| Screw the media, man |
[Apr. 18th, 2007|03:57 am] |
Alright, first off since this is the first post in a while, lets get this crap out of the way.
Yes, I'm alright.
No, I wasn't there. I havent actually walked on campus in probably 10 months or more.
No, I didn't know any of the victims (so far.)
Yes, of course i'm sad it happened, however i've been so damn busy with work to support everyone else in blacksburg that I haven't really had personal time.
Now that that's all out of the way: Fuck the damn media.
Explanation: The first day of coverage was alright. They kept us up to date on what had happened, who the shooter may have been, who the victims were as the names were released, and the ceremonies and vigils to be held here in town.
HOWEVER, now that's over, it's the same shit over and over and over and over again. The videos of the gunshots. The interviews with people who probably aren't ready to really talk about it yet. And the worst part, all the damn speculation about why he did it, and what's to blame. Far as I'm concerned, he's the one to blame, and that's about it. He may have been straight stupid enough to think that shooting people would fix things, or that he could take out people who may have wronged him before he took himself out. Who knows? With him dead, we'll never know.
And that's why all this speculation as to why is for the most part bullshit. Every time something bad happens it's the same basic things: His writing... his friends... videogames... literature...movies... etc. Like now: Jack Thompson, being the anti-gaming advocate that he is has already tried to skew this tradgedy into an anti-video game campaign. Dude, first, it's too soon. Second, LAY OFF. How many gamers are there in the world? BILLIONS. EVERY SINGLE ONE of the poeple I know have picked up that console controller or that mouse and keyboard and played a game at least once in their life. Of those people, most of them play some sort of games every day. Some, strategy games. Some, shooters. Some, RTS (Real Time Strategy, with wars, units, etc).
Of all those billions of people who play videogames, how many actually start shooting people? A very, very, very small percent. And since everyone in this nation has probably touched a game before, I SERIOUSLY doubt that the games caused it.
Next, the big one it seems: His papers and plays for his creative writing class. So they're dark, so they're sinister and twisted. SO WHAT? Have you LOOKED at the shelves in the book store? I'm a big reader, and i"ll tell you right now, there are FAR, FAR more graphic images in many famously published books than somebody trying to shove a granola bar down his granddad's throat. People in my high school probably wrote some dark stuff. It's the words and scenarios that played out at that point, doesn't mean that they are going to go on a killing rampage as well.
I mean seriously. The massacre at Texas Tower in '66.... what the hell did they blame it on then? Listening to Elvis? I Highly doubt that "Jailhouse Rock" caused somebody to go kill people from disturbing images that they thought they could copy.
My personal opinion is that the media just tries to find SOMETHING to blame, SOMETHING to cover to keep themselves on the air with the story as long as possible. I mean, had I been the one (which everyone should know, isn't true, this is a complete hypothetical... but since i'm writing it I guess I'm guilty somehow... god forbid.) But, if I had been, I can damn well near GUARANTEE that the Boy Scouts of America would have hell in their faces. Why? I learned to shoot in the scouts. I'm a dead on shot with a rifle at 50 yards last I checked. However, is that all I learned? How to be accurate with a rifle? Hell no. I've been taught respect for firearms. How to safely handle them. How NOT to use them. The consequences, both legal and just physical, of a gunshot. I'm a completely harmless person who just happens to be damn good with a rifle. Would that matter? Hell no, all that I'm certain would be conveniantly left out, never to be known other than those who know that's not how the BSA functions.
Blah, all this crap pisses me off. Stop giving us the same videos over and over about stuff we have already seen and absorbed. You're just bringing the Hokie community down, bringing them back to the memories of what happened. If you have something new, something REAL to report, then by all means do it. But if not, please just let the Hokies and the rest of blacksburg mourn and deal in our own ways, instead of trying to push yourselves on us forever.
That's it for my late night rant, as I really have to get some sleep for my shift in 3 hours.
And now... flame on, merry posters. Flame on. |
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| New coat! |
[Dec. 6th, 2006|02:06 am] |
So, after waking up this morning in Boone, and discovering it was 18 goddamn degrees outside, I decided I needed a new winter coat. My old one is 4 years old, holes in it, and the zipper's broken. Needless to say, doesn't fend off the cold very well.
So, I splurged. I've always wanted a nice long coat, that would also keep me nice and cozy... and Belk was having a sale. So... viola!
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| Holy shit, Alan's LJ is alive! |
[Dec. 2nd, 2006|06:54 am] |
So, I haven't touched this journal in a looong time, like six months, but I finally feel compelled to do so again. I'm still lurking about, reading friends pages sometimes, and feel I should actually post some recent events.
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| And more Bah... |
[Jun. 1st, 2006|11:44 am] |
Just took my bike in to the shop again, Shawn K was kind enough to help with his pickup truck. Part should be in in the next couple days, but they're pretty full on labor tasks so it could take anywhere from 2 days to a week and a half till I get it back. Looks like my bicycle remains my primary means of transport for a while. :(
Also, just got a call back from South Main Auto. Turns out my spindle's bent/cracked, the wheel actually DOES need replacing, need a new tire for the front right, and should just get a second for the front left as well, an alignment check after that's all together, and then an inspection.
All together--> $1040 or so. ~_~ Just what I need, a shitton of extra debt. Get to put it on the family card, then pay back the 'rents monthly or something. OH SO FUN :(
And finally, been dickin with my computer and I'm fairly certain it's the motherboard that's fried, but can't be 100% sure yet. Going to take out the processor and such to see if it's messed up too or if it's just the MoBo. HOPEFULLY, just the board. That's anywhere from another $50-$80 right there in order to have that working again. Gives me a great excuse to build a new computer like I've been wanting to.... but unfortunately I lack the finances to do such a thing. :sigh: such is life. Ahh well, maybe after fall hits and I start servin a lot at macados, maybe then I can make a lot of tips. Unfortunately on that note... my hair's too wild right now. I need to get it cut, either to still be long and look a lot neater, or get it back to being cut short.... odds are right now it'll probably go back to being short. Makes me kind of sad, but at least it'll be cooler in the summer, and less of a hastle.... at least I hope. :shrug: Still have some time to figure that one out.
Till later,
-Alan |
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| Owch |
[May. 31st, 2006|12:56 am] |
So, to top off all my random shit... first off, last night my computer crashed, hard. I think something's wrong with the motherboard, nothing will start up. HDD light stays on, no video, etc. Powers up, that's about it, doesn't even completely start windows or anything.
Second of all... I crashed my bike today on the way home from Alison's house. And not my motorcycle.... my pedaling bicycle. :sigh: My back tire went parallel to a curb instead of perpendicular, threw me off and I landed left shoulder first onto the road, slid about 5-10 feet (was going 10-15mph I guess), got up, said "HOLY SHIT THAT HURT", realized I was in the road and got up and moved my bike off the road. Finished the ride to Macados,got some bandages, went to CVS, got a LOT of bandages, and got home to wash the wounds and patch myself up. Ended up with a scrape on my left forearm, a nice deep one on my arm, two nice deep ones on my left shoulder, and a lot of (relatively) minor road rash on my left shoulder. Course my first thoughts were "I wish I had been wearing my motorcycle gear, that woulda saved a lot of pain" but of course I wasn't. So, i'm feelin not too pretty, but it wasn't anything serious enough to go to a hospital over.
So, for those of you who are intrigued by this shit, I have three pictures. They're not very good, as it was dark, and it was my cameraphone, but they get the point across decently I think.
- Alan |
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| Random musings... |
[May. 29th, 2006|02:00 am] |
So time for my random, very rare update.
Life's been odd lately. Ben's gone really emo randomly, and decided to start taking things the complete wrong way, like thinking Jake and I are trying to get with girls we have no interest in, and then spazzing about it.
Work's cool, I should be able to start server training soon, but over summer the money's not gonna be too good :( Hopefully it'll get me through the summer.
And now for the crazy shit:
- Found out that my cellphone is just as resiliant as I am. To be more specific.... I put it through the laundry about a week ago. Checked all my pockets EXCEPT the secret one on the leg of my pants I ride in, and so after I take it out of the dryer, my pants were buzzing. So I dismantled the thing, let it sit on my desk in pieces for 3 days or so, and now it's working again perfectly. Go figure, I love that thing.
-My motorcycle's out of commision for a little while. It had a small oil leak for a little while, so when I took it in for its servicing I had them look at the leak. Turns out its a problem with the head gasket, and they won't have the part to fix it till late this week. So now, the leak's really bad, to the point of being pretty much unridable for fear of messing it up worse. So, it's sitting in the parking lot with the side panels off, being lonely :(
-I managed to screw up my car too. THe other night, coming back home after it rained, I hit a huge puddle and hydroplaned. Kept pretty good control of it, but still slid into the curb. Popped the front right tire, so I pulled into a parking lot, and put on the spare. Unfortunately, the impact knocked the alignment way out of wack, so it pulls VERY hard to the right and looks pretty bad. So, I now have to take that in to the shop on tuesday and see how much THAT will run me to fix :(
Other than that, life's just kinda lifey. Chillin, hangin out with the guys and some random people from work, had a cookout today. Burgers + hotdogs + corona = gooood times.
So, till later. PEACE! |
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| Aaaand the update. |
[May. 2nd, 2006|02:51 pm] |
So. Interview. Ugh.
I go in, get to sit down and talk to the guys. They have the dude in charge of hiring, another guy, I dun remember his name, and Richard Macher, the owner of Macados. So we talk and such for a bit, then they start asking stupid questions. Like, I understand why I guess, but I guess I just wasn't prepared for it. They asked stuff like "How do you assert your authority" or "How do you prove your competance, and make things run smoothly", and other things like that. And while I CAN manage people, I've done it before, and I CAN take leadership of them... I don't sit there every time I do it and say "Hey, this is how I do this." I just do it. I don't KNOW how to explain to somebody how I lead. It's all conditional, it depends on the person, the situation, etc.
So that was weird. Then we covered stuff like the fact that even though i'm taking time off again, I will be going back to school eventually. And I do understsnd where they're coming from here, because 1 year of managing really isn't THAT much experiance. It's enough to truly get the hang of the restaraunt, and not give that much of a benefit to them for their investment. Then, they asked me to rate myself in motivation, like to do the job without being asked. I said I rate myself pretty high, because honestly, I do. I bust my ass at that place almost every time I work there. I mean of course I have my off days, just like everybody, where something's not going right, or I just feel sick, and so I'm slacking a little. BUt 95% of the time, since October, I have worked myself to death there. And what I was told was "We've been told that when you work with Jake, you do really well, have a competitive spirit. BUt when you don't, you need to be heavily managed in order to do stuff."
Now, I'd LOVE to know who told them that, because EVERY one of the managers there has told me how much of an asset I am, and how hard I work, and how awesome I am. Now I hear that. Well that's just great. PLUS, yesterday they gave Quinn the "pin". It's for Superior Perfomance. Now, not to be a dick or anything... but Quinn doesn't do jack. She has these random mental breakdowns in retail when she gets stressed and starts crying. Meanwhile, I'm just sitting here twiddling my thumbs, waiting for SOME form of recognition. A raise. Letting me serve. A pin. SOMETHING. But nope. Nada.
So now i've been in a funky mood again today, because honestly, I don't know if I want it. Yea, it'd be cool to be a manager. Yea, the pay raise would be awesome. But, I don't know if I REALLY want to be in charge of 200 bloody employees, some stupid customers, and all that other stuff. It's not that I'm shirking from responsibility, it's just that managing a RESTARAUNT might not be my cup of tea. So my other easily seen option right now is to work at Wachovia. They're supposedly hiring at like 10 or 12 an hour... which would be amazing, as 12 is DOUBLE my current salary. But at the same time, I don't know if I really want to be behind a desk, dealing with money and customers all day. And the last one is Echostar, a satellite company around here. They hire people for their tech support crew, where you're the dude that is on the other end of the phone call you make when your satellite doesn't work. But everybody who works there says its great for a month or two... then they HATE it.
So, who the hell knows. Maybe they'll let me serve over the summer, or maybe not. Even if they do... blacksburg's prolly going to be empty then, and no real good money in serving at that point. So I'll either be stuck working 30-40 hours a week at 6/hr and getting jack for it, or have to find something else.
Till later.... |
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| Wooo! |
[May. 2nd, 2006|03:09 am] |
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So I got a call today: I have an interview at 10:30 tuesday (tomorrow, today, whatever) for the Macados M.I.T position. Here's hopin it goes well, it seems to be my only chance to move up, no matter how hard I bust my ass. |
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| Cute poem |
[Apr. 30th, 2006|02:29 am] |
This poem was in my friend's away message, and I feel the need to share it. So here you are, The Cookie Thief.
The Cookie Thief
by Valerie Cox
A woman was waiting at an airport one night,
With several long hours before her flight.
She hunted for a book in the airport shops.
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book but happened to see,
That the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be.
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between,
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.
So she munched the cookies and watched the clock,
As the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, "If I wasn't so nice, I would blacken his eye."
With each cookie she took, he took one too,
When only one was left, she wondered what he would do.
With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie and broke it in half.
He offered her half, as he ate the other,
She snatched it from him and thought... oooh, brother.
This guy has some nerve and he's also rude,
Why he didn't even show any gratitude!
She had never known when she had been so galled,
And sighed with relief when her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate,
Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat,
Then she sought her book, which was almost complete.
As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise,
There was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.
If mine are here, she moaned in despair,
The others were his, and he tried to share.
Too late to apologize, she realized with grief,
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief. |
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| Guh, School, Pt. 2 |
[Apr. 29th, 2006|02:00 am] |
So Discrete Math is pretty much officially screwed. Pretty sure I failed the test again today, so even if I ace the final, the possibility of passing is VERY, VERY slim.
So I went ahead, and based on that information, leading me to believe that my grades will not be passing, and thus leading to an extra year of time off, I put in my resume to the Macados MIT person. (Manager in Training, not the high classy school.) I figure if I end up with time off, I'd like to have better than a 6/hr paycheck, with hours that vary DRASTICALLY based on how much I get scheduled for, what I can pick up, etc.
From the way Cheese, Pooter and Kent sounded (My managers), I've got a pretty good chance of getting called up for an interview, and probably being accepted for the position. There's two manager spots opening up in the Blacksburg Store fairly soon, so if things go well and are timed right, I could end up being a new manager at the store which is 5 minutes from my apartment, plus I already know the layout and workings of it really well. Plus, the fact that I already work there (albeit only for 6 months) gives me a good advantage, being that I'm trained in most of the jobs that we have there, they'd just have to finish up with server training, some Deli stuff, and then the rest of the manager stuffs. So chances are pretty good that I could, within a relatively short time of starting work, be moved up to a manager. Most likely a nice increase in paycheck, not to mention steady hours, and someplace I enjoy working.
I'm a little anxious about it, since I've never actually HAD a manager position before, but I honestly feel that I could do a great job. It'll be a little weird at first, since the people know me as Alan the Retailer, not Alan the Manager, and that'll take some time to work around, earn the respect, etc, but I work hard, I don't steal, I know a good bit about how everything works, and think that as long as I can deal with the stress the position sometimes gives (which can be a good bit), I'll be fine.
I guess we'll find out, if or when I get called for an interview :) |
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| Guh, school |
[Apr. 28th, 2006|10:41 am] |
so another school year is nearly at the end...and I still havent shaped up. I need to pull a 2.5 GPA this semester to stay in, and its either going to be VERY close, or not going to happen. Let's do a class rundown
UNIX-Probably B or C
SOCIOLOGY - Also probably a B or more likely a C
GEO LAB - Most likely an A, I rocked that casba
GEO LEC - Looks like I'm failing it right now. Missed one test on accident, messed up the other 2 real bad. Unless the exam pulls a LOT of weight, i'm screwed
DISC. MATH - Same deal. Didnt miss a test, but got a 50 on one, prolly that or lower on the second. Another one today thatI'm STILL not prepared for after a lot of study time. Only hope would be that the exam goes REALLY well, and boosts up that, and replaces the lowest test grade.
HEALTH - For some reason, this one's not lookin good either. 2 tests, both mediocre. Missed one because she didnt send out the email reminder that she changed the date of it. Got my study score, but don't have participation because my stupid ass clicking thingy didnt register right. waiting on an email back about that. Still have the final test left.
So right now, that's about 2 B's or C's, a probable A or B, and 2 possible F's. That doesn't exactly compute to a 2.5, considering the Geo lab is only 1 credit, UNIX is only 2, and the classes i'm sucking in are 3. Go friggin figure.
So if I don't do this, I get my second academic suspension, which this time would be for a full year. Not being a student will take me off of health insurance, though will give me a lot more free time.
And honestly, I'm almost fine with it. Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna work this next week to study for my exams and rock them, but at the present time, I really don't like being in school, and I think I've figured out why: I have NO idea what I want to do.
Yes, I know this is a "common" thing. However, its important for me. See, I thought about being a Comp Programmer. I'm good at it, when I set my mind to it. However, the classes to get there have NO relevance at all, I dont know why they have them in the program. Plus, I refuse to spend the rest of my life in a cubicle 8 hours a day.
So, I have no goal to work towards. And if I have no goal to work towards, I have no reason to stay in school, other than I'm "supposed to" be in college right now.
So screw it. If I get booted again, I get booted again. I'm putting in my app to be a manager at Macados, hopefully that works out. If not, the banks around here are hiring and some other places that might give me full time, which could possibly give me health coverage benefits, or at least dental. It'll give me a way to fill the time that I'm off productively, I can pay off some of the student loans (Since immediately after being out they start hounding you for their money back), and just take that year to figure out exactly what I DO want to do. Once that's set, I can go back, switch majors, and actually have a REASON to focus on my damn studies.
So, thus is another end-of-year-rant. And now, I must run to my last UNIX lab, so see yall around. |
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| WTB Blue Angels Decal, PST! |
[Apr. 26th, 2006|02:56 pm] |
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If anybody knows where I can find a Blue Angels decal, please lemme know. I'm looking for one with a clear background, and the Blue Angels lettering, that's it. Not a picture of the jet, or pilots, or anythin. I just want the logo. :) |
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| Directions!! |
[Apr. 20th, 2006|12:35 am] |
Since people have asked, here be directions to my place!
Basically, the main part of it is to get down to I-64 West. You take that past charlottesville, and keeeeeeeeep going. Eventually it merges with I-81, then it splits off, part to 81-S, and part to 81-N.
Take I-81 south, all the way to Exit 118-B. You can't really miss it, there's huge signs for Virginia Tech all over the place.
Once you take that exit, you'll be on Route 460-West. Just keep following this road. You'll pass a couple exits, screw them. Eventually you'll hit a stoplight, outside an enterance to the Virginia Tech Campus. Go through the stoplight. The next right will be an exit labeled downtown, you pass that one and go under a bridge. Right after the bridge is an exit for Prices Fork Road. Take that one.
Once on Price's Fork, you'll hit a stoplight, with a BP Gas Station on the right hand side. Pass through this stop light, and get in the left lane. At the next stoplight, you want to take a left turn, there'll be a church on the left, and a sign that says Foxridge.
Go straight down this road, you'll hit a stupid, completely USELESS stop sign, by a Food Time store. Go straight through this stopsign (but be sure to stop. Stupid as it may be, the cops LOVE watching it.) After that you'll come to another stop sign, this time a 4-way stop. Go straight through this one, and then take your first left into a parking lot area. Go all the way down, my apartment building is the last one on the right, building 6000. Downstairs, on the left, apartment C.
Now, how you get to 64 is your own choice. I like to take rt. 208 down, from Spotsy Middle. I don't remember the exact turns, but they're all labeled as 208. There's also a shortcut that way, once you're near the Lake you can take a right onto Chopping Road. It's a nice windy back road that takes a nice 30 mins or so off of the trip sometimes. You come out by some railroad tracks, just take a right after that and keep going. You go through a town, then end up finding an exit to 64-W.
There's also a way taking rt. 15 all the way down, as well as a couple others, but I don't remember them. |
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| Final Countdown! |
[Apr. 11th, 2006|03:00 pm] |
No, not the movie, however awesome it may be.
What I speak of is the final countdown till April 21st, signifying Alan's 21st birthday, woohoo! Many of you know there's a gathering here, and if you don't... well... there's a gathering here. :-P However, I just realized that while people have said "Yea, I'll come", I have no idea who, or when, or how many. SO.
If you are coming to AlanSamFest on April 21st, leave a post or something! If an out of townie, if you could give a rough estimate of when you might get here, that'd be grand too (3-4 hour trip from Fburg). And yet another thing: I know some of you are planning to bring your own "supplies", and that's cool, but if you have any preferences of what you want to be here, let me know that as well.
Games, Movies, Computers, whatever are more than welcome to be brought, we've got room to set up a second TV with another video game system or something if that's desirable. Other than that, all I have planned are a lot of people coming over, and having fun :) |
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| Mmm storms... |
[Apr. 3rd, 2006|04:58 pm] |
So I LOVE thunderstorms.... except when caught in a HUGE (but short) one while riding home. Was on the way home from Macados and it started POURING down rain, huge wind gusts, etc. Very exhilarating ride... though in a 'I need to focus completely so I don't crash and die" sort of way. Getting blown all over my lane, no matter how much I tucked in and leaned, rain so hard it hurt my legs going at 40mph, and trying to make sure not to get in the way of other cars and such.
Made it home just fine, but I definately now know why bikers often stop under bridges to wait out storms... takes too much effort to go safely, its easier to just wait a while. |
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| More pics! |
[Mar. 29th, 2006|04:17 pm] |
Here we go, as promised, some more pictures. Still crappy cameraphone quality... won't have access to a real digital till the weekend.
( Click for sexy! ) |
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| Preview! |
[Mar. 28th, 2006|10:35 am] |
Well i'm off to get all the paperwork and crap finalized for my bike... but first, thought i'd give you guys a preview.
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