Today's rambling: It's ba-ack!!!
Written on Wednesday, Sept. 03, 2003 at 8:36 p.m.
while feeling a bit

In the good news, my precious baby (that would be my laptop) has been returned to me! *warm feelings* Unfortunately--because there always has to be one of those--everything is different. The weirdness goes beyond the simple fact that my entire hard drive had to be reformatted (which means that all my programs need to be re-downloaded/installed). I can't even explain it. Well, the one thing that's irking me quite a bit is the little mouse scrolly thing between the two buttons. Before, it worked like the wheel thingy on new mice: if you pushed the lower button, the page would scroll down; and if you pushed the upper button, the page would scroll up. Now, however, only the lower button does anything and it has the same effect of pushing on the scroll wheel on a regular mouse: the cursor turns into an arrow that points up and down, and you have to drag the mouse (either up or down, obviously) to make the page scroll. Can this be changed? I'm going to search around later, but if any of you are computer geniuses and could help me out with this small dilemma, I'd be much obliged. :)

In Intro to Images, our professor showed us a music video that he'd put together (not for MTV, hehe...it's just a song from the 70's with images put to the music), and then he showed us this brief documentary-ish thing that he'd done about Lee Harvey Oswald. It apparently won some kind of award at the Philadelphia Film Festival, or whatever it's called. Ugh, the one part was SO gross. Y'know that footage of JFK getting shot while going down the street in that motorcade? My professor negotiated this thing with...well, I forget the name but he negotiated to have the original footage digitally cleaned. So we saw--twice--that scene, but in rather graphic detail (because it was MUCH clearer than the stuff you usually see on TV). I hadn't expected to see as much as I did, since I remember the footage always being kinda grainy and distant, but...augh. That was just disturbing.

But it was really good. In a very grim, depressing way, but it totally drew me in. I almost started crying, and I (obviously) never even experienced that event firsthand! So I went up to him after class and said, "I just wanted to say that that was really good." And, contrary to the reaction I'd expected (which was just a casual sort of thanks), he actually seemed genuinely happy to hear the compliment! I mean, this is a guy who's done documentaries and had them broadcast on cable television, so I was half expecting him to be a little...I dunno, not condescending exactly, because he's too nice in class for that, but something close to it. Yet short of beaming, I think he really appreciated my compliment. And no, I wasn't trying to be a kiss-up, LOL! I just have a lot of respect and appreciation for the kinds of things he does, and I thought he deserved the compliment, especially as it made me react so strongly.

In yet more good news, I got an email on my clarion account regarding the work-study position...and I've got a job!!!! It's just 10 hours a week, and I'll be working between two professors (just the thought of being a professor's assistant makes me feel important for some reason, LOL). I have to go in tomorrow morning and fill out some paperwork, but yay! I'll have some extra cash to spend at Walmart or on groceries or whatever else I need/want to spend it on! 'Course, who knows what that'll do to my schedule, which already seems somewhat hectic, lol! But I'll find a way.

The radio station meeting was tonight at 5, and I'm a leetle peeved about the fact that Fred did all the talking instead of letting me get something in. His job and mine used to be just one job, so we both have very closely-related jobs, but still, I was sort of looking forward to being able to say something to all those lowly DJs! LOL...Well, at least he acknowledged me and asked if I had anything to add. Maybe next time around, since I have to get there earlier, I'll get something to say. ;) And I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunity to harp on people later in the year, so maybe I shouldn't be so eager right now!

Our station manager is such an adorable creature. Not the happiest thing in the world, but he's got these big, bright blue eyes, and this thick messy-ish sort of hair that you just itch to run your fingers through. I realize that I am, in a small way, attached to someone (though Geoff would probably cringe to hear me say that, LOL), but it's not harming me to look, right? ;) Besides that, he's a member of the "hot" fraternity, and has shown himself in the past to be interested in sorority girls (and the nice-looking ones at that). So it's perfectly harmless for me to look at him. And think about how nice it would be to bury my fingers in that wonderful hair of his...(The hormones talking. Sorry.)

The TV practice stuff was right after that, but it was more or less pointless for me. I decided that I wanted to start off on cameras, and honestly, I think that's where every tech person should start out 'cause it's pretty much at the bottom of the totem pole. But the moment he showed the two cameras to us, I felt right at home. It was like being in 10th grade again, lol, even though that was quite a few years ago! Still, the equipment in this place is somewhat old and so there weren't any fancy, high-tech things to confuse me. The zoom button was in the same place, the focus bar was where it was supposed to be...The guy told me and some other kid (who was unbelievably shy) to play around, but I was done after a couple minutes. :P Actually, so was the other kid, because honestly, how much is there to do when you're focused on an empty set?

It was kinda funny how shy that other camera guy was, because I was trying to be friendly and whatever (and I'm stupidly shy in social situations) and he just wasn't responding. Well, he kept sending furtive glances my way, in a tentative "Should I speak?" sort of way, but you could tell he was one of those quiet, somewhat dorky sorts of guys. Which means I should get along quite well with him since there's nothing threatening about him. ;)

Anyway, that's about it. It's 8:30 now, and I need to force myself to go to the Rec Center (because at this point, I REEEEALLY don't feel like going). Tried talking to Mom, but since tomorrow's her day off she decided to get buzzed with some friends (including The Toad)tonight...so even though I said mostly everything, she probably wasn't paying attention to half of it and now I'm feeling a little irritated. She'd said that she'd call me today so I could walk her through copying and sending a file for me, but oh well. I guess the alcohol was calling. Guess that also means my silver spiced rum is gone AGAIN, since Adrienne only ever brings cheap beer and instead drinks our stuff. Gah, I don't like any of her friends. They're all drunks and asses.

So yeah, on THAT happy note, I'm going to go get high off of endorphins. Maybe when I get back later tonight, I won't feel like kicking something. X_X

OH! Before I forget, I have a wee request to make of all of you! I need workout music. My CDs don't do the job. I'm not asking you to actually create and send me CDs, because I can't pay you or give you any nice gifts in return (though if you still wanted to, I'd be profoundly grateful and would love you forever), but how about some song suggestions? Fast-paced stuff, of course, since I listen to music while I'm on the elliptical machine. My one request: NO RAP. In retrospect, rap would probably make me angry enough to work harder, but more than likely if I actually downloaded it, I'd just skip that track anyway. So none of that. But any other song requests you may have, send them over here! ^_^