A Red-Letter Day

Here's the one reason I would join the Catholic church:



OK, I ripped that from my V for Vendetta soundtrack, but the real stuff... Beautiful. Just beautiful.

OH. MY. GAWD. Guess who was in for a crazy one night stand in Weirton?

The master of mastication.

The rajah of raw.

The deacon of delirium.

The one.

The only.

Joseph!


Yes, Joe was in town... I guess he jacked his shoulder up being awesome down at State, so he had to come up here for some treatment... Or maybe he just wanted to hang out with Kyle's dad... Who knows.

But either way, that meant he came to my house to finish his havoc reeking. Now, I have to admit, I had forgotten how funny this man's one-liners are, but let me tell you... Throughout the night he let loose with a barrage of phrases that never actually made sense, yet were quite hysterical none the less. Poor Luci, fresh in from the military academy, had to deal with the two of us. Oh well, it was her gain.

We had been hankerin' to play some Worms, though, so we eventually made our way downstairs and I handed Joe a woopin' that would have made him return any game -RIP Fight Night 2004- to EB for store credit. Oh yeah!

Now if only he would skip out on State and come back to WVU... *winkwink*

So because I'm a loser, I hung out with Mr. Carey all day up at the high school.

That's just how I roll.

But I'm starting a new trend up at Weir High: Actually going to the office before gallivanting throughout the building. And they're letting me in.

So the news? Mr. Carey has a student teacher. Isn't he just the luckiest student teacher in the world? haha... He's seems to be a pretty cool guy though; I got to talk to him a decent bit, and I really liked him. Not quite up to PC's level, but good enough, lol. His downfall? He's got a P-P-P-Powerbook.

But so I was there practically the entire day. I came in 2^nd block for calc, stayed for AP physics 3^rd, and rounded out the day with regular physics 5^th block. Sadly, I knew people in each class.

Didn't do much in calc, since he actually had to teach, but I made up for it with my fair share of "hangin'" in both physics classes... I liked them better anyway. Josh came in for AP physics and I caught up with him a little bit there, which was cool. Despite both being engineering students, I hardly ever see him; I dunno why. The rest of the hangin' was 5^th block with Miss Dez and Ernest. (Can I not call anyone by their real name?) Oddly enough, there was this other guy in there who seemed to think know I'm awesome, but I had no clue who he was. He knew about my website, though, and was relaying it's awesomeness to his friend, which makes him OK in my books. Miss Tina is also supposed to be in that class, but she missed out on all the fun since she's currently at Key Club District Convention, which the rest of the town will be leaving for tomorrow, forcing me to spend my last days of spring break by myself... Or hanging out with Mr. Carey and his student teacher.

There was one big argument while I was there, though. PC had given me a homework assignment and, being the studious person I am, turned it in 100% correct. Mr. Carey has been arguing that the problem is ambiguous and that there are two answers, and I guess was hoping I would agree. Nope... He was definitely wrong. Mr. Owens (the student teacher), Durst, and I all went against him, but he still would not see the light. Either that or he just wouldn't admit it. He was definitely wrong, though... Quite the shocker. I'm a little disappointed.

So apparently now that I'm on break from college, I've become Justin, Tutor Extraordinaire.

At least I'm putting all of my schooling to good use somehow.

Last night was physics with Miss Tina, which I was way too excited for. I seriously have a problem... Physics doesn't make normal people excited at all, and I was pumped! They're on the dynamics chapter, and let me tell you, if I can make it through MAE 242 up at WVU, I can lay the smacketh down on this stuff. w00000! Unfortunately she was sick and unable to share my enthusiasm (not that she or anyone else would even if they were healthy), but that's OK. I enjoyed myself.

Today was geometry with Mr. Roney, and I wasn't very good this time. I haven't had the stuff in 6 years, and to be honest, I haven't used any of it, save a few simple concepts like opposite interior and complementary angles. He was working on all sorts of inscribed circle stuff that I had no clue about, but he brought his book so I could teach it to myself in a couple minutes, lol. Nothing to crazy, but as we all know, Weir High's math department, minus Mr. Carey, really isn't up to snuff. But we got through it, and everyone is good to go.

Now if only I wasn't friends with all of these people, I could of charged them! lmao... Don't forget, though, I do still make friends pay for getting their life saved. ;-)

You learn how to forgive yourself; you learn how to forgive yourself so that if you screw up, it's for something you do now and not for something that happened decades ago that you had no control over.

Hmmm... doesn't really sum things up many things for me, but in the moment, Without a Trace seemed to kind of collect a lot of feelings for me tonight...

I know it's supposed to be spring break and I'm supposed to be bright and cheery and having fun -I am taking care of that a little bit- but I'm worried. I'm worried about my friends. I'm worried about my family. I'm worried about myself.

I feel a post without a lot of names coming on.

I don't know. I need to start having some talks with people. Joe first, lol. He needs to come back from baseball spring break so I can run everything past him first, you know, so I can work up the guts to talk to everyone else.

I have a real tough time talking to people about serious stuff. I mean, I'm fine if people come to me about something, but I never go to other people. I just don't do it. There's two people I've really ever felt really comfortable talking with, and well, Joe's one and the other has been scratched off the list. Maybe I should talk about that.

There's just so much right now, from the really serious to the downright petty. (Well, petty when compared to the serious.) Some people have just been dealt the worst hands life can deal over the last couple of months... I just can't even imagine what they're going through. I mean, we've talked about it a lot but I'm still not even close to grasping what they're going through; I don't think it's possible. And I just don't know what to do. I don't know what I can do. I can tell it's wearing on them, and it's really hard to watch. They're definitely not the same as they were just a few months ago. But what can I do about it? Be there? Am I there enough? Should I be there more? What do I do when I'm there? Do I even know where "there" is? I just don't know.

My first cousin once removed (I looked it up to make sure) passed away last week, and the funeral was this weekend. I pretty much just knew who he was and not much more, so it's not as if I'm in a somber mood or anything, but that in and of itself got me thinking. The whole weekend there were two things going on. The 1^st is unimportant, but the second is what struck me: The family politicking. I just thought it was on my mom's side, but apparently not. You know, the man just died and half of what we're doing down here is badmouthing the relatives? That's ridiculous. I don't what to hear about that. I've had my fair share of family problems, especially on my mom's side, but it doesn't consume me. Especially here, since none of my immediate family is directly involved. Instead, it's more of a word of mouth discussion about how these guys go around and stab each other in the back. I know it's not cool, but I don't want to here it. It doesn't affect you, so let it go. Family's aren't supposed to do this stuff.

It also got me thinking about my grandparents. They were up for the funeral as this was my grandfather's nephew. His nephew. And he was 59. My grandfather's going to be 81 next month. He's in excellent shape for 81 (heck, he drove up here from Huntington and probably did a pretty darn good job), but that's old. Besides my direct family, they're definitely the people I'm closest to, and I just don't know I'll handle them not being around. I almost watched Big Fish today because of this, but I figured it would get to me too much. I'm just not ready to let them go, but I'm not sure how much longer I have, especially with how things are going for everyone else.

The funeral also got me thinking about myself, though. If I bit the dust tonight, who'd be at my funeral? Obviously family, but who else? I know of a good many, but how many would be there cause they truly cared about me? How many would truly sad compared to those there for show? The question I asked myself the most, though, was who would be the most sad? Cut out my parents, sister, grandparents, aunt, uncles, etc. Out of everyone else, if my funeral was tomorrow, who would be the most devastated?

I couldn't come up with an answer. I have no idea. Mainly because I've lost my grasp on everyone around me. I don't know who anybody is anymore. It's just one big confusing mess. Sure, there are those few who I can pretty much count on as staying the same, but other than that, oh man, let me tell you. The mixed messages are flying. Maybe I'm just confused with myself... Who knows. I just feel as if I don't really know where I stand with some people anymore. I want to think it's their fault, but I'm not sure.

I'm pretty big on not repeating my mistakes; not to say anybody is, but I get especially frustrated when I do, so I do my best to keep a watchful eye. "Can't screw up again," I tell myself, although, of course, I inevitably do. Maybe it's because of the fact that I never really get over the fact that I messed up in the first place. It bugs me; it irritates me. So my solution: Try my hardest to make sure it doesn't happen again. Problem is, no two situations are exactly the same, especially when it comes to people. So I get all confused: I don't know what to look for, I don't know how to react. Don't wanna fall into the same traps as before, but I also don't want act all goofy or come off as a jerk if there's nothing to be worried about. I just don't know. I'll probably just end up not caring after awhile. That's what usually ends up happening... I just turn apathetic. Which is never the best way to go, but it's certainly the easiest.

Oh well.

Racquetball is always something I wanted to try; it's just one of those things where you'd watch the old men in their short shorts playing in the large, glass-encased cube, pretending like you know what's going on but in all honesty have no idea.

Now I do.

I forced George to come up to the rec with me today to teach me how to play, and it was surprisingly simple... A lot of fun though. I didn't do all that bad either; I got beat 15-13 both times, which is the smallest margin you can lose by. I have to say, for my first time, that's pretty darn good.

I definitely want to go up there some more, though. They have all the equipment up there (minus the balls), so you pretty much just reserve a time and show up. And if I only lost by 2 the first 2 times, just wait till I get good... ;-) Bwahahaha.

In other news, SCREW YOU GEORGE! Ian let me on to your evil plan... I can't believe I fell for it. "Take Wisconsin to the finals," you said, and I trusted you. I trusted you, but you only picked them because they're from YOUR LAND OF CHEESE! GEORGE YOUR CHEESE SCREWED ME OVER! MY BRACKET WAS DOING AWESOME, BUT IT SUCKS NOW BECAUSE YOUR POS CHEESE TEAM JUST LOST TO A #7 SEED! I HOPE YOU DIE! I HOPE YOU DIE AND YOUR CHEESE SPOILS! SPOILS AND GETS NASTY!

March Madness... That time of year when everyone starts obsessing constantly about their NCAA basketball tournament brackets and excellent shows such as Without a Trace and Survivor are either pushed back in their time slots or canceled all together to make room for 50 million basketball games cramed into like 2 weeks.

And for the past 19 years, I could of cared less. Until now.

You see, I was always annoyed by all this crap, mainly cause I didn't care. I knew nothing about the teams and, like I said, the only bearing the tournament had on my life was messing with my television schedule. That and the fact that I had to listen to everyone ramble on and on about their brackets... Just shut up for God's sake! But now... Oh, but now it's all on the line. My bracket is filled out and ready to go, and I have become one of the obsessed.

"Are you out of your mind? Did you pay into brackets?" you ask. Nope. All free. My dorm is giving away some stuff... I don't even know what... and Facebook is giving away $25,000. $25,000. Heck yes I put a bracket in. Even if my only chance is shear luck, it's worth the 10 minutes to fill it out.

And how did I fill it out?

I called George.

I got him on the phone, bracket in front of me, and said, "George, I'm going to randomly pick teams here, probably based on how cool their name is, and you let me know if said pick is completely retarded."

And that's what we did. Game by game, filled out the best bracket ever. How is it the best? It's gonna win me $25,000, cause it's perfect. I've picked every game correctly. You just wait. I'm winnin' the whole thing.

I know you don't believe me. Whatever. Just don't come runnin' to me askin' for favors when I'm $25,000 richer.

Edit (6:49 PM, 3/15/07): Dang you George, why didn't you stop me from picking George Washington. You ruined my hopes and dreams of $25k.

Shut up.

OMG! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!

THE PENS ARE STAYING IN PITTSBURGH!

As I said to Kailey in response to her text message informing of the glorious news, "Holy good God, mother almighty, lord of lords, Mario lemieux, screw bettis, thank you jesus, amen times infinity…"

Yup, that about says it all. Hockey will be here in Pittsburgh for another 30 years, and hopefully we can bring in a few cups along the way.

Ooo, but in other good news, The Rock is back!

Yeah, OK, lay off.

John Cleese has an asteroid, and if the world is ever destroyed by a large meteor, I sincerely hope that this is the one that does us in.

Special Topics: Things of Interest

Guess what? I did absolutely nothing this weekend. It was sweet. I wasted the entire thing, and I could care less.

Well, I take that back. I didn't waste the entire weekend (we'll get to that in a minute), but I came pretty darn close.

The Worm's 4 demo really helped contribute to the wastage. I had played Worms before, but it was at Nichol's house, and when you game there, the controls really aren't clearly explained to you (and that's if they're explained at all). It was an interesting concept, but, you know, I wasn't thrilled about being hit with an air strike when I couldn't work the bazooka.

But Joe reintroduced me to it over the weekend and I'm hooked. I love it. I'm probably buying it off of Amazon. It's just so cute, yet evil at the same time.

Kind of like our next topic.

;-)

I saw Miss Tina this afternoon; she was passing through Morgantown on her way back up from some Key Club thing, so she and her mom met me for lunch downtown. Took me awhile to get down there (I walked since I didn't want to ride the bus and), but I had fun once there. After lunch Tina wanted to go for a walk. She must of not known what she was getting herself into... Ask Jamie... Who, oddly enough, we saw on our walk back up to Evansdale. (She was asking herself 2 questions: Why is Justin in Sunnyside? and Why is Justin in Sunnyside with a girl?) It was a fun time, though, despite the fact that we weren't the only one's out walking... This was made abundantly clear to me. Yup. Thanks for that one. Usually I'm walking by myself in Morgantown, though, so it was nice to actually have someone to trek around town with. Her mom wasn't too happy when we got back, though... Apparently she didn't realize it would be a good 20-25 minute walk up the hill. I don't think we're in trouble, though, which is always a good thing.

Woo! The mechanics of materials test is done (the dynamics test was canceled, thank God) and I think I did very well. I literally worked every problem twice to check my test, making me the last person out of there, but I didn't care. I will do good on this test, whether the MAE department wants me to or not.

But the weekend is upon us, and what does that mean? I'm going to do absolutely nothing. I busted my butt this last week, and I'm taking 2 ¹/₂ days to veg out. I am going to do absolutely nothing, and you're going to hear about it.

It's gonna be soooo nice.

OMG this week is killing me!

What's going on you ask?

I have a technical writing project due tomorrow.
I have a dynamics test this Friday from 5-7.
I have a mechanics of materials test this Friday from 7-9

Oh man, the studying alone is brutal. For dynamics, we're currently working on the hardest stuff ever. Ever. It's on crack and meth at the same time. I hope meth is a stimulant for the sake of my argument. But never mind that; since I also have a mechanics of materials test, I have twice as much to study. Mainly cause I blew the first mechanics of materials test. So I must do good, and therefore I study.

Luckily, I've already finished my technical writing project, so it just made the early week a pain in the butt. Oddly enough, though, I actually enjoyed this project. We had to make an instruction set, and I had a pretty good time with it. I should get a good grade on it, though, since I'm not sure my class is filled with the best writers.

The other interesting news is that the Wisp shuttle was once again canceled due to snow. Ironic, I know. No need to point that out. This is good, though. See, with all the tests coming up (and the associated studying), I decided that spending 8 hours skiing wasn't the best of ideas, so I was going to skip. Since it was past the 2 week deadline, though, I couldn't get my money back. Well, it ends up that since I didn't tell them that (I had an inkling about the snow storm) I get my money back due to the cancellation. Yay!

But enough yaking; study I must.

The headline everywhere right now?

Penguins 'aggressively explore relocation'

Not cool. Not cool at all.

This is getting ridiculous. It started out with that %*#& Gaming Commission. Nooooo, couldn't give the slots license to Isle of Capri because they were bribing you with public stuff instead of whatever PIT-G Gaming was giving you under the table, alongside high-fives from Jerome Bettis. Pffft.

And now, the talks with the city have broken down and they are "aggressively exploring relocation".

WTH. No, you're not allowed. The city's deal is fine. Take it. Kansas City blows. The only think nice there is the waterfall in the outfield of Kaufman Stadium. Maybe terrorists should attack the Sprint Center... Hmmm, might be able to arrange that... Would that change your mind? I know they're giving you guys everything for free, but we can't do that since Harrisburg hates you. Probably cause the Fliers suck this year. Last place... Haha... I love that.

But this team cannot go anywhere. I'd cry. We're gonna make the playoffs for the first time in I-don't-know-how-many years, and we could possibly make it past the second round. The fans are filling every seat in the Igloo, despite the fact that you refuse to open the two panels of the roof that aren't hooked to the scoreboard. And yet you're going to move us to the city that lost their last hockey team in 2 years? Yeah, sounds like a plan.

Special Topics: Things of Interest

I like to come home for the Weir dances. Mainly to threaten my sisters date (quite funny when she took Jason Larch), but also to see everyone off. Her whole group is my second set of friends, so it's nice to see them all dressed up and off to have a good time.

I only got to do the second part, though.

Poor Beth. The morning of the dance, her date's mother calls and informs her that her date is too sick to go to the dance, leaving her without a date.

Doesn't that just suck. Who am I gonna threaten now?

But seriously, that's just horrible. She scrambled around and called a bunch of people trying to get a date but was unsuccessful. Certain people wanted me to go with her, but that just wasn't happening. First off, we're not far enough below the Mason-Dixon line for that, and secondly, I just didn't want to hear about taking my sister to a dance for the rest of the night. And the next day week month year lifetime.

That's alright though; she had a good time anyway. And let me tell you, if I ever get my hands on that "date" of hers, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind about standing up my little sister (or maybe just left-click him).

Me, on the other hand? I enjoyed the lunar eclipse this weekend. And getting yelled at by another patron at Eat'n Park. I must just be a terrible person.