Got back from the The Two Towers midnight showing. And yes, it was very good.

Things I Like #33: I'm quite thankful for JRR Tolkien... without him I doubt I'd have things like Dungeons & Dragons to ruin my mind with. Thanks.

Enya - May it Be

I think my favorite time of the day is from about 5:30 AM till maybe 6:30 AM, depending on the time of year. Basically its just before the sun comes completely up and the sky is still gray, as though it were 6 or 7 PM of a gloomy day. The weather is always very cold, cold enough to see your breath and definately cold enough to need a light jacket at least. I like it because its like a blending of the best parts of night with the best parts of daytime. The street lights are still on and people are still driving with their headlights on but its pretty bright out. Nobody is really on the streets and whenever you get in your car from whereever you're coming from at that godawful hour, you just have to rub your palms together in a febble attempt to make fire as you turn your car's vents to full blast, heat. I realize that it doesn't provide for spectacular views as sunset or sunrise do, but its my favorite part of the day. The combination of the light fog, the cold enough to pretend smoke a cigarette, but not blistering cold temperatures, the lack of conscious people just comes together as my favorite part of the day.

Things I Like #32: The feeling of my car's heated seats, unfortunately they only work on the passenger side now...

Semisonic - Singing in my Sleep

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

Last Friday I went to a preseason Clippers game and it wasn't a bad game. I'm pretty happy about how the Clippers season is looking. On my way back from the Clippers game I was feeling pretty great. This came after eating a very good dinner at The Original Pantry Cafe on Figueroa, just a block away from the STAPLES Center. The Original Pantry, might I add, is open 24 hours and although its a bit pricey, compared to Olive Garden or even Denny's (whose prices are going up lately), its still the best steak I've ever had. And the huge portions of all the side dishes and free sourdough bread don't hurt either. But enough about that and more about my feelings and emotions because, frankly, thats what I want to talk about.

As I was on the 60 freeway leaving Los Angeles I... okay, first let me explain the terminology here since I'm thinking only one person will get this. Somebody once told me to read this book called The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Its basically about this kid in high school and his thoughts and its pretty interesting since most people who think even a little bit are likely to be able to relate to this book. People say its like a modern Catcher in the Rye and although it probably won't be a classic like that I'm inclined to agree. So go read it, I promise you'll like it. Anyways, early on in the book, the main character, Charlie, is riding home in a truck with friends after a night at the homecoming game and they listened very intently to a song and at the end of the song, Charlie says, "I feel infinite." And when I read that in the book, I realized that was probably the best way to describe that feeling of... well I can't describe it any better.

So after the Clippers game I'm driving home on the 60 and I see a bunch of those green freeway signs and one of them said Sacramento (and a number of miles I don't remember) and I thought to myself while looking at my fuel guage, I could go anywhere I want right now. I've no school since it's Friday, I won't be hungry for a long time after enjoying a great dinner, and I've got a full tank of gas. And I was listening to some song on my radio and while I couldn't say anything as profound as Charlie, that is exactly how I felt. The feeling of being able to go anywhere, be spontaneous. The song I was listening to was some acoustic guitar song but I can't remember what it was. I watched the headlights of my car hit the side of the freeway ramp and it was mesmerizing as I dwelled in the feeling. I can't really describe it other than how Charlie does. I felt infinite.

Things I Like #29: Being truly excited about a sports event. Sure, whenever I watch sports I always pay attention to it, but if somebody hits a shot or gets a double or makes an interception and I automatically leap out of my seat and scream and punch the air for 10 seconds, even when others aren't around, I like that feeling. I guess thats part of why people like sports, but I just wish I could get more excited during every game. But I suppose that would wreck havoc on my emotional state, especially when the team I want to win, loses. That is probably why people don't invest so much emotional energy into watching sports.

Bush - Glycerine