Finishing up another exciting Tuesday in the computer lab. I didn't realize he pushed back the due date for this assignment; I'm halfway done (we have to do a linked list in two different implementations - one as an oo reasonable thing, and one as three parallel arrays, and I've finished one of them), and I guess kinda way ahead. So that's cool. Today's lab was really fast too, despite having not done any prework for it. I guess that means this semester is going pretty well, which is heartening. I like it when school goes well, it gives me a lot of confidence in myself, and reminds me that yes, I really do belong here.
Things with Becky have gone haywire. She's moving in. Yes, really. Mom suggested it (and, by implication, indicated she was okay with it), and it took us about two days to go for it. I'm pretty nervous about it, but I love her, she loves me, and I'm pretty confident we can work out just about any issues we might have. The main ones are our dogs getting along, and her getting to and from work on days when I can't give her a ride. Admittedly, it will be nice not having to drive between our two apartments a few times a day, and I can't say I'm sad to see her move out of Chapparal, both because of the area it's in and the past associations she has with it.
Speaking of which, I think she's going to see Ralph on Friday. His sister is going to pick him up and she's going to visit him in jail. I'm not exactly thrilled about it, but he was a huge part of her life for almost three years; I certainly wouldn't expect her to just make a clean break or anything. Hell, it took me a year and a half or so to finally break completely with Lilie, and sometimes, it was all too easy to forget what a scheming, manipulative, self-centered bitch she really was. But I definitely trust Rebecca. I've pretty much opened myself to her fully, without reservation, and placed my heart in her hands. I might live to regret it, but I know I'd regret it if I didn't, and I'm willing to accept a broken heart, but I don't want to regret not going for it. The other day on the way to work, she said something like "I want you to be my last long term relationship." Whoa. Yeah, I know. Could we really go all the way? I'm not really making specific plans for that just yet, but it's looking like a possibility. I do love her.
So I guess I'm going to go to Priebe's office hours Thursday morning and ask him some questions about this program. So much of his stuff is very vaguely defined, and stuff like this really needs structure, if you want to do it right. There's variables that make no sense, functions that seem almost useless, all kinds of things, and I want to know what's going. Plus, destructors.
My stab wound is getting better. The actual skin wound is getting smaller, and is already at the point where it's not really impressive to show it off anymore. Sadness. However, from my knee to my ankle is COVERED in massive bruises - I'll probably post pictures of it in a little bit - which Uncle Freddie says is indicative of things that could issues for me later in life, like blood clotting and a stroke. And death. So that's fun. The muscles really hurt, but that's to be expected, especially since I kind of push them. I mean, I'm careful not to put too much stress on them and give them time to heal, but I don't baby and pamper them completely. I don't want to come out of this injury with a massive loss of strength or speed (not that I have much of the latter to begin with, but I have been getting better in the last two months while playing racquetball with Matt). I did a few weights with it a few days ago, but I can really only use the muscle to apply miniscule pressure.
Work has been going okay. I'm still on reduced hours, so that's fun, but other than that, no real complaints. Gina finally realized that Trey is basically worthless, and he's getting demoted. At a food place. How crappy do you have to be to be told "I'm sorry, you can't handle your current responsibilities here" at a place like Domino's? It has moments that are stressful, and intra-personal communication is a bitch, but other than that, the job itself is really easy. Whatever. They put a thing in the latest meeting notes that up to five hours of MiT overtime per week is acceptable, so that's a positive sign. I think Dylan managed to get himself banned from the store by showing up all the time to hit on Sarah, and she showed her the text he wrote her. I have to follow up on that and confirm, but that makes me happy. Yes, I judge people quickly and harshly, but a) I give them the chance to prove me wrong, and b) I'm usually right. Suck on that.
Ting Tings -- That's Not My Name
2009-02-10
If the silence was a song
So I'm at the computer lab on campus, and I just finished program 2. It went really, really well. I went to ask the professor a question this morning, and he was like "If this is where you're at, there's no way you're going to finish in time." I tried telling him about my java background and how I've done this before and what-not, but he persisted. I turned it in about ten minutes ago. Granted, that's only two, maybe two and a quarter hours to spare, and anything going drastically wrong could have meant that I wouldn't have finished in time. But I did. So there. And it is awesome.
I think I really like this work environment. It's sparse, and pretty much the only other things going on are other people working and my headphones. I don't really get cell reception in here, so there's no texts to distract me (not that that's a bad thing), there's no tv, no computer games, no video games, no dogs, no dishes, no laundry, nothing. Of course, there's something to be said for taking the occasional break to clear your head and what-not. However, I've been coding almost non-stop since I called Becky at like 4:30, so that's over three hours straight, and another hour, hour and a half before that. I didn't really get stuck on anything, so I didn't have to stop and come back with a fresh mind. I don't know if that's going to be the case every time I come here to program, but it went well enough this time. The keyboard isn't a split ergonomic one like I prefer, but I can live with that. The buttons are suitably responsive, and that'll do for now.
Things with Rebecca are going crazy awesome. We've spent a total of two nights apart since last Monday when I got stabbed, and, before yesterday evening, maybe ten hours. It'll be about twenty, twenty-two hours since I've seen her when I pick her up from work, and that'll be our current longest time apart. I wouldn't mind if it's our longest time apart ever, but I already know that's not going to be the case - Wrestlemania XXV is right around the corner, and that will probably be 48-ish hours. But yeah, I told her I loved her the other night, and that went well. I hesitated on it for a while, I wanted to make sure it wasn't just a puppy crush or the emotional downturn of getting stabbed or something related to the two and a half years I've been pursuing her (well, it is, but not entirely). We just connect on such a deep level - I mean yeah, there's a lot of ways we're just really good friends, but the passion is there too. I feel so comfortable around her; I've sung, I've taken my shirt off, I've told her everything about my past she could ever want to know without hesitation. It's nuts. We've talked about various things in our future - spending New Year's together, meeting each other's families, moving in together - not as "things on the horizon", things that will be nice if they happen someday, but as definite events in the near and foreseeable future.
I love her.
I'm such a dork - I just finished writing my Go Fish! program, and I had the two players named Becky and Billy. I did have two more players named Janelle and Mike, but they didn't get used, as it's primarily a two person program. They were just in there as proof of concept. I got 2 points off of my last program for insufficient comments, so I commented the crap out of this one. Some of them were a little rude or humorous, so I hope that goes over well. CS people tend to be a little sarcastic by nature, so I'm not worried.
Overall, this semester's going pretty well, between work, school, socially. The only roadblock is physically. I did start on my new life plan a few weeks back, and it was going amazing - I lost like 15 pounds in 15 days, and that wasn't with a crash or fad diet or something. Just eating right and exercise, which are the cornerstones of any true life shift. However, when Ralph stabbed me, it pretty much robbed me of any ability to work out for the time being, which is oh so frustrating, and just another grievance I have against him. Whatever. He said that he's going to win Rebecca back after he gets out of jail. Bring it on.
So yeah. Watching my wound heal is pretty interesting, and really, really gross. Right now, my entire leg from the wound to my ankle is bruised all to hell, which is what my ankle did as well. The dried blood is all black, but the interior doesn't look that gross or infected or anything. I'll be keeping a close eye on it. I got to take an actual shower last night, as the eye strips finally came off (with a little assistance). It felt *so* good.
Vanessa Carlton -- Private Radio
I think I really like this work environment. It's sparse, and pretty much the only other things going on are other people working and my headphones. I don't really get cell reception in here, so there's no texts to distract me (not that that's a bad thing), there's no tv, no computer games, no video games, no dogs, no dishes, no laundry, nothing. Of course, there's something to be said for taking the occasional break to clear your head and what-not. However, I've been coding almost non-stop since I called Becky at like 4:30, so that's over three hours straight, and another hour, hour and a half before that. I didn't really get stuck on anything, so I didn't have to stop and come back with a fresh mind. I don't know if that's going to be the case every time I come here to program, but it went well enough this time. The keyboard isn't a split ergonomic one like I prefer, but I can live with that. The buttons are suitably responsive, and that'll do for now.
Things with Rebecca are going crazy awesome. We've spent a total of two nights apart since last Monday when I got stabbed, and, before yesterday evening, maybe ten hours. It'll be about twenty, twenty-two hours since I've seen her when I pick her up from work, and that'll be our current longest time apart. I wouldn't mind if it's our longest time apart ever, but I already know that's not going to be the case - Wrestlemania XXV is right around the corner, and that will probably be 48-ish hours. But yeah, I told her I loved her the other night, and that went well. I hesitated on it for a while, I wanted to make sure it wasn't just a puppy crush or the emotional downturn of getting stabbed or something related to the two and a half years I've been pursuing her (well, it is, but not entirely). We just connect on such a deep level - I mean yeah, there's a lot of ways we're just really good friends, but the passion is there too. I feel so comfortable around her; I've sung, I've taken my shirt off, I've told her everything about my past she could ever want to know without hesitation. It's nuts. We've talked about various things in our future - spending New Year's together, meeting each other's families, moving in together - not as "things on the horizon", things that will be nice if they happen someday, but as definite events in the near and foreseeable future.
I love her.
I'm such a dork - I just finished writing my Go Fish! program, and I had the two players named Becky and Billy. I did have two more players named Janelle and Mike, but they didn't get used, as it's primarily a two person program. They were just in there as proof of concept. I got 2 points off of my last program for insufficient comments, so I commented the crap out of this one. Some of them were a little rude or humorous, so I hope that goes over well. CS people tend to be a little sarcastic by nature, so I'm not worried.
Overall, this semester's going pretty well, between work, school, socially. The only roadblock is physically. I did start on my new life plan a few weeks back, and it was going amazing - I lost like 15 pounds in 15 days, and that wasn't with a crash or fad diet or something. Just eating right and exercise, which are the cornerstones of any true life shift. However, when Ralph stabbed me, it pretty much robbed me of any ability to work out for the time being, which is oh so frustrating, and just another grievance I have against him. Whatever. He said that he's going to win Rebecca back after he gets out of jail. Bring it on.
So yeah. Watching my wound heal is pretty interesting, and really, really gross. Right now, my entire leg from the wound to my ankle is bruised all to hell, which is what my ankle did as well. The dried blood is all black, but the interior doesn't look that gross or infected or anything. I'll be keeping a close eye on it. I got to take an actual shower last night, as the eye strips finally came off (with a little assistance). It felt *so* good.
Vanessa Carlton -- Private Radio
2009-02-03
You'll never have to be alone
A few days ago (Friday? Thursday?), Ralph told Rebecca that she had to stop talking to me, or that they were through. She was unwilling to do so, so I they broke up over that. I knew they were together soon enough after her and I started talking, and I really wasn't going to try anything to stop that. I'm having a weird feeling of deja vu writing this, and it has nothing to do with how many times I've had to tell this story in the last two days. Whatever.
So they're broken up, but she hasn't had a chance to move out just yet, so they're still living together. Sunday night, I had to take the weekly paperwork to New Braunfels and drop it off at my district manager's house. We have to finish closing first, then do all that, so it's usually around 2:30 or 3:30 that we leave the store. I was talking to Rebecca, and she offered to ride down there with me, and I jumped on the opportunity. I pulled up into the parking lot of her apartment complex, and saw her sitting at the top of the stairs waiting for me.
Before she was able to even start walking down, Ralph comes tearing down the stairs and towards my truck. I knew that couldn't be good. He threw the door of my truck open and was yelling at me - "What the fuck, dude?!". He punched me once, it hit me in the left temple, right where the eyebrow ends. That broke skin, and I started bleeding right away. He went to punch me a second time, and I caught that one on my arm. At some point, Rebecca had climbed into the truck and was yelling at him to stop. I think? It was happening really fast, so I'm not 100% sure as to the precise timeline, and only certain phrases are clear.
Anyway, he also punched me in the leg, and I really noticed that, since my thigh muscle clenched up really hard as soon as he did so. I didn't think much of the punch to the face; it didn't really hurt or anything, so I wasn't too worried about it. I figured he just got a really good shot on my leg. He also yelled "You're leaving me for this?!" at Rebecca. I didn't get out of the truck or anything; I've never been in a fight (does this count, now?), so I wouldn't really be sure what to do.
Anyway, after he hit me in the leg, I was yelling at him to chill out, and I think he did. He snapped and was all "Oh man, I'm sorry dude" and was trying to wipe the blood of my face from the wound there. It was really weird, and I just told him to go away.
We started driving away, and I was looking for my phone. It's usually sitting on the arm rest, and it wasn't there. I was worried that it fell out when he opened the door so hard, so I was trying to feel in my pocket to see if it was there. I felt some wetness, which kind of worried me - I knew he'd broken my skin when he punched me in the face, and that happens, but I didn't think it was really possible for him to break skin punching me in the leg through a pair of khaki pants.
I felt a small tear in my pant leg, and stuck my finger through that. I found a similar tear in my leg, and the entire pant leg was soaked through with blood. I turned to Rebecca and told her that he'd stabbed me. We went to the hospital from there. My muscle was clenching up so hard, I wasn't sure I'd be able to walk on it. It hurt a lot. We finally got to the hospital, and I managed to get out of the truck. Got up the stairs okay, and walked into the emergency room lobby. There wasn't anyone at the front desk, so I started filling out the paper. Shelly was sitting in the waiting room, and yelled out at me. I introduced her to Rebecca, then showed her my pant leg. It really freaked her out.
The desk lady finally came and took my paper, and called for the other guy, who led me to the back to be dealt with. I handed Rebecca my license and keys and asked her to hold on to them. They took me to the back, and I had to take my pants off in front of like six people. That was interesting, but I'm fairly comfortable with my own (disgusting) body, so that went okay. They hooked me up to everything, then started taking off my shoes and stuff. Cleaned up everything, put the super glue on my eyebrow, ascertained that there weren't any real issues with my leg; just a deep puncture wound in my thigh muscle. It has to heal from the inside, apparently, so no stitches, no super glue, nothing. It's just open to the world.
The police finally showed up and took my statement; I definitely pressed charges. They finally allowed Rebecca to come back into my little bed area; I realized too late I was still only half covered, so I was exposed from the waist down, save my underwear, when she came back. We talked a little; she kept talking about how bad she felt. I had to keep re-assuring her that it wasn't her fault.
I had to call Janelle at about 4:30 am to get her to bring me a change of clothes. Rebecca was so afraid that my family would hate her now, because she got me stabbed. It was really funny (to me, at least) when Janelle got there - "Janelle, you remember Rebecca? Rebecca, Janelle?" It hurt SO BAD trying to get out of the bed, I was laughing so hard (turns out I laugh when I'm in pain; the more it hurts, the harder I laugh).
Taylor Swift -- Love Story
So they're broken up, but she hasn't had a chance to move out just yet, so they're still living together. Sunday night, I had to take the weekly paperwork to New Braunfels and drop it off at my district manager's house. We have to finish closing first, then do all that, so it's usually around 2:30 or 3:30 that we leave the store. I was talking to Rebecca, and she offered to ride down there with me, and I jumped on the opportunity. I pulled up into the parking lot of her apartment complex, and saw her sitting at the top of the stairs waiting for me.
Before she was able to even start walking down, Ralph comes tearing down the stairs and towards my truck. I knew that couldn't be good. He threw the door of my truck open and was yelling at me - "What the fuck, dude?!". He punched me once, it hit me in the left temple, right where the eyebrow ends. That broke skin, and I started bleeding right away. He went to punch me a second time, and I caught that one on my arm. At some point, Rebecca had climbed into the truck and was yelling at him to stop. I think? It was happening really fast, so I'm not 100% sure as to the precise timeline, and only certain phrases are clear.
Anyway, he also punched me in the leg, and I really noticed that, since my thigh muscle clenched up really hard as soon as he did so. I didn't think much of the punch to the face; it didn't really hurt or anything, so I wasn't too worried about it. I figured he just got a really good shot on my leg. He also yelled "You're leaving me for this?!" at Rebecca. I didn't get out of the truck or anything; I've never been in a fight (does this count, now?), so I wouldn't really be sure what to do.
Anyway, after he hit me in the leg, I was yelling at him to chill out, and I think he did. He snapped and was all "Oh man, I'm sorry dude" and was trying to wipe the blood of my face from the wound there. It was really weird, and I just told him to go away.
We started driving away, and I was looking for my phone. It's usually sitting on the arm rest, and it wasn't there. I was worried that it fell out when he opened the door so hard, so I was trying to feel in my pocket to see if it was there. I felt some wetness, which kind of worried me - I knew he'd broken my skin when he punched me in the face, and that happens, but I didn't think it was really possible for him to break skin punching me in the leg through a pair of khaki pants.
I felt a small tear in my pant leg, and stuck my finger through that. I found a similar tear in my leg, and the entire pant leg was soaked through with blood. I turned to Rebecca and told her that he'd stabbed me. We went to the hospital from there. My muscle was clenching up so hard, I wasn't sure I'd be able to walk on it. It hurt a lot. We finally got to the hospital, and I managed to get out of the truck. Got up the stairs okay, and walked into the emergency room lobby. There wasn't anyone at the front desk, so I started filling out the paper. Shelly was sitting in the waiting room, and yelled out at me. I introduced her to Rebecca, then showed her my pant leg. It really freaked her out.
The desk lady finally came and took my paper, and called for the other guy, who led me to the back to be dealt with. I handed Rebecca my license and keys and asked her to hold on to them. They took me to the back, and I had to take my pants off in front of like six people. That was interesting, but I'm fairly comfortable with my own (disgusting) body, so that went okay. They hooked me up to everything, then started taking off my shoes and stuff. Cleaned up everything, put the super glue on my eyebrow, ascertained that there weren't any real issues with my leg; just a deep puncture wound in my thigh muscle. It has to heal from the inside, apparently, so no stitches, no super glue, nothing. It's just open to the world.
The police finally showed up and took my statement; I definitely pressed charges. They finally allowed Rebecca to come back into my little bed area; I realized too late I was still only half covered, so I was exposed from the waist down, save my underwear, when she came back. We talked a little; she kept talking about how bad she felt. I had to keep re-assuring her that it wasn't her fault.
I had to call Janelle at about 4:30 am to get her to bring me a change of clothes. Rebecca was so afraid that my family would hate her now, because she got me stabbed. It was really funny (to me, at least) when Janelle got there - "Janelle, you remember Rebecca? Rebecca, Janelle?" It hurt SO BAD trying to get out of the bed, I was laughing so hard (turns out I laugh when I'm in pain; the more it hurts, the harder I laugh).
Taylor Swift -- Love Story
