Anywho, my life is in a hell of a transitional stage right now, and everything is uncertain. And you know what? I’m diving in headfirst, optimistic, and I can’t wait to see what I can pull off here. Heh.

Fuck GEICO for firing me, but frankly I think this is a huge blessing in disguise. I’m applying to a lot of awesome job opportunities, and the most amazing Rebecca, my girlfriend, is now moving here a whole month sooner. No longer working in the environment I was previously in is a HUGE weight off my shoulders, and I can’t wait to see what the universe has in store for me next. I’m determined to learn as much as I can trying my hand at something new, hopefully doing something one step closer to my chosen career of network security.

Anyways, sorry for such a brief update but at the moment we’ve got a bunch of people over. But I couldn’t resist blogging a bit. Hope you all are well \m/ \m/

#nowplaying Blind Guardian – Mirror Mirror

Speaking of which…I now have a girlfriend! :O astounding, I know.  She’s pretty fucking awesome.  Her name’s Rebecca, and for the moment she lives in Florida. Much to my amazement, in May she actually drove all the way here (to Virginia, took her like 10 hours) to spend a few days with me and it was a pretty awesome time. To echo the sentiments of an LJ friend of mine who is also in a long-distance relationship, it was like living a normal life except with a really amazing person in it, and then when she left it was like living a normal life (or as close to normal as you can get, when you’re me…LOL…) except with a very important part missing. However comma, on July 14 I am flying down to St. Augustine to see her and helping her move up here, into my place.  :D We’ve talked about it a lot, and not only does it just feel right, but it makes a lot of sense financially too. Frankly, I think that, in a lot of ways it’s going to be the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

In other (unsurprising) news, I continue to grow more and more dissatisfied with my job doing customer service. It’s beginning to make me anti-social and as a result I realized yesterday I’ve really lost touch with some friends who are very dear to me, and this is something I’ll definitely rectify. I can’t let that shit hold me down anymore. Thanks in part to my friend Chad, I’ve been inspired all over again to be that idealistic dreamer I used to be. I have big plans and my end goal is to break out of the shitty model of a “respectable life” with a “normal, stable career” that is so highly-regarded in our society. I say fuck the mold, it succeeds only in crushing most peoples’ dreams. I’m going to find a way to do something I don’t hate, and make a living off it. And if I can help it, it’ll be a damned good living. Until I decide if I want to come up with a different name, I (like Chad) will refer to these goals as “Plan X”.  Heh. The first step is to acquire some srs networking skillz and the IT certifications to document them. I’ve been trying to teach myself A+ out of a couple books, but the going has been rather slow and difficult. I may end up going to TCC for a few classes.

In news of a less grand scale, I called in sick to work on Tuesday thanks to this fucking heinous summer cold I’ve been dealing with since Sunday. I went to the doctor and got a prescription for a cough surpressant containing codeine, and I took some along right before bed last night. At first I was thinking it was having no effect because I didn’t feel any different, but then I guess I passed out without realizing it because next thing I knew I was waking up at 10:30am xD Today I was off so work wasn’t an issue, but I had planned on a bit of a mini-roadtrip with David and Xavier to Washington, D.C. David’s planning on purchasing a racing seat for his Integra, which is the car he normally races with at the track, and wanted to actually check out a couple seats in person before making a purchase. Apparently the closest place he knew they’d have the seats he wanted (Sparcos…I forget which model) was in DC. I really love DC as a city, it’s so beautiful, so of course I was amped to go.  But also, for those of you who don’t know, I really love driving and all things having to do with cars and racing, so I was definitely amped to go and see this crazy motorsports superstore that’s apparently up there. Also, Xavier is basically an encyclopedia about everything racing so talking to him is always interesting. At any rate, due to this stupid summer cold I ended up not going with them D: Hopefully they took lots of awesome pics though and will have much to tell me about next time we hang out, though.

Many of you will be either disappointed or overjoyed to know I’ve started playing WoW again.  I’ve got several characters that I tend to jump between, but if any of you would like to join me, I play with my room mate Adam and my friend Caleb, and more recently Rebecca, on the Horde side (OF COURSE) on the server Jaedenar. However I do still keep up with all the latest news in EVE, and I predict I’ll return to the land of New Eden again one day. I definitely do miss it sometimes, and all this new Planetary Interaction stuff looks really interesting, as does the so-called “Spacebook” EVE Gate.

Oh and I almost forgot! Big welcome home to David, who just returned from his 6-month deployment (he’s in the Navy.) Glad to have you back, dude!

Anyways, sorry this blog was totally all over the place. Heh.  I’ll try to post again (and in an entry that’s more cohesive) again soon. Also there’ll definitely be an entry chronicling the epic journey to Florida and back. In the next few months I’ll also be getting a new cellphone, most likely the HTC Incredible, so I’ll definitely have a review of that as well. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about Second Amendment rights too, thanks to a debate I had with one of my Twitter friends. So maybe I’ll make an entry about that at some point.  Till next time, stay metal dudes. xD \m/

#nowplaying Into Eternity – Diagnosis Terminal (on Slacker Radio, which, btw, if you haven’t been there before, is way better than Pandora…you get much more control over your custom stations and their selection of metal is way better ;D)

Admittedly, when it comes to books, physical media has a certain charm to it, and some aspects which are understandably perceived as major advantages over “virtual” storage.  There’s definitely a good feeling to sitting in your favorite reading spot and cracking open that great new book you just purchased, and enjoying the currently-pristine pages and shiny cover.  Then there’s the other end, the old books that have a charming smell to them and yellowed pages, beaten-up covers with tiny tears and creases and many dog-eared pages.  Yes, even when they get old the physical form of a book has a certain allure as well.  Also, many books have sentimental value to them, and can even be appreciated as art objects in and of themselves in some cases.  You can often pay a little extra to get that special edition of your favorite novel with those awesome glossy illustrations, and a leatherbound volume instead of a boring hardback book, and, especially in these cases, said physical media has a certain feeling of permanence and weight.  This is particularly important when the book is one that has heavily influenced its owner’s life, or when one associates said book with someone special.

However, for all its charms and perceptions of permanence, is physical media all it’s cracked up to be for books? With some exceptions, I say the answer to this question is no. Books can get lost, stolen, and damaged.  They can be made illegible by the elements and accidents, and on the whole are a lot /less/ permanent and safe than our human nature leads us to believe.  As for the things that are endearing about books, I certainly don’t argue that these things have their appeal, and I’m not saying everybody should get rid of their physical books and immediately switch.  The main point of this is: the most important part of a book isn’t the book itself, it’s the ideas/story/etc. contained therein.  Digital formats do quite an admirable job of protecting this most important aspect of a “book”, in my opinion.  If I ever accidentally delete or lose one of the eBooks I’ve purchased from www.bn.com, all I have to do is go re-download it from my online library. Also, eBooks are much more environmentally friendly, and save space so that I can appreciate and own *more* books, since if you have an eReader you can own literally thousands of books and they’ll still take up less space than a netbook.  Also, since eBooks require no raw materials to distribute, they’re also more economical in many cases.

Again, I’m not saying that eBooks should totally replace physical books.  There are some books of which I’ll always want to have a physical copy…but for those I’d be more willing to spring for the fancy special editions I mentioned previously, and mostly keep them sitting on a shelf in my house and not taking them out and about.  I’d have the electronic version for usual reference and portability.

I find this debate between digital and physical extends to a lot of other aspects of life though, especially with the advent of Web 2.0 and social networking, and even moreso as this same technology goes “mobile” with the rise of smartphones.  However, in my opinion, the lines between advantage and disadvantage are not nearly so clearly drawn in all cases of this conflict.  For example, in the case of electronic checks vs. processing them traditionally, businesses and customers alike find very quickly that while an electronic check may be more efficient, it also opens up a whole new can of worms in terms of security and potential for errors.  But in other cases, is the physical always more secure? Or is it just a different set of risks? If I email someone, that email can be intercepted, and whatever information contained therein compromised.  Then if that person’s computer has a virus that spreads via email, I am now at risk for being infected with said virus if I’m not wary of opening attachments I’m not expecting from someone.  Also, if there’s information in said email that I don’t want to get around, it could potentially be stored in several different places instead of one piece of paper.  Is real mail more secure? Mail is stolen quite often, and identity theft is often committed via this way and also through “dumpster diving” if my letter gets thrown away.  Also, if my mail gets stolen, the thief now has whatever info about me that letter contains, plus my home address if that’s what I used for the return address, as most people do in these cases with personal mail.  So is the digital equivalent of mail really less secure, less permanent? Or is it just a different set of risks?

Anywho, if any of my readers have any thoughts on this, I’d be interested in hearing them.  Thanks for reading!

It all started when Tonya, a good friend of mine at work, told me that she heard from Eva (who’s on her team) that Paul Di’Anno would be playing a show at Gil’s Bar and Grill and that Eva’s friend’s band would be playing as well.  Tonya of course told her that she’d bet I would totally be down for attending that, so at the last minute Tonya got a ticket from Eva for me (I was off) and gave me Eva’s number.  I ended up showing up late with Adam (my room mate), after Eva’s friend’s band had gotten off stage (because I had gotten the time they were going on wrong T.T).  Additionally, after talking with Eva and Adam outside while they were smoking, I realized I had forgotten my wallet at home! So I had to come back home and grab it before going back.  We were waiting for Paul Di’Anno’s band to set up when I got back and the three of us talked quite a bit which was fun.  During this interim the bar was playing Firewind’s album “Allegiance” and I immediately was floored.  No one I even know around here would probably know who the hell Firewind is! Anywho, Paul Di’Anno and his band (at least one of whom look like they’re even younger than I am!) came on and ROCKED FACE.  He was a pretty funny dude as well, with some amusing stage banter.  They even covered a few Maiden songs which I recognize but don’t know the names of XD

In other news, this past weekend we got a big snowstorm (well, big for here anyways.) Was probably 3-4 inches of snow, and basically the whole world shut down, and the roads were insane.  I decided to not leave the house so as not to wreck Ghost and as an excuse to play lots and lots of video games, which was mostly accomplished. I did almost nothing but play Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 (which is AMAZING btw) all weekend, with the exception of Saturday night at 1 when I ventured out to pick up Dnaiel (room mate) up from work.  I got stuck in the parking lot which was all snowy and hadn’t been plowed or shovelled or anything even a little.  However, thanks to my uber skills (YEAH) I managed to rock the car’s momentum enough to get out of the hole by shifting really fast between first and reverse and hitting the gas.  Not good for the clutch to be sure, but afterwards I was feeling like a badass XD also, on Monday, on my way into work I nearly skidded into a tree while taking a right turn but managed to steer out of the skid and stay on the road.  I wasn’t expecting that part of the road to not be plowed, especially since it’s a blind corner and the rest of the roads in that area were totally fine.

Anywho, about Mass Effect.  I really love the game’s morality system and the graphics, especially the facial animations in the uber-realistic conversations, for which the series is famous.  They’ve ramped it up even more for Mass Effect 2, with lots of really great voice-acting talent including Martin Sheen and Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity from The Matrix).  Seth Green of course returns in his hilarious role of Joker, the Normandy’s pilot.  Speaking of which, it seems like the writing got even better in this game.  There are a lot of lines that are really great, whether because they’re really poignant or well-delivered or because they are absolutely hilarious.  A couple disappointing things about hte ending (from what I’m told…haven’t beaten it yet) but other than that I think the sequel is an excellent follow-up with sufficient changes to keep things fresh, and I already can’t wait for the third game (the existence of which has been confirmed, I guess they’re already developing it!).

Anywho, I guess that’s it for this entry, I’m off to go practice guitar

Now listening to: Iron Maiden – Killers

It’s trailer 3 for Eluveitie’s latest album, “Everything Remains As It Never Was”, out 2/19.  CAN NOT WAIT.

downtown hampton is pretty quaint-looking and classy with lots of clean brick buildings and plenty of restaurants, and a layout that is not terribly difficult for pedestrians to navigate. we happened upon a map of the area which had two areas labelled “shopping and dining”, so we figured we’d find a place to grab a beer and some food. on the map, i noticed a street called “west queens way” which i remembered is the street Musasi’s is on. (excuse the retarded romanization, it should be Musashi’s dammit! ><)  for those who don’t know, musasi’s is a fucking awesome sushi place that my friends and i normally eat at once a year, for nekocon.  being in hampton near this place of so many years of awesome memories at a time of year other than early november was a bit surreal.  it became even more surreal when we came up on west queens way, and musasi’s was the first restaurant on the right, less than five minutes’ walk from the museum.

daniel and i decided to go ahead and eat there, and we both had a decent amount of sushi.  i ordered a kirin ichiban, which had a VERY light taste.  normally i’m not too into beers that don’t have a bit more substance but this one was rather pleasant.  i also had a couple shots of sake, which i’d never had before.  it’s pretty interesting stuff.  i can see why they call it rice schnapps in germany. (daniel told me that, i have no idea how to spell things in german so forgive me for butchering that).  after dinner we decided to just walk around again, and we took a couple pics outside the restaurant to commemorate our odd timing of eating there.  it felt a little like cheating haha XD

after walking around a bit, it started getting a lot colder so we ended up finding another place, some sports bar, to stop in and grab a beer while waiting for adam (room mate #2) and his gf, and our friend caleb to arrive at the museum so we could see the movie.  Daniel and I each had a blue moon (one of my favorite beers ) and some nachos.

avatar itself was a visually-amazing movie, and even though the plot was not terribly original (and UNOBTAINIUM IS THE STUPIDEST NAME FOR JUST ABOUT ANYTHING, EVER) I feel it had a poignant and important message which most people will either dismiss or fail to notice.  i also think the most important parts of this message don’t necessarily have anything to do with current international events, or even the environment.  overall, i think it’s just about respect, and compassion, and what can happen when these two things are lacking.  *leaps off soapbox*

The other big news is that I’m starting school at ECPI College of Technology on January 25.  I’ll be majoring in network security and hope to become a network admin and/or a security consultant after graduating, which if all goes according to plan will be in 2.5 years. On Saturday I’m going to a “campus discovery day” event (assuming i can get someone to trade shifts with me at work…) to meet other prospective students and see some demonstrations, talk with faculty, etc.  apparently since i’m already enrolled i’ll get free pizza and a chance to meet the president.  i’ve also heard a few employers will be there looking to hire students currently enrolled in various programs.

which brings me to my next subject, and one of the main impetuses (impeti?) for my enrolling in school now: my job.  for those who don’t know, i work for a major auto insurance company and while i have a lot of respect for my employer as a company, i’ve been working in customer service call centers for over 4 years now and it is REALLY starting to wear on me.  people are such assholes, and dealing with car insurance and billing and everything else for 8 freaking hours a day is becoming beyond mind-numbing.  sometimes i think i can feel myself becoming more and more misanthropic and anti-social by the day.  NOT COOL.  so, school is really going to be the light at the end of the tunnel for me, and will give me the strength to deal with feeling like i have to pretend to be “just another tool” for 8 hours a day from now till when i can graduate and go do some work i actually find interesting.  and holy shit that’s a run-on sentence! please forgive me, it’s late.

i think there was more i wanted to put into this entry, but i can’t really remember it at the moment.  i’ll probably remember tomorrow and post it tomorrow night.  have a good night everyone!

**edit: whoops, forgot my song! Currently listening to: Agalloch – She Painted Fire Across the Skyline, Pt. 1

Those of you who know me in person and/or follow me on Twitter should probably know there’s no way I could resist answering this question! So, here goes…

I should start off with the first one that comes to mind. I freaking *love* MINI Coopers. Especially the John Cooper Works trim line, and the S as well. They handle as if controlled by thought rather than steering input, are extremely gas efficient, and have quite a bit of pickup as well. The interior is well designed and aesthetically appealing, and the exterior is classy-looking as well. What’s not to like?!

Second is my dream-car for the track, a Nissan 350z or 370z. The interior makes you feel like you’re sitting in the cockpit of a fighter jet (or a gundam?! :O) instead of a car, and its sleek rounded lines are uber sexy. It’s fast as hell, and for a car of such amazing caliber is quite reasonably-priced. I’ve seen this car referred to as the “poor man’s supercar”, and with good reason.

Next up we’re getting into cars of a slightly less realistic nature in terms of the odds of my ever owning one (although really, it’s still possible). Enter the Lotus Exige. Lotus is a British company that as far as I know basically only makes sports cars, and they do a damn good job of it. Another car with super sexy lines, though this one is rather spartan on the interior and features. It’s pretty clearly a track-only car meant for racing.

Sadly, despite my high aspirations right now I own a Ford Focus that I’m stuck paying off for another couple years T.T It’s certainly not as bad as it could be. It is a little peppy and the handling could be worse, though it is a good deal higher off the ground than I’d like and suffers a good deal of body roll through the turns. (LOL). Also a point in its favor is the fact that the gas mileage is pretty decent. For some reason I see a lot of Focuses with a way cooler front and rear bumper though, and a spoiler that I like better:

If I ever have the money to put into it I’d like to find some OEM parts and get the front and back end replaced, and also I need to get a new head unit for the stereo as the current one doesn’t have any way to directly interface with an .mp3 player, plus it’s starting to get old and look really crappy. For some reason the paint is wearing off some of the buttons…I’d also like to lower it a bit (probably with a coilover kit) and probably put in an aftermarket air intake to make it a little better if I ever take it to a track (though I’m not really willing to risk messing it up at a track unless I have some POS daily driver to get to work in).

Anyways, I’ll stop boring you guys with car stuff now
Today I listened to Sonata Arctica’s “Days of Grays” album again. When it first came out I listened to it once through and was honestly pretty disappointed. I guess I had hopes for them to return to their older style of music from albums like Winterheart’s Guild. Instead it seems like they’ve toned it down on the instrumental flashiness and gotten a bit poppier, and the more metal songs are moreso just full of typically-repetitive crunchy-sounding chords and weird unnecessary effects on Tony Kakko’s voice. Upon giving it another listen, I still do not like this simpler, poppier direction they’ve taken things in, though I do like the album a little more. I also miss the instrumental flair they used to have though, and I’m not really feeling the weird vocal effects still. Meh. Bands change and grow make different kinds of music, sometimes it’s good, other times not so much. Doesn’t change the fact that they’re older stuff is still amazing, at least And I do hate when bands never experiment or change at all, anyways. Props to them for trying to branch out.

It’s getting late, so I’m off to bed. Have a good night everyone!

Currently listening to: Sonata Arctica – Don’t Say a Word

His name’s Thoven Bearcharger, which was generated by the www.wizards.com name generator based on my class, race, and IRL initials. His story is that he comes from a bustling port city and is the son of a well-to-do blacksmith, who has taught him much of his trade. He’s got a passion for forging blades and earned his surname by saving some small children from a wayward bear that wandered into the city’s outskirts one day. (I added that in after generating the name…you can’t have a totally ridiculous surname like that without a decent story behind it, right?)

The hook of the campaign’s plot is that all the characters are in the city a the time of a funeral for a great war hero Gareth Ravenmantle who led some great army against evil force. Thoven’s father served under this man in the great war but is too sick to travel, and thus sends his son to pay his respects in his place. The characters ended up meeting because they were all in a tavern where there were no other empty seats, so they share a table. The night after the funeral it’s discovered that though the general’s grave has hardly been covered over, some one has already desecrated it and stolen the body. The characters take the case to find the people who stole it, and bring them to justice, and return General Ravenmantle to his final resting place. We didn’t get very far this session, we discovered that a gang was formed by the defeated evil armies after the war and is based in a town nearby, and may have had something to do with the robbery. On our way out of town we were set upon by bandits who faked having a broken-down wagon and Thoven cut two of them in half XD The third was dispatched by Josh’s druid’s wolf.

Anyways, I need to go restring my guitar and practice a bit before bed. Hopefully this post didn’t bore you all too much rofl. Have a good night everyone!

Currently listening to: Eluveitie – Tarvos

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO IS AMPED AS HELL FOR THE NEW ELUVEITIE RECORD COMING OUT IN FEBRUARY?! It’s going to be called “Everything Remains As It Never Was” and comes out on February 19. Here’s the trailer for the album (in two parts). Can’t wait!

Once I’m done writing this I think i’m gonna play some 360. i really need to beat Assassin’s Creed 2 so I can talk about it with people and not worry about spoilers XD same goes for Borderlands. Speaking of which, if any of you are on xbox live, you should totally add me. My gamertag is rurouniyuudai85 sadly i don’t have a mic at the moment though, hopefully i can get one soon. Coming Soon: a post on eBooks, and on a broader note, digital vs. physical (thanks to a discussion with my friend Jess and the fact that I’d been considering the differences lately anyways).
Currently listening to: Incubus – Are You In?
#notmetal
Who cares? In the words of a good friend of mine, “hey, fuckin’ blow me.”

“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.” – Neil Gaiman

Currently listening to: Summoning – Ungolianth