Sooo......

Thanksgiving was good. The usual get-together with some portion of extended family, lots of food, lack of sleep on weird beds, and sitting around playing "UNO - Aria Edition" with cousins. Same old cards, but we sing everything instead of talking, and our parents kicked us out to the dorm to play. Whoever's turn it is to play generally gets precedence when playing UNO Aria, but it's still fairly open ended for conversation. Ryming and lyrical quality is encouraged, in addition to trying to sound halfway decent musically. And yes, I know, my family is strange. I fit right in.

And now, from the depths of the internet, a nugget of wisdom to ponder - what is the sound of one blog clapping? Er, no that's not quite right. If a blog falls in a forest, does it make a sound? Hmm. Ah! A blog *is* the sound of one hand clapping! That's what it was. But who cares. it's interesting for one person, at least. No, the world probably doesn't care about whether my blog makes noise in the forest, but who cares! . . . er, that is, I don't. But anyhow. A bit of work to finish before the end of the semester, so no more updates untill probably Christmas or so. If you listen real close, now, you can hear the sound of the post button posting. In a forest. With one hand. Or something.

More Of Life, Lack Of Time, And Genny!

Guenevere, actually. But she goes by Genny for short. That's right folks, I have my car now, and have been teaching myself how to drive a stick-shift on my 45-minute commute to school every day. It's fun. Aside from the fact that I don't have a radio (It worked....then it didn't, and hasn't, so no music or nothin'), and since I got gas this afternoon the Old Girl's conked out on me randomly a couple times. Needs some drygas, I think. And taking her over to a friends shop tomorrow afternoon to do a little touch up on a couple rust spots before winter, change out a door for one in better shape, a headlight for ditto, and other miscellany.

But anyway. Halfway through the semester already! w00t! I'm sort of feeling on top of things this week, too. I've got stuff well underway for Lit. class Friday, stuff for Technical Graphics I've got the weekend to work on, etc.

And, in other news Go Red Sox! Eight games straight in post season to win the world series! And there was a full lunar eclipse tonight, as well. Viewing conditions here were quite good, clear and crisp, though I didn't actually watch much of the eclipse. And I still haven't quite got my website's stylesheet straightened out, but I think I'm missing some 'class="class_name"' bits in a few places on my pages, so yeeah. And it's bedtime (way past, actually, it being quarter to one), so Good Night, People!! I'm feeling way too happy for no reason right now!!! Yeah.

Aesthetic Uglyness And Other Oddities

I was just realizing the other day that this blog is incredibly plain, boring, and otherwise pretty clinical in regard to it's aesthetics. It also occurred to me that I could do something about that, because it couldbe spruced up with pretty widgets without detriment to overall use, presentation and load-time, and said graphical improvements would probably increase general appeal. Always a good thing.

So, sometime in the next couple months, I will attempt to grok blogger's code and work on revamping things around here. At the moment, however, I'm re-working/formatting the CSS stylesheet for my website. It was pretty convoluted and hard to read. In addition to having things in there that appear to be for no reason at all. (Well, they were originally, but that's because I borrowed a stylesheet I liked to learn from.....) So I'm spending a couple hours un-spagettiizing it and making it so I know what actually does what.

Fall Is *Deffinitely* Here

I can tell. See, here in New England we have this special hunting season, we call it Leaf Season, when lots of people from other places come up here by the busload for the sole purpose of shooting at our leaves. I should think it would be annoyingly easy, too, since they're such nice bright colors.

But what do I know. I live here. It is a convenient way to tell that fall is here, though. Leaf season and Fall always coincide, for some reason.

Ah, now, in other more important news, I finally have my car. Yeah! Went and retrieved it (along with the last of lots of spare parts) this afternoon, and she sits in the driveway. Waiting to be driven.

Anyway. I've gotten in the habit of staying up far too late over the past week or so, and it's not a good idea. I'm going to bed, since it's already later than it should be.

In Search Of A Title

Or, I'm too tired to come up with one and why am I blogging right now? I have no idea. I just finished up some stuff for Lit tomorrow, so I don't have to do it tomorrow morning....I'm listening to random mp3s (Switchfoot at the moment)....and....not thinking. I should be going to bed, so I can get up tomorrow. I don't have class until 1300, but I have to go by the bank and stuff to transfer monetary, um, funds, out of my account for the next school payment and my car. Yeah! I'll have it as soon as we can get it registered and inspected.

I've also been spending way too much time lately fiddling with dbmix and xmms and trying to get pytone (my usual mp3 player) to output to dbfsd via mpg321, but I'm having trouble figuring out how. I think I need a shell script in between things to make it all play nice....

Yeah. Anyway. Time to catch up some small bit on sleep.

This Is That Time Of The Year....

The weather gets nippier, the leaves start turning, Apple Cider is in abundance (for only $3.19 a gallon, lower, sometimes!), and my brother and I stop leaving our windows wide open all the time.

It's also an awesome time to go hiking, since the weather's cooler and the leaves are pretty and all that. So we hiked up Tumbledown Mtn. (just north of Weld, ME) yesterday with the Youth Group. We had a great view from the top - if you happen to like thick fog. It was kinda cool, actually, though being in a cloud is a tad chilly this time of year. It was fun.

And, of course, no time of the year would be complete without a computer problem, so I borked up Mom & Dad's iMac last week for them in the process of trying to find OS 9's multiple users feature so my little brother can't bork up the iMac. Brilliant, I am. But anyhow. I just got it booting up again, now for the fun, fun task of restoring things more or less back to their previous state. Which involves lots of time reinstalling drivers, copying a truckload of apps and files and miscellaneous kit back in from my server and then making it all work nice. Although it does force one to organize and straighten things out a bit, which that machine really needs.

So have a happy fall, and I'll refrain from cracking bad jokes about saying hi to the ground for me when you get there.

It's A Hectic Life

Really. School, and other stuff, and more school. And no time. At least not to blog. I really actually don't have time right now, as I should be reading about the life of Percy Bysshe Shelley, but I'm having too much fun viewing my apps at the clear crispness of my new monitor (Sony G400 - 19"), which is a whole heckofalot better than my dying Sun. (GDM20D10 - it's not a bad monitor, except for the fact that the green gun went so everything had a nice fuscia tint to it. Ok on flowers, not on monitors.)

But anyhow. Yeah, I have two papers due Friday (for the same class, no less), which means I have a cartload of research, thinking, and writing to do. And the usual homework, darn it. I just remembered that. Ooh! I should be getting my car this weekend, though (no, that isn't really related, yes, I know), which will be nice. I'm looking forward to that, at least.

Ah, yes, the joys of College, eh? At least I have mostly awesome and generally pretty cool profs., which is a big plus. Loving it, really. Right, folks? Right.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

This morning I wished I were snoring
But I had to get up and go to class;
At least it wasn't *too* boring.

Had a test, actually, which wasn't bad at all, really. A bit windy on the point, and rainy, but not too awefull. Leftovers from Francis finishing off our summer, what. Feeling more like fall now, sweater and jeans type weather. Quite pleasant after the last couple days, which tended toward the humid-and-slightly-too-warm-for-comfort side of things.

So the weather's ok, just so it doesn't rain (too much) this weekend, we're going up to Papoose Pond (along with 160 or so other people from church) for the annual semi-official church camping weekend. And I get to drive up tomorrow night after Lit. class, yipee! Which reminds me, I need to get directions from Dad, I don't quite remember how to get there. Also need to type in some lyrics for Roger. However, I don't have a printer accessible from this machine at the moment. And the AP's printer has been finicky, so Rog might have to go yet another week without words. Ar. I _really_ need to try to find a motherboard for Snoopy, or fix it or something. It's a pain not being able to use the laser printer for anything at all.

Anyway. I should probably do some of my reading for Lit., or I'll be trying to cram it tomorrow, which isn't good for the digestion. Literary or figurative.

It's a Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

'...A beeootiful day in the NAAAyborhoood....'

Blog posts do not do justice to Mr. Rogers. Yeah. Um, beautiful week, actually. A little humid at the beginning of the week, but it dried off and was gorgeously nice, sunny, warm, and breezy (at least down at school). So there. And I survived my first week of college with flying colors, too. (Everybody now! Sing with me! 'I`m lo-vin` it' (No, blog posts do not do justice to McDonald's (tm) ads either.....) ).

AAAAnyway. I have a three day weekend to do not a whole lof of homework, and it's supposed to be just as nice through the weekend as it has been. I dunno. 'What is perfect? Besides tomorrow. Ah, tomorrow. Because tomorrow is an endless possibility. And an endless possibility is the second-best thing to wake up next to.' (Thanks Gospel.)

I can't, however, unless I go to bed, and I think I shall because it's getting on it years.

What, School, Eh?

'`E'r you are.'
'I'm not dead!'
'Wot's at? `E says 'es not dead.'
'Yes `e is.'
'I'm not!'
'`E is too.'
'I think I'll go for a walk'
'No, you won't, you'll be stone dead in a moment.'

Ok, so I have no clue why I thought of that Monty Python routine. School is awesome. Really. I love the campus, I love my professors (except I don't know about my Lit. Prof. until Fri.), I love my classes so far, etc. I love sitting out by the lighthouse (in My Spot) for lunch and watching the harbor traffic, or sitting in my tree (which, it just occurred to me, might be worthy of a name) and watching boat traffic from a different angle and studying or whatever. Incidentally, did you know, that the breakwater out to Spring Point Light is built on a ledge, and that ships would sometimes go the wrong side of the lighthouse and go aground before the breakwater was built? I learned that at lunch from a passing harbor tour boat.

So anyhow, I'm enjoying myself quite a bit. Circuits class is pretty easy at the moment, and Government promises to be very interesting. Technical Graphics Standards should be fun, and I don't know about Lit. yet, but I'm optimistic. I'm lagging on some sleep, however, since I stayed up slightly later than intended last night due to an accidental nearly-really-bad-thing-happening putting a new hard drive in Wallace (my server). I deleted my entire /home directory, but luckily after I had copied it to it's new partition. So I just spent a little time juggling partitions and it's all mostly nice and spiffy now. Don't work on computers (critical stuff like swapping out drives and such) when you're too tired, it don't pay. You can't think straight. (It also took me until tonight to realize that the reason I couldn't mount my Dad's thumbdrive on my box was because I was trying to mount sdb1 instead of sda1. Duh. I don't _have_ any SCSI devices on this box....)

Anyway. Enough for today. So I'll leave you with the words of this sign, which, if heeded could be the end of all the problems Professors have. On one of the roads into campus, a board which reads 'Faculty and Staff only. No Students beyond this point.'

Three Cheers For Summer

So let's here it! It was fun, it was prosperous, it had educational experiences I'll remember and learn from the rest of my life, and now it's all over and we all go back to school. I do, anyhow. And I really think an insane work week is the perfect way to launch into the school year, no? It wasn't all that bad, really; the weather decided it finally wanted it to be summer, and a nice, sunny, cool, breezy one at that. A little more humid Friday, but still quite bearable, and we were roofing, too. Yesterday, on the other hand, was quite beastly. Very hot, very humid (started at 0825, was soaked and dripping by 0900), and it probably didn't help that I worked a twelve hour day. I've mostly recovered, I think. I relaxed all afternoon - wiped and reinstalled my friends laptop (yes, I love windows), read, and listened to the last of the National Folk Festival on Maine Public Radio. Great stuff - Vishten, Solas, others I can't remember the names of - and I wish I could have gone up . . . but there's next year, I suppose.

Ah, yes, school. Which paperwork for I have some yet to do (parking permit, aka 'Hunting License'), books to get, since I haven't had time this week.....ah, yes. And the 0600 alarm time. (Sing ho! for eight-o'clock classes, aye, Sing hey! for the dawn o' grey . . .) Which reminds me, I have my own car, or will in a couple weeks. Grey (no, gray...I dunno, which?) Volvo 240 sedan, '87 I think. In awesome condition, but as yet without a name. She really needs one, too. Randy is tentative at the moment, partly due to the fact that our family has just re-read the Melendy books (Elizabeth Enright), which are just totally awesome anyway. (And yes, Spiderweb for Two _is_ definitely the best one, but only if you've read all the others first. In order. And I'm starting to ramble....) But Randy seems a sort of Volvo-y name to me for some reason, I dunno why. So does Betsy, though, or other such names. At any rate, I'm still working on it.

So, off to take care of what last minute details I can before tomorrow morning, and hope I don't forget anything and that all my forms got in on time. College, here I come. And I know I'm forgeting something just now, but I haven't any idea what or what it's related too at all....darn. Maybe it's time to give my brain a break.

The Timeless Question Persists

What are rainy Saturdays good for? Dreary, they are, or at least this one. The sort of day that's only just lighter at nine o'clock than at seven and persists in being so all day. Aside from some pinkish bits of sky right now. I sorted more stuff in my room, I made a couple brackets to hand a power strip on the back of my guitar amp, plowed through a bit more of Xenocide (Orson Scott Card), weekly house cleaning. Slept in, because I stayed up until about 0030 reading 'The Tale of Despereaux; being the story of a mouse, a princess, some soup, and a spool of thread' (Kate DiCamillo). Nothing like staying up late with a book and a good piece of your birthday Cheesecake - prime topper for a halfway decent Birthday. Especially after attending a Portland Sea Dogs game yesterday evening with my youth group, which was a lot of fun. Sea Dogs won, which was a plus. Not a half bad way of beginning my last year as a teenager, I suppose.

All in all it's been a decent week, perhaps a bit mundane. Or seems so in light of my current mood, anyhow. Blurry would be a better word. Spent Monday making a large dent in clutter, Tuesday being oriented to SMCC (which was interesting, and occasionally helpful), work the rest of the week, and Dad's Ordination service Wednesday night. Had a pile of the family here for supper and didn't get to spend very much time with people on the whole due to my getting home just about in time for it, but it was quite good nonetheless.

And so was my week. Shadowed by the moment in which I am currently, but my week nonetheless. It may be a small world, but it's plenty big enough to get lost in, seem like you're a nebulous region without an immediate purpose. To feel rejected by some, which overshadows acceptance by others and gives birth to the conception that no one really knows who you are; that you may not even know yourself. Obnoxiosly persistant feeling, it is.

We interrupt this broadcast...

....to bring you earth-shattering news! Rumor has it that the website of Yorse Troolie was updated today, and may possibly have been responsible for recent Geo-Climactical disturbances on the eastern seaboard. 'It's....unbelievable', said some random spokesperson. 'I mean, we though there might be something coming, but not this soon, or this big.' Speculation is rampant in the scientific community, but at this time the event is believed to be a fluke, and certainly not malevolently initiated. When contacted by reporters, the party responsible merely remarked that it was awefully late, and he should really get to bed because he might have to work tomorrow. He did hint, however, about possible further clarification at a future date.

Nondescript Sentience

Here I be, typing on my blog at midnight. What a life, eh? Sitting here in the dark, waiting for my hair to dry and listening to the crickets barely audible above the noise of my window fan and wanting to go for a long walk in the dark to listen to the wind and the crickets and smell the air. But I need sleep. So I sit here instead. Wonderful logic, that.

Finished 'Speaker of the Dead' tonight, thoroughly enjoying it. It tends to be a rather painful book at times, but very good nonetheless. Also took a night shower, as it was very hot and humid today and I helped Dad move some old railroad ties and other hunks of tree. The sort of weather in which you just stand and sweat; you don't have to do anything. Just stand there and the humidity clings to you and drips down the middle of your back like an impish tendril purposely trying to annoy you.

So here I sit, contemplating life and trying to make my brain define lines instead of gray areas, waiting, because I hate going to bed with wet hair. It ends up pretty weird in the morning if I do that. I should really go out in the woods one of these nights, lie in our field and look at the trees and stars. It might do me some good. To be alone, get away from some of life for a bit and work out other parts, and just know that the universe is still wheeling away just how God put in motion, that everything on Earth is like a dandelion, and that I, of all people, am loved and cared for by the Creator of the universe.

Weekends Are Nice, Yo

Friday night, nothing to do and too much to do, and I don't have to work tomorrow. Yeah. I didn't think my room could get any worse, really, but it's managed to do so anyhow. Lil' Bro Kiddo got out some Lego's, some papers got dumped, etc. I have a box of books on my bed - instead of stacked there or on Claude (my old regular chair) and stacks of books on the desk. At the moment, bunches of Robin McKinley from the library and Orson Scott Card (the entire Ender and Ender's Shadow series) borrowed from my friend Mikael. (Good stuff. Read it. Ender's Game is first.) And then there's just the whole lot of other junk just around and not where it's supposed to be, wherever that is.

(...we were meant to live for so much mo-o-ore, yeaeaheaheah...)

Eh, sorry. Switchfoot is awesome. Then, so is Take 6. Different ends of the musical spectrum (slightly, anyway - rock and jazz-a-capella), but equally awesome.

Ooo. Back from spinning around a couple times in my new desk chair (a real one!), Zippy. Like with wheels and it spins and is nice and comfy and cost me a whopping six bucks at Goodwill. Everyone, this is Zippy. Zippy, everyone. (This is fun....I'm feeling sort of like Wooton Basset (from Adventures in Odyssey) right now.

And tomorrow, I get to go do errands and stuff again. Bank (first college payment due, Goodwill (just because it's there and I will be, too, and the local drug store for a new nail file. Lost mine while we were camping. *sigh* Ah, well. It had a good life. And maybe look at a car, too. Fun fun fun (to borrow the colloquialism).

Sing Ho! for the Weather.

Gee, I love hot humid weather. Heat I can stand, but heat coupled with air nearly humid enough to be mistaken for fog, that is what I don't like. Cold and foggy I can deal with (and enjoy somewhat), but the heat just drains your energy like edarotaG. Or something.

I didn't go to work today because when I woke up it was raining. And thundering. So decided to sleep in a little, and, of course, it decided to stop raining about 0900-ish and just look slightly ominous and unpredictable. And it hasn't rained since. In fact, the sun is shining (as much as it does on very hazy days, anyhow), and I was going to see if my boss was down at the site but managed to not be able to. Lost track of time doing errands and didn't have time to swing by before Mom needed the car, and made Mom late for her meeting to boot. (This is what we have watches for, people!)

So it's been a not quite tops day so far . . . although I have gotten some more stuff sorted in my room. Major reorganizations are not precisely my forte, but it really really really need(s|ed) it in order to have workable space for both myself and my brother, room for school books, etc. Really amazing how much miscellaneous stuff I had stashed around here. So far this afternoon I've recycled a six-eight inch stack of old catalogs and papers I had around for no apparent reason. I've also got most of my stacks sorted and filed into folders, though I don't have the folders filed properly yet, just a stack. I'm still mulling about precisely how I want to organize my Office (the shelf above my computers now designated for filing papers & correspondance of any sort, emvelopes, stamps, bank deposit slips, etc.).

Other than that, I'm just enjoying inside out of the sun, Earthsuit at a pleasant volume to be heard over computers and window fan, and the lunch I just ate now for some reason. And now, back to organizing. Stacks of books on my bed, and a general lot of stuff scattered about and begging to please be put _somewhere_else_.

Ah, Life.

Yes indeed. Back to work for a couple weeks, after vacation and before school, and hope it doesn't rain like they say it's going to the last half of this week. Inclement weather is not conducive to such activities as siding houses. This is nearly the only solid week I've got left free to work, too. Next week I've got school orientation Tuesday, My Dad's ordination Wednesday, and my Birthday is Friday. The week after that is mostly free at the moment, but I expect to fill it up a bit getting ready for classes and such. On top of this most interesting summer, I get to figure out the whole college thing this fall, to boot.

Ah, yes. Life. Our speck of time on earth which seems so long, so short; so inconsequential at times, but so important. And scary. That you might mess it up. Or what will happen if you have. But that, I suppose, is what forgiveness and grace are for.

In the words of Andrew Peterson:

'Give us faith to be strong
Father, we are so weak
Our bodies are fragile and weary
As we stagger and stumble to walk where You lead
Give us Faith to be srong

Give us faith to be strong
Give us strngth to be faithful
This life is not long, but it's hard
Give us grace to go on
Make us willing and able
Lord, give us faith to be strong

Give us peace when we're torn
Mend us up when we break
This flesh can be wounded and shaking
When there's much too much trouble for one heart to take
Give us peace when we're torn'

And, thank God, He does.

Well, Here I Am

Now what? I suppose this to be an experiment in something or other. Online journalling, something to do. A digital pen pal of sorts, perhaps; just one that doesn't write back. I guess I'll find out.

I will admit, there is a sort of sense of prowess and, well, power which comes with owning a blog. Not unlike having a website, really, just a different purpose, and usefull or useless as it may be. Usefull or useless as it *will* be, probably. Who in the wide, wide world would be interested in my (at the moment increadibly) confused life is beyond me. But what do I know. I'm just a silly human, and there are millions like me. And who knows. It's a mad world.

So, here's to whatever this beast becomes; that which is called a blog.