July Journal Entries

People (mostly women) here are talking about their petty grudges and here I am waiting for dinner. It's not that I am starving, but the time I wasted in waiting could have been used for something more productive like watch a video.

After taking a shower before evening, I have been bouncing around from room to room thinking of what I can do which would not cost too much time. This includes a brief phone conversation, finishing up the January issue of FHM, and looking over games I could play on the PS2.

If I have dinner now, it would be around 9 pm when I finish and I think it's a little too late for a two-hour movie. I sincerely do not want to repeat the same incident with occurred last Thursday.

The afternoon was more productive. Finally got around to watch Seven Samurai. The damn movie was 3 hours and 30 minutes long, but was so damn good. It was a new experience watching a Japanese movie in black and white. I have to say that it was money well spent. Now I want to get my hands on other Akira Kurosawa films, but the only way to do so is to order them online for loads of much needed cash.

It seems like they are finally done. They should be, they had been at it since 7 in the evening. I am starving now. It's amusing how I did not get myself involved in their conversations and how I just walk past by.

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A Bloody Chore [Saturday, July 31, 2004 @ 3:31 am]

That was quite a bloody chore.

I FINALLY posted all pictures taken during the trip to La Luz Resort last week. Man, there was like 140 of them and I posted them right here on this website.

Geocities may be free, but it has it's restrictions, and second to pop-ups, the most mundane process is updating ESPECIALLY when it comes to 100+ files. For free accounts, you have to use the webpage. No FTP access until you shell out some cash.

I am never going to do something like that ever again. In the future, I'd post a few pics I like on the site but dump the rest on Shutterfly.

Being my day-off and all, I had plans of going out but then laziness and sheer lack of energy kept me at home. It's good though as I have barely had enough rest in two weeks.

No videogames today, just uploading the pictures on the net. I was still able to squeeze in a couple of movies on video, Freaky Friday and Evil Dead II. Still have a couple of unwatched videos, Seven Samurai and 8MM. Add 26 episodes of Full Metal Alchemist and I'd say I have my hands pretty much full for tomorrow. I mean the rest of the day.

I better sleep now, am not used to staying up late anymore. Or maybe I am, which would explain why am still up.

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This is a First [Thursday, July 29, 2004 @ 6:01 am]

Shit.

When I woke up, I quickly glanced at the window. What I saw shocked the life out of me. I quickly grabbed my mobile phone (my watch) to check the time. At this point, my greatest fears materialized. It was 5:20 in the morning and boy was I late.

Decided to go on half day since it would require me at least 3 hours to get to work due to the traffic.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I guess there is a first for everything. This is the first time this EVER happened to me and I would have to say I have pretty lucky. When mom left, no one was left to wake me up. Fortunately and miraculously, I was able to wake myself up and even get to work earlier than I used to.

I knew I was fairly lucky but I knew it would end. Not even after a month of doing this by myself, I have overslept.

There were signs, but I ignored them. Two nights before this, I woke up relatively later than usual, but it was still within the 3-4 am timeframe and hence I was still able to get to work on time. What actually happened was I would wake up to the alarms but would still lie in bed and sleep. This time was completely different. I did not hear any of the alarms, I didn't even touch my primary alarm clock. Plus, 5:20 is so terribly late.

Damn. There is a first for everything and my luck with waking up ran out. This would probably be my first citable act at work, but I hope not. I have been a good boy ever since.

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Miserable and Unaccomplished [Wednesday, July 28, 2004 @ 9:10 pm]

Goodness. Almost a week has passed by since my last blog. I'd say the the start of the week was pretty busy, but after, I was just plain lazy and downright worn-out.

Work is slightly becoming different and tedious as another hour is added to everyday. It's additional money, but living in the boondocks does not help. I waste atleast 4 hours day on travel.

So three out the past four days, I have arrived significantly late. The earliest and only exemption being today, as I arrived slightly before 630 in the evening. Two of those three days were spent on movies, one of which was Imelda and the other was King Arthur.

King Arthur is classic Jerry Bruckheimer crap. It tried too much to ride on the success of Pirates of the Caribbean which has been the biggest and best Jerry Bruckheimer production ever, which they owe to an excellent performance by Johnny Depp.

King Arthur is so bad am almost tempted to say, "I like Kangaroo Jack better!", but no. I certainly like Keira Knightley than Laetitia Casta. Sadly, she alone could not save the film. What the hell happened to Antoine Fuqua?!

Imelda is the first ever documentary I watched on the big screen, and I certainly enjoyed it. Everyone should see this documentary. Makes me exited already about Fahrenheit 9/11, the Oscar winning documentary from two-time winner Michael Moore. IMDB has the movie on the list of upcoming releases for the Philippines.

Damn. So much I want to say, so little time.

Let's make it short then. I am so freaking miserable and unaccomplished. There is this big gaping hole in my life which I don't know what to fill in with. A sign from wherever to give up and leave the country? Hmmm... Let's give that a second thought now.

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Happy Anniversary [Thursday, July 22, 2004 @ 11:40 pm]

Congrats to me.

I have finally committed myself to someone/something for at least a year. In normal instances, they don't even last for more than half a year, so this is quite an achievement in it's own right. Sacrifices have been made. Lives and personas lost (where is stingeyes and simonsayz?). Rewards have been reaped and they are all good.

So a year has rolled out, let's see how far this would go.

I don't remember if I said it aloud or not, but I remember something about shaving my head if I won't get promoted within a year. Or was I going to shave my head if I did get promoted? Damn, I forgot already.

The thing is, I did it and I'd say I look so freaking evil. Bah! I guess it does take some time to adjust to such a change.

Again, there is so much I want to say but I really need to get some sleep as I have a to wake up early for a trip to the beach tomorrow. Yehey!

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Scissor Mayhem [Wednesday, July 21, 2004 @ 11:07 pm]

I don't like this setup at all. I just hurt my hand a while ago due to a sudden fit of rage as I could not find any scissors in this house.

There used to be shit loads of scissors here for cutting off human flesh, i.e. surgical scissors. One by one, they started to disappear. I even had my own pair but when I brought all my things back. Someone borrowed it (took it) and I never saw it again.

When my mom left, she placed a pair in a drawer downstairs. Someone cleaned the top of the desk by dumping everything in the drawer, and now only pair of scissors I know is lost.

The thing is, this is my house and I know where I need to go when I want something and I DON'T like spending even an extra minute in an attempt to find something if it is not in it's rightful place.

Damn it hurts.

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Why didn't I discover this earlier?! [Monday, July 19, 2004 @ 9:16 pm]

I finally got some rest last night. Short it maybe however, I was still able to wake up in time which is definitely a good thing. I am still sleepy though but I need to upload these pics from Saturday night. I bet a lot of people are expecting it. Sort of.

I am so smart. Remembered watching a Photoshop technique on TechTV for automating tasks. I spent less than two minutes figuring how it can be done in FireWorks. Damn. It made my work so much easier.

Due to the limited memory I have for my digicam (32MB compact flash), I have to set it at a lower resolution, around 1024x768. One shot at this resolution and quality produces a file around 600KB in size, which is too much if you are uploading using a slower than turtle speed dial-up connection.

In the past, I would have to edit each picture to a 600x450 resolution and decrease the quality from 86% to 70%.

The pictures last Saturday amounted to 30+ MB, but after editing, I was able to minimize it to a very manageable 5.5 MB.

Had thoughts of watching a movie today, but I decided not too as I was too sleepy. So am definitely behind my usual schedule of watching newly released films on time. Darn!. No harm done though.

At least, I was finally able to watch Big Fish. Loved the movie a lot, Tim Burton is some God by himself. Not only was it a great looking film, but it had one hell of a story. Makes me want to beat myself more for not being able to see Nightmare Before Christmas yet.

This movie made me cry and I don't mean just shedding a tear, but actually cry. I guess it reminded me of my father.

It has been more than two whole years now. I'd love to talk to him about how England lost to Portugal on penalty kicks during Euro Cup 2004 and the different political events around the world. I believe the last time I talked to him, I was telling him how England lost to Brazil during the 2002 World Cup semifinals.

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Cool Cafe Music?!? [Sunday, July 18, 2004 @ 4:19 am]

argon_erratum 's birthday bash just ended a few hours ago, topped off with cake smudging which I did not participate in. It was one grand night, another reunion of sorts for the many people I have not seen in ages.

definiens was present as well, swapping cds along the way. Saw quite a number of other lj people I see from the comments of friends.

I am at the stage where I want to drink my guts out, figuratively speaking, though it sometimes happens literally. Yesterday, I had a can of San Miguel Light while with college friends. It was supposed to be an appetizer of sorts since a bottle of Absolut was ready. The bottle was left untouched when we left.

Today, I had a couple of San Miguel Strong Ice, wanted more, but I had to contain myself as I still had to go to work, which is slightly an hour and half from now.

I wish the GA next week at the beach would offer much of the alcohol I need.

Bah! Work sucks considering that Sunday is a rest day and yet am here waiting until work begins.

P.S.

I did not pick the "current music", it is the current music this Internet Cafe is playing at the moment. Dang! They changed it to ... AGENT ORANGE. Hehehe...

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A Surprise Visit [Saturday, July 17, 2004 @ 12:09 pm]

I knew there was something fishy about that phone call yesterday. It was not just a simple get together but a surprise visit from a friend from Japan. Everyone was present, even our professor in Strategic Management. All of us where pretty much shocked upon seeing her, but pretty much pleased as we don't see each other that often.

Anyway, it was a great night, like all get-togethers are. Dinner at Zong at The Fort and later crashing her suite at The Shang. I wish I could have taken home one of those nice comfy pillows. Damn, I should have brought my digicam along last night. There's always next time.

I dunno if I have garnered enough sleep to last this night well into work the next day, but I sure hope so. I slept around 4 in the morning, and woke up by 8. I was able to sleep again an hour later until 11. I think it is good enough, anyway, I don't have any problems staying awake.

Damn. I am all wet. Since my brother is gone, I have to bathe his Rottweiler pet. The mutt was mildly cooperative but got me all wet in the process. And, I have to do this every week? Hahaha.

So what's up on my list for the day? Lunch. Upload blog. Big Fish. Bathe and leave for Freedom Bar. See yah there!

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Unbecoming An Anti-Social Person [Friday, July 16, 2004 @ 1:04 pm]

Despite the new releases in theaters, I have yet to watch any of them. The ones am interested in are King Arthur, mainly because of Keira Knightley, and Around the World in 80 days which seems to be a fun Jackie Chan movie regardless of the somewhat supporting role.

Initially had plans to watch both of them yesterday, but teammates at work decided to have dinner at Fazoli's. Of course, I joined them as I'd grab any opportunity to spend time with people than spending another movie or two alone.

It was late when I got home, around 11 in the evening, and after washing myself I jump straight to bed and slept like a baby until noon today.

College friends SMS'd me and asked to give them a call. I later found out they had plans for the evening. Again, I had no excuse to stay home aside from the piles of DVDs I have to go through, so I agreed to tag along, well I was invited, so am not simply tagging along.

Tomorrow is argon_erratum's big night, and I won't miss it even it means going straight to work once the event wraps up. No doubt it's gonna be one helluva night.

Time to charge those Ni-Cads, errr, I mean Ni-Mhs. Hell, batteries.

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Mouse Wheel Productivity [Monday, July 12, 2004 @ 7:23 pm]

It's great that Google decided to jump in the free web-email crowd. Gmail is still in beta-test though, but it boast of 1GB of email storage. You would hardly have to care about spam filing up your inbox. It uses a special advertising feature which allows it to support such massive amounts of storage.

Whether or not it would be as great as yahoo (with the popularity of it's e-groups), we have to be thankful that they came up with the idea of massive storage. Yahoo immediately countered this by giving us an upgrade from 6MB to 100MB. Now tell me if that's generous of them or not. My existing mailbox used to fill 97% of the available storage, now it only occupies a measly 4%. Add to that the maximum attachment size has been increased to 10MB. File sharing over email.

Bah. I don't have anything fun to talk about. As a result, we have the above paragraphs.

The workstation I got today had a mouse wheel, but one that did not work. Actually, the whole floor did not have a functioning mouse wheel. It greatly affected my productivity (in cyberslacking). It's like chopping off my right arm and expecting me to work with my left.

Let's move on to some excellent news. Supposedly, our summer outing at work was to be held on July 16-17, which posed a problem since I had to be here. Fortunately, the 16th was already reserved for someone else, so our grand summer outing has been moved to the 23rd and 24th. Now, I only have to think were I can bathe before slipping of to work the next day.

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Work was fun? [Sunday, July 11, 2004 @ 7:35 pm]

Work was fun!

Not!

It was reasonable. I surely missed my buddies at work.

I had no troubles waking up early this morning, simply because I hardly slept at all. By 11:30 in the evening, I was all prepped up to conquer the bed, expecting a decent enough sleep of 4 hours which is pretty much reasonable for me. There I lay, twisting and turning for an hour or so, still unable to sleep.

After reading a couple of articles in FHM's January issue (I am THAT far behind and yes, I do READ FHM.), I decided to lie down once again. That was slightly before 2 in the morning. I don't know how long I slept, but it was definitely less than an hour.

Now, my eyes are really heavy, well they always are, it's just such a pain getting this body to work cohesively. This time, I hope the rest of my body would cooperate.

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Routine [Saturday, July 10, 2004 @ 9:48 pm]

Regular broadcasting resumes tomorrow, but first I must find a way how I can wake myself up at 3 in the morning in order to have sufficient time to get to work.

Slept by 4 in the morning, waking up by noon for lunch and a couple of videos, namely E.T. and Trainspotting. Drew Barrymore was simply adorable in E.T. Don't know what to say about Trainspotting except that it is all great.

Another blistering headache which is prolly caused by wearing eyeglasses when watching videos. It increases the amount of detail.

I don't like eating too early. Before, lunch comes before 2 in the afternoon and dinner by 8. Now, it's totally different. Lunch before noon, and dinner before 6. I am so not used to this. Right now am hungry, and there is nothing to eat in this house at the moment.

Shall I sleep now or should I stay?

Time to work on that plan for waking up.

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This ain't as good as I expected [Friday, July 9, 2004 @ 5:36 pm]

No. It's not fun being in charge on one whole house. Just yesterday I had to shell out some money for LPG and gasoline. I had no freaking idea that a LPG tank costs 400 bucks. I have now mixed my own money with some money my mom gave me before she left, which was supposed to be for payment of something.

The whole ordeal is giving me a splitting headache. Thankfully, my sister-in-law would be coming home by Sunday, I'll just let her think about these things.

Dropped by Megamall to meet her as we had to go get the registration for our vehicle. SMS'ed the sales lady at the main office and they said to come by on Monday. Right. Of course, while waiting, I checked out Power Books looking for copies of Artemis Fowl. Sadly, there were none (I didn't see any, I didn't bother asking) so I checked Tower Records and snatched copies of Cambio and Silent Sanctuary. Damn, I really like the cover art on the Cambio CD and I wish I could score myself a poster.

Yes, I finally have a Silent Sanctuary CD.

Currently in the process of ripping the said CDs.

Hahaha...This made me laugh. Have been downloading songs of Yellow Card from their first album One for the Kids, plus any other song I can come across, specifically from the list generated by azlyrics. Queued some of them on Winamp and Everywhere just came up. Was mighty surprised to hear that it was a cover of Michelle Branch with a nice Yellow Card-ish twist to it.

Two days until I go back to work. Momentarily stopped video gaming. Front Mission 4 is boring and I don't have the time anymore to play through it patiently when there are other games or things to do. Star Wars: KOTOR is still a lovely game, and am saving it for later, I guess after I have seen all of these movies lined up.

Watched 18 episodes of Cowboy Bebop yesterday and would wrap up with the last episodes this evening, after which am planning to watch the movie which would make more sense now since I am already familiar with the characters.

Still have to watch the DVDs I recently purchased along with a copy of E.T. I borrowed. Of course, let's not forget the Full Battle Alchemist CDs I have which upon careful research and googling was discovered to be only half of the whole series. There are 52 episodes in the series and I only have 24 episodes. This is what happens when you buy something you have no idea what it is about aside from bits and pieces glued together with cooked rice. (During E3, I read an article which mentioned Square Enix making a Full Battle Alchemist game.)

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Somebody Feed Me [Thursday, July 8, 2004 @ 10:03 am]

This is going to be so much fun.

Now, am the only person left at home, that is until my grandma and sister-in-law comes back from where ever they maybe. For now, I got the whole house but no food. I for one do not know how to cook be it rice in a rice cooker. As simple as it may seem, it is something I have never tried before.

Without food, what the hell am I supposed to do? Spent quite a number of days just at home, and I guess it is time to go out. Kill Bill Volume 2 is currently showing and Shang-ri La's theaters have just been reopened. Finally, a pretty top-notch movie theater in Ortigas that is easier to access than The Podium. It's hard to walk all over the place.

Checked Click The City, I expected Kill Bill Vol. 2 to be one of the movies shown in Shang but no, they have Spiderman 2 (who doesn't) and Mean Girls. Hahaha. I guess I am trying their theaters some other time. Fortunately, there is a screening at 2:45 pm at The Podium. Am cracking my brains right now.

Cinemanila kicked off last July 1 in Makati with Zatoichi, a movie I want to watch. Yes, they have a nice website but is pretty much useless as it does not even have the screening times for the movies they have. Stupid. I don't have the time and patience to waste a full day going over to Makati to check out the schedules, buy reserved tickets and come back the following day. I guess I have to resort to ordering DVDs again over the net which by itself costs a small fortune.

Speaking of DVDs, I am mighty amused by the fact that I am collecting DVDs already but still does not have a dedicated DVD player for them. PC DVD drives and the PS2 are not good alternatives for watching DVDs. Who wants to watch DVDs for three straight hours on a PC monitor, especially if most of your work is already spent in front of one. PS2s on the other hand seem to work better with DVD-Rs than original DVDs, this maybe a result of the modification done on it so it would work with pirated games. This makes the PS2 really picky when it comes to DVD movies.

Nah, I don't think I have enough reason to travel 4 hours (back and forth) with the sole purpose of watching Kill Bill Vol. 2, a film I have already seen on a bootleg copy. I could easily catch it next week when I go back to work.

Now, how where the hell am I supposed to get some food to eat. I sincerely hope they'd come up with new flavors for Chowking's Chao Fan. Might as well settle for the ever dependable Instant Noodles, the Breakfast of Champions. Also the breakfast, lunch and dinner of starving college students. Credits to Angry People for that one.

Wait, schedules for Cinemanila are FINALLY up. Sadly, there are no good times for Zatoichi or Vibrator, they come too late and I have work the next day. Sick.

Ever heard of a Mac Gamer?

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Twelve point five [Wednesday, July 7, 2004 @ 1:08 am]

Whew. Busy day.

Mom and my bro are leaving the country by 8 pm today. With a folder full of resumes from neighbors hoping for a shot of leaving the country. Amusing ain't it?

I for one hardly care about leaving the country, maybe because I haven't found myself yet. I know it's pretty vague but you know what I mean by knowing myself. When it comes to that point that I'd ever leave this country it simply means I have given up on whatever life I had in this country. Not to mention the direction the country, as whole is heading to.

Sadly, this point seems closer than it could be.

So far, I have spent two days of my leave playing videogames and watching movies. Downloading the patch for Star Wars: KOTOR fixed the choppy issue but I still ended up playing Front Mission 4. I feel more comfortable playing on a console than on a PC. And no, I doubt this is caused by my work which requires me to be in front of the PC 8 hours a day, but as been so ever since I took videogaming seriously.

For movies, am done with Y Tu Mama Tambien and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The former being a movie not for the sleepy.

No doubt today is going to be busy, so no videogaming or movies. Come Friday, am planning to skip these video games and watch the whole series of Cowboy Bebop until my eyes pop out. It ain't that long anyway, only 25 episodes. 25 multiplied by 0.5 hours equals to 12.5 hours. Easily handled in a day.

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Leave of Absence [Monday, July 5, 2004 @ 10:08 am]

After almost a year at work and never been absent, I have finally taken some days off, signed leave of absences.

I have six days to do the things I want to do, which mainly involves videogaming.

Passed by Sta. Lucia yesterday, looking for some games I could play. Seems like I over did it though. Purchased copies of Front Mission 4 and Silent Hill 4 for the PS2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on the PC and the complete series for Full Metal Alchemist, an anime.

Add to that I have untouched copies of Y Tu Mama Tambien, Seven Samurai, Trainspotting, and the complete series of Cowboy Bebop.

What the hell was I thinking? 6 days off is not enough to accomplish all of this.

So far, I have started playing Star Wars: KOTOR and it is an enjoyable game, heck, it was RPG of the year in 2003. Sadly though, the moment I got to the next area, the graphics became very choppy. Puzzled me at first since I got through the first level with no slow-downs what so ever. Graphic options have all been turned to the lowest setting but still no change. Am thinking it's probably a bug and an updated patch would fix the problem as well as installing the latest video drivers.

I have mixed feelings about this one. Part of me hopes it would fail so I could move on to Front Mission 4, but there is also a part wishing it would work so I don't have to write-off my PC as useless.

30 minutes till the download finishes. Let's just sit back and see what would happen.

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Rock Against Piracy [Saturday, July 3, 2004 @ 6:41 pm]

I don't know where to start. Why does it seem like I have flushed this blogging mood from my system. Used to enjoy it, I guess I still do, but I don't know where to begin. What the hell is happening?

Rock Against Piracy last night was awesome, the crowd was quite well-mannered. The venue was suffice, but it was scary if something may happen, as argon_erratum put it, "A scene from Cold Mountain." Well said.

Anyway, I don't know what happened with my camera, but when I checked it after the gig, it had 194 pics on it. Talk about automatic. Ha! Good thing I charged the batteries before I left, I now know they can last a full gig. Sadly, the same can't be said about the memory. At 1024x768 per shot, there was only room for 4 more when I checked it.

Uploading all of them is such a drag. In order to speed up the process, you have to edit the pictures, reducing the resolution to 600x450 and lowering the quality a bit, or else, you're fucked, unless you have a broadband connection. In the process, I found out a nifty trick, upload them in small bunches instead of dragging all of those 194 items all at once.

Eventually, I did manage to upload them including some long overdue pics from Fete de la Musique and level up my Assassin as well. Am getting hooked into Diablo II again. Hints of addiction. Bah!

Speaking of hack-and-slash Diablo, MU Online is going to be released locally. Another localized MMORPG for us broadband-deprived people. I doubt it would be as popular as RO, but any MMORPG is welcome. Now, let's work on City of Heroes, okay?

Look what I got in the mail the other day.

Right. I wish I could say it came by mail. The freaking courier company could not find my address so I had to pick it up in Sta. Lucia the other day.

Enough of that, I now have them and I am a happy boy once again. Have yet to watch it though, but I only have one work day this week, I have all the time in the world to enjoy these two along with Y Tu Mama Tambien and Cowboy Bebop.

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Busy [Friday, July 2, 2004 @ 3:34 pm]

It's been ages since I blogged. Seems this blog hiatus that is affecting everyone has also infected me dearly.

There has been a lot I wanted to say and blog about but it seems that everytime I get home am too worn out for anything else. I thought by moving back to the day shift I'd be able to blog more. Seems that it does not work that way.

Busy day today, which was mainly eaten up by trips to the banks. How I wish money could just be accessed easier.

Have plans to go to NU 107s Rock Against Piracy today. This means that in an hour or so, I would need to prepare myself if I want to get there in time.

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JULY JOURNAL ENTRIES

Big Changes

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