Every time the song comes on the radio, I have part of my brain (might be the part that keeps giving me those bizarre headaches) that enjoys Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry.

YOU HAVE NO IDEA how conflicted I am, redefining my blatant hatred for her as an artist.

She has a good voice. She just makes a lot of STUPID songs. And-- don't get me wrong-- her songs aren't ever gonna be Unchained Melody, by any stretch, but this's one I find myself enjoying the sound of.

Seems like a shame, since she really can sing, if she wants to. Seems like she should take advantage of that, rather than that... that piece-of-shit Black Eyed Peas "my humps" song.

Hahaaaa, she says "and we'll play ... Uno cards" in the song. </digression>

Anyway.

How's everyone doing? This weekend was awesome-- met some of jnspies's friends from California, hung out with a bunch of other Houston people, went to Sunday School-- wherein they went over the different Hebrew words for love-- and I'm gonna make another post on that one, soon, since it really hit me, honestly. Made some things make sense, anyway. Again, one of those "ohhh, heh, that makes sense" moments that I enjoy.

And I'm almost done with all the massive Excel spreadsheets for a liiiiiittle while.

So it's been a damn good last few days.

Halloween party in Houston was fun-- Katie and I both enjoyed it a lot. it was a good chance to sit and talk a lot, and just relax. We both needed that.

sangria2, sushi_slave, and all your family-- y'all did a great job on everything. I had no idea what to expect, and it was really cool. Good stuff.

Before the party, Katie and I went for food-- Thai was the plan, but we ended up getting Japanese. And I have NEVER FELT SO DUMB when it came to food. The first thing to come out was a cold dish-- noodle salad of some sort. I think we both thought it was some kind of dipping sauce-- the only thing I could identify readily was the sesame seeds. The waitress came over and told us to go ahead and eat it. It was good. Then there was the dipping sauce for the Chicken Katsu (breaded, fried chicken breast)-- she brought it out with the miso soup. I didn't know what the sauce was-- tried it and the waitress looked at me in that "wow, you're dumber than we thought; wait for the food" sort of way.

It was very good, we just felt kinda...out of place for not even knowing what to do. It's a restaurant. Not supposed to be that complicated...

---

Bonfire was a lot of fun this weekend. My shoulders feel like someone beat me with a stick, my hands are torn up... And I can't wait for stack to start. I'd like to get up to CS for another Cut day, but I don't think that will happen-- stuff going on this weekend.

I have absolutely GOT to get my car worked on, and... I don't know what's planned for this weekend other than that. Likely something with Katie Saturday, and I need to go to church sometime. I really miss that. I just don't ever know where to start in picking a church, and getting to know everyone someplace new is always kind of a daunting task. Never managed to pull that off in College Station.

---

And tonight is going to be... lessee... Pick up Katie, go to dinner, go to the lil' fair out off 290, maaaybe, and we're going to see about a haunted house. (I'm jumpy with haunted houses, but so is she. I feel better to know it's not just me.)

---

It was a good weekend, and the week's shaping up good, too.

Wahaha. Weekend was great-- I went to College Station to go to a party and hang out. Saturday I went with stephanometra and her roommate to the A&M-ULALA game, and we proceeded to beat the crap out of them, 51-7. 'Twas fun. We showed up on the jumbotron and everything. Woo. Managed to run into a girl who knew the Cepheids (she went to baldeagle's high school, knew his brother, all that), sitting next to us. Seriously weird, even for College Station. Hung out with goodkingnerdnor a bunch; he was cool enough to give us a ride to and from the game, through assloads of people and traffic. His and stephanometra's neighbors seem pretty cool. Wacky, but cool. I ran into three or four people I knew while we were heading to the game, even. (my people, they are still in College Station, too...)

The party was good. Met some of the new Cepheids (heh, fish) and that was fun. Stayed up until... sometime close to 6 AM. And then crashed out. I need more sleep.

Saw "The Protector" on Sunday-- that was a pretty cool movie. LOTS of people getting the shit kicked out of them, and, um... if you have a problem with people getting limbs broken... you should skip this one. Because that happens a LOT. It's like Kill Bill, mang. (If the first 50 people in a room get their ass kicked, what kind of moron would go into the fight? Back up and regroup and get a better attack plan. Duh, bad guys.)

And I'm at work, and I've gotten the first "eep, justify your existence" report out of the way for the day.

blahh.

I'll be in CS for the newbie party this weekend. (mwahahaah, young'uns) ((er, was that out loud?)) Barring anything unexpectedly cool happening tonight, I'll be in tomorrow evening. Unexpected cool things materialize, and it'll be sometime saturday.

I really enjoy meeting new people (when they're cool and get along with my group of already-friends, or they're flexible enough to get along with anyone). (Most, if not all of you should know this in some form.) Meeting people is, for me, difficult in Houston. Running-back-into-people-I-already know? Not hard. Meeting new people? Not easy.

hmmm. Must change habits, somehow, and meet more people in Houston. Preferably closer to my age (or just... less eighteen edit: (less like eighteen and more like twenty-five, really.)

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Quite strange, how little Adrienne and I talk now. Okay, really it's not strange at all, but it feels weird.

---

two hours until I can leave.

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I still have pictures and crap to post about San Diego. Y'all should hope that my eeeenternet functions correctly when I get back to my place. it was crappy yesterday. i'm not sure what the deal is...

So... Ali is off to the great frozen wasteland up north for Secret Service training (shh, it's a secret). Danny's birthday party wwent well, as best i remember. Andy drove, and that was good. Cap'n Morgan Private stock is good. Shiner is too. don't do like i did and alternate though. (mistaaaaake!</danagould>)

I got to see... damn near everyone i don't get to see often, up to and including:
Adrienne(whoop), Ranie(yay, needed my Canadian/Montana-accent-fix), and a whole load of Cepheid people.

Stacy and Samantha mobbed me in Barnes and Noble, that was kinda cool and (just a tad) scary at the same time. Saw Jo and Dom*whipcrack* And it was good to see everybody else over at Fletcher's.

It was really good to see Adrienne again; we don't get to hang out near as much, since I'm not in CS much, and she's in south Houston, any more. One more reason it'd be good to get a job in Houston. and she got the Al Pacino (yeah, like "cappuccino, frappuccino, Al Pacino, whatthefuck" from Denis Leary, yes)

*sniff* I miss you guys...

yeah. And then I came home and slept.

the ads for the M3Power razors are a lie. i couldn't see any way at the time that a "vibrating" razorblade would shave better, and not to mention the damn things are expensive. There was nothing i could see that would help. Not out of a volt-and-a-half. the damn thing didn't even connect to the blade-- there was no juice running thru the blades...

And that article says that "well, okay... they don't actually work..."

A fool and his money, eh?

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Sancho Erik and Michelle's wedding went well. Anne and Philip's wedding went well. (I had two weddings to go to yesterday). they both went well, everyone cleans up well. The brides both looked beautiful, and damned if the guys didn't look spiffy too.

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went to see Star Wars Episode III today. many people have bitched and moaned about this movie. I liked it. Yoda is awesome. Natalie Portman is hot. Now, Natalie Portman in the slave-girl outfit that Leia wears in the later movies...woops, that was out loud, wasn't it?) Contrary to normal movies, the black dude does, in fact, not die first in this movie. And, um, I like Coke. (yay, random string of facts.)

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going to dinner with Alexis later in the week. whoop. being in College Station was good this weekend. But it's still weird as hell to not live in the house anymore. And now I'm back in Temple. Lots to do tomorrow.

the party was great. thanks to Andy for organizing it, thanks to Kevin for hosting.

Thanks to Gummi, Cherry, Kate, Val, Beth, Christina and the other girls for dressing all redneck. And people wonder why i'm a big fan of redneck girls... aaaanyway....

Glad you came up, James. Hung out with Mike for the first time in a good while in that "just sit and chat" sort of way, even if the mexican-food-plate-of-Hugeness-plus-5 did make dinner entertaining. Kelso was there for like 5 minutes... after makin' the big Cafe Eccell money...And Trevor-- that shirt was awesome. you looked way too convincingly redneck.

And to anyone I know of the reads this that i didn't name up there(specifically Jeff, Kim, dawn, dwayne...) I'm glad y'all came. Thanks, y'all.

And wow, did my head hurt a couple hours ago. Three-quarters of a cold whataburger tastes way better than many of you would think.

didn't do, well, anything productive yesterday. went to class... the sunflower seeds i ate while there were the high point.

went to Trevor and Val's for etouffee last night... cajun food is good stuff. pretty peppery, it was.

last night was, apparently, game night, all around. played some dominoes. Saw a drunk Okie piss into a trash can. (when there was a perfectly good not-being-used toilet not three feet from the trash can he pissed in) Gotta love the Dixie Chicken.

went to Kevin's, played some poker, played some more poker.

Talked to a pretty girl on the phone. Always good stuff, that.

I think i came out of the (5-dollar-buy-in but i went in twice) poker game up a couple dollars. not bad, either way, for several hours of poker. I now have a pretty decent handle on how to play, too.

Since this hadn't gotten posted here, adn everyuone said they didn't know when/where the other party was...

if you can't find it, or don't have a ride, or wahtever, give me a call - 979-255-1977. and I'll get you there, somehow.
-----------start Andy quote from the unofficial 'serv----------------------------
Date: Saturday, Feb 19, 2005 (Dark:30)
Place: Kevin's House
Reason: John Spurlin's Birthday Party

Thats right, Gimli is turning 24. So I reckon that all ya'll Cepheids
should be gitt'n together and cellibrating. Short shorts (ladies and
Mr. E only), cowboy hats, and boots are all invited. If you have none
of these, remember there is nothing more redneck than an A&M Tshirt,
blue jeans, and a bottle of Shiner in your hand. ;)

-Bad Andy
------------------------end Andy quote-----------------

so, um, show up. i wanna see all y'all that i don't see regularly. yeah.

crossposted to cepheidvariable, so, yeah, some of you get this twice.

k... in the past... while...this all has happened.

lunch with Alexis (who was peeved to know that I know a bunch of other Alexises... she likes having a unique name. And her middle one is. heh. that was fun. Dinner at some point releatively soon with her again. heheh.

um... party at my place yesterday. fun stuff, overall. was over a little earlier than i figured, but apparently everyone (me included) was wiped.

classes start soon. I mustmustmust whoop ass this semester. Else i won't graduate. and that's bad. </understatement>

one step closer to having a job in Clear Lake, apparently. it seems they need people soon. And that's good for me. whoop.

looking forward to this upcoming weekend. Going to visit Ali, in Houston, I think. and it;s a short week, too. even better.

ok... off to Kevin's. more drinking shall ensue. whoop.

heh. Ali came for the party... I was surprised that convincing her to come to CS (leaving Houston at 10pm) actually worked. Part of the credit there goes to kevin. He helped convince her to come to the party. Sounds like she freaked out her dad a bit... talking to me, talking to me, suddenly going to College Station-- I can see how he might be a bit weirded out there...

She wore her Norwich class ring, and the thing is huge, but i'm used to it. most of everyone who looks at it, since it's like three times the size of an aggie ring, it blows their mind. And Ali's really thin, too, so her ring really looks huge. Was good to drink and relax a bit last night... now back to finals, bleh.

that was fun... woohoo. It's now, as she said when she left a bit ago, my turn to come to Houston. she's made 3 trips, and I haven't made one yet. woohoo, field trip! *grin* (hey, i'm not gonna argue...)

This song is really good.

Again, I think living in Houston won't be so bad...

i think i'm gonna take a nap. tired I am, yes... < /yoda>

hmm. party on Friday was good, I dunked my ring in 72 seconds. Kevin did hiw in 32 seconds, but I managed to keep all of mine down... good stuff, I beat my old time by 23 seconds. flat, warm beer is indeed easier to chug. but man, it feels wrong to pour the fizz out of beer. really.

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talk with Blythe is later today. That will be... good. I'm looking forward to it, a bit. If only in that "clarification" sense. It will be nice to get a clearer idea where this is.

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went to dinner and talked wtih adrienne, since i haven't seen or talked to her in weeks, literally. that was good stuff.

---

I'm literally concentrating to stay awake. I'm going to bed now.

I KILLED A TREE!!! yay. at my last Aggie Bonfire Cut of my undergraduate career. hahaah. awesome.
it was a good-size tree, too. that rules. brings my total to three for the year. but this one i killed was all me. the others were kinda half-me and half-someone-else. I love chopping on trees. I love all of it. (y'all've heard all this before, i know, i know...)

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going to hang out with Andy in a bit, when he gets here. good stuff, haven't seen him in a while.

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Halloween party tonight... I think i have a costume of sorts, assuming i can get the prop i need. And Blythe's coming with to the party. I wonder what she'll think of all the Cepheids...

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and then tomorrow is Centerpole and studying. Yay!

*grin* just got a random "so whatcha doin?" call from Blythe.

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Dark Side of Oz was good, i suppose. Blythe was gonna go with, but had to finish her fairy halloween costume, so she couldn't make it. eh... She's coming to the party tomorrow evening, so that will be good stuff. I like Pink Floyd, and so it was good. I still need to see "The Wall" at some point, i suppose. It's always cool to listen to music through a sound system that can make it out like it should be heard. LOUD.

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I really like this Olive song. I think her voice is why. Me and my "female vocalists" thing, i guess.

Not a lot else to report... oh yeah, starting to get poison ivy on my left arm. motherfucker I hate poison ivy. but i still have some of the cream they gave me last year to help, and if it gets much worse, i'm going to the doctor. I'm a big fan of that cortisone shot. My immune system is good, but it also likes reinforcements.

THis is, I think, going to be a long next few days. Cutting/moving logs tomorrow, Party tomorrow night, and then Bonfire Centerpole Sunday, so i can't stay at the party very long; and then studying with R. sunday (whoop), and we're going for coffee (that i will need, sweet jesus, i bet i will) monday mid-morning. heheh. my life, too busy. I love it.

ok... going to bed, more tree-killing in the morning.

wo. that was an... interesting party.
--dramatic newbie events
--random... stuff. (WHOOP)
--much flipping off of andy and Kevin
--booty dancin by the girls
--lots of music and singing along by everyone...

and I'm still up at almost 6 am. sheesh, I need sleep.

(and it's likely that next weekend will woop a lot of ass...hehe.)

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WE WON THE GAME! 31-0. maybe we're going to be good this year after all...