Where do I even start?

2005. I spent the first six hours of that year playing laser tag. Unfortunately, nothing significantly promising happened during most of the first half of the year. I turned 16- that age. I got my license, no car, and I came damn near close to having a job, but it didn't happen.

Now, I don't really remember much from the first half of the year because I wasn't a very...social critter, I suppose. You might think the complete opposite, but outside of school, I was a drone to the internet and I slowly got better at managing my time. Then came August of this year.

Summer of 2005 was...slow as...well, slow. Then that two week band camp came up and it felt like school was starting. The last weekend before we went back, I biked up to E.B. Rains for Kim's surprise 16th. And ever since that day, Annie, Kim, Jake, and I have all hung out a lot more. And ever since this school year started, Ardis, Amanda, Travis, and Christian and I have hung out a lot. And while I do spend time with other people, those are the ones I spend the most time with. I think that's when I began to change.

No, no. Don't think I changed for my friends or because of anyone. I slowly became...well, me. I had different tastes- I used to hate mustard and Mountain Dew, but now I love 'em. I used to hate fish, too, but then I had some sushi and I had some herring at Jake's last night that wasn't too bad.

I danced in front of my parents at a football game.

I danced in front of hundreds of band kids and directors with Woody Woodpecker for a couple of hours in Florida.

2005 was a sort of awakening of who I really was. And no, it wasn't some miraculous, turnaround in me.

It was more like a swift kick in the crotch that told me to relax. And I did.

I've really not been trying very hard in school, but my GPA sits nicely above a 4.0 and I couldn't care more. Music is still a passion of mine, but I figured out what I want to do- direct movies. It may sound a bit farfetched, but really, it's possible. I laugh at myself when I think about it, but...wow, I just want to make an experience. Star Wars? Yeah, it's an influence. I don't want a cult following, I don't want people learning Elvish or any language I throw into a sci-fi flick, and I don't want millions of online fanbases. I want to just dazzle people. Ya know? Maybe it's just a geek thing. Or a director thing. I'm not there yet, though.

Oh, right. College. I haven't given it much thought yet but I suppose I should. I'm 98 ure I'll attend CU Boulder. I don't really want to leave my friends in Colorado, so I won't. And that's what scared me.

I'm a junior. Almost a senior. Where the hell did the last 16 years of my life go? I haven't done anything of great significance. Yeah, I lost my swimming trunks during lessons at the pool. Two dogs bit me in the same week. I crashed my bike pretty bad a few times.

So I'm a clutz.

Sometimes.

But I want to have those stories with my friends. The inside jokes on top of inside jokes where you can carry on a conversation in mutilated words and people you made fun of in passing.

And I'm getting there.

What else was I going to say? This is really long, by the by. So I think it was last April that I stopped crying altogether. I had some...stuff go down last year that wasn't very settling and I started wearing a mask at school (don't be literal). I felt it best not to worry my friends with all my junk, and that if I smiled, they'd be peachy keen with me. On the outside, at least.

Then summer started and I fell out of touch with a lot of them. Like...a lot. And though I talked to some of them online, it wasn't anything 'special,' so to speak. I don't mean to put them down, but I have a lot of friends, a few close friends, and a very select few best friends. And I found them all this year.

Some I've had since sixth grade and some I've known sing freshman year and only recently 'discovered' this year. And I love where I am with that. The fact that I don't have to watch my mouth around most of them- they know me, I know them. I'm not going to offend them. Heck, I might get 'em to laugh. I should stop rambling soon.

2005 romances? You've got to be kidding me. Only those who I've told know who I'm crushing on and no, I will not tell you if you ask me after reading this- that's just the way it is. Don't feel bad if you don't know...just...I dunno. I'm still slowly becoming less worried about who knows what. Once it's all out there, people will judge regardless and my true friends will stick with me.

So for 2006? The only person I think I told my resolution to was Jake. That was to spend less time online and more time with my friends, even if that means on the phone. The internet can be impersonal Bantha fodder. Speaking of phones, I got one. A cellular one, and in the past week I've become pretty comfortable talking on the phone. I'm still not a big fan of telephones, but...I will be, most likely. Hey, I ate herring and I hate fish.

I think that's a second resolution of mine. Give everything a second chance. *epiphany*

Starting today, right now, I'm giving everything a second chance. Tomatoes, tv shows, whatever it is. Second chances. I've been handed a lot of them, it's about time I start giving them.

I seriously need to hang loose.

And no, that isn't a sexual inuendo. I need to plan less, organize less, and just do it. Nike. That's 2006's slogan. And seeing as I went to bed at 4am two nights ago, 5am yesterday, and I wake up at 5:30 on weekdays, I should get to bed early tonight. So this is me, all that up there was 2005, and everything from now on is 2006.

w00t.

So since Microsoft can't decide to tell GS when their next shipment will be, let alone if my console is even on that shipment, I decided to pull my reservation and spend the money elsewhere. Yeah, you may think it's stupid, but I'm going to get a 360 in April when I get some birhday money, so It'll all work out in the end. What did I buy instead? Sammi and I finally got the GS we needed to, lol (long story), and I bought:

Nintendo DS bundle with Mario Kart 64 (red pwns),
PS2 (giving Sony a shot),
PS2 memory card and Ratchet and Clank


Money well spent, I think. Later days.

Rye

Fett finally got DSL. It only took him forever, but now he has it. I've got some exploring to do, as well as a lot of homework, so I just thought I'd make this li'l announcement. Hope all of you are well.

Rye

Life can be so slow and so quick simultaneous. I apologize for not blogging in...oh, let's see...forever. But I've been busy with friends, school, homework, and band auditions/district honor bands/jazz concerts and festivals/and soon to be pep band.

And I've neglected the Star Wars Union, but I hope to get caught back up on GS come winter break, in a little more than two weeks.

Life is generally good, despite being tired now and then. I discovered that I'm an extreme night owel, or, rather, my teacher did. I've always known that. Also, I have large sleep debt, which isn't good, but a lot of teens have a fair amount of it 'cause we party or do HW all night. I hope all of you who are reading this are well. Later days.

Rye

Microsoft has decided to send only 50 consoles a week to GS stores.

I got my copy of PD0 (collector's edition), but I now have to wait for my X360 for three weeks after luanch.

Three weeks.

Outrageous.

That's right, I said X360. My brother works for the geek squad at Best Buy, and he and a few employees set up a 360 on Friday, so I went and gave it a test run today.

Peter Jackson's King Kong; Some amazing stuff here. The graphics are noticeably better than almost any Xbox game. The environment is obviously more intricate and involved.
When walking in a downpour on rough terrain, things become more realistic. The camera shakes a little bit and is never steady, just as if we were seeing things in real life. At the beginning of the demo, you are chased by a tyrannosaurus rex and it really is something to see. He charges at you and, if you're in the way, he will kill you. Your first objective is to run, then distract the beast so your film crew, or what's left of them, rather, can open a door. And it is here that you realize how intense the game can, and hopefully will as the game progresses, be. When he roars in your face, there's a vortex effect on the edge of the screen that pulls you into the game even more and the camera shakes yet again.  I didn't get very far because I wasn't there for long, but I started noticing a trend in gameplay. So far, so good Ubi.

Kameo: Elements of Power: I'll be honest, the graphics aren't anything special. However, the in game FX are very similar to the opening fmv sequence. Big deal- Rare hasn't fully utilized the 360's graphic capability, but I'm sure they will soon.
What's unique here is the gameplay, kind of like Cubivore in a sense. Your natural, I assume, form is Kameo. She's some fairy sortof creature. There are three different forms in which you fight/interact with the environment; a flower sort of character I didn't use often, a rock thing (it looked like an armadillo) that you can roll up ramps with and roll through tunnels with- you can also break down locked doors and such, and my favorite last form was some abominable snowman creature. With this one, you can climb the sides of the citadel where you start and throw enemies onto your spiked back. From there, you can hurl them at walls or at other enemies. So from what I tried out, the gameplay is fun and the graphics are just 'meh' for the 360, but I think it'll prove to be a good, RPG launch title.

Call of Duty 2; It was like a demo...demo. I couldn't play very far, but it was fun. I'm not sure how fast the frames are running, but it gives you the sense that there's no lag- it's live action realism.
This goes back to what I noticed about King Kong. Developers have taken notice of the 360's graphic capability and are using it to develop environments that make the games real. Of course the city that we were in, somewhere in Germany, of course, was very detailed. Alleys, small corners, balconies- everything is as if someone lives there or as if someone is filming the streets of the city in real life. The next step to that is the realism of the characters. One enemy I followed up the stairs cowered down after I shot him in the leg and he sat there with his hands over his neck. Get this: he was scared. I could see it on his face; in his eyes. This man was terrified. So naturally, I melee'd him to death and went about my business. Now that's no Jedi way to kill someone, but it's pretty realistic.

PGR? No demo, unfortunately, just a trailer. But watching that content on an HDTV provided amazing graphics. So, the X360 in full? For launch titles, I'm impressed. There's no way this is all we can expect from MS- things will get better and better. I can say I'm waiting with even more anticipation to get mine on the 22nd. Plus getting Live will only enhance my experience, so I can just imagine how much more fun this console will be.

That's all for now. Later days,

Rye

wewt. So today, I found out I made first chair in wind ensemble, but I suppose it wasn't a surprise, me being brass captain and all. I guess I was lucky, though, because with all the practicing I was doing for marching band and jazz ensemble, I never got around to working on an etude to play.

So in about, four days, I prepared an advanced Voxman etude and made first chair. So, I'm pretty excited about that.

I bought Ep III on Wednesday and I've watched it twice since, but tonight, I'm going to watch all six films. Well...tonight into tomorrow morning. I'm going over to Sammi's tomorrow to game it up and then I have a dinner date with mah friend Jessie.

And as it turns out, I don't have any homework this weekend. Pretty great week, IMHO.

Rye

Gah. So, I have less of an e-life now. It's sad, in ways, but it's also nice to be more social and be out partying and hanging out 'IRL,' whatever that really is. Anywho, I've just noticed this change in me more and more every day, save for today since I've been online for a few hours chatting and being extremely lazy.

Oh, the title? I got a new yahoo! account, so all my addresses, 'cept for AOL, are the same; lieutenantfett@ hotmail.com/gmail.com/yahoo.com.

The reason is that it's easier to keep in touch with people that way, and I've found that's all I do when I'm online of late. I chat, I use myspace, and I e-mail more than anything. It's just....I'm different now, in ways. But I guess all things change and I just have to accept it.

Since realizing this, I've decided to give leadership of SWU over to dvader- I just need to figure out how to do that and we'll be set. I'm just on enough to have loyalties to GS anymore. Anywho, that's my little rant and I think I'm gonna go watch TV soon.

Rye

Put simply, I lost my wallet today. I searched the house eight time over, every room, pant pocket, and binder. I definitely had it on the bus ride home and now it isn't here.

How it fell out of my pocket? I've not a clue. But I called transportation twice; once before the driver finished her route and once after- she didn't find it at all. So I lost my license, school ID, $30, and my house key. Though all of those are replacable, it really, really....sucks.

So that's my rant/complaint/whatever of the day. Whoever found it on the bus kept it for themselves, and now that I've had time to think about it, I'll be okay. They're all replacable, material possessions that will just take time to re-acquire.

Fett out.

Out there? I know I seem dead to GS and GS seems dead to me. Hmm. In other news:

-We placed 19th overall for state, so we're not going to quarter finals, but we have one last game on Thursday. So no practice tonight or Saturday- that's a plus.

-I pretty much gave up on that Outback job.

-I pretty much gave up on trying to win Lauren over.

-I have a B in calc, but an A in everything else- the quarter ends next Friday.

-I went to a 'haunted' corn maze last Saturday. It was lame, but I ran out hollering and flailing my arms to make it seem like it was scary at the end, but I tripped and rolled for a while, so everyone in line laughed at me and then applauded.

-Ummm.

-I seem to be having more of a social life. I mean, outside of the internet. I'm gone every Friday and Saturday hanging out with Jake. And I've been doing band stuff, but when I'm not at band now, I'll probably actually be doing my HW or playing more games- what I love best. But that's ok.

-I have a slight myspace addiction. Ecksdee.

-Tuesday was our last 'official' band rehearsal, so we played a game of football, did a senior runthrough, drilldown, and a dance-off. Guess who won the dance-off? Yours truly. I get a $20 gift certificate to Starbucks, Boondocks, OR AMC. Which is really hard because I love coffee, the band is going to Boondock's haunted house next weekend, and there are a lot of movies I need to see soon; Corpse Bride, Doom, King Kong, and maybe Saw II.

-On of my bestest-best friends, Amber, who's always lived on the street next to me, moved. But she still comes back to the house so her dad can pick her up after school until she gets a car this weekend. So today, she rode the bus home and we played Donkey Konga.

-I'm not sure what's up with the SWU...I might need to give the administrative powers to someone else. I'll wait, though, since the GS community seems so disconnected to me. Plus, after Ep III comes out, there won't be a lot of SW news until the latter part of 2006 to hype the 3D DVDs and the two TV shows.

-I'll stop rambling nnnnnnnnnnow.