Well, it appears a lot of accusations have been going around lately. Heh, kind of like the Red Scare, all my buddies are fearing that their colleagues are going to stop going to school. For some, this may be sort of founded, and for others, quite preposterous. I'll start with the preposterous ones. A few people have been accusing Erin that he will never get through college because he's fiscally irresponsible. While Erin does spend more than most people (to the level of yuppie), and does have high service costs (like insurance from auto wrecks) he is currently the man taking 19 units in an attempt to get a degree in directing (directing movies). Heh, he wants me to be a co-director because he loves the images & symbolism I portray to him during late nights at the Arcata Pizza and Deli. I think it's all just child's play, though I do admit that, with the types of movies Hollywood churns out these days, the stuff I portray to him with just a minute's worth of thought would be highly marketable.
Damn, I digressed again.
The next person that people worry about is me. Maybe they're on to something, though. I don't have any true major career ough I think i'm very close to making up my mind now. I plan on always continuing school, since there's always something new to learn (helps me to grow), but I think i'm going to select a major career of radiology... if japanese doesn't train me well enough by the time I need to leave this place. I know i'm gonna make it in school, one way or the other.
However, Evan is the man that everyone is unanimously worried about. You see, he just bought a car. A really nice car (a 2000 Honda Civic, to be exact) for 14,000 (down payment from his inheritance: 5000, making the car 9,000$), and is now projected to be in debt until he's 24. On top of that, he pays: utilities, food, gas, school, taxes, and so forth. Now he will have to pay premium insurance on top of the car payment until the debt is paid off. I don't know how he really plans to pull it off, but i know that I would be living in some really tough times until 24 with the wages I get! (we both have the same wage scale) Personally, I think he should've spent that $5000 fixing up/pimping his broken Honda CRX (he always talked about pimping it), since he loves CRX's and it would've been MUCH cheaper. A third option would've been to buy a cheap car. He's too young to be buying such a car/getting into such debt! We're just kids still, ya know? I feel bad for him.
So, while I do celebrate his acquisition, I will be passionate and sensitive to him when the tough times come, Which they will be. He was already really stressed out about signing his soul over on the dotted line...
In short, debt will stop you. At all costs, stay away from debt! If you get in debt, get rid of it as soon as you can (take a second job or something. Just get rid of it)
I should also say that I almost fell for the same trap. Almost bought my japanese teacher's car for 1000$. "That's cheap," you might say, but the real cost would've been in the gas. It was a beautiful car, but was also built like a tank. In the end, (after calculating it) the gasoline would've made the car own me, with the 10 miles to the gallon rating it got.
Here's to you, buddy!
Anyways, I feel it's time for news that is worth mentioning. I have now started japanese lessons with sensei at 4 on sundays, and they've been turning out really good. We spend the whole time studying, no time doing idle chit-chat, and much learning was had. I should backtrack, however. Me, Erin, and sensei now have a Friday ritual of watching old movies, followed by the "midnight at the minor" presentation. last Friday, we watched "42nd street" and "gold diggers of 1933". Both movies were made in 1933, before the Hayes laws went into effect (which censored much stuff), and I must say are MUCH more fascinating than most movies that are on the silver screen today (I'm serious. I was impressed with the technique that the dances required. And the style! both movies are worth watching). When midnight came, we watched "The Princess Bride" on the big screen. Sensei had never seen the princess bride before. He loved it!
Anyway, when we had japanese lessons, sensei told me that last Friday was the best fun he'd had in years, and couldn't stop using it as an example for japanese sentences. We didn't even drink on Friday! (I don't drink, if there's any doubts around here. I just want to point out that sensei and erin didn't drink, either). This says a lot to me, since sensei has been fighting terrible bouts of depression. He's been much more lively lately.
I made a teacher and friend happy. It was a day worth living, if only for him (no i'm not gay).
To quickly sum up, I got my income tax return back, which surprised me because it was on the same day as payday at work. I checked my account and thought my workplace had made an accounting error. "$1000?!? I know I was saving but what the...?" Sadly, the money is already marked to be spent. However, it's not on trinkets and such, but on a pair of glasses (get my nerd on), new tires (mine were cheap and crappy. The tread wore off fast), a kanji book, some more contacts (when I get my insurance, it'll chop the cost of glasses and contacts) a gi for kempo... and a cup (for those ball shots that my kempo companions shoot for). Also, I keep bumping into an old acquaintance of mine that i used to talk to during the semester I took at McKinleyville High: Graham Payne. It seems almost like i'm destined to rally up with him, since I see him at work, school, lunch... even when I'm pumping gas into my car. I need to talk to him. He's the next step. I haven't talked to him in a long time, but I know he's been taking japanese lessons and has a girlfriend from Japan.
Why does everything for me turn to Japan? Is this my destiny?
I'm helping Meghanraye get into Gonsea. Zack (Jamie's ex, whom she called "stalkerboy") is leaving for Japan via the Navy (yeah he's joining the Navy), and Meghanraye is trying with all her might to get out of WinCo. She has a shitty job, and I don't blame her. I guess this means I'll be seeing her much less (though I'll continue to meet with her grandfather at the V&N burger bar on Wednesday mornings). I'm happy for her, but hope that she gets enough hours to pay the bills.
So many things have been going good for me. If I only just try to do something, and stick with it, I succeed. I keep looking for more and more difficult challenges to undertake, though I know of one that I cannot defeat right now (I will not mention it on this site). I am training my willpower in many different situations in order to defeat that challenge.
Currently, I'm testing my willpower over something very personal. It's been difficult, but I'm turning celibate, if only temporarily. Not for any reason, really, save to test my willpower again. I know it won't last forever, but I'm going to see what it's like again to be inactive. I find that I spend a good amount of my day participating in non-celibate activities and to end this would free a tremendous amount of time. I can succeed, and I will. Just gotta resist the morning.
NEW TOPIC OUT OF NOWHERE!
All the work/learning that i've been doing has made me recognize some unforseen problems. I am too focused on the future right now. I don't feel like I'm living in the moment, and I'm always thinking about what's happening tomorrow whenever i'm participating in a planned activity. While I do get the maximum benefit that i'm looking for in the activity I would be participating in the current moment, I feel robbed (and i shouldn't). I feel like this county has 2 things. work and boredom. If you don't work, you have nothing to do (drugs? Not an option.) If you work, you don't have time to do anything. Such is life in other areas though. I particularly noticed this when I lived in Utah. But, I bet if I seeked out fun stuff in Utah, I would've found them. I've never had a job in Utah, so i've never had any disposable income to waste on those kinds of things (but I have lived in Utah, albeit poor). Same thing with Alaska.
But at this point in my life, I should sacrifice the wants of now for a better tomorrow. Thus, I do not look for the small pleasures in life, for the temptation would be an awful thing indeed (if only to my mission statement).
Current status: I feel straightened.
Age of the mamabrain. Darrel knows what this means. Everyone else will be left in the dark. BWAHAHAHA!!!!
Have you ever heard of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates? Fools! Imbeciles! Morons! When compared to me! -The Sicilian Vizzini on The Princess Bride
D.
