Don’t Say You Said So

Sheesh!

I knew this was going to happen, by I foolishly hoped I would be wrong. I still have just as much due next week and none of it is getting done. Why? Well, I just have better stuff to do, I guess. I really feel like I’m academically burnt out. I mean, I just don’t have the same drive that I used to. So sad. And, well, I’m saddened that I can’t watch all my DVD’s while watching papers since I sold them all! Silly money shortage which I’m always suffering from. Ooh! That reminds me! I just found out the most exciting thing EVER!! I get $45 back for returning my dictation machine to my Chinese professor! Woot! The only thing is that I need to remember who I loaned the headphones to. If you have seen a pair of purple colored headphones with a microphone attached going by the name of Soco, please call the Bowley Fund for Misplaced Ear Equipment at 1-800-GOT-EARBUDS. You too can save a headset.

Now I’m off to look up the requirements of being a UN interpreter. After seeing the incredible movie, I’m excited about the possibilty of becoming one of those amazing interpreters in the big leagues. It would be an amazing career, but I must admit it could be challenging. If my assumption is correct, I’ll need to learn both Russian and Arabic in order to even be eligible for this job. I think that’s quite fine anyway. Those two are very valuable languages. By the end of 2007, my goal is to be fluent in my first 4 languages (English, French, Spanish, and Chinese) and to be conquering the other two. After that, I will know six languages, three alphabets, and a ideographic writing system. My brain, as fried as it might be with all that stuff swimming around in my cranium, will be pleased with the prospect of working at a job where I’ll actually have a chance of getting ahead! Sweet! OK, off to work I go.

A Nifty Day Subverting the Man!

Yes, I said subverting the man, and no, I’m not quoting some crazy sixties liberal mad with ending a certain east asian war. I’m talking about a certain office software suite and activating it without having re re-purchase it. I already own a liscence, but it’s for the Mac and I don’t have enough cash to get yet another liscense for my new laptop. So, I borrowed Megan’s copy and by the magic of the internet and little programs that fundamentally alter this software that shall remain un-named, I am back in business. I must say though, patch programs do nasty things to your computer, mostly in the form of spyware viruses. Well, it’s a wonderful thing that it works, because now I can actually type in my many languages without worring about the lack of spellcheck! Woot!

So, Joy-El and I are eating some Chinese and watching Blade Trinity which she really wanted to see. I thought it would be a decent flick, but, really, it’s barely worth the energy it’s taking to power the DVD player. Not as bad as Cabin Fever, that movie will forever be the worst (God help the person that makes something to top that one), but certainly a waste of money. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Speaking of movies, my old boss from Blockbuster called today and offered me a job again since the jack-ass manager that used to be there ruining the store has been nixed. Thank God! That was absolutely ridiculous. That guy was such a lazy bum, it’s amazing the store didn’t just fall in on itself because he just forgot to have that hole where a car drove through fixed. Well, Matt (the cool manager) will certainly be getting a call, but I won’t be working again until post-China I’m afraid.

After this dreadfull movie, I’m going to fix my bike and do some work before bed. FUCK! I just remembered I need 16 copies of that stupid article for my Spanish class tomorrow! Damnation! Oh well, I’ll just print it out again on super-low quality. No one ever said they needed to be able to read it well, just passably. Or, perhaps I’ll be realistic and go to the copy place in Waterman instead. I just need to remember to get those copies or suffer the wrath of Flores la Terrible. OK, time to do something semi-productive

See ya!

Let’s Get Serious!

The end of the semester s hurdling towards me like a derailed freight train falling from a high suspension bridge above a deep gorge, and I think I might be crushed. I mean, I have all these things to do, yet the motivation to do so is really lacking. My goal is to write one of my presentations tonight and find a partner to do a skit with for Chinese today in class. This will make things a bunch easier as I will two of the four major things mostly out of the way. The papers, on the other hand, oh man. One needs to be six pages longer, and one needs to be started and end up as eight, so I’d better get my ass in gear or else that freight train is coming right down on my head! We’ll see how it goes. It’s not actually that overwhelming if I start now, but if I start next week or this weekend, oh man; these LiveJournal entries will get a lot more desperate!

Well, Mom, Heather, Mary, and Cait are coming up this afternoon after classes. I already bought my tire so I’m going to ask Mom if I can just use the money she would have given me to pay back Erin. She’s such a good sport. I owe her a few coffees, a bike tire, and God knows what else! A movie, oh yes, musn’t forget that too! Good Lord the shoes that I send her back from China are going to have to be amazing!! I’ll pay her back, that’s for sure. Tonight, if we can manage to repair my bike, Joy-El and I are hopefully going to go on a nocturnal bike ride. Good thing too. I have been noticing not going to the gym and not having a functional bike is doing un-nice things to my waste, which is simply UNACCEPTABLE! I mean, it hasn’t really gotten very bad at all, it’s hardly noticeable, but I noticed, and I’m going to kick my own ass!! No, that doesn’t qualify as a mental disorder. The history for heart disease in my family, especially in men, is really bad news if they are over weight. If not, we seem to live to the ripe old age of 80+. So, as I’d like to stay on this swirling ball of blue and green as long as possible, I’ll be starting the reflexive ass-kicking. What a verb! “To kick one’s own ass.” He he he!

Have a Good Day, All!

Past the Point of No Return

Yes, comrades, it is here. The moment of truth has arrived. I must start the task at hand or suffer a terrible fate. Yep, time to plan my papers and undertake writing them. A 10 to 15 page paper in my phonetics class on Spanglish and code-switching as linguistic mechanisms, an 8 page paper in French about the different sorts of love we’ve seen in the books we’ve read all semester, and, just to drive the nails in my coffin that seals my doom, a nice 10 minute Spanish presentation. Well,that’s OK, I’ll just throw myself into a speeding bus or something. I’m sure the results will be far less painful! No, if I get going today, it won’t be all that bad. I must say, I think what frustrates me most is a ten day summer vacation by choice! I mean, I am the one who signed up for this trip to China. Silly Jonathan! Chinese is for, well, err, the Chinese and masochists! I’m sure it will be fine when I get there, but for now, it’s like CRAZY hard. The thing is, it’s not even the vocab at the moment. It’s the crazy grammar! “Le” isn’t just a tiny little particle and a simple character to write, IT IS THE SPAWN OF THE DEVIL HIMSELF!!!! Yes, it’s true. I know that I sometimes exaggerate, but I promise you, if anything, I haven’t really made it as bad as it actually is. I thought I understood it fairly well, but, well, according to my TA, that was just self-delusion. I’m going to try and read the chapter in my Mandarin Grammar book again, but if the last time is any indication, another reading might not do a lot for my comprehension. I love language, but “le” can DIE!

Well, OK then. Enough with the Chinese for now. I think I am going to head over to accompany Erin at the Main Desk so that she isn’t accosted by scary salad dressing boy (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, read all about it first hand). Silly Erin, she wasn’t ready for the power of the sweat pants and oversize shirt. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THEIR ATTRACTIVE POWERS! She’s learned her lesson now. Poor, poor girl. This is Jonathan, signing off.

再见！

If you can’t read the Chinese above, welcome to my world!

Cool Software!

Well, I actually did manage to finish my paper this morning. Good times! It came out fairly well, but I still did it at the last minute, which is kind of the opposite of a good idea. Since I have two huge papers due the middle of next week, I’m going to have to start writing those ASAP and I mean like NOW. Actually, Erin and I are supposed to have a study party with Megan tonight (who, by the way, is no longer tall blond (nazi) Megan, but red-headed Megan). That should be interesting. That isn’t to say that I don’t want to hang out with them; I just don’t have much luck actually getting work done during these types of things. We shall see.

It’s kind of a gloomy day outside, so the ankles of my pants are damp. How unpleasant! At least it makes good weather for eating soup (since my college budget has left me with little else). Actually, speaking of a budget, I just setup Microsoft Money to track all of my finances on my new laptop. That was both good and bad. I mean, it’s so cool and easy to use and it even updates your accounts from your bank by the internet! I didn’t have to retype all of those transactions! Yeah! The bad part was seeing just how much my trip to Europe cost. Oh man. There’s still about $900 left on my credit cards I have yet to pay. That’s for after China. But, at least I’ll be able to pay my bills until I leave!

OK, if you’re still typing your LiveJournal entries on the webpage and you have your own computer, STOP NOW! I just downloaded Semagic which is a piece of software that lets you type your entries on your computer with gazillions of options, find out when your friends have posted, and even auto-detect what music you’re listening to, and it’s free! It’s the coolest idea! This one is for PC but they have just as many programs for Mac! Just go to Update your journal and then over on a box on the right you can download LiveJournal Clients! Get yours now! OK, infomercial over. I’m getting back to work

A plus tard!