Repost
Just to be sure everyone sees it, I'm reposting the info for the party here.

Everybody meet at my house around 2:30. We'll hang out here until my dad's ready, then head out there. We'll stay the night there (there'll be one more bed than last time, plus an air mattress, even though I was the only one who didn't sleep on the furniture last time), and depart around 11 or noon. Regardless of how the driving arrangements shake out, everybody's welcome to come back to my house afterwards, just like last time.

I'm also trying to catch Z up on SoM, so we can do that without confusing him. Sure, he won't get a lot of our jokes, but at least he'll understand what's going on in the game.

Mushboom gets whacked! That is wack!

Bob
Friday was the best day I've had in quite some time. Went to Adam's, where we seem to do everything. Exchanged presents — got cool stuff, and people seemed to like what I gave 'em. n_n Watched anime (RahXephon is quite good). Shotokan sold their arcades. :( The others already described it a bit better, so I won't go too much in detail. But I hung the scroll over my piano. :D

Yesterday got a really late start. Didn't really do anything for most of the day, but went over to Uncle Bob's house to hang out with my cousin Brandon. Turned into an overnighter, and I couldn't get out of there until too late to go to Helen's thing today. :( Sorry Helen, I wanted to come. I feel kinda weird around that half of the family without my dad around... Don't get me wrong, they're great people. I'm just not used to being around them by myself.

I start driver's ed tomorrow. That should be...interesting. I've been driving in my grandmother's car for the last week or so. Her Camry handles really nice, don't have to worry so much about accelerating, breaking, turning and all that stuff as I would in, say, my mom's old Civic. Of course, I'd have to learn to drive a standard before I could drive that.

I want to do more stuff with everybody, but I don't know when I'll be able to. Driver's ed gets in the way of starting early every day but Sundays. Christmas will take up two or three days this week. Can't stay out late on weekdays cuz my mom has to go to work. Dorris is busy Friday, so no SoM on that day (though other stuff could still happen). Saturday evening might work...I just don't want to wait until the 31st to do stuff. But it looks like I may have to...

Well, that's all for me. Lemme know if y'all are free at any time and want to go do something, I'll be there in a heartbeat, if I can.

Over and out.

Like Ents Through Isengard
Holy crap, The Two Towers was friggin' awesome! Ents are the greatest fantasy creatures ever invented. They did an excellent job with Gollum, too, and I felt the tears welling in my eyes in the scene with Theodin at his son's grave. It was that good.

Two days until the Christmas party, and only one gift has arrived. -_- But I think all of them but Dorris' have shipped, so...sorry Dorris! It looks like you'll have to wait until New Year's to get it. :(

I really want to play more Secret of Mana before Helen and Dorris ship out. I mean, we gotta have at least three of us together to play it any farther, and we can't bring anyone new in without confusing them greatly (which is why the New Year's party probably wouldn't be a good time for it). Plus, Kim and I are in the middle of FF6 anyway, and too many RPGs at once can get pretty confusing. Speaking of which, it's still at the Opera scene, Kim. That's really the scene ya gotta see in the game (not that the rest of it isn't good, too). When's your next seven-hour day? :D We could probably get to the halfway point in the game in that time. You too, Helen. You still haven't caught up with her yet. ;p

One more thing: if you don't want to learn Sakura Saku, try Cruel Angel's Thesis or What'cha Gonna Do. ^_^

No One Expects the Spanish Inquisition Midterm Exams!
I really don't want to work or study right now. But, at the same time, I'm bored as all hell. But what can I expect on the week of midterms? I just wish someone I want to talk to would come online...

Last night I ordered the last of the gifts for the party. With a little luck, they'll all be in by by Friday. If any aren't, I'll give 'em to ya at the New Year's party.

...Which I should really make an announcement about. I'm hosting the New Year's party at my dad's house this year. It'll probably start at around 7pm, and break up late the next morning. If you can't stay the whole night, I understand. But I know how dangerous the roads can be after midnight on New Year's Day, so I'd really feel better if everybody stayed. And, even though it's my birthday, this isn't really a birthday party. NO GIFTS NECESSARY! My dad might have a cake or something, though, but don't worry about bringing anything...unless you really want to. ;3

I'll post the party announcement again on the main blog so everyone will see it. It needs some new material, anyway. :p

Dead At 21
I finished the paper last night...1720-someodd words. The thesis wasn't that great, but what can ya do?

But now, I've got too much work ahead of me. Catching up on Latin translation (and the upcoming Latin term paper), seventy pages of Physics WebAss, doing college applications...it's all too much pressure; it's more than I can take. -Michael Stipe

Plus, I already feel like I'm losing my friends — as in becoming distant, I mean, not not being friends anymore; and about me dying, I mean, not be giving them Fernando Valenzuela baseball cards. I've felt that way since the beginning of the year, what with all last year's seniors gone, and Helen leaving in January...then I go off to college next year. All this work just seems to be separating me further and further from everybody, and it's not going to get any better over Christmas break. *sigh* I think this spring is just going to be a slow decline of my spirits (not that the rest of the year has been any different).

I guess I just want to do more while I still can.

Selfless, Cold, and Composed
Ben Folds Five is running through my head right now, mostly One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces and the song mentioned in the title above. BF5 is one of the few bands whose songs I can sing mostly decently, so I'm belting it out as it comes to me. :D

I've written 1244 words on my 1600-word paper, so I'm nearly done. I can finish writing and polishing tomorrow...I mean, I'll have to, but I don't think it'll be too much trouble.

I've also watched two Jimmy Stewart movies today: Rear Window and It's A Wonderful Life. If The Philadelphia Story came on now, my day would be made. ^_^

And I've discovered a game which will doubtless hold my attention for the entirety of next summer: Time of Defiance. In brief, it's a RTS that really is real-time — games last one month, and don't stop until it's over, whether you're there or not. Kinda like Star Dart, only more complex. If it's cheap (which I haven't checked yet), I'm definitely getting it!

Yay, Ura Zelda is being released here, distributed to people who reserved the new Zelda game! Ura Zelda is the expansion of Ocarina of Time planned originally to be released on the 64DD. It's like the Master Quest in the original Zelda game. (In fact, that's what they're calling it here...Master Quest, I mean.)

[ENDPOST]

I see everything twice!
Ugh...term paper due in one week. I don't want to research it. I don't want to write it. But...I don't want to fail. -_-

So, uh, yeah, I'm predisposed for the next week. I won't be online at all, so call me if you have something important to tell/ask/demand of me. I'm half glad it's only one week that I have to work on this for, and half scared it's only one week that I have to work on this for. But, hey, vita est.