What's in a name?

One of my countless quirks is my resistance to nicknames. Except for my family, I make everyone call me by full name. Frequently people attempt to give me some cool nickname like "Big A", "Tone Loc", "Jerk face", or even the expected "Tony". I shoot them all down. I was given a specific and perfectly normal name when I was born and people better pronounce every damn syllable when they address me. The only scenario in which I'd be willing to accept an alias is when everyone in the general area has one and we're all in a treehouse plotting nefarious schemes against our enemies.

No real point to this story, just haven't updated in a while and felt like sharing.

What are we coming to?

So how many credit card offers do I have to throw away before the companies will take a hint? There was a time when I looked forward to receiving mail, like the first eighteen years of my life. Now it's just bills, bills, bills. Turns out my mother was right.

Speaking of which, after two months of absence, the family received a visit from yours truly last weekend. For the first time in years, my mother enjoyed the pleasure of having all her children under one roof again. We're a peculiar bunch. This is not debatable. My mom has slowly gone from "dedicated Christian" to "borderline-nutcase fundamentalist" over the last ten years by listening to the Christian politicians on the radio every day. Even if you agree with her, don't bring up homosexuality or abortion. Ever.

Then there's my older brother. Single father, former Navy cadet, former jackass, currently a jerk (by his own admission). His mild OCD tendencies are so prevalent it's a wonder he could tolerate living in possibly the messiest household in Harnett County. When I say my brother was a jackass, that's no small exaggeration. The level of torment he heaped on me remains legendary in our extended family. I don't hold few, if any, grudges about it though, either because the pettiness of our childhood no longer matters or I've deeply repressed the memories.

Next, comes my sister. Years of constant questions and general annoyance, makes me avoid conversations with her like the plague. Still, my sister exhibits a cheerful disposition that baffles me to no end. I should probably make more of an effort to connect with her next time I see her.

Finally, there's my younger brother. While he's easily the sibling I have the most in common with, my thoughts are overwhelmed with his assertion that he intends to dress like this guy. Yes, like that. For those of you not paying attention, my little brother intends to dress like this fruitcake. I think I owe my whole family an apology for introducing him to video games and Japanese culture in general.

Review time.

The 40-year-old Virgin deserves all the praise it's received. The always-excellent Steve Carell pulled off an excellent performance and portrayed a likable character who ultimately comes across as less of a loser and more of an underappreciated gem. If I were to choose the funniest movie of the summer, I'd have to give the edge to Wedding Crashers, although Virgin is more unique and interesting. Or maybe I could relate to its titular character more. Have I said too much? Dang it.

Thanks some very nice pirates with lots of free time, I was able to watch Final Fantasy: Advent Children with English subtitles. While I definitely enjoyed the film, anyone who hasn't played the Final Fantasy VII will be completely lost most of the film. Heck even I don't get a few of the plot points. Fortunately "normies" can relish the excellent, hyperactive action sequences and beautiful visuals and search for some cliff notes on the franchise later.

Unforeseen

I have owned the NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 64, Game Gear, Playstation 2, Gamecube, Dreamcast, and Xbox over the last seventeen years. It's somewhat surprising that MS' debut system is the first system to break down on me. My little brother broke the door off the original NES I owned and that thing was going strong right up til the day I sent it to the dump. I haven't even had the Xbox for a full year yet and the damn thing froze up on me. Now I'm forced to send it off for repairs for two weeks in the hopes of preserving the data stored on the system.

The often-ignored drawback of the Xbox hard drive is that you can't just transfer gigabytes of information onto the meager 8 MB card offered at retailers in case the otherwise-angelic technicians format the hard drive while fixing your system. Fortunately, the person at the Support Center assures me that my Xbox Live account and downloaded content can be retrieved regardless. What really frustrates me is that I just invested in an expensive arcade stick that's useless until I get my console back. Such is the twisted irony of technology.

Backfiring.

Ahhh, computer science. It's the only major where 95% of the people know they won't be the dorkiest person in the room at any given time. How you say? How about having a classmate that computes large numbers for fun? Yeah that's right. One dude in my artificial intelligence calculated two to the hundredth power of HIS OWN FREE WILL. I can't make up stuff like that.

But being back on campus is pretty nice. That cubicle jungle I abandoned last month isn't missed one bit. Except for some of the people. And the paychecks. Oh man, the paychecks were sweet. I can feel clamp creeping up on me though. Taking only three courses all on the same day works pretty well until all three assign you programming projects and schedule their mid-terms on the same day. But I don't have to worry about that for awhile.

The whole world is going crazy.

Wow. That's the only words I have for the situation in New Orleans. While I was only vaguely aware of the city's condition before (mainly that it had a high crime rate), the city's plight has become incredibly apparent to everyone now. The devastation I've seen and accounts I've heard absolutely break my heart and even now I can't appreciate the full impact of what's occurring.

A couple of guys at NC State have started gathering donations to send to people in Lousiana. I've met both of them and never guessed that they'd be willing to put forth such a humanitarian effort. They have my utmost respect. I'm definitely going to help the people suffering in our great country. As trite as this sounds, my thoughts and prayers go out to the refugees.