So I missed a few days of quotes. Whatever, I've been busy. Yesterday was the one year anniversary with the girlfriend, so that was cool, and today was my first day of Sales Training for my painting job. I went to bed at 2:30 in Providence (RI) and woke up at 5:30 to drive to Brockton to sit in a ballroom in the Holiday Inn from 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM. Tomorrow we do it again. I hope to get more sleep tonight. I'll make up for the missed quotes if you're good and if you even care, you heartless reader.

Emily Dickinson. Spitting Knowledge

After great pain, a formal feeling comes-

The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs-

The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,

And Yesterday, or Centuries before?

The Feet, mechanical, go round-

Of Ground, or Air, or Ought-

A Wooden way

Regardless grown,

A Quartz contentment, like a stone-

This is the Hour of Lead-

Remembered, if outlived,

As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow-

First- Chill- then Stupor- then the letting go-

The right side of the video gets cut out for some reason

Quote of the Day

Are you upset little friend? Have you been lying awake worrying? Well, don't worry...I'm here. The flood waters will recede, the famine will end, the sun will shine tomorrow, and I will always be here to take care of you.

-"Peanuts"

The English are silly

"Way out"= Exit

"Mind the Gap"= Watch your step

"Queue"= Line

"Give way"= Yield

I'm sure that I could be (fill in the blank), if I could get out of this place.

I like to tell myself this. I wonder if it's true.

Quote of the Day

The word civilized has no place in any discussion of the affairs of this world.

-"Legends of the Fall"

Quote of the Day

What's the alternative? If you don't live the life you want, what life are you living? You're living the same boring, crappy, unsatisfying life everyone else is leading. A life you probably don't want. And if you don't want your life, why are you even getting up in the morning?

-Tucker Max

He's Going the Distance

It's not weird for me to be up this late, but it is weird that I've been doing actual schoolwork until now. I guess I'll finish tomorrow morning because my roommate is in bed and I think my lamp is bothering him.

A friend of mine got into what is essentially our school sponsored frat, Friar's Club. This is exciting for him because I guess it's a pretty big deal to get be in Friar's Club and it's a great thing to put on a resume or something. I'm not a huge fan of Friars's Club, I get the feeling that they think they're the greatest people on campus because they wear white coats and give tours. I think my least favorite thing about it is their initiation, which requires newly admitted members to wear a bandana on their leg and try to prevent the rest of the club from taking it off them. Apparently they take this pretty seriously, because I've heard of them banging on the doors of new member's rooms and pretty much assaulting their roommates to try to get this bandana. Because of this, most bandanas are claimed within a day or two of the initiation starting. Currently, my friend is the only new member still with his bandana. He had been missing the whole night, hiding from the gorillas, one of whom is another friend of ours and lives down the hall from us. He finally ventured back upstairs at 3 or so, just because he was starving and wanted crackers and hummus. He's not going to any classes tomorrow and none of can know where he's hiding. I can't wait for him to be the first person to keep his bandana for the required amount of time, which I guess is Wednesday. It's a very exciting time here, if only for me and my vendetta against the jive turkeys of Friar's Club.

Quote of the Day

I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

-Stephen Henry Roberts

Hang in there Tuna. Your friends are here for you.

Developers

They're important.




Thanks to Joe for teaching me how to embed videos.

Magic Legs

I want to do as many things in my life as Forrest Gump did. I want to see different places and go anywhere I want to. I'll go to islands, mountains, forests, and deserts, but I'll only tell you about them if you ask.

Explanation of title: "Lieutenant Dan! You got magic legs!" If I was in a wheelchair for as long as he was I would never sit down again after getting those legs.

Yo le diria

This was going to be a post about how Spanish class tends to get deeper than most of my other classes. I was going to give some examples and summarize the stories that got us to that level, but I've decided against it. Instead, I'll leave you with a couple questions. First, what would you ask yourself if you could have a conversation with yourself in 20 years? Second, what would you tell you 6 year old self if you could have this same conversation? One of the exercises we did in Spanish dealt with these questions. It reminded me of the song "Letter to Me by Brad Paisley. I'm not sure if I would want to talk to myself in 20 years, because I think I would get too worried about how the future me was and be too preoccupied with how I would turn out to pay attention to how I was living. I also can't guarantee that I'll be here tomorrow, let alone in 20 years. I think I wouldn't want to talk to my 6 year old self either, because I think I've turned out pretty okay without that conversation. Maybe I'm dumb, but I guess I'd just rather live without worrying about becoming the person I supposedly will become. Don't worry about the future, you're making it now.

Explanation of title: Yo le diria was the title of one of the exercises in Spanish that prompted this post.

Quote of the Day

But knowing they had had the best of love, they clung to what remained.
-F. Scott Fitzgerald "The Beautiful and Damned"

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do quotes of the day on weekends, but I couldn't resist. Here's one for Saturday in case the bonus from Friday didn't cut it:

Being tired isn't the same as being rich, but most times it's close enough.
-Chuck Palahniuk "Fight Club"

The chances of having a Saturday quote also weren't helped by me sleeping until 4 and still being hungover. Check out xkcd.

Quote of the Day

The thing about blood, family, it's always there. You can hate each other, you can want to kill each other, but you never stop loving each other. But love love, damn, now that's a whole other thing.
-"The Black Donnellys"

Bonus Friday quote:
You end up becoming what you see in the eyes of those you love.
-Carlos Ruiz Zafon "The Angel's Game"

Things I Learned This Week

-Apparently until the age of five children can make any sound from any language. It gets more difficult to make different sounds as you get older because your body forgets the ones you don't use.
-Providence College students pay $200 for each day they are at school. This includes weekends. I didn't count days off for winter or spring break, but I kept weekends because we pay room and board and because the school does nothing for us on weekends.
-The US dollar is getting stronger. We've got that going for us.
-Regardless of how late I stay up the night before, I won't study for a Spanish quiz until 20 minutes before class.

Those are the Things I Learned This Week. Sponsored by Yoohoo.

Capital Letters

Don't use them. All caps does not show excitement, it is just annoying. THIS IS NOT ENJOYABLE TO READ I DO NOT WANT TO BE YELLED AT THROUGH MY COMPUTER!!!! Please, stop. Thank you.

Quote of the Day

Maturity, the way I understand it, is knowing what your limitations are.

-Kurt Vonnegut "Cat's Cradle"

Insomniac detectives in film noir classics

Connor sent me this a week ago and it's caused me to be ok with staying up later than I should, thus causing me to stay up even later. Thanks Connor.

I keep imagining how much I could get done and how much I could learn if I didn't have to sleep. I think I'm more productive at night anyways, maybe because nobody is awake to distract me from whatever I'm doing, but I always pay for my late nights with tired mornings and wasted days. The thing is, I really enjoy being up before everyone else and watching the sun rise and the world come back to life, but I can rarely get up early enough to do so because I go to bed too late. I also enjoy being up late though and being able to spend the night the way I want to rather than being told to go to class or having to work. I find that at night I usually try to learn different things or just think about the world, whereas during the day I get caught up in the business of class and being with people and have less time and desire to do things for me. I think being nocturnal might be pretty cool, at least for a little while just to see what it's like. Apparently you can train your body so that instead of sleeping for seven to nine hours all at once you instead take a 20 minute or so nap every two hours. It seems like a cool idea, but it would also prevent you from doing anything that lasts more than two hours, which would be tough to get used to and would probably suck.

A request

Tip your gas station attendant next time you fill up. Please. Just a dollar will help make the monotony and aggravation of dealing with the next twenty cars a little more bearable. My friends here at school seem to think that gas station attendants don't deserve to be given a dollar to brighten their day. Coincidentally, none of my friends here have worked as a gas station attendant before. Joe said it on his blog, but having a crappy job helps you appreciate someone else with a crappy job. Thank you.

Quote of the Day

I might give alms to his body; but his body did not pain him; it was his soul that suffered, and his soul I could not reach.

-Herman Melville "Bartleby, the Scrivener"

It's Not Ok

A man was bothering me today
I wanted to tell him to go away
But I stood and listened to him anyway, OK?
He said he didn't want to shoot that man
It was his thing and I wouldn't understand
He had done all that he can, OK?
OK...

I guess his body was as good as mine
Just like me he was wasting time
Turning over every stone to see what he could find, OK?
He was filling tank and he asked for money
I lied and said I didn't have anyThen my conscience took over and gave him a handful of
change.

Don't do a thing.
Stay right there.
You'll lie there.
You don't seem to care

I know it's hard to survive in the city
When beautiful days don't look so pretty
And you don't have windows to keep the night away, OK?
He was dirty and stink and just a bit crude
But I didn't say that because that's kind of rude
And he didn't care what I had to say in the first place.
OK...

I wanted to say you're a big disgrace
To the world, yourself, and the human race
And reach back and pop him one good time in the face, OK?
No, it's not OK and I didn't do that
But I gave him a smile and tipped my hat and
Told him to have a very nice rest of the day

Don't do a thing.
Stay right there.
You'll lie there.
You don't seem to care.

I guess he bought some booze with it
And sure that bothers me a little bit but
It's his life and I can't tell him how to live it
As he turned and started to go his way
I tried to think of something wise to say like...

Don't do a thing.
Stay right here.
You'll lie here.
You don't seem to care.
You'll die here.
You don't seem to care.

-Zac Brown Band

I'd link or embed or whatever the song but I don't know how to. Look it up if you want.

Like a bee

I made a Google Buzz account for myself, mostly to see what it's about. I'm not really sure what it's supposed to be. I think Google intends it to be another social networking site and hopes for it to contend with Facebook, but the little I saw of it reminded me more of Tumblr what with the sharing of postings and the attempt at giving it a community feel. I get the feeling that it's more practical for Gmail users, because it connects you with your contacts and lets you share stuff I guess? Maybe I haven't given it much of a shot but I get the feeling that it would turn into another blog and I'm intimidated enough with just one. I also have to sign out of here to sign into Buzz and vice versa and that's just going to be a pain. Check it out I guess. Or don't, whatever dude.

Notes from the Weekend

After reviewing the events of this past weekend, a jury of my peers and I have decided that the appropriate word to describe it is "weird", though that may not do it justice. This might take a while. Let's begin:

-The annual invasion of PC by West Point took place this weekend. Sean's friend PK goes to West Point and apparently when one cadet goes to visit a friend they all do. This year we had PK, his older brother and ex-Marine Brendan (who is a 22 year old freshman at Dartmouth), five nameless cadets, the boyfriend of the girl I took to senior prom who goes to the Naval Academy (they were dating when I took her, I didn't know until after I asked her to go), and BrendanM, who dates a girl at PC and who has visited often. For those keeping score at home, that's six sophomores at the Military Academy, one sophomore from the Naval Academy, one drunk college kid, and one war veteran with the scars from an IED to prove it.

-Friday night we waited for the Army to arrive so that we could go out. Much to our dismay, they didn't get here until after 10, at which point we were drunk and ready to leave. We quickly tossed them beers and Stiffies (stiff drinks, in this case rum and beer) and were out the door 30 minutes later. We first went to Louies and pulled the "My friends are visiting from West Point" card to get into the already crowded bar. Louies closed after an hour of our shenanigans and we walked to the other end of campus to catch the Whiskey Shuttle and go to Whiskey's Pub, which doesn't close until 2 AM. After missing a couple shuttles, we arrive at Whiskey's to find that although they are serving our country, West Point kids with military ID's still need to be 21 to get in. Slightly downhearted, we waited outside for the next shuttle back to campus, where we found a house party and killed their keg.

-Saturday. The night that escalated this President's Day weekend into the upper levels of PC lore. The night started out very similar to Friday, with drinking in Sean's room before going out and the walk down Admiral to Clubbies, joking that we wished someone would jump us to see the Army in action. I forgot the ID claiming I'm 21, like I always do, and had to walk back to school alone in the cold to get it from the room. I get back to Clubbies and make my way upstairs where it's less crowded and where the posse has gathered. As the night progresses I find myself standing with Sean between the bar and the bathroom upstairs. All of a sudden I see a body on the floor and the kid in the white shirt start to kick the prone body in the head. Sean and I realize what is happening and push the kid away from the person on the floor and almost into the bathroom, as the bartender hops the bar and has the bouncers escort the kid who got kicked out the door. As I'm standing there waiting for them toss the kicker, I ask Sean who the kid on the floor was. He looked me in the eye and told me "That was PK's brother, Brendan," and my heart sank. Brendan was the 22 year old freshman at Dartmouth who had already served in Afghanistan and Iraq and whose face and legs bore the scars he earned from walking too close to an IED (Improvised Explosive Device).

I hurried outside to see how Brendan was doing and found him already with his brother and another cadet trying to explain to them what had happened. I could see the fire and disbelief in PK's eyes, but had to keep him from going back into the Clubbies because Larry (the owner) had already called the cops and was kicking everyone out. The kids who attacked Brendan stayed inside because they're friends with Larry's degenerate son, and bragged about how tough they were and how Brendan was holding his jaw when he walked out. I had to stop a West Point cadet from finding the kids who assaulted his war veteran brother in a crowded bar and who I had been standing next to as his brother was kicked out of the bar. I'm going to regret that for a while. I'll make excuses and say that by the time I realized it was his brother on the ground it would have been unwise to try to hit the kid, but I'm going to regret not doing anything for a very long time. I cried my eyes out later that night thinking about how I would feel had it been my brother lying helpless on the ground getting his head kicked in by a waste of life 25 year old. Add to that the fear PK must have lived with while his brother was deployed overseas and the pride he must feel for his brother, the American hero.

After everyone had filed out of Clubbies and was milling around trying to figure out what to do next, a random kid took his empty beer bottle and rifled it at the door, shattering the bottle and cracking the glass door. A split second later Larry, his son and all his bouncer henchmen bolted out the door and chased the kid down the street, beating him until the cops came and put him in the cruiser. While this was happening, a kid from my floor named Terence was walking on the other side of the street yelling "Providence police suck!" and other such niceties. That's right folks, he pulled an Ali Schofield on Providence cops. As he walked away smirking to himself, another cruiser screeched to a stop next to him. Terence has never been accused of having much common sense, and when something is amiss on the floor chances are that he is the guilty party. Faced with a cop yelling in his face to put his hands on the wall, Terence reasons that rather than do the sensible thing and comply and talk his way out of whatever minor offense they were pissed at him for, he should turn tail and run away, through a parking lot and uphill. Needless to say, with one cop on foot and two cruisers peeling out after him, Terence didn't make it very far. It didn't help that he was running in the middle of the street. Terence was rewarded with a night in jail. He went home to New Jersey to see his righteously pissed off dad on Sunday when he was bailed out, and I haven't seen him in the dorm since.

After rounding up all of our guests and taking turns keeping each other from raiding Clubbies, we made our way to a late night party hosted at my friend's brother's house. My RA from last year told me that he didn't see me as a former resident but as a real cool guy. He was real drunk but is a great guy so I'll gladly take the compliment. I walked back alone after a while and met my girlfriend outside my dorm, where I proceeded to cry like it was my brother on the ground.

-Sunday. Valentine's Day. Once again, I prove that I am terrible at holidays. That is all that will be said about it here.

Apparently my friends had another ridiculous night out, this time thanks to a dedication to living with no ceilings. Sean was at Danny's, another bar, with Eric and some of the other boys. Eric notices a particularly unattractive girl sitting at the bar, and propositions Sean with an offer to hook up with her for some sum of money. Sean takes a look, runs some calculations in his head, and promptly offers $2. Eric is pleased and positions himself directly next to the girl. Sean looks away and continues with whatever weird things he does, until Bobby drops his jaw to the ground a minute later and points over to the bar where Eric is spitting knowledge. Sean can't believe his eyes. After he and the girl are done hooking up, Eric looks her dead in the face and smoothly says "No ceilings." He leaves and collects his earnings from Sean, only to learn later in the night that he was the girl's first kiss. Ever. Unfortunately, prostitution has recently been outlawed in Rhode Island, and the authorities are now searching for Eric. We also had a seven man sleepover in my room that night, topped off with a little Men In Black. Apparently that morning Mike and Eric work up holding hands. Interesting.

-Monday. Almost done. I did my first estimate for my house painting business. The family were friends of ours and thus I was confident that I would be able sell the house, but when he looked at the number we put together and reached for his pen I still nearly jumped in excitement. I will be painting at least one house this summer.

Fogle, out.

Quote of the Day

Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.

-Mark Twain

I know, I missed a couple days. My bad.

Back

I have my computer once again. It's been very strange not having it for five days. I guess I never realized how much time I really spend on it, as I found myself having to find new things to do that didn't require the use of a computer. I listened to my Ipod for the first time in weeks and used the IHome dock speaker thing for the first time all year. I wrote a little bit and tried to start reading more. I didn't go to sleep earlier or get more exercise, and I did mope around my room a lot, but I don't think I can blame that on not having a computer. It's weird to be back.

Quote of the Day

But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.
-Ernest Hemingway "The Old Man and the Sea"


My computer is dead, I might have it back by tomorrow but I wanted to start having a quote of the day. Let's see how long this lasts.

In 8 months I will be here and free

Unrelated quote: "I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right."

-Markus Zusac "The Book Thief"

Addition: The undisturbed snow makes the campus look peaceful from my fourth floor window. It's too bad people have to come around and destroy it. Snow looks so much nicer in the country. The only things disturbing it there are animals, who instead of moving it and manipulating it for fit their needs and desires, merely make their way through it as they carry on with their day. People try to make their environment adapt to them, instead of adapting to their environment. We can be quite arrogant sometimes.

Flat tire? Try a Tomato!

Other people have bigger problems than me. Mine are mine so I'm biased

I haven't been to class in five days, since last Friday. Monday I had two classes cancelled and decided to give myself a long weekend by skipping the one remaining class, Tuesday I was feeling down and wanted a day to try to pull myself together, and Wednesday school was cancelled due to inclement weather. Not surprisingly, I have accomplished nothing in these five days other than getting real drunk on Friday, trying to make up for Friday night on Saturday, and wishing summer was here and over so I'd have money to move to St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands with Connor and escape. I have a test tomorrow on Hamlet, an Accounting test Friday that was supposed to be today, and a Civ paper due Friday about God knows what. I've studied a little bit for each test. I'm finding it hard to care about school or anything really. The Calvin and Hobbes comic I posted the other day is exactly where my mind is at right now. I feel like I'm wasting my time here and bringing myself down in the process when I could be doing something productive. I use the atmosphere here at school and especially in my room as an excuse, but you and I both know I'm the one to blame here.

Things I should start doing:

Exercising

Reading (more)

Showering (more often)

Getting out of my room

Putting effort into school (great)

Going to bed earlier

Is this real life?

Poll (mostly for those who know me): Am I a white person? Yes or no are the only acceptable answers.

Explanation of title: Go to Youtube and search David at the Dentist. There's the explanation.

I need vitamin C. Stat. I got some honey, it's not helping as much as I had hoped. Beer and wings today at Spags' Super Bowl Party probably won't help.

Pictures from Arizona-taken in 2007

I wish I had some honey to stop my throat from itching. For now the remedy is tea or just hot water.

In praise of the girlfriend

My computer appears to be virus free now. I'd like to thank the girlfriend for running the Spybot-Search and Destroy program I apparently have on my computer. It still sounds like it might blow up but I think it just works too hard. I'm fine with that, I like my overachieving, square, bland looking PC.

Something sad

A kid who went to my high school died yesterday. I'm not sure how and I didn't know him, I just vaguely remember his name from my time there. He was a year or two older than me. I'm sure he will be missed. It makes me wonder what Xaverian kids would say if I were to die. Would kids older or younger than me who didn't know me join my Facebook group like I did for him? Would one of them write a blog about me? Would the world just keep turning? Death is something I'll never understand and never stop being fascinated by.

RIP Brendan Burke, XBHS '06. I wonder what you're doing now.

EDIT: Found an article about him for those who are interested.

Let's get drunk and forget the world. That looks real emo when I write it out. I apologize to my reader(s).

Houston we have a problem

My computer sounds like it's preparing for takeoff. I think I have about a million viruses on it trying to destroy it from the inside. They're coming for me next. I'm a bit worried. Pray for me.

How my prediction was proved correct

So Brett Favre hasn't announced his retirement yet as I predicted earlier, but he has managed to get a little bit of the spotlight back on him and his legendary toughness. His agent showed off some pictures of bruising on Favre's leg and ankle, most likely on Favre's orders, and the talk about how tough Favre is for playing with those bruises began. Again. I wouldn't be surprised if the pictures proved to be fake. I hate that I'm writing another post about the old gunslinger in Wrangler jeans.

P.S. Wrangler jeans suck.

The lyrics that every girl ever has used as a Facebook album title

I get by with a little help from my friends.

It's very true, though I feel like the quote has been ruined, like many things, by girls ages 15-20. Rather than think of the line from the song when you read this, think of the sentiment behind it. I think that's how we can save it from the evil opposite sex.

I like to think they get by with a little help from me, but I don't wish to presume.

Genesis

If God doesn't exist then Abraham was just another crazy guy with violent tendencies. If he tried pulling the "sacrificing" Isaac stuff and the circumcision for all men because "God" told him to he'd be tossed in a loony bin before he found a knife to use.