Narcissism factor: surprisingly high

I officially started dieting this weekend. Whereas before I had taken such
drastic health-minded steps as switching out real cola for mysterious cola
simulacra (I prefer the fake Coke with bizarre cherry-esque chemicals), now I
am actually logging the number of calories I consume every day, with the goal
of, uh, not consuming that many. Only a week after we decided to stop
budgeting so carefully, I open a new damn spreadsheet. It turns out that I
don’t eat much to start with, so dieting is going to present a unique challenge.

I’m having a pretty hard time retraining myself not to eat when I am hungry.
I have food near me all the time, and the means to procure more at my leisure.
The only thing I can’t do is eat it.

The good part is that when I do eat, I’m eating different stuff, as I search
for healthy snacks and meals. It’s kind of neat to change up the routine,
plus any activity where I get to eat delicious homemade chili is WIN.

I’m also exercising now too, although I’m not sure how long that will last
(ProTip: exercise fucking sucks completely). Last year I started doing situps
every night, but I broke the habit in mid-July on account of organ removal and
subsequent removed-organ-area pain, and never got back into it. I know I can
at least keep that up every night. In addition, Mary and I have been taking
advantage of the Houston winter (AKA summer), enjoying some long walks. I
know they’re working because I sweat more than usual afterward and also my
legs hurt. Also last week we started going to the apartment gym and running
on those elliptical things. I brought my MP3 player and listened to Jay-Z
tell me how awesome and successful he is. That is surprisingly motivating.

Maybe this is the beginning of a new era for JCs! An era of actual motivation! THE AGE OF SOMETHING OF SOME KIND BEING DONE

Seriously, the more actual things I am able to convince myself to do, the less useless I become! Also I lose manboob mass!

Okay, that was a whole bunch of talking about myself.

Another post coming tonight, but in the meantime I'm going to try to sell some more shit.

The new version of Metal Gear Solid 3 (MGS3: Subsistence) is coming out in March, and I'd like to sell my original MGS3 to help pay for it. I kind of want to keep this one too, but I would really feel weird about rebuying it if I still had the game, and I feel bad enough about the potential expenditure as it is. This is absolutely one of my favorite games of all time. Any PS2 owners reading this thing?

I need a part-time job or something.

On the jazz

So I fixed my clock problem. On impulse, I picked up a clock assembly at Michaels, then went home and made this Atari A-Team cartridge clock.


The cartridge was originally Pac-Man, but the glue Atari used for their labels bled through, making an ugly, splotchy mess. Plus, the Atari Pac-Man art... is not that great. So I printed some custom A-Team artwork, which is pleasing to me on three levels:
1) Looks cool
2) I enjoy the A-Team (despite having the show dismissed by one of the Academic Team crowd as 'a Mr.T vehicle'), and
3) There really was an A-Team 2600 game, but it was never released, making my clock seem like a horrible waste of a prototype cartridge (with inexplicably professional labeling)

Yeah. I had planned to put this in my office, but I like it so much that it's my new wall clock by the computer at home, and I'll be bringing the Gyromite clock to school.

I don't know, this is a pretty long post about a boring thing, but I was in a bad mood and showing off my little craft makes me kind of happy. Plus I want to keep up my blog habit. I don't know.

I really need to make a Guitar Hero post too.

Credit hour insanity update

My Japanese class just got bumped up to 5 credit hours unexpectedly. There's talk of my field methods class moving up from 3 to 4.

Keep in mind, I usually took 12 hours of classes as an undergrad and I was a fucking mess all the time. I really need to figure out how to get out of some of this stuff. 21 hours is a whole lot of being in class, and it's a whole lot of work, and it's a whole lot of hoping no one will be in my office so I can have a little cry. I guess it's a whole lot of 'too busy to cook' pizza, too-- every cloud has a thick crust!

In other 'news', today I threw away the HBO/Cinemax desk clock I got for signing up for cable my freshman year. It wasn't until I threw it away that I realized that it was ugly and I didn't like it. I'll use anything, as long as it's a gift from TV!

Winter break is officially over. I was getting along just fine without school, too. Oh well.

I'm taking like 18 hours of classes for some reason. Mostly, it's because

a) there was a lot of stuff offered only this semester that it's a good idea for me to take, but secretly, in my head, after I just now made it up, I have a second reason, that is

b) it'll legitimately be too much and I'll wash out, which would be a good excuse to not be in grad school anymore even though I have no idea what else I could/should be doing

I was actually about 10% hoping that I'd fail something this semester and somehow be kicked out of school. Instead, I got As (including one that I think was mathematically impossible) and Bs. I win either way, sort of!

I haven't really been depressed about career stuff lately, because I haven't been thinking about it. I've mostly been doing what I have to do every day and not worrying about the big picture. Oh, except during the break, when I wasn't even doing stuff outside of housework and recreation.

Um, I don't have much of an ending for this post. I'm basically out of stuff to say.

Buy something, will ya'?

It is time for the 'I feel guilty about buying Guitar Hero' FIRE SALE! If you want some kind-of-cool game stuff, check out my hott deallzzz!

All game discs are in excellent 'borderline-OCD' condition unless otherwise noted. Prices are hella negotiable; I tried to strike a balance in my pricing between 'awesome deals for my friends' and 'gettin' real paid'. I mostly put prices here for if something doesn't sell and I post this same message on a message board.

Lemme know if you want pictures of anything.

Xbox
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time $10
Shenmue 2 $10
POSSIBLY Phantasy Star Online Episode 1&2

Gamecube
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (sealed) $10

Playstation
Threads of Fate $10
This one is kind of rough. It's got sticker junk all over the case, and a big Hastings sticker on the top of the disc (which you obviously shouldn't remove). It worked fine when I tested it, though.

Game Boy Advance
Guilty Gear X Advance $7

PC
Freedom Force (jewel case) $10

Stuff
Super Metroid promotional stand-- about 2 feet tall.some bent corners, and I don't think the plastic stand is original. I really don't remember. I got this from a game store back when Super Metroid came out. The owner was much more interested in selling Atari Jaguars than Nintendo software. I love this thing to death, but I'm saying goodbye to it because my game stuff is starting to take over the house. When making an offer, assume I am going to be crying when I pack this up.

Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast) promotional stand-- this one is about 1 foot tall and has Sonic and Shadow on it. It's also in less-than-perfect condition, though only in the part where the stand is. The front looks awesome.

Hey, remember yesterday?

To my Oklahoma and inter net friends:

I hope that the visit that we had together yesterday was a fun and excellent one and not disappointing or lame. I know I had a good time but I worry a lot about the relative goodness of others' times because that is how I am.

For those of you who weren't there, Jessica, K, Mary and I had a small gathering at Zack and Blair's apartment, where we talked and caught up and I was a little awkward because I'm generally awkward and not great at talking to people, but still really happy to be with my friends!!!! Then we ate at a place called Bahama Breeze where the breeze didn't really come from the Bahamas, but instead from Oklahoma, because that's where they kept the restaurant. I didn't mind the inauthentic breeze, because I was mostly there for food and talking.

Here are some pictures that get bigger when you click on them, and then you can save them on your hard drive and look at them later and remember that we ate at that place:








I am super glad that I got to see people. I forgot how cool my friends are, and I forgot how much I enjoyed having friends.

Hello, blog. I am in a funk. I have that weird tired feeling of someone who's been stuck in the house bored for too long. I don't know what to do-- I've done all the laundry and cleaning I could think to do. I've refreshed the same few websites a million times. Good for their ad revenues, I guess. I have this problem a lot-- when I'm not too busy to do the things I want, I can't find anything to do. I spend all school year thinking of things I wish I could be doing, and I spend all break watching the same episode of FLCL over and over. I feel completely useless. I feel like there's no reason for anyone, including myself, to bother with me. I need to think of something real to write, and I need to write it tonight. I don't know what else I could do to feel like I've accomplished a nonzero amount in my life. What the hell do other people do?

In actual news, we are going to OKC Thursday. I don't know the schedule exactly, but we're definitely doing Norman and I want to see people if I can and if anybody wants to be seen.