Ash the Mighty

Oh yeah.

Previously mentioned was the fact that my actual MPhil degree had arrived and that it wasn’t terribly impressive. In Latin, yes. Impressive, no. Well, I’ve gotten it framed (another $166 added on to my $80K) and now you can see what I mean (click on it for a larger image). Taken from an angle so that I wasn’t reflected and in black and white because as I mentioned, I’m not yet quite perfect with my D2X, and was having problems with the color tone. But you can at least read it. Assuming you can, you know, read latin.

Blah.

~DTAR.

P.S. I can’t for the life of me figure out why there’s the weird gradient thing going on (in Firefox. In IE, it’s a checked pattern). It’s not present in my images while in photoshop or anything like that, so I can only assume the trouble comes from the browsers. Sorry about that.

. . . make a blog entry. I just got home from taking two classes. The first was from one to half five and was my last Real Estate course! I’ve signed up for a review session on Wednesday the 18th and then will take the test on Thursday the 19th. I’m muy nervous about taking this test. Apparently very very few people pass it first time around and yet my pride/guilt complex says that I absolutely must do so or else I am a bad person.

Anyway. The second class was from six to nine and was over at the MAC and was on knifemaking. Yes, knifemaking. For Christmas Mom and Dad gave me a gift certificate for classes over there. I was going to take photography or something, but since I’ve gone digital and this class is for B/W film (teaches developing methods and what not), it is no longer quite as relevant as it once was (I still want to take it and learn how, but I’d rather find a class on digital camera techniques first). So, I was flipping through the catalogue and happened upon knifemaking. It’s only offered once a year and so I jumped on board. It’s an interesting class and I think you can probably expect some updates about my progress.

In other news I am almost paralyzed by guilt over my inability to write letters back to people. I’ll be totally and utterly honest here. I have an e-mail waiting for me from three different people (that would be Katie, Lauren, and Shona . . . told you I was being honest) and I can’t even bring myself to read them. Why? Because I feel SO guilty over not having written them long ago that I can’t even bring myself to read their new letters. I know it makes no sense. I can’t even figure out why I’m writing it here. But then again, no one ever said that I was anything resembling sane.

And as a final piece of news, one of my bestest friends’ birthday is today/tomorrow (depending on where you live). Chris Bowles will no doubt be drinking heavily with Clarice tomorrow evening, but he better realize that it’s all rubbish without me there to force him to do shots of various vile liquors. So I say Happy Birthday, you sexy Mo-Fo! Sorry I’m not there to celebrate with you!

And now I shall leave you all. I do not envy you the headache you will have when you awake. But for now, rest well and dream of large women.

~DTAR.

Oh yeah.

Previously mentioned was the fact that my actual MPhil degree had arrived and that it wasn’t terribly impressive. In Latin, yes. Impressive, no. Well, I’ve gotten it framed (another $166 added on to my $80K) and now you can see what I mean (click on it for a larger image). Taken from an angle so that I wasn’t reflected and in black and white because as I mentioned, I’m not yet quite perfect with my D2X, and was having problems with the color tone. But you can at least read it. Assuming you can, you know, read latin.

Blah.

~DTAR.

P.S. I can’t for the life of me figure out why there’s the weird gradient thing going on (in Firefox. In IE, it’s a checked pattern). It’s not present in my images while in photoshop or anything like that, so I can only assume the trouble comes from the browsers. Sorry about that.

When you’ve got nothing to say . . .

. . . make a blog entry. I just got home from taking two classes. The first was from one to half five and was my last Real Estate course! I’ve signed up for a review session on Wednesday the 18th and then will take the test on Thursday the 19th. I’m muy nervous about taking this test. Apparently very very few people pass it first time around and yet my pride/guilt complex says that I absolutely must do so or else I am a bad person.

Anyway. The second class was from six to nine and was over at the MAC and was on knifemaking. Yes, knifemaking. For Christmas Mom and Dad gave me a gift certificate for classes over there. I was going to take photography or something, but since I’ve gone digital and this class is for B/W film (teaches developing methods and what not), it is no longer quite as relevant as it once was (I still want to take it and learn how, but I’d rather find a class on digital camera techniques first). So, I was flipping through the catalogue and happened upon knifemaking. It’s only offered once a year and so I jumped on board. It’s an interesting class and I think you can probably expect some updates about my progress.

In other news I am almost paralyzed by guilt over my inability to write letters back to people. I’ll be totally and utterly honest here. I have an e-mail waiting for me from three different people (that would be Katie, Lauren, and Shona . . . told you I was being honest) and I can’t even bring myself to read them. Why? Because I feel SO guilty over not having written them long ago that I can’t even bring myself to read their new letters. I know it makes no sense. I can’t even figure out why I’m writing it here. But then again, no one ever said that I was anything resembling sane.

And as a final piece of news, one of my bestest friends’ birthday is today/tomorrow (depending on where you live). Chris Bowles will no doubt be drinking heavily with Clarice tomorrow evening, but he better realize that it’s all rubbish without me there to force him to do shots of various vile liquors. So I say Happy Birthday, you sexy Mo-Fo! Sorry I’m not there to celebrate with you!

And now I shall leave you all. I do not envy you the headache you will have when you awake. But for now, rest well and dream of large women.

~DTAR.

I just went another night with no sleep, so this seems interesting to me at the moment so I stole it from and filled it out. Enjoy. Or don’t. Whatever.

In 2005 I…

(x) stayed single . . . more or less
( ) got your first kiss
(x) kissed someone new
( ) made-out for the first time
(x) made-out
( ) made-out in a car
( ) kissed in the snow
( ) kissed in the rain
( ) fell in love
( ) fell in love with a fool
( ) had your heart broken
( ) broke someone else’s heart
( ) had a stalker
( ) had a good relationship with someone
( ) questioned your sexual orientation
( ) “came out of the closet”
( ) gotten someone else pregnant
( ) had an abortion
( ) proposed to someone
( ) gotten married
( ) had a divorce
( ) had a gay marriage
( ) dated someone you’ll never forget
(x) done something you’ve regretted, relationship-wise
(x) lost your true love forever
( ) lost faith in love
( ) kissed under mistletoe
( ) had sex in a car

WORK/SCHOOL

( ) got a promotion
(x) got a pay raise
( ) changed jobs
( ) lost your job
(x) quit your job
( ) dated a co-worker
( ) dated your boss
( ) dated your boss’ daughter/son
( ) got fired from your job
( ) got straight A’s
(x) met one teacher you really like
(x) met one teacher you really hated
( ) found the subject you love
( ) failed a class
(x) cut class
(x) skipped school
(x) got into a (verbal) fight with a classmate
(x) did something you were proud of
( ) discovered a new talent
( ) gave the teachers a reason to teach
(xxxx) proved yourself an idiot
(x) embarrassed yourself in front of the class
( ) fell in love with a teacher
( ) got lead in the school play
(x) were involved in something you’ll never forget

OTHER

(x) painted/drew a picture
(x) wrote a poem
(x) ran a mile
(x) listened to music you couldn’t stand
( ) double-dipped
( ) skinny-dipped
( ) went to a sleepover
( ) went to camp
( ) threw a surprise party
(x) laughed till you cried
( ) laughed till you peed in your pants
(x) flirted shamelessly
(x) visited a foreign country
(x) visited a foreign state
(x) cooked a disastrous meal
(x) lost something important to you
(x) got a gift you adore
(x) realized something new about yourself
(x) went on a diet
( ) tried to gain weight
( )dyed your hair
(x) came close to losing your life
(x) someone close to you died
(x) reunited with a friend
( ) made an accomplishment that shocked everyone
(x) realized your truest friends
(x) told a secret that would ruin your life if revealed
(x) threw a wild party
(x) went to a wild party
(x) drank alcohol
(x)got drunk
( ) got arrested
(x) read a great book
(x) saw a great movie
( ) saw a movie so scary that it made you cry
( ) saw your favorite band live
(x) did something you want to tell everyone
(x) Enjoyed this year overall
(x) had a really short relationship
( ) still like that person
(x) Did something crazy
(x) Made big plans that fell through
(x) got a cell phone
( ) sang in public
(x) Made new friends
( ) met someone that if you lost them it would kill you

NOTE: Very specifically, this is for 2005. Were it for earlier, at least a half dozen answers would be different.

Take care, y’all.

~DTAR.

I’m not a huge fan of Dick Clark or anything either, I just don’t think Regis needs any more time on TV. Plus, it was pointed out to me that the redheaded woman who he was standing with right there at the end had better have been his wife, otherwise he was getting entirely too ass-grabby with a stranger! The party which I ended up attending was hosted by my brother’s sister-in-law’s husband. Could I have just said my friends Nicki and Joe? Yeah. But where would be the fun in that? I had a grand time, though at least half the guests wussed out before the ball dropped and went home. Very dissappointed. Not nearly as dissappointed as I was that I didn’t get to kiss Spencer’s sister-in-law’s husband’s brother’s ex-girlfriend who was very cute, but that’s really my own fault. I had had a few when she arrived and didn’t feel confident in my own ability to create cogent sentences and wasn’t really interested in humiliating myself tonight (and no, it’s not that I had drunk that much, it’s just that I always get tongue-tied when I speak to pretty strangers, so booze wouldn’t have been a help), so I didn’t really talk to her one-on-one at all the whole evening. And that brings us to the resolutions.

I resolve to:
*Find a woman who is smart, attractive, funny, and loyal to take out on at least a couple of dates.
*Find a job which I enjoy and pays me a livable wage.
*Diet/Exercise until I’m not mortified to go sans t-shirt at a pool.

Three’s good. Don’t want to try and over-exert myself or anything!

I hope you guys all had a really great evening. Despite my lack of celebratory kiss, I really did have a good time. I particularly enjoyed putting Spence out of the poker game first since he was the big winner at the game last night. The jackass.

Take care everyone!

~DTAR.