Category: Personal

Happy Graduation

James Asher1 Comment

So this past Saturday I did that whole graduate-from-college thing. Apparently, it’s some big deal. 🙂

But yeah, I did it, I’m happy. I’m also horribly depressed about it all.

On one side, I’m very happy to be done with college, sans this week of finals I have to endure after we’ve walked. I will finally not have any homework, projects, tests, or finals, ever again. That is very happy. I am the second grandchild to actually graduate from college. I’m also only the fourth person in three generations. So, for my family, I am very happy.

However, on the other side, I’m quite depressed about it. I really don’t know what I’m going to do with my life. I know I have to move on to being a nice, responsible adult. I’m ok with that, it’s just that things aren’t progressing as much as I’d like. Job interviews put me in a very up-and-down emotional state. On one hand, I’ve had quite a few interviews, but on the other, none of them have panned out. What makes it worse is that I get to the very last on-site-interview and then I never hear back from them or they just say “no thanks.” So now, none of the jobs I interviewed for want to hire me, school is 100% done in less than a week, no job, my car is broken, I have a huge financial debt that needs to be paid soon. Life just kind of sucks right now and I’m really unsure of what to do about it.

Really, the worst part is the whole job thing. I know I’m qualified to do the work I want to do. I guess other people are just more qualified? I’m not sure. So, yeah, that’s what’s been going on lately.

I’d be writing more, but finals and job searching kind of take a lot of my time. But, schools nearly over, so I should have more time to randomly babble on about stuff.

Oh yeah, and I hope everyone likes the winterized 17th Degree.

Mark It Done

James Asher3 Comments

Ah, Christmas, quickly approaching are ye. ‘Tis gift-giving season. I don’t know what it is about events requiring presents, but I’ve always been pretty good at it. At least that’s what I’ve been told (thus why I think it). This year, however, is the first year I’ve purchased all my Christmas gifts online. All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good experience. I found a lot of deals. Yay me.

I think this fact is what will drive more and more people who wouldn’t normally purchase gifts online to the internet. That is not to say that my dad, read guy-who-I-couldn’t-get-to-play-solitaire-on-the-computer, will be purchasing gifts at Amazon next year, but still the more the merrier I say. I’m not the only one who thinks this either. There are various bills on the table in state legislatures to deal with things like internet taxes. But, I really don’t think that will be much of a deterrant for those considering online shopping. Everyone already pays taxes on their purchases, it’s the natural thing for it to move online as well.

But anyways, I’m done with shopping, yay to that. How about everyone else?

Turkey Day Ramblings

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First off, happy Turkey Day to all!

And what a nice little Turkey Day it was. I got over to my dad’s house ’round noon or so. My brother and my dad were playing Scrabble, as per usual. After the game, Rory and I went to Dillon’s to get some movies to watch during the day – this is an Asher custom (movies during the holidays, that is). We rented Super Size Me, Walking Tall, and The Punisher (also watched in that order).

Super Size Me was a good movie. One sentence synopsis: In order to find out if fast food is actually bad for you – as opposed to what people just assume – Morgan (documenter / director) eats McDonald’s for a month. This was a really good movie, I’d say. The 7.8 rating on IMDB also agrees. If you haven’t yet seen this documentary, I highly recommend it. I won’t say much more than that, just go watch it.

Walking Tall absolutely sucked. One sentence synopsis: The Rock gets back from his tour in the military and comes back home, only to find his town being controlled by a drug-peddling, casino-running, former schoolmate. AND THE ROCK GOES TO TOWN. Please. <rant>The problems I had with this PG-13 movie just piled up it seemed. In the first 20 minutes of the movie, there is a scene of a guy driving off in his car after a friendly football game with a beer in his hand. Later in the movie The Rock becomes the sheriff of the town. At no point does the guy ever do any police-type actions. Except when he pulls a guy over and then bashes in his tail light with a ceder 4×4. Later, he’s got a guy in lock-up and he’s sent his deputy to go guard his parents house because he thinks the bad guys are gonna go after them. So what happens? The ex-high school sweetheart comes to the station and they do it. Greeeeat. It was just a bad movie.</rant>

The Punisher was alright. One sentence synopsis: It’s the punisher, duh. The movie just didn’t capture the comic book genre enough for me. I mean the acting and everything was alright I guess. It had John Travolta, he’s aiight. Had Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, and she’s wicked hot – oh and a total slut in this movie (gives a thumbs up). The main character – Frank Castle – The Punisher – is not Hugh Jackman, but in fact is Thomas Jane. Just now found that out. 🙂 But it was just, eh.

The Gideon Invasion

James Asher2 Comments

Update: I added the picture that I mentioned below.

Today, as per usual for this time of year, the Gideon Invasion began.

The Gideons, with their perfect octogenarian strategery, amass themselves in force on important intersections across from the University. As is their custom, they give out these little green bibles to passersby free of charge. ‘Tis a gift. Now that I think about it, they were orange once, but it matters not.

I hate being a wasteful person, I really do. Giving me a Gideon bible is wasteful. I will not read it. I’m sorry, I just won’t. I’m not religious, I don’t feel as though I need religion. I believe in God, although not as most people do – most people believe in an omnibenevolent God, whereas I do not, but that’s neither here nor there. Consequently, I avoided the Gideon’s today. I went out of my way to do so, even. This act, in and of itself, is not typically me, but I figured it was better for both the Gideons and myself.

In a possibly related bit of entertainment, though I’m not sure if it actually was or not:

Flash forward to 11:30 a.m. I’m walking from my technical writing class to my physical anthropology lecture. I have to cross the quad – no big deal. As I’m making my short journey, I notice a girl yelling at people and waiving a large flag. Needless to say this piqued my interest. This fanatic very devout girl was screaming explaining in a loud tone that I, and every passerby, was going to hell. Talk about some bad news on a Wednesday morning. If you know me at all, then you know that I was laughing my ass off chuckling to myself. I then proceeded to continue to class.

It just made me think, though. Is that sort of fanaticism and condemnation of every living soul passing you going to convert someone? I mean, seriously, someone explain their logic to me, I’d love to hear it.

I took a picture of the girl with my cell phone camera, though I’m not sure if there is a free way to get it off and onto the internet. I know there is a service I can pay for, though I’m not so sure it’s worth it. I’ll look into it, worry not.

Here’s that girl:

Religious Fanatic

I was explaining this whole spectacle to classmates in my anthro class when one of them mentioned that it was gay-pride week or national come-out-of-the-closet week [or something to that effect]. That also made me wonder if the Gideons, and associated (or un-associated) crazy-ass people with flags, timed their Invasion to coincide. Perhaps so, perhaps not. Damn those Gideons and their impecable strategery.

Lemon Poppyseed Bread

James Asher1 Comment

Josh’s mom is my surrogate mother. She is the epitome of all things motherly. I have yet to see any other mother as motherly as she is. She has been this way as long as I have know Josh; I met Josh in 7th grade gym class. That was circa 1994, if my memory serves me correctly. In terms of friends’ mothers, I couldn’t have done better. She’s always treated me like a fourth son, which is nice considering my own mother for all intents and purposes, left my family around 1997 or so took a break from her motherly duties.

Today, after work, I stopped in at the Senior Center, where Josh’s mom works, to show Jamie, Josh’s mom, how to do some mail-merge stuff in Word/Access/Excel. They have a database of members in Microsoft Works. The Center is still stuck in 1998 and, as such, don’t use the newest of software. I comvinced Jamie it wouldn’t hurt to upgrade her copy to the nice cheap Microsoft Office latest version of special Mac for Microsoft Office, seeing as her Office 97 doesn’t do any of the stuff she wanted to do.

Enough of this wussy-crap though, the point of post was lemon poppyseed bread. As I was leaving the center, Jamie gave me five min-loaves of lemon poppyseed bread. Oh the joy! I originally got hooked on this bread by way of, who else, Jamie. She used to make it for Josh and me all the time.

Lemon poppyseed bread is so good, I’m surprised it’s not used as currency for small third-world nations. I feel as though it’s that good.

As I was driving back home from the center, I couldn’t help myself, I opened up the bag of bread and started eating a mini loaf. It’s a compulsion really, a compulsion I’m fully accepting of, though.