I've realized that I have this natural instinct to attach music to certain feelings, events, and people. It's never really intentional, but they always stick and I have such an eclectic music taste that I never really get bored of the music that I listen to because its always changing. If you take a look through my music, there are really only two genres of music that I won't listen to: country and rap. Country has a little too much twang and repetition for me while rap just sounds bad. Just... Bad.
But I figure since I've spent the past couple days just reminiscing, I could put a few stories here and their songs. I'll also note that videos aren't really the point of these... I just couldn't think of a better way to post the music... Oh well. Creativity points for me!
1. The Grand Fonic Hymn (from Tales of the Abyss)
This song is probably going to be the first of a few that remind me of all the good times I had hanging out with Katie for hours and hours in Everett. Tales of the Abyss is just one of the many games that we played to DEATH. I really miss a lot of the people in Everett and I swear I'm still trying to visit... But expenses and free time don't always line up so nice and neat. But here's the first of a few to my best friend in Everett. Katie, you're awesome. Also, I still have that Samus picture you drew for me hanging on my wall :D
2. Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say) - Lady Gaga
Heh, this song still makes me laugh. Why? I remember that before we were dating, and I really liked her, my first girlfriend really liked this song when it first came out. So what did I do? I asked her to prom and spent the entire week prior to prom listening to this song on repeat trying to learn the lyrics. Silly? Sure. But that's how I do just about everything. So I did just that. I learned all the lyrics in less than a week and felt pretty proud and silly that I did it. Now I just laugh at exactly how ridiculous that sounds.
3. Cry For You - September
When its 2am and I'm writing a sit rep, this was the song I would play on repeat in order to keep myself awake and focused on the writing at hand. Because they were so long... And so boring... And so ugh. Go go being an RA.
4. Rewrite - Asian Kung-Fu Generation
Here's the second one for Katie. The person who introduced me to the world of anime, manga, and the Japanese culture. I think this was my first anime and we used to joke that Izumi and Ed were just like the two of us. Going back and forth and back and forth. I think I still have my #7 DVD of the series around here somewhere...
5. Mad World - Gary Jules & Dead Island Trailer - Giles Lamb
Whenever I get really bummed out about whatever, I seem to listen to these two songs. It probably just makes things worse, but they're really pretty and I do what I think is my best thinking while just deciding to contemplate everything at once while listening to them. I should stop doing that. Thinking is hard.
6. Lon Lon Ranch (Orchestrated) - Koji Kondo
Its true, I am a huge Zelda fan. I've got the Hylian Crest basically splattered over about everything I can from my keys to my computer. But more than just that, this song is really mellow. Its well orchestrated and it kinda makes me feel comfortable and calm no matter what the situation. If you listen closely in the hallways, you might even hear it going as I pass by.
7. Around the World - ATC
This song first came out back when I lived in Virginia. Man that was a long time ago... I can remember I used to listen to it all the time with my Cub Scout buddies (especially John) and I still remember some of those times to this day. That's also why I no longer eat dry noodles. They tasted awful then and they probably still taste awful today.
8. It's the End of the World As We Know It - R.E.M
Here's a great example of bus music for the VHS Ski Team. Kasey and I would sit in the back and harmonize and sing all trip long every trip. I loved that ski team and being captain my senior year was pretty cool too until I hurt my shoulder and then basically became useless for the entire end of the season... Not skiing with poles for 3 weeks will do that to you...
9. A Song for the King of Kings - Kitomu Miyaza
All of my yes. Just. Yes. Another song for the wonderful Katie and our terrifying neural link that we had while playing this game. I swear, we played it enough that we could predict each other's moves in advance and move the katamari fluidly without any change in speed (unless we were reversing or boosting of course). It was great. "Everyday, everynight, something something on the rainbow. I leave no messages!"
10. Rhythm of Love - Plain White T's
This song is sad time o' clock. Nuff said.
So that's kind of a quick list of some of my recent nostalgia... The good, the bad, and the silly. Its all right there.
So I just finished a float trip down the Chena river earlier this morning. Sure it wasn't anything major, but it was so much fun. Some of my coworkers and I entered ourselves in the Red Green Regatta here in Fairbanks and made our own raft and then floated it for about 2 hours and just let the current do its thing (we paddled when it looked like the bank was creeping up a little too close to us though).
The whole thing was awesome though. There were over 70 entries in the regatta as well, so seeing everyone with their own homemade rafts was quite the spectacle. Really it was a big water fight that just so happened to take place on a river on rafts, but you know, it was still fun nonetheless. My friend Noah was part of a boat that had a grill on it and gave hot dogs to other passing rafts. I mean, how cool is that?
On to the bad news though...
So Res Life may have messed up my housing. And by may have, I really mean "They did. For sure. Damn it." Normally, when you apply for housing, you get to make three choices for hall and room type and they assign you a room based on that information. Previously, I was slated to be a Resident Assistant again, so my room assignment was totally covered. However, they had me turn in an application anyways so I just put down the hall I was going to be working in without a room type. Here's the kicker. Now that I'm not being a RA, they decided to use that application anyways. Now I have a roommate (which is no bueno) and I'm working on getting that fixed.
I'm sure there's other stuff going on in my mind, but maybe its best to leave it be for now. Thinking is hard.
One of my favorite things to do with older video games is to come back to them after years of playing and test myself with them. I could do 100% completion, see if I can do it without dying, or any number of modifiers and it makes the game new again. Yet, the best modifier (in my opinion) is and forever will be "Just how fast can I beat this game?"
I mean, sure not dying for an entire game seems pretty interesting, but it doesn't really give me anything to compare against. By doing a speedrun of a game, I can say "Hey, I've been able to do it this fast. Can you?" because it sets a definitive level of accomplishment for the game. Plus, I've done it with quite a few games over the years like:
Super Mario 64 - 2:06:36
Super Mario Sunshine - 2:37:12
Banjo Kazooie - 4:56:22
And then I know, I've done it with games like Halo 3, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Bayonetta, and Metroid Prime but I don't have those times offhand....
But this week I realized that there are two types of game that I just can't bring myself to do a speedrun of. There are those games that are built entirely off of timed events (like racing games or fighting games) and then there are games that it would just be considered a disgrace to rush through.
What would Final Fantasy be like if you never took the time to power level? What would Zelda games be like if you never did a single side-quest? What would Just Cause 2 be like if you chose not to explore anywhere? Its games like these that it just hurts to even try. On the 4th I wanted to spend my day speeding my way through Windwaker like a champ and see how fast I could do it, but it soon dawned on me that I was just missing out on all of the fun that the game had to offer. Sure I can teleport using cyclones to just about anywhere on the Great Sea, but isn't it more satisfying to just cruise along on the King of Red Lions and listen to the ocean theme play? Sure I could power my way through the plot of the game, but never entering any secret dungeons, never getting any Pieces of Heart, never taking the time to seek out Great Fairies ended up just not being fun. Sure I could say "I finished Windwaker in 10 hours and XX minutes" (that's about how long it would have taken me if I didn't just give up) but instead I'd rather dick around in my boat and see what the game has to offer. Hell, I might even do that ridiculously long trading side-quest from Windfall and have highly redundant armor even though I rarely take damage anyways.
But yeah, there will always be those games that I can never and will never attempt to speedrun. Heck, after about 40 hours of play time I think I've only done 3 plot missions in Skyrim. Because why plot when I can run around and crouch to pretend I'm not there and steal the clothes off of ordinary citizens without them knowing?
I'll leave the speed to Sonic, expansive RPGs are meant to be enjoyed.
So work has been going pretty well so far. By pretty well, I mean freaking amazing.
I really enjoy where I work. I wake up in the morning (early enough to call myself a normal person), eat some breakfast, shower if I didn't the night before, and then make the 10-15 minute commute downtown to work. When I get there, I sit down and say my good mornings before just getting to work. For those who don't know, I do tech support for Golden Valley Electric Association/AlasConnect over the phone and I really find it to be one of the most rewarding jobs that I've ever had. I basically spend all day working with a great group of people and helping others with their computer problems. And that's just it, its fun. I'm there doing what I love to do, doing well at it, and learning in the process.
I just had my 30 day evaluation the other day too and even that went really well. So occasionally I come into work with my shirts being a little too wrinkly and sometimes I socialize too much, but I'm still doing well and having fun. It's also nice to hear that they like me working there as well. So much, in fact, that I got my level 3 security clearance 5 months earlier than I was supposed to. Now I can get into my part of the office without someone having to let me in! I work in the NOC, or Network Operations Center, which has quite a lot of information and responsibility in there so it requires a level 3 clearance to get in. So does our massive Data Center, but unless I'm escorting I don't really have a reason to be up in there. Plus its cold. Stupid cold for how warm the Fairbanks summer is.
Now to just keep up what I've been doing and continue enjoying myself there all the while.
I feel like its been too long since I've had time to be on here... I guess that means I've just been busy though. So some fun things have been going on recently, so I really think that this summer is going to be INFINITELY better than last summer... (We don't talk about last summer anymore...).
So first things first, a couple weeks ago I had the chance to go back to Valdez to see my brother's graduation and my family which was pretty nice. I don't get to see them all that often now that they've moved to Ohio. But I didn't just sit around while I was there. I arrived in Valdez (just barely due to weather) on Thursday night and the first thing I did was visit Doug and Kasey. Why? Because Iunno. The next day I spent the entire day helping with graduation setup for the live streaming that the tech department does and helping the band practice for Pomp and Circumstance. Yep, I played with the high school band again! Then that night at graduation I played with the band and had a surprise solo... Because I had agreed to sightread their piece that they chose to play before Pomp and Circumstance and I quickly found out that the horn part had a solo halfway through the song as I was playing it.... Oh well, I didn't really mind and I didn't screw it up so pluses all around! The rest of the weekend was spent with family and friends around town until I left Sunday afternoon.
But then the fun REALLY started. Because a couple weeks ago on a Tuesday morning I started work at Golden Valley Electric Association as a Computer Student Intern - Helpdesk. I think I enjoy this job the most out of any job I've had in the past. Basically what I do is I answer phones, help our customers with whatever issues they have, and occasionally escort people into our Data Centers at work (which, by the way, are super awesome). Sadly enough, I can't take pictures of it to show anyone (its Data Center policy) but take my word for it when I say its totally worth seeing if you ever had the chance. For me it was my first view of a REAL server room. ANYWAYS, I really think this job has made me happier than any job I've had in the past. I get to do tech work, be social all day, work with a great group of people, and I really feel like I'm appreciated with the work that I do. Maybe they'll let me stay during the school year.... But that's a question for later.
As for the rest of the summer, its really good to still have some free time in which I can hang out with my friends. Some of them I barely saw during the school year, so its really nice to be able to see them now. And other than that I just kind of relax. Its nice having little to no stress over deadlines or homework during the summer. I actually feel like I have a break.
Finals week was one of those weeks where I wish I could have seen the sun, the people, and the sanity in my life. Needless to say, that didn't happen. It was a little painful and I literally spent two whole days in my room writing finals. From Monday to Wednesday night I wrote over 10,000 words in essays, exams, and other assorted documents for my classes. But I still managed to make it through with a pretty good GPA, so it wasn't all bad.
Then came closing for Skarland. That was insane. So many checkouts, goodbyes, projects. It consumed my life. But then everything stopped for a moment. Nothing to do, no expectations, just waiting for a call on my job and then doing whatever I want on top of that. Its been pretty good. Yesterday I was really, REALLY sick though to the point where I couldn't stand up for more than a few minutes at a time due to the pain in my kidneys, but I think I'm almost over it. I'm pretty sure there is nothing that Gatorade can't fix.
So now here I am waiting for that call still and hoping that this summer stays as fun as I hope it does.
As a student, I like to think I have a voice in how my college is run. We have a student government here at UAF called ASUAF, or the Associated Students of the Univeristy of Alaska Fairbanks, and they are here to be the voice of the students when it comes to campus matters.
As stated in Article I of the ASUAF constitution, they are here "To provide an official and representative student organization with powers to receive complaints, investigate student problems, and participate in decisions involving the student body." This to me means that ASUAF is here to take student concerns and hopefully be instrumental in helping settle those concerns in the most efficient way possible.
Needless to say, from what I can tell, that doesn't happen under the current administration. This is where my problem lies.
So this last week we had "elections" for ASUAF President, Vice-President, and Senate members and the chance to vote on ballot measures for the upcoming year. Now, notice that I put elections in quotation marks. Why? Because this election was a joke. It was nothing more than a joke, a sham, a waste of everyone's time. I felt embarrassed to even be a part of that process. Every incumbent position (President, Vice-President, and Senate seats B, E, F, and H) were unopposed. That's right, there was no voting really. I was pigeon-holed into one decision for every position on the ballot.
That is unacceptable. I wasn't particularly happy with ASUAF's contributions this year under the administration of Freitag and Ball, so even the option of another candidate would have been a nice bit. However, that didn't happen. Instead UAF has the same officers as last year (with a few new Senate members). How can we feel as if we have adequate representation as students if we have no choice in who's elected? I mean, there are write-in options, but in reality those are just for those people who have nothing better to say in terms of a vote.
But lets put those problems aside for a second and look at an even larger problem with the ballot. So ASUAF ballots have 3 main purposes. They have officer elections, ballot measures, and survey questions. I've already established the officer elections as a complete joke, so lets look at their second purpose. Ballot measures are supposed to be the student voice making a choice for their school on a matter that the student government has deemed to be important for the student body. This election had only one. Just one. And what was this measure you may ask? It was a measure to determine whether there should be 14 or 20 senate seats within ASUAF. Now how does that really affect the issues that plague students here at UAF?
The answer: it doesn't.
Just another reason to show why this election was a joke.... Maybe one day it will be better.
