All done

So I moved out of my shitty Nupac apartment today. I hate moving. There I said it. I hate moving. It is nothing more than an inconvenience that requires a lot of hard work. However, moving out of Apartment 11 of 2618 Ellendale Place also marks more than a transition of living arrangements. It marks the end of an era at USC. This is the part where I wax nostalgic about my great times at USC. Like I said in an earlier post, however, I am not going to do that. Instead, I present to you, faithful reader, a list of 10 things (in no particular order) that I will not miss about USC. Please see footnotes for clarification.

Bums who are clearly tweaking and want to wash my cars windshield*
Discussion sections
Classes earlier than 10am
Band camp, band practices, ect...**
Bookstore inflation
"Walk your bike!"
Muggings occurring on my street
People partying nearby when I need to sleep
LAPD Helicopters
My apartment***

*I am a generous person. I try to follow Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative, but if the crack is affecting a poor persons ability to sound coherent, they have crossed the line from in need to scary.

**I will miss being in the band for USC football games, I just won't miss all the terrible preparation for said game.

*** If you hadn't figured it out yet, don't live in NUPAC.

So I am back home now. I am probably bored.

"Lost" Weekend

For you dedicated readers, which at this point I am guessing is just about no one, I apologize for not posting in a few days. On Sunday, I went camping with a couple of old friends. We went to the lovely Leo Carrillo State Park. Click here for a great aerial photo of the campground and beach.

Our camping trip was marked by polar opposites. We breathed clean ocean air, and then smoked cheap cigars. For dinner we enjoyed wine that had been aged 10 years, and then got drunk on miller light. We surfed, and then sunbathed. Overall though, the trip was relaxing and fun. It was especially great to spend some time with Adri away from either her house or my apartment. Having a queen sized air mattress didn't hurt anything either.

Damn my left thumb really hurts. Why do you ask? Well, on the second day of camping we drove down to Zuma Beach, and Carlos (one of the guys I was camping with) who had brought 3 surf boards and wet suits, taught me how to surf. I can't believe that in my 21 years of life I had never surfed before. I was bit by the bug a little bit. I spent the first few hours riding a long board, and I got up several times. Then in the afternoon, I decided to try my luck out with the smaller board and went out a little further to catch the bigger surf. This however turned out to be not such a great idea. Not only did I never catch a wave, but the ocean kicked my ass. I wiped out several times where the waves would bounce me off the ocean bottom. At one point, I even got nailed by my own board in the back. It was AWESOME! The next morning I woke up with bruises on both knees, my lower left rib, my lower back, and one torn left thumbnail. My ears and the back of my neck are sunburned too. I really can't wait to get back out there.

In other news, I am moving out this weekend. I can't wait to get out of this hell hole of an apartment. I feel a little nostalgic thinking that this is the end of my USC days, but really, I am moving onward and upward. I refuse to write anything that would amount to a stroll down memory lane. That lane is for me, and me alone, and I refuse to share my mental self gratification. Generally speaking I only masturbate in private.

Speaking of masturbation, I just wasted 2 hours of my life tonight watching the season finale of "Lost". I watched maybe the first 4 or 5 episodes of the show, gave up, and then picked up with the last 2 episodes. I don't feel like I missed anything. The finale did not answer any questions, and while I can tell that the show is well written and acted (although at times I think its over the top), I just don't have patience for a mystery that is interrupted every 12 minutes by advertisements. I understand that if the show answered all the mystery then there would be no reason to watch, but if a person gets hooked on the prospect of eventually finding those answers, and then after a whole year no questions are answered, then what is the point of watching? I guess if you are entertained with it, then props to you, but I am not a big fan of series shows like "Lost".

I'm sorry, enough ranting for now. Over the weekend, I learned about a great Mexican breakfast dish, that I had never heard of before (I'm not well traveled). If you are in the mood for a hearty and ethnic dish try chilaquiles.

Ok, that's plenty for a catch-up post. Oh I didn't get into USC Law, after all I've done for this school...oh well.

-Ryan

I'm what they call an outlier in communication theory

Today the Angels won their second game in a row against the Dodgers. They won with pitching this time. Now, I am used to seeing an American League lineup with a DH, so it always come as a surprise to see the likes of John Lackey or Jarrod Washburn hitting. Furthermore, without Vlad, GA, and a DH, the Angels' lineup looked pretty bad. However, we won, and you can't argue you with that any day.

Ok, this is going to be a pretty much non-BS entry, so I apologize in advance if you came here expecting to read something completely untrue about me. I just have to get a few things across, with the expectation that people are actually going to believe me. (In re-reading this paragraph before posting, I realize now that it is completely unnecessary. You will too once you finish reading the whole entry.)

Apart from the Angel victory during the absolute hottest part of the afternoon, my day was exceptionally dull. After the game, I discovered a nostalgic feeling for the original Half-Life. Half-Life is a great, story driven game of the first person shooter. Since high school my taste in video games has really matured I think. No longer do I enjoy the mindless shoot 'em games, but rather I prefer games where plot and character development are big part of the experience. Of course I still love playing games against friends, so you can still find me enjoying any of the EA Sports games, or the occasional fighting game. After playing for awhile, I decided to get dinner. Which leads me into an important list. Below you will find a detailed list of all the social interactions I had on Saturday.

Ryan's human interaction for May 21, 2005
1. Said hello to roommate Chris (The only thing said between us all day.)
2. Wendy's drivethrough worker
3. Various short conversations with Adri throughout the day
4. Jack in the Box drivethrough worker

That's pretty much it for every form of communication. Sad, yes, but I'm used to it. Water off a duck's back.

Sweet, I'm rolling now.

So after dinner, which I spent watching all the battle scenes from Gladiator. Connie Nielsen is actually quite stunning in this film I think....shit my brain is being interrupted.


Wow, this entry kind of got sidetracked. I had planned on recording myself playing my keyboard and then posting the file to the blog for everyone to hear. Unfortunately, once I heard myself, I realized how bad I was, and decided not to post the recording. One hour of my life gone.

So since I have absolutely zero flow left for this entry, I will end it. I am going camping for the next couple of days, so I won't be able to post. However, feel free to check back, because I will be posting audioblog entries. Those should be fun.

Adios amigos.