i like my coffee like i like my women, male

That is an old joke a good friend used to say, his name, Travis Hoffman, he is cool. If you ever meet him, tell him hello from me!

So today i am sitting at home and working on my thesis and what not. Exciting, eh? The end of the semester is rapidly approaching and every time it does i end up doing some thinking. Like why did i procrastinate so much? Yeesh.

Ok, well what am i doing here? My next week is super busy but i am looking forward to a GREAT christmas break. I have LOTS to fill you in on [job, love of my life, etc], so i promise that soon i will be updating you all.

the past week

i write this blog from my future home, Saint Louis i mean, at least i am pretty sure it will be.

This week has been a mind-blowing event. It all started with my coming home to Saint Louis for my birthday/ thanksgiving break last Friday night. On the night i got back into town i went out to dinner to celebrate. We had a lot of fun and did some talking.

Recently i have been trying to do some figuring out of what i am going to be doing after i graduate and what not. The most recent choice is that i am not going to be pursuing another graduate degree at this moment. I am going to begin looking for jobs ....

Then came Saturday, a night that will no doubt live on in my memory forever, and i'm not kidding. I went on a date, a date probably 11 years [or so] in the making.

Needless to say, the date was amazing. I am no doubt going to write more of this because this woman is very important to me.

So far it has been a great break. Minus the fact that i got a quarter of the work done that i needed to get done . . . Ohh well. It was worth it though.

a special day

Hey, it's my birthday today! Yay for me.

There is not much going on here in Champaign, but tomorrow i am heading home to Saint Louis for a great week. I am really looking forward to it, a lot, aching for it.

So, Yay. Happy Birthday to me!

the graduate school thing

So, remember all that about applying yo graduate schools? I think it stems from my want to be approved by other people. I am still going to apply, and maybe something will happen form all of this. I am really looking for more options when i graduate, but recent events have made me think that more school is unnecessary, unless it is at Wash U.

Right now i am getting my letters of recommendation written and on hold for a while. the list has been narrowed to 6, as follows;

1 - Columbia [New York, NY]
2 - University of Michigan [Ann Arbor, MI]
3 - University of Colorado [Denver, CO]
4 - Harvard University [Cambridge, MA]
5 - Washington University [Saint Louis, MO]
6 - University of California [Berkley, CA]

everyday coolness supplied today by expresso royale

So one of the awesome things about this semester has been the fact that i have had some free time. So my new thing that i love to do is go hang out in coffee shops during the middle of the day.

Today i had to deliver a computer to Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and directly across the street is an Expresso Royale [a local coffee shop, where students like myself go]. I went in and ordered a sandwich and a mocha [my usual]. The barrista making my mocha made a beautiful pattern in the foam. It was awesome. He is pretty cool. I smiled.

one of my favorite things

I LOVE the sound of laughter, I LOVE to make people laugh.

One of my favorite things to do is to have a conversation on the phone and make sure it is really weird. This way everyone around you over-hears said conversations, and laughs. I learned this technique in the office i used to work in, where no one really had much privacy, so everyone heard the conversations i had on the phone.

Today i was at my bus stop and i was being cheedy on the phone with a very dear friend and i mentioned our new term, "death chasm". I could see the prim sorority girl sitting on the bench trying not to laugh, but she was. It was great. Today, she is going to tell a great story about some weird boy at the bus stop. She may even begin to use "death chasm" in everyday speech. How great.

Maybe i am just strange. I don't say really weird things on purpose when i am on the phone, it just happens. I love it.

the most dangerous thing

So last night i discovered a feature of my car's radio it is called ASL [automatic sound levelizer]. first a little back story. In may of 2006 i bought my first new car, a 2007 Toyota Yairs, i love it. It gets ridiculous mileage, it is a zippy little standard transmission and it will last forever [i.e. its a Toyota]. The week i bought it i went on a business trip and took my owners manual with me, i read it cover to cover, i am such a dork.

Last night i was messing with my radio and found this feature called ASL. Basically what it does is raise the volume of the radio when the outdoor noise increases, usually from accelerating. So you go faster [the exterior noise increases], the radio's volume with increase. Damn, technology is wonderful.

So after i turned this feature on i found myself wanting to get caught at a stop light just so i could hear the volume of the radio increase as the light turned green. Then i found myself going from 35 to 45 just to hear the volume jump up. Then i would do it with the song.

Then i paused to think for a moment. This feature is pretty common now on new-er cars. Remember that guy you cut off lat week? Well, now think about the road rage he went through, they got angry and speed up. Now their death metal begins to turn up and they begin to pump more adrenaline, now they are even MORE aggressive. DAMN, that kind of freaks me out! It is almost a liability, i am actually surprised that no lawsuit has come out about this system yet.

It should freak you out, too. For now i will gaze in child-like awe when i speed up and my mates of state gets louder for me.

a face to a name

Have you ever picked up your cell phone when you are getting a call, notice that name and imagine the face of that person? Like they might be mad [because you haven't talked to them in months], they might be giddy [because they just text-ed you something really cheedy] or it could just be there face. Sound familiar?

I noticed the other day that when i look at peoples names when they are calling my phone i try and imagine what type of mood they are in, or what they might be calling about. Usually people call me to talk about something, i try and guess. Sometimes i know and i can imagine their look, weird eh? Sometimes i can see their urgency, their frustration their anxiety. DAMN, maybe i am telepathic. Whoa, i just blew my mind. Can i guess your card? 3 of hearts? Whoa, i am good.

laugh till i get a headache

About three weeks ago a had a huge Borders gift card so i bought the office season three. I had seen a few episodes on TV and thought it looked interesting.

So i began watching and i fell in love with it. Not only is it one of the most consistently hilarious things i have seen, it has these little incredibly beautiful emotional moments. It is truly unlike any other comedy i have seen.

I can't fully explain what makes this show the best thing ever, but trust me it is.

You should watch it sometime.