So, in doing a bit of research, I've collected a number of lists (thanks to Listverse.com) that are worth looking into, or at least absorbing.

( Top 20 programming languages as of Sept. 2009 )

( Top 10 spoken languages of the world )

( Top 10 things you need to survive the streets )

( Top 10 most influential science fiction writers )

( Top 10 great fantasy book series )

( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Learn five languages (Spanish, French, German, Russian, Japanese)
Learn programming languages
Draw
Practice guitar
Practice guitar hero
Play PSP games
Read
Practice Skritter
Practice bondage

10 Programming Languages to learn:
PHP
C#
AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML)
JavaScript
Perl
C
Ruby and Ruby on Rails
Java
Python
VB.Net (Visual Basic .Net)

I really need my own computer (again). A thousand curses on the head of the bastard who stole my precious from me. A pox on the bastard and his his children! But seriously, I need to be online, like, all the time. Or not be on all the time, but at least have access at any split-second moment. I don't have that when mom's online doing her forum thing and I have to wait two or three hours.

I wish I were a cat. I could sleep whenever I wanted and people would love me inherently without knowing anything about my evils.

A friend of mine asked if I was still with Ed. That made me realize I've really had an active romantic history for someone of my comparable age, by the fact that I've had three more boyfriends since Ed.

( So, out of boredom and for the hell of it, here's the list. )

Pandabuki said he'd get back in touch with me before the new year, but the house phone's been broken. So, if he's tried to call, it hasn't come through, and he doesn't have my cell number. I hope he still has my email so he can at least message me. Or maybe he messaged me on Yahoo... I'm going to go check right now.

Ok so no unread messages from him. I wrote him a long post with all my possible modes of contact, so I hope he reaches me somehow just to let me know he's ok.

It took a helluva lot of me to write that LJ cut, so I'm gonna hit the bed now. Jason's gonna be dropping by again tomorrow (he came by today, but was very tired). So we'll see what happens then.

-T-

So Christmas this year was as crazy as ever. I didn't wake up very early, thankfully (about 11ish), so I actually got rest. Celeste scared the hell out of me when she woke me, though. I nearly jumped out of bed.

Once I finally dragged myself out of bed, poured myself into my robe and slippers and sludged over to the living room, things started looking up. The bottom of the tree was littered with presents, and I knew at least three of them were for me. I wrapped them myself, haha.

I got a PSP charger kit, including the data transfer cable and a car charger, though I doubt I'll ever need to use it. I also got Final Fantasy: Crisis Core, which was exciting. I bought myself Tool's Aenima CD and two PSP games, Patapon and Dungeons & Dragons: Tactics. Both very entertaining. I also received thick fuzzy lounging socks, a kick ass kabuki mask, and some nice eucalyptus body wash. Randy gave me two Jethro Tull CDs and the Wall-E Special Edition DVD. I got him a few presents too, but I can't list them until I give them to him. Otherwise he might peek here and spoil the surprise!

Nira got a sexy sleek new digital camera. Mom got an electric back massager you can sit on a chair and lean against, and she got me and herself little 2GB flash memory mp3 players. She also got two candles with beautiful hand-made candle holder plates. Chel got a Mets t-shirt, the latest Metroid game for the Wii, a travel-size Scrabble set, and I gave him a Weezer CD. Celeste, of course, made out like a bandit and got everything under the sun. She got a wooden play kitchen with a set of plastic food, a painting kit, two Barbie dolls, a photo album with matching camera and picture frame, two sweaters, and a new reading book. There's probably more, but I can't remember.

We managed to bring Papi home to spend Christmas with us, so I'm really grateful for that. He's pretty aware of things but he's also very absent minded at the same time, if that makes any sense. I helped him play Rock Band easy drums, and he was getting the hang of it ok. Highest score was 84% I think, with me helping him on the bass pedal. That thing is a bitch.

We all had a great time tonight and the night before. Amaury and Priya came over and we were all playing Parcheesi. Then Chel broke out the new Scrabble set and we played with that a while. I uploaded my entire music collection into the mp3 player and still have like 13MB of space left. I have to figure out how to better organize the way it's listed, though. It has a tiny screen and I have to scroll through each song one at a time. The iPod really revolutionized navigation in that aspect; god bless that little scroll wheel.

I hope you had a nice Christmas. Have a safe and happy new year, too.

-T-

So, despite all the moments that made me want to pull my hair out,

Wikipedia has this to say about this day in history:

"Barack Hussein Obama II (pronounced /bəˈrɑːk hʊˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and presumed President-elect of the United States of America.

"Obama is the first African-American to be nominated by a major American political party for President, and the first person of African descent to be elected President of the United States of America. A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he became the first black person to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review, Obama worked as a community organizer and practiced as a civil rights attorney before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate in January 2003. After a primary victory in March 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He was elected to the Senate in November 2004 with 70 percent of the vote.

"As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, he helped create legislation to control conventional weapons and to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. During the 110th Congress, he helped create legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel. Obama announced his presidential campaign in February 2007, and was formally nominated at the 2008 Democratic National Convention with Delaware senator Joe Biden as his running mate. On November 4, 2008, Obama won the 2008 presidential election, and will take the oath of office on January 20, 2009, becoming the 44th President of the United States."


I have hope, real hope now. Hope that I haven't felt for this country since I became socially aware of the state of the world. I can only hope and pray that all of my dreams for this country and this world become manifest through the hands of our new president, Barack Hussein Obama.

-T-

I'm currently in Philly again. This time I came to see my favorite (and only) college band headline at a concert in the campus area. Shining TV Screen, formerly known as Juxtatradition. They're awesome. But that's on wednesday. Here's how my week looks, and has looked.

Saturday:
Went down to see JC and do a shoot in this little concrete alcove he has on the basement level. It was pretty awesome. The scene was gritty, and the pics came out great. I also tidied up around the room, and he gave me some cash. Hooray for not being poor. Then I went with Greg to a housewarming party in bklyn and had a blast. Made friends with the two housewarmees, and all the other guests who arrived. I even got a chance to play GH3 and show off my skills. No one could play me on expert pro face-off, so we just did battles. It was 3am by the time we started heading home. I crashed at Greg's so I could head to Raymond's in the afternoon.

Sunday:
Was at Raymond's with Dan, Ed, Hendrix and Asian Ray, playing Red Hand of Doom. I whipped up a quick Pathfinder dwarf cleric, and half the session was Hendrix's changeling rogue talking his way into a goblin camp while the rest of us waited until he needed us to go save him. He did amazingly well, but overstepped his luck/skills by taunting the young green dragon. The combat was difficult since we only had one real melee fighter, and once he fell we were pretty much screwed. I actually miscalculated how many spells I had, and forgot about my positive energy channeling, which would've healed all living creatures, including our enemies. It would've been a worthy risk. Regardless, I couldn't reach my fallen allies in order to heal them, so we almost died. Giants came to our rescue, so it wasn't a TPK.

Monday:
Randy picked me up and brought me to Philly in the morning. We hung out briefly on campus, then returned home and watched MST3K and the Phillies game. Thankfully, they won, making a great comeback and holding the lead until the end. That puts them only one game away from going to the World Series. Go Phillies!!

Today:
Such an early day today! I'm not used to waking up earlier than 11am, if that. Today had me up at 8:30am. Randy woke up to do grocery shopping for his grandad, and I fixed stuff online. He came back and played video games while I dozed, then we both got up to shower and watch more MST3K before going to a 9-ball billiards tournament. Randy got beat out the first round, so we went home early. I have the newest House and Fringe recorded (god bless DVR).

Tomorrow:
Fixing my resume and getting a taxble job. Not sure what else we'll do, but the evening will bring the concert, starting at 8pm. We'll be missing the (possibly definitive) 5th Phillies game, but we'll record it so we can watch it when we get home.

Thursday:
Heading back home. Gonna see my old friend Duckie, haven't seen him since the days of CF. At some point, Mom wants to talk to me, inspired by the depressing fact that I forgot my niece's 7th birthday on Sunday. I'm honestly not sure what the talk will be about, but I think it'll have something to do with what, if anything, I plan to do about getting a job and actually doing something with my life. I have this pit in my stomach that this may be a confrontation similar to when I had decided to move out, and I don't look forward to it. That's why I'm motivated to find a job during my trip away so I have something worthwhile to tell mom. Not the best motivation, to be sure, but it's better than nothing, which is what I've essentially been doing.

Friday:
Meeting up with SOMEONE. There's a few prospects, and I can't remember who I'm supposed to meet up with. Either Carl, Shellisin, possibly Ed? I really ought to get some kind of physical planner so I can keep track of who I'm hanging out with when. My free time is such a valuable commodity. Sometimes I wish I weren't so popular, or so easily liked, or didn't have so many friends. But I love my friends, they're my family. I don't know what I'd do without them. I wouldn't be me without them.

Saturday:
Meeting with JC for another morning shoot. Will be fun, as always. We'll be doing outside shots. I'm looking forward to it. Since I'll be in the area, I'll try and meet up with Adrian also. Tried to see him last saturday, but he wasn't home. Sad face.

That's all that's really planned for right now. More details to be added as things develop.

-T-

Today we went to see Papi at the rehab center. He's doing so much better than I expected! He can walk, eat, and bathe by himself. He can talk and his voice is clearer than ever. His memory is still shaky and full of holes, but I can only hope that will somewhat improve with time as well. I nearly cried when he rose out of his wheelchair to greet us when we got off the elevator. He was acting like his normal self again, laughing and joking like nothing happened. We had brought his guitar with us so he could enjoy the memories it stirred. He totally blew my mind when he picked it up and started playing it. Just like riding a bike, he never forgot how. He even remembers our names.

Mom's made arrangements with the doctors to bring him to the house Monday or Tuesday. She's excited to see if being back home will jog some more of his memory and give him even more inspiration to become stronger. I'm excited just to have him home for a few hours. I actually had dreamt of him some time last week. I was walking down the block on the same side as the HSBC bank, and he came from around the corner, walking at his typical speedy pace with his cane. He zipped right past me without noticing. I was so shocked at the sight of him that he managed to get a bit of a distance away before I called out to him. He turned around with this look of surprise on his face and I hugged him and kissed him and told him how much I missed him, and how I hated seeing him so disabled in the rehab center. I can't remember what he told me, but he said something to me, and his voice was perfectly clear.

It seems like my dream is coming true so far. I can only hope Papi completely decimates our expectations and makes the fastest recovery ever. I don't hold hope for many things anymore, but I'm hoping now. I'm hoping with all my heart.

-T-