5.30.2004
12:03am
Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me

Today was certainly busy, starting with mowing Connie's lawn at 10am. The rain yesterday kept temperatures a little tamer, and it stayed below 90 until around 2pm. After I finished the lawn I called Plant and made arrangements for lunch at 2pm. He showed up around 2:45 since he had to leave later than he initially planned, but we still had time before I had to be at work. We went to the Chik-Fil-A in the mall since that's one of our favorite fast-food places. We talked about school and friends and girls, the usual chatty stuff. It turns out he's dating someone he met when I took him to Alleigh's last time he was in Wilmington, which I find pretty ironic since he basically just handed the girl his number. He also told me that he's transferring to UNC-W to take film studies because he dislikes Computer Science, which is quite a shock for me. Considering how much he loves computer gaming I would have thought he wounl follow through and become a programmer, but sometimes you never know. He said he's planning to come back to Wilmington a couple times before we move, so hopefully we will get together again. After eating we made a trip to Best Buy so he could get a CD he'd been wanting, then we headed back home. I had to leave for work as soon as we got back, and I got to the cinema right at 5pm. Today wasn't quite as busy as yesterday, but there was still quite a rush of people for the 7-8pm shows. I got my first paycheck from Hollywood East, for a total of $130.48. At least they're paying me $6/hr, which beats Subway by 75 cents. Next time I go back I'll have to tell them I'm moving; hopefully they don't get too pissed. I got off of work at 9:15 and decided I'd try to see TDAT tonight since it was sold out last night. I got to Carmike at 10pm, 30 minutes before the show, and it was already sold out. They had actually sold out every showing today, including the matinees, so it seems like TDAT might pull in more money than first expected. I guess I'll wait for a few days and try to see a 1pm showing or something. On the way back home I stopped into Wal-Mart to browse around, at the gas station to fill my car, and at Wachovia to deposit my paycheck. I was surprised to get 28.8 MPG on this last fill-up, which is for city driving and includes using the A/C part of the time. It at least makes the high gas prices a little easier to bear.

5.29.2004
12:40am
Winamp is turned off! Gasp...

I got done at the cinema around 9:30 and headed home, calling Plant as soon as I got in. He wasn't doing anything tonight so we decided to meet at Cinema 16 at 10:30 and see The Day After Tomorrow. On the way there I drove through some really heavy rain from a passing thunderstorm, and my new tires definitely improved my car's traction in water. When I got to the theater there was a problem, because TDAT had already sold out. Thinking that Carmike 6 might still have some tickets available, we drove over to Oleander only to find that the movie started 30 minutes earlier. There were also no other movies we wanted to see, so we went across the street to Jungle Rapids to play some arcade games. Plant's friend didn't seem interested in playing much, and she just stood by and watched. I always feel awkward when someone does that, because it makes me feel like I'm shutting them out. Anyway, we finished wasting money at the arcade around 11:30 and parted ways, still planning to meet tomorrow for lunch. I've got to wake up early and mow Connie's lawn before it gets above 90 degrees, which has been commonplace as of late. When I was driving home tonight the rainwater was steaming up from the ground, indicative of how much heat is contained in the ground. Our tap water gets lukewarm at best, and I'm starting to really look forward to the move to Virginia; at least it should be a little cooler there and a lot less humid.

5.28.2004
4:06pm
Europe - The Final Countdown

Just got back from another 4-hour shift at Subway. I've got to work at the cinema as well tonight, so I'm going to return some DVDs to Hollywood Video on the way there. I talked to Plant on AIM last night and found out he was coming into Wilmington Friday night, so we're going to get together tomorrow for lunch and maybe to see The Day After Tomorrow. My dad's also supposed to be coming to Wilmington today for the Memorial Day weekend; he's going to move some things out to our apartment when he goes back to Blacksburg.

The movies I got at Hollywood Video this last time were Sleepers, Deep Impact, and Free Willy, so they've all been added to my collection. My mom had these great Hollywood Video coupons for rent up to 3 for $1 each, which is a lot better than the normal $3.79 each. I think on my next visit I might get the Die Hard series if they have them all on DVD.

5.26.2004
9:40am
Duran Duran - Ordinary World

Yawn... no matter how much sleep I get these days I always wake up tired. Must be the lazy Wilmington atmosphere permeating my body. I had yesterday off from work, so I went and got some new tires for my car at Sam's Club. A set of four Dunlop P175/70R13 SP40's cost $170, which is a lot less than some people pay for tires :D. They should last me a good 60,000 miles, and I've got free rotation from Wal-Mart of Sam's Club every 6,500 miles. After getting my tires installed I went to ProLube to get my NC state inspection updated, and I had to get a brake light replaced in order to pass; total cost was still only $16 though. After that I met up with Mom & Brit for lunch at Priddyboy's; my mom had gotten her Accord's muffler replaced at Meineke because the old one was rusting through. We got back to the house around 1:30, and I got to mellow out for the rest of the afternoon. We watched the last of the movies from Hollywood Video, What Dreams May Come with Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr. The last couple of nights we watched Se7en and Paycheck.

I've got today off from work as well, so I better find something to keep myself occupied. Maybe I will finally get around to learning some more of Flash or Maya.

5.20.2004

Yep, I'm still alive.

I finished Order of the Phoenix today in-between working at Subway and Cinema Grill. I was thinking about the next book I will read and my mind jumped to Daniel Quinn's Ishmael, which I had to read for my senior year at NC School of Science and Math. To any of you who have not read the book, it is a very captivating novel about the "Taker Mythology", with 'taker' referring to the humans that switched from hunting and gathering to cultivation and farming. It talks about the current and upcoming problems in our society and how the hunter/gatherer method would have allowed us to exist peacefully on Earth for a much longer period of time. I was half-expecting Dr. Shearer to mention it during our Civ 2 class last semester, but it's possible he is not familiar with the book.

On the NCSSM note, I have realized recently just how incredible my experience there really was. There aren't many people I've talked to who have easier classes in college than in high school, but that's definitely the case with me. Not to mention the residential side of things, because the college atmosphere isn't quite the same as a bunch of 11th & 12th graders sharing a dormitory. It's unfortunate that the school is going downhill thanks to the influence of Dr. Boarman and company, but at least I got in before it was totally locked-down. I haven't talked to Dr. Morrison lately, who is my only faculty connection to the status of things at S&M; I should probably ask him how many more teachers have quit since the beginning of this year.

I didn't get my check today from Subway, it was delayed until the next payday. This means I'll likely be getting over $600 all at once; woohoo. Unfortunately I can't spend any of it, but I haven't been in the spending mood as of late--I'm focusing on the extra cost of having an apartment this next school year. I found out that Will quit Subway yesterday, which meant that our hours got tweaked a little. I'm working 11-3/11-5 this week except for Tuesday which I was given off. At Cinema Grill I worked until 11pm and got some more hours for tomorrow and Monday. It's kind of ironic that I don't know how much I'm being paid or when I'll be paid; at this point minimum wage wouldn't be too terrible. There was another new guy there today, who started around the same time I did, but he worked in the dishroom so I didn't have much of a chance to talk to him. Sandra, the owner, was there today to oversee the surfing event. There was a big tour bus from some popular surfing magazine, and they showed a 2 hour film about surfing. I didn't get a chance to see any of it, but from the way Sandra talked it was pretty impressive stuff. The turnout was really great, and we were certainly kept busy in the kitchen filling orders.

Oh yeah, gas prices are exorbitant lately. I'm happy I live pretty close to work, so at least I'm not filling up very often. I've already decided to take my digital camera and snap some photos when Regular Unleaded hits $2, because it will probably be useful for a scrapbook later on. I can't help but feel sorry for European drivers, because prices there are already much higher than the USA. The price hikes are pushing more hybrid vehicles onto the market though, and that is always welcome. My mom is even talking about getting a Ford Escape hybrid SUV after we get settled in our new house, because she needs something bigger to take the dogs to agility competitions and the like. I'm no fan of SUVs, but the new Escape will get 35 mpg and that's with a 2.3 liter engine.

5.17.2004

Today my Subway schedule was a little weird since I was covering for Cheryl who just quit a few days ago. I worked the lunch shift from 12-3, then had to come back at 5pm. We had a supply truck come in so Cindy was busy with that, and I had to clean the dining room and bathrooms and do the trash before leaving. When I came back at 5 I was surprised to find Barbara putting on a uniform, since she hadn't worked since last summer. Apparently she decided to come back and work for the summer, and we had to get her up to speed on the new wraps and salad items. She left at 8pm, and I was supposed to leave at 9pm. However, this would have left Will closing the store by himself so I stuck around and helped him clean up. I had intended to leave around 9:30, but a big crowd came in so I had to help get them taken care of. Cindy called to tell us that the Subway inspector will be coming tomorrow to do a compliance check, so we have to be on our best behavior ;) . This also meant that I stayed even longer, since we had to wash some of the miscellaneous items that almost never get cleaned. Julie came along with Cindy to help out, even though she doesn't technically work for Subway anymore. I left around 11pm since there wasn't a whole lot that still needed to be done.

5.16.2004

Before I had to go in to work today I washed my car, which took quite a while because of some white paint that had splattered on the right side... it came off but only with some hard scrubbing. I went to Cinema Grill at 3pm and was given a tour and introduced to the kitchen staff. I was trained by a quiet guy named Chris who has been working there for 1 1/2 years, and he seems to know his way around very well. I learned how to do some of the prep work for the pizza/salad bar and sandwich bar, and unfortunately there are many things that have to be diced by hand. Chris showed me how the dishwasher worked and some of the basics for using the fryers; once people started placing orders I worked on frying french fries, mozzarella sticks, potato skins, chicken tenders, onion rings, and chicken wings. The pressure gets pretty intense when there are 15+ orders waiting to be filled and appetizers that have to be ready quickly. There is definitely a lot more to learn and do than at Subway, but I think I'll be able to keep up. Once the first rush of orders was over, we worked on cleaning up and washing some dishes, but the machine broke and they had to call someone to fix it. Around 9:30-10:00 the food orders were finished so Matt had me help him with the dishroom. He had to leave early to meet his girlfriend, so I offered to stay and close the dishroom and he gave me $10 in appreciation. This turned out to take quite a while since there were so many backed-up dishes, and I slaved away until 12:30am or so. Then Steve (one of the managers) helped me take out the trash and finish sweeping and mopping. I got home at 1:10am quite exhausted from 10 hours of work. I don't have to be at Subway until 12 tomorrow so at least I can sleep for a bit.

5.15.2004

Quite a day for me: woke up at 6:50 to help mom with the garage sale. We moved some heavier items outside and waited for people to show up, which didn't take long because cars were already perusing the neighborhood. The neighborhood sale officially started at 8am, but we probably sold $50 worth of stuff before then. I made out pretty well on the sale, collecting $69.50 for a lot of old junk. I did sell my two old stereos, which fetched 10 and 15 bucks. It frustrates me how everyone that shops garage sales always has to make a lower offer than the ticketed price... if people would just price things reasonably and be firm with them, there would be no issue. I looked around at some of the other sales but didn't see anything particularly desirous. Brittany bought a $5 smoothie-maker that is basically a blender with a drink spout--so incredibly innovative *rolls eyes*. When the sale wrapped up around noon, I took a shower and headed over to Carmike 16 to see the 1 pm showing of Troy. I felt that the movie was pretty entertaining, but it's obvious the $200 million production budget went mostly for the big-name actors they had. They definitely cut out some bits from the Ilyiad that I thought should be there, like Achilles having to get new armor forged when Patroclus' body was stripped. Also, Priam didn't seem forboding or impressive enough for a man with hundreds of sons. Helen was hot, as expected, and I'm pretty sure the women in the audience got their own share of arousal from Pitt. Paris was made out to be the coward he truely was, but I think they should have kept the scene where Hektor gets pissed at his brother for not coming to the lines to fight. All told, The Ilyiad is a far better alternative to Troy, but for 165 minutes Troy does a decent job of summing up history. Oh, another HUGE pet peeve--Odysseus planned the horse gift to Poseidon intentionally tall enough so that the Trojans would have to tear down part of the wall... sure enough in the movie the horse conveniently fits through the gate. They cover this up by having 5 or so Greeks unbar the gate to let the rest of the army in... ignoring the fact that Troy would have had a 24 hour guard watch even during times of peace. D'oh.

Anyway, after seeing Troy I headed home for a few minutes then off to Subway. I had to work 5-close tonight, and we had to work at a steady pace the whole time. Cindy was interviewing a couple new people for crew positions, but she still needed me to cover 12-3 on Monday and Tuesday since Shannon quit. Dawn also told her about me finding another job, and Cindy didn't respond negatively so I think things will work out. I got home around 11 and read for a while before bed.

5.14.2004

Sorry for the lack of updates, but as nothing very significant has happened I have decided to lengthen the interval between posts.

I got a job with Hollywood East Cinema Grill working on the kitchen staff a couple days ago, and I go for my training Sunday at 3pm. My family has been rushing around the past couple of days preparing for our Moving Sale tomorrow morning from 8-12, which is part of a neighborhood garage sale. We've gotten most everything labeled and placed in the garage, but some things will have to be set up tomorrow morning as well. I don't have to be at Subway until 5 tomorrow so I'll be able to help during the sale.

I initially wanted to see Troy tonight, but I decided to see a matinee tomorrow so I could save a couple bucks. $7.25 is just too much for me to be paying, and Carmike Theaters don't give college student discounts in Wilmington. We had Dominoes Pizza for dinner, courtesy of two "honor student" certificates Brittany earned for small cheese pizzas. Back when I went to Hoggard, all we got were Free Breadstick coupons. In my spare time I've been reading Goblet of Fire, and I plan to re-read Order of the Phoenix as well before Azkaban comes out in theaters.

5.11.2004

Well it's now 12:58am on May 12th, and I'm waiting patiently for my 5th Harry Potter PDF to download. This should not be considered pirating, since we have paper copies of all 5 novels. I just like to have the electronic version for easy searching. I've had a pretty worthless day considering I only worked 3 hours: before work at noon I didn't accomplish much. I got back at 3:30 and went for a bike ride with Mom and cleaned out some of the garage in preparation for our moving sale on the 15th. Dad met with a house builder today in Blacksburg and went over the potential floorplan; they told him it could take 9 months to have the house built, which is much longer than my parents would like. They also found out that all of our unneeded belongings will be stored near the Corning headquarters in Elmira, NY until we move into the new house.

I'm looking forward to the public release of Troy in 3 days, especially considering the movie cost $200 million to create. I don't care if they deviate from The Ilyiad slightly, especially since I don't remember most of the specifics anyway. Hopefully I won't get stuck next to a group of teenage girls that "ooh" and "aah" over Orlando and Pitt. I'll probably see if Jonathan wants to go with me, but I doubt it considering the nudity content. I watched Shrek tonight since I'm probably going to see Shrek 2 in the theater on the 19th, and I wanted a refresher. I talked with Jenny for a while about Harry Potter which is what triggered me to re-download the PDFs. I called Cindy and found out I have tomorrow off, so I'm not sure what I'm gonna do to occupy the time. Maybe it's time to bust out the Macromedia suite and Maya and start tooling around.

5.10.2004

I got up at 8:30 today, but I didn't have to be in to work until 12. I had some breakfast and read my dad's Fortune magazine, which intrigued me because of the front-page headline about the CEO of SCO group and the recent lawsuits they have filed against Linux end users. There were also some interesting articles about the economy in China, future inflation problems in the USA, Shell oil shortages, etc, etc. After that I downloaded the new RedvsBlue episode 33 and the Mother's Day PSA from yesterday. Both were pretty humorous. Mom went out to Wal-Mart to do some shopping, and I left at 11:30 so I could deposit some pennies at Wachovia before work. The Wilmington health inspector came today, and we got a score of 93 because we had some food sitting out for the lunchtime rush. The supply truck didn't come until 2:45, so Cindy asked me to stay until 3:45 so I could help them restock; after that I headed home.

5.9.2004

Mother's Day 2004

Brittany was still asleep this morning when I woke up, probably tired from the Drama party she went to last night. Mom was up taking care of the dogs and looking over some more house plans for Blacksburg. I wished her a happy Mother's Day and gave her my card and gift. After Dad called we went for a bike ride through some of the other subdivisions, then I had to take Brit over to school for the matinee showing of their drama play. I didn't have to work today, so I stayed home and looked over some of the house plans with mom. She went to pick up Brit and we had a nice dinner with BBQ chicken and strawberry shortcake. Mom watched the Survivor finale and Brit and I caught the ABC airing of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, since they included the deleted scenes and some commentary on the upcoming Prizoner of Azkaban. After that it was time for bed.

5.8.2004

Long, long day today. Before work I dropped my Dunkin' Doughnuts application off at the store and went to Wal-Mart to get my mom a card and gift for tomorrow. Lunchtime was insanely busy, not a single break in customers until around 3pm. We had a leak in the men's bathroom that flooded the floor and Cindy had to come in to take care of it. At 5 I started my second shift with Will and Courtney and we had almost no customers, so I guess it evened out. We were done closing by 11, so I worked a full 11 hours today. My legs and back are pretty sore from standing constantly. I went over to Pine Valley at midnight to pick up Brittany from a friend's party they were having to celebrate the play production.

5.7.2004

I originally wasn't supposed to work today, but I got a call from Cindy around 9:45am asking if I would work from 5-9; I took the extra hours since I was only scheduled to have 20 this week anyway. I went in at 5 after spending the afternoon cleaning my room and working on my computer. I dropped by Dunkin' Doughnuts first to get an employment application, since Mom read in the classifieds that they were hiring. Nothing very interesting happened at work until around 7pm, when I woman walked in to order subs but was soon followed by several State Troopers. She and her son were taken out to the parking lot and questioned, and I guess it turned out to be some misunderstanding because the lady came back in 20 minutes later. Before I left work I was recruited to work the 5-close shift tomorrow in addition to the 12-5 shift I was already scheduled for, so it will be a long day. Fortunately I don't have work Sunday so I can relax a bit. Lou from across the street talked to Mom and wants me to look at some problems his wife's computer has been having, so I will do that tomorrow before I head over to Subway.

5.6.2004

I had an eye doctor appointment today, so I woke up at 7am and headed over to get checked out. Surprisingly, during the pressure test after they numbed my eyeballs, I blacked out for a brief period. I don't know what caused it, but the tech had my put my feet up and I was fine after a little while. My vision turned out to be the same as before, so I don't need a new prescription for my glasses. They also dilated my pupils so hopefully they are back to normal before I go to work at noon. I worked at Subway from 12-5 today, and we had a supply truck come in so I had to help store some things away. Brittany's friend Cliff was over for dinner, and afterwards they went for the first play performance of their drama class. I watched Something's Gotta Give, which felt a lot like a chick flick but was still pretty humorous.

5.5.2004

My first day at Subway, starting at 11am. Mom came back from Blacksburg today, and she was home by the time I got back. Work was just like normal, but the staff seems to have changed drastically since I worked there last summer. I worked with Courtney and Cheryl today, and they said that everyone else quit when a bitchy assistant manager was hired a while back. Fortunately she isn't around anymore, so it should be ok working there. I found out that Julie quit her job at Subway and went to Lowe's to work, but she might stop in to say hello while I'm there. I got a job application from Kohl's so that I can hopefully get 40 hours per week. My plan is to work Subway for lunch and then Kohl's for dinner, but we'll see. Mom wanted me to mow the lawn so I took care of that, and also trimmed Gerald and Connie's lawn. Nothing like making some extra cash on the side. She went to Brittany's soccer game, then we had a late dinner.

5.4.2004

No work today, so I pretty much just lounged around the house. Brittany is still in school so she wasn't around during the day; I had to go pick her up at 4pm from the Beta club induction ceremony. We stopped by Wal-Mart on the way back so she could buy some food supplies for Spanish class. I picked up a copy of The Last Samurai for $16 to add to my DVD collection. After dinner Brit and I got some ice cream from Cold Stone, which is apparently her favorite place to go these days.

5.3.2004

I went over to Subway this morning and talked to Cindy about working for the summer. She said she would put me on the payroll and have my schedule ready Tuesday night. I returned Big Fish to Blockbuster since I was already in Monkey Junction, and I also got gas since it was still $1.75 at Crown. BP had raised their price to $1.83 so it won't be long before it goes up across the board.

5.2.2004

Not too much of interest today. Dad left this morning for Blacksburg before I woke up; he was stopping to pick up Mom from the dog trial, where she double-qualified both Friday and Saturday. I made a trip to Lowe's hardware to get an electrical faceplate to cover a speaker mount in our room over garage, because Dad got the wrong size. I vacuumed my car and moped around for a while, and Brit went to her friend's house to work on a project. I decided to rent Big Fish from Blockbuster, which I had already seen in the theater. One of Mom's friends brought Kobe back from the dog trial, so Mikayla has some company now. I watched Big Fish with Brit after dinner, and also worked on troubleshooting Jenny's laptop some more.

5.1.2004

A new month to officially begin the summer. I got up around 11:30 because I was really tired from the long day yesterday. I gave Jonathan a call to see what he's up to, but they still have 2 weeks of classes before graduation. He's working at CVS so hopefully our work hours will coincide so we can get together and do something. I told him we're moving on June 11th, which he didn't know yet; his plan is to go to NC State in the fall, not UNC as I expected. I had to take Brittany over to her friend's house for the afternoon, which was all of a 5 minute drive. It rained this morning so it's not going to be a very nice day, but at least it will be colder than usual. Dad and I went to Pizza Hut for dinner after making a stop at Wal-Mart; the restaurant was almost empty, and they were unbelievably out of Pan crust--we had to settle for stuffed crust. We got back around 9:30 and Dad finished packing clothes into his van. No movie tonight, because he disassembled and packaged the whole surround system.