepted, but the box to put the project in was taken away. I quickly wrote a half-sensible email to my professor on the situation, hoping that mercy will be taken on my situation. I then went back to bed, my conscience raping me with "how could you"s and "you idiot"s.
I asked my professor on my situation later in the week, which he said that I'd get "...at least some credit." Better than nothing, I suppose. Had to happen sometime, since I came so close last time just wasn't enough for me to learn from my mistake.

Now for other stuff. I just finished a programming project that had brought me to the edges of my sanity. The gaiety I felt when I had solved that which my professor could not figure out was something that I'll remember for a while. I just sent the project in about a half hour ago, which was a very relieving process. One more project to go in my CSE class and I will be done with them. My last lab for physics was also today which was nice, although the class was really easy. Only one more recitation to go to and then I'll only have lectures to go to until the exams.

I also had a very nice revelation over the past month which was very nice. Sometime in most people's lives, the revelation occurs that your life will not be an eternity (although some times definitely feels like it is). The need to accomplish things, however stupid they may be, is infused in you and initiative is taken to complete those things. I always sort of understood the concept that I will die sometime, but never thought of it beyond that point. I finally had the full realization laying in bed last Sunday night, with the songs of "I'm Afraid of Dying...Aren't You??", "You've Got To Hold On", and "The Gold in the Mountain of Our Madness" running through my head. Death comes, and always will. The fact, however badly everyone wants to cover it, will remain true for all time. To truly make the most of life, you need to revere that your death will come someday. From that acceptance, you'll have all the willpower and determination to do whatever you dream of...

Sorry to end on an quasi-existential note, but I thought that it was a cool thing to experience. If this hasn't happened to anyone yet, you'll know whenever the same happens to you.

Last little note, I highly recommend all of those songs listed in that previous paragraph. Even if you don't like that kind of music (alternative) at least appreciate the implications of the lyrics.

This weekend was a true testament of an truly unique adventure; one probably unable to be accomplished with anyone other than the group I was with. The weekend was looking up, as I was going to my brother's apartment (as usual protocol for Fridays after classes). I learned that we were planning to see the 8:15 showing of Borat at the Premier, since the theater in State College did not have the movie (which was stupid beyond belief) . Rich decided to tag along because he had no dinner plans and the movie would be a bonus. One thing to know about Rich is that he hates the cold more than anyone on campus, which helps out later.

We arrived at the apartment and had a nice, quick dinner and left for the bus stop at College and Allen. The group had now enlarged to my brother Ryan, his friends Jimmy, Chris, Ryan A, Steve, Cynthia, Pete, and Cody. We were about to cross College Ave when the bus for the Nittany Mall drives off without us. We then proceeded to wait for the next hour, waiting for another bus out. By the arrival of the next bus, about 10 more college students (all going to see Borat) and 10 kids were waiting for the same ride out to the mall, which made a very cramped bus situation.

The bus arrived at the Premier and a stampede began to reach the ticket booth. We made good time, but we still couldn't get there before the shows until 10:00 were sold out. We got the 10 p.m. tickets and now had to find something to busy ourselves for the next hour and a half. Cody told us about a Big Lots nearby and we agreed to waste time in there, as well as get some cheap snacks. Instead of going along the paved roads of the oh-so-beautiful asphalt, we chose to cut through an unlit field of weeds and tall grass, seeing that it will save time. The task became more arduous than previously imagined, since many of the weeds had grown thorns and the ground was very rugged. I began to complain in the usual way about why we chose to do this, when I stumbled and fell face-first into a thorn bush. I got up quickly, and noticed a branch of the dagger-weed lodged itself along my nose. I yelled, "There are thorns in my DAMN NOSE!" Which brought a rousing chuckle to the group. I then noticed I was bleeding and began my obscenities once more, now including the fact that my nose was bleeding at a pretty quick pace.

We finally left the field and I got my brother to remove the hellish twig and then headed to Big Lots to for more fun. I couldn't find the bathroom, so the next logical step for my brother and I was to bust open a bottle of soap and use it to clean myself up. Another bad idea, since my hands were now covered in a concoction of soap and blood. Cynthia found a bathroom for me, and I finally cleaned off my nose and stopped the bleeding. We continued looking around in the store, where I got some candy for the movie.

Because we didn't learn our lesson the first time, we went back through the field to get to the Premier. This route was a little different, bringing more hills and holes. The biggest hill was at the beginning, and we went in a row over the slope with an almost vertical drop. My brother went and got down fine, Cynthia went next and fell at the end, toppling Ryan over in the process. I began going down about then and tried to sidestep around the two fallen bodies, but there was a hole that I could never expect. I tripped on it's edge and fell backwards, almost into it. My limbs were out of it, but my torso was covering rather large hole that I couldn't feel the bottom of. I managed to get up and out of the field with now more troubles. We saw Borat, which truly exceeded my expectation of it.

The last situation of the night was the bus ride back. We left the theater around 11:35, and the last bus left at 11:30, which left us stranded. We weren't shocked over this, since we had a good idea that we would most likely miss the bus if we watch the 10:00 show. Thus began out trek back to campus, which only one person in our group knew how to navigate, Cody. The walk home was winding and, synonymous with the night, long and physically draining. The walk was covered in about 2 hours, and the distance, as calculated by Jimmy with Google Earth, was 6.4 miles. There were many back roads taken in it, and the consensus was that if a horror movie-esque event was about to happen in out lives, it would have occurred that night. Highlight of the evening was Chris' statement, "Lets do the first mistake in all horror films, split up." We passed multiple farms, one had the sound of pigs being slaughtered inside. Around then, we lost Steve and Ryan A, which caused more worry, as they didn't answer their phones.

Everyone got home safely, and the moonlight of that spectacularly-cold Friday night was a cool thing for our walk home. Most of my face had gone numb, but we all had a good time. This weekend was certainly a memorable time, one that will be loved and remembered. Remember to have an upbeat look on life, since seeing how shitty it was is a lot less fun that remembering all the fun we had.

If anyone made it through this post, my praise to you.

For everyone's enjoyment, a nice little song from a favorite band of mine. I think it's a wonderful bedtime story.



The Gold in the Mountain of Our Madness - The Flaming Lips

Here we go

They started up the hill
With their young lives exploding still
They love to dream and run
They have the grass and the trees and the sun
They dreamed of the gold they’d find (they dreamed of the gold)
At the top of the hill as they climbed
No one would ever doubt
Their spirit and strength could never run out

There they go

But the hill was steep and long
They never thought they’d be wrong
They climbed through the hill and all
There was a mountain a thousand feet tall
And with the gold still in their minds
They used their young lives to climb and climb
And by the time they got to the peak
They were old and they were weak

There was no gold that they could find
It was all just in their minds
They had dreamed and they had run
They found the grass and the trees and the sun
And said what do we do now
Spend the rest of our lives climbing back down
Or we can treasure what we find
And make it golden in our minds

That’s what we’ll do

Hello.

I got bored not doing many of the things I should be doing (reading journals for eng15, webassign for phys211 and math141, and studying), so I decided to create yet another internet based way to track my ass down and bore you with my own stupidity. I'll probably end up forgetting I own one of these in about a week. Oh well, such is my life, many starts with little finishes.

I should probably tell a little about myself, but not too too much. Then our relationship would get all awkward. Nobody likes awkward. My name is Mike, but I have plenty of other monikers including Mikey Poo, Snuffy, Adam (large adam's apple), K-Mart, Smugg, and plenty of other derivations. I was known through high school from many friends to have a good Bill Cosby and Greased-Up Deaf Guy impressions. I seek humor in anything, since it is my coping mechanism. I played percussion through middle and high school. I know, band geek right? Social groups didn't happen too much to me; I had quite a wide variety of friends and well-acquainted people. I take being "laid-back" to new extremes, although this year I have been trying to keep ahead of my classes. I am currently a freshman at PSU, and the life up here isn't bad. Musically, I believe I am quite alternative, and by alternative I speak of The Flaming Lips, Spacehog, The Unicorns, along with some classic rock artists thrown in. Music defines a lot of my life; I love hearing songs that you can apply morally. That's enough for now.


I suppose I can make use of this to archive my blunders and general stupidity to the viewing public, as well as any other general information I deem important enough to include.

Stupidity of the day:
Today I forgot a programming project due in my computer science class. I had to go to my brother's apartment to drop off stuff for the trip home this weekend and decided to stay there for a little while. I finally ended up leaving around 9:40, and realized upon reaching College Ave. and Allen St. (around 9:50) that the project was due at 10:00. Well, I was wailing many obscenities in my head to myself as I began to run full-fledged back to my dorm. The cosmos had finally shifted into my favor, for I had actually lucked out in arriving at my room to get the assignment in by 9:58. I had completed it before the day it was due, but I hadn't structured the output in a completely great way. But any amount of points I get is better than nothing, and I'm pretty sure it works well.


If you can't find humor in your mistakes, what's the use of living? Most of life is comprised of mess-ups, so you'll have to learn to enjoy them somehow.