Monday, December 27, 2004

Cleaning Ashley's Room: Day 1

A path has been cleared from her door to both closet doors, and her office chair is able to roll around. The living room looks like a dumpster got tipped out, and her bed is only slightly piled. Day's outcome: moderate success.

Sunday, December 26, 2004

Bliss... Mostly

It's been a very nice Christmas indeed. Ashley got me an extremely nice leather jacket, and my grandma didn't get me an ugly patch-work leather jacket at Big Lots (sigh of relief). I'm still waiting for a new mattress from my parents, but that's coming tomorrow or Tuesday, and that will be very nice. I got a bunch of little stuff from everyone, including cordial cherries and IBC Root Beer, some useful things like scissors from Marcy, money of course, and and kinds of other cool things. I guess I didn't make out like a bandit, but I got what I wanted so I'm happy.

Ashley got a couple of very nice gifts as well. I gave her a pea coat and purse she wanted from Old Navy. Also, her Grandpa Bob gave her a little shotgun patented in 1900, to match her .22 rifle from the same year. She's gonna end up with an antique gun collection if Bob has his way!

I'm a little ashamed for trying to unsuccessfully jump Ashley's car. I jumped it backwards and probably ruined at least the battery. To be fair, her battery wasn't marked well! Somewhere on the positive pole is supposed to be a red marking, and there is none. Anyway, now I get to help her fix it. Maybe we can get her turn signal fixed as well, finally.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Almost Christmas!

Yes indeed, and I'm excited! I'm still enjoying break by being as lazy and leisurely as possible. Last night, Mike, Bryan and I had a LAN party, but it kind of flopped when Mike took 4 hours installing all of his mods for Unreal Tournament 2004 on all 3 computers. Still, it was better than sitting around at home, and I had an excuse to stay up till 5 AM. Sweet!

I guess the past few days hasn't been all fun. I've been bugging Ashley to clean her room ever since she got her fish tank, and she actually got a little bit motivated. Just at that moment, her grandmother decided that nothing should be in the front room since there were "only" 5 days until Christmas. We had it bagged up all nice and neat, so it wouldn't take more than 5 minutes to move them all. Oh well, that's life. After Christmas we may get more chance to do something with the room.

As for the Army, I got a call from my dad's best friend, who gave me the advice that it may not be the best time to join the service. He was active-duty Air Force, so the fact that he's trying to dissuade me is pretty unsettling. He agrees that if I find the right job that it diminishes my chances of getting shipped out. I get the feeling when my dad told him I was joining the Army that Mark got the idea I was joining as an open job description, which would pretty much condemn me to the worst jobs the Army has to offer. I like to think I have a little more sense than that.

Oh shoot, I forgot to find out what books I needed for school, and the school's closed now until January 3rd! Oh well, guess that just means I'll need to pay for relatively fast shipping when I get them on eBay. I sold a couple of my textbooks on eBay and made decent money off of them, so that's cool.

If I don't get back to everyone, Merry Christmas! Love you all!

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Ashley's Fish

Today has been decent I suppose. I had an in-progress weigh-in at the recruiter, and despite not working out enough, I'm still down half an inch since last week. I headed over to Ashley's for a bit after that, and found out she had gotten a 20 gallon fish tank and base cabinet from one of Pattie's firends. Where in the world does she have room for a 4 foot cabinet and a good-sized fish tank? I hung around for a little while, but pretty quickly I got fed up with the idea and left.

I think that mood inspired me to shift my room a bit, so I moved around the boxes and the bed a bit. Now there's room behind my computer chair, and I can actually scoot back and stand up. I even have a good chunk of uninterrupted floor space.

After Ashley got off of work, I decided to go back. Ashley now has the tank in her hallway, and it acutally looks pretty good there. We spent most of the time setting it up and filling it and transfering critters.However, she realized she'd need to clean her room and make room for the junk she was storing in the hallway. We cleaned a little, but while we took a break Ashley was admiring the tank and her goldfish. I can tell she's really excited, and if cleaning her room is involved then I'm happy too.

When I got home 30 minutes ago I found a pleasant suprise. My Half-Life 2 stuff that I ordered with the game finally arrived! It came with a baseball cap, a few posters, the strategy guide to the game (too late), and even a postcard from one of the cities in the game! I'm so happy!

Friday, December 17, 2004

Chris the Grinch

I'm harboring a lot of negative feelings tonight. I don't know why, I just wish everyone would stop bugging me. The day was going fine; I was having fun with my new computer game, then Ashley came over and we laid down for a little while (nothing sexy whatsoever), then I went for a workout. I felt fine about everything.

I guess I noticed something when Nancy came home and started bitching about work. About how they're gonna fire her any time now. She's been saying that for two months, and she hates that job anyway. That kinda put me in a bit of a bad mood. Then Ashley called and said she was done with work. I asked her if she wanted to come over, and she said she'd rather me come to her house. I start thinking about how we've done everything at her house for the past couple of weeks and its getting really boring, but I go anyway. When I get there, she has me wrap her packages for people, all off of the dollar rack at Target. Tiny, irregular packages. And Cassie is being a nuisance to no end.

I think I might be depressed tonight. I can't tell. I need sleep. I still need to submit my CU transfer app. I wonder if my grades have been posted yet? Sigh. I need to binge.

Monday, December 13, 2004

End of Semester!

The semester's finally over! Actually, compared to high school it was extremely quick. I think I'm going to enjoy this college thing (or at least until the classes get hard). I took the Spanish final last Wednesday, and it was pretty bad. Math and Chem weren't as bad, but I'm sure I passed all three. I just wish the website wasn't broken so I could check my grades.

Thursday afternoon I was finally free! I went for a workout with at the recruiting station, but no one showed up to lead it. All of the recruiters were in their fancy Class A uniforms as usual, so they couldn't lead a workout even if they felt like it. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were pure leisure for me. Saturday night I went out with the usual crowd (Ashley, Jackie, Kristen and Jeff) to CB & Potts for dinner, then to see Ocean's 12. It was quite an evening. Sunday night we all hung out at Kristen's house again, and Jeff made piƱa coladas for everyone. I had half a glass, so I guess that's basically the first time I've had any drinks.

Oh yeah, and I found a nice place for my little 1-foot tall Christmas tree from Marcy. It's very cute on top of my desk. I just need more miniature ornaments. Ooh, and my A-10 Warthog model is getting very close to done. I just painted the cockpit, which came out pretty good. All that's really left is the ordinance (missiles, bombs). Rock on!

Tuesday, December 7, 2004

Gung ho, but overweight

I've kinda been slacking, but here's the update. I had an excellent weekend of friends and dieting. Ashley, Jackie and I went to Flatirons Mall and Boulder to get gifts for Christmas, and had a right good time. The girls usually hate to have Kelly along, but they seem to be missing her now that she has a boyfriend to hang out with. I know its not just missing her company; there's also a degree of concern, but I think they actually miss her company, too.

Monday morning I woke up at 4 AM to go down to MEPS (the Military Entrance Processing Station). After many rounds of the "hurry up and wait" game, I got thru all of the medical examinations fine. Everything seemed to be perfect, except my vision which was correctable. The last step in the medical exam was the height and weight measurement, and this was the only part I was worried about failing.

I've been on a pseudo-Atkins diet and wearing plastic wrap around my waist for about 4 days. This was all following the recruiting office sergeant's ideas. I was a little skeptical, but I was pleasantly suprised when I actually lost about 5 pounds and an inch and a half off of my stomach.

At the weighing, I was 6 pounds over standard, so they taped my neck and waist several times for accuracy. One round of "hurry up and wait" later, I had the paper saying I was 1.18% over the fat composition standard. That means I can't complete any more of the entrance processing until December 23. Was that perfect timing on their part or what? Maybe my family will be in town to see me get sworn in. Its possible.

Anyway, I've got final exams this week, starting with Spanish tomorrow. I've got a lot of studying to to in the next two days! On the bright side, I think I'm going into these tests looking pretty good grade-wise. Wish me luck!