Attack of the Show

For those who never really go into the "deep"(up into the 100's) cable channels, you may be missing one of the best shows on tv. Attack of the Show is a twice daily show (one is live, the other a repeat) that focuses on all types of digital media on G4 (channel 105 on Time Warner Cable). AOTS has two hosts, Kevin and Olivia, who are both great to watch.
The feature a bunch of different segments, each featuring a different idea or facet of tech culture. There is "The Loop," where they pick an issue to discuss (last night was the ipod vs Zune debate,) then have two influential parties debate back and forth with Kevin intermediating. There is "The Feed," where a co-host Laila gives quick tech new reports and other devlopments. "Around the Net" kicks off most episodes with the top 5 most watched videos circulating the web. All this actually sounds boring in print, but the show makes it very entertaining while still being informative. Believe me, if your interested in tech life and new little gadgets and other little things coming out, tune in and watch once in a while, usually times are 7 and 11 pm on g4 network.

Dave Matthews Band

For the third band profile, the Dave Matthews Band. I've been a fan since I heard my sister blasting them from the room next to mine. We used to have music fights, with one party raising their volume and the other reciprocating to a higher degree. This was the one band I never fought with and just let it play. Their style and just overall unique feeling from other music in modern times makes them stick out. There is plenty of modern bands I like, but this band is one of the only whose spirit you can just feel from their songs. After discovering that I only had one track from them on my ipod (a travesty) I downloaded their best of cd, "The Best of Whats Around." It actually happens to be a rather large band, so going into how each individual member joined could take a rather long time. Basically, Dave Matthews was a bartender in Virginia and a lawyer friend convinced him to make a three track demo. Everything snowballed from there.

There older stuff is much more mature and less pop-y sounding then their past 2 cds, even though some of the tracks off those are actually very good. The Space Between and Crash into me rank as two of my favorite songs off the top of my head. I have been waiting for their new cd, which seems to have been limbo forever. There is no real release date yet, but one track has been released on itunes for download titled "Eh eh" in late august. The track had the modern DMB pop sound to it which has made some people doubtful for the new album, that combined with their old producer departing ways with the band leave the bands future unsure.

Mental Addiction

This is a topic I have been thinking about for a little while. This not about drugs or other substances that induce a physical dependency, those are supported by scientific fact and cannot be disputed. I want to talk about other things that cause a non-scientifically mental dependency. The thought crossed my mind when I saw a special on Video game Addiction. I didn't think it could be serious. I have been a video game player since I started playing madden 94 with my brother. I play a generous amount, but have never really considered myself addicted. Watching this special, there were numerous video game rehab "clinics." they were basically building stripped of internet and television and of course games. I still couldn't believe they were calling this a real condition. This was until I watched the interviews and the follow-up stories about people that had finished the program. These people demonstrated classic signs of physical and mental dependency, all from a video game. I began thinking, could I be addicted,? when does it become more than just a hobby or a spare time killer. I still don't believe I have an addiction, I have been able to stop myself from playing for extended periods of time just to prove it to myself. Then the thought came, why am I depriving myself from something I enjoy just to prove a point that I already know isn't true. I also realized I had been using gaming to fill a void in time and interest I had. Replacing that time and mental focus with other objects or activities seem to stem off the urges to play. Is this what those "addicts" feel, only to a smaller degree. Maybe there is no biological effects, but looking at these people who cant stop themselves, they don't seem to have many things going on for them in their life. Very few had girlfriends, there was no extended talk of their friends, and I thought is this a result or a cause of their addiction. Years of doing the same things everyday creates an urge and set internal schedule for a person. Think of the activities you do everyday without a thought, they have become second nature and not doing would seem more unnatural than not performing them. Replacing gaming as an interest with reading and writing seemed to work fine for me. I didn't need someone to physically remove me from my environment to stop, maybe these people don't either. Just someone to step in and try to take an active part in their life and giving them other options to spend their time than in just wasting it away on a video games.

End of a Semester

Well there's only two more days of classes left in the semester, not counting finals days. While im excited I made it through relatively unscathed, I didn't do as well as I could. Then again, I've felt like that about ever semester of school I can remember. I accomplished one of the goals I set for myself, doing well enough to maintain my scholarship. I need to maintain a B average, and barring any epic collapses on my finals I think I have assured that. However I didn't accomplish my other goal of picking a major or a real goal for after college. Theres been a million ideas floating around my head about what to do, but I haven't been able to really sit down and get them out. Do I wanna be a radiologist like my aunt and uncle, a commodities trader like my brother, a lawyer like my sister or a doctor like my parents want me to be. Problem is I don't feel a real passion towards any of those. I really just wanna be me, but haven't quite figured out a way to make a living off that yet. I only have three real interests or passions, and those are music, film and video games. I've never been musically talented, going into film is risky, and video games is kinda hard to make a living off. I'm trying to do all this while working a ton of hours at my job, maintain my school work and try to have some semblance of a social life. Not to mention being forced to go see Rent as a part of my DNY class and trying to finish up all the work I have left is making things difficult. I really just feel as if I'm at a standstill right now. Nothing is really progressing, just staying static. Hopefully with this nice long break coming up I can get centered, but right now I'm just trying to keep my head above water.

Too Technical of an Age?

While making my daily trip through my usual websites, a link to ZDnet.com came up. For those that do not know ZDnet, they're a popular business/tech website. Most of their articles are not just about new inventions, but how it will effect the economy and etc. While I didn't get to read the article I clicked on, the main page brought me another interesting story, The Top 10 Tech Disasters of all time. Instead of just rehashing the list, Ill point out a few of my favorite ones.

#1 Bad Soviet software nearly starting WWIII. This is just incredible. A faulty reading in the soviets software registered that the US had just launched 5 missiles their way. The officer that picked it up had a bad feeling and checked the report. He found it was a misreading and prevented the Soviet's from retaliating unnecessarily.

#4 Airbus mishap. A rather recent story form 06, the new airbus being developed in Germany and France suffered a malfunction when the two halves were being attached. The Germans were using a older version on the same software than the French and led to the two halves being misaligned. This little mistake set the company back over a year and cost a ton of money.

#8 The rumors of exploding laptops from Dell had been running rampant in 06. Well some were true and it couldnt have happened at a worst time for one incident. Right in the middle of a Dell exhibition showing their new laptop line. So in front of a crowd of onlookers, mostly tech savvy buyers and writers, Dell confirmed their issue at their expense. (no this was not a publicity stunt, Dell just sucks)

Link to source article here

New Use for PS3s?

Sony's underachieving gaming console still line store's shelves, a reminder of their dismal sales numbers. Well a cyber security researcher from New Zealand, Nick Breese has found a new use for them, cracking passwords. Using ps3's very powerful processor, Breese has been able to brute force hack files in record time. Brute Force hacking relies on imputting every possible code untill the computer finally accepts one. These hacks rely on speed of the computer trying the hack, and using the ps3's processor seems to speed things up exponentially. "The gaming console is perfect for cracking passwords because the chips it uses are optimised to rapidly perform the calculations required to model 3-D environments. The computing techniques used to crack passwords are similar." says Breese. Being a security researcher, Breese's job isn't to crack passwords, but to find the methods people are using and provide protection from them. Breese hopes this presentation will spur new methods of protection to make sure companies have protection form this in the future.

Link to source article here

Maximum the Hormone

Im going to use a band I know very few people reading this blog have heard of for my second band profile, Maximum the Hormone.

Maximum the Hormone is a four member Japanese rock band.Their first album was released in 1998 with little success. Two years later the band split, with Suigi and Key leaving the band. The remaining members, Nawo and Daisuke recruited Ue-Chan at bass and Nawo's brother, Ryo for guiatar and melodic vocals.

Why I love this band? I cannot understand what they are saying in their songs (though from the translations and summaries I have read, the lyrics do not make logical sense in ant language), but their melodies and tones are amazing. What sets this band apart from other bands in my opinion? All their members contribute vocals. Each song has such vocal variation, then melodic variation to match the vocals, each song sounds so different from one another and never gets boring. Hearing the band go from hard metal sounds with Daisuke's screaming, to Ryo's melodic pop sounds to Nawo's soft feminine vocals in the same song really set this band apart from other bands for me. Heres a link to their song "Koi no Suito kuso merikan," its one of my favorites, which is very lucky since there has apparently been a purge of many of their videos from youtube. I do admit, they sound a bit better in studio than live. Their live stuff isnt bad, but I just feel their studio work is superior, but still nothing beats the feeling of live performances.

Incubus

Running out of blogs topics, I have decided to highlight some of my favorite bands in my posts. The band tonight, Incubus.

A Kansas City based band formed when the four of the five members were fifteen years old. The four recorded their first full CD, later titled Fungus Amongus, but it was not picked up by a label. Their manager at the time paid for the pressing of the 1,000 cds out of his pocket, believing in the band's potential. They began gathering a fan base and they gained another band member, Gavin Kobbel, the DJ. Gavin was the last to join and first to leave, two years later Gavin left the band and another DJ, Chris Kilmore was added. This is the band to date and they have no plans to change according to any of the members.

Now for some of the my favorite works of the band. My favorite CD would have to be Morning View. Each cd has marked a noticeable change in the band's style. Morning View was their first cd that had a more mainstream sound while still keeping the signature Incubus oddities. Coming in a VERY close second would be Make Yourself. Make Yourself houses my favorite tracks from the band, but it just does not have the depth of Morning View. Some of the lower tracks on Make yourself ruin the play through for me, while Morning View has solid tracks throughout.
Any time you have the chance to hear Incubus acoustic please go watch. In fact, there is a one hour acoustic session with the band on youtube here that is great, not their best work but good nonetheless. They have a few orchestral acoustic performances that are just phenomenal and a must hear. Naturally they have fantastic live performances including one here of one of my favorite songs, The Warmth.

Maynard James Keenan

Maynard James Keenan is a modern singer/ songwriter. He is the lead singer and writer of three different bands, Tool (his oldest and most dedicated), A Perfect Circle (He wanted to try a new style of music) and Puscifer (A way to get the creative ideas out of his head). All three bands of found acclaim among music lovers of all different styles. Why have I chosen to write about him? Because he is in my eyes one of the most amazing artist not only of our generation, but of all time. He is one of the only musicians I would truly call an artist. His songs are all amazingly written with sub context in every song. He does music for himself and the art, not to cell cds. As a singer he is nothing short of spectacular. His voice has a odd, earthly spirit and style to it. All three of his amazing bands sound different and unique. If forced to pick my favorite, it would have to be APC, with Tool and Puscifer both close behind. Puscifer has just recently released their first full cd and it is great as expected. Please do yourself a favor and watch this video from youtube of the song "The Noose" from APC . Good quality tool songs are few and far between on yotube so please buy the cd or even download just to have something to enrich your tastes

New Hires

At my place of work, Shoprite, we have recently started a hiring spree. More than 20 new cashiers have been hired in the past month alone, nearly doubling the staff. The reason was a mix of us being shorthanded and the holidays coming up, so increasing the work staff was necessary. This has led to some odd changes. My hours have been shifted and cut slightly, not enough that I mind, but the beautiful thing is, I do not have to do any real work. Since there are more cashiers than avaliable registers on weekend and on weekdays not busy enough to have them all open, I am able to do odd jobs around the store. Such as putting things back on shelves, fixing shelves, etc. All easy jobs that require no effort and lead to me wandering the store aimless much of the time. I am loving all the new help, especially since I am able to get all the new kids to do the shitty jobs. However, with all good things come some problems. One of our trainees, Rob was hit by a car while crossing Hylan after work. I believe he is still in the hospital but stable. Another trainee, Jessica I believe, has gone missing. The police have been by multiple times to ask questions and we are all hopeful they will find her. So our hopes and prayers go out to both of them, get home safely.

The Departure of OiNk

The torrent download giant site of them all, Oink, was recently closed by interpol. Oink for those who do not know was a semi-invite only torrent download site that indexed thousands of cds. It had a user base of about 100,000 dedicated users. The only way to gain access to this site was by an invite from an existing members or signing up during an open period (which were rather rare). User were required to keep a steady upload/download ratio, so cds never went dead and always plenty of people to download from. Interpol targeted this site not because of the user base (as plenty of public sites have much larger bases) , but because of the dedicated users that the government feared. The death of this giant has already opened the way for numerous sites to step up and try to take its spot. Some of the competing sites are waffles.fm and whatcd. Both are invite only sites but are having trouble getting their files up. It is doubtful that either will be able to get to where Oink was at its height. The site was truly magical. Any cd you wanted, from whenever, even the rarest you could think of was alive and well. However it is no more and we will all remember 10/23, the day the internet cried.

Radiohead- In Rainbows

About a week ago, Radiohead released their latest album. However good luck trying to find it in stores. The band decided to try something new, without having a record company to back them, the band released their album solely online. Oddly, thats the not the strange part, the strange part is the band let any user name their own price for download. That's right, you could download the album for free with breaking any laws, its completely up to you how much their music is worth to you. This odd experiment was meant to get people to think about how mcuh music is worth and downloading online. Recent reports say the band has made over a million dollars on the cd, not too bad considering any body could get it for free. The band is in talks with studios to get a physical release out, but that will be pay to own. So after reading this, how much is music worth to you?

Zeitgeist

Some of you may have seen this independent documentary called Zeitgeist. Those who haven't it is about the how they say religions came about and about the 9/11 "hoax." While I will not touch on the religion issue, saying 9/11 was a "hoax" is pure bullshit (sorry for a lack of better words). This is only one of many online videos stating the "truth" of 9/11, but this one has seemed to gain the most popularity online. This video and the others like it are a pure disgrace and dishonor to all those who died in the twin towers. Maybe I'm biased because I know people who died that day. But people who make videos like this disgust me. The only people who disgust me worse than these people, are the impressionable idiots who believe them. Seeing these idiots running around claiming 9/11 was a hoax by the government makes me want to move out of America. Not for hate of the government (even though I know they are not 100% truthful or holy on some issues), but to get away from these retards. Im not going to go into my ever burning hate of these people, just refer you to someone called Maddox's blog about this issue http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=911_morons

Real Rap

When people ask me if I listen to rap I always respond NO. That is because I know they are referring to this garbage mainstream rap that fills the radios. This is not real rap, it is people mumbling to terrible beats. Half the time you cannot understand what they are saying. When you can, it is either 1) about drugs, 2)guns/killing 3) women, thats it. There is no feeling, no meaning, just something these "rappers" ( use the term loosely) came up with with their 10 iq. Why is this popular you ask, because the intended audience has an even lower iq. Real rappers don't get radio play because people cant understand the lyrics. Some real rappers for your reference (Atmosphere, Immortal Technique, EARLY gym class heroes and lupe fiasco) Some of these mainstream rappers do have talent and could make real music, but why don't they. Because it doesn't sell cds. Atmosphere and Immortal have more respect from real music lovers than Jay-z and Kanye ever will, because all though all four have talent, the former two refuse to sell out to major record labels despite multiple attempts to sign them. Underground mixtapes and online distribution is where these artist get they're music out and until the mainstream music listeners smarten up this is how it will stay.

Heres some lyrics to Atmosphere's "LoveLife"
Individually wrapped, placed in neat little rows
Becoming A piece, of everything that grows
Some numbers, A name, to indicate you played the game
Came empty handed and left the same
A soul is A soul and A shell is A shell
The border in between is full of everything you felt
Some cling to A cross because they're tired and lost
They leave it up to the weather to measure the cost
And everytime I look within I recognize the darkness
Familiar to the image of the artist
Staring at the bathroom mirror in A strangers apartment
Can't remember her name, don't remember how I got here
But here I am, thinking about death again
Humbles out the stress, helps the breath get in
I need to check my friends as well as my next of kin
To let them know I love them all to the end
And when the soul begins to reap, I think she'll know me from the sleep
I keep caught in the corner of my bloodshot eyes
And if she has the nerve, to let me dump a couple last words
I'm gonna turn to the earth and scream "Love your life!"
Love your life, quite cliche but I guess thats me
A ball of pop culture with some arms and feet
As discrete as I've tried to keep the drama and cancer
It's no secret I hunger for someone to feed the answers
I never expected a bowl of cherries
I'm just a virgo trying to find my own version of the virgin mary
And when I let them carry me to a cemetary
I wanna be buried with a pocket full of clarity

Let no tears to fall from none of y'all
Just remember it all, the beauty as well as the flaws
L-O-V-E L-I-F-E
Here lies Sean, finally free
And as I look across the sea I smile at the sun
While it feeds the weeds the nutrition they need
The people still breathe, the city still bleeds
I'm going to love it to death and keep planting my seeds
I'm going to love it to death and keep an eye on the seeds
I'll be in love till im dead, I keep reaching the seeds
I'll give all I got left just to teach you to read
Love life to the death and keep planting my seeds
And when the soul begins to reap, I think she'll know me from the sleep
I keep caught in the corner of my bloodshot eyes
And if she has the nerve, to let me dump a couple last words
I'm gonna turn to the earth and scream (Love your life)

Triangle

Tonight is the required trip to the queens campus to hear the author of the book triangle. Of course it is not until 5pm and my first teacher, prof Farley isn't here. When I first saw he was not here, I immediately thought to just go home. I haven't missed a psycology class all semester and I didn't think one wo0uld hurt me. thats when it set in I had this lecture tonight on a book no one in my class has read. I can only imagine how boring this will be. As bad as the DNY labs, only in the queens campus and were leaving a rush hour. So sitting in traffic for an hour and a half, listen to an author I don't care about talk about a book I don't care about, and come get back to about 9. It is a massive waste of time. Even our teacher knows how pointless it is, letting us miss class tomorrow as an apology.

Cousin's Big Day

This Saturday was my cousin Sandra's Wedding. She was married to her boyfriend of two years Sammy. The wedding was held at The Old Bermuda Inn, ceremony and reception. The ceremony went fine, there were some mix ups but everything went well overall. I didn't get to talk much during the cocktail hour as the couple and immediate family were brought upstairs for pictures (while cousins aren't normally immediate family, were such a tight family my cousin insisted we all be in the pictures). So we pretty much went straight to the reception. My tabl for the reception was my sister Lauren (also the maid of honor, 21), My brother Mike (30), his girlfriend (26). my cousin Jason (22) his girlfriend (25) and my little cousin Dominic (8). So it was a very varying table. It was an open bar and I managed to convince the bartenders I was 21 so I wouldn't have to bother getting someone else to get my drinks. The night was going fairly smooth untill I got up to get a drink when the groom Sammy and his two best friends were about to do some shots. Sammy pulled me in and asked to take some with them. Of course I agreed, we did a shot of Soco and lime, then Jager then me and sammy split a shot of petron. I was still fine, but Sammy and the other two seemed pretty gone by that point. About 15 minutes later my brother sat down and told our table that Sammy just took a piss off the balcony. We all found it funny and didnt care, but one of my aunts was really offended by it. Eventually she got over it and the night went fine after that. The party ended about 12, I was out as soon as I got home. All in all it was a good day and I was as happy as could be for my cousin.

Unnatural Attachment

While I was at work today, I noticed something that made me wonder about people's attachment to sports teams. As you probably know by now, the Mets lost today, meaning they will not be making the playoffs. Quite a shock if you consider about three months ago, they were comfortably atop their division. A "free-fall" of sorts has landed them out of the playoffs.
For most of the day, the tv was out. I was sitting next to a co-worker who happens to be a die-hard mets fan. Since the tv was out, he went on his phone to check the score. The look on his face was one of the saddest things Ive ever seen. It was as if someone had killed his dog right in front of him. All life seemed to be drained out of his body. I didnt even need him to tell me what had happened, his face said it all. People took it differently, some loud employees were completely silent, others screamed and snapped at people. Seeing this made me wonder about peoples attachment to teams. Is it natural to be so attached that whether a team wins or loses it affects you or strong? Why do people cling to sports franchises so strong. Im not sure anyone has the answer. Why do people pick the teams they do, it just seems unnatural to me. Does it mean I don't like sports, not at all, I love watching games, but I am more of a casual fan. I'll watch games and keep up with stats to a degree, but whether my team wins or loses will not affect my temperament I myself am I yankee, jet and ranger fan, but I really do not know why I picked those teams. Some kind of attachment to those players and franchises was formed years ago unknowingly. Well, im not going to over-analyze this attachment as there is no clear answer to it, just to get people thinking. Why did you pick the teams you did and why do you care so much about them?

Memories

Memories, to a scientist just a collection of neural processes and chemicals t recall past events. To the elderly, fleeting moments of happiness soon becoming blank. To everyone past moments in our life we are able to recall at will. But thinking further, what are they. Can all these times in our life we remember just be neurons recalling information? IS it something deeper? It will depend on the person you ask. Some people will stretch to find something deeper, not wanting t believe that is just chemicals and wiring in us. That humans are deeper than that, that our proverbial soul is the reason for our individuality and personality. Call me a scientific person or a non-believer, but I am with science. I see nothing wrong with admitting that our memories and everything about us is ingrained in our bodies. We were built for survival and the recalling of past experience is a mechanism for keeping us alive.
A memoir, a collection of all our most important memories. A loose autobiography of sorts.

My Family

While trying to think of a topic to write about, I hear the chatter coming from my kitchen. Then it hits me, what one of the things most important in the world to me, my family. Ill start at the top, my parents Mike and Doris. They both in their upper 50s, even though my mom wouldn't admit it. To be honest, I have no idea what my dads formal job is. I know hes worked at South Beach psychiatric since he was 18, close to 40 years now. On any given day I can find him home most of the day or in his office at work. Whenever I ask him what he does, he always replies " The reason yo work somewhere for 40 years, is so no one knows exactly what you do." Hes a very quite, sarcastic and one of the funniest people I know. I always believed he favored my sister heavily until my aunt said to me "Maybe its not that he favors her, maybe its cause he knows she needs it the most. He knows you and your brother can fend for yourselves and right now in her life, your sister really needs someone there for her." This put a lot of my fathers actions in a new light. He is the main problem solver of the family and keeps everything in order so the rest of us can function.
My mom works in a hair salon and she is also a real estate agent. She tries hard to make money and provide. I don't really know how to describe her, shes just my mom. Shes always been there. Shes frustrating to deal with at times, but it is because shes overly protective and overly affectionate. She is much more open to my dad, nearly exact opposite. Very outwardly affectionate and friendly.
My sister Lauren. She is 25, just out of Law School and right into her first law job. She lived in Albany the last 3 years for school. She managed to get a job with the city as a prosecutor on Staten Island so that means shes back home for the time being. Her personality is a mix of my mom and dad. She can be very sarcastic like my dad, and has my moms stubbornness. Shes the hard worker of the family. She graduated Manga Cum Laude from Albany law and Dean's list from St. Johns.
My brother Mike, the black sheep of the family. He recently turned 30 and has a job as a commodities broker. Hes had some bad luck with jobs, mostly cause by 9/11 which caused him to lose his job on the stock market floor. Hes the one who always seems to be causing trouble, but he has calmed down as hes gotten older. That doesn't stop the family from re-telling classic trouble stories of him at every family gathering. Hes not married, but has had a girlfriend for a while. I don't think anyone is expecting marriage, more like waiting for when he messes this one up. It might seem mean, but he knows hes the oddball and sometimes feels like hes trying to play the part. Some of his past accomplishments were graduating from Wagner on Dean's List, being captain of the Farrel and Wagner hockey teams and even going to nationals with Wagner. They were actually one of the better teams, but one reckless night from some of his teammates caused them to be disqualified from the tournament. Something I think hes still bitter about but would never admit.
Thats my immediate family. Maybe If i run out of topics I can get into my extended famil, but thats for another times.

Social Gaming

Tomorrow at midnight the most anticipated video game of all time will be released, Halo 3. Lines at stores will be filled around the block, rain or snow. While many are anxious at the release, some even going to extreme bounds to get it a day or two early, I feel almost indifferent about it. At this point, theres so many things going on in my life its an afterthought.
But the game itself is now what this blog is about. Its about the social affect video games can have on people.
Starting my first job was strange for me. I'm a shy person by nature, so for a while I pretty much went to work, got my money and went home without really developing relationships with anyone at work. After a while at work, I began to here other people talking about halo a lot. I got in on the conversation and found just about every guy at my store played all the time, even people that I never expected. Eventually this led to playing with them and gave us something to start talking about. While games aren't the only thing we talk about with each other now, it was how it started and how we became friends.
With the release of online gaming some 5 years ago, it gave people the ability to play with each other from anywhere. My first online game was Halo 2, an incredibly popular shooting game for the xbox. After playing countless hours and playing with the same people you begin to develop friendships. The last 4 years of playing Ive become friends with many people that Ive never actually met. It sounds weird, but once you get over the fact the person isn't physically there with you, it becomes like talking to anyone else. Some of the people that stand out in my mind are Topher and Marc form New Hampshire, Patrick from DC, Rafi from Mass and Kyle from Manitoba, Canada. Ive never met any of them, but If im bored I can still call anyone of them and talk. You begin to realize, people are pretty much the same anywhere. I can mention something that happened local to me and they will always have something related or similar near them.
After playing the same game for about 3 years now, Ive realized its not really the game that makes me want to play, its the people playing it. I hate to end this blog abruptly, but I have to get ready for work and see my friends.

College

The last few months have gone by incredibly fast. It feels like just last week I was a senior in New Dorp High School. Senior year was by far my favorite year. Leaving early, having next to no school work and generally having more freedom than other years. It was also my first year having a job during school. My job for those who don't know is as a cashier in Shoprite in New Dorp. Being just a five minute walk from school, made everything very convenient. While the work itself is annoyingly boring, I love the people I work with, many of them have become like a second family.
Summer flew by so fast I couldn't believe it. Starting college felt so far away, then all of sudden it was tomorrow. Now that Ive finally started, its not like what I expected. The workload is so much greater, and so much reading to do. Ive already felt like I'm slipping behind, something Ive never felt in school before. I have always been in the top tier classes with putting minimal effort towards my work. Having to really think about my assignments, combined with the rust from summer and a lackadaisical senior year and working way too much has led to a shaky start. However, I am making strides to fix it. Ive recently told my employer that I'm taking all Tuesdays to Thursdays off for my school work. Having those days off every week will give my much more time to finish my work and do ALL of my readings. Hopefully I don't drown in all this unfinished work before I can catch up.