Went and saw Tomb Raider 2 tonight with jess and sam. . . yep. it was . . . action . . . like. It had some cool parts. I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've ever seen a sequel before the original. I feel weird about it.

I got my digital camera today! Actually, it came in yesterday, but no one was here to recieve the delivery, so I had to wait and pick it up today. It works very well. I't going to make adding pictures to my site a freakin snap. I can't wait. I took some pictures of Johnna today because i saw her right after i got my batteries for my camera, but i accidentally deleted them while messing around with the camera. ah well.

Oh man, my last roll of film turned out great. you guys gotta see em!

i'm really really tired, so i'm gonna go to bed now.

Oh I did wear my contacts yesterday and they worked! They took a little getting used to because they are heavier than normal contacts (because of my greater than average astigmatism) so it felt like something was in the corner of my eye. I couldnt tell if something was under the contacts or what but i was beginning to worry. Finally, I realized that it was simply the contact itself hitting the corner of my upper eyelid. I finally got past that. I think i'll try them again tomorrow. Wearing sunglasses is great.

Someone please come see the matrix 2 on the IMAX with me. i'm dying to go.

Well, the Bluecoats didn't do as well as we'd hoped for, but they still did a really great job. I'm really proud of scott and how he pursued this goal and carried through with it. I hope he's had a really great time. He seems to be having fun. I look forward to him getting back.

Jesse, Samantha, Jon, HG, Johnna, and I rode out to the boro in my dad's convertible truck. It probably wasn't the safest route, but we all had a really good time. We stopped and ate at IHOP on the way back around 1.5am. If it hadnt been for the fact that we never get together and do that kind fo stuff, i would've been all about going straight home and to bed. I don't stay up past 12 (and at that point i could fall asleep standing up) except for on the weekends sometimes, so when it gets to be around 1 and 2 o' clock, I'm slowing down big time. But it was really fun.

Then I had traffic school for the 2nd time in my life this morning. This time it was actually good. I enjoyed it. The first time was a complete joke, but this was like an episode of cops. Our teacher (a cop) told us about all these stories of stupid people and stuff he'd done. It was pretty cool. I hope I'm able to stress to my kids before they start driving how dangerous a car is. It's just crazy how much responsibility we take for granted.

Well, jon stayed at my place last night (and i believe will also tonight), so he's in there watching tv. I guess we'll try and get together with people tonight.

Maybe I'll try my contacts again today. Course, maybe I wont. Little bastards are probably just waitin' for a chance to get stuck in my eye again.

later

well jordan and i finally finished putting in TWO speakers. It's taken forever because everything little thing has gone wrong. but we're making it work. the speakers sound great! so clear! he'll have two 4-ways in the front and two 2-ways in the back. its gonna sound awesome.

i saw goats today and they made me laugh with their little faux cries for help. funny little goats.

good freakin night

a little longer and i could hang out with todd and scholes

I ate Schlotzsky's today for the first time. Wow. It was GREAT. Technically I have had a bite of someone's sandwich before, but it was a plain one with olives and i dont like olives. I had the Turkey & Bacon Club with jalapeno and chedder bread, salt and vinegar chips, and to drink I had Mellow Yellow. It was breathtaking. One of those meals that just fits so perfectly, that you just cant imagine life getting too much better than that moment. I cant wait to go back.

I think I forgot to mention that I got contacts the other day. I havent worn them yet because I had such a bastard of a time trying to get them out, that i'm afraid to put them back in. It's scary to have something like that in your eye (and I think I had them in wrong because i wasnt seeing correctly) and not be able to fix it. I couldnt just put my glasses on and see better, I had to friggin pull the contacts off my eye. And my eye kept getting more and more irritated as I continued struggling. I got so frustrated from not being able to do this simple task that I thought I was going to start to cry. I was so upset at this. So i'm a little hesitant to try it again.

no work tomorrow. yahoo . . . i think.

i havent gotten my digital camera in yet. i'll be mad if i dont get it tomorrow. i ordered something 2 days after i paid for the camera and I've already gotten it in.

I found jordan some 4 way car speakers that I think we'll put in tonight. They should be pretty cool. I'm looking forward to hearing them.

We had a visit from the elusive Johnna last night. she actually came over and watch a WHOLE movie. pretty freaky.

I'm getting awesome at surveying. In fact, I survey well. I survery very well.

going to meet todd for dinner at dell (or something like that) tonight.

bye

Well, me and RJ finished our first job today 100% on our own (which is pretty impressive considering i've only been an eyeman for 2 weeks or so now and he's been the crew leader for the same amount of time). Our location was this building on the edge of the ghetto. I was kind of nervous. Every car that went by, irregardless of make or year, had it's windows tinted as black as night. And we were kind of working on/next to a fairly busy road. We were pretty sure that if one of us got hit by a car it would probably be a hit and run. Anyway, we got done in plenty of time to make our boss a lot of money.

Then, I FINALLY got to go swim with Mr. Burka. I didn't know if I was ever going to get that coordinated with him. And on the first day I got it together, I left my swim stuff at home. Luckily, my beautiful girlfriend drove all the way into Nashville to give it to me. Water was cold. really cold.

I had that new Chicken Caeser stuffed burrito today. It was great. And HUGE. It's pictures on the wall of TB don't do it justice.

I actually heard from Jared today, which was one of the last things I expected. (course, i guess i dont really ever expect to hear from anyone nowadays. everyone seems so busy.) He's having a birthday party on this lake in KY next weekend. And it's funny because I was just thinking about my trip with him, ryan, rodney, will, and todd out to the lake during band season 2 years ago. That was so fun. until will busted out his tooth with the boogie board. That sucked. Anyway, I can't wait to go. The only thing is, sam's baptism is that sunday and I really want to go to that. Sam if you read this, I want you to know how incredibly happy for you I am. This is such a great thing. I dare say the best.

DCI on friday. Don't know when i'll be heading up there. Depends on whether or not I work. Hayley and Jon arent going, but I hear scholes has changed his mind. so we'll see.

Man swimming makes me hungry. And not the european country that I'm going to kind of hungry either.

MAN i cant get over how many blogs there are out there! Some of them are so cool. I could just sit there refreshing the main page and checking out the most recently published ones...but i wont. TONS of 'em.

I got rained out of work today. SWEET. I'm working over at the Mariott in Nashville. It's not a bad job at all. It's gonna take a while, but still, at least I wasnt the black guy sleeping in the bus stop with my shoes off and an empty beer beneath me. That's gotta suck. I mean, he wasn't homeless, but I dont know how many homeless people wouldve really envied him.

If I can just write a little in this each day I'll be doing good. Sometimes so much happens that I dont feel like sitting down at the compute for an hour writing about it. Plus my stupid internet has been messing up for the past month.

I didn't know that people could write comments about blog entries, but apparently you can.

crap. internet messed up.

okay i'm back.

i'm trying to choose between meeting sam's kyle and sleeping. I wonder if i can do both.

i'm starving. going to eat.

So it's been over a month now and I haven't written one thing in my stupid blog. So here goes...

I rode a horse today for the first time! (technically, it wasn't the FIRST time, but the first time simply consisted of me sitting on the horse and it walking over to lean on a fence and try and squish me. so i dont count that time.) It was pretty fun. We rode around this corn field and stuff and I rode well. I rode very well. Jesse on the other hand had a bit o' trouble. Granted her horse seemed to be hungry and kept walking off and eating corn, but i still think she instigated a lot of it. I thought it was going to hurt my bum and everything, and it kind of did, but what really hurt the most were my knees. They have been getting twisted or something by the way i was sitting. I dont know, but it hurt. And we got done right before this HUGE storm hit. It looked awesome so I took a few pictures of the clouds. Speaking of pictures, i just bought a new digital camera. The same one jeff used to own. I cant wait. There were other things that I was going to write about but I can't remember them right now because it's 11.0pm and i'm tired. And instead of writing I talked to sam and chance. Ah well. I'll come back and write more tomorrow.

joshman

Well, the unimaginable happened yesterday. I crossed paths with Michael Stovall. I really don't think I could've ever anticipated this in a million years. I don't know why really. I mean, I was in Mt. Juliet when it happened, so I guess it was inevitable. On a good note, however, I think the meeting was as painless as possible. So that's good. Weird stuff.

My job is going well. I'm starting to get into this whole waking up when the sun comes up. It makes me feel like I'm using my time wisely. And I really think I am (at least with the job field). Days are really long when you wake up at 5:45 AM, which is pretty cool. My body is now making me go to bed by eleven (and I'm still tired enough to nap later in the day usually, but I don't always have that opportunity).So in general, I feel better about me (only slighty more tired than usual). This is why:

I get up at 5:45. Eat some food (nothing healthy, of course). get dressed (usually the with the same clothes everyday; sometimes I change shirts; there's no need to do otherwise when you hear what I do) and drive to 21st street where the surveying office is located. I stand around a few minutes until I'm told which crew I'm going with for the day. 95% of the time I come over here to MJ for the day because there's a subdivision going in over here on Belinda Pkwy (across the street from waffle house). (to be continued.... I have to go eat.) (okay I'm back) So we go into the woods and start working. It depends on what we're doing. If it's a topographic map then we have to take measurements in every direction every 50 ft. Or we might be staking out a road or something. In any case, we have to set up the instrument that takes measurements (GPS coordinates, elevation, horizontal angle, and vertical angle (angle from straight up)) and shoot it at a prism on a pole. I'm sure everyone has seen the guys out on the roads doing this. So in order to do this there must be a clear line of sight from the instrument to the prism. So I have been chopping so much stuff lately with the machete (sp?). And not even things that need chopping. I just like destroying things with a sword; it's so much fun. So my arms and hands are tired from excess cuttin', but I think it's worth it. Anyway, I get done about 3.5 PM and that's that.

I was just struck by a sense of magnificance when my Winamp (on random) play Fight Vols Fight and Down the Field. What an amazing thing the marching band is. It's huge. It's truly larger than life and bigger than any person. I guess that's what makes me look at it in awe sometimes. When I hear those songs, it's almost like I'm hearing the National Anthem. It is to that degree that pride for what I and so few others have been a part of, wells up in me.

Oh, I think I'm gonna get to work at Valet parking again soon. Maybe on the weekends. I don't know if I'll have a day to sleep in or not though. Although lately, I havent been able to sleep late anyway. I get too restless in the morning and I can't stop turning over and thinking. Anyway, I DO have to sleep now. soooo....

"goodnight"

Hey, I just flew in from Texas and boy are my arms tired . . . from carrying luggage and stuff. You know how it is. Anyway, I DID just get in from my trip to Concan, TX. I had a great time. We (20 something of us) got to stay in a sweet 2 story cabin for a few days. While I was there I floated down the parts of the Frio River (sat and sun) and took black and white pictures of stuff (which I feel brought out the srtist in me). The B&W film made me wanna photograph regular day to day things. Concan, the location, was pretty interesting. It was about as southwest looking as I'd ever seen. Dry as a bone, it was. The river was nice and clear though, but very low (according to others). But the landscape, as dry and rugged looking as it was, was really beautiful. Outside the cabin on the porch, there were hummingbird feeders. And more hummingbirds ate from these feeders than I have seen in my life. There were TONS of them all of the time, always drinking away at the sugar water. I don't think they would've had to have drank so much if they would've just landed here and there. But nooooo, they just kept on flying. Stupid birds and their tiny tiny tongues. Floating down the river was an experience. There were tons of people there and they would get into large groups and spend all day floating down the river with coolers and coolers of alcohol. There was beer as far as the eye could see. So everyone was very friendly (and loud). It was was nice to see my family and I haven't been to Texas in I don't even know how many years. So that made me happy.

My plane rides were pleasant but unusual. Usually the flight attendants don't stray from their opening monologue very much, but the guy who did the announcements for us was hilarious. He sounded gay, but still funny. And then on the flight home the lady sang the announcements. So that was a first. And I got an aisle seat next to no one, which was awesome.

I'm sitting here right now typing this with my window open listening to Dashboard Confessional's "Ruined Puzzle" and it's about it's about as pleasant as anything I can imagine. What a great day. I'm praying that I don't have to go into work. I hope I get to see my friends this week. And of course I'm dying to see my girlfriend. She won't tell me when she's getting home, so I hope it's tomorrow.

Well, that's about all I know right now. I have lots of bug bites, but I'm not quite sure when or where I got them.

josh

ps- has anyone seen Bruce Almighty?

So it's been about a month since I last wrote in here. Stuff has certainly happened since then, but I just haven't gotten around to writing about it. I guess I feel like I have to write a whole bunch, when I guess I reall don't. I'll try and step it up.

Okay, let's see:

- I got out this semester with a cumulative GPA of 2.80 (that's up one one hundredth of a point!)
- MATRIX Revolutions was AWESOME. Some of the dialogue was actually somewhat difficult to follow at times, which was unexpected. It's nice everynow and then to have to try while watching a movie (of course, mindless action and comedy is also good at times)
- I get to start my job as a surveyor apprentice on Monday. This is the first time I've started work before June, so I'm really happy about that.
- Bout to sell my Accord. Kind of makes me sad. Andy and my brother both want my subwoofer and accessories, but I really want to find a way to make it work in my Sable. I hope I can. I love bass.
- I'm also about to sell my bike rack. I liked it. I didn't get to use it much but it looked cool. I'm gonna attempt to sell it on Ebay. We'll see how that goes.
- Operation "Quit Being a Fat Sack of Fat" has commensed. I'm really going to try this time. I gots to.

Don't know much else. My fingers are all healed up and Jesse just got a job (but she doesn't know if she'll take it or not). Oh yeah, I got to see Bryan one time while he was here. Well, actually 2, but the first didn't really count.

I'm REALLY going t try and get my computer set up so that I can get back to my website here and there. I apologize for it being put on pause for a little bit (and also for the long blog break)

I promise I'll do more. Sometime.