Plano: Day 11

I’m officially back online and I don’t know how I ever went without the internet. Anyway, I had been keeping my weblog on my computer, so I’ve posted the past 10 days’ posts. Most of it’s really boring, I’m sure, but I thought it would be good for me to record my transition to DAL for future reference. I’m not sure how, but I feel that I might eventually learn something from all those posts.

Up late

It’s after 3 am and I’m still going strong. My coffee table/end tables arrived today, so I went ahead and put them together tonight. I’m really happy with them aesthetically, and they’re pretty sturdy, too. They’re not “real” wood, but are apparently a combination of various woods and “veneers” or something. Anyway, they look good to me and I hope they last.

The dining room set I ordered was cherry wood, so at least that’s the real thing. The color of the woods should match pretty well, even though they’re not the same. Regardless, I’m ready for my stuff to get here, but I’ll have to be patient and keep comfy and occupied while I’m waiting for it to get here.

I’ve also been working on getting my TiVo online… It’s a pain ’cause the stupid thing was designed specifically to use a dial-up connection to download the information it needs to get for daily programming updates and such. There is a workaround in that it has USB ports that can be used to connect it to the internet over a wired or wireless network, but that’s turning out to be a hastle. I’m hoping to get a little adapter at Best Buy tomorrow that will allow me to get it all setup. Once it’s setup, it’ll be pretty super, but I have to be patient until then.

Spring Break

I’m thinking about taking some Paid Time Off (PTO) during UF’s Spring Break. I guess I need to find out what all’s going on, so I make sure I don’t waste a week of PTO to go hang out in an empty city or by myself on the beach. I told my boss today and he seemed to almost encourage taking some time off and he said it wouldn’t be a problem. Right now, plane tickets are about $300 American, but I’m hoping that’ll drop a bit before March.

Along Came Polly

A friend and I went to see this flick tonight and it was pretty good. It’s definitely not Ben Stiller’s best work (I think he was much better in Zoolander and The Royal Tenenbaums), but it was still a funny flick. Jennifer Anniston did a great job and was fun to watch. Philip Seymour Hoffman was funny and constantly impresses me as a character actor. Anyway, it was nice to get out and do something and I discovered there’s a huge Cinemark movie theatre about a block from here; it has reclining seats and everything.

Ok, I’m going to try to get to sleep now… I’ll have to see how that goes.

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Sick and stuff

So, I got back from Conference on Thursday afternoon, had a good day Friday and then woke up Saturday feeling a little under the weather. By last night, I was a lot under the weather and by this morning, I was feeling much better. I’m hoping to be back to 100% by tomorrow or Thursday. The upside is that I’ve gotten lots of opportunities to catch up on my sleep and feel justified in laying around on the couch; I only wish I could have enjoyed it more.

Apartment

I’ve officially got an apartment in DAL (actually, Plano) and I think I’m really going to enjoy it. It’s about 900 sq. ft. and has 1 bedroom and a “den/study”, which I’ll use as an office or guestroom. Unfortunately, the reviews I was able to find for the place aren’t stellar, but that seems to be a trend for apartment complexes in general. It’s not really like me to go signing a 13 month lease on an apartment sight-unseen, but desperate times…

Awakenings

A friend of mine suggested that I see this film, so we rented it tonight. I have to say I was very impressed and I have no idea how I’d never even heard of it before. It was a great story told by great actors and I enjoyed it immensely. No, it isn’t “feel good movie of the year”, but it was solid and made some excellent points, not the least of which was essentially carpe diem.

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Where?

18 hours. It’s really difficult to believe that I’ll soon be walking to represent the end of my schooling. Well, difficult and awesome all the same.

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

I just got back from Ocala, where I saw the last of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. My first reaction is that my butt hurts from sitting for over three hours; my second is that it was a great film and I enjoyed it very much. Honestly, the cinematography is so good that it almost wouldn’t matter if there wasn’t a plot, but since the plot happens to be one of the best in fantasy, the movies are quite an experience.

Rest

I’ve been sleeping in three-hour shifts for a few days now (I’m not sure how many because the past week or so seems like one big day) and I’m excited to get to sleep in tomorrow. Of course, I can’t sleep too late because my family is coming down for graduation–or “commencement”, which I think means “you get to walk across the stage, but we’re not giving you anything tangible for about six weeks”–and I need to clean the house before they get here. Regardless, I’m looking forward to eight good hours’ sleep and some time to watch the tele.

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It’s Friday night, I guess that makes it alright…

I thought some Outkast lyrics would be a fitting compliment to the actual subject of my post. So, I just finished watching a chick-flick on TNT. Since I’m a guy, I’m supposed to say how horrible it was, and how I could hardly sit through it, and I’m supposed to comment on how Tom and Meg have fallen in love over and over again in the movies–in a volcano, in Seattle, on the Internet–and how silly that is, and how much more unrealistic can a movie be? And, I admit, those were probably almost verbatim my words when I saw You’ve Got Mail in the theatre four or five years ago; but I actually enjoyed it this time. So, I have to ask myself why; what was different this time around?

Luckily for myself, I have the answer to my question: I think I’ve learned to appreciate a good actor’s ability to shine, even under the simplest circumstances. The thing is that, five years ago, I could appreciate a great movie, but I’m pretty sure I couldn’t appreciate a great actor. I mean, I knew a good actor when I saw one–who doesn’t?–but it seems I only saw good actors in what I deemed to be good movies. Only in the past few years have I realized that, sometimes, a good movie is good because it features a great actor: Cast Away, One Hour Photo, and even, dare I say it, Pirates of the Caribbean.

I’m learning to appreciate the opportunity to see a good actor do his thing. I’m learning that, regardless of role, an actress can shine and simply recognizing the quirks she brings to a role can bring enough entertainment value to a film to merit a second viewing.

And now I have to ask myself if I’m capable of being an actor as described above. I have no experience. I’m an engineer. I’m twenty-three and my only face time has been doing mock commercial auditions for eight weeks last summer. I’m no looker. Nevertheless, I feel I need to give it a shot. First, though, I’m going to get some training–either in Dallas or Atlanta–and then I’m going to put myself to the test, try something new and see if I can’t fool people into thinking I’m good at it.

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The Matrix did not disappoint

I don’t want to say too much for fear that I’ll spoil it for those who still haven’t seen it, but the Matrix sequel was impressive and did not disappoint. I still need to see it again because I wasn’t able to glean everything (of course, I very well may not ever get everything) on all the levels that the movie is written. Mostly, I was wowed by the intense action scenes, overdose of philosophy and religion and the intricacies of the plot as it developed.

I’ll write more when I see it again and when I’m not as afraid to spoil anything for those who haven’t seen it yet.

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Matrix: Reloaded sneak-preview

Matrix: Reloaded opens tomorrow, but, through dumb luck, my friends and I will be going to see it tonight. We went to buy our tickets a couple weeks ago (we were passing the movie theatre on our way back into town from Atlanta) and they had just opened a sneak-preview, so we grabbed tickets to that show instead of the show on opening day.

I’m thinking this movie will do significantly more business on opening weekend than X2 and it’ll definitely be the biggest movie so far this year. I’m neither a sci-fi nor an action flick fan, but I anticipate this’ll be one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. I’m stoked.

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Busted hip…

Yeah, I played basketball today and got dropped trying to make a fast-break lay-up. I went to the gym to play ball with a few of my friends, but ended up playing with a bunch of people I didn’t know. That wasn’t so bad, but what was bad was my performance: As I think about it, I realize I played very poor basketball–I shot more than I passed, took the same shot repeatedly, even after having missed it before, didn’t contribute defensively as I should have–and I’m not happy about it at all. I’m sure I’ll improve as the semester progresses because we’ll be playing in the Creekside League again this semester and I always improve during league play. Oh, but I was running a fast-break in our last game and, when I tried to make the lay-up, the defender grabbed my arm and hauled me to the ground. I was fortunate to have my hip break my fall; unfortunately, I’m kind of hobbling around and I’ll probably have a pretty nasty bruise tomorrow.

Royal Tenenbaums, anyone?

I bought the DVD a week ago, but hadn’t opened it until tonight. A few friends came over and we watched it (well, most of us did… one of us fell very soundly asleep on the couch)–this was my third time. I know that it’s not terribly impressive from an “action” or “cinematographic” perspective, but the writing is incredible and I appreciate it more each time I see the film. Also, there are some one-liners that may rival almost any comedy I’ve seen. I’m gonna’ take a look at the special features on the second disc sometime this week, I hope.

Bought the Listener Supported DVD

I was at Wally-world tonight, looking for a bookshelf. I didn’t buy the bookshelf, although I found the one I was looking for, because they didn’t have it in the store. But, I bought Listener Supported, so my trip was well worth it. I wanted to buy the DVD last summer (a year ago), but I didn’t have the cash back then. I’m not exactly rolling in the green now, but I had twenty bucks to drop on a quality musical experience.

Another week of classes…

Tomorrow begins week number three. I guess I don’t have to worry about keeping any streaks alive, since I broke my gone-to-all-my-classes-so-far-this-semester streak last Friday, but I do still want to make decent grades this semester, so I’ll probably be going to all two of my classes tomorrow… Woah is me.

Free food?

Apparently, I’ll be getting free brunch tomorrow as my friend is trying to get rid of some stuff before it goes bad. Sounds like a nice round of good, southern breakfast food. It’ll be a great way to break up my two classes tomorrow (since I have a two-hour break in between them). Food is super.

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Road to Perdition

Looks like our weekly movie night is going to be part of this semester. Tonight’s movie was Road to Perdition, starring Tom Hanks. I was prepared for a mediocre movie, simply because I haven’t heard much about it from the press or on television; it was far more than mediocre. I’d have to say this film is one of the best character-driven films I’ve seen in ages. Yeah, it was a mobster flick with some shooting and killing and such, but the violence and mob stuff wasn’t the focal point of the movie. Essentially, the movie’s purpose was to help the viewer understand how a young boy could become a man in a short amount of time. There are other characters being developed around him, but the boy is the focus and the movie is very well made. Of course, I was impressed with Tom Hanks’s work, as I always am, but the movie itself was unique and solid. Definitely one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while.

Class starts in six-and-a-half hours…

and I’m still awake. After the movie, we went to Waffle House for some healthy cuisine. I’m tired and I’m sure I’ll be exhausted tomorrow (I’m way past the point in my academic career where the first day of class, in and of itself, is sufficient to provide the adrenaline necessary to be unaffected by lack of sleep). I’m not sure where my class meets or what bus I’ll take, but I’m sure I’ll have it all figured out by tomorrow. It’s going to be a difficult semester, which will demand that I manage my time well and be diligent in my studies and everything else I do. I just hope I’m up for it again.

Here goes…

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Lord of the Rings, outdoors

Tonight, a few hundred people and I watched Lord of the Rings (the Fellowship of the Ring) on a huge screen with “Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound”. It was actually really fun and very cool. Except for the fact that we all sat on the grass, or on blankets that we and others brought, I’d say it may have been better than watching it in the theatre. I think it just seemed more real, being that we watched it outdoors, where most of the movie takes place. It just felt more real.

Tomorrow night, we’re having a house party, and we’ve got something planned for almost every day until next Thursday, when our “College Kickoff” happens; that’s our first meeting of the year. I’m really enjoying being a part of everything and I can’t wait to see how many people show up to our first meeting. I think this year’s gonna’ be a blast.

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Fun at the beach… and a burn

Friday, I drove south to Anna Maria Island, where a friend of mine has a beach house. I, along with about fifteen other friends, relaxed, goofed off, hung out, spent some time sharing about my summer and sang some hymns and other praise songs. I also managed to spend a little too much time in the sun with a little too little sunscreen on. I’m burnt and radiating heat like a busted reactor; but it was all fun and refreshing.

I’m disappointed that “the Keys” didn’t work out, but I am very pleased with how I spent my weekend. Also, because I’m not in the Keys, I’ll be attending the Campus Crusade (at University of Florida) leadership overnight tomorrow, so I’ll have a chance to get caught up with many more friends and get a good picture of what’s happening this year. I didn’t do much, leadership-wise, with Crusade last year, but I’ll be emceeing this year, and that’s a pretty big responsibility. I guess the most significant effect of emceeing is that the emcees are seen as the front men of Crusade–they’re expected to know exactly what’s going on and are viewed as an authority on the Crusade happenings. This is especially true for the freshman and other new students, as the emcees are often the first people they associate with Crusade. Basically, that means I need to have all my ducks in a row before the semester starts.

Finally went to see Minority Report

I wanted to see it when it first hit the theatres, but I couldn’t get anyone (meaning my one friend in Dallas) to go see it with me. Tonight, there were several people interested in seeing it, so we all headed out to the 10 o’clock showing at the theatre across the street from my house. It was a great movie, especially from a cinematic perspective. Stephen Spielberg is a movie mastermind and he did a great job of presenting a fresh script idea in picture form. The movie was exciting and the multiple plot twists made it interesting throughout it’s 150-minute runtime. I don’t want to say anything else because I’m afraid I’ll spoil it for anyone reading (I guess I mean the two people who regularly read my blog… or at least the two that I know about). It’s a good movie. Go see it if you haven’t already.

Odd workout

I’m going to workout with a couple friends tomorrow afternoon. It’s been almost two weeks since I hit the weights, so I’m expecting to be weaker than last time I worked out. I’m really just trying to hold out until the semester starts, so I can try and create some sort of routine in my crazy college-kid schedule. I guess one workout will be nice, though.

Signing off…

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