The Return.

You'll have to forgive my long abscence. Apparently, having five days of free time a week doesn't afford this blog any extra attention.

Anyhoo, I'm currently enjoying that short "introductory" phase before college plunges me headfirst into a world of torture. And what better way is there to appreciate this extra free time than an obligatory beach trip? I don't have any funny stories, but I did go to the beach over the weekend. So there's that.

My Xbox is on the fritz, or on the blink, I can't decide which one. Either way, it's not working right now and it's pissing me off. Not that I'm just dying to play the thing. In light of announced delay of the new Zelda, I've come to the realization that this holiday season is almost a complete wash. Gunstar Super Heroes, a Game Boy game, sits atop my list of anticipated titles and after that it's a bunch of "eh" titles that I may or may not pick up.

I've managed to catch a couple of movies I've been meaning to see while I'm slacking off. Lost in Translation, a film that gives hope to middle aged dudes everywhere, simply wasn't as engaging as I expected. The whole point of the movie, the emotional connection between Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson, was never adequately conveyed. Unbelievably, until yesterday I had never seen Basic Instinct, an excellent film that would make any man want to be murdered by Sharon Stone circa 1992.

You are not your ****ing home theater system

Is it weird that I'm still pleased with how my driver's license photo turned out? We've all had our fair share of bad photos, but it's been a week and I still smile everytime I take it out. It may very well be the most symmetrical photo in the history of mankind and the engineer in me just relishes that.

Meanwhile the hippie in me feels more like a consumer whore every day. I've completely bought into this whole TV-to-DVD thing. The Simpsons and Seinfeld are the primary culprits, two shows I have practically memorized. Be that as it may, all available volumes will eventually find their way into my collection, anti-consumerism be damned. I can't stop. I won't stop.

Going back to NC State brings back a few memories, but I'm not going share any of them. Instead, I'd like to bitch about all the bricks on this campus. HOW MANY DAMN BRICKS DOES ONE UNIVERSITY NEED? Everything is brick. The buildings, the sidewalks, even the nacho cheese has brick residue. I saw it with my own eyes. How about some marble? Concrete? Paper mache? Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill greets their visitors with excellent landscaping and varied architecture while I have to wonder around this shitty Centennial Campus where they've managed to slowly move every engineer over the last five years staring at bland, brick, square buildings trying to remember the last time I saw an actual woman. Ugh.

By the way, for those of you that were wondering, black people do tan.

The grass is always greener.

This is my last week at this job. At 5:00 PM (or to be honest, 4:45) Friday afternoon, I will turn in my badge, pack up my things, and prepare to go back to graduate school. The idea of leaving is strangely exciting. Suddenly everyone wants to know what you’re doing after you’re gone, if you’ll be back, and what you think of the company. Of course, this requires me to repeat myself a lot, which I despise, but that’s beside the point. The point is, they’re interested.

This is easily the best job I’ve ever had, if for no other reason than it pays twice as much as my previous jobs. In all likelihood I will return to the job, and my supervisor seems to want me back, so it’s a win-win situation.

The other exciting part springs from the fact that I will only have classes on Tuesday and Thursday during the school year. So for the calendar-challenged out there, I will have five days a week to do whatever the heck I want during the school year. Pretty nice, huh?

I’m sure this sounds egotistical, but I view the idea of earning a master’s degree as mostly trivial. I feel certain I can do it, it’s just a matter of going through the motions. College has certainly been challenging at times, frustrating even. But gravity isn’t strong enough to make the hurdles matter. I’ll probably sing a different tune come this fall, but for now misplaced optimism reigns supreme.