Saturday, October 30, 2004

whatever happened to the starving college student?

No, seriously. I used that as an excuse today, when I was going out for dinner. "Nah, I can't go there, I am a starving college student without any money!" Yes, I realize it is cliche, but is it not also true?

I see so many kids - myself included - that spend a whole lot of money at college. Since I got here, I have been out to eat, coffee, bought an expensive array of electronics, had a car stolen, bought new clothes, the list goes on...
All of this I am able to pay for. Granted, my parents ARE paying for the college part of this expereience, but whatever happened to the times when kids in college didn't have any money?

I hear my parents tell stories about how they would walk by and smell the peet's coffee, but not be able to buy it. I hear how people live off of 2 packages of 13 cent ramen noodles per day for months at a time. Granted, I see people eat ramen, and I do myself, but then these people can go out and drop money on alcohol, or to see a band on campus, or whatever it is that takes precedence of their cash.

The reason I say this is that I am in a not so well paying job working not so many hours, and I haven't seen a paycheck. If it weren't for me working this last summer, I would have no spending money at all. I will be thankful in a few days to get my paycheck, but seriously. How is a kid supposed to keep up with the trend of today when I would much rather save my money? I haven't gotten money from my parents other than 2 reimbursement checks for books and the such - since May. I lived alone over the summer, paying for my own food, gas, movies, soap, you name it, but now in college, I have spent more money than I did all summer - and I have room and board paid for! This is insane!

I guess the moral of this is that from now on I am going to watch where I spend my money, and try to conserve (do I really like starbucks that much anyway?) so that I can pay for things like snowboard bindings, gas up to the mountain, and maybe even my fifth year of college's tuition :)

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

i'm such a slacker

I told myself I would start studying for my chem test a week ago. It is now almost Thursday, and the test is on Friday. I know I have that gut feeling in my stomache that just makes me not want to go to class in 34 hours and take the test.
I decided that I am a slacker by nature. I haven't started my math homework, also due on Friday. I know I won't finish either studying for chem, or the math homework. This weekend is halloween, so I doubt anything is going to get done then. It even took my two and a half weeks to finally order my contact lenses online - I am on my last pair, and they have been in for well over the monthlong lifespan.

I wish I knew what it was that made my brain have a mental block of getting things done on time, that way I could have an easier time changing.


Anyway, I have been working on my site for the past few days, as my loyal readers may have figured out by now. I got rid of the shoutbox, at least on the front page, and am working on different parts bit by bit.

I came across a really depressing thing I wrote about my car just a few days before it was stolen and whatnot. I was going to add a section about it, but then ... [awkward silence]

Anywho, work is fun now.
that's all.

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Shasta got SNOW!!!

[Image updated every hour with current picture]

SHASTA GOT SNOW!!!

I really can't wait to go snowboarding... I want to go so bad now. I downloaded two hour long snowboarding videos yesterday and watched them. I put a snowboarder in my desktop background. It is stormy.

THIS is when patience is a virtue.

Sunday, October 17, 2004

it's raining

it's raining.
i love rain.
make it rain some more.

Friday, October 15, 2004

getting over it...

Well, I am slowly getting over the fact that I will no longer be able to drive places until I can save enough money up for a new car. I will always remember my first car. I snagged the liscence plates and the shift knob, so I have something to remember it by, but I can't live my life wishing it would never have happened. It's time to move on.

To help me move on, my parents found it suitable to buy a 40 GB iPod to ease the pain, because it is impractical to buy a car. I'm not complaining. I listen to it every day now during Chem class (and other times too, of course) and just love it. I am waiting for the bookstore to get the new iSkin for the 4th gen iPods, but until then, I am watching over it like it's my firstborn child or something. More pics to come, I'm sure, as I borrow Jame's camera... the thing is just so damned photogenic it amazes me!

The geek side of me just finished a google toolbar detection script for all you IE users out there. I know, I know, it's a little late, but if you are using the google toolbar, now you don't have to turn off the auto-highlight feature of the auto fill. If you are using IE and have the google toolbar installed, this 'lil script will change the color of your text to black :) All in a whopping ~5 lines of code.

So yes, I need to move on. I will miss you, ghettomobile, wherever you may rest.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

RIP: Ghettomobile

Well, they found what was left of my car in a warehouse off highway 32 in Chico.

It was spray painted, had the windshield bashed in, the interior stripped of any value, etc... I will let the pictures do the talking until I can write about it:

www.stilldavid.com/car/recovery/

And in the spirit of the car itself, when I put a screwdriver in the ignition, it still started :)

Sunday, October 03, 2004

my life, the roller coaster

I guess I can take the good with the bad this past week or so. I mean, my stereo, then bike, then car got stolen, but at the same time, there is some good that happens, to balance out the bad.
For starters, I got both the graphics card and the monitor I bought in the mail last week, so I have the whole dual monitor badassness going for me now, and it is absolutely schweet. I love them both. Plays doom3 like a dream :)

Also, 2 weeks ago I interviewed for a job on the on campus graphics design studio for a web development position, and guess what... I got it! I start out 10 hours a week, but more as I feel I can take on more work. When I was signing the W4 and all that, the woman behind the desk told me to be thankful, because most people have to intern in the department for at least a semester or two before they even think about getting a paid position.

And that I am. Very thankful.

I mean, I haven't lost all hope just yet on finding my car (maybe not in one piece...) but I am getting over it. Every time I think of it, I think of doing crazy things in it, or all the memories in it, but you know, shit happens. At least I have the memories.

Thank you all for your support in this as well, everyone has been super nice about it, even my dad called me to offer his condolences on me losing the car, which was a pretty big thing. Thank you all.