Wednesday of this week proved to be a perfect day. I didnt have to work (surprisingly!), I got to play Halo 2 which really is the best game of all time, and finally I was specially invited by my father to meet him up in hart for dinner. This was because my mom was going to be working late in baldwin. It might seem like a wierd thought to drive an hour plus change to go to dinner, but I’d jump at every opportunity to go see my parents. My father really is the greatest man I will ever know.

A little bit about my father: His name is Michael, but everyone always calls him “Mickey”. He is just over 50. He has worked at the same company for 28 years. He started as a janitor, and has been moved up the ladder many times. Machinist, electrician, electrical engineering, regular engineering, and he has been a ‘reliability engineer’ for 9 years. His hair is receding (thanks for those genes!), he is starting to ‘grey’, and I have never seen him without a mustache. Even in pictures.

As a father, 2 sons could not have asked for more. He helped me and vanbergs build the coolest sandcastles when we were super young. He used to build flying model airplanes with his bare hands, and he let me fly one when I was 7 knowing full well that I had about a 90% chance of crashing it. He ran and chased baseballs down the street multiple times while I was trying to learn how to throw a curve ball. He coached like every team I was on through elementary school. I specifically remember that he volunteered to be soccer coach and baseball coach for multiple years. He always fixed my first car when it broke. He single handedly remodeled our entire house over a 10-15 year period. (House was worth 20k, now worth 90k. In hart thats alot) And finally… He worked his ass off so that his two sons could have the option to go to college. My father never had the choice.

If there ever was a role model, that is my father in a nutshell. He wanted me and my brother to be able to do the things that he never could. I admire the man completely, and respect him more than any other man. My mom is great too… Honestly there could not be a better set of parents for two un-appreciative boys to grow up with. Well, I appreciate it now… my most heart felt thanks to both of you.

Ha ha… Im actually really starting to get choked up. And yes, I crashed the model airplane.

This weekend consisted of playing in my first ever poker ‘tournament’. I have played games with friends, family, for cash, for fun, but never in a tournament. For some reason, I felt a bit intimidated and nervous; even though this tournament didn’t involve any real money. 1st prize was a card table and nice chipset, 2nd was a very nice chipset, etc.. and up through 5th place received some type of poker related prize. I ended up doing pretty well actually, finishing 13th out of 90 players. My only main goal was not to get eliminated on day 1, and I did succeed in that.

Other random weekend notes include: Frankie v’s is the home of the beer tower, go team w00t, camel light wang guy (apparently), people cannot use “u-scans” efficiently, rice krispy treats de chris j, and suited queen – jack which ended it for me.

Also, I was re-reading some of my old blog/journal/requiem… and wow, some of that attempted written word is so terrible that i debated deleting it (shitty metaphoric attempts, blatantly stupid remarks, etc). However, I left it all. I also made note of some entries that I found interesting for various reasons. So I would like to point those out to you. yes. you.

11-29-03, 8-4-03, 8-30-03, and I think 1-2-04 is my favorite. read’em if you
like, no guarantees
journal.old

I am still searching for my next occupation. Now however, I do have some pretty promising prospects. I went to the GVSU career fair today with russelltee and we talked with perspective employers. Russ also photographed me eating adobe.

Random thought:
Its funny how when you are a little kid, all you wanna do is grow up and do all the things grown ups get to do. Then you get here, and you find it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Granted, everyone has said that… but saying it and experiencing it are two different things. I am now experiencing it.

I think that this is mainly because I am in a transitional stage of my life (really, in all aspects). I’m not quite a full adult, but I’m also no longer an optimistic college student waiting eagerly to take on the world. I already tried taking on the world, and in round 1 it pretty much kicked my ass.

Well world, if that is your real name…. here we are. The first round maybe yours, but mickeyvb is my fucking corner man.

Round 2.

Well this halloween weekend was pretty much the man. Saturday night, chris j and I went out on the town dressed as Al and Peg Bundy, accompanied by Andrea as “flava flav” and Flo wearing a sign that said “Gods gift to women”. I think everyone was hung over for the rest of the weekend.

A couple notes to self:
1. If god really made flo as his gift to women, then (A) there is not a god. (B) god is still laughing at the joke he played. or (C) the world is close to ending.
2. I’m never dancing again. And for those of you who didnt see it, it
never happened >:o
3. Martinis apparently contain alcohol
4. I dont have to be directly involved to enjoy making out.

Following that…  Vanbergs came over and we played GTA San Andreas on Sunday. There is a blind guy in that game. Then vanlandw joined the party and the three of us went to view the movie “Saw”. Danny Glover is in it. It was ‘so so’. Definitely lives up to the title. Now it’s Monday, timechange and all, so I’m back to looking for jobs. brb

Apparently not having a job can do some funny things to a human being. Let’s take for example: this internet destination. On monday I ‘casually’ started making some desing changes. 4 days later here I sit with a completely re-designed and re-worked web page. I’ve spent about 15-20 hours setting things up (email, net client, stats, blosxom, etc..) and I think for My the most part I am happy with the look and functionality of this page.

I’d like to give special thanks to jjafuller for general css / design counsel, to vanlandw for the assistance, to g.slinger && rusty for pointing me to xname, and to anybody else assisting me in this overhaul. additional thanks to rusty for my second gmail account (?) palmerforpresident@gmail.com
w00t.

Halloween is upon us. Chris J. and myself are going to be Al and Peg bundy respectively. Although nobody seems to know really what anybody else is doing for halloween. It is Friday today so that means I am about to embark on my 7th week of unemployment. Special thanks to Kathy + Mickeyvb for the financial assistance. Hopefully I can put the both of them in the best retirement home when the day comes ? Because I honestly dont know where I would be without such great parents.

is all you need. Nobody says it better than parappa the rapper. I am really starting to become one broke ass mo fo. I guess its good that i havent had to ask my parents for money  yet, and I am still owed 250 bones, but I am ‘running on fumes’ at the moment.

At some point im going to just start looking for any job at all. Perhaps an ‘electrician apprentice’ or maybe a ‘armored vehicle driver’. GVSU has postings for public safety officers… If they got USP’s instead of glocks, I’d be all over that one. USP owns glock for anybody that doesnt play CS. I really dont even know how police can do their jobs.

Reading: Diary, chuck p.
Games: FF VII, THPS 2x (unlocking everything)
Music: Feel free to request a song… you’ll notice the link for ‘song of the week’. This will likely just be ‘disturbed’ all the time, but if somebody suggesst something, we’ll see what happens.