Yesterday I was driving along the 91 freeway and I ran over an aluminum ladder. It was folded up and lying down, and it was pretty scary. I just thought I'd mention that. I would've tried to swirve, but the ladder covered up nearly two lanes and there were cars anyways. And after I was done worrying about my car, I was thinking, what would a rice rocket do in that situation. It would probably drag the ladder around, and it'd be funny. Well, funny until someone got hurt anyways, but isn't it always?

This quarter is almost over, and my grades seem to be on track to be decent, however, I can't be sure of it, but they seem to be okay. Last week my internet at my apartment went out. Stupid Charter Communications had it out for three days and for those three days I thought about what I did without the internet when I was younger. Unfortunately, I could only think of negative things since the introduction of the internet into my life. And with me, and people my age, it's difficult to think back like that because of this. Like when I say "Hey, back before I was connected to the world wide web, I did all sorts of cool things like coloring and playing GI Joes, and building Legos and sorting my baseball and basketball cards..." etc. However, I then keep thinking like "Yeah, but, those things are all stuff I did on account of my being young and I stopped doing because I'm older, not because I got the internet." Since people my age grew up and evolved at what seems to be the same pace as the internet evolved, I can't say if it weren't for the internet I would be doing all these other cool things, can I? I'm not sure if I'm getting across what it is I'm trying to say, but it makes sense in my head...

I was reading someone else's journal/blog-type thing and it said something like their parental unit told them that their household bills were more than their family income and I realized my parents, recently, have been telling me about my family's problems, or issues rather, more and more. Like they'll tell me about the health status of my grandparents and the financial status of the bills and how much they make monthly, if I ask them, whereas before they'd just say something like "Thats not something you need to know." And just laugh it off. I guess that means I'm getting more responsibility and trustable. I'm not sure if this is something I should embrace as being more mature and what not, or if I should take it as a warning that I'm getting too old too fast because I can still remember back when I wore velcro shoes because I couldn't tie my shoes correctly, and then I wore velcro Nikes a few years later because they were the "in" thing to have, even though I'd learned to tie my shoes by then... I guess everything in life is a marker for getting older since nobody's getting any younger. (Wow, what a revelation huh?)

My mom asked me last week what was the earliest memory I have. I couldn't tell her. I have a few memories of when I was really young, but I don't have them on a timeline, I just know I was really young then. But what bothers me isn't that I don't have a timeline, its that I only had a select few that I could piece together to form memories. Is it because I'm just not a very observant person and I can't remember things well? Or is it because people just don't remember things from childhood? Like even 7th grade, I can't remember a lot of it. I can remember snapshots of 7th grade, but the every day things, I just can't remember and yet I can recite lines from Back to the Future, all three of them, all 5 of the released Star Wars and other movies I've seen tons of times. So sure, you would say, yeah, but you don't relive your life's moments several times like you watch movies several times to help you remember, you only live them once (unless you've got a video camera I guess, but you don't capture feelings that way... but I'm getting off track). So fine, but I can recite the plotlines to some Simpsons and Friends episodes I've seen only once too. Maybe this media barrage I've been subjected to since childhood has affected me. Or does nobody remember things from as late as 5th or 6th grade? I find it very discouraging and even somewhat depressing that I can't remember most of my childhood. *sigh* I guess thats why parents always want to take pictures eh? If I only knew then what I know now. And If I only had a nickel for everytime I've thought that to myself... Heh... *sigh*

Things I Like #31: Finding old pictures and other nostalgic things I'd long forgotten about. Unfortunately, I've gone through my stuff in search of such a lucky find so many times that its very difficult to be surprised any more. Too bad, its always good to remember things. Its when you can't remember where things came from that you know you're starting to have problems.

The Weakerthans - Left and Leaving

Almost a month without updating. I've been leading on, mostly uneventfully. Its Riverside, what'd you expect? I haven't really done anything big or important, just the same ol' same ol' of going to class. Speaking of going to class... I keep getting this recurring dream, maybe 3 or 4 times now about forgetting about a class. Like right now, I'm registered for 4 classes but in my dream I keep thinking about this elusive 5th class that I registered for but never attended and I keep thinking "I should goto class or I'm going to fail...." And then I'll think "But its okay, theres still a few weeks left, I'll be fine...." And that isn't so bad since its a dream, but last week sometime, I was sitting in one of my lectures not paying too much attention and I started thinking to myself, "Whats that class I missed this morning? I remember skipping out on a class to sleep, but what was it?" And then I realized that it was the class from my dream. Thats just weird and disturbing. Maybe I'm losing my mind.

In other actual news, I've been looking into studying abroad. My parents keep telling me that I should seriously consider China so I can refine my Mandarin and learn about Chinese culture and what not. But I want to goto somewhere in Europe because I'm interested in taking a history class there. I've taken a good share of American history classes and I want to see what the Europeans think. Certainly, Chinese history might be interesting too, but the Communist thing probably would mean I'd be either getting propagandized or I'd only learn ancient Chinese history. Thats what my mom says anyways. And chances are I'd be mostly learning Chinese anyways. As far as Europe goes, I want to goto France, but I either have to homestay, which doesn't exactly wet my whistle or anything or I'd have to attend school in Paris with only UC students, which sort of defeats the purpose of studying abroad, at least part of the reason why I'd want to go abroad. Another good thing about Europe is the fact that you can travel anywhere via rail there. And if I went to one country, assumedly I could goto any country to visit at least, so that would be cool. Maybe visit some other students studying abroad, in say... Paris. I want to go here!

Speaking of Paris, I recently saw The Truth About Charlie. I know nobody else watched the movie, judging from the box office takes, but I liked it a lot. And that movie and Amelie make Paris look very pretty, to say the least. And then theres a line in "The Truth About Charlie" that went something like "Have you ever been in love in Paris?" And Mark Whalberg's character had some witty comeback, but the point is that Paris is a magical city, just like New York City. I mean nobody would ever say something like "Have you ever been in love in Milwaukee?" Or "Have you ever been in love in Green Bay, Wisconsin?" And being in love with Brett Favre so doesn't count because everyone in Green Bay, and Wisconsin for that matter, is in love with Brett Favre. So yeah, Paris has got something about it.

Gotta goto class.

Things I Like #30: I'm so glad that NBA basketball is back.

Nappy Roots - Po' Folks