Xatal

After much hype and hope, Left 4 Dead 2 will finally be out in just a few hours.

Because Steam is completely awesome and knows exactly what most gamers want, I’m getting the downloading done now with a nice pre-load (I’m currently at 20% and rising!). I’m trying to get some homework out of the way now because I know I’ll inevitably be up late playing this and spending most of tomorrow playing it.

I’ll post and let everyone know how it is!

My roommates this year and I will be celebrating No-Shave November. For the whole month, we won’t shave once. We currently have no plans to celebrate Decembeard or Januhairy.

I’ve been shaving more frequently than normal — up from once a week to every other day — so my facial hair grows back a little faster. I’ve grown my facial hair out a bit before, but usually I end up trimming it and/or shaving parts of it. After 30 days of not shaving or trimming any of it, I’m thinking I’m going to look like I was stranded on a desert island.

I’ll be heading home for Thanksgiving, where I’ll see my extended family for the first time in a year. Since Thanksgiving is near the end of the month, I’m definitely expecting some weird looks and awkward questions.

So, here it goes!

Oh, and I’ll post October’s traffic stats pretty soon :)

I know, I know, I haven’t posted much lately. And I’m sorry.

This year is a bit more hectic than last year was. Living in an apartment means that there’s a bit more going on day-to-day, and my classes are also harder. Last week was especially rough — lots of piled up homework combined with a vector calculus midterm. Ouch.

I’ve been working on finding a good schedule for posting that I can stick with. Don’t worry, I’m still here!

I’ve spent the last week moving in and getting properly situated. I’m living in an apartment on campus, and it’s working out pretty well so far. The biggest change from living in the dorms has definitely been how much space I now have. Last year, I had to come up with clever ways of storing everything. This year, we have plenty of space and can store things with ease.

I’m living in a triple. Although it seems crowded, it’s not bad because the apartment has a living room that’s available, as well as a good-sized dining hall.

Cooking has been pretty nice. I have a meal plan from the dining hall, but I’m thinking that I won’t keep that for next quarter. We’ve already had a couple of barbecues and made other food in the meantime, and it tastes a lot better than dining hall food. However, who knows — once classes start, I’ll probably be grateful for the convenience of the dining hall.

Classes started last Thursday, and so far so good. I’m hoping to start regular updates again, but it’ll be hard to say, since so far I’ve been surprisingly busy. I’ve been trying to keep up on comments, so at least I don’t have much backlog to deal with.

Here’s to a new year!

Well, I’m back from Yosemite. As usual, it was beautiful, and definitely a great way to end my summer.

Now, I’m finally getting packed up. Tomorrow is my last full day at home, and I’ll be spending most of the day frantically hunting around to make sure that I have everything that I need.

This will probably be my last post until I get fully situated, so in the meantime, take care!

So now that I’m done working, it’s time to take my only real vacation of the summer.

I’m heading off to Yosemite National Park with three close friends today, and barring any sort of a disaster, it should be a great trip, filled with beautiful surroundings, fun hikes, and simple relaxation.

Going in the middle of the week in September may seem a bit weird, but it was the best choice for us — none of us were too busy in the middle of the week, and since weekends fill up fast, it made sense to go when it’d (hopefully) be less crowded.

I’ve got a four hour drive ahead of me here, but luckily I enjoy driving.

I’ll try to take some pictures and post them when I get back!

After working six mornings a week for the last two months, I’m ready for a break. I worked at this job for about two and a half years in high school, and now I came back after my freshman year to work my fourth summer there.

The work has never been bad (I clean pools), and my boss has been an awesome guy, but let’s face it — I like to sleep in. Getting up at 6:30 every morning just isn’t me, and I’m glad I can finally sleep in. Ironically, I’ll get far more sleep at school than I get at home — my earliest class this quarter is at 11 AM.

I made a decent amount of money this year, and considering that many of my friends didn’t have jobs at all due to the recession, I’m not complaining at all. I’m still undecided about if I’ll get a job this year at school or not, but we’ll see.

For now, it’s time to enjoy my last week at home!

So I’ve put off my own dorm shopping for next year a litttttle bit too long, but now it’s time to finally get everything together.

Luckily, I have most of my supplies from last year that I can still use — I’m fine on hangers and towels, and I have enough fabric softener sheets to last me until I graduate. However, I am low on quite a few supplies, and now that I’m in an apartment, there are a few other things I’ll be needing to pick up as well.

Last year, I ended up forgetting a lot of key supplies because I never kept track of what I needed, but this year I’ve decided to get smart and have been keeping an ongoing list of what I need.

Here’s my “To Get List” so far:

1. Bathroom supplies — toothpaste, deodorant, soap, shampoo, and so forth. Gotta have all of these!
2. Batteries. Last year when I needed a pair of AA batteries, no one on my floor had any. This year, I’m going to be ready.
3. Shower Curtain. I’m looking for a dinosaur one.
4. TV Cable. A TV’s no good if you can’t watch anything on it
5. A bottle opener. For sparkling cider! I swear!
6. Protein. I’ve been good about working out this summer, and I’m hoping some expensive protein will encourage me to keep the habit going through the school year.
7. Diced foam and new bedsheets. Last year, my bed sucked. This year, I’m going to make my dorm bed as comfortable as I can.
8. Laundry detergent and quarters. I go through probably $50 in quarters a year to do my laundry. I’m always running out.
9. Umbrella. I was always fine in high school without one, so I assumed I’d be okay in college too, but in reality I was pretty miserable. This year, I’m going to be prepared.

So sometime in the next several days, I’m going to be going shopping and picking up what I need. None of the items are too expensive, but it does add up, so I’m prepared to spend about $150. Oh well, college isn’t known for being cheap.

Also, it’s 9/9/9!