Don't have much time...

Very quickly, I just have to tell this story.

I was listening to the radio, and hit the button for the Christian station to see what was there. A preacher was just starting his sermon. Here's how he started it:

"There were three newlywed men. They all decided that they were going to rule their new households. The first guy told his new wife, a pretty girl from Georgia, that she would be expected to have the dishes cleaned and put away by the time he got home from work. The first and second days, he did not see much improvement because she was still getting the hang of things, but by the third day, she had it down and the dishes were finished just like he'd asked.

The second guy had a wife from Oklahoma. He told her he wanted the dishes cleaned and put away, but also that he wanted dinner to be on the table by the time he got home from work. Like the first guy, he didn't see anything the first and second days, but by the third day, his wife had the dishes cleaned and dinner ready on the table.

The third guy took everything a step further. He married a Jersey girl, and told her he wanted the dishes cleaned and put away, every meal he ate at home would be hot and on the table when he walked in, and any time the lawn needed mowing, it would be done by the time he got home from work. Things went just like you might expect: the first day, he didn't see anything, the second day, he didn't see anything, but by the third day, the swelling had gone down a little and he was finally able to find the dirty dishes himself.

The preacher went on and somehow tied it into his sermon but I have no idea what the connection was because Stave and I were laughing so hard.

Ok that's all. I have to run, we move out officially tomorrow. Bye.

I should be sleeping...

I've been packing all day and can't breathe because of my allergies to the dust in my bedroom, so I am at Steve's for the night. I should not be up late, because I have another day of packing and cleaning, plus jujitsu tomorrow. However, I am. I can't help but think long into the night.

The other day I overheard something I have not heard in a long time. It was something Janis Joplin once sang, "Freedom's just another word for 'nothing left to lose.'" For some reason, the phrase keeps turning over in my head. I have nothing left to lose in New Brunswick. I have my degree, and the further education I will eventually want is not offered at Rutgers. Jujitsu is here, but I'm not tied to it anymore in my heart. I've quit my job, and have lost my connections to the theaters here. My roommates are moving, and some of the friends I still have here in New Brunswick cause too much trouble for me to stick around. There are some good people here, I will admit, but good friends don't count because you will never lose them, so I really do have nothing left here to lose.

Somehow though, this move doesn't feel like freedom to me. But the phrase is "freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." So maybe freedom feels just like any other feeling. Maybe its not as special as people try to make it.

Maybe I'm just saying that to convince myself that moving back into the home nest is not going to be a reverse in my independence.

Last night I longed to be away from X and Y in my life. Leaving X and Y in New Brunswick will probably be some of the best things for me... and for some of my other relationships.

Maybe then I'll be free.

meh

I was dumb and broke my computer so you'll be seeing less of me around until I find someone who has a boot disk for Windows XP. It shouldn't be too hard... I'm just busy with packing and everything.

Jujitsu sucked today. I only went cause I had nothing better to do and because I don't work, I'm not tired so I couldn't even sleep through it. I don't really even want to elaborate cause it was stupid.

Thats all. I'm still more or less in a good mood, its just that I find myself getting really testy inside with certain people, moreso than usual. Still the same actor's face outside though. I think.

Thats it.

rant...

Ok I just happened across an article about transgender people struggling to find jobs with fair bosses who won't discriminate... I'm not even going to state my opinion on whether changing your gender is right or not. All I have to say here is, if you are going to pay the money to have a bunch of operations to change your gender, you had better make sure your surgeons do a good job. Some of the pictures the article contained were not ugly they were just plain hideous. Those bosses are not discriminating based on your gender or change thereof... they are not hiring you because they don't want to imagine 40 hours a week of having to look at the horrible job your facial reconstruction surgeon did.

I suppose this sounds a bit harsh, but I'm not in a good mood, and it has to come out somewhere. Somehow, when you mess with nature, the end result is not as beautiful. Even in a surgery that keeps to the born gender of the person, as in face lifts and nose jobs, the end result looks like you are made of plastic. Keep your ugly face people, your beautiful one is not as cool.

Ok thats all.

No its not. Why the heck do you have to talk so darn loud AT us? Why can't you talk TO us?? How do you keep your friends around when you are that annoying??

Ok now thats all.

I FORGOT!

I forgot to post this... I thought it was hilarious. I got it in an email of crazy things on church welcome signs.

Here's to puberty...

First, if you don't know what Medieval Times is, click the link below.

So, Steve and I went to Medieval Times with my brother. Its Dan's birth-month so he gets in free with two paying adults. We upgraded to Royalty which was cool. We ended up in the front row.

I just have to write two funny incidents. The first was when the King and Princess were giving the toast. "Here's to Love! Here's to Honor! Here's to Chivalry!" On chivalry his voice rose about four octaves and 20 decibels. We didn't hear the rest of the toast because we were laughing too hard and toasting Puberty instead.

The other funny incident, ok I lied about how many funny incidents there were. One of the other funny incidents was the falcon. At every show the falconer demonstrates how his bird can fly. On this one, I guess the bird was really concentrating on killing that dead piece of meat the guy was swinging around because it forgot not to poop.

At a certain point in the show, they also have the King's Chancellor (or MC) announce all the birthdays, anniversaries, first communions and elevations to knighthood. Here's what he said: "Congratulations to Sammy Caldwell, who is celebrating his 11th birthday, also Jenna Ruiz is here for her 21st birthday, and John Campbell who is here with the guys celebrating their bachelor party. Good lord, man, what are you doing HERE??"

So anyway, this is the third time I've been there. The first time I rooted for the Green Knight, the second for the Red-and-Yellow Knight, and this time for the Red Knight. My knight never wins. In fact, this time, my knight was kin to the evil traitor dude who killed the prince. Granted, I don't actually pick them, the sections are more or less assigned. But still... I'm starting to think its me. If it weren't prechoreographed I'd think I was bad luck to the knights.

Speaking of prechoreographed, the Red Knight was the best fighter. He made it look real. The other ones just looked like they were taking a dive when they were supposed to. The Red Knight actually attacked. I guess, in jujitsu terms, it would be "intent." The Red Knight had intent.

Anyway... it was fun. I think it would be fun to work there, if only so I could respond to the "what are you doing now that you have graduated?" question with, "I'm a serving wench in a castle." Take that, bachelor's degree.

Ok I am working in the morning, so I have to go to bed. 'Night all!

Jujitsu pictures, attempt #2

Lets see how many pictures I can upload before Blogger freaks out. Or before I freak out.

We got to the aiport and the flight was delayed an hour because the plane going from South America to Newark and then from Newark to San Francisco was not only delayed but also had to be sanitized. During the wait, some guy was talking to us, wishing he were still a student so he could go on sports club trips. We compared reading material.


Then we decided to try sticky hands. We got some stares and quick, furtive glances in our direction.


We visited the city of San Francisco before the convention began. There's Alcatraz, the guys posing, and Dhaval in front of Macy's, which was having an "India sale."



This is the Palace of Fine Arts, built in 1915(?) for some sort of Exhibition, similar to the World's Fair I believe. Its made out of concrete, so it is deteriorating faster than its ancient Greek counterparts. But it is gorgeous just the same.


Not far from there is some red bridge... I dunno. We walked across it. We looked over the edge (most of us).


We also sat in the hotel lobby, which was very exciting.


Some downtime between classes.


This is Dan competing. I love how beautifully I captured Neo's- I mean- DAN'S speed. Actually its just 'cause I was using Kodak 100 instead of Kodak 200.


The awards banquet Saturday night.


Past and present winners. And matching my hair to Steve's shirt.


Leaving the hotel, we got on the shuttle to the airport and then realized that some pilots got on as well, pilots who might very well be taking us back to NJ. Therefore, we gave up our seats and crammed 7 people into the back of the bus. Nothing like a little invasion of personal space, jujitsu style.


And that's about it. Uploading photos to blogger is a pain. I don't think I am going to do it ever again, unless I find myself horribly disabled in such a way that I must remain immobile for long periods of time, which is the case right now.

kleeeeeeekkkkkkk

its awful having alcoholism running wild in the family and always being afraid that you'll fall into it too. its awful that the only time you know its safe for you to have a drink is when you aren't interested in having a drink. its awful that the times you want to drown something are the times that you know you must absolutely not go near it.

PICTURES

So, I took some pictures while in San Francisco, and also some pictures of the big flood we had recently. Since a lot of my pictures will probably end up HERE, I figured I'd post some that won't.

In the next few days, I'll probably put up some of the more memorable San Francisco pictures, just cause I like'em, but for now I'll talk about the flood, for those of you who don't live in New Brunswick and had no idea what I was talking about two weeks ago.

The first picture is pointing south down Rt 18, from approximately the middle of the entrance ramp from Commercial Ave. Its about 5 blocks from my house. I guess it goes without saying that the construction project was on hold for that day.

The next photo is mostly just humorous. I got a good kick out of it, anyway. The Exxon station was moved a block south so that they could tear down the old one and put a giant on-ramp/pedestrian walkway on top of the site. There were cones and barrels set up to make the Exxon basically a Nascar-style pit stop, and not much else. You pull over, get gas, and drive away. Not much of a parking lot to speak of. But in this case, I guess you just paddle over, get gas, and sail away.

This last picture (its got to be the last because I don't like how blogger has their "upload picture" function set up) is from the park behind the river dorms, which usually looks out onto, in order, Rt 18, a channel for Raritan River overflow water, a group of trees growing on the bank of the Raritan, the river itself, and waaaaaaay in the distance, Johnson Park (whose usefulness is usually ranked at the status "below sea level"). What you see in this picture is the Raritan, snuggled all the way up against Rt. 18. No overflow channel, just one big river.

There now. I hope that was occupying and interesting enough. Everyone in New Brunswick and jujitsu people are now asking why I'm describing common things in great detail but I figure I talk about New Brunswick and Jujitsu all the time as if people like Michigan Dan and KarenKool know what in the blazes I'm talking about. But chances are good that they don't so I figure for once maybe I could cater to their meghan's-blog-needs and explain a little.

And that about finishes things up for the night. Surprisingly, its 11:14 and I'm about ready to go to bed. G'night all.