God Bless Memorial Day!

What a fine holiday! Although I always love any excuse to get out of work and/or school. And what did I do on my 3 day weekend you might ask?

Saturday: Sat at the pool with 3 lovely ladies, grilled out, turned myself a very lovely shade of crimson, made pina coladas and watched Boondock Saints (which now makes it hard for me to understand why so many people have a hard-on for that movie).

Sunday: Slept till about noon, ate some BK, played some video games, went to my parents house for my step-moms b-day, ate middle eastern cuisine, listened to Vic Chestnut play harmonica at out house while my dad sang, came home, watched Transformers: The Movie.

Monday: Computer died, had to go buy new video card (#%$*), picked up some Taco Bell, watched some Veronica Mars, went to Kohls, got a Guiness hat, discussed shaving my head, watched some more Veronica Mars, headed home, and then
Yup, I did it! And damn if it doesn't feel good! I gotta say, I'd always been wary of doing this before, but it was definitely worth it. I feel like my body temperature has dropped 5 - 10 degrees since chopping it all off and it's just so damn fun to rub! You know you want to...

Austin tired...

Don't want to write. Want to sleep. Dictatortots good. Waking up at 8 am bad. Not being able to go back to sleep for 30 extra minutes bad.

Did find a place to live on Wednesday though. Here it is. It may not look like much now, but they're being completely renovated and the fully renovated ones look fantastic. All new appliances, hardwood floors, brand new A/C units. I'm looking forward to it.

3 day weekend coming up. I'll hopefully be at the pool all three days, so if you're interested in coming by and joining me and anyone else who's there, just shoot me an e-mail at aclockma@gmail.com

Have you seen this girl?

We fear she may have forgotten to escape the 80s.

Sunny rain. It's always so weird to me to look outsidem see the sun shining but see it pouring down rain as well. I guess that's just why I like the weather, you never know what it's going to bring. Made a 92 on my first test in 1112, pretty much what I expected mainly because there's always a few questions that are made to be tricky just to trip you up. I enjoy the class, but it's all so repetitive since I learned almost all of this last semester as well. I'm just looking forward to GEOG 3820 in the fall, when I'll really be tested on my weather knowledge. Once class I'm not looking forward to at all is Calculus. I do like that all the answers in math are objective, it's just the idea of taking high level math after being away from it so long that scares me. I've just got to make sure that I don't fall behind early, and that I seek help if I really need it. It's all nice to tell myself these things, but I'll be interested to see how I really react to it come fall.

Saw X-Men 3: The Last Stand last night. I'd definitely recommend it to any fan of action and comic book movies. So as I'm sitting here drinking a Rockstar Energy Drink and it reminds me, I still haven't looked up what Taurine is! I'd been thinking for a while that it might have something to do with bull semen, and yeah, that left me a little uneasy. Well now it turns out that it's just an "acidic chemical substance found in high abundance in the tissues of many animals (metazoa), especially sea animals." Thank god. I don't really like energy drinks, but they can be addictive as hell and I really didn't like the idea of ingesting alot of bull semen. The only thing that worries me still is that it is also abundant in most forms of cat food. 1000mg of Meow Mix please.

X-Men: The Last Movie?

Ok, before I start this review you need a little bit of background:

If you haven't see that before, I feel sorry for you, but now you're all caught up and I can begin my review.

Damn, now that was an X-Men movie. Honestly if you're going to see the X-Men as a geek you're not looking forward to character development, you're looking forward to seeing what those crazy mutant mother-fuckers will do! I know alot of people were worried when Bret Ratner took over for Brian Singer on X-Men, but there's not a beat missed if anything Ratner might be better for the series. Sure, the background storyline is generally the same, some group trying to cure mutants with some kind of crazy mutant cure serum, but its the action and the mutant powers that really make this movie. We all knew that Magneto is one of the most powerful mutants but have we truly seen his power up to this point? Sure we saw him hold some cars up in the air and take some cops guns and turn them around on their owners, but that's all childs play compared to what you see in The Last Stand. Seeing what he does to a prisoner convoy is exactly what we all want to see as comic fans. The restraints are lifted and the mutants are given free reign to use their almost limitless power. Dark Phoenix? Ummm yeah...badass. Juggernaut? Best line of the movie, and Vinnie Jones pulled the role off alot better than I thought he would. Sure there's some things that I'd love to see changed in the movie, and of course I'm still waiting for the Sentinels to make an appearance on the big screen. Then you have the opening scene with Prof. X and Magneto which is easily the creepiest thing I've seen in a long time. I won't ruin it for you, but I dare you not to be creeped out, and not in a good "we meant it to look creepy" kinda way. Overall the good definitely outweighs the bad, and makes this what I consider the best X-Men movie to date. Will there be a 4th movie though? Ratner and the studio continually postured with this movie claiming that it was going to be the end of the franchise, but make sure you stick around till the end of the credits to see how all that posturing might have been false.

so I lied

Ok, so I lied about spicing up my blog today. It's now 7 o'clock and I'm just getting around to it. So here's some quick pictures to brighten your day. :-)

And the picture that made me depressed for the rest of the day.

Scary...

And my personal favorite...

Enjoy, see you Thursday!

The house/duplex/apartment search continues!

(Todays blog is brought to you in super-excito vision!!!!! I hope you complainers are happy.)

It it really that bad that I'm considering living in a "Clothing Optional" household this fall? I don't think I've reached those depths yet!?!? Gonna go check a duplex out over on the eastside tonight though...maybe it'll be just what I'm looking for, or NOT!!! I've pretty much given up on finding an actual house at this point and am now focusing my sights squarely on duplexes. WTF! From there it's apartments, but that's only as a last resort. There's a chance that Kenneth and Mia could get the adjoining duplex at this one I'm looking at tonight, and that would definitely make things easier, and also totally ROCK!

On the lighter side, this past weekend was RAD! All I did was hang out with some good friends and get my ass burned at the pool. I've decided that this is what I'm going to do every weekend from now on, although I might throw in a little fishing here and there. For those of you who don't know, my parents have a pretty nice house with a 10 acre lot, a pool and a pond. Now why I haven't taken advantage of having this at my disposal up to this point is beyond me. But I plan on changing that this summer, since it might be my last chance!!! So if anyone is interested in coming over and hanging out at the 'rents pool this summer on the weekends, just let me know, that's where I'll be.

Have my first test tomorrow, 1 week after starting class. Not too worried though since it's pretty much all the same stuff I did last semester. I'll definitely try to spice up my blog tomorrow since I'll have 8 hours to sit here and write it. So I promise you pictures, links, and and maybe even some videos! How does that sound kiddies? Gotta run for now though...TTYL.

10th post anniversary, GTFO!

Well, this post was orignally going to be about the insidious nature of video game acronyms and how they have found their way into everyday conversation...but, the SLC computers fucking suck and deleted my whole post! Yup, I was almost finished and I decided to check out something on Google Video (I won't post a link since it will most likely shut me down again) and the computer just restarted. If you've ever used the computers up here then you know how crappy they are, but let me just sum up a few things that go wrong on a daily basis:

1. Screens constantly shutting off and then back on when using Office products or Acrobat.
2. "Tree or Server" errors preventing people from logging on.
3. Random lockups or shutdowns.
4. PDFs take forever to load.
5. Printing in WebCT is basically impossible.

These are just a few of the problems we have, but ones that happen almost everyday. It makes my job easy though because there's really nothing we can do about it. The video cards are shitty, the images loaded on the computer are poorly put together, and WebCT is just a crappy system. So I mainly just get to deal with complaining. Every once in a while I'll get an interesting problem that might take a little while to solve, but for the most part those 5 above take up the majority of my time.

On a positive note, I'm going to check out a house today that sounds perfect. It's only $500 for a 2br/1ba, it's in a decent location, it allows pets, and the guy is giving a bunch of stuff away with it. I get to go take a look at it tonight so hopefully I'll have my fall living situation worked out by tomorrow. Trying not to get my hopes too far up though. Looking forward to the weekend, gonna go use the parents pool for the first time this year, maybe burn a little. See ya back here on Monday. TTYL.

DaVinci Code aka I missed class for this?

Is it bad? Ehhhhh, maybe. Is it good? Not really. It's just kinda there. Flashback to 3 years ago...riding in my car to visit my mom in Charlottesville. My step-mom had given me The DaVinci Code on CD to listen to on the trip. I'd heard alot of people talking about it and had heard how "amazing" it was, so I figured it was worth a shot at least. I don't remember much about the book except for one specific part near the end. If you've read it or seen the movie, then you know there's a twist close to the end that maybe you don't quite see coming. I remember this twist vividly because as soon as it happened, the first thought that popped into my head was "hollywood screenplay". Now we all knew that it would get turned into a movie anyway because it's one of the best-selling books in recent memory, but to me it almost felt like it was written with that movie goal in mind. So now flashforward back to today...we have a totally average book turned into a below average movie. This doesn't suprise me though, since most movies never come close to their written word counterparts, and even now average goes to below average, just taking a small step down each time.

There's zero chemistry between Hanks and Tatau in the movie. They both feel wooden and almost like they are being forced to work alon side each other. Jean Reno was completely wasted in the film, only making brief appearances and none of them are memorable even in the slightest. I guess the high point of the movie is Ian McKellan, but he's good in everything, so it's to be expected. Once you get to the previously discussed "twist" you'll be sighing, glad that it's at least drawing to a close in under 2 and a half hours, and you can tell everyone "yeah, it was ok". But wait! Prepare yourself for about another half hour of plodding, directionless, boring dialogue! I really felt like leaving during the last 30 minutes of the movie, and I probably should have since there wasn't anything to miss at that point.

8 hours

That's how long I'll be sitting here at this desk today. I think of all the other things that I could be doing during this time. Sometimes this job really does depress me. I mean, why do you think I started writing this blog. I always thought blogs were pretty stupid, just something that gave someone another reason to think that they were important. But now I know the real truth. Bloggers all have waaaaaay too much time on their hands. I sit here wondering when I should write something, because I don't want to write too early so that I don't have anything to write about later. So I've chosen the halfway point in the workday, and it has been torture just making it this far. I spent most of my afternoon reading Watchmen and looking at different apartments online. I can look at these things all day online but it really doesn't tell you anything about them unless you go and actually look at them first hand. But can I do that? No.

I went and watched The DaVinci Code last night. Mistake. Watched the penultimate Lost last night as well. While this season has been interesting, I'm not sure I'm as intrigued by it this season as last. I think there may have been bigger suprises this season, but it feels like much less time has passed and so a sort of plodding feeling starts to develop. Most of the TV shows are wrapping up their seasons either this week or next, so we're getting all the stops pulled out right now. I'll go into the DaVinci code more in a little while when I write up a full review. I may have to miss out on these midnight screenings from now on though because I missed class today. Yeah, that was stupid. I really think that if I didn't have to work today I would have made it since I could have just come home and taken a nap. And of course I have to make justifications for my skipping of class. "It's all stuff that I learned last semester." Hopefully it won't come back to bite me come test time. I doubt it.

Isn't my life exciting? Maybe I'll go turn myself beet-red at my parents pool this weekend, that sounds good.

1st Day of Maymester

Yup, the 3 week drive of lots 'o class everyday has begun. It ought to be decently easy since it's a subject I enjoy, just can't really miss any class or else it's like missing a week of class. Nothing to report from the SLC, just spending my time here reading The Watchmen and Blood Meridian. I've been thinking about playing World of Warcraft again, someone please talk me out of that. Still trying to find a place to live for the fall and it's starting to feel like the walls are squeezing in on me now. Soon, hopefully.

1 Wedding and a Funeral

So I had an interesting weekend. Got to go to my friend Aureliano's wedding on Saturday and while it was a really nice wedding I ended up letting my feelings get the better of me and ruin my time there. I gotta say, I'm really not very good at opening up to alot of people. That's one reason why I haven't really been in alot of relationships most of my life, whether they be friendly or romantic. So I'm not exactly practiced at the art of dealing with issues in relationships when they arise. Take for instance the idea of trying to be friends with someone even though you have feelings for them. I thought it was something I could handle, and maybe I could in certain situations, but once the two ideas came into conflict with each other it's obvious which one came out on top for me. And so I ruin my night and I make things uncomfortable for everyone around me at the same time. I just wish sometimes I were better at hiding my emotions, seems like it would make things alot easier. I guess one of the main things I worry about is possibly ruining friendships that I have that really do matter to me all because I can't get over something. They all say it takes time, but I've never been one who has much patience, so it just gets harder for me.

On a positive note, I think if this happened a year ago, I would have plunged into a deep pit of depression and would have had a hard time coming out of it. But because of my own personal growth over the past year I know that this is not the end-all be-all of my life and that things will go on for me. Sure it hurts, but it's good that I can feel that hurt as something coming from the outside and not bubbling up from inside me.

Maymester class starts tomorrow and I should be writing a blog 4 out of the 5 school days of the week. 3 hour classes, woo hoo! The DVD sale has gone pretty well so far, it's just tough trying to keep track of what is going where and when it's going there. In a few days I'll probably lower prices some more to try and get rid of everything, so keep an eye out.

PS. I now know it's really easy to ruin certain music if you listen to it while in a depressed state. Band of Horses was one of my recent favorites but after sitting in a car listening to it for an hour and staring off into nothing I don't really feel like listening to them anymore. Damn you Band of Horses!

E-Mail bombardment

Little time for posting today. I'm getting hit with about 1 or 2 e-mails every minute since I've posted my DVD SALE listing on the UGA Listserv and Craigslist. It's really annoying to keep up with all these people, what they want, and when they can get their stuff. But hey, I'm getting some moolah! Woo hoo! Ok, time to go sift through some more e-mails. TTFN.

Poseiden: Adventure?

Forgettable but fun. That's pretty much the best way to describe Poseiden, which comes out this Friday. It's definitely one of those summer popcorn movies that people will show up to see the first weekend and then forget all about once the bigger blockbusters roll out in the next few weeks. As long as you don't go in expecting some serious substance to this movie you won't have any problem. The character development is short and to the point, enough so that when you reach the end of the film you probably won't remember half the names of the main characters, I know I didn't. Richard Dreyfuss' character was the main one that bothered me. He's an architect traveling from London and he's almost on the verge of suicide due to being spurned by a lover. It's just the fact that they randomly throw in the fact that he's gay, that doesn't make any sense. To me, this is the brainstorming session with the producers:

Producer1: What's big right now? What seem to be piqueing peoples interests?
Producer2: Did you see how much attention Brokeback Mountain got?
Producer1: Dammit...how can we incorporate a gay man into the movie.
Producer2: Well we could always just have him say he's gay, and pretty much leave it at that.
Producer1: Wouldn't people wonder why he was gay though?
Producer2: Wondering is attention...attention is good, get the script monkeys on the phone.

The story and plot didn't really have to be worked on much since this is just yet another in the long series of remakes that Hollywood seems to love right now. What did work for the movie though were the special effects. Not overdone, but with subtle images of the carnage taking place all around. There's definitely some great death scenes in the film and at some points it's hard to see how exactly they got away with a PG-13 rating. I'd definitely recommend the movie for a lazy matinee sometime, but don't go out of your way to see it.

DVD Sale

Shameless self-promotion time! I'm selling my entire DVD collection, no matter what this time. Make sure you head on over to

Austin's DVD SALE page

and check out all the great deals! Seriously, do it.

As some of you may know, I've been in the market for a new car for about a month now. I've been trying to figure out how much I could afford each month, how I could pay off my current car quicker, and when I could sell my current car. Well I may have just had a sweet deal fall into my lap. Apparently my step-sister and her husband are in the market for a bigger car now that they have a new addition to the family. So it works out almost perfectly that they could take my Pathfinder and I would take her Accord. I just hope that it works for her now, because I'm already becoming attached to this new car!

Ninja swords and other useful study tools

Life at the Student Learning Center is usually pretty boring. But every once in a while you get at least a semi-curveball thrown at you. We find lots of junk that makes its way into the lost and found here. Tons of glasses, flash drives, books, notebooks, umbrellas, wallets, iPods, jackets, calculators, etc., etc. So it's refreshing when you find something as interesting as a ninja sword. Now of course it would have been more interesting if it had be attached to a real ninja, but that might be asking for too much. The only thing I can think is that perhaps it was some kind of silent (not sure what other kind a ninja could use) protest against the recent ATF actions on campus. If you haven't at least heard about it, I suggest you check it out.

So I'm done with finals for the semester and I just have to wait to see what my grades end up being. I'm hoping for a sweep of A's but I might have ended up with one B. It's been a while since I've done this well in school. I'd probably have to go back to my days at Truett when I was working my ass off to get into UGA to find a time when I did as well. I just feel that this is something that I can keep up now as well. Just a week off now till I start up maymester. MWF from 9:30 to 3:15, and TR from 9:30 to 12:15. It's all crammed into 3 weeks, and even though it's a lot of material in a short amount of time, I love getting it done that fast. I just wish there was a little bit of time between maymester and summer session, but no not even 1 day off.

Link for the day:
Google Calendar
It just started up a few weeks ago, but it's already one of my favorite new sites. You'll have to have a Gmail account to check it out, but they're easy to get, and if needed I can hook anyone up with an invite. Seriously though, if you're someone like me who isn't good at organizing or keeping any kind of decent schedule Google Calendar is a godsend! I've already put in almost all my planned summer activities through August and it's extremely customizable to almost any kind of setting you might need. The coolest part though is that you can add other peoples calendars to your list, so you can see what your friends might be up to. If you join up, make sure to add me: aclockma@gmail.com

That's all for today, be back for another round on Thursday.

So what's it been?

9 years. Yup, 9 years since I left high school behind to pursue a higher education. Does that make me sad? Not really. Sure, I'd love to be somewhere else making lots of money and perhaps having a good time, but I think I have it pretty good right now. So why the blog? I figured it'd give me something to do as I while the hours away here at my $6/hour student job. I thought I might give those around me a little bit of insight into what I do with myself and what I look forward to doing with myself (that sounds kinda dirty).

So whadya gonna get here?
1. The everyday experiences of a really old college student
2. Movie reviews (hey, it went along with one of my previous majors)
3. Maybe a little bit of politics
4. Cool/funny links
5. MY opinions of pretty much everything else that I couldn't take the time to list here

I mean what good is a blog if I can't use it to inflate my ego by telling EVERYONE how important my opinions are? God, this stuff is like crack.