it was a cotton candy sunset tonight.

i really enjoy the ability to come home. if anything, at least i get a jam every now and then with Jon. This weekend, we were really cookin up some good stuff. Somehow, Bennett and Des and Jon and Myself were all in Lafayette at the same time. Yay for friends. and also, Jon’s taking this film class, and i’ll let him tell you about it, but basically it’s an excuse to get together and watch good movies, occasionally pausing and rewinding and slow-motioning the film so that we can catch something incredible we thought we saw.

I don’t know why i am not doing my homework right now. It’s kind of important. So far, it’s been 2 weeks, and i have not opened a textbook or completed any actual work. I mean, quizzes don’t count because they are retarded, and this matter has already been discussed.

Grandmere said today, “You will be procrastinating for a while, and then you will do bad on a test, and it’s going to bite you in the butt. So then you will kick yourself into gear to make up for it, and then you will make the highest grade on the next test.”

And i thought to myself, Yes, that may actually happen, perhaps replacing the word “highest” with “good”. However, there must be some way to engage this gear without actually making the initial bad grade. I am not currently aware of the solution to this problem.

Today while i was working on the bookshelves that i am building at Grandmere’s house, i got a call on my cell from this guy in a couple of my classes. He had a couple questions about how to interpret the wording in an electronics homework problem that i have not done yet. However, all he had to do was merely describe the circuit’s parts for me, and i could sort of picture it in my mind and guess its function, after which i described a possible solution. This ability surprised me very much. Perhaps it was just a simple problem, but I used to have to be able to see a circuits problem and work some numbers before i could even begin to have any insight on it. That gave me a small boost of confidence. But then i returned to the bookshelves, and i got stuck when i tried to think of a way to ensure that the holes i am drilling are going to be level and even when i set it upright. And i lost some confidence, but in a different area.

So i ended up finding a new strength and confronting a personal limitation almost at the same time, in completely different problems.

It was a pretty good weekend.
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During the midst of a heated class discussion concerning religion and gender:

Proffesor: “And so, can anyone tell me , in a succinct and direct definition, what is one of the purposes of religion?”

Older student in his late Forties (OSIHLF): [makes dramatic hand gesture] “To be ONE with [pauses for dramatic effect] EVERYTHING!” [looks at class for approval/disproval, assumes knowing buddha-like smile].

Prof: “You know that reminds me of a great joke.”

OSIHLF: [looks confused]

Prof: “A man walks into a bar interrupting a conversation about religion and proceeds to ask the bartender, ‘Can you make me one with everything!’”

[Class outburst of laughter, huge digression away from discussion commences]

You might have to read it outloud. Cheesy I know, but funny when it happened. Just thought I’d share after reading Dave’s post.
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this week marks the first week of 2006 that i feel the busy-ness and general inner grumblings of the world start to take hold of my relaxed frame.

i started my first day back in the tutor lab, as exciting as ever. i read a book. almost no one was in there asking for help. all those poor little students will soon come to realize what class they are taking. And then my job may have purpose.

i should be asleeping right now, either that or studying, because my teachers think it is a good idea to give quizzes after the 3rd day of class. This is to ensure that 1.) the kids who are inevitably going to make an A in the class because they are so studious are well on their way to making said grade, and 2.) the kids who added the class to their schedule at the last minute can fall hopelessly behind, like they are sure to do for the rest of their enrollment in this particular class. Quizzes serve absolutely no other purpose than this. Therefore, one whose destiny is secured neither by incredible self-discipline nor by a penchant for bad timing, or in other words, someone like myself, is required to attend a lecture at 8:30 in the morning for no other reason than to contribute to this awful and unfair divisive teaching practice.

Down with Quizzes.
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With all the mild weather we have been having this winter, it’s not hard to believe that some of the local flora are being fooled into thinking we’re having an early spring. I noticed some green buds on a number of plants on my walk to class yesterday. I hope they know what they are doing because winter is far from over yet.

I guess in my own small way, I’m having an early spring restart myself. A new semester is here, and school seems like it’s going to be interesting. So far, I’ve enjoyed all my classes (to the extent that we’ve had class), and although it’s going to be a lot of work (when is it not?), I’m glad I’m here. It’s also nice not to have any class on Friday.

I also guess I should let everyone know that my relationship with Katie has come to a seemingly permanent end, due to some apparent irreconcilable differences. I’d love to speak freely about how I’m feeling about the situation, but I’ve never used this blog as a forum for my feelings and it doesn’t feel right to do so now. If you’re interested in the details or my take on the whole situation, you can call me. It’s always nice to have someone to talk to about difficult situations such as breakups.

To round out this life update, I can gladly say my grandfather is back home and is doing well. Thanks to everyone who provided him with some mental support. It worked.

i sang loud obnoxious songs on my guitar that i made up about julie and lauren while they tried to be responsible and prepare for the next day’s classes. i bought an album off of itunes. i again totally neglected the mess in my room. i made some bux tonight teaching my kids algebra. i ate a warm, fudge-filled chocolate cake and washed it down with cold milk. i got a haircuit from a gay korean who commented through broken english how my eyes are erotic (¿maybe he said ironic?). i watched ridiculous home movies on my computer.

i woke up at 9 and heard rain and felt a chill on my bare shoulders, so i just turned over and pulled up the covers.

sigh, school really starts for me tomorrow.

my first class (lab) is not meeting this week. don’t start school until wednesday… i was kind of disappointed, i was looking forward to riding my new bike.

my room is a wreck. i can’t completely concentrate: my capricious cognizance is crushing my commendable conviction to clean.

so it’s sort of sorted but it still looks out of sorts.

last night we had this super sweet party at my place. Julie wanted to use her new grill, and she thought it would be a good idea before school started, like a back-to-school hangout thing. so she insisted that we do it as soon as possible. I was resisting at first, but after i found out that my friends could come, things turned around. Jules hand-made some hamburgers and people just started coming over. I grilled ‘em up and we sat around on our front porch and had a good time. A few of our neighbors walked over and initiated some conversation, which was really cool and i felt like this whole party thing really was supposed to happen after all. I ended up wishing we had made more food so we could invite more people but hey. that can be saved for later in the year.

I hope this year ends up going pretty well. 2005 was one of the most mixed up years i’ve ever had, besides maybe 2001.

Well, just when I thought my holidays had been screwed up enough, after being sick and hurt and all, things got worse. Geez, what is going on?

About a week ago I was going to post about how boring my life was during the holidays and how I had been slaving away over a two thousand piece puzzle for days, when Thursday, my grandfather had to be rushed to the hospital with stomach complications. Now, papa (as my family calls him) is 80 years old and had already had major surgery only a few years ago to correct an aortic anurism (sp?) as well as having to deal with pulmonary fibrosis, a degernerative lung condition.
As it turned out, he had gall stones, had to have his gall bladder removed, and on top of that, had a hernia in his diaphraghm which allowed his stomach and a foot of his colon to migrate into his chest cavity, nearly stopping his lung functions.
On Friday night he underwent major surgery to fix everthying up and I am happy to report he pulled through and is expected to make a full recovery. However, I certainly did not plan on the emotional strain that staying at the hospital for a few days would exact on me or my family. I guess you just can’t ever really be prepared for these types of things. They just happen.
On top of those stressful events, Katie and I decided to “take a break” in our relationship, just when I thought I could take a sigh of relief after the surgery was over successfully. I’ve never been one to broadcast personal information so I’m not going to start now, but I will say that although it was nobody’s fault and there are no bad feelings running between us, this couldn’t have come at a worse time. I know its better this way for both of us, but I just wasn’t prepared for this. Any of this.
It’s strange. One day you’re a happy-go-luck 21 year old with a strong relationship and a healthy family, the next day you’re in the hospital for 8 hours, single, and wondering what the heck could possibly happen next. Just like that.

Of course, I’m resilient. I know about hospitals and surgeries and breakups, I’ve been through all that before. Sure, they are stressful now, but no condition is permanent, and soon they’ll be long passed. Alot of it is fear: fear of change, fear of death (for others and myself), fear of being alone. These are fears we all have, our collective “existiental fear” of things we don’t understand and cannot control. But fear is only a knee-jerk reaction, the very first hit to get the system in gear; once you are in gear you get to fight and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
This semester I am digging my heels in. I may be down but I’m not staying there.
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no engineering job for me. dang. coulda scored big with this.

Visit to georgia was great… I miss my brothers and mercerians. ATO has so many new members… they all seem like good guys, and i’m proud of my chapter. Despite a couple disappointments, including at least one that could have been prevented (if i would have brought my freaking GUITAR), the trip allowed me a partial reconnection with that lovely college.

as an aspiring engineer, i don’t get much leisure time to read books. but over the trip, i started my first book probably since freshman year, and i’m already feeling smarter. It was my first Tom Robbins book, hilarious. Now i’ve started another book that was recommended to me, called Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, and it is excellent.

My friends from the Newtons, Alex (singer/guitar) and Andy (bass), are starting in this new band this semester, called Walthall Tango. And i got to listen to their practice. And i tell you, sounds awesome. I wish i was part of a band again… i at least want to record one.

The other Newtons, Stephen (drums) and David Milligan (piano, synth), have teamed up with another ATO named Matt Bland for vocal talent, and they have been playing as a jazz trio on campus and around Macon this year, calling themselves the Alpha Zeta Standard. (Alpha Zeta is my ATO chapter). They sound amazing, and they are talented enough to handle just about anything you can imagine… i’ve heard some recordings, and if things work out, i may be able to feature some of their sample stuff on this website.

It feels great getting comments again… my old website wasn’t the same when we had to pull the plug on comments because of spam, and i’m glad i’ve updated to the spam-proof version.

So School is about to start again! on a tuesday… weird. I have one class on tuesday. And it’s like a pre-lab lecture class. Haha.

My classes this semester are sort of the follow-ups to last semester:
Electronics II + Lab
Digital Logic II
Controls
Solid State Devices
Linear Algebra

To my intense displeasure, i am forced to take Linear Algebra. Yet another math class… how silly of those LSU administrators. The linear algebra that is actually useful for engineers isn’t exactly difficult. But what if this class, taken only by Math Majors and other needlessly intelligent people, is truly designed to be over-the-top hard?

At least I don’t have to worry about being too preoccupied with an actual Engineering internship that would be a perfect boost to my early career… sigh

My interview went okay. i hope i hope i get it. great opportunity for me.

I’ll be halfway to georgia in 24 hours.

i’m about to partake in sunday dinner right now. Excuse me.

possible internship interview tomorrow morning. the company is located in Baton Rouge. that is great, big news. i can’t believe how great the circumstances are for this one. Let’s all hope I don’t blow it like i usually do.

How perfect is it that Dave was able to get Version 3.0 of davidcomeaux.com going right at the start of ‘06? Of course, I’m so happy that he’s letting me moonlight once again as a contributor to the site, a job that has some big responsibilities attatched to it. Like being able to update frequently with important stuff. I hope I’m up to the challenge.

Like Dave, I had a little livejournal thing going on for a while, but I’m not going to link you to it, or post back entries. Trust me, it really wasn’t that great.

Normally at this time of the year, I’d do some kind of “best of list”, but this year I’m just not up to it. I know it’s a collosal let-down but there just isn’t much more to say about ‘05 that hasn’t already been repeated about a thousand times on the news, radio, internet, etc. Plus, my current events/pop culture knowledge took a big dive last year, partly because I don’t watch a whole lot of TV at college and partly because there were bigger things to worry about last year like hurricanes and such. However, I can tell you that LOST is solid Wednesday night entertainment, and that watching LSU football in 2005 has probably given me permanent acute anxiety.

Good year-end rundowns can be found here courtesy of Jason Kottke, and Pitchforkmedia has their (slightly more mainstream?) music best-of here, if you’re into that kind of thing.

On a different note, do you ever wonder if you’ve done something really wrong that you’re not aware of and the universe is out to set you straight? That’s the question I’ve been pondering since school let out in mid-December as I’ve had a series of unfortuate events.
The evening before my last final exam, I dislocated my shoulder for a second time while shooting some hoops with the guys at work. Dislocating your shoulder sucks, alot. I think it’s probably used as a torture method of last resort sometimes. Like if you just won’t give in and tell the interrogators what they want to know and they’ve already chopped off your ear and pulled out your fingernails - that’s when the scary guy in the black sunglasses makes the sign for “dislocate a joint”. I’m suprised you don’t see it happen more often in movies because it really hurts.
Then, after New-Years, I contracted this terrible virus that had me throwing up like 79,832 times and running a high fever. I consider typing this entry my “actvity” for today and I will probably have to go sleep for about 5 hours after I’m done writing.
So the holidays have been a mix of good and bad:

goods:
christmas food, family, friends
jams
time with s.o.
holiday loot (digital camera! pictures coming soon)
opening champage bottles
sleep

bads:
being sick
having your cat get sick
no music recording time
dreading school (again)

now, i think i’ll go take a nap…