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December 31, 2003
Good News! Oh, and Bad News!
The day after Christmas, I received a phone call from my Realtor. She told me that an offer had been made on our house. It wasn't an official offer, but the buyers were serious. So, after two hours on the phone, a deal was made resulting in the sell of our house!!! I believe that we're closing on the 20th, which gives us NOT A LOT OF time to pack up and get out.
This is not un-doable. That is, until you add in the fact that the VERY NEXT DAY I was rushed to Saline Memorial Hospital in Benton, Arkansas, for a diseased Gallbladder. You've GOT to be kidding me. Apparently a Gallstone was lodged in my cystic duct causing a pain that some doctors relate to child birth (I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy). I felt like the guy in "Alien" who had the burst open chest. Just awful.
I stayed in the hospital for a day and a half and was released on Monday morning so that we could drive back up to Kansas City. All in all, I have to have my Gallbladder removed. How soon, is to be determined today when I meet my surgeon. In the meantime, I have to watch what I eat, and mainly just drink clear liquids. I'm sure this will assist in my quest to lose the few pounds I gained over December.
The surgery itself is considered a Major Surgery, that's because they have to put me under to operate. But my doctor assures me that it's not a complicated task, in fact there are over a million Gallbladder surgeries a year (and that's just in America).
So, I'll find out more today about when my Gallbladder will be removed. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's! And go Hogs!
Posted by Seth at 08:54 AM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2003
Dreams and Mario
So, lately I've been having weird dreams. First the tornado/Crayola plane one and now this. The great thing about this dream, however, was that I was excited and wanted to rush back to sleep so that it might continue. That hardly ever works, but it was worth the shot.
The dream started off with me in a room. I was standing at a table and had a balloon in my hand. There was also a glass of water on the table. I knew what I was supposed to do immediately. I poured the water into the balloon and as soon as I did that, a door opened. As I walked towards the door the balloon in hand began to leak, and as the water leaked out, the door was shutting.
I ran through the door and into another room where in the middle was another table. The table was vanishing at the same rate as the water leaking from the balloon. So, I ran to the table and set the balloon down on the table. The table re-materialized and the balloon disappeared.
Then, on the table appeared an empty pint glass and a cell phone. I looked around the room and noticed many small sets of stairs going up and down all around. I noticed no doors, but knew what I had to do. I grabbed the glass and the cell phone. Intuitively, I poured water out of the cell phone into the glass. As I did this, birds started to attack me from around the room. Startled by the birds, I stopped pouring and started to run around the room looking for the door.
There was no door. I ran back to the table to pour more water into the glass, which in turn brought more attacking birds.
That's pretty much all. I figured it was like a new Mario game or something. It was very fun. Yay.
Posted by Seth at 08:30 AM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2003
Terminator 3: Rise Out of Your Seat
Why is it that even when I'm told that a movie sucks, I still go out, waste $3 renting it, take it home, and waste 2 hours of my precious time watching it? There's no answer. Well, no good one, that is. Today, I wasted 2 hours of my time watching "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines". Again, I WASTED MY TIME.
This movie was horrible, absolutely horrible. In fact, the only things I found good about it was Nick Stohl (not his acting), Claire Danes (not her acting), and the incredibly cool crane-truck chase scene. In all reality, this movie was a re-make of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day".
It's quite funny how crappy, and loophole-happy, this movie was. We have two machine killers, again sent back into the past, to kill leaders of a future revolution. There's good ol' Arnie and some new chick model (the T-X), dubbed the 'terminatrix', that's somehow light years better than the T-1000 (see T2).
Both of these robots are MONSTER assassins. Ruthless. Cunning. Both not stopping at any cost.
That's why the T-X, instead of using her insanely powerful built-in laser, decides sometimes to use a hand-gun, flame-thrower, or better yet, why not her futuristic band-saw. Remember, this is a machine...always thinking logically. That's why when she found traces of John Connor's blood (by licking a bandage, since that's how computers do it), she moaned like she was in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". I find it funny that she also arrives back in the past completely naked, having to find clothes to wear. But once she's fully clothed, she can morph into other people...who are fully clothed wearing different outfits. It all makes so much sense.
In addition, Arnie's Terminator seems to get stupider with each movie they write him into. First he takes a male-stripper's clothes and Elton John sunglasses. Then, being the machine he is, begs John Connor, "please stay away from me". And finally, hits the front of a car about 20 times to reboot himself (is that how I fix my computer problems???).
The effects were cool, or about as cool as could be expected. While on the topic of expected, I expect there to be more Terminators...Lord help us all. And as Mr. Weidner proclaimed to me, "if you hear the line 'the Terminator taught me everything I know', in a movie, then you're in for a long ride.
Posted by Seth at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2003
I was Supposed to Die Five Times
I woke up this morning around 5:30, struggling to remember most of the details to one of the more vivid dreams I've had in a long time. I vaguely remember the 'plot' of this dream to be that I was to die five times, and that theme was told to me much in the way Scrooge was told in "A Christmas Carol". Not by a ghost, but it was just an understood thing that over the course of this movie, if you will, I would die five times.
I don't remember 1-4, at all. Glimpses here and there, but nothing substantial. Nor do I remember dying, ever. It was more like plane that's nosediving towards the ground and there's no escape. The crowd doesn't have to see the end to know how it wound up.
So, the dream... It was Christmas Eve, or a day around that time, and I was heading back from Fayetteville to spend the holiday with my family. I wasn't driving a car like normal, in this scenario I had a motorcycle. I had said my goodbyes and had started to drive back when I had to stop on the highway because there was a hell of a rain storm. Fearing the inevitable slide off of the road, I decided to pull off, leave my bike, and hitch a ride back to Fayetteville.
Back in Fayetteville, I was dropped off at my best friends' house. I told them that I left my bike on the road because the storm was too strong. One of them looked to the direction the storm was coming and said that it looked like it was clearing up and that he would take me to get my bike so I could go home. We hopped into his truck and drove towards the bike.
On the way to get my bike, on the horizon we saw a large group of clouds and out of the clouds were 5 or 6 tornados starting to emerge. Also in the sky were several news helicopters reporting on the weather situation. We got to the bike and my friend convinced me that if I went fast enough that I could be home before the tornados hit. I agreed and hopped on the bike and sped off.
Not five minutes into my ride did I have to stop because of a large tornado in my way. I turned the bike around and drove to an apartment high-rise on the outskirts of Fayetteville - which was now a large metropolis. I'm not sure who I knew in the apartment, but they lived towards the top and the next thing I knew I was in their living room and we were watching the whole thing from their window.
It was a pretty scene - the city was on our right. Fayetteville had grown, skyscrapers, parks, all in a giant cluster. To the left of Fayetteville was a large grassy plain, no hills, just flat. The sun was setting, making the sky a beautiful purple/red/golden color. It was almost surreal.
We watched as the tornados touched down in the grassy plain, twisting and turning, going in any direction they wanted to. At one point the entire cluster of clouds turned towards us. As the tornados came our way, we noticed parachuters heading towards the high-rise as well. One landed on the patio right outside the window and we rushed to get him inside. As he was running inside, another parachuter was heading towards the patio as well. Two people went to grab him and as soon as they could reach his feet the cloud had reached the apartment.
But instead of tornados storming the building, a giant Crayola-themed Parachuters plane emerged from the clouds and slammed into the roof, skimmed off and turned back towards the clouds. We could feel the building shake all around us. We looked back outside and saw the Crayola plane on fire, spinning out of control, and then it crashed into a giant Crayola-themed blimp. The blimp exploded and a large burst of gas shot towards the window and shattered the glass.
Right before the glass broke, I remember everything becoming slow-motion. I saw the glass break, people covering their faces with their arms, turning away and running away. I didn't turn away, but I was also unaffected by the breaking glass. Everyone was screaming, trying desperately to get away from the now open window. Just as everyone was getting a safe distance from the window, another gas ball hit.
That's when I woke up.
Posted by Seth at 08:57 AM | Comments (0)
December 09, 2003
It's Supposed to Snow/Ice Here Tonight...
Since it's almost technically winter, and there seems to be severe weather conditions everywhere, I decided to do a little research about how to drive cautiously in snow/icy situations. I was always under the impression that if your vehicle is sliding, that you were to let off the accelerator and turn INTO the spin. Most of the advice I've found just mentions that you slow down and turn in the direction you want to go... but I've finally found the advice I was looking for: read #7. This is a good overall article, enjoy the reading.
Now, if you have anyone that you don't particularly like, and/or want them to crash this winter season... tell them to follow these rules: rules for losers.
Safe driving!
Posted by Seth at 01:11 PM | Comments (0)
December 08, 2003
About 2/3rds Done
Here we are, the 8th of December, and I'm nearing completion of my Xmas shopping. I'm not sure if that's a record or not, but I'm happy nonetheless. Only a few more items here and there, and that's it. Well, except for those few gifts that I always seem to forget about. That's why this year, I have a list that I'm going by. Once I buy a gift for someone, I cross them off the list - how ideal!
Tomorrow I'm going to my first photo shoot ever. I'm pretty darn excited. Though it's not a large shoot, I think it'll be cool to attend and to see how that side of the business works. Also tomorrow, my bowling team will be competing to finish as high as third place in our bowling league. We have already secured fifth place, so tomorrow we don't really have to bowl that great as we won't lose any ground.
Posted by Seth at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2003
Thanksgiving is Oooooover
Shoooooosh. Thanksgiving and Christmas, while my two favorite holidays, are among the most dreaded to me. Only because I usually end up driving 8 hours back and forth to my desinations. But, as I found out this season, it's not too bad of a drive – especially when you have a nice laptop that can play DVDs for you, such as, "A Christmas Story"! Love that movie.
I hope everyone's Thanksgiving break was a nice one, and be on the look out for my Christmas Wish list soon... and if you want to see Wendy's, click here. Wendy's site is also live, so go see it.
Posted by Seth at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)