MDoS's Xanga

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 22:49:06 GMT

I did some experimenting today...

Check out the actual YouTube page if you wanna pass it on!

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:37:07 GMT

Alright, check it.

So a few days ago, I ordered food in Japan by pointing at a menu I couldn't read. The next day, I ate a veggie burger at the Hard Rock Cafe in Honolulu. The following day, I took my girl to an italian restaurant on the river walk in San Antonio. And the day after that I met an old friend at the Ikea in Seattle for some dinner.

Needless to say, my sleep schedule is having an identity crisis right now.

Yesterday I went on a ferry across Puget Sound in Washington State and had lunch at a mom-n-pop BBQ joint in Port Townsend, where I had an order of salmon. It was some real delish fish. You can't expect much less at Puget Sound.

Tonight, I'll see more old friends in Tacoma before I fly back to Texas tomorrow. While traveling is fun, I'm looking forward to the couple of months I will have to just stay put in San Antonio. Perhaps I can finally get back to my writing.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:02:18 GMT

I am updating my xanga blog from Japan!

Nothing much to report. I have been praying more, running longer, and I just got sick. I feel miserable, but somehow sickness isnt phasing me too much. I have hope.

Japan rocks, but I cant wait to get back home.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 22:14:16 GMT

O, my lovely Eve. You chose to withhold what you said I deserved. What you could have given me: you kept it. Sad little girl. I drew you a compass and you went south. O, how you love your rules. Justice first, and this is my square deal. While all I ever wanted was Love. To celebrate birth and to wish I were dead. Praise God, because nobody comes close.

Thanks for wasting my time.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Sat, 31 Mar 2007 21:57:19 GMT

Lots of news. Oh my. Can't control myself. Must continue to write.

I'll be back in Ohio for another three weeks starting in April 4. That means I'm celebrating Easter with friends, going to prom, and enjoying my golden birthday during this trip. It'll be awesome. I might even help out with the next Average Jo Production. Much excitement.

I'm leading the music at church this weekend. My friend, a Protestant chaplain, asked if I would be able to help him out, since his music director moved recently. So he bought me a guitar, and I'll be playing four of my favorite Matt Maher songs. At first, I was going to play Wonderful to Me, until I studied the lyrics a little more carefully.

And I've been fed
by the body of Christ
in sacrament, and in the
midst of community

While I am perfectly fine with these lyrics, I'm not comfortable leading a group of not-necessarily-Catholic Christians through them. I would feel at the very least as if I'm subliminally converting Protestants. I briefly explained this to my chaplain friend, who will be preaching at this service, and he said he'd be cool with it. "It's not like they would know what they were singing if they were opposed to it." This chaplain is probably the most Catholic Protestant I've ever met. He believes in transubstantiation. He prays the Hail Mary. In general, he's awesome. But I changed the song anyways. This is a nondenominational service, and I'm not going to impose my denomination on anyone. I am a proponent of free will. Anyways, it should be a good time. First time I will have played guitar in front of more than five people. Should be fun.

I have internet. First time since college. When my work colleagues ask how I could go three years without cable or internet, I explain how I was raised Amish. They believe me for the few moments before I smile. Good times. Also got a new computer. It's really cool. Windows Vista. The most stable operating system EVER. I still don't have cable, but I don't really need it when I have Windows Media Center. This program automatically uploads 100 three-minute MSNBC news segments every two hours. I always have something to watch. And then there's YouTube. Addicting. My computer is in my bedroom, opposite my new queen-sized bed. Comfortable. The rest of my apartment is extremely clean because I don't spend any time outside my bedroom. It's awesome.

It was a beautiful day today. I decided to go for a long walk. But I wanted to ensure I would get a lot of exercise out of it. So I started walking in a nearby neighborhood that I've never been in, and took turn after turn until I lost my orientation. The houses were pretty. After thirty or forty minutes, I was ready to go home. And so I kept walking in a certain direction until I reached a major road that I recognized. This gave me my bearings so that I could navigate through the neighborhood back to my apartment. But then I got lost again. Continuing in this new direction, I reached another major road, and decided to follow this one back to my apartment. In the end, I had walked nearly two and a half hours. I definitely got a workout. I went to GoogleMaps and found out I traveled over five miles.

After my walk, I took a much needed nap. I slept for a couple of hours and woke up feeling a little sore. I walked to the mirror in my bathroom to discover that my neck had turned red by the sun. So now I'm a redneck. Officially. But seriously, I got a sunburn in March?? Are you kidding me? Geez. It's not too bad of a sunburn, but still. I didn't expect that. Whatever. It should be healed by the time I travel to Ohio.

I've lost 25 pounds in the past month. I have 20 more to go before I regain my sexy beast-dom from college. I should look somewhat stunning in my mess dress for prom in late April. We'll see. I need to get back into swing dancing so I can show off my date as much as possible. Perhaps Evil B would be willing to train the two of us to be like Patrick Swayze and what's-her-name. Only not so dirty.

My new computer has enabled me to iron out one of my writing projects. I had a screenplay entitled "Hostage" that I brought with me to Ohio in my last trip, and the interested director helped me identify its shortcomings. Since then, I've tightened up all of the dialogue, added a couple of hard-hitting scenes, and even changed the title: "Love Thy Neighbor". I showed the new screenplay to many of my friends, and they all seem to really like it. Much better. At the moment, I am waiting for probably the most important review of them all before I send the latest draft to the interested director. Perhaps she will become as excited about this movie as I have been for the past six months. We shall see.

And that's about it. I excited to be in Ohio on Wednesday. Pray that my flight is a safe one.

We give Thee thanks, O Heavenly Father, for Thy most precious gift of life. A gift Thou shared for our salvation with Thy Word and only son, our Lord. For our sins He died according to Thy Will so that we might have newness of life in Thee. May Thy Grace bring our hearts into union with Thy Love, and our lives in faith with Thy most holy son, Jesus, through Whom we sincerely pray in solemn pursuit of Thy Will. Amen.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 19:44:06 GMT

Wow. I totally haven't been keeping up my xanga site. I suppose this is permissible considering I don't have internet at my apartment, and my work has banned sites like this from its computer network. I'm at my parents' house now, so I figured I'd update.

I've been working a lot on several writing projects. For work, I've been throwing together a paper for publication, which I've titled "Modeling the thermal response of biological tissue to continuous wave non-ionizing electromagnetic exposure". It's mostly basic math, but it provides a rigorous derivation for the standard phenomenon that my office encounters on a daily basis with its experiments. In my free time, I've been working on other writing projects. For example, I've re-"engaged" in Sacksteder Entertainment, and have consequently found myself writing screenplays. One, called "Hostage", is almost complete and looks like a 20-minute film, while the other, with working title "Confess", is far from complete but will probably be around 5 minutes long. It's a lot of fun working with my Ohio friends on these projects, as this tends to bring back great memories of flagrant dancing and plaid-wearing.

But the major project into which I've been pouring most of my free time is this speculative fiction "Metania" novel series that I've decided to write. It will be an attempt to fill some holes in Catholic teaching by way of Christian mythology in an entertaining way. To give you some idea of what I mean by Christian mythology, some of my research includes Narnia, Tolkien, The Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost and the apocryphal Book of Enoch. The first novel will be called "Last of the Chosen", and at this point I have only drafted the first two chapters. It's pretty nuts, but the friends that I've managed to keep "in the loop" on this project seem to think it's pretty cool. So that's good.

I can't think of much else. That's probably because there isn't much else. The reason I've gotten into so many writing projects is that I haven't been able to get much involved in after work activities. If I'm not writing or researching for writing, I'm probably watching movies, which I suppose can be considered research for screenplays. When I was in Ohio, I managed to develop solid friendships with my peers at school. From there, a chance visit with my AFIT friends to a Christian Life group on Brown Street sparked the memorable portion of my time in Ohio. One would think that this pattern could continue in Texas, where work buddies take the place of classmates. But that's the problem. Everyone in my office is either married or too introverted to be interested in hanging out after work or over weekends. Sure, there is the monthly poker game, but that's about it.

So maybe I just need to crash one of those college parties I sometimes drive by two blocks down the road. Or not. I'm not too interested in the college scene much any more. I'm definitely not interested in clubbing, or at least not by myself. And I can't seem to find a San Antonio parallel to CL. Not that I would ever expect to meet such a caliber of people anywhere. I think I just got lucky in Ohio. I wish I was still there.

But enough of the depression. I'm going to be traveling quite a bit in the coming months. Let's see. I'm currently in Virginia with my parents for Thanksgiving. Next month, I'll be celebrating Christmas with my family in Virginia. Oh, and in January, I'll be attending my Dad's retirement ceremony in Virginia. Hmmm, me senses a pattern. Ah, but I change it up with a trip to San Jose, CA in late January. That's right. I'll be presenting my research on "Modeling the thermal response..." at a conference there. This is the first time I will have ever been to California, and that's pretty awesome considering I've been everywhere else as a military brat.

Ah, but the traveling continues. The week after I'm in California, I plan to return to Mecca, er- *ahem*, Dayton. That's right, boys and girls. I will be taking another class at Wright-Patterson AFB about the Air Force Research Laboratory in early February, but I will be arriving even earlier to conduct some research with my AFIT thesis advisor. At this point, I will be in Dayton for something like three weeks. And you better believe I'm going to a Youth Group meeting!

So that's my life at this point. Feel free to comment.

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Sun, 21 May 2006 16:10:23 GMT

In the following movie review, the digits in parentheses form the movie's ECTM score, which rates the movie from zero to three (three being best) in the following four categories, respectively: entertaining, well-constructed, thought-provoking and moral undertones.

Lucky Number Slevin (3321). It seems that watching movies with the intent to review makes the viewing experience more pleasurable (at least so far). This movie's noteworthy wit stems mostly from the rare interaction between powerful New York City gangsters and a mildly sarcastic, nonchalant victim of bad luck. After the first few minutes, I decided to pay close attention because the conversation seemed fast-paced and nontrivial. I think the script just needed a bit more natural dialogue to achieve an esteemed Tarantino quality. The story was engaging as long as I was unsure of what was going on --- much like the first volume of Kill Bill. I would've been completely satisfied with the conclusion if only it had left some room for the imagination, instead of answering every question that the audience had asked throughout the movie. But the main downside of the movie was its positive portrayal of revenge, although this is not too distressing, as it is quite poetically blunt. If you aren't skiddish about rated-R content, see this movie as soon as possible.

Poseidon (2112). Alrighty. From the previews, this movie looked completely lame, and so I chose not to see it at first. But then a couple of my friends told me that it was pretty good, and so I decided that I might as well get some more movie review practice. It was basically your standard group-of-people-try-to-escape-death movie. Naturally comparing to Titanic, the story was a bit lacking. Still, suspense was given at some points, while corniness was unavoidable at others. There were scenarios where characters did not act as expected, and there was definitely at least one plot hole. I frequently found myself thinking "are you serious?!" in disbelief of the characters' uncanny ability to quickly navigate through the exotic system of closed-off tunnels and abandoned rooms. Considering similar survival movies, this wasn't particularly thought-provoking, and moral undertones are limited to the love that is inevitably expressed in life-or-death situations. In summary, go watch Over the Hedge.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Sat, 20 May 2006 22:24:54 GMT

Over the Hedge (2222). It's pretty sad when one of the best movies at the theaters has a target audience in grade school. But that seems to be the trend with the rising computer-animated sequence of smart-humored films, of which this movie is the latest. It's been awhile since I saw The Incredibles, and so I forgot how funny these tend to be. I was particularly impressed with the quantity of parodied brand names such as "Spuddies" (for Pringles) and "Auto Homicide III" (for Grand Theft Auto III). I do think, however, that the level of entertainment fell short of Monster's Inc, which had both witty and *touching* moments. I didn't find any plot holes, and I was satisfied with the ending. Also, I was pleased with their interpretation of (and humorously practical justification for) bullet-time, popularized in the late '90s by The Matrix. Finally, this movie reinforced values like family and forgiveness --- solid concepts to instill in America's youth. This movie was definitely intended for children and their parents, but considering the alternatives, I recommend it to all who plan on going to a movie theater anytime soon.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Sat, 20 May 2006 17:16:47 GMT

I have been pretty bored with no one from Dayton around, and so I've found myself watching a lot of movies at the theaters. After a while, I've seen a couple of good movies, but mostly really crappy ones. It really disappoints me how movie-makers are getting into a slump, where they put in just enough effort to get a sufficient expected box-office result. It's getting ridiculous.

In fact, after considering the lameness that I have witnessed, I have come to the conclusion that I think a lot about my taste in movies. I don't necessarily think that I am full of myself, rather that I have a high opinion about my movie palate --- like a wine-taster, only for movies. It is this thought process that has led me to conclude that I should start reviewing movies, and what better medium to display the results than my xanga site!

We now consider the manner in which my reviews will be represented. I will consider four important (to me) characteristics. First is how entertaining the movie is [E]. The definition of "entertaining" depends on the type of movie. For example, a horror flick would be entertaining if I couldn't sleep anymore, and a comedy would if my sides are in pain half the time. Further, a movie is very entertaining if it induces several emotions, and does so in a shot amount of time (like I cry a minute after I laugh). Second is how well the movie is put-together [C]. If there are glaring plot-holes or the characters are not dependable (i.e., they act out of character or react to scenarios in ways that don't make sense), then the movie isn't well-constructed. Third is how thought-provoking the movie is [T]. If it changes one's perception of reality or proposes a compelling scenario, I would consider it thought-provoking. Finally, the last characteristic regards the movie's moral undertones [M]. If I sense that the movie is *strategically* pushing some jacked-up sociopolitical agenda or anything else that I don't agree with, I will call it out. I say strategically because I will try to be less harsh on overt displays (not really undertones), and crucify those movies that I feel try to pull a fast one.

It is important to note that I am not rating the acting. The quality of the acting is a function of the actors. If you want to see a movie with good acting, scan for an Oscar-winning cast. Also, it is important to note that the overall goodness of a movie (in my opinion) is determined by how entertaining it is. This leaves the remaining three categories to be mostly an assessment of the script. Let's continue.

How will I rate these four categories? I have actually been trying to think of a best metric, and have finally come up with the following. Each category gets a rating of 0, 1, 2 or 3. Three is the best, meaning that I thought the movie was entertaining, well-constructed, thought-provoking, or that I approved of its moral undertones. Since there are an even number of rating options, I can't choose to be neutral in any category. The result is a four-dimensional integer vector called the ECTM. Since each coordinate is a single digit, I will use juxtaposition instead of commas in my vector notation. So let's begin my first movie reviews.

The Da Vinci Code (1231). I saw this movie last night, and did not like it. It was way too long, had empty action, and needed more suspense. The ending dragged. It was thought-provoking, but the book probably deserves the credit. I think it was supposed to be a scavenger-hunt sort of mystery, but there were too many steps to the hunt, and so it seemed to almost bounce around. I would have had more fun following it if it gave me a chance to solve the problems. As someone could probably expect from any conspiracy theoretical movie, I sensed an individualist attitude against religion and state. This wasn't too subtle, but still worth identifying.

See No Evil (2101). I felt robbed after last night's disappointment, so today I went to a movie that didn't get so much press. This movie was the right length, and pretty graphic. I think this is what made it entertaining to me, as it made me more "fearful" of the villain. However, the plot was pretty lame from the beginning: I felt like the setting needed more justification. I didn't expect it to be thought provoking, considering its genre, but it didn't even make an attempt. Finally, there was what appeared to be an anti-fundamentalist baseline that didn't come into full view until near the end. It involved an extremely radical "Christian" (I assume; a specific religion was not explicitly defined), which lead to an almost anti-Christian morale. Despite the writing, I liked this movie more than last night's.

And those are my movie reviews for the day. If you have an opinion, feel free to comment.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Sat, 06 May 2006 10:11:59 GMT

Wow. The past couple of weeks have been pretty hardcore. The last week of April, I packed my things and moved away from Ohio, and this last week I arrived at San Antonio, introduced myself to my new boss and coworkers, figured out the highways of the city, and signed the lease to my new apartment.

This apartment is flippin’ sweet. Much classier than my old Ohio apartment: hardwood floors, old-style bathroom (with small hexagon floor tiles just like Rachel and Mary’s), and new appliances… including… a dishwasher!!! Woo hoo!! Not to mention a new air-conditioning system: a must-have in the nine-month hot season which characterizes south Texas. Even more, this place has something like 50 percent more square-footage than my last apartment. This means I can wait even longer before I have to do laundry!! lol

I’m currently in the on-base “hotel” lobby, typing away on the computer they provide to their guests. Unfortunately, the scanner doesn’t appear to be hooked-up, and so I can’t scan the floor plan of my apartment. This means I get to show off my Paint skills…

So that’s my 771-square-foot apartment.

It seems that my job here is going to be pretty interesting. My unit is under the Human Effectiveness directorate of the Air Fore Research Laboratory. In particular, my branch is concerned with directed energy (radio frequency radiation, to be precise). The bioeffects research conducted at my branch is explained in the following:

Some new directed energy weapons systems use short, intense pulses of microwave energy to incapacitate opponent electronic systems. A major research effort is focused on determining the biological effects of these novel pulses in order to establish protection criteria necessary before these systems can be tested and fielded. (website)

So it seems that the application of my research will deal with the future of military weaponry: non-lethal. That’s gotta make a Catholic feel good. My research won’t kill people. Awesome. Learn more about directed energy weapons on Wikipedia.

I think that’s about it for now. Oh, last night I saw the third Mission Impossible movie. It was packed with action and such, but I was looking for maybe some more sophisticated (perhaps more numerous) impossible missions. I guess penetrating the Vatican’s security was kinda cool… lol