It has been about a week since my last blog and even longer since I produced a blog with any substance. I just can’t seem to find the time to blog more often. Well, I guess better late than never. I was thinking of just writing a series of smaller posts, but I figured I wouldn’t find the time to do so. So, this is one big blog broken down into points of interest covering a little bit of my background, some current events and some random thoughts.


Currently I live with my family: my mother, my father and my grandmother. Back in my early twenties I moved out and after about three months moved back home. Not due to financial circumstances, rather I did not like paying rent. I was welcomed home and over a few years saved a substantial amount. I lived with another relative for about a year then moved back home again due to a conflict of interests. After moving back for the second time I've set my focus on school. I don't work at the moment but handle a number of household chores (i.e. dishes, dusting and as of late maintaining the roughly 5.5 acres of lawn we have). Luckily I have that nice lump sum I saved living at home to handle tuition and other expenses.

Like many Americans I found myself at Kentucky Fried Chicken this past Wednesday taking advantage of the free meal that Oprah decided to give the nation. Initially my mom and I were going to have lunch at KFC before hitting up the nearby Goodwill, as Wednesday is our regular thrift shopping day, but decided to wait and hopefully avoid the crowd. Fail. We arrived at about 2:45pm and didn’t get our food until about 3:25pm. I passed time chatting with a guy who had been pulled over in the parking lot because he had dealer tags on his car, and representatives from almost all the nearby fast food restaurants who came to claim their free meal. The line slowly moved, and an employee fed up with the madness that Oprah had sown quit and walked out. Although it took some time, the fact that the meal was free and the food was fresh, as they were cooking up a storm, made it worthwhile for me and my mom. Thanks Oprah for doing us a solid.


My car was running fine until today. A couple blogs ago I talked about how I ended up broken down on the interstate. All I needed to do was replace the upper radiator hose but I replaced both the upper and lower hoses. Today’s breakdown was related to that repair. About four miles from my house I noticed that my engine temperature was higher than normal and rising rapidly. I pulled into the nearest gas station, opened the hood and surveyed the damage. The upper radiator hose had become dislodged from the engine block causing the loss of a large amount of antifreeze/coolant. Not a major issue, but I left my socket set at home as I was in the middle of repairing the family riding mower. As I prepared myself to walk home a good Samaritan who just purchased a sandwich at that adjacent Subway offered to give me a ride home. Mind you this was in the “downtown” of the city that I live in and that the main street is only about a half-mile long with about ten stores, and not in the downtown of say Orlando where a stranger offering you a ride will probably equate to you never being seen again. I got my tools, gave the Samaritan a bottle of water and after purchasing some antifreeze/coolant fixed my car in about fifteen minutes. Good as new.

Ever since my trip to Japan back in 2006 I have slowly been doing my best to learn Japanese in hopes that it will help me get a teaching job there after I finish my masters degree. I was doing pretty good for a while. Between the Rosetta Stone software and a vocabulary building CD my sister purchased for me I felt I was making progress. Then somewhere along the line the time I allotted for learning Japanese disappeared and is still MIA. I’m trying to work this back into my daily routine.

A couple years ago under the influenced of Guitar Hero and BECK: The Mongolian Chop Squad I picked up a bass and guitar and decided to learn an instrument. Similar to learning Japanese the time I set aside for this also disappeared. Now under the influence of K–ON! I’m trying to fit this into my schedule as well.

A couple weeks ago I was finally able to attack my anime backlog and watch Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd gig. I enjoyed the first season and the second did not disappoint me either. Then about a week later I was finally able to download the first four episodes of K-ON!, Easily a winner in my opinion. I would describe the show as a combination of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, Lucky Star and BECK: The Mongolian Chop Squad. It is a slice of life anime focused on the lives of four high school girls that have joined the light music club with the ultimate aspiration of performing at the Budokan before graduation. It has been a long time since I have enjoyed an anime enough to download an episode from home. It took me a little over forty eight hours through my dial-up connection. On a side note I was irked the other day because a friend made the comment “they’re a bunch of lolis” when he saw my K-ON! background.

Give me a ing break. I have that background because it is a show I'm currently enjoying. His comment really irritated my for some reason


About a month ago I changed my workout routine and feel great! I average a little over an hour a day for my combined cardio & weightlifting regiment. For my weight training sessions I eliminated my rest time between sets, which saves my time and pushed my muscles a bit more. As for cardio, rather than cycling I’ve returned to running, which is occasionally difficult due to some previous damage from a lot of running on the treadmill and my relatively flat feet. However, now that I’ve got some insoles and some better running shoes. About a year and a half ago I switched from Nike branded running shoes to New Balance and it has made a world of difference. Since they are made slightly wider it feels much more comfortable than any pair of Nike running shoes I have ever owned. Plus I like the fact that they are made in the USA.

I think over the past two weeks the only time I can squeeze some gaming in is while I’m on the toilet. I’ve wanted to get some major gaming in before summer semester starts, but I just can’t seem to find the time. I guess I’ll just have to be temporarily satisfied with leveling one map at a time in Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, and trying out new strategies in Crystal Defenders.