Checking In

Hello.

I'm not sure how to address you all in light of the fact that I have neglected this blog shamelessly for much too long. Last post I mentioned that I have a few posts that I'm working on in some capacity.

Here are some:

• 'Maestro's Manifesto' --A freakishly long work in progress about politics
  
• 'Respect' --Talking about my unique views on what respect truly means, etc.
  
• 'Y i h8 txt' --A (mental for the time being) rant about the evils of texting and how communication has fallen in recent years
  
• 'No One Wants To Talk About Or Question God ♫' --Talking about how taboo religion has become these days.
  
• Reflection on my encounter with a harmless drunk
  

So, yea. Most of these are fairly serious topics, I'm not sure when the switch happened (probably in Italy) but I am tired of writing the same old day to day narrative bullshit about my banal life, it interests me more to discuss topics such as the ones above.

As it happens I have no drive to discuss any of those topics. In fact, I am only writing this now because I have an unexplained case of insomnia (it's 12:13 AM) and the only other thing to do is do the homework I'm avoiding.

Most of the posts I mentioned are recorded in my ultra-handy pocket notebook. Following the example of my friend (what the hell, girlfriend), I have started to carry around a small notebook in my back pocket to record some of the many random thoughts that occupy my mental faculties over the course of the day.

Seeing as it seems there is nothing better to talk about, let's take a brief look at what's recorded in it:

• Random musings about commenters and song lyrics
  
• "I used to train [karate] to improve my workout, now I work out to improve my training"
  
• Some links
  
• Linux code
  
• "Most People are called their real names by people who don't know them well and nicknames by those who do; I am the opposite."
  
• Simon and Garfunkel lyrics x2
  
• Graffiti-ed page
  
• A blank page with "Hi =)" and the disclaimer saying that the entire page belongs to my girlfriend
  
• 7 pages of notes from a fitness magazine
  
• A tab of expenses from my first trip to the ex this summer
  
• 4 pages detailing the saga of my exclusion from the school network
  
• A note for someone to add "Flooring It" to their bucket list
  
• Some rough logic tables
  
• "exclusion day 6         OMG BLANK PAGE!!!!!"
  
• Cool movie quote
  
• Cool words page
  
• Crime and Punishment quote
  
• Awesome 19-letter last name
  
• Stupid question from history class
  
• EXACTLY 1 WEEK of fucking EXCLUSION
  
• Blog Post: Respect
  
• "I ask not to be woken up, my family agrees that I need to sleep as long as possible, and yet mom still wakes me up."
  
• Depressed rant about how texting doesn't make for good communication
  
• Blog Post: y txt sux y I h8 txt
  
• "one shift. How generous."
  
• More or less the life story of the drunk guy I met on the bus; to use for a post later
  
• "I'm 16, I shouldn't have to worry about money"
  
• Lyrics from Charlie Winston
  
• Quote from a friend
  
• Blog Post: Religion/Society
  
• Einstein quote
  
• Desperation regarding math marks
  
• Charlie Winston lyrics x2
  
• "15 min. late. Unit test. First one done. ←SKILLS."
  
• More desperation on math marks
  
• "So I hugged the boyfriend, so what? Who am I kidding? I'll be avoiding everyone for the next few hours."
  
• "Part of me wants someone to point out all of the bad parts of my personality so I know about them and can be conscious of them. The other part is terrified by the thought of facing them."
  

I'm sure you all really wanted to read about that, but whatever, it's there. I haven't mentioned it, but I do have a temporary (seasonal) job at Party Packagers for a bit. The shift distribution kinda sucks, and it will be getting amazingly busy soon, but the job isn't that bad (I get to wear any costume I want and deal with some cool people), so I am not complaining (too much).

Also in the news: I'm driving! I got my G1 in September and have been driving as much as possible ever since. My mom has an automatic Toyota Rav4 that I usually drive once a day, and my dad has a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4x4 STANDARD that I am struggling to learn on whenever I can. My dad and I are trying to see if we can figure out a way to get me an old beater that we can fix up before I go for my G2 that we can split ownership of. The search is ongoing and I hesitate to make a commitment before I know exactly how much it will cost me. That being said, there is a promising 1998 Jeep Cherokee listed for $1000.

What else is a big part of my life these days? I think I've covered everything besides my girlfriend. What can I say about her? Well, I could fill pages and pages with words praising everything about her, but you don't want to read that, I don't have the time to write it and I don't think she'd appreciate it very much. Suffice to say she's amazing. I'm still not quite sure how she puts up with me, but in the spirit of thanksgiving, I am truly thankful for having her in my life.

That concludes my ramble for today, I shall try to sleep now to the sound of John Lennon singing into my ear (It was his birthday on Saturday).

Happy Thanksgiving!

-MAESTRO

Sorry :(

I haven't forgotten about you!
I do have several partially formed posts, both on my computer and in my head, but lately things have been crazy, I can only write this because I finished work early in English.

Sorry again,
-MAESTRO

Cineplex

Just want to update you guys, Cineplex posted a job online and I applied.

Adieu,
-MAESTRO

Translation Fun

Here's the game:

Go to Google translate and translate a phrase or paragraph into another language. Then translate it back, see how it changed. As the game goes on you can translate it from one language to another and another and another and so forth until you finally get back to english, it's a great way to kill some time.

I'll be translating this right here, but I want to add some more, so here is a verse from Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin:

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our souls
there walks a lady we all know
who shines bright light and wants to show
how everything still turns to gold
and if you listen very hard
the tune will come to you at last
when all is one and one is all
to be a rock
and not to roll

That should be enough, let's see what happens...

(See the fun after the jump!)

Just Looking

Hey,

Had some post ideas but first I wanna know how many people, if anyone, read this, so just drop a quick comment if you do :)

Thanks,
-MAESTRO

Job Search

So, I'm back blogging again. There are a bunch of things I've thought about writing about lately, but I'm going to ignore all of them for now and detail my search for a job.



For a while now I've been nagging myself to apply for jobs, and my parents have been as well. I always had reasons to put it off, Italy was a big one, but now that I am free and clear I realized it's time to finally do it. This came to light for a few reasons. Firstly, I need spending money. Secondly, what's the point having free time if all of your friends have jobs anyway? And lastly, I want to start saving up some actual money (thoughts of a European post-grad trip).



So I made up my resume and printed off quite a few copies. I've applied to quite a few places:

Read on after the jump...

How I Spent Half My Summer

So I mentioned that I spent July on a trip to Italy. It was with Georgia Hardy Tours, I went with a group of students and took a course while I was there (Classical Civilizations). There was a blog run by the company and written by us students, but I decided to run my own blog to let my friends and family back home know what happened. I got up to day 15 before work and things overwhelmed me. I plan on going back and writing the rest, but it's probably one of those things I always plan to do but never get around to, so for now, here are the ones I wrote, after the jump...

Italia

For those of you who don't already know, I am in Italy for this month.

Actually at the moment I am sipping cappuccino at a Florentine bar, it's amazing here.

Anyway, I have a blog going for my trip, I kept it separate from this one because there are a lot of people who I don't want to find out about this blog who want to read my Italy blog.

I plan on putting all the Italy posts here after my trip, but in the meantime they are here:
My Italian Experience

Ciao!

-MAESTRO

Hehe...Espresso...

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

That is all.
-MAESTRO

A Maestro's Warning

I have recently realized something that I figure is my duty to share with you all.

Cap the number of Vodka shots you take at 10 or 15, or you will do/say things that will either get you in momentous trouble that will haunt you for the rest of your life, or alienate people who could have become friends to you. Or both.

Just a tip for y'all.

Later,
-MAESTRO