I was looking at my contact list in Trillian a few minutes ago, and it occurred to me that there's a huge disparity between the number of contacts I have and the number of people I actually talk to. There are perhaps half a dozen people I talk to online more often than once a week. I'm not sure if the number's actually that high, but let's say it is. After counting them up, I have 122 contacts in my list. So, I talk to roughly 1/20th of the people I could talk to. Or, since I've had the same list for about five years now, and I don't really delete names, let's say that that odd 22 are bad contacts that don't exist anymore. That raises the ratio to roughly 1/17. And it's not that I don't like the people on my list. They're all there because I consider them friends. So why is it that I don't really talk to any of them? Maybe I'm just not that kinda person. I don't really make a lot of phone calls to people. I'm not an easy guy to keep in touch with. I think, though, that in that regard I'm not too unusual. Except for a core group of friends, most people wait for other people to get in touch with them, rather than making the effort on their own. How much more socially active would my life be if I just went out of my way to talk to one more person every day? Maybe it's time I found out.

Ugh... It's been a long weekend. Basically, it started with Thursday night, when we went to the bar. We didn't really do much dancing -- which in my opinion is the entire reason for going to the bar -- and we left right at last call. Nevertheless, I didn't get to bed until around 1:00 am, and I got up promptly at 8:00 to go to class. I took excellent notes in physics and differential equations ('cause Shelly, who's an awfully cute redhead, was away on some sort of trip, and asked me if she could borrow my notes when she got back. Geez, I'm easy...), and went to Statistics to turn in my homework and take the quiz. The quiz sucked -- I got an 80 on it, but I really don't know what I did wrong. I've gotta start asking the guy... 'Cause I thought I understood this (if I didn't, I wouldn't make fun of the class like I do)... Hmm...

Friday night I went and ate sushi at Kyoto with Andy and Anna. Afterwards, they went to a movie, and I went home. Got up at 7:00 to go to College Station for a frisbee tournament, where we played four games in round-robin pool play, and I believe I was the single most unproductive player on offense for the team. I've decided to get more aggressive. When Justin calls for the disk on a turnover, I'm going to ignore him and pick it up myself, 'cause while he's got good throws, he also makes really stupid decisions, and smart play wins more games that a great arm.

Anywho, our last game on Saturday was over by 2:00 or so (four hours ahead of schedule, thanks to a conveniently-scheduled bye for the fifth round). I was all set to head over to Freebird's with the guys when I discovered I'd locked my keys in my trunk. So, we left my car in the parking lot and went to Freebird's anyway, after which Stryker and Joe took me back to my car and waited with me for the 45 minutes or so it took AAA to show up (which Joe was kind enough to provide for, seein' as how I don't have a AAA membership). That was really nice of them. Then I left for home, showered, and got all dressed up and went to the Harvest Moon Ball at Rice. I have to say, I was incredibly impressed. Those people are crazy good swing dancers! I was amazed. I honestly had a lot more fun watching than dancing, and I picked up a few new moves while I was at it.

I left the dance early to head home, 'cause I had to be back at A&M by 9:30 Sunday for the elimination rounds of the tournament... We went 2-4 overall, but thanks to the way pool play works we came in 6th. Once again, I was the least productive offensive member of the team, and I really wasn't doing a great job on defense. I think just being more aggressive will help out my offensive game, but I don't know what to do about defense. I think I'd benefit the most from just running more and conditioning myself.

Anywho, that's my weekend. Saw some good frisbee, and some really crappy frisbee (the guys from Corpus were terrible -- we beat 'em 13-0 -- but it was their first tournament, so I guess it's not too bad), saw some really awesome swing dancing, did some really crappy swing dancing (same excuse as for Corpus -- it was my first real dance (C: ), tried Freebird's for the first time (two thumbs up for the cayenne tortillas), and didn't get nearly enough sleep. So, I'm off.

@&*%#!!!!!! @@&&**%%##!!!!!!!!!!!! I bent one of the rims on my car today. I don't have the money to replace it. Hopefully I'll be able to figure something out, since payday is Friday, but it really ruined the end of my day. I hate it when I do stupid shit.

I think I'm really starting to settle down here in Huntsville. It's really cool being back with my brother. We do practically everything together these days. Hell, he even got me a job in the same office, so now I do computer work for $6.50 an hour while sitting at a desk facing his. We went out to dime night at Shenanigans last night. Between the two of us, we spent $1.70. I woke up hung over. When I ruined my tire tonight, he helped me change it (except that we didn't wound up not changing it, we left it there 'cause I didn't have the money to replace it anyway, and it's pretty safe where it is in one of the close-up school parking lots. But the point is that he was already down on his hands and knees positioning the jack before I discovered that the tire was, in fact, ruined. It's the thought that counts.). But more than that, 'cause I already knew Andy and I were close, I'm starting to really get settled in with people. I spent from 12:30 - 1:30 with Ceri yesterday watching old home movies and a picture slideshow a friend of ours had put together. I got invited to a party last weekend, as opposed to getting invited to "come along with Andy" like I used to. And, perhaps more importantly, I'm branching out and meeting my own people, people kinda like my friends from UH. Andy's introduced me to some great people, and to a lot of people I never would have met on my own, including a few major potheads, some alcoholics, a bunch of theater majors, etc., and I consider them friends, but I really miss people who I actually think are more like me, even if it's a false dichotomy. Meh. The point is, things are going well.

I'm thinking of trying to get involved in a latin dancing club next semester. Considering the Hispanic population in Huntsville, I would think that I oughta be able to find something going on. I've been getting lots of practice swing dancing, and plenty of country/western dancing, too, but I miss Salsa and Rumba and Cha-Cha and Merenque and Samba. I want to get back into it. If push comes to shove, I hear there's a dance studio in town where they give lessons. But I'd rather have it funded by the school than have to pay for it myself. (C:

I like to think of myself as a generally patient person, and I was told today by a girl from my Differential Equations class that I come across as being "married" because I'm always calm and patient. Some people (Jared, for instance, or Christina), however, know that there have been plenty of times when my placitude gives way to irritability or peevishness (or even less pleasant words). I noticed today how easily I get irritated. I was hanging out with Erika (who's apparently on a break with her fiancee? How strange is that?) in my office, and Andy was out doing something, and the office got a call. Rather than let it go to voicemail, I answered it, even though I wasn't on the clock. The voice on the other end of the line immediately set my teeth on edge. It wasn't an unpleasant voice at all, it was high-pitched and slightly melodic. What set my teeth on edge, though, is that I could barely hear her, and what I did hear had a little quaver in it that made her sound like she was constantly on the verge of tears. Why is it that little things like that set me off? Had it been some rude, loud-mouthed person on the line, I would have politely put up with it, called him/her an asshole/bitch after I hung up, and then forgotten about it. But no... Instead, it sticks with me, because there was nothing immediately unpleasant about her voice, and yet I was incredibly irritated by it through the course of our thirty second conversation. I'm sure Freud would make some guess that the apparent weakness in her voice irritates me because I'm displeased by a latent wussiness in myself, or some crap like that. Maybe that's it, who knows? I don't mind people who mumble, or people who practically yell into the phone, or people who are real brusque, or people who tend to ramble and talk your ear off forever. I put up with them in good humor. So why?... And why am I this curious about this little quirk of mine?

Oh well. Time to do my stats for stoopids homework (props to Meredith for the course title). It's due Friday, but I've gotta get it done either tonight or tomorrow during the day so I can go out tomorrow night.

One last thing: we're trying to have a huge party on Saturday, October 30th. I'm sure that's probably the date of the Honors College fall party, but if it's not, or if you'd rather come here than go to the Honors College party (our parties are more fun than the HC parties. Trust me, I went to seven of them (the only real downside is that you'd know more people there than here, but after a few drinks, what does that matter?)), lemme know. I'll be sending out real invites before too much longer. More to come...

G'night.

You know that thing, that thing that comes on parchment and some people eventually get after several years in college? That thing that means I can put "B.S." after my name? Yeah, that thing... I got it. Finally.

In more entertaining news, I've decided to write a computer game. Yeah, you heard me. A computer game. It's going to be a real-time war strategy game. But here's the thing: we're not talking about your mother's real-time war strategy engine. Nosirreebob, I'm talking about an engine that'll process and render armies of thousands of people simultaneously. Guess I'll have to get a new computer before I can play my own computer game at speed... Anyway, preliminary work starts this week. Yay!

In other news, I've also started work on a new graphics project. It oughta be pretty cool. I'll let you know as things develop, but we're talking particle systems, basic physics, sinusoidal waves, spherical environment mapping (for reflection purposes). Yeah, you know it. Awesomeness in the making.

Oh. And I like pork.

I watched the presidential debate the other day. Which is to say I watched half of it, and was convinced after half of it that I had the right impression going into it. So I'm kinda wondering... Do the debates mean anything to peole who've already made up their minds? Mostly, the candidates seem to spew a lot of rhetoric in the debates, and make very few new points. The upshot is that at the end of it we've just spent an hour and a half (or forty-five minutes, in my case) listening to the candidates distill for us the key points of their platforms. Which, of course, we already knew. So, since I already know who I'm going to vote for, is there any point in watching the debate? Is the 1/1,000,000 chance that it'll change my mind worth the hour and a half of my life? Listening to the candidates try to spin everything in as positive a light as they can rather than just taking a positive, if controversial, stance just makes me kinda jaded and cynical, anyway.

'Course, I'm still gonna watch the next one, too.

Speaking of taking a stance, here's one for you: The devil is bad. That's why you should definitely sign up for the marine corps and battle the agents of evil on Mars. For those who haven't picked up on it, yet, I'm talking about Doom 3. It doesn't have the rapid-paced, space-age, unreal weaponry and scenery that Unreal Tournament 2K3 or 2K4 (or GOTY, for that matter) have, and it's not conducive to net games in the same was as Quake 3, but I give it two thumbs up for more realism, very simple gameplay, and the feeling of EVIL that pervades it. I mean, the nasty ooze crawling up the wall, the ethereal skulls flying out of the walls and possessing people, and the glowing pentagram-esque designs on the floors are pretty EVIL. I just about jumped out of my seat when my boss tapped me on the shoulder while I was playing it at work (thankfully we don't have anything to do most Fridays, so I actually had permission to be playing)... And one of those damned imps killed me. Forces of Evil: 1, Dathan: 0. I'll get 'em next time.