Perseverance pays off.

About two weeks ago, I stepped onto a scale and a jaw just about it the floor. In one week I went from 206 pounds to 202. This left me pretty ecstatic, which means the average passerby may have noticed a barely visible smirk on my face. The amount of weight loss was pretty staggering at the time, since I slowly cruising at one-pound increments for the previous couple of weeks. Four days later I saw another pound drop off. Finally after two months of aerobics every day, weightlifting three times a week, and cutting calories wherever possible, I was seeing results. Really good results. As I sit hear, having scarfed a few morsels of Halloween candy, my weights sits at a nice 198 pounds, the lowest it's been in about a year and I intend to see this through until I hit my goal of 180 pounds.

By the way, when are old men going to figure out that no one wants to see them naked in the locker room? No one in a gym locker room should move more than five feet without themselves covered up, but geriatric geezers trounce around like they're at a small nudist camp. Not only that they will hold CONVERSATIONS with each other whilst in this state. Note that they generally do not speak to youngsters because no one looks good naked covered in projectile vomit.

Go-go-gadget mp3

Between iPods, the Nintendo DS, PSPs, and cell phones, gadgets and other doodads have taken over our culture. Those who resist the cell phone craze are facing extinction. Meanwhile everywhere I walk I see people listening to their MP3 players as they to class. Yep, slowly but surely formerly nerdy activities have weaved their way into our social fabric. If you're reading this chances are you know about IP addresses, jpegs, gifs, bmps, wavs, safe mode, virus protection, and spyware even if only on a vague, non-technical level.

Heck, in one week I saw someone (meaning an actual adult) playing portable game systems in public on two separate occasions, something previously reserved for only the most pimple-ridden dorks. I wondered if me and my inseparable headphones make me stand out in a crowd. A brief ten-minute walk alleviated my concern.

And strongly back Stephen's endorsement of Serenity. The trailer for this movie simply does not do the film justice. If the level of quality we can expect from Joss Whedon, I can't for Wonder Woman.

I'm a consumer whore.

Truer words have not been spoken in some time. What prompts this revelation? My old standby game series, Street Fighter II. Earlier this year the Street Fighter Anniversary Collection was released to much fanfare amongst the hardcore 2D fighting scene. The first game in the collection managed to combine all five iterations of Street Fighter II into a single game. The second game was Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, one of the last great 2-D fighting games that goes widely unappreciated amongst the general public. I thoroughly enjoyed the games, as they boasted online play for Xbox owners and some great nostalgia as well.

However, my infatuation with the word "Hadouken" didn't end there. Capcom (the publisher of the Street Fighter series) released a compilation of their arcade games from the eighties and early nineties. I quickly snatched it up after fumbling to find a place that actually had copies in stock. But I didn't pick it up for the classic eighties gaming. Nay, anonymous blog readers I noticed that three of the original arcade versions of Street Fighter II resided on the disc. That and to a lesser extent Final Fight prompted my purchase. That's right I paid to play what is essentially the same game twice. The craziest part is that I really enjoyed playing these old-as-dirt games in a way distinctive from my previous purchase. The mind of the obssessive dork in a dark cavern not even its most entrenched subjects would dare explore.

I'm a hummingbird.

11:00 AM Tuesday, Oct. 11: I meet with my professor expressing my concern about my project. To put things lightly, I was lost. I'm trying to make a mod for Unreal Tournament for a class and doing so is proving much harder than I anticipated. After meeting with my instructor, I leave the office a little bit more confident I can complete it if I devote every waking hour to the project. Due date: Sunday, Oct 16.

1 PM I remember I have a midterm Thursday. Cripes.

6 PM A chance meeting with local news anchor Renee McCoy.

Wednesday, Oct 12: I spend a good four to six hours browsing messageboards trying to piece together a way to finish my project. Bupkus (sp?).

10 AM Thursday, Oct 13: I hit the weight room at the gym to sweat out some frustration before class. I do a moderate amount of work on my calves.

4 PM: Leave midterm confident I scored fairly well.

Friday, Oct 14: False starts continue as the project slowly moves along. I anticipate pulling an all-nighter Saturday night. My calves kinda hurt.

10 AM Saturday, Oct 15: My calves hurt so much that I struggle to stand up getting out of bed. Pain is manageable but annoying.

4 PM My roommate leaves on a ten-day trip to Paris thus concluding the portion of the project in which I wear pants.

5 PM Some code I thought was a gold mine isn't working as expected. Questions posed to message board users get me nowhere.

7 PM I cook spaghetti. Mama Mia!*

8-9 PM Brainstorm leads to a partially working solution. Much more work is needed.

2 AM, Sunday, Oct 16 Brief visit to Waffle House for grub and coffee. I tip my cashier. My mother was right, I am a good person.

6 AM After 2-3 hours of looking for a suitable tool, I finally find a file converter that actually works and I still have to work around its bugs. Curse Epic Games and their new fangled file types.

9 AM Another coffee run elicits stares as rich, yuppie families wonder how an unshaven dirty homeless man who desparately needs a shower can afford to spend six dollars on a mocha latte and a cranberry scone. That's right, I PAID SIX FRIGGIN DOLLARS FOR COFFEE AND A SCONE. Someone politely asks me to wear pants next time I come to the store.

11:30 AM Just past the 24 hour mark, the final piece falls into place and I can envision my finished project.

2 PM I become thoroughly convinced that I have listened to every single music track without lyrics in existence.

4 PM My stomach politely reminds me that coffee and a reduced fat scone isn't a meal by most standards.

8-9 PM I run a finished version of the program. Damn it's ugly. I try to decide if my rampant paranoia about being alone in the house is a side effect of the lack of sleep.

11 PM Forty-five minutes til I must submit the project and I remember a three-page write-up is also required. I also notice that a PowerPoint presentation and design document are also due. Those things will simply not be done.

11:43 I attempt to upload my file at the last minute only to discover that my file is far too large. Friggin' A. Fortunately my professor is a pretty cool guy and he'll probably understand.

12:37 I finish my blog entry instead of going to bed like any other sane human being. Me, my calves and paranoia will see you tomorrow.

*Sorry.