The last couple weeks I’ve felt very busy, but I’m feeling finally that I’m somewhat involved with things at school again. Rather than sitting around doing nothing most evenings I’ve been doing karate. It’s good for me. I come home hurting, I am exhausted at times, but for a few hours, a couple nights a week my mind is focused, I’m able to shut off the outside world and focus on just this. I feel stronger physically. And there are some nice people in the club. I’m glad to do it. I still some nights just crave to come home and do nothing. But I’ve been trying my hardest to stick with it every class.
I went to the football game last weekend and it was fun. I’m glad it’s football season again, fall is the best time of year for a sports fan. I signed up for cable again, cuz it’s always frustrating when I have to miss Penn State games because I don’t have ESPN or something. I had canceled my cable maybe 9 months ago cuz I hadn’t been watching anything really, but I was time to change that.
So today the cable guy came. He hooked up the box and all, got it working… then when he left i undid all this connections and hooked it up how I wanted. haha.
I’ve been poking around on my new hundreds of tv stations for a while now. But there were two things I watched tonight that really sort of epitomized the two sides of me. For like 2 hours I watched UFC. Ultimate Fighting. Blood soaked fighters beating on each other. Perhaps it’s my recent resumption of karate training that let me enjoy MMA again, but I had a blast watching it.
But what did I find myself watching after that? Oxygen. The Notebook was on… It’s a good movie! It’s all about second chances. Who doesn’t wish for those now and again?
If there is an opposite to MMA I think the Notebook might be it.
Posted: September 17th, 2009 at 12:30am by scott topic
I totally was going to hit up the Tae Kwon Do class on campus today. And I totally had the wrong room. I show up a half hour before class and a Ballroom Dancing class is in full session in the room I thought I had to go to, with 100+ couples dancing salsa.
I always wanted to take that class. It’s actually the single most popular gen ed class on the Penn State campus. But I never had the combination of being an upper classman (to be able to schedule such a popular class) and having a girlfriend who attended Penn State at the same time. Sad, I know.
But Tae Kwon Do meets as a club and it’s open to staff like me. I’m not certain if I will do TKD or Tang Soo Do, my old school (which I’m hoping to hit up tomorrow night). But today I was all ready and willing to go do some front kicks in the dojang. And I got confused on the room. Gah!
But despite it all, today had a amazing freak autumn coolness to it. It almost smelled like fall, with the cool breeze on your skin and a comforting chill that I always associate to one autumn, many years ago… the most vivid, important and beautiful time of my life. Certain cool autumn winds take me there.
For a moment.
Posted: August 31st, 2009 at 10:10pm by scott topic
I just listened through the newest All Time Low album, Nothing Personal and it’s really good. It’s straight up pop-punk, and so if you’ve hated pretty much every pop-punk album you’ve ever heard, you’ll despise the bubblegum that comes with this CD. But if you can get past that, it’s got some really catchy tunes. Definitely check it out! Two of the highlights (which aren’t singles yet, and I personally like better than either of the current singles) are the catchy “Sick Little Games” and the slower, essential ballad “Therapy”.
I’m sure eventually these videos will break, so be sure to check out the actual album (or listen on the All Time Low MySpace.)
I’ve been playing around with some HDR photography, and it’s pretty fun. It’s amazing what sort of details are there to be captured. Here’s my best one so far:
I stumbled across this old collection of coffee ads by Jim Henson. They really make me want to drink Wilkins Coffee, which is apparently like the Grand Theft Auto of coffees.
I went to the State College Spikes baseball game Friday night with my dad and my sister’s boyfriend, and it was a pretty good time… the Spikes killed the Auburn Doubledays, and afterwards there was a fireworks show! I recorded it, so check it out below!
what’s most impressive is that this is the small show, the big show is tomorrow night.
Just in time for the Fourth of July is a video of a bright young man who had the genius idea to shoot a firework at his crotch. The explosion at the end is a nice touch!
I love how the dude is more worried about his car getting hit.
Michael Jackson died today. I am seriously bummed by this. I’m old enough to remember Michael Jackson’s peak during the 80s, and I idolized him. Just ask my mom about the ridiculous dancing I did when I was little, muddling the lyrics and sliding across the floor. I’m stunned and numb… this is a huge loss.
The scandalous Iranian elections are just the latest chapter in the growing multitude of uses people are finding to connect with twitter. I’ve used twitter for a while now and have truly believe it to be a revolutionary tool for gaining insight into the world’s collective mind. I’ve had plenty of friends sign up, post something along the lines of “I don’t get it.” and then never post again. Last week Slashdot covered the topic of these “One Tweet Wonders”, who sign up for the service and then leave it behind.
But it’s those who have embraced it that truly understand its potential. Sure, there’s plenty of meaningless crap (eg. anything i post, hehe), but the true power lies with two features: search, and trending topics.
Search, as it pertains to Twitter, doesn’t give you results that you could compare with, say Google. While the twitter search page [http://search.twitter.com] may vaguely resemble Google’s simple interface, a search won’t link you to sites about your topic, or the wikipedia entry. Instead, you find what human beings are thinking about that topic. Even the mundane details of everyday life, when organized through search, can give insight into what people are thinking. The Trending Topics (shown on the main search page) show you the most talked about topics across the system right then. Click on the links and you have instant response and commentary.
Twitter search gives you organic search. But it also gives you only a snapshot, and the most recent snapshot at that. While I’m sure there are ways out there to search through older moments in time, twitter’s search by default is telling you the results that are happening right now. It is instant, unfiltered, unedited content from regular people (with it’s own fair amount of spam included, of course).
This has become threatening to those who would like to control the flow of information. During terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the Indian government plead to its people to stop posting to twitter. In the past few days, with Iran expelling many foreign press with their election coming, people have turned to Twitter to communicate and organize their outrage at the perceived corrupt election. Twitter founder Biz Stone posted today that they will reschedule planned maintenance on the site because of the importance the site has in Iran right now.
Twitter gives people a platform to speak on. While individually it might seem small and meaningless, collectively it gives people a voice.
It’s all about second chances. Who doesn’t wish for those now and again?
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