Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in daaaaave's LiveJournal:

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Friday, July 13th, 2007
11:54 am	What's the term? Hey all- I haven't posted on Livejournal in months, but I need some (minor) help. I can't remember who I was talking to or how we got on the topic, but I was recently talking about the way that Disney World is set up in a way to mimic a certain religous experience. That is to say, the way they bus people from the parking lot to the park (instead of allowing you to simply walks in) is representative of ___________, which is essentially a metaphor for leaving your world and becoming immersed in a different one. Help me fill in the blank. I forget the religion and the term, but I believe that their main temple is located on an island (or at least across a body of water) so people have to physically journey there, helping the experience feel more isolated and completely immersing themselves while they're there. This isn't a huge deal, I just thought the Disney connection was interesting (and I know it goes even further than the parking lot) and I wanted to research it a little more for a writing project. Current Mood: artistic (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 28th, 2007
12:16 pm	Guess What? I do, in fact, still have a Livejournal! I still probably check it daily/twice daily, but I just stopped posting on it, which is weird. In fact, the main reason I'm writing right now is to put off finishing my story (a ten-page epic about women's hockey. It's pretty much great/will be great). Sorta pointless, but I figured I'd post this just to say hello to my LJ friends and let you know that I am still alive, just not writing about it (I'm too busy writing about everything else) Ok, that's all I got. Current Mood: tired Current Music: Meat Loaf (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 19th, 2006
10:56 pm	I talk a big game, but... I just lost the vegetarian challenge. It was a tough call: lose the contest or disobey the General. I feel I made the right choice. Current Mood: stuffed and satisfied Current Music: SWITZERLAND (16 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 5th, 2006
4:40 pm	As of right now... The vegetarian challenge is on. This should be interesting... P.S. poetry is killing me inside. (17 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, August 4th, 2006
3:48 pm	By the way... I'll be downstate in like 7 hours and I'm not leaving until Tuesday. Come visit or call me! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 1st, 2006
10:00 pm	3 more things! 1. Today at work I rode an elevator up to the 12th floor, got out on the roof of the building, walked up 3 more flights of stairs, climbed a ladder, and helped Bob get to the smokestacks. However, in order to get to the smokestacks, we had to saw off and take out ALL OF THE GUARDRAILS. Meaning, I was up roughly 16 or 17 stories standing on a thin catwalk with no hand railings for 45 minutes to an hour. It wasn't bad until we climbed down... then I started to shake for a while. 2. I bought my car today! I like it alot, which is good since I'm going to be in debt for a good long while now. 3. I finally finished a piece of writing. Given it's only a piece of flash, but it's the most polished thing I've ever produced and I think I'm going to start sending it out sometime tomorrow after I figure out who would appreciate it. Current Mood: hot Current Music: TV (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 31st, 2006
8:01 pm	2 fun things of the day! 1. I just took out a loan to buy a car, which totally rocks and that I'll be picking up tomorrow sometime. 2. I am now taking Studies in Fiction with a certain RICK IADONISI in the fall. Be insanely jealous of me. Current Mood: sweaty (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 24th, 2006
11:17 pm	Blue F'in Collar I just worked my first 16, yeah, that's right. If you'll excuse me I have less than 8 hours until I go back for at least 10 more so I'm going to get ready for bed. Also, 14 days til Coheed show, and 11 until I'm back down to visit. Current Mood: My back aint what it was Current Music: Styx- Blue Collar Man (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 18th, 2006
5:31 pm	To those who wonder about my running progress (aka Jack) I think I figured out why I've been having foot/leg injury problems since I've restarted training. I finally went around and reclocked all of my distances with a car to find out that some, if not all of my loops have been a full mile off. In other words, when I've wanted to run 3 miles I've ran 4, When I run 4 it's 5,etc... This explains why my times have been so slow and why I've been extra tired and sore, especially after my long runs (which, although long enough, have had as much as 2 unnecessary miles added to them since I usually do the long ones in two shorter loops). On the other hand, this means it's only mid July and I'm already able to do 8-10 more miles a week than I was last year. Now if I could just get some of my old speed back... 20 days til Coheed 17 days til I come down to visit 31 days til I'm back realsies K bye Current Mood: hot Current Music: Nothing yet (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 9th, 2006
7:59 pm	Because I haven't updated in like 2 months... In case anyone was wondering, 50 year old welders don't like being told "hey, we match!" when you happen to be wearing identical t-shirts. Also, I promise to try to update more from now on. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 24th, 2006
7:53 pm	This is a bit pre-emptive, but... Dude, LOST. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 18th, 2006
9:19 pm	You'll listen to reason Okay, as part of my continued effort to write a lot and keep a somewhat stagnant livejournal community alive, I'm honestly going to start posting more on here. I think I may even write one that isn't in list format pretty soon, but I doubt it. 1. Something very strange is happening to me. Although it's terrible on pretty much every level and I'm really bored and lonely a lot, I've found out that I've obsessed about the mill so much over the past year that I think I sort of enjoy it now. This is mainly because I know I can get paid to send emails and read books all day, but it's been crazy for my writing too, which was already pretty much fixated on my experiences from last summer. The other summer help guy I work with this year is actually pretty cool, and I have about 3 or 4 crazy threads of prose started on different aspects of my job. If I can start forcing a page of progress a day out of myself like I had intended, I'll be sitting pretty high on my horse come August. 2. Running again! I'm sore as of now, but it feels good to get that going again, well, at least it would if music existed while running anymore. I went to go on Thursday and went to get my Ipod and I discovered that I either lost my belt clip for it or left it downstate. Fine, I decided to run with it in my hand (and get it all sweaty and run up my form, but I digress), but I realize that the connector things I had to stick my headphones in my ears were missing a rubber thing and my other set of headphones has completely dissappeared. If you have my headphones or a rubber cover thing, you know my address. Beyond that, as stated, running feels great. 3. I need to get out of the house more. If I'm not at work, then I'm here. I get nothing done here, so I might have to start going on field trips to sit and work on my writing more. 4. I miss all of you downstate, and am going to try and make a trip down in the next couple of weeks if possible. Also, there's a huge shutdown at the mill in July for three weeks. Last summer, when we had a week long shutdown, I was laid off for it because they didn't want summer help there. If that happens this year, I'll probably be at Paris Earth for most of July with a sweet unemployment check to support my general tso cravings. Which reminds me, 5. I really, really, REALLY want some Great Lakes like now. I get the shakes everytime I even think about it. 6. I don't know if this is a problem or not, but I have a new moneymaking scheme: If you ride the bus out to the nearby casino, it costs five dollars, but they give you twenty dollars in complimentary chips. The catch? You have to sit there for three or four hours to catch the bus back. Now, it takes so long so people will spend all of their complimentary chips and some of their own hopefully, but since I'm spending so much time reading nowadays, I think I want to start going to the casino to get my reading done. That way, I'm bound to make at least fifteen, maybe millions, of dollars at least once a week to read my books. If I do it twice a week, it would at least be like getting free gas to fill up my tank whenever I buy this car I plan on buying. Current Mood: content Current Music: Coheed and Cambria (20 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 8th, 2006
10:45 pm	To all who take note of my personal life... Several things: 1. Thank you for submitting your entry for the October 29, 2006 Grand Rapids Marathon: Marathon. Please note that registrations are non-refundable and non-transferable. Training has begun. Rock and Roll. 2. Speaking of Rock and Roll, Our Rival is recording tomorrow. I am excited. 3. I started working at the mill again today. I'm going to be on day shift again (thank god), so I'll probably take up the Daily Press internship I've been talking about. Here's to overselling myself! 4. For the rest of the summer, I'm going to attempt to post as many stupid things as I can that happen at work. The first one is this (from a safety video, of which I watched 8 hours of today): "Here at NewPage, we harvest our own trees in upper Michigan forests. The largest ones are 70-80 feet tall, that's almost as tall as an eight story building!" 5. I love 24. 6. I'm going to eat popcorn until I fall asleep. Kbye. Current Mood: working Current Music: 24 Season Two (11 and a half hours to go!) (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006
1:16 pm	Summer Stagnation So, I've already managed to lose all of my motivation for doing anything. I was up until 4 playing video games last night, and for the first time in years, I didn't get out of bed until after noon. I'm pretty proud of that one. Now that I am up, I should go running or paint my room or something, but instead I'm sitting here in my pajamas and watching Futurama boxed set. My neck has been painfully sore for two days and I have no idea why. I can't turn my head, making me even less motivated to get any real work done. I took some of my big medication from when I had my wisdom teeth pulled, and it still hurts but now my eyes won't stop watering. I'm not crying, my eyes simply will not stop leaking. I think I broke our hot tub cleaning it. I'm currently redraining it and going from there. Seriously, someone fix my neck. Someone come over here/ home. It's lonely sitting home by yourself everyday. I was just offered a summer internship at The Daily Press, my hometown newspaper. I'd actually get to do some writing and it would be paid, but I don't know if I want to work another 20 hours a week on top of my 40-50 I'll already have at the mill. Between work and running, I don't know when I'd sleep or get any of my other writing done. Talk me into/out of this idea because I don't know how I feel about it. Serioulsy, my neck :( Current Mood: sore Current Music: Futurama (16 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 27th, 2006
10:37 am	So... I'm done with exams, but thanks to the magic of work availability and a neverending hunger for money, I managed to get six hours of work today. After five, well more like 9ish, I'll be out of LOH for at least four months. That is terrifying. Where else am I going to go and steal laptops until the batteries are drained. Who is going to laugh at ytmnd.com with me half of the day when I should be doing homework? I have no answer to these questions, but that's ok. Here's a list of my big summer plans: 1. Begin my marathon training again. Earlier, harder, more gusto. 2. Work a lot a lot. 3. Buy a car. 4. Work on all of my writing projects I've had, but have been unable to devote any real time to. 5. With number 4, setting up the online workshop. 6. Maybe start playing music/writing music for theh first time in a long while. 7. Get as many email correspondents as possible to kill time at work (all I can do at work is send emails when I'm bored, so you should all be sure to send me a lot) 8. Not go crazier. 9. Mellow out a bit, I've been way to high strung lately. 10.Ummm... this is ten. For those of you in Allendale, I'll be around until next weekend and let's hang out. For those of you in the U.P., I'll be home after next weekend and we'll hang out. For those about to rock, we salute you. Ummm... woozle wozzle. Current Mood: geeky Current Music: The glowing ambience of the FMCfWaMA (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 25th, 2006
3:08 pm	Exam Update So, I don't have anything until four and I don't want to do more work. Naturally, LiveJournal fills this void just fine. French was probably a bust. Call me crazy, but when watching 24 (which kicked serious ass last night) takes precedence over studying, there's usually problems. In particular, 8 o'clock anything kicks my ass. At four, I'll turn in my nonfiction portfolio. I'm pretty excited about the way my piece turned out, but there's still three or four big things that I need to do to it before I really feel finished with it. Hopefully, a long summer break and a few workshop opportunities will get it up to the level I want it to be at. Either way, it's my strongest writing I've ever produced. Gotta be excited about that. Beyond that, I have an open book exam tomorrow, running in the afternoon, and another portfolio (which is all graded holistically, no revisions necessary) due at night. After that, a few hours of work, a student reading, and Jacob's party on Saturday. From there, Harry Potter, new marathon training, and lots of writing await me. I'll be busy all summer most likely, but it's still going to be such a relief from my current state. Now, leave me a random hypothetical question so I can kill more time by answering it. Current Mood: too much pizza/mountain dew Current Music: Coheed (31 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 17th, 2006
7:29 pm	Note to self... Running gives you more energy than a nap does. After I ran (for the first time in forever, I'm so psyched about getting new shoes) and ate an obscene amount of food, I've been hitting the books with unfathomable gusto. This is pretty damn good considering how big my french project is for tomorrow and considering how I need to get two other projects ready for Friday while fitting in an awards banquet. I don't know what the point of this post is other than to distract me from homework, so sorry for making you read it. Our Rival concert Thursday night at 8 o'clock at Skelletones. Plenty of rock screams guaranteed or your money back. Current Mood: wide awake but yawning a lot Current Music: Meatloaf- Testify (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 16th, 2006
6:30 pm	I have creativity leaking out of me. I'm going crazy. I've been in the computer lab for way too long already today, and I have to produce at least another two or three pages of fiction, plus two or three more academic pages before I can even consider stopping. It's good because it's pushing me and all, but I can not wait until two weeks from now when I can start writing things I want to write again. I have a couple really big ideas right now, including: 1. A fiction idea that I actually like (compared to all the crap I have to do to fulfill assignment requirements) 2. Two possible drama ideas (I've never written drama, but I'm wanting to give it a try) 3. Another crack at a conceputal music project. 4. Another "letter to the editor" type project where I try to gain as much attention to a nonexistent cause as I possibly can. 5. Revising some of my old stuff that has no chance of getting worked on right now. AJ and my interview with Jack Driscoll is up on www.upinmichigan.org now, which is pretty cool. Yay for Jack Driscoll related work. I bought some new shoes yesterday, hurray for running without (too much) pain. I'm drinking Mountain Dew in the computer lab. I'm such a badass. Although I'm mildly entertained by it, I'm trying to figure out why everything I write has gotten so much crazier lately. Ok, I have one last thing to say: instead of typing on here about how much I want to write, I think I'm just going to do it now. Kbye. Current Mood: Batshit Crazy Current Music: Chiodos (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 13th, 2006
11:42 pm	Those "Six Secrets" Thing that's been tearing up LJ recently Here's my fun six facts: 1. I really, REALLY get into running theory and it's probably the biggest part of me that I'm missing in my Downstate life versus my U.P. life. Honestly, I don't get much happier than I do discussing mile splits on a 5k course and knowing when to kick it, when to stride out, and when to relax- taking in deep breaths and relaxing my face until my lips are chapped. Obscure stretches and habitual running patterns help as well. 2. I have been way too into the Rocky Horror Picture Show lately. I've been watching it at least once a day. If not watching it, I have it minimized on my computer so I can listen to the music. 3. I might take a ballroom dancing class at Grand Valley next winter. My only reason for not taking it so far is it's four hours a week for one credit and two of the hours are Friday from 1-3. 4. I don't want to go back to my summer job at NewPage. It's good money, but it practically killed me last summer. I'm debating trying to get fired for the sake of an interesting nonfiction piece. 5. When I was deciding what college I wanted to go to, the deciding factor for me was that Grand Valley's showers had better water pressure than any other campus I had visited at that time. Expect an elaborate essay on this topic in the coming months. 6. For my summer writing, I think I'm going to take up more insane letters to editors and companies about unimportant topics, like my "37 to 36" revolution. I'm going to find a U.P. cause and try to get a lot of media attention if possible, documenting everything. I can't think of anyone to tag, so if you want to do this consider your name written here. Current Mood: tired Current Music: Rocky Horror- You'd Better Wise Up (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 9th, 2006
7:50 am	Yay allergies! I'm sure glad that I have a huge swollen face the one day of the week I have to take part in three different job interviews at work. Furthermore, I'm glad that the aforementioned allergy attack made me sick and fatigued last night when I had a huge test to study for, which starts at nine, which I have yet to study for. After interviews and test, I'm probably coming back here and crashing until my swollen face makes another appearance in the film project I'm helping out with tonight... Huzzah! (13 Comments |Comment on this)