Whatafreak – The Blog

We now join our previously scheduled rant already in progress…

… and so I told them exactly where they could stick that freaking thing, that’s what.

But, I digress.

Every time I talk with you Brad, I get all excited about school again, damn you.

You suck.

But thanks, I need a push every now and then, even if it’s something that I already know that I want. I become complacent, just floating along, hoping my destiny comes to me. If I want something to happen, I need to make it happen or at least give it the best try I’ve got. I feel like I’m going nowhere fast.

My financial debts are slowly fading, slowed by my insatiable techno-lust. As much as I love this new monitor, I could have put the money to a more constructive use. I have a clear goal in mind about this new computer I have built, aiming for a sort of all-in-one entertainment center and schoolwork aid. I love the monitor, and it has a clear advantage with games and video, but another reason I decided to get it instead of, say, a second monitor reaching for a dual-screen setup is with CAD programs. The vastly increased pixel real-estate will be VERY helpful during the design process. And yes, I plan on using my computer at least some of the time for this purpose even though the school will most likely have computer labs expressly for engineering projects. I get a very confined feeling while in those boring, dreary labs. I need music or TV or something to keep the ADD part of my brain occupied while I wrest away what precious few CPU cycles it can spare for schoolwork. The worst way of studying I can possibly imagine is silently in a hard chair with white walls.

I have the ability to “hyper”-focus, if you will. I can only describe it as tunnel vision for the mind. I get on one track, with one goal in mind. Inevitably, this goal shifts often so it feels like I never get anywhere. I can spend hours trying to move a picture in a web page I wrote from scratch, 3 hours earlier using CSS layout techniques, 1 pixel to the left and not even notice it. I got the study materials for a recent work-related competition nearly 23 hours in advance. 40 pages of unadulterated cable trivia that no person in their sane mind would know just for fun and I had 1 night to study it all. I don’t brag (usually I prefer the humble route) but I got roughly 80% of the points for my team of 5 guys. My name was being thrown around afterwards to possibly join the winning team (not mine, we got second) for the district competition. I was the only one that was even close to the right answer on the final question, and it was only for lack of time that I didn’t get the exact answer. I answered “40 miles” since my team was pretty much a bunch of dunderheads about this question (save for one), but the correct answer was “39.28″ miles. I mean c’mon, I was close, I knew it! The other teams were throwing out trash answers like “6 kilometers” (we were supposed to convert a calculated distance in kilometers to miles) and “4.6 miles”. At another friendly cable competition, I got first place overall. I got first place in events I literally had never done before. Sure, I saw someone do it once, but come on. There were maintenance guys competing with me, they are supposed to do this every day! That competition entitles me to a trip to another city on Comcast’s dime to compete again. I get paid for that day to do nothing but have fun, how cool is that? I don’t think it quite makes up for the myriad of other issues I have with this job, but it certainly helps to break up the monotony. I don’t see why I am one of few who volunteer for things like this.

Where was I going with this? Eff, I don’t know. Point is, sometimes I feel like I have (possibly) an elevated level of intelligence, and other times, like with events of past regarding douche-bags named “Derek”, I feel like a huge, embarrassing failure. Sometimes I feel like a nut, and sometimes I don’t.

Did I mention that my monitor kicks some major ass? It’s my new TV, the last major step towards making my system the entertainment powerhouse I wanted it to be.

I’m running out of blogging steam. I’ll try to post a little more often, Brad. I know you are the only one that reads this thing anyways…