A slightly disturbing glimpse...

Most people don't want to know what goes on in my head. I mean, I know Ro does. She makes me promise to tell her every twisted thing I ever thing up and mean thing I can ever say.... it makes her laugh. Well, tonight I decided to draw you guys a new comic strip. Its nothing like the last one, although don't be suprised to see another one like the last make a comeback sometime, this is a little more deranged. Hey, it made me laugh to draw... and I think that Deep Down, Ro will like it.


Click HERE if you want to see.

We've Got Movie Sign!!!

So I've never seen the new Chocolate Factory Movie, but I've heard good things about it and want to see it. Moreso than that, I want to see a different movie that hasn't been made yet, "Billy Bonka's Beef Factory!!" Just think about it... A little boy finds his golden ticket with his steak he ordered at a resturant and goes on a wild and crazy adventure into Billy Bonka's Amazing Technicolor Slaughterhouse...

Ok, so maybe the public's not quite ready for that film, but imagine it was a slasher comedy (kinda like a Freddy Movie). I think it would a Grade A piece of work. Definately a Cut Above the rest. A Prime (rib) choice... alright, none of those really worked, but you can't blame me for trying.

On the flip side, you know how movies always come in waves. Remember when Natural Disaster Movie's were all the rage (Twister, Volcano, Earthquake, Dante's Peak). And not that long ago it was all about Epic Films. Well, I want the next big thing to be, Accurate Histories. There's a new movie coming out called "The New World" starring Colin Ferrell as John Smith, Q'Orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas and Christian Bale as John Rolfe. I have a sinking feeling its going to be... less than accurate. What I really want to see is the TRUE story of Christopher Columbus. Now That would be a movie that would shake some things up. The only catch is that they would have to use only reliable sources of information, Columbus's Journal for example. Otherwise certain extremists would just be able to write everything off as Anti-American Propaganda. An accurate account, in everyone's face, would be good for this country. But hey, that's just my opinion.

Slowly going the way of the Overachiever

Alright, so it was a disease of mine at the end of highschool and freshman year of college that I tried to do EVERYTHING. I did everything from Illinois Math League - Show Choir - Model UN - Community Theatre - My own quartet for money on the side - a lot of junk. It caused me to take on too much my freshman year and sqeak by with a 2.01 GPA my first semester because I couldn't handle it all. Well, I learned my lesson and try not to bite off anymore than I think I can take. Its been a long time since I joined a random group or club. Sure I did TaeKwonDo for a bit, but really that was it besides a choir or two in college... oh, and ITI.

Last night I started working on my connections and resume building for UIS. I asked Tom Ryder (Josh/Tim's Dad) to come speak to our class, yeah that's a few bonus points for the teacher I know. But after that I joined a club at UIS. MIG (Model Illinois Government). Seemed like fun, it'll help me learn more about politics, and I get mondo bonus points (literally - class credit) from one of my teachers.

Following in my surrogate father's footsteps I'm going to be a lobbyist, and it only requires the next 5 Tuesday nights (after my night class) and then a 4 day weekend. The first day of the big weekend is actually my birthday. We're put up at the Hilton and will be "in session" for 3 days as well as various events like a "Governor's Ball." I'm sure I'll have more to report as I learn what I really got myself into.

For now, its back to reading.

Some solid reading material.

So I've got classes again. Tuesday is my Reading Class... That's what we do apparently from the syllabus, we read - a lot. I'm sure there are tests and papers in there as well. But I have to read everything from "Parties, Politics, and Public Policy in America" and "Interest Groups in American Campaigns" to an analysis of "What's the Matter with Kansas?" LOTS OF READING. My Thursday class is actually a Math Class (well statistics actually) and I haven't taken a math class in YEARS. Frankly I'm kind of looking forward to it. I understand Math. You don't write papers in Math.

Since I figured I had some spare time coming up I also qualified for a ton of free magazine subscriptions. All I had to do was punch Osama in the face in a pop up winner and I apparently was selected to win! Alright, so it wasn't really a pop up, but not far from. I completed a survey for a product I bought and they, in return gave me free magazine subscriptions for a year, and then I filled out like 3 more random surveys and got more magazines. Now I'm getting a TON of magazines sent to my apartment and it's awesome. I got Time a few days ago, and PC World Today. Oh and I got Maxim sent here the other day as well. I believe I've got about 3 more subscriptions coming, it's awesome. Its like having friends... except they're going to want money from me.

No, wait. Its still just like friends.

I'm getting my exercise at least.

I find myself jumping up from my chair at the most inconvenient times and rushing to my door to look out my peephole these last few days. Whether I'm watching TV, surfing the internet, using the bathroom, reading my homework... I'll hear noises outside and zip right over and indulge my voyeuristic side. You see - my roommate Jay, the blind neighbor*, just recently moved out and that means I'm getting new people across from me. I've found that I'm incredibly interested in what kind of person this will be and it takes precedent over most everything else that I'm doing. For example:

What if it's some scary guy with a bushy beard and snaggleteeth who wears a trenchcoat and sunglasses indoors all the time. That could be creepy. He could be a child molester or something.

What if its some washed up old celebrity who could turn my apartment life suddenly very sitcomish. Someone like Doogie Howser, or that Encyclopedia Britannica Kid, or Rob Schneider.

What if it's two incredibly hot girls that are thinking about moving in next to me. Well, maybe that one's not too likely seeing as that its a one bedroom. Well I guess they could share a... hmmm...

Anyways! A guy's gotta know these things!

Hey! I don't smell bad!!!

So Springfield just passed the Public Smoking Ban, and although it doesn't come into effect for a while we swear we noticed a difference at the Pool Hall tonight. This IS AWESOME FOR ME!!!! I don't have to smell like smoke now. I don't have to get headaches and cancers now. I can go out with friends to bars and pool halls and all that stuff without the bad stuff attached to it. I'm freakin' excited about this. That was one of the main reasons I didn't ever go out.

So yeah, way excited about this. Normal (Illinois State) is apparently considering/has already followed suite. Reguardless of the arguement that secondhand smoke may or maynot cause cancer (which I believe it sure isn't good for you) its nice not to have public places reek anymore.

Quick Link: How to Speak Gibberish. Ro is a huge fan of Gibberish, and speaks it quite fluently (and quickly). It's Higitard.

Finally, I want to thank everyone for my 20 Comments. That's great, and inspiring. I think i may have to do something extra special for you now. I'll think about it.

To All My Loyal Fans

Tim: I loathe you more than you may ever understand. I played a damn good round of Guitar Hero... a 224 note streak... just to be beaten by your damnable high score. I will probably never forgive you for that.

Scott: Your competitiveness is entertaining to me. Just today you were telling me about how you were idly keeping track of who's blog was getting more hits, but do you know what I realized just now... we're that close in numbers and you had A CLASS WHO HAD TO READ YOUR BLOG!!!! *Insert Smug Smiley Face Here*

Ro: Hi Princess! I miss you!

Mom: Dearest Mother. Thanks for being my most loyal commenting family member. I know others may read this (ahem DAD), but they can't seem to find that comment button.

Josh: What's up Buddy? How's Greek? I'm glad you've got your own blog for me to follow up on nowadays. Damn, next Europe trip we're going to be all over this blogging thing.

Tabitha & Breyn: I've grouped you two into one. Ever since you decided to get pregnant at the same time and such, it was just ridiculous. Breyn, are we doing something together at ITI this year? Do I need to fill out an app for this? What is going on?

Grandma & Grandpa: I know you guys are some of my loyal readers, so I wanted a chance to say "HI GRANDMA! HI GRANDPA!" Can't wait to have you two up to my apartment again for dinner sometime.

Phil: I am ALWAYS entertained by what you think/have to say. It never even bothers me that you don't proofread/capitalize/punctuate your statements. It makes it more like being with you in person... Raw, unadulterated, uncensored Phil.

Kimmy: I've always liked you Kimmy. From day one. Because I saw a slightly more cynical, muchly more female version of myself in you. I think you should form an AWR Rebellion.

Freemama: Ahh Melinda. Because of you, you keep alive all of our good times. Like our Versus Matches, or RubberBand Challenges.

Zin: All the way from India?!? Was one of those dots ACTUALLY you? Wait, so you were in India, reading my blog, and you "didn't have anything interesting to say"?? Give yourself some more credit than that. How about "Hey, I'm reading your blog from India." That's pretty damn interesting to me! *insert quirky smiley face here*

CorietheGreat: The Corie IS Great. Google defines it as "of major significance or importance." aka Corie. You've always got a home here Corie.

Anna: I Love You too Snuggles!!!

Anne: Hey remember that Pig at Cora's (spelling??). Yeah, I definitelyneeded you to cut that piece off for me. We worked well together, i don't think anyone else noticed that I can't stomach the sight of eating the meat straight off the animal.

Grade (A)my Woman: I'm sorry Amy. I didn't mean to forget about you... It just kind of slipped my mind temporarily. Consider this your shout out: "WHADDUP A-to-the-izzmay!!! Keep in real in Nebraska!! Represent!!"

Regina and Connie: Fighting to live up to Freemama and Kimmy in the Ex-PlaceofEmployment Catagory Loyalists. I'm not really sure how often you read this, but you're always welcome. Keep down the fort for me. Or was the lack of commenting because there's only one of you now... Regina???

Jacob: See how you're last Jacob? That's because I hate you.

In Lieu of Real Foreigners

We're just going to have to make due with what we got. Yesterdays post was via Ro's request. A request she made nearly daily for me to call out these people from the other side of the globe. But, none of those responded, so much like when the Chinese Resturant at the mall hires Latinos... we go for "close enough."

Scott Smith is the Winner!!! That's right, all the way from Elgin Illinois, currently attending Illinois State and dating my sister... The man with the Least Foreign name I could dream up, Scott Smith has won a free blog promo!

Scooter Does It, is a quirky blog updated about once a week. But he also provides for some interesting random thoughts such as "When someone asks me what's its all about, I enjoy telling them: You do the Hokey Pokey and turn yourself around. That's what its all about." Scott is a Tall, Left-Handed, Blue Eyed hunk of manly love who really enjoys The Matrix. Actually, I think it may border on unhealthy. One time he stumbled across his grandpa's heart medicine and took the whole bottle just because they were red pills.

Anyways, a second site everyone needs to click on and comment on is Jamie's. That's right. My sister's blog. Everyone comment, it'll be fun. Ro, you can be excited... yours is way better than Jamie's.

Oh yeah, I didn't spend anything today. Doing pretty well.

Attention Foreigners

No I'm not talking about fanatics of the hit 80's supergroup... albeit "Waiting for a Girl Like You" is an excellent song, and is my favorite song to run people down to in Grand Theft Auto. I'm referring to people not from around here. Doesn't have to be from far, just not one of the regulars on the site. Ro and I were discussing the dots that show were all my visitors come from, and we're amazed that I allegedly get so many hits, yet no one comments. We want to hear from you. I have little to offer you as an incentive to post, other than say.... a review of your blog and maybe help you get some more traffic. All you got to do is drop in, say hello, and where you're from. We like meeting new people, especially those from outside Illinois, or even better, The United States. We welcome you with open arms. Come on, post something. ANYTHING! PLEASE!!!


Rob's Spending Update: Friday night I spent $1 at the pool hall playing 3 rounds of pool. I also paid for a tank of gas because I came up to help Ro move into her dorm. The gas was like $25... But other than that, I'm doing pretty well.

When is a nap, not a nap?

Some may say when it is more than four hours long. Like from 4 pm to 8:15 pm this evening. Now I'm not one to judge, expecially myself, but that's a bit much in my opinion to be considered a "nap." I think naps are supposed to be less than an hour, a power nap I believe is about 20 minutes. you may be able to get by with a 2 hour nap, but more than 4? I'm not sure what it is that I've done.

Remember those red/blue pads that everyone sleeps on in Kindergarten? I've always said that we should make use of those in professional working environments, its a joke I make at least twice at every job I work at.... it just always comes up. Well, looks like I'm not the only one who feels that way, CHECK THIS OUT!!! Its awesome. I'd sure use it.


Also since apparently I've screwed up my "Posting Everyday" new years resolution (by the way since we're keeping track... thats the first comment from Tabitha this year... hmmm) I'm going to clue you into a different resolution. Its my I'm ridiculously broke and need to be super cheap until I dent my credit card bill. So my solution? I'm going to tell the world every cent I spend (with the exception of bills, because those are fixed). That should help me not spend money.

Today I spent $3.00 on lunch at Shop n Save (going to have to switch back to PB&J for lunches) and spent $13.70 on Milk, Bread and Frozen Chicken Breasts. I'm going to consider today a heavy spending day. We should be lighter from now on.

And the first thing I did... I kicked it.

Makes sense to me, when you get something new you kick it. When you need to fix something, you kick it (like Josh's Bike). When love someone you kick Ro... I mean it. Its the way the world works.

I got my Christmas present installed today, my remote car start/alarm/door unlocker/trunk release thing. I wanted to hear what it was like, so I turned the security system on and kicked the tire....

Nothing happened. So I kicked harder...

My car started making this odd Chirping sound, but then stopped. So I kicked it again....

The Chirping again, but this time the remote on my keyring chirped as well. Cool... Kick.

All hell broke loose, by remote was chirping and the siren was going off on the car. I started hitting buttons, my trunk opened, my car started and eventually... I turned it off. It was awesome. Its the bestest car ever. I haven't started the car manually since I got the install (a good 6-8 starts. And the boop-BOOP noise when you disable the system is my favorite too. Its all my favorite.

I think I'm going to get one installed on Ro. For saftey/security purposes. If a scary man walks too close to her she'd chirp. If he talks to/comes in contact with her the siren wails. Also my keychain will indicate her status at all times and chirp when she's in trouble. I think it's a good plan. And she can have the bright blue LED light that now flashes on my dash (warning that there's an alarm) put on her forehead or something. Kinda like a bindi, but Rave-tastic.

Not Lovin' It.

Remember the big moon headed man? The one who played piano? And that burger swiping trickster? Those are what I call the golden days of McDonalds. "Good Time, Great Taste, At McDonalds..." Yeah, that this "doo Doo doot do DOOOOO" Bullhockey. When they had cool toys that kids cut choke on or cut themselves with. When they had Square Records that told you if you were a winner. THEY WERE SQUARE RECORDS!!! I knew how to spell Mc-D-O-N-A-L-D-S before I knew how to spell my middle name because of that contest and it's catchy jingle. So I'd like to state just once for the record. I hate you McDonalds. Not because you make us fat and lazy. Not because you target kids harder than Joe Camel (side note, Mc Donalds is the worlds largest public playground provider.) But because you're not cool anymore. I feel like you've killed a piece of my childhood, and for that I can never forgive you.

Oh yeah, and think about this. Know how you can go out to a nice resturant and order a steak, and then you can go home and try to replicate that meal. Its hard yes, but with a little practice you can get it. Just like how I try and copy dishes from Chinese Buffets. Now I want you to just try and reproduce a McDonalds Hamburger. Go ahead. Just try. I'll give you a hint, don't grill a hamburger to start. Think about it, you KNOW that tastes nothing like a real hamburger. Hardees is real close, but McDonalds - Never. So if it doesn't taste like a hamburger, What does it taste like?

Laptop Shopping

So, I don't buy things for people at Best Buy. They look very poorly upon that sort of thing... and by "poorly" I mean "they press charges." But I do seize every opportunity I can to help out, expecially my girlfriend. Like the fact that Ro wants a basic laptop. You see, the semester after next she'll spend half the week at a dorm in Jacksonville School for the Visually Impaired, and the other half at ISU. Also her camps and such over the summer. Also She HATES moving her computer at the end of each sememster. But I wouldn't buy her a laptop with my discount because its easier when I don't make exceptions for people. But I have been keeping an eye out.

We got a new manager today in the computer department. Turns out we have like $100,000 in items that we shouldn't really have anymore (aka "old"). So he's getting rid of everything so we can have a fresh start. He's really cut a lot of prices low, for example a $450 laptop. There is only one, and it is an open/display item. I open tomorrow and I'm hidding that price tag. Ro has until 5:00 to decide if she wants that laptop or not. Best Buy is going to be pissed because I'm not getting any services or extended warrenties or anything... The Buy is going to lose a chunk of money on this deal, but hey, its totally legal.

And I have to be at work at a quarter till 9 tomorrow. I'm sleepy.


One final thing, in the vain of painful child performers, I bring you this.

They All Look Alike Anyways...

So Ro and I went to Thailand today. Not the country, but the resturant down the street from my apartment. We had gone there before over the summer, once before, but we walked. It was cold today and walking was out of the question. We sat down and was ready to place our order when the little old chinese (or Thai... whatever, refer to the title) lady came up and was like "Pad Thai? Chicken?" Ro, a bit taken aback said no... shrimp. The lady was "Oh, ok. Long time since last you were here." Yeah, that's a bit of an understatement. It had been months, but this lady claimed to remember Ro, as well as remembered what she ordered last time.

This isn't the only time we've had odd experiences at Asian Cuisines here in Springfield. At the Japanese Resturant the lady got all friendly with Ro and was asking all these questions and was like "its been a long time." Ro had never eaten there. It happened at the Chinese Buffet too where a worked made a reference to knowing Ro. See, so you shouldn't feel so bad. Aparently they can't tell eachother apart either.

Making Myself Valuable

So I'm at it again. At Best Buy our Customer Orders were all in a mess and the paperwork was all over the place and order were being lost and no one knew what they were doing... so I figured it out. I figured it all out on my own and am creating my own system for doing it. Its what I do. I find an important process and make it so that I'm the only one who knows what the hecks going on, and I make sure that all the important people are aware that I fixed it and I'm the only one who can do it right. For the rest of my time at the company I use that as leverage and make it so that they need me. I'm so good at this it hurts.

Also I was able to shine for a manager the other day when a customer (early 20's gamer college student) had some techy questions reguarding a "gaming mouse" and some other nonsense. I was able to answer all of his ridiculously specific questions from memory, seeing that I had just shopped for my own a few months ago. My manager watched as I sent him off happily with the most expensive mouse we had, and he even thanked me for it. It was, by the way, the same one I got... for much cheaper (thank goodness for employee discounts). Manager said: "Damn, why aren't you on the Geek Squad." I smiled and said "I can't stand Fred." Fred's the supervisor over there and he's a troll. I really do hate him (as does most of my department) and I've been wanted to tell someone that for a while now. I said it with a big smile so it could have almost been like I was joking... but in the end, you knew I wasn't.

Alright, I'm done gloating. But those were my quick Best Buy Stories for you. Just wanted to bring you up to speed with what was going on there. I've got tomorrow off so I'm sure I'll have some more interesting things to post about tomorrow night. Later!

HAPPY DAY AFTER NEW YEARS!!!

Alright, so one of my New Years Resolutions is to not miss a weekday posting... So far so good. Man I wish I had gotten some pictures, but wishing doesn't change the fact that I didn't. I spent New Years with Ro, which was amazing (don't know if I've ever told you this, but my girlfriend is amazing.)

Basically our New Years Plans was to spend it with Ro's family. We had intended on using the morning to go Ice Skating, but our decision to bake an apple pie for the New Years Party ended up taking all day long. The Pie was excellent.


We went with Ro's Dad to a Filipino party where some karokee was sang and there was A LOT of food. And not only large in overall amount, but large in Dish size, for example the Roasted Pig that took up one end of the table. I wanted a picture of it, but we had car trouble on the way there and it was pretty much obliterated before we got there.

It's called Lechon (lay-CHon).





Doubt I've ever mentioned this on the blog,
but some of you may be aware of my eating problem. And that problem is that I can't eat things that look like the animal still. Luckily for me, I had Ro (or Anne) cut my food for me while I preoccupied myself with the rest of the table and one I got my plate back, all I saw were a few slabs of pork and it was DELICIOUS! This eating problem is the same reason I don't eat those little hens/chickens or lobster/fish.