Midterms, Poker, and Colt 45s

This past week was the week that I had my oh so lovely midterms. I kinda of lucked out with my school though, during midterms here there aren't any classes. Of course that also causes people to say "hey that's so easy on you guys, we have to go to class during midterms and ours are spread out more". Yes fine part of this is true, not that it's easy, but that others are spread out. Some people I know have midterms spread out over a month during which they need to write them. But think of it this way, all that stress and studying that is involved with midterms that you have to deal with for a month is still equal but crammed into 5 days (actually 4 days for me). So after writing my 5th midterm in 4 days my brain was completely fried, not tired, but so amazingly scattered and fuddled up that I was finding myself randomly blurting out jargon at the oddest of times. So in celebration of our completion of midterms we decided to go out drinking. The plan was to meet up at the Billiard club with a bunch of people from our class but beforehand a few of us were going to go play poker at our friend's apartment. Ah yes but when one goes on the bus one can't take open alcohol. Of course there was a run to a local liquor store involved here with myself and other-matt (together we form the Mattastics). Neither of us knew what to buy until we came upon the Colt .45s, ok...I came upon the colt .45 and just started laughing. They didn't have what I came looking for so I figured why not buy it just for a laugh (I really wanted to drink it out of a bag, hobo style). Being a beer snob of sorts it was quite disgusting, actually I think everyone was grossed out by it, but mostly me. Let me tell you though, drinking a 40 of that stuff relatively quickly because it was gross does wonders for your inebriation. Meanwhile, while this consumption was going on we were also playing poker, and I have quite the reputation for poker let me tell you. A reputation for being really bad at it that is, but this time for whatever reason I was cleaning the table and really really wish that we had been playing for money. urg I could have made so much...Yes, right now I realize that this is going nowhere quite quickly thus I will end it abruptly.

-Matt

I did it before it was "cool"

I'd like to comment right now that a very large amount of people have blogs/journals/myspaces now, and I started doing it and continued doing it before it was cool and mainstream. Guess what that means, I'm the original cool you jerks! It kinda just came to me right now that I've been doing this for over 3 years now...And yes I know some people have been doing it longer than even me but I've been consistently blogging longer then almost everyone I know. Hell even those who laughed at me a couple years ago when they found out I had one blog now. I don't know, that had no real point other than stating that...

-Matt

Capital gain = Gravy

that's what's going through my head right now. What does it mean? Nothing really other than capital gain meaning nothing without taking other costs other than monatary ones into account. Yes...studying micronomics sucks, it's so redundant it makes me want to scream. What's worse is people that don't grasp it. Actually what pisses me off is the people that bitch and complain that they don't understand what's going on are the ones that never show up. So what? they expect ME to help them, to teach them what they would've learned if they showed up. Fine i accept that some people don't understand it right away but if you're too stupid and lazy to show up to the class don't expect me to waste my time teaching you everything you missed. Man, seriously i don't understand how people can throw away money like that, you paid to be here the least you can do is put some sort of effort in. And if mommy and daddy paid for it you should freaking be working harder to succeed, it's not your money you're wasting. I worked damned hard to get where i am, i live on my own (mostly) and i paid for all my schooling without debt. I pay all my expenses and i'm completely self reliant. When i see someone that just abuses what's given to them it sickens me. To most of them what's given has no value, actually in most cases something given has no value. only when one works for it do they appreciate what it is they have. Over one year ago i had the opportunity to go to school, of course i didn't have enough money for it, but still i could've went. My parents made the offer to pay for it, or atleast to help extensively with my schooling. As most of you should know, i refused. It's not that i didn't want to go to school, because i did. It's not because I wanted to put it off for an indefinate amount of time, because i didn't. I wanted to do it on my own, pay for it myself, decide my own fate if you will. Urg...people piss me off sometimes.

-Matt

Testing...1...2

This is just a test to see how this blogger for word thing works. It has no real pupose other than me finding out how to use this here thingummer.

-Matt

Computer mayhem

Ah yes, the computer commons...Located in the basement of my building at school. Every day without fail it fills up beyond capacity and every day people crowd at the entrance to pounce upon any computer that frees up. It's really kind of funny to watch, the second someone at a computer makes a motion that they may be getting off of the computer 3 or 4 people will inch towards that part of the room ready to swarm, each trying to get an edge on the person beside them. Little do any of them realize that if they walked to the library that there would be a on of free computers there. I'm only here because I got here early and the place was pretty much empty. Actually as I'm typing this there's a computer right beside me that the person went away for a few minutes and a bunch of people already walked up to it and sat down before they realized that the computer was being used.

And now comes along my pet peeve, every time I'm in here I'll see the same lady come in who will go to every computer to see if it's free. I mean that in itself is annoying but to top it off she has a rolling bag. You see these things are the bane of my existence, I still think a week hasn't gone by that I haven't tripped over one. I don't understand why people have these, if you can't carry it on your back you shouldn't have it. Everyone is assigned a locker, so put your books in there don't use those bags that everyone is tripping over or having their feet be run over by them. But even from there it gets even more ridiculous, I've seen a person with a full blown suitcase bigger then the one I took with me on a 2 week vacation. Bloody hell people this isn't a freaking airport it's a school. And when you take an elevator for one floor your just being lazy, if you can walk, use the stairs and leave the elevator for those who can't.

-Matt

Singled out

Ever be with a group of people and still feel completely alone? I do. Oddly I live off attention, I do so so many things just to get it. I make friends easily, and generally I'm easy to get along with, I know many people and talk to them as well. But yet I'm still alone. I get that empty feeling inside even when everyone is paying attention to me. I don't understand why I'm like this, I love attention but I hate it. A year ago I was happy, I was always around the same small group of people, but it seems that the more attention I get from a larger group of people the less happy I am. But I'm drawn to large groups...It seems like a horrible cycle to me. I don't know where I'm going with this, I don't know how to solve it. I want to be left alone but still get attention...Complicated? Yes.

-Matt

Zombocom!

alright, so all of you need to go Here. Just let it play in the background for a while. it's everything, it's all possible.

-Matt

(sub)Culture shock

No two cultures are the same right? Correct, no matter how similar they may be they ALWAYS have some differences. Take for example north Americans, a standard greeting among us is an open extended hand that is to be grasped by the one being greeted (aka. A Handshake). Now this same greeting, an open hand, shown to someone of a different culture can mean something completely different. Take for example people of the orthodoxy, this open hand would be to them the probable equivalent to being flipped the "bird". Harmless to us, offensive to them.

Every group of people is it's own subculture, every single person in the world belongs to their very own unique series of subcultures that no other person can completely belong to. No two people were brought up the exact smae way, no two have had all the same life experinces, and no two have the exact same values. What's this mean? Misinterpretations, misrepresentation of thoughts, and well...people just plain don't understand everything someone else has to say.

Lets say someone said something they viewed as a harmless comment. To them, they've done nothing they can percieve as wrong. Now the person that this comment is directed to, has a different background, they interpret this comment in a slightly different manner. This slight misinterpretation can cause the other to not understand (as with "inside jokes), or being VERY offended (the greek othodox priest that began yelling at us).

This is why i question when i don't understand. Because no matter what, no one can perfectly understand the way another thinks. Understanding is the first step to empathy, and empathy leads to less conflict. So next time you're offended by something said to you or even if you think the way someone thinks is stupid, take a step back and try to look at it from another angle. Ask the person to explain so as to better understand. And if someone questions you, don't be quick to anger or judgement, perhaps they're just trying to understand you and not just question you out of spite. If people were more understanding and patient...well, we'd just be better off.

-Matt

College VS. University

I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to snap and most likely kill the next university student that starts insulting colleges (actually I probably won't kill them, but I will spaz out). It's the stuck up mentality that some of them develop that has really pissed me off (please note the SOME of them, not all). Seriously people just shut the hell up and stop looking at the price of the education as the judge of the quality of the program and start looking at the content of that program. Lets go through this step by step here and allow me to point out some things that people seem to forget when they trash colleges.

1. Class size
- on average, college class sizes are much smaller than those at universities. What does that mean? More one on one time with an instructor that actually knows who you are.

2. Hands on learning
- less theory, more doing. College student generally gain more practical knowledge before entering the workforce than their university counterparts.

3. Grading
- Colleges (at least most of them) don't mark on the bell curve and don't have a quota of students to fail. This means that the mark you get is the mark you earn, not some artificially inflated one or a fail because you didn't beat everyone else.

Those are really just a few of the long list of the advantages. Don't take this as me saying that college is better, it's basically just me saying shut up to all the pompous self-absorbed university pricks out there that are so full of themselves that they couldn't pull their head out of their ass even if they tried.

-Matt

I was just thinking...

I was just thinking...

kinda just screwing around with this, this is landon's blog. i think i'll use this more in the future

Vitamin C (a.k.a. caffeine)

In my ongoing quest to find something to keep me awake during my increasingly long days of repetitive tasks from both school and work I've rediscovered a love for caffeine. And now, as opposed to the days of yesteryear, there are so many more options available to the average caffeine junkie. Companies has asked themselves "what can we do to improve sales?". Their answer? Put caffeine in it and call it an energy enhancer. The most popular among these being the supposed "natural health drinks" such as red bull, red rain, sobe A-rush, Monster, etc... Most of these have a tiny, convenient 250ml can that delivers 60-80mg of caffeine pretty much right into your system where they "temporarily restore physical and mental alertness". What does this mean? It gets you wired long enough to finish the job before you come crashing down.

Another alternative for the compulsive chewer out there is caffeinated gum. Oh yes, it exists. This gives you a relatively slow release of caffeine and minty fresh breath. Well...For the first 15 minutes at least. After that it quickly loses ALL flavor and starts to transform into a gooey green paste that sticks everywhere inside your mouth. I was chewing this stuff during a quiz and by the end of it there was green paste in my mouth that made me feel like I'd just licked the bottom of a pig farmers shoe.

Of course there's always pills as well but personally I'll avoid these like the plague simply out of principle.

And then there's always the classic pop and coffee, clearly two staple parts of my diet due to the ease of acquisition, and the cheapness of the product.

-Matt (back to junky basics)