dm_bashir

Apparently everyone uses facebook now

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:03:07 GMT

well i guess i should take the time to tell everyone here. I am officially going to American International College. Its a trade school, teaches you how to get into a field with a focused series of courses designed to get you into a good job asap and reducing the total amount of time (and money) spent in total.

in short i am actually happy for once. and hopefully ill be out of this delivery driver job and into a job that requires some intelligence to perform.

-Bashir

the hunter and the hunted

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:19:40 GMT

Funny thing happened to me while i was on delivery tonight. A little wild hare leapt right in front of my car as i was goin about 30-35 i narrowly avoided the little guy (i went back to check) seemed he was in a hurry (youd have to be to not look before you leap).

i thought nothing of it and i went back to my destination. A block down though a brown fox looked at me and crossed the street safely. the thing looked right at me with those bright night eyes that animals get when reflecting light (just like the hare did as it turned its gaze to my headlights as they closed in and swerved to avoid him). and it continued on it's way. back down to where i saw the hare cross the street.

Obviously it was tracking the little guy. After i made my D&D jokes to myself, I thought about how wierd it was that i met both of their gazes as one was running and one was chasing.

I couldn't help but wonder what i could've done or if i should've done anything at all.

it seemed wrong to just let the little hare get hunted.... but then the fox was just living his life too.

sometimes there just isn't a right answer to a question.

Church day

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:55:31 GMT

I wore my good suit for church and i have to say i was embarrassed. mostly cause my family kept complimenting me on how "i clean up well". Which to me told me normally im the opposite. at least to my family.

To make it worse (or better, depending on whether or not pride factors into the equation for you) my mom was playing matchmaker. she dragged me around with her all over the place introducing me to... well i can't REALLY complain. i met several very attractive mid 20's law students and one girl studying pharmaceuticals. It's just that its hard to talk to cute, smart, girls while your mom is looking on for the slightest development.

But it was fun Overall. They also got a pool table now. so i played my cousin, who is probably the best 8 year old pool shark IN THE WORLD. seriously he was making difficult shots and even getting in two balls in one shot. He kicked my butt.

Im going back on Sunday.

Obama meets Manga

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:30:55 GMT

an LJ friend had this posted so i thought id bring it to the attention of my friends.

http://www.onemanga.com/Air_Gear/227/08/

the end to a horrible night.

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:58:44 GMT

My phone is broken into many little pieces. please send emails instead of calling.

A promise is a promise.

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:53:44 GMT

Reply to this post, and I'll tell you one reason why I like you. Then put this in your own journal, and spread the love.

my 30th birthday

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:18:10 GMT

Today (well yesterday) on the fifth I enjoyed my delayed birthday party. It was a blast. from beginning to end. It started strong with some kickass gifts from my awesome friends, and just when I would have been happy to end it there, we have an all day gathering at six flags.

So thanks you guys :)

Its one of those days im genuinely sorry to see end. but responsibilities have their time too.

Common sense is overrated

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:42:54 GMT

Common Sense almost got in the way of a neat story once. It almost didn't happen, and now I have a great memory of doing that with a close friend. I've decided today that common sense is overrated as far as friends go. It's fun to just do things and have fun memories that make you smile :)

Recent to this undertaking i had developed this desire to work on my fear of heights and take on Wall Climbing as a class with my friends Middle_Sis and JR_Psykira. The first week I barely made it up 8 feet, I felt REALLY embarrassed that I was being such a baby about it. The second week I climbed that wall all the way to the top. Big victory for me I felt real good the rest of the day. The Third week... well I'll just start a new paragraph for this one...

The instructor said the goal of this class was to fall so that blayers can learn to catch people safely in the middle of an unexpected fall. Yea.... slight relapse, The concept "BAD IDEA" cycled about 60 times in my head at a speed of 4 times per second. I didn't volunteer right away... more like stood in the back of the crowd and kept silent... hoping no one would pick me. Then this little voice in my head telling me "Just do it once and get it out of the way". So I volunteered. THEN my friend Middle_Sis jumps up and says I wanna Blay him! (Blay is the term for the act of Controlling the amount of slack in the Cord so that if the Climber falls, He/She doesn't fall very far, and is then eased down to the ground."

Now the thing about Middle_Sis, is that she is LITERALLY less than half my weight, and for a bit of background. Up till now, the cord that climbers have attached themselves to has been fed through the pulley at the top, which was looped twice for extra "catch" so the weight of the climber meant less to the Blayer. At the unexpected falls part of the wall, it was just a straight feed through a tiny metal loop. so not even looped around ONCE.

The way my mind works, it did the math. Basically with no catch at all it was weight(Me) vs counter weight(Middle_sis). The difference was enough that id keep falling. I protested and the teacher said that she (Roughly the same size and weight as Middle_sis) would backup to put my mind at ease. My mind did the math and it checked out (Middle_sis + Teacher = Bashir) so i said sure. i began my climb.

At the middle of the wall I was supposed to fall at a random time so she could catch me. I did so and fell and then i feel a crash against my back.... and laughing. and i turn around and there is Middle_sis laughing as she is holding onto the rope. apparently she stopped my descent on her way up with her legs and we kinda dangled for a while. The rest of the class staring in open mouthed shock did not laugh at me thankfully.

Yea.... the teacher? turns out she wasn't a very good Backup Blayer...... she wasn't holding on at all! But I kept a smile on my face.... was hard not to. With Middle_sis obviously full of glee at our predicament, when shes only inches away. And that RIGHT there made my fears retreat for a while and suddenly i had no anger for the teacher lying to me about backing up Middle_sis :)

We were slowly let down to the ground as Middle_Sis slowly let us both down by releasing the rope a bit at a time and we "hung out" (pun intended) a bit on the way down. First I was above her, then she was, and when we hit the ground I scrambled away as fast as I could so she wouldn't land on me in an... awkward manner. Still leashed to the rope at this point I was flung around her (from the momentum i created from scrambling away) and smashed my back into the wall.

To the rest of the class i couldn't help but say "I told you so" despite how tasteless it was it still felt good.

Week four was our exam. we all passed with flying colors.

Week five was our last day. I gave two tries at a difficult section of the wall called the overhang. It required a good amount of strength to fight gravity and keep a hold on the wall. First try was a failure. But I had plotted my course for a second attempt. I saved my strength to try it again at the end of class and I did it! Though at a slight cost. My determination gave out as I achieved my goal and I fell. but i still did it.

I kept telling myself it was just my strength that had given out. But after I made it and was standing on a straight climb to the top with no obstructions..... my mind panicked. I think my fear of heights had finally kicked in spurred on by excitement and I just let go of the wall. It seemed easier to trust myself to Middle_sis than to force myself further.

I find myself to miss the class now though.

life sucks

Wed, 14 May 2008 20:40:59 GMT

Ok, im at the gym on day 8 of my workout/diet schedule. and im working hard as normal, when i notice this REALLY cute girl (tall, short black hair, tan, flawless smile, athletic build) is stealing glances at me (and yes, it had to be me unless she was stealing glances at the section of wall behind me). probably cause i was wearing a red sox shirt.

I don't know why but suddenly i came down with "deer in the headlights" syndrome. I couldn't think, or even concentrate on what i was doing anymore. All that was running through my head was "I need to talk to her, but what do i say?" and lord help me, i couldn't think of a DAMN thing. except "Hi" but after that i thought "Nah, shes too cute for me, maybe after i lose the weight." so then i went downstairs to the locker room, and weighed myself.

252 lbs i haven't even budged in the 8 days I've been going. 22 reps per day total on ten different muscle groups for 8 days. and nothing but salad and chicken and veggies for 8 days (well except one night for burgers). And nothing, not one pound lost.

I've got two weeks left till the start date of the wall climbing class i signed up for. my goal was to hit 230 by the start date but i don't think thats likely anymore. im going to throw in a couple laps at the track every day and hope for hitting 240.

Movie Night

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:11:07 GMT

I went to see 21 cause my friend Queenofpink77 was in it. and i was delightfully surprised by how good it was. Couple of editing errors, like how during the scene where the lead char is being recruited they had a poker table with a bunch of cards dealt out to demonstrate how to count cards. well every time the table was visible in a shot the cards kept switching around.

I just found it funny that the cards seemed to move of their own accord. Sometimes they were flipped up and dealt to every player slot on the table. Other times it was every odd numbered slot. Then they'd all be flipped over to their backs. I was waiting for the scene where they formed a house of cards all on their own, but it never happened. all in all it was an intelligent concept and funny movie.

The best part happened when my other friend Mark kept pointing at Queenofpink77 and screaming "Hey There's Rachel from 21!". I have never seen Queenofpink77 so red. :)

All the way home though i kept thinking about card counting. Something bothered me about their system and thinking more and more about it, Savant-like qualities weren't needed. They basically assigned a number to cards 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 as being +1, and cards 10, J, Q, K, A as -1. and they would judge how "Hot" a deck was currently based on how High the deck was valued at so that they would have a high probability of being dealt good hands.

So assuming he bet the same amount for 50 hands. he would have a net gain at the end (Even if you lost half your hand's which isn't likely) because blackjack pays out more than you'd lose on a losing hand.

The math was easy enough to grab for me and i am no savant. Course perhaps that is just cause they had to explain it so everyone would understand.

Still though, fun movie. and i can't wait for may to come around, Iron Man, Get Smart, Wall-E, and uhm.... you know i forgot the other movie i wanted to see..... im sure it will come to me after i post this. Those weird little thoughts that escape you always come back when you stop thinking about them.

Update

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:38:10 GMT

I finally ran the session I had planned for a couple months. Problem was it spent so long in the back of my mind that I forgot some minor details that would have made some elements of the plot stand out more and thus be more obvious. I didn't feel like I ran it as well as I could have.

Even worse I could have made way more jokes at the end, before my NPC got disintegrated like "the ray goes right through dirge's chest cavity and misses him completely.".

on the bright side, i got to lay out some well deserved loot on the party. and now i can finish work on the next session. most of it is laid out for me, but its in need of some final touches.

session stuff aside, the week was ok. I met a friend's boyfriend who oddly enough was stuck in the same position i am. Some real world experience, but ultimately not enough to be attractive to prospective employers. So instead of banging his head against the same wall as me, he is banging out his certifications to be eligible for better (and higher paying) jobs. namely the A+, MCSE, and CCNA.

I've decided to do much the same. it's been 15 months since i bought my car with the promise that a better job than something in food service was next on my "list", And nothing.

something needs to change so i will.

sick and tired

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:04:06 GMT

the only thing worse than not being able to sleep, is when you can't sleep and yer sick. I finally understand where the term "sick and tired" comes from, cause it sucks.

though i suppose it was pretty self explanatory.

the Brandeis Gaming Club

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 04:05:04 GMT

as some of you know last thursday i attended the Brandeis Gaming club on the invite of a girl i met online. it was much fun, we played many games i've never heard of or wanted to buy, yet they were fun nonetheless.

we played a card game called Set where you match up cards that have one, all or nothing in common with one another. also a fun game that doesn't take many hours to finish.

We played Betrayal at the House on Haunted Hill, which was a lot like a Bruce Campbell movie. the game had much replay value cause it had 50 possible stories and endings and various ways it can play out. worth picking up for my Friday night group for sure....

THIS week i went again, only my new friend wasn't there and the choice of games didn't interest me much. but some people invited me to play a game of cranium, my team lost cause i didn't know my partner NEARLY as well as the other team.

after which one of the players mentioned smash brothers brawl being out. rather the Japanese version is out in japan and someone brought it with them to the video gaming club tonight so they were going to check it out. i asked for specifics and met them there.

upon entering i was immediately shocked by the number of people in the room close to 40 people and chairs. The game itself was playing on a projection screen and blown up to mega proportions and they were going down a rotating list of players. the short version is the game was a newer and better version of its predecessor and worthy of being called a sequel of the original.

now everyone has a special "Smash" move, basically a glowing "Simon Says" icon appears on the screen and floats around. whoever gets the fourth hit on the icon glows, when the glowing person hits B that char's final move happens. there is a wildly outrageous move that happens for each char. but if you get hit with it its basically an auto kill.

the stages are new and fresh and very well done. i enjoyed each and every one i saw.

the characters are some of the old and some new, the new ones i remember are Sonic, Bob the robot (he was an actual Nintendo accessory back in the day), Solid Snake, Kid Icarus, Wario, and many of the "anti" versions of the heroes in the game.

I left tonight early cause i suck at smash brothers and the games at the club didn't interest me tonight. but all in all glad i went.

-Bashir

me and writing

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:23:43 GMT

i've realized something about myself recently. I like writing. I'm not gonna write a book or anything, but i like the creative process of writing something good.

Growing up i hated writing, any form of it (especially homework). I didn't hate reading or literature in general, just putting forth the effort to try and put my words onto paper. it never seemed right when I finished something.

a while ago i ran a session that went exceedingly well cause i put forth the effort to put my words onto paper and work with each character in my game in a unique way. the reactions i got made me extremely happy for a while. but i didn't realize i had pulled a 180 until right now and that was the session that changed that.

for the last 3-4 weeks I've been researching stuff for my current game and working out the details for each person in the game right now. making spreadsheets so i could reference stuff easier, trying to cover all my bases on the off chance someone didn't do something i wanted to happen. and i feel more content now with my ability to write and share that with my friends.

I am an angel.... and a chick.

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:22:23 GMT

Which mythological creature is most like you? (with pics!)
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Angel

You are an angel, you life to protect and comfort. You are a great source of good.

Centaur

100%

Unicorn

100%

Angel

100%

Ghost

88%

Were-wolf

75%

Dragon

63%

Giant

63%

Dwarf

63%

Veela

63%

Vampire

63%

Pixie

63%

Faery

50%

Selkie

50%

Elf

50%

Phoenix

25%

Nymph

25%

Minotaur

25%

Gnome

13%

Mermaid

13%

Demon

13%

Thoughts?

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 05:22:36 GMT

Why can't american prisons teach criminals how to sing and dance? introducing them to the theatre might well solve a lot of problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5nZcFIf3qc

seriously how well choreographed IS that? they did it in ONE shot. An entire prison of philipino inmates. I have no doubt they had Murderers, rapists, gang members, sociopaths, drug addicts and god knows what else in their ranks and somehow managed to pull that off!

I wonder if i can somehow convince Middle_sis that my char can cast Patronus in such a way to make every dementor and inmate at Azkaban dance like that.....

i think i love my backyard

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 18:35:29 GMT

so i just spent an awesome morning and two hours reading the new HP book in my backyard. My dad recently got a set of patio furniture for the brick patio he put in a while back. and with the weather being as awesome as it was i went out to get some sun and read up. really nice time had by me birds everywhere little white butterflies spotting the nice trimmed lawn. the sounds of my neighbors diving into their pool and having a fun time.

all this has led me to a conclusion i like the outdoors and will retcon my new years resolution to do this more often. :)

in other developments i have figured out the speedy way to apply for jobs and have finished applying for roughly 40-50 in about 20 minutes :) hopefully ill even get a response.

all in all a very productive and enjoyable morning. the only bad thing about it is prolonged exposure to the sun seems to have changed how i perceive color. now its like im seeing everything through a greenish tint that i never noticed before, and an odd sense of displacement. Im wondering if maybe i was just out there too long.... is 6 hours too long? long enough to make me see everything in green? if i was out there for 7 hours would i have moved down or up the spectrum? i wanna be able to see everything in orange, orange is my favorite color.

"slaps himself" aaaand that was me babbling like an idiot.

im picking up the D&D game again, and teaching myself how to run my own webserver so that i can host my own forums. i hope to have it up before 3 weeks from now.

Emotional Rollercoaster

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:45:42 GMT

The funny thing about an emotional rollercoaster is there isn't time to ponder where you are cause you are always moving towards a new curve in the ride.

Well I woke up today, and the house was a restless place. My brother came home with great news, he had gotten a job as a head chef for a resteraunt on fisherman's wharf in gloucester. He showed us pictures of the building, his new girlfriend, and a car he wanted to buy. He and my mom drove to get the title and register it. They came back and my brother pulled me aside telling me how much he wants me to move in with him and get a job in the resteraunt with him. How he doesn't want to see me living here with my family anymore.

I told him i didn't want to be in food service anymore and that all it has done is screw me over. But this didn't dissuade him, he thought i was simply brushing him off as i always do. This conversation quickly turned into a lecture and i stopped listening, yet he continued to talk. eventually a fight broke out..... with words. He started crying and lecturing me about the state of my life. Eventually i got pissed and forced him to leave.

And I swear not even 15 minutes later he got a call from the resteraunt that the people who hired him were backing out. This job to him was supposed to be his "big break" and I hadn't ever seen him so broken. I conforted him as best I could when I found out. He actually calmed down a little... but then he got mad at the situation again and left for a walk.

I went inside to put on a shirt then tried to follow him on foot. Once around the block then I came back for my car. I drove around, no luck. My sister was smart enough to call him though. apparently hes ok and just walking it off.

Its hard having your dream given to you and yanked away at the height of your happiness. and harder still for a brother who realizes nothing you say will make him feel "better".

i am at least 48% Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil

Mon, 21 May 2007 07:28:38 GMT

You Are 48% Evil

You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side.
Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination.

How Evil Are You?

heroes first season

Mon, 21 May 2007 07:20:02 GMT

the first season DVD is coming out in august apparently and with it some decent features.

one of which is the original 73 minute pilot which didn't air. with a character we haven't seen before. and about 50 deleted/cut scenes and the wierdest of all, a meme given to us by matt parkman. see for yourself.

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/790/790052p1.html

work yesterday

Wed, 02 May 2007 11:48:37 GMT

was boring and slow. Except at the end of the night when i was sitting outside waiting for a delivery, some teen drama was heading my way. High school kids, a boy and girl were arguing and behind them in tow came their crew, who were hanging back cause of the argument that had plopped right in front of me.

Trying REALLY hard not to listen wasn't working. they kept throwing in words like "sleeping around" and "stop with the drugs gawd".

From what I gathered the guy was doing acid at work and got fired. Apparently he was a cashier at home depot and was tripping on acid when an old woman was buying some gardening utensils, but the kid thought she said "Curse you for a thousand years in hell" and got caught after he talked back to the customer.

and thats what she was angry at.

But HE was apparently angry at her for sleeping around and straight out called her a whore. The sight following that, will be with me forever. As this little girl about 4'7" kicked the ass of a larger kid, up and down the sidewalk. The first punch came roughly a second after he said "whore" and it was fast, like BATMAN fast. I saw the kid reel back and unless he was stupid enough to hit the girl i wasnt gonna step in, sounded like he deserved it.

it may not be a great post but i thought id put it up all the same as i thought it was entertaining at least.

more people should speak english.

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:10:32 GMT

at 3 am this morning i awoke to a haze of people running around loud obnoxious phone ringtones and yells followed by crying. after being woken up again after trying to go back to sleep i went to see what was up, only to find out my 72 year old grandmother (who doesn't speak english) had been lost in europe for 5-7 hours.

turns out she missed a connecting flight for some reason (i still don't have all the details.) on her way to damascus. i stayed up for a bit now shaken awake by the news, all my suggestions were shot down or someone else was already on top of it. realizing quickly i was useless here i tried to get some sleep. tried being the operative word. so i just played some video games.

in the morning around 10:00am we got a call from her apparently shes in london. she bought a calling card and has made some friends. shes ok and her flight situation is being straightend out.

wierd day so far.

an interesting begining

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 18:56:35 GMT

I left my house this morning to go do my computer fixing thing. i got an hour's labor which is roughly equivalent to 5-8 hours at my other job. being a computer technician rocks.

the only problem is finding my way back from people's houses in towns that i don't know. yes my GPS would be a nice thing to use in a jam like this if it had batteries (the car adapter died a while ago).

So i spent the next 5 minutes driving around aimlessly in circles. and then it hit me i was lost and then i was found (so to speak) i was at my church. the one i havent gone to for years. in west roxbury i didn't even know the name of the town it was in. but there it was. and somehow i remembered the way home. id never be able to find my way back to the church but i suddenly remembered the way back.... fancy that eh?

before i left though i gave some thought about going back into the church and see what was up, if anyone i knew was there today. but i chickened out in the end. the thought of going back in felt so alien to me. all the way home though i kept thinking "how wierd is it i remembered the way home suddenly?" it gets wierder, i purposely went off the remembered path to see what i would see. and i ran into anna's tacqueria and a kickass arcade that i thought had closed. so i spent my morning enjoying what i did in my youth though this time i was kinda alone. so i did something i don't normally do, i talk to random people and strike up conversation.

I had talked to a bunch of people, a group of asian girls and a guy who looked suspiciously like Osa Maki (did i spell his name right?). We had fun and played some games, (they complimented me on my height and how well i spoke english, and i sooooo wish i got their numbers.) The guy kicked my ass at king of fighters in traditional asian style, where hed give the first round to me (to make it more challenging for himself) then whip my ass red in the next two rounds. then we went our seperate ways.

then i got back to watertown square around 12:30 Deposited some checks, Mailed some letters, bought a comic and went to the library and now its 1:30 and im home writing about it. :p

-Paco

actually this makes sense, but i didn't expect it to.

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 21:11:10 GMT

Smart Paladin

59% Combativeness, 40% Sneakiness, 64% Intellect, 63% Spirituality

Valorous! Noble! Or possibly just a self-righteous jerk (but with the brains to keep you alive!)... You are a Smart Paladin!

Paladins are holy warriors. They are valorous defenders of the light. Unfortunately, most of them are so ardent in their defense they tend to meet sticky ends faster than you can say "rampaging red dragon." Many people look up to Paladins, while others just consider them stuck up, overbearing, or self-righteous.

Fortunately for you, unlike most Paladins, you're pretty smart. Which means that you're more likely to fall into the "admired" category, rather than the "obnoxious" or "dead" categories.

Much like the crusades, you manage to combine violence and religion, though unlike the crusades, you add a healthy does of intelligence. You may be a staunch defender of the faith, a valorous champion of the weak, or the stuff that jihads are made of. Which ever one you are, just be happy that you’ve got the smarts to back it up and make it work.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 53% on Combativeness
You scored higher than 50% on Sneakiness
You scored higher than 40% on Intellect
You scored higher than 83% on Spirituality

Link: The RPG Class Test written by MFlowers on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Bah humbug

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 18:59:10 GMT

There is nothing like the holidays to remind me why I NEED to leave this house.

The Job search however does not go well, it's been roughly a month since i got my car. Since then i have been looking everywhere for a full time gig that doesn't involve selling things door to door, and it has been discouraging. this last week I had lost some steam and all i had done was look up staffing agencies online and applied to a pharmacy as a technician.

But all i needed to spur me on, was to watch my family try to strip me of my pride and embarrass me in front of my friend. Yes i know thats what families do, but its that they seem to DRIVE the conversation in that direction every time. my only option seems to be staffing agencies cause other than that im all out of ideas.