Guess I'll spend the next few hours finishing a few things before I make the voyage back to Camelot Command. The only good news is that I get to assume full command of the Bismark. Oh, and deploy the first Wireless Modular Communications (WiMoC) unit on Quincy VIII.

Hopefully by the time I get back, I can also bring Quincy X online, and decommission Quincy IV and PRO.

For the past week or so, I had been hoping that someone would be able to offer a new home to Calima, but unfortunately there were no takers. So it was with a heavy heart that I left her in the care of the Town Lake Animal Center today, and I hope they will be able to find her a good home. Its been fun cat, and may our paths cross again someday.

At this time, 99.999% of OC3 has been evacuated, with only The Cheat standing guard. OC4 is now 90% operational, with lots of little stuff I still need to put away and clean.

So far so good. . . except that was all the easy stuff (to move). Now I get to deal with all the hard stuff. . . :(

Just got back from signing papers at Jefferson Center. Everything looks to be in order, and I get to pick up the keys tomorrow. The plan now is to start packing things so I can move some of the smaller stuff in tomorrow and Thursday, and save the big stuff for Friday when people come and help me move.

The result? A passing grade of 80. While not spectacular, it was far better than the insulting grade of 72 (74 was passing grade) last time. So. . . that's two exams down, with two more to go.

But first, OC4 must be brought online. Papers are scheduled to be signed tomorrow, and actual move date is set for Friday. The network will be downed sometime around then, pending Road Runner's response time in getting OC4 hooked up.

Found myself in a interesting dilemma last night. As I was about to get ready to go help Paul and Shannon celebrate the purchase of their new home, Emily called and started beverating me for not helping her with CS341. She started using the guilt-trip trick on me, and said I didn't care about her. Which was not true. The conversation was not going anywhere, so I let it die. I waited about 15 minutes for both of us to calm down, and then called her back, trying to figure out what is going on, and what I could do to help resolve the issue. She was a bit more receptive this time, and that was when I found the root of the problem: she was not doing too well in the class. Being the unlucky knight that I am, I changed my plans and ordered Travis to go to the party in my stead while I headed to campus to help a damsel in distress.

On the way to campus, she called and said she needed my notes more than she needed me. I made sure that it was really what she wanted, before changing the plan to lending her my notes for now, and then me meeting up with her (and Julie) on Monday after my Linux exam to help her out.

Which was probably the best solution for the evening, since Travis was severely exhuasted from his physical test earlier in the day. We arrived at the party (it was a small affair) after dropping the notes off with Emily, socialized with everyone (including Chris Edmundson-Yurkanon, a professor from UT with which I took two classes with), and ate lots of food before Travis signaled that it was a good time to depart. He was so weakened that I had to drive his truck for the night (see if he ever makes a crack about asians not being able to drive big trucks ever again).

Travis went to bed as soon as we got home, and I stayed up late in sentinel mode in case Emily called and needed help. That screwed up my sleeping schedule, but at least I am a bit more ready for the Linux exam from the day's studying than I was before.

One minor detail that I have yet to resolve is what to do about The Cheat. The deposit for her to remain with me is $300, $150 non-refundable. Unfortunately my resources would be completely oversaturated this month, and I'm not sure I can spare the expense of keeping her around. For the greater good, it is better off for her to be elsewhere. But that doesn't make the decision any easier.

The 2nd Linux exam is scheduled for Monday at 2PM. The original idea of scheduling it for Friday went out the window because I forgot to register yesterday. :P The plan now is for me to finish prepping for the exam, head back to Camelot Command that evening and transfer command to the Venture, and come back here by Wedensday to get the key to the new place. Hopefully moving will be completed within a week, and then I can finally bring the Bismark home. . .

Here's how its set up. It is a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment (931 square feet). It includes fridge, microwave, washer, and dryer. All rooms have their own phone and cable hookups, and the thermostat is electronically controlled. The kitchen opens into the dining room, and there is a island countertop in the kitchen. The smaller bedroom will be turned into a study / computational room. There is a balcony, and its on the third story. There is also a garage for a little extra, and even though it is not attached, at least it is in the same building. The motorcycle will be parked in the open, covered. The complex includes a variety of small shops, as well as a fairly large swimming pool (cleaned daily), jaccuzzi, well equipped fitness center and game room (rentable for $50 for 6PM-12AM), and a office center which provides free coffee from Seattle's Best Coffee. The management includes a concierge (which also provides courtesy DVD rentals), two live-in hosts, and two live in police officers. There are social events planned on a near weekly basis, which includes a complimentary cooking class that I plan to attend regularly.

The market value for the 2-1 alone is $910, and the garage is $80 extra. I managed to talk them down to $650 for the place, plus $80 for the garage. Compared to what OC3 consists of now, I'm paying $100 more for a study, washer and dryer, and a garage. All in all not too bad of a deal I think. I've already submitted my application and the deposit, and they agreed to do their best to expedite this so I can start the move-in ASAP.

A few hours later, everyone called it quits. By then Emily had already fallen asleep. It was then decided that Lucy would ride with Emily, and I'll drive the guys home. But seeing how Emily was driving out of the parking lot, I decided to reassign myself to an escort mission. It was a good thing I followed her home, and a very good thing that there were no other cars on the road. Once I made sure Emily got home safe, Lucy jumped into the back of the car and I drove the three home. The escort mission was a success.

Afterwards, went home in hopes to study Linux, but got waylaid by Jordan and had a discussion with him. He made some interesting comments about my current position, but unfortunately at this point in time I am unable to validate his insight in the matter. Nor can I divulge what was said without compromising some people, myself included. I hate being confused. . . *sigh*

At around 11PM Emily finally got back from her Automata Theory review session, so we headed out to Kerbey Kerbey (the plan was to meet Julie there as well) for some last minute cramming. Actually, she needed to cram for her exam, I was simply there to offer helpful pointers. But when we got to Kerbey Kerbey, it was temporarily closed because they were fixing the front door. Which all of us thought absurd, but rather than exposing ourselves to the sub-Kerbey-standards of Kerbey Campus, we headed to Kerbey South and esconced ourselves in books and notes and homework solutions. And a little bit of food.

Sometime during the night. . . or morning, since it was around 5AM when this happened, a disturbing event happened. A couple of hooligans decided to peruse the restaurant (at this point we were the only customers inside) and one of them decidedly took an interest in our little group. As Emily got up to use the ladies room, he shot me a "Looking good!" comment. I responded with a curt smile and began operating in Alert Status Two (last time this happened was during New Years 1999-2000 when somebody tried to pickup Rachel). They hung around for a bit and fortunately did not make a menace of themselves. But before they left, the same guy came over, interrupted us, and asked me how I was able to "study with two gorgeous girls around"? Now. . . in my sub-optimal state of mind (hyper-heurstic functions were offline at the moment), I had the pleasure to choose from a variety of answers which would produce results anywhere from distasteful to bar-fight-inducing-in-yo'-face-yo'-momma hostility. But I simply replied "I couldn't tell you.". Now that I think back (with a much clearer head), it was probably the best response to use for diffusing the situation.

Why, do you ask? Simple. . . a matter of honor. How does one explain the concept of honor to someone at this ungodly hour? Much less one who clearly is not capable of appreciating females other than their physical apperance? I will admit, the two girls were very cute (do not ask me who is cuter, I will claim protection under the 5th amendment), but they were also quite intelligent (hell, Julie was catching all my mistakes since I haven't done automata theory in a year). Under other circumstances I would have considered asking one of them out, but this morning definitely did not fall under those circumstances.

But this incident also got me thinking. . . if I am going to be caught in situations like this again in which I am forced to defend the honor of the ladies in my company, I will have to start packing some firepower. Just in case. . . that or start carrying my katana around. . . Guns people know how to deal with, but how does one deal with an enraged-sword-wielding Dark Paladin?

The study session ended sometime before 8AM, at which point I drove both girls home. Emily decided to sleep during the trip, while Julie was in the back banging her head against a particularly tricky problem. The only sound in the car were chinese songs from the CD Emily made for me.

So anyways. . . went to play basketball with Emily, Andy, and a whole bunch of other asians I don't know for an hour, sat out for the rest of the game, and then decided to go lift weights for about 30 minutes. As usual, my painful back did not help me any. . . :(

Afterwards we went to find food, and regrouped at Emily's place (again) and ate dinner. It was at this point that I once again lost all my heuristic functions and promptly fell asleep on the sofa. But after a while I regained consciousness, and brought Emily and Lucy back to OC3 with me so they can study for their final exams, while I prep for my Linux stuff.

Started with lunch at Yen Ching with Emily, Andy, and Lucy. Had spicy noodle soup which was really really good. Haven't had that in a while. . . Then went home and sat for a few moments before heading out the door again to pick up Emily so we can go browse through Best Buy and use my 10% off coupons (got Ice Age, Lilo & Stitch, and Prince of Qin).

After that, we headed over to the ACM End-Of-The-Year party, in which some slight drinking ensued, and I tried my best to keep Emily entertained. My only mistake for the night was taking an enormous shot after Dan Katz spewed flame all over the drinks (yes, he was doing flame tricks. . . multiple times). This was after spectating a close game of Quarters (try to bounce quarter into shot glass before someone beats you to it, if you lose you take shots). Other than that, just enjoying the cheery atmosphere, and gorged on snacks. Unfortunately I had to take leave of the party early on account of Emily, but I managed to snag the widescreen DVD of A Beautiful Mind during the gift exchange session. It was rather shrewd of me to steal that gift from Jeff as I was walking out the door (and thus preventing it to be stolen by someone else). . . *evil grin*. . .

The night ended at Emily's place, where a bunch of us watched Lilo & Stitch, Laputa: The Castle in the Sky, and most of Porcco Russo, and feasted on Pluckers chicken wings. Towards the end when everyone else was drifting off to sleep Emily decided to interrogate me about my past relationship. . . at which point I was losing my upper heuristic functions, so I have no idea what I said. She did make a audio CD of asian songs for me though. Somehow I found the way home, and here I am typing this up at an ungodly hour again.

Started off with meeting with Jennifer for coffee at 9PM. Unfortunately the inside seating of the Spider House was filled, so we decided to risk freezing ourselves by sitting outside. At least the coffee was hot. We chatted about various topics, and just enjoyed each other's company. And we almost did freeze ourselves. . .

Then Emily called at 10:30PM after she got out of exam, and we (Emily, Judy, Julie, and myself; Jennifer went home to study for her exams) hopped over to Denny's to get some food. General introductions were made as I had never met Judy and Julie, and then the rest of the meal involved everyone getting to know me and vice versa.

After the late night snack we regrouped at Emily's place, and hung out there for a bit before retreating to my place for lots of DDR action (Julie decided to go home early at this point). Thus began a two hour DDR-a-thon, in which everyone was completely worn out. All in all, good clean fun.

Currently listening to Innocente by Delerium, and it is evoking a whole slew of emotions that I thought I had kept at bay since that fateful day in June. . . the music itself is very smooth, whereas the sorrowful lyrics is what causes so much consternation within me. . . *sigh*. . .

Meanwhile, after seeking counsel from my parents regarding my current dilemmas, I have decided to reorganize my plans for the immediate future. Some plans had to be abandoned (taking over the world in the next five years), while others postponed (repairing the motorcycle). The top priorities for now is to establish OC4 (by myself), and also to complete my Linux certification (and getting a job). I will delegate resources to my other projects in due time as I deem fit.

Life still sucks, but at least I think I have a way out of my current rut. . .