As The Semester Continues

Well hi guys! It's been a little while. I was sitting here listening to Dream Theater, after coming back from the SU Homecoming parade.

The guys at Phi Mu Alpha and SAI collaborated to make a float for the parade, and I guess the theme was "Low-Emission Transportation". They made a make-shift Flying Machine, which actually turned out to be quite the crowd pleaser. The kids along the way were pretty upset we didn't have any candy, but the float had moving wings and a sail. So I guess that makes up for the lack of candy =P. I was the only PM there, but the others had legit excuses, so it's no big deal.

I'm so happy that I brought up my "archive" of Dream Theater/Mike Portnoy CD's and DVD's. I was so used to having them on that little shelf in my room back at home. I also have my Dream Theater poster hanging up on my closet door here in my dorm. Gotta have the Dream Theater memorabilia of course =P

So by now (I had to come back to this post), we performed at our PM recital. Good news! It went very well! I think we exceeded all of the brothers' expectations for sure. I performed a snare solo piece, and the other PM's also performed their own individual works. Other than that, we performed group pieces as a PM class, some with the help of the brotherhood. We ran into a few minor issues here and there of course, but as a whole we were all really happy. Congratulations to all of the PM's!!!

Life's been pretty chill, even with all this Alpha shit Kody and I have been doing. Well, I shouldn't say "shit" per-say, but it's been keeping us busy. Eh, it'll be worth it for sure. All of our friends have been enjoying life, I think. Kevin and Stephen pretty much live in our room now. Zach is here quite a bit as well. So I'd say the three of them have pretty much set up camp here. They really don't have very much to do, and that's fine, because Kody and I don't really mind their company. In fact, we enjoy it a lot. They're always pretty good about listening to the two of us when we need them to get out for whatever reason, or when we need to use our computers. I'm glad I have friends who aren't a bunch of bitches n' hoes. For sure.

Oh, haha, I've been listening to a lot of T.M.Revolution lately. For those who don't know who he is, he's one of the more popular pop music acts in Japan. He's also the singer/leader of my 2nd favorite band, Abingdon Boys School! XD God I'm such a junkie when it comes to anime/J-pop/J-Rock etc. Of course, I could go on and on about all that. I guess I used to include what was happening in that side of my life in my updates back on my Xanga. Hope and I went through our old Myspaces a few weeks ago. Oh god haha that was an experience. We could tell we've definitely changed since then. Can't help but miss some of that though. But anyways, I might just start doing that. My anime life has been fairly uneventful ever since the pledging process began. That's okay though. I have years to watch anime, but a limited amount of time to enjoy Phi Mu Alpha here on campus. Yes, I know, I'm actually putting anime on the back-burner for once. Shocking, eh?

Well folks, I suppose that's it for today. Took me over a month to update again, but I still love blogging! Be back soon, I hope.

'Til Then...

Otakon: Part 1

Well folks, it's finally time to get around to covering the highlight of my summer: Otakon! I'll begin the coverage of my trip with my friends Blake, Bryan, Patrick, and Ian, and I'll hopefully cover it in two to three segments.

To begin the weekend, Bryan and I stayed over at Ian's house the night before and played some video games and what-not. The other two couldn't stay the night so we picked them up in the morning. Good thing I stayed over at Ian's, because I was able to discover my favorite Street Fighter character: Zangief. I seem to enjoy playing as the grappler characters for some reason. I think it's because of my love for those flashy, lengthy, cinematic types of moves. Everything started with the Bloody Roar video game series. It sparked the interest in fighting games for me as a kid. We also played some Burnout: Revenge, which is my favorite racing game.

We left in the morning, and because Tom had to drop out from the group, I did't have to take my car to Baltimore with us. Therefore I went straight to my house in the morning while the other two went to pick up Blake and Patrick. Thankfully this had happened, because my car isn't in the best of shape, and the air conditioning no longer works properly. The trip wasn't too long, as it only took us around an hour and a half. We got to the hotel and they let us park there even though it was too early to check in. After that, we headed over to the convention to get our badges and check out the first day of the festivities.

One of the first places we went to check out was the video game arena. Boy was that huge. I'd bet it was around 1.5 football fields in size. They had everything from Super Smash and Halo to Naruto and all sorts of other Japanese games. Actually they brought in many Japanese consoles to play some of these Japan exclusive games. From there we ventured to the Dealers Hall...

Well, I'm out for today!

Till Then...

Mental Turmoil

I'm back! Yay. For once.

There's one main topic I definitely want to cover sometime this week, which is Otakon! I'm very tired tonight, as I had an eight hour shift followed by an outing to the Phillies game, so I won't start on it right this minute, but I'll get to the first entry tomorrow, I hope.

As for now, as most of you may know, my long time girlfriend of 3.5 years and I have recently broken up. The break-up wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but in all honesty I'm having a difficult time getting over her. I thought it'd be easier than it's turning out to be, but it isn't. Sometimes I even find myself texting her when I know that it's probably not the right thing to be doing. I'm really hoping that my mind can figure out what the hell it's doing sometime soon, so I can get my feelings all sorted out.

A main contributor to my "mental indecisiveness " is my current family situation. Hayden ended up back in rehab, as we sent him there today. It was very difficult for my parents to send him there, more so my mother. My mom's mood tends to rub off on me as well, so whenever she's depressed, I'm depressed, which is very difficult to deal with. I know that sending him was definitely the right decision, as we all know he needs more help to deal with his issues, it's just my mom was hoping that he would only need one time through. This will be his second. All I can do at the moment is have some faith and believe in the kid. And also hope my mom gets a little better, however I'm not sure when that will happen.

Gah, enough with the whining, haha. I should probably get some sleep now, considering I have to take my car in tomorrow morning at 7:30 to get an oil change

Till Then...

Summer Time

Hey hey hey!

I'm back with a vengeance. Maybe.

Summer's been awesome so far. With most of my time being occupied with friends, work, girlfriend, drums, anime and music. I'm hoping to get those video games in there somewhere.

I've been trying to collect some new music to listen to. For example, I've been finding some cool Smooth Jazz music, which is one of my favorite genres. I used to listen to it all the time on the radio, until they took my favorite station of the air. Bastards.

I started a new work-out routine today at the Y. It should prove fruitful, because of the whole concept of muscle confusion. I've been on the same routine for quite a bit now, so the change is totally necessary.

I think I've completely settled in to the whole "at home" routine now. I'm enjoying it. I've been spending a lot of time with Eric, Sean P. , Sean H. , and Trey lately. It's been nice. So much better than sitting at home doing nothing.

I've watched so many One Piece movies lately. It's absolutely ridiculous, in a good way. There's ten total, and I have 2 more to go. Woo-hoo!

I haven't really been keeping up with it lately, but this whole BP oil spill issue seems to be getting so ridiculous. All these poor animals suffering at the hands of human incompetence. It's truly a shame. I haven't been truly keeping up with it, therefore I don't know the true details, but from what I have seen it hasn't seemed very uplifting; quite the opposite, actually.

I noticed that many guys and gals from Susquehanna's music department departed for Japan for a lengthy music and sightseeing outing there. I believe it was to study music, but also for recreational sightseeing purposes. Lemme tell ya, I was so jealous. Jealous beyond belief, actually. I've wanted to go to Japan for the longest time! And to study music to boot! That must have been so awesome for all those kids. I saw some very interesting pictures that they posted as well. So awesome! I'm sure I'll get the chance to go there at least once during my lifetime.

Well, I suppose there's nothing much on my mind at the moment. Oh, I suppose I forgot to mention Prom and all that goes with it. That'll give me a topic for next time!

'Till Then...

Homeward Bound

Well well, I'm home at last. Finals are now over and I am no longer a Freshman at SU. It's very relieving to have finished the academic year with decent grades. I'll probably be pulling a 3.4 GPA for this year. I'm very happy with that. The Spanish final was really easy actually, and we got A's on it. It was sad to leave everyone, and there were even some people that were tearing up upon saying goodbye to others. A certain miss Erica Reed would be a prime example haha. It took forever to clean out my room. I had one of the most cluttered rooms in the hall, most likely, and it was very dirty too. I found so many things that I had previously thought to be lost. Not to mention Andrew left some of his stuff there for me to take care of. I wonder if he honestly forgot to take it home. Oh well, it's mine now I suppose. I scored a sweet desk rack thingy. Should prove useful next year.

I went over to Kody's this past weekend for his birthday. I had a pretty good time. I was actually late in arriving, since I overslept. It turned out fine though. It was Kody, Michelle, Kevin, Stephen, Tyler, Ed, Dan Martin, and myself. We went to a party afterwards at one of Kody's friend's places. I was actually fairly bored most of the time, but that was because I decided not to drink anything. So many people there were wasted out of their minds. Ah, yes, a prime example: Stephen Donaldson. Hah, the poor guy was literally about to fall over after he played a game of Wizard Staff with Dan Martin. He got sick and started throwing up and from there it was all downhill. Tyler and I stayed with him for the most part to make sure he didn't get into any trouble or throw up on himself. All in all, it was more fun watching these people get wasted and do all sorts of funny shit. For example, Kody's brother, Kyle, threw his shirt and shoes into the fire, followed by pouring beer all over himself and dancing on top of a car. Like Stephen, however, the poor guy ended up getting so sick he was throwing up for a good hour. Lemme tell ya, the night of "sleep" that followed said party was pretty bad. Tyler, Anthony and I ended up sleeping in the back of Anthony's Jeep Liberty, and I barely slept at all. Most of the night I was trying to find a good position to attempt to sleep in. I probably only slept for about an hour or so. Ed and I woke up at about 5:30 and woke the rest of the gang up to drive back to Kody's house. Unfortunately for us, the house was locked, so we had to sleep in our cars, yet again, until Kody's mom opened the house after she woke up. We stumbled in the house when the time came, and we tried to get some sleep in before we had to go home. I left soon after and was on the road. I actually did a bunch of yard work after I got home haha. Fairly unexpected.

I started back up with drum lessons today. I wanted to get back into it because my technique is diminishing. I think I'll be able to get better over the summer. I still enjoy playing drums just as much as I always have though.

I've decided to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender in it's entirety. Thus, I've started torrenting the series, and it should be done by tomorrow. I saw a preview for the feature film in the theaters yesterday, and it sparked my interest. I figured it'd be good to get the series out of the way before the movie, so that's exactly what I'll do.

My room's just about fully organized now. I'm truly a sucker for aesthetics, so I like to have everything neat and organized. I've brought my fridge back down, and also added a little bookcase to store my books and magazines. I've got the wallscrolls back up and the swords are looking awesome as always. I want to get another wallscroll or poster to take up some of the unused wall space. We'll see what I end up deciding on.

My newfound interest in hockey is truly a good change of pace for me. Ever since Zach got me into the flyers, I've been watching just about every game. I now have a greater appreciation for the sport, and realized it's very interesting to watch. I'm hoping they'll make it to the finals!

Well, guess that's it for today. I'll be back hopefully later this week to fill in some more gaps.

'Til Then...

Study Session

It's finals week! You know what that means.... STUDY STUDY STUDY. However, I have more papers to write than actual exams, so I'm taking that as an advantage in my case. Personally, I do much better with papers than with exams.

I recently came back from the gym this evening. It feels so good to have actually kept up with my routine, even though I've skipped a few days here and there. I go every other day and I've finally found a routine that fits the way I work. I'm a very lazy person if you don't know me well, and to get myself up and at 'em takes some work most of the time. You see, even to sign on to Blogger and start typing this new blog post took some mental effort.

I've been downloading J-Rock and J-Pop like crazy lately. My new favorite Japanese band is called "abingdon boys school". The lead singer is the solo artist "T.M. Revolution", and he's pretty popular in Japan. I suppose he decided to form an alternative rock group and write some really good music. I've also been listening to UVERworld. They do a lot of main themes for anime shows, and they're pretty creative when writing their music. I think they're a bit more mainstream though.

So, all in all, I have a Spanish oral final exam on Thursday (at 8:00 in the morning T.T) Oh well, it'll be nice to get it out of the way. Be the first ones in there and wreck some shit. I'm pretty sure we'll do fine. Andres, my partner, is pretty intelligent and knows his stuff. I myself am pretty decent as well so I'm confident. Outside of that, I have a paper due for my poetry class on Friday, followed by a paper for my Asian Literature and Film class due on Saturday. I have both of those papers close to completion, so I believe I won't be rushed as long as I don't save the finalizing until the very last minute.

I can't wait to get back home. I think my friends here and I need a change of scenery. In addition, I miss Lindsey a lot. I haven't seen my dogs in a while, and I'm curious as to see how my brothers are faring back at home. I'm sure they're doing well. My drums are pretty lonely by now. Ah yes, they need to be played. Funny, I'm just the man for the job. Don't worry drums, for you will be played soon enough. I really want to take up the bass guitar, so I found a teacher that is offering lessons and I'll hopefully be starting this summer if my parents will be willing to pay for the lessons. I will be taking up drum lessons once again, because I feel my technique is getting rusty and there are so many new things for me to learn. Speaking of which, in preparation for my adventure in to Symphonic Band next semester, I'll be looking for general percussion lessons over the summer. I think I'll ask Mr. Litz about it, to see if he knows how I may be able to get them. Either that or I'll ask my drum set teacher about it, to see if he knows anything. The percussion ensemble concert I went to tonight really got me motivated to learn, so hopefully I can make it happen. On a side note, I'm strongly considering taking up the handbells next semester and joining the handbell choir. The music they perform sounds so beautiful, something you wouldn't be able to produce on anything but a set of handbells.

In Anime/Manga world, I've been reading Kenichi like a madman. It's probably my favorite manga that I've read so far, but keep in mind I have not legitimately read a full set of manga before. I've always been one for anime. I'm slowly discovering, however, that manga has so many wonderful things to offer, seeing as I'm intensely immersed in Kenichi at the moment. I'm also watching Blood+, a series which I'm not quite sure what to think of yet.

THEY FINALLY TURNED ON THE A/C IN THE DORMS. However, it was a little late. It's starting to cool off again. Poor planning on the university's part. If only they turned it on a few days beforehand. It was hot as balls outside.

Til' Then...

Cabin Fever

Well, well....seems this semester is almost at it's close. I'M READY TO GO HOME, DAMN IT. As much as I love you, Susquehanna, I need a temporary change of scenery. Finals start next week, as we all know, and I really only have one final, Spanish. It's an oral exam, which I'm doing with my buddy Andres. I almost shit my pants I was so nervous for last semester's oral exam, but it went really well. Then again, I think my partner and I were fairly prepared for it. We had all our lines memorized, for the most part, which is always good. I'm pretty sure Andres and I will do well.

SO KENICHI. Yes, I've been deeply immersed in History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi all week. It's very good, and I love it a lot. I still have so much more to read! YES. I haven't gotten very far in Blood+ because of Kenichi, but I don't mind because Kenichi is very good.

My poetry professor is actually making us do work this week. I say bullshit. Don't get me wrong, she's a wonderful professor, however her class is so boring. On the plus-side, I've gotten all my presentations out of the way. I always get so "shit-your-pants" nervous on those occasions, but when I get up there to present I'm always fine. It just has to get to the point where it's like, "Okay T-Blade, get your ass off that chair and get this shit over with". Who knows how well I did, but I believe I did just fine.

Today's just been one of those lazy-ass days. I've done quite a bit of sitting around doing nothing today, while chilling with friends who are always sitting around doing nothing. Sounds fantastic eh? Yeah.

My mental stamina has almost reached it's capacity for tonight, so I think I'm gonna sign off for the evening. I'll be back with a more substantial post in the near future.

Til' Then...