Goals

So last Monday, I completed a goal I had set for myself more than two years earlier. In early 2006, I said that I would become a student at the University of Washington. Monday, June 23, I had my first class at 9:40a. How did it feel? Well, I certainly wasn't really thinking that hard about it. I didn't feel any different, but it was pretty cool to say "hey, I finished a goal I set. How about that?" I'd also like to say, I'm very proud of being a Husky. Go Dawgs!

Now, on to lighter matters. Besides the (pretty much included in prior goal) goal of graduating in three, maybe even two years, I have a much greater goal that is going to take some thinking, planning, praying, asking, pondering, and on top of all that, much information gathering. Are you ready for my new goal? Maybe it's not really a goal since that suggests an actual, I don't know, tangible ending. A "something" you can hold on to and present to people saying here it is! (i.e. my student ID) Now this thing I'm about to reveal to you is probably more of an intent to do research to determine if a goal to implement said research should be announced. Here then is my research goal. Are you ready?

I want to live on a boat.

Liveaboarders is one of the terms I've come across so far. I also understand some communities shun them while they're also a close knit group. [Aside] Please don't mistake me. I'm not going to go sell my truck, take a loan and buy a boat tomorrow. This is my research goal. I am going to learn everything I can about liveaboarding and boating. [End Aside] This could take several years and I understand that. It has always been a dream of mine to live on a boat. Not tied down to any one place: if I so choose, I'm up and away (or, more appropriately, Anchors Away!) Well there you go. Thoughts, advice, and slaps to my face are welcome.

Beer Fest 2008

Well. A contingent of my close friends and some friends of theirs (i.e. new friends to me) and I all went to Beer Fest today (Sunday, Father's Day) over in upper Juanita and it was an amazing experience. There were almost 200 craft beers there and, though it was the last day of the festival, there was plenty of selection. From porters and stouts to blondes and pales or reds and ambers. Oh gosh! I alone of the company went for the ten taster purchase with the others choosing to stay at a respectable six or seven, depending on their wives' preference to share tokens. I offer you here, a list of the beers I tried. All of them were new to me except for my ninth and tenth token. I wanted to end the night with something I knew would be good.

1. Mac & Jack's IPA
2. Elysian ESB
3. Kona Longboard Lager
4. Widmer Brothers '08 Crimson Wheat
5. Water Street Imperial Red
6. Georgetown 9 lb. Porter
7. Scuttlebutt 12 Year Anniversary Scotch Ale
8. Pike Belgian Tripel
9. Mac & Jack's African Amber
10. Mac & Jack's African Amber

I believe the taster sizes were between four and six ounces (imperial or not) and seeing as how I don't honestly know ounce sizes very well, you can do the math on all possibilities and see that I got a sizable portion of beer in the space of two hours or so. Let's go over my selections very briefly. You can let me know if you want details. Here we go.

1. Delightful start. Can't fault Mac & Jack's at all it seems.
2. ESB, not bad. I like the Elysian Stout, and I liked this.
3. Yes, they're from Hawai'i and it was fun.
4. Right next door to the Kona, how do you pass on "Crimson" Wheat? Really good.
5. This s*** messed me up. I thought I was gonna hurl with each sip/gulp.
6. I thought a porter would help me out with #5. It was good, but probably ill-timed
***took a break for funnel cakes and brats around this time. I had a brat, they all had an elephant ear***
7. Scotch and beer. Incredible! So smooth.
8. Plain old fun. The gentleman told me he had just tapped the keg and I was getting the best part of the keg, which is the first third, or king level I believe he said. Let's be honest, I'd had 7 pretty rapid tastes by then. I'm not sure what he said.
9 and 10. The African Amber. A staple of the Eastside and no mistake. I love it and had to end with it. I downed 9. and polished 10.

Let's see what else. It was named a festival, and rightly so. Unfortunately, I didn't see much of the rest of things. There was a kiddie area, food stands, fake tattoo stand things and what not. The tents for the beer were what I was interested in. The only thing I can be sad about, was that by coming on the last day, we probably missed out on the variety they might have had Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Oh well. Man, I can't wait for next year!

T+01:42:37

Well, as of 7:12p last night, 1 hour and 42 minutes after official class time, I successfully graduated from my second community college. It was the final for the one class I was taking this semester. I'd say I completed it in a little over an hour and because I was waiting for my classmate to finish, I spent the rest of the time checking my work. I came up with a delightful way to describe how incredibly awesome this test was on the easy scale. It goes like this:

Brian walked in not exactly knowing what to expect. Finals can always be tricky and especially so if they're comprehensive. But when the moment of truth came and all the studying would be put to the test (pun intended), Brian gazed at the test for a moment and immediately sized it up. Quietly pulling out his six-shooter, he said "Okay Final, time to dance."

It was a beautiful test, with very delightful questions and I screamed through it at speeds unheard of by mortal man. It felt good. I was checked at one spot but came back later and gave it a what for. Several-variable calculus final, you got pwned!

The Ranks

Thursday I discovered that on Tuesday I had most likely joined the ranks of such people as my good friends Trevor Barnes and Tyler Cronk. That of the Short-term Memory Recall brigade in the special unit of Test Taking. Quick back story. (ripply cross fading to a new scene)

It's Tuesday, the third of June, and I had just had a very busy weekend. I had both of my parents and their spouses in town, my sister who I adore, an orchestra concert Sunday night, and month end in accounting to deal with on Monday at my work. A test was scheduled for this (Tuesday) evening and I had very little (no) time to study. Did I want to study Monday night? Heck no. I was tired and wanted to just sleep. Oh, I forgot to mention that Tuesday morning from 7:45a to 12:30p or so I had an advising and orientation session for the U (Go Huskies!). So I needed my sleep for that and got off work a little late too. All that to say I didn't study Monday. Tuesday afternoon rolls around and I leave work to go to school about two hours early and get some studying in. I review all my notes several times, gradually got more and more tired, and eventually stopped studying ten minutes or so before class.

Test time. End of test and I didn't really like any of the questions. I had a 95.53% in the class so far and to keep at least a 92% I would need to get an 81 on the test. I said to myself, certainly I pulled at least an 81 and probably not much more than that. To be honest, I don't remember taking half the test as my mind was just exhausted. I think my eyes and hand were paying attention though because of what happened Thursday.

Thursday rolls around, the instructor says that there were 18 scores in the 90 range (crap, that ain't me this time, I thought) and that the highest was 96. My test comes back. 96. I turned the paper back over in disbelief and went on with organizing my papers for today's notes. Uncomprehending, I look again at my score and it says 96. Baffled beyond all recognition, I realized that somehow, my short term memory had blessed me this time around. I will not count on it all the time, but it is good to know that I have it along with a few others. Needless to say, I'm very happy that somehow we (mouse in my pocket and I) pulled it off. Now for the final...

p.s. for those who greatly desire more details, the class was Math 227: Several Variable Calculus, my instructors name is Sasha Malinsky, Kurtis and Anne sit to my right, and Jeff behind and to the right, and there are whiteboards, not chalkboards in the room.

3 Day Weak-end

I tell you what, I need a vacation. A vacation from this three day weekend. If I don't have anything to do on a long weekend, I get so bored that I seriously feel like I need a vacation afterwards. Naturally, this problem has long been noticeable and the world has come up with a delightful solution: the work week. Yes, the work week was invented to counter a three day weekend that happened several hundred years ago. Some bloke got so fed up on his extended weekend and was too poor to take a vacation, that he invented the work week. In fact, he was so angry that he didn't want to have another three day weekend ever again, so he made the work week five days. There, a brief history of the work week.

Now, what did I do this weekend? Well, I watched 7 movies which is quite disgusting. Well, let's be honest, I watched more like 6.25. Here's how:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Meet Joe Black (first time, incredibly moving movie)
The Matrix: Reloaded (only scenes in the Matrix)
The Matrix: Revolutions (only scenes involving action)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
The Whole Nine Yards
Casino Royale

I did do a bit of homework Monday afternoon and purchased a few books at Half-Price books during a 20% off sale. That's pretty nice. I also picked up some friends from the airport Monday, so that made me feel like I was doing something. Not too much reading, which is kind of depressing but I just didn't feel much like reading, plus it kept putting me to sleep. I napped and slept a lot this weekend. *sigh* I'm actually looking forward to going to work tomorrow...sort of...well not really. That's why I need a vacation.

p.s. i'm not dissing three day weekends. Only weekends where I don't have anything to do.

Aluminum Cans

Two days ago, I had a terrifying moment of clarity. I think clarity is the right word. What follows may seem silly, but I'm fairly certain that if people thought like this more often, the world might be a better place.

Most people, I believe, go through the day very glazed or uncomprehending of the world and even the universe around them. I fall into this as well nearly everyday. I think it has something to do with how much thinking power it would take to go on with existing if you were having to always fathom, say, the size of the Earth, distances between stars, how unbelievably cool trees are when they're alive and growing, or how many tons of asphalt make up the United States highway system. Things like that. Who thinks about those every single day? I don't, but sometimes it comes up, and it scares the crap out of me. Two days ago, I was looking at soda cans that we have at my work. We store them in the bathroom and they come in the 36 pack containers and what not and there were probably 8 or 9 containers there. Yes, that's 288 to 324 individual cans constructed of aluminum that very likely will not get recycled. Anyway, let me try to give you an analogy to describe what happened next.

It's like when you're on Google Maps and you're zoomed into your home address or what not. You can see the surrounding streets and that's it. It takes up the whole screen. All of sudden, somebody/thing comes along, takes your mouse wheel and scrolls back, zooming the image out, and out, and out until you're staring at the entire planet. "Well," you say "that's cool and all. What's the big deal?" The big deal comes from the fact that you're still cognizant of being that tiny person on that now minuscule street that you can't even see anymore. It's an incredible dichotomy of feeling. And that's as best I can describe it in so few words. That's what happened when I stared at these soda cans. How many businesses must there be in the US alone that have these many cans? Then the world? Then I thought about the manufacturing plants, spitting out all these cans! Where the hell (pardon me) do all these flippin' cans come from? How have we not run out before now? I'll admit, I freaked out a bit, but hopefully you can see why we don't think like this.

I like to think we block these thought processes because they would cause too much stress or, I don't know, positive action. This is not an environmental activist blog post, but I just want you to take a moment and really try to comprehend the finiteness of this planet. Go ahead...

...you there yet?...

...scary isn't it?

Dawn

Bright are the stars on this morning fair
The veil between us had finally lifted;
Winter’s cloak had briefly drifted,
Leaving earth to the heavens’ care.

Stars now vanish as dawn comes along
Shielded from sight, a blindness within
Now all dim, allowing their kin
To warm the earth for now, not long.

Glancing down to the forest below
On this world's realm, a sight to see
The sun's new light on every tree
Ethereal mist on ground laid low.

A sea of trees and I an island
As morning fire warms my flesh
Renewed and revived, all is fresh
For my descent from this high land.

'Tween twig and tree, striding down
The only sound from beneath my feet
Is crunching snow, a pure white sheet,
Topping this land's upper crown.

All around, creatures wake

To glorious dawn and Winters heat.

The forest stirs as they all greet

A ball of flame that had to break.