Oh, I Would Kill For The Atlantic

So a lot of you are going off to college or are already moved in there. This is exciting! Fun, new, frightening, liberating, etc... All sorts of words I could throw out there. I figured since I did the whole "new to college" thing last year, I could maybe throw together some advice based entirely on my first year at IU. This is straight from my personal experiences, what I did, wish I would have done, done differently, etc... I hope it helps!

• Take advantage of all the events going on around campus for delicious free food. I can't tell you how much free food I got last year. I got free pizza like once a week, free wings a few times, I even scored some Chinese food in there! On top of the food, some of the events themselves are fun. I watched a movie about World of Warcraft addictions (and scored free Domino's), a bunch of Asian people singing (and scored free Chinese food), learned about sex (twice, and scored free pizza twice!), I could go on, but you probably get the idea.
• GO TO CLASS, UNLESS YOU ARE 110% SURE YOU DO NOT NEED TO. I skipped Calc a few times because it was boring as hell and I felt like I knew the material. I did NOT know it well enough and ended up getting a C+ and not getting into the business school and having to change my major (which all worked out fine, don't worry bout me). You have a metric butt-ton of free time, going to class will be worth it.
• Meet new people! You'll be surrounded by thousands of them, don't be anti-social! None of my Beech Grove bros went to IU, so I pretty much had to make new friends. Luckily for me, this was really easy because it turns out if you just talk to a ton of people you find cool ones. I've met some of my best friend at college. 
• Get to know your campus. Getting to class is so much easier when you know what buildings you can cut through. You get a better idea of where to hang out with your friends, where to sleep in-between classes, etc... Sleeping in the Union was my favorite thing to do at IU. I don't know about other colleges, but at IU some people sleep just in the grass somewhere. It's really relaxing.
• Don't eat too much! Food is good, especially when you have fake college money to spend on candy and beef jerky and soda everyday, but you'll soon discover that the Freshman 15 is very real. Maybe that's because I had chips and salsa and candy and whatnot EVERY NIGHT EVER, not to mention I actually ate two full meals a day every day. Still, I gained weight. Don't let it happen to you!
• Get to know your professor a little. If you need an extension on an assignment or something, it'll improve the odds greatly. I'm not saying that you need to become best friends with them, but if they at least know your name, you'll be better off. 

That's probably all I got, at least for now. I don't really have advice for those of you staying at home and stuff, seeing as how I didn't do that. To my friends who are in/have been to college: any other suggestions?

My Plug In Baby Crucifies My Enemies

A few days ago I saw Muse in concert and I have to say, it was unbelievably fantastic. So much so that I thought I would share my feelings on it with all of you!

Anyway, I went with Kyra and Devon. We met up with Jillian and some of her friends on the way and ate at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. If you've never been there and like burgers, I'd highly recommend it. From there we headed to the show where we met up with Austin and some of Devon's friends that I don't really know.

The opening band was Middle Class Rut, who weren't half bad for an opening band consisting of two people. They had a strong loud sound, but pretty poor lyrics and they got really repetitive. Also, one of them went on some kind of rant about how he wanted to have sex with everyone in the crowd. That was awkward. That and he said fuck a lot.

Cage The Elephant were next, who I know entirely from the opening song to Borderlands. They ended up being pretty good. I probably wouldn't bother downloading an album or anything, but they seemed to have a decent diversity of songs, a sot of energy on stage, and a generally good stage presence.

While we were waiting in between bands, the TV screens had people's messages displayed on them. Naturally, I had to try my hardest to get my ridiculous ones on there. I managed to get over 20 messages on the screen including my League Of Legends name (I started playing that, you'll get a post about it sooner or later), a Portal 2 reference, and about five stating that I love Radiohead and Thom Yorke (lead singer).

I would imagine Muse is what you've wanted to hear about, so I'll talk about them soon. They started with Exogenesis Part 1, which was a really surprising and fantastic choice, creating a really ominous and dramatic feeling. From there they went into Uprising. I don't really care for Uprising, but it certainly got the crowd going well. Next up was Map Of The Problematique, which blew me away and was a really freaking awesome choice. They followed that with Butterflies and Hurricanes which is another personal favorite and came out epic as hell live. In between almost every song, they did random instrumental jams.

It's at this point I want to mention that Matthew Bellamy obviously does not enjoy speaking to the crowd very much. I mean, he wasn't shy per say, he just rarely ever talked!

After Butterflies I believe was Supermassive Black Hole, which is a fun song and was cool to see live. It's after that that things took a very Resistance turn. As in, they played Undisclosed Desires, Resistance, United States of Eurasia, and Guiding Light. Now all of these were great live, and I like The Resistance, but Guiding Light? Really? Of all the songs they have, I wouldn't have picked Guiding Light. Oh well... I don't quite remember the order of things after that, but they played Starlight. Starlight is one of my favorite Muse songs and had an amazing laser show. They also did Time is Running Out, which I actually don't like as much as I used to, and Hysteria which was pretty powerful and awesome.

After some half-assed attempt at getting an encore cheer (they didn't even say goodbye!) they came back and FINALLY played Plug-In Baby. I freaking love that song and they did it justice, I just wish we could have got more instrumental stuff. After like five more minutes of jamming with a harmonica, they closed with Knights Of Cydonia.

Overall, it was a fantastic show. I just wish they played more older stuff, ya know?

Would It Kill Me?

As I type this, I lay on my bed doing nothing. This has been my most common location for the past three days.

I know what the few of you who clicked the damn link are thinking: "Why do I give a fuck? Who possibly cares what Andrew is doing as he types his pointless ramblings?" while the other half are already clicking off the tab and heading to the kitchen to eat, finally having found a brief respite from the otherwise non-stop stream of interesting information on the internet. For those people, I fear all hope is lost of them ever viewing my laments. For the rest of you, I ask you to read (and maybe even comment0 because you, just maybe, care enough about me to read whatever I thought was important enough to write. At the least, indulge me.

Anyway, back to where we started. It's 11:30 at night and I haven't attempted to contact anyone to find out what interesting happenstances are occurring at the moment. I could do that, or I could continue to waste away with my bag of pretzels in my room. I've got no momentum right now, no desire to do anything. This isn't just my usual laziness. I feel very... burnt out. I don't really WANT to be around others.

I was really stressed out on my birthday a few days ago (thanks for all the birthday wishes and whatnots, by the way). A few factors included my dad being an ass, as usual, a lot of people cramped around me for most of the day, heat, a lack of decent sleep, and a massive amount of stupidity when trying to form any sort of plans for the day.

Now, I wouldn't say it was a bad birthday, but it disappointed in a few ways. More importantly, I was really looking forward to it and I suppose I just didn't really get what I wanted (not materialistically here people, I'm not that bad). This, in turn, has led to me not wanting to put forth any sort of effort into making these past few days anything special.

I suppose I'm typing this now because I just want to get it out there. I mean, what does one do when they feel like this? I don't want to be "that asshole" who goes and hangs out with his friends but then just mopes and constantly claims to be alright, only to follow up by sulking in the damn corner some more. No, I'm better than that (at least I'd like to hope I am), but then what do I do? I'm tired of being in this damn room. It's hot and a mess and I don't like it.

Anyway, if that whole thing was too long for you to read, I've got a nice short summary for you

• I'm burnt out and don't know how to deal with it.
• You're an ass, read it.

A Small Pondry

Is there anything that any of you that read this would like to see me talk about?

Food? Music? My personal life? Anything else?

I'd greatly appreciate comments on whatever you'd like to read about from my perspective.

Thanks!

Freestyling It

I'm very excited to try out the Coca Cola Freestyle tomorrow.
Instead of talking about it now, I'll do it tomorrow. This is more a placeholder...
An ugly thing to force me to do it.
EDIT: I enjoyed it quite a bit, and had a decently eventful day.
Enough of one that I don't feel like writing it all tonight.
TOMORROW for sure!

Right then! 

Tuesday was pretty awesome. The first thing I did was get my sorry ass dragged out of bed and headed to Salvation Army with the guys. We bought "kill clothes" for the season finale of Dexter. See, we've been watching Dexter as a group, and that night was our last night as we ran out. I'll probably make a post about Dexter soon-ish. 

Anyway, following that we hung out at Cody's until we could go to Firehouse Subs, which is the interesting thing I wanted to blog about so I should get to it...

Firehouse Subs is located in Avon and is one of many restaurants to carry the god of all soda fountains, the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine.

Coke drinkers always kneel towards the nearest one upon opening a can.

 This sexy beast was the entire reason for our visit. It claims to hold around 100 flavors of Coke products, depending on the particular machine. During the trip, I tried the following drinks:

• Grape Sprite - A very pleasant grape drink, almost like a better carbonated water
• Vanilla Sprite - Boooooring. I mean, it's carbonated vanilla.
• Grape Vault - It's the BOMB. Like a pitch-black Vault.
• Peach Vault - Really a better combination than it sounds, it's refreshing.
• Fruit Punch Fanta - I mean, it's carbonated fruit punch, always kick ass.
• Orange Coke - I was shocked at how good this was. The orange didn't overpower at all, it added a very nice citrus taste.
• Raspberry Coke - Actually, a little too sweet for my tastes.

However, my trip was noteworthy for a second reason: Dave's Ultimate Insanity Hot Sauce. You see, it turns out Firehouse has quite a few hot sauces to put on your sub (speaking of, I got a Beef Brisket and Cheddar. It was alright, needed toastier bread, got mayo accidentally but barely noticed it, overall recommened). I, being the champion of hot sauce (and stupidity), decided that Ultimate Insanity needed to be all over part of my sub. Despite the 10+++ on the bottle for heat, I was not afraid. I put it right on, plenty of it, and ate my damn sandwich. At first, not too bad. Soon though... 

 My mouth felt like it was literally on fire. My eyes were watering, lips burning, stomach churning... I consumed the majority of my pop at this point. Tragically, it cooled the burn for a moment before honestly just making the stomach pain worse. I have never experienced a hotter spice or burn.

I lived, luckily, and brought some home because I just love suffering. Firehouse was great, as was the season finale of Dexter. I had a great day, and learned two things:

1. Coke Freestyle is as great as it sounds, and I want to try it again sometime!
2. My stomach will never forgive me, as long as I live.

You Used To Be Alright, What Happened?

I really wish my iPod battery hadn't gone to hell right now. I'd just like to play some music and take a walk, but that can only last for about 15 minutes before my music is gone.

Feels bad man.

Running On Empty

I find myself up until ridiculous hours this summer.

It's likely the cause of my waking up so late.

Anyone else not heading to bed until after four?

I know it's not JUST me.

Time Is Quite The Killer When You're Left Behind

Today, I am here to talk to you about what I believe to be a perfect album that all of you should most certainly buy/download and listen to as soon as you possibly can!

Broken Bride by Ludo

If for some reason you've skimmed the caption text located directly above you, the album is Broken Bride by the band Ludo. I suppose I should start describing it, selling you on why it's perfect...

First off, it's a concept album. The whole thing is a rather cohesive and very touching story. It contains a pretty unique variety of sounds within it's five songs. It's about 30 minutes long, so it won't even take that much time for you to listen to, so no excuses!

It is also the only album to make me cry, dead serious. That being said, on to the individual tracks!

We'll start with the first and title track, Broken Bride. Immediately, we're given the rundown on our hero's situation: He's built a time machine to save his dead girlfriend's life by going back to, ya know, before she died and stopping it from happening, but he's traveled way too far back in time and ended up with dinosaurs. Hiding in a cave from the pterodactyls, he laments the futility of his efforts. It's a fun song and a great way to get you hooked on the album.

Next up is Save Our City. It's a bit confusing, as we're thrust into the Apocalypse, when zombies roam the Earth and everything is pretty much awful. It's actually kind of depressing, especially at first, when we're told of people committing suicide and generally losing hope. They're warring against a dragon and his undead army. By the end of the song (and it's a pretty long song), you'll feel inspired to take up arms yourself and fight the dragon.

The third track, Tonight's The Night, doesn't actually tell us much, but it sets up a bit of the previous story and provides a nice upbeat break between the melancholy of the previous track and the upcoming one. It's just the main character singing about how he'll save his girl with the time machine he's built (it takes place before the first track).

The Lamb And The Dragon, track four, is when shit gets real. Basically, our hero traveled forward from the time of the dinosaurs, but went too far and ended up in the end times (See! Track two wasn't pointless at all!). We learn about the war a bit more, about how the dragon's going to basically come and kill everybody through music that alternates between sounding like it came from a Renaissance fair and a heavy metal album. Our hero laments these problems, but knows he must see his girl again. He fires up the machine and...

I'm not going to spoil it here! Listen to it! I will tell you that the name of the last track is Morning In May, so you can maybe make an assumption or two, but still. It's worth every cent you will or won't pay for it.

What are you waiting for? Get to it!

Play The Game

So, maybe this is a well known fact, maybe not, but here it goes:

I play Yu-Gi-Oh! Oh yes I do. My friends and I play it pretty frequently, and have a damn good time doing so. I know what you may be thinking, "Isn't that game dead?" No! It turns out that it is still well and alive with more and more stuff coming out every day!

Honestly, we started playing as something to kill the time. I can't remember who suggested the whole thing in the first place, but it rather quickly became an everyday thing for us. If you are ever looking for me at two in the morning (and let's be honest, who isn't?) a good place to check would be the White Castle over on Emerson, where we'll play for two hours.

I haven't sunk that much money in personally. I'm far too stingy to, and not as obsessed as some of my compadres. I currently run two decks, one based around aliens and one based around wooden puppet warriors called Karakuri. I'm also in the middle of building a third deck, Morphtronics (think cute Transformers)

This guy right here is my alien's trump card. Also he'll rape your face.

Anyway, I could go into detail about who all is good and how my decks play, but no one wants to read that. Hell, I mostly just wanted an excuse to put that picture of Gol'gar in here somewhere.

If you want to poke fun, by the way, it is welcome but do try to include what YOU do for fun so I can at least get a fighting chance!

Why I Currently Suck

I think that above title is probably appropriate yeah... This post will be dedicated to how my summer has been, but more importantly, why I suck right now and generally need to stop sucking.

Also, it feels real good to be posting after such an extended absence. I gotta do this more!


Over the summer, I've done a lot of cool things. Some of the ones I can think of are as follows (more may be added at a later point, as this is also something of a personal reminder):

• Went to King's Island with Phil, Anthony and Splinter
• Lots of late night White Castle
• Got mugged at Central, spent all night at the police station
• The party at Anthony's
• Infiltrated South Grove
• Swimming and tanning with Kyra
• DnD with the usual gang

I also have a good amount to look forward to, such as my birthday, Taking Back Sunday and Muse, Captain America, and a good 'nother month of shenanigans.

HOWEVER, I AM A LAZY BASTARD. I have become so incredibly useless during my summer. I will now present the world with a list of reasons I have been a piece of crap (I may again add more later):

• I haven't blogged in two months
• My clothes have generally resided on my floor
• I still haven't checked my stuff for next school year
• I still haven't called Alienware back about this thing's failures
• I didn't get my job back, probably because I waited over a month to call
• I've been waking up between 12-2 every day
• My room is an absolute wreck

Sweet God... It actually looks even worse when I've put it out there. Anyways, I have got to not do this. I'm hoping to start by posting this whole thing, but that's just a start (actually, I also did laundry today). Ideally, I'd get up at a decent time tomorrow, make a phone call, check the web, and then clean my room. That is totally not going to happen though.

I'm really not sure why I got so damn lazy. Maybe it was the absolute freedom of no school or job or anything. Maybe it was the sudden lack of stress. Maybe it's because my food intake has been cut in half. Nevertheless, I'm most certainly disappointed in myself. I could be, should be better than this.

Whatever, you all get the point.

I'll make sure to try harder to keep you informed on more crap about myself that you don't care about!