And once again, it's time to say hello to Cliff's mom.

Hi Ma! (waves)

Oh look, we're developing a nation of retards!

Yahoo News - Students and the First Admendment

This is why I'm angry all the time.

Sean: We have too much milk. It's taking up valuable beer space...

So this week I got thrown out of the game for five minutes (blue card, for those of you who need details) because I went for the ball (legal play) the other player (a guy) had a previous injury that apparently he didn't feel he need a brace or shinguards to protect. So we fall, and since he's aggrivated a previous injury I get carded.

Perhaps a week of other people's angst has left me a bit angsty myself. But a blue card? I would have taken the two minutes with a yellow.

The first Hitchhiker's still has hit the Net...

For those of you wondering about Zaphod's second head, apparently his face spins around and has the second fact on the back beneath the hair, or something to that effect... we'll see. I have hopes.

The Katamari Damacy soundtrack continues to break my brain...

In high school, I had no idea I wanted to be an engineer. Now, it's amusing how what I did (and didn't) learn in high school affects me. Take math, for example. In Calc BC, someone once asked for a "real-life" application of the concepts we were doing. So, my math teacher comes up with this ridiculously hard problem about a piston and its rate of movement or some such. The conclusion was that no, you don't use advanced Calculus unless you're doing extraordinarily advanced physics.

Then I came to college, and realized "Oh god, I'm a mechanical engineering major, I have to be able to solve that piston problem."

On the other hand, all that doodling in high school has given me the skills to draw really pretty schematics. XD

Gentlemen, I propose to you a question:
"Matrix 3: Revolutions" or "Dr. Strangelove 2: The Mineshaft Race"?

You see, after recently watching Revolutions my attention was called back to the rumor that I heard, of how the Wachowski brothers stole the scripts for the Matrix movies. I drew onto other conclusions from there; a scorched Earth from a supposed last ditch effort doomsday weapon, Scion existing in a giant mineshaft towards the center of the Earth, over the top megalomaniacal characters everywhere?

I propose that the machines were in fact NOT driven by artificial intelligence, but programmed by the Russians to seek out and destroy the American mineshaft. Did you not find it odd that out of all the multicultural ethnicity of Scion there were no Russian accents to be found?

The true victim of the Wachowski theft was Stanley Kubrick.

Cliff's thoughts on life:
Devinoch: Sometimes the satisfaction of doing it yourself beats anything else.

In other news, I realized today that listening to Pearl Jam will always invariably depress me. Not because of possible depressing lyrics, or bad music - certanially not bad music, Pearl Jam is undoubtedly one of the modern gods of music. But depressing because they have managed to write numerous songs about a topic that would involve a person's entire life. Sometimes it's a happy story, or a sad story, or a story of survival or long lost reaquantence, but the point is they have managed to create a story inside each song that would be fitting to a moment that comes along once in a life time (specifically "Hearts and Thoughts", which invoked these thoughts today).

And again, this is not necessarily a depressing thing in itself, but at times it seems saddening simply out of fear that I may miss one of these great experiences in life that they so elequently put to song. It simply amazes me that despite imcomprehensible/incoherrent lyrics, they can create music that compells me to such compassion that I will actually feel let down that I am not involved in the moment he sings about, and am instead sitting in my car doing nothing.

In more realistic family news, I'm again realizing how out-of-shape I am, as my shoulder is still sore from Sunday.

So I have a bunch of nieces, but one trio of sisters is pretty much the core of all my stories. Tuyet (Isabelle) is about six years old now, and she's the con artist/ring leader. Loan (uh, I actually don't know what her white name is) is about three years old and the ultimate middle child--kind of withdrawn until she gets to know you, and used to being ignored. And Trinh (Amy) is about a year old, and she's... well, she's a baby.

So Sunday was Trinh's baptism, which we held at my uncle's house since he has Parkinson's and it's hard for him to get around these days. She slept through the whole thing, which was a pretty amusing thing, but afterward, Trinh's parents (my cousins) went out for a quick shopping trip while there were so many willing relatives around for babysitting duty. So my cousin Hai and I were in the yard playing with Trinh and Loan--Tuyet was inside helping clean up the kitchen--when Hai and Trinh started playing the classic game where someone picks you up and you "jump" reeeeal high. Trinh ate it up, laughing, squealing and kicking all the way.

Then Loan looked up at me, pointed at her little sister, and implored, "I wanna jump toooooo!"--and any reasonable request from my nieces has pretty much never been denied.

Hai pointed at me, laughing. "Mine's lighter!"

Oh boy, was he right.

For clarity, Sean is my brother, and we're all in his house for the following conversation:

Erin: I'm leaving right after "24".

Ian: Awww.... Why?

Cliff: She's leaving early to avoid the inevitable torrid orgy that will follow.

Sean: I didn't authorize any torrid orgies.

Cliff: Well, we didn't think you'd mind if you were invited.

Sean: But I have Half-Life 2 to play.

I had a dream last night.

It was around August, after my grandmother died and while my aunt was on her deathbed. And my mom completely went bonkers, adopting a parrot and calling it "mom".

My sister, who has a deathly fear of birds, did not respond well when my mom came into Grandma's old room (which is where my aunt's deathbed was) and said "look, Grandma's back!"

I have no idea what it means. But I felt good about having that dream because it reminded me of what Grandma's voice sounded like, and the sound of her slippers on the concrete as she shuffled from her house to my uncle's house, two sounds that defined my childhood.

Bush and Satan! I knew it!

Last semester: 15 units = 17 hours of class per week (+ homework and videos for Theatre)
This semester: 15 units = 25 hours of class per week (+ homework)

;___;

Why do I keep getting these goddamn headaches...

At approximately 5:45 p.m. today, the rough draft of my first novel was completed. I'll be doing an edit/readthrough pass tomorrow and then sending it to my trusted readers tomorrow afternoon.

Thank god.

Ah lovely... it'd been too long since I heard that word that has plagued my soul... "Overqualified."

Well since Sherri made her post stating that she was getting married, I suppose I should too.

I'm gettin' hitched!

I am back at school. Berkeley is warm and quirky as always. And the person with the loud music somewhere near us has it cranked up again. Damn him and his subwoofer.

Already, I realize I have forgotten things and will have to go back to Sacramento to retrieve them. Curses.

"It's 1:20 in the A.M. Do you know where your pants are?"

My clothes are in the other room, I have work tomorrow, my (new) apartment has not burned down yet, Penny Arcade finally had a funny comic again, and there is booze in the fridge. I am going to bed - for tomorrow, I will have to deal with a marketing consultant so retarded that it does not offend me that her consulting business has existed, but that it continues to exist because people still give her money for her defunct services. It's an insult to the species that she is not living in a cardboard box or working at McDonalds. Or both.

Underwear goes inside the pants.

I have just realized that I haven't looked at this page in quite a few weeks. Shame on me.

So, in the news of Erin, I have aquired a job that is actually not only interesting, but fun, and a time sucker as well. In this, my third week, I have already worked overtime twice. And I didn't mind doing it at all. Maybe HR is where I should be in the work world.

I have also started a karate class, since work has a gym (work is Cisco, btw), and said gym offers said class. Karate is very different from stuff I've done before, and I'm looking forward to learning the ropes. Should be fun. I've also started just going to the gym to exercise. I need to look pretty for weddings, and that whole healthy back thing that I'm trying to get working again.

Mucho congrats to our Ms. the Red for the ring that has been placed on her finger. Michael is a great guy, and I wish you the best of luck. ^_^

Also congrats to Greg and Liz for their hitchiness. Luck to you both as well. ^_^

Whoops, Christy's here. Time to play.

Much like the highly reverred "Ghost In The Shell," "Appleseed" was very pretty, but far too compacted to be easily comprehensible. Shirow's work, I've decided, is simply too dense to be condensed into a movie of a couple of hours. "Appleseed" as a movie was gorgeous to look at, but it didn't succeed in making the story quite as engaging as it should be. That and the voice dub was terrible. But it's still worth seeing.

I scored a goal last night playing soccer. It was my first goal with my new team. I thought I would mark the accomplishment digitally.

I had originally decided that I would post once I had time and things settled down. Then it occured to me that that would never happen. So. My days as the random comment-leaver are done, for now I have a shiny new blog to post in! But nothing really interesting to say now, and no fun pictures like Ben. I'm so lame. (<---- requisite blog self-bashing angst)

Like Godzilla from the ocean, I arrive.
(really folks, it was either this or a rant about how World of Warcraft has been the first MMORPG that has not tried to force feed me hamster droppings like a malicious older brother.)

My sister thought I should post this, most of you already know though.



I'm getting hitched!!!

I have survived the move. I am now writing from the computer's new home. The cats are adjusting.

A little more than a year and it's time to move again. Sooner or later, I'll shuck this gypsy lifestyle, settle down, get a house, a wife, a family, a real job doing real work for real people... but not today. Today, we load up this truck and ship it all down to San Jose, where Sean is so graciously taking me in. All things change in time... it's just a question if you can outwait them. And I think that I can. I'm planning I wait, building new shit just in case the old shit doesn't work. My thanks to all my friends who've helped me and supported me this last year. May this new year be a little easier on all of us.

Back when the comp's up at the new place.

Nearly finished packing....

R.I.P. Couch of Lust - 1995-2005.

Alas, poor couch, you did serve me well, but now the time has come for you to be passed on to some strangers. Mayhap some college student will buy you, and once again you will recieve $.25/15 min, but I will never know.

You know, I've been in the Ralph's here in Rancho Cordova pretty much once a week for the most of last year, and not once have they had chicken salad for sale. Now, on my last Monday living here, I saw them having it for sale.

...

I did not buy it. Out of spite.

Hey Cliff, maybe you should see if you can take over for Dave Barry.

I went to the gym this morning. I woke up BEFORE my alarm, got up, got dressed and headed out. I get to the gym and someone comes out to say that it's only open for the swim team at this point in time. The gym opens at 11.

The universe is out to thwart my New Year's resolutions.

And thus, New Year's again proves what I already know about myself: alcohol makes me sleepy.

Isn't it weird, that alcohol would act like a depressant for me? :P