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Fanboy

I have come to one, inescapable conclusion.

I am going to have to buy a Nintendo DS.

At first I was waffling on the whole idea. I hadn’t seen a lot of good games for it, besides my vague obsession with Nintendogs. And I had never been much of a handheld videogame player, save for my infatuation with all things Tetris.

But Nintendo is officially left me no choice. Not only are they coming out with a new side-scrolling Mario game, but they have just recently announced a new DS Zelda game as well.

It should be known that I am a Nintendo fanboy. I started off on the Atari 2600, thanks mostly to my older brother, who had a fascination with all things Atari. But after that, it was the NES. It was one of the joys of my childhold, and I will always fondly remember time spent in front of that boxy looking console. The NES was the reason I saved up money as a child, in the hopes that I would be able to get the latest and greatest games for it. Games like Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, Star Tropics, Zelda, Mario, Metroid. After that it was the SNES, and then the N64. I’ve been disappointed in the Gamecube, mainly because of the severe lack of software for it. But that was a trend that started with the release of the N64, and caused, in a large part, by Nintendo’s desire to lock in developers and consumers into proprietary formats. I may be a fanboy, but I still know when my idols really suck something up.

It looks like they’ve done something right with the DS, though.

I am going to wait until the release of the DS Lite, however. So I have at least a couple months before I have the little dual screen in my hands. Which will wonderfully coincide with the summer.

The big temptation is to convince Shawn to get one too. I just think Pictochat with Shawn would be incredibly amusing.

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Blackout

Today has been… odd.

And somewhat tiring.

Going into work today, I just had a bad feeling about things. This past week has seemingly drug itself out in so many ways… and I haven’t been feeling 100% up to snuff the past couple of days. I had a hell of a time trying to get some sleep last night. I think it is partly because of the recent temperature shifts here. Spring is definitely here as its been harder and harder to reach my sleeping temperature comfort zone of just above freezing. Anyone that has ever stayed with me before knows how cold I like to keep my living area. I like to be shivering before I get under the covers, and then simply let body heat and insulation do its work.

It also is really effective in waking you up when you have to get out from under the covers and get going in the morning.

But I digress.

I still had a bad feeling about things today.

Things were quite busy once I got to work, and I wasn’t able to get in my general half-hour of e-mail checking and carousing through log reports and traffic analysis.

And then, once things were slowly getting quiet, the power went out.

Which, as any IT support staff or system administrator can tell you, is a complete nightmare.

It seems that the wind was so bad today (another side effect of spring here) that it knocked down a telephone pole. The power was out long enough that I was forced to shut down all the servers and hope that everything came up without any issues. For the most part, they did. We’ll see on Monday how broken things truly are, however.

The combination of stress and lack of sleep finally caught up with me when I got home, though. I laid down to catch a quick nap, and ended up getting about 5 hours of sleep instead. So now I have completely sabotaged my sleep schedule as well.

Though it does seem like a really good excuse to get some World of Warcraft play time in.

I actually always used to really love it when the power went out. As a kid, I have fond memories of lighting the oil lanterns scattered about the house and having fun assembling jigsaw puzzles. My absolute favorite memory, however, is from when the power went out in the middle of the night. I remember going outside and being in sheer, absolute awe at how gorgeous the stars were. I have never seen them so bright, or seeminly so close… like I truly could reach out and draw them down with my hands.

It’s another reason I miss camping, and sleeping under the stars. I truly do believe everyone should sleep outside with nothing but a sleeping bag and the stars at some point in their life.

Some things are just too breathtaking to miss.

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Creative vocabulary.

Driving into work today, Shawn had one of his creative moments. He has a strange knack for creating new words, and I’ve decided to post them here for all the world to enjoy.

So, without further adieu, here is Shawn’s word of the day.

poofer spoot (pū'fər spūt) n.

Definition: Not entirely sure. I think he was refering to a dangly bit of hose hanging from a piece of farm equipment we were driving behind. Like all Shawnisms, this is free for adaptation. For example, it could refer to a strange dance, i.e. “I’m so happy, I just want to get up and poofer spoot!”

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I, Geek.

I had another job shadow today.

I find it intriguing the number of kids that want to get into the computer field these days… but really don’t have a clue.

I know I’m a geek through and through. I started playing on computers in grade school… entering hundreds of lines of code on a TRS-80 so that I could play a text based Star Trek game. There weren’t any sort of courses or classes I could take to help me along my way. I played with computers because I loved them as a hobby.

I still do.

I just don’t really see that drive in the kids I’ve seen lately. We had one kid, last year, who was pretty good. A fellow geek, really.

For his senior project he built his own Beowulf cluster. Sure, with crappy hardware. But he did it on his own.

Now that’s pretty cool.

Two of my books came today. Charles de Lint’s Wolf Moon and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon. Wolf Moon looks like it should be a quick read, so I hope to start it soon. I just couldn’t pass up a book that involved two of my favorite things in the title.

Mists of Avalon is a little more intimidating, but is a book I’ve wanted to read for a long, long time. The reissue copy I have is quite stunning. The dust sleave is tastefully done, and the binding is high quality. Mainly, though, I’m just glad to have a copy of it finally.

I can tell I’ll be up late a few nights in the future.

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Musings

It’s been a pleasant past couple of days.

The weekend was spent mostly wasting time on World of Warcraft. And quite happily, I might add. It’s incredibly fun to play through again from a fresh perspective, with new players and playing a different class. I’m having a blast leveling up my rogue at the moment, and from what I can tell, those I played with had a rather enjoyable time as well.

Somehow I have the feeling that World of Warcraft may take up a chunk of my weekend once and awhile. Not every weekend, I hope… as I know there are things I still want to do… but it’s good to just lose yourself in something simple and enjoyable once and awhile.

Especially when you can do it with friends.

Work bits were mostly back to normal today. I’ve been able to tinker more with Cisco equipment, and was able to setup a video conferencing unit as well. Which can be a little tricky to do considering the levels of security and firewall protection that are in place. I also broke down and ordered a couple of new CD’s today. I had been poking around on iTunes and was having a bit of fun putting in known artists I enjoy and seeing what else people had purchased that was similar. I still have a hard time buying songs directly from iTunes, though. I’m a bit of an audiophile, and the 128Kbps just doesn’t cut it for me quality wise. Plus I’m a little old fashioned in that I like to have that physical disc with the liner notes and inserts.

At any rate, the CD’s I ended up buying were Ladytron’s Witching Hour, Imogen Heap’s Speak For Yourself, and Depeche Mode’s Exciter. The first two are newly discovered artists, which I hope to post reviews of at some point. The Depeche Mode, though, is to fill in one more album gap in my collection. I don’t aspire to track down everything they’ve ever done, because I think that would be a lesson in futility in ways… but I certainly don’t mind picking up an album here or there.

Otherwise, things are fairly quiet. Shawn’s girlfriend is on spring break, so I expect to see her a little more often this week, which is good. Shawn has officially declared that he’s going to take a bit of a break from work this week, for somewhat obvious reasons. We watched My Neighbor Totoro tonight, which Danie hadn’t seen. It’s definitely a kid’s movie, but it’s still amusing nonetheless.

And, one of the happiest bit of news, I finally got part of the long overdue overseas package off today. There was just way too much procrastination on my part, and it was starting to make me a little upset at myself. I feel better knowing that a large chunk of the stuff I’ve been wanting to send is finally on its way… and hope to still be able to put together a few care packages here and there in the months to come. Hopefully with more maple and cinnamon goodness.

And Cthulhu? He’s just happy to be on his way.

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Gunpowder, treason, and plot.

Tonight I went to go see V for Vendetta.

And was pleasantly surprised.

I hadn’t heard much about the movie up to its release, because, frankly, movies lately have been crap. I understand that it’s based on a comic that was put out by Vertigo, but I only just found this out when their logo showed up at the beginning of the movie.

This may be a good thing. I’ve read some reviews that say the characters deviate quite a bit from their comic underpinnings. This is to be expected, though.

But, from what I’ve seen, they’ve made it into a rather enjoyable movie.

It may also be the best movie to come out this summer.

Though that’s not exactly a hard title to earn.

At any rate, I recommend it.

And remember… remember, remember the fifth of November.

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Meh.

I have the social skills of a rabid badger.

With schizophrenia.

I’ve also finished Wayfarer Redemption, and put in an order for four new books: Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, Charles de Lint’s Wolf Moon, Cecilia Dart-Thornton’s The Ill-made Mute, and the second book in the Wayfarer Redemption series, Sara Douglas’s Enchanter.

I actually thoroughly enjoyed the first Sara Douglass book, and am looking forward to the next one. The world she creates is quite richly detailed, with a history and depth that is refreshing, but not overly complicated.

The description of the Star Gate was breath-taking. And I found myself even a little emotional as I got caught up in the story of the characters.

Which is always a good sign.

I’ve been wondering if I should buy a Nintendo DS today, too. Not for any practical reason, really. I’m a geek. I like gadgets.

And I want to play Nintendogs. I mean… check out that video in the bottom left. Puppy dogs… wearing pirate hats?

How kick ass is that?

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Circles

There’s one other thing that has been bothering me lately. Something that is for some reason invading my thoughts tonight before I find bed.

My 10 year class reunion is coming up.

This is only recently pervading my thoughts because I have former classmates that are now actively trying to track me down. Not that it’s that difficult to do so, really.

I do, after all, work at the same school I graduated from.

That I spent 12 years of my life in.

This… bothers me. Though I know I have a really good job there… that I thoroughly enjoy (most days)… I cannot help but feel like there is this stigma hanging over me.

That, in essence, I’ve gone nowhere.

It’s shaming, in a way. And I have a hard time thinking about meeting my former classmates with a forced smile in place as they jest about it.

Shallow and petty? Probably. But isn’t that, in essence, what these reunions are all about?

Perhaps I should shake off these feeble fears and realize that rising to the occasion, reacquainting myself with old peers, and turning that forced smile into something genuine would, indeed, make me a better man. After all, what does it matter where I work, or go, as long as I’m content? As long as I’m happy.

Then again… maybe I can just avoid the whole thing and not go.

…I am happy.

Aren’t I?

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¿Dónde está la biblioteca?

It’s not hard to fathom what I’ve spent my time doing the past day or so. If you check the post before this one, you’ll see the progress meter for The Wayfarer Redemption has jumped from about 30% to 60%.

I’m pretty sure I’ll easily finish this book before the end of the week.

The bigger decision, I’m afraid, is figuring out what I’ll read next.

So… what else have I been up to? Not much, unfortunately. French bits have been one of those things in the back of my mind… something I constantly remind myself about, but haven’t pursued. I’ll have to buckle down soon and try to make some progress if I want to keep to my goals. And working on my exercise regimen has also been something I’ve had a hard time making time for.

I refuse to give up on my goals, however. Expect some progress very soon on both of these things.

As for my dream journal… I think I need to make a stationary trip and pick up some simple notebooks. I have one that was recently given to me by a very close friend… but I’m hoping I can use it for something even more personal soon. I’d like to pick up my written journal again, and the blank notebook will be needed to fill in once I finish the one I’ve been scribbling in for years now.

Dream journal just needs to be something simple. Functional. Something I can leave bedside without worrying about tripping over it or damaging it in some way. I’m hoping I can simply use it to jot down those floating fragments I find on waking, and use this blog, or something similar, to organize those thoughts into something cohesive.

So… though I tell myself sometimes that it doesn’t seem like I’m getting much done, big things are brewing.

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Small Things

The amount of time I can spend on small things still staggers my mind.

I’ve been fiddling tonight with progress bars. My hope was that I could add a progress bar to the books I’m currently reading to show how far along with them I am. I found a simple plugin that would let me manage projects and display progress bars for them, but tying it into the “Now Reading” plugin has been a lesson in futility. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll probably have to recode the plugin by hand to get it to do what I want it to. Which is beyond the scope of what I want to accomplish tonight. So instead, at the end of this post, is a progress meter for The Wayfarer Redemption, which I’ve spent some quality time with tonight.

Quite happily, I might add. Things in this book are very much starting to pick up. And I get the feeling I’ll be hard pressed to put it down in the nights to come.

This is that happy state of book-induced insomnia that I love. And dread in the morning.

And, for one of you faithful that I know reads this blog, I’ve installed the progress bars plugin in your blog for you to play with. It may be just what you’re looking for for your cross-stitching bits.

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Something

A week since my last post…

Needless to say, I haven’t done as good as I had hoped I would.

This week has been a rough one, to be honest. Things at work have actually picked up a bit. I was hoping it would be fairly quiet until the end of the year, as it has a tendency of being this time of year, but a few major software updates made things a little shaky for a while. Plus I found out earlier in the week that a couple high school students wanted to job shadow me, of all people, for their senior projects.

I find it amusing that there are kids in high school eager to join the IT market that don’t have the faintest idea of how the guts of a computer or a network work. I can’t blame them completely. There’s not really a curriculum here that covers something like that. The vast majority of computer oriented classes at the school I work at consist of how to touch type and use Word and Excel. Which are excellent skills to have, to be sure. It’s just pretty far from things like actually building your own computer, for example. Or putting together a simple network.

I guess that’s why they have job shadows.

Although the blank stares I got while describing what I was doing as I added a VLAN to the network for use with our DMZ was entertaining.

All this has meant, though, that I have been having a hard time finding moments to dedicate to my goals.

And I’m upset at myself because of that.

Thankfully I was able to get a little bit on track last night, though it meant that I didn’t have the time really to post things here. So this a little later than I wanted it to be, but the good news is that I’ve actually made some progress… and spent some time away from work.

Shawn, Danie and I spent most of the day yesterday in Moses Lake. Just having fun for the most part. We were able to have a nice dinner at a favorite mexican restaurant in town, and fit in a little bit of shopping as well.

And me, being the impulse purchaser I am, managed to snag up a movie I’ve been looking forward to tremendously.

So, needless to say, we watched a movie when we got home.

Howl’s Moving Castle is another gorgeous work of art from Hayao Miyazaki. I am slowly beginning to collect all his pieces, including Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds, Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke. Howl’s Moving Castle is actually more straightforward than most of his others works, with a storyline that is fairly simple, and familiar in some ways, echoing a lot of fantasy tales. It is, however, still stunningly animated and an absolute joy to watch. I’ve found out the story is actually based on a book, which I may have to track down and read. If I ever get around to doing so, I’ll have to compare and contrast the two here. This is something I would actually like to do more often when watching movies, as most of them actually are based on some literary piece of some sort. I know that when I watched the first Narnia movie, the desire was quite strong to go reread the books… and see if somehow my childhood memories of them where somehow rose tinted compared to my mixed reactions of the movie.

At any rate, so far its been a rather pleasant weekend. I’ve even managed to get a couple more chapters into The Wayfarer Redemption, and it is still my solemn goal to get the rest of the way through it before the end of the month. Which I think is still entirely possible at this point.

I do have to admit another addiction that has been stealing away some of my time once more as well, though. World of Warcraft. I’ve tried to hide this addiction for the longest time… because there was a time when it was actually a serious problem for me. Though not lately, thankfully. When I was inbetween jobs and wasn’t sure if I was going to have full time work at Royal, you could almost gaurentee that I was playing that evil game. That was a dark time for me… where I didn’t know where my life was going or how I was going to make ends meet. That game was an escape… and much worse, in ways, than drinking. I’m not saying it’s evil incarnate, because honestly, I had an absolute blast playing for the most part. Blizzard has done something amazing in building a game in the massively multiplayer genre that is genuinely fun to play. They make it easy to get started, make questing easy to do, and weave in a storyline that is actually quite intriguing. There are still some balance issues between classes, but considering the choices you have and their very differing skillset, I think there are some things that can be forgiven. That being said, I reached a point playing where I lost a lot of interest in the game. And, thank god, I was able to start working full time in Royal, which simply made it so I couldn’t put in the amount of time required for one of the most frustrating aspects of the game.

The end game content.

Unless you have absolutely no life and all the free time in the world, World of Warcraft becomes virtually unplayabe at level 60. At that point it stops becoming a matter of questing or simple runs through dungeons with a small group of friends. At level 60 you have to start running instances that require raids of 40 people… with the hope that something for you drops that you can use… and that you don’t get out-rolled or out-bid on the item by one of the others in your class that is going to invariably be there. These raids generally will take multiple days to complete… and will require being in a guild that takes such things seriously. And will likely kick you if you don’t have the time to seriously take part.

This is where it all falls apart, and, in my opinion, the game stops being fun.

I hold out hope that the expansion pack will solve some of these problems, but honestly I doubt it will. At least until you hit the level cap at 70 once again. But I have found myself playing the game once again despite these drawbacks. Because, honestly, though reaching level 60 might be rather anticlimatic, getting there is still an absolute blast. I’ve been leveling up a character with my little brother once more, and having a fun time doing it. Partly because I’m playing an Alliance character for the first time, but also because we are playing on a PvP server, which is a different experience entirely. It adds a level of apprehension to the game that constantly keeps you on your toes while you’re playing. And, of course, there is something satisfying about randomly battling the other faction and, hopefully, coming out victorious.

Add to that the fact that two other good friends have started a character on another server, and I find myself once more happily trying to level and quest to catch up to them.

The game may have its faults… but its still well worth a play through in my opinion. And maybe some day they’ll fix those end game issues.

Until then, I’m not too worried about it sucking my life away again, at least.

There are too many books that need to be read instead.

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A bevy of books.

I can now check off my second completed item from my 1001 Day Project page. I have finally compiled that long list of authors I’d like to read, and you can now find it under Authors and Books.

You’ll notice that most of the list is Sci-Fi and Fantasy. I’ve always been drawn to that genre of literature for some reason. As with most things, it is something that simply grew from my childhood, and I found myself consuming everything I could find by authors like C.S. Lewis, David Eddings, Peirs Anthony, Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander, Terry Brooks, J.R.R. Tolkien, and more. A lot of it was trash, but to my mind, it was still good. It was fodder for my imagination… and as an awkward kid growing up, that was all I needed.

I’ll still never know what Peirs Anthony books was doing in a Middle School library though. They always seemed a bit smutty for 12 year olds.

But then… I never seemed to mind.

This list is a huge thing for me, though. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for some time, because as the years pass, I watch myself read less and less. All that responsibility, work, and the day to day grind has dampened my imagination… and the enjoyment of something I have always considered a deep part of my soul.

Being able to read again will be much like simply finding myself again.

Some may find it strange that I can find myself inbetween the pages of something completely fictionalized. I never did like the constrains of reality, though.

I have to thank Vicky for a few of the titles and authors on this list. Our love of all things bookish was one of the things that cemented our friendship early on, and is still something I cherish to this day. Her book collection is awe-inspiring to me, and I would love to have even half the books she has managed to accumulate over the years. You are not only a bibliophile, but an inspiration.

Now I just need to read another chapter before bed.

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No more excuses.

I’m realizing, for the most part, that I find myself intensely boring.

I think I have that ‘nothing ever happens’ syndrome, where I’ve convinced myself that the progress of time is just one of those inexplicable things that you have no control over.

For so long, I’ve been letting things happen to me, instead of making things happen.

I am, in short, lazy.

I can’t really think of anything profound that has happened these last couple of days. I go to work, fix computers, come home, spend some time online… surfing sites, tempting myself with retail therapy, catching up with close friends… and then I sleep.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

I think, in large part, it’s part of the reason I started the list of things I want to do. To give me incentive to go out there and actually pursue some goals.

To make things happen, instead of wait for them.

So… I’ve decided to pick five things I want to work on this month. And I have to spend at least an hour working on them every day, with a progress report of how I’m doing at least every other day.

  1. Complete my author / book list. I have this done partially already… I’ve been accumulating the names of series and authors I’ve wanted to read for a while now. It’s time to put it in a readable list, though. On this site, in the projects area.
  2. Finish The Wayfarer Redemption and start a new book.
  3. Begin my dream journal. This is spurred on in part by the fact that I know I had a strange dream this morning. But already I can’t remember a thing about it.
  4. Make some progress on my French studies. I was doing good on this for a little while, but have let it slip to the wayside of late. I’m hoping that this site can be something that helps me in this regard. With every update to blog, I want to post a little something about what I’m learning. Even if it’s just a simple word or phrase. I expect this to be the hardest thing to keep doing. Learning a language isn’t an easy task, especially if you’re trying to teach yourself. It’s going to take a bit of determination and willpower on my part.
  5. Organize my work-out schedule, and stick to it. I’ve been trying to keep on a schedule of working out on my recent exercise equipment purchase, but this, too, has fallen to the wayside of the late. There’s no excuse really, other than that whole laziness thing. My goal is to work out a solid schedule, including what exercises I’ll be doing, how I’ll rotate in aerobic exercise (which I’m happier about doing now that it’s warming up a bit), and most of all, stick to it. This will all, of course, get posted here.

And that, honestly, should keep my hands full. I have a hard time with forming new habits. I know I need to step up to the plate, but all too often I just find myself falling down.

But honestly, I just need to stop making excuses for myself.

This blog helps, actually. It reminds me of how flimsy those excuses really are when there’s just a little bit of light shed on them. It would be all too easy just to crawl back into my hole if I didn’t make myself come out once and a while. It’s bad enough that there has been so long of a gap in my updates.

We’ll be close friends by the time this month is over, blog.

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Winds of change.

Spring has arrived.

There’s no fanfare of flowers or lush greenery to signal its arrival. Nothing overt that you can sense while looking out the window as you enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning. Not even the slight upshift in temperature constitutes the telling factor.

It’s the wind.

The past few days have brought 20mph winds, on average… with gusts up to 40mph in some areas. Othello itself isn’t too bad… but in Royal City, where I work, the wind whips through the valley its nestled in with incredible speed. It’s the true sign that spring has come. In a month or so it will die down and the more visible aspects of spring will show their faces.

Generally I don’t mind this type of weather. Though it does make me wonder why I don’t cut my hair shorter this time of year.

As for work bits, things progress. You may have noticed that there is a new book in my “Currently Reading” section. This is something my supervisor at work actually purchased for me, so it’s not a leisure reading item by any stretch. There’s a serious need for a QoS strategy at Royal, and I’m the person that’s going to have to implement it. And though I know the basics of QoS, I have no clue how to go about implementing something large scale on a predominately Cisco network.

I plan to change that shortcoming in the following weeks.

It has, however, made me question my certification path choice. I do want to get the CCSP certification eventually, as the network security side of things really interests me. And I seem to have a knack for understanding concepts in that area of networking. But the CCIP looks interesting now as well. Especially considering the QoS test is one of the required modules for it.

Either way, I’d be stupid not to take the QoS test after studying up for it, implementing a strategy for Royal, and having the material fresh in my mind. Even if it’s the only test I take in that certification tree.

And I know this must be incredibly boring to most of you.

It’s good to have finally found the weekend, though. I do have some goals for this weekend, beyond just getting some time to read. There’s a package assembled here that was meant to go overseas weeks ago. It’s my top priority to make sure that it does. I also would like to find some time to work on some cosmetic aspects of this blog, since there are some minor issues that are irritating me here and there.

Otherwise, I hope to just enjoy myself, catch up with some friends, and be buffeted by the winds of spring.

I’ll miss you, winter.

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Domo arigato.

And the days pass, like dominos.

Mutant, hulking dominos. With teeth.

Okay. That just makes me visualize Domo-kun for some reason.

The past couple of days have been uneventful, however. Work at school is hectic at times… but usually, it’s just a lot of fixing small problems and generally trying to make people happy. Today I had a teacher that was actually afraid of his computer. While trying to get him to explain what was happening, the response I received was that it sounded like “razor blades were flying around” inside of the case.

It was his CPU fan of course.

But the visual of razorblades actually flying around made me chuckle.

Most days that’s what I do. It’s a lot of workstation maintenance and user support. It’s not bad, though. Most of the staff at least know how to turn their computers on, which can’t be said of the people I used to support while doing Internet help desk work.

Whatever you’ve heard about doing Internet help desk work, the stories are true.

Hell, they may even be toned down. Yes, there really are people that stupid in the world.

I do get to have fun at work though. I’ve single handedly implemented a server backbone for about 600 computers. It’s not much, but it’s well organized, maintained, and it works. The network and server maintenance side of things is the stuff I actually, really enjoy. The workstation support keeps me on my toes, but the back-end maintenance is what makes me happy to go into work in the morning.

I’ve effectively become a jack of all trades.

The certification path I want to do will kind of pigeon hole me into Cisco equipment, but I don’t mind too much. Most of the world does run on Cisco equipment, after all. And those basic networking concepts and ideals can be applied pretty much anywhere.

This next payday I think I’ll be purchasing the next book for my certification. Expect to see it on the “Currently Reading” list when that happens.

And of course, other than work, I savor the moments I have to talk to those close to me.

I don’t have much in this world… a good job, and good friends…

But I still consider myself damn lucky.