…But then again, I have been very busy. Many things have happened this summer, not the least of which is this. That’s right, if you’re wondering why I don’t call or write or even cast a wayward glance in your direction, it’s not because I don’t like you (or maybe it is. Here’s a quick test to see if I like you: Are you fucking annoying? Then the answer is no. Go to hell.), it’s just that I’ve been a bit busy with my girlfriend. I know, I know, you’re all like ‘OMGWTFBBQ!?!’ because you thought I was gay, but you were wrong. Obviously I am at least bisexual. Or really picky. At any rate, this summer has been a blast thanks to everyone that I’ve seen, especially Jessi (she who I have delegated all of my decision-making priveleges to), Stickman (the brother I wish I could have known sooner), Laurel (the one responsible for my most recent time and money consuming hobby [the girlfriend (if you didn’t get that earlier, you should probably retake the test)]), the Rivertree posse, the Gueys, and Aaron and Eric (the nerdz from school- thanks for coming to visit on such short notice, it was great to spit the geek talk until the wee hours of the morning). Until next time, try not to miss me too much. Yeah, I know. It was worth a try, though.

Damn, this has been a birthday quite to remember. Sticky, Ryan, Drew, Yancy, and I went to the Salvation Army and searched for the gaudiest, cheapest, and coolest items we could find. Sticky and I got matching shirts. Neato. Then, Sticky and I played with the siren that he got me for my birthday. It’s all weather, so the only application I can think of for it is, quite obviously, to place under the hood of my car. I am so going to be arrested this summer.

Next came the big one: a series of gifts. That’s right, a series. Fifteen gifts in a row, one in two parts. In case you don’t fully understand the situation, I was expected to guess the nature of each gift before opening it, then open it and, of course, try to understand why in the world someone would give that gift. I spent an hour on the phone with the giver making guesses, opening presents, and ultimately being made fun of. End result? My cheekbones hurt. I kid you not. In the matter of an hour I giggled, smiled, and outright laughed so much that my face decided it had had enough.

Then sticky and I experiemented with maxing out the school’s upload capacity. Fun times.

Still to come: a six pack of Guinness Extra Stout, the birthday tradition.

Best start to a birthday ever: woot was a remote controlled spy car with a camera and laser tag feature. Wow. I have seen many woots in my time, but this one certainly takes the cake. Then Aaron, Sticky, Ryan, and I went wardriving for long whiles, and went to Steak n Shake. Dizzzamn it was fun. Sticky found buried treasure behind my couch. After some more toying around with the computers, I’ll head to bed. Late. I totally look forward to opening a package from a certain someone that I did not expect a gift from. I’m excited.

I seriously, honest to Blue (my computer), no joking got this error message today.
Widnows? WIDNOWS?! Wow. I feel really safe protected by Widnows Spyware Beta. I realize that it’s not a final release or anything, but that was such a horrible spelling error that I just can’t resist tearing them to pieces over it, especially since they spelled it right the second (and third!) time they typed it. That would be like me spelling my own name Mrak. That’s just crazy talk.

For those of you not in-the-know, I had Spring Break last week. What’s that, you say? WTF mate? Ex-actly. It snowed, and the warmest day of my Spring break is today- the last day. Whatev, it’s cool, I can deal with having a nice Spring term, especially with my class load:

Database Management
Writing Fiction
Music With a Worldwide Perspective
Badminton (HA! If I can’t ace this one without the use of my hands, shoot me)

Anyway, Spring Break was nice. I saw a hardcore show at NIU, chilled with some cool NIU friends, then came home with Pat and did nothing for approximately 6 days. Then again, there was nothing to do. I’m not complaining, I got tons of The Pelican Brief read and I took advantage of my Grandma’s bandwidth like crazy (downloaded 24.3 Gigabytes of crap in a week). Then Aaron came to visit, and we had a fun time roaming Gurnee Mills and talkin nerd shit. Then after he went home I grabbed ahold of Ryan‘s ear and talked him into letting me come desecrate his farm for a day. So Ryan, Baloo, and I had a bonfire with gasoline and blew up a toilet (if you can’t straight open it, save it to your hard drive then open it from there). Then I came back to school with Aaron and had home cooked chicken and spaghetti with alfredo, consumed a bottle of wine (myself) and watched Jeux d’Enfants. Tasty. Peace out.

So I’ve been thrift shopping twice now this week and I’ve made some sweet finds both times. The first place we went to was an antique shop and they had some sweet stuff that some engineer’s wife sold there when he died I bet, because they had pocket scales/straightedges that were in totally good condition. So I got one with a sliding pocket clip that doubles as a depth gauge for $2.15- yeah it’s going in the pocket protector. Then today I found a freakin’ slide rule at the Salvation Army for $2. And it’s totally in great condition. I just had to tape up the case a bit.

Have a gander:

I forgot to mention that I got a package from Hong Kong yesterday.
I know I should quit, but that damn eBay is just so addicting.

This shall be my new girlfriend. I will take care of her just as if she is actually a girl that I am romantically involved with, if not better.

Now, the odd thing about this was the stamps. If I am reading this right, he paid $35 to ship this to me.

Considering that I paid him $17 for the item AND shipping, I think he lost out on that deal.
Oh well. I would love to start puttin’ her together, but instead I am avoiding working on a Psych term paper by chatting with the lovely AK.

Give them the FLAMING bird.

The Phoenix, named after the mythological beast, as demonstrated by it’s creator: The Sticky Baby.
See, he’s good for something after all.
Oh, and don’t try this at home….unless you’re really stupid or I don’t like you. In that case, by all means you should light yourself on fire.

I got a camera yesterday. It was a sweet deal-thanks Aaron. So I finally took a picture of my latest “mod” to my computer, which isn’t really so much a mod as it is a blasphemous jury-rigging of a secondary power supply so that I can run my computer without devices randomly shutting off when the PSU browns out from being overdrawn. Yay for 412.3GB of cumulative hard drive space (finally!). That’s right, you envy me…unless you’re Pual, in which case you already have half a terabyte+ of storage space and you pretty much 0n3 us all in that department.

Is that sad or what? That’s what I have to deal with in the area where I usually put my feet. I kinda hope that I don’t short something out with one of my feet and lose functionality (of my foot or my computer, but mostly my computer-what would I be without this thing?).

And yes, I realize that it is not, in fact, 2002. I didn’t set the date on the camera yet. I was having too much fun playing with it.

For all of you who think we workers at the Ghetto-tree (Rivertree Court Cinemas) don’t take our jobs seriously, here is something to set your minds at ease. Either that, or to completely shatter your perception of reality. You decide.


Photos courtesy of and gloriously shot by: The Sticky Baby.

In case you didn’t know how much of a badass I am, this should tell you.