4-09-00 (4:40 a.m.) Well now you tell me you love somebody And you'll love 'em forever, you may love 'em forever, But you won't like 'em all of the time. Well now you tell me you need somebody For the rest of your life you might have somebody, But you won't want 'em ev'ry day.      --Billy Joel I like the idea of finding a quote for my entries....and that was the best I could come up with at this hour of morning. Hmmm....the first half of the week was pretty quiet, and the last part was not busy, but full. And in this, I'm referring to the important parts of life, not school stuff. I'll start with Thursday, which is the title of a Dan Fogelberg song but that fact only has relevance to other parts of my life....which I can't remember if I've explained or not...probably not, but you can ask....Hmm where was I? Oh ; ) Thursday. Peng and I decide to stay up all night, and try to do the work we should've been doing...we didn't get much work done...but it was still fun, and I did get a little done. Keep in mind as you read the following, that Subway closes at 2 a.m. and is approximately 1/2 mile from the AURICS lab (where we were at the time). Peng, Colin, Daniel and myself are trying to get a 4v4 game on Fierce Ocean Combat (a board few Warcraft II players will play you on...so we had a snowballs chance in Becton of actually getting such a game going). Peng suggests that we may want subs at some point, and should get down there before it closes. As I'm messaging Daniel and Colin, to see if they'll wait for us to get our sandwiches....we get our 4 opponents. I've never seen a game fill up that fast. We did the only thing you can do in that position, we played the game. As the name suggests, it's a sea board...but I always play it like a land board. It's not a very good solo strategy, but it works in teams. Because we have the full 8 players, I know our opponents are on the islands we don't own. I drop my grunts on the foreign soil, to discover my opponent erecting towers, which I promptly knock down, and go about killing his workforce. One of his teammates (who was also land rushing) drops his grunts on his partners land, to save his butt...instead of killing one of us. He kills what remains of my attack, but I'm building more units, and when he lands on my island, I kill his and press the attack. This time, I meet no resistance. However, one of his teammates has landed on my base with Ogres...so I train a bunch more units, and build some towers, barely saving my base. As this saga plays out, my teammates are taking out various other opponents, and their ability to leave the island. Thanks to my capture of one island, we have been guaranteed more resources than their team, which almost ensures our win. We get it down to one opponent, who I'm pretty sure can't leave his island...so I drop my attack force, and look at my watch: 1:55. Assuming that Colin and Daniel can handle this guy, Peng and I jump from our seats, and head for the door. Peng mentions needing to get money, but I assure him I can cover it and announce "I'll race you to Subway." I take off...with Peng not too far behind...I run out of steam on the far side of the library...and start walking...peng also starts walking...but he's not quite as worn out as I 'cause he didn't run quite so hard (and he has PE this semester). He beats me just barely, we both hit the Subway panting our lungs out....but with 1 minute to spare. Pointless story #2 also takes place Thursday...only this is really Thursday, not Friday morning. It involves Angela Hubbs. Following Archery, we both go to the Student Center Taco Bell for lunch. We learned during our Orientation training that the Agriculture and Engineering departments used to have a major rivalry, where the Ag people would do something like let a cow loose inside an Engineering building, and the Engineering students would do something like Assemble a cannon on the 3rd floor of an Ag building. Ever since I heard this, I've been suggesting we build a cow in some Ag building. It's not really a serious suggestion 'cause I have no mechanical skills whatsoever...or any artistic skills...both of which would be required for said cow. Anyways, we're there at lunch and Angela suggests that in addition to the Cow...we should fill it with stinkbombs. This strikes me immediately as a bad idea. I have no real concept of what a stinkbomb is, what it's composed of or anything like that...but the term stinkbomb does not sound to me like something that would be appreciated by the faculty at large, or the person finding it, or all sorts of other people. I tell her this, but she still seems to think it would be pretty funny. In an effort to point out how some jokes aren't funny from a certain perspective...I bring up an event from the preceding day. Joe had a slightly puffy lip. Colin and Joe tell Angela that it's because Colin was trying to play Warcraft, and Joe was trying to mess him up, so in his efforts to keep Joe back, Colin knocks him over a chair, and causes his facial injury. The actual event (as Colin eventually told Angela) was a group of people playing frisbee, and Joe catching one with his face. We all think it's funny, but she's hurt by how long we took to reveal that it was a joke. This reminds me of the time we convinced Colin that Joe was exploring homosexuality with Kevin Brown, but I digress. Angela's response? It wasn't funny, it was someone taking advantage of my good nature, it would've been funny if Joe had told me before he left dinner. She's proving my point as she disagrees with me. Obviously someone thought it was very funny, and someone thought it was about as far away from funny as you can be. She insists "You're not making a very good point." This is turning into a "I'm right 'cause I said so" argument, which I've had all too often with my mother, so I excuse myself politely from the table. I'll have a friendly debate/argument with anyone...but only if the other side's listening. Saturday, as we're walking to Cameron Village, to drop of Reservoir Dogs, and get some groceries...I don't remember how we got there, but at some point Colin, I think it was, suggested that we all dress like bums, and try to get people to give us money, then take all the money and give it to real bums. Realistically, we'd probably never do it, but we all liked the idea...well with the exception of Angela. She says "I think it's a dumb idea." Hey, she's welcome to her opinion...even if she is going to state it somewhat rudely. She basically takes the standpoint "They can get off their lazy asses and find a job" Nevermind the fact that earlier in the year she said she wouldn't let other people use her shower, even if they really needed one. She still thinks that these people can find clean clothes, showers, and jobs. I know that working at McDonald's (about as low skill as it gets) I only had one uniform and I smelled bad at the end of the day. If I was sleeping in a box, I'm sure I'd smell worse, and if I had to hunt for a shower, there'd be days I wouldn't get one. Besides...what do you put in the "Address" field? "Salvation Army Shelter"? "Box in front of your establishment"? *shrug* Do you even have the necessary IDs that prove you can be employed? Besides, does it hurt to be a nice guy from time to time? Do they deserve it? Probably not, does that mean we shouldn't give it to them? That's a personal quetion. I'll usually give a bum a buck if he deserves it. One guy was trying to play the harmonica, and he smiled at me. I just thought he was cool, so I gave him a dollar when he asked. He even asked to make sure I could afford it. It's probably all part of his "act" but I think he deserved it. Angela's our token Christian. Colin and Josh consider themselves christian...but neither is...how do I put it...they don't point it out, you'd have to ask. Joe and I, I think fall under the vague category Agnostic. I know I do, and I'd put Joe there if I had to pick a category. Don't most churches place a large emphasis on charity? Most of them even take up offerings for the poor. Granted this money is usually put into programs that ensure nobody's going to buy booze with it, but if they can get their food from the church, that gives them more cash for the booze. So, why is our biggest advocate for Christianity the only one of the bunch who thinks that giving someone something just to be nice is a good idea? I have questions, but no answers. Assume Christianity...I don't know much, but I know more than I do for any other religion. God creates the world and all that other stuff, then he calls it Good. So, where's all this natural depravity shit come in? Adam & Eve and their damn fruit? I doubt it. Holding someone responsible for their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, or some other relative is the stuff upon which organizations like the KKK are based. If we were to throw people in Jail because their parents commited crimes, that would be considered absurd, but somehow having long-distant relatives who may or may not have existed that did something somehow damns the rest of us to hell? God created us in "our image" It's vague like that. Maybe there's more than one (that would seem to explain females). But he/it is a non-corporeal being, so it would seem that most of that image would have to be contained in our thoughts and ability to reason...not our bodies. So, when I have a thought, it's a small inkling of God's thoughts. Additionally, God's supposedly a lot nicer and all this unconditional love stuff. I personally would never send someone to hell forever, as we're told he does. I mean, forever's a pretty long time. If we started out Good, then in our short lifetime, how can we do something so bad, that we should spend forever in a really unpleasant place? Does this mean there's no punishment for being a jackass, or a blasphemer, or whatever else they nail you for? Probably not, but I'm nicer than to send someone there forever...and God's supposed to be nicer than I am...So I don't believe in Hell really. Maybe I'll believe in it when I end up there, hopefully not. I really hadn't intended to get so bogged down in religion, but hey there's my opinion. I saw Kate Saturday, when I went to S&M to see the Wiz...well....I mostly went to see Kate, but the Wiz was an added bonus. I enjoyed it. The cast didn't always sing loud enough (usually I'd say the band was playing too loud, but the band was at the right volume), and I'm sure the quality of the singing wasn't as high as some people were expecting, but I'm not real picky and I enjoyed it. Afterwards, Joe spent a lot of time bitching about not being able to eat the pizza reserved for the cast. I was ignoring him, but Kate and her sisters have an annoying habit of needing to be shown right on principle, so instead of just flat out telling him he wasn't getting any, or ignoring him, she tries to explain to him why he isn't getting any. (That is NOT a quote) I feel her tension level rising, and I try to suppress the urge to tell her to calm down. I meet with limited success. I usually manage to catch myself about halfway, but that's a lot like a total loss 'cause she knows what I was going to say. Despite Joe's annoyance, she seemed in a better mood this weekend than last. I'm guessing it was parent related stress mostly. She tried to prepare me for the coming weekend. Loch Norman Highland Games--translation big get together for the Morrison clan. She tries to touch on all the major points. She just turned 18, so these people are bound to pull something. She is planning to drink. She knows I don't, and most people translate that as disapproval of drinking in general. I mostly just don't trust myself in anything less than full control...I do enough stupid shit sober. I don't like being around Joe when he's been drinking, but that's just 'cause he takes it as an excuse to be really silly and annoying. I've never been around Kate when she's had enough to make a difference, and I really don't imagine her being joe-like. The other main point she touched on was that she would be spending time with me, but she also was going to spend time catching up with her cousins. Which was basically her polite/discrete way of saying "don't follow me around like a lost puppy." It's a bad habit I have. When I'm in a strange place, I tend to cling to the people whom I'm already comfortable with. Although she never said as much, I got the impression she wanted slightly more personal space than I gave her at the only similar gathering I've ever been to. This time, I'll know some of the people, and I'm getting a feel for the kinds of things that are and are not safe/good to say. They're all cool people. I just don't know any of them. In a worst case scenario, I'll just grab a drink, and sit around looking like I'm having a good time. Meagan told me to go to bed, about the time I was starting this...she logged off before I responded. It's 6:33 and I think I'm about to take her advice ; ). I have no real concept of what I've written, or if it's coherent, or anything....Oh, one more thing...Kate did read at least my last journal. I think she got a little defensive about it, but at least she's reading them, even if she's reading them from the wrong end ; ). She claims to have read some of the ones from the beginning...*shrug* I really don't have control over when, why, where, how or who reads my page...so I guess the fact that she's reading them should be enough. Goodnight All