I've found my calling

I got my shiny new bass guitar today, and I had so much fun with it tonight! I can already play along with a lot of different song. I can't believe how easy the bass is. I have a feeling that my violin training has made this easy. It is so cool to be able to play by ear instead of tied to music. I got an email today stating that my new violin was shipped today and I should have it by the end of the week. Ah, life is musical.

I have started to play my XBox again, and I've been focusing on SSX3. That game has incredible graphics, and it's not too hard, either. I haven't gotten stuck yet! I spent several hours last night playing the game. It's funny how when you get sucked into something, what seems like an hour turns into four. I have plenty of stuff to keep me busy for a while, now. :)

So stupid it's funny

I'm watching Mystery Science Theater 3000. I have two sets of DVD from the show. Sometimes, it's so stupid it's hard to watch. For those who haven't seen it, a guy and his two robots sit in front of a movie screen and make stupid comments while a really bad old movie plays. It's very Beavis and Butthead-ish, but isn't quite that stupid. Close, but not quite. I like Beavis and Butthead, too :P

I think it's so funny because I do the same thing while I'm watching TV or a movie, only I usually don't say it. Matt is the same way, only he does say it. It gets annoying if I want to hear something, but usually I'd rather hear him talk than watch whatever is on TV, anyway.

I had my draft for the fantasy football league that I'm in. I'm pretty happy with the team I got, I got my man Peyton Manning and Marshall Faulk. I think they'll do pretty good things for me. I can't do much worse than last year.

I'm off to go for a walk, hop in the shower, and then head to bed for the evening.

Happy birthday, Matt!

My little brother turns 16 today. Watch out world, he'll be on the roads before too long. Watch out Mom and Dad, he'll be an insurance liablility soon. Happy birthday, little brother, I hope you got my card.

I purchased my plane tickets tonight. I will be arriving in Madison at 1:55pm on October 5th. I will be flying back on October 27th. I am looking forward to seeing all of my family and friends again, I do miss you all.

The time difference and my sleep schedule makes it hard for me to contact everyone that I would like to. I find myself playing phone tag with Tony far too often. I guess this was to be expected when I moved here, though.

I am finding myself getting lazy. I need to start getting out and exercising more. I don't eat nearly as much or as unhealthy when I did when I lived back in Wisconsin, but I am also not taking advantage of my situation here and getting in shape. That's it, tomorrow Matt and I are going to Kmart to get some tennis rackets, handballs, and ping pong stuff. We're going to be more active, darnit!

I overdosed

That's it. I've overdosed on everything that annoys me about the Olympics. This has all been too much for one night. They are laying on the sob-stories pretty hard tonight. They just showed three in a row. Earlier today they showed equestrian for too long. I had to take a nap to recover. I've had to see that Visa commercial with the old singer singing about twenty times. And to put the cherry on top, the most amusing but stupid Olympic sport was shown - team synchronized swimming. I don't think I need to say anything more about the Olympics for tonight.

I have officially adopted a "sleep when I'm tired" sleeping pattern. I am kind of enjoying this. Sometimes I might sleep for four hours, other times one hour. I might sleep an hour after I get up, or twelve hours after. It is so nice to have the liberty to do this. I do realize how lucky I am. I think I have reached total relaxation.

I am trying to figure out what I am going to write about after the Olympics is over. I might not post as often as I do now, but I'll think of something. I'm also going to try to get some more pictures published. Some of them will be old ones, some of them from a camera that I haven't had developed yet.

My new potential career?!?

I decided to do it. Yep, I bought a bass guitar last night and should have it in the next couple of days. Watch out world, it won't be long before you see me jamming with Metallica on the professional music circuit. Seriously, though, I don't figure it will take me too long to pick it up. I'm taking a much different strategy than the violin, I'm not going to bother learning to read music with this. This will be entirely by ear. It'll be fun, anyway.

Today was a very lazy day. I didn't fall asleep until about 6am, slept until around 1pm, took a nap around 3pm, got up around 5pm, took a nap around 7:30pm, got up around 9:30pm, and probably won't go to sleep again until around 6am again. My sleep pattern is a little messed up lol.

To vote or not to vote?

Maybe if I could at least register to vote online, then I would. I know that you can fill out the forms, print out the forms and send them in, but I don't have a printer. Besides, I really don't want either of the candidates to be our president. It seems that the strategy that is taken on elections these days is "vote for the person running against the win that you don't want to win." That's exactly what I would end up doing. I am not a big fan of GW, so I would vote for Kerry just so Bush wouldn't win. I really liked Clinton, Matt and I get in heated discussions about this because he did not like him so much.

I guess if you want to slap a label on me, you'd call me a liberal, but I don't really think an affiliation is that important. Any candidate can say anything in the attempt to be elected, and how are we supposed to know if they're going to uphold what they say? They also say that you don't have the right to complain if you don't vote, and I know that every vote counted in the last election, but I still feel like it doesn't matter.

I feel guilty for not voting, but I still don't know if I will or not this year.

Drug pros and cons

I have forgotten to take my medication for a few days, and things just get weird when I don't take them for a while. My thoughts are jumbled. For example, I have made far more typos while typing this than normal. I type the wrong words sometimes. I see or hear things, especially flashes of light. My moods are very drastic, either elated or depressed (luckily elated this time.) I keep my wits about me as much as I can, though, and take these things as reminders to myself to take my medication.

If I were to stop taking them, however, my mood would most likely return to a depressed state. Despite the disbelief of some, I do believe that there is simply a chemical imbalance in my brain that is easily fixed with one little pill every morning. Before I visited Hawaii, I stopped taking my medication for nearly a month. I think the excitement of the move kept me somewhat sane, but after I settled in here, it wasn't long before I knew that it was time to get back on the old 'pro.

The cons of taking the medication are mostly in the first few days of taking it after an extended time of not taking it. I get sick to my stomach, have headaches, can't sleep or sleep too much, etc etc. But within a few short days, I am as happy as a clam again. (Are clams happy?)

Anyway, you can bet that I will be taking my medication first thing in the morning, since it took me almost an hour to get my thoughts together enough to type this. And Mom, don't worry, I'm fine, just a little goofy at the moment. :)

Go Olympic fans

I just finished watching the crowd of the men's gymnastics high bar pitch a fit for a long time and actually got Aleksi Nemov's score changed. I am a fan of Nemov, and I believe that he deserved a higher score, and I'm happy they changed it. But the scoring tonight was horrible, and I'm amazed that the fans were able to be that influential.

Poor Matt worked 18 hours last night. I myself didn't go to sleep until around 6am. I'm trying to match his sleep schedule as best I can. I did get a chance to go to KMart and the bank, and it was nice to get out around the town for a bit. I'm having trouble paying for this violin, Paypal is being stubborn. I will hopefully have it figured out tomorrow.

That reminds me, I placed an order for a computer desk and chair from Officemax.com before I came out here. I still don't have it. I'm going to send a hot email when I'm done here. And I am :P

Traffic

My apartment overlooks H1, Hawaii's "interstate" (think about that one for a second, they actually have it labeled that way.) I can tell what time it is by the backup of the traffic. From my observations, if you want to get anywhere in Honolulu (10th largest city in the US), don't drive while it's light out. The highway starts backing up around 5:00am and clears up by 9:00am, then backs up again around lunchtime, then again at 2:30pm and clears up around 7:00pm. It's only going to get worse now that the University of Hawaii is back in session. I'm glad I don't have to drive anywhere :)

I really have no rant for the day. I spent most of my day making lasagna and cleaning. I ended up winning that violin from Ebay, and I'm looking forward to getting it.

I have dressers!

I ordered a double dresser, a 5-drawer upright dresser, and a night stand yesterday from a local online furniture store. I got it this morning. The store manager emailed me almost immediately, I called him this morning, and I had the furniture by noon. Wow. Anyway, the bedroom looks so much more clean now that clothes aren't in piles on the floor.

I have decided to spend a little bit of money on a new violin. I am confident in my ability to recognize a good violin by sight (it's all in the back of the violin) so I placed a bid on one on Ebay. Hopefully by tomorrow night I will be the owner of a brand new single-back violin in a beautiful leather case. Mom, if you could, could you mail me my violin music? :) I also want to buy a bass guitar, because I think my violin experience would make me pretty good at it. Besides, I tried 6-string and suck due to chords.

We ate at Chili's tonight, which was a nice change. I haven't been feeling so great all day, though, and I am going to go to bed as soon as I'm done writing this. I haven't watched the Olympics much today, but I did watch for a bit early this morning. I really don't have a rant, but I do have another humorous observation. There always seems to be at least one smart announcer and one not smart one. Often times I am noticing the dumb one saying things like "That was good, right?" The stupid moment of today has been the best of the Olympics so far. It was during the Russia vs US water polo game, and the smart announcer was talking about how the Russia team has traveled all continents, as long as you don't count Antarctica and "Arctica." I am not kidding. LOL He quickly turned into the dumb announcer in my book.

Olympics = pro sports?

I'm noticing another trend as I watch the Olympics - a lot of the athletes from other countries are either US born or they attend school in the US. Now, if you were born in another country and attend college in the US, I can understand that you would want to play for your native country. However, if you are US born and raised, but you have some ancestry in another country, I'm not sure that qualifies you in my book to represent that country in the Olympics.

Example: I was watching the US vs Greek softball game the other night (the former Brewers TV announcer is commentating) and he stated that at least 75% of the Greek softball team is American born and raised. This just doesn't seem right to me. Another example: the old Jamaican woman that didn't make the Jamaican team was running for Slovenia.

So is this like pro sports now, where players are traded and have the liberty of playing for whatever country they want? That's my rant for the day.

Mom, say 'hi' to everyone at Jeff and Linda's party for me. You know how much I enjoyed going to those family functions, but I almost wish that I could go now. I was excited to hear that you and Dad are going to Arizona for your anniversary. I am looking forward to living there someday, and it would be awesome if you and Dad lived there, too. :)

I can cook!

I am learning how to cook! Matt and I actually go grocery shopping, I plan our meals roughly a month ahead of time, I buy all the ingredients I need, and I actually stick to it. It is not an easy task, though. I bought a cookbook and I'm starting to learn that straying from the directions can make for some interesting concoctions. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Tonight I cooked meatloaf. We didn't have any basil so I used oregeno. We didn't have any bread crumbs, so I used crushed pretzels. Etc etc. It sure didn't turn out like Mom used to make, but it was edible. There hasn't been anything yet that we've thrown out and ordered pizza. Timing is my biggest challenge. It's still hard for me to get the veggies and the potatos and the meat to finish at the same time. I keep getting closer and closer, though.

Tonight's Olympic rant: what is it all about? Some say it is about world peace and hope; some training and hard work; some sportmanship and good will. I say it is all about McDonalds and Visa. Yep, commercials. These commercials have been almost Super Bowl-like in quality, and I am noticing some eye-rolling trends. Just about everything is being geared toward this Atkins low-carb BS. I know some people lose weight this way, but some people lose weight eating nothing but junk food, too. Even beer, yes, beer, is on the Atkins kick. "Hey, get more drunk but don't get fat!" LOL

But I do have to admit, the Budweiser low-carb games have been my personal favorite. From the low jump to the 15-foot marathon, I chuckle every time I see them (which is 20 times a day.)

To my mother

Mom,

I am not there to give you a hug this year on your birthday, so I'll have to write the equivalent of a hug instead. Several years ago, you gave me something that you had written. I had never really even acknowledged it, but I still have it in a special folder. It stated how you looked into my eyes when I was just born and told me that you loved me, and how the future hadn't really turned out like you had hoped.

Now that I have grown, I look back on my life and have great memories. I remember things that might seem small to you, but to me they were quite big. I remember when you literally bought a Robin Yount shirt off of a stranger's back because you knew I would like it. I remember how scared I was when you and Dad took me to Grandma Turley's when you had Jessie. I remember how much I wanted to give her back over the next decade or so :P

I appreciate the fact that you and Dad let me grow up and think for myself. I consider myself to be much stronger than a lot as a result. I still use what we all learned during Dad's bout with cancer - hope for the best but expect the worst. You never cease to amaze me in your support and love for me no matter what. When I decided to blindly move to Hawaii, it made my life sooo much easier having the support of my family. I know that if I need you, you are there unconditionally.

The same goes for me, Mom. I am always just a phone call away. If I were there, I would look into your eyes, tell you how beautiful I think you are, and how much I love you.

Happy birthday,

Chey

Today's Olympic rant is...

Picture this scenario...

You are watching an exciting Olympic sport, let's say beach volleyball. Let's imagine that the US is playing Croatia or something. They are in the middle of a huge volley, the announcers are rambling on about a certain player and then they suddenly shut up (bad sign.) You see the fade out and hear the sappy music start. Then a deep male voice comes on and says "Lbulgia came from a poor family in the war-torn town of Zvgerbaih. Her journey to the Olympics is a triumph that we all can learn from." Then they go into the heartfelt story of Lbulgia's life.

I thought these were touching the first twenty times I saw them. If you've watched the Olympics for more than fifteen minutes, you know exactly what I'm talking about. They can make even the most well-off American equestrian "athletes" seem like they've had to fight for scraps of food to get to the Olympics.

And my "duh" moment from the announcers today happened just about an hour ago during women's rowing. There were five boats - yellow, white, red, blue and green. All five were in the camera's field of vision. The announcer said "the red boat is in the lead." Duh. How about telling me what country that is?

I spent most of my day sleeping. I took a couple sleeping pills after I posted last night and fell asleep shortly after. I woke up at about 9:30 or 10:00 when Matt got home from work. We played EQ for a while, then took a nap from about 12:30 to 4:00 or so. I have been lounging around since then. I have some laundry to do after this. He should hopefully be home by 1:30am tonight, which is pretty cool. His working nights kind of stinks because we can't really do anything. I've been wanting to go to Dave & Busters, an adult arcade (meaning they serve alcohol, not a porn arcade) and play ski-ball, but he leaves for work around 6pm so we can't really do that. He switches to first shift next week, but he's working 12 hour shifts so we still really can't do much.

Oh well, such is life in the Navy. In other news today, I found out today that his sister is moving here next month. I see advantages and disadvantages to this. Well, I'm off to do some laundry.

Later!

Early night for me

I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night. Maybe a couple of hours with a little napping during today. The Olympics have me pretty much glued to the TV, which leads me to my main rant for the evening. Last night for over 1.5 hours the only Olympic "sport" on was the equestrian. This is a sport?!?! For 90 minutes of my time I had to watch rich snobs dressed like complete weenies riding horses in circles for far too long at a time. The kicker was that the horse did all the work, and the commentators only talked about the horses. I didn't stick around to see the end result, but I sure hope that they hung the medals on the horses' necks.

At the moment I am watching the Wisconsin Hamm twins about to seal a medal for the US men's team gymnastics. Go cheeseheads. The US is really not doing too well from what I've seen during these games.

A couple of nights ago Matt and I watched a special on the History Channel on the attack on Pearl Harbor. Today I heard a low-flying plane, and even though I have visited the USS Arizona Memorial, it hadn't really dawned on me before that I am living only a mile or two from that actual attack spot. I can see the north end of the harbor from my balcony. I took a couple of minutes today to try and imagine what that must have sounded like from where I am sitting right now. It's kind of eerie. It's also kind of cool to know that my grandma was stationed on this same island almost sixty years ago. I am looking forward to talking to her when I return home in October. That reminds me, I need to get my tickets soon.

Well, after this gymnastics competition is over, I am going to try and get some sleep.

Later!

Things never dry off here

Good morning! It's early Monday morning here, and I just finished cleaning the bathroom and took a shower. I haven't dried off since the first shower I took here. It is so warm that you are almost always sweating. I really don't notice the heat, I actually enjoy it now. It's nothing that a couple of fans can't fix. Of course, the breeze at 22 floors up helps, too. The apartment seems to be set up so there is almost a wind tunnel between the living room and the master bedroom. The hallway is fairly long, and we have fans set up at the ends of it. I have learned not to like air conditioned buildings - the temperature contrast makes you notice the heat more. When I watched the news tonight, the humidity was 78%, which is less than it is back home. Looking at the extended forcast, it is supposed to be a solid 90 degrees the next week. I love it here :)

I found a really cool web site last night while I was trying to see if I could find a cached copy of my old web site. Check this out, a site that goes out and saves copies of different versions of web sites. It doesn't save the pictures, but it does save the text and formatting. http://www.archive.org/web/web.php That's pretty cool.

I've been watching the Olympics tonight, and I was kind of glad to see the US basketball take a fall like it did tonight. I think it's good for them to have their egos slapped around a bit. My favorite event of the evening was probably water polo. That's a fairly entertaining sport to watch. Right now it's just a bunch of blah blah blah. That reminds me, I have this TIVO type of thing that is a part of the digital cable box, so I can just fast forward through this. There, now it's women's swimming. Haha technology rocks.

I'm off to play on pogo.com. Have a good day! Chey

Cheyster is back

Hi Mom!

She is most likely the only person who will ever read this, but I figured this is a good way for you to keep up with what I'm up to. I'll try to update it every day. It might be tough, you know, since I'm sooooo busy every day.

I'm watching the Olympics right now, it's just past 10pm here on Saturday night. Actually, I'm watching the local news, the Olympics just finished for the evening. I watched some football for the first time today, and even though it was preseason and it wasn't the Packers, it was good to see football again. I need something to watch and follow since the Brewers suck again. I knew that would happen sooner or later.

I play EQ with Tony just about every day. There are days where we go out on the town, so I don't talk to him every day. I miss him a lot, although I don't think he thinks so. I miss all of you (my family) too. Matt isn't sure when his boat is going out now, but I will be home in October, anyway. I really miss my cats and I'm looking forward to picking them up.

Matt and I are doing very well, I find myself in love with him more and more every day. He is the sweetest person I've ever known. He makes me realize every day that I am the most important person in his life. He's still working nights. We went to a concert last night, Blink 182. It was pretty cool (but the crowd was very loud, 20,000+ teenage girls will do that.)

Well, I'm going to go and see if I can get this to actually post on my web site. I'm going to try to come up with a home page design and put up some pictures. I lost all of my previous content, which isn't a huge loss since t needed a lot of work, anyway.

Later!