I have sat on some invitations to join Friendster for a while. It occured to me that I should follow up on these while having trouble securing an interview with an entertainment industry professional—I don't know any other than my teachers. In an industry that relies almost exclusively on contacts and networking ("it's all about who you know"), I'm trying to fly blind. Not an ideal success story, huh?

I figure I'm ready for some surprises now. I'm not sure if they'll help me with that interview which was due about 2 weeks ago, but what's another academic failure if you're succeeding in the real world?

This is really a bad time to go down sick. I've been fortunate to avoid the stomach flu Noah got recently, but I wonder if I've caught someone else's germs. The other day, Robert was yapping about the diseases floating around the Music Building. The thought of biomatter that once belonged to him now trying to invade me disgusts me thoroughly. It's bad enough listening to his Gameboy in the next stall, the tinny music echoing in the restroom. I also made the mistake of being downwind from him one day, and took in a full breath of his "emanations". I refuse to allow his influence to sicken me further.

Regardless, I woke up shortly before band, meaning I missed my weekly Ancient World class. It's been a drag, but we're long overdue for a test. And since it might now be a take-home, I don't know if others already received it. Good thing is, Dennis is taking the class with me for his Liberal Studies degree. And if by chance he also missed class, Ms. Rostankowski seems understanding of everything, maybe too much so if we're behind as much as we are.

Right now, I have that acrid, irritating fluid pouring through my nose right now. Much worse than Chris' random pepper I decided to crunch on before the Independence show. That only lasted for a minute, aided along by bites of his Super Taqueria burrito and Monica's tapioca drink.

Instead, think of the digestive fluids your stomach makes. Hydrochloric acid, which eats through most anything, is kept at bay by a lining of gastrointestinal mucous and thus forced to act only upon food and drink. Now imagine that the lining itself is an irritant. That is my nose right now. Is this stuff supposed to burn away microorganisms? It's eating my face away, is what it's doing. I'm unrolling a whole batch of toilet paper for the damned stuff.

One of the better films I've seen in a while. Tarantino has a peculiar way of composing his stories: fundamentally silly and overblown, but in a very dramatic, deliberate, polished manner. Reminds me a lot of Mr. Bungle and how their music, though obviously skillful, was somewhat irreverent, ridiculous even.

Kill Bill is a double-feature detailing "The Bride's"/"Black Mamba" (Uma Thurman) journey of revenge. Left for dead in a church by her assassin colleagues, she reawakens from a coma, her baby long lost. She now seeks out her former colleagues and her boss, the titular Bill. The timeline skips around, placing her first and most dramatic battle with O-Ren Ishii/"Cottonmouth" (Lucy Liu) towards the end. As the Yakuza boss, Tarantino resorts to anime and classic samurai film techniques to document her life. The entire film also brings to mind Mafia flicks, blaxploitation-era movies, Robert Rodriguez's work, and other disparate styles in a coherent fashion.

I watched this with most of the tuba line, Erik, Jamie, Emily, Mike, and Cindy. I'm sure they had fun, but I was a little concerned about some of their other opinions. What to me were dramatic standoffs were, to others, missed edits that belonged on the cutting room floor. It probably doesn't help that they likely don't watch Japanese films much (something Manny addressed)—some of the nuances were lost on them. But overall, I found them to be a good audience—mindful of disruptions, not a word spoken during the action. Jose might have dozed off a bit, but considering his personality, I find it understandable.

As for myself, I would enjoy a chance to help out on Tarantino's future productions. His work most closely approaches what I want to accomplish on the big screen.

I decided to take leave from work for a few months to concentrate on classes. Not too big a deal—my loan check should arrive soon, and I had enough to last until December to begin with. I can't bring myself to drop a class, which may turn out to be a mistake. But I felt that some of my mornings were not well spent waiting on customers during this slow time of year. At the very least, I'll have a few more hours to sleep, which I don't get enough of. Having those morning hours free before band will also allow me to catch up on business matters, if not coursework. This company that specializes in collections has been leaving messages daily, but can't take my call in the evenings, when I was mostly free. I just hope this allows me to get back some academic footing.

Haven't kept up much on the ferry accident on the East Coast. But one bit of irony caught my eye:

One of the slain riders worked at the World Trade Center. On that fateful day two years ago, he was late for work, riding the ferry. The sights he must have seen while pulling into the harbor... Had he taken to the road and possibly arrived minutes earlier, he would have died in the collapses. Instead, with his ferry preference seemingly justified, he died in the harbor collision.

Death is a scheming punk asshole, sometimes.

Conan O'Brien, of late night fame, and his wife Liza announced today the birth of their daughter, Neve. Congratulations to the new O'Brien family.

Does this mean that I can't ask him for an interview for my 100W?

Vendome Place will be an 18-story housing complex, just a short walk away from the southbound Light Rail line. San Jose's first residential skyscraper. Barry Swenson, notable builder, rented out the band for a few hours to entertain the ground-breaking party. For the price of a small parade and two shows worth of tunes, we got to join in the festivities. It was a mid-key affair—Mayor Ron Gonzales and Councilwoman Cindy Chavez were present and partook of the Asian-inspired catering. I reckon that the band walked away with about a quarter ton of Swenson-brand(?) rice and wine, complimentary gifts of luck from the builder.

Overall, a pretty generous showing from Swenson, also considering the payment Scott received for the Band Scholarship fund. According to the speakers, this was eighteen years in waiting, which seems pretty average for the area. The Valley in general has been a little confused about how best to go about expansion. There are likely no more ways to go outwards, towards the former farm- and wildlands. The only way remaining is up.

[update] According to Monica, we got coverage on KTVU 2 (FOX). Good footage of Robbins, I heard. (I wouldn't know, airwaves being what they are.) On local KNTV 11/3 (NBC), the Tech Awards won out the final minute set aside for non-violent, local news. If we had Al Roker rooting for us, I guess things would be different.

I don't want to jinx anything, but I'm pretty sure that the house was shaking in a bad way until this morning. Even now, one of my plants is vibrating in a peculiar way. I can't feel anything myself—slight wind, shaking in the walls, etc. Unless someone has some strange machinery responsible for the tremors, I think we're up for something big soon.

An interesting day, today. Mom was able to get another credit account which she is sharing with me, mainly to wrangle my current debts. There is much for me to consider:

• How does this affect my finances, work hours being what they are?
• To what degree will this help me contain my debts, through the lowered interest rates, shift of resources, and having another line of credit? Will I fall into a larger hole?
• How will this affect my financial aid planning?
• How is my personal credit rating affected? Mom's?

On the eBay front, I found a pretty rare auction. I won't say much about it until it's actually over, but it has my mind churning like mad. It may serve an immediate desire, but it might also do things for many others. However, this may end up being one of those "too good to be true" situations, as well as an "in over my head" situation. Nothing to do but go for it, right?

Where are the recall petitions now? I've got my pen ready. Can we recall politics? I just can't shake that guilty feeling knowing my family even rented Kindergarten Cop If I knew my Terminator dollars were going to fund the Republican political machine, I would never have bought in.

I wish we all had learned something from our last actor-governor, Ronald Reagan. Or what about the last actor-president, the Philippines' Joseph Estrada? Essentially a political puppet, he was deposed after bilking about $80M out of the economy, mostly through bribes. But hell, even he had political experience—dozens of years as mayor, senator, and eventually, vice president before his 1998 presidential term. Schwarzenegger's scriptwriters never got around to his debate answers. What hope do they have for California? Who's directing this farce? Can craft services feed all our schoolchildren? Or will they now get protein powders and horse steroids in their lunch?

I bought my wireless adapter to hook up to the household cable modem connection two weekends ago. I learned an enormous amount about wireless networking trying to get the adapter to work. It was very frustrating—trying all sorts of fixes and tweaks, consulting with roommates and tech support, burning myself out every night wondering what was wrong with my adapter.

Looking back at the quick installation paper thing, the very first direction stated that I should install the driver for the adapter before plugging in the adapter itself.

My Internet connection is now much quicker and pleasant(!) than before. But I feel like a dumbass...

School has been overwhelming lately. I'm ignoring all the little voices telling me I'm trying to do too much. There is much to do, but I will eventually get through all of it. I don't think they will leave me with any time to develop stories or recount past experiences. However, they still occupy a lot of my free thinking (some of my reserved thinking as well). I'm still scanning eBay for graphics tablets (mainly Wacom Intuos USB/Serials), and trying to do something about my entertainment system, seeing as how it's being used for educational purposes this semester.

Whenever possible, I try to fit in something more than coffee for breakfast. A simple English muffin, toasted and jellied, might mean the difference between a "great morning" and a "fucking waste of sunlight" for me. Such a simple thing, a few dozen calories at most—the power is in it's timing. Most days, I don't get a decent meal until the afternoon, when I am usually off work/out of class. Going so long without a bite can be hell sometimes.