Moved, Tired

I've moved to a new place in Arlington. It's all right. I can compost to my heart's content, but sometimes I wonder if I wouldn't be better off in an apartment. $100 more per month and I could be there. It wouldn't be so bad. At least I don't think it would be.

I still need a desk and a bookshelf. That would be nice to have. And ear plugs. Yeah, because sound carries here and my roommate "needs" to listen to the TV at a large volume. And yeah, a recycling bin "looks tacky" in the kitchen. But somehow a trash can doesn't. Goodness.

The horror. The horror.

a writer writes

Well, what I said about being on schedule with my paper is no longer accurate. I've fallen behind. I think it's stage fright, a fear of failure that grips me. I've got the outline staring at me. All that needs to be done is fleshing things out a bit. Gotta just write. Just gotta do that.

And stop wishing it was already Thursday.
Wishing I was in a better position.
That I was done with it already.

Dang it.
I hate it so.

Writing, writing, writing

It's Saturday and I feel like I'm a bit pinched for time to finish this paper. Not really... It's a weird feeling to be ahead of schedule. A bit unsettling actually. I know that in a week I'll be done with this semester and have gobs of time on my hands. But I'm sure that I'll get stuck in some project, that will keep me occupied through the month long break and into the next semester. But I'm hopeful I can get through this paper and move onto the next "big deal" without too much drama.

Cheap Gas, Short Memories

I filled up my gas tank tonight. Only $22 for 13 gallons of regular gas. A couple of months ago it was $22 for half a tank. I plan to keep the mileage on my car low despite falling gas prices. I wonder if other Americans will do the same? Hopefully people will continue to save their trips and reduce their gas consumption. A part of me knows that people will start driving more again and the next fuel shock will have them saying, "What the hell is this? Why is gas so expensive, we should invest in higher mileage vehicles." It's all so stupid.

Sunday Morning Blues

I went for a jog this morning to get any soreness out from yesterday's race. I've had breakfast. Now it's time to start working on my research paper. The mega paper that's due in a little over two weeks. It would be nice if I was further along. That would make my life a lot easier. Procrastination is a bitch though. And so is working full-time. Balancing work and school is tough especially when everyone around seems to be enjoying their free time and I've got to focus on research.

Joey Cushman 5k

I ran the Joey Cushman 5k this morning. It was a great race for me and I'm really glad I did it. I just wish my training wouldn't always end up injuring me in some way. I didn't really prep for this race because I knew if I overran I'd pull, twist, or cause myself to ache before I even got to the race. I wish I could run consistently for more than two weeks without developing some kind of injury that interrupts my training, my flow, my regiment.

"Get a fucking car!"

I got heckled on my bike the other day. I was heading home earlier than normal so I caught the tail end of a school zone's slow hours. A beat up van from 1987 pulled up alongside me. The passenger - a nasty white trash ho, leaned out her window and shouted, "Get a fucking car!" It took me about two seconds to fire off a comeback: "Suck a fucking dick!"

As the van eased by, I could hear that she was agitated from my remark but I couldn't hear if she came up with anything coherent other than "Waaaaaah!"

Missed Presentation

I didn't get to present during my Thursday class because the professor ran over her allotted time. While some may see this as a windfall opportunity to avoid actually presenting, I see it as a nuisance and an added stress. The presentation has been postponed for two weeks as next week is our midterm. Thanks professor.

I could work on my presentation some more, but I'm not in the mood to improve on perfection. I don't know if anyone in the class will hold it against me, or they'll be expecting an even better presentation that I put together for them originally. I've got better things to do than sit and stew over this thing.

Blar

I had a great plan for getting out of the house to work out, coming back to cleanup, then going out to the library to read all my stuff for the week. Well I'm stuck in cleanup mode and can't break free of the house. The weather is awesome and I wish I could do some gardening, or I wish I could visit with friends. I'm tethered to my books and this house until my laundry is done.

The Night Before

Tomorrow I go full-time at work. That should be fun. I also get a new boss. Double fun.

I just ate a truckload of food again. No meat this time, but still, a truckload. I think that fall is creepin' up on me.

Idiot Wind

Wow. I feel full. I guess I shouldn't have added bacon to the sirloin burger. And here I am trying to be all vegetarian. I've been slipping lately. It shouldn't be that hard, but it's just so easy to find a burger in this town.

Hump Day

I can't ever find the motivation to work out on a Wednesday afternoon. I inevitably end up back at my place either gardening or cooking or both. This week I came back with the intention of studying and gardening, but ended up cooking instead. I wish I could get over my procrastination habits but I just can't break through them. I mean it's clear to me what I have to do, but I continue to put it off until the last minute. The goal is there, the means are there, I'm just one for putting it off until later in the evening. It sucks.

CAD complete

I finally finished the re-do of my CAD project. The prof didn't like the hidden Easter eggs i put in there so he gave a month to correct and improve a few things. But life has been busy over the past month. I squeezed the corrections through today and feel like it's a load off my back. No I've got the rest of the semester to concentrate on a GIS project, my planning theory class, and getting back into some triathlon training that was interrupted by injury.

Fall Gardening

So I've got some time for composting and gardening again. Hopefully I can get something in the ground to grow before the frost comes (TBA). I had three successful tomato plants and now I've got seven producing okra stalks. I think the plan is to find some wheat/rye and sow it for the winter. Then I'll have some fresh soil come spring time. It could be possible to grow things in the winter, but I'm still finding my way. Maybe a spring flower garden would liven things up. I'll have to do something about the annoying brush pile. I'm sure there's snakes in there.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

So. Yeah, I'm awesome. My friends Gretchen and Joe took me to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" at UTA. It was a live performance with actors filling in the dead spaces between the lines. Gretchen called me 20 minutes before and said, "You need to dress up. Put on a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Oh! and I've got some lingerie for you to put on (a bustier?)."

At the beginning of the show, before the movie began, they called everyone up to the stage that wasn't an actor but had a costume. Me and Alex, my friend's 12 year old daughter, who shares the same birthday, went up to the stage. The finalists were chosen by a round of applause. The first two finalists were dudes in full women's clothing. I'm guessing they were Tim Currey characters. Well, when it was my turn, I was dubbed "Revenge of the Nerds dude." Well, I undid my tie and ripped off my white shirt to reveal the bustier.

I was later told that the crowd went crazy. And I was in the finals. Well, when they did a survey between the three of us, one of the dudes got third place, and the second one (who looked really into it) got second, which means I got first. But then the crowd started booing (because they didn't think I should have won, and I agreed). Well, they did a "recount" and cheered for that guy. I kept cool and when they came to cheer me on, I tried to not win (I thought the other guy deserved it more). So, we walked off the stage and signed a waiver for the prizes. I won a $25 gift certificate to Best Buy. Not bad for someone who has never seen the movie and was told what to wear.

Awesome.

Happy B-dAy to Me

Well I made it to 28. I had a great birthday today that started about 9pm yesterday. Went out to a bar with roommates and friends. The bar had cheap beer and a great jukebox. I called my boss at 1am warning her that I'd be in later than my regular 7:30. Well, I had to email at 4:30am that I wasn't coming in at all.

Lots of text messages came through wishing me a happy birthday. Thanks to all of you that were thinking of me.

Back to School

It was the first day of classes today. My only class is Thursdays at 3pm. I wish it was over; all of it. I'm not in the mood to do this school shit anymore.

Alt UTA movie night

We had a great turnout for the alternative UTA movie night. There were three new people and five return customers. Not too shabby for a violent kid's movie: Pan's Labyrinth. I found this in the children's DVDs not far from Muppet Treasure Island. I'm guessing that was either a clerk or patron mistake because the movie is not for the feint of heart.

BS class is over, got the BS grade

Well I can't really sleep. I don't know for sure if it's because of the really stressful day I just had, or the one that's about to begin. I just wish it was the weekend already so I'd have time to decompress. I got my BS B from the chickenshit class. Can't say that it's much of a shock, but the prof. hasn't written me back yet about the final grade. I'd like for him to tell me exactly why I got a B. I can't stand him just handing me one and expecting me to suck on it.

Some good news though. I won a scholarship to attend the National Recycling Congress in Pittsburgh. I'll be there, all expenses paid, Sept 20-24th. It should be kickin'. My b-day is the 19th and I plan on launching a party. That may make traveling on the 20th a bit difficult, but it's not that I haven't taken a flight while still recovering from a night of drinking...

I remember back in the day... 2003ish... I went to a student conference in Salt Lake City. The entire week was a marathon of drinking and workshops. The final night was the last lap. I went off drunk around 2am, came back to my room at 5. My roommates were finishing off all the "wounded soldiers" and I was enlisted to help out. We killed a room full of partially drunk beer then hit the hot tub as the sun came up. I'm not expecting a repeat at my b-day party, but it could happen. Hell, who knows, I may end up getting challenged at the Pittsburgh conference.

"Hey Tim! Yeah! Let's empty these cans so we can recycle them!"

Sometimes it's not easy being green.

Class in Chickenshit

That's not what I called it, but that's what it was all about. It was taking care of minor details on a meaningless quest to get them all in order. I turned in my final plans. There were three parts, detailing one site plan: a dimension page, a grading page, a landscape page. In all three I hid small easter egg surprises for my teacher. It's not that I felt any malice towards my prof. or his profession, but I didn't like whiling away the hours in the computer lab squinting my way towards a grade in front of a screen. I had to do more than copy straight some bullshit plans for an office building that has already been built long before I knew it existed.

The final sheet had a few, not so subtle, passive aggressive markings. Instead of filling out the entire landscape planting roster I made up stuff. I just didn't feel like doing data entry for an extra thirty minutes, copying verbatim a meaning list of stats: genus, species, common name, size, number, comments x50.

Fuck that. I filled out the Latin and vernacular, but I don't think landscape artists have a standard size "big," "huge," or "so-so" bush. Nor do I think that it's common to count the number of Crepe Myrtles as "more than a few, but not a lot," or my favorite, instead of writing a number, putting down "orange."

"How many, Tim?"
"Purple."

Public Parking

I came out of class tonight and found a note on my car: "You can't park here. There are four cars at this house already. Next time you park here I'll have your car towed. Don't park here."

And a good evening to you, Sir.

Well that stirred my shit. A public street is free for all to park on. This dude was getting all bent out of shape because I was parked in front of his house. Well, boo-hoo. Cry me a river. That kind of note makes me want to park in front of his house next week. Then again there are crazy people out there. I wish the person who wrote the note would have signed it. I could have dealt with that. But they didn't. I'll probably write them a note tomorrow, or the next day, affix it to my windshield next time I park on the street.

"Hey, my name is Bob. What's yours? Did you leave a note on my car last week? Telling me not to park here? It's a public street. Parking is not restricted to homeowners and renters. Nor is it guaranteed. Get over it. People park in front of my house all the time. I don't leave notes on their cars. P.s I work for the City. Let's not play games or launch idle threats. Have a good day."

the email that was a post in disguise

"Summertime is good. It's hot, but that goes without saying when you live in Texas. Sometimes I wish all the people who complain about the hot weather would actually turn off their air conditioners and realize just how hot Texas is, then move back to Canada, or wherever else they're from. I think if they live in an air conditioned house, own an air conditioned car, and work in a building that is... air conditioned they've got nothing to fucking complain about. Or maybe it's the fact that their complaining tells me that they really have nothing to relate to me with except the f-bomb weather."

"School is still going on. It's one class but a project is due in 10 days. I'm lined up to finish so no worries. I do have another project from Spring that is in stasis. I could knock that one out, but it has been in storage so long that it could take a couple weeks for my motivation to thaw and have the atoms of activity actually moving again."

World of Losercraft

After a six month break, I'm back into an abusive relationship with the World of Warcraft. I give it my time, my attention, but it beats me down. It treats me like shit and I deserve better. Luckily I don't have a powerful enough laptop in my place to run it. I have to go back to my Mom's place to play. There is a sufficient amount of distance between the two places to give me peace of mind during the week.

In other news... I've learned that all the people I once knew in Poland have changed in my absence. Time did not stand still without me. In fact, it actually sped up. Imagine that.

And then... with a carryover calf injury from last week's 15K & Whiterock lake, my training for the Oct Triathlon has come to an unexpected stop. I am hoping to do some recovery lifting this week in the gym to strengthen the tender, weak, girly-man muscle which has taken up residence in my right calf. I will make it stronger or rip it out. Inexcusable, calf muscle. Real bush league shit.

Despite getting back into an abusive, one-sided relationship, learning that life can exist without me, and not being able to run to open road, I did fix up a friend's bike. The goal is to recruit more riding friends so that I can enjoy riding bikes with other people. Super-cool would be to all get snow cones and catch fireflies before our parents tell us it's time to come in and go to bed. Yeah, super-cool.

Gotta Love It

I especially love it when motorists honk when they pass me on my bike. I've got an orange/yellow vest, geriatric big sunglasses, and a red helmet. Yes, you can see me. Yes, I'm riding in the street and not on the sidewalk. Yes, you had to creep by at 15mph while you waited to pass me. You lost a total of ten seconds before the left lane freed up and you could pass. May Jesus Christ rescue you in the future from assholes like me on my bike. May he lift you off the ground in your SUV and fling you to your destination.

River Legacy Park

I am a bit knackered, but feeling good. I'm riding the high off my eight mile bike / nine mile run. Road traffic on Fielder is quite manageable at 7am, but gets easily miffed after 9. I've got a race next week @ White Rock lake in Dallas. It's the same race I ran two years ago when I got back from Poland. A 15ker that has promise to kick my ass in a major way. The entry fee was a bit more than normal, but the give away is a nice running shirt. I still have the last one and its worth the trip and the ass-kicking just for a chance to expand my running wardrobe.

Amtrak

It has been more than a year since I posted in this thing. I'm not going to even read the previous posts. They were written when I was still working for UPS and going through a spring of uncertainty as far as work was concerned. Since then I've progressed in grad school, work, life.

I just got back from a trip to Austin. I spent the 4th there with my friend JW and his roommate Akash. We drank, swam, and checked out the boobies of hot Texas chicks on the tubing river near San Marcos. It was very nice. One of the oddities of the trip was the collective disbelief of Austin-ites when I told them that I had taken the train from Fort Worth instead of "just driving down."

"There's a train?" they asked. I had to assure them that 'yes' there was indeed a train and it ran from Fort Worth to Austin. On tracks of steel nonetheless. $69 dollars can by you a roundtrip ticket to funtown if you are willing to dole out the cash and run the risk of freight related delays. Go Amtrak.