God

You should read this...if you can.

2006-09-20T03:16:42Z

I've been meaning to make a post because, something cool happened. I had a medical problem, which isn't what was cool - but what resulted was cool. I got a blood clot in my arm (I'm fine, now). The doctors are unsure exactly why I would develop a clot, and they are doing extensive blood tests to make sure everything is cool - but chances are it was just a bit of randomness mixed with bad luck....or was it bad luck? You see, I knew almost immediately when I started noticing symptoms that it was a blood clot, even when the doctors explained to me that this was very uncommon and probably not the problem. It just seemed rather obvious to me, and that is what I focused on: "It's probably a blood clot in my upper arm". So, I ended up asking for a test that looks for blood clots, and they gave me something like an ultrasound on my arm. First of all, this technology is badass, as it shows the veins and arteries underneath the skin, and in addition digitally created a blue/red stream to represent a decently accurate model of the way the blood is flowing. This also isn't the cool part, though.

The cool part is, when I was diagnosed with the blood clot, I started to realize something. Could I have caused this blood clot by focusing on it so much? At first, manifesting a blood clot seemed like a bad thing, but then it began to reinforce other theories about life I have developed over the years. This could be the reason I brought it into existence...because it would help me understand certain things. For instance, enough confidence and motivation in anything, and a true belief that you will succeed results in only success. If you truly have no underlying doubt, then you will be assured victory. This has been in the back of my mind for a long while, now. Also, this kind of makes sense, because I was almost positive that it was a blood clot, and it turned out to be. Now, this is a bad thing in general, but I was able to work this idea into a positive deed, as well. You see, from the beginning, the blood clot had a chance of breaking off and flowing to my lungs, or some other dangerous place. When they had told me this, though, I did not worry, because I knew it would not happen. And, you see, by knowing that it would not happen, I would not in any way shape or form allow it to happen. The human body (and maybe lots more) is controlled solely by the human mind, and understanding this helped me greatly. Now, the clot still exists somewhat in my arm, but even as I type this, I know nothing will happen. I do not feel I am "jinxing" myself, because I simply know that nothing will happen. And that is precisely why nothing will happen.

I know that the experience I had isn't "proof" of the theory being true, but it is a start. As time goes on, and I prove this more and more to myself (and maybe others), it will become more and more true because I will constantly be less and less suspicious of it. Eventually, underlying doubt will dissipate completely, and then I will be able to prove the theory with ease. You can logically follow that statement to see what will be capable at that point.

It's funny, I was recently talking with a friend about the idea that our physical lives may be fabricated completely by some spirit or mind form in another dimension that is a representation of us. It's kind of crazy to think like that but....interesting none the less. How do I know anyone will ever read this post, other than myself? Maybe a dozen "people" will read it, and even comment on it, but how do I know those comments aren't just fabricated by myself? When you ask a friend "are you real?" they will most likely respond yes...but how do you know that is not your own mind playing a trick on you? I can picture several of my friends responding to this post in my mind....so I know I have the ability to fabricate responses from you all...the only thing is, those responses aren't "real". Can I also unknowingly fabricate the "real" ones, is the question.

I mean, it does seem odd that humans are, in a way, so self centered and focused on personal gain. You've probably heard yourself the loophole "We only do good things so we can feel good about ourselves for doing good things, not so we can help others" that says that even the people who seem selfless are egotistical...and it kind of makes sense. This being the case, it would make a lot of sense that in reality, you are the only being that exist in this entire world. In this worlds case, I would be the only one that exists. Everything else might be fabricated.

This would play into the blood clot theory because, if you fabricate this world and everything that happens in it second by second, then with enough focus...concentration...and motivation....you could fabricate anyone, anything, and any situation that you wished for. This seems to be true in most cases. Maybe I, deep inside, wished for this blood clot to develop so I could go through this learning experience. I believe that if anyone truly wants any one thing, they will obtain it. If they do not obtain it, it is because somewhere inside themselves, they did not truly want it. There is no way to prove or disprove this due to it's innately ambiguous nature, but, I can feel that it kind of makes sense. There have been lots of girls that have rejected me...and I might have felt bad here and there but...I can see why I might not have truly wanted those relationships, and actually been the cause of their removal from my world. As another example, I feel like I want to be eternally blissful, truly happy, and enlightened....but is this really what I want deep inside? I consider that it might not be....and that this is precisely the reason that I am not eternally blissful, truly happy, and enlightened. Maybe I am not ready for these things, yet.

Either way, it's reassuring to know that anything I truly want, I will surely achieve. And anything you truly want, you will achieve also. If....you actually exist in the first place :).

I just had a thought - you know crazy serial killing murderers? They always seem so insane, and sometimes people say that there's a fine line between insanity and genius. Could these people have realized that there might be truth to this theory, and in a twisted, uninformed blaze of emotion tried to kill everyone around them to prove that these other people (the ones they killed) are nothing but fabrications of their own mind? I can see no other plausible reason for killing humans - it seems an impossible act to anyone who does not think it will be helpful in some way. There seem to be easier ways to prove the fabrication of this reality, though. If that's really the way it is, you would essentially be living in a lucid dream, a dream so lucid, as a matter of fact, that you have put restrictions on it yourself to make it more realistic. Like the matrix, if you are able to realize you are dreaming (there is no spoon), you can then do things that are not "possible" in this world...I.E. fly, teleport, move objects with your mind, survive without food, water, or oxygen....and most importantly.....maybe you could wake yourself up.

This would also fit in to always being happy, another idea that makes sense to me.. If everything you want is always immediately manifested for (by) you....then you are always happy. People who seem outwardly depressed are truly as happy as people who seem outwardly happy. When your parents die, it's because on some level you wanted it to happen, and even crying over their bodies at the funerals, you are truly happy. I know it's hard to understand with that example, but happiness is more than some simple human emotion defined by an excess of material objects. Happiness, or maybe bliss would be a more pertinent word, is something much more powerful, something much deeper that we don't have a full understanding of, yet. This I am sure of. And because I am sure of it, it is true.

You might think "well, there is so much knowledge in the world...how could I possibly manifest all of that knowledge?!" - well, putting aside the fact that you have no idea what you are truly capable of, consider this. There are master scientists, master engineers, master plumbers, master astronauts and everything in between out in this world. If you attempt to learn things about these trades, you are able to, but you can never learn all of them. The catch is, though, how can you be sure they even exist if you don't learn them? You could simply fabricate in your mind a sentence as simple as "Astronauts exist, and they can go into space and walk on the moon if they want". This statement can then be made true by your mind, even though you don't understand how any of that could actually be possible in the physical world. If you decided to become an astronaut at that point, you could then define the physical world as you went through the learning experience of mastering this trade so that it made more "sense" to you, and then you would have obtained this knowledge. However, at the same time, you might meet a chemist that seems like he/she knows a lot more about chemistry about you...but in reality neither she nor the knowledge she has of chemistry actually exist.

So much for structuring posts anymore, as I don't feel like it and you may not even exist to read this, anyways. I think that maybe they will continue to just be projectile vomiting of random thoughts, theories, and ideas, like this one.

Polyphasic sleeping, anyone?

2006-08-16T17:37:13Z

If anyone is interested, I have begun my polyphasic sleeping experiment. I'm over 24 hours in already, and I feel surprisingly fine. I will be blogging about the experience at length. If you're interested to see how it turns out, or what it is, for more information you can read my Day 1 introductory post http://keenpercipience.blogspot.com/2006/08/polyphasic-sleep-experiment-day-1.html. I've only posted up to Day 2 as of right now but, with all the free time generated from the polyphasic sleeping schedule in comparison to monophasic sleeping schedule, I will surely have no problem continuing to post regularly until I either give up the experiment or make a success out of it. The general link to the blog is http://keenpercipience.blogspot.com.

It should be noted that the blog was originally developed to be a kind of general perception noting blog, but I thought that polyphasic sleeping fit into this ideal well enough, so I'm focusing on blogging about that for now until the experiment ends, at which point I will continue to try and blog about random perceptions and personal growth.

thescatman @ 2006-08-08T00:16:00

2006-08-08T05:16:52Z

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6755370137921587636&q=matrix+mouse

Hey...there. Long time no see, whoever you are. I'd like to both begin and end my post with some interesting google videos, hence the link at the top. Ohhh, and speaking of google videos, me and my friends have made some pretty damn interesting ones, if I do say so myself. Most of them (actually, almost all of them) revolve around a makeshift explosion caused by quick expansion which is in turn caused by the mixture of tinfoil and certain toilet cleaners that contain the right amount of hydrochloric acid. Trust me, find an isolated spot and try making one (they're easy), and it becomes an addiction: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=scatman+videos (skip down to about the 4'th result in this search....look for "The Works Bomb" titles). Google videos are very easy to make public. If you're interested, and you have a video, give it a try. You'll be surprised at how simple it is.

On another note, one life goal completed: The tree in front of my house that has the unclimbable trunk in conjunction with being covered with poison oak....I FINALLY CLIMBED IT. Yeesssss. After several other attempts, I realized that I had to swing the rope over a branch (no easy task, mind you) and then anchor the rope on both sides (to other trees....it looked pretty ridiculous) and then I climbed from one tree along the rope to the other. Without doubt, the hardest tree I've ever climbed, but I finally claimed the fucker! Anyways, my only war wounds are some gashes on my left forearm, and poison oak rashes on my right arm, and maybe a little on my leg and left arm, too...but that wasn't so bad. I thought that it was all going to be no big deal...itch for a week or so and then go away....until....my eye started itching. So, it's still itching now, and, umm....I have no idea what's going to happen. Tomorrows going to be an exciting day, though - we'll see how this rash presents itself on my face. Hopefully not in a dangerous to my health kind of way :). Don't worry though, it's not contagious (I've had it before). As soon as you wash off the oil that causes the allergic reaction, it looses its ability to spread.

Anyways, so, work ends this week. Which is nice, because I like sleeping in and not being scheduled to do things...and not traveling 3-4 hours every day too and from Libertyville. My internship went well this year, things are looking pretty good. Motorola is just a stepping stone to get me where I want, but it seems to be working well so far. And it keeps my family happy which, while I'm living with them, is near mandatory. But, I've done some things with my major (Changed to business administration and applied sciences) for this coming semester, and I'm excited to see if this might be the path to the goals that I want. If not, I'm sure it's out there somewhere....I just have to continue looking without rest or hesitation...if the situation allows, at least. It's weird, I have certain goals, but I know I haven't focused enough on the paths to get them, because I still have yet to choose my paths....even though I have stayed completely focused on the goals. I have so much motivation to complete the goals, but for some reason the motivation to follow the short term paths to complete those long term goals is low....know what I mean? I guess I'm too...far sighted? At least for right now. It's obvious that in order to reach far off goals, I need to complete the short term ones that are in line with that far off goal...but apparently I still need to convince my subconscious of this fact. I need to find the path, pin it down, and start systematically overcoming obstacles that present themselves in whichever one I end up choosing if I want to be able to reach these goals in my lifetime. I say that now but, motivation is a difficult thing to manifest, especially when burdened with shit like school and work. Oh well - I'm sure it will come with time....will just try to be patient.

Recently I've been introduced to house....and let me tell you...they might as well call the show God. Because, I can only assume that's exactly what House is. His character is amazing. And apparently.....maybe gay? This information comes from a well informed fan indeed, so I wonder how I can simply dismiss it. Oh well - either way - I just saw the episode where he buys a motorcycle - which is pretty bad ass. Me and my sister were just talking about how a motorcycle would fit his personality - hah, I can't believe he's cruising around on a sport bike. Nice to see someone wearing a helmet and a jacket on the bike, though.

Hmph, and that's about all I can think of for right now. Kind of feel like getting some sleep early today.

Ohhh, and my polyphasic sleeping experiment should be starting sometime next week. Haven't set a date yet but, I've promised myself to at least try it with the Ubermans schedule before school starts so, we'll see how it works out. 22 hours a day of free time would be bizaaadddd assss. With that much free time, I'll be able to conquer the world WELL before I've planned to! ;) Well then, that's all I've got. Goodnight, anyone who's reading this. Ah hell, let's go crazy: Goodnight to everyone who is or isn't reading this. What a nice guy I am :).

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5511882853233799450&q=idiots

thescatman @ 2006-01-27T01:43:00

2006-01-27T07:45:08Z

I felt like writing about something that happened today, and was going to just put it into a microsoft word document, or something of that sort, but I figured I mind as well put it on live journal, instead. Things always seem safer when they're stored on huge remote servers kept up by professionals that use advanced data redundancy techniques to protect data loss almost to 100% efficiency. To put things into perspective, I have a big hole in the front of my computer, and I could totally see myself spilling coke in there or something and losing all of my shit. Anyways:

I was visiting a friend in Schaumburg today, and on my way back, I stopped at a taco bell to grab something to eat. Little did I know, I was in for a big treat. Nothing really amazing, but I thought it was kind of cool. As I was sitting there, eating my taco's, I was presented with examples of all of the different major stages of life. It was as if someone was putting on a show for me. This didn't happen in chronological order, but I still thought it was pretty amazing.

The first group of people I saw were a middle aged Mom coming in with her two young girls. I'll start with the girls, which would obviously symbolize childhood. One was a chubby girl, very young, I'd say 8-10. Then the chubby girl had a thin, cute little sister, who was even younger. I couldn't help but think that both of these girls were very spoiled, and that maybe that was the reason one of them was kind of fat. It kind of made me wonder about children that are spoiled - could this little girl be fat because her parents give her everything she wants when she complains, sucking away her ability to be motivated for anything? I mean, what's the point of trying for something if you're so used to just getting it from your parents. Maybe the little girl, sucked of her ability to be motivated, simply couldn't convince herself to loose weight no matter how hard she tried.

The mother of the daughters would symbolize middle aged parents. She seemed very flustered, and extremely annoyed with her children. I couldn't help but think she was a bad mother, even though I truly don't have all the information needed to make a decision like that. She seemed very stressed out about having to deal with them, and they kept annoying and bothering her and getting pissy when she wouldn't do just what they said. It seemed like a bad relationship, but I wonder if we all go through stages like that sometime in our lives. Anyways, she described a general middle aged parent, in my eyes. And a bad one, at that. I hope that I don't fall into some kind of whirlwind of emotion and illogicality when I become an adult, and I really do wish I can raise my children better than that when the time comes.

There was another father and his little boy, but they seemed quiet, calm and collected. The boy especially, I was impressed with. I don't mean anything sexist by this, of course, but the boy just seemed to be raised much better than those girls. It's not just that he was calm or quiet, but that he could have a civilized conversation with his father, almost as an adult. To a further extent, I would assume that he could think more clearly and make decisions more precisely than the emotionally overcome girls or mother. Again, not to say that girls are more emotional than boys, or that boys are smarter than girls - just that in these particular examples the boy seemed to have it all together, while the little girls (and their mother, for that matter) seemed quite the opposite.

Next came the fearful forces of old age. My greatest fear, as it inevitably leads to death. I'm sure many millions of people share this with me as their greatest fear. An old man walked in with his older looking wife. It was either that, or he was a very old looking young man, and the woman was his somewhat young (relatively speaking) looking mother. I assume it was the former, as they seemed to bicker like a couple would. The woman might have been mentally impaired somehow, as they both walked in and got into line, and the man asked his wife "What do you want?" (in a not mean, but not so pleasant tone), and she replied: "TACO BELL!!". A few more tries and he got the same response, as if she wanted to order the store in its entirety, or something. Finally he got her down to yelling (not screaming, but well above normal person to person speaking decibel levels) "TACO!!". So, I guess he got her some tacos. They were old, unfit to do most anything physical, the woman was fat, the man was bald - but they sat down (next to me) and were laughing within minutes. The man said a joke, and the (possibly retarded) woman laughed heartily at it. I started to wonder what happens when they go home. Do they joke around and laugh all day? Do they fight? Do they have sex? These people that seemed so depressed and distant to me are probably very similar to thousands of others, and possibly similar to what I may be like one day. It puts things into perspective a bit, reinforces the simplicity of the world, and at the same time is a strong indicator of the theory of relativity applied to happiness. These old, haggard, physically unfit people, one of whom was probably married to an either retarded or senile old woman, and the other who was either retarded or senile, were laughing about a joke within minutes after bickering about what to order. They just seemed to show a certain affection towards each other that I was impressed with. I need to figure out how to become immortal before old age sets in.

Next, a man walked in with his teenage daughter. She must have been in high school - maybe even grade school. She had a fuck load of makeup on - almost startling at first as she looked my age at first glance. At first, she was blocked by a flowering plant, or something, and I could only see her face (she was short). When she walked past it, and I could see her entirely, I noticed she had these ridiculously short shorts on. Here she was, with her father, in a public restaurant, trying to show off her ass? I was a bit confused at first, but then I guess I realized that it is a form of self expression, and that if that's what she wants to do, she should do it. If she gets hit on often by sleazy guys, and doesn't like it, she can learn her own lessons to not dress skimpily anymore. Maybe her friends would make fun of her if she didn't wear that kind of clothing. It made me kind of wonder what the story is behind her life - some odd curiosity to know what she was doing and why. She symbolized that odd time during high school and junior high, where you are just realizing what kind of person you are, and attempting to fit in to the right places (or to not fit into the wrong places). Above a child, but below a college student, I guess a teenager is a good word for it, although it isn't really that descriptive.

Speaking of a college student, I guess I symbolized the college student in the scene. A decent idea of who I am, but not so much of what I'm to do with my life. Seduced by the idea that I can do almost anything, but fearing to do the wrong thing. Coming to a point in my life where I realize that making the wrong move here could fuck things up for good. Not only that, but a sin of omission could do the same. If I simply don't not fuck things up, I could fuck things up for the rest of my life. It's a scary point in a persons life....but is that fear really necessary? I talked about relativity before....is any of this worry really doing anything other than exercising my mind by thinking out different scenarios (which I think is a good thing)? Or is it making all the difference....and without it......would I be even more lost than I already am now.....but even worse.....I wouldn't even know I was lost. But, would not knowing I was lost somehow cushion the pain of actually being lost? Would I rather be an ignorant pig eating from his bin of food, or would I rather be a worrisome human, with a huge knowledge base, depressed and confused at almost all times? Maybe, like most answers, this one lies somewhere in the middle - a happy median. There was another college student at taco bell, too. He seemed around my age, and was probably in college. I wondered if he was going through the kinds of things I am, making the kinds of decisions I am. I wish I could delve into these peoples minds without them knowing.

Then I saw the love birds. Early 20's, maybe last 20's even. Looked like they have just recently decided this relationship was really going somewhere. In the drunk with emotion stage. I don't mean for that to sound like a bad thing, but it's simply the truth. They were fondling each other, arms around one another - probably thinking "I love him/her so much". It's kind of funny to me that these kinds of emotions feel so unique to each of us, when literally everyone experiences them. It's almost ironic it turns out that way. I wonder how long this feeling will last. Was that hot chick from the matrix right? Is it not meant to last? If feelings like that are temporary....what does that mean? These two were calm, knew each other well, ordered their food flawlessly, without any annoying banter like the little girl/middle aged mother or any loud yelling like the old senile woman. They even didn't dismiss the taco vender, mind wandering off somewhere else, like the college student and teenager might do. They got their stuff and left.....but I couldn't help but feel a little odd towards them. The fact of the matter is, if someone came up to them and said "I can either kill the other of you, or everyone in this whole fucking restaurant" the fact of the matter is they would have us all brutally slaughtered, tortured even, just to know that their significant other was safe. What's so important about them, that they are worth the lives of everyone in the restaurant? Their emotion for each other, although generating happiness and setting up a relationship that will eventually end in children and procreation of the species, has ultimately skewed their logic and made them extremely selfish. I am so confused about these feelings that people have, and whether they are good or not. It is such an incomplete thought - so difficult to complete. Frustrating, really. I need to know for my own experience if they are good or not, to know if I should allow them in the future or not. How can I make important decisions like that without being able to even describe the whole thought that I need to complete?

There it is, in non-chronological order, as promised. I don't know who still reads this journal, and I guess I really don't care. If anyone reads through this, hopefully you find some of it useful, or maybe even have a specific opinion you think would be helpful for me to hear, in which case I would want you to communicate that to me somehow. The idea is, though, that I recently came to a (one of many) revelation. Lots of people come up with thoughts and ideas like these, but they are fleeting and quickly dissipate. What separates the ADD forgetful idiots from the world renowned millionaire genius novelists is simply the ability to convert these fleeting thoughts into concrete ideas, communicate them through a language, and ultimately write them down for personally review (reinforcing the ideas to ones self) or for others to see (spreading the idea). Some people think about things like this more often, which concretes the thoughts in their minds for longer periods of time, but no matter how often, eventually, it will go away. Even if it takes until your death, it will go away. Maybe that doesn't matter, but maybe it does. If it doesn't matter, then I've wasted some time typing this shit out, and I've still exercised my brain a little for conversation and intellectual ability. If it does matter, then I've really made a difference in my life, and possibly in the lives of others, for the better? I'm Ron Burgundy?

thescatman @ 2005-08-12T17:43:00

2005-08-12T22:45:39Z

My recent correspondance with "Barrister Koffi Omar , a solicitor at law". Thought you might be interested in it...keep in mind I changed NO part of this conversation, and this is exactly what Koffi received in his E-Mail box...(read on if you like ridiculous shit):

KOFFIOMARCHAMBERS
RUE DE 23 RUE DE KARA
P.O BOX 125
LOME TOGO
Contact My Direct-Line On : 00228-909 39 17

Dear ,

I am Barrister koffi omar , a solicitor at law. I am the personal attorney
to Late Morris Thompson , he is the owner of THOMPSON CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
here in Lome Togo, West Africa . He died on the 12th of July 2001, in a
Plane Crash . My client ( Morris Thompson ) deposited the sum of ( US $ 10
Million Dollars Only ), with the STANBICC CREDIT BANK PLC here in Lome Rep.
Of Togo . I need an assistance from you so that we can transfer fund into
your account for investment . Then you and myself can share the fund 60% to
me, then 40% to you .

I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim
we may make since Morris Thompson, was my client. All I require is your
honest cooperation to enable us see this business through. I guarantee that
this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you
from any breach of the law. Please get in touch with me by my email
immediately or you can urgently call on my direct-line 002289093917 ,to
enable us discuss further. I am looking forward to hear from you urgently
for the matter of urgency
which this business is highly needed and for more details information.
My private E-mail : koffi-omar@hotmail.com
Please go through this web site
http://www.nativefederation.org/history/people/mThompson.html

Thanks and be blessed.
Attorney in Law.
Barrister koffi omar

So, I get this bullshit E-Mail, just the usual, nothing special, but I thought it would be kind of funny to just send him a funny response. So I give him this:

Koffi.....

I'll do it for no less than 50 - 50!!! If you don't accept that,
you'll have to find some OTHER random person on the internet that you
trust enough to work with in a deal concerning 10 million dollars for
no apparent reason. And we're not easy to find!!

P.S.

Attorneys generally have better sentence structure than: "I am looking
forward to hear from you urgently
for the matter of urgency
which this business is highly needed and for more details
information." I mean, "urgently for this matter of urgency"? Common
man. It really takes away from the realism. www.thesaurus.com could
be helpful, to you.

so, I just kind of leave it at that thinking good ole Koffi will have a laugh at the E-Mail (or, more to my liking, a good cry over it) and then just move on with the rest of his pathetic life. Little did I know, he is a persistant bastard, and decided to send me ANOTHER E-Mail.

Dear Tony ,
Thanks for your mail, how are you today and your family? well I have read
your mail and have agreed to your tearms but before I send the details to
you I would like you to send to me your full contacts we have to talk on
phone so that we can be aquinted with each othter.
Could you as well call me on this number, +228-9093917,I am waiting.
Regards,
KOffi Omar.

Now, obviously he wants me to make a phone call so he can get my information...so, I decide that because he is very stupid, and does not take a hint, that I need to find a way to do something ridiculous enough so that he won't respond back to me. So I did this:

Er, Koffi,

I'd rather you get ahold of me, if possible. I (or someone
representing my thoughts towards you) can be contacted at the number:
303-607-7527. This is a Denver number, as that is where I live. If
you have any trouble with this number, please let me know. Have a
good day,

Tony

Keep in mind, the number I gave him is the Rejection Hotline number in denver :D. Believe it or not, the idiot E-Mailed me back AGAIN:

Dear Tony ,
Thanks for your mail, I want to assure you you have nothing to fear and
should try to give me a call for I have tried several times but could not
get through, how ever what you have to do now is to fill this text of
application and send it to the bank as the next of kin /beneficary, I am
waiting.
Regards,
Koffi Omar.
and he attached this: THE TEXT OF APPLICATION.
.......................................

To The Desk Of The Secretary to the Board
BTCI. Republic Of Togo.

Email: info-btci-tg@safe-mail.net

Telefax:+228-9128277

To whom it may concern:

Please,application for the transfer of US$USD6.700 ,000.00(SIX Million
SEVEN Hundred Thousand United States Dollars Only)from the account number
:LISFB/LTG/165652000,this account was established in your bank in Feb. 4th
1999 belongs to my late cousin who died on the JULY 12th, 2001 in a plane
crash and the name of my late cousin in question is,Mr.Dockson Friz,
Please,I am his cousin and named next of kin.I wish as his heir apparent to
claim and instruct that the above mentioned amount in the above mentioned
account to be transferred into my nominated account as shown below.I shall
bear the responsiblity of transferring the fund into my bank account.

My Name is :

My Address is:

My Occupation is :

My Telephone No. is:

Mobile No :

My Fax No:

Age:

My Private E-mail :

MY BANK NAME AND THE BANK ADDRESS :

MY ACCOUNT N0:

MY BANK ROUTING CODE:

IN FAVOUR OF:

BENEFICIARY:

In conclussion,please accept this my late application as it was due to
family logistic problems consequent upon funeral arrangements and rights to
my late cousin in question.I hope your bank will expedite action and
transfer my inheritance fund into my nominated bank account as I have stated
it here in details.

Thanks,

Yours faithfully,

Notice, also, that by this E-Mail, the name, amount of money, and most of the process had changed. Koffi needs to start taking organized notes or something, so as not to confuse his business partners with things like that. Anyways, I decided to respond to him again:

Koffi,

I am sure that you are trust worthy, and of course I do not fear doing
business with you! But, what I DO fear, is sending an application of
such importance over the Internet in an unencrypted manner. No, I
would much rather meet in person to complete this transaction.
Therefore, I request that you purchase for me a ticket from Denver to
New York City, and four nights accommodation at the Waldorf Astoria
hotel (information found at:
http://www.hilton.com/en/hi/hotels/index.jhtml?ctyhocn=NYCWAHH). I
could easily refund you the money required to do this once you
transfer the 6.7 million dollars to my bank account, in which case I
will have more than enough money to pay you back with interest, even.
After I am situated, we can meet at NYC in the hotel and work out all
of the necessary paper work, without worry that other suspicious
people might be eavesdropping on our conversation, stealing my
information, and possibly even messing up our big chance to make 10
million dollars!!!

I am very excited to make all of this money....it's such an honor that
you decided to choose ME for this amazing reward! We must be careful
though. The American government will be suspicious of our
actions....they are always out for money and keeping the honest
working man, like me and especially you, down. As a warning, it goes
without saying that when we meet, I will be required to frisk you for
wires. Everywhere. Also, I require that, while in the vicinity of
the hotel, we both wear at least 3 inches of tinfoil atop our heads,
as this is the MINIMUM amount required to deflect the satellite
frequencies the government is constantly broadcasting in order to read
the neural discharges in our brain, thereby viewing our thoughts. We
don't want them finding out about our good luck, else surely they will
set out to steal it!

Again I thank you for this great opportunity! I will begin packing my
things, as I would like to meet as soon as possible to get my money!
Please let me know ASAP more information about our meeting
arrangements, how I can pick up my plane tickets, and where/when
exactly we are to meet. Talk to you soon, Koffi,

The late Mr. Tony.

Hehe, I think he got the message with this last one.

Did I waste too much time on this? Yes. Was it at all necessary? No. But, did I get to insult/make fun of some African dude (who I think probably is from Africa) who was trying to scam me? Hell yes!

It's been a while...

2005-06-27T04:47:11Z

Well, it's getting kind of late, and I was going to type up something here but I don't have the time or the stamina to finish it. Instead I'll just make an even more useless entry (useless to you, at least. To me, however, it will serve as a memory revitalizer in some point in the future when I come back to read it).

Before I begin, I know that I've lost a large portion of my original LJ audience (all 4 or 5 of them :-P), and it very well could be down to numbers like 1, 2, or 3 people right now...save those people who are somehow on my friends list, but usually skip over my posts, but are somehow captured or sucked in by certain LJ posts at a glance, and decide to read it (usually because it's short enough not to waste their time, and there's something that catches their eye). In order to attract these people and attempt to rebuild slightly my LJ audience, I offer this:

SEX

Continuing - this weekend was pretty awesome. One of the reasons being, I went to medieval times! That place rocks, man, and our knight WON. Well, until the end when he was wrongfully murdered, but he beat all the other knights in the tournament, and was the real winner :). He was a God (the red knight). We had some high school kids that were almost as immature as me on the other side of the red crowd cheering their asses off too, so the red crowd were by far the best cheerers. And we were missing like, two tables of people, too. Whatever, though, we made up for it. Had like 10 chants of "red knight! red knight!" or "go red knight go!", and even a couple of waves in there - anyways it was hilarious :). Competition is so great, even when you don't win, because you get to pretend like you really care about shit that in actuality doesn't matter. Hah, such a great idea!

I got into my car last friday coming home from work, and according to my (fairly accurate) digital thermometer, it was 103 degrees in there - hehe, man summer is crazy!

I've got two more things in particular in mind that I want to say, and I think I'm going to either tomorrow, or the next day, or both. Anyways, that's just a warning, so until then, anyone who catches this post and says "God, why haven't I removed this idiot from my friends list yet? I hate him!" should at least grant me 2 more posts - as those posts might be directed towards you.

Yes!

2005-06-07T13:27:35Z

Oh Jesus, I love summer

thescatman @ 2005-05-27T18:21:00

2005-05-27T23:21:07Z

So, I was looking to see what movies are playing today, and something on the main screen of fandango caught my interest.

Notice that the terrible looking movie, Monster-in-Law, was a close runner up grossing only 94 million less than star-wars. Hah, Lucas, you rich bastard!

It was a pretty damn good movie, I think.

thescatman @ 2005-05-14T20:20:00

2005-05-15T01:20:02Z

Leaving school is really depressing this year, which is kind of awesome. I never liked high school all that much, and leaving Loyola Academy wasn't that big of a deal, but at the end of this first year I find myself not wanting to leave IIT for the summer. That's good, right? It means I like the school and the people in it...but there's a problem with that. All my friends are leaving the school not only for the summer, but for good. Out of my main group of, I'd say 7 guys (Mike, Josh, Eric, Matt, Alex, Chris, and Jake) that I always hung out with FIVE, that's right, FIVE are leaving the school for good. Well, I should rephrase, 4 are leaving for good, but Josh is getting an apartment in the city and I get the feeling I'm not going to see him that much, which sucks. Amara who lived right down the hall from me and her friends, who I am also close with, are all getting an apartment together too. But, seriously, what the fuck is with this? Matt Fritz left to attend a school at Ohio (which is really a terrible occurrence, he is a great guy), Eric left to join the Navy, Mike (my roommate) left to go work towards being an actor (talk about a 360), Josh is getting an apartment, and Jake left to a different school as well. I'm still going to be sweet mates with Chris and Alex, but my roommate for this semester (Matt) is pretty much up for grabs with a random person now, because he's gone. Luckily, though, Jen will still be only a few buildings away.

It really is sad, but there's something about it. It's nice to have people like this to care about, I guess. I feel sad when I think about not being able to talk in person with them, go to eat 2 times every day with them, play games with them, study with them, but for some reason my body (mind?) almost autonomically keeps recalling and focusing these feelings as if it is sucking them dry, extracting all the emotion it can get from them, or something. Which is weird because in general they seem like unpleasant emotions, yet I have this weird urge to keep feeling them. I've noticed that sometimes it seems like there's this automatic onset of euphoria when feeling depressed or sad about something, which might be the body’s natural defense against suicide or severe lack of motivation. Problem with that is, I think it's fairly common to strive for this protective euphoric feeling as opposed to actual happiness, I think that's why people often want to feel bad for themselves, or at least seem like they do. I really don't know much of what I'm talking about, though.

On another note, Batman begins is coming out June 15'th and sweet JESUS it looks amazing.

Speaking of superheroes and happiness (I know I always go off an a rant concerning happiness, and I'm sorry...but just read :-P) I was thinking...why do we all like watching superheroes? Often it's because we want to be superheroes. Why do we want to be superheroes, then? Well, because they have power over other people, or maybe because they are very moral and selfless and that kind of stuff naturally makes us feel good. And why do we want power and to feel good? Because it makes us happy. Now, why not just skip the middle man? I think that....if someone could convince themselves to be constantly happy, they could be the "best" superhero known to man. If you could just always be happy, you're achieving what a normal person needs superpowers to do, which would in turn, make you super. Granted, often even superheroes aren't happy, but what they do is in an effort to be happy, or at least neutralize pain. So really, you'd be a step up even from them. Problem is, real happiness usually requires risks, and if you take one of these risks, but fail, then you become very unhappy. So, what one would need to do, is learn to take risks (for instance, make themselves vulnerable to another), but then if they fail, simply brush it off or look into the future optimistically. Sounds possible to me, although it would take severe mental control, and much training. Anyways, can anyone think of a name? And don't say ignorance man or master of repression or anything :-P, if you re-read, you'll see that although the tactic may encompass things like that, it is not completely what I'm talking about.

Alright, I'm going to try and fly my kite. Hope it's still freaking tornado weather like it was an hour ago, heh. Talk to you later.

Anyone heard of Media Center?

2005-04-14T07:48:52Z

Windows has a new operating system that I didn't hear about until just a month ago or so, so I got ahold of it to test it out. It's called Windows Media Center (2005), and I have to say, it's pretty cool. There is this awesome feature where you can enable a "windows dancer", who dances to the songs that you play. It's a little person who pops up on your screen and re-adjusts to the tempo and everything, and I'm not quite sure how, but if you pick the right kind of dancer they always seem to be dancing just for your current song. It's a really nice little feature, and I've downloaded all the dancers (there are 24). Some are video game characters, some professional dancers, a cheerleader...there's even some fat programmer guy named Ben who raises the room and basically just fucks around (my favorite - he's hilarious).

The actual media center is made to be used with a controller (hooked up through infrared) and is having trouble detecting some of my hardware (usually this operating system is only shipped with machines specifically tailored to work with it), but the interface is still really impressive. Also, you can enter windows into party mode, which allows people to play any songs on your playlist. Pause, stop, skip - whatever, all with a bunch of really awesome skins to choose from....and then when they try and exit the skin, it exits to the windows login screen which is password protected. It's made so if you have a little party going or something, you can set your computer up to nice speakers, put it in party mode, and let anybody walk up and play whatever song without worrying about them getting into the actual operating system. Other than those features, I think it's basically identical to Windows XP SP2. Anyways, I'm sure most of you don't care about that, but I thought I'd just mention it in case you would find it interesting...and because it's on my mind right now.

Has anyone else ever played assassin? Eric introduced us to the game 3 or 4 days ago and we've been playing every night since. It's such a stupid principle...but it's really fun and somehow addictive. It's where everyone gets dealt a card, one of which is the ace of spades. The person who gets the ace is the "killer", and then winks at people to kill them. Everyone else has to try and guess (or see) who the killer is and call them out before they die, essentially.

Anyways, I doubt anyone likes to read stuff like what I wrote above. It's so personal, it's really just simply a chunk of thoughts off the top of my head. You would all probably like to hear something that could possibly involve, or even allude to you personally. It's not a selfish thing, just natural...I feel the same way...maybe because that way we can relate to what we read better, as opposed to me just talking about stuff off the top of my head that you would only enjoy reading if you also had a specific interest in what I was talking about. For instance, I bet this paragraph is easier, or more fun to read than the others, because it technically is addressing you personally. Although, I admit that there's something about reading the personal life of your friends. Even if it has nothing to do with me, when I read the journal of a close friend, I can more easily put myself in my shoes (because I know them good), and almost experience what they write about through their eyes. Then I can give advice, or at least address the subject in an understanding manner, which makes it personal to me as well because I can relate somehow, even if it's only relating through the eyes of someone else (my friend).

I pose a question to anyone who wouldn't mind answering. I don't know exactly how, but I think this question is closely related to the above paragraph. After you speak to someone, do you immediately try and assume what they will think about what you just said? Maybe not for terribly insignificant speech, but at least for the more important stuff? I mean, do you put yourself behind their eyes, and then look at yourself and think "this is how I look to them"? It's not that I personally do this, I am just wondering out of curiosity if other people do stuff like this.

I'll make a more serious post later, as there are some things I should probably say. Nothing earthshakingly important, but it will most likely relate to you personally when you read it. For now, I'm tired, and going to sleep. Night!

The cell phone was kind of out of place, but...

2005-04-02T07:55:45Z

...Sin City was an extremely awesome movie, I thought. One of, if not the best I've seen in a long while. You should check it out if you haven't already. If you saw it, what did you think about it? And who did you think the coolest character was? :).

thescatman @ 2005-03-30T20:03:00

2005-03-31T02:03:25Z

Go outside! The weather is fucking awesome!

We were out for less than a minute and completely soaked - then all of a sudden huge hail started falling down.

Go outside, you're missing out.

Hail to the king, baby...

2005-03-30T17:39:52Z

Yesterday me and my friends watched "Army of Darkness" - I fucking love that movie! Anyways, it was so amazing I downloaded some stuff and managed to rip a screen shot for my desktop, which I offer to anyone else who thinks they are cool enough to use it as their background:

I've also got a wide screen version here:ftp://scat.hopto.org/armyofdarknesschainsawwidescreen.bmp

Yup, that's right, it's Ash just about to connect his stub to his chainsaw so he can kill the evil demon of the pit. Hah, if you haven't seen that movie, go watch it now because it's hilarious and great. So many awesome quotes - which I will inevitably be constantly saying over the next few months.

We have been playing dodge ball with racquetballs lately in our dorm (only a couple of times). Our most recent game was...last Monday I believe. It's a great game - get hit 5 times and you're out, we've had 2 on 2 games and a couple of 3 on 2's (with some kind of handicap to even it out). No serious injuries yet, although I smashed my nose and got a little bruise and Mike hit his arm on some metal and claims it is extremely painful. Anyways, on our game Monday, a cop came up to our floor and said "Hey, what are you guys doing? We've gotten some complaints of noise" (by the way, at this point we are all standing there holding like 5 racket balls a piece, sweating, hiding behind the couches we propped up as barriers, and wondering if the cop being there means the game should be paused until he leaves or not). So I answer "playing dodge ball"...so he kind of takes a look around and nods and then says "alright.....alright...just keep it down" like he's seen this shit a million times before. I bet he played too when he was younger. So we keep playing, and about a half hour later (1 am or so) we see 3 public safety cars pull up - and then about 5 minutes after that 3 cops come barging in screaming at us. Hah, it was hilarious - all we could do was make fun of them. We were waiting for the choppers to land and start tranquilizing us or something. They even had one guy (a fourth, I guess) standing outside with a flashlight, surveying, ready to call backup just in case we pulled any slick moves and took out the 3 armed police men with our dodge balls? Anyways, they got their big bust of the night and told us we couldn't play anymore :(.

Also we've been playing frisbee, which it has been too long since I've played. I really do want to go to Meigs field again so we can have a big field, and play around on the rocks and stuff - that was so much fun. Maybe this weekend - weather looks OK. Anyone interested?

Hmm anything else going on in my life? Well, yes....of course. The above three paragraphs describing a couple of games and a movie does not sum up the entirety of the last week of my life, nor does it even come close...BUT, according to things you would actually be interested in, the post should probably just end here.

Ohhh, before I forget - I got a new monitor. Oh God, it's so amazing - I can see shit so much easier. I can feel my eyesight returning to normal after straining so much to see through the cloudy, fucked up screen of my CRT monitor. This one is all LCD, too, reeeeaaaalll nice. Small enough so I can push it back and have room to do my homework on my desk, which I never could do easily before. I do notice that the contrast and brightness with LCD monitors is harder to tweak than CRT....same interface but - it's just harder to get a crisp color/brightness scheme. But the pros definitely outweigh the cons - and even if my old CRT monitor worked, I would like the LCD better.

That's all for now. Peace :).

Got a good picture, today

2005-03-26T08:23:03Z

I have some stuff I kind of want to write about, but I'm too tired. For now, I'd like to offer you this AMAZING picture of Mike (my roommate) that me and Josh got. Josh randomly asked me for a piece of paper and a sharpy, and neither me or mike thought anything of it at the time...until he held up this paper next to Mikes head. His attention was apparently drawn to me when I pulled out the camera, which is why he sports an utterly amazing blank look...this is golden.

This is for hanging up those dollars on our wall, you heartless bastard! (I lost two one dollar bets to mike and he taped them up on the freaking wall).

Being so close to the ocean must make people want to juggle.

2005-03-23T09:21:30Z

So, I'm back from Boston. I didn't get back just today or anything, but I've been kind of busy with some school work (Monday and Tuesdays are when my homework for the week is due, and I obviously didn't do any of spring break, so I kind of got flooded).

Anyways, I had a great time hanging out with my Sister and her friends in Boston. I've also fiercely reinforced my theory that people older than me (up to about 30) all want to get me drunk. I'm sure this is true in most cases, and not just mine. I guess it's them remembering how, when they were young, adults didn't give them alcohol. So then, in some kind of revenge against the system, or maybe just in their own effort to be unique (if those two options aren't one in the same, anyways) they not only offer but partially force alcohol on kids in the . I also think it gives them feelings of being older and more powerful to give me something that I would have a hard time getting myself. Anyways, everyone but my sister was all stoked (haven't used that word in a while) with the idea of getting me completely wasted, and I'm happy to say that I was able to pretty easily refuse. I drank, but I didn't get wasted, continuing my long time theory that this is the best way to do the whole social drinking thing. Actually....somehow or another I've got some resistance against alcohol, so I'm able to drink a decent amount without feeling any loss of control. Must be that Y chromosome hard at work :) (my dad is a pretty resilient drinker). Anybody else know what the "older people wanting you to drink" theory is like?

In addition to a few of my sisters friends parties, we went to see hitch (which I thought was a very good movie), some improv comedy (which was pretty damn good as well), and million dollar baby (which I didn't like that much). I don't like sad endings much unless it has a truly amazing story to back it up. The good thing about happy endings is, the movie can be not amazing (which doesn't mean bad) and still be really good, or satisfying if you will...but with a sad ending you're really taking a risk because you need an awesome plot to back up the sad feeling.

Well, probably the highlight of the Boston trip was visiting a nice juggling shop. You see, there aren't many juggling shops in Chicago....actually....I haven't found a shop that sold anything more than shitty juggling balls in Chicago yet. But within 10 minutes of searching the internet, I found 4 or 5 in the Boston area. At first we went to a store I checked out last time I was in Boston (called Illusions, it's where I got my first set of juggling clubs) but they closed down completely since I was last there. At first I was pretty upset, thinking this might be the only shop that sold the juggling equipment I wanted around, but apparently the large concentration of jugglers/street performers in Boston warrants an equally large concentration of juggling/magic shops. Supply and demand, I guess. Found one called Hank Lees Magic Shop. I went there, and they had the works. 3 different kinds of pins (as in 3 different kinds of sets of three pins), juggling torches, juggling knives, juggling rings, cigar boxes (cool little stacking things you do tricks with) and a bunch of stuff like that. I got three nice European pins...ohhh baby they're nice. You see, American pins (the pins I already had) are made to hit your hand hard, so they're easier to catch, and they're much heavier and bulkier than the more advanced European pins. These new pins are way lighter, and much more maneuverable. Tricks are easier, once I got the hang of the (relatively small) difference in flipping and catching.

Picture of the new boys:

Like the new color?

...by the by, this is the smallest picture my camera can take. Geez, I decide to pick the smallest setting for the sake of saving space, and the size is still monstrous.

Also, I bought something else - but I refuse to say anything about it until I get some pictures to post with it :).

I've got more Boston pictures of my Sister and her friends, some stuff in Boston, me juggling the new pins...if anybody is interested in them let me know and I'll make another post with them.

Man, even when I try and make these posts short and only talk about one subject, they end up long. Gotta do something about that.

Maybe if I separate everything into very small paragraphs it will give the optical illusion of being short enough for people to want to read.

Is it working?

Google google google...

2005-03-15T06:38:54Z

Google always impresses the shit out of me. If you've never been to labs.google.com, and/or if you've never clicked on more in the main google search bar (http://www.google.com/options/index.html), you should get on both of those things right now. The company has a lot to offer in their effort to organize the worlds information (that slogan sounds impressively similar to wikipedias slogan, doesn't it?). They've actually got a blog service that I didn't know about until recently (http://www.blogger.com/start), which works perfectly with their awesome picture organizing program called picasa (http://www.picasa.com/index.php?tid=Y2NpZD0zNzQ4), which works perfectly with there new hello program I didn't know about until today, either (http://www.hello.com/). By the way, I wonder how much they had to pay for the hello.com domain. Heh, it's not like they don't have the money to spend, though.

Hello allows you to connect online to your friends and send/share pictures immediately using picasa to easily find and preview the pictures you want to share. It's kind of like an IM environment with improved image transfer and organization, as far as I can tell. You can also connect to your blogger using hello, as if it were one of your contacts, and immediately upload pictures of impressive size and quality (I have found no limit to the number of pictures you can have google host for you, as of yet...maybe there isn't one) again, using the badass picasa. Hah, fucking awesome!

If anybody is interested in playing around with this program with me, my hello name is "Scatman4" and my blogger name is "The-Scatman" (http://thescatman.blogspot.com/). Can anyone tell me if this blogger server is created/hosted by a different company and just improved upon and/or funded by google? I find it kind of odd how it's advertised almost completely separate from google, and how it's webpage is blogger.com as opposed to google.blogger.com or something. The same thing goes for picasa - it's like it's its own program (wow, three its) just advertised by google - but I think I've read specifically that google created this programs. Can anyone clear that up for me?

P.S. Hah Live journal, I'm posting an advertisement to another online journal server right in front of your nose! How do you like me now?!?!

P.P.S. If the live journal people read this.....please don't delete my journal! :D.

*edit: I found this reading on www.hello.com "Through our partnership with Google, we are offering all Blogspot members free image hosting." It's a partnership, then?

Forgot about a good story...

2005-03-08T16:43:49Z

Forgot to mention an interesting story that happened to us while we were at miggs field.

Mike (Jackies boyfriend, not my room-mate), Jackie, Fritz and I all went over to this big gated off area (there was a building inside the gate that we wanted to get to the top of for a good view) but the gate was locked and had one of those electronic pass code things on the door handle. Mike was messing around with it and he said "hmm, well, the Chicago area code is 312..." so he put in 312...and the fucker opened! We were so amazed that we closed it and retried like 5 times, each time thinking it was a fluke, but sure enough, every time it worked. Fucking amazing. Anyways, so we went in there and found all this machinery and authorized personal signs and stuff - crazy.

It's kind of interesting how easy it was to break in there. What if we wanted to cause harm in some way? We obviously didn't but, for the sake of the argument, there were a LOT of buttons and switches around there, I'm sure something bad could have happened. Heh, well anyways, we didn't make it all the way to the top. The only way up was by this shady looking repair ladder, and then maybe we could have somehow climbed in there, but it was broad daylight and we were already probably trespassing - wasn't worth it. It was pretty cool, though. So, moral of the story: If you ever approach a locked gate that you want to get by, remember to try your current area code before giving up.

thescatman @ 2005-03-08T10:27:00

2005-03-08T16:27:44Z

So, me and my friends went to Meigs field and found some awesome stuff out there. Apparently, when they destroyed the airport there, they just threw the huge amounts of concrete that was left over off to the side near the river

It served as a bad ass rock climbing place. Concrete isn't as smooth as real rock, so we got a few cuts, but it was still lots of fun :). At least....until....until we strayed too far...too far into....there. That's right, we strayed too far into the rumored, infamous, man eating rock creature

Since I wouldn't allow it to completely consume me by holding tightly onto the sides, it had to settle to rip my body in half, and was in the process of spitting it back out here:

But, I'm fine now. Oh the miracles of modern medicine! Well, I've got a bunch more pictures, but I think some of you find my server pretty slow....so I'll keep it down to three for now. I might start photoshopping them and dropping quality to make load times faster...is that necessary?

Also, I'm going to make a point to post smaller amounts of text...because I'm sure that half of you who see a post with more than 2 or 3 big paragraphs just skip over it (in all fairness, I can't say that I'm innocent of this crime either, though).

If anyone wants to go back to this rock place with us, let me know. We are already planning on going back sometime (we might not be able to do it before spring break starts, though), it was a lotta fun.

Upgraded to the new version of Semagic - much better.

2005-02-19T09:53:53Z

Something really cool happened to me a few days ago.

Every once in a while, something will happen or I'll come to some relatively insignificant revelation and I'll say something like "I should write something about that on live journal", but more often than not I either forget or cannot find the motivation to type up a post. Last week, something happened that was awesome enough to motivate me to post, though :).

Let me start from the beginning. Me and my friends have gotten back into playing some Starcraft (an awesome strategy game) on the LAN up here (brings back memories). Well, my CD is a bit old and run down, but I managed to find it and get Starcraft to work, anyways. Our friend Joe wanted to play, but didn't have the CD and we didn't want to wait to copy the disk or depend on some random cracks. So, I know the drill, run down and give him the CD to install and start up the game, then take it out of his drive and back upstairs to my room and use it to boot the game for myself. This way, we can both play in essance on only one CD. I give it to him, go back up for about 15 minutes, come back down for the CD and I'm greeted with "It's not working..." etc. etc. Not only that, but he tells me about the huge (and exceptionally deep) scratch on my CD that mysteriously appeared...great. Now, I'm not judging anyone. Maybe it was there before and I just didn't notice, even though it installed that very morning on my machine just fine. Either way, it doesn't really matter, so I just take it and don't worry about it. It's not too tough to find a good copy of starcraft around the internet, anyways.

I bring the CD back up with this huge scratch in it, assuming it's not going to run at all...but miraculously, autorun starts up and then the game even launches up without any problems. Anyways, I join the LAN game (Joey is standing behind me, as he never got the game to work but wanted to watch) and all of a sudden I hear this huge snap. At first I'm worried it came from my computer, because starcraft happened to freeze right afterward, but then Joey says "I think it was one of my guitar strings, I'll be right back". There I am thinking "Yes! Wasn't my computer!". Anyways, my whole computer seems frozen, and I have to restart. When the computer restarts, it still can't detect the CD in the drive....weird. So, I open the CD drive (without looking at it right away) to see what's up, and all of a sudden I hear *ding ding ding*, like little pieces of metal crumbling to the floor...

Turns out, the snap we heard *did* come from my computer. My CD drive specifically. The crack in the CD wasn't able to handle the stress from spinning at high RPM's, and finally exploded while still in my drive. There were literally hundreds of little pieces of CD, it was a huge explosion.....I kid you not. The first thing I did, of course, was grab my camera and start taking pictures of it :).

So, I thought this was freaking awesome, I couldn't even be mad that almost for sure my drive was destroyed as this experience was far too cool. Anyways, so I unplug the drive and take it out...and I hear some suspicious dinging sounds inside, so I turn it upside down, and what do you know...

All of these little pieces of CD started coming out. The picture doesn't do how much fell out of that drive justice, as I shook most of it out into a garbage can....hehe, ridiculous.

So, I decide to take the drive apart and see what happened to its innards. And what do you know, the explosion launched sharp pieces of CD literally everywhere in the drive. All over the circuit board, the metal shielding, in between the gears, literally everywhere I was finding little green pieces of that starcraft CD. This is a picture, completely untampered with, of the drive right after I got the lid off it:

I spent about an hour picking little pieces of CD bits out of the drive, against the wishes of my friends whom thought it was a lost cause as the drive was destroyed. I can't say I didn't think the same, but I didn't want to have to buy a new drive....so why not, right?

Well, after I got all the little pieces out, we all went into my room and plugged her back in. We kept our distance. I was sure to use a crappy CD that I didn't want and....god dammit.....the fucker worked! It read, copied, everything was fine, even at high speeds. I just burned a CD with it yesterday and even that worked! So, I'm pretty happy about that. Not only was it an awesome random occurence, but it didn't even cost me a CD drive like I thought it would have.

There are more pictures on the server (eight pictures in total), just go to ftp://scat.hopto.org if you want to see them.

The end :).

Journal of the snow man.

2005-01-18T02:56:33Z

January 9'th, 2005. 9:05 PM

I was a bit bored, today, so I signed onto AIM. Saw John there, talked for a little. Asked him about the snow, and how packing it was, and....HE SAID IT WAS GREAT PACKING SNOW! Could this be?! Could this be the day I realize my dream?! More later, I need to go test out his claims with my own hands.

January 9'th, 2005. 9:09 PM

The snow is amazing! Some of the best packing snow I've ever dealt with! This is going to be a great day, I can feel it. I will begin immediately! The snowman will live, no matter the costs.

January 9'th, 2005. 10:15 PM

I have begun work on the humongous bottom piece to the snowman. It is getting big very quickly, and it is getting very difficult to push. So much so, that I needed to come in to take a rest and get something to drink. I have to use all my weight just to move the snowball, and it's not getting any smaller. Well, I must go and finish my work now. The snowman will live!

January 9'th, 2005. 10:45 PM

It is simply too big....using all of my weight and strength I can barely move it. I need someone else.....someone big. No, someone huge. Someone...someone almost as big as me! Yes, I know, not too many people are.....but I need to find someone. This snowman must be finished. I know just the man....I'll call him right now.

January 9'th, 2005. 11:25 PM

Sean came to help, and his help was advantageous, indeed. We just began a bit ago, and with both of our exorbitant weights, we're able to push the snowman further and further through the snow, it's size constantly growing at an almost alarming rate. The ball is large enough now to easily kill a man, if dropped on him...but we can't stop. We've come too far, we must brave the dangers and continue on! We're going back out now. Wish us luck.

January 10'th, 2005. 12:32 AM

It's happened...the impossible...the snowball became too big.......even for both of us. We have used a plethora of tools in order to aid us using our knowledge of physics, but is just isn't enough, and we just don't have to tools. Damn you, Government funding! Why couldn't you just give us that extra million? I TOLD YOU WE WOULD NEED IT! But.....this is no time to be angry. We are still well on our way to finishing our quest. We are well on our way to making.....the greatest snowman ever, and no-one can stop us now! We've began planning to make the second half, we will now finish it up and get it on top of the bottom half. This may prove to be one of the more difficult endeavors to overcome in our odyssey.

January 10'th, 2005. 1:21 AM

We finished the second half in an unexpectedly expedient manner, it grew much faster than we originally anticipated. We are now forced with the task of lifting the middle piece onto the huge bottom piece. We have tried to do this with mere physical strength, and it is nearly impossible. We have even tried to build a ramp to roll the ball up, but it is simply too heavy, and too hard to control. We have invested some of the extremely limited Government money given to us to complete the project in a digital camera, to more efficiently document our progress. Here is a picture of me and Sean, battling furiously with the snowman in an effort to complete it. Maybe you can better understand the inexplicable abuse we've had to endure to complete this project, a project that many thought was impossible until we were handed the task.

January 10'th, 2005. 1:30 AM

We have decided this cannot be done without the help of yet another person. We need to find at least one other brave soul to assist us in the creation of this monstrous snowman. We will retrieve this person from the depths of hell if we need to, as he is necessary in completing our task, and we have sworn that nothing will stand in our way. This person needs to be not only huge, like me and Sean, but.....gargantuan...colossal....behemoth in size. We need someone....dare I say it.....who's more than 5 feet 8 inches tall. I've called upon an old friend, Nate, who fills this description and is willing to help us for the meager salary we are offering (zero dollars an hour, amounting to 0 thousand dollars a year). We will set forth to retrieve his assistance immediately.

January 10'th, 2005. 1:45 AM

We have returned with more help than we expected. Nate's girlfriend, Ashley, has agreed to join our cause. This will be a great day indeed. We are close, I can feel it, and with this extra help, I see no way we can't accomplish our goal. I think......I think I will realize my dream this very morning! This is not to say, though, that it will be an easy task. The middle piece of the snowman has reached the point where it is heavy enough to be lethal, as well. Lifting this piece up to it's rightful place will not only be physically straining, but extremely dangerous as well. If I am to fall this morning....and this journal is found....please deliver my love to all my friends and family. But enough of that, we must focus on the point at hand, and be optimistic. Today will be a great day!

January 10'th, 2005. 2:45 AM

After trying several different methods, I am ecstatic to say, we succeeded in creating a better ramp, and rolling the ball of snow up it and onto the bottom of the snow man!!! Better yet, not one person was injured or killed in our attempts. After the middle piece was secured, it was easy for me to lift up the head and slap it on top. We are cementing the snowman in place, using packing snow in key joint areas to keep it from falling. We have made plans to carve and add a face, arms, and even a hat to the snowman, as well. For right now - here are the bare bones of the great creation. There has been no better snowman....ever.

January 10'th, 2005. 3:15 AM

The snowman has been greatly improved after some relatively easy carving. Also, we created a face out of a carrot for a nose, two eggs for the eyes (with black circles drawn for the pupils), and a stick for the smile. We also added two rakes as arms, and even a hat made out of an old bucket and a surprisingly large Spiderman frisbee. We have another picture documenting the snowman’s greatness.

This is what da Vinci felt like after painting the last supper. This is what Michael Angelo felt like after finally completing his work at the Sistine chapel. We will go down in history for this...

January 12'th, 2005. 6:15 PM

Whatever God may exist...has chosen to toy brutally with my mind! There has been a break in the cold which, before today, was virtually unflinching! The relentless Sun beats down, showing the snowman no mercy. Upon returning from work today, I saw his face scattered upon the ground, and his size, although still unspeakably humongous, has been substantially lowered due to melting. I took a picture as documentation.

and....his poor face....

after extensive repairs, I have the snowman looking relatively normal again.....but I worry as to how long he will last. I shouldn't think this way though....he will be fine. FINE!!!!!

January 13'th, 2005. 6:24 PM

Oh God, the unspeakable has happened.....I...I cannot believe it. I can't talk about it right now. It is simply too emotionally painful. I'll post later when I can clear my tears, and compose myself enough.

January 13'th, 2005. 6:25 PM

The snowman.....is dead. When I came home, I saw he was even more wilted than before, and his face had fallen off again. I went inside to put my things away and get the camera.....and when I came out....I.....I.......I dare not say it. Just look.

Why oh why does the untamable Sun destroy my wildest dreams with only a few days of unexpected heat. Must that fiery ball play such painful games with me? Do you think you can get away with something like this, Sun? Why don't stop your cowardly hiding millions of miles up in the sky and come face me! Oh God! *sobs*.

January 13'th, 2005. 6:29 PM

Excuse me for loosing my composure. One day.....one day Sun....I will seek my revenge. Always know that. Always. My teams life’s work has been destroyed, but we now hold a new goal....even higher, in its place. A goal motivated by revenge, and deep, passionate hatred. Destruction...*dreadful music clip plays here, the one that goes: 'Dum Dum Dummmmmm'*...of the Sun itself. And nothing.....nothing will stand in our way!

Written by Tony Scatchell. 1/14/2005

This post was created a few days ago, but then I deleted it because the pictures weren't showing up, until I could fix it. Sorry if any comments were deleted too, just repost them. The pictures should work, now.

thescatman @ 2005-01-09T20:13:00

2005-01-10T02:13:28Z

So, I'm going to this: http://www.madjugglers.com/madfest/ this coming weekend with some juggling kids I met at my school. It's sure to be very interesting and get me lots of new juggling paraphernalia (by the way, the spelling of that word is ridiculous). Hopefully I'll buy some nice new weighted pins, and maybe some cool, dangerous juggling stuff if I have the cash and insanity level.

In other news, my sister is gone, which I'm very sad about. But on a more optimistic note, yesterday (essentially her last day here, as she left around noon today), my parents realized they had to go to a family party and couldn't go to see a musical they had tickets to. Instead of just wasting the tickets, they dished them off on me and Lexy. We were pretty positive it was going to suck, it's call "All Shook Up", but I'm happy to report it was awesome. Really funny, many hot actresses, a crazy ass twisty plot, some badass special effects, and the music and dancing was pretty spectacular if you ask me. It's the first musical I've ever been to, so maybe I'm overestimating and they're all kind of like that - but it seemed really good to me, anyways. http://thebestreviews.com/review24608 if you're interested in a review. If you don't know who Lexy is, or if you just want to see a badass picture of her, here you go:

Also, I'm forcing myself to type the right way. Lately I've noticed that my method of typing is really inefficient, so I'm trying to switch and keep my pointer fingers on the bumps and do QWERTY the right way. It's kind of tough to get the hang of, and my typing speed right now is down, but I've read that it will inevitably increase over-all if I learn how to type the right way. I've also considered going to the Dvorak keyboard layout:

Pretty awesome, right? Pro's and Con's are discussed: http://www.mwbrooks.com/dvorak/procon.html if you're interested. Look how all the vowels are right under your left hand. This keyboard design is created to be much faster, more efficient and much more comfortable. Also, as stated on that website, certain words on QWERTY are focused only on one hand, like: agree, fact, grass, greater, opinion, regard......lollipop (not sure how often you type that one, though :-P) etc. Dvorak tries to evenly distribute work to each hand more often. Alas, I chose not to switch. Too many computers use the QWERTY keyboard, and I'm not willing to retrain that much right now. It might increase my speed on my home computer, but other than that I think it would just be annoying.

thescatman @ 2005-01-07T00:51:00

2005-01-07T06:51:35Z

Whoo, so I finally got my http server to work again. Man, it was a bitch this time....I hate the windows firewall, it causes all kinds of problems. Anyways, that means I can post pictures again, so in conjunction with a new camera to play with, that will equal me making more posts on LJ.

These pictures are a tad big, so I shrunk them down to 626X835, and I'll do the
First, got some pictures of my dog completely covered in snow, it was ridiculous. Especially since this shit is thawing out all over the house, and he wants to go out every ten seconds. I was ready to put up no diving signs around the low points of our house by the end of the day.

Ah this one is awesome. So, I was testing out this new camera I have (this was taken merely minutes after I got it, as you might deduce from the Christmas decor in the background) and I ended up doing the pretty cliché take a picture of yourself in the mirror thing. It was kind of random, and I was frantically searching for things to digitally photograph (it's my first camera like this). Anyways, I thought it turned out freakin awesome because it looks like I'm holding some kind of ancient....now bear with me.....super-powerful time piece of....doom. Upon breaking it, it causes the complete and utter destruction of the Time Space continuum...and....other stuff like that. Just don't fuck with me, OK? I mean, my eyes are closed and everything (I'm summoning power, or something), and it was a complete accident.

Karl! Steve! Remember burrito man? Alright, I'm not going to type out the whole story for people who don't know it, because I’m tired, but long story short I ended up making this little Burrito super hero out of a burrito package one day. Well, I was out getting fast food today (at taco bell, ironically enough) and I happened to come across this oddly shaped piece of ice. So I plucked it off, and I kid you not, it was a spitting image of burrito man. Close enough to actually freak me out. I had to take a picture of it. Now, I warn you, it's kind of hard to see as ice is a good 70% transparent, and I accidentally broke off his left leg when I laid him on the floor....but do you see the resemblance, or am I just crazy? Both is also an acceptable answer.

All he needs is a B drawn on his chest with a permanent marker :).

Well, that's enough for now. I'll post more, including a video I took today, later. If I remember.

P.S. If you want to see more of the pictures above, I took more than one of my dog and burrito man, so those and some others are in my server (http://scat.hopto.org:90/pictures).

Kind of random.

2004-12-20T00:59:13Z

I'm starting to, in certain ways, break away from one kind of life and embark on another. I have a long time to make this transition, but I want to be careful I don't make a terrible choice.

This may not seem related, but I think, essentially, we all want to be happy. Because of this, I have a question I'd like to pose to you: What is your personal mission statement for being happy? Is it finding true love, making lots of money, gaining control over others via being some kind of business owner or president...or what? I'd just like to get an idea as to what you all plan on doing in the future that will make you happy. Try and avoid saying "I don't know", although a lot of you might not be sure, give it a shot, or else everyone will just say I don't know - because it's a very hard question to answer straight up.

Really answer this question - it's something I think is important to realize and keep in mind as you live your life, but what do I know. I'm asking because I'd like to know what other people think being happy is, and how they might achieve this happiness to compare it with my own ideas, and see where I lay.

Anyways, I might post later. For some reason, being in my house again gives me this odd urge to get back into live journal a little - probably because I have a pretty good chance of seeing most the people that read this - and because I don't have to worry about a room-mate over my shoulder as I type.

The boner of death.

2004-10-06T02:06:19Z

So, me and my roommate just saw a commercial for....levitron....or something like that. It's a drug to help men develop erections. This wonderful commercial ended with the words: "If you develop an erection that lasts longer than 4 hours, please seek immediate medical care". So, I thought that was noteworthy.

In celebration of this awesome event, and in an effort to not do my math homework, I have decided to put forth this task for you all:
Leave a (hopefully fictional) comment describing what you think would happen if someone bought this medicine, developed an erection for several hours and went to the hospital and explained their predicament to the nurses/doctors.

I mean, would he attempt to hide the erection until they got into the examination room? Would they....just walk in the hospital with some tight shorts on and let it be obvious to everyone else? I mean, if you've been in a hospital before you know the wait until seeing a doctor or nurse can be pretty ridiculous...would they really just sit (or worst, stand) around with a huge hard on?

Also, you've got to wonder, would the nurse ask to see it? Don't deny it, you're wondering now. I mean....would they like....examine it for malfunctions or something...hahaha.... Common, what are they gonna do to fix a boner anyways? Show him pictures of mutilated babies? (Which would, incidentally, be putting to use the word me and Steve created long ago, the infamous Renob (opposite of a boner)).

Also....I kind of wonder....what would happen if a woman took this medicine?

Well, in order to not seem like a huge weirdo, I'll try and write at least double what I have already written so it cannot be said "Tony wrote more than half a Live Journal post about erections".

I talked to Karl today, which is cool, cause I haven’t talked to him in a while. Talked to Steve, too, actually, which was also nice.

Went to a movie with Sean a couple days ago. Ladder 49 isn't really good at all...

Ah fuck it....see you guys later!

Leaving....

2004-08-22T07:44:03Z

So, I'm leaving for college. Amy's coming over right now to say goodbye, and I still have to get all my shit together to go. There she is!

Well, that was nice of her to come over and say goodbye. I'm really very confused as to what's going to happen after I go to college. It's just far away enough for me to be too lazy to come back and visit often, but I know it's close enough to drive back even every day if I wanted to, as well. I really have no idea how things are going to turn out. I don't like being so oblivious to what's going to happen to things that directly affect my personal life....but somewhere inside of me I feel the exact opposite. I guess that, although this may be cliché, deeper inside of me I find that I want change, and that I like the unexpected, almost adventurous feeling I get knowing this is almost surely the last night I will sleep in my house/room aside from visiting, and that my life will be changing....maybe a lot....maybe more than it ever has. But the surface feeling is what's getting to me know - making me wish I knew what was going to happen so I could see already if I'm going to like this or hate it, or something in between. I guess I'm going against my beliefs on the theory of relativity with that last sentence - maybe it will all even out - but that's just what's in my mind at the moment.

It seems the only stationary thing that constantly makes me (and most other people) happy, is material items. Although short lived - this happiness almost always occurs when I get new things that I want, and I almost always want something new. This makes me think......I wonder if money really is the key to happiness. Maybe all those cheesy movies and parental/friend advice sessions were completely wrong and off-base. I don't really know why I'm thinking this - it isn't even really a complete thought. Ever had the feeling where sometimes you just think of things that kind of feel right, but you know there's some loophole or something wrong in them?

I talked to Dan's friend, Nicole today. She instant messaged me randomly. It made me think of how we got together a few times with John and had a lot of fun. It makes me sad that John is obviously no longer my friend. That's really been bothering me, because I know it's my fault.

I feel weird writing in this journal, because I know that few people read it, and after 4 or 5 phone calls/IM's I could have everyone up to date. This is still easier and more efficient....but sometimes I write as if I were talking to dozens of people (like most you other LJ users), and then I re-read it and realize I'm only typing to the 3 or 4 people that will probably read this. Not to sound depressed about my LJ social status - I really don't care that much. Just a thought.

I kind of like this starting thoughts but not really finishing them thing. I like these small paragraphs instead of big complete one's. I hate finishing up thoughts, because I always get to a point where I know I get the idea of the thought, and I just don't want to think it all the way through to put it into words. Hope that doesn't sound like I'm mentally abnormal or really lazy.....although I guess it could be either.

Hmm, I'll do more of this random thought thing, it's good. I'm sure the post won't flow as well and will skip violently from subject to subject...but like I said: not too many people read this. Hmm....actually, I'll make that interesting: If I get more than 4 comments on this post (all from different people), not including me, I will include the words "Tony is gay" in the subject of my next LJ post. Bring it.

Heh, that's all for now. I get the feeling I say that previous phrase at the end of almost every post.....I always have a hard time ending these posts. Would you guys find it weird if I just kind of dropped off after my last paragraph? For instance, this would make a good example.