March 26th, 2005

Security: Subject: Doom, DOOOOOM Time: 09:07 am

So my parents decided to take down the firewall on their computer after not updating windows for a couple of years. They use internet explorer (with no popup blocking) as well as outlook express. The result? Me spending 5 hours (so far) trying to tackle the spyware demon. I'm currently downloading SP2 for them. I had to boot into safe mode just to be able to actually do anything on the computer. I've thrown bazooka, spysubtract, and now adaware at the problem. Currently I'm winning, I can now log in normally to the machine, but I still get the occassional popup (think bonzai buddy...) and who knows what info it's trying to send out. At least I got the firewall back up, but that doesn't help very much in terms of what I'm SENDING. This problem would all be so much easier had they had their windows disk (reinstall windows into a new directory, remove old directory, reinstall software, bow, bow, encore). But of course, that got misplaced and is nowhere to be found. I really should charge for this shit, but they are my parents after all. Who knows, maybe I can guilt my mom into doing my taxes as repayment :-P.

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February 23rd, 2005

Security: Subject: Flowers for Algernon Time: 01:20 pm

Algernon passed away monday night. It's probably for the best, he really was looking bad, and I would have had to have him put down, cause he just couldn't get around like he used to. I had to bury him tuesday when I got home from school. But alas, I have no more rat, my sister will be upset to hear of his passing.

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February 16th, 2005

Security: Subject: News Time: 11:18 am

So, it's officially decided that I'm going to be working it at the MA camp this year. This means I'll actually be able to see my apartment over the course of the summer. I'm actually going to be the programming coordinator there, so yay to more responsibilities! Of course, the sad part is I won't be seeing the likes of Enelia, Justin, Karim (oh wait, I didn't see him last year either), Colin, and others. But that's the way the cookie crumbles I guess. It was the best fit for a position for me. In other news, I'm sleepy! I really need to work out a schedule that doesn't have me doing insane things Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday anymore. Thankfully this weekend is a long weekend, and the week after that is spring break. It'll be a nice opportunity to get caught up on some of the things I need to do (which are plentiful). Indeed O'Neill

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February 13th, 2005

Security: Subject: Dude, I have an innie Time: 08:59 pm

So I examined my belly button for the first time recently. I thought i had remembered being an outtie, but apparently I'm an innie, this excited me! I got my skiis today, Charlie was nice enough to bring them back. Since we have 16 free lift tickets, I'm guessing that this means I'll be skiing for free for the rest of the winter. It's been so long since I've actually been skiing and I can't wait to get out there again. Right now it's family guy on TV. Riddick is causing mischief, Charlie is typing an email at the prompting of Meg, and I'm casually avoiding talking about tomorrow...

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January 28th, 2005

Security: Subject: Because it's lovely weather.... oh never mind Time: 10:12 am

I've got a lot to do, so I'm procrastinating. Wednesday I was going into school, walking, because it's quicker than taking the bus. I passed a (not so) innocent group of pigeons strutting around and walked up to them casually, knowing they'd fly away. As they did, I felt a soft drop on my head and I thought to myself "God I hope that's snow". Alas, it was not snow. Fortunately I was wearing a hat, and now that hat is the sacred hat of poopie turning. Some bastard stole my parking spot while meg was out with the car. I told her to ram them, but we decided it may not be the best thing. I'm not so much concerned for my car as I am the police. I really should have put the chair we used to reserve the spot on top of their roof. As Todd has stated, after you shovel out a spot, you start believing that it is your God Given right to put a chair in that spot. So I got into school after the poopie incident, I arrived at 11:00, stopped in the office at 11:15 and they were just deciding to cancel school at 12, those fookers! I bolted my arse over to the registrar's office to turn in my insurance forms, tutored till 3, then called it a day. The OC didn't have any lesbian action this week, I was highly disappointed. The antichrist show isn't bad, but they're just about as doomed as the show 24 (which is apparently now doing well, even though it's FRIGGEN CALLED 24, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HAVING ANOTHER SEASON). I mean, after all, she's the ANTICHRIST, the world is going to end one way or another, and continuing the show in heaven (or hell potentially I suppose) just doesn't seem the way to go. Today the bastard T took forever to arrive. I was chatting with people at the T station and it was good. Cold, but good. By forever I mean that I waited 30 minutes, and the people that were there with me waited an hour. This is between 8:15 and 9:15 in the morning. We need to figure out what we're doing for this weekend, or more specifically tonight, any ideas?

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October 17th, 2004

Security: Subject: Halloween Party Time: 12:23 pm

So apparently it's semi-official we're having a halloween party here on the 30th. Knowing us, it'll be "show up whenever". Costumes aren't required, but they're encouraged by me. Bring fun halloweeny stuff, though I'm not sure exactly what that means. More details to come, but you can mark it on your calendar! Eric

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September 9th, 2004

Security: Subject: The world keeps on spinning can't stop it if you try to... Time: 12:13 pm

Even when I'm not posting to my LJ. This summer has obviously been busy so I haven't had a lot of time to actually sit down and type in here. So here it goes... Still off soda. I think I've had three official "carbonated beverages" (minus alcohol) since the start of this summer and the bet. Two were approved by Allison, the last was in Costa Maya when there were a bunch of Spanish Labels on the drinks and I really didn't know what I was getting. So does this mean I lost my bet??? NO, Allison ended up caving before me when Bender (precious Bender) connived her into smoking with him during his visit. This means that I have a personal slave on one of my days of choice. She said it should start at 10am, I said I wanted breakfast in bed God Dammit! Actually, I'm happier off of soda. My stomach has been giving me less problems than it has in the past, so I'm going to stay quit. So :-P to all of you who said I couldn't give up soda. This summer and moving really made me realize I want more out of life than what I have now. And it also made me realize I really don't want to be waiting for it anymore. At this point, I don't think I'm going to be in grad school after this year. I'm going to be looking for a job in education and seeing what's out there. I've thought about it, and I'm scared. I'm scared of what I could lose, but to me, right now, it just seems like I have nothing I really want because I'm scared of what I might lose to get it. Surprisingly enough, this seems to apply to more aspects of my life than just school/work. I miss my co-workers, especially from IL. While I think I enjoyed GA better, I was still only there for 3 weeks, as opposed to 6 in IL, and knowing many of them from last year. Even the campers I'll miss. A lot of those people have become like family to me. Enelia is so my sister, we get pissed at each other for like 5 minutes, then we feel dumb, and make up. Pretty soon I'll probably steal her Teddy Bear because I'm jealous of the attention Allison is giving her :-P. It's odd that I can call people I've known for only two months out of the year for two years family, but you have to understand, you spend all that time with these people. They're the ones that get you through when you're ready to blow up the residence hall, and the ones that you've seen ready to blow up the residence halls themselves. They're the ones that don't give you a COW despite your insane amount of work (but I'm not pissy). That's about all that needs to be said about camp, which brings me up to everything that's happened in the extremely meaningful 3 weeks since I left camp (it seems like SO much longer). Right now, there's so much I can't say in here, I don't even know if I can even begin to describe the amazingly freekin complicated mess which is the three weeks since camp ended. Maybe it's needed tension. Maybe, for once, I won't be at the center of it all (though that seems unlikely). One thing I can say is that the cruise was good and bad in its own ways. The cruise itself wasn't the best, but we made what we could out of it. I think it's safe to say we were all a little pissy with one another by the end of it. Even Todd and I (or at least I) had our moments of thinking "jerk" about the other. Then of course, 5 seconds later, we'd realize we didn't care. I figure if we can survive a week and a half in close quarters like that, we should be able to survive as roommates. We also had a good time with the cruise itself. The boat was really what made the cruise itself suck. I love kids, but I went on vaca to get away from them, not to have them jump in the pool next to me when I'm trying to read the little bastards. I think we were all sick of them by the time we left, and the boat had no real "adult" place (unless you count the topless deck, which had no pool). The club on the ship tended to be 12-15 only until either 10:30 or 12:30 at night, which royally sucked. We made our way and met people though, especially Todd and I, but then again, that's what Todd and I do... We also had a great time going to land. The dune buggies were a LOT of fun, and cave tubing was simply the best. "Cave Tubing" for those of you wondering, is going on a river that goes through a bunch of mountains (hence cave) on a tube. They give you a miner's light to wear around your neck, and you just have a really good time. They warned us that the water was cold, but turns out it was warmer than pool water in New England. Dam southerners and not knowing cold! Our Mayan ruins trip got cancelled due to lack of interest, so that was a bummer. And of course, Frances kept us from getting in on time. Not just one day late, but a full two days later than expected. Talking to the crew on board (some of which had been working on the ship for 3 years, one, Gina, was relatively cute and friendly as well) said this is virtually unheard of. They may be a half a day or day late, but never two. The airport (Tampa) when we (finally) got our flight home was a cruise reunion. It seemed like half the people you saw there had just been on the cruise with you. So, that's my life right now(ish). School is starting up, and though I really don't want to be here particularly, at least I'm happier now than I was before (I think). And at least I'm starting to make plans as to how I'm NOT going to be here in the future.

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July 25th, 2004

Security: Subject: Feeling Groovy? Time: 11:16 pm

Well, today was much better. Trina and I went into the city. It's one of the first just plain good days I've had in a while. We stopped by Navy Pier. We went and grabbed a bite to eat, and I got a couple beers. Sadly, considering how much I drank over the course of this summer so far, that got me mildly buzzed. After that, we went into a funhouse/maze at the pier with spinning tunnels, mirror mazes, and blacklight bubbles (my nose now glows). After this we decided to head to the planet-arium. We spent about half an hour in there before our show (stars of the pharoahs) began. The show was good, though admittedly I was a bit tired and found my eyes closing at a couple of points. We decided to get dinner on the way back to the train station after this. Apparently however, just about all the places to get food in Chicago close on Sunday, which is unfortunate. We had to make due with McD's. I've decided I need to stop thinking and just do what I need to do. Today was good mainly because I just enjoyed myself and didn't think about camp, or school, or anything*. Sure, a lot of things in my life are complicated, but I'm not going to help anything out by overthinking them. When the time comes to do the right thing, I'm pretty sure I will. * anything is capable of including all the things that are too insignificant to be mentioned here, along with those which I just plain don't wish to disclose in my journal :-P

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Security: Subject: Rough week Time: 10:44 am

So yeah, this week has been pretty hard. First off, it's just been a lot of work. Not all of it was mandatory, but I have a tendancy to help out even when not asked, things need to get done, so I do them. Saturday started off pretty bad. Half of the counselors went away to St. Louis on a trip. I was told I couldn't come because Enelia's roommate didn't feel comfortable with having another person at the house. I thought this was somewhat stupid. Perhaps I should have pushed the issue, but I'm not one to go if I think I may not be wanted. It's probably not that, but still, there was the possibility of just getting a hotel for a night or two, which wasn't suggested. I don't think I'm so much upset as I am disappointed. So I sat here Saturday, I was asked to go to the waterpark, which was nice of the rest of the on-duty staff, but I had just gotten up. I really should have just gone. I was stuck here from 7-9:30 watching a camper that had gotten back from home before the trip returned even though I was off-duty. After everyone got back though things were better. I did a Wendys run with Trina and we ended up sleeping out in the lounge and listening to some country music (go figure). It was good just to shoot the shit with someone. I really haven't done that in quite a while. Anyways, other stuff during this week has been getting to me too. Some of it is coming over from previous weeks at the camp as well. Not going to talk about it here, because, despite what it may seem like, I'm not looking for pity. Just need to get some things off my chest. Outside of missing a couple of the people around here though, I'm going to be pretty happy to be back in MA. One week left until my return home. It's not even the time off, I just miss my friends there, Todd and the like. No one close like that to talk to here, it's different knowing someone for 8 years and knowing someone for two months... Though I have to say, given more time, I could see myself being very close with some of the people here as well. Also, I'm sick of knowing too much. Anyone else have this? There's a lot of stuff that's gone/going on here where I know too much information for my own good. I don't mind trying and failing, but trying and knowing you're going to fail is a completely different story. Why try, you ask? Is there any alternative? I'm not one to sit back and just let things happen.

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June 27th, 2004

Security: Subject: And finally, an update Time: 11:06 am

Yes, I know, it's been a while since I've updated, but here goes! With an unexpected twist of events, I'm in Chicago rather than Atlanta right now, though I'll be returning to Boston in time for the 4th... This summer I get the three city tour with Emagination. Its been fun, but it's hard to feel part of the staff when I keep changing locations. Despite this, I think I've done fairly well and really am going to miss this group in Chicago, and miss the Atlanta group currently. I quit soda. I haven't had any dark soda in about a month now. The only thing I've had is sprite when there was nothing else to drink (twice, once at the airport, and last night at a mexican restaurant). I'm trying to lay off the caffine, and it's working out pretty well. Also, I had to prove to myself and others that I can in fact quit. What's been driving me the most is that I have a bet with Allison, she's quitting smoking, I'm quitting soda. The first one to fail is the other's slave for a day. Work has been INsane this year. I've taken a pretty large leadership role at both camps, even though I'm not so much paid to do that. It's been difficult, but a good experience, and who knows what it could mean for next year... Lastly, tequila is a great alcohol. I'll gladly give details when I get back, but I'm not going to now, because they could be used against me in a court of law! EDIT: Oh yeah, and I brought my MTG deck with me and have been playing against counselors and campers. So far so good, only one person has a winning record against me (1-0, I got no creatures after about 7 or 8 draws...), another is even (2-2). I even trounced an affinity deck, for those of you who know what that is.

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