With You, Friends

     Boy, has it been a while since I wrote last... or at least that's how it feels. Perhaps there was just a lot going on since the 9th. So, I suppose we shouldn't waste any time. Let's begin straight away. After all, you didn't come here to read about me talking about talking about things, now did you? I consider most everyone as a friend, and I try not to leave friends disappointed. But I suppose I should digress...

     I went home for my birthday. I figured my family would be happy to see me and celebrate my birthday with them, and I also had to get new tires. The weekend was pretty fantastic. Bob also came home for the weekend and Tassi, Bob, and myself went to see Phantom Menace in 3D. It was okay, but Tassi and I both fell asleep in between the second and third acts. I also finally got to catch up on Season 2 of Portlandia. We went to Bob Chinn's Crab House and my mom got me a cake, even though I was there for such short a time. As I figured I would, I got the current iPod Nano to replace the iTouch that got fucked up by being dropped into the toilet. I also got two big boxes of Strawberry Hello Panda and mini snickerdoodle muffins. For those that don't know, Hello Panda are pretty much the current day version of Koala Yummies. For those still confused, I'd just like to say: You've missed out if you've never gotten the chance to have these. They're are tiny hollow cookies with a tiny cute panda drawn on the rounder side and each cookie is filled with filling which is usually chocolate or strawberry, and I am a huge sucker for strawberry stuff.

     My sister gave me a bit money to go towards the tortoise fund, which I was very happy to get because it was looking to be a few hundred more dollars than I had anticipated... But now, I am not so sure about this plan. I was so preoccupied and during the weekend that I didn't really think about the tortoise at all, and I was gradually forgetting about it and losing interest. (Lizz, if you're reading, I haven't spent the money. I'll talk to you about it at some other point). In any event, I started wondering how I had gotten so close to actually buying the tortoise. The idea of it now doesn't seem too wise, as it's very costly, we're not allowed pets in our place, and if I had gone through this loss of interest after I had bought it and everything, I would be deeply regretting it (not to mention I'd be stuck with it for the next like... 50 years?). But why did this whole thing come into my head to begin with? If you read my last blog, which I wrote the night before my birthday, I was in a real negative mood by the end of it. I was feeling angry, sad, and moreover, lonely. In that mood, I think buying a pet tortoise seemed like a quick-fix solution to my loneliness. It was silly and impulsive of me and it could have fucked me over and I'd be stuck.

     So now what do I do when I go into this state again? Well, that's kind of what I figured out this week. If I remember correctly, this past Tuesday was Valentine's Day. Thankfully, my Tuesday actually wasn't that bad, as I successfully masked my loneliness with light humor and being friendly. Wednesday is when things finally got to me. Wednesday is my day off in between heavy class days, so I feel the need to be moving and busy, but with nothing to do or talk to, so I begin focusing in on tiny things that shouldn't matter, I overreact to them because what the fuck else am I going to do? So Wednesday night ended with me going to bed at like 9PM, in an attempt to just sleep the shittiness away. Thursday morning, nothing had changed. In fact, things were getting worse. The weather in Carbondale was rainy and very cold and I was stuck sitting in my car for an hour and a half waiting for ANY spot to open up. Meanwhile, I was live-tweeting my negativity for all others to feel. While I sat in my car, I wondered how one goes about meeting new and similar people. Maybe meeting new people wasn't the issue though, maybe it's how I treat the friends I have now. Sure I try to be nice and polite to everyone as I can be, but I still push people away when it comes to them wanting to be friends with me. I get friend requests all the time from people. I've made tons of friends on twitter that I connect with so very much. All of these people are part of the gaming culture which I have been feeling distant from lately, and a lot of people have tried to be friends with me so that we can play games together, but I just don't want to.

     On Xbox Live, I tell people that if I know them, I'll accept their friend requests, but that still leaves me getting requests on Xbox Live to play games with them. The thing is that I just feel so uncomfortable talking through mics and headsets, or even over the phone. IMing/Facebook chat is the same way. I don't know why, I feel comfortable with texting or twitter, and yet, I can talk to people face-to-face pretty well, I think by now. Face-to-face is more of a transitional thing that I'm working through. In any event, it gets to the point that if I'm playing a game that has multiplayer on it and one of these people signs on, I will go out of my way to appear offline so as not to deal with it. I then have to hold my breath waiting to see if they saw me online in time to send me a request or not... The point is, is that despite me considering these people my friends, I try to be as inconspicuous to these folks as I can be, I imagine, to the point where they consider me as a minor acquaintance, and it's this that puts me into these negative spirals. So it looks like I have to change something, and it looks like it's going to have to be me that changes.

     So now, I am try to make more of an effort to be actual friends with people, be nice to everyone, muscle through the uncomfortable, because more than likely, I'll be happier afterwards. The past few days I've been  occasionally posting tweets and statuses asking how people's days and weekends have been going. I've been getting at least one or two responses each time, but that's all it needs to be at this point. Starting a friendly conversation with someone, and being able to continue that conversation. If, for most of the time, my friends are stuck inside of a computer or Xbox, I suppose I can at least put that effort forward, since I don't get to see them in person that often. Once I put this together, I'll be damned if things didn't start going better immediately.

     Later on Thursday night, I tried to do the same thing with my roommates and Tom (Congrats Tom, on finally getting mentioned, I know it was bugging you.). We sat around in our living room watching various things. Zach had a bottle of wine left from Valentine's, so he poured himself a glass. I was convinced, mostly by Tom, to have a glass of my own. I had it, and it was pretty awful, but I finished it, and then had three more. I was relatively tipsy, since I don't drink ever. So, I went to bed pretty happy with how the day turned out, and on Friday, Dan was coming down.

     Friday started out nicely. I got up at about 8:30 and went to work out. I had to start out with the stationary bike though because I found that my shorts were a bit too big to run in without eventually falling off. I tried re-tying them, but as it turned out, they were already tied as tight as I could get them, to the point of the shorts actually scrunching up on the waste lace. When they were untied, I was pretty baffled by just how big they are to me now. It was like a before and after picture where the person is wearing an old pair of giant pants. So that made me pretty happy.

     I also talked to a bunch of my twitter friends throughout the day as well. I asked about an upcoming Grifgoose tournament on Halo Reach that is coming up and now I am in a team with IGLGrifball and PMS_NightOwl. I think we still need a fourth, but I do not really know right now. I also did my first Follow Friday thing on Twitter. I put up those that I talk to most often and those that I had talked to recently. I would've put up way more than I had, but then I thought I might be clogging people's twitter feeds, so next week, I'll be doing it again. In either case, I was feeling the love from a bunch of people who were feeling it from me. A couple people even decided to do a #FF of their own, both including me on the list. It's a small gesture, but I was feeling pretty awesome after that. And so unlike Thursday morning, things were now only getting better, because Dan was on his way down to visit me for the weekend.

     Dan came in Friday evening. We spent the next couple of hours catching up on things (mostly a more-detailed version what I just explained above.). We came downstairs and started hanging out with everyone else, who had begun drinking. Later on, I was convinced to actually go back to the bar, which doesn't sound like much, but on multiple occasions, when people heard that I was going to bar, they got really excited. Even afterwards, our neighbors heard I went to the bar and they freaked out, saying that they couldn't believe they missed it. I didn't know I held such influence. The bar we went to is called Copper Dragon, and as you may imagine, there is a big dragon, made of copper, that is hanging up over the dance area in front of the stage where a band called 'Mike and Jim' played a bunch of popular songs that I could only get mildly interested in; stuff that is difficult to dance to. Tom was already very drunk by the time we got to the bar, so I ended up drinking half of his Blue Dragon, which is like a Long Island Iced Tea, except that it's blue and sweet, that Zach bought him.

     I'd like to take this time and really congratulate Tom Nitti for not only getting his first mention in my blog (which he has been yearning for ever since I began my blog), but this is now the third time he's been mentioned. So congrats, Tom. Twice in one week, I have drank, which I don't do, all thanks to you.

     So anyway, the rest of the weekend was absolutely splendid. We bought the Monopoly: Electronic Banking, which uses credit cards and a card reader instead of actual bills, and it was awesome and super fun. I can't wait to do a game night again. Dan ended up winning, because for some reason, he has some natural ability to win at board games... Dan was also able to get my Windows 7 running on bootcamp. It was ultimately to get Star Wars: The Old Republic working, but there was one problem after another with it. We did put Steam on it though, and now I have Skyrim on there. I'm going to be switching over to playing it on PC because of the modding aspect of it. So far I'm still trying to figure out if they're working or not, since I haven't gotten to actually play yet... In any event, the weekend is sadly over, but it was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. Dan, we need to figure out when to do this again.

     Well, that's all folks! Cherish your friends and they'll reciprocate. I leave you with "With you, Friends (Long Drive)," by Skrillex. It's not so much dubstep as his other stuff, but it's still one of my favorite Skrillex songs. Enjoy!

Until next time...

Up & Down I Go

     Hey all! It sure has been a while since I wrote last. But it's been the holiday season and I needed to build up some material. I hung out with Mike and Matt a couple times and we were talking about the blog and I ended up deciding that perhaps doing a blog every single day isn't so necessary. At that rate I am pretty much just talking to talk. So I am going to be spacing these out to at most a weekly basis. I'll talk when I feel the need to talk. Plus it's good for those days where I do absolutely nothing and I end up writing a small handful of dinky paragraphs about nothing, which can be quite dull. Perhaps, if I do end up writing posts like those, I'll just keep them as drafts and only publish the good ones. I'll let it happen as it will.

     So let's catch up a wee bit, shall we? I figure we should start with Christmas. Well, on the 23rd, my dad and I dressed up as Santa and his elf, respectively, and delivered a bunch of presents to a family who is currently going through some very hard times, and with two little kids having to endure it all, it felt good to do it. The next day, some relatives came over, as we normally do on Xmas Eve. Everything went well, and the Nerf war we had went spectacularly. There were Nerf darts everywhere around our house... Christmas day went well too, no issues to really speak of, though I did make a mental note that this year, there was slightly more bickering amongst us, to which I say, "Oh well."

     In terms of gifts? I got a bunch of new clothing, which fits me relatively better than what I've been wearing as I lose weight. In particular, I got this nice black zip-up hoodie from GAP, which if you've ever seen me in the confines of my home, you'll know that I am almost always wearing one of these, generally sans shirt (That's right, ladies). I got a bunch of Halo-stuff, including: a bunch of megabloks sets, calendar, MC Play Arts figure, Lmt Ed. version of 'Halo: The Art of Building Worlds,' as well as the Child's Play Auction items: Halo 4 concept art (which I've mentioned in the past), the Dr. Halsey Journal from Halo Reach signed by Eric Nylund, A signed copy of Halo: Evolutions Vol. I, and finally the one and only physical copy (that I know of) of Levi Hoffmeier's, "Halo: A Fistful of Arrows." This last book was a big thing for me because I REALLY loved the story, not to mention the incredible art that he does. Levi also did a personalized sketch in the front cover, which is fucking amazing. Nicely done, sir. The sketch can be seen below. The FoA book also came with a Mr. Chief sketch, done by Frank O'Connor from 343 Industries and some prints from FoA (Levi, if you're reading this, it's like you knew that the Jun-using-Armor-Lock picture was one of my favorites. So cool.).

     I also got tickets to go see Andrew Bird witha friend on March 22nd. Mike and Matt, this concert is in St. Louis, which means you both are coming with me. I only have two tickets though, so one of you will have to buy one. This is for you to decide. ...That is of course, assuming that the seats aren't assigned. I'll have to go and look to make sure >_>. Anyway, Mario Kart 7 has been keeping me busy, I have a new brown leather messenger bag, which I've been using at any opportunity. And I finally got something I've been wanting for a long time, but never really remembered to ask until this year- a golden pocket watch. I've always liked the idea of a pocket watch and I haven't had one since my old Full-Metal Alchemist one broke back in the beginning of High School. What makes it even better is that there is a '117' engraved on the inside cover, which is very awesome to me. And finally, after telling my mom that her old, and quite shitty, computer was finally being replaced by my iMac, I was surprised with a entirely NEW iMac. The plan was that mine would go to my mom and I would get my dad's, which he doesn't use very much at the office and is a couple years newer. Evidently something happened that would've made it more expensive to move his from the office and he decided to just get me a new one. Past the unique Halo stuff and the watch, this was the highlight gift of 2011. Overall, a VERY good year, both in Xmas, and just overall.

     Now, on to more current affairs. Since Xmas has passed, things have been... slow, to say the least. All week long I have literally been doing next to nothing. I built all of the Halo Megabloks sets, watched the Blu Ray Lord of the Rings Extended versions, listened to a dramatized version of The Hobbit, played a bit of Skyrim on my mage, and spent more than a fair amount of time in my hot tub. This week has been a lazy bum's paradise. Only today did I finally get my mom's new computer into the Apple store for a data transfer. And tonight my family and I went to the Chicago Blackhawks game against the Detroit Redwings. We won. Huzzahs were had by many. But this week I've been really noticing a subtle change in my behavior...

     I feel lost right now. Throughout the week, I've been progressively getting more easily agitated by my family, and I guess just by everything. My intolerance for illogical actions has been at a recent high, which has been working against my current meditations to let things go and allow things to work as they will. The constant cheerfulness that I've been having for the past 2-3 months has been diluted... I think some of it has to do with how, since I've been home, I've been regaining some weight- not much, mind you, but some poundage to be sure. There's just been so much bread around. I think I need to re-cut it out of my diet. Perhaps I just need to get out and do something. I could've written this at literally any point this week, and yet I didn't feel like it. I even tried to organize my Halo stuff finally and quit after like half an hour. I don't know... I have become a mope that just meanders about my house, not doing anything; waiting for death to overtake me. That's an exaggeration, of course, but if I let things continue as they are, I fear a looming depression. But the timing of things this weekend doesn't help all that much, seeing as it's New Years.

     I'm not a big fan of New Years. For me, it's just when people go out and drink obscene amounts of alcohol and then conceive the unfortunate offspring that will be born in August and September. The kids part is just a side note that I felt like pointing out, but it's really the drinking aspect that makes me not like this holiday. I don't drink at all, especially after the surgery last June. I will say though, I did take two shots last month of SoCo and lime juice, and those weren't bad, but it's nothing that's changing my mind of the matter. And since I would roughly be the only sober adult at such a party/gathering, I would feel the need to take care of drunk people and keep things in order. And even past all that, I don't really care that it's the new year. Ultimately, it's just another day, but even still, this year has been the best in recent memory by a long shot, and I don't really care to see it go. But like I said, it's just another day and that's how I should think of it. I've been invited to three separate occasions for New Years, all of which I have said 'no' to. Colin, Kozi, and a bunch of others are heading down to Chicago to go drink. This was pretty much an instant no for me. Dan and Rojek are heading out to Indiana University to stay and Rojek's house and party there. Again, I said no. Mike and Matt are both in New York, albeit separated from each other. Finally, my cousin's girlfriend, Jill, is having a shin-dig (who uses shin-dig anymore, especially in writing? haha) which is where my brother and sister and a bunch of my cousins are going to. It's the same situation, although I may actually go to that one for a wee bit. So, my plans for New Years? I'm going to see MI:4 with my dad, and I presume my mom also and then I'm coming home and doing nothing, except hang out in the hot tub and enjoy that.

     I never understood the whole Resolution thing with New Years either. All it is, is a false promise that you make to yourself, seemingly in hopes that it'll just sort of bring itself about. I imagine that it's rather rare for someone to actually follow through with it, unless the person is very take-charge. I was asked what mine was tonight at dinner. I replied with, "I don't do resolutions," and that was the end of that. I guess if I was forced to make one? Hmm.... Lose weight? I'm already doing that. Perhaps get down to a target weight by a certain time. Eh, but that seems so generic and typical, especially in the United States. Something with Halo? I have already gained the title which I have craved so. Perhaps giving back to the Halo community in some way. Some ideas come to mind, but I'll need time and people to help with that... I guess on a solely personal level, I would have to say start reading certain Philosophy books that have been recommended to me, and to continue practice my dancing. Oh! That reminds me!!

     On three separate occasions since I've come home, I have been hugely complemented on my dancing skills. So much so even, that on ALL THREE times, the people watching me dance said that it should be recorded and put on the internet for all to see and to become an internet star. The idea seems quite enticing to me to say the least, so that may pop up somewhere in the future hahaha. Either way, when I am at school, my dancing is usually made fun of, so to get compliments so many times after coming home means a fucking lot to me. Thanks all.

     So, I leave you with, "Up & Down I Go," by Pretty Lights, who has been just recently put on my radar by multiple people. Twice this song has come up in shuffle and both times I have tried to put it into my 'Current' playlist. That must mean I like it. I'm going to dance the fuck out of this song tonight.

     Despite not liking New Years myself, I still wish everyone else's to be joyous. Just don't be surprised when you find you're/she is pregnant. hahaha

Until next time...

Tomorrowland

     Hey all, switching back to the normal format for a couple days. As I was writing yesterday's blog which was a Halo one, I began to want to talk about just what was going on. Thankfully I held off and I have a longer blog today because of it. So here we are

     The Hobbit trailer came out yesterday and I am pretty fucking excited for it. I love Lord of the Rings. I did the extended LotR marathon 4 separate times this past semester. I need some new fantasy-genre movies that don't suck. That coupled with the Dark Knight Rises trailer? Whoo, am I excited for these movies. Although something with The Dark Knight Rises seems off to me.

     Now, this is going to get some negative feedback, but hear me out. I could see, despite how good the trailer looked, that the new batman movie could, and possibly will suck terribly. Nolan doesn't seem to care what gets leaked, as we've seen so many things from camera phones. Haven't heard of security, Nolan? No one can understand what Bane is saying and evidently, Anne Hathaway has been getting some criticism because of how her voice sounds. Nolan has stated that he isn't changing either problem. Plus, if it sucks, it will leave us wanting another batman movie to make up for it. How many batman movies have there been now? Having this one suck will allow the studios to reboot the series in a few years. You see it happening even now with Spider-Man. You just wait. I hope I'm wrong, but I can't rule out the possibility that TDKR is going to be bad.

     I got back into contact with Volgi today, thanks to Rojek. So there are currently plans in the works for us tonight. Dan will hopefully join us as well. I also talked with Mike today and according to him, he, Matt, and myself are hanging out on Friday, when Matt gets back from Madison.

     I was out in the hot tub yesterday afternoon and it finally began to snow. It was so pleasant to be in the hot water, while still getting snowed on. But an odd thing occurred once the snow began to fall. Across my deck is a tall tree and near the top was a squirrel yelling. And I mean like actually yelling. It made some pattern of noises and then shrieked twice, and would repeat that for the next like... ten minutes or so. I couldn't help but imagine that it was calling out the snow to his fellow squirrel friends, possibly a scout team for a larger squirrel city or civilization. This squirrel's job would be to warn his fellow squirrel brethren that was  

     My fantasy football league is coming to a close and I finally lost last week, so this coming week, I'll be playing for 3rd place. Hopefully I'll win so that I can have it twice in a row, plus I'll get paid if I win this match, albeit only my money back.

     I played a game of Heroica, which is one of those Lego board games. It's like a demi version of Dungeons and Dragons. What's cool though is that you can connect all 4 sets and have them be one big game board. Plus it doesn't cost nearly as much as D&D does. And if you alter the rules, it makes the game much more fun to play and doesn't even guarantee that there will be a winner at the end of it. If you die in the game, that's that. You're dead and unless you have the right combination of items, you aren't coming back to see the end. It's good for what I want, something a bit faster and I can do on my own time or with a few other people. If you like LEGO and are like me with D&D and don't want to spend too much, check out Heroica.

     I'm also now watching Limitless with Rojek right now. For those that haven't seen it, it's a very underrated movie and you should see it. It's on Netflix streaming or on itunes to rent or buy. It's with Bradley Cooper if you really have no clue what I'm talking about.

     I know this blog ended up being rather short, but oh well. Rojek just showed me this video of a music festival called Tomorrowland. I know the title has nothing to do with the various subject matters of this blog, but I thought it'd be cool to show. I'm not one for crowded music festivals or anything like that, but this place looks like it'd be a blast to go to, albeit when it's not crowded and full of sweaty people. Enjoy!

Until next time...

Halo: Part 2: Unyielding

----------Halo----------

-----Part 2: Roll Call-----

-Released (Halo 3 OST):

     Halo 2 was finally upon me and I couldn't put it down. That was at least, until the flood was also upon me. I liked playing as the Arbiter, I thought it was a good way to show other perspectives, but god damnit, the Flood was on my doorstep just a bit too early... Again, I found them so damn frightening. So much so as not to play again for like a month or so. But I was back soon enough and I finally beat the campaign. I loved the ending too. Everyone bitched and moaned about how the ending was bullshit, and I know that the third act was cut out, but that's what a cliffhanger is supposed to do. Especially since now that Halo 3 is out, no should even begin to open their mouths on the subject.

     Anyway, it was after beating Halo 2 that I found myself being much more invested in the story than what Halo CE did. Seeing both sides of the war really opened up the universe for me. I once told Colin on the subject, Halo CE was like the prologue for the other games, not just because it was first in the series, but because we hardly learned anything from it compared to what we would learn later on. It was just to get us salivating for Halo 2 and 3 and so on. Halo 2 is where the story REALLY begins, at least for me. It's a constant debate subject in the community, but, and this may be just because Halo 2 is what I played most, first, but, I feel still that Halo 2 had the best campaign in terms of just storyline, followed by ODST, H3, Reach, Wars, and finally CE.

-Bravery, Brotherhood (Halo CE:A OST):

     I had been invited on a couple different occasions to attend a LAN party by my friend, Zach, who hung out with Mike, Matt, and myself as well as another group who was made up of gamers. I initially told him no, but eventually I felt like I wanted a change...

     I eventually asked Zach if I could come to one of these weekly parties that they all had where they just played Halo the entire time. How weird was that?? But I wanted to see it for myself. I wanted to try. At the time, I didn't know that this would increase my interest in Halo almost exponentially. It was at this time that I really began developing new friendships. It was where I began investing time with people like Zach, Colin, Kozi, Dan, Chris, Eric Siegel, Mike (better known as T-Nags, as his last time is Tinaglia), Erich Rojek, Anthony Volgi, Nick Briesmeister (or just, 'Breeze'), and some others who were not as regular. Joining the 'gamers' as they could be grouped as, was a big transition for me, as I stopped spending as much time with Mike, Matt, Pat, and the rest of those whom were considered part of the 'popular' groupings.

     For the next two years, these became my new best friends and we spent our weekends over at Siegel's house where we would play Xbox for hours and hours on end. It was great. It was them that got me onto Xbox Live, and it's also how I started reading the Halo novels.

-Data Hive (Halo 3: ODST OST):

     I searched through the 'Sci-Fi/Fantasy' section in Barnes and Noble until I found it- the original Halo novel trilogy. Now, mind you, this was still early after Halo 2's release, also not long after I began attending the weekly LANs. Anyway, I read them all, albeit very VERY slowly (as I read at the pace at which I talk). Reading the books though is what really put me over the edge as being a big fan of Halo. I started doing research here and there and joined Halo3forum so as to invest myself more into Halo.

     As new information came out through those couple years about Halo 3, I had become known more and more in my school as a huge Halo fan. Even the staff knew about it. All my teachers knew that I wouldn't be in school the day Halo 3 came out, even the soccer coach, who I was managing for throughout high school. It was nice to be known as something to other people. The next day I couldn't even count all the people that asked me how Halo 3 was. After a while I almost got sick of it.

-The Last Spartan (Halo 2 OST):

     Prior to Halo 3's release, my dad and I had the idea to take our LAN parties to the next level. Instead of bringing the TVs and the games to the people, why not just bring the people to the TVs and the party? So that's what we did. We got eight 32" flat screen TVs, and wall-mounted four on opposite sides of the basement. And all had ethernet cords going through walls to connect all of our Xboxes to the internet. It was great! Everyone would come to me now (Perhaps I built it out of sheer laziness *shrug*). But things didn't quite pan out as I had hoped.

     There was drama occurring within the group and it was slowly but surely tearing us apart. Zach and I ended up splitting off the group swearing off certain people, while others were just kind of left in limbo, not choosing a side. It was fairly chaotic and, in hindsight, very emotional and testosterone-filled. But with the group splitting apart and Zach switching over to Call of Duty 4, which had just come out as well. Zach and I would later join those whom I consider to be my 'everyday friends,' as they are the people I live with and have been friends with since the end of high school. If you've been reading past blogs, you'll notice that this is changing, as I have gotten back into contact with Mike, Matt, and all my old Halo friends.

     Anyway, what ended up happening was that my basement LAN system never got to see the constant Halo LANs that I had envisioned for it. Instead, it became the hub for my 'everyday friends' and I while we played Call of Duty and they played every new sports game that has come out in the past 5 years. Despite being used constantly, I always felt like we waisted it...

     And none of my 'everyday friends' even like Halo. So I was alone... But, with time, comes movement and change.

----------End of Part Two----------

     "Unyielding," by Marty O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori isn't one of my favorites, but the overall tone was odd to name, so I picked based on my growing investment in Halo. Plus it's fun to drive to and it makes things more intense. Enjoy!

Until next time...

That Fresh Feeling

Well, I was woken up suddenly this morning when Toby, my sister's dog, decided to jump up on my bed and wake me up. I was in the middle of a dream, which I predicted would happen. I don't remember much of any of it though, due to being awoken so suddenly... I DO, however, remember that it wasn't really anything special, so it's not that big of a deal.

Today is actually taking an odd course of events that I wasn't planning on. My dad wants me to go to the office at some point this week, and he wanted to today, but I can't. Last night, my friend, Colin, texted me asking if I was in 'Zurichland' (We live is Lake Zurich, or at least he does, I'm in a neighborhood just outside of it). Anyway, he has a small swamp just out back of his house and he asked if I would help get rid of all the weeds and tall grasses back there as to help transform the area into a small ice rink. I said, "Sure," as it would be a good opportunity to catch up and hang out and talk about secret projects we have going on this winter break- Secret Halo projects. ;). Anyhoozle, I generally live a relatively sedentary lifestyle, so I thought this would also be a good chance to get outside and do something, maybe even break a sweat (That's right ladies).

The only problem now, is the weather. It's pretty shitty outside due to the cold rain that won't turn into awesome snow. Colin just texted me saying pretty much the same thing. He was under the impression that it would be nice outside today. Oh well, assuming this still happens, I'll just have to dress in layers. Oh fuck, I need boots too. I'm not sure if I have any... So I suppose I'll have to go to Dick's or something and buy a cheap-o pair. But in order to do all of this, I'll need to get out of bed first... Derp.

I'll be continuing this blog post later tonight after all is said and done. So I'll be re-sharing it on twitter and facebook. I'll also put in the song then as well, since I am on my phone right now and I don't believe it has that capability. So check back later.

Until later tonight...

     Part Deux:


      *Sigh...* My legs are fucking tired. But today was good. I bought new boots and gloves for today's venture and it's a damn good thing I did too. We are above our knees in freezing water. Once I got in though and it proceeded to fill my boots and both pairs of pants (that sounds vaguely dirty...), it wasn't that bad. I just had to keep moving so as not to get stuck in the mud, which was like quick sand.


     Colin also let me equip a sweet machete was fucking awesome to use on the tall grass. I felt as though I was a lone warrior slicing through countless enemies that cut down like butter. And past that wee bit of personal awesomeness, Colin and I also talked extensively on the timeline of Halo and how certain things occurred and what followed. I was, of course, happy to oblige to explaining it all. Towards the end, we talked about my blog and its purpose. He told me that he doesn't want to read it because he would rather just talk about it. Not about the blog, but the subjects in which I talk about. We discussed certain philosophical viewpoints that each of us shared and thought about.

     In short, today was really nice. I don't get out and do actual manual labor, but I didn't mind it too much. Take it for what you will because that's been my entire day.



     Now Andrew Koziara, better known as Kozi, is here and we are catching up on everything, as we haven't really seen each other since the tail end of this past summer. Writing this is continue to prove more difficult as we are also discussing Halo and gaming aesthetics. Now Colin is doing a schtick on why Pablo Picasso is a terrible artist compared to other artists that make their work more realistic. The more he continues, the more I lose the point of it. Oh well. We're all entitled to our opinions I suppose.



      So this is where I'll end it. I leave you with "That Fresh Feeling," by The Eels. Enjoy.

Until next time...

Lights and Music

     Now, we know how to name, and we know what drives how we choose. So what do I choose? Well, the most prevalent things in my life are school, Halo, and dancing. Let's get the small stuff out of the way first, as they won't be my focus today.

     The fall semester here at SIU is just about over, with finals now on top of the student body. And if you imagined finals as being a person, literally on top of another person (who is the aforementioned student body), then good. That's what I was hoping you'd picture because that's pretty much how it went for me today with my first final. It was an absolute fucking disaster. Where the other 3 tests were at about a 6/10 in difficulty, the final, which was only half cumulative bumped the difficulty way the fuck up to about a 20/10... The proverbial A-Bomb dropped directly on my head... We'll see how my grade ends up soon hopefully. And hopefully the other finals won't be so god damn meticulous. But I digress.

     The Halo subject, however? Well, I got some great news, which has the potential to end even greater, but I won't know that for a couple more hours. I can't say much else at this point however. All I know is that I forever love 343i and the people working there; one in particular, without whom none of my Halo-rific feats would not have been achievable. If they happen to be reading this, I still can't thank you enough for the opportunities you've granted me, and I owe you so much more than you think. <343

     Now, as I feel that the overall subject of Halo would probably end up making a given blog about twice as long as my previous ones, I will leave that for another day, perhaps very soon, perhaps tomorrow? So do not fret, random Halo fan that is reading this in hopes of me telling my stories, including the whole 117 debacle. All your (possibly) burning questions will be answered soon. And I know there's at least a couple of you out there who have requested that I write about it. I will Never Forget. (hah, see what I did there?)

     The primary subject of today's blog is about dancing. Now, before I get into my story, I've always like the movement of dance, especially dances that weren't so structured and choreographed. The free movement of it inspired me. A good example would be pop-n-lock. It just seemed like such free movement that didn't initially seem possible. I would dance in my own time here and there, but it was never something I did actively, and never in front of other people. But that would eventually change.

     Throughout last year (in school year terms), I began gradually changing my taste in music. I would mostly listen to stuff like Dave Matthews Band, who, for a long time, was my favorite music artist. But in general, I would listen to much more contemporary and conventional music. But during that year, I got back into contact with my oldest, and one of my dearest friends, Mike Jehl. At the time, I believe he had been working for my dad's company. Over winter break, Mike and I, and another one of our mutual best friends, Matt Steffen, went out for the first time since the last world cup, when we drove down to St. Louis to visit Mike and enjoy the games. Matt opened my eyes to new musical possibilites. The two most prevalent of which would be Passion Pit and Crystal Castles. Most people know Passion Pit by now, but Crystal Castles remains relatively unknown. They are far on one side of the musical spectrum. Electronic, but much more so than others that we here every now and then. Both artists were I spent most of my time listening to. When we hung out over winter break, it was great. We danced like fools and it was great. They talked about other stuff that they had heard, one in particular: Skrillex. That night, I looked him up and boy, that was awesome. I've since found that I am generally not that into Dubstep, but I can really get into Skrillex.

     That next semester, we kept in contact more than we had in since high school. Towards the end of the school year, Matt put me onto another band: Cut Copy. It was love at first listen. "Feel the Love," was such a new sound to me. Anytime it came on, I had to dance to it. I found out Mike was also going through the same thing, and with the same song. It was such a great summer, listening to such interesting music and dancing with two of my oldest friends. I was moving away from the doing the same thing all the time, which generally entailed my "Every Day" friends coming over, just sitting there watching either Jersey Shore, or god forbid sports, and the occasional bonfire, which after a while, also lost it's luster. It was time for change, and this new music would be the instrument that would lead me there.

     I generally subscribed to Mike and Matt's recommendations, but Cut Copy always remained as the top contender, and still does to this day. I've all but stopped listening to Dave Matthews, and anything else? I can hardly remember what it was that I listened to in the first place. Mike introduced me to the French pop artist, Yelle, whom I adore. Other major artists include Cults, Neon Indian, TV on the Radio, some Deadmau5, Justice, M83, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaur, and most recently, The Ashton Shuffle (which actually was suggested by one of my twitter friends, @42Meaningoflife).

     The more I listen, the more I dance, and the more I dance, I better I get. I am slowly becoming faster and more fluent in my movements. You'll eventually notice, if you haven't already that I really try to stay in the mind set that there really is no correct way to do something or think something. Dancing is a perfect example of this, it's sort of an implied mantra of mine that it doesn't necessarily matter what you do while you dance, just that you dance and love it. Feel the beat and the rhythm and you'll know what to do. Don't place so much into it. I did however, mention above that I am slowly getting better at dancing. Butto say that I am getting "better" would imply an intended goal. And what is that goal? To be able to dance like this:

     That song is by Yelle by the way. The way that these guy's move so quickly and fluid-like absolutely astounds me and it's this type of dancing that I love and aspire to be 'better' in.

     This is the point where I'll cut myself off. I leave you to listen to Cut Copy's awesome and danceable song, "Lights and Music." If you feel the need to dance, don't question it. Just do it and go with what feels best. There's no correct way to dance, as long as you feel the awesome emanating from the movement.

     Oh! and that embarrassment I would feel when dancing when I was younger? That's been gone for a long time now. I dance where ever, when ever, and I couldn't be happier.


Until Next time...