Synaxis TV

After a regrettful breakfast and some lounging around my dad and I went to go see Van Helsing, and I actually found it to be quite enjoyable, much to my surprise. When that was over my dad tortured me for thirty minutes as we circled the mall and stopped to go to three different places in it. I was having a really stressful moment just then for some reason so it was that much more unpleasant. We ended up going to Rockfish for dinner (my first time) though and I felt better after a while.

I scrounged around the house for a few things when we got back and made a late(r than planned) departure back home to Dallas. Then I came back to the house to get a CD I forgot, as well as another I had forgotten from visiting long before, and got back on the road again. There was some impressive lightning on the way back and then some absolutely terrible weather — I was a bit afraid that I’d run into a tornado or some such. The one lane traffic south of Corsicana was a bit annoying but not too bad. Overall the trip only took about 20 minutes or so more than usual.

So I decided to go to my parents house, but when I was about an hour away I found out they wouldn’t be there until the evening. Mom said they’d be there but they decided to stay in Houston until they picked up my sister from the airport. I turned around and made my way back to Dallas for a few minutes then turned back around again figuring there were still things I could do in Bryan.

I worked on my site when I got to my parents house and started my Romero household inspired temporary anti-diet. I IMed Leslie, who I thought would be an easy sell what with her constate state of ennui, but she lamed out on me. I tried to figure out where in the world I could possibly eat in Bryan/College Station then remembered Pho John’s (which really is my favorite restaurant in BCS). From there I tried to see if any office supply stores were open, forgetting that it was Sunday. So I went to Barnes & Noble for a few minutes instead and had a chai frappachino after some browsing.

I worked on some graphic changes to my website when I got back to the house after I found a cool font the night before on a white power website. My parents and sister showed up shortly after and we stayed up late talking about this and that. Jacqui told me about a drive through safari she and Vlad went on and a really excited monkey they met.

Just had an interesting experience. I woke up from a short quasi-nap and found that when I breathed in there was an extremely sharp pain in my chest, slightly left of the center. If I breathed shallowly it didn’t hurt, but if I tried to take a big breath in it hurt extremely bad. I tried breathing in as deep as I could a few times, and now it is gone… The closest illness I could find seems to be pleurisy:

The hallmark of pleurisy is severe chest pain that starts suddenly. The pain is often strong or stabbing when you take a deep breath. It usually subsides or disappears between breaths. It’s usually felt on one side of the stomach area or lower chest. Deep breathing and coughing often make it worse. You may also have a fever, pain when moving, or fast, shallow breathing. Typically, you will be able to point to the exact location of the pain. In some people, the pain spreads to the neck, shoulder, or abdomen.

(Via HealthSquare.com)</blockquote

I wonder if this is related to those weird sensations I was getting in my side but that seems to have disappeared…

I woke up pretty late then made my way to class. Emily was the only other student that showed up. We had some sushi and other snacks then did some work. Emily talked about tai chi again… I told her about the free classes that they do on Saturdays at the DMA and she said that what they teach there is just aerobics since they just focus on the outside and not the inside… I just nodded.

I had been planning on visiting my parents, but they went to a wedding in Houston. So I went home and fell into a stress and depression induced slumber over the prospects of making my way to Indiana on my own. I slept for about five hours and had some really crazy dreams. In one part I was at my old house near the railroad tracks and the ground was covered with snow. It was supposed to be near the beginning of time though and Anne and Doug were showing me something about the origins of life and the interconnectedness of all things. Then I was in some kind of apocalyptic future with some Japanese woman and we killed a few people then tried to hide when some others came back to finish us off.

I decided to go to Sushi Yama for dinner when I woke up. I got an eel roll and some okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake). Sensei had mentioned it during class so that’s why I decided to get it. I remembered having it when she talked about it, forgot that I had had it before when it came, then remembered again while I was eating it. It really was just like the one I had in the dorms whlie I was in Tokyo. Very strange. Wriggling fish flakes with that weird butter sauce and all. This girl working there, Sheikyo, thought my Waseda shirt was cool, and we chatted a bit. I told her about the language study program I did and she said that part of the reason she liked Sushi Yama was that it was just like being in Japan. I nodded and said that that was what I liked about it. She said it had been three years since she was last in Japan. She tried to talk to me in Japanese but I only understood bits and pieces, as usual.

I stopped at Target on the way home looking for a pencil case, but they didn’t have what I was looking for. I stopped at Krogers too but they didn’t have anything either. I did get some of those pecan rolls though.

0691101906For lunch I met Rick at Chipotle downtown. Something was screwed up with the train so I got there late but we still had enough time to have a proper chat, wait in line, and finish our meals. He said he is looking for a book on souls…

After work I went home for a bit and dubbed a copy of the Paris Hilton video for Sean. It was the first time I actually sat down and watched it. I found it quite strange that Paris would be with someone like Rick Solomon, at least according to his portrayal on the tape. She also had a very innocent and naive quality about her. Ah well…

I went to the NTCOF games night at IHOP and got into a game of Boggle after a Sean, Michael and Sylvia showed up. We played five rounds then totalled up our scores. I got first place with 43 points. I think second place was like 7 or so points. I did score nineteen points off of ‘student’ and ‘students’ though. A young waitress let me order from the kids’ menu and was overly nice to me. Why does that weird me out?

I left IHOP and got to the Club Clearview around 11 PM. There was an interesting crowd there. I sat through Slick 57′s OK set and figured out that Brandy, who was part of the reason I had come, wasn’t going to be dancing. During the band change I made my way into the other rooms that make up the Club Clearview Complex, then spent some time on the roof thinking about how much I am going to miss Dallas. I went down for the Flametrick Sub’s set around 12:30 AM and I was really pleased. They put on a great show and the Satan’s Cheerleaders are always great to watch too.

Rachel and I almost went to lunch together, but she got saddled with some work she had to finish before she left, so I just ate my sandwich downstairs.

After work I went to the new Krogers and took a picture of Eric at his first day of work ever. I talked to him briefly after he got off and he said he said that what they were doing had to be illegal given how unbearable it was.

Back at the apartment I had some leftover pizza from Carabbas and spent some time on the computer since the weather was too terrible to do much of anything else.

For lunch I went to Borders to look at Mexico books. On the way there I saw God (or at least what I would imagine him to look like), asleep on the train, listening to the radio. I found something about him so cherubic, so serene. Laura called during the morning and said her mom decided to go to Illinois after all.

I went to Carabbas with the Seals family after work for their anniversary. I pushed for other places since I am generally fed up with Italian, both on principle and after having eaten it the day before, but that is where we went. I didn’t really care to spend that much money either, but Laura and I split a margherite pizza so it wasn’t too bad. I liked it but Laura didn’t. There were tons of tomatoes and the cheese was on it in big chunks.

After Carabbas we went back to the Seals and I watched part of American Idol. I was going to eat some cake but I just got soured on the idea being there so I went to Tom Thumb instead and got some yogurt then went home and wasted some time on the computer.

I had some weird dream shortly before waking up about being in this hotel and seeing a bunch of Japanese people having an orgy just outside when I went to look out this big window. This Japanese guy next to me looked at me like I was in the wrong place and I asked if I should leave, but instead of responding he just shook in a slight fit. As I walked out I noticed that the room was full of sleeping Japanese people, but it seemed as if they were outfitted as villagers.

For lunch we went to the Taverna Pizzeria and Risotteria. It was small but very nice. I got some risotto that was pretty good, though slightly expensive for my pocket and for lunch. Before the food came Amy told everyone about my plans for the fall and asked me to explain what I would be studying, so I went over my thesis at the University of Chicago on gay Catholics, then explained that I would be studying the conflict between two differing views on sexuality in Japan and how I was brought to that by the different relationship that exists in Japan with respect to religion and sexuality as opposed to the United States and the West in general. I got what I suppose are the two most common questions at this point: how is it that they don’t consider being gay part of their identity, and, is it better to be gay in Japan or the US? It was kind of interesting talking about these subjects because I wasn’t really sure what everyone’s stance was, but it didn’t seem like anyone reacted negatively.

After work I told Laura that we should just go to Mexico, and she agreed, but her mom had been planning on catching a ride with us to Illinois so she was really bummed out. We went to see Shrek 2 (good graphics, story not as good as the first) and Eric decided to come and see it for the second time. On the way back I reminded Laura that I could move the days I take off if she still wanted to go to Illinois so she called her mom and told her that but her mom said she needed to think about it.

When we got home I looked around Roommates.com and a roommates finder at Purdue’s website.

I was tired from staying up and looking for jobs in Indiana for Laura. There was a big long list and I plugged all of the cities into Yahoo! Maps to see how far they were from West Lafayette. Didn’t go anywhere for lunch. Just stayed at my desk. Should have taken a nap.

After work I went to the Seals’, did some laundry, went for a bike ride with Laura and Sandy, played a game of Warcraft that lasted for a long time, then did this medical survey.

I went to bed listening to Modest Mouse pretty early when we got home.

I had an easy awakening then Laura and I went over to the Seals and we stopped by Tom Thumb on the way to White Rock Lake. We drove around for a while, passed on one table where it was too windy, drove around some more, then stopped and had lunch. After lunch some of us walked around a bit. Eric and I went across the street away from the lake and found a playground with some really random equipment, somewhat difficult to describe. Some of them just didn’t really do anything. On the way back to the van we looked at at this old train bridge. I ripped my shorts jumping over a fence.

B0001I2CDYWe went back to the Seals, stopping at Target on the way, then Laura and I came home, and I started making some updates after finishing my feeds. We went back later for dinner, then went to Best Buy so Laura could get another Modest Mouse CD because dinner wasn’t ready yet. After dinner we watched some program on this climbing accident then went for a bike ride. We sat around outside by the pool when we got back then came home and I finished my updates.

Gotta figure out an itinerary for Indiana week after next…