Now I'm Shopping, I'm Not Stopping

I'm going to really geek out for a minute and discuss selecting and purchasing a new computer, one of my favorite things in the world to do. I spent quite a bit of time mulling over the purchase. It came down to Dell or Apple. Specifically, a Mac mini equipped with extra ram for $700 or a souped up Dimension 9200 with a quad core processor for $650. The debate was between efficiency in size or efficiency in price.

I ended up going with price and I'm pretty happy I did so although I haven't had a chance to play with it because it is at home and I am still at college. When I start editing again, I'm going to be much better off with premiere with a quad core processor than with final cut with a much slower dual core processor. Also, there's plenty of room to expand in the Dell whereas one can not really expand at all with the Mac mini without a putty knife to open it up with. Steve got a nearly identical computer about a week before me so I had a chance to play with it and look inside and I must say that it seems like a very well put together piece of computer. Resembling some sort of hybrid of consumer price and professional quality. Also, after playing around with a few things, it's obvious the quad core processor ain't no slouch.

I Am Error

My computer broke last night. Happy birthday to me.

It's Really Nothing New, It's Just A Thing We Like To Do

I made this comic strip with Comic Life on Emily's Macbook. The pictures featured are from Emily's personal library of photos. The models are Meg and Mike.

Darjeeling Limited? More Like Creativity Limited!

"Estranged family members share a bonding series during trying and bizarre events."

Which Wes Anderson movie did I just describe? I bet you can't answer that question!

Wes Anderson, I love you but the free ride is over!

I Dreamed That I Slept And I Actually Dreamed

I've been putting off writing this, my first blog post from Eastern Michigan University so there's a lot of stuff I have to cover and I hope I don't forget any of it.

For one, Ypsilanti is certainly not BG. I don't know why but this hit me on Wednesday, July 4th, when I walked to Dairy Queen: a boring old non-Miles owned Dairy Queen. I knew that I wasn't in BG before this, but that's when it really sunk in, paying over 5 bucks for a burger and fries at DQ. Also, walking to Dairy Queen was a pain. There's a bunch of restaurants in the Student Center here, but they keep really short hours and the whole place is closed on Sundays and was closed on the 4th of July. There's a few places to eat off campus right near me, but I wanted to see what else was around. 45 minutes of walking later, I gave up and ate at the DQ Brazier. The other day, I described Ypsilanti to Emily as "the bastard son of a suburb and a ghetto," and I still stand behind this description. In fact there is a street that crosses Washtenaw Ave. that I believe to have pinpointed as where the suburban-ness gives in to the ghetto-ness of Ypsilanti. I don't remember this road but on the corner there's a liquor store.

This isn't to say that I'm not enjoying myself. I'm having trouble meeting people, but I knew that would happen. On the other hand, I have a lot of time to work on meditating, getting plenty of sleep, studying, writing, reading and anything else I want to do. I can't remember the last time I was so rested, relaxed and also very bored. Regardless of how I feel about this place, it's a lot better than a factory, for sure.

Turn The Cocks Brown

This is a short post for those who demand it.

I have made a promise to myself today. I have to stop watching clocks. I would stand in front of my machine at the factory and will time to move forward as quickly as possible. I would watch the clock, hoping to see the minutes tick by faster and I realized recently that I do that too much. I sit in class and start looking at the clock after about 5 minutes, pleading with the hands to move faster instead of taking my time to learn something. I would sit in front of my computer thinking about things that need to get done and how I wasn't doing it and I would watch the day melt away. It's all such a waste and I need to live in a world without clocks. I mean, I'm not going to live without a schedule or anything but when I need to be somewhere for an hour, two hours, whatever, I need to just be in that moment and let the world go through me instead of past me. So that's my new semester resolution.

Here's My Secret: I'm Still Unsure Of Everything

So, as I think everyone who would read this knows, I am not coming back to BG in the fall. I kept the knowledge of this fact to myself for a very long while. I mean, I wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen, but I knew I wasn't going to be in school. There was a chance I was going to force my parents to cut me off and let me get a full time job in BG trying to afford my rent until I could figure out what I was going to do. Fortunately, I'm not doing that. I wanted to really badly at one point, but that would have been stupid. After that, I thought I was going to go home and work while going to community college. That was a frightening thought, to say the least.

Finally, my parents and I decided that I would be best off living in the dorms at Eastern Michigan and going to school there. I'm still majoring in telecommunications but instead of political science, I'm minoring in journalism. All goes well, I'll be out in two years. All goes horribly, I'll be back at home for a long time. I comfort myself with the fact that BG is not too far away. The town is still like a home to me, possibly more so than my own. I feel uncomfortable and out of place oftentimes here in Lake County, a feeling I rarely ever have in BG. Still, privacy and relative solitude is going to do me good, I hope, and I see myself succeeding wonderfully at Eastern. I don't put a lot of stock in God or religion, but when visiting Eastern Michigan two weeks ago, I really felt like if there is some kind of deity, I am doing what his will by going there. It was a strange feeling and possibly just a selfish, self-satisfying one, but it made me feel better.

I don't really know what else to say, I just wanted to keep everyone up on my thoughts now that I feel free to share them. I just hope Eastern isn't as hostile towards me as it was my freshman year. There were times while I was there that I felt half the school was out to make my day awful but I bet that was just in my imagination.

I also need to drink less, which I am definitely not doing here in Lake County.

I would like to send out a few simple, public messages to friends who read this blog.

Steve- Video Bank is important and it's your chance to leave a mark at BG before you leave. I know that's what you want, I can see it in you. You've got the chops so just do it. I'll come help whenever I can.

Emily- No offense to Steve, but I couldn't imagine a better possible president for UFO. Regardless of how many people show up, make it mean something because it should. Hopefully, I'll have some product to send your way for the film festival.

Dustin- I am turning into you: an old weirdo, wandering the dormitory halls. Seriously, though, I hope we can get the apartment shit figured out because it'd be the greatest favor in the world if you could take that lease off my hands.

That's about it, some coherent thoughts, some slightly incoherent, random thoughts. Take what you will from them.